BAY OF AMPHILA. 171 
fire, enjoying a feast, consisting of about a dozen young eagles of 
an half grown size, recently taken from their nests, and about two 
bushels of shell-fish, all of whieh, after being broiled, were ate 
without either bread or salt ; and the natives seemed to consider 
it as a most delicious repast ; while the screams of the parent 
birds hovering over their heads, furnished very appropriate music 
to this savage entertainment. 
At the bottom of the bay, on the main land, lie the two villages 
of Madir and Duroro, the latter of which is considerably the 
larger, and more conveniently situated for traffic, as it lies 
scarcely half a mile removed from the port in which the dows 
usually anchor. From this point we made several excursions 
mounted upon mules, which we hired from the Dola of the place. 
The country over which we travelled on these occasions con- 
sisted of an extensive plain covered with brushwood, and bounded 
by a range of mountains, forming a kind of natural amphitheatre, 
at about fifteen miles distant in the interior, lying in a north- 
west and south-east direction, fronting the coast. To the north- 
ward of this range passes the road to Abyssinia, and beyond, 
in the same line on a clear day, part of the still loftier chain of 
mountains extending from Senafe to Taranta may be plainly 
distinguished, 
As the rains had only j ust commenced the vegetation appeared 
to be very scanty, and we consequently met with but little game, 
though during the fertile season large herds of deer are said to 
come down from the upper country, a circumstance not unlikely 
from the number of horns which we found lying scattered 
among the hills, A small species of hare, greatly resembling a 
