N THE CUSTODY OF THE BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY. SHELF N° ADAIVlii ATf TRAVELS TO DISCOVER THE SOURCE OF THE NILE, IN THE YEARS 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, and 1773. IN SIX VOLUMES. By JAMES BRUCE, OF KINNAIRD, ESQ^ F. R.S, VOL. IV. 2^ilus in extremum fugit perferritui orhem^ Oeeulitque caput, quod adbue latet. ■ ' Ovid Metam, DUBLIN: Printed forP. Wogan, L. White, P. Byrnr, W. Porter, W. Sleater, J. Jones, J. Moore, B. Dornin, C. Lewis, W. Jones, G. Draper, JIMlLLIKEN, AND R. WhITE. M,DCC,XCI. y. AO AMiil^l. AT. CONTENTS O F T H E FOURTH VOLUME. BOOK VI. FIRST ATTEMPT TO DISCOVER THE SOURCE OF THE NILE FRUSTRATED — A SUCCESSFUL JOURNEY THI- THER, WITH A FULL ACC0UNT OF EVERY THING RELATING TO THAT CELEBRATED RIVER. Page C H A P. I. ^ The Author made Governor of Ras el Feel. i CHAP. 11. Battle cf Banja — Con/piracy againji Michael '"' — Author retires to Emfras — Defcription of Gondar^ Emfras, and Lake Tzana, i >j CHAP. III. The King encamps at Lamgue — TranfaBions there— Faffes the Nile, and encamps at Der- dera — The Author follows the King. ^g CHAP. IV. Fafs the River Gomara — Remarkable Accident there— Arr ve at Dara — Viftt the great Con^ taraSl of lAlaia-^ Leave Dara, and refume our journey, ^, CHAP. V. Fafs the Nile and encamp at Tfoomwa — Arrive at Derdera — Alarm on approaching the army '^-Join the King at Karcagna* 85 C H A P. CONTENTS. Page CHAP. VI. Kind's Army retreats towards Gondar — Me- viorahk Paffage of the Nile — Dangerous Si- tuation of the Army — Retreat of Kefla Tafous — Batik of Limjoiir — Unexpeded Peace ivith Fafd — Arrive at Gondar,- 102 CHAP. VII. King and Army retreat to *Tigre — Interefling Events following that Retreat — The Body cf J oas is found -Favourable Turn of the K'lng^ Affairs — Socinlos^ a new King^ pro^ claimed at G ondar. 130 CHAP. VIII. Second journey to difcover the Source of the Nile -'-Favourable Turn of the King* s Affairs in Tigre ~ We fall in with Faftl's Army at Bam- ha. - - . - . 160 C H A P. IX. Interview with Fafu — Traifadions in the Camp, 1 76 CHAP. X. heave Bamha^ and continue our Journey fouth- ' w-ird—Fdll in with FaffCs Pagan Galla- — Encamp on the Kelt I. - - 203 CHAP. XL Continue our journey — Fall in with a Party of Galla — Prove our Friends — Pafs the Nile — Arrive at Goutto^ and vifit thefirft Catarad, 224 C H A P. XII. Leave Coutto — Mountains of the Moon — Ro- guery of PVoldo our Guide — Arrive at the Source rf the Nile, - - 255 CHAR XIII. Aiti7npts of the Ancients to df cover the Source of the Ndc — No F'ifcovery made in latter Times CONTENTS. Page -—No Evidence of the yefuits having arrived there — Kircher^s Account fabulous — D'if covery completely made by the Author. 286 CHAP. XIV. Defcription of the Source of the Nile — OfGeefb— Accounts of its fever al Cataracts — Courfefrom its Rife to the Mediterranean, - Z^9 CHAP. XV. Various Names of this river — Ancient Opinion concerning the Caufe of its Inundation — Real Manner by which it is effeded — Remarkable Difpofition of the Peninfida of Africa, ~ 344 CHAP XVl. Egypt not the Gift of the Nile — Ancient Opinion refuted — Modern Opinion contrary to Proof and ^Experience, - 364 CHAP. XVIL The fame Subjed coritinued—'Nilometer what — How divided and ?neafured, - 2>^^ CHAP. XVIII. Inquiry about the Pojftbility of changing the Courfe of the Nile—Caufe of the Nuda, - 409 C HA P. XIX. Kind reception among the Agows — 'Their Num- ber, Trade J Charader, ^c, f 424 BOOK CONTENTS. BOOK VII. RETURN FROM THE SOURCE OF THE NILE TO CON- DAR TRANSACTIONS THERE — BATTLE OF SER- BRAXOS, AND ITS CONSEQUENCES — THE AUTHOR PREPARES TO LEAVE ABYSSINIA. Page CHAP. XX. Return from the Source of the Nile by Maiffha — Come to the Hoife of Welled Amlac- — Recep- tion there — Pafs the Nile at Deiakus — Arrive at Gondar. - - - 445 C H A P. XXI. FdfiFs infidious Behaviour-" Arrival at Gondar — Kmg pajfes the 'Tacazze — Iteghe and Soci- 7iios fly from Gondar, - - 47^ CHAP. XXII. The Author joins the Army at Mariam-Ohha — Reception there — Univerfal Terror on the . Approach of the Army—Several great M,n of the Rebels apprehended and- executed- — Great Uardnefs of the King^s Heart, - 507 C H A P. XXIII. The King promifes Leave to the Author to de- part— -Receives a Reinforcement from Shoa • — Amicible Carriage of Amha Tafous— 'Strik- ing Contrafi between him and a Prince of the Galla — Bad State of the Kings Affairs, CHAR XXIV. Rebel Army approaches Gondar — King marches out of Gondar — Takes Poji at Serbraxos — The Author returns to Gondar with Confu wounded, , - - 573 CHAP. CONTENTS. Page CHAP. XXV. Michael attempts to enter Begemder —Firft Bat- tle of Serbraxos — The Rebels offer Battle to the King in the Plain — Armies feparated by a violent Storm. - - 606 CHAP. XXVI. King offers Battle to the ' Rebels in the Plain — Defcription of the Second Battle of Ser^ braxos — Rajh Condu6l^ and narrow Efcape of the King — Both Armies keep their Ground, 6^^ i CHAP. XXVII. King rewards his Officers — The Author again perfecuted by Guebra Majcal — Great Dif- pleafure of the King — The Author and Gue- ' bra Mafcal are reconciled and rewarded-^ Third Battle of Serbraxos, - 657 CHAP. XXVIII. Interview with Gufho in his Tent — Converfa- iion and interefiing Intelligence there — Return to the Camp — King^s Army returns to Gondar '—Great Confufion in that Night's March, 6^'^ CHAP. XXIX. Rebel Army invejis Gondar — King's Troops deliver up their Arms — The Murderers of Joas affaffinated — Gufho made Ras ~Ras Michael carried away Prifoner by Powuffen '—Iteghe's return to Kofcam — Fajil arrives at Gondar — Kijig acknowledged by all Parties '—Bad ConduSl of Gufho — -Obliged to fly^ -but is taken and put in Irons, - 71Z CHAP. XXX. The Author obtains Liberty to return Home—^ Takes Leave of the Iteghe at Kofcam— Laji Interview with the Monks, - 73^ T R A V E L i TRAVELS TO DISC OV E R THE SOURCE OP THE NILE. BOOK VI. FIRST ATTEMPT TO DISCOVER THE SOURCE OF THE NILE FRUSTRATED— A SUCCESSFUL JOURNEY THITHER, WITH A FULL ACCOUNT OF EVERY THING RELATING TO THAT CELEBRATED RIVER. CHAP. I. The Author made Governor ofRas el FeeL 1 SOON received an inftance of kindnefs from Ayto Confu which gave me great pleafure on fe- veral accounts. On the fouth part of Abyflinia, on the frontiers of Sennaar, is a hot, unwhole- fome, low flripe of country, inhabited entirely by Mahometans, divided into feveral fmall diftrids, known by the general name of Maza^a. Of this I Vol, IV. B have 2 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER have often before fpoken, and iliall have further occafion to treat of it in the fequel. The Arabs of Sennaar that are on bad terms with the governor of Atbara, fly hither acrofs: the defert to avoid the rapine and violence of that cruel tyrant. The arrival of thefe produces in an in- ftant the greatefl plenty at Ras el Feel ; markets are held every where ; cattle of all kinds, milk, butter, elephants teeth, hides, and feveral other commodities, are fold to a great amount. The Arabs are of many different tribes ; the chief are the Daveina, then the Nile. Thefe, be- fides getting a good market, and food for their cattle and protection for themfelves, have this great additional advantage, they efcape the Fly, and confequently are not pillaged, as the reft of the Arabs in Atbara are, when changing abodes to avoid the havock made by that infedt. In re- turn for this, they conftantly bring horfes from Atbara, below Sennaar, for the king's own ufe, and for fuch of his cavalry who are armed with coats of mail, no Abyflinian horfe^ or very few at leaft, being capable of that burden. Ayto Confu had many diftrids of land from his father Kafmati Netcho, as well as fome belonging to his mother Ozofo Eflher, which lay upon that frontier ; it was called Ras el Feel, and had a fendick and nagareet, but, as it was governed al- ways by a deputy who was a Mahometan, it had no rank among the great governments of the flate. Befides thefe lands, the patrimony of Con- fu, Ras Michael had given him more, and with them THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 3 them this government, young as he was, from favour to his mother Ozoro Efther. This Maho- metan deputy was named Abdel Jelleel, a great coward, who had refufed to bring out his men, tho' fummonedj to join the king when marching againft Fafil. He had alfo quarrelled with the Daveina, and robbed them, fo that they traded no more with Ras el Feelj brought no more horfes, and the dillridl was confequently nearly ruined, ivhilH a great outcry was raifed againft Abdel Jelleel by the merchants who ufed to trade at that market, not having now money enough to pay the meery, Ammonios, his Billetana Gueta, wastheperfon Ayto Confu had deftined to go to Ras el Feci to reduce it to order, and difplace Abdel Jelleel ; but Ras Michael had put him as a man of truft over the black horfe under me, fo he w^as em- ployed otherwife. Confu himfelf was now pre- paring to go thither to fettle another deputy in the place of Abdel Jelleel, and he had aiked the affift- ance of troops from the king, by which this came to my knowledge. The firft time I faw Ozoro Efther, I told her, that, unlefs ftie had a mind to have her fon die fpeediiy, fhe ihould, by every means in her powder, dilTuade him from his journey to Ras el Feel, be- ing a place where the bloody flux never ceafed to rage ; and this complaint had never perfectly left him f:nce he had had the fmall-pox, but had worn him to a iliadow. There could be no furer way therefore of deftroying him than letting him go B 2 thither 4 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER thither as he propofed. He had been for fome time indeed taking bark, which had done him great fervice. His mother Ozoro Eflher. the Iteghe, whofe firlt favourite he was, and all his friends, now took the alarm, upon which the Ras forbade him pofitively to go. Negade Ras Mahomet, of whom we have al- xeady fpoken, brother to Hagi Saleh, who had procured me my firfl lodging at Gondar, was head of all the Mahometans in that capital, nay, I may fay, in AbyiTmia. He, too, was a favourite of the Ras, and fhewed the fame attachment to me, on account of Metical Aga, as had his brother Sa- leh. This man came to me one morning, and told me, that Yafme, whom I had brought with me to Abyifmia, and was recommended to me by Metical Aga, had married Abdel Jelleel's daugh- ter, and that a fon of Saleh had married a daugh- ter of Yafme's. He faid there was not a man in Abyffinia that was a braver foldier and better horfeman than Yafme ; that he had no love for money, but was a man of probity and honour, as indeed I had always found him ; that the people of Ras el Feel, to a man, wifhed to have him for their governor in the room of Abdel Jelleel ; and that all the Arabs, as well as Shekh Fidele, governor of Atbara-, for Sennaar, wifned the fame. Mahomet did not dare to fpeak for fear of Ozoro Efther, who was thought to favour Abdel Jelleel, but he promifed, that, if Ayto Confu would ap- . point him inftead of Abdel Jelleel, he would give him. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 5 him 50 ounces of gold, befides what Yafme Ihould allow upon his ietilement, and would manage the affair with Michael when he had leave fo to do. He added that his brother Saleh fnould furnifli Yafine with 200 men from the Mahometans at Gondar, completely armed with their firelocksj and commanded by young Saleh in perfon. I was not at this time any judge of the expedi- ency of the meafure; but one refolution I had made, . and determined to keep, that I never would accept a poft or employment for myfelf, or folicit any fuch for others. My reader will fee, that, for my own fafety, mod unwillingly I had been obli- ged to break the firfl: of thefe refolutions almoft as foon as it was formed, and I was now deliberating whether it was not better that I fhould break the other for the fame reafon. Two things weighed with me extremely, the experience of Yafme's prudence and attachment to me during the whole journey, and my determination to return by Sen- naar, and never trufl myfelf more in the hands of that bloody afiaffin the Naybe of Mafuah, who I underilood had, at feveral times, manifefled his bad intentions towards me when I fhould return by that iiland. I flattered rnyfelf, that great advantage would accrue to me by Yafiiie's friendfhip with the Arabs and the Shekh of Atbara ; and, having ccnfulted Ayto Aylo firft, I made him propofe it to Ozoro Ellher. I found, upon fpeaking to that princefs, that there was fomething embarraiTmg in the affair. % ' She 6 TRxWELS TO DISCOVER She did not anfwer diredly, as ufual, and I ap- prehended that the objedion was to Yafine. I was no longer in doubt of this, when Ozoro Efther told me Abba Salama had ftrongly ef- poufed the caufe of Abdel Jelleel, who had bribed him. Notwithftanding this, T refolved to mention it myfelf to Confu, that I might have it in my power to know where the objection lay, and give a direft arifwei" to Ya- fme. I faw Confu foon after at Kofcam. His bark being exhaufted, I brought him more, and he feemed to be much better, and in great fpirits. The time was favourable in all its circumflances, and I entered into the matter direclly. I was very much furprifed to hear him fay gravely, and without hefitation, " I have as good an opinion of Yafine as you can have ; and I have as bad a one of Abdel Jeileel as any man in Gondar, for which, too, I have fuiFicient reafon, as it is but lately the king told me peevifhly enough, I did not look to my affairs, (which is true) as he under- Hood that the diftrid was ruined by having been negleded. But I am no longer goyer of Ras el Feel, I have refigned it. I hope they will appoint a wifer and better man ; let him choofe for .his deputy Yafme, or who elfe he pleafes, for I have fworn by the bead of the Iteghe, I will not meddle or make with the government of Ras el l^eel more. Tecla Mariam, the king's fecretary, came in at ^hat inftant with a number of other people. I wanted THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 7 wanted to take Confa afide to afk him further if he knew who this governor was, but he fl-iufHed among the crowd, faying, " iMy mother will tell you all ; the man who is apppiiUed is your friend ^ and I think Yafme may be the deputy." I now loft no time in going to Ozoro Efther to inter- cede for the government of Ra§ el Feel for Ya- fme. Among the crowd I met hril Tecia Mariam, the king's fecretary, who taking me by the hand, faid, with a laughing countenance, " O ho, I wifli you joy ; this is like a man ; you are now no ftranger, but one of us ; why was not you at court?" I faid I had no particular bufmefs there, but that I came hither to fee Ayto Confu, that he might fpeak in favour of Yafme to get him appointed deputy of Ras el Feel. " Why don't you appoint himyourfelf? fays he; what has Confu to do with the affair now ? You don't intend always to be in leading ftrings ? You may thank the king for yourfelf, but I would never advife you to fpeak one word of Yaiine to him ; it is not the cuftom ; you may, if you pleafe, to Confu, he knows him already. His eftate lies all around you, and he will enforce your orders if there (Iiould be any need.'' " Pardon me, Tecla Mariam, faid I, if I do not underftand you. I came here to folicit far Yafine, that Confu or his- fuccelTor would appoint him their deputy, and you anfwer that you advife me to appoint him myfelf." — " And fo I do, re- plies Tecla Mariam : Who is to appoint him but S TRAVELS TO DISCOVER you ? You are governor of Ras el Feel ; are yoti not ?" I flood motionlefs with aflonifliment. " It is no great affair, fays he, and I hope you will never fee it. It is a hot, unwholefome country^ full of Mahometans ; but its gold is as good as any Chriflian gold whatever. I wifli it had been Begemder with all my heart, but there is a good time coming.'' After having recovered myfclf a little from my furprife, I went to Ayto Confu to kifs his hand as my fuperior, but this he would by no means fuf- fer me to do. A great dinner was provided us by the Iteghe ; and Yafme being fent for, was ap- pointed, cloathed, that is invefted, and ordere4 immediately to Ras el Feel to his government, to make peace with the Daveina, and bring all the horfes he could get with him from thence, or from Atbara. I fent there alfo that poor nian who had given us the fmall blue beads on the road, as I have already mentioned. The having thus provided for thofe two men, and fecured, as I thought, a retreat to Sennaar for myfelf, gave me the firft real pleafure that I had received fmce landing at Mafuah ; and that day, in company with Heikel, Tecla Mariam, Engedan, Aylo, and Guebr^ Benghel, all my great friends and the hopes of this country, I for the fxrft time, fmce niy arrival in Abyfrmia, abandoned myfelf to joy. My conflitution was, however, too much weak- ened to bear any exceffeso The day after, when I went home to Emfras, I found myfelf attacked with a flow fever, and, thinking that it was the THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 9 prelude of an ague, with which I was often tor- mented, I fell to taking bark, without any remif- fion, or, where the remilTion was very obfcure, i fhut myfelf up in the houfe, upon my conftant regimen of boiled rice, with abundant draughts of cold water. I was at this time told that there was a great commotion at Gondar; that a monk of Dcbra Libanos, a favourite of the Iteghc and of the king too, had excommunicated Abba Salama in a dif- pute about religion at the Itchegue's houfe ; and, the day after, Hagi Mahomet, one of Ras Mich- ael's tent-makers, who lived in the town below, through which the high road from Gojam paifes, came tp tell me, that many monks from Gojam had palTed through the low town, and exprefiqd themfelves very much diflatisfied by hearing that a Frank (meaning me) was in the town above. He faid that when they came in fixes and fevens at a timp, there v/as no fear 5 but when they re- turned altogether (as Michael fometimes made them do) they were like fo many madmen ; there^ fore, if I refolved to flay at Emfras, he wiihed i would order him to fend me fome Mahometan foL diers, who would ftridly ad as I commanded th^m. At the fame time I received news that ijiy great friend Tecla Mariam, and his daughter of the fame name, the moft beautiful woman in Abyf- fiiiia after Ozpro J^fthei", were both ill at Gon- . dar. JO TRAVELS TO DISCOVER dar. There needed no more for me to repair jnflantly thither. I muffled my head up as great officers generally do when riding near the ca- pital. I paiTed at different times above twenty of thefe fanatics on the road, fix and feven toge- ther ; but either they did not know me, or at, ieafl, if they did, they did not fay any thing; I came to Ayto Aylo's, who was fitting, complain- ing of fore eyes, with the queen's chamberlain, Ayto Heikel. After the ufual falutation, I afked Aylo what was the matter in town ^ and if it was true that Sebaat Gzier had excommunicated Abba Salama? and told him that I had conceived thefe difpute? aboGt faith had been long ago fettled. He an- fwered with an afFeded gravity, "That it was not fo ; that this was of fuch importance that he doubted it would throw the country into great convulfions ; and he would not advife me to be feen in the flreet," — " Tell me, I befeech you, faid I, what it is sibout. I hope not the old ftory of the Franks ?" — " No, no, fays he, a great deal worfe than that, it is about Nebuchadnez- zar:'*— and he broke out in a great fit of laugh- ter. *' The monk of Debra Libanos fays, that Nebuchadnezzar is a faint ; and Abba Salama favs that he was a Pagan, Idolater, and a Turk, and that he is burning in hell fire with Dathan and Abiram.*' — " Very well, faid I, I cannot think he was a Mahometan if he was a Pagan and Idolater; but I am fure I iliall make no enemies upon this dif" THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. ii difpute."— " You are deceived, fays he; unlefs you tell your opinion in this country you are reckoned an enemy to both parties. Stay, there- fore, all night, and do not appear in the ftreets ;" and, upon my telling them I was going to TecU Mariam's, who was ill, they rofe with me to go thither, for the ilriaeft friendfhip fubfiited be- tween them. We met there with Ozoro Either, who was vifiting the beautiful Tecla Mariam in her indifpofition. Seeing Aylo, Heikel, and me together at that time of night, ihe infifted that the young lady and I Ihould be married, and fhe de- clared roundly Ihe would fee it done before Ihe left the houfe. As neither' of my patients were very ill, a great deal of mirth followed. Ozoro Efther fat late ; there was no occafionforthe com- pliment of feeing her home, (he had above three hundred men with her. After fhe was gone the whole difcourfe turned upon religion, what we believed or did not be- lieve in our country, and this continued till day- light, v/hen we all agreed to take a little ileep, then breakfafl, and go to court. We did fo, but Aylo went to Eofcam, and Tecla Mariam to the Ras, fo I met none of them with the king. When I went in he was hearing a pleading upon a caufe of fome confequence, and paying great attention* One of the parties had finifried, the other was re- plying with a great deal of graceful action, and piuch energy and eloquence. — -They were bare down 12 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER down to their very girdle, and would feem rather prepared for boxing than for fpeaking. This being over, the room was cleared, and I made my proflration. " I do demand of you, fays the king abruptly, VsThether Nebuchadnezzar is a faint or no ?" I bowed, faying, '* Your majefty knows lam no judge of thefe matters, and it makes me enemies to fpeak about them/'---" I know, fays he gravely, that you will anfwer my queftion when I alk it ; let me take care of the reft." — " I never thought, faid I, Sir, that Nebuchadnezzar had any pretenfions to be a faint. He \yas a fcourge in God's hand, as is famine or the plague, but that does not m^ake either of them a wholefome vifitation." — " What ! fays he. Does not God call him his fervant ? Does he not fay that he did his bidding about Tyre, and that he gave him Egypt to plunder for his recompence ? Was not it by God's command he led his people into captivity ? and did not he believe in God, when Shadrach, Me- fhech, and Abednego cfcaped from the fiery fur- nace ? Surely he muft be a faint." " I am per- fectly fatisfied, faid I, and give my confent to hi§ canonization, rather than either your majefty, or Abba Salama, ihould excommunicate me upon the queftion " He now laughed out, and feemed greatly diverted, and was going to fpeak, Vhen Tecla Mariam, and a number of others, came in« I withdrew to the iide with refped, as the fecre- tary had a fmail piece of paper in his hand. He ftaid about two minutes with the king, when the room filled, and the levee began, I wifhed Tecla Mariani THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 13 Mariam might not be the worfe for lad night's fit- ting up. " The better, the better, fays he, much the better. You fee we are becoming all good, day and night we are bufy about religion." *' Are you upon Nebuchadnezzar to day, friend ? faid I ; the king fays to me he is a faint." — " Juft fuch a faint, I fuppofe, fays he, as our Ras Mi- chael, who, 1 believe, is jealous of him, for he is going himfelf to decide this difpute immediately. Go to the Afhoa * and you will hear it." There was a number of people in the outer court of the king's houfe, crying very tumultu- oufly for a convocation of the church. At twelve o'clock there was no word of Michael at the palace ; but I faw the members of the coun- cil there, and expeded he was coming. Inflead of this, the large kettle-drum, or nagareet, called the lion^ was carried to the king's gate, which oc- cafioned great fpeculation. But prefently pro- clamation was made in thefe v/ords, given me by Tecla Mariam himfdf: " Hear! hear! hear! they that pretend they do not hear this, will not be the lall puniilied for difobeying -.—Whereas many diforderly and idle perfons have flocked to this capital for fome days pail, and brought no provifions for themfelves or others, and have frightened the country people from coming to market, whereby all degrees of men, in this ca- pital, are threatened with famine, and fcarcity is already begun ; this is, therefore, to give notice, ♦ The largefl ccuHj or outer (pace, furrcunding the king's hottfe. That 14 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER That if any fuch people, after twelve o'clock to- morrow, be found in this city, or in the roads adjoining thereto, they (hall be punifhed like re- bels and robbers, and their fault not prefcribed for feven years." And, in about ten minutes afterwards, another proclamation was made : — " The king orders four hundred Galla of his troops to patrole the flreets all the night, and difperfe fummarily all forts of people that they fhall find gathered toge- ther ; commands thirty horfe to patrole between Debra Tzai and Kolla, thirty on the road to Wog«* gora, and thirty on that to Emfras, to proted our fubjeds coming to market, and going about their other lawful bufmefs : They that are wife will keep themfelves well when they are fo." There was no need of a fecond proclamation. The monks •w.ere all wife, and returned in an inftant every man to his home. The Galla were mentioned to terrify only, for they did not exift, Ozoro Either having cleared the palace of that nation ; but the monks knew there would be found people in their place every bit as bad as fealla, and did not choofe to rilk the trial of the difference. At this time a piece of bad news was circulated at Gondar, that Kafmati Boro, whom the Ras had left governor at Damot, had been beaten by Fafil, and obliged to retire to his own country in Gojam, to Stadis Amba, near the paflage of the Nile, at Mine ; and that Fafil, with a larger army of ftranger Galla than that he had brought to Fa- gitta. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE, 15 gitta, had taken poffeflion of Bure, the ufual place of his relidence. This being privately talk- ed of as true, 1 afked Kefia Yafous in confidence what he knew of it. Upon its being confirmed, I could not difguife my forrow, as I conceived that unexpected turn of affairs to be an invincible obflacle to my reaching the fource of the Nile. *' You are miflaken, fays Kefla Yafous to me, it is the befl thing can happen to you. Why you defire to fee thofe places I do not know, but this I am fure of, you never will arrive there with any degree of fafcty while Fafil commands. He is as perfedl si Galla as ever forded the Nile ; he has neither word, nor oath, nor faith that can bind him 5 he does mifchief for mifchief 's fake, and then laughs at it." " Michael, after the battle of Fagitta, propofed to his army to pafs the rainy feafon at Bure, and quarter the troops in the towns and villages about. He would have 'ftaid a year with them, to fhew that Fafil could not help them, but he was over- ruled. At Hydar Michael (that is, in November next) all Abyflinia will march againft him, and he will not ftay for us, and this time we (hall not leave his country till we have eaten it bare ; and then,* at your eafe, you will fee every thing, de- fend yourfelf by your own force, and be beholden to nobody ; and remember what I fay, peace with Fafil there never will be, for he does not defire it ; nor, till you fee his head upon a pole, or Michael's army encamped at Bure, will you (if you are wife) ever attempt to pafs Mait- ilia/' tS TRAVELS TO DISCOVER Iha.'* Memorable words ! often afterwards re- fleded upon, though they were not ftridly verified in the extent they were meant when fpoken. CHAP.. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 17 CHAP. IL Battle of Banja — Confpiracy againji Michael — The Author retires to Emfras — Defcription of Gondar^ Emfras, and Lake Tzana. After Far,,. d,fea. a. Fagi„a, and ,b. af. front he received at AlToa in the heart of his own country, he had continued his route to Bure, a diftrid of the Agows, where was his conRant refi- dence. After this he had crofled the Nile into the country of Bizamo, and Boro de Gagohad taken up his refidence at Bure, when Michael returned to Gondar ; but no fooner had he heard of his arrival in thofe parts than he marched with a number of horfe, and forced his rival to retire to Gojam. The Agows were all loyalifts in their hearts, had been forced to join Fafil, but, immediately after his defeat, had declared for Michael. The Uril thing, therefore, Fafil did, when returned to Bure, was to attack the Agows on every fide ; a double advantage was fure to follow this vidlory, the famifhing his enemies at Gondar, and convert- ing fo rich a territory to his own ufe, by extirpating Vol. IV. C the i8 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER the AgowSj and laying it open to be poffefled by his countrymen, the Gaila, from Bizamo. A very obflinate battle was fought at Banja, one of their principal fettlements, in which the Agows were entirely defeated, feven of their chiefs killed, all men of great confequence, among whom was Ayamico, a very near relation of the king. The news were firft brought by a fon of Nanna Georgis, chief of the Agows, who efcaped from the battle. Michael was at dinner, and I was prefent. It was one of his caroufals for the marriage of Powuflen, when young Georgis -came into the room, in a torn and dirty habit, unattended, and almofl unperceived, and prefent- ed himfelf at the foot of the table. Michael had then in his hand a cup of gold, it being the ex- clufive privilege of the governor of the province of Tigre to drink out of fuch a cup ; it was full of wine; before a word was fpokc, and, upon the firft appearance of the man, he threw the cup and wine upon the ground, and cried out, I am guilty of the death of thefe people. Every one arofe, the table was removed, and Georgis told his mis- fortune, that Nanna Georgis his father, Zeegam Georgis, the next in rank among them, Ayamico the king's relation, and four other chiefs, were flain at Banja, and their race nearly extirpated by a vidory gained with much bloodfhed, and after cruelly purfued in retaliation for that of Fa- gitta. , A council THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 19 A council was immediately called, where it was refolved, that, though the rainy feafon was at hand, the utmoft expedition ihauld be made to take the field ; that Gulho and Powuffen Ihould return to their provinces, and increafe their army to the utmoft of their power ; that the king Ihould take the low road by Foggora and Dara, there to join the troops of Begemder and Amhara, crofs the Nile at the mouth of the lake, above the fecond cataradt, as it is called, and march thence ftraight to Bure, which, by fpeedy marches, might be done in five or fix days. No refolution was ever embraced with more alacrity ; the caufe of the Agows was the caufe of Gondar, or famine would elfe immediately follow. The king's troops and thofe of Michael were all ready, and had juil refrefhed themfelves by a week's feftivity. Guiho and Powuffen, after having fworn to Michael that they never would return w^ithout Fafil's head, decamped next morning with very different intentions in their hearts ; for no fooner had they reached Begemder than they entered into a eonfpiracy in form againfl Michael, whidh they had long meditated; they had refolved to make peace with Fafil, and fwear with him a folemn league, th^lt they w^ere but to have one caufe, one council, and one intereft, till they had deprived Michael of his life and dignity. The plan was, that, in hopes to join with them, the army fhould pafs by Dara and the mouth of the iake, as afore- faid, between that lake, called the lake of Dem- C 2 bea. 20 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER bea, on the north fide, and another fmall lake, which feems formerly to have been part of the great one, and is called Court-ohha ; on the fouth is the village of Derdera, and the church of St. Michael. Here was to be the fcene of adion ; as foon as Michael advanced to Dcrdera, Guftio and Powuffen were to clofe him behind on the north ; Fafil, from Maitfha, was to appear on his front from the fouth, whilft, between Court-ohha and the lake, in the midft of thefe three armies, Mi- chael was to lofe his liberty or his life. The fecret was profoundly kept, though known by many ; but every one was employed in preparations for the campaign on the king's part, and no fufpicion entertained, for nothing cofls an Abyflinian lefs than to diffemble. It had been agreed by Guflio and Powuffen be- fore parting, in order to deceive Michael, that, fhould Fafil retire from Bure at their approach, and pafs the Nile into his own country, the King, R^s Michael, and part of the army fhould remain at Bure all the rainy feafon ; that, upon the return of the fair weather, they were all again to affem- ble at Bure, crofs the Nile into Bizamo, and lay wade the country of the Galla, that the veflige of habitation fhould not be feen upon it. All this time I found myfelf declining in health, to which the irregularities of the lafl week had greatly contributed. T he King and Ras had fuffi- ciently provided tents and conveniencies for me, yet I wanted to conftru6l for myfelf a tent, with a large THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. tt large (lit in the roof, that I might have an oppor- tunity of taking obfervations with my quadrant^ without being inquieted by troublefome or curious vifitors. I therefore obtained leave from the king to go to Emfras, a town about twenty miles fouth from Gondar, where a number of Mahometan tent-makers lived. Gufho had a houfe there, and a pleafant garden, which he very willingly gave me the ufe of, with this advice, however, which at the time I did not underftand, rather to go on to Amhara with him, for I (hould there fooner re- cover my health, and be more in quiet than with the King or Michael. As the king was to pafs imme- diately under this town, and as moil of thofe that loaded and unloaded his tents and baggage were Mahometans, and lived at Emfras, I could not be better fituated? or more at my liberty and eafe, than there. After having taken my leave of the king and the Ras, I paid the fame compliment to the Iteghe at Kofcam : I had not for feveral days been able to wait upon her, on account of the riots during the marriage, where the Ras required my attendance, and would admit of no excufe. That excellent princefs endeavoured much to difluade me from leaving Gondar. She treated the intention of going to the fource of the Nile a^^ a fantaflical foU ly, unworthy of any man of fenfe or under Hand- ing, and very earneftly advifed me to flay under her protection at Kofcam, till I faw whether Ras Michael and the king would return, and then take 22 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER take the firft good opportunity of returning to my own country through Tigre, the way that I came, before any evil fhould overtake me. I excufed myfeif the befl I could* It was not eafy to do it with any degree of conviftion, to people utterly unlearned, and who knew nothing of the prejudice of ages in favour of the attempt I was engaged in. I therefore turned the dif- CGurfe to profeilions of gratitude for benefits that I had every day received from her, and for the very great honour that flie then did me, when fhe condefcended to teflify her anxiety concerning the fate of a poor unknown traveller like me, who could not poffibly have any merit but what arofe from her own gracious and generous fentim^nts, and univerfal charity, that extended to ^very ob- ject in proportion as they were helplefs. '^ See^ fee, fays flue, how every day of our life puniihes us with proofs of the perverfenefs and contradic- tion of human nature; you are come from Jerufa- lem, through vile Turkiih governments, and hot, unwholefome climates, to fee a river and a hog, no part of v/hich you can cdLrrj away were it ever ib valuable, and of which you have in your own country a thoufand larger, better, and cleaner^ and you take it ill when I difcourage you from the purfuit of this fancy, in which you are likely to perifh, without your friends at home ever hearing when or where the accident happened. V/hile I, on the other hand, the mother of kings who have fat THE SOURCE OF THE NILE 23 fat upon the throne of this country more than thirty years, have for my only wilh, night and day, that, after giving up every thing in the world, I could be conveyed to the church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerufalem, and beg alms for my fubfiftence all my life after, if I could only be buried in the flreet within fight of the gate of that temple where our blefled Saviour once lay." This was faid in the moil melancholy tone poiTiblej an unufual gloom hanging upon her countenance. Her defiring me, however, to flay at Kofcam, till I knew whether the king and Michael would return or not, confidering the large army they were to lead to the field, and the feeblenefs of the fo-often defeated Fafil, made me from thatinflant apprehend that there was fomething behind with which I was yet unacquainted. Gold, and orders for cattle and provifions while at Emfras, followed this converfation with the queen ; this, indeed, had never failed at other times, which, by Ayto Aylo's advice, I never more refufed. Here I cannot help obferving the different manner in which three people did th« fame thing. When I received gold from Michael, it was openly from his hand to mine, without compliment, as he paid the reil of the king's fer- vants. When I received it from the king, it was likewife from his own hand ; it was always when alone, with a fear expreffed that I fuifered myfelf to be flraitened rather than alk, and that I did not levy, with fufficient feverity, the money the feve- ral 24 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER ral places allotted to me were bound to pay, which, indeed, was always the cafe. The queen, on the other hand, from whom I received conftant dona- tions, never either produced gold herfelf, nor fpoke of it before or after, but fent it by a fer- vant of hers to afervant of mine, to employ it for the neceffaries of my family. I confefs I left the queen very much afFe^ed with the difpofition I had found her in, and, if I had been of a temper to give credit to prognoftics, and a fafe way had been opened through Tigre, I fhould at that time, perhaps, have taken the queen's advice, and returned without feeing the fountains of the Nile, in the fame manner that all the travellers of antiquity, who had ever as yet endeavoured to explore them, had been forced to do ; but the prodigious buftle and preparation v/hich I found was daily making in Gondar, and the alTurances every body gave me that, fafe in the middle of a victorious army, I fhould fee, at my leifure, that famous fpot, made me refume my former refolutions, awakened my ambition, and made me look upon it as a kind of treafon done. to my country, in which fuch efforts were then making for difcoveries, to renounce, now it was in my power, the putting them in poffefTi- on of one which had baffled the courage and perfeverance of the bravefl men in all ages. The pieafure, too, of herborifmg in an unknown country, fuch as Emfras was, of continuing to do fo in fafety, and the approaching every day to the end THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 25 end of my wifhes, chafed away all thofe gloomy apprehenfions which I imbibed from the appear- ance and difcourfe of the queen, and of which I now began to be aihamed. Gondar, the metropolis of Abyfrmia, is fituated upon a hill of confiderable height, the top of it nearly plain, on which the town is placed. It con- fifts of about ten thoufand families in times of peace ; the houfes are chiefly of clay, the roofs thatched in the form of canoes, which is always the conftrudion within the tropical rains* On the weft end of the town is the kinof's houfe, for- merly a ftru«5ture of confiderable confequence ; it was a fquare building, flanked with fquare tow- ers ; it was formerly four (loreys high, and, from the top of it, had a magnificent view of all the country fouthward to the lake Tzana. Great part of this houfe is now in ruins, having been burnt at different times ; but there is (till ample lodging in the two low^eft floors of it, the audience-cham- ber being above one hundred and twenty feet long. A fucceflTion of kings have built apartments by the fide of it of clay only, in the manner and faihion of their own country ; for the palace itfelf was built by mafons from India, in the time of Facilidas, and by fuch Abyflinians as had been inftruded in archltedure by the Jefuits without embracing their religion, and after remained in the country, unconnetled with the expulfion of thePortuguefe, during this prince's reign. The 36 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER The palace, and all its contiguous buildings, are furrounded by a fubftantial ftone wall thirty feet high, with battlements upon the outer wall, and a parapet roof between the outer and inner, by which you can go along the whole and look into the flreet. There appears to have never been any embrafures for cannon, and the four fides of this wall are above an Englilh mile and a. half in length. The mountain, or hill, on which the town is fituated, is furrounded on every fide by a deep valley, which has three outlets ; the one to the fouth to Dembea, Maitfha, and the Agows ; the fecond to the north-weft towards Sennaar, over the high mountain Debra Tzai, or the Mountain of the Sun, at the root of which Kofcarn, the pa- lace of the Iteghe, is fituated, and the low coun- tries of Walkayt and Waldubba ; the third is to the north to Woggora, over the high mouniain Lamalmon, and fo on through Tigre to the Red Sea. The river Kahha, coming from the Moun- tain of the Sun, or Debra Tzai, runs through the valley, and covers all the fouth of the town ; the Angrab, falling from Woggoro, furrounds it on the N N E. Thefe rivers join at the bottom of the hill, about a quarter of a mile fouth of the town. Immediately upon the bank oppofite to Gon- dar, on the other fide of the river, is a large town of Mahometans of about a thoufand houfes, Thefe are aJl adive and laborious people ; great THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 27 part of them are employed in taking care of the king's and nobility's baggage and field equipage, both when they take the field and when they re- turn from it. They pitch and flrike their tents with furprifmg facility and expedition j they load and -condud the mules and the baggage, and are formed into a body under proper officers, but ne-» ver fuffered, nor do they chufe, to fight on cither fide. Gondar, by a number of obfervations of the fun and flars made by day and night, in thecourfe of three years, with an aftronomical quadrant of three feet radius, and two excellent tel efcopes, and by a mean of all their fmall differences, is in lat. 12^ 34' 30'"; and by many obfervations of the fatellites of Jupiter, efpecially the firfl, both in their immerfions and emerfions during that pe- riod, I concluded its longitude to be ZJ'^ 'I^'i' ^' eafl from the meridian of Greenwich. It was the 4th of April 1770, at eight o'clock in the morning, when I fet out from Gondar. We palled the Kahha, and the Mahometan town^ and, about ten in the morning, we came to a confiderable river called the Mogetch, which runs in a deep, rugged bed of flakey blue ftones. We croffed it upon a very folid, good bridge of four arches, a convenience feldom to be met with in pafling AbyiTinian rivers, but very necelTary on; this, as, contrary to mofc of their ftreams, which become dry, or fland in pools, on the approach of the fun, the Mogetch runs conflantly, by rea<», fon 28 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER fon that its fources are in the higheft hills of Woggora, where clouds break plentifully at all feafons of the year. In the rainy months it rolls a prodigious quantity of water into the lake Tzana, and would be abfolutely unpaflable to people bringing provifion to the market, were it not for this bridge built by Facilidas ; yet it is not judici- oully placed, being clofe to the mountain's foot, in the face of a torrent, where it runs ftrongeft, and carries along with it ftones of a prodigious fize, which luckily, as yet, have injured no part of the bridge. The water of the river Mogetch is not wholefome, probably from the minerals, or ftony particles it carries along with it, and the llatey ftrata over which it runs. We have many rivers of this quality i|i the Alps, efpecially be* tween mount Cenis and Grenoble. Delivered now from the ftrait and rugged coun- try on the banks of the Mogetch, we entered into a very extenfive plain, bounded on the eaft fide by the inountains, and on the weft by the large lake of Dembea, otherwife called the lake Tzana, or Bahar Tzana, the Sea of Tzana, which geographers have corrupted into the word Barcena. Rejoiced at laft that I had elbow-room, I began the moft laborious fearch for fhrubs and herbs all over the plain, my fervants on one fide and I on the other, fearching the country on each fide of the road. It appeared to our warm ima- ginations, that the neighbourhood of fuch a lake, in fo remote a part of the world, ought infallibly tQ THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 29 to produce fomething perfedlly beautiful, or alto- gether new. In this, however, we were difap- pointed, as indeed we always were in meadows, and where grafs grew fo exuberantly as it did all over this plain. At eleven o'clock we crofled the river Tedda ; here the road divides : that breach to the eafl leads to Wechne, in the wild, uncultivated terri- tory of Beleflen, famous for no production but that of honey. We continued along the other bianch of the road, which led fouth to Emfras. One mile dif- tant on our left is the church of St. George. About one o'clock we halted at the church Zin- getch Mariam ; and a few minutes after, we paf- fed the river Gomara, a conliderable ftream rifmg in Beleflen, which (lands in pools during the dry weather, but had now begun to run; its courfe is N E. and S W. acrofs the plain, after which it falls into the lake Tzana. At two we halted at Correva, a fmall village, beautifully fituated on a gently-rifmg ground, through which the road pafl'es in view of the lake, and then again divides ; one branch continuing fouth to Emfras, and fo on to Foggora and Dara ; the other to Mitraha, two fmall iflands in the lake, lying S. W. from this at the diftance of about four hours journey. The road from Correva to Emfras, for the firfl hour, is all in the plain; for the fecond, along the gentle Hope of a mountain of no confiderable height ; and the remainder is upon a perfed flat, or along the lake Tzana. I The 30 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER The 5th of April, at five in the morning, we left our prefent ftation at Correva, where, though we had employed feveral hours in the fearch, we found very little remarkable of either plants or trees, being moftly of the kind we had already feen. We continued our road chiefly to the fouth, through the fame fort of country, till we came to the foot of a mountain, or rather a hill, covered with bu flies and thorny trees, chiefly the common acacia, but of no fize, and feeming not to thrive. I pitched my tent here to fearch what that cover would produce. There was a great quantity of hares, which I could make no ufe of, the Abyfii- nians holding them in abhorrence, as thinking them unclean; but, to make amends, I found great flore of Guinea fowls, of the common grey kind we have in Europe, of which I fhot, in a lit- tle time, above a fcore ; and thefe, being perfed- ]v lawful food, proved a very agreeable variety from the raw beef, butter, and honey, which we had lived upon hitherto, and which was to be our diet (it is not an unpleafant one, at leafl a part cf it) till we reached Emfras. At eight in the morning I pafTed through Tan- gouri, a confiderable village. About a hundred yards on the right from this we have a finer prof- ped: of the lake than even from Correva itfelf. This village is chiefly inhabited by Mahometans, whofe occupation it is to go in caravans far to the fouth, on the other fide of the Nile, through the feveral diftrids of Galla, to whom they cany beads THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 31 beads and large needles, cohol, or flibium, myrrh, coarfe cloths made in Begemder, and pieces of blue cotton cloths from Surat, called Marowti. They are generally nearly a year abfent, and bring in return flaves, civet, wax, hides, and cardomum in large beautiful pods ; they bring iikewife a great quantity of ginger, but from places farther fouth, nearer Narea. It appears to me to be a poor trade, as far as I could judge of it, confidering the lofs of time employed in it, the many accidents, extortions, and robberies thcfe merchants meet with. Whether it would be ever worth while to follow it on another footing, and another government, is what I am not qualified enough to fay. On the left of Tangouri, divided from it by a plain of about a mile in breadth, ftands a high rock called Amba Mariam, with a church upon the very fummit of it. There is no poflibility of climbing this rock but at one place, and there it is very difficult and rugged ; here the inhabitants of the neighbouring villages retreat upon any fudden alarm or inroad of an enemy. At nine o'clock, after pafling a plain, with the lake Tzana all the way on our right, in length about three miles, we came to the banks of the river Gorno, a fmail but clear ftream ; it rifes near Wechne, and has a bridge of one arch over it about half a mile above the ford. Its courie is north and fouth nearly, and lofes itfelf in the lake between Mitraha and Lamgue. A mile farther we 32 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER we arrived at Emfras, after a very pleafant, though not interefiing excurfion. The town is fituated on a fleep hill, and the way up to it is almofl perpendicular like the afcent of a ladder. The houfes are all placed about the mid- dle of the hill, fronting the weft, in number about 300. Above thefe houfes are gardens, or rather fields, full of trees and bufhes, without any fort of order, up to the very top. Emfras commands a view of the whole lake, and part of the country on the other fide. It was once a royal refidence. On a fmall hill is a houfe of Hatze Hannes, in form of a fquare tower, now going faft to ruin. Emfras is in lat. 12^ 12' 38''N. and long. 37® 38' 30'''^ E. of the meridian of Greenwich. The diilancesand diredions of this journey from Gon- dar were carefully obferved by a compafs, and computed by a watch of Ellicot's, after which thefe fituations were checked by aftronomical ob- fervations of latitude and longitude in every way that they could be taken, and it was very feldom in a day's journey that we erred a mile in dur com- putation. The lake of Tzana is by much the largeft ex- panfe of water known in that country. Its extent, however, has been greatly exaggerated. its greateft breadth is from Dingleber to Lamgue, which, in a line nearly eaft and v/eft, is 35 miles; but it decreafes greatly at each extremity, where It THE SOURCE OF THE NILE, ^3 it is not fometimes above ten miles broad. Its greateft length is from Bab Baha to a little S W. and by W. of that part, where the Nile, after having croiTed the end of it by a current always vifible, turns towards Dara in the territory of Alata, which is 49 miles from north to fouth, and Vv^hich extent this lake has in length. In the dry months, from 0£lober to March, the lake flirinks greatly in fize ; but after that all thofe rivers are full which are on every fide of it, and fall into the lake, like radii drawn to a center, then it fwells, and extends itfelf into the plain country, and has of courfe a much larger furface. There are forty-five inhabited iflands in the lake, if you believe the AbyfTmians, who, in eve- ry thing, are very great liars. I conceive the number may be about eleven : the principal is Dek, or Daka, or Daga *, nearly in the middle of the lake; its true extent 1 cannot fpecify, ne- ver having been there. Befides Dek, the ether iflands are Halimoon, nearer Gondar ; Briguida, nearer Gorgora, and flill farther in Gallia. All thefe iflands were formerly ufed as prifons for the great people, or for a voluntary retreat, on ac- count of fome difguft or great misfortune, or as places of fecurity to depofit their valuable effeds during troublefome times. When I was in Abyf- finia, a few weeks after what I have been relating, * It figni£es the hill, or high ground. Vol. IV, • D i^^qo ounce?; 34 TRAVELS TO I>ISCOVER 1 300 ouaces of gold, confided by the queen to Welleta Chriflos, her governor of Dek, a man of extraordinary fandity, who had fafted for forty years, was flolen away by that prieft, who fled and hid himfelf ; nor would the queen ever fuffer him to be fearched after or apprehended. CHAP. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE, 35 CHAP. III. ^he King encamps at Lamgue-^l^ranfaEiions there — Fajfes the Nile, and encamps at Derdera — The Author follows the King- V^N the 1 2th of May we heard the king had marched to Tedda. MeiTengers from Begem der 5 and from Gufho of Amhara, had been conftantly pafling to and from his majefty, pr effing Ras Mi- chael to take the field as foon as poffible, to pre- vent the utter deftrudion of the Agows, which Fafil every day was driving to accomplifh. They put him, m.oreover, in mind, that the rains were begun; that, in Fafil's country, they were al- ready fufficient to fwell the many rivers they had to pafs before they arrived at Bare, they deiired him to refled, that, with the armies they were bringing to his affiftance, it was more neceffary to fave time than flay for a number of troops ; laft- ly, that it v/as abfolutely ufelefs to wait for any reinforcement from Tigre, but that he fhould ra- ther march by Emfras, Foggora, and Dara, crofs the Nile where it comes out of the lake ; v/hile they, with their united armies, palled at the bridge near the fecond catara^:, fixteen miles be- D 2 low. <6 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER D low, burnt and laid wade Woodage, Afahel's country, and joined him at Derdera, between Courtohba and the lake. This was precifely what Ras Michael himfelf had planned ; it embraced the whole country of his enemy, and made his fcheme of vengeance complete; hitherto not a word had tranfpired that could raife the fmallefl fufpicion of treachery. The ; 3th, by day-break, Netcho, Fit-Auraris. to Ras Michael, palTed in great hafle below the town towards Foggora. The King had made a forced march from Tedda, and was that night to encamp at a houfe of Gufho's, near Lamgue. This was great expedition, and fufficiently marked the eagernefs with v/hich it was undertaken. The effedls of the approach of the army were foon feen. Every one hid what was bed in his houfe, or fled to the mountains with it. Emfras in a few hours was left quite empty : Ras Michael, advancing at the head of an army, fpread as much terror as would the approach of the day of judgment. It Y/as then — — -'- Deilruclion in a monarch's voice Cried havock, and let flip the dogs of war. , For, flricl and jud as he was in time of peace, or in preferving the police, the fecurity of the ways, and the poor from the tyranny of the rich, he was moft licentious and cruel the moment he took the field, efpecially if that country which he* entered Lad THE SOURCE OF THE NILE 37 had ever fhewn the lead tindure of enmity againfl him. About I r o'clock in the morning the king's Fit- Auraris pafled. He was a near relation of Aya- mico, one of the chiefs of the Agows v/ho was a relation of the king, as I have before mentioned, and ilain by Fafil at the battle of Banja. With him I had contra6:ed a great degree of friendfhip; he had about ^o horfe and 200 foot: ashepalfed at feveral places he made proclamation in name of the king, That nobody fhould leave their houfes, but remain quiet in them without fear, and that every houfe found empty fhould be burnt. He fent a fervant as he paffed, telling me the king was that night to lie at Lamgue, and defiring me to fend him what fpirits 1 could fpare, which I accordingly did, upon his providing a man who could protecl the houfes adjoining mine from the robbery and the violence of which the inhabitants were in hourly fear. About the clofe of the evening we heard the king's kettle-drums. Forty-five of thefe inflru- meats conflantly go before him, beating all the way while he is on his march. The Mahometan town near the water was plundered in a minute ; but the inhabitants had long before removed every thing valuable. Twenty different parties offirag* glers came up the hill to do the lame by Emfras. Some of the inhabicants were known, others not fo, but their houfes had nothing in them; at lafl thefe plunderers all united in mine, demanding meat 3? TRAVElS to l)lgCOVElL meat and drink, afid all fort of acconiiliddatldn. Our friend, left with us by the Fit-Auraris, re* fifted as much as one man <^ould do with fticks and whips, and it was a fcuffle till mid-night; at laft, having cleared ourfelves of them, luckily without their fetting fire to the town, we remained quiet, for the reft of th^ riight. On the i4thi at day -break, I mounted my horfe, with all my men-fervants, leaving the wo- riien-fervants and an old man to take care of the houfe. It was very linfafe to travel in fuch com^ pany at fuch an hour. We croffed the river Ariio, 2t little below Emfras, before We got into the plain ; after which we went at a fmart gallop, and arrived at Lamgui between eight and nine o'clock* Early as it was, thd king was then in council, and Ras Michael, who had his advifers afTembled alfo in his tent, had jufl left it to go to the king's. There was about 500 yards between their tents, and a free avenue is conftantly left, iii which it is a crime to (land, or even to crofs, unlefs fbr mef ' fengers fent from the one to the other. 1 he old general difmounted at the door of the tent ; and though I faw he perceived us, and was alwa^^s at other times mod courteous, he palfe;d us without taking the lead nouce^ and entered the tent of the kino-. Although my place in the houfehold gave me free accefs to wherever the king was, I did not choofe, at that time, to enter the back tent, and place THE SOURCF-OF THE NILE, 39 place myfelf behind his chair, as I might have- done; I rather thought it better to go to the tent of Ozoro Eflher, where I was fure at leaft of get- ting a good breakfaft: Nor was I difappointed. As foon as I fhewed myfelf at the door of the tent of that princefs, who was lying upon a fofa, the moment fhe caft her eyes upon me, fhe cried out. There is Yagoube! there is "the man I wanted! The tent was cleared of all but her women, and fhe then began to enumerate feveral complaints which Ihe thought, before the end of the camid laugh- ing, iit was vinble the king conftrained himfelf, and was not pleafed. Ihe drink had really this rcood effed, that it made me lefs abafhed than I otherwife fhould have been at this unexpeded fally of the young prince. I was, however, fomewhat difconcerted, and -made my proflration perhaps lefs gracefully than at another time, and this railed the merriment af thofe in waiting, as attri^-. buting it to intoxication. Upon rifmg, the king moft gracioully ftretched out his hand ^for me to kifs. While I was holding his hand, h^e faid tt>. his brother, coldly. Surely if you thought him drunk, you mud have expeded a reply; in that cafe, it would have been more prudent in you, and more civil, not to have made your obferva- tion. The prince was much abafhed. I ^haftfehed acrofs the carpet, and took both his hands and kiiled them; the laughers did not feetn much at ' their THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 43 their eafe, efpecially when I turned and ftood be- fore the king. He was kind, fenlible, compofed, and condefcending ; he complained that I had abandoned him; afked if I had been well ufed at Emfras, and doubted that 1 had wanted eveiy thing; but I fent you nothing on purpofe, fays he, becaufe you faid failing would do you good after too much feafting at Gondar, and I knew that hunger would bring you foon back again to us. If your majefty, faid I, takes the prince's word, I have been caroufmg to-day in your camp more than ever I did at Gondar; and, I do affure your majefty, prince George's reflexions were not without foundation. Come, come, fays the king, Georgis is your firm and fall friend, and fo he ought ; he owes it to you that he is fo able a horfeman and fo good a markfman, without whiclihe could never be more than a common foidier. He has commanded a divifion of the army to-day — " Of 500 horfe, cries out the prince in extacy ; and, when the king my brother to-morrow leads the van, you ihall be my Fit-Auraris, if you pleafe, when we pafs the Nile, and with my party I fliall fcour Maitfha/' I fhouid be very unhappy, prince, faid I, to have a charge of that importance, for which I know myfelf to be totally uricualifxed ; there are many brave men who have a tirle to that office, and who will fiil it with honour to tbem- felves and fafety to your perfon. 80 ycu will not truft yourfelf^ fays the prince, with me and my party 44 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER party when we (hall crofs the Nile? Are you angry with me, Yagoube, or are you afraid of Woodage Afahel? Wereyou inearneil, prince, in what you now fay, replied I, you fuppofe two things, both greater reproaches than that of being overtaken with wine. AlTure yourfelf I am, and always faall be, your mod affectionate and moft faithful fervant ; and that I fhall think it an honour to follow you in Maitiha, or elfewhere, even as a common horfeman, though, inftead of one, there were in it ten thoufand Woodage Afahels. O ho! fays the king, then you are all friends; and I mud tell you one thing, Georgis is more drunk with the thoughts of his command to-day than any foldier in my camp will be to-night with bouza. And this, indeed, feemed to be the cafe, for he v^as eUe a prince rather referved and fparing of words, efpecially before his brother. Tell me, Yagoube, continues the king, and tell me truly — at that very inftant came in a mef- fenger from Ras Pvlichaelj who, going round the chair without faluting, fpoke to the king, upon which the room was cleared ; but I after learned, that news were received from Begemder, that Fowuifen and his troops were ready to march, but that two of Gullio's nephews had rebelled, whom it had trken fome time to fubdue ; that another intKeno-er was left behind, but had fallen fick at Arinpo, who, howwcr, would come forward as foon as poiTible v/irh his mailer's meiTage, and \ 'ould be probably at the camp that night. He brous^ht THE SOUPvCE OF THE NILE. 45 brought aifo as undoubted intelligence, that Fa- fil, upon hearing Ras Michael's march, was pre- paring to repafs the Nile into the country of the Galla. This occafioned very great doubts, be- caufe difpatches had arrived fromNanna Georgis's fon, the day before at Tedda, which declared that Fafil had decamped from Bure that very day the melTenger came away, advancing northward- to- wards Gondar, but with what intention he could not fay ; and this was well known to be intelli- gence that might be ilridly and certainly relied upon. On the 15th, the king decamped early in the morning, and, as prince George had faid the night before, led the van in perfon ; a flattering mark of confidence that Ras Michael had put in him now for the firft time, of which the king vvTtS very fenfible. The Ras, however, had given him a dry nurfe*, as it is called, in Billetana Gueta Welleta Michael, an old and approved of- ficer, trained to war from his infancy, and fur- rounded with the mcft tried of the troops ofTigre, The king halted at the river Gomara, but ad- vanced that fame night to the pafTage where the Nile comes out of the lake Tzana, and refumes again the appearance of a river. The king remained the 15th and i6th encamp- ed upon the Nile. Several things that fliould have given umbrage, and begot fufpicion, happened while thev were in this fituation. A^lo. eover- nor 46 TRAVELS TO DISCOVEU nor of Gojara, had been fummoned to affift Ras Michael when Powuffen and Gufho ihould march to join him with their forces of Begemder and Amhara, and his mother Ozoro Welleta Ifrael, then at Gondar, had promifed he fhould not fail. This lady was younger fifler to Ozoro Either j both were daughters of the Iteghe. She was as beautiful as Ozoro Eflher, but very much her inferior in behaviour, charader, and condud : fhe had refufed the old Ras, who aiked her in marriage before he was called from Tigre to Gon- dar, and a mortal hatred had followed her refufal. it was therefore reported, that he was heard to fay, he v/ould order the eyes of Welleta lirael to be pulled out, if Aylo her fon did not join him. It mud have been a man fuch as Ras Michael that could form fach a refolution, for Welleta Ifrael's eyes w^ere moil captivating. She was then in the camp with her fifler. A fmgle fmall tent had appeared the evening of the 15th on the other fide of the Nile, and on the morning of the 1 6th, Welleta Ifrael and the tent were milling : fhe boldly made her efcape in the night. The tent had probably concealed her fon Aylo, or fome of his friends, to fbow her the paf- fage ; for the Nile there was both broad and deep, rolling along a prodigious mafs of water, with large, black, ilippery flones at the bottom. It was therefore a very arduous, bold undertaking for foldiers and men accudomed to pafs rivers in the day time 5 but for a woman, and in the night too, THE SQURCE OF THE NILE. 47 too'^ with all the hurry that the fear of being in» tereepted muil have occafioned, it was fo extra- ordinary as to exceed all belief. But (he was con- ducted by an intrepid leader, for with her defert- ed Ayto Engedan fon of Kafmati Eihte, and con- fequently nephew to Ozoro Welleta Ifrael ; but their own inclinations had given them flill a near- er relation than the degree received from their pa- rents, or decency fhould have permitted. All the camp had trembled for Welleta Ifrael ; and every one now rejoiced that fo bold an attempt had been attended with the fuccefs it merited. It was ne- ceilary, however, to diffemble before Michael, who, intent upon avenging the Agows againft Fa- fil, carried his reflexions at that time no further ; for Aylo's not coming was attributed to the in- fluence of Fafil, whofe government of Damot joins Gojam, and it was even faid, that Welleta Ifrael, his mother, had been the occafion of this, from her hatred to Michael and her attachment to Fafil ; the firfl: caufe was fufficiently apparent, the laft: had formerly been no lefs fo. On the 17th, after fun-rife, the king paifed the Nile, and encamped at a fmall village on the other fide, called Tfoomwa, where his Fit-Auraris had taken poft early in the morning. I have often mentioned this oflicer without explanation, and perhaps it may now be right to flate his duty. The Fit Auraris is an ouicef depending immedi- ately upon the commander in chief, and correl- ponding with him direclly, v/ithciit receiving or- ders 48 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER ders from any other perfon. He is always one of the braved, mod robufl, and mod experienced men in the fervice : he knows, with the utmoft exadnefs, the diilance of places, the depth of ri- vers, the date of the fords, the thicknefs of the woods, and the extent of them ; in a word, the whole face of the country in detail. His party is always adapted to the country in which the war is ; fometimes it is entirely compofed of horfe, fometimes of foot, but generally of a mixture of both. He has the management of the intelligence and diredlion of the fpies. He is likewife limit- ed to no number of troops ; fometimes he has I GO men, fometimes 200. In time of real danger he has generally about 300, all picked from the whole army at his pleafure ; he had not now about 50 horfe, as it was not yet thought to be the time of real bufinefs or danger. As the pod of Fit-Auraris is a place of great trud, fo it is endowed with proportionable emo- luments. The king's Fit-Auraris has territories affigned him in every province that he ever paiTes through, fo has that of the Ras, if he commands in chief. Every governor of a province has alfo an officer of this name, who has a revenue allow- ed him within his own province. It is a place of great fatigue. Their pod is at ditTerent didances from the van of the army, according to the cir- cumdances of the war; ibnietimes a day's march, fometimes four or fix hours. As he paifes on he fix'cs a lance, with a flag upon it, in the place where THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 49 where the king's tent is to be pitched that night, or where he is to halt that day. Ke has couri- ers, or light runners, through which he con- ftantly correfponds with the army; whenever he fees the enemy, he fends immediate advice, and falls back himfelf, or advanced farther, according as his orders are. From Tfoomwa the king marched on, a {hort day's march, to Derdera, and encamped near the churchof St. Michael. Derdera, was a colledion of fmall villages, between the lake Dembea and Court-obha, where, it will be remembered, the agreement was the confederates ihould inclofe Michael, and give him battle; but he had nov/ loft all patience^ as there was no appearance of either Gullio or Powuffen; and being, befides, in an enemy's country, he began to proceed in his ufual manner, by giving orders to lay wafte the whole adjacent territory with fire and fvvord. The whole line of march, two days journey in breadth from the lake, was fet on fire; the peo- ple who could not efcape were flain, and every wanton barbarity permitted. The king's palTage of the Nile was the fignal given for me to fet out to join him. It was the 1 8th of May, at noon, I left Emfras, my courfe being fouthv/ard whilft in the plain of Mitraha. At three o'clock we entered among a few hills of no confideration, and, foon after, began to coaft clofe along the Mq of the lake Tzana. We faw this day a great number of hippopotami; fome Vol. IV, E fwim- S6 TRAVELS to t)II^COVE^ fwimming in the lake at a fmall diflance, fomer rifing from feeding on the high grafs in the mead-^ ows, and walking, feemingly at great leifure, till they plunged themfelves out of fight. They are exceeding cautious^ and fhy while on land, and not to be approached near enough to do execution v/ith the befl rifle-gun. At four in the afternoon we halted, and pafTed the night at Lamgiie, a vil- lage fituated a few paces from the fide of the lake. On the 1 9th of May we left Lamgue about fix in the morning, our courfe fouth and by wefly^ and at eight we found ourfelves in the middle of twenty- five or thirty villages called Nabca, flretching for the length of feven or eight miles; a few minutes afterwards we came to the river Reb, vv'hich falls into the lake a little north-wefl, of the place where we now were. Clofe by where the Reb joins the lake is a fmall village of Pagans, called Waito, who live quite feparatefrom the Abyf- fmians, and are held by them in utter abhorrence, fo that to touch them, or any thing that belongs to them, makes a man unclean all that day till the evening, feparates him from his family and friends, and excludes him from the church and all divine fervice, till he is wafhed and purified on the following day. Part of this averfion is cer- tainly owing to their manner of feeding ; for their only profefTion Is killing the crocodile and hippo- potamus, which they make their daily fuftenance. They have a moft abominable flench, are exceed- ingly wan, or iil-coloured, very lean, and die often, THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 51 often, as is faid, of the loufy difeafe. There are, indeed, no crocodiles in the lakeTzanaj owing, as it is faid, to the catarads, which they cannot get up. However, as they are amphibioiis ani- mals, and walk very well on (liore, I think they might furmount this difficulty as eafily as the hip- popotamus ; 1 rather think the caufe is the cold- nefs of the water and climate, which does not agree with the crocodile, but much with the river- horfe. The Waito fpeak a language radically different from any of thofe in Abyflinia ; but though I have often endeavoured to get fome infight into this, their religion, and cuiloms, I could never fo far fucceed as to be able to give the public any certain information. A falfe account in fuch cafes is cer- tainly worfe than no account at all. I once defired the king to order that one of them might be brought to Gondar. Two men, an old and a young one, were accordingly brought from the lake, but they would neither anfwer nor underlland any quefti- ons ; partly, I believe, through fear, partly from obftinacy. The king at this became fo angry that he ordered them both to be hanged ; they feemed perfectly unconcerned, and it was with fome diffi- culty 1 procured their releafe ; I never therefore made an experiment of that kind afterwards. The AbyfTmians believe they are forcerers, can be- witch Vv^ith their eyes, and occafion death by their charms even at a confiderable diftance. It is likely, if that had been" fo, thefe two would have E 2 tried 52 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER tried their power upon me, of which I do not re- colled: to have ever been fenfible. We pafled the Reb at nine o'clock in the morn- ing. It rifes high in the mountains of Begemder^ and is one of thofe rivers that continue running the whole year, and has a tolerable ford, although it was vifibly increafed by rain. We continued our journey in fight of many villages till three quarters after twelve, we came to the river Go- mara, where we (laid in fearch of trees and herbs the reft of the day. At night we received a mef- fage from Ay to Adigo, Shum, or governor, of Karoota. He was an officer of confidence of the Iteghe's; had been a great friend of Mariam Ba- rea*s, one of whofe valTals he was, and in his heart an inveterate enemy to Ras Michael and the new fucceffion. Ever fince the murder of Joas he had ventured to Gondar. When I firft came there the Ras had given his houfe, as that of an outlaw, to me. Afterwards, as foon as he re- turned, I offered immediately to furrender it to him ; but he would not by any means accept it, but afked leave to pitch his tent in one of the courts furrounded with walls, for it was a fpa- cious building. Perhaps it was the beft fitua- tion he could have chofen, for we did him great fervice by the means of Ozoro Eflher, as he was but very ill-looked upon, and was rich enough to be confidered as an objed of Ras Michael's rapacity and avarice. Our neighbour- hood THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 53 hood occafioned us to pafs many evenings toge- ther, and we contradled a friendfliip, the rather becaufe he was a fervant of the Iteghe, and we were known favourites of Ozoro Efther. CHAP. 54 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER CHAP.. IV. Fafs the Bdvsr Gomara — Remarkable Accident there — Arrive at Dara — Vifit the great Cataract of Alata — 'Leave Dara^ and refume our 'Jotir*^ ney^ 'N the 2oth of May, between fix and feven in the morning, as Adigo was not arrived, I fent the baggage and tents that we had with us forward with Strates, a Greek, who was an avowed ene- my to all learned inquiries or botanical refearches. My orders were to encamp at Dara, in fome con- venient place near the houfe of Negade Ras Ma- homet. In the mean time I (laid exped:ing Ayto Adigo's arrival ; he came near eleven o'clock. As a temporary ihelter from the fun, a cloak upon crofs flicks was fet up, inflead of a tent, to fave time. "We fat down together to fuch fare as Adigo had brought along with him ; it was a fol- dier's dinner, coarfe and plentiful. Adigo told me Kafmati Ayabdar, an uncle of Gulho, had left his Koufe the night before, accompanied by the men of Foggora, the country where we then were, of which he was governor, and had taken the high road to join the forces of Begemder. ISfetchOj^ THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 55 Netcjio, a near relation of the old queen, arri- ved from Kuara jufl as we were fitting down to dinner. He had about 50 horfe and 200 foot, all bad troops, and ill armed; he was, however, a refpedable, tried veteran, who having had many opportunities of becoming rich, gave the whole to his foldiers, and thofe of his dependents that lived with him ; on which account he was extreme- ly beloved, and it was hoped that, if the ilTae of this campaign was favourable, Ras Michael would jnake him governor of Kuara, in room of Coque Abou Barea, a man of a very different charader^ who had intruded himfelf into that province by the power of Fafil, and after maintained himfelf m it by open rebellion. The mules that had hitherto carried my quad- rant and telefcopes being bad, I had luckily kept them behind, in hopes that either Adigo or Netcho would fupply me with better ; and I had now pla- ced them upon the frefli mules I had obtained^ and had not fent them on with the fervants, and we were then taking a friendly glafs. It was,, I fuppofe, about noon, when we faw our fervants coming back, and Strates alfo among the reft, /Iript of every thing that he had, except a cotton night-cap, which he wore on his head. The fer- vants fwam over the Gomara immediately, nor was Strates interrupted, but paiTed at the ford. They told us that Gufho and FowuiTen were in rebellion againft the king, and confederated with Fafilj that they were advancing fafl to cut off tl]e Ras's 56 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER Ras's retreat to Gondar, and that Guebra Mehe- din, and Confu, Powulfen's Fit-Auraris, had fallen in with our fervants; and plundered them, as belonging to the king and the Ras. I was, for fome minutes, in the utmoft aflo- nifhment at this torrent of bad news. Whether the others knew more than I, it is impoffible to fay ; dilTimulation, in all ranks of thefe people, is as natural as breathing. Guebra Mehedin and Con- fu were the Iteghe s two nephews, fons of Bafha Eufebius her brother, a worthlefs man, and his ions no better. They were young men, hov/ever, whom I faw continually at the queen's palace, and to whom I fliould have o^one immediately without fear, if I had known their houfes had been in my way, 2^nd they happened to be near Lebec at the hot wells; notwithftanding their rank, they were of fuch dilfipated manners, that they were of no account, but treated as cailaways in the houfe of the queen their aunt, and never, as far as I knew, had entered into the prefence of the king. I had often ate and drank with them, however, in the houfe of Ayto Engedan, their coufm-ger- man, who was gone off with Welleta Ifrael his aunt, at the paffage of the Nile as before menti- oned. They had beat Strates, who was their in- timate acquaintance, violently; as alfo two others of my ferv^ants, to make them confefs in what package the gold was. They had taken from them alfo a large blunderbufs, given me by the Swedifli conful, Brander, at Algiers; a pair of piftols, a double- THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 57 double-barrelled gun, and a Turkifli fword mount- ed with filver, which, as there was then no prof- peel of their being immediately needed, werefent forward with the baggage. Netcho and Adigo, and all prefent, agreed that the v/hole was a fidion, and that, fuppofmg the account to be true that Begemder and Amhara were in rebellion, young, wild, and worthiefs people, like Guebra Mehedin and Confu, could jicver be thofe pitched upon for the refpedable office of Fit-Auraris. The woril that could be, as they conceived, was, that fonie mifunderftand- ing might fubfifl between Ras Michael and the governors above named, but Fafil was undoubt- edly the enemy of them all. They imagined therefore that this difgufl, if any, would be foon got over, and concluded that it was highly abfurd, in any cafe, to attack me, as they certainly knew that the queen, Powuflen, and Gudio, would be full as ill-pleafed with it as the king or Has Michael. It therefore appeared to them, as it alio did to me, that thefe wild, young men, had taken the firfh furmife of a- rebellion, as a pretence for robbing all that came in their way, and that I, un- fortunately, had been the firfl. We were in the middle of this converfation when the parties appeared. They had, perhaps, an hundred horfe, and were fcattered about a lar^re o plain, Ikirmifhing, playing, purfuing one another, ihrieking and hooping like fo many frantic people. They (lopt, however, upon coming nearer, feeing the 58 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER the refpedable figure that we made, jufh ready to pafs the ford, which alone divided us. Our fer- vants had neither feen Netcho nor Adigo, when they went in the morning, though they knew Adigo was expeded, and thefe marauders hoped to have intercepted me, thinly accompanied, as they had done my baggage. Guebra Mehedin and his brother approached nearer the banks than the reft, and a fervant was fent from them, who croiTed the river to us, up- braiding Ayto Adigo with protecting a Frank profcribed by the laws of their country, and alfo with marching to the affiftance of Ras Michael, the murderer of his fovereign, offering at the fame time to divide the fpoilwith him if he would furrender me and mine to him. Servants here, who carry meffages in time of war between the contending parties, are held facred like heralds. They are fent even with infults and defiances . but it is conftantly underftood that their errand proteds them from fuffering any harm, whether on the road, or when in words they perform thefe foolifh, ufelefs commifTions. Adigo and Netcho were above obferving this punctilio with robbers. Some were for cutting the fervant's ears off, and fome for carrying him bound to Ras Michael ; I begged they would let him go : and Netcho fent word by him to Guebra Mehedin to get the goods and mules he had robbed us of too^ether, for he was coming over to fhare them with him. The fervants having given the mefTsnger THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. ^9 meflenger a fevere drubbing with flicks, torn the cloth from about his middle, and twilled it about his neck like a cord, in that plight fent him back to Guebra Mehedin, and we all prepared to take the ford acrofs the river. Guebra Mehedin, who faw his fervant thus difgraced returning towards him, and a confiderable motion among the troops, advance4 a few fteps with two or three more of his company, flretching forth his hand and crying out, but ilill at a diflance that we could not hear. He was diftinguilhed by a red falh of filk twifted about his head. I, with my fervants and attend- ants, firftpafTed the river at the ford, and I had no fooner got up the bank, and flood upon firm ground, than I fired two fhots at him; the one, from a Turkifh rifle, feemed to have given him great apprehenfions, or elfe to have wounded him, for, after four or five of his people had flocked about him, they galloped all off acrofs the plain of Foggora towards Lebec. >^ Netcho had pafTed the Gomara clofe after me, entreating me to let him go firii, but Adigo de- clared his refolution to go no farther. He hated Ras Michael ; was a companion of Powuffen and Gufho, as well as a neignbour, and wifhed for a revolution with all his heart. He, therefore, re- turned to Emfras and Karoota, and with him I fent five of my fervants, defiring him to efcort my quadrant, clock, and telefcopes into the ifland of Mitraha, and deliver them to Tecla Georgis, the J?;ing's fervant, governor of that ifland. Adigo, being 6o TRAVELS TO DISCOVER being left alone by the fervants, could not be per* fuaded but fome great treafure was hid in thofe boxes. He, therefore, carried them to his houfe, and ufed the fervants well, but opened and ex- amined every one of the packages, Surprifed to find nothing but iron and rufty brafs, he clofed them again, and delivered them fafely to Tecla Georgis, there to be kept for that campaign. Delivered now from the embarralfment of my baggage by the induflry of Guebra Mehedin, and of my cafes and boxes by my own inclination, we iet out with Netcho to take up our quarters with Negade Ras Mahomet atDara, where we arrived in the afternoon, having picked up one of our mules in the way, with a couple of carpets and fome kitchen furniture upon it, all the refl being carried off. The object which now iirft prefented itfelf, and called our attention, was Strates in a night-cap, in other refpe^ls perfeclly naked, with a long gun upon his fhouiders, without powder or fhot, but prancing and capering about in a great paffion, andfwearing a number of Greek oaths, which no- body there underflood a w^ord of but myfelf. This fpedacle was rather diverting for fome mi- nutes ; at lait Netcho, though I believe he wa$ not over-well provided, gave him an upper cloak to v/rap round him. It was not then warm, in- deed, but it was not very cold. After recovering the mule, he got on between the panniers, and I advifed him to put the fmallefb carpet about him, which THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 6i which hefoon after did; he had not yet fpoke a word to me from fullennefs. " Strates, faid I, my good friend, lay afide that long gun, for you will fall and break it, befides it hath not been charged fmce it was fired at Gue- bra Mehedin. If you carry it to flrike terror, it is altogether unneceflary ; for, if we had drefied you as you are now accoutred, when we fent you forward with the baggage to Dara, there is not a thief in all Begemder would have ventured to come near you." He looked at me with a countenance full of anger and contempt, though he faid no- thing ; but, in Greek, pronounced anathemas againft the father of Guebra Mehedin, according to the Greek form of curfrng. " Curfe himfelf and his brother, faid I, and not his father, for he has been dead thefe twenty years."— " I will curfe whom I pleafe, fays he, in a great pafTion, I curfe his father, himfelf, and his brother, the Ras, and the king, and every body that has brought me into fuch a fcrape as I have been to-day. I have been (tripped naked, and within an inch of having ray throat cut, befides being gelded ; and well may you laugh now at the figure I make. If you had feenthofe damned crooked knives, with their black hands, all begging, as' if it had been for charity, to be allowed to do my bufmefs, vou would have been glad for my making no worfe figure to-night than I do with this carpet upon my head." 6i TRAVELS TO DISCOVER " My dear Strates, faid I, it is the fortune of war, and many princes and great men, who, at this moment I am fpeaking to you, live in the en- joyment of every thing they can defire, before a month expires, perhaps, will be flretched on the cold ground, a prey to the birds and wild beafts of the field, without fo much as a carpet to cover them fuch as you have. You as yet are only frightened ; though, it is true, a man may be as well killed as frightened to death.'^ " Sir, fays he, in a violent rage, that I deny, it is not the fame ? a man that is killed feels no more, but he that is frightened to death, as 1 have been to-day^ fuifers ten thoufand times more than if he had been killed outright."—" Well, faid I, Strates, I will not difpute with you ; I believe they fulfer much the fame after they are dead ; but you, I thank God, have only loft your cloaths, and you are now mofl comfortably, though not ornamentally, wrapped up in my carpet ; as foon as v/e get to Dara, you fhall be drelTed from head to foot, by Negade Ras Mahomet, at the expence of the king, in better cloaths than you ever wore in your life, at lead fmce I knew you ; only give me your gun till your pallion is allayed ; you know it is a valuable one which I never quit." He then gave me the gun fuddenly enough ; and I continued, '' I will this very night prefent vou with one of the handfomefl Turkifh fafties that Mahomet has to fell. I faw him in the king's houfe, wdth many new ones that he had procured, a little THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 63 a little before I went to Emfras." I cannot pre- tend to fay whether his vifage cleared up, for he was ftill perfectly hid with the carpet, as it began to grow cool as well as dark ; but the fight of the lights in the houfes of Dara, and the promife of the new cloaths and the fafh, had very much foft- ened his voice and exprellions. " Sir, fays he, bringing his mule clofe up to mine, now, you are not in a pajjlon^ one may fpeak to you. Do you not think that it is tempting Providence to come fo far from your own coun- try to feek thefe d — n'd weeds and flowers, at the rifk of having your throat cut every hour of the day, and, what is worfe^ my throat cut too, and of being gelded into the bargain? Are there no weeds, and bogs, and rivers in your own country ? what have you to do with that d — n'd Nile, where he rifes, or whether he rifes at all, or not? What will all thofe trees and branches do for you when thefe horrid blacks have done your bufmefs, as they were near doing mine? He then made a fign towards his girdle with his fingers, which made me underfiand what he meant — " Nile, fays he, curfe upon his father's head the day that he was born." " Strates, replied I gravely, he has no father, and was never horn, Ferturfine tefte creatus^ fays the poet." — " There's your Latin again; the poet is an afs and a blockhead, let him be who he will, continued Strates ; and I do maintain, whe- ther you be angry or not, that at Stanchio and 3 Scio 64 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER ' Scio there are finer trees than ever you faw, or will fee in Abyflinia. There is a tree, fays he, that fifty men like you, fpreading all your hands round about, would not be able to grafp it. Nay, it is not a tree, it is but half a tree ; it is as old, 1 believe, as Methufelah : Did you ever fee it ?*' — "^ I tell you, friend Strates, faid I, I never was at Scio in my life, and, therefore, could not fee it." — " Nor at Stanchio ?" — " Yes, I have been at Stanchio, and have feen the large plane-tree there, I believe it may be about eighteen or twenty feet in circumference.*' — " Galen and Hippocrates lived, adds he, there together, 2000 years before our Saviour : Did you ever hear that ?" — " 1 have read, faid I, Strates, that, about 500 years before Chrift, Hippocrates did live there ; but Galen was not born till 200 years after Chrift. I do not recoiled if he was ever at Stanchio ; but am fure he ilever lived there with Hippocrates." Strates was in the middle of a declaration, that thofe were all falfehoods of Latins and Papifls ; and we were afcending, compofedly enough, through a narrow, rocky road, thick covered with high trees and bulhes, when, juft before our entrance into the village of Dara, a gun was fired, and the ball diftiniftly heard pafling through the leaves among the branches. This occafioned a great alarm to our difputant, who immediately fuppofed that Guebra Mehedin, and all his rob- bers, were there exprefsly waiting for us ; nor was he the only perfon that felt uneafily. Netcho, myfelf, THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 65 and the generality of his oiEcers, thought this was more than probable ; we all therefore difmounted, loaded our fire-arms, halted till our flragglers came up, and confulted what we were to do. Strates, though tired and naked, found it was better to go back under his carpet, and, if polTible, overtake Ay to Adigo, than take poiTeilion of his new cloaths from Negade Ras Mahomet, with the riik of meeting Guebra Mehedin there. In vain I remonilrated to him, that he, of all others, had nothing to lofe but Netcho's old cloak and the carpet. His fears, however^ made him think otherwife, nor could he banifii his apprehenfions of the crooked knives, and, what he called, the operation. Netcho having ordered and con- verfed with his men in his own language, which 1 did not underfland, faid after, with great com- pofure and firm tone of voice. That he had com.e to lodge in the market-place of Dara that night, and would not be put out of his quarters by boys of the charader of Mehedin and Gonfu ; that, in his prefent circumftances, with the few troops he had, he did not feek to fight, but even with this force, fuch as it was, if attacked, he would not decline it. — Whatever country, or whatever dif- tance of time and place heroes live at, their hearts are always in unilbn, and fpeak the fame language on fimilar and great occafions. There old Netcho without having ever heard of Shakefpeare, re- peated the very words that, 300 years ago, our Vol. IV. F great 66 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER great King Henry the V. did before tlie battle of Agincourt : — The fum of all my anfwer is but this, We would not feek a battle as we are ; Yet, as we are, we fay we will not fhun it. So tell your mailer Shakespeare. We bad advanced but a few paces, before two of the town came to us ; the noife of our approach had been heard, and all the dogs had been bark- ing for half an hour. Soon after, arrived a fon of Negade Ras Mahomet, who alfured us ail was in peace ; that they had been expeding us and Ayto Adigo with us ; that he heard nothing of Guebra Mehedin, only that he had retreated with great precipitation homewards acrofs the plain, as they apprehended, from fear of the approach of our party. He had, indeed, for fome days, been guilty of great irregularities 5 had llain two men, wounded the fon of Mahomet^ the Shum, or chief of Alata, in attempting to take from him the re- venue due from that territory to the king ; after which they had been beat back by Kiahomet with- out their booty, and nothing more was known of them. This brought us to Negade Pas Mahomet's houfe, who killed a cow for Netcho, or rather allowed him to kill one for himfelf ; for it is equal to a renunciation of Chriflianity to eat meat when the THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 67 the beaft is Haughtered by a Mahometan. Strates, v/ho from his infancy, in his own country, had fared on nothing eife. was not fo fcrupulous, though he concealed it ; he therefore had a very hearty fupper privately with Negade Ras Mahomet and his family, who very willingly promifed to get his new cloaths ready by the next morning. As I was myfelf, however, full of thoughts Upon the difficulties and dangers I was already en- gaged in, and of the profpect of ftill greater before me, I had no flomach for either of their fuppers, but ordered fome coffee, and went to bed. After I lay down J defired Negade Ras Mahomet to come to me, and, when we were alone, 1 interro- gated him if he knew any thing of the rebellion in Begemder. At fird he declared he did not ; he laughed at the notion of Guebra Mehedin and Confu being Fit-Auraris to Gufho and Powulfen, and faid, that either of thefe generals would hang them the firft time they came into their hands. He told me, however, that Woodage Afahel had been aifembUng troops, and had committed fome cruelties upon the king's fervants in Maitfna ; but this, he imagined, was at the inftigation of Fafil, for he never was known to have been conneded either with Powuflen or Gulho. He told me after, under the feal of fecrecv, that Ras Michael had halted two days at Derdera ; that, upon a mef- fage he had received from Begemder, he had broke cut into violent paiTions againft Gulho and Pow- ulfen, calling them liars and traitors, in the F 2 openefl 68 TRAVELS TO DISCO VEPv opened: manner ; that a council had been held at Derdera, in prefence of the king, where it was in deliberation whether the armv ihould not turn (liort into Begemder, to force that province to join them ; but that it was carried, for the fake of the Agows, to fend Powuifen a fummons to join him for the lad time : that, in the mean while, they fhould march flraight with the greatcil dili- gence to meetFafil, and give him battle, then re- turn, and reduce to proper fubordination both Eegemder and Amhara. This was the very worfl news I could pofTibly receive according to the refolutions that I had then taken, for I v/as within about fourteen miles of the great catarad, and it was probable I never again fhould be fo near, were it even always ac- ceffible ; topafs, therefore, without feeing it, was worfe, in my own thoughts, than any danger that could threaten me. Negade Ras Mahomet was a fober plain man, of excellent underilanding, and univerfai good charader for truth and integrity ; and, as fuch, very much in the favour both of the King and Ras Michael. I therefore opened my intentions to him without referve, defiring his advice how to mana<^e this excurfion to the catarad:. " Unlefs you had told me you were refolved, fays he, with a grave air, though full of opennefs and candour, I would, in the firft place, have advifed you not to think of fuch an undertaking ; thefe are unfet- tied times \ all the country is bufhy, wild, and uninhabited. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 69 iininhabited, quite to Alata ; and though Maho- met, the Shum, is a good man, m.y friend and relation, and the king repofes trufl in him, as he does in me, yet Alata itfelf is at any time but a bad, draggling place ; there are now many flran- gers, and wild people there, whom Mahomet has brought to his afiillance, fince Guebra Mehediu mad€ the attack upon him. If, then, any thing was to befal you, what fhould I anfwer to the" king and the Iteghe ? it would be faid, the Turk ha's betrayed him; though, God knows, I was never capable of betraying your dog, and rather would be poor all my life, than the richeft man of the province by doing the like wrong, even if the bad action was never to be revealed, or known, unlefs to my own heart. " Mahomet, faid I, you need not dwell on. thefe profefTions ; I have lived twelve years with people of your religion, my life always in their power, and 1 am now in your houfe, in preference to being in a tent out of doors with Netcho and his Chriflians. I do not aik you whether I am to go or not, for that is refolved on; and, thoiigh you are a Mahometan, and I a Chriftian, no religion teaches a man to do evil. We both agree in this, that God, vv'ho has protected me thus far, is ca- pable to protect me likewife at the cataract, and farther, if he has not determined otherwife, for my good ; I only aik you as a man who knows the country, to give me your bed advice, how I may Satisfy my curiofity in this point, with as little danger 70 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER danger, and as much expedition as pofTible, leav- ing the reft to heaven." — " Well, fays he, I fhall do fo. I think, likevirife, for your comfort, that, barring unforefeen accidents, you may do it at this time, without great danger. Guebra Mehe- din vv^iil not come between this town and Alata, becaufe we are all one people, and the killing two men, and wounding Mahomet's fon, makes him a dimmenia *. At Alata he knows the Shum is ready to receive him as he deferves, and he is him- feif afraid of Kafmati Ayabdar, with whom he is as deep in guilt as with us, and here he well knows he dare not venture for many reafons." " Ayabdar, faid I, paiTed the Karoota three days ago.'* "Well, well, replied Mahomet, fomuch the better, Ayabdar has the leprofy, and goes every year once, fometimes twice, to the hot wells atLebec; they muft pafs near one another, and that is the reafon Guebra Mehedin has aflembled all thefe banditti of horfe about him. He is a beggar, and a fpendthrift ; a fortnight ago he f^nt to me to borrow twenty ounces of gold. You may be fure I did not lend it him ; he is too much in my debt already ; and I hope Ras Mi- chael will give you his head in your hand before v/inter, for the fhameful adion he has been guilty of to you and yours this day. *' Woodage Afahel, faid I, what fay you of himr"-— " Why, you knov/, replied Mahomet, ^ Giulry of our blood, and fubjedt to the Laws of retaliation. nobody THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 71 nobody can inform you about his motions, as he is perpetually on horfeback, and never rells night nor day ; however, he has no bufmefs on this iide of the water, the rather that he muii: be fure Ras Michael, when he palfed here, took with him ail the king's money that I had in my hands. Wheii day-Hght is fairly come, for we do not know the changes a night may produce in this couniry, take half a dozen of your fervants ; I will fend with you my fon and four of my fervants; you will call at Alata, go down and fee the cataracl, but do not ft.ay, return immediately, and, Ullah Kerim^ God is merciful/' I thanked my kind landlord, and let him go 5 but recolleding, called him again, and afked, ^' What fhall I do with Netcho ? how fhall I re- join him ? my company is too fmaii to pafs Ivlait- fha without him." — " Sleep in peace, fays he, I will provide for that. I tell you in confidence, the king's money is in my hands, and was not ready when the Ras paffed ; my fon is but jufl arrived with the lall of it this evening, tired to death ; I fend the money by Netcho, and my fon too, with forty flout fellows well armed, who will die in your fervice, and not run away like thofe vaga- bond Chriftians, in whom you mufl place no confidence if danger prefents itfeif, but immedi- ately throw yourfelf among the Mahometans. Befides, there are about fifty foidiers, moil of them from Tigre, Michael's men, that have been loitering here thefe two days. It was one of thefe that fired the gun juft before you came, which alarmed 72 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER alarmed Netcho ; fo that, when you are come back in fafety from the cataract, they fhall be, by that time, all on their march to the paffage. My fon {hall mount with you ; I fear the Nile will be too deep, but when once you are at Tfoomwa, you may fet your mind at reft, and bid defiance to Woodage Afahel, who knows his enemy always before he engages him, and at this time will not venture to interrupt your march." As I have mentioned the name of this perfon fo often, it v/ill be neceifary to take notice, that he was by origin a Galla, but born at Damot, of the clan Elmana, or Denfa, two tribes fettled there in the time of Yafous I. that he was the moft in- trepid and aQive partizan in his time, and had an invincible hatred to Ras Michael, nor was there any love loft betwixt them, ,It is impolTible to conceive with what velocity he moved, fometime^ with 200 horfe, fometimes with half that number. He was conftantly falling upon fqme part of Mi- chaers army, whether marching or encamped ; the blow once ftruck, he difappeared in a minute. When he v/anted to attempt fomething great, he had only to fummon his friends and acquaintance in the country, and he had then a little army, which difperfed as foon as the bufmefs was done. It was Ras Michael's firft queftion tothefpies; Where was Woodage Afahel laft night ? a quefti- on they very feldom could anfwer with certainty. lie was in his perfon too tall for a good horfeman, yet he was expert in this qualification by conftant praftice, THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 73 pradlce. His face was yellow, as if lie had the jaundice, and much pitted with the fmall-pox ; his eyes flaring, but fiery ; his nofe as it were bro- ken, his mouth large, his chiii long and turned up at the end ; he fpoke very faft, but not much, and had a very ftiy, but ill-defigning look. In his charafter, he was avaricious, treacherous, in- exorable, and cruel to a proverb ; in fhort, he was allowed to be the moll mercilefs robber and murderer that age had produced in all Abyflinia. Wearied with thinking, and better reconciled to my expedition, I fell into a found fleep. I was awakened by Strates in the morning, (the 2 ift of May) who, from the next room, had heard all the Gonverfation between me and Negade Ras, and began now to think there was no fafety but in the camp of the king. I will not repeat his wife expoftulatipns againil going to the cataiaft. We were rather late, and I paid little regard to them. After coffee, I mounted my horfe, with five fer- vants on horfeback, all refolute, adlive, young fellows, armed v/ith lances in the falhion of their country. I was joined that moment by a fon of Mahomet, on a good horfe, armed with a fliort gun, andpiftols at his belt, with four of his fer- vants, Mahometans, (lout men, each having his gun, and piilols at his girdle, and a fword hung over his ihoulder, mounted upon four good mules, fvvifter and flronger than ordinary horfes. We galloped all the way, and were out of light in a fliort time. We then purfued our journey with diligence. 74 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER diligence, but not in a hurry ; we went firfl: to a hilly and rocky country, full of trees, moflly of unknown kinds, and all of the greateft beauty poflible, having flowers of a hundred different co- lours and forms upon them, many of the trees were looaded wath fruit, and many with both fruit and flowers. I was truly forry to be obliged to pafs them without more diftind: notice ; but we had no time to lofe, as the diftance to the cataract was not abfolutely certain, and the cataradt then was our only obje^l. After paffmg the plain, we came^ to a brifk ilream which rifes in Begemder, palles Alata, and throws itfelf into the Nile below the cataracl. They told me it was called Mariam Ohha ; and, a little farther, on the fide of a green hill, having the lock appearing in fome parts of it, ftands Alata, a confiderable village, with feveral fmaller, to the fouth and weft. Mahomet, our guide, rode im- mediately up to the houfe where he knew the go- vernor, or Shum, refided, for fear of alarming him ; but we had already been feen at a confide- rable diftance, and Mahomet and his fervants known. All the people of the village furrounded the mules directly, paying each their compliments to the mafter and the fervants ; the fame was im- mediately obferved towards us ; and, as I faluted the Shum in Arabic, his own language, we fpee- dily became acquainted. Having overfhot the catara6l, the noife of which we had a long time dlilinclly heard, I refifted every entreaty that could THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 75 could be made to me to enter the houfe to refrefh myielf. I had imbibed part of gtrates's fears about the unfettlednefs of the times, and all the kind in« vitations were to no purpofe j I was, as it were, forced to comply to refrefh our horfes. I happened to be upon a very fteep part of the hill full of bulhes ; and one of the fervants, dref- fed in the Arabian fa(h ion, in a burnoofe, and tnrban flriped white and green, led my horfe, for fear of his flipping, till it got into the path leading to the Shum's door. I heard the fellow exclaiming in Arabic, as he led the horfe, " Good Lord ! to fee you here ! Good God ! to fee you here !*'™" I allied him who he was fpeaking of, and what reafon he had to wonder to fee me there." — " What ! do you not know me 1" " I faidldid not." — '^ Why, replied he, 1 was feve- ral times with you at Jidda. I faw you often With Capt Price and Capt. Scott, with the Moor Yafme, and Mahom.et Gibberti. I w^s the man that brought yoiir letters from Metical Aga at Mecca, and was to come over with you to Mafuah, if you had gone dire£lly there, and had not pro- ceeded to Yemen or Arabia Felix. I was on board the Lion, with the Indian nokeda (fo they call the captain of a country fhip) when your little veiTel, all covered with fail, paffed with fuch brilknefs through the Engliih fhips, which all fired their cannon ; and every body faid, there is a poor man making great hade to be aiTaflinated among thofe wild people in Habefh ; and fo we all thought. He 76 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER He concluded, Drink ! no force ! Englilhman ! very good ! G--d damn, drink !" We had jufl arrived, while my friend ,was uttering thefe excla- mations, ac the place where the Shum and the refl were (landing. The man continued repeating the fame words, crying as loud as he could, with an air of triumph, while I was refleding how fhameful it was for us to make thefe profligate expreffions by frequent repetition, fo eafily acquired by ilran- gers that knew nothing elfe of our language. The Shum, and all about him, were in equal aflonifhrnent at feeing the man, to all appearance, in a paiTion^ bawling out words they did not un- derfland ; but he, holding a horn in his hand, began louder than before, drink! very good! Englifliman! fhaking th^ horn in the Shum his mafter's face. Mahomet of Alata was a very grave, compofed man; ^' I do declare, fays he, Ali is become mad: Does any body know what he fays or means ?'^ — " That I do, faid I, and will tell you by-and-bye ; he is an old acquaintance of mine, and is fpeaking Englifh ; let us make a hafly meal, however, with any thing you have to give us." Our horfes were immediately fed ; bread, ho- ney, and butter ferved : Ali had no occafion to cry, drink ; it went about plentifully, and I would flay no longer, but mounted my horfe, thinking every minute that I tarried might be better fpent at the cataracl. The firfl thing they carried us to was the bridge., which confifls of one arch of about THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 77 about twenty-five feet broad, the extremities of which were (Irongly let into, and refled on the folid rock on both fides ; but fragments of the parapets remained, and the bridge itfelf feemed to bear the appearance af frequent repairs, and many attempts to ruin it ; otherwife, in its con- flru<51:ion, it was exceedingly commodious. The Nile here is confined between two rocks, and. runs in a deep trough, Vv'ith great roaring and impetuous velocity. We were told no crocodiles were ever feen fo high, and were obliged to re- mount the flream above half a mile before we came to the catarad, through trees and bufhes of the fame beautiful and deligthful appearance with thofe we had feen near Dara. The cataraft itfelf w^as the mofi: magnificent fight that ever I beheld. The height has been rather exaggerated. The mxiflionaries fay the fall is about fixteen ells, or fifty feet. The meafur- ing is, indeed, very difficult, but, by the pofition of long fticks, and poles of different lengths, at different heights of the rock, from the water's edge, I may venture to fay that it is nearer forty feet than any other meafure. The river had been confiderably increafed by rains, and fell in one ilieet of water, without any interval, above half an Englifli mile in breadth, with a force and noife that was truly terrible, and which ftunned and made me, for- a time, perfedly dizzy. A thick fume, or haze, covered the fall all round, and hung over the courfe of the flream botli above 78 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER above and below, marking its track, though the water was not feen. The river, though fwell- edwith rain, preferved its natural clearnefs, and fell, as far as I could difcern, into a deep pool, or bafon, in the folid rock, which was full, and in twenty different eddies to the very precipice, tlie llream, when it fell, feeming part of it to run back with great fury upon the rock, as well as forward in the line of its courfe, raifmg a wave, or violent ebullition, by chafing againft each other. Jerome Lobo pretends, that he has fat under the curve, or arch, made by the projeclile force of the water rufiiing over the precipice. He fays he fat calmly at the foot of it, and looking through the curve of the ftream, as it was falling, faw a number of rainbows of inconceivable beauty in this extraordinary prifm. This however I, with- out hefitation, aver to be a downright falfehood. A deep pool of water, as I merxtioned, reaches to the very foot of the rock, and is in perpetual agi- tation. Now, allowing that there was a feat, or bench, which there is not, in the middle of the pool, I do believe it abfolutely impofnble, by any exertion of human ftrength, to have arrived at it. Although a very robuft man, in the prime and vigour of life, and a hardy, pradifed, indefatiga- ble fwimmer, I am perfeftly confident I could not have got to that feat from the fhore through the quieted part of that bafon. And, fuppofmg the friar THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. -9 friar placed in his imaeinary feat under the curve of that immeme a :-. :: ater, he muil have had a portion of firmnc: : . ~ : : e ihan falls to the fhare of ordinary men. :.:- ^bich is not likely to be acquired in a n. : .i ::: . :e, to philofophife upon optics in : - : r. :.:::_::: : : : . '^ a e r e e c r : .1 ing wc uid feemto his dazzle «_ t t. :o be in :.:::.. and the ilream, in a noife like the ^:_.:ei: thunder, to make the folid rock (at leail as to fenfe) fhake to its very foundation, and threaten ro re^r every nerve to pieces, and to deprive one of oiber fenfes befxdes that of hearing. It was a moil magnificent fight, that ages, zddcd to the greateft length of human life, would not deface or eradi- cate from my memory ; it ftruck me with a kind of ftupor, and a total oblivion of where I was, and of every other fublunary concern. It was one of the moll magnificent, ftupendous fights in the crezition, though degraded and vilified by the lies c: a groveling, fanatic peafant. I was awakened from one of the moH profound reveries that ever I fell into, bv iviahomet, and by my friend Z)r; : :. : ho now put to me a thouiand impertinent queftions. It was af:er this I meaiured the fall, and believe, with- in a few fttt^ it was the height I have menti- oned ; but I confefs I could at no time in mv life leis promiie upon precifion ; my refiedion was fulpended, cr fubdued, and while in fight of the fail 8o TRAVELS TO DISCOVEP. fall I think I was under a temporary alienation of mind ; it feemed to me as if one element had broke loofe from, and become fuperior to all laws of fubordination; that the fountains of the great deep were extraordinarily opened, and the de- ilrudion of a world was again begun by the agen* cy of water. It was nov/ half an hour pafl: one o'clock, the weather perfectly good ; it had rained very little that day, but threatened a fhowery evening ; I peremptorily refufed returning back to Alata, whiJi our landlord im.portuned us to. He gave us a reafon that he thought would have weight with us, that he, too, had his meery, or money, to fend to the king, which would be rea- dy the next morning as early as v/e pleafed. The mention of to-morrow morning brought all my engagements and their confequences into my mind, and made me give a flat refufal, with fome degree of peeviflmefs and ill-humour. I had foon after found, that he had otherwife made up this affair Vv^ith Mahomet our guide ; but being refo- lute, and, a moment after, taking leave of our kind Shum, we were joined by Seide his eldefl fon, and our Englijh friend Brinks each upon a mule, with two fervants on foot, his father, as he faid, being unwilling to fpare more people, as the whole inhabitants of Alata, their neighbours and friends, intended foon to furprife Guebra Me- hedin, if a feafible opportunity offered. 3 Though THE SOURCE OF THE N1L.E. 8i Though we went brifkly, it was pafl five before we arrived at Dara. Netcho had not ftirred, and had procured another cow from Mahomet, of v/hich all the flrangers, and foldiers who remain- ed, partook. Mahomet, I believe, out of kind- nefs to me, had convinced them of the necellity of taking along with them the Shum of Alata's mo- ney ; and Netcho well knew that thofe who brought any part of the revenue to Ras Michael were air- ways received kindly ; and he was not interefled enough in the caufe to make more hafte than ne- ceflary to join the king. Strates was completely cloathed, and received his falh upon my arrival. He feigned to be won- derfully hurt at my having left him behind in my excurfion to the catara6l. At fupper I began to queflion him, for the firft time, what had hap-= pened to him with Guebra Mehedin. '^ Sure, Strates, faid I, you two were once friends; I have dined with you together many a time at Ayto En- genden's, and often feen you with him in Gon- dar." — " Gondar ! fays he, I have known him thcfe fourteen years, when he was a child in his father Balha Eufebius's houfe ; he was always playing amongfl us at his uncle Kafmati Efhte's ; he was jufi: one of us ; nay, he is not now twenty- fix. Strates proceeded — " We were crofTing the plain below Dara, and not being inclined to go into the town without you, we made to a large daroo-tree. Vol. IV. G ^ and 82 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER and fat down to reft ourfelves till you fhould come up. As the ground was fomewhat elevated, we faw feveral horfes in the bed of a torrent where there was no water running, and, when thefe w^ere pulled up the bank, their mafters got imme- diately upon them. I conceived the one with the red fafh upon his head v/as Guebra Mehedin, and prefently eight or ten naked people, armed with lances and ihields, came out of the hole neareil me. I was furprifed, and thought they might be robbers, and, kneeling down upon one knee, I prefented the large blunderbufs at them. On this they all ran back to their hole, and fell fiat on their faces ; and they did well ; I fhould have given them a confounded peppering." — *' Certainly, faid I, there is little doubt of that/* - — " You may laugh, continued Strates, but the firil thing I faw near me was Confu and Guebra Mehedin, the one with a red, the other a kind of w'hite fillet tied round his forehead. O ho ! friend, fays Guebra Mehedin, where are you going? and held cut his hand to me as kindly, familiarly, and chearfully as poffible. I immediately laid down my blunderbufs, and went to kifs his hand. You know they are the good old queen's nephews ; and I thought if their houfe was near we ihould have good entertainment, and fome merriment that night. I then faw one of their fervants lift the blunderbufs from the ground, but apparently with fear, and the rell took poifeffion of the mules THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 83 mules and baggage. I began to afk Guebra Me* hedin what this meant? and faid accidentally^ ente you! inftead of fpeaking it entow^ as you know they pronounce it to great people. With- out further provocation he gave me a lafli with his whip acrofs the eyes, another behind took hold of your fword that was flung upon my fliould- ers, and would have ftr angled me with the cord if I had not fallen backwards; they all began then to flrip me. I was naked in a minute as I was the hour I was born, hav- ing only this night-cap ; when one of them, a tall black fellow, drew a crooked knife, and propofed to pay me a compliment that has made me fhudder every time I have fmce thought of it. I don't know what would have been the end of it, if Confu had not faid. Fob ! he is a white man, and not worth ih.^ fcarifyi?ig : Let us feek his mafler, fays Guebra Mehedin^ he will by this have pafled the Gomara; he has always plenty of gold both from the king and Iteghe, and is a real Frank, on which ac- count it would be a fm to fpare him. On this away they went ikirmifhing about the plain. Horfemen came to join them from all parts, and every one that paiTed me gave me a blow of fome kind or other. None of them hurt me very much, but, no matter ; I may have my turn : we ihall fee what figure he v/ill make be- G 2 fore 84 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER fore the Iteghe fome of thefe days, or, what is bet- ter, before Ras Michael/* " That you fhall never fee, fays Negade Ras Mahomet, who entered the room in the inflant, for there is a man now without who informs us that Guebra Mehedin is either dead or juft a-dy- ing. A (hot fired at him, by one of you at the Gomara, cut off part of his cheek-bone ; the next morning he heard that Kafmati Ayabdar was going to the hot waters at Lebec with fervants only, and the devil to whom he be- longed would not quit him ; he would perfift, ill as he was, to attack Ayabdar, who having, unknown to him, brought a number of flout fellows along with him, without difficulty cut his fervants to pieces. In the fray, Tecla Georgis, a fervant who takes care of Ayabdar's horfe, Rruck him over the (kuU with a large crooked knife like a hatchet, and left him mortally wounded on the field, whence he was carried to a church, where he is now ly- ing a miferable fpedacle, and can never re- cover/' Strates could hold no longer. He got up and danced as if he had been frantic, fometimes fmging Greek fongs, at another time pronouncing ten thoufand curfes, which he wifhed might overtake him in the other v/orld. ?or my part, I felt very differently, for 1 had much rather, confidering whofe nephew he was, that THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 85 that he fhould have lived, than to have it faid that he received his firfl wound, not a mortal one, but intended as fuch, from my Jiand. HAP. S6 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER CHAP. V. I^ajs the Nik and encamp at Tfoomwa- — Arrive at Derdera — Alarm on approaching the army — "Join the King at Karcagna, VyN the 22d of May we were all equally de- firous to refume our journey. We fet out ac- cordingly at fix o'clock in the morning, afcend- ing fome hills covered, as the former ones, with trees and flirubs, utterly unknown to me, but of inexprellible beauty, and many of extraordinary fragrance. We continued afcending about three miles, till we came to the top of the ridge within fight of the lake. As we rofe, the hills became more bare and lefs beautiful. We afterwards de- fcended towards the palTage, partly over ileep banks which had been covered \?ith bufhes, all trodden down by the army, and which h^d made the accefs to the river exceedingly llippery. Here we fawthe ufe of Mahomet's fervants, three of whom, each with a lance in one hand, holding that of his companion in the other, waded acrofs the violent ilream, founding with the end of their lances every ilepthey took. The river was very deep, the current, I fuppofe, fifty yards broader than THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 87 than it was at the cataracl ; but the banks were, for a great way on each fide, almofl perfectly le- vel, though much obftruded with black flones. In the middle it was very deep, and the dream fmooth, fo that it was apparent our horfes muft fwim. For my part I did not like the fmooth flones at the bottom, as a fall there would havq been irrecoverable ; and my hoffe was fhod with iron, which is not ufual in AbyfTmia. I therefore refolved to fwim where I could not wade, and, wrapping my cloaths in a bundle, I gave them to a fervant, who carried them over on his head. I then waded in, and found the water unexpectedly cold. Mahomet rode on a mule by m.y fide, fome- times fwimming, fometimes walking. I attempt* ed to found up towards the lake, and found it deeper there. I returned, therefore, being un- willing to try experiments, and, committing my- felf to the ftream, fwam to the other fide, much comforted by the aifurance that no crocodile paffed thecatara6l. The beafts having got over, the men followed much quicker ; many w^omen, going to join the army, fw^am over, holding the tails of the horfes,, and we were all on the other fide before twelve o'clock, the beafts a good deal tired with the paffage, the fteepnefs of the accefs to it, and ftill greater depth on the other fide. For my pajt, I thought we could not have gone on to Tfoomwa^ but it was carried againfl me, Tfoomwa i", about twelve miles (Jift^nt ; and I fuppofe it was not much 88 tRAVELS TO DISCOVER much pad three o'clock when we arrived there, which was very fortunate, as we had fearcely pitched our tents before a mod terrible ftorm of rain, wind, and thunder overtook us. My tent w^as happily placed in one refped, being on a flat on the lee-fide of a hill, and fheltered from the ftorm ; but, on the other hand, the water ran fo plentifully from above as quite to overflow it on the infide till a trench was dug to carry it off. Ras Michael had burnt nothing at Tfoomwa, though there was a houfe of Powuflen's in the place, built by his father. But that diflfembler, to prevent the worft, and carry on the farce to the uttermoft, had fent many large bags of flour for the ufe of the King and the Ras, which were to be difl:ributed to the army in cafe they wanted. From the paflTage to Tfoomwa, all the country was forfaken ; the houfes uninhabited, the grafs trodden down, and the' fields without cattle. Every thing that had life and ilrength fled before that terrible leader, and his no lefs terrible army ; a profound filence was in the fields around us, but no marks as yet of defolation. We kept flirid watch in this folitiide all that nipht. I took mv turn till twelve, as I was the leafl fatigued of any. Netcho had picquets about a quarter of a mile on every fide of us, with fire arms to give the alarm. On the 23d, about three in the morning, a gun v\^as heard on the fide tov»rards the paifage. This did not much alarm us, though we all turned out. In a few minutes came Ayto Adigo, (not the Shum THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 89 Shum of Karoota, already mentioned, who left us at the Gomara,) but a young nobleman of Be- gemder of great hopes, one of the gentlemen of the king's bed-chamber, and confequently my colleague. He intended to have brought four horfes to the king, one of which he had drowned, or rather, as I afterwards underflood, throttled in palling the Nile at the mouth of the lake ; and two men, the king's fervants, had periflied there likewife. He came in great hurry, full of the news from Begemder, and of the particulars of the confpiracy, fuch as have been already dated. With Ayto Adigo came the king's cook, Se- baftos, an old Greek, near feventy, who had fallen fick with fatigue. After having fatisfied his inquiries, and given him what refreflrment we could fpare, he left Sebaflos with us, and purfued his journey to the camp. On the 24th, at our ordinary time, w^hen the fun began to be hot, we continued our route due fouth, through a very plain, flat country, which, by theconftant rains that now fell, began to (land in large pools, and threatened to turn all into a lake. We had hitherto loll none of our beads of carriage, but we now were fa impeded by dreams, brooks, and quagmires, that we defpaired of ever bringing one of them to join the camp. The horfes, and beads of burthen that carried the bao-« gage of the army, and which, had paded before us, had fpoiled every ford, and we faw to-dav a jiumber of dead mules lying about the fields, the hoiifes 90 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER houfes all reduced to ruins, and fmoking like fo many kilns; even the grafs, or wild oats, which were grown very high, were burnt in large plots of a hundred acres together ; every thing bore the marks that Ras Michael was gone before, whilft not a living creature appeared in thofe extenfive, fruitful, and once well-inhabited plains. An aw- ful filence reigned every where around, interrupt- ed only at times by thunder, now become daily, and the rolling of torrents produced by local fhow- ers in the hills, which ceafed with the rain, and were but the children of an hour. Amidft this univerfal filence that prevailed all over this fcene of extenfive defolation, I could not help remem- bering how finely Mr. Gray paints the palTage of fuch an army, under a leader like Ras Michael! — Confufion in his van with flight combin'd. And Sorrow's faded form, and Solitude behind. At Derdera we faw the church of St. Michael, the only building which, in favour of his own name, the Ras had fpared. It feryed us then for a very convenient lodging, as much rain had fallen in the night, and the priefts had all fled or been murdered. We had this evening, when it was clear, feen the mountain of Samfeen. Our next ftage from Derdera was Karcagna, a fmall village near the banks of the Jemma, about two miles from Samfeen. We knew the king had refolved to burn it, and we expefted to have feen the clouds THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 91 clouds of fmoke arifing from its ruins, but all was perfedly cool and clear, and this very much furprifed us, confidering the time he had to do this, and the great puncluality and expedition with which his army ufed to execute orders of this kind. As we advanced, we had feen a great number of dead mules and horfes, and the hyae- nas fo bold as only to leave the carcafe for a mo- ment, andfnarl as if they had regretted at feeing any of us pafs alive. Since paffing the Nile I found myfelf more than ordinarily depreifed 5 my fpirits were funk almoft to a degree of defpondency, and yet nothing had happened fince that period more than was expe di- ed before. This difagreeable fituation of mind continued at night while I was in bed. The rafhnefs and imprudence with which I had enga- ged myfelf in fo many dangers without any ne- celiity for fo doing ; the little profped of my be- ing ever able to extricate myfelf out of them, or, even if I loft my life, of the account being con- veyed to my friends at home ; the great and un- reafonable prefumption which had led me to think that, after every one that had attempted this voy- age had mifcarried in it, i was the only perfon that was to fucceed ; all thefe refiedtions upon my mind, when relaxed, dozing, and half oppreiTed with ileep, filled my imagination with what I have heard other people call the horr.ors^ the moft dif. agreeable fenfation I ever was confcious of, and which I then felt for the nril time. Impatient of fufferiiig 92 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER fufFering any longer, I leaped out of bed, and went to the door of the tent, where the outward air perfedly awakened me, and reflored my ftrength and courage. All was ftill, and at a diftance I faw feveral bright fires, but lower down, and more to the right than I expeded, which made me think I was millaken in the fituation of Karcagna. It was then near four in the morning of the 25th. I called up my companions, happily buried in deep fleep, as Iwasdefirous, if poflible, to join the king that day. We accordingly were three or four miles from Derdera when the fun rofe ; there had been little rain that night, and we found very few torrents on our way ; but it was llippery, and uneafy walking, the rich foil being trodden into a confidence like pafle. About feven o'clock vv^e entered upon the broad plain of Maitiha, and were faft leaving the lake. Here the country is, at lead a great part of it, in tillage, and had been, in appearance, covered v/ith plentiful crops, but all was cut down by the army for their horfes, or trodden under foot, from carelelTnefs or vengeance, fo that a green blade could fcarcely be feen. We faw a number of people this day, chiefly flraggling foldiers, who, in parties of threes and fours, had been feeking, in all the bulhes and concealed parts of the river, for the miferable natives, who had hid themfelves thereabouts ; in this they had many of them been fuccefsful. They had feme of them three, fome of them four women, boys and girls, who, though (r Chr^lians THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 93 Chriftians like themfelves, they neverthelefs were carrying away into llavery to fell them to the Turks for a very fmall price. A little before nine we heard a gun fired that gave us fome joy, as the army feemed not to be far off ; a few minutes after, we heard feveral dropping fhots, and, in lefs than a quarter of an hour's time, a general firing began from right to left, which ceafed for an inftant, and then was heard again as fmart as ever, about the occafion of which we were divided in opinion. Netcho was fatisfied that Woodage Afahel, from Samfeen, had fallen upon Ras Michael at Karcagna, to prevent his burning it, and that Fafil had firongly reinforced him that he might be able to retard the army's march. On the other hand, having been informed by Ayto Adi- go, that news were come to Gondar that Fafil had left Bure, and that Derdera was the place agreed on by Gulho and PowuiTen to Ihut up Michael 011 the rear, I thought that it was Fafil, to make good his part of his promife, who had crolTed the Nile at Goutto, and attacked Ras Michael before he fuffered him to burn Samfeen. Indeed we ai! agreed that both opinions were likely to be true, and that Fafil and Woodage Afahel would both attack the king at the fame time. The firing continued much in the fame way, rather flacker, but apparently advancing nearer us ; a fare ugn that our army was beaten and retreating. Wcj therefore, made ourfelves ready, and mounted en horfeback. 94 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER horfeback, that we might join them. Yet It was a thing appeared to us fcarcely paflible^ that Fafil fhould beat Ras Michael fo eafily, and with fo fhort a refiftance. We had not gone far in the plain before we had a fight of the enemy, to our very great fur- prife and no fmall comfort. A multitude of deer, buffaloes, boars, and various other wild beafts, had been alarmed by the noife and daily advancing of the army, and gradually driven before them. The country was all overgrown with wild oats, a great many of the villages having been burnt the year before the inhabitants had abandoned them ; in this flielter the wild beafts had taken up their abodes in very great numbers. When the army pointed towards Karcagna to the left, the filence and foiitude on the oppofite lide made them turn to the right to where the Nile makes a femi-circle. the lemma being behind them, and much over- flowed. When the army, therefore, inilead of marching fouth and by ead towards Sarafeen, had turned their courfe north-wefl, their faces towards Gondar, they had fallen in with thefe innumera- ble herds of deer and other beaRs, who, confined between the Nik, the Jemma, and the lake, had no way to return but that by which they had V cgme. Thefe animals, finding men in every di- redion in which they attempted to pafs, became defperate v/ith fear, and, not knov/ing what courfe to take, fell a prey to the troops. The foldiers, happy in an occafion of procuring ani- I mal THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 95 mal food, prefently fell to firing wherever the beads appeared ; every loaded gun was difcharged upon them, and this continued for very near an hour. A numerous flock of the largeil deer met us juft in the face, and feemed fo defperate, that they had every appearance of running us down ; and part of them forced themfelves through, re- gardlefs of us all, whilft others turned fouth to efcape acrofs the plain. The king and Ras Michael were in the moft vi- olent agitation of mind : though the caufe was be- fore their eyes, yet the word went about that Woodage Afahel had attacked the army; and this occafioned a great panic and diforder, for every body was convinced with reafon that he was not far off. The firing, however, continued, the balls flew about in every diredion, fome few were killed, and many people and horfes were hurt ; flill they fired, and Ras Michael, at the door of his tent, crying, threatening, and tearing his grey locks, found, for a few minutes, the ar- my was not under his command. At this inftant, Kafmati Netcho, whofe Fit-Auraris had fallen back on his front, ordered his kettle-drums, to be beat before he arrived in the king's prefence ; and this being heard, without it being known general- ly who we were, occafioned another panic ; great part of the army believed that Powuflen and Guiho were now at hand to keep their appointment with Fafil, and that Netcho and I were his Fit- Auraris. The king ordered his tent to be pitch- ed. 96 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER ed, his flandard to be fet up, his drums to beat, (the fignal for encamping) and the firing im- mediately ceafed. But it was a long while be- fore all the army could believe that Wood- age Afahel had not been engaged with fome part of it that day. Happily, if near at hand, he did not lay hold of this favourable opportunity ; 'for I am convinced, if, juil before our arrival, he had attacked Michael on the Samfeen fide, with 500 horfe, our whole army had fled without refiltance, and difperfed all over the country. Here I left Kafmati Netcho, and was making my way towards the king's tent, when I was met by a fervant of confidence of Kefla Yafous, who had that day commanded the rear in the retreat, a very experienced officer, brave even to a fault, but full of mildnefs and humanity, and the mofl fenfible and affable man in the army. He fent to defire that I would come to him alone, or that I w^ould fend one of the Greeks that followed me. I promifed to do fo, after having anfwered mofl of the queftions that he bade his fervant aflv of me. After this I fearched for Strates and Sebados, who had been fick upon the road. I foon came up v/ith them, and was more fur- prifed than I had been for feveral days, to fee them both lie extended on the ground ; Strates bleeding at a large wound in his forehead, fpeak- ing Greek to himfelf, and crying out his leg was broken, whilfl he prefTed it with both his hands beicw the knee, feemingly regard lefs of the gafh in THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 97 in his head, which appeared to me a very ugly one, fo that I, of courfe, thought his leg was ftill worfe. Sebaftos was lying ftretched along the ground, fcarcely faying any thing, but fighing loudly. Upon my alking him whether his arm was broken ? he anfwered feebly, that he was a dying man, and that his legs, his arms, and his ribs were broken to pieces. I could not for my life conceive how this calamity had happened fo fuddenly, for I had not been half an hour abfen,t talking to Kefla Yafous's fervant 5 and, what feem« ed to me ftill ftranger, every body around them were burfting out into fits of laughter. Ali Mahomet's fervant, who was the only per- fon that I faw concerned, upon my afking, told me that it was all ov/ing to prince George, who had frightened their mules. I have already hinted that this prince was fond of horfemanfhip, and rode with faddle, bridle, and ftirrups, like an Arab ; and, though young, was become an ex- cellent horfeman, fuperior to any in Abyffinia. The manner that two Arabs falute one another, when they meet, is, the perfon inferior in rank, or age, prefents his gun at the other, about 500 yards diftance, charged with powder only ; he then, keeping his gun alw^ays prefented, gallops thefe 500 yards as faft as he can, and, being arri- ved clofe, lowers the muzzle of his gun, and pours the explofion juft under the other's ftirrups, or horfe's belly. This they do, fometimes twenty at a time, and you would often think it was im- VoL. IV. H poftible ^8 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER pollible fomebody fhould efcape being bruifed or burnt. The prince had learned this exercife from me, and WaS very perfect at the performance of it. We had procured him a ftiort gun, with a lock and fiint inflead of a match, and he fhot not only juflly, but gracefully on horfeback. He had been out after the deer all the morning ; and hearing that I was arrived, and feeing the two Greeks ri- ding on their mules, he came galloping furioully with his gun prefented, and, not feeing me, he fired a fhot under the belly of Strates's mule, upon the ground, and wheeling as quick as light- ning to the left, regardlefs of the mifchief he had occafioned, was out of light in a moment, before he knew the confequences. Never was compliment worfe timed or relifhed. Strates had two panniers upon his mule, contain- ing two great earthen jars of hydromel for the king ; Sebaflos had alfo fome jars and pots, and three or four dozen of drinking-glafles, likewife for the king ; each of the mules was covered with a carpet, and alfo the panniers ; and upon the pack-faddle, between thefe panniers, did Strates and Sebaflos ride. The mules as well as the load- ing belonged to the king, and they only were permitted to ride them becaufe they were fick. Strates went firft, and, to fave trouble, the halter of Sebaftos's mule was tied to Strates's faddle, fo the mules were faftened to and followed one ano- ther. Upon firing the gun fo near it, Strates's mule, THE SOURCE OF THE NILE, 99 mule, not ufed to compliments of this kind, llarted, and threw him to the ground ; it then trampled upon him, began to run off, and wound the halter around Sebaftos behind, who fell to the ground likewife amongfl fome flones. Both the mules then began kicking at each other, till they had throv/n off the panniers and pack-faddles, and broke every thing that was brittle in them. The mifchief did not end here, for, in firuggling to get loofe, they fell foul of the mule of old Azage Tecla Haimanout, one of the king's crimi- nal judges, a very old, feeble man, and threw him upon the ground, and broke his foot, fo that he could not walk alone for feveral months after- wards. As foon as I had pitched a tent for the wounded, and likewife dreffed Tecla Haimanout's foot, I went to Kefla Yafous, while the tvv^o Ma- homets proceeded to the Ras with their money. The moment I came into the tent, Kefla Ya- fous rofe up and embraced me. He was fitting alone, but with rather a chearful than a dejeded countenance ; he told me they were all in great concern, till Ay to Adigo's arrival, at a report which came from Gondar that we had fought with Guebra Mehedin, and had all been llain. I informed him every thing I knew, or had heard, but he had better intelligence than I in every ar- ticle but this laft, fre/h news having arrived the night before by way of Delakus. He faid, the rebellion of Gufho and Powuffen was certain ; that the King and Ras knew every circumflance H 2 of loo TRAVELS TO DISCOVER of it, and that Court-ohha was the place appoint- ed with Fafil to meet and cut them ofFj he had not heard of Woodage Afahel's march, but feem- ed to give full credit to it ; he faid it was certain, likewife, that Fafil had advanced towards Maitfha ; but where his quarters were he did not know, probably they were not at a great diftance. He complained violently of his march, and of the number of beads which they had loft ; he wiftied alfo that Fafil would be induced to give battle where they were encamped, as his horfe would probably be of little ufe to him among fo many torrents and rivers, and muft fuffer confiderably in their advancing hither. I afked him whither they were now marching r He faid, that, as foon as the news of the confpi- racy were known, a council was held, where it was the general opinion they fhould proceed briikly forward, and attack Fafil alone at Bure, then turn to Gondar to meet the other two ; but then they had it upon the very beft authority that great rain had fallen to the fouthward ; that the rivers, which were fo frequent in that part of the coun- try, were moftly impaffable, fo there would be great danger in meeting Fafil with an army fpent and fatigued with the difficulty of the roads. It was, therefore, determined, and the Ras was de- cidedly of that opinion, that they fhould keep their army entire for a better day, and immediate- ly crofs the Nile, and march back to Gondar 5 that they had accordingly wheeled about, and that THE SOURCE OF THE KILE- loi that day was the firfi: of their proceeding, which had been interrupted by the accident of the firing, Kefla Yafous offered me all forts of refrefhments, and I dined with him ; he fent alfo great abund- ance for my fervants to my tent, left I fliould not have yet got my appointments from the king* I then went dire^ly to my own tent, where I found all that belonged to me had arrived fafe, under the care of Francifco ; and having now procured clothes, inftead of thofe taken from me by Guebra Mehedin, I waited upon the king, and ftaid a <:onfiderable time with him, alking much the fame queftions Kefla Yafous had done. I would have paid my refpedts to the Ras alfo, but miffed him^ for he was at council. CHAP. 102 . TRAVELS TO DISCOVER CHAP. VI. Kings Army retreats towards Gondar^-^-Memorabk Pajfage of the Nik — Dangerous Situation of the Army— Retreat of KeflaTafous — Battle of Lim- jGur— Unexpected Peace with pafil-^ Arrival at Gondar, XT was on the 26th of May, early in the mofn- jng, that the army marched towards the Nile. In the afternoon we encamped, between two and three, on the banks of the river Coga, the church Abbo being fomething more than half a mile to the north- weft of us« Next morning, the 27 th, we left the river Co- ga, marching down upon the Nile ; we pafled the church of Mariara-Nety as they call the church of St. Anne. Here the fuperior, attended by about fifty of his monks, came in proceffion to welcome Ras Michael ; but he, it feems, had received fome intelligence of ill-offices the people of this quarter had done to the Agows by Fafil's direc- tion ; he therefore ordered the church to be plun- dered, and took the fuperior. and two of the lead- ing men of the monks, away with him to Gondar ; feveral THE SOURCE OF THE KILE. 103 feverai of the others were killed and wounded, without provocation, by the foldiers, and the reft difperfed through the country. Prince George had fent immediately in the morning to put me in mind that I had promifed^ in the king's tent at Lamgue, under Emfras, to ride with him in his party when in Maitfha. He commanded about two hundred and fifty chofen horfe, and kept at about half a mile's diflance on the right flank of the army. I told the king the prince's defire; who only anfwered, dryly enough, " Not till we pafs the Nile ; we do not yet know the ftate of this country." Immediately after this, he detached the horfe of Sire and Serawe, and commanded me with his own guards to take pofTeflion of the ford where the Fit-Auraris had crofled, and to fuffer no mule or horfe to pafs till their arrival. There were two fords propofed for our palTage ; one oppofite to the church Bofkon Abbo, between the two rivers Kelti and ArooiTi, fon the weft of the Nile,) and the Koga and Amlac Ohha from the eaft ; it was faid to be deep, but paiTable, though the bottom was of clay, and very foft ; the other ford propofed was higher up, at the fe- cond cataract of Kerr. It was thought of confe- quence to chufe this ford, as the Kelti, (idelf a large and deep river; joined by the Branti, which comes from the weftward of Qiiaquera, brings, in the rainy feafon, a prodigious acceflion of water to the Nile j yet, below this, the guides had ad-= vifcd 104 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER vifed the Ras to pafs, and many found it after- wards a found bottom, very little deeper, with level ground on both fides. We arrived about four on the banks of the Nile, and took poffeflion in a line of about 600 yards of ground. From the time we decamped from Coga it poured InceiTantly the moil continued rain we ever had yet feenj violent claps of thunder followed clofe one upon another, almofl without interval, ac- companied with fheets of lightning, which ran on the ground like water ; the day was more than commonly dark, as in an eclipfe ; and every hollow, or foot-path, colledled a quantity of rain, which fell into the Nile in torrents. It would have brought into the dulled mind Mr. Hume's ilr iking lines on my native Carron — Red ran the river down, and loud and oft The angry fpirit of the water ihriek'd. Douglas* The Abyfiinian armies pafs the Nile at all fea- fons. It rolls with it no trees, flones, nor impe- diments ; yet the fight of fuch a monftrous mafs of water terrified me, and made me think the idea of croffing would be laid alide. It was plain in the face of every one, that they gave themfelves over for lofl ; an univerfal dejection had taken place, and it was but too vifible that the army was defeated by the weather, without having feen an enemy. The Greeks crowded around me, all forlorn THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 105 forlorn and defpalring, curfing the hour they had firft entered that country, and following thefe turfes with fervent prayers, where fear held the place of devotion. A cold and brifk gale now fprung up at N. W. with a clear fun ; and foon after four, w^hen the army arrived on the banks of the Nile, thefe temporary torrents were all fub- fided, the fun was hot, and the ground again be- ginning to become dry. Netcho, Ras Michael's Fit-Auraris, with about 400 men, had pafled in the morning, and taken his ftation above us in little huts like bee-hives, which the foldiers, who carry no tents, make very fpeedily and artificially for themfelves, of the long, wild oats, each draw of which is at lead eight feet long, and near as thick as an ordinary man's little finger. He had fent back word to the king, that his men had pafled fwimming, and with very great difficulty ; that he doubted whether the horfes, or loaded mules, could crofs at any rate; but, if it was refolved to make the trial, they Ihould do it immediately, without ftaying till the increafe of the river. He faid both banks were compofed of black earth, flippery and miry, which would become more fo when horfes had puddled it ; he advifed, above all, the turning to the right immediately after coming afliore, in the diredtion in which he had fixed poles, as the earth there was hard and firm, befides having the advantage offbme round flones which hindered the beafts from flip- ping or finking, Inftead, therefore, of refl:ing there io6 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER there that night, it was refolved that the horfc fhould crofs immediately. The firfl who paffed was a young man, a rela- tion of the king, brother to Ayamico killed at the battle of Banja ; he walked in with great caution, marking a track for the king to pafs. He had gone upon rather folid ground, about twice the length of his horfe, when he plunged out of his depth, and fwam to the other fide. The king follow- ed him immediately with a great degree of h^fte. Has Michael called to him to proceed with cauti- on, but without fuccefs. Afterwards came the old Ras on his mule, with feveral of bis friends fwimming both with and without their horfes on each fide of him, in a manner truly wonderful. He feemed to have loft his accuftomed calmnefs, and appeared a good deal agitated ; forbade, upon pain of death, any one to follow him direftly, or to fwim over, as their cuftom is, holding their mules by the tail. As foon as thefe were fafely afhore, the king's houfehold and black troops, and I with them, advanced cautioufly into the ri- ver, and fwam happily over, in a deep ftream of reddifhrcoloured water, which ran without vio- lence almoft upon a level. Each horfeman had a mule in his hand, which fwam after him, or by his fide, with his coat of mail and head-piece tied upon it. My horfe was a very ftrong one, and in good condition, and a fer- vant took charge of my mule and coat of mail, fo that, being unembarraffed, I had the happinefs to get THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 107 get fafe and foon over, and up the path to the right without great difficulty, fo had moil others of the cavalry who fwam along with us ; but the ground now began to be broken on both fides of the paflage, and it was almofl as difficult to get in, as it was to fcramble up the bank after- wards. ^is cladeni illius noBis^ qids funera fando^ temper et a lachrymis. — — ViRG. It is impoflible to defcribe the confufion that fol- lowed ; night was hard upon us, and, though it increafed our lofs, it in a great meafure concealed it ; a thoufand men had not yet palfed, though on mules^ and horfes ; many mired in the muddy landing-place, fell back into the flream, and were carried away and drowned. Of the horfe belonging to the king's houfehold, one hundred and eighty in number, feven only were miffing • with them Ayto Aylo, vice-chamberiain to the queen, and Tecla Mariam the king's uncle, a great friend of Ras Michael's, both old men. The ground on the weft fide was quite of ano- ther confiftence than was that upon the eafl, it v/as firm, covered with fhort grafs, and rofe in fmall hills like the downs in England, all Hoping into little valleys which carried off the water, the de- clivity being always towards the Nile. There was no baggage (the tent of the Ras and that of the kinof io8 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER king excepted) which had as yet come over, and thefe were wet, being drenched in the river. The Fit-Auraris had left, ready made, two rafts for Ozoro Efther, and the other two ladies, with which fhe might have eafily been conduced over, and without much danger j but the Ras had made Ozoro Efther pafs over in the fame manner he had crofled himfelf, many fwimming on each fide of her mule. She would have fain ftaid on the eaft fide, but it was in vain to remonftrate. She was with child, and had fainted feveral times ; but yet nothing could prevail with the Ras to truft her on the other bank till morning. She crofled, however, fafely, though almoft dead with fright. It was faid he had determined to put her to death if fhe did not pafs, from jealoufy of her falling into the hands of Fafil ; but this I will by no means vouch, nor do I believe it. The night was cold and clear, and a ftrong wind at north- weft had blown all the afternoon. Guebra Maf- cal, and feveral of Ras Michael's officers, had purpofely tarried behind for gathering in the ftrag- glers. The river had abated towards mid-night, when, whether from this caufe, or, as they al- ledged, that they found a more favourable ford, all the Tigre infantry, and many mules lightly loaded, pafled with lefs difficulty than any of the reft had done, and with them feveral loads of flour ; luckily alfo my two tents and mules, to my great confolation, came fafely over when it was near morning. Still the army continued to pafs, and THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 109 and thofe that could fwim fecmed bell off. I was in the greateft diftrefs for the good Ammonios, my lieutenant, who was miffing, and did not join us till late in the morning, having been all night bufy in feeking Ayto Aylo, the queen's chamber- lain, and Tecla Marjam, who were his great com- panions, drowned probably at the firfl attempt to pafs, as they were never after heard of. The greateft part of the foot, however, crofTed in the night ; and many were of opinion that we had miftaken the paflage altogether, by going too high, and being in too great a hafte ; the banks, indeed, were fo fteep, it was very plain that this could never have been an accuftomed ford for ca- valry. Before day-light the van and the center had all joined the king; the number, I believe, that had perifhed was never diftin£tly known, for thofe that were miffing were thought to have re- mained on the other fide with Kefla Yafous, at leaft for that day. Kefla Yafous, indeed, with the rear and all the baggage of the army, had remain- ed on the other fide, and, with very few tents pitched, waited the dawn of the morning. It happened that the priefts of the church of Ma- riam Net, in the confuiion, had been left unheed- ed, chained arm to arm, in the rear with Kefla Yafous, and they had began interceding with him to procure their pardon and difmiffion. He was a man, as I faid, of the greatefl: affability and complacency, and heard every one fpeak with the utmoft patience^ Thefe priefts, terrified to death left i:o TRAVELS TO DISCOVER left Michael ihould pull their eyes out, or exercife feme of his ufual cruelties upon them, which was certainly his intention by bringing them with him to Gondar, frankly declared to Kefla Yafous what they apprehended. They faid that they had never known a ford there before, though they had lived many years in the neighbourhood, nor had ever heard of one at Kerr, the firft catarad, which the guides had perfuaded the rather of the two ; they did believe, therefore, that Michael's guides had deceived him onpurpofe, and that they intended the fame thing by him to-morrow, if he attempted to pafs at Kerr. They told him further, that, about three days before Michael had arrived in the neighbourhood of Samfeen, they had heard a nagareet beat regularly every evening at fun-fet. behind the high woody hill in front, whereon was the church of Boikon Abbo ; that they had fcen alfo a man the day before who had left Welleta Yafous, Fafil's principal officer and confident, at Goutto, waiting the arrival of fome more troops to pafs the Nile there, whence they doubted not that there was treachery intended. The fagacious and prudent Kefla Yafous weigh- ed every word of this in his mind, and, combin- ing all the circumftances together, was immedi- ately convinced that there had been a fnare laid by Fafil for them. Entering further into converfa- tion with the priefls, and encouraging them with aifurances of reward inftead of punifliment, he in- quired if they certainly knew any better ford be- low. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. m low. They anfwered him they knew of no ford but the common one of Delakus, about eight miles below ; that it was true it was not good, and it was deeper than ordinary, as the rainy feafon had begun early, but that it was fo perfedly for- dable that all the country people had gone with afles loaded with butter and honey, and other pro- vifions, for the market of Gondar lafl week ; from whence they inferred that he could eafily ford it, and fafely, even with loaded mules. They advifed him farther, as the night was dry, and the rain fell generally in the day, to lofe no time, but to collect his troops, weary as they were, as foon as poflible, and fend the heavy baggage before ; that there was no river or torrent in their way, but Amlac Ohha, which, at that time of night, was at its loweft, and they might then pafs it at their leifure, while he covered them with his troops behind ; that in fuch cafe they might all be fafe over the ford by the time the fun became to be hot in the morning, about which hour they did not doubt he would be attacked by Welleta Ya- fous. They faid farther, that, though they could claim little merit, being prifoners, by offering to be his guides, yet he might perhaps find his ufe in the meafure, and would thereby prove their faith and loyalty to the king. Although all this bore the greateft fhew of pro- bability, and the lives of the informers were in his hands, that cautious general would not undertake aftep of fo much confequence, as to feparate the rear fi2 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER rear of the army from the king, without further inquiry. There were then in his camp, waiting the event of next day, two of the guides who had brought them to this ford ; a third had gone oyer the river with Ras Michael. There was likewife in his camp a fervant of Nanna Georgis, who had arrived fome days before with information to Ras Michael. The two guides pretended to be Agows, confequently friends to the king. He called thefe into his prefence, and ordered them to be put in irons, and then fent for the fervant of Nanna Georgis. This man immediately knew the one to be his countryman, but declared the other was a Galla, both of them fervants of Fafil, and then living in Maitfha. Kefla. Yafous immediately ordered the Kanit25 Kitzera(the executioner of the camp) to attend, and having exhorted them to declare the truth for fear of what would fpeedily follow, and no fatis^ fadory anfv/er being given, he direded the eyes of the eldeft, the Galla, to be plucked out ; and he continuing dill obftinate, he delivered him to the foldiers, who hewed him to pieces with their large knives in the prefence of his companion. In the mean time the priefls had been very earned; with the young one, the Agow, to confefs, with better fuccefs j but this execution, to which he had been witnefs, was more prevailing than all their argu- ments. Upon promife of life, liberty, and re- ward, he declared that he had left Fafil behind a hill, which he then fhewed, about three miles diftant, THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 113 dillant, in front of the king's army, and had gone down to Welleta Yafous, who was waiting at Gout- to ready to pafs the Nile : that they were fent for- ward to decoy the king to that paffage, under the name of a ford, where they expelled great part of the army would perifh if they attempted to pafs : that Fafil was to attack fuch part of the king's ar- my as fhould have paffed as foon as it appeared upon the heights above the river, but not till, by the firing on the eaft fide, he knew that Welleta Yafous was engaged with the rear, or part of the army, which fhould ftill remain on that fide fepa- rated by the river : that they did not imagine Ras^ Michael could have palTed that night, but that to- morrow he would certainly be attacked by FafiF, as his companion, who had crofTed with Ras Michael, was to go direftly to Fafil and inform him of the fituation of the King, the Ras, and the army. Kefla Yafous fent two of his principal officers, with a diflind detail of this whole affair, to the king. It being now dark, they fwam over the river on horfeback, with much more difficulty and danger than we had done, and found Ras Michael and the king in council, to whom they told their meffage with every circumflance, adding, that Kefla Yafous, as the only way to preferve the army, quite fpent with fatigue, and encumbered with fuch a quantity of baggage, had flruck his tent, and would, by that time, be on his march for the ford of Delakus, which he fhould crofs. Vol. IV„ I and. XI4 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER and, after leaving a party to guard the baggage and fick, he fhould with the freflieft of his men join the army. The fpy that had paiTed with Michael and the king was now fought for, but he had loft no time, and was gone off to Fafil at Bofkon Abbo. Kefla Yafous, having feen all the baggage on their way before him, did, as his laft a6l, perhaps not ftridly confiftent with juftice, hang the poor unfortunate informer, the Agow^, upon one of the trees at the ford, that Welleta Ya- fous, when he paiTed in the morning, might fee how certainly his fecret was difcovered, and that confequently he was on his guard. OnthesSth he crofled Amlac Ohha with fome degree of difficulty, and was obliged to abandon feveral baggage-mules. He advanced after this with as great diligence as poffible to Delakus, and found the ford, though deep, much better than he expected. He had pitched his tent on the high road to Gondar, before Welleta Yafous knew he was decamped, and of this pafTage he immediately advifed Michael refrefhing his troops for any emergency. About two in the afternoon Welleta Yafous ap- peared with his horfe on the other fide of the Nile, but it was then too late. Kefla Yafous was fo ftrongly pofted, and the banks of the river were fo guarded with fire-arms, down to the water-edge, that Fafil and all his army would not have dared to attempt the paiTage, or even approach the banks of the river- I • As THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 115 As foon as Ras Michael received the intelli- gence, he difpatched the Fit-Auraris, Netcho, to take poll upon the ford of the Kelti, a large river, but rather broad than deep, about three miles off. He hiinfelf followed early in the morning, and pafled the Kelti jufi: at fun-rife, without halting; he then advanced to meet Kefla Yafous, as the army began to want provifions, the little flour that had been brought over, or which the foldiers had taken with them, being nearly exhaufted during that night and the morning after. It was found, too, that the men had but little powder, none of them having recruited their quantity fmce the hunting of the deer; but what ihey had was in perfect good order, being kept in horns and fmall wooden bottles, corked in fuch a manner as to be fecured from water of any kind. Kefia Yafous, therefore, being in poflefTion of the baggage, the pow^der, and the provifions, a junOion with him was abfolutely neceffary, and they expe<5led to efFe£l this at Wainadega, about twenty miles from their lail night's quarters. The ground was all firm and level between Kelti and the Avoley, a fpace of about 1 5 miles. Ras Michael halted after pafling the Kelti, and fent on the Fit-Auraris about five miles before him; he then ordered what quantity of flour, or provifions of any kind could be found, to be diftribuied among the men. and dire^led them to refreOi themfelves for an hour before they again began their march, becauXe they might expe6l I 2 fccn ii6 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER foon to engage with Fafil. The day being clear, and the fun hot, thofethat the cold afFeded, from the paifage of laft night, began to recover tiieir former health and agility ; their clothes were now all dry, clean wafhed, and comfortable; and had it not been for the fatigue that remained from the two lad days, and the fhort allowance to which they were reduced, perhaps there were few occa- fions wherein the army was fitter for an engage- ment. Being now difembarraffed from dangerous rivers, they were on dry folid ground, which they had often marched over before in triumph, and where all the villages around them, lying in ruins, put them in mind of many vidorious campaigns, and efpecially the recent one at Fagitta over this fame Fafil. Add to all this, they were on their way home to Gondar, and that alone made them march with a tenfold alacrity. Gondar, they thought, was to be the end of all their cares, a place cf relaxation and eafe for the reft of the rainy feafon. It was between twelve and one we heard the Fit- Auraris engaged, and there was fharp firing on both fides, which foon ceafed. Michael ordered his army immediately to halt; he and the king, and Billetana Gueta Tecla, commanded the van 5 Welleta Michael, and Ayto Tesfos of Sire, the rear. Having marched a little farther, he changed his order of battle; he drew up the body of troops which he commanded, together with the king, on aflat, large hill, with tv/o valleys running paral- lel THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 117 •lel to the fides of it like trenches. Be3?^ond thefe trenches were two higher ridges of hills that ran along the fide of ihem, about half a muiket-fhot from him ; the valleys were foft ground which yet could bear horfes, and thefe hills, on his right and on his left, advanced about 1 00 yards on each fide farther than the line of his front. The grofs of thefe fide-divifions occupied the height; but a line of foldiers from them came down to the edge of the valleys like wings. In the plain ground, about three hundred yards diredlly in his front, he had placed all the cavalry, except the king's body-guards drawn up before him, com- manded by an old officer of Mariam Barea. As prince George was in the cavalry, he flrongly folicited the Ras at leaft to let him remain with them, and fee them engage; but the Ras, confi- dering his extreme youth and natural raffinefs, called him back, and placed him befide me before the king. It was not long before theFit-Auraris's two melTengers arrived, running like deer along the plain, which was not abfolutely flat, but floped gently down towards us, declining, as I fhould guefs, not a fathom in fifteen. Their account %vas, that they had fallen in with Fafil's Fit-Auraris; that they had attacked him fmartly, and, though the enemy v/ere greatly fuperior, being all horfe, except a few mufque« teers, had killed four of them. The Ras having firfl -heard the meffage of the Fit-Auraris alone, he fent a man to report it to the king ; and, immedi- ately Ji8 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER ately after this, he ordered two horfemen to go full gallop along the eaft fide of the hill, the low road to Wainadega, to warn Kefla Yafous of Fafil's being near at hand; he likewife direded the Fit- •Auraris to advance cautioufly till he had feen Fafil, and to purfue no party that fhould retreat before him. The King, theRas, and the whole army, began to be in pain for Kefla Yafous; and we fhould have changed our ground, and marched forward immediately, had we not heard the alarm-guns fired by Fit-Auraris Netcho, and prefently he and his party came in, the men running, and the horfes at full gallop. Ras Michael had given his Orders, and returned to the prefence of the king on his mule; he could not venture among horfe, being wounded in the middle of the thigh, and lame in that leg, but always charged on a mule among the mufquetry. He faid fhortly to the king, " No fear. Sir, fland firm; Fafil is loll if he fights to-day on this ground." Fafil appeared at the top of the hill. I have no guefs about the number of fuch large bodies of troops, but, by thofe more ufed to fuch computa- tions, it is faid he had about 3000 horfe. It was a fine fight, but the evening was beginning to be overcaft. After having taken a full view of the army, they all began to move ilowly down the hill, beating their kettle-drums. There were two trees a little before the cavalry, that were advanced be- yond our front. Fafil fent down a party to fkir- mifh THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 119 milh with thefe, and he himfelf halted after hav- ing made a few paces down the hill. The two bodies of horfe met jufl: half way at the two trees, and mingled together, as appeared at leaft, with very decifive intention; but whether it was by orders or from fear, (for they were not overmatch- ed in numbers) our horfe turned their backs and came precipitately down, fo that we were afraid they would break in upon the foot. Several fhots were fired from the center at them by order of the Ras, who cried out aloud in derifion, " Take away thefe horfes and fend them to the mill." They divided, however, to the right and left, into the two grafly valleys under cover of the mufquetry, and a very few horfe of Fafil's were carried in along with them, and {lain by the foldiers on the fide of the hill. On the king's fide no man of note was miffing but Welleta Michael, nephew of Ras Michael, whofe horfe falling, he was taken prifoner and carried off by Fafil. A few minutes after this, arrived a meifenger from Fafil, a dwarf, named Doho, a man always employed on errands of this kind; it is an inter* courfe which is permitted, and the meffeiiger not only proteded, but rewarded, as I have before obferved; it is a fingular cuftom, and none but fhrewd fellows are fent, very capable of making obfervations, and Doho was one of thefe. He told the Ras to prepare immediately, for Fafil intended to attack him as foon as he had brought his foot up: Doho further added a requefl from hi,s ijo TRAVELS TO DISCOVER his mafter, as a mark of his duty, that the king might not change his drefs that day, left he might fall into the hands of fome of the ftranger troops of Galla, who might not know him otherwife, or ihew the proper refpeft to his perfon. The Ras, I was told afterwards, for he was too far before for us to hear him, laughed violently at this compli- ment. " Tell Fafil, fays he, to wait but a few minutes where he now is, and I promife him that the king ihall drefs in any way he pleafes.'* "When Doho's meflage was told to the king, he fent back anfwer to Ras Michael, '^ Let Doho tell Fafil from me, that, if I had known thofe two trees had been where they are, I would have brought Welleta Gabriel, Ozorp Efther's fteward, to him; by which he very archly alluded to the battle of Fagitta, where that drunkard, fhooting from behind a tree, and killing one Galla, made all the reft fly for fear of the zibib. Doho being thus difmiffed, the whole army ad- vanced immediately at a very brilk pace, hooping and fcreaming, as is their cuftom, in a moft harfti and barbarous manner, crying out Hatze Ali! Michael Ali! But Fafil, who faw the forward countenance of the king's troops, and that a few minutes would lay him under a neceflity of riflcing a battle, which he did not intend, withdrew his troops at a fmart trot over the fmooth downs, re- turning towards Bofkon Abbo, It feems, as we heard afterwards, he was in as great anxiety about the fat@ of Welleta Yafous, of whom he had no intelligence^ THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 121 intelligence, as we h^d been for that of Kefla Yafous ; and he had got as yet no intelligence till he had taken Welleta Michael prifoner; he had heard no firing, nor did he confequently know whether Kefla Yafous had paiTed the Nile with the Rasornot; he had, therefore, left his camp, and marched with his horfe only to take a view of Michael, but had no fort of intention to give him battle; and he was now very much exafperated againft both Gufho and Powulfen, by whom he faw plainly that he had hetn betrayed. This is what was called the battle of Limjour^ from a village burnt by Ras Michael lafl campaign^ which flood where the two trees are; the name of a battle is furely more than it deferves. Had Fafil been half as willing as the Ras, it could not have failed being a decifive one. The Ras, who faw that Fafil would not fight, eafily penetrated his reafons, and no fooner was he gone, and his own drums were filent, then he heard a nagareet beat, and knew it to be that of Kefla Yafous. This general encamped upon the river Avoley, leaving his tents and baggage under a proper guard, and had marched with the bed and freflieft of his troops to join Michael before the engagement. All was joy at meeting, every rank of men joined in extolling the merit and condud of their lead- ers; and, indeed, it may be fairly faid, thefitua- tion of the king and army was defperate at that indant, when the troops were feparated on different fides of the Nile; nor could they have been faved but 122 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER but by the fpeedy refolution taken by Kefla Yafous to march without lofs of time and pafs at the ford of Delakus, and the diligence and adivity with which he executed that refolution. Although a good part of Kefla Yafous's foldiets were left at the Avoley, the Ras, as a mark of confidence, gave him the command of the rear. We were retreating before an enemy, and it was, therefore, the poft of honour, where the Ras would have been himfelf, had not Kefla Yafous ioined u^. We foon marched the five miles, or thereabout, that remained to the Avoley, and ar- rived juft as the fun was fetting, and there heard from the fpies that Welleta Yafous with his troops had retired again to Goutto, after having been joined by Woodage Afahel. There again were frefli rejoicings, as every one recovered their bag- gage and provifions, many rejoined their friends they had given over as loft at the paflage, and the whole army prepared their fupper. All but Ras Michael feemed to have their thoughts bent upon ileep and reft; whilft he, the moft infirm and aged of the army, no fooner was under cover of his tent than he ordered the drum to beat for aflembling a council* What pafl^ed there I did not know; I believe nothing but a repetition of the circumftan- ces that induced Kefla Yafous to advance to Dela- kus, for, after fupper, jufl before the king went to bed in the evening, a man from Kefla Yafous brought the four priefts of Mariam Net, who had been the guides to the ford at Delakus. The king ordered THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 123 ordered meat to be fet before them, but they had done very well already with Kefla Yafous, and, therefore, only took a fmall piece of bread and a cup of bouza, the eating and drinking in prefence of the king being an affurance that their life was fafe and pardon real. They had then five ounces of gold, and feveral changes of clothes given to each of them, and the king took them to Gondar with him, to provide for them there, out of the reach of the revenge of Fafil, and placed them in the church of Hamar Noh *. The army marched next day to Dingleber, a high hill, or rock, approaching fo clofe to the lake as fcarcely to leave a paflage between. Upon the top of this rock is the king's houfe. As we arrived very early there, and were now out of Fafil's government, the king infifled upon treating Ras Michael and all the people of confideration. A great quantity of cattle had been fent thither from Dembea by thofe who had eflates in the neighbourhood, out of which he gave ten oxen to Ras Michael, ten to Kefla Yafous, the fame number to feveral others, and one to myfelf, with two ounces of gold for Strates and Sebaflos to buy mules; but they had already provided themfelves; for, befides the two they rode upon of mine, they and my fervants had picked up four others in very good condition, whofe mafters had * This is a large church belonging to the palace, called by Hrls extraordinary name, Noah^s Ark. probably 124 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER probably periftied in the river, for they were ne- ver claimed aftervirards. Juft asthe king fat down to dinner an accident happened that occafioned great trepidation among all his fervants. A black eagle* was chafed into the king's tent by fome of the birds of prey that hover about the camp; and it was after in the mouth of every one the king would be dethroned by a man of inferior birth and condition. Every body at that time looked to Fafil : the event proved the application falfe, though the omen was true, Powuffen of Begemder was as low-born as Fafil, as great a traitor, but more fuccefsful, to whom the ominous prefage pointed; and, though we cannot but look upon the whole as accident, it was but toofoon fulfilled. In the evening of the 29th arrived at Dingleber two horfemen from Fafil clad in habits of peace, and without arms ; they were known to be two of bis principal fervants, were grave, genteel, mid- die-aged men ; this meffage had nothing of Doho'5 buffoonery. They had an audience early after their coming, firft of the Ras, then of the King. They faid, and faid truly, that Fafil had repafled the Kelti, was encamped on the oppofite fide, and was not yet joined by Welleta Yafous. Their errand was, to defire that the Ras might not fatigue his men by unneceffarily hurrying on to Gondar, becaufe he might reft fecured of rc- * See a figure of this bird in the Appendix. ceiving THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 125 eeiving no further moleftation from Fafil their mafler, as he was on his march to Eure. T hey told the Ras the whole of the confpiracy, as far as it regarded him, and the agreement that Pow- uifen and Gufho had made with their mafter to furround. him at Derdera : they mentioned, more- over, how fenfible Fafil was of their treafon to- wards him ; that, inflead of keeping their word, they had left him to engage the King and the Ras's whole force at a time when they knew the greateft part of his Galla troops were retired to the other fide of the Nile, and could not be aflembled Vithout difficulty: That if the Ras by chance had croiTed at Delakus, as Kefla Yafous had done, in- flead of embarraffing his army among the rivers of Maitfha, and croffing the Nile at that mod dangerous place near Amlac-Ohha, (a pafiage never before attempted in the rainy feafon) the confequence would have been, that he mud have either fought at great difadvantage with an inferior army againft the Ras, or have retired to Metch- akel, leaving his whole country to the mercy of his enemies. Fafil declared his refolution never again to appear in arms againft the king, but that he would hold his government under him, and pay the accuftomed taxes pundually : he promifed alfo, that he would renounce all manner of con- neftion with Gufho and PowufTen, as he had al- ready done, and he would take the field againft them next feafon with his whole force, whenever the king ordered him, The meffengers conclu- de4. 126 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER ded, with defiring the Ras to give Fafil his grand- daughter, Welleta Selafle, in marriage, and that he would then come to Gondar without diftruft. At the audience they had of the king the fame night, they added. That Fafil could net trufl Ras Michael, he broke his word fo often, and had fo many refervations and evafions in his promifes. The Ras, though he did not believe all this, made no difficulty in agreeing to every thing that they defired. He promifed the grand daughter ; and, as an earned of his believing the reft, the king's two nagareets were brought to the door of the tent, where, to out very great furprife, w<^ heard it proclaimed, '' Fafil is governor of the Agow, Maitfha, Gojam, and Damot; profperity to him, and long may he live a faithful fervant to the king our mafter!" — This was an extraprdinary revolution in fo fmall a fpace of time. It was fcarce 43 hours fmce Fafil had laid a fcheme for drowning the greater part of the army in the Nile, and cutting the throats of the refidue on both fides of it; it was not twenty-four hours, fmce he had met us to fight in open field, and now he was become the king's lieutenant-general in four of the iiioft opulent provinces of Abyflinia. This was produced, however, by the neceflity of the times, and both parties were playing at the fame game who fhould over-reach the other. FafiPs meffen- gers were magnificently cloathed, and it was firft intended they fnouldhave gene back to him; but, after refledion, another perfon was fent, thefe two THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 127 two chufing to go to Gondar with the king to re- main hoflages for Fafil's word, and to bring back his inveftiture from thenee to Bure. The whole camp abandoned itfelf to joy. Late in the evening Ozoro Efther came to the king's tent. She had been ill, and alarmed, as fhe well might, at the paiTage of the Nile, which had given her a more delicate look than ordinary; fhe was dreifed all in white, and I thought I feldom had feen fo handfome a woman. The king, as I have mentioned, had fent ten oxen to Ras Mi- chael, but he had given twenty to Ozoro Efther; and it was to thank him for this extraordinary mark of favour that ftie had come to vifit him in his tent. I had for fome time paft, indeed, thought they were not infenfible to the merit of each other. Upon her thanking the king for the diftindion he had fhewn her. Madam, faid he, your hufband Ras Michael is intent upon employ- ing, in the beft way pofTible for my fervice, thofe of the army that are ftrong and vigorous; you, I am told, beftow your care on the fick and difabled, and, by your attention, they are reftoredto their former health and adlivity; the ftrong adlive foldier eats the cows that 1 have fent to the Ras ; the enfeebled and fick recover upon yours, for which reafon I fent you a double portion, that you may have it in your power to do double good. After this the room was cleared, and ftie had aa audience alone for half an hour. I doubt very much whether Ras Michael had any fhare in the coDverfation; J28 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER converfation ; the king was in the very gayefl humour, and went to reft about twelve. The Ras loved Ozoro Either, but was not jealous. I had violent threatenings of the ague, and had gone to bed full of refledlions on extraordinary events that, in a few hours, had as it were crowd* ed upon one another. I had appointed FafiPs fervants to come to my tent in the evening, I un- derftood a council had been called, to which Welleta Kyrillos, the king's hiftoriographer, had been fent for, and inftruded how to give an ac- count of this campaign of Maitfha, the paiTage of the Nile, and the meeting with Fafil at Limjour. Kefla Yafous's march to Delakus, and palfage there, were ordered to be written in gold letters, and fo was Fafil's appointment to Damot and Maitflia. From this authentic copy, and what I myfelf heard or obferved, I formed thefe notes of the campaign. On the 30th of May nothing material happened, and, in a few days, we arrived at Gondar. The .day before we entered, being encamped on the river Kemona, came two meflengers from Gufho and PowuiTen, with various excufes why they had not joined. They were very ill received by the Ras, and refufed an audience of the king. Their prefent, which is always new clothes to fome value, was a fmall piece of dark-blue Surat cloth, value about half-a-crown, intended as an affront^ they were not fuffered to fleep in the camp, but forv/arded to Fafil where they were going. The THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 129 The 3d of June the army encamped on the river Kahha, under Gondar. From the time we left Dingleber, fome one or other of the Ras's confi- dential friends had arrived every day. Several of the great officers of ftate reached us at the Kemona, many others met us at Abba Samuel. I did not perceive the news they brought increafed the fpirits either the king or the Ras; thefoldiers, however, were all contented, becaufe they were at home; but the officers, who faw farther, wore very different countenances, efpecially thofe that were of Amhara. I, in particular, had very little reafon to be pleafed; for, after having undergone a conftant feries of fatigues, dangers, and expences, I was returned to Gondar difappointed of my views in arriving at the fource of the Nile, without any other acquifition than a violent ague. The place where that river rifes remained flili as great a fecret as it had been ever fmce the cataftrophe of Phaeton t — Nihis in extremum fugit -perterritus orhem^ Qcculuitque caputs quod adhuc latet. - Ovid. Metam, lib. ii^ Vol. rv. K C H A P. 130 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER CHAP. Vll. King and Army retreat to Tigre — Interejiing Events following that Retreat — The Bodyofyoas is found — Favourable Turn of the King's Affairs — SocinioSy a new King^ -proclaimed at Gondar. T HE king had heard that Guflio and Powuffen, with Gojam under Ayto Aylo, and all the troops of BelelTen and Lafta, were ready to fall upon him in Gondar as foon as the rains Ihould have fwelled the Tacazze, fo that the army could not retire into Tigre; and it was now thought to be the in- llant this might happen, as the king's proclamation in favour of Fafil, efpecially the giving him Gojara,^ it was not doubted, would hallen the motion of the rebels. Accordingly that very morning, after the king arrived, the proclamation was made at Gondar, giving Fafil Gojam, Damot, the Agow, and Maitfha ; after which his two fervants were again magnificently cloathed, and fent back with honour. As 1 had never defpaired, fome way or other, of arriving at the fountains of the Nile, from which THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 131 which we were not fifty miles diftant when we turned back at Karcagna, fo I never negledled to improve every means that held out to me the lead probability of accomplifhing this end. I had been very attentive and ferviceable to Fafil's fervants while in the camp. I fpoke greatly of their mafler, and, when they went away, gave each of them a fmall prefent for himfelf, and a trifle alfo for Fafii, They had, on the other hand, been very impor- tunate with me as a phyfician to prefcribe fome- thing for a cancer on the lip, as I underftood it to be, with which Welleta Yafous, Fafil's principaF general, was aflHidled. I had been advifed, by fome of my medical friends, to carry along with me a preparation of hemlock, or cicuta, recommended by Dr. Storck, a phyfician at Vienna. A coniiderable quantity had been fent me from France by commifiion, with direSions how to ufe it. To keep on the fafe fide, I prefcribed fmall dofes to Welleta Ya- fous, being much more anxious to preferve myfelf from reproach than warmly felicitous about the cure of my unknown patient. I gave him pofitive advice to avoid eating raw meat; to keep to a milk diet, and drink plentifully of whey when he ufedthis medicine. They were overjoyed at hav- ing fucceeded fo well in their commiflion, and declared before the king, That Fafil their mafter would be more pleafed with receiving a medicine that would reftore Welleta Yafous to health, ihan with the magnificent appointments the king's K 2 goodnefs 132 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER ■goodnefs had beftowed upon him. *' If it Is fa, faid T, in this day of grace, I will afk two favours.'* — " And that's a rarity, fays the king; come, jQUt with them; I don't believe any body is defir- ous you fhould be refufed; I certainly am not; only I bar one of them, you are not to retapfe into your ufual defpondency, and talk of going home," — " Well, Sir, faid I, I obey> and that is not one of them. They are thefe — You fhall give me, and oblige Fafil to ratify it, the village Geefh, and the fource where the Nile rifes, that I may be from thence furnifhed with honey for myfelf and fervants ; it fhall fond me inftead of Tangouri, near Emfras, and, in value, it is not worth fo much. The fecond is, That, when I fhall fee that it is in his power to carry me to Geefb, and fliew me thofe fources, Fafil fhall do it upon my requefl, without fee or reward^ and without excufe or evafion. They all laughed at the eafinefs of the requefl; all declared that this was nothing, and wifhed to do ten times as much. The king faid, " Tell Fafil I do give the village of Geefh, and thof€ fountains he is fo fond of, to Yagoube and hi« pofterity for ever, never to appear under another's name in the deftar, and never to be taken from him, or exchanged, either in peace or war. Do YOU fwear this to him in the name of your mafler.'* Upon which they took the two fore fingers of my right hand, and, one after the other, laid the two fore fingers of their right hand acrofs them, then killed THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 133 kifTed them; a form of fwearing ufed there, at lead among thofe that call themfelves Chriflians. And as Azage Kyrillos, the king's fecretary and hiflorian, was then prefent, the king ordered him to enter the gift in the deftar or revenue-book where the taxes and revenue of the king's lands are regiftered. " I will write it, fays the old man, in letters of gold, and, poor as i am, will give him a village four times better than either Geelh or Tangouri, if he will take a wife and flay amongfl us, at lead till my eyes are clofed/' It will be eafily gueifed this rendered the converfation a cheerful one. Fafil's fervants retired to fet out the next day, gratified to their utmofl wifh, and, as foon as the king was in bed, I went to my apartment likewife. But very different thoughts were then occupy- ing Michael and his officers. They could not trufl Fafil, and, befides, he could do them no fervice; the rain was fet in, and he was gone home; the weflern part of the kingdom was ready to rife upon them; Woggora, to the north, immediately in his way, was all in arms, and impatient to re- venge the feverities they had fufFered when Michael firfl marched to Gondar. The Tacazz^, which feparates Tigre from Woggora, and runs at the foot of the high mountains of Samen, was one of the largeft and mofl rapid rivers in AbyfTmia, and, though not the firfl to overflow, was, when fwelled to its height, impaffable by horfe or foot, rolling down prodigious flones and trees with its current* Danger- 134 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER Dangerous as the paflage was, however, there was no fafety but in attempting it: Michael, therefore, and every foldier with him, were of opinion that, if they mufl perifh, they fhould rather meet death in the river, on the confines of their own country, than fall alive into the hands of their enemies in Amhara. For this, preparation had been making night and day, fmce Ras Michael entered Gondar, and probably before it. There was in BelelTen, on the neareft and cafiefl: way to a ford of the Tacazze, a man of quality called Adero, and his fon ZorWoldo. To thefe two Ras Michael ufed to truft the care of the police of Gondar when he was abfent upon any expedition; they were very adive and capable, but had fallen from their allegiance, and joined Powufien and Gulho, at leaft in councils. The Ras, immediately upon arriving at Gondar, dif- fembling what he knew of their treafon, had fent to them to prepare a quantity of flour for the troops that were to pafs their way; to get together what horfes they could as quietly as poflible; to fend him word what (late the ford was in; and alfo, if Powuflen had made any movement forward; or if Ayto Tesfos, governor of Samen, hadihewnany difpofition to difpute the paflage through Wog- goia into Tigre. Word was immediately returned by the traitor Adero, that the ford was as yet very palTable ; that it was faid Powuflen was march- ing towards Maitfha; that Ay to Tesfos was at home upon his high rock, the feat of his govern- nient, THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 1^5 ment, and that no time was to be loft, as he be- lieved he had already flour enough to fuffice ; he added alfo, that it would be dangerous to collect more, for it would give the alarm. This was all received as truth, and a mefTenger fent back with orders, that Zor Woldo fliould leave the flour in fmall bags at Ebenaat, and that he (hould himfelf and his father wait the Ras at the ford, with what horfe they had, the fourth day from that, in the evening. The next morning the whole army was in motion. I had the evening before taken leav^ of the king in an interview which cofl: me more than almoft any one in my life. The fubftance was. That I was ill in my health, and quite unprepared to attend him into Tigre; that my heart was fet upon completing the only purpofe of my coming into Abyfllnia, without which I fhould return into my own country with difgrace; that I hoped, through his majefty's influence, Fafil might find fome way for me toaccomplifli it; if not, I trufted foon to fee him return, when I hoped it woii'd be eafy; but, if I then went to Tigre, I was fully perfuaded I fhould never have the refolution to come again to Gondar. He feemed to take heart at the confidence with which I fpoke of his return. " You, Yagoube, fays he, in a humble, complaining tone, could tell me, if you pleafed, whether I fhall or nor, and what is to befal me ; thofe i^ftruments and thofe wheels, with which you are conftantly looking at the 136 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER the ftars, cannot be for any ufe unlefs for prying into futurity/' — " Indeed, faid I, prince, thefe are things by which we guide fhips at fea, and by thefe we mark down the ways that we travel by land ; teach them to people that never paffed them before, and, being once traced, keep them thus to be known by all men for ever. But of the de- crees of Providence, whether they regard you or myfelf, I know no more than the mule upon which you ride." — " Tell me then, I pray, tell me, what is the reafon you fpeak of my return as certain?" — " I fpeak, faid I, from obfervation, from refledions that 1 have made, much more certain than prophecies and divinations by flars^ The firfl campaign of your reign at Fagitta, when you was relying upon the difpofitions that the Ras had moil ably and fkilfully made, a drunkard, with a fingle ihot, defeated a nunierous army of your enemies. PowulTen and Gufho were your friends, as you thought, whe|i you marched out iaft, yet they had, at that very inftant, made a league to deftroy you at Derdera; and nothing but a miracle could have faved you, fhut up be- tween two lakes and three armies. It was neither you nor Michael that difordered their councils, and made them fail in what they had concerted. You was for burning Samfeen, whilft Woodage Afahel was there in ambufh with a large force, with a knowledge of all the fords, and mafter of all the inhabitants of the country. Remember hovv' you palled thofe rivers, holding hand in hand, and THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 137 and drawing one another over. Could you have done this with an enemy behind you, and fuch an enemy as Woodage Afahel? He would have fol= lowed and harrafled you till you took the ford at Goutto, and there was Welleta Yafous waiting to oppofe you with 6000 men on the oppofite bank. When Ras Michael marched by Mariam Net, he found the priefts at their homes. Was that the eafe in any of the other churches we palTed? No; all were fled for fear of Michael; yet thefe were more guilty than any by their connedions with Fafil; notwithftanding which, they alone, of all others, ftaid, though they knew not why; an in- vifible hand held them that they might operate your prefervation. Nothing could have faved the army but the defperate pafTage, fo tremendous that it will exceed the belief of man, crofling the Nile that night. Yet if the priefts had crofled before this, not a man would have proceeded to the ford. The priefts would have been Ras Mi- chaeFs prifoners, and, on the other fide, they never would have fpoken a word whilft in the prefence of Michael. Providence, therefore, kept them with Kefla Yafous ; all was difcovered, and the army faved by the retreat, and his fpeedy pafling at the ford of Delakus, What would have happened to Kefla Yafous, had Fafil marched down to Delakus either before or after the paflfage? Kefla Yafous would have been cut off before Ras Michael hadpafifed the Kelti; inftead of which, an unknown caufe detained him, moft 138 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER mod infatuated-like, beating his kettle-drums be- hind Bofkon Abbo, while our army under the Ras was fwimming that dangerous river, and mofl of us palling the night, naked, without tents, provifion, or powder. Nor did he ever think of presenting himfelf till we had warmed ourfelves by an eafy march in a fine day, when we were every way his fuperiors, and Kefla Yafous in his rear. From all thefe fpecial marks of the favour of an over-ruling Providence, I do believe ftead- faftly that God will not leave his work half fi- nifhed. " He it is who, governing the whole univerfe, has yet referved fpecially to himfelf the department of war ; he it is who has ftiled him* feif the God of Battles." The king was very much moved, and, as I conceived, perfuaded. He (aid, " O Yagoube, go but with me to Tigre, and I will do for you whatever you defire me.** " You do. Sir, faid I, whatever I defire you, and more. I have told you my reafons why that cannot be ; let me flay here a few months, and wait your return." The king then advifed me to live entirely at Kofcam with the Iteghe, with- out going out unlefs Fafil came to Gondar, and to fend him pundtually word how I was treated. Upon this we parted with inexpreflible reludance. He was a king worthy to reign over a better peo- ple ; my heart was deeply penetrated with thofe marks of favour and condefcenfion which I had uniformly received from him ever fince I entered his palace. On THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 139 On the 5tK of June, while PowulTen, Adero, and the confpirators were waiting his prfage through Beleflen, (that is to the S. W.) the king's army marched towards Kofcam, over the moun- tain Debra Tzai towards Walkayt, and the low, hot provinces of AbylTmia which lie to the N. E. fo that the diftance between them increafed every day in the greateft proportion poflible. The queen ordered her gates at Kofcam to be ihut. A little before the Ras mounted his mule, Ozoro Either and her fervants took refuge with her mother the Iteghe ; Gondar was like a town which had been taken by an enemy ; every one that had arms in his hands did juft what he pleafed. Two very remarkable things were faid to have happened the night before Michael left the city. He had always pretended, that, before he under- took an expedition, a perfon, or fpirit, appeared to hira, who told him the iffue and confequence of the meafures he was then taking; this he ima- gined to be 5t. Michael the archangel, and he prefumed very much upon this intercourfe. In a council that night, where none but friends were prefent, he had told them that his fpirit had ap» peared fome nights before, and ordered him, in his retreat, to furprife the mountain of Wechne, and either llay or carry with him to Tigre the princes fequeftered there. Nebrit Tecia, gover- nor of Axum, with his two fons, (all concerned jn the late king's murder) were, it is faid, ftrong advifers S4« TRAVELS TO DISCOVER advifers of this meafure ; but Ras Michael, (pro« bably fatiated with royal blood already) Kefla Ya- fous, and all the more worthy men of any confe- quence, afting on principle, abfolutely refufed to confent to it. It was upon this the paifage by Be- leiTen was fubflituted inftead of the attempt on Wechne, and it was determined to conceal it. The next advice which, the Ras faid, this de - vil, or angel, gave him, was, that they fiiould fet fire to the town of Gondar, and burn it to the ground, otherwife his good fortune was to leave him there for ever ; and for this there was a great number of advocates, Michael feeming to lean that v/ay himfelf. But, when it was reported to the king, that young prince put a dir.ed nega- tive upon it, by declaring tbat he would rather fiay ill Gondar, and fall by the hands of his ene- mies, than either conquer them, or efcape from them, by the commiflion of fo enormous a crime ; when this was publicly known, it procured the king univerfal good-will, as was experienced af- terwards, when he and Michael were finally de- feated, and taken prifoners, upon their march in return to Gondar. The army advanced rapidly towards Walkayt, Being near the Tacazze, they turned fhort upon Mai-Lumi, (the River of Limes) the governor of which, as I have already faid, in our journey from Mafuah, detained us feveral days at Addergey with a view to rob us, upon a report prevailing that Ras Michael was defeated at Fagitta. This thief THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 141 thief the king furprifed and made prifoner, fet fire to his houfe after having plundered it, and carried him as hoftage to Tigre, for the payment of a fum which he laid upon every village to fave them from being fet on fire* Bsing now fafely arrived on the banks of the Tacazze, the firft province beyo-nd which is that of Sire, Michael fent before him Ay to Tesfos the governor, a man exceedingly beloved, to aflemble all fort of alTiftance for pafTmg the river. Every one flocked to the flream with the utmofl alacri- ty ; the water was deep, and the baggage wet in crofling, but the bottosn was good and hard; they paffed both expeditiouHy and fafely, and were received in Sire, and then in Tigre, with every demonflration of joy. Michael, now arrived in his government, fet himfelf feriouHy to unite every part under his own jurifdidion. It was now the rainy feafon ; there was no poffibility of taking the field, and a rebel- lion prevailed in two different diflrids of his pro- vince. The fons of Kafmati Woldo, whofe fa- ther Ras Michael put to death, had declared for themfelves, in their paternal government of En- derta, and Netcho who married Ras Michael's daughter, had taken poffeflion of the mountain Aromata, commonly called Haramat, an ancient ftrongholdof his father's, of which Michael had made himfelf mafter, while yet a youn^ man, af- ter befieging it fifteen years. Netcho had alfo united himfelf with Za Menfus Kedus, a man of great 142 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER great property in that and the neighbouring coun- try. Enderta is a flat, fertile territory, in the very fouth-eafl of Abylfinia, depending on Tigre, and the mountain Aromata is fituated near the middle of that province ; before taking the field, Michael had dire<^ed the two Woldos to be aflaf- finated during a feafl at Enderta, and their party difperfed of itfelf without farther effort. The mountain fhewed a better countenance, and feemed to promife employment for a long time ; it was garrifoned by old and veteran troops who had ferved under Ras Michael. Netcho was the fon of his hereditary enemy, anciently go- vernor of that mountain, whom he had reconciled by giving him his daughter in marriage ; notwith- flanding which he had now rebelled, juft as the Ras marched to Maitfha againft Fafil, by the per- fuafion of Gufno and Powuifen, purpofely that he might form a diverfion in Tigre, and for this reafon he had little hopes of mercy, if ever befell into the hands of Ras Michael. I had feen him often, and knew him ; he was a tall, thin, dull man, of a foft temper, and eafily impofed upon. Za Menfus, the other chief in the mountain, was a very active, refolute, enterprifing man, of whom Michael was afraid. He had a large property all around the mountain ; had been put in irons by Michael, and had efcaped ; befides, on his re- turn to Tigre, he had flain the father of Guebra Mafcal, Michael's nephew by marriage, who was commander in chief of all the mufqueJry Michael had THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 143 had brought from Tigre, fo that he feared no- thing fo much as falling into Ras Michael's hands. Ras Michael faw the danger of leaving an ene- my fo prepared and fo fituated behind him : he therefore, before the rainy feafon was yet finifhed, ordered the whole mountain to be furrounded with barracks, or huts, for his foldiers j he alfo eredled three houfes for himfelf, the principal officers, and the king. The country people were called in to plow and fow the ground in the neighbourhood, fo that his intention was plainly never to rife from thence till he had reduced the mountain of Aro- mata for the fecond time, after having once before fucceeded in taking it, after fixteen years fiege, from Netcho's father. There we ihall leave him at this fiege, and return to Gondar. It was on the loth of June that Gufho and Powuffen entered Gondar, and next day, the I ith, waited upon the queen ; they both befeech- ed her to return from Kofcam to the capital, and take into her hands the reins of government for the interim : this fhe pofitively refufed, unlefs peace was firft made with Fafil. She faid, that Fafil was the only perfon who had endeavoured to avenge his mailer Joas's death ; that he had continued till that day in arms in that quarrel ; and, not- withftanding all the offers that could be made her, fhe never would come to Gondar, nor take any part in public bufmefs, without this condition. Fafil, moreover, informed her by a meflenger, that there was no trull to be put either in Gufno or J44 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER or Powuflen ; that they had failed In their engage- ment of following and fighting Ras Michael in Maitfha, and had purpofely flaid at home till a fuperior army fhould fall upon him fingly, and ra- vage his country : That they had broken their word a fecond time by entering into Gondar with- out him ; whereas the agreement was, that they all three fhould have done this at once, to fettle the form of government by their joint deliberation* Many days palTed in thefe negociations ; Fafil al- ways promifmg to come upon fome condition or other, but never keeping his word, or ftirring from Bure. On the 20th, the queen's fervants, who had gone to offer terms of reconciliation to Fafil on the part of Gufho and Powuffen, returned to their homes. The fame day he ordered it to be pro- claimed in the market-place, That Ayto Tesfos fhould be governor of Samen, and that whoever fhould rob on that road, or commit any violence, fhould fufFer death. This was an ad of power, purpofely intended to affront Powuffen and Gufho, and feemed to be opening a road for a corref- pondence with Ras Michael ; but, above all, it fhewed contempt for their party and their caufe, and that he confidered his own as very diflind: from theirs ; for Tesfos had taken arms in the late king's lifetime, at the fame time, and upon the fame principles and provocation, as Fafil, and had never laid down his arms, or made peace with Ras Michael, but kept his government in defiance of hici. On THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 145 On the 24th, for fear of giving umbrage, I waited upon Guflio and PowulTen at Gondar. I faw them in the fame room where Ras Michael ufed to fit. They were both lying on the floor playing at draughts, with the figure of a draught- table drawn with chalk upon the carpet ; they of- fered no other civility or falutation, but, fiiaking me each by the hand, they played on, without lifting their heads, or looking me in the face. Gufho began by afking me, " Would it not have been better if you had gone with me to Am- hara, as I defired you, when I faw you lad at Gondar ? you would have faved yourfelf a great deal of fatigue and trouble in that dangerous march through Maitfha.'* To this I anfwered, ^^ It is hard for me, who am a flranger, to know what is bed to be done in fuch a country as this, I was, as you may have heard, the king's guefl, and was favoured by him ; it was my duty there- fore to attend him, efpecially when he defired it ; and fuch I am informed has always been the cuf- tom of the country ; befides, Ras Michael laid his commands upon me.'' On this, fays Pow- ulTen, fhaking his head, " You fee he cannot forget Michael and theTigreyet." — " Very na- turally, added Gufho, they were good to him ; he was a great man in their time ; they gave him confiderable fums of money, and he fpent it all among his own foldiers, the king's guard, which they had given him to command after the Arme- nian. Yagoube taught him and his brother Vol. IV. L George J46 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER George to ride on horfeback like the Franks, and play tricks with guns and pikes on horfeback ; folly, all of it to be fure, but I never heard he meddled in affairs, or that he fpoke ill of anyone, much lefs did any harm, like thofe rafcals the Greeks when they were in favour in Joas's time, for it was not their fault they did not diredl every- thing.'^—^^ I hope I never did, faid I; fure lam I never fo intended, nor had I any provocation. I have received mu ch good ufage from every one ; and the honour, if I do not forget, of a great many profeflions and affurances of friendfliip from you, faid I, turning to Gufho. He hefitated a little, and then added very fuperciliouily. Aye, aye, we were, as I think, always friends." You have had, fays PowuiTen, a devililli many hungry bellies fmce we left Gondar/* — ^' You will excufe me, Sir, replied J, as to that article ; I at no time found any difference whether you was in Gondar or not." — " There, fays Gufno, by St. Demetrius, there is a truth for you, and you don't often hear that in Begem.der. May I fuffer death if ever you gave a jar of honey to any white man in your life." — " But I, fays Powuffen, fitting upright on the floor, and leav- ing off play, will give you, Yagoube, a prefent better than Gu(ho*s paultry jars of honey. 1 have brought with me, addreffmg himfelf to me, your double-barrelled gun, and your fword, which I took from that fon of a wh— e Guebra Mehedin : by St. Michael- continued Powuffen, if I had got hold a iC THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. ^47 liold of that infidel I would have hanged him upon the RrOi tree in the way for daring to fay- that he was one of my army when he committed that unmanly robbery upon your people. The Iteghe, your friend, would yefterday have given me ten loads of wheat for your gun, for ilie be- lieves I am to carry it back to Begemder again, and do not mean to give it you, but come to my tent to-morrow and you (hall have it." I very well underflood his meaning, and that he wanted a prefent ; but was happy to recover my gun at any rate. I arofe to get away, as what had paffed did not pleafe me ; for before the king's retreat to Tigre, Gufho had fat in my prefence uncovered to the waift, in token of humility, and many a cow, many a Iheep, and jar of honey he had fent me ; but my importance was now gone with the king ; I was fallen ! and they were refolved, I faw, to make me fenfible of it. I told the queen, on my return, what had paffed. They are both brutes, faid fhe ; but Gufho fhould have known better. The next morning, being the 25th, about eight o'clock I went to Powuffen's tent. His camp was on the Kahha, near the church of Ledata, or the Nativity. After waiting near an hour, I was ad- mitted ; two women fat by him, neither handfome nor cleanly dreffed ; and he returned me my gun and fword, which v/as followed by a fmall prefent on my part. This, fays he, turning to the wo- men, is a man who knows every thing that is to L 2 come; 148 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER Gome ; who is to die, and who is to live ; who is o go to the devil, and who not ; who loves her huiband, and who cuckolds him.'* — '' Tell .me then, Yagoube, fays one of the women, will Tecla Haimanout and Michael ever come to Gon- dar again ?" — " I do not know who you mean, Madam, faid I ; is it the king and the Ras you mean?*'—" Call him the King, fays the other woman in half a whifper ; he loves the king/'— *' Well, aye, come, let it be the king then, fays (he ; will the King and Ras Michael ever com.e to Gondar ?"— " Surely, faid I, the king is king, and will go to any part of his dominions he pleafes, and w^hen he pleafes ; do you not hear he is al- ready on his way ?"— " Aye, aye, by G-d, fays Powu0en, no fear he'll come with a vengeance, therefore I think it is high tim.e that I w^as in Ee- gemder," He then fhrugged up his ihoulders, and rofe, upon which I took my leave. He had 'kept me ftanding all the time ; and when I came ,to Kofcam I made my report as ufualto thelteghe, who laughed very heartily, though the king's ar- rival, which \vas prophefied, was likely to be a very ferious affair to her* That very day, in the evening, came a fervant from Ras Michael, with taunts and fevere threats to the queen, to Powuffen, and Gufno ^ he faid he was very quickly bringing the king back to Gondar, and being now old, intended to pafs the reft of his life in Tigre ; he, therefore, hoped they would await the king's coming to Gondar, and chufe THE SOURCE OF THE NILE, 149 chufe a Ras for his fuccelTor from among them- felves, as he underftood they were all friends, and would eafily agree, efpecially as it was to oblige him. On the 27th5 Gufho and Powuifen waited upon the queen to take their leave. They declared it was not their intention to flay at Gondar, merely to be alternately the fubjecl of merriment and fcoffing to Michael and to Fafil, and upon this they immediately fet out on their way home, with- out drum or trumpet, or any parade whatever. Immediately after, arrived another fervant from Fafil to the queen, defiring that PowulTen and Gulho might halt at Emfras, adding^, that he had- juft then begun his march from Bure, and would be at Gondar in a few days, Gufho and Powuffen did accordingly halt there, and were detained for the fpace of fix weeks, amufed by falfe pre-, tences and meffages, in very uncomfortable quar^ ters, till their armies difbanded, the loldiers, from hunger and conflant rains, deferred their leaders, and went every man to his home. In the beginning of Augufl the queen came to Gondar, and fat on the throne all day. She had not been there thefe three years, and I fmcerely wifhed fhe had not gone then. It was in medita- tion that day to chufe a new king ; fhe was pre- fent at that deliberation, and- her intention was known to place a fon of Aylo, Joas's brother, a mere infant, upon the throne. All thofe that were in fear of Michael, and it was very general at that time. 150 tRAVELS TO DISCOVER time, cried out againfl an infant king at fuch a critical period ; but, old as that princefs was, the defire of reigning had again returned. Upon the return of the Iteghe that night to Kof- cam, Sanuda held a council of the principal offi- cers that had remained at Gondar, and fixed upon one Welleta Girgis, a young man of about 24 years of age, who had, indeed, been reputed Ya- fous's fon, but his low life and manners had pro- cured him fafety and liberty by the contempt they had raifed in Ras Michael. His mother, indeed, was of a noble origin, but fo reduced in fortune as to have been obliged to gain her livelihood by carrying jars of water for hire. The mother fwore this fon was begot by Yafous, and as that prince was known not to have been very nice in his choice of miflrelTes, or limited in their num- ber, it was, perhaps, as likely to be true as not, that Welleta Girgis was his fon. He took the name of Socinios. On the morning after, the new king came to Kofcam, attended by Sanuda and his party, with guards, and all the enfigns of royalty. He threw himfelf at the Iteghe's feet, and begged her forgivenefs if he had vindicated the right of his birth, without her leave or participa- tion ; he declared his refolution to govern entirely by her advice, and begged her to grant his re- queft and come to Gondar, and again take pof- feflion of her place as Iteghe, or regent of the kingdom.. It THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 151 It was about the loth of x\ugufl that an accident happened, which it was generally thought would have determined Fafil to come to Gondar. A common woman, wife of a Galla at Tchelga, a town upon the frontiers of Sennaar, being at va- riance with her hufband, upbraided him with be- ing the perfon that, with his own hand, had aflfaf- fmated the late king Joas. This Galla was imme- diately feized and fent to Gondar, and was ex. amined before the queen, where I was prefent. He, with very little hefitation, declared. That, on a night immediately after the battle of Azazo, he was fent for to Ras Michael, who gave him fome money and large promifes, on condition that he would undertake to murder the king that night. The perfons prefent were Laeca Netcho, and his two fons, Nebrit Tecla and his two fons, Shalaka Becro relation to the prefent king, and Woldo Hawaryat a monk of Tigre. The prifoner faid, he was afraid, if he fhould refufe, they would mur- der him for the fake of fecrecy. He further faid, that they had given him fpirits to drink till he was intoxicated, and then delivered to him the keys of the apartments where Joas was confined, and they all went with him to the palace ; they found the unfortunate king alone, walking in his apart- ment, very penfive^ and, though at the late hour of twelve at night, drelfed in his ufual habit. Two of Laeca Netcho's fons attempted to put a cord round his neck, but the king, being young and ftrong, fhewed a difpofition to defend himfelf, J and 152 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER and wrefted the cord out of the murderers hands ; upon which Zor Woldo (the name of the Galla) flruck him a violent blow with a bludgeon on the head, which felled him to the dround : The others then, with a fhort cord, ilrangled him, the monk, Woldo Hawaryat, crying, difpatch him quickly ; after this they carried the body to the neighbour- ing church of St. Raphael, where a grave, or ra- ther hole, was ready, into which they threw it with the clothes juft as he was. The prifoner faid^ That, when they were carrying the king's body out of the palace into the church-yard, over a breach in the church-yard wall, they were chal- lenged by a perfon, v/ho afked them what they were about ? to which they replied. Burying a ilranger who died that day of a peftilential fe- ver. Immediately upon this confelTion, the Galla was carried out and hanged upon the daroo-tree before the king's gate. Many condemned this hally ex- ecution, but many likewife thought it prudent ; for he had already named a great part of the peo- pie about the queen as acceifary to the death of her fon. I have faid his name was Zor Woldo ; he was of the race of Galla, called Toluma, on the bor- ders of Amhara ; he had been formerly a fervant to Kafmati Becro ; was of fmall ftature, thin and lightly made ; his complexion a yellowiili black, and fmgulariy ill-favoured. When under the tree, he acknowledged the murder of the kino- with THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 153 with abfolute indifFerence ; nor did he defire any favour, or fliew any fear of death. Zor Woldo's examination and declaration were fent immedi- ately to Fafil, who, as ufiial, promifed to come to Gondar quickly. The body of Joas was raifed alfo, and laid in the church (in his clothes, jufl as he was dug up) upon a little draw ; his features were eafily diftinguifhable, but fome animal had ate part of his cheek. The day after, I went from Kofcam to Gondar without acquainting the Iteghe, and took a Greek called Petros with me j he had been chamberlain to Joas. We went about eleven o'clock in the forenoon to the church of St. Raphad, expelling to have feen many as curious as ourfelves, but, by reafon of the atrocioufnefs of the afl, now for the firfl time known to be true, and the fear of Ras Michael threatening Gondar every day, not a liv- ing foul was there but a monk belonging to the church itfelf, who kept the key. It was thought criminal to know what it was apparent Michael had wilhed to conceal. Petros no fooner faw his mailer's face than, faying. It is he ! he ran off v/ith all the (peed poffible : for my part, I was fhocked at the indecent manner in which the body w^as expofed ; it affefted me more than the mur- der itfelf, for it appeared as if it had been thrown down upon the ground, the head, arms, and legs lying in all forts of diredions, and great part of his haunch and thigh bare. I defired the monk to lock the door, and come along with me to Pe- tros's 154 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER tros's houfe. Petros was a merchant who fold carpets, and fuch fort of goods ufed in the coun- try, which he brought from Cairo. It was full an hour before we could make him behave fenfibly, or deliver me a fmall Perfian carpet, fuch as Ma- hometans ufe to pray upon, that is about feven feet long and four feet broad, and a web of coarfe muflin, which I bought of him. I told the priefl (for Petros abfolutely refufed to return to the church) how to lay the body decently upon the carpet, and to cover his face and every part with the muflin cloth, which might be lifted when any body came to fee the corpfe. The prieft received the carpet with great marks of fatisfadtion, and told me it was he who had challenged the murderers when carrying the body over the wall ; that he knew them well, and fuf- pedted they had been about fome mifchief ; and, upon hearing the king was miffing the next day, he was firmly convinced it was his body that had been buried. Upon going alfo to the place early in the morning, he had found one of the king's toes, and part of his foot, not quite cover- ed with earth, from the hafte the murderers were in when they buried him ; thefe he had put pro- perly out of fight, and conflantly ever after, as he faid, had watched the place in order to hinder the grave from being diilurbed, or any other perfon being buried there. About the beginning of October, Guebra Se- lafle, a fervant of the king and one of the porters iii THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 155 in the palace, came on a meifage to the queen. It was a laconic one, but very eafily underilood. • — " Bury your boy, now you have got him ; or, when I come, I will bury him, and fome of his relations with him." Joas, upon this, was pri- vately buried. As this Selafle was a favourite of mine, who took care of my fhoes when I pulled them off to go into the audience-room, I waited impatiently for this meffenger's coming to my apartment, vvhich he did late in the evening. I was alone, and he advanced fo foftly that I did not at firfl hear or know him ; but, when the door was ilmt, he began to give two or three capers ; anb, pulling out a very large horn, " Drink! drink ! G — d d — n ! repeating this two or three times, and brandifhing his horn over his head. Selaffe, faid I, have you loft your fenfes, or are you drunk ? you ufed to be a fober man.''—- > " And fo I am yet, fays he, I have not tafted a morfel fmce noon ; and, being tired of running about on my affairs, I am now come to you for my fupper, as I am fure you'll not poifon me for my mailer's fake, nor for my own either, and I have now enemies enough in Gondar." — " Itheu aiked. How is the king ?'^-" Did not you hear^ faid he — Drink ! — the king told me to fay this to you that you might know me to be a true meffen- ger." And an Irifli fervant of mine, opening the door in the inftant, thinking it was I that called drink ! Selaffe adroitly continued, " He knows you are curious in horns, and fent you this, defi- ring 156 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER ring me firft to get It filled at the Iteghe's with good red wine, w^hich I have done ; and now, Hallo ! Drink ! Englilhman !" He then added in a whifper, when the fervant had fhut the door, '' ril tell it you after fupper, w^hen the houfe is quiet, for I lleep here all night, and go to Tigre to-morrow morning." ' The time being come, he informed me Ras Michael and Fafil had made peace -, Welleta Mi- chael, the Ras's nephew, taken by Fafil at the battle of Limjour, had been the mediator ; that the king and Michael, by their wife behaviour, had reconciled Tigre as one man, and that the Ras had iifued a proclamation, remitting to the province of Tigre their whole taxes from the day they paiTed the Tacazze till that time next year, in corifideration of their fidelity and fervices ; and this had been folemnly proclaimed in feveral places by beat of drum. The Ras declared, at the fame time, that he would, out of his own private for- tune, without other afliflance, bear the expence of the campaign till he feated the king on his throne in Gondar. A kind of madnefs, he faid, had feized all ranks of people to follow their fo- vereign to the capital ; that the mountain Hara- ma.t ftill held out ; but that all the principaj friends, both of Za Menfus and Netcho, had been up with the governors of that fortrefs offering terms of peace and forgivenefs, and defiring they would not be an obflacle in the kmg's way, and a hinderance to his return, but that all terms had been THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 157 been as yet refufed ; however, fays he, you know the Ras as well as I, he will play them a trick feme of thefe days, winking with his eye, and then crying out, Drink ! I afked him if any notice had been taken of the carpet I had procured to cover the body of Joas, and hoped it had given no umbrage. He faid, " No ; none at all ; on the contrary, the king had faid twenty kind things upon it ; that he was prefent alfo when a prieft told it to Ras Michael, who only obferved, Yagoube, who is a ffcranger in this country, is fhocked to fee a man taken out of his grave, and thrown like a dog upon the bare floor. This was all Michael faid, and he never mentioned a word upon the fubjed: afterwards ;'* nor did he, or the king, ever fpeak of it to me upon their return to Gondar. The Iteghe, too, had much commended me^ fo did all the nobility, more than the thing deferv- ed ; for furely common humanity didlated thus much, and the fear of Michael, which I had not> w^as the only caufe that fo proper an adion was left in a Granger's power. Even Ozoro Efther^ enemy to Joas on account of the death of her huf^ band Mariam Barea, after I had attended her one Sunday from church to the houfe of the Iteghe, and when fhe was fet down at the head of a circle of all thofe that were of diflindion at the court, called out aloud to me, as I was palling behind, and pointing to one of the mofl honourable feats in the room, faid. Sit down there, Yagoube ; God has 153 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER has exalted you above all in this country, when he has put it in your power, though but a ftranger, to confer charity upon the king of it. All was now acclamation, efpecially from the ladies ; and, I believe, I may fairly fay, I had never in my life been a favourite of fo many at any one time. I difpatched Guebra Selaffe with a meffage to the king, that I was refolved now to try once more a journey to the head of the Nile ; that I thought I fhould have time to be there, and re- turn to Gondar, before the Tacazze was fordable, foon after which I expecled he would crofs it, and that nothing but want of health would prevent me from joining him in BelefTen, or fooner, if any opportunity fhould offer. Before I took my lail refolutions I waited upon the queen. She was exceedingly averfe to the at- tempt ; fhe bade me remember what the lad trial hzd coll me ; and begged me to defer any further thoughts of it till Fafii arrived in Gondar ; that file would then deliver me into his hands, and procure from him fure guides, together with a fafe conduct. She bade me beware alfo of troops of Pagan Galla which were pafiing and repaiTmg to and from his army, who, ifthey fell in withme, would murder me without mere v. She added, that the priefts of Gojam and Damot ^vere mortal enemies to all men of my colour, and, with a W'Or-d,. would raife the peafants againil me. This was all true ; but then many reafons, which I had w^eighed well, concurred to fhew that this oppor- tunity. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. i^g tunity, dangerous as it was, might be the only time in which my enterprife could be practicable ; for I was confident a fpeedy rupture between Fafil and Michael would follow upon the king's return to Gondar. I determined therefore to fet out im- mediately without farther lofs of time. A R i6o TRAVELS TO DISCOVER CHAP. VIIL Second journey to dif cover the Source of the 'Nile--^ Favourable Turn of the Kmg^s Affairs in Tigre-^ We fall i?i with FafiPs Army at Bamba, i HOUGH the queen ihewed very great diflike to my attempting this journey at fuch a time, yet fhe did not pofitively command the contrary; I was prepared, therefore, to leave Gondar the 27th of Odtober 1770, and thought to get a few miles clear of the town, and then make a long ftretch the next day. I had received my quadrant, time»* keeper, and telefcopes from the iiland of^Mitraha, where I had placed them after the affair of Guebra Mehedin^ and had now put them in the very bed order. But, about twelve o'clock, I was told a meflenger from Ras Michael had arrived with great news from Tigre. I went immediately to Kofcam as fad as I could gallop, and found there Guebra Chriflos, amanufed to bring the jars of bouza to Ras Mi- chael at his dinner and fupper : low men are al- ways THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. i6i ways employed on fuch errands, that they may not, from their confequence excite a defire of ven- geance. The melTage that he brought was to or- der bread and beer to be ready for 30,000 men who were coming with the king, as he had jufl decamped from before the mountain Haramat, which he had taken, and put Za Menfus to the fword, with every man that was in it : this mef- fage flruck the queen with fuch a terror that ilie was not vifible the whole day. After afking the meflenger if he had any word from the king to me, he faid, " Very little ;'* that the king had called him to tell me he fhould foon begin his march by Belelfen; and that he would fend for me to meet him when he fhould arrive at Mariam-Ohha ; he told me befides, that the king had got a flone for me with writing upon it of old times, which he was bringing to me ; that it had been dug up at Axum, and was (landing at the foot of his bed, but that he did not order him to tell me this, and had only learned it from the fervants. My curiofity was very" much raifed to know what this ftone could be, but I foon faw it was in vain to endeavour to learn any thing from Guebra Chriflos ; he anfwered in the affirmative to every inquiry : when I afked if it was blue, it was blue ; and if black, it was black ; it was round, ^nd fquare, and oblong, jufl as I put my queflion to him : all he knew about it at lafl, he faid, was, that it cured all fort of ficknefs ; and, if a man ufed it properly, it made him invulnera- VoL. IV. M ble i62 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER ble and immortal : he did not, however, pretend to warrant this himfelf, but fwore he had the ac- count from a pried of Axum who knew it. I was perfe£lly fatisfied all further inquiry was unnecef- fary ; he had got a very plentiful portion of bouza from his friends, and was, I faw, fail engaged in the purfuit of more^ fo I gave him a fmall pre- fent for his good news, and took my leave, my mind being full of refiedions upon the king's goodnefs, who, after fuch an abfence, and in fo critical a fituation as he then was, ftill remember- ed the trifling purfuits in which he had feen me often engaged. In the afternoon I received a meffage from Ozo- ro Either, as brought to her by a fervant of Ras Michael. It feems the giving up the king's reve- nue due from Tigre, and all fort of taxes upon the inhabitants, had interefled the whole province fo ftrongly, that all of them, as one man, endea- voured to remove the obftacle which flood in the way of the king's return : Michael, moreover, offered peace and pardon to the rebels, certain compenfations, and an amnefly of all that was pad. All the friends, both of Netcho and Za Menfus, and the other leaders upon the mountain, endeavoured to perfuade them to accept the terms offered, whilfl all the prieds and hermits, emi- nent for fandity, became as mediators between them and Ras Michael : this intercourfe, though" it had no effed: upon Za Menfus, had feduced Netcho, and opened a large field for treachery. In THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 163 In the midfl of this treaty, Kefla Yafous, with a detachment of chofen men, in a very ftormy yiight, was appointed to afcend up a private path to that of the mountain where Netcho kept the principal guard, and being admitted, found the garrifon moftly aileep ; he furprifed and obliged them to furrender, with very little bloodihed 5 Za Menfus was taken prifoner, and, while Kefla Yafous conducted him to the camp, was met by Guebra Mafcal, who thrufl him through with a lance, as a retaliation for his father's death* Netcho and the reft of the garrifon being pardon- ed, all joined Ras Michael's army. I looked upon thefe news as a good omen, and experienced a degree of confidence and compofure of mind to which I for a long time had been a ftranger. I llept found that night, and it was not till half after nine in the morning that I was ready for my jour- ney. In the evening before, I had endeavoured to engage my old companion Strates to accompany me on this attempt as he had done on the former } but the recollection of paft dangers and fufFerings was not yet banifhed from his mind ; and upon my alking him ro go and fee the head of this fa- mous river, he coarfely, according to his ftile, anfwered. Might the devil fetch him if ever he fought either his head or his tail again. It was on the 28th of Odober, at half paft nine in the morning, that we left Gondar, and paffed the river Kahha at the foot of the town j our route M 2 was i64 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER was W. S. W. the road a little rugged upon the fide of a hill, but the day was fair, with funfhine ; and a fmall breeze from the north' had rifenwith the fun, and made the temperature of the air per- feftly agreeable. We left the church of Ledeta about a mile on the right, and paifed by feveral poor villages called Abba Samuel ; thence we came to the fmall river Shimfa, then to the Du- maza, fomething larger. Upon the banks of this river, very pleafantly iituated, is Azazo, a coun- try-houfe built by the late king Yafous, who of- ten retired here to relax himfelf with his friends. It is furrounded, I may fay covered, with orange- trees, fo as to be fcarcely feen ; the trees are grown very large and high ; they are planted without order, the only benefit expelled from them being the fhade. At fome fmall diflance is the village Azazo, originally built for the accom- modation of the king's fervants while he refided there, but now chiefly occupied by monks belong- ing to the large church of Tecla Haimanout, which is on a little hill adjoining. Azazo, though little, is- one of the moil chearful and pleafant vil- lages in the neighbourhood of Gondar. The le- mon-tree feems to thrive better and grow higher than the orange y but the houfe itfelf is going faft to ruin, as the kings of this country have a fixed averfion to houfes built by their predeceffors. The Dumaza is a very clear and pleafant ftream, running brifkly over a fmall bed of pebbks : both this river and the Shimfa come from Woe:^ora on the THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 165 the N. W. they pafs the hill of Kofcam, called Debra Tzai, join below Azazo, and, traverfmg the fiat country of Dembea, they meet the An- grab, which paffes by Gondar, and with it fall into the Tacazze, or x\tbara. At noon we pafTed a fmall rivulet called Azzar- giha, and, foon after, the Chergu^, where there began a mofl violent florm of rain, which forced us, much againfl our will, into the village, one of the mofl miferable I ever entered ; it confided of fmall hovels built Vvdth branches of trees, and covered with thatch of flraw. Thefe rains that fall in the latter feafon are what the natives very much depend upon, and without which they could not fow the latter crops ; for, though it rains vi- olently every day from May to the beginning of September, by the end of Odober the ground is fo burnt that the country would be unfit for cul- ture. Our quarters here were fo bad that we were im- patient to depart, but came to a water jufl below Chergue, which quickly made us wifh ourfelves back in the village ; this is a torrent that has no fprings in the hills, but only great bafons, or re- fervoirs, of ftone 5 and, though it is dry all the year elfe, yet, upon a fudden violent fhower, as this was, it fwells in an inflant, fo that it is im- paffable for man or horfe by any device whatever. This violence is of fhort duration ; we waited above half an hour, and then the peafants {hewed us a place, fome hundred yards above, where it was Ihal lower ; i56 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER fhallower ; but even here we pafled with the ut- moft difficulty, from the impetuofity of the ftream, after getting all poflible affiftance from four peo- ple of the village ; but we flood very much in need of fome check to our impatience, fo eager were we to get forward and finifh our journey be- fore fome revolution happened. We had not many minutes been delivered from this torrent, before we pafTed two other rivers, the one larger, the other fmaller. All thefe ri- vers come from the north-weft, and have their fources in the mountains a few miles above, to- wards Woggora, from which, after a fhort courfe on the fide of the hills, they enter the low, flat country of Dembea, and are fwallowed up in the Tzana. We continued along the fide of the hill in a country very thinly inhabited ; for, it being di- redly in the march of the army, the peafants na- turally avoided it, or were driven from it. Our road was conftantly interfered by rivers, which abound, in the fame fpace, more than in any other country in the world. We then came to the river Derma, the largeft and moft rapid we had yet met with, and foon after a fmaller, called Ghel- ghel Derma. In the afternoon, at a quarter paft three, we pafled another river, called Gavi-Cor- ra ; thefe, like the others, all point as radii to the center of the lake, in which they empty themfelves. A little before four o'clock we encamped on the fide of the river Kemona. Upon the hill, on the other THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. liS; other fide of the river, ftands the village of that nam€ ; it was full of cattle, very few of which we had feQXi during the fore-part of the journey ; we had all that day travelled fix hours and a quarter, which we computed not to exceed 14 miles: the reafon of this flownefs was the weight of my quad- rant, which, though divided into two, required four men to carry it, tied upon bamboo, as upon two chair-poles. The time-keeper and two telef- copes employed two men more. We pitched our tent on the fide of the river, oppofxte to the vil- lage, and there palTed the night. On the 29th of Odober, at feven in the morns, ing, we left our ilation, the river Kemona ; our direction was W. S. V/. after, about an hour, we came to a church called Abba Abraham, and a village that goes by the fame name ; it is imme- diately upon the road on the left hand. At the diftance of about a mile are ten or twelve villages, all belonging to the Abuna, and called Ghendi, where many of his predeceffors have been buried, the low, hot, ' unwholefome, woody part of the AbyfTmian KoUa, and the feverifli, barren pro- vince of Walkayt, lay at the diftance of about fourteen or fixteen miles on our right. We had been hitherto afcending a gentle rifmg ground in a very indifferent country, the fides of the hill being fkirted with little rugged wood, and full of fprings, which join as they run dov/n to the low country of Walkayt. We faw before us a fmall hill called Guarre, which is to the fouth-wefl.. At i68 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER At half paft ten we relied under the before-menti- oned hill ; it ftands alone in the plain, in fhape like a fugar-loaf, and feems almofl as regular as if it had been a work of art. At a quarter paft eleven we refumed our journey, our courfe always nearly weft fouth-weft ; we pafTed the fmall village of Bowiha, at the diftance of about a mile ; and, on the left, about fix miles, is Gorgora, a peninfula that runs into the lake Tzana for feveral miles. There was one of the firft and moft magnificent churches and monafteries of the Portuguefe Jefuits, in the time of their million to convert this country : Socinios, then king, gave them the grounds, with iponey for the expence ; they built it with their own hands, and lined it elegantly with cedar. The king, who was a zealous Roman Catholic, chofe afterwards a country-houfe for himfelf there, and encouraged them much by his prefents and by his charity ; it is one of the pleafanteft fituati- ons in the world ; the vaft expanfe of the lake is before you ; Dembea, Gojam, and Maitlha, flat and rich countries all round, are in view ; and the tops of the high hills of Begemder and Woggora ciofe the profpecl. The lake here, I am told, has plenty of filh, which is more than can be faid for many of the other parts of it ; the filh are of two kinds, both of them feemingiy a fpecies of what the Englilh call bream, I never could make them to arrree with me, which I attribute to the drug with which they are taken ; it is of the nature of mix vomica.^ pounded THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 169 pounded in a mortar, and thrown into ftreams, where they run into the lake ; the fifh, feeding there, are thus intoxicated and taken ; however ^ it would admit of a doubt of this being the reafon, becaufe the queen and all the great people in Gon» dar eat them in Lent without any bad confe- quences. The great elevation of the peninfula of Gorgora makes it one of the healthieft, as well as beauti- ful parts of the country ; for, out of this neck of land, at fever al different feafons of the year, the inhabitants of the flat country fuffer from malig- nant fevers. From Gondar hither we had always been edging down to the lake. At a quarter before noon we halted to reft upon the banks of a fmall river called Baha ; the coun- try was rich, and cultivated ; great part of it, too, was laid out in pafture, and ftocked with an im« menfe quantity of cattle. At one o'clock we re- fumed our journey, going weft fouth-weft as be- fore ; we were apparently turning the north end of the lake as fhort as pofTible, to fet our face due fouth to the country of the Agows. At a quarter before three we pitched our tents at Bab Baha, after having travelled five hours and three quar- ters, which we computed to be equal to twelve miles. The firft part of our journey this day was not like that of the day before ; the road was, in- deed, rough, but led through very agreeable val- leys and gentle-rifing hills j it appeared, on the whole. lyo TRAVELS TO DISCOVER whole, however, that we had afcended confidera- bly fince we left Gondar. The country about Bab Baha is the richefl in Abyflinia ; this on the fouth, and Woggora on the north, are the two granaries that fupply the reft of the kingdom. Bab Baha is a parcel of fmall villages, more confiderable in number and ftrength than thofe at Kemona, and is near the lake Tzana. The queen and many of her relati- ons have here their houfes and poffeflions, and thefe, therefore, being refpedied by Michael, had not been involved in the devaftation of the late war. The villages are all furrounded with Kol- quall trees, as large at the trunk as thofe we met on the lide of the mountain of Taranta, when we afcended it on our journey from Mafuah to enter into the province of Tigre ; but the tree wants much of the beauty of thofe of Tigre ; the branch- es are fewer in number, lefs thorny, and lefs in- dented, which feems to prove that this is not the climate for them. The 30th of Odlober, at fix in the morning, we continued our journey from Bab Baha ftill round- ing the lake at W. S. W. and on the very brink 'of it : the country is here all laid out in large mea- dows of a deep, black, rich foil, bearing very high grafs, through the midft of which runs the river Sar-Ohha, which, in Englifh, is the Graffy Eiver ; it is about forty yards broad and not two feet deep, has a foft clay bottom, and runs from north to fouth into the lake Tzanae We M THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 171 We turned out of the road to the left at Bab Baha, and were obliged to go up the hillj in a quarter of an hour we reached the high road to Mefcala Chriflos. At feven o'clock we began to turn more to the fouthward, our courfe being S. W. ; three miles and a half on our right remain- ed the village of Tenkel ; and four miles and a half that of Tfhemmera to the N. N. W. ; we were now clofe to the border of the lake, whofe bottom here is a fine fand. Neither the fear of crocodiles, nor other monfters in this large lake, could hinder me from fwimming in it for a few minutes* Though the fun was very warm, the water was in- tenfely cold, owing to the many frefli flreams that pour themfelves continually into the lake Tzana from the mountains. The country here is fown withdora, which is maize, or millet; and another plant, not to be diHinguifned from our marigold either in fize, Ihape, or foliage; it is called Nook*, and furniihes all Abyfnnia with oil for the kitchen, and other ufes. At a quarter paft nine we refled a little at Del* ghiMariam; the village called fimply Delghi, ad- joining to it, is but fmall, and on the S. W. is the hill of Goy Mariam, where the queen-mother has a houfe. All the habitations in this country were burnt by Ras Michael in his return to Gon- dar after the battle of Fagitta. The mountain Debra Tzai above Kofcam, was feen this day at N. E, and by E, from us. ♦ Poivmnia frondola. At 172 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER At a quarter pad ten we again fet out, our route being S. W. at eleven we left the fmall village Arrico, about two miles on our right. At a quarter pafl eleven we halted to reft our men ; we pafledthe church of St. Michael on our right, and at a quarter pad one we pafled two fmall iflands in the lake, called Kedami Aret; and, half an hour after, we pafled a fmall river, and came to Mefcala Chriftos, a large village upon a high mouniain, the fummit of which it occupies entirely; it is furrounded on both fides by a river, and the de^ fcent is fteep and dangerous. We thought to have ftaid here all night; but, after mounting the hill with great fatigue and trouble, we found the whole village abandoned, on intelligence that Waragna Fafil was on his march to Gondar, and not far diftant. This intelligence, which came all at once upon us, made us lay afide the thoughts of fleeping that night ; we defcended the hill of Mefcala Chriftos in great hafte, and with much difficulty, and came to the river Kemon below it, clear and limpid, but having little water, running over a bed of very large ftones. This river too, comes from the north-weft, and falls into the lake a little below ; we refted on its banks half an hour, the weather being very fultry ; from this place we had a diftinft view of the Nile, where, after crofting the lake, it iflues out near Dara, the fcene of our former misfortunes ; we fet it carefully by the compafs, and it bore nearly S. W. We THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 173 We began our journey again at three quarters after two, and at half after three we palTed a river, •very clear, with little water, thename of which Ihave forgot ; by the largenefs of its bed it feemed to be a very confiderable flream in winter ; at prefent it had very little water, but a fine gravelly bottom; here we met multitudes of peafants flying before the army of Fafil, many of whom, feeing us, turned out of the way ; one of thefe was a fervant of Guebra Ehud, brother to Ayto Aylo, my mofl intimate friend: he told us it was very poflible that Fafil would pafs us that night, advifed us not to linger in the front of fuch an army, but fall in as foon as poflible with his Fit-Auraris, rather than any other of his advanced pofl:s ; he was carrying a meflage to his mafl:er's brother at Gondar. I told him I had rather linger in the front of fuch an ar- my than in the rear of it, and fhould be very for- ry to be detained long, even in the middle of it j that I only wiflied to falute Fafil, and procure a pafs and recommendations from him to Agow Midre. Ayto Aylo's fervant, who was with me, pre- fently made acquaintance with this man, and I trufl:ed him to learn from him as much as he knew about Fafll ; the refult was, that Fafil pretended to be in a violent hurry, from what motive was not known ; but that he, at the fame time, march- ed very flowly, contrary to his ufual cufl:om ; that his fpeech and behaviour promifed peace, and that he had hurt nobody on the way, but proclaimed confl:antly, that all people fhould keep their houfes I without. 874 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER Without fear; that Ayto Woldo of Maitfha, a great robber, was his FIt-Auraris, and never dif- tant from him more than three miles ; that the troops of Agow, Maitfha, and Damot, were with him, and with fome Galla of Gojam and Metcha- kel compofed the van and center of his army, whilfl his rear confifled of wild lawlefs Galla, whom he had brought from the other fide of the Nile from Bizamo, his own country, and were commanded by Ayto Welleta Yafous, his great confident ; that thefe Galla were half a day gene- rally behind him, and there was fome talk that, the fame day, or the next, he was to fend thefe invaders home ; that he marched as if he was in fear ; always took ftrong pofts, but had received every body that came to him, either from the country or Gondar, affably and kindly enough, but no one knew any thing of his intentions. About half paft four o'clock we fell in with Woldo, his Fit-Auraris, whom I did not know. Ayto Aylo's fervant, however, was acquainted with him ; we afked him fome queflions about his mafler, which he anfwered very candidly and dif- creetly; on his part he made no inquiry, and feemed to have little curiofity about us ; he had taken his poft, and was advancing no farther that night. I made him a little prefent at taking my leave, w^hich he feenied furprifed at ; and, very much contrary to my expedations, had fome difB- culty about receiving, faying, he was afhamed that he had not any return for us ; that he was a fol- dier. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. ,75 dier, and had nothing but the lance in his hand and the goat's Ikin on his flioulders, neither of which he could be fure to poflefs for twenty-four hours ; he then told us that Fafil had, by that time, pitched his tent at Bamba, within a mile of us, and was to difpatch the wild Galla from thence to their own country : he gave us a man who, he faid, would take care of us, and defired us not to difmifs him till we had feen Fafil, and not to pitch our tent, but rather to go into one of the empty houfes ofBamba, as all the people had fled. We now parted equally contented with each other ; at the fame time I faw he fent off another man, who went fwiftly on, probably to carry advice of us to Fafil : we had ftaid with him fomething lefs than half an hour. CHAP. 176 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER CHAP. IX. Interview with Fafil — TranfaEtions in the Camp* VV E found Bamba a colledlion of villages, in a valley now filled vi^ith foldiers. We vi^ent to the left with our guide, and got a tolerable houfe, but the door had been carried away. Fafil's tent was pitched a little below us, larger than the others, but without further diftindion : it was eafily known, however, by the lights about it, and by the nagareet, which flill continued beat- ing : he v/as then jufl alighting from his horfe. I immediately fent Ayto Aylo's fervant, whom I had with me, to prefent my compliments, and acquaint him of my being on the road to vifit him. I thought now all my difficulties were over : for I knew it was in his power to forward us to our journey's end ; and his fervants, whom 1 faw at the palace near the king, when Fafil was invefted with his command, had aflured me, not only of an effectual protedion, but alfo of a magnificent reception if I chanced to find him in Maitlha, It THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 177 It was now, however, near eight at night of the 30th before I received a meifage to attend him. I repaired immediately to his tent. After an- nouncing myfelf, 1 waited about a quarter of an hour before I was admitted ; he was fitting upon a cufhion with a lion's fldn upon it, and another ftretched like a dirty towel, wrapped about his head j his upper cloak, or garment, was drawn tight about him over his neck and fhoulders, fo as to cover his hands ; I bowed, and w^ent forvv'ard to kifs one of them, but it was fo entangled in the cloth that I was obliged to kifs the cloth inflead of the hand. This was done either as not expeding I fliould pay him that compliment, (as I certainly fhould not have done, being one of the king's fer- vants, if the king had been at Gondar) or elfe it was intended for a maik of difrefped:, which was very much of apiece with the reft of his behaviour afterwards. There were no carpets or cuHiions in the tent, and only a little ftraw, as if accidentally, thrown thinly about it. I fat down upon the ground, thinking him fick not knowing v/nat ail this meant; he looked ftedfaftly at me, faying, half under his breath, Endett nawi ? bogo nawi ? which, in. Amharic, is, How do you do ? Are you very well? I made the ufual anfv/er. Well, thank God. He again ftopt, as for me to fpeak ; there was only one old man prefent, who was fitting on the floor m,ending a mule's bridle. I took him at firft for an attendant, but cbferving that a fervant un- VoL. IV. ]io TRAVELS TO DISCOVER ingly fleep and dangerous, the earth loofe, falling in great lumps down into the ftream ; it is a red bole of a foapy quality ; the bottom, too, and the afcent on the other fide are foft ; the water, the' troubled and muddy, is fweet and well-tafted. We faw lights and fires on the oppofite bank, and had begun to unloofe the tent, when we received a meflage by two Galla on foot, armed with lances and (hields, that we fhould not encamp there, as our horfes and mules would probably be ftolen, but defiring us to pafs the river forthwith, and pitch our tent among them. I afked Shalaka Woldo who thefe were ? He faid, they were an advanced pod of Wclleta Ya- fous, who had taken up that ground for the head- quarters to-morrow ; that they were all Galla^ under a famous partifan, a robber, called the Jumper ; and, by the bye, he added, fpeaking foftly in my ear, that there was not a greater thief or murderer in all the country of the Galla. I paid him my compliments upon the judicious choice he had made of a companion and a protec- tor for us : to which he anfwered, laughing, The better, the better; you fhall fee how it is the bet- ter. As it was neceifary to load the mules again, the tent and baggage having been taken off before we could pafs the river, we all fet to work with verv ill will, being exceiTively fatigued with a long journey and want of Deep. No fooner had Shalaka Woldo perceived this, than by two whiiUes upon his fingers, and a yell, he brought above tnt SOURCE OF THE NILE, 212 above fifty people to our afliflance ; the baggage was pafled in ofte moment, and in another my two tents were pitched ; which is a work thefe people are very dexterous at, and well acquainted withk As foon as we had encamped^ we found that the reafon we were not left alone on the other fide of the river was, that thofe of the Galla who re- turned pulled down all the villages for fire- wood, and plundered the houfes, though they were Galla like thcmfelves, and of Fafil's party ; and thefe again, driven from their houfes^ robbed of all they had except their lance and fhield, followed the ftragglers, and wreaked their vengeancf upon thofe whom they could furprife, or were not too numerous for them. I was fcarcely laid down to fleep> when a fer- vant, and with him Zor Woldo, were fent to me from the Jumper : they brought us a bull of an enormous fizCj but not very fat ; though wc were all pretty keen in point of appetite, the flock of provifion fent us feemed to defy our utmofl endea- vom-s, but we were fure of afTiftants enough ; fo the bull was immediately killed and fkinned. In the mean time, I took a fhorti, but very refrelhing Heep, being refolved to refume my journey with the fame diligence till we had got to the point where we might feparate from the army, which is at a place called Roo, where a large market is kept by the Agows, in whofe country it is, and reforted to by all the neighbouring inhabitants. P a About 112 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER About ten o'clock I waited upon our command- er in chief the Jumper ; he feemed very much em- barraffed at the vifit, was quite naked, having only a towel about his loins, and had been wafh- ing himfelfin the Kelti, to very little purpofe as I thought, for he was then rubbing his arms and body over with melted tallow ; his hair had been abundantly anointed before, and a man was then finifliing his head-drefs by plaiting it with fome of the long and fmall guts of an ox, which I did not perceive had ever been cleaned ; and he had alrea- dy put about his neck two rounds of the fame, in the manner of a necklace, or rather a folitaire, one end of them hanging down to the pit of his ftomach. Our converfation was neither long nor interefting ; I w^as overcome with the difagreeable fmell of blood and carrion : he did not underftand one word of Amharic, Geez, or any other lan- guage but Galla; he aiked no queflions, and iliewed no fort of curiofity. Woldo, on the other hand, informed himfelf from him of every thing he wanted to know. This Jumper was tall and lean, very fliarp faced, with a long nofe, fmall eyes and prodigious large ears ; he never looked you in the face, but was rolling his eyes conflantly round and round, and never fixing them upon any thing ; he refembled very much a lean keen greyhound ; there was no ilernnefs nor command in his countenance, but a certain look that feemed to exprefs a vacancy of mind, like that of an idiot. With this he was al- lowed THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 213 lowed on all hands to be the moil cruel, mercilefs murderer and fpoiler of all the Galla. He was very a£live on horfeback, and very indifferent about food or fleep. I made him a fmall prefent, which he took with great indifference ; only told Woldo, that if I meant it to pay for the bull he had fent me, it was needlefs, for it was given me by Fafil's order, and coft him nothing. There we learned, that on our way we fhould meet a party of about 200 men, who had been fent by Fafil to take poffeffion of a pofl before we came to Roo, left, having intelligence of us, fome of the Maitfha people, whofc houfes had been dc- ftroyed, might follow us w4ien we were parted from the army. The Jumper told us that his brother had the command of that party, that they were all Galla of Fafil's own nation, under his brother, who was called the Lamb, and who was juft fuch a murderer and robber as himfelf. I was juft rifmg to go out of his tent when Zor Woldo, who was fitting behind me, informed me, there were news frx>m Gondar. I alked him how he knew that ? He faid, he heard the people fay fo from without. A fudden trepidation now feized me, as I was afraid of fome new trick, or obftacle, which might impede the journey, the accomplilhment of which 1 fo much longed for. Upon going towards my tent I was met by Strates, and another Greek, with a fervant of Ozoro Eftlier, with whom I was well acquainted ; they had left Fafil at Bamba, whole wild Galla wcje itr4 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER were not yet all difmifled, and he himfelf fccmcd not determined whether he fhould go to Gondar or not. They told me that all was in confufion at Gondar ; that Gufho pf Amhara, and PowufTen of Begemder, had been there, and brought fomc trifle of money, for a mere pretence, to that wretch Sociniqs, whom the Iteghe unadvifedly had con* fented to make king ; having called Fafil, Gufho, and PowufTen together to reconcile them, that, vmited, they might attack Michael. The queen herfelf had been reconciled to Socinios, who led the life of a drunkard, a ruffian, and a profligate, but her chief fears were that Michael fliould re- turn, the probability of which increafed daily. As for Fafil, he had hitherto anfwered the queen's invitation to Gondar evafively, fometimes by complaining that Guflio and Powuflfen had come to Gondar before him, and that Gufho was made Ras ; at other times fending peremptorily to them to leave Gondar, and return to their pro- vinces, or he would burn the town about their ears: and the iafl raeiTage, the day before they left the capital was, that he was then on his march towards Gondar, and confented to Guiho and Powuffen's ftayijig; but as thefe two chiefs had great reafon to fufpe^l that he was in correfpond- cnce with the king and Ras Michael in Tigre, as it was known to them that he had fomented dif- turbances both in Begemder and Amhara, they had orone v/ith Socinios to Kofcam, without drum? beating, xyr any fprt of parade whatever, and, after taking THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 215 taking leave, had the next day fet out to their refpeftive provinces. Upon another mefTage from Fafil, they had agreed to return to Gondar, and leave their army at Emfras ; but their troops, finding themfelves fo near, had difbanded, and returned to their homes, leaving Guiho and Pow- uffen attended only by their houfehold fervants, who, finding themfelves in danger, and that Fafil was adlually advancing fecretly, left .Gondar and feparated. Ozoro Efther's fervant (Guebra Mariam) likc«« wife told me, that Michael, as he believed, waited for nothing but fome arrangement with Fafil, for that he had no enemy remaining on the eaft of the Tacazze ; that his intention was to return by the way of Lafla, not willing to rilk the many diffi- cult paflages in Woggora, a country full of hardy troops, inveterate enemies to the Ras, and where Ayto Tesfos of Samen had occupied all the defiles, and was rejblved to difpute every poll with him ; it was well known, however, that the paffes thro' the mountain of Lafta, were more dangerous and difficult than thofe of Woggora and Lamalmon ; in a word, Guigarr, chief of the clan of Lafla (called Waag) pofTeffed a flrong hold in thofe nioumains, where many an Abyffinianarmy had periflied, and where it was abfolutely impoffible to proceed but with the confent and connivance of that clan, or tribe ; and though this Guigarr had been MichaePs enemy ever fmce the war of Mariam Barea, peace w^s now concluded between them, the Ras hav. ing 2i6 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER ing fet Guigarr*s brother at liberty, who had been fome time a prifoner, and was taken in an incurfion which the people of V/aag had made into Tigre : excepting this pafs in the mountains of Lafla, all the ground was even from thence to Tigre; the territory of Gouliou, indeed, through which the army was to march for four days, was very ill-provided with water ; it was inhabited by Galla, v/hom Michael had fuffered to fettle there, to be as a barrier between Tigre, Lafla, and Be- gemder ; but this clan was perfectly at his com- mand, fo all was eafy and fecure if Guigarr only remained faithful. After giving time to Guebra Mariam to refrelh himfelf, I took him alone into the tent to hear Ozoro Efther's meflage : fhe had been ailing after my leaving Gondar, had had a flow fever, which very much affeded her nerves, and was now alarmed at a fymptom which was but the effect of weaknefs, ftartling, or involuntary contrad:ion of her legs and arms, or a kind of convulfion, which frequently awakened her out of her fleep. This fhe thought was a fure forerunner of death ; and adjured me, by every claim of friendihip that Ihe had upon me, to return ere it would be too late. She, moreover, pledged herfelf that her nephew, Aylo of Gojam, fhould immediately carry me to the head of the Nile the moment fhe was re- covered. Upon clofer interrogation, I found that, being abandoned as it v/ere entirely to FafiTs dif- cretioa, by the retreat of Gufho and Powuflen her friends, THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 217 friends, and the abfence of her hulband Ras Mi- chael, flic dreaded falling into th«2 hands of Fafil, who, ftie well knew, was acquainted how adlive {he had been in inftigating Michael to avenge the blood of her late hufband Mariam Barea, by the effufion of that of every Galla unfortunate enough to fall into his hands. Befides, the part her mother the Iteghe had ad:ed in fettling that wretch Socinios upon the throne, gave her the very beft- founded apprehenfions that Michael's refentment would have no bounds ; and he had declared fo by frequent meflages, (the laft a very brutal one) that he would hang Socinios, and her mother the Iteghe, with their heads downmoft, upon the fame tree, before the king's houfe, the very day that he entered Gondar. It was well known, befides, to his wife Ozoro Eflher, and to the whole king^ dom, that his performance upon thefe occafions never fell fliort of his threatnings. From all this, and a great fenfibility of mind, Ozoro Eflher, worn out by her late ficknefs, and by want of fleep, exercife, and nourifhment, had fallen into a very dangerous fituation, and of a very difficult cure, even though the caufe was perfectly known. I fliall not trouble the reader with what palled in my mind at this juncture. I do believe the purfuit I was then engaged in was the only one which I would not have inftantly abandoned upon fuch a fummons. Befides the fincere attachment I had myfelfto her, as one of the mod lovely aiKlaniia- able women in the world j fhe was the mother of my ti8 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER my mofl intimate friend Ay to Confu, and the wife of Ras Michael, over whom fhe had every day more and more influence, and I had long fufped- ed that the young king, my conftant benefa(!^or, had contrafled a decided tendernefs for her. To have returned, would have been nothing had the danger or trouble been much greater ; but it was obvioufly impollible another opportunity Ihould offer : the country was now on the point of being plunged into a degree of diforder greater than that which had occafioned the retreat of the king to Tigre, I therefore refolved to run the rifk of con^ tinuing for a time under the imputation of the fouleft and bafeft of all fms, that of ingratitude to my benefadors ; and I am confident, had it been the will of heaven that I had died in that journey, the confiderationof my lying with apparent reafon under that imputation would have been one of the mofl bitter refledions of my lail moments. Hav- ing, therefore, taken my refolution, I acquainted Guebra Mariam that an immediate return was ab- folutely impoflible ; but that I fliould endeavour, with the utmoft of my power, to make a fpeedy .one ; in the mean time, I fent word to the Greek prieft (who was a fort of phyfician) how lie was to proceed in the interim during my abfence. We had now left Maitfha by croffing the river Kelti. I fhall only add, to what I have already faid, that it is a very fruitful country, but fo flat that the water with difficulty runs off after the tro- pical rains, and this occafions its being for feve- rs! THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 219 ral months unhealthy. Several tribes of Galla, from the fouth of the Nile, were fettled here by Yafous the Great, and his fon David, as a defence for the rich countries of the Agows, Damot, Go- jam, and Dembea, againft the defolations and inroads of the wild Gall a their countrymen, from whom they had revolted ; they confift of ninety- nine families ; and it is a common faying among them, that the devil holds the hundredth part for his pwn family, as there is no where elfe to be found a family of men equal to any of the ninety^ nine. It has been fometimes connected with Go., jam, oftener with Darnot and the Agows, who were at this time und^r the government of Fafil. The houfes of Maitfha are of a very fmgular conftrudion : the firfl proprietor has a field, which he divides into three or four, as he pleafes, (fup- pofe four j by two hedges made of the thorny branches of the acaciartree. In the corner, or in^- terfedion of the two hedges, he begins his low hut, and occupies as much of the angle as he pleafes. Three other brothers, perhaps, occupy each of the three other angles ; behind thefe their ch'iU dren place their houfe, and inclofe the end of their father's by another, which they make gene- rally iliorter than the firft, becaufe broader. Af^ ter they have raifed as many houfes as they pleafe, they furround the whole with a ihkk and almoft impenetrable abbatis, or thorny hedge, and all the family are under one roof, ready to affift each pther on the firft lalarm ^ for they have nothing to do 220 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER do but every man to look out at his own door, and they are clofe in a body together, facing every point that danger can poflibly come from. They are, however, fpeedily deftroyed by a ftrongcr enemy, as we eafily found, for we had only to fet the dry hedge, and the canes that grew round it, on fire, which communicated at once to the houfes, chiefly confifling of dry draw. Such is their ter- ror of the fmall-pox, which comes here feldom more frequently than once in fifteen or twenty years; that when one of thefe houfes is tainted with the difeafe, their neighbours, who know it will infed the whole colony, furround it in the night, and fet fire to it, which is confumed in a minute, whilft the unfortunate people belonging to it (who ¥/ouId endeavour to efcape) are unmercifully thruft back with lances and forks into the flames by the hands of their own neighbours and relations, without an inflance of one ever being fuffered to furvive. This to us will appear a barbarity fcarce- ly credible : it would be quite otherwife if we faw the fituation of the country under that dread- ful vifitation of the fmall-pox j the plague has no- thing in it fo terrible. The river Kelti has excellent fifh, though the Abyilinians care not for food of this kind ; the better people eat fome fpecies in the time of Lent, but the generality of the common fort are deterred by paifages of fcripture, and diftinclions in the Mofaic law, concerning fuch animals as are clean and unclean, ill underfloodj they are, befides, exceed* THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 221 exceedingly lazy, and know nothing of nets ; nei- ther have they the ingenuity we fee in other fa^ vages of making hooks or lines : in all the time I ftaid, I never faw one AbyiTmian fifher engaged in the employment in any river or lake. At Kelti begins the territory of Aroofii : it is ia fa£l the fouthmofl divifion of Maitfha, on the weft fide of the Nile : it is not inhabited, however, by Galla, but by Abyffinians, a kindred of the Agow. When therefore we paiTed the river Kelti, we en- tered into the territory of Aroolli, bounded on the north by that river, as it is on the fouth by the AfTar, the ArooiTi running through the midil: of that diftrid. My anxiety to lofe no time in this journey had determined me to fet out this afternoon. I had for this purpofe difpatched Ozoro Efther's fer- vant, but when we began to ftrike our tents, we were told neither beafl nor man was capable of going farther that day ; in a word, the forced march that we had made of 29 miles without reil, and with but little food, had quite jaded our mules ; our men, too, who carried the quadrant, declared, that, without a night's reft, they could proceed no farther ; we v/ere then obliged to make a virtue of neceflity, and to confefs, that, fmce we could go no farther, we were in the moft con- venient halting place poUible, having plenty of both food and water, and as to protedion, we had every reafon to be fatisfied that we were raafters of the country in which we were encamp- ed. 21% TRAVELS TO DISCOVER ed. It was generally agreed therefore to relax that day. I fet afide an hour to put thefe memoirs in order, and then joined our fervants, who, on fuch occafions, are always our companions, and who had provided a fmall horn full of fpirits, and a jar full of beer, or bouza, by offering fome tri- fling prefent to our commandant the Jumper^ who was much more tenacious of his drink than his meat : we fwam and dabbled with great delight in the Kelti, where are neither crocodiles nor goma- ri ; flept a little afterwards^ and retired into the tent to a fupper, which would have been a chear- ful one could I have forgot that Ozoro Either was fuffering. We now began to difcufs the motive that had induced our friend Strates again to tempt the dan- ger of the ways. This fmgular fellow, as we learned from Guebra Mariam, as well as from his own confeflion, repented of his refolurion a^ foon as we were gone, and had determined on foot to follow us, when he heard of this opportunity of Ozoro Eflher's fervant being fent on a meffage, and that piincefs was fo well pleafed with his anxie- ty that ihe gave him a mule that he might not re- tard her fervant. This Greek had known Fafil intimately, both when he was a private man in Kafmati Efhte's time, and afterwards, when he was governor of Damot, for he was a fervant in the palace when Joas was king, as all the Greeks were ; had a company of fufileers, and one or two other fmall ;(ppoint- THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 2^3 appointments, all of which were taken from him, and from mod of the other Greeks, upon the death of the dwarf, who, I before mentioned, was fhot on the fide of Ras Michael by an unknown hand upon his firft arrival at Gondar. He now lived upon the charity of the queen mother, and what he picked up by his buffoonery among the great men at court. We found that in Shalaka Woldo we had got a man of more underflanding than our friend Strates, but much about his equal in mimicry and buffoonery. CHAP. / 224 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER H A R XL Continue our journey — Fall in tviih a Party of Galla—Prove our Friends— -Pafs the JNile— Arrive at Goutto, and vifit thejirji Catarad^ O] 'N the fecond of November, at feven In the morning we purfued our journey in a direftion fouthward, and palTed the church of Bolkon Ab- bo ; ever memorable to us as being the flation of Fafil in May, vi^hen he intended to cut us off after our paffage of the Nile. This brought on a con- verfation with our guide Woldo, who had been prefent with Fafil at his camp behind this church, and afterwards when Michael offered him battle at Limjour, he was there attending his mailer. He faid, that the army of Welleta Yafous was above 12,000 flrong ; that they were intending. to attack the king at the ford, and had no doubt of doing it fuccefsfully, as they imagined the King and Ras Michael, with part of both horfe and foot, w^ould pafs early, but the reft with difficulty and danger ; it was at that inftant Welleta Yafous was to fall upon thofe that remained with Kefla Yafous, on THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 225 on the other fide of the Nile, in that confufion in which they neceflaiily muft be. Fafii then, with above 3000 horfe, and a large body of foot, was ready to inclofe both Ras Michael and the King, and to have taken them prifoners ; nothing could fall out more exactly, as it was planned, than this did ; the king's black horfe, and the other horfe of his houfehold, had taken poiTeflion of the ford, till the King, the Ras, and the greateft J^art of the Tigre mufqueteers, under Guebra Mafcal, had pafTed. On the other hand, Kefla Yafous, who had the charge of the rear, and thepaffing the mules, tents, and baggage, finding fo many flragglers conftant- ly coming in, had determined to wait on that fide till day-light : this was the moment that would have decided the fate of our army ; all was fatigue and defpondency ; but Welleta Yafous having lingered with the army of execution, and in the mean time the priefts having been examined, and the fpies detected, the moment Kefla Yafous be- gan his march to Delakus, the favourable inflant was loft to Fafil, and all that followed was ex- tremely dangerous to him ; for, before Welleta Yafous arrived, Kefla Yafous had paifed the Nile, and was ftrongly pofled with his mufquetry, fo that Welleta Yafous durft not approach him, and this gave Kefla Yafous an opportunity of detaching the beft or frefhefl of his troops to reinforce Mi- chael, whom Fafil found already an overmatch for himatLimjour, v/hen he was forced to retreat before Vol, IV. Q^ the 226 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER the king, who very willingly offered him battle : add to this, that Welleta Yafous was not acquaint- ed how near this junftion of Kefla Yafous with Ras Michael might be, nor where Fafil was, or whether or not he had been beaten. Woldo pre- tended to know nothing of the fpy whom he had left hanging on the tree at the ford when Kefla Yafous marched ; but he laid all the blame upon the priefts, of whofe information he was perfedly inftrudled. At three quarters after ten in the morning we pafied the fmall river Arooffi, which either gives its name to, or receives it from the diftrid: through which it paffes : it falls into the Nile about four miles below ; is a clear, fmall, briik ftream ; its banks covered with verdure not to be defcribed. At half an hour before noon we came to Roo ; it is a level fpace, fliaded round with trees in a fmall plain, where the neighbouring people of Goutto, Airow, and Maitfna hold a market for hides, ho- nev, butter, and all kinds of catile. Gold too is brought by the Agows from the neighbouring Shangaila ; all the markets in Abyfhnia are held in'flich places as this in the open fields, and under the Ihade of trees : every body, while he is there, is fafe under the protection of the government where that market is kept, and no tends or private animofities mud be refented there ; but they that have enemies mud take care of themfelves in coming and going, for then tliey are at their own rife. In THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 227 In the dry bed of a river, at the foot of afmall wood before you afcend the market-place at Roo, we found the Lajnb^ our friend the ^umper^% bro- ther, concealed very much like a thief in a hole, where we might eafily have pafled him unnoticed ; we gave him fome tobacco, of which he was very fond, and a few trifles. We afked him what quef- tions we pleafed about the roads, which he an- fwered plainly, fhortly, and difcreetly ; he aflured us no Maitfha people had pafTed, not even to the market, and this we found afterwards was (lri6lly true ; for fuch as had intelligence that he and his party were on that road, did not venture from home with their goods, fo that the day before, which had been that of the market, no one chofe to run the rifk of attending it. Woldo was very eloque in praife of this officer the Lamb j he faid he had a great deal more huma- nity than his brother, and when he made an inroad into Gojam, or any part of AbyfTinia, he never murdered any women, not even thofe that were with child ; a contrary cuftom it fcems prevailing among all the Galla. I congratulated him upon this great inflance of his humanity, which he took very gravely, as if really intended; he told me that it was he that attacked Michael's horfe at Limjour \ and added, that, had it been any other, Ayto Welleta Michael's life would not have been fpared when he was taken prifoner. That want of curiofity, inattention, and abfol ate indifference for nev/ objedls, which was remarkable in the Q^ z Jumper, izB TRAVELS TO DISCOVER Jumper, was very plainly difcernible in this chief- tain likewife, and feems to be a chara£terillic of the nation. I afked Woldo what became of thofe 44 Galla - who had their eyes pulled out, after the battle of Fagitta, by Michael, on his return to Gondar. Not one of them, faid he, ever came into his own country. It was reported the hysena ate them upon the Angrab, where they were turned out to flarve. I faved three of them, faid I. Yes, an- fwered he, and others might have been faved too : and then added, in a low voice, that hyaenas eating them at the Angrab was a ftory contrived for the Galla ; but we that are Fafil's fervants know they were made away with by his order in Maitfha and the Agow country, that none of them might be feen in their own provinces to terrify the reft of their clans by the mangled appearance they then bore ; for this was Ras Michael's intention in dis- figuring them, and yet leaving them alive ; to pre- vent therefore the fuccefs of this fcheme, Fafil put them to death in their way before they reached their own country. I cohfefs I was ftruck at the fineife which completed Waragna Fafil's charader in my mind. What, faid I, kill his own people taken prifoners whilft fighting for him, merely becaufe their enemies had cruelly deprived them of their fight ! indeed, Woldo, that is not credi- ble. O ho, fays he, but it is true ; your Galla are not like other men, they do not talk about what is cruel and what is not j they do jufl what is THE SOURCE OF THE NILEc 329 is for their own good, what is reafonable, and think no more of the matter. Ras Michael, fays he, would make an excellent Galla ; and do not you believe that he would do any cruel adion which my mafter Fafil would not perpetrate on the fame provocation, and to anfwer the fame pur- pofe ? It now occurred to me why the three Galla, whom I had maintained at Gondar, had conflant- ly refufed to return into their own country with the many fafe opportunities which at times had prefented to them, efpecially fmce the king's re- treat to Tigre ; neither had I obferved any defire in Fafil's fervants, who occafionally came to Gon- dar, of helping to reftore thefe unfortunate men to their country, becaufe they knew the fate that awaited them. Although the Lamb^ and the other Galla his foldiers, paid very little attention, as I have faid, to us, it was remarkable to fee the refpecl they fhewed Fafd's horfe ; the greateft part of them, one by one, gave him handfuls of barley, and the Lafiib himfelf had a long and ferious conver- fation with him ; Woldo told me it was all fpent in regretting the horfe's ill-fortune, and FafiFs cruelty, in having beftowed him upon a white man, who would not feed him, or ever let him return to Bizamo, Bizamo is a country of Galla fouth of the Nile, after it makes its fouthmofl turn, and has furrounded the kingdom of Gojam. I was better pleafed "vyith this genuine mark of kindnefs 230 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER kindnefs to the horfe, than all the proofs of hu« manity Woldo had attributed to 'his chieftain for not frequently putting to death pregnant women. When I remarked this, Bad men ! bad men ! all of them, fays Woldo; but your Ras Michael will be among them one of thefe days, and pull all their eyes out again ; and fo much the better. At Roo we left the direct road which leads to Bure, the refidence of the governor of Damot, towards which place the route of the army was direfted ; fo I took leave, as I hoped, for ever of my brethren the Galla, but flill continued to drive the horfe before me. We turned our face now directly upon the fountains of the Nile, which lay S. E. by S. according to the compafs. At a quar- ter before noon we faw the high fharp-pointed mountain of Temhua, (landing fmgle in the form of a cone, at about i8 miles diftance, and behind this the mountain of Banja, the place where Fafil almorc exterminated the Agows in a battle foon after his return to Bure, and to revenge which the king's lall fatal campaign was undertaken in Mait- iha, terminated by his retreat to Tigre. Here Strates, whilfl: amufmg himfeif in the wood in fearch of new birds and beafts for our colled ion of natural hiflory, fired his gun at one of the former, diftinguifhed by the beauty and variety of its plumage. I ftopt to make a rough flvctch of it, which might be hnillied at more lei- fvire ; this was fcarcely done, and we again moving forwards THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 231 forwards on our journey, when we heard a con- fulion of fhriil, barbarous cries, and prefentlyfaw a number of horfemen pouring down upon us, with their lances lifted up in a poflure ready to attack us immediately. The ground was woody and uneven, fo they could not make the fpeed they feemed to defire, and we had jufl time to put our- felves upon our defence with our firelocks, muf- quets, and blunderbuffes in our hands, behind our baggage. Woldo ran feveral paces towards them, knowing them by the cry to be friends, even before he had feen them, which was, Fafil ali, Fafil ali — there is none but Fafil that commands here. Upon feeing us without any marks of dif- compofure, they all flopt with "Woldo, and by him we learned that this was the party we had palled commanded by the Lavih^ who, after we had left him, had heard that five Agow horfemen had pafied between the army and his party, and from the (hot he had feared they might have attempted fomething againflus, and he had there- upon come to our aiiiilance with all the fpeed pof- fible. Thus did we fee that this man, who, accord- ing to our ideas, feemed in underitanding inferior to m. oft of the brute creation, had yet, in execut- ing his orders, a difcernment, puPvClualiry, acti- vity, and fenfe of duty, equal to any Chriftian officer vvho fhould have had. a like commillion ; he now appeared to us in a quite different light than when we nrlt had met him , and his inatten- tion. 232 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER tion, when we were with him, was the more agreeable, as it left us at our emire liberty, with- out teazing or molefting us, when he could be of no real fervice, as every Amharic foldier would have done. On the other hand, his alacrity and refQlution, in the moment he thought us in dan- ger, exhibited him to our view as having on both occafions juft the qualities we could have defired. We now, therefore, fhewed him the utmoft civi- lity, fpread a table-cloth on the ground by the brook, mixed our honey and liquid butter toge- ther in a plate, and laid plenty of teif bread befide it. We invited the Lamb to fit down and break- faft with us, which he did, each of us dipping our hand with pieces of bread alternately into the difh which contained the honey ; but Strates, whofe heart was open, for he felt very gratefully the Lamb's attention to fave him from being murder- ed by the Agows, pulled out a large piece of raw beef, part of the bullock we killed at Kelti, which he had perfeclly cleared from, all incumbrance of bones, this he gave to the Lamb, defiring him to divide it among his men, which hje did, keeping a very fmall proportion to himfelf, and which he ate before us. Drink we bad none, but the water of the brook that ran by, for my people had finiih- ed all our other liquors at Kelti after I was in bed, when they were taking their leave of Guebra Ma- riam, 0?oro Efther^'s fervant. It was now time to purfue our journey ; and, to fiiew our gratitudf for the real fervice this Lamb intended THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 233 intended to have rendered us, I gave him four times the quantity of tobacco he had got before, and fo in proportion of every other trifle ; all thefe he took with abfolute indifference as formerly, much as if it had been all his own ; he exprelfed no fort of thanks either in his words or in his countenance ; only while at breakfafl: faid, that he was very much grieved that it had been but a falfe alarm, for he heartily defired that fome rob- bers really had attacked us, that he might have fhewn us how quickly and dexteroufly he would have cut them to pieces though there had been a hundred of them. I mentioned to Woldo my obligations to the Lamb for his good wifhes, but that things were quite as well as they were ; that I had no fort of curiofity for fuch exhibitions, which I did not however doubt he would have performed moil dexteroufly. We were now taking leave to proceed on out journey, and my fervant folding up the table-cloth, when the Lamb defired to fpeak to Woldo, and for the firfl: time ventured to make a requeft, which was a very extraordinary one ; he begged that I would give him the table cloth to cover his head and keep his face from the fun. I could not help laughing within myfelf at the idea of preferving that beautiful complexion from fun-burning ; but I gave him the cloth very readily, which he ac- cordingly fpread upon his head, till it covered half his face ; he then got upon his horfe and rode quietly away. Before he weiit5 he detached fifteen 234 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER men, Woldo faid he did not know where, but by what he had gathered, and the route they had taken, he was fure that detachment was meant for our fervice, and to protect us on the right of our route, not having yet fufficiently quieted his own mind about the five Agows that paiTed be- tween the army and his poft the night we were at Keiti ; thefe, however, being poorly mounted and armed, would not have found their account in meddling with us, though we had no wifhes to fliew our dexterity in deftroying them, as our friend the Lamb was fo delirous of doing, and we after discovered they were not quite fo defpicable as they were reprefented, nor were tljey Agows. All this pafled in much lefs time than it is told. We were on horfeback again in little more than half an hour ; our friends were, like us, willing to part, only I ordered Strates to fufpend his firing for that day, left it fhould procure us another in- terview, which we by no means courted. We had halted by the fide of a fmall river which falls into the Aifar ; and a little before one o'clock we came to the AlTar itfeif. The AfTar, as I have already faid, is the fouthern boundary of AroolTi, as KeIti is the northern ; and as Arooifi is the fouthern diilri^t of Maitfha on the weft fide of the Nile; it follows that the AlTar is the fouthern boundary of Maitfha. On the other fide of this river begins the pro- v^iire of Goutro. which^ according to the ancient rales of governn^eut before Ras Michael deftroy- ed THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 235 ed all diftlnclions, depended on the province of Damot ; whereas Maicfha belonged to the office of Betwudet fince Fafil had appropriated both to himfelf by force, as well as the whole country of the Agows, which he had poflefled by the fame title ever fince the battle of Banja : the inhabitants of Goutto are the ancient natives of that country ; they are not Galla as thofe of Maitlha, but much more civilized and better governed. The languages of the Agow and the Amharic are the two chiefly fpoken in Goutto, though there are diflant places towards the Jemma on the fide of the Nile, where they fpeak that of the Falafha likewife. The peo- ple in Goutto are richer and better lodged than thofe of the neighbouring Maitlha ; their whole country is full of cattle of the largelt fize, exceed- ingly beautiful, and of all the ditferent colours ; there are fome places likewife where their honey is excellent, equal to any in the country of the Agows, but the greatefl quantity of it is of low price and of little efteem, owing to the lupine flowers on which the bees feed, and of which a great quanti- ty covers the whole face of the country ; this gives a bitternefs to the greatefl part of the honey, and occafions, as they believe, vertigo's, or dizzinef- fes, to thofe that eat it : the fame would happen with the Agows, did they not take care to eradi- cate the lupines throughout their whole country. All this little territory of AroofTi is by much the mofl pleafant that we had feen in AbyfTmia, perhaps it is equal to any thing the eaft can produce ; the Vvhole 236 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER whole IS finely fhaded with acacla-trees, Imean the acaeia vera, or the Egyptian thorn, the tree which, in the fultry parts of Africa, produces the gum-arabic. Thefe trees grow feldorn above fif- teen or fixtcen feet high, then flatten and fprcad wide at the top, and touch each other, while the trunks are far afunder, and under a vertical fun, leave you, many miles together, a free fpace to walk in a cool, delicious fhade. There is fcarce any tree but this in Maitfha; all Guanguera and Wainadega are full of them ; but in thefe lafl-men- tioned places, near the capital, where the country grows narrower, being confined between the lake and the mountains, thefe trees are more in the way of the march of armies, and are thinner, as being conflantly cut down for fuel, and never re- planted, orfufFeredto replace themfelves, which they otherwife would do, and cover the whole face of the country, as once apparently they did. The ground below thofe trees, all throughout Aroolli, is thick covered with lupines, almoft to the ex- clufion of every other flower ; wild oats alfo grow up here fpontaneoufly to a prodigious height and fize, capable often of concealing both the horfe and his rider, and feme of the fl:aiks being little lefs than an inch in circumference. They have, when ripe, the appearance of fmall canes. The inhabitants make no fort of ufe of this grain in any period of its growth : the upperniofl thin huik of it is beautifully variegated with a changeable pur- ple colour ; the tafte is perfedly good. I often made THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 237 made the meal into cakes in remembrance of Scot- land. The Abyffinians never could relifh thefe cakes, which they faid were bitter, and burnt their ilo- machs, as aifo made them thirfty, I do, how- ever, believe this is the oat in its original flate, and that it is degenerated every where with us. The foil of this country is a fine black mould, in appearance like to that which compofes our gar- dens. The oat feems to delight in a moift, watery- foil ; and, as no underwood grows under the Iha- dow of the trees, the plough paiTes without inter- ruption. As there is likewife no iron in their plough, (for it is all compofed of wood) the fur- row is a very flight one, nor does the plough reach deep enough to be entangled with the roots of trees ; but it is the north part of Maitfha, how- ever, that is chiefly in culture ; fouth of the Kelti all is pa^ure ; a large number of horfes is bred here yearly, for it is the cuflom among the Galla to be all horfemen or graziers. All Aroofli is finely watered v/ith fmall flreams, though the AfTar is the largefl river we had fetn except the Nile ; it was about 170 yards broad and two feet deep^ running over a bed of large ftones ; though generally through a fiat and level country, it is very rapid, and after much rain fcarcely pafTable, owing to the height of its fource in the mountains of the Agows ;. its courfe, where we forded it, is from fouth to north, but it foon turns to the north-eafl, and, after flowins: five 238 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER five or fix miles, joins the Nile and lofes itfelf in that river. Immediately below this ford of the AfTar is a magnificent cafcade, or cataradl. I computed the perpendicular height of the fall to be above 20 feet, and the breadth of the ilream to be fomething more than 80 ; but it is fo clofely covered with trees or bufhes, and the ground fo uneven, that it needs great perfeverance and attention to approach it near with fafety ; the flream covers the rock without leaving any part of it vifible, and the whole river falls uninterrupted down with an incredible violence and noife, without being any way broken or divided ; below this cataradl it becomes confi- derably narrower, and, as we have faid, in this llate runs on to join the Nile. The flrength of vegetation which the moiflure of this river produces, fupported by the adion of a very warm fun, is fuch as one might naturally expecl from theory, though we cannot help being furprrfed at the elFeds when we fee them before us, trees and fhrubs covered with flowers of every colour, all new and extraordinary in their fhapes, crowded with birds of many uncouth forms, all of them richly adorned with variety of plumage, and feeming to fix their refidence upon the banks of this river, without a defire of wandering to any diftance in the neighbouring fields : But as there is nothing, though ever fo beautiful, that has not fome defedl or imperfection, among all thefe feathered beauties there is not one fongiler ; and. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 239 and, unlefs of the rofe, or jelTamin kind, none of their flowers have any fmell ; we hear indeed ma- ny fqualling noify birds of the jay kind, and we find two varieties of wild rofes, white and yellow, to which I may addjeffamin (called Leham) which becomes a large tree ; but all the reft of the birds or flowers may be confidered as liable to the ge- neral obfervation, that the flowers are deftitute of odour, and the birds of fong. After pafling the Aflfar, and feveral villages be- longing to Goutto, our courfe being S. E. we had, for the firft time, a diftinO: view of the high mountain of Geefli, the long-wiflied-for end of our dangerous and troublefome journey. Under this mountain are the fountains of the Nile ; it bore from us S. E. by S. about thirty miles, as near as we could conjet^lure, in a ftraight line, without counting the deviations or crookednefs of the road. Ever fmce we had pafTed the Afl^ar we had been defcending gently through very uneven ground, covered thick with trees, and torn up by the gullies and courfes of torrents. At two o'clock in the afternoon of the fecond of November we came to the banks of the Nile ; the paiTage is very diffi- cult and dangerous, the bottom being full of holes made by conliderable fprings, light linking fand, and, at every little diftance, large rocky ftones ; the eaftern fide was muddy and full of pits, the ground of clay: the Nile here is about 260 feet broad, and very rapid 5 its depth about four feet in 240 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER in the middle of the river, and the fides not above two. Its banks are of a very gentle, eafy defcent ; the wcftern fide is chiefly ornamented with high trees of the falix, or willow tribe, growing flraight, without joints or knots, and bearing long pointed pods full of a kind of cotton. This tree is called, in their language. Ha; the ufe they have for it is to make charcoal for the compcfition of gunpowder ; but on the eaflern fide, the banks, to a confiderable diflance from the river, are co- vered with black, dark, and thick groves, with craggy-pointed rocks, and overfhaded with fomc old, tall, timber trees going to decay with age ; a very rude and awful face of nature, a cover from which our fancy fuggefted a lion fliould iflue, or fome animal or monfler yet more favage and fero- cious. The veneration flill paid in this country for the Nile, fuch as obtained in antiquity, extends to the territory of Goutto, and I believe very little far- ther ; the reafon is, I apprehend, that to this, and no lower, the country has remained under its an- cient inhabitants. Belov/, we know Maitfha has been occupied within thefe fev/ ages by Pagan Galla, tranfplanted here for political purpofes ; at Goutto, however, and in the provinces of the Agows, the genuine indigent have not emigrated, and with thefe the old fuperftition is more firmly- rooted in their hearts than is the more recent doc- trine of Chriflianity ; they crowded to us at the ford, and they were, after fome ftruggle, of great ufe THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 241 tife in aflifting us to pafs, but protefled immediately with great vehemence againll any man's riding acrofs the llream, mounted either upon horfe or mule : they, without any fort of ceremony, un- loaded our mules, and laid our baggage upon the grafs, infilling that we fhould take off our fhoes^ and making an appearance of floning thofe who attempted to wafh the dirt off their cloaks and trowfers in the itream. My fervants v/ere by this provoked to return rudenefs for rudenefs, and Woldo gave them two or three fignificant threats, while I fat by exceedingly happy at having fo un- expededly found the remnants of veneration for that ancient deity ftill fubfiiling in fuch full vi- gour. They after this allowed us, as well as our horfes and mules, to drink, and conduced me acrofs the river, holding me on qach fide very at- tentively for fear of the holes ; but the want of fhoes was very inconvenient, the pointed rocks and (tones at the bottom giving me feveral deep cuts on the foles of my feet ; after this the beads w^ere led all to the fame fide with m.yfelf, alfo one fervant was pafled Vv^ith the greateil care by thefe poor people. Woldo had tiptme the wink to crofs as they defired me : except my fingle gun, all the fire-arms and fervants remained with the baggage and Woldo ; and now we foon faw what was his intention, and how well he underftood that the country he was in belonged to Fafil his mafter. There were betv/een twenty and thirty cf the Agows, old and young, fome of them armed with Vol. IV. R lancesir 24* TRAVELS TO DISCOVER lances and fliields, and all of them with knives. Woldo took his fmall flick in one hand, fat down upon a green hillock by the ford with his lighted pipe in the other ; he ranged my people behind him, leaving the baggage by itfelf, and began gravely to exhort the Agows to lofe no time in eaniying over our baggage upon their fhoulders. This proBofal was treated with a kind of ridicule by the foremoft of the Agows, and they began plainly to infmuate that he fhould firft fettle with them a price for their trouble. He continued, however, fmoaking his pipe in feeming leifure, and much at hiseafe; and, putting on an air of great 'wifdom^ in a tone of moderation he appealed to them whe- ther they had not of their own accord infilled on our croffing the river on foot, had unloaded our baggage, and fent the mules to the other fide with- out our confent. The poor people candidly de- clared that they had done fo, becaufe none are permitted in any other m*anner to crofs the Nile, but that they would like wife carry our baggage fafely and willingly over for pay ; this word was no fooner uttered, when, apparently in a mofl vi- olent pafFion, he leapt up, laid by his pipe, took his ftick, and ran into the midfl of them, crying out with violent execrations. And who am I ? and who am I then ? a girl, a woman, or a Pagan dog like yourfelves ? and who is Waragna Fafil ; are you not his flaves ? or to whom elfe do you be- long, that you are to make me pay for the confe- c^uences of your devilifh idolatries and fuperftitions ? I but THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 243 but you want payment, do ye ? here is your pay- ment : he then tuckt his clothes tight about his girdle, began leaping two or three feet high, and laying about him with his ftick over their heads, and faces, or wherever he could ftrike them. After this Woldo wrefted a lance froni a long^ aukward fellow that was next him, {landing ama- zed, and levelled the point at him in a manner that I thought to fee the poor peafant fall dead in an inftant : the fellow fled in a trice, fo did they all to a man ; and no wonder, for in my life I ne- ver faw any one play the furious devil fo natural- ly. Upon the man's running off, he cried out to my people to give him a gun, which made thefe poor wretches run fader and hide themfelves among the buihes : lucky, indeed, was it for Woldo that my fervants did not put him to the trial, by giving him the gun as he demanded^ for he would not have ventured to fire it, perhaps to have touched it, if it had been to have made him mafter of the province. I, who fat a fpe6i:ator on the other fide, thought we were now in a fine fcrape, the evening com- ing on at a time of the year when it is not light at fix, my baggage and fervants on one fide of the river, myfelf and beails on the other, crippled ab- folutely in the feet by the (tones, and the river fo full of pits and holes, that, had they been all laden on the other fide and ready, no one could have been bold enough to lead a beafi through without a guide : the difficulty was not imaginary, r R 2 I had ^44 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER I had myfelf an inftant before made proof of it^ and all difficulties are relative, greater or lefs, as you have means in your hands to overcome them. I was clearly fatlsfied that Woldo knew the coun- try, and was provided with a remedy for all this , I conceived that this pacific behaviour, while they were unloading the mules, and driving them acrofs the river, as well as his fury afterwards, was part of fome fcheme, with which I was refolved in no fhape to interfere ; and nothing convinced me more of this than his refolute demand of a gun^ when no perfuafion could make him flay within ten yards of one if it was difcharged, even though the muzzle was pointed in a contrary direction. I fat fLill, therefore, to fee the end, and it was with fome furprife that I obferved him to take his pipe, ftick, and my fervants along with him, and crofs the river to me as if nothing had happened, leav- ing the baggage on the other fide, without any guard whatfoever ; he then defired us all to get on horfeback, and drive the mules before us, which we did accordingly ; and I fuppofe we had not advanced above a hundred yards before we faw a greater number of people than formerly run down to where our baggage was lying, and, while one crolTed the river to defire us to ftay where we were, the reft brought the whole over in an inftant. This, however, did not fatisfy our guide ; he put on a fulky air, as if he had been grievoully injured j he kept the mxules where they were, and would not fend one back to be loaded at the river- THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 245 Tiver-fide, ailedging it was unlucky to turn back ypon a journey ; he made them again take the baggage on their fhoulders, and carry it to the very place wht*re our mules had halted, and there lay it down. On this they all flocked about himj begging that he would not report them to his mailer, as fearing Ibme fine, or heavy chaflife- ment, would fall upon their villages. The guide looked very fulky, faid but very little, and that all in praife of himfelf, of his known mildnefs and moderation ; as an inftance of which he appeal- ed (impudently eaough) to his late behaviour to- wards them. If fuch a .one, fays he, naming a man that they knewj had been in my place, what a fine reckoning he would have made with you; why, your punifhment v/ould not have ended in feven years. They all acknowledged the truth of his obfervation, as well as his moderation, gave him great comrnendations, and, 1 believe, fome promifes when he pafied there on his return. Here I thought our affair happily ended to the fatisfadion of all parties. I mounted my horfe, and Woldo went to a large filk bag, or purfe, which I had given him full of tobacco, and he had his match and pipe in his hand, juft as if he was going to fill it before he fet out ; he then un-. loofed the bag, felt it on the outfide, putting firll: his three fingers, then his whole hand, pinching and fqueezing it both within-fide and without ; at laft he broke out in a violent tranfport of rage, jurying th^t his gold was gone, and that they had robbed 246 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER robbed him of it. I had not till this fpoke one word : I afl^ed him what he meant by his gold. He faid he had two ounces (value about 5I.) in his tobacco purfe, and that fome perfon had laid hold of them when the baggage lay on the other fide of the water; that the Agows had done it, and that they mufl pay him for it. The defpair and anguiih that he had counterfeited quickly appear- ed in true and genuine colours in the faces of all the poor Agows ; for his part, he difdained to fpeak but in monofyllables — So, fo, and very well, and no matter, you fhall fee — and fhook his head. We now proceeded on our journey ; but two of the eldefl among the Agows followed him to our quarters at night, where they made their peace v.'ith Woldo, who, I doubt not, dealt with them ac~ cording to his ufual mildnefs, juftice, and mode- ration; a fpecimen of which we have already feen. I confefs this complicated piece of roguery, fo fuddenly invented, and fo fuccefsfully carried into execution, gave me, for the firft time, ferious re- flections upon my own fituation, as we were in fa6: entirely in this man's hand. Ayto Aylo's fervant, indeed, continued with me, but he was now out of his knowledge and influence, and, from many hints he had given, very defirous of returning home : he feemed to have no great opinion of Vv^oldo, and, indeed, had been in low fpirils, and difgufted with our journey, fmce he had feen the reception I firfl met with from Fafil at Bamba ; but THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 147 but I had ufe for him till we fhould arrive at the houfe of Shalaka Welled Amiac, which was in the middle of Maitfha, and in the way in which we were to return. I had therefore been very- kind to him, allowing him to ride upon one of my mules all the way. I had given him fome prefents likewife, and promifed him more, fo that he con^ tinned with me, though not very willingly, ob- ferving every thing, but faying little ; however, to me it was plain that Woldo flood, in awe of him, for fear probably of his mailer Fafil, for Aylo had over him a moil abfolute influence, and Guebra Ehud (Aylo's brother) had been prefent, when Aylo's fervant fet out with us from Bamba under charge of this Woldo. To Woldo, too, I had been very attentive : I , had anticipated what i law were his wifhes, by fmall prefents and more confiderable promifes. I had told him plainly at Bamba, in prefence of Fafil's Fit'Auraris and Ayto Welleta Michael, -RasMi* chad's nephewj that I would reward him in their fight according to his behaviour ; that I fcarccly thanked him for his being barely faithful, for fo he was accountable to his mafter, whofe honour was pledged for my fafety ; but that I expeded he would not attempt to impofe upon me, nor fuffer others to do fo, nor terrify me unneceffari* ly upon the road, nor obflrudt me in my purfuits, be fulky, or refufe to anfwer the inquiries that I made about the countries through which we were to pafs. AU this was promifed, repromifed, and repeatedly 2J-8 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER "I- repeatedly fworn to, and the Fit-Auraris had af- fured me that he knew certainly this man would pleafe me, and that Fafil was upon honour when he had chofen him to attend me, although he had then ufe for him in other bulinefs ; and it is not lels true, that, during the whole of our journey hitherto, he had behaved perfectly to the letter of his promife, and I had omitted no opportunity to gratify him by feveral anticipations of mine. I had upon me a large beautiful red-filk fafh, which went fix or fQYen times round, in which I carried my crooked knife and two piflols ; he had often admired the beauty of it, inquired where it was made, and what it might have coft. 1 had unfwered often negligeijtly and at random, and I had thought no more of it, as his inquiries had gone no further. The time v/hich he had fixed upon was not yet come, and we fhall prefently fee how very dexterouily he prolonged it. We arrived, with thefe delays, pretty late at Goutto, (the village fo called) and took up our lodging in the houfe of a confiderable perfon, who had abandoned it upon our approach, thinking us part of Fafil's army. Though this habitation was of ufe in proteding us from the poor, yet it hurt us by alarming, and fo depriving us of the aifnliance of the opulent, fuch as the prefent own- er, who, if he had known we were ftrangers from Gondar, would have willingly flaid and enter- tained us, being a relation and friend of Shalaka Welled Amlac™ THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 249 As we heard diftindly the noife of the catarad, and had ftill a full hour and a half of light, while they were in fearch of a cow to kill, (the cattle having been all driven away or concealed) I de- termined to vifit the water-fall, left I fhould be thereby detained the next morning. As FafiPs horfe was frelh, by not being rode, I mounted him inftead of driving him before me, and took a fervant of my own, and a man of the village whom Woldo procured for us, as I would not allow him to go himfelf. Being well armed, I thus fet out, with the peafant on foot, for the catarad ; and, after riding through a plain, hard country, in fome parts very ftony^ and thick-covered with trees, in fomething more than half an hour's eafy galloping all the way, my fervant and I came ftraight to the catara£t, conduded there by the noife of the fall, while our guide remained at a confiderable diftance behind, not being able to overtake us. This, known by the name of the Firft Gatarad of the Nile, did not by its appearance come up to the idea we had formed of it, being fcarce lixteen feet in height, and about fixty yards over; but in many places the iheet of water is interrupted, and leaves dry intervals of rock. The fides are neither fo woody nor verdant as thofe of the cataract of the Aflar ; and it is in every fliape lefs magnifi- cent, or deferving to be feen, than is the noble catarad at Alata before defcribed, erroneoufly called the Second Catarad ; for below this there I? a water-fall, nearly weft of the church of Bofkon Abbo, 250 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER Abbo, not much above the place where we fwam our horfes over in May, and Icfs than this firft ca- taract of which I am fpeaking, and nearer the fource ; there is another ftill fmaller before the Nile joins the river Gumetti, after falling from the plains of Sacala ; and there are fevcral ftill fmaller between the fountains and the junction of the Nile with the river Davola ; thefe laft mentioned, however, are very infignificant, and appear only when the Nile is low : in the rainy feafon, when the river is full, they fcarcely are diftinguiihed by ruffling the water as it pafTes. Having fatisfied my curiofity at this catarad, I galloped back the fame road that I had come, without having feen a fmgle perfon fmce I left Goutto. Fafil's horfe went very pleafantly, he did not like the fpur, indeed, but he did not need it. On our arrival we found a cow upon the point of being killed ; there was no appearance of any fuch to be found when I fet out for the ca- tarad, but the diligence and fagacity of Woldo had overcome that difficulty. By a particular manner of crying through his hands applied to his mouth, he had contrived to make fome beafts an- fwer him, who were hid in an unfufpeded bye- place, one of which being detected was killed without mercy. It was now, I thought, the proper time to give Woldo a leffon as to the manner in which I was refolved to behave among the Agows, who I knew had been reduced to abfolute poverty by Fafil after the THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 251 the battle of Banja. I told him, that fmce the king had given me the fmall territory of Geefli, I was refolved to take up my abode there for fome time; and alfo, to make my coming more agreea- ble, it was my intention for that year to difcharge them of any taxes which they paid the king, or their fuperior Fafil, in whofe places I then flood, " Stay, fays Woldo, don't be in fuch a hurry, fee firll how they behave/^ — " No, faid I, I will begin by teaching them how to behave ; I will not wait till their prefent mifery prompts them to re- ceive ill (as they very naturally will do) a man who comes, as they may think, wantonly for cu- rioiity only, to take from them and their ilarved families the little Fafil has left them : the qucftion I aik you then is briefly this. Do you conceive yourfelf obliged to obey me, as to what I fhall judge neceflary to direct you to do, during my journey to Geeih and back again ?'* He anfwered. By all means, or he could never elfe return to his mailer Fafil. " This, then, faid I, is the line of condud: I mean to purfue while I am among the Agows ; you fhall have money to buy every thing ; you fhall have money, or prefents, or both, to pay thofe that ferve us, or that fhew us any kindnefs, and when we fhall join your maflcr Fafil (as I hope we fhall do together) you fliall tell him that I have received his majefly's rent of the Agows of Geefli, and I will enter a receipt for it in the king's deftar, or revenue-book at Gondar, if we fee him there, as I expert we fhall, upon my rcturn» 2S2 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER return, I moreover, undertake, that we fiiall gain more by this than by any other method we could have purfued/' " There is one things however, fays Woldo, you would not furely have me free them the dues paid by every village where a king's fervant is employed to condudl flrangers, as I am.'* " No, no, 1 do not go fo near as that ; we fliall only buy what you would have otherwife taken by force for my ufe.'* " Some years ago, fays Woldo, when I was a young man, inking Yafous's time, a white man, called Negadc Ras Georgis, had both Geefh and Sacala given him by the king ; he went there twice a-year, and flaid a month or more at a time ; he was a great hunter and drinker, and a devil for the women ; he not only fpent what he got from the village, but all the money he brought from Gondar into the bargain ; it was a jovial time, as I have heard ; all was merriment : The firft day he came there, fome of the men of Sacala, out of fport, difputing with three of the Agows of Zee- gam, fell to it with their knives and lances, and four men were killed in an inftant upon the fpot ; fine flout fellows, every one like a lion -, good men all of them ; there are no fuch days feen now, unlefs they come about when you are there, and then I fhall have my fhare of every thing.'* " Wol- do, faid I, with all my heart ; I fhall be otherwife employed ; but you fhall be at iperftdi liberty to partake of every fport, always excepting the di* yerfion of killing four men." But I had obferved this THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 253 this day, with fome furprife, that he doubted fe- veral times whether we were on the way to the Nile or not ; and I did not think this profped of entertainment which I held out to him was received with fuch joy as I expelled, or a& if he meant to partake of it* Strates had refufed to go to the firft catarad^ having fo violent an appetite that he could not abandon the cow ; and, after my arrival, it was his turn to watch that night. When I was lain down to refl in a little hovel like a hog's fly, near where they were fitting, I heard a warm difpute among the fervants, and, upon inquiry, found Strates was preparing fleaks on a gridiron to make an entertainment for himfelf while the refl were fleeping ; thefe, on the other hand, were refolved to play him a trick to punifh his gluttony. When the fleaks were fpread upon the gridiron, Woldo had undertaken to pour fome fine dufl, or fand, through the hole in the roof, which ferved as a chimney ; and this he had done with fuccefs as often as Strates went to any diflance from the fire. Not content, however, with the pofition in which he then was, but defirous to do it more effedlual'- ly, he attempted to change his place upon the roof where he flood, thinking it all equally flrong to bear him ; but in this he was miflaken ; the part lie was removing to fuddenly gave way, and down he came upon the floor, brii^ging half the roof and part of the wall, together with a prodigious dull, into the fire. Thct 254 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER The furprife and fight of his own danger made Woldo repeat feme ejaculation to himfelf in Galla. My fervants, who were waiting the fuccefs of the fcheme, cried, The Galla ! the Galla ! and Strates, who thought the whole army of wild Galla had furrounded the houfe, fell upon his face, calling Maruni ! Maruni ! — Spare me ! fparc me ! — I was in a profound fleep when roufed by the noife of the roof, the falling of the man, and the cry of Galla 1 Galla ! I flarted up, and laid hold of a mulket loaded with flugs, a bayonet at the end of it, and ran to the door, when the firfl: thing I faw was Woldo examining his hurts, or burns, but without any arms. A laugh from without made me diredly fuppofe what it was, and I was prefently fully fatisfied by the figure Strates and Woldo made, covered with dirt and duft from the roof ; but, while they were enter- taining themfelves with this foolifh trick, the thatch that had fallen upon the fire began to flame, and it was with the utmoft difficulty we extin- guifhed it, otherwife the whole village might have been burnt down. — I heard diftin(5tly the noife of the catarad all this night. CHAP. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 255 G H A P. XII. Leave Goutto — Mountains of the Moon- — Roguery ofWoldo our Guide-'Arrive at the Source of the Nile. T XT was the 3d of November, at eight o'clock in the morning, that we left the village of Goutto, and continued, for the firft part of the day, thro' a plain country full of acacia-trees, and a few of other forts ; but they were all pollards, that is. Hunted, by having their tops cut off when young, fo that they bore now nothing but fmall twigs, or branches ; thefe, too, feemed to have been lopped yearly. As there appeared no doubt that this had been done purpofely, and for ufe, I alked, and wa§ informed, that we were now in the honey country, and that thefe twigs were for making large baikets, which they hung upon trees at the fides of their houfes, like bird cages, for the bees to make their honey in them during the dry months ; all the houfes we paffed afterwards, and the trees near them, were furnifhcd with thefe baftiets, having numerous hives of bees at work in 256 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER in them ; the people themfelves feemed not to heed them, but they were an exceffive plague to us by their flings during the day, fo that it was only when we were out in the fields, or at night in the houfe, that we were free from this inconvenience. The high mountain of Berfa now bore fouth from us about ten miles diflant ; it refembles in fhape, a gunner's wedge, and towers up to the very clouds amidfl the lefTer mountains of the Agow, Sacala is fouth fouth-eafl. The country of the Agows extends from Berfa on the fouth to the point of due weft, in form of an amphitheatre, formed all round by mountains, of which that of Banja lies fouth fouth-wefl about nine miles off. The country of the Shangalla, beyond the Agows, lies wefl north-wefl. From this point all ter- ritory of Goutto is full of villages, in which the fathers, fons, and grandfons live together ; each degree, indeed, in a feparate houfe, but near or touching each other, as in Maitfha, fo that every village confifls of one family. At three quarters pafl eight we croiled a fmall, but clear river, called Dee-ohha, or the river Dee. It is fmgular to obferve the agreement of names of rivers in different parts of the world, that have never had communication together. The Dee is a river in the north of Scotland. The Dee runs through Chefliire in England ; and Dee is a river here in Abyflinia. Kelti is the name of a river in Monteith; Kelti, too, we found in Maitflia. Arno is a well-known river in Tufcany ; and v/e found THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 257 fbund another Arno, below Emfras, falling into the lake Tzana. Not one of thefe rivers, as far as 1 could obferve, refemble each other in any one circumftance, nor have they a meaning or ligni- fication in any one language I knov^. The church of Abbo is a quarter of a mile to our right, and the church of i.ion Mariam bears eaft by fouth half a mile. We refumed our jour- ney at half pad nine, and, after advancing a few minutes, we came in fight of the ever memorable field of Fagitta. At a quarter pail ten we were pointing to the fouth-eaft, the two great clans of the Agow, Zeegam, and Dengui, being to the fouth-wefl: ; the remarkable mountain Davenanza is about eight miles off, bearing fouth-eafl by fouth, and the courfe of the Nile is eaft and weft* Eaftward ftill from this is the high mountain of Adama, one of the ridges of Amid Amid, which form the entrance of a narrow valley on the eaft fide, as the mountains of Litchambara do on the weft- In this valley runs the large river Jemma-^ rifing in the mountains, which, after palling thro* part of Maitftia, falls below into the Nile. The mountains from this begin to rife high, whereas at Samfeen they are very low and inconliderable. Adama is about ten miles from our prefent fituati- on, which is alfo famous for a battle fought by Fafil's father, while governor of Damot, againft the people of Maitfha, in which .they were totally defeated. Vol. IV. S We ts^ TRAVELS TO DISCOVER We now defcended into a large plain full of marfhes, bounded on the weft by the Nile, and at ten and three quarters we crofled the fmall river Diwa, which comes from the eaft and runs to the weftward : though not very broad, it was by much the deepeft river we had paiTed ; the banks of earth being perpendicular and infirm, and the bottom foul and clayey, we were obliged to dif- mount ourfelves, unload the mules, and carry owr baggage over. This was a troublefome ope- ration, though we fucceeded at laft. I often re- gretted to Woldo, that he could not here find fome of the ^od people like the Agows at the ford of the Nile ; but he (hook his head, faying, Thefe are another fort of ftufF; we may be very thankful if they let us pafs ourfelves : in the flat country I do not wilh to meet one man on this fide the moun- tain Aformafha. In this plain, the Nile winds more in the fpace of four miles than, I believe, any river in the world ; it makes above a hundred turns in that diftarxe, one of which advances fo abruptly into the plain that we concluded we muft pafs it, and were preparing accordingly, when we faw it make as fharp a turn to the right, and run far on in a contrary direction, as if we were never to have met it again ; the Nile is not here above 20 feet broad, and is nowhere above a foot deep. The church of Yafous was above three quarters of a mile to the weft. a At THE SOURCE OF THE NILE, 259 At one o'clock we afcended a ridge of low hills which terminates this plain to the fouth. The mountains behind them are called Attata ; tbey are covered thick with brufh-wood, and are cut through with gullies and beds of torrents. At half pall one we wxre continuing S. E* in a few minutes after we paiTed a clear but fniall ftreamj called Minch, which fignifies the Fountain. At two o'clock we arrived at the top of the mountain of Attata, and from this difcovered the river Abo- la coming from the S. S. E. and in a few minutes pafled another fmall river called Giddili, which lofes itfelf immediately in a turn, or elbow, which the river Abola makes here below. At half paft two we defcended the mountain of Attata, and immediately at the foot of it crolTed a fmall river of the fame name, which terminates the territory of Attata; here, to the fouth, it is indeed narrow, but very difficult to pafs by reafon of its muddy bottom. The fun all along the plain of Goutto had been very hot till now, and here fo exceflive- ly, that it quite overcame us: what was worfe, Woldo declared himfelf fo ill, that he doubted if he could go any farther, but believed he lliould die at the next village. Though I knew too much of the matter to think him in any dan* gerfrom real difeafe, I faw ealilythat he was in- feded with a counterfeit one, Which 1 did not doubt was to give me as much trouble as a real one would have done. S2 At 36a TRAVELS TO DISCOVER' At three o'clock, however, we pulhed on to- wards the S. E. and began to enter into the plain of Abola, one of the divifions of the Agow. The plain or rather valley of Abola, is about half a mile broad for the mod part, and nowhere ex- ceeds a mile. The mountains that form it on the eafl and well fide are at firil of no confiderable height, and are covered with herbage and acacia- trees to the very top ; but as they run fouth, they increafein height, and become more rugged and w^oody. On the top of thefe are mofi: delightful plains, full of excellent pafture ; the mountains to the w^eft are part of, or at lead join the moun- tain of Aformaflia, where, from a direction near- ly S. E. they turn fouth, and inclofe the villages and territory of Sacala, which lie at the foot of them, and ftill lower, that is more to the weft- ward, the fmall village of Geefli, where are the long expected fountains of the Nile. Thefe mountains are here in the form of a cref- eent ; the river runs in the plain along the foot of , this ridge, and along the fide of it Kafmati Fafil palTed after his defeat at Fagitta. The mountains which form the eaft fide of this plain run parallel to the former in their whole courfe, and are part of, or at leaft join the mountains of Litchamba- ra, and thefe two, when behind Aformafha, turn to the fouth, and then to the S. W. taking the fame form as they do, only making a greater curve, and inclodng them likewife in the form of a cref- .cent, the extremity of which terminates immedi- ately THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 261 ately above the fmall lake Gooderoo, in the plain of AlToa, below Geefh, and diredly at the foun- tains of the Nile. The river Abola comes out of the valley between thefe two ridges of mountains of Litchambara and Aforrnaflia, but does not rife there ; it has two branches, one of which hath its fource in the weft- em fide of Litchambara, near the center of the curve where the mountains turn fouth ; the other branch rifes on the mountain of Aformafha, and theeaft fide of our road as we afcended to the church of Mariam. Still behind thefe are the mountains of Amid Amid, another ridge which begin be- hind Samfeen, in the S, W. part of the province of Maitfha, though they become high only from the mountain of Adama, but they are in fhape exadly like the former ridges, embracing them i^ a large curve in the fhape of a crcfcent. Between Amid Amid and the ridge of Litcham-* bara is the deep valley now known by the name of St. George ; what was its ancient^ or Pagan name, I could not learn. Through the middle of this valley runs the Jemma, a river equal to the Nile, if not larger, but infinitely more rapid ^ after leaving the valley, it croffes that part of Maitfha on the eaft of the NUe, and lofes itfelf in that river below Samfeen, near the ford where our army pafTed in the unfortunate retreat of the month of May : its fources or fountains are three i they ^ife in the mountains of A^^id Amid,, and i^?ep en clufo 262 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER clofe to the eaft fide of them, till the river ilTues out of the valley into Maitfha. This triple ridge of mountains difpofed one range behind the other, nearly in form of three con- centric circles, feem to fugged an idea that they are the mountains of the Moon, or the Monies Lun^ of antiquity, at the foot of v/hich the Nile v/as faid to rife ; in fact, there are no others. Amid Amid may perhaps exceed half a mile in height,, they certainly do not arrive at three quar- ters, and are greatly fhort of that fabulous height given them by Kircher. Thefe mountains arc all of them excellent foil, and everywhere co- vered with fine p^afture ; but as this unfortunate country had been for ages the theatre of war, the inhabitants have only ploughed and fown the top of them out of the reach of enemies or marching armies. On the middle of the mountain are vil- lages built of a white fort of grafs, which makes them confpicuous at a great dillance ; the bottom is all grafs, where their cattle feed continually under their eye \ thefe, upon any alarm, they drive up to the top of the mountains out of dan- ger. The hail lies often upon the top of Amid ^mid for hours, but fnow was never feen in this country, nor have they a word * in their language for it. It is alfo remarkable, though we had often ^ By this is meant tlie Amharicj for in Geez the word for fnow is Tilze : this may have been invented for tranilating the fcriptuieso violent .THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 263 violent hail at Gondar, and even when the fun was vertical, it never came but with the wind blowing diredly from Amid Amid. At ten minutes pad three o'clock we crolTed the fmall river Iworra, in the valley of Abolaj it comes from the eaft, and runs weftward into that river. At a quarter after four we halted at a houfc in the middle of the plain, or valley. This valley is not above a mile broad, the river being diflant about a quarter, and runs at the foot of the moun- tains. This village^^s indeed were all the others we had feen fince our croffing the Nile at Goutto, was furrounded by large, thick plantations, of that fmgular plant the Enfete, one of the mofl beautiful produdions of nature*, as well as mod agreeable and wholefome food of man. It is faid to have been brought by the Galla from Narea, firll: to Maitfha, then to Goutto, th& Agows, and Damot, which laft is a province on the fouth fide of the mountains of Amid Amid. This plant, and the root called Denitch, (the fame which is known in Europe by the name of the Jerufalem artichoke, a root deferving more attention than is paid to it in our country,} fupply all thefe provinces with food. We were but feldom lucky enough to get the people of the villages to wait our arrival ; the fears of the march of the Galla, and the uncertainty of their deflination, made them . believe always we were detachments of that army, to which the pre-* fence of Falirs horfe driven conllantly before us very 264 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER very much contributed : we found the village where we alighted totally abandoned, and in it only an earthen pot, with a large flice of the En- fete plant boiling in it j it was about ^ foot in length, and ten inches broad, and was almofl ready for eating : we had fortunately meat with us, and only wanting vegetables to complete our dinner. We appropriated to ourfelvcs, without fcruple, this enfete ; and, by way of reparation, I infilled upon leaving, at parting, a brick, or wedge pf fait, which is ufed as fmall money in Gondar, and all over AbyfTmia ; it might be in value about a fhilling. On the 4th of November, at eight o'clock we left ouri'mall village on the plain of Abola, with- out having feen any of the inhabitants ; however, we were fare there were among them fome who were curious enough to wilh to look at us, for, in walking late at night, I heard feveral voices fpeak- ing low among the enfete-trees and canes. It was not poflibie to coiled: what they faid in the low tone in which they fpoke ; and I fliould not proba- bly have been much wifer, had they fpoken louder, as their language was that of their country, the Agow, of which I did not underftand one word ; however, I thought I could diftinguifh they were women, the men apprehending we were enemies having probably taken refuge in the mountains above. I did every thing pofTible to furround or furprife one or two of thefe people, that, by good ufage and prefents, we might reconcile them to us, and THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 265 and get the better of their fear ; but it was all to no purpofe ; they fled much quicker than we could purfue them, as they knew the country, and it was not fafe to follow them far into the wildernefs, left we might flumble upon people who might mi- interpret our intentions. I was determined to try whether, by taking away that fcare-crow, Fafil's horfe, from before us, and riding him myfelf, things would change for the better : this I diftindly faw, that Woldo would have wifhed the horfe to have gone rather without a rider, and this I had obferved the night I went to the catarad from Goutto. Sitting on the king's faddle, or in his feat at Gondar, is high treafon ; and Woldo thought, at all times, but nov/ efpecially, that his mailer was inferior to no king upon earth. I even attributed to that lafl expedition at Goutto his filence and apparent fick- nefs ever fince; but in this lad circumflance I found afterwards that I was miftaken : be that as it would, my plan was very different from Wol- do's as to the horfe, he was become a favourite and I was refolvcd, in the courfe of my journey, to improve his talents fo, that he ihould make a better appearance on his return to Gondar, than he did when I received him from Fafil at Bamba, I compounded, as I conceived, with Woldo's fcruples, by laying afide Fafil's faddle, which was a very uneafy one, bcfides, that it had iron rinrs inflead of ftirrups ; in fhort, as this horfe was very beautiful, (as many of the Galla horfes are) and ail 266 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER all of one colour, which was of lead, without any fpot of white, I hoped to make him an acceptable prefent to the King, who was pailionately fond of horfes. Here it may not be improper to obferve, that all very great men in Abyilinia claioofe to ride horfes of one colour only, which have no dif- tinguilhing mark whereby they may be traced in retreats, flights, or fuch unlucky expeditions: It is the king alone in battle who rides upon a horfe diilinguifhed by his marks, and that on purpofe that he may be known. There were many villages in this valley which feemed to have efcaped the havock of war, nor had they that air of poverty and mifery fo apparent ] in all the other habitations we had feen. We were pointing nearly eafl fouth-eaft, when we pafTed the fmali river Googueri, which, like all the others on this fide of the mountain, falls into the Abola. We then left the valley of Abola on our right, and began to travel along the fides of the mountains on the weft. At three quarters after eight we paiTed a violent torrent called Kar- nachiuli, which falls from north-eaft into the Abola. At nine we again defcended into the val- ley, and, a few minutes after, came to the banks of the Caccino, which flows from the north juft above, and joins the Abola. Here we halted for a little to reft our men, and to adjuft thoroughly the minutes of our journey, that the whole might appear in a diftinci: manner in the map that I in-» tended to make on my return to Gondar, At THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 267 At half pad nine we again fet out, and, a few minutes after, pafled the river Abola, which gives its name to the valley into which we had defcend- ed, and receives many leffer dreams, and is of confiderable breadth. I could difcover no traces of fifh either in it or in any river fmce we left the Aflar, from which circumftancc I apprehend, that, in thefe torrents from the mountains, almofl dry in fummer, and which run with vafl rapidity in winter, the fpawn and fifh are both deftroyed in different feafons by different caufes. After coafting fome little time along the fide of the valley, we began to afcend a mountain on the right, from which falls almofh perpendicularly a fmall, but very violent dream, one of the princi- pal branches of the Abola, which empties itfelf into the Nile, together with the other branch, a dill more confiderable dream, coming from eail fouth-ead along the valley between Litchambara and Aformafha. At eleven o'clock our courfe was fouth by ead, and we palled near a church, dedicated to the Virgin, on our left. The climate feemed here mod agreeably mild, the country co- vered with the mod lively verdure, the mountains with beautiful trees and ihrubs, loaded with ex- traordinary fruits and flowers. I found my fpirits very much raifed with thefe pleafmg fcenes, as were thofe of all my fervants, who were, by our converfation, made geographers enough to know we were near approaching to the end of oar i(.iir- ney. Both Strates and I, out of the Lamb's henr- 268 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER ing, had (hot a variety of curious birds and beads. All but Woldo feemed to have acquired new ftrength and vigour. He continued in his air of defpondency, and feemed every day to grow more and more weak. At a quarter paft eleven we ar- rived at the top of the mountain, where we, for the firft time, came in fight of Sacala, which ex- tends in the plain below from well to the point of fouth, and there joins with the village of Geefh. Sacala, full of fmall low villages, which, how- ever, had efcaped the ravages of the late war, is the eailernmoft branch of the Agows, and famous for the beft honev* The fmall river Kebezza, running from the eail, ferves as a boundary be- tween Sacala and Aformafha ; after joining two other rivers, the Gometti and the Googueri, which we prefently came to, after a fhort courfe nearly from S. E. to N. W. it falls into the Nile a little above its jundion with the Abola. At three quarters paft eleven we croffed the ri- ver Kebezza, and defcended into the plain of Sa- cala ; in a few minutes we alfo paifed the Googue- ri, a more confiderable flream than the former ; it is about fixty feet broad, and perhaps eighteen inches deep, very clear and rapid, running over a rugged, uneven bottom of black rock. At a quarter paft twelve we halted on a fmall eminence, where the market of Sacala is held every Saturday. Horned cattle, many of the greateft beauty poffi- ble, with which all this country abounds ; large affes, the moft ufeful of all beafts for riding or X carriage \ THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 269 carriage ; honey, butter, enfete for food, and a manufadure of the leaf of that plant, painted with different colours like Mofaic work, are here ex- pofed to fale in great plenty ; the butter and ho- ney, indeed, are chiefly carried to Gondar, or to Bure ; but Damot, Maitfha, and Gojam likewife likewife take a confiderable quantity of all thefe commodities. At a quarter after one o'clock we paffed the ri- ver Gumetti, the boundary of the plain: we were now afcending a very lleep and rugged mountain, the worll pafs we had met on our whole journey^ We had no other path but a road made by the fheep or the goats, which did not feem to have been frequented by men, for it was broken, full of holes, and in other places obftru^ted with large Hones that feemed to have been there from the creation. It mufl be added to this, that the whole was covered with thick wood, which often occu- pied the very edge of the precipices on which we flood, and we were every where ftopt and en- tangled by that execrable thorn the kantuffa, and feveral other thorns and brambles nearly as incon- venient. We afcended, however, with great ala« crity, as we conceived we were furmounting the lad difficulty after the many thoufands we had al- ready overcome. Juil above this almoft impene- trable wood, in a very romantic fituation, (lands St. Michael, in a hollow fpace like a nitch be- tween two hills of the fame height, and from which 270 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER which it is equally diftant. This church has been unfrequented for many years ; the excufe they make is, that they cannot procure frankincenfe, "without which, it feerns, their mafs or fervice can- not be celebrated ; but the truth is, they are ftiil Pagans ; and the church, having been built in me- mory of a victory over them above a hundred years ago, is not a favourite objecl before their eyes, but a memorial of their inferiority and misfortune. This church is called St. Michael Sacala. to dif- tinguifh it from another more to the fouthward, called St. Michael Geefii. At three quarters after one we arrived at the top of the mountain, whence we had a diftinft view of all the remaining tenitory of Sacala, the mountain Geeih, and church of St. Michael Geeih, about a mile and a half didant from St. Michael Sacala, where we then were. We faw, immedi- ately below us, the Nile itfelf, flrangely diminilh- ed in fize, and now only a brook that had fcarcely water to turn a mill. I could not fatiate myfelf with the fight, revolving in my mind all thofe claffical prophecies that had given the Nile up to perpetual obfcurity and concealment. The lines of the poet came immediately into my mind, and I enjoyed here, for the firft time, the triumph which already, by the protection of Providence, and my own intrepidity, I had gained over all that were powerful, and all that THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 271 that were learned, fince the remoteft antiqui- ty : Arcanum natura caput non prodidit ulliy Nee licuit populis parvum te^ Nile^ videre ; Amovitque Jinus , et gentes mahdt ortiis Mirariy quam noffe tms*- LUCAN". I was awakened out of this delightful reverie by an alarm that we had loft Woldo our guide. Tho* I long had expected fomething from his behaviour, I did not think, for his own fake, it could be his intention to leave us. The fervants could not agree when they laft faw him : Strates and Aylo's fervant were in the wood (hooting, and we found by the gun that they were not far from us ; I was therefore in hopes that Woldo, though not at all fond of fire-arms, might be in their company ; but it was with great diffatisfadion I faw them ap- pear without him. They faid, that, about an hour before, they had feen forae extraordinary large, rough apes, or monkeys, feveral of which were walking upright, and all without tails ; that they had gone after them through the wood till they could fcarce get out again ; but they did not re- member to have feen Woldo at parting. Various conje6;ures immediately followed ; fome thought he had relolved to betray and rob us ; fome con- ceived it was an inftruclion of Fafil's to him, in order to our being treacheroufiy murdered ; fame again 572 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER again fuppofed he was flain by the wild beads, ef» pecially thofe apes or baboons, whofe voracity^ fize, and fierce appearance were exceedingly mag- nified, efpecially by Stratcs, who had not the leafl doubt, if Woldo had met them, but that he would be fo entirely devoured, that we might feek in vain without difcovering even a fragment of him. For my part, 1 began to think that he had been really ill when he firft complained, and that the ficknefs might have overcome him upon the road ; and this, too, was the opinion of Ayto Aylo's fervant, who faid, however, with a fignificant look, that he could not be far off; we therefore fent him, and one of the men that drove the mules, back to feek after him ; and they had not gone but a few hundred yards when they found him coming, butfo decrepid, andfo very ill, that he faid he could go no farther than the church, where he was pofitively refolved to take up his abode that night. I felt his pulfe, examined every part about him, and faw, I thought evidently, that nothing ailed him. Without lofing my tem- per, however, I told him firmly. That I perceived he was an impoflor ; that he fhould confider that I was a phyfician, as he knew I cured his mafler's firll friend, Welleta Yafous : that the feeling of his hand told me as plain as his tongue could have done, that nothing ailed him ; that it told me likewife he had in his heart fome prank to play, which would turn out very much to his dif- advantage. He feemed difmayed after this, faid little. THE SOURCE GF THE NILE. 273 little, and only defired us to halt for a few mi- nutes, and he (hould be better ; for, fays he, it requires ftrength in us all to pals another great hill before we arrive at Geefh. " Look you, faid s ly^^^g is to no purpofe ; I know where Geefh is as well as you do, and that we have no more mountains or bad places to pafs through $ therefore, if you choofe to flay behind, you may; but to-morrow I (hall inform Wclleta Yafous at Burc of your behaviour/' I faid this with the moft determined airpoflible, and left them, walking as hard as I could down to the ford of the Nile. Woldo remained above with the fervants, who were loading their mules ; he feemed to be perfedly cured of his lamenefs, and was in clofe converfation with Ayto Aylo's fervant for about ten minutes, which I did not choofe to interrupt, as I faw that man was already in poffefTion of part of Woldo's fecret. This being over, they all came down to me, as I was fKetching a branch of a yellow rofe-tree, a number of which hang over the ford. The whole company paffed without diflurbing me ; and Woldo, feeming to walk as well as ever, afcended a gentle rifmg hill, near the top of which is St, Michael Geefh. The Nile here is- not four yards over, and not above four inches deep where we croffed ; it was indeed become a very trifling brook, but ran fwiftly over a bottom of fmall flones, with hard, black rock appearing amidfl them : it is at this place very eafy to pafs. Vol. IV. T ^nd 174 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER and very limpid, but, a little lower, full of In- confiderable falls ; the ground rifes gently from the river to the fouthward, full of fmall hills and eminences, which you afcend and defcend almoil imperceptibly. The whole company had halted on the north fide of St. Michael's church, and there I reached them without affeding any hurry. It was about four o'clock in the afternoon, but the day had been very hot for fome hours, and they were fitting in the fhade of a grove of magnificent cedars, intermixed with fome very large and beautiful culfo-trees, all in the flower ; the men were lying on the grafs, and the beafts fed, with the burthens on their backs, in moft luxuriant herbage. I called for my hcrbary *, to lay the rofe-branch I had in my hand fmoothly, that it might dry without fpoiling the fhape ; hav- ing only drawn its general form, the piilil and flamina, the finer parts of which (though very neceffary in claffing the plant) crumble and fall ofF^ or take different forms in drying, and therefore fliould always be fecured by drawing while green. Ijull faid indifferently to Woldo in paffmg, that I was glad to fee him recovered ; that he would prefently be well, and fhould fear nothing. He then got up, and defired to fpeak with me alone, taking Aylo's fervant along with him. " Now, faid I, very calmly, I know by your face you are going to tell m.e a lie. I do fwear to you folemn- * Hortus Siccus, a large book for extending and preferving dry plants. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 275 ly, you never, by that means, will obtain any thing from me, no not fo much as a good word ; truth and good behaviour will get you every thing ; what appears a great matter in your fight is not perhaps of fuch value in mine 5 but no- thing except truth and good behaviour will an- fwer to you ; now 1 know for a certainty you are no more fick than I am.'^ — " Sir, faid he, with a very confident look, you are right ; I did coun- terfeit ; I neither have been, nor am I at prefent any way out of order ; butl thought it befl to tell you fo, not to be obliged to difcove^ another rea- fon that has much more weight with me why I cannot go to Geelh, and much le!s fhew myfelf at the fources of the Nile, which I confefs are not much beyond it, though I declare to you there is fhill a hill between you and thofe fources." — '* And pray, faid I calmly, what is this mighty reafon ? have you had a dream, or a vifion in that trance you fell into when you lagged behind below the church of St. Michael Sacala V " No, fays he, it is neither trance, nor dream, nor devil either ; I wifh it was no worfe ; but you know as well as I, that my mafter Fafil defeated the Agows at the battle ofBanja. I was therewith my mafter, and killed feveral men, among whom fome were of the Agows of this village Geelh, and you know the ufage of this country, when a man, in thefe cir- cumftances, falls into their handsj his blood mull pay for their blood.'' T 2 Iburfl t7«^ TRAVELS TO DISCOVER I burfl out into a violent fit of laughter, which very much difconcerted him. " There, faid I, did not I fay to you it was a lie that you was go- ing to tell me ? do not think I dilbelieve or difpute with you the vanity of having killed men ; many men were flain at that battle ; fomebody muft, and you may have been the perfon who flew them ; tut do you think that I can believe that Fafil, fo deep in that account of blood, could rule the Agows in the manner he does, if he could not put a fervant of his in fafety among them 20 miles from his refidence ; do you think I can believe this?" " Come, come, faid Aylo's fervant to Woido, did you not hear that truth and good j behaviour will get you every thing you aflc ? Sir, continues he, I fee this affair vexes you, and w^hat this foolifh man wants will neither make you richer nor poorer ; he has taken a great defire for thatcrimfon filk-fafh which you wear about yourj middle. I told him to flay till you went back to Gondar ; but he fays he is to go no farther than to the houfe of Shalaka Welled Amlac in Mait- fha, and does not return to Gondar; I told him to fray till you had put your mind at eafe, by fee- ing the fountains of the Nile, which you arc fo anxious about. He faid, after that had happen- ed, he was fare you would not give it him, for you feemed to think little of the cataract at Gout- to, and of all the fine rivers and churches which hehad fliewn you ; except the head of the Nile fliall be finer than ail thefe, when, in reality, it will THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 277 will be juft like another river, you will then be diflatisfied, and not give him the fafh/* I thought there was fomething very natural in thefe fufpicions of Woldo ; befides, he faid he was certain that, if ever the falh came into the fight of Welled Amlac, by fome means or other he would get it into his hands. This rational difcourfe had pacified me a little ; the faih was a handiome one ; but it muft have been fine indeed to have flood for a minute between me and the accom- plifhment of my wifhes. I laid my hand then upon the pillols that ftuck in my girdle, and drew them out to give them to one of my fuite, when Woldo, who apprehended it was for another purpofe, ran fome paces back, and hid himfelf behind Aylo's fervant. We were all diverted at this fright, but none fo much as Strates, who thought himfelf re- venged for the alarm he had given him by falling through the roof of the houfe at Goutto. After having taken off my fafh, " Here is your fafh, Woldo, faid I ; but mark what I have faid, and now moft feriouily repeat to you, Truth and good behaviour will get any thing from me ; but if, in the courfe of this journey, you play one trick more, though ever fo trifling, I will bring fuch a vengeance upon your head that you fhall not be able to find a place to hide it in, when not the fafli only will be taken from you, but your (kin alfo will fofiow it: remember what happened to the feis at Bamba.*' He i78 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER ^ He took the fafli, but feemed terrified at the threat, and began to make apologies. " Come, come, faid I, we underfliand each other ; no more words ; it is now late, lofe no more time, but carry me to Geefli, and the head of the Nile di- redily, without preamble, and fhew me the hill that feparates me from it. He then carried me round to the fouth fide of the church, out of the o-rove of trees that furraiinded it. " This is the hill, fays he, looking archly, that, when you was on the other fide of it, was between you- and the fountains of the Nile ; there is no other ; look at that hillock of green fod in the middle of that watery fpot, it is in that the two fountains of the Nile are to be found : Geefh is on the face of the rock where yon green trees are : if you go the length of the fountains pull off your fhoes as you did the other day, for thefe people are all Pagans, worfe than thofe that were at the ford, and they believe in nothing that you believe, but only in this river, to which they pray every day as if it were God ; but this perhaps you may do likewife.** Half undreiTed as I v^as by the lofs of my lafh, and throwing my fhoes off, I ran down the hiil towards the little ifland of green fods, which was about two hundred yards diftaiit ; the whole fide of the bill was thick grown over with flowers, the large bulbous roots of which appearing above the fur- face of the ground, and their fldns coming off on treading upon them, occafioned two very fe- ycre falls before 1 reached the brink of the mar 111 ; I after THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 279 I after this came to the ifland of geeen turf, which was in form of an altar, apparently the work of art, and I flood in rapture over the principal foun* tain which rifes in the middle of it. It is eafier to guefs than to defcribe the fituati- on of my mind at that moment — (landing in that fpot which had baffled the genius, induflry, and inquiry of both ancients and moderns, for the courfe of near three thoufand years. Kings had attempted this difcovery at the head of armies, and each expedition was diflinguifhed from the lad, only by the differ ence of the numbers which had perifhed, and agreed alone in the difappoint- ment which had uniformly, and without excepti- on, followed them all. Fame, riches, and ho- nour, had been held out for a feries of ages to every individual of thofe myriads thefe princes commanded, without having produced one maa capable of gratifying the curiofity of his fovereign, or wiping off this (lain upon the enterprife and abilities of mankind, or adding this defideratum for the encouragement of geography. Though a mere private Briton, I triumphed here, in my own mind, over kings and their armies ; and every comparifon was leading nearer and nearer to prefumption, when the place itfelf where I flood, the objed: of my vain -glory, fuggolled what de.- prelfed my fhort-lived triumphs. I was but a few minutes arrived at the fources of the Nile, through numberlefs dangers and fufferings, the lead of which would have overwhelmed me but for the continual 28o TRAVELS TO DISCOVER continual goodnefs and prote6lion of Providence ; I was, however, but then half through my jour- ney, and all thofe dangers which I had already paiTed, awaited me again on my return. I found a defpondency gaining ground fafl upon me, and blafting the crown of laurels I had too rafhly wo- ven for myfelf. I refolved therefore to divert, till I could on more folid refledion overcome its pro- grefs. I faw Strates expeding me on the fide of the hill. ^' Strates, faid I, faithful fquire, come and tri- umph with your Don Quixote at that ifland of Barataria where we have wifely and fortunately brought ourfelves ; come and triumph with me over all the kings of the earth, all their armies, all their philofophers, and all their heroes/' — " Sir, fays Strates, I do not underfland a word of what you fay, and as little what you mean : you very well know I am no fcholar ; but you had much better leave that bog, come into the houfe, and look after Woldo ; I fear he has fomething further to feek than your fafh, for he has been talking with the old devil worfhipper ever fmce we arri- ved."— " Did they fpeak fecretly together, faid I?"...." Yes, Sir, they did, I allure you."-— " And in whifpers, Strates !"— " As for that, replied he, they need not have been at the pains ; they anderlland one another, I fuppofe, and the devil their mafter underftands them both ; but as for me I comprehend their difcourfe no more than if it v/as Greek, as they Jay, Greek! fays THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. zSi he, I am an afs ; I fhould know well enough what they faid if they fpoke Greek/' — " Come, faid I, take a draft of this excellent water, and drink with me a health to his majefly king George IIL and a long line of princes." 1 had in my hand a large cup made of a cocoa-nut fhell, which I pro- cured in Arabia, and which was brim-full. He drank to the king fpeedily and chearfully, with the addition of, " Confufion to his enemies,'* and tolTed up his cup with a loud huzza. " Now friend, faid I, here is to a more humble, but dill a facred name, here is to -Maria 1" Me afked if that was the Virgin Mary ? I anfwered, " In faith, I believe fo, Strates." He did not fpeak, but only gave a humph of difapprobation. The day had been very hot, and the altercation I had with Woldo had occafioned me to fpeak fo much that my thirft, without any help from curi- ofity, led me to thefe frequent libations at this long fought-for fpring, the moft ancient of all al- tars. " Strates, faid I, here is to our happy re- turn. Come, friend, you are yet two toalh be- hind me; can you ever be fatlsfied with this ex- cellent water ?"— " Look you. Sir, fays he very gravely, as for king George I drank to him with all my heart, to his wife, to his children, to his brothers and fifters, God blefs them all ! Amen ; but as for the Virgin Ivlary, as I am no Paplii, I beg to be excufed from drinking healths v/hich my church does not drink. A% for our happy re- turn, God knows, there is no one wifhes it more fmcereiy 282 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER (incerely than I do, for I have been long weary of this beggarly country. But you mufl forgive me if I refufe to drink any more water. They fay thefe favages pray over that hole every morning to the devil, and I am afraid I feel his horns in my belly already, from the great draught of that hellifh wa- ter I drank firfl." It was, indeed, as cold water as ever I tailed. " Come, come, faid I, don^t be peevilh, I have but one toafl more to drink.'* " Peevilh, or not peeviili, replied Strates, a drop of it never again Ihall crofs my throat : there is no humour in this ; no joke j Ihew us fomething pieafant as you ufed to do ; but there is no jefl in meddling with devil-worfhippers, witchcraft, and inchantments, to bring fome difeafe upon one's felfhere, fo far from home in the fields. No, no, as many toafts in wine as you pleafe, or better in brandy, but no more v/ater for Strates. 1 am fure i have done myfelf harm already with thefc follies-"God forgive me!" ^' Then, faid I, I will drink it alone, and you are henceforward unworthy of the name of Greek ; you do not even deferve that of a Chriftian." Holding the full cup then to my head, " Here is to Caiharine, emprefs of all the Ruinans, and fuccefs to her he- roes at Paros j and hear my prediction from this altar to day, Ages (hall not pafs, before this ground, whereon I now (land, will become a flourifhing part of her dominions." He leaped on this a yard from the ground. " If the old gentleman has whifpejted you this, fays be, THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 283 he, out of the well, he has not kept you a long time waiting ; tell truth and fhame the devil, is indeed the proverb, but truth is truth, wherever it comes from ; give me the cup, I will drink that health though I ihould die." He then held out both his hands. " Strates, faid I, be in no fuch hafte ; remember the water is inchanted by devil- worfhippers ; there is no jelling with thefe, and you are far from home, and in the fields, you may catch fome difeafe, efpecially if you drink the Virgin Mary ; God forgive you. Remember the horns the firfl draught produced ; they may with this come entirely through and through." " The cup, the cup, fays he, and- fill it full ; I defy the devil, and trufl in St. George and the dragon. Here is to Catharine, emprefs of ail the RuiiiaSa confufion to her enemies, and damnation to ail at Paros." ^- "Well, friend, faid I, you was long in refolving, but you have done it at lad: to fome purpofe ; I am fure I did not drink damnation to allatParos." " Ah, fays he, hut I did, and will do it again — Damnation to all at Paros, and Cy- prus, and Rhodes, Crete, and Mytilene into the bargain: Here it goes with all my heart. Amen, fo be it." " And who do you think, faid I, are at Paros ?" " Pray, who (hould be there, fays he, but Turks and devils, the word race of monf- ters and opprelTors in the Levant ; I have been at Paros myfelf; was you ever there?" " Whether 1 was ever there or not is no matter, faid I; the ^afecutus: Ambiffetque polos ^ Nilumque afonU bibiffet : Occurrit fuprema dles^ naturaquefolum^ Hunc poiuitjlnem 'vefano ponere regi* LUCANa It mull no doubt fe^m prepofterous to thofe that are not very converfant with the elaffics, that a prince fo well inflruded as Alexander himfelf was, who had with him in his army many philo- ibphers, geographers, and ailronpmers, and wa^ in conftant correfpondence with Ariflotle, a man of almoil univerfal knowledge, that, after having ittn the Nile in Egypt coming from the fouth, he Ihould think he was arrived at the head of it while on the banks of the Indus, fp far to the N. E. of its Ethiopian courfe. This difficulty, however, iias a very eafy folution in the prejudices of thofe times. The ancients were incorrigible as to their error in opinion concerning two feas. The Cafpian Sea they had failed through in fe- deral diredions, and had almoft marched round it ; and whilil they conquered kingdoms between it and the fea, its water was fweet, itneither ebbed nor flovv^ed, and yet they mod ridiculoufly would have it to be part of the ocean. On the other hand, they obftinately perfifled in believing that, from the ead coafl of Africa, about latitude 15^ fouth, a neck of land ran eafl and north-eaft, and joined THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 295 joined the penlnfula of India, and by that means made this part of the ocean a lake. In vain fhips of different nations failed for ages to Sofala, and faw no inch land : this only made them remove the neck of land further to the fouth ; and though Eudoxus had failed from the Red Sea around the Cape of Good Hope, which muft have totally de- ilroyed the poflibility of the exiftence of that land fuppofed to join the two continents, rather than allow this, they negleded the information of this navigator, and treated it as a fable. It was the conftant opinion of the Greeks, that no river could rife in the torrid zone, as alfo, that the melting of fnow was the caufe of the overflow- ing of all rivers in the heat of fummer, and fo of the Nile among the reft ; when, therefore, Alex- ander heard from his difcoverers, that the Nile, about latitude 9". ran ftraight to the eaft, arid re- turned no more, he imagined the river's courfe was eaftward through the imaginary neck of land inclofing the imaginary lake, and joining the pe- ninfula of India, and that the river, after it had croffed, continued north till it came within reach of the thawing of thefnows of Mount Caucafus ; and this was alfo the opinion of Ptolemy the geo* grapher. Ptolemy Philadelphus, the fecond of thofe princes who had fucceeded to the throne of Alex- ander in Egypt, was the next who marched into Ethiopia v/ith an army againft the Shangalla, His objed was not only to difcover the fource of the 296 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER Nile, but alfo to procure a perpetual fupply of ele« phants to enable him to cope with the kings of Sy- ria. The fuccefs of this expedition we have re- lated in the fecond volume, book ii. chap. v. Ptolemy Evergetes, his fucceflbr, in the 27th year of his reign, being in peace with all his neighbour^, undertook an expedition to Ethiopia. His defign was certainly to difcover the fountains of the Nile, in which he had probably fucceeded had he not miftaken the river itfelf. He fuppofed the Siris, now the Tacazze, was the Nile, and, after afcending in the diredion of its (Iream, he came to Axum, the capital of the province of Sire and of Ethiopia. But the ftory he tells about the fnow which he found knee-deep on the mountains of Samen, makes ine queftion whether he ever croffedthe Siris, or was himfelf an ocular witnefs of what he fays he pbferved there. Csefar, between the acquifition of a rich and powerful kingdorn, and the enjoyment of the iinell woman in the world, the queen of it, is faid to have employed fo interefting an interval in a calm inquiry after the fource of this river, and, in fo doing at fuch a time, furely has paid it a greater compliment than it ever yet received from any that attempted the difcovery. On that night, which completed the defl:ru£i:ion of the Egyptian monarchy, it is faid this was the topic upon which he entertained the learned of Alexandria ai THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 297 at fupper ; addrelling himfelf to Achorcus, high priefl of the Nile, he fays. •Nihil ejl^ quod nofcere malim. ^amjiuvii caufas^ perfecula ianta Jateniisy Jgnotumque caput : /pes Jit mihi certa videndi Niliacosfontes^ bellutn civile relinquam, LUCAN. The poet here pays Caefar a compliment upon his curiofity, or dcfire of knowledge, very much at the expence of his patriotifm j for he makes him declare, in fq many words, that he confider- cd making war with his country as the greateft pleafure of his life, never to be abandoned, but for that fuperior gratification — the difcovery of the fountains of the Nile. Achoreus, proud of being referred to on fuch a fubjed by fuch a perfon, enters into a detail of information. ^a tibi nofcendi Nilum^ Romane^ cupido eft^ Hac Pbariis, Fcrftfque fuit^ Macedumque ty- rannis : Nullaque non at as voluit conferre futuris Notitiam : Jed vincit adhuc natura latendi. LucAN, Nero, as wc are told, fent two centurions in fcarch of this river, and on their return they made their report in prefence of Seneca, who does not feem 298 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER feein to have greatly diftinguifhed himfeif by his inquiries. They reported, that after having gone a very long way, they came to a king of Ethiopia, who farnifhed them with neceflaries and afliftance, and with his recommendations they arrived at fome other kingdoms next to thefe, and then came to immenfe lakes, the end of which was un- known to the natives, nor did any one ever hope to find it : this was all the fatisfaftion Nero pro- cured, and it is probable thefe centurions went not far, but were difcouraged, and turned back with a trumped-up ftory invented to cover their want of fpirit, for we know now that there are no fuch lakes between Egypt and the fource of the Nile, but the lake of Tzana, or Dembea, and while on the banks of this, they might have feen the country beyond, and on every fide of it*; but I rather think no fuch attempt was made, un- lefs they endeavoured to pafs the country of the Shangalla about the end of June or July, when that province, as I have already faid, is abfolutely impalTable, by the rapid vegetation of the trees, and the ground being all laid under water, which they might have miilakenfor a feries of lakes. After all thefe great efforts, the learned of an- tiquity began to look upon the difcovery as defpe- rate, and not to be attained, for which reafon * Another reafon why 1 think this joqrney of the centurions is fjditious is, that they fay the diitance between Syene and ;^eroeis 66q miles. Plin. lib. 6. cap. 29. both THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 299 both poets and hiftorians fpeak of it in a flrain of jdefpondency : — Sfcreio defonte cadens : quife?nper inani ^laerendus ratione latet^ nee contigit uUt\ Hoc vidijfe caputs fertiir fine tejie creatus, Claudian. And Pliny, as late as the time of Trajan, fays, that thefe fountains were in his time utterly un- known— Nihis incertis ortus fontihus ^ It per deferta et ardentia^ et immenfo longitudinis fpatlo ajnhidans *, — nor was there any other attempt made later by the ancients. From this it is obvious, that none of the anci- ents ever made this difcovery of the fource of the Nile. They gave it up entirely, and caput Nill quaerere became a proverb, marking the difficulty^ pr rather the impolTibility, of any undertaking. Let us now examine the pretenfions of the mo- derns. The firfl in latter days who vifited Abyflinia \vas a monk, and at the fame time a merchant ; he was fent by Nonnofus, ambalTador of the em- peror Juflin, in the fifth year of the reign of that prince, that is A. D. 522. He is called Cofmas the hermit, as alfo Indoplauftes. Many have thought that this name was given him from hi$ having travelled much in India, properly fo call- * Pliny, Nat. Hifl. lib. v. cap. 9. ed| 3 fuppofed to be covered with mud. All the land of Egypt is then fitted for cultivation ; the great canal at Manfoura, and feveral others, are open- ed, which convey the water into the defert, and hinder any further itagnation on the fields, though C c 2 lihere 3S8'' TRAVELS TO DISCOVER there is ftill a great part of the water to come from Ethiopia, but which would not drain foon enough to fit the land for tillage, were the inundation fuffered to go on. Now, from thefe 1 6 peeks the Wafaa JJllah if we deduce 5, which were in the well, and marked on the column when the crier began, there will have been but 1 1 peeks of rife as a minimum, which (till made the meery due, or 15, deducing 5 from 20, the maximum, menjibbel^ allajibbely the increafe that fits all Egypt for cultivation, af- ter which is lofs and danger. Therefore, fuppofe the 16 peeks on the medal of Hadrian to have been the minimum or fifcal term, we mufl infer, that the fame quantity of inundation produced the Wafaa UUah or payment of the meery, in Hadri- an's time, that it does at this day, and consequent- ly the land of Egypt has not increafed fince his time, that is, in the laft 1600 years. Asa fummary of the whole relating to this peri- odical inundation of the Nile, I fhall here deliver my opinion, which I think, as it is founded upon ancient hiflory, confonant to that of intermediate times, and, invincibly eftablifhed by modern ob- fervation, can never be overturned by any argu- ment whatever. And this I fhall do as fhortly as poffible, left, having anticipated it in part by re- flexions explanatory of the narrative, it may at fir ft fight have the appearance of repetition. It is agreed on all hands, that Egypt, in early ages, had water enough to overflow the ground that THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 389 that compofed it. It was then a narrow valley as it is now ; having been early the feat of the arts, crowded with a multitude of people, enriched by ^the moil flourifhing and profitable trade, and its^ numbers fupplied and recruited when needful by the immenfe nations to the fouthward of it, hav- ing grain and all the neceffaries and luxuries of life (oil excepted) for the great multitude which it fed, Egypt was averfe to any communication with flrangers till after the foundation of Alexandria. The firft princes, after the building of Memphis, finding the land turn broader towards the Delta, whereas before it had been a narrow flripe confi- ned between mountains ; obferving alfo that they had great command of water for fitting their land for cultivation, nay, that great part of it ran to wafte without profit, which muft have been the cafe, fince it is fo at this day : obferving likewife, that the fuperabundance of water in the Nile did harm, and that the neighbouring fandy plains of Libya needed nothing but a judicious diftribution of that water, to make it equal to the land of Egypt in fertility, and furpafs it in the variety of natural prod udions, applied themfelves very early to digging large lakes *, that, preferving a degree of level fufficient, all the year long watered the dry deferts of Libya like fo many fruitful ihowers. Geometry, architedure, and all the mechanic * We know that thefe lakes were dug, and in ufe as early aa Mcfes's time. Exod. chii|). vii. ver. 19. chap. viii. ver. 5. arts 390 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER arts of thofe times, were employed to accomplifh thofe defigns. Thefe canals and vaft works com- municated one with another to imprifon the water, ^nd fet it again at liberty at proper times. We may be fatisfted this was obferved attentive^ ly all the time of the dynafties, or reigns of the Egyptian princes. After the acceffion of the Pto- lemies, w^ho were ftrangers, the multitude of in- habitants had greatly decreafed. There was no occafion for works to water lands that were not peopled ; fo far as they were neceifary for cities, gardens, and pleaiure-grounds, they w^ere always kept up. 1 he larger and more cxtenfive conduits, dykes, and iluices, though they were not ufed, were protecied by their own folidity and flrength from fudden ruin, Egypt, now confined within its ancient narrow valley, had water enough to keep it in culture, and make it dill the granary of the inhabited world. "When the ancient race of the Ptolemies ended, a fcene of war and confuhon, and bad govern- ment at home, was fucceeded by a worfe under foreigners abroad. The number of its inhabitants w^as iliil greatly decreafed, and the valley had yet a quantity of water enough to fit it for annual cul- ture. In the reign of the fecond emperor after the Ror man conquefl, Petronius Arbiter, a man well known for tafte* and learning, was governor of Egypt. He faw with regret the decay of the magnificent works of the ancient native Egyptian princes* THE SOUilCE OF THE NILE. 391 princes. His fagacity penetrated the ufefulnefs and propriety of thofe works. He faw they had once made Egypt populous and flouriihing. Like a good citizen and fubjed: of the ftate he fervedj and from a humane and rational attachment to that which he governed, he hoped to make it again as flourifhing under the new government as it had been under the old. Like a man of fenfe, and mafter of his fubjedt, he laughed at the daf- tardly fpirit of the modern Egyptians, anxious and trembling left the Nile fiiould not overflow land enough to give them bread, when they had the power in their hands to procure plenty in abund- ance for fix times the number of the people then in Egypt. To ihew them this, he repaired their ancient works, raifed their banks, refitted their Unices, and by thus imprifoning, as I may fay, the inundation at a proper time in the beginning, he overflowed all Egypt with 8 peeks of water, as fully, and as efFeclually, as to the purpofes of agriculture, as before and fmce it hath been v»dth 16 ; and did not open the fluices to allow the wa- ter to run and wafte in the defert (where there were now no longer any inhabitants % till the land of the valley of Egypt had been fo well watered as only to need that the inundation lliould retire in time to leave the farm.er the ground firm enough for plowing and fowing. Let any one read what Lhave already quoted from Strabo ; it is jufl what I have here repeated, but in fewer words. Let him confidcr how fair an 392 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER an experiment this of Petronius was, that by re-? eflabliihing the works of Mgeris, and putting the inundation to the fame profit that M^ris did, he found the fame quantity of water overflow the fame quantity of ground, and eonfequently that the land of Egypt had not been raifed an inch froni M^ris's time to that of Petronius, above 1400 years. Now the fecond part of the queflion comes, what difference of meafure was made by the Sara- cens, and how does it now (land, after that pe- riod, as to the fuppofed rife of a foot in a hundred years ? It is now above 1 100 years fince the * firft of the Hegira, and near 900 years fiiice the erec- tion of the prefent Mikeas, which being equal to the period between Maoris and Herodotus, and again to that between Herodotus and Julian, we fhould begin to be certain if any fuch increafe in the land has ever, from Mseris to the prefent time, been indicated by the Niioraeter. The reader will perhaps be furprifed, at what I am going to advance^ That thofe writers, as well as their fupporters who have pronounced fo pofi- tively on this ful^je^t, have not furnifhed them- felves with the data which are abfolutely necelfary to foive this queftion. Quantity is only to be af- certained by meafures, yet none of them have fettled that only medium of judging. The Mi- keas, or pillar, is the fubjeft to be rneafured, and * A. C. 622. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 393 they are not yet agreed within 20 feet of its ex- treme height, nor about the divifion of any part of it. As this accufation appears to be a ftrong one, I fliall fet down the proof for the reader^s con= lideration, that it may not be fuppofed I mean to criticife improperly, or to do any author injuftice. And firft of the Mikeas. Mr. Thomas Humes, a gentleman qjaoted by Dr. Shaw *, who had been a great many years a fa£lor at Cairo, fays, that the Mikeas is 58 feet Englifh in length. Now, there is really no reafon why fuch an enormous pillar fhould have been built, as the Nile would drown all Cairo before it was to rife to this height ; accordingly, as we have feen, its height is not fo much by near 22 feet. Dr. Perry t next, who jias wrote largely upon the fubjed:, fays, the Mi- keas, or column, is divided into 24 peeks, and each peek or cubit is 24 inches nearly. Dr. Po- cocke J, who travelled at the fame time, agrees in the divifion of 24 peeks, but fays that thefe peeks are unequal. The 16 lower he fuppofes are 2 1 inches, the 4 next, 24 inches, and the up- permoft, 22. So that one of thefe gentlemen makes the Mikeas 43 feet, which is above fix feet more than the truth, and the other 48, which is above 1 1 5 befides the fecond error which Dr. Pococke has committed, by faying the divifions are of three different dimenfions, when they really f Shaw's Travels, chap. ii. fed. 3. p. 382. f Defcripu ^ftheEail, vol. L p, 256. J A View of the Levant, p. ^82. 284. 286. 394 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER ' are not any one of them what he conceives, nor is the Mikeas divided unequally. As for Mr. Humes, who had lived long at Cai- ro, I \^ould by no means be thought to infmuate a doubt of his veracity : There may, in change of times, be occafions when Chriflians may be ad- mitted to the Mikeas, and be allowed to meafurc exactly. This, however, mud be with a long rod, divided and brought on purpofe, with a high ilool or fcaiibld, and this fort of preparation would be attended with much danger if feen in the hand of a Chriftian without, and much more if he was to attempt to apply it to the column within. At Cairo a man may fee or hear any thing he de- fires, by the ordinary means of gold, which no Turk can withftand or refufe ; but often one viU lain is paid for being your guide, and another vil- lain, his brother, pays himfelf, by informing againfl you \ the end is mifchief to yourfelf, which, if you are a ftranger, generally involves alfo your friends. You are alked. What did you at the Mikeas when you know it is forbidden ? and your filence after that queftion is an acknow- ledgment of guilt ; fentence immediately follows, whatever it may be, and execution upon it. I ra- ther am inclined to think, that though feveral Chriftians have obtained admiifion to the Mikeas, very few have had the means or inflruments, and fewer flill the courage, to meafure this column exadly ; which leads rne to believe, as Dr. Shaw fays, he procured the number of feet in a letter ' from THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 395 from Mr. Humes, that the Dodor has miftakea 58 for 38, which, in a foreign hand, isveryeafily done ; it would then be 38, inftead of 58 Englifli feet, and to that number it might approach near enough, and the difference be accounted for, from an aukward manner of meafuring with a trembling hand, there being then only a little more than one foot of error. From what I have juft now mentioned, I hope it is fufficiently plain to the reader, that the length and diviuon of the column in the Mikeas, by which the quantity of water, and confequently the increafe of the foil, was to be determined, was utterly unknown to thofe travellers who had un- dertaken this mode of determining it. I fliall now inquire, whether they were ,better inflruded in the length of that meafure, which, after the Saracen conqueft, was introduced into the Nilometer, of Geeza, where it has remained unaltered fmce the year 245 ? Dr. Shaw intro- duces the confideration of this fubjed by an enu- meration of many different peeks, feven of which he quotes from Arabian authors, as being then in. life. Firft, the Homarseus i|- digit of the comr mon cubit. 2. The Hafamean, or greater peek, of 24 digits. 3. The Belalsean, lefs than the Hafamean. 4. The black cubit lefs than the Be- lalean 2^ digits. 5. The Joiiippssan ~ of a digit lefs than the black cubit. • 6. The Chord, or Afaba, ly digit lefs than the black peek. 7. Ihe Maharanius, 396 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER Maharanlus, i\ digits lefs than the black cubit *• Now, I will appeal to any one to what all this in- formation amounts, when I am not told the length of the common peek to which he refers the reft, as being 1 1^ digit, or two digits more or lefs. He himfelf thinks that the meafuring peek is the Stambouline peek, but then, for computation's fake, he takes a peek of his own invention, be- ing a medium of 4 or 5 guelTes, and fixes it at 25 inches, for which he has no authority but his own imagination. I will not perplex the reader more with the dif- ferent meafure of thefe peeks, between the Hafa- meanand great peek of Kalkafendas, which is 18 inches, and the black peek, a model of which Dr. Bernard | has given us from an Arabic MS. at Oxford, the difference is lo inches. The firfl bein^ 18 inches equal to the Samian peek, the other 284^ inches, and from this difference we may judge, joined to the uncertainties of the height and divifions of the Mikeas, how impoffible it is for us \o determine the increafe of 1 2 inches in a hundred years. As the generality of writers have fixed upon the Conftantinople, or Stambouhne peek, for the meafure of the Mikeas, in which choice they have erred, we will next feek what is the meafure of the Stambouline peek, and whether they have in this article been better informed. * Shaw, p. 380. 381. f Pefcript, de I'Egypte, p. (i<^^ M. de THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 397 M. de Maillet, French conful at Cairo, fays, that this peek is equal to 2 French feet, or very nearly 26 inches of ourmeafure: and, to add to this another miflake, he ftates, that by this peek the Mikeas is meafured ; and, for the compleating of the confufion, he adds, that the Nile mud rife 48 French feet before it covers all their lands* What he means by all their lands is to very little purpofe to inquire, for he would probably have been drowned in his clofet in which he made thefe computations, long before he had feen the Nile at that height, or near it. Without, then, wandering longer in this ex- traordinary confufion, which I have only flated to Ihew that a traveller may differ from Dr. Shaw, and yet be right, and that this writer, however learned he may be, cannot, for want of informa- tion, be competent to folve this queftion which he fo much infifls upon, I Ihall now, with great fub- miffion to the judgment of my reader, endeavour to explain, in as few words as poffible, ,how the real ftate of the matter Hands, and he will then apply it as he pleafes. There was a very ingenious gentleman whom I met with at Cairo, M. Antes, a German by birth, and of the Moravian perfuafion, who, both to open to himfeif more freely the opportunities of propa- gating his religious tenets, and to gratify his own mechanical turn, rather than from a view of gain, to which all his fociety are (as he was) perfedly in- different, exercifed the trade of watch-maker at Cairo. 398 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER Cairo* This very worthy and fagacious young man was often my unwearied and ufeful partner in many inquiries and trials, as to the manner of executing fome inftruments in the mod compen- dious form for experiments propofed to be made in my travels. By his afliftance, I formed a rod of brafs, of half an inch fquare, and of a thick- nefs which did not eafiiy warp, and would not alter its dimenfions unlefs with a violent heat. Upon the three faces of this brafen rod we traced^ with good glaifes and dividers, the meafure of three different peeks, ' then the only three known in Cairo, the exa6l length of which was taken from the ftandard model furniilied me by the Ca- jdi. The firfl was the Stambouline, or Conflan« tinople peek, exactly 26/-^ inches ; the fecond, theHendaizy, of 24/-^ inches ; and the third the peek El Belledy, of 22 inches, all Englifh mea- fure. It was natural to fuppofe, that, after knowing, as we do, that no alteration has been made in the Mikeas fmce the 245th year of the Hegira, that the peek of Conflantinople, a foreign meafure, was probably then not known, nor introduced into Egypt ; nor, till after the conquefl: of Sultan Selim, in the year 1516, was it likely to be the peek with which the Mikeas was meafured. It did not, as I conceive, exift in the 245th of the Hegi- ra, though, even if it had, its dimenfions may have been widely different from thof. fixed upon by the number of wi iters whofe authority we have quo ted 3 THE. SOURCE OF THE NILE. 399 quoted, but who do not agree. It was not likely to be the Hendaizy peek either, for this, too, was a foreign meafure, originally from the ifland of Meroe, and well known to the Egyptians in Up- per Egypt, but not at all to the Saracens their prefent mailers. The peek. El Belledy, the mea- fure in common ufe, and known to all the Egyp- tians, was the proper cubit to be employed in an operation which concerned a whole nation, and was, therefore, the meafure made ufe of in the divifion of the Mikeas, for that column, as I have faid, is divided equally into peeks, or draas, called Draa El Belledy^ confiding of 22 inches ; and each of thefe peeks is again divided into 24 di- gits. Avery ingenious author, who treats of the par- ticular circumflances of thofe times, in his MS. called Han el Mohaderat^ fays, that the inhabitants of Seide counted 24 peeks on their Nilometer, when there were 18 peeks marked as the rife of the water upon the Mikeas at Rhoda ; and this fliews perfectly two things : Firft, that they knew the whole fecret of counting there both by the marked and unmarked part of the column; for the peek of the Mikeas being 22 inches Englifli, it was, by confequence, four inches larger each peek than the Samiau peek ; fo that if, to 20 peeks of Seide, you add twenty times four inches, which is 80, the difference of the two peeks, when divided by 18, gives four, which, added to the 20 peeks on the column, make 24 peeks, the number 40O TRAVELS TO DISCOVER number fought. Secondly, That this obfervatioiti in the Han cl Mohaderat fufficiently confirms what I have faid both of the length of the. column and length of the peek ; that the former is 20 peeks in height, and that the meafure, by which this is afcertained, is the peek El Belledy of 22 inches, as it appears on the brafs rod, four inches longer than the Samian peek, and confequently is not the peek of Stambouline, nor any foreign meafure whatever. A traveller thinks he has attained to a great deal of precifion, when, obferving 18 peeks on the higheft divifion of the column from its bafe, or bottom of the well, he finds it 37 feet ; he di- vides this by i8j and the quotient is 24 inches ; when he Ihould divide it by 20, and the anfwer would be 22 and a fradlion, the true content of the peek El Belledy, or peek of the Mikeas. This erroneous divifion of his he calls the peek of the Iviikeas ; and comparing it with what authors, lefs informed than himfelf, have faid, he names the Stambouline peek, and then the black peek, when it really is his own peek, the creature of his own error or inadvertence ; but, as he does not know this, it is handed down from traveller to traveller, till unfortunately it is adopted by fome man of reputation, and it then becomes, as in this cafe, a fort of literary crime to any man, from the authority of his own eyes and hands, to difpute it. 2 Mr. Pq- THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 401 Mr. Pococke makes two very curious and fenfi- bJe remarks in point of fad:, but of which he does not know the reafon. " The Nile, he fays, in the beginning, turns red, and fometimes green ; then the waters are unwholefome. He fuppofes that the fource of the Nile beginning to flow plen- tifully, the waters at firft bring away that green or red filth which may be about the lakes at its rife, or at the rife of thefe fmall rivers that flow into it, near its principal fource ; for, though there is fo little water in the Nile, when at lowed, that there is hardly any current in many parts of it, yet it cannot be fuppofed that the water jQiould flagnate in the bed of the Nile, fo as to become green. Afterwards the water becomes very red and ftill more turbid, and then it begins to be whole- fome *." The true reafon of this appearance is fromthofe immenfe marflies fpread over the country about Narea and Caffa, where there is little level, and where the water accumulates, and is ftagnant, before it overflows into the river Abiad, which ri- fes there. The overflowing of thefe immenfe marlhes carry firft that difcoloured water into Egypt, then follows, in Abyflinia, the overflow- ing of the great lake Tzana, through which the Nile paffes, which, having been ftagnated and without rain for fix months, under a fcorching fun, joins its putrid waters with the flrft. There * Pococke, vol. i. p. 199. 200. VcL. iy» D d are, 402 Imiavels to discover arc, moreover, A^ery few rivers in Abyflinia that run after November, as they fland in prodigious pools below, in the country of the Shangalla, and afford drink for the elephant, and habitation and food for the hippopotamus. Thefe pools likewife throv^^ off their ftagnant water into the Nile on re- ceiving the firll rains ; at lad the rivers, marfhes, and lakes, being refreftied by fhowers, (the rain becoming conftant) and palling through the king- dom ofSennaar, the foil of which is a red bole } this mixture, and the moving fands of the de- ferts, fall into tlie current, and precipitate all the vifcous and putrid fubftances, which cohere and float in the river j and thence (as Pococke has well obferved) the fign of the Nile being whole- fome, is not when it is clear and green, but when mingled v/ith frefh water, and after precipitation it becomes red and turbid, and (tains the water of the Mediterranean. The next remark of Mr. Pococke * is equally true. It has been obferved, fays he, that after the rainy feafon is over, the Nile fallen, and the whole country drained from inundation, it has begun again to rife } and he gives an inflance of that in December 1737, when it hada fudden in- creafe, which alarmed all Egypt, where the re- ceived opinion was that it prefaged calamities. This alfo is faid to have happened in the time of Cleopatra, when their government was fubverted, * Fococke, vol. i. p- 201. th-eir THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 403 their ancient race of kings extinguiflied in the perfon of that princefs, and Egypt became a pro- vince to the Romans. The reader will not expect. In thefe enlightened times, that I Ihould ufe arguments to convince him, that this rifing of the Nile had nothing to do with the extindion of the race of the Ptolemies, though popular preachers and prophets have al- ways made ufe of thefe fortuitous events to con- firm the vulgar in their prejudices. The rains, that ceafe in Abyflinia about the 8th of September, leave generally a fickly feafon in the low country ; but other rains begin towards the end of Oftober, In the lafl days of the Ethio- pic month Tekemt, which continue moderately about three Weeks, and end the 8th of November^ or the I 2th of the Ethiopic month Hedar. All ficknefs and epidemical difeafes then difappear, and the 8th of that month is the feafl of St. Mi» chael, the day the king marches, and his army begins their campaign ; but the effed of thefe fe- cond rains feldom make any, or a very fhort ap- pearance in Egypt, all the canals being open. But thefe are the rains upon which depend their latter crops, and for which the Agows, at the fource of the Nile, pray to the river, or to the genius re- fiding in the river. We had plentiful Ihowers both in going and coming to that province, efpe- cially in our journey out. Whenever thefe rains prove exceifive, as in fome particular years it feems they do, though but very rarely, the land-floods, D d 2 and 404 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER and thofe from the marflies, falling upon the ground, already much hardened and broken into chafms, by two months intenfe heat of the fun^ run 'violently into the Nile without finking into the earth. The confcquence is this temporary ri- fmg of the Nile in December, which is as uncon- neded with the good and bad crops of Egypt, as it is on thofe of Palefline or Syria. The quantity of rain that falls in Ethiopia varies greatly from year to year, as^ do the months in which it falls. The quantity that fell, during 1770, in Gondar, between the vernal equinox and the 8 th of September, through a funnel of one foot Englifh in diameter, was ^S>555 inches ; and, in 177 1, the quantity that fell in the fame circumference was 41,355 inches in the fame fpace *. In 1 770, Augufl was the rainy month ; in 177 1 July. Both thefe years the people paid the meery, and the Wafaa Ullab was in Auguft. When July is the rainy month, the rains generally ccafe for fome days in the beginning of Augufl, and then a prodigious deal falls in the latter end of that month and the firft week of September, In other years, July and Auguft are the violent rainy months, whilft June is fair. And laftly, in others. May, June, July, Auguft and the firft week of September. Now, we ftiall fuppofe (which is the * See Table, or Regifter of Rain> that fell in thefe years, infened at the end of this volame^ moft THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 405 mofl common cafe of all) that every month from June doubles its rain. The Wafaa Ullah generally takes place about the 9th of Augufl, the tribute being then due, and all attention to the Mikeas is abandoned at 14 real peeks, the Califh is theii cut, and the water let down to the Delta. Now thefe 1 4 peeks are not a proof how much water there is to overflow the land : for fuppofmg nine days for its palTage from Ethiopia, then the 9th of Auguft receives at Cairo no later rains than thofe that have fallen the ift of Auguft in Ethiopia, and from that date till the 17th of September, the Nile increafes one third of its whole inundation, which is never fuiFered to appear on the Mikeas, . but is turned down to the lakes in the Delta, as I fuppofe it always has been ; fo that the quantity of water which falls in Ethiopia hath never yet been afcertained, and never can be by the Mikeas, nor can it ever be known what quantity of water comes into Egypt, or what quantity of ground it is fufEcient to overflow, unlefs the dykes were to be kept clofe till the Nile attained its ex- treme height, which would be about the 25th of September, long before which it would be over the banks and mounds, if they held in till then, or have fwept Cairo and all the Delta into the Me- diterranean, and if it fliould not do that, it would retire fo late from the fields as to leave the ground in no condition to be fown that year. I do not comprehend what idea other travellers have formed of the beginning of the inundation ' - of 4o6 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER of the Nile, as they feem to admit that the banks are not overflowed ; and this is certainly the cafe > becaufe the cities and villages are built there as fecurely as on the highcil part of Egypt, and even when the Nile has rifcn to its greateil height they flill are obliged to water thofe fpots with ma- chines. In another part of the work it is explain- ed how the califhes carry the water upon the lands, approaching always to the banks as the ri- ver rifes in proportion, and thefe califhes being derived from the Nile at right angles with the flream, and carrying the water by the inclination of the ground, in a diredion different from the courfe of the river, the water is perfectly flagnated at the foot of the hills, till accumulated as the fliream rifes, it moves in a contrary diredion back- wards again, and approaches its banks. But when the inundation is fo great that the back-water comes in contad with the current of the Nile, by known laws it mud partake the fame motion with it, and fo all Egypt become one torrent. Dr. Shaw, indeed *, fays, that there feems to be a defcent from the banks to the foot of the mountains, but this he confiders as an optic falla- cy ; I wiOi he had told us upon Vv^hat principle of optics ; but if this v/as really fo, how comes it that the banks are every year dry, when the foot of the mountains is at the fame time under inundation ; or, in other vvords, what Is the reafon of that undif- *• Snavv's Travels, fed. 4. p. 401. pu ted THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 407 puted fa6l, that the foot of the mountains is laid under water in the beginning of the river's rifing, while the ground which they cultivate by labour near the banks, cannot fupply itfelf from the ri- ver by machines, till near the height of the inun- dation ? thefe facts will not be controverted by any traveller, who has ever been in Upper Egypt ; but if this had been admitted as truth inflead of an optic fallacy, this queflion would have immedi- ately followed : If the land of Egypt at the foot of the mountains, is the lowed, the firfl over- flowed, and the longeft covered with water, and often the only part overflowed at all, whence can it arife that it is not upon a level with the banks of the river if it is true that the land of Egypt re- ceives additional height every year by the mud from Abyflinia depofited by the ftream ? and this queflion would not have been fo eafily an- fwered. The Nile for thefe thirty years has but once fo failed as to occaiion dearth, but never in that period fo as to produce famine in Egypt. The redundance of the water fweeping every thing before it, has thrice been the caufe, not of dearth, but of famine and emigration ; but careleffnefs, I believe, hath been, the occafion of both^ and very often the malice of the Arabs i for there are in Egypt, from Siout dovvnwai'ds, great remains of ancient v/orks, vaft lakes, ca^ rials, and large conduits for water, deilined by the ancients to keep this river under controul, ferving 4b8 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER ferving as refervoirs to fupply a fcanty year, and as drainSj or outlets,, to prevent the over abundance of water in wet years, by fpreading it in the thirfly fands of Libya to the great advantage of the Arabs, rather than letting it run to wafte in the Mediterranean. The mouths of thefe immenfe drains being out of repair, in a fcanty year, contribute by their evacuation to make it fiill fcantier by not retaining water, and if after a dearth they are well fecured, or raifed too high, and a wet feafon follows, they then occafion a deilruftive inundation. I hope I have now fatisfied the reader, that Egypt was never an arm of the fea, or formed by fediments brought down in the Nile, but that it was created with other parts of the globe at the fame time, and for the fame purpofes ; and we are warranted to fay this, till we receive from the hand of Providence a work of fuch imperfedion, that its deftruclion can be calculated from the very means by which it was firft formed, and which were the apparent fources of its beauty and pre-eminence. Egypt, like other countries, will perifh by i^tjiat of Him that made it, but when, or in what manner, lies hid w^here it ought to be, inaccefTible to the ufelefs, vain inquiries, and idle fpeculations of man. C H A P. THE SOURCE OF TH£ NILE. 40^ CHAP. XVIII. Inquiry about the Poffibility of changing the Courfe of the Nile Caufe of the Nuda. It has been thought a problem that merited t6 be confidered. Whether it was poffible to turn the current of the Nile into the Red Sea, and thereby to famifh Egypt ? I think the queftion fliould more properly be. Whether the water of the Nile, running into Egypt, could be fo dimi- niflied, or diverted, that it ihould never be fuffi- cient to prepare that country for annual cultiva- tion ? Now to this it is anfwered, That there feems to be no doubt but that it is poffible, becaufe the Nile, and all the rivers that run into it, and all the rains that fwell thofe rivers, fall into a country fully two miles above the level of the fea ; there- fore, it cannot be denied, that there is level enough to divert many of the rivers into the Red Sea, the Indian, and Atlantic Oceans, or perhaps, {till eafier, by turning the courfe of the river Abiad 4IO TRAVELS TO DISCOVER Abiad till it meets the level of the Niger, or pafs through the defert into the Mediterranean. Lalibala, as we have already feen, attempted the former method with great appearance of fuc- cefs ; and this prince, to whom the accidental circumflances of the time had given extraordinary powers, and who was otherwife a man of great capacity and refolution, might, if he had perfe- vered, completed his purpofe, the thing being poffible, that is, no law of nature againft it, and all difficulties are only relative to the powers vefted in thofe who are engaged in the under- taking. Alexander the Great would have fuc- ceeded — his father Philip would have mifcarried — Lewis the XIV. would perhaps have accom- pliflied it, as eafily ,as he united the two feas by the canal of Languedoc, and with the fame en- gineers ; but he is the only European prince of whom this could have been expeded with any degree of probability. Alphonfo Albuquerque, viceroy of India, is faid to have wrote frequently to the king of Portugal, Don Emanuel, to fend fome pioneers from Madeira, people accuftomed to level ground, ^nd prepare it for fugar-canes, with whofe affift- ance he was to execute that enterprife of turning the Nile into the Red Sea, and famifliing Egypt. His fon mentions this very improbable ftory in {lis * father's commentaries ; and he fays further, * Alph. d'Albucmtrquej Comment. Ijeb. iv. cap. 7. that THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 411 that he imagines it might have been done, becaufe it was a known faQ: that the Arabs in Upper Egypt, when in rebellion againfl the Seldan, ufed to interrupt the courfe of the canal between Cofleir on the Red Sea, and Kenna in Egypt. Tellez and le Grande, mentioning the two opinions of the father and the fon upon this fub- je6t, give great praife to the fon at the expence of the father, but without reafon. In the firfl place, we have feen that the utmofl exertion Don Emanuel could make was to fend 400 men to afTift the king of xlbyiTmia, whofe country was then almoft conquered by the Turks and Moors. It was not then from India we were to expert the execution of fo arduous an un* dertaking. And as to the fecond, the younger Albuquerque is miftaken egregiouily in point of fa6l, for there never was a canal between CofTeir and Kenna, the goods from the Red Sea were tranfported by a caravan, and are fo yet. We have feen, in the beginning of this work, the account of my travelling thither from Kenna ; this intercourfe probably was often interrupted by the Arabs in iliQ days he mentions, and fo it is dill ; but it is the caravan not the canal, that is flopt by the Arabs, for no canal ever exifled. The fum of all this (lory is, a long and violent perfecution followed the conquefl of Egypt by the Saracens, v>7ho were accuflomed to live in tents, which, with their dillike to the Chrillian churches, made them deflroy all the buildings of ilone, a« alfo 411 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER alfo perfecute the mafons, whom they confidered as being employed in the advancement of idolatry : thefe unhappy workmen, therefore, fled in num- bers to Lalibala, an Abyflinian prince of their own religion, who employed them in many flu- pendous works for diverting the Nile into the Red Sea, or the Indian Ocean, which I have al- ready defcribed, and which exifl entire to this day*. This idea, indeed, had fubfifled as long as the royal family lived in the fouth part of Abyffinia, in Shoa, in the neighbourhood, and fometimes on the very fpot where the attempt was made. When the court, however, removed northward, and the princes, no longer confined in Gefhen, (a mountain in Amhara) were imprifoned, as they now are in Wechne, in Beleffen, near Gon- dar, thefe tranfadions of remote times and places were gradually forgot, and often mifreprefented ; though, fo far down as the beginning of this cen- tury, we find Tecla Haimanout I. f (king of Abyflinia) expoftulating by a letter with the bafha of Cairo upon the murder of the French envoy M. du Roule, and threatening the Turkifh regency, that, if they perfifted in fuch mifbehaviour, he would make the Nile the inftrument of his ven- geance, the keys of which were in his hand, to give them famine or plenty, as they Ihould deferve of him. In my time, no fenfible man in Abyffinia * Vol. I. b. ii. chap. 8. -h- See this letter in the life of that prince. believed THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 413 believed that fuch a thing was poffible, and few that it had ever been attempted. As for the opinion of thofe, that the Nile may be turned into the Red Sea from Nubia or Egypt, it deferves no anfwer. What could be the mo- tive of fuch an undertaking ? Would the Egyp- tians fufFer fuch an operation to be carried on in their own country for the fake of ftarving themfelves ? and if the country had been taken from them by an enemy, ftill it could not be the interefl of that conqueror to let the inhabitants, now become his fubjedls, perifli, and much lefs to reduce them to the necelTity of fo doing by fuch an undertaking. Much has been wrote about a miraculous drop, or dew, called Gotta, or Nuda, which falls in Egypt precifely on St. John^s day, and is believed to be the peculiar gift of that faint ; it Hops the plague, caufes dough to leaven, or ferment, and announces a fpeedy and plentiful inundation. I hope my reader will not exped that I fhould enter into the difcuflion of the part of St. John is thought to have in this event, my bulinefs is only with natural caufes. Memphis and Alexandria, and all the ancient cities of Lower Egypt, {land upon ciilerns, into which the Nile, upon its overflowing, was admitted, and there remained till it had de-^ pofited all its fediment, and became fit for drinking. Thefe ciflerns are now full of filth ^ though in difrepair, the water, when the Nile I is 414 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER is high infinuates itfelf into them through the broken conduits. In February and March the fun is on its ap- proach to the zenith of one extremity of Egypt, and of courfe has a very confiderable influence upon the other. The Nile being now fallen low, the water in the cifterns putrifies, and the river itfelf has loft all its volatile and finer parts by the continued action of a vertical fun ; fo that, in- ftead of being fubject to evaporation, it becomes daily more and more inclined to putrefaction. About St. John's day * it receives a plentiful mix- ture of the frefh and fallen rain from Ethiopia, which dilutes and refreihes the almoft corrupted river, and the fun near at hand exerts its natural in- fluence upon the water, which now is become light enough to be exhaled, though it has ftill with it a mixture of the corrupted fluid, fo that it rifes but a fmall height during the firft few days of the inundation, then falls down and returns to the earth in plentiful and abundant dews ; and that this is really fo, I am perfuaded from what I obferved myfeif at Cairo. My quadrant was placed on the fiat roof, or terrafs, of a gentleman's houfe where I was taking obfervations ; I had gone down to fupper, and foon after returned, when I found the brafs limb of the quadrant covered with fmall drops of dew, which were turned to a perfect green, or copperas *■ In Aby.fllnia, tbe 24th of June. colour ; THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 415 colour ; and this green had fo corroded the brafs in an hour's time, that the marks remained on the limb of the quadrant for fix months ; and the cavities made by the corrofion were plainly dif- cernible through a microfcopc. It is in February, March, or April only, that the plague begins in Egypt. I do not believe it an endemial difeafe, I rather think it comes from Conftantinople with merchandife, or paflengers, and at this time of the year that the air having at- tained a degree of putridity proper to receive it by the long abfence of dews, the infe&ion is thereto joined, and continues to rage till the period I jufl fpoke of, when it is fuddenly flopped by the dews occafioned by a refrefhing mixture of rain-water, which is poured out into the Nile at the beginning of the inundation. The firfl and moil remarkable fign of the change brought about in the air is the fudden flopping of the plague at Saint John's day ; every perfon, though fhut up from fociety for months before, buys, fells, and communicates with his neighbour without any fort of apprehenfio.n ; and it was never known, as far as I could learn upon fair inquiry, that one fell fick of the plague after this anniverfary : it will be obferved I don't fay died ; there are, I know, examples of that, though I believe but few ; the plague is not always a difeafe that fuddenly terminates, it often takes a confiderable time to come to a head, appearing only by fymptoms ; fo that people taken ill, by the 4i6 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER the moft putrid influence of the air, linger on, ftruggling with the difeafe which has already got fuch hold that they cannot recover ; but what I fay, and mean is, that no perfon is taken ill of the plague fo as to die after the dew has fallen in June) and no fymptoms of the plague are ever common- ly feen in Egypt but in thofe fpring months al- ready mentioned, the greater part of which are deftitute of moifture. I think the inflance I am going to give, which is univerfally known, and cannot be denied, brings this fo home that no doubt can remain of the origin of this dew, and its powerful effeds upon the plague. The Turks and Moors are known to be predef- tinarians ; they believe the hour of man's death is fo immutably fixed that nothing can either ad- vance or defer it an inftant. Secure in this prin- ciple, they expofe in the market-place, imme- diately after Saint John's day, the clothes of the many thoufands that have died during the late continuance of the plague, all which imbibe the moift air of the evening and the morning, are handled, bought, put on, and worn without any apprehenfion of danger ; and though thefe confift of furs, cotton, filk, and woollen cloths, which are fluffs the moft retentive of the infedion, no accident happened to thofe who wear them from this their happy confidence. I fhall here fum up all that I have to fay relating to the river Nile, with a tradition handed down to THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 417 to US by Herodotus, the father of ancient hiftoryj upon which moderns lefs inftructed have grafted a number of errors. Herodotus * fays, that he was informed by the fecretary of Minerva's trea- fury, that one half of the water of the Nile flowed due north into Egypt, while the other half took an oppofite courfe, and flowed diredly fouth into Ethiopia. The fecretary was probably of that country hifnfelf, and feems by this obfervation to have known more of it than all the ancients together. In fad, we have feen that, between 13^ and 14? N. latitude, the Nile, with all its tributary ftreams, which have their rife and courfe within the tropi- cal rains, falls down into the flat country, (the kingdom of Sennaar), which is more than a mile lower than the high country in Abyfllnia, and thence, with a little inclination, it runs into Egypt. Again, in lat. 9^ in the kingdom of Gingero, the Zebee runs fouth, or fouth-eaft, into the inner Ethiopia, as do alfo many other rivers, and, as I have heard from the natives of that country, empty themfelves into a lake, as thofe on the north of the Line do into the lake Tzana ; thence diftri- bute their waters to the eaft and to the wefl. Thefe become the heads of great rivers that run through the interior countries of Ethiopia (corref- pgnding to the fea-coafl of Melinda and Momba- * Herod, lib. ii. p. 98. fea. a8. Vol. IV. E e aa). 4»S TRAVELS TO DISCOVER 2a) into the Indian Ocean, whilft, on the weft* ward, they are the origin of the vail ftreams that fall into the Atlantic, pafling through Benin and Congo, fouthward of the river Gambea, and the Sierraleona. In fhort, the periodical rains from the tropic of Capricorn to the Line, being in equal quantity with thofe that fall between the Line and the tro- pic of Cancer, it is plain, that if the land of Ethiopia floped equally from the Line fouthward and northward, half of the rains that fall on each fide would go north, and half fouth, but as the ground from5^ N. declines all fouthward, it follows that the river which runs to the fouthward mufl be equal to thofe that run to the northward, phis the rain that falls in the 5^ north latitude, where ground begins to Hope to the fouthward, and there can be little doubt this is at lead one of the reafons why there are in the fouthern continent fo many rivers larger than the Nile that run both into the Indian and Atlantic Oceans. From this very tiueand fenfible relation handed to us by Herodotus, from the authority of the fecretary of Minerva, the Nubian geographer has framed a fiftion of his own, which is, that the river Nile divides itfelf into two branches, one of which runs into Eovot northward, and one through the country of the negroes weftward, into the Atlantic Ocean. A^nd this opinion has been greedily adopted by M. Ludolf *, who cites the * ViJ, ludciF in rrcemio Hi.'lcr. ^thiop. i. 8. Id. lib. i. cap. viii. p> i ■'6. Leo Airicuuug in cefcrip. Afnea, lib. i. cap. vii. authority THE SOURCiE OF THE NILE. 419 lauthorlty of Leo Africanus, and that of his monk (Jregory, both of them, in thefe refpeds, fully as much miftaken as the Nubian geographer him- felf. M. Ludolf, after quoting a paiTage of Pliny, tells us that he had confuited the famous Bochart upon that fubjedl^ whether the Nile and the Niger (the river that runs through Nigritia into the Weftern Oceanj were one and the fame river ? The famous Bochart anfwers him peremptorily in the true fpirit of a fchoolman, — That there is no- thing more certain than that the Niger is a part of the river Nile* With great fubmillion, how- ever, I muil venture to fay there is not the lead foundation for this aifertion* Pliny feems the hrfl: who gave rife to it, but he fpeaks modeflly upon the fubjeO:, giving his rea- fons as he goes along. " Nigri fluvio eadem na- " tura, quae Nilo, calamum & papyrum, & eaf- " dem gignit animantes, iifdemque temporibus " augefcit. *'* That it has the fame foil from which the Nile takes its colour, the water is the fame in tafte^ produces the fame reeds, and efpe- cially the papyrus ; has the fame animals in itj fuch as the crocodile and hippopotamus, and over- flows at the fame feafon j this is ^ faying nothing but what maybe applied with equal truth to every other river between the northern tropic and the Line ; but the other two .authors, the Nubian and the mgnk, affert each of them a direft falfe- * Plin. lib. V. cap. 8. E e 2 hood* 42« TRAVELS TO DISCOVER hood. The Nubian fays, that if the Nile carried all the rains that fall in AbylTmia down into Egypt, the people would not be fafe in their houfes. To this I anfwer by a matter of fad, the map of the whole courfe of the Nile is before the reader ; and it is plain from thence, that the whole rain in Abyflinia muft now go, and ever has gone down into Egypt, and yet the people are very fafe in their houfes, and very feldom is the whole land of Egypt compretely overflowed : and it is by no means lefs certain from the fame infpedion, that, unlefs a river as large as the Nile, conftant- ly full, having its rife in countries fubjed to per- petual rains, and pouring its ftream, which never decreafes, into that river, as the Abiad does at Halfaia, all the v/aters in Abyflinia colleded in the Nile would not be fufficient to pafs its fcanty flream through the burning deferts of Nubia and the Barabra, fo as it fhould be of any utility when arrived in Egypt. The next falfehood in point of fad is that of* the monk Gregory, who fays that this left branch of the Nile parts from it, after having paiTed the kingdom of Dongola into Nubia, after which it runs through Elvah, and [o down the defert into the Mediterranean, between the Cyrenaicum and Alexandria. Now, firft, we know, from the authority of all antiquity, that there is not a de- fert more deftitute of rivers than that of the The- baid. This want of water (not the diftance) made the voyage to the temple of Jupiter Am- mon THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 421 mon an enterprife next to defperate, and fo wor- thy of Alexander, who never, however, met a rfver in his way ; had there been there fuch a ftream, there could be no doubt that the banks of it would have been fully as well inhabited as thofe of the Nile, and the Thebaid confequently no defert. Befides the caravans, which for ages o pafled between Egypt and Sennaar, mufl have feen this river, and drunk of it ; fo mufl the travellers, in the beginning of this century, Pon- cet and M. du Roule. They were both at Llvah ; and, paiTing through the dreary deferts of Selima, they muft have gone along its fide, and croiTed it, where it parted from the Nile in their journey to Sennaar. Whereas we know they never faw running water from the time they left the Nile a^ Siout in Egypt, till they fell in again with it a,t Mufcho, during which period they had nothing but well water, which they carried in Ikins with them. The diftrift of Elvah is the Oafis Magna and Oafis Parva of the ancients ; large plentiful fprings breaking out in the middle of the burning fands, and running conftantly without diminution, have invited inhabitants to flock around them. Thefe conduding off the water that fpills over the foun- tain by trenches, the neighbouring lands have quickly produced a plentiful vegetation : gardens and verdure are fpread on every fide, large groves of palm trees have been planted, and the over- flowings of every fountain have produced a little paradiie, 4?2 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER paradife, like fo many beautiful and fruitful iflands amidfl an immenfe Ocean. The coafl of the Mediterranean, from the Cy- renaicum or Ptolemaid (that is, the coafl: from Bengazi, or Derna, to Alexandria) is well known by the ftiipping of every nation ; but what pilot or paiTenger ever faw this magnificent watering- place in that defert coafl, where this branch of the Nile comes dovvu into the Mediterranean ? Befides, the author of this fable betrays his igno- rance in the very beginning, where he derives this left branch of the Nile from the principal river, and fays, that, after pafTmg the kingdom of Dongola, it enters Nubia. Now, when it en- tered Dongola it muft have already palTed Nubia,^ for Dongola is the capital of the Barabra, every inch of which is to the northward of Nubia. I do not know worfe guides in the geography of Africa than Leo Africanus and the Nubian geo- grapher. I believe them both impoftors, and the ,commentators upon them have greatly increafed by their own conjedures, the confufion and errors which the text has every where occafioned. As, far as I have been ever able to learn, by a very diligent and cautious inquiry, froni the inha- bitants of the neighbouring countries, I believe the origin of the Niger is in lat. I2^ north, and in long:, ^o^ from the meridian of Greenwich nearly ; that it is compofed of various rivers fall- ing down the fides of very high mountains, called Dyre and Tegla ; and runs flraight wed into the, heart THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 423 heart of Africa. I conclude alfo^ that this river (though it has abundant fupply from every moun- , tain) is very much diminiflied by evaporation, running in a long courfe upon the very limits of the tropical rains, when entire, under the name of Senega; or, perhaps, when divided under thofe of Senega and Gambia, it lofes itfelf in the Atlantic Ocean. I conceive alfo, that, as Pliny fays, it has the fame tafte and natural produce tions with the Nile, becaufe it runs in the fame climate, and like that river owes, if not its exid- ence, yet certainly its increafe and fulnefs to the fame caufe, the tropical rains in the northej'n hemifphere falling from high mountains. I hope I have now fully exhaufled every fubje6l worthy of inquiry as to the place where the foun- tains of the Nile are fituated, alfo as to its courfe and various names, the diiferent countries through which it flows, the true caufe, and every thing curious attending its inundations ; and that as, iri old times. Caput Nili quserere, tofeek the fource of the Nile, was a proverb in ufe to fignify the irn^ poilibility of an attempt, it may hereafter be ap^ plied, with as much reafon, to denote the inutility ®f any fuch undertakings. CHAP. 4?4 TRAVELS TO DISCOVEH CHAP. XIX. Kind reception among the Agows — Their Numb^r^ Trade J Chara6lery l^c^ A -*• ^FTER having given my reader fo long, tho* I hope, no unentertaining ledlure, it is time to go back to Woldo, whom we had left fettling our reception with the chief of the village of Geefh. We found the meafures taken by this man fuch as convinced us at once of his capacity and attach- ment. The miferable Agows. alTembled all around him, were too much intereiled in the appearance we made, not to be exceedingly inquifitiye how long our flay was to be among them. They faw, by the horfe driven before us, we belonged to Fafil, and fufpedcd, for the fame reafon, that they were to maintain us, or, in other words, that we ftiould live at difcretion upon them as long as we ehofe to tarry there ; but Woldo, with great addrefs, had difpelled thefe fears almoft as foon as they were V formed. He informed them of the king's graat to me of the village of Gcefli ; that Fafil's tyran* ny THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 425 ny and avarice would end that day, and another mafler, like Negade Ras Georgis, was come to pafs a chearful time among them, with a refoluti- on to pay for every labour they were ordered to perform, and purchafe all things for ready mo- ney : he added, moreover, that no military fer- vice was further to be exaded from them, either by the king or governor of Damot, nor from their prefent mafter, as he had no enemies. We found thefe news had circulated with great rapidity, and we met with a hearty welcome upon our arrival at the village. Woldo had alked a houfe from the Shum, who very civilly had granted me his own ^ it was juft large enough to fervc me, but we were obliged to take poffeiTion of four or five others, and we were fcarcely fettled in thefe when a fervant arrived from Fafil to intimate to the Shum his furrendry of the property and fovereignty of Geefh to me, in confequence of a grantfrom theking : he brought with him a fine, large, milk-white cow, two iheep, and two goats ; the fheep and goats I un* derftood were from Welleta Yafous. Fafil fent us fix jars of hydromel, fifty wheat loaves of very excellent bread, and to this Welleta Yafous had added two middle-Czed horns of excellent ftrong fpirits. Our hearts were now perfedly at eafe, and we pafled a very merry evening. Stratcs, above all, endeavoured, with many a bumper of the good hydromel of Bure, to fubdue the devil which he had fwaliowed in the inchanted water. Woldo. 426 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER' Woldo, who had done his part to great perfedi- on, and had reconciled the minds of all the people of the village to us, had a little apprehenfion for himfelf ; he thought he had loft credit with me^ and therefore employed the fervant of Aylo Aylo to defire me not to fpeak of the fafh to Fafil's fer^ vant. I allured him, that, as long as I faw him ading properly, as he now did, it was much more probable I (hould give him another fafh on our re- turn, than complain of the means he had ufedto get this laft. This entirely removed all his fears, and indeed as long after as he was with us, he every day deferved more and more our commendati- ons. Before we went to bed I fatisfied Fafil's fervant, who had orders from Welleta Yafous to return immediately ; and, as he faw^ we did not fpare the liquor that he brought us, he promifed to fend a frefh fupply as foon as he returned home, which he did not fail to perform the day after. Woldo was now perfectly happy ; he had no fuperior or fpy over his actions ; he had explained himfelf to the Shum, that we fhould want fome- bodv to buy neceflaries to make bread for us, and to take care of the management of our houfe. We difplayed our lelTer articles for barter to the Shum, and told him the moft confiderable purchafes, fuch as oxen and fheep, were to be paid in gold. He was ftruck with the appearance of our wealth, and the generofity of our propofals, and told "Woldo that he infifled, fnice we were in his houfes,^ THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 427 we would take his daughters for our houfe-keepers. The propofal was a moil reafonable one, and readily accepted. He accordingly fent for three in an inflant, and we delivered them their charge. The eldeft took it upon her readily, fhe was about fixteen years of age, of a ftature above the middlq fize, but fhe was remarkably genteel, and, colour apart, her features would have made her a beauty in any country in Europe ; fhe was, befides, very fprightly ; we underftood not one word of her language, though fhe comprehended very eafily the figns that we mad^. This nymph of the Nile was called by nick-name Irepone, which fignifies fome animal that deflroys mice, but whether of the ferret or fnake kind I could not perfedly un- derfland ; fometimes it was one and fometimes another, but which it was I thought of no great importance. The firfl and fecond day, after difpofmg of fome of our flock in purchafes, fhe thought herfelf obliged to render us an account, and give back the refidue at night to Woldo, with a proteflation that fhe had not ftolen or kept any thing to her- felf. I looked upon this regular accounting as an ungenerous treatment of our benefadlrefs. I call- ed on Woldo, and made him produce a parcel that contained the fame with the firfl commodities we had given her ; this confifted of beads, anti- mony, fmall fcilTars, knives, and large needles; I then brought out a pacquet of the fame that had not been broken, and told her they were intendr ed 42S TRAVELS TO DISCOVER ed to be diftributed among her friends, and that we expeded no account from her ; on the contra- ry, that, after (he had beftowed thefe, to buy us neceflaries, and for any purpofes fhe pleafed, T had ftill as many more to leave her at parting, for the trouble fhe had given herfelf. I often thought the head of the little favage would have turned with the poffeffion of fo much riches, and fo great con- fidence, and it was impofTible to be fo blinded, as not to fee that I had already made great progrefs in her affections. To the number of trifles I had added one ounce of gold, value about fifty (hillings fterling, which I thought would defray our ex- pences all the time we ftaid; and having nowper- fedly arranged the ceconomy of our family, no- thing remained but to make the proper obfervati- ens. The houfes are all of clay and ftraw. There was no place for fixing my clock ; I was therefore obliged to employ a very excellent watch made for me by Elicotf. The dawn now began, and a few minutes aftervi^ards every body was at their doors ; all of them crowded to fee us, and w^ breakfafted in public with very great chearfulnefs. The white cow was killed, and every one invited to his fliare of her. The Shum, prieft of the ri- ver, fhould likewife have been of the party, but he declined either fitting or eating with us, though his fons were not fo fcrupulous. ^ it is upon the principal fountain and altar, al- ready mentioned, that once a-y ear J on the firfl ap- pearance THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 429 pearance of the dog-ftar, (or, as others fay, eleven days after) this pried aflembles the heads of the clans ; and having facrificed a black heifer that never bore a calf, they plunge the head of it into this fountain, they then wrap it up in its own hide, fo as no more to be feen, after having fprinkled the hide within and without with water from the fountain. The carcafe is then fplit in half, and cleaned with extraordinary care ; and, thus pre- pared, it is laid upon the hillock over the firfl fountain, and waflied all over with its water, while the elders, or confiderable people, carry v/ater in their hands joined (it mud not be in any difh) from the two other fountains ; they then aiTemble upon the fmali hill a little weft of St. Michael, (it ufed to be the place where the church now Hands) there they divide the carcafe into pieces corref- ponding to the number of the tribes, and each tribe has its privilege, or pretenfions, to particu- lar parts, which are not in proportion to the pre- fent confequence of the feveral clans. Geelh has a principal flice, though the moft inconfiderable territory of the whole ; Sacala has the next ; and Zecgam, the moft confiderable of them all in power and riches, has the ieaft of the whole. I found it in vain to afk upon what rules this diftri- bution was founded j their general and conftant aufwer was, it was fo obferved in old times. After having ate this carcafe rav/, according to their cuftom, and drunk the Nile water to the ex- clufion of any other liquor, they pile up the bones on. 430 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER on the place where they fit, and burn them to afhes* This ufed to be performed, where the church now (lands 5 but Kas Sela Chriftos, fome time after, having beaten the Agows^ and deii- rous, at the Jefuits inftigation, to convert them to Chriflianity, he demoliOied their altar where the bones were burnt, and built a church upon the fite, the doors of which, I believe, were never opened iince that reign, nor is there now, as far as we could perceive, any Chriftian there who might wifli to fee it frequented. After Sela Chrif- tos had demolifhed their altar by building this church, they ate the carcafe, and burnt the bones, on the top of the mountain of Geefh out of the way of profanation, where the veftiges of this ceremony may yet be feen ; but probably the fa- tigue attending this, and the great indifference their late governors have had for Chriftianity, have brought them back to a fmall hillock by the fide of the marfh, well of St. Michael's church, and a little to the fouthward, where they perform this folemnity every year, and they will probably refume their firft altar when the church is fallen to ruins, which they are every day privately haf= tening. After they have finiflied their Woody banquet, they carry the head, clofe wrapt from fight in the hide, into the cavern, which they fay reaches be- low the fountains, and there, by a common light, without torches, or a number of candles, as de- noting a folemnity, they perform their woriliip, the THE SOURCE OF THE NiLEo 431 the particulars of which I could never learn i it is a piece of free-mafonry, which every body knows, and no body ventures to reveal. At a certain time of the night they leave the cave, but at what time, or by what rule, I could not learn ; neither would they tell me what became of the head, whether it was ate, or buried, or how confumed. The Abyffinians have a ftory, probably created by themfelves, that the devil appears to them, and with him they ate the head, fwcaring obedience to him upon certain conditions, that of fending rain, and a good feafon for their bees and cattle : how- ever this may be, it is certain that they pray to the fpirit refiding in the river, whom they call the Everlafting God, Light of the World, Eye of the World, God of Peace, their Saviour, and Father of the Univerfe. Our landlord, the Shum, made no fcruplc of reciting his prayers for feafonable rain, for plenty of grafs, for the prefervation of ferpents, at lead of one kind of this reptile; he alfo deprecated thunder in thefe prayers, which he pronounced very pathetically with a kind of tone or fong : he called the river " Mofl High God, Saviour of the world j*' of the other words 1 could not well judge, but by the interpretation of Woldo. Thofe titles, however, of divinity which he gave the river, 1 could perfectly comprehend v/ithout an in- terpreter, and for thefe only I am a voucher. I alked the priefl, into whofe good graces I had purpofely infinuated myfelf, if ever any fpirit had 2 , been 432 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER been feen by him ? He anfwered, without hefita* tion. Yes ; very frequently. He faid he had feen the fpirit of the evening of the 3d5 (juft as the fun was fetting) under a tree, which he fhewed me at a diftance, who told him of the death of a fon, and alfo that a party from Fafil's army was com- ing ; that, being afraid, he confulted his ferpent^ who ate readily and heartily, from which he knew no harm was to befai him from us, I afked him if he could prevail on the fpirit to appear to me ? He faid he could not venture to make this requeft. If he thought he would appear to me, if, in the evening, I fat under that tree alone ? he faid he believed not. He faid he was of a very graceful figure and appearance ; he thought rather older than middle age ; but he feldom chofe to look at his face ; he had a long white beard, his cloaths not like theirs, of leather, but like filk, of the fafhion of the country. 1 afked how he was cer- tain it was not a man ? he laughed, or rather fneered, fhaking his head, an^i faying. No, no; it is no man, but a fpirit. I allied him then what fpirit he thought it was ? he faid it was of the river ^ it was God, the Father of mankind ; but I never could bring him to be more explicit. I then defi- led to know w^hy he prayed againfl thunder. He faid, becaufe it was hurtful to the bees, their great revenue being honey and wax : then, why he prayed for ferpents ? he replied, Becaufe they taiight him the coming of good or evil. It feems they have all feveral of thefe creatures in their jieighbour- THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 433 hcighbourhood, and the richer fort alv/ays in their houfes, whom they take care of, and feed before they undertake a journey, or any affair of confe- quence. They take this animal from his hole, and put butter and milk before him, of which he is extravagantly fond ; if he does not eat, they think ill-fortune is near at hand. Nanna Georgis, chief of the Agows of Banja, a man of the greatefl confideration at Gondar^ both with the king and Ras Michael^ and my par- ticular friend, as I had kept him in my houfe, and attended him in his ficknefs, after the campaign of 1 '769, confeffed to me his apprehenfions that he (hould die, becaufe the ferpent did not eat upon his leaving his houfe to come to Gondar. He was, indeed, very ill of the low country fever, and very much alarmed ; but he recovered, and returned home, by Ras Michael's order, to ga- ther the Agows together againfl Waragna Fafil ; which he did, and foon after, he and other ileyen chiefs of the Agows were flain at the battle of Banja ; fo here the ferpent's warning was verified by a fecond trial, though it failed in the firfl. Before an invafion of the Galla, or an inroad of the enemy, they fay thefe ferpents difappear, and are no where to be found. Fafil, the fagacious and cunning governor of the country, v/as, as it was faid, greatly addicted to this fpecies of divina- tion, in fo much as never to mount his horfe, of go from home, if an animal of this kind, which he had in his keeping, refufed to eat. Vol. IV* F f The 434 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER The Slmm's name v/as Kef] a Abay, or Servant of the river ; he v^^as a man about 70, not very lean, but infirm, fully as much fo as might have been expeded from that age. He conceived that he might have had eighty-iour or eighty-five chil- dren* That honourable charge which he pofleffed had been in his family from the beginning of the world, as he imagined. Indeed, if all his prede- ceflbrs had as numerous families as he, there was no probability of the fuccefTion devolving to ftran- gers. He had a long white beard, and very mo- derately thick ; an ornament rare in Abyffinia, where they have feldom any hair upon their chin. He had round his body a fkin wrapt and tied with a broad belt : I fhould rather fay it was an ox's hide ; but it was fo fcraped, and rubbed, and manufaftured, that it >*as of the confiftence and appearance of fhamoy, only browner in colour. Above this he wore a cloak with the hood up, and covering his head ; he was bare-legged, but had fandals, much like thofe upon ancient ftatues j thefe, however, he put off as foon as ever he ap- proached the bog w^here the Nile rifes, which we were all likewife obliged to do. We were al- lowed to drink the water, but make no other ufe of ir. None of the inhabitants of Geefii wafli them- felves, or their cloaths, in the Nile, but in a ftream that falls from the mountain of Geeih down into the plain of AlToa, which runs fouth, and meets the Nile in its turn northward, paffing the coun- try of the Gafats and Gongas. 3 The THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 435 TheAgows, in whofe country the Nile rifes are, in point of number, one of the mofl confiderable nations in Abyffinia ; when their whole force is raifed, which feldom happens, they can bring to the field 4000 horfe, and a great number of foot ; they were, however, once much more powerful ; feveral unfuccefsful battles, and the perpetual in- roads of the Galla, have much diminiHied their flrength. The country, indeed, is ftill full of in- habitants, but from their hifrory we learn, that one clan, called Zeegam, maintained fingly a war againflthe king himfelf, from the time of Socini- os to that of Yafous the Great, who, after all, overcame them by furprife and flratagem ; and that another clan, the Denguis, in like manner maintained the w^ar againil Facilidas, Hannes T. and Yafous II, all of them aftive princes. Their riches, however, are ftill greater than their pov/- er, for though their province in length is no where 60 miles, nor half that in breadth, yet Gondar and all the neighbouring country depend for the neceffaries of life, cattle, honey, butter, wheat, hides, wax, and a number of fuch articles, upon the Agows, who come conftantly in fuccefli- on, a thoufand and fifteen hundred at a time, loaded with thofe commodities, to the capital. As the dependence upon the Agows is for their produce rather than on the forces of their country, it has been a maxim with wife princes to compound with them for an additional tribute, inflead of their military fervice ; the neceffities of the times have F f 2 fome- 436 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER fometimes altered thefe wife regulations, and be- tween their attachment to f afil, and afterwards to Ras Michael, they have been very much reduced, whereby the ftate hath fuffered. It will naturally occur, that, in a long carriage, fuch as that of a hundred miles in fuch a climate, butter mufl melt, and be in a ftate of fufion, con- fequently very near putrefadlion ; this is prevent- ed by the root of an herb, called Moc-moco, yel- low in colour, and in fhape nearly refembling a carrot ; this they bruife and mix with their butter, and a very fmall quantity preferves it frefh for a confiderable time ; and this is a great faving and convenience, for, fuppofmg fait was employed, it is very doubtful if it would anfwer the intention ; befides, fait is a money in this country, being cir- culated in the form of wedges, or bricks ^ itferves the purpofe of filver coin, and is the change of gold ; fo that this herb is of the utmoft ufe in pre- venting the increafe in price of this neceflary arti- cle, which is the principal food of all ranks of people in this country. Brides paint their feet iikewife from the ancle downwards, as alfo their nails and palms of their hands, with this drug. I brought with me into Europe a large quantity of the feed refembling that of coriander, and difper- led it plentifully through all the royal gardens : whether it has fucceeded or not I cannot fay. Befides the market of Gondar, the neighbouring black favagesjthe woolly-headed Shangalla,purchafe thegreatePc part of thefe commodities from them, and ^ ^ many THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 437^ many others, which they bring from the capital when they return thence ; they receive in exchange elephants teeth, rhinoceros horns, gold in fmall pellets, and a quantity of very fine cotton 5 of which goods they might receive a much greater quantity were they content to cultivate trade in a fair way, without making inroads upon thefe fa- vages for the fake of flaves, and thereby didurb- ing them in their occupations of feeking for gold and hunting the elephant- The way this trade, though very much limited, is eftablifhed, is by two nations fending their chil- dren mutually to each other ; there is then peace between thofe two families which have fuch hof- tages ; thefe children often intermarry ; after which that family is underftood to be proteded, and at peace, perhaps, for a generation : but fuch inflances are rare, the natural propenfity of both nations being to theft and plunder ; into thefe they always relapfe ; mutual enmity follows in confequence. The country of the Agows, called Agow Midre, from its elevation, mufl be of courfe temperate and wholefome; the days, indeed, are hot, even at Sacala, and, when expofed to the fun, we are fenfible of a fcorching heat ; but whenever you are feated in the fhade, or in a houfe, the tempe- rature is cool, as there is a conifant breeze which makes the fun tolerable even at mid-day, tliough we are here but 10^ from the Line, or a few minutes more. Though 438 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER Though thefe Agows are fo fortunate in their climate, they are not faid to be long-livers ; but their precife age is very difficult to afcertain to any degree of exaclnefs, as they have no fixed or known epoch to refer to ; and, though their coun- try abounds with all the necelTaries of life, their taxes, tributes, and fervices, efpecially at prefent, are fo multiplied upon them, whilft their diftref- fes of late have been fo great and frequent, that they are only the manufadurers of the commo- dities they fell, to fatisfy thefe conftant exorbi- tant demands, and cannot enjoy any part of their own produce themfelves, but live in mifery and penury fcarce to be conceived. We fav/ a num- ber of v/omen, wrinkled and fun-burnt fo as fcarce to appear human, wandering about under a burning fun, with one and fometimes two chil- dren upon their back, gathering the feeds of bent grafs to make a kind of bread. The cloathing of the Agows Is all of hides, which they foften and manufacture in a method peculiar to themfelves, and this they wear in the rainy feafon, when the weather is cold, for here the rainy feafons are of long duration, and vio- lent, which flill increafe the nearer you approach the Line, for the reafons I have already afligned. The younger fort are chiefly naked, the married women carrying their children about with them upon their backs ; their cloathing is like a fliirt * down to their feet, and girded with a belt or girdle' about their middle ; the lower part of it refembles THE SOURCE OE THE NILE. 439 refembles a large double petticoat, one ply of which they turn back over their fhoulders, faften- in'g it with a broach, or ilcewer, acrofs their bread before, and carry their children in it be- hind. The women are generally thin, and, like the men, below the middle fize. There is no fuch thing as barrennefs known among them. They begin to bear children before eleven; thev marry generally about that age, and are marriage- able two years before : they clofe child-bearing before they are thirty, though there are feveral inftances to the contrary. Dengui, Sacala, Dengla, and Geeffi, are all called by the name of AncaOia, and their tribute is paid in honey. Qiiaquera and Azena pay honey likewife ; Banja, honey and gold ; Metakel gold ; Zeegam, gold. There comes from Den- gla a particular kind of fheep, called Macoot, which are faid to be of a breed broup-ht from o the fouthward of the Line ; but neither fheep, butter, nor Haves make part of their tribute, being referved for prefents to the king and great men. Befides what they fell, and what they pay to the governor of Damot, the Agows have a particular tribute which they prefent to the king, one thou- fand dabra of honey, each dabra containing about fixty pounds weight, being a large earthen veffel. They pay, moreover, fifteen hundred oxen and 1000 ounces of gold: formerly the number of jars of honey was four thoufand, but feveral of thefe 440 TRAVELS TO DISCCVER thefe villages being daily given to private people by the king, the quantity is diminiftied by the quota fo alienated. The butter is all fold; and,, fince the fatal battle of Banja, the king's fhare comes only to about one thoufand jars. The of- ficer that keeps the accounts, and fees the rents paid, is called Agow Miziker * ; his poft is worth pne thoufand ounces of gold ; and by this it may be judged with what oeconomy this revenue is colle6ted. This poll: is generally the next to the governor of Damot, but not of courfe ; they are feparate provinces, and united only by the fpecial grant of the kingo Although I had with me two large tents fuffi- cient for my people, I was advifed to take poffef- fion of the houfes to fecure our mules and horfes from thieves in the night, as alfo from the aflaults pf wild beads, of which this country is full. Al° mofl every fmall collection of houfes has behind it a large cave, or fubterraneous dwelling, dug in the rock, of a prodigious capacity, and which mull have been the work of great labour. It is not poilible, at this diflance of time, to fay whe- ther thefe caverns were the ancient habitation of the Agows when they were Troglodytes, or whether they were intended for retreats upon any alarm of an irruption of the Galla into theiir country. At the fame time 1 mud obferve, that all the claas, or didricts of the A2:ows, have the whole » Accountam of the Agows & mountains THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 44.1 mountains of their country perforated in caves like thefe ; even the clans of Zeegam and Qua- quera, the firfl of which from its power arifmg from the populous ftate of the country, and the number of horfes it breeds, feems to have no rea- fon to fear the irregular invafions of naked and ill-armed favages fuch as are the Galla. The country of Zeegam, however, which has but few mountains, hath many of thefe caverns, onq range above another, in every mountain belong- ing to them. Quaquera, indeed, ^ borders upon the Shangalla ; as thefe are all foot, perfeQ;iy contiguous, and feparated by the river, the ca^ verns were probably intended as retreats for cattle and women againfl the attacks of thofe barbarians, which were every minute to be apprehended. In the country of the Tcheratz Agow, the mountains are all excavated like thefe in Damot, although they have no Galla for their neighbours whofe invalions they need be afraid of. Lalibala, indeed, their great king and faint, about the twelfth century, converted many of thefe caves into churches, as if he had confidered them as formerly the receptacles of Pagan fuperftition. At the fame tirae, it is not improbable that thefe caverns were made ufe of for religious purpofes ; that of Geefh, for inflance, was probably, in former times, a place of fecret worfliip paid to the river, becaufe of that ufe it flill is, not onlv to the inhabitants of the village, but to the af- fembly of the clans in general, who, after the ceremonies 442 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER ceremonies I have already fpoken of, retire, and then perform their facred ceremonies, to which none but the heads of families in the Agows country are ever admitted. When I (hewed our landlord, Kefla Abay, the dog-ftar, (Syrius) he knew it perfectly, faying it was Seir, it was the (lar of the river, the meflen- ger or ftar of the convocation of the tribes, or of the feafl ; but I could not obferve he ever prayed to it, or looked at it otherwife than one does to a dial, nor mentioned it with the refped he did the Abay ; nor did he fliew any fort of attention to the planets, 6r to any other ftar whatfoever. On the 9th of November, having finifhed my memorandum relating to thefe remarkable places, I traced again on foot the whole courfe of this river from its fource to the plain of Goutto. I was unattended by any one, having with me only tv/o hunting dogs, and my gun in my hand. The quantity of game of all forts, efpecially the deer kind, was, indeed, furprifmg ; but though I was, as ufual, a very fuccefsful fportfman, 1 was ob- liged for want of help, to leave each deer where he fell. They fieep in the wild oats, and do not rife till you arc about to tread upon them, and then ftare at you for half a minute before they attempt to run off. The only mention I ftiall make of the natural productions of this place comes the more properly in here, as it relates to my account of the reli- ^ ion of this people. In the writings of the Jefuits, the THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 44.3 the Agows are faid to worfhip canes'^ ; but of this I could find no traces among them. I faw no plant of this kind in their whole country, ex- cepting fome large bamboo-trees. This plant, in the Agovvs language, is called Krihaha. It grows in great quantity upon the fides of the precipice of Geefli, and helps to conceal the cavern we have already mentioned ; but though we cut feveral pieces of thefe canes, they fhewed no fort of emotion, nor to be the leafl interefled in what we were doing. Our bufmefs being now done, nothing re- mained but to depart. We had pailed our time in perfect harmony ; the addrefs of Woldo, and the great attachment of our friend Irepone, had kept our houfe in a chearful abundance. We had lived, it is true, too magnificently for phi- lofophers, but neither idly nor riotoufly ; and I believe never will Tiwy fovereign of Geefh be again fo popular, or reign over his fubjedts with great- er mildnefs. I had pradifed medicine gratis, and killed, for three days fucceffively, a cow each day for the poor and the neighbours. I had cloathed the high priefl of the Nile from head to foot, as alfo his two fons, and had decorated two of his daughters with beads of all the colours of the rainbow, adding every other little prefent they feemed fond of, or that we thought would be agreeable. As for our amiable Irepone, we * See a very remarkable letter of Ras Sela Chriftos to the emperor Socinios, in Balthazar 1 eilez, torn, 2. p. 496. had 444 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER had referved for her the choiceft of our prefents, the mofl valuable of every article we had with us, and a large proportion of every one of them ; we gave her, befides fome gold ; but fhe, more generous and nobler in her fentiments than us, feemed to pay little attention to thefe that an- nounced to her the feparation from her friend ; fhe tore her fine hair, which fhe had every day before braided in a newer and more graceful man- ner ; file threw herfelf upon the ground in the houfe, and refufed to fee us mount on horfe- back, or take our leave, and came not to the door till we were already fat out, then followed us with her good wifhes and her eyes as far as fhe could fee or be heard. I took my leave of Kefla Abay, the venerable priefl of the mod famous river in the world, who recommended me with great earneflnefs to the care of his god, which, as Strates humoroully enough obferved, meant nothing lefs than he hoped the devil would take me. All the young men in the village, with lances and fhields, at- tended us to Saint Michael Sacala, that is, to the borders of their country, and end of my little fovereignty. BOOK THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 445 BOOK VII. RETURN FROM THE SOURCE OF THE NILE TO GONDAR —TRANSACTIONS THERE— BATTLE OF SERERAXOS, AND ITS CONSEQUENCES— THE AUTHOR PREPARES TO LEAVE ABYSSINIA. CHAP. XX. Return from the Source of the Nile by MaitjhA—, Come to the Houfe of Welled Amlac — Reception there— Fafs the Nile at Delakus — Arrive at Gon- dar, ^ It was on the loth of November 1770 we left Geefh in our return to Gondar, and pafled the Abay, as before, under the church of Saint Michael Sacala. We defcended the hill throuo-h the wood , croiTed the river Davpla, and that night halted at a few huts called Dembea, on the north- eaft fide of the entrance of a valley. On 44<5 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER On the nth we continued our journey In our former road, till we arrived at the church of Abbo ; we then turned to the right, our courfe N. by E. and at three quarters pad nine refted under the mountain on the right of the valley ; our road lay ftill through Goutto, but the coun- try here is neither fo well inhabited nor fo plea- fant as the weft fide of the Nile. At eleven, go- ing N, N. E. we paiTed the church of Tzion, about an eighth part of a mile diftant to E, N. E. ; we here hate a diftindl view of the valley through which runs the Jemma, deep, wide, and full of trees, which continue up the fides of the moun- tains Amid Amid. At a quarter paft eleven we palTed a fmall ftream coming from the weft, and at twelve another very dangerous river called Utchmi, the ford of which is in the midft of two cataracts, and the ftream very rapid ; after pafling this river, we entered a narrow road In the midft of brulhwood, pleafant and agreeable, and full of a kind of foxes * of a bright gold colour. At three quarters paft one we halted at the houfe of Shalaka Welled Alac, with whom I was well ac- quainted at Gondar ; his houfe is called Welled Abea Abbo, from a church of Abbo about an eighth part of a mile diftant. * Ifuppofe this to be the animal called Lupus Aureus; it is near as large as a wolf, and lives upon moles. *• I have THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 447 I have deferred, till the prefent occafion, the in- troducing of this remarkable character to my reader, that I might not trouble him to go back to pad tranfa6lions that are not of confequence enough to interrupt the thread of my narrative. Soon after I had feen part of the royal family, that had been infefled vi^ith the fmall-pox, happily recovered, and was fettled at Kofcam in a houfe of my own, formerly belonging to Bafha Eufebius, my friend Ayto Aylo recommended to my care a man from Maitlha, with two fervants, one of whom, with his mailer, had been taken ill of the intermitting fever. As I was fupplied plentifully with every neceflary by the Iteghe, the only in- convenience that I fuffered by this was, that of bringing a flranger and a difeafe into my family. But as I was in a ftrange country, and every day flood in need of the affiflance of the people in it, it was necelTary that I ihould do my part, and make myfelf as ufeful as polTible when the op- portunity came in my way. I therefore fubmitted, and according to Ayto Aylo's defire, received my two patients with the bed grace poflible ; and the rather, as I was told that he was one of the moft powerful, refolute, and bed-attended robbers in all Maitfha ; that he lay diredly in my way to the fource of the Nile ; and that, under his protec- tion, I might bid defiance to Woodage Afahel, confidered as the great obdacle to my making that journey. The 448 TRAVELS TO DiSCOVEli The fervant was a poor, timid wretch, ex- ceedingly afraid of dying. He adhered ftridly to , his regimen, and very foon recovered. It was not fo with Welled Amlac ; he had, as I faid^ another fervant, who never, that I faw, came within the door ; but as often as I was out attend- . ing my other patients, or with the Iteghe, which was oreat part of the morning, he ftole a vifit to his mailer, and brought him as much raw meat, hydromel, and fpirits, as, more than once, threw him into a fever and violent delirium. Luckily I was early informed of this by the fervant that was . recovered, and who did not doubt but this was to end in his mailer's death, as it very probably might have done ; but by the interpofition of Ayto Aylo and the Iteghe, we got the unworthy fubjed baniflied to iVIaitflia, fo that Welled Am- lac remained attended by the fervant who had been fick with him, and v/as to be trufced. Not to trouble the reader with uninterefting particulars, Shalaka Welled Amlac at lail re- covered after feveral weeks illnefs. When he firll came to my houfe he was but very indifferently cloathed, v^hich, in a fick man, was a thing not to be remarked. As he had no change of rai- ment, his cloatbs naturally grew worfe during the time he ftaid with me ; and, indeed, he was a very beggarly fight when his difeafe had entirely left him. One evening, when I was remarking that he could not go home without kiffmg the ground before the Iteghe, he faid, Suiely not, and THE SOURCE O F T H E N 1 L E. 449 and he was ready to go whenever I fhould think proper to bring him his cloaths. I under itood at firll from this, that he might have brought fome change of cloaths, and delivered them into my fervant's cuflody ; but, upon farther explana- tion, I found he had not a rag but thofe upon his back ; and he told me plainly, that he had much rather ftay in my houfe all his life, than be fo difgraced before the world, as to leave it after fo long a ftay, without my firft having cloathed him from head to foot ; afking me, with much con- fidence, What fignifies your curing me, if you turn me out of your houfe like a beggar ? I ftill thought there was fomething of jeft in this ; and meeting Ayto Aylo that day at Kof^ cam, I told him, laughing, of the converfation that had palTed, and *'was anfwered gravely 5 " There is no doubt you muft cloath him ; to be fure it is the cuftom/' " And his fervant, too ? faid I.'^ Certainly, his fervant too; and if he had ten fervants that ate and drank at your houfcj you muft cloath them all. " I think, faid I^ Ayto Aylo, a phyfician at this rate had much better let his patients die than recover them at his own expence.'^ " Yagoube, fays Aylo, I fee this is not a cuftom in your country, but it is invariably one in this : it is not fo among the lower fet of people ; but if you will pafs here as a man of fome degree of confequence, you cannot avoid this without making Welled Amlac your enemy: the man is opulent; it is not for the Vol. IV» G g value 450 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER value of the cloaths, but he thinks his importance among his neighbours is mcafured by the refped (hewn him by people afar off; never fear, he will make you fome kind of return, and for the cloaths I (hall pay for them." " By no means, faid I, my good friend ; I think the anecdote and cuftom is fo curious that it is worth the price of the cloaths j and I beg that you would believe, that, intending to go through Maitflia, I con- fider it as a piece of friendfhip in you to have brought me under this obligation." " And fo it is, fays he : I knew you would think fo ; you are a cool difpaffionate man, and walk by advice, and do not break through the cuftoms of the coun- try, and this reconciles even bad men to you every day, and fo much the longer fhall you be in fafeiy." The reader will not doubt that I immediately falfilled my obligation to Welled Amlac, who received his cloaths, a girdle, and a pair of fan- dais, in all to the amount of about two guineas, with the fame indifference as if he had been buy- ing them for ready money. He then afked for his fervant's cloaths, which were ready for him. He only faid he thought they were too good, and hinted as if he fhould take them for his own ufe when he went to Maitfha. I then carried him new-dreffed to the Iteghe, who gave him flrii^ injundions to take care of me if ever I fhould Gome into his hands » He after went home with Ayto THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 451 Ayto Aylo, nor did I ever know what was become of him till now, when we arrived at his houfe at Welled Abea Abbo, unlefs from fome words that fell in difcourfe from Fafil at Bamba. Shalaka Welled Amlac was, however, from home, but his wife, mother, and fiflers, received us kindly, knowing us by report ; and, without waiting for our landlord, a cow was inllantly flaughtered. The venerable miftrefs of this worthy family. Welled Amlac's mother, was a very flout, chear- ful woman, and bore no figns of infirmity or old age : his wife was, on the contrary, as arrant a hag as ever a6led the part on the ftage : very ac- tive, however, and civil, and fpeaking very toler- able Amharic. His two fillers, about fixteen or feventeen, were really handfome ; but Fafil's wife, who was there, was the mod beautiful and graceful of them all ; fhe feemed not to be paft eighteen, tall, thin, and of a very agreeable carriage and manners. The features of her face were very regular ; fhe had fine eyes, mouth, and teeth, and dark-brown complexion ; at firft fight a call of melancholy feemed to hang upon her countenance, but thts foon vanifhed, and Hiq became very courteous, chearful, and mofl con- verfible of the whole, or at lead feemed to wifh to be fo ; for, unfortunately, fhe fpoke not a word of any language but Galla, though fhe underflocd a little Amharic ; our converfation did not fail G g 2 to 4S2 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER to give great entertainment to the whole family and for her part (he laughed beyond all meafure. The two fiiters had been out helping my fer- vants in difpofing the baggage ; but when they had pitched my tent, and were about to lay the mattrefs for fleeping on, the elded of thefe in- terrupted them, and not being able to make her- felf underftood by the Greeks, llie took it up and threw it out of the tent-door, whilfl no abufe 'or opprobrious names were fpared by my fervants ; one of whom came to tell me her impudence, and that if they underftood her, flie faid I was to fleep with her this night, and they believed we were got into a houfe of thieves and murderers. To this I anfwered by a fliarp reproof, defiring them to conform to every thing the family order- ed them. I faw the fair nymph was in a violent palTion ; fhe told her tale to the matrons with great energy, and a volubility of tongue paft ima- gination, and they all laughed. Fafil's wife called nie to fit by her, and began to inftrudl me, droll enough, as they do children, but of what Ihe faid I had not the fmalleft guefs. I endeavoured always to repeat her laft words, and this occa- fioned another vehement laugh, in which I joined as heartily as any, to keep up the joke, for the benefit of the company, as long as pofTible. Immediately after this Welled Amlac arrived, and brought us the difagreeable news, that it was impoffible to proceed to the ford of the Abay, as two of the neighbouring Shums were at variance i about THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 455 about their refpe^tive diflricls, and in a day or two would decide it by blows. The faces of all our companions fell at thefe news ; but as I knew the man it gave me little trouble, as I fuppofed the meaning to be, that, if we made it worth while, he would accompany us himfelf, and in that cafe we fhouid pafs without fear; at any rate, I well knew that, after the obligations I had laid him under at Gondar, he could not, confif^ tent with the received ufages of the country, if it was but for his own reputation's fake, fail ju receiving me in the very bed manner in his pow^ , cr, and entertaining me to the utmofl all the time I was in his houfe. Satisfied that I underftood him, he put on the mofl chearful countenance ; another cow was killed, great plenty of hydromel produced, and he prepared to regale us as fumptuouily as poiTible;^ after the manner of the country. We were there as often before, obliged to overcome our re- pugnance to eating raw flefli. Shalaka Welled Amlac fet us the example, entertained us with the (lories of his hunting elephants, and feats in the lafl wars, moflly roguifh ones. The roon% where we were (which was indeed large, and contained himfelf, mother, wife, fillers, his fif- ters, his horfea, mules, and fervants, night and day) was all hung round with the trunks, of thefe elephants, which he had brought from the neighbouring Kolla, near Guefgue, and killed mih his own hands, for hq was one of the bold- eft 454 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER eft and beft horfemen in Abyffinia, and periedly niaftcr of his arms. This Polyphernus's feaft being finiihed, the horn of hydromel went brilkly about. Welled Amlac's eld eft fifter, whofe name was Mele6tanea, took a particular charge of me, and I began to find the neceffity of retiring and going to bed while I was able. Here the former ftory came over again ; the invariable cuftom of all Maitflia and the country of the Galla^ of eftablifhing a relationfhip by fleeping with a near of kin, was enlarged upon ; and, as the young lady herfelf was prefent, and prefented every horn of drink during this polite difpute concerning her perfon, I do not know whether it will not be thought a greater breach of delicacy to have refufed than to have complied : — But what fuccefs Vanefla met Is to the world a fecret yet ; Can never to mankind be told. Nor fhall the confcious mufe unfold. Fye upon the confcious mufe, fays lord Orrery y and fye, too, fay I : — a man of honour and gal- lantry fhould not permit himfelf fuch a hint as this, though the Red Sea was between him and his miftrefs. It was impoflible to fleep ; the whole night was one continued ftorm of thunder, rain, and light- ning ; the morning was clearer, and my people very urgent to go away ; but I had ftill to fettle with Zor Woldo, v/ho had been kept by his mif= trefs* THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 455 trefs, Fafil's wife, notwithflanding his mafler's orders, till he had told her the whole circum- ftances of our expedition, and made her laugh heartily at the oddity of our fentiments and cuf- toms. This fhe repaid to him by plentiful horns of mead and bouza, as alfo collops of raw meat, which made him a very eloquent hiflorian ; whe- ther or no he was a faithful one, I cannot pollib* ly judge. After having fettled with him to his perfed fa- tisfadion, and cancelled entirely the memory of fome difagreeable things pafl, he configned us very folemnly to Ayto Aylo's fervant, in prefence of Welled Amlac, and had taken his leave, when a very fine white cow was brought to the door of the tent from Fafil's wife, who infifted, as a friend of her hufband, that I would flay that day for her fake ; and I fhouid either learn her my language, or (he would teach me Galla. The party was ac- cepted as foon as offered ; the morning w^as frefh and cool, nor had laft night^s libation any way difordered my ftomach. Strates himfelf, though afraid of Welled Amlac, and exceedingly exaf- perated at the impudent behaviour, as he called it, of Melectanea, was, however, a little pacified at the approach of the white cow. Brother, fays he to Michael, we have nothing to do with people's manners as long as they are civil to us : as to this houfe, there is no doubt but the men are robbers afid murderers, and their women \vh — es ; but if they ufe us well while we are now here, and we are 456 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER are fo lucky as to get to Gondar alive, let the devil take me if ever I feek again to be at Welled Abea Abbo. It was agreed to relax that day, and dedicate it to herborizing, as alfo to the fatis- fying the curiofity of our female friends, by an- fv/ering all their queflions ; and thus the forenoorj paiTed as agreeable as pofTible. Welled Amlac, a great hunter, had gone with me early to a neighbouring thicket on horfeback^ armed with lances in fearch of venifon, though we certainly did not want provifions. We in a few minutes raifed two bohur, a large animal of the * deer kind, and each purfued his bead ; mine had not run 400 yards before I overtook him, and ..pierced him with my pike ; and the fame would have happened probably to the other, had not Welled Amlac' s horfe put his fore-feet into a fox's hole, which threw hini and his rider head- long to the ground ; he was not, however, hurt^ but rofe very gravely, and defired me to return ; it being a rule among thefe people, never to per- iift when any thin<; unfortunate fdils out in the beginning of a day. Our company was now increafed by our for- mer landlord at Goutto, where we were obliged to W oldo's (Iratagem for difcovering the cow that was hid. W^e fat down chear fully to dinner* Welled Amlac's fall had not fpoiled his appetite^ I think he ate equal to four ordinary men. I, for the mod part, ate the venifon, which was made into an excellent difh, only too much fluf- fed THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 457 fed with all kinds of fpices. Fafil's wife alone feemed to have a very poor appetite, notwith- flanding her violent fits of laughter, and outward appearance of chearfulnefs. A melancholy gloom returned upon her beautiful face, that feemed to indicate a mind not at eafe. She w^as of a noble family of Galla, which had conquered and fettled in the low country of Narea. I wondered that Fafil her hufband had not carried her to Gondar. She faid her hufband had twenty other wives be- fides her, but took none of them to Gondar , which was a place of war, v.^here it w^as the cuf~ torn to marry the wives of their enemies that they had forced to fly, Fafil will be married therefore to Michael's wife, Ozoro Either. I could not help being flartlcd at this declaration, remember- ing that 1 w^as here iofing my time, and forgetting my T/ord of returning as foon as pofTible ; but we had, for many months, lived in fuch conflant alarms, that it was abfolutely as needful to feize the moment in which we could repofe our mind, as to give reft to the body. In the afternoon we diftributed our prefents among the ladies. Fafil's wife was not forgot ; and the beautiful Meleftanea was covered with beads, handkerchiefs, and ribbands of all colours. Fafil's wife, on my firii requeft, gave me a lock of her fine hair from the root, which has ever fince, and at this day does fufpend a plummet of an ounce and half at the index of my three-feet quadrant. The 458 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER The next morning, the 13th of November, hav- ing fettled our account with our hoft, we fet out from the hofpitable houfe of Shalaka Welled Am- lac, after having engaged, by promifes to the la- dies, that we fhould pay them foon another vifit. Our landlord accompanied us in perfon to the ford, and by this, and his readinefs to fhew us what he thought worthy of our curiofity, and by his care in afcertaining for us the diftances and the fituations of places, he gave us a certain proof he was well contented, and therefore that we had nothing to fear. We had both nights heard the noife of cataracls^ and we thought it might be of the Nile, as we were in fa£l but five miles from the fecond fmall catara£l at Kerr, which lay W. S. W. of us. We were informed, however, in the morning, that it was the found of falls in the river Jemma, near whofe banks this houfe is fituated. We fet out at eight o'clock, the hills of Aroofli bearing north ; and at hal^f pafl eight we came to the ford of the Jemma, which is ftrong, rugged, and uneven. The Jemma here comes from the eafl: ; its, banks are moft beautifully fhaded with acacia and other trees, growing as on the weft of the Nile, that is, the trunks or ftems of the trees at a diflancej but the tops touching each other, and fpreading abroad. Though growing to no height, thefe woods are full of game of different kinds, moftly unknown in Europe- The bohur is here in g>eat numbers ; alio the Buii]alo5 though not fo frequent* Whoever THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 459 Whoever fees Richmond hill has an idea of the banks of the Jemma, and the country eaft of it^ with all that addition that an eadern and happier climate can give it ; for the rains had now ceaied, and every hill was in flower ; the fun indeed was hot, but a conflant and frefli breeze prevented its being felt near the river. The heat in this coun- try ceafes in the warmeft day, the moment we pafs from the fun to the (hade : we have none of thofe hot winds or violent reflexions which we had fuffered in Egypt, Syria, and Arabia, and both the coafts of the Red Sea. There are two catarads lower than this ford of the Jemma, the firft about 300 yards below the ford, and another larger, fomething about half a mile; it is not, however, more than feven or eight feet high, perhaps about ninety feet broad, and the flieet of water is not entire, but is inter- rupted in many places. It falls, however, into a magnificent bafon above 400 yards fquare, and very deep, in which are large filh in great plenty, but no crocodiles ; nor indeed are there any feen as I have heard above the third catarad, nor con- fiderably below, when, after having made the tour of Gojam, it again turns northward towards its fources. The Gomari, however, often comes to the mouth of the Jemma, efpecially when the firft rains fall ^ the crocodile feems to require a warmer climate. After having fatisfied our curiofity as to the Jemma, I began to reproach thofe that v/ere with me 46p TRAVELS TO DISCOVER me about the panic which they felt the night be- fore ; thcfe were, a Greek of Gondar, Strates, and three others, my fervants, whom I brought from Cairo. " You fee, faid I, what danger there is ; Welled Amlac is with us upon a mule, without a lance or fhield, and only two naked fervants with him ; did not I tell you what was the meaning of the news ?'* Though this was fpoken in a language of which it was impoffible Amlac could know a fyllable, yet he prefently ap- prehended in part what I would fay. " I fee, fays he, you believe what I told you laft night to be falfe, and invented only to get from you a prefent : but you fliall fee ; and if this day we do not meet Welled Aragawi and his foldiers, you are then in the right ; it is as you imagine." — " You do me wrong, faid I, and have not un- derflood me, for how Ihould you ? Thofe white people believe too well all you told them, and are only apprehenfive of your not being able to defend us, being without arms and followers. 'All I faid was, that where you were, armed or unarmed, there was no danger." — " True, fays he, you are now in Maitlha, and not in my coun-. try, which is Goutto ; you are now in the word country in all Abyffinia, where the brother kills his brother for a loaf of bread, of which he has no need : you are in a country of Pagans, or dogs, Galla, and worfe than Galla; if ever you meet an old man here, he is a ftranger ; all that are natives die by the lance young j and yet, though THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 461 though thefe two chieftains I mentioned fight to- day, unarmed as I am, (as you well faid) you are in no danger while I am with you. Thefe people of Maitfha, fliut up between the Jemma, the Nile, and the lake, have no where but from the Agows to get what they want ; they come to the fame market with us here in Goutto ; the fords of the Jemma, they know, are in my hands ; and did they offer an injury to a friend of mine, were it but to whiftle as he pafled them, they know I am not gentle ; though not a Gaila, they are fenfible, one day or other, I fhould call them to account, though it were in the bed-chamber of their mafler Fafil/' ■ " Your mafler. Welled Amlac, with your leave, faid L" " Yes, mine too, faid he, by force, but he never fliall be my mafler by inclination, after murdering Kafmati Efhte. He calls me his brother, and believes me his friend. You faw one of his wives, whom he leaves at my houfe, lafl night, but I hope flill to fee him and his Galla flaughtered as the cow in my houfe was yeflerday/' " I am furprifed, faid I, your houfe was fpared, and that Ras Michael did not burn it in either of his pafTages through Maitfha/' — ^^ In 1769, replied he, I was not with Fafil at Fagitta, and the Ras paffed the Nile above this far beyond the Kelti ; after which I returned with him to Gondar. In Ginbot*, Fafil informed us that » The J ft of Ginbotis the 26th of our iVpril. Amhara 462 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER Amhara and Begemder were come over to him. When then all Maitftia joined Fafil, I went with my people to meet Michael at Derdera, as I knew he muft pafs the Nile here oppolite to Abbo, and Begemder and Amhara would then be behind him, or elfe try to crofs at Delakus, which was then fwollen with rain, and unfordable : but ap- prehcnfive left, marching ftill higher up along the Nile to find a ford, he might burn my houfe in his way, I myfelf joined him the night before he knew of Powuffen's revolt, and he had it then in contemplation to burn Samfeen. The next morning was that of his retreat, and he chofe me to accompany him acrofs the Nile, ftill confider- ing me as his friend, and therefore, perhaps he would have done no harm to my houfe." — " So it was you, faid I, that led us that day into that curfed clay-hole, which you call a ford, where fo many people and beafts were maimed and loft?" — He replied, " It was Fafd's fpies that firft per- fuaded him to pafs there, or at Kerr. I kept him to the place where you paifed ; you would have all perifhed at Kern This, to be fure, was not a good ford, nor paflable at all except in fummer, unlcfs by fwiraming ; but fo many men crofting had made it ftill worfe ; beiides, do you remem- ber what a ftorm it was ? — what a night of rain ? O Lady Mariam, always a virgin, faid I, while they ftruggled in the mud and clay. O holy Abba Guebra Menfus Kedus, who never ate or drank fiom his mother's womb till his death, will you not THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 463 not open the earth, that all this accurfed multi- tude may defcend alive into hell, like Dathan and Abiram ?" — A kind and charitable prayer 1 — " I thank you for it, Welled Amlac, faid I ; firft. for carrying us to that charitable ford, where, with one of the ftrongeftand ablefl horfes in the world, I had nearly perilhed : — and, fecondly for your pious wifh, to difpofe of us out of the regions of rain and cold into fo warm quarters in company with Dathan and Abiram !'* " I did not know you was there, fays he ; I heard you had ftaid at Gondar in order to bring up the black horfe. I faw a white perfon * with the Ras, indeed, who had a good hanjar and gun, but his mule was weak, and he himfelf feemed fick. As I returned I could have carried him off in the night, but I faid, perhaps it is the brother of Yagoube, my friend and phyfician ; he is white like him, and for your fake 1 left him. I was much with you white people in the time of Kaf- mati Efhte." — " And pray, faid I, what did you after we pafled the Abay ?" — " After I faw that devil Ras Michael over, faid Welled Amlac, I returned under pretence of aflifting Kefla Yafous there, and, being joined by all my people, we fell upon the ftragglers wherever we found them. You know what a day of rain it was ; we took 17 guns 12 horfes, and about 200 mules and affes laden, and fo returned home, leaving the * This was Franclfco, who was fick. reft 464 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER reft to Fafil, who, if he had been a man, fliould have cut you all to pieces the day after." — " And what did you, faid I, with thofe ftragglers whom you met and robbed; did you kill them?" — " We always kill them, anfwered Amlac ; we fpare none; we never do a man an injury, and leave him alive to revenge it upon us after ; but it v/as really the fame ; they were all fick and weak, and the hyssna would have finiflied them in the morning, fo it was juft faving them fo muqh fuftering to kill them outright the night before ; - and I alTure you, Yagoube, whatever you may think, I did not do it out of malice.'* — From this converfation one may fufHciently guefs what fort of a man Welled Amlac was, and what were his ideas of mercy. We paffed the church of Kedus Michael at half after nine, on the road to our right. At nine and three quarters our courfe was N. by W. and, at a quarter after ten we pafled the Coga, a large riven At three quarters paft ten our courfe was north. We paiTed the church of Abbo a quarter of a mile on our right. The country, after we had crolfed the Jemma, was much lefs beautiful than before. At twelve our courfe was N. by W. and at half paft twelve the church of JVfcriam Net, 200 yards to the left ; and here we forded the fniall river Amlac-Ohha. Every ftep of this ground put us in mind of our difaftrous campaign in May ; and we were now paifmg direclly in the trad of the ever -memorable retreat of Kefla Yafous and THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 465 and the rear of the army. At a quarter after one we halted at a fmall village of low hdufes, as it were in bent grafs, where, for the firfl time, we faw flocks of goats lying on the tops of the houfes for fear of wild beads. " You fhall fee, fays Welled Amlac, whether I am telling truth or not ; this is the houfe of Welled Aragawi ; if he is here at home, then I have deceived you." We faw a number of wo- men laden with jars of bouza and hydromel, and aiked where they were going. They faid to their mafter at Delakus, who waited there to prevent Welleta Michael of Degwafla from paiTmg xhs river. Our Greeks on this began to relapfe into their panic, and to wifh we were again at Welled Abea Abbo. At three quarters paft one we con- tinued our journey to the north, and palfed a river, called Amlac- Ohha, larger than the former : it comes from the eaft, and, half a mile further, receives the other flream already mentioned. The fun was now burning hot. At three o'clock we halted a quarter of an hour; and, beginning to defcend gently, an hour after this we came to the banks of the Abay. Here we faw the two combatants, Welleta Michael and Welled Aragawi, exactly op- pofite to each other, the firil on the well the other on the eail fide ; they had fettled all their dirferen- ces,and each had killed feveialkine for themfe'v.s and frienc's, which was all the I'lood flied that day. Vol. IV. ^ H h The 4r,6 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER The Nile Is heie a confiJerable river ; its brea ^rh at this time full tliree quarters of an hngliih mile ; the current Is very gentle ; where deep you can fcarce perceive it How ; it comes from W. by S- and W. S. W. and at the ford runs eafl and wed. The banks on the eafl fide were very high and fteep ; and on the weft, at the f:rl entrance, the bottom is foft and bad, the water four feet and a half deep, but above another foot, which we fmk in clay. I cried to V7elled Amlac, while he was leading my mule acrofs, that he fliould not pray to his faint that never eats, as at the pafiage of the jemma in May. He only anfwert^d lowly to me, Do you think thefe thieves would have let you pafs if I was not Vvith you ? My anfwer was, Welleta Michael would not have feen me wronged ; I faved his life, he and everv bodv knows it. We gained with difficulty the middle of the river, where the bottom v^-as firm, and there we reded a little. Whilil we were wading near the other fide, we found foul ground, but the water Vv'as (liailow, and the banks low and eafy to afcend. The river fide, as far as we could fee, is bare and deftitute of wood of any kind, only bordered with thiflles and high grafs, and the water tinged deep with red earth, of which its banks are compofed. This pailage is called Delakus, and is paflablc from the end of October to the middle of May. Immediately on the top of the hill afcending from the river is the fmali town of Delakus, which gives this ford its name j it extends from N. E. to N. N. E. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 467 N, N. E. and is more confidcrable In appearance than is the generality of thefe fmali towns or vil- lages in Abyilinia, becaufe inhabited by Mahome- tans only, a trading, frugal, intelligent, and in- duftrious people. Our conductor, Welled Amlac, again put us in mind of the fervice he had rendered us, and we were not unmindful of him. He had been received with great refped by the eailern body of combatants, and it is incredible with what expe- dition he fwallowed near a pound of raw fleih cut from the buttocks of the animal yet alive. After feme horns of hydromel, he had pafTed to the other fide, where he was received with ftill more aftedion, if poffible, by Welleta Michael, and there he began again to eat the raw meat with an appetite as keen as if he had failed for whole days ^ he then configned us to Ay to Welleta Michael, his friend and mine, who furnifhed us with a fer- vant to conduft us on our way. while he himfelf remained that night at the ford among the com- batants. He advifed us to advance as far as pof- fible, for all that country was deftroyed by a ma- lignant fever which laid all wafle beyond Dela- kus. We left the ford at a quarter pad five in the evening, and, purging our journey north, we pafTed tbe fmall town of Delakus^ continuing along the hill among little fpots of brulhwood and fmali fields of corn intermixed. At half paft fix paJed the river Avola. At half pad feven eroded ano- H h 2 thcr 4^1 TRAVELS TO DISCOV^ER ther fwift-running flream, clear and (hallow, but full of flippery ftones. At three quarters aft^r. feven we alighted at Googue, a confiderable vil- lage, and, as it was now night, we could go no farther ; we had already ieveral times miftaken our way, and loll each other in the dark, being often alfo mired in a fmall plain before wx pafled the lafl river ; but our guide had heard the ord of his mailer, and puihed on briikly. We found the people of Googue the mofl fa- vage and unhofpitable we had yet met with. Upon no account would they fufFer us to enter their houfes, and we were obliged to remain without, the greateft part of the night. At lafl they carried us to a houfe of good appearance^ but refufed ab- folutely to give us meat for ourfelves or horfes ; and, as v/e had not force, we were obliged to be content. It had rained violently in the evening, and we were all wet. We contented ourfelves with lighting a large hre in the middle of the houfe, which we kept burning all night, as well for guard, as for drying ourfelves, though we little knew at the time that it was probably the only, means of faving our lives ; for in the morning we ibund the whole village fick of the fever, and two fiimilies had died out of the houfe where thefe people had put us : for my own part, upon hearing this I was more affrighted than for Welled Aragawi and all his robbers. Though v/eary and wet, I had ilept on the ground near the fire fix whole hours ^and, though really wdl, I could not during the THE SOURCE OF THE NILE, 46^ the day perfuade myfelf there was not fome fymp^ torn of fever upon me. My firft precaution was to infufe a dofe of bark into a giafs of aquavitpe, a large horn of which we had with us ; we then burnt frankincenfe and myrrh in abundance, and fumigated ourfelves, as pra^cifed at Mafuah and in Arabia. Early in the morning we repeated our rdofe of bark and fumigation* Whether the bark prevented the difeafe or not, the aquavit^ cer- tainly flrengthened the fpirits, and was a medi* cine to the imagination. The people, who faw the eagernefs and confi- dence with which we fwaliowed this medicine, flocked about us demanding aiTiilance. I confefs I was fo exafperated with their treatment of us^ and efpecially that of lodging us in the infeded houfe, that I conftantly refufed them their requefl", leaving them a prey to their diftemper, to teach them another time more hofpitality to Grangers. This fever prevailed in AbyiTmia in all low grounds and plains, in the neighbourhood of ail rivers which run in valleys , it is really a malig- nant tertian, which, however, has fo many forms and modes of intermilTion that it is impoffible for one not of the Faculty to defcribe it. It is not in all places equally dangerous, but on the banks and neighbourhood of the Tacazze it is particu- larly fatal. The valley where that river runs is very low and fultry, being full of large trees. In Kuara, too, it is very mortal ; in BeleiTen and pembea lefs fo ; in Walkayt it is dangerous ; but 3 J?or 470 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER not fo much in Tzegade, Kolla, Woggora, and Waldubba. It does not then prevail in high grounds or mountains, or in places much expofed to the air. This fever is called Nedad, or burn- ing; it begins always with a ihivering and head- ach, a heavy eye, and inclination to vomit; a violent heat follows, which leaves little intermiflion, and ends generally in death the third or fifth day. In the laft flage of the diftemper the belly f wells to an enormous fize, or fometimes imme- diately after death, and the body within an inflant fmells infupportably j to prevent which they bury the corpfe immediately after the breath is out, and often within the hour. The face has a remarka- ble yellow appearance, with a blackiili caft, as in the lail ftage of a dropfy or the atrophy. This fever begins immediately with the fun-fhine, after the firft rains, that is, W'hile there are intervals of rain and fun-fnine : it ceafes upon the earth being thoroughly ioaked in July and Auguft, and be- gins again in September ; but now, at the begin- nhig of November, it f nally ceafes everywhere. '1 he country about Googue is both fertile and pleafant, all laid out in wheat, and the grain good. They v.-ere now in the midft of their har- vell, but there were fome places, to which the water coiiid be conduced, where the corn was {lift appearing out of the ground. From Googue we have an extenfive view of the lake Tzana, whilil: the mountains of Begemder and Karoota, that is, all the ridge along Foggora, appear dii- tindly THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 471 tindly enough, but the)'' are funk low, and near the horizon. On the 14th, at three quarters paPc kY&n in the morning, we left the inholpitable village Googue ; pur road lay N. by W, up a hiii. At half pad eight we crolfed the village of Azzadari, in which runs a fmali river, ihen almoft ftagnant, of the fame name. At three quarters after eight, the church of Turcon Abbo, being a quarter of a mile to our right. At three quarters after nine wc pafled the river Avolai, coming fiom N. \y, and which with all the other flreams above men- ]tioned, fall into the lake : and from this begins Degwalla. At half pad ten v/e relied half au hour. At eleven continued our journey N. bv W. and at half after eleven, entered again into jhe great road of Bure, by Keiti. All the coun- try from Googue is bare, unpleafant, unwhole- fome, and ill-watered. Thofe few dreams it has are now ftanding in pools, and are probably dag- nant in January and February. The people, too^ are more miferabfe than in any other part of Mait- fha and Goutto. As we are now leaving Maitlna, it will be the place to fay fomething concerning it in particular. Maitfiia is either proper^ or what is called fo by extenfion. Maitfha Proper is bounded on the wed by the Nile, on the fouth by the river Jem- ma, dividing it from Goutto ; and, on the other fide of Amid Amid, by the province ofDamot; ,©n the fouth by Gojam ; on theead and north by the 472 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER the Abay or Nile, and'the lake : this is Maitfha Proper ; but by extenfion it comprehends a large trad: on the weft fide of the Nile, which begins by Sankraber on the north, and is bounded by the Agows on the weft, comprehending AtchefFer and Aroofii to the banks of the Nile. This is the Maitiha of the books, but is not properly fo. Maitflia is governed by ninety-nine Shums, and is zn apDendao^e of the office of Betwudet, to whom it pays two thoufand ounces of gold. The people are originally of thofe Galla weft of the Abay, Yafous the Great, when at war with that people, who, in manv preceding reigns, had laid wafte the provinces of Gojam and Damot, and efpecially Agov/, when he pafled the Abay found thefe peo- ple at variance among themfelves ; and the king, who was everywhere victorious, being joined by the weakeft, advanced to Narea, and, on his re- turn, tranfpiantgd thefe Galla into Maitfha, placing part of them along the Nile to guard the paiTes, Iiis fucceftbrs at different times followed his ex- ample ; part they fettled in Maitflia, and part along the banks of the Nile in Dartiot and Gojam, where being converted to Chriftianity, at leaft to fuch Chiiftianity as is profeifed in AbyfTmia, they have increafed exceedingly, and amounted, at leaft be- fore the war in 1-768, to 15,000 men, of whom about 4000 are horfemen. - The capital of Maitfha is Ibaba. There is here a houfe oj fmali caftle belonging to the king. The town is one of the largeft in AbyfTmia, little in- , ferior THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 473 ferior to Gondar in fize or riches, and has a market every day ; this is governed by an officer called IbabaAzage,whofeemployment is worth 600 ounces of gold, and is generally conferred upon the prin- cipal perfon of Maitfh, to keep him firm in his allegiance, as there is a very confiderable territory depends upon this office. The country round Ibaba is the mofl pleafant and fertile, not of Mait- iha only, but of all Abyffinia, efpecially that part called Kollela, between Ibaba and Gojam, where the principal Ovoros have ali houfes and polTef- fions, called Goult or Fiefs, which they have re- ceived from their refpedive anceflors when kings. Though Maitfha be peculiarly the appendage of Betwudet, and governed by him, yet it has a particular political government of its own. The ninety-nine Shums, who are each a diftind fa- mily of Galla, chufe a king, like the Pagan Galla, every feventh year, with all the ceremonies an- ciently obferved when they were Pagans ; and thefe governors have much more influence over them than the King of Betwudet ; fo have they (in my time at lead) been in a conftant rebellion, and that has much leffisned their numbers, which will not now amount to above [O,oco men, Ras Michael having every where deflroyed their houfes, and carried into ilavery their wives and children, who have been fold to the Mahometan merchants, and tranfported to Mafuah, and from thence to Arabia. At 474- TRAVELS TO DISCOVER At twelve o'clock, Guefgue was to the right three or four, perhaps more miles ; and the very rugged mountain Cafercla, broken and full of pre- cipices, oh our right, at about 1 2 miles diftance ; they rife from KoUa. Guefgu^, which, though the language and race may be Agow, is not compre- bended in the government of that country, but generally goes with Kuara. At a quarter paft one we arrived at the houfe of Ayto Welleta Michael, at DegwalTa, after entering into a country fome- thing more pleafant and cultivated than the for- mer. The village of DegwalTa is but fmall j it had alfo been burnt in the late war ; it is pleafant- ly fituated on a hill fouth of the lake, about 3 miles diftance, and is furrounded with large wanzey- trees ; we were but ill-received at this village, notwithflanding the promifes of the mafter of it at the paffage of the Abay, and we found thefe peo- ple fcarcely more hofpitable than thofe at Googue. This village is a little out of the road, to the right. We had travelled this day five hours and a half, or little more than ten miles. On the 1 5th of November, from Degwafla we entered Gonzala, immediately bordering upon it : heavy rain prevented our fetting out till noon. Gonzala is full of villages, and belongs to the cueen-mother. At a quarter after one we paiTed a large niarfli, in the midft of which runs a fmall river which here falls into the lake. We refled here half an liour ; and at three quarters paft one^ we entered the grt^at roi;d which we palTed to the ' ' '" ^ left THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 475 left^ in going to Degwaffa. At two o'clock we came ftill to a diftinder view of the lake, as alfo where the river enters and goes out ; it appears here to enter at S. W. and go out at N. E. and i§ diftant about eight or nine miles. At three quarters paft two, we arrived at Dingleber, hav- ing this day travelled only two hours and a half, or five miles. On the 1 6th we left Dingleber at feven o'clock in the morning : it was very hot ; and, a little before we came to Mefcalo^os, in a flripe of land, or peninfula, which runs out into the lake, we halted a fhort time under the fhade of fome acacia- pees. Here we faw plenty of water-fowl, and ieveral gomaris. A fmall river croffes the road here, and falls into the lake : and, at one o'clock in the afternoon, we continued our journey, and overtook a troop of Agows, who were going to Gondar, laden with honey, butter, and untanned hides. They had with them alfo about 800 head of cattle. Thefe people accuftomed to the road (though heavily laden) go long journies : they had at this time 50 miles to make by nine o'clock in the morning of the iSth, and it was now the 1 6th paft one o'clock. A fhower overtook us foon after pafling Mefca- laxos, and forced us to take refuge in fome fmall huts near the lake, called Goja, where we re- mained. The inhabitants of this and the neigh- bouring villages fpeak Falafha, the language an- ciently of all Dembea, uhich, as has been already obferved. 476 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER obferved, in mofl of the plain country, has now given place to Amharic. Here we faw two go- mari come out of the lake and enter the corn, but Xpeedily upon the dogs of the villages attacking them, they ran and plunged into the water ; we could not have a diflinQ: view of them, nor time enough to defign them, but they were very dif- ferent from any draught we had ever feen of them. The head feemed to me to refemble that of a hog more than a horfe. We had this day travelled fi^ hours and a half, or about thirteen miles. On the ivth, at a quarter paft feven, we left Goja. At one o'clock v/e halted at Sar Ohha, after a journey of five hours and a half, or about eleven miles; and on the i8th, at half paft fix, left Sar Ohha. At three quarters paft feyen we paiTed the river Taiti, and at half paft eleven halted at Abba Abram, near the church, under a large falfa-tree. At one continued our journey, and at a quarter paft two arrived at Kemona. On the 1 9th of November, at feven in the rnorning, we left Kemona, and going conftantly without ftopping by Chergue and Azazo, Ifent my fervants and baggage on to Abba Samuel at Gon- dar, where they arrived at one o'clock afternoon, and finiftied our long-projeded expedition, or journey to the fountains of the Nile, having, in pur return home, made as it were the chord oi the arch of 'our former journey, or about ninety- three miles, with which we found our points, a$ fettled by obfervation, did very nearly agree. Two THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 477 Two things chiefly occupied my mind, and* prevented me from accompanying my fervants and baggage into Gondar. The firft was my de- fire of inftantly knowing the ftate of Ozoro Eilher's health : the fecond was, to avc i i Fafil, till I knew little more about Ras Michael and the king. Ta- king one fervant along with me, I left my peo- ple at Azazo, and turning to the left, up a very craggy, deep mountain, I made the utmoft dili- gence I could till I arrived at the gate of Kofcam, near two o'clock, without having met any one from Fafil, who was encamped oppofite to Gon- dar, on the Kahha, on the fide of the hill, fo that I had pafTed obliquely behind him. He had, how- ever, feen or heard of the arrival of my fervants at Gondar, and had fent for me to wait upon him in his camp ; and, when he was informed I had gone forward -to Kofcam., it was laid he had uttered fome words of difcontent. I went (Iraight to the Iteghe's appartmenf, but was not admitted, as llie was at her devotions. In crolHng one of the courts, however, I met a flave of Ozoro Ellher, who, inflead of anfweringr the queftion I put to her, gave a loud fhriek, and went to inform her miiLrels. I found that prin- cefs greatly recovered, as her anxiety about Fafil had ceafed. She admitted him to an audience, and he had communicated to her the engagement he was under to her hulband, as alfo the con- du6t lie intended to purl'ue in order to keep rulao 478 TRAVELS TO DISCOVEJl Gufho and PowufTen from taking any efFe£lual meafures which might fruflrate, or at lead de- lay, the reiloration of the king and arrival of Ras Michael. CHAP. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 479 CHAP. XXL FaJiFs infidious Behaviour — Arrival at Gondar--^ King pajfes the Taccazze — Iteghs and Socinios Jly from Gondar, I SHALL now refume the hi (lory of Abyllinia itfelf, fo far as I was concerned in it, or had an opportunity of knowing, and this I fliall follow as clofely as poffible, till I begin my return home through thofe dreary and hitherto-unknown de- ferts of Sennaar, though not the mod entertain- ing, yet by far the moil dangerous and mod dif-x ficult part of the voyage. It was about the 20th of Odober that Wood, age Afahel came with a flrong body of horfe in- to the neighbourhood of Gondar, and cut off all communication between the capital and thofe pro- vinces to the fouthward of it. This occafioned a temporary famine, as his troops plundered all thofe they met on the road carrying provi- fions to the market. At firfl he refufed to tell what his real errand was ; but, a few days after, having 480 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER having paffed the low country of Dembea, he took pofl at Dingleber, on the road to Maitfha and the country of the Agows, and then he de- clared his only intention in coming was to join Fafil, then marching to Gondar at the head of a large army ; nor was the caufe of that great army, nor the reafon of Fafil's coming, ih fufficiently known as to free any party entirely from their ap- prehenfions. Sanuda, who filled the office of Ras, and the reft of that party, endeavoured to determine Afahel to enter Gondar, and pay his homage to Socinios, now king ; not doubting but his example would have the effect of making others do the like, and that fo by degrees they might collecl troops enough to make Michael refped them, fo far at leaft as to defer for a feafon his march from Tigre. They prevailed, indeed, fo far as to engage Afahel to enter Gondar on the 28th of Odober, the day that we left it ; fo, by a few hours, and his taking a low road that he might plunder the villages in Dembea, we milTed a meeting of the moft dan- gerous and moft difagreeable kind. After having made his ufual parade, and paffed his cavalry in review before Socinios, he had his public audience, where he faid he came charged by Fafil to declare that he was ready to fet out for Gondar, and bring with him that part of the revenue due to the king from the provinces he commanded, provided he had a m-ui of fufricient truft to leave in his ftead at home ; and therefore he prayed the king to appoint THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 481 appoint him Woodage Afahel to command in the provinces of Damot, Maitfha, and Agow, in his abfence. After the many promifes and engagements Falil had made and broken, without ever affigning the fmalleft reafon, it may be doubted whether So- cinios believed this fair tale implicitly ; but his prefent intention being to gain Woodage, it little lignified whether it was ftri<^ly true or not ; he therefore received it as true. FafiPs requed was granted to the full ; and this robber, twenty times a rebel, bred up in woods and deferts, in exercife of every crime, was appointed to a command the third in the kingdom for rank, power, and riches ; and, what was never before feen, the king went out of his palace to Deppabye, the public market- place, to fee the circle of gold, called the Ras Werk, put upon his head ; this, with the white and blue mantle, invefls him with the white and blue mantle, invefls him with the dignity of Kaf- mati, or lieutenant-general of the king, in the pro- vince given him. ' A low man, fuch as Afahel was, could not re- fill the careHes of his fovereic^n ; he was entirelv gained ; and, in return, made privately to Soci- nios, and a few confidents, a communication of all he knew, which their natural imprudence, and private previous engagements,, afterwards made public. The fubilance of this confidence was, that peace had been made and fworn to, in the mofl folemn manner, both by Michael and Vol. IV. 1 i Fafil; 4.^2 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER Fafil ; that they were to reftore the king, Tecia' Haimanout ; that they were, by their joint means, to effecl, if pofiible, the ruin of Gufho and Powuf- fen, governors of Begemder and Amhara ; Fafil was to enjoy the pod of Ras and Eetwudet, and to difpofe of the government of Begemder and Amharra to his friends; Ras Michael was to con- tent himfeif with the province of Tigre, as he then enjoyed it, and advance no further than the river Tacazze, where he was to deliver the king to Fafil, and return to his province. Sanuda was, in the mean time, to appear as Ras by the connivance of Fafil and Michael ; and, if he faw the people of the Iteghe's party refolved upon electing a king, he was to take care to choofe fuch a one as would foon prove himfeif incapable of reigning, but fill the vacancy in the mean time., and prevent the eledion from failing upon a worthier candidate from the mountain of Wech- ne. Fafil, on his part, undertook by promifes and propoials, and occafionally by the approach of .his army, to frighten and confufe the iteghe, and prevent a good underftanding taking place betVN^een her, Gufho, and Powu'Jen. The lafl ar- ticle of this treaty was, that no more fliould be faid oi Joas the late king's murder, but all that tranfa^lion was to be buried in eternal oblivion. This peace, Afahel had faid, was made by the me- diation of AVelleta Selalfe, nephew of Ras Michael, whom we have often mentioned as having been taken pi ifoner by Fafil at the battle of Limjour. This THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 4S3 This difcovery, dangerous as it might have been In other times and circumftances^ from the weak- nefs of the prefent government, had no confe- quences hurtful to any concerned in it. Sanuda, who was not prefent when Afahel revealed the fecret, aifeded to laugh at it as an improbable fidion y and though this whole fcene of treachery was confirmed part by part, yet it was fo deeply iaid, and fo well fupported, that, even when dif- covered, it could not be prevented, till, ftep by flep, it was carried into execution. Fafil was encamued at Bamba, as we have aU ready mentioned ; he had difcharged all thofe favage Galla that he had brought from the other fide of the Nile. As foon as he had heard in how favourable a manner Woodage Afahel had been received, he decamped, taking with him 400 horfe and 600 foot, all chofen men, from Maitfiia and Damot, and with thefe he advanced, by forced marches, to Gondar, where he arrived the 2d of November, to the furprife of the whole town and court, for he had already fo often promifed, and fo often broken his word, that nobody pretended to guefs more about him till they actually faw him arrived. That fame evening he waited on the queen^ where he made a fhort vifit ; he paid a dill fhorter to the king, and no bufmefs paiTed at either of thefe meetings. The king, Socinios, was now more than ever confirmed in the belief of Afahel's information, becaufe. notwi^-hfianding that Fafil knew perfe the other hand, Selafle Barea was brother to Ayto Aylo,^ the queen's greateft counfellor and conndeni: ■. ipqual tQ his brother both ia \vifdom,, iategriLV, 486 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER and riches, and in the favour of the people, but much more ambitious and defirous of governing, confequently more dangerous when difobligedx Socinios, who did not believe that Sanuda was treacherouily urging him to his ruin, continued obftinate in rejecting FafiPs appointment, and all fell immxediately into confufion. Troops flocked in from every quarter, as upon a fignal given. Ay to Engedan, in difcontent with a thoufand men fat down near Gondar on the river Mogetch ; his brother Aylo, at Emfras, about 15 miles further, with double that number; Ayto Gonfu, his coufm- german, with about 600 horfe, lay above Kofcani for the protection of Ozoro Eflher, his mother, and the Iteghe his grandmother — all were in arms, though upon the defenfive. In this fituation of things I arrived at Gondar on the igth of November, but could not fee the queen, who had retired into her apartment under pretence of devotion, but rather from difguft and melancholy, at feeing that every thing, however the contrary might be intended, feemed to con- fpire to bring about the return of Ras Michael, the event in the world fhe dreaded mall:. I found •with Ozoro Efther the Acab Saat, Abba Salama, who, as we have already obferved,^ had excom- municated her uncle Kafmati Efnte, and afterwards contrived his murder, and had alfo a very prin- cipal fhare in that of Jcas himfelf. It was he that Fafil faid had fent to him to defire that I might not' be allowed to proceed to the head of ' the THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 487 the Nile, and that from no other reafon but a hatred to me as a Frank. We bowed to each other as two not very great friends, and he immediately began a very dry, ill-natured, admonitory dif- coiirfe, addreffed, for the greateft part, to Ozoro Ellher, explaining to her the mifchief of fufFering Franks to remain at liberty in the country and meddle in affairs. I interrupted him by a laugh, and by faying, li it is me, father, you n^ean by the word Frank, 1 have, without your advice, gone where I intended, and returned in fafety ; and as for your country, I will give you a verv handfome prefent to put me fafely out of it, in any diredion you pleafe, to-morrow — the fooner the better. At this inflant Ayto Confu came into his mo* ther*s apartment, caught the lad words which I had faid, and af^ed of me in a very angry tone of voice, Who is he that wiilies you out of the coun* try ?— " 1 do, fmcerely and heartily 3 faid 1, for one ; but what yoii laft heard was in confequencq of a friendly piece of adviqe that Abba Salama, here has been giving me.'- — '^ Father, father, fays Confu, turning to him very (lernly, do you not think the meafure of your good d&ti^s is yet near full ? Do you not fee this place, Kafmari Efhte's houfe, furrounded by the troops of my father Michael, and do you think yourfelf in f^itN ty, when you have fo lately exconamunicated both the King and Ras ? Look you, fays he, turning XQ his another, what dogs the people, of thi$ coun- 488 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER try are; that Pagan there, who calls himfelf a Chriftian, di 1 charitably recommend it toFalil to rob o^ murder Yagoube, a ftranger offending no- body, when he o^ot him among his Galla in Da- mot : this did not lucceed. He then perfuaded Woodags Alahel to fend a party of robbers froni Samieen to intcrce^:t him in Maitflia. Coque Abou Barea hunfelf told me it was at that infidel's defire that he fent Weiicla Selaffe of Guefgue with a party to cut hirn off, who miffed him narrowly at Degwaffa ; and all this for what ? I fhall fwear they fhould not have found ten ounces of gold upon him, except Fafil's prcfent, and that they dared not touch/' — " But God, faid Ozoro Either, faw the integrity of his heart, and that his hands were clean ; and that is not the cafe with the men in this country."—" And therefore, faid Confu, he made Fafil his friend and protedor. Woodage Afahel's party fell in with an officer of Welleta Yafous, who cut them all to pieces while robbing fome Agows.'* Then rifmg up from the place where he was fitting at his mother's feet, with a raifed voice and countenance full of fury, turning to Abba Salama, he faid, " And I, too, am now nobody ; a boy ! a child ! a mockery to three fuch Pagan infidels as you, Fafil, and Abou Barea, becaufe Ras Michael is away i" — Says the Acab Saat, with great compofure, or without any feeming anger, " You are excommunicated, Confu ; you are excommunicated if you fay I am infidel or Pagan : I am a Chriftian pried." — " A pried of the devil, fays Confu, in a great , I pafnon THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 489 paffion — wine and women, gluttony, lying, and drunkennefs — thefe are your gods! Away! fays he, putting his hand to his knife : by Saint Mi- chael I fwear, ten days (hall not pafs before I teach both Coque Abou Barea and you your duty* Come, Yagoube, come and fee my horfes ; when I have put a good man upon each of them we fhali together hunt your enemies to Sennaar." He fwang haftily out of the door, and I after him,. and left Abba Salama dying with fear, as Ozoro Efther told me afterwards, faying only to her, as he went out, Remember I did not excommunicate him. I left Confu with his horfes and men; and, though it was now late, I went to the camp to pay my compliments to Fafil. Having no arms, I was very much molefled both in going and coming, under various pretences ; I was afterwards kept waiting about half an hour in the camp without feeing him ; he only fent me a meflage that he would fee me on the morrow. However, we met feveral friends we had feen at Bamba, and from them we learned at length what we fliortly had heard from Ay to Confu, that Woodage Afahel had fent a party to intercept and rob us ; and it was that party which was called the five Agows, who had paiTed Pafil's arniy the night after we left Kelti *. They told us that the Lamb faid they were Agows, not to alarm us, but that he * See my laft journey to rhe fountains of the Nile. knew 490 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER knew very well who they were, and what was their errand ; and that, the night after he lefc us, he got upon their track by information from three countrymen whom they had robbed of fome ho- ney, furrounded them, and, in the morning, had attacked them weft of Geefli, and, though infetior in number, had llain and wounded the whole p?ir- ty as dexteroufly as he had promifed to us at our laH: interview. I fent a fmali prefent to our friend the Lamb, in token of gratitude to him, and delivered it to the people, that I might be fure one of thein would not fteal it, and took FafiFs guarantee to fee it delivered j but this was upon a following day, I refplved to remain at Kofcam in the houfe the Jteghe had given me, as it was eafy to fee things were drawing to a crifis, which would ine- vitably end in blood. It was not till the s^jd of November I Hrfi: faw the Iteghe, She fent for me early in the morning, and had a large breakfaft prepared : Ayto Confu and Ayto Engedan were there ; fhe looked very much worn out and indifpofed. Yv^hen I came firil into her prefence, I kneeled, with my fore- bead to the ground. She put on a very feiious countenance, and, without defiring me to rife, faid gravely to her people about her, " There, fays (he, fee that madman, who in times like thefe, when we the natives of the country are not fafe in our own houfes, rafhly, againft all advi:ce, runs put into the fields to be hunted -like a wild bead ' - ' '' . bi XHE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 492 by every robber, of which this country is full." She then made me a fign to rife, which I did, and kifled her hand. " Madam, faid I, if I did this, it was in cpnfequence of the good lelTons your majefly deigned to give me.'^ — " Me! fays fhe, with furprife, was it I that advifed you, at fuch a time as this, to put yourfelf in the way of men like Coque Abou Barea, and Woodage Afa- hel, to be ill ufed, robbed, and probably mur- dered?"— " No, faid 1, Madam, you certainly never did give me fuch advice ; but you muft own that every day I have heard you fay, when you was threatened by a multitude of powerful enemies, that you was not afraid, you was in God's hands, and not in theirs. Now, Madam, Providence has hitherto protefted you : I have, in humble imitation of you, had the fame Clirif- tian confidence, and I have fucceeded. 1 knew I was in God's hands, and therefore valued not the bad intentions of ail the robbers in Abyffinia/' — " Madam, fays Ay to to Confu, is not Guefgue yours ? does it pay you any thing ?*' " It was mine, fays the queen, while any thing was mine ; but Michael took it and gave it to Coque Abou Barea, and fxuce, it has paid me nothing. Fafii has fent for him about the affair of Yagoube, as he fays, and has ordered him to come in the fame manner that he himfelf is come in private ; but forbid him to bring his army with him, in orcier that no means of relief may be fible to this devoted country." Large tears. flowed 492 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER flowed down her venerable face at faying thefe words, and fhewed the deep-rooted fear in her heart, that Michael's coming was decreed without poffibility of prevention. '' I wonder, fays Ayto Engedan, laughing, to divert her, if Coque Abou Barea is the fame good Chriftian that you Ya- goube are ; if he is not, nothing elfe will fave him from the hands of Confu and me ; for we both want horfes and mules for our men, and he has good ones, and arms too, that belonged to my father." — '' And both of you fays the queen are as bad men as either Woodage Afahel or Coque Abou Barea.'' At this moment the arrival of Fafil was announced, and we were all turned out, and went to breakfafl^ I faw him afterwards going out of the palace. He fainted me llightly, and feemed much pre-oc^ cupied in mind. He only defired me to come to Gondar next morning, and he would fpeak to me about Coque Abou Barea; but this the Iteghe re- fufed to permit me to dp, fo I remained at Kof- cam. Fafil, although he did not deny that he had iTiade peace with Ras Michael, yet, to quiet the minds of the people, always folemnly protefted, that, fo far from coming to Gondar, he never would confent to his crofTmg the Tacazze ; and this had, with moil people, the defired^eifecl ; for all Gendar loved Tecla Haimanout as much as they detefted Socinios ; hut the bloodihed, an4 cruelty that would certainly attend Michael's coming, made them wi(h for any government that v<^ould THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 493 would free them from the terror of that event. On the other hand, Socinios, though now per- fedlly perfuaded of Fafil's motives, had not de- ferted his own caufe ; he had fent Woodage Afa- hel, fortified with all his authority, into Maitiha, in order to raife a commotion there ; ordered it to be proclaimed to the whole body of Galla in that province, that if they would come to Gondar, and prevent the arrival of Ras Michael, and bring their Bouco (or fceptrej along with them, they fhould have the election of their own governor, and not pay any thing to the king for feven years to come ; and, befides, he had ordered PowuiTen of Begem- der to endeavour, by a forced march, to furprife Fafil, then at Gondar, attended by a few troops. Mean time, he diflembled the befl he could ; but, as he had very fhrewd people to deal with, it was more than probable his fecret was early difco- vered. Every hand being now armed, and all meafures taken, as far as human forefight could reach, it was impoffible to defer any longer the coming to blaws in fome part or other. On the 2qd, at night, advice was received from Adera Tacca Georgis, an officer of Fafil in Maitiha, that he had attacked Woodage Afahel, who had collected a number of troops, and was endeavouring to raife commotions ; and, after an obfi;inate combat, he had defeated him, and flain or wounded mod: of his followers : that Afahel himfclf, wounded twice ' with 494 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER with a lance, had, by the goodnefs of his horfe^ efcaped, and joined Powuflen in Begemder. Thefe news occafioned Fafil to throw off the mafk : he now publicly avowed it was his inten- tion to reflore Tecla Haimanout to the throne, and that, rather than fail in it, he would replace Ras Michael in all his polls and dignities. He faid that Socinios was created for mockery only ; and publicly afferted, that he was not fon of Ya- fous, but one Mercurius, a private man at Deg- W'affa ; and indeed he bore not, in his features or carriage, any refemblauce to the royal family from which he pretended to be defcended, Socinios now faw^ that he was from henceforward to look upon Fafil as an enemy. Orders were ac- cordingly given to fhut the gates of the palace, and to ilation a number of troops in the different courts and avenues leading to the king's apart* ment. No perfon was to be admitted to the king without examination. The drums were beat, and conftant guard kept ; and three hundred Maho- metans taken into his fervice as muiketeers j a meafure that gave great offence. Fafil had taken up his refidence in the houfe which belonged to the office of Ras, at the end of the town ; and to fliew his contempt for the king, was very ilightly guarded, his army re- maining encamped under the palace. One thing at this time feemed particularly remarkable ; a drum w^as heard to beat in the houfe where Fafil was j whereas it is an invariable rule, that no drum is 1:'HE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 495 is fufFered to beat in the capital any where butin the houfe where the king refides. It was faid that king Yafous, fecond fon to the Iteghe, or queen- mother, and father to Joas, had left two fons by a Have of the queen ; indeed he had fo many by low people, that very little care was taken of them ^ not even that of fending^ them to the mountain Wechne. One of thefe, after the murder of Joas, had appeared in Gojam, refolved to try his for- tune; but he was apprehended by the governor of that province, fent to Gondar, and then to Wechne. It was faid the other was with Fafil, in Gondar; that the drum that then beat in Fafil's houfe announced his fpeedy intention of making him king : all was confulion within the palace, but the Ras kept up a ftricrpolice in the town. It was then towards the end of November, when, by mediation of the Abuna, the Queen, and the Itchegue, peace was unexpectedly made between Socinios and Fafi I ; the latter fwearing allegiance to Socinios as to his only fovereign, and the Abuna pronouncing excommunication upon either of them which lliould become the eneruv of the other. What was the intention of this farce I never yet could learn; for the very next day Fafil deprived Gufho and Fov/uifen of their governments of Amhara and Begemder, which was an exprefs proof that his intention ilill was to reftore Tecla Haimanout. The doors of the king's palace were again imm.ediately (hut, and figns of hoftilitics commenced as before, I was 496 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER I was dining with Ozoro Efther, when a mef^ fenger arrived from Coque Abou Barea, with a complaint to the queen that he was on his march to Gondar, to pay his allegiance to Socinios, and bring him the tribute of his province, when he received a meflage from Fafii to return the great- eft part of his tropps ; but that, defiring to be as ufeful as poflible in preventiiig the coming of Michael, he fo far difobcyed that order as to bring with him a confiderable body of the beft of his foldiers, fending the reft home under the condu(^ of Welleta Selafle; but that on the 26th, early in the morning, he had been furprifed by Confu and Engedan, who, without any caufe alledged, had killed and difperfed all his troops, and taken from them all the horfes and mules, they could lay their hands on : that they after fol- lowed Welleta Selafle, and had come up with him unawares, juft as he entered Guefgue, had defeated him, and that Ay to Engedan, in the be- ginning of the fight, had flain him with Ris own hand, by wounding him in the throat with a lance when ftretching out his hand to parley; after which, they had fet fire to nine villages in Guefgue, and given the plunder to their foldiers. In the mean time Powuflen had not difregarded the requeft of Socinios. He had attempted to furprife Fafil, but could not pafs Aylo, who was at Emfras, without falling upon him firft, which he did, difperfing his troops with little refiftance. Upon THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 497 Upon the firfl intelligence of this, Fafil pro- claimed Tecla Haimanout king; and, (Iriking his tents, fat down at Abba Samuel, a collecljon of villages about two miles from Gondar, inviting all people, that would efcape the vengeance of Ras Michael, to come and join him, and leave Gondar. From this he retreated near to Dingle- ber, on the fide of the lake, and intercepted all provifions coming to Gondar, which occafioned a very great famine, and many poor people died. Hitherto I had no intercourfe with Socinios, never having been in his prefence, but when the Galla, the murderer of Joas, was tried ; nor had I any reafon to think he knew me, or cared for me more than any Greek that was in Gondar ; but I had a good friend at court, who waked when I flept, and did not fuffer me to pafs un- known; this was the Acab Saat, Salama, who had inftigated the king, on the 5th of December, in one of bis drunken fits, to fet out from the palace in the night, attended by a number of banditti, moftly Mai)ometans, to plunder feveral houfes; he flew one man, as It was faid, with his own hand: among thefe devoted houfes mine hap- pened to be one, but I was then happily at Kof- cam. The next was Metical Aga's, one of v/hole fervants efcaped into a church-yard, the other be- ing fiain. The leader of this unworthy mob was Confu, brother to Guebra Mehedin. Every thing that could be carried away was flokn or Vol. IV. K k broken; 49^ TRAVELS TO DISCOVER broken; among which was a refle£i'ng telefcope, a barometer-, and thermometer, a great many pa- pers and ll;etches of drawings, firil torn, t-hen burnt by Confu's own hand, with many curfes and threats againft me. The next day, about nine o'clock, I had a mef- fage to come to the palace, where I went, and was immediately admitted. Socinios was fitting, his eyes half clofed, red as fcarlet with lafl night's debauch; he was apparently at that moment much in liquor ; his mouth full of tobacco, fquirting his fpittle out of his mouth to a very great diilance; with this he had fo covered the floor, that it was with very great difficulty I could chufe a clean place to kneel and make my obeifance. He was dreffcd like the late king, tjut, in every thing elfe, how unlike! my mind was filled with horror and dcteflation, to fee the throne on which he fat fo unworthily occupied. I regarded him as I ad- vanced with the mod perfect contempt: Hamlet's lines defcribe him exadly : — - A murtherer and a villain : A flave, that is not twentieth part the tithe Of your preceding lord ; a vice of kings; A cutpurfe of the empire, and the rule, That from a flielf the precious diadem flole And put it in his pocket ; A king of fared s and patches. Shakespeare. It THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 499 It requires fomething of innate royalty to perfo- nate a king. When I got up and flood before him, he feemed to be rather difconcerted, and not prepared to fay- any thing to me. There were few people tuere befides fervants, mofl men of confideration having left Gondar, and gone with Fafil. After two or three fquirts through his teeth, and a whifper from his brother Chremation, whom I had never before feen — " Wherefore is it, fays he, that you who are a great man, do not attend the palace ? you were conftantly with Tecla Kaimanout, the exile, or ufurper, in peace and w^ar : you ufed to ride with him, and divert him with your tricks on horfeback, and, I believe, ate and drank with him. Where is all that money you got from Ras el Feel, of which province, I am told, you are (lill gover- nor, though you conceal it ? How dare you keep Yafme in that government, and not allow Abd el Jelleel, who is my flave, appointed to enter and govern that province?" I waited patiently till he had faid all he had to fay, and made a flight in- clination of the head. I anfwered, " I am no great man, even in my own country; one proof of this is my being here in yours. I arrived in the time of the late king, and i was recommended to him by his friends in Arabia. You are perfect Iv well-informed as to the great kindnefs he did all along ihew me, but this was entirely from his goodnefs, and no merit of mine- 1 never did eat or drink with him ; it was an honour I could not have K k 2 been 560 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER been capable of afpiiing to. Cuflom has efla- blifhed the contrary; and for me, I faw no plea- fure or temptation to tranfgrefs this cuftom, though it had been in my option, as it was not. I have, for the mod part, feen him eat and drink ; an honour I enjoyed in common with his confiden- tial fervants, as being an officer of his houfehold. The gold you mention, which I have feveral times got from the late King and Ras el Feel, I con- flantly fpent for his fervice, and for my own ho- nour. But at prefent I am neither governor of Ras el Feel, nor have I any pod: under heaven, nor do I defire it. Yadne, I fuppofe, holds his from Ayto Confu his fuperior, who holds it from the king by order of Ras Michael, but of this I know nothing. As for tticks on horfeback, I know not what you mean. 1 have for many years been in condant practice of horfemanfhip among the Arabs. Mine, too, is a country of horfemen; and I profefs to have attained to a degree not common, the management both of the lance and of fire- arms; but I am no buffoon, to fliew tricks. The profeliion of arms is my birth-right derived from my anceilors, and with thefe, at his defire, 1 have often diverted the king, as an amufement v/orthy of him, and by no means below me."' — " The king! favs he in a violent pafTion, and who then am I? a (lave! Do you know, with a (lamp of my foot I can order you to be hewn to pieces in an *in[lant. You are a Frank, a dog, a liar, and a fiavel Why did you tell the Iteghe that your houfe was THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 50 was robbed of 50 ounces of gold? Any other king but myfelf would order your eyes to be pulled out in a moment, and your carcafe to be thrown to the dogs." What he faid was true; bad kings have mod executioners. I was not, however, difmayed : I was in my own mind, flranger and alone, fuperior to fuch a bead upon a throne. '' The Iteghe, faid I, is at prefent at Kofcam, and will inform you if I told her of any gold that was flolen from me, except a gold-mounted knife which the late king gave me at Dingleber the day after the bat- tle of Limjour, and which was accidentally left in my houfe, as I had not worn it fmce he went to Tigre." He fquirted at thi^ moment an arch of tobacco-fpittle towards me, whether on purpofe or not I do not know. I felt myfelf very much moved; it narrowly milTed me. At this inltant an old man, of a noble appearance, who fat in a corner of the room next him, got up, and, in a firm tone of voice, faid, *^' I can bear this no longer; we (hall become a proverb, and the hatred of all mankind. What have you to do with Yagoube, or why did you fend for him? he was favoured by the late king, but not more than I have feen Greeks or Armenians in all the late reigns; and yet thefe very people confefs, in their own country, they are not worthy of being his fervants. He is a friend, not only to the king, but to us all : the whole people love him. As for jnyfelf, I never fpoke to him twice before ; when 502 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER he might have gone to Tigre with Michael his friend, he ftaid at Gondar with us: fo you, of all others, have lead reafon to complain of him, fmce he has preferred you to the Ras, though you have given him nothing. As for riding, I wifli Yagoube had juil rode with you as much as with Tecla Haimanout, and you fpent as much time with him as your predeceflbr did; laft night's dif- grace would not then have fallen upon us, at leail would have been confined to the limits of your own kingdom ; you would have neither difobliged Fafil nor the Iteghe ; and, when the day of trial is at hand, you would have been better able to an- fwer it, than, by going on at this rate, there is any appearance you will be/* This perfon, I un- derilood afterwards, was Ras Sanuda, nephew to the Iteghe, and fon of Ras Welled de I'Oul; he had been baniOied to Kuara in the late king's tim-e^ fo I had no opportunity of knov%^ing him. All the time of this harangue Socinios's eyes were moftly fliut, and his mouth open, and Ha- vering tobacco ; he was rolling from fide to fide fcarcely prelerving his equilibrium. When Sa- nuda llopt, he began with an air of drollery, *' You are very angry to-daj, Baba." And tur- ning to me, faid, " lo-morrow, fee you bring me that horfe which Yafine fent you to Kofcam ; and bring me Yafine himfelf, or you will hear of it; fiave and Frank as you are, enemy to Mary the virgin, bring me the horfe!" Sanuda took me by THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 503 by the hand, faying in a whifper, " Don't fear him, I am here ; but go home ; next time you come here you will have horfes enough along with you/' He, too, feemed in liquor ; and, making me a fign to withdraw, I left the king and his mi- nifter together with great willingnei's, and return- ed to Kofcam to the Itcghe, to whom I told what had paffed, and who ordered me to flay near Ozoro Eflher, as in her fervice, and' go no more to the palace. At this time certain intelligence was received that Ras Michael was arrived in Lafta w^ith Gui- garr, Shum, or chief of the clan calfed Waag, once a mortal enemy to Michael, though now at peace with him, and ferving him as his conductor. Through his country is the only pafiage from Tigre to Begemder and BeleiTen, and many armies have perifhed by endeavouring to force it. Mi- chael and the king now paffed under the protec- tion of Guigarr, notwithflanding Powufien had many parties among the - other clans that wifhed to prevent him. On the 1 4th of December he forded the Tacazze, and turned a little to the left, as if he intended to pafs through the middle of Begemder, though he had really no fuch delign, but only to bring Powuflen to an engagement. Seeing this was not likely, and only tended to wade time, he purfued his journey ftrait towards Gondar, not in his ufual way, burning and de- flroyingj but quietly, corre6ling abufes, and re- gulating 504 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER gulating the police of the country through which he paflTed, for he was yet in fear. The news of his having paffed the Tacazze de- termined Socinios and the Iteghe to fly -, and they fet out accordingly. Socinios directed his flight, firfl towards Begemder, but, the next day, turned to the right, through Dembea, and joined the queen at Azazo, where great altercations and dif- putes followed between them. The queen had engaged the Abuna to attend her, and that pre- late had confented, upon receiving fifteen mules and thirty ounces of gold, which were paid ac- cordingly: But when the queen fent, the morn- ing of her departure, to put the Abuna in mind of his promife, his fervants floned the Iteghe's meflfenger, without fufl"ering him to approach the houfe, but they kept the mules and the gold. The queen continued her flight to DegwaflTa, near the lake Tzana, and fent all that was valuable that flie had brought with her, into the ifland cf Dek. Ayto Engedan and Confu were at hand at the head of large parties fcouring the country, at once piotecling the Iteghe, and fecuring as many of thofe of Socinios's people as were thought wor- thy of punilhment. Sanuda, too, was in arms ; and, throwing oif the mafl^,. was now acting un- der the immediate direction of Ras Michael, and had apprehended many of thofe noblemen of T'igre who had revolted againd the Ras, particu- larly diftinguifhed for generofity, opennefs, and affability THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. ^^^ afFability of manners ; and Sebaat Laab and Kefla Mariam, men of great confideration in Michael's province. Confu and Sanuda having joined, en- tered Gondar, and took polleffion of the king's houfe, and put a flop to thefe excefles and rob- beries which had become very frequent fince the Iteghe's flight. One day, while I was fitting at Kofcam, Yafine entered the court before the houfe, and, coming into the room, fell down and kiffed the ground before me, after the manner they falute their fu- perior. He told me he came from Ayto Confu, who ordered him to do homage to me as ufual for the province of Ras el Feel, and that I was to come to him directly, and go out to meet the king, for feveral of his people were already ar- rived at Gondar. I fent him back to Ayto Confu with my refpe(5lful thanks, declined accepting of any office till I (hould fee the king ; and, as he himfelf had named the place to be Mariam-Ohha, I thought it was my duty to flay till he came there. In the mean time the unfortunate Socinios con- tinued his flight, in company with the queen, till they came to the borders of Kuara, her native country. Thofe who made Socinios a king had never made him a friend. It was here fuggefled, that his prefence would infallibly occafion a pur- fuit which might endanger the qtieen, her coun- try, and all her friends. Upon this it was re- folved to abandon the unworthy Socinios to the foldiers. K^6 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER foldiers, who ftript him naked, giving him only a rag to cover him, and a good horfe, and with thefe they difmiifed him to feek his fortune. i^fter a fhort Hay in Kuara, the queen turned to the left towards Bure. All Maitlha aflembled to efcort her to Fafil, while he led her through Damot to the frontiers of Gojam, w^here Ihe was received in triumph by her daughter Ozoro Wel- leta Ifrael, and Ay to her grandfon, to whom half of that province belonged, and with them fhe refted at lad in fafety, after a long and anxious journey. On the 2 1 ft of December a meffage came to me from Ozoro Efther, defiring I would attend her fon Confu to meet the king, as his Fit-Auraris had marked out the camp at Mariam-Ohha ; ob- ferving, that I had a very indifferent knife or dag- ger in my girdle, (that which I had received from the king being ftolen, Vv^hen my houfe was plun- dered) with her own hands flie made me a prefenc of a magnificent one, mounted with gold which fhe had chofen with that intention, and laid upon the feat befide her. She told me Ihe had already fent to acquaint her hufband, Ras Michael, how much (be had been obliged to me in his abfence, both for my attention to her and her elded fon, who had been feveral times fick fmce his depar- ture, and that I might expedl to receive a kind -reception. C HAP. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 507 CHAP. XXI. The Author joins the Army at Mariam-Ohha— Re- ception there —Univerfal Terror on the Approach of the Army — Several great Men of the Rebels apprehended and executed — Great Hardnefs of the King's Heart. .AVING flill fome doubt about the propriety of going to Mariam-Ohha, till the king had taken pod there, I appointed with Ayto Confu to meet him next morning the 2 2d, in the plain below the church of Abbo, where is the pafs called Semma Confu, the dangerous path, from its being always a place where banditti refort to rob paiTengers in unfettled times. In my way through the town, though the day had fcarce dawned, numbers of the king's fcr- vants, that had come from Tigre, flocked about me with great demonftrations of joy ; and, by the time I got into the plain below Abbo, I had al- ready colleded a ftrong party both of horfe and foot. This was not my intention j I had fet out unarmed, 5o8 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER unarmed, attended only by two AbylTinian fcr- vants on horfeback, but without lance or ihield, and in this manner I intended to prefent myfelf to the king as one of the fuite of Ayto Confu : but all my endeavours were in vain ; and I faw that, making the bed of m.y way, and profiting of the early time of the morning, was the only method left to avoid increafmg my retinue. I muft own the good difpofition of thefe people to me, and the degree of favour they reported me to be in, and, above all, Ozoro Efther's alTurances had given me great comfort ; for fevcral people of no authority, indeed, had prophefied that Ras Mi- chael would be much offended at my having thrown a carpet over the body of Joas, and at my not having gone to Tigre with him. I palled the three heaps of (tones under which lie the three monks who were (toned to death in the time of David IV. ; and at the bottom of the hill whereon (tands the church of Abbo, I w^as met by Yafine, and about 20 horfemen, having on their coats of mail, their helmets upon their heads, and their viziers down ; their pikes perpendicular, with their points in the air, fo that by one motion more, placing them horizontally in their re(ts, they were prepared to charge at a word. I afked Yafme what was the meaning of his being in that equipage in fuch hot weather, when there was no enemy ? He replied. It was given him in orders from Ayto Confu laft night; and that, with re- gard to an enemy, there was one that had feized 3 ^ the THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 509 the pafs of Semma Confu, and obftinately refufed to let us through, unlefs we forced them. Sure, faid I, Ay to Confu knows, that heavy armed-men on horfeback are not fit to force pafTes through craggy mountains, where they may be all killed by rolling ftones upon them, without their even feeing their enemy. Strange, ftrange, faid I, (fpeaking to myfelf ) that any party Ihould be fo .audacious as to take poil in the king's front, at fix miles diflance, and put themfelves between him and the capital : I am fure they heartily de- ferve to be cut in pieces, and fo they certainly will. Where is Ay to Confu ? It was anfwered by Yafme, That he was gone forward to the mouth of the pafs to reconnoitre it, and would meet us there. We marched on accordingly, acrofs the plain, about half a mile; but I was furprifed to fee all my attendants, that I had picked up by the way, laughing, excepting Yafme's men, and that none of the red made horfe, mule, or gun ready as if they were in danger ; fo that I began now flrongly to fufpe6l fome trick on the part of Con- fu, as he was much given to jell and fport, being, . a very young man. A little before we came to the mouth of the pafs, a foldier came to us and afked who we were ? and was anfwered, it was Yafme, Ayto Confu's fervant at Ras el Feel. To which it was replied, he knew no fuch perfon. He was fcarcely gone when another arrived with the fame queition. i began to be impatient, as the fuu v/as then Lrowfn;^ 510 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER growing very hot ; and anfwered. It was Yagoube, the white man, the king's frierid and fervant. I was again anlVered, No fuch perfon could pafs there. The third time, being interrogated by one whom I knew to be Ayto Confu's fervant, Yaline anfwered, it is Yagoube, the king's go- vernor of Ras el Feel, with the flave Yafme, the moor, come to do the king homage, and to die for him, if he commands, in the midfl of his ene- mies. We were anfwered, He is welcome : upon which the fervant, going back, brought a drum, and beat it upon the rock, crying as in a proclama- tion, " Yagoube is Governor of Ras el Feel, Commander of the king's black horfe, Lord of Geeih, and Gentleman of the king's bed-cham- ber." Here this farce, the contrivance of Ayto Confu, ended. With him were many more of the king's fervants, my old acquaintances, and we all fat down by a fpring-wcll, under the fhade of the rock, to a hearty breakfail: prepared for us by Ozoro Efther. After this was finifhed with a great deal of chearfulnefs, and being ready to get on horfeback, we faw a man running towards us in great fpeed, who, upon his arrival, afked us where the king was, and if we were his Fit-Auraris ? To this we made him no anfwer ; but, laying hold of him, obliged him to declare his errand. He faid that he was a fervant of Negade Ras Mahomet, of Dara, who had apprehended Ayto Confu, brother of Guebra Mehedin, of whom i have fpoken at large, THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 511 large, (never for any goodj and that he had brought him along with him. This mifcreant, whom we had found out to be the principal adlor and perfuader of the robbery of my houfe, while in a drunken frolic with the 'wrretched Socinios, was now in his way before the king, where, if all his delinquency had been known, he would infal- libly have loll: his eyes, his life, or both. He was nephew to the Iteghe, as has been already menti- oned, fon to her brother Balha Eufebius, and con- fequently coufm-german to Ayto Confu himfelf, who, with great diffidence, aiked me if I could pardon his coufm, and allow him to be delivered out of Mahomet's hands, w^hich, ill as he de- ferved of me, I very readily complied v/ith ; for I would not for the world have had it thought that I was the occafion of his death, after it had been fo often faid, though falfely, that I had been the caufe of that of his brother. Mahomet delivered him to Confu and me, without hefitation, and promifed not to complain to Ras Michael ; but he threatened, if ever again he fell into his hands, that he would certainly put him to death, which he well faw would not be very difagreeable to any of his relations, provided it happened in the held, or any other way than by the hands of a public executioner. Ayto Confu, however, infilled up- QU bringing him out, and correcting him pubHcly, though he v/as by ten years ' the younger of the two ; and the v/retch was accordingly fevere'y whipt with wands, and delivered after to a fervant cf 512 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER of Ozoro Efther's to condu6l him to fome fafc place, where he might be out of the reach of Ras Michael, at leafl for a time. We now got on horfeback, and having ordered Yafme and his foldiers to difarm, w^e all went in the habit of peace, with joyful hearts, to meet the king, who was already arrived at Mariam- Ohha, and was encamped there fmce about eleven o'clock that forenoon. My firft bufniefs was to wait on Ras Michael, who, tho' very bufy, admitted me immediately upon being announced. This was a compliment I w^as under no neceliity of paying him, as the king's fervant j but I was refolved to take nothing upon me, but appear in ail the humility of a private flranger. This he quickly perceived, fo that, when he faw me approaching near him to kifs the ground, he made an effort as if to rife, which he never did, being lame, nor could do without help ; ilretching out his hand as if to prevent me, repeated the words in a hurry, be gzeir^ be gzeir^ or, for God's fake don't, for God's fake don't. However, the compliment v/as paid. As foon as 1 arofe, without defiring me to fit down, he aiked aloud. Have you feen the king ? I faid. Not yet. Have you any complaint to m.ake againft any one, or grace to afk? I anfwered. None, but the con- tinuance of your favour. He anfwered, 1 hat I am fure I owe you ; go to the king. I took my leave. 1 had been joilled and almofc fqueezed to death attempting to enter, but large room was made me for retiring. ' The THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 513 The reception I had met with was the infallible rule according to which the courtiers were to fpeak to me from that time forward. Man is the fame creature every where, although different in co- lour : the court of London and that of Abyflinia are, in their principles, one. I then went imme- diately to the king in the prefence-chamber. His largeft tent was crowded to a degree of fufFocati- on ; 1 refolved, therefore, to wait till this thrpng was over, and was going to my own tent, which my fervants pitched near that of Keiia Yafous, by that general's own defire, but before I could reach it I was called by a fervant from the king. Though the throng had greatly decreafed, there was ilill a very, crowded circle. The king was fitting upon an ivory flool, fuch as are reprefented upon ancient medals; he had got this as a prefent from Arabia fmce he went to Tigre ; he was plainly, but very neatly drelTed, and his hair combed and perfumed. When I kiifed the ground before him, " There, fays he, is an arch rebel, what punifhment fhall we infli6t upon him ?" " Your majefly's juflice, faid I, will not fuffer you to infii^i: any punifhment upon me that can pofTibly equal the pleafure I feel this day at feeing you fitting there.'* He fmiled with great good nature, giving me firfl the back, and then the palm of his hand to kifs. He then made me Ti fign to fland in my place, which I immediately did for a moment ; and, feeing.^he was then upon bufinefs, which I knew noth^g .of, 1 took leave VoJL. ■ V. L 1 ^^ of 514 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER of him, and could not help renewing, as ( went, that, of all the valt multitude then m my ! ght, I was, perhaps, the only one deftitute either of hope or fear. All Gondar, and the neighbouring towns and villages, had poured out their inhabitants to meet the king upon his return. The fear of Ras Mi- chael was the caufe of ail this; and every one trembled, left, by being abfent, he fhould be thought a favourer of Socinios. The fide of the hill, which Hopes gently from Beieflen, is here very beautiful ; it is covered thick with herbage down to near the foot, where it ends in broken rocks. The face of this hill is of great extent, expofed to the W. and S. W. ; 2^ fmalL but clear-runnuig ftr©am, rifmg in Beieflen, runs through the middle of it, and falls into the Mogetch. It is not confiderable, being but a brook, called Mariam-Ohha, (/. ^. the water of Mariam) frorii a church dedicated to the Virgin, near where it rifes in Beleifen ; an infinite number of people fpread themfelves all over the hill, co- vered with cotton garments as white as fnow. The number could not be lefs than 50 or 60,000 men and women, all flrewed upon the grafs pro- mifcuoully. Mod of thefe had brought their vic- tuals with them, others trufted to their friends and acquaintances in the army ; the foldiers had plenty of meat ; as foon as the king had crofled the Tacazze all was lawful prize ; and though they did not murder or burn, as was Michael's cuftoni THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 515 cuftom in his former marches, yet they drove away all the cattle they could feize, either in Be- gember or Beleffen. Befides this, a great quan- tity of provifions of every fort poured in from the neighbourhood of Gondar, in prefents to the king and great men, though there was really famine in that capital, by the roads being every way obflru^l- €d; there was plenty, however, in the camp. It was the month of December, the faireil time of the year, when the fun was in the fouthern tropic, and no danger from rain in the day, nor in the night from dew ; [0 that, if the remem- brance of the pafl: had not hung heavy on fome hearts, it was a party of pleafure, of the moft a- greeable kind, to convoy the king to his capital. The priefts from all the convents for many miles round, in dreifes of yellow and white cotton, came, with their croiTes and drum.s, in procefiion, and greatly added to the variety of the fcene. Among thefe were 300 of the monks of Kofcam, with their large croiTes, and kettle-drums of fii- ver, the gift of the Iteghe in the days of her Iplen- dour ; at prefent it was very doubtful v/hat their future fate was to be, after their patronefs had ned from Kofcam. But what mod drew the atten- tion of all ranks of people, was the appearance of the Abuna and Itchegue, whofe character, rank, and dignity exempted them from leaving Gondar to meet the king himfelf ; but they were then in the form of criminals, and were treated with very I^ 1 2 little 5i6 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER little refpe^l: or ceremony by the foldiers, wh > con- iidered them as enemies. It will be remembered, upon a report being fpread jufl: after the eleclion of Socinios, that Ras Michael's affairs were taking an adverfe turn while befieging the mountain Haramat; that the Abuna, Itchegue, and Acab Saat, had folemnly excom- municated the king, Ras Michael, and all their adherents, declaring them accurfed, and abfolv- ing all people from their allegiance to Tecla Hai- manout. But as foon as the king began his march from Tigre, application for pardon was made through every channel poflible, and it was hot without great difficulty that Ras Michael could be brought to pardon them, chiefly by the entrea- ty of Ozoro Efther. But this mortification was prefcribed to them as a condition of forgivenefs, that they ihould meet the king at Mariam-Ohha, not with drums and crofTes, or a retinue, but in the habit and appearance of fuppiicants. Accord- ingly they both came by the time the king had alighted, but they brought no tent with them, nor was any pitched for them, nor any honour (hewn them. The Abuna had with him a priefl, or monk, on a mule, and two beggarly-looking fervants on foot ; the Itchegue two monks, that looked like fervants, didinguilhed by a cowl only on their heads ; they were both kept waiting till paft three o'clock, and then were admitted, and iharply re- buked by the Kas : they after v.^ent to the king, who THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 517 who prefenrly difmifTed them without faying a word to either, or without allowing them to be feated in his prefence, which both of them, by their rank, were intitled to be. I aiked the Abuna to make ufe of my tent to avoid the fun ; this he willingly accepted of, was creft-fallen a little, fpoke very lowly and familiarly; faid he had always a regard for me, which I had no reafon to believe; defired me to fpeak favourable of him before the King and the Ras, which 1 promifed faithfully to do. I ordered coffee^ which he drank with great pleafure, during which he gave me fe- veral hints, as if he thought his pardon was not compleated ; and at lad aiked me diredly what were my fentiments, and what I had heard? I faid, I believed every thing was favourable as to him and the Itchegue, but I did not know how much farther the king's forgivenefs would extend. I know, fays he, what you mean ; that Abba Sala- ina, (curfe upon him) he is the author of it ail : What do I know of thefe black people, who am a flranger, fo lately come into the country ? and, indeed, he feemed to knowveiy little; for befides his native Arabic, which he fpoke like a peafant, he had not learned one word of any of the various languages ufed in the country in which he was to live and die. Having fmiilied coffee, I left him fpeaking to fome of his own people; about half an hour afterwards, he went away. Ras Michael had brought with him from Tigre about 20,000 men, the bell foldiers of the empire; about 5i8 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER about 6000 of thefe were mufqueteers, about 12,000 armed with lances and fhields, and about Oooo men had joined them from Gondar ; a large proportion of thefe were horfemen, who were fcouring the country in all diredlions, bringing with them fuch unhappy people as deferved to be^ and were therefore deftined for public ex- ample. The fiiort way from Tigre to Gondar was by Lamalmon, (that is the mountain of Samen) and by Woggora. Ayto Tesfos had maintained him- felf in the government of Samen fince Joas's time, by whom he was appointed ; he had continued conilantly in enmity with Ras Michael, and had now taken pofieflion of the paffes near the Ta- cazze, fo as to cut oft all communication between Gondar and Tigre. On the fide of Beleffen, be- tween Lafta and Begemder, was Ras Michael and his army. PowuiTen and the Begemder troops cut off the road to Gojam by Foggora and Dara. Ayto Engedan, who was to be confidered as an advanced pod of Fafil, was at Tfhemmera, in the way of the Agow and Maitfha, and Coque Abou Barea on theN. W. fide, towards Kuara; fo that Gondar was fo completely invefted, that feveral of the people died with hunger. Ras Michael had ordered his Own nephew, Tecla and Welieta Michael, the king's mafter of the houfehold, to endeavour to force their way from iigre to Woggora, and open that commu- nication, if pofhble, with Gondar 5 and for that purpofe THE SOURCE OF THE NILE, ^i^ purpofe had left him 4000 iiren in the province of Sire, on, the other fide of the Tacazze : and now fcarce was his tent pitched at Mariam-Ohha, when he detached Ketla Yafous with Goo men to force a jundion with Michael and Tecla from the Wog- gora fide. Their orders were, ifpoffible, to draw Tesfos to an engagement, but not to venture to llorm him in the mountain ; for Tesfos's princi- pal pofl, the Jews Rock, was inacceilible, Vv'here he had plowed and fowed p entifully for his fub- fiftence, and had a quantity of the purell running- water at all feafons of the year : to irritate Tesfos. more, Kefla Yafous was then named governor of Samen in his place. This brave and aciive officer had fet out immediately for his command, and it was to me the greateft difappointment poffible, that I did not fee him. Although Ras Michael had been in council all night, the fignal was made to ftrike the tents at the firll dawn of day, and foon after, the whole army was in motion ; the council had been in the Ras's tent, not in prefence of the king, with whom I had (laid the moft part of the evening, indeed, till late in the night ; he feemed to have loft all his former gaiety, and to be greatly troubled in mind 5 inquired much about the Iteghe, and Fafil; told me he had fent his alTurance of peace to the Iteghe, and defired her not to leave Kofcam: but ^\^ had returned for anfwer, that flie could not trull Michael, after the threatnings he had fent againft her from Tigre. Jt was obferved alfo, in this 520 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER this day's march, that, contrary to his cuftom before crofTmg the Tacazze, he received all that came out to meet him with a fullen countenance, and fcarce ever anfwered or fpake to them. Mi- chael alfo, every day fmce the lame date, had put on a behaviour more and more fevere and brutal. He had enough of this at all times. It was the 23d of December when we encamped on the Mogetch, juft below Gondar. This be-- haviour was fo confpicuous to the whole people, that no fooner were the tents pitched, (it being about eleven o'clock) than they all dole home to Gondar in fmall parties v/ithout their dinner, and prefently a report was fprcad that the king and Ras Michael came determined to burn the town, and put the inhabitants all to the fword. This oc- cafioned the utmoft: confternation, and caufed many to fiy to Fafil. As for me, the king's behaviour ihewed me plainly all was not right, and an accident in the way confirmed it. He had defired me to ride be- fore him, and (hew him the horfe I had got from Fafil, which was then in great beauty and order and which I had kept purpofely for him. It hap- pened that, crofTing the deep bed of a brook, a plant of the kantulFa hung acrofs it. I had upon ray fhoulders a white goat fkin, of which it did hot take hold ; but the king, who was dreffed in the habit of peace, his long hair floating all around his face, wrapt up in his mantle, or thin cotton cloak, fo that nothing bat his eyes could be feen, was THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 521 was paying more attention to the horfe than to the branch of kantufFa befide him; it took firlt hold of his hair, and the fold of the cloak that covered his head, then fpread itfelf over his whole fhoulder in fuch a manner, that, notwithftanding all the help that could be given him, and that 1 had, at firft feeing it, cut the principal bough afunder with my knife, no remedy remained but he mud throw off the upper garment, and appear in th^ under one, or waiflcoat, with his head and face bare be- fore all the fpedators. This is accounted great difgrace to a king, who always appears covered in public. However, he did not feem to be ruffled, nor was there any thing particular in his countenance more than before, but with great compofure, and in rather a low voice, he called twice, Who is the Shum of this diftrid ? Unhappily he was not far oiF. A thin old man of fixty, and his fon about thirty, came trotting, as their cuflom is, naked to their girdle, and flood before the king, who was, by this time, quite cloathed again. What had {truck the old man's fancy, I know not, but he palTed my horfe laughing, and feemingly won- derfully content with himfelf. I could not help confidering him as a type of mankind in general, never more confident and carelefs than when on the brink of deflrudion ; the king alked if he was Shum of that place ? he anfwered in the affirma- tive, and added, which was not afked of him, that the other was his fon. There 522 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER There Is always near the king, when he marches, an officer called Kanitz Kitzera, the exe- cutioner of the camp ; he has upon the tore of his faddle a quantity of thongs made of bull hide, rolled up very artificially, this is called the tarade. The king made a fign with his head, and another with his hand, without fpeaking, and two loops of the tarade were inilantly thrown round the Shum and his fon's neck, and they were both boiiled upon the fame tree, the tarade cut, and the end made fall to a branch. They were both left hanging, but I thought fo aukwardly, that they Ihould not die for fome minutes, and might furely have been faved had any one dared to cut them down ; but fear had fallen upon every per- fon who had not attended the king to Tigre. This cruel beginning feemed to me an omen that violent refolutions had been taken, the exe- cution of which was immediately to follow ; for though the king had certainly a delight in the (liedding of human blood in the field, yet till that time I never faw him order an exe- cution by the hands of the hangman; on the contrary, I have ofte!? feen him fhudder and ex- preis difgufl, lov/ly and in half words, at fuch executions ordered every day by Ras Michael, in this inftance he feemed to have loft that feel- ing; and rode on, fometimes converfmg about Fafirs horfe, or other indifferent fubjeds, to thofe vv^ho were around him, without once refleding up- o'i the horrid execution he had then fo recently occaiioned. In THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 523 In the evening of the 23d, when encamped up- on the Mogetch, came Sanuda, the perfon who had made Socinios king, and who had been Ras under him ; he was received with great marks of favour, in reward of the treacherous part he had aded. He brought with him prifoners, Guebra Denghel, the Ras's fon-in-Iaw, one of |:he beft and mod amiable men in Abyllinia, but who had unfortunately embraced the wrong fide of the queftion ; and with him Sebaat Laab and Kefla Mariam, both men of great families in Tigre. Thefe were, one after the other, thrown violently on their faces before the king. I was exceedingly diftreffed for Guebra Denghel ; he prayed the king with the greateft earneftnefs to order him to be put to death before the door of his tent, and not delivered to his cruel father-in-law. To this the king made no anfwer, nor did he fliew any figns of pity, but waved his hand, as a fign to carry them to Ras Michael, where they were put in cuftody and loaded with irons. About two hours later came Ay to Aylo, fon of Kafmati Eihte, whom the king had named gover- nor of Begemder ; he brought with him Chrema- tion brother to Socinios, and Abba Salama the Acab Saat, who had excommunicated kis father, and been inflrumental in his murder by Fafil. I had a great curiofity to fee how they would treat the Acab Saat, for my head was full of what I had read in the European books of exemption that 524 TRAVELS T0 DISCOVER that churchmen had in this country from the jurif- diction of the civil power. Aylo had made his legs to be tied under the mule's belly, his hands behind his back, and a rope made fafl to them, which a man held in his hand on one fide, while another led the halter of the mule on the other, both of them with lances in their hands. Chremation had his hands bound, but his legs were not tied, nor was there any rope made fafl to his hands by which he was held,. While they were untying Abba Salama, I went into the prefence-chambcr, and flood behind the king's chair. Very foon after Aylo's men brought in their prifoners, and, as is ufual, threw them down violently with their faces to the ground ; their hands being bound behind them, they had a very rude fall tipon their faces. The Acab Saat rofe in a violent paflion, he flruggled to get loofe his hands, that he might be free to ufe the a6l of denouncing excommunica- tion, which is by lifting the right hand, and ex- tending the fore-finger ; finding that impoflible, he cried our, Unloofe my hands, or you are all excommunicated. It was with difficulty he could be prevailed upon to hear the king, who with great compofure, or rather indifference, faid to him. You are the firfl ecclefiaflical officer in my houfehold, you are the third in the whole king- dom; but 1 have not yet learned you ever had pov.er to curfe your fovereign, or exhort his fub- jccts to murder him. You are to be tried for this crime THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 525 crime by the judges to-morrow, fo prepare to ihew in your defence, upon what precepts of Chrift, or his apoftles, or upon what part of the general councils, you found your title to do this. Let my hands be unloofed, cries Salama violent- ly; I am a pried, a fervant of God; and they have power, fays David, to put kings in chains, and nobles in irons. And did not Samuel hew king Agag to pieces before the Lord ? I excom- municate you, Tecla Haimanout. And he was going on, when Tecla Mariam, fon of the king's fecretary, a young man, ftruck the Acab Saat fo violently on the face, that it made his mouth gufh out with blood, faying, at the fame time. What! fuffer this in the king's prefence ? Upon which both Chremation and the Acab Saat were hurried out of the tent without being fifffered to fay more ; indeed the blow feemed to have fo much difconcerted Abba Salama, that it deprived him for a time of the power of fpeaking. In Abyflinia it is death to flrike, or lift the hand to llrike, before the king ; but in this cafe the provocation was fo great, fo fudden, and un- expeded, and the youth's worth and the info- lence of the offender fo apparent to every body, that a flight reproof was ordered to be given to Tecla Mariam (by his father only) but he loft no favour for what he had done, either with the King, Michael, or the people. When 526 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER When the two prifoners were carried before the RaSj he refufed to fee them, but loaded them with irons, and committed them to clofe cuftody. That night a council was held in the king's tent, but it broke early up ; afterwards another before the Ras, which fat much later j the reafon was, that the firft, where the king was, only arranged the bufmefs of to-morrow, while that before the Ras confidered all that was to be done or likely to happen at any time. On the 24th the drum beat, and the army was on their march by dawn of day : they halted a little after pafling the rough ground, and then doubled their ranks, and formed into clofe order of battle, the king leading the center ; a few of his black horfe were in two lines immediately be- fore him, their fpears pointed upwards, his offi- cers and nobility oh each fide, and behind him the reft of the horfe, diftributed in the wings, excepting prince George and AytoConfu, who, with two fmall bodies, not exceeding a hundred, fcoured the coun- try, fometimes in the front, and fometimes in the flank. I do not remember who commanded the reft of the army, my mind was otherwife engag- ed ; they marched clofe and in great order, and every one trembled for the fate of Gondar. We paffed the Mahometan town, and encamped upon the river Kahha, in front of the market place. As foon as we had turned our faces to the town, our kettie-drums" were brought to the front, and, 3 ^^^^^ THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 527 after beating fome time, two proclamations were made. The firft was. That all thofe who had fiour or barley in quantities, fhould bring it that very day to a fair market, on pain of having their houfes plundered ; and that all people, foldiers, or others, who attempted by force to take any provifions without having firft paid for them in ready money, fhould be hanged upon the fpot. A bench was quickly brought, and fet under a tree in the middle of the market ; a judge appointed to fit there; a flrong guard, and federal officers placed round him ; behind him an executioner, and a large coil of ropes laid at his feet. The fe- cond proclamation was, That every body fliould remain at home in their houfes, otherwife the per- fon flying, or deferting the town, fhould be re- puted a rebel, his goods confifcated, his houfa burnt, and his family chafcifed at the king's pleafure for feven years ; fo fe was well and politic. There was at Gondar a fort of mummers, be- ing a mixture of buffoons and ballad-fingers, and pofture-mafters. Tbefe people, upon all public occafions, run about the ftreets, and on private ones, fuch as marriages, come to the court-yards before the houfes, where they dance, and fing fongs of their own compofing in honour of the day, and perform all forts of antics : many a time, on his return from the field wdth vi6lory, they had met Ras Michael, and received his bounty for finging his praifes, and welcoming him upon his return 528 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER return home. The day the Abuna excommuni- cated the king, this fet of vagrants made part of* the folemnity ; they abufed, ridiculed, and tra- duced Michael in lampoons and fcurrilous rhymes, calling him crooked, lame, old, and impotent, and feveral other opprobrious names, which did not affect him near fo much as the ridicule of his perfon : upon many occafions after, they repeated this, and particularly in a fong they ridiculed the horfe of Sire, who had run away at the battle of Limjour, where Michael cried out. Send thefe horfe to the mill. It happened that thefe wretches, men and women, to the number of about thirty and upwards, were then, with very different fongs, celebrating Ras Michael's return to Gon- dar. The King and Ras, after the proclamation, had juft turned to the right to Aylo Meidan, be- low the palace, a large field where the troops exercife. Confu and the king's houfehold troops were before, and about 200 of the Sire horfe were behind ; on a fignal made by the Ras, thefe horfe turned (hort and fell upon the fingers, and cut them all to pieces. In lefs than two minutes they were all laid dead upon the field, excepting one young man, who, mortally wounded, had juft flrength enough to arrive within twenty yards of the king's horfe, and there fell dead without fpeak- ing a word. All the people prefent, moft of them veteran foldiers, and confequently inured to blood, ap- peared (hocked and difgufled at this wanton piece of THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 529 of cruelty. For my part, a kind of faintiflinefs, or feeblenefs, had taken pofTeiTion of my heart, ever fince the execution of the two men on our march about the kantuffa ; and this fecond acl of cruelty occafioned fuch a horror, joined with an abfence of mind, that I found myfelf unable to give an immediate anfwer, though the king had fpoken twice to me. It was about nine o'clock in the morning when we entered Gondar ; every perfon we met on the flreet wore the countenance of a condemned ma- lefa<5lor ; the Ras went immediately to the palace with the king, who retired, as ufual, to a kind of cage or lattice-window, where he always (its unfeen when in council. We were then in the council-chamber, and four of the judges feated ; none of the governors of provinces were prefent but Ras Michael, and Kafmati Tesfos of Sire. . Abba Salama was brought to the foot of the table without irons, at perfe6: liberty. Theaccufer for the king (it is a poU in ' this country in no great eftimation) began the charge againft him with great force and eloquence : he dated, one by one, the crimes committed by him at different periods, the fum of which amounted to prove Salama to be the greateft monfler upon earth : among thefe were various kinds of mufder, efpecially by poi- fon ; inceft, with every degree collateral and de- fcendant. He'concluded this black, horrid lid, with the charge of high treafon, or curling the king, and abfolving his fubjeCts from their allegi- Vol. IV. M m ance. 5 30 T R A V E L S T O DISCOVER ance, which he Hated as the greateft crime human nature was capable of, as involving in its confe- quences all forts of other crimes. Abba Salama, though he feemed under very great impatience, did not often interrupt him, further than, Tou //V, and. It is a lie^ which he repeated at every new charge. His accufer had not faid one word of the murder of Joas, but paiTed it over without the fmalleft allufion to it. In this, however, Abba Salama did not follow his example: being defired to anfwer in his own defence, he entered upon it with great dignity, and an air of fuperiority, very different from his behaviour in the king's tent the day before : he laughed, and made extremely light of the charges on the article of w^omen, which he neither con- fefled nor denied; but faid thefe might be crimes among the Franks, (looking at me) or other Ghriftians, but not the Chriftians of that country, who lived under a double difpenfation, the law of Mofes and the law of Chrift : he faid the Abyf- fmians were Bcni Jfraely as indeed they call them- felves, that is, Children of Ifrael ; and that in every age the patriarchs had aded as he did, and were not lefs beloved of God. He went roundly into the murder of Joas, and of his two brothers,. Adigo and Aylo, on the mountain of Wechnc, and charged Michael diredly with it, as alfo with the poifoning the late Hatze Hannes, father of the prefent king. The THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 531 The Ras feemed to avoid hearing, fometimes by fpeaking to people (landing behind him, fome- times by reading a paper ; in particular, he aiked me, {landing directly behind his chair, in a low voice, What is the punifhment in your country for fuch a crime ? It was his cuflom to fpeak to me in his own language of Tigre, and one of his greateft paflimes to laugh at my faulty expreffion. He fpake this to me in Amharic, fo I knew he wanted my anfwer fhould be underflood : I there- fore faid, in the fame low tone of voice he had fpoke to me, High-treafon is punifhed with death in all the countries I have ever known. — This I owed to Abba Salama, and it was not long before I had my return. • Abba Salama next went into the murder cf Kafmati Eflite, which he confeffed he was the pro- moter of. He faid the Iteghe, with her brothers and Ayto Aylo, had all turned Franks, fo had Guftio of Amhara ; and that, in order to make the country Catholic, they had fent for priefts, who lived with them in confidence, as that Frank did, pointing to me : that it was againfl the. law of the country, that I ihould be fufFered here 5 that I was accurfed, and fhould be floned as aa enemy to the Virgin Mary. There the Ras inter- rupted him, by faying, Confine yourfelf to your own defence ; clear yourfelf firil,. and then accufe any one you pleafe : it is the king's intention to put the law in execution againfl al! offenders, IM :n 2 and $■^2 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER and it is only as believing you the greatefl that he has begun with you. This calmnefs of the Ras feemed to difconcert the Acab Saat ; be loft all method ; he warned the Ras that it was owing to his excommunicat- ing Kafmati Eflite that room was made for him to come to Gondar; without that event this kino- would never have been upon the throne, fo that he had ftiil done them as much good by his ex- communications as he had done them harm : he told Ras, and the judges that they were all doub- ly under a curfe, if they offered either to pull out his eyes, or cut out his tongue ; and prayed them, burfting into tears, not fo much as to think of either, if it was only for old fellowfhip, or friend- ihip which had long fubfifted between them. There is an officer named Kal Hatze who ftands always upon fteps at the fide of the lattice-win- dow, where there is a hole covered in the infide with a curtain of green taffeta; behind this cur- tain the king fits, and through this hole be fends what he has to fay to the Board, who rife and re- ceive the meffenger Handing : he had not inter- fered till now, when the officer faid, addreiTmg himfelf to Abba Salama, " The king requires of you to anfwer diredly why you perfuaded the Abuna to excommunicate him ? the Abuna is a fiave of the Turks, and has no king ; you are born under a monarchy, why did you^ who are his inferior in office, take upon you to advife him at all? or why, after having prefumedto advife him, did THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 533 did you advife him wrong, and abufe his ignorance in thefe matters ?" This queflion, which was a home one, made him lofe all his temper ; he curfed the Abuna, called him Mahometan, Pagan, Frank, and infidel ; and was going on in this wild manner, when Tecla Haimanout*, the eldeil: of the judges, got up, and addreffing himfelf to the Ras, It is no part of my duty to hear all this railing, he has not fo much as offered one fad material to his exculpation. The king's fecretary fent up to the window the fubftance of his defence, the criminal was carried at fome diftance to the other end of the room, and the judges deliberated whiift the king was reach nj^. Very few words werefaid among the reft ; the Ras was all the time fpeaking to other people : after he had ended this, he called upon the youngeft judge to give his opinion, and he gave it, ' He is guilty, and ihould die ;' the fame faid all the officers, and after them the judges, and the fame faid Kaf- mati Tesfos after them. When it came to Ras Michael to give his vote, he affecled moderation ; he faid that he was accufed for being his enemy and accomplice ; in either cafe, it is not fair that he fnould judge him. No fuperior officer being prefent, the laft voice remained with the king, who fent Kal Hatze to the Board with his fentence; ' He is guilty and Jhall die the death, — The hangman * The fame whofe foot was hurt by Strates's mule in the cam-, paign of Malcflia. i 534 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER foall hang him upon a tree to-day, '* The unfor- tunate Acab Saat was immediately hurried away by the guards to the place of execution, which is- a large tree before the king's gate ; where utter- ing, to the very lad moment, curies againft the king, the Ras, and the Abuna, he fuffered the death he very richly deferved, being hanged in the very vellments in which he ufed to fit before the king, without one ornament of his civil or facerdotal pre-eminence having been taken from him before the execution. In going to the tree he faid he had 400 cows, which he bequeathed to fome priells to fay prayers for his foul 5 but the Ras ordered them to be brought to Gondar, and diftributed among his foldiers. I have entered into a longer detail of this trial, at the whole of which I aiTilled, the rather that I might afk this quellion of thofe that maintain the abfolute independence of the Abyflinian prieflhood. Whether, if the many inflances already menti- oned have not had the efFecl, this one does not fully convince them, that all ecclefiaflical perfons are fubje^l to the fecular power in Abyffinia as much as they are in Britain or any European Pro- tellant flate whatever ? Chremation, Socinios's brother, was next called, he feemed half dead v/ith fear ; he only denied having any concern in his brother being eledted king. He faid he had no poft, and in this he fpoke the truth, but confefied that he had been fent by Abba Salam/a to bring the Itchegue and the Abuna THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 535 Abuna to meet him the day of excommunication at Dippabye. It was further unluckily proved againft him, that he was prefent with his brothel- at plundering the houfes in the night-time when the man was killed ; and upon this he was fen- tenced to be immediately hanged ; the court then broke up and went to breakfaft. All this bad palled in lefs than two hours ; it was not quite eleven o'clock when all was over, but Ras Mi- chael had fworn he would not tafte bread till Abba Salama was hanged, and on fuch occafions he ne^ ver broke his word. Immediately after this lafl execution the kettle- drums beat at the palace-gate, and the crier made this proclamation, " That all lands and villager, which are now, or have been given to the Abuna by the king, ihall revert to the king's own ufe, and be fubjed to the governBient, or the Cantiba of Dembea, or fuch officers as the king (hall after appoint in the provinces where they are fituated/' I went home, and my houfe being but a few yards from the palace, I paifed the two unfortu- nate people hanging upon the fame branch ; and, full of the cruelty of the fcene I had witnelfcd, which I knew was but a preamble to much more, I determined firmly, at all eventSj to quit this country. The next morning came on the trial of the un- fortunate Giiebra Denghel, Sebaat Laab, and Kefla Mariam^ the Ras claimed his right of try- ing 536 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER ing thefe three at his own houfe, as they were all three fubjeds of his government of Tigre. Guebra Denghel bore his hard fortune with great unconcern, declaring, that his only reafon of tak- ing up arms againfl the king was, that he faw no other way of preventing Michael's tyranny, and monftrous third of money and of power : that the Ras was really king, had fubverted the conftitu- tion, annihilated all difference of rank and per- fons, and transferred the efficient parts of govern- ment into the hands of his own creatures. He wifhed the king might know this was his only mo- tive for rebellion, and that unlefs it had been to make this declaration, he would not have opened his mouth before fo partial and unjufL a judge as he confidered Michael to be. But Welleta SelalTe, his daughter, hearing the danger her father was in, broke fuddenly out of Ozoro Eflher's apartment, which was contiguous j and coming into the council-room at the inftant her father was condemned to die, threw herfelf at the Ras's feet with every mark and exprefTion of the mod extreme forrow. I cannot, indeed, re- peat what her exprefiions were, as I was not pre- fent, and I thank God that I v/as not; I believe they are ineffable by any mouth but her own, but they were perfedly unfuccefsful. The old tyrant threatened her with immediate death, fpurned her away with his foot, and in her hearing ordered her father to be immediately hanged. Welleta SelafTe, in a fit, or faint, which refembled death, fell THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 537 fell fpeechlefs to the ground ; the father, forgetful of his own fituation, flew to his daughter's alliil- ance, and they were both dragged out at feparate doors, the one to death, the other to after fuf- ferings, greater than death itfelf. Fortune feemed to have taken delight, from very early life, conftantly to traverfe the greatnefs and happinefs of this young lady> She was firfl deftined to be married to Joas, and the affair was near concluded, when the fatal difcovery, made at the battle of Azazo, that the king had fent his houfehold troops privately to fight for Fafil againfh Michael, prevented her marriage, and occafioned his death. She was then defcined to old Hatze Hannes, Tecla Haimanout's father : Michael, who found himfelf incapable of being a king, judged him as incapable of being a hufoand to a woman of the youth and charm.s of Welleta Selaffe, and, therefore, deprived him at once of his life, crown, and bride. She was now^ not fe- venteen, and it was defigned fne fhould be mar- ried to the prefent king ; Providence put a (lop to a union that was not agreeable to either party : {rq died fome time after this, before the battle of Serbraxos ; being ftrongly prelTed to gratify the brutal inclinations of the Ras her grandfather^ whom, when flie could not refill or avoid, fhe took poifon ; others faid it. was given her by Ozoro Efther from jealoufy, but this was certainly without foundation. I faw her in her lad mo- ments, but too late to give her any alfiilance ; and 538 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER and (he had told her "women-fervants and flaves that (he had taken arfenic, having no other way to avoid committing fo monftrous a crime as in- ceft with the murderer of her father. The rage that the intcrceflion of the daughter for her father Guebra Denghel had put the Ras into, was feen in the fe verity of the fentence he paffed upon the other two criminals ; Kefla Ma- riam's eyes were pulled out, Sebaat Laab's eye- lids were cut off by the roots, and both of them were expofed in the market-place to the burning fun without any covering whatever. Sebaat Laab died of a fever in a few days ; Kefla Marlarn lived, if not to fee, at lead to hear, that he was revenged, after the battle of Serbraxos, by the difgrace and captivity of Michael. I will fpare myfeif the difagreeabie taik: of fhock- ing my readers with any further account of thefe horrid cruelties ; enough has been faid to give an idea of the character of thefe times and people. Blood continued to be fpilt as water, day after day, till the Epiphany; priefls, lay men, young men and old, noble and vile, daily found their end by the knife or the cord. Fifty-feven people died publicly by the hand of the executioner in the courfe of a very few days ; many difappeared, and were either murdered privately, or fent to prifons, no one knew v/here. The bodies of thofe killed by the fword were hewn to pieces and fcattered about the ilreets, being denied burial. I was miferable, and almoft driven THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 539 driven to defpair, at feeing my hunting-dogs, twice let loofe by the careleflhefs of my fervants, bringing into the court-yard the head and arms of llaughtered men, and which I could no way pre- vent but by the deftru^tion of the dogs themfelves ; the quantity of carrion, and the flench of it, brought down the hyasnas in hundreds from the neighbouring mountains ; and, as few people in Gondar go out after it is dark, they enjoyed the ilreets to themfelves, and feemed ready to difpute the pofleflion of the city with the inhabitants. Often when I went home late from the palace, and it was this time the king chofe chiefly for con- verfation, though I had but to pafs the corner of the market-place before the palace, had lanthorns with me, and was furrounded with armed men, I heard them grunting by two's and three's fo near me as to be afraid they would take fome opporlu- nity of feizing me by the leg j a piflol would have frightened them, and made them fpeedily run, and I conftantly carried two loaded at my girdle, but the difcharging a piftol in the night would have alarmed every one that heard it in the town, and it was not now the time to add any thing to people's fears. I at lafl fcarce ever went out, and nothing occupied my thoughts but how to efcape from this bloody country by way of Sennaar, and how I could heft exert my power and influence over Yafme at Ras el Feel to pave my way, by ^frifl:ing me to pafs the defert into Atbara. The 540 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER The king miffing me fome days at the palace, and hearing I had not been at Ras Michael's, be- gan to inquire who had been with me. Ayto Confu foon found Yafme, who informed him of the whole matter ; upon this I was fent for to the palace, where I found the king, without any bo- dy but menial fervants. He immediately re- marked that I looked very ill ; which, indeed, I felt to be the cafe, as I had fcarcely ate or llept fmce I faw him laft, or even for fome days before. He afked me, in a condohng tone. What ailed me ? that, befides looking fick, I feemed as if fomething had ruffled me, and put me out of hu- mour. I told him that what he obferved was true : that, coming acrofs the market-place, I had feen Mariam, the Ras's doorkeeper, with three men bound, one of whom he fell a-hacking to pieces in my prefence. Upon feeing me running acrofs the place, flopping my nofe, he called me to flay till he fhould come and difpatch the two, for he wanted to fpeak to me, as if he had been engaged about ordinary bufmcfs : that the foldiers, in con- fideration of his hafte, immediately fell upon the other two, whofe cries were ftill remaining in my ears : that the hyssnas at night would fcarcely let me pafs into the flreets when I returned from the palace ; and the dogs fled into my houfe to eat pieces of human carcafes at leifure. Although his intention was to look grave, I faw it was all he could do to ftifle a laugh at grievances he thought very little of " The men THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 541 men you faw with Za Mariam jufl now, fays he, are rebels^ fent by Kefla Yafous for examples : he has forced a jun6lion with Tecla and Welleta Michael in Samen, and a road is now open through Woggora, and plenty eitabiifhed in Gondar. The men you faw fufFer were thofe that cut off the proviHons from coming into the city ; they have occafioned the death of many poor people ; as for the hygena he never meddles with living people, he feeks carrion, and will foon clear the (Ireets of thofe incumbrances that fo much offend you ; people fay that they are the Falafha of the mountains, who take that fhape of the hya£na, and come down into the town to eat Chriflian flefh in the night.'*—" If they depend upon Chriftian flefh, and eat no other, faid I, perhaps the hyenas of Gondar will be the word fed of any in the world.*' " True, fays he, burfting out into a loud laughter, that may be, few of thofe that die by the knife any where are Chriicians, or have any religion at all ; why then fliould you mind what they fufter ?*' — ^' Sir, faid I, that is not my fentiment ; if you was to order a dog to be tortured to death before me every morning, I could not bear it. The carcafes of Abba Salama, Guebra Denghel, and the reft, are ftill hanging where they were upon the tree ;, you fmell the ftench of them at the palace-gate, and will foon I apprehend, in the palace itfelf. This cannot be pleafant, and I do afTure you it mull be very pernicious to your .health, if there was 54i TRAVELS TO DISCOVER was nothing elfe in It. At the battle of Fagitta, though you had no intention to retreat, yet you went half a day backward, to higher ground, and purer air, to avoid the ftench of the field, but here in the city you heap up carrion about your houfes, where is your continual refidence.'* " The Ras has given orders, fays he gravely, to remove all the dead bodies before the Epipha- ny, when we go down to keep that feftival, and wafh away all this pollution in the clear-running water of the Kahha : but tell me now, Yagoube, is it really poflible that you can take fuch things as thefe fo much to heart? You are a brave man ; we all know you are, and have feen it : we have all blamed you, ftranger as you are in this country, for the little care you take of yourfelf ; and yet about thefe things you are as much af- fefted as the moft cowardly woman, girl, or child could be."—" Sir, faid I, I do not know if I am brave or not ; but if to fee men tortured or murdered, or to live among dead bodies with- out concern, be courage, I have it not, nor de- fire to have it: war is the profeffion of noble minds ; it is a glorious one ; it is the fcience and occupation of kings ; and many wife and humane men have dedicated their whole life to the fludy of it in every country; it foftens men's manners, by obliging them to fociety, to aflift, befriend, and even fave one another, though at their own rilk and danger. A barbarian of that profeiTion fhould be pointed at. Obferve Ayto Engedan, (who THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 543 (who came at that very inftant iafco the room) there is a young man, faid I, who, with the bravery, has alfo the humanity and gentlenefs of my countrymen that are foldiers." Engedan fell on his face before the king, as is ufual, while the king went on feriouHy — " War you want; do you, Yagoube ? war you ihall have; it is not far diftant, and Engedan is come to tell us. how near." They then went into a confiderable converfation about Guiho, PowulTen, and the preparations they were making, and where they were, with which I fliall not trouble the reader, as I fhall have an occafion to fpeak of the par- ticulars: afterwards as they arife. " I want Con- fu, fays the king ; I want him to fend his men of Ras el Feel to Sennaar, and to the Baharnagafh to get horfes and fome coats of mail. -And what do: yon: think of fending Yagoube there ? he knows their manners and their language, and has friends there to whom he is intending to efcape, without fo much as aiking my leave." — ^^ Pardon me, Sir, faid I ; if I have ever entertained that thought, it is proof fufficient of the extreme ne- ceffity I am under to go." " Sir, fays Engedan, I have rode in the Eoccob horfe ; I v/iil do fo again, if Yagoube commands them, and will flay with us till we try the horfe of Begemder. I have eight or ten coats of mail, which I will give your majefty : they belonged to my father, Confu, and I took them lately from that thief Abou Barea, with 544 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER with whom they were left at my father's death ; but I will tell your Majefty, I had rather fight naked without a coat of mail, than that you fhould fend Yagoube to Sennaar to purchafe them from thence, for he will never return." Ras Michael was now announced, and we made hade to get away. I would have Confu, Enge- dan, and you, come here to-morrow night, fays the king, as foon as it is dark ; and do not you, Yagoube, for your life, fpeak one word of Sen- naar, till you know my will upon it. He faid this in the flerneft manner, and with all the dig- nity and majefty of a king. We paiTed the Ras in the anti-chamber, at- tended by a great many people. We endeavoured to Aide by him in the crowd, but he noticed us, and brought us before him. We both kiffed his hands, and he kept hold of mine, while he afked Engedan, " Is Fafil at Ibaba ?" to v/hich he was anfwered, " Yes." " Who is with him ? fays the Ras."—" Damot, Agow, and Maitflia," an- fvvered Engedan. " Was you there ? fays the Ras." " No, anfwered Engedan, I am at Tfhemera, with fev/ men." He then turned to me, and faid, " My fon is ill ; Ozoro Efther has jufl fent to me, and complains you vifit her now no more. Go fee the boy, and don't negled Ozoro Efther, {jhq is one of your bed friends." I inquired if fhe was at Gondar, and was anfwer- ed. No j fhe is at Kofcam. We parted j Engedan went THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 54:; went to Kofcam to Ozoro Efther's, and I went home to plan my route to Sennaar, and to prepare letters for Hagi Belal, a merchant there, to whom I was recommended from Arabia Felix. Vol. IY. N 21 CHAP. 546 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER CHAR XXIIL *The King promijes Leave to the Author to depart — Receives a Retjif or cement from Shoa — Ajniable Carriage of Amha Tafous — Striking Contrafl be- tween him and a Prince of the Galla — Bad State of the K'tn^i Affairs, T was the 31(1 of December that we were at Kofcam. A proclamation had been made fome days before of a general pardon to all that would return to Gondar ; but no one had ventured but Ay to Engedan, who was with Fafil as the king's friend ; nor were any of thofe who went with Fafil the obje^^t of the proclamation, for it was no*. thought that the retiring from Socinios with Fafil was doing any thing againft their allegiance. That night the bodies of Guebra Denghel, Kefla Mariam, and Sebaat Laab, were taken down from the tree and laid upon the ground ; after having been watched in the night by their friends to keep the beails from them, v/ere at laft fuffered to be taken privately away, at the intercefTion of I the- THE SOUP.CE OF THE NILE. 547 the troops of Tigre, whofe countrymen they were. Chremation and Abba Salaraa were aban- doned to their fortune, and in part putrified ; they were covered with heaps of flones thrown upon them by fuch as were pafTing, and had no other burial. The next night, the ifl of January, 177 1 5 ac- cording to order, I waited upon the king with Confu and Engedan, and with them Yafme : meafures were taken for buying their horfes and coats of mail ; the Ras had advanced part of the money, the reft was to be made up by the meery, or king's duty, due by the Mahometan provinces, which had not been paid fince he went to Tigre ; a Mahometan fervant of the king was fent for from the cuftomhoufe ; with him was to go a man from Yafme, and with them I fent my letters by the hand of Soliman, a black of Ras el Teel, a man remarkable for his ftrength, courage, and fize, and very Ihrewd and difcerning, under the appearance of an idiot : Yafme was fent with them to get a fafe condud: from his friend Fidele Shekh of Atbara, who was to convoy them to Beyla, and thence to Sennaar. It was not without great difpute and altercation the king would allow me the perihiflion to [end letters; at laft, feeing he could do no better, it was agreed that, as an immediate engagement between Powuffen, Gufho, and Ras Michael, was inevitable, I fhould fwear not to attempt to leave him till chat affair was fettled fome way or N n 2 other; 54B TRAVELS TO DISCOVER other ; but the king infided I ihould alfo take an oath, that- Diould he be vidorious over, or re- conciled t.: the. rebels, if the engagement I was under in my own country was not fulfilled, and I recovered mv health, I fhculd bring as many of my brethren 2:iirx family as poilible, with their horfeSj muiketSp and bayonets ; that, if I could not p?.fs by Sennaar, I fhould come by the way of the Eafl Indies from Surat to Mafuah, which, by how much it was more tedious, was by fo much more fecure, than that by Sennaar. I cannot but hope, the impolTibility of perform- ing this oath extinguifhed the fm of breaking it ; at any rate it was perfonal, and the fubfequent death of the king * muft; have freed me from it ; be that as it will, it had this good efFeQ, that it greatly compofed my mind for the time, as I now no longer confidered myfelf as involved in that an- cient and general rule of the country. Never to allow a ftranger to return to his home. We that night learned, that the king had been in great flraits ever fmce he came from Tigre ; that the Ras, who was poffeiTed of all the reven-aes of the provinces that were in their allegiance, had never yet given the king an ounce of gold ; and that he furnifhed his daily fubfiftence from his ov/n houfe, a cow for his own and great officers table, * it was reported, when I was at Sennaar, that the king had been defeated and flain. I have no other authority, only think, all things conddered, it was moft piobabie. arid THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 549 and two loaves of bread for each of his fervants ; as finall an allowance as any private perfon gave. It was believed that the Ras had left mod of his money in Tigre, and had trufled to the contri- butions he was to levy upon the great men when- ever he iliould crofs the Tacazze ; but in this he difappointed himfelf by his cruelty, for no perfon came before him, on his arrival at Gondar, from whom he could raife a farthing. It was about the 20th of January, that a mef- fage arrived from PowuiTen, to tell the Ras he had taken the ufurper Socinios prifoner, and held him in irons at the king's difpofal. He upbraid- ed Michael v^irh the cruelties of his executions, and declared his refolution of calling him to an account for thefe perfonally at Gondar ; he warn- ed him in tlme^ to repafs the Tacazze, and re- tire while ii was in his power to his government of Tigre, where nobody would molefl him, and leave the king at liberty to adl for himfelf. Guflio likev/ife fent a meifenger, but what "word he brought did not tranfpire ; after feeing the King and Ras Michael both thefe mefiengers proceeded to Fafil. Soon after this came a meffage from Fafil, defiring only that the King and the Ras might renew to him the grant of his father's lands and eflates, which he formerly poilelled : what was the meaning of this meffage 1 could never learn; he was already in full poifeffion of what he alked, and more $ no perfon had attempted to take 550 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER j-> lake any thing from him, nor was it indeed iii their power. Proclamation was made accordingly in terms of the requeft, and all the lands that he had poileiled were given him : before he could have news of this firfl grant, a fecond meffenger came, defiring that he might be confirmed in his government of Maitlha, Damot, and Agow. This too was im- mediately granted him but a condition was added, that he fhouid bring the troops of thefe provinces, and as many others as he could raife, to join the king with all pofTible fpeed, and take the field with Ras Michael againfl Powuden and Gulho ; and this was but what he had fpontaneoufiy pro- mifed when he made his peace at Dingleber. At the fame time Ay to Aylo, brother to Engedan, was proclaim^ed governor of Begemder ; and all people holding of the king or of Aylo's friends, (for he had a very large eftate in that province) were ordered to join him ; but a very few came, among whom was the famous Guigarr, chief of the clan, Waag of Lafta, fon to Aylo's fifter. Mean time the king ufed all the means in his power to induce the Iteghe to return to Kofcam, for her prefence in Gojam kept alive the fpirit of a numbv^r of people that were attached to her, who bore very impatiently to fee her banifhed, as flie then was, though refident with her daughter Ozoro Welleta Ifrael, and furrounded by the forces of Aylo her grandfon, who was governor of Gojam, and to w^hom half of that province be- longed -THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. ^51 longed In property. But the queen was refolute never to truil Ras Michael, though it was be- lieved Ihe fent the king a fum in gold privately by Engedan. It was in the end of January that another mef- fage arrived from Fafil, excufmg his coming to Gondar on account of the badnefs of his health ; he faid, befides, he could not truft Michael unlefs he gave him Welleta Selaife, his grand daughter, to wdfe, and fent her to him to £ure. I have al- ready mentioned that the Ras was fond of this young lady himfelf, and nothing but that hindered him from giving her to the king in marriage ; and it was faid, and I believe with truth, that fbme delicacy * the king had expreifed about this fince his return from_ Tigre, was the reafon of coldnefs between him and the Ras, and of Mi- chael's putting the king on fo ihort allowance on his firll: coming to Gondar : but all that was now removed by the necefTities of the times ; gold came from Tigre in plenty ; even Powulfen had fent fome of the revenue of Begemder, all the other provinces a proportion, with butter, cattle, and cotton cloths, for the maintenance ol the king's houfehold and troops : for my part, though I enjoyed the name of feveral polls, I had partaken fince this revolution of a very fmall part of their revenues ; I had been liberally fupplied in the king's abfence by Ozoro Efther and tht queen. * Sufpicion of fumiliadty with the Ras her grandfather. 1 had 552 TRAVELS TO BISCOVER I had few fervants, and lived cheaply in the Iteghe's palace at Kofcam ; but after my arrival, the king, on purpofe I believe to difc oncer t my journey, ran me grievoufly into debt with the foldiers, and other expences that were, as I was told, abfolute- lynecefTary; it is true, thefe were paid in part at times, but very irregularly. Ras Michael was not a man to be loiicited, nor was my temper fuch as could be brought to folicit him ; from this it arofe that often I had been in great flraits, and obliged to live fparingly, which luckily was never a great hardlhip upon me, in order to fulfil my promife to others. And now the campaign was beginning, horfes, and mules, and every thing neceiTary were to be purchafed, and I was in debt above one hundred pounds, nor would it have been poiTible I ever Ihould have cleared myfelf, for my daily expences were enormous, if it had not been for the fuuation that a certain Greek,, named Petros, was in, from whom I borrowed about three hundred pounds, as 1 ftiall after men- tion. With regard to Kafmati Fafil, he fent me, twice, two large jars of honey from my lordfhip of Geefh, at two different times: the firft was taken by Coque Abou Barea, the lafl tafted fo bitter of lupines, that no ufe could be made of it. I was a Sovereign, it is true, and my reve- nue was what wife men have faid is the befl, — • the love of the people. It went, however, but little way towards fupporting my dignity. While THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. sn While the king was at Kahha, keeping the fef- tival of the Epiphany, he received a very extraor- dinary vifit from Amha Yafous, fon of the go- vernor of Shoa, offering his perfonal fervice and affiftance to the king, and brought with him, as a prefent, 500 ounces of gold, and a thoufand excellent horfemen ready equipt at all points. Upon his being prefented to the king, two young jioblemen were inflru£ted to be ready to lay hold of him by the arms, and prevent his throwing himfelf upon the ground if he intended fo to do. The king was feated upon the throne, very richly dreffed in a brocade, a very fine muilin v/eb wrapt loofely about him, fo as to hang in plaits, and in fome parts fhow, and in fome conceal, the flowers of the cloth of gold of which his waiftcoat was compofed. His hair was loofe, combed out at its full length, and falling about his head in every direclion, and a fork, like a fuewer, made of a rhinoceros horn, with a gold button or head upon itj (tuck through his hair near his temples ; he was ajl perfumed with rofe water, and two people ftood on the oppofite fides of the tent, each of them Vv'ith a filver bottle full of it. Amha Yafous with his thoufand horfe prefented himfelf before the door of the tent, and rode on till he was compleatly in it*, he then defcendcd as in a great hurry or furprife, and ran forward, {looping to the foot of the throne, inclining his body lower and lower as he approached ; and, juil before the aft of proflration, he vi^as feized by Tecla 554 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER Tecla Mariam and Guebra Menfus Kedus, and prevented from kiffing the ground ; the king held his hand uncovered, but not extended, that is, as if he did not intend or expedl that he Ihould kifs it. Amha Yafous, after the flruggle was over about the proflration, fuddenly feized the king's hand and kifled it, with fome refiftance on the part of the king, who, when he had killed the back of his hand, turned the palm likewife ; a great familiarity and confidence in this country. There was a fmall flool, about half a foot from the ground, covered with a Perfian carpet. Amha Yafous attempted to fpeak ftanding, but was not fufFered, but conflrained by the two noblemen to fit down on the little flool ; they then deluged him fo with rofe-water, that I do believe he never in his life was fo wet with rain. After fome ge- neral queflions the tent was cleared. All this ce- remonial was premeditated and fludied ; the eti- quette could not have been more pundually and uniformly obferved in any court of Europe, and would have juft fignified what it did here. Amha Yafous was a man from twenty^fix to twenty-eight years of age, tali, and of a juft de- gree of corpulence, with arms and legs finely made ; he had a very beautiful face, fmall features, and the moft affable manners. I have thought, when I have feen them together, that the king, Engedan, and himfelf, were three of the hand- fomeft men I had ever beheld in any country ; befides this, all three had fine underftandings, nobk THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. ^^^ noble fentiments, and courage fuperlor to the greateft danger ; charitable too, and humane incli- nations, were it not for that accurfed indifference, or rather propenfity, one of them had to Ihed hu- man blood ; this the young king had imbibed in the fchool of Michael, but for natural talents he certainly was the firfl of the three. Apartments in the palace, and a table, were affigned to Amha Yafous, and he was ferved by the king's fervants as well as his own ; a guard was appointed at his door, the officer of which at- tended to receive his orders and take the word daily. This was the manner of receiving illuf- trious ftrangers in my time at Gondar. Anthule, a Greek, mafter of the king's v^^ardrobe, was or- dered from time to time to bring him clothes of the fame kind with thofe the king wore. All the Ozjoros, or noble women at court, fell vio- lently in love with Amha Yafous, as fame report- ed, except Ozoro Efther. The young prince had not a grain of coldnefs nor indifference in his na- ture ; he carried himfelf, wherever he v/ent v/ith honourable, attentive, and decent gallantry. But his chief attention was paid to Vv^elleta Selaffe; nor was Ras Michael jealous, nor as public re- port went, was Welieta SelaiTe unkind. I was often in the evenings in his parties in her houfe ; a fixed, never-changing melancholy hung upon, her face ; deep, and involuntary fighs efcaped from her under viiible conllraint : it did not ap- pear to me poiTible this could have been her be- haviour. 55<5 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER haviour, if in adlual enjoyment of fuccefsful love ; or that, after having gratified it, flie could have put in execution that defperate refolution which apparently fhe had then formed in her mind. Amha Yafous was fon of a fifter of Gufho ; it was faid afterwards that he had a commillion from his father, governor of Shoa, to detach Gulho, if polTible, from his alliance with Powuflen, and bring him back to his allegiance to the king. Whether this was true or not I cannot fay, but that this, oribmething fimilar, was the cafe, feemed to be more than probable from the behaviour of Gufho afterwards, during the whole campaign. Amha Yafous did not come to take part in the war, he only brought, in imitation of old times, a tribute to the king as a teftimony of the loyalty of the faithful province of Shoa ; but he was fo interefted for the king, after being admitted into intimacy with him, and fo pleafed with the fociety of the young noblemen at court, that he deter- mined to come back with the command of the troops of his father, and in his way force Gufiio to return to his duty, if he was not already de- termined. He had heard, while at Shoa, from fome priefts of Debra Libanos, that there was a ftrange white man in favour with the king at Gondar, who could do every thing but raife the dead ; it was among his firfl requefts to the king, to make him acquainted with me. The king therefore ordered me to wait upon him every morning, and I, on my THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 557 my part, did not let flip that opportunity. In- fenfibly we came to be infeparable compa- nions. Our converfation fell one day upon the Abyflinian kings who firft lived at Shoa at the time when the kingdom of Adel was a great mart for the Eafl: Indian trade, before the difcovery of the Cape of Good Hope. He faid that a book containing their hiftory, he believed, was in fome of the churches in Shoa, and that he would im- mediately fend for it. Although I could not help teftifying rny defire of having a book which I had fought for in vain through the reft of the provinces of Abyflinia, yet I thought it unreafonable to de» fire a man to fend 300 miles merely for the pur- pofe of getting it ; I therefore did not prefs it, being fatisfied with his promife ; but as my work would have been incomplete without it, I aiked my friend Tecla Mariam to mention it to him as from the king. His anfwer was, " I have al- ready promifed to get it for Yagoube, the mef- fenger by this time is in Amhara ; depend upon it, my father will not fail to let me have it ; for fear of his miftake, I have difpatched a very intel- ligent man, who knows and has feen the book at Debra Libanos.'* The promife was punctually kept, the book came, and from it I have drawn the hiftory of the Adelan war, and the reign of thofe kings who had not yet returned to Axum, but reigned in Shoa. One evening I inquired of him concerning the ftory which tus Portuguefe heard, at the difco- very. 5';8 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER very of Benin, that the blacks of that country had intercourfe with a Chriftian inland ftate they acknowledged as fovereign, from which they pro- cured the inveftiture of their lands, as has been already mentioned in the beginning of this work ? whether any fuch commerce did exifl with Shoa at prefent, or if traces remained of it in older times ? if there was any other Chriftian or Jewifh ftate in his neighbourhood to which this defcrip- tion could apply * ? He faid they knew nothing of Benin at Shoa, nor had he ever heard of the name, nor any cuftom of the kind that I had men-^ tioned, which either then did, or ever had pre- vailed in Shoa : he knew of no other Chriftian ftate farther to the fouthward, excepting Narea, a great part of which was conquered by the Galla, who were Pagans. The blacks that were next to Shoa, he faid, were exceedingly fierce, warlike, and cruel ; worfe than the Galla, and of the fame kind with the Shangalla in Abyflinia. The other nations were partly Mahometan, but chiefly Galla, and fome of thefe had turned Mahometan ; but that they had no knowledge of any commerce with the Weftern, or Atlantic Ocean, though they knew the Eaftern or Indian Ocean, which was nearer; weie often ferved with Indian goods from Mahometan merchants from thence ; but that the Galla had over-run moft of the interme- diate countries, and made the ways dangerous. * Conquetes des Poitugais, liv. i. p. 46. Lafitan. After THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 559 After Amha Yafous's audience with the king, he waited on Ras Michael alfo, to whom he brought a prefent in gold ; poHtely excufmg him- felf for having brought it in that form, on ac- count that any other would have been trouble- fome, from the length of the way. He well knew, however, that an apology was needlefs, and that Ras Michael never faw any prefent in a more agreeable form than that of gold. I was not at the audience, nor do I know what pafled at it ; only that, on his introdudlion, the Ras was held up on his feet, and received him flanding ; they then both fat down upon the fame feat, after which they dined heartily together at Ozoro Efther's apartment, who came from Kofcam on purpofe to prepare for their entertainment, and they drank and converfed together till late at night. The fight of gold, and a thoufand horfe at the juncture, made Ras Michael as light and chearful as a young man of twenty-five. No words con- cerning the government of Shoa pafTed, nor any proclamation relative to the ftate of that province ; and this filence was equal to declare it indepen- dent, as it was intended, and indeed it had been confidered as fuch a long time before. As I faw Amha Yafous eat raw beef like the Abyflinians, I afl^ed him if it was the cuftom of other nations to the fouthward ? He faid he believed fo, if they were not Mahometans : and inquired of me if it 56o TRAVELS TO DISCOVER it was not likewlfe the practice among us. I ima- gine it prevails as far as the Cape of Good Hope. Another interview, which happened at Kahha, was much more extraordinary in itfelf, though of much lefs importance to the ftate. Guangoul, chief of the Galla of Angot, that is, of the eaftern Galla, came to pay his refpe^ls to the king and Ras Michael ; he had with him about 500 foot and 40 horfe : he brought with him a number of- large horns for carrying the king's w^ine, and fome other fuch trifles. He was a little, thin, crofs-made man, of no apparent flrength or fwift- nefs, as far as could be conjedured ; his legs and thighs being thin and fmall for his body, and his head large ; he was of a yellow, unwholefome colour, not black nor brown ; he had long hair plaited and interwoven with the bowels of oxen, and fo knotted and twifted together as to render it impoffible to diftinguilh the hair from the bowels, which hung down in long firings, part before his bread and part behind his flioulder, the mofl extraordinary ringlets I had ever feen. He had likewlfe a wreath of guts hung about his neck, and feveral rounds of the fame about his middle, which ferved as a girdle, below which was Ihort cotton cloth dipt in butter, and all his body was wet, and running down the fame ; he feemed to be about fifty years of age, with a confident and infolent fuperiority painted in his face. In his country it fecms, when he appears in (late, the bead he rides upon is a cow. He was then in full THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 561 full drefs and ceremony, and mounted upon one, not of the largeft fort, but which had monftrous horns. He had no faddle on his cow. He had fhort drawers, that did not reach the middle of his thighs ; his knees, feet, legs, and all his body were bare. He had a fliield of a fmgle hide, warped by the heat in feveral directions, and much in the fhape of a high-crowned, large, flraw- hat, with which the fafhionable women in our own country fometimes difguife themfelves. He carried a fhort lance in his right hand, with an ill-made iron head, and a fliaft that feemed to be of a thorn-tree, but altogether without ornament, which is feldom the caic with the arms of barba- rians. Whether it was neceflary for the poizing himfelf upon the fharp ridge of the bead's back, or whether it was meant as graceful riding, I do not know, being quite unlkilled in cowmanfliip ; but he leaned exceedingly backwards, pufhing his belly forwards, and holding his left arm and ihield flretched out on one fide of him, and his right arm and lance in the fame way on the other, like wings. The king was feated on his ivory chair, to re- ceive him, almoft in the middle of his tent ; the day was very hot, an infufferable flench of car- rion foon made every one in the tent fenfible of the approach of this nafty fovereign, even before they faw him. The king, when he perceived him coming, was fo flruck with the whole figure and ap- pearance, that he could not contain himfelf from an Vol, IV, O o immoderate 562 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER immoderate fit of laughter, which finding it im» polTible to ftifle, he rofe from his chair, and ran as hard as he could into another apartment be- hind the throne. The favage got ofF from his cow at the door of the tent with all his tripes about him ; and, while we were admiring him as a monfler, feeing the king's feat empty, he took it for his own, and down he fat upon the crimfon filk cufhion, with the butter running from every part of him. A general cry of aftonifhment was made by every perfon in the tent ; he flarted up I believe without divining the caufe, and before he had time to re- collccl himfelf, they fell all upon him, and with pufhes and blows drove this greaiy chieftain to the door of the tent, flaring with wild amazement, not knowing what was next to happen. It is high treafon, and punilhable by immediate death, to fit down upon the king's chair. Poor Guangoul owed his life to his ignorance The king had beheld the whole fcene through the curtain ; if he laughed heartily at the beginning, he laughed ten times more at the catailrophc ; he came out laugh- ing, and unable to fpeak. The cufliion was lifted and thrown away, and a yellow Indian fhaulfpread on the ivory flool ; and ever after, when it was placed, and the king not there, the flool was turned on its face upon the carpet to prevent fuch like accidents. Guangoul, difappointed of having an audience of the king, went to the Ras, where he was better received. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 563 received, but what paiTed I know not. His troops, armed like himfelf, with fiiields of no refiflance, and hedge-flakes (harpened at the end inftead of lances, were no acquifition to any party, efpecially in the prefent quarrel, where all the veteran troops in Abyffinia were nearly equally divided on oppofite fides ; befides, the Shoa horfe had taken the eyes of people fo much, that they began to think little of any cavalry that was not in fome degree equip- ped like them. After the king returned to the palace, great di- verfion was made at Guangours appearance, in fo much that Ozoro Eflher, who hated the very name of Galla, and of this race' in particular^ infifted upon feeing a reprefentation of it. Doho^ accordingly, a dwarf, belonging to Ras Michael, very ugly, with a monilrous big head, but very fharp and clever, and capable of ading his part, was brought to reprefent the perfon of Guangoul : a burnt (tick and a bad fhield were provided ; but the great difficulty remained, how to perfuade Doho the dwarf to put on the raw guts about his neck and waift, and, above all, to plait them ia the hair, which he abfolutely refufed, both from religious and cleanly motives ; as for the butter it was no objedion, as all the Abyffinians anoint themfelves with it daily, after bathing. Here we were very near at a (land, all the ladies having in. vain fupplicated him to fuffer for their fakes a temporary pollution, with promifes that oceans of Tofe and fcented water Ihould be poured upon him O o 2 afterward i;,. 564 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER cil'terwards, to reflorehis former fweetnefs. Doha v/as a man who conflantly fpent his time in reading fcripture, the a6ts of the councils, the works of St. John Chryfo flora, and other fuch books as they have among them. He remained inflexible : at lapL I fuggefted that feveral hanks of cotton, dyed blue, red, and yellow, fhould be got from the weavers in the Mahometan town, and thefe oiled, greafed, and knotted properly, and twifted among the hair, well-anointed with butter, would give a pretty accurate refemblance of what w^e faw in the king's tent. All hands were immediately fet to work ; the cotton was provided ; Ozoro Eflher*s fervants and Haves decked Doho to the life, I fpotted his face with ftibium, and others anointed him with butter : an old milk-cow was found, contrary to my expectation, that fufFered a rider without much impatience, and in came Guangoul into a great hall in Ozoro -Eflher's apartment. Never was any thing better perfonated or better received ; the whole hall refounded with one cry of laughter ; Doho, encouraged by this and the perfed indifference and fteadinefs of his cow, be- gan to acl his part with great humour and confi- dence : he was born in the neighbourhood of thefe very Galla, knew their manners, and fpoke their language perfedlly. Amha Yafous, Confu, Aylo brother to Engedan, fome fervants of the king, acled the part that we did in the tent the day of the audience, that is, flood on each fide of the king's THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. s^5 king's chair : the cow was brought into the mid- dle of the room, and Guangoul defcended with his lance and fhield in great flate ; a cufhion was not fpared, nor did Doho fpare the cufhion ; the butter (hewed very diflindly where he had been fitting : we all fell upon him and bela- boured him heartily, and chafed him to the deor. His fpeedy retreat was not counterfeited. Ozoro Altaih, Efther's filter, and a number of the ladies of the court, were prefent. Ozoro Either declared /he would fend for the Ras, he had been in great good humour fince the arrival of Amha YafouS. I had not feen him fmce the recovery of his fon, and happened to be at the door next him ; he took me by the hand, and faid, " Welleta Hawaryat (that is the name of his fon) is well, you are v^ry kind." Michael: was efteemcd the bed orator in his country, and fpoke his own language, Tigran, with the utmofl purity and elegance ; yet in com- mon converfation he was very fententious, two or three words at a time, but never obfcure ; this he had contracted by a long practice of command- ing armies, where he faw as inftantly and clearly, as he fpoke fhortly and diftindly. He bowed very civilly to the ladies, and pointed to me to fit down on the feat by him. Amha Yafous was itanding before him, I haftened to fit down on the carpet at his feet, and he feemed to recoiled himfelf and placed Amha Yafous befide him-: it was eafy to fee his mind was otherwife occupied, and S6S TRAVULS TO DISCOVER and as eafy to perceive by his look, that he gave me credit for my behaviour. When they were ali feated, " Well, fays he, in great good humour, "what now, what is the matter ? what can I do for you, Yagoube ? are the women in your country as idle and foolifh as thefe ? has Ozoro Efther chofen a wife for you ? Ihe Ihall give you your dinner : I will give her a portion ; and as you are a horfeman, the king with Am_ha Yafous's leave, faid he bowing, ihall give you the command of the Shoa horfe ; I have feen them ; the men 1 think are almofl as white as yourfelf," Aniha Yafous bowed in return, and faid, " Sir, if the king beflows them fo worthily, I promife to bring another thoufand as good as thefe to join them after the rains, before next Epiphany/' — " And I, fays Ozoro Eflher, for my part, 1 have long had a wife for him, but this is not the prefent bu-. fmefs, we know your time is precious, Guangoul is without, and defires an audience of you." — Poh ! fays the Ras, Guangoul is gone to Guilio, at Minziro, and there is like to be a pretty ilory : here are accounts come from Tigre, that he has committed great barbarities in his journey, laid waile fome villages, killed the people, for not furniiliing him with provifions : here in Belelfen he alfo burnt a church and a village belonging to the Iteghe, and killed many poor people ; I do not know what he means ; I hope they will keep him where he is, and not fend him home again thiough Tigre. I - A com-- THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 567 A communication of this kind, very uncom* mon from the Ras, occafioned a ferious appear- ance in the whole company ; but he had no fooncr done with fpeaking, than in comes Doho upon his cow : neither man nor woman that had yet feen him, ever laughed fo heartily as the old Ras ? he humoured the thing entirely ; welcomed Doho in Galla language, and faw the whole farce, fini(hed by his flight to the door, with the utmofl good humour. Then taking Amha Yafous with him, and feveral great officers who had come in the interim, he returned by a private pafTage to his own apartments. As I fhall have no occafion for further mention of this chieftain, I will here finifh his Itory, though not in the order of time. Guilio and PowulTen had gained Guangoul, and perfuaded him to make an irruption with his Galla into the province of Tigre, to create a diverfion againft Michael, and, for that purpofe, they had fent him home nearly the way he had come through that province. From this encouragement he had begun to con- dud himfeif (till worfe than formerly. Ras Mi- chael, fufpedling what would happen, privately difpatched Ayto Confu after him with 600 horfe. That young foldier, flappy in a command that highly gratified his mother, and guided by the cries of the people, followed with the utmoft dili- gence, and came up with him in the neighbour- hood of Lafta, and there, after little refiftance, Guangoul and his troops were cut to pieces, thofe that 56% TRAVELS TO DISCOVER that had efcaped being all flain by the exafperated peafants. Confu returned to Gondar the night of the fifth day, together with the bloody trophies of his conquefl over Guangoul and his Galla. I have before mentioned that this chief had brought with him a quantity of large horns for the king's fervice. Some of this fort having been feen in India filled with civet, have given occa- lion to thofe travellers who faw them there to fay, that the animal producing thefe large horns was a carnivorous bull of a prodigious fize, inhabiting the interior parts of Africa. That no illufliration of this kind may be wanting, a copperplate of this curious bull is, I think, in fome of the firfl vo- lumes of the Philofophical Tranfaciions. The origin of the tale Is believed to be in Bernier or Thevenot. It may, however, with great certain- ty, be lelied upon, that no fuch animal exifts in Africa, nor probably in the whole creation. The animal furnifhing thofe monflrous horns is a cow or bull, which would be reckoned of a middling lize in England; its head and neck are larger and thicker in proportion, but not very remark- ably fo. I have been told this animal was firft brought by the Galla from near the Line,, where it rains continually, and the fun is little feen. This extraordinary fize of its horns proceeds from a difeafe that the cattle have in thofe countries, of which they die, and is probably derived from their pafture and climate. Whenever THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 569 Whenever the animal fliews fymptoms of this diforder, he is fet apart in the very bed and quieted grazing-place, and never driven nor mo- leded from that moment. His value lies then in his horns, for his body becomes emaciated and lank in proportion as the horns grow large. At the lafi: period of his life the weight of his head is fo great that he is unable to lift it up, or at leafl for any fpace of time. The joints of his neck be- come callous at laft, fo that it is not any longer in his power to lift his head. In this fituation he dies, with fcarcely ilefli covering his bones, and it is then the horns are of the greatefl (ize and value. I have feen horns that would contain as much as a common-fized iron-hooped w^ater-pails fuch as they make ufe of in the houfes in England; but the Galla, who have a ready market for thefe of all fizes, generally kill the bead when his horns will contain fomething lefs than fix gallons. Two of thefe horns, filled with wine or fpirits, are car- ried very commodiouily upon a w^oman's back, flung over her fhouiders. I had two of the lare;ed fize dole from me that night Socinios, Confa, and Chremation plundered my houfe, nor could I ever recover them. 1 have ihen them at Gondar fold for four ounces of gold, equal to ten pounds fterling, the pair. On the 17th of February came meifengers from Faiil, with the old language of propofals of fub- miiFion and peace, and a repetition of his demand, that Welleta SeialTe iliould be given him for a wife, 570 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER wife, and fent to him, at lead as far as Dingleber, where he would advance to meet her ; excufmg himfelf from coming to Gondar, becaufe the Ras had already broken his promife to him ; for the condition of peace made with the Ras, when he was befieging the mountain, was. That if Michael iliouid bring the king to the Tacazze, and fur- render him there, and then return and content himfelf with the government of Tigre, without proceeding to Gondar, that Fafil fhould receive the king and conduct him to the capital, and be created Ras and governor in place of Michael. Fafil had punctually performed his part, and of this Michael had taken advantage, and had vio- lated every article which he had ftipulated on the other fide ; and this was at lead the alledged rea- fon why Fafil had refufed to come to Gondar. The fame evening arrived alfo meffengers from Guiho and Powuffen, declaring to Ras Michael, that, if he did not leave Gondar and return to Tio-re, they would come and burn the town. They profeffed great duty to the king, but charged the Ras with every fort of enormity, and upon his refufal fent him a defiance. The fame evening came an exprefs from Shoa, which mod pundually brought the book I fo much wilhed for, containing the lives of the firft kings that lived at Shoa; a fair and fine copy, wrote upon parchment in a large quarto fize, in the pure ancient language of Geez. The author was nearlv contemporary with the annals which ' he THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 571 he writes. I fhewed It to the king, who till then had never feen it, and who only faid, 1 fear, Ya- goube, you are carrying home thefe books only to make your kings laugh at ours. The fatis fac- tion I received upon the acquifition of this book was greatly diminifhed by the lofs of the donor, Amha Yafous, who fet out the 20th of February, attended with about a hundred men, his own fer- vants, and followed by the regret and the good wiihes of all that had known him, mine in particu- lar, having been, from the firfl time I faw him, very m.uch attached to him. Before his departure he had two long confer- ences with the king upon the contents of the difpatches fent by his father from Shoa. The fubftance he frankly told me was, that he did not intend to meddle with the quarrels of Ras Michael, nor thofe of Fafil ; that they Ihould fettle thefe in their own way ; but if either attempted any thing againft the king, fct up any ufurpers, as they had done in the perfon of Socinios, and continued fo far againft their allegiance to Tecla Haimanout as to withhold his whole revenue, and not to pay him wherewithal to fupport his ftate, that he w^ould confider himfelf as protedor of the royal family of Solomon, as the governors of Shoa had ahvays been. It was believed generally, by Am- ha Yafous coming in perfon, that a treaty between fome great men in both fides, begun at his ir- ftance, would bring every man that could mount a horfe 572 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER a horfe from as far fouth as Gingiro, to over- run both the provinces of Begemder and Amha- ra, and either difplace the two governors, or at lead force them to their duty ; and it was owing to this, in all probability, that Gufho acled with fuch moderation as he did in the campaign that foon followed* CHAP. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 575 CHAP. XXIV. Rebel Army approaches Gondar — King marches out cfGondar — Takes Poft at Serhrai^os — The Author returns to Gondar with Confu wounded* r vJEN I LE Ihowers of rain began now to fail, and to announce the approach of winter ; nay 5 . fome unufually fevere and copious had already fallen. Gulho and PowulTen of Amhara and Be- gemder, Kafmati Ayabdar governor of Foggora, Aylo ion of Ozoro Welleta Ifrael the queen's daughter, governor of Gojam, Woodage Afahel, with the troops of Maitfha, and Coque Abou Ba- rea from Kuara, were at the head of all the forces they could raife about Emfras and Nabca, and the borders of the lake Tzana. A brother-in-law of PowufTen had brought a confiderabie body of troops from Zaat and Dehannah, two clans of Lafta, enemies to Guigarr, who had declared for Michael ; and thefe were the bed horfc in the re- bel army, fuperior to any in Begemdcr, This 574 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER This numerous army of Confederates were all ready, expelling the rain would make the Tacazze impaflfable, and cut off Michael's retreat to Tigre. Fafil alone kept them in fufpenfe, who, with about 12,000 men, remained at Ibaba, profeffing to be at peace with Michael, in the mean time keeping all Maitfha quiet, and waiting for the coming of Welleta Yafous, and 20,000 Galla, whom he had fent for from the other fide of the Nile, in- tending, as he faid, to march on the arrival of this reinforcement, and join the king at Gondar. Although it may well be doubted if ever he in- tended all or any part of this, one thing was very certain, that he was fmcere in his hatred to Gufho and Powuffen ; he never could forget their trea- chery in breaking their appointment and promifc at Court-Ohha, and expofe him either to fight Michael fmgly, or have his whole country burnt and deflroyed. Although Michael had, for thefe lafl months, done every thing in his power to bring back to the king fuch people of coniidera- tion that poffeffed the lands and eftates about Gondar, and were the mod refpedable of their nobility for influence and riches, bred up about court, and who did chiefly conllitute it ; yet the cruelty of his executions, his infatiable greed of money and power, and the extreme facility with which he broke his mofl: facred engagements, had terrified them from putting themlelves into his hand; though they did not raife men, or join any fide, but lived privately at a diflance, yet their abfence THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 575 abfence from about the king had the woril eiFed upon his affairs. A great defertion had like wife happened fmce his coming among his old troops of Tigre, both of officers and foldiers. The exe- cution of Guebra Denghel, and other two noble- men, had greatly alienated the minds of many of their countrymen and their connexions ; but, above all, his breach of promife made before the mountain of Haramat, that he was to levy no taxes upon that province for feven years, (but which he was now doing with the greateft rigour before one had expired) difcontented them all. The return of Welleta Michael and Kefia Yafous from Samen, with about 6000 men, had confiderably (Irengthened his army ; added to this, 2000 more, w^ho came voluntarily, from their love to Kefia Yafous, from Temben, where he was governor ; thefe were picked men, partly mufqueteers ; there was nothing equal to them in the army. Guflio was advanced to Minziro. Powuflen had his head-quarters at Korreva, not above fixteen miles from Gondar. The whole plain to the lake was covered with troops. The weather was un^ feafonably cold, and confiderable quantities of rain had fallen from the 23d of February to the 29th of March. The rebels had begun to lay walte Dembea, and burnt all the villages in the plain from fouth to weft, making it like a defert between Michael and Fafil, as far as they dared venture to advance towards either. This they did 576 TRAVELS TO DJSCOVEil did to exafperate Michael, and draw him out from Gon-jar ; for they had mod of them great property in the town, and did not wifh to be ob- liged to fight him there. He bore this fight very impatiently, as well as the conftant complaints of people flying into the town from the depredations of the enemy, and ftripped of every thing. The king often afcended to the top of the tower ef his palace, the only one to which there remains a flair, and there contemplated, with the greatefl difpleafure, the burning of his rich villages in Dembea. One day while he was here he fhewed an inflance of that quick penetration for which he was remarkable, and which, as a proof of this, I (hall here mention. There is a large v/afte fpace on each fide of the palace where the market is kept. It had rained, and it was in the evening almofl deflitute of peo- ple;. ; there were only two men at a confiderable diftance, who feemed to be in clofe converfation together, one of them apparently very much the worfe of liquor, the other had hold of the end of the fafh, or girdle, which was round the body of the drunken man ; it is a narrow web of cotton cloth, which they wind eight or ten times about their waift. Ihe king faid to me, Do you know, Yagoube, what theie two men are about ? I an- fwered, No. I law the drunkard untwine one turn of his fafh, which the other was feeling and look- ing curioufly at, as if examining and doubting its goodnefs. T'hat man, fays the king, is robbing the THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 577 the drunkard of his falh : go down two or three of you who run belt, and apprehend him, but hide yourfelves till he has committed the theft, and feize him as he paiTes. The orders were quickly obeyed ; the drunkard unwound his fafh, by turning himfelf round and round, while the other feemed to be meafuring it by the length of his arm, from his elbow to his forefinger, and then gathering it up. This was done very deli- berately till it was all unwound, and the far end loofe ; upon which the fellow, who was meafuring, gathering it in his arms, ran off as fafl as he could, leaving the drunkard ftanding motionlefs, appa- rently in great furprife and amazement. The thief was immediately feized and brought up to the king, who ordered him to be thrown over the tower. At my interceffion, and that of thofe about him, he was pardoned, and the drunkard's fafh was returned to him. Ever iince the middle of February, Ras Mi- chael had refolved to march out, and give battle to the rebels encamped about Korreva, committing every fort of violence, and burning all the villages, houfes, and barns in Dembea, with the corn they contained more than v^^hat ferved for their prefent ufe ; but the great fuperiority of the enemy in horfe had ahvays made him delay his intention. Yafme, had, indeed, fucceeded in his commif- fion to Sennaar, as far as it regarded the horfes. He had found the Arabs encamped immediately upon the frontier at R-as el Feel, and had received Vol. IV. P p from 578 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER from them very near 200 of one kind or other, of which ']^ only anfwered the purpofe of mounting the king's black fervants ; the others were diilri- buted among the reft of the army that wanted them. But they had not been equally fuccefsful in purchafnig their coats of mail, fourteen only of which had been brought with the horfes. In or- der to buy the reft, the melTenger continued his journey to Sennaaj-, and with him my fervant So- liman with my letters, to which, of confequence, I had as yet no return. But what appeared at that time moft material to me, Fidele Shekh of Atbara wrote to Yafme, " That, there was no fear but that I ftiould be well received at Sennaar, where Naffer, a young king, had fucceeded his father, whom he had depofed ; but that the great difficulty was to pafs between Ras el Feel and Teawa, the place of his refidence, and from thence to the banks of the river Dender, for that the Ganjar horfe of Kuara, and the Arabs their friends, were at war with the Arabs of Atbara, and had burnt all their crops and villages : that he fometimes did not think himfelf fafe in Teawa, and that a load of fait had not been fuffered to pafs for fcveral months ; which, indeed, was the reafon v/hy the Arabs of Atbara were come fo near Ras el Feel, and that the king's horfe were procured fo readily at the firft coming.'' This traitor, however, added, " That if, by any means, I could advance to him at Teawa, I need not take any thought about the reft of the journey ; and "THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 579 and that it was better I fhould come quietly and quickly, without writing to Sennaar before-hand : and he concluded with great profellions of refpedl and friendfliip for me." It had been very cold, and more than ufual rainy, fince the beginning of February ; the 9th was a day of clofe rain ; and this, being earlier than common, very much difcouraged the foldiers who were naked, and, therefore, very fenfible of cold, or rain, and, as I have before faid, never can be brought to engage willingly, unlefs under the influence of a warm fun. At lad the cries of the people flying into Gon- dar, feeking protection from the cruelties of the rebels, determined the Ras to march out, and fet his all upon the fortune of a battle. The riik was not thought great, as he had been all his life in ufe to conquer j had a better army at that time than ever he commanded ; the Begemder troops, too, in whom the rebels trufl:ed mofl:, were but thofe which he and his men had beaten at Nefas Mufa, although led by a very brave and valiant officer, Mariam Barea. All this was true ; but then, fmce that period, thefe troops of Begemder had been conflantly led by himfelf, had been trained, and difciplined with the old troops of Tigre, and taught to conquer with them. Above all, they had been ufed to fee the effeCl of fire- arms, which they no longer feared as formerly, but boldly ruflied in upon the mufqueteers, fome- P D 2 times SBo TRAVELS TO DISCOVER times without giving them time to fire, or at leaft before they had time to charge again. At laft, having previoufly called in all his out- pofts, on the 13th of May he marched out df Gondar, taking with him the King and Abuna, as alfo Ozoro Eflher, and Ozoro Alta(h her fifter, and all the other ladies about court, who were in poiTeffion of the great fiefs of the crown, and whom he obliged to perfonal attendance, as well as to bring the quota of troops they were bound to by their refpeftive tenures. The king's army halted upon the fame ground they had done on their return to Gondar. They were then fuppofed to be near 20,000 foot, be- longing to Tigre and its dependencies, incompa- rably the beft troops of the empire, 6000 of which were armed with mufquets, fix times the number that all the reft of Abyflinia could furnilh, and, confidering they were all match-locks, very expert in the management of them. The refl of the foot which joined them fince he pafled the Tacazze were about 10,000 befides 2000 of the king's houfehold, 500 of which were horfemen ; of thefe, few fiiort of 200 were his black fervants, armed with coats of mail, the horfes with plates of brafs on their cheeks and faces, with a Iharp iron fpike of about five inches in length, which (lack out in the middle of their forehead, a very tioublefome, ufelefs piece of their armour ; their bridles were iron chains ; the body of the horfe covered with a kind of thin quilt (luffed with cot- ton. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 581 ton, with two openings made above the flaps of the faddle, into which the horfeman put his thighs and legs, and which covered him from his hip (where his fhirt of mail ended) down to a little above his ancle : his feet were covered with flip- pers of thin leather, without heels, and his fliirrups were of the Turkifti or Moorifti form, into which his whole foot entered, and, being hung very fliort, he could raife himfelf, and fliand as firmly as if he was upon plain ground. The faddles were in the Moorifli form likewife, high before and behind ; a ftrong lace made faft to the coat of mail by the one end, the other pafled through a fmall hole in the back of the faddle, kept it clofe down, fo that the back was never expofed by the coat of mail rifing over the hinder part of the faddle. Each had a fmall ax in the furcingle of his faddle, and a pike about fourteen feet long, the weapon with which he charged ; it was made of very light wood, brought from the banks of the Nile, with a fmall four-edged head, and the butt end balanced by a long fpike of iron ; this entered a leather cafe faflened by a thong to the faddle, and was refl:ed fometimes below the thigh, and fometimss above, and guided by the right hand at the height the point was intended to fl:rike at. The horfeman's head was covered with a helmet of copper, or block tin, much like thofe of our light horfe, with large crefl:s of black horfe tail. The SSt TRAVELS TO DISCOVER The officers were diftinguifhed from the foldlers by locks of hair dyed yellow, interfperfed with the black. Upon the front of each helmet was a filver itar, at leafl a white-metal one, and before the face, down to the top of the nofe, a flap of iron chain, made in the fame manner as the coat of mail, but only lighter, which ferved as a vizier. This was the moft troublefome part of the whole, it was hot and heavy, and conflantly fretted the cheek and nofe, when either the man or the horfe were in motion ; and therefore 1 always fubftituted a black filk net, which concealed my colour bet- ter, and for the refl of my face I committed it to thecare of Providence. This body of horfe was able to make their way through all the cavalry in Abyflinia, if they had been drav/n up againil them with equal fronts ; for every horfeman fat immoveable upon his fad- die, and acted moft powerfully by his weight alone, and was perfectly mafter of his perfon alfo by the breadth and ihortnefs of his flirrups ; whereas the Abyffinian horfemen were placed moft difadvantageoufly, their head and body naked, their faddle fmali, and of no fupport to them, their ftirrup-leathers long, and jio ftirrups to put their foot in; bufbeiiig conitantly afraid of their horfe falling upon them, the only hold which they had was the outiide of an iron ring, which thev grafped between their great and fecond toe, fo that they had no ftrength from their ftir- rups, THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 583 rups, whilil their foot was always fwelled, and their toes fore and galled. Of the thoufand Shoa horfe aboutr 60 had de= ferted ; the reft were all in good order, each armed with their lances about ten feet long, and two light javelins, their fhafts being of cane, which they threw at a great diftance ; the lance they never loofed out of their hand ; as for their ftirrups and faddle, they were of the fame bad conftrudlion as thofe of the Abyflinians in general, and this reduced them nearly to a footing with them. The horfemen of the king's army were about 7000, moftly very indifferent troops ; fo that his whole mufter was nearly 7000 mufqueteers, 25,000 foot, armed with lances and ihields, and about 7500 horfemen ; in round numbers about 40,©oo men. It is not poffible, I believe, to know, with greater precifion, the number, fuch is the confufion of barbarous armies on thefe occafions, and fuch the inclination of their leaders to magni- fy and increafe their quotas. Befides thefe, Ayto Confu and Sanuda were left with -about 600 men each, to proteft Gondar from flying, pillaging parties, and to keep the commiunication open be- tween the army and the capital, from whence the provifions were to be fupplied. This army was furniflied with a number of ex- cellent officers, veterans of noble families, who had fpent their whole life in war, which we may fay, for thefe laft 400 years, has never ceafed to lay 5^4 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER lay defolate this unhappy country ; the principal were Ras Michael, who, arrived at the age of feven- ty-four, hadpaffed the lad 50 years of his life in a courfe of continued vi£lories, Atlham Georgis, and Guebra Chriftos, uncles by the mother's fide to the king ; Kefla Yafous, in the full vigour of life, who, though unhappily born in a country plunged in ignorance, and where there is no edu- cation, poffeffed every quality that became a man^ whether a foldier, ftatefman, citizen, or friend^ Welleta Michael, mafler of the houfehold to the king ; Billetana Gueta Tecla ; Balha Hezekias, and Guebra Mafcal, two principal officers of his mufquetry, and a great number of others of equal merit, known better in the camp than at the court ; Aylo, and Engedan, two fons of Kaf- mati Efhte ; Ayto Confu, fon of Ozoro Eflher, all young men, employed generally in enterprifes, and growing every day more and more into repu- tation. It is impoffible fo much: as to guefs at the num- ber of the enemy, they were always very numerou$j but conftantly changing. It was faid, that Be- gemder and Lafta had at one time 30,000 horfe- men; I iliould believe this number greatly exagger- ated, from what I heard afterwards ; and that the whole cavalry in their army did not exceed what it was at the battle of Serbraxos. I fuppofe in- deed, that, together with their foot, they did not much exceed "that number, though they were at finies magnified to ^0 find "603O0O5 mofl of them THE SOURCE OF THE KILE. 585 very bad troops, continually defer ting, excepting abdut 4000 men belonging to Gufho, from Am- hara, who likewife brought about 100 match- locks, and befides thefe there were fcarcely any in the rebel army. I mull not, however, forget 200 horfemen, Edjow Galla, fervants and relations of the late king Joas, who behaved in the moll gallant and undaunted manner, and upon all oc- cafions fet a noble example to the reft of the army, Ras Michael himfelf led the van ; the king the center, with Guebra Mafcal, and a conliderablc body of mufqueteers of Tigre • he had no horfe but thofe of his own houfehold. The rear was commanded by Welleta Michael, and Tecia : how difpofed, or of what troops conftituted I kno\ of it had fcarce paifed the Mogetch. Both the burying-place, and church near it, w^ere planted thick round with cyprefs and cedar trees, Juft a little before the Ras ordered us to encamp, a meffenger arrived from Netcho, (the Fit-Auraris) that he had that morning met the Fit-Auraris of Begemder on this fide of the river Mariam ; that he had killed the Fit-Auraris hfm- felf, (a man of Lafta) with 2i1 ^f his men, and driven them back : he added, that he intended to fall back himfelf upon the Ras's army, unlefs ftopt by contrary orders j thefe the Ras did not fend, being defirous that he fliould join him, as he foon after did, without being purfued : he brought word that the army of the rebels was near at hand, between Korreva and the lake ; that PowufTen's head-quarters were at Korreva, and that he had heard Gufho had pufhed on advanced pofl:s,as far as the church of Mariam ; but this he did not know for certain, being only the information of a dying man. Ras Michael immediately detached Guebra Mafcal, and another pfficer, with 400 men 5§S TRAVELS TO DISCOVER men to take polTeffion of the fepulchre and the church at Tedda, and ci)nceal themfelves among the cedar-trees. We had not encamped long, before the rear came in fight. Confu, fon of Ozoro Efther, whom the Ras had left to guard Gondar, hearing how near the enemy was, and the probability of a battle that day, had left his poll, and joined Yafine, with the horfe of Ras el Feel, that were in the rear ; foon after this jundion, Afahel Woodage, with about 400 men, partly Edjow Galla, (the late king Joas's houfehold) partly Maitdia, came up from the Dembea fide of the lake Tzana, and began to harrafs the rear, march- ing in great confufion. Confu, though fomething fuperior in number, was thought to be inferior in the goodnefs of troops by much more than the difference; but the event proved the contrary, for he charged Woodage Afahel fo forcibly, that he obliged him to quit our rear, and retire acrofs the plain at a pace, which if not a flight, did very much refemble it. Ay to Confu preffed vi- gorouily upon him, till, being now clear of the reft of the army, and in the fair open plain. Wood- age wheeled fhortly about, and Ihewed by his countenance that it was not to avoid Ayto Confu, but Ras Michael's mufquetry, that he retreated to a greater diftance ; both fides ftopt to breathe their horfes for fome minutes ; but it was plain after- wards, Afahel Woodage, an old foldier, trufted much to the known valour of his troops, and wilhed THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 5S9 wifhed to ftrike a blow of confequence in prefence of his old enemy the Ras. Ras Michael was at the door of his tent then playing at dams, or drafts, as was his cuftom, and Ozoro Either was trembling to fee her fon on the point of being furrounded by mercilefs Galla, the nation who moft of all fhe detelled, and who had every caufe to hate her. All the young men, (Confu's friends) with their lances in their hands, and ready to mount on horfeback, befeeched the Ras to allow them to go down into the plain to the afliftance of Confu ; but the old general, with- out leaving off his game, faid, " I do ilridly for- bid one of you to ftir ; Confu has broke my or- ders to-day, and brought himfelf into a fcrape by his own folly ; let me fee him get out of it by his courage and condu6t, and thereby fet the army a better example than he has yet done." — " Sirj faid I, at leafl flation fome mufquetry on the fmall hill, at the edge of the plain, that, if Confu is beaten, I may not have the mortification of feeing Yafme, and the new troops of Ras el Feel, (who were in their proper poll) maffacred before my eyes by thefe cowardly barbarians, and lofe all my baggage and provifions." I fpolce this in the utmoft anguiih, v/hen the Ras lifted up his head with a ghailly kind of laugh, and faid, " Right, well do fo, Yagoube." Though this was but an im- perfed permiffion, I ran down to the ftation with fuch hade that I fell twice in my way, and was confiderably 590 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER confiderably hurt, for the ground was rocky, and the grafs flippery. Although I had only waved my cloak, and cried come on, firs, a large number of matchlocks of Ozoro Efther's, and the king's, haflened im- mediately to the ground. Confu by this time had charged, and after a flout refiftance beat Wood- age back into the plain ; Woodage, however, again faced about, and after fome refiftance, Confu in his turn was driven back in evident diforder, and puflied almoft in under the poft, where our fol- diers had made ready their mufquets, to fire if they came a flep nearer. At this inflant a body of about 30 or 40 horfe (the comm^ander we after- w^ards knew to be Ayto Engedan) came up full gallop from the right, and ftopt the Galia in their purfuit. Confu's men rallied upon this afTiflance, and Afahel Woodage retired in a direction pafTmg clofe under the fepulchre, Engedan and Confu keeping at a moderate pace on his left between them and the army, and forcing them down, as it were, to the trap they knew was laid for them. They were yet a Long (hot from the cedars that furrounded the fepulchre, when a volley was dif- charged at them from among t]ie trees, where Michael had pofled his 400 men, which, though it did little or no execution, terri^ed ^Woodage AfahePs men fo much, that Confu and Engedan, charging in that inflant as upon a a ngnal, they all difperfed through different parts of the field, and their leader after them: Joas's Edjow, in- deed, THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 591 deed, would not fall back a ftep upon the volley, but, after an obftinate refiftance, they were bro- ken by fuperior numbers, and forced to retreat before an enemy, fo overcome with fatigue and wounds, as to be unable to purfue them. The whole engagement lafled near an hour by my watch. One hundred and thirteen of Woodage Afahel's men were ilain upon the fpot, and their bloody trophies brought and thrown before the king. On Confu's fide about 70 were killed and wounded ; he himfelf received two wounds, one a large flefh wound in the hip, the other more flight upon the head, both of them at the very beginning of the engagement. Notwithftanding the natural hardnefs of his heart, and that the misfortune which had happened was in immediate difobedience of orders, Ras Michael (hewed great fenfibility at hearing Confu was wounded ; he came immediately to fee him, a vifit not according to etiquette, and gave him a flighter reproof than was expelled for leaving his pofl in the town, as well as for his fighting with- out his orders. Confu, with great fubmiffion and addrefs at the fame time, excufed his leaving his PqH, from the repeated information he had re- ceived that a decifive battle was to be fought that day, and knowing the Ras's want of horfe, he could not fhay at Gondar, and keep his idle, when the fate of fo kind a father, (as the Ras had been) and that of a mother, to whom he owed every thing, was depending. He faid it would 592 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER be more agreeable to him to die by the hands of the executioner of the camp, as an example for difobedience of orders, than furvive with the re- flexion that he had been voluntarily abfent from fuch an cccafion. As for engaging with Afahel Woodage that day, he faid he had no intention pf that kind ; that he knew not who he was when he attacked him, and only endeavoured to hinder him from harraffing the rear of the army, and de- ftroying the provifions : That when he charged him firft, Woodage v/as among the women, loaded with bouza, flour, and fpirits, which were coming to the Ras, and great part of which he had in- tercepted., as the Ras would find. Michael could not help laughing at this lafl part of the excufe, but went away, and, in his converfation that evening, gave Confu the highefl praifes for his conduct and bravery, but faid nothing of his fault. Engedan was next arraigned for fighting with- out orders. He too, anfwered with great humili- ty. That when he faw the infantry run down the hill, with their matches lighted, he thought ft was the Ras's intention to relieve Confu by the mod effedual means pofuble ; but at any rate he could never, with his arms in his hands, ftand looking on, while his coufia german and compa- nion was malTacred by Galla. All ended well. The truth is, Michael never would find fault with a man that fought, however imprudently he fought the occafion : courage was to him in place of cha- ritv ; it covered a multitude of fins. Ozoro THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 593 Ozoro Efther, in the deepeil concern, had at- tended her fon from the moment of his arrival, and had feen his wound dreffed and fwathed up. A large gaping flefh-wound (fuch as his was) frightens ignorant people more than the fmall ori- fice made by a (hot, which breaks bones and en- dangers life. Such was Ozoro Efther's apprehen- fion ; and every minute fhe enquired of nte if I thought it was poflible he could recover. I had not quitted him fince he had got off his horfe. I advifed him by all means to go in a litter to Gondar, either carried by men or mules ; but no perfuafion, nor confideration, would induce him to go otherwife than on a mule, with his horfe har- nefled and led by him* Every thing was accordingly prepared, when I received a melTage from the Ras to wait upon him. I immediately went to his tent, and found him with two dwarf boys only, who were fanning the flies from his face. " Ozoro Eflher wifhes, favs he, that you would fee Confu fafe to Gondar, and bring us word to-morrow how he is ; and you mufl flay with him altogether, if he is in danger." — ^' If he has no fever, faid I, he is in no danger. If the king and you" — He then in- terrupted me, — " The king and I, and every one wiflies you to attend Confu." I bowed, and went away without reply. When I was got to the door he cried after, me, " Don^t be afraid, you will be in time enough to fee every thing 5 neither Vol. IV,. Q^q . they 04 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER they nor I wifh an engagement but at Serbraxos/* I did not underftand the meaning of the fpeech, but went away without reply ftraight to the king's tent ; and I was jufl going to fpeak when he ftopt me, by crying, " Go, go, for God's fake! Ozoro -Efther has been here ahnoft out of her fenfes." I went on this to her tent, where I found her fitling by Confu and drowned in tears, which at times were interrupted by fits of feeming diftrac- tion» He began to feel the lofs of blood, which "would have made me wifh not to move him; but there was no flaying here for fick people ; and fo violent a fpirit had fpread through the army, upon Netcho's fuccefs and Confu's vi£lory, that one and all infifted upon fighting the next day ; and feveral of my friends, who knew where I was going, fhook hands with me at my pafling them, faying, " Farewell, Yagoube ; we are forry to lofe you, but all will be over before you come back." I now infifled more than ever upon Confu's going in a litter, and fetting out immediately, which was accordingly complied with. Ozoro Either had dinner, or rather fupper, ready in a moment, and I had great need of it, having fcarcely tailed any thing for two days. While I was eating, Ozoro Either could not Hop the elFufions of her gratitude for the care I had taken of Confu. '* 1 knew, fays Ihe, you would have refufed me, if Ihad endeavoured to perfuade you to go av/ay from the camp, when there are fuch fair expec- tations, THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 55^ tations, you may be knocked on the head to- morrow ; and therefore I applied to the Ras by force to bend that rafh, proud fpirit of yours, vwhich one day will be the occafion of your death.** — " Madam, faid I, you do me injuftice if you ,will not believe that I had rather obey your com- mands than thofe of any general upon earth: But, pray, what is the meaning of the Ras's fpeech to me about both armies wilhing to fight at Serbraxos * ? Where is this Serbraxos ?"— - " Why, fays fhe, here, on a hill juft by ; the Begemder people have a prophecy, that one of their governors is to fight a king at Serbraxos, to defeat him, and flay him there : in his place is to fucceed another king, whofe name is Theodorus, and in whofe reign all AbyfTmia is to be free from war, or from any trouble, ficknefs, or famine; that the Galla, Shangalla, and Mahometans are all to be deftroyed, and the empire of AbyfTinia tp be extended as far as Jerufalem." — " All this deflruftion and conqueft without war ! That Will be curious indeed. I think I could wifh to fee this Theodorus," faid I, laughing. " Set him you wiU, replied Ozoro Either; peace, happi- nefs, and plenty will laft all his reign, and a thoufand years afterwards^ Enoch and Elias will rife again, and will fight and deflroy Gog and Magog, and all this without any war.'*—" On ^ Serbraxos, abbreviation for Scrba Chriftos, die Crofs of Chrifl. Q q :^ which 596 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER which I again faid, that muft be cleverly ma- naged. And now, why does Ras Michael choofe to fight at Serbraxos ? I do not think he is de- firous to pay his court to the king Theodorus, or any king brought him by Begemder."— " Why, fays fhe, all the hermits and holy men on our fide, that can prophefy, have aflured him he is to beat the rebels this month at Serbraxos ; and a very holy man, a hermit from Waldubba, came to him at Gondar, and obliged him to march out againfl his will, by telling him this prophecy, which he knows to be true, as the man is not like common prophets, but one who never ate any thing but roots, or drank other liquor than water, fmce the day of his nativity. Such a man as this, you know, Yagoube, cannot lie.^' " And I, fays Ayto Confu, being a prophet that hath ate beef and drunk bouza ever fmce my na- tivity, whenever I could not get wdne or brandy, and who give my fliare of water freely to the ' faints of Waldubba, as a proper reward for the lies they tell, I do prophefy, that there are now two thoufand men eating their fupper within fight of Serbraxos, who will never fee it nearer, but will all be flain in a battle fought at this place to-mor- row, at which time Yagovibe fhall be feafting with me at Gondar, without caring a fig for king The- odorus aiid his plenty." — " A blelTed prophet you 1" fays Ozoro Eflher. At this inftant the fcrvants at the door informed ^s there was fcarce light to fee the way down the hill, THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 597 hill, and we got our wounded prophet, without much difficulty or complaint, into the litter. A number of men fupported him down the hill, and about 50 of his own horfe attended. I defired him to feel often the bandage if his wound bled ; and, finding it did not, I rode on horfe- back clofe by his fide. For fome time, not hear- ing him flir or fpeak, I thought he was afleep, or had fainted ; on which I fliopt the litter, felt his pulfe, and alked him if he was dofing ? He faid. No ; he was thinking of all the lies his mo- ther had been tellin? me : but there is one thinp- fhe did not care to tell you, Yagoube, fhe fays you laugh at thefe itories ; but there is a fpirit who always appears to Michael and affures him of vidory. The devil, l^iid I, probably ; for what good arifes from all thefe victories ? are they not the ruin of innocent people, and of the coun- try ? No, repHed Confu, it is St. Michael the archangel ; he faw him jufl before he furprifed the mountain Haramat, but neither at Gondar, nor fince he palled the Tacazze, and this makes him forrowful. The fpirit has been afraid to catch cold, faid I, by wetting his feet in that cold river. I doubt fo, anfwered Confu ; but the liar of a monk, who my mother fuppofes never eats nor drinks, told him he was to fee him at Serbraxos. ' At this time we heard the noife of horfes, and could difcern (as we thought) three men that pafled the bridge of Mogetch brifkly before us. 4rS 59>^ TRAVELS TO DISCOVER As they feemed to avoid us, fix or dght of Con- fii's men pilrfued them at full gallop, but loft theM in the darknefs. They, however, were found to be foldiers of Kafmati Sanuda^ who hearing Wood age Afahel had been engaged with Ay to Confu, had come out with the unworthy purpofe of collefting fome filthy trophies, by mangling the dead or wounded., though thefe^ mufl: have been their own companions, the fob diers of Ay to Confu, who had been llain ; for the whole of Woodage Afahel's men had already undergone what Strates emphatically called the Operation^ by the knives of Confu's foldiers. Wd rim^ arrived at Kofcam without any adventure^- and Confu was laid to repofe, after taking a little food : in obedience to the orders of Ozoro Eflher, I lay down by him in the fame apartment. Early next morning I was fent for by a fervant of Ozoro Either, to attend Welleta Selaffe, who I was told was at the point of deuth. I repair- ed immediately to the houfe of Ras Michael^ where flie then was, but found her without polli- bility of recovery, having already loft her fpeech. She expired a few minutes afterwards, apparently in -violent agonies. The caufe was never properly known; fome attributed it to the jealoufy of Ozoro Efther, others alledged that (he had taken poifon from apprehenfion of falling into the hands of Ras Michael : whatever was the truth, her fervants certainly told me, that fhe had confeffed fli€ had taken poifon, and not till.th^ pain became violent. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 599 violent, and then fhc turned afraid, would fhe confent to have an exprefs fent to Ozoro Either, to bring me from the camp. I had unluckily left it before to attend Ay to Confu, neither is it probable I could have been of any fervice, as th^^ poifan fhe had taken was arfenic. This accident detained me that whole day, fo that, inftead of returning to the army, I went to Ayto Confu at Kofcam, where i found another meffenger in fearch of me. The king's Mahometan was returned from Sen- iiaar, and with him Soliman my fervant, who brought me anfwers to the letters I had written ; they had come by Bcyla to Ras el Feel, by Sim Sijn, and the weftern defer ts, the way to Teawa, being much infefted by gangs of Arabs, a^d; Ganjar horfe, who murdered every body they found in their way. They brought with them only twelve horfes, eighteen coats of mail, and; about thirty libds * ; thefe were moftly returnSi made by the principal members of government to^ the prefents the king had fent them, for every body at Sennaar now fet too great a value upon the armour, and horfes, to part eafily with them, on account of the unfettled flate of the times, the hiftory of which we fhall give after- wards. * Thefe are leather coats quilted with cotton, ufcd iwlcad of coats of mail: both man and horfe are covered with them, aad they give to both a monftrous appearance. My 6oo TRAVELS TO DISCOVER My letters Informed me that the whole king- dom of Sennaar was in arms, that NalTer (who had depofed his father by the help of two great brothers, Mahomet Abou Calec, and Adelan) was upon the point of trufting his life and king- dom to the event of a battle with thefe two officers. I was, moreover, conjured, with all the earneil- nefs, as I thought, of a truly honeft man, that I would by no means undertake the journey I in- tended ; that to come from Ras el Feel to Sen- naar, was, for a white man like me, next to an abfolute impoffihiiity, conneding the danger of the way with the great hardfliips from the excef- iive heat of the climate, and want of food and water ; that even arrived at Sennaar, I fhould be in the utmoll danger from the foldiery, and the king's Haves, under no fubordination or govern- ment ; and that, even if I was happy enough to efcape thefe, the worfl ftill remained, and no human power could convoy or proted: me, in my remaining journey to Egypt through the great defert. I was therefore begged to lay all fuch in- tention afide as impoffible, and either ilay where I was, or return by Tigre, Mafuah, and Arabia, the way by which I firfl entered Abyilinia. This was the fevereit of all blows to me, and threw me for fome time into the lowed defpondency, but it did not change my refolution, which was already taken, not to turn to the right or the left, but either compleat my journey to Syene, the fron- tier THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 6oi tier of Egypt, by Sennaar, and Nubia, or perifh in the attempt. I now refolved to proceed immediately to the camp, taking twenty horfe from Sanuda, and twenty from Confu, to efcort the coats of mail and horfes from Sennaar. I fet out that evening with Mahomet the king's fervant, by the road of Sema Confu, and arrived about nine o'clock in the camp, without any adventure, bringing the news of V/elleta Selaife's death, which feemed to caufe neither furprife nor forrow, and was never after fpoken of either by the Ras or Ozoro Eflher; but very great rejoicings were made at the good accounts of Ayto Confu, with very kind expref- fions of me, both from the Ras and Ozoro Eflher. Before he went to bed, the king had examined Mahomet, and drawn from him the true ftate of the kingdom of Sennaar ; he then fent for me, and ordered me to deliver him my letters, which I did, interpreting them to him, word for word. He faid, however, but little at this time, as he thought that that door, being fo eifedtually fhut againft me, lefs could be urged againfl the fafer, and more known road through Tigre, which, of courfe, it was prefumed I fhould more eagerly epibrace; he kept my letters, and ordered me to choofe two of the horfes for myfelf, which I did, one of them near feventeen hands high, I fuppofe one of the mofl powerful horfes in the world. The refl he dldribured among the black troops ; the 6o2 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER the fame he did with the coats of mail. I found the army in great fpirits, but ftill the ftory of fighting only at Serbraxos feemed to be obftinate- ly perfifted in. I alked Ozoro Eflher if St. Mi- chael had yet appeared to the Ras ; (he anfwered, " Hufh ! for God's fake, don't make a joke of this, one word of this kind repeated to him would prevent your ever receiving a favour from Michael." It happened that, the day after I had attended Ayto Confu to Gondar, Ras Michael fent fome foldiers into Dembea to forage, thefe had been intercepted by a party polled on purpofe by Kaf- mati Ayabdar and Gufho, confifting of Edjow Galla, with fome horfe from Foggora and Am- hara. An engagement happened pretty much in the fame place and manner as that with Woodage Afahel and Ayto Confu, in full view of the camp, and affiftance was fent on both fides to the refpec- tive parties. The troops commanded by Aylo, brother of Engcdan, and Guebra Mafcal, were beaten back almoft clofe to the camp, by the horfe led by the Edjow Galla, though brave and veteran foldiers, while Ras Michael ordered Yafine and his 200 from Ras el Feel, (all with their Hbds on) to charge the Galla, now advanced very near. Each horfe had a number of brafs bells at his neck, and they no fooner appeared than the whole cavalry of the enemy, ftarting at the hide- ous figure and noife, fell into confufion, and, being clofely preffed with violent blows of their great THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 603 great fwords, no longer difputed the ground, but left the field on the gallop. A beautiful grey horfe of Gufho's, fuperbly ornamented with gold and filver, and having a very rich broad fword hanging sft his faddle, and a pole-ax on the other fide under the furcingle, was taken by fome foW diers of Ras el Feel, who fpread the report in- ftantly that Gufho was flain. Immediately on" this, orders were given for the whole army to de- fcend into the plain, which they did with great alacrity, forming in order of battle, though nei- ther the king nor Ras Michael left the camp, nor did any adverfary appear ; and the troops, con- tent with this bravado, returned again in great fpirits to the camp. This is the account I heard of that day's ikir- miih, for I was not prefent there, being at Gondat with Ayto Confu. In the evening of that very day arrived a meifenger from Gufho, telling Ras Michael, that a young boy, a nephew of his^ had without his knowledge, gone to fee the en^^ gagement, and had taken with him his favourite horfe, who, being frightened at the Arabs with their libds, had thrown him, after which he had run off and left the horfe among the enemy. He. begged to have his horfe reftored at any price, if the man that had taken him was allowed to fell him. He at the fame time fent a prefent of a large quantity of fruit and freih fifli from the lak«.. The meffenger was a pried well known by Ra$ Michael, and warmly attached to the king, and it 6o4 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER it was thought came with an errand of more con- fequence than either about the horfe or the fifh. The Ras fent him for his anfwer to the king, who told him, the horfe being taken by the troops of Ras el Feel, belonged to mc, and with me he muft make his bargain: that I was at Gondar, and my return uncertain ; but that the next day he might have my anfwer. This was the better to conceal the priefl's real bufmefs, for the king and Ras knew how they were to difpofe of the horfe ; at lead they certainly knew I was not to return him without their orders. The morning after my arrival this fame prieU came to me with a melTage from Gufho, defiring I would fend him his horfe, as a proof of the friendship which he faid had always fubfifted be- tween us, at the fame time oiFering me any fum of money that I might have promifed to content the foldiers who took him. As I had before ob- tained leave from Ras Michael to reftore the horfe, fo I did it vvdth the very bell grace pofTible, fending Yafme himfelf, chief of the troops of Ras el Feel, with the meiTage to Guflio, that I rec- koned myfelf exceedingly happy in having that opportunity of obliging him, and of fhewing the value I had ever fet upon his friendfhip ; that he very well knew the little regard I had for money, and that the foldier who took the horfe was my fervant, and had already been abundantly fatif- fied. Idefired Yafme to add, that I hoped, in order to a continuation of that friendfhip, he would THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 605 would avoid, in his own particular command, or in that of his relations, attacking where the king was in perfoi;i, becaufe it was my indifpenfable duty to be there, and that his nephew might not efcape with the lofs of a horfe, if he again happen- ed to be engaged with the Moorifli troops, who, though under my command, were Mahometans, ftrangers to the language, and to whom it was im- pofiible for me to convey any diflindion of perfons. Gufho was exceedingly fenfible of this civil return of the horfe ; he cloathed Yafme magnificently, made him a prefent of another horfe, and fent a very flattering meffage by him to me. CHAP, t6ee TRAVELS TO DISCOVER C H A P. XXV. Michael attempts to enter Begemder—FirJ^ Battle of Serbraxos — Tbe Rebels offer Battle to the King in the Plain — Armies feparatsd by a violent Storm» A S I N E had fcarcely returned to the camp when all the tents were flruck, and the army on its march. The Ras and Guebra Mafcal led the van, the king and Guebra Chriflos the center, Kafmati Kefla Yafous the rear j Netcho the Fit- Auraris being about half an hour's march before us, we proceeded along the plain without inter- ruption; Ayto Engedan, with a fmall body of horfe, was covering the king's right fiank at fome diftance. The church of Serbraxos was on our left upon the fide of a hill, and we expected to fee the Fit-Auraris take up his ground for encamp- ing there, as it was the field of a£tion determined upon by both parties. The Fit-Auraris, however, firft, and then Ras Michael with the van, pafTed below Serbraxos at fo brifk a pace that we in the center found it difficult to keep up with them. Along below Serbraxos at fo brilk a pace that we in the center found it dilEcult to keep up with them. Along THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 607 A long valley, having the mountains of Begem- der on the fouth, or farthefl: end, was what the ^as had now entered, and he flattered himfelf, by a forced march, to arrive at thofe mountains. When onee in Begemder, he knew that he not only fhould occafion a revolt among the troops of Powuflen, (many of whom had followed him by force rather than inclination) but likewife he was alTured that he fhould be met by many powerful noblemen and friends to the king, both of Lafta and Begemder, whom Powuflen dared not force to follow him, and who had fl:aid at home ; by this means, he conceived his army would be fo much increafed that he foon fliould bring the re- bels to reafon. The river Mariam runs along the wefl: fide of this valley, fhallow, but briik and clear, and the water excellent, while a fmall brook, called Deg- Ohha, (that is, the water of honour, or of worth) falling from the mountains on the eaft, runs clofe by the bottom of the hill of Serbraxos, where it joins the Mariam. The center of the army was jufl entering from the plain into the valley, and the king*s horfe pafllng Deg-Ohha, when we heard a firing in the front, which we gueflTed to be from the Fit-Auraris ; foon after followed a repeated firing from the van, engaged about a fhort two miles diftance, though a long even hill in the midfl of the valley, and its windings, hin- dered us from feeing them. Guebra 6o8 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER Guebra Chriflos immediately made his difpo^ fition ; he placed his hone, and foot in the in- tervals of the horfe, in the middle of the valley ; his mufquetry on the right and left, the former upon the fkirts of the hill already mentioned, to run along the valley ; the latter up the fkirts of the hill of Serbraxos. Orders very fooji arrived from Ras Michael, vi^hich did not alter the difpo- fition ; and Kefla Yafous with the rear arriving at the fame time, jufl joined and doubled the fe- veral polls as they had been taken ; our pofition was to the utmoft of our wiih ; but it had not been fo with Michael, for he no fooner had got into the plain, where he had the hills no longer either on his right or left, than he was attacked by Povvuifen, with the whole force of Begemder, who cut oft the troops of his Fit-Auraris to a man, he, and two or three common foldiers, only efcaping. This was owing to MichaePs retreating inflead of fupporting him ; for he had fcarcely given time for Powuffen to come up with his horfe, who fought more defperately than was their uAial cuilom, than he himfelf again took pofTeffion of the entrance of the valley, and lined the hill on both fides with fire-arms. A very general and fharp fire from Guebra Mafcal, and the muf- quetry, (who had occupied the fouih end of the long hill) foon obliged Powuffen to leave Michael's cavalrv, which he would elfe have inevitably de- llroyed, and fhelter himfelf in the plain from the violent effect of the fhot, which poured upon him 1 alternately THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 609 alternately from the hills on each lide of the valley. At this time we were in the greatefl: anxiety, from the report of the mufquets always coming nearer us, though, by the contrary winds, the fmoke was carried from us. The day was far ad- vanced, and exceffively hot : the foot foldiers were bufy in giving our horfes drink out of our own helmets, which they filled from Deg-Ohha. All the troops were impatient, however, to come to an adion upon that ground. At this time an oiEcer from Michael came to Kefia Yafous, who was on horfeback near the king, ordering him to fend a body of frefh horfe to fupport the cavalry of his divifion, with an intention, if poflible, to bring on a general engagement. In the mean time he ordered Kefla Yafous to keep firm, as he then was, in the pofl of Serbraxos, and not to advance till he was fure that Gufho and Ayabdar had left their ground, joined Powuffen, and were engaged with him at the fouth end of the valley. Thefe inftrudions were perfedly underflood by that fa- gacious and veteran general. He detached 500 Shoa, with near the fame number of horfe be- longing to Engedan, and commanded by him, and thefe, joined to the cavalry already in the van, again attempting to pafs the plain, were attacked by PowulTen and the troops of Begemder, who had been likewife reinforced, and after an obUi^ nate engagement they had retired into the mouth of the valley, not from being a^ually beaten, but Vol.. IV.' R r ' by 6io TRAVELS TO DISCOVER by direction of Ras Michael, in order to bring the eneiiiy purfuing them under the fire of the mufquetry, on each fide of the entrance of the vaiiey. I was exceedingly curious to have feen this en- gagement, and I begged Kefla Yafous to fpeak to the king to permit me to go fmgly with Engedan. To this, however, I had a flat refufal, not with- out fome marks of peevifhnefs and difpleafure, which Kefla Yafous qualified by faying, " Don't be difmayed, you fliall fee ;" and in that inflant the word was given to march to the right, whilft the troops left the valley between the long hill and the mountains, and took poll on the fide of the river Mariam, with their faces fronting the wefl:. The mufquetry was placed upon the emi- nences to the north and fouth, as if to defend the ford of the river, through which the entrance was, to the north end of the valley. Michael, in the mean time, had, by the feigned retreat of his cavalry, decoyed the Begemder troops within reach of the mufquetry, and they were again put in diforder by the difcharge on each fide of the hill, without being able to advance a fl:ep fur- ther ; after which he ordered fome tents j:o be pitched upon the hill on his right, as if intending to encamp there. Kafmati Ayabdar, who commanded the left wing of the rebels, imagining that the whole army h?.d advanced to the fouth of the valley with Ras Mich del, thought this was an opportunity of fur- . . . rounding THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 6ii rounding the king^s troops, and cutting them off from their camp and ftrong pofl upon the hill of Serbraxos ; with this intention he advanced ra- pidly to the ford of the river Mariam, thinking to take pod on the hill which w^as to our rear, being that of Serbraxos. When he advanced, however, near that river, and faw the king and his cavalry drawn up on the banks of it, his heart failed him, and he halted within a fhort quarter of a mile of our troops. In order to decoy and make him more confident, Kefla Yafous ordered the horfe to retreat and crofs the river as faft as they could, with an appearance of confufion, that he might draw their horfe within reach of our mufquetry planted upon every eminence. The king ihewed great reludlance at this manoeuvre, however wife. He repeated very peevifhly, What is this ! What is this ! Am I rething before re- bels ? — Neither did this ftratagem fucceed but in part, for Ayabdar, either diflrufting the trap laid for him, or afraid to enter into an engagement with the king, advanced but a few paces, and again halted, apparently not decided what he was to do. TheEdjowGalla alone advanced to the very brink of the river, and when the mufquetry began to be fired at them, which would- probably quickly have put them into confufion, the king, lofmg all pa- tience, ordered the black horfe, and all the heavy- armed troops, to charge them, which was inftantly executed with the greateft fpeed j the Galla were R r 2 all 6i2 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER all borne down, with little or no refiflance, by the length of our pikes, and the fuperior weight of our horfes. and thofe that were not flain were fcattered over the plain. But a greater misfortune befel us from our friends than from our enemies, as a voiley of fhot was poured upon us from Ser- braxos hill, on the right hand, which killed feven men, notwithftanding their coats of mail. The' king himfelf was in great danger, being in the middle of the engagement, and unarmed ; young prince George, who fought by his fide, was fhot in the thumb of his left hand. Kefia Yafous, who faw the danger the king was in, riding about, holding out his hand and crying not to fire, was fhot through the hair, the ball jufl grazing his head above the ear, and another wounding his horfe jufl: above his thigh, but fo flightly, that it was afterwards extraded by a fervant's fingers. Ayabdar, after the lofs of his Edjow Galla, re- treated to the camp, amidfl: the curfes and impre- cations of the army, who, not informed of the king's flrength, thought the war might have been ended by a proper exertion and perfeverance in his part that day. Gufho his nephew^ who had flaid to guard the camp, but who had reinforced Pow- ulTen and Ayabdar each of them with a part of his troops, fpoke of his uncle in the bitterefl terms of reproach, continually calling him dotard and coward, and declaring him incapable of command or fervice. Whether this was really his opinion, or only (aid v/ith a view of forwarding a fcheme already THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 613 already laid, I will not fay ; but certainly it was the foundation of a quarrel which, by its confe- quences, did greatly weaken the rebels, and con- tributed much afterwards to maintain the king upon the throne ; for Gufho, who, upon the de- feat of R.as Michael, was deflined by all parties to take the lead, was as lavifli in praifes of Powuffen for his behaviour that day, as he was bitter in condemning his uncle, which created a violent mifunderftanding between thefe two chiefs, info- much that Afahel Woodage, with his troops of Maitfha, left Ayabdar, and joined Powuffen. Confu, moreover, fon of Baiha Eufebius, and brother to Guebra Mehedin, who had frufirated my firft attempt to difcover thefource of the Nile, endeavouring to promote a revolt among the troops of Foggora, to w^hich he belonged, was put in irons by Ayabdar, from which he was but too foon releafed to meet, a few days afterwards, a fate that put an end to his profligacy and f )llies. Powuffen in this confiid: had retreated, if not beaten, with a confiderable lofs ; nine hundred of his beft troops were faid to have been flain that day, and a great many more wounded, moft of whom (thofe I mean that had gun-fhot wounds) died from the want of furgeons, and the igno- rance of thofe who undertook to cure them. On the part of Michael about 300 men, all of the ca- valry, were faid to have perifhed that day, in- cluding the troops of Netcho the Fit-Auraris. Of the king's divifion about twenty-three were killed, fevea 6f4 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER feven of thefe being his guards, I believe moflly by the unfortunate fire of the troops, arifing from his own impatience in attacking the Galla unad- vifedly, of whom about fixty were left upon the field, all flain in the attack, for they were not purfued, but joined their main body immediately. Ras Michael fell back upon the army, which had encamped on the hill of Serbraxos ; and it was now believed more than before, that the fate - of the empire was to be determined on that fpot. Another thing, however, appeared plain, that whatever belief Michael pretended in the prophe- cy, he would not have preferred fighting at Ser- braxos, if he could by any means have given the rebels the flip, and marched his army into Be- gemder. The king was exceedingly pleafed at the part he had taken that day ; it was the firft time he was engaged in perfon, nor did any body ven- ture to condemn it ; he fhewed, indeed, very little concern at his brother's wound, which was only a flight one in the flefhy part of his thumb, nor did the young prince trouble himfelf much about it ; on the contrary, when I went to drefs and bind it up, he faid to me, I wifh, Yagoube, the fhot had carried the thumb off altogether, it would have made me incapable of fucceeding to the throne, and they would not then fend me to the hill of Wechne. The king, upon hearing this, faid with a fmile, George forgets that Hatze Han* nes, my father and his, was called to the throne many years after his whole hand had been cut off. Every THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 6is Every one agreed that Ras Michael had that day ihewn a degree of intrepidity and military fkill fu- perior to any thing which had appeared in many former engagements in which he had commanded. No fooner had he refrefned himfelf with a meal, than he called a council of his officers, v/hich lafted great part of the evening, notwithftanding the fatigue he had undergone throughout the day. This was the firll: battle of Serbraxos, v/hich, though it contained nothing decifive, had ftill two very material confequences, as itfo daunted the fpirits of the Begemder "horfe, that many chiefs of that country withdrew their troops, and went home, whild fuch difcord was fown among the leaders, that I believe they never fmcerely trufhed one another afterwards ; Guiho and Ayabdar, in particular, were known to correfpond with the king On the morrow after the battle, three melfenp^ers arrived from Gullio, Powuffen, and Ayabdar, and each had a feparate audience of the King and Ras, before whom they all three feverally declared, that their mailers defired to continue in allegiance to him their king, Tecla Haimanout, but under this condition only, that Ras Michael fhould be fent to his government of Tigre, never more to return. They endeavoured to perfuade the kino- alfo to take the fenfe of his army, the majority of which, they alTerted, were ready to abandon him. If Michael fhould agree to return to Tigre, they offered to carry the king to Gondar, place him 6^6 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER him m his palace, and allow him to choofe his own miniflers, and governor for the future after his own ideas. This, indeed, was the univerfal wifh, and I did not fee what Ras Michael could have done, had he adopted it ; but fear, or gra- titude, or both, retrained the young king from fuch a meafure ; and the melTengers left him after a plain declaration. That they had endeavoured all in their power to fave him, and he muft now abide the confequences, for they wafhed their hands of them. The rains were now become more frequent, and an epidemical fever had fhewn itfelf in the rebel army on the plain; every confideration. therefore, feemed to promife a fpeedy decifion, but the confequences of the lafl engagement feem- ed to have damped the fpirit of the rebels, with- out having much raifed that of the king's army. In fa6:, the days v/ere dark and wet, and the nights cold, circumilances in which no Abyllinian choofes to fight. The army was thinly cloathed, or not cloathed at all, and encamped on high ground, where fuel, though it had not failed them yet, muft foon have done fo. An accident that happened this night had near- ly brought about a revolution which the wifeft heads had laboured for many years in vain. Ras Michael had retired to bed at his ordinary time, fomewhat before eleven o'clock, and a lamp was left burning as ufual in his tent, for he was afraid oi fpirits. , He was juft fallen aflee^, when he felt THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 617 felt a man's arm reach into the bed over him, which he immediately feized hold of, crying to his attendants, at the fame time, for help. Thofe that ran firfl into the tent threw down the lamp and put out the light, fo that the man would have efcaped, had not the people behind got about him, and endeavoured to hold him down, while entangled in, and ftruggling with the cords of the tent. The firfl perfon that feized him was a favourite fervant of the Ras, a young man named Laeca Mariam, of a good family iii Tigre ; he, not perceiving his danger for want of light, re- ceived a flab with a broad knife, which pierced his heart, fo that he fell without fpeaking a word« Numbers immediately fecured the alfaffin, who was found to have dropt one knife within the Ras^s tent, with v^hich he had attempted at firfl to have flabbed him : but he was found to have another knife, two-edged, and fliarp in the point, fixed along his arm, with which he had flabbed Laeca Mariam. This wretch was a native of a very barbarous nation near Shoa, S. E. of Go- jam. The name of their country is Gurague, They are Troglodytes, and all robbers : their Gonflant occupation is attending the Abyflinian camps, and flealxng horfes, mules, or whatever they can get, which tliey do in a very fingular manner. They all wear their hair very fliort, flrip them- felves flarknaked, and befmear themfelves from head to foot with butter, or fome fort of greafe, whilfl. 6i8 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER whilft, along the outfide of their arm, they tye a long, ftraight, two-edged, fharp-pointed knife, the handle reaching into the palm of their hand, and about four inches of the blade above the knob of their elbow, fo that the whole blade is fafe and inoffenfive w^hen the arm is extended, but when it is bent, about four inches projeds, and is bare beyond the elbow joint ; this being all prepared, they take a leafy faggot, fuch as the gatherers of fuel bring to the camp, which they faften to their middle by a firing or withy, fpread- ing it over to conceal or cover all their back, and then drawing in their legs, they lie down, in all appearance, as a faggot, and in the part of the camp they intend to rob, crawling ilowly in the dark when they think they are unperceived, and lying dill when there is any noife or movement near them : In cafe they find themfelves difco- vered, they flip the faggot and run ; and what- ever part of them you feize efcapes your fingers by reafon of the greafe. If you endeavour to clafp them, hoA^ever, which is the only way left, the Gurague bends his elbow and flrikes you with his knife, and you are mortally wounded, as was the cafe with Laeca Mariam. The aiTafTm was no fooner fecured and difarmed, than a noofe, with a running knot, was fllpt round his neck, and his hands tied behind his back, in which manner he was carried before Ras Michael, who fat upon a flool at fome dif- tance from his tent, after every part of it had been fearched. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 619 fearched. The fellow at firfl refufed to fpeak, but being threatened with torture, anfwered, in his own language, which I did not underfland. He was alked, who had employed him to attempt that affafTination ? He faid, The rebels; and named Gullio and Powuflen : he then varied, and faid the Iteghe employed him. Before he was fent away he contradided all this, and declared, that Hagcs, his brother, had employed him; and that he was then actually in the camp, with four others, who were determined to murder the Ras and Guebra Mafcal, whatever it Ihould coil them. • A fearch was on this ordered through all the camp, but no ftranger found, excepting one of the fame nation, who had planted himfelf and his faggot near the tent of the Abuna ; and who be- ing feized, examined, and promifed pardon, de- clared himfelf abfolutely ignorant of any fcheme but robbing, for which purpofe three of theiiii, he faid, had come into the camp together ; on^ of them had ftolen two mules the night-%efore, and gone off, and that he was that night intend- ing to take away two of the Abuna's mules ; and he fuppofed his companion had the fame inten- tion with regard to the Ras ; but as to murder, or any other plot, he knew nothing of it. Being put nightly to the torture, he peifilfed in his de- ^ ciaration ; and when interrogated, declared, that they all three had come from Gurague with Amha Yafous, to load and unload his baggage, and take 620 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER take care of his beafts : that none bf them had been at Gondar before the attempt, except the aflaiiin, who had formerly lived there fome years, but whether with Hagos, or any other, he did not know, nor did he ever hear him pronounce the name of Hagos, nor fee any ftranger, whom he did not know^ converfe with him : that they ali three had lain the iad night at the church of Serbraxos : but he further declared, that the per- fon apprehended fpoke the Amharic language as well as his own, contrary to what the villain had iall along pretended. This declaration, which I heard from the king's fecretary, word for word as it was given, threw all the council into great confufion, the more fo, that, being gently talked to, and food given him after his examination, at night the aflaffin had again repeated what he before faid about Gufiio, and that Fafil, too, was acceflbry to the attempt. And what made this labyrinth of lies ftill more intricate was, that it was certainly known that Hagos, his brother, had conftantiy lived with Coque Abou Barea, in KuaKi, from the time Ras Michael had put his brother to death at Go dar» It was intended therefore to try the effed of further toriure in the morning, to make him confefs the truth. His guard, however, hav- ing fallen afieep, or gone out of the tent, he was found ftrangled by the running noofe that was left round his neck; nor was any further light ever thrown upon this affair at any time after ; but THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 621 but it was generally believed the attempt had been made at the inftigation of fome connexion of the Iteghe, and there were fome who went fo far as to name Welleta Ifrael. Early in the morning fome priefls came from Powuflen, Ayabdar, and Gufho, to take the moft folemn oaths before the Abuna, that they never had the fmalleft knowledge of what the affaflin had laid to their charge; and they took upon themfelves fentence of excommunication, which the Abuna then pronounced conditionally, if they had diredly, or indiredly, been principal or ac- ceflbry, or known, or been confuked, in any manner whatever, as to the defigns of that affaf- fm. Several principal officers of the rebels, more- over, who had left Gondar and gone over to Fafil, and who were there in Gufho*s camp, came over to congratulate with Ras Michael upon his efcape, fo that, for a moment, one would have thought the whole country interefled in faving him whom all were actually in arms at that in- Itant to dellroy. What furprifed me moil of all, probable as the thing might feem to be, not one man in the camp, from the Ras and King down- ward, feemed to think that this attempt of the Gurague had been in any fhape the plot of the rebels ; and yet, in old times, murder by treafon mufl have been very frequent in his kingdom, as appears by their cuftoms preferved to this day ; no perfon, be their ftation, connexion, or friend- fliip 622 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER Ihip what It will, can offer any one meat or drink without tailing it before them. Propofals of peace followed this friendly inter- courfe, but the condition being always that Mi- chael ihould depart to Tigre, which he thought was but in other terms a propofal to deftroy him, thefe friendly overtures ended in defiance and proteftation, That to him alone was owing the effafion of human blood, and the ruin of his country, which was immediately to follow. It was the 17th of May, at night, the attempt had been made on the Ras's Hfe ; and the i8th was fpent in excommunication before the Abuna ; and, in the evening, Michael received intelli- gence, that Ayto Tesfos, from the mountains of Samen, and Heraclius and Samuel Mammo, from Walkayt and Tzegade, were both preparing to join the rebels with a confiderable force. We were now arrived at the fatal field of Serbraxos, as we had endeavoured to pafs it, but in vain ; nothing now remained but to try to which fide the devil (the father of lies) had been forced to tell the truth, or whether he had yet told it to either. Darion, a principal man of Beleifan, and Guigarr of Lafta, joined the Ras's army about noon, bringing with them 1200 men, chief- ly horfemen, good troops, and they were joyful- ly received. A council was held with all the great officers that evening, and the order of battle fixed upon for next day. Kefla Yafous, with the befl of the foot THE SOURCE OF" THE NILE. 623 foot from Tigre, with the king's houfehold rroops, the Shoa horfe, and the Moors of Ras el Feel, with their libds, (in all not amounting to 10,000 men, but the flower of the army) compofed the left wing, in the center of which was the king in perfon, the heavy-armed black horfe before him, and the officers and nobility furrounding him: Guebra Chriftos, and Kafmati Tesfos of Sire, commanded the center, in which was Darion and Guigarr*s cavalry, for the Lafla men, though of different fide?, could never be prevailed upon to fight againft one another, fo inftead of being with the king againfl Begemder and Lafta, they were placed in the center againft Gulho and Amhara. The right of the king's army was commanded by Welleta Michael and Billetana Gueta Tecla, op- pofed to the left wing of the rebels, under Kaf- mati Ayabdar, who had lately received large re- inforcements from Gojam, by means of the Iteghe, who well knew him to be an inveterate enemy to Ras Michael, and one who would never make peace with him. I have often heard it obferved by officers of ikill and experience, that nothing is more difficult to defcribe than a battle, and that as many defcrip- tions as are given of it, they generally difagree, and feem as many different battles. To this I fhall add, that I find as great difficulty in giving an idea of the ground on which a battle was fought, which perhaps is not the cafe with pro- feffional men ; and though I defcribe nothing but what 624 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER what I faw, and what my horfe pafled over, ftill I very much doubt if I can make myfelf intelligi- ble to my readers. The hill of Serbraxos^ was neither very high nor deep, unlefs on the north and eaft, where it was almofl a precipice. It was not a mountain joined with others, as the bed of a torrent, that ran very rapidly from Beleffen fouth of Mariam-Ohha, divided it from thefe mountains. The weft fide of it floped gently to a large plain, which extended to the brink of the lake Tzana, and upon this our rear was en- camped. The S. W. fide of this hill was like the former, and about half a mile from it came an elbow of the river Mariam, fo called from a church in the plain : on this fide of the hill our center was encamped Y.dth the king, Abuna, and the princefles ; whilft on the fouth face (which looked down a valley) was Ras Michael and the van of the army : the hill here was confiderably lleeper, and I have already faid ended with the precipice on the north. Along the bottom of this fouth face of the hill lay the fmall ftream called Deg-Ohha, which ftood in pools, and was the fafeft and readieft fupply for the army, as be- ing perfectly under command of our mufquets, where our horfes could water without danger : immediately fouth from this ran a valley full half a mile broad, which ended in a large plain about two miles off. The valley where Michael and the van firft en- gaged, was formed by the hills of Beleifen on the I ^^^y THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 625 eaft, and the river Mariam on the weft, and near the middle of the valley there was a low and fiat- topt hill, not above 30 yards in height, which did not join with the hill of Serbraxos. Between them there was an opening ef about 100 yards, through which ran Deg-Ohha, to the ford of the river Mariam, from which you afcended in a di- rection nearly N. W. up into the plain which reached to the lake Tzana. On the fouth end of this hill, as I have faid, which might have been about two miles in length, the banks of the Mariam are very high, and the river ftands in large deep pools, with banks of fand between them. Where this hill ends to the right is ano- ther ford of the river Mariam, where a deep and narrow fandy road goes winding up the banks, in a direction N. W. like the former, and leads to the fame plain bordering on the lake Tzana : fo that the plain of the valley where the Mariam runs, which is bordered by the foot of the moun- tains of Beleflen, and continues along the plain fouth to Tangoure, is near 200 feet lower than the plain that extends on the fide of the lake Tzana. Nor is there a convenient accefs from the plain to the valley, at leaft that I faw, by rea- fon of the height and fleepnefs of the banks of the Mariam, excepting thofe two already menti- oned ; one between the extremity- of the long even hill, and Dope of the mountain on the north, and the other on the fouth, through the winding fandy road upon the fteep banks of the river, by Vol. IV. S f the 626 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER the fouth end of that low hill? as I have already faid. At thefe two places are the two fords of the river, which continue paflable even in the rainy feafon,. ?-nd the water at that time flands in pools b \v it, "il- ^everal miles further it joins the Zingetch Ijomai: a larger ftream than itfelf, whofe banks are low, and where the flream is fordabie alfo ; but the banks of the river Mariam coniinue iteep, and run in a fouthern diredion. In this vaiiey, at the fouth end of this hill near the ford was the engagement between Michael with the van, and the Begemder troops, on the 1 6th; at the ford on the north end of this hrll, in the fame valley, was the fight between the light troops and Kafmati Ayabdar, and the king in per- fon, the very fame day ; fo that the valley was perfectly known by the enemy, and as they had few or no mufquetry, was wifely confidered as not fit ground for their purpofes, being narrow and commanded by hills every where. On the Tpth of May, word was brought that the whole rebel army was in motion, and before eight o'clock (reckoned in AbyiTmia an early hour forTuch bufmefs) a great cloud of Jufh was feen rifmg on the right of the rebels towards Kor- reva, and this was the moment the Begemder troops got on horfeback in the dufty plain ; foon after we heard their kettle-drums, and about nine o'clock we faw the whole troops of Begemder ap- pear, drawn up at fuch a diftance in the plain, above the road up the fleep bank of the Mariam, as THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 627 as to leave great room for us to form with the- road on our left, and a little on our rear ; Michael eafily divined PowulTen's intention, which was to beat us back by a fuperior force of horfe, and then making a number of troops glide below un- feen, along the river in the valley, take poifef- lion of the round hill, at the north ford of Ma- riam, and cut off our retreat to our camp at Ser- braxos ; the Ras immediately difpatched fome fingle horfemen to take a view of the enemy more nearly, and report what their numbers were, and where Gufho and Ayabdar were polled, for we could diltinguiih the colour of the horfes, and ail the movements of the Begemder troops, not being much above three miles diflance, yet we did not know whether they were alone, or whe- ther one or more of the other generals were with them : we faw indeed Powuflen's ftandards, but they were fo weather-beaten and faded, that we could not diftinguifti their real colours, which were blue and yellow, The king's whole army was defcending into the valley, and palling over the ford of the Ma- riam, to the plain above where Kefla Yafous v^^s riding to and fro with great earneflnefs, encourag- ing his troops. In a very fhort time the left was formed ; the Ras, having given all his orders, and taken to himfelf the charge of the camp and the reibrve, fat down, as was ufual, to play at drafts with" the black fervants. The army was now all in the plain, when the fcouts arrived, and brought S f 2 word 628 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER word that Giifho and Ayabdar had both taken their grouiid, not diredly in a (Iraight line from PowuiTen, fquare with the lake, but as it were diagonally declining more to the fouthward, fo that the mod advanced, or near eft to us, were the troops of Begemder ; and this was probably done, in order that, our backs being more turned to the lake, we might be eafier cut off from our camp, and furrounded in the plain, between their army and the Tzana, if Powuffen was fo fortu- nate as to beat the king and the left ; but this difpofition of thefe troops was out of our fight, being down nearer the lake. Nor is it to be un- derftood that I mean here to give any account of their movements, or of any other, unlefs thofe of the left wing under the king, where I was myfelf engaged. Several fpies came in to Ras Michael^at this time, and they, and the horfemen that had been fent on the fervice, all agreed, that in the center of the Begemder horfe a large red ftandard was dif- played, with a number of kettle drums beating before it, which the Has no fooner heard, than giving his draft-board a kick with his foot, he overturned the whole game, and afforded, at leaft, a bad omen of the future engagement. He then called for Eefla Yafous, and Guebra Mafcal, and having conferred with them both, he detach- ed Guebra Mafcal with five hundred mufqueteers to take pofTefTion of the hill in the valley below, and THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 629 and coafh along the left flank of our left without appearing in fight. The day had been exceeding clofe, feeming to threaten violent thunder, and we were now come fo near as to fee diredly the large red flandard, which being pointed out to the king, he faid, fmiling with a very chearful countenance, " Aye, aye, now we fhali foon fee what miracle king Theodorus will work;" The clouds had been ga^ thering ever fmce we went dow^n the hill, and fome big drops of rain had fallen. The foldiers were now covering their lighted matches, for fear of more, when iiril a moil violent ftorm of thun- der, lightening, and rain began, then a tempeft of rain and wind, and lail a dead calm, with fuch a heavy fhower that I fcarce ever faw the like even in the rainy feafon. Had I been commander of the Begemder troops that day, this fhower fhould have been the fignal of charging; for all the king's fire-arms w^ere ufelefs, and the matches wet ; but the Begemder horfe feemed moil uneafy under the fall of rain ; they began to be unmanageable, and turn tail to the wind, which now rofc and was directly in their faces, and in a few minutes they wheeled about, and retired to their camp. The king halted on the ground where he was, ordered the kettle-drums to beat, and the trumpets to found ; and having continued half an hour till the heavy fhower began, he fell back, as did the whole army, arid retired to the camp. When he ^^t up the hill. 63© TRAVELS TO DISCOVER hillj and paflfed the brow where Ras Michael was fitting with fome flaves, who held up a piece of fail-cloth over his head to keep ofF the rain, the fervants raifed the Ras upon his feet ; without any previous falutation, he then alked the king what he had done with king Theodorus ? and was anfwered, " Begemder brought him, and Be* gemder took him away, we faw nothing but his Hag." Lafta carried his flag, fays one of the no- bility. He is a peaceable prince, fays the king ; yet he begins with fighting, but he will make amends afterwards, if he governs this country in peace a thoufand. years. If he does that, fays the Ras, Powuffen is to die at the next battle, for the thoufand years peace will never begin, as long as he is alive. C H A F. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 631 CHAP. XXVI. King offers Battle to the R.ebtls in the Plain — De* fcription of the Second Rattle of Serbraxos — Rajh Condzidy aiidnarroiu Efcape of the King — Both Annies keep their Ground. X HE whole evening of the 19th of May was fpent in feftivity and joy ; a prophet from fome part in Dembea had foretold the defeat of king Theodorus, and what was much more interefting, two large droves of cattle, the one from Beleffen, near Mariam-Ohha, the other from Dembea, were driven that day into the camp. Ras Mi- chael, who knew the value of to-morrow, fpared nothing that might refrefh the troops this day. The king and he, Ozoro Efther, and Ozoro Al- tafh, Kefla Yafous, and the Abuna himfelf, gave each of them entertainments to the princii-al of- ficers of the army, and all tliofe who were HkcIv to bear the burden of the enfuing conflict. The foldiers were in great fpirit, but it was now very generally known that the officers were moftly dif- • ' affecledj Ssz TRAVELS TO DISCOVER alFe^led, engaged in private treaties, and in daily expectations of peace. A very fhort council was held at the king's tent ; all that could be refolved upon had been already fixed the day before, and little had hap- pened fince to occafion any alteration. All the young nobility were, as ufual, at Ozoro Efther's. It was with infinite pity I heard them thought^ lefsly praying for a warm and fair day to-mor- row, the evening of which many of them were never to fee. Befides the (lores that Ozoro Either always was provided with, the king had fent her two live cat- tle, wine, brandy, and hydromel ; and what was a very unufual condefcenfion, the Ras, immedi- ately after council, came into the tent, and brought with him a frefli fupply. He was very gracious and affable, faid a number of kind things to every body, and a&ed me particularly how we drank in England ? I explained to him as ^yell as I could the nature of our toafts, and drinking to the health of our midreffes by their names in bumpers ; that our foldiers toads on fuch a night as that, if the ge- neral honoured them as he did us now with his company, would be, A fair morning, and fpeedy fight of our enemy. He comprehended it all very eafily, and when I faw he did fo, I alked if I . fhould give my toad ? and he and all the company joinin^i; in a l ud cry of approbation, 1 filled a • ' rcanding up, for he had forced THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 633 forced us all to be feated, I drink. Long life to the king, health, happinefs, and viftory, to you. Sir, and a fpeedy fight of king Theodorus. A violent fhout of applaufe followed. He himfelf (the fobereft of men) would drink his horn full, which he did, with many interruptions from im=- moderate fits of laughter ; tlse horn went quickly round, and I ventured to prophefy, that, in the thoufand years he is to reign, Theodorus will ne- ver again be fo chearfully toafled. The Ras then turning to me faid, I v/ifh I had 5000 of your countrymen, Yagoube, to-morrow, fuch as you are, or fuch as you have defcribed them. , I anfwered. Would you had one thoufand, and I had twenty lives flaked upon the iflue. Ay to Engedan upon this got up, and pafling acrofs the tent in a very graceful manner, kilfed the Ras's hand, faying. Do not make us think you under- value, or diflruft your children, by forming fuch a wifh : Yagoube is one of us, he is our brother, and he ihall fee and judge to-morrow^, if we, your own fons, are not able to fight your battle with- out the aid of any foreigners. Tears, on this, came into the old man's eyes, who took Engedan in his arms, and kiffed him ; then recommending to us not to fit up late, he withdrew. A great deal of buffoonery followed about toafls, and foon after arrived two officers from the king, defiring to know what was the reafon of that violent out- cry ? by which he meant the (hout when we drank the toafl. Ozoro Eflher anfwered, We were all turned 634 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER turned traitors, and were drinking the health of king Theodorus. But it was afterwards thought proper to explain the whole matter before the mcffenger went back, and make them drink the toad alfo. Tecla Mariam had not fpoken much, her father having fent for her at that lime to the king. Be- fore (he departed, I begged Ozoro Efther to apo- logife for me, that I had abfented myfelf, and had not waited upon her in the morning. I in- treated her to continue he-r kind partiality to me the next day, and to judge for ever of the efteem I had for her by my then behaviour. She pro- mifed to do fo with the utmofl complacency and fweetnefs, and departed. Soon after this, a fervant arrived from Ras Mi- chael, with a magnificent faddle and bridle as a prefent no Engedan. This man told us that a melfenger had come from Waragna Fafil, defir- ing a place might be marked out for him to en= camp, for he was to join the king early in the morning; but nobody gave any credit to this, nor did he, as far as I ever heard, advance a foot nearer the camp. The meffenger commanded us all, moreover, to go to bed, which we imme- diately complied with. I only went to the king's tent, where the company was difperfmg, atid kiffed his hand, after which I retired. In my way home to my tent, I faw a "faggot lying in the way, when the (lory of the Gurague came prefently into my mind. I ordered fome foldiers THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 635 fo feparate it with their lances j but it had beea brought for fuel, at lead no Gurague was there. I was no fooner laid upon my bed, than I fell into a profound Deep, which continued uninter- rupted till five o'clock in the morning of the 20th. I had fpared myfelf induftriouily in laft night's caroufal, for fear of contributing to a relapfe into defpondency in the morning ; but I found all within ferene and compofed as it fhould be, and entirely refigned to what was decreed, I was per- fectly fatisfied, that the advancing or retarding the day of my death was not in the power of the army of Begemder. I then vifited all the horfes and the black foldiers, and ordered two or three of them^ who were not perfectly recovered from their hurts, to fcay in the camp. I afterwards went to the king's tent, who was not yet up ; and the very infuant after, the Ras's firfl drum beat, and the king rofe ; foon after which, the fecond drum was heard for the foldiers to go to breakfaft. I went into the king's tent to kifs his hand, and receive his orders. He told me they were fpee- dily then going to breakfaft within, to which meal I was engaged at Ozoro Efther's. He an- fwered, Make hafte then, for I am refolved to be on the field before king Theodorus to-day. I am his fenior, and fhould fnev/ him the example. He feemed more than ordinary gay and in fpirits. I finifhed my breakfaft in a few minutes, and took a grateful, but chearful leave of Ozoro Efther, 636 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER Efther, and received many acknowledgments, and kind expreffions, both from her and Tecla Ma- riam, who did not fail to be there according to ap- pointment. T4ie day was clear, the fun warm, and the army defcended into the plain with great alacrity, in tlie fame order as the day before. Guebra Mafcal, with his mufqueteers, took pof- feflion of the long hill in the valley, and coafted the left flank of our left wing, the river Mariam and its high banks being only between us. The king took his poft, with the winding road afore- mentioned (up the fteep banks of the Mariam) clofe on his left. Guebra Mafcal having come to the fouth end of the hill below, marched brifkly up the road, and then advanced about 200 yards, making his men lye down at the brink of the hill next the plain, among bent grafs, and thin tall Ihrubs like Spaniih broom, fo as to be perfedly out of light J his line was at right angles with our front, fo that his fire mud enfilade the whole front of our line. If not very ufeful, yet it may, however, be thought curious, to know the difpofition of a bar- barous army ready to engage in a pitched battle as this was. Kefla Yafous, who commanded the left-wing under the king, placed his cavalry in a line to the opening of the road down into the valley ; between every two mufquets were men armed with lances and fhield ; then, at a particu- lar diilance, clofe before this line of horfe, was^ a body of lances, and mufquets, orfometimes either of body of lances, and mufquets, orfometimes either of THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 637 of them, in feveral lines, or, as they appeared, a round body of foldiers, (landing together without any order at all ; then another line of horfe, with men between, alternately as before ; then another round corps of lances and mufquets, advanced jufl: before the line of horfe, and fo on to the end of the divilion. I know nothing of the difpofition of the reft of the army, nor the ground they were engaged on ; that where we ftood was as perfect a plain as that commonly chofen to run races upon, and fo I believe was the reft, only Hoping more to the lake Tzana. The king's infantry was drawn up in one line^ having a mufqueteer between every two men, with lances and fhields. Immediately in the cen« ter was the black horfe, and the Moors of Ras el Feel, with their libds, difpofed on each of their flanks. Immediately behind thefe was the king iu perfon, with a large body of young nobility and great officers of ftate, about him. On the right and left flank of the line, a little in the rear, were all the reft of the king's horfe, divided into two large bodies, Guebra Mafcal hid in the bank on our left at right angles with the line, enfilading, as I have already faid, the whole line of our in- fantry ; this will be eafily underftood by confuk- ing the plan where H H, G G, F, and I, repre- fent the difpofition that I have now defcribed. it was full half an hour after the king had formed before the army of Begemder made any ^lotioac 638 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER motion. The Ras firft faw them from the hill, and made a fignal, by beating his drums and blowing his trumpets ; this was immediately an- fwered by all the drums and trumpets of the left wing, and for the fpace of a minute, a thick cloud of dud (like the fmoke of a large city on fire) appeared on the fide of Korreva, occafioned, as the day before, by the Begemder troops mount- ing on horfeback; the ground where they en- camped being trodden into powder, by fuch a number of men and horfe palling over it fo often, and now raifed by the motion of the horles feet, was whirled round by a very moderate breeze, that blew fleadily ; it every minute increafed in darknefs, and aflumed various Ihapes and forms, of towers, caflles, and battlements, as fancy fug- gelled. In the middle of this great cloud we began to perceive indiftinclly part of the horfe- men, then a much greater number, and the figure of the horfes more accurately defined, which came moving majeftically upon us, fometimes partially leen, at other times concealed by being wrapt up in clouds and darknefs j the whole made a mod extraordinary, but truly pidurefque ap- pearance. I was fo (truck with this, that I could not help faying to Billetana Gueta Ammonios, who com- manded the horfe under me. Is not that a glorious light, Ammonios ! who that was a king, would not be fond of war ? David, however, curfes thofe tliat delight in war, fays Ammonios. There- fore, THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 639 fore, replied I, there muft be pleafure in it, or elfe no body would fall into a fm that was dif- agreeable in itfelf, and at the fame time forbidden by God. Well, well, replied Ammonios, this is not a time for argument, fee what a glorious fpec- tacle we Ihall all be before funfet. At this time PowulTen's whole army was dif- tindlly feen ; they came riding backwards and forwards with great violence, more as if they were diverting themfelves, than advancing to attack an enemy, of our confequence, that was waiting them. They feemed like two wings, and a main body, each nearly equal in numbers, as far as I could guefs, and are defcribed in the plan by the letters L L, but they were fometimes all in one croud together, and in fuch perpetual mo- tion, that it was impoffible to afcertain their pre- cife form. Four men, upon unruly, high-mettled, or at lead ill-broke horfes, rode galloping a fmall fpace before, converfmg together, as if making their obfervations upon us : they were now arrived at about iix hundred yards diftance, but it was not a time to make accurate calculation ; they then made s ilop, and began extending the left of their line to the wellward, as defcribed by M M. I fuppoie, too, their horfes needed to breathe a little, after they had fo imprudently blown them 10 no purpofe. In the middle of their cavalry, or rather a little moje towards their rightj than .oppofite to the place 640 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER place where the king was, a large red flag was feen to rife, and was faluted by the drums and trumpets of their whole army. An accident hap- pened at this moment, which endangered the dif- covery of the hidden part of our difpofition, and which would thereby have deflroyed the fanguine hopes we had of vidory, and endangered the fafety of the whole army. Upon difplaying the red flag, two mufquets were fired from the poft in the face of the hill where Guebra Mafcal lay in ambufhe Luckily, at that very inftant, all the king's drums beat, and trumpets founded, a kind of mock alarm, (fuch as the pofture-mafters and mountebanks ufe,) in ridicule of king Theodoras, and his red flag then flying before us. Immediately upon this, as on a fignal for battle, the whole army of Begemder fet out full gallop, to charge, as at N N, and a long hundred yards before they joined, they received, through the very depth of their fquadron, a clofe well-diredled fire from the whole mufquetry of Guebra Mafcal, and from the king's line an inftant after, which put them into the utmoft confufion, fo that they in part came reeling down upon our line, half wheeled about to the left, as men that had loft cheir way, with their right, that is, their naked fides expofcd as they turned, their fhields being m their left. The fire from Guebra Mafcal was :he fignal for our line to charge, and the heavy- s^nned horfemen, with their pikes, broke through them vnih little refiftance, the line in the mean while^ THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 641 while, with horfe and foot, clofed with, them, ' after the mufquets had given them their fire, and then ftaid behind to recharge. Part of their left did not engage at all, but wheeled about, and fled fouthward over the plain. While their army was thus feparated into two divifions, both in great confufion, the king, with his referve, fell furioufly upon them ; and being followed by all the refl of the horfe, they pufiied the right divifion (where PovrufTen was in perfon) along the plain, but thefe retired, fighting very obftinately, and often rallying. Kefla Yafous faw the great danger to which the king would quickly be expofed by purfuing the troops of Be- gemder fo far at a dillance from his foot, and that they would foon turn upon and overpower him with numbers, and then furround him. He therefore, with great prefence of mind, provided for his retreat. He drew up the heavy-armed horfe which could not gallop, the Moors of Ras el Feel, and the foot which were left behind, and which had now recharged their firelocks before the narrow road, and ordered Guebra Mafcal to refume his ftation. He then twice, with great carneftnefs, cried in a loud voice to the foldier.'^. The king's fafety depends upon you,-— Stand iirm, or all is loil. After which, he. galloped, with a fmall body of horfe, to join the king, clofely en- gaged at a confiderable diftance : The foot that had purfued, or were fcattered, now came in by tens and twelves, and joined the heavy-armed Vol. IV. T t horfe, 642 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER horfc, fo that we began again to (hew a very good countenance. Among thefe, a common foldier of the king's houfehold, bufied in the vile practice of mangling and fpoiling the dead, found the red colours of king Theodoras lying upon the field, which he delivered me, upon promifc of a re- ward, and which I gave a fervant of my own to keep till after the engagement. At this inftant Guebra Mafcal came up from below the bank, leaping and llourifhing his gun about his head, and crying, juft before my horfe, *' Now, Yagoube, fland firm, if you are a man." *' Look at me, you drunken flavc, faid I, armed, or unarmed, and fay, it is not a boafl if I count, myfelf at all times a better man than you. Away to your hiding-hole again, and for your life ap- pear within my reach. Away i you arc not now, as the other day, before the king.*' The man cried out in a tranfport of impatience, " By G — d, you don't know what I mean; but here they all come, fland firm, if you are men ;" and faying this, he ran nimbly off, and hid himfclf below the bank, with his lighted match in one hand, and all ready. It is proper, for eonnedion's fake, though I did not myfelf fee it, to relate what had happened to the king, who h?.d purfued the Begemder horfe to a very confiderable diftance, and was then at S S in the plan, when the whole army of the rebels that had not engaged, obferving the refiflance made by Powulien, and part of the divifion which they THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 643 they had left, turned fuddenly back from their flight, and at R R nearly furrounded the king and his cavalry, whom they had now driven to the fteepefl part of the bank of the Mariam. Kefla Yafous's arrival, indeed, and his exerting himfelf to the utmoft, fighting with his own hand like any common foldier, had brought fome reUef ; yet as frefh horfe came in, there can be little doubt at the end, that the king mufl have been either flain or taken prifoner, if Sertza Dcnghel, a young man of Amhara, a relation of Gufho, and who had a fmall pofl in the palace, had not difmounted, and offered to lead the king's horfe down the fleepeft of the banks into the river. To this, however, he received an abfolute refufal. ^' Lfhall die here this day, fays the king, but while I have a man left, will never turn my back upon the rebels." Sertza Denghel hearing this vain difcourfe, and feeing no time was to be loil, took hold of the bridle by force, atT, and happily led the horfe along one of the fheep-paths, flanting down the declivity of the bank. The king having in vain threatened difpleafure, and even death, with the butt-end of his lance, in defpair, ftruck Sertza Denghel in the mouth, and beat out all his fore^ teeth. A bank of gravel, like a bridge, feparated two deep pools, in the river Mariam, over which the king efcaped, though with difficulty, the ground being foul with quick fand. All the foot that remained about the kino- ran down the bank, where the Begemder horfe could T t 2 not 644 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER not purfue them, and joined him in the valley^ where he made the beft of his way towards the fouth fide of the long low hill, by the winding road, on the fide of which, and jull above him, w^as placed Guebra Mafcal. Ras Michael, who faw the dangerous Situation and efcape of the king, and who had kept Ayto Engedan near for fome fuch purpofes, difpatched him with a confiderable body of horfe, along the low hill, ordering him immediately to join the king, and coverxhis retreat; he likev/ife detached a confiderable body of muf- queteeis, and mounted for the greater fpeed upon mules, who were directed to take pofl upon the fouth end of the round hill, below the winding road, while another party pofieiTed themfelves of fome rocky ground on the fouth fide of the valley. This command was as foon executed as given. Ayto Engedan joined the king, who had loft all his "kettle-drums but one, now beating before him, and upon his arrival at the entrance of the valley, the king, at V, turned his face to the enemy, having the mufquetry, at X and Y, newly ar- rived from the camp on his right and left. Kefla Yafous was immediately acquainted with the king's efcape, and, knowing the confcquenc^ of protra£ling time, renewed the engagement with fo much vigour, that he piifhed the horfe of Bc- gemder to fome fmall diltance back into the plain. PowulTen, v/hofe only view was to take the king prifoner, and wreft the poffeffion of his perfon, and with that his authority from Ras Michael, was much difconcerted at the unexpeded way by which the THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 645 the king efcaped ; he after this halted a little for council, then divided his troops, with one part of which he refolvcd to go down the winding road, and with the other to pafs at the jundion of the rivers, and enter the valley in that diredion, in order to overtake the king, and intercept him in his way to the camp, in cafe any thing obftrucled his pafling the winding road. Kefla Yafous took advantage of this movement, and with his horfe made his way to join the heavy-armed troops, and thofe who had joined the line, Handing clofely and firmly where they were (tationed. The firfl perfon that appeared was Kefla Yafous^ and the horfe with him, ftretching out his handj (his face being all befmeared with blood, for he was wounded in the forehead) he cried as louf as he could. Stand firm, the king is fafe in the valley. He had fcarce . faced about, and joined the line, when the enemy approached at a briik gallop. The Begemder horfe were ciofer than ufual, and deeper than the front was broad ; they refembled therefore an cblong fquare, if they re- fembled any thing ; but the truth is, they were all in diforder, and their figure, never regular, changed every moment ; the right of their front (which was not equal to ours) was finally placed againfl the road, being ciofe by Guebra Mafcal's pofl, whofe men were much increafed in number ; they received the difcharge of his whole mufque- try in two vollies, fo near that I fcarce believe that there was one iliot that did not take place on man 646 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER man or horfe. A great cry from the bank at the fame time added to their panic, which was an- fwered by the king's troops, who immediately charged them as before, as they wheeled half round to the left. They were purfued, for a fmall diftance, by fome of the troops that had not engaged in the m.orning, arid it was eafy to per- ceive their diforder was real, and that they were not likely to rally. By this laft difcharge, Powuf- fen was ilightly w^ounded, and his men were plainly feen hurrying him off the field. In the very inftant the rebels turned their backs, Kefla Yafous ordered all the troops, horfe and foot, to file oif down the narrow road into the valley, be- hind the heavy-armed horfe, who kept their ground before the road, and there to join the king. For my part, 1 thought the affair was over, when, laft of all, we, too, with our heavy horfes, defcended the road, where we found Guebra Mafcal, (whofe adivity was above all praife) drawn up on our right along the foot of the bank, (with a large pool of water in his front) flanking the valley, the king drawn up in the narrowed part of it, and juft engaged with the troops of Lafta and Begemder, that had gone round by the jundion of the rivers. Thefe had loft, as we af- terwards heard, much time in giving their horfes water. They were, however, the more refrefhed when they did come, and though they had received a fire from the troops on the round hill, and from thofe pofted on the rocky ground, on the other fide THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 647 fide of the valley, they had beat the king and Engedan back, and wounded him in the thigh. At thk time the Koccob horfe, and Yafme with his Moors (who had the charge of the road above till ail the troops were gone) arrived, being as it were fhut out from the army, who were engaged at the other fice of the hill. Kefla Yafous, after descending through the winding road in the val- ley, ordered Guebra Mafcal to pafs the pool, and ftand at the bottom of the winding road, for fear the enemy fliould enter at the valley on the king's right, where the river ran, and fo cujt us off from our camp. This fpace he was then occupying when Yafme^ firft, and afterwards, our black horfe, arrived. He had, it feems, cried out to me before from the fide of the pool, but I had not then heard him. He now, however, repeated. Where are you go- »ing, Yagoube ? To die, faid I, furlily ; it is the bufmefs of the day. He then added, Kefla Ya« fous has croffed over behind Bafha Hezekias, and fallen into the king's rear. You know well, faid I, our poll is in his front. Then follow me, cried Mafcal, for by G— d I fay you ihall not take one ftep to-day, but I will go five before you. So faying, he advanced very haftily, and when he faw the Begemder colours retreating before the king, he poured in a volley, which, though at a confiderable diftance, turned all to a perfed flight. We entered upon the fmokc, jufl before the Shoa horfe, with no lofsj and very little refill- ance. ^4^ TRAVELS TO DISCOVER ance, and came jufl: into the place which w« oc- cupied in the morning. Though the flight of the rebels was apparently real, Kefla Yafous would not fuller a purfuit into the plain, but advancing fmgly before us, began to form immediately ; the mufquetry were planted on each fide of the valley as far up the hill as to be out of reach of the horfe, and the reft of the infantry in the plain ; Bafha Hezekias was on the round hill juft behind the center, where the king had placed himfelf, and Guebra Mafcal nearly where he ftood before. The army now made an appearance of a large fedion of an amphitheatre. I obferved the king had pulled off the diadem, or white fillet he wears for diftinciion, and was very intent upon renew- ing the engagement : the Begemder troops were forming, with great alertnefs, about half a mile below, being reinforced from time to time. The king ordered his drums to beat, and his trumpets to found, to inform the enemy he was ready ; but they did not aniwer, or advance : foon after (it being near th:ee o'clock) the weather became overcaft, and cold, on which the troops of Begem- der beat a retreat ; the king, very foon after, did the fame, and returned to the camp without fur- ther moieftation ; only that coming near a rock which projeded into the valley, (not far diftant from the camp) a multitude of peafants belonging to Mariam-Ohha, three down a ftiower of ftones from their hands and flings which hurt feverah 1 he king ordered them to be fired at, though thev THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 649 they were at a great diftance ofF, and palled on : but Guebra Mafcal commanding about fifty men to run brifkly up the hill, on each Ude of the rock, gave them two difeharges at a lefs diftance, which killed or wounded many, and made the reft difappear in a moment. I doubt that my reader will be more than fuf- ficiently tired with the detail of this fecond battle of Serbraxos; but, as it was a very remark- able incident in my life^ I could not omit it as far as I faw it myfelf, and fuppreffing any one part of it would have involved the reft in a confufion, with which I fear it may be ftill too juftly charged. I therefore fhall only fay for connexion's fake, that Gufho and Guebra Chriftos, in the center, were but partially engaged, and Kafmati Tesfos of Sire, fecond commander for the king, in that divifion, wounded, and taken prifoner. Guebra Chriftos, the king's uncle, was ilain, (as it was believed) by a (hot of his own men ; few other lives of note were loft on either fide, in that divifion. The king's troops fell back under the hill of Serbraxos, where Michael was, and, though followed by Guftio, were no further attacked by him. But on the right, Billetaaa Gueca Tecla, and Welleta Michael, after a very obftinate and bloody en- gagement, were beaten by Kafmati Ayabdar, and forced acrofs the river Mogetch, where, havinp" rallied and pofted themfelves ftrongly, it was not thought proper to attempt to force them, and they all 65© TRAVELS TO DISCOVER all joined the camp f@on after the king, but with very great lofs. This battle, though it was rather a viclory than a defeat, had, however, upon the king's affairs, all the bad confequences of the latter, nor was there any thinking man who had confidence in them from that day for ward. Near 3000 men perifh- ed on the king's fide, a great proportion of whom was of the left wing, which he commanded; near 180 young men, of the greatcft hopes and noblefl families in the kingdom, were among that num- ber ; Guebra Chriftos was in all refpefts a truly national lofs. Kefia Yafous was twice wounded, but not dangerouHy, befides a multitude of others of the firfl rank, among whom was Ayto Enge- dan, who by proper care foon recovered alfo, but in the mean time was fent to Gondar, to his cou- fin Ayto Confu. On our fide, too, a fon of Lika Netcho, and a fon of Nebrit Tecla, were both (lain. — Providence feemed now to have begun to require fatisfadion for the blood of the late king joas, in the ihedding of which thefe two were particularly concerned. Among the Hain were our friends the Baharnagafli and his fon, who died valiantly fighting before the king at the time he efcaped down the bank into the valley. But what ferved as comfort to the king, was the flill heavier lofs fuflained by the enemy, who, by their own accounts that day, loil above 9000 men, feven thoufand of whom were from the troops of Begcmder and Lafla, with which the king THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 651 king was engaged. For my own part, I cannot believe, but that both thefe accounts are much ' exaggerated ; the great proportion that died of thofe that were wounded mud have greatly fwelled the lofs of the rebels, becaufe mofl gun-fhot wounds, efpecially if bones are broken, mortify, and prove mortal. Among the flain, on the part of Begemder, were two chiefs of Lafta, and two relations of Powuflen, (a brother-in-law and his fon) they were both fhot, bearing the banner of king Theodorus. The unworthy Confu, brother to Guebra Mehedin, and nephew to Iteghe, whom I have often mentioned, had efcaped, indeed, from Kafmati Ayabdar, who had given orders to con- line him, to die a rebel this day among the troops of Begemder. The king being wafhed and dreifed, and having dined, received a compliment from Ras A^ichael, who fent him a prefent of fruit, and a thoufand ounces of gold. There began the fiithiell of all ceremonies that ever difgraced any nation ftiling themfelves Chriftians ; a ceremony that can- not be put in terms fufficiently decent for modcfl ears, without adapting the ehafte language of fcripture, which, when neccffity obliges to treat of grofs fubjeOs, always makes choice of the lead offenfive language. Ail thofe, whether women or jmen, who have fiefs of the crown, are obliged t6 furnifn certain numbers of horfe and foot. The women were feldom obliged to peribnal attendance, till Ras iVIichael 652 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER Michael made it a rule, in order to compofe a court or company for Ozoro Eflher. At the end of a day of battle each chief is obliged to fit at the door of his tent, and each of his followers, who has llain a man, prcfents himfelf in his turn, armed as in fight, with the bloody forefkin of the man whom he has ilain hanging upon the wrifl of his right hand. In this, too, he holds his lance, brandiihing it over his mailer, or miftrefs, as if he intended to ftrike ; and repeating in a feeming rage, a rant of nonfenfe, which admits of no va- riation, " I am John the fon of George, the fon of William, the fon of Thomas ; I am the rider upon the brown horfe ; I faved your father^s life at fuch a battle ; where would you have been if I had not fought for you to-day ? you give me no encouragement, no cloaths, nor money ; you do not defcrve fuch a fervant as I ;" and with that he throws his bloody fpoils upon the ground be- fore his fuperior. Another comes afterwards, in his turn, and does the fame ; and, if he has killed more than one man, fo many more times he re- turns, always repeating the fame nonfenfe, with the fame gellures. I believe there was a heap of above 400 that day, before Ozoro Either ; and it was monflrous to fee the young and beautiful Tecla Mariam fitting upon a ftool prefiding at fo fdthy a ceremony ; nor was fhe without furprife, fuch is tbe force of cuftom, that no compliment of that kind was paid on my part 5 and ftill more fo. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 653 fo, that I could not be even prefent at fo horrid and bloody an exhibition. The fuperiors appear at this time with their heads covered as before their vaflals ; their mouth, too, is hid, and nothing is feen but their eyes : this doe» not proceed from modcfty, but is a to- ken of fuperiority, of which, covering or unco- vering the head is a very fpecial demonilration. After this ceremony is over each man, takes his Ibloody conqueft, and retires to prepare it in the fame manner the Indians do their fcalps. To conclude this beaftly account, the whole army, on their return to Gondar, on a particular day of review, throws them before the king, and leaves them at the gate of the palace. It is in fearch of thefe, and the unUuried bodies of criminals, that the hyenas come in fuch numbers to the ftreets, where it is dangerous, even when armed, to walk after dark. This inhuman ceremony being over, alfo the care of the wounded, which indeed precedes every thing, the king received all thofe of the nobility who had dillinguifhed themfelves that day ; the tent was crowded, and he was in great fpirits at the {laughter that had been made, which unbe- coming pleafure he never could difguife. He mentioned the death of his uncle Guebra Chriflos with a degree of chearfulnefs, prefuming, that when fuch a man died on his fide, many of that rank and merit mud have fallen on the other. Villages, appointments, and promotions, gold, promifes. 654 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER- promifes, and prefents of every kind, had been liberally beflowed upon thofe who had prefentcd themfelves, and who had merited reward that day by their behaviour. The king had been furnifhed with means from the Ras, and according to his natural inclination (efpecially towards foldiers) he had beflowed them liberally, and I believe impar- tially. Guebra Mafcal had not appeared ; he was waiting upon his uncle Ras Michael, looking af- ter his own intereft, to which no Abyllmian is bhnd, and expofing thofe bloody fpoils, which I have juft mentioned, to the Ras, his uncle and general. I had been abfent from another motive, the attendance on my friend Engedan, to whofc tent I had removed my bed, as he complained of great pain in his wound, and I had likewife obtained leave of the Ras to ihift my tent near that of his, and leave the care of the king's horfe to Laeca Mariam, an old flave and confidential fervant of the king. As thefe men v/ere the king's menial fervants in his palace, a number of them (about a fourth) ftaid at Gondar with the horfes, and a few more than I GO to 120 could now be muftered, from about 200 or 204 which they at firft were : the arranging of this, attendance upon Ayto Enge- dan, and feveral delays in getting accefs to the Ras, who had all his troops of Tigre round him, made it pad eight o'clock in the evening before I could fee the king after he entered the camp ; he had many THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 6sS many times fent in fearch of Sertza Denghel, but no fuch perfon could be found ; he had been feen bravely fighting by Engedan's fide in the entrance of the valley, when that young nobleman was wounded, and he had retired with him from the field, but nobody could give any account of him, and the king, by his repeated inquiries after him, fliewed more anxiety, from the fuppofition he was loft, than he had done for Guebra Chriftos his uncle, or all the men that had fallen that day ; I had feen him in Ayto Engedan's tent, fitting be- hind his bed, in the darkeft place of it ; both his lips, nofe, and chin were violently cut, his whole fore teeth beat out, and both his cheeks greatly fwelled. I had given him what relief I could, nor was there any thing dangerous in his wounds ; but the affront of receiving the blow from the king, when he was doing a moft meritorious aft of duty (the faving him from death, or the hands of the rebels,) had made fuch an impreflion upoa a noble mind, that as foon as he arrived in En- gedan's tent, he had ordered his hair to be cut off, put a white cap, or monks cowl upon his head, and by a vow dedicated himfelf to a mo- naftic life, in vain the king flattered, rewarded, and threatened him afterwards, and went fo far as to make the Abuna menace him with excom- munication if he perfifted in his refolution any longer. After this I carried him, as we fliall fee, by the king's defire, to Gufho, in his camp, and interelled him alfo to perfuade Sertza Denghel to renounce 656 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER renounce his rafh vow : no conlideration could however prevail, for, like a private monk, he lived at home in the village which belonged to him in patrimony, and, though he often came to court, never flept or ate in the palace, the excufe beino*, when defired to ftay dinner, that he had no teeth. He conftanjtly llept at my houfe, fome- times chearful, but very feldom fo. He was a young man of excellent underftanding, and par- ticularly turned to the ftudy of religion ; he was well read in all the books of his cwn country, and very defirous of being inftruded in ours; he had the very worft opinion of his own priefts, and his principal dcfire (if it had been poffible) was to go with me to die, and to be buried in Jerufalem. CHAP. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 657 CHAP. XXVU. King rewards his Officers — The Author again per- /edited by Guehra Mafcal — Great Difpleafure of the King — The Author and Guehra Mafcal are reconciled and rewarded — Third Battle of Ser^ braxos. * A FTER. the engagement, as every body had accefs to the king's prefence, I did not choofe to force my way through the croud, but went round through the more private entry, by the bed- chamber, when I placed myfelf behind the king's chair. As foon as he faw me, he faid, with great benignity, *' I have not enquired nor fent for you, becaufe I knew you would be neceiTarily bufied among thofe of your friends, who have been wounded to-day; you are yourfelf, befides, hurt: how are you ?" 1 anfvvered, " that I was not hurt to-day, but, though often in danger, had efcaped without any other harm than exceiTive fatigue oc- cafioned by heat and weight of my coat of mail, and that' one of my horfes was killed under Am- monios.'* Vol. IV. U u I then 658 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER I then took the red colours from the fervant be- hind me, and going to the carpet fpread before the king, laid them at his feet, faying, " So may all your majefly's enemies fall, as this arch rebel (the bearer of this) has fallen to-day ;'* a great murmur was immediately raifed upon feeing thefe colours, and the king cried out with the utmofl impatience, *' Has he fallen into your hands, Yagoube ? who was he, where did you meet him, or where did you flay him ?" " Sir, faid I, it was not my fortune to meet him to-day, nor did I flay him. I am no king-killer ; it is a fm, I thank God, from which my anceflors are all free ; yet, had Providence thrown in my way a king like this, I believe I might have overcome my fcruples. I He was killed, as 1 fuppofe, by a fhot of Guebra Mafcal, on the flank of our line ; a foldier picked iip the colours on the field, and brought them to me in hopes of reward, while you was engaged with the troops of Begemder, near the bank ; but the merit of his death is with Guebra Mafcal. I do him this juflice, the rather becaufe he is the only man in your majefty's army who bears me ill-will, or has been my conflant enemy, for what reafon I know not ; but God forbid, that on this, or any perfonal account, I iliould not bear witnefs to the truth : this day, my fortune has been to be near him during the whole of it, -and I fay it from certain infpedion, that to the bravery and activity of Guebra Mafcal every rnan in your left wing owes his life or liberty.*' — " He is a fhame and difgrace Sr-. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 659 dlfgrace to his family, fays the king's fecretary, who was (landing by him, if after this he can be your enemy." — " It muft be a miftake, fays the king's prieft (Kiis Hatze), for this fhould atone for it, though Yagoube had flain his brother." While this converfation was going on, an ex- traordinary buftle was obferved in the crov/d, and this unquiet genius pufhing through it with great violence, his goat's fkin upon his Ihoulders, and covered with dull and fweat, in the fame manner he came from the field; he had heard I was gone to the king's tent with the red flag, and not doubt- ing I was to complain of him, or praife rayfelf at his expence, had dire6l]y followed me, without giving himfelf time to make the lead inquiry. He threw himfelf fuddenly, with his face to the ground, before the throne, and rifmg as quickly, and in violent agitation, he faid to the king, or rather bellowed, very indecently, '' It is a lie Yagoube is telling ; he does not fay the truth ; I meant him no harm but good to-day, and he did not underfland my language. I don't fay Yagoube is not as good a man as any of us, but it is a lie he has been telling now, and I will prove it." A general filence followed this wild rhapfody ; the king was furprifed, and very gravely faid, I am forry, for your fake, if it is a lie ; for my part, I was rafh enough to believe it was true. Guebra Mafcal was ftill going to make bad worfe. by fome abfurd reply, when the fecretary, and one or two of his friends, hauled him out. behind U u '2, the 66o TRAVELS TO DISCOVER the throne to one of the apartments within, not without fome refillance, every one fuppofmg, and many faying, he was drunk ; the king was filent, but appeared exceedingly difpleafed, when I fell upon the ground before him, (a form of afking leave to fpeak upon a ly particular fubjed) and rifmg faid, Sir, With great fubmifTion, it is not, 1 apprehend, true, that Guebra Mafcal is drunk, as fome have raflily faid now in your prefence ; we have all ate and drank, and changed our cloathing fmce the battle ; but this man, who has been on foot fince five in the morning, and en- gaged all day, has not, I believe, ate or drank as yet ; certainly he has not waOied himfelf, or chang- ed his habit, but has been taking care of his wounded men, and has prefented himfelf now as he came from the field, under the unjuft fufpicion I was doing him wrong. I then repeated what had happened at the bank when the king was purfuing the troops of Begemder. Now I under- hand him, fays the king, but ftill he is wrong, and this is not the firfl: indance I have feen, when there was no fuch miflake. At this time a mef- fenger came to call me from within. 1 he king divined the reafon of fending, and faid. No, he Ihall not go to Guebra Mafcal ; 1 will not fufter this. Go, fays he to one of his fervants that Hood near him, defire the Ras to call Guebra Mafcal, and alk him wliat this bru- tality means ? 1 have feen two inflances of his mif- behaviour alreadv, and wilh not to be provoked THE SOURCE O F THE N ILE. 66i by a third. At this inftant came Kefla Yafous, with his left hand bound up, and a broad leaf like that of a plane upon his fore-head. After the ufual falutation, and a kin^d of joke of the king's on his being v/ouiided, I afKed him if he would retire and let me drefs his forehead ? which he fhewing inclination to do, the king faid. Aye, go, and afk Guebra Mafcai why he quarrels with his bell friends, and prevents me from rewarding him. as he otherwife would have deferved. I went out with Kefla Yafous, being very defirous this affair fhould not go to the Ras, and we found Guebra Mafcai in appearance in extreme agony and defpair. The whole (lory was told diftinftly to Kefla Yafous, who took it up in the moll judicious manner. He faid he had been detained at his tent, but had come to the king's prefence exprefs- ly to give Guebra Mafcai the juft praile he de- ferved for his behaviour that day : that he was very happy that I, who was near him ail the ac- tion, and was a ilranger, and unprejudiced (as he might be thought not to be) had done it fo juflly and fo handfomely. At the fame time he could not help faying, Jthat the quarrel with Ya- goube in the palace, the taunting fpeech made without provocation in the king's prefence on the march, his apoflrophe in the field, and the abrupt manner in which he ignorantly broke in upon the converfation before the king, interrupting and contradiding his own cominendatioriS, fliewed ^ diftem- ^62 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER diflempered mind, and that he adled from a bad motive, which, if inquired into, would inevita- bly ruin him, both with the King and Ras ; and he had heard indeed it already had done with the former. Guebra Mafcal, now crying like a child, con- demned himfeif for a malicious madman in the two lirfc inftances : but fwore, that on the field he had no intention but to fave me, if occafion threw it in his way ; for which purpofe alone it was he had cried out to me to fland firm, for the troops of Begemder were coming upon us, but that I did not underftand his meaning. Guebra Mai«:al advances, nothing but truth, faid I, to Kefla Yafous ; I did not perfedly underfland him to-day in the field, as he fpoke in his own lan- guage of Tigre, and ftammers greatly, nor did I diilinclly comprehend what he faid acrofs the pool, for the fame reafon, and the confufion we were in : 1 fnall however moil readily confefs my obli- gation to him, for the opportunity he gave me to join the king. 1 am a ftranger, and liable to err, v/iiilil:, for die fame reafon, I am entitled to all your protedioFis and forgivenefs. I am, more- over, the king's (Iranger, and as fuch, entitled to fomething more as long as I conduct myfelf with propriety to every one. I have never fpoken a word but in Guebra MafcaPs praife, and in this I have done him no more than juflice ; his im- patience perverted what 1 had faid; but the real truth, as 1 [poke it, remains in the ears of the king THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 663 king and of thofe that were by-danders, to whom I appeal. Every thing went after this in the manner that^ was to be withed. Guebra Mafcal and I vowed eternal friendfhip to each other, of which Kefia Yafous profeiTed himfelf the guarantee. All this paiTed while I was binding up his head ; he went again to the king. For my own part, tired to death, low in fpirits, and curfing the hour that brought me to fuch a country, I almoil regretted I had not died that day in the field of Serbraxos. I went to bed, in Ayto Engedan's tent, refufmg to go to Ozoro Edher, who had fent for me. I could not help lamenting how well my apprehen- fions had been verified, that fome of our compa- nions at lad night's fupper, fo anxious for the ap- pearance of morning, Ihould never fee its even- ing. Four of them, all young men, and of great hopes, were then lying dead and mangled on the field ; two others befides Engedan had been alfo wounded. I had, however, a found and re- freihing fleep. I think madnefs would have been the confequence, if this neceifary refrefhment had failed me ; fuch was the horror I had conceived of my prefent fituation. On the 2 id, Engedan was conveyed in a litter to Gondar ; and early in the morning of that day arrived an officer from Powuden, together with three or four prieds. He brought with him twenty or thirty kettle drums belonging to the kin^5 with their muleSj and as many of their drum^f jners 664 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER. mers as were alive. The errand was fham pro- pofals of peace, as ufual, and great profefTions of - allegiance to the king. As PowuiTen's attack, however, that day, had fomething very perfonal in it, and that the ilory of Theodoras was found- ed upon a fuppofition that the king was to be flain on the field of Serbraxos, little anfwer was re- turned, only the red flag was fent back with a melfage, That perhaps, from the good fortune that had attended it, PowuiTen might eviOi to keep it for Theodorus his fucceiTor, but it was never after feen or heard of. Guiho likewife, and Ayabdaf, fent a kind of embaffy to enquire after the king's health and fafe- ty ; they wiihed him, in terms of the greatefl re- fpett, not to expofe himfelf in the field as he had done in the lad battle, or at leaft, if he chofe to command his troops in perfon, that he fliould dif- tinguidi himfelf by fome horfe, or drefs, as his predeceiTors ufed to do ; and they concluded with fcvere reiledions on Michael, as not fulEciently attentive to the fafety of his fovercign^ Gracious iiieiTages were returned to thefe two, and they all Were difmiiTcd with the ufual prefents of clothes and money. About eleven o'clock in the forenoon 1 received an order from the Ras to attend him, and, as I thoup-ht it vvas about i\\q affair of Guebra Mafcal, o I went very unwillingly. I was confirmed in this by feeing him w^aiting with many of his friends without the tent, and (till more fo upon our being called THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 665 called in together : the Ras was converfmg low to two prielts, who by their drefs feemed to have come lately from Gondar ; he paid little regard to either of us, but nodded, and aiked in Tigre how we did ? Three or four fervants, however, brought out new fine cotton clothes, which they put upon us both ; and, upon another nod, feve- pal officers and priefts, and a number of other people, condu<^ed us to the king, though ftill, as the Ras had fcarcely fpoken to us, I wondered how this fhould end. After flaying a little we were both introduced ; the Likaontes, or judges, fome priefts, and my friend the fecretary, flood about the king, who fat in the middle of his tent upon the flool Guangoul had fat down upon ; the fecretary held fomething in his lap, and, upon Guebra MafcaPs firfl kneeling, bound a white fillet like a ribband round his forehead, upon which were written in black and red ink. Mo ainbaffa am Nizelet Solomon am Negade Jitde, " The lion of the tribe of Judah of the race of Solomon has overcome.'* The fecretary then de- clared his inveiliture ; the king had given him in fief, or for military fervice for ever, three large villages in Dembea, which he named, and this was proclaimed afterwards by beat of drum at the door of the tent. The king then likewife prefent- ed him with a gold knife, upon which he kilfed the ground, and arofe. It was my turn next to kneel before the king. Whether there was any thing particular in my couiite* 666 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER « countenance, or what fancy came into his head I know not, but when I looked hin\ in the face he could fcarce refrain from laughing. He had a large chain of gold, with very maffy links, which he doubled twice, and then put it over my neck, while the fecretary faid, " Yagoube, the king does you this great honour, not as payment of pail fervices, but as a pledge that he will reward them if you will put it in his power." Upon this I kiifed the ground, and we were both recon- ducted to the Ras, with our infignia ; and, hav- ing kiifed the ground before him, and then his hands, we both had leave to retire. He feemed very bufy with people arrived from without ; he o^nly lifted up his head, fmiled, and faid. Well, are you friends now ? We both bowed without anfwer, and left the tent. The chain confided of 184 links, each of them weighing 3V2dwts of fine gold. It was with the utmoft reluctance that, being in want of every thinp-, I fold great part of this honourable diftinc- tion at Sennaar in my return home ; the remain- ing part is ftill in my polfeiTion. It is hoped my iuccelTors will never have the fame excufe I had, for further diminilhing this honourable monument which I have left them. About a few hours after this, a much more in- terefting fpe£lacle appeared before the whole camp. Ayto Tesfos, governor of Samen under joas, had never laid down his arms, nor paid any allegiance to the prefent king or his father, but had THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 6^7 had conftantly treated them as ufurpers, atid the Ras as a rebel and parricide. He had continued in friendfhip with Fafil, but never would co-ope- rate or join with him, not even when he was at Gondar as Ras. He lived in the inaccelTible rock, (called the Jews Rock) one of the higheft of the mountains of Samen, where he maintained a large number of troops, with which he overawed the whole neighbouring country, and made perpetual inroads into Tigre. Enemy as he was to Ras Michael, he would not venture to take an adive part againft him, till the king's affairs were plainly going to ruin. I have already mentioned, that the lafl thing Michael did was to fend Kefia Ya- fous, Bafha Hezekias, and Welleta Michael, t6 difpoflefs him of his ftrong-hold if poflible, and in this they had failed. But now that Tesfos faw there was no probability that Michael Ihould be able to retreat to Tigre, he came at lad to join Gufho, bringing with him only about a thou- fand men, having left all his pods guarded againil furprife, and flrong enough to cut oiF all recruits arriving from Tigre. Nothing that had yet hap- pened ever had fo bad effect upon Michael's men as this appearance of Tesfos. It was a Uttle be- fore mid day when his army appeared, and from the hills above marched down towards the valley below us, not two mufquet-fhot from our camp. Though Samen is really on the weft of the Tacazze, and confequently in the Amharic divi- l!on of this country, yet^ on account of its vicinity to 668 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER to Tigre, the language and cufloms are moflly the fame with thofe of that province. There is a march peculiar to the troops of Tigre, which, when the drums of Tesfos beat at palling, a defpondency feemed to fall on all the Tigran foldiers, greater than if ten thoufand men of Amhara had joined the rebels. It was a fine day, and the troops, fpread abroad upon the face of the hill, not only fhewed more in number than they really were, but alfo more fecurity than they were, in point of prudence, warranted to do, when at fo fmall a diftance from fuch an army as ours. Tesfos took a poll very likely to diflrefs us, as he had more than 300 mufquetry with him. He fat down with horfe and foot in the middle of the valley before us, with part of his mufquetry polled u .'on the fkirts of the mountain Beleflen on one fde, and part on the top of that long, even hill, dividing the valley from the river Mariam Over his camp, like a citadel, is the rock that proje(5ts into the valley, from which the peafants of Ma- riam-Ohha had thrown the flones when we were returning to our camp after the battle. Upon this rock Tesfos had placed a multitude of women and fervants, who began to build ftraw-huts for them- felves, as if they intended to ftay there for fome time, though there was ftill plenty of the female fex below with the camp. Indeed, I never remem- ber 10 have feen fo many women in proportion to any army whatever, no net even in our own. If THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 669 If Tesfos had been long In coming, he was re- folved, now he was come, to make up for his loft time, as he was not a mile and a half from our camp, and could fee our horfes go down to water, either at Deg-Ohhaor Mariam ; that fame day at two o'clock, his horfe attacked our men, at wa- tering, killed fome fervants, and took feverai horfes. This behaviour of Tesfos was taken as a defiance to Kefla Yafous in particular, and to the army in general. There was no perfon in the whole army, of any rank whatever, fo generally beloved as Kefla Ya- fous ; he was looked upon by the foidiers as their father. He was named by the Ras to the go- vernment of Samen, but had failed, as we have already ftated, in difpofieffing Ayto Tesfos, whofe diforderly march at broad mid- day, fo near our army, the oftentatious beating of the Tigran march upon his kettle-drum as he paifed, and his taking poll fo near, were all confidered as merit- ing chaftifement. That general, however, though very fenfibie of this bravado, did not venture to fuggeft any thing in the prefent fituation of the army, but all his friends propofed it to him, that fome reproof fhould be given to Tesfos, if it was only to raife the drooping fpirits of the troops of Tigre. Accordingly 400 horfe, and about 500 foot, armed with lances and fnields only, without Hiufquetry for fear of alarm, were ordered to be ready as foon as it was perfedly dark, that is, be- tween feven and eight o'clock. Tesfos 670 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER Tesfos having waited the coming of his bag- gage, and arranged his little camp to his liking, was feen to mount with about 300 horfe, to go to the camp of Gufho or Powuffen a little before fun-fet, at which time Kefia Yafous was diftri- buting plenty of meat to the foldiers. About eight o'clock they defcended the hill unperceived even by part of our camp. Kefla Yafous was governor of Temben (a province on the S, W. of Tigre) immediately joining to Samen, and the language and dialed: was the fame. The foot were ordered to take the lead, fcattered in a manner not to give alarm, and the horfe were to pafs by the back of the low, even hill, in the other valley, along the banks of the river Mariam, clofe to the water, in order to cut off the retreat to the plain. A great part of the Samen foldiers were alleep, whilfl a number of the mules that had been loaded were ftraggling up and down, and fome of them returning to the camp. The Temben troops had now infmuated themfelves among the tents, efpe- cially on the fide of the hill. The firft circumflance that gave alarm was the appearance of the horfe, but they were not taken for an enemy, but for Ay to Tesfos returning. Kefla Yafous now gave the fignal to charge, by beating a kettle-drum, and every foldier fell upon the enemy neareft him. It is impolnble to defcribe the confuiion that followed, nor was it eafy to diftinguifh enemies from friends, efpecially for us on horfeback; only thofe that fled were ^ ' reckoned THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 671 reckoned enemies. The greatefl execution done by the horfe was breaking the jars of honey, but- ter, beer, wine, and flour, and gathering as many mules together as polTible to drive them away. Few of the enemy came our way towards the plain, but mofl fled up the hill : in an inflant the ftraw huts upon the rock were fet on fire, and Kefla Yafous had ordered rather to deflroy the provi- fions than the men, fmce there was no refiflance. I paflcd a large tenty which I judged to be that of Ayto Tesfos, which our people immediately cut open ; but inftead of an officer of confequence, we faw, by the light of a lamp, three or four naked men and women, totally overpowered with drink and fleep, lying helplefs, like fo many hogs, upon the ground, utterly unconfcious of what was pafling about them. Upon a large tin p atter, on a bench, lay one of the large horns, perfectly drained of the fpirits that it had contained; it was one of the mofl beautiful, for fhape and co- lour, I ever had feen, though not one of the largefl. This horn v/as all my booty that night. Upon my return to Britain, it was afked of me by Sir Thomas Dundas of Carfe^ to ferve for a bugle-horn to the Fauconberg regiment, to which, as being partum Jangume^ it was very properly adapted. That regiment being difbanded foon after, I know noi what further came of it ; it is probably placed in fome public collection, or at ieafl ought to be. The 672 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER The fire increafmg on the hill, and fever al muf- quets having been heard, it was plain the enemy, in all the camps, were alarmed, and our further flay became every moment more dangerous. Kefla Yafous now beat a retreat, and fent the horfemen all round to force the foot to make the bed of their way back, ordering alfo all mules taken to be ham-ilringed and left, not to retard our re- turn. Trumpets and drums were heard from our camp to warn us not to ftay, as it was not doubt- ed but mifchief would follow, and accordingly we were fcarce arrived within the limits of our camp when we heard the found of horfe in the valley. Michael, always watchful upon every accident, no fooner faw the fires lighted on the hill, than he ordered Guebra Mafcal to place a good body of mufqueteers about half way down the hill, as near as poffibk to the fold of Mariam, thinking it probable that the enemy would enter at both ends of the long hill, in order to furround thofe who were deftroying their camp, which they ac- cordingly did, whild thofe of our people, who had taken to drinking, fell into the hands of the troops that came by the lower road, and were all put to death. Thofe that reached the upper ford ferved to afford us a fevere revenge, for Guebra Mafcal, after having feen them pafs between him and the river, though it .was a dark and very windy night, gueffed very luckily their pofition, and gave them fo happy a fire, that moil of thofe who were not (lain returned back without feeing Avto THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 673 Ayto Tesfos's camp, being afraid that fome other trap might Hill be in their way. In the morning of the 22d, we found that the flain were men of Begemder and Lafta. Tesfos, it feems, had been in Powuflen's camp when he faw the fire lighted on the hill, and thence had provided an additional number of troops to attack Kefla Yafous before he had done his bufmefs, but in this he miicarried. Tesfos's party was thus totally deftroyed and difperfed, his mules flaughter- ed, and his provifions fpoiled. About thirty of Kefla Yafous's infantry, however, loft their lives by ftaying behind, and intoxicating themfelves with liquor. Of the horfe, not a man was either killed or wounded. I was the only unfortunate perfon ; and Providence had feemed to warn me of my danger the day before, for pafling then that rock which projected into the valley, the fire giv- ing perfect light, the multitude aflfembled above, and prepared for that purpofe, poured down upon us fuch a fhower of arrows, ftones, billets of wood, and broken jars, as is not to be imagined. Of thefe a ftone gave me a very violent blow upon my left arm, while a fmall fragment of the bottom of ajar, or pitcher, ftruck me on the creft of my helmet, and occafioned fuch a concuiiion as to de- prive me for a time of all recolleclion, fo that, when lying in my tent at no great diftance, I did not remember to have heard Guebra Mafcal's dif- charge. I certainly had fome prefaging that mifchief was to happen to me, for palling that Vol. IV. X x reck, 67+ TRAVELS TO DISCOVER rock, juft before we entered Tesfos's camp, I de- fired Tecla, when I returned, to allow fifty men to proceed up the hill and cut thofe people in pieces who had ftationed themfelves fo inconve- niently ; but he would not confent, being defirou? to return without iofs of time, and before the ene- my knew the calamity that had befallen them. Ay to Tesfos now became a little more humble, retreated to the fouth end of the long hill, till being joined, next day the 23d, by his neighbours, Samuel Mammo of Tzegade, and Heraclius of Walkayt, who had.a very large force, he again removed nearer us, about half a mile farther than his firfl pofition, and extended his camp quite acrofs the valley, from the foot of the hill to the river Mariam, keeping his head-quarters on the top of the long even hill, fo often mentioned. Mammo and Heraclius had paifed by Gondar, and, being much fuperior in number, had taken Sanuda, Ayto Confu, and Ayto Engedan prifoners, and, though the two lail were wounded, carried them to GuOio^s camp. 1 need not trouble the reader with the attention fnewed me upon my accident ; all that was great and noble at court, from the king downwards, feemed to be as fenfible of it as if it had happened to one of their own family ; the Ras very particularly fo ; and I niuft own, above all, Guebra Mafcal fhewed himfelf a fmcere convert, by a concern and friendfliip that had every mark of fiiicerity. Ozoro. bfther was feveral times the next day at I my THE SOURCE OF THE NILE, 675 my tent, and with her the beautiful Tecla Mariam, whofe fympathy and kindnefs would more than have compenfated a greater misfortune ; for, fav- ing that it had OGcafioned an inflammation in my eyes, the hurt was of the flighted kind. Many people came to-day from the feveral camps with propofals of peace, which ended in nothing, though it was vifible enough to every one that a treaty of fome kind was not only on foot, but already far advanced. In the evening a party of 400 foot and 50 horfe, which went to Denibea to forage for the king, was furprifed by Coque Abou Barea, and cut to pieces ; after which that general encamped with Gufho, and brought with him about 3000 men. Provifions were now become fcarce in the camp, and there was a profpe<5L that they would be every day fcarcer ; and, what was flill worfe, Dcg- Ohha, which long had ftood in pools, was now almoil dry, and, from the fraquent ufe made of it by the number of beads, began 10 have both an ofFeniive fmell and tafte ; whilft, every time w^e attempted to water at the Mariam river, a battle was to be fought with Tesfos's horfe in the valley. On the other hand, an epidemical fever raged in the rebels camp on the plain, efpecially in that of Gufho and Ayabdar. The rain, moreover, was now coming on daily, and fomething decifive be- came neceffary for all parties. On the 24th, in the morning, a melTage arrived from Guflio to the king, defiring I might have X X 2 iibertv 676 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER liberty to come and bring medicines with me, for his whole family were ill of the fever. The king anfWered, that I had been wounded in the head, and was ill ; nor did he believe I could be able to come ; but, if I was, he (hould fend me in the morning. A little before noon the drums in the plain beat to arms. Heraclius, Mammo, and Tesfos on the fide of the valley, Coque Abou Barea and Afahel Woodage on the fide of the plain, with freih troops, had obtained leave from Gufho and PowuiTen to try to ftorm our camp, without any aiTiftance from the main army, in order to bring the whole to a fpeedy conclulion. There had been a time when fuch an undertaking would not have been thought a prudent one to much better men than any of thofe who now were parties in it ; but our fpirits were greatly fallen, our num- ber, too, much decreafed ; above all, a relaxation of diicipline (and defertion, the confequence of it) began to prevail among us to an alarming degree. This was generally faid to be owing to the defpon- dency of the Tigre troops upon the arrival of Tes- fos ; but it required little penetration to difcern, that all forts of men were weary of conflant fight- ing and hardfhips, for no other end but unjuftly maintaining Michael in a pofl in which he go- verned at difcretion, to the terror of the whole kingdom, and ruin of the conftitution. The hill of Serbraxos, when we firfl took poft on it, was rugged and uneven, full of acacia and other Plate 16. The hill of Serbraxos, when we firft took pod on it, was rugged and uneven, full of acacia and other THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 677 other Ill-thriving trees, and various Humps of thefe had been broken by the wind, or undermined by the torrents. The great need tlie foldiers had of fuel to roall the miferable pittance of barley, (which was all their food) had cleared away thefe incumbrances from the fide of the hill, and the conflant refort of men going up and down, had rendered the furface perfectly fmooth and flip- pery ; fo that our camp did not appear as placed fo high, nor nearly fo inaccelhble as it was at firft. For this reafon, Ras Michael had ordered the fol- diers to gather all the flones on the hill, and range them in fmall walls, at proper places, in a kind .of zig-zag, under which the foldiers lay concealed, and with their fire-arms protected the mules which went down to drink. Michael had lined all thefe little fortifications with mufquetry, from the bot- tom of the hill to the door of his tent and the king's. About noon the hill was aiTaulted on all fides that were acceffible, and the ancient fpirit of the troops feemed to revive upon feeing the enemy were the aggreffors. Without any aid of muf- quetry, the king's foot repulfed Coque Abou Ba-. rea, and drove him from the hill into the plain, without any confiderable iland on his part : the fame fuccefs followed againll; Mammo and Heraclius ; they were chafed down the hill, and feveral of their men purfued and flain on the plain ; but a large reinforcement coming from the camp, the king's troops were driven up the hill again, and 6-8 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER and Tesfos, with his mufquetry, had made a lodg- ment in a pit on the low fide of one of thefe flone- walls Ras Michael had built for his own defence/ from which he hred with great efFedt, and the king's troops were obliged to fall back to the brow of the hill immediately below the tent, and that of the Ras's. In a moment appeared Wood- age Afahel, with a large body of horfe, fupported Hkewife with a confiderable number of foot. This was the moil acceffible part of the hill, and under the cover of Tesfos's continued fire : they mount- ed it with great gallantry, the troops above ex- pelling them with their irons fixed at a proper elevation in the ground ; for it mufl be here ex- plained, that no Abyilinian foldier in battle refts his gun upon his hand, as every one is provided, with a flick about four feet long, which hath hooks, or refls, on alternate intervals on each fide, and which he flicks in the ground before him, and refls the muzzle of his gun upon it, according to the height of the objed he is to aim at ; and here is difcovered the fatal and mofl unreafonable ef- fe6l of fear in thofe troops, who have not the knowledge or praftice of fire-arms, and are about to charge, for as foon as they hear this noife of fetting the flicks, (which is fomewhat louder than that of cur men cocking their mufquets) they halt imm.ediately, and give the faired opportunity to their enemies to take aim ; and, after thus fufTer- inp" from a well-direded fire, they fall into con- fufion, and run, leaving the mufquetry time to recharge. THE SOURCE OF THE NI-LE. 679 re-charge. This is as if they voluntarily devoted themfelves to deilrudion ; for if, either upon hear- ing the noife of fetting the flicks in the ground, or before or after they have received the fire, the horfe were to charge thefe mufqueteers, having no bayonets, at the gallop, they muil be cut to pieces every time they were attacked by cavalry ; the contrary of which is always the cafe. Woodage Alahel had now advanced within about thirty yards of the mufquetry that were ex- pecting him, when unluckily the hill became more fteep, and Ayto Tesfos (for fome reafon not then known) ceafed firing. The king was now clofe to the very brow of the hill, nor could any one perfuade him to keep at a greater diflance. I was not far from him, and had no fort of doubt but that I fhould prefently fee the whole body of the enemy deflroyed by the fire awaiting them, and blown into the air. Woodage Afahel was very confpicuous by a red fillet, or bandage, wrapt about his head, the two ends hanging over his ears, whilfl: he was waving with liis hands for the troops below to follow brifkly, and fupport thcfe near him, who were impeded by the roughneis and molTy quality of the ground. At this inftant the king's troops fired, and I expeded to fee the enemy flrewed dead along the face of the hill. In- deed we faw them fpeedily difappear, but like living men, riding and running dov/n the declivi- ty fo as even to excite laughter. Woodage Afa- hel, with two men only, bravely gained the top of the mountain, and, as he pafled the king*s tent, pulled i68o TRAVELS TO DISCOVER pulled off his red fillet, making a fign as of fa- luting it, and then galloped through the middle of the camp. He was now defcending unhurt up- on the left, where Abou Barea had been engaged and beaten, when Sebaftos, a Greek, the king's cook, feventy-hve years of age, of whom I have already fpoken in the campaign of Maitfha, lying behind a flone, with his gun in his hand, feeing the troops engage below, fired at him as he paf- fed: the ball took place in the left fide of his belly. He was ietn (looping forward upon the tore of his faddle, with fome men fupporting him on each fide, in his way to his tent, where he died * in the evening, having, by his behaviour that (day, deferved a better fate. Sebaflos reported this feat of his to the king, but it was not believed, till a confirmation of the fad came in the evening, when Sebaflos was cloathed, and received a re- ward from the king. Tesfos had been obferved not to fire fince Woodage Afahel gained the fleep part of the hill, and it was thought it was from fear of galling his friends ; but it was foon known to be owing to another caufe. Kefia Yafous had ordered two of his nephews to take a body of troops, with lances and lliields only, and thefe were to go round the Ras's tent, and down the fide of the hill, till they were even with TesFos behind the fcreen where he lay. Thefe two young men, proud of thefole command which they had then received for the firft time, executed it with great alacrity j and though they were THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 68! were ordered by their uncle to watch the time when Tesfos had fired, and then to run in upon him^ they difdained that precaution, but coming fpeedily upon him, part of them threw down the ftones under which he was concealed, and part attacked him in the hollow, and, while much intent upon the fuccefs of Woodage and Afahel, he was in -a moment overpowered and diilodged ; and,* b^- ing twice wounded, with great difficulty he efcaped. Seventeen of his match-locks were brought into the camp, and with them a man of great family in Samen, a relation or friend of Kefla Yafous. This perfon, after having been regaled with the beft that was in the camp, and cloathed anew after their cuflom, was fent back the fame night to Ayto Tesfos, with a fliort .meifage, ^^ Tesfos had *^ better be upon his rock again, if my boys caa '' beat him upon the plain at broad, noon-day/' Coque Abou Barea, after having, attempted fe» veral times to afcend the hill, was beaten back as often, and obliged to defifl. On the king's fide only eleven men were killed. The lofs of the enemy was variouily reported. Sixty-three men only, and feveral horfes of thofe with Woodage Afahel, were left upon the fide of the hill, after the fire of near i ooo mufquets — fo contemptible is the moil dangerous v/eapon in an ignorant and timid hand. That night the body of mufqueteers called Lafta, part of the king's houfehold, (in number about 300 men) deferred in a body. One of the worft confequences of that day's engage- ment 682 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER ment was, that the enemy, when in poflefTion of the foot of the hill, had thrown a great number of dead bodies, both of men and beafts, into Deg- 'hba, which therefore now was abandoned altogether by our troops. To make up for this, Ras Michael, that very evening, advanced 2000 men upon the end of the long hill, immediately below him, which poll was never molefted after, fo that our beafts had water in greater plenty and fafety than when they were at a lefs confiderable diftance. Below the north -weft fide of the hill, where it was a fteep precipice, two or three pools of water were found retaining all their original purity, out of the reach or knowledge of the enemy, in the bed of the torrent which furroundedthe north fide of the mountain : the defcent was very difficult for beafts, but thither I went feveral times on foot, and bathed myfelf, efpecially my head, in very cold water, which greatly ftrengthened my eyes, much weakened from the blow I had received, CHAP. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 683 CHAR XXVIIL Iniervkw with Gujldo ifi his Tent — Converfaiion and inter eft ing Intelligence there— Return to the Camp — King's Army returns to Gondar' — Great Confu» Jton in that Night's March, N the 25th of May, early in the morning, I went to Guflio. "When I arrived near his tent I difmounted my mule, and, as the king had com- manded me, bared myfelf to below the breafts^ the fign of being bearer of the king's orders. Four men were now fent from the tent, who, two and two, fupported each arm, and introduced me in this flate immediately to Gufiio. He was fitting on a kind of bed, covered with fcarlet cloth, and edged with a deep gold fringe. A§ foon as I came near him, I began, " Hear what the king fays to you." In a moment he rofe, and, (tripping him- feif bare to the waiil, he bowed with his forehead on the fcarlet cloth, but did not, as was his duty. Hand on the ground, and touch it with his fore- head, 6S4 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER head, though there was a good Perlian carpet, as pride and newly-acquired independence had re- leafed him from thofe forms, in the obfervance of which he had been brought up from his child- hood. ^ On feeing him attentive, I continued, " The king fends you word by me, and I declare to you from my own (kill as a phyfician, that the fever now amongft you will foon become mortal ; as the rains increafe, you will die ; confequently, being out of your allegiance, God only knows what will happen to you afterwards. The king therefore wifhes you to preferve your health, by p-oing home to Amhara, taking PowulTen, and all the reft along with you who are ill likewife, and thQ fooner the better, as he heartily wifhes to be rid of you all at once, without your leaving any of your friends behind you." It was with diffi- culty I kept my gravity in the courfe of my ha- rangue ; it did not feem to be lefs fo on his part, as at the end he broke out in a great fit of laugh- ter. " Aye, aye, Yagoube, fays he, I fee you are ftill the old man ; but tell the king from me, that if I were to do v/hat you juft now defire of ^me, it was then I faould be afraid to die, it was then I ftiould be out of my duty ; alTure the king, continued Gufho, I will do him better fervice. Were I to go home and leave Michael with him^ I, who am no phyfician, declare, the Ras would prove in the end a much more dangerous difeafe to hini than all the fevers in Dembea." I then THfe SOURCE OF THE NILE. 6S5 I then introduced his relation, Sertza Denghel who flood with the people behind ; and, as he had on his monk's drefs, Gufho at firfl did not know him. He had been well informed, how- ever, of his having faved the king, and of the blow that he had received from him. He faid every thing in commendation of the young man, and his honourable adion, adding, that the pre- fervation of kings was a gift of Providence parti- cularly referved for the people of Amhara. He then ordered new cloaths to be brought and put upon Sertza Denghel, who fcrupled to take off his cowl ; on which Gufho violently tore it from his head, dafhed it on the floor, flamped twice on it with his foot, and then threw it behind the back of the fofa. At parting, Gufho ordered him five ounces of gold, a large prefent for one that loved money as Gufho did, commanding him flridly to return to his duty and profefTion, and ordering me to carry him to the king, and fee him rein- flated in his office in the palace. I then defired his permiffion to vilit the fick^ and left ipecacuanha and bark with Antonio, (his Greek fervant,) and directions how to adminifler them. One of his nephews, (Ay to Adereffon) the young man who had lofl: Gufho's horfe, had the fmall-pox, upon which I warned Gufho feri- oufly of the danger to which he expofed all his army if that difeafe broke out amongfl them, and advifed him to fend his nephew forthwith to the church 686 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER church of Mariam, under the care of the priefts, which he did accordingly. The tent being cleared, he aiked me if I had feen Welleta Selafle ; if 1 was with her when {he died; and who was faid to have poifoned her, Ras Michael or herfelf, or if I had ever heard that it was Ozoro Either ? I told him her friends had fent for me from the camp, but miffed me, not knowing I was at Kofcam with Ayto Confu, who had been v/ounded ; but that I could have been of little fervice to her if they had found me fooner : That fhe had fcarce any figns of life when I en- tered her room, and died foon after : That fhe confeffed flie had taken arfenic herfelf, and named a black fervant of hers, a Mahometan, from whom fhe had bought it ; and the reafon was, her fears that her grandfather, Ras Michael, whom (he had always looked upon as the murderer of her father, fhould force her when he returned to Gondar. He feemed exceedingly attentive to all I faid, and mufed for a couple of minutes after I had done fpeaking. A plentiful breakfaft was then brought us, and many of his officers fat dov/n to it. I obferved likewife fome people of Gondar, who had for- merly fled to Fafil at iMichael's firfl coming. He faid he wifhed me to bleed him before I went av/ay, which I affured him I would by no means do, for if he was well, as I then faw he was, the unneceitary bleeding him might occafion ficknefs; and, if he was dangeroufly ill, he might die, when THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 687 when the blame would be laid upon me, and ex- pofe me to mifchief afterwards. *' No, fays he, I could certainly truft you, nor would any of my people believe any harm of you ; but I am glad to fee you fo prudent, and that you have a care of my life, for the reafon I (hall give you afterwards.'' I bowed, and he made me then tell him ail that pafled in my vifit to Fafil, which I did, without concealing any circumflance. All the company laughed, and he more than any, only faying, " Fafil, Fafil, thou waft born a Galla, and a Galla thou Ihalt die." Breakfaft being over, the tent was cleared, and we were again left alone, when he put on a very ferious countenance. " You know, fays he, you are my old acquaintance. I faw you with Michael after the battle of Fagitta, as alfo the prefents you brought, and heard the letters read, both thofe that came from Metical Aga, and thofe of Ali Bey from Cairo. All the Greeks here who have confideiable pofts, and are proud and vain enough, have yet declared to us feveral times, (as Antonio my fervant did to me laft night) that, in their own country, the beft of them are not higher in rank than your fervants ; and that thofe who hitherto have come into this country were no better. We know then, and the king is fenfible, that in your own country you are equal to the beft of us, and perhaps fuperior, and as fuch, even in thefe bad times, you have been treated. Now, this being the cafe^ you are v/rong to expofeyour- ' felf ^88 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER fdf like a common foldier. We all know, and have feen, that you are a better horfeman^ and flioot better than we ; your gun carries farther, becaufe you ufe leaden bullets ; fo far is well ; but then you fhould manage this fo as never to adl alone, or from any thing that can. have the ap- pearance of a private motive*." " Sir, faid I, you know that when I firfl came recommended, as you fay, into this country. Ay to Aylo, the mofl peaceable, as well as the wifeft man in it, the Ras, and I believe yourfelf, but certainly many able and confiderable men who were fo good as to patronize me, did then advife the put- ting me into the king's fervice and houfehold, as the only means of keeping me from^ robbery and infult. You faid that I could not be fafe one in- ftant after the king left Gondar, being a fmgle man, who was fuppofed to have brought money with him ; that therefore I mufl conned: myfelf with young noblemen, officers of confequence about court, whofe authority and friend fhip would keep ill-difpofed people in awe. The king obferv- ing in me a facility of managing my horfe and arms, with which, until that time, he had been unacquainted, placed me about his perfon, both in the palace and in the field, for his own amufc- ment, and I may fay inftrudion, and for my fafe- ty ; and this advice has proved fo good, that I have never once deviated from it but my life has * He meant, from the inftfgation of Ozoro Eflher. been THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 689 been In danger. The firfl: attempt I made to go to the catarad, Guebra Mehedin way-laid and in- tended to murder me. When the king was in Tigre, Woodage Afahel defigned to do me the fame favour by the Galla he fent from Samfeen ^ and fo did Coque Abou Barea at Degwafla, by the hands of Welleta SelaiTe. No fafety, there- fore, then remained to me but in adhering clofely to the king, as I have ever lince done, and was advifed from the firfl to do, which indifpenfably brought me to Serbraxos, or wherever he was in perfon. You cannot think it is from a motive of choice that a white man like myfelf runs the rifk of lofing his life, or limbs, fo far from home, and where there is fo little medical afliflance, in a war where he has no motive that can con- cern him." " Do not mifiake me, Yagoube, fays Gulho, your behaviour at Serbraxos does you honour, and will never make you an enemy, fo does the like affair with Kefla Yafous ; there is no man you can fo properly conned yourfelf with as Kefia Yafous ; all I wanted to obferve to you is, that it is faid Woodage Afahel would have efcaped fafely from the mountain if you had not fhot him, and that yours was the only mufquet that was fired at him ; which is thought invidious in you, being a flranger, as he is the head of the Edjow Galla» the late king's guards ; they may yet return to Gondar, and will look upon you as their enemy, becaufe a leaden bullet was found in Woodage Vol. IV, Y y Afahel's 69G TRAVELS TO DISCOVER Afahers body fired at him by you." — " Sir, faid I, it is very feldom a man in fuch a cafe as this can have the power of vindicating himfelf to con- vidion, but that I now happily can do. All the Greeks in the king's army, their fons and fami- lies, all Mahometans, who have been in Arabia, India, or Egypt, ufe leaden bullets. The man Vvho fliot Vv oodage Afahei is well known to you. He is the king's old cook, Sebaftos, a man p alt feventy, who could not be able to kill a fheep till fomebody firft tied its legs. He himfelf informed the king of what he had done, and brought wit- nefles in the ufual form, claiming a reward for his adion, which he obtained. It was faid that I, too, killed the man who carried the red flag of Theodorus at Serbraxos, though no leaden bul- let, I believe, was found in him. A foldier picked up this flag upon the field, and brought it to me. I paid him, indeed, for his pains ; and, when I prefented the flag to the king, told him what I had Teen, that the bearer of it had fallen by a (hot from Guebra Mafcal. 1 had not a gun in my hand all that day at Serbraxos, nor all that other day when Woodage Afahei was flain. I faw him pafs within lefs than ten yards where 1 was .(landing be- hind the king, in great health dVid ipirits, with two other attendants ; but, fo far from firing at him, I was very anxious in my own mind that he fhould get as fafely out of the camp as he had gal- lantly, though imprudently, forced himfelf into it. It is not a cufl:om known in my country for oflicers THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 691 officers to be employed to pick out diftinguifhed men at fiich advantage, nor would it be confider- ed there as much better than murder : certainly no honour would accrue from it. But when means are neceflary to keep officers of the enemy at a proper diftance, from confequences that might otherwife follow, there are common foldiers chofen for that purpofe, and for v/hich they are not the more efteemed. This, however, I will confefs to you, that when either the king's horfes or mine went down to Deg-Ohha to water, and never but then, 1 fat upon the rock above, and did all in my power to proted them, and the men who were with them, and to terrify the enemy who came to moled them, by fhewing the extenfive range of our rifle guns ; and that very day when Ayto Tesfos arrived, fome of his troops having driven off the mules, among which were two of mine, I did, I confefs, with my own hand fhoot four of them from the rock, and at lafl obliged the reft to keep at a greater diftance; but as for Woodage Afahel, I difown having had arms in my hand the day he entered the camp, or having been abfent, till late in the. evening, from the king's perfon." Now, all this is very well, continued Gufho ; who killed Theodorus, or the man at Serbraxos j who killed Ayto Tesfos's men, is no object of inquiry; Deg-Ohha was within the line of the king's camp, and they that wanted to deprive him. of this poffeffion, or the ufe of it, did it at their "^72 peril 6^2 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER peril. If you had (hot Ayto Tesfos himfelf, at- tempting to deprive you of water for the camp, no man in all Amhara would have faid you did wrong ; but I am very much pleafed with what you tell me of Woodage Afahel. The fhort, yellow man, who breakfafted with you, was one of thofe two who accompanied Woodage Afahel when he v/as fhot, and is a friend of mine ; he brought word that he was killed by a Frank, and the leaden bullet fixed it upon you.'* This man was now immediately called for. He went by the nickname of G horfes, and mules were rolling promifcuoufly over one another. I refolved to try for myfelf fome other way that might be lefs thronged. I went to the place where Woodage Afahel defcended when he was (hot by Sebaftos ; but the ground there was more uneven, and fully as much crowded. I then crofled the road to the eaftward, where the Ras's tent ftood, and where Kefla Yafous's two nephev/s had gone round to diilodge Ayto Tesfos : there was a con- iiderable number of people even here, but it was not a crowd, and they were moftly women. I de- termined to attempt it, and got into a fmall flant- ing road, which I hoped would condud me to the bed of the torrent ; but I found, upon going half way down the hill, that, in place of a road, it had been a hollow made by a torrent, which end- ed on a precipice, and below, and on each fide of this, the hill was exceedingly fteep, the fmall dif-^ tance I could fee. Vol. IV. Z % \n 7o6 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER In AbyfTinia, the camp ovens for making their bread are in form of two tea-faucers joined bottom to bottom, and are fomething lefs than three feet in diameter, being made of a light, beautiful pot- ter's ware, which, although red when firfl made, turns to a gloiTy black colour after being greafed with butter. This being placed upright, a fire of charcoal is put under the bottom-part ; the bread, like pan-cakes, is pafled all within the fide of the upper cavity, or bov/1, over which is laid a cover of the fame form or fhape. It is in form of a broad wheel, ^and a woman carries one of thefe upon her back for baking bread in the camp. It happened that, jufl as I was deliberating whether to proceed or return, a woman had rolled one of thefe dov/n the hill on purpofe, or let it fall by chance: which ever was the cafe, it came bound- ing, and juft paifed behind my horfe» Whether it touched him or not I cannot tell ; but it deter- mined him, without further deliberation, to fpurn all controul of his rider. On the firfl leap that he made it was with the utmofl difficulty I avoided going over his head : I will not pretend to faj what followed. I was deprived of all f^en^Q or re- fleclion, till Humbling often, and fliding down upon his haunches oftener, I found myfelf at the bottom of the hill perfectly flupified with fear, but fafe and found in body, though my faddle was lying upon the horfe's neck. Soon after, I faw a fire lighted on the top of the hill above where Ras Michael's tent flood, and THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 707 and I did not doubt but that it was the work of fome traitor, as a lignal to the rebels that we were now in the plain in the greateft confufion. I made all hafte therefore to go round and join the king, paiTed Deg-Ohha incumbered with carcafes of men and beads, from which, as well as from the bottom of the hill, a terrible flench arofe, which mull foon have forced us out of the camp if we had not refolved, of our own accord, to re- move. A little further in the opening to the river Mariam, I found myfelf in the middle of about twenty perfons, three or four of whom were upon mules, in long clean white clothes, as if in peace, the reft apparently foldiers ; this was Engedan's brother, Aylo, whom I was pafling without re- colledling him, when he cried. Where do you come from, Yagoube? this is not a night for white men like you to be alone ; come with me, and I will carry you to your friend Engedan. My horfe, replied I, found a new way for himfelf down the hill, and I confefs I would rather be alone than with fo much company : our colour by this light feems to be pretty much the fame. Re- member me to Engedan. I am feeking to join the king. Immediately after, I got into the crowd : though they were now in the plain, they ftill kept in a line clofe to the foot of the mountain, as in fear of the enemy's horfe. I paiTed on at as brifk a walk as my horfe could go ; nor was I fo tender of thofe who were before me in the plain as I had Z z 2 been =7c3 TRAVELS' TO DISCOVER been on the fide of the hill. Among thofe that were ftill in the crowd, that had not got yet down the hill, I heard the Abuna's fervant faying they had loft their mules, and denouncing excommu- nication and curfes againft thofe who had ftolen his baggage. I could not refrain from a fit of laughter at the frupidity of that prieft, to think: any man of fuch a nation would pay attention to his anathemas in fuch a fcene. Scon after, how- ever, I overtook the Abuna himfelf, with Ozoro Altaih. He af^ed me in Arabic, and in a very mournful tone oi" voice, what I thought they were going to do ? I anfwered, in the fame language^ " Pray for them, father, for they know not what to do/' Ozoro Altafn now told me the king was a great way before them, with Ras Michael, and advifed me to ftay and accompany her. As fhe fpoke this confidently, and it was part of the ad- vice Gufho had given me if I miffed the king, I was deliberating what courfe I fhould purfue^ when a great noife of horfe and men was heard on the fide of the plain, and prefently the Abuna and Ozoro Altafh were furrounded by a large body of horfemen, whofe cries and language I did not un- deriland, and whom therefore I took for Galla, As I found my horfe ilrong and willing, and be» ing alone, and unincumbered with baggage, I thought it was better to keep free, and not trufl to whom thefe fl:rangers might be. I therefore got out of the line of the troops towards the plain, ipurred THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 709 fpurred my horfe, and arrived at the body of ca- valry where the king was. As I had a white turban upon my head, (hav- ing (haved the fore part of it after the blow I had received from the ftone) I was employed taking this off before I prefented myfelf to the king, when fomebody faid out loud, Ozoro Eflher is taken prifoner. Ras Michael anfwered, That is impoflible ; Ozoro Efther is here. It is Ozoro AltaOi and the Abuna, faid I, from behind ; I came juil now from them. By whom are they taken ? fays the king. By the Galla, I believe, anfwered I ; at lead by men whofe language I did not underftand, though indeed I took no time to confider, but they are clofe in our rear, and I fuppofe they will be here prefently. Here 1 fays the Ras, what will they do here ? It mud: be Pow- uflen, and the troops of Lafta, to recover his mc ther in-law, that fhe may not go to Gondar; and it is the Tcheratz Agow language that Ya- goube has taken for Galla. It is fo, fays another horfeman ; the people of Lafta have carried her off, but without hurting any body. This I thought a good fign, and that they were under orders, for a bloodier or more cruel race was not in the army, the Galla not excepted ; and they had met with their deferts, and had fuffered con- fiderably in the courfe of this (Iiort campaign. The whole road was now as fmooth as a carpet • and we had fcarce done fpeaking when Ras Mi- chaers mule fell Hat on the ground, and threw hira 7IO TRAVELS TO DISCOVER him upon his face in a fmall puddle of water. He was quickly lifted up unhurt, and fet upon his mule again. Wepaffed the Mogetch, and at about 200 yards from the bridge, upon ground equally plain as the former, the mule fell again, and threw the Ras another time in the dirt, on which a ge- neral murmur and groan was heard from all his attendants, for every body interpreted this as an omen that his power and fortune were gone from him for ever. Another mule was fpeedily brought, but he refufed to mount it, and we paiTed on by the Mahometan town, and up to Confu's houfe, by Aylo Meidan. I could not, however, help refleding how juflly the Ras was now punilhed for the murder of the fingers in that very fpot, when he returned from Mariam-Ohha and entered Gondar. The king went diredly to the palace, the Ras to his own houfe, and, by the fecretary's advice, I went with him to that of the Abuna, where I left my Greek fervants v/ith my gold chain, and fome trifles I wanted to preferve, together with my inflruments. I then dreffed myfelf in the habit of peace, and returned to the palace, where, rememibering the advice of Guiho, I refolved to expe<5l my fate with the king. Upon feeing me v/ith the fore part of m.y head fhaven, and remem- bering the caufe, as his firft mark of favour he ordered me to cover my head, a thing otherwife pot permitted in the king's prefence to any of his houfehold. The THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 711 The king's fervants brought me a bull's hide for my bed j and although many a night I have wanted reft upon lefs dangerous occafions, I fcarce- ly ever llept more foundly, till I heard the crack- ing of the whips of the Serach Maflery, about five o'clock in the m^orning of the 29th. He performs this funftion much louder than a French poftilion upon finifhing a poft, it being the lignal for the king to rife. There was, indeed, no occafion for this cuftom, now there was no court, nor judg- ment of caufes civil or criminal. The palace was quite deferred ; even the king*s flaves, of both fexes, (fearing to be carried off to Begemder and Amhara) had hid themfelves among the monks, and in the houfes of private friends, fo that th^ hlng was left with very few attendants. =< rl A i «• 12 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER G H A P. XXIX. Rebel Army invefis Gondar — Ki?2g's Troops deliver tip their Arms — T^he Murderers of Joas affaffina- ted — Gujho made Ras — B^as Michael carried away Prifoner by Rowujfen-^lteghe* s return to Kofcam — Fajil arrives at Gondar — King acknowledged by all Parties — Bad Condud of GuJho — Obliged to fly^ but is taken and put in Irons, x\BOUT eight o'clock in the morning of thii 29th of May, the day immediately following the. night of our retreat, came Gufho's Fit-Aurarisry and marked out the camp for his mafler between the Mahometan town and the church of Ledeta, on the very fpot where Michael had encamped after his late return from Tigre 5 Coque Abou Barea from Ledeta to Kofcam ; Aylo and Ayab- dar on the other fide of the Kahha, in a line paf- fmg by Kedus Raphael, the Abuna's houfe at the foot of the mountain, above Debra Berhan ; Ayto Tesfos in the valley below, by the fide of the Angrab \ THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 713 Angtab ; on the road from Woggora to Gondar, and all along the Angrab, till it joined the Kah- ha, and Kafmati Gufho's camp, were Powufleu and the reft of the confederate army ; fo that by nine o'clock the town was completely inverted, as if a wall had been built round it. The water being all in poffellion of the enemy, centinels were by them placed along the banks of each river, with orders to fuffer every townfman to fill fmgle jars, fuch as one man or w^oman could carry, and to break any fupernumerary jars, that might.be brought by way of fecuring a larger provifion *• All the people of confequence who had property in and about Gondar, who had fled to Fafil and to the provinces, from fear of Ras Michael when he returned from Tigre, had gone back upon Gufho's word, each man to his houfe ; Gondar was full of men in arms. In Guflio's and Ayab- dar's army, and depending on them, was the pro- perty of all Gondar. Ras Woodage, Gufho's father, and brother to Ayabdar, had been Ras in Yafous' time, till he died, univerfally beloved and regretted; Ay to Engedan and Aylo, fons of Kaf- mati Efhte, (by a fifter of king Yafous) had the property of near one half of the town. Though Engedan was prifoner, and Aylo had married Ras Michael's daughter, they were, by intereft and inclination, united to Guflio, and had ferved Michael only through fear, from attachment to * For extinguifhing firCp the 7f4 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER the king, fo that Gufho and Ayabdar were the only citizens in whom the inhabitants of Gondar confided. Powuflen, and the reft, were looked upon as free-booters in their inclinations, at leaft by the townfmen ; very little better than Michael, or his troops of Tigre. From the moment the town was inverted, and indeed m the field, before Gufho had taken the lead, and though neither Ayabdar nor Powuflen were his friends, all Gondar was at his com- mand ; and in it an army infinitely fuperlor in number and riches, now they had got fuch a chieftain, to all the Confederates put together, and Michael's army added to them. Gufho, a man of great underftanding, born and bred in Gondar, knew this perfectly well, and that he alone was looked up to as the father of his coun» try. He knew, moreover, that he could not ruin Michael fo elFeftualiy as to lodge him in Gondar, amidfl a multitude of enemies, ar«d blockade him there before he had time for refources. Be there- fore detached Ayto Tesfos, the very day he ar- rived before the town, ^fter Darien, Bafha of BelefTm, whom Ras Miciiael had fent before him into V\roggora to effect a paffage through that province into Tigre by fair means, promifes, and prefents. Tesfos came up with Darien before he bad time to enter upon his commiiTion, and, hav- ing beaten and taken him prifoner, ralfed all Woggora in arms, againft Michael, fo that not 4 man THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 715 a man could longer pafs between Tigre and Gondar. No perfon from the rebel army had yet enter- ed Gondar. The king's fecretary, Azage Kyrii- los, a relation of Gufho, had gone to his camp - the day of his arrival. The fame day the kettle- drums were brought to the brink of Kahha, and a proclamation made, That all foldiers of the province of Tigre, or who had borne arms under Ras Michael, fhould, on the morrow before mid- day, bring their arms, offenfive and defenfive, and deliver them on a fpot fixed upon near the church of Ledeta, to commilTaries appointed for the purpofe of receiving them ; with further inti- mation to the inhabitants of Gondar, That afly arms found in any houfe in that town, after noon of the day of proclamation, fhould fubjed the own- er of fuch houfe and arms to death, and the houfe, or houfes, to be razed to their foundation. The firfl of the Tigre troops who fet this exam- ple was Guebra Mafcal ; he carried down to the place appointed, and furrendered, about 6000 mufquets, belonging to the Ras and his family ; all the refl of the principal oiiicers followed, for the inhabitants of Gondar were willing inquifitors, fo that the whole arms w^ere delivered before the hour appointed, and locked up in the church of Ledeta, under a ftrong guard both without and within the church. The Tigre foldiers, after fur- rendering their arms, were not fuffered to depart, b,ut a fpace was alTigned between Gufho's tent and 7i6 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER and the town, where they were difpofedthat night, and centinels placed upon them, that they might not difperfe. This indeed was neediefs ; for they were every day furrounded with troops and ene- mies, fo that all their wealth remained with their landlords in Gondar, which home they were not fuffered again to enter, a meafure which greatly added to Gufho's popularity in tbe town. A great number of fiour facks were brought down to Gulho's camp, and many mules, loaded there- with, were delivered to the difarmed army, fuffi- cient to carry them by fpeedy marches to their own country, for which they had orders to fet out the next morning. Kefla Yafous alone, with about 400 men, hai fliut himfelf up in the church of Debra Berhan, where there was water, and he had carried in fufficient provifions for feveral days. He refufed therefore tofurrender upon the general fummons; on which Powuffen, who was encamped imme- diately below him, fent an officer to require him to fubmit, which he not only peremptorily re- fufed, but told the officer, that, unlefs he inftantly retired, he would give orders to fire upon him, as he had a treaty with Gufho, and, till that was ratified by Gufho himfelf, he would not furren- der, nor fuffer any other perfon to approach his pod ; at any rate, that he did not intend to fur- render to a man of PowuiTen's low birth, howe- ver high his prefent pofl had raifed him, which l\e no longer acknowledged, being the mere gift THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 717 of Michael, one complaint againft whom was that of levelling and confounding the nobility with their inferiors. Gufho accordingly fent an officer, a man of great character, and a relation of the king, with a confirmation of his promife j whereupon Kefla Yafous furrendered, and fent down his foldiers, with what arms he pleafed, to Gufho's camp, car- rying the reft privately to his own houfe, to which he retired that very evening. Kefla Yafous was much beloved by the inhabitants of Gondar, though a Tigran, and perhaps in neither party was there a man fo univerfally efteemed. He had done the townfmen often great fervice, having always ftood between Michael and them in thofe moments of wrath and vengeance when no one elfe dared to fpeak ; and, in particular, he had faved the town from burning that morning the Ras had retired with the king to Tigre, when warned, as he faid, by an apparition of Michael the archangel, or more probably of the devil, to put the inhabitants of Gondar to the fword, and fet the city on fire j a raeafu e that v/as fupport- ed by Nebrrc Tecla, and feverai other leading men among the Tigrans. If the devil can fpeak true, here furely was one example of it, Gondar that very day had proved fatal to the Ras ; and Kefla Yafous himfelf told me, long alier Michael was gone, and all was peace, tliat having v^fited him that very evening he left Debra Berhan, Michael had privately upbraiaed him with haviiig prevent- ed 7.8 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER ed his burning the town, and told him, that his guardian fpirit. Saint Michael the archangel, or the devil, or whatever we may pleafe to call it, had left him, and never appeared to him again iince he had pafTcd the river Tacazze on his re- turn to Gondar ; and to this he attributed his prefent misfortunes. All the king's arms were furrendered with the reft, and Kefla Yafous was the only man that re- mained unfubdued, a diftindion due to his fuper- lative merit, and preferved to him by his ene- mies themfelves in the very heat of conqueft. As for the Ras, he had continued in the houfe belonging to his office, vifited only by fome pri- vate friends, but had fent Ozoro Efther to the Iteghe's at Kofcam, as foon as he entered Gon- dar. He ate, drank, and flept as ufual, and rea- foned upon the event that had happened with great equanimity and feeming indifference. There was no appearance of guards fet upon him ; but every motion and look were privately but ftridly watched. The next day, when he heard how ill his difarmed men were treated by the populace, when they were difmifled to Tigre, he burll into tears, and cried out in great agony. Had I died before this I had been happy. He played no more at drafts, by which game formerly he pre- tended to divine the iffue of every affair of con- fequence, but gave his draft-board and men to a private friend -, at the fame time renouncing his pretended THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 719 pretended divinations, as deceitful and fmful, by the confidence he had placed in them. The king behaved with the greatefl firmnefs and compofure ; he was indeed graver than ufual, and talked lefs, but was not at all dejeded. Scarce any body came near him the firft day, or even the fecond, excepting the priefls, fome of the judges, and old inhabitants of the town, who had taken no part. Some of the priefls and monks, as is their cuflom, ufed certain liberties, and mixed a confiderable degree of impertinence in their converfations, hinting it as doubtful, whe- ther he would remain on the throne, and men- tioning it, as on the part of the people, that he had imbibed from Michael a propenfity towards cruelty and bloodflied, what fome months ago no man in Gondar dared to have furmifed for his life, Thefe he only anfwered with a very fevere look, but faid nothing. One of thefe fpeeches being re- ported to Gufho, not as a complaint from the king, butthroughaby-ftander whoheardit,thatnobleman ordered the offender (a prieft of ErbaTenfa, a church in Woggora) to be ftript naked to his waift, and whipt with thongs three times round Aylo Mei- dan, till his back was bloody, for this violation of the majelly of the fovereign : and this example, which met with the public approbation of all parties, the clergy only excepted, very much lef- fened that infolence which the king's misfortunes had excited. He 720 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER He had ate nothing the firfl: day but a fmall piece-of wheat-loaf, dividing the reft among the few fervants that attended him, who had all fared better than he, among their friends in town, though they did not own it. The fecond day began in the fame ftile, and lafted till noon, with- out any appearance of provifions. After the furrendry of the arms, however, came great plen- ty, both from the town and the camp, and fo continued ever after;, but he ate very fparingly, though he had generally a very good appetite, and ordered the refidue to be given to his fervants, or the poor about the gates of the palace, many of whom, he faid, muft ftarve by the long ft ay of fo large an army. He feemed to be totally for- gotten. About three o'clock .of the fecond day came his fecretary from Guftio, ftaid dhout an hour, and returned immediately ; but what had palTed I did not hear, at leaft at that time. There was no alteration in his looks or behaviour. He went early to bed, and had not yet changed the cloaths in which he came from the camp. The next day the unfortunate troops of Tigre, loaded with curfes and opprobrious language, pelted with ftones and dirt, and a few w^ay-Iaid and flain for private injuries, v/ere condudled up the hill above Debra Berhan, on the road through Wpggora to Tigre, by a guard of horfe from Gufno's camp, who protected them with great humanity as far as they were able ; but it was out of the power of any force but that of an army to I prote<^ THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 721 protedt them from the enraged populace, over whom they had tyrannifed fo many years. Arrived at the river Angrab, in the rear of Powuffen's army, they were configned to him, and he delivered them to Ayto Tesfos, who v/as to efcort them acrofs the Tacazze. Many of the mob, how^ever, continued to purfuc them even farther ; but thefe were all to a man difarmed, and flript naked, on their return to Gondar, by Tesfos and PowuITen's foldiers, who juftly judged, that in the like fitua- tion they would themfelves have met with no better treatment. While every rank of people was intent upon this fpe6lacle, a body of Galla, belonging to Maitfha, dole privately into the town, and plundered fe- veral houfes : they came next into the king's pa- lace, and in the prefence-chamber, where he was fitting alone in an alcove, whilfl, jufl by his fide, but out of fight, and without the alcove, I and two of his fervants were fitting on the floor. This room, in the time of Yafous and the Iteghe, (the days of luxury and fplendour in the Abyflinian court), had been magnificently hung with mirrors, brought at great expence from Venice, by way of Arabia and the Red Sea j thefe werd very neatly fixed in copper-gilt frames by fome Greek filligrane-workers from Cairo ; but the mirrors were now moftly broken by various accidents, efpecially when the palace was fet on fire, in Joas's time, upon MichaeFs coming from the campaign of I'egemder. Thefe favages, though Vol. IV. A a a they 4 722 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER they certainly faw the king at the other end of the room, attached themfelves to the glafs neareil the door, which was a large oblong one, and after they had made many grimaces, and a variety of antics before it, one of them llruck itjuft in the middle with the butt-end of his lance, and broke it to fhivers, which fell tinkling on the floor. Some of thefe pieces they took up, but in the end they ■were moftly reduced to powder with the repeated (Irokes of their lances. There were three glafTes in the alcove where the king fat, as alfo one in the wings on each fide without the alcove ^ under the king's right hand we three were fitting, and due Gaila were engaged with a mirror near the door, at the other end of the room, on the left lide, fo that there was but one glafs more to break before they arrived at thofe in the alcove where the king w^as fitting. I was in great fear of the confequences, as they were about thirteen or fourteen in number 5 nor did we know how many more of their companions might be below, or in the town^ or of what party they were, nor whether refiflance on our part was lawful. We three had no arms but a fhort knife at our girdle, nor had the king any, fo that we were in the greateft fear that if their humour of breaking the glaifes had continued when they came near the king, he would ftrike one of them, and we ihould be all maifacred : We all three therefore got up and flood before the king, who made a gentle motion with his hand, as if to fay, '^ Stay THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 723 *' Stay a little, or, have patience." At this in- ftant, Tenfa Chriftos, (a man of confiderable autho- rity in Gondar, who was underflood by Gufho to be trufted with the care of the town, though he had no name or poft, for there was yet no form of government fettled,) hearing the Galla had plundered houfes, and gone into the palace, fol- lowed them as faft as poffible, with about a hun- dred flout young men belonging to Gondar, well- armed. The Galla foon faw there was a more ferious occupation awaiting them, and ran out to the great hall of the king's chamber, called Adera- fha, when one of thefe foldiers of Gondar (liut the door of the room where the king fat. The Galla at firft made a fhew of refiflance ; but two of them being very much wounded, and feeing them- felves in a houfe where they did not know their way, and all affiftance from their comrades im- poffible, they furrendered their arms ; they then were tied two and two, and fent in this manner down to Guftio's camp, who immediately ordered two of them to be hanged, and the reil to be whipt and difmiffed, Tenfa Chriftos, after having done this good fer- vice, came into the room to the king, and kiifed the ground in the ufual manner before him. The king immediately ordered him to rife, gave him his hands to kifs, and then permitted him to withdraw, without having laid one word in his commendation for having delivered him from fo great a danger. That fame day, a little after A a a 2 noon. 724 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER noon, a party of foldlers was fent into the town, who apprehended Shalaka Becro and his fon ; Nebrit Tecla, and his two fons ; two fons of Lika Netcho a prieil, and another man, whofe narne I have forgot, in all eight peii^jns, natives of the province of Tigre, dependant? andfervants of Ras l^jichael, and murderers of the late king Joas* Thefe being brought to the market-place, were delivered into the hands of the Edjow-G alia, for- merly Joas's guard. Becro and his fon were hewn to pieces with knives ; Nebrit Tecia's fons, the elded firft, and then the youngeil, were thruil through with lances ; and their father being then Ijroucht to them where they lay, and defired to fay if he knew who they were, and anfwering in the negative, he was immediately cut to pieces, as were the others, with great circumflances of cruelty, and their mangled bodies thrown about the ftreets, Thefe were all the executions which followed this great and fudden revolution : a proof of very exemplary moderation in the conquerors, cpnfidering the number of people concerned in the parricide firil, and the confequentiai rebellion after. Lika Netcho, in particular, fully as guilty as his fons, was neverthelefs fpared, becaufe he had married one of the king's relations. As yet none of the chiefs of the rebels had entered Gondar. MeiTages had palTed, but not frequent- ly, between the king and Gufho ; fewer flill be- tween him and Powuflen: as for the reft, they feemed to take no lead at all. On THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 725 On the I ft of June, Guflio and Powuffen cartie both to the houfe of the Ra&, where they interro- gated him very roughly as to all his pad conduct. Till the execution of Joas's murderers, he had conftantly drefled himfelf in his very bed apparel, with all the infignia of command. As foon as this W2ts told him, he cloathed himfelf plainly, and conftantly in white, with a cowl of the fame co- lour on his head, like the monks, a fign he had retired from the world. It feemcd as if this was done through a fondnefs for life, for by that a£l he devoted the remainder of his days to obfcurity and penitence. Nothing remarkable happened at this interview, at leaft as far as was known. From thence Guftio and Powuffen went to the king's palace, where they did homage, and took the oaths of allegiance. It was there refolved that Guftio ftiould be Ras, and the other places were all difpofed of. Fiom this time forward the king began to have a (hew of government, no party having teftified any fort of difcontent with him ; on the contrary, each of the rebel chiefs now waited upon him feparate- ly, and had long conferences with him ; but^ what bade faireft to re-eftablifti his authority en- tirely uas, the diftentions that evidently reigned among the leaders of the rebels themfelves, whom we, however, ftiall no longer confider as fuch, not becaufe their treafon had prolpered, but becaufe they were now returned to their duty. It was ftrongly fufpeded that a treaty was on foot be- tween 726 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER tween Gufeo and Michael, by which the latter^ in confideration of a large fum, was to put the former again in pofTeilion of the province of Tigre ; others again faid, that Kefla Yafous, at Ras Mi- chael's defire, was to be made governor of Tigre, and to have a large fum of gold, which Michael was fuppofed to have concealed there, and which he was to remit to Gufho, whilft he and Michael were to underiland each other about the govern- ment Qf {j^Q province. Be that as it may, PowufTen, on the 4th of June, without any previous notice given to Gufho, marched into Gondar with a thoufand horfe, and, without further ceremony, ordered Ras Michael to be placed upon a mule, and, joining the reft of his army, who had ail flruck their tents, march- ed away fo fuddenly to Begemder, that Ozoro Either, then refiding at the queen her mother's houfe at Kofcam, had fcarcely time to fend her old hufband a frefh mule, and feme fupply of necef- fary provifions. All the reft of the troops de- camped immediately after, the rains beginning now to be pretty conftant, and the foldiers de- firous to be at home. Some of the great men, indeed, remained at Gondar, fuch as Ayabdar, Engedan, and others, who had views of prefer- ment. Guiho took poiTeffion of the Ras's houfe and office ; the king's officers and fervants return- ed to the palace; the places of thofe that had fallen in battle v/ere filled, and the whole town began to refume an appearance of peace, which every one THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 727 one who confidered feared would be of a very fliort duration. A few days after the army of Begemder had left Gondar, Powulfen fent the ufurper Socinios, load-' ed with irons, from Agar Salam, a fmali town in Begemder, v/here he had been kept prifoner. He was brought before the king in the fame equipage he arrived, and being interrogated who he was, anfwered with great boldnefs, that he was Soci- nios, fon to king Yafous, fon of Bacuffa ; that he had not fought to be made king, but was forced by the Iteghe and Sanuda ; this every one knew to be true. Soon after his mother was examined ; but denying now what fhe had formerly fworn, that fhe ever had any intimate connexion with the late king Yafous, Socinios was fentenced to death ; but being in his manners, figure, and converfation perfedly defpicable, the king direOed he fhould ferve as a fiave in his kitchen, whence he was taken, fome time afterwards, and hanged for theft. On the 21ft of June, the Iteghe arrived from Gojam, and all the people of Gondar flocked to fee her without the town. Gufho had met her at Tedda ; and, at the fame time that he welcomed her, told her, as from the king, that it was his orders that neither Palambaras Mammo, nor Likaba Beecho, were to enter the town with her. This fhe confidered as a very high affront, and the work of Gufho, not the king's orders. She up- braided Gufho with avarice, pride, and malice, declared 728 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER declared him a greater tyrant than Michael, with- out his capacity, forbidding him to appear any more before her, and with great difficulty could be prevailed to go on to Kofcam inftead of re- turning to Gojam. It is impofTible to conceive the enthufiafm with which the fight of the old queen infpired all forts of people. Gufho had no troops, the king as few, being left even without a fervant in his palace. Then was the feafon for rnifchief, had not Fafil been hovering with his army, without declaring his approbation or dif- approbation of any thing that had been done, or was doing. About the end of June he came at once to Abba Samuel, without announcing himfelf before hand, according to his ufual cuflom, and he paid his firft vifit to the Iteghe, then a fhort one to the king, where I faw him : he was very facetious with me, and pretended I had promifed him my horfe when I returned from Maitlha, which I ex- cufed, by obferving the horfe was out of town. Well, well, fays he, that (hall not fave you ; tell Kie where he is and I will fend for him, and give you the beft mule in the army in exchange, and take my chance of recovering him wherever he is. With all my heart, replied I ; you will find him, perhaps in the valley of Serbraxos, at the foot of the hill, oppofite to the fouth ford of the river Mariam. He laughed heartily at this, fhook me by the hand at parting, faying, Weil, well, for all this you fnall not want your mule. The THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 72,9 The king was exceedingly pleafed at what had paflfed, and faid, " I wifh you would tell rue, Yagoube, how you reconcile all thefe people to you. It is a fecret which will be of much more importance to me than to you. There is Guflio now, for example, fo proud of his prefent fortune, that he fcarcely will fay a civil word to me; and Fafil has brought me a lift of his own fervants^ whom he wants to make mine without afking my leave, (Adera Tacca Georgis, whom he named to be FIt-Auraris to the king, as he had done formerly when he wanted to quarrel with Socinios, Gubena to be Cantiba, and fom.e others), yet he never fees you come into the room but he begins immediately joking and pleafant converfation. After thefe appointments, which were not dif- puted with him, though otherwife very much againft the king's inclination, Fafil retired with his army to Maitfha. In the mean time, Guiho fet every thing to fale, content with the money the offices produced, and what he could fqueeze from people who had crimes, real or alledged, to compound for. He did not perceive that fteps were taking by his ene- mies which would foon deprive him of all the ad- vantages he enjoyed. Inftead of attending to this, he amufed himfelf with mortifying the Iteghc, whofe daughter, Welleta Ifrael, he had formerly married, but who had long left him by the perr fuafion of her mother. He thought it was an af- front to his dignity that the king had pardoned Likaba 730 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER Likaba Beecho, and Palambaras Mammo, the very day after he had forbid them to enter the to>yn ; and, what was ftill ftronger, that the king, with- out his confent, had fent an invitation to the Iteghe to return to Gondar, and govern as his mother, to the extent (he did in the time of Joas ; he re* folved therefore to attempt the creating a mifun- derflanding between the king and queen, a matter not very difficuh in itfelf to bring about. Gufho had confifcated, in the name of the king, all the queen's villages, which made her believe that this offer of the king to bring her to Gondar was an infidious one. In order to make the breach the wider, he had alfo prevailed upon the king's mother to come to Gondar, and infifl with her fon to be crowned, and take the title and flate of Iteghe. The king was prevailed upon to gratify his mother, under pretence that the Iteghe had refuicd to come upon his invitation ; but this, as it was a pretence only, fo it was exprefsly a viola- tion of the law of the land, which permits but one iteghe, and never allows the nomination of a new one while the former is in life, however dif-. tajat a relation Ihe may be to the then reigning king, In confequence of this new coronation, two large villages, Tfhemmera and Tocuffa, which belonged to the Iteghe as appendages of her royalty, of courfe devolved upon the king's own mother, newly crowned, who fending her people to take poffeffion, the inhabitants not only refufed to ad- mit her officers^ but forcibly drove them away, declaring THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 731 declaring they would acknowledge no other mif- trefs but their old one, to whom they were bound by the laws of the land. If Guflio, in this manner, dealt hardly with the queen, his behaviour to the king was neither more jufl nor generous : he had not only failed to ad- vance any gold for the king's fubfiftence, but had intercepted that part of his revenue which he knew was ready to be paid him, and in the hands of others of his fubjeds. A dated daily allowance was, indeed, delivered to the king in kind for the maintenance of his houfehold, but even this was fmaller than had been fettled by Ras Michael ; befides which, 120 jars of honey, being one day fent the king from Damot, and at the fame time 1000 cotton coats from Walkayt, both thefe were feized upon by Gufho, without any part being of- fered to the king, who thereupon determined to break with him, as did the Iteghe from the for- mer provocation. Ayabdar, never reconciled to him before the battle of Serbraxos, had frefli reafon of difference with him from an unequal diftribution of Ras Mi- chael's eiFeds, while Engedan, who had been promifed the province of Kuara, and whom the king very much favoured, folicited that pod in vain, unlefs he would advance a thoafand ounces of gold, which he pofitively refufed to do. The king fomented all thefe complaints by fending a perfon of confequence to Fov/ullen, who advifed him *l^t TRAVELS TO DISCOVER him to arreft Guflio immediately, and promifed^ if refiftance was made, to be at Gondar in thre^ days. Engedan and Ayabdar were trufted with th^ execution of this, but as Gufho was beloved by the people of Gondar, the fecret was not fo well kept but that it came to his ears. On the 1 6th of July, (the feaft of Saint Michael) Gufho pretended he had made a vow to vifit the church of that Saint at Azazo, and accordingly, early in the morning, he fet out for that village, attended with thirty horfe and fifty mufqueteers ; but no fooner had he paffed the church than his real intention appeared, and he was purfued by Gubeno, Cantiba of Dembea ; Ayto Adigo, Pa- lambaras ; and Ayto Engedan* Gubeno alone, being hearty in the caufe, came up with him firft as they had paffed the river Derma, when Gufho, feeing Gubeno's troops clofe behind him, turned quickly upon them^ lepafied the river, and, hav. ing killed two of the foremofl with his own hand, and repelled the refl, he returned acrofs iht river, and faced about upon the bsnks of it. Upon the other troops coming up, he called to Engedan, putting him in mind how lately he had been in his hands, and advifing them all to return to Gon* dar, and tell the king he fhould again be with him in fifteen days. A council was thereupon held, and as it was plain, from the countenance of the man, that he was re- folved to refifl to the utmoft, none of the leaders then prefent thought themfelves warranted to rifk the THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 735 the death of a perfon fo noble, and fo powerfuliy related, efpecially in an; obfcure ikinnifh, fuch aSi was then likely to happen, the motives for which) were not publicly known ; they accordingly all' returned to Gondar, leaving the Ras to purfue his way, who being now advanced as far as Deg-* waffa, and thinking himfelf out of all danger, was fuddenly funounded by Aclog, governor o£ a little diftridl: there, and even from him he would have efcaped by his own courage and exertion, had not his horfe funk in miry ground whence he could not recover him. After receiving thefe news, the king fent his Fit-Auraris, Adera Tacca Georgis, and Ayto Engedan, with a number of troops, to bring Gulho to town, when he return- ed a miferable figure, with his head fhaven: he^ was cloathed in black, and was confined that fame day (the firfl of i^uguft) a clofe prifoner, and in irons, in a high, damp, uninhabited tower of the king's houfe, without being pitied by either party. It was now the feafon of the year when this country ufed to overflow with milk and honey ; becaufe, being in all the low part of it covered with rain, the horfemen and foidiers, who ufed to obilru£t the roads, were all retired to quarters, and the peafants, bringing provifions to the mar- ket, pafled the high grounds in fafety ; all forts of people, profiting by the plenty which this oc- cafioned, indulged themfelves to the greateft ex- cefs in every fort of pleafure^to which their refpec- tivc 734 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER live appetites led them. The rains had fallen, in- deed, as ufual, but had not, however, flopped the march of the armies, and if not a famine, at lead a fcarcity of provilions in Gondar, had been the confequence ; not a word was heard, indeed, of Ras Michael, whether he was alive or dead, but his familiar fpirits feemed to prefide in the air, and pour down mifchief. CHAP. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 735 n. A JTe ivA.ikt The Author obtains Liberty to return Home^-^Takes Leave of the Iteghe at Kofcam-^-LaJi Interview with the Monks, k!5lNCE the queen came again to Kofcam, I had pafled a great part of my time there, but my health declining every day, I had obtained, with great difficulty, liberty from her to attempt my return home. The king, too, after a hundred excep- tions and provifos, had at length been brought to give an unwilling confent. I had feen alfo Meti- cal Aga's fervant, who, upon finding Ras Mi- chael was difgraced, would not flay, but hafled back, and would fain have prevailed upon me to return with him through Tigre into Arabia. But belides that I was determined to attempt complet- ing my journey through Sennaar and the defer t,, I by no means liked the rifk of paffing again through Mafuah, to experience a fecond time the brutal manners of the Naybe and garrifon of that place. Captain TRAVELS TO DISCOVER Captain Thomas Price, of the Lion of Bombay, had been obliged, by his bufmefs with the go- vernment of Mecca, to continue at Jidda till the feafon after I went from thence to Abyffinia. I had already heard once from him, and now a fecond timcv . He informed me my countrymen had been in the greatefl: pain for me; that feveral reports had been current, both at Jidda and Mocha, of my having been affaffinated ; fome- times it was faid by the Naybe of Mafuah ; fome- times that it had happened at Gondar ; by others at Sennaar, in my return home. Captain Price wrote me in this lafl: letter, that, thinking I mull be diftrelied for want of money, he had left or- ders with Ibrahim Seraif, the Englifli broker at JJdda,- to advance me looo crowns, defiring my draft to be fent to Ibrahim, direded to him or his brother at Bombay, and to make it payable to a gentleman of that name who lived in Smithfield. i cannot omit mentioning thefe inftances of the philanthropy and generofity of Mr. Price, to whom I bore no relation, and who was but a common acquaintance, whom I had acquired a- mong my countrymen during my flay at Jidda. The only title I had to this confideration was, that he thought I was probably in diflrefs, and that as it was in his power alone to relieve me, this in itfelf, to a noble mind, conftituted a fuf- ficient obligation. I do not believe Captain Price was able to read a word of Latin, fo that fen- timent in Terence, " Homo f^im, nihil humani T ^' mihi THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 737 '^ mihi alienum elTe puto/' was as much an ori- ginal in Mr. Price's bread as if it had never be- fore been uttered. I told Metical Aga's fervant the bad news I had got from Sennaar, and he agreed perfedlly with the contents, adding, that the journey was not prafticable ; he declared they were fo inhuman and fo barbarous a race, that he would not at- tempt the journey, Mahometan as he was, for half the Indies. I bego^ed him to fav no more on that head, but to procure from his mailer, Me- tical Ao-a at Mecca, a letter to any man of confe- quence he knew at Sennaar. My refolution being therefore taken, and leave obtained, this will be now the place to refume the account of my finapces. I have already gone fo far as to mention three hundred pounds which I had occafionally borrowed from a Greek whofe name was Petros. This man was originally a native of the ifland of Rhodes, which he mud have left early, for he was not at this time much pad thirty ; he had been by trade a fhoemaker. For what reafon he left his own country I know not, but he was of a very pleafmg figure and ad- drefs, though very timid. Joas and the Iteghe very much didinguidied him, ^nd the king had made him AzelefFa el Camifna, which anfwers precifely to groom of the dole, or fird lord of the bed-chamber in England. Being p!ianr, civil, and artful, and always well dreifed, he haJ gained the good graces of the whole court j he v/as alfo Vol. IV. B b b rich, 73^ TRAVELS tO DISCOVER rich, as the king was generous, and his perqui- fites not inconfiderable. After the campaign of Mariam Barea, v:hen the dwarf was fhot who was (landing before Ras Michael, and the palace fet on fire in the fraj "which followed, the crown, which was under Petros's charge, was melted; the gold, indeed, that it confifted of, was afterwards found, but there was faid to have been on the top of it a pearl, or jewel, of immenfe price and fize, larger than a pigeon's egg ; and this, whatever it was, had difappeared, being in all probability confumed by the fire. Ras Michael, on the contrary, believed that it had been taken out by Petrcs with a view to fell it, and for this reafon he had conftantly re- fufed him liberty to leave AbyiTmia, and had kept him always in fear that fome day or other he would flrip him of all that he had faved. While Michael was befieffino: the mountain Haramat, Petros be- o o feeched me to take L. 300 of him, and give him my firOi, fecond, and third bill of exchange upon Meifrs Julian andRofa,my correfpondent^ at Cairo, payable a month after fight, to the Maronite Ei- fnop of Mount Sinai, after v/hich he fet out for his own country, i?i forma fauprh^ and thereby efcaped the rapacity of both Ras Michael and the Naybe of Mafuah. As for the bill, it came dulf to hand, and was paid to the biiliop, who would very fain have received for each of th-e duplicates, and was near being baftinado'd for infifting upon >i.«iis before the Bey at Cairo, A bill THE SOURCE OF THE NDLE. 739 A bill drav/n from Gondar is a very great curl- ofity when arrived in London ; it Ihould be now upon the file in the iliop of my very worthy and honourable friends the MeflVs Drummond* and Company at Charing-Crofs, It was the only piece of writing of any kind which found its way to its intended deftination, though many had been writ- ten by me on different occafions which prefented for Arabia ; fo that I will recommend to all travellers, for the future, to tack bills of exchange to their letters of greateft confequence, as a fure method of preventing their mifcarriage. I had made a iliew, and with fome degree of oftentation, of fending my gold chain to Cairo by the hands of Metical Aga's fervant, declaring al- ways that it was the only piece of Abyffinian gold I Ihouid carry out of the country, ^^hich I was to leave, both in fa£i: and appearance, a pau- per. Mules are the only beads for carriage com- monly ufed in Abyilinia, though bulls and cows, of a particular kind, are bought for the purpofe by carriers, merchants, and fuch like, in that country, efpecially near the mines or quarries of fait; they are very flow, however, and capable of no great burden, though very eafily maintain- ed. I had abundance of mules of my own for carrying my inltruments and baggage, and the king and Iteghe furniilied me with others for my own riding. I had, befides, two f^ivourite horfes, which 1 intended to attempt to carry home, foojifhly enough ; for though I thought in my owii B b b 2 mind 740 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER mind that I was fufficiently informed of, and pre- pared for all forts of hardiliips, 1 had ;u)t forefeea the hundredth part of the difficulties and dangers that were then awaiting me. On the 6th of Auguft melfengers came from Fafil, and the day after from Pow^uiTen, Begem- der, Gojam, Damot, and Maitflia, which pro- vinces, by their deputies, defiredthat Gufho might be fet at liberty. This the king agreed to, but upon condition that the Ras fliould inftantly pay him I GOO ounces of gold, and 500 mufquets, whidi, on the other fide, was as pofitively re- fufed. Upon this Gufho was put into clofe con- finement, and heavier irons than before: and, what was the moft unjuft, his two fons, who had *left their own country to affifl their father in dif- trefs, were confined in chains with him. All thefe violent meafures were attributed to Ayabdar, Eil- letana Gueta Tecla, Guebra Mafcal, and Eaflia He2:ekias, officers conne<^ed with Ras Michael, xvhcm the king had permitted to return from Tigre, and very much confided in their councils. On the other hand, Adera Tacca Georgis, (the king's Fit-Auraris) and Guebra Welieta Yafous, principal people in Maitfha, and whom Fafil had put about the king, defired leave to re- tire to th^ir own country, frorfi which it is proba- ble they v/ill never again return to Gondar, unlefs as enemies. Although the king (llll obflinacely infided that the Ras fliould pay hirn his tlioufand ouace,^ of 3 g«^^» THE SOURCE OF THE N-|il^E. 741 gold, 2Lnd iive hundred niufquets, as a price for his being fet at liberty, this was refufed by Gudio, in terms that fhewed he was not now, as former- ly, afraid of the king's power. On the other hand, the king proclaimed Kefla Yafous governor of the province of Tigre, with the fame extent of command as Ras Michael had enjoyed it ; and he was already there, and had taken upon him the government of that province. At the fame tirne the king fuperfeded Guiho, and deprived him of his province of Amhara, which was given to his nephew Ayto Adigo, fon of Palambaras Durrie, a man of very great interefl and property in the province ; after which he immediately left Gondar and took his way through B^gemder ; but at the very entrance into Amhara, he v/as dcfcditcd by a fon of Gufho who was expe^ing him ; hi^ troops were difperfed, and his brother, Ayto AdefeiToji, (the man who loft Gulhp's hoffe at the battle of Tedda) wounded and taken prifoner. There i^emained no longer any doubt that, as foon as the rains were over, the former fcenes of bloodfhed and confufion were to be acted over again; for, by appointing Kefia Yafous to the government of Tigre, and Ayto Adigo to that of Amhara, and the peaceable pafTage given to this young nobleman through Begemder, in order to fupplant his uncle Guflio, by the great confidence fhewn by the king in the old officers and relations of Has Michael, now at Gondar, and the difmif- fion of FafiFs friends, (Adera Tatca Georgi;; and 742 fliAV:^LS TO I^ISCOVER and Confu Ad am) the mofl ample confeflion pof- fible was made, that the king had again thrown himfelf into the arms of the province of Tigre and Begemder united, to which Amhara was to be added, by keeping Gufho prifoner, till fuch time as his nephew Adigo could gain entire poiTellion. To tounterpoife this, a mefTenger arrived from Fafil, demanding privately of the king, that Gufho ihould be fet at liberty, and retufn to his province of Amhara ; that Lika Netcho, one of the murderers of Joas, (who had been fpared, a^ beiiig married to a relation of the king) (hbuld be immediately put to death, and that all the officers belonging to Has Michael, then at court, fhould be baniihed for ever to Tigre, their native country. The king returned a pofttive refufal, not qualified in any Hiape whatever. A difagreement now happened, which, more t lan all the reil, was intereiting, and diflurbed me in particular. Pofrtive information was brought to the Jteghe, and, I believe, very authentic^ t'lat the king, weary of the many councils held at Kofcam by the feT\?ants and deputies of the fe- Veral parties, in the queen's prefence, (to which h t was not called) had determined to give up the palace of Kofcam, in which it was thought there were great riches, to be plundered by his foldiers. As the death of the queen by her confinement in fome diilant defert and unwholefome convent, mud have probably been the confequenCe of fuc- cefs oil ofie'part, fo an immediate revolution, and the THE SOURCE OF THE NILE„ 74^ the death of the king, was certainly to follow the mifcarriage on the other, that is, ihould he be defeated in, or after making the attempt. Troops, headed by Engedan, Ayto Confu, and by Manimo, and all the Iteghe's relations, now crowd- ed into Kofcam, into v/hich great plenty of pro- vifions was alfo carried. The wall was high and ftrong, the gates lately put into good repair, the tower, or callle, within in perfect good order ; the Iteghe had not furrendered her fire-arnis, and all the inhabitants around, efpecially the poorer fort, were firmly attached to her, as in times of diftrefs and famine her charity afforded them a conftant refuge. Since the Iteghe had returned, I always lived at Kofcam by her own defire, as her health was very precarious fince her refidence in Gojam. This fuited my intention of withdrawing privately^ and therefore, not to multiply the number of leave-takings, I had feen Gufho but onct*, and that for a moment, and Ayabdar not at all, fo that my whole attendance was now between the king and queen. The king had denied publicly his intention of plundering Kofcam, but in a manner not at all fatisfadory to the Iteghe; I ventured therefore to mention it to him one day; when he was alone, on which he faid, " I would not do it for your fake, Yagoube, were there no other reafon; but my mother (meaning the Iteghe) is ill-advifed, and worfe informed." On 744 TP.AVELS TO DISCOVER On the i 3th of Odober, PowuiTen, with a very confiderable army, and without any previous in- timation, arrived at Kofcam, his head-quarters all the lail campaign. He continued there till the 2. 2d of the fame month, and then decamped, paf- fi ig by Gondar, without entering it ; he came to Ras Gufho*s houfe, under the hill of Kofcam, where he had feveral interviews with the king and Iieghe, to what purport was never known; but it probably was to endeavour fome reconcilement between the king and queen, and this was effe£ted a few days afterwards (at lead in appearance) by Ayabdar, and fome of the great men at Gondar, after w^hich PowuiTen returned to Begemder. For my part, I neither defired nor obtained an inter- view ; I faw that the florm was ready to break, m\d I was taking the mod fpeedy and effectual way to be out of the fphere of its adion. On the 1 2th of November, all Gondar was firuck with a panic at the news brought in by the peafants from the country, flying for refuge to the capital, deditute of every thing, and thankful only they had efcaped with life. Fafil had march- ed with a confiderable army from Ibaba, and ad- vanced to Dingleber in peace, when he left the main body, under the conduct of Welleta Yafous, and all his baggage, conlidering that place as the limits of his government. He marched from this, v/ithout taking for himfelf two changes of raiment, at the head of 700 horfe, the mod wild and def- perate banditti that ever were introduced into any THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 745 any unfortunate country. With thefe he burnt every village and every church between Dingleber and Sar-Ohha, murdered every male, without diftindtion of prieft or layman; killed every wo- man pad the age of child-bearing, and gave the others as flaves to the wild Pagan Galla whom he had with him. In fliort, he juft indulged that body of men in the fame enormities that they themfelves exercife in the inroads they make into countries unhappy enough to be their neighbours in time of war. The whole country of DegwaiTa, the diftricl v^hich Aclog commanded, was totally dellroyed ; men, women, and children, were entirely extirpated, without diftinclion of age or fex; the houfes ail razed to the ground, and the country about it left as defolate as after the de- luge. The villages belonging to the king were as feverely treated ; an univerfal cry was heard from every part, but no one dared to fugged any means of help> parties were fo entirely mixed and con- founded, that no one could fafely enter into any confidence with his neighbour ; but the common people who had little to lofe, began again to cry out for the return and government of Ras Michael. Fafil, having given the king this fample of what he was capable of doing, halted at Sar-Ohha, and from thence fent a peremptory demand that Gulho fhould be at liberty. His meflenger was a crooked, diminutive dwarf, called Dohho, of whom I have already fpoken. It was a very bad fign of a treaty when 74<5 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER when fuch a one was the manager. He upbraided the king in terms fcarcely decent, with the pro- te^lion, life, and kingdom the Ras Fafil had givea him, when the contrary was abfolutely in his power. He afked the king if he knew who had prote6ted him the night of the retreat from the hill of Serbraxos ? and told him, in plain terms, that, being entirely void of the noble principles of gratitude himfelf, he had forced him, Fafil, to be wanting to the next great virtue, that of hofpitality, in fufiering a man of GuCho's quality to be made prifoner after arriving within the limits of his government. He concluded, by telling the king plainly, that, unlefs he reflored Gufho to his liberty and government, without condition, he would, in three days, make Gondar, the metropolis, as defert and dellitute of inhabi- tants as he had left the paltry diftrid of Deg- waffa. The king received all this with great compo- fure, for he had as much fortitude, and as little fear as ever fell to the Ihare of any man ; his mis- fortune, however, was, that he had no refources in which he could truft ; and the Tigre officers about him, more imprudent, and fully as fearlefs as he, gave him the fame advices they would have done had he been at the head of the army. Ras Michael was moreover gone, and Kefla Yafous was at a diftance ; thefe tv/o were the men for planning afid contriving bufmefs, and who fiived others the trouble of thinking. The reft, fuch as THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 747 as Billetana Gueta Tecla, Guebra Mafcal, and Bafha Hezekias, were onl)r fit to be trufted v/ith execution, and to proceed according to the letter of the orders they might receive, and the conr fequences of which they couid not, nor did they wi{h to underftand. By being ufed, however, to conflant fuccefs in executing plans maturely digeiled by wifer heads, they had acquired a degree of prefumption which made them very dangerous counfellors to a young king, in the prefeiit cafe, where nothing but the greateft prudence, affifted by the manifell inteipofition of the hand of Heaven, (many examples of which he had already proved) could fave him from per- dition. i was not prefent at the audience, being at Kofcam, but his fecretary, to whom I am in- debted for every thing that paifed in private, ia this hiftory, and which other wife was beyond the reach of my knowledge, affured me the king anfwered thefe threatening^ without any change ot countenance or language, and in very few words : " Tell Kafmati Fafil from me, that what I am obliged to do by the rules of juflice, U Hot to be meafured either by his inclination m power to do wrong. Men have crucified their Saviour ; and many kings in this country (better men than I am) have been, in various manners^ flain by their deluded fubjedts. The race of Solomon, however, God has preferved till this day ©n th^ throne, where I am now fittings while 748 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER while nothing but the memory of thofe whor opprefTed them remains loaded with the curfes pt mankind. I am king of this country, and have often been acknowledged as fuch by Kafmati Fafil. I will not give up Gufho, but at my own time, if ever ; nor can he infift upon it, confid- ently with the duty of a fubjed to his fovereign." Noble words thefe, had he been at the head of an army to enforce them. This meflfage was quickly conveyed to Fafil, who was adv^anced to Azazo, where it met him, and he continued his march without halt- ing till he came to Abba Samuel, about two miles from Gondar. It was on the 13th of No- vember that his army made a ihew of encamp- ing at Abba Samuel, for there was not above fix tents pitched, and next day, the 14th, by eight in the morning, a drum and trumpet, guarded by about a hundred horfe, came immediately under the town to the banks of the river Kahha, where the trumpet having founded three times, and the kettle-drum beat as often, it was pro- claimed. That all manner of perfons, of what degree foever, whether fervants of the palace, or others, fhould inftantly leave Gondar as they regq^ded their lives ; and if any flaid after this warning, their blood ihould be upon their own head. The whole town, therefore, in an in- liant was deferted, and very few, even of his own fervants, remained with the king. I had ?.lre<:dy once partaken of a fimilar fcene, and found THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 749 found it of the mofl difagreeable kind; Pro- vidence fpared me, however, this repetition of it, as I was at Kofcam, and determined to be re- tired there fo perfedtly, that I did not ftir out of my apartment till night, when the gates were lock- ed, and the guards placed. On the 15th, the king releafed Ras Guflio from his confinement, who immediately went to the camp to Fafil ; and next day, at night, he returned, and had ^n audience at the palace with the king, and again retired to deep at Abba Samuel. On the 17th, a little before noonj Faiil came to the palace for an audience, but firfl took poifeffion of every avenue leading to It ; a ftrong guard was alfo placed in the anti- chamber, and the charge of the door of the king's prefence- chamber was taken from the king's ordinary black fervants, and given to Confu Adam, who mounted guard there with about twenty wild Galla. What further pafTed I did not flriclly inquire, being exceedingly dif- trelTed, by the bad profpeft that prefented itfelf, and firmly refolved to take no further part. In general, however, I underflood, that all was humiliation : and Fafil having announced to the king that he had given his daughter to Gufho in marriage, to him the king gave Gojain, and reflored the province of Amhara. Aclog vt as condemned to find fecurityfor 1200 ounces of gold, which was laid to be the (urn Gufho had vvitii hini when taken. The 750 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER The king was to reflore to the Iteghe the whole of her villages that fhe had ever enjoyed, from the time of Bacuffa, her hufband, to that prefent moment. To Fafil, were given Damot, Maitlha, and Agow, and to Confu Adam, Ibaba Azage ; and, for the greater folemnity, the king and Fafii took a formal oath, to ratify all tliefe articles, and to remain in friendfliip for ever. After which, the Abuna, in pontificals, being called to be pre- fent, pronounced a formal curfe and fentence of excommunication, upon whichever of the parties fliould firfl break the vow they had taken. No word was mentioned of Tigre, or Keila Ya^ fous, or of Powuffen, nor the fmallefl notice taken of Ras Ayabdar, who remained in his houfe and office, as if he had not ,exifted. It appeared to m« the party was again made by one half of the king- dom againll the other j Kefla Yafous and Powuf- fen againft Fafil and Gufho ; as for Ayabdar and Ayto Tesfos of Samen, thefe w-ere left, contemp- tuouHy in ?Jiedio, to take any fide they pleafed, which, indeed, was of no confequence. After this interview, Fafil never again entered the king's houfe, thovigh he went fo often to Kofcam ; but I neither faw him nor fought to fee him, nor did he ever inquire after me, as far as I could learn. On the 1 9th of November Fafil fent orders to the palace, that four bodies of the king's houfe- hold-troops, Girnja Bet, Werk Sacala, Ambafel^, ,and Ediow, fliould immediately join him, which thev did, to the number of 1200 men, all armed, Thefe THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 751 Thefe he carried, with Guflio his fon-in-law, xiv triumph to Damot, nor was this the only inflance Fafil gave of the great regard he had to his late oaths, and to the facred character of the perfon that adminiftered them ; for the morning he marched off, a party of the Galla, meeting the Abuna, and a numerous retinue mounted on mules, going to the king's houfe, obliged them all to dif- niount at once, without diftin^tion, taking their mules with them to the camp, from whence they never returned, and leaving the Abuna on foot, to find his way back to his houfe, at Kedus Ra- phael, from the top of which, as from a caftle, he wifely poured out his excommunications, againfl an army, compofed entirely of Pagans, without one Chriilian among them. It is here a proper period to finifh the hiflory of Abyflinia, as I was no further prefent at, or in* formed of the public tranfadicns which followed. My whole attention was nov/ taken up in prepa- rations for my return through the kingdom of Sennaar and the defert. Neither {hall I take up the reader's time with a long narrative of leave- taking, or what pafled between me and thofe il- luftrious perfonages with whom I had lived fo long in the moft perfed: and cordial friend fl-^ip* Men of little, and envious minds, would perhaps think I was compofing a panegyric upon my'^'elfj from which, ^ therefore, I moft willingly refrain. But the feveral marks of goodnefs, friendlhip, and efteem, which I received at parting, are confined v/ it bin 752 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER within my own bread, where they never fhall be effaced, but continue to furniOi me with the mod agreeable refiedions, fmce they were the fruit alone of perfonal merit, andof honefl, (leady, and upright behaviour. All v/ho had attempted the fame journey hitherto, had met with difap- pointment, difgrace, or death ; for my part, al- though I underwent every fort of toil, danger, and all manner ,of hardfliip, yet thefe were not confined to myfelf I fufiered always lionourably, and in common with the reft of the ftate ; and when fun-fhiny days happened, (for fun-fhiny days there were, and very brilliant ones too) of thefe I was permitted freely to partake ; and the moil diftinguifhed characters, both at court and in the army, were always ready to contribute as far as polTible, to promote what they thought or faw was the object of my piirfuits or entertainment. I fhall only here mention what paffed at the lad interview I had with the Iteghe, two days before my departure. . Tenfa Chridos, who v/as one of the chief prieds of Gondar, was a native ofGojam, and confequently of the low church, or a follower of Abba Eudathius, in other words, as great 2m enemy as poinble to the Catholic, or as thev will call it, the rcligicn of the Franks, Ke vx^as, ho'^Never, reputed a perfon of great probity and fenclity of manners, and had been on all oc- cafions rather civil and friendly to me when we met, il ough evidently not defirous of any inti- inate c nne£tIons or friendihip ; and as I, on my part, THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 753 part, expeded little advantage from conneding myfelf with a man of his principles, I very wil- lingly kept at all pofTible dillance ; that I might run no rifk of difobliging him was my only aim. This prieft came often to the Iteghe's and Ayto Aylo's, with both of whom he was much in fa- vour, and here I now/happened to meet him, when I was taking my leave in the evening. I beg of you, fays he, Yagoube, as a favour, to tell me,- noW" you are immediately going away from this country, and you can anfwer me without fear, Are you really a Frank, or are you not ? Sir, faid 1, 1 do not know what you mean by fear ; I fhould as little decline anfwering you any queftion you have to aik had I ten years to flay, as now I am to quit this country to-morrow : I came recom- mended, and was well received by the king and Ras Michael : I neither taught nor preached ; no man ever heard me fay a word about my particu. lar mode ofworfhip; and as often as my duty has called me, I have never failed to attend di- vine fervice as it is eftabliflied in this country. "What is the ground of fear that 1 (hould have, while under the king's protedion, and when I conform in every fhape to the laws, religion, and cuftoms of AbyiTmia ? True, fays Tenfa Chriilos, I do not fay you fhould be alarmed j whatever your faith is I would defend you myfelf; the It'eghe knows, 1 always fpoke well of you, but will you gratify an old man's curiofity, in telling me Vol, IV. C c c whether 754 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER whether or not you really are a Frank, Cathoik, or Jefuit ? I have too great a regard, replied I, to requeft of a man, fo truly good and virtuous as you, not to have anfwered you the queftion at whatever time you could have aiked me ; and I now declare to you, by the word of a Chriflian, that my countrymen and I are more diftant in matters of religion, from thofe you call Catholics, Jefuits, or Franks, than you and your Abyflinians are ; and that a prieft of my religion, preaching in any country fubje£t to thofe Franks, would as certain- ly be brought to the gallows as if he had com- mitted murder, and juft as fpeedily as you would (lone a Catholic prieft preaching here inthemidft of Gondar. They do precifely by us as you do by them, fo they have no reafon to complain. And, fays he, don't you do the fame to them? No, re- plied I ; every man in our country is allowed to ferve God in his own way ; and as long as their teachers confine themfelves to what the facred books have told them, they can teach no ill, and therefore deferve no punilhment. No religion, indeed, teaches a man evil, but when forgetting this, they preach againft government, curfe the Idnp-, abfolve his fubjetls from allegiance, or in- cite them to rebellion, as being lawful, the fword of the civil power cuts them off, without any blame falling upon their religion, becaufe thefe thin-^s were done in contradidion to what their priefts, THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 755 priefts, from the fcriptu^e, fliould have taught them were truly the tenets of that very religion. The Iteghe now interpofed : What do you think, Tenfa Chriftos, if Yagoube is not a pried, fliould he not be one ? Madan, fays he, I have one queftion more to inquire of him, and that (hall be all, nor would I afk if he was not going away to-morrow. It is an unfair one then, faid I, but out with it ; I cannot fuifer in the opinion of good men, by anfwering directly a queftion which you put to me out of curiofity. It feems then, fays he, you are not a Frank, but you think your own religion a better one than theirs, you are not of our religion, however, for you fay we are nearer the Catholics than you ; now what objection have you to our religion, and what is your opinion of it? As far as I am informed, faid I, I think well of it ; it is the ancient Greek church, under St. Athanafms, fuccelTor to St. Mark, in the chair of Alexandria. This being the cafe, you cannot have a better, as you have the religion neareit to that of the apoftles, and, as 1 have before faid, no religion teaches a man evil, much lefs can your religion give you fuch inftrudion, if you have not corrupted it ; and if you have, it is no longer the religion of St. Athanafms, or the Apoflles, therefore liable to error. And now, Tenfa Chrif- tos, let me afk you two quflions ; you are in no fear of anfwering, neither are you in danger, though not about to leave the country. Does your C Q c z religion 756 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER religion permit you to marry one filter, to di- vorce her, and marry the other, and then, keep- ing the aunt, to marry the niece likewife ? Does St. Athanafms teach you to marry one, two, or three wives, and divorce them as often as you pleafe ; to marry others, and then go back to the former again ? No, replied he. Then as you do this daily, anfvvered l^ you certainly are not living in this one inftance according to the religion of St. Athanafms. Now I afk you, If any prieft, truly a Chriftian, from our parts, (not a Frank, but agreeing in every thing elfe with you,) was to preach againfl: this, and fome fuch like prac- tices^, frequently ufed in Abyllinia, could this pried: live amongil you, or how would you treat him ? Stone him to death, fays Ay to Aylo, who was fitting by ; Hone him to death like a Frank, or a Jefui: ; he iliould not live a week. Yagoube is hard upon me, continued Tenfa Chriflos, turning to the Iteghe, but I am forry to fay with truth, I fear they never would abandon the flefh-pots of f gypt, their ancient inheritance, for the teaching of any pried, however perfed his religion might be, or puie his life, or however corrupt their mramers. Then Tenfa Chridos, faid I, do not be over fare but that iliedding the blood of thofe Franks as you call them, may be criminal in the fight of God. As their religion has fo far ferved them., as to prevent the practice of fome horrid crimes, that are common here, yours hath not yet had that elfecl upon you ; if you do not want precept. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 757 precept, perhaps you may example, thefe Franks are very capable of fhewing you this lad, and your own religion inftruds you to imitate them. All this time there was not the fmaileil noi e In the room, in which above a hundred people v/ere prefent ; but, as I wilhed this converfatlon to ^o no further, and w^as afraid of fome queftion about the Virgin Mary, I got up, and, palling to the other fide of the room, I flood by Ten fa Chriflos, faying to him. And now, holy father, I have one, laft favour to ail: you, which is your forgivenefs, if I have at any time offended you ; your blelTmg, now that I am immediately to de- part, if I have not ; and your prayers while on my long and dangerous journey, through countries of Infidels and Pagans. A hum of applaufe founded all throughout the room. The Iteghe faid fomething, but, what, I did not hear. Tenfa Chriflos Vvas furprifed ap- parently at my humility, which he had not ex- pelled, and cried out, with tears in his eyes. Is it poffible, Yagoube, that you believe my prayers can do you any good ? I fhould not be a Chriflian, as I profefs to be, Father, replied I, if I had any doubt of the effed of good men's prayers. So faying, I (looped to kifs his hand, w^hen he laid a fmall iron acrofs upon my head, and, to my great furprife, inflead of a benediction, repeated the Lord's prayer. I was afraid he would have kept me (looping till he (liould add the ten com- mandments Hkewife, when he concluded, " Gzier : y' Bar 758 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER, &c. y' Baracuc," May God blefs you. After which, I made my obeifance to the Iteghe, and imme- diately withdrew, it not being the cuflom, at pub- lic audience, to falute any one in the prefence of the fovereign. Twenty greafy monks, however, had placed themfelves in my way as I went out, that they might have the credit of giving me the blefling likewife after Tenfa Chriftos. As I had very little faith in the prayers of thefe drones, fo I had fome reludance to kifs their greafy hands and fleeves ; however running this difagrceable gauntlet, I gave them my bleiTmg in Englilh, — Lord fend you all a halter, as he did to Abba Salama, (meaning the Acab Saat.) But they, thinking I was recom- mending them to the patriarch Abba Salama, pronounced at random, with great feeming devo- tion, their Amen, — So be it. REjGISTER REGISTER OF THE QUANTITY OF Rain-water, IN INCHES AND DECIMALS, WHICH FELL AT GONDAR, IN ABYSSYNIA, IN THl YEAR 1770, THROUGH A FUNNEL OF ONE FOOT ENGLISH IN DIAMETER. The'rain began this year on the firft of March; "J inches. there fell in fliowers, that lafted only a (qw minutes, between the ift March and the laft of April, -^ •^39 MAY. I. TJ^ROM the ift to the 6th, - ,039 I- From the 6th to the 8th, - ,12© From the loth to the 12th it rained chiefly in the night, - - ,yi j From the 12th to the 14th, - 'i^j 3 10' At ( 7^0 ) MAY. INCHES. 19. At four in the afternoon a fmall fhower, but heavy rain in the night, - .526 21. At 7 o'clock in the evening a fmall fhower, which continued moderately through the night, ... ,iyi 27. At 6 in the evening heavy rain for an hour, •540 29. At 3 in the afternoon frequent fhowers of light rain. It continued one hour 30 mi- nutes, - - •4S7 Total rain in May, 2..717 JUNE. 1. At 12 noon, light rain for i5mimites, .028 2. Between 12 o'clock night it has rained 30 minutes, in fmall fhowers, which lafted 5 or 6 minutes at a time, - .04^ 4. At eight in the morning flight fliowers for 30 minutes, - - .014 5, Between 6 and 10 in the morning four fnaall fhowers, that lafted 32 minutes, and.at 12 a very gentle rain that lafted 15 minutes, 0.31 10. It has rained very violently for 6 houjrs 3P minutes, - - .342 11. Between 2 and 6 in the afternoon, at three feveral times, it has rained 20 minutes, .014 12. Ac'noona violent rain for one hour 30 mi- nutes. At halFpaft i in th^ afternoon light rain for an hour. At 4 afternoon, light rain for 30 minutes. At half paft fix fame afternoon, a very gentle rain for 3 hours, .421 13. Between • ( 76i y JUNE. INCHES. 13. Between 4 and 5 afternoon it rained twice for 15 minutes, but not perceptible in the recipient, - - - — — ^^ 16. Between 2 and 6 afternoon it has rained three times fmart ihowers, in all about 20 mi- nutes, - • .033 17. There fell in the night fmall rain for an hour, ,002 18. At I afternoon there was a ftrong (hower for 15 minutes. At half paft i another for 45 minutes. Same day at 6 afternoon, it rained at intervals for 2 hours, - ."jq ig. At half after 2 afternoon it began to rain violently at intervals. At night a (light (hower for 20 minutes, • .nS to. At twelve noon there was a very (light (hower for 6 minutes. At half paft 5, fame day, a fmall (hower that lafted 30 minutes. At 8 o'clock evening it began to rain fmartly at intervals for 4 hours, - .171. 21. At a quarter paft ii it rained violently with thunder and lightning for 2 hours. At half paft 4 in the evening it rained, with intervals, in all about 45 minutes, - .330 22. At half paft 12 noon, it rained an hour, ,175 23. At one o'clofk afternoon (light (bowers for 2 hours. Heavy rain in the night for 4 hours, - - - .358 25. At a quarter paft one afternoon, a fmall (how- er, which lafted one hour 35 minutes. At night it rained one hour and 30 minutes ; heavy rain with thunder and lightning, .552 26. At ( 761 ) JUNI. INCHES. 26. At two in the afternoon, violent rain with in- tervals for 30 minutes. At half paft five it rained for three hours, - .233 27. At a quarter paft twelve, a fmall fhower for one hour 45 minutes, and at night a mo- derate fliower, •- - .302 28. At half paft twelve, a gentle rain. At 50 minutes after twelve, violent. At two in the afternoon very gentle rain for 15 mi- nutes 5 and at 7, moderate rain for one hour and 30 minutes, - #2go 29. At I in the afternoon, light rain, but a heavy rain muft have fallen fome where elfe, as the river Kahha is overflowed, - .092 30. At noon a very gentle rain for 15 minutes, .002 Total rain in June, 4*307 JULY. 1. At 20 minutes paft eleven, ftrong rain for 30^ minutes, with fome fmall fhowers through the night, - - ,306 2. At half paft eleven, a fmall fhower (or 30 minutes, and then, at twelve, a violent (hower, wind fouth-weft, for 45 minutes, .792 J. It rained at four in the afternoon, and in the night, - - - .311 4. It rained from twelve to two, and in the night likewife, - - ,396 5. It rained at noon, and fome in the night, .029 7. It ( 763 ) JULY. INCHES. 7. It rained and hailed violently. It rained in the night likewife, - - 1.686 8. Light rain in the night, - .038 9. Light rain for a few minutes, and no more all day ; but the river Kahha has Suddenly overflowed, and there is appearance of rain on the Mountain of the Sun, .017 10. No rain, « - - ■ 11. Ditto, - - - ■ 12. At half an hour paft noon it rained violently, .422 13. Violent rain at mid-day, and alfo in the night 1. 185 14. A few light ftiowers night and day, -> '054 15. A fmall fhower in the evening, and another in the night, - - .251 16. No rain, _ - -. 17. A fmall ftiower at one in the afternoon, and flying fhowers throughout the day. It rained at ten at night violently - .658 18. A gentle fliowcr at noon, but continued rain- ing in the night, - - ,463 19. Light fhowers all the night, - ,237 20. It rained all night till eight o'clock next morning, - - - .714 21. Light fhowers in the afternoon, but violent" rain in the night, - - I'S^Q 22. Light fhowers in the evening, - ,174 23. It rained one fhower at half pafl ten in the morning, - - - .107 24. Light fhowers night and day, - ,226 25. Light rains and frequent, - - .015 26. Light fhowers throughout the evening, .081 27. Light rairis, - - - .148 28. Flying fhowers, ' - ,070 29. Ditto ( 1H ) JULY. 29. Ditto, .o8i 30. Light (howcrs, 31. Flying light fliowcrs night and day. .013 .292 Tot^l rain in July, 10.089 AUGUST. 1. Light rain in the afternoon, - .056 2. It rained in the night fmartly, - .329 3. It rained at noon violently, - i'3i8 4. It rained from mid-day to evening, and fome ftiowers in the night. - ^'T^S 5. At 2 in the afternoon it began to rain vio- lently for 2 hours, - - 1.042 6. Smart (howers at different times in the even- ing and night, - - .490 7. It rained in the night, - - .580 8. Light rain in the night, - - .053 9. Flying fhowers through the day, but for 6 minutes. Evening very violent^ .186 10. Smart fhowers in the evening and night, .342 11.5(12. Frequentffeowers with a high wind, 1.184 J3 & 14. Light rain the iiift day, but violent on the fecond, - - J'42^3 15. Fair all day, but rained at night, - .475 16. Flying (howers night and day, - .144 17. A very violent ftiower of (hort duration, .371 18. & 19. Several fmall fhowers, - .609 20. &21. Frequent light fhowers, - .236 22. & 23. Ccnflant rain, - - i'502 24. Frequent fhowers in the evening, - .306 1;. & 26. ( 76s ) AUGUST* FNCHES.. 25. &26. Conftant rain, - • I '7^3 2-7. Frequent fhowers^ % - •2^89 28. Ditto, - - - .2.^0 29. It rained in the night, - - .355 30. Ditto, - - - '302 31. Ditto, - - - .211 Total rain in Auguft^ I5'569 SEPTEMBER. 1. It rained in the night, - ^ .079 2. Ditto, - - - ,107 3. &4. Frequent (bowers night and day, .358 5. & 6. Ditto, - - - .568 7. It rained in the night only, - .213 8. No rain, - - « ■ 9. It rained violently for a few minutes at 8 in the evening, - _ _ .055 10. No rain, - -^ - ■ 11. It rained in the night only, - - .227 12. It rained fmartly in the night, - .566 13. No rain, _ - - 14. Light fhowers in the day, - .042 15. Frequent (bowers night and day, - .159 16. It rained a little in the night, - .132 18. No rain, - - „ — _ 19. Ditto, - - . 20. Flying (bowers night and day - .. .263 21. No rain, - - . 22. Ditto, - - ^ __ — . 23. Some ( 766 ) SEPTEMBER. INCHES. 23. Some rain in the night, - .039 24. Ditto, - - - ,026 25. The rain ceafed. •> Total rain in September, 2.834. N. B. This is the feftival of the Crofs in Egypt, when the inundation begins to abate. It rains no more in Abyifinia till towards the begin- ning of November, and then only for a few days ; but thefe are the rains Abyflinia cannot want for their latter crops, and it was for thefe the Agows prayed when we were at the fountains of the Nile the 5th of November 177O0 STATE ST ATE O F T H E QUANTITY OF RAIN-WATER, WHICH FELL IN ABYSSINIA AT KOSCAM, THE qUEEN'S PALACE, IN I77I, DURING THE RAINY MONTHS. THROUGH A FUNNEL OF ONE FOOT ENGLISH IN DIA- METER, AS IN THE PRECEDING YEAR 1770. FEBRUARY. INCHES* 23. nPHIS day it rained, for the firft time from a quarter before four o'clock afternoon to half paft four ditto, - .003 28. It rained in the night one hour and a quarter, .001 MARCH. 4. It rained in the night near two hou'rs fmall rain, - - .042 7. it rained a fmall fhower in the evening, •014 J 2. It rained three quarters of an hour this after- noon, e. - - ,017 24. it C 768 ) MARCH. INCHEI. 24. It rained and hailed violently for 18 minutes in the night, - - ,017 29. It rained an hour and a half in the afternoon, ,066 30. It rained hard in the night, - - .504. Total rain in February and March, ,664. APR! L. 3. It rained, or rather hailed, nine minutes, -*-' -" 5. It rained an hour in the afternoon, .067 8. Small rain at intervals throughout the after- noon, - - - . ,002 10. It rained an hour in the night, ^ .003 30. It rained one hour and a quarter in the night, .013 Total rain in April, .085 MAY. I. From the 31ft ult. to this day, at different times, - - - •3Z^ 3. It rained hard in the night, - .355 6. It has rained violentlv fmce three in the after- noon, wind S. E. variable, - .095 7. It has rained heavily in the night, wind vary- ing from N. to S. and S. W, - ,368 8. It rained fmall rain in the afternoon, .042 II. It has rained fmall rain this afternoon, wind N. W. - - - .002 14. It has raJned fince yeilerday at three all night, and till noon to day, - -> -675 27. From ( 769 ) . MAY. ' INCHES. 27* From yeflerday at two P. M. it rained to half paft fix, and heavily moft part of the night, wind varying from N. to S. .634 Total rain in May, ^ 2.50X JUNE. I. From yefterday at noon, in the nightj and thisday, vv^ind W. S. W. - .212 3. At night, fouth, - >- .002 5. It rained in the night, S. W. - -223 6. Ditto, - - - .006 g. It rained in the night and afternoon, wind W. by S. - - - .725 10. Ditto, - - - .463 11. It rained in the night, - - .343 13. It rained from the 12th, at noon, to the 13th at ten, S. S. W. - - 1.265 14. It rained from three till feven, - .120 15. It rained laft night from fun-fet till mid- night, S. - - .160 N. B. The i6th at night, is the day the Egyptians fay the Nile ferments, and is troubled, by falling of the nuda. 18. After three days fair, wind frefb, N. it began to rain yefterday, and rained three quarters of an hour, wind varying from north to weft, - - - .490 10. It rained with intervals from four to ten laft night, wind north, varying by eaft to fouth, and fouth- weft, Vv'here it fell calm, and rained violently, - - .530 Vol. iV. D d d 20. It ( 770 ) . . JUNE. INCHES. 20. It rained from a quarter before fix, till ten at night, wind at north, frtfh ; changed to caft, then to fouth, and there fell calm ; vio- lent thunder and lightning, - .635 21. It began to rainyefterday at three, and rained till near five; vi^ind changed from north to fouth, and fell calm ; cleared vv'ith v^^ind at north, - - •SS^ 22. It began to rain at three, and rained till five ; wind changed from north to eaft, then to fouth, and fell calm ; cleared with wind at north ; fair all night, - - .149 25. It has been fair till yefterday evening: at three it began raining, and rained till five this morning, a hw drops ; wind north, .067 26. It rained fmall rain at feveral times yefterday afternoon, and a few drops this morning, wind N. calm ; at ten it came to fouth and then to weft, - - .120 27. It rained yefterday afternoon from four to five ; wind changed from north to weft, butfpee- diiy returned to north, freih, - .C54 28. & 29. It rained the 27th in the afternoon and in the night, wind at north. Yefterday it rained fmall rain all day till five, and cleared in the night, with wind at north, .268 Total rain in June, 6.388 JUL Y. I. There fell fmall (bowers the night of the 29th and of the 30th, - - -093 ^ 3« There ( m ^ JULY. INCHED., 3. There fell a fmall fhower the fccond in the af- ternoon, and laft night hard, - .267 j^. It rained fmall rain at noon. From two, and all night, heavy and conftant rain. It thunrdercd from noon till three, '373 5. It rained all yefterday afternoon, and by inter- vals, till nine at night. Small rain this morning; calm; W. S. W. and S. W. .,^23 6. It rained yefterday afternoon and in the ni^ht ; S. W. - . . .489 N. B. The 6th of July is the firft of the month Hamlie, and of the Egyptian month Abib. It is this day they firft begin to cry the Nile's increafe in the ftreets of Cairo. The night before, or 30th of Senne, is called at Cairo the Eide el Bifliaara, or the eve of good news, becaufe, after having meafured at the Mikeas, they come and tell at Cairo that to-morrow they begin to count the Nik's rifmg. 7. It rained from two in the afternoon till four, and from ten till midnight, .318 10. It rained yefternighr, and in the afternoon and night the day before, - .289 11. It rained till yefterday afternoon : in the night a violent fhower that lafted 39 minutes ; wind fouth by weft, - - 1.162 12. It rained a little from two to three in the af- ternoon, but in the night violently for a (hort time, - - .319 13. It rained yefterday from three quarters paft- twelve till midnight; W. S, W. calm, .912 14. It rained all yefterday afteinpon till midnight, .739 15. ic ( 772 ) ^ JULY INCHES. 15. It rained the 14th in the afternoon, and the 15th a few (bowers through the day, .816 16. It rained in the night, and fmall rain in the afternoon, - -' .290 17. It rained in the afternoon two (liowers, and in the night a little ; S. W. - ^212- ig. It rained in the afternoon the 17th and iSth, and the^iSth only in the night, .912 20. It rained yelterday from two till half paft ten conftant rain, and the hail lay all the after- noon on the hills S. E. of the townj very cold wind ; S. by W. - 2.371 21. & 22. It rained but one fmall fhower the 20th, the 2iil it rained little in the afternoon, but hard in the night, - - i*^&S 24. It rained in the morning of yeflerday only, fair in the afternoon ; to-day, in the mor- ning, fair in the night, - .766 25. It rained all yelferday afternoon, and ' all this morning fmall rain, but none in the night, - - .452 28. From the 25th in the afternoon to this day at noon, - - 2.137 29. From the 2Sth at noon to the 29th it rained m the hril part of the night, but was fair all afternoon and this morning, .267 From the 29th at noon, to the 31ft at ditto, .568 Total rain in July, 14.360 AUGUST. { 773 ) INCHES. AUGUST. I. It rained yefterday afternoon, but in the night little. To day fair, - '544 4. It rained only the third in the evening, and night and this morning, - 1.188 5. It rained yefterday evening and in the night till noon little, - - .544. 6. It rained yefterday afternoon, and all night, and a little this morning, - .250 8. It was fair thefe two days, and only rained one hard fhower laft night, - .178 9. It rained laft night only, was fair all day, and is this morning, - - .214 10. It rained yefterday all the afternon, and the firft of the night. To-day fair, .869 11. It rained in the night yefterday j all day and this morning fair, - - .188 12. It rained a fmall fhower yefterday afternoon, and in the night a little, - .268 13. It rained yefterday at three a hard ihowcr, and a little in the night, - - .308 14. It rained a few drops in the day, and a hard fhower at night, - - ,360 15. It rained a hard (hower near three, and at ten at night, - - .386 16. In the night, - - .027 17. It rained hard feveral times in the evening and night, - - - - .831 iB. It rained hard yefterday afternoon, and in the night, - - - .329 19. It ( 774 ) AUGUST. INCHES. 19. It rainfd all day, but not hard, - .401 20. It rained in the afternoon only, - .Oio 21. It rained in the afternoon ijjily, - ,097 22. It was fair all yefterday, and rained only a hard Ihower at 9, - - '424. 20. It rained hard at noon, and the evening, with little intervals, till 9 at night, and again this morning at fun-rife till 7, 1. 1 48 24.. It did not rain yefterday, - . ^ 25. It rained an hour between two and three, ,^'92 26. It rained a fmall fhower yefterday, and none in the night, - - 005 27. It rained a hard {bower at four, and this day 1 2 morning, the night clear, - .268 28. It rained hard yefterday at 2 for a few mi^ rutes, - - • .201 29. It rained a hard ihower for near an hour, after two, but clear all night and this nicrning, - - ^ .450 30. & 3!. It rained a fmall fhower the 30th, and heavily for a quarter of an hour the 31ft, at night, at ten, - - .109 Total rain in Auguft, 10.019 SEPTEMBER. 2* It rained yefterday a hard fhower in the even- ing, and at ten at night, - .664 3. It rained only a few drops, which did not ap- pear in the funnel, - — , 4- ( 775 J SEPTEMBER. INCHES, 4. It rained from noon till fun-fet yefterday, ^ith hard and violent thunder : night fair, - - - 1.739 N. B. It is obferved at Gondar, the Pagomen is always rainy. It begins this year the 4th, and confifts of fix days, being Leap year. 5. It rained yefterday all afternoon, fmall rain, .399 6. It rained yefterday all afternoon, and fmall rain in the night till ten, - .306 7. It rained from before noon till four, fmall rain ; the night fair. Wind high at north, - - - .846 8. It rained from noon for an hour, fmall rain, .214 9. It rained a fmall ftiower at noon ; clouds drive from eaft to weft; wind north, .107 10. Saint John's day, no rain, - • 11. It rained from wnoon till five o'clock, wind W, cold ; clouds drive from eaft and - weft, - - - 1.135 12. It rained a fmart fhower a little before noon. Clouds drive from eaft and from weft, - _ - . .214 13. It rained a fmall fhower a little after noon. Cold and calm. Clouds drive from eaft and weft, - - - .03s 14.. It rained fmall rain from noon to three, and ' hard from eleven till near midnight, .344 15. It was fair all yefterday, but rained hard for a few minutes at feven, and alfo a little before midnight, from the eaft, .186 j6. No rain to-day, - - 18- It rained a fmall ftiower laft night, and to-day at noon, - * - .053 19. ic ( 77^ ) SEPTEMBER. INCHES. 19. It rained and hailed violently in the after- noon, - - - Total rain in September, 1.096 7-338 The rain totally ceafed the 19th, none having fallen from this day to the 25th, Saint John's day is the time obferved for the rains be- ginning to abate. N. B. At the 5th of Oi^ober the people were all crying for rain^ the ground all in cracks, and teiF in the blade burnt up. TOTAL ( 775 ) TOTAL of RAIN that fell in Abyssinia in tht Tears 1770 and 1771, in the Rainy Months. G O N D A R. 1770. March) .inches. a & April May, June, J"Jy> - - - ^ 10.089 Auguft, - - - 15.569 Sscptembcr, - . 2.834 •039 2.717 4-307 ZS'SSS K O S C A M. 1771, February, 1 Marct I - ■ •''' Apri], . . . .085 May, ... 2.501 >ne, ... (j.^gg July, ^ _, . 14.360 Auguft ... J0.019 •September, - - . 7.33^^ » I i» 41-355 ll«n> OF THE FOURTH VOLUME. FIRST BATTLE. Explanation. I. King's palace and high walls 6. DebraBerhan,famoas church furrounding it. 2. Afi:ioa,public place where the troops aiTembled, and gun- powder is fold, and where public executions are made. 3. Hamar Nob, Noah's Ark, a church. 4. A ciole quarter over a pre- cipice on the Weft, to which the merchants carry their ef- feds upon fudden revoluti- upon the higheft part of the hill over the Angrab. 7. Riggobee Ber, or Pigeons Pals, a rocky part of the town, fortified in time of troubles. 6. Abbo, great ftreet, called from the church and faint of that name. 9, Mahometan town on the ri- ver Kaha. ens, efpecially thofe that 10, King's palace on the river" have flour and proviHons. Kaha. Abbo where the Romifh 1 1. Brook of St. Raphael. priefts were ftoned and lye 12. The river Angrab. unburied. A The centre commanded by the king and Guebra Chriltos encamped on the South of the hill Serbraxos. B Ras Michael, who leads the van, encamped upon the ■ South- Eaft, and higheft part of the hill. C Keiia Yafous, who com- mands the rear encamped upon the North-Weft. T> Ras Michael marching from his camp at Serbraxos, is ftopt at the mouth of the valley, and engages PowufTen and the troops of Begemder at E. E The rebel troops cf Begem- der engaging Ras Michael. V Ay to Engedan with a ihou- fand men marches from the King's camp to reinforce Mi- chael at the mouth of the valley. G PowuJTcn's camp at Correva. H A reinforcement maiches from PowufTen 's camp, and joins the rebels engaged with Michael at E. I Ras Michael beat back into the valley, retires under co- ver of his mufketry at K and L, which itop the rebels ad- vancing. M Kefla Yafous joins the king, marches to the head of the valley, wheels to the right, and faces to the weft ward. N The king's horfe upon the ford of the Niariam facing weftward. 00 Two bodies of the king's mufl