We saw that it would save us much time and trouble if our beasts were towed across in this way, and, after some deliberation, we asked the ferryman what his charge would be for transporting seventy donkeys. He replied that he would do it for seven dollars. This, on consideration, seemed a fair bargain, and we resolved to make an early start on the following day. The baggage was to go over in our own boat, which could be hauled across by means of a line made fast on both banks. After concluding this arrangement we went back to camp, carrying the rope with us. It might have tempted Charon—I don’t know his Abyssinian name—if we had left it. We had sent Walda Mariam as an envoy to King Tecla Haimanot, whose lands we should enter after crossing the river. The king was in residence not far off, and in the evening our man returned with a satisfactory message giving us all necessary permission. The jurisdiction of Tecla Haimanot extended only ten or twelve miles northward beside the lake, and we found that we should have to obtain the consent of Ras Mangousha, whose dominions march here with those of the King of Godjam, before we could complete the circuit of the lake. [Illustration: THE DONKEYS CROSSING THE FERRY. _See p._ 140.] [Illustration: THE MULES SWIMMING THE FERRY. _See p._ 140.] We made an early start on the morning of the 30th. I went to the ferry and had our Berthon boat put together. We found that our plan answered excellently. Our boat, loaded with baggage, was easily hauled over, and by a quarter to ten half a score of donkeys had been carried across in tow of the ferrymen’s _tankoa_. Some of the boys would put their arms under a donkey and lift it bodily into place by the ferryboat at the starting-point, where the water was shallow. It was a scrambling, pushing, splashing business, and they thoroughly enjoyed standing in the stream and basking in the sunshine. A number of Habashes from Woreb helped, and our crossing was a merry, pleasant scene. The mules did not go “by ferry,” but swam over with men beside them, as at other deep water passages. It was all done and we had landed in Godjam without mishap of any kind by a quarter-past one. The last load that I took over in our boat consisted of nine of our men, rather more passengers, I fancy, than I was “licensed to carry.” We scrambled up some rocks on the further side, and then found ourselves on level ground, where travelling would be easy. Fully half of the donkeys had been reloaded by the time we finished lunch, and we moved ahead with this detachment. The country on the further side of the Nile seemed to me to be in a more prosperous state. There was more cultivation of dhurra and grain. The natives were fatter and looked, by comparison, “well-to-do.” I heard afterwards that the ruler here is not so extortionate as certain other chieftains. I believe that we were the first Europeans to traverse this part of Godjam.