HOT SPRINGS OF TA'hOU. 299 



about two days' journey towards the north-east, 

 before we came to the river Hawash in that 

 direction. The name of the place was Ta'hou, and 

 the caravan route, from Owssa to Gondah, passed 

 close to the neighbourhood of this evil spot, the 

 principal features of which, I was given to under- 

 stand, were, several boiling springs, a few yards 

 distance from each other, that threw up columns 

 of hot water and vapour, several feet high. Around 

 the borders of these steam fountains a large 

 quantity of a very white stone is found. From 

 this circumstance, I inferred, that they were of the 

 same character as the geysers of Iceland, depositing, 

 like them, a thick bed of silex around their 

 apertures. 



Ohmed Medina left me, to perform the usual 

 vesper adorations before and after sunset. By the 

 time he had finished, and returned to ask how the 

 wound in my hand felt, I had almost forgotten the 

 circumstance, for the pain had subsided, and the 

 sting had left no trace of a wound. 



When I retired to rest, the remainder of the 

 bullock left uncooked the evening before, was being 

 prepared by my hungry escort. The Dankalli, as 

 far as I could observe, make but one regular meal 

 a day, and that after sunset. • They eat, certainly, 

 at any other time, when anything is put before 

 them, but this is very irregular, and considered 

 only as an extraordinary indulgence. 



