"It is near the base of a mountain called Regiaff, and consists of a large, flat stone supported on a pedestal, very much like the centre-table of a parlor in America. It is a slab of syenite that must have become detached as the mountain decomposed. It is so large that the natives often seek shelter beneath it from the rain or the noonday sun, and their cattle find it a comfortable resting-place. The pedestal is of clay, and the broad roof over it protects it from the weather, so that it has remained unharmed for many centuries. "The natives have a superstition that any one who sleeps beneath this stone will die in a short time. The belief probably arose from some one having been killed by the fall of a fragment from the lower surface. Several large pieces are partly detached, and a very slight disturbance would cause them to tumble to the ground. "The measurement of this wonderful stone is as follows: Ft. In. Length of slab 45 4 Breadth of slab 45 8 Thickness from above to below 4 9 Height from ground 10 5 Diameter of clay pedestal 23 0 "The same formation of rock as the one above described can be seen at Monument Creek, in the neighborhood of Manitou, Colorado. When the earth beneath the slab is partly worn away the stone protects it from the weather, and thus these natural tables are formed. The pedestals of the Manitou table-rocks are formed of a coarse sandstone, while the tables are of mica schist. Both of them are subject to the action of the elements, and since the country has been known to the white man there has been a considerable disintegration of the rocks. Some of them are quite large, but I never heard of one equalling that at Regiaff." CHAPTER XIV. ARRIVAL AT FATIKO.--THE MARCH CONTINUED.--FRANK'S ANTELOPE HUNT. While the party was in camp, waiting for the order to move, the conversation naturally turned on previous experiences of travellers in the same region. Abdul said the Shoolis were generally regarded as a friendly race. They usually treated travellers kindly, and welcomed the peaceable merchant who brought goods to exchange for ivory. They had suffered frequently from the raids of slave-dealers, and their occasional hostility to strangers arose from this fact. They are a credulous people, under ordinary circumstances, and sometimes can be made to believe things that are not to their advantage. For example, at the time of Baker's expedition for suppressing the slave-trade the slave-dealers managed to convince the Shoolis that the real object of Baker was to capture the whole tribe and carry it into captivity. In this way they brought about an alliance between the Shoolis and themselves, and made an attack upon Baker, with the intention of destroying his entire force.