232 PROPOSED MARRIAGE. 



Izaak, who told me as I went after them that they 

 were nothing bnt grass; yet so distinct was the 

 appearance, and so natural the motion given to 

 their well defined image by the flickering of the 

 vapour, that I did not hesitate to go in pursuit, 

 feeling convinced that he must be mistaken. 



Izaak, after stripping everything eatable off 

 the bones, very carefully deposited them again in 

 the hollow of his shield, observing, at the same 

 time, they would do for a boxeish for some of the 

 camel-drivers. We now proceeded in very friendly 

 conversation, respecting the likelihood of a mar- 

 riage taking place between my Queen and Salie 

 Selasse, the King of Shoa, which some of the 

 wiser people of Tajourah could alone surmise, 

 as the probable cause of the numerous valuable 

 presents, which had been sent up to that monarch. 

 Whilst I was endeavouring to explain the impos- 

 sibility of such a thing, and turning in my mind 

 to what reasonable object I could attribute our 

 present intercourse with Shoa, we were suddenly 

 hailed by a voice I knew, and looking in the 

 direction from whence it proceeded, saw before us, 

 in a low jungle, the slave boy of Ohmed Mahomed, 

 who was evidently on the watch for our approach. 



At his request we dismounted, and leaving the 

 mules in his charge, we pushed aside the strong 

 thorny boughs of myrrh and young mimosa-trees, 

 and made our way to the edge of a small stream 

 that crept along, shaded from the sun by the 



