152 A SPORTING TRIP THROUGH ABYSSINIA chap. 



sion to shoot in Simien, and to travel to Erythrea. The 

 countries I was to pass through were definitely named, 

 and the Rases were requested to give me guides, to 

 afford every assistance, and to see that I was allowed to 

 pass freely ; in fact I was generally commended to their 

 care. As there was no mention 

 of my being allowed to shoot 

 on the way, Captain Harrington 

 directed the interpreter to write 

 and point this out. By return 

 messenger came a general pass- 

 port, worded much the same as 

 the others, but addressed to all 

 Shums, and with the additional 

 words, " where there are wild 

 beasts on the way, show them 

 so that he may hunt." Having 

 got these important concessions, 

 I collected all the information I 

 could about the country I was 

 mcKelvie. jq p-iss through, receiving valu- 



able help from a man named McKelvie, who has spent 

 thirty-five years in Abyssinia. His story, if he could 

 only be induced to give it in detail, would be an 

 interesting one. Imprisoned by King Theodore, he was 

 one of the Englishmen we went to Magdala to release. 

 No sooner was he brought safely away, than he returned 

 to the capital, and when, on Captain Harrington's first 

 arrival in Abyssinia, he was attached to the British 

 Agency, he was an Abyssinian in speech, habits, and 

 costume. So much was this the case, that at first he 



