We started on the following morning at a quarter to eight. The temperature was then below the freezing-point, and we felt the cold keenly. Our road lay, for some distance, through the tall jungle grass, but when we emerged from it the scenery changed completely. We entered a broken, mountainous district, where the heights rise directly from the lake, and the traveller passes from one surpassingly lovely vista to another. Many palms grow here, and the banks and dells are covered with wild flowers—a varied, abundant growth excelling even that which we had seen on reaching the lake plateau. Great numbers of butterflies, large and small, familiar and unfamiliar, some of sober hue, others brightly gorgeous, were flitting among the blossoms. The giant hemp abounds here, and the stems, some eighteen feet high, tower above one. At that season the daytime and the evening were alike cloudless. The whole region is fertile and charming.[62] It is—for that country—thickly populated. There are many villages, groups of scattered _tokhuls_, and as we advanced we found these yet more numerous. They lie, perhaps, four miles apart on an average. Cattle are seen in all. Very few cases of serious sickness came to my notice hereabout, and the people generally seemed healthy, as well as prosperous. I saw no money in circulation, and all trade appears to be carried on by barter. As we drew near to our halting-place for the night, those who were leading our column came upon two _tokhuls_ full of Habashes. They were about fifteen in number, and, as they carried rifles of an old French pattern, there is very little doubt that they were soldiers. I was in the rear, and when I passed them they were squatting on the ground and staring at those who rode by in a manner that was evidently meant to be grossly insulting. Moreover, they had kindled the grass on both sides of the track, and we were obliged to trot ahead in the midst of smoke and flames. Oddly enough, both the donkeys and mules took the adventure quite quietly, though the fire was close enough to singe their hair and burn their feet. The Abyssinian “regulars” are a class apart, and are unpopular; they are mostly rapacious, hectoring, and ill-conditioned, and are a bane to all from whom they can levy exactions. Our camping-ground was close to the village of Tschera, which stands on an islet near the lake-shore. It is reached by wading through about fifty yards of water lying over firm sand. Further out is the pretty island of Mitraha, on which we could see houses and a church. My companions took out the boat and their guns and brought back a brace of duck and a green pigeon. Earlier in the day five guinea-fowl had been added to the larder. We sent two soldiers to buy meat for the men. They purchased five sheep, for which they paid four dollars. This works out at a rate of about one and sixpence per sheep, English money.