[Footnote 7: This trill is maintained on the same note—the upper B flat of the feminine vocal compass—and is produced by a vibration of the tip of the tongue on the hard palate. Many European ladies have tried to give a rendering of it, but without success. In Lower Egypt the “joy-trilling” is called _zungareet_.] [Footnote 8: “The Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia,” 1867, p. 525.] [Footnote 9: Ib. p. 523.] [Footnote 10: “Life in Abyssinia,” 1868, p. 101] [Footnote 11: “The great plain comes to an end within a few miles of Gedaref, the ground becomes uneven and rocky, and Gedaref itself is situated in an open valley surrounded by bare hills of basaltic rock.”—Sir W. Garstin, “Report upon the Basin of the Upper Nile,” 1904.] [Footnote 12: “The shotel (sword) is an awkward-looking weapon. Some, if straight, would be nearly four feet long; they are two-edged, and curved to a semicircle, like a reaper’s sickle. It is a very clumsy weapon to manage. Many of the swords are made of the soft iron of the country and bend on the least stress. The handles are made of the horn of the rhinoceros, sawn into three longitudinal pieces, and incised so as to end in sharp points parallel to the blades. The shank is usually clinched over a half-dollar beaten convex. I should scarcely mind a blow from a sword thus mounted, as, were the striker to give his wrist any play, in order to make his cut at all effective, he could not fail sending one of the highly ornamental but very useless points of his hilt into his own wrist. . . . In the use of the gun the natives are in general exceedingly clumsy. They prefer large, heavy matchlocks, to load which is a labour of some minutes. They carry their powder in hollow canes fitted into a leathern belt worn round the waist; and, having no fixed charge, pour out at hazard a small quantity into the hand. This they measure with the eye, occasionally putting back a little if it appear too much, or adding a little if it seem not enough. After this operation has been performed two or three times, till they are pretty well satisfied as to the quantity, it is poured into the gun-barrel. The proper charge is now tested by the insertion of the ramrod. Lastly, when all is settled, some rag and a small bar or ball of roughly wrought iron are rammed down. This last operation (with the exception that the ramrod often sticks in the rag for half an hour) is not difficult, as the ball is made of about a quarter of an inch less diameter than the bore of the piece for which it is intended. It is great fun to see these gunners, when taken unawares by a sudden alarm; one can’t find his flint, another has lost his steel; then there is the striking of a light, blowing the match, priming the gun, fixing the match to a proper length and direction; and, lastly, sticking into the ground the rest, which nearly all of them use, especially if their piece be of the heavy description. There is one thing in their favour—that the mere sound of driving in