XX I RESUME MY JOURNEY 217 



thai I was in earnest, the l""itauraris agreed, and, after 

 showing- them my rifles and tield-glasses, I started. 



We circled roinul tlie northern end of the ridge and 

 then struck ahnost due west across two wide valleys, 

 through the second of which flowed the Godiah stream, 

 forming the boundary between Gojam and Damot. On 

 the road we passed a man with a fine buffalo head, which 

 he said he had brought from the banks of a big river 

 beyond Walkait. He could not tell me the name of the 

 river, but most probably it was the Gash, as the Mareb 

 is called in the low country. Here we turned almost 

 north again till we reached the Musslar H awash, where 

 we camped close to Armanuel Suffra. 



Some of my men did not come in till late. They 

 reported that while I was at the palace, and they were 

 finishing loading the mules, a man had seized a salt and 

 run off. They had chased and captured the thief, but, 

 when they returned to the old camp, the cleaning rods for 

 my .256 had disappeared. Although the thief was 

 known, he refused to hand them back, and they had 

 to appeal to Fitaurari Notoro, who soon recovered 

 them. 



In the evening, a charming old gentleman. Chess 

 Dumerpagernut Walda Giorgis, chief priest of the 

 local church and governor of the district, came to 

 visit me. He brought me endless presents of 

 provisions, among them a great jar of fine honey 

 and a number of unripe peaches. He had been in 

 Cairo twenty years before, and proved most chatty, 

 taking great interest in Ward's book of horns, and 

 telling me where I should find the different animals. At 



