At last we reached the face of the precipice itself, and found ourselves looking into the mouth of a dark tunnel that forcibly reminded me of those undertaken by our nineteenth-century engineers in the construction of railway lines.Out of this tunnel flowed a considerable stream of water.Indeed, though I do not think that I have mentioned it, we had followed this stream, which ultimately developed into the river I have already described as winding away to the right, from the spot where the cutting in the solid rock commenced.Half of this cutting formed a channel for the stream, and half, which was placed on a slightly higher leveleight feet perhapswas devoted to the purposes of a roadway.At the termination of the cutting, however, the stream turned off across the plain and followed a channel of its own.At the mouth of the cave the cavalcade was halted, and, while the men employed themselves in lighting some earthenware lamps they had brought with them, Billali, descending from his litter, informed me politely but firmly that the orders of _i_ She _i_were that we were now to be blindfolded, so that we should not learn the secret of the paths through the bowels of the mountains.To this I, of course, assented cheerfully enough, but Job, who was now very much better, notwithstanding the journey, did not like it at all, fancying, I believe, that it was but a preliminary step to being hot-potted.He was, however, a little consoled when I pointed out to him that there were no hot pots at hand, and, so far as I.knew, no fire to heat them in.As for poor Leo, after turning restlessly for hours, he had, to my deep thankfulness, at last dropped off into a sleep or stupor, I do not know which, so there was no need to blindfold him.The blindfolding was performed by binding a piece of the yellowish linen whereof those of the Amahagger who condescended to wear anything in particular made their dresses tightly round the eyes.This linen, Iafterwards discovered, was taken from the tombs, and was not, as I had at first supposed, of native manufacture.The bandage was then knotted at the back of the head, and finally brought down again and the ends bound under the chin to prevent its slipping.
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