as the tall Arab patriarch of threescore years and
ten, with his long grey Jocks flowing over his brawny
shoulders, stepped as lightly as a goat from rock
to rock along the rough margin of the river, I
followed him in admiration.
The country was very beautiful; we were within <
twenty miles of lofty mountains, while at a distance *
of about thirty-five or forty miles were the' high1
peaks of the Abyssinian Alps. The entire land was
richly wooded, although open, and adapted for hunt- f
ing upon horseback. Through this wild and lovely S
country the river Settite flowed in an ever-changing
course. At times the bed was several hundred:
yards wide, with the stream, contracted at this season,
flowing gently over rounded pebbles; the water was
at clear as glass; in other places huge masses of S(
rock impeded the flow of water, and caused dangerous
rapids; then, as the river passed through a range of
hills, perpendicular cliffs of sandstone and of basalt
walled it within a narrow channel,* through which
it rushed with great impetuosity; issuing from these
straits it calmed its fury in a deep and broad pool,
from which it again commenced a gentle course over
sands and pebbles. At that season the river would
have been perfection for salmon, being a series of
rapids, shallows, deep and rocky gorges, and quiet
silent pools of unknown depth; in the latter places of
security the hippopotami retreated after their nocturnal
rambles upon terra firmci. The banks of this
beautiful river were generally thickly clothed with
bright green nabbuk trees, that formed a shelter for
innumerable guinea-fowl, and the black francolin
partridge. Herds of antelopes of many varieties
were forced to the river to drink, as the only
water within many miles; but these never remained
long among the thick nabbuk, as the lions and
leopards inhabited that covert expressly to spring
.upon the unwary animal whose thirst prompted a
too heedless advance. Wherever there was a sandbank
in the river, a crocodile basked in the morning
sunshine; some of these were of enormous size.
Hippopotami had trodden a path along the margin
of the river, as these animals came out to feed shortly
after dark, and travelled from pool to pool. Where-
ever a plot of tangled and succulent herbage grew
among the shady nabbuks, there were the marks of
the harrow-like teeth, that had torn and rooted up
the rank grass like an agricultural implement.
After walking about two miles, we noticed a herd
of hippopotami, in a pool below a rapid : this was
surrounded by rocks, except upon one side, where
the rush of water had thrown up a bank of pebbles
and sand. Our old Neptune did not condescend
to bestow the slightest attention when I pointed
out these animals; they were too wide awake ; but
he immediately quitted the river’s bed, and we
followed him quietly behind the fringe of bushes
upon the border, from which we carefully examined
the water. About half a mile below this spot, as
we clambered over the intervening rocks through