OOLITIC FOSSILS NEAR AGTJLA. 99 



out of a crowd, and that I never met with anything 

 but friendly greetings from the people who passed. They 

 were especially amicable in Tigrd. The usual conversa- 

 tion was something of the following kind : — 



Abyssinian (producing a small piece of cord, originally 

 blue, now of various colours, from around his neck) : 

 " Christi ?" which being interpreted was supposed to be 

 an inquiry as to the Englishman's Christianity. 



Englishman : " Yes," with a nod. 



Abyssinian: "Taib" (Arabic for "good," probably 

 the whole of the speaker's attainment in the language). 



The blue cord is in Abyssinia the mark of a Christian, 

 and I think there was often some doubt of our really 

 belonging to that religion, since we did not wear it. I 

 met one enthusiastic chaplain, who made a public 

 profession of his faith by conspicuously wearing a blue 

 necktie. 



Near Agula I at last found some fairly preserved 

 fossils in the limestone. All were bivalves, but they 

 comprised Ceromya, Pholadomya, and Trigonia of typi- 

 cally oolitic forms, which fully confirmed the opinion 

 expressed by the energetic French travellers, MM. Ferret 

 and Galinier, who first explored these formations. At 

 Dongolo, after much search, I obtained several well- 

 preserved specimens of a small Hemicidaris, also with 

 characteristically oolitic affinities. 



Instead of following the road from Agula to Dongolo, 

 I went for some miles down the valley of the Agula 

 river, which runs in a deep dell between cliffs of lime- 

 stone ; and then, crossing the hills to the Dongolo stream, 



h2 



