The Cradle of the Blue Nile (Volume 1); A Visit to the Court of King John of Ethiopia (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. THE FEONTIER OF ETHIOPIA. February 20th.?We started early, sorely against the will of our camel drivers, for it was pouring with rain, and leaving the baggage in charge of the soldiers, ?a set of bare-legged, hardy-looking fellows, armed to the teeth with knife, gun, and revolver ? pushed forward on our mules, through a barren, mountainous country, dotted here and there with flowering mimosas. We presently came to the dry bed of a considerable river, where the tropical vegetation grew in wild luxuriance, and the hot, damp air was laden with perfume, like the interior of a greenhouse. From among the bushes the tiny Beni Israel (a pretty species of gazelle) gazed at us with its large eyes, while overhead a family of brightly-plumaged birds, with long hooky beaks, sat billing and cooing most lovingly, looking like some strange Israelitish race of turtle-doves. When my brother shot one of them, her companion seemed quite broken-hearted, and flew round and round overhead, uttering a low and mournful cry. Further on, we entered a narrow mountain glen, bounded by mighty walls of black rock; and here our camp was pitched in an open space, where a water- VOL. I. D fall, now dwindled to a diminutive stream, fell over a lofty pile of grey boulders, and formed a natural bath in the silver sand below. A party of brown Shohos, marching noiselessly along in Indian file, armed with shield and spear, were the only other occupants of this wild spot. The tent was soon pitched, and our picturesque escort gathered rcamd the camp fire to polish up their rusty arms. As night closed in, the mules and camels were secured close together, for fear of wild beasts; and the Naib retired, in solitary dignity, to a little tent he had erected under a mimosa tree. We were in the saddle ...