MARAWA—DILDI. 81 



marcli of sixteen miles over a series of steep ascents and 

 descents, forming one of the most fatiguing marclies of 

 the whole route. Of the convoy of mules and ponies 

 with which I marched from Senaf^ to Magdala, more 

 animals fell from exhaustion and had to be abandoned 

 upon this march than on any other. All the animals 

 were half starved ; grain alone had been procurable at 

 most of the halting-places we had recently passed, and 

 the poor beasts were left night after night without grass 

 or hay. Even our horses, for which we could usually 

 purchase grass from the Abyssinians, were getting thin. 



The character of the valleys about Marawa and Dildi 

 is different from that of any previously traversed. The 

 country is a network of wooded glens, without any large 

 range. All the sides of the valleys show signs of agri- 

 culture, all have evidently been cleared in patches, and 

 cultivated for a season or two, and then abandoned, a, 

 common system in wild countries, where the land is 

 largely in excess of the wants of the population. Bushes 

 and trees spring up again in the abandoned fields, but 

 grow in plots, which still show the limits of the clearing. 

 A peculiar appearance is thus given to the landscape ; 

 from a distance it almost looks as if the sides of the 

 valleys were covered by fields with hedges, as in 

 England. 



At Dildi there was a comparatively large camp, much 

 baggage having been left here. I started the next morn- 

 ing with Captain Arbuthnot, an aide-de-camp of Sir E. 

 Napier, intending to make a double march and reach the 

 Takkazzyd. The road from Dildi ascended a steep incline 



