She was very soon down upon her knees before a broad circular pan of earthenware placed upon three stones, which was being heated for baking-bread over a glaring fire of sticks. Taking a short horn, in which was contained the well-powdered dust of the oily seed of the cotton plant, she scattered a small portion over the surface of the nearly flat dish, which was about a foot and a-half in diameter. She then rubbed this well over the whole with a rag. The leavened batter had been made ready in the morning by Miriam, so Wallata Gabriel, my new housekeeper, had only to take a little out in a basin, and from this pour it upon the heated dish, quickly spreading it into a thin layer, and then placing over all a hollow shield-like cover, also of earthenware, the edges of which, where it rested upon the pan, being luted with wet rags that stood by contained in another spare basin of water. Sticks, a bundle of which had been brought in by Goodaloo, lay upon the floor of the house, and with these a bright fire was kept flaring away for about five minutes, when the cover being taken off a nice-looking crumpet curled up its edge all round, as if anxious to be taken off and eaten. This was adroitly done by Wallata Gabriel placing upon her lap as she knelt a neat straw mat, something larger than the baking-dish itself, made of a band of grass folded around one end as a centre, and stiched into that situation. Upon this was pulled, by a quick jerk, the warm cellular-surfaced bread, and then getting up, my new handmaiden presented it to me as it lay on the mat, with a look that said “Taste it yourself, and see if I cannot bake bread.” In this manner she soon turned over six or eight of these pan-cakes, and a fowl having been boiled to-day for the sake of the broth, of which alone I could partake, no other food was cooked for my three servants, they so far observing the fast, and soon after their meal they retired to rest; Walderheros and his wife occupying an ox-skin upon the floor, Goodaloo making his bed in the porch, which was formed by the passage into the house leading through the outer and inner wall, being closed in on either side by a mud-plastered partition. _August 4th._--I was glad to find Tinta come back this morning, he having returned with a message, that if I knew how to make gunpowder, the Negoos wished me to manufacture some for him. On inquiring, I found that my balderabah still continued in the good graces of the Negoos, who, instead of the town of Aliu Amba, which convenience had required should be given to Abdoanarch, had put Tinta into possession of a much more valuable one called Ramsey, in sight from my garden. He was instructed, however, to live as usual in Aliu Amba, to communicate between the Negoos and myself, and to keep, at the same time, a careful watch upon the outgoings and incomings of the great Abdoanarch himself.