216 REACH SAGAGAHDAH. 



minded people ! to what excellence might not edu- 

 cation raise them ! Their great natural abilities, 

 now only developed in the commission of crime, if 

 only properly cultivated, would, I am convinced, 

 lead to a national character as extreme for good as 

 it now is, unfortunately, for evil. 



We thus marched for about two hours, having 

 descended, almost immediately after the start, a 

 rough, stony, but gentle declivity from the lava- 

 strewn plateau of Arabderah, to the wide and 

 extensive fissure-plain of Sagagahdah. We were 

 now suddenly halted by a gesture of Lohitu, who 

 pointed with his spear into the mirage, that seemed 

 to fill with water the whole upper or western end 

 of the plain, on the edge of which, but on the dis- 

 tant opposite side, we could see two horsemen 

 coming at full speed towards us. We had stood 

 but a very few minutes, when Ebin Izaak, on his 

 mule, came gallopping up, and calling to me, as I 

 thought, to follow him, passed us as fast as he could 

 go in the direction to meet the new comers. Just 

 as I was pushing my sIoav mule into an attempt to 

 gallop, Ohmed Mahomed, who came running up, 

 called out to me to remain, and, as I did not exactly 

 understand him, Lohitu caught hold of my bridle 

 and made signs for me to dismount. I soon learnt 

 that our halting-place for the day had been deter- 

 mined upon, immediately the approaching Kafilah 

 had come into sight, and already, a little in the 

 rear, our camels were being unloaded. 



