portion of the plain thus enclosed by nature was cultivated, and fenced
in with walls of stone placed there to keep the cattle and goats, of
which there were large herds about, from breaking into the gardens.
Here and there rose great grass mounds, and some miles away towards the
centre I thought that I could see the outline of colossal ruins. I had
no time to observe anything more at the moment, for we were instantly
surrounded by crowds of Amahagger, similar in every particular to those
with whom we were already familiar, who, though they spoke little,
pressed round us so closely as to obscure the view to a person lying
in a hammock. Then all of a sudden a number of armed men arranged in
companies, and marshalled by officers who held ivory wands in their
hands, came running swiftly towards us, having, so far as I could
make out, emerged from the face of the precipice like ants from their
burrows. These men as well as their officers were all robed in addition
to the usual leopard skin, and, as I gathered, formed the bodyguard of
_She_ herself.

Their leader advanced to Billali, saluted him by placing his ivory wand
transversely across his forehead, and then asked some question which
I could not catch, and Billali having answered him the whole regiment
turned and marched along the side of the cliff, our cavalcade of litters
following in their track. After going thus for about half a mile we
halted once more in front of the mouth of a tremendous cave, measuring
about sixty feet in height by eighty wide, and here Billali descended
finally, and requested Job and myself to do the same. Leo, of course,
was far too ill to do anything of the sort. I did so, and we entered the
great cave, into which the light of the setting sun penetrated for
some distance, while beyond the reach of the daylight it was faintly
illuminated with lamps which seemed to me to stretch away for an almost
immeasurable distance, like the gas lights of an empty London street.