382 A SPORTING TRIP THROUGH ABYSSINIA chap. 



of people coming to attend it, besides strings of donkeys 

 carrying bars of salt. Each load consisted of sixty to 

 seventy Amole, packed in three layers, with cotton- 

 sheeting between. For hours we marched down-stream, 

 till we reached the point where the path known as 

 the Amhalaney road leaves the Attabar valley, when, 

 crossing the river, we pitched camp. The cliffs close to 

 the river were yellowish red sandstone, while the main 

 hills of the valley consisted of grey basaltic rock. Next 

 morning, just after some of the mules had started, the 

 men sent word back to me that a big troop of the grey- 

 haired monkeys was close by. I at once pushed on 

 ahead, and found some two hundred of them feeding on 

 the hill-side. Singling out a large male, I pressed the 

 trigger ; but the cartridge missed fire, and I found the 

 bolt had stuck. Naturally, by the time it was clear, 

 the troop had departed. When I e.xamined the gun, the 

 striker proved to be a mass of rust, the result of the 

 continual wet combined with the laziness of my Somalis. 

 After scraping it clean, we followed the troop, but with 

 no success. 



We passed one large stretch of cultivated ground, 

 and then crossed two valleys into that of the Mader, 

 which we followed down to the Takazze, a red mud- 

 coloured stream some 60 yards wide, the water of 

 which came half-way up the saddle-flaps. The valley 

 was not so confined as I had been led to expect, and 

 there seemed no immediate prospect of the river be- 

 coming impassable ; nor were there any crocodiles to be 

 seen, although we had been assured they swarmed here- 

 abouts. The tents were pitched under the shade of 



