A HEAVY HAILSTORM. 231 or thirty families, in the neighbourhood of Cassala. The Hadendowas, he declared, came from Dhalak, and other Red Sea islands ; the Beni-Amers (his tribe), Dabainas and Shukreeyehs, from the Hejaz ; and the Hallangas, from Yemen.

Although he was intending to return to Haikota when he left us, he said he would soon move some distance farther north, with his flocks and herds, in order to obtain fresh pasturage ; during the rainy season, his people mostly went to higher ground than the valley of the Gash. During one rainy season some years ago, he stated that there was such a heavy hailstorm near Haikota, that the hail lay on the ground, nearly a foot deep, for seven or eight days. This statement we could hardly swallow, though very probably they have hail there sometimes.