114 ^ SPORTING TRIP THROUGH ABYSSINIA cHAr. 



Changing a dollar is not the work of a moment ; each 

 bar has to be examined and sounded, for if it be not 

 of the right size, or is chipped or cracked, or does not 

 ring true, the first person to whom it is offered will be 

 as indignant as a London cabby when tendered a bad 

 shilling. These crystallised salts come from Assal, a 

 salt lake in the north of Tigre. The red pepper and 



the butter bazaars were not places in which to linger, 

 the former on account of the particles getting into one's 

 eyes and nostrils and acting like pungent snuff, and the 

 latter on account of the strong, rancid smell. The Shoa 

 woman was bargaining for the butter in the little gourd 

 ornamented with shells on the ground before the Salla 

 peasant when I snapped the photograph. Before I had 

 finished fitting out the caravan for my journey north I 

 knew every corner of this wonderful market, and whether 

 I required a burnous (a black, blanket-like cloak with a 



