26o A SPORTING TRIP THROUGH ABYSSINIA chap. 



beast, however, saw them and bolted, followed by two 

 tora. I was furious, for during the last two days, time 

 after time, somebody's stupidity had lost me a shot. 

 We found camp at Salaba Suncassa on Balarse stream, 

 pitched in a nice clump of trees. Belat W'urgie's men 

 had put up huts of dried grass and bowers of green 

 boughs, under which to shelter themselves. All day 

 long fresh parties came trooping in, till 1 began to 

 wonder how any big game could be expected to stay 

 in the neighbourhood. Two heavy thunder-showers 

 broke over camp soon after mid-day ; the afternoon 

 I spent in darning socks and doctoring some sick men, 

 and started out about three. At last luck changed, 

 for a tora, although it had heard the noise of camp 

 and was very suspicious, let me get near enough for a 

 long shot. Two other bullets finished the beast, which 

 proved to be a fine bull, weighing 401 lbs. 



In many of the tree-tops I had noticed beehives, 

 which in the distance looked curiously like huge nests. 

 When resting under a tree with several of these in its 

 upper branches, I examined them, and found them to be 

 cylinders of plaited rushes, 30 inches long and iS inches 

 across, the ends closed with movable partitions. The 

 hives were nearly always put in the topmost branches, 

 which were too slight to bear a man unless he tied 

 several of them together, and they were thus protected 

 to some little extent from theft. 



That night the camp presented a curious sight, for 

 there must have been nearly two hundred and fifty of us 

 all told, and the fitful light from the numerous watch- 

 fires lit up the faces of the men and shone on their arms. 



