KOMAYLI PASS— SUE U. 27 



being removed by blasting, whilst over others a ramp 

 was made to carry the road. A large number of Bombay 

 Sappers and Beloochees were occupied in this work, and 

 the narrow gorge resounded with the hum of voices and 

 the ring of hammers and crowbars, as it had certainly 

 never done before since the torrent first cut it out of the 

 solid rock. 



On each side of the ravine rose steep beetling clijffs to 

 a great height. They are in most places quite inaccessible, 

 and on one occasion, in May, towards the close of the 

 expedition, a flood came down from the highlands, and 

 some mules and men were swept away. 



We reached the top of this gorge, and found the camp 

 at Suru, with the Beloochees under Major BeviU. It was 

 in a narrow cramped space, and uncomfortably hot in 

 the middle of the day. The lovely little Nectarinia 

 habessinica abounded in some small trees, and numerous 

 Hyraces inhabited the rocks around. I here also again 

 came upon Pectinator Spekei, the peculiar rodent first 

 seen at Hadoda. 



The next morning Dr. Boustead, of the Beloochees, who 

 had been out to look after elephants, returned, having 

 killed two in a valley about ten miles away to the east- 

 ward. I was busy skinning two or three squirrels and 

 other animals which I had shot the day before, and did 

 not start till mid-day. Owing to the reports of Shoho 

 thieving, I did not like to leave my mules alone, and 

 accompanied them. Soon their wretched condition began 

 to tell. One fell, and I transferred the greater part of 

 the load to my horse ; then another dropped ; and finally. 



