172 
EASTERN ETHIOPIA 
XIV 
saw the recent footmarks of a lion ; this warned us not 
to visit the lake unarmed. 
One morning the lake was visited by an enormous 
dock of flamingoes. We gradually crept along the edge 
of the reed-bed to obtain a good view of them. The 
birds were so numerous that they covered about an 
acre of the lake. On approaching them a few took 
wing, and as each rose in the air it had the clumsy 
appearance of an aeroplane. Suddenly a gun was fired; 
The Head of a Wart-Hog. 
This is the ugliest mammal in Ethiopia. 
this huge flock of birds rose on the wing and the 
rustling noise made by the flapping of their huge wings 
reminded me of wind suddenly striking and rushing 
through the tall trees'of a forest: “And when-they 
went I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise 
of great waters” (Ezek., chap. i. 24). The feast 
of colour, the magnificent cloud of rose pink which 
covered the lake as these birds sailed across it, defies 
description. 
