Note 30 — Chapter V · A RECONNAISSANCE OF THE ABYSSINIAN BORDER, 1892

Some skill of hand and eye is required in this work. The man above with the empty bucket throws it down to the man below at the same moment that the latter tosses up the full one. On reaching the surface each full bucket is emptied out into the rough cattle trough at which the cattle are drinking, improvised out of a hide propped up with sticks and stones, or in a hollow shaped with clay. Half the water is lost on the way up, so it usually takes many hours to water the enormous herds.