28 PERSONAL NARRATIVE. 



after endless delay, I only reached the camp at Mayen or 

 Undul Wells after nightfall. 



A great change took place in the fauna on this part of 

 the road. Snru is 2,000 feet above the sea, Undul Wells 

 about 3,400, and the sub-tropical fauna is entered, con- 

 taining some of the animals peculiar to the Abyssinian 

 highlands. Instead of the white-breasted crow of ZuUa, 

 a black, short-tailed bird {Corvus affinis) occurred. It is 

 very raven-like ; indeed, it is classed as a raven by some 

 naturalists. A king crow {Dicrurns divaricatus), a very 

 noisy yeUow-billed hornbiU {Tochus jlavirostris) , a crate- 

 ropus (C. leucopygius), a large partridge {Francolinus 

 Erkelii), and a very handsome bee-eater {Merops 

 Lafresnayi) were conspicuous. 



The next morning was devoted to the wells. Two 

 had been dug in the gravel of the torrent bed, and 

 Lieut. Le Mesurier, an old acquaintance, who was in 

 charge, was busily engaged enlarging and deepening 

 them, and adapting one for a kind of chaiQ-pump. 

 The rocks at Mayen, though not quite so hard as 

 at Suru, are very massive and quartzose, striking 

 north-north-west and dipping at a high angle to the 

 westward. They consist of various kinds of gneiss 

 and hornblend schist, with quartz veins and a few 

 greenstone dykes. 



Our examination of tlie well was interrupted by the 

 return of a corporal of Sappers, who had started for 

 Senafd, but after going about two miles, had been knocked 

 off his mule by some Shohos, and both his mule and his 

 rifle had been carried off". A chase was soon organized, 



