from Somali-Land and Abyssinia. 251 



countries lying between Zaila on the Somali-Land coast and 

 Adis Ababa, the capital of Abyssinia, that this portion of 

 Mr. Degen's route calls for no special remark. 



We may likewise pass over his trip from the capital to 

 Lake Zwai, over ground visited in 1899 by Mr. J. J. Harrison 

 and a year later by Mr. A. E. Pease (cf. l Ibis/ 1901, pp. 278 

 & 607) . 



Although a number of valuable bird-skins were procured 

 while passing through these lands, no species was met with 

 of which examples had not previously been obtained by 

 Lord Lovat or by the travellers already mentioned. 



As might be expected, it was during his journey to the 

 north, from Adis Ababa to Lake Tsana, that Mr. Degen came 

 across the most interesting forms of bird-life. This portion 

 of his route lay across extremely difficult country, where the 

 high plateaux were intersected by the mighty gorges of the 

 Blue Nile and its tributaries. From Mr. Degen's somewhat 

 copious journal I have endeavoured to make the following 

 precis, which will give some idea of the great difficulties 

 encountered and successfully overcome. 



Having engaged men for the trip and purchased the 

 requisite number of mules, Mr. Degen and his caravan left 

 the British Agency at Adis Ababa on the 14th of April, 1902. 

 On the third day's march a sudden turn in the road brought 

 the party to the edge of the Gombitchu plateau, where it 

 terminates abruptly in a precipice about 5,000 feet high 

 overhanging the Mogre River. The descent was at last 

 safely accomplished, but the mules required very careful 

 handling and mano3uvring, and even then, in descending the 

 cliffs to the first ridge, several animals became wedged 

 between boulders of basalt and had to be unloaded. Manv 

 parts of the descent entailed a series of jumps from one great 

 rocky step to another, with a drop of four or five feet between 

 them, recalling the structure of the Pyramids. 



Having crossed the Mogre River and regained the high 

 plateau opposite, the same difficulties were again encountered 

 in making the descent to the Blue Nile, or Abbai as it is locally 

 called, especially in traversing the deep ravine leading to the 



