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EASTERN ETHIOPIA 



end, wliicU has a sfuid}' shore bordered with thie.k reed- 

 beds, interrupted here and there witli luppopotanius 

 tracks. Behind these reed-beds there are dense thickets 

 of thorn trees and spaces covered with green grass 

 around the spot where the river flows into the hike. 

 Here we were able to satisfy ourselves of the nature and 

 variety of the animal life occupying this dense thicket 

 around the mouth of tlie river, for the soft sandy ooze 



Aiiicnig tlie rocks we found many reeil-buok and succeeded 

 in obtaining some good lieads. 



was c(jvered with tracings more thickly than the 

 columns of the great temple at Thebes, and they were 

 easier to read. Here were the marks of innumerable 

 birds' feet : — wading birds, duck, goose, il)is, and the 

 pink feathers and bones of tlie flamingo. Among 

 these footmarks by the edge of, and leading into the 

 reed-beds, were the huge footprints of the hippo- 

 potamus, large enough when filled with water to ser^'e 



