ETHIOPIAN SCENERY. 203 Arabs, travelling on foot or on donkeys. The women were unveiled, and wore the same cotton mantle as the men, reaching from the waist to the knees. They were all tolerably old, and, unlike the men, were excessively ugly. An Ababdeh, riding on his dromedary, joined company with us. He was naked to the loins, strongly and gracefully built, and sat erect on his high, narrow saddle, as if he and his animal were one — a sort of camel-centaur. His hair was profuse and bushy, but of a fine, silky texture, and " short Numidian curl," very different from the crisp wool of the genuine negro.

In the afternoon we reached the Nile again, at his Eleventh Cataract. For a space of two or three miles his bed is filled with masses of black rock, in some places forming dams, over which the current roars in its swift descent. The eastern bank is desert and uninhabited, but the western delighted the eye with the green brilliance of its fields. In a patch of desert grass we started a large and beautiful gazelle, spotted like a fallow-deer. I rode towards it and approached within thirty yards before it moved away. At sunset we reached a village called Ginnaynetoo, the commencement of the Berber country The inhabitants, who dwelt mostly in tents of palm-matting, were very friendly. As I was lying in my tent, in the evening, two, who appeared to be the principal persons of the place, came in, saluted me with "Peace be with you!" and asked for my health, to which I replied : " Very good, Allah be praised ! " Each of them then took my hand in his, pressed it to his lips and forehead, and quietly retired.

We resumed our march through a dry, rolling country, grown with thorns, acacias in flower, and occasional doumtrees. Beyond the Nile, whose current was no longer to be