CHAPTER XVII.
WE REACH THE ROY AN.
Haying explored tlie Settite into the gorge of the
mountain chain of Abyssinia, we now turned due
south from our camp of Delladilla, and at a distance
of twelve miles we reached the river Royan. The
intervening country was the high and flat table-land
of rich soil, that characterises the course of the Settite
and Atbara rivers ; this land was covered with hegleek
trees of considerable size, and the descent to the
Royan was through a valley, torn and washed by the
rains, similar in appearance to that of the Settite, but
upon a small scale, as the entire width did not exceed
a mile.
Descending the rugged ground, we arrived at the
margin of the river. At this season (February) the
bed was perfectly dry sand, about ninety yards from
bank to bank, and the high-water mark upon the
perpendicular sides was a little above nine feet deep.
The inclination was extremely rapid : thus the Royan
during the rainy season must be a most frightful
torrent, that supplies a large body of water to the
Settite, but which runs dry almost immediately upon
the cessation of the rains.
We descended the bank in a spot that had been
broken down by elephants, and continued our course
up stream along the sandy bed, which formed an
excellent road. The surface was imprinted with the
footsteps of every variety of game, and numerous
holes about two feet deep had been dug in the sand
by the antelopes and baboons to procure water. Great
numbers of the oterop, a small reddish-brown antelope
without horns (Calotragus Montanus) were drinking
at these little watering-places, and did not appear to
heed us. We disturbed many nellut and tbtel upon
the banks, and after having marched about four miles
along the river’s bed, we halted at a beautiful open
forest of large trees at the junction of Hor Mai
Gubba. This was a considerable torrent, which is
tributary to the Royan; at this spot it had cut
through a white sandstone cliff, about eighty feet
perpendicular : thus upon either side it was walled in.
The word Gubba is Abyssinian for the Nabbuk, therefore
the torrent was the Nabbuk river: this flowed
past the village of Mai Gubba, which is the headquarters
of Mek Nimmur, from which we were not
twenty-five miles distant. We camped in a forest
of the largest trees that we had as yet seen in Africa,
and as we had observed the fresh tracks of horses on
the sand, some of my Arabs went in search of the
aggageers of Taher Sherrif’s party whom they had expected
to meet at this point. While they were gone,