288 ANOTHER QUARREL. 



who to-day came annoying me a great deal for the 

 performance of this part of the stipulation. On 

 applying to Ohmed Mahomed for an explanation, he 

 said that they were justified in claiming it, not from 

 any promise he had made, but because the men of 

 the additional escort, the British Embassy had been 

 necessitated to engage on the road, always received 

 a bullock to regale themselves with every other 

 day. He was exceedingly impertinent in reply 

 to my observation that I had no authority to incur 

 such an additional expense, and which might 

 probably be considered to have been incurred 

 unnecessarily on our arrival in Shoa. He turned 

 upon his heel, saying, loud enough to be heard 

 by the Hy Soumaulee, that I must pay for the 

 bullocks, and was a fool to raise a question 

 about such a trifle, and that where I spent one 

 dollar the Embassy had expended one hundred; 

 concluding, as he retired beneath his shielding of 

 mats, " Go away, go away, give the dollars, if the 

 English want the road the English must pay for 

 it." It was no use quarrelling with him, to do 

 which I felt exceedingly inclined, and it would 

 have been some satisfaction, to have discharged 

 the shot of one barrel of my carbine, into the 

 bare posteriors of this black rascal, exposed as 

 he was whilst creeping into his retreat. My 

 situation however did not admit of such a display 

 of feeling, and I retired to my hut to consider 

 upon some plan to prevent the extortion, which, 



