V 
RECONNAISSANCE OF ABYSSINIAN BORDER 129 
short by the Abbasgul herds. We found an immense number of 
cows watering here, the chief wealth of the Abbasgul being in 
cattle. The wells at Waror are narrow, circular funnels seventy 
feet deep, sunk through the red alluvial earth of the Jerer 
Valley. Steps were cut all the way down, and water was passed 
to the surface by a chain of nine naked men, standing one 
above the other, their feet resting on these steps, the full and 
empty leather buckets being passed up and down from hand to 
hand to an accompaniment of singing in chorus. We showed 
the Abbasgul how to do it with a large bucket and a long rope, 
whereat they were greatly pleased. 
The Waror pasture, with its closely -cropped grass, under 
A CROUCHING LION. 
open thorn -jungle, looked like an English orchard ; and the 
wind blowing coldly with a leaden sky, heightened the resem- 
blance. Round the base of a small rock called Dubbur, perched 
on the top of some high ground five miles from Waror, beisa 
and ostriches abound. At one place, near Waror, my brother 
found the ground pounded up, where some Midgans’ dogs had 
brought a beisa to bay, and in the grass the blood of the 
animal and a broken arrow ; close by were the pugs of a lion. 
A lion roared at night while we were at Waror. The people 
said one was in the habit of showing himself about once a 
day in broad daylight, and that he had killed twelve men, the 
last of whom fell a victim the day before we halted at the wells. 
The Abbasgul headmen came and gave us quantities of milk, 
calling us their protectors. They said that their tribe was once 
rich, but was now poor, because of the Abyssinians. They were 
K 
