52 PERSONAL NARRATIVE. 



must be of older date than oolitic, as will be shown in a 

 subsequent page. 



We marched -back towards Takonda on the 2d March, 

 as we found that to go on to Dixa involved a very diffi- 

 cult descent, and we could see the town from near Halai. 

 On our return, we took a more western road, and came 

 to the edge of the plateau, from which there is a steep 

 descent to the west, into the valleys around Dixa. 



Near Anakonda, west of Takonda, the surface of the 

 sandstone consists of a hard white argillaceous rock. 

 From the edge of the plateau in this direction there is a 

 fine view, chiefly over a metamorphic country, but sand- 

 stones are seen to the north-west, and to the south-west 

 are the extraordinary hills near Adowa, said to be of 

 trachyte. In the centre of the undulating plain, which 

 stretches away to the Adowa range, is a remarkable 

 isolated pillar-Hke hiU, called TawhiH, which fies about 

 west by south from Takonda, at a distance of nearly 

 twenty mUes, and, judging from its form, is probably 

 also of trachyte. This is the more interesting as it serves 

 to some extent to indicate a connexion between the hUls 

 of Adowa and the remarkable rocky crags at Senafe. 



We had found the march from Takonda to Halai so 

 long and tedious that our mules had not arrived till 

 nearly nightfall, owing, of course, in great measure to 

 the frequent halts necessary for the purpose of readjust- 

 ing loads. On our return journey we halted half-way, in 

 a lovely valley, with fine sandstone clifis at the sides, a 

 running stream of beautifully clear cold water, a broad 

 expanse of turf in places, and, in others, along the edge 



