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SELECT SPECIMENS

O F

NATURAL HISTORY.

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SELECT SPECIMENS

O F

NATURAL HISTORY.

COLLECTED IN

TRAVELS TO DISCOVER
THE SOURCE OF THE NILE,

IN

EGYPT, ARABLE, ABYSSINIA, an2> NUBIA.

■0BBSBBB9Hi

VOL. VL

" Avd be fpahe vf trees ^ from the cedar-tree that is in LehanbUy even tints
" the hyjfo^ thai fpringeth oiit cf the vjcll : He f pale alfo of beajls^ andoffoivl,
" and of creeping ibirtgSy and of Jijbes"

I Kjngs, chap. iv. Ter. 33.

DUBLIN:

PRINTED BY ZACHARIAH JACKSON,

foR P. WoGAM, L. White, P. Btrne, W. Porter, W. Sleater,

J.Jones, J. Moore, B. Dornin, C.Lewis, W.Jones,

G, Draper, J. Milliken, and R. Wkits.

M. DCC. 2C.

^^^

CONTENTS

OF THI

SIXTH VOLUME.

Introduction, P. ix.

Of plants, shrubs, and TREES.
Papyrus^ P. i

Baleffan^ Bahn^ or Balfam^ 19

'Sqjja^ Myrrh y and Opocalpafum, 33

Ergeti

yi CONTENTS,

Ergeft T*dimm&^ P. 42

Ergett el Krcjue^ 43

EnfetCy 45
Kol^qually

51

Racky " SS

Gir Gir^ or Gejh el Auhe^ 58

Kaniuffay ' ^^

Gaguediy ^4

Fareky or Bauhinia Amminafay 69

Ktmray • 79

Walkuffay ; 81

]T^fi5;g-/;ioox, ^r Brucea Anttdyfeni erica y .84

C^^, cr Bankejia AbyJJimca^ ^9

Teffy , 93

Op

G O' N T E N T S, vH

Of qjJADRUPEDS-

P. loi

Rhinoceros^

Jerboa, ^4»

Fennec, ^57

JJhhko, ^7^

.Booted Lynx, i8®

Of B I R D Sv

Nifer^ or Golden Eagle, ^9^

Black Eagle, ^9^

Racbamab^ 201

Erkoom, ■^.^9

Abou Hannes, ^^3

Moroc, ^21

viii CONTENTS.

Sheregrigy P. 226

Waalia, - 231

Tfalffalya^ or Fly^ 234

El Adda^ - 240

Cerajtes^ or Horned Viper ^ 247

Binny^ 263

C arena ^ or Sea Torioife^ 269

Pearls y 273

M A P S.

1. General Map.

2. Itinerary from GondzY to the Source of the Nile.

3. Chart of Solomon's Voyage to Tarfliifli.

^nienweRaCTaimv^

INTRODUCTION.

AS it has been my endeavour, through-
out this hiftory, to leave nothing unex-
plained that may allift the reader in underftand-
ing the different fubjects that have been treated
in the courfe of it, I think myfelf obliged to
fay a few words concerning the manner of ar-
ranging this Appendix. With regard to the
Natural Hiftory, it muft: occur to every one,
that, however numerous and refpeclable they
may be who have dedicated themfelves entirely
to this ftudy, they bear but a very fmall pro-
portion to thofe who, for amufement or in-
llruction, feek the mifcellaneous and general
occurrences of life that ordinarily compofe a fe-
ries of travels.

Vol. VI, . fe By

X INTRODUCTION.

By prefenting the two fubjecls promifcuouu}'",
I was apprehenlive of incommoding and dii-
gnfting both fpecies of readers. Every body
that has read Tournefort, and fome other au-
thors of merit of that kind, muft be fenfible
how unpleafant it is to have a very rapid, w^ell-
told, interefting narrative, concerning the arts,
government, or ruins of Corinth, Athens, or
Ephefus, interrupted by the appearance of a
nettle or daffodil, from fome particularity
vdiich they may poffefs, curious and im.portant
in the eye of a botanift, but invifible and in-
different to an ordinary beholder*

To prevent this, I have placed what belongs
to Natural Elitiory in one volume or appendix,
and in fo. doing I hope to meet the approbation
of my fcientiiic botanical readers, by laying the
different fubjects all together before them, with-
out fubje^iing them to the trouble of turning
over different books to get at any one of them,
ihe figure?, landfcapes, and a few other plates
of this kind, are iiluftrations of what immedi-
ately

INTRODUCTION. xi

ately paffes in the page ; thefe defcriptions fel-
dom occupy more than a few lines, and there-
fore fuch plates cannot be more ornamentally or
ufefully placed than oppofite to the page which
treats of them.

Some further confideration was neceffary in
placing the maps, and the Appendix appeared
to me to be by far the moft proper part for
them. The maps, whether fuch as are general
of the country, or thofe adapted to ferve par-
ticular itineraries, fliould always be laid open
before the reader, till he has made himfelf per-
fectly mailer of the bearings and diftances of
the principal rivers, mountains, or provinces
where the fcene of aclion is then laid. Maps
that fold, lie generally but one way, and are
moftly of ftrong paper, fo that when they are
doubled by an inattentive hand, contrary to
the original fold they got at binding, they break,
and come afunder in quarters and fquare pieces,
the map is deftroyed, and the book ever after
incomplete ; whereas, even if this misfortune

b 2 happens

xii INTRODUCTION.

happens to a map placed in the Appendix, it
may either be taken out and joined anew, or
replaced at very little expence by a frelh map
from, the bookfeller.

. I lliall detain the reader but a few minutes
with what I have further to fay concerning the
particular fubjeds of Natural Hiflory of which
I have treated. The choice I know^, thougrh it
may meet v/ith the warmeft concurrence from
one fet of readers, will not perhaps be equally
agreeable to the tafte of others. This I am hear-
tily forry-for. My endeavour and wifti is to
pleafe them all, if it were poiTibk, as it is not.

The frft fubjeci: I treat of is trees, fhrubs, or
plants ; and in the felecling of them I have pre-
ferred thofe which, having once been conlidered
as fubjec^s of confequence by the ancients, and
treated Lirgely of by them, are now come,
from want of the advantage of drawing, lapfe
of time, change of climate, alteration of man-
ners, or accideiit befallen the inhabitants of a
country, to be of doubtful exiftence and uncer-
tain

INTRODUCTION. xiii

tain defcription J the afcertaining of many of thefe
is necelTary to the underllanding the claffics.

It is well known to every one the leaft ver-
fant in this part of Natural Hiftory, what a pro-
digious revolution has happened in th€ ufe of
drugs, dyes, and gums, fmcethe tjme of Galen,
by the introduclion of thofQ Herculean medi-
cines drawn from . minerals. Th^ difcovery of
the new world, befides, has given "Us. vegetable
medicines nearly as adive arid, deciiive. as
thofe of minerals themfelves. Many found
in the new world grow equally in the old,
from which m.uch confulion has arlfen in the
hiftory of each, that will become inextrica-
ble in a few generations, unlefs attended to by
regular botaniftsj affifted by attentive and pati-
ent draughts-men ignorant of fyftem, or at leaft
not Haves to it, who fet down upon paper what
with their eyes they fee does exiil, without
amufing themfelves with imagining,, accorHhig
to rules they. Ixavethemfelves. made,.. .what. it re-
gularly fhouid be. One dravving of this kind,
painfully and attentively made, has more merit,

and

%w INTRODUCTION.

and promotes true knowledge more certainly,
than a hundred horti licci which conftantly pro-
duce imaginary monfters, and throw a doubt
upon the whole. The modern and more accu-
rate fyftem of botany has fixed its diftindions
of genus and fpecies upon a variety of fuch fine
parts naturally fo fragil, that drying, fpreading,
and preiling with the moft careful hands, muft
break away and deftroy fome of thofe parts.
Thefe deficient in one plant, exifting in ano-
ther in all other refpects exadly fimilar, are.
often, I fear, conilrued into varieties, or dif-
ferent fpecies, and well if the misfortune goes
no farther. They are precifely of the fame bad
confequence as an inaccurate drawing, where
thefe parts are left out through inattention, or
defign.

After having bellowed my iirft confideration
upon thefe that make a principal figure in anci-
ent hiftory, which are either not at all or im-
perfedly known now, my next attention has

been

INTRODUCTION. xv

been to thofe which have their ufes in manufac-
tures, medicine, or are ufed as food in the
countries I am defcribing.

The next I have treated are the plants, or the
varieties of plants, unknown, whether in genus
or fpecies. In thefe I have dealt fparingly in
proportion to the knowledge 1 yet have ac-
quired in this fubjecl, which is every day in-
creafing, and appears perfectly attainable.

The hiftory of the birds and beafts is the fub-
jecl which occupies the next place in this i^p-
pendix ; and the rule I follow here, is to give
the preference to fuch of each kind as are men-
tioned in fcripture, and concerning which
doubts have arifen. A pofitive precept that
fays, Thou fhalt not eat fuch beaft, or fuch
bird, is abfolutely ufelefs, as long as it is un-
known w^hat that bird and what that animal is.

Many learned men have employed themfelves
with /u-ccefs upon thefb topics, yet much re-
mains

xvi INTRODUCTION.

mains ftill to do ; for it has generally happened,
that thofe perfe^lly acquainted with the language
in which the fcriptures were written, have ne-
ver travelled nor feen the animals of Judea,
Paleftine, or Arabia ; and again, fuch as have
travelled in thefe countries, and feen the ani-
mals in queilion, have been either not at all, or
but fuperficially acquainted with the original
language of fcripture. It has been my earnefl
deiire to employ the advantage I pofTefs in both
thefe requiiites, to throw as much light as pof-
lible upon the doubts that have arifen^ I hope I
have done this freely, fairly, and candidly ; if I
have at all fucceeded, I have obtained my reward.

As for the fifhes and other marine producti-
ons of the Pwcd Sea, my induftry has been too
great for my circumftances. I have by me
above 300 articles from the Arabian gulf alone,
all of equal merit with thofe fpecimens which I
have here laid before the public. Though I have
felecled a very few articles only, and thefe per-
Jiaps not the moll curious, yet as they are con-

ne6led

INTRODUCTION. xvli

needed with the trade of the Red Sea as it was
carried on in ancient times, and may again be
refumed, and as of this I have treated profeiT-
cdly, I have preferred thefe, as having a claffical
foundation, to many others more curious and
lefs known. Engraving in England has advanced
rapidly towards perfeclion, and the prices, as
we may fuppofe, have kept proportion with the
improvement. My fmall fortune, already im-
paired with the expence of the journey, will
not, without doing injuftice to my family, bear
the additional one, of publifhing thefe nume-
rous articles, which, however defireable it might
be, would amount to a fum which in me it
would not be thought prudent to venture.

If Egypt had been a new, late, and extraor-
dinary creation, the gift of the Nile in thefe
latter times, as fome miodern phiiofophers have
pretended, the leaft thing we could have ex-
pected would have been to find fome new and
extraordinary plants accompany it, very dif-
ferent in figure and parts from thofe of ancient

times.

xviii INTRODUCTION.

times, made by the old unphilofophical way, the
Jiat of the Creator of the univerfe. But juft the
contrary has 'happened. Egypt hath no trees,
fhrubs, or plants peculiar to it. All are brought
thither from Syria, Arabia, Africa, and India;
and thefe are fo far from being the gift of the
Nile, as fcarcely to accuftom themfelves to fuf-
fer the quantity of water that for five months
covers the land of Egypt by the inundation of
that riyer.

Even many of thofe that the ncceffities of
particular times have brought thither to fupply
wants with which they could not difpenfe, and
thofe which curious hands have brought from
foreign countries, are not planted at random ;
for they would not grow in Egypt, but in chofen
places formerly artificially raifecj above level, for
gardens, and pleafure-ground, w^here they are
at this day watered by machinery ; or upon
banks above the califlies, which though near
the water, are yet above the level of its annual
inundation. Such is the garden of Mattareah,

fometimes

INTRODUCTION. xlx

fome times filled with exotic plants from all the
countries around, from the veneration or fu-
perftition, pilgrims and dervifhes, the only tra-
vellers of the eaft, have for that fpot, the fup-
pofed abode of the Virgin Mary when flie fled
into Egypt, fometimes, as at prefent, fo ne-
glected, as to have fcarce one foreign or curious
plant in it.

The firft kind of thefe adventitious prod uc-
tions, and the oldeft inhabitant of Egypt brought
there for ufe, is the fcycamore, called Giumez *
by the Arabs, which from its iize, the facihty
with which it is fawn into the thinneft planks,
and the largenefs of thefe planks correfponding
to the immenfe fize of the tree, was -moft ufe-
fully adapted to the great demand they then
had for mummy-chefts, or coffins, which are
made of this tree only: in order to add to its
value, we may mention another fuppofed qua-

* Signifying a fig-tree, from the multitude of figs which
grow round the trunk..

lity.

XX LN T R O D U C T I O N.

lity, its incorriiptibtlity ^ very capable of giving it
a preference, as coinciding with the ideas which
led the Egyptians to thofe fantallic attempts of
making the body eternal

This ]a{b property, I fuppofe, is purely ima-
ginary, for though it be true, tradition fays,
that all the mummy-chefts, which have beea
found from former ages, v/ere made of fyca-
more, though the fame is the perfualion of lat-
ter times, and the facl is fo far proven by all
the mummy-cheils now found being of that
wood, yet I will not take upon me to vouch,
that incorruptibility is a quality of this particu-
lar tree. I believe that feafoned elm, oak, or
afli, perhaps even fir, laid in the dry fands of
Eg^^pt perfectly fcreened from moifture, and de*
fended from the outward air, as all mummy-
chefts are, would likev/ife appear incorruptible ;
and my reafon is, that having got made, while
at Cairo,' a cafe for a telefcope of fycamore
plank, I buried it in my garden after I came
-home from my travels, fo as to leave it cover^^d

by

INTRODUCTION. xxi

by half a foot of earth ; in lefs than four years
it was entirely putrid and rotten. And another
telefcope cafe of the cedar of Lebanon appeared
much lefs decayed, thoueh even in this laft there
were evident figns of corruption. But even fup-
pofe it true, that thefe planks have been found
incorruptible, a doubt may flill arife, whether
they do not owe this quality to a kind of var-
niili of refmous materials with which I have ictn
aimoft ail the mumm^^-cheRs covered, and to
which materials the prefervation of the mummy
itfelf is in part certainly owing. The fycamore
is a native of that low warm ftripe of country
between the Red Sea and mountains of AbyHi-
nia ; we faw a number of very fine ones before
we came to Taranta ; they are alfo in S}Tia
about Sidon, but inferior in fize to the former ;
they do not feem to thrive in Arabia, for want
of 'moiflure.

All the other vegetable productions of Egypt
have been in a fluctuating fcate from one year
to another. We find them in Profper AiDinus,

xxii INTRODUCTION.

and by his authority we feek for them in that
country. In Egypt we find them no more;
through negled, they are rotten and gone, but
we meet them llourifhing in Nubia, Abyflinia,
and Arabia Felix, and thefe are the countries
whence the curious lirft brought them, and
from which, by fome accident fimilar to the
firft, they may again appear in Egypt.

Profper AJpinus's work then, fo far from be-
ing a collection of plants and trees of Egypt,
may be faid to be a treatife of plants that are not
in Egypt, but by accident ; they are gleanings
of natural hiitory from Syria, Arabia, Nubia,
Abyiiinia, Perfia, Malabar, and Indoftan, of
which, as far as I could difcern or difcover,
feven fpecies only remained when I was in
Erypt, moftly trees of fuch a growth as to be
out of the power of every thing but the ax.

The plant that I fliall now fpeak of, the Pa-
pyrus, is a ftrong proof of this, and is a re-
markable inftance of the violent changes thefe

fubj eCts

INTRODUCTION. xxiii

fubjeds have undergone in a few ages. It was
at the firfl the repoiitory of learning and of re-
cord; it was the vehicle of knowledge from
one nation to another ; its ufes were fo extend-
ed, that it came to be even the food of man,
and yet we are now difputing what this plant
was, and what was its figure, and whether or
not it is to be found in Egypt.

A gentleman * at the head of the literaiy
world, who from his early years has dedicated
himfelf to the fludy of the theory of this fcience,
and at a riper age has travelled through the
world in the more agreeable purfuit of the prac-
ticable part of it, hath afTured me, that, unlefs
from bad drawings, he never had an idea of
what this plant was till I firft gave him a very
fine fpecimen. The Count de Caylus fays, that
having heard there was a fpecimen of this plant
in Paris, he ufed his utmoft endeavours to find
it, but when brought to him, it appeared to be

* Sir Jofeph Banks.

a cyperuiT

XXIV I N T R O D IT C T rO N.

a cyperus of a very common, well-known kind.
With my own hands, not without fome labour
and rifk, I collected fpecimens from Syria, from
the river Jordan, .from two different places in
Upper and Lower Egypt, from the lakes Tzana
and Gooderoo in AbyiTmia ; and it was with
the utmoft pleafure I found they were in every
particular intrinfically the fame, v;ithout any
variation or difference, from what this plant
has been defcribed by the ancients ; only I
thought that thofe of Egypt, the middle of the
two extremes, were ftronger, fairer, and fully
a foot taller than thofe in Syria and Abyffinia,

OF

J'/at^ /y

'■/^

oAy^^^-^

jWewaniMniJTn »mi— mm iu«1iMW— b«mm

O F

PLANTS, SHRUBS, and TREES.

PAPYRUS.

TH E papyrus is a cyperus, called by the
Greeks Biblus. There is no doubt but it
was early known in Egypt, lince we learn from
Horus Apollo, the Egyptians, wdfhing to de-
fcribe the antiquity of their origin, figured a
faggot, or bundle of papyrus, as an emblem of
the food they firft fubfifted on, when the ufe of
wheat was not yet known in that country. But
I fliall rather apprehend that another plant, here-
after defcribed, and not the papyrus, was what
was fubftituted for wheat, for though the Egyp-
tians fucked the honey or fweetnefs from the
root of the papyrus, it does not appear that any
part of this cyperus could be ufed for food, nor
is it fo at this day, though the Enfete, the plant
to which I allude, might, wdthout difficulty, have

B been

2 A P P E N D I X4

been ufed for bread in early ages before the dif-
covery of wheat ; in feveral provinces it holds
its place at this day.

The papyrus feems to me to have early come
dovi^n from Ethiopia, and to have been ufed in
Upper Egypt immediately after the difufe of hie-
roglyphics, and the fir ft paper made from this
plant w^as in Seide. By Seide was anciently meant
Upper Egypt, and it is fo called to this day ; and
the Saitic, probably the oldeft language known
in Egypt after the Ethiopic, ftill fublifts, being
written in the firft character that fucceeded th^
hieroglyphics in the valley or cultivated part of
Egypt.

Early, however, as the papyrus was known,
it does not appear to me to have ever been a
plant that could have exifted in, or, as authors
have faid, been proper to the river Nile ; its head
is too heavy, and in a plain country the wind
muft have had too violent a hold of it. The ftalk
is fmall and feeble, and withal too tall, the root
too fhort and flender to ftay it againft the vio-
lent prefTure of the wind and current, therefore
I do conftantly believe it never could be a plant
growing in the river Nile itfelf, or in any very
deep ot rapid river.

Pliny *, who feems to have confidered and
known it perfectly in all its parts, does not pre-
tend that it ever grew in the body of the Nile

* Piin. Na^ Hift. lib. xiii. cap. ii. ,

itfelf.

APPENDIX. 3

itfelf, but in the califlies or places where the Nile
had overflowed and was flagnant, and where the
water was not above two cubits high. This oh-
fervation, I believe, holds good univerfally, at
leafl it did fo wherever I have feen this plant, ei-
ther in the overflowed ground in the Seide, or
Upper Egypt, or in Abyflinia, where it never
grew in the bed of a river, but generally in fome
fmall ftream that iflued out of, or into fome
large ftagnant lake or abandoned water-courfe.
. It did not even truft itfelf to the weis^ht of the
w^ave of the deepeft part of that lake when agi-
tated by the wind, but it grew generally about
the borders of it, as far as the depth of the wa-
ter was within a yard.

Pliny fays it grewlikewife in Syria, and there
J faw it firft, before I went into Egypt ; it was in
the river Jordan, between the fituation of the
ancient city Paneas, which flill bears its name,
and the lake of Tiberias, which is probably the
lake Pliny alludes to, v/here he fays it grew, and
with it the calamus odoratus, one of the adventi-
tious plants brought thither formerly by curious
men (as I conjedure) which now exifts no more,
either in Syria or Egypt. It was on the left
hand of the bridge called the Bridge of the Sons
of Jacob. The river where it grew was two feet
nine inches deep, and it was then increafed with
rain. It grew iikewife, as Guilandinus * tells

* Melch. Guilandln. Philofoph. and Medif. Laufanne, Ann.
* 1576, 8yo*

B 2 US,

4 APPENDIX.

US, at the confluence of the Tigris and the Eu-
phrates. I apprehend that it was not thus pro-
pagated into Afia and Greece till the ufe of it, as
manufactured into paper, was firft known.

V/hen that was, fliil admits of fomc difficulty.
Pliny fays that Varro writes it came not into ge-
neral ufe till after the conqueft of Egypt by Alex-
ander ; yet it is plain from Anacreonf, Alcseus,
iEfchylus, and the comic poets, that it was
known in their time. Plato and Ariftotle fpeak
of it alfo, fo do Herodotus and Theophraftus |.
We alfo know it was of old in ufe am.ong the
lonians, who probably brought it in very early
days directly from Egypt. Numa, too, who lived
300 years before Alexander, is faid to have left a
number of books wrote on the papyrus, which a
long time after his death were found at Rome.

All this might very well be ; the writers of
thofe early ages were but few, and thofe that
then were, had all of them, more orlefs, connec-
tion by their learning with Egypt ; it was to
them only Egypt was known, and if they learn-
ed to write there, it was not improbable, that
from thence too they adopted the materials moft
commodious for writing upon.

With Ariftotle began the firft arrangement
of a library. Alexander's conqueft, and the
building of Alexandria, laid open Egypt, its

f Anac. Ode. iv. :|: Theoph. Hlft. plant, lib. iv. cap. q.

trade

APPENDIX. 5

trade and learning, to the world. Papyrus then,
or the paper made from it, was the only materi-
als made ufe of for writing upon. A violent de-
lire of amaffing books, and a library, immedi-
ately followed, which we may fafely attribute to
the example fet by Ariftotle.
• The Ptolemies, and the kings of Pergamus,
contended who fhould make the largeft collec-
tion. The Ptolemies, mafters of Egypt and of
the papyrus, availed themfelves of this mono-
poly to hinder the multiplication of books in
Greece. The other princes probably fmuggled
this plant, and propagated it wherever it would
grow out of Egypt. And Eumenes king of Per-
gamus fet about bringing to perfection the ma-
nufacture of parchment, which, long before^
the lonians had ufed from the fcarcity of paper ;
for whatever refemblance there might be in
names, or whatever may be inferred from them
writing upon fkins or parchment was much more
ancient than any city or ftate in Greece, and in
ufe probably before Greece was inhabited. The
Tews we know made ufe of it in the earlieft a2*es.
At this very time which we are now fpeaking of,
we learn from Jofephus *, that the elders, by
order of the high prieil, carried a copy of the
Jaw to Ptolemy Philadelphus in letters of gold
upon Ikins, the pieces of which were fo artfully
put together that the joinings did not appear.

* Jufeph. lib' xiL p. 4c Cc

■ The

6 APPENDIX.

The ancients divided this plant into three
parts, the head and the fmall part of the ftalk
were cut off, then the woody part, or bottom,
and the root connected with it, and there re-
mained the middle. All thefe had feparate ufes.
Pliny * fays the upper part, which fupported the
large top itfelf, with the flowers upon it, was
of no fort of ufe but to adorn the temples, and
crown the ftatues of the gods ; but it would feem
that it was in ufe likewife for crowning men of
merit. Plutarch f fays, that Agefilaus preferred
being crowned with that to any other, on ac-
count of its fimplicity, and that parting from
the king he had fought to be crowned with this
as a favour, which was granted him. Athe-
rseus I, on the contrary, laughed at thofe that
mixt rofes in the crown of papyrus, and he fays
it is as ridiculous as mixing rofes with a crown
of garlic. The reafon, however, he gives, does
not hold, for papyrus itfelf fmells no more of
mud, as he fuppofes, than a rofe-bufh ; nay, the
flower of the papyrus has fomething agreeable in
its fmell, though not fo much fo as rofes. If he
had faid that the head of the papyrus refembled
withered grafs or hay, and made a bad contraft
with the richnefs and beauty of the rofe, he had
faid well. But notwithflanding what Pliny has
written, the head of the papyrus was employed,

* Plin. Nat. Hill. lib. 13. cap. ii. t Plutarch in Agefilao.
X Athen. lib. 15.

not

APPENDIX. 7

not only to make crowns for ftatues of the gods,
but alfo to make cables fc;: Ihips. We are told that
,AntigOTius madeufe of nothing elfe for ropes and
cables to his fleets, before the ufe of fpartum,
or bent-grafs, was known, which, though very
little better, flill ferves that purpofe in fmall
ftiips on the coaft of Provence to this day. The
top of the papyrus was likewife ufed for fewing
and caulking the vefTels, by forcing it into the
feams, and afterwards covering it with pitch.

Pliny* tells us, that the whole plant toge-
ther was ufed for making boats, a piece of the
acacia-tree being put in the bottom toferve as the
keel, to which plants were joined, being firft
fewed together, then gathered up at ftem and
ftern, and the ends of the plant tied faft there,
" Conferitur bibuia Memphitis cymbapapyro ;'*
and this is the only boat they ftill have in Abyf-
fmia, which they call Tancoa, and from the ufe
of thefe it is that Ifaiah defcribes the nations, pro-
bably the Egyptians, upon whom the vengeance
of God was fpeedily to fall. T imagine alfo that
the junks of the Red Sea, faid to be of leather,
were firft built with papyrus and covered with
j&ins. In thefe the Homerites trafficked with
their friends the Sabeans acrofs the mouih of the
Red Sea, but they can never perfuade me, how-
ever generally and conliderably it has been affert-

*. Plln. Nat. Wi\kr Kb. xiiL cap. i r=

rd.

8 APPENDIX.

ed, that veffels of tliis kind could have liv^d an
hour upon the Indian ocean.

The bottom, root, or woody part of this
plant, was likewife of feveral ufes, before it turn-
ed abfolutely hard ; it was chewed in the manner
of liquorice, having a confiderable quantity oi
fweet juice in it. This we learn from Diofcori-
des ; it was, I fuppofe, chewed, and the fweet-
ncfs fucked out in the fame manner as is done
with fugar-cane. This is ftiil praclifed in Abyf-
ihiia, where they likewife chew the root of the
Indian corn, and of every kind of cyperus ; and
Herodotus tells us, that about a cubit of the lower
part of the ftalk was cut off and roafted over the
fire and eaten.

From the fcarcity of wood, which was very
great in Egypt for the reafon I have already men-
tioned, this lower part was likev/ife ufed in mak-
ing cups, moulds, and other necelTary utenfils ;
we need not doubt too, one ufe of the woody
part of this plant w^as to ferve for what we call
boards or covers for binding the leaves, w^hich
w^re made of the bark ; we know that this was
^ anciently one ufe of it, both from Alcseus and
Anacreon.

In a large and very perfect manufcript in my
poiielHon, which was dug up at Thebes, the
boards are of papyrus root, covered firfl with the
coarfer pieces of the paper, and then with lea-
ther, in the fame manner as it would be done

now.

APPENDIX. 9

now. It is a book one would call a fmall folio,
rather than by any other name, and I apprehend
that the fhape of the book where papyrus is em-
ployed was always of the fame form with thofe
of the moderns. The letters are flrong, deep,
black, and apparently WTitten with a reed, as is
pradifed by the Egyptians and Abyffinians ftill.
It is written on both fides, fo never could be roll-
ed up as parchment was, nor would the brittle-
nefs of the materials when dry, fupport any fuch
frequent unrolling. This probably arifes from their
having firft written upon papyrus, after the ufe of
(tone was laid afide, and only adopted fkins upon
their embracing the Jewiili religion. The Ethio-
pians, indeed, write upon parchment, yet ufe
the flime form of books as we do. The outer
boards are made of wood and covered with lea-
ther. It was the law, only they fay they were in
ufe to preferve in one long roll of parchment,
upon the forefide of which it was written ; it
being indecent and improper to write any part of
it on the back, or a lefs honourable place of the
Ikin : And fuch was the roll we have juft menti-
oned as prefented to Ptolemy, where fuch pains
were taken in joining the feveral fkins together,
for this very reafon.

The manner paper was made has been contro-
verted ; but whoever wdll read Pliny * atten-
tively, cannot, as I imagine, be long in doubt.

* Plin. Nat. Kift- lib. xlii. cap. 12.

The

lO APPENDIX.

The thick part of the flalk being cut in half, the
pellicle between the pith and the bark, or perhaps
the two pellicles, were ftript off, and divided by an
Iron inftrument, which probably was Iharp-point-
ed,but did not cut at the edges. This was fquared
at the fides fo as to be like a ribband, then laid
upon a fmooth table or dreffer, after being cut
into the length that it was required the leaf fhould
be. Thefeftripes, or ribbands of papyrus, were
lapped over each other by a very thin border,
and then pieces of the fame kind were laid tranf-
verfely, the length of thefe anfwering to the
breadth of the iirft. The book which I have is
eleven inches and a half long, and fevcn inches
broad, and there is not one leaf in it that has a
ribband of papyrus of two inches and a half broad,
from which I imagine the fize of this plant, for-
merly being fifteen feet long, was pretty near
the truth. No fuch plant, however, appears
now ; I do not remember to have ever feen one
more than ten feet high. This is probably owing
to their being allowed to grow wild, and too
thick together, without being weeded ; we know
from Herodotus *, that the Egyptians cut theirs
down yearly as they did their harveil.

Thefe ribbands, or ftripes of papyrus, have
twelve different names in Pliny f, which is to be
copious with a vengeance. They are, philura, ra-
mentum, fcheda, cutis, plagula, corium, taenia,

* Herodot. lib. xi. f Plin. Nat. Hill. Jib. xxx. cap. 12.

fubtegmen.

APPENDIX. II

lubtegmen, ftatumen, pagina^ tabula, and papy.
rus. After thefe, by whatever name you call
them, were arranged at right angles to each other,
a weight was placed upon them while moift,
which compreffed them, and fo they were fuf-
fered to dry in the fun.

It was fuppofed that the water of the Nile *
had a gummy quality neceifary to glue thefc
ilripes together. This we may be alTured is with-
out foundation, no fuch quality being found in
the water of the Nile. On the contrary, I found
it of all others the moft improper, till it had fet-
tled, and was abfolutely diveftedof all the earth
gathered in its turbid ftate. I made feveral pieces
of this paper, both in Abyffinia and Egypt, and
it appears to me, that the fugar or fweetnefs with
which the whole juice of th;s plant is impregnat-
ed, is the matter that caufes the adhefion of
thefe ftripes together, and that the ufe of the wa-
ter is no more than to diflblve this, and put it
perfectly and equally in fufion.

There feemed to be an advantage in putting
the infide of the pellicle in the fituation that it
was before divided, that is, the interior parts
face to face, one long-ways, and one crofs-ways,
after which a thin board of the cover of a book
was laid firft over it, and a heap of flones piled
upon it. I do not think it fucceeded with boil-
ed Vv^ater, and it was always coarfe and gritty

* P]in> lib. xill. cap. 12,

with

12 APPENDIX.

with the water of the Nile. Some pieces were
excellent, made with water that had fettled, that
is, in the ilate in which we drink it ; but even
the beft of it was always thick and heavy, dry-
ing very foon, then turning firm and rigid, and
never white ; nor 'did I ever find one piece that
would bear the ftrokes of a mallet *, but in its
icreeneft ftate the blow fhivered and divided the
fibres length-ways; nor did I fee the marks of
any ftroke of a hammer or mallet in the book in
my cuilody, which is certainly on Saitic or Hie-
ratic paper. I apprehend by a paiTage in Pliny f ,
that the mallet Vv^as ufed only when artificial glue
or ffum was made ufe of, which mull have been
as often as they let thefe ftripes of the ribband
or pellicle dry before arranging them.

Pliny I fays, the books of Numa were 830
years old when they were found, and he won-
ders, from the brittlenefs of the infide of the
paper, it could have lafted fo long. The manu-

* Sir Jofeph Banks fhev/ed me a flip of paper which he got
from an Italian gentleman, made, if I remember, of a cyperus
found in the river or lake of Thrafymene. I do not recollect
the procefsj but the paper itfelf was infinitely fuperior to any I
Iiad feen attempted, and feemed to poffefs a great portion of
fiexibility, and was more likely to anfwer the purpofes of paper
than even the old Egyptian, if it had been drefTed up and
fiaiihcd.

f Plin. Nat. Hift. lib. xiii. cap. 13,
4: Plin. lib. xiii. cap. 13.

fcrip^

APPENDIX. 13

fcript in my poiTefHon, which was dug up at
Thebes, I conjeclure is near three times the age
that Pliny mentions ; and, though it is certainly
fragil, has fubftance and prefervation of letter
enough, with good care, to laft as much longer,
and be legible.

If the Saitic paper was, as we imagine, the firft
invented, it ihould follow, contrary to what Ifi-
dore advances, that it was not firfl invented in
Memphis, but in Upper Egypt in Seide, whofe
language and writing obtained in the earlieil
age, though Lucan feems to think with lii-
dore,

Nondiim flumineas Me?nphis contexere biblos

Noverat.

Lucan, lib. iii.

After the hieroglyphicks were loft, perhaps fome
time before, we know nothing the Egyptians
adopted fo generally as paper, and there were
probably * religious reafons that impeded in thole
early days the people from falling upon the moft
natural, the ikins ofbeafts. However this be, it
is certain, under the Egyptians, naturally averfe
to novelty and improvement, paper arrived to
no great perfedlion till taken in hands by the
Romans. The Charta Claudia was thirteen
inches wide, the Hleratica, or Saitica, eleven,

* Scruples about cleannefs.

and

14 APPENDIX.

and fuch is the length of the leaf of my book in
the Saitic diaka, that is, the old Coptic, or
Egyptian of Upper Egypt. I have no idea what
the Emporetic paper was, which obtained that
degree of coarfenefs and toughnefs. as to ferve
for iiiopkeepers ufes to tie up goods, unlefs it
was like our brown paper employed to the fame
purpofes.

If the date of the invention of this ufeful art
of making paper is doubtful, the time when it
was loft, or fuperfeded by one more convenient,
is as uncertain. Euftathius fays it was difufed in
his time in the year^i 1 70. Mabillon endeavours to
prove it exifted in the 9th, and even that there ex-
iited fome Popifli bulls wrote upon it as late as the
1 ith century. He gives, as inftances, a part of
St. Mark's Gofpel prefer ved at Venice as being
upon papyrus, and the fragment of Jofephus at
Milan to be cotton paper, while Maffei proves
this to be juft the reverfe, that of St. Mark be-
ing cotton, and the other indifputably he thinks
to be Egyptian papyrus, fo that Mabillon's au-
thority as to the bulls of the pope may be fairly
queftioned.

The feveral times I have been at thefe places
mentioned, I have never fucceeded in feeing
any of thefe pieces ; that of St. Mark at Venice
I was affured had been recognized to be cotton
paper ; it was rendered not legible by the warm
faliva of zealots kiffing it from devotion, which

I can

APPENDIX. 15

I can cafily comprehend mufl contain a very
corrofive quality, and the Venetians now refute
to fhew it more. I have feen two detached
leaves of papyrus, but do not believe there u
another book exifling at the prefent time but
that in my poffelhon, which is very perfect. I
gave Dr. Woide leave to tranllate it at Lord
North's delire ; it is a gnofiic book, full of their
dreams.

The general figure of this plant Pliny has rightly
faid to refemble a Thyrfus ; the head is compofed
of a number of fmallgraffy filaments, each about
a foot long. About the middle, each of thefe
filaments parts into four, and in the point, or
partition, are four branches of flov/ers ; the
head of this is not unlike an ear of wheat in
form, but which in fadl is but a chaffy, fiiky,
foft hulk. Thefe heads, or flowers, growupoa
the ftalk alternately, and are not oppollte to. or
on the fame line with each other at the bottom.

Pliny * fays it has no feed ; but this we may
be alTured is an abfurdity. The form of the
flower fufliciently indicates that it was made to
refolve itfelf into the covering of one, which i»
certainly very fmall, and by its exalted fituation,
and thicknefs of the head of the flower, feems
to have needed the extraordinary covering it has
had to prote6l it from the violent hold the wind

* PUn. lib. I3..ut. fup*

muft

l6 APPENDIX.

muft have had upon it. For the fame reafon,
the bottom of the filaments compoiing the head
are flieathed in four concave leaves, which keep
them clofe together, and prevent injury from
the wind getting in betvv' een them.

The ftalk is of a vivid green, thickeft at the
bottom, and tapering up to the top * ; it is of a
triangular form. In the Jordan, the linglefide,
or apex of the triangle, flood oppofed to the
ftream as the cut-water of a boat or Ihip, or the
fharp angle of a buttrefs of a bridge, by which
the prelTure of the ftream upon the ftalk would
be greatly diminilhed. I do not precifely re-
member how it ftood in the lakes in Ethiopia
and Egypt, and only have this remark in the
notes I made at the Jordan.

This conllruction of the ftalk of the papyrus
feems to reproach Ariftotle with want of obfer-
vation. He fays that no plant had either trian-
gular or quadrangular ftalks. Here we fee an in-
ftance of the contrary in the papyrus, whofe
ftalk is certainly and univerfally triangular ; and
we learn from Diofcorides that many more have
quadrangular ftalks or ftems of four angles.

It has but one root, which is large and ftrong f ,
Pliny fays, a§ thick as a man's arm : So it was,
probably, when the plant was fifteen feet high,
but it is now diminiflied in proportion, the

* Plin. lib xiii. cap, ir. f Ibid. id.

whole

APPENDIX. 17

whole length of the ftalk, comprehending the
head, being a little above ten, but the root is
flill hard and folid near the heart, and works
with the turning loom tolerably well, as it did
formerly when they made cups of it. In the mid-
dle of this long root arifes the ilalk at right an-
gles, fo when inverted it has the figure of a T,
and on each fide of the large root there are
fmaller elaftic ones, v/hich are of a dire6tion per-
pendicular to itj and which, like the fi:rings of a
tent, fleady it and fix it to the earth at the bot-
tom. About two feet, or little more, of the
lower part of the ftalk is cloathed with long,
hollow, fword-ihaped leaves, which cover each
other like fcales, and fortify the foot of the
plant. They are of a duiky brown, or yellow
colour. 1 fuppofe the ftalk was cut off below, at
about where thefe leaves end.

The drawing reprefents the papyrus as grow-
ing. The head is not upright, but is inclined,
as from its fize it always muft be in hot coun-
tries, in which alone it grows. In all fuch cli-
mates, there is fome particular wind that reigns
longer than others, and this being aHvays the
' moil violent, as well as the m.ofl conftant, gives
to heavy-headed trees, or plants, an inclination
contrary to that from which it blows.

This plant is called el Berdi in Egypt, v»'hich
iignines nothing in Arabic, and I fuppofe is old
Egyptian. 1 have been told by a learned gen-

Vol, VL C tleman.

l8 APPENDIX.

man *, that in Syria it is known by the name of
Babeer, which approaches more to the found of
papyrus, and paper ; this I never heard myfelf,
but leave it entirely upon his authority,

* Mr. Adamfon, interpreter to the French fadory of Seide,
a man of great merit and knowledge in natural hiflory, brother
to the naturalift of that name, who has wrote the voyage to
Senegal, and particularly an account of the fhells of thofe feasj
full of barbarous words, and liberal ideas.

BALESSAN,

F/a^el8J^

6

?

9

c

ria^'- 7^9. A

APPENDIX. _ 1 9

BALESSAN, BALM, or BALSAM.

'TPHE great value fet upon this drug in the
"*■ eaft remounts to very early ages ; it is coe-
val with the India trade for pepper, and the be-
ginning of it confequently loft in the darknefs
of the firft ages. We know from fcripture, the
oldeft hiftory extant, as well as moft infallible,
that the Ilhmaelites, or Arabian carriers and
merchants, trafficking with the India commodi-
ties into Egypt, brought v/ith them balm as part
of the cargo with pepper ; but the price that
they paid for Jofeph was filver, and not a barter
with any of their articles of merchandife.

Strabo alone, of all the ancients, hath ffiven
us the true account of the place of its oricrinc
" Near to this, that hiftorian fays, is the moft
" happy land of the Sabeans, and they are a
" very great people. Among thefe, frankln-
" cenfe, myrrh, and cinnamon grow, and in
" the coaft that is about Saba, the balfam alfo."
Among the myrrh-trees behind Azab all alono-
the coaft to the Straits of Babelmandeb is its na-
tive country. It grows to a tree above fourteen

C 2 feet

20 APPENDIX.

feet high, fpontaneoufly and without culture,
like the myrrh, the coffee, and frankincenfe tree;
they are all equally the wood of the country,
and are occalionally cut down and ufed for fuel.
We need not doubt but that it was early tranf-
planted into Arabia, that is, into the fouth part
of Arabia Felix, immediately fronting Azab,
the place of its nativity. The high country of
Arabia was too cold to receive it, being all
mountainous ; water freezes there.

There is an anecdote relating to Sir William
Middleton, who was furprifed and taken pri-
foner by the Turks in the firft attempt to open
the trade of the Red Sea, that when about to
fet * out for Sanaa, corruptly called Zenan, the
refidence of the Imam, or prince of Arabia Fe-
lix, he was by the people defired f to take his
fur cloak along with him to keep him from the
cold; he thought they were ridiculing him
upon what he had to fuffer from the approach-
ins: heat, which he was convinced in the middle
of Arabia muft be exceflive.

The firft plantation that fucceeded feems to
have been at Petra, the ancient metropolis of
Arabia, now called Beder, or Beder Hunein,
whence I got one of the fpecimens from which
fhe prefent drawing is made.

* Dec. 22d, 1610. t Purchas, chap. xi. §,. 3.

Jofephus, -

APPENDIX. 21

Jofephus *, in the hiftory of the antiquities
of his country, fays, that a tree of this balfam
was brought to Jerufalem by the queen of Saba,
and given, among other prefents, to Solomon,
who, as we know from fcripture, was very ftu-
dious of all forts of plants, and fkilful in the
defcription and diftin6lion of them. Here it
feems to have been cultivated and to have thri-
ven, fo that the place of its origin came to be
forgotten.

Notwithftanding this pofitive authority of Jo-
fephus, and the great probability that attends it,
we are not to put it in competition with what
we have been told from fcripture, as we have
juft now feen, that the place where it grew, and
was fold to merchants, was Gilead in Judea,
more than 1730 years before Chriil:, or 1000 be-
fore the queen of Saba ; fo that readino- the
verfe, nothing can be more plain than that it
had been tranfplanted into Judea, flouriihedj
and had become an article of commerce in Gi-
lead long before the period Jofephus mentions :
and they fat down to eat bread, and they lift-
ed up their eyes and looked, and behold, a
company of lihmaelites came from Gilead
with their camels, bearing fpicery, and balm,
and myrrh, going to carry it down to
^oyP^t-" Now, the fpicery, or pepper, was

Jofeph. Antiqult. lib. v. f Gea. chap.xxxvii. ver. 25,

certainly

22 APPENDIX.

certainlypurchafedby thelflimaelites at the mouth
of the Red Sea, where was the market for Indian
goods, and at the fame place they muft have
brought the myrrh, for that neither grew nor
grows any where eife than in Saba or Azabo eau
to Cape Gardefan, where were the ports for India,
and whence it was difperfed all over the world-

The Ifhmaelites, or Arabian carriers, loaded
their camels at the mouth of the Red Sea with
pepper and myrrh. For reafons not now known
to us, they went and completed their cargo with
balfam at Gilead, fo that, contrary to the au-
thority of Jofephus, nothing is more certain,
than 1730 years before Chrift, and 1000 years
before the queen of Saba came to Jerufalem, the
balfam-tree had been tranfplanted from Abyffi-
nia into Judea, and become an article of com-
merce there, and the place from which it origi-
nally was brought, through length of time, com-
bined with other reafons, came to be forgotten.

Theophr alius, Diofcorides, Pliny, Solinus, and
Serapion, all fay that this balfam came only
from Judea. The words of Pliny are, " But to
^' all other odours whatever, the balfam is pre-
*' ferred, produced in no other part but the
" land of Judea, and even there in two gardens
*^ only J both of them belonging to the king,

'^ one

APPENDIX. 23

** one no more than twenty acres, the other ftill
« fmaller*.*'

At this time I fuppofe it got its name of Bal-
famum Judaicum, or, Balm of Gilead, and
thence became an article in merchandife and fif-
cal revenue, which probably occalioned the dif-
couragement of bringing it any more from Ara-
bia, whence it very probably was prohibited as
contraband. We fliall fuppofe thirty acres plant-
ed with this tree would have produced more
than all the trees in Arabia do at this day. Nor
does the plantation of Beder Hunein amount
to much more than that quantity, for we are
ftill to obferve, that even when it had been as
it were naturalifed in Judea, and acquired a
name in the country, ftill it bore evident marks
of its being a ftranger there ; and its being con-
fined to two royal gardens alone, fhews it was
maintained there by force and culture, and was
by no means a native of the country. And
this is confirmed by Strabo, who fpeaks of it
being in the king's palace or garden at Jeri-
cho. This place being one of the warmeft in
Judea, Ihews likewife their apprehenfions about
it, fo that in Judea, we may imagine it was
pretty much in the ftate of our myrtles in Eng-
land, which, though cultivated in green-houfcs

* Plin. Nat. Hift. lib. xii. cap. 25.

in

-24 APPENDIX.

in all the reft of the ifland, yet grow beautifully
and luxuriantly in Devonfliire and Cornwall, the
w^eftern parts of it.

Diodorus Siculus, fays, it grew in a valley in
Arabia Felix ; he fhould have faid on a number
of gentle, floping hills in Arabia Deferta, which
have a very fmall degree of elevation above the
plain, but by no means refemble a valley. This
place was the fcene of three bloody battles be-
tween Mahomet and his kinfmen the Beni Ko-
reilh, whorefufed to be converts to his religion,
or acknowledge his divine legation. Thefe are
at large defcribed by feveral of the hiftorians of
that nation, with circumllances and anecdotes,
as Well interefting and entertaining, as elegantly
told. They Ihew plainly that Mahomet's tribe,
the Beni Koreiih, did not receive their fanatical
ihanners and difpofition from Mahomet and his
religion, but were juft as obiiinate, ignorant,
and fanguinary when they were Pagans, as they
wxre afterwards when converted and became
Mahometans. The laft of thefe battles, which
was deciiive in Mahomet's favour, gave him
the fovereignty of Mecca, and was attended
with the extirpation offome of the principal fa-
milies in this tribe.

At this time the balfam is fuppofed, by being
fold in Judea, and not acceilible by reafon of the
commotions in Arabia, to have become almoft
forgotten in that h ft part, where the trade from
AbyiTmia, its native country, was like wife inter-
rupted

APPENDIX.

25

rupted by this innovation of religion, and by
Mahomet/s profanation of the Caaba, or temple
of the fun, the ancient refort of the Sabean mer-
chants carrying on the trade of India. This in-
terval the impoftor thought proper for a pretend-
ed miracle ; he faid, that, from the blood of the
Eeni Koreiih flain, there had fprung up this
grove of trees, from the juice of which all the
true believers on his fide received a cure for their
wounds, however fatal they appeared, nay, fome
of them were revived from even death itfelf.
Since that time it has maintained its reputation
equal to that which it had in antiquity.

Profper Alpinus fays, that one MelToner an eu-
nuch, governor of Cairo in the year 1519, caul-
, ed to be brought from Arabia forty plants, which
he placed in the garden ofMattareah, where hefu-
perintendedthem. Every day he went to thatgar-
den to pay his devotions to the Virgin Mary, It
was many times renewed, and has as often pe-
rilhed fince. Belloniiis fays, that in his time
there were ten plants at Mattareah, and he is of
opinion, that in all ages they grew well in Arabia^
which is not true, for thofe at Beder are con^
ftantly fupplied with new plants fo foon as the
old ones decay. There was none exifting at
Mattareah the two feveral times I vifited Cairo,
but there were fome of the Chriftians ftill livinq;
there that remembered one plant in that p-arden.

There were three productions from this tree
very much eileemed among the ancients. The

firft

26 APPENDIX.

firft was called Opobalfamum, or. Juice of the
Balfam, which was the lineft kind, compofed
of that greenifh liquor found in the kernel of
the fruit : The next was Carpobalfamum, made
by the expreffion of the fruit when in ma-
turity. The third was Xylobalfamum, the worft
of all, it was an expreffion or decodiion of the
fmall new twigs of a reddifh colour. Thefe
twigs are ftill gathered in little faggots and fent
to Venice, where I am told they are an ingredi-
ent in the Theriac, or of fome fort of compound
drug made in the laboratories there : But the
principal quantity of balfam in all times was
produced by inciiion, as it is at this day. Con-
cerning this, too, many fables have been in-
vented and propagated.

Tacitus fays, that this tree was fo averfe to
iron that it trembled upon a knife being laid
near it, and fome pretend the inciiion fhould be
made by ivory, glafs, or ilone. There is no
doubt but the more attention there is given to
it, and the cleaner the wound is made, the bet-
ter this balfam will be. It is now, as it probably
ever has been, cut by an ax, when the juice is
in its ftrongeil circulation in July, Auguft, and
beginning of September. It is then received
into a fmall earthen botde, and every day's pro-
duce gathered and poured into a larger, which
is kept clofely corked. The Arabs Harb, a no-
ble

APPENDIX. ij

ble family of Beni Koreiih, are the proprietors
of it, and of Beder, where it grows. It is a fta-
tion of the Emer Hadje, or pilgrims going to
Mecca, half way between that city and Me-
dina.

Some books fpeakof a white fort brought by
the caravans from Mecca, and called Balfam of
Mecca, and others a balfam called that of Judea,
but all thefe are counterfeits or adulterations.
The balfam of Judea, which I have already men-
tioned, was long ago loft, when the troubles of
that country withdrew the royal attention from
It ; but, as late as Galen's time, it not only ex-
ifted, but was growing in many places of Palef-
tine befides Jericho, and there is no doubt but it
is now totally loft there.

When Sultan Selim made the conqueft of
Egypt and Arabia in the year 151 6, three pounds
was then the tribute ordered to be fent to Con-
ftantinople yearly, and this proportion is kept
up to this day. One pound is due to the gover-
nor of Cairo, one pound to the Emir Hadje
who conduds the pilgrims to Mecca, half a pound
to the ballia of Damafcus, and feveral fmalier
quantities to other officers, after which, the re-
mainder is fold or farmed out to fome merchants,
who, to increafe the quantity, adulterate it with
oil of olives and wax, and feveral other mix-
tures, confulting only the agreement of colour,

without

28 APPENDIX,

without confidering the aptitude in mixing;
formerly we were told it v/as done with art, but
nothins: is eafier deteded than this fraud now.

It does not appear to me, that the ancients had
ever feen this plant, they defcribe it fo variouf-
ly ; fome will have it a tree, fome a fhrub, and
fome a plant only ; and Profper Alpinus, a mo-
dern, corroborates the errors of the ancients,
by faying it is a kind of vine, (vlticofus). The
figure he has given of it is a very bad one, and
leaves us entirely in doubt in what clafs to place
it. The defe6l of the plant in Judea and in
Egypt, and the contradiction in the defcription
of the ancients as to its figure and refemblance,
occafioned a doubt that the v/hole plants in thefe
two countries, and Arabia alfo, had been lofi; in
the defolation occafioned by the Mahometan con-
queft ; and a warm difpute arofe between the
Venetians and Romans, v/hether the drug ufed
by tlie former in the Theriac was really and truly
the old genuine opobalfamum ? The matter was
referred to the pope, who direded proper inquiry
to be made in Egypt, which turned out entirely
in favour of the Venetians, and the opobalfa-
mum continuing as formerly,

A very learned and tedious treatife was pub-
lifhed by Veilingius, in the year 1643, at Padua,
where this affair was difcuHed at full length. As
both parties of the difputants feem to argue con-

cerninsc

APPENDIX. 29

cerning what it is from the mifunderftood re-
ports of what it was, I ihall content myfelf briefs
ly with ftating M^hat the qualities of the opobaU
famum are, without taking pains to refute the
opinions of thofe that have reported what the
opobalfamum is not.

The opobalilimum, or juice flowing from the
balfam-tree, at firil when it is received into the
bottle or vafe from the wound from whence it
iilues, is of a light yellow colour, apparently
turbid, in which there is a whitifli call, which
I apprehend are the globules of air that pervade
the whole of it in its iirfl flate of fermentation ;
it then appears very light upon ihaking. As it
fettles and cools, it turns clear, and lofes that
iniikinefs which it firft had when flowing: from
the tree into the bottle. It then has the colour
of honey, and appears more fixed and heavy
than at firfl. After being kept for years, it
grows a much deeper yellow, and of the colour
of gold. 1 have feme of it, which, as I have
already mentioned in my travels, I got from the
Cadi of Medina in the year 1768 ; it is now ftill
deeper in colour, full as much fo as theyelloweft
honey. It is perfectly fluid, and has lofl very
little either of its tafle, fmell, or weight. The
fmell at firft is violent and fi:rongly pungent,
giving, a fenfation to the brain like to that of
volatile falts v/hen rafhly drawn up by an incau-
tious

50 APPENDIX.

tious perfon. This lafts in proportion to its
frefhnefs, for being negleded, and the bottle
uncorked, it quickly lofes this quality, as it pro-
bably will at laft by age, whatever care is taken
of it.

In its pure and frefli Hate it diffolves eafily in
water. If dropt on a woollen cloth, it will wafii
out eafily, and leaves no ftain. It is of an acrid,
rough, pungent tafte, is ufed by the Arabs in
all complaints of the ftomach and bowels, is rec-
koned a powerful antifeptic, and of ufe in pre-
venting any infeclion of the plague. Thefe qua-
lities it now enjoys, in all probability, in com-
mon with the various balfams we have received
from the new world, fuch as the balfam of Tolu,
of Peru, and the reil". ; but it is always ufed, and
in particular efteemed by the ladies, as a cofme-
tic: As fuch it has kept up its reputation in the
caft to this very day. The manner of applying
it is this ; you firft go into the tepid bath till the
pores are fufficiently opened, you then anoint
yourfelf with a fmall quantity, and, as much as
the veffels will abforb ; never-fading youth and
beauty are faid to be the confequences of this.
The purchafe is eafy enough. I do not hear that
it ever has been thought reftorative after the lofs
of either.

The figure I have here given of the balfam
may be depended upon^ as being carefully drawn,

after

APPENDIX. 31

after an cxacl examination, from two very fine
trees brought from Beder Hunein ; the firfl by
the Cadi of Medina at Yambo ; the fecond at
Jidda, by order of Youfef Kabil, vizir or minif-
ter to the fherriiie of Mecca. The firft was fo de-
liberately executed, that the fecond feemed of
no fervice but to confirm me in the exadlitude
of the firft. The tree was 5 feet 2 inches high
from where the red root begins, or which was
buried in the earth, to where it divides itfelf
firft into branches. The trunk at thickeft was
about 5 inches diameter, the wood light and
open, and incapable of poliihing, covered with
a fmooth bark of bluifh-white, like to a ftand-
ard cherry-tree in good health, which has. not
above half that diameter ; indeed a part of the
bark is a reddifli brown ; it flattens at top like
trees that are expofed to fnow-blafts or fea-air,
which gives it a ftunted appearance. It is re-
markable for a penury of leaves. The flowers
are like that of the acacia-tree, white and round,
only that three hang upon three filaments, or
ftalks, where the acacia has but one. Two of
thefc flowers fall off and leave a fingle fruit ; the
branches that bear this are the flioots of the pre-
fent year; they are of a reddifli colour, and
tougher than the old wood : it is thefe that are
cut oft* and put into little faggots, and fent iq
Venice for the Theriac, when bruifed or drawn
by fire, and formerly thefe made the Xylobalfa-
mum.

Concern! n<^

32 APPENDIX.

Concerning the vipers which, Pliny fays,
were frequent among the balfam trees, I made
very particular inquiry ; feveral were brought
me alive, both to Yambo arid Jidda. Of
thefe I iiiall fpcak in another place, when I give
the iigure^ and an account of that animal ft>
found.

SASSA

p/ate 29jrP 2

(jf6/^af

rLx^tet^Wfi.

APPENDIX. 33

SASSA, MYRRH, and OPOCALPASUM.

T the time when I was on the borders of the
Tal-Tal, or Troglodyte country, I fought to
procure myfelf branches and bark of the myrrh-
tree, enough preferved to be able to defcribe it
and make a deiign ; but the length and rugged-
nefs of the way, the heat of the weather, and
the careleffnefs and want of refources of naked
favages always difappointed me. In thofe goat-
fkin basrs into which I had often ordered them

o

to put fmall branches, I always found the leaves
moftly in powder ; fome few that were entire
feemed to refemble much the acacia vera, but
were wider tov/ards the extremity, and more
pointed immediately at the end. In v/hat order
the leaves grew I never could determine. The
bark was abfolutely like that of the acacia vera ;
and among the leaves I often met with a fmall,
ftraight, weak thorn, about two inches long.

Thefe were all the circumftances I could com-
bine relative to the myrrh-tree, too vague and
uncertain to riik a drawing upon, when there
Hill remained fo many defidcrata concerning it ;
Vol. VI. ' D and

34 A, P P E N D I X.

and as the king was obfllnate not to let me go
thither after what had happened to the furgeon's
mate and boat's crew of the Elgin Indiaman *y
I was obliged to abandon the drawing of the
myrrh-tree to fome more fortunate traveller,
after having in vain attempted to procure it at
Azab, as I have already mentioned.

At the fame time that I was taking thefe
pains about the myrrh, I had delired the fava-
ges to bring me all the gums they could find,
with the branches and bark of the trees that pro-
duced them. They brought me at different
times fome very fine pieces of incenfe, and at
another time a very fmall quantity of a bright
colourlefs gum, fweeter on burning than incenfe,
but no branches of either tree, though I found
this latter afterwards in another part of Abyf-
linia. But at all times they procured me quan-
tities of gum of ?.n even and clofe grain, and of
a dark brown colour, which was produced by a
tree called Saila, and twice I received branches
of this tree in tolerable order, and of thefe I
made a drawing,.

Some weeks after, while walking at Emfras,
a Mahometan village, whofe inhabitants are
myrrh merchants, I faw a large tree with the
whole upper part of the trunk, and the large

* They were murdered at Azab,, fee vol. I.

branches.

A P P E N D I 5c. 35

branches, fo covered with boiTes and knt)bs of
gum, as to appear monftroufiy deformed, and
inquiring farther about this tree, I found that it
had been brought, many years before, from the
myrrh country, by merchants, and planted
there for the fake of its g-um, with which thefe
Mahometans ftiffened the blue Surat cloths they
got damaged from Mocha, to trade in with the
Galia and AbyfUnians. Neither the origin of
the tree which they called Saffa, nor the gum,
could allow me to doubt a moment that it was
the fame as what had been brought to me from
the myrrh country, but 1 had the additional fa-
tisfaclion to find the tree all covered over v/ith
beautiful crin^.fon flowers of a very extraordi-
nary and ftrange conftruction. I began then a
drawing anew, with all that fatisfaction known
only to thofe who have been converfant in fuch
difcoveries.

I took pieces of the gum with me ; it is very
light. Galen complains that, in his time, the
mvrrh was often mixed with a drug: which
he calls Opocalpafum, by a Greek name, but
what the drug was is totally unknovv^n to us at
this day, as nothing fimilar to the Greek name
is found in the language of the country. But
as the only viev/ of the favage, in mixing ano-
ther gum with his m.yrrh, muft have been to
increafe the quantity, and as the great plenty

D 2 in

36 APPENDIX.

in which this gum is produced, and its colour^
make it very proper for this ufe, and above all,
as there is no reaibn to think there is another
gum-bearing tree of equal qualities in the coun-
try where the myrrh grows, it feems to me
next to a proof, that this muft have been the
opocalpafum of Galen.

I muil however confefs, that Galen fays the
opocalpafum was fo far from being an innocent
drug, that it was a mortal poifon, and had pro-
duced very fatal effecis. But as thofe Troglo-
dvtes, thouo'h now more io'norant th'an former-
]y, are ftili well acquainted with the properties
of their herbs and trees, it is not poffible that
the favage, deiiring to increafe his fales, would
mix them with a poifon that muft needs dimi-
nifii them. And we may therefore without
fcruple fuppofe that Galen was miftaken in the
quality afcribed to this drug, and that he might
Iiave iirragined, from tendernefs to the profef-
fion, that people died of the opocalpafum who
perhaps really died of the phyiician : Firil, Ee-
caufe we know of no eum or reiin that is a
mortal poifon : Secondly, Becaufe, from the
conftruction of its parts, gum could not have
the activity which violent poifon has ; and con-
fidering the fmall quantities in w-hich myrrh is
taken 3 and the opocalpafum could have been but
in an iiiconfiderabls proportion to the myrrh,

to

APPENDIX. ^7

to have killed, it mnft have been a very active
poifon indeed : Thirdly, thefe accidents from a
known caufe muft have brou2:ht mvrrh into dll-
ufe, as certainly as the Spaniards mixing arfe-
nicwith bark would banifli that drug when we
faw people die of it. Now this never v/as the
cafe, it maintained its character among the
Greeks and the Arabs, and fo down to our days ;
and a modern phyiician, Van Helmont, thinks
it might make man immortal if it could be ren-
dered perfectly foluble in the human body. Ga-
len then was miftaken as to the poifonous qua-
lity of the opocalpafum. The Greek phyiician
j^new little of the Natural Hiftory of Arabia,
]efs Itill of that of Abyffinia, and we who have
followed them know nothing of either.

This gum being put into water, fwelU and
turns white, and lofes all its glue ; it very much
refembles gum adragant in quality, and may
be eaten fafely, This fpecimen came from the
Troglodyte country in the year 1771. The
Saila, the tree which produces the opocalpafum,
does not grow ia Avabia. Arabian myrrh is
cafily known from Abyfiinian by the follov/ing
method : Take a handful of the fmalleft pieces
found at the bottom of the bafket where the
myrrh was packed, and throw them into a plate,
;ind juft cover them with water a little warm,
ihp myyvh will remain (or fome time without

vilible

35 APPENDIX.

viiible alteration, for it diiTolves flowly, but
"the gum will fwell to five times its original ilze^
and appear fo many white fpots amidft the
myrrh.

Emfras, as I have faid, is a large village fome-
thinp- more than t^venty miles fouth from Gon-
dar, fituated upon the face of a hill of confider-
able height above the lake Tzana, of which, and
all its iilands, it has a very diflincl and pleafant
view; it is divided from the lake by a large
plain, near which is the ifland of Mitraha, one
of the burying places of the kings. The inha-
bitants of the lower town, clofe on the banks
of the fmall river Arno, are all Mahometans,
many of them men of fubftance, part of them
the king's tent-makers, who follow the camp,
and vitch his tents in the held ; the others are
merchants to the mvrrh and frankincenfe coun-
try, that is, from the eaft parallel of the king-
dom of Dancali to the point Cape Gardefan, or
Promontorium Aromatum ; they alfo bring fait
from the plains, on the weft of the kingdom
of Dancali, where foillle fait is dug ; it is
on the South Eaft border of the KinG:dom
of Tigre. Thefe Mahometans trade alfo to the
Galla, to the weftward of the Nile ) their prin-
cipal commodity i:. myrrh and damaged cargoes
of blue Surat cloth, which they unfold and clean^

then

/ A P P E N D I X, 35

dien ftifFen them with gum, and fold them in
form of a book as when they were new.

This gum, which is called Saffa, they at firft
brought from the myrrh country behind Azab,
till ingenious and fagacious people had carried
plants of the tree to their different villages^
where they have it growing in great perfection,
and more than fupply the ufes of the mer-
chants.

This tree grows to a great height, not infe*
arior to that of an Englifli elm; that from
which this draught was made was about two feet
diameter ; the gum grows on all fides of the
trunk, in quantity enough almoft to cover it,
in form of large globes, and fo it does on all
the principal branches. Thefe lumps are fome-
times fo large as to weigh two pounds, though
iiaturally very light.

The bark of the tree is thin and of a bliiilk
colour, not unlike that of a cherry tree when
young, or rather whiter. The wood is white
■and hard, only the young branches which carry
the flower are red. The leaves are joined to the
fides of the fmall branches by a fmall pedicle of
.coniiderable ftrength, the leaves are two and
two, or oppofite to each other, and have no
iingle leaf at the point ; they are ftrongly var-
nifhed both on one fide and the other, the back
father lighter than the forefide of the h^L

The

40 APPENDIX.

The branches that carry the leaves have about
an inch of the ftalk bare, where it is fixed to
the larger branch. There are generally four-
teen leaves, each of about three quarters of an
inch long. At the top of the branch are knots
out of which come three fmall ftalks, bare for
about an inch and a half, then having a num-
ber of fmall tubes, which, when they open at
the top, put forth a long piftil from the bottom
of the tube. The top of the tube, divided in-
to five fegments, or petals, arrives about one
third up the piftil, and makes the figure of a
calix or perianthium to it. From this tube pro-
ceeds a great number of very fmall capillaments
of a pink colour, at the end of each of which
hangs a purple fi:igma. At the top of this pif-
til is a large bunch of flill finer fibres, or capil-
laments, with ftigmata likewife, and at the
end the piftil is rounded as if forming a fruit ;
without a very diftlnct drawing, it would be
difficult to make a defcription that Ihould be
intelliQ;ible.

Nothing can be more beautiful, or more com-
pounded, than the formation of this iiovver,
though it has no odour ; the head is compofed
of about thirty of thefe fmall branches now de-
fer ibcd, which make a very beautiful mafs, and
is of' a pink colour of different (hades. At fun-.

fet.

APPENDIX. 41

fet, the leaves on each fide of the branch fliut
face to face like the fenfitive tribe. I never faw
any feed or fruit that it bore, nor any thino*
like the rudiments of feed, unlefs it be that
very fmall rotundity that appears at the end of
the pifti], which feem to bear no proportion to
fy large a tree.

E R G E T T

P P E N D I X.

E R G E T T Y' D I M M O.

TH E two beautiful flirubs which I have
here given to the reader are called by the
name of Ergett, which we may fuppofe, in
Abyiiinian botany, to be the generic name of
the mimofa, as both of thefe have the fame
name, and both of the fame family, of which
there are many varieties in Abyilinia.

This firft is called the Bloody Ergett, as we
may fuppofe from the pink filaments of which
this beautiful and uncommon flower is in part
compofed, and which we may therefore call Mi-
mofa Sanguinea. The upper p^rt of the llov/er
is compofed of curled, yellow filaments, and
the bottom a pink of the fame ftruclure. 1 ne-
ver faw it in any other fi:ate. Before the blofr
fom fpread it appears in the form here exhibit-
ed. The pink, or lower part, in its unrips
ftate, is compofed of green turbercules, larger
and more detached than where the yellow flcwer

Plate XX.

Sme/&

^ ?7ly??7.^?^^.

I'latr it.

APPENDIX, 43

is produced, whofe tuber cules are fmaller and
clofer fet together. I need not fay the leaves
are of the double pinnated kind, as that and
every thing elfe material can be learned from
the figure, full as perfectly as if the flower was
before them ; none of the parts, however tri-
fling and fmall, being neglected in the repre-
fentation, and none of them fuppofed or placed
there out of order, for ornament, or any other
caufe whatever : a rule which I would have the
Reader be perfuaded is invariably obferved in
pvery article reprefented in this colleftion, whe?
ther tree or plant, beafl, bird, or fifh.

ERGETT EL KRONE.

H E next of this fpecies of Ergett or Mi-
mofa, is called in Abyflinia Era-ett el
Krone, or the Horned Ergett ; I apprehend the
figure of the pods have given it that appellation.
|ts flower in iize and form very much refembles

the

44 APPENDIX,

the acacia vera, only that it is attached to the
branch by a long and ftrong woody ftalk, which
grows out at the bottom of the branch bearing
the leaves, and is ftieltered as in a cafe by the
lower part of it. The branches of it are all co-
vered with very ihort, ftrong, Iharp-pointed
thorns, whofe point is inclined backward to-
wards the root. Its pods are covered with a
prickly kind of hair, which, when touched,
Hick in your fingers and give very uneafy fenfa-
tions. The pods are divided into thirteen divi-
iions, in each of which are three round feeds,
hard and fliining, of a dulky brownifh cOt
lour. The flower has fcarcely any fmell, nor
do I know that it is of any utility whatever.
Both thefe beautiful fhrubs were found upon
the banks of the river Arno, between Emfras
and the lake Tzana. The foil is black mould,
with a great mixture or compolition of rotten
putrified leaves, thinly covering the rock in the
temperate part of Abyilmia. What I have to
pbferve of both thefe flirubs is, that they fhut
their leaves upon the violent rains of winter,
and are never fully expanded till the fun and fair
feafpn a^^ain return,

fNSETE.

Flate 21 jV.";.

•» \

S^

'^n^i€/^.

/'Z^^ 2/, J^."!.

C?//j/'/r.

A P P E N t) I X. 45

E N S E T E.

"^HE Enfete is an herbacious plant. It 1^
faid to be a native of Narea, and to grow
in the great fwamps and marfhes in that coun-
try, formed by many rivers rifing there, which
have little level to run to either ocean. It is
faid that the Galla, when tranfplanted into
Abyffinia, brought for their particular ufe the
coiTee-tree, and the Enfete, the ufe of neither
of which were before known. However, the
general opinion is, that both are naturally pro-
duced in every part of Abyffinia, provided there
is heat and moifture. It grows and comes to
great perfection at Gondar, but it moft abounds
in that part of Maitiha and Goutto weft of the
Nile, where there are large plantations of it,

and

46 APPENDIX.

and Is there almoft, exclufive of any thing eKe^
the food of the Galla inhabiting that province ;
Maitiha is nearly upon a dead level, and the
rains have not Hope to get off eafily, but ftag-
nate and prevent the fowing of grain. Vegeta-
ble food would therefore be very fcarce in Mait-
flia, were it not for this plant.

Some who have feen my drawing of this
plant, and at the fame time found the banana in
many parts of the eafl, have thought the En-
fete to be a fpecies of the Mufa, This however^
I imagine, is without any fort of reafon* It is
true, the leaf of the banana refembles that of
the Enfete, it bears figs, and has an excrefcence
from its trunk, which is terminated by a coni-
cal figure, chiefly differing from the Enfete in
fize and quantity of parts, but the figs of the
banana are in Ihape of a cucumber, and this is
the part which is eaten. This fig is fweet tho'
mealy, and of a taile highly agreeable. It is
fuppofed to have no feeds, though in fad there
are four fmall black feeds in every fig belonging
to it. But the figs of the Enfete are not eata-
ble ; they are of a tender foft fubllance j wa-
tery, tafcelefs, and in colour and confidence fi^
milar to a rotten apricot ; they are of a conical
form, crooked a little at the lower end, about
an inch and a half in length, and an inch in
breadth v/here thickeft. In the infide of thefe

is

APPENDIX.

47

is a large ftone half an inch long, of the fhape
of a bean or cuihoo-nut, of a dark brown co-
lour, and this contains a fmall feed, which is
feldom hardened into fruit, but coniifts only
of fkin.

The Ions: ilalk that bears the ficcs of the En--
fete fprings from the center of the plant, or ra-
ther is the body or folid part af the plant it-
felf. Upon this, w^here it begins to bend, are
a parcel of looie leaves, then grows the fig upon
the body of the plant without any ftalk, after
which the top of the ftalk is thick-fet with
fmall leaves, in the midft of which it terminates
the fiower in form of the artichoke ; whereas
in the banana, the flower, in form of the arti-
choke, grows at the end of that flioot, or ftalk,
which proceeds from the middle of the plant,
the upper part of w^hicli bears the. row of
figs.

The leaves of the Enfete are a web of long-i-
tudinal fibres clofely fet together ^ the leaves
grow from the bottom, and are without ilalks ;
whereas the banana is in fhape like a tree, and
has been miiiaken for fuch. One half of it is-
divided into a ftem, the other is a head formed
of leaves, and, in place of the ftem that grows
out of the Enfete, a number of leaves rolled
together round like a truncheon, 'flioots out of
the heart of the banana^ and renews the upper

as

4? A P P E ]^ D I X.

as the under leaves fall off; but all the leaves of
the banana have a long ftalk ^ this fixes them to
the trunk, wliich they do not embrace by a
broad bafcj or involucrum, as the Enfete does.

•But thegreateil differences are flill remaining.
The banana has, by fome, been miflaken for
a tree of the palmaceous tribe, for no other rea-
fon but a kind of fimilarity in producing the
fruit on an excrefcence or flalk growing from
the heart of the ftem ; but ftill the mufa is nei-
ther woody nor perennial ; it bears fruit but
once, and in all thefe refpeds it differs from trees
of the palmaceous kind, and indeed from all forts
of trees whatever. The Enfete, on the con-
trary, has no naked ftem, no part of it is
woody ; the body of it, for feverai feet high, is
efculent ; but no part of the banana can be eaten.
As foon as the ftalk of the Enfete appears perfe6l
and full of leaves, the body of the plant turns
hard and hbrous, and is no longer eatable; be-
fore, it is the beftof all vegetables ; Vv^hen boiled,
it has the tafte of the beft new wheat-bread not
perfectly baked.

The drawing which I have given the reader
was of an Enfete ten years old. It was then
very beautiful, and had no marks of decay. As
for the piftil, ftamina, and ovarium, they are
drawn with fuch attention, and fo clearly ex-
prefTed by the pencil, that it would be- loft time

to

APPENDIX. 49

t(5 fay more about them. I have given one figure
of the plant cloathed with leaves, and another
of the ftem flript of them, that the curious may-
have an opportunity of further invefligating the
difference between this and the mufa.

When you make ufe of the Enfete for eating,
you cut it immediately above the fmall detached
roots, and perhaps a foot or two higher, as the
plant is of age. You flrip the green from the
upper part till it becomes white ; when foft, like
a turnip well boiled, if eat with milk or butter it
is the befl of ail food, wholefome, nourifhing, and
eafily digefled.

We fee in fome of the Egyptian antique flatues
the figure of Ifis fitting between fome branches
of the banana tree, as it is fuppofed, and fome
handfuls of ears of wheat ; you fee likewife the
hippopotamus ravaging a quantity of banana
tree. Yet the banana is merely adventitious in
Egypt, it is a native of Syria ; it does not even
exift in the low hot country of Arabia Felix^
but choofes fome elevation in the mountains
where the air is temperate, and is not found in
Syria farther to the fouthward than lat 34^.

After all, I do not doubt that it might have
grown in Mattareah, or in the gardens of Egypt
or Rofetto ; but it is not a plant of the country,
and could never have entered inta tti^lift of
their hieroglyphics ^ for this rea{a%it o^tuid not
Vol. VI. ^ figure

50 A P P E N D I ,X.

figure any thing permanent or regular In the
hiftory of Egypt or its climate. I therefore
imagine that this hieroglyphic was wholly Ethio-
pian, and that the fuppofed banana, which, as
an adventitious plant, iignified nothing in Egypt,
\V2S only a reprefentation of the Enfete, and
that the record in the hieoroglyphic of Ifis and
the Enfete-tree was fomething that happened be-
tween harveft, which was about Auguft, and the
time the Enfete-tree became to be in ufe, which
is in October.

The hippopotamus is generally thought to re-
prefent a Nile that has been fo abundant as to be
deflruclive. When therefore w^e fee upon the
obeiifks the hippopotamus deilroying the banana,
we may fuppofe it meant that the extraordinary
inundation had gone fo far as not only to def-
troy the wheat, but alfo to retard or hurt the
growth of the Enfete, ^¥hich was to fupply its
place. I do likewife conjeclure, that the bundle
cf branches of a plant which Horus Apollo fays
the ancient Egyptians produced as the food on
w^hich they lived before the difcovery of wheat,
was not the papyrus, as he imagines, but this
plant, the Enfete, which retired to its native
Ethiopia upon a fubftitute being found better
adapted to the clim.ate. of Egypt.

KOL-

JYa&r9±-^y'l

~a//^//^\

f'

lU/e 'Z'^l^X

r^Y c/z/ry/c^.

f'

APPENDIX. 51

K O L . Q^U ALL,

IN that memorable day when- leaving the
Samhar, or low flat parched country which
forms the fea-coaft of Abyilmia, and turning
weftward, we came to the foot of that llupcn-
dous mountain Taranta, which we were to pafs
in order to enter into the high land of Abyilinia,
we faw the whole lide of that prodigious mioun-
"tain covered from top to bottom with this beau-
tiful tree. We were entering a*country where
we daily expected wonders, and therefore, per-
haps, were not io much furprifed as might have
been fuppofed at fo extraordinary a fight. The
fruit was ripe, and being carried on the top of
the branches, the trees that flood thick together
appeared to be covered with a cloth or veil of
the moft vivid crim.fon colour.

The firfl thing that prefented itfelf was the
firft fhoot of this extraordinary tree. It was a
flngle flalk, about fix inches meafured acrofs, in

E 2 eisfht

o

52 APPENDIX.

eight divifions, regularly and beautifully fcollop-
ed and rounded at the top, joining in the centre
^t three feet and a half high. Upon the outfide
of thefe fcollops were a fort of eyes or fmall
knots, out of every one of which came five
thorns, four on the fides and one in the centre,
fcarce half an inch long, fragil, and of no refif-
tance, but exceedingly fharp and pointed. Its
next procefs is to put out a branch from the firfl:
or fecond fcollop near the top, others fucceed
from all direc^Hons ; and this ftaik, which is foft
and fucculent, of the confifi:ence of the aloe,
turns by degrees hard and ligneous, and, after
a few years, by multiplying its branches, ailumes
the form as in the fecond plate. It is then a
tree, the lower part of which is wood, the upper
part, which is fucculent, has no leaves ; thefe are
fupplied by the fluted, fcolloped, ferrated, thorny
fides of its braiKhes. Upon the upper extremity
of thefe branches grow its flowers, which are of
a golden colour, rofaceous, and formed of five
round or almoil oval petala ; this is fucceeded
by a triangular fruit, firfl: of a light green with
a flight cafl; of red, then turning to a deep crim-
fon, with fl;reaks of white both at top and bot-
tom. In the infide it is divided into three cells,
with a feed in each of them ; the cells are of a
greenifli white, the feed round, and with no de*
gree of humidity or moifl:ure about it, yet the

green

APPENDIX. 53

green leaves contain a quantity of bluifli watery
milk, almoft incredible.

Upon cutting two of the fineft branches of a
tree in its full vigour, a quantity of this iffued
out, which I cannot compute to be lefs than four
Englifh gallons, and this was fo exceedingly
cauftic, that, though I wafhed the fabre that cut
it immediately, the ftain has not yet left it.

When the tree grows old, the branches wi-
ther, and, in place of milk, the infide appears to
be full of powder, which is fo pungent, that the
fmall duft w^hich I drew upon ftriking a withered
branch feemed to threaten to make me fneeze to
death, and the touchingr of the milk with my
finsrers excoriated them as if fcalded with boilino:
water ; yet I every where obferved the wood-
pecker piercing the rotten branches with its
beak, and eating the infeds, without any im-
preffion upon its olfadory nerves*

The only ufe the Abyffinians make of this is
for tanning hides, at leaft for taking off the firft
hair. As we went well, the tree turned poor,
the branches were few, feldom above two or
three ribs, or diviiions, and thefe not deeply in*
dented, whereas thofe of Taranta had frequently
eight. We afterwards faw fomeof them at the
fource of the Nile, in the cliff where the village
of Geeihis fituated, but, though upon very good
ground, they did not feem to thrive ; on the

contrary.

54 APPENDIX.

contrary, where they grew on Taranta it was
fandy, ftony, poor earth, fcarce deep enough to
cover the rock, but I fufped they received fome
benefit from their vicinity to the fea.

Some botanifts who have feen the drawing
have fuppofed this to be the euphorbia officina-
rum of Linn^us ; but, v/ithout pretending to
great fldll in this matter, I fliould fear there
would be fome objedion to this fuppofition :
Firft, on account of the flower, which is cer-
tainly rofaceous, compofed of feveral petals, and
is not campaniform : Secondly, That it produces
no fort of gum, either fpontaneouily or upon
inciiion, at no period of its growth; therefore I
imagine that the gum which comes from Africa
in fmall pieces, firit white on its arrival, then
turning yellow by age, is not the produce of this
tree, which, it may be depended upon, produces
no gum whatever.

Juba the .younger is faid, by Pliny, to have
given this name to the plant, calling it after his
own phyiician, brother to Mufa phyiician to Au-
guilus. We need not trouble ourfelves with
w^hat Juba fays of it, he is a worfe naturalift and
worfe hillorian than the Nubian geographer.

RACK.

£lai>- '^6

APPENDIX. 55

RACK.

THIS is a large tree, and feems pecnliar to
warm climates. It abounds in Arabia Fe-
lix, in Abyilinia, that is, in the low part of it,
and in Nubia. The firft place I faw it in was in
Raback, a port in. the Red Sea, where Idifcover-
ed this iingularity, that it grew in the fea within
low-water mark. When we arrived at Mafaah,
in making a plan of the harbour, I faw a num-
ber of thefe in two iflands both uninhabited, and
without water, the one called Shekh Seide, the
other Toulahout. Thefe two iflands are con-
ftantly overflowed by fait water, and though
they are ftrangers to freih, they yet produce
large Rack-trees, which appear in a flouriiliing
ftate, as if planted in a lituation dellgned for
them by nature.

The Arabians, it is faid, make boats of this
tree. Its wood is fo hardened by the fea, and

alfo

S6 APPENDIX.

alfo fo bitter in tafte, that no worm whatever
will touch it. Of this tree the Arabians alfo
make tooth-picks, thefe they fell in fmall bun-
dles at Mecca, and are reputed to be favourable
to the teeth, gums, and breath.

The reader will have obferved frequent men-
tion of fome trees found in the defer t which our
camels would not eat. Thefe are the Rack-tree,
and the doom, or palma thebaica cuciofera.*
Thefe grow where they find fait fprings in the
fand ; the defert being fo impregnated with foffile
fait in every part of it, that great blocks and
ftrata of it are feen every where appearing above
ground, efpecially about lat. i8°.

The Rack fomething refembles the afh on its
firft appearance, though in the formation of its
parts it is widely different. Its bark is white
and polifhed, fmooth, and without furrows. Its
trunk is generally 7 or 8 feet before it cleaves
into branches. I have feen it above 24 feet in
height, and 2 feet diameter.

Its leaves are, two and two, fet on different:
fides, that is, each two perpendicular to each
other alternately. The fmall branches that bear
flowers part from the infide of the leaf, and have
the fame poiition with the leaves ; that is, fup-
pofe the lowefl: pair of leaves and branches are

* Theophraft. hift. plants, lib. iii. cap. 8. lib. iv. cap. 2. Plin.
Nat. Hift. lib- ^nu cap. 9. J. Bauh. lib, iii. cap. 86.

on

APPENPIX. 57

on the eaft or weft fide of the tree, the pair
above them will be on the north and fouth, and
the next to thefe will be on the weft as before.
The leaves are long and very fharp-pointed ; in
the infide a deep green, and in the out a dirty-
white of a green caft j they have no viiible ribs
either in the infide or out. The cup is a perian-
thium of four petals, which clofely confine the
flower, and is only a little flat at the top. The
flower is compofed of four petals deeply cut, in
the interftices of which is a fmall green fruit
divided by a fiflure in the middle ; its colour is
deep orange, with lights of gold colour, or yel-
low, throughout it. It has no fmell, taftes very
bitterly, and is never feen to be frequented by
the bees. It is probable that a tree of this kind,
tho' perhaps of another name, and in greater
perfedion, and therefore more fit for ufe, may
be found in fome of our Weft-India iflands be-
tween lat. 15^ and 18^, efpecially where there
are fait fprings and marflies*

G I R

jS A P P E N D I X.

GIR GIR, OR GESHE EL AUBE.

•T^HIS fpecies of grafs is one of the acquiii^
tions which my travels have procured to
botany. It was not before known; and the
feed has not, as far as I know, produced any
plant but in the garden of the king of France.
It grov/s plentifuliy near Ras el Feel, not far
from the banks of the ]an?'e jiver Guano-ue, of
w^hich I have fpoken in my return from AbyiliT
nia into Egypt. It begins to ihoot in the end
of April, when it firft feels the humidity of th§
air. It advances then -fDeedilv to its full heisrht,-
which is about 3 feet 4 inches. It is ripe in the
beginning of May, and decays, if not deflroyed
by fire, very foon afterwards,.

The leaf is long, pointed, narrow, and of a
feeble texture. The ftalk from which it flioots
produces leaves in great abundance, which
foon turn yellow and fall to the ground. 1 he
goats, the only cattle thefe miferable people
have, are very fond of it, and for it abandon
all other food while it is within their reach. On
the leaves of fome plants I have feen a very

i^iiall

T/ate ^ ^

APPENDIX. 59

fmail glutinous juice, like to what we fee upon
the leaves of the lime or the plane, but in
much lefs quantity; this is of the tafte of fu-
gar.

From the root of the branch arifcs a number
of ilalks, fometimes two, but never, as far as
I have feen, more than three. The flower and
feed are defended by a wonderful perfeclion and
quantity of fmall parts. The head when in its
maturity is of a parplifh brown. The plate re-
prefents it in its natural iize, with its conftitu-
ent parts difleded and feparated with very great
attention. As they are many, eiK:h have a
number affixed to them.

Mx-^LE-FLOWER DESCRIBED.

The III is the flower in its perfect Hate fepa-
rated from its ftalk. The cd is the upper cafe«
The 3d is the cafe or flieatli, oppoiite to the
foregoing. The 4th are inner cafes which in-
clofe the three ftamina, with the beard and the
arifta. The 5th is its ilile. The 6th its ftamina,
with two cafes that inclofe them. The 7th is
the fheath, with its ear and its beard.

FeMALE-FLOWER DESCRIBED.

The eighth is the rudiment of the fruit, with
two ftigmata. The 9th. the perfect flower.

KANTUFFA.

6o A?PENDIJJ.

KANTUFFA.

*" I ^HIS thorn, like many men we meet daily
JL in fociety, has got itfelf into a degree of
reputation and refpe6l from the noxious quali-
ties and power of doing ill which it pofTeiTes,
and the conftant exertion of thefe powers. The
Abyflinians, who wear coarfe cotton cloths, the
coarfeft of which are as thick as our blankets,
the fineft equal to our mufiin, are in the fame
degree annoyed with it. The foldier fcreens
himfelf by a goat's, leopard, or lion's Ikin,
thrown over his fhoulder, of which it has no
hold. As his head is bare, he always cuts his
Lair fhort before he goes to battle, left his enemy
Ihould take advantage of it ; but the women,
wearing their hair long, and the great men,
whether in the army or travelling in peace, be-

ricLtc 2s.

j2 y i^<^^i^-^/7^^^

APPENDIX. 61

ing always cloathed, it never fails to incom-
mode them, whatever fpecies of raim.ent they
wear. If their cloak is fine mullin, the lead:
motion againft it puts it all in rags ; but if it is
a thick, foft cloth, as thofe are w^ith which
men of rank generally travel, it buries its
thorns, great and fmall, fo deep in it that the
wearer muft either difmount and appear naked,
which to principal people is a great difgrace, or
clfe much time will be fpent before he can difen-
gage himfelffrom its thorns. In the time when
one is thus employed, it rarely fails to lay hold
of you by the hair, and that again brings on
another operation, full as laborious, but much
more painful than the other.

In the courfe of my hiftory, when fpeaking
of the king, Tecla Haimanout II. firft entering
Gondar after his exile into Tigre, I gave an in-
ftance that fhe^ved how dangerous it was for
the natives to leave this thorn ftanding ; and of
fuch confequence is the clearing of the ground
thought to be, that every year when the king
inarches, among the neceiTary proclamations
this is thought to be a very principal one, " Cut
down the Kantu'Sa in the four quarters of the
world, for I do not know where I am ^oino;.'^
This proclamation, from the abrupt Hile of it^
fcems at firll abfurd to ilranger ears, but v/hen
underftood is fall of good icnk and informa-
tion.

6^ APPENDIX.

tion. It means. Do not fit gofiiping with youi^

hands before you, talking. The king is going

to Damot, he certainly will go to Gojam, he

> will be oblisred to q:o to TioTe. That is not

o o o

your buiinefs, remove nuifances out of his way,
that he may go as expeditioufly as polTible, or
fend to every place where he may have occa-
iion.

The branches of the Kantuffa ftand two and
two upon the ilalk : the leaves are difpofed two
and iwo iikewife, without any iingle one at the
point, whereas the branches bearing the leaves
part from the ftalk : at the immediate joining
of them are two thick thorns placed perpendi-
cular and parallel alternately ; but there are alfo
fingle ones diilributed in all the interftices
throughout the branch.

The male plant, wTiich I fuppofe this to be,
has a one-leaved perianthium, divided into five
feo'ments, and this falls off with the flower.
The flower is compofed of five petals, in the
middle of which rife ten flamina or filaments,
the outer row fhorter than thofe of the middle,
with long ftigmata, having yeilov/ farina upon
them. The ilov.^ers grow in a branch, gene-
rally between three and four inches long, in a
conical difpofition, that is, broader at the bafe
than the point. The infide of ^he leaves are a
vivid green, in the outfide m.uch lighter. It

grows

A P P E N D I X* 6j

grows in form of a buili, with a multitude of
fmall branches rifing immediately from the
ground, and is generally feven or eight feet
high. I faw it when in fio'wer only, never
when bearirjg fruit. It has a very ftrong fmell,
refemblins: that of the fmall fcented flower call-
ed mignionet, fown in vafes and boxes in win-
dows, or rooms, where flowers are kept.

The wild animab, both birds and beafls, ef-
pecialiy the Guinea-fowl, know how well it is
qualified to protect them. In this flicker, the
hunter in vain could endeavour to moieft them,
were it not for a hard-haired dog, or terrier of
the fmaller flze, v/ho being defended from the
thorns by the roughnefs of his coat, goes into
the cover and brings them and the partridges
alive one ty one to his mailer.

GAGUEDL

64 A P P E N D I X.

G A G U E D I.

'TH H E Gaguedl is a native of Lamalmon ;
whether it was not in a thriving ftate, or
whether it was the nature of the tree, I know
not, but it was thick and ftunted, and had but
few branches ; it was not above nine feet high,
though it was three feet in diameter. The leaves
and flower, hov^rever, feemed to be in great vi-
gour, and I have here defigned them all of their
natural fize as they flood.

The leaves are long, and broader as they ap-
proach the end. The point is obtufe ; they are
of a dead green not unlike the willow, and
placed alternately one above the other on the
flalk. The calix is compofed of many broad
fcales lying one above the other, which ope-
rates by the preiljure upon one another, and
keeps the calix iliut before the flower ar-
rives at perfection. The flower is monopeta-
lous, or made of one leaf; it is divided at the
top into four fegments, where thefe end it is
covered v/ith a tufc of down, refem.bling hair,
and this is the cafe at the top alfo. When the

flower

jrcate^:z^u j^v^r^irr

U^t/y.iz^/ui/^

I'/a^r. 2^^°

APPEND IX, 6^

flower IS young and unripe, they are laid regu-
larly fo as to inclofe one another in a circle. As
they grow old and expand, they feem to lofc
their regular form, and become more confufed,
till at laft, when arrived at its full perfection,
they range themfelves parallel to the lips of the
calix, and perpendicular to the ftamina, in the
fame order as a rofe. The common receptacle
of the flower is oblong, and very capacious, of
a yellow colour, and covered with fmall leaves
like hair. The ftile is plain, fimple, and up-
right, and covered at the bottom with a tuft
of down, and is below the common receptacle
of the flower.

As this flower is of a complicated nature, I
have given two figures of it, the one where
the flower is feen in face, the other in the out-
fide. The ftamina are three fliort filaments in-
ferted in the fegment of the flower near the
fummit.

I have obferved. In the middle of a very hot
day, that the flowers unbend themfelves more,
the calix feems to expand, and the whole flower
to turn itfelf towards the fun in the fame man-
ner as does the fun-flower. When the branch
is cut, the flower dries as it were inftantane-
oufly, fo that it feems to contain very little
humidity.

Vol. VI. ' ^ F WANZEY.

66 APPENDIX.

W A N Z E Y,

THIS tree is very common throughout all
AbyiTmia. I do not know the reafon, but
all the towns are full of them ; every houfe in
Gondar has two or three planted round it, fo
that, when viewed firft from the heights, it ap-
pears like a wood, efpeciaily all the feafon of
the rains ; but very exadly on the firft of Sep-
tember, for three years together, in a night's
time, it was covered with a multitude of white
flowers. Gondar, and all the towns about,
then appeared as covered with white linen, or
with new-fallen fnow\ This tree bloflbms the
firft day the rains ceafe. It grows to a confide-
rable magnitude, is from 18 to 20 feet high.
The trunk is generally about 3 feet and a half
from the ground ; it then divides into four or
five thick branches, which have at leaft 60^ in-
clination to the horizon, and not more. Thefe
large branches are generally bare, for half way
up the bark is rough and furrowed. They then
put out a number of fmailer branches, are cir-
cular

y7.^^^ zy

a^-^y^^^/ '

APPENDIX. 67

cular and fattifli at the top, of a figure like
fome of our early pear-trees. The cup is a fin-
gle-leaved perianthium, red, marked very re-
gularly before it flowers, but when the flower
is out, the edges of the cup are marked with
irregular notches, or fegments, in the edge,
which by no means correfpond in numbers or
diflances to thofe that appeared before the per-
fedlion of the flower.

The flower itfelf confifls of one leaf of the
funnel-fafliioned kind, fpreads, and, when in
its full perfeclion, folds back at the lips, tho*
it has in fome flowers marks or depreflions
which might appear like fegments, yet they are
not fuch, but merely accidental, and the edge
of moft of the flowers perfectly even, Vv^ithout
any mark of feparation.

The piftil confifls of a very feeble thread ; in
the top it is bifecled, or divided, into two ; its
apex is covered with a fmall portion of yellow
dufl. There are two, and fometimes three, of
thefe divifions. The fruit is fully fornred in the
cup while the flower remains clofed, and like a
kind of tuft, which falls off, and the piftil ftill re-
mains on the point of the fruit ; is at firft foft,
then hardens like a nut, and is covered with a
thin, green hufk. It then dries, hardens into
a fhell, and withers. The leaf is of a dark
green, without varnifh, with an obtufe point ;

F 2 the

68 APPENDIX*

the ribs few but llrong, marked both withm
and without. The outiide is a greenifh yellow,
without varnifh alfo.

I do not know that any part of this tree is of
the fmalleft ufe in civil life, though its figure
and parts feem to be too confiderable not to con-
tain ufeful qualities if fairly inveftigated by men
endued with fcience. I have feveral times menti-
oned in thehiflory of the Galla, that this and the
coffee -tree have divine honours paid them by
€ach and all of the feven nations. Under this
tree their king is chofen ; under this tree he
holds his firft council, in which he marks his
enemies, and the time and manner in which
his own foldiers are to make their irruption into
their country. His fceptre is a bludgeon made
of this tree, which, like a mace, is carried be-
fore him wherever he goes ; it is produced in
the general meetings of the nation, and is call-
ed Buco.

The wood is clofe and heavy, the bark thick ;
there is then a fmall quantity of white wood,
the reft is dark brown and reddifli, not unlike
the laburnam, and the buco is ftript to this laft
appearance, and always kept plentifully anointed
with butter.

?AREK,

Fli7& 'Z8

P^yarm

>//7

A P P E N J> I X- 69

FAREK, OR BAUHINIA ACUMINATA.

THIS beautiful fhrub was found on the
banks of a brook, which falling from the
weft fide of the mountain of Geefli down the
fouth face of the precipice where the village is
fituated, is the firft water that runs fouthward
into the lake Good.eroo, in the plain of Affoa.
It is the water we employed for common ufes,
not daring to touch that of the Nile, uniefs for
drinking and drelling our food ; it grew about
20 yards from this water, on the fide of the
cliff, not 400 yards from the fountain of the
Nile itfelf. The name it bears hjsre is Farek,
which is, I fuppoie, given it from the divifiou
of the leaf.

This fhrub is compofed of feveral feeble
branches : to what height it grows I do noi:
know, having never feen it before, nor were
|:here many others where I found it. The longeit
branch of this was not four feet high. It grev/

70 APPENDIX.

on good black mold, but of no great depth,
having at the bottom a gritty or fandy ftone,
and feemed in full perfection. The branch is of
its natural iize ; on one of the fmaller or colla-
teral branches is the flower full blown, with
two others that are buds. The parts are fepa-
rated and deiigned with care.

The firfl: figure is the flower in its entire flate,
feen in front, the llamina of courfe fore-fhort-
ened. The fecond is an angular three-quarter
view of the calix. The third is a back view
of the calix. The fourth is the calix inclof-
ing the flamina and piftil, round which laft they
form a fruit or erain. The fifth is the flower
ilript of its calix, v/here is feen the germ, the
ilamina, and the piflii. The Hxth is the flami-
na magnified to twice their fize. The feventh
is the lower leaf. The eighth, the upper leaf
of the flower. The ninth, • the germ, or rudi-
ment of the fruit, with the piflii joined to it,
at the bottom of which there is a fmall cavity.
The tenth is the feed or fruit entire. The ele-
venth reprefents the infide of the {Q^d cut in
half.

The leaves of this flirub are of a vivid green,
and are joined to the branch by a long pedicle,
in the infide of v/hich are the rudiments of
another, which I fuppofe begin to fprout Vvhen
the large one is injured or falls off.

Though very little acquainted with the fcien-
tific part of botany myfelf, its clafTes, genera,

and

APPENDIX. 71

and fpecies, and fliil lefs jealous of my reputa-
tion In it, I cannot conceive why my fingle at-
tention, in charging myfelfwith a number of
feeds in diftant countries, and giving part to
the garden at Paris, ihould lead to a conclufion
that I was fo abfolutely uninftruded in the fci-
ence for which at leaft I had iliewn this attach-
ment, that I could not diftinguifh the plant be-
fore us from the acacia vera. Is the knowledoie
of botany fo notorioufly imperfect in England,
or is the pre-eminence fo eftablifhed in France,
as to authorife fuch a prefumption of ignorance
againft a perfon, who, from his exertions and
enterprife, fliould hold fome rank in the repub-
lic of letters among^ travellers and difcoverers ?

A compliment was paid me by the Count dc
BufFon, or by fuperior orders, in return for the
articles I had prefented to the king's cabinet and
garden at Paris, that the plants growing from
the feeds which I had brought from Abyffinia
fhould regularly, as they grew to perfe£lion, be
painted, and fent over to me at London. The ,
compliment was a handfome one, and, I was
very fenfible of it, it would have contributed
more to the furniihing the king*s garden with
plants than many ieclures on botany, ex cathe-
dra, will ever do.

But it was not neceffary to fliew his know-
ledge for the fake of contrafting it with my ig-
norance.

72 A P P E N D I X.

norance, that Mr. JufTieu fays this bauhinia is
by Mr. Bruce taken for an acacia vera. Now
the acacia vera is a large, wide-fpreading, thorny,
hard, red-wooded, rough-barked, gum-bearing
tree. Its flower, though fometimes white, is
generally yellow ; it is round or globular, com-
pofed of many filaments or ftamina ; it is the
Spina Egyptiaca, its leaves, in ihape and difpo-
fition, refembling a m.imofa ; in Arabic it is
called Saiel, Sunt, Gerar ; and if M. de Juf-
fieu had been at all acquainted with the hiflory
of the eaft, he muft have known it was the tree
of every defer t, and confequently that I muft
be better acquainted with it than almofi any tra-
veller or botanift now alive. Upon what rea-
fonable ground then could he fuppofe, upon
my bringing to him a rare and elegant fpecies
of bauhinia, which probably he had not before
feen, that I could not diftinguiili it from an
acacia, of which I certainly brought him none ?
A laro'e fnecies of Mullein likewife, or, as he
pleafes to term it, Bouillon Blanc, he has named
Verbafcum Abyifmicum ; and this the unfortu-
nate Mr. Bruce, it feems, has called an aromatic
herb growing upon the high mountains. I do.
really believe, that M. de Juflieu is more con-
verfant with the Bouillon Blancs than I am ; my
Bouillons are of another colour ? it muft be the
love of French cookery, not En2:liih tafte, that

would

APPENDIX. 73

would fend a man to range the high mountains
for aromatic herbs to put in his Bouillon, if the
Verbafcum had been really one of thefe.

Although I have fometimes made botany my
amufement, I do confefs it never was my ftudy,
and I believe from this the fcience has reaped fo
much the more benefit. I have reprefented to
the eye, with the utmoft attention, by the
bell drawings in natural hiftory ever yet pub-
lifhed, and to the underftanding in plain Eng-
lifli, what I have feen as it appeared to me on
the fpot, without tacking to it imaginary parts
of my own, from preconceived fyftems of what
it fhould have been, and thereby creating va-
rieties that never exifted.

When I arrived at the Lazaretto at Marfeilles,
the Farenteit, as it is called in Nubia, or the
Guinea-worm, the name it bears in Europe,
having been broken by mifmanagement in my
voyage from Alexandria, had retired into my
leg and feftered there. The foot, leg, and
thigh, fwelled to a monflrous iize, appearance
of mortification followed, and the furgcon,
^with a tendernefs and humanity that did honour
to his Ikiil, declared, though relucrantly, that
if I had been a man of weak nerves, or fort
difpofition^ he would have prepared me for
what was to happen by the interpofition of a
friend or a prieil ; but as from my pail fufFer«
jngs he prefumed my fpirit was of a more refo-

lute

74 APPENDIX.

lute and firmer kind, he thought faving time
was of the utmoft confequence, and therefore
advifed me to refolve upon fubmitting to an im-
mediate amputation above the knee. To limp
through the remains of life, after having efcaped
fo many dangers vi^ith bones unbroken, was hard,
fo much fo, that the lofs of life itfelf feemed the
moii: eligible of the two, for the bad habit of
body in which 1 found myfelf in an inveterate
difeafe, for which I knew no remedy, and joined
to this the prejudice that an Englifhman general-
ly has againft foreign operators in furgery, ail
perfuaded me, that, after undergoing amputa*
lion, I had but very little chance of recovery,
befides long and great fuffering, want of ileep,
want of food, and the weaknefs that attends
lying long in lick-bed, had gradually fubdued
the natural delire and anxiety after life ; every
day death feemed to be a leiTer evil than pain.
Patience, however, ftrong fomentations, and
inward applications of the bark, at length cured
me.

'It was immediately after receiving my melan^
choiy fentence, that, thinking of my remaining
duties, I remembered I had carried abroad with
me an order from the king to procure feeds for
his garden. Before I had loft the power of di-
redion, I ordered Michael, my Greek fervant,
to take the half of all the different parcels and

packages

APPENDIX. 75

packages that were lying by me, made up for fe-
parate ufes, and pack them fo as they might be
fent to Sir William Duncan the king's phyfician,
then in Italy, to be conveyed by him to Lord
Rochfort, fecretary of ftate. I by the fame con-
veyance accompanied thefe with a lliort letter,
wrote with great difficulty — that it appearing,
beyond leaving room for hope, that my return
was to be prevented by an unexpected difeafe, I
begged his Majefty to receive thefe as the laft
tender of my duty to him.

Michael, who never cared much for botany,
at no period was lefs difpofed to give himfelf
trouble about it than now ', his mailer, friend,
and patron was gone, as he thought ; he was left
in a ftrange country ; he knew not a word of
the language, nor was he acquainted with one
perfon in Marfeilles, for we had not yet ftirred
out of the lazaretto. What became of the feeds
for a time I believe neither he nor I knew ; but,
when he faw my recovery advancing, fear of
reproof led him to conceal his former negligence.
He could neither read nor write, fo that the only
thing he could do was to put the firft feed that
came to hand in the firft envelope, either in parch-
ment or paper, that had writing upon the back
of it, and, thus feleclecl, the feeds came into the
hands of M. de Julileu at Paris. By this opera-
tion of Michael, the verbafcum became an aro-
matic

76 A P P E N D I X,

matic herb growing on the higheft mountains^
and the bauhinia acuminata became an acacia
vera.

The prefent of the drawings of the AbyiTinian
plants was really, as it was firft deligned, a com-
pliment, but it turned out juft the contrary, for,
in place of expecting the publication that I was
to make, in which they would naturally be a part,
the gates of the garden were thrown open, and
every dabbler in botany that could afford pen,
ink, and paper, was put in poileffion of thofc
plants and flowers, at a time when I had not
laid one word upon the fubjeQ of my travels.

Whether this was owing to M. de Juffieu, M,
de Thouin, or M. Daubenton, to all, or to any
one of them, I do not know, but I beg they will
for a moment confider the great impropriety of
the meafure. I fuppofe it would be thought
natural, that a perfon delineating plants in a fo-
reign country with fuch care, rilk, and expence
as I have done, fhould wifh to bring home the
very feeds of thofe plants he had delineated in
preference to all others ; fuppofmg thefe had
been the only feeds he could have brought home,
and generofity and liberality of mind had led
him tocommunicatcparrof them to M. de Juffieu,
we fhall further fay, this lail-mentioned gentle-
man had planted them, and when the time came,
engraved, and pubiifhcd them, what w^ould he

think

APPENDIX. 77

think of this manner of repaying the traveller's
attention to him ? The bookfeller, that naturally
expeded to be the firft that pubiiflied thefe plants,
would fay to the traveller whofe book he was to
buy, This collection of natural hiftory is not new,
it has been printed in Sweden, Denmark, and
France, and part of it is to be feen in every
monthly magazine ! Does M, de Juflieu think,
that, after having been once fo treated, any tra-
veller would ever give one feed to the king's
garden? he certainly would rather put them in
the fire ; he muft do fo if he was a reafonable
man, for otherwife, by giving them away he h
certainly ruining his own work, and defeating
the purpofes for which he had travelled.

»When I firft came home, it was with crreat
pleafure I gratified the curioiity of the v/hole
world, by iliewing them each what they fancied
the moft curious. I thought this was an oiHce
of humanity to young people, and to thofe of
Hender fortunes, or thofe who, frqm other caufes,
had no opportunity of travelling. I made it a
particular duty to attend and explain to men of
knowledge and learning that were foreigners,
every thing that was worth the time they bellow-
ed upon confidering the different articles that
were new to them, and this I did at great length
to the Count de Buifon, and Monf. Gueneau de
Montbeliard, and to the very amiable and accom-

pliflied

^8 APPENDIX-

plifhed Madame d'Aubenton. I cannot fay by
whofe induftry, but it was in confequence of
this friendly communication, a lift or inventory
(for they could give no more) of all my birds
and beafis were publifhed before I w^as well got
to England.

From what I have feen of the performances
of the artifts employed by the cabinet, I do not
think that they have anticipated in any ihape
the merit of my drawings, efpecially in birds
and in plants ; to fay nothing milder of them,
they are in both articles infamous ; the birds are
fo diilimilar from the truth, that the names of
them are very necelTarily wrote under, or over
them, for fear of the old miftake of taking them
for fomething eife. I condefcend upon the
Erkoom as a proof of this. I gave a very fine
fpecimen of this bird in great prefervation to
the King's collection ; and though I ftiewed them
the original, they had not genius enough to m^ake
a reprefentation that could wdth any degree of
certainty be promifed upon for a guefs. When
I was at Paris, they had a woman, who, in place
of any merit, at leaft that I could judge of, was
protected, as they faid, by the queen, and who
made, what fhe called. Drawings ; thofe of plants
were fo little characleriftic, that it was, flricliy
fpeaking, im.poiUble, w^ithout a very great con-
fideration, to know one plant from another :

while

Tla/^^ f^

^yU/artz/^,

APPENDIX, 79

while there was, at fame time, a man of the
srreateft merit, M. de Seve, abfolutely without
employment; though, in my opinion, he was the
bf ft painter of every part of natural hiftory ei-
ther in France or England.

K U A R A.

'TPHIS beautiful tree, now prefented to the
JL reader, is the produclion of the fouth and
S. W. parts of Abyffinia. It is very frequent,
and, with the ebony, almoft the only wood of
the province of Kuara, of which it bears the
name ; indeed in all Fazuclo, Nuba, and Guba,
and the countries where there is gold* It is
here defigned in its natural iize both leaves,
flowers, and fruit, the whole fo plainly, that it
is needlefs to defcant upon its particular parts,
well knov/n to naturalifts. It is wh'at they call
at Corallodendron, probably from the colour of

its

80 APPENDIX.

its flowers or of its fruit, both equal in colour td
coral.

Its fruit is a red bean, with a black fpot in the
middle of it, which is inclofed in a round capfula,
or covering, of a woody nature, very tough and
hard. This bean feems to have been in the ear-
Heft ages ufed for a weight of gold among the
Shangalla, where that metal is found all over
Africa ; and by repeated experiments, I have
found that, from the time of its being gathered,
it varies very little in weight, and may perhaps
have been the very beft choice that therefore
could have been made between the coUedors
and the buyers of gold.

I have faid this tree is called Kuara, which fig-
nifies the Sun. The bean is called Carat, from
which is derived the manner of efteeming gold
as fo many carats fine. From the gold country
in Africa it paiTed to India, and there came to
be the weight of precious ftones, efpecially dia-
monds ; fo that to this day in India we hear it
commonly fpoken of gold or diamonds, that
they are of fo many carats fine, or weight. I
have feen thefe beans likewife from the Weft-In-
dian iftands. They are juft the fame li2;e, but,
. as far as I know, are not yet applied to any ufe
there.

WALKUFFA.

^Av/.

"/fa/^.

APPENDIX. . 8l

WALKUFFA.

HP HIS tree grows in the Kolla, or hotteft
part of Abyffinia. It does not flower im-
mediately after the rains, as moft trees in Abyf-
finia do, that is, between the beginning of
September and the Epiphany, when the latter
rains in Nov. do ftill fall in violent periodical
fhowers, but it is after the Epiphany, towards
the middle of January, that it firil appears co-
vered with bloffoms. However beautiful, it
has no fmell, and is accounted deftruclive to
the bees, for which reafon it is rooted out and
deftroyed in thofe countries that pay their re-
venue in honey. It refembles the Kentifli cher-
ry-tree in appearance, efpecially if that tree has
but a moderate, not overfpreading top. The
wood immediately below its bark is white, but
under that a brownilh yellow, fomething like
cedar ; the old trees that I have feen turn darker,
and are not unlike to the wood of the labur-
num, or peafe-cod tree. The natives fay it
Vol. VI. G does

g2 APPENDIX,

does not fwim in water. This however I can
contradid upon experiment. The w^ood, in-
deed, is heavy, but ilill it fwims.

Although the painting of this tree, which I
here exhibit, is neither more nor lefs accurate
in the delineation of its parts than every other
defign of natural hiftory given in this work to
the public, yet the inimitable beauty of the fub-
je6l itfelf has induced me to beflow much more
pains upon it than any other I have publifhed,
and, according to my judgment, it is the beft
executed in this collection. All its parts are fo
diftinclly figured, the flower expofed in fuch
variety of diredions, that it fuperfedes the ne-
cefiity of defcribing it ta the ikilful botanift,
who will find here every thing he poffibly could
in the flower itfelf. This is a great advantage,
for if the parts had been ever fo ftudioufly and
carefully referved in a tortus ficeus as they are
fpread upon the paper, it would have been im-
poilible not to have loft fome of its finer mem-
bers, they are fo fragil, as I have often experi-
enced in different attempts to dry and preferve
it.

The flov/er confifts of five petals, part of
each overlapping or fupporting the other, fo
that it maintains its regular figure of a cup till
the leaves faU off, and does not fpread and dis-
join firft, as do the generality of thefe roface-

ous

APPENDIX. 83

ous flowers before they fall to the ground. Its
colour is a pure white, in the midft of which is
a kind of Iheath, or involucrum, of a beautiful
pink colour, which fur rounds the^iflil, cover-
ing and concealing about one-third of it. Upon,
the top of this is a kind of impalement, con-
fifting of five white upright threads, and be-
tween each of thefe are difpofed three very fee-
ble ftamina of unequal lengths, which make
them ftand in a triangular oblong form, cover-
ed with yellow farina.

The piftil is a yellow tube, divided at the top
into five fegments, and fixed at the bottom in
what appears to be the rudiment of a fruit ; but
1 never faw this in any flate of perfection, and
the Abyflinians fay it never produces any thing
but a fmall, round, black feed, concerning
which I can fay no further. The perianthium
confifts of five Iharp-pointed fegments, which
inclofe the flower when not arrived to matu-
rity, in a conical pod of a light-green colour,
which colour it likewife keeps in its more ad-
vanced ftate when fpread. I do not know any
other name it has but that of Walkuffa, nor do
I know the figniiication of that name in any
language.

G 2 WOOGINOQS,

§4 A p p E N D I ::^.

WOOGINOOS, OR BRUCEA ANTIDYSEN-

TERICA.

■nPHlS fhrub, the branch of which is before
us, is a production of the greateft part of
Abyflinia, efpecially the lides of the valleys in
the low country, or Kolla. It is indeed on the
north fide of Debra Tzai, where you firft de-
fcend into the Kolla. This drawing was made
at Hor-Cacamoot, in Ras el Feel, where the
Wooginoos grows abundantly, and where dy-
fenteries reign continually, Heaven having put
the antidote in the fame place where grows the
pcifon.

Some weeks before I left Gondar I had been
very much tormented with this difeafe, and I
had tried both ways of treating it, the one by
hot medicints and aflringents, the other by the
contrary method of diluting. Small dofes of
ipecacuanha under the bark had for feveral
times procured me temporary relief, but relapfes
always followed. My ftrength began to fail,
and, after a fevere return of this difeafe, I had,

at

/^ni^///?n:/

^:^r^ruc^^ ^//7l//^r^U^^y///rvy^^^,

/ )

APPENDIX. 85

at my ominous manfion^ Hor-Cacamoot, the
valley of the iliadow of death, a very unpro-
jTiifing profpecj:, for I was now going to pafs
through the kingdom of Sennaar in the tim.e
of year when that difeafe moft raf»:es,

Sheba, chief of the Shangalla, called Gaiijar,
on the frontiers of Kuara, had at this time d
kind of embaiTy or meiTage to Ras el Feel. He
wanted to burn fome villages in Atbara belong-
ing to the Arabs Jeheina, and wiflied Yafine
might not protect them : they often came and
fat with me, and one of them hearing of my
complaint, and the apprehenlions I anne:xed to
it, feemed to make very light of both, and the
reafon was, he found at the very door this
flirub, the ftrong and ligneous root of which^
nearly as thick as a parfnip, was covered with a
clean, clear, wrinkled bark, of a light brov^n
(Colour, and which peeled eaiily off the root*
The root was without fibres to the very end,
where it fplit like a fork into two thin dlv-i-
fions. After having cleared the infide of it of a
whitifh membrane, he laid it to dry In the fun,
and then would have bruifed it between two
ftones., had we not ihewa him the eafier and
more expeditious way of powdering it in a mor-
tar.

The fir ft dofe I took was about a heaped tea-
fpoonful in a cup of camel's milk ; I took two

of

86 APPENDIX*

of thefe in a day, and then in the morning a
tea-cup of the infulion in camel's milk warm.
It was attended the firft day with a violent
drought, but I was prohibited from drinking
either water or bouza. I made privately a drink
of my own ; I took a little boiled water which
had flood to cool, and in it a fmall quantity of
fpirits. I after ufed fome ripe tamarinds in wa-
ter, w^hich I thought did me harm. I cannot
fay I found any alteration for the firfl day, un-
lefs a kind of hope that I was growing better,
but the fecond day I found myfelf fenlibly reco-
vered. I left off laudanum and ipecacuanha,
and refolved to truft only to my medicine. In
looking at my journal, I think it was the 6th
or 7th day that I pronounced myfelf well, and,
thouorh I had returns afterwards, I never was
reduced to the neceffity of taking one drop of
laudanum, although before I had been very
free with it. I did not perceive it occaiioned
any extraordinary evacuation, nor any remark-
able fymptom but that continued thirft, which
abated after it had been taken fome time.

In the courfe of my journey through Sen-
naar, I faw that all the inhabitants were well
acquainted with the virtues of this plant. I
had prepared a quantity pounded into powder,
and ufed it fuccefsfully every where. I thought
that the mixing of a third of bark with it pro-
duced

APPENDIX. 87

duced the efFefl: more fpeedily, and, as we had
now little opportunity of getting milk, we
made an infufion in water. I tried a fpiritous
tindure, which 1 do believe would fucceed WelL
I made fome for myfeif and fervants, a fpoon-
ful of which we ufed to take when we found
fymptoms of our difeafe returning, or when
it was raging in the place in which we chanced
to refide. It is a plain, iimple bitter, without
any aromatic or refinous tafle. It leaves in your
throat and pallet fomething of roughnefs re-
fembling ipecacuanha.

This fhrub was not before known to botanifts.
I brought the feeds to Europe, and it has grown
in every garden, but has produced only flowers,
and never came to fruit. Sir Jofeph Banks, pre^
fident to the Royal Society, employed Mr. Mil-
ler to make a large drawing from this fhrub as
it had grown at Kew. The drawing was as ele-
gant as could be wiflied, and did the original
great juftice. To this piece of politenefs Sir
Jofeph added another, of calling it after its di{-
coverer's name, Brucea Antidyfenterica : the
prefent figure is from a drawing of my own on
the fpot at Ras el Feel.

The leaf is oblong and pointed, fmooth, and
without collateral ribs that are vilible. The
right fide of the leaf is a de^p green, the reverfe
very little lighter. The leaves are placed two

and

88 APPENDIX.

and two upon the branch, with a fingle one at
the end. The flowers come ch ie rcn^. the
point of the ftalk from each fide of a long
branch. The cup is a perianthium divided into
four fegments. The flower has four petals,
with a ftrong rib down the center of each. In
place of a piftil there is a fmall cup, round
which, between the fegments of the perianthi-
um and the petals of the flower, four feeble
flamina arife, with a large ftigma of a crimfon
colour, of the fliape of a coffee-bean, and di=
vided in the middle.

^ . cusso.

I

T^/ate.

rM

a/i/io^a

v//^^/z/r)^

J^^/;t'J2 JV.

j^^^^^?/2//r ^^/Ar^jiAya^/iAi^r^

''/U6Z^

APPENDIX, S9

CUSSO, BANKESIA ABYSSINICA.

THE CulTo IS one of the mofl beautiful trees,
as alfo one of the moll ufefuL It is an inha-
bitant of the high country of Abyiiinia, and in-
digenous there ; 1 never faw it in the Kolla, nor in
Arabia, nor in any other part of Aiia or Africa.
It is an injftance of the wifdom of providence,
that this tree does not extend beyond the limits
of the difeafe of which it vi^as intended to be the
medicine or cure.

The Abyllinians of both lexes, and at all ages,
are troubled with a terrible difeafe, which cuf-
tom however has enabled them to bear with a
kind of indifference. Every individual, once a
month, evacuates a large quantity of worms ;
thefe are not the tape worm, or thofe that trou-
ble children, but they are the fort of worm call-
ed Afcarides, and the method of promoting
thefe evacuations, is by infufmg a handful of

dry

go APPENDIX.

dry Cuflb flowers in about two Englifli quarts of
bouza, or the beer they make from tefF; after
it has been fteeped all night, the next morning
it is fit for ufe. During the time the patient is
taking the Cuffo, he makes a point of being in-
vifible to all his friends, and continues at home
from morning till night. Such too was the cuf-
tom of the Egyptians upon taking a particular
ir^edicine. It is alledged that the want of this
drug is the reafon why the Abyfiinians do not
travel, or if they do, moft of them are Ihort-
lived.

The feed of this is very fmall, more fo than
the femen fantonicum, which feems to come
from a fpecies of worm-wood. Like it the CufTo
Iheds its feeds very eaiily ; from this circum-
ftance, and its fmallnefs, no great quantity of
the feed is ' gathered, and therefore the fiov/er
is often fubftituted. It is bitter, but not nearly
fo much as the femen fantonicum.

The CuiTo grows feldom above twenty feet
high, very rarely ilraight, generally crooked or
inclined. It is planted always near churches,
amonp^ the cedars which furround them, for the
Ilk of the town or- village. Its leaf is about 2^
inches long, divided into two by a ftrong rib.
The two divifions, however, are not equal, the
"Upper being longer and broader than the lower ;
it is a deep unvarnifhed green, exceedingly plea-

fant

APPENDIX. gi

fant to the eye, the fore part covered with foft
hair or down. It is very much indented, more
fo than a nettle leaf, which in fome meafure it
refembles, only is narrower and longer.

Thefe leaves grow two and two upon a branch;
between each two are the rudiments of two pair
of young ones, prepared to fupply the others
when they fall off, but they are terminated at
laft with a iingle leaf at the point. The end of
this ftalk is broad and ftrong, like that of -a
palm-branch. It is not folid like the gerid of
the date-tree, but opens in the part that is with-
out leaves about an inch and a half from the
bottom, and out of this aperture proceeds the
flower. There is a round ftalk bare for about
an inch and a quarter, from which proceed
crooked branches, to the end of which are at-
tached iinQ:le flowers ; the ftalk that carries thefe
proceeds out of every crook or geniculation ;
the whole clufter of flovv^ers has very much the
ihape of a clufter of grapes, and the ftalks upon
which it is fupported very much the ftalk of the
grape; a very few fmall leaves are fcattered
through the clufter of flowers.

The flower itfelf is of a greenifh colour, tinged
with purple ; when fully blowm, it is altogether of
a deep red or purple ; the coral is white, and con-
fifts of five petals, in the midft is a fhort piftU with
a round head, furrounded by eight ftamina of the
fame form, loaded with yellow farina. The cup

coniifts

92 APPENDIX.

confifts of five petals, which much I'efemble
another flower ; they are rounded at the top,
and nearly of an equal breadth every way.

The bark of the tree is fmooth, of a yellowifh
white, interfperfed with brown ftreaks which
pafs through the whole body of the tree. It is
not firm or hard, but rather fi:ringy and reedy.
On the upper part, before the firft branch of
leaves fet out, are rings round the trunk, of
fmall filaments, of the confifience ofhorfe hair ;
thefe are generally fourteen or fixteen in num-
ber, and are a very remarkable characlerillic
belonging to this tree.

As the figure of this plant is true and exact
bevond all manner of exception, I cannot but
think it may be found in latitudes ii or 12^
.north in the Weft Indies or America ; and hav-
ing been found a gentle, fafe, and efficacious
medicine in Abyfiinia, it is not doubted but the
fuperior {kill of our phyficians would turn it to
the advantage of mankind in general, when
ufed here in Europe. In confequence of the
eftablifhed prerogatives of difcoverers, I have
named this beuatiful and ufeful tree after Sir
Jofeph Banks, Prefident of the Royal Society.

T E F R

77a ^^.v

. ^:

l

APPENDIX. 93

\

T E F F.

THIS grain is commonly fown all over Abyf«
finia, where it feems to thrive equally on
all forts of ground ; from it is made the bread
which is commonly ufed throughout Abyflinia,
The Abyffinians, indeed, have plenty of wheat,
and fome of it of an excellent quality : They
likewife make as fine w^heat-bread as any in the
world, both for colour and for tafte ; but the
ufe of wheat-bread is chiefly confined to people
of the firfl rank. On the other hand, Teff
is ufed by all forts of people from the king
downwards, and there are kinds of it which
are efteemed fully as much as wheat. The bed
of thefe is as white as flour, exceedingly light,
and eafily digefl:ed. There are others of a brown-
er colour, and fome nearly black ; this laft is
the food of foldiers and fervants. The caufe
of this variation of colour is manifold ; the
Teff* that grows on light ground having a mo-
derate degree of moifture^ but never dry ; the

lighter

94 APPENDIX.

lighter the earth is in which it grows, the bet-
ter and whiter the TefF will be ; the hulk too is •
thinner. That TefF, too, that ripens before the
heavy rains, is ufually whiter and finer, and a
great deal depends upon fifting the huik from it
after it is reduced to flour, by bruifing or break-
ing it in a flone-mill. This is repeated feveral
times with great care, in the fineft kind of
bread, which is found in the houfes of all peo-
ple of rank or fubftance* The manner of mak-
ing it is by taking a broad earthen jar, and
having made a lump of it with water, they
put it into an earthen jar at fome diftance from
the fire, where it remains till it begins to fer-
ment, or turn four ; they then bake it into
cakes of a circular form, and about two feet
in diameter : It is of a fpungy, foft quality, and
not a difagreeable fourifii tafte. Two of thefe
cakes a-day, and a coarfe cotton cloth once a
year, are the wages of a common fervant.

At their banquets of raw meat, the flefh be-
ing cut in fmall bits, is wrapt up in pieces of
this bread, with a proportion of folTile fait and
Cayenne pepper. Before the company fits
down to eat, a number of thefe cakes of differ-
ent qualities are placed one upon the other, in
the fame manner as our plates, and the principal
people fitting firfi: down, eat the white TefF;
the fecond, or coarfer fort, ferves the fecond-

rate

APPENDIX. 95

rate people that fucceed them, and the third is
for the fervants. Every man, when he is done,
dries or wipes his fingers upon the bread which
he is to leave for his fucceffor, for they have no
towels, and this is one of the moft beaftly cuf-
toms of the whole.

The TefF bread, when well toafted, is put
into a large jar, after being broken into fmall
pieces, and warm water poured upon it. It is
then fet by the fire, and frequently fiirred for
feveral days, the mouth of the jar being clofe
covered. After being allowed to fettle three or
four days, it acquires a fourifh tafte, and is what
they call Bouza, or the common beer of the
country. The bouza in Atbara is made in the
fame manner, only, inftead of TefF, cakes of
barley-meal are employed ; both are very bad
liquors, but the worft is that made of barley.

The plant is herbaceous ; from a number of
weak leaves proceeds a tialk of about twenty-
eight inches in length, not perfecUy ilraight,
fmooth, but jointed or knotted at particular
diftances. This ftalk is not much thicker than
that of a carnation or jellyllower. About eight
inches from the top, a head is formed of a
number of fmall branches, upon which it car-
ries the fruit and flowers ; the latter of which
is fmall, of a crimfon colour, and fcarcely per-
ceptible by the naked eye, but from the oppofi-

lion

g6 APPENDIX.

tion of that colour. The piftil is divided into
two, feemingly attached to the germ of the
fruit, and has at each end fmall capillaments
forming a bruih. The ftamina are three in
number, two on the lower fide of the piftil,
and one on the upper. Thefe are, each of them,
crowned with two oval ftigmata, at-firft green,
but after, crimfon. The fruit is formed in a
capfula, confifting of two conical, hollow leaves,
which, when clofed, feems to compofe a fmall
conical pod, pointed at the top. The fruit, or
feed, is oblong, and is not fo large as the head
of the fmalleft pin, yet it is very prolific, and
produces thefe feeds in fuch quantity as to yield
a very abundant crop in the quantity of meal.

Whether this grain was ever known to the
Greeks and Romans, is what we are no where
told. Indeed, the various grains made ufe of
in antiquity, are fo lamely and poorly defcribed,
that, unlefs it is a few of the moft common,
we cannot even guefs at the reft:. Pliny men-
tions fever al of them, but takes no notice of any
of their qualities, but medicinal ones ; fome
he fpecifies as growing in Gaul, others in the
Campania of Rome, but takes no notice of
thofe of Ethiopia or Egypt. Among thefe
there is one which he calls Tiphe, but fays not
whence it came ; the name would induce us to^
believe that this was Tefi*, but we can only ven-
ture

APPENDIX. 97

ture this as a conjedlure not fupported. But it
is very improbable, connected as Egypt and Ethi-
opia were from the firft ages, both by trade
and religion, that a grain of fuch confequence
to one nation fhould be utterly unknown to the
other. It is not produced in the low or hot
country, the Kolla, that is, in the borders of
it ; for no grain can grow, as I have already
faid, in the Kolla or Mazaga itfelf ; but in place of
TefF,,in thefe borders, there grows a blafk grain
called Tocuflb. The ftalk of this is fcarce a foot
long; it has four divifions where the grain is
produced, and feems to be a fpecies of the
meiem mfalib, or gramen crucis, the grafs of
the crofs. Of this a very black bread is made,
ate only by the pooreft fort; but though it
makes worfe bread, I think it makes better
bouza.

Some have thought, from the frequent ufe of
TefF, hath comiC that difeafe of worms which I
have mentioned in the article CuiTo. But I am
inclined to think this is not the cafe, becaufe the
Gibbertis, or Mahometans, born in Abyffinia,
all ufe TeiT in the fame proportion as the Chrif-
tians, yet none of thefe are troubled w^ith worms.
And from this I fhould be led to think that this
difeafe arifes rather from eatino; raw micat, which
the Mahometans do not, and therefore are not
afFecled with this diforder as the Chriflians are.

Vol. VI. H OF

^8 APPENDIX.

OF Q^UADRUPEDa

1 BELIEVE there Is in the world no country
which produces a greater number or variety
of quadrupeds, whether tame or wild, than Abyf-
Unia. As the high country is now perfectly
cleared of wood, by the wafte made in that article
from the continual march of armies, the moun-
tains are covered to the very top, with perpetual
verdure, and moft luxuriant herbage.

The long rains in fummer are not fuddenly
abforbed by the rays of the fun : a thick veil de-
fends the ground when it is in the zenith, or
rrcar it, affording heat to promote vegetation
without withering it by deftroying the moifture,
and by this means a never-faiiing ftore of pro-
vender is conilantly provided for all forts of
cattle. Of the tame or cow-kind, great abun-
dance prefent themfelves every where, differing
in fize,fome having horns of various dimenlions ;

' * fomc

APPENDIX. 99

fome without horns at all, differing alfo in the
colour and length of their hair, by having bofles
upon their backs, according as their pafture or
climate varies. There are kinds alfo deftined
to various ufes ; fome for carriage, like mules or
affes, fome to be rode upon like horfes ; and thefe
are not the largeft of that kind, but generally
below the middle fize. As for that fpecies bear-
ing the monflrous horns, of which I have often
fpoke in my narrative, their iize is not to be
eftimated by that of their horns ; the animal
itfelf is not near fo big as a common Englifh
cow ; the growth of the horn is a difeafe which
proves fatal to them, becaufe encouraged for a
peculiar purpofe. Whether it would be other-
wife curable, has not yet, I believe, been ever
afcertained by experiment. But the reader may
with confidence aifure himfelf, that there are no
fuch animals as carnivorous bulls in Africa, and
that this ftory has been invented for no other
purpofe but a defire to exhibit an animal worthy
of wearing thefe prodigious horns. I have
always wifhed that this article, and fome others
of early date, were blotted out of our philofophi-
cal tranfaciions ; they are abfurdities to be for-
given to infant phyfic and to early travels, but
they are unworthy of Handing among the cau-
tious, well-fupported narratives of our prefent
philofophers. Though we may fay of the buffaloe

H 3 that

loo APPENDIX.

that it Is of this kind, yet we cannot call it a
tame animal here ; fo far from that, it is the
moil ferocious in the country where he reiides ;
this, however, is not in the high temperate part
of Abyffinia, but in the fuitry KoUa, or valleys
below, where, without hiding himfelf, as wild
beafts generally do, as if confcious of fuperiority
of ftrength, he lyes at his eafe among large fpread-
ing fhady trees near the cleareft and deepeil ri-
vers, or the largell ftagnant pools of the pureft
water. Not withftan ding this, he is in his per-
fon as dirty and flovenly as he is fierce, brutal,
and indocile ; he feems to maintain among his
own kind the fame character for manners that
the wolf does among the carnivorous tribe.

• But what is very particular is, this is the only
animal kept for giving milk in Egypt. And
though apparently thefe are of the fame fpecies,
and came originally from Ethiopia, their man-
ners are 16 entirely changed by their migration,
difference of climate or of food, that, without
the exertion of any art to tame them, they are
milked, conduced to and fro, and governed by
children of ten years old, without apprehen-
fion, or any unlucky accident having ever hap-
pened. '

• Among the wild animals are prodigious num-
bers of the gazel, or antelope kind ; the bohur,
faiia, fecho, and madoqua, and various others ;

thefe

APPENDIX. 101

tliefe are feldom found in the cultivated coun-
try, or where cattle pafture, as they chiefly feed
on trees ; for the moft part, they are found in
broken ground near the banks of rivers, v^here,
during the heat of the day, they conceal them-
felves, and fleep under cover of the bulhes ; they
are ftill more numerous in thofe provinces whofe
inhabitants have been extirpated, and the houfes
ruined or burnt in time of war, and where wild
oats, grown up fo as to cover the whole country,
afford them a quiet reiidence, without being dif-
turbed by man. Of this I have mentioned a very
remarkable inilance in the firft attempt I made
to difcover the fource of the Nile, (vol. III.
p. 439.) The hyasna is fliil more numerous :
enough has been faid about him ; I apprehend
that there are two fpecies. There are few varie-
ties of the dog or fox kind. Of thefe the moft
numerous is the Deep, or, as he is called.^ the *
Jackal ; this is precifely the fame in all refpecls
as the Deep of Barbary and Syria, who are heard
hunting in great numbers, and howling in the
evening and morning. The true Deep, as far as
appears to me, is not yet known, at leail I never
yet faw in any author a figure that refembled
him. The wild boar, fmaller and fmoother in
the hair than that of Barbary or Europe, but
differing in nothing elfe, is met frequently in
fwamps or banks of rivers covered with wood.

102 APPENDIX.

As he is accounted unclean in AbyfSnia, both
by Chriftians and Mahometans, confequently not
perfecuted by the hunter, both he and the fox
fhould have muUiplied j but it is probable they,
and many other beafts, when young, are deftroy-
ed by the voracious hyaena.

The elephant, rhinoceros, girafFa, or camelo-
pardalis, are inhabitants of the low hot country ;
nor is the lion, or leopard, faadh, which is the
panther, feen in the high and cultivated country.
There are no tigers in Abyffinia, nor, as far as I
know, in Africa ; it is an Afiatic animal ; for
what reafon fome travellers, or naturalifts, have
called him the tiger-wolf, or miftaken him alto-
gether for the tiger, is what I cannot difcover.
Inmimerable flocks of apes, and baboons of diffe-
rent kinds, deftroy the fields of millet every
where; thefe, and an immenfe number of com-
mon rats, make great deftru6lion in the country
and harveft. I never faw a rabbit in Abyflinia,
but there is plenty of hares ; this, too, is an ani-
mal which they reckon unclean ; and not being
hunted for food, it ihould feem they ought to
have increafed to greater numbers. It is pro-
bable, however, that the great quantity of eagles,
vultures, and beafts of prey, has kept them with-
in reaionable bounds. The hippopotamus and
crocodile abound in all the rivers, not only of
Abyilinia, but as low down as Nubia and Egypt i

there

APPENDIX. 103

there is no good figure nor defcription extant^
as far as I know, of either of thefe animals ;
fome unforefeen accident always thwarted and
prevented my fupplying this deficiency. There
are many of the afs kind in the low country
towards the frontiers of Atbara, but no Zebras ;
thefe are the inhabitants of Fazuclo and Na-

RHINOCEROS,

NATURALISTS feem now in general to be
agreed that there are two fpecies of this
qyadruped, the firft having two horns upon his
nofe, the fecond one. It is alfo a generally re-
ceived opinion, that thefe different fpecies arc
confined to diflant places of the old continent;
that with one horn is thought to be exclufively
an inhabitant of Afia, that with two horns t©

b^ only found in Africa.

Whether

104 APPENDIX.

Whether this divifion is right in all its parts,
I fliall not advance. That there is a rhinoceros
in Alia with one horn is what we pofitively
know, but that there is none of the other fpe-
cies in that part of the continent does not ap-
pear to me as yet fo certain. Again, there is
no fort of doubt, that though the rhinoceros
with two horns is an inhabitant of Africa, yet
is it as certain that the fpecies with one horn is
often found in that country iikewife, efpecially
in the eaflern part, where is the myrrh and cin-
namon country, towards Cape Gardefan, which
runs into the Indian ocean beyond the Straits of
Babelmandeb. And if I was to credit the ac-
counts which the natives of the refpeclive coun-
tries have given me, I fhould be induced to be-
lieve that the rhinoceros of the kingdom of Adel
had but one horn. They fay this is the cafe
where little rain falls, as in Adel, which, tho*
within the tropics, is not liable to that feveral
months deluge, as is the inland part of the coun-
try more to the weftward. They fay further,
that all that Avoody part inhabited by Shangalla,
correfponding to Tigre and Sire, is the haunt
of the rhinoceros with two horns. Whether
this is really the cafe I do not pretend to aver,
I give the reader the ftory with the authority;
I think it is probable ; but as in all cafes where

very

APPENDIX. 105

very few obfervations can be repeated, as in
this, I leave him entirely to the light of his
own iinderftanding.

The animal reprefented in this drawing is a
native of Tchcrkin, near Ras el Feel, of the
hunting of which I have already fpoken in my
return through the defert to Egypt, and this is
the firfl drawing of the rhinoceros with a double
horn that has ever yet been prefented to the
public. The lirfl figure of the Afiatic rhinoce-
ros, the fpecies having but one horn, was paint-
ed by Albert Durer, from the life, from one of
thofe fent from India by the Portuguefe in the
beginning of the fixteenth century. It was
wonderfully ill-executed in all its parts, and was
the origin of all the monftrous forms under
which that animal has been. painted, ever fm.ce,
in all parts of the world. Several modern phi-
lofophers have made amends for this in our days ;
Mr. Parfons, Mr. Edwards, and the Count de.
Buffon, have given good figures of it from, life ;
they have indeed fome faults, owing chiefly to
preconceived prejudices and inattention. Thefe,
however, were rhinocerofes with one horn,
all Afiatics. This, as I have before faid, is the
firft that has been publiflied wdth two horns, it
is defigned from the life, and is an African;
but as the principal difference is in the horn,
and as the manners of this beafl are, I believe,

very

Io6 APPENDIX.

very faithfully defcribed and common to both
fpecies, I ihall only note what I think is defici-
ent in his hiftory, or what I can fupply from
having had an opportunity of feeing him alive
and at freedom in his native woods.

It is very remarkable, that two fuch animals
as the elephant and rhinoceros fhould have
wholly efcaped the defcription of the facred wri-
ters. Mofes, and the children of Ifrael, were
long in the neighbourhood of the countries that
produced them, both while in Egypt and in
Arabia. The claffing of the animals into clean
and unclean, feems to have led the legiflator into
a kind of neceffity of defcribing, in one of the
Glafles, an animal, which made the food of the
principal Pagan nations in the neighbourhood.
Confidering the long and intimate connection
Solomon had with the fouth-coaft of the Red
Sea, it is next to impoffible that he was not ac-
quainted with them, as both David his father,
and he, made plentiful ufe of ivory, as they
frequently mention in their writings, which,
aloncr with gold, came from the fame part. So-
lomon, befides, wrote exprefsly upon Zoology,
and, we can fcarce fuppofe, was ignorant of two
of the principal articles of that part of the cre-
ation, inhabitants of the great Continent of
Afia eaft from him, and that of Africa on the
fouth, with both which territorijes he was in

conftant correfpondence.

There

APPENDIX. 107

There are two animals, named frequently in
fcripture, without naturaliils being agreed what
they are. The one is the behemoth, the other
the reem, both mentioned as the types of
ilrength, courage, and independence on man,
and as fuch exempted from the ordinary lot of
beads, to be fubdued by him, or reduced un-
der his dominion. Tho' this is not to be taken
in a literal fenfe, for there is no animal without
the fear or beyond the reach of the power of
man, we are to underftand this as applicable to
animals poffefled of ftrength and lize fo iuperla-
tive as that in thefe qualities other beafts bear
no proportion to them.

The behemoth, then, I take to be the ele-
phant ; his hiftory is well known, and my only
buiinefs is with the reem, which I fuppofe to
be the rhinoceros. The derivation of this word,
both in the Hebrew and the Ethiopic, feems to
be from ere^tnefs, or {landing ilraight. This is
certainly no particular quality in the animal it-
felf, who is not more, or even fo much erecl as
many other quadrupeds, for, in its knees, it is
rather crooked ; but it is from the circumftance
and manner in which his horn is placed. The
horns of ail other animals are inclined to fomc
degree of parallelifm with his nofe, or os front is.
The horn of the rhinoceros alone is erecl and
perpendicular to this bone, on which it flands
' ' at

IC8 APPENDIX.

at right angles, thereby pofleiTiiig a greater
purchafe, or power, as a lever, than any horn
could pofiibly have in any other pohtion.

This fituation. of the horn is very happily al-
luded to in the facred writings : " My horn
*' ihalt thou exalt like the horn of" an unicorn *=:"
and the horn here alluded to is not wholly figu-
rative, as I have already taken notice of in the
courfe of my hiflory |, but was really an orna-
ment, worn by great men in the days of viclory, ^
preferment, or rejoicing, when they were a-
nointed with new, fweet, or freih oil, a circum-
flance which David joins with that of creeling
the horn.

Some authors, for what reafon I know not,
liave made the reem, or unicorn, to be of the
deer or antelope kind, .that is, of a genus
whofe very character is fear and weaknefs, very
oppoiite to the qualities by which the reem is
defcribed in fcripture ; befides, it is plain the
reem is not of the clafs of clean quadrupeds^
and a late modern traveller, very whimiically,
takes him for the leviathan, which certainly
w^as a lilh. It is impoillble to determine Vvhich
is the iillieii opinion of the two. Balaam, a
prieft of Midian, and fo in the neighbourhood

* Pfalm xcii. ver. lo. f Vol. iii. p. 220.

of

APPENDIX. 109

of the haunts of the rhinoceros, and intimately
connected with Ethiopia, for they themfelves
were Shepherds of that country, in a tranfport,
from contemplating the ftrength of Ifrael
whom he was brought to curfe, fays, they had
as it were the ftrength of the reem^. Job*
makes frequent allufion to his great ftrength,
and ferocity, and indocility. lie aiks. Will
the reem be willing to ferve thee, or abide by
thy crib ? that is. Will he willingly come into
thy ftable, and eat at thy manger ? And again,
Canft thou bind the reem with a band in the
furrow, and will he harrow the valleys after
thee-j? In other words, Canft thou make him
go in the plough (^v harrows ?

Ifaiah J, who oF^ll the prophets feems to have
known Egypt and Ethiopia the beft, when pro-
phecying about the deftrudion of Idumea, fays,
that the reem fhall come down with the fat cattle ;
a proof that he knew this habitation was in the
nei2:hbourhood. In the fame manxier as when
foretelling the defolation of Egypt, he mentions
as one m^anner of effeclins; it, the brinmna: down
the fly § from Ethiopia to meet the cattle in the
defert, and among the bufhes, and deftroy
them there, where that infect did not ordina-
rily come but on command {|, and where the

«[ Nunib. chap, xxlli. ver. 22.
* Job, chap, xxxix. ver. 9. f Job, chap, xxxix. ver. 10.
^ Ifalah, chap, xxxlv. ver. 7. § Ifaiah, chap. vii. ver. 18.
and 19. jl Exod. chap* vili. ver. 22.

cattle

iro APPENDIX.

cattle fled every year to fave themfelves from
that infed.

The rhinoceros, in Geez, is called Arwe Ha-
rifli, and in the Amharic, Auraris, both which
names iignify the large wild beaft with the horn.
This would feem as if applied to the fpecies that
had but one horn. On the other hand, in the
country of the Shangalla, and in Nubia adjoin-
ing, he is called Girnamgirn, or horn upon
liorn, and this would feem to denote that he
had two. The Ethiopic text renders the word
Reem, Arwe Harifli, and this the Septuagint
tranflates Monoceros, or Unicorn.

If the Abyffinian rhinoceros had invariably
two horns, it feems to me improbable the Sep-
tuagint would call him Monoceros, efpecially as
they muft have feen an animal of this kind ex-
pofed at Alexandria in their time, then firfl
mentioned in hiftory, at an exhibition given by
Ptolemy Philadelphus at his acceflion to the
crown, before the death of his father, of which
we have already made mention.

The principal reafon of tranilating the word
Reem, Unicorn, and not Rhinoceros, is from
a prejudice that he muft have had but one horn.
But this is by no means fo well-founded, as to
be admitted as the only argument for eftablifh-
ino- the exiftence of an animal which never has
appeared, after the fearch of fo many ages.

Scripture

APPENDIX. Ill

Scripture fpeaks of the horns of the unicorn *,
fo that, even from this circumftance, the reem
may be the rhinoceros, as the Aiiatic, and part of
the African rhinoceros, may be the unicorn. It
is fomething remarkable, that, notwithftanding
Alexander's expedition into India, this qua-
druped was not known to Ariftotle f . Strabo
and Athenaeus both fpeak of him from report,
as having been feen in Egypt. Paufanius calls
him an Ethiopic bull ; the fame manner the Ro-
mans called the elephants Litcas bo'vis^ Lucanian
oxen, as being firft feen in that part of Magna
Grecia. Pompey exhibited him firft in Italy,
and he was often produced in games as low
as Helioo;abalus.

As all thefc were from Afia, it feems moft
probable they had but one horn, and they are
reprefented as fuch in the medals of Domitian,
Yet Martial \ fpeaks of one with two horns ;
and the reality of the rhinoceros fo armed be-
ing till now uncertain, commentators have
taken pains to perfuade us that this was an error
of the poet ; but there can be no doubt that the
poet was right, and the commentators wrong,
a cafe that often happens.

* Dent. chap, xxxiii. 17. Pfalm xxii. 21.

f This fhews that- the Mofaic pavement of Prasneffe is not
a record of Alexander's expedition into India, as Dr. Shaw
has pretended, fe6t. vii. p. 423,

X Martial- de Sped:ac.

I do

112 APPENDIX.

I do not know from what authority the au-
thor of the Encyclopedia * refers to the medals
of Domitian, where the rhinoceros, he fays,
has a double horn ; in all thofe that have been
publifhed, one horn only is figured. The ufe
made of thefe horns is in the turning-loom ;
they are made into cups, and fold to ignorant
people as containing antidotes againft poifons ;
for this quality they generally make part of the
prefents of the Mogul arid kings of Perfia at
Conilantinople. Some modern naturalifts have
fcarce yet given over this prejudice ; which
might have had a poUibility of truth while the
Galenical fchool flour iihed, and vegetable poi-
fons were chiefly ufed ; but it is abfurd to fup-
pofe, that what m.ight dikover falanum, or
deadly night-fhade, upon conta6l, would have
the like c^eS. upon the application of arfenic ;
and from experience I can pronounce, that a
cup of this is alike ufelefs in the difcovery of
either. The handles of daggers are always, in
Abyffinia, m^ade of this horn, and thefe being
the only works to which they are applied, is
one of the reafons why I have faid we fliould
not raflily pronounce that the Afiatic rhinoceros
has but one horn, merely becaufe the foremoft,
or round horn, is the only one of the many

* See Supplement to Chambers's Did.

that

APPENDIX. 113

that have been fent from India. In Abyffinia
we feldom fee the hunters at the pains to cut oft
or bring to market the fecond horn of the rhi-
noceros they have flain, becaufe, being flat, in
place of round, it has not dia.meter or fubilance
enough to ferve for the ufes juft fpoken of; fo
that the round horn is the only one that ap-
pears either at Gondar or Cairo ; and if we were
to judge ' from this circumfcance, the African
rhinoceros is unicorn for the fame reafon as we
do the Afiatic. The horns of this animal are
hard and folid, of a reddiih brown on the out-
fide, a yellow inclining to gold within, and the
heart a fpot of black, v/hich occupies the fpace
of near two inches where the diameter of the
horn is five. The furface takes a perfect polifli,
but when dried is very liable to fplinter and
crack. It likewife warps v/ith heat, and fcratches
eafily. And this was the reafon that, though
exceedingly beautiful when new, it never would
endure any time when made into the form of a
fnufF-box, but warped and fplit with the heat
of the pocket, though this I believe was chiefly
owing to the lamina, or flat pieces into which
it was cut, being always left too thin. The
foremofl of thefe horns crook inward at the
point, but by no means with fo fudden a curve
as is reprefented by the Count de Buffon. How
fenfible the animal is in this part, may be known
. Vol. YL I from

114 APPENDIX.

from the accident I was eye-witnefs to in hunt-
ing him at Tcherkin, where a mufquet ball
breaking ofF a point of that horn, gave him
fuch a lliock, as to deprive him for an inilant
of all appearance of life. Behind the foremoft,
or crooked horn, is the flat ftraight one, and
again immediately behind that I have feen dif-
tinc^ly the rudiments of a third, and the horn
full an inch long. If we may judge by its bafe,
it would feem this third horn was intended to
be as long as the other two.

The hunters of thefe large beafls are called
Agageer, from Agaro, to kill, by cutting the
hams or tendon of Achilles with a fword. I
have already defcribed the manner of this hunt-
ing. Thefe Agageers, the only people that have
an opportunity of obferving, if they would only
tell what they do obferve truly, fay, they fre-
quently fee rhinocerofes with three horns
grown ; that this laft is round, but does not
crook at the point, and is not quite fo long as
are the other two, nor tapered fo much as the
foremoft or crooked one ; but this I leave en-
tirely upon their veracity. I never did fee the
animal myfelf, nor three grown-horns adher-
ing to each other, as I have feen two. So if
this is truth, here is a third fpecies of this qua-
druped. They fay the third horn is only upon
the male, and does not grow till he is advanced

ia

APPENDIX. 115

in years ; the double horn which I have is fixed
to a ftrong mufcle or cartilage ; when dry, ex-
ceedingly tough. It comes down the os fro?itis,
and along the bone of the nofe ; but not having
obferved accurately enough at the time the car-
cafe was lying before me, I do not remember
how this mufcle terminated or was made faft,
either at the occiput or on the nofe. It has been
imagined by feveral that the horn of the rhino-
ceros and the teeth of the elephant were arms
which nature gave them againil each other : that
want of food, and vexation from being de-
prived of their natural habits, may make any
two beafts of nearly equal ftrength fight or de-
flroy each other, cannot be doubted ; and ac-
cordingly we fee that the Romans made thefe
two animals fight at fiiows and public games :
but this is not nature, but the artifice of man ;
there muft be fome better reafon for this extra-
ordinary conftruclion of thefe two animals, as
well as the different one of that of fo many
others. They have been placed in extenfive
woods and deferts, and there they hide them-
themfelves in the moft inacceflible places ; food
in great plenty is round about them ; they are
not carnivorous, they are not rivals in love j
what motive can they have for this conflant pre-
meditated defire of fighting?

I 2 I have

1 1 6 APPENDIX.

>

I have faid the rhinoceros does not eat hay
or grafs, but lives entirely upon trees ; he does
not fpare the mod thorny ones, but rather feems
to be fond of them ; and it is not a fmall branch
that can .efcape his hunger, for he has the
llrongeft jaws of any creature I know, and
bed adapted to grinding or bruifing any thing
that makes refiftance. He has twenty-eight teeth
of which are grinders, and I have feen Ihort in-
in all, fix digeiled pieces of wood full three
inches diameter voided in his excrements, and
the fame of the elephant.

But befides thefe trees, capable of moft reiift-
ance, there are in thefe vaft forefts within the
rains, trees of a fofter confiftence, and of a very
fucculent quality, which feems to be deftined
for his principal food. For the purpofe of gain-
ing the higheft branches of thefe, his upper lip
is capable of being lengthened out fo as to in-
creafe his power of laying hold with this in the
fame manner as the elephant does with his trunk.
With this lip and the alliftance of his tongue,
he pulls down the upper branches which have
moft leaves, and thefe he devours firft ; having
ftript the tree of its branches, he does not there-
fore abandon it, but placing his fnout as low in
the trunk as he finds his horn will enter, he
rips up the body of the tree, and reduces it to
thin pieces, like fo many laths ; and when he

has

APPENDIX. 117

has thus prepared it, he embraces as much of
it as he can in his monftrous jaws, and twifts it
round with as much eafe as an ox would do a
root of celery, or any fuch pot-herb or garden-
fluff.

Such, too, is the practice of the elephant ; we
faw, at every ftep in thefeimmenfe forefts, trees
in different progreffes of this operation, fome
divefted of their leaves and branches, and cut
over as far down the trunk as was foft, and pli-
able, and was capable of being fnapped off by
one bite, without fplitting or laceration ; others,
where the trunk was cut into laths or ribbands,
fome of which were ate in part, others prepared,
but which had been left from fatiety or appre-
henfion of danger, a feaft without labour for
the next that Ihould find it. In fome places we
faw the trees all confumed, but a flump that re-
mained about a foot from the groimd, and thefe
were of the mofl fucculent kind, and there we
diftindly perceived the beginning of the firfl la-
ceration from the bottom ; and what, befide the
teftimony of the hunters, confirmed this fact
beyond doubt was, that in feveral places large
pieces of the teeth of elephants, and horns of
the rhinoceros wxre brought to us, partly found
lying on the ground at the foot of thefe trees,
aad part flicking in them.

Neither

Il8 APPENDIX.

Neither the elephant nor rhinoceros eat grafs ;
if their food depended upon that, many times
in the year they muft be reduced to a ilate of
ftarving, for the grafs is naturally parched up
in fome feafons, and at others burnt purpofely
by the Shangalla. It is true, that in Europe
their chief food is hay ; trees cannot be every,
day fpoiled for thenn in the quantity they would
need. But this is not their natural food, more
than the fugar and the aquavitae that are given
them here.

The roughnefs of the tongue of the rhinoce-
ros is another matter in difpute : it is faid to
be fo rough, that the animal with that can lick
oiF the flefti of a man's bones. Others fay, the
tongue is fo foft that it refembles that of a calf.
Both of thefe are in fome meafure true, but ag-
gravated by the reporters. The tongue of thq
young rhinoceros is foft, for the Ikin is much
tougher and thicker too, than that of a calf,
and has apparently fome furrows or wrinkles in
it, but it has no puftules nor rudiments of any
that are difcernible, nor indeed has any ufe for
them. On the other hand, the tongue and in*
fide of the upper lip of the old rhinoceros are
very rough, and this appears to me to arife from
the conftant ufe he makes of thefe parts in feiz-
ing the branches of trees which have rough
barks, particularly the acacia* It is, when pur-

fued,

^

APPENDIX. 119

fued, and in fear, that we fee he poffeiTes an af-
tonifhing degree of fwiftnefs, conlidering his
fize, the apparent unwieldynefs of his body, his
great weight before, and the Ihortnefs of his
legs. He is long, and has a kind of trot, which,
after a few minutes, increafes in a great propor-
tion, and takes in a great diftance ; but this is
to be underftood with a degree of moderation*
It is not true, that in a plain he beats the horfe
in fwiftnefs. I have paffed him with eafe, and
feen many worfe mounted do the fame, and tho'
it is certainly true, that a horfe can very feldom
come up with him, this is owin^ to his cunnino-,
but not his fwiftnefs. He makes conftantly from
wood to wood, and forces himfelf into the thick-
eft part of them. The trees that are frufh, or
dry, are broke down, like as with a cannon
Ihot, and fall behind him and on his iide in all
dire6lions. Others that are more pliable, greener,
or fuller of fap, are bent back by his weight
and velocity of his motion. And after he has
paffed, reftoring themfelves like a green branch to
their natural poiition, they fweep the incautious
purfuer and his horfe from the ground, and dafh
them in pieces againft the furrounding trees.

The eyes of the rhinoceros are very fmall,
and he feldom turns his head, and therefore fees
nothing but what is before him. To this he
owes his death, and never efcapes, if there is

Co

X2Q> APPENDIX.

fo much plain as to enable the horfe to get before
him. His pride and fury, then, makes him
layafide all thoughts of efcaping but by victory
over his enemy. He ftands for a moment at
bay, then at a ftart, runs ftraight forward at
the horfe, like the wild boar, whom in his man-
ner of aclion he very miuch refembles. The
horfe eafily avoids him, by turning fhort to afide,
and this is the fatal inftant : The naked man,
With the fw'ord, drops from behind the princi-
pal horfeman, and unfeen by the rhinoceros,
who is feeking his enemy the horfe, he gives
him a ilroke acrofs the tendon of the heel,
which renders him incapable of further flight or
reiiftance.

In fpeaking of the great quantity of food ne-
celTary to fupport this enormous mafs, we muft
iikewife coniider the vaft quantity of water which
lie needs. No country but that of the Shan-
galla, which he poiTeiTes, deluged with fix months
rains, and full of large and deep bafons, made
in the living rock, and fliaded by dark w^oods
from evaporation ; or w^atered by large and
deep rivers w^hich never fall low or to a ftate of
drynefs, can flipply the vaft draughts of this
monilrous creature : but it is not for drinking
alone that he frequents wet and marihy places ;
large, fierce, and ftrong as he is, he muft fub-
mit to prepare to defend himielf againft the

w^eakell

APPENDIX. 121

weakeft of all adverfaries. The great confump-
tion he conftantly makes of food and water ne-
cellarily confine him to certain limited fpaces ;
for it is not every place that can maintain him,
he cannot emigrate, or feek his defence among
the fands of Atbara.

The fly, that unremitting perfecutor of every
animal that lives in the black earth, does not
fpare the rhinoceros, nor is afraid of his fierce-
nefs. He attacks him in the fam.e manner as he
does the camel, and would as eafily fubdue him,
but for a ftratagem which he praclifes for his
prefervation. The time of the fly being the
rainy feafon, the whole black earth, as I have
already obferved, turns into mire. In the night
when the fly is at reft, he choofes a conveni-
ent place, and there rolling himfelf in the mud,
he clothes himfelf with a kind of cafe, which de-
fends him asrainft his adverfary the followino-
day. The wrinkles and plaits of his ikin ferve
to keep this muddy plafter firm upon him, ai}
but about his hips, flioulders, and legs, where
it cracks and falls off by motion, and leaves
him expofed in thofe places to the attacks of the
fly. The itching and pain which follow occalion
him to rub himfelf in thofe parts againft the
rous^heft trees, and this is at leaft one caufe of
the puftules or tubercules which we fee upon
thefe places, both on the elephant and rhinoce-
ros.

122 A P P E N D I X^

ros. The Count de BufFon, who believes thefe
puftules to be natural parts of the creature, fays,
in proof of this, that they have been found in
the foetus of a rhinoceros. I do not pretend to
dilbelieve this ; it may be, that thefe punclures
happening to the old female at the time fhe was
with young, the impreflion of her fufferings
might have appeared upon the young one. How-
ever this is, I cannot conceal that I have heard,
not from hunters only, but men worthy of cre-
dit, that this is the origin of thefe protube-
rances ; and many rhinocerofes, llain in Abyffi-
nia, are known to have been found at the fea-
fon of the fly, with their fhoulders and buttocks
bloody and excoriated. It is likewife by no
means true, that the Ikin of the rhinoceros is
hard or impenetrable like a board. I fliould ra-
ther fufped: this to be difeafe, or from a differ-
ent habit acquired by keeping ; for in his wild
flate he is flain by javelins thrown from indif-
ferent hands, which I have feen buried three
feet in his body. A mufket fliot will go through
him if it meets not wit!i the intervention of a
bone ; aftd the Shangalla kill him by the worft
and moft inartificial arrows that ever were ufed
by any people pradlifmg that weapon, and cut
him to pieces afterwards with the very worft of
knives ^

I have

A P P E N D I X. 123

I have fiiid that, in the evening, he goes to
welter in the mire. He enjoys the rubbing him^
feU-' there £0 much, and .groans and grunts io
loud, that he is heard at a confiderable diilance*
The pieafure that he receives from this enjoy-^
ment, and the darkneis of- tkc night, deprive
him of his ufual vigilance and attention. The
hungers, guided by his noife. Heal fecretly upon
him, and, while lying on the ground, wound
him with their javelins moilly in the belly where
the wound is mortal.

A furgeon of the Shaftefbury Indiaman was
the firfl who obferved and mentioned a facb
which has been rafhly enough declared a fable *.
He obferved on a rhinoceros newly taken, after
having weltered and coated itfelf in mud, as
abovementioned, feveral infeds, fuch as mille-
pides, or fcolopendra, concealed under the ply
of the fldn. With ail fubmidion to my friend's
cenfure, I do not think he is in this fo ris^ht or
candid as he ufually is ; not having been out of
his own country, at leaft in any country where
he could have feen a rhinoceros newly taken
from weltering in the mud, he could not poili-
bly be a judge of this facl as the oiilcer of the
Shaftefbury was, who faw the animal in that

* y.!d. Buffori Hift. rhinoceros, p. 425. Edv/ards, p. 25.

124 APPENDIX.

Hate. Every one, I believe, have feen horfes
and cows drinking in foul water feized by
leeches, which have bled them excellively and
fwelled under the animal's tongue to a mon-
ftrous iize. And I cannot fay, with all fub-
million to better judgment, that it is more con-
trary to the nature of things, that a leech fhould
feize an animal, whofe cuftom is to welter in
water, than a fly bite and depofit his eggs in a
camel in the fun-fliine on land. But further I
mull bear this teftimony, that, while at Ras el
Feel, two of tliefe animals were flain by the
Ganjar hunters in the neighbourhood. I was
not at the hunting, but, though ill of the flux,
1 went there on horfeback before they had
icraped oft their muddy covering. Under the
plies of one I faw two or three very large worms,
not carnivorous ones, but the common large
worm of the garden. I fawlikewife leveralani*
mals like earwigs, which I took for young fco-
lopendra^, and two fmiall, white, land-fnail
ihells. I fought no further, but was told a num^r
ber of different infects were found, and fome of
them that fucked the blood, which I take to be
a kind of leecli. There is then no fort of rea-
fon to accufe this gentleman of telling a falfe^
hood, only becaufe he was a better obferver,
Lind liiid better opportunities than others have
had, and it is indeed neither jufl nor decent ;
on the contrary, it is a coarfe manner of criti-

cifmg,

APPENDIX. 125

cifmg, to tax a man with falfeliood wlieai he
fpeaks as an eye-witnefs, and has faid nothm^<^
phyfically inipoffible.

The rhinoceros fiiewn at the fair of St. Ger-
main, that which the Count de BufTon and Mr,
Edwards faw, kept clean in a ftable for feverai
years, I fhall believe had neither worms nor fco^
lopendrx upon it, neither does this officer of
the Shaftefbury report it had ; but he fays, that
one covered with mud, in which it had been
weltering, had upon it animals that are com-
monly found in that mud ; and this neither Mi\
Parfons nor Mr. Edwards, nor the Count de
Buffon, ever had an opportunity of verifying.

Chardin * fays, that the Abyffinians tame said
train the rhinoceros to labour. This is an al>
foiute fable ; befides, that w^e have reafon to
believe the animal is not capable of inftruclion^
neither hiftory nor tradition ever gave thefmallcft
reafon to make us believe this, nor is there any
motive for attempting the experiment, more than
for believing it everw^as accomplifiied. Tractable
as the elephant is, the AbyiTmians never either
tamed or infl:ru6led him ; they never made ufe
of beads in war, nor would their country per-
mit this training; fo much the contrary, as we
have already feen, that Ptolemy Philadelphus,
and his fuccelTor Ptolemy E verge tes, did e%^ery
thing in their power to perfuade them to take

* Chardin, torn. iii. p. 45,

126 A P P £ N D I Jt.

the elephant alive, that they might tame them ;
but, as he was a principal part of their food,
they never could fucceed ; and the latter prince,
for this very purpofe, made an expedition into
Abyflinia, and was obliged to extirpate thefe
hunters, and fettle in their place a colony of his
own at Arkeeko near Mafuah, whict he called
Ptolemais Theron for that very reafon ; after
which hehimfelf tells us in the long Greek in-,
fcription he left in the kingdom of Adel, that
he had fucceeded fo far, by means of his colony
of Greeks, as to train the Ethiopic elephant fo
as to make him fuperior to thofe in India ; but
this he could never do by employing Abyflini-

ans.

It is a general obfervation made in every part
where this animal refides, that he is indocile,
and wants talents ; his fiercenefs may be con-
quered, and we fee, with a moderate degree of
attention, he is brought to be quiet enough ;
but it is one thing to tame or conquer his fierce-
nefs, and another to make him capable of in-
flruclion ; and it feems apparently allowed to
be his cafe, that he has not capacity. A fteady,
uniform fiercenefs in the brute creation, is to
be fubdued by care and by hunger, this is not
the cafe with him, his violent tranfports of fury
upon being hungry, or not being ferved in the
inftant with food^ feems to bar this manner of

^ - taming

APPENDIX, 127

taming him. His behaviour is not that of any
other animal ; his revenge and fury are dire^led
as much againft himfelf as againft an enemy;
he knocks his head againft the vt'^all, or the man-
ner, with a feeming intention to deftroy himfelf^
nay, he does deftroy himfelf often. That fent
from India to Emanuel, king of Portugal, in the
year 1513, and by him prefented to the pope,
■was the caufe the fliip * that carried him was funk
and loft, and the one that was fhewn in France
purpofely drowned itfelf going to Italy.

The rhinoceros and the elephant are the prin-
cipal food of the Shangaila. The manner of
preparing the flclh I have already defcribed, and
Ihall not repeat. He is ate too with great gree-
dinefs by all the inhabitants of the low country,
and Atbara. The moft delicate part about him
is fuppofed to be the foles of his feet, which are
foft like thofe of a camel, and of a griftly fub-
ftance ; the reft of the flefli feems to refemble
that of the hog, but is much coarfer. It fmells
of muik, and is otherw^ife very taftelefs ; I fhould
think it would be more fo to the negroes and
hunters, w^hoeat it without fait. The only hair
about it is at the tip of its tail ; they are there
few and fcattered, but thick as the loweft wire
of a harpiichord ; ten of thefe, faftened fide by

^ Tran. Phlifoph. No. 470.

fide,

128 A P P E N D r X"*

fide, at the diftance of half an inch from eacli
other, in the figure of a man's hand, make a
whip which will bring the blood every flroke.

This rhinoceros was thirteen feet from the
nofe to its anus ; and very little lefs than feven
feet when he ftooci, meafuring fiom the fole of
his fore-foot to the top of the flioulder. llie
firfl horn was fourteen inches. The fecond
fomething lefs than thirteen inches. The fiat
part of the horn, where it was bare at its bafe,
and divefted of hair, was four inches, and the
top two inches and a half broad. In the middle
it was an inch and quarter thick ; it was fliaped
like a knife ; the back two inches, and, when
turned, meafured one fourth of an inch at the
edge.

It feems now to be a point agreed upon by
travellers and naturalifls, that the famous ani-
mal, having one horn only upon his forehead, is
the fanciful creation of poets and painters; to
them I fhould willingly leave it, but a Swedifli
naturalift. Dr. Spar man, who has lately publifti-
ed two volumes in quarto, in which he has dif-
tinguiflied himfelf by his low illiberal abufe of
learned foreigners, as much as by the fulfome
flattery he has beflowed on his own countrymen^
has fliewed an inclination to revive this anti-
quated fable. 1 do not, for my own part, be-
lieve the authority will be thought fuilicient, or

have

APPENDIX. 129

have many followers. The publiiher, by way
of apology, as I fuppofe, for his rufticity and
ill-manners, fays, that he was employed in la-
bour to earn a fufficient fum upon which to tra-
veir What labour he applied to is not faid ; it
was not a lucrative occupation furely, or the
Do6lor was not an able labourer, as the fum
produced was but 38 dollars, and I really think
his knowledge acquired feems to be pretty much
in proportion to his funds.

Kolbe mentions what would feem a variety of
the rhinoceros at the Cape. He fays it has one
horn upon its nofe, and another upon his fore-
head. This the Count de BufFon thinks is un-
true, and, from other circumflances of the nar-
rative, fuppofes that Kolbe never faw this rhino-
ceros, and has defcribed it only from hearfay.
Though this, too, is Doctor Sparman's opinion,
yet, unwilling to let flip an opportunity of con-
tradicting the Count de BufFon, he taxes it as an
improper criticifm upon this rhinoceros of Kolbe:
he fays the defcription is a juft one, and that a
man of the Count's learnino; {hould have known
that the forehead and nofe of all animals were
near each other. Although he has given a ftrange
drawing of the ikeleton of the head of a rhino-
ceros, where the nofe and the forehead are very
diftinclly different, yet, in another drawing, he
has figured his rhinoceros bicornis, with a head
Vol. VL K feemingly

I JO APPENDIX.

feemingly all nofe, and much liker an afs than
any thing we have feen pretended to be a rhino-
ceros ever fince the time of Albert Durer. He
pretends that, in his travels at the Cape, hefaw
an animal of this form, which had two horns
upon his forehead, or his nofe, whichever he
pleafes to call them. If fuch an animal does really
exiil, it is undoubtedly a new fpecies ; it has
not the armour or plaited Ikin, feen in every
rhinoceros till this tim^e. He tells us a heap of
wonderful ftories about it, and claims the ho-
nour of being the firft difcoverer of it ; and
really, I believe, he is fo far in the right, that
if he can prove what he fays to be true, there is
no man that will pretend to difpute this point
with him. Befides its having a lldn without
plaits, it has two horns on the forehead, fo
loofe that they clafh againft one another, and
make a noife when the animal is running : then
he has one of thefe only that are moveable,
which he turns to one fide or the other when he,
choofes to dig roots ; an imagination fcarcely
pollible, I think, to any one Avho has ever hen
a rhinoceros. With thefe loofe and clalliing
horns he diverts himfelf by throwing a man and
horfe into the air ; and, though but five feet
high, at other times times he throws a loaded,
covered waggon, drawn by two oxen, over
hedges into the fields.

The

APPENDIX. 131

The rhinoceros very luckily is not carnivo-
rous, for he is among the fwifteft of animals,
and fmells and fcents people at a great diftance ;
and yet, with all thefe advantages, though his
conftant occupation, according to Dr. Sparman,
feems to be hunting waggons and men alfo, he
never was fo fuccefsfulas to kill but one man, as
far as was ever known.

H Y ^ N A.

^ I ■'HERE are few animals, whofe hiftory has
A paffed under the conlideration of natural-
ifts, that have given occafion to fo much confu-
fion and equivocation as the Hyaena has donco
It began very early among the ancients, and the
moderns have fully contributed their fhare. It
is not my intention to take up the reader's time
with difcuffing the errors of others, whether

K 2 ancient

i1,2 APPENDIX.

ancient or modern. Without difplaying a great
deal of learning to tell him what it is not, I fliall
content myfelf with informing him what it is,
by a good figure and diftind relation of what in
his hiftory hath been unknown, or omitted, and
put it in the reader's power to reject any of the
pretended Hyccnas that authors or travellers
fiiould endeavour to impofe upon him. At the
fame time, I Ihall fubmit to his decifion, whether
the animal I mention is a new one, or only a va-
riety of the old, as it mull on all hands be al-
lowed that he is as yet undefcribed.

Moft of the animals confounded with him are
about fix times fmaller than he is, and fome
there are that do' not even ufe their four legs,
but only two. The want of a critical know-
ledge In the Arabic language, and of natural
hiftory at the fame time, has in fome meafure
been the occafion of this among the moderns.
Bochart * difcuiTes the feveral errors of the an-
cients with great judgment, and the Count de
BufFonf, in a very elegant and pleafant man-
ner, hath nearly exhaufted the whole.

I do not think there is any one that hath hi-
therto written of this animal who ever faw the
thoufandth part of them that I have. They
were a plague in Abyffinia in every fituation,

* Bcch. vol. L cap. xxxlii. f BufTon vol. IX. 410.

both'

APPENDIX. 133

«

both in the city and in the field, and I think
furpalTed the Iheep in number. Gondar was
full of them from the time it turned dark till the
dawn of day, feeking the different pieces of
flaughtered carcafes which this cruel and unclean
people expofe in the ftreets without burial, and
who firmly believe that thefe animals are Fa-
laiha from the neighbouring mountains, trans-
formed by magic, and come down to eat human
flefh in the dark in iafety. Many a time in the
night, when the king had kept me late in the
palace, and it was not my duty to lie there, in
going acrofs the fquare from the king's houfe,
not many hundred yards diftant, I have been ap-
prehenfive they would bite me in the leg. They
grunted in great numbers about me, though I
was furrounded Vv4th feveral armed men, who
feldom pafled a night withoyt ^^ounding o^
flaughtering fome of them.

One night in Maitfha, being very intent on
obfervation, I heard fomething pafs behind me
towards the bed, but upon looking round could
perceive nothing. Having finifhed what I was
then about, I went out of my tent, refolviug
dirediy to return, which I immediately did,
when I perceived large blue eyes glaring at me
in the dark. I called upon my fervant with a
. light, and there was the hyaena Handing nigh
the head of the bed, with two or three large

bunches

134 APPENDIX.

bunches of candles in his mouth. To have fired
at him I was in danger of breaking up my qua-
drant or other furniture, and he feemed, by-
keeping the candles fteadily in his mouth, to
wifti for no other prey at that time. As his
mouth was full, and he had no claws to tear
with, I was not afraid of him, but with a pike
flruck him as near the heart as I could judge. It
was not till then he fliewed any iign of fierce-
nefs ; but, upon feeling his wound, he let drop
the candles, and endeavoured to run up the
ihaft of the fpear to arrive at me, fo that, in
felf-defence, I was obliged to draw out a pillol
from my girdle and fhoot him, and nearly at
the fame time my fervant cleft his ikull with a
battle-ax. In a word, the hyaena was the plague
of our lives, the terror of our night-walks, the
deftruclion of our mules and aiTes, which above
all others are his favourite food. Many inftances
of this the reader will meet with throughout
my Travels.

The hyssna is known by two names in the
eaft, Deeb and Dubbah. His proper name is
Dubbah, and this is the name he goes by among
the bell Arabian naturaliRs. InAbyffinia, Nu-
bia, and part of Arabia, he is, both in writing
and convcrfation, called Deeb, or Deep, either
ending with a b or p ; and here the confuiion
begins, for though Dubbah is properly a hyaena,

Dabbu

APPENDIX. I3J

Dabbu IS a fpccics of molikey ; and though
Deeb is likewife a hyasna, the fame word fignifies
a jackal ; and a jackal being by naturalifts called
a wolf, Deeb is underftood to be a wolf alfo. In
Algiers this difference is preferved ftriftly ; Dub-
bah is the hyaena ; Deeb is the jackal, which
run in flocks in the night, crying like hounds.
Dubb is a bear, fo here is another confuiion, and
the bear is taken for the hyaena, becaufe Dubb, or
Dubbah, feen?.s to be the fame word. So Poncet,on
the frontiers of Sennaar, complains, that one of
his mules was bit in the thigh by a bear, though it
is well known there never was any animal of the
bear-kind in that, or, I believe, in any other
part of Africa. And Iflrongly appx'ehend, that
the leopards and tigers, which Alvarez and Don
Roderigo de Lima mention molefled them fo
much in their journey to Shoa, were nothing
elfe but hyaenas. For tigers there are certainly
jione in Abyllinia; it is an Aiiatie animal. Tho'
there are leopards, yet they are but fevy in nunx-
ber, and are not gregarious, neither, indeed,
are the hyaenas, only as they gather in flocks,
lured by the fmell of their food ; and of thefe
it would feem there are many in Shoa, for the
capital of that province, called Tegulat, means
the City of the Hyaena.

If the defcription given by M. de BufFon is
^n elegant and good one, the draught of the

anim'4!

136 A P P E N D I X.

animal is no lefs fo. It is exadly the fame crea-
ture I have feen on Mount Libanus and at Alep-
po, which makes me have the lefs doubt that
there are two fpecies of this animal, the one
partaking more of the dog, which is the animal!
^m now defcribing, the other more of the nature
of the hog, which is the hyaena of M. de Buffon.
Of this the reader will be eafily fatisfied, by
comparing the two figures and the meafures of
them. The famiC diftindion there is in the
badger.

The animal from which this was drawn wa$
flain at Teawa, and was the largeft I had ever
feen, being five feet nine inches in length, mea-
furing from his nofe to his anus ; whereas the
hyaena exhibited by M. de Buffon w^as not half
that, it being only three feet two inches nine
lines in length. Notwithftanding the great fu-
periority in fize by which the hyaena of Atbara
exceeded that of M. de BufFon, I did not think
him remarkable for his fatnefs, or that he owed
any of his fize to his being at that time in more
than ordinary keeping ; on the contrary, I
thoug:ht the moft of thofe I had before feen were
in a better habit of body. As near as I could
guefs, he might weigh about 8 ftone, horfeman's
weight, that is, impound to the fl:pne, or 112
pound.

The

APPENDIX. 137

The length of his tail, from the longeft hair in
|t to its infertion above the anus, was one foot
nine inches. It was compofed of ilrong hair of
a reddiih, brown colour, without any rings or
bands of blacknefs upon the points. In the fame
manner, the mane confifted of hairs exa611y ii-
milar both in colour and fubftance, being longer
as they approached the neck, w^here they were
about feven inches long ; and though it was ob-
vious that, upon being irritated, he could raife
them upon his back, yet they were not rigid
enough, and were too long to have the re-
fiftance of briftles of the hog or boar. This
mane reached above tv/o inches beyond the occi-
put between his ears, but then turned fiiort^
and ended there.

From the occiput to his nofe he was one foot
three inches and a half. The length of the nofe,
from the bottom of the forehead, was five inches
and a half, in fhape much like that of a dog,
the whole head, indeed, more fo than that of
the wolf or any other creature. The aperture
of the eye was two inches nearly ; that of the
mouth, when not gaping or fnarling, about
four inches and a half. The ear, from its bafe
to its extreme point, v/as nine inches and a quar^
ter ; it was moftly bare, or covered with very
thin, fhort hair. From the inlide of one ear to
that of the other, meafured acrofs the forehead^

was

IjS APPENDIX.

was feven inches and a half. From the ed^re of
the opening of one eye to that of the other,
meafured in the fame manner, it was three
inches nearly. From the fole of the fore-foot,
as it ftood on the ground, to the top of the
back above the fhoulder, it was three feet feven
inches ; but his back was fmooth and plain, not
riling or curved as the hysena of M. de Bufton
appears to have been. The fore-leg was two feet
in length, the foot flat, and four inches broad.
From the fole of the foot to the middle of the
fore joint was fix inches and a half, and this
joint feemed to be ill-made, and as it were crook-
ed and h§.lf bent. He has four toes, and a ftraight
nail between each of them, greatly refembling
that of a dog, ftrong and black, but by no means
calculated for tearing animals, and as little for
digging, by which pccupatiqn he is faid chiefly
to 8:et his food.

He flands ill upon his hind-legs, nor can his
meafure there be marked \\ith precifipn. It is
obfervable in all hyaenas, that when they are
firft diflodged from cover, or oblige^ to run,
they limp fo remarkably that it woi|Jd appear
the hind-leg was broken, and this has often de-
ceived me ; but, after they have continued to run
fome time, this afleclion goes entirely away, and
they move very fwiftly. To what this is owing
it is impoiTible for me to fay. I cYpefted to have

found

APPENDIX. 139

found fomething likely to be the origin of it in
the dilTedion of this animal given by M. de
BufFon, but no fuch thing appears, and I fear it
is in vain to look for it elfewhere.

I apprehend from the fole of his hind-foot to
the joining of the thigh at his belly, was nearer
two feet feven inches than any other meafure.
The belly is covered with hair very little fofter
and fhorter than that of his back. It grows
fhorter as it approaches his hind-legs. His co-»
lour is of a yellowilh brown, the head and ears
the lighteft part of him. The legs are marked
thick with black bands which begin at the lower
hinder joint, then continue very dark in colour
till the top of the thigh, where they turn broad
and circular, reaching acrofs the w^hole iide.
Over the Ihoulder are two femicircular band^
likewife, then come very frequent bands down
the outficle of the fore-leg in the fame manner
as the hind. The iniide of ail his legs are withr
out marks, fo are the neck, head, and ears, but
a little above the thorax is a large black ftreak
which goes up along the throat, and down ta
the point of the lower jaw. Kis nofe is black,
and above the point, for fome inches, is of a
a dark colour alfo.

The Hyeena is one of thofe animals which com-
mentators have taken for the Saphan, without
any probability whatever, further than he lives

In

140 APPENDIX.

in caves, whither he retires in the fummer to
avoid being tormented with flies. Clement * of
Alexandria introduces Mofes faying. You fhalj
not eat the hare, nor the hysena, as he inter-
prets the word faphan ; but the hyaena does not
chew the cud ; they are not, as I fay, gregari-
ous, though they troop together upon the fmell
of food. We have no reafon to attribute extra-
ordinary wifdom to him ; he is on the contrary
brutifh, indolent, flovenly, and impudent, and
feems to poifcfs much the manners of the wolf.
His courage appears to proceed from 'an infatiable
appetite, and has nothing of the brave or gene-
rous in it, and he dies oftener flying than fight-
incr ; but leafl of all can it be faid of him that he
is 2i feeble folky being pne of the flrongeil beads
of the field.

Upon the moft attentive confideration, the
animal here reprefented feems to be of a differ-
ent fpecies from the hyaena of M. de Buffon.
This of Atbara feems to be a dog, whereas the
firfl fio^ht of the hyaena of M. de BufFon gives
the idea of a hog, and this is the imprefiion it
feems to have made upon the firfl travellers that
defcribe him. Kempferf calls hjm Taxus Por?
cinus, and fays he has briftles like a hog.

* CIcm. Alexan. lib. ii. Poedagog, cap. 10.
f Kemp. p. 411. and 412.

\Ve

A P P E 1^ D I X. 141

We have an example of variety of this fort in
the badger. There is a fow of that kind, and a
dog. The dog is carnivorous, and the fow lives
upon vegetables, though both of them have been
fufpecled at times to eat and devour animal
food.

The hyaena about Mount Libanus, Syria, the
north of Afia, and alfo about Algiers, is known
to live for the moft part upon large fucculent,
bulbous roots,' efpecially thofe of the fritillaria,
and- fuch large, fleiliy, vegetable fubftances. I
have known large fpaces of fields turned up to
get at. onions or roots of thofe plants, and thefe
were chofen wdth fuch care, that, after having
been peeled, they have been refufed and left on
the ground for a fmall rotten fpot being difco-
vered in them. It will be obferved the hysena
has no claws either for feizing or feparating ani-
mal food, that he might feed upon it, and I
therefore imagine his primitive manner of living
was rather upon vegetables than upon flefli, as
it is certain he ftill continues his liking to the
former ; and I apprehend it is from an opportu-
nity offering in a hungry time that he has ven-
tured either upon man or beaft, for few carni-
vorous animals, fuch as lions, tigers, and w^oives,
ever feed upon both.

As to the charge againft him of his difturbing
fepulchres, I fancy it is rather fuppofed from

his

14^ A I» P E N D 1 X.

'his being unable to feize his living prey that he
is thought to attach himfelf to the dead. Upon
much inquiry I never found one example fairly
proved. The graves in the eaft are built over
with mafon work ; and though it is againft the
Jaw of the Turks to repair thefe when they fall
down, yet the body is probably confumed long
before that happens ; nor is the hyaena provided
with arms or weapons to attempt it in its entire
ftate; and the large plants and flowers, with fleihy
bulbous roots, are found generally in plenty
among the graves.

But the hyaena of Atbara feems long to have
abandoned his primitive food of roots, if that
was ever his, and to have gone largely and un-
deniably into the flaughter of living creatures,
efpecially that of men. Indeed, happily for
himfelf, he has adopted this fuccedaneum ; for
as to roots or fruit of any kind, they are not to
be found in the defert country where he has
chofen his domicil ; and he has no difficulty
from the fepulchres, becaufe whole nations perifh
without one of them being: buried. Add to
this, that the depravity of human nature, the
anarchy and bad government of the country,
have given him greater opportunities than any
where eife in the world to obtain frequent and
eafy victories over man.

It

APPENDIX. I4J

It is a conflant obfervation in Numidia, that
the lion avoids and fiies from the face of man,
till by fome accident they have been brought to
engage, and the beaft has prevailed againft him ;
then that feeling of fuperiority imprinted by the
Creator in the heart of all animials for man's
prefervation, feems to forfake him. The lion,
having once tailed human blood, relinquiflies
thepurfuit after the fiock. He repairs to fome
high way or frequented path, and has been
known, in the kingdom of Tunis, to interrupt
the road to a market for feveral weeks ; and in
this he perfifts till hunters or foldiers are fent
out to deftroy him.

The fame, but in a much greater extent, hap-
pens in Atbara. The Arabs, the inhabitants of
that country, live in encampments in different
parts of the country, their ancient patrimony
or conqueft. Here tacj plough and fow, dig
Wells, and have plenty of water ; the ground*
produces large crops, and all is profperity fo
long as there is peace. Infolence and prefump-
tion follow cafe and riches. A quarrel happens
with a neighbouring clan, and the firil acl of
hoftiiity, or decifive advantage, is the one burn-
ing the other's crop at the tim.e v/hen it is near
being reaped. Inevitable famine follows; they
are provided with no ftores, no ftock in hand,
their houfes are burnt, their wells filled up, the

men

144 APPENDIX.

men flain by their enemies, and many thou-
fands of the helplefs remainder left perfectly
deftitute of necelTaries ; and that very fpot,
once a fcene of plenty, in a few days is reduced
to an abfolute defer t. Moft of the miferable
furvivors die before they can reach the next
water ; they have no fubfiftence by the way ;
they wander among the acacia-trees, and gather
gum. There, every day loiing their ftrength,
and deftitute of ail hope, they fail fpontaneouily,
as it were, into the jaws of the mercilefs hysena,
who finding fo very little difference or difficulty
between flaying the living and devouring the
dead, follows the miferable remains of this un-
fortunate multitude, till he has extirpated the
lafi: individual of them. Thence it comes that
we find it remarked in my return through the
defert, that the whole country i,s fire wed with
bones of the dead ; horrid monuments of the
victories of this favage animal, and of man
more favage and cruel than he. From the eafe
with which he overcomes thefe half-ftarved and
unarmed people, arifes the calm, fteady confi-
dence in which he furpaffes all the reft of his
kind.

In Barbary I have feen the Moors in the day-
time take this animal by the ears and pull him
towards them, without his attem.pting any other
refiftance than that of his drawing back: and

the

APPENDIX^ 145

the hunters, when his caA^^e is larsre enous:h to
give them admittance, take a torch in their
hand, and go flraight to him ; when, pretend-
ixig to fafcinate him by a fenfelefs jargon of
words which they repeat, they throw a blanket
over him, and haul him out. He fcems to be
ftupid or fenfelefs in the day, or at the appear-
ance of ilrong light, unleS when purfued by
the hunters.

I have locked up a goat, a kid, and a lamb
with him all day when he was faiting, and found
them in the evening alive and unhurt. Repeat-
ing the experiment one night, he ate up a
young afs, a goat, and a fox, all before morn-
ing, fo as to leave nothing but fome fmall frag-
ments of the afs's bones.

In Barbary, then, he has no courage by day;
he ilies from man, and hides him felf from him :
But in Abyiiinia or Atbara. accuftomed to man's
fiefli, he walks boldly in the day-tim^e like a
horfe or mule, attacks man .wherever he finds
him, whether armed or unarmed, always at-
taching himfelf to the mule or afs in preference
to the rider. I may fafely fay^ I fpeak v/ithin
bounds, that I have fought him above iifty
tim.es hand to hand, with a lance or fpear,
when I had fdlien unexpectedly upon him amon^^
the tents, or in defence of my fervants or
beafls. Abroad and at a diflance the gun pre-

VpjLc VL L vented

146 APPENDIX.

vented his nearer approach ; but in the night,
evening, or morning, we were conflantly in
clofe engagement with him.

This frequent vi6lory over man, and his daily-
feeding upon him without reiiftance, is that
from which he furely draws his courage. Whe-
ther to this food it is that he owes his fuperior
lize, I will not pronounce. For my own part,
I coniider him as a variety of the fam.e rather
than another fpecies. At the fame time I m.uft
fay, his form gave me diflindly the idea of
a dog, without one feature or likenefs of the
hog, as was the cafe with the Syrian hyaena
living on Mount Libanus, which is that of M.
de Buffon, as plainly appears by his drawing.

I have oftentimes hinted in the courfe of my
Travels at the liking he has for mules and affes ;
but there is another paffion for which he is fliii
more remarkable, that is,' his liking to dog's
fieih, or, as it is commonly expreffed, his aver-
iion to dogs. No dog, however fierce, will
touch him in the field. Ivly greyhounds, ac-
cuilomed to fallen upon the wild boar, would
not venture to engage v;ith him. On the con-
trary, there v/as not a journey I made that he
did not kill feveral of my greyhounds, and
once or tvdoe robbed me of my whole flock:
he would feek and feize them^ in the fervants

tents

APPENDIX. 147

tents where they were tied, and endeavour to
carry them away before the very people that
were guarding them.

This animolity between him and dogs, though
it has efcaped modern naturalifls, appears to
have been known to the ancients in the eaft. In
Ecclefiaflicus (chap. xiii. ver. 18.) it is faid,
" What agreement is there between the hyaena
and the dog ?'' a fufficient proof that the anti-
pathy was fo w^ell known as to be proverbial.

And I muft here obferve, that if there is any
precifion in the definition of Linnaeus, this ani-
mal does not anfwer to it, either in the cauda
reda or annulata, for he never carries his tail
ered, but always clofe behind him like a dog
when afraid, or unlefs when he is in full fpeed ;
nor is the figure given by M. de BufFon marked
like the hyeena of Atbara, though, as I have
faid, perfectly refembling that of Syria, and
the figure I have here given has, I believe,
jfcarcely a hair mifplaced in it. Upon the whole,
I fubmit this entirely to my reader, being fatis-
fied with having, I hope, fully proved what
was the intent of this differtation, that the fa-
phan is not the hyaena, as Greek commentators
upon the fcripture have imagined.

L 2 JERBOA.

148 APPENDIX,

JERBOA.

HAVE already obferved that the Arabs
have confounded the Saphan with feveral
other animals that have no fort of refem-
blance to it ; there are two of thefe very re-
markable, the Fennec and Jerboa, of which I
am now to treat. As I have given excellent fi-
gures of both, by drawings taken from the crea-
tures alive, I have no doubt I fhall prevent any
confufion for the future, and throw fome light
upon facred fcripture, the greateft profit and
ufe that can refult from this fort of writing.
' If the rabbit has been frequently confounded
with the faphan, and flood for it in the inter-
pretation of the Hebrew text, the fame has like-
wife happened to another animal, the Jerboa,

ftiU

Plate 3d\

^ir^

-P^/W^^Z/^

HSracaSi Sc.

APPENDIX. 149

ftill more difiimilar in form and in manners
from the faphan, than even the rabbit itfelf,
and much lefs known. The Jerboa is a fmall
harmlefs animal of the defert, nearly the fize of
a common rat : the fkin very fmooth and fliining,
of a brown tinged with yellow or gold colour,
and the ends of the hairs tipt with black. It
lives in the fmootheft plains or places of the de-
fert, efpecially where the foil is fixed gravel,
for in that chiefly it burrows, dividing its hole
below into many manlions. It feems to be ap-
prehenfive of the falling in of the ground ; it
therefore generally digs its hole under the root
of fome fpurge, thyme, or abfinthium, upon
whofe root it feems to depend for its roof not
falling in and burying it in the ruins of its fub-
terraneous habitation. It feems to delight mofl
in thofe places that are haunted by the cerailes,
or horned viper. Nature has certainly impofed
this dangerous neighbourhood upon the one for
the good and advantage of the other, and that
of mankind in general. Of the many trials I
made, I never found a Jerboa in the body of a
viper, excepting once in that of a female big
with young, and the Jerboa itfelf was then
nearly confumed*

The Jerboa, for the mofl: part, ftands upon
his hind-legs ; he refts himfelf by fitting back-
wards fometimes, and I have feen him, though

rarely.

IJO APPENDIX.

rarely, as it were lie upon all four ; whether
that is from fatigue or ficknefs, or whether it
is a natural poilure, I know not. The Jerboa
of the Cyrenaicuin is fix inches and a quarter in
lengjth, as he ftands in the drawing:. He would
be full half an inch more if he was laid ftraight
at his length immediately after death. The
head, from his nofe to the occiput, is one inch
two lines. From the nofe to the foremoft ansrle
of the eye, fix lines. The opening of the eye
itfelf is two lines and a quarter ; his ears three
quarters of an inch in length, and a quarter of
an inch in breadth; they are fmooth, and
have no hair within, and but very little with-
out ; of an equal breadth from bottom to top,
do not diminifh to a point, but are round-
ed there. The buttocks are marked with a
femicircle of black, w^hich parts from the root
of the tail, and ends at the top of the
thigh. Thrs gives it the air of a compound ani-
mal, a i:at with bird's legs, to which the flying
pofture itill adds refemblance. From this ilroke
to the center of the eve is three inches, and to
the point of his toe the fame meafure ; his tail
is fix inches and a quarter long, feems aukward-
]y fet on, as fluck between his buttocks, with-
out any connexion Vvdth his fpine ; half of it is
poorly covered with hair of a light or v/hiter
colour than his body j the other half is a beau-
tiful

APPENDIX. 151

tiiul feather of long hair, the middle white,
the edges jet black: this tail, Avhich by its
length would feem an incumbrance to him, is
of a furpriiing advantage in guiding and dire^l-
ing him in his jum.ping.

From the Ihoulder to the elbow of the fore-
foot is half an inch : from the elbow to the join-
ing of the paw, |-ths of an inch. The claw it-
feif is curved, and is fomething lefs than a
quarter of an inch. It has very long muftachoes,
fome of them {landing backward, and fom.e of
them forward from his nofe ; they are all of
unequal lengths, the longeil an inch and a half;
his belly is white : he feems to be of a very
cleanly nature, his hair always in great order.
From his fnout to the back part of the opening
of the mouth is half an inch ; his nofe projects
beyond his under jaw three quarters of an inch.
He has four toes in his hind-foot, and a fmall
one behind his heel, where is a tuft of hair co-
loured black. The fore-foot hath three toes
only.

The ancients have early defcribed this animal ;
we fee him in fome of the hrfc medals of the
Cyrenaicum, fitting under an umbellated plant,
fuppofed to be the filphium, whofe figure is
preferved to us on the iilver medals of Cyrene.
The high price fet upon it is mentioned by feve-
ral hiitorians, but the reafon of that value, or

the

152 A P P E N D I ±.

the ufc of the plant, I have never yet been able
to comprehend. I fuppofe it was an adventi-
tious plant, which the curiofity and correfpon-
dence of the princes of that ftate had probably
brought from feme part of Negroland, where
the goats arc brouiing upon it at this day with
indifference enough, unconfcious of the price
it bore in the time of the Ptolemies.

Herodotus *, Theophrattus f , and Ariftotle |,
all mention this animal under the name of
5;~i?;, yccxcci'^^nol'it, or tVv^o-footcd rats. This animal
is found in moil of the parts of Arabia and Sy-
ria, in every part of the fouthern deferts of
Africa, but no where fo frequently, and in
fuch numbers, as in the Cyrenaicum, or Penta-
polis. In my unfortunate journey there, I em-
ployed the Arabs, together with my fervants,
to kill a number with flicks, fo 2s that the fkins
might not be injured by fliot. I got them
dreiled in Syria and in Greece, and fewed to-
gether, making ufe of the tail as in ermine for
the lining of a cloak, and they had a very good
eiiecl j the longer they wore, the gloffier and
finer appearance the Ikins made. The Jerboa
is very fat and well-coloured ; the buttocks,
thighs, and part of the back, are roafted and

* Herod. Melp. feet. 192. f Thcoph. apud Elian. Hid.
Anlm. lib. xv. cap. 26. % Anil, de Mareb. Egypt. Jib. vi.

ate

APPENDIX. 153

ate by the Arabs. I have eaten them ; they
are not diftinguifhable from a young rabbit
either in colour or talle ; they have not even
the ftrong tafte the rabbit has. Some writers
have confounded thefe two animals together ; at
leaft they have miftaken this for the faphan, and
the faphan for the rabbit. This, however, is
plainly without foundation. Thefe long legs,
and the neceility of leaping, demand the plain
ground, v\^here nature has always placed this
creature.

The Arabs Ibn Bitar, Algiahid, Alcamus,
and Damir, and many others, have known the
animal perfe6lly, though fom.e of them feem to
confound it with another called the Alhkoko.
Ibnalgiauzi fays, that the Jerboa is the only kind
that builds in rocks, which from ten thoufand
examples I am fure he does not, nor is he any
way made for it, and I am very certain he is
not gregarious. They have a number of holes
indeed in the fame place, but I do not remem-
ber ever to have feen more than two together
at a time. The Arab Canonifts are divided
whether or not he can be lawfully eaten. Ib-
nalgiauzi is of opinion he cannot, nor any other
animal living under the ground, excepting the
land crocodile, v/hich he calls El Dabb, a large
lizard, faid to be ufeful in venereal purfuits.
At?!, and Achmet, Benhantal, and fev^^ral others,

exprefsly

154 APPENDIX.

exprefsiy fay, that the eating of the Jerboa is
lawful. But this feems to be an indulgence, as
we read in Damir, that the ufe of this animal
is granted becaufe the Arabs delight in it. And
Ibn Bitar fays, that the Jerbar is called Ifraelitifh,
that the fiefti of it is dried in the outward air,
is very nouriihing, and prevents coftivenefs,
from which we fliouid apprehend, that medici-
nal confiderations entered into this permiffion
like wife. However this may be, it feems to me
plain, fuch was not the opinion of the old tranf-
lators of the Arab veriion from the Hebrew ;
they once only name this animal exprefsiy, and
there they fay it is forbidden. The pafiage is
in Ifaiah, " They that fanclify themfelves and
*^^ purify themfelves in the gardens behind one
" tree in the midft, eating fwine's flefli, and
*' the abomination, and the moufe, fliall be
" confumed together, faith the Lord *." The
Hebrew word fignines moufe, and fo our Eng-
iifh tranilation renders it. But the Arabic ver-
iion calls it exprefsiy the Jerboa, and ciaiTes it
w^ith the abomination and fwine's fielh, that is,
in the clafs of things in the higheft degree for-
bidden.

There is little variety in this animal either in
fize or colour, in the wide range that they in-

* Ifaiah, chap. Ixvl. vcr. 17.

habit.

APPENDIX. 155

habit. Towards Aleppo they have broader
nofes than the African ones, their bodies aifo
thicker, and their colour lighter ; a thing we
always fee in the Syrian animals, compared to
the African. The lirfc of thefe I faw was in
London, in the hands of Dr. Ruffel, who has
wrote the hiftory of Aleppo, of whom I have
before made mention. Haym publillied an ac-
count of the Jerboa, fo does Dr. Shavv', but
there exifls not, that I know, one good figure
of him, or particular defcription.

The ligure given us by Edwards is thick and
fhort, out of all proportion. His legs are too
fhort, his feet too large, he wants the black
mark upon his heel, the nails of his fore-feet
are greatly too long, and there is certainly a la-
titude taken in the defcription, when his head
is faid very much to refemble that of a rabbit.
Dr. HafTelquift has given us a kind of defcrip-
tion of him without a figure. He fays the
Arabs call him Garbuka, but this is not fo, he
goes by no other name in all the eafl, but that
of Jerboa, only the letter J, fometimes by be-
ing pronounced Y, for Jerboa he is called Yer-
boa, and this is the only variation in name,
' The Arabs of the kingdom of Tripoli make
very good diverfion vv^ith the Jerboa, in train-
ing their grey-hounds, which they employ to
hunt the gazel or antelope after inftrucling him

to

156 A P P F N D I

to turn Pximbly by hun : ^ this animal. The
prince of Tunis, fo Yoimis, and gran d-

fon of Ali Bey, who had :n Itrangled by the
Algerines when tha was taken, being

then in exile at Aigit .e me a prefent of

a fmall grey-hound; v.. .ften gave us excel*
lent fport. It may be perhaps imagined a chace
between thefe two creatures could not be long,
yet I have often feen, in a large inclofure, or
court-yard, thegrey-hound employ a quarter
of an hour before he could mafter his nimble
adverfary ; the fmall fize of the creature affifted
him much, and had not the greyhound been a
praclifed one, and made ufe of his feet as well
as his teeth, he mighc nave killed two ante-
lopes in the time he could have killed one Jer-
boa.

It is the character of the faphan given in fcrip-
ture, that he is gregarious, that he lives ia
houfes made in the rock, that he is diitinguifli-
ed for his feeblenefs, which he fupplies by his
wifdom : none of thefe characleriftics agree
with the Jerboa, and therefore though he chews
the cud in common with fome others, aad was
in great plenty in Judea, fo as to be nown by
Solomon, yet he cannot be the faphan of the
fcripture.

FENNEa

riate 37.

cL2

II.Brocas fculp

'2/n^77^r'

APPENDIX. 157

F E N N E C.

THIS beautiful animal, which has lately fo ,
much excited the curioiity, and exercifed
the pens rather than the judgment of fome na-
turalifts, was brought to me at Algiers by Ma-
homet I-ais, my drugoman or janizary, while
couful-general to his Majefty in that regency,

Mahomet Rais bought it for two fequins from
an acquaintance, a Turkifh oldalh, or foot-fol-
dier, jud: then returned from Bifcara, a fou-
thern diftricl of Mauritania Csefarieniis, now
called the Province of Conftantina. The foldier
faid they were not uncommon in Bifcara, but
more frequently met with in the neighbouring
date territories of Beni Mezzab and Werglah,
the ancient habitations of the Melano-GcCtuli;

ill

IjS APPENDIX.

in the laft mentioned of which places they hunt-
ed them for their Ikins, which they fent by the
caravan to fell at Mecca, and from whence they
were after exported to India. He faid that he
had endeavoured to bring three of them, two
of which had efcaped by gnawing holes in the
cage. I kept this for feveral months at my
country-houfe near Algiers, that I might learn
its manners. I made feveral drawings of it,
particularly one in water-colours of its natural
fize, which has been the original of all thofe
bad copies that have lince appeared. Having
fatisfied myfeif of all particulars concerning it,
and being about to leave Algiers, I made a pre-
fent of him to Captain Cleveland, of his majef-
ty's fhip Phoenix, then in that port, and he
gave him to Mr. Brander, Swedifh conful in
Algiers. A young man, Balugani, of whom I
have already fpoken, then in m.y fervicc, in
whith, indeed, he died, allowed himfelf fo far
to be furprifed, as, unknown to me, to trace
upon oiled paper a copy of this drawing in wa-
ter-colours, juft now mentioned. This he did
fo fervilely, that it could not be miftaken, and
was therefore, as often as it appeared, known
to be a copy by people * the leaft qualified to
judge in thefe matters. The affeclation of the

* Sparman, vol. II. p. i86.

poflure

APPENDIX. 159

pofture in which it was fitting, the extraordi-
nary breadth of its feet, the unnatural curve of
the tail, to fhew the black part of it, the af-
fected manner of difpoling its ears, were all
purpofely done, to Ihew particular details that I
was to defcribe, after the animal itfelf fhould be
loft, or its figure, through length of time,
fliould be lefs frefh in my memory.

Do6lor Sparman, with his natural dullnefs,
and a diiingenuoufnefs which feems partly na-
tural, partly acquired, and improved by con-
ftant plagiarifms from the works of others,
pretends in favour of his country and country-
men, to fteal this into a Swedifli difcovery. He
fays that Mr. Brander has publiftied an account
of it in fome Swedifh tranfadtions, a book I ne-
ver faw, but that being long importuned by his
friend Mr. Nicander, to give the figure of the
anim.al itfelf to be publiilied, he conilantly re-
fufed it.

Whether this fad is fo or not, I do not pre-
tend to give my opinion : if it is, I cannot but
think Mr. Brander's condud in both cafes was
extremely proper. The creature itfelf paii'ed,
by very fair means, from miy poiTeiiion into
Mr. Brander's, w^ho cannot doubt that I v/ould
have given it to him. in preference to Mr. Cleve-
land, if I had known he thought it of the leaft
confequence j he v/as then, as having had the

animal

l6o APPENDIX,

animal by jull means in his pofleflion, as much
entitled to defcribe him as I was ; or as the
Turk, the prior pcffeiTor, who gave him to me,
had he been capable, and fo inclined. On the
other hand, Mr. Brander likewife judged very
properly in refufing to publilh the drawing at
the requeft of Mr. Nicander. The drawing
was not juftly acquired, as.it was obtained by a
breach of faith, and feducljon of a fervant,
which might have coft him his bread. It was
conducted with a privacy feldom thought necef-
fary to fair dealing, nor was it ever known to
me, till the young man began to be dangeroufly
fick at Tunis, when he declared it voluntarily
to me, with a contrition, that might have
atoned for a much greater breach of duty.

Dr. Sparman attempts to conceal thefe cir-
cumftances. He fays Mr. Brander told him,
that I faw this animal at Algiers, and that I em-
ployed the fame painter that he did to make the
drawing of him, and fpeaks of a painter found
at Algiers as readily as if he had been at the
p-ates of Rome or Naples. Thefe are the wretch-
ed fubterfuges of low minds, as diftant from
fcience as they are from honour and virtue.
Why, if the animal was equally known to Mr.
Brander and me, did he not, when writing
UDon it, give his name, his manners, the ufes
to which he w^as deftined, and the places where

he

APPENDIX. l6l

he refided ? why fend to Algiers for an account
of him, after having him fo long in his poffeilion,
fmce at Algiers he was probably as great a
flranger as he was at Stockholm ? why call him
a fox, or pronounce his genus, yet write to Al-
giers for particulars to decide what that genus
was ?

The Count of BufTon *, content Vv^th the
merit of his own works, without feeking praife
from fcraps of information picked up at ran-
dom from the reports of others, declares can-
didly, that he believes this animal to be as yet
anonyme, that is, not to have a name, and
in this, as in other refpe6ls, to be perfectly
unknown. If thofe that have written concern-
ing it had ilopt here likewife, perhaps the lofs
the public would have fuffered by wanting their
obfervations would not have been accounted a
great detriment to natural hiftory.

Mr. Pennant -[-, from Mr. Brander's calling it
a fox, has taken occafion to declare that his genus
is a dog. Mr. Sparman, that he may contri-
bute his mite, attacks the defcriDtion which I
gave of tliis animal in a converfation with the
Count de Buflbn at Paris. He declares 1 am
miilaken bv fayini^ that it lives on trees t ; ^or

* Supplement to Tom. iii. p. 148. f Vol. I. p. 248.
:j: Sparman's voyage to the Cape, vol. ii. p. 185,

Vo].. VL M ' ^ in

l62 APPENDIX.

in confequence, I fuppofe, of its being a fox, he
fays it burrows in the ground, which I doubt
very much, he never faw an African fox do.
His reafon for this is, that tHere is a fmall ani-
mal which lives in the fands at Camdebo, near
the Cape of Good Hope, which is rofe-coloured,
and he believes it to be the animal in queftion,
for he once hunted it till it efcaped by burrow-
ing under ground, but he did, not remark or
diiiinguiili his ears *.

I do really believe there may be -many fm.all
animals found at Camdebo, as well as in all the
other fands of Africa ; but having feen the reft
of this creature during the whole time of a
chace, 'without remarking his ears, w^hich are
his great charaderiftic, is a proof that Dr. Spar^
man is either miflaken in the beaft itfelf, or elfc
that he is an unfortunate and inaccurate obferver.
There is but one other animal that has ears
more confpicuous or difproportioned than this,
we are now fpeakiiig of. I need not name him
to a man of the profeffor's learning. The Doc-
tor goes on in a further defcription of this ani-
mal that he had never feen. He fays his name i^
Zerda, which I fuppofe is the Swediih tranlla-
tion of the Arabic word Jerd, or Jerda. But
here Dr. Sparman has been again unlucky in
his choice, for, befides miany other differences,

* P. i35-

the

APPENDIX. 163

the Jerd, which Is an animal well known both
in Africa and Arabia, has no tail, but this per-
haps is but another inftance of the Doctor's ill
fortune ; in the firft cafe, he overlooked this
animaPs ears ; in the fecond, he did not per-
ceive that he had a tail.

The Arabs who conquered Egypt, and very
foon after the reft of Africa, the tyranny and
fanatical ignorance of the Khalifat of Omar be-
ing overpail, became all at once excellent obfcrv-
ers. They addicted themfelves with wonderful
application to all forts of fcience ; they became
very Ikilful phyiicians, aftronomers, ancl ma-
thematicians ; they applied in a particular man-
ner, and with great fuccefs, to natural hiilory,
and being much better acquainted v/Ith their
country than we are, 'they were, in an efpecial
manner, curious in the accounts of its produc-
tions. They paid great attention in particular
to the animals whofe figures and parts are de-
fcribed in the many books they have left us, as
alfo their properties, manners, their ufes in micdi-
cine and comimierce, are fet dovv^n as diftindly
and plainly as words alone could do. Their re-
ligion forbade them the ufe of drawing ; this is
the fource of the confufion that has happened,
and this is the only advantage we have over
them,

M 2 • I believe

$64 APPENDIX.

I believe there are very few remarkable ani-
mals, either in Africa or Arabia, that are not
Hill to be found defcribed in fome Arabian au-
thor, and it is doing the public little fervice,
■when, from vanity, we fubftitute crude im.agi-
nations of our own in place of the obfervations
of men, who were natives of the country, in
perpetual ufe of feeing, as living with the ani-
mals v/hich they defcribed. There cannot, I
think, be a ftronger Jnftance of this, than in
the fubjecl now before us ; notwithftanding
what has been as confidently as ignorantly af-
ferted, Iwiii venture to aihrm, that this animal,
fo far from being unknown^ is particularly de-
fcribed in all the Arabian books ; neither is he
without a name ; he has one by which he inva-
riably pafles in every part of Africa, where he
exifts, which in all probability he has enjoyed
as long as the lion or the tiger have theirs.
He is white, and not rofe-coloured * ; he does
not burrow in the earth, but lives upon trees ;
he is not. the jerda, but has a tail, and his ge-
nus is not a dog, for he is no fox^ Here is a
troop of errors on one fubje^:, that would give
any man a furfeit of modern defcription, all
arifing from conceit, the cacoetbes fcribendi^ too
p-reat love of writing, without having been at

* Sparman, vol. II. p. 185.

the

APPENDIX, 165

the pains to gain a fuflicient knowledge of the
fubjecl by fair inquiry and a very little read-
ing.

The name of this quadruped all over Africa
h El Fennec ; fuch was the name of that I firft
faw at Algiers ; fuch it is called in the many
Arabian books that have defcribed it. But this
name, having no obvious iignification in Arabic,
its derivation has given rife to many ill-founded
guelfes, and laid it open to the conjectures of
grammarians who were not naturalifts. Gollius
fays, it is a weafel, and fo fay all the Arabians.
He calls it miijlelafcQnaria^ the hay weafel, from
foenum, hay, that being the materials of which
he builds his ned. But this derivation cannot
be admitted, for there is no fuch thing known
as hay in the country where the Fennec refides.
But fappofing that the dry grafs in all countries
may be called hay, ftiil, foenum, a Latin word,
would not be that v/hich would exprefs it in
Africa. But when we coniider that lon^ before,
and ever after Alexander's conqueft, down as
low as the tenth century, the lan2:uaire of thefe
countries behind Egypt w^as chiefly Greek, an
etymology m.uch more natural and charaderif-
tic will prefent itfelf in the word 'X>oi!/<| a palm
tree, whence comes phcsnicus, adjedive, of or
belonging to the palm or date-tree.

Gabriel

l66 A P P E N D I X.

Gabriel Sionita * fays, the Fennec is a white
weafei that lives in Sylvis Nigrorum, that is, in
the woods of the Melano-Gsetuli, where indeed
no other tree grows but the palm-tree, and this
juft lands us in the place from which the Fennec
was brought to me at Algiers, in Bifcara, Beni-
Mezzab, and Werglah. It will be obferved,
that he does not fay it is an animal of Nigritia 5
for that country being within the tropical rains,
many other trees grow befides the palm, and
there the date does not ripen ; and by its very
thin hair, and line Ikin, this creature is known
at firft fight to belong to a dry, warm climate.
But to leave no fort of doubt, he calls him Ges-
tulicus, which ihevv^s precifely what country he
means. There in the high palm-trees, of which
this country is full, he writes, the Fennec builds
its neil, and brings up its young. Giggeius
tells us, that their fKins are made ufe of for fine
peliffes ; Ibn Beitar, that quantities of this fur
are brought from the interior parts of Africa,
and Damir and Razi fay, that their fkins are
ufed for fummerpeliiies -{-.

After leaving Algiers I met with another Fen-
nec at Tunis ; it had come laft from the ifland
of Gerbaj, and had been brought there by the

* Clem. I. part i. f Vid. Ep5{K J. Caii. Angli ad Gefnerum..
J Meninx Ins.

caravan

APPENDIX. 167

caravan of Gadems, or Fezzan. I boii9:ht one
at Sennaar, from wlience it came .1 know
not. I kept it a confiderable time in a cage,
till finding it was no longer fafe for me to flay
at Sennaar, I trufted it by way of depofit in
the hands of a m.an whom it was neceffary to
deceive, with the expectation that I was to re-
turn, and only going for a few days to the
camp of Shekh Adelan. It was known by Ma-
homet Towalh, and feveral people at Sennaar,
to be frequently carried to Cairo, and to Mecca,
with paroquets, and fuch curiofities which are
brought by the great caravan from the Niger
which traverfes the dreary defert of Selima,
and takes the date villages in its way eaflward.

All thefe animals found at feparate times did
exadly refemble the firft one feen at Algiers.
They were all known by the name of Fen-
nec, and no other, and faid to inhabit the date
villages, where they built their nefts upon trees
perfectly conformable to what the Arabian au-
thors, whether naturalifls or hiftorians, had faid
of them.

Though his favourite food feemed to be dates
or any fweet fruit, yet I obferved he was very
fond of eggs: pigeons eggs, and fmall birds
eggs, were firft brought him, which he devour-
ed with great avidity ; but he did not feem to
know how to manage the egg of a hen, but

I , when

tbb APPENDIX.

when broke for him, he ate it with the fame
voracity as the others. When he was hungry,
he would eat bread, efpecially with honey or
fugar. It was very obfervable that a bird, whe-
ther confined in a cage near him, or flying acrofs
the room, engrolTed his v/hole attention. He
followed it with his eyes wherever it went, nor
Was he at this time to be diverted by placing
bifcuit before him, and it was obvious, by the
great intereil he feemed to take in its motions,
that he was accuftomed to v/atch for victories
over it, either for his pleafure or his food. He
feemed very much alarmed at the approach of
a cat, and endeavoured to hide himfelf, but
lliewed no fymptom of preparing for any de-
fence. I never heard he had any~, voice; he fuf-
fered him.felf, not without fom^e difSculty, to be
handled in the day wdien he feemed rrJrher in-
clined to Seep, but v/as exceedingly unquiet
and reftlefs as foon as night came, and always en-
deavouring his efcape, and though he did not
attempt the w ire, yet wdth his fliarp teeth he
very foon m.aftered the w^ood of any common
bird-cage.

From the fnout to the anus he w^as about ten
inches long, his tail five inches and a quarter,
near an inch on the tip of it was black. From
the point of his fore-fliouMcr to the point of
his fore-toe, was two inches and |ths. Ke was

two

APPENDIX. 1 6^

two inches and a half from his. occiput to the
point of his nofe, the length of his ears three
inches and ^ths. Thefe were doubled, or had
a plait on the bottom on the outfide ; the bor-
der of his ears in the infide were thick-covered
with foft white hair, but the middle part was
bare, and of a pink or rofe colour. They were
about an inch and a half broad, and the cavities
within very large. It w^as very difficult to mea-
fure thefe, for he was very impatient at having-
his ears touched, and always kept them ere6t,
unlefs when terrified by a cat. The pupil of
his eye was large and black, fur rounded by a
deep blue iris. He had ftrong, thick mufla-
choes ; the tip of his nofe very fharp, black,
and polilhed. His upper jaw reached beyond
the lower, .^nd had four grinders on each fide
of the mouth. It has fix fore-teeth in each jaw.
Thofe in the under jaw are fmaller than the
upper. The canine, or cutting teeth, are long^
large, and exceedingly pointed. His lep-s 'are
fmall, and his feet very broad; he has four
toes armed v/ith crooked, black, iliarp claws ;
thofe on his fore-feet more crooked and iharp
than behind. All his body is nearly of a dirty
white, bordering on cream colour ; the hair
of his belly rather whiter, fofter, and longer
than the reft, and on it a number of paps, but
he Vv-as fo impatient it was impoilible to count

them.

IJO APPENDIX.

them. He very feldom extended or ftifFened
his tail, the hair of which was harder. He had
a very fly and wily appearance. But as he is
a folitary animal, and not gregarious, as he has
no particular mark of feeblenefs about him, no
jQiift or particular cunning which might occafion
Solomon to qualify him as wife ; as he builds
his neft upon trees, and not on the rock, he
cannot be the faphan of the fcripture, as fome,
both Jews and Arabians, not fufficiently atten-
tive to the qualities attributed to that animal,
have neverthelefs erroneoully imagined.

ASHKOKO.

riate 36\

-J2^ ^J^A/cOJ^O

B -Br ocas Sc\

APPENDIX. 171

A S H K O K O,

"^HIS curious animal is found in Ethiopia,
in the caverns of the rocks, or under the
ffreat ftones in the Mountain of the Sun, be-
hind the queen's palace at Kofcam. It is alfo
frequent in the deep caverns in the rock in
many other places in Abyffinia. It does not
burrow, or make holes, as the rat and rabbit,
nature having interdi6led him this practice by
furnilliing him with feet, the toes of which are
perfectly round, and of a foft, pulpy, tender
fubftance; the fleihy parts of the toes project be-
yond the nails, which are rather broad than
iharp, much fniiilar to a man's nails ill grown,
and thefe appear rather given him for the de-
fence of his foft toes, than for any aclive ufe in
digging, to which they are by no means adapt-
ed.

His

172 . APPENDIX.

His hind foot is long: and^ narrow, divided
with two deep wrinkles, or clefts, in the mid-
dle, drawn acrofs the centre, on each fide of
which the iieih rifes with confiderabie protube-
rancy, and it is terminated by three claws, the
middle one is the longeft. The forefoot has
four toes, three difpofed in the fame proportion
as the hind foot ; the fourth, the largeft of the
whole, is placed lower down on the fide of the
foot, fo that the top of it arrives no farther
than the lj)Ottom of the toe next to it. The fole
of the foot is divided in the centre by deep
clefts, like the other, and this cleft reaches
down to the heel, which it nearly divides. The
whole of the forefoot is very thick, ilefhy, and
foft, and of a deep black colour, . altogether
void of hair, though the back, or upper part
of it, is thick-covered like the reft of its body,
dow^n to where the toes divide, there the hair
ends, fo that thefe long round toes very much
refemble the iinccers of a man.

In place of holes, it feems to delight in lefs
clcfe, or more airy places, in the mouths of
caves, or clefts in the rock, or where one pro-
jecting, and being open before, affords a long
retreat under it, without fear that this can ever
be removed by the ftrength or operations of
man. The Afhkoko are gregarious, and fre-
quently feveral dozens of them fit upon the

great

APPENDIX. 173

great ftones at the mouth of caves, and warm
themfelves in the fun, or even come out and en-
joy the freilinefs of the fummer evening. They
do not ftand upright upon their feet, but feem
to fleal along as in fear, their belly being nearly
clofe to the ground, advancing a few fleps at a
time, and then pauiing. They have fomething
very mild, feeble like, and timid in their de-
portment ; are gentle and eahly tamed, though
when roughly handled at the fir ft, they bite
very feverely.

This animal is found plentifully on Mount
Libanus. I have feen him alfo among the rocks
at the Pharan Promontoriumi, or Cape Maho-
m^et, which divides the Elanitic from the Heroo-
politic Gulf, or Gulf of Suez. In all places
they feem to be the fame, if there is any diiFer-
ence it is in favour of the lize and fatnefs, which
thofe in the Mountain of the Sun feem to enjoy
above the others. What is his food I cannot
determine Vvith any degree of certainty. When
in .my poileiiion, he ate bread and milk, and
feemed rather to be a moderate than voracious
feeder. I fuppofe he lives upon grain, fruit,
and roots. He feemed too timid and backward
in his own nature to feed upon living food, or
catch it by hunting.

The total length of this animal as he fits, from
the point of his nofe to his anus, is 17 inches

and

174 A P P E»N D I X.

and a quarter. The length of his fnout, from
the extremity of the nofe to the occiput, is 3
inches and -|ths. His upper jaw is longer than
his under ; his nofe ilretches half an inch be-
yond his chin. The aperture of the mouth,
when he keeps it clofe in profile, is a little more
than an inch. The circumference of his fnout
around both his jaws is 3 inches and |-ths ; and
round his head, juft above his ears, 8 inches and
|-ths; the circumference of his neck is 8 inches and
ahalf, and its length one inch and ahalf. He feems
more willing to turn his body altogether, than
his neck alone. The circumference of his body
meafured behind his fore legs, is 9 inches and
three quarters, and that of his body where
greateft, eleven inches and |-ths. The length of
Ms fore leg and toe is 3 inches and a half. The
length of his hind thigh is 3 inches and -^th,
and the length of his hind leg to the toe taken
together, is 2 feet 2 inches. The length of the
fore foot is i inch and |^ths ; the length of the
middle toe 6 lines, and its breadth 6 lines alfo.
The diftance between the point of the nofe and
the firft corner of the eye is one inch and |-ths ;
and the length of his eye, from one angle to
the other, 4 lines. The difference from the
fore angle of his eye to the root of his ear is i
inch 3 lines, and the opening of his eye 2 lines
and a half. His upper lip is covered with a
pencil of ftrong hairs for muflachoes, the lengtli

of

*A P P E N D I X. 175

of which are 3 inches and f ths, and thofe of his
eyebrows 2 inches and |^ths.

He has no tail, and gives at firft fight the idea
of a rat, rather than of any other creature. His
colour is a grey mixed with a reddilh brown,
perfectly like the wild or warren rabbit. His
belly is white, from the point of the lower jaw,
to where his tail would begin, if that he had
one. All over his body he has fcattered hairs,
ftrong and poliihed like his muftachoes, thefe arc
for the mod part two inches and a quarter in
length. His ears are round, not pointed. He
makes no noife that ever I heard, but certainly
chews the cud. To difcover this, was the prin-
cipal reafon of my keeping him alive; thofe
with whom he is acquainted lie follows with
great affiduity. The arrival of any living crea-
ture, even of a bird, makes him feek for a hiding
place, and I fhut him up in a cage with a fmall
chicken, after omitting feeding him a vv^holc
day ; the next morning the chicken was unhurt,
tho' the Afhkoko came to me with great ligns
of having fufFered with hunger. I likewife
made a fecond experiment, by incloling two
fmaller birds with him, for the fpace of feveral
weeks ; neither were thefe hurt, though both
of them fed, without impediment, of the meat
that was thrown into his cage, and the fmalleil
of thefe a kind of tit^moufe, feemed to be ad-

yancing

ty6 APPENDIX,

vancing in a fort of familiarity with him, tho'
I never faw it venture to perch upon him, yet
it would eat frequently, and at the fame time,
of the food upon which the Ailikoko was feed-
ing ; and in thi-s confifted chiefly the faxniliarity
1 fpeak of, for the Aihkoko himfelf never fliew-
ed any alteration of behaviour upon the pre-
fence of the bird, but treated it with a kind of
abfolute indifference. The cage, indeed, was
large, and 'the birds having a perch to fit upon
in the upper part of it, they did not annoy
one another.

In Amhara this animal is called Ailikoko,
which T apprehend is derived from the fingula-
rity of thofe long herinacious hairs, which,
like fmali thorns, grovv^ about his back, and
which in Amhara are called A ftiok. In Arabia
and Syria he is called Ifrael's Sheep, or Gan-
nim Ifrael, for what reafon I know not, unicfs
it is chiefly from h'is frequenting the rocks of
Horeb and Sinai, where the children of Ifrael
made their forty years peregrination ; perhaps
this name obtains only among the Arabians. I
apprehend he is known by that of Saphan in
tlie Hebrew, and is the anim.al erroneouily
called by our tranflatprs Cuniculus, the rabbit
or coney.

#

Many are the reafons airainft adm.ittincr this
anjmal, mentioned by fcrioture, to be the rab-

bit,

APPENDIX. 177

bit. We know that this laft was an animal pe-
culiar to Spain, and therefore could not be fup-
pofed to be either in Judea or Arabia. They
are gregarious indeed, and fo far refemble each
other, as alfo in point of lize, but in place of
feeking houfes in the rocks, we know the cuni-
culus' defire is conftantly fand. They have
claws, indeed, or nails, with which they dig
holes or burrows, but there is nothing remarka-
ble in them, or their frequenting rocks, fo as
to be defcribed by that circumftance ; neither
is there any thing in the character of the rabbit
that denotes excellent wifdom, or that they
fupply the want of flrength by any remarkable
fagacity. The faphan then is not the rabbit,
whichr laft, unlefs it was brought to him by his
jfliips from Europe, Solomon never faw. It
was not the rabbit's particular charader to
haunt the rocks. He was by no means diftin-
guifhed for feeblenefs, or being any way un-
provided with means of digging for himfelf
holes. On the contrary, he was armed with
claws, and it v*^as his character to dig fuch, not
in the rocks, but in the fands. Nor was he any
way diftinguiihed for wifdom, more than the
hare, the liedge-hog, or any of his neighbours.

Let us now apply thefe characters to the Aih-
koko. He is above all other animals fo much
attached to the rock, that I never once faw

Vol. VL N him

'I'^S A P P E K D I X.

him on the ground, or from among largd
ftones in the mouth of caves, where is his con-
ftant refidence ; he is gregarious, and lives in
families. He is in Judea, Paleftine, and Arabia,
and confequently niuft have been familiar to
Solomon. For David defcribes him very perti-
nently, and joins him with other animals per-
fectly known to all men : " The hills are a re-
fuge for the wild goats, and the rocks for the
faphan, or Aihkoko*.''' And Solomon fays^
" There be four things which are little upon
the earth, but they are exceedingly v/ife|.'^ — ^
*' The faphannim are but a feeble folk, yet make
they their houfes in the rocks |.'* Now this, I
think, very obviouily fixes the Aflikoko to be
the faphan, for this weaknefs feems to allude
to his feet, and how inadequate thefe are to dig
holes in the rock, where yet, however, he
lodges. Thefe are, as I have already obferved,
perfectly round ; very pulpy, or fieihy, fo lia-
ble to be excoriated or hurt, and of a foft flefhy
fubftance. Notwithftanding which, they build
houfes in the very hardeft rocks, more inaccef-
fible than thofe of the rabbit, and in whicii
they abide in greater fafety ; not by exertion of
llrength, for they have it not, but are truly as

* Pfalm civ. ver. i8. -|- Prov. chap. xxx. ver. 24. **

J: Prov. ehap. xxx- ver. 26.

Solomon

APPENDIX. 179

Solomon fays, a feeble folk, but by their own
fagacity and judgment, and are therefore juftly
defcribed as wife. Laflly, what leaves the thing
without doubt is, that fom.e of the Arabs, par-
ticularly Dam.ir, fay, that the faphan has no
tail; that it is lefs than a cat, and lives in houfes,
that is, not houfes with men, as there are few
of thefe in the country where the faphan is ;
but that he builds houfes, or neils of ft raw, as
Solomon has faid of him, in contradiftindion
to the rabbit, and rat, and thofe other animals
that burrow in the ground, who cannot be faid
to build houfes, as is exprefsly faid of him.

The Chriftians in AbyfTmia do not eat the
flefh of this animal, as holding it unclean, nei-
ther do the Mahometans, who in many rei-
pecls of this kind in abftinence from wild meat,
have the fame fcruple as chriftians. The Arabs
in -Arabia Petrea do eat it, and I am informed
thofe on Mount Libanus alfg^ Thofe of this
kind that I faw were very fat, and their fleili as
white as that of a chicken. Though I killed
them frequently with the gun, yet I never hap-
pened to be alone fo as to be able to eat them.
They are quite devoid of ail fmell and ranknefs,,
which cannot be faid of the rabbit.

I have no doubt that the El Akbar and the
El Webro of the Arabs, are both the fame ani-
mal. The El Akbar only means the. largeft of

N 2 the

I So APPENDIX.

the Mus-montanus, under which they ha7e
clafTed the Jerboa. The Jerd, and El WebrOy
as alfo the Afhkoko or Akbar, anfwer to the
chara6t:er of having no tail.

BOOTED LYNX,

"^ H I S Is a very beautiful fpecies of Lynx^
and, as f3r as I know, the fmalleft of the
kind. His body from the tip of the nofe to
the anus being only 22 inches. His back, neck,
and forepart of his feet are of a dirty grey. His
belly is of a dirty white, fpotted with undefined
marks, or ftains of red. Below his eyes, and
on each fide of his nofe, is a reddifh brown, the
ba,ck of his ears being of the fame colour, but
rather darker ; the infide of his ears is very
thickly clothed with fine white hair, and at
the end is the pencil of hairs diftinclive of this
o-enus. On the back of his forefeet, he has a
black llreak or mark, which reaches from his

heel

v

APPENDIX. l8l

heel two inches up his leg. On his hinder foot
h'e has the fame, which reaches four inches
from the heel, and ends juft below the firft joint,
and from this circumftance I have given him
his name.

His tail is 13 inches long, the lower part of
it, for 6 inches, is occupied with black rings.
Between thefe rings his tail is nearly white, the
reft much the fame colour as his back. From
his nofe to his occiput is 4 inches and three
quarters. From one eye to the other, meafur-
ing acrofs his nofe, is one inch and three quar-
ters. From the bafe of one ear to that of the
other, is 2 inches and |-ths. The aperture of
the eye three quarters of an inch, and of a yel-
low iris. The leng-tli of his ear from its bafe
to the point of the pencil of hairs at the top of
it, 4 inches and three quarters. From the fole
of his forefoot to his ihoulder, as he ftands, 13
inches and three quarters. From the fole of his
hind foot, to the top of his rump, 15 inches
and a quarter.

He has very much the appearance of a com=
mon cat, both from the length of his tail, and
the ftiape of his head, which however is broader,
and his neck thicker than that of a domeftic
animal. He is an inhabitant of P. as el Feel,
and, fmall as he is, lives among thofe tyrants
of the foreil, the elephant and rhinoceros. I

do

1 82 APPENDIX.

da not mean that he has any hunting connec-
tions with them, as the jackal with the lion,
I rather think he avails himfelf of what is left
by the hunters of the carcafes of thofe huge
bcafts. But the chief of all his food is the Gui-
ileahen, of which the thickets and builies of
this country are full. For thefe he lurks chief-
ly at the pools of water when they drink, and
in this acl of violence I furprifed him. He is
faid to be exceedin^lv fierce, and to attack a
man if any way preiTed. At this time he
mounts eafily upon the highefl trees ; at other
times he is content with hiding himfelf in
bufhes, but in the feafon of the iiy he takes to
holes and caverns in the ground. I never faw
its young ones, nor did 1 ever hear any noife it
makes, for the ihot killed him outright, but
did not in the leail disfigure him j fo that
the reader may depend upon this reprefentation
of him as I have given it, with all pofiible truth
and precifion.

O?

A P P E N D i X» 1S3

Of birds.

THE number of birds in Abyillnia exceeds
that of other animals beyond proportion.
The high and low countries are equally llored
with them, the firft kind are the carnivorous
birds. Many fpecies of the eagle and hawk,
many more ftill of the vulture kind, as it were
overftock all parts of this country. That fpecies
of glede called Haddaya, fo frequent in Egypt^
comes very pundually into Ethiopia, at the return
of the fun, after -the tropical rains. The quan-
tity of Iheil-fiih which then covers the edges of
the defert, and leaves the fait fprings where
they have been nouriflied, furprifed by the
heat, and deferted by the moiflure, are the

firli:

184 APPENDIX.

firft food tliefe birds find in their way. They then
are fupplied in the neighbouring Kolla, by the
carcafes of thofe large beails, the elephant, rhi-
noceros, and giraffa, the whole tribe of the
deer kind, and the wild alTes that are flain by
the hunters, part of which only are ufed in
food.

The vail quantity of field-rats and mice that
appear after harveft, and fwarm in the cracks,
or filTures in the ground, are their next fupply.
But above all, the great flaughter made of cattle
upon the march of the army, the beafts of bur-
den which die under carriage and ill treatment,
the number of men that perifh by difeafe and
by the fword, whofe carcafes are never buried
by this barbarous and unclean people, compofe
fuch a quantity, and variety of carrion, that it
brings together at one time a multitude of birds
of prey, it would feem there was not fuch a
number on the whole earth. Thefe follow the
camp, and abide by it ; indeed, they feem
another camp round it, for, befides thofe that
ventured among the tents, I have feen the
fields covered on every fide as far as the eyes
could reach, and the branches of the trees
ready to break under the preiTure of their
weight.

This unclean multitude remain tosrether In
perfeil peace till the rains become confi;ant and

heavy ;

APPENDIX, 1 85

heavy ; which deprive them of their food by
forcing the hunters and armies to retire home.
Nor are other circumftances wanting equally
obvious, which accounts for the great number
of birds that live on infecls. The fly, of which
we have already fpoken fo often, reigns in great
fwarms from May to September on the plains,
and in all the low country down to the fands
of Atbara. Thefe are attended by a multitude
of enemies, fome of whom feek them for food;
others feem to perfecute them from hatred, or
for fport, from the multitude they fcatter upon
the ground, without further care concerning
them. Honey is the principal food of all ranks
of people in Abyllinia, and confequently a mul-
titude of bees are produced every where. Part
of thefe are kept in large cages, or bafkets,
hung upon the trees ; others attach themfelves
to the branches, others build nefts in the fofr
wood of the trees, efpecially the Bohabab,
whofe large and fragrant flower furnifhes them
with a honey which it ftrongly perfumes. The
honey generally borrows its colour from the
flowers and herbs from whence it is gathered.
At Dixan we were furprifed to fee the honey
red like blood, and nothing can have an appear-
ance more difgufting than this, when mixed
with melted' butter. There are bees which

build

l86 APPENDIX.

*

build in the earth, whofe honey is nearly black,
as has been oblerved by the jefuit Jerome Lobo,
I williiigly place this truth to his credit, the
only one, I think, I can find in his natural
hiilory, a fmall atonement for the multitude of
falfehoods this vain and idle romancer has told
on every occalion. Nor are the granivorous
birds fewer in number or worfe provided for ;
all the trees and ihrubs in Abyffinia bear flowers,
and confequently feeds^ berries, or fruit, of fome
kind or other; food for all or fome particular
fpecies of birds. Every tree and bulli carries
thcfc likewife in all ilages pf ripenefs in all fea-
fons of the year.

This is, however, not to be underftood as
meaning that 'any tree produces in the fame
part, fruit or flowers more than once a-year.;
but the time of each part's bearing is very parti-
cularly diflributed. The weft lide of every tree
is the firft that bloflbms, there its fruit proceeds
in all ftages of ripenefs till it falls to the ground.
It is fucceeded by the fouth, \yhich undergoes
the fame procefs. From this it crofies the tree,
and the north is next in fruit ; laft of all comes
the eaft, which produces flowers and fruit
till the beginning of the rainy feafon. In the
end of April new leaves pufii off the old ones
without leaving the tree at any time bare, fo

that

APPENDIX. 1S7

that every tree in Abyfiinia appears to be an
evergreen. The lafl I faw in flower was the
coffee-tree at Emfras the 20th of April 1770:
from this time till the rains begin, and all the fea-
fon'of them, the trees getfully into leaf, and the
harveft, which is generally in thefe months
throughout Abyfiinia, fupplies the deficiency of
the feed upon bufhes and trees. All the leaves
of the trees in Abyfiinia are very highly varnifii-
ed, and of a tough leather-like texture, which
enables them to fupport the confi:ant and violent
rains under which they are produced.

This provifion made for granivorous birds,
in itfelf fo ample, is doubled by another extra-
ordinary regulation. The country being divided
by a ridge of mountains, a line drawn along
the top of thefe divides the feaions iikewife ; fo
that thofe birds to whom any one food is necef-
fary becom.e birds of paflage, and, by a fhort
migration, find the fame feafons, and the fame
food, on the one fide, which the rains and change
of weather had deprived them of on the other.

There is no great plenty^ of water-fowl in
Abyfiinia, cfpecially of the w^eb-footed kind. I
never remember to have feen one of thefe that
are not common in mofi: parts of Europe. Vafi:
variety of fiiorks cover the plains in May, when
the rains become conilant. The large indige-
nous

l88 APPENDIX.

nous birds that reiide conftantly on the high
mountains of Samen and Taranta, have moft of
them an extraordinary provilion made againfl
the wet and the weather ; each feather is a tube,
from the pores of which iffue a very fine duft or
powder, in fuch abundance as to ftain the hand
upon grafping them. This I fliall prefently men-
tion in the ddTcription of one of thefe birds, the
golden eagle of Lamalmon. In looking at this
duft through a very ftrong magnifying power,
I thousfht I difcerned it to be in form of a num^
ber of fine feathers.

Though all the deep and grafly bogs have
fhipes in them, I never once faw a woodcock :
fwallows there are of many kinds, unknown in
Europe ; thofe that are common in Europe ap-
pear in paffage at the very feafon when they
take their flight from thence. ¥/e faw the great-
eft part of them in the ifland of Mafuah where
they lighted and tarried two days, and then
proceeded with moon light nights to the fouth-
w^eft. But I once faw in the country of the Ba-
harnagafli, in the province of Tigre, the blue
forked-tailed fwallow, which builds in the m in-
dows in England, making his neft out of feafon,
when he fhould have been upon his migration ;
this I have already taken notice of in my jour-
ney from Mafuah to Gondar..

There

APPENDIX. 189

There are few owls in AbyfTinia ; but tliofe
are of an immenfe lize and beauty. The crow is
marked white and black nearly in equal portions.
There is one kind of raven ; he, too, of a large
li^e, llis feathers black intermixed with brown ;
his beak tipt with white, and a figure like a cup
or chalice of white feathers on his occiput, or
hinder part of his head. I never faw either
fparrow, magpie, or bat in Abyffinia. Pigeons
are there in great numbers, and of many va-
rieties ; fome of them very excellent for eating.
I liiall hereafter defcribe one of them whofe
name is Waalia. All the pigeons but one fort
are birds of palTage, that one lives in the caves
of houfes or holes in the walls, and this is not
eaten, but accounted unclean for a very whim-
Ileal reafon ; they fay it has claws like a falcon,
and is a mixture from that bird. The fame fort
of imagination is that of the Turks, who fay,
that the turkey, from the tuft of black hair
that is upon his breaft, partakes of the nature of
the hog. This pigeon's feet are indeed laro-e,
but very different in formation from that of the
falcon.

There are no geefe in Abyffinia, wild or tam.e,
excepting what is called the Golden Goofe,
Goofe of the Nile, or Goofe of the Cape, com-
mon in all the fouth of Africa : thefe build their

neiis

igo APPENDIX.

nefts upon trees, and when not in water, gene-
rally fit upon them.

I have already fpoken of fifhes, and have en-
tered very fparingly into their hiftory. Thefe„
and other marine produclions of the Arabian
Gulf, or even the fmall fhare that I have painted
and collected, would occupy many large vo-
lumes to exhibit and defcribe, and would coft,
in the engraving, a much larger fum than I
have any profpect of ever being able to af-
ford.

NISSER.

Tlal

/^>

^y yA.^r

f^/r7cy

APPENDIX. 191

NISSER, OR GOLDEN EAGLE.

1HAVE ventured from Ms colour to call this
bird the Golden Eagle, by way of diftinc-
tion, as its Ethiopic name, Nifler, is only a
generic one, and imports no more than the
Englilh name, Eagle. He is called by the vul-
gar Abou Duch'n, or Father Long Beard, which
we may imagine was given him from the tuft of
hair he has below his beak.

I fuppofe him to be not only the largefl: of the
eagle kind, but furely one of the largeil birds
that £ies. From wing to wing he was 8 feet 4
inches. From the tip of his tail to the point of
his beak when dead, 4 feet 7 inches. He w^eigh-
cd 22 pounds, v/as very full of fleih. He feemed
remarkably ihort in the legs, being only four

inches

/

XgS: APPENDIX.

inches from the joining of the foot to where
the leg joins the thigh, and from the joint of the
thigh to the joining of his body 6 inches. The
thicknefs of his thigh was little lefs than 4 inches :
it was extremely mufcular, and covered with
flelh. His middle claw was about 2 inches and
a half long, not very fliarp at the point, but
extremely ftrong. From the root of the bill, to
the point, was 3 inches and a quarter, and one
inch and three quarters in breadth at the root.
A forked brufh of ftrong hair, divided at the
point into two, proceeded from the cavity of
his lower jaw at the beginning of his throat.
He had the fmalleft eye I ever remember to have
feen in a large bird, the aperture being fcarcely
half an inch. The crown of his head was bare
or bald, fo was the front where the bill and
fcull joined.

This noble bird was not an obje^ of any
chace or purfuit, nor ftood in need of any ftra-
tagem to bring him within our reach. Upon
the higheil top of the mountain Lamalmon,
while my fervants were refrefliing themfelves
from that toilfome fugged afcent, and enjoying
the pleafure of a moft delightful climate, eating
their dinner in the outer air with feveral large
difhes of boiled goats flefh before them, this
enemy, as he turned out to be to them, appear-
" ed fuddenly j he did not ftoop rapidly from a

height.

APPENDIX. 193

height, but came flying flowly albng the ground,
and fat down clofe to the meat within the ring
the men had made round it. A great fhout, or
rather cry of diflrefs, called me to the place. I
faw the eagle ftand for a minute as if to recollect
himfelf, while the fervants ran for their lances
and fhields. I walked up as nearly to him as I
had time to do. His attention was fully fixed
upon the flefh. I faw him put his foot into the
pan where was a large piece in water prepared
for boiling, but finding the fmart which he had
not expeded, he withdrew it, and forfook the
piece which he held.

There were two large pieces, a leg and a
ilioulder, lying upon a wooden platter, into
thefc he thruil both his claws, and carried them
off*, but I thought he looked wiftfuily at the
large piece which remained in the warm water.
Away he went flowly along the ground as he
had come. The face of the cliff over which cri»
minals are thrown took him from our fight.
The Mahometans that drove the affes, Vv'ho had^
as we have already obferved in the courfe of the
journey, fuifered from the hyaena, were much
alarmed, and afiured me of his return. My
fervants, on the other hand, very unwillingly
expeded him, and thought he had already more
than his fhare.

\ql, VL O As

lOJ. APPENDIX,

As I had myfelf a defire ox more intimate
acquaintance Vvith him, I loaded a rifle-gun
with ball, and fat down clofe to the platter by
the meat. It was not many minutes before her
came, and a prodigious fliout was raifed by my
attendants, He is coming, he is coming, enough
to have difcourasfed a lefs coura2:eous animal.
Whether he was not quite fo hungry as at the
firft viiit, or fufpeded fcmething from my ap-
pearance, I know not, but he made a fmall
turn, and fat down about ten yards ft'om me,
the pan with the meat being between me and
him. As the field was clear before me, and 1
did not know but his next move might bring
him oppofite to fome of my people, and fo that
he might adually get the reft of the micat and
make oft, I fhot him. with the bail through the
middle of his body about two inches belo\T
the v/in2", fo that he lay down upon the grafs
without a fmgle nutter. Upon laying hold of
his mcnftrous carcafe, I w^as not a little fur-
prifed at feeing my hands covered and tinged
with yellow powder or duft. Upon turning him
upon his belly and exam.ining the feathers of his
back, they produced a brown duft, the colour
of the feathers there. This duft was not in
fmall quantities, for, upon ftriking his breaft,
the yellow powder flew in fully greater quantity
than from a hair-dreffcr's powder puff. The

feathers-

APPENDIX. 195

iFdathers of the belly and breaft, which were of
a gold colour, did not appear to have anything
extraordinary in their formation, but the large
feathers in the fhoulder and wings feemed appa-
rently to be fine tubes, which upon prelTure feat-
tered this duft upon the finer part of the feather,
but this w^as brown, the colour of the feathers
of the back. Upon the fide of the wing, the
ribs, or hard part of the feather, feemed to be
bare as if worn, or, I rather think, were re-
newing themfelves, having before failed in their*
function.

What is the reafon of this extraordinary pro*
vifion of nature is not in my power to deter*
mine. As it is an unufual one, it is probably
meant for a defence againft the climate in favour
of thofe birds which live in thofe almofi: inaccef-
fible heights of a country, doomed, even in its
lower parts, to feveral months of exceflive rain.
The pigeons we faw upon Lamalmon, had not
this duft in their feathers, nor had the quails ;
from which I guefs thefe to be ftrangers, or
birds of pafiage, that had no need of this pro-
vifion, created for the wants of the indigenous,
fuch as this eagle is, for he is unknown in the
low country. The fame day I lllot a heron, in
nothing different from ours, only that he was

O 2 fm?.ller.

ig6 APPENDIX.

fmaller, who had upon his breail and back a
blue powder, in full as great quantity as that of
the eagle.

BLACK EAGLE,

"^HIS beautiful bird was the liril fubjeS
that fufiered the lofs of liberty, after the
king and whole army had vindicated theirs,
had paiTed the Nile in circumftances fcarcely
within the bounds of credibility, had efcaped
all the deep-laid fchemes of Fafil, and by a
train of accidents almoil miraculous, palled
triumphantly on before him after the battle
of Limjour, having joined Kefia Yafous, ad-
vanced and encamped at Dingleber the 28th
of Ma.y 1770.

This bird^ who from the noblenefs of his kind
was appofitely enough thought to be a type of
the kinir, fell by a fate, in which he ftiii more
refembled him, overpowered by the flrength

and number of a fpecies of birds in character m-

nnite iy

Tlaie 41

•3^

APPENDIX. 197

finitely below him. It has been repeatedly ob-
ferved in the courfe of my narrative, that an in-
conceivable number of birds and beails of prey,
efpecially the former, follow an AbyiTmian army
pace by pace, from the firft day of its march
till its return,* increailng always in prodigious
proportion the more it advances into the coun-
try. An army there leaves nothing living be-
hind, not the veilige of habitation, but the
fire and the fword reduces every thing to a
wildernefs and folitude.

The beaPcs and birds unmolefted have the
country to themfelves, and increafe beyond all
poilible conception. The flovenly manner of
this favage people, who after a battle neither
bury friends nor enemies, the quantity of beafts
of burden that die perpetually under the load
of baggage, and variety of mifmanagement,
the quantity of oftal and half-eaten carcafes of
cows, goats, and iheep, which they confume
in their march for their fuftenance, all furniili
a ftock of carrion fuiHcient to occaiion con-
tagious diftempers, v/ere tKere not fuch a
prodigious number of voracious attendants,
who confume theni almoft before putrefadion.
In their voracious ftomachs lies the grave of
the braveft foldier, unlefs very high birth or
office, or very extraordinary afreclion in their
attendants, procure them a more decent, though

more

198 APPENDIX.

more uncommon fate, a fepulchre in a neigh-
bouring church-yard. There is no giving the
reader any idea of their number, unlefs by com-
paring them to the fand of the fea. While the
army is in motion they are a black canopy,
which extend over it for leagues. When en-
camped, the ground is difcoloured with them
beyond the fight of the eye, all the trees are
loaded with them. I need not fiy that thefe are
all carrion birds, fuch as the vulture, kite, and
raven, that is a fpecics to which nature has re-
fufed -both the inclination and the power of
feeding upon living fubjeclis.

By what accident this fmall eagle, who was
not a carrion bird, came among thefe cowardly
and unclean feeders, is more than lean fay;
but it met the fate very common to thofe who
affort with bad company, and thofe of fenti-
ments and manners inferior to their o'vn. One
of thefe, a kite, vulture, or raven, i know not
which, ftruck the poor eagle down to the
ground juft before the door of the king's tent,
and hurt him fo violently, that he had fcarcely
ilrength to flutter under the canopy where the
king was fitting ; pages and officers of the bed-
chamber foon feized him. It was not long be-
fore they made the application that the king was
to be dethroned by a fubjedl, and Fafil was in
every body's mouth. The omen was of the

kind

APPENDIX. 199

kind too unpleafant to be dwelt upon ; the fen-
lible people of the attendants hurried it away,
and it of courfe came to me with all the circum-
fiances of the accident, the moral of that tkle, and
twenty prophecies that were current to confirm
it. I confefs my own weaknefs ; at firil it
made a flrong impreffion upon me. In the mo-
ment the palTage of Shakefpeare came into my
mind.

-^" On Tuefday lail,

*' A falcon tow'ring in his pride of place,

" Was by a moufing owl hawk'd at and kiil'd.'^

And this recollection occupied my mind fo for-
cibly, that I ilood for a moment fpeechlefs, and
as it were rivetted to the ground. This behavi-
our, unufual in me, who ufed always to laugh
at their prefages, and prophecies, was obferved'
by the page that brought me the bird, and \va3
reported to the king ; and though he did not
fpeak of it that time, yet fome days after, w^lien
I was taking my leave of him, on his retreat
from Gondar to Tigre, he mentioned it to me,
faid wewere miilaken, for the omen referred to
PowuiTen, of Begemder, and not to Waragna
Fafil.

After iketchino: his genteel and noble manner
while alive, our unfortunate prifoner found his
ckath by the needle, was put out of fight, and

carried

200 APPENDIX.

carried to Gondar, where the drawing was
finiflied. He was altosfether of a dark brown

o

or chefnut, leading to black. The whole length,
from the extremity of the tail to the nofe, was
two feet four inches. The breadth, from wing
to wing, four feet fix inches. He was very lean,
and weighed fomething lefs than five pounds.
The fourth feather of his wing after the three
largeft, was w^hite. The feathers of the lower
fide of his tail were of a bluifh brown, checker-
ed with w^hite, and thofe of the upper fide of
the tail were black, and white alternately. His
thighs were thick-covered with feathers, and fo
were his legs, down to the joining of the foot.
His feet were yellow, with ftrong black claws.
The infide of his wings was w^hite, with a mix-
ture of brown. His leg, from the joining of
the foot, w^as three inches. His beak, from the
point to where the feathers reached, was two
inches and a quarter. The length of his creft
from the head to the longeft feather, five inches.
The eye was black, with a call of fire colour in
it, the iris yellow, and the whole eye exceed-
ingly beautiful. He feemed wonderfully tame,
or rather fluggifh, but whether that was from
his nature or misfortune I cannot be a judge,
i)ever having feen another.

RACHAMAH.

Hate 42

)

L/ i^^A^a^m^^t^J^

APPENDIX* aOI

R A C H A M A H.

THIS bird is met with in fome places in tiic
fouth of Syria and in Barbary, but is no
where fo frequent as in Egypt and about Cairo,
It is called, by the Europeans, Poule de Faraone,
the hen or bird of Pharaoh. It is a vulture of
the leiler kind, not being much larger than our
rook or crow, though, by the length of its
wings, and the ere6l manner in which it carries
its head, it appears conhderably larger. In
Egypt and all over Barbary it is called Racha-
mail, and yet it has been very much doubted
what bird this was, as well as what was the ori-
gin of that name. Some of the Arabs will have
it derived from Archam, wdiich ligrliiies varie-
gated, or of different colours. It has been an-
fwered, that this is not the derivation, as arch-

atn

202 APPENDIX*

am In Arabic fignifies variegated, or of more
colours than two or three blended together,
whereas this is in its feathers only black and
-white, feparate from one another, and can*
not be called variegated. But I muft here ob-
ferve, that this is by no means a proper inter-
pretation of the Arabic word. Among many
examples I could give, I (hall adduce but one.
There is a particular kind of fheep in Arabia Fe-
lix, whofe head and part of the neck are black,
and the reft of thebeaii white ; it is chieily found
between Mocha and the Straits of Babelmandeb.
This in Arabic is called Rachama, for no other
reafon but becaufe it is marked black and v/hite,
which ^ are precifely the two colours which dif-
tinsruiili the bird before us.

o

But I ftiii am induced to believe the ori^'yin of
this bird's name has an older and more claiiical
derivation than that which we have juft fpoken
of. We know from Horus Apollo, in his book
upon Hieroglyphics, that the Rachma, or fhe^
vulture, was facred to Ifis, and that its feathers
adorned the ftatue of that goddefs. He fays it
was the emblem of parental affection, and that
the Eo-yptians, about to write an affedionate
mother, painted a flie-vulture. He fays further,
that this female vulture, having hatched its
young ones, continues with them one hundred
and twenty days, providing them with all necef-

faries t

A P P JE N D I X. 203

faries ; and, when the ilock of food fails them,
flie tears off the fiefhy part of her thigh, and
feeds them with that and the blood which flows
from the wound. Rachama, then, is good He-
brew, it is from Rechem, female love, or attach-
ment, from an origin which it cannot have in
men. In this fenfe we fee it ufed with great pro-
priety in the firft book of Kings*, in Ifaiahf,
and in Lamentations J, and it feems particularly
to mean v^^hat the Egyptians made it a hierogly-
phic of in very ancient ages, and before the time
of Mofes, maternal afTection towards their pro-
geny. No mention is liere made of the male
Rachama, nor was he celebrated for any parti-
cular quality.

From this filence, or negative perfonage in
him, arofe a fable that there was no male in this
fpecies. Horns Apollo §, after naming this bird
always in the fem.ininc gender, tells us roundly,
that there is no male of the kind, but that the
female conceives from the fouth wind. Plu-
tarch |j, Ammianus^, and all the Greeks, fay
the fame thing ; and Tzetzes |, after having re-
peated the fame ilory at large, tells us that he

* Cnap. ili. ver. 26.

f Chap. xlix. ver. 35. J Chap. iv. rev. 10.

I Hieroglyph, lib. i. cap. 11. [j Plut. In quefi:. Rom, queft. 93.

^ Lib. xvii. f Chil. 12. hill. 439.

took

204 APPENDIX.

took it all from the Egyptians, fb there feems
to be little doubt either of the 0112:111 or meaninsr
of the name.

The fathers in the firft asres, after the death of
Chrift, feem to have been wonderfully preiTed
in point of argument before they could have re-
courfe to a fable like this to vindicate the poffibi-
lity of the Virgin Mary's conception without
human means. "TertuUian *, Orgines |, BazilJ,
and Ambrodus ]|, are all wild enough to found
upon this ridiculous argument, and little was
wanting for fome of thefe learned ones to land
this fable upon Mofes, who probably knew it as
a vulgar error before his time, but was very far
from paying any regard to it ; on the contrary,
it is w^ith the utmofl propriety and preciiion,
that, fpeaking to the people, he calls it Racl%a-
ma in the feminine, becaufe he was then giving
them a lift of birds forbidden to be ate §, among
which he felected the female vulture, as that
was beft known, and the great object of idolatry
and fuperftition ; and the male, and all thelefier
abominations of thatfpecies, he included together
in the word that followed his kind ; though the
Endiih tranflator, by calling the female vulture

"*■ In Valentin, cap. lo. f Lib. i. Cqntra Celmm.

J In hexaem homil. 8. || In hexaem, page 27.

§ Df ut. chap. xiv. ver, 13.

bifn^

■ \ APPENDIX. 205

yfj/;;?, has introduced an impropriety that there
was not the leaft foundation for. That Mofes
was not the author of or believer in this Egyp-
tian fable, is plain from a verfe in Exodus,
where, at another time, he fpeaks of this bird
as a male, and calls him Racham, and not Ra-
chama.

It will not be improper that There take notice,
that the Eno-lifh tranfiator, by his ignorance of
language, has loft all the beauty and even the
fenfe of the Hebrew orijina!. He m.akes God
fay, Ye have feen what I did unto the Egypti-
ans, and how I bore you on eagles wings, and
brought you unto myfelf*". Now, if the ex-
prellion had been really Eagle, the word would
have been Nifr, and Vv^ould have fignilied no-
thing ; but, in place of eagle, God fays Vulture,
the emblem of m.aternal alFeclion and miaternal
tendernefs towards his children, vv^hich has a
particular connediion with, " brought you
unto miyfelf ;" fo that the pafTage will run thus,
Say to the children of Ifrael, See how I have
puniihed the Egyptians, vv^hile I bore you up on
the wings of the Rachama, that is, of parental
tendernefs and affeclion, and brought you home
to myfelf. It is our part to be thankful that
the truths of Holy Scripture are preferved

■"^ Exod. chap. xix. Tcr. 4.

to

^c6 A P t» E N D I X,

to US entire, but ftill it is a rational regret
that great part of the beauty of the original i?
loft. '

Notwithilanding all that has been faid, this
bird has been miflaken nearly by all the inter-
preters Hebrews, Syrians, and Samaritans; the
Greeks, from imaginations of their own, have
thought it to be the pelican, the ftork, the fwan,
and the merops. Bochart, after a variety of
guelTes, acknowledged his ow^n ignorance, and
excufes it by laying equal blame upon others.
Hitherto, fays he, we have not been able to
condcfcend upon waiat bird this was, becauf^
thofe that have wrote concerning it were as ig-
norant in the natural hiftory of things as they
were fkilful in the interpretation of words. ,

The point of the beak of this bird is black,
very fharp and ftrong for about three C|uarters of
an inch, it is then covered by a yellow, fleihy
membrane, which clothes it as it were both
above and below, as likewife the forepart of the
head and throat, and ends in a fharp point be-
fore, nearly oppofite to where the neck joins the
breaft ; this membrane is wrinkled, and has a
few hairs growing thinly fcattered upon the
lower part of it. It has large, open noftrils,
and prodigious large ears, which are not cover-
ed by any feathers whatever. The body is per-
fect

A f* P E N B I X. 12C7

fe6l white from the middle of the head, -u here it
joins the yellow membrane, down to the tail. The
large feathers of its wing are black; they are fix in
number. The lefTer feathers are three, of an iron-
grey, lighter towards the middle, and thefe are
covered with three others lefler ilill, but of the
fame form, of an iron ruily colour ; thofe feathers
that cover the large wing- feathers are at the top
for about an inch and a quarter of an iron-grey,
but the bottom is pure white. The tail is broad
and thick above, and draws to a point at the
bottom. It is not compofed of large feathers,
and is not half an inch longer than the point of
its wings. Its thighs are cloathed with a foft
down-like feather, as far as the joint. Its legs
are of a dirty white, inclining to fieffi colour,
rough, with fmall tubercules v/hich are foft and
fleihy. It has three toes before and one behind ;
the middle of thefe is confiderably the longeil; ;
they are armed with black claws, rather ftrong
thanpointed, or much crooked. Ithasnovoicethat
ever I heard, generally goes iingle, and oftener
fits and walks upon the ground than upon trees.
It delights in the moft p'Jtrid and {linking: kind
of carrion, has itfeif a very ftrong fmell, and
putrifies very fpeedily*

It is a very great breach of order, or police,
to kill any one of thefe birds near Cairo. But

as

2oS A P P E N D I :^.

as there are few of its fpecies in Egypt, and its
name is the fame all over Africa and Arabia, it
feems to me ftrange that the Arabian or Hebrew
writers fhould have found fo much difficulty in
difcovering what was the bird. It lays but two
eggs, and builds its neR in the moft defert parts
of the country. More of its hiftory or manners
I do not know. The books are full of fanciful
{lories concerning it, which the inftrucled reader
at firfl fiQ:ht will know to be but fable.

ERKOOM

Plate f.3

"^^-^'-aitA^ .^v=j3*-~

c.

c///

//

'J

r/^////'ry ,

, A P P E N D I X. 209

E R K O O M.

T would appear that this bird is part of a
large tribe, the greateil variety in which
lies in his beak and horn. The horn he wears
iomctimes upon the beak, and fometimes upon
the forehead above the root of the beak. Thefe
are the only parts that appear in colleclions. I
gave to the cabinet of the king of France the
firft bird of this kind feen entire, and I have
here exhibited the firft figure and defcription of
it that ever was feen in natural hiftory, drawn
from the life. In the eaft part of Abyfiinia it 13
called Abba Gumba, in the language of Tigre;
on the weftern fide of the Tacazze it is called
Erkoom ; the firil of its names is apparently
from the Q:roaningc noife it makes, the fecond
has no fignification in any language that I know.

Vol. VI. P At

210 APPENDIX.

At Ras el Feel, in my return through Sen-
naar, I made this drawing from a very entire
bird, but fiightly wounded ; it was in that coun-
try called Teir el Naciba, the bird of deftiny.
This bird, or the kind of it, is by naturalifts
called the Indian crow, or raven ; for what rea-
fon it is thus claffed is more than I can tell. The
reader will fee, when I defcribe his particular
parts, whether they agree with thofe of the ra-
v^n or not. There is one characleriftic of the
raven which he certainly has, he walks, and
does not hop or jump in the manner that many
Others of that kind do ; but then he, at times,
runs with very great velocity, and, in running,
very much refem.bles the turkey, or buftard,
when his head is turned from you.

The colour of the eye of this bird is of a dark
brov/n, or rather reddifli caft ; but darker ftill
as it approaches the pupil ; he has very large
eye-lafhes, both upper and lowxr, bu,t efpeciailv
his upper. From the point of the beak to the
extremity of the tail is 3 feet 10 inches; llie
breadth from one point of the wing to the other
extended, is 6 feet, and the length 22 inches.
The length of the neck 10 inches, and its tliick-
nefs 3 inches and a half j the length of the beak
raeafuring the opening near the head ftraight to
the point, 10 inches; and from the point of
the beak to the root of the horn 7 inches and

l-ths,

A P P E N D I X. 2 1 I

-^-ths. The whole length of the horn is 3 inches
and a half. The length of the horn from the
foot to the extremity where it joins the beakJ is
4 ihches. The thickiiefs of the beak in front of
the opening is one inch and -l-ths. The thick-
he(s of the horn in front is one inch and -|-thse
The horn in height, taken from the upper part
of the point to the beak, 2 inches. The length
of the thighs 7 inclies, and that of the legs 6
inches and -|-ths. Tlie thicknefs in profile 7
lines, and in front 4 lines and a half. It has
three toes before and one behind, but thev are
not very ftrong, nor feerriingly made to tear up
cai'fcafes. The lens^th of the foot to the hinder
toe is one inch 6 lines, the innermoil is one iricli
7 lines, the middle 2 inches 2 lines, aiid the lait
outer one 2 inches one line.

This bird is all of a black, or rather black
mixed with foot-colour; the large feathers of
the wmg are ten in number, milk-white both
without and within. The tin of his wines
reaches very nearly to his tail ; his beak a*iid head
meafured together are 1 1 inches and a half, and
his head 3 inches and a' quarter. At his neck
he has thofe protuberances like the turkey-cock,
which are light-blue, but turn red* upon his be-
ing chafed, or in the time the hen is laying.

I have feen the Erkoom with eighteen young
-ones ; it runs upon the ground much more wil-

P 2 lingiy

212 APPENDIX.

lingly than it flies, but when it is raifed, files
both ftrong and far. It has a rank fmell, and is
faid to live in Abyffinia upon dead carcafes. I
never faw it approach any of thefe ; and what
convinces me this is untrue is, that I never faw
one of them follov/ the army, where there was
always a general aiTembly of all the birds of
prey in Abyllinia.

It was very eafy to fee what was its food, by
its place of rendezvous, w^hich w^as in the fields
of teff, upon the tops of -^vhich are always a
number of green beetles, thefe he ftrips off by
drawing the ftalk through his beak, and which
operation wears his beak fo that it appears to
be ferrated, and often as I had occafion to open
this bird, I never found in him any thing but
the green fcarabeus, or beetle. He has a putrid
or ftinking fmell, which I fuppofe is the reafon
he has been imagined to feed upon carrion.

The Erkoom builds in large, thick trees, al-
ways, if he can, near churches : has a covered
neft like that of a magpie, but four times as
large as the eagle's. It places its neft firm upon
the trunk, without endeavouring to make it
high from the ground ; the entry is always on
the eaft fide. It would feem that the Indian
crow of Bontius is of this kind : it is difficult,
however, of belief, that his natural food is nut-
megs j

Plate 44

or^v^ ^.

y

^^V*' /^^/

APPENDIX. 213

megs ; for there feems nothing in his ftruclure
or inclination, which is walking on the ground,
that is necelTary or convenient for taking fuch
food.

ABOU HANNES.

T

"^HE ancient and true name of this bird
feems to be loft. The prefent one is fan-
cifully given from obfervation of a circumftancc
of its oeconomy ; tranllated, it fignifies, Father
John, and the reafon is, that it appears on St.
John's day, the precife time when firft the frelh
water of the tropical rains is known in Egypt to
have mixed with the Nile, and to have made it
lighter, fweeter, and m.ore exhaleable in dew,
that is in the beginning of the feafon of the tro-
pical rains, when all water-fowl, that are birds
of paiTage, refort to Ethiopia in great num-
bers.

.214 APPENDIX,

As I have obferved this bird has loft its name,
fo in the hiftory of £o;ypt and Ethiopia we have
ioft a bird, once very remarkable, of which
now nothino: remains but the name, this is the
Ibis, to which divine honours were paid, whofe
bodies were embalmed and prefer ved with the
fame care as thofe of m.en. There ftill remain
many repofitories full of them in Egypt, and
appear every where in collections in the hands
of the curious. Though the manner that thefe
birds are prepared, and cauftic ingredients, with
which the body is injected, have greatly altered
the confiilency of their parts, and the colour
of their plumage, yet it is from thefe, viewed
and compared deliberately, and at leifure, that
I am convinced the Abou Hannes is neither
more nor lefs than the Ibis.

Several authors, treating of this bird, have
involved it in more than Egyptian darknefso
They have firft faid it was a ftork, then the hce-
matopus, or red-legged heron ; they then fay
its colour is of a fine fhining black ; its beak
and legs of a deep red. Some have faid it Vv^as
from it that men learned the way to adminifter
clyfters, others, that it conceived at the beak,
and even laid e2:2:s that wav, and that its fieih
is fweet and red like that of a falmon. All
thefe and many more are fables. We.knoVkT
from Plutarch, that in the plumage, it is a black

and

APPENDIX. 215

and white like the pelargus. And the mummy
pits, by furnifhing part of the bird itfelf, con-
firm us in the opinion.

The Abou Hannes has a beak fliaped like that
of a curlew, two-thirds of which is ftraip-ht,
and the remaining third crooked ; the upper
part of a green, horny fubftance, and the lower
black. From the occiput to where it joins the
beak is four inches and a half. Its leg, from
the lower joint of the thigh to the foot, is fix
inches, the bone round and flrong, according
to the remark of Cicero, and from the lowev
joint of the thigh, to where it joins the body,
is five inches and a half. The height of the body
as it ftands, from the fole of its foot to the mid-
dle of the back, is nineteen inches. The aper-
ture of the eye is one inch. Its feet and legs are
black ; has three toes before, armed with fliarp,
ftraight claws : it has a toe alfo behind. Its head
is brown, and the fame colour reaches down to
the back, or where the back joins with the
neck. Its throat is white, fo are its breaft, back,
and thighs. The largeft feathers of its wings
are a deep black for thirteen inches from the tail,
and horn the extremity of the tail, fix inches
up the back is black likewife.

Now the meafures of the beak, the tibia, the
thigh-bone, and the fcull, com.pared with the
1110ft perfed of the embalmed birds taken from

the

2l6 APPENDIX,

the mummy pits, do agree in every thing as ex-
actly as can be expected. The length of the
beak in my drawing feems to exceed that of the
embalmed bhd, but I will not be pofitive; this
fmair error is not in the defign, though the
white feathers are fcorched in the embalmed
birds, yet there is no diiiiculty in perceiving the
colour dilHudlly; there is lefs in diilinguiiliing
the black upon the wings and above its rump.
The meafure of both fo exactly agree that they
can fcarceiy be maftaken.

The reafon, we are told, v»^hy this bird was
held in fuch veneration in Egypt, was the great
enmity it had to ferpents, and the ufe of
freeing the country from them ; but for my
own part, I muft confefs, that as I know, for
certain, there are no quantity of ferpents in
Egypt, as the reafon of things is that they ihould
be few, fo I can never make myfelf believe they
ever were in fuch abundance, as to need any
particular agent to diilinguiili itfelf by deftroy-
ing them. Egypt Proper, that is the cultivated
and inhabited part of it, is overflowed for five,
months every year by the Nile, and it is impof-
lible vipers can abound where there is fuch long
and regular refrigerations. The viper cafts his
fkin in May, and is immediately after in his re-
newed youth and fulnefs of vigour. All this
time he would be doomed in Egypt to live un-

der.

APPENDIX, 217

der water, or hid in fome hole, and this is the
time when the Ibis Is in Egypt, fo that the end
of his coming would be fruflrated by the abfence
of his enemy. The vipers have their abode in
the fandy defert of Libya, where even dew does
not fall, where the fand is continually in mo-
tion, parched with hot winds, and glowing*
with the fcorching rays of the fun. There the
Ibis could not live ; the country is not inhabited
by man, and confequently vipers there would
be no nuiUmce. Nay, we know thefe vipers of
Libya are an article of commerce in Egypt. The
Theriac is compofed of them at Venice and at
Rome, and they are difperfed for the tifes of me-
dicine throughout the different parts of the
w^orld.

Now, in this light, the Ibis could not *live
amono; them, nor would he be of benefit even if
he could ; but as we have it from a number of
credible hiftorians that the Ibis was plentiful in
Egypt, that vipers, at leaft, in fome part of it,
were fo frequent as to be a nuifance, and that
we know as furely tVv'O other things, that nei-
ther the vipers are a nui£ince, nor is the Ibis in
Egypt at this day, we muil look for fome change"
in the ceconomy of the country which can ac-
count for this.

We know in a manner not to doubt, that in
ancient times Egypt was inhabited, and extend-
ed

2lS APPENDIX*

ed to tlie edges of the Lybian Befert ; nay, in
fome places, coniiderably into it ; large lakes
were dug in this country by their firft kings, and
thefe, filled in the time of the Nile's inunda-
tion, continued immenfe refervoirs, which
were let aut by degrees to water the plantations
and pleafure-ground that had been created by
man, in what was formerly a defert. Nothing
in fact was wanting but water, and thefe large
lakes luppiied this want abundantly, by lurniih-,
ing water of the pureft and moil perfect kind :
in the neighbourhood of thefe artificial planta-
tions, there can be no doubt the viper muft be a
nuifance. BeiniT indi^:enous in this his domicil,
it is not probable he would it quit, eafily, and
any deficiency of them in number would not
have failed to be fupplied from the defer ts in
the neighbourhood. The prodigious pools of
Hacrnant v^^ater would brinsf the Ibis thither, and
place him near his enemy, and after man had
once difcerned his ufe, gratitude would foon
lead him to reward him.

But after, Vv^hen thefe immenfe lakes, and the
conduits leading to them, were neglected and
tlie works ruined which conducted thefe artifi-
cial inundations, and covered the deferts of Li-
bya with verdure ; when war and tyranny, and
every fort of bad government, made people ily
from the country, or live precarioufly ^nd infe-

APPENDIX. 219

cure in It, all this temporary paradife vanifhed :
the land was overflowed no more ; the fands of
the defert refumed their ancient flation ; there
were no inhabitants in the country, no pools o£
water for the Ibis, nor was the viper a nuifance.-
The Ibis retired to his native country Ethiopia,
in the lower part of which, that is, in a hot
country full of pools of ftagnant water, he re-
mains, and there I found him.

It is probable in Egypt he had increafed
greatly by the quantity of food and good enter^
tainment he had. Upon thefe failing, he pro-
bably died and wore out of Egypt ; and in the
proportion in which he was at firll: created,
which feems to have been a llender one, he re-
mained in his native Ethiopia, for his emigra-
tion and incre:\fe in Egypt was merely acciden-
tal. This, I ?.pprehend, is the true caufe v/hy
the Ibis is row noioiiger known in Egypt ; but
I am fatisfied 1:0 refcore him to natural hiilory,
with at leaf]; a probable conjecture, why he is
now unknown in thofe very regions where once
he was woriliipped as a god. His iigure appears .
frequently upon the obeliiks among the hiero-
glyphics, and further confirms my conjedkire
that this is the bird.

The Count de BufFon has publiihed the bird,
"Vfhich he calls the white* Ibis of Eg}pt, the

* Buffbn, Flan. EnUim. 3 8 9.

half

220 APPENDIX,

half of his head cnmion, v/ith a ftrong beak of
a gold colour, iiker to that of a toucaiig and long,
purple, weak leg's, and a thick neck ; in fliort,
having none of the characters of the bird it is
intended to reprefen:.

The reader miy be aiTured there is no fuch
Ibis in Egypt ; none ever appeared from the ca-
tacombs but what were black and white, as hif-
torians have defcribed*, fo that this Is fo dif-
guifed by the drawing and colouring as not to
be known, or elfe it came from fome othe^
country than Egypt.

* Vide Plutarch de Ifide.

M O R O C.

Piate 46

?^<^

APPENDIX. 221

M O R O C*

HAVE already faid in the introduction
which immediately precedes the hiilory of
birds, that among thoie that live upon infecls
there are fome that attach themfelves to flies in
general, and others that fcem to live upon bees
alone : Of this lail fort is the bird now before
us. I never faw him in the low cduntry where
the fly is, nor indeed any where bu^ in the
countries where honey is chiefly produced a$
revenue, fuch as the country of the Agow,
Goutto, and in Beleflen,

He feems to purfue the bees for vengeance or
diveriion as w^ll as for food, as he leaves a
quantity of them fcattered dead upon the ground
without feeking further after them, and this

paftime

222 APPENDIX.

paftime he unweariedly purfucs without Inter-
ruption all the day long ; for the Abyffinians do
not look fo near, or coniider things io much iri
detail- as to imagine all the wafte which he com-
mits can make any difference in the revenue.

His name is Maroc, or Moroc, I fuppofe from
Mar, honey, though I never heard he was fur-
ther concerned in the honey tlian deilroying the
bees. In fhape and fize hefeem.s to be a cuckoo,
but differs from him in other refpects. He is
drawn here of his natural iize, and in all ref-
pecls fo minutely attended to, that I fcarcely
believe there is a feather amiiling.

The opening of his mouth is very wide w^hen
forced open, reaching nearly to under his eyes.
The infide of his mouth and throat are yellow,
his tongue iharp-pointed. It can be drawn to-
almoft half its length out of its mouth beyond
the point of its beak, and is very flexible. Its
head and neck are brown, w^ithout mixture. It
has a num^ber of exceeding fmall hairs, fcarcely
vifible at the root of his beak. His eye-brows
are black likewife. His beak is pointed, and
very little crooked ; the pupil of his eye is black,
furrounded with an iris of a duiky dull red.
The fore- part of his neck is light-yellow, darker
on each fide than in the middle, w^here it is
partly wdiite ; the yellow on each fide reaches
4iear the flioulder, or round part of the wing ;

from

APPENDIX. ^23

from this his whole breaft and beP.y is of a dirty
white to under the tail ; from this, too, his fea-
thers begin to be tipt gently v/itli white, as are
all thofe that cover the oullide of his win^: ; but
the v/hite here is clear, and the uze increafe^
with the breadth and length of the feathers.
The large feathers of his wing are eight in num-
ber, the fecond in ilzc are iix. The tail confifcs
of twelve feathers ; the Ion T-eft three are in the
middle, they are cloieiy placed together, and
the tail is of an equal breadih from top to bot-
tom, and the end of the feath ;rs tipt with
white. Its thighs are covered with feathers of
the fame colour as the beljy.j whi^h Teach more
than half way down his leg ; his legs and feet
are black, marked diftincxly with fcaies. He has
two toes before and one behind, each of which
have a fharp and crooked claw. I never faw
his neft ; but in iiying, and while fitting, lie
perfectly refembles the cuckoo. I never heard,
nor could I learn from any others, that he had
any voice or fong. He makes a fiiarp, fnap-
ping noife, as often as he ca,tches the bees,
which is plainly from clofing his beak.

Jerome I.obo, whom I have often mentioned,
defcribes this bird, and attributes to him a pe-
culiar initincf, or faculty of difcovering honey;
he fays, when tiiis bird has difcovered any ho-
ney

2 24 APPENDIX*

ney he repairs to the high-way, and v/hen he
fees a traveller, he claps with his wings, fmgs,
and by a variety of actions invites him to fol-
lov\^ him, and flying from tree to tree before
him, Hops where the honey is difcovered to b^,
and there he begins to ling moll melodioufly.

The ingenious Dr. Sparma.n could not omit an
opportunity of building a ftory upon fo fair a
foundation. He too pives an account of a cuc-
koo in fize and iliape refembling a fparrow, and
then gives a long defcription of it in Latin, from
' which it Ihould not refemble a fparrow. This
he calls Cuculus Indicator *. It feems it has a
partition treaty at once both with men and
foxes, not a very ordinary aiTociation.

To thefe two partners he makes his nieaning
equally known by the alluring found, as he calls
it, of Tcherr Tcherr, v/hich Vv'e may imagine,
in the Hottentot language of birds, may lignify
honey ; but it does not fmg, it feems, fo melo-
dioufly as Jerome Lobo's bird. I cannot for my
own part conceive, in a country where fo many
thoufand hives of bees are, that there was any
ufe for giving to a bird a peculiar inftin^l: or fa-
culty of difcovering honey, when, at the fame
time, nature had denied him the power of avail-
ing himfelf of any advantage from the difcovery,

* Sparman's voyage, vol. il. p. 192,

for

/

APPENDIX. 225

for man feems in this cafe to be made for the fer-
vice of the Moroc, which is very diiterent from
the common ordinary courfe of things \ m.an
certainly needs him not, for on every tree and
on every hillock he may fee plenty of combs at
liis own deliberate difpofal. I cannot then but
think, with all fubmiiiion to thefe natural philo-
fophers, that the whole of this is an imiprobable
ficlion, nor did I ever hear a fmgie perfon in Abyf-
-liniafgugeil, that either this, or any other bird, had
fuch a property. Sparman fays it was not knov/n
to any inhabitant of the Cape, no more than
t}iat of the Moroc was in AbylTmia j it was a
fecret of nature, hid from all but thefe tv/o ereat
men, and I mxoH willingly leave it among the
catalogue of their particular difcoveries.

1 have only to add, that though Dr. Sparman
and his learned affociates, that feed upon the
crumbs from other people's tables, may call this
bird a cuckoo, ftill I hope he will not inliil upon
corre^ling mxy miftake, as, in the article of the
fennec, by ignorantly tacking to it fome idle
£ible of his own, that he may name it Cuculus
indicator.

Vol. VL Q^ SHEEGRIQ.

^26 APPENDIX.

SHEREGRIG.

•HIS bird is one of thofe called Rollier in
French', and E.ollier in Engliih, without
either nation being able to fay what is its iignifi-
cation in either language. In the French it is
the name of a tribe, always as iU delineated as
it is defcribed, becaufe fcarce ever feen by thofe
that either defer ibe, or delineate it ; in Latin it
is called Merops. Its true name, in its native
country, is Sheregrig, and by this name it is
known in Syria, and Arabia, and in the low
country of AbyiTmia, on the borders of Sennaar,
wherever there are meadows, or long grafs, in-
terfperfed with lofty or fliady trees.

There are two different kinds of this bird in
Syria coniiderably varying in colours, the brown

of

Plate 46

t-,£oM. Jl

Q

w/£^?rfirfi

APPENDIX. 227

of the back being confiderably darker in that of
the Syriac, and the blue much deeper, chiefly
on its wings ; the back of the head likewife
brown, with very little pale-blue throughout
any part of it, and wanting the two long fea-
thers in the tail. It is a fly-catcher, or bee-eater,
of which thefe long feathers are the mark. It is
faid by Dr. Shaw, and writers that have defcrib-
ed it, to be of the fize of a jay, to which indeed
the Syrian bird approaches, but this before us
feems the leafl: of his kind, and weighs half an
ounce more than a blackbird. It is confequently
true, as Dr. Shaw fays, that it has a fmaller
bill than a jay, becaufe the bird itfelf is fmxaller,
neither is there any difproportion in the length
of its legs. Shaw fays, it is called Shagarag,
which he imagines, by a tranfmutation of let-
ters, to be the fame with Sharakrak of the Tal-
mudifts, or Shakarak of the Arabian authors,
and is derived from fliarak, to fliriek or fquall.
But all this learning is very much mifplaced ;
for from the brightnefs of the colour, it is de-
rived from a word which flgnines to fldine. Its
belly ard infide of its wings are of a moil beau-
tiful pule-blue. The flioulder, or top of its
wines, a dark blue. The middle of the v/inof is
traverfed by a band of light blue ; the extremity
of the Vv^ing, and the largeli: feathers, are of a
dark blue. The tv/o feathers of its tail, where

Q^ 2 broad.

^■iS A V V tL N D I X.

broad, are of a -light blue, but the loDg fhafpr
fmgle ones are of a dark blue, like the tips of
the winQ-s. Its bill is ftrons>: and well made, and
has a pencil of hairs as v/hifkefs. Round where
the beak joins the head, the feathers are white ^
the eye black, and well proportioned, furrouncl-
ed by a light flame-coloured iris. The back is
of a very light brown inclining to cream colour,
and of a caft of red. The feet are flefti-coloured
and fcaly, has three toes before and one behind,
each with a iliarp claw.

Notwithftancling w^hat has been faid as to the
derivation of its name, I never heard it fcream
or mxake any fort of noife. It has nothing of
theaclions of either the m.agpie or the jay. Bux-
torf mterprets the ilieregrig by merops the bee-
eater, and in fo doing he is right, when he ap-
plies it to this bird, but then he errs in mdftak-
ing another bird for it, called Sirens, a fly-
catcher, very common in the Levant, which
appear in great numbers, making a fiirill, fqual-
linp- noiicin the heat of the day; and of thefe
I have feen, and dtfi^cd many diiTerent forts,
fom.e very beautiful, but they fly in flocks,
which the fneregrig does- not ; he attaches him-
felf equally to fwarms of bees and fiics, which
he finds in the VvOods upon the trees, or in holes
in the ground among the high grafs. Of thefe

there

APPENDIX^ 229

tiiere are great fwarms of different kinds in the
low part of Abyllmia.

The Count de Buffon has publiihed two fi-
gures of this bird, one from a fpecimen I gave
him from Abyilinia*, the other from one iluffsd,
which he received from Senegal f , fo that we
know the bird poiTeiies the whole breadth of
Africa nearly on a parallel. I may be allowed
to fay, that, when I gave him mine, I did not
expecl he would fo far hav£ unticlpated my
publication as to have exhibited it as a part of
the king's cabinet till he had heard my idea of
it, and what further I could relate of its hiftory
more than he had learned from feeing- the feathcr.5
of it only. When I feivv^ the draught, it pui
me in mind of the witty poem of Martial : A
iTian had ftole fome of his verfes, but read them
fo ill, that the poet could not underftand them
well enough to know they were his own—

Sed ?nale dum recitas incitii cjfc tuiuiu

The bird is fo ill-defigned that it may pa ft for a
different fpecies. It is too ihort in the body ;
too thick ; its neck too fhort r nd t ick ; its lep"s«
the pupil and iris of the eye, ?' f a ronp- colour ;
its tail aifePcedly fpread. Theie are the eonfe-
quences of drav/ing from ftufled fub-efcs. The

* BafFon^ pla?. enlum. \ilo.. f BalFoo, plan, enliim. 33'V/

brovv'H

230 APPENDIX.

brown upon the back is too dark, the light-blue
too pale, too much white upon the fide of its
head. Thefe are the confequences of having a
bad painter ; and the reader, by comparing my
figure with thofe drawn by Martinet in Buiton,
may eafdy perceive how very little chance he has
to form a true idea of any of thefe birds, if the
difference is as great between his other draw^
ings and the original, as between my drawing
and his. De Seve would have given it a jufter
picture.

W A A L I A.

Tlate 47

/i ^<x///7

APP-ENDIX. 23 1

W A A L I A.

THIS pigeon, called Waalia, frequents the
low parts of AbyfTinia, where it perches
upon the higheft trees, and iits quietly in the
Ihade during the heat of the day, fo that it is dif-
ficult to difcover it, unlefs it has been feen ta
alight. They likewife fly extremely high, in great
flocks, and for the mofl: part aflecl a fpecies of
the beech-tree, upon the mall or fruit of which
they feem chiefly to live for food. They are rare-
ly feen in the mountainous part of the country
unlefs in their paflage, for in the beginning of
the rainy feaion, in the Koila, they emigrate to
the fouth and S, W. In this direction they
are feen for days flying together. It is fup-
pofed the high country, even in the fair feafon,
is too cold for them j and their feeking another

habitation

232 A. P P E N D I X.

habitation towards the Atlantic Ocean, where
it is warm, and where the rains do not fall fo
copioully in that feafon as they do in the Kolla
in AbyHlnia, makes this conjecture iliil more
probable.

They perch for moft part upon the tops of
trees, beyond the iphere of the aclion of Abyili-
nian powder ; but they lit fo clofe together that
I have foiTietimes ihot fix or more at the dif-
charge of a fingle barreL The reft immediately
plunge down aimoft to touch you, apparently
ifynorant whence fo unaccuilomed a found comiCs;
there^ if you are a good marldman, and alert,
vou have another chance. thoug;li but a ihort
one, for they immediately tower to an immode-
rate height, and never alight in light unlefs they
are wounded. They are exceedingly fat, and
by far the bell: of ail pigeons ; Vv'^hen they fall
from a height, without life, upon their back, I
have known the fieihon eachfi-de of their breaft-
bone feparated bv the concufilon, and the fat
upon their rump bruifed Kke the pulp of an

orari2;e.

Althoucrh this is undoubtedly a nig^eon, the
Abyifmians do not eat it ; nay, after it is dead
they will not touch it, for fear of defiling them-
felvcs, any more than they would do a dead
horfe. The waalia is lefs than the common blue
pic^eon, but larger than the turtle-dove. Its

whole

APPENDIX. ^^^

whole back, and fome of the Ihort feathers of
its wings, are of a beautiful unvarniflied green,
lighter and livelier than an olive. Its head and
neck are of a deader green, with ftill lefs luilre.
Its beak is of a bluifh white, with large noftrils ;
the eye black, with an iris of dark orange. The
pinion, or top of its wing, is a beautiful pompa-
dour. The large feathers of the wing are black ;
the outer edge of the wing narrowly marked
with Vv^hite ; the tail a pale, dirty blue ; below
the tail it is fpotted with brov/n and white. Its
thighs are white, with fmall fpots of brown ; its
belly a lively yellow. Its legs and feet are a yel-
lovvifli brovv-n. Its feet flronger and larger than
is generally found in this kind of bird. I never
heard it coo, or make any noife. I killed this,
and many others, in our road to Tcherkin. In
JVL de Buffon's collection I fee a bird refemblinp*
this, coming from the weft of Africa, as I re-
member ; but his birds in general are fo very ill-
drawn, and his coloured ones fo fhamefully
daubed, that nothing certain can be founded
upon refemblancc.

TSALTSALYA,

34 APPENDIX.

TSALTSALYA, or FLY.

THE infect which we have here before us is
a proof how failacioiis it is to judge by ap-
pearances. If ^ve coniider its fmall ilze, its
'weaknefs, want of variety or beauty, nothing
in the creation is more contemptible and iniigni-
ficant. Yet paffing from thefe to his hiilory,
and to the account of his powers, we mull con-
fefs the very great injuftice we do him from
want of coniideration. We are obliged, with
the greateft furprife, to acknowledge, that thofe
huge animals, the elephant, the rhinoceros, the
lion and the tiger, inhabiting the fame woods,
are ftill vaftiy his inferiors, and that the appear-
ance of this fmall infed, nay, his very found,
though he is not feen, occafions more trepida-
tion, movement, and diforder, both in the hu-
man

TlaU 4S.

yj^ltda/i/M ^^

^V.Q^'P)

F-lfa'ifvi -icufy

Cv ^ytaaa^

APPENDIX. ^^S

man and brute creation, than would whole
herds of thefe monftrous animals collected toge-
ther, though their number was in a tenfold pro-
portion greater than it really is.

The neceility of keeping my narrative cleay
and intelligible as I proceeded, has made m.e an-
ticipate the principal particularities relating to
this infecl. His operations are too materially
interwoven with the hiftory of this country, to
be left apart as an epifode. The reader v/ill find
the * defcription of its manners in that part of
my hiftory which treats of the Shepherds, and
in feveral places throughout the narrative he will
meet with accounts of the confequences of its
wonderful influence. Providence, from the be-
ginning it would feem, had fixed its habitation
to one fpecies of foil, being a black fat earth,
extraordinary fruitful ; and fmall and inconfide-
rable as it was, it feems from the firfl to have
given a law to the fettlement of the country. It
prohibited abfolutely thofe inhabitants of the fat
earth, called Mazaga, domiciled in caves and
mountains, from enjoying the help or labour of
any beafts of carriage. It deprived them of their
fieih and milk for food, and gave rife to another
nation, whofe manners were juft the reverfe of
the firft. Thefe were the Shepherds, leading a

•* Vol. i, book 2.

wandering

^3^ APPENDIX.

wandering life, and preferving thefe immenfe
herds of cattle by conducting them into the
fands beyond the limits of the black earth, and
bringing them back again when the danger from
this infecl was over.

We cannot read the hiftory of the plagues
which God brought Upon Pharaoh by the hands
of Mofes, without flopping a moment to conli*
der a iingularity, a very principal one, which at-
tended this plague of the fly. It v^as not till
this time, and by means of this infedl, that God
faid, he would feparate his people from, the Egy^pr
tians. And it would feem, that then a law was
i>:iven to them,that fixed the limits of their habita-
tion. It is v/ell knovv^n, as I have repeatedly
faid, that the land of Goflien, or Gefhen, the
poileffion of the Ifraelites, was a land of pafture,
which was not tilled or fown, becaufe it Vv'^as not
overfio>ved by the Nile. But the land pverflov/r
ed by the Nile was the black earth of the valley
of Egypt, and it was here that God confined
the fiies ; for he £iys, it fliall be a fign of this
reparation of the people, which he had then
made, that not one fly fhculd be feen in the
fand or pafture ground, tlie land of Goftien,
snd this kind of foil -has ever fincc been the re-
fai^e of all cattle emia:ratino; from the black
earth to the lov/er part of Atbara. Ifaiah, in-
deed, fays, that the fly fhall be in all the defer t

place-;.

APPENDIX. 2J7

places, and confequently the fands ; yet this was
a particular difpenfation of Providence, to an--
fwer a fpecial end, the defolation of Egypt, and.
was not a repeal of the general law, but a con-
firmation of it ; it was an exception, for a par-
ticular purpofe, and a limited time.

I have already faid fo much of this infecl, that
it would be tiring my reader's patience to repeat
any thing concerning him_. I iliall therefore con-
tent myfelf, by giving a very accurate defign of
him, only obferving, that, for diftindnefs fake,
I have magnified him fomething above twice the
natural fize. He has no fting, though he feems
to m.e to be rather of the bee kind ; but his mo-
tion is more rapid and fudden than that of the
bee, and refembles that of the gad-fiy in Eng-
land. There is fomething particular in the
found, or buzzing of this infed. It is a jarring
noife, tosrether with a humariing:; which in-
duces me to believe it proceeds, at lead in part,
from a vibration made with the three hairs at
his fnout.

The Chaldee verfion is content' v/ith call-
ing this animal fimply Zebub, which fignifies
the ily in general, as w^e exprefs it in Engliili.
The Arabs call it Zim.b in their traniiation,
which has the fame general fignifi cation. The
Ethiopic tranfiation calls it Tfaltfalya, which is

the

238 APPENDIX.

the true name of this particular fly in Geez, and
was the fame in Kebrew.

The Greeks have called this fpecies of fly Cy-
nomya, which fignifies the dog-fly, in imitation
of which, thofe, 1 fuppofe, of the church of
Alexandria, that, after the coming of Frumen-
tius, were correcting the Greek copy, and mak-
ing it conformable to the Septuagint, have called
this fly Tfaltfalya Kelb, to anfwer the word Cy-
nomya, which is dog-fly. But this at firfl; flght
is a corruption, apparently the language of
ftrangers, and is not Ethiopia. It is the fame as
if we were to couple the two nominative fubilan-
tives Canis and Mufca, to tranflate Cynomxya.
Canis is indeed a dog, and Mufca is a fly, but
thefe two v/ords together, as I have now wrote
them, could never be brought to fignify dog-
fly. It is the fame in the Ethiopic, where Tfalt-
falya alone flgnifies dog-fly, without the addition
of any other word whatever. What is the deri-
vation of this is doubtful, becaufe there are feve-
ral words, both in the Ethiopic and Hebrew,
that are exceedingly oppofite and probable. Sa-
lal, in the Hebrew, flgnifies to buzz, or to hum,
^nd, as it were, alludes to the noife with v/liich
this animal terrifies the cattle : and Tfaltfalya
feems to corae from this, by only doubling the
radicals. t'Tfalalou, in Amharic, figniiies to
pierce with violence ; from this is derived Tfala-

tie.

APPENDIX. 1239

tie, the name of a javelin with a round point,
made to enter the rings of a coat of mail, which,
by its ftruclure, is impervious to the round cut-
ting points of the ordinary lance or javelin. In
the book of Job * this feems to mean a trident,
or fifhing-fpear, and is vaguely enough tranilat-
ed Habergeon in the Englifli copy. I do not
know that this infecl, however remarkable for
its activity and numbers, has ever before been
defcribed or delineated.

* Chap. xli. tren 25,

EL

240 APPENDIX*

EL ADDA.

*'HERE is no gePAis. of quadrupeds that I
' have known in the eaft fo very numerous
as that of the lizard, or of which there are fo
many varieties. The eaftern, or Defert parts of
Syria, bordering upon Arabia Deferta, which
Hill have nioifture fuihcient, abound with them
beyond a poffibility of counting them. I am po-
ll tive that I can fay, without exaggeration, that
the number 1 faw one day in the great court of
the Temple of the Sun at Baalbec amounted to
many thoufands ; the ground, the walls and
ftones of the ruined buildings, were covered
with them, and the various colours of which
they confided made a very extraordinary appear-
ance, glittering under the fun, in which they
lay ileeping, or balking. It was in vain, in a

place

APPENDIX. 241

place fo full of wonders as Baalbec, to think of
fpending time in defigning lizards. 1 contented
iTiyfelf with colle61ing and preferving thofe I
could catch entire, many of which have perifh-
ed by the accidents of the journey, though feme
of very great beauty have efcaped, and are in
my colleclion in great prefer vat ion.

As I went eaftward towards the defcrt, the
number -of this animal decreafed, I fuppofe,
from a fear city of water ; for exam, pie, at Pal-
myra, though there were ruins of ancient build-
ings, and a great- folitude, as at Baalbec, the li-
zards were few, all of the colour of the ground,
without beauty or variety, a;nd feemin^ly dege-
nerated in point of fize.

The Ar;:ibian -naturaiills and phyficians were
better acquainted with the different fpecies of
this animal than any philofophers have been
fmce, and in all probability than any ftrangers
will ever be ; they lived among them, and had
an opportunity of difcovering their manners and
every detail of their private oeconomy% Happy
if fucceeding the Greeks in theie ftudies, they had
not too frequently left obfervation to deviate in-
to fable : the field, too, which thefe various
fpecies inhabit is a very extenfive one, and com-
prehends ail Afia and Africa, that is, great por^
lion of the old world, every part of which is,
from various caufes, more inacceffible at this day.

Vol. VL R thixn

^42 APPENDIX.

than after the Arabian conqueft. It is from the
Arabian books then that Vv^e are to ftudy with
attention the defcriptions given of the animals of
the country. But very great diHiculties occur
in the courfe of theie difquifitipns. The books
that contain them are ftill extant, and all the ani-
mals likewife exift as before : but, unfortunately,
the Hebrew, the Syriac, and the Arabic, are
very ambitious and equivocal, and are in terms
too loofe and vague for modern accuracy and
precife defcription, and efpeciaily fo in that of
colours ; befides, that unbounded liberty of
tranfpofition of letters, and fyllables of words,
in which the writers of thofe languages have in-
dulged themfelves, from notions of elegance,
feem to require, not only a very Ikilful and at-
tentive, but alfo a judicious and fober-minded
reader, that does not run away with whimfical
or firft conceptions, but weighs the charader of
his author, the common idioms of language
which he ufes, and opportunities of informa-
tion that he had concerning the fubjeds upon
w^hich he wrote, in preference to others that miay
have treated the fame, but who differ from them
in fptdls.

The fmall lizard here defcribed is a native of
Atbara beyond the rains, in that fituation where
y>;e have faid the ifland and city of Meroe for-
merly were. It feemed alfo to be well known

by

APPENDIX. 243

by the different black inhabitants that came from
the weftward by the great caravan which crolTed
the defert north of the Niger, and is called the
Caravan of Sudan, of which I have often fpoken,
as being the only barbarians who feem to pay
the leaft attention to any articles of natural hif-
tory. Thejfe bring to Cairo, and to Mecca, mul-
titudes of green paroquets, monkeys, weafels,
mice, lizards, and ferpents, for the diveriion and
-curioiity of the men of note in Arabia, or of the
Beys and the women of the great at Cairo. This
lizard is called El Adda, it burrows in the fand,
and performs this operation fo quickly, that it is
out of light in an inftant, and appears rather to
have found a hole, than to have made one, yet
it comes out often in the heat of the day, and
bafks itfeif in the fun ; and if not very much
frightened, will take refuge behind ftones, or in
the withered, ragged roots of the abiinthium,
dried in the fun to nearly its own colour.

Almoil the whole of this large tribe of lizards
is, by the Arabians, defcribed as poifonous. Ex^
periment has deteded the falfehood of this, in
very many fpecies ; the fame idea has led them
to attribute to them medicinal virtues in the
fame proportion, and, I am apt to believe, with
nearly as little reafon ; at leaft, though the books
prefcribing them are in every body^s hands, the
remedy is not now made ufe pf in the places

R 2 where

^44 APPENDIX.

where thofe books were wrote ; and this affords
a flrong proof that the medicine was never very
cfEcacious.

The El Adda is one of the few which the
Arabs in all times have believed to be free of
poifonous qualities, and yet to have all the medi-
cinal virtues that they have fo abundantly lavilh^
ed upon the more noxious fpecies. It has been
reputed to be a cure for that mioft terrible of all
difeafes, the Elephantiafis ; yet this diftemper is
not, that I know, in the hotter parts of Africa,
and certainly this lizard is not an inhabitant of
the higher or colder parts of Abyilinia, which
we mxay call exchifively the domicil of the ele-
phantiafis. It is likewife thought to be efficaci-
ous in clean ling the fkin of the body, or face,
from cutaneous erut>tioDS, of which the inhabi-
tants of this part of Africa are much more afraid
than they are of the plague ; it is alfo ufed againil
films, and fufralions on the eyes. I never did
- try the effect of any of thefe, but give their hif-
tory folely upon the authority of the Arabian
authors.

I have drawn it here of its natural iize, which
is 6-^ inches. Though its legs are very long, it
does not m^ake ufe of them to iland upright, but
creeps with its belly almoft clofe to the ground.
It runs, however, with very great velocity. It
is very long from it^ fhouldcr to its nofe, being
' . yearly

APPENDIX. 245

nearly two inches. Its body is round, having
fcarce any flatnefs in its beliy. Its tail too is per-
fectly round, having no flatnefs in its lower part.
It is exceedingly iharp-pointed, and very eaiily
broke, yet I have feen feveral, where the part
broke off has been renewed fo as fcarcely to be
difcernible. It is the fame length, 2^ inches, be-
tween the point df the tail and the joint of the
hinder leo", as was between the nofe and the fhoul-
der of the fore-leg. Its forehead from the occi-
put is fiat, its fliape conical, not pointed, but
rounded at the end in the Ihape of fome fhovels
or fpades. The head is darker than the body,
the occiput darker ftill ; its face is covered with
fine black lines, which crofs one another at right
angles like a net. Its eyes are fmall, defended
with a number of ftrong black hairs for eye-laihes.
Its upper jaw is longer, and projeds confiderably
over the under ; both its jaws have a number of
ihort, fine, but very feeble teeth, and when
holding it in m.y hand, though it ftruggled vio-
lently to get loofe, it never attempted to make
ufe of its teeth ; indeed it feems to turn its neck
with great difficulty. Its ears are large, open,
and nearly round. Its body is a light-yellow,
bordering on a ftraw-colour, croiTed with eight
bands of black, almoft equally diftant, except
the two next the tail. All thefe decreafe both in
breadth and length from the middle to^vards
each extremity of the animal. The fcales are

largefl

246 APPENDIX.'

largeft along the back, they are very clofe, tho*
the divifions are fufficiently apparent. Their fur-
face is very poliflied, and feems as if varnifhed
over. Its legs from the fhoulder to the middle'
toe are nearly an inch and three quarters long ;
its feet are campofed of five toes, the extremity
of each is armed with a brown clav/ of no great
ftrength, whofe end is tipt with black.

I have heard fome of the common people call
this lizard Dhab : This we are ta lotDk upon as
an inftance of ignorance in the vulgar, rather
than the opinion of a naturalift well informed ;
for the Dhab is a fpecies perfectly well known to
be different from this, and is frequently met with
in the defer ts which fur round Cairo,

CERASTES.

A P P £ N D I 3t. 247

Ci;RASTES, OR HORNED VIPER.

'TPHERE is no article of natural hlftory the
A ancients have dwelt on more than that of
the viper, whether poets, phyiicians, or hiftori-
ans. All have enlarged upon the particular lizes,
colours, and qualities, yet the knowledge of
their manners is but little extended. Almoft
every author that has treated of them, if he hath
advanced fome truths which he has left llender-
ly eflablilhed by proof or experiment, by way
of compenfation, hath added as many falfehoods
fo ftrongly afferted, that they have occafioned
more doubt than the others have brought of light,
certainty, and conviction.

Lucan, in Cato's march through the defert of
the Cyrenaicum in fearch of Juba, gives fuch a
catalogue of thefe venomous animals, that we

cannot:

248 A JP P E N D r X.

cannot wonder, as he infinuates, that great part
cf the Roman army was deftroyed by them ;
yet I will not fcrnple to aver this is mere fable. F
have travelled acrofs the Cyrenaicum in all its di-
reclions, and never faw but one fpecies of Adper,
which was the Ceraftes, or Horned Viper, now
before tis. Neither did 1 ever fee any of the
fnake kind that could be miftaken for the viper*
I apprehend the fnake cannot fubiifl without wa-
ter, as the Cerafies, from the places in which he
is found, feems affaredly to do. Indeed thofe that
Lucan fpeaks of mufi: have been all vipers, be-
caufe the mention of every one of their names
is followed by the death of a; man.
. There^aTe no ferpents of any kind in Upper
Abyiliniaf that ever I faw, and no remarkable va-
rieties even in Lo'sv, excepting the l?<rge fnake
called the Koa, which is often above twenty feet
in length, and as^ thick as au ordinary man's
thigh. He is a beaft of prey, feeds upon ante-
lopes, and the deer kind, which having no ca-
nine teeth, eonfequently no poifon, he Rvallows
whole, after having broken all its bones in pieces,
and drawn it into a length to be more eafily
mailered. His chief refidence is by the grafly
pools of rivers that are ftagnant. Notwithftand-
ing which, we hear of the Monk Gregory tel-
ling M. Ludolf, that ferpents were fo frequent
in Abyiiinia, that every man carried with him a

Hick

APPENDIX. 249

ftick bent in a particular manner, for the more
comxmodioufly killing thefe creatures, and this
M. Ludolf recommends as a xlifcovery. And
Jerome Lobo, among the reft of his fables, has
feme on this fubjecl likewife. A cold and rainv
country can never be a habitation for vipers. We
fee, on the contrary, that their favourite choice v
are deferts and burning fand, w^ithout verdure,
and without any moifture whatever.

The very learned, though too credulous, Prof-
per Alpinus, fays, that many have afRired him,
that near the lakes contiguous to the fources of
the Nile thei^e is a number of baiilifcs, about a
palm in length, and the thicknefs of a middle fin-
ger ; that they have two large fcales, which they
ufe as wings, and crefts and combs upon their
head, from which they are called Balilifci or Re-
guli, that is, crowned, crefted, or kingly fer-
pents ; and he fays that no perfon can approach
thefe lakes without being deilroyed by thefe
crefted fnakes.

With all fubmiilion to this naturalift's relation,
I fliould imag^ine he could not have heard the de-
fcription of thefe lakes from many travellers, if
all thofe that approached them were killed by the
baiilifcs. I ihall only anfwer for this, that hav-
ing examined the Lake Gooderoo, thofe of Court
Ohha, and Tzana, the only lakes near the fources

of

250 APPENDIX.

of the Nile, I never yet faw one ferpent there,
whether crowned or uncrowned, nor did I ever
hear of any, and therefore beheve this account
as fabulous as that of the Acontia and other ani-
mals he fpeaks of in this whole chapter *. The
baiilifc is a fpecies of ferpent, frequently made
mention of in fcripture, though never defcribed,
farther than that he cannot be charmed fo as to
do no hurt, nor trained fo as to delight in muiic ;
which all travellers who have been in Egypt
know is exceedingly poffible, and frequently
feen. " For, behold, I will fend bafilifcs among
you, faith the fcripture, which will not be charm-
ed, and they fhall bite you, faith the Lord f".
And I " Thou Ihalt tread upon the lion and bafi-
lifc, II &c.''

I fhall mention one name more, under which
the Ceraftes goes, becaufe it is equivocal, and has
been mifunderftood in fcripture, that is Tfeboa^
which name is given it in the Hebrew, from its
different colours and fpots. And hence the

Greeks

* Profp. Alpln. lib. iv. cap. 4.
f Jerem. chap. viii. ver. 17. | Pl'alm ix. ver. 13.

Ij It is to be obferved here, it is the Greek text that calls it Ba-
filifc. The Hebrew for the moft part calls it Tfepha, which are
a fpecies of ferpents real and known. Our Englifli tranflation,
very improperly, renders it Cockatrice; a fabulous animal,
that never did exiil. I fhall only further obferve, that the bafw

life.

APPENDIX. 2^1

Greeks * have called it by the name of Hy?ena,
becaufe it is of the fame reddifh colour, marked
with black fpots as that quadruped is. And the
fame fable is applied to the ferpent and quadru-
ped, that they change their fex yearly.

Some philofophers, from particular fyftem^
have judged from a certain difpofition of this
animal's fcales, that it is what they term, Colu-
ber, while others, from fome arrangement of
the fcales of its tail, will have it to be what they
call Boa. I enter not into the difpute, it is here
as faithfully reprefented as the iize will permit,
only Ifhall obferve that, unlefs Boa means fome-
thing more than I know it does, the name is ill
chofen when applied to any fpecies of poifonous
ferpents, becaufe it is already the proper name of
the large fnake, juft mentioned, that is not vivi-
parous, and has nopoifon. Pliny and Galen fay,
that the young vipers are fo fierce as to be-
come parricides, and deftroy their m.other upon
their birth. But this is furely one of the ill-
grounded fancies thefe authors have adopted.
The Ceraftes is mentioned by name in Lucan,
and without warranting the feparate exigence of

life, in fcripture, would feem to be a fnake, rrot a viper, a$
there are frequent menticn made of their eggs, as in Ifaiah,
chap. lix. ver, 5. whereas, it is known to be the chara(5leriilic
of tlie viper to bring forth living young. * Elian. Kiil. iib-
i.-..cap. 25. Horia. hieroglyph, lib. ii. chap. 6^*

any:

2^2 APPENDIX.

any of the reft, I can fee feveral that are but the
Ceraftes under another term. The thebanus
ophites, the ammodytes, the torrida dipfas, and
the prefter *, all of them are but this viper de-
fcribed from the form of its parts, or its colours.
Cato muft have been marching in the night when
he met this army of ferpents. The Ceraftes
hides itfelf all day in holes in the fand, where
it lives in contiguous and limilar houfes to thofe
of the jerboa, and I have already faid, that I
never but once found any animal in this viper's
belly, but one jerboa in a gravid female ceraf-
tes.

I kept two of thefe laft-mentioned creatures in
a glafs jar, fuch as is ufed for keeping fweetmeats,
for two years, without having given them any
food ; they did not fleep, that I obferved, in
winter, but caft their ikins the laft days of April.
The Ceraftes moves with great rapidity, and
in all direflions, forward, backward, and fide-
ways. When he inclines to furprife any one who
is too far from him, he creeps with his fide to-
\vards the perfon, and his head averted, till judg-
ing his diftance, he turns round, fprings upon
him, and faftens upon the part next to him ; for
it is not true what is faid, that the Ceraftes does
not leap or fpring. 1 faw one of them at Cairo,

* Lucan. lib. Ix.

in

APPENDIX. 253

in the houfe of Julian and Rofa, crawl up the
fide of a box, in which there were many, and
there lye ftill as if hiding himfelf, till one of the
people who brought them to us came near him,
and though in a very difadvantageous pofture,
flicking as it were perpendicular to the fide of
the box, he leaped near the diftance of three feet,
and fattened between the man's forefinger and
thumb, fo as to bring the blood. The fellow
ihewed no figns of either pain or fear, and we
kept him with us full four hours, without his
applying any fort of remedy, or his feeming in-
clined to do fo.

To make myfeif afiured that the animal was
in its perfect ilate, I made the man hold him by
the neck fo as to force him to open his m.outh,
and lacerate the thigh of a pelican, a bird I had
tamed, as big as a fwan. 1 he bird died in about
1 3 minutes, though it was apparently affecled in
50 feconcis ; and we cannot think this was a fair
trial, becaufe a very few minutes before, it had
bit the man, and fo difcharged part of its virus,
and it was made to fcratch the pelican by force,
without any irritation or action of its own.

The Ceraftes inhabits the greatefi: part of the
eafi:ern continent, efpecially the defert jandy parts
of it. It abounds in Syria, in the three Arabias,
and in Africa. I never faw fo many of them as
in thp Cyrenaicura, where the Jerboa is frequent

in

254 APPENDIX.

in propQi'tion. He is a great lover of heat ; foi^
tlio' the iun was burning hot all day, when we
made a fire at night, by digging a hole, and
burning wood to charcoal in it, for drelTmg our
victuals, it was feldom we had fewer than half a
dozen of thefe vipers, who burn themfelves to
death approaching the embers.

I apprehend this to be the afpic which Cleopa-
tra employed to procure her death. Alexandria,
plentifully fupplied by water, muil then have
had fruit of all kinds in its gardens. The baf-
kets of figs muil have come from thence, and
the afpic, or Ceraftes, that was hid in them, from
the adjoining defert, where there are plenty
to this day ; for to the weilward in Egypt, where
the Nile overflows, there is no fort of ferpent
whatever that I ever faw ; nor, as I have before
faid, is there any other of the mortal kind that I
know in thofe parts of Africa adjoining to Egypt,
excepting the Ceraftes.

It fhould feem very natural for any one, who,
from motives of diftrefs, has refolved to put a
period to his exiilence, efpecially women and
wxak perfons unaccufcomed to handle arms, to
feek the gentleft method to free them.felves from
that load of life now become infupportable. This,
however, has not always been the cafe with the
ancients. Aria, Fetus's wife, ftabbed herfelf
with a dagger, to fet her hufband an example to

die.

APPENDIX. 2^^

die, with tills memoroble alTurance, after giving
herfelf the blow, " Petus, it is not painful.'*
Porcia, the wife of Brutus, died by the barba-
rous, and not obvious way of perifhing, by fwal-
lowing fire ; the violent agitation of fpirits pre-
vailing over the momentary difference in the fuf-
fering. It is not to be doubted but that a wo-
man, high-fpirited like Cleopatra, was alfo above
the momentary differences in feeling ; and had
the way in which flie died not been ordinary and
ufual, fhe certainly would not have applied her-
felf to the invention of a new one. We are there-
fore to look upon her dying by the bite of the
Cerafles, as only following the manner of death
which Ihe had feen commonly adopted by thoie
who were intehded to die without torment.

Galen fpeaking of the Afpic in the great city
of Alexandria, fays, I have feen how fpeedily
they (the afpics) occafioned death. Whenever
any perfon is condemned to die whom they wiih
to end quickly and without torment, they put
the viper to his breafl, and fullering him. there to
creep a little, the man is prefently killed. Pau-
fanias fpeaks of particular ferpents that were to
be found in Arabia among the balfam trees, feve-
ral of which I procured both alive and dead,
v/hen I brought the tree from Beder Hunein : but
they were ilill the fame fpecies of ferpent, only
fome from fex, and fome from want of age, had

not

256 APPENDIX.

not the horns, though in every other refpe^
they could not be miftaken. Ibn Sina, called by
Europeans Avicenna, has defcribed this animal
^erj exactly ; he fay-s it is frequent in Shem
(that is the country about and fouth of Damaf-
cus) and alfo in Egypt ; and he makes a very good
obfervation on their manners ; that they do not
go or walk ftraight, but move by contracting
themfelves. But in the latter part of his defcrip-
tion he feems not to have known the ferpent he is
fpeaking of, becaufe he fays its bite is cured in the
fame manner as that of the viper and Cerailes, by
which it is implied, that the anim.al he was de-
icribing was not a Cerafces, and the Cerailes is
not a viper, both which alTertions are falfe.

The ireneral iize of the Ceraftes, from ':he exr
tremity of its fnout to the end of its tail, is from
1 3 to 14 inches. Its head is triangular, very flat,
but higher near where it joins the neck than to-
v/ards the nofe. The length of its head, from
the point of the nofe to the joining of the neck,
is ^^ths of an inch,^ and the breadth -t^^* ^^'
tween its horns is TT^hs. The opening of its;
mouth, or riclus oris Aths. Its horns in length
— ^-ths. Its large canine teeth fom.ething more
than -jV^hs and -f . Its neck at the joining of the
head -Vths. The body where thickeft fl-ths. Its
tail at the joining of the body -Vths and ~, The
tip of the tail -i\th. The length of the tail one

inch

APPENDIX. 257

^ inch and -Vths. The aperture of the eye rV^^s,
but this varies apparently according to the im-
prefllon of light.

The Ceraftes has fixteen fmall immoveable
teeth, and in the upper jaw two canine teeth,
hollow, crooked inward, and of a remarkable
fine polifh, w^hite in colour, inclining to blueiih.
Near one fourth of the bottom is flrongly fixed
in the upper jaw, and folds back like a clafp
knife, the point inclining inwards, and the
greateft part of the tooth is covered with a green
foft membrane, not drawn tight, but as it were
wrinkled over it. Immediately above this is a
Hit along the back of the tooth, which ends
nearly in the middle of it, where the tooth
curves inwardly. From- this aperture I appre-
hend that it fheds its poifon, not from the point,
where with the befl glaffes I never could per^
ceive an aperture, fo that the tooth is not a
tube, but hollow only half way ; the point be-
ing for making the incifion, and by its preifure
occalioning the venom in the bag at the bottom
of the fang to rife in the tooth, and fpill itfelf
through the flit into the wound.

By this fiat pofition of the tooth along the
jawj and its being defended by the membrane,
it eats in perfect fafety ; for the tooth cannot
prefs the bag of poifon at the root while it lies
in this pofition, nor can it rife in the tube to

Vol. VI. S fpill

'^^5< APPENDIX*

'3

fpiil itfelf, nor can the tooth make any wound .
fo as to I'eceive it, but the animal is fuppofed to
eat but feldom, or only v/hen it is with young.

The viper has but one row of teeth, none but
t]ie canine are noxious. The poifon is very co-
pious for fo fmall a creature, it is fully as large
vTS a drop of laudanum dropt from a vial by a
careful hand. Viewed through a glafs, it ap-
pears not perfectly tranfparent or pellucid. I
fliould imasrine it hath other refervoirs than the
bag under the toOth, for I compelled it to fcratch
eighteen pigeons upon the thigh as quick as pof-
fible, and they all died nearly in the fame inter-
val of time ; but I confefs the danger attending
the difleclion of the bead of this creature made
me fo cautious, that any obfervation I fliould
make upon thefe parts would be lefs to be de-
pended upon.

People have doubted whether or not this yel-
low liquor is the poifon, and the reafon has
been, that animals who had tailed it did not die
as when bitten, but this reafon does not hold in
modern phyfxcs. We knbw why the faliva of
a mad dog has been given to anim.als and has
not aifecled them ; and a German phyikian v/as
bold enough to diftil the pus, or putrid matter,
flowing from the ulcer of a perfon infedled by
the plague, and tafle it afterwards without bad
confequenccs -, fo that it is clear the poifon has

BO

APPENDIX. 259

tlO aftivity, till through fome fore or wound
it is adn.itted into circulation. Again, the tooth
itfclf, divefted of that poifon, has as little efFed.
The viper deprived of his canine teeth, an ope-
ration very eafily performed, bites v/ithout any
fatal confequence with the others ; and many
inllances there have been of mad dogs having
bit people cloathed in coarfe woollen ftuif, which
had fo far cleaned the teeth of the faliva in paff-
ing through it, as not to have left the fmalleft in-
flammation after the wound.

I forbear to fatigue the reader by longer iniift-
ing upon thisfubjecl. Along differtation would
remain upon the incantation of ferpents. There
is no doubt of its reality. The fcriptures are full
of it. All- that have been in Egypt have feen as
many different inftances as they chofe. Some
have doubted that it was a trick, and that the
animals fo handled had been firft trained, and
then difarmed of their power of hurting, and
fond of the difcovery, they have refted them-
felves upon it, without experiment, in the face
of ail antiquity. But I will not heiitate to aver,
that I have feen at Cairo (and this may be feen
daily without, trouble or expence) a man who
came from above the catacombs, where the pits
of the mummy birds are kept, who has taken a
Ceraftes with his naked hand from a number of
others lying at the bottom of the tub, has put it
upon his bare head, covered with the common

S 2 red

He.

260 A P F E N C I X.

red cap lie wears, then taken it out, put it m '
his bf eafl, and tied it about his neck like a neck-
lace ; after which it has been apphed to a hen,
and bit it, Vv'hich has died in a few minutes ;
and to complete the experiment, the mian has
taken it by the neck, and beginning at his tail,.
has ate it as one would do a carrot or a {lock of
celery, without any feeming repugnance.

\Ve know from hiPtory, that where any coun-
try has been remarkably infefted with ferpents,
there the people .have been fcreened by this fe-
cret. The Pfylli and Marmarides of old un-
doubtedly were defended in this manner.

jid ^or?im cantus fnifes yacuere CeraJliZ.

SiL» Ital. lib. iii.

Tt) leave ancient hillory, I can myfelf vouch,
that all the black people in the kingdom of Sen-
naar, v/hether Funge or Nuba, are perfeclly
armed againil; the bite of either fcorpion or vi-
per. They take the Ceraftes in their hands at
all times, put them in their bofoms, and throw
them to one another as children do apples or
balk, without having irritated them, by this
ufa^e fo much as to bite. The Arabs have not
this fecret naturally, but from their infancy
they acquire an exemption from the mortal con-
feQucnces atteiudinr^ the bite of thefe ^ninvals,

by

APPENDIX. 261

by chawing a certain root, and waihing them-
felves (it is not anointing) with an infulion of
certain plants in water.

One day when 1 was with the brother of Shekh
Adelan, prime miniiler of Sennaar, a flave of
his brought a Ceraftes which he had juii taken
out of a hole, and was ufing it with evjery fort
of familiarity. I told him my f^fpicion that the
teeth had been drawn, but he aifured me they
were not, as did his mafler Kattou, who took it
from him, wound it round his arm, ancj at my
defire ordered the fervant to carry it home with
me. I took a chicken by the neck, and made it
flutter before him ^ his feeming indifference left
him, and he bit it with great figns of anger, the
chicken died almofl immediately ; I fay his feem-
ing indifference, for I conftantly obferved, that
however lively the viper was before, upon being
feized by any of thefe barbarians he feemed as
if taken by ficknefs and feeblenefs, frequently
ihut his eyes, and never turned his mouth to-
wards the arm of the perfon that held him. I
aflved Kittou how they came to be exempted from
this mifchief? hefaid, they were born fc, andfo
faid the grave and refpeclable men among them.
Many of the lighter and lower fort talked of en-
chantments by words and by writing, but they
all knew 1|0W to prepare any perfon by medicine,
which werp decoctions of herbs and roots.

I hay^

262 APPENDIX.

1 have feea many thus armed for a feafon do
pretty much the fame feats as thofe that poiTeffed
the exemption naturally, the driigs were given
me, and I feveral times armed myfelf, as I
thought, refolved to try the experiment, but
my heart always failed me when I came to the
trial ; becaufe among thefe wretched people it
was a pretence they might very probably have
fheltered themfelves under, that I was a Chrif*
tian, that therefore it had no effeck upon me. I
have Hill remaining by me a fmali quantity of
this root, but never had an opportunity of try-
ing the experiment.

The reader will attend to the horn which i^
placed over the eye in the manner I have given
the figure of it, it is fluted, and has four diviii-
pns. He will likewife obferve the tooth as view-
ed through a glaf^). He may fuppofe the black
reprefents a painter's pallet, for the ealier dif-
ferning the white tooth, which could not other-?
wife appear diilinctly upon the white pappr.

BINN7,

APPENDIX, 263

B I N N Y.

ALTHOUGH the fifn we find in the eaft are
generally more dillinguiilied for their
beauty and variety of colours, or for their un-
couth forms, rather than for the goodnefs of
the filli itfelf, this before us appears to be an ex-
ception ; though it is not without fmgularities,
yet its form and colour are veryiimple, and, for
the elegance of its taile, may vie with any fifh
caught in any river which runs either into the
Mediterranean or Ocean. Whether it is the
Latus, or the Oxyrinchus of antiquity, both
fiiiies of the Nile, fo famous that divine honours
were paid them, by large cities, nomes, or dif^
tricts fituated upon that river, is what I am not
naturalift enough to difcover. Such as it is, in

all

264 APPENDIX.

all its parts, I have placed It before the reader
faithfully.

B}^ the difi^roportion in the length of its jaws,
I fhouid imagine this to be a fifh of prey, though
a circuniftance concerning the bait with which
it is t:ikcn feems to contradict this. The nih
from which this drawing was made weighed 32
pounds Engliih, but is often caught of 70 pounds
and upwards, as I have been told by the fifher-
inen, for I never faw one larger than the one 1
am now defcribino;. The iarg-ePc of this kind
?.re cauo'ht about Rofetto and the mouth of the
liver, but they are very numerous, higher up
as far as Svene and the firfc cataracr. This was
caught at Achmim, the ancient Panopolis, and
the manner in which this is performed is very
uncommon and ingenious, and by the few tri-
als that I faw is alfo very fuccefsfuh

They take a quantity of oil, clay, Hour, and
honey, with ftraw, and fome other thing that
makes it itick together, they knead or t^e^d it
\vith their feet till it is perfectly mixed. They
then take two handfuls of dates, and break thera
intofmall pieces about the bignefs of the point of
the fmger, and ftick them in different parts of
this mixture, which beirins now to have fuch
confiftency as to adhere perfectly together, and
appears in form like a Chefliire cheefe. In the
heart of this cake they put feven or eight hooks,

with

APPENDIX, 265

'vvith dates upon them, and a firing of ftrong
whip-cord to each. The fiflierman then takes
this large mafs of pafte, and putting it upon a
eoat's fkin blown with wind, rides behind it
out into the middle of the ftream ; there he
drops it in the deepefl part of the river, then
cautioully holding the ends of each of the firings
Hack, fo as not to pull the dates and the hooks
out of the heart of the compofition, he gets again
afhore upon his ikin a little below where he had
funk the folid mafs.

When arrived on the fiiore, he carefully fepa-
ratestheendsof theilrings,and ties them, without
flraining, each to a palm branch made fail on
fhore, to the end of every one of which hangs a
fmall bell. He then goes and feeds his cattle,
digs ditches, or lies down and fleeps as his bufi-
nefs calls him. The oil refiils the water for fome
time, at laft the cake begins to diiTolve, pieces
fall off, the broken dates dipped in the honey
fiOw down the fir earn, and the large fifh below
catch ravenoufly at them as they pafs. The fifh
follow thcfe pieces up the ftream, gathering
them as they go along till they get to the cake
at laft, when altogether, as many as are affem-
bled, fall voracioufly to feek the dates buiied in
the compofition ; each fifh that finds a date Aval-
lows it, together with an iron hook, and feel-
ing himfelf fafl, makes off as fpeedily as poffible ;

the

266 APPENDIX.

the confequence is, endeavouring to eicape from
the line by which he is faftened, he pulls the
palm branch, and rings the bell faflened to it.

The liiherman r;\ns immediately to the bell,
and finding thereby the particular line, hauls
his prifoner in, but does not kill him ; the hook
being large, it generally catches him by the up-
per jaw, which is coniiderably longer than the
under. He then pulls him out of the water,
and puts a ftrong iron ring througli his jaw, ties
a few yards of cord to it, and faftens him to
the fliore, fo h€ does with the reft. Very rarely
one hook is found empty. Thofe that want fiih
at Girge, a large town oppoiite^ or at Achmim
itfelf, come thither as to a fiih-market, and
every man takes the quantity he wants, buying
them alive. Fiih when dead do not keep here,
which makes that precaution neceffary. We
bought two, which fully dined our whole boat's
crev/ ; the fiiherman had then ten or twelve
faftened to the Ihore, all of which he pulled out
and Die wed us.

I apprehend that formerly this method of fiih-s
ing was oftener praclifed, and better known than
it is now, for I have feen in feveral fiOiing towns,
a tree, in which there was a f.ih with a ring
through its nofe, and bellde it a bell. I likewife^
imagine that this is the fiili which Mr. Norden
fays the Kennoufs caught at Syene, and which

he

APPENDIX. 267

he calls a carp ; but as I have already obferved,
ft reams are not the haunt of kathei-mouthed,
or fucking fifh, as is the carp, but rather of
fuch as are powerfully furnilhed with fins, m
this is, to ftruggle with, and traverfe the cur-
rent in all its directions. T believe the carp to
be a fifh of northern climates ; I have never even
feen them in thcfe, they are certainly not in
Ethiopia whence the Nile comes ; their name,
Cyprinus, fecm to indicate they belong to Greece,
They are found in the ill and of Cyprus, but
whether exclufively from the reil of the iilands
is what I cannot determine.

The fiih has tv/o fins upon its back ; the firfl:
has a fharp Ihort thorn before it, and is com-
pofed of feven longer ones, iliarp pointed, but
much weaker in Ihape, refembling the latine
fail of a boat. The one behind it is compofed
of eleven fmall plial^le bones, but not armed
with any defence. The belly has two fins, made
of pliable, unarmed bones likevvife, and on its
fide near the gills i-t has tv^o others of the fame
kind. The tail is forked into two fharp thin
narrow divifions, that below are confiderably
iliorter than above. Below its throat is a parcel
of long bones hanging down like a beard, v/hich
grov/ longer as they approach the tail, the lail
being the largell of all.

The

ft68 APPENDIX.

The whole body of this fiih is covered with
filver fcales much refembling filver fpangles, they
lie clofe together. There is no variety of colour
Tupon the whole fifh excepting a fliade of red
upon the end of the nofe, which is fat and
flefhy. His eye is large and black, with a broad
Iris of white ftained with yellow. It has a num-
ber of fmall teeth very fliarp and clofely fet,
pature has probably given him this quantity of
fins to fave him from the crocodile, whom by
Jiis fize he feems dellined to feed.

CARETTA,

~\

'^

APPENDIX. 269

CARETTA, OR SEA-TORTOISE,

AMONG the natural productions of the
Red Sea, which either have been or are
at prefent articles of commerce, I fliall juft
fpeak a little of that fpecies of the Teftudo or
Tortoife, called the Caretta or Hawk's-bill. It
is greatly inferior in fize to the Weft Indian or
American fea-tortoife. The extreme leng-th of
the fhell of this was 3 feet 7 inches, and which
was efteemed a large one. Simple as it is, I do
not know one good figure of it. This which I
have fubmitted to the reader may be depended
upon for its exa6lnefs, otherwife the animal is
well known, and has often been defcribed.

Its back is covered like the reft of other tur-
tles, with a bony fubftance, and this again is
covered by lamina, or fcales of a thin tranfpa-

rent

270 APPENDIX*

rent texture, variegated with dark brown ftreaks,
difpofed in each fcale as radii proceeding from a
centre. The outer rows of the great fcales are
irregular pentagons. The row that runs down
the middle between thefe are regular hexagons,
and round the whole circumference the large
fcales are inclofed by a kind of quadrangular*
frame firmly united ; the broadeft and largeil of
' thefe fcales being nearell the tail. The loweft of
all, as it were in the centre of the loweft part of
the figure, is notched, the center of this divi-
iiori anfwering to aline drawn through the mid-
dle of the oval, and the head or occiput.

This fi& lays a multitude of eggs. Some have
faid that thefe are laid among ilones, contrary
to the practice of the large fea-turtle, which
lays them upon fand. All I can fay to this is^
that I have ftcn them but feldom, arnd always
upon fand, hut never among ilones. The fifli
itfelf is a very dry and coarfe food, very different
from that delicate fpecies which comes from the
Vv'efl Indies, if the difference does not lie a great
deal in the cookery. At the time that I ate of
this animal, 1 was going to view the junction of
the Indian Ocean without the Straits of Babel-
mandeb, and the wind fetting in contrary, we
vyere in great fear of not being able to return, as
the reader will have feen in our voyage. Particu-
larly, I did not obferve any of the green fat, fo

■ well

A 3P P E N D I X. 271

well known to our epicures, nor indeed any fat
at all. When roaflied, it tafted to me much like
old veal new killed. It is only an inhabitant of
the mouth of the Gulf. They feldom come tip
the length of Mocha ; v/hen they do, they are
few in numiber, are probably lick, and not able
to bear the agitation of the waves from the
fouth-wefters.

The Egyptians dealt largely with Rome in
this elegant article of commerce. Pliny tells us,
the cutting them for fineering or inlaying, was
firft praclifed by Carvilios Pollio, from which
we would prefume that the Romans were igno-
rant of the Arabian and Egyptian art of feparat-
ing the lamina by fire, placed in the inlide of the
fliell when the meat is taken out; for thefe fcales,
though they appear perfectly diftincl and fepa-
rate, do yet adhere, and oftener break than
fplit where the mark of feparation may be fecn
diftin(^. Martial* fays, that beds were inlaid
with it. Juvenal |, and Apuleius, in his tenth
Bock mentions that the Indian bed was all over
Ciining with tortoife-ihell in the outiide, and
fwelling Vvdth fluiEng of down vvithin. The im-
menfe ufe made of it in Rome may be gueffed by
what we learn from Valleius Paterculus J, who

* Mart. Jib. xii. and Ixvii. epig. f Juv. fat. xi.
4: Veil. Pat. lib. ii. cap. ^6,

fa vs.

272 APPENDIX.

fays, that when Alexandria was taken by Julius
Caefar, the magazines, or ware-houfcs, were fo
full of this article, that he propofed to have
made it the principal ornament of his triumph,
as he did ivory afterwards when triumphing for
having happily finifhed the African war.

This, too, in more modern times, was a great
article in the trade to China, and I have always
been exceedingly furprifed, fince near the whole
of the Arabian Gulf is comprehended in the char-
terof theEaft Indiacompany,tliattliey do notmake
an experiment of fifhingboth pearls and tortoifes ;
the former of which, fo long abandoned, muft
now be in great plenty and excellence, and a few
fifliers put on board each Ihip trading to Jidda,
might furely find very lucrative employment
with a long-boat or pinnace, at the time the vef-
fels were felling their cargo in the port, and while
bufied in this gainful occupation, the coafts of
the Red Sea might be fully explored.

Of

Tl^ '5^

J-

ea/u^

A

He*u-oy, /a^-^ ■

APPENDIX. 273

O ? P. E A R L S.

THE fhips which navigated the Red Sea
brought gold and filver from Ophir and
Tarfliifli ; they brought myrrh, frankincenfc,
and ivory, from Saba, and various kinds of
fpices from the continent of Alia, acrofs the In-
dian ocean. If we judge by the little notice
taken of them in very ancient times, the trea-
fures which lay nearer home, in their own feas,
and upon their own Ihores, were very little
fought after, or fpoken of, in the days when
the navigation of the Arabian gulf was at its
height. We are not, however, to believe that
the pearl nihery, even in thofe days, was totally
neglecled; but foreign trade was grown to
fuch a magnitude, and its value fo immenfe,
that we are not to be furprifed, that articles that
were only a matter of ornament and luxury, or
of domeftic ufe, and did not enter into the me-
Vpl. VL T dium

274 APPENDIX.

' dium of commerce, were little fpoken of, how-
ever clofely followed and well underllood.

We gatFier from fcripture, the only hiftory of
thefe early times to be depended upon, that pre-
cious ftones were im.ported from the fouihern
coaft of Alrica. This trade, however great it
rnisfht be, is mentioned but fiio-htlv, and as it
were accidentally, being abforbed in the very
great articles of comimerce then fpoken of. In
the fame manner we read of the beauty and ex-
cellence of pearls curfcrily irtroduced^ often by
alluiions and com;parifons throughout the facred
books, but always in a manner which fuilicicntly
fliews the great intrinfic ellimaticn in which
they v/ere held.

Pearls are found in all the four quarters of
the world, but in no degree of excellence, ex-
cepting in the eaft of Africa andin Afia. They arc
in every part of the Red Sea, they are in the Indian
Ocean, in that low part of the coaft of Arabia Felix
called the Baherein, which joins to the Gulf of
Perfia. There are banks where they are found
about Gon-ibron to the eaftward of that Gulf, or
in the Sat coait there ; and in the feas which ^
waih the iiiand of Ceylon, many have been found
of the greateft beauty and price ; and for num^
ber, they are nowhere fo plentiful as in the Ba^
herein, betvv^een the coaft of Arabia Felix and the
ifland of Ormus, whence they are tranfported to
^\leppo, then fent to Leghorn, and circulated

tjirough

APPENDIX. 275

through Europe, and this above all others is the
market for feed pearls.

The oyfter is currently reported to be the fpe-
cies of fifh where this precious gueft is lodo-ed,
and many a weary fearch and inquiry I have
made after thefe oyfters in the Red Sea, defpair-
ing always to fee a pearl, till we had firft found
an oyfler. The fad, however, turned out to
be, that there are no fuch fifli as oyfters in the
Arabian Gulf, and though our fuccefs in find-
ing pearls was fmall, yet we got from the na-
tives of the coaft a fufficient number as well as
information, to put it beyond doubt to what
fifli this beautiful and extraordinary production
belonged.

Pearls are produced only in fliells that are bi^
valves, that is, which have an upper and lower
Ihell doling by a hinge in a manner little differ-
ing from the oyfter. It is commonly faid by the
filhermen, that all bivalves in the Red Sea have
pearls of fome kind in them. This is a very
rude and large view of the matter, for though
it is true that fome excrefcences, or fecretions,
of the nature of pearls, may be found in the
bilTer, and the large bivalves with which this
fea abounds, yet it is well known to all conver-
fant in thefe matters, that many of the pearl
ihell itfelf (I fnall not call it an oyfter, for it is
not- one) are found without any pearl or like^

T 2 neft

76 APPENDIX.

nefs of pearl in them ; being, I fuppvofc, not
yet arrived to that age when the extravafation
of that juice which forms the pearl happens.

There are three fliell f.fli in the Red Sea which
regularly arefought after ascontaining pearls. The
firft is a niuffel, and this is of the rareft kind,
whether they are now failed in number, or whe-
ther they were at any former time frequent, is
now unknown. They are chiefly found in the
north end of the Gulf, and on the Egyptian fide.
The only part I have ever feen the-m was about
CofTeir, and to the northward of it, where I
mufl obferve there was an ancient port, called
Myos Hormos, which commentators have called
the Port of the Moufe, when they fhould have
tranflated it, the Harbour of the MufTel. This
fifh contains often pearls of great beauty for luf-
tre and fhape, but feldom of a white or clear
water. Pliny relates this to be the cafe in the
Italian feas, and alfo in the Thracian Bofphorus,
\vhere he obferves they are more frequent.

The fecond fort of flieil which generally con-
tains the pearl is called Pinna. It is broad and
femicircular at the top, and decreafes till it turns
fharp at the lower end, where is the hinge. It
is rough and figured on the outlide, of a beauti-
ful red colour, exceedingly fragil, and fome-
times three feet long. In the infide it is cloathed
'Vvith a moft beautiful lining called Nacre, or

mother-

APPENDIX. 277

mother-of-pearl, white, tinged with an elegant
bluili of red. Of this moft delicate complexion
is the pearl found in this iiih, fo that it feems
to confirm the fentiments of M. Reamur on the
formation of pearls, that they are formed of
that orjutinous fluid which is the firft oriorin of
the fhell, that it forms the pearl of the fame co-
lour and water that is communicated to it from
that part of the fliell wdth which it is more im-
mediately in contact, and which is generally ob-
ferved in the pinna to be higher in colour as it
approaches the broadeft, which is the reddefl
end.

Upon the matureft confideration, I can have
no doubt that the pearl found in this {hell is the
penim or peninim* rather, for it is always fpoken
of in the plural, to which ailufion has been often
made in fcripture. And this derived from its
rednefs is the true reafon of its name. On the
contrary, the word pinna has been idly imagined
to be derived from penna, a feather, as being
broad and round at the top, and ending at a
point, or like a quill below. The Englilli tranf-
lation of the fcnpture, erroneous and inaccu-
rate in many things more m.aterial, tranHates
this peninim by rubies*, witho'ut any founda-
tion

* See Proverbs, chap xxxi. verfe 10. But In Job, where
^\\ the variety of precious floaes are mentioned, the tranflator

is

278 APPENDIX.

tion or authority, but becaufe they are both
red, as are bricks and tiles, and many other
^ things of bafe and vile materials. The Greeks
have tranflated it literally pina, or pinna, and
the Iheli they call Pinnicus ; and many places oc-
cur in Strabo, Elian, Ptolemy, and Theophraf-
tus, which are mentioned famous for this fpe-
cies of pearl. I iliould imagine alfo, that by
Solomon faying it is the moil precious of all
produdtions, he means, that this fpecies of
pearl was the liioil valued, or the bell known ia
judea. For though vv'C learn from Pliny that
the excellency of pearls was their whitenefs, yet
wc know the pearls of a yellowifh cail are thofe
efteemed in India to this day, as the peninim,
or reddiili pearl was in Judea in the days of So-
lomon.

The third fort of pearl-bearing fcell is what I
fuppofe has been called the Oyfter ; for the two
fhells -I have already fpoken of furely bear no
fort of likenefs to that fhell-fiili, nor can this,
though moil approaching to it, be faid any wajr
to refemble it, as the reader will judge by a very
accurate drawing given of it, now before him.

Bocliart fays thefe are called Darra, or Dora
in i\rabic, w^hich feems to be the general word

. is forced, a:s it were unwillingly, to render Peninim pearls, as
he ooght indeed to have done in many other places where it
©ccurs. Job, chap, xxviii. vetfe 18.

for

APPENDIX. 279

for all pearls in fcripture, whereas the peninmi
is one in particular. In the Red Sea, where it
holds the firft rank among pearls, it is called
Lule fmgle, or * Lulu el Berber, /. e, the pearl
of Berber, Barabra, or Beja, the country of
the Shepherds, which we have already fpokea
of at large, extending from the' northern tro-
pic, fouthward, to the country of the Shan<>*alla
or Troglodytes. Androfthenes fays, the anci-
ent name of thefe pearls was Berberis, which he
believes to be an Indian word, and fo it is, un-
derftanding, as the ancients did, India to mean,
the country I have already mentioned between
the tropics.

The character of this pearl is extreme white-

L

nefs, and even in this whitenefs Pliny juilly
fays there are (hades or dllferences. To conti-
nue to ufe his words, the cleareil of thefe are
found in the Red Sea, but thofe in India have
the colour of the flakes, or divifions of the lapis
fpecularis. The moft excellent are thofe like a
folution of alum, lim.pid, milky like, and even
with a certain almoil imperceptible call of a fiery
colour. Theophraifus fays, that thefe pearls
are tranfparent, as indeed the foregoing defcrip-
tion of Pliny would lead us to imagine ; but it

* Bochart reads this Liia falfely, mifi:aking the vowel point
a for «, but there is no fudi word m Arabic.

is

28o APPENDIX.

is not fo, and if they were, it is apprehended
they would lofe all their beauty and value, and
approach too much to glafs.

It has been erroneoully faid, that pearl ihells
gro\y upon rocks, and again, that they are
caught by nets. This is certainly a contradidion,
as nobody v/ould employ nets to gather lifh.
from among rocks. On the contrary, all kinds
of pearl are found in the deepeft, ftilleft water,
and fofteft bottom. The parts of mod of
them are too fine to bear the agitation of the
fea among rocks. Their manners and oecono-
my are little known, but, as far as I have ob-
ferved, they are all (luck in the mud upright by
an extremity, the muifel by one end, the pinna
by the fmall iharp point, and the berberi, or lule,
by the hinge or fquare part which projeds from
the round.

In {hallow and clear ftreams I have feen fmall
furrows or trails, upon the fandy bottom, by
which you could trace the muffel, from its laft
ilation, and thefe not ilraight, but deviating
into traverfes and triangles, like the courfe of a
fhip in a contrary wind laid down upon a map,
the tracl of the muifel probably in purfuit of
food. The general belief is, that the m.uffel is
conftantly fcationary in a ftate of repofe, and
cannot transfer itfelf from place to place. This
is a vulgar prejudice, and one of thofe fadls that
are mifl aken for want of fuHlcient p;uns, or op-
portunity, to make more critical obfervation.

Others

APPENDIX. 281

Others finding the firll opinion a faKe one, and
that they are endowed with power of chang-
ing place like other animals, have, upon the
fame foundation, gone into the contrary ex-
treme, fo far as to attribute fwiftneis to them,
a property furely inconliftent with their being
fixed to rocks. Pliny and Solinus fay, that the
muiTel have leaders, and go in flocks, and that
their leader is endowed with great cunning, to
proted himfelf and his flock from the fifliers,
and when he is taken, the others fall an eafy
prey. This however I think we are to look
upon as a fable. Some of the mofl accurate ob-
fervers havinof difcovered the motion of the muf-

o

fel, which is indeed w^onderful, and that they lie
in beds, which is not at all fo, have added the
refl: to make their hiRory complete.

It is obferved that pearls are always the moft
beautiful in thofe places of the fea vv'here a quLin-
tity of frefli water falls. Thus in the Red Sea
they were always moil eileemed that were fiilied
from Suakem fouthward, that is in thofe parts
correfponding to the country anciently called
Eerberia, and Azamia, from reafons before
given ; on the Arabian coaft, near the iiland
Camaran, w^here there is abundance of frefr\
water ; and the ifland of Foofht, laid down in
my map, where there are fprings ; there I pur-
chafed one I had the pleafure to fee taken out 01
the fnell. It has been faid that the frfh of thefe
Ihells are good^ whivch is an error : they were

the

252 APPENDIX.

the only fhell-fifh in the Red Sea I found not
eatable. I never faw any pearl fhells on either
fide fouthward of the parallel of Mocha in Ara-
bia Felix. As it is a fifh that delights in repofe,
I imagine it avoids this part of the gulf, as ly-
ing open to the Indian Ocean, and agitated by
variable winds.

In that part of my narrative where I fpeak of
my return through the Defert of Nubia, and
the fliells found there, I have likewife mentioned
the muffel found in the fait fprings that appear
in various parts of that clefert. Thefe likewife
travel far from home, and are fonietimes fur-
prifed by the ceaiing of the rains, at a greater
diftance from their beds than they have ftrength
and moiflure to carry them. In many of thefe
ihells I have found thofe kind of excrefcences
which we may call Pearls, all of them ill-formed,
foul, and of a bad colour, but of the fame con-
fiilence, and lodged in the fame part of the body
as thofe in the fea. The muffel, too, is in every
I'efpect fimilar, I think larger, the outer fkin or
covering of it is of a vivid green. Upon remov-
ing this, which is the epidermis, vvhat next ap-
pears is a beautiful pink, without glofs, and
feemingly of a calcareous nature. Below this,
the mother-of-pearl, which is undermoft, is a
Avhite without luftre, partaking m.uch of the
blue, and very little of the red, and this is all

the.

APPENDIX. 283

the difference I obferved between it and the
pearl-bearing mufTel in the Red Sea ; but even
this latter I always found in ftill water, foft bot-
tom, and far from ftony or rocky ground.
None of thefe pearl muffels, either in the Red
Sea or the defert, ha^^e any appearance of being
fpinners, as they ^re generally defcribed to be.

I have faid that the Baherein has been efteem-
ed the place whence the greatefl quantity of
pearls are brought. I w^ould be underftood to
mean, that this has been the reputed greateFc
regular market from antiquity to the prefent
time. But Am.ericus, in his fecond navigation,
fays, that he found an unknown people of that
continent, who fold him above 54 pound weight
for 40 ducats *. And Peter the Martyr fiys,
that Tunacca, one of the kings of that country,
feeing the great deiire the Spaniards had for
pearls, and the value they fct upon them, fent
fome of his' own people in fearch of them, who
returning the fourth day, brought with th^m 1 2
pounds of pearls, each pound 8 ounces. If this
is the cafe, America furely excels both Africa
and Alia in the quantity of this article.

The value of pearls depends upon fize, re-
gularity of form, (for roundnefs is not always

. * The Spaniards have no gold dncats, fo this muft have been
filver, value about a crown, (o that the lum-total v/as L. lo
Sterling.

requiiite)

2^4 APPENDIX.

requifite) weight, fmoothnefs, colour, and the
different fliades of that colour. Suetonius fays,
that Csefar gave to Servilia, Pvlarcus Brutus's
mother, a pearl worth about L. 50,000 of our
money. And Cleopatra, after vaunting to her
lover, Mark Antony, that ihe would give him a
fuppcr which fliould coil two hundred and fifty
ihoufand pounds, for this purpofc diUblved one
of the pearls fiie carried in her ears, which a-
mounted to that price, and drank it. The other,
it is faid, was carried afterwards to Rome by
AuguKUS Cnefar, fav/n in two, and put in the
ears of Venus Genetrix.

The price of pearls has been always variable.
Pliny feems to have over-rated them much, when
he fays they are the moft valuable and excellent
of all precious flones. He mud probably have
had thofe juil mentioned in his view, for other-
wife they cannot bear comparifon with dia-
monds, amethyfts, rubies, or fapphires.

It has been obferved to me by the pearl iifh-
ers in the eaft, that when the fhcU is fmooth
and perfect, there they have no expedation of a
pearl, but are fure to find them when theiliell
has besfun to be diftorted and deformed. From

o

this it vv'ould feem, as the fiili turned older, the
veiTels containing the juice for forming thcfliell,
and keeping it in its vigour, grew weak and rup-
tured J and thence from this juice accumulating

in

APPENDIX. €85

in the fifh, the pearl was formed, and the Ihell
brought to decay, perfectly in the manner, as I
have before faid, fuppofed by M. Reamur.

In Scotland, efpecially to the northward, in
all rivers running from lakes, there are found
mullels that hav^e pearls of more than ordinary
merit, though feldom of large fize. I have pur-
chafed many hundreds, till lately the wearing
ofrealpearls comiuginto fafliion,thofeof Scotland
have increafed in price greatly beyond their value,
und fuperior often to the price of oriental ones
when bought in the eaft. The reafon of this is
a demand from London, where they are adlually
employed in w^ork, and fold as orientaL But
the excellency of all glafs or pafte manufactory,
it is likely, will keep the price of this article,
and the demand for it within bounds, when
every lady has it in her power to wear in her
ears, for the price of lixpence, a pearl as beauti-
tiful in colour, more elegant in form, lighter
and eafier to carry, and as much bigger as Ihe
pleafes, than thofe famous ones of Cleopatra
and Servilia. I Ihall only further obferve, that
the fame remark on the flieli holds in Scotland
as in the eaft. The fmooth and perfect muffel
ihell rarely produces a pearl, the crooked and
diftorted fhell feldom wants one.

I fliall here mention a very elegant fort of ma-
jiufadory, with which I cannot pciitively fay

the

^86 APPENDIX.

the ancients were acquainted, which is fineering,
or inlaying with the infide of the fhell called
mother-of-pearl, known to the dealers in trin-
kets all over Europe, and in particular brought
to great perfeclion at Jerufalem. That of Peni-
nim, though the moft beautiful, is too fragil
and thin to be employed in large pieces. It is
the nacre, or mother-of-pearl takeh from the
Lulu el Berberi, or what is called A'nyffinian oyf-
ter, principally ufed in thofe line works. Great
quantities of this fhell are brought daily from
the Red Sea to Jerufalem. Of thefe all the fine
works, the crucifixes, the wafer-boxes, and the
beads, are made, which are fent to the Spanilh
dominions in the new world, and produce a re-
turn incomparably greater than the ftaple of the
greatefl manufadory in the old.

1

THE E N D.

I

(

ABYSSINIA divided in- Alexandria, i. lo.

to provinces, vol. iii. p. Algiers, the author made con-
^jg. fill there, Introd. 7.

Abyffinlans, lift of their kings, AH Bey, account of him, i. 29.

ii. 1 1 8. Alphonfo Mendes, patriarch, en-

■ — cuftoms, iii. 592. ters Abyffinia, ii. 539.

manner of marrying, -^ — violent condu61:, ii.

iii. 635. _ 546.

manner of baptlfm, banlihed from Abyill-

iii. 653. nia, iii. 2.

mode of adminiiler- Alvarez, account of his journal.

ing the facrament of the fup- ii. 331.

per, iii. 664. his account of AbyfH-

religion, iii. 642. nian baptifm, Hi. 6^6.

military force, iii. Amda Sion, his licentious con-

638. dua, ii. 182.

prav5life circumcllion, attacks Adel, ii. 191.

iii. 671. defeats the Moors, iu

— books, ii. 132. 192.

v\^hen converted to kings of Hadea, and

Chrilllanlty, ii. 143. Farigar, ii. 198*

Abreha makes war with the — — the king of Adel, ii.

Arabians, ii. 152. 206.

Abuna, law to bring him from — filences the murmurs

Cairo, ii. 175. of his army, H- 219.

Adelan charader, v. 191. defeats the rebels^ ii.

cavalry, beauty of, 22 1.

V. 190. Amhara, account of, ii. 38.
promlfes the author and iii. ^S^.

prote(51;Ion, v. 194. Amlac, Icon, reftored to the

Adowa, town, Hi. 447. kingdom, H. 177._

Agageers, account of them, v. Arabia, its climate and produc-

31- , tions, ii. 10.

Agows, H. 38. ArooiTi, iii. 588.

Alexander attempts to difcover Aflikoko, app. 171.

the fource of the Nile, iv. 291.

' Vol. VI. U Axum,

D E

X.

Anxim, capital of Tlore, ill.

457-
— x*/h€n and by whom

B-

Baalbec, ddfcriptioaof^ Introd.

62,
Babelmaii-deb, acccmnt of^ L

Bseda Mariam banifij-es his bro-
E-he'ifs t-G Wechae, ii. 258,

-•■' — ' — liischarader, ii. 269,

Ba.€isff% tlraraci^r^ iii. 200.

— annai;. of hk s'^-i^s im-

pea-fe<3:, iiL 202.

— — ~- fiaouhir ^ccideots of Hs

life, iru 2C2, 203»

Jj^JcS^i, balm, cr baifri,Tn^ ii. il.
<d€fcri])iiOs of kf A]>

|>ea. J. 9.
I^aejAj battl-e of, iv. i^.
Begemder^ proviece of AhySl-

nhi, iiu 5S4.
Beja, iL 22.
BeoPTizij Inrrod. ^o.
Beni IvoTicillij ?L 162.
J>£T?rj«4€s made patriajrd^ of

Abyfhnh;, iL 351.

' ■■■ n>ak€S; liibir.iilion of

Ahiffick to fee of Home, ii.

352-
— procisres afiillance for

Abyllinia, iL 360,
.— — — vioientcoodiift, iL 37B.
k-avcs Abyiiiniaj ii. 3S i.

Beyla, Shekh of, fends a moul-
3ah to Tca^va in favour of the
audior, \\ Z30.

author's friendly r^ecept'ioa

there^ v. 159.

— defcri^ition of, v. 1 63*

Biany, appen, 263,

Booted L.ynx, appcn. 180. '

C.

Cairo, goveramcntj i, -25.
Catiibyies, his expedition iatO

Affica, iL 87.
Camera oblcura, deicription of

one wfed by the author. In-

trod- 9*
Candace, queen, ii. 144.
Canja, defcription of, i. 44.
Caretta^ or iea-tortoife, app.

26g,
Carnac, acd L.«x.or, rmns there,

141, 2.
Carthage, rtiiirs of, Introd. 22.
Csaar, his doiLe 10 know the

fource of the Nile, iv. 296.
Cer^aite^, or horned vi]>er, Ap-

pen. 247.
Chendi, vJ 291.
Chiggre, vaile^'-. v. 325.
Chriitcpfier Father, account of

hin?, fatrod. 19.
procuies letters for

the author to AbySnia, L 36.
Chriiiopher de Gama, his gal-

knt behaviour,, ii. ^6S.

_ „. deatla, ii- 369.

Claiidiasj profpcrous beginning

of his reign, ii. 357.

N

X.

374-

defeats the Moors, ii.

flainby Nur, ii. 387,
Cleopatra encourages trade, ii.

105.
Conftantma, Introd. 28.
CofTeir, defcription of, i. 194.
Covillan Peter, his charader, ii.
283.

fent to Abyfiinia

ii. 285.

— — fends difpatches

to Portugal, ii. 287.
Cufh peoples of Abyffinia, ii. 12.
Cuffo, or Bankefia Abyilinica,

Appen. 89.
Cyrus, his expedition, ii. 86.

D.

Dahalac, ifland, i. 364*
Damot, province of Abyilinia,

iii. 587.
■' ... mafTacre there, ii. 167.
Dancali, kingdom, ii. 260.
Darius, 'his expedition, ii. 91.
David HI* defeats the Moors,

ii. 321.
diflrefles his Portuguefe

allies, ii. 51 c^.
attacked and defeated

by the Moors, ii. 343.

diftrefles of the king.

11. 345.

fortitude, ii. 348.

David IV, aflemblesthe clergy,
iii. 182.

— puts to death the Catho-
lic prieils, iii. 1 85.

calls a fecond meeting

of the clergy, iii. 193.
infuhed by them, ili»

— — — puniflies them, iii. 195*

' poifoned, iii. 197,

Defan, cape, ii. 80.
Dembea, province, iii, 589.
Dendera, ruins, i. 106.
Denghel Sertza, defeats the

Moors, ii. 413"
Denghel Sertza defeats the

Tarks, ii. 419.
■ his death and

chara(fter, ii. 420.
Diodorus Siculus, his account'

of Meroe, v. 305.
Dixan, town, iii. 412.
Dugga, ruins, Introd. 2^,

Eagle, Golden, appen. 191.

Black, appen. 196.

Egyptians, cuiioms of, iii. 619*
1 gypt, not the gift of the Nile,

iv. 364.
El Adda, app. 240.
Elephant, manner of hunting

him deferibed, v. 30.
Enoch, book of, ii. 1^6,
Enfete, app. 45.
Ergett Y'Dmimo, app. 42.
Ergett el Krone, app. 43.
Erkoom, app. 209.
Either, Ozoro, marries Mic-"

hael, lii. 308.

U a

Efther,

N D

£

X.

Eftherj Ozoro, her cruelty' to the

raurderei-i: of Mariara Barea,

'ill, 309.
JEthtopia, th.-^t word ill applied*

has rendered the icriptuie ob-

fcurCj ii. 42 to 47.
Eudoxus, his firil voyage, ii.

10;. '

— -^ — makes peace w'ltli the

kings, iv, 125.
— - — author's interview with

hina in his cam]), iv. 176.
~" g'^ves the autht)r leave to

vifit the fourccs of the Nile,

iv. 200.
— — — his anfal condud v\'ith

lecond voyage, ii, 10 ?.
fails round Airicaj :i.

[04..

ExcifioD praSifedby the AbylH-
BiacSj iii» 677.

V

FriciHdaSj his prudent eondu'ft,

iL 565.^
deieats the rebel Serca

Chriftss^' 11,-578.
— — ■ — ' baniilies the Catholics,

iii« 3. ,,

— — — his destb and charader,

iji. 19.
Falailia or Jews^ their language,

ii. 4c.

account oftlhem, ii. 122.

Farek, or Banhini^ Acuminata,
Appen. 69.

FaHl i^aragna^ made governor
of Damot, iii. 28^1.

-*- — — -quarrels with Ras Mic-
hael, iii. 306.

— defeated by him;^ ill,

^. 1 .1.

— defeated at Fagitta, iii,

324.

defeated at Lirrjour, iv.

12^^

bocinics, IV. 404,

-- — declares for Teela Hal-

manoiit, iy, 494.

Fatima, queen, furrenders to
the Abyfiioians, ii. 492.

— prudent condud v/ith

Socinios, ii. 494.

Fennec, Appen. 157.

Ferriana. account of, Introd, "^5.

Fidcle. the Shekh.of Teawa his
character, v. 93.

— — — the author^s firft inter-
view v/ith himj v. 98.

— — — his deceitful condu<3:, v.
10 1,

Fit-Auraris, account of that of-
ficer, iv. 47-

Fly, tfaltfalya, zimb, or cyno-
myia, ii. 24.

• its wondeiful effekft, ii.

24, 25. _

~ mention made of it bv

Ifaiah, app. 1 09.

Foo)1u» iiland, i. 343.

Funge, V. 213.

- — - flavifh character, v. 2 13.

Fruriier'.tius converts Abvlliniato
Chriilianity, ii. 148.

Furfliout, i. ii6.

Gafats,

N

D

E

X.

G.

Gafuts, account of them, il. 38.
Oagaedi, A]^en. 64.
Cdia5,,.a€courit of that nation,

ii. 39, 40 T,
Gawa, ruins, 1. 98.
Geeili, province conferred on

the aurhor, iv. 132.
Geeza, Pyramids, i. 41.
not the ancient Meni-

|:^iis, i. 60.
Geez language of the fhepherds,

i. 6i. 2.
Gerri, iv. 359, v. 278.
Gibbertis, account of them, ii.

Gingiro, l^ingdom, ii. 509.

Gir Gir, or Gelhe d Aube, ap-
pen. 58.

Gojam, province of Aby^-^^^^^'^A
iii. 587.

Gondar account of it, iv. 25.

Goog, village, iv. 468.

Guangon], defcription of him,
iv. 560.

Gurague, their m.ode of ftealing,
iv. 617.

Gufno, his charadter, iii. 309,

coniJ3ires againft Mic-
hael, iv, 19.

deceives Fafd, iv. 125,

— marches to Gondar, iv..

author's mterviev/ with

_„ — _ offers the king terms of
peace, iv. 615.

retufed, iv. 622,

— . the author's fecond in-
terview with him, iv. 683.

his army inveds Gondar,

iv. 712.

. fijrces IMichael's army

to furrender, iv. 714.

created Ras, iv. 725.

— — his badcq::idu6>, iv. 729.

'- flies from Gondar, r-

___ „ taken, and put in irons,

i^'- 733-
_ —- releafed, iv, 749,

Habefn, meaning of that word,

"• 34' ,

Hal ou an, ifland of the Nile, i.

TIanno's pcriplus expiamcd, in.

1.3,*

him, n^, 145.

~ — defeated at Serbraxos,
iv. 613.

— -: — — vindicatea, m.

169.

Henry 4<:ing of Portugal, his ar-
dour for promoting fcience,
ii. 273.

— attempts a palTage round

Afi-ica, li. 276,

. fends an embafly to Abyf- -^

fmia, ii. 283.

Herodotus, paiTage of his ex-
plained, iii. 167.^

= account of the Nile's '

rife? iv. 378,

Ilie.roglyphlcs

N D E X.

fUerogl^J'piiics founded on obfer-
v^tion of the dog (tar, ii. 49.

— — — abfurd opinion

concerning them, ii. 51.

Hor-Cacamoot, account of that
place, V. 61.

Hyaena, defcription of, appen-
dix, 131.

Hybeef, v. 298.

I.

Jahaleen Arabs, v. 210.
Janni, his kind reception of the

author, iii. 447.
Jemma river, beauty of, iv. 458.
Jerboa, defcription of, appen. 148
Jidda defcription of, i. 275.
India, account of its climate and

productions, ii. 7,
Indian trade origin of it, ii. 9.'
' — . — — iiuduating ftatc, ii, 84.
— — — — hurt by the expedition

of the Perfians, ii. 85.
-■ loft in the time of the

Romans, ii. 107.
Joas confers his favour on the

Galla, iii. 278.
f- difgufts Mariam Barea, iii.

■ 283. ■ • -

his army defeated, iii. 287.

-- — claims the protedlion of

Michael, iii. 288.
— — rupture vvith Michael, iii.

309. .
> attempts to afTaflinate him,

■ iii. 312,

"~ — aiTailiQated by Micliael, iii.

Ifcander makes war with Adel,

ii. 295. _
llain by Za "Saluce, ii.

297.
Ifraelites, probable courfe of

their journey from Egypt, i.

239.
Iteghe, her power, ii. 147.
Judith maflacres the royal fa-
mily, ii. 167.
> tranfmits the crown of

Abyflinia to her pofterity, ii.

168. ' • ' ■

K.

Kantuffa, defcription of appen-

- dix, 60.
Kol-qnal tree, appen. 51.
Konfodah, i. 309.
Koran, account of, ii. 163.
Kofcam, author's tranfadlons

there, iii. 541.
palace, defcription of

it, V. I.
Kiiara, province of Abyflinia,

iii. 590.
Kuara tree, appen. 79.

L.

) ■

Lallbala, his attempt to change
the courfe of the Nile, ii. 171^

Lamaimon, iii. 513.

Languages, fpecimens of vari-
ous, ii. 37", 38.

Letters, Qrigin of, ii. 57.

not given by God to

ns-

Mof^;s, ii. 53.

-altere4

I N D

altered by Mofes, ii.

60,
luoheia, i. 341 »

Ma^Lidl, chara<5ler of Iiiijj, IL.

294.
»^ defeated by Naod, li.

3C2.

rewarded by the Turks,

ii. 316.

flain, ii. ^Zi-

Mahomet pretends to be a pro-
phet, ii. 160.

Mahomet Bey Abou Dahab, in-
terview with him, v. 401.

'■ permits the Enghfli to

trade to Suez, v. 400.

Maitflia, account of that pro-
vince, iv. 219. 47 ^«

Marble mountains, i. 192.

M^iriam Barea, auociated with
the party of the Iteghc, iii. 278.

- — Quarrels with Michael,

i. • ■ ' . ■

iii; 282-.

deprived of his govern-
ment, iii. 283.

. ~ — his charafler, iii. 284.

remonftrates againll

the king's coaduCL, iii. 284.
defeats the Galla, iii.

288.

defeased by Michael,
iii. 301.
put to death by the king.

ju. 303.
Mafuah, iiland, iii. 327,

•trade and made, iii, 3775

37^-
Mcnas, king, baniflied the Por-

toguefe pikils, ii. 594-
Meniickfon cfSoloraori, ii. 118,
Meroe when bmit, ii. 14.
— iflaiid, iituatioD of, iy,

337, and V. 30?.
Michael Suha>, governor of Ti-
' gre, refufes to obey the king's

order?, iii. 2$6.
. . — ;aken prifoner.

III. 2 so.

— advances in the

king's favour, iii, 260,

— reitore.d to his

government, iii. 262.

called by the

king to defend him againil
Mariam Barea, iii. 2SS.
- — marches to Gon»

dar, iii. 289.

reilores order ia
the capita], iii. 293.
" marches againft

J.Iariam Barea, iii. 294.

" defeats him, iii.

301.
^- rupture Avith the

king, iii. 3130

,_ ; defeats Fafil, iii.

aiTaflinates xh^

3H'

king, iii. 314.

._ — — puts Hannes II*

to death, ii. 518.
defeats Fafil, iii.

324-

difeah

3, UL

;6o.

-— author's firfl

iaterview/ ^^'^^^^ ^^"^j ^'^^- 54 8.
Michael

N

D

X.

Michael Suhiil his chara(51er, iii.

557-

. — . confpiracy form-
ed againft him, iv. 19.

forced to leave

Gondar, iv. 140.

cruelty on his

return to Gondar, iv. 527,532.

impohtic con-
duct, iv. 574.

° defeats Guilio,

and PowulTen at Serbraxos,
iv. 613.

— retreats to Gon-
dar, iv. 709.

-- — ^ made prifoaer,

iv. 726.

Mocha, meaning of that name,
ii. 79.

Mohannan, the ancient Mem°
phis, i. 55.

Monies Liuns of the ancients, ii.

Moroc, defcription of, appendix,
221.

Mudgid cuts off the royal family
at Wechne, ii. 351.

N.

Nacueta Laab refigns the crovv'n

of Abyfnnia, ii. 172.
Nagallii what, ii. 164.
Narea, ivingdom, account of, ii.

501.
Nearchus fails from India to Uie

Perfiaa Gulf, ii. 92c

enters the Red Sea,

Nebuchadnezzar, dilpute about

his canonization, iv. 10.
Nero attempts to difcover the

fource of the Nile, iv. 297.
Niger, caufe of its increafe, iv.

416.
not a branch of the Nile,

iv. 418.
Nile defcription of the catarad

above Syene, i. i Go.
difcovery of its fources, iv.

258.
attempted by the ancients,

iv. 290.
defcription of its fources,

iv. 320.
courfe of that river, 17.

332.

names, iv. 344.

caufe of its inundation, ir.

349-

inquiry if poffible to change
its courfe, iv. 409.
— - great catara6l, iv. 77.
memorable pafTage of, iv.

104.
Nilometer, iv. 3 84.
changed by Omar^ iv.

q^'d..

Norden's voyage, account of, iv.

Nuba, their characH-er, v. 168.

religion, v. 169.

— author kindly received by

tr.em, v. 172.
Nui^a, iv. 413.

O;

N D

E

x;

o.

Omar conquers Egypt, iv. 383.

Ornbi, men-eaters, i. 145.

Ophir, voyage to, account of,
ii. 7c.

OfirLs not the fun, but the dog-
liar, ii. 49.

Oufias ufurps the throne, iii.

favourable to the Catho-
lic religion, iii. 174.
. '■ — depofed, iii. 176.

Poncet fent to Abyilinia, iii. 70- ■
account of his travels,

ill. 71.

■ — recovers the king of

AbyiTinia, iii. 80.
Poncet, his journal vindicated, ill.

o-

Portugal>attempts to difcover the

Eall Indies, ii. 276.
fends an embafly to

Abyfiinia, ii. 283.

receives an embafTy

P.

Paez Peter enters Abyllinia, \u

430,
. '■ converts Za Denghel,

ii. 431.
builds a convent at

Gorgora, ii- 453-
__.^ converts Socinios, iio

from Abyllinia, ii. 313.
fends a reinforcement to .

David III. ii. 323.
unfuccefsfuliiTue of the

expedition, ii. 339.
fends a fecond reinforce-

— his death and charac-
ter, ii. 534.

his ptetenfions to dif-
cover the fource of the Nile
confuted, iv. 302.'

PalePdne, various nations iled
from it, ii. 35.

Palmyra, ruins, introd. 61.

Papyrus, fnips made or it, ii, 6.

. — ; defcripcion of it, ap-

pen. I.

Petronius Arbiter improves E=
gypt, iv. 390.

Polygamy, caufe of its origin, i.
292.

ment to the king of Abyilinia,
ii. 363.^

Pox, fniall, when introduced,
ii. 154.

Ptolemy I. encourages the Indi-
an trade, ii. 94.

' II. his mafrnilicent pro-

cefiion, ii. 95.

invades Ethiopia, ii. 99.

II. conquers Ethiopia,

'11. 100.

R.

P^acliamah, defcription of, ap-
pen. 201.

Rack tree defcription of, appen-
dix, S5'

Ras el Feel, the author made go-
vernor of ti^at province, iv. 6.

Ras Sem account of, Introduc-
tion, 42.

Red

N

D

E

X.

.^cd Sea, caufe of that name, i. treacherous conduol tq

246. ^^^e author, v. 206.

Rhinoceros, hunting of him de- ■ -lift of its kings, v. 219.

" fcribed, V. 29. government, t. 2^6.

^^ defcription of that — — - — forces, v. 237.

animal, append. 103. — — — climate, dileafcs, r.
Roderigo de Lima attempts to 238.

■ enterAbyifmia, iv. ^is- SerU-Axos,lirft battle of, iv. 609.

Rofetto, i. 2 I . — fecond battle of, It.

Rouk M. le Noir feBt to Abyffi- 637.

nia, iii. 104. •■ ' ' ' tbird battle of, it.

— J imprudent con- 667.

duft at Sennaar, iii. no. ' Sefoftris Improves Egypt, ii. 4.

_ — alTaffinated, iii. Shangalla, account of that na-

112.

tion, in. 150,

< divificn of their coun-

s.

Saba, queen of, i. 108.

vifits Jerufalem, i. no.

has a fon to Solo-

try, V. 64.
Shaw, Dr. his miftake about

Egypt, iv. 395.
Shalaka Welled Amlac, account

of him, iv, 446.
—A inh or 's

mod, !• i^3* , , A 1 /r reception at his houfe, iv. 451*
f"^^"^? the ADyffi- shell-fiai found in the defert, v.

nia.n Monarchy, 1. 114. ■ ^^

SalamaAbba, characler of, iii. Sheregrlg, defcription of append.

531. 226. '

— ^ -condemned and ex- Shepherds, account of, that peo-

ecuted, iv. 523. ^ pj^^ -j^ 2^,

Samen, province of AbyfTmia, ^j^^jj. ^aj-ious names,

iii. 583. -.

Sancaho, v. 52.
Sand, pillars of, v. 318, 321.
Saffa, append. 33.

11. 20.

habitation, ii. 22.
fubdue Egypt, ii.

32.

Sennaar, author arrives there, ^^,0^^ kingdom, iii. 586.

V- 178- ■ Sid elCoom, iv. 314.
chara^er of its king, v. simoom, defcription of that pel-

^"^* fonous weed, v. S6.
account of his v.ifes, v. g-^.^^ townof, iii. 481.

201. —province

:n

D

E X.

- — province of AbyfHnia, iil. 582.
Sittinia, cjueen, v. 294,
Slave-trade, its origin, ii. 30.
Socinios claims tlie crown, Ii.

439-
■ ■ — defeats his rival Jacob,

ii. 446.

the Galla, ii. 463.

crov/ned at Axum, 11.

465-6.

expedition again ft Sen-

niiar, ii.486.

fubdues Fatima queen

of the lliepherds, ii. 490.

converted to the Catho-
lic rehgion, ii. 496.

— '■ fends ambailadors to

E-ome, ii. 498.

openly profefies the Ca-

for meafuring an arch of the

meridian, i. 164.

T.

Tacazze river, ill. 185" -6.

why called Siris, ii. ij*.

Taranta, mountain, iii. 404.
Tarfhifh, ii. 76.
Tecla Haimanout I. writes n fa-
vour of Du Roule, iii. 121.
quells arebel-

tholic religion, ii. 534.

■■- bigotted condudl, ii.

542.
limits the power of the

Catholics, ii. 549.
. — grants the Abyilinians

full exercife of their own reh'

gion, ii. 588,

death afid character, ii.

589.
Sofa, the Ophir of the ancients,

ii; 73-
Spaitla, Introd. 32.

Strabo, his account of Meroe, v.

308.
Suez, dire6lions how to fail

there, i. 232.
Sugar canes, plantations of them

in Upper Egypt, i, 82.
Syene, or Affouan, i. 159.
'— afTumed by Eratoiihenes

lion, iii. 134.

i.r

racier, iii', 318,

-afTalFinatedjiii,
- II. his cha-

the author's
firft interview with him, iii,

5C1. ^

cruelt}^, iv.

519 & fcq.

dangerous fi-
tuation at Serbraxos, iv. '642.

Tcherkin, v. 26.

Teawa, defcripti'on of it, v. 90-

TefF, appen. 93.

Terfowey wells, v. 332.

— — dangerous {jtuatloa

of the author there, v. 33^.

Xesfos, Ayto, governor of Sa-
men, joins Gufho, iv. 666,

' ■■ his army cut oif^

iv. 670.

Thebes when built, ii. 16.

-=- defi:royed by the Shep-
herds, ii. 31.

ruins of, i. 124.

fepulchres, i. 128.

Thebc?,

N

D

X.

IV. '7 2.

reveals FafiPs

Thebes, deicription of two harps Welleta Girgis iiles from Gon-
foLind there, i. 132. dar, iv. 504,

Theodoras, king, opinion about Weiled Sidi Boogannim,, tribe
him, li. 242. of Arabs, Introd. 26.

Tiiilis executes .the regicides, iii. Woodage Afahel, his charailer,
138. ^ ^_

defeats the rebel Tigi,

hi. 137-
Tigre, province, lii. 582.

Time, Abj^iKnian manner of com-
puting it, iii. 58 1 «
Tot, who. ^ii. 53.
Tovvarn Mahomet, v. 248
— — (lain in the

defert, ^^ 356.

account of

him, V. 3B3.
Trade-winds, ii. 6S.
TroglodyteX^ufiiites, their fettle -

ment, ii. 12.
their progrefs, ii. 19.

Tunis, Introd, 23.

Tyre, Introd. 63.

Tzana Lake, deicription of, iv,

32.

W.

Waalia, append. 231. ^^^

Waldubba, monks of, iii. 507.

Vvalkuffa, append. 81-

Wanzey tree, account of, ap-
pend, 66,

War of the Elephant, ii. 150.

Wechne, royal family baniihed
there, iii. i6.

Welleta Girgis, or Socinios,
made king, iv. 150.

. author's inter-
view witli him, iv. 498.

plans, iv. 481,

■ ■ bravery, iv. 679.

ilain, iv. 680.

Wooginoos, or Brucea Antid}'-

fentericii, append, 84^

Y.

Yambo, i. 256,

Yaiine, his attention 10 the au-
thor, V. 66,

Yafous' I. his expedition to
Wech.ne, iii. 29.

— — — - defeats the Galla, iii. 35",

his fon rebels againil

him^ iii. 1 16.

• death and chara^ler, iii.

Yafous II. rebeUion in the be-
ginning of his reign, iii. 222.
defeats the Arabs, iii.

238.

111. 24. i.

addicled to building,
attacks Sennaar, iii.

24-

i-0"

defeated, iii. 246.

irritated at the Naybe

of Madiah, iii. 254.
fumi-nons Michael Su-

hul to Gondar, iii. 2^6.
takes him prifoner.^

iii. 258 .

-make 3

N D

X,

» makes a feciond expe-

dition -againil Sennaar, iii.

Yafous Amha, prince of Shoa,

iv. SS3'
gives the author the

annals of Shoa, iv- 557.
• his account of the na-

converted to the

Catholic faith, ii. 431.

Za Selaffe rebels, ii. 434.

defeats ^and flays Za

Denghel, ii. 436.

defeated, ii. 445.

— joins the Socinios, ii.

tions near ShoL^ iv. ^^S^
Yafous, Kefla, difcovers Fafih^s

flratagem, iv. 109.
, , marches to De-

iakus, iv. 114,
croffes the Nile,

445,

IV. 114.
Yemen once fubjed to Abyflinia,
ii. 158.

Z.

Za Denghel reftored to the
throne, ii. 428.

death and charatfter,

ii. 456.
Zagne prince of, fiain, iii. 297.
Zara Jacob, fends ambaifadors

to the council of Florence, ii.

247.
perfecutes the

idolaters in Abyllinia, ii. 249.
Zebee, river, ii. 506.
Zerah, ii. 43. "

Zipporah, wife of Mofes, ii, 42.
Zumrud, Jibbel, voyage there,

i. 211.

LIST

OF THE

PLATES

IN

Mr. BRUCE'S travels.

V O L.

No. of Plates.

I Vy ANJA under Sail, To face page 43

2 , — ._ Seclion of ditto, 44

5 Harper and Harp of 13 Strings, 130

4 Another Harper and Harp of 18 Strings, 132

5 Figure of Shekhei Harb, Tribe Beni Koreifh, 266

6 A.rab of Loheia, Tribe Beni Koreiih, 3.2.1

V O L. IT.

7 A Specimen of Etiuopic Language, 36

8 A Table of Hieroglyphics, found at Axum,

No. I. 53

9 Ditto, DittOj No. 2. 55

V O L.

V O L, III.

No. of Plates. Page

JO Plan of the Harbour of Mafuali, 327

li Obelin^ at Axum, 458

12 Abyfllnian Crown, &Co kc* 594

VOL. IV.

13 Mikeas, 385

14 Flan of the firft Battle of Serbraxos, with

its Explanation, between 606 and 607

15 Plan of the fecond do, between 636 and 637

16 Plan of the third do. between 6y6 and 6yj

VOL. VL
PLANTS.

17 Papyrus, — — t

18 BaleiTan, two Drawings, — — i^

19 SaiTa, tW'O Drawings, — - — > ^,3
ao Ergett Dim mo, ^—^ ^2
2 1 Ergett el Krone __ ^^
S'2 Enfete, two Drawings, ' - — — ^ 45

23 Kol-qiiail, two Drawings, 51

24 Rack, ■ • — — ^^

25 Geih el Aube, — 58

26 KantufFa, - — — — ~— 60

27 Gaguedij two Drawings, ■ 64

28 Wanzey, — — — " 66

29 Farek, «™-««b^ 69

30 Kuara, _ _>-. yg

31 Waikuffa, _ Si

32 Wooginoos, or Brucea Antidyfenterica, 84
^^ CuiToj or JBankHa AbylTmica, two Drawings, 89
34 Tefi; ' 93

BEASTS.

BEASTS.

No. of Plates. Page

3^^ Rhinoceros of Africa, lo^

36 Hysena, — — — 131

-37 Jerboa, — — 148

2.'^. Fenriec, — — , — i <^7

3 9 Aflikoko, — . — 171

40 Lynx, — •— 180

BIRDS.

41 NiiTer Werk, — — - 191

42 Niffer Tokoor, — — 196

43 Racliamah, — — — " 200

44 Abba GuiP.ba, — — — 209
4^; Abou Hannes, 213'

46 Bee Cuckoo, — — — 221

47 Slieregrig, — 226

48 Waalia, — — 231

49 Tfaltialya, — — - 23-4

50 Cerailes, — — — 247

51 Binny, — ^ — — 263

52 Caretta, or Tortoife, 263

K^^ JL walls, -i/J

54? SS^ ')^? ^^'^ three Maps are to be placed at
the end of this Volume.