48 PERSONAL NARRATIFR 



We were to have started on the 26 th February, but 

 a disturbance arose between some of the Tigr^an troops 

 in the neighbouring villages and the followers of a rebel 

 chief, who had endeavoured, more Ahyssinico, to annex 

 territory, and it was considered by Major Eoome, the 

 political officer, not advisable that a small party should 

 leave the camp until matters were quieter. However, 

 next day everything was again peaceable, and we started. 

 The road led over the shoulder of Akub Teriki by a path 

 composed of huge blocks of stone, then along a terrace- 

 like flat, and across a saddle dividing two great vaUeys, 

 one running to the Komayli pass, the other into the 

 Hamas valley, a feeder of the Mareb. The latter afforded 

 a superb view, being bordered with huge precipices of 

 sandstone and trachyte, the heights fringed with juniper 

 forest. The juniper generally grows freely on the sand- 

 stone, and its deep sombre cypress colour contrasts 

 finely with the white of the rocks. 



I found Carter, who had started before me, upon a 

 rise beyond the saddle, hard at work with a plane-table 

 mapping the hills around. My mules detained us, as, 

 although only very lightly laden, their loads, owing to 

 the badness of the saddles and the want of skill amongst 

 the drivers, slipped off as usual at every little ascent 

 or descent, so that we did not reach our camping-ground 

 till dark. It was a bitterly cold night, and in the morn- 

 ing the little meadow on which our camp stood was white 

 with hoar-frost. 



The next day was spent on the great sandstone plateau 

 between the Komayli and Haddas valleys. This is, like 



