338 A SPORTING TRIP THROUGH ABYSSINIA chap, xxix 



crowded with bats and porcupines, for we could hear much 

 squeaking and rattling of quills in the distance. When 

 I got back to camp every one was sick at our lack of 

 success ; the shikari wished to return home and dig 

 his ground, my Abyssinian servants wanted to get back 

 to the villages and their beloved tej, the Somalis were 

 tired of the work, for, like all natives, dogged persever- 

 ance against ill-luck is not their strong point, while all 

 of us were short of food. Added to this, the hard work, 

 the great heat by day and night, the attentions of the 

 ubiquitous mosquito, and the constant drenchings, were 

 beginning to tell on us, and I feared I should be having 

 all my men down with fever. However, I cheered them 

 up with the promise of a great feast on our return to 

 Gondar, if I should prove more successful. I told the 

 guide he could go if he liked. Meanwhile, I ordered 

 Nasser to start off at dawn for Gallamider and purchase 

 all the food he could get there, as I intended to follow 

 the buffaloes down the valley again. He returned in 

 the evening with ten days' supplies ; also with the 

 shikari's dogs, which kept us awake all night and made 

 such a row that I sent them back the very next day. 



