XXX START FOR SIMIEN 349 



the border of the country belonging to the Empress 

 Taitu, and that the governor, Balambaras Mineywab, had 

 given orders that every attention was to be shown me in 

 his territory, practical proof of which was forthcoming 

 later, in the form of a sheep, piles of bread, jars of beer 

 and milk, eggs, etc. ; so my men were once more in the 

 land of plenty and content. Unfortunately this pleasant 

 state of things did not last long ; for the next day, after 

 a short march, the guide wanted me to halt at the chief 

 village of the next little group, and as I refused he left 

 us to our own devices, so that for the following lour 

 marches we had to find the way as best we could. It 

 was now so cold in the mornings that I could not get 

 the men to load before sunrise, and as the rain regularly 

 began about noon, we did not cover much ground in a 

 day. During these four marches the path lay over 

 undulating uplands with plenty of good grass ; yet 

 comparatively few flocks and herds were to be seen. 

 On the second day — a Tuesday — we passed through the 

 market-place of Dara, just as the people were collecting. 

 We camped that afternoon near one of the colonies of 

 rats that I have spoken about, and divided our time 

 between trying to secure a specimen and examining 

 the skins, which I found were being much damaged by 

 the bacon beetle ; unfortunately, as it rained nearly the 

 whole of every afternoon, it was impossible to open more 

 than one or two sacks a day. Two of my men, who had 

 remained behind on a drinking-bout at Gondar, rejoined 

 the caravan this evening, and, as we were very short- 

 handed, I could only venture on a mild rebuke. On the 

 third day our way lay up a steep rocky valley, beside a 



