SKETCHES IN THE SOUDAN 77 



women do not run away or hide their faces at the sight of a 

 strange man, as is customary among Arabs. They examined 

 my clothes and boots, my arms and saddlery, my helmet and 

 belts, but their astonishment was indeed great when I pulled 

 up my sleeve and showed them the white skin of my arm with 

 the blue veins upon it, for never before had they seen a white 

 man. The children as well as the grown-up people were 

 exceedingly dirty. They were most inquisitive about everything 

 on and about me, and when I began to smoke, wanted to follow 

 my example; being totally unused to tobacco, the cigarettes 

 I rolled for them only made them cough violently, at which, 

 however, they seemed highly pleased. At sunset a dinner was 

 set before me of pieces of white bread soaked in highly-peppered 

 melted butter, and, of course, there was more * tef.' About 

 8 p.m., when completely tired out I had the best intention to go 

 to sleep, in came a party of shoums from the big village to 

 which the guide had wished to take me. The chief brought 

 me a present of bread and some jars of ' marisi,' or native beer, 

 which my visitors quickly emptied. This beverage is made of 

 fermented bread and flour in water, and is usually drunk out of 

 a cowhorn. The shoums had various firearms, but the others 

 carried only the usual Abyssinian shield and spear. They quite 

 filled the house, and seemed never to be going, or to get tired 

 of asking Wasa questions about me. Near midnight, to my 

 intense relief, they at last departed, and I lay down to sleep 

 on the cowhide in close proximity to my host, and surrounded 

 by a dozen or so of his calves, my pony, and some sheep. 

 Owing to the altitude the night was very chilly, and as the 

 eaves of the roof did not meet the wall on opposite sides of 

 the room, but allowed a free current of air to pass, it was not 

 easy to keep warm without blankets. At three the next morn- 

 ing some women came into the house to grind corn for the 

 day's consumption, but I got up only just before sunrise, and 

 on going outside was surprised at the magnificence and extent 

 of the view from Adufani, for so the place was called. The 

 village was built on the highest point of the lofty mountain 

 chain, and overlooked several smaller ranges, it being in its 

 turn overlooked by many a lofty peak extending far away 

 towards the mighty mountains of Abyssinia proper. The hill- 

 sides were more or less bare, and I saw at once that this was 



