One of the greatest dangers in riding after the elephant proceeds from the stumps of the trees which he breaks in forcing his way among them, and also from the young trees which, bending without breaking, recoil with such violence that they often have been known to dash both horse and driver to the ground; whereupon the elephant generally turns, and, trampling on his puny enemy, luxuriously tears in pieces "the lord of the creation," limb by limb. Besides this, the soil, like that of all hot countries during the dry season, is cracked and split into such deep chasms, that riding is attended with very great danger. After hunting the elephant and the rhinoceros for some days, Bruce was anxious to proceed on his journey, but Ozoro Esther insisted on his remaining with her until she and her attendants returned to Gondar. At last, on the 15th of January, they separated. Bruce on that day bade adieu to his Abyssinian friends, and to the beautiful Ozoro Esther, for whom he had long entertained a feeling of esteem and affection. With a heavy heart he now left Tcherkin, and the road being bad and intricate, and the camels overladen, his party proceeded very slowly. During the whole day they travelled through woods which were almost impenetrable. The thermometer was often at 115°, there was little or no motion in the air, and the ground was rent in every direction by the excessive heat. Occasionally they crossed pools of impure muddy water, the resort of buffaloes and elephants, and, reaching the banks of the river Woldo, they passed the night there in no little alarm from human footmarks in the sand, which, by the length of the foot and the breadth of the heel, the guides pronounced to be Shangalla. Early next morning they were again on their journey, and in about five hours they reached Sancaha, the old frontier territory of Abyssinia, and which was subject to Bruce's government of Ras el Feel. The town consisted of about three hundred huts neatly built of canes, and curiously thatched with leaves of the same. The immense plain which surrounds it belongs to no one, and its wilds and woods are the haunts of beasts of various descriptions.