the Ras having subsequently made me a present of three of these animals alive, I found them not only in excellent health, but so exceedingly wild, that I was obliged to have them shot. The horns of one of these are now deposited in the Museum of the Surgeon's College, and a still larger pair are placed in the collection of Lord Valentia, at Arley Hall. The length of the largest horn of this description which I met with was nearly four feet, and its circumference at the base, twenty-one inches.
It might have been expected, that the animal, carrying horns of so extraordinary a magnitude, would have proved larger than others belonging to the same genus; but in every instance which came under my observation, this was by no means the case. I shall only further observe, that its colour appeared to vary as much as in the other species of its genus, and that the peculiarity in the size of the horns was not confined to the male; the female being very amply provided with this ornamental appendage to her forehead.
On the 13th, Mr. Pearce returned from Chelicut, charged with many kind expressions of friendship from the Ras. Another messenger soon afterwards arrived, with a mule richly caparisoned, sent by the Ras, as a present, for my own riding; and by the same conveyance an order was forwarded to the Aristi, at Gibba, to provide a cow daily for the consumption of our party, and afford us every other accommodation we might stand in need of. In the afternoon of the 14th, Ayto Debib and Chelika Havea came up with the greater part of our baggage; and, on the 15th, we proceeded in a body towards Chelicut, which place the Ras had appointed for the reception of the mission.
Before I left England I had prepared a suitable dress for the occasion, the most important article of which was a dark red velvet pelisse bordered with fur, which, being folded round the body, served to conceal the rest of the dress, and to give that kind of appearance which I knew the Abyssinians would look up to with respect; for, as to the common European costume, I had formerly observed that it tended to excite a species of contempt and ridicule that occasionally became very unpleasant in its effects. The rest of our party were clothed also as neatly
