ded throughout its long course,
and finally absorbed in the lagoons of Aussa. The canopy of fleecy clouds,
which, as mid-day dawned, hung thick and heavy over the lofty blue peaks
beyond, gave sad presage of the deluge that was pouring between its
verdant banks from the higher regions of the source."

The party now descended to enjoy the real luxuries of shade and water, in
a region where they had hitherto seen nothing but salt and lava. At first
thinly wooded, they found the soil covered with tall rank grass, from
which, however, the perpetual incursions of the robber tribes scare the
flocks and herds. Deeper down, they entered among gum-bearing acacias and
fruit-trees. "Guinea-fowl rose before them, groves of tamarisk, ringing to
the voice of the bell-bird, flanked every open glade, and the fractured
branches of the nobletrees gave proof of the presence of the most
ponderous of the mammalia."

Forcing their way, with some difficulty, through this jungle, they
obtained their first near view of the river, a "deep volume of turbid
water," covered with drift wood, and rolling, at the rate of three miles
an hour, between clayey walls twenty-five feet in height. The breadth fell
short of sixty yards, but the flood was not yet at its maximum. Willows,
drooping over the stream, were festooned with recent drift, hanging many
feet above the level of the banks; and it was evident that the waters had
lately been out, to the overflowing of the country for many miles. The
river, now upwards of 2200 feet above the level of the ocean forms, in
this quarter, the nominal boundary of the kingdom of Shoa.

They were now on "the spot which exhibited the forest life of Africa." In
a lake adjoining the river, the hippopotamus "rolled his unwieldy carcass
to the surface, and floating crocodiles, protruding his snout to blow a
snort that might be heard at the distance of a mile." An unfortunate
donkey, which had been partly drowned and partly strangled, was thrown out
of the camp. No sooner had night fallen, than this prey roused the
appetites of the whole forest, the howl and growl of wild beasts was heard
at their banquet on the donkey throughout the night. Lightening played
over the woods; the "violent snapping of the branches proclaimed the
nocturnal movements of the elephant and hippopotamus;" the loud roar and
startling snort were constantly heard; and by morning every vestige of the
dead animal, even to the skull, had disappeared.