CHAPTER IV 



Tombacca, chief of the Oderah — Does France, Russia, or Italy rule 

 England? — Blackmail — A rifle bent by the sun — Our shooting 

 stopped — Tombacca's village — His treatment of French travellers 

 — Great demand for soap — Insolence of natives — A banquet and 

 after-dinner speeches — Wanted, a son and heir — Unprincipled conduct 

 of four European travellers — An anxious night — A narrow shave — 

 An exhibition shot — A plain covered with flocks and game — A hot 

 clitnb rewarded — Ordah lake — A duck shoot — A lovely camp. 



Sitting under the verandah I found an exceedingly 

 dirty savage, his woolly hair long and matted, his only 

 clothing a filthy tobe flung round him, and his repulsive 

 face rendered still more hideous by a large quid of tobacco 

 and wood-ash stuck within the lower lip, which from this 

 constant practice was enormously distended. Beside 

 him sat two older men, if possible even more in want 

 of a scrubbing than himself. This was none other than 

 Tombacca, chief of the Oderali, a powerful border tribe, 

 and one so situated that even Menelik has thought it 

 diplomatic to propitiate rather than attempt to crush 

 them. He had never even heard of Englishmen, and 

 was full of questions as to where we came from, and 

 whether France, Russia, or Italy (the only three powers 

 he knew bv name) ruled over us. He further asked : 



