136 A SPORTING TRIP THROUGH ABYSSINIA chap. 



keep a quarter of a mile in rear. The Emperor soon 

 exchanged his mule for a good-looking brown gelding 

 of fourteen hands, carrying handsome trappings of 

 bright red leather ornamented with discs of gold, while 

 the collar was studded with little pointed nails of the 

 same metal, thus closely resembling the collar supposed 

 to be worn by the ideal watch-dog. The Negus was 

 clad in the same clothes he wore on the day he first 

 received us, except that his feet were now shod with 

 brown canvas sand-shoes over bright green socks and 

 that a wide-brimmed felt hat protected his head from 

 the sun. For arms he carried a very light, well-polished 

 spear, with a cedar shaft ; while close behind him an 

 attendant on a mule bore his shield, contained in a large, 

 brown silk bag, and a single-barrel Martini-Metford car- 

 bine slung over his shoulder. After some half mile of 

 rough grass-land had been traversed, a hare was put 

 up, getting a good start of the greyhounds. Run- 

 ning in a big circle to the right, he was headed twice 

 by over-keen sportsmen, and finally run into and killed 

 by the black dog Zulu. During the course, owing 

 to the numerous cracks and holes in the ground, the 

 hound turned a complete somersault, just as he made 

 a turn. Many of the field also took tosses from the 

 same cause. The quarry having been brought up by 

 Mr. Beru, was duly examined by the Emperor, who was 

 much pleased with Zulu's performance, saying it was the 

 first hare he had ever seen killed by a dog. Meanwhile 

 a nondescript dog belonging to His Majesty, and the 

 " Gudda," had a great hunt by themselves after a second 

 hare, which, needless to say, outpaced them. The line 



