BOSTON UNIVERSITY College of Liberal Arts Library GRADUATE SCHOOL AFRICAN STUDIES TRAVELS TO DISCOVER THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. In the Years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772? and 1773. IN FIVE VOLUMES. BY JAMES BRUCE OF KINNAIRD, ESQ. F. R. S. VOL. III. N'tlus in cxtremum fuglt perterritus orbem, Occuluitque caput, quod adhuc latet. Ovid. Metam. EDINBURGH: PRINTED BY J. RUTHVEN, FOR G. G. J. AND J. ROBINSON, PATE RNOSTE R-RO W, LONDON. M.DCCXC. y. ~ - CONTENTS O F T H E THIRD VOLUME. BOOK V. ACCOUNT OF MY JOURNEY FROM MASUAH TO GONDAR TRANSACTIONS THERE — MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE ABYSSINIANS. CHAP. I. franJaElions at Mafuah and Arkeeko, P. i CHAP. II. Directions to travellers for preferving Health — Difeafes of the Coun- try——Mufic— Trade, &C. of Mafuah— Conferences 'with the Nay be. 3 1 Vol. III. a CHAP. ii CONTENTS. CHAP. III. Journey from Arkeeh over the Mountain Tarantay to Dixan, P. 64 CHAP. IV. Journey from Dixan to Adowa, Capital of Tigre, 93. CHAP. V. Arrive at Adowa — Reception there — Vifit Fremona— 'And Ruins of Axum— Arrive at Sire, 1 1 S CHAP. vr. Journey from Sire to Addergey,and Tranfaclions there, 152 C H A P. VII. Journey over Lamalmon to Condar, *72 CHAP. CONTENTS. iii CHAP. VIII. Reception at Gondar — Triumphal Entry of the King— -The Author s ■ frft Audienee, P. 197 CHAP. IX. Tranfaclions at Gondar, „ 233 CHAP. X. Geographical Divijicn of Abyjfmia into Provinces, 248 CHAP. XI. Various Cuftoms in Abyjfmia, fimilar to thofe in Per/iat &C— A bloody Banquet defer ibed, &C. 262; CHAP. XIL State of Religion>~-Circumcifwn — Exci/ion, &C. 313 a2 BOOK is CONTENTS. BOOK VI. FIRST ATTEMPT TO DISCOVER THE SOURCE OF THE NILS FRUSTRATED A SUCCESSFUL JOURNEY THITHER, WITH A FULL ACCOUNT OF EVERY THING RELATING TO THAT CELEBRATED RIVER. CHAP. I. The Author made Governor ofRas el Feel, P. 359 CHAP. II. Battle of Banja—Confp'iracy againf Michael— The Author retires to Emfras — Dejcription ofGondar, Emfras, and Lake Tzana, 373 CHAP. III. The King encamps at Lamgue — Tranfaclious there — Paps the Nile, and encamp at Derdera—The Author follows the King, 389 CHAP. IV. Tafs the River Gomara— Remarkable Accident there— Arrive at Dam CONTENTS. v Dara—¥ifit tbe Great Cataratl of Alata — Leave Dara, and re- fume our Journey ', P- 4°5 CHAP. V. Pafs tbe Nile, and encamp at Tfoomwa — Arrive at Derdera—^Alatm on approaching the Army — Join the King at Karcagna, 432 C H A P. VI. Kind's Army retreats towards Gondar — Memorable Faff age of the Nile— Dangerous Situation of the Army — Retreat of Kef a Tafous — Battle ofLimjour — Unexpected Peace with Fafl — Arrival at Gondary 44^ CHAP. VIL King and Army retreat to Tigre — Interefhrg Events following that Retreat The Body of Joas is found — Sociniosy a new King, proclaimed at Gondar ■, 47 0 CHAP. VIII. Second Journey to difover the Source of the Nile — Favourable turn of the- vi CONTENTS. the King's Affairs in Tigre—Wefall in lintb Faffs Army at Bamba, ' p 495 CHAP. IX. Interview with Fafil—Tranfaclions in the Camp, 509 CHAP. X. Leave Bamba, and continue our Journey Southward-— -Fall in with FofiVs Pagan Ga Ha— Encamp on the Kclti. 532 CHAP. XI. Continue our Journey— -Fall in with a Party ofGalla — Prove our Friends — Pafs the Nile — Arrive at Gouttoy andvift thejirft Ca- tarac7i 550 CHAP. XII. Leave Goutto — Mountains of the Moon — Roguery ofWoldo our Guide ^Arrive at the Source of the Nile. $yj CHAP. XIII. Attempts of the Ancients to dif cover the Source of the Nik-^-No difco- vcry CONTENTS. vii very made in latter Times — No Evidence of the Jefuits having ar- rived there — Kirchers Account fabulous — Difcovtry completely made by the Author, g0 . CHAP. XIV. Defcription of the Sources of the Nile— Of Gee/h— Accounts ofitsfe- veral Cataracls — Courfefrom its Rife to the Mediterranean, 632 C HAP. XV. Various names of this River— Ancient Opinion concerning the Cauf of Us Inundation — Real Manner by which it is cjfcRed—Remarka- able Difpoftion of the Peninfula of Africa, 654 CHAP. XVI, Egypt not the Gift cf the Nile — Ancient Opinion refuted— Mc da- u Opinion contrary to Proof and Experience, g72 CHAP. XVII. The fame SubjeB continued— Nilcmeter what—How divided and meafured, gg CHAP. viii CONTENTS, CHAP. XVIII. Inquiry about the Pojjibility of changing the Courfe of the Nile— Caufe of the Nubia, P. 7 1 2 CHAP. XIX. Kind reception among the dgows^JTbeir Number, Trade, Charac- ter, &C 726 TRAVELS The maud MASILAJH \ . Jin// iy 'At m/i/rtf TRAVELS TO DISC OVER THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. BOOK V. ACCOUNT OF MY JOURNEY FROM MASUAH TO OONDAR— TRANSACTIONS THERE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE ABYSSINIANS. CHAP. I. 'TratifaEllons at Mafuah and Arhetko, "ASUAH, which means the port or harbour of the Shepherds, is a fmall ifland immediately on the Abyf- •finian more, having an excellent harbour, and water deep enough for mips of any fize to the very edge of the ifland : here they may ride in the utmoft fecurity, from whatever point* or with whatever degree of ftrength, the wind blows. As it takes its modern, fo it received its ancient name from its harbour. It was called by the Greeks Sebajlicum Os, from Vol. III. A the 2 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER the capacity of its port, which is diflributed into three divi- fions. The ifland itfelf is very fmall, fcarce three quarters of a mile in length, and about half that in breadth, one- third occupied , by houfes, one by citterns to receive the rain-water, and the laft is referved for burying the dead. Masuah, as we have already obferved, was one of thofe towns on the weft of the Red Sea that followed the con- queft of Arabia Felix by Sinan Baiha, under Selim emperor of Conftantinople. At that time it was a place of great com- merce, poneffing a ihare of the Indian trade in common with the other ports of the Red Sea near the mouth of the Indian Ocean. It had a confiderable quantity of exports brought to it from a great tract of mountainous country behind it, in all ages very unhofpitable, and almoft inac- cehible to ftrangers. Gold and ivory, elephants and buffa- loes hides, and, above all, flaves, of much greater value, as being more fought after for their perfonal qualities than any other fort, who had the misfortune to be reduced to ■ that condition, made the principal articles of exportation; from this port. Pearls, confiderable for iize, water, or colour,, were found all along its coaft. The great convenience of; commodious riding for veffels, joined to thefe valuable ar- ticles of trade, had overcome the inconvenience of want of water, the principal neceffary of life, to which it had been fubjected from its creation. Masuah continued a place of much refort a« long as com- merce flourished, but it fell into obfeurity veiy fuddenly- under the oppreilion of the Turks, who put the finifhing- hand to the ruin of the India trade in the Red Sea, begun fome years before by the dxfeovcry of the ^ape of Good' Hope,, THE SOURCE t3F THE NILE. j Hope, and the fettlements made by the Portuguefe on the continent of India. The firft government of Mafuah under the Turks was by a bafha fent from Conftantinople, and from thence, for a time, the conqueft of Abyffinia was attempted, always with great confidence, though never with any degree of fuccefs ; fo that, loling its value as a garrifon, and, at the fame time, as a place of trade, it was thought no longer worth while to keep up fo expenfive an eftablilhment as that of a ba- flialik. The principal auxiliary, when the Turks conquered the place, was a tribe of Mahometans called Belowee, fliepherds inhabiting the coaft of the Red Sea under the mountains of the Habab, about lat. 14". In reward for this affiftance, the Turks gave their chief the civil government of Ma- fuah and its territory, under the title of Naybe of Mafuah ; and, upon the bafha's being withdrawn, this officer remained in fact fovereign of the place, though, to fave rppearances, he held it of the grand fignior for an an- nual tribute, upon receiving a firman from the Ottoman Porte. The body of janizaries, once eftablifhed there in garrifon, were left in the iiland, and their pay continued to them from Conftantinople. Thefe marrying the women of the country, their children fucceeded them in their place and pay as Janizaries ; but being now, by their intermarriages, Moors, and natives of Mafuah, they became of courfe rela- tions to each other, and always fubject to the influence of the Naybe, A 2 The 4 TRAVEOLS TO DISCOVER Tiir Naybe finding, the great diitance he was from his - protectors, the Turks in Arabia, on the other fide of the Red Sea, whofe garrifons were every day decaying in flrength, and for the moll part reduced ; fenfibie, too, how much he was in the power of the Abymnians, his enemies andnearcft neighbours, began to think that it was better to iecure him- felf at home, by making fome advances to thofe in whofe power he was. Accordingly it was agreed between them, that one half of the cufloms. Ihould be paid by him to the king of Abyffinia, who was- to fufFen him to enjoy his go- vernment unmolefted ; for Mafuah, as I have before faid,, is absolutely dcflitute of water ; neither can it be fupplied with any fort of provifions but from the mountainous coun- try of AbyfTinia. , The fame may be faid of Arkeeko, a large town on the bottom of the bay of Mafuah, which has indeed water, but labours under the fame fcarcity of provifions ; for the tract of flat land behind both, called Samhar, is a perfect defert, and only inhabited from the month of November to April, by a variety of wandering tribes called Tora, Hazorta, Shiho, and Doba, and thefe carry all their cattle to the Abyffinian fide of the mountains when the rains fall there, which is the oppofite fix months. When the feafon is thus reverfed,. they and their cattle are no longer in Samhar, or the domi- nion of the Naybe, but in the hands of the Abyilinians, efpe- cially the governor of Tigre and Baharnagam, who there- by, without being at the expence and trouble of marching agamft Mafuah with an army, can make a line round it, and ftarve all at Arkeeko and Mafuah, by prohibiting any fort of provifions to be carried thither from their fide. In the courfe of this hiflory we have feen this practifed with great THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. s great fucccfs more than once, e Specially againft the Nay be Mula in the reign of Yaibus I. The friendship of Abyffinia once fecured, and the power of the Turks declining daily in Arabia, the Naybe began by degrees to withdraw himfelf from paying tribute at all to the bafha of Jidda, to whofe government his had been annexed by the porte. He therefore received the firman as a mere form, and returned trifling prefents,but no tribute; and in troublefome times, or a weak government happening in Tigre, he withdrew himfelf equally from paying any con- sideration, either to the balha in name of tribute, or to the king of Abyffinia, as marc of the cultoms. This was pre- cisely his iituation when I arrived in Abyffinia. A great re- volution, as we have already feen, had happened in that king- dom, of which Michael had been the principal author. When he was called to Gondar and made minister there, Tigre remained drained of troops, and without a governor. Nor was the new king, Hatze Hannes, whom Michael had placed upon the throne after the murder of Joas his predeceffor, a man likely to infufe vigour into the new go- vernment. Hannes was paft feventy at his acceffion, and Michael his minifter lame, fo as fcarcely to be able to Hand, and within a few years of eighty. The Naybe, a man of about forty-eight, judged of the debility of the Abyffinian govern- ment by thofe circumstances, but in this lie was mistaken. - Already Michael had intimated to him, that, the next campaign, he would lay wafte Arkeeko and Mafuah, till they mould be as defert as the wilds of Samhar ; and as he had been all his life very remarkable for keeping his promi- 2 . fes 6 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER fes of this kind, the ftranger merchants had many of them fled to Arabia, and others to Dobarwa *, a large town in the territories of the Baharnagafh. Notwithllanding this, the Naybe had not fhewn any public mark of fear, nor fent one penny either to the king of Abyflmia or the bailia of Jidda. On the other hand, the bafha was not indifferent to his own intereft ; and, to bring about the payment, he had made an agreement with an officer of great credit with the Sherriffe of Mecca. This man was originally an Abyilinian flave, his name Metical Aga, who by his addrefs had railed himfelf to the poll of Selictar, or fword-bcarcr, to the Sher- riffe ; and, in fact, he was abfolute in all his dominions. He was, moreover, a great friend of Michael governor of Tigre, and had fupplied him with large flores of arms and ammunition for his laft campaign againlt the king at Gondar. The bafha had employed Metical Aga to inform Mi- chael of the treatment he had received from the Naybe, de- firing his amflance to force him to pay the tribute, and at the fame time intimated to the Naybe, that he not only had done fo, but the very next year would give orders through- out Arabia to arreft the goods and perfons of fuch Maho- metan merchants as fhould come to Arabia, either from motives of religion or trade. With this menage he had fent the firman from Conflantinople, defiring the return both of tribute and prefents. Maho- * Suppofed from its name to have been formerly the capital of the Dobas, THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 7 Mahomet Gibberti, Metical Aga's fervant, had come in- che boat with me ; but Abdelcader, who carried the mef- iage and firman, and who was governor of the ifland ofDa- halac, had failed at fame time with me, and had been, fpectator of the honour which was paid my ihip when fhe left the harbour of Jidda. Running ftraight over to Mafuah, Abdelcader had pro* claimed what he had feen with great exaggeration, accord- ing to the cuftora of his country ; and reported that a prince was coming, a very near relation to the king of England,, who was no trader, but came only to vifit countries and people. It was many times, and oft agitated (as we knew after- wards) between the Naybe and his counfellors, what was to be done with this prince. Some were for the moll expe- ditious, and what has long been the moil cuftomary me- thod of treating ftrangers in Mafuah, to put them to death, and divide every thing they had among the garrifon. O- thers infilled, that they mould Hay and fee what letters I had from Arabia to Abyffinia, left this might prove an addition to the ftorm jull ready to break upon them on the part of Metical Aga and Michael Suhul. But Achmet, the Naybe's nephew, faid, it was folly to doubt but that a man, under the defcription I was, would have protections of every kind ; but whether I had or not, that my very rank mould protect me in every place where there was any government whatever; it might do even a- mong banditti and thieves inhabiting woods and mountains; that a fumcient quantity of ftrangers blood had been al- A- ready -3 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER ready flied at Mafuah, for the purpofe of rapine, and he be- lieved a curfe and poverty had followed it ; that it was im- poflible for thofe who had heard the firing of thofe fhips to conjecture whether I had letters to Abyffiniaor not ; that it would be better to confider whether I was held in efleem by the captains of thofe fhips, as half of the guns they fired in compliment to me, was fufficient to deftroy them all, and lay Arkeeko and Mafuah as defolate as Michael Suhul had threatned to do ; nor could that vengeance coft any of the fhips, coming next year to Jidda, a day's failing out of their way ; and there being plenty of water when they reached Arkeeko at the fouth-weft of the bay, all this deflruction might be efFe&ed in one afternoon, and repeated once a- year without difficulty, danger, or expence, while they were watering, Ac h met, therefore, declared it was his refolution that I fhould be received with marks of confideration, till upon infpec"ting my letters, and converfing with me, they might ice what fort of man I was, and upon what errand I was come ; but even if I was a trader, and no priefl or Frank, fuch as came to difturb the peace of the country, he would not then confent to any perfonal injury being done me ; if I was indeed a priefl, or one of thofe Franks, Gcbennim, they might fend me to hell if they chofe ; but he, for his part, -would not, even then have any thing to do with it. Before our vefTel appeared, they came to thefe conclu- fions ; and though I have fuppofed that hoifting the colours and faluting me with guns had brought mc into this dan- ger, on the other hand it may be faid, perhaps with greater realbn. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 9 reafon, they were the means Providence kindly ufed to fave my life in that flaughter-houfe of itrangcrs. Achmet's father had been Naybe before, and, of courfe, the fovereignty, upon the prefent incumbent's death, was to devolve on him. And what made this lefs invidious, the fons of the prefent Naybe had all been fwept away by the fmall-pox; fo that Achmet was really, at any rate, to be con- fidered as his fon and fucceflbr. Add to this, the Naybe had received a ftroke of the palfy, which deprived him of the ufe of one of his fides, and greatly impeded his activity, unlefs in his fchemes of doing ill ; but I could not perceive, when intending mifchief, that he laboured under any infirmity. All this gave Achmet fovereign influence, and it was there- fore agreed the reft mould be only fpectators, and that my iate jQiouLd be left to him. Achmet was about twenty-five years of age, or perhaps "younger; his flature near five-feet four; he was feebly made, a little bent forward or flooping, thin, long-faced, long-neck- -ed; fmalljbut tolerably well- limbed, agile and active enough in his motions, though of a figure by no means athletic; lie had a broad forehead, thick black eye-brows, black eyes, an aquiline nofe, thin lips, and fine teeth; and, what is very rare in that country, and much defired, a thick curled beard. This man was known to be very brave in his perf'on, but -exceedingly prone to anger. A near relation to the Bahar- nagafli having faid fomething impertinent to him while he was altering the pin of his tent, which his fervant had not .placed to his mind, in a paflion he flruck the Abyflinian with a wooden mallet, and killed him on the fpot and al- though this was in the Abyflinian territory, by getting Vol. III. B nimbly ro TRAVELS TO DISCOVER nimbly on horfeback, he arrived at Arkeeko without being intercepted, though clofely purfued almoft to the town. It was the 19th of September 1 769 when we arrived atMa- fuah, very much tired of the fea, and defirous to land. But, as it was evening, I thought it advifeable to fleep on board all night, that we might have a whole day (as the firft is always a bufy one) before us, and receive in the night any intelligence from friends, who might not choofe to venture to come openly to fee us in the day, at leaft before the de- termination of the Naybe had been heard concerning us. Mahomet Gtbberti, a man whom we had perfectly fe- cured, and who was fully inftructed in our fufpicions as to the Naybe, and the manner we had refolved to behave to him, went afhore that evening ; and, being himfelf an Abyf- fmian, having connections in Mafuah, difpatched that fame night to Adowa, capital of Tigrc, thofe letters which I knew were to be of the greateft importance ; giving our friend Janni (a Greek, confidential fervant of Michael, governor of Tigrc) advice that we were arrived, had letters of Meti- cal Aga to the Naybe and Ras Michael ; as alfo Greek letters to him from the Greek patriarch of Cairo, a duplicate of which I fent by the bearer. We wrote likewife to him in Greek, that we were afraid of the Naybe, and begged him to fend to us inftantly fome man of confidence, who might protect us, or at leaft be a fpeitator of what ihould befal us. We, befides, inftructed him to advife the court of Ahyffinia, that \vc were friends of Metical Aga, had letters from him to the king and the Ras, and diftrufted the Naybe of Mafuah. Mahomet Gib*] :ti executed this cemmimon in the in- ftant, with all the punctuality of an honeit man, who was faithruJ- THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. u faithful to the inftrucfions of his matter, and was indepen- dent of every perfon elfe. He applied to Mahomet Adulai, (a perfon kept by Ras Michael as a fpy upon the Naybe, and in the fame character by Metical Aga) ; and Adulai, that very night, difpatched a trufty meffenger, with many of whom he was conilantly provided. This runner, charged with our difpatches, having a friend and correfpondent of his own among the Shiho, palled, by ways beft known to himfelf, and was fafely efcorted by his own friends till the fifth day, when he arrived at the cuilomhoufe of Adowa, and there delivered our difpatches to our friend Janni. At Cairo, as I have already mentioned, I met with my friend father Chriftopher, who introduced me to the Greek patriarch, Mark. This patriarch had told me, that there were of his communion, to the number of about twenty, then in Abymnia ; fome of them were good men and be- coming rich in the way of trade ; fome of them had fled from the feverity of the Turks, after having been detected by them in intimacy with Mahometan women ; but all of them were in a great degree of credit at the court of Abyf- fmia, and pofTefling places under government greatly be- yond his expectation. To thefe he wrote letters, in the man- ner of bulls from the pope, enjoining them, with regard to me, to obey his orders flrictly, the particulars of which I fliall have occafion to fpeak of afterwards. Janni, then at Adowa in Tigre, was a man of the firft character for good life and morals. He had ferved two kings of Abymnia with great reputation, and Michael had appointed him to the cuilomhoufe at Adowa, to fuperintend the affairs of the revenue there, while he himfelf was occu- B 2 pied I* TRAVELS TO DISCOVER pied at Gondar. To him the patriarch gave his firft injunc- tions as to watching the motives of the Naybe, and prevent- ing any ill-ufage from him, before the notice of my arrival, at Mafuah mould reach Abyffinia. Mahomet Adulai difpatched his mefTenger, and Maho- met Gibberti repaired that fame night to the Naybe at Ar- keeko, with fuch diligence that lulled him afleep as to any prior intelligence, which otherwife he might have thought he was charged to convey to Tigre ; and Mahomet Gibberti; in his converfation that night with Achmet, adroitly con+ firmed him in all the ideas he himfelf had firft ftarted in council with the Naybe. He told him the manner I had been received at Jidda, my protection at Conftantinople, and the firman which I brought from the grand fignior, the power of my countrymen in the Red Sea and India, and my perfonal friendlhip with Metical Aga. He moreover •infinu* ated, that the ccafts of the Red Sea would be in a dangerous fituation if any thing happened to me, as both the merriffe of Mecca and emperor of Conftaminople would themfelvesj, perhaps, not interfere, but would nioft certainly confider the place; where fuch difobedience mould be fhewn to theiF commands, as in a ftate of anarchy, and therefore to be a- bandoned to the'juft correction of the Englifh, if injured.. On the 20th, a. perfon came from Mahomet Gibberti to conduct me on more. The Naybe himfelf was ftill at Ar- keeko, and Achmet therefore had come down to receive the duties of the merchandife on board the veiRl which brought me. There were two elbow-chairs placed in the middle of the market- x ace. Achmet fat on one of. them, while the feveral THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. x3 feveral officers opened the bales and packages before him,; the other chair on his left hand was empty. He was drefled all in white, in a long Banian habit of muflin, and a clofe-bodied frock reaching to his an- cles, much like the white frock and petticoat the young children wear in England. This fpecies of drefs did not, in any way, fuit Achmet's fhape or fize; but, it feems, he meant to be in gala. As foon as I came in fight of him, I doubled my pace : Mahomet Gibberti's fervant whifpered to me, not to kifs his hand ; which indeed I intended to have done. Achmet flood up,juft as I arrived within arm's length of him ; when we touched each other's hands, car- ried our fingers to our lips, then laid our hands crofs our breads : I pronounced the falutation of the inferior SalamAli- cuml Peace be between us; to which he anfwered immediate- ly, Alkum Salam ! There is peace between us. He pointed to the chair, which I declined ; but he obliged me to fit down, In thefe countries, the greater honour that is fhewn you at firft meeting, the more confiderable prefent is expected. He made a fign to bring coffee directly, as the immediate of- fering of meat or drink is an aflurance your life is not in danger. He began with an air that feemed rather fcrious •: " We have expected you here fome time ago, but thought you had changed your mind, and was gone to India."— " Since failing from Jidda, I have been in Arabia Felix, the Gulf of Mocha, andcroffed laft from Lohcia."— " Are you not afraid," faidhe, " fo thinly attended, to venture upon thefe long and dangerous voyages. ?"— " The countries where I have been are either fubject to the emperor of Conftanti- nople, whole firman I have now the honour, to prefent yea. or i4 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER or to the regency of Cairo, and port of Janizaries — here are their letters — or to the fherriffe of Mecca. To you, Sir, I prefent the fherriffe's letters ; and, befides thefe, one from Metigal Aga your friend, who, depending on your character, aflurcd me this alone would be fufficient to preferve me from ill-ufage fo long as I did no wrong : as for the dan- gers of the road from banditti and lawlefs perfons, my fer- vants are indeed few, but they are veteran foldiers, tried and exercifed from their infancy in arms, and I value not the iuperior number of cowardly and diforderly perfons." He then returned me the letters, faying, " You will give thefe to the Naybe to-morrow ; I will keep Metical's letter, as it is to me, and will read it at home." He put it accord- ingly in his bofom ; and our coffee being done, I rofe to take my leave, and was prefently wet to the fkin by deluges of -orange flower-water fhowered upon me from the right and left, by two of his attendants, from filver bottles. A very decent houfe had been provided ; and I had no fooner entered, than a large dinner was fent us by Achmet, with a profufion of lemons, and good frefh water, now be- come one of the greateft delicacies in life ; and, inflantly after, our baggage was all fent unopened ; with which I was very well-pleafed, being afraid they might break fome- thing in my clock, telefcopes, or quadrant, by the violent manner in which they fatisfy their curiofity. Late at night I received a vifit from Achmet ; he was then in an undrefs, his body quite naked, a barracan thrown loofely about him; he had a pair of calico drawers; a white coul, or cotton cap, upon his head, and had no fort of 3 arms THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 15 arms whatever. I rofe up to meet him, and thank him for his civility in fending my baggage ; and when I obferved, befides, that it was my duty to wait upon him, rather than fuffer him to give himfelf this trouble, he took me by the hand, and we fat down on two cufhions together. " All that you mentioned," faid he, "is perfectly good and well ; but there are queftions that I am going to aik you which are of confequence to yourfelf. When you arrived at Jidda, we heard it was a great man, a fon or brother of a king, going to India. This was communicated to me, and to the Naybe, by people that faw every day the refpect paid to you by the captains of the mips at Jidda. Metical Aga> in his private letter delivered to the Naybe laft night by Mahomet Gibberti, among many unufual expreffions, faid, The day that any accident befals this pcrfon will be looked upon by me always as the moll unfortunate of my life. Now, you are a Chriftian, and he is a Muffulman, and thefe are expreffions of a particular regard not ufed by the one when writing of the other. He fays, moreover, that, in your finnan, the grand figniorftiles you Bey- Adze, orMoft Noble, Tell me, therefore, and tell me truly, Are you a prince, fon, brother, or nephew of a king? Are you banifhed from your own country -> and what is it that you feek in our's, ex- pofing yourfelf to lb many difficulties and dangers?1' " I am neither fon, nor brother of a king. I am a pri- vate EngUihman. If you, Sidi Achmet, faw my prince, the eldeft, or any fon of the king of England, you would then be able to form a jufter idea of them, and that would for ever hinder you from confounding them with common men like me. If they were to choofe to appear in this part of ifi TRAVELS TO DISCOVER of the world, this little fea would be too narrow for their fliips : Your fun, now fo hot, would be darkened by their fails; and when they fired their terrible wide-mouthed can- non, not an Arab would think himfelf fafe on the diflant mountains, while the houfes on the more would totter and fall to the ground as if lhaken to pieces by an earthquake. I am a fervant to that king, and an inferior one in rank; only worthy of his attention from my affection to him and his family, in which I do not acknowledge any fupe- rior. Yet fo far your correfpondents fay well: My anceflors were the kings of the country in which I was born, and to be ranked among the greater! and mofl glorious that ever bore the crown and title of King. This is the truth, and nothing but the truth. I may now, I hope, without offence, afk, To what does all this information tend ?" " To your fafety," laid he, " and to your honour, as long as I command in Mafuah ; — to your certain death and deftruction if you go among the Abyflinians; a people with- out faith, covetous, barbarous, and in continual war, of which nobody yet has been able to difcover the reafon. But of this another time." " Be it fo," faid I. " I would now fpeak one word in fe- cret to you, (upon which every body was ordered out of the room) : All that you have told me this evening I already know ; afk me not how : but, to convince you that it is truth, I now thank you for the humane part you took a- gainft thele bloody intentions others had of killing and plundering me on my arrival, upon Abdelcader governor of Dahalac's information that I was a prince, becaufe of the i honour THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 17 nour that the Englifh. fhips paid me, and that I was loaded with gold." Ullah Acbar ! (in great furprife) " Why, you was in the middle of the fea when that pafled." " Scarcely advanced fo far, I believe ; but your ad- vice was wife, for a large Engliih fhip will wait for me all this winter in Jidda, till I know what reception I meet here, or in Abyilinia. It is a 64 gun fhip ; its name, the Lion ; its captain, Thomas Price. I mention thefe particu- lars, that you may inquire into the truth. Upon the firft: news of a difafter he would come here, and deftroy Ar- keeko, and this ifland, in a day. But this is not my bufinefs with you at prefent. It is a very proper cuftom, eftablifhed all over the call, that ftrangers mould make an acknowledgement for the protection they receive, and trouble they are to occafion. I have a prefent for the Naybe, whofe temper and difpofition I know perfectly, — (Ullah Acbar ! repeats Achmet). — I have likewife a prefent for you, and for the Kaya of the Janiza- ries ; all thefe I mail deliver the firft day I fee the Naybe ; but I was taught, in a particular manner, to repofe upon you as my friend, and a fmall, but feparate acknowledgement, is due to you in that character. I was told, that your a- gent at Jidda had been inquiring everywhere among the India fliips, and at the broker of that nation, for a pair of Engliih piftols, for which he offered a very high price ; though, in all probability, thofe you would get would have been but ordinary, and much ufed ; now I have brought you this feparate prefent, a pair of excellent workmanfhip ; Vol III. G here i€ TRAVELS TO DISCOVER'. here they are : my doubt, which gave rife to this long pri- vate converfation, was, whether you would take them home yourfelf ; or, if you have a confidential fcrvant that you can trull, let him take them, fo that it be not known ; for if the Naybe" " I understand every thing that you fay, and every thing that you would fay. Though I do not know men's hearts that I never faw, as you do, I know pretty well the hearts of thofe with whom I live. Let the piftols remain with you, and mew them to nobody till I fend you a man to whom you may fay any thing, and he fhall go between you and me ; for there is in this place a number of devils, not men ; but, Ullab Kcrim, God is great. The perfon that brings you dry dates in an Indian handkerchief, and an earthen bottle to drink your water out of, give him the piftols. You may fend by him to me any thing you choofe, In the mean time, fleep found, and fear no evil; but never be perfuaded to trull )Ourfelf to the Cafrs.of Habeih at Ma- mah." On the 20th of September a female flave came and brought with her the proper credentials, an Indian hand- kerchief full of dry dates, and a pot or bottle of unvarnifh- ed potter's earth, which keeps the water very cool. I had fome doubt upon this change of fex ; but the Have, who was an Abyffinian girl, quickly undeceived me, delivered the dates, and took away the piftols deftined for Achmet, who had himfelf gone to his uncle, the Naybe, at Arkeeko. . On the 21ft, in the morning, the Naybe came from Ar- keeko. The ufual way is by fea ; it .s about two leagues ftraight THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. i^ ftraight acrofs the bay, but fomewhat more by land. The paflage from the mam is on the north fide of the ifland, which is not above a quarter of a mile broad ; there is a large ciftern for rain-water on the land- fide, where you em- bark acrofs. He was poorly attended by three or four fer- vants, miferably mounted, and about forty naked favages on foot, armed with iiiort lances and crooked knives. The drum beat before him all the way from Arkeeko to Mafuah. Upon entering the boat, the drum on the land- fide ceafed, and thofe, in what is called the Caftle of Mafuah, began. The caftle is a fmall clay hut, and in it one fwivel- gun, which is not mounted, but lies upon the ground, and is fired always with great trepidation and fome danger. The drums are earthen jars, fuch as they fend butter in to Ara- bia ; the mouths of which are covered with a Ikin, fo that a flranger, on feeing two or three of thefe together, would run a great rifk of believing them to be jars of butter, or pickles, carefully covered with oiled parchment. All the proceflion was in the fame (tile. The Naybe was dreiled in an old fhabby Turkifh habit, much too fhort for him, and feemed to have been made about the time of Sultan Selim. He wore alio upon his head a Turkifh cowke, or high-cap, which fcarccly admitted any part of his head. In this drefs, which on him had a truly ridiculous appear- ance, he received the caftan, or inveftiture, of the ifland of Mafuah; and, being thereby reprefentative of the grand fignior, confented that day to be called Omar Aga, in ho- nour of the commiilio:;. C 2 Two 2o TRAVELS TO DISCOVER Two ftandards of white filk, flripcd with red, were car- ried before him to the mofque, from whence he went ta his own houfe to receive the compliments of his friends, fn the afternoon of that day I went to pay my refpects to him, and found him fitting on a large wooden elbow-chair, at the head of two files of naked favages, who made arr avenue from his chair to the door. He had nothing upon him but a coarfe cotton fliirt, fo dirty that, it feemed, all pains to clean it again would be thrown away, and fo fhort that it fcarcely reached his knees. He was very tall and; lean, his colour black, had a large mouth and nofe ; in place of a beard, a very fcanty tuft of grey hairs upon the point of his chin ; large, dull, and heavy eyes ; a kind of malicious, contemptuous, fmile on his countenance ; he: was altogether of a moil ftupid and brutal appearance. His> character perfectly correfponded with his figure, for he was a man of mean abilities, cruel to excefs, avaricious, and a. great drunkard.. I presented my firman. — The greateft bafha in the Tur- kish empire would have rifen upon feeing it, kifTed it, and carried it to his forehead ; and I really expected that Omar Aga, for the day he bore that title, and received the caftan, would have fhewn this piece of refpeet to his mailer. But he did not even receive it into his hand, and puihed it back to me again, faying, " Do you read it all to me word for word." — " I told him it was Turktfh; that I had never learn- ed to read a word of that language." — " Nor I either," fays he ; " and I believe I never mail." I then gave him Meti- cal Aga's letter, the SherriuVs, Ali Bey's, and the Janiza- rics letters. He took them all together in both his hands, auci laid them unopened befide him, faying, " You mould. have THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. zr have brought a moullah along with you. Do you think I fhall read all thele letters ? Why, it would take me a month." And he glared upon me, with his mouth open, fo like an: idiot, that it was with the utmoft difficulty I kept my gra- vity, only anfwering, " Juft as you pleafe ; you know beft." He affected at firft not to underftand Arabic; fpoke by an interpreter in the language of Mafuah, which is a dialect of Tigre; but feeing I underftood him in this, he fpoke Ara- bic, and fpoke it well. A silence followed this fliort converfation, and I took the opportunity to give him his prefent, with which he did not feem difpleafed, but rather that it was below him to tell me fo; for, without faying a word about it, he afked me, where the Abuna of Habefli was ? and why he tarried fo long ? I faid, The wars in Upper Egypt had made the roads dangerous ; and, it was eafy to fee, Omar longed much to fettle accounts with him. I took my leave of the Naybe, very little pleafcd with my reception, and the fmall account he feemed to make of my letters, or of myfelf; but heartily fatisfied with having fent my difpatches to J.anni, now far out of his power. The inhabitants of Mafuah were dying of the fmall-pox, ; fo that there was fear the living would not be fufficient to bury the dead. The whole ifland was filled with fhrieks and lamentations both night and day. They at laft began to throw the bodies into the fca, which deprived us of our great fupport, fifli, of which we had ate fome kinds that were m TRAVELS TO DISCOVER were excellent. I had fupprcllcd my character of phyfician, -fearing I mould be detained by reafon of the multitude of fick. On the 15th of October the Naybe came to Mafuah, and difpatched the veffel that brought me over ; and, as if he had only waited till this evidence was out of the way, he, that very night, fent me word that I was to prepare him a handfome prefent. He gave in a long lift of particulars to a great amount, which he defired might be divided into three parcels, and prefented three feveral days. One was to be given him as Naybe of Arkeeko ; one as Omar Aga, re- prefentative of the grand fignior; and one for having patted our baggage gratis and unviiitcd, efpecially the large qua- drant. For my part, 1 heartily wiihed he had feen the whole, as he would not have let great value on the brafs and iron. As Achmet's afTurance of protection had given me cou- rage, I anfwcred him, That, having a firman of the grand fig- nior, and letters from Metical Aga, it was mere generofity in me to give him any prefent at all, either as Naybe or O- mar Aga, and I was not a merchant that bought and fold, nor had merchandife on board, therefore had no cuftoms to pay. Upon this he fent for me to his houfe, where I found him in a violent fury, and many ufelcfs words pafTed on both fides. At lail he peremptorily told me, That unlefs I had 300 ounces of gold ready to pay him on Monday, up- on his landing from Arkeeko, he would confine me in a dungeon, without light, air, or meat, till the bones came through my ikin for want. An THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 23 An uncle of his, then p.refent, greatly aggravated this affair. He pretented that the Naybe might do what he pleated with his prefents ; but that he could not in any ihape give away the prefent due to the janizaries, which was • 40 ounces of gold, or 400 dollars ; and this was all they Con- tented themlelves to take, on account of the letter I br >uffht from the port of janizaries at Cairo; and in this they only taxed me the fum paid by the A buna for his pailage through Mafuah. I anfwcred firmly, — " Since vou have' broken your faith with the grand fignior, the government of Cairo, the balha at Jidda, and Metical Aga, you will no doubt do as you pleafe with me ; but you may expect to fee the Englifh man of war, the Lion, before Arkeeko, fome morning by day-break." — " I lliould be glad," faid the Naybe, " to fee that man at Arkeeko or Mafuah that would carry as much writing from you to Jidda as would lie upon my thumb nail; 1 would flrip his ihirt offlirft, and then his fkin, and hang him before your door to teach . you more wifdom." — " But my wifdom has taught rare to prevent all this. My letter is already gone to Jidda ; and if, in twenty days from this, another letter from me does not follow it, you will fee what will arrive. In the mean time, I here an- nounce it to you, that I have letters from Metical Aga and the SherrifFe of Mecca, to Michael Suhul governor of Tigre, and the king of Abyffinia. I, therefore, would wim that you would leave off thefe unmanly altercations, which ferve no fort of purpofe, and let me continue my journey." The Naybe faid in a low voice to himfelf, " What, Michael too ! then go your journey, and think of the ill. that's before you." I turned my back without any anfwer or falutation, and was fcarce arrived at home when a mefTage came from the Naybe, defiring I would fend him two bottles of aquavits. I gave 24 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER I gave the fervant two bottles of cinnamon- water, which he refufed till I had firfl tailed them ; but they were not agree- able to the Naybe, fo they were returned. All this time I very much wondered what was become of Achmet, who, with Mahomet Gibberti, remained at Arkeeko: at laft I heard from the Naybe's fervant that he was in bed, ill of a fever. Mahomet Gibberti had kept his promife to me ; and, laying nothing of my fkill in phyfic, or having medicines with me, I fent, however, to the Naybe to defire leave to go to Arkeeko. He anfwered me furlily, 1 might go if I could find a boat'; and, indeed, he had taken his raea- fures fo well that not a boat would ftir for money or per- fuafion. On the 29th of October the Naybe came again from Ar- keeko to Mafuah, and, I was told, in very ill-humour with me. I foon received a meffage to attend him, and found him in a large wafte room like a barn, with about fixty people with him. This was his divan, or grand council, with alLhis janizaries and officers of Hate, all naked, affembled in par- liament. There was a comet that had appeared a few days after our arrival at Mafuah, which had been many days vifible in Arabia Felix, being then in its perihelion ; and, after palling its conjunction with the fun, it now ap- peared at Mafuah early in the evening, receding to its aphe- lion. I had been obferved watching it with great attention ; and the large tubes of the telefcopes had given offence to ignorant people. The firfl: queftion the Naybe alked me was, What that comet meant, and why it appeared? And before I could an- 4 fwer THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 25 Twer him, he again faid, " The firft time it was vifible it brought the fmall-pox, which has killed above 1000 people in Mafuah and Arkeeko. It is known you converfed with it every night atLoheia; it has now followed you again to finifh the few that remain, and then you are to carry it into Abyf- finia. What have you to do with the comet ?" Without giving me leave to fpeak, his brother Emir Achmet then faid, That he was informed I was an engineer going to Michael, governor of Tigre, to teach the Abyffinians to make cannon and gunpowder ; that the firft attack was to be againft Mafuah. Five or fix others fpoke much in the fame ftrain ; and the Naybe concluded by faying, That he would fend me in chains to Conftantinople, unlefs I went to Hamazen, with his brother Emir Achmet, to the hot- wells there, and that this was the refolution of all the janizaries; for I had concealed my being a phyfician. 1 had not yet opened my mouth. I then afked, If all thefe were janizaries ; and where was their commanding officer ? A well-looking, elderly man anfwered, " I am Sardar of the janizaries."—" If you are Sardar, then," faid I, " this firman orders you to protect me. The Naybe is a man of this country, no member of the Ottoman empire." Upon my firft producing my firman to him, lie threw it afide like wafte-paper. The greateft Vizir in the Turkifh dominions would have received it (landing, bowed his head to the ground, then kifled.it, and put it upon his forehead. A general murmur of approbation followed, and I continu- ed,— " Now I muft tell you my refolution is, never to go to Hamazen, or elfewhere, with Emir Achmet. Both he and the Naybe have fhewed themfelves my enemies ; and, I be- Vol. III. D . lieve, &■ TRAVELS TO DISCOVER lieve, that to fend me to Hamazen is to rob and murder me out of light." — " Dog of a Chriftian !" fays Emir Achmet, putting his hand to his knife, " if the Nay be was to mur- der you, could he not do it here now this minute ?" — " No," fays the man, who had called himfelf Sardar, " he could not ; I would not fuffer any fuch thing. Achmet is the ftranger's friend, and recommended me to-day to fee no in- jury done him; he is ill, or would have been here himfelf." " Achmet," faid I, " is my friend, and fears God ; and were I not hindered by the Naybe from feeing him, his fick- nefs before this would have been removed. I will go to Achmet at Arkeeko, but not to Hamazen, nor ever again to the Naybe here in Mafuah. Whatever happens to me muft befal me in my own houfe. Confider what a figure a few naked men will make the day that my countrymen afk the reafon of this cither here or in Arabia." I then turned my back, and went out without ceremony. " A brave man !"" I heard a voice fay behind me, " Wallah Englefe! True Englifh, by G — d !" I went away exceedingly diflurbed, as it was plain my affairs were coming to a crifis for good or for evil. I obferved, or thought I obferved, all the people fhun me. I was, indeed, upon my guard, and did not wifli them to come near me ; but, turning down into my own gateway, a man palled clofe by me, faying diilinctly in my ear, though in a low voice, firfl in Tigre and then in Arabic, " Fear nothing., or, Be not afraid." This hint, lliort as it was, gave me no fmalL courage. I had fcarcely dined, when a fervant came with a letter from Achmet at Arkeeko, telling me how ill he had beent and how forty he was that I refufed to come to fee him, as Mahomet THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 27 Mahomet Gibberti had told him I could help him. He de- fired me alfo to keep the bearer with me in my houfe, and give him charge of the gate till he could come to Mafuah himfelf. I soon faw the treachery of the Naybe. He had not, in- deed, forbid me to go and fee his nephew, but he had for- bid any boat to carry me; and this I told the fervant, appeal- ing to the Sardar for what I faid in the divan of my willing- nefs to go to Arkeeko to Achmet, though I pofitively refu- fed to go to Hamazen. I begged the fervant to flop for a moment, and go to the Sardar who was in the caftle, as I had been very effentially obliged to him for his interpofi- tion at a very critical time, when there was an intention to take away my life. I fent him a fmall prefent by Achmet's fervant, who delivered the meffage faithfully, and had heard all that had paffed in the divan. He brought me back a pipe from the Sardar in return for my prefent, with this meffage, That he had heard of my countrymen, though he had never feen them ; that he loved brave men, and could not fee them injured; but Achmet being my friend, I had no need of him. That night he departed for Arkeeko, defiring us to fhut the door, and leaving us another man, with or- ders to admit nobody, and advifmg us to defend ourfelves if any one offered to force entrance, be they who they would, for that nobody had bufinefs abroad in the night. I now began to refume my confidence, feeing that Pro- vidence had ftill kept us under his protection ; and it was not long when we had an opportunity to exercife this con- fidence. About 12 o'clock at night a man came to the door, and defired to be admitted ; which requeft was refufed D-2 without 28 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER without any ceremony. Then came two or three more, in the name of Achmet, who were told by the fervant that they would not be admitted. They then afked to fpeak with me, and grew very tumultuous, prefling with their backs againlt the door. When I came to them, a young man a- mong them fakl he was fon to Emir Achmet, and that his father and fome friends were coming to drink a glafs o£ aracky (fo they call brandy) with me. I told him my refo- lution was not to admit either Emir Achmet, or any other perfon at night, and that I never drank aracky. They attempted again to force open the door, which was ftrongly barricaded. But as there were cracks in it, I put the point of a fword through one of them, defiring them, to be cautious of hurting themfelves upon the iron fpikes. Still they attempted to force open the door, when the fer- vant told them, that Achmet, when he left him the charge of that door, had ordered us to fire upon them who offered to- force an entrance at night. A voice afked him, Who the devil he was ? The fervant anfwered, in a very fpirited manner, That he had greater reafon to afk who they were, as he took them for thieves, about whole names he did not trou- ble himfelf, " However," fays he, " mine is Abdelcader, (the fon of fomebody elfe whom I do not remember). Now you know who I am, and that I do not fear you ; and you, Ya- goube, if you do not fire upon them, your blood be upon- your own head. The Sardar from the caftle will foon be up with the reft." I ordered then a torch to be brought, that they might have a view of us through the cracks o£ the door ; but Abdelcader's threat being fully fumcient, they, retired, and we heard no more of them. It THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. ^ It was the 4th of November when the fervant of Achmet returned in a boat from Arkeeko, and with him four ja- nizaries. He was not yet well, and was very defirous to fee me. He fufpected either that he was poiibned or bewitch- ed, and had tried many charms without good effect. We arrived at Arkeeko about eleven, paffed the door of the Naybe without challenge, and found Achmet in his own houfe, ill of an intermitting, fever, under the very vvoril of regimens. He was much apprehenfive that he mould die, or lofe. the ufe of his limbs as Emir Achmet had done : the fame- woman, a Shiho, and a witch, was> he faid, the occafion of both. " If Achmet, your uncle, had loft the ufe of his. tongue, faid I, it would have faved him a great deal of im- proper difcourfe in the divan." His head ached violently,, and he could only fay, " Aye! aye! the old mifcreant knew I was ill, or that would not have happened." I gave Ach- met proper remedies to eafe his pains and his ftomach, and the next morning began with baric This medicine operates quickly here; nay, even the bark that remains, after the ftronger fpiritous tincture is drawn from it, feems toanfwer the purpofe very little worle than did the frrft. I ftaid here till the 6th in the morning, at which time he was free from the fever. I left him, how- ever, fome dofes to prevent its return ; and he told me, on the 7th, he would come to Mafuah with boats and men to bring us with our baggage to Arkeeko, and free us from the bondage of Mafuah. Upon p TRAVELSTODISCOVER Upon the 6th, in the morning, while at breakfaft, I was told that three fervants had arrived from Tig-re ; one from Janni, a young man and Have, who fpoke and wrote Greek perfectly ; the ether two fervants were Ras Michael's, or rather the king's, both wearing the red fhort cloak lined and turned up with mazarine-blue, which is the badge of the king's fervant, and is called Jhalaka. Ras Michael's letters to the Naybe were very fhort. He faid the king Hatze Hannes's health was bad, and wondered at hearing that the phyfician, fent to him by Metical Aga from Arabia, was not forwarded to him inftantly at Gondar, as he had heard of his being arrived at Mafuah fome time before. He ordered the Naybe, moreover, to furniili me with necefTaries, and difpatch me without lofs of time ; although all the letters were the contrivances of Janni, his particular letter to the Naybe was in a milder ftile. He exprefTed the great ncceility the king had for a phyfician, and how impatiently he had waited his arrival. He did not fay that he had heard any fuch perfon was yet arrived at Mafuah, only wifhed he might be forwarded without delay as foon as he came. To us Janni fent a menage by a fervant, bidding us a hearty welcome, aknowledging the receipt of the patriarch's letter, and advifing us, by all means, to come fpeedily to him, for the times were very unfettled, and might grow worfe. In the afternoon I embarked for Mafuah. At the more I received a menage from the Naybe to come and fpeak to him ; but I returned for anfwer, It was impoflible, as I was obliged to go to Mafuah to get medicines for his nephew, Achmet. x CHAR THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 31 CHAP. II. Direcllons to Travellers for preferving Health — D'feafes of the Country—. Mufic — Trade t &c. of Mafuah — Conferences -with the Naybe. WE arrived in the ifland at eight o'clock, to the great joy of our fervants, who were afraid of fome ftratagem of the Naybe. We got every thing in order, without inter- ruption, and completed our obfervations upon this inhof- pitable ifland, infamous for the quantity of Chriftian blood flied there upon treacherous pretences. Masu ah, by a great variety of obfervations of the fun and itars, we found to be in lat. 150 33' s"> and> hY an obfervation of the fecond fatellite of Jupiter, on the 22d of September 1 769, we found its longitude to be 390 36' 30" eaft of the meridian of Greenwich : the variation of the needle was obferved at mid-day, the 23d of September, to be 120 48'. W. From this it follows, that Loheia, being nearly oppofite, (for it is in lat. 1 50 40' 52") the breadth of the Red Sea between Mafuah and Loheia is 40 10' 22". Suppoiing, then, a degree to be equal to 66 ftatute miles, this, in round numbers, will bring the breadth %i TRAVELS TO DISCOVER breadth to be 276 miles, equal to 92 leagues, or there- abouts. Again, as the generality of maps have placed the coaft of Arabia where Loheia Hands, in the 440, and it is the part of the peninfula that rims fartheft to the weftward, all the weft coaft of Arabia Felix will fall to be brought farther eaft about 3° 46' o". Before packing up our barometer at Loheia, I filled a tube with clean mercury, perfectly purged of outward air; and, on the 30th of Auguft, upon three feveral trials, the mean of the remits of each trial was, at fix in the morning, 26° 8' 8"; two o'clock in the afternoon, 260 4' \"\ and, half part fix in the evening, 260 6' 2", fair, clear weather, with very little wind at weft. At Mafuah, the 4th of October, I repeated the fame ex- periment with the fame mercury and tube ; the means were as follow : At fix in the morning 250 8' 1" ; two o'clock in the afternoon, 250 3' 2" ; and, at half paft fix in the evening, 25° 3' 7", clear, with a moderate wind at weft, fo that the ba- rometer fell one inch and one line at Mafuah lower than it was at Loheia, though it often rofe upon violent ftorms of wind and rain ; and, even where there was no rain, it again fell inftantly upon the ftorm ceafing, and never arrived to the height it flood laft at on the coaft of Arabia. The greateft height I ever obferved Fahrenheit's thermometer in the fhadc, at Mafuah, was on the 2 2d of October, at two in the afternoon, 930, wind N. E. and by N. cloudy; the loweft was on the 23d, at four in the morning, 820, wind weft. It was, to fenfe, much hotter than in any part of Arabia Felix ; but 1 we THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 53 we found no fuch tickling or irritation on our legs as we had done at Loheia, probably becaufe the foil was here lefs impregnated with fait. We obferved here, for the flrft time, three remarkable circumftances fhewing the increafe of heat. I had carried with me feveral fteel plates for making fcrews of different fizes. The heat had fo fwelied the pin, or male fcrew, that it was cut nearly one-third through by the edge of the fe- male. The fealing-wax, of which we had procured a frefh parcel from the India fhips, was fully more fluid, while ly- ing in our boxes, than tar. The third was the colour of the fpirit in the thermometer, which was quite difcharged, and (licking in maffes at unequal heights, while the liquor was clear like fpring-water. Masuah is very unwholefome, as, indeed, is the whole coaft of the Red Sea from Suez to Babelmandeb, but more efpecially between the tropics. Violent fevers, called there ncdad, make the principal figure in this fatal lift, and gene- rally terminate the third day in death. If the patient fur- vives till the fifth day, he very often recovers by drinking water only, and throwing a quantity of cold water upon him, even in his bed, where he is permitted to lie without attempting to make him dry, or change his bed, till ano- ther delude adds to the firft. lt>v There is no remedy fo fovereign here as the hark ; but it mult be given in very different times and manners from thofe purfued in Europe. Were a phyfician to take time to prepare his patient for the bark, by firfl giving him purga- tives, he would be dead of the fever before his preparation Vdl. III. E was 34 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER was completed. Immediately when a naufea or averlion- to eat, frequent fits of yawning, ftraitnefs about the eyes, and an unufual, but not painful fenfation along the fpine, comes on, no time is then to be loil ; fmall dofes of the bark muft be frequently repeated, and perfect abltinence obferved, un- l^fs from copious draughts of cold water. I never dared to venture, or feldom, upon the deluge of water, but am convinced it is frequently of great ufe. The fecond or third dofe of the bark, if any quantity is fwal- lowed, never fails to purge; and, if this evacuation is copious, the patient rarely dies, but, on the contrary, his recovery is generally rapid. Moderate purging, then, is for the moil part to be adopted ; and rice is a much better food than fruit. I know that all this is heterodox in Europe, and contrary to the practice, becaufe it is contrary to fyltem. For my own part, I am content to write faithfully what I carefully, obferved, leaving every body afterwards to follow their own way at their peril. Bark, I have been told by Spaniards who have been in South America, purges always when taken in their fevers, A different climate, different regimen, and different habit of body or exercife, may furely fo far alter the operation of a drug as to make it have a different effect in Africa from what it has in Europe. Be that as it may, ftill I fay bark is a purgative when it is fuccefsful in this fever; but bleeding, at no ftage of this diltemper, is of any fervice ; and, indeed, if attempted the fecond day, the lancet is feldom followed by blood. Ipecacuanha both fatigues the patient and height- ens the fever, and ib conducts the patient more fpeedily to his 2 end. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 35 end. Black fpots are frequently found on the breaft and belly of the dead perfon. The belly fwells, and the ftench becomes infufferable in three hours after death, if the per- fon dies in the day, or if the weather is warm. The next common difeafe in the low country of Arabia, the intermediate ifland of Mafuah, and all Abyffmia, (for the difeafes are exactly limilar in all this tract) is the Tertian •fever, which is in nothing different from our Tertian, and is fuccefsfully treated here in the fame manner as in Europe. As no fpecies of this difeafe (at leafl that I have feen) me- naces the patient with death, efpecially in the beginning of the diforder, fome time may be allowed for preparation to thofe who -doubt the effect of the bark in the country. But ftill I apprehend the fafeft way is to give fmall dofes from the beginning, on the firft intermiffion, or even remiffion, though this mould be fomcwhat obicure and uncertain. To fpeak plainly; when the flomach nau- feates, the head akes, yawning becomes frequent, and not an exceffive pain in the nape of the neck, when a fhiver- ing which goes quickly off, a coldnefs down the fpine, a more than ordinary cowardlinefs and inactivity prevails, (the heat of the climate gives one always enough of thefe lafl fcnfations) ; I lay, when any number of thefe fymptoms unite, have recourfe to the powder of bark infilled in water; ftiut your month againlt every fort of food; and, at the o-ifxs, your difeafe will immediately decide its name amon the clafs of fevers. rr O All fevers end in intcrmittents; and if thefe intermittcnts continue long, and the firft evacuations by the bark have not been copious and conftant, thefe fevers generally end E 2 in •36 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER in dyfcnteries,which are always tedious and very frequently prove mortal. Bark in fmall quantities, ipecacuanha, too, in very fmall quantities fo as not to vomit, water, and fruit not over ripe, have been found the moll fuccefsful remedies. As for the other fpecies of dyfentery, which begins with a conftant diarrhoea, when the guts at laft are excoriated, and the mucus voided by the flools, this difeafe is rarely cu- red if it begins with the rainy feafon. But if, on the contrary, it happen either in the funny fix months, or the end of the rainy ones immediately next to them, fmall dofes of ipeca- cuanha either carry it off, or it changes into an intermitting fever, which yields afterwards to the bark. And it always has feemed to me that there is a great affinity between the fevers and dyfenteries in thefe countries, the one ending in the other almoft perpetually.. The next difeafe, which we may fay is endemial in the countries before mentioned, is called banzecr, the bogs or the /wine, and is a fwelling of the glands of the throat, and un- der the arms. This the ignorant inhabitants endeavour to- bring to a fuppuration,. but in vain ; they then open them in feveral places.; a fore and running follows, and a difeafe very much refembling what is called in Europe the Evil. The next (though not a dangerous complaint) has a very terrible appearance. Small tubercules or fwellings appeal' all over the body, but thickefl in the thighs, arms, and legs. Thefe fwellings go and come for weeks together without pain ; though the legs often fwell to a monftrous fize as in the dropfy. Sometimes the patients have ulcers in theis noies THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 37 nofes and mouths, not unlike thofc which are one of the malignant confequences of the venereal difeafe. The fmall fwellings or eruptions, when fqueezed, very often yield blood ; in other refpe&s the patient is generally in good health, faving the pain the ulcers give him, and the Hill greater uneafinefs of mind which he fuffers from the fpoil- ing of the fmoothnefs of his ikin ; for all the nations in Africa within the tropics are wonderfully affe&ed at the fmalleft eruption or roughnefs of the fkin. A black of Sen- naar will hide himfelf in the houfe where dark, and is not to be feen by his friends, if he mould have two or three pimples on any part of his body. Nor is there any remedy, however violent:, that they will not fly to for immediate re- lief. Scars and wounds are no blemifhes ; and I have feen them, for three or four pimples on their bracelet arm,fuffer the application of a red-hot iron with great refolution and conflancy. These two laft difeafes yielded, the firft flowly, and fome- times imperfectly, to mercurials ; and fublimate has by no means in thefe climates the quick and decifive effecSts it has in Europe. The fecond is completely and fpsedily cured by antimonials. The next complaint I mail mention, as common in thefe countries, is called Farenteit, a corruption of an Arabic word, which ngnifies the worm of Pharaoh ; all bad things being by the Arabs attributed to thefe poor kings, who feem to be looked upon by pofterity as the evil genii of the country which they once governed.. This 38 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER. This extraordinary animal only afflicts thofe who are in conftant habit of drinking flagnant water, whether that water is drawn out from wells, as in the kingdom of Sennaar, or found by digging in the fand where it is making its way to its proper level the fea, after falling down the fide of the mountains after the tropical rains. This plague appears indifcriminately in every part of the body, but ofteneft in the legs and arms. I never law it in the face or head ; but, far from affecting the flefhy parts of the body, it generally comes out where the bone has leaf! flefh upon it. Upon looking at this worm, on its firft appearance, a fmall black head is extremely vifible, with a hooked beak of a whitifh colour. Its body is feemingly of a white iilky texture, very like a fmall tendon bared and perfectly clean- ed. After its appearance the natives of thefe countries, who are ufed to it, feize it gently by the head, and wrap it round a thin piece- of filk or fmall bird's feather. Every day, or feveral times a-day, they try to wind it up upon the quill as far as it comes readily; and, upon the fmalleft reMance, they give over for fear of breaking it. I have fecn five feet, or fomething more of this extraordinary animal, winded out with invincible patience in the courfe of three weeks. No inflammation then remained, and fcarcely any rednefs round the edges of the aperture, only a fmall quantity of lymph appeared in the hole or puncture, which fcarcely ifliicd out upon prefling. In three days it was commonly well, and left no fear or dimple implying lofs of fubitance. I myself experienced this complaint. I was reading up- on a fofa at Cairo, a few days after my return from Upper Egypt, when I felt in the fore part of my leg, upon the bone. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 39 bone, about; feven inches below the center of my knee-pan,, an itching refembling what follows the bite of a mufcheto. Upon fcratching, a fmall tumour appeared very like a mufcheto bite. The itching returned in about an hour af- terwards ; and, being more intent upon my reading thnn my leg, I fcratched it till the blood came. I foon after ob- ferved fomething like a black fpot, which had already rifen confiderably above the furface of the fkin. All medicine proved ufelefs ; and the difeafe not being known at Cairo, there was nothing for it but to have recourfe to the only received manner of treating it in this country, About three inches of the worm was winded out upon a piece of raw filk in the firft week, without pain or fever : but it was broken afterwards throueh the careleffnefs and rafhnefs of O the furgeon when changing a poultice on board the fhip in which I returned to France : a violent inflammation fol- lowed ; the leg fwelled fo as to fcarce leave appearance of knee or ancle ; the fkin, red and diitended, fecmed glazed like a mirror. The wound was now healed, and difcharged nothing ; and there was every appearance of mortification coming on. The great care and attention procured me in the lazaretto at Marfeilles, by a nation always foremoft in the acts of humanity to ftrangers, and the attention and fkill of the furgeon,. recovered me from this troublefome complaint. Fifty-two days had clap fed fince it firft begun ; thirty- five of which were fpent in the greateft agony. It fuppura- ted at laft ; and, by enlarging the orifice, a good quantity of matter was difcharged. I had made conftant ufe of baric, both in fomentations and inwardly; but I did not recover the ftrength of my leg entirely till, near a year after, by ufmg 4o TRAVELS TO DISCOVER ufing the baths of Poretta, the property of my friend Count Ranuzzi, in the mountains above Bologna, which I recom- mend, for rheir efficacy, to all thofe who have wounds, as I do to him to have better accommodation, greater abun- dance of, and lefs impofition in, the neceffaries of life than when I was there, It is but a few hours journey over the mountains to Piiloia. The laft I ihall mention of thefe endemial difeafes, and the mod terrible of all others that can fall to the lot of man, is the Elephantiafis, which fome have chofen to call the Le- profy, or Lepra Arabum ; though in its appearance, and in all its circumftances and ftages, it no more refembles the leprofy of Paleftine, (which is, I apprehend, the only le- profy that we know) than it does the gout or the dropfy. I never faw the beginning of this difeafe. During the courfe of it, the face is often healthy to appearance ; the eyes vivid and fparkling: thofe affected have fometimes a kind of dry- nefs upon the fkin of their backs, which, upon fcratching, I have feen leave a mealinefs, or whitenefs ; the only cir- cumitance, to the bed of my recollection, in which it re- fembled the leprofy, but it has no fcalinefs. The hair, too, is of its natural colour; not white, ycllowim, or thin, as in the leprofy, but fo far from it that, though the Abyili- nians have very rarely hair upon their chin, I have feen people, apparently in the laft ft age of the elephantiafis, with a very good beard of its natural colour. The appetite is generally good during this difeafe, nor does any change of regimen affect the complaint. The pulfe is only fubject to the fame variations as in thofe who have no declared nor predominant illnefs ; they have a con- 4 flant THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 4I ftant thirft, as the lymph, which coniinually oozes from their wounds, probably demands to be replaced. It is averred by the Abyflinians that it is not infectious. I have feen the wives of thofe who were in a very inveterate ftage of this illnefs, who had born them feveral children, who were yet perfectly free and found from any contagion. Nay, I do not remember to have feen children vifibly infected with this difeafe at all ; though, I muft own, none of them had the appearance of health. It is faid this difeafe, though furelv born with the infant, does not become vifible till the ap- proach to manhood, and fometimes it is faid to pafs by a whole generation. The chief feat of this difeafe is from the bending of the knee downwards to the ancle ; the leg is fwelled to a o-reat degree, becoming one fize from bottom to top, and gather- ed into circular wrinkles, like fmall hoops or plaits ; be- tween every one of which there is an opening that feparates it all round from the one above, and which' is all raw flefli, or perfectly excoriated. From between thefe circular divi- fions a great quantity of lymph conftantly oozes. The fwell- ing of the leg reaches over the foot, fo as to leave about an inch or little more of it feen. It mould feem that the black colour of the fkin, the thicknefs of the leg, and its fhapelefs form, and the rough tubercules, or cxcrefcences, very like thofe feen upon the elephant, give the name to this difeafe, and form a finking refemblance between the diftempered legs of this unfortunate individual of the human fpecies, and thofe of the noble quadruped the elephant, when in full vigour. Vol.111. F , ^ 42 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER An infirmity, to which the Abyffinians are fubject, of much worfe confequence to the community than the ele- phantiafis, I mean lying, makes it impoffible to form, from their relations, any accurate account of fymptoms that might lead the learned to difcover the caufes of this extraordinary diftemper, and thence fuggeft fome rational method to cure, cr diminifh it. It was not from the ignorance of language, nor from want of opportunity, and lefs from want of pains, that I am not able to give a more diftinct account of this dreadful dif- order. I kept one of thofe infected in a houfe adjoining to mine, in my way to the palace, for near two years ; and, during that time, I tried every fort of regimen that I could devife. My friend, Dr Ruffel, phyfician at Aleppo, (now in the Eafl Indies), to whofe care and ikill I was indebted for my life in a dangerous fever which I had in Syria, and whofe friendfhip I muft always confider as one of the greateft ac- quisitions I evef made in travelling, defiredme, among other medical inquiries, to try the effect of the cicuta upon this difeafe ; and a considerable quantity, made according to the direction of Dr Storkc, phyfician in Vienna, was fent me from. Paris, with inllructions how to ufe it* Having firft explained the whole matter, both to the king, Ras Michael, and Azage Tecla Haimanout, chief juftice of the king's bench in Abyffmia, and told them of the con- fequences of giving too great a dole, I obtained their joint permi/fions to go on without fear, and do what I thought requifite. It is my opinion, fays the Azage, that no harm that may accidentally befal one miferable individual, now already cut off from fociety, mould hinder the trial* (the* only THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 43 only one we ever mall have an opportunity of making) of a medicine which may fave multitudes hereafter from a dif- eafc fo much worfe than death. It was foon feen, by the conftant adminiftration of ma- ny ordinary dofes, that nothing was to be expected from violent or dangerous ones ; as not the fmalleil degree of amendment ever appeared, either outwardly or in- wardly, to the fenfation of the patient. Mercury had no better effect. Tar-water alfo was tried ; and if there was any thing that produced any feeming advantage, it was whey made of cow's milk, of which he was exceflively fond, and which the king ordered him to be furniilied with at my defire, in any quantity he pleafed, during the experi- ment. The troubles of the times prevented further attention. Dr Storke's cicuta, in feveral inftances, made a perfect cure of the hanzeers improperly opened, though, in feveral other cafes, without any apparent caufe, it totally mifcarried. I iearce ever obferved mercury fucceed in any complaint. It is not for me to attempt to explain what are the caufes of thefe diftempers. Thofe whole iludies lead them to fuch inveftigations will do well to attach themfelves, for firfl principles, to the difference of climate, and the abui'es that obtain under them ; after this, to particular circum- flances in the neceiTaries of life, -to which nature has fubjected the people of thefe countries. Under the firft, we may rank a feafon of fix months rains, fuccceded, without interval, by a cloudlefs Iky and vertical fun ; and cold nights which as immediately follow thefe fcorching F 2 days. 44 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER days. The earth, notwithstanding' the heat of thefe days, is yet perpetually cold, fo as to feel difagreeably to the foles of the feet ; partly owing to the fix months rains, when no fun appears, and partly to the perpetual equality of nights and days ; the thinnefs of the cloathing in the better fort, (a mullin fliirt) while the others are naked, and fleep in this manner expofed, without covering in the cold nights, after the violent perfpiration during the fultry day. Thele may be reckoned imprudences, while the conftant ufe of ftagnant putrid water for four months of the year, and the quantity of fait with which the foil of thole countries is impregnated, may be circumftances lefs conducive to health ; to which, however, they have been for ever fubject by nature. It will be very reafonably expected, that, after this un- favourable account of the climate, and the uncertainty of remedies for thefe frequent and terrible difeafes, I mould fay fomething of the regimen proper to be obferved there, in order to prevent what it feems fo doubtful whether we can ever cure. My firft general advice to a traveller is this, to remember well what was the Hate of his conftitution before he vifit- ed thefe countries, and what his complaints were, if he had any ; for fear very frequently feizes us upon the firft light of the many and fudden deaths we fee upon our firft arrival, and our fpirits are fo lowered by perpetual per- fpiration, and our nerves fo relaxed, that v/e are apt to mif- take the ordinary fymptoms of a difeafe, familiar to us in our own country, for the approach of one of thefe terrible diftempers that are to hurry us in a few hours into eter- nity. This has a bad effect in the very ilighteft diforders ; fo THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 45 fo that it hath become proverbial — If you think you mall die. you mail die. If a traveller finds, that he is as well after having been fome time in this country as he was before entering it, his bell way is to make no innovation in his regimen, further than in abating fomething in the quantity. But if he is of a tender conititution, he cannot acft more wifely than to follow implicitly the regimen of fober, healthy people of the country, without arguing upon European notions, or fubftituting what we conlider as fuccedaneums to what we fee ufed on the fpot. All fpirits are to be avoided; even bark is better in water than in wine. The ftomach, being relaxed by-pro fufe perfpiration, needs fomething to flxengthen, but not inflame, and enable it to perform digeftion. For this reafon (inftinct we mould call it, if fpcaking of beads) the natives of all eaflern countries feafon every fpecies of food, even the fimpleft, and mildelt, rice, fo much with fpices, ef- pecially pepper, as abfolutely to blifter a European palate. These powerful antifeptics Providence has planted in thefe countries for this ufe ; and the natives have, from the earlieft times, had recourfe to them in proportion to the quantity that they can procure. And hence, in thefe dangerous climates, the natives -are as healthy as we are in our northern ones. Travellers in Arabia are difgufted at this feemingly inflammatory food; and nothing is more com- mon than to hear them fay that they are afraid thefe quan- tities of fpices will give them a fever. But did they ever feel themfelves heated by ever fo great a quantity of black pepper? Spirits they think, fubftituted to this, anfwer the fame purpofe. But does not the heat of your ikin, the violent 4f5 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER -violent pain in your head, while the fpirits are filtering through the veffels of your brains, (hew the difference ? and when did any ever feel a like fenlation from black pepper, or any pepper ate to excefs in every meal ? I lay down, then, as a pofitive rule of health, that the warmeft difhes the natives delight in, are the moft whole- fome ftrangers can ufe in the putrid climates of the Lower Arabia, Abyflinia, Sennaar, and Egypt itfelf ; and that fpi- rits, and all fermented liquors, mould be regarded as poifons, and, for fear of temptation, not fo much as be carried along with you, unlefs as a menftruum for outward applications. Spring, or running water, if you can find it, is to be your only drink. You cannot be too nice in procuring this arti- cle. But as, on both coafts of the Red Sea you fcarcely find any but ftagnant water, the way I practiced was always this, when I was at any place that allowed me time and opportunity — I took a quantity of fine fand, warned it from the fait quality with which it was impregnated, and fprcad it upon a fheet to dry ; I then filled an oil-jar with water, and poured into it as much from a boiling kettle as would ferve to kill all the animalcula and eggs that were in it. I then fifted my dried fand, as flowly as poffible, upon the furface of the water in the jar, till the fand flood half a foot in the bottom of it ; after letting it fettle a night, we drew it off by a hole in the jar with a fpigot in it, about an inch a- bove the fand ; then threw the remaining fand out upon the cloth, and dried and waflied it again. This procefs is fooner performed than defcribed. The water is as limpid as the purcft fpring, and little in- , ferior THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 47 ferior to the fineft Spa. Drink largely of this without fear, according as your appetite requires. By violent perfpira- tion the aqueous part of your blood is thrown off; and it is not fpiritous liquor can reftore this, whatever momentary ftrength it may give you from another caufe. When hot, and almoft fainting with weaknefs from continual perfpira- tion, I have gone into a warm bath, and been immediately reftored to ftrength, as upon firft rifmg in the morning. Some perhaps will object, that this heat fhould have weak- ened and overpowered you ; but the fact is otherwife ; and the reafon is, the quantity of water, taken up by your ab- forbing vefTels, reftored to your blood that finer fluid which was thrown off, and then the uneafinefs occafioned by that want ceafed, for it was the want of that we called uneafinefs. In Nubia never fcruple to throw yourfelf into the coldeft ri- ver or fpring you can find, in whatever degree of heat you are. The reafon of the difference in Europe is, that when by vio- lence you have raifed yourfelf to an extraordinary degree of heat, the cold water in which you plunge yourfelf checks your perfpiration, and fhuts your pores fuddenly. The me- dium is itfelf too cold, and you do net ufe force fuificicnt to bring back the perfpiration, which nought but action occa- fioned; whereas, in thefe warm countries, your perfpiration is natural and conftant,. though no action be ufed, only from the temperature of the medium ; therefore, though your pores are fhutvthe moment you plunge yourfelf in the cold water, the fimple condition of the outward air again covers you with pearls of fweat the moment you emerge ; and you begin the expence of the aqueous part of your blood afrefh from the new ftock that you have laid in by your immerfion. 2m 43 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER For this reafon, if you are well, deluge yourfelf from head to foot, even in the houfe, where water is plenty, by di- recting a fervant to throw buckets upon you at leaft once a-day when you are hotteft; not from any imagination that the water braces you, as it is called, for your bracing will laft you only a very few minutes ; but thefe copious inun- dations will carry watery particles into your blood, though not equal to bathing in running ftreams, where the total immerfion, the motion of the water, and the action of the limbs, all confpire to the benefit you are in queft of. As to cold water bracing in thefe climates, I am perfuaded it is an idea not founded in truth. By obfervation it has appeared often to me, that, when heated by violent exercife, I have been much more relieved, and my ftrength more complete- ly reflored by the ufe of a tepid bath, than by an equal time palled in a cold one. Do not fatigue yourfelf if poflible. Exercife is not ei- ther fo neceflary or falutary here as in Europe. Ufe fruits fparingly, efpecially if too ripe. The mufa, or banana, in ArabiaFelix, are always rotten-ripe when they are brought to you. Avoid all fort of fruit expofed forfale in the markets, as it has probably been gathered in the fun, and carried miles in it, and all its juices are in a ftate of fermentation. Lay it firft upon a table covered with a coarfe cloth, and throw frequently a quantity of water upon it ; and, if you have an opportunity, gather it in the dew of the morning before dawn of day, for that is far better. Rice and pillaw are the bell food ; fowls are very bad, eggs are worfe ; greens are not wholefome. In Arabia the mutton is good, and, when roalted, may be eaten warm with 3 fafety ; THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 4$ fafety; perhaps better if cold. Ail ioups or broths are to be avoided ; all game is bad. I have known many very fcrupulous about eating {up- pers, but, I am peri'uaded, without reaibn. The great perfpi- ration which relaxes the ftomach fo much through the day has now ceafed, and the breathing of cooler air has given to its opevaiions a much itronger tone. I always made it my moil liberal meal, if I ate meat at all. While at Jidda, my fupper was a piece of cold, roafted mutton, and a large glafs of water, with my good friend Captain Thornhill, du- ring the dog-days. After this, the exceffive heat of the day being paft, co- vering our heads from the night-air, always blowing at that time from the eaft and charged with watery particles from the Indian Ocean, we had a luxurious walk of two or three hours, as free from the heat as from the noife and impertinence of the day, upon a terraffed roof, under a cloud- lefs iky, where the fmalleft ftar is vifible. Thefe evening walks have been looked upon as one of the principal plea- fures of the eaft, even though not accompanied with the luxuries of aftronomy and meditation. They have been ad- hered to from early times to the prefent, and we may there- fore be allured they were always wholefome; they have often been mifapplied and mifpent in love. It is a -cuftom that, from the firft ages, has prevailed in the eaft, to fhriek and lament upon the death of a friend or relation, and cut their faces upon the temple with their nails, about- the breadth of a Hxpence, one of which is left long for that purpofe. It was always practifed by the Jews, Vol. III. G and jo TRAVELS TO DISCOVER and thence adopted by the Abyflinians, though exprefsly forbidden both by the law and by the prophets *. At Ma- fuah, it feems to be particular to dance upon that occafion. The women, friends, and viiitors place themfelves in a ring; then dance flowly, figuring in and out as in a country-dance. This dance is all to the voice, no inftrument being ufed up- on the occafion ; only the drum (the butter-jar before men- tioned) is beat adroitly enough, and feems at once necef- fary to keep the dance and fong in order. In Abymnia, too^ this is purfued in a manner more ridiculous. Upon the death of an ozoro, or any nobleman, the twelve judges, (who are generally between 60 and 7c years of age) fing the fong, and dance the figure- dance, in a manner fo truly ridiculous, that grief muit have taken fait hold of every fpectator who does not laugh upon the occafion. There needs no other proof the deceafed was a friend, Mahomet Gibeerti married at Arkeeko. For fifteen days afterward, the hulband there is invifible to everybody but the female friends of his wife, who in that fultry country do every thing they can, by hot and fpiced drinks, to throw the man, ftewed in a dole room, into a fever. I do believe that Mahomet Gibberti, in the courfe of thefe fifteen days, was at leaft two ilone lighter. It puts me much in mind of f me of our countrymen fweating themfelves for a horfe- race with a load of flannel on. I conceive that Mahomet Gibberti, had it not been for the fpice, would have made a bad figure in the match he was engaged in. One of thefe nights of his being fequefiered, when, had I not providen- tially * Levit. chaj>. xix. ver. 28. Jercm. chap, xvi. vet. 6. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. Si tially engaged Achmer, his uncle the Naybe would have cut our throats. I heard two girls, profefibrs hired for fucii occafions, fing alternately verfe for verfe in reply to each other, in the moil agreeable and melodious manner I ever heard in my life. This gave me great hopes that, in Abyf- finia, I mould find mufic in a Hate of perfection little ex- pected in Europe. Upon inquiry into particulars I was miferably difappointed, by being told thefe muficians were all flrangers from Azab, the myrrh country, where all the people were natural muficians, and lung in a better fHle than that I had heard ; but that nothing of this kind was known in Abyflinia, a mountainous, barbarous ccuntrv, without inftrument, and without fong; and that it was the fame here in Atbara ; a miferable truth, which I afterwards completely verified. Thefe fingers were Cufliites, not Shep- herds. I, however, made myfelf mafler of two or three of thefe alternate fongs upon the guitar, the wretched inftrument of that country; and was furprifed to find the words in a lan- guage equally flrange to Mafuah andAbyffinia. I had fre- quent interviews with thefe muficians in the evening ; they were perfectly black and woolly-headed. Being flaves, they fpoke both Arabic and Tigre,but could fmg in neither; and, from every pomble inquiry, I found every thing, allied to counterpoint, was unknown among them. I have fome- times endeavoured to recover fragments of thefe fongs, which I once perfectly knew from memory only, but un- fortunately I committed none of them to writing. Sorrow and various misfortunes, that every day marked my flay in the barbarous country to which I was then going, and the neceffary part I, much againft my will, was for felf-prefer- G 2 vation J2 TR AVE LSTO DISCOVE R. vation forced to take in the ruder occupations of thofcf times, have, to my very great regret, obliterated long ago the whole from my memory. Itis a general cuftom in Mafuah for people to burn myrrh and incenfe in their houl'es before they open the doors in the morning; and when they go out at night, or early, in the day, they have always a fmall piece of rag highly fumigated with thefe two perfumes, which they Huff into eachnoflril to keep them from the unwhole- fome air. The houfes in Mafuah are, in general, built of poles and bent grafs, as in the towns of Arabia ; but, befides thefe, there are about twenty, of Hone, fix or eight of which are two floreys each ; though the fecond feldom confifts of more than one room, and that one generally not a large one. The Hones are drawn out of the fea as at Dahalac ; and in thefe we fee the beds of that curious muffel, or lhell-flfh, found to be contained in the folid rock at Mahon, called Dattoll da mare, or fea-dates, the fifh of which I never law in the ked Sea; though there is no doubt but they are to be found in the rocky iflands about Mafuah, if they break the rocks for them. Although Mafuah is fituated in the very entrance of A- byffinia, a very plentiful country, yet all the necellaries of life are fcarce and dear. Their quality, too, is very indif- ferent. This is owing to the difficulty, expence, and dan- ger of carrying the feveral articles through the defert flat country, called Samhar, which lies between Arkeeko and the mountains of Abyffinia ; a* well as to. the extortions 3 exercifed THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. $3 excrcifed by the Naybe, who takes, under the name of cuf- trnns, whatever part he pleafes of the goods and provitions brought to that iiland ; by which means the profit of the feller is fo final!, as not to be worth the pains and ride of bringing it : 20 rotol of butter coil a pataka and a half, 3* harf ; or, in one term, 45^ harf. A goat is half of a pataka ; a (heep, two-thirds of a pataka ; the ardep of wheat, 4 pa- takas ; Dora, from Arabia, 2 patakas. -Venit> vilijftma rerum, Hie aqua. Horat. lib. 1. Sat. 6. v. 88. • Water is fold for three diwanis, or paras, the 7 gallons. The fame fort of money is in ufe at Mafuah, and the op- pofite coaft of Arabia ; and it is indeed owing to the com- mercial intercourfe with . that coaft that any coin is cur- rent in this or the weftern fide. It is all valued by the Venetian fequin. But glais beads, called Contaria, of all kinds and colours, perfect and broken, pafs for i'mali money, and are called, in their language, Borjooke. Table of the relative valve of Monet. Venetian Sequin, — 2; Pataka. Pataka or Imperial Dollar, 28 Harf. 1 Harf, — — 4 Diwani. ioKibeer, — — 1 Diwani, 1 Kibeer, — — 3 Borjooke, or Grams. The Harf Is likewife called Dahab, a word very equivo- cal, as it means in Arabic, gold, and frequently a fequin. The .Harf is 120 grains of beads. The 54 TRAVELS T O D ISCOVER The zermabub, or fequin of Constantinople, is not current here. Thofe that have them, can only difpofe of them to tiic women, who hang them about their temples, to their necklaces, and round the necks of their children. The fraction of the pataka is the half and quarter, which pafs here likewife. There is a conliclerable deal of trade carried on at Mafuah, notwithstanding thefe inconveniencies, narrow and confin- ed as the ifland is, and violent and unjuft as is the govern- ment. But it is all done in a flovenly manner, and for articles where a fmall capital is inverted. Property here is too precarious to rifk a venture in valuable commo- dities, where the hand of power enters into every tranfac- tion. The goods imported from the Arabian fide are blue cot- ton, Surat cloths, and cochineal ditto, called Kermis, fine cloth from different markets in India ; coarfe white cotton cloths from Yemen ; cotton unfpun from ditto in bales ; Venetian beads, chryflal, drinking, and looking-glalfes; and cohol, or crude antimony. Thefe three Iaft articles come in great quantities from Cairo, firft in the coffee fhips to Jidda, and then in fmall barks over to this port. Old copper too is an article on which much is gained, and great quantity is im- ported. The Galia, and all the various tribes to the weftward of Gondar, wear bracelets of this copper ; and they fay at times, that, near the country of Gongas and Guba, it has been fold, weight for weight, with gold. There is a fhell like- wise here, a univalve of the fpecies of volutes, which fells 4 at THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 55. at a cuba for 10 paras. It is brought from near Hodeida, though it is fometimes found at Konfodah and Loheia, There are a few alib at Dahalac, but not efteemed : thefc pafs for money among the Djawi and other weltern Galla. The cuba is a wooden meafure, containing, very exacflly, 62 cubic inches of rain water. The drachm is called Caila; there is 10 drachms in their wakea. Gold, 16 patakas /o, TRAVELS TO DISCOVER cannot anfwer for the orders he may have given to his ©wife fcrvants; but Dixan is- mine, although the people are much worfe than thofe of Dobarwa. I have written to my officers there ; they will behave the better to you for this; and, as you are flrong and robuft, the beft I can do for you is to fend you by a rugged road, and a fafe one. Ac h met again gave his orders to Saloome, and we, all rifing, faid the fedtah, or prayer of peace; which being over, his fervant gave him a narrow web of muflin, which, with his own hands, he wrapped round my head in the manner the better fort of Mahometans wear it at Dixan. He then parted, faying, " He that is your enemy is mine alio ; you.; mall hear of me by Mahomet Gibberti," This finifhed a feries of trouble and vexation, not to fay danger, fuperior to any thing I ever before had experienced, and of which the bare recital (though perhaps too minute a one) will give but an imperfect idea. Thefe wretches pofiefs talents for tormenting and alarming, far beyond the power of belief ; and, by laying a true fketch of them be- fore a traveller, an author does him the moil real fervice. . In this country the more truely we draw the portrait of man, , the more we feem to fall into caricatura. On the 16th, in the evening, we left Laberhey; and, after continuing about an hour along me plain, our grafs end- ed, the ground becoming dry, firm, and gravelly, and we then entered into a wood of acacia-trees of conftderable fize. . We now began to afcend gradually, having Gcdem, the high mountain which forms the bay of Arkeeko, on our left, and thefe fame mountains, which bound the. plain of Arkeeko to the.. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 6j the weft, on our right. We encamped this night on a rifing- ground called Shillokeeb, where there is no water, though the mountains were everywhere cut through with gullies and water courfes, made by the violent rains that fall here in winter. The 17th, we continued along the fame plain, fliil cover- ed thick with acacia-trees. They were then in blofTom, had a round yellow flower, but we faw no gum upon the trees. Our direction had hitherto been fouth. We turned wefter- ly through an opening in the mountains, which here Hand fo clofe together as to leave no valley or plain fpace be- tween them but what is made by the torrents, in the rainy feafon, forcing their way with great violence to the fea. The bed of the torrent was our only road ; and, as it was all fand, we could not wifli for a better. The moifturc it had ilrongly imbibed protected it from the fudden effects of the fun, and produced, all alongil its courfe, a great de- gree of vegetation and verdure. Its banks were lull of rack-trees, capers, and tamarinds ; the two laft bearing lar- ger fruit than I had ever before feen, though not arrived to their greatell fize or maturity. We continued this winding, according to the courfe of the river, among mountains of no great height, but bare, ftony, and full of terrible precipices. At half pafl eight o'clock we halted, to avoid the heat of the fun, under made of the trees before mentioned, for it was then cxceihvely hot, though in the month of November, from ten in the morning till two in the afternoon. We met this day with large numbers of Shiho, having their wives and families I 2 along 6% TRAVELS TO DISCOVER along with them, defcendingfrom the tops of the high moun- tains of Habefli, with their flocks to pafture, on the plains, below near the fea, upon grafs that grows up in the months of Odober and November, when they have already confu- med what grew in the oppofite feafon on the other fide of the mountains. This change of domicil gives them a propenfity to thie- ving and violence, though otherwife a cowardly tribe. It- is a proverb in Abyffinia, " Beware of men that drink tw& " waters," meaning thefe, and all the tribes of Shepherds, who Ave re in fearch of pafture, and who have lain under the fame imputation from the remotefl antiquity. The Shiho were once very numerous ; but, like all thefe nations having communication with Mafuah, have fuffered much by the ravages of the fmall-pox. The Shiho are the blacked of the tribes bordering upon: the Red Sea. They were all clothed ; their women in coarfe cotton fhifts reach- ing down to their ancles, girt about the middle with a lea- ther belt, and having very large fleeves ; the men in fhort cotton breeches reaching to the middle of their thighs, and a goat's fkin crofs their ihoulders. They have neither tents nor cottages, but either live in caves in the mountains under trees, or in fmall conical huts built with a thick grafs like reeds. This party confifted of about fifty men, and, I fuppofei not more than thirty women ; from which it feemed pro- bable the Shiho , are Monogam, as afterwards, indeed, I knew them to be. Each of them had a lance in his hand, ajid a knife at the girdle which kept up the breeches. They had THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 69 had the fuperiority of the ground, as coming down the mountain which we were afcending ; yet I obferved them to feem rather uneafy at meeting us ; and fo far from any appearance of hoftility, that, I believe, had we attacked briikly, they would have fled without much refrftance. They were, indeed, incumbered with a prodigious quantity of goats and other cattle, fo were not in a fighting trim. I faluted the man that feemed to be their chief, and afked him if he would fell us a goat. He returned my falute ; but either could not fpeak Arabic, or declined further con- verfation. However, thofe of our people behind, that were' of a colour nearer to themfelves, bought us a goat that was lame, (dearly they faid) for fome antimony, four large nee- dles, and fome beads. Many of them afked us for kijirab, or bread. This being an Arabic word, and their having no other word in their language fignifying bread, convinces me they were Icthyophagi ; as, indeed, hiftory fays all thofe Tro- glydite nations were who lived upon the Red Sea. It could not indeed be otherwife : the rich, when trade flourifhed in thefe parts, would probably get corn from Arabia or Abyf- unia ; but, in their own country, no corn would grow. At 2 o'clock in trie afternoon we refumed our journey through a very flony, uneven road, till j o'clock, when we pitched our tent at a place called Hamhammou, on the fide of a fmall green hill fome hundred yards from the bed of the torrent. The weather had heen perfectly good fince we left Mafuah :■ this afternoon, however, it feemed to threaten rain ; the high mountains were quite hid, and great part of the lower ones covered with thick clouds ; the lightning was very frequent, broad, and deep- tinged with blue ; and long peals of thunder were heard, but at a dif- tancei ..-. 7o TRAVELS TO DISCOVER tancc. This was the firft fample we had of AbyfTinian bad weather. The river fcarcely ran at our pafilng it ; when, all on a fudden, we heard a noife on the mountains above, louder than the loudeft thunder. Our guides, upon this, flew to the baggage, and removed it to the top of the green hill ; which was no fooner done, than we faw the river coming down in a ft ream about the height of a man, and breadth of the whole bed it ufed to occupy. The water was thick tinged with red earth, and ran in the form of a deep river, and fwelled a little above its banks, but did not reach our itation on the hill. An antelope, furprifed by the torrent, and I believe hurt by it, was forced over into the peninfula where we were, feemingly in great diftrefs. As foon as my companions faw there was no further danger from the river, they furround- ed this innocent comrade in misfortune, and put him to death with very little trouble to themfelves. The acquifi- tion was not great ; it was lean, had a mufky tafte, and was worfe meat than the goat we had bought from the Shiho. The torrent, though now very fenfibly diminilhed, ltill pre- ferved a current till next morning. • Between Hamhammou and Shillokeeb we firll law the dung of elephants, full of pretty thick pieces of indigefted branches. We likewife, in many places, faw the tracks thro' which they had palled; fome trees were thrown THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. fcog e'en, had parted between us fince conferring the favour. Undemanding now what was the matter, he called Yafine, and gave him a large package, which he imprudently open- ed, in which was a treafure of all the beads in fafhion, all but the white and blue bugles, and thefe Yaline himfelf fur- nimed us with afterwards. A great fhout was {et up by the women - purchaferp, and a violent fcramble followed. Twenty or thirty threw themfelves upon the parcel, tearing and breaking all the firings as if they intended to plunder us. This joke did not feem to be relifhed by the fervants. Their hard-heartednels before, in profeiling they would let us itarve rather than give us a handful of flour for all our unfalhionable beads, had quite extinguifhed the regard we elf'e would have un- avoidably fliewn to the fair fex. A dozen of whips and flicks were laid unmercifully upon their hands and arms, till each' dropped her booty. The Abyflinian men that came with them feemed to be perfectly unconcerned at the fray, and flood laughing without the leaft flgn of wifhing to interfere in favour of either fide. I believe the reftitution would not have been complete, had not Yafine, who knew the country well, fired one of the ihip-blunderbufles into the air behind their backs. At hearing fo unexpectedly this dreadful noife, both men and women fell flat on their faces ; the women were immediately dragged off the cloth, and 1 do not believe there was ftrength left in any hand to grafp or carry away afingle bead. My men immediately wrap- ped the whole in the cloth, fo for a time our market ended. For my part, at the firft appearance of the combat I had withdrawn myfelf, and fat a quiet fpedator ,under a tree. Some- no TRAVELS TO DISCOVER Some of the women were really fo difordered with the fright, that they made but very feeble efforts in the market after- wards. The reft befeeched me to transfer the market to the carpet I fat on under the tree. This I confented to ; but, growing wife by misfortune, my fervants now produced fmall quantities of every thing, and not without a very ^harp conteft and difpute, fomewhat fuperior in noife to that of our fifli-women. We were, however, plentifully fup- plied with honey, butter, flour, and pumpkins of an ex- ceeding good tafte, fcarcely inferior to melons. Our caravan being fully vi&ualled the firft and fecond day, our market was not opened but by private adventurers, and feemingly favoured more of gallantry than gain. There were three of them the moll diftinguifhed for beauty and for tongue, who, by their difcourfe, had entertained me greatly. I made each of them a prefent of a few beads, and afked them how many kifles they would give for each ? They anfwered very readily, with one accord, " Poh! we don't fell kifles in this country: Who would buy them? We will give you as many as you wifh for nothing." And there was no appearance but, in that bargain, they meant to be very fair and liberal dealers. The men feemed to have no talent for marketing ; nor do they in this country either buy or fell. But we were furprifed to fee the beaux among them come down to the tent, the fecond day after our arrival, with each of them a fmgle firing of thin, white bugles tied about their dirty, black legs, a little above their ancle ; and of this they feem- ed as proud as if the ornament had been gold or jewels. I easily THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. m I easily faw that fo much poverty, joined to fo much avarice and pride, made the poffefTor a proper fubject to be employed. My young favourite, who had made fo frank an offer of her kindnefs, had brought me her brother, beg- ging that I would take him with me to Gondar to Ras Mi- chael, and allow him to carry one of my guns, no doubt with an intention to run offwith it by the way. I told her that was a thing eafily done ; but I mull firfl have a trial of his fide- lity, which was this, That he would, without fpeaking to anybody but me and her, go ftraight to Janni at Adowa, and carry the letter I mould give him, and deliver it into his own hand, in which cafe I would give him a lar^e parcel of each of thefe beads, more than ever flie thought to pof- fefs in her lifetime. She frankly agreed, that my word was more to be relied upon than either her own or her brother's • and, therefore, that the beads, once fhewn to them both, were to remain a depofit in my hand. However, not to fend: him away wholly deftitute of the power of charming, I prefented him the fingle firing of white bugles for his ancle. Janni's Greek fervant gave him a letter, and he made fuch diligence that, on the fourth day, by eight o'clock in the morning, he came to my tent without ever having beert niifled at home;, At the fame time came an officer from Janni, with a vio- lent mandate, in the name of Ras Michael, declaring to the perfon that was the caufe of our detention, That, was it not for ancient friendfhip, the prefent meflengcr; mould have carried him to Ras Michael in irons ;- difcharging me from all awides ; ordering him, as Shum of the place, to fumim. me with provifions ; and, in regard to the time he had can- fed us to lofe,. fixing the awides of the whole caravan at eig.ht ii2 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER eight piaftcrs, not the twentieth part of what he would have exacted. One reafon of this feverity was, that, while I was in Mafuahjanni had entertained this man at his own houfe ; and, knowing the ufual vexations the caravans met with at Kella, and the long time they were detained there at confi- derable expence, had obtained a promife from the Shum, in confideration of favours done him, that he mould let us pafs freely, and, not only fo, but mould fhew us fome little civility. This promife, now broken, was one of the articles of delinquency for which he was punhlied. Cohol, large needles, goats ikins, coarfe fciflars, razors, and fteels for flriking fire, are the articles of barter at Kel- la. An ordinary goat's fkin is worth a quart of wheat- flour. As we expected an order of deliverance, all was ready up- on its arrival. The Moors with their afTes, grateful for the benefit received, began to blefs the moment they joined us 4 hoping, in my confideration, upon our arrival at the cullomhoufe of Adowa, they might meet with further fa- vour. Yasine, in the four days we had Maid at Kella, had told me his whole hiflory. It feems he had been fettled in a province of AbyfTmia, near to Sennaar, called Ras el Feel ; had married Abd el Jilleel, the Shekh's daughter ; but, grow- ing more popular than his father-in-law, he had been per- fecuted by him, and obliged to leave the country. He began now to form hopes, that, if I was well received, as he faw, in all appearance, I was to be, he might, by my intereft, be appointed to his father-in-law's place ; efpecially if there was war, as every thing feemed to indicate. Abd "el Jilleel was a coward, and incapable of making himfelf of perfonal 4 value THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. *sg valued to any party. On the contrary, Yafine was a tried man, an excellent horieman, itrong, active, and of known courage, having been twice with the late king Yafous in his inva- fions of Sennaar, and both times much wounded there. It was impoflible to.difpute his title to preferment; but I had not formed that idea of my own fuccefs that I mould be able to be of any ufe or afliitance to him in it. Kella is in lat. 1 4° 24' 34" North. It was in the afternoon of the 4th that we fet out from Kella ; our road was between two hills covered with thick wood. On our right was a clifF, or high rock of granite, on the top of which were a few homes that ieemed to hang over the cliff rather than Hand upon it. A few minutes after three o' clock we pafTed a rivulet, and a quarter of an hour afterwards another, both which run into the Mareb. We ftill continued to defcend, furrounded on all fides with mountains covered with high grafs and brufhwood, and a- bounding with lions. At four, we arrived at the foot of the mountain, and paffed a fmall flream which runs there. We had feen no villages after leaving Kella. At half pail four o'clock we came to a considerable river called An- gueah, which we crofted, and pitched our tent on the far- ther fide of it. It was about fifty feet broad and three in depth. It was perfectly clear, and ran rapidly over a bed of white pebbles, and was the large it river we had yet feen in Habefh. In fummer there is very little plain ground near it but what is occupied by the ftrcam ; it is full of fmall fifli, in great repute for their goodnefs. Vol; ILL 4? This ii4 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER This river has its name from a beautiful tree, which co- vers both its banks. This tree, by the colour of its bark and richnefs of its flower, is a great ornament to the banks of the river. A variety of other flowers fill the whole level plain between the mountain and the river, and even fome way up the mountains. In particular, great variety of jeffa- min, white, yellow, and party-coloured. The country feem- ed now to put on a more favourable afpect ; the air was much freflier, and more pleafant, every llep we-advanced af- ter leaving Dixan; and one caufe was very evident ; the country where we now paffed was well-watered with clear running ftreams ; whereas, nearer Dixan, there were few,, and all llagnant,. The 5th, we defcendeda fmall mountain for about twenty minutes, and palled the following villages, Zabangella, about a mile N..W. ; at a quarter of an hour after, Moloxito, half a mile further S. E. ; and Manfuetemen, three quarters of a mile E. S. E. Thefe villages are all the property of the A- buna ; who has alfo a duty upon all merchandife palling there ; but Ras Michael had confifcated thefe lafl villages on account of a quarrel he had with the lafl Abuna, Af-Ya-- goube. We now began firfc to fee the high mountains of A- - dowa, nothing refembling in fhapc to thofe of Europe,"nor, indeed, any other country. Their fides were all perpendicu- lar rocks, high like fleeples, or obelifks, and broken into a thoufand different forms. . At half paft eight o'clock we left the deep valley, wherein runs, the Mareb W. N. W. ; at the diftance of about nine miles 4 above THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 11$ above it is the mountain, or high hill, on which flands Zarai, now a collection of villages, formerly two convents built by Lalibala ; though the monks tell you a ftory of the queen of Saba rending there, which the reader may be perfectly fatisfied me never did in her life. The Mareb is the boundary between Tigre and the Ba- harnagafh, on this fide. It runs over a bed of foil ; is large, deep, and fmooth ; but, upon rain falling, it is more danger- ous to pafs than any river in Abyflinia, on account of the frequent holes in its bottom. We then entered the nar- row plain of Yeeha, wherein runs the fmail river, which either gives its name to, or takes it from it. The Yeeha rifes from many fources in the mountains to the weft ; it is neither confiderable for fize nor its courfe, and is fwal- lowed up in the Mareb. The harveft was in great forwardnefs in this place. The wheat was cut, and a confiderable fhare of the teff in ano- ther part ; they were treading out this laft-mentioned grain with oxen. The Dora, and a fmall grain called telba, (of which they make oil) was not ripe. At eleven o'clock we retted by the fide of the mountain whence the river falls. All the villages that had been built here bore the marks of the juftice of the governor of Tigre. They had been long the moil incorrigible banditti in the province. He furrounded them in one night, burnt their houfes, and extirpated the inhabitants ; and would never fuller any one fince to fettle there. At three o'clock in the afternoon we afcended what remained of the mountain of Yeeha ; came to the plain upon its top ; and, at a quarter be- p 2 fore m6 travels TO DISCOVER fore four, pafTecl the village of that name, leaving it to the- S. E. and began the moll rugged and" dangerous defcent we had mec with fmceTaranta. At half part five in the evening we pitched our tent at the foot of the hill, cloie by a fmall, but rapid and clear ftream, which is called Ribieraini. . This name was given it by the banditti of the villages before mentioned, becaufe from this you fee two roads ; one leading from Gondar, that is, from the weltward ; the other from the Red Sea to the eaftward. One of the gang that ufed to be upon the out- look from this ftation, as foon as any caravan came in fighr, cried out, Ribieraini, which in Tigre fignifies they are coming this way, upon which notice every one took his lance and fhield, and flationed himfelf properly to fall with advan- tage upon the unwary merchant; and it was a current report, which his prefent greatnefs could not ftifle, that, in his younger days, Ras Michael himfelf frequently was on thefe expeditions at this place. On our right was the high, fteepj and rugged mountain of Samayat, which the iame Mi- chael, being in rebellion, chofe for his place of ftrength, and was there befieged and taken prifoner by the late king Yafous. The rivulet of Ribieraini is the fource of the fertility of the country adjoining, as it is made to overflow every part of this plain, and furnifhes a perpetual fiore of grafs, which is the reafon of the caravans chufing to flop here. Two or three harvefls are alfo obtained by means of this river ; for, provided, there is water, theyfowin Abyffinia in all feafons. We perceived that we were now approaching fome confider- able town, by the great care with which every fmall piece of ground, , THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 117 ground, and even the fteep fides of the mountains, were cul- tivated, though they had ever fo little foil. On Wednefday the 6th of December, at eight o'clock in the morning, we fet out from Ribieraini ; and in about three hours travelling on a very pleafant road, over eafy hills and through hedge-rows of jeflamin, honey-fuckle, and many kinds of flowering flirubs we arrived at Adowa, where once refided Michael Suhul, governor of Tigre. It was this day we faw, for the firft time, the fmall, long-tailed green pa- roquet, from the hill of Shillodee, where, as I have already mentioned, we firft came in fight of the mountains of A- dowa. g* — = ' ' '— ===^g v. iii. p CHAP. Ii8 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER Btess >u.^s CHAP. V. Arrive at Adowa — Reception there — Vifit Fremona atid Ruins ofAxumj—> Arrive at Sire. ADOWA is fkuated on the declivity of a hill, on the weft fide of a fmall plain furrounded everywhere by moun- tains. Its natation accounts for its name, which fignifies pafs, orpajfage, being placed on the flat ground immediately below Ribieraini ; the pafs through which every body muft go in their way from Gondar to the Red Sea. This plain is watered by three rivulets which are never dry in the midft of fummer ; the Ana, which we crofs juft below the town when coming from the eaftward ; the Mai Gogua, which runs below the hill whereon Hands the vil- lage of the fame name formerly, though now it is called Fremona, from the monaflery of the Jefuits built there ; and the Ribieraini, which, joining with the other two, falls into the river Mareb, about 22 miles below Adowa. There are fiih in thefe three ftreams, but none of them remarkable for THE SOURCE OF THE NTLE. nQ, for their fize, quantity, or goodnefs. The bell are thofe of Mai Gogua, a clear and pleafant rivulet, running very vio- lently and with great noife. This circumftance, and igno- rance of the language, has milled the reverend father Je- rome, who fays, that the water of Mai Gogua is called fo from the noife that it makes, which, in common language, is called guggling. This is a miflake, for Mai Gogua Sig- nifies the river of owls.. There are many agreeable fpots to the foufh-eaft of the convent, on the banks of this river, which are thick-fhaded with wood and bullies. Adowa confifts of about 3oohoufes and occupies a much larger fpacc than would be thought necefTary for thefe to ftand on, by reafon that each houfe has an inclofure round it of hedges and trees • the la.il chiefly the wanzey. The number of thefe trees fo planted in all the towns, fcreen them fo, that, at a diftance, they appear fo many woods. Adowa was not formerly the capi- tal of Tigre, but has accidentally become fo upon the accef- fion of this governor, whofe property, or paternal eftate, lay in and about it. His manfion-houfe is not dillinguifh- ed from any of the others in the town uniefs by its fize ■ it is fituated upon the top of the hill. The perfon who is Michael's deputy, in his abfence, lives in it. It refembles ar prifon rather than a palace ; for there are in and about it above three hundred perfons in irons, fome of whom have been there for twenty years, moflly with a view to extort money from them ; and, what is the moll unhappy, even when they have paid the fum of money which he afks, do not get their,deliverance from his mercilcfs hands; mofl of them are kept in cages like wild beafts, and treated every way in the fame manner. But 120 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER But what defervedly interefted us moft was, the appear- ance of our kind and hofpitable landlord, Janni. He had fent fervants to conduct us from the paffage of the river, and met us himfelf at the outer-door of his houfe. I do not remember to have feen a more refpeftable figure. He had his own fhort white hair, covered with a thin muflin turban, a thick well-fhaped beard, as white as fnow, down to his waift. He was clothed in the Abyflinian drefs, all of white cotton, only he had a red filk fafh, embroidered with gold, about his waift, and fandals on his feet ; his upper garment reached down to his ancles. He had a number of fervants and flaves about him of both fexes ; and, when I approach- ed him, feemed difpofed to receive me with marks of hu- mility and inferiority, which mortified me much, confider- ing the obligations I was under to him, the trouble I had given, and was unavoidably ftill to give him. I embraced him with great acknowledgments of kindnefs and grati- tude, calling him father; a title I always ufed in fpeaking either to him or of him afterwards, when I was in higher fortune, which he conitantly remembered with great plea- fure. He conducted us through a court yard planted with jef- famin, to a very neat, and, at the fame, time, large room, fur- niflied with a filk fofaj the floor was covered with Perfian car- pets and cufhions. All round, flowers and green leaves were ftrcwed upon the outer yard ; and the windows and fides of the room fluck full of evergreens, in commemora- tion of the Chriflmas feflival that was at hand. I ftopt at the entrance of this room ; my feet were both dirty and bloody ; and it is not good-breeding to fhow or fpeak of your feet in Abyflinia, efpecially if any thing ails them, 2 ant* THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 12c and, at all times, they are covered. He immediately per- ceived the wounds that were upon mine. Both our cloaths and flefh were torn to pieces at Taranta, and feveral other places ; but he thought we had come on mules furnifhed us by the Navbe. For the young man I had fent to him from Kella, following the genius of his countrymen, tho' telling truth was juft as profitable to him as lying, had chofen the latter, and feeing the horfe I had got from the Baharna- gafh, had figured in his own imagination, a multitude of others, and told Janni that there were with me horfes, afTes, and mules in great plenty ; fo that when janni faw us pafling the water, he took me for a fervant, and expected, for feveral minutes, to fee the fplendid company arrive, well mounted upon horfes and mules caparifoned. He was fo mocked at my faying that I performed this ter- rible journey on foot, that he burft into tears, uttering a thoufand reproaches againft the Naybc for his hard heart- cdnefs and ingratitude, as he had twice, as he faid, hinder- ed Michael from going in perfon and fweeping the Naybe from the face of the earth. Water was immediately pro--- cured to wafh our feet. And here began another conten- tion, Janni infilled upon doing this himfclf ; which made me run out into the yard, and declare I would not fuffer it. After this, the like difpute took place among the fer- vants. It was always a ceremony in Abyflinia, to waffi the feet of thofe that come from Cairo, and who are under- ftood to have been pilgrims at Jerufalem. This was no fooner finifhed, than a great dinner was brought, exceedingly well drefTed. But no confideration or in treaty could prevail upon my kind landlord to fit down Vol. III. Q^ and 122 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER and partake with me. He would ftand, all the time, with a clean towel in his hand, though he had plenty of fer- vants ; and afterwards dined with fome vifitors, who had come out of curiofity, to fee a man arrived from fo far. A- mong thefe was a number of priefts ; apart of the company which I liked leaft, but who did not fhew any hoftile ap- pearance. It was long before I cured my kind land- lord of thefe refpectful obfervances, which troubled me very much ; nor could he wholly ever get rid of them, his own kindnefs and good heart, as well as the pointed and particular orders of the Greek patriarch, Mark, conllantlv fuggefting the fame attention;,. In the afternoon, I had a vifit from the governor, a very graceful man, of about ilxty years of age, tall and well fa- voured. He had juft then returned from an expedition to the Tacazze, againft fome villages of Ayto Tesfos *, which he had deftroyed, ilain 120 men, and driven off a number of cattle. He had with him about fixty mufquets, to which, I underftood, he had owed his advantage. Thefe villages were about Tubalaque, jxift as you afcend the farther bank of the Tacazze. He faid he doubted much if we mould be allowed to pafs through Woggora* unlefs fome favourable news came from Michael ; for Tesfos of Samen, who kept his government after Joas's death, and refufed to acknow- ledge Michael, or to fubmit to the king, in conjunction with the people of Woggora, acted now the part of robbers, plundering all forts of people, that carried either provifions, or * A rebel governor of. Sarcco, of which I (hall after have accafion to.fpeak. THE SOURCE T3F THE NILE. 12$ or any thing clfe, to Gondar, in order to diitrefs the king and Michael's Tigre foldiefs, who were then there. The church of Mariam is on the hill S. S. W. of the town, and eaft of Adowa; on the other fide of the river, is the other church, called Kedus Michael. About nine miles north, a little inclined to the eaft, is Bet Abba Garima, one of the moft celebrated monafteries in Abyffinia. It was once a re- sidence of one of their kings ; and it is fuppofed that, from this circumftance ill underftood, former travellers *, have faid the metropolis of Abyffinia was called Germe. Adowa is the feat of a very valuable manufacture of coarfe cotton cloth, which circulates all over Abyffinia in- flcad of ftlver money ; each web is fixteen peek long of i {- width, their value a pataka ; that is, ten for the ounce of gold. The houfes of Adowa are all of rough Hone, ce- mented with mud inftead of morter. That of lime is not ufed but at Gondar, where it is very bad. The roofs are in the form of cones, and thatched with a reedy fort of grafs, "ibmething thicker than wheat ftraw. The Falafha, or Jews, enjoy this profeffion of thatching exclufrvely ; they begin at the bottom, and finifh. at the top. Excepting a few fpots taken notice of as we came along from Ribieraini to Adowa, this was the only part of Tigre where there was foil fufficient to yield corn ; the whole of the province befides is one entire rock. There are no tim- ber trees in this part of Tigre unlefs a daroo or two in the valleys, and wanzeys in towns about the houfes. Q^2 At * Gol. p. 2 1. proem. i24 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER At Adowa, and all the neighbourhood, they have three harvefts annually. Their firft feed time is in July and Au- guft ; it is the principal one for wheat, which they then fow in the middle of the rains. In the fame feafon they fow tocuffo, teff, and barley. From the 20th of November they reap firft their barley, then their wheat, and laft of all their teff. In room of thefe they fow immediately upon the fame ground, without any manure, barley, which they reap in February ; and then often fow teff, but more fre- quently a kind of veitch, or pea, called Shimbra ; thefe are cut down before the firft rains, which are in April. With all thefe advantages of triple harvefts, which coft no fallow- ing, weeding, manure, or other expenfive proccfles, the far- mer in Abyffinia is always poor and miferable. In Tigre it is a goodharveft that produces nine after one, it fcarcely ever is known to produce ten ; or more than three after one, for peas. The land, as in Egypt, is fetto the higheft bidder yearly ; and like Egypt it receives an addi- tional value, depending on the quantity of rain that falls and its fituation more or lefs favourable for leading water to it. The landlord furnifhes the feed under condition to re- ceive half the produce ; but I am told he is a very indul- gent mafter that does not take another quarter for the rifle he has run ; fo that the quantity that comes to the fliare of the hufbandman is not more than fufficient to afford fu- llenance for his wretched family. The foil is white clay, mixed with fand, and has as good appearance as any I have feen. I apprehend a deficiency of the crop is not from the barrennefs of the foil, but from the immenfe quantity of field-rats and mice that over-run the THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 125 the whole country, and live in the fiflures of the earth. To kill thefe, they fet fire to their ftraw, the only ufe they make of it. The cattle roam at difcretion through the mountains. The herdfmen fet fire to the grafs, bent, and brufliwood, before the rains, and an amazing verdure immediately fol- lows. As the mountains are very fteep and broken, goats are chiefly the flocks that graze upon them. The province of Tigre is all mountainous; and it has been faid, without any foundation in truth, that the Pyre- nees, Alps, and Apennines, are but mole-hills compared to them. I believe, however, that one of the Pyrenees above St John Pied de Port, is much higher than Lamalmon; and" that the mountain of St Bernard, one of the Alps, is full as high as Taranta, or rather higher. It is not the extreme height of the mountains in Abyffinia that occafions fur- prife, but the number of them, and the extraordinary forms they prefent to the eye. Some of them are flat, thin, and fquare, in fhape of a hearth-ftone, or flab, that fcarce would feemto have bafe fufficient torefift the action of the winds. Some are like pyramids, others like obeliflis or prifms, an& fome, the moll extraordinary of all the reft, pyramids pitch- ed upon their points, with their bafe uppermoft, which, if it was poflible, as it is not, they could have been fo formed in the beginning, would be flrong objections to our recei- ved: ideas of gravity. They tan hides to great perfection in Tigre, but for one purpofe only. They take off the hair with the juice of two plants, a fpecies of folanum,,and the juice of the kol-quall p v. iii. q^ both. 126 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER both thcfe are produced in abundance in the province. They are great novices, however, in dyeing ; the plant called Suf produces the only colour they have, which is yellow. In order to obtain a blue, to weave as a border to their cotton clothes, they unravel the blue threads of the Marowt, or blue cloth of Surat, and then weave them again with the thread which they have dyed with the fuf. It was on the ioth of January 1770 I vifited the remains of the Jefuits convent of Fremona. It is built upon the even ridge of a very high hill, in the middle of a large plain, on the oppofite fide of which Hands Adowa. It rifes from the eaft to the welt, and ends in a precipice on the eafl ; it is alfo very fleep to the north, and Hopes gently down to the plain on the i'outh. The convent is about a mile in circum- ference, built fubflantially with Hones, which are cemented with lime-morter. It has towers in the flanks and angles; and, notwithHanding the ill-ufage it has fuffered, the walls remain flill entire to the height of twenty-five feet. It is divided into three, by crofs walls of equal height. The firit divifion feems to have been deflined for the convent, the middle for the church, and the third divilion is fepara- ted from this by a wall, and Hands upon a precipice. It feems to me as. if it was defigned for a place of arms. All the walls have holes for muikets, and, even now, it is by far the mod defenfible place in Abyflinia. It rciembles an ancient caflle much more than a convent. I can fcarce conceive the reafon why thefe reverend fathers mifreprefent and mifplace this intended capital of Catholic Abyiiinia. Jerome Lobo calls this convent a collection of miserable villages. Others place it fifty miles, when it is but THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 127 fmt two, from Adowa to the north-eaft. Others fay it is on l'y five miles from the Red Sea, while it is an hundred. Ft is very extraordinary, that thefe errors mould occur in the fituation of a place built by their own hands, and where their body long had its refidence ; and, what makes it more extraordinary (till, it was the domicil which they firft occu- pied, and quitted laft. The kindnefs, hofpitality, and fatherly care of Janni ne- ver ceafed a moment. He had already reprefented me in the moil favourable light to the Iteghe, or queen-mother, (whofe fervant he had long been) to her daughter Ozoro Either, and Ozoro Altafh ; and, above all, to Michael, with whom his influence was very great ; and, indeed, to every body he had any weight with ; his own countrymen, Greeks, Abyflinians, and Mahometans ; and, as we found afterwards, he had raifed their curiofity to a great pitch. A kind of calm had fpread itfelf univerfally over the country, without apparent reafon, as it has been in general obferved to do immediately before a ftorm. The minds of men had been wearied rather than amufed, by a con- usant feries of new things, none of which had been fore- feen, and which generally ended in a manner little expected. Tired of gueffing, all parties feemed to agree to give it over, till the fuccefs of the campaign mould afford them furer grounds to go upon. Nobody loved Michael, but nobodv neglected their.own fafcty fo much as to do or lay any thing againft him, till he either fhould lofe or eftablitfi his good, fortune, by the gain or lofs of a battle with Fafil. Ti-jic- 128 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER This calm I refolved to take advantage of, and to fet out immediately for Gondar. But the 17th of January was now at hand, on which the Abyffinians celebrate the feaft of the Epiphany with extraordinary rejoicings, and as ex- traordinary ceremonies, if we believe what their enemies have faid about their yearly repetition of baptifm. This I was refolved to verify with my own eyes ; and as Alvarez, chaplain to the embaily from Don Emanuel, king of Portu- gal, to king David III. fays he was likewife prefent at it, the public will judge between two eye-witneffes which is likc- liefl to be true, when I come to give an account of the re- ligious rites of this people. Adowa is in lat. 140 7' 57" north. On the 17th, we fet out from Adowa, re fuming our jour- ney to Gondar; and, after palling two fmall villages Adega Net, and Adega Daid, the firft about half a mile on our left, the fecond about three miles diftant on our right, we decamped at fun fet near a place called Bet Hannes, in a narrow valley, at the foot of two hills, by the fide of a fmall firearm On the 8th, in the morning, we afcended one of thefe hills, through a very rough flony road, and again came in- to the plain, wherein ilood Axum, once the capital of Abyf- finia, at leaf! as it is fuppofed. For my part, I believe it to have been the magnificent metropolis of the trading peo- ple, or Troglodyte Ethiopians called properly Cuihites, for the reafon I have -already given, as the Abyilinians never built any city, nor do the ruins of any exift at this day in the whole country. But the black, or Troglodyte part of it, called in the language of fcripture- Cuib, in many places « have THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 129 have buildings of great ftrength, magnitude, and expence, especially at Azab, worthy the magnificence and riches of a ftate, which was from the firfl ages the emporium of the Indian and African trade, whofe Sovereign, though a Pagan, was thought an example of reproof to the nations, and chofen as an inftrunient to contribute materially to the building of the firil temple which man erected to the true God. The ruins of Axum are very extenfive ; but, like the ci- ties of ancient times, confiit altogether of public buildings. In one fquare, which I apprehend to have been the center of the town, there are forty obeliiks, none of which have any hieroglyphics upon them* There is one larger than the reft Hill Handing, but there are two ftill larger than this fallen. They are all of one piece of granite; and on the top of that which is Handing there is a patera exceedingly well carved in the Greek tafte. Below, there is the door- bolt and lock, which Poncet fpeaks of, carved on the obelifk, as if to reprefent an entrance through it to fome building be- hind. The lock and bolt are precifelv the fame as thofe ufed at this day in Egypt and Paleftine, but were never feen, as far as I know, in Ethiopia, or at any time in ufe there. I apprehend this obelifk, and the two larger that are fallen, to be the works of Ptolemy Evergetes. There is a great deal of carving upon the face of the obeliik in a Go- Vol. ill. R thic * Ponctt fays that thefe obelifks are covered with hieroglyphics ; but in this he is wrong; he has miiUken the carving, 1 fhall direftly mention, for hieroglyphics. London edit, izmo, 1709, p. 106. i<5o TRAVELS TO DISCOVER:. thic fade, fomething like metopes, triglyphs, and gutts^ difpofed rudely, and without order, but there are no cha- racters or figures. The face of this pyramid looks duc- fouth ; has been placed with great exactnefs, and preferves its perpendicular pofition till this day. As. this obelifk has been otherwife defcribed as to its ornaments, I have given a geometrical elevation of it fervilely copied, without fha- ding or perfpective, that all kind of readers may under- stand it. After palling the convent of Abba Pantaleon, called in AbyfTmia, Mantilles, and the fmall obelifk fituated on a rock above, we proceed fouth by a road cut in a. mountain of red marble, having on the left a parapet-wall about five feet high, folid, and of the fame materials. At equal diflances there are hewn in this wall folid pedeflals, upon the tops of which we fee the marks where flood the ColofTal flames of Syrius the Latrator Anubis, or Dog Star. One hundred and thirty-three of thefe pedeflals, with the marks of the flames I jufl mentioned, are Hill in their places ; but only two fi- gures of the dog remained when I was there, much muti-. lated, but of a tafte eafdy diflinguimed to be Egyptian. Thefe are compofed of granite, but foihe of them appear to have been of metal. Axum, being the capital of Siris, or Sire, from this we eafily fee what connection this capital of the province had with the dog-flar, and confcquently the abfurdity of fuppofmg that the river derived its name from a Hebrew word*, fignifying black. There * Sliihor. H B x?=::»^3 I ' ' i -r2 40/ict ('/>r//.i/r s// - - /////// >. THE SOURCE OF THE NIXE. t$t There are likewife pedeflals, whereon the figures pf the Sphinx have been placed. Two magnificent flights of fleps, feveral hundred feet long, all of granite, exceedingly well- fafhioned, and Mill in their places, are the only remains of a magnificent temple. In the angle of this platform where that temple flood, is the prefent fmall church of Axum, in the place of a former one deflroyed by Mahomet Gragne, in the reign of king David III. ; and which was probably remains of a temple built by Ptolemy Evergetes, if not the work of times more remote. The church is a mean, fmall building, very ill kept, and full of pigeons dung. In it are fuppofed to be preferved the ark of the covenant, and copy of the law which Menilek fon of Solomon is faid, in their fabulous legends, to have ftolen from his father Solomon in his return to Ethiopia, and thefe were reckoned as it were the palladia of this country. Some ancient copy of the Old Teflament, I do believe, was depofited here, probably that from which the firfl verfion was made. But whatever this might be, it was deflroyed, with the church itfelf, by Mahomet Gragne, though pre- tended falfely to fubfift there Mill. This I had from the king himfelf. There was another relique of great importance that hap- pened to cfcape from being burnt, by having, in time, been transferred to a church in one of the iflands in the lake Tzana, called Sele Qiiarat Rafou. It is a picture of Chrifl's head crowned with thorns, faid to be painted by St Luke, which, upon occafions of the utmofl importance, is brought out and carried with the army, efpecially in a war with Mahometans and Pagans. We have juft feen, it was taken, R 2 upon i32 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER upon Yafous's defeat at Sennaar, and reflored afterwards up- on an embafly fent thither on purpofe, no doubt, for a va- luable confideration. Within the outer gate of the church, below the fteps, are three fmall fquare inclofures, all of granite, with fmall o<5ta<- gon pillars in the angles, apparently Egyptian ; on the top of which formerly were fmall images of the dog-ftar, proba- bly of metal. Upon a ftone, in the middle of one of thefe, the king fits, and is crowned, and always has been fmce the days of Paganifm ; and below it, where he naturally places his feet, is a large oblong flab like a hearth, which is not of granite, but of free ftone. The infcription, though much defaced, may fafely be reflored. nTOAEMAIOT EVERTETOr BA5,IAEa2 Foncet has miftaken this lafl word for Bafilius; but he did not pretend to be a fcholar, and was ignorant of the hiilory of this country.. Axum is watered by a fmall ftream, which flows all the year from a fountain in the narrow valley, where fland the rows of obelifks. The fpring is received into a magni- ficent bafon of 150 feet fquare, and thence it is carried, atf pleafure, to water the neighbouring gardens, where there is little fruit, excepting pomegranates, neither are thefe very excellent. The prefent town of Axum flands at the foot of the hill, and may have about fix hundred houfes. There are feveral manufactures, THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. T2S manufactures of coarfe cotton cloth ; and here too the belt parchment is made of goats fkins, which is the ordinary em- ployment of the monks. Every thing feemed later at Axum, and near it, than at Adowa ; the teffwas Handing yet green. On the 19th of January, by a meridian altitude of the fun, and a mean of feveral altitudes of liars by night, 1 found the latitude of Axum to be 14* 6' 36" north. .. The reader will have obferved, that I have taken great pains in correcting the geography of this country, and illuflrating the accounts given us by travellers, as well an- cient as modern, and reconciling them to each other. There are, however, in a very late publication, what I mult fup- pofe to be errors, at leaft they are abfolutely unintelligi- ble to me, whether they are to -be placed to the account of Jerome Lobo, the original, or to Dr Johnfon the tranflator, or to the bookfelleiyis what I am not able to fay. But as the book itfelf is ufliered in by a very warm and particular re- commendation of fo celebrated an author as Dr Johnfon, and as I have in the courfe of* this work fpoke very con- temptibly of that Jefuit, I nruft, in my own vindication, make fome obfervations upon the geography of this book, which, introduced into the world by fuch authority, might elie bring the little we know of this part of Africa into con- fufion, from which its map$ are as yet very far from being cleared. Caxume * is faid to mean Axum, to be a city in Africa, capital of the kingdom of Tigre Mahon in Abyffinia. Now, long * See Johnfon's tranfktion af Jerome Lcbo, p. 29. rj4 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER long ago, MrLudolf had flicwn, from the teftimony of Gre- gory the Abyfiinian, that there was no fuch place in Abyf- finia as Tigre Mahon. That there was, indeed, a large pro- vince called Tigre, of which Axum was the capital ; and Le Grande, the firft publifher of Jerome Lobo, has repeatedly faid the fame. And Ludolf has given a very probable con- jecture, that the firft Portuguese, ignorant of the Abyfli- nian language, heard the officer commanding that province called Tigre Mocuonen, which is governor of Tigre, and had miflaken the name of his office for that of his province. Be that as it will, the reader may reft afTured there is no fuch kingdom, province, or town in all Abyflinia. There ftill remains, however, a difficulty much greater than this, and an error much more difficult to be corrected. Lobo is faid to have failed from the peninfula of India, and, being bound for Zeyla, to have embarked in a veflel going to Caxumc, or Axum, capital of Tigre, and to have arrived there fafely,and been well accommodated. NowZeyla,he fays, is a city in the kingdom of Adel, at the mouth of the Red Sea * ; and Axum, being two hundred miles inland, in the middle of the kingdom of Tigre, a fhip going to Axum muft have pafTed Zeyla 300 miles, or been 300 miles to the weft- ward of it. Zeyla is not a city, as is faid, but an ifland. It is not in the kingdom of Adel, but in the bay of Tajoura, oppo- fite to a kingdom of that name ; but the ifland itfelf belongs to the Imam of Sana, fovereign of Arabia Felix ; fo that it is inexplicable, how a fhip going to Zeyla fhould choofe to land 300 miles beyond it; and ftill more fo, how, being once arrived See page 28. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. i35 arrived at Axum, they fliould feek a fliip to carry them back again to Zeyla, 300 miles eaitward, when they were then going to Gondar, not much above a hundred miles weft of Axum. This feems to me abfolutely impoffible to explain. Still, however, another difficulty remains ; Tigre is faid, by the Jefuits, and by M. Le Grande their hiftorian, to be full of mountains, fo high that the Alps and Appenines were very inconfiderable in comparifon. And fuppoie it was otherwife, there is no navigable river, indeed no river at all, that runs through Tigre into the Red Sea, and there is the defert of Samhar to pafs, where there is no water at all. How is it poffible a fliip from the coaft of Malabar mould get up 200 miles from any fea among the moun- tains of Tigre ? i hope the publiflier will compare this with any map he pleafes, and correct it in his errata, otherwife his narrative is unintelligible, unlefs all this was intended to be placed to. the account of miracles—Peter v/alked upon the water, and Lobo the Jefuit failed upon dry land. Dr Johnson, or his publiflier, involves his reader in another ftrange perplexity. " Dancala is a city of Africa in Upper Ethiopia, upon the Nile, in the tract of Nubia, of which it is the capital ;" and the emperor wrote, " that the miflionaries might eafily enter his dominions by the way of Dancala*." It is very difficult to underfland how people, in a fliip from India, could enter Abyffinia by the way of Dan- cala, if that city is upon the Nile ; becaufe no where, that I v> m- r know, Page 2$. 136 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER know, is that river in Abyflinia within 300 miles of any fea ; and, flill more fo, how it could be in Nubia, and yet in Upper Ethiopia. Dongola is, indeed, the capital of Nubia ; it is upon the Nile in 200 north latitude ; but then it cannot be in Upper Ethiopia, but certainly in the Lower, and is not within a hundred miles of the Red Sea, and certainly not the way for a fhip from India to get to Abyflinia, which, failing down the Red Sea, it mull have palled feveral hun- dred miles, and gone to the northward : Dongola, belides, is in the heart of the great defert of Beja, and cannot, with any degree of propriety, be faid to be eafily acceffible to any, no, not even upon camels, but impoflible to Shipping, as it is not within 200 miles of any fea. On the other hand, Dan- cali, for which it may have been mifiaken, is a fmall king- dom on the coafl of the Red Sea, reaching to the frontiers of Abyflinia ; and through it the patriarch Mendes entered A- byfhnia, as has been faid in myhiflory; but thenDancali is in lat. 120, it is not in Nubia, nor upon the Nile, nor within feveral hundred miles of it. Again, Lobo has faid, (p. 30. 31.) " that a Portuguefe gal- liot was ordered to fet him afhore at Pate, whofe inhabitants were man-eaters." This is a very whimfical choice of a place to land flrangers in, among man-eaters. I cannot conceive what advantage could be propofed by landing men going to Abyflinia fo far to the fouthward, among a people fuch as this, who certainly, by their very manners, mufl be at war, and unconnected with all their neighbours. And many ages have palled without this reproach having fallen upon the inhabitants of the eaft coafl of the peninfula of Africa from any authentic teftimony ; and I am confident, after the few fpecimens jufl given of the topographical knowledge of this 4 author, THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 137 author, his prefent teflimony will not weigh much, from whatever hand this performance may have come. M. de Montesquieu, among all his other talents a molt excellent and accurate geographer, obferves, that man-eat- ers were ftrft mentioned when the fouthern parts of the eafl coaft of the peninfula of Africa came to be unknown. Travel- lers of Jerome Lobo's call, delighting in the marvellous, did place thefe unfociable people beyond the promontory of Praffum, becaufe nobody, at that time, did pafs the promon- tory of Praffum.. Above 1200 years, thefe people were unknown, till Vafques de Gama difcovered their coail, and called them the civil or kind nation. By fome lucky revolution in that long period, when they were left to themfelves, they feem molt unaccountably to have changed both their diet and their ■manners. The Portuguefe conquered them, built towns a- mong them, and, if they met with confpiracies and treachery, thefe all originated in a mixture of Moors fromSpain and Por- tugal, Europeans that had fettled among them, and not a- mong the natives themfelves. No man-eaters appeared till af- ter the difcovery of the Cape of Good Hope, when that of the new world, which followed it, made the Portuguefe abandon their fettlements in the old ; and this coaft came as unknown to them as it had been to the Romans, when they traded on- ly to Raptum and PralTum, and made Anthropophagi of all the reft. One would be almoft tempted to believe that Je- rome Lobo was a man-eater himfelf, and had taught this cuftom to thefe favages. They had it not before his coming ; they have never had it fince ; and it mull have been with fome finifter intention like this, that a flranger would vo- vol- HI. S luntarily ■ij8 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER luntarily feek a nation of man-eaters. It is nonfenfe to fay, that a traveller could propofe, as Lobo did, going into- a far diftant country, fuch as Abyflinia, under fo very que- stionable a protection as a man-eater. I will not take up my own, or the reader's time, in go- ing through the multitude of errors in geography to be found in this book of Lobo's ; I have given the reader my opi- nion of the author from the original, before T faw the tranf- lation. I faid it was a heap of fables, and full of ignorance and prefumption ; and I confefs myfelf disappointed that- it has come from fo celebrated a hand as the tranflator, fo- very little amended, if indeed it can be faid to be amended. at alL ■ Dr Johnson, in the preface to the book, exprefTes him- felf in thefe words : — " The Portuguefe traveller (Jerome Lo- bo, his original) has amufed his reader with no romantic abfurdities, or incredible fictions. He feems to have defcri- bed things as he faw them ; to have copied nature from the life; and to have confulted his fenfes, not his imagina- tion. He meets with no bafilifks that deftroy with their eyes ; and his. cataracts fall from the rock, without deafening the neighbouring inhabitants." At firft reading this paflage, I confefs I thought it irony. As to what regards the cataract, one of the articles Dr John- fon has condefcended upon as truth, I had already fpoken, while compofing thefe memoirs in Abyflinia, long before this new publication faw the light ; and, upon a cool revifarl of the whole that I have faid, I cannot think of receding from any part of it, and therefore recommend it to the reader's. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 139 leader's perufal. What we have now only to note, is the fidelity of Jerome Lobo, fo ftrongly vouched in the words I have jufl cited, in the article of bafilifks, or ferpents, which Dr Johnfon has chofen as one of the inilances of his au- thor's adhering to fac% contrary to the cuftom of other wri- ters on fuch fubjects. " £n croiling a defert, which was two days journey over, " I was in great danger of my life ; for, as I lay on the " ground, I perceived myfelf feized with a pain which for- " ced me to rife, and fa w, about four yards from me, one of " thofe ferpents that dart their potfon from a diftance. Although " I rofe before he came very near me, I yet felt the effects of " his poifonous breath ; and, if I had lain a little longer, " had certainly died. I had recourfe to bezoar, a fovereigo. " remedy againil thofe poifons, which I always carried " about me. Thefe ferpents are not long, but have a body " fliort and thick, their bellies fpeckled with brown, black, " and yellow. They have a wide mouth, with which they " draw in a great quantity of air, and, having retained it " fome time, ejecl it with fuch force, that they kill at four " yards diftance. I only efcaped by being fomewhat farther " from him." (Chap. xii. p. 124) Now, as this is warranted, by one of fuch authority as Dr johnfon, to be neither imagination nor falfehood, we muft think it a new fyitem of natural philofophy, and con- fider it as fuch ; and, in the firft place, I would wifh to knew from the author, who feems perfectly informed, what fpe- cies of ferpent it is that he has quoted as darting their poi- fon at a diftance. Again, what fpecies it is that, at the diftance of 12 feet, kills a man by breathing on his back; v. iii. S 2 alio, x4o TRAVELS TO DISCOVER alfo, whai they call that fpecies of ferpent that, drawing in the fame outward air which Jerome Lobo breathed, could fo far pervert its quality as with it to kill at the diftance of four yards. Surely fuch a ferpent, if he had no other cha- radteriftic in the world, would be defcribed by a naturalifl as the ferpent with the foul flomach. — I never faw a poi- fonous ferpent in Abyffinia whofe belly is not white ; fo this one being fpeckled, brown, black, and yellow, will be a direction when any fuch is found, and ferve as a warning not to come near him, at leaft within the diftance of four yards. Jerome Lobo continues, " that this danger was not to be " much regarded in comparifon of another his negligence " brought him into. As he was picking up a fkin that * lay upon the ground, he was flung by a ferpent that left " its lling in his finger ; he picked out an extraneous fub- M fiance about the bignefs of an hair, which he imagined " was the fling. This flight wound he took little notice of» " till his arm grew inflamed all over ; his blood was infect- " ed ; he fell into convullions, which were interpreted as w the figns of inevitable death." (Chap. xii. p. 125.) Now, with all fubmiflion to Jerome Lobo, the firfl fer- pent had brought him within a near view of death ; the fecond did no more, for it did not kill him ; how comes it that he fays the firfl danger was nothing in comparifon to the fecond I The firfl would have certainly killed him, by blowing upon his back, if he had been nearer than 12 feet. The other had nearly killed him by a fling. Death was the end of them both. I cannot fee the difference between the two dangers, Thi THESOURCEOFTHENILE. i4l The firft ferpent was of a new fpecies, that kills a man at the diftance of 12 feet by breathing upon him. The fecond was alfo new, for he killed by a fting. We know of no fuch power that any of the ferpent kind have. If Drjohnfon bebeves this, I will not fay that it is the moll improbable th -ng he ever gave credit to, but this I will fay, that it is altogether different from what at this day is taught us by natural philofophy. We eafily fee, by the ftrain in which thefe ftories aie told, that all thefe fables of Lobo would have palled for miracles, had the converlion of Abyflinia followed. They were preparatory lteps for receiving him as confeflbr, had his merit not been fufficient to have enti- tled him to a higher place in the kalendar. Rainy, miry, and cold countries, are not the favourite habitation of fer- pents. Abyflinia is deluged with fix months rain every year while the fun is palling over it. It only enjoys clear wea- ther when the fun is fartheft diilant from it in the fouthem hemifphere ; the days and nights are always nearly equal. Vi- pers are not found in a climate like this. Accordingly, I can tellify, I never faw one of the kind in the high country of Abyflinia all the time I lived there ; and Tigre, where Jerome Lobo places the fcene of his adventures, by being one of the Iiigheft provinces in the country, is furely not one of the molt proper. It was the 20th of January, at feven o'clock in the morn- ing,we left Axum; our road was at firft fufficiently even, thro' fmall vallies and meadows ; we began to afcend gently, but through a road exceedingly difficult in itfelf, by reafon of large Hones Handing on edge, or heaped one upon another ; apparently the remains of an old large caufeway, part of the magnificent works about Axum, The i4a TRAVELS TO DISCOVER The laft part of the journey made ample amends for the difficulties and fatigue we had fuffered in the beginning. For our road, on every fide, was perfumed with variety of flowering mrubs, chiefly different fpecies of jeffamin; one in particular of thefe called Agam (a fmall four-leaved flower) impregnated the whole air with the mofl delicious odour, and covered the fmall hills through which we paffed, in fuch profulion, that we were, at times, almoft overcome with its fragrance. The country all round had now the mofl beau- tiful appearance, and this was heightened by the fineft of weather, and a temperature of air neither too hot nor too cold. Not long after our lofing fight of the ruins of this an- cient capital of Abyflinia, we overtook three travellers dri- ving a cow before them ; they had black goat fkins upon their moulders, and lances and fhields in their hands, in o- ther refpects were but thinly cloathed ; they appeared to be foldiers. The cow did not feem to be fatted for killing, and it occurred to us all that it had been ftolen. This, however, was not our bufinefs, nor was fuch an occurrence at all re- markable in a country fo long engaged in war. We faw that our attendants attached themfelves in a par- ticular manner to the three foldiers that were driving the cow, and held a fhort converfation with them. Soon after, we arrived at the hithermoft bank of the river, where I thought we were to pitch our tent. The drivers fuddenly tript up the cow, and gave the poor animal a very rude fall upon the ground, which was but the beginning of her fuf- ferings. One of them fat acrofs her neck, holding. down her head by the horns, the other twifted the halter about her forefeet, while the third, who had a knife in his hand,-to my very great furpriic, in place of taking her by the throat got a- ! ftride THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. H3 flride upon her belly before her hind-legs, and gave her a very deep wound in the upper part of her buttock. From the time I had feen them throw the beafl upon the ground, I had rejoiced, thinking, that when three people were killing a cow, they mult have agreed to fell part of her to us ; and I was much difappointed upon hearing the Abyflinians fay, that we were to pafs the river to the other fide, and not encamp where I intended. Upon my propofing they mould bargain for part of the cow, my men anfwered what they had already learned in converfation, that they were not then to kill her, that fhe was not wholly theirs, and they could not fell her. This awakened my curiofity; I let my people go forward, and ftaid myfelf, till I faw, with the uc- mofl aftonifhment, two pieces, thicker, and longer than our ordinary beef fteaks, cut out of the higher part of the buttock of the beaft\ How it was done I cannot pofitively fay, becaufe judging the cow was to be killed from the moment I faw the knife drawn, I was not anxious to view that cataftrophe, which was by no means an object of curiofity; whatever way it was done, it furely was adroitly, and the two pieces were fpread upon the outfide of one of their fhields. One of them ftill continued holding the head, while the other two were bufied in curing the wound. This too was done not in an ordinary manner; the fkin which had covered the flefh that was taken away was left entire, and napped over the wound, and was faftened to the correfponding part by two or more fmall fkewers, or pins. Whether they had put any thing under the fkin between that and the woundedflefli I know not, but at the river fide where they were, they had prepared a cataplaim of clay, with which they covered the wauncl ; t j44 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER wound ; they then forced the animal to rife, and drove it on before them, to furnhh them with a fuller meal when they fhould meet their companions in the evening. I could not but admire a dinner fo truly foldier-like, nor did I ever fee fo commodious a manner of carrying provifions along on the road as this was. I naturally attribu- ted this to neceflity, and the love of expedition. It was a li- berty, to be fure, taken with Chriftianity ; but what tranfgref- fion is not warranted to a foldier when diftreffed by his ene- my in the field ? I could not as yet conceive that this was the ordinary banquet of citizens, and even of priefts, throughout all this country. In the hofpitable, humane houfe of Janni, thefe living feafts had never appeared. It is true we had feen raw meat, but no part of an animal torn from it with. the blood. The firft mocked us as uncom- mon, but the other as impious. When firft I mentioned this in England, as one of the Angularities which prevailed in this barbarous country, I was told by my friends it was not believed. I afked the reafon of this difbelief, and was anfwered, that people who had never been out of their own country, and others well ac- quainted with the manners of the world,for they had travelled as far as France, had agreed the thing was impofiible, and therefore it was fo. My friends counfelled me further, that as thefe men were infallible, and had each the leading of a circle, I mould by all means obliterate this from my jour- nal, and not attempt to inculcate in the minds of my read- ers the belief of a thing that men who had travelled pro- nounced to be impofiible. They fuggefted to me, in the moll friendly manner, how rudely a very learned and wor- 3 thy THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 14$ thy traveller had been treated for daring to maintain that he had eat part of a lion, a ftory I have already taken no- tice of in ray introduction. They faid, that, being convin- ced by thefe connoifTeurs his having eat any part of a lion was impofibk, he had abandoned this aflertion altogether, and after only mentioned it in an appendix ; and this was the fartheft I could pombly venture. Far from being a convert to fuch prudential reafons, I inuft for ever profefs openly, that I think them unworthy of me. To reprefent as truth a thing I know to be a falfe- hood, not to avow a truth which I know I ought to declare; the one is fraud, the other cowardice ; I hope I am equally diftant from them both ; and I pledge myfelf never to retract the fact here advanced, that the Abyflinians do feed in com- mon upon live flefh, and that I myfelf have, for feveral years, been partaker of that difagreeable and beaftly diet. On the contrary, I have no doubt, when time mail be given to read this hiilory to an end, there will be very few, if they have candour enough to own it, that will not be afhamed of ever having doubted. At 1 1 o'clock of the 20th, we pitched our tent in a fmall plain, by the banks of a quick clear running ftream ; the fpot is called Mai-Shum. There are no villages, at lead that we faw, here. A peafant had made a very neat little garden on both fides of the rivulet, in which he had fown abundance of onions and garlic, and he had a fpecies of pumpkin, which I thought was little inferior to a melon. This man guefled by our arms and horfes that we were hunters, and he brought us a prefent of the fruits of his garden, and begged our ailillance againfl-a number of wild boars, which Vol. III. T -carried 146 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER carried havoc and defolation through all his labours; marks of which were, indeed, too viable everywhere. Such inftances of industry are very rare in this country, and de- manded encouragement. I paid him, therefore, for his greens ; and fent two of my fervants with him into the wood, and got on horfeback myfelf. Mirza, my horfe, in- deed, as well as his mailer, had recruited greatly during our flay at Adowa, under the hofpitable roof of our good friend Janni,. Amongst us we killed'five boars, all large ones, in the fpace of about two hours ; one of which meafured fix feet nine inches ; and, though he ran at an amazing fpeed near two miles, fo as to be with difficulty overtaken by the horfe^ and was {truck through and through with two heavy lances loaded at. the end with iron, no perfon dared to -come near him on foot, and he defended himfelf above half an hour, till, having no other arms left, I fhot him with a horfe- piftol. But the misfortune was, that, after our hunting had. been crowned with fucli fuccefs, we did not da-re to partake of the excellent venifon we had acquired; for the Abyffini- ans hold pork of all kinds in the utmoft deteflation; and I: was now become cautious, left I mould give offence, being at no great diftance from the capital . On the 2ifTwe left Mai- Shum at feven o'clock in the morning, proceeding through an open country, part fown, with tefF, but moftly overgrown with wild oats and high grafs. We afterwards travelled among a number of low hills, afcending and descending many of them, which occa- fioned more pleafure than fatigue. The jelTamin continued it) increafe upon us, and it was the common bum of the country, . THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. ,4; country. Several new fpecies appeared, with five, nine, eleven petals, and plenty of the agam with four, thefe being all white. We found alfo large bufhes of yellow, and orange and yellow jeflamin, befides fine trees of kummel, and the boha, both of the largeft fize, beautifully covered with fruit and flowers, which we never before had feen. We now descended into a plain called Selech lecha, the village of that name being two miles eaft of us. The country here has an air of gaiety and chearfulnefs fuperior to any thing we had ever yet feen. Poncet* was right when he compared it to the mod beauteous part of Provence. We croffed the plain through hedge-rows of flowering fhrubs, among which the honeyfuckle now made a principal figure,' which is of one fpecies only, the fame known in Engfand • but the flower is larger and perfectly white, not coloured on the outfide as our honeyfuckle is. Fine trees of all fizes were everywhere interfperfed ; and the vine, with fmall black grapes of very good flavour, hung in many places in feiloons, joining tree to tree, as if they had been artificially twined and intended for arbours. After having pafTed this plain, we again entered a clofe country through defiles between mountains, thick covered with wood and bufhes. We pitched our tent by the water- fide judicioufly enough as travellers, being quite furrounded with bullies, which prevented us from being feen in any direction. T 2 As * Eoncet's voyage to Ethiopia, p. 99. I43 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER As the boha was the principal tree here, and in great beauty, being then in flower, I let the caravan pafs, and a- li^hted to make a proper choice for a drawing, when I heard a cry from my fervants, " Robbers ! Robbers !" I immediately got upon my mule to learn what alarm this might be, and faw, to my great furprife, part of my baggage ftrewed on the ground, the fervants running, fome leading, others on foot driving fuch of their mules as were unloaded before them ; in a word, every thing in the greateft confufion pof- fible. Having got to the edge of the wood, they faced a- bout, and began to prepare their fire-arms ; but as I faw the king's two fervants, and the man that Janni fent with us, endeavouring all they could to pitch the tent, and my horfe {landing peaceably by them, I forbade our fugitives to fire, till they mould receive orders from me. I now rode immediately up to the tent, and in my way was faluted from among the bullies with many Hones, one of which gave me a violent blow upon the foot. At the fame inftant I received another blow with a fmall unripe pumpkin, juft upon the belly, where I was ftrongly defended by the coarfe cotton cloth wrapped feveral times about me by way of fafh or girdle. As robbers fight with other arms than pumpkins, when I faw this fall at my feet I was no longer under ap- prehenfion. Notwithstanding this difagreeable reception, I advan- ced towards them, crying out, We were friends, and Ras Mi- chael's friends; and defired only to fpeak to them, and would give them what they wanted. A few flones were the only anfwer, but they did no hurt. I then gave Yafine my gun, thinking that might have given offence. The top of the tent being now up, two men came forward making great - complaints, THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 149 complaints, but of what I did no,- underftand, only that they feemed to acciife us of having wronged them, fn inert, we found the matter was this ; one of the Moors had taken a heap of ft raw which he was carrying to his als, but the proprietor, at feeing this, had alarmed the village, Every body had taken lances and fhields, but, not daring to ap- proach for fear of the fire-arms, they had contented them- felves with fhowering ftones at us from their hiding-places, at a diftance from among the bullies. We immediately told them, however, that though, as the king's gueit, I had a- title to be furnifhed with what was neceffary, yet, if they were averfe to it, I was very well content to pay for every thin<* they furnifhed, both for my men and beads ; but that theymuft throw no Hones, otherwife we would defend our- felves. Our tent being now pitched, and every thing- in order, a treaty foon followed. They confented to fell us what we wanted, but at extravagant prices, which, however, I was content to comply with. But a man of the village,. acquaint- ed with one of the king's fervants, had communicated to him, that the pretence of the Moor's taking the firaw was not really the reafon of the uproar, for they made no ufe of it except to burn ; but that a report had been fpread abroad, that an action had happened between Fafil and Ras Michael, in which the latter had been defeated, and the country no longer in fear of the Has,, had indulged themf elves in their ufual exceffes, and; taking us for a caravan of Mahometans with merchandife, had refolvcd to rob us, Welt/fta Michael, grandfon to Fas. Michael, command- ed this p;u l of the province ; and being but thirteen years of iSo TRAVELS TO DISCOVER of age, was not with his grandfather in the army, nor was he then at home, but at Gondar. However, his mother, Ozoro Welleta Michael, was at home, and her houfe juft on the hill above. One of the king's fervants had ftolen away privately, and told her what had happened. The fame evening, a party was fent down to the village, who took the ringleaders and carried them away, and left us for the night. They brought us a prefent alfo of provifions, and excufes for what had happened, warning us to be upon our guard the reft of the way, but they gave us pofitive af- furance, at the fame time, that no action had happened be- tween Fafil and Ras Michael ; on the contrary, it was con- fidently reported, that Fafd had left Bure, and retired to Met- chakel, where, probably, he would repafs the Nile into his own country, and ftay there till the rains mould oblige Mi- chael to return to Gondar. On the 2 2d, we left Selech-lecha at feven o'clock in the morning, and, at eight, paffed a village two hundred yards on our left, without feeing any one ; but, advancing half a mile further, we faw a number of armed men from fixty to eighty, and we were told they were refolved to oppofe our paffage, unlefs their comrades, taken the night before, were releafed. The people that attended us on the part of Welle- ta Michael, as our efcort, confidered this as an infult, and advifed me by all means to turn to the left to another vil- lage immediately under the hill, on which the houfe of Welleta Michael, mother to Welleta Gabriel their governor, was fituated ; as there we mould find fufficient aililtance to force thefe opponents to reafon. We accordingly turned to the left, and marching through thick bullies, came to the top of the hill above the village, in light of the governor's 4 houfe, THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. i&» lioufe, juft as about twenty men of the enemy's party reach- ed the bottom of it. The governor's fervants told us, that now was the time if they advanced to fire upon them, in which cafe they would inftantly difperfe, or elfe they would cut us off from the village. But I could not enter into the force of this reafoning, becaufe, if this village was ftrong. enough to protect us, which was the caufe of our turning to the left to feek it, thefe twenty men, putting themlelves between us and the village, took the moll dangerous ftep for themfelves poffible, as they muft unavoidably be deftroyed ; and, if the village was not ftrong enough to protect us, to begin with bloodfhed was the way to lofe our lives before a fuperior enemy. I therefore called to the twenty men to flop where they were, and fend only one of their company to me; and, upon their not paying any attention, I ordered Yafine to fire a large b'lunderbufs over their heads, fo as not to touch them. Upon the report, they all fled, and a number of people flocked to us from other villages; for my part, I believe fome who had appeared againft us came afterwards and joined us. We foon feemed to have a little army, and, in about half an hour, a party came from the governor's houfe with twenty lances and fhields, and fix firelocks, and, pre- fently afttrr, the whole multitude difperfed. It was about ten o'clock when, under their efcort, we arrived at the town- of Sire, and pitched our tent in a ftrong fituation, in a very deep guliey on the weft extremity of the town. CHAP. i52 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER **£» Se!= CHAP. VI. Journey from Sire to Addergey^nd Tranfailions there. TH E province of Sire, properly fo called, reaches from Axum to the Tacazze. The town of Sire is fituated on the brink of a very fleep, narrow valley, and through this the road lies which is almoft impaflable. In the midft of this valley runs a brook bordered with palm-trees, fome of which are grown to a confiderable fize, but bear no fruit ; they were the firit we had feen in Abyffinia. The town of Sire is larger than that of Axum ; it is in form of a half-moon fronting the plain, but its greateft breadth is at the well end ; all the houfes are of clay, and thatched ; the roofs are in form of cones, as, indeed, are all in Abyffinia. Sire is famous for a manufacture of coarfe cot- ton cloths, which pafs for current money through all the province of Tigre, and are valued at a drachm, the tenth- part of a wakea of gold, or near the value of an imperial dollar each ; their breadth is a yard and quarter. Beildes thefe THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 153 thefe, beads, needles, cohol, and incenfe at times only, are confidered as money. The articles depend greatly on chance, which or whether any are current for the time or not ; but the latter is often not demanded ; and, for the firft, there are modes andfafhions among thefe barbarians, and all, except thofe of a certain colour and form, are ufelefs. We have already fpoken of the fafhions, fuch as we have found them, at Kella, and we heard they were the fame here at Sire. But thefe people were not of a humour to buy and fell with us. They were not perfectly fatisfied that Michael was alive, and waited only a confirmation of the news of his defeat, to make their own terms with all mangers unfortunate enough to fall into their hands. On the other hand, wc were in pofleffion of fuperior force, and, knowing their in- clinations, we treated them pretty much in the manner they would have done us. On the 2 2d of January, at night, I obferved the paffage of many ftars over the meridian, and, after that, of the fun on the 2 ^d at noon ; taking a medium of all obfervations, I de- termined the latitude of Sire to be 140 4' 35" north- The fame evening, I obferved an immerfion of the firft fatellite of Jupiter, by which I concluded its longitude to be 380 o' 15" eaft of the meridian of Greenwich. Although Sire is fituated in one of the fineft countries in the world, like other places it has its inconveniencies. Pu- trid fevers, of the very word kind, are almoft conftant here; and there did then actually reign a fpecies of thefe that fwept away a number of people daily. I did not think the behaviour of the inhabitants of this province to me was fuch as required my expofing myfelf to the infection for Vol. III. U thc ,54 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER the fake of relieving them ; I, therefore, left the fever and them to fettle accounts together, without anywife inter- fering. At Sire we heard the good news that Ras Michael, on- the icth of this month, had come up with Fafil at Fagitta, and entirely difperfed his army, after killing 10,000 men. This account, though not confirmed by any authority, ftruck all the mutinous of this province with awe ; and every man returned to his duty for fear of incurring the difpleafure of this fevere governor, which they well knew would in*- flantly be followed by more than an adequate portion of vengeance, efpecially againfl thofe that had not accompa,- nicd him to the field. On the 24th, at {tvcn o'clock in the morning, we ftruck our tent at Sire, and pafTed through a vaft plain. All this day we could difcern no mountains, as far as eye could reach, but only fome few detached hills, Handing feparate on the plain, covered with high graft, which they were then burning, to produce new with the firil rains. The country to the north is altogether flat, and perfectly open ; and though we could not difcovcr one village this day, yet it feemed to be well-inhabited, from the many people we faw on different parts of the plain, fome at harvefi, and fome herding their cattle. The villages were probably concealed from us on the other fide of the hills. At four o'clock, we alighted at Mailbinni at the bottom of a high,fteep, bare cliff of red marble, bordering on pur- ple, and very hard. Behind this is the fmall village of Mailbinni; and, on the fouth, another Hill higher hill, who to THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 155 whofe top runs in an even ridge like a wall. At the bottom of this cliff, where our tent was pitched, the fmall rivulet Maifbinni rifes, which, gentle and quiet as it then was, runs very violently in winter, firft north from its fource, and then winding to S. W. it falls in feveral cataracts, near a hundred feet high, into a narrow valley, through which it make^ il way into the Tacazze. Maifbinni, for wild and rude beau- ties, may compare with any place we had ever feen. This day was the firft cloudy one we had met with, or obferved this year. The fun was covered for feveral hours, which announced our being near the large riverTacazze. On the 25th, at feven in the morning, leaving Maifbinni, wc continued on our road, fhaded with trees of many diffe- rent kinds. At half an hour after eight we palled the river, which at this place runs weft ; our road this day was thro' the fame plain as yefterday, but broken and full of holes. At ten o'clock we refted in a large plain called Dagafhaha ; a hill in form of a cone Hood fingle about two miles north from us ; a thin ftraggling wood was to the S. E ; and the water, rifing in fpungy, boggy, and dirty ground, was very indifferent ; it lay to the weft of us. Dagashaha is a bleak and difagreeabic quarter ; but the mountain itfclf, being icen far oil", was of great rife to us in adjufting our bearings ; the rather that, taking our depar- ture from Dagafhaha, wc came immediately in fight of the high mountain of Samen, where Lamalmon, one of th: ridge, is by much the moft confpicuous ; and over this lies the paflage, or high road, to Gondar. We likewife fee t rugged, hilly country of Salent, adjoining to the foot of t U 2 mountain i56 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER mountains of Samen. We obferved no villages this day from Maifbinni to Dagafhaha ; nor did we difcern, in the face of the country, any figns of culture or marks of great population. We were, indeed, upon the frontiers of two provinces which had for many years been at war. On the 26th, at fix o'clock in the morning, we left Daga- fhaha. Our road was through a plain and level country, but, to appearance, defolated and uninhabited, being over- grown with high bent grafs and bufhes, as alfo deftitute of water. We paned the folitary village Adega, three miles on our left, the only one we had feen. At eight o'clock we came to the brink of a prodigious valley, in the bottom of which runs the Tacazze, next to the Nile the largeft ri- ver in Upper Abyilinia. It rifes in Angot (at leaf! its princi- pal branch) in a plain champain country, about 200 miles S. E. of Gondar, near a fpot called Souami Midre. It has three fpring heads, or fources, like the Nile ; near it is the fmall village Gourri *i Angot is now in poneflioii of the Galla,. whofe chief, Guangoul, is the head of the weftern Galla, once the moil formidable invader of Abyflinia. The other branch of the Tacazze rifes in the frontiers of Begemder, near Dabuco ; whence, running between Gouliou, Lafla, and Beleiiln, it joins with the Angot branch, and becomes the boundary between Tigre and the other great diviiion of the country called Amhara. This divifion arifes from language only, for the Tacazze pailes nowhere near the province of Am- hara ; only all to the call of the Tacazze is, in this generaL way of dividing the country, called Tigre, and all to the weftward, — _ — -- * — ^ * It fignifies coliL THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. i57 weflward, from the Tacazze to the Nile, Gojam, and the Agows, is called Amhara, becaufe the language of that pro- vince is there fpoken, and not that of Tigre or Geez. But I would have my reader on his guard againft the belief that no languages but thefe two are fpoken in thefe divifions ; many different dialects are fpoken in little diftricts in both, and, in fome of them, neither the language of Tigre nor that of Amhara is underftood. I have already fufficiently dwelt upon the ancient hiftory,. the names, manners, and people that inhabit the banks of this river. It was the Siris (or river of the dog-ftar) whilft that negro, uncivilized people, the Cufliites of the iiland of Meroe, refided upon its banks. It was then called the Tan- nufli Abay, or the leffer of two rivers that fwelled with the tropical rains, which was the name thepeafants, or unlearn- ed, gave it, from comparifon with the Nile. It was the- Tacazze in Derkin or the dwelling of the Taka, before it joined the Nile in Beja, and it was the Aftaboras of thofe of the ancients that took the Nile for the Siris. It is now the Atbara, giving its name to that peninfula, which it inclofes on the eaft as the Nile does on the weft, and which was formerly the iiland of Meroe; but it never was the Tekefel, as authors have called it, deriving the name from the Ethiopic word Taka, which undoubt- edly fignifies, fear, terror, diflrefs, or fadnefs ; I mean, this was never the derivation of its name. Far from this idea, our Tacazze is one of the pleafanteft rivers in the world, fhaded with fine lofty trees, its banks covered with bullies inferior in fragrance to no garden in the univerfe ; its ftream is the moft limpid, its water excellent, and full of good fiih of great variety, as its coverts are of all forts of game,. 3 It 138 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER It mull be confefTcd, that, during the inundation, thefe things wear a contrary face. It carries in its bed near one- third of all the water that falls in Abyflinia ; and we faw the mark the llream had reached the preceding year, eigh- teen feet above the bottom of the river, which we '■ do not know was the higheil point that it arrived at. But three fathoms it certainly had rolled in its bed ; and this prodi- gious body of water, pafling furioufly from a high ground in a very deep defcent, tearing up rocks and large trees in its courfe, and forcing down their broken fragments fcat- tered on its ilream, with a noife like thunder echoed from a hundred hills, thefe very naturally fuggeft an idea, that, from thefe circumilances, it is very rightly called the terribk. But then it mufl be considered, that all rivers in Abyffinia at the fame time equally overflow; that every ilream makes thefe ravages upon its banks ; and that there is nothing in this that peculiarly affects the Tacazze, or mould give it this fpecial name : at lead, fuch is my opinion ; though it is with great willingnefs I leave every reader in poffeilion of his own, efpecially in etymology. At half an hour pari eight we began a gradual defcent, at firft eafily enough, till we crofted the fmall brook called Maitemquct, or, the wdfe'/S of baptifm. We then began to de- fcend very rapidly in a narrow path, winding along the fide of the mountain, all lhaded with lofty timber-trees of great beauty. About three miles further we came to the edge of the ilream at the principal ford of the Tacazze, which is very firm and good ; the bottom confiils of fmall pebbles, without cither land or large flones. The river here at this time was fully 200 yards broad, the water perfectly clear, and running very fwiftly ; it was about three feet deep. This was the dry 1 feafon THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. is2 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER On the 27th of January, a little pad fix in the mornings we continued fome fhort way along the river's fide, and, at forty minutes paft fix o'clock, came to Ingerohha, a fmall rivulet riling-, in the plain above, which, after a fhort courfe through a deep valley, joins theTacazze: At half paft feven we left the river, and began to afcend the mountains, which forms the fouth fide of the valley, or banks of that river. The path is narrow, winds as much, and is as fteep as the other, but not fo woody. What makes it, however, ftillmore difagreeable is, that every way you turn you have a perpen- dicular precipice into a deep valley below you. At half paft eight we arrived at the top of the mountain ; and, at half paft nine, halted at Tabulaque, having all the way paffed among ruined villages, the monuments of Michael's cruelty or juftice ; for it is hard to fay whether the cruelty, robber- ies, and violence of the former inhabitants did not deferve • the fevereft chaflifement. We faw many people feeding cattle on the plain, and we again opened a market for flour and other provifions, which i we procured in barter for cohol, incenfe, and beads. None but the young women appeared. They were of a lighter; colour, taller, and in general more beautiful than thofe at Kella. Their nofes feemed flatter than thofe of the Abyf- finians w€ had yet feen. Perhaps the climate here was be- ginning that feature fo confpicuous in the negroes in ge- neral, and particularly of thofe in this country called Shan- galla, from whofe country thefe people are not diftant above two days journey. They feemed inclined to be very hard in all bargains but thofe of one kind, in which they were mod reafonable and liberal. They all agreed, that thefe favours ought to be given and not fold, and that all coynefs and THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 163 ' and courtfliip was but lofs of time, which always might be employed better to the fatisfacldon of both. Thefe people are lefs gay than thofe at Kella, and their converfation more rough and peremptory. They understood both the Tigre language and Amharic, although we mppofed it was in compliance to us that they converfed chiefly in the former. Our tent was pitched at the head of Ingerohha, on the north of the plain of Tabulaque. This river rifes among the rocks at the bottom of a little eminence, in a fmall flream, which, from its fource, runs very fwiftly, and the water is warm. The peafants told us, that, in winter, in time of the rains, it became hot, and fmoked. It was in tafte, however, good ; nor did we perceive any kind of mi- neral in it. Tabulaque, Anderafla, and Mentefegla belong to the Shum of Addergey, and the viceroy of Samen, Ayto Tesfos. The large town of Hauza is about eight miles fouth-and-by-eafl of this. On the 28th, at forty minutes paft fix o'clock in the morn- ing, we continued our journey ; and, at half paft feven, faw the fmall village Motechaon the top of the mountain, half a mile fouth from us. At eight, we crofled the river Aira ; and, at half paft eight, the river Tabul, the boundary of the di- flricl: of Tabulaque thick covered with wood, and efpecially a fort of cane, or bamboo, foiid within, called there Shemale, which is ufed in making fhafts for javelins, or light darts thrown from the hand, either on foot or on horfeback, at hunting or in war. We alighted on the fide of Anderafla, rather a fmall ftream, and which had now ceafed running, but which X 2 gives 1 64 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER gives the name to the diftrict through which we were paf£ ing. Its water is muddy and ill-tailed, and falls into the Tacazze, as do all the rivers we had yet pa/Ted. Dagafha- ha bears N. N. E. from this ftation. A great dew fell this night ; the firil we had yet obferved. The 29th, at fix o'clock in the morning, we continued our journey from AnderafTa, through thick woods of fmall trees, quite overgrown, and covered with wild oats, reeds,, and long grafs, fo that it was very difficult to find a path through them. We were not without confiderable appre- henfion, from our nearnefs to the Shangalla, who were but two days journey diftant from us to the W. N. W. and had frequently made excurfions to the wild country where we now were. Hauza was upon a mountain fouth from us ; after travelling along the edge of a hill, with the river on our left hand, we crofted it : it is called the Bowiha, and is the largeft we had lately feem At nine o'clock we encamped upon the fmall river An- gari, that gives its name to a diftricl: which begins at the Bowiha where AnderafTa ends. The river Angari is much fmaller than the Bowiha : it rifes to the weftward in a plain near Montefegla ; after running half a mile, it falls down, a fteep precipice into a valley, then turns to the N. E. and,, after a courfe of two miles and a half farther, joins the Bow- iha a little above the ford. The fmall village Angari lies about two miles S. S. W« on the top of a hill. Hauza (which feems a large town formed by a collection of many villages) is fix miles fouth, pleafantly fituated among a variety of mountains, all of dif- ferent THE SOURCE OFTHE NILE. 165 ferent and extraordinary fhapes ; fome are flraight like co- lumns, and fome fharp in the point, and broad in the bafe, like pyramids and obelifks, and fome like cones. All thefe, for the moil part inacceffible, unlefs with pain and danger to thofe that know the paths, are places of refuge and fafe- ty in time of war, and are agreeably feparated from each other by fmall plains producing grain. Some of thefe, however,, have at the top water and fmall flats that can be fown, fufficient to maintain a number of men, independent: of what is doing below them. Hauza fignifies delight, or pleafure, and, probably, fuch a fituation of the country has- given the name to it. It is chiefly inhabited by Mahome- tan merchants, is the entre-pot between Mafuah and Gon- dar, and there are here people of very confiderable fubflance,' The 30th, at feven in the morning, we left Angari, keep- ing along the fide of the river. We then afcended a -high: hill covered with grafs and trees, through a very difficult and fleep road ;. which ending, we came to a fmall and a- greeable plain, with pleafant hills on each fide ; this is cal- led Mentefegla. At half pad feven we were in the middle of three villages of the fame name, two to the right and one on the left,, about half a mile diflance. At half pafl nine we palled a fmall river called Daracoy, which ferves as the boundary between Addergey and this fmall diflrict Men- tefegla. At a quarter pafl ten, we incamped at Addergey, near a fmall rivulet called Mai-Lumi, the river of limes, or lemons, in a plain fcarce a mile fquare, furrounded on each fide with very thick wood in form of an am- phitheatre. Above this wood, are bare, rugged, and bar- ren mountains. Midway in the cliff is a miferable vil- lage, that feems rather to hang than to fland there, fcarce a yard i66 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER a yard of level ground being before it to hinder its inha- bitants from falling down the precipice. The wood is full of lemons and wild citrons, from which it acquires its name. Before the tent, to the weftward, was a very deep valley, which terminated this little plain in a tremendous precipice. The river Mai-Lumi, rifing above the village, falls into the wood, and there it divides itfelf in two ; one branch fur- rounds the north of the plain, the other the fouth, and falls down a rock on each fide of the valley, where they unite, and, after having run about a quarter of a mile further, are precipitated into a cataract of 150 feet high, and run in a direction fouth- weft into theTacazze. The river Mai-Lumi was, at this time, but fmall, although it is violent in winter; beyond this valley are five hills, and on the top of each is a village. The Shum rcfides in the one that is in the middle. He bade us a feeming hearty welcome, but had malice in his heart againft us, and only waited to know for certain- ty if it was a proper time to gratify his avarice. A report was fpread about with great confidence, that Ras Michael had been defeated by Fafil ; that Gondar had rebelled, and Woggora was all in arms ; fo that it was certain lofs of life to attempt the paffage of Lamalmon. For our part, we conceived this flory to be without foun- dation, and that, on the contrary, the news were true which we had heard at Sire and Adowa, viz. That Michael was vic- torious, and Faiil beaten ; and we were, therefore, refolved to abide by this, as well knowing, that, if the contrary had happened, everyplace between the Tacazze and Gondar was as fatal to us as any thing we were to meet with' on Lamal- 2 mon THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. i6j mon could be ; the change of place made no difference ; the difpafitions of the people towards Michael and his friends we knew to be the fame throughout the kingdom, and that our only fafety remained on certain and good news coming from the army, or in the liniihing our journey with expe- dition, before any thing bad happened, or was certainly known. The hyamas this night devoured one of the beft of our mules. They are here in great plenty, and fo arc lions ; the roaring and grumbling of the latter, in the part of the wood nearefl our tent, greatly difturbed our beails, and prevented them from eating their provender. I lengthened the firings of my tent, and placed the beafts between them. The white ropes, and the tremulous motion made by the impreilion of the wind, frightened the lions from coming near us. 1 had procured from Janni two fmall brafs bells, fuch as the mules carry. I had tied thefe to the norm-firings of the tent, where their noife, no doubt, greatly contributed to our beafts fafety from thefe ravenous, yet cautious animals, fo that we never faw them ; but the noife they made, and, perhaps, their fmell, fo terrified the mules, that, in the morn- ing, they were drenched in fweat as if they had been a long journey. The brutifh hyama was not fo to be deterred. I mot one of them dead on the night of the 31ft of January, and, on the 2d of February, I fired at another fo near, that I was confident of killing him. Whether the balls had fallen out, or that I had really miffed him with the firft barrel, I know not, but he gave a fnarl and a kind of bark upon the firft {hot, advancing diredtly upon me as if unhurt. The fecond {hot,. xGS TRAVELS TO DISCOVER •fhot, however, took place, and laid him without motion on the ground. Yafine and his men killed another with a pike; and fuch was their determined coolnefs, that they ftalked round about us with the familiarity of a dog, or any other -domeftic animal brought up with man. But we were ftill more incommoded by a leffer animal, a large, black ant, little lefs than an inch long, which, co- ming out from under the ground, demolifhed our carpets, which they cut all into fhreds, and part of the lining of our tent likewife, .and every bag or fack they could find. We had firft feen them in great numbers at Angari, but here they were intolerable. Their bite caufes a confiderable in- flammation, and the pain is greater than that which arifes from the bite of a fcorpion ; they are called gundan. On the ift of February the Shum fent his people to value, ,as he faid, our merchandife, that we might pay cuftom. Many of the Moors, in our caravan, had left us to go a near way to Hauza. We had at mod five or fix affes, including thofe belonging to Yafine. I humoured them fo far as to open the cafes where were the telefcopes and quadrant, or, indeed, rather fhewed them open, as they were not fhut from the observation I had been making. They could only wonder at things they had never before feen. On the 2d of February the Shum came himfelf, and a violent altercation enfued. He infifted upon Michael's defeat: I told him the contrary news were true, and begged him to •beware left it mould be told to the Ras upon his return that he had propagated fuch a raliehood I told him alfo we ihad advice that the Ras's fervants were now waiting for us 4 at THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 169 at Lamalmon, and infilled upon his fuffering us to depart, On the other hand, he threatened to fend us to Ayto Tesfos. I anfwered, " Ayto Tesfos was a friend to Ayto Aylo, under whofe protection I was, and a fervant to the Iteghe, and was likelier to punifh him for ufing me ill, than to approve of it, but that I would not fuffer him to fend me either to Ayto Tesfos, or an inch out of the road in which I was going." He faid, " That I was mad ;" and held a confultation with his people for about half an hour, after which he came in again, feemingly quite another man, and faid, he would difpatch us on the morrow, which was the 3d, and would fend us that evening fome provifions. And, indeed, we now began to be in need, having only flour barely fufficient to make bread for one meal next day. The miferable village on the clift had nothing to barter with us ; and none from the five villages about the Shum had come near us, proba- bly by his order. As he had foftened his tone, fo did I mine. I gave him a fmall prefent, and he went away repeating his promifes. But all that evening pafled without provifion, and all next day without his coming, fo we got every thing ready for our departure. Our fupper did not prevent our fleeping, as all our provifion was gone, and we had tailed nothing all that day fince our brcakfaft. The country of the Shangalla lies forty miles N. N. W. of this, or rather more wefterly. All this diftricT: from the Tacazze is called, in the language of Tigre, Salent, and Ta- lent in Amharic. This probably arifes from the name being originally fpelled with (Tz), which has occafioned the dif- ference, the one language omitting the firft letter, the other the fecond. Vol. HI. Y At i7o TRAVELS TO DISCOVER At Addergey, the 3 ill day of January, at noon, I obfervcd the meridian altitude of the fun, and, at night, the pafTage of feven different liars over the meridian, by a medium of all which, I found that the latitude of Addergey is if 24' 56" North. And on the morning of the id of February, at the fame place, I obferved an immerfion of the fecond fatellitc of Jupiter, by which I concluded the longitude of Addergey to be 370 57" eafl of the meridian of Greenwich, On the 4th of February, at half pad nine in the morning, we left Addergey : hunger prefhng us, we were prepared to do it earlier, and for this we had been up fince five in the morning ; but our lofs of a mule obliged us, when we packed up our tent, to arrange our baggage differently. While employed at making ready for our departure, which was jufl in the dawn of day, a hyaena, unfeen by any of us, fattened upon one of Yaiine's afTes, and had almoft pulled his tail away. I was bufied at gathering the tent-pins into a fack, and had placed my mufket and bayonet ready againfl a tree, as it is at that hour, and the clofe of the eve- ning, you are always to be on guard againfl banditti. A boy, who was fervant to Yafine, faw the hyaena firft, and flew to my mufket. Yafine was disjoining the poles of the tent, and, having one half of the largefl in his hand, he ran to the affiflance of his afs, and in that moment the mufket went off, luckily charged with only one ball, which gave Yafine a flefh wound between the thumb and forefinger of his left hand. The boy inflantly threw down the mufket,. which had terrified the hyaena* and made him let go the afs ; but he flood ready to fight Yafine, who, not amu- Ung himfelf with the choice of weapons, gave him fo rude THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. i7i rude a blow with the tent-pole upon his head, that it fell- ed him to the ground ; others, with pikes, put an end to his life. We were then obliged to turn our cares towards the wound- ed. Yafine's wound was foon feen to be a trifle ; befides, he was a man not eafily alarmed on fuch occafions. But the poor afs ■was not fo eafily comforted. The flump remained, the tail hanging by a piece of it, which we were obliged to cut off. The next operation was actual cautery ; but, as we had made no bread for breakfafl, our fire had been early out. We, therefore, were obliged to tie the flump round with whip- cord, till we could get fire enough to heat an iron. What fufnciently marked the voracity of thefe beafls, the hyenas, was, that the bodies of their dead companions, which we hauled a long way from us, and left there, were almofl en- tirely eaten by the furvivors the next morning ; and I then obferved, for the firfl time, that the hysena of this country was a different fpecies from thofe I had feen in Europe, which had been brought from Ana or America. CHAR ij* TRAVELS TO DISCOVER y^gfc**5 CHAP. VII. * Journey over Lamalmon to Gaidar. IT was on account of thefe delays that we did not leave Ad- dergey till near ten o'clock in the forenoon of the 4th of February. We continued our journey along the fide of a hill, through thick wood and high grafs ; then descended into a deep, narrow valley, the fides of which had been Ihaded with high trees, but in burning the grafs the trees were confumed likewife ; and the fhoots from the roots were fome of them above eight feet high fince the tree had thus fufFered that fame year. The river Angueah runs through the middle of this valley ; after receiving the fmall ftreams, before mentioned, it makes its way into the Tacazze. It is a very clear, fwift-running river, fomething lefs than the Bowiha. When we had jufl reached the river- fide, we faw the Shum coming from the right hand acrofs us. There were nine THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 173 nine horfemen in all, and fourteen or fifteen beggarly foot- men. He had a well-drefled young man going before him carrying his gun, and had only a whip in his own hand ; the reft had lances in theirs ; but none of the horfemen had fhields. It was univerfally agreed, that this feemed to- be a party fet for us, and that he probably had others before appointed to join him, for we were fare his nine horfe would not venture to do any thing. Upon the firft appear- ance, we had flopped on this fide of the river ; but Welleta Michael's men, who were to accompany us to Lamalmon, and Janni's fervant, told us to crofs the river, and make what fpeed we could, as the Shum's government ended on. this fide. Our people were now all on foot, and the Moors drove, thebeafts before them. I got immediately upon horfeback, when they were then about five hundred yards below, or fcarcely fo much. As foon as they obferved us drive our beafts into the river, one of their horfemen came galloping up, while the others continued at a fmart walk. When the horfeman was within twenty yards diflance of me, I called upon him to flop, and, as he valued his life, not approach nearer. On this he made no difficulty to obey, but feemed rather inclined to turn back. As I faw the baggage all laid on the ground at the foot of a fmall round hill, upon the gentle afcent of which my fervants all flood armed, I turn- ed about my horfe, and with -Yafine, who was by my fide, began to crofs the river. The horfeman upon this again advanced; again I cried to him to -flop. He then pointed behind him, and faid, " The Shum !" 1 defired him peremp- torily to flop, or I would fire ; upon which he turned round, and the others joining him, they held a minute's counfell 274 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER counfcl together, and came all forward to the river, where they paufed a moment as if counting our number, and then began to enter the ft re am, Yafine now cried to them in Amharic, as I had done before in Tigre, defiring them, as they valued their lives, to come no nearer. They ftopt, a fign of no great refolution ; and, after fome altercation, it was agreed the Shum, and his fon with the gun, fhould pafs the river. ■ The Shum complained violently that we had left Ad- dergey without his leave, and now were attacking him in his own government upon the high-road. " A pretty fituation," faid I, " was ours at Addergey, where the Shum left the king's flranger no other alternative but dying with hunger, or being ate by the hyasna." "This is not your government," fays Janni's fervant ; " you know my mailer, Ayto Aylo, commands here." — " And who is attacking you on the road ?" fays the Sire fervant. " Is it like peaceable people, or banditti, to come mounted on horfeback and armed as you are ? Would not your mules and your foot-fervants have been as proper ? and would not you have been better employed, with the king and Ras Michael, fighting the Galla, as you gave your promife, than here molefting paffengers on the road ?"— " You lie," fays the Shum, " I never promifed to go with your Ras ;" and on this he lifted up his whip to ftrike Welleta Michael's fer- vant ; but that fellow, though quiet enough, was not of the kind to be beaten. " By G— d ! Shum," fays he, " offer to ftrike me again, and 1 will la)- you dead among your horfe's feet, and my mailer will fay I did well. Never call for your men ; you fhould have taken the red flip off your i gun THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 175 gun before you came from home to-day to follow us. Why*. if you was to (hoot, you would be left alone in our hands, as all your fellows on the other fide would run at the noife even of your own gun. " Friends, faid I, you underftand one another's grie- vances better than I do. My only bufinefs here is to get to Lamalmon as foon as poffible. Now, pray, Shum, tell me what is your bufinefs with me ? and why have you follow- ed me beyond your government, which is bounded by that river ?" — He faid, " That I had ftolen away privately, without paying cuftom." — " I am no merchant, replied I ; I am the king's gueft, and pay no cuftom ; but as far as a piece of red Surat cotton cloth will content you, I will give it you, and we iliall part friends."— He then anfwered, " That two ounces of gold were what my dues had been rated at, and would either have that, or he would follow me to Debra Toon." — " Bind him and carry him to Debra Toon, fays the Sire fervant, or I mall go and bring the Shum of De- bra Toon to do it. By the head of Michael, Shum, it mall not be long before I take you out of your bed for this." I now gave orders to my people to load the mules. At hearing this, the Shum made a fignal for his company to crofs ; but Yafine, who was oppofite to them, again ordered them to flop. " Shum, faid I, you intend to follow us, apparently with a defign to do us fome harm. Now we are going to Debra Toon, and you are going thither. If you chuie to go wuh us, you may in all honour and fafe- ty ; but your fervants mall not be allowed to join you, nor you join them ; and if they but attempt to do us harm, we will for certain revenge ourfelves on you. There is a piece v, iii. y °£ ij5 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER of ordnance," continued I, fhewing him a large blunderbufs, " a cannon, that will fweep fifty fuch fellows as you to eter- nity in a moment. This mail take the care of them, and we mall take the care of you ; but join you mall not till we are at Debra Toon." The young man that carried the gun, the cafe of which had never been off, defired leave to fpeak with his father, as they now began to look upon themfelves as prifoners. The converfation lafled about five minutes ; and our bag- gage was now on the way, when the Shum faid, he would make a propofal : — " Since I had no merchandife, and was going to Ras Michael, he would accept of the red cloth, its value being about a crown, provided we fwore to make no complaint of him at Gondar, nor fpeak of what had hap- pened at Debra Toon ; while he likewife would fwear, af- ter having joined his fervants, that he would not again pafs that river." Peace was concluded upon thefe terms. I gave him a piece of red Surat cotton cloth, and added fome co- hol, incenfe, and beads for his wives. I gave to the young man that carried the gun two firings of bugles to adorn his legs, for which he feemed mofl wonderfully grateful. The Shum returned, not with a very placid countenance ; his horfemen joined him in the middle of the flream, and away they went foberly together, and in filence. Hauza was from this S. E. eight miles diftant. Its moun- tains, of fo many uncommon forms, had a very romantic appearance. At one o'clock we alighted at the foot of one of the higheft, called Debra Toon, about half way between the mountain and village of that name, which was on the fide of the hill about a mile N.W. Still further to, the N. W. is THESOURCE OF THE NILE. 177 is adefert, hilly diftrict, called Adebarea, the country of the flaves, as being the neighbourhood of the Shangalla, the whole country between being wafle and uninhabited. The mountains of Waldubba, refembling thofe of Ade- barea, lay north of us about four or five miles. Waldubba, which fignifies the Valley of the Hyarna^ is a territory entirely in- habited by the monks, who, for mortification's fake, have retired to this unwholefome, hot, and dangerous country, voluntarily to fpend their lives in penitence, meditation, and prayer. This, too, is the only retreat of great men in difgrace or in difguft. Thefe firit fhave their hair, and put on a cowl like the monks, renouncing the world for foli- tude, and taking vows which they refolve to keep no longer than exigencies require ; after which they return to the world again, leaving their cowl and fanctky in Waldubba. These monks are held in great veneration ; are believed by many to have the gift of prophecy, and fome of them to work miracles, and are very active inftruments to ftir up the people in time of trouble. Thofe that I have feen out of Waldubba in Gondar, and about Kofcam, never fhewed any great marks of abftinence ; they ate and drank every thing without fcruple, and in large quantities too. They fay they live otherwife in Waldubba, and perhaps it may be fo. There are women, alio, whom we mould call Nuns, who, though not refiding in Waldubba, go at times thither, and live in a familiarity with thefe faints, that has very little favour of fpirituality ; and many of thefe, who think the living in community with this he ly fraternity has not in it per- fection enough to fatisfy their devotion, retire, one of each fex, a hermit and a nun, fequeftering themfelves for months, Vol. III. Z to j7S TRAVELS TO DISCOVER; to eat herbs together in private upon the. top of the moun- tains. Thefe, on their return, arc fhewn as miracles of hc- linefs, — lean, enervated, and exhaufted. . Whether this is wholly to be laid to the charge of the herbs, is more than I will take upon me to decide, never having been at thefe retirements of Waldubba. Violent fevers perpetually reign there. The inhabitants are all of the colour of a corple ; and their neighbours, the Shangalla, by conftant inroads, deftroy many of them, though lately they have been Hopped, as they fay, by the prayers of the monks. I fuppofe their partners, the nuns, had their fhare in it, as both of them are faid to be equally fuperior in holinefs and purity of living to what their predeceffors formerly were. But, not to derogate from the efricaciouf- nefs of their prayers, the natural caufe why the Shangalla moleft them no more, is the fmall-pox, which has greatly reduced their ftrength and number, and extinguiflied, to a man, whole tribes of them. The water is both fcarce and bad at Deb ra Toon, there being but one fpring, or fountain, and it was exceedingly ill- tailed. We did not intend to make this a itation ; but, having lent a fervant to Hauza to buy a mule in room of that which the hyaena had eaten, we were afraid to leave our man, who was not yet comeforward, left he fhould fall iu with the Shum of Addergey, who might flop the mule for our arrears of cuftoms. The pointed mountain of Dagafhaha continued Hill viable; I fet it this day by the compafs, and it bcre due N.E. We had not :'een any cultivated ground fmce we pafled the Tacazze, The THE SOURCE OF THE KILE. 175 The 5th, at fcvcn o'clock in the morning, we leftDebra Toon, and came to the edge of a deep valley bordered wi h wood, the defcent of which is very fteep. The Anzo, larger and more rapid than the Angueah, runs through the middle of this valley ; its bed is full of large, fmooth ftones, and the fides compofed of hard rock, and difficult to defcend ; the ftream is equally clear and rapid with the other. We af- cended the valley on the other fide, through the moll diffi- cult road we had met with fince that of the valley of Sire. At ten o'clock we found ourfelves in the middle of three villages, two to the right, and one on the left ; they are called Adamara, from Adama a mountain, on the eaft fide of which is Tchober. At eleven o'clock we encamped at the foot of the mountain Adama, in a fmall piece of level ground, after palling a pleafant wood of no confiderable extent. Adama, in Amharic, figiiifies pleafant) and nothing can be more wildly fo than the view from this flation. Tchober is clofe at the foot of the mountain, fnrround- ed on every fide, except the north, by a deep valley covered with wood. On the other fide of this valley arc the broken hills which conftitute the rugged banks of the Anzo. On the point of one of thefe, moil extravagantly fliaped, is the village Shahagaanah, projecting as it were over the river ; and, behind thefe, the irregular and broken mountains cf Salent appear, efpecia'lly thole around Hauza, in forms which European mountains never wear ; and ilill higher, above thefe, is the long ridge of Samen, which run along in an. even ftretch till they are interrupted by the high conical top of Lamalmon, reaching above the clouds, and reckoned to be the higheft hill ia Abyffinia, over the fteepcfl part or Z 2 which 180 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER which, by fome fatality, the reafon I do not know, the road of all caravans to Gondar mull lie. As foon as we paffed the Anzo, immediately on our right is that part of Waldubba, full of deep valleys and woods, in which the monks ufed to hide themfelves from the in- curfions of the Shangalla, before they found out the more convenient defence by the prayers and fuperior fanctity of the prefent faints. Above this is Adamara, where the Ma- hometans have confiderable villages, and, by their populouf- nefs and ftrength, have greatly added to the fafety of the monks, perhaps not altogether completed yet by the purity of their lives. Still higher than thefe villages is Tchober3 where we now encamped.. On the left hand, after pamng the Anzo, all is Shahagaa-^ nah, till you come to the river Zarima. It extends in aneaft and well direction, almoft parallel to the mountains of Sa- men, and in this territory are feveral confiderable villages; the people are much addicted to robbery, and rebellion, in which they were engaged at this time. Above Salent is Ab^ bergale,and above that Tamben, which is one of the princi- pal provinces in Tigre, commanded at prefent by Kefla Ya- fous, an officer of the greateil merit and reputation in the Abyilinian army. On the 6th, at fix o'clock in the morning, we left Tcho- ber, and paffed a wood on the fide of the mountain. At a quarter paft eight we croffed the river Zarima, a clear ftream running over a bottom of (tones. It is about as large as the Anzo. On the banks of this river, and all this day; we paffed under trees larger and more beautiful than any we THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. iSi we had feen fince leaving the Tacazze. After having croff- ed the Zarima, we entered a narrow defile between two mountains, where ran another rivulet : we continued ad- vancing along the fide of it, till the valley became fo nar- row as to leave no room but in the bed of the rivulet itfelf. It is called Mai-Agam, or the water or brook of jeffamin1 and falls into the Zarima,, at a fmall diltance from the place wherein we paffed it. It was dry at the mouth, (the water being there abforbed and hid under the fand) but above, where the ground was firmer, there ran a brifk ft ream of excellent water, and it has the appearance of being both broad, deep, and rapid in winter. At ten o'clock we en- camped upon its banks, which are here bordered with high trees of cummel, at this time both loaded with fruit and flowers. There are alfo here a variety of other curious trees and plants ; in no place, indeed, had we feen more, ex- cept on the banks of the Tacazze. Mai-Agam confifts of three villages; one, two miles diftant, eaft-and- by-north, one at fame diltance, N. N. W.; the third at one mile diftance, S.- E. by fouth, On the 7th, at fix o'clock in the morning, we began to afcend the mountain ; at a quaiter pafl feven the village Lik. lay eaft of us. Murafs, a country full of low but broken- mountains, and deep narrow valleys, bears N. W. and Wal- kayt in the fame direction, but farther off. At a quarter pafl eight, Gmgerohha, diftant from us about a mile S. W. it is a village fituated upon a mountain that joins Lamalmon. Two miles to the N. E. is the village Taguzait on the moun- tain which we were afcending. It is called Guza by the Jefuits, who flrangely fay, that the Alps and Pyreneans are inconliderable eminences to it. Yet, with all deference to this i8a TRAVELS TO DISCOVER this obfervation,Taguzait, or Guza, though really the bafe of LamalmoD, is not a quarter of a mile high. Ten minutes before nine o'clock we pitched our tent on a fmall plain called Dippebaha, on the top of the moun- tain, above a hundred yards from a fpring, which fcarcely was abundant enough to fupply us with water, in quality as indifferent as it was fcanty. The plain bore flrong marks of the excelhve heat of the fun, being full of cracks and chafms, and the grafs burnt to powder. There are three (mall villages fo near each other that they may be faid to compofe one. Near them is the church of St George, on the top of a fmall hill to the eaftward, furrounded with large trees. Since palling the Tacazze we had been in a very wild country, left fo, for what I know, by nature, at leaf! now lately rendered more fo by being the theatre of civil war. The whole was one wildernefs without inhabitants, unlefs at Addergey. The plain of Dippebaha had nothing of this appearance ; it was full of grafs, and interfperfed with flowering lhrubs, jefiamin,and roles, feveral kinds of which were beautiful, but only one fragrant. The air was very frefh and plcalant ; and a great number of people, palling to and fro, animated the fcenc. We met this day feveral monks and nuns of Waldubba, I fbould fay pairs^ for they were two and two together. They faid they had been at the market of Dobarke on the fide of Lamalmon, juit above Dippebaha. Eoth men and women, but efpecially the latter, had large burdens of proviiions an their flioulders, bought that day, as they faid, THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. ,g'j faid, at Dobarke, which fhewed me they did not wholly depend upon the herbs of Waldubba for their fupport. The women were flout and young, and did not feem, by their complexion, to have been long in the mortifications of Waldubba. I rather thought that they had the appear- ance of healthy mountaineers, and were, in all probability; part of the provifions bought for the convent ; and, by the fample, one would think the monks had the firfl choice of the market, which was but fit, and is a cuftom obferved likewife in Catholic countries. The men feemed very mi- ferable, and ill-clothed, but had a great air of ferocity and pride in their faces. They are diftinguifhed onlv from the laity by a yellow cowl, or cap, on their head. The . . h they wear round them is likewife yellow, but in winter they wear ferns dyed of the fame colour. • On the 8th, at three quarters pall fix o'clock in the morn- ing, we left Dippebaha, and, at feven, had two fmall villages on our left ; one on the S. E. diftant two miles, the other on the fouth, one mile off. They are called Wora, and fo is the territory for fome fpace on each fide of them ; but, beyond the valley, all is Shahagaanah to the root of Lamal- mon. At a quarter pail feven, the village of Gingerohha was three miles on our right ; and we were now attending Lamalmon, through a very narrow road, or rather path, for it fcarcely was two feet wide any where. It was a fpiral winding up the fide of the mountain, always on the very brink of a precipice. Torrents of water, which in winter car- - 17 prodigious ftones down the fide of this mountain, had di- vided this path into feveral places, and opened to us a view of that dreadful abyfs below, which few heads can (mine at ieail could not) bear to look down upon. We were here * obliged t84 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER obliged to unload our baggage, and, by flow degrees, crawl up the hill, carrying them little by little upon our moul- ders round thefe chafms where the road was interfered. The mountains grow fleeper, the paths narrower, and the breaches more frequent as we afcend. Scarce were our mules, though unloaded, able to fcramble up, but were per- petually falling ; and, to increafe our difficulties, which, in fuch cafes, feldom come fmgle, a large number of cattle was defcending, and feemed to threaten to pufli us all in- to the gulf below. After two hours of conftant toil, at nine o'clock we alighted in a fmall plain called Kedus, or St Michael, from a church and village of that name, nei- ther beaft nor man being able to go a ftep further. The plain of St Michael, where we now were, is at the foot of a fteep cliff which terminates the weft fide of La- malmon. It is here perpendicular like a wall, and a few trees only upon the top of the cliff. Over this precipice flow two ftreams of water, which never are dry, but run in all feafons. They fall into a wood at the bottom of this cliff, and preferve it in continual verdure all the year, tho' the plain itfelf below, as I have faid, is all rent into chafms., and cracked by the heat of the fun. Thefe two ftreams form a confiderable rivulet in the plain of St Michael, and are a great relief both to men and cattle in this tedious and difficult paffage over the mountain. The air on Lamalmon is pleafant and temperate. We found here our appetite return, with a chearfulnefs, light- nefs of fpirits, and agility of body, which indicated that our nerves had again refumed their wonted tone, which fthey had loft in the low, poifonous, and fultry air on the coaft THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. igj coaft of the Red Sea. The fun here is indeed hot, but in the morning a cool breeze never fails, which increafes as the fun rifes high. In the fhade it is always cool. The thermometer, in the fhade, in the plain of St Michael, this day, was 760, wind N. W. Lamalmon, as I have faid, is the pafs through which the road of all caravans to Gondar lies. It is here they take an ac- count of all baggage and merchandife, which they tranfmit to the Negade Ras, or chief officer of the cufloms at Gon- dar, by a man whom they fend to accompany the caravan. There is alfo a prefent, or awide, due to the private proprie- tor of the ground ; and this is levied with great rigour and violence, and, for the moll part, with injuftice ; fo that this flation, which, by the eftablimment of the cuftomhoufe, and nearnefs to the capital, mould be in a particular manner at- tended to by government, is always the place where the firft robberies and murders are committed in unfettled times. Though we had nothing with us which could be confider- ed as fubject to duty, we fubmitted every thing to the will of the robber of the place, and gave him his prefent. If he was not fatisfied, he feemed to be fo, which was all we wanted. We had obtained leave to depart eariy in the morning of the 9th, but it was with great regret we were obliged to abandon our Mahometan friends into hands that feemed difpofed to fhew them no favour. The king was in Maitfha, or Damot, that is to fay, far from Gondar, and various re- ports were fpread abroad about the fuccefs of the campaign; and thefe people only waited for an unfavourable event to Vol. III. A a make i86 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER make a pretence for robbing our fellow-travellers of every thing they had. The perfons whofe right it was to levy thefe contribu- tions were two, a father and ion ; the old man was drefled very decently, fpoke little, but fmoothly, and had a very good carriage. He profefled a violent hatred to all Mahome- tans, on account of their religion, a fentiment which feem- ed to promife nothing favourable- to our friend Yafine and his companions : but, in the evening, the fon, who feemed to be the active man, came to our tent, and brought us a quantity of bread and bouza, which his father had ordered before. He feemed to be much taken with our fire-arms, and was very inquifitive about them. I gave him every fort of fatisfadtion, and, little by little, faw I might win his heart entirely ; which I very much wifhed to do, that I might free our companions from bondage. The young man it feems was a good foldier; and, ha- ving been in feveral actions under Ras Michael, as a fufileer, he brought his gun, and infilled on mooting at marks. I humoured him in this ; but as I ufed'a rifle, which he did not underftand, he found himfelf overmatched, efpecially by the greatnefs of the range, for he fhot ltraight enough. I then mewed him the manner we mot flying, there being quails in abundance, and wild pigeons, of which I killed feveral. on wing, which left him in the utmofl aftonimment. Ha- ving got on horfeback, I next went through the exercife of the Arabs, with a long fpear and a fhort javelin. This was more within his comprehenfion, as he had feen fomething like it ; bilt he was wonderfully taken with the fierce and fiery appearance of my horfe, and, at the fame time, with his THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 187 his docility, the form of his faddle, bridle, and accoutre- ments. He threw at laft the fandals off his feet, twilled his upper garment into his girdle, and fet off at fo furious a rate, that I could not help doubting whether he was in his fober underftanding. It was not long till he came back, and with him a man-fer- vant carrying a flieep and a goat, and a woman carrying a jar of honey-wine. I had not yet quitted the horfe ; and when I faw what his intention was, I put Mirza to a gallop, and, with one of the barrels of the gun, fliot a pigeon, and im- mediately fired the other into the ground. There was no- thing after this that could have furprized him, and it was repeated feveral times at his defire ; after which he went in- to the tent, where he invited himfelf to my houfe at Gondar. There I was to teach him every thing he had feen. We now fwore perpetual friendfhip ; and a horn or two of hydromel being emptied, I introduced the cafe of our fellow-travel- lers, and obtained a promife that we mould have leave to fet out together. He would, moreover, take no awide, and laid he would be favourable in his report to Gondar. Matters were fo far advanced, when a fervant of Mi- chael's arrived, fent by Petros, (Janni's brother) who had ob- tained him from Ozoro Either. This put an end to all our difficulties. Our young foldier alfo kept his word, and a mere trifle of awide was given, rather by the Moor's own de- lire than from demand, and the report of our baggage, and dues thereon, were as low as could be wiihed. Our friend likewife fent his own fervant to Gondar with the billet to accompany the caravan. But the news brought by his fer- vant were flill better than all this. Has Michael had aelual- A a 2 ly r88 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER ly beaten Fafil, and forced him to retire to the other fide of the Nile, and was then in Maitfha, where it was thought he would remain with the army all the rainy feafon. This was juft what I could have wifhed, as it brought me at once to the neighbourhood of the fources of the Nile, with- out the fmalleft Ihadow of fear or danger. On the 9th of February, at feven o'clock, we took leave of the friends whom we had fo newly acquired at Lamalmon; all of us equally joyful and happy at the news. We began to afcend what ftill remained of the mountain,which, though fteepand full of bufhes, was much lefs difficult than that which we had palled. At a quarter paft feven we arrived at the top of Lamalmon, which has, from below, the appear- ance of being fharp-pointed. On the contrary, we were much furprifed to find there a large plain, part in pafture, but more bearing grain. It is full of fprings, and feems to be the great refervoir from whence arife moll of the rivers that water this part of Abyffinia. A multitude of ilreams iffue from the very fummit in all directions ; the fprings boil out from the earth in large quantities, capable of turning a mill. They plow, fow, and reap here at all feafons ; and the hufbandman mull blame his own indolence, and not the foil, if he has not three harvefts. We faw, in one place, people bufy cutting down wheat ; immediately next to it, others at the plough; and the adjoining field had green corn in the ear; a little further, it was not an inch above the ground. CD Lamalmon is on the N. W. part of the mountains of Sa- men. That of Gingerohha, with two pointed tops, joins it on the north, and ends thefe mountains here, and is fepara*. ted THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 189 ted from the plain of St Michael by a very deep gully. Nei- ther Lamalmon nor Gingerohha, though higher than the mountains of Tigre, are equal in height to fome of thofe of Samen. I take thofe to the S. E. to be much higher, and, above all, that lharp-pointed hill Amba Gideon, the prefent refidence of the governor of Samen, Ayto Tesfos. This is otherwife called the Jews-Rock, famous in the hiftory of this country for the many revolts of the Jews againfl the Abyf- finian kings. The mountain is everywhere fo fteep and high, that it is not enough to fay againft the will, but without the af- fiflance of thofe above, no one from below can venture to afcend. On the top is a large plain, affording plenty of pas- ture, as well as room for plowing and fowing for the main- tenance of the army; and there is water, at all feafons, in great plenty, and even nfli in the dreams upon it ; fo that, although the inhabitants of the mountain had been often befieged for a confiderable time together, they fuffered little inconvenience from it, nor ever were taken unlefs by trea- fon ; except by Chriftopher de Gama and his Portuguefe, who are faid, by their own hiftorians, to have flormed this rock, and put the Mahometan garrifon to the fword. No mention of this honourable conqueft is made in the annals of Abyflinia, though they give the hiftory of this campaign of Don Chriftopher in the life of Claudius, or Atzenaf Se- gued. On the top of the cliff where we now were, on the left hand of the road to Gondar, we filled a tube with quick-filver, and purged it perfectly of outward air ; it flood this day at 20I- Englifh inches. Dagafhaha bears N. E, by E. from our prefent v. iii. a a ftation i9o TRAVELS TO DISCOVER ftation upon Lamalmon. The language of Lamalmon is Am- haric ; but there are many villages where the language of" the Falafha is fpoken. Thefe are the ancient inhabitants of the mountains, who (till preferve the religion, language, and manners of their anceftors, and live in villages by them-, felves. Their number is now confiderably diminifhed,, and this has proportionally lowered their power and fpirit.. They are now wholly addicted to agriculture, hewers of. wood and carriers of water, and the only potters and ma- fons in Abyflinia. In the former profeflion they excel greatly, and, in general, live better than the other Abyffi- mans ; which thefe, in revenge, attribute to a fkill in magic,, not to fnperior induftry. Their villages are generally ftrongly fituated out of the reach of marching armies, o- therwife they would be conftantly rifled, partly from hatred3i and partly from hopes of finding money.. On the 10th, at half paft {even in the morning, we con- tinued along the plain on the top of Lamalmon ; it is call- ed Lama ; and a village of the fame name bore about two miles eait from us. At eight o'clock we pafTed two village* called Mocken, one W. by N. at one mile and a half, the other S. E. two miles diilant. At half paft eight we crofTed the river. Macara, a confiderable ftream running with a very great cur- rent, which is the boundary between Woggora and Lamal- mon. At nine o'clock we encamped at fome fmall villages, called Macara, under a church named Yafous. On the i ith of February, by the meridian altitude of the fun at noon,, 'and that of feveral fixed flars proper for obfervation, I found: the latitude of Macara to be 130 6' 8". The ground was every- where burnt up; and, though the nights were very cold, we UaAnot obferved the fmalleft dew lince our firfl afcend- THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 191 ing the mountain. The province of Woggora begins at Macara ; it is all plain, and reckoned the granary of Gondar on this fide, although the name would denote no fuch thing, for Woggora lignifies t\\e.Jlony, or rocky province. The mountains of Lafta and BciefTen bound our view to the fouth ; the hills of Gondar on the S. W. ; and all Wog- gora lies open before us to the fouth, covered, as I have faid before, with grain. But the wheat of Woggora is not good, owing probab'v to the height of that province. It makes an indiflereiv It ad, and is much lefs efleemed than that of Foggora and Dembea, low, flat provinces, flickered with hills, that lie upon the fide of the lake Tzana. On the 12th we left Macara at feven in the morning, ftill travelling through the plain of Woggora. At half pall feven faw two villages called Erba Tenfa, one of them a mile diilant, the other half a mile on the N. W. At eight o'clock we came to Woken, five villages not two hundred yards di- flant from one another. At a quarter pad eight we faw five other villages to the S. W. called Warrar, from one to four miles diflant, all between the points of eafl and fouth. The country now grows inconceivably populous ; vail flocks of j cattle of all kinds feed on every fide, having large and beautiful horns, exceedingly wide, and boffes upon their backs like camels ; their colour is moflly black. At a quarter paft eight we pafTed Arena, a village on our left. At nine we pafTed the river Girama, which runs N. N. W. and terminates the diftrict of Lamalmon, beginning that of Giram. At ten the church of St George remained. on. our right, one mile from v.s ; we croflcd a river called Shimbra; I -9-2 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER Shimbra Zuggan, and encamped about two hundred yards from it. The valley of that name is more broken and un- even than any part we had met with fince we alcended La- malmon. The valley called alio Shimbra Zuggan, is two miles and a half N. by E. on the top of a hill furrounded with trees. Two fmall brooks, the one from S. S. E. the other from S. E. join here, then fall into the rivulet. The 13th, at feven in the morning, we proceeded Hill along the plain ; at half pail feven came to Arradara ; and after- wards faw above twenty other villages on our right and left, ruined and deftroyed from the lowed foundation by Ras Mi- chael in his late march to Gondar. At half pail eight the church of Mariam was about a hundred yards on our left. At ten we encamped under Tamarno. The country here is full of people ; the villages are moftly ruined, which, in fome places, they are rebuilding. It is wholly fown with grain of different kinds, but more efpecially with wheat. For the production of this, they have everywhere extirpated the wood, and now labour under a great fcarcity of fuel. Since we paff- ed Lamalmon, the only fubiiitute for this was cows and mules dung, which they gather, make into cakes, and dry in the fun. From Addergey hither, fait is the current money, in large purchafes, fuch as fheep or other cattle ; cohol, and pepper, for fmaller articles, fuch as flour, butter, fowls, &c. At Shimbra Zuggan they firft began to inquire after red Surat cotton cloth for which they offered us thir- teen bricks of fait ; four peeks of this red cloth are efteem- ed the price of a goat. We began to find the price of pro- vifions augment in a great proportion as we approached the capital. y, This THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. ^93 This day we met feveral caravans going to Tigre, a cer- tain fign of Michael's victory ; alfo vaft flocks of cattle driven from the rebellious provinces, which were to pafture on La- malmon, and had been purchafed from the army. Not only the country was now more cultivated, but the people were cleanlier, better dreffed, and apparently better fed, than thofe in the other parts we had left behind us. Indeed, from Shimbra Zuggan hither, there was not a foot, excepting the path on which we trode, that was not fown with fome grain or other. On the 14th, at feven o'clock in the morning, we continu- ed our journey. At ten minutes paft feven, we had five vil- lages of Tamamo three miles on "our left ; our road was through gentle rifing hills, all pafture ground. At half paft feven, the village of Woggora was three miles on our right; and at eight, the church of St George a mile on our left, with a village of the fame name near it ; and, ten minutes after, Angaba Mariam, a church dedicated to the virgin, fo called from the fmall territory Angaba, which we are now entering. At fifty minutes part eight, we came to five vil- lages called Angaba, at fmall diftances from each other. At nine o'clock we came to Koffogue, and entered a fmall diftridt of that name. The church is on a hill furrounded with trees. On our left are five villages all called Koffo- gue, and as it were on a line^the fartheft at 3 miles diftance ; near ten we came to the church of ArgifF, in the midft of many ruined villages. Threejniles on our left hand are feveral others, called Appano. After having fuffered, with infinite patience and perfe- verance, the hardfhips and danger of this long and painful Vol. III. B b journey, 394 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER journey, at forty minutes pall: ten we were gratified, at lafte with the fight of Gondar, according to my computation about ten miles difiant. The king's palace (at leall the tower. to! it) is diflinclly feen, but none of the ether houi'es, which are covered by the multitude of wanzey- trees growing in the town, fo that it appears one thick, black wood. Behind it is Azazo, likewife covered with trees. On a hill is he. large church of Tecla Haimanout, and the river below it makes it diflinguifhable; ftill further on is the great lake Tzana, which terminates our horizon, At forty- five minutes pall ten we began to afcend about- two miles through a broken road, having on our right, in the valley below, the river Tchagaffa ; and here begins the territory of that name. At fifty-five minutes pail ten, de- scending Hill the hill, we palled a large fpring of water, call- ed Bambola, together with feveral plantations of fugar-canes which grow here from the feed. At eleven o'clock the vil- lage Tchagafifa was about half a mile diftant from us on our right, on the other fide of the river. It is inhabited by- Mahometans, as is Waalia, another mi all one near it. At twelve o'clock we pafTed the river Tchagaffa over a bridge of three arches, the middle of which is Gothic, the two leffer Roman. This bridge, though fmall, is folid and well ce- mented, built with flone by order of Facilidas, who pro- bably employed thole of his fubjecls who had retained the arts of the Portuguefe, but not their religion. The Tchagaffa has very ileep, rocky banks : It is fo deep,, though narrow, that, without this bridge, it fcarce would be pai'fable. We encamped at a fmall diilance from it, but nearer THE SOURCE OF THE NiLE. 195- nearer Gondar. Here again we met with trees, (fmall ones indeed) but the firft we had feen lince leaving Lamalmon, excepting the ufual groves of cedars. It is the Virginia cedar, or oxy-cedros, in this country called Arz, with which their churches are conllantly furrounded. On the 15th, at ten minutes pad feven, we began to af- cend the mountain; and, at twenty minutes after feven, paffed a village on our left. At feven and three quarters we paffed Tiba and Mariam, two churches, the one on our right, the other on our left, about half a mile diftant ; and near them feveral fmall villages, inhabited by Falafha, mafons and thatchers of houfes, employed at Gondar. At half pail eight we came to the village Tocutcho, and, in a quarter of an hour, paffed the river of that name, and in a few mi- nutes relied on the river Angrab, about half a mile from Gondar. Tchacassa is the lafl of the many little diflridls which, together, compofe Woggora, generally underftood to be de- pendent on Samen, though often, from the turbulent fpirit of its chiefs, ftruggling for independency, as at the prefent time, but fure to pay for it immediately after. In fact, though large, it is too near Gondar to be fuffered to conti- nue in rebellion ; and, being rich and well cultivated, it derives its fupport from the capital, as. being the mart of its produce. It is certainly one of the fruitfulefl provinces in Abyffinia, but the inhabitants are miferably poor, noc- withflanding their threefold harvefls. Whereas, in Egypt, beholden to this country alone for its fertility, one moderate harveil gives plenty everywhere, B b 2 Wogc-ora t96 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER Woggora is full of large ants, and prodigious fwarms of rats and mice, which confume immenfe quantities of grain; to thefe plagues may be added ftill one, the greateft of them all, bad government, which fpeedily deftroys all the advantages they reap from nature, climate, and iituation.. *yy&3&fc**= CHAP. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 197 =^4B5*4 CHAP. VIII. Reception at Gondar-~Triumphal Entry of the King— The Authors fir/I Audience* w 'Ewere much furprifed at arriving on the Angrab, that no perfon had come to us from Petros, Janni's brother. We found afterwards, indeed, that he had taken fright upon fome menacing words from the priefts, at hear- ing a *rank was on his way to Gondar, and that he had,, foon after, fet out for Ibaba, where the Ras was, to receive his directions concerning us. This was the moll difagreeable accident could have happened to me. I had not afmgle perfon - to whom I could addrefs myfelf for any thing. My letters were for the king and Ras Michael, and could be of no ufe, as both were abfent; and though I had others for Petros and the Greeks, they, too, were out of town. Many. xg$ TRAVELS TO DISCOVER Many Mahometans came to the Angrab to meet the ca- ravan. They all knew of my coming perfectly, and I foon ■explained my fituation. I had Janni's letters to Negade Ras Mahomet, the chief of the Moors at Gondar, and principal merchant in Abyllinia, who was abfent likewife with the army. But one of his brethren, a fagacious, open-hearied man, defired me not to be difcouraged ; that, as I had not put off my Moorilh drefs, I mould continue it; that a houfe was provided for Mahomet Gibberti, and thofe that were with him, and that he would put me immediately into pof- feffion of it, where I might flay, free from any intercourfe with thepriefts, till Petros or the Ras mould return to Gon- dar. This advice I embraced with great readinefs, as there was nothing I was fo much afraid of as an encounter with fanatical priefls before I had obtained fome protection from government, or the great people in the country. After ha- ving concerted thefe meafures, I refigned myfelf to the di- rection-of my Moorilh friend Hagi Saleh. We moved along the Angrab, having Gondar on our right fituated upon a hill, and the river on our left, pro- ceeding down till its junction with a fmaller ftream, called the Kahha, that joins it at the Moorilh town. This fituation, near running water, is always chofen by the Mahometans on account of their frequent ablutions. The Moorim town at Gondar may confifl of about 3000 houfes, fome of them fpacious and good. I was put in poffeflion of a very neat one, deilincd for Mahomet Gibberti. Flour, honey, and fuch-like food, Mahometans and Chriftians eat promifcu- oully, and fo far I was well fituated. As for flefh, although there was abundance of it, 1 could not touch a bit of it, be- ing killed by Mahometans, as that communion would have 2 been THE" SOURCE OF THE NILE. 199 been looked upon as equal to a renunciation of Chrhti- anity. By Janni's fervant, who had accompanied us from Adowa, his kind and friendly mailer had wrote te Aylo, of whom I have already fpoken. He was the < ftant patron of the Greeks, and had been fo alio of . the Catholics who had ventured into this country, and been forced after to leave it. Though no man profelTed greater ve- neration for the priefthood, no one privately detailed more thofe of his own country than he did; and he always pre- tended that, if a proper way of going to Jerufalem could be found, he would leave his large eftates, and the rank he had in Abyffinia, and, with the little money he could mu- ll er, live the remaining part of his days among the monks,, of whom he had now accounted .himfelf one, in the convent of the holy fepulchre. This perhaps was, great part of it, imagination ; but, as he had talked himfelf into a belief that he was to end his days either at Jerufalem, which was a pretence, or at Rome, which was his inclination, he will- ingly took the charge of white people of all cornniunions who had hitherto been unhappy enough to ftray into Abyf- finia, It was about (cyqw o'clock at night, of the 15th, when Hagi Saleh was much alarmed by a number of armed men at his door; and his furprifewas ftill greater upon feeing Ay to Aylo, who, as far as I know, was never in the Moorim town be- fore, defceud from his mule, and uncover hi3 head and. moulders, as if he had been approaching a perfon of the fir ft diftincriom I had been leading the prophet Enoch, which janm had procured me at Adowa ; and "Wcmmcr's and soo TRAVELS TO DISCOVER and LudolPs dictionaries were lying upon it. Yafine was fitting by me, and was telling me what news he had picked lip, and he was well acquainted with Ayto Aylo, from feve- ral commiflions he had received for his merchants in Ara- bia. A contention of civilities immediately followed. I of- fered to Hand till Aylo was covered, and he would not fit till T was feated. This being got over, the firfl curiofity was, What my books were ? and he was very much aftoniih- ed at feeing one of them was Abyffinian, and the European helps that I had towards underftanding it. He underftood Tigre and Amharic perfectly, and had a little knowledge of Arabic, that is, he underflood it when fpoken, for he could neither read nor write it, and fpoke it very ill, being at a lofs for words. The beginning of our difcourfe was in Arabic, and em- barrafTed enough, but we had plenty of interpreters in all languages. The firft bafhfulnefs being removed on both fides, our converfation began in Tigre, now, lately fince Michael had become Ras, the language moll ufed in Gon- dar. Aylo was exceedingly aftonifhed at hearing me fpeak the language as I did, and faid after, " The Greeks are poor creatures ; Peter does not fpeak Tigre fo well as this man." Then, very frequently, toSaleh and the by-flanders, "Come, come, he'll do, if he can fpeak ; there is no fear of him, he'll make his way." He told us that Welled Hawaryat had come from the camp ill of a fever, and that they were afraid it was the fmall pox : that Janni had informed them I had faved many young people's lives at Adowa, by a new manner of treat- ing them ; and that the Iteghe defired I would come the a next THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 201 next morning, and that he mould carry me to Kofcam and introduce me to her. I told him that I was ready to be di- rected by his good advice ; that the abfence of the Greeks, and Mahomet Gibberti at the fame time, had very much diltreffed me, and efpecially the apprehenfions of Petros. He faid, fmiling, That neither Petros nor himfelf were bad men, but that unfortunately they were great cowards, and things were not always fo bad as they apprehended. What had frightened Petros, was a converfation of Abba Salama, whom they met at Kofcam, exprefling his difpleafure with ■feme warmth, that a Frank, meaning me, was permitted to come to Gondar. " But," fays Ay to Aylo, " we fhall hear to- morrow, or next day, Ras Michael and Abba Salama are tfior friends ; and if you could do any good to Welled Ha- waryat his fon, I mall anfwer for it, one word of his will .flop the mouths of a hundred Abba Salamas." I will not trouble the reader with much indifferent converfation that .pafTed. He drank capillaire and water, and fat till pail mid- . night, Abba Salama, of whom we fhall often fpeak, at that time filled the poft of Acab Saat, or guardian of the fire. It is the third dignity of the church, and he is the firft religious officer in the palace. He had a very large revenue, and ftill a greater influence. He was a man exceedingly rich, and of the very worft life pofhble ; though he had taken the vows of poverty and chaftity, it was faid he had at that time, above feventy miftrefles in Gondar. His way of fe- ducing women was as extraordinary as the number fedu- ced. It was not by gifts, attendance, or flattery, the ufual means employed on fuch occafions ; when he had fixed his defires upon a woman, he forced her to comply, under pain Vol. III. C c of 2o2 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER of excommunication. He was exceedingly eloquent and bold, a great favourite of the Iteghe's, till taken in to be a counsellor with Lubo and Brulhe. He had been very in- ftrumental in the murder of Kafmati Efhte, of which he vaunted, even in the palace of the queen his filler. He was a man of a pleaiing countenance, fhort, and of a very fair complexion ; indifferent, or rather averfc to wine, but a monitrous glutton, nice in what he had to eat, to a degree fcarcely before known in Abyflinia ; a mortal enemy to all white people, whom he clafled under the name of Franks, for which the Greeks, uniting their interefts at favourable times, had often very nearly overfet him. The next morning, about ten o'clock, taking Hagi Saleh and Yafine with me, and drelTed in my Moorifh drefs, I went to Ay to Aylo, and found him with feveral great plates of bread, melted butter, and honey, before him, of one of which he and I ate ; the reit were given to the Moors, and other people prefent. There was with him a priefl of Kof- cam, and we all fet out for that palace as foon as we had ate breakfaft. The reft of the company were on mules.. I had mounted my own favourite horfe. Aylo, before his fright at Sennaar, was one of die firft horfemen in Abyfli- nia ; he was fhort, of a good figure, and knew the advantage of fuch make for a horfeman ; he had therefore a curiofity to fee a tall man ride ; but he was an abf'olute ftranger to the great advantage of Moorifh furniture, bridles, fpurs, and ftirrups, in the management of a violent, ftrong, high-met- tled horfe. It was with the utmoft Satisfaction, when we arrived in the plain called Aylo Meydan, that I fhewed him the different paces of the horfe. He cried out with fear when THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 203 when he faw him ftand upright upon his legs, and jump forward, or afide, with all four feet off the ground. We pafTed the brook of St Raphael, a fuburb of Gondar, where is the houfe of the Abuna; and upon coming in fight of the palace of Kofcam, we all uncovered our heads, and rode flowly. As Aylo was all-powerful with the Iteghe, indeed her nrit counfellor and friend, our admittance was eafy and immediate. We alighted, and were fhewn into a low room in the palace. Ayto Aylo went immediately to the queen to inquire about Welled Hawaryat, and his audience lafted two long hours. He returned to us with thefe news, that Welled Hawaryat was much better, by a medicine a faint from Waldubba had given him, which confined in fome characters written with common ink upon a tin plate, which characters were warned off by a medicinal liquor, and then given him to drink. It was agreed, however, that the com- plaint was the fmall-pox, and the good it had done him was, he had ate heartily of f?rwd, or raw beef after it, tho' he had not ate before fince his arrival, but called perpetually for drink. Aylo faid he was to remain at Kofcam till towards evening, and defired me to meet him at his own houfe when it turned dark, and to bring Petros with me, if he was returned. Petros was returned when I arrived, and waited for me at Hagi Saleh's houfe. Although he mewed all the figns of my being welcome, yet it was eafy to read in his countenance he had not fucceeded according to his wifh, in his interview with Michael, or that he had met fomething that had ruffled and frightened him anew. And, indeed, this laft was the cafe, for going to the Ras's tent, he had feen the Huffed ikin C c 2 of 204 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER of the unfortunate Woofheka, with whom he was well ac- quainted, fwinging upon a tree, and drying in the wind* He was fo terrified, and ftruck with fuch horror, at the fighr, that he was in a kind of hyfleric fit, cried, flarted, laughed hideoufly, and feemed as if he had in part loft his fenfes. I was fatisfied by the flate I faw him in, though he had left Ibaba three days, that, as the firft fight of Woofheka's fluffed ikin rauft have been immediately before he went to the Ras, he could not have had any diflinct or particular converfation with him on my account ; and it turned out after, that he had not fpoken one word upon the fubjeet from fear, but had gone to the tent of Negade Ras Maho- met, who carried him to Kefla Yafous ; that they,, too, fee^ ing the fright he was in, and knowing the caufe, had gone without him to the Ras, and told him of my arrival, and of the behaviour of Abba Salama, and my fear thereupon, and that I was then in the houfe of Hagi Saleh, in the Moorim town. The Ras's anfwer was, " Abba Salama is an afs, and they that fear him are worfe. Do I command in Gondar only when I flay there ? My dog is of more confe- quence in Gondar than Abba Salama." And then, after paufmg a little, he faid, " Let Yagoube flay where he is in the Moors town ; Saleh will let no priefls trouble him there." Negade Ras Mahomet laughed, and faid," We will anfwer for that ;" and Petros fet out immediately up- on his return, haunted night and day with the ghoft of his friend Woofheka, but without having feen Ras Michael. I thought, when we went at night to Ayto Aylo, and he had told the flory diftinctly, that Aylo and he were equally a- fraid, for he had not, or pretended he had not, till then heard THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 203 heard that Wooflieka had been flayed alive. Aylo, too, was well acquainted with the unfortunate perfon, and only faid> " This is Either, this is Either ; nobody knew her but L" Then they went on to inquire particulars, and after* they would flop one another, and defire each' other to fpeak no more ; then they cried again, and fell into the fame conver- fation. It was impoflible not to laugh at the ridiculous dialogue. " Sirs," faid 1, " you have told me all I want ; I mail not ftir from the Moors town till Ras Michael arrives ; if there was any need of advice, you are neither of you ca- pable of giving it ; now I would with you would fhew me you are capable of taking mine. You are both extremely agi- tated, and Peter is very tired ; and will befides fee the gholl of Wooflieka fhaking to and fro all night with the wind • neither of you ate fupper, as I intend to do; and 1 think Peter fhould flay here all night, but you mould not lie both of you in the fame room, where Woofheka's black fkin, fo ftrongly imprefTed on your mind, will not fail to keep you talking all night in place of lleeping. Boil about a quart of gruel, I will put a few drops into it ; go then to bed, and this unufual operation of Michael will not have power to keep you awake, . The gruel was made, and a good large doze of laudai num put into it. I took my leave, and returned with Saleh ; but before I went to the door Aylo told me he had forgot Welled Hawaryat was very bad, and the Itcghe, Ozoro AU tafh, his wife, and Ozoro Efther, defired I would come and fee him to-morrow. One of his daughters, by Ozoro Altafh, had been ill fome time before his arrival, and fhe too was thought in great danger. " Look," faid I, " Ayto Aylo, the fmall-pox is a difeafe that will have its courfe ; and, during the 2o6 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER the long time the patient is under it, if people feed them and treat them according to their own ignorant prejudices, my feeing him, or advifing him, is in vain. This morning you faid a man had cured him by writing upon a tin plate ; and to try. if he was well, they crammed him with raw beef. I do not think the letters that he fwallowed will do him any harm, neither will they do him any good ; but I fhall not be furprifed if the raw beef kills him, and his daughter Welleta Selafle, too, before I fee him to-morrow. On the morrow Petros was really taken ill, and feverifh, from a cold and fatigue, and fright. Aylo and 1 went to Kofcam, and, for a frefli amufement to him, I fhewed him the manner in which the Arabs ufe their firelocks on horfe- back ; but with this advantage of a double-barrelled gun, which he had never before feen. I fliot alfo feveral birds from the horfe ; all which things he would have pronoun- ced impomble if they had been only told him. He arrived at Kofcam full of wonder, and ready to believe 1 was ca- pable of doing every thing I undertook. We were juft entering into the palace-door, when we faw a large proceffion of monks, with the priefts of Kofcam at their head, a large crofs and a picture carried with them, the lafl in a very dirty, gilt frame. Aylo turned afide when he faw thefe ; and, going into the chamberlain's apartment, called Ayto Heikel, afterwards a great friend and compa- nion of mine. He informed us, that three great faints from Waldubba, one of whom had neither ate nor drank for twenty, years of his life, had promifed to come and cure Welled Hawaryat, by laying a picture of the Virgin Mary and the crofs upon him, and therefore they would not wifh 3 me THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 207 me to be fecn, or meddle in the affair. " I aflure you, Ayto Aylo," faid I, " I ihall ftridtly obey you. There is no fort of reafon for my meddling in this affair with fuch affociates. If they can cure him by a miracle, I am fure it is the eafiefl kind of cure of any, and will not do his conflitution the leaft harm afterwards, which is more than I will promife for me- dicines in general ; but, remember what I fay to you, it will, indeed, be a miracle, if both the father and the daughter are not dead before to-morrow night." We feemed all of us fatisfied in one point, that it was better he fhould die, than I come to trouble by interfering. After the proceffion was gone, Aylo went to the Iteghe, and, I fuppofe, told her all that happened fince he had feen her laft. I was called in, and, as ufual, proftrated myfelf upon the ground. She received that token of refpect with- out offering to excufe or to decline it. Aylo then faid, " This is our gracious miftrefs, who always gives us her affiftance and protection. You may fafely fay before her whatever is in your heart." Our firft difcourfe was about Jerufalem, the Holy Sepul- chre, Calvary, the City of David, and the Mountain of Olives, with the fituations of which flie was perfectly well acquaint- ed. She then afked me to tell her truly if I was not a Frank ? " Madam," faid I, " if I was a Catholic, which you mean by Frank, there could be no greater folly than my concealing this from you in the beginning, after the affurance Ayto Aylo has juft now given ; and, in confirmation of the truth I am now telling, (the had a large bible lying on the table before her, upon which I laid my hand), I declare to you, by all thofe truths contained in this book, that my religion is more •vo8 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER more different from the Catholic religion than your's is: jhat there has been more blood fried between the Catholics and us, on account of the difference of religion, than ever was between you and the Catholics in this country ; even at this day, when men are become wifer and cooler in many parts of the world, it would be full as fa ft for a Jefuit to preach in the market-place of Gondar, as for any prieft of my religion to prefent himfelf as a teacher in the mod civi- lized of Frank or Catholic countries." — " How is it then," fays fhe, "that you don't believe in miracles?" " I fee, Madam," faid I, " Ayto Aylo has informed you of .a few words that fome time ago dropt from me. I do cer- tainly believe the miracles of Chrift and his apoftles, other- wife I am no Chriftian ; but I do not believe thefe miracles of latter times, wrought upon trifling occafions, like fports, and jugglers tricks." — " And yet," fays fhe, " our books are full of them." — " I know they are," faid I, " and fo are thofe of the Catholics : but I never can believe that a faint con- verted the devil, who lived, forty years after, a holy life as a monk ; nor the ftory of another faint, who, being fick and hungry, caufed a brace of partridges, ready-roafted, to fly upon his plate that he might eat them." — " He has been reading the Synaxar," fays Ayto Aylo. " I believe fo," fays lhe, fmiling ; " but is there any harm in believing too much, and is not there great danger in believing too little ?" — " Cer- tainly," continued I; "but what I meant to fay to Ayto Aylo was, that I did not believe laying a picture upon Welled Hawaryat would recover him when delirious in a fever." She anfwered, " There was nothing impoflible with God." I made a bow of affent, wifliing heartily the converfation might end there. t I RETURNED THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 209 I returned to the Moors town, leaving Aylo with the queen. In the afternoon I heard Welleta Selaffe was dead ; and at night died her father, Welled Hawaryat. The con- tagion from Mafuah and Adowa had fpread itfelf all over Gondar. Ozoro Ayabdar, daughter of Ozoro Altafli, was now fick, and a violent fever had fallen upon Kofcam. The next morning Aylo came to me and told me, the faith in the faint who did not eat or drink for twenty years was perfectly abandoned fince Welled Hawaryat's death : That it was the defire of the queen, and Ozoro Eflher, that I mould tranfport myfelf to Kofcam to the Iteghe's palace, where all their children and grandchildren, by the different men the queen's daughters had married, were under her care. I told him, " I had fome difficulty to obey them, from the pofitive orders I had received from Petros to flay in the Moors town with Hagi'Saleh till the Ras fhould arrive; that Kofcam was full of priefls, and Abba Salama there every day ; notwithflanding which, if Petros and he fo advifed me, I would certainly go to do any poflible fervice to the Iteghe, or Ozoro Eflher." He defired half an hour's abfence before he gave me an anfwer, but did not return till about three hours after- wards, and, without alighting, cried out at fome diflance, " Aya,come, youmufl go immediately." "I told him, that new and clean clothes in the Gondar fafhion had been procured for me by Petros, and that I wifhed they might be fent to his houfe, where I would put them on, and then go to Kof- cam, with a certainty that I carried no infection with me, for I had attended a number of Moorifh children, while at Hagi Saleh's houfe, mofl of whom happily went on doing well, but that there was no doubt there would be infection Vol. III. D d in sio TRAVELS TO DISCOVER in my clothes." He praifed me up to the fides for this pre- caution, and the whole was executed in the manner. propo- fed. My hair was cut round, curled, and perfumed, in the Amharic fafhion, and I was thenceforward, in all outward appearance, a perfect Abyfhnian. My firft advice, when arrived at Kofcam, was, that Ozoro Eilher, and her fon by Mariam Barea, and a fon by Ras Mi- chael, mould remove from the palace, and take up their lodging in a houfe formerly belonging to her uncle Baiha Eufebius, and give the part of the family that were yet well a chance of efcaping the difeafe. Her young fon by Ma- riam Bareaj however, complaining, the Iteghe would not fuffer him to remove, and the refolution was taken to abide the iilue all in the palace together. Before I entered upon my charge, I defired' Petros (now- recovered) Aylo, Abba Chriflophorus, a Greek prieft who ac- ted as phyfician before I came to Gondar, and Armaxikos prieft of Kofcam, and favourite of the Iteghe, to be all pre* fent. I Hated to them the difagreeable talk now impofed upon me, a ftranger without acquaintance or protection, ha- ving the language but imperfectly, and without power or controul among them. I profefled my intention of doing my utmoil, although the difeafe was much more ferious and fatal in this country than in mine, but I infilled one condi- tion mould be granted me, which was, that no directions as to regimen or management, even of the moil trilling kind,, as they might think, mould be fuffered, without my permif- fion and fuperintendence, otherwife I warned my hands of the confequence, which I told before them would be fatal. They all aflented to this,, and Armaxikos declared thofe excommu- nicated THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. an nicated that broke this promife ; and I faw that, the more fcrupulous and particular I was, the more the confidence of the ladies increafed. Armaxikos promifed me the afliftance of his prayers, and thofe of the whole monks, morning and evening ; and Aylo faid lowly to me, " You'll have no ob- jection to this faint, I allure you he eats and drinks heartily, as I mail fhew you when once thefe troubles are over." I set the fervants all to work. There were apartments enough. I opened all the doors and windows, fumigating them with incenfe and myrrh, in abundance, warned them with warm water and vinegar, and adhered llrictly to the rules which my worthy and fkilful friend Doctor RufTel had given me at Aleppo. The common and fatal regimen in this country, and in moft parts in the eaft, has been to keep their patient from feeling the fmalleft breath of air ; hot drink, a fire, and a quantity of covering are added in Abyffinia, and the doors lhut fo clofe as even to keep the room in darknefs, whilft this heat is further augmented by the conflant burning of candles. Ayabdar, Ozoro Altafh's remaining daughter, and the fon of Mariam Barea, were both taken ill at the fame time, and happily recovered. A daughter of Kafmati Boro, by a daughter of Kafmati Efhtes, died, and her mother, though me furvived, was a long time ill afterwards. Ayabdar was very much marked, fo was Mariam Barca's fon. At this time, Ayto Confu, fon of Kafmati Netcho by Ozoro Either, had arrived from Tcherkin, a lad of very D d 2 great 212 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER great hopes, though not then fourteen. He came to fee his mother without my knowledge or her's, and was infected likewife. Laft of all the infant child of Michael, the child of his old age, took the difeafe, and though the weakeft, of all the children, recovered belt I tell thefe actions for bre- vity's fake altogether, not directly in the order they hap- pened, to fatisfy the reader about the reafon of the remark- able attention and favour mewed to me afterwards upon lb Ihort an acquaintance The fear and anxiety of Ozoro Efther, upon fmaller occa- fions, was excemve, and fully in proportion in the great- er that now exiftcd ; many promifes of Michael's fa- vour, of riches, greatnefs, and protection, followed every inr- itance of my care and attention towards my patients. She did not eat or fleep herfelf ; and the ends of her fingers were all broke out into puftules, from touching the feveral lick perfons. Confu, the favourite of all the queen's rela- tions, and the hopes of their family, had fymptoms which all feared would be fatal, as he had violent convulfions, which were looked upon as forerunners of immediate death; they ceafed, however, immediately on the eruption. The attention I mewed to this young man, which was more than overpaid by the return he himfelf made on many oc- eafions afterwards, was greatly owing to a prepofTemon in his favour, which I took upon his full appearance. Policy, as may be imagined, as well as charity, alike influenced me in the care of my other patients ; but an attachment,, which providence feemed to have infpired me with for my own prefervation, had the greatell fhare in my care for Ay-- ^o' Confu, Though- THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 213 Though it is not the place, I rauft not forget to tell the reader, that, the third day after I had come to Kofcam, a horfeman and a letter had arrived from Michael to Hagi Saleh, ordering him to carry me to Kofcam, and likewife a fliort letter written to me by Negade Ras Mahomet, in Arabic, as from Ras Michael, very civil, but containing pofitive or- ders and command, as if to a fervant, that I mould repair to the Iteghe's palace, and not ftir from thence till future or- ders, upon any pretence whatever.. I cannot fay but this pofitive, peremptory dealing, did? very much fhock and difpleafe me. I fhewed the letter to Petros, who approved of it much ; faid he was glad to fee it in that ftile, as it was a fign the Ras was in earneft. I fhewed it to Ay to Aylo, who faid not much to it either the one way or the other, only he was glad that I had gone to Kof- cam before it came ; but he taxed Ozoro Either with being the caufe of a proceeding which might have been proper to a Greek or flave, but was not fo to a free man like me, who came recommended to their protection, and had, as yet, re- ceived no favour, or even civility. Ozoro Efther laughed heartily at all this,, for the firft time flic had fhewn any in- clination to mirth ; fhe confeffed me had fent a meffengcr every day, fometimes two, and fometimes three, ever fmce Welled Hawaryat had died, and by every one of them flie had preffed the Ras to enjoin me not to leave Kofcam, the confequence of which was the order above mentioned ; and, in the evening, there was a letter to Petros from An- thule, Janni's fon-in-law, a Greek, and treafurer to the king, pretty much to the fame purpofe as the firft, and in no fofter terms, with direction, however, to furnifh me with every thing I fhould want, on the king's account. QiNJE %%4 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER One morning Aylo, in prefence of the queen, fpeaking to Ozoro Efther of the ftile of the Ras's letter to me, flie confelled her own anxiety was the caufe, but added, " You have often upbraided me with being, what you call, an un- christian enemy, in the advices you fuppofe I frequently give Michael ; but now, if I am not as good a friend to Ya- goube, who has faved my children, as I am a fteady enemy to the Galla, who murdered my hufband, fay then Either is not a Chriftian, and I forgive you." Many converfations of this kind paffed between her and me, during the illnefs of Ayto Confu. I removed my bed to the outer door of Confu's chamber, to be ready whenever he fhould call, but his mo- ther's anxiety kept her awake in his room ail night, and propriety did not permit me to go to bed. From this fre- quent communication began a friendfhip between Ozoro Efther and me, which ever after fubfifted without any inter- ruption. Our patients, being all likely to do well, were removed to a large houfe of Kafmati Efhte, which ftood ftill within the boundaries of Kofcam, while the rooms underwent an- other luftration and fumigation, after which they all re- turned ; and I got, as my fee, a prefent of the neat and con- venient houfe formerly belonging to Baflia Eufebius, which had a feparate entry, without going through the palace. Still I thought it better to obey Ras Michael's orders to the letter, and not ftir out of Kofcam, not even to Hagi Saleh's or Ayto Aylo's, though both of them frequently endeavour- ed to perfuade me that the order had no fuch ftrict mean- ing. But my folitude was in no way difagreeable to me. I had a great deal to do. I mounted my inftruments, my thermometer and barometer, telefcopes and quadrant. 2 Again THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 215 Again all was wonder. It occafioned me many idle hours before the curiofity of the palace was fatisfied. I faw the queen once every day at her levee, fometimes in the even- ing, where many priefts were always prefent. I was, for the moft part, twice a-day, morning and evening, with Ozo- ro Efther, where I feldom met with any. One day, when I went early to the queen, that I might get away in-time, having fome other engagements about noon, juft as I was taking my leave, in came Abba Salama. At firft he did not know me from the change of drefs ; but, foon after recollecting me, he faid, as it were, palling, " Are you here ? I thought you was with Ras Michael." I made him no anfwer, but bowed, and took my leave, when he called out, with an air of authority, Come back, and beckon- ed me with his hand. Several people entered the room at that inftant, and I flood ftill in the fame place where I was, ready to receive the Iteghe' s orders : (he faid, " Come back, and fpeak to- Abba Salama." I then advanced a few paces forward, and faid, looking to the Iteghe, " "What has Abba Salama to fay to me ?" He began directing his difcourfe to the queen, " Is he a prieft.? Is he a prieft?" The Iteghe anfwered very gravely, "Every good man is a prieft to himfelf ; in that fenfe, and no other, Yagoube is a prieft." — "Will you anfwer a que- ftion that I will aik you?" fays he to me, with a very pert tone of voice. " I do not know but I may, if it is a difcreet one," laid I, in Tigre. " Why don't you fpeak Amharic ?" fays he to me in great hafte, or feeming impatience. " Be- caufe I cannot [peak it well," faid I. " Why don't you, on. die other hand, fpeak Tigre to me .? it is the language the 2i6 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER the holy fcriptures are written in, and you, a prieft, ftiould underftand it." — " That is Geez," fays he ; "I underfland it, though I don't fpeak it."—" Then," replied I, " Ay to Heikel," the queen's chamberlain, who flood behind me, " mall in- terpret for us ; he understands all languages." " Ask him, Heikel," fays he, " how many Natures there are in Chrift." Which being repeated to me, I faid, " I thought the queftion to be put was fomething relating to my country, travels, or profeflion, in which I poflibly could inftruct him ; and not belonging to his, in which he mould inftruct me. I am a phyfician in the town, a horfeman and foldier in the field. Phyfic is my ftudy in the one, and ma- naging my horfe and arms in the other. This I was bred to ; as for difputes and matters of religion, they are the province of priefls and fchoolmen. I profefs myfelf much more ignorant in thefe than I ought to be. Therefore, when I have doubts I propofe them to fome holy man like you, Abba Salama, (he bowed for the firft time) whofe profeflion thefe things are. He gives me a rule and I implicitly fol- low it." " Truth ! truth!" fays he; " by St Michael, prince of angels, that is right ; it is anfwered well ; by St George ! he is a clever fellow, They told me he was a Jefuit. Will you come to fee me ? Will you come to fee me ? You need not be afraid when you come to me." " I truft," faid I, bow- ing, " 1 Ihall do no ill, in that cafe fhall have no reafon to fear." Upon this I withdrew from among the crowd, and went away, as an exprefs thexi arrived from Ras Michael. It was on the 8th or 9th of March I met him at Azazo. He was drefled in a coarfe dirty cloth, wrapt about him like a blanket, and another like a table-cloth folded about his 4 head; THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 217 head: He was lean, old, and apparently much fatigued; fat {looping upon an excellent mule, that carried him fpeedily without fhaking him ; he had alfo fore eyes. As we faw the place where he was to light by four crofs lances, and a cloth thrown over them like a temporary tent, upon an eminence, we did not fpeak to him till he alighted. Petros and the Greek prieft, befides fervants, were the only people with me, Francis * had joined us upon our meeting the Ras. "We alighted at the fame time he did, and afterwards, with anxiety enough we deputed the Greek prieft, who was a friend of Michael, to tell him who I was, and that I was come to meet him. The foldiers made way, and I came up, took him by the hand, and khTed it. He looked me broad in the face for a fecond, repeated the ordinary falutation in Tigre. " How do you do ? I hope you are well;" and pointed to a place where I was to fit down. A thoufand complaints, and a thoufand orders came immediately before him, from a thoufand mouths, and we were nearly fmothered; but he took no notice of me, nor did he afk for one of his family. In fome minutes after came the king, who palled at fome diftance to the left of him ; and Michael was then led out of the flicker of his tent to the door, where he was fupport- ed on foot till the king palled by, having firll pulled off the towel that was upon his head, after which he returned to his feat in the tent again. Vol. III. E e The * A man much attached to Michael, and had been preferred by him to many commands and confequently was the only Greek that covud be called a good fcldier. 2i8 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER The king had been paft about a quartet of a mile, v£heri Kefla Yafbtis came from him with 'orders to the Ras, or ra- ther, as I believe, to receive orders from him. He brought with him a young nobleman, Ayto Engedan, who, by his drefs, having his-' upper garment twifted in a particular manner about his waift, fhewed that he was carrier of a fpecial mefTage from the king. The crowd by this time had fliut us quite out, and made a circle round the Ras, in which we were not included. We were upon the point of going away, when Kefla Yafous, who had feen Francis, faid to him, " I think Engedan has the king's command for you, you muft not depart without leave." And, foon after, we underftood that the king's orders were to obtain leave from the Ras, to bring me, with Engedan, near, and in fight of him, without letting me know, or introducing me to him. In anfwer to this, the Ras had faid, " I dont know him; will people like him think this right ? Afk Petros ; or why mould not the king call upon him and fpeak to him ; he has letters to him as well as to me, and he will be obliged to fee him to-morrow." Engedan went away on a gallop to join the king, and we proceeded after him, nor did we receive any other meffage either from the king or the Ras. We returned to Kofcam, very little pleafed with the reception we had met with. All the town was in a hurry and confufion ; 30,000 men were encamped upon the Kahha; and the firft horrid fcene Mi- chael exhibited there, was caufing the eyes of twelve of the chiefs of the Galla, whom he had taken prifoners, to be pulled out, and the unfortunate fufferers turned out to the fields, to be devoured at night by the hysena. Two of thefe , I took THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 219 I took under my care, who both recovered, and from them I learned many particulars of their country and manners. The next day, which was the 10th, the army marched in- to the town in triumph, and the Ras at the head of the troops of Tigre. He was bareheaded ; over his moulders, and down to his back, hung a pallium, or cloak, of black velvet, with a filver fringe. A boy, by his right flirrup, held a filver wand of about five feet and a half long, much like the ftaves of our great officers at court. Behind him all the foldiers, who had ilain an enemy and taken the fpoils from them, had their lances and firelocks ornamented with fmall fhreds of fcarlet cloth, one piece for every man he had ilain. Remarkable among all this multitude was Hagos, door- keeper of the Ras, whom we have mentioned in the war of Begemder. This man, always well-armed and well-mount- ed, had followed the wars of the Ras from his infancy, and had been fo fortunate in this kind of fingle combat, that his whole lance and javelin, horfe and perfon, were covered over with the Ihreds of fcarlet cloth. At this lafl battle of Fagitta, Hagos is faid to have Ilain eleven men with his own hand. Indeed there is nothing more fallacious than judging of a man's courage by thefe marks of conqueils. A good horfe- man, armed with a coat of mail, upon a ftrong, well-fed, well-winded horfe, may, after a defeat, kill as many of thefe wretched, weary, naked fugitives, as he plcafes, confining himfelf to thofe that are weakly, mounted upon tired horfes, and covered only with goat's-fkins, or that are flying on foot. Ee.2 Behind 220 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER' Behind came Gufho of Amhara, and PowufTen, lately made governor of Begemder for his behaviour at the battle of Fagitta, where, as I have faid, he purfued Fafil and his army for two days. The Ras had given him alfo a farther reward, his grand-daughter Ayabdar, lately recovered from the fmall-pox, and the only one of my patients that, neither by herfelf, her mother, nor her hufband, ever made me the leaf! return. Powuilen was one of the twelve officers who, after being delivered to Lubo by the Galla, together with Mariam Barea, had fled to Michael's tent, and were protec- ted by him. One thing remarkablein this cavalcade, which I obferved, was the head-drefs of the governors of provinces. A large broad fillet was bound upon their forehead, and tied be- hind their head. In the middle of this was a horn, or a conical piece of fdver, gilt, about four inches long, much in the fhape of our common candle extinguifhers. This is called kirn, or horn, and is only worn in reviews or parades after victory. This I apprehend, like all other of their ufages, is taken from the Hebrews, and the feveral allufions made in fcripture to it arife from this practice :— " I faid unto fools, Deal not foolifhly ; and to the wicked, Lift not up the horn — " Lift not up your horn on high ; fpeak not with a ftiff neck*" — " For promotion cometh," &c. — " But my horn malt thou exalt like the horn of an unicorn" — " And the horn * The crooked manner in which they hold their neck when this ornament is on theii fo .e- Iiead, for fear it mould fall forward, perfectly mews the meaning of fpeaking with a ftifF neck when you hold the horn an high, or erecl like the horn of the unicorn. THE SOURCEOFTHE NILE. azi liorn of the righteous fhall be exalted with honour." And fo in many other places throughout the Pfalms. Next to thefe came the king, with a fillet of white muflin about three inches broad, binding, his forehead, tied with a large double knot behind, and hanging down about two feet on his back. About him were the great officers of ftate, fuch of the young nobility as were without command; and after thefe, the houfehold troops* Then followed the Kan.itz Kitzera, or executioner of the camp, and his attendants ; and, laft of all, amidlt the King's and the Ras's baggage, came a man bearing the fluffed fkin of the unfortunate Woofheka upon a pole, which he hung upon a branch of the tree before the king's palace appropriated for public executions, Upon their arrival at Gondar, all the great men had waited both upon the Ras and the King. Aylo had been with them, and Ozoro Efther was removed to Gondar ; but, by my advice, had left the child at Kofcam. Her fon Con- fu, though recovered of the fmall-pox, had evident figns of a dyfentery, and took no care of himfelf in point of regimen, or avoiding cold. It was now the 1 3th of March,and I had heard no word from Ozoro Efther, or the Ras, though removed to a houfe in Gon- dar near to Petros. I had gone every day once to fee the children of Kofcam ; at all which times I had been received with the greateft cordiality and marks of kindnefs by the Iteghe, and orders given for my free admittance upon all occafions like an officer of her houfehold. As to the reft, I never m TRAVELS TO DISCOVER I never was in appearance more neglected, than in this pre- fent moment, by all but the Moors. Thefe were very grate- ful for the fuccefsful attention I had fhewed their children, and very defirous to have me again among them. Hagi Saleh, in particular, could not fatiate himfelf with curfing the ingratitude of thefe cafers, and infidels, the Chriftians. He knew what had paffed at Kofcam, he faw what he thought likely to happen now, and his anger was that of an honeft man, and which perhaps many former inflances which he had been witnefs of might have juflined, but in the prefent one he was miftaken. In the evening, Negade Ras Mahoment came to my houfe ; he laid Mahomet Gibberti was arrived, had been twice on private bufmefs with the Ras, but had not yet de- livered him his prefents ; and he had not informed me of this, as he thought I was Hill at Kofcam, and that Saleh his brother knew nothing of it, as he had not feen him fince he came home. He alfo informed me that Ayto Aylo was with the Ras twice the day after he entered Gondar, and once with Mahomet Gibberti : all this was about me ; and that, at Ayto Aylo's propofal, it was agreed that I mould be appointed Palambaras, which is mafler of the king's horfe. It is a very great office, both for rank, and revenue, but has no bufmefs attending it ; the young Armenian had before enjoyed it. I told Mahomet, that, far from being any kindnefs to me, this would make me the moft unhappy of all creatures ; that my extreme defire was to fee the coun- try, and its different natural productions; toconverfc with the people as a ftranger, but to be nobody's mafler nor fervant ; to fee their books ; and, above all, to vifit the fources of the Nile ; to live as privately in my own houfe, and have as much » THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 223 much time to myfelf as pofliblc ; and what I was moft an- xious about at prefent, was to know when it would be con- venient for them to admit me to fee the Ras, and deliver my letters as a ftranger. Mahomet went away, and returned, bringing Mahomet Gibberti, who told me, that, befides the letter I carried to Ras Michael from Metical Aga his matter, he had been charged with a particular one, out of the ordinary form, dictated by the Englifh at Jidda, who, all of them, and par- ticularly my friends Captain Thornhill, and Capt. Thomas Price of the Lyon, had agreed to make a point with Metical Aga, devoted to them for his own profit, that his utmoffc exertion of friendfhip and intereft, mould be fo employed in my recommendation, as to engage the attention of Ras Michael to provide in earneft for my fafety and fatisf ac- tion in every point. This letter I had myfelf read at Jidda ; it informed Mi- chael of the power and riches of our nation, and that they were abfolute mafters of the trade on the Red Sea, and ftrictly connected with the Sherriffe, and in a very particular manner with him, Metical Aga ; that any accident happen- ing to me would be an infamy and difgrace to him, and worfe than death itfelf, becaufe, that knowing Michael's power, and relying on his friendfhip, he had become fecurity for my fafety, after I arrived in his hands ; that I was a man of confideration in my own country, fervant to the king of it, who, though himfelf a Chriftian, governed his fubjccts Muffulmen and Pagans, with the fame impartiality andjuf- tice as he did Chriftians. That all my defire was to examine fprings and rivers, trees and flowers, and the ftars in the heavens, 224 TRAVELS TO DISCOTT-R "heavens, from which I drew knowledge very ufeful to pre- ferve man's health and life ; that I was no merchant, and had no dealings whatever in any fort of mercantile matters; and that I had no need of any man's money, as he had told Mahomet Gibberti to provide for any call I might have in that country, and for which he would anfwer, let the fum be what it would, as he had the word of my countrymen to repay it, which he confidered better than the written fecurity of any other people in the world. He then repeated very nearly the fame words ufed in the beginning of the letter ; and, upon this particular requeft, Metical Aga had fent him a diftincl: prefent, not to confound it with other political and commercial affairs, in which they were concerned to- gether. Upon reading this letter, Michael exclaimed, "Metical Aga does not know the fituation of this country. Safety! where is that to be found ? I am obliged to fight for my own life every day. Will Metical call this fafety ? "Who knows, at this moment, if the king is in fafety, or how long I mall be fo ? All I can do is to keep him with me. If I lofemy own life, and the king's, Metical Aga can never think it was in my power to preferve that of his ftranger."— " No, no," fays Ay to Ay lo, who was then prefent, " you don't know the man ; he is a devil on horfeback ; he rides better, and fhoots better, than any man that ever came into Abyflinia ; lofe no time, put him about the king, and there is no fear of him. He is very fober and religious ; he will do the king good. " Shoot!" fays Michael, " he won't fhoot at me as the Armenian did ; will he ? will he ?" " Oh," continued Aylo, -" you know thefe days are over. What is the Armenian ? a -boy, a Have to the Turk. When you lee this man, you'll not 2 think THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 225 think of the Armenian." It was finally agreed, that the let- ters the Greeks had received mould be read to the king ; that the letters I had from Metical Aga to the Ras mould be given to Mahomet Gibberti, and that I mould be intro- duced to the King and the Ras immediately after they were ready. The reader may remember that, when I was at Cairo, I obtained letters fromMark, the Greek patriarch, to the Greeks at Gondar ; and particularly one, in form of a bull, or refcript, to all the Greeks in Abyiiinia. In this, after a great deal of paf- toral admonition, the patriarch faid, that, knowing their pro- pensity to lying and vanity, and not being at hand to impofe proper penances upon them for thefe fins, he exacted from them, as a proof of their obedience, that they would, with a good grace, undergo this mortification, than which there could be no gentler impofed, as it was only to fpeak the truth. He ordered them in a body to go to the king, in the man- ner and time they knew bell, and to inform him that I was not to be confounded with the reft of white men, fuch as Greeks, who were all fubject to the Turks, and flaves ; but that I was a free man, of a free nation ; and the bell of them would be happy in being my fervant, as one of their bre- thren, Michael, then actually was. I will not fay but this was a bitter pill ; for they were high in office, all except Petros, who had declined all employment after the murder of Joas his mailer, whofe chamberlain he was. The order "of the patriarch, however, was fairly and punctually per- formed ; Petros was their fpokefman ; he was originally a fhoemaker at Rhodes, clever, and handfome in his perfon, but a great coward, though, on fuch an occafion as the pre- fent, forward and capable enough. Vol. Ill, Ff I think 2.26 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER I think it was about the 14th that thcfe letters were to be all read. I, expected at the ordinary hour, about five in the afternoon, to be fent for, and had rode out to Kofcam with Ayto Heikel, the queen's chamberlain, to fee the child, who was pretty well recovered of all its complaints, but very weak. In the interim I was fent for to the Ras, with orders to difpatch a man with the king's prefent, to wait for me at the palace, whither I was to go after leaving Michael. It was anfwered, That I was at Kofcam, and the errand I had gone- on mentioned ; which difappointment, and the caufe, did no way prejudice me with the Ras. Five in the evening was fixed as the hour, and notice fent to Kofcam, I came- a little before the time, and met Ayto Aylo at the door. He fqueezed me by the hand, and laid, " Refufe nothing, it can be all altered afterwards ; but it is very neceffary, on account. of the priefts and the populace, you have a place of fome au- thority, otherwife you will be robbed and murdered the firft time you go half a mile from home : fifty people have told me you have chefts filled with gold, and that you can make gold, or bring what quantity you pleafe from the Indies; and the reafon of all this is, becaufe you refufed the queen and Ozoro Efther's oner of gold at Kofcam, and which you. mud never do again." We went in and faw the old man fitting upon a fofa ; his white hair was dreffed in many fhort curls. He ap- peared to he thoughtful, but not .difpleaied ; his face was lean, his eyes quick and vivid, but feemed to be a little fore from expofure to the weather. He feemed to be about lix feet high, though his lamenefs made it difficult to guefs with accuracy. His air was perfectly free from conltraint, what the French call degagee. In face and perfon he was liker THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. -227 liker my learned and worthy friend, the Count de Buffon, than any two men I ever faw in the world. They muft have been bad phyfiognomifts that did not difcern his capacity and underftanding by his very countenance. Every look conveyed a fentiment with it: he feemed to have no occa- fion for other language, and indeed he fpoke little. I of- fered, as ufual, to kifs the ground before him ; and of this he feemed to take little notice, ftretching out his hand and ihaking mine upon my rifing. I sat down with Aylo, three or four of the judges, Petros, Heikel the queen's chamberlain, and an Azage from the king's houfe, who whifpered fomething in his ear, and went out; which interruption prevented me from f peak- ing as I was prepared to do, or give him my prefent, which a man held behind me. He began gravely, " Yagoube, I think that is your name, hear what I fay to you, and mark what I recommend to you. You are a man, I am told, who make it your bufincfs to wander in the fields in fearch after trees and grafs in folitary places, and to lit up all night a- lone looking at the ftars of the heavens : Other countries are not like this, though this was never fo bad as it is now, Thefe wretches here are enemies to ft rangers ; if they faw you alone in your own parlour, their firft thought would be how to murder you ; though they knew they were to get nothing by it, they would murder you for mere mifchief." " The devil is ftrong in them," fays a voice from a corner of the room, which appeared to be that of a prieft. " There- fore," fays the Ras, " after a long converfation with your friend Aylo, whofe advice I hear you happily take, as in- deed we all do, I have thought that filiation beft which leaves you at liberty to follow your own defigns, at the Ff 2 fame 528 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER fame time that it puts your perfon in fafety ; that you will not be troubled with monks about their religious matters, or in danger from thefe rafcals that may feek to murder you for money." " What are the monks"?" fays the fame voice from the corner ; " the monks will never meddle with fuch a man as this." — " Therefore the king," continued the Ras, with- out taking any notice of the interruption, " has ap- pointed you Baalomaal, and to command the Koccob horfe, which I thought to have given to Francis, an old foldier of mine ; but he is poor, and we will provide for him better, for thefe appointments have honour, but little profit." "Sir," fays Francis, who was in prefence, but behind, " it is in much more honourable hands than either mine or the Armenian's, or any other white man's, fince the days of Hatze Menas, and fo I told the king to-day." " Very well, Francis," fays the Ras ; " it becomes a foldier to fpeak the truth, whether it makes for or againft himfelf. Go then to the king, and kifs the ground upon your appointment. 1 fee you have already learned this ceremony of our's ; Aylo and Heikel are very proper perfons to go with you. The king exprefled his fur* prife to me lafl night he had not feen you ; and there too is Tecla Mariam, the king's fecretary, who came with your appointment from the palace to-day." The man in the cor- ner, that I took for a prieft, was this Tecla Mariam, a fcribe. Out of the king's prefence men of this order cover their heads, as do the prielts, which was the reafon of my mif- take, I then gave him a prefent, which he fcarce looked at, as & number of people were prefling in at the door from eu- riofity THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 229 riofity or bufinefs. Among thefe I difcerned Abba Salama. Every body then went out but myfelf, and thefe people were rufhing in behind me, and had divided me from my com- pany. The Ras, however, feeing me flanding alone, cried, " Shut the door ;" and afked me, in a low tone of voice, " Have you any thing private to fay ?" " I fee you are bufy, Sir," faid I ; " but Twill fpeak to Ozoro Either." His anxious coun- tenance brightened up in a moment. " That is true," fays he, " Yagoube, it will require a long day to fettle that ac- count with you : Will the boy live ?" " The life of man is in the hand of God," faid I, " but I fhould hope the word is over ;" upon which he called to one Of his fervants, " Carry Yagoube to Ozoro Eflher,." It is needlefs for me to take up the reader's time with any thing but what illuftrates my travels ; he may there- fore guefs the converfation that flowed from a grateful heart on that occafion. I ordered her child to be brought to her every forenoon, upon condition fhe returned him foon after mid- day. I then took a fpeedy leave of Ozoro Eflher, the reafon of which I told her when fhe was fol- lowing me to the door. She faid, " When fliall I lay my hands upon that idiot Aylo ? The Ras would have done any thing ; he had appointed you Palambaras, but, upon converfing with Aylo, he had changed his mind. He fays it will create envy, and take up your time. What fignifies their envy ? Do not they envy Ras Michael ? and where can you pafs your time better than at court, with a command un- der the king." I faid, " All is for the belt, Aylo did well • all is for the belt." I then left her unconvinced, and fay- ing, " I will not forgive this to Ayto Aylo thefe feven. years x" 4 Ay.io 3t>© TRAVELS TO DISCOVER j Aylo and Heikel had gone on to the palace, wondering, as did the whole company, what could be my private con- ference with Michael, which, after playing abundantly with their curiofity, I explained to them next day. I went afterwards to the king's palace, and met Aylo and Heikel at the door of the prefence-chamber. Tecla Mariam walked before us to the foot of the throne ; after which I advanced and proftrated myfelf upon the ground. " I have brought you a fervant," fays he to the king, " from fo diftant a country, that if you ever let him efcape, we fhall never be able to follow him, or know where to feek him." This was faid facetioufiy by an old familiar fervant ; but the king made no reply, as far as we could guefs, for his mouth was covered, nor did he mew any alteration of countenance. Five people were Handing on each fide of the throne, all young men, three on his left, and two on his right. One of thefe, the fon of Tecla Mariam, (afterwards my great friend) who flood uppermoft on the left hand, came up, and taking hold of me by the hand, placed me immediately above him ; when feeing I had no knife in my girdle, he pulled out his own and gave it to me. Upon being placed, I again killed the ground. The king was in an alcove ; the reft went out of fight from where the throne was, and fat down. The ufual queftions -now began about Jerufalem and the holy places — where my country was ? which it was impoffible to defcribe, as they knew the lituation of no country but their own — why I came fo far? — whether the moon and the Mars, but efpecially the moon, was the fame in my country as in theirs? — and a great many fuch idle and tirefome queftions. I had feveral times 2 oiFered THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 231 offered to take my prefent from the man who held it, that I might oiler it to his Majetty and go away; but the king always made a fign to put it oil, till, being tired to death •with Handing, I leaned againft the wall. Aylo was fait afleep, and Ayto Heikel and the Greeks curling their matter in their heart for fpoiling the good fupper that Anthuie his treafurer had prepared for us. This, as we afterwards found out, the king very well knew, and refolved to try our patience to the utmoft. At laft, Ayto Aylo Hole away to bed, and every body elfe after him, except thofe who had accompanied me, who were ready to die with thirit, and drop down with wearinefs. It was agreed by thofe that were out of fight, to fend Tecla Mariam to whifper in the king's ear, that I had not been well, which he did, but no notice was taken of it. It was now pad ten o'clock, and he mewed no inclination to go to bed. Hitherto, while there were ftrangers in the room, he had fpoken to us by an officer called Kal Hatze, the voice or word of the king; but now, when there were nine or ten of us, his menial fervants, only prefent, he uncovered his face and mouth, and fpoke himfelf. Sometimes it was about Je- rufalem, fometimcs about horfes, at othertimes about fhoot- ing ; again about the Indies ; how far I could look into the heavens with my telefcopes : and all thefe were deliberately and circumftantially repeated, if they were not pointedly an- fvvered. I was abfolutely in defpair^ and fcarcely able to fpeak a word, inwardly mourning the hardnefs of my lot in this my fir ft preferment, and fincerely praying it might be my laft promotion in this court. At laft all the Greeks began to be impatient, and got out of the corner of the. room behind the alcove, and Hood immediately before the throne. 232 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER throne. The king feemed to be aftonifhed at feeing them, and told them he thought they had all been at home long ago. They faid, however, they would not go without me ; which the king faid could not be, for one of the duties of my employment was to be charged with the door of his bed-chamber that night. I think I could almofl have killed him in that inftant. At laft Ayto Heikel, taking courage, came forward to him, pretending a melTage from the queen, and whifpered him fomething in the ear, probably that the Ras would take it ill. He then laughed, faid he thought we had flipped, and difmifTed us. =84*0(3*4 CHAP. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. z.33 !$53&&aa= CHAP. IX. rtranfaElions at Gottdar. WE went all to Authule's houfe to fupper in violent rage* fuch anger as is ufual with hungry men. We brought with us from the palace three of my brother Baalomaals, and one who had flood to make \ip the number, though he was not in office ; his name was Guebra Mafcal, he was a filler's fon of the Ras, and commanded one third of the troops of Tigre, which carried fire-arms, that is about 2000 men. He was reputed the befl officer of that kind that the Ras had, and was a man about 30 years of age, fhort, fquare, and well made, with a very unpromifing countenance ; flat nofe, wide mouth, of a very yellow complexion, and much pit- ted with the fmall-pox ; he had a mofl uncommon pre- fumption upon the merit of pad ferviccs, and had the great- efl opinion of his own knowledge in the ufe of fire-arms, to which he did not fcruple to fay Ras Michael owed all his victories. Indeed it was to the good opinion that the Ras Vol. III. G g had 234 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER had of him as a foldier that he owed his being fuffered to continue at Gondar ; for he was lu {'peeled to have been familiar with one of his uncle's wives in Tigre, by whom it was thought he had a child, at leail the Ras put away his wife, and never owned the child to be his. This man flipped with us that night, and thence began one of the moll ferious affairs I ever had in Abyffmia. Guebra Mafcal, as ufual, vaunted inceffantly his fkill in fire-arms, the wonderful gun that he had, and feats he had' done with it. Petros faid, laughing, to him, " You have a genius for mooting, but you have had no opportunity to learn. Now, Yagoube is come, he will teach you fome- thing worth talking off." They had all drank abundantly, and Guebra Mafcal had uttered words that I thought were in contempt of me. I believe, replied I peevifhly enough, Guebra Mafcal, I mould fufpecl:, from your difcourfe, you neither knew men nor guns ; every gun of mine in the hands of my fervants mall kill twice as far as yours, for my own, it is not worth my while to put a ball in it : When I compare with you, the end of a tallow-candle in my gun Ihall do more execution than an iron ball in the bell of yours, with all the fkill and experience you pretend to. He faid I was a Frank, and a liar, and, upon my im- mediately rifmg up, he gave me a kick with his foot. I was quite blind with paffion, feized him by the throat, and threw him on the ground flout as he was. The Abyffmians know nothing of either wreftling or boxing. He drew his knife as he was falling, attempted to cut me in the face, but his arm not being at freedom, all he could do was to give me a very trifling flab, or wound, near the crown of the head, THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 23s head, fo that the blood trickled down over my face. I had tript him up, but till then had never flruck him. I now wrefted the knife from him with a full intention to kill him; but Providence directed better. Inftead of the point, I {truck fo violently with the handle upon his face as to leave fears, which would be diftinguifhed even among the deep marks of the fmall-pox. An adventure fo new, and fo unexpected, prefently overcame the effects of wine. It was too late to dif- turb anybody either in the palace or at the houfe of the Ras. A hundred opinions were immediately ftartcd ; fome were for fending us up to the king, as we were actually in the pre- cincts of the palace, where lifting a hand is death. Ayto Heikel advifed that I mould go, late as it was, to Kofcam ; and Petros, that I fliould repair immediately to the houfe of Ayto Aylo, while the two Baalomaals were for taking me to fleep in the palace. Anthule, in whofe houfe I was, and who was therefore moll fho eked at the outrage, wifhed me to {lay in his houfe, where I was, from a fuppofition that I was ferioufly wounded, which all of them, feeing the blood fall over my eyes, feemed to think was the cafe, and he, in the morning, at the king's riling, was to Hate the matter as it happened. All thefe advices appeared good when they were propofed ; for my part, I thought they only tended to make bad worfe, and bore the appearance of guilt, of which I was not confeious. I now determined to go home, and to bed in my own houfe. With that intention, I warned my face and wound with vinegar, and found the blood to be already {launched. I then wrapt myfelf up in my cloak, and returned home without accident, and went to bed. But this would neither fatisfy Ayto Heikel nor Petros, who went to the houfe of G g 2 Ayto 236 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER Ayto Aylo, then paft midnight, fo that early in the morn- ing, when fcarce light, I faw him come into my chamber. Guebra Mafcal had fled to the houfe of Kefla Yafous his re- lation ; and the firft news we heard in the morning, after Ayto Aylo arrived, were, that Guebra Mafcal was in irons at the Ras's houfe. Every perfon that came afterwards brought up fome new account; the whole people prefent had been examined, and had given, without variation, the true particulars of my forbearance, and his infolent behaviour. Every body trem- bled for fome violent refolution the Ras was to take on my firft complaint. The town was full of Tigre foldiers, and nobody law clearer than I did, however favourable a turn this had taken for me in the beginning, it might be my deftruction in the end, I asked Ayto AylQ his opinion. He Teemed at a lofs to give it me ; but faid, in an uncertain tone of voice, he could with that I would not complain of Guebra Mafcal while I was angry, or while the Ras was fo inveterate a- gainft him, till fome of his friends had fpoken, and appea- led, at leaft, his firft refentment. I anfwered, " That I was of a contrary opinion, and that no time was to be loft : re- member the letter of Mahomet Gibberti ; remember his confidence yefterday of my being fafe where he was ; re- member the influence of Ozoro Efther, and do not let us lofe a moment." " What, fays Aylo to me in great furprife, are you mad ? Would you have him cut to pieces in the midft of 20,000 of his countrymen ? Would you be dim- menia, that is, guilty of the blood of all the province of Tigre, through which you muft go in your way home ?' « Jul! THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 237 « juft the contrary, faid I, nobody has fo great a right over the Ras's anger as I have, being the perfon injured ; and, as you and I can get accefs to Ozoro Either when we pleafe, let us go immediately thither, and flop the progrefs of this affair while it is not yet generally known. People that talk of my being wounded expect to fee me, I fuppofe, with- out a leg or an arm. When they fee me fo early riding in the flreet, all will pafs for a ftory as it mould do. Would you wifh to pardon him entirely ?." — " That goes a- gainft my heart, too, fays Aylo, he is a bad man."—" My good friend, faid I, be in this guided by me, I know we both think the fame thing. If he is a bad man, he was a bad man before I knew him. You know what you told me your- felf of the Ras's jealoufy of him. What if he was to revenge his own wrongs, under pretence of giving me fatisfaction for mine ? Come, lofe no time, get upon your mule, go with me to Ozoro Efther, I will anfwer for the confequences," We arrived there ; the Ras was not fitting in judgment, he had drank hard the night before, on occafion of Powuf- fen's marriage, and was not in bed when the ftory of the fray reached him. We found Ozoro Efther in a violent anger and agitation, which was much alleviated by my laughing. On her afking me about my wound, which had been repre- fented to her as dangerous, " I am afraid, faid I, poor Gue- bra Mafcal is worfe wounded than I." "Is he wounded toe? fays fhe ; I hope it is in his heart." " Indeed, replied I, Ma- dam, there are no wounds on either fide. He was very drunk, and I gave him feveral blows upon the face as he deferved, and he has already got all the chaftifement he ought to have ; it was all a piece of folly." " Prodigious ! fays me ; is this fo ?" " It is io, fays Aylo, and you mall hear 238 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER hear it all by-and-by, only let us Hop the propagation of this foolifh ftory." The Ras in the inflant fent for us. He was naked, fitting on a ftool, and a Have fwathing up his lame leg with a broad belt or bandage. I afked him calmly and pleafantly if I could be of any fervice to him ? He looked at me with a grin, the moil ghaftly I ever faw, as half difpleafed. " What ! fays he, are you all mad? Aylo, what is the matter between him and that mifcreant Guebra Mafcal ?"— " Why, faid I, I am come to tell you that myfelf ; why do you afk Ayto Ay- lo ? Guebra Mafcal got drunk, was infolent, and ftruck me. I was fober, and beat him, as you will fee by his face ; and I have now come to you to fay I am forry that I lifted my hand againft your nephew ; but he was in the wrong, and drunk ; and I thought it was better to chaftife him on the fpot, than trull him to you, who perhaps might take the affair to heart, for we all know your juftice, and that being your relation is no excufe when you judge between man and man. " I order you, Aylo, fays Michael, as you efteem my friendfhip, to tell me the truth, really as it was, and without difguife or concealment." Aylo began accordingly to relate the whole hiftory, when a fervant called me out to Ozoro Efther. I found with her another nephew of the Ras, a much better man, called Welleta Selaffe, who came from Kefla Yafous, and Guebra Mafcal himfelf, defiring I would forgive and intercede for him, for it was a drunken quarrel without malice. Ozoro Efther had told him part. " Come in with me, faid I, and you mall fee I never will leave the Ras till he forgive him." " Let him punifh him, fays Welleta Selaffe, he is a bad man, but THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. *& fcut don't let the Ras either kill or maim him." " Come, faid I, let us go to the Ras, and he fhall neither kill, maim, nor piinifli him, if I can help it. It is my firft requeft ; if he refufes me I will return to Jidda ; come and hear." Aylo had urged the thing home to the Ras in the proper light— that of my fafety. " You are a wife man, fays Mi- chael, now perfectly cool, as foon as he faw me and Welleta Selafie. It is a man like you that goes far in fafety, which is the end we all aim at. I feel the affront offered you more than you do, but will not have the puniihment attributed to you ; this affair fhall turn to your honour and fecurity, and in that light only I can pafs over his infolence." " Wel- leta Selafie, fays he, falling into a violent paffion in an in- ftant, What fort of behaviour is this my men have adop- ted with Grangers ? and myjlrangcr, too, and in the king's palace, and the king's fervant? What! am I dead ? or be- come incapable of governing longer?" Welleta Selafie bow- ed, but was afraid to fpeak, and indeed the Ras looked like a fiend. « Come, fays the Ras, let me fee your head." I fhewed him where the blood was already hardened, and faid it was a very flight cut. " A cut, continued Michael, over that part, with one of our knives, is mortal." " You fee, Sir, faid I, I have not even dipt the hair about the wound ; it is nothing. Now give me your promife you will fet Guebra Mafcal at liberty \ and not only that, but you are not to re- proach him with the affair further than that he was drunk, not a crime in this country." " No, truly, fays he, it is not; but that is, becaufe it is very rare that people fight with knives when they are drunk. I fcarce ever heard of it, even in v. in. gg 240 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER in the camp." " I fancy, faid I, endeavouring to give a light turn to the converfation, they have not often wherewithal to get drunk in your camp." " Not this lafl year, fays he, laughing, there were no houfes in the country." " But let me only merit, faid I, Welleta Selaffe's friendship, by ma- king him the meffenger of good news to Guebra Mafcal, that he is at liberty, and you have forgiven him." " At li- berty ! fays he, Where is he ?" " In your houfe, faid I, fome- where, in irons." " That is Eflher's intelligence, continued the Ras ; thefe women tell you all their fecrets, but when I remember your behaviour to them I do not wonder at it, and that confideration likewife obliges me to grant what you afk. Go, Welleta SelafTe, and free that dog from his col- lar, and direct him to go to Welleta Michael, who will give him his orders to levy the meery in Woggora ; let him. not fee my face till he returns. Ozoro Esther gave us breakfafl, to which feveralof the Greeks came. After which I went to Kofcam, where I heard a thoufand curfes upon Guebra Mafcal. The whole affair was now made up, and the king was acquainted with the iffue of it. I flood in my place, where he fhewed me very great marks of favour ; he was grave, however, andforrow- ful, as if mortified with what had happened. The king order- ed me to flay and dine at the palace, and he would fend me my dinner. I there faw the fons of Kafmati Eflite, Aylo, and Engedan, and two Welleta Selaffes ; one the fon of Te- cla Mariam, the other the fon of a great nobleman in Go- >am, all young men, with whom I lived ever after in perfect familiarity and friendfhip. The two lafl were my brethren Baalomaal, or gentlemen of the king's bed-chamber. They THE SOURCE OP THE NILE. 24 * They all feemed to have taken my caufe to heart more than I wifhed them to do, for fear it mould be productive of fome new quarrel. For my own part, I never was fo deject- ed in my life. The troublefome profpedl before me pre- fented itfelf day and night. I more than twenty times re- folved to return by Tigre, to which I was more inclined by the lofs of a young man who accompanied me through Bar- bary, and amfted me in the drawings of architecture which I made for the king there, part of which he was flill advan- cing here, when a dyfentery, which had attacked him in Arabia Felix, put an end to his life* at Gondar. A confider- able diflurbance was apprehended upon burying him in a church-yard. Abba Salama ufed his utmoft endeavours to raife the populace and take him out of his grave ; but fome exertions of the Ras quieted both Abba Salama and the tu- mults. I began, however, to look upon every thing now as full of difficulty and danger ; and, from this conftant fretting and defpondency, I found my health much impaired, and that I was upon the point of becoming ferioufly ill. There was one thing that contributed in fome meafure to diffipate thefe melancholy thoughts, which was, that all Gondar was in one fcene of feftivity. Ozoro Ayabdar, daughter of the late Welled Hawaryat, by Ozoro Aitafh, Ozoro Efther's fifter, and the Iteghe's youngeft daughter, confequently grand- daughter to Michael, was married to Powuflen, now gover- nor of Begemder. The king gave h er large diftricls of land in that province, and Ras Michael a large portion of gold, VoL' m- H h mufkets, * See Introdu&ion, 242 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER mufkets, cattle, and horfes. All the town, that wi^ed to be well-looked upon by either party, brought fomethimr con- siderable as a prefcnt. The Ras, Ozoro Efther, and Ozoro Altafh, entertained all Gondar. A vaft number of cattle was Slaughtered every day, and the whole town looked like one great market ; the common people, in every Slreet, appear- ing loaded with pieces of raw beef, while drink circulated in the fame proportion. The Ras infilled upon my dining with him every day, when he was fure to give me a head- ach with the quantity of mead, or hydromel, he forced me- to fwallow, a liquor that never agreed with me from the firfl day to die lail. After dinner we flipt away to parties of ladies, where- anarchy prevailed as complete as at the houfe of the Ras.. Ail the married women ate, drank, and fmoaked like the men ; and it is impoiTible to convey to the reader any ide»- of this bacchanalian fcene in terms of common decency. I found it neceffary to quit this riot for a Short time, and get leave to breathe the frefh air of the country, at fuch a diflance as that, once a day, or once in two days, I might be at the palace, and avoid the conftant fucceffion of thofe vio-- lent fcenes of debauchery of which no European can form, any idea, and which it was impomble to eicape, even at. Koicam. Although the king's favour, the protection of the Ras, and my obliging, attentive, and lowly behaviour to every body, had made me as popular as 1 could wiih at Gondar, and among the Tigrans fully as much as thofe of Amhara, yet it was eafy to perceive, that the cauie of my quarrel with Guebra Mafcal was not yet forgot, Ons THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 243 One day, when I was Handing by the king in the palace, lie afked, in difcourfe, " Whether I, too, was not drunk in the quarrel with Guebra Mafcal, before we came to blows?" and, upon my faying that I was perfectly fober, both before and after, becaufe Anthule's red wine was finifhed, and I never willingly drank hydromel, or mead, he afked with a degree of keennefs, " Did you then foberly fay to Guebra Mafcal, that an end of a tallow candle, in a gun in your hand, would do more execution than an iron bullet in his ?" — " Certainly, Sir, I did fo." — "And why did you fay this ?" favs the king dryly enough, and in a manner I had not be- fore obferved. " Becaufe, replied I, it was truth, and a pro- per reproof to a vain man, who, whatever eminence he might have obtained in a country like this, has not know- ledge enough to entitle him to the truft of cleaning a gun in mine." — " O! ho! continued the king; as for his know- ledge I am not fpeaking of that, but about his gun. You will not perfuade me that, with a tallow candle, you can kill a man or a horfe." — " Pardon me, Sir, faid I, bowing very refpeetfully, I will attempt to perfuade you of nothing but what you pleafe to be convinced of: Guebra Mafcal is my equal no more, you are my mafter, and, while I am at your court, under your protection, you are in place of my fovereign, it would be great prefumption in me to argue with you, or lead to a converfatir.-n againft an opinion that you profefs you are already fixed in." — " No, no, fays he, with an air of great kindnefs, by no means, I was only a- fraid you would expofe yourfclf before bad people ; what you fay to me is nothing." — " And what I fay to you, Sir, has always been as fcrupuloufiy true as if I had been fpeak- ing to the king my native fovereign and mafter. Whether H h 2 I can 244 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER I can kill a man with a candle, or not, is an experiment that Ihould not be made. Tell me, however, what I mail do be- fore you that you may deem an equivalent ? Will piercing the table, upon which your dinner is ferved, (it was of fyca- more, about three quarters of an inch thick), at the length o£ this room, be deemed a fufficient proof of what I advanced?" " Ah, Yagoube, Yagoube, fays the king, take care what you fay. That is indeed more than Guebra Mafcal will do at that diftance ; but take great care; you don't know thefc people'; they will lie themfelves all day; nay, their whole life is one lie ; but of you they expect better, or would be glad to find worfe ; take care." Ayto Engedan, who was then prefent, faid, " I am fure if Yagoube fays he can do it, he will do it ; but how, I don't know. Can you ihoot through my fhield with a tallow candle ?" — " To you, Ayto Engedan, faid I, I can fpeak freely; I could moot thro' your fhield if it was the flrongefl in the army, and kill the flrongefl man in the army that held it before him. When will you fee this tried ?" — " Why now, fays the king ; there is nobody here." — " The fooner the better, faid I ; I would not wifh to remain for a moment longer under lb difagreeable an imputation as that of lying, an infamous one in my country, whatever it may be in this. Let me fend for my gun; the king will look out at the window." — " Nobody^ fays, he, knows any thing of it ; nobody will come." The king appeared to be very anxious, and, I faw plain* ly, incredulous. The gun was brought; Engedan's fhield wa3 produced, which was of aftrong buffalo's hide. I faid to him, u This is a weak €>nc, give me one flronger." Ke fhook his 4 head,. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 245 head, and faid, " Ah, Yagoube, you'll find it ftrong enough ; Engedan's fliield is known to be no toy." Tecla Mariam brought fuch a fliield, and the Billetana Gueta Tecla an- other, both of which were moft excellent in their kind. I loaded the gun before them, firft with powder, then up- on it Aid down one half of what we call a farthing can- dle ; and, having beat off the handles of three fhields, I put them clofe in contact with each other, and fet them all three againft a poft, Now, Engedan, faid I, when you pleafe fay— Fire ! but mind you have taken leave of your good fliield for ever.'* The word was given, and the gun fired. It ftruck the three fhields, neither in the moft difficult nor the eafieft place for perforation, fomething lefs than half way between the rim and the bofs. The candle went through the three fhields with fuch violence that it dallied itfelf to a thoufand pieces againft a flone-wall behind it. I turned to Engedan, faying very lowly, gravely, and without exultation or triumph, on the contrary with abfolute indifference, " Did not I tell you your fliield was naught ?" A great fhout of applaufe fol- lowed from about a thoufand people that were gathered together. The three fhields were carried to rhe king, who exclaimed in great tranfport, I did not believe it before I faw it, and I can fcarce believe it now I have feen it. Where is Guebra Mafcal's confidence now ? But what do either he or we know ? We know nothing." I thought he looked- abafhed. " Ayto Engedan, faid I, we muft have a touch at that table. It was faid, the piercing that was more than Guebra^ Mafcal z46 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER Mafcal could do. We have one half of the candle left ftill; it is the thinneit, weakeft half, and I fhall put the wick fore- moft, becaufe the cotton is fofteft." The table being now properly placed, to Engcdan's utmoft aftonilhmcnt the can- dle, with the wick foremoit, went through the table, as the other had gone through the three fhields. " By St Michael! fays Engedan, Yagoube, hereafter fay to me you can raife my father Efhte from the grave, and I will believe you." Some priefts who were there, though furprifed at firft, feem- ed afterward to treat it rather lightly, becaufe they thought it below their dignity to be furprifed at any thing. They laid it was done (mucktoub) by writing, by which they meant magic. Every body embraced that opinion as an evident and rational one, and fo the wonder with them ceafed. But it was not fo with the king : It made the mod favourable and lalling impreflion upon his mind ; nor did I ever after fee, in his countenance, any marks either of doubt or diffidence, but always, on the contrary, the mofl decifive proofs of friendfhip, confidence, and attention, and the moft implicit belief of every thing I advanced upon any iubject from my own knowledge. The experiment was twice tried afterwards in prefence of Ras Michael. But he would not riik his good fhields, and always produced the table, faying, " Engedan and thofe foolifh boys were rightly ferved ; they thought Ya- goube was a liar like themfelves, and they loft their fhields; but I believed him, and gave him my table for curiofity only, and fo I faved mine." As I may now fay I was fettled in this country, and had an opportunity of being informed of the manners, govern- 2 ment, THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 247 mcnt, and prefent ftate of it, I mall here inform the reader of what I think moil worthy his attention, whether ancient or modern, while we are yet in peace, before we are called out to a campaign or war, attended with every difadvantage, danger, and fource of confulion. CHAP; >4& TRAVELS TO DISCOVER i^&&^= CHAP. X. Geographical Divifion of Abyjfinia itito Provinces, AT Mafuah, that is, on the coaft of the Red Sea, begins an imaginary divifion of Abyflinia into two, which is rather a divifion of language than ftrictly to be underftood as territorial. The firll divifion is called Tigre, between the Red Sea and the river Tacazze. Between that river and the Nile, weftward, where it bounds the Galla, it is called Am- hara. Whatever convenience there maybe from this divifion, there is neither geographical nor hiftorical precifion in it, for there are many little provinces included in the firft that do not belong to Tigre ; and, in the fecond divifion, which is Amhara, that which gives the name is but a very fmall part of it. Again, THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 249 Again, in point of language, there is a variety of tongues fpoken in the fecond divifion beiides thatof Amhara. InTigre, however, the reparation as to languages holds true, as there is no tongue known there but Geez, or that of the Shepherds. MAsuAH,in ancient times, was one of the principal places of refidence of the Baharnagafh, who, when he was not there himfelf, conflantly left his deputy, or lieutenant. In fum- mer he refided for feveral months in the ifland of Dahalac, then accounted part of his territory. He was, after the King and Betwudet, the perfon of the greatefl confideration in the kingdom, and was inverted with fendick and nagareet, the kettle-drum, and colours, marks of fupreme command. Masuah was taken, and a bafha eflablifhed there foon after, as we have feen in the hiftory, in the reign of Menas, when the Baharnagafh, named Ifaac, confederated with the Turkiih bafha, and ceded to him a great territory, part of his own government, and with it Dobarwa, the capital of his province, divided only by the river Mareb from Tigre. From this time this office fell into difrepute in the king- dom. The fendick and nagareet, the marks of fupreme power, were taken from him, and he never was allowed a place in council, unlefs fpecially called on by the king. He preferves his privilege of being crowned with gold ; but, when appointed, has a cloak thrown over him, the one fide white, the other a dark blue, and the officer who crowns him admonilhes him of what will befal him if he preferves his allegiance, which is fignified by the white fide of the cloak ; and the difgrace and punifhment that is to attend his treafon, and which has fallen upon his predeceflbrs, which he figures to him by turning up the colour of mourning. Vol. III. I i Besides *5o TRAVELS TO DISCOVER Besides the dignity attending this office, it was alfo one of the moil lucrative. Frankincenfe, myrrh, and a fpecies of cinnamon, called by the Italians Cannella, with feveral kinds of gums and dyes, all very precious, from Cape Gardefan to Bilur, were the valuable produce of this coun- try : but this territory, though confiderable in length, is not of any great breadth ; for, from fouth of Hadea to Mafuah, it confiits in a belt feldom above forty miles from the fea, which is bounded by a ridge of very high mountains, run- ning parallel to the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea, as far as Mafuah. ^fter Azab begin the mines of foflile fait, which, cut into fquare, folid bricks of about a foot long, fcrve in place of the filver currency in Abyflinia ; and from this, as from a kind of mint, great benefit accrues alfo. From Mafuah the fame narrow belt continues to Suakem ; nay, indeed, though the rains do not reach fo far, the mountains continue to the Ifthmus of Suez. This northern province of the Baharnagafh is called the Habab, or the land of the Agaazi, or Shepherds ; they fpeak one language, which they call Geez, or the language of the Agaazi. From the earliefl times, they have had letters and writing among them ; and no other has ever been introduced into Abyffinia, to this day, as we have already obferved. Since the expulfion of the Turks from Dobarwa and the continent of Abyflinia, Mafuah has been governed by a Naybe, himfelf one of the Shepherds, but Mahometan. A treaty formerly fubfifted,that the king fhould receive half of the THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 251 the revenue of the cuftomhoufe in Mafuah ; in return for which he was fuffered to enjoy that fmall flripe of barren, dry country called Samhar, inhabited by black fhepherds called Shiho, reaching from Hamazen on the north to the foot of the mountain Taranta on the fouth ; but, by the favour of Michael, that is, by bribery and corruption, he has pofTefTed himfelf of two large frontier towns, Dixan and Dobarwa, by leafe, for a trifling fum, which he pays the king yearly ; this mufl neceflarily very much weaken this Hate, if it lhould ever again have war with the Turks, of which indeed there is no great probability. The next province in Abyflinia, as well for greatnefs as riches, power, and dignity, and nearefl Mafuah, is Tigre. It is bounded by the territory of the Baharnagafh, that is, by the river Mareb on the eaft, and the Tacazze upon the weft. It is about one hundred and twenty miles broad from E. to W. and two hundred from N. to S. This is its prefent fitu- ation. The hand of ufurping power has abolifhed all dis- tinction on the weft-fide of the Tacazze ; befides, many large governments, fuch as Enderta and Antalow, and great part of the Baharnagafh, were fwallowed up in this province to the eaft. What, in a fpecial manner, makes the riches of Tigre, is, that it lies neareft the market, which is Arabia ; and all the merchandise deftined to crofs the Red Sea muft pafs through this province, fo that the governor has the choice of all commodities wherewith to make his market. The ftrong- eft male, the moft beautiful female flaves, the pureft gold, the largeft teeth of ivory, all muft pafs through his hand. Fire-arms, moreover, which for many years have decided I i z who *5* TRAVELS TO DISCOVER who is the moft powerful in Abyffinia, all thefe come from - Arabia, and not one can be purchafed without his knowing to whom it goes, and after his having had the firft refuful of it.' Sire, a province about twenty-five miles broadband not much more in length, is reckoned as part of Tigre alfo, but this is not a new uiurpation. It loft the rank of a province, and was united to Tigre for the mifbehaviour of its gover- nor Kafmati Claudius, in an expedition againft the Shangalla in the reign of Yafous the Great. In my time, it began* again to get into reputation, and was by Ras Michael's own confent disjoined from his province, and given firft to. his fon Welled Hawaryat, together with Samen, and, after his- death, to Ay to Tesfos, a very amiable man, gallant foldier,. and good officer; who, fighting bravely in the king's fervice at the battle of Serbraxos, was there wounded and taken, prifoner, and died of his wounds afterwards. After palling the Tacazze, the boundary between Sire and Samen, we come to that mountainous provincec ailed by the lafl name. A large chain of rugged mountains, where is the Tews Rock, (which I mall often mention as the higheft), reaches from the fouth of Tigre down near to Waldubba, the low, hot country that bounds Abyffinia on the north; It is about 80 miles in length, in few places* 30 broad, and in fome much lefs. It is in great pare pofleffed-by Jews, and there Gideon and Judith, king and queen of that nation, and, as they fay, of the houfe of Judafy maintain ftill their ancient fovereignty and religion fronv very early times. On THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 253 On the N. E. of Tigre lies the province of Begemder. It borders upon Angot, whofe governor is called Angot Ras ; hut the whole province now, excepting a few villages, is conquered by the Galla. It has Amhara, which runs parallel to it, on the foutll, and is feparated from it by the river Bafliilo. Both thefe provinces are bounded by the river Nik on the weft. Begets der is about 180 miles in its greater! length, and 60 in breadth, comprehending Lafta, a mountainous province, fometimes depending on Begemder, but often in rebellion. The inhabitants are efteemed the befl fokhers in Abyffinia, men of great ftrength and Mature, but cruel and uncivilized j fo that they are called, in common convention and writing, the peafants, or barbarians of Lafta.; they pay to the king j 000 ounces of gold. Several fmall provinces are now difmembered from Be* gemder, fuch as Foggora, a fmall ftripe reaching S. and N. about 35 miles between Emfras and Dara, and about 12 miles broad from E. to W. from the mountains of Begem- der to the lake Tzana. On the north end of this are two fmall governments, Dreeda and Karoota, the only territory in Abyffinia that produces wine, the merchants trade to Caffa and Narea, in the country of the Galla. We fpeak of thefe territories as they are in point of right; but when a nobleman of great power is. governor of the province of Begemder, he values not. lefter rights, but. unites them all to his province. . Begemder is the ftrength of Abyffinia in horfemen. It is faid, that, with. Lafta, it can bring out 45,000 men ; but this 254 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER this, as far as ever I could inform myfelf, is a great exagger- ation. They are exceeding good foldiers when they are pleafed with their general, and the caufe for which they fight; otherwife, they are eafily divided, great many private interefts being continually kept alive, as it is thought induf- trioufly, by government itfelf. It is well flocked with cattle of every kind, all very beautiful. The mountains are full of iron-mines ; they are not fo fleep and rocky nor fo fre- quent, as in other provinces, if we except only Lafta, and abound in all fort of wild fowl and game. The fouth end of the province near Nefas Mufa is cut into prodigious gullies apparently by floods, of which we have no hiflory. It is the great barrier againfl the en- croachments of the Galla; and, by many attempts, they have tried to make a fettlement in it, but all in vain. Whole tribes of them have been extinguifhed in this their endea- vour. In many provinces of Abyffinia, favour is the only necef- fary to procure the government ; others are given to poor no- blemen, that, by fleecing the people, they may grow rich, and repair their fortune. But the confequence of Begem- der is fo well known o the flate, as reaching fo near the metropolis, and fupplying it fo conftantly with all forts of provifions, that none but noblemen of rank, family, and character, able to maintain a large number of troops always on foot, and in good order, are truiled with its govern- ment. Immediately next to this is Amhara, between the two rivers Bafhilo and Geflien. The length of this country 2 from THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. v$g from E. to W. is about 120 miles, and its breadth fometbing more than 40. It is a very mountainous country, full of nobility ; the men are reckoned the handfomeft in x\byf- finia, as well as the braveft. With the ordinary arms, the lance and fhield, they are thought to be fuperior to double the number of any other foldiers in the kingdom. What, befides, added to the dignity of this province, was the high mountain of Gefhen, or the graffy mountain, where- on the king's fons were formerly imprifoned, till furpriied and murdered there in the Adelan war. Between the two rivers Gefhen and Samba, is a low, un- wholefome, though fertile province, called Walaka ; and: fouthward of that is Upper Shoa. This province, or king- dom, was famous for the retreat it gave to the only remain- ing prince of the houfe of Solomon, who fled from the maffacre of his brethren by Judith, about the year 900, up- on the rock of Damo. Here the royal family remained in fecurity, and increafed in number, for near 400 years, till thev were reftored. From thenceforward, as long as the king refided in the fouth of his dominions, great tender- nefs and diftinction was fhewn to the inhabitants of this pro- vince ; and when the king returned again to Tigre, he a- bandoned them tacitly to their own government. Amha Yasous, prince at this day, and lineal defcendant of the governor who firft acknowledged the king, is now by connivance fovereign of that province. In order to keep himfelf as independent and feparate from the reft of Abyf- finia as pofhble, he has facrificed the province of Walaka, which belonged to him, to the Galla, who, by his own de- fire, have furrounded Shoa on every fide. But it is full of the 256 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER the braveft, befthorfemen, and beft accoutred beyond all com- panion of any in Abyilinia, and, when they pleafe, they can difpoflfefs the Galla. Safe and independent as the prince of Shoanowis,heis flill the loyalift, and the friend to monarchy he ever was ; and, upon any fignal diitrefs happening to the king, he never failed to fuccour him powerfully with gold and troops, far beyond the quota formerly due from his province. This Shoa boafls, likewife, the honour of being the native country of Tecla Haimanout, reftorer of the line of Solomon, the founder of the monaftery and Order of the monks of Debra Libanos, and of the power and wealth of the Abuna, and the clergy in general, of Abyilinia. Gojam, from north-ear! to fouth-eaft, is about So miles in length, and 40 in breadth. It is a very flat country, and all in pailure ; has few mountains, but thefe are very high ones, and are chiefly on the banks of the Nile, to the fouth, which river furrounds the province; fo that, to a pcrfon who fhould walk round Gojam, the Nile would be always on his left hand, from where it went fouth, falling out of the lake Tzana, till it turns north through Fazuclo into the country of Sennaar and Egypt. Gojam is full of great herds of cattle, the IargCil in the high parts of Abyilinia. The men are in the loweft efleem as foldiers, but the country is very populous. The Jefuits were fettled in many convents throughout the province, and are no where half fo much deteited. The monks of Gojam are thofe of St Euitathius, which may be called the Low Church of Abyflinia. They are much inclined to tur- bulence in religious matters, and are, therefore, always made .tools by difcon tented people, who have no religion at all. 2 Of THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 257 On the fouth-eaft of the kingdom of Gojam is Damot. It is bounded by the Temci on the eaft, by the Gult on the weft, by the Nile on the fouth, and by the high mountains of Amid Amid on the north. It is about 40 miles in length from north to fouth, and fomething more than 20 in breadth from eaft to weft. But all this peninfula, furrounded with the river, is called Gojam, in general terms, from a line down through the fouth end of the lake to Mine, the par- age of the Nile in the way to Narea, It is furprifing the Jefuits, notwithftanding their long abode in Gojam, have not known where this neighbouring country of Damot was fituated, but have placed it fouth of the Nile. They were often, however, in Damot, when Sela Chriftos was attempting tire eonqueft and converfion of the Agows. On the other fide of Amid Amid is the province of the Agows, bounded by thofe mountains on the eaft ; by Bure and Umbarma, and the country of the Gongas, on the weft ; by Damot and Gafat upon the fouth, and Dingleber on the north. All thofe countries from Abbo, fuch as Goutto, Aroofi, and Wainadega, were formerly inhabited by Agows ; but, partly by the war with the Galla beyond the Nile, partly by their own conftant rebellions, this territory, called Ma- itlha, which is the flat country on both fides of the Nile^ is quite uninhabited, and at lail hath been given to colonies of peaceable Galla, chiefly Djawi, who fill the whole lov* country to the foot of the mountains Aformalha, in place of the Agows, the firft occupiers. Vol. III. Kk Ma its ha, 258 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER Maitsha, from the flatnefs of the country, not draining foon after the rains, is in all places wet, but in many, miry and marfhy ; it produces little or no corn, but depends en- tirely upon a plant called Enfete*, which furnifhes the people both with wholefome and delicate food throughout the year. For the reft, this province abounds in large fine cattle, and breeds fome indifferent horfes. Upon the mountains, above Maitfha, is the country of the Agows, the richeft province ftill in Abyffinia, not- withftanding the multitude of devaftations it has fuffered. They lie round the country above defcribed, from Aforma- fha to Quaquera, where are the heads of two large rivers, the Kelti and Brand. Thefe are called the Agows of Damot, from their nearnefs to that province, in contradiftin&ion to the Agows of Lafta, who are called Tcheratz-Agow, from Tchera, a principal town, tribe, and diflrift near Lafta and Begemder. The Gafats, inhabiting a fmall diftridt adjoining to the Galla, have alfo diftinft languages, fo have the Galla them- felves, of whom we have often fpoken ; they are a large na- tion. FROMDingleber all along the lake, below the mountains bounding Guefgue and Kuara, is called Dembea. This low province on the fouth of Gondar, and Woggora the fmall high province on the eaft, are all fown with wheat, and are the granaries of Abyffinia. Dembea feems once to have ;. been *See the article enfete in the appendix. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 259 been occupied entirely by the lake, and we fee all over it marks that cannot be miftaken, fo that this large extent of water is vifibly upon the decreafe ; and this agrees with what is obferved of ftagnant pools in general throughout the world. Dembea is called Atte-Kolla, the kings food, or main- tenance, its produce being affigned for the fupplying of the king's houfehold. It is governed by an officer called Cantiba ; it is a lucrative port ; but he is not reckoned one of the great officers of the empire, and has no place in council. South from Dembea is Kuara, a very mountainous pro- vince confining upon the Pagan blacks, or Shangalla, called Gongas and Guba, the Macrobii of the ancients. It is a very unwholefome province, but abounding in gold, not of its own produce, but that of its neighbourhood, thefe Pa- gans— Guba, Nuba, and Shangalla. Kuara fignifies the fun, and Beja (that is Atbara, and the low parts of Sennaar, the country of the Shepherds, adjoining) fignifies the moon, in the language of thefe Shangalla. Thefe names are fome remains of their ancient fuperftitions. Kuara was the native country of the Iteghe, or queen-regent, of Kafmati Efhte, Welled de l'Oul, Gueta, Eufebius, and Palambaras Mamma In the low country of Kuara, near to Sennaar, there is a fettlementof Pagan blacks called Ganjar. They are moflly cavalry, and live entirely by hunting and plundering the Arabs of Atbara and Fazuclo. Their origin is this : Upon the invafion of the Arabs after the coming of Mahomet, the black flaves defertedfrom their mailers, the Shepherds, anjd took up their habitation, where they have not confiderably K k 2 multiplied, 260 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER multiplied, otherwife than by the acceffionof vagrants and fugitives, whom they get from both kingdoms. They are generally under the command of the governor of Kuara, and - were fo when I was in Abyffinia, though they refufedt to follow their governor Coque Abou Barea to fight a* gainft Michael, but whether from fear or affection J know- . not ; I believe the former^ The governor -of Kuara -is one of the great officers of ftate, and, being the king's lieutenant-general, has abfoluce power in his province, and carries fendlck and nagarert. His kettle-drums are filver, and his privilege is to beat thefe drums even in marching through the capital, which no governor of a province is permitted to do, none but the king's nagareets or kettle-drums being fuffered to be beat there, or any where in a town where the king is ; but the governor of Kuara is intitled to continue beating his drum$ till he comes to the foot of the outer flair of the king's palace. This privilege, from fome good behaviour of the firft officer to whom the command was given, was confer- red upon the poft by David II. called Degami Daid, who conquered ■ the province from the Shepherds^ its old inhabit tants. Naua, and Ras el Feel, Tchelga, and on to Tcherkin, is a frontier wholly inhabited by Mahometans. Its government is generally given to a ftranger, often to a Mahometan, but one of • that faith is always deputy-governor. The ufe of keeping troops here is to defend the friendly Arabs and Shepherds, who remain in their allegiance to AbyfTmia, from the refentment of the Arabs of Sennaar, their neighbours ; and, by means of thefe friendly Arabs and Shepherds, fecure a con-. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. s6* a conflant fupply of horfes for the king's troops. It is a barren ftripe of a very hot, unwholefome country, full of thick woods, and fit only for hunting. The inhabitants, fugitives from all nations, are chiefly Mahometans, but very botd and expert horfemen, ufmg no other weapon but the broad fword, with which they attack the elephant and rhinoceros. There are many other fmall provinces, which occafion- ■ ally are annexed, and fometimes are feparated, fuch as Guef- gue, to the eaftward of Kuara ; Waldubba, between the rivers Guangue and Angrab ; Tzegade and Walkayt on the weft fide of Waldubba ; Abergale and Selawa in the neighbour- hood of Begemder; Temben, Dobas, Giannamora, Bur, and Engana, in the neighbourhood of Tigre, and many others- : Such at leaft was the ftate of the country in my time, very different in all refpects from what it has been reprefented. As to the precedency of thefe provinces we mall further fpeak, when we come to mention the officers of ftate and internal government in this country. 5* CHAP. 262 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER ^>~ ■"= r~^^T£ CHAP. XI. Various Cujloms in Abyjjhua Jimilar to ihofe in Perfidy &&jr-yd bloody Banquet dejiribedr &V. FOR the fake of regularity, I fliall here notice what might clearly be inferred from what is gone before. The crown of Abyfllnia is hereditary, and has always been fo, in one particular family, fuppofed to be that of Solomon by the queen of Saba, Negefta Azab, or queen of the fouth. It is neverthelefs elective in this line ; and there is no law of the land, nor cuftom, which gives the eldeft fon an ex- clufive title to fucceed to his father. The practice has indeed been quite the contrary : when, at the death of a king, his fons are old enough to govern, and, by fome accident, not yet fent prifoners to the moun- tain, then the eldeft, or he that is next, and not confined, ge- nerally takes pofleffion of the throne by the ftrength of his father's friends ; but if no heir is then in the low country, 3 the THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 263 the choice of the king is always according to the will of the minhter, which panes for that of the people; and, his incli- nation and intereft being to govern, he never fails to choofe an infant whom thereafter he directs, ruling the kingdom abfolutely during the minority, which generally exhaufts, or is equal to the term of his life. From this flow all the misfortunes of this unhappy coun- try. This very defeel: arifes from a defire to inftitute a more than ordinary perfect form of government ; for the Abyf- finians firft pofition was, " Woe be to the kingdom whofe king is a child ;" and this they know muft often happen when fucceffion is left to the courfe of nature. But when, there was a choice to be made out of two hundred perfons all of the fame family, all capable of reigning, it was their own fault, they thought, if they had not always a prince of proper age and qualification to rule the kingdom, according to the neceffities of the times, and to preferve the fucceffion of the family in the houfe of Solomon, agreeable to the laws of the land. And indeed it has been this manner of reafoning, good at firft view, though found afterwards but too fallacious, which has ruined their kingdom in part, and often brought the whole into the utmoft hazard and jeo- pardy. The king is anointed with plain oil of olives, which, be- ing poured upon the crown of his head, he rubs into his long hair indecently enough with both his hands, pretty much as his foldiers do with theirs when they get accefs to plenty of butter. The- a&j. TRAVELS TO DISCOVER The crown is made in the fhape of a prieft's mitre, or liead-piece ; it is a kind of helmet, covering the king's fore- head, cheeks, and neck. It is lined with blue taffety ; the outfide is half gold and half fdver, of the moll beautiful fil- ligrane work. The crown, in Joas's time, was burnt, with part of the pa- lace, on that day when Ras Michael's dwarf was mot in his own houfe before him. The prefent was fmce made by the Greeks from Smyrna, who have large appointments here, and work with very great tafle and elegance, though thev have not near fo much encouragement as formerly. Upon the top of the crown was a ball of red glafs, or .chryftal, with feveral bells of different colours within it. It feems to me to have formerly been no better than part of the Hopper of a glafs-decanter. Be that as it may, it was loft in Yafous's time at the defeat of Sennaar, It was found, however, by a Mahometan, and brought by Guangoul, chief of the Bertuma Galla, to the frontiers of Tigre, where Mi- chael, governor of that province, went with an army in great ceremony to receive it, and, returning with it, gave it to king Yafous, making thereby a great advance towards the king's favour. Some people * among the other unwarranted things they have advanced, have faid, That, at the king's coronation, a gold ear-ring is put into his cars, and a drawn fword into his hand, and that all the people fall down and worfhip 2 him; * Vid. Le Grande's Kill, of Abyffinia. 1 Crown 2 Standard 5 S/llf/// (>/(f,r///c 4 SA/c/t/ / ■ttstf/e 5 t/aveli vtf 6 Pr>//t»i<-/t? atfer f/cfr/y p/* a// J5r.rut/•// f/y Fc/hr/j/.r /// London .fitiUs/iH Dec r. fSjfy. by O.Kcbm-iim Ic Co . THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 265 him ; but there is no fuch ceremony in ufe, and exhibi- tions of this kind, made b) the king in public, at no period feem to have fuitcd the genius of this people. Formerly his face was never feen, nor any part of him, excepting fome- times his foot. He fits in a kind of balcony, with lattice- windows and curtains before him. Even yet he covers his face on audiences or public occafions, and when in judg- ment. On cafes of treafon, he fits within his balcony, and fpeaks through a hole in the fide of it, to an officer called Kal-Hatze, the "voice or word of the king," by whom he fends his queflions, or any thing elfe that occurs, to the judges who are feated at the council-table. The king goes to church regularly, his guards taking pofTeffion of every avenue and door through which he is to pafs, and nobody is allowed to enter with him, becaufe he is then on foot, excepting two officers of his bed-chamber who fupport him. He kifTes the threfhold and fide- polls of the church- door, the Heps before the altar, and then re- turns home : fometimes there is fervice in the church, fometimes there is not ; but he takes no notice of the dif- ference. He rides up flairs into the prefence-chamber on a mule, and lights immediately on the carpet before his throne ; and I have fometimes feen great indecencies com- mitted by the faid mule in the prefence-chamber, up m a Perfian carpet, An officer called Scrach Maflery, with a long whip, be- gins cracking and making a noife, worfe than twenty French poflillions, at the door of the palace before the dawn of day. This chafes away the hyaena and other wild beads; this, too, is the fignal for the king's rifing, who fits in judg- Vol. III. L 1 ment 26$ TRAVELS TO DISCOVER ment every morning fading, and after that, about eight o'clock, he goes to breakfaft. There are fix noblemen of the king's own choofing, who are called Baalomaal*, or gentlemen of his bed-cham- ber ; four of thefe are always with him. There is a fe- venth, who is the chief of thefe, called Azeleffa el Camifha, groom of the robe, or Hole. He is keeper of the king's wardrobe, and the firft officer of the bed-chamber. Thefe officers, the black Haves, and fome others, ferve him as me- nial fervants, and are in a degree of familiarity with him •unknown to the reft of the fubjecls. When the king fits to confult upon civil matters of confe- quence, he is fhut up in a kind of box oppofite to the head of the council table. The perfons that deliberate fit at the table, and, according to their rank, give their voices, the youngeft or Lowell officer always fpeaking firft. The firft that give their votes are the Shalaka, or colonels of the houfehold-troops. The fecond are the great butlers, men that have the charge of the king's drink. The third is the Badjerund, or keeper of that apartment in the palace called the lions boufe ; and: after thefe the keeper of the banqueting-houfe.. The next is called Lika Magwafs, an officer that always goes before the king to hinder the prefTure of. die crowd. In war, when- the king is marching, he rides conftantly round him at a- certain diftance, and carries his fhield, and his lance ; at leaft he carries a filver fhield, and a lance pointed with the fame metal, before fitch kings as do not choofe to expofe tjheir perfon. That, however, was not the cafe in my time^ •as the king carried the. fhield hirnfelf, black and unadorn- ed^ 'k'nual, which,, literally tranflated, is. Mailer of his effear, or goods>. THESOURCE OF THE NILE. 267 ed, of good buffalo's hide, and his fpear fharp-pointed with iron. His filyer ornaments were only ufed when the cam- paign was over, when thefe were carried by this officer. Great was the refpect mewed formerly to this king in war, and even when engaged in battle with rebels, his own fub- jects. No prince ever loft his life in battle till the coming of the Europeans into Abyffinia, when both the excommuni- cating and murdering of their fovereigns feem to have been introduced at the fame time. The reader will fee, in the courfe of this hiftory, two inftances of this refpect being ftill kept up : the one at the battle of Limjour, where Fafil, pretending that he was immediately to attack Ras Michael, defired that the king might be drefTed in his infignia, left, not being known, he might be flain by the flranger Galla. The next was after the battle of Serbraxos, where the king was thrice in one day engaged with the Begemder troops for a confiderable fpace of time. Thefe infignia, or marks of royalty, are a white horfe, with fmall filver bells at his head, a {Tiicld of filver, and a white fillet of fine filk or muf- lin, but generally the latter, fome inches broad, which is tied round the upper part of the head over his hair, with a large double or bow-knot behind, the ends hanging down to the fmall of his back, or elfe flying in the air. After the Lika Magwafs comes thePalambaras ; after him theFit-Auraris ; then the GeraKafmati, and the KanyaKafma- ti, their names being derived from their rank or order in en- camping, the one on the right, the other on the left of the king's tent ; Kanya and Gera fignifying the right and the left ; after them the Dakakin Billetana Gueta, or the under L 1 2 chamberlain. i6S TRAVELS TO DISCOVER chamberlain ; then the fecretary * for the king's com- mands; after him the right and left Azagcs, or generals ; after them Rak Mattery, after him the bafha, after him Kafmati of Damot, then of Samen, then Amhara, and, laft of all, Tigre, before whom ftands a golden cup upon a cu- fhion, and he is called Nebrit, as being governor of Axum„ or keeper of the book of the law fuppoied to be there.. After the governor of Tigre comes the Acab Saat, or guardian of the fire, and the chief ecclefiaftical officer off the king's houfehold. Some have faid that this officer was appointed to attend the king at the time of eating, and that it was his province to order both meat and drink to be with- drawn whenever he faw the king inclined to excefs. If this, was really his office, he never ufed it in my time, nor, as far as I could learn, for feveral reigns before, Befides, no king eats in public, or before any perfon but flaves; and he never would chufe that time to commit excefs, in which he might be controuled by a fubjecl:, even if it was that fub- ject's right to be prefent when the king eats, as it is not,. After the Acab Saat comes the firft m after of the houfe^ hold; then the Betwudet, or Ras; laft of all the king gives his fentence, which is final, and fends it to the table, from the balcony where he is then fitting, by the officer called, as aforementioned, Kal-Hatzel We meet in Abyflinia with various tifages, which many Lave hitherto thought to be peculiar to thole ancient nar- tions * Hatze Azaze. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 269 tions in which they were nrft obferved; others, not fo learn- ed, have thought they originated in Abyffinia. I mall fiid take notice of thofe that regard the king and court. The kings of Perfia*, like thefc we are fpeaking of, were eligible in one family only, that of the Arfacidas, and it was not till that race failed they chofe Darius. The title of the king of Abyffinia is, King of Kings; and fuch Daniel f tells us was that of Nebuchadnezzar. The right of primogeniture does not fo prevail in Abyffinia as to exclude election in the perfon of the younger brothers, and this was likewife the cafe in Perlia \. In Perfia§ a preference was underftood to be due to the king's lawful children ; but there were inftances of the na- tural child being preferred to the lawful one. Darius, tho* abaftard, was preferred to Ifogius, Xerxes's lawful fon, and that merely by the election of the people. The fame has always obtained in Abyffinia. A very great part of their kings are adulterous baftards ; others are the iiiiie of con*- cubines, as we ffraH fee hereafter, but they have been pre- ferred to the crown by the influence of a party, always un- der name of the Voice of the People. Although the Perfian kings j| had various palaces to which they removed at different times in the year, Paiagar- da, the metropolis of their ancient kings, was obferved as the * Strabo, lib. xv. p. 783. Jofeph. lib. xviii. cap. 3. Procop. lib, i. de Bel Pers •J- Dan. c a;., ii. J Prow;, lib. 1. cap. II. § Arrian, lib. ii. cap. 14. || Pin1 in Artax, ii6. xv. p. 730. \ 270 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER the only place for their coronation ; and this, too, was the .cafe of Abyffinia with their metropolis of Axum. The next remarkable ceremony in which thefe two na- tions agreed, is that of adoration, inviolably obferved in A- byffinia to this day, as often as you enter the fovereign's prefence. This is not only kneeling*, but an abfolute pro- ftration. You firfl fall upon your knees, then upon the palms of your hands, then incline your head and body till your forehead touch the earth ; and, in cafe you have an anfwer to expect, you lie in that poflure till the king, or fomebody from him, defires you to rife. This, too, was the cuftora of Perfia ; Arrian f fays this was firft inftituted by Cyrus, and this was precifely the pofture in which they a- dored God, mentioned in the book of Exodus. Though the refufal of this ceremony would, in Abyffinia and Perfia, be looked upon as rebellion or infult, yet it feems in both nations to have met with a mitigation with regard to ftrangers, who have refufed it without giving any of- fence. I remember a Mahometan being twice fent by the prince of Mecca into Abyffinia during my ftay there, who, neither time, would go farther than to put his hands acrofs upon his breaft, with no very great inclination of his head ; and this I faw was not thought fo extraordinary as to give offence, as it was all he did to his own fovereign and mailer. We read, indeed, of a very remarkable inftance of the difpenfmg with that ceremony being indirectly, yet plain- 4 lY> * Lucretius, lib. v. Ovid. Metam. lib. i. Lucian, in Navig. f Arrian, lib. iv. cap. it. Exod. chap. 4. Matth. chap. 2. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 271 ly, refufed in Perfia to ftrangers. Conon * the Athe- nian, had occafion for an interview with Artaxerxes-, king of Perfia, upon matters of great concern to both flates ; " You mall be introduced to the king by me, fays the Perfian minifter to Conon, without any delay ; do you only firfl confider with yourfelf, whether it is real- ly of any confequence that you mould fpeak with the king yourfelf, or whether it would not be as well for you to convey to him, by letter, any thing you have to fay ; for it is abfolutely neceffary, if you are introduced into the king's prefence, that you fall down upon your face and worfhip him. If this is difagreeable or offenfive to you, your bufinefs fliall nevertheless be equally well and quick- ly done by me." To which Conon very fenlibly replied^ " For my part, it never can be offenfive to me to fhew every degree of refpetf: poflible to the perfon of a king. I only am afraid that this falutation maybe mifinterpreted by my citizens, who, being themfelves a fovereign ftate, may look upon this fub minion of their ambaffador as a reproach to themfelves,andinconfiftent with their independency." Conon j therefore, defired to wave his introduction, and that his bu- finefs might be done by letters, which was complied witl* accordingly. I have already mentioned tranfiently the circumnance of the king not being feen when fitting in council. The man- ner of it is this : When he had bufinefs formerly, he fat conftantly in a room of his palace, which communicated with the audience and. council by two folding doors or large a « *Min,Iib.vi.Omil.P«b. 272 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER large windows, the bottom of which were about three fteps from the ground. Thefe doors, or windows, were latticed with crofs bars of wood like a cage, and a thin curtain, or veil of tafFety filk. was hung within it ; fo that, upon darken- ing the inner chamber, the king faw every perfon in the chamber without, while he himfelf vwas not feen at all, Juftin * tells us, that the perfon of the king of Perfia was hid to give a greater idea of his majefly ; and under Deioces, king of the Medes, a law was made that nobody might look upon the king ; but the conftant wars in which Abyiunia has been engaged, fince the Mahometans took poffemon of Adel, have occafioned this troublefome cuftom to be wholly laid afide, unlefs on particular public occafions, and at coun- cil, when they are ftill obferved with the ancient ftrictnefs* And we find, in the hiftory of Abyflinia, that the army and kingdom have often owed their fafety to the perfonal behavi- our and circumitance of the king diftinguifhing and expo- fing himfelf in battle, which advantage they muft have loft had the ancient cuftom been obferved. However, to this day, when he is abroad riding, or fitting in any of his apartments at home where people are admitted, his head and forehead are perfectly covered, and one of his hands covers his mouth, fo that nothing but his eyes are feen ; Jlis feet, too, are always covered. We learn from Apuleus, that this was a cuftom in Perfia » and this gave an opportunity to the magi to place Oropaf- tus, the brother of Cambyfes, upon the throne, inftead of Merdis who mould have fucceeded ; but the covering of the face made the difference pafs unperceived. i It * Juftin, lib. 2. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 273 It is the conftant practice in Abyflinia to befct the king's doors and windows within his hearing, and there, from early morning to night, to cry for juflice as loud as pofliblc, in a diftreffed and complaining tone, and in all the different languages they are mailers of, in order to their being ad- mitted to have their fuppofed grievances heard. In a coun- try fo ill governed as Abyflinia is, and fo perpetually invol- ved in war, it may be eafily fuppofed there is no want of people, who have real injuries and violence to complain of: But if it were not fo, this is fo much the conftant ufage, that when it happens (as in the midft of the rainy feafon) that few people can approach the capital, or Hand without in fuch bad weather, a fet of vagrants are provided, main- tained, and paid, whofe fole bufinefs it is to cry and lament, as if they had been really very much injured and oppre fled ; and this they tell you is for the king's honour, that he may not be lonely by the palace being too quiet. This, of all their abfurd cuftoms, was the moil grievous and troublefome to me ; and, from a knowledge that it was fo, the king, when he was private, often permitted himfelf a piece of rather odd diverfion to be a royal one. There would fometimes, while I was bu-fy in my room in the rainy feafon, be four or live hundred people, who all at once would begin, fome roaring and crying, as if they were in pain, others demanding juitice, as if they were that mo- ment fullering, or if in the inilant to be put to death; and fome groaning and fobbing as if juft expiring ; and this horrid fymphony was fo artfully performed that no ear could diflinguiih but that it proceeded from real diflrefs. I was often fo furprifed as to fend the foldiers at the door to bring in one of them, thinking him come from the country, Vol. III. M m t0 74 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER to examine who had injured him ; many a time he was a fervant of my own, or fome other equally known; or, if he was a ftranger, upon aiking him what misfortune had be- fallen him, he would anfwer very compofedly, Nothing was the matter with him ; that he had been fleeping all day with the horfes ; that hearing from the foldiers at the door I was retired to my apartment, he and his companions had come to cry and make a noife under my window, to do me honour before the people, for fear I fhould be melancholy, by being too quiet when alone ; and therefore hoped that I would order them drink, that they might continue with a little more fpirit. The violent anger which this did often put me into did not fail to be punctually reported to the king, at which he would laugh heartily ; and he himfelf was often hid not far off, for the fake of being a fpectator of my heavy difpleafure. These complaints, whether real or feigned, have always for their burden, Rete 0 Jan boi, which, repeated quick, very much refembles Prete Janni, the name that was given to this prince, of which we never yet knew the derivation ;. its fignification is, " Do me juftice, O my king!" Herodotus* tells us, that in Perfia, the people, in great crowds and of both fexes, come roaring and crying to the doors of the palace ; and Intaphernes is alio faid to come to the door of the king making great lamentations. ? I HAVE Herod, lib, iii. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 275 I have mentioned a council of flatc held in Abyfllnia in time of danger or difficulty, where the king fitting inviiible, though prefent, gives his opinion by an officer called Kal- Hatze. Upon his delivering the lenience from the king the whole afTembly rife, and fland upon their feet; and this they mult have done the whole time the council lafled had the king appeared there in perfon. According to the cir- cumflances of the time, the king goes with the majority, or not; and if, upon a divilion, there is a majority againfl him, he often punifhes the majority on the other fide, by fending them to prifon for voting againfl his fcntiments ; for tho' it is underflood, by calling of the meeting, that the majori- ty is to determine as to the eligibility of the meafure, the king, by his prerogative, fuperfedes any majority on the other fide, and fo far, I fuppofe, has been an encroachment upon the original conflitution. This I underfland was the fame in Perfia. Xerxes *, being about to declare war againfl the Greeks, affembled all the principal chiefs of Afia in council. " That I may not, fays he, be thought to a£l only by my own judg- ment, I have called you together. At the fame time, I think proper to intimate to you, that it is your duty to obey my will, rather than enter into any deliberation or re- xnonflrances of your own." We will now compare fome particulars, the drefs and ornaments of the two kings. The king of Abyflinia wears his hair long ; fo did the ancient kings of Perfia. We learn M m 2 this • Herod, lib. vi. a76 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER this circtuhftaace'frbm Suetonius and Aurelius Victor*. A comet had appeared in the war with Perfia, and was looked upon by the Romans as a bad omen. Vefpafian laughed at it, and faidyif it portended any ill it was to the king of Per- fia, becaufe, like htm, it wore long hair. The diadem was, with the Perfians, a mark of royalty, as with the Abyflinians, being compofed of the fame mate- rials, and worn in the fame manner. The king of Abyilinia wears it, while marching, as a mark of fovereignty, that does not impede or incommode him, as any other heavier ornament would do, efpecially in hot weather. This fillet furrounds his head above the hair,' leaving the crown per- fectly uncovered. It is an offence of thefirft magnitude for any perfon, at this time, to wear any thing upon his head, efpecially white, unlefs for Mahometans, who wear caps, and over them a large white turban ; or for priefts, who wear large turbans of muflin alfo, , This was the diadem of the Perfians, as appears from Lucian f, who calls it a white fillet about the forehead. In the dialogue between Diogenes and Alexander, the head is faid to be tied round with a white fillet % ; and Favorinus, fpeaking of Pompey, whofe leg was wound round with a white bandage, fays, It is no matter on what part of the body he wears a diadem. We read in Juflin j|, that Alexan- der, leaping from his horfe,by accident wounded Lyfimachus in the forehead with the point of his fpear, and the blood gulhed * Suet. Vefpas.cap. 23, Sex. Aurel. Viftor, cap. 23. t Lucian. de Votis ceu in Na~ vigio, Efdras, lib. iii. % Vale*. Maxim, lib. vi. cap. 2. || Juftin lib. xv. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 27? gufhcd out fo violently that it could not be ftanched, till the king took the diadem from his head, and with it bound up the wound ; which at that time was looked upon as an omen that Lyfimachus was to be king, and fo it foon after happened. The kings of Abyfilnia anciently fat upon a gold throne, which is a large, convenient, oblong, fquare feat, like a fmall bed-dead, covered with Perfian carpets, damafk,and cloth of gold, with, fteps leading up to it. It is ftill richly gilded ; but the many revolutions and wars have much abridged their ancient magnificence. The portable throne was a gold ftool, like that curule ftool or chair ufed by the Romans, which we fee on medals. It was, in the Begemder war, changed to a very beautiful one of the fame form inlaid with gold. Xerxes is faid to have been fpe&ator of a naval fight fitting upon a gold ftool*. It is, in Abyffmia, high-treafon to fit upon any feat of the king's ; and he that prefumed to do this would be in- ftantly hewn to pieces, if there was not fome other collater- al proof of his being a madman; The reader will find, in the courfe of my hiftory, a very ridiculous accident on this fubject-, in the king's tent, with Cuangoul, king of the Ber- tuma Galla. It is probable that Alexander had heard of this law in Perfia, and difapproved of it ; for one day, it being extreme- ly cold, the king, fitting in his chair before the fire, warm- ing * Philoflrat. lib. ii. 273 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER ing and chaffing his legs, faw a foldier, probably a Pcrfian, who had loft his feeling by extreme numbncfs. The king immediately leaped from his chair, and ordered the foldier to be let down upon it. The fire foon brought him to his fenfes, but lie had alnioft lofl them again with fear, by find- ing himfelf in the king's feat. To whom Alexander faid, " Remember, and diftinguifh, how much more advantage- " ous to man my government is than that of the kings " of Perfia* By fitting down on my feat, you have faved " your life ; by fitting on theirs, you would infallibly have " loft it." In Abyfiinia it is confidered as a fundamental law of the land, that none of the royal family, who has any deformity or bodily defect, mail be allowed to fucceed to the crown ; and, for this purpofe, any of the princes, who may have efcaped from the mountain of Wechne, and who are after- wards taken, are mutilated in fome of their members, that thus they may be difqualified from ever fucceeding. In Perfia the fame was obferved. Procopius | tells us, that Za* mes, the fon of Cabades, was excluded from the throne be- caufe he was blind of one eye, the law of Perfia prohibit- ing any perfon that had a bodily defect to be elected king. The kings of Abyffinia were feldom feen by their fub- jects. Juftin ^ fays, the Perfians hid the perfon of their king to increafe their reverence for his majefty. And it was a law of Deioces §, king of the Medes, that nobody mould be permitted Val. Max. lib. v. cap. 16 CVCurt. lib. viii. f Procop. lib. i. cap. 1 1, f Juftir. lib. i. § Herod, lib. i. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 27^ permitted to fee the king ; which regulation was as ancient as the time of Semiramis, whofe fon, Ninyas,is faid to have grown old in the palace, without ever having been known by being feen out of it. This abfurd ufage gave rife to many abufes. In Perfia- k produced two officers, who were called the king's eyes,_ and the king's ear, and who had the "dangerous employ- ment, I mean dangerous for the fubjecl:, of feeing and hear- ing for their fovereign. In AbyfTmia, as I have juft faid, it created an officer called the king's mouth, or voice, for, being feen by nobody, he fpoke of courfe in the third perfon5 " Hear ivbat the king fays to you, which is the ufual form of all regal mandates in Abyflinia; and what follows has the force of law. In the fame flile, Jofephus thus begins an edict of Cyrus king of Perfia, " Cyrus the king fayst," — And fpeak- ing of Cambyfes's refcript, " Cambyfes the king Jays thus" — And Efdras alfo, " Thus faith Cyrus king of Perfia J,"— And Nebuchadnezzar fays to Holofernes, " Thus faith the Great King, Lord of the whole earth §;" — and this was pro- bably the origin of editls, when writing was little ufed by fovereigns, and little underftood by the fubjecl:. Solemn hunting-matches were always in ufe both with the kings of Abyinnia and thofe of Perfia |J. In both king- doms it was a crime for a fubjecl; to ftrike the game till fuch time as the king had thrown his lance at it. This ab- furd cuftom was repealed by Artaxerxes Longimanus in one kingdom ; s Dio. Chryfoft. Orat. 3. pro regno. + Jofeph. lib. xi. cap. i . % Efdras, cap. 5. $ Judith, cap. 2. j] Ctefias in Perficis. Xer.ephon. Jib. i. . 23o TRAVELS TO DISCOVER kingdom*, and by Yafous the Great in the other, fo late as the beginning of the laft century. The kings of Abyffinia arc above all laws. They are fupreme in all caufes ecclefiaftical and civil ; the land and perfons of their fubjedts are equally their property, and every inhabitant of their kingdom is born their flave ; if lie bears a higher rank it is by the king's gift; for his near- eft relations are accounted nothing better. The fame ob- tained in Perfia. Ariflotle calls the Perfian generals and nobles, Haves of the great kingf. Xerxes; reproving Pytheus the Lydian when feeking to excufe one of his fons from going to war, fays, " You that are my flave, and bound to follow me with your wife and all your family^." — And Go- bryas§ fays to Cyrus, " I deliver myfelf to you, at once your companion and your flave." There are feveral kinds of bread in Abyffinia, fome of different forts of teff, and fome of tocuflb, which alfo vary in quality. The king of Abyffinia eats of wheat bread, though not of every wheat, but of that only that grows in the province of Dembea, therefore called the king's food. It was fo with the kings of Perfia, who ate wheat bread, He- rodotus fays, but only of a particular kind, as we learn from Strabo ||. I have fhewn, in the courfe of the foregoing hiftory, that it always has been, and ftill is the cultom of the kings of 2 Abyffinia PJutarch, in Appthegmat. f De Mundo. J Herod lib. vii. § Xenoplu lib. iv. || Strabo Jib. XT. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 281 Abyflinia, to marry what number of wives they choofe ; that thefe were not, therefore, all queens ; but that among them there was one who was confidered particularly as queen, and upon her head was placed the crown, and lhe was called Iteghe. Thus, in Perfia, we read that Ahafuerus loved Efther*, who had found grace in his fight more than the other vir- gins, and he had placed a golden crown upon her head. And Jofephus f informs us, that, when Either} was brought before die king, he was exceedingly delighted with her, and made her his lawful wife, and when fhe came into the palace he put a crown upon her head ; whether placing the crown upon the queen's head had any civil effect as to regency in Perfia as it had in Abymnia, is what hiflory does not inform us. I have already obferved, that there is an officer called Serach Maffery, who watches before the king's gate all night, and at the dawn of day cracks a whip to chace the wild beads out of the town. This, too, is the fignal for the king to rite, and fit down in his judgment-feat. The fame cuftom was obferved in Perfia. Early in the morning an officer entered the king's chamber, and faid to him " A- rife, O king ! and take charge of thofe matters which Oro- mafdes has appointed you to the care of." Vol. III. N n The * Efther, chap. ii. + jofeph. lib. xi. cap. 6. I If I remember right, it is D. Prideaux that fays Either is a Perfian word, of no fig- flification. I rather think it is Abyfiinian, becaufe it lias a fignification in that language. Eflite, the mafculine, fignifies an agreeable prefent, and is a proper name, of which Efther is the feminine. i$2 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER The king of Abyflinia never is feen to walk, nor to fet his foot upon the ground, out of his palace ; and when he would difmount from the horfe or mule on which he rides, he has a fervant with a ftool, who places it properly for him for that purpofe. He rides into the anti-chamber to the foot of his throne, or to the ftool placed in the alcove of his tent. We are told by Athenaeus * fuch was the practice in Perfia, whofe king never fet his foot upon the ground out of his palace. The king of Abymnia very often judges capital crimes himfelf. It is reckoned a favourable judicature, fuch as, Glaudian fays, that of a king in perfon mould be, " Piger ad pasnas, ad prcemia velox." No man is condemned by the king in perfon to die for the firft fault, unlefs the crime be of a horrid nature, fuch as parricide or facrilege. And, in general, the life and merits of the prifoner are weighed againft his immediate guilt ; fo that if his firft behaviour has had more merit towards the ftate than his prefent delinquency is thought to have injured it, the one is placed fairly againft the other, and the accufed is generally abfolved when the fovereign judges alone. Herodotus f praifes this as a maxim of the kings of Per- iia in capital judgments, almoft in the very words that I have juft now ufed ; and he gives an inftance of it : — Darius had condemned Sandoces, one of the king's judges, to be crucified for corruption, that is, for having given falfe judg- ment for a bribe. The man was already hung up on the crofs, when the king, confidering with himfelf how many good. ■ - ■ - - ■ - I II ■ ■ II ■ MB ■ I l| ■ 1 I * Athen,])b. xii. cap. 2. -J- Herod, lib. via*. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 283 good fervices he had done, previous to this, the only offence which he had committed, ordered him to be pardoned. The Perfian king, in all expeditions, was attended by- judges. We find in Herodotus *, that, in the expedition of Cambyfes, ten of the principal Egyptians were condemned to die by thefe judges for every Perfian that had been flain by the people of Memphis. Six judges always attend the king of Abyflinia to the camp, and, before them, rebels taken on the field are tried and punifhed on the fpot. People that the king diftinguifhed by favour, or for any public action, were in both kingdoms prefented with gold chains, fwords, and bracelets f. Thefe in Abyflinia are un- derftood to be chiefly rewards of military fervice ; yet Poncet received a gold chain from Yafous the Great. The day before the battle of Serbraxos, Ayto Engedan received a filver bridle and faddle, covered with filver plates, from Ras Michael ; and the night after that battle I was myfelf honoured with a gold chain from the king upon my re- conciliation with Guebra Mafcal, who, for his behaviour that day, had a large revenue moil defervedly afligned to him, and a confiderable territory, confifting of a number of rich villages, a prefent known to be more agreeable to him than a mere mark of honour. A stranger of fafhion, particularly recommended as I was, not needy in point of money, nor depending from day to day upon government for fubfiftence, is generally provi- N n 2 ded * Herod, lib. iii. -}■ Xenoph, lib. i. Xenoph. lib. viii. 284 TRAVELS TO DIS.COVER ded with one or more villages to furnifh him with whac articles he may need, without being obliged to have recourle to the king or his minifters for every neceflary. Amha Yafous, prince of Shoa, had a large and a royal village, Em- fras, given him to fupply him with food for his table ; he had another village in Karoota for wine ; a village in Dem- bea, the king's own province, for his wheat ; and another in Begemder for cotton cloths for his fervants ; and fo of the reft. After I was in the king's fervice I had the villages that belonged to the polls I occupied; and one called Geefh, in which arifes the fources of the Nile, a village of about 1 8 houfes, given me by the king at my own requeft ; for I might have had a better to furnifh me with honey, and con- firmed to me by the rebel Waragna Fafil, who never fuffer- ed me to grow rich by my rents, having never allowed me to receive but two large jars, fo bitter with lupines that they were of no fort of ufe to me. I was a gentle matter, nor ever likely to be opulent from the revenues of that coun- try ; and more efpecially fo, as I had under me, as my lieu,, tenant*, an officer commanding the horfe, whofe thoughts were much more upon Jerufalem and the holy fcpulchre than any gains he could get in Abyllinia by his employ- ments. Thucydides f informs us, that Themiftocles had received' great gifts from Artaxerxes king of Perfia, when fettled at Magnefia ; the king had given him that city for bread, Lamp- facus * Ammonios, Billetana Gueta to Aj'to Confu. t Thucyd. lib. i. Strabo, lib. xiv. Theod. Sic. lib. xu. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 285 facus for wine, and Myuns to furnifh him with victuals. To thefe Athenaeus adds two more, Palaefcepfis and Percope, to yield him clothing and furniture. This precifely, to this day, is the Abyffinian idea, when they conceive they are en- tertaining men of rank ; for Grangers, that come naked and vagabond among them, without name and character, or means of fubfittence, fuch as the Greeks in Abyffinia, are always received as beggars, and neglected as fuch, till hun- ger fets their wits to work to provide for the prefent exi- gency, and low intrigues and practices are employed after- wards to maintain them in the little advancements which they have acquired, but no honour or confidence follows*. or very rarely. IN Abyffinia, when the prifoner is condemned in capital cafes, he is not again remitted to prifon, which is thought cruel, but he is immediately carried away, and the fen- tence executed upon him. I have given feveral inftances of this in the annals of the country. Abba Sala-ma, the Acab Saat, was condemned by the king the morning he entered Gondar, on his return from Tigre, and immediately hanged, in the garment of a prielt, on a tree at the door of the king's palace. Chremation, brother to the ufurper Socinios, was executed that fame morning; Guebra Denghel, Ras Michael's f ;ii-in-law, was like wife executed that fame day, immediate- ly after judgment; and fo were feveral others. The fame was the practice in Perfia, as we learn from Xenophon *,. and more plainly from Diodorus f. The XtnOj.li. UD. i. f Diud. lib. xii, ;.So TRAVELS TO DISCOVER The capital punifhments in Abyfiinia are the crofs. Sc- arries * firfl ordered Arzo, his competitor, who had fled for affiftance and refuge to Phineas king of the Falafha, to be crucified without the camp. We find the fame punifh- ment inflicted byArtaxerxes upon Hamanf, who was ordered to be affixed to the crofs till he died. And Polycrates of Samos, Cicero tells us %, was crucified by order of Oralis, praetor of Darius. The next capital punimment is flaying alive. That this barbarous execution flill prevails in Abyfiinia is already proved by the fate of the unfortunate Woomeka, taken prifoner in the campaign of 1769 while I was in Abyfiinia; a facrifice made to the vengeance of the beautiful Ozoro Eflher, who, kind and humane as me was in other refpeets, could receive no atonement for the death of her hufband. Socrates § fays, that Manes the heretic was flayed alive by order of the king of Perfia, and his fkin made into a bottle. And Procopius || informs us, that Pacurius ordered Baficius to be flayed alive, and his fkin made into a bottle and hung upon a high tree. And Agathias # mentions, that the fame punifhment was inflicted upon Nachorages more vwjorum, ac- cording to ancient cuflom. Lapidation, or floning to death, is the next capital pu- nifhment in Abyfiinia. This is chiefly inflicted upon flrangers called Franks, for religious caufes. The Catholic priefts * Vide annals of Abyfiinia, life of Socinios. f Efther, chap vii, and viii. % Cicero, lib v. de Finib. $ Ecclefiaft. Hiftor. chap, xsii- || Procop. lib. i. cap. 5. de Bell. Pets. * Agath. lib. iii. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 287 priefts in Abyfiinia that have been detected there, in thefe latter days, have been ftoned to death, and their bodies lie ftill in the ftreets of Gondar, in the fquares or walte-places, covered with the heaps of fton'es which occafioned their death by being thrown at them. There are three of thefe heaps at the church of Abbo, all covering Francifcan friars ; and, befides them, a fmall pyramid over a boy who was ftoned to death with them, about the firft year of the reigri of David the IV. * This boy was one of foiir fons that one of the Francifcan friars had had by an Abyffinian woman in the reign of Ouftas. In Perfia we find, that Pa- gorafus (according to Ctefias -f) was ftoned to death by the order of the king ; and the fame author fays, that Pharna- cyas, one of the murderers of Xerxes, was ftoned to death likewife. Among capital punifhments may be reckoned likewife the plucking out of the eyes, a cruelty which I have but too often feen committed in the fhort ft ay that I made in Abyf- finia. This is generally inflicted upon rebels. I have al- ready mentioned, that, after the Slaughter of the battle of Fagitta, twelve chiefs of the Pagan Galla, taken prifoners by Ras Michael, had their eyes torn out, and were afterwards a- bandoned to ftarve in the valleys below the town. Several pri- foners of another rank, noblemen of Tigre, underwent the fame misfortune; and, what is wonderful, not one of them died in the operation, nor its confequences, though perform- ed in the coarfeft manner with an iron forceps, or pincers. 3 Xenophoii * See this hiftory of Abyffinia in vit. David IV. t Vide Ctefiani Hockerii..- 38S TRAVELS TO DISCOVER Xenophon * tells us, that this was one of the punifhments ufed by Cyrus. And Ammianus Marcellinus f mentions, that Sapor king of Perfia banimed Arfaces, whom he had taken prifoncr to a certain caflle, after having pulled out his eyes. The dead bodies of criminals flain for treafon, murder, and violence, on the high- way at certain times, are feldom buried in AbyfTinia. The flreets of Gondar are flrewed with pieces of their carcafes, which bring the wild beads in mul- titudes into the city as foon as it becomes dark, fo that it is fcarcely pollible for any to walk in the night. Too many inftances of this kind will be found throughout my nana- tive. The dogs ufed to bring pieces of human bodies into the houfe, and court-yard, to eat them in greater fecurity. This was mod difguftful to me, but fo often repeated, that I was obliged to leave them in pofleilion of fuch fragments. We learn from Qiiintus Curtius X, that Darius having order- ed Charidamus to be put to death, and finding afterwards that he was innocent, endeavoured to Hop the executioner, though it was too late, as they had already cut his throat; but, in token of repentance, the king allowed him the liber- ty of buriaL I have taken notice, up and down throughout my hiflory, that the Abyflinians never fight in the night. This too was sl rule among the Perfians J|. i Notwithstanding Xenqph. lib. i. f Amm. Mar. lib. vii. % Q; Curt. lib. iii. 2, J$. || Q. Curt. v. 12. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. =8$ Notwithstanding the Abyflinians were fo anciently and nearly connected with Egypt, they never feem to have made ule of paper, or papyrus, but imitated the practice of the Perfians, who wrote upon fkins, and they do fo this day. This arifes from their having early been Jews. In Parthia, likewife, Pliny * informs us, the ule of papyrus was ab- folutely unknown ; and though it was difcovered that papy- rus grew in the Euphrates, near Babylon, of which they could mate paper, they obftinately rather chofe to adhere to their ancient cuftom of weaving their letters on cloth of which they made their garments. The Perfians, moreover, made ufe of parchment for their records f, to which all their remarkable tranfaclions were truiled ; and to this it is pro- bably owing we have fo many of their cuftoms preferved to this day. Diodorus Siculus $,fpeaking of Ctefias^ay?, he verified every thing from the royal parchments themfelves, which, in obedience to a certain law, are all placed in or- der, and afterwards were communicated to the Greeks. From this great refemblance in cuftoms between the Per- fians and Abyflinians following the fafhionable way of judging about the origin of nations, I fhould boldly con- clude that the Abyflinians were a colony of Periians, but this is very well known to be without foundation. The cuftoms, mentioned as only peculiar to Perfia, were common to all the eaft : and thev were loft when thole countries were over-run and conquered by thofe who introduced barbarous cuftoms of their own. The reafon why we have fo much Vol. III. O o left * Plin. Hift. Nat. lib. xiii. cap. n. f Plith lib. x'ii. cap. u. t Dlod. Sic. lib* ii 29o TRAVELS TO DISCOVER left of the Perfian cuftoms is, that they were written, and fo not liable to alteration ; and, being on parchment, did al- fo contribute to their prefervation. The hiftory which treats of thofe ancient and polilhed nations has preferved few fragments of their manners entire from the ruins of time ; while Abyilinia, at war with nobody, or at war with itfelf only, has preferved the ancient cuftoms which it enjoy- ed in common with all the eaft, and which were only loft in other kingdoms by the invafion of ftrangers, a misfor- tune Abyffinia has never fuffered fince the introduction of letters. Before I finifh what I have to fay upon the manners of this nation, having fliewn that they are the fame people with the ancient Egyptians, I would inquire, whether there is the fame conformity of rules in the dietetique regimen, between them and Egypt, that we mould expect to find from fuch relation ? This is a much furer way of judging than by refemblance of external cuftoms, The old Egyptians, as we are told by facred fcripture, did not eat with ftrangers ; but 1 believe the obfervation is ex- tended farther than ever icripture meant. The inftance given of Jofeph's brethren not being allowed to eat with the Egyptians was, becaufe Jofeph had told Pharaoh that his brethren*, and Jacob his father, were fhepherds, that he mrgh't get from the Egyptians the land of Gofhen, a land, as the name imports, of pafturage and grafs, which the Nile never overflowed, and it was therefore in pofleflion of the fhepherds, * Genefis, chap, xlvii, ver. 4. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 29x fhepherds. Now the fhepherds, we are told, were the direct natural enemies of the Egyptians who lived in towns. The fhepherds alio facrinced the god whom the Egyptians worfhipped. We cannot (fays Mofes *) facrifice in this land the abomination of the Egyptians, left they ftone us. If the Egyptians did not eat with them, fo neither would they with the Egyptians ; but it is a millake that the Egyptians did not eat fieifi as well as the fhepherds, it was only the fiefli of cer- tain animals they differed on, and did not eat. The Egyptians worfhipped the cow f, and the fhepherds lived upon her fiefli, which made them a feparate people, that could not eat nor communicate together ; and the very knowledge of this was, as we are informed by fcripture, the reafon why Jofeph told Pharaoh, when he afked him what profeflion his brethren were of, " Your fervants, fays Jofeph, are fhepherds, and their employment the feeding of cattle ;" and this was given out, that the land of Golhen might be allotted to them, and fo they and their defcendents he kept feparate from the Egyptians, and not expofed to mingle in their abominations. Or, though they had abftain- ed from thcfe abominations, they could not kill cattle for facrifice or for food. They would have raifed ill-will a- gainft themfelves, and, as Mofes fays, would have been ftoned, and fo the end of bringing them to Gofhen would have been fruftrated, which was to nurfe them in a plen- tiful land, in peace and fecurity, till they fliould attain to be a mighty people, capable of fubduing and filling the land to which, at the end of their captivity, God was to lead them. O o 2 The : Exod. chap, viii. ver. 26, f Heiod. lib. ii. p. 104. fee. 43, 292 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER The Abyfilnians neither eat nor drink with ftranger^ though they have no reafon for this ; and it is now a mere- prejudice, becaule the old occafion for this regulation is loft. They break, or purify, however, every vellel a ftranger of any kind fhall have ate or drank in. The cuftom then is copied from the Egyptians, and they have preierved it, tho' the Egyptian reafon does no longer hold. Some hiftorians fay, the Egyptian women anciently env joyed a full liberty of intercourfe with the males, which was not the cafe in the generality of caftern nations ; and we mult, therefore, think it was derived from Abyllinia;. for there the women live, as it were, in common, and their en- joyments and gratification have no other bounds but their own will. They, however, pretend to have a principle, that, if they marry, they mould be wives of one hufband; and yet this principle does not bind, but, like moft of the other du- ties, ferves to reafon upon, and to laugh at, in converfation, Herodotus tells it was the fame with the Egyptians*. The Egyptians made no account of the mother what her ft ate was ; if the father was free, the child followed the con* dition of the father. This is ftricHy fo in Abyllinia. The king's child by a negro-Have, bought with money, or taken in war, is as near in fucceeding to the crown, as any one of twenty children that he has older than that one, and born of the nobleft women of the country. The * Herodot. p. 121. fe<5t. 92 THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 293 The men in Egypt* did neither buy nor fell ; the fame is the cafe in Abyffinia at this day. It is infamy for a man to go to market to buy any thing. He cannot carry water or bake bread; but he mull \vafh the cloaths belonging to both fexes, and, in this function, the women cannot help him. In Abyffinia the men carried their burdens on their heads, the women on their fhoulders, and this difference, we are told, obtained in Egyptf. It is plain, that this buying, in the public market, by women, mull have ended whenever jealoufy or fequeitration of that fex began ; for this reafon it ended early in Egypt, but, for. the oppofite reafon > it fub- fifts in Abyflinia to this day. It was a fort of impiety in Egypt to eat a calf; and the reafon was plain, they worlhipped the cow. In Abyffinia, to this day, no man eats veal, although every one very willing- ly eats a cow. The Egyptian $ reafon no longer fubiiils as in the former cafe, but the prejudice remains, though they have forgot the reafon. The Abvffinians eat no wild or water-fowl, not even the gooi'e, which was a great delicacy in Egypt. The reafon of this is, that, upon their converlion to judaifm, they were forced to relinquifh their ancient municipal cuftoms, as far as they were contrary to the Mofaical law ; and the animals, in their country, not correfponding in form, kind, nor name, ■with thole mentioned in the Septuagint, or original Hebrew, it *"Herodot. lib. ii. p. 101. feft. 35. f Herodot. lib. ii. p. 101. fed. 35.^ X Herodot. lib. ii. p. 1C4. ftift. 41. 294 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER it has followed, that there are many of each clafs that know not whether they are clean or not; and a wonderful confufion and uncertainty has followed through ignorance or miftake, being unwilling to violate the law in any one inflance through not underftanding it. The abhorrence of the old Egyptians for the bean is well known, and many filly reafons have been affigned for it ; but that which has moil met the approbation of the moll learned men is, in my humble opinion, the weakeft of them all. They fay, the averfion to the bean arofe from its re- fembling the phallus ; but the crux anfata, or the crofs with the handle to it, which is put in the hand of every Egyptian hieroglyphic of His, Ofiris, or whatever the priefts have called them, is likewife agreed by the learned to re- present the phallus; and the figure of thefe nudities, with- out vail or concealment, is plain in all their ftatues. Now, I would afk, What is the reafon why they abhor a bean be- caufe it reprefents thefe parts which, at the fame time, by their own option or choice, are expofed in the hand or perfon of every figure which they exhibit to public view ? The bean, however, is not cultivated in Abyflinia, neither is it in Egypt ; lupines grow up in both, and lupines in both are eradicated like a weed, and lupines were what is called faba JEgyptlaca. Though I cannot pretend to know the true reafon of this, yet I will venture to give a guefs : — The origin of great part of religious oblervances of Egypt began with the wor- fhip of the Nile, and probably at the head of it. The coun- try of the Agows, as well where the Nile rifes as in parts more diilant, is all a honey country ; not only their whole iuftenance, THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 295 furtenance, but their trade, their tribute to the king and the maintenance of a great part of the capital, depends up- on honey and butter, the common food of the better fort of people when they do not eat flefli ; it cofnpofes their drink alfo in mead or hydromel. Now, this country, when uncultivated, naturally produces lupines, and the bloffoms of thefe becoming food for the bees, gives the honey fuch a bitternefs that no perfon will eat it, or ufe it any way in food or for dnnk.-After the king had beitowed the village of Geefh upon me, though with the confent of Fafil its go- vernor, that egregious muffler, to make the prefent of no . ufe to me, fent me, indeed, the tribute of the honey in very large jars but it all tailed fo much of the lupines that it was of no earthly ufe whatever, Their conftant attention is to weed out this bitter plant ; and, when any of thofe coun- tries are defolated by war, we may exped a large crop of lupines immediately to follow, and, for a time, plenty of bad honey in confequence. It is, then, this deftrudhve bean that Pythagoras, who, it is faid, ate no nefh, regarded as an objedt of deteftation; it was equally fo among the Aby Ann- ans and Egyptians for the fame reafon. Both nations, more- over, have an averlion to hogs nefh, and both avoid the touch of dogs. , It is here I propofe to take notice of an unnatural cuftom which prevails univerfaliy m Abyiiima, and which in early a-es feems to have been common to the whole world. I did >t think that any perfon of moderate knowledge in profane could have been ignorant of this remarkable cuf- the nations of the eafl. But what mil more fiirpi ifed m is the lead pardonable part of the whole, arice of part of the law of Gcd, the earheft . „•■ that *96 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER that was given to man, the moft frequently noted, infilled, upon, and prohibited. I have faid, in the courfe of the nar- rative of my journey from Mafuah, that, a fmall diftance from Axum, I overtook on the way three travellers, who feemed to be foldiers, driving a cow before them. They halt- ed at a brook, threw down the beaft, and one of them cut a pretty large collop of flefh from its buttocks, after which they drove the cow gently on as before. A violent outer) was raifed. in England at hearing this circumftance, which they did not hefitate to pronounce impoj/iblc, when the manners and cuf- (oras of Abyffinia were to them utterly unknown. The Je- fuits, eftablifhed in Abyflinia for above a hundred years, had told them of that people eating, what they call raw meat, in every page, and yet they were ignorant of this. Poncet, too, had done the fame, but Poncet they had not read; and if any writer upon Ethiopia had omitted to mention it, it was becaufe it was one of thofe fads too notorious to be repeated to fwell a volume. It muft be from prejudice alone we condemn the eating of raw nefh ; no precept, divine or human, that I know, for- bids it ; and if it is true, as later travellers have discovered, that there are nations ignorant of the ufc of fire, any law againfl eating raw flefh could never have been intended by •God as obligatory' upon mankind in general. At any rate, it is certainly not clearly known, whether the eating raw flefh was not an earlier and more general practice than by preparing it with fire ; I think it was. Many wife and learned men have doubted whether it was at firft permitted to man to eat animal food at all. I do not pretend to give any opinion upon the fubject, but 2 many THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 297 many topics have been maintained fuccefsfnlly upon much more flender grounds. God, the author of life, and the bed judge of what was proper to maintain it, gave this regimen to our firft parents — " Behold, I have given you every herb " bearing feed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and e- " very tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding feed : to " you it fhall be for meat *. " And though, immediately after, he mentions both beads and fowls, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth, he does not fay that he has defign- ed any of thefe as meat for man. On the contrary, he feems to have intended the vegetable creation as food for both man and bead — " And to every bead of the earth " and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that "creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given " every green herb for meat : and it was fo f ." After the flood, when mankind began to repoffefs the earth, God gave Noah a much more extenfive permifiion — " Every moving " thing that liveth ihall be meat for you ; even as the green " herb have I given you all things J." As the criterion of judging of their aptitude for food was declared to be their moving and having life, a danger ap- peared of mifinterpretation, and that thefe creatures fliould be ufed living ; a thing which God by no means intended, and therefore, immediately after, it is faid, " But flefh with " the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, fhall you not " eat §;" or, as it is rendered by the bed: interpreters, ' Flefh, or members, torn from living animals having the blood in them, thou fhalt not eat.' We fee then, by this prohibition, that Vol. III. P p this Gen. chap. i. ver. 2Q. \ Gen. chap. i. ver. 30. i Gen. chap. be. ver. 3. § Gen. chap. ix. v. 4, 298 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER this abufe of eating living meat, or part of animals while yet alive, was known in the days of Noah, and forbidden after being fo known, and it is precifely what is practifed in Abyffi- nia to this day. This law, then, was prior to that of Mofes, but it came from the fame legillator. It was given to Noah, and confequcntly obligatory upon the whole world. Mofes, however, inlifts upon it throughout his whole law ; which, not only mews that this abufe was common, but that it was deeply rooted in, and interwoven with, the manners of the Hebrews. He poiitively prohibits it four times in one chapter in Deuteronomy*, and thrice in one of the chapters of Leviticus f — " Thou flialt not eat the blood, for the blood " is the life ; thou flialt pour it upon the earth like water." Although the many inftances of God's tendernefs to the brute creation, that conftantly occur in the Mofaical precepts, and are a very beautiful part of them, and tho' the barbari- ty of the cuftom itfelf might reafonably lead us to think that humanity alone was a fufficient motive for the prohibition of eating animals alive, yet nothing can be more certain, than that greater confequences were annexed to the indul- ging in this crime than what was apprehended from a mere depravity of manners. One £ of the moll learned and fenfible men that ever wrote upon the facred fcrip- tures obferves, that God, in forbidding this practice, ufes more fevere certification, and more threatening language, than againft any other fin, excepting idolatry, with which it is conftantly joined. God declares, " I will fet my face " againft: him that eateth blood, in the fame manner as I •' will againft him that facrificeth his fon to Moloch ; 1 will "fet ft Deut. chap. xii. f Levit. cl.ap. xvii. J Maimcn. more. Nebochim. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE, 299 " fet my face againft him that eateth flefh with blood, till I " cut him off from the people." We have an inftance in the life of Saul * that fliews the propenfity of the Ifraelites to this crime, haul's army, after a battle, flew, that is, fell voracioufly upon the cattle they had taken, and threw them upon the ground to cut off their flefh, and eat them raw, fo that the army was defiled by eat- ing blood, or living animals. To prevent this, Saul caufed roll to him a great ftone, and ordered thofe that killed their oxen to cut their throats upon that ftone. This was the only lawful way of killing animals for food ; the tying of the ox and throwing it upon the ground was not permitted as e- quivalent. The Ifraelites did probably in that cafe as the Abyffinians do at this day ; they cut a part of its throat, fo that blood might be feen upon the ground, but nothing mor- tal to the animal followed from that wound. But, after lay- ing his head upon a large ftone, and cutting his throat, the blood fell from on high, or was poured on the ground like water, and fufficient evidence appeared the creature was dead before it was attempted to eat it. We have feen that the Abyffinians came from Paleftine a very few years after this; and we are not to doubt that they then carried with them this, with many other Jewifh cuftoms, which they have continued to this day. The author I laft quoted fays, that it is plain, from all the books of the eaftern nations, that their motive for eating flefh with the life, or limbs of living animals cut off with v. iii. P p 2 the * 1 Sam. chap. xiv. ver. 32. 33. 5oo TRAVELS TO DISCOVER the blood, was from motives of religion, and for the pur- pofes of idolatry, and fo it probably had been among the Jews ; for one of the reafons given in Leviticus for the pro- hibition of earing blood, or living flefh, is, that the people may no longer offer facrifices to devils, after whom they have gone a whoring *. If the reader choofes to be further informed how very common this practice was, he need only read the Halacoth Gedaloth, or its tranflation, where the whole chapter is taken up with inflances of this kind. That this practice likewife prevailed in Europe, as well as in Alia and Africa, may be collected from various authors. The Greeks had their bloody feails and facrifices where they ate living flefh ; thefe were called Omophagia. Ar- nobius | fays, " Let us pafs over the horrid fcenes prefented at the Baccahanlian feail, wherein, with a counterfeited fury, though with a truly depraved heart, you twine a number of ferpents around you, and, pretending to be pofTeffed with fome god, or fpirit, you tear to pieces, with bloody mouths, the bowels of living goats, which cry all the time from the torture they fuffer." From all this it appears, that the prac- tice of the Abyuinians eating live animals at this day, was very far from being new, or, what was nonfenfically faid, impojftbk. And I Ihall only further obferve, that thofe of my readers that wifh to indulge a fpirit of criticifm upon the great variety of cuftoms, men and manners, related in this hiftory, or have thofe tcriticifms attended to, mould furnifh themfelves with a more decent flock of reading than, in this * Levit. chap. xvii. ver. 7. t Arnob. adv. Gent. Clem. Alexan. Sextus Impiricus, lib. iii. cap. aj. and Selden. de Jur. nafiir. and Gent. cap. i.lib. vii. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 301 this inftance, they feem to have poffefled ; or, when ano- ther example occurs of that kind, which they call impojjibk, that they would take the truth of it upon my word, and be- lieve what they are not fufficiently qualified to inveftigate. Consistent with the plan of this work, which is to de- feribe the manners of the ieveral nations through which I paffed, good and bad, as I obferved them, I cannot avoid giving foir.£ account of this Polyphemus banquet, as far as decency will permit me ; it is part of the hiftory of a bar- barous people ; whatever L might wifh, I cannot decline it. In the capital, where one is fafe from furprife at all times, or in the country or villages, when the rains have become fo conflant that the valleys will not bear a horfe to pafs them, or that men cannot venture far from home through fear of being furrounded and fwept away by temporary torrents', occafioned by hidden mowers on the mountains ; in a word, when a man can fay he is fafe at home, and the fpear and fhield is hung up in the hall, a number of people of the beflfafhion in the villages, of both fexes, courtiers in the pa- lace, or citizens in the town, meet together w dine between, twelve and one o'clock.. A long table is fet in the middle of a large room, and.' benches belide it for a number of guefts who are invited. Tables and benches the Tortugueze introduced amongft them ; but bull hides, fpread upon the ground-, ferved them before, as they do in the camp and country now. A cow or bull, one or more, a^ the company is numerous, is brought dole to the door, and his feet ftrongly tied. The fkin that hangs down under his chin and threat, which I think we cal-l- 3o2 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER call the dew-lap in England, is cut only fo deep as to ar- rive at the fat, of which it totally confifts, and, by the fepa- ration of a few fmall blood- veffels, fix or feven drops of blood only fall upon the ground. They have no Hone, bench, nor altar upon which thefe cruel affaffins lay the a- nimal's head in this operation. I ihould beg his pardon in- deed for calling him an afTaflin, as he is not fo merciful as to aim at the life, but, on the contrary, to keep the bealt alive till he be totally eat up. Having fatisfied the Mbfaical law, according to his conception, by pouring thefe fix or feven drops upon the ground, two or more of them fall to work ; on the back of the beaft, and on each fide of the fpine they cut fkin-deep ; then putting their fingers between the flefh and the fkin, they begin to flrip the hide of the animal half way down his ribs, and fo on to the buttock, cutting the fkin wherever it hinders them commodioufly to ftrip the poor animal bare. All the flefh on the buttocks is cut off then, and in folid, fquare pieces, without bones, or much effufion of blood ; and the prodigious noife the animal makes is a fignal for the company to fit down to table. There are then laid before every gueft, inflead of plates» round cakes, if I may fo call them, about twice as big as a a pan-cake, and fomething thicker and tougher. It is un- leavened bread of a fourifli tafle, far from being difagreca- ble, and very eafily digefted, made of a grain called teff. It is of different colours, from black to the colour of the whi- teft wheat-bread. Three or four of thefe cakes are generally put uppermoft, for the food of the perfon oppofite to whofe feat they are placed. Beneath thefe are four or five of ordi- nary bread, and of a blackifh kind. Thefe ferve the mailer to wipe THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 303 wipe his fingers upon ; and afterwards the fervant, for bread to his dinner. Two or three fervants then come, each with a fquare piece of beef in their bare hands, laying it upon the cakes of teff, placed like difhes down the table, without cloth or any thing elfe beneath them. By this time all the guells have knives in their hands, and their men have the large crooked ones, which they put to all forts of ufes during the time of war. The women have fmall clafped knives, fuch as the worll of the kind made at Birmingham, fold for a penny each. The company are fo ranged that one man fits between two women ; the man with his long knife cuts a thin piece, which would be thought a good beef-fleak in England, while you fee the motion of the fibres yet perfectly diitind, and alive in the flefh. No man in Abyflinia, of any fafhion whatever, feeds himfelf, or touches his own meat. The women take the fteak and cut it length-ways like firings, about the thicknefs of your little finger, then crofsways into fquare pieces, fomething fmaller than dice. This they lay upon a piece of the teff bread, ftrongly powdered with black pepper, or Cayenne pepper, and foffile-falt, they then wrap- it up in the teff bread like a cartridge. In the mean time, the man having put up his knife, with each hand refling upon his neighbour's knee, his body ftooping, his head low and forward, and mouth open very like an idiot, turns to the one whofe cartridge is firfl ready, who fluffs the whole of it into his mouth, which is fo full that he is in conflant danger of being choked. This is a , mark 3o4 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER mark of grandeur. The greater the man would feem to be, the larger piece he takes in his mouth ; and the more noife he makes in chewing it, the more polite he is thought to be. They have, indeed, a proverb that fays, " Beggars " and thieves only eat (mall pieces, or without making a " noife." Having difpatched this morfel, which he docs very expeditioufiy, his next female neighbour holds forth another cartridge, which goes the fame way, and fo on till he is fatisficd. He never drinks till he has finifhed eating ; and, before he begins, in gratitude to the fair ones that fed him, he makes up tv/o fmall rolls of the fame kind and form ; each of his neighbours open their mouths at the fame time, while with each hand he puts their portion into their mouths. He then falls to drinking out of a large handfome horn ; the ladies eat till they are fatisfied, and then all drink together, " Vive la Joye et la JeunefTe !" A great deal of mirth and joke goes round, very fcldom with any mixture of acrimony or ill- humour. All this time, the unfortunate victim at the door is bleeding indeed, but bleeding little. As long as they can cut off the flefh from his bones, they do not meddle with the thighs, or the parts where the great arteries are. At laft they fall upon the thighs likewife ; and foon after the ani- mal, bleeding to death, becomes fo tough that the canibals, who have the reft of it to eat, find very hard work to fepa- rate the flefh from the bones with their teeth like dogs. In the mean time, thofe within are very much elevated ; love lights all its fires, and every thing is permitted with abfolute freedom. There is no coynefs, no delays, no need of appointments or retirement to gratify their willies ; i there THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 505- there arc no rooms but one, in which they facrrfice both to Bacchus and to Venus*. The two men nearctl the vacuum a pair have made on the bench by leaving their feats, hold their upper garment like a fkreen before the two that have left the bench; and, if we may judge by found, they feem to think it as great a fhame to make love in fxlence as to eat. — Replaced in their feats again, the company chink the happy couple's health ; and their example is followed at dif- ferent ends of the table, as each couple is difpofed. All this paffes without remark or fcandal, not a licentious word is ; littered, nor the molt dhlant joke upon the.tranfaetion. These ladies are, for the molt part, women of family and Character, and they and their gallants are reciprocally diilin- guifhed by the name Woodage, which anfwers to what in Italy they call Cicifbey ; and, indeed,- 1 believe that the name itfelf, as well as the practice, is Hebrew ; fchus chis beiim, iignifies at- tendants or companions of the bride, or bride's man,?iS we call it ill England. The only difference is, that in Europe the inti- macy and attendance continues during the marriage, while, among the Jews, it was permitted only the few days of the marriage ceremony. The averfion to Judaifm, in the ladies of Europe, has probably led them to the prolongation of the term. It was a cuftom of the ancient Egyptians to purge them- felves monthly for three days ; and the fame is ftill in pi ac- tice in Abymnia. We ihall fpeak more of the reafon of this Vol. III. Q^q practice * In this particular they refemble the Cynics of old, of whom it was faid, " Omnia qute ad *-Baccii um et Venetem pertinueiint in p u6/ico facere," Diogenes Laertius in Vit. Diogen, 306 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER practice in the botanical part of our work, where a draw- ing of a moft beautiful tree *, ufed for this purpofe, is given. Although we read from the Jefuits a great deal about marriage and polygamy, yet there is nothing which may be averred more truly than that there is no fuch thing as mar- riage in Abyflinia, unlefs that which is contracted by mu- tual confenr, without other form, fubfifting only till diflbl- ved by diflent of one or other, and to be renewed or repeat- ed as often as it is agreeable to both parties, who, when they pleafe, cohabit together again as man and wife, after having been divorced, had children by others, or whether they have been married, or had children with others or not. I remember to have once been at Kofcam in prefence of the Iteghe, when, in the circle, there was a woman of great qua- lity, and feven men who had all been her huibands, none of whom was the happy fpoufe at that time. Upon feparation they divide the children. The eldeftfon falls to the mother's tirft choice, and the eldeft daughter to the father. If there is but one daughter, and all the refl fons, flie is affigned to the father. If there is but one fon, and all the reft daughters, he is the right of the mother. If the numbers are unequal after the firft election, the refl are divided by lot. There is no fuch diftinction as legitimate and illegitimate children from the king to the beggar ; for fuppofing any one of their marriages valid, all the iflue of the relt rnufl be adulterous baitards. One Vide appendix, article Cuflb. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 307 One day Ras Michael afked me, before AbbaSalama, (the Acab Saat) Whether fuch things as thefe promifcuous mar- riages and divorces were permitted and pradtifed in my country ? I excufed myfelf till I was no longer able ; and, upon his infilling, I was obliged to anfwer, That even if fcripture had not forbid to us as Chriftians, as Englifhmen the law reftrained us from fuch practices, by declaring polygamy felony, or punifhable by death. The king in his marriage ufes no other ceremony than this :_He fends an Azage to the houfe where the lady lives, where the officer announces to her, It is the king's pleafure that me mould remove inftantly to the palace. She then drefles herfelf in the belt manner, and immediately obeys. Thenceforward he afligns her an apartment in the palace, and gives her a houfe elfewhere in any part me chufes. Then when he makes her Iteghe, it feems to be the neareft refemblance to marriage ; for, whether in the court or the camp, he orders one of the judges to pronounce in his pre- fence, That he, the king, has chofen his hand- maid, na- ming her for his queen ; upon which the crown is put up- on her head, but me is not anointed. The crown being hereditary in one family, but elective in the perfon, and polygamy being permitted, muft have multiplied thefe heirs very much, and produced conftant difputes, fo that it was found neceflary to provide a remedy for the anarchy and effufion of royal blood, which was otherwife inevitably to follow. The remedy was a humane and gentle one, they were confined in a good climate upon a high mountain, and maintained there at the public ex- pence. They are there taught to read and write, but no- Qji z thing 5o8 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER thing elfe ; 750 cloths for wrapping round them, 3000 oun- ces or' gold, which is 30,000 dollars^ or crowns, are allowed by the ltate for their maintenance. Thefe princes are hard- ly ufed, and, in troublefome times, often put to death upon the fmalleft mifinformation. While I was in Abyffinia their revenue was fo grofsly mifapplied, that fome of them were faid to have died with hunger and of cold by the avarice and hard-heartednefs.of Michael neglecting to furnilh them, neceffaries. Nor had the king, as far as ever I could difcern, that fellow-feeling one would have expected from a prince refcued from that very fituation himfelf ; perhaps this was owing to his fear of Ras Michael. However that be, and however diftrefling the fituation of thofe princes, we cannot but be fatisned with it when we look to the neighbouring kingdom of Scnnaaf, or Nubia. There no mountain is trutted with the confinement of their princes, but, as foon as the father dies, the throats of all the collaterals, and all their defcendents that can be laid hold ■of, are cut; and this is the cafe with all the black ftates in. ■ the defert weft of Sennaar, Dar Fowr, Scle, and Bagirma. Great exaggerations have been ufed in fpeaking of the military force of this kingdom. The largeft army 'that ever was in the field (as far as I could be informed from the old- eil officers) was that in the rebellion before the battle of Scrbraxos. I believe, when they firft encamped upon the lake Tzana, the rebel army a*t together might amount to a- bout 50,000 men. In about a fortnight afterwards, many had deferted ; and I do not think (I only fpeak by hearfay) :that, when the king marched out of Gondar, they were then bosre 30,000. I believe when Gojam joined, and it was known THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 3-03 known that Michael and his army were to be made prifon- ers, that the rebel army increaied to above 60,000 men ; cowards and brave, old and young, veteran foldiers and blackguards, all came to be fpettators of that defirable e- vent, which many of the wifefl had defpaired of living to fee. I believe the king's army never amounted to 26,000 men ; and, by defertion and other caufes, when we retreated to Gondar, I do not fuppofe the army was 16,000, moftly from, the province of Figre. Fafil, indeed, had not joined ; and putting his army of 1 2,000 men, (I make no account of the wild Galla beyond the Nile) I do not imagine that any king of Abyffiaia ever commanded 40,000 effective men at any time, or upon any caufe whatever, exclufive of his houfe- hold troops. Their {landards are large flaves, furmounted at the top with a hollow ball ; below this is a tube in which the ilaif is fixed ; and immediately below the ball, a narrow ftripe of lilk made forked, or fwallow-tailed, like a vane, and fel- dom much broader. In the war of Begemder we firft faw co- lours like a flag hoifted forking Theodorus. They were red, about eight feet long and near three feet broad ; but they never appeared but two days ; and the fuccefs that attended their firft appearance was fuch that did not bid fair to bring them into fafhion. The (landards of the infantry have their flags painted ■two colours crofsways — yellow, white, red, or green. The ho-rfe have all a lion upon their flag-, fome a red, fome a green, * The firft invention is attiibuted to the Pomiguefe. 3io TRAVELS TO DISCOVER green, and fome a white lion. The black horfe have a yel- low lion, and over it a white ftar upon a red flag, alluding to two prophecies, the one, " Judah is a young lion," and the other, " There fhall come a flar out of Judah." This had been difcontinued for want of cloth till the war of Be- gemder, when a large piece was found in Joas's wardrobe, and was thought a certain omen of his victory, and of a long and vigorous reign. This piece of cloth was faid to have been brought from Cairo by Yafous II. for the cam- paign of Sennaar, and, with the other ftandards and colours, was furrendered to the rebels when the king was made prifoner. The king's houfehold troops mould confift of about 8000 infantry, 2000 of which carry firelocks, and fupply the place of archers ; bows have been laid afide for near a hundred years, and are only now ufed by the Waito Shangalla, and fome other barbarous inconfiderable nations. These troops are divided into four companies, each un- der an officer called Shalaka, which anfwers to our colo- nel. Every twenty men have an officer, every fifty a fecond, and every hundred a third ; that is, every twenty have one offi- cer who commands them, but is commanded likewife by an officer who commands the fifty ; fo that there are three of- ficers who command fifty men, fix command a hundred, and thirty command five hundred, over whom is the Sha- laka ; and this body they call Bet, which fignifies a bcufe, or apartment, becaufe each of them goes by the name of one of the king's apartments. For example, there is an apartment called Anbafa Bet, or the lioiis boufe, and a regiment carrying that name has the charge of it, and their duty is at that apart- 4 ment THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 311 ment, or that part of the palace where it is ; there is another called Jan Bet, or the elephant's boujc, that gives the name to another regiment ; another called Werk Sacala, or the gold boufe, which gives its name to another corps ; and fo on with the reft ; as for the horfe, I have fpoken of them already. There are four regiments, that feldom, if ever, a- mounted to 1600 men, which depend alone upon the king, and are all foreigners, at leaft the officers ; thefe have the charge of his perfon while in the field. In times when the king is out of leading-firings, they amount to four or five thoufand, and then opprefs the country, for they have great privileges. At times when the king's hands are weak, they are kept incomplete out of fear and jealoufy, which was the cafe in my time ; — thefe have been already fufficiently defcribed. Three proclamations are made before the king marches. The firfl is, " Buy your mules, get ready your provifion, and pay your fervants, for, after fuch a day, they that feek me here fliall not find me." The fecond is about a week after, or according as the exigency is prefling ; this is, " Cut down the kantuffa in the four quarters of the world, for I do not know where I am going." This kantuffa is a ter- rible thorn which very much molefts the king and nobility in their march, by taking hold of their long hair, and the cotton cloth they are wrapped in. The third and lafl pro- clamation is, " I am encamped upon the Angrab, or Kahha ; " he that does not join me there, I will chaftife him for " feven years." I was long in doubt what this term of fe- ven years meant, till 1 recollected the jubilee-year of the jews, with cumcifed fhall be cut off from Ifracl." The Tcheratz Agows, who live between Lafta and Bc- gemder, in an exceedingly fertile country, are not circum- cifed ; Exod. chap. iv. ver. 25. t Gen. chap. xvii. ver. 14. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 345 fclfed • and, therefore, if this nation left Palestine upon To- fhua paffing Jordan, circumcifion was not known there, for the Agows to this day are uneircumcifed. The fame may be faid of the Agows of Damot, who are fettled at the head of the Nile It will be feen by the two fpecimens of their dif- ferent language's that they arc different nations, as I have allcdeM Next to thefe are the Gafat, in a plain open coun- try who do not life circumcifion; none of them were ever converted to Judaifm, and but few of them to Chrifhamty. The next are the people of Amhara who did not ufe circum- cifion, at lead few of them, till after the maffacre of the princes by Judith in the year 900, when the remaining prin- ces of the line of Solomon fled to Shoa, and the court was eftablimcd there. The laft of thefe nations that I (hall mention are the Galla, who are not circumcifed ; of this na- tion we have faid enough. On the north, a black, woolly-headed nation, called the Shangalla, already often mentioned, bounds Abyffinia, and ferves like a firing to the bow made by thefe nations of Gal- la. Who they are we know perfectly, being the Cufhite Troglodytes of Sofala, Saba, Axum and Meroe ; fliut up, as I have already mentioned, in thofe caves, the firft habitations of their more polifhed anceftors. Neither do thefe circum- cife, though they immediately bordered upon Egypt, while the' Cufhite, adjoining to the peninfula of Africa certainly did. As then fo many nations contiguous to Egypt never received circumcifion from it, it feems an invincible argu- ment, that this was no endemial rite or cuftom among the Egyptians, and I have before obferved, that it was of no ufe to this nation, as the reafons mentioned by Philo, and the reft of cleanlinefs and climate, are abfolute dreams, and Vol. III. X x 346 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER now, exploded ; and that they are fo is plain, becaufe, other- wife, the nations more to the fouthward would have adopt- ed it, as they have univerfally done another cuitom, which* I mall prefently fpeak. of. Circumcision, then, having no natural caufe or ad- vantage, being in itfelf repugnant to man's nature, and ex- tremely painful, if not dangerous, it could never originate in man's mind wantonly and out of free-will. It might have done fo indeed from imitation, but with Abraham it had a caufe, as God was to make his private family in a few years numerous, like the fands of the fea. This mark, which feparated them from all the world, was an eafy way to fhew whether the promife was fulfilled or not. They were go- ing to take poffemon of a land where circumcifion was not known, and this mewed them their enemy diflincl from their own people. And it would be the groffeft abfurdity to fend Samfon to bring, as tokens of the flain, fo many fore- fkins or prepuces of the Philiftines, if} as Herodotus fays, the Philiitines had cut off their prepuces a thoufand years, before. I must here take notice that this cuftora, filthy and bar- barous as it is, has been adopted by the Abyffinians of Tigre, who have always been circumcifed, from a knowledge that the nations about them were not circumcifed at all. It is true they do not content themfelves with the forefkin, and I doubt very much if this was not the cafe with the Jews iikewife. On the contrary, in place of the forefkin they cut the whole away, fcrotum and all, and bring this to- their fuperiors, as a token they have killed an enemy. Although THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 347 Although it then appears that the nations which had Egypt between Abraham and them, that is, were to the fouthward, did not follow the Egyptians in the rite of cir- cumcifion, yet in another, of excifion, they all concurred. Strabo* fays, the Egyptians circumcifed both men and wo- men, like the Jews. I will not pretend to fay that any fuch operation ever did obtain among the Jewifh women, as fcripture is filent upon it ; and indeed it is nowhere ever pretended to have been a religious rite, but to be introdu- ced from neceffity, to avoid a deformity which nature has fubje&ed particular people to, in particular climates and countries. We perceive among the brutes, that nature, creating the animal with the fame limbs or members all the world o- ver, does yet indulge itfelf in a variety, in the proportion of fuch limbs or members. Some are remarkable for the fize of their heads, fome for the breadth and bignefs of the tail, fome for the length of their legs, and fome for the fize of their horns. There is a diftria in Abyffinia, within the per- petual rains, where cows, of no greater fize than ours, have horns, each of which would contain as much water as the ordinary water-pail ufed in England does ; and I remem- ber on the frontiers of bennaar, near the river Dender, to have feen a herd of manv hundred cows, everyone of which had the apparent conftruction of their parts almofl fimilar with that of the bull ; fo that, for a coniiderable time, I was perfuaded that thefe were oxen, their udders being very fmall, until I had feen them milked. v. iii. X x 2 This * Lib. xviL p» 950. 3|S TRAVELS TO DISCOVER This particular appearance, or unnecefTary app'endagfe, at firft made me believe chat I had found the real caufe of cir- cumcifion from analogy, but, upon information, this did not hold. It is however otherwiie in the excifion of women. From climate, or fome other caufe, a certain difproportion is found generally to prevail among them. And, as the po- pulation of a country has in every age been confidered as an object worthy of attention, men have endeavoured to re- medy this deformity by the amputation of that redundancy. All the Egyptians, therefore, the Arabians, and nations to the fouth of Africa, the Ab)ffinians, Gallas, Agows, Ga- fats, and Gongas, make their children undergo this opera- tion, at no fixed time indeed, but always before they are marriageable. When the Roman Catholic priefls firft fettled in Egypt, they did not neglect fupporting their miflion by temporal advantages, and fmall prefents given to needy people their p ofelytes ; but miftaking this excifion of the Coptifh wo- men for a ceremony performed upon Judaical principles, they forbade, upon pain of excommunication, that excifion mould be performed upon the children of parents who had become Catholics. The converts obeyed, the children grew up, and arrived at puberty ; but the confequences of having obeyed the interdict were, that the man found, by chufing a wife among Catholic Cophts, he fubjected himfelf to a very difagreeable inconveniency, to which he had conceived an unconquerable averfion, and therefore he married a heretical wife, free from this objection, and with her he relapfed into herefy. 7 The THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 34$ The miffionaries therefore finding it impoffible that ever their congregation could increafe,and that this accident did fruftrate all their labours, laid their cafe before the College of Cardinals de propaganda fde, at Rome. Thefe took it up as a matter of moment, which it really was, and lent over visitors fkillcd in furgery, fairly to report upon the cafe as it flood ; and they, on their return, declared, that the heat of the climate, or fome other natural caufe, did, in that par- ticular nation, invariably alter the formation fo as to make a difference from what was ordinary in the fex in other countries, and that this difference did occafion a difguft, which muft impede the confluences for which matrimony was inuitutcd. The college, upon this report, ordered that a declaration, being firft made by the patient and her pa- rents that it was not done from Judaical intention, but bc- caufe it difappointed the ends of marriage, " Si modo " matrimonii fruchis impediret id omnino tollendum ef- " fet :" that the imperfection was, by all manner of means, to be removed ; fo that the Catholics, as well as the Cophts, in Egypt, undergo excifion ever fmce. This is done with a knife, or razor, by women generally when the child is about eight years old *. There is another ceremony with which I fball clofe, and this regards the women alfb, and 1 fhall call it inajlon. This is • The reader will obferve, by the obfcurlty of this parfage, that it is with reliance I have been deteimined to mention it at all; but as it is an historical f;6, wl ich has had material confequences, I have thought it not allowable to omit it altogether. Any naluralift, wilhing for more particular information, may confalt the French copy. 35° TRAVELS TO DISCOVER is an ufage frequent, and (till retained among the Jews, though pofitively prohibited by the law : " Thou (halt not cut thy face for the fake of, or on account of the dead *. As foon as a near relation dies in Abyflinia, a brother or pa- rent, coufin german or lover, every woman in that relation, with the nail of her little finger, which fhe leaves long on purpofe, cuts the fkin of both her temples, about the fize of a fixpence ; and therefore you fee either a wound or a fear in every fair face in Abyfnnia ; and in the dry feafon, when the camp is out, from aie lofs of friends they feldom have liberty to heal till peace and the army return with the rains. The AbyfTinians, like the ancient Egyptians, their firft co- lony, in computing their time, have continued the ufe of the folar year. Diodorus Siculus fays, " They do not reckon their time by the moon, but according to the fun ; that thir- ty days conftitute their memh, to which they add five days and the fourth part of a day, and this completes their: year. These five days were, by the Fgyptians, called Nici, and, by the Greeks, Epagomeni, which fignifies, days added, or fuperinduced, to complete a mm. 1 he AbyfTinians add five days, which they call Quagomi, a corruption from the Greek Epagomeni, to the month of Auguft, which is their Naha- affe. Every fourth year they add a fixth day. ^ They begin the year, like all the eaftern nations, with the 29th or 30th day of Auguft, that is the kalends of September, the 29th of Auguft being the firft of their month Mafcaram. It * Dent. chap. xiv. vcr. i. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 351 It is uncertain whence they derived the names of their months ; they have no figniiication in any of the languages of Abyflinia. The name of the firfl month among' the old Egyptians has continued to this day. It is Tot, probably fo called from the firfl. divifion of time among the Egyptians, from obfervation of the helaical riling of the dog-flar. The names of the months retained in Abyilinia are poffibly in antiquity prior to this ; they are probably thofe given them by the Cufhite, before the Kalendars at Thebes and MeroeV their colony, were formed. The common epoch which the Abyflinians make ufe of is from the creation of the world ; but in the quantity of this period they do not agree with the Greeks, nor with other eailern nations, who reckon 5508 years from the crea- tion to the birth of Chrift. The Abyflinians adopt the even number of 5500 years, cafting away the odd eight years ; but whether this was firfl done for eafe of calculation, or fome better reafon, there is neither book nor tradition that now can teach us. They have, befides this, many other e- pochs, fuch as from the council of Nice and Ephcfus. There- is likewife to be met with in their books a portion of time, which is certainly a cycle ; the Ethiopic word is kamar, which, literally interpreted, is an arch, or circle. It is not now in ufe in civil life among the Abyflinians, and there- fore was mentioned as containing various quantities from 100 years to 19 ; and there are places in their hiitory where neither of thefe will apply, nor any even number what- ever.. They make ufe of the golden number and epacf. con- Hantly in all their ecclefiaflic computations : the firfl they call 352 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER call Matque, the other Abacte. Scaliger, who has taken great pains upon this confufed fubjecl:, the computation of time in the church of Abyffinia, without having fucceed- ed in making it much clearer, tells us, that the firft ufe or invention of epacts was not earlier than the time of Diocle- fian ; but this is contrary to the pofitive evidence of Abyf- finian hiftory, which lays exprefsly, that the epacl was in- vented by Demetrius*, patriarch of Alexandria. " Unlefs, fays the poet in their liturgy, Demetrius had made this revelation by the immediate influence of the Holy Ghoft, how, I pray you, was it poffible that the computation of time, called Epacts, could ever have been known ?" And, again, " When you meet, fays he, you fhall learn the com- putation by epacts, which was taught by the Holy Ghoft to father Demetrius, and by him revealed to you." Now De- metrius was the twelfth patriarch of Alexandria, who was elected about the 190th year of Chrifl, or in the reign of the emperor Severus, confequently long before the time of Dioclelian. It feems the reputation the Egyptians had from very old time for their fkiil in computation and the divifion of time, remained with uhcm late in the days of Chriftianity. Pope Leo the Great, writing to the emperor Marcian, confeffes that the fixing the time of the moveable feafts was always an exciuiive privilege of the church of Alexandria ; and therefore, fays he, in his letter about reforming the kalen- dar, the holy fathers endeavoured to take away the occa- sion of this error, by delegating the whole care of this to the Encom. 12th October, Od. 3. torn. 1. Ann. Alexan. p.m. 363. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 353 the bifhop of Alexandria, becaufe the Egyptians, from old times feem to have had this gift of computation given them; and when thefe had fignitied to the apoftolic See the days upon which the moveable, feafls were to happen, .the church of Rome then notified this by writing to churches at a great-. er diltance. We are not to doubt that this privilege, which the church of Alexandria had been fo long in poffeilion of, contributed much to inflame the minds of the Abyffinians againll the Roman Catholic priefts, for altering the time of keeping Eafter, by appointing days of their own ; for we fee violent commotions to have arifen every year upon the celebration of this feftival. . The Abyflinians have another way of defcribing time peculiar to themfelves ; they read the whole of the four evangelifts every year in their churches. They begin with Matthew, then proceed to Mark, Luke, and John, in order; and, when they fpeakof an event, they write and fay it hap- pened in the days of Matthew, that is, in the firfl quarter of the year, while the gofpel of St Matthew was yet reading in the churches. . They compute the time of the day in a very arbitrary, ir- regular manner. The twilight, as I have before obferved, is veryfliort, almofl imperceptible, and was Hill more fo when the court was removed farther to the fouthward in Shoa. As foon as the fun falls below the horizon, night comes on, and all the ftars appear. This term, then, the twilight, they choofe for the beginning of their day, and call it Najrge, which is the very time the twilight of the V.qu 111 Y y morning 354 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER morning lads. The fame is obferved at night, and Mefe is meant to fignify the inflant of beginning the twilight between the fun's falling below the horizon and the ftars appearing. Mid-day is by them called Kater, a very old word, which figniiies culmination, or a thing's being arrived or pla- ced at the middle or higheft part of an arch. All the reft of times, in converfation, they defcribe by pointing at the place in the heavens where the fun then was, when what they are defcribing happened. 1 shall conclude what further I have to fay on fubject, by obferving, that nothing can be more inaccura't than all Abyflinian calculations. Befides their ab norance in arithmetic, their excelllve idlenefs and averfion to ftudy, and a number of fanciful, whimucal combina= tions, by which every particular fcribe or monk diflinguif I himfelf, there are obvious reafons why there mould Lv variation between their chronology and ours. I have al- ready obferved, that the beginning of our years are differ- ent; ours begin on the ill of January, and theirs on the ift day of September, fo that there are 8 months dif- ference between us. The iaft day of Auguft may be the year «73o with us, and 1779 only with the Abyflmians. And in the reign of their kings they very feldom mention either month or day beyond an even number of years. Suppo- fing, then, it is known that the reign of ten kings extended from fuch-to fuch a period, where all the months and days are comprehended, when we come to aflign to each of thefe an equal number of years, without the correfpondent months and days, it is plain that, when all thefe feparate reigns come to be added together, the one fum-total will not agree with the other, but will be more or lefs than the 4 juft THESOURCE OF THE NILE. 3$S juft time which that prince reigned. This, indeed, as errors compenfate fvil as frequently as they accumulate, will Sel- dom amoun- to a difference above three years ; a fpace of time too tr '^ial to be of any confequence in the hillory of barbarous nations. Hoover, it will occur that even this agreement is no p0fir.ve evidence of the exactnefs of the time, for it may fo happen that the fum-totals may agree, and yet every parti- cular fum conftituting the whole ma7 be falle, that is, if the quantity of errors which are too much exactly correfpond with the quantity of errors that are too little ; to obviate this as much as potflble, I have confidered three eclipfes of the fun as recorded in the Abyflinian annals. The firil was in the reign ot David III. the year before the king marched out to his iirft campaign againft Mafl'udi the Moor, in the unfortunate war with Adel. The year that the king march- ed into Dawaro was the 1526, after having difpatched the Portugucfe ambaffador Don Roderigo de Lima, who em- barked at Mafuah on die 26th of April on board the fleet commanded by Don Hector de Silveyra, who had come from India on purpofe to fetch him ; and the Abyflinian annals fay, that, the year before the king marched, a remarkable eclipfe of the fun had happened in the Ethiopic month Ter. Now, in confulting our European accounts, we find that, on the fecond of January, aniwering to the 18th day of Ter, there did happen an eel- pie of the fun, which, as it was in the time of trie year when the fky is cloudlefs both night and day, mull: have been viftble all the time of its du- ration. So here our accounts do agree precifely. Y y 2 Tee 356 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER The fecond happened on the 13th year^>f the reign of Claudius, as the Abyflinian account ftates it. Claudius fuc- ceeded to the crown in the 1540, and the 13th vear of his reign will fall to be on the 1553. Now we find f-uS eclipfe did happen in the fame clear feafon of the year, ti^t is, on the 24th of January 1553, lb in this fecond inlta^ce our chronology is perfectly correct. The thir^ eclipfe of the fun happened in the 7th year c£ the reign of Yafous II. in ivu^abit, the feventh month of ttu. Abvflinians. Now Yafous came to the crown in 1729, fo that the 7th year of his reign will be in 1736, and on the 4th day of Odtober, anfwering to the 8th day of the month Tekemt, N. S. in that year, we fee this eclipfe obferved in Europe. As a further confirmation of this, we have ftated the par- ticulars of a comet which, the Abyflinian annals fay, ap- peared at Gondar in the month of November, in the 9th year of the reign of Yafous I. and as this comet was ob- ferved in Europe to have come to its perihelion in Decem- ber 1689, and as that year, according to our account, was really the 9th of that king's reign, no further proof of the exadnefs of our chronology can pollibly be required. By means of thefe obfervations, counting backward to the rime of Icon Amlac, and again forward to the death of Joas, which happened in 1768, and affigning to each prince the number of years that his own hiftorians fay he reigned, I have, in the molt unexceptionable manner that I can devife, fettled the chronology of this country; and the exacl: agree- ment it hath with all the remarkable events, regularly and iumciently vouched, plainly fhewsthe accuracy of this me- 2 thod. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. $& thod. If, therefore, in a few cafes, I differ two or three years from the Jefuits in their firft account of this country, I do not in any fhape believe the fault to be mine, becaufe there are, at all thefe periods, errors in point of fact, both in Alva- rez and Tellez, much more material and unaccountable than the miflake of a few years ; and thefe errors have been adop- ted with great confidence in the Hifpania Illuftrata, and fame of the beft books of Portuguefe hiftory which have made mention of this country. CHAP. TRAVELS TO DISCOVER THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. BOOK VI. FIRST ATTEMPT TO DISCOVER THE SOURCE OF THE NILE FRUS- TRATED— A SUCCESSFUL JOURNEY THITHER, WITH A FULL ACCOUNT OF EVERY THING RELATING TO THAT CELEBRA- TED RIVER. CHAP. I. The Author made Governor of Ras el Feel. I SOON received an inftance of kindnefs from Ayto Confu which gave me great pleafure on feveral accounts. On the fouth part of Abyflinia, on the frontiers of Sennaar, is a hot, unwholefome, low ftripe of country, inhabited entirely by Mahometans, divided into feveral fmall di- ftricts, known by the general name of Mazaga. Of this I have 360 TRAVELS TO DISCOVE R-. have often before fpoken, and mall have further occafion in, the fequel. The Arabs of;Sennaar that are cm bad terms with the governor of Atbara, fly hither acrofs the defert to avoid the rapine and violence of that cruel tyrant. . The arrival of thefe produces in an inftant the greater! plenty at Ras el I eel ; markets are held everywhere ; cattle of all kinds, milk, , butter, elephants teeth,. hides, and feveral. other commodi- ties, are fold to a great amount. . The Arabs are of many different tribes ; the chief are the Daveina, then the Nile. Thefe, befides getting a good mar- ket, and food for their cattle and protection for themfelves, , have this great additional advantage, they efcape the Fly,, and confequently are not pillaged, as the reft of the Arabs in Atbara are, when changing abodes to avoid the havock made by that infect. In return for this, they conftantly bring horfes from Atbara, below Sennaar, for the king's own ufe, and for fuch of his cavalry who are armed with coats of mail, no Abyffinian horfe, or very few at leaft, bet- ing capable of that burden. Ayto Confu had many diftricts of land from his father- Kafmati Netcho, as well as fome belonging to his mother. Ozoro Either, which lay upon that frontier ; it was called- Ras el Feel, and had a fendick and nagareet, but, as it was governed always by a deputy who was a Mahometan, it had no rank among the great governments of the ftate. Befides thefe lands, the patrimony of Confu, Ras Michael had given him more, and with them this government, young as he was, from favour to his mother Ozoro Either. This THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 361 This Mahometan deputy was named Abdel Jelled, a great coward, who had refufed to bring out his men, tho' fum- moned, to join the king when marching againft Fafil. He had alio quarrelled with the Daveina, and robbed them, fo that they traded no more with Ras el Feel, brought no more horfes, and the diftricl: was consequently nearly ruined, whilft a great outcry was raifed againft Abdel Jelleel by the merchants who ufed to trade at that market, not having now money enough to pay the meery. Ammonios, his Billetana Gueta, was the perfon Ayto Confu had deftined to go to Ras el Feel to reduce it to order, and difplace Abdel Jelleel ; but Kas Michael had put him as a man of truft over the black horfe under me, fo he was em- ployed otherwife. Confu himfelf was now preparing to go thither to fettle another deputy in the place of Abdel Jelleel, and he had afked the affiftance of troops from the king, by which this came to my knowledge. The firfl time I fawOzoro Efther, I told her, that, unlefs fhe had a mind to have her fon die fpeedily, fhe mould, by every means in her power, diffuade him from his journey to Ras el Feel, being a place where the bloody flux never ceafed to rage ; and this complaint had never perfectly left him fince he had had the fmall-pox, but had wore him to a fhadow. There could be no furer way therefore of deftroy- ing him than letting him go thither as he propofed. He had been for fome time indeed taking bark, which had done him great fervice. His mother Ozoro Efther, the Iteghe, whofe firft favourite he was, and all his friends, now took the alarm, upon which the Ras forbade him pofitively to go. Vol. III. £ z Neoade ,6a TRAVELS TO DISCOVER Negade Ras Mahomet, of whom we have already fpoken}. brother to Hagi Saleh, who had procured me my firft lodg- ing at Gondar, was head of all the Mahometans in that ca- pital, nay, I may fay, in Abyflinia. He, too, was a favourite of the Ras, and fhewed the fame attachment to me, on ac- count of Metical Aga, as had his brother Saleh. This man came to me one morning, and told me, that Yafine, whom I had brought with me to Abyffinia, and was recommended to me by Metical Aga, had married Abdel Jelleel's daughter, and that a fon of Saleh had married a daughter of Yaiine's. He faid there was not a man in Abyflinia that was a braver foldicr and better horfeman than Yafine ; that he had no love for money, but was a man of probity and honour, as indeed I had always found him ; that the people of Ras el Feel, to a man, wimed to have him for their governor in the room of Abdel Jelleel ; and that all the Arabs, as well as Shckh Eidele, governor of Atbara, for Sennaar, wifhed the: fame. Mahomet did not dare to fpeak for fear of Ozoro Either, who was thought to favour Abdel Jelleel, but he promifed,. that, if Ayto Confu would appoint him inftead of Abdel Jel- leel, he would give him 50 ounces of gold, befides what Ya- fine mould allow upon his fettlement, and would manage the affair with Michael when he had leave fo to do. He added, that his brother Saleh mould furnifh Yafine with 200 men from the Mahometans at Gondar, completely arm- ed with their firelocks, and commanded by young Saleh ia perlon. I was not at this time any judge of the expediency of the meafure ; but one refoiution i had made, and deter- mined THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 363 mined to keep, that I never would accept a poft or employ- ment for myfelf, or folicit any fuch for others. My reader will fee, that, for my own fafety, raoft unwillingly I had been obliged to break the £rft of thefe refolutions almoft as foon as it was formed, and I was now deliberating whether it was not better that I mould break the other for the fame reafon. Two things weighed with me extremely, the ex- perience of Yafme's prudence and attachment to me during the whole journey, and my determination to return by -Sennaar, and never truft myfelf more in the hands of that bloody aflaflin the Naybe of Mafuah, who I underftood had, at feveral times, manifefted his bad intentions towards me when I fhould return by that ifland. I flattered myfelf, that great advantage would accrue to me by Yafine's friendfhip with the Arabs and the Shekh of Atbara; and, having confulted Ay to Aylo firft, I made him propofe it to Ozoro Either. I found, upon fpeaking to that princefs, that there was fomething embroiled in the affair. She did not anfwer directly, as ufual, and I apprehended that the objection was to Yaline. I was no longer in doubt of this, when Ozoro Either told me Abba Salama had ftrongly efpoufed the caufe of Abdel Jelleel, who had bri- bed him. Notwithltanding this, I refolved to mention it myfelf to Confu, that I might have it in my power to know where the objection lay, and give a direct anfwer to Y'afine. I saw Confu foon after at Kofcam. His bark being ex- liaufted, I brought him more, and he fcemed to be much better, and in great fpirits. The time was favourable in all its circumftanccs, and I entered into the matter directly. I Z z 2 was 364 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER was very much furprifed to hear him fay gravely, and with- out hefitation, " I have as good an opinion of Yafme as you can have ; and I have as bad a one of Abdel Jelleel as any man in Gondar, for which, too, I have fufficient rea- fon, as it is but lately the king told me peevifhly enough, I did not look to my affairs, (which is true) as he underilood that the diftrict was ruined by having been neglected. But I am no longer governor of Ras el Feel, I have refigned it. I hope they will appoint a wifer and better man; let him choofe for his deputy Yafme, or who elfe he pleafes, for I have fworn by the head of the Iteghe, I will not meddle or. make with the government of Ras el ieel more. Tecla Mariam, the king's fecretary, came in at that in- ftant with a number of other people. I wanted to take Confu afide to afk him further if he knew who this gover- nor was, but he muffled among the crowd, faying, " My mother will tell you all ; the man who is appointed is your friend, and I think Yafine may be the deputy." I now loll no time in going to Ozoro Eflher to intercede for the go- vernment of Ras el Feel for Yafine. Among the crowd I met firft Tecla Mariam, the king's fecretary, who taking me by the hand, faid, with a laughing countenance, " O ho, I wifh you joy; this is like a man; you are now no ftranger, but one of us ; why was not you at court ?" I faid I had no particular bufinefs there, but that I came hither to fee Ayto Confu, that he might fpeak in fa- vour of Yafine to get him appointed deputy of Ras el Feel. " Why don't you appoint him yourfelf ? fays he ; what has Confu to do with the affair now ? You don't intend always to be in leading firings ? You may thank the king for your- felf, THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 365 felf, but I would never advife you to fpeak one word of Ya- fine to him ; it is not the cuftom ; you may, if you pleafe, to Confu, he knows him already. His eitate lies all around you, and he will enforce your orders if there mould be any need." " Pardon me, Tecla Mariam, faid I, if I do not underfland you. I came here to folicit for Yafine, that Confu or his fu ■ -,f >- would appoint him their deputy, and you anfwer that you advife me to appoint him myfelf." — " And fo I do, replies Tecla Mariam : Who is to appoint him but you ? You are governor of Ras el Feel ; are you not ?" I flood mo- tionlefs with aftonilhment. " It is no great affair, fays he, and I hope you will never fee it. It is a hot, unwholefomc country, full of Mahometans; but its gold is as good as any Chriilian gold whatever. I wifh it had been Begemder with all my heart, but there is a good time coming," After having recovered myfelf a little from my furprife, I went to Ayto Confu to kifs his hand as my fuperior, but this he would by no means fuffer me to do. A great din- ner was provided us by the Iteghe ; and Yafine being fent for, wa- appointed, cloathed,thatis inverted, and ordered im- mediately to Ras el Feel to his government, to make peace with the Daveina, and bring all the horfes he could get with him from thence, or from Atbara. I fent there alio that poor man who had given us the fmall blue beads on the road, as I have already mentioned. The having thus provided for thofe two men, and fecured, as I thought, a retreat toSen- naar for myfelf, gave me the firft real pleafure that I had re- ceived fince landing at Mafuah ; and that day, in company with Heikel, Tecla Mariam, Engedan, Aylo, and Guebra DengheL .366 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER Denghcl, all toy great friends and the hopes of this coun- try, I for the firft time, fince my arrival in Ahyflinia, aban- doned myfelf to joy. My conflitution was, however, too much weakened to bear any cxcefles. The day after, when I went home to Emfras, I found myfelf attacked with a flow fever, and, thinking that it was the prelude of an ague, with which I was often tormented, I fell to taking bark, without any remif- fion, or, where the remillion was very obfeure, I fliut my- felf up in the houfe,upon my conftant regimen of boiled rice, with abundant draughts of cold water. I was at this time told that there was a great commotion atGondar; that a monk of Debra Libanos, a favourite of the Iteghe and of the king too, had excommunicated Abba Sa- lama in a difpute about religion at the Itchegue's houfe; and, the day after, Hagi Mahomet, one of Ras Michael's tent-ma- Jcers, who lived in the town below, through which the high road from Gojam paffes, came to tell me, that many monks from Gojam had paffed through the low town, and expreff- >ed themfelves very much diffatisfied by hearing that a frank (meaning me) was in the town above. He faid that when they came in fixes and fevens at a time, there was no fear ; but when they returned altogether (as Michael fome- times made them do) they were like fo many madmen ; therefore, if I refolved to ftay at Emfras, he wifhed I would order him fend me fome Mahometan foldiers, who would ftrictly acl as I commanded them. At the fame time I received news that my great friend, Tecla Mariam, and his daughter of the fame name, the i moil THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. t,67 moft beautiful woman in Abyfllnia after Ozoro Either, were both ill at Gondar. There needed no more for me to repair inftantly thither. I muffled my head up as great of- ficers generally do when riding near the capital. I palled at different times above twenty of theie fanatics on the road, fix and feven together ; but either they did not know me, or at leaft, if they did, they did not fay any thing ; I came to Ay- to Aylo's, who was fitting, complaining of fore eyes, with the queen's chamber lain,. Ay to Heikel. After the ufual falutation, I afkcd Aylo what was the mat- tcr in town ? and if it was true that Sebaat Gzier had excom- municated Abba Salama ? and told him that I had conceived tliefe difputes about faith had been long ago fettled. He an- fwered with an affected gravity, " That it was not fo ; that this was of fuch importance that he doubted it would throw the country into great convulfions ; and he would not advife me to be feen in the ilrcet." — " Tell me, I befeech you, faid I, what it is about. I hope not the old ftory of the Franks ?" — " No, no, fays he, a great deal worfe than that, it is about Nebuchadnezzar :" — and he broke out in a great fie of laughter. " The monk of Debra Libanos fays, that Ne- buchadnezzar is a faint ; and Abba Salama fays that he was a Pagan, Idolater, and a Turk, and that he is burning in hell fire with Dathan and Abiram." — " Very well, faid I, I cannot think he was a Mahometan if he was a Pagan and Idolater ; but I am fure I mall make no enemies upon this- difpute." — u You are deceived, fays he ; unlefs you tell your opinion in this country you are reckoned an enemy to both parties. Stay, therefore, all night, and do not appear on the ftreets ;" and, upon my telling them I was going to Tecla Mariana's,, who was ill, they role with me to go thither, for 353 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER for the ftricleft friendfhip fubfifted between them. We met there with Ozoro Either, who was vifiting the beautiful Te- cla Mariam in her indifpofition. Seeing Aylo, Heikel, and me together at that time of night, fhe infilled that the young lady and I mould be married, and fhe declared roundly fhe would fee it done before fhe left the houfe. As neither of my patients were very ill, a great deal of mirth followed. Ozoro Efther fat late; there was no occafion for the compliment of feeing her home, fhe had above three hundred men with her. After fhe was gone the whole difcourfe turned upon religion, what we believed or did not believe in our coun- try, and this continued till day-light, when we all agreed to take a little fleep, then breakfaft, and go to court. We did fo, but Aylo went to Kofcam, and Tecla Mariam to the Ras, fo I met none of them with the king. When I went in he was hearing a pleading upon a caufe of fome confe- quence, and paying great attention. One of the parties had finifhed, the other was replying with a great deal of grace- ful action, and much energy and eloquence. — They were bare down to their very girdle, and would feem rather pre- pared for boxing than for fpeaking. This being over, the room was cleared, and I made my proftration. " I do demand of you, fays the king abruptly, Whether Nebuchadnezzar is a faint or no ?" I bowed, fay- ing, " Your majefty knows I am no judge of thefe matters, and it makes me enemies to fpeak about them." — " I know, fays he gravely, that you will anfwer my queftion when I afk it ; let me take care of the reft." — " I never thought, laid I, bir, that Nebuchadnezzar had any pretenfions to be a o faint. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 369 'faint. He was a fcourge in God's hand, as is famine or the plague, but that does not make either of them a wholefome vifitation."— " What! fays he, Does not God call him his fer- vant ? Does he not fay that he did his bidding about Tyre, and that he gave him Egypt to plunder for his recompence? Was not it by God's command he led his people into capti- vity ? and did not he believe in God, when Shadrach, Me- fhech, and Abednego efcaped from the fiery furnace ? Sure- ly he mutt be a faint."—" I am perfectly fatisfied, faid I, and give my confent to his canonization, rather than either your majefty, or Abba Salama, mould excommunicate me upon the queftion." He now laughed out, and feemed great- ly diverted, and was going to fpeak, when Tecla Mariam, and a number of others, came in. I withdrew to the fide with refpeet, as the fecrctary had a fmall piece of paper in his hand. He ftaid about two minutes with the king, when the room filled, and the levee began. I wifhed Tecla Mariam might not be the worfe for laft night's fitting up. "The better, the better, fays he, much the better. You fee we are becoming all good, day and night we are bufy about religion." — " Are you upon Nebuchadnezzar to-day, friend? faid I ; the king fays to me he is a faint." — " Juft fuch a faint, I fuppofe, fays he, as our Ras Michael, who, 1 believe, is jea- lous of him, for he is going himfelf to decide this difpute immediately. Go to the Alhoa* and you will hear it." There was a number of people in the outer court of the king's houfe, crying very tumultuoully for a convocation of the church. At twelve o'clock there was no word of Mi- Vol. 111. 3 A chael •The largcft court, or outer Tpace, furrounding die king's, l.ojfe. 370 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER chad at the palace ; but I faw the members of the council: there, and expected he was coming. Inftead of this, the large kettle-drum, or nagareet, called the lion, was carried to the king's gate, which occafioned great speculation. But prefently proclamation was made in thefe words, given me by Tecla Mariam himfelf : — " Hear ! hear ! hear ! they that pretend they do not hear this, will not be the laft punifhed for diibbeying : — Whereas many diforderly and idle perfons Have flocked to this capital for fome days pad, and brought no proviiions for themfelves or others, and have frightened the country people from coming to market, whereby all degrees of men, in this capital, are threatened with famine, and fcarcity is already begun ; this is, therefore, to give no- tice, That if any fuch people, after twelve o'clock to-morrow, be found in this city, or in the roads adjoining thereto, they fhall be punifhed like rebels and robbers, and their fault, not prefcribed for feven years," And, in about ten minutes afte wards, another proclama- tion was made : — " The king orders four hundred Galla of his troops to patrole the Itreets all the night, and difperfe fummarily all forts of people that they iliall find gathered to- gether; commands thirty horfe to patrole between DebraTzai and Koila, thirty on the road to Woggora, and thirty on that to Emfras, to protect our Subjects coming to market, and going about their other lawful bufinefs : They that are wife will keep themfelves well when they are fa" There was no need' of a fecond proclamation. The monks were all wife, and returned in an inftant every man to his home. The Galla- were mentioned to terrify only, for they did not exift,. Ozoro Either having cleared the palace of that nation ; but ihe monks knew there would be found people in their place 4 ever j THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 371 every bit as bad as Galla, and did not choofe to rifk the trial of the difference. At this time a piece of bad news was circulated at Gon- dar, that Kafmati Boro, whom the Ras had left governor at Damot, had been beaten by Fafd, and obliged to retire to his own country in Gojam, to Stadis Amba, near the pafTage of the Nile, at Mine ; and that Fafil, with a larger army of ftranger Galla than that he had brought to Fagitta, had ta- ken poilemon of Bure, the ufual place of his refidence. This being privately talked of as true, I allied Kefla Yafous in confidence what he knew of it. Upon its being confirmed, I could not difguife my forrow, as 1 conceived that unex- pected turn of affairs to be an invincible obftacle to my reaching the fource of the Nile. " You are miftaken, fays Kefla Yafous to me, it is the befl thing can hap- pen to you. Why you defire to fee thofe places I do not know, but this I am lure of, you never will arrive there with any degree of fafety while Fafil commands. He is as per- fect, a Galla as ever forded the Nile ; he has neither word, nor oath, nor faith that can bind him ; he does mifchief for mifchief's fake, and then laughs at it." " Michael, after the battle of Fagitta, propofed to his army to pafs the rainy feafon at Bure, and quarter the troops in the towns and villages about. He would have flaid a year with them, to mew that Fafil could not help them, but he was over-ruled. At Hydar Michael (that is, in November next) all Abymnia will march againfl him, and he will not flay for us, and this time we mall not leave his country till we have eaten it bare ; and then, at your eafe, you will fee every thing, defend yourfelf by your own 3 A 2 force. 372 TRAVELS TO DTSCOVER force, and be beholden to nobody ; and remember what I fay, peace with Fafil there never will be, for he does not de- fire it ; nor, till you fee his head upon a pole, or Michael's army encamped at Burc, will you. (if you are wife) ever at- tempt to pafs Maitfha." Memorable words! often after- wards reiletf:ed upon, though they were not ftritfly verified in the extent they were meant when fpoken. *%3&tm CHAP, THE SOURCE OV THE NILE. 373" ^cRr^SSfc^om* CHAP. IL Battle of Banja — Con/piracy agalnjl Michael— The Author retires fr Emfras — Defcription ofGoitdary Emfras, and Lake Ti-ana. AFTER Fafil's defeat atFagkta, and the affront he recei- ved at Affoa in the heart of his own country, he had continued his route to Bure, a diltricT^of the Agows, where was his conftant refidence. After this he had crofted the. Nile into the country of Bizamo, and Boro de Gago had ta- ken up his refidence at Bare, when Michael returned to Gondar ; but no fooner had he heard of his arrival in thofe parts than lie marched with a number of horfe, and forced Ki& rival to. retire to Gojam. The Agows were all loyalifls in their hearts, had been forced to join Fafd, but, immediately after his defeat, had de- clared for Michael. The firft thing, therefore, Falil did, when returned to Bare, was to attack the Agows on every hde ; a double advantage was furc to follow this vielory, the fa- miihing his enemies at Gondar, and converting i'o rich a. territory to his own ufe, by extirpating the Agows, and lay- ing 374 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER ing it open to be poflefTed by his countrymen, the Galla, from Biz am o. A vERtf obflinate battle was fought at Banja, one of their principal fettlements, in which the Agows were entirelv defeated, feven of their chiefs killed, all men of great confe- quence, among whom was Ayamico, a very near relation of the king. The news were firft brought by a fon of Nanna Georgis, chief of the Agows, who efcaped from the battle. Michael was at dinner, and I was prefent. It was one of his caroufals for the marriage of PowuiTen, when young Georgis came into the room, in a torn and dirty habit, unattended, and almoft unperceived, and prefented himfelf at the foot of the table. Michael had then in his hand a cup of gold, it being the exclufive privilege of the governor of the province of Tigre to drink out of fuch a cup ; it was full of wine ; before a word was fpoke, and, upon the firfl appearance of the man, he threw the cup and wine upon the ground, and cried out, I am guilty of the death of thcfe people. Every one arofe, the table was removed, and Georgis told his misfortune, that Nanna Georgis his father, Zeegam Georgis, the next in rank among them, Ayamico the king's relation, and four other chiefs, were flain at Banja, and their race nearly extirpated by a vi(5lory gained with much bloodfhed, and after cruelly purfued in retaliation for that of Fagitta. ■ A council was immediately called, where it was re for* ved, that, though the rainy feafon was at hand, the utmoft expedition mould be made to take the field ; that Gufho and PowuiTen fhould return to their provinces, and increafe their army to the utmoft of their power ; that the king mould THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 375 IHould take the low road by Foggora and Dara, there to join the troops of Begemder and Amhara, crofs the Nile at the mouth of the lake, above the fecond cataract, as it is called, and march thence ftraight to Bure, which, by fpeedy march- es, might be done in five or fix days. No refolution was ever embraced with more alacrity ; the caufe of the Agows was the caufe of Gondar, or famine would elfe immediate- ly follow. The king's troops and thofe of Michael were all ready, and had juft refrelhed themfelves by a week's feftivity. Gusho and PowufTen, after having fworn to Michael that they never would return without Fafil's head, decamped next morning with very different intentions in their hearts ; for no fooner had they reached Begemder than they entered into a confpiracy in form againfl Michael, which they had long meditated ; they had refolved to make peace with Fafil, and fwear with him a folemn league, that they were but to have one caufe, one council, and one intereft, till they had deprived Michael of his life and dignity. The plan was, that, in hopes to join with them, the army fhould pafs by Dara and the mouth of the lake, as aforefaid, between that lake, called the lake of Dembea, on the north fide, and an- other fmall lake, which feems formerly to have been part of the great one, and is called Court-ohha ; on the fouth is the village of Derdera, and the church of St Michael. Here - was to be the fcene of action ; as foon as Michael advanced to Derdera, Gufho and PowufTen were to clofe him behind on the north ; Fafil, from Maitfha, was to appear on his front from the fouth, whilft, between Court-ohha and the lake, in the midfl of thefe three armies, Michael was to lofe his liberty or his life. The fecret was profoundly kept, though known by many ; but every one was employed in preparations 376 "TRAVELS TO DISCOVER preparations for the campaign on the king's part, and no fufpicion entertained, for nothing colls .an Abyflinian lefs .than to diffemble. Tt had been agreed by Gufho and PowufTen before part- ing, in order to deceive Michael, that, fhould Falil retire from Bure at their approach, and pafs the Nile into his own country, the King, Ras Michael, and part of the army mould remain at Bure all the rainy feafon ; that, upon the return of the fair weather, they were all again to aflemble at Bu- re, crofs the Nile into Bizamo, and lay wafte the country of the Galla , that the veftige of habitation mould not be feen upon it. All this time I found myfelf declining in health, to which the irregularities of the laft week had greatly con- tributed. The King and Ras had fufficiently provided tents and conveniencies for me, yet I wanted to conftruc"t for my- felf a tent, with a large flit in the roof, that I might have an opportunity of taking observations with my quadrant, without being inquieted by troublefome or curious vifitors. I therefore obtained leave from the king to go to Emfras, a town about twenty miles fouth from Gondar, where a number of Mahometan tent-makers lived. Gufho had a houfe there, and a pleafant garden, which he very willing- ly gave me the ufe of, with this advice, however, which at the time I did not understand, rather to go on to Amhara with him, for I mould there fooner recover my health, and be more in quiet than with the King or Michael. As the king was to pafs immediately under this town, and as moft jof thofe that loaded and unloaded his tents and baggage 2 were THE SOURCE OF THE NILE, 377 were Mahometans, and lived at Emfras, I could not be bet- ter fituated, or more at my liberty and cafe, than there. After having taken my leave of the king and the Ras, I paid the fame compliment to the Iteghe at Kofcam : I had not for feveral days been able to wait upon her, on account of the riots during the marriage, where the Ras required my attendance, and would admit of no excufe. That excellent princefs endeavoured much to difluade me from leaving Gondar. She treated the intention of going to the fource of the Nile as a fantaftical folly, unworthy of any man of fenfe or undemanding, and very earaeftly advifed me to flay under her protection at Kofcam, till I faw whether Ras Michael and the king would return, and then take the firft good opportunity of returning to my own country through Tigre, the way that I came, before any evil mould overtake me. I excusfd myfelf the belt I could. It was not eafy to do it with any degree of conviction, to people utterly unlearn- ed, and who knew nothing of the prejudice of ages in fa- vour of the attempt I was engaged in. I therefore turned the difcourfe to ,profefIions of gratitude for beneiits that I had every day received from her, and for the very great ho- nour that Ihe then did me, when (he condcfcended to teflify her anxiety concerning the fate of a poor unknown travel- ler like me, who could not pombly have any merit but what arofc from her own gracious and generous fentiments, and univerfal charity, that extended to every object, in pro- portion as they were helplefs. " See, fee, fays fhe, how every day of our life punifhes us with proofs of the per- verfenefs and contradi&ion of human nature ; you are Vol. III. 3 B come 378 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER come from Jerafalem, through vile Turkim governments, and hot, unwholefome climates, to fee a river and a bog, no part of which you can carry away were it ever fo valua- ble, and of which you have in your own country a thou- fand larger, better, and cleaner, and you take it ill when I difcourage you from the purfuit of this fancy, in which you are likely to periih, without your friends at home ever hear- ing when or where the accident happened. While I, on the other hand, the mother of kings who have fat upon, the throne of this country more than thirty years, have for my only wifh, night and day, that, after giving up every thing in the world, I could be conveyed to the church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerufalem, and beg alms for my fub- fiflcnce all my life after, if I could only be buried in the ftreet within fight of the gate of that temple where our bleffed Saviour once lay." This was faid in the moft me- lancholy tone poliible, anunufual gloom hanging upon her countenance. Her defiring me, however, to flay at Kofcam, till I knew whether the king and Michael would return or not, confidering the large army they were to lead to the field, and the fecblenefs of the fo-often defeated Fafil, made me from that inftant apprehend that there was fomething' behind with which I was yet unacquainted. Gold, and orders for cattle and provifions while at Em- fras, followed this converfation with the queen ; this, in- deed, had never failed at other times, which, byAyto A}lo's advice, I never more refufed. Here I cannot help obferving the different manner in which three people did the fame thing. When I received gold from Michael, it was openly from his hand to mine, without compliment, as he paid the pell of the king's fervants. When I received it irom the kin g» THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 375 king, it was likewife from his own hand ; it was always when alone, with a fear expreffed that I fuffered myfelf to he ftrakened rather than afk, and that I did not levy, with fufficient feverity, the money the feveral places allotted to me were bound to pay, which, indeed, was always the cafe. The queen, on the other hand, from whom I received con- ftant donations, never either produced gold herfelf, nor fpoke of it before or after, but fent it by a fervant of hers to a fervant of mine, to employ it for the neceflaries of my family. I confess I left the queen very much affected with the difpofition I had found her in, and, if I had been of a tem- per to give credit to prognoftics, and a fafe way bad been opened through Tigre, I lhould at that time, perhaps, have taken the queen's advice, and returned without feeing the fountains of the Nile, in the fame manner that all the tra- vellers of antiquity, who had ever as yet endeavoured to explore them, had been forced to do ; but the prodigious bullle and preparation which I found was daily making in Gondar, and the aflurances everybody gave me that, fafe in the middle of a victorious army, I mould fee, at my lei- sure, that famous fpot, made me refume my former refuta- tions, awakened my ambition, and made me look upon it as a kind of treafon done to my country, in which i'uch efforts were then making for difcoverics, to renounce, now it was in my power, the putting them in poffeiiion of that one which had baffled the courage and perfeverance of the braveft men in all ages. The pleafure, too, of herborifing in an unknown country, fuch as Emfras was, of continuing to do fo in fafety, and the approaching every day to the end of my wiib.es, chafed away all thofe gloomy apprehenfions ^ b 2 which 38o TRAVELS TO DISCOVER which I imbibed from the appearance and difcourfe of the queen, and of which I now began to be afhamed. Gondar, the metropolis of Abyflinia, is fituated upon a hill of considerable height, the top of it nearly plain, on which the town is placed. It confifts of about ten thoufand families in times of peace ; the houfes are chiefly of clay, the roofs thatched in the form of cones, which is always the conilruction within the tropical rains. On the weft end of the town is the king's houfe, formerly a ftructure of con- siderable confequence ; it was a fquare building, flanked with fquare towers ; it was formerly four ftoreys high, and, from the top of it, had a magnificent view of all the coun* try fouthward to the lake Tzana. Great part of this houfe is now in ruins, having been burnt at different times ; but there is Hill ample lodging in the two loweft floors of it^ the audience- chamber being above one hundred and twenty feet long. A succession of kings have built apartments by the fide of it of clay only, in the manner and fafhion of their own country ; for the palace itfelf was built by mafons from In- dia, in the time of Facilidas, and by fuch AbyfTinians as had been inftructed in architecture by the Jefuits without embracing their religion, and after remained in the coun- try, unconnected with the expulfion of the Portuguefe, du- i-ing this prince's reign. The palace, and all its contiguous buildings, are furround- ed by a fubllantial ftone wall thirty feet high, with battle- ments upon the outer wall, and a parapet roof between the outer and inner, by which you can go along the whole and look THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 38-1 look into the ftrect. There appears to have never been any cmbrafures for cannon, and the four fides of this wall are above an Englifh mile and a half in length. The mountain, or hill, on which the town is fituated, is furrounded on every fide by a deep valley, which has three outlets; the one to the fouth to Dembea, Maitflia, and the Agows; the fecond to the north* well towards Sennaar, over the high mountain Debra Tzai, or the Mountain of the Sun, at the root of which Kofcam, the palace of the Iteghe, is fituated, and the low countries of Walkayt and Waldubba ; the third is to the north to Woggora, over the high moun- tain Lamalmon, and fo on through Tigre to the Red Sea. The river Kahha, coming from the Mountain of the Sun, or De- bra Tzai, runs through the valley, and covers all the fouth of the town ; the Angrab, falling from Woggora, furrounds it on the N. N. E. Thefe rivers join at the bottom of the hill, about a quarter of a mile fouth of the town. Immediately upon the bank oppofite to Gondar, on the other fide of the river, is a large town of Mahometans of a- bout a thoufand houfes. Thefe are all active and laborious people; great part of them are employed in taking care of the king's and nobility's baggage and field-equipage, both when they take the field and when they return from it. They pitch and ftrike their tents with furprifing facility and expedition ; they load and conduct the mules and the baggage, and are formed into a body under proper offi- cers, but never fuffered, nor do they chufe, to fight on either fide. Gondar, 382 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER Gondar, by a number of obfervations of the fun and {tars made by day and night, in the courfe of three years, with an agronomical quadrant of three feet radius, and two excellent telefcopes, and by a mean of all their fmall differ- ences, is in lat. 1 20 34' 30" ; and by many obfervations of the fatellites of Jupiter, efpecially the firft, both in their im- merfions and emerfions during that period, I concluded its longitude to be 370 ^^' o' call from the meridian of Greenwich. It was the 4th of April 1770, at eight o'clock in the morning, when I fet out from Gondar. V/e palled the Kah- ha, and the Mahometan town, and, about ten in the morn- ing, we came to a confiderable river called the Mogetch, which runs in a deep, rugged bed of flakey blue Hones. We croiled it upon a very iblid, good bridge of four arches, a convenience feldom to be met with in palling Abyffinian ri- vers, but very neceflary on this, as, contrary to moll of their flreams, which become dry, or Hand in pools, on the ap- proach of the fun, the Mogetch runs conftantly, by rca- fon that its fources are in the higheft hills of Wogg^ra, where clouds break plentifully at all feafons of the year. In the rainy months it rolls a prodigious quantity of water into the lake Tzana, "and would be abfolutcly unpayable to people bringing provifion to the market, were it not for this bridge built by Eacilidas ; yet it is not judicioufly pla- ed, being clofc to the mountain's foot, in the face of a tor- rent, where it runs ilrongeil, and carries along with it Hones of a prodigious lize, which luckily, as yet, have injured no part of the bridge. The water of the river Mogeticn is not wholefomc, probably from the minerals, or flony particles at carries along with it, and the flatey ftrata over which it 1 runs. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 383 runs. We have many rivers of this quality in the Alps, e- fpecially between mount Cenis and Grenoble. Delivered now from the ftrait and rugged country on the: banks of the Mogetch, we entered into a very extenfive plain, bounded on the eaft fide by the mountains, and on the weft by the large lake of Dembea, otherwiie called the lake Tzana, or Bahar Tzana, the Sea of Tzana, which geographers have corrupted into the word Barcena. Rejoiced at laft that I had elbow-room, I began the mod laborious fearch for Ihrubs and herbs all over the plain, my fervants on one fide and I on the other, fearching the country on each fide of the road. It appeared to our warm imaginations, that the neighbourhood of fuch a lake, in fo remote a part of the world, ought infallibly to produce fomething perfectly beautiful, or altogether new. In this, however, we were difappointed, as indeed we always were in meadows, and where grafs grew {o exuberantly as it did all over this plain. At eleven o'clock we croffed the river Tedda ; here the road divides : that branch to the eaft leads to Wechne, iii the wild, uncultivated territory of BelefTen, famous for no production but that of honey. We continued along the other branch of the road, which led fouth to Emfras. One mile diftant on our left is the church of St George. About one o'clock we halted at the church Zingetch Mariam ; and a few minutes after, we paHTed the river Gomara, a confiderable ftream rifing in Be- kilen, which Hands in pools during the dry weather, but had 3S4 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER had now begun to run ; its courfe N. E. and S. \V. acrofs the plain, after which it falls into the lake Tzana. At two we halted at Correva, a fmall village, beautifully fuuated on a gentle-rifing ground, through which the road panes in view of the lake, and then again divides ; one branch continuing fouth to Emfras, and fo on to Foggora and Dara; the other to Mitraha, two fmall iflands in the lake, lying S. W. from this at the diftance of about four hours journey. The road from Correva to Emfras, for the firft hour, is all in the plain ; for the fecond, along the gentle flope of a mountain of no confiderable height ; and the re- mainder is upon a perfect flat, or along the lake Tzana, The 5th of April, at five in the morning, we left our pre- fent nation at Correva, where, though we had employed fe- deral hours in the fearch, we found very little remarkable of either plants or trees, being moflly of the kind we had already feen. We continued our road chiefly to the fouth, through the fame fort of country, till we came to the foot of a mountain, or rather a hill, covered with bufhes and thorny trees, chiefly the common acacia, but of no fize, and feeming not to thrive. I pitched my tent here to fearch what that cover would produce. There were a great quan- tity of hares, which I could make no ufe of, the Abyflinians holding them in abhorrence, as thinking them unclean ; bu< to make amends, I found great ftore of Guinea fowls, of the common grey kind we have in Europe, of which I mot, in a little time, above a fcore ; and thefe, being perfectly lawful food, proved a very agreeable variety from the raw beef, butter, and honey, which we had lived upon hitherto, , and THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 385 and which was to be our diet (it is not an unpleafant one, at leaft a part of it) till we reached Emfras. At eight in the morning I patted through Tangouri, a confiderable village. About a hundred yards on the right from this we have a finer profped of the lake than even from Correva itfelf. This village is chiefly inhabited by Mahometans, whofe occupation it is to go in caravans far to the fouth, on the other fide of the Nile, through the feveral diftrids of Galla, to whom they carry beads and large needles, cohol, or Stibium, myrrh, coarfe cloths made in Begemder, and pieces of blue cotton cloths from Surat, call- ed Marowti. They are generally nearly a year abfent, and bring in return flaves, civet, wax, hides, and cardomum in large beautiful pods ; they bring likewife a great quantity of ginger, but that is from farther fouth, nearer Narea. It appears to me to be a poor trade, as far as I could compute it, confidering the lofs of time employed in it, the many ac- V cidents, extortions, and robberies thefe merchants meet witho Whether it would be ever worth while to follow it on an- other footing, and under another government, is what I am vnot qualified enough to fay. On the left of Tangouri, divided from it by a plain of -about a mile in breadth, Hands a high rock, called Amba Mariam, with a church upon the very fummit of it. There ■is no poffibility of climbing this rock but at one place, and -there it is very difficult and rugged ; here the inhabitants of the neighbouring villages retreat upon any fudden alarm or inroad of an enemy. Vol. III. 3 C At 386 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER At nine o'clock, after palling a plain, with the lake Tzana all the way on our right, in length about three miles, we came to the banks of the river Gorno, a fmall but clear fiream ; it rifes near Wechne, and has a bridge of one arch over it about half a mile above the ford. Its courfe is north and fouth nearly, and lofes itfelf in the lake between Mitraha and Lamgue. A mile farther we arrived at Em- fras, after a very pleafant, though not interefling excur~- fion. The town is fituated on a deep hill, and the way up to it- is almoft perpendicular like the afcent of a ladder. The houfes are all placed about the middle of the hill, fronting the weft, in number about 300. Above thefe houfes are gardens, or rather fields, full of trees and bufhes, without any fort of order, up to the very top. Emfras commands a view of the whole lake, and part of the country on the other fide. It was once a royal refidence. On a fmall hill is a houfe of HatzeHannes, in form of a fquare tower, now going fail to ruin, Emfras is in lat. 120 12' 38" N. and long. 37° 38' 30""' E. of the meridian of Greenwich. The distances and direc- tions of this journey from Gondar were carefully obferved by a compafs, and computed by a watch of Ellicot's, after which thefe fituations were checked by aftronomical ob- iervations of latitude and longitude in every way that they could be taken, and it was very feklom in a day's journey that we erred a mile in our computation. The lake of Tzana is by much the largeft expanfe of wa- ter, known in that country. Its extent, however, has been: 4. greatly. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 38/ greatly exaggerated. Its greateft breadth is from Dingleber to Lamgue, which, in a line nearly eail and weft, is 35 miles ; but it decreafes greatly at each extremity, where it is not fometimes above ten miles broad. Its greateft length is from Bab Baha to a liitle S. W. and by W. of that part, where the Nile, after having crofted the end of it by a cur- rent always vifible, turns towards Dara in the territory of Alata, which is 49 miles from north to fouth, and which extent this lake has in length. In the dry months, from Oftober to March, the lake fhrinks greatly in ftze ; bat after that all thole rivers are full which are on every fide of it, and fall into the lake, like radii drawn to a center, then it fwells, and extends kfelf into the plain country, and has of courfe a much larger furface. There are forty-five inhabited iflands in the lake, if you believe the Abyffinians, who, in every thing, are very great liars. I conceive the number may be about eleven : the principal is Dek, or Daka, or Daga*, nearly in the middle of the lake ; its true extent I cannot fpecify, never having been there. Befides Dek, the other iflands are Haiimoon, nearer Gondar; Briguida, nearer Gorgora, and ftill farther in Galila. All thefe iflands were formerly ufed as prifons for the great people, or for a voluntary retreat, on account of fome difguft or great misfortune, or as places of fecurity to depofit their valuable effects during troublefome times. When I was in Abyflinia, a few weeks after what I have been relating, 1300 ounces of gold, confided by the queen to Wel- 3 C 2 lcta * It fignifies the hill, ot high ground. 388 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER leta Chriftos, her governor of Dck, a man of extraordi- nary fanctity, who had fafted for forty years, was flolen away by that prieft, who fled and hid himfelf ; nor would the queen ever fuffer him to be fearched after or appre- hended. CHAP* THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 3»9 NSSJQJ*1 CHAP. III. J&f King encamps at Lamgue—Tranfaaions there— Pafes the Nile, and encamps at Derdera—The Author follows the King. ON the 1 2th of May we heard the king had marched to Tedda. MefTengers from Begemder-, and from Gufho of Amharai had been conftantly palling to and from his maje- fty, prefling Ras Michael to take the field as foon as pof- fible, to prevent the utter deflru&ion of the Agows, which Fafil every day was driving to accomplish. They put him, moreover* in mind, that the rains were begun ; that, in Fafil's country, they were already fufficient to fwell the many ri- vers they had to pafs before they arrived at Bine ; they de- fired him to refled, that, with the armies they were bring- ing to his afMance, it was more neceflary to fave time than flay for a number of troops ; laftly, that it was abfolutely ufelefs to wait for any reinforcement from Tigre, but that he mould rather march by tmfras, Foggora, and Dara, crofs the Nile where it comes out of the lake; while they, with their 39° TRAVELS TO DISCOVER their united armies, palled at the bridge near the fecond ca- taracl, fixteen miles below, burnt and laid wafte Woodage, Afahel's country, and joined him at Derdera, between Court- ohha and the lake. This was precifely what Ras Michael himfelf had planned ; it embraced the whole country of his enemy, and made his fcheme of vengeance complete ; hi- therto not a word had tranfpired that could raife the fmall- eft fufpicion of treachery. The 13th, by day-break, Netcho, Fit-Auraris to Ras Mi- chael, palled in great hafte below the town towards Foggora. The king had made a forced march from Tedda, and was that night to encamp at a houfe of Gufho's, near Lamgue. This was great expedition, and fufliciently marked the eagernefs with which it was undertaken. The effects of the approach of the army were foon feen. Every one hid what was bell in his houfe, or fled to the mountains with it. Emfras in a few hours was left quite empty : Ras Michael, advancing at the head of an army, fpread as much ter- ror as would the approach of the day of judgment. It was then Deflruction in a monarch's voice Cried havock, and let flip the dogs of war. Jor, ftrict and juft as he was in time of peace, or in prefer- ving the police, the fecurity of the ways, and the poor from the tyranny of the rich, he was moft licentious and cruel the moment he took the field, especially if that country which he entered had ever fhewn the leail tincture of en- mity againit him. About THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 39* About i i o'clock in the morning the king's Fit-Auraris pafled. He was a near relation of Ayamico, one of the chiefs of the Agows who was a relation of the king, as I have be- fore mentioned, and flain by Fafil at the battle of Banja. With him I had contracted. a great degree of friendfhip ; he had about 50 horfe and 200 foot: as he pafled at feveral places he made proclamation in name of the king, That nobody fhould leave their houfes, but remain quiet in them without fear, and that every houfe found empty fhould be burnt. He fent a fervant as he pafled, telling me the king was that night to lie at Lamgue, and defiring me to fend him what fpirits I could fpare, which I accordingly did, upon his providing a man who could protect the houfes adjoining mine from the robbery and the violence of which the inhabitants were- in hourly fear. About the clofe of the evening we heard the king's kettle-drums. Forty-five of thefe inftruments conftanrly go before him, beating all the way while he is on his march. The Mahometan town near the water was plun- dered in a minute ; but the inhabitants had long before re- moved every thing valuable. Twenty different parties of ftragglers came up the hill to do the fame by Emfras. Some of the inhabitants were known, others not fo, but their houfes had nothing in them ; at lafl thefe plunderers all uni- ted in mine, demanding meat and drink, and all fort of ac- commodation. Our friend, left with us by the Fit-Auraris, re- fifled as much as one man could do with flicks and whips, and it was a fcuffle till mid-night ; at lafl, having cleared ourielves of them, luckily without their fetting fire to the town, we remained quiet for the reft of the night. Ok 393 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER On the 14th, at day-break, I mounted my horfe, with all ray men-fervants, leaving the women-fervants and an old man to take care of the houfe. It was very unfafe to tra- vel in fuch company at fuch an hour. We crofTed the river Arno, a little below Emfras, before we got into the plain ; after which we went at a fmart gallop, and arrived at Lam- gue between eight and nine o'clock. 1 Early as it was, the king was then in council, and Ras Michael, who had his advifers affembled alfo in Ins tent, had juft left it to go to the king's. There was a- bout 500 yards between their tents, and a free avenue is conftantly left, in which it is a crime to Hand, or even to crofs, unlefs for meffengers fent from the one to the other. The old general difmounted at the door of the tent ; and though I faw he perceived us, and was always at other times moll courteous, he pafled us without taking the lead no- tice, and entered the tent of the king. Although my place in the houfehold gave me free ac- cefs to wherever the king was, I did not choofe, at that time, to enter the back tent, and place myfelf behind his chair, as I might have done ; I rather thought it better to go to the tent of Ozoro Eflher, where I was lure at leaf! of getting a good breakfaft : Nor was I difappointed. As foon as I fhew- ed myfelf at the door of che tent of that princcfs, who was lying upon a fofa, the moment fhe call her eyes upon me, cned out, There is Yagoube ! there is the man I wanted! The tent was cleared of all but her women, and fhe then began to enumerate of feveral complaints which flic thought, before the end of the campaign, would carry her to her grave. It was eafy to fee they were of the flightcfl kind, 2 though THE SOURCE Or THE NILE. 393 though it would not have been agreeable to have told her fo, tor lhe loved to be thought ill, to be attended, and flat- t< • d ; lhe was, however, in thefe circumitances, fo perfeft- 1- .od, fo converfable, fo elegant in all her manners, that her phyfician would have been tempted to wilh never to fee her well. She was then with child by Ras Michael ; and the late feftival, upon her niece's marriage with Powuffen of Begem- der, had been much too hard for her conftitution, always weak and delicate fince her firft misfortunes, and the death of Mariam Barea. After giving her my advice, and direct- ing her women how to adminifter what I was to fend her, the doors of the tent were thrown open ; all our friends came flocking round us, when we prefently faw that the interval employed in confutation had not been fpent ufe- lefsly, for a mod abundant breakfaft was produced in wood- en platters upon the carpet. There were excellent ftewed fowls, but fo inflamed with Cayenne pepper as almoft to blifter the mouth ; fowls dreffed with boiled wheat, jufl once broken in the middle, in the manner they are prepa- red in India, with rice called pillow v this, too, abundantly charged with pepper; Guinea hens, roafted hard without butter, or any fort of fauce, very white, but as tough as lea- ther; above all, the never- failing brind, for fo they call the collops of raw beef, without which nobody could have been fatisfied; but, what was more agreeable to me, a large quan- tity of wheat-bread, of Dembea flour, equal in all its quali- ties to the belt in London or Paris. The Abyffinians fay, you muft plant firft and then water; nobody, therefore, drinks till they have finilhed eating; Vol. III. 3 D after 394 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER after this the glafs went chearfully about ; there was ex- cellent red wine, but ftrong, of the nature of cote-roti, brought from Karoota, which is the wine country, about lix miles fouth-eaft from the place where we then were ; good new brandy ; honey- wine, or hydromel, and a fpecies of beer called Bouza, both of which were fermented with herbs, or leaves of trees, and made very heady ; they are difagree- able liquors to ftrangers. Our kind landlady, who never bad quitted her fofa, preffed about the glafs in the very brifkeft manner, reminding us that our time was fhort, and that the drum would prefently give the fignal for Unking the tents. For my part, this weighed exceedingly with me the contrary way to her intentions, for I began to fear I ihould not be able to go home, and I was not prepared to go on with the army ; befides, it was indifpenfibly necefTary to fee both the king and Ras Michael, and that 1 by no means chofe to do when my prefence of mind had left me ; I therefore made my apology to Ozoro Efther, by a menage delivered by one of her women, and llipt out of the tent to wait upon the king. I thought to put on my mod fedate appearance, that none of my companions in the king's tent mould fee that I was affected with liquor ; tho' intoxication in Abymnia is neither uncommon nor a reproach, when you are not en- gaged in bulinefs or attendance. I therefore went on as compofedly as poffible, without recollecting that I had al- ready advanced near a hundred yards, walking on that for- bidden precinct or avenue between the king's tent and Ras Michael's, where nobody interrupted me. The cafe with which I proceeded, among luch a crowd and buflle, foon brought THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 395 brought my tranfgreflion to my mind, and I hurried out of the forbidden place in an inilant. I met feveral of my acquaintance, who accompanied me to the king's tent. It was now noon ; a plentiful dinner or brea-kfaft was waiting, which I had abfolutely refufed to partake of till 1 had feen the king. Thinking all was a fecret that had palled at Ozoro Efther's, 1 lifted the curtain behind the king's chair, and coming round till nearly oppolite to him, I was about to perform the ufual proftration, when in the very inftant the young prince George, who was (landing oppofite to me on the king his brother's right hand, llcpt for- ward and laid his hand acrofs my breafl as if to prevent me from kneeling ; then turning to the king, who was fitting as ufual in his chair in the alcove, Sir, fays he, be- fore you allow Yagoube to kneel, you mould firft provide two men to lift him up again, for Ozoro Efther has given him fo much wine that he will never be able to do it him- felf.. Though it was almoftf impomble to avoid laughing, it was viiible the king conftrained himfelf, and was not plea- fed. The drink had really this good eflecT:, that it made me lefs abamed than I otherwife mould have been at this un- expected fally of the young prince. I was, however, fome- what difconcerted, and made my proftration perhaps lefs gracefully than at another time, and this raifed the merri- ment of thofe in waiting, as attributing it to intoxication, Upon rifing, the kingmofl gracioufly ftretched out his hand for me to kifs. While I was holding his hand, he faid to his brother, coldly, Surely if you thought him drunk, you mull have expected a reply ; in that cafe, it would have 3D2 been 396 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER been more prudent in you, and more civil, not to have made your obfervation. The prince was much abafhed. I haflened acrofs the •carpet, and took both his hands and killed them ; the laugh- ers did not feem much at their eafe, efpecially when 1 turn- ed and flood before the king. He was kind, fenlible, com- pofed, and condefcending ; he complained that I had aban- doned him ; afked if I had been well-ufed at Emfras, and doubted that I had wanted every thing ; but I fent you no- thing on purpofe, fays he, becaufe you faid failing would do you good after too much feailing at Gondar, and I knew that hunger would bring you foon back again to us. If your majefly, faid I, takes the prince's word, I have been caroufing to-day in your camp more than ever I did at Gondar; and, I do afTure your majefly, prince George's re- flections were not without foundation. Come, come, fays the king, Georgis is your firm and fail friend, and fo he ought, he owes it to you that he is fo able a horfeman and fo good a markfman, without which he could never be more than a common foldier. He has commanded a divifion of the army to-day ; — " Of 500 horfe, cries out the prince in extacy ; and, when the king my brother to-morrow leads the van, youfhall be myFit-Auraris,if you pleafe, when we pafs the Nile, and with my party I fhall fcour Maitfha." I ihould be very unhappy, prince, faid I, to have a charge of that importance, for which I know myfelf to be totally unquali- fied; there are many brave men who have a title to that of- fice, and who will fill it with honour to themfelves and fafety to your perfon. So you will not truft yourfelf, lays the prince, with me and my party when we fhall crofs the Nile ? THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 397 Nile ? Are you angry with me, Yagoube, or are you afraid of Woodage Afahel ? Were you in earned, prince, in what you now fay, replied 1, you fuppofe two things, both greater re- proaches than that of being overtaken with wine. Aflure yourfelf I am, and always fhall be, your moft affectionate and mod faithful fervant ; and that I fhall think it an honour to follow you in Maitfha, or elfewhere, even as a common horfeman, though, inftead of one, there were in it ten thou- fand Woodage Afahels. O ho ! fays the king, then you are all friends; and I muft tell you one thing, Georgis is more drunk with the thoughts of his command to-day than any foldier in my camp will be to-night with bouza. And this, indeed, feemed to be the cafe, for he was elfe a prince ra- ther referved and fparing of words, efpecially before his brother. Tell me, Yagoube, continues the king, and tell me truly — at that very inllant came in a mellenger from Ras Michael, who, going round the chair without faluting, fpoke to the king, upon which the room was cleared ; but I after learn- ed, that news were received from Begemder, that Powuffen and his troops were ready to march, but that two of Gufho's nephews had rebelled, whom it had taken fome time to fubdue; that another meffenger was left behind, but had fallen lick at Aringo, who, however, would come forward as foon as poffible with his mailer's meffage, and would be probably at the camp that night. He brought alfo as undoubted intelligence, that Fafil, upon hearing Ras Mi- chael's march, was preparing to repafs the Nile into the country of the Galla. This occafioiud very great doubts, becaufe difpatches had arrived from Nanna Georgis's fon, the day before at Tedda, which declared that Fafil had de- camped 3oS TRAVELS TO DISCOVER camped from Bure that very day the meffenger came away, advancing northward towards Gondar, but with what in- tention he could not fay ; and this was well known to be in- telligence that might be flrictly and certainly relied upon. On the 15th, the king decamped early in the morning,, and, as prince George had faid the night before, led the van in peiibn ; a flattering mark of confidence that Ras Michael had put in him now for the firft time, of which the king was very fenfible. The Ras, however, had given him a dry nurfe*, as it is called, in Billetana Gueta Welleta Michael, an old and approved officer, trained to war from his infancy, and furrounded with the moil tried of the troops of Tigre. The king halted at the river Gomara, but advanced that fame night to the paffage where the Nile comes out of the lake Tzana, and refumes again the appearance of a river. The king remained the 15th and 1 6th encamped upon the Nile. Several things that mould have given umbrage,, and begot fufpicion, happened while they were in this fitua- tion. Aylo, governor of Gojam,had been fummoned to af- iift Ras Michael when Powuffen and Gufho iliould march- to join him with their forces of Begemder and Amhara,and. his mother Ozoro Welleta Ifrael, then at Gondar, had pro- mifed he mould not fail. This lady was younger fifter to Ozoro Efther; both were daughters of the Iteghe. She was as beautiful as Ozoro Efther, but very much her inferior in- behaviour, character, and conduct : fhe had refufed the old' Ras, who afked her in marriage before he was called frorm Tigre * JMaguzetv. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 399 Tigre to Gondar, and a mortal hatred had followed her re- fufal. It was therefore reported, that he was heard to fay, he would order the eyes of Welleta Ifrael to be pulled out, if Aylo her fon did not join him. It mult have been a man fuch as Ras Michael that could form fuch a refolution, for Welleta Ifrael's eyes were moll captivating. She was then in the camp with her filler. A sincle fmall tent had appeared the evening of the 15th on the other fide of the Nile, and, on the morning of the 1 6th, Welleta Ifrael and the tent were miffing: ihc boldly made her efcape in the night. The tent had probably con- cealed her fon Aylo, or fome of his friends, to fhow her the paflage ; for the Nile there was both broad and deep, roll- ing along a prodigious mafs of water, with large, black, flip- pery Hones at the bottom. It was therefore a very arduous, bold undertaking for foldiers and men accuflomed to pais rivers in the day-time ; but for a woman, and in the night, too, with all the hurry that the fear of being intercepted mull have occafioned, it was fo extraordinary as to exceed all belief. But me was conduced by an intrepid leader, for with her deferted Ayto Engedan fon of Kafmati Eflitc, and confequently nephew to Ozoro Welleta Ifrael ; but their own inclinations had given them Hill a nearer relation than the degree received from their parents, or decency mould have permitted. All the camp had trembled for Welleta Ifrael ; and every one now rejoiced that fo bold an attempt had been attended with the fuccefs it merited. It was ne- ceflary, however, to diflemble before Michael, who, intent upon avenging the Agows againft Fafd, carried his reflec- tions at that time no further ; for Aylo's not coming was attributed to the influence of Fafd, whofe government of 2 Damot 4oo TRAVELS TO DISCOVER Damot joins Gojam, and it was even faid, that Welleta Ifrael, his mother, had been the occafion of this, from her hatred to Michael and her attachment to Fafil ; the firft caufe was fufficiently apparent, the laft had formerly been no lefs fo. On the 17th, after fun-rife, the king pafled the Nile, and encamped at a fmall village on the other fide, called Tfoom- wa, where his Fit-Auraris had taken poll early in the morn- ing. I have often mentioned this officer without explana- tion, and perhaps it may now be right to ftate his duty. The Fit-Auraris is an officer depending immediately upon the commander in chief, and correfponding with him di- rectly, without receiving orders from any other perfon. He is always one of the braveft, mofl robuft, and mofl expe- rienced men in the fervice ; he knows, with the utmofl ex- actnefs, the diflance of places, the depth of rivers, the ftate of the fords, the thicknefs of the woods, and the extent of them ; in a word, the whole face of the country in detaill His party is always adapted to the country in which the war is ; fometimes it is entirely compofed of horfe, fome- times of foot, but generally of a mixture of both. He has the management of the intelligence and direction of the fpies. He is likewife limited to no number of troops ; fometimes he has 1000 men, fometimes 200. In time of real danger he has generally about 300, all picked from the whole army at his pleafure ; he had not now about 50 horfe, as it was not yet thought to be the time of real bufinefs or danger. As the pod of Fit-Auraris is a place of great truft, fo it is endowed with proportionable emoluments. The king s 3 lit- THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 401 Fit-Auraris has territories affigned him in every province that he ever panes through, ib has that of the Ras, if he commands in chief. Every governor of a province has alfo an officer of this name, who has a revenue allowed him within his own province. It is a place of great fatigue. Their pod is at different diftances from the van of the army, according to the circumftances of the war ; fometimes a day's march, fometimes four or fix hours. As he paffes on he fixes a lance, with a flag upon it, in the place where the king's tent is to be pitched that night, or where he is to halt that day. He has couriers, or light runners, through which he conftantly correfponds with the army ; whenever he fees the enemy, he fends immediate advice, and falls back him- felf, or advances farther, according as his orders are. From Tfoomwa the king marched on, a fliort day's march, to Derdera, and encamped near the church of St Michael. Derdera, was a collection of fmall villages, between the lake Dembea and Court-ohha, where, it will be remembered, the agreement was the confederates mould inclofe Michael, and give him battle; but he had now loft all patience, as there was no appearance of either Guflio or Powuflen ; and being, be- fides, in an enemy's country, he began to proceed in his u- fual manner, by giving orders to lay wafte the whole adja- cent territory with fire and fword. The whole line of march, two day's journey in breadth from the lake, was fet on fire; the people who could not efcape were ilain, and every wan- ton barbarity permuted. The king's paffage of the Kile was the fignal given for me to fet out to join him. It was the 18th of May, at noon, I left Emfras, my courfe being fouthward whilft in the plain Vol, III. 3 E of 402 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER of Mitraha. At three o'clock we entered among a few hills of no confideration, and, foon after, began to coaft clofe along the fide of the lake Tzana ; we faw this day a great number of hippopotami ; fome fwimming in the lake at a fmall diftance, fome riling from feeding on the high grafs in the meadows, and walking, feemingly at great lei- fure, till they plunged themfelves out of fight. They are exceeding cautious and my while on land, and not to be ap- proached near enough to do execution with the beft rifle-gun. At four in the afternoon we halted, and palled the night at Lamgue, a villagefituated a few pacesfrom thefideof thelake. On the 19th of May we left Lamgue about fix in the morning, our courfe fouth and by weft, and at eight we found ourfelves in the middle of twenty-five or thirty vil- lages called Nabca, ftretching for the length of feven or eight miles; a few minutes afterwards we came to the ri- ver Reb, which falls into the lake a little north- well of the place where we now were. Clofe by where the Reb joins the lake is a fmall village of Pagans, called Waito, who live quite feparate from the Abyflinians, and are held by them in utter abhorrence, fo that to touch them, or any thing that belongs to them, makes a man unclean all that day till the evening, feparates him from his family and friends, and excludes him from the church and all divine fervice, till he is warned and purified on the following day. Part of this averiion is certainly owing to their manner of feed- ing ; for their only profefuon is killing the crocodile and hippopotamus, which they make their daily fuflenance. They have a moft abominable flench, are exceedingly wan, or ill*. coloured, very lean, and die often, as is faid, of the loufy difeafe. There are, indeed, no crocodiles in the lake Tzana, owing, THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 403 owing, as it is faid, to the catara&s, which they cannot get up. However, as they are amphibious animals, and walk very well on more, I think they might furmount this diffi- culty as eafily as the hippopotamus ; I rather think the caufe is the coldnefs of the water and climate, which does not agree with the crocodile, but much with the river-norie. The Waito fpeak a language radically different from any of thofe in Abyffinia ; but though I have often endeavoured to get fome inlight into this, their religion, and cuftoms, I could never fo far fucceed as to be able to give the public any certain information. A falfe account in fuch cafes is certainly worfe than no account at all. I once defired the king to order that one of them might be brought to Gon- dar. Two men, an old and a young one, were accordingly brought from the lake, bur they would neither anfvver nor underftand any queftions ; partly, I believe, through fear, partly from obilinacy. The king at this became fo angry that he ordered them both to be hanged ; they feemed per- fectly unconcerned, and it was with fome difficulty I pro- cured their releafe; I never therefore made an experiment of that kind afterwards. The Abyffinians believe they are forcerers, can bewitch with their eyes, and occafion death by their charms even at a confiderable diflance. It is like- ly, if that had been fo, thefe two would have tried their power upon me, of which I do not recollect to have ever been ienfible. We paffed the Reb at nine o'clock in the morning. It rifes high in the mountains of Begemder, and is one of thofe rivers that continue running the whole year, and has a tolerable ford, although it was vifibly increafed by rain. 3 E 2 We 4o4 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER We continued our journey in fight of many villages till^ three quarters after twelve, we came to the river Gomara, where we ilaid in fearch of trees and herbs the reft of the day. At night we received a meffage from Ayto Adigo, Shum,. or governor, of Karoota. He was an officer of con- fidence of the Iteghe's ; had been a great friend of Mariam Barea's, one of whofe vaffals he was, and in his heart an in- veterate enemy to Ras Michael and the new fuccefiion. Ever fince the murder of Joas he had not ventured to Gon- dar. When I firft came there the Ras had given his houfe, as that of an outlaw, to me. Afterwards, as foon as he returned, I offered immediately to furrender it to him ; but he would not by any means accept ir, but afked leave to pitch his tent in one of the courts furrounded with walls, for it was a fpacious building. Perhaps it was the beft fi- tuation he could have chofen, for we did him great fervice by the means of Ozoro Either, as he was but very ill-looked upon, and was rich enough to be confidered as an object of Ras Michael's rapacity and avarice. Our neighbourhood occafioned us to pafs many evenings together, and we con- tracted a friendfhip, the rather becaufe he was a fervant cf the Iieghe, and we were known. favourites of Ozoro Either,. SLdfri'CTr— '■ '■ iii m* 1&J7 CHAT. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 4°5 **3- CHAP. IV.. Pafs. the River Gomara — Remarkable Accident there — Arrive at Du- ra Vifit the great Cataracl of Alata — Leave Dara, and refume our jfoumey. ON the 20th of May, between fix and feven in the morn- ing, as Adigo was not arrived, I lent the baggage and tents that we had with us forward with Strates, a Greek, who was an avowed enemy to all learned inquiries or bo- tanical refearches. My orders were to encamp at Dara, in fome convenient place near the houfeof Negadekas Mahomet. In the mean time I ftaid expecting Ay to Adigo's arrival ; he came near eleven o'clock. . As a temporary fhelter from the fun, a cloak upon crofs flicks was fet up, inftead of a tent, to lave time. We fat down together to fuch fare as Adigo had brought along with him; it was a foldier's dinner, coarfe and plentiful. Adigo told me Kafmati Ayabdar, an uncle of Guflxo, had left his hovife the night before, accompanied by the men of Foggora, the country where we then were of 4o6 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER of which he was governor, and had taken the high road to join the forces of Begemder. Netcho, a near relation of the old queen, arrived from Kuara juft as we were fitting down to dinner. He had about 50 horfe and 200 foot, all bad troops, and ill armed ; he was, however, a refpeclable, tried veteran, who having had many opportunities of becoming rich, gave the whole to his foldiers, and thofe of his dependents that lived with him ; on which account he was extremely beloved, and it was hoped that, if the iffue of this campaign was favourable, Ras Michael would make him governor of Kuara, in room of Coque Abou Barea, a man of a very different character, who had intruded himlelf into that province by the power of Falil, and after maintained himfelf in it by open rebellion. The mules that had hitherto carried my quadrant and te- lefcopes being bad, I had luckily kept them behind, in hopes that either Adigo or Netcho would fupply me with better ; and I had now placed them upon the frefh mules I had obtained, and had not lent them on with the fervants, and we were then taking a friendly glafs. It was, I fuppofe, about noon, when we law our fervants coming back, and Strates alfo among the reft, flriprof every thing that he had, except a cotton night-cap, which he wore on his head. The fervants fwam over the Gomara immediately, nor was Strates interrupted, but palTed at the ford. They told us that Gulho and Powuflen were in rebellion againft the king, and or federated with fcafil, that they were advancing to cut offthe Pas's reheat to Gondar, and that Guebra Meliedin, and Confu, Powuilen's Pit-Auraiis, had fallen in 4 with THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 407 with our fervants ; and plundered them, as belonging to the king and the Ras. I was, for fome minutes, in the utmoft aftoniihment at this torrent of bad news. Whether the others knew more than I, it is impoffible to fay ; diffimulation, in all ranks of thefe people, is as natural as breathing. Guebra Mehedin and Confu were the Iteghe's two nephews, fons of Bafha Eufebius her brother, a worthlefs man, and his fons no bet- ter. They were young men, however, whom I faw conti- nually at the queen's palace, and to whom I mould have gone immediately without fear, if I had known their houfes had been in my way, and they happened to be near Lebec at the hot wells ; notwithftanding their rank, they were of fuch diffipated manners, that they were of no account, but treated as caftaways in the houfe of the queen their aunt, and never, as far as I knew, had entered into the pre- fence of the king. I had often ate and drank with them, however, in the houfe of Ayto Engedan, their coufm- gennan, who was gone off with Welleta Ifrael his aunt, at the paffage of the Nile as before mentioned. They had beat Strates, who was their intimate acquaintance, violently ; as alfo two others of my fervants, to make them confefs in what package the gold was. They had taken from them alfo a large blunderbufs, given me by the Swedifli conful, Brander, at Algiers ; a pair of piitols, a double-barrelled gun, and a Turkifh fword mounted with iilver, which, as there was then no profpecT: of their being immediately needed, were fen t forward with the baggage. Netcho and Adigo, and all prefent, agreed that the •whole was a nation, and that, fuppoling the account to be true. 4o3 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER true that Begemder and Amhara were in rebellion, young, wild, and worthlefs people, like Guebra Mehedin and Confu, could never be thofe pitched upon for the refpec.a- ble office of Fit-Auraris. The worft that could be, as tfiey conceived, was, that fome mimnderftanding might fubfift between Ras Michael and the governors above named, but Fafil was undoubtedly the enemy of them all. They ima- gined therefore that this -difguft, if any, would be foon got over, and concluded that it was highly abfurd, in any cafe, to attack me, as they certainly knew that the queen, Powuffen, and Guflio, would be full as ill-pleafed with it as the king or Ras Michael. It therefore appeared to them, as it alfo did to me, that thefe wild, young men, had taken the firft furmife of a rebellion, as a pretence for robbing all that came in their way, and that I, unfortunately, had been the firft. We were in the middle of this converfation when the parties appeared. They had, perhaps, an hundred horfe, and were fcattered about a large plain, fkirmifhing, playing, purfuing one another, fhrieking and hooping like fo many frantic people. They ftopt, however, upon coming nearer, feeing the refpeftable figure that we made, juft ready to pais the ford, which alone divided us. Our fervants had neither feen Netcho nor Adigo, when they went in the mor- ning, though they knew Adigo was expecled, and thefe marauders hoped to have intercepted me, thinly accom- panied, as they had done my baggage. Guebra Mehedin and his brother approached nearer the banks than the reft, and a fcrvant was fent from them, who Crofted the river to us, upbraiding Ayto Adigo with pro- ,2 tecting THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 409 tecting a Frank profcribed by the laws of their country, and alfo with marching to the amftance of Ras Michael, the murderer of his fovereign, offering at the fame time to divide the fpoil with him if he would furrender me and mine to him. Servants here, who carry meffages in time of war between the contending parties, are held facred like heralds. They are fent even with infults and defiances ; but it is conftantly underftood that their errand protects them from fuffering any harm, whether on the road, or when in words they perform thefe foolifh, ufelefs commiflions. Adigo and Netcho were above obferving this punctilio with robbers. Some were for cutting the fervant's ears off, and fome for carrying him bound to Ras Michael ; I begged they would let him go : and Netcho fent word by him to Guebra Mehedin to get the goods and mules he had robbed us of together, for he was coming over to fhare them with him. The fervants having given the meffenger a fevere drubbing with Hicks, torn the cloth from about his middle, and twifted it about his neck like a cord, in that plight fent him back to Guebra Meh edin, and we all prepared to take the ford acrofs the river. Guebra Mehedin, who faw his fer- vant thus difgraced returning towards him, and a confider- able motion among the troops, advanced a few fleps with two or three more of his company, ftretching forth his hand and crying out, but ftill at a diftance that we could not hear. He was diftinguifhed by a red fafh of filk twift- ed about his head. I, with my fervants and attendants, firft pafied the river at the ford, and I had no fooner got up the bank, and ftood upon firm ground, than I fired two fhots at him ; the one, fromaTurkifh rifle, feemed to have given him great apprehcnfions, or clfe to have wounded him, for. Vol. III. jT after 410 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER after four or five of his people had flocked about him, they galloped all off acrofs the plain of Foggora towards Lebec. Netcho had paffed the Gomara clofe after me, crying up- on me to let him go firft, but Adigo declared his resolution to go no farther. He hated Ras Michael ; was a companion of Powuffen and Gulho, as well as a neighbour, and wifh- ed for a revolution with all his heart. He, therefore, re- turned to Emfras and Karoota, and with him I fent five of my Servants, deiiring him to efcort my quadrant, clock, and t cQpfe's into the iiland of Mitraha, and deliver them to Tecia Georgis, the king's Servant, governor of that iiland. Adigo, being left alone by the Servants, could not be per- fuaded but Some great treaSure was hid in thofe boxes. He, there 'ore, carried them to his houSe, and uSed the Servants well, but opened and examined every one of the packages. Surprised to find nothing but iron and nifty braSs, he cloSed them again, and delivered them Safely to Tecla Georgis,. there to be kept for that campaign. Delivered now from the embarrafTment of my baggage by the induftry of Guebra Mehedin, and of my cafes and boxes by my own inclination, we Set out with Netcho to take up our quarters with Negade Ras Mahomet at Da- ra, where we arrived in the afternoon, having picked up one of our mules in the way, with a couple of carpets and Some kitchen furniture upon it, all the reft being carried off. The object which now firft prefented itfelf, and called our attention, was Strates in a night-cap, in other refpects perfect- THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 411 ly naked,wkh a long gun upon his flioulder, without powder or fhot, but prancing and capering about in a great paflion, and fwearing a number of Greek oaths, which nobody there underftood a word of but myfelf. This fpe&acle was ra- ther diverting for fome minutes ; at laft Netcho, though I believe he was not over-well provided, gave him an upper cloak to wrap round him. It was not then warm, indeed, but it was not very cold. After recovering the mule, he got on between the panniers, and I advifed him ro put the fmall- efl carpet about him, which he foon after did ; he had not yet fpoke a word to me from fullennefs. " Strates, faid I, my good friend, lay afide that long gun, for you v/ill fall and break it, belides, it hath not been charged fmce it was fired at Guebra Mehedin. If you carry it to itrike terror, it is altogether unneccffary ; for, if we had dreffed you as you are now accoutred, when we lent you forward with the baggage to Dara, there is not a thief in all Bcgemder would have ventured to come near you." He looked at me with a countenance full of anger and contempt, though he faid nothing ; but, in Greek, pro- nounced anathemas againil the father of Guebra Mehedin, according to the Greek form of cmfmg. " Curie himi'elf and his brother, faid I, and not his father, for he has been dead thefe twenty years." — " I will curie whom I pkafe, fays he, in a great paffi.cn, I curie his father, himfclf, and his brother, the Ras, and the king, and everybody that has brought me into i'uch a fcrape as I have been tc-day. I have been ftripped naked, and within an inch of having my throat cut, beiides being gelded ; and well may you laugh now at the figure I make. If yen had feen thofe damned crooked knives, with their black hands, all begging, as if it 3F2 had 4i2 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER had been for charity, to be allowed to do my bufinefs, you would have been glad for my making no worfe figure to- night than I do with this carpet upon my head." " My dear Strates, faid I, it is the fortune of war, and many princes and great men, who, at this moment I am fpeaking to you, live in the enjoyment of every thing they can delire, before a month expires, perhaps, will be ftretch- ed on the cold ground, a prey to the birds and wild beafts of the field, without fo much as a carpet to cover them fuch as you have. You as yet are only frightened ; though, it is true, a man may be as well killed as frightened to death." " Sir, fays he, in a violent rage, that I deny, it is not the fame ? a man that is killed feels no more, but he that is frightened to death, as I have been to-day, fuffers ten thou- fand times more than if he had been killed outright." — " "Well, faid I, Strates, I will not difpute with you ; I believe they fuffer much the fame after they are dead ; but you, I thank God, have only loft your cloaths, and you are now moil comfortably, though not ornamentally, wrapped up in my carpet ; as foon as we get to Dara, you mail be dreff- ed from head to foot, by Negade Ras Mahomet, at the ex>- pence of the king, in better cloaths than you ever wore in your life, at leaft fince I knew you ; only give me your gun till your pafiion is allayed ; you know it is a valuable one which I never quit." He then gave me the gun fullenly enough ; and I con- tinued, " I will this very night prelent you with one of the handfomeft Turkifh fames that Mahomet has to fell. I faw him in the king's houie, with many new ones that he had procured, a little before 1 went to Emfras." I cannot pro- tend. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 413 tend to fay whether his vifage cleared up, for he was ftill perfectly hid with the carpet, as it began to grow cool as well as dark ; but the fight of the lights in the houfes of Da- ra, and the promife of the new cloaths and the fafh, had very much foftened his voice and expreflions. " Sir, fays he, bringing his mule clofe up to mine, now, you are not in a pajwn, one may fpeak to you. Do you not think that it is tempting Providence to come fo far from your own country to feek thefe d — n'd weeds and flowers, at the rifk of having your throat cut every hour of the day, and, what is worfe, my throat cut too, and of being gelded into the bargain? Are there no weeds, and bogs, and rivers in your own country ? what have you to do with that d — n'd Nile, where he rifes, or whether he rifes at all, or not ? What will all thofe trees and branches do for you when thefe horrid blacks have done your bufinefs, as they were near do- ing mine ? He then made a fign towards his girdle with his fingers, which made me underftand what he meant — " Nile, fays he, curfe upon his father's head the day that he was born." " Strates, replied I gravely, he has no father, and was- never bom. Ferturfine tejle creatus, fays the poet." — " There's your Latin again ; the poet is an afs and a blockhead, let him be who he will, continued Strates ; and I do maintain, whether you be angry or not, that at Stanchio and Scio there are finer trees than ever you faw, or will fee in Abyf- finia. There is a tree, fays he, that fifty men like you, fpreading all your hands round about, would not be able to grafp it. Nay, it is not a tree, it is but half a tree ; it is as old, I believe, as Methufelah : Did you ever fee it ?" — " I tell y°u ..4i4 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER you, friend Strates, faid I, I never was at Scio in my life, and, therefore, could not fee it." — " Nor at Stanchio ?" — Yes, I have heen at Stanchio, and have fecn the large plane- tree there. I believe it may be about eighteeen or twenty feet in circumference." — " Galen and Hippocrates lived, adds he, there together, 2000 years before our Saviour : Did you ever hear that ?M— " I have read, faid I, Strates, that, a- bout 500 years before Chrift, Hippocrates did live there ; but Galen was not born till 20c years after Chrift. I do not re- collect if he was ever at Stanchio ; but, furely, never lived there with Hippocrates. Strates was in the middle of a declaration, that thofc were all falsehoods of Latins and Papifts ; and we were af- cending, compofedly enough, through a narrow, rocky road, thick-covered with high trees and buflies, when, juft before our entrance into the village of Dara, a gun was fired, and the ball diilinctly heard palling through the leaves among the branches. This occaiioned a great alarm to our difpu- tant, who immediately fuppofed that Guebra Mehedin, and all his robbers, were there exprefsly waiting for us ; nor was he the only perfon that felt uneafily. Netcho, myfelf, and the generality of his officers, thought this was more than probable ; we all therefore difmounted, loaded our fire-arms, halted till all our flragglcrs came up, and con- fulted what we were to do. Strates, though tired and naked, found it was better to go back under his carpet, and, if poffible, overtake Ayto Adigo, than take pcffcilion of his new cloaths from Negade Ras Mahomet, with the rifk of meeting Guebra Mehe- din there. In vain I remonllratcd to him, that he, of all 1 other?, THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 415 others, had nothing to lofe but Netcho's old cloak and the carpet. His fears, however, made him think otherwife, nor could he banifli his appreheniions of the crooked knives, and, what he called, the operation. Netcho having ordered- and converfed with his men in his own language, which I did not underftand, faid after, with great compofure and firm tone of voice, That he had come to lodge in the market-place of Dara that night, and would not be put out of his quarters by boys of the character of Mehedin and Confu ; that, in his prefent circumftances, with the few troops he had, he did not feek to fight, but even with this force, fuch as it was, if attacked, he would not decline it. — Whatever country, or whatever diflance of time and place heroes live at, their hearts are always in unifon, and fpeak the fame language on fimilar and great occafions. There old Netcho, without having ever heard of Shakefpeare, repeated the very words that, 300 years ago, our great king Henry V. did before the battle of Agincourt :— The fum of all my anfwer is but this, We would not feek a battle as we are; Yet, as we are, we fay we will not fhun it. So tell your mailer- Shakespeare.. We had not advanced but a few paces, before two of the- town came to us ; the noife of our approach had been heard, and all the dogs had been barking for half an hour. Soon after, arrived a fon of Negade Ras Mahomet, who af~ fured us all was in peace; that they had been expecting us and Ayto Adigo with us; that he heard nothing of Guebra Mehedin, only that he had retreated with great precipitation homewards 416 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER homewards acrofs the plain, as they apprehended, from fear of the approach of our party. He had, indeed, for fome days, been guilty of great irregularities ; had flain two men, and wounded the fon of Mahomet, the Shum, or chief of Alata, in attempting to take from him the revenue due from that territory to the king ; after which they had been beat back by Mahomet without their booty, and nothing more was known of them. This brought us to Negade Ras Mahomet's houfe, who killed a cow for Netcho, or rather allowed him to kill one for himfelf ; for it is equal to a renunciation of Chriftianity to eat meat when the beaft is flaughtered by a Mahometan. Sn ates, who from his infancy, in his own country, had fared on nothing elfe, was not fo fcrupulous, though he conceal- ed it ; he therefore had a very hearty fupper privately with Negade Ras Mahomet and his family, who very willingly promifed to get his new cloaths ready by the next morn- ing. As I was myfelf, however, full of thoughts upon the dif- ficulties and dangers I was already engaged in, and of the profpecl: of ftill greater before me, I had no ftomach for either of their fuppers, but ordered fome coffee, and went to bed. After I lay down I defired Negade Ras Mahomet to come to me, and, when we were alone, I interrogated him if he knew any thing of the rebellion in Begemder. At firft he declared he did not ; he laughed at the no- tion of Guebra Mehedin and Confu being Fit-Auraris to Gufho and PowufTen, and faid, that either of thefe generals would hang them the firft time they came into their hands. ■He told me, however, that Woodage Afaliel had been affem- 3 bling THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 417 "bling troops, and had committed fome cruelties upon the king's fervants in Maitma ; but this, he imagined, was at the inftigation of Fafil, for he never was known to have been connected either with PowufTen or Guflio. He told me after, under the feal of fecrecy, that Ras Michael had halted two days at Derdera ; that, upon a meffage he had received from Begemder, he had broke out into violent paf- fions againft Gufho and PowufTen, calling them liars and traitors, in the openelt manner ; that a council had been held at Derdera, in prefence of the king, where it was in deliberation whether the army mould not turn fhort into Begemder, to force that province to join them ; but that it was carried, for the fake of the Agows, to fend PowufTen a fummons to join him for the laft time : that, in the mean while, they fhould march flraight with the greatefl dili- gence to meet Fafil, and give him battle, then return, and reduce to proper fubordinadon both Begemder and Amhara. This was the very worft news I could poffibly receive ac- cording to the refolutions that I had then taken, for I was within about fourteen miles of the great cataract, and it was probable I never again fhould be fo near, were it even always acceffible ; to pafs, therefore, without feeing it, was worfe, in my own thoughts, than any danger that could threaten me. Negade Ras Mahomet was a fober plain man, of excel- lent underflanding, and univerfal good character for truth and integrity ; and, as fuch, very much in the favour both of the King and Ras Michael. I therefore opened my in- tentions to him without referve, deiiring his advice how to Vol. III. 3 G manage 4i8 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER. manage this excurfion to the cataract. " Unlefs you had told me you was refolved, fays he, with a grave air, though full of opennefs and candour, I would, in the firfl place, have advifed you not to think of fuch an undertaking ; thefe are unfcttled times; all the country is bufhy, wild, and uninha- bited, quite to Alata ; and though Mahomet, the Shum, is a> good man, my friend and relation, and the king repofes trufl in him, as he does in me, yet Alata itfelf is at any time but a bad, ftraggling place, there are now many ftran- gers, and wild people there, whom Mahomet has brought to. his affiftance, fxnce Guebra Mehedin made the attack upon him. If, then, any thing was to befal you, what mould L anfwer to the king and the Iteghe? it would be faid, the Turk, has betrayed him ; though, God knows, I was never capable of betraying your dog, and rather would be poor all my life, than the richeft man of the province by do- ing the like wrong, even if the bad action was never to he. revealed, or known, unlefs to my own heart, u Mahomet, faid I, you need not dwell on thefe profef* iions ; I have lived twelve years with people of your religion,, my life always in their power, and I am now in your houfe,, in preference to being in a tent out of doors with Netcho and his Chriftians. I, do not afk you whether I am to go or not, for that is refolved on ; and, tho' you are a Mahome- tan, and I a Chriflian, no religion teaches a man to do evil.. We both agree in this, that God, who has protected me thus far, is capable to protect me likewife at the cataract, and farther, if he has not determined otherwife, for my good j- I only afk you as a man who knows the country, to give. me your belt advice, how I may fatisfy my curiofity in this point, with as little danger, and as much expedition as, . poulble,, THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 419 poilible, leaving the refl to heaven." — " "Well, fays he, I mall do fo. I think, likewife, for your comfort, that, barring unforefeen accidents, you may do it at this time, without great danger. Guebra Mehedin will not come between this town and Alata, becaufe we are all one people, and the killing two men, and wounding Mahomet's fon, makes him a dim* menia*. At Alata he knows the Shum is ready to receive him as he deferves, and he is himfelf afraid of Kafmati Ayabdar, with whom he is as deep in guilt as with us, and here he well knows he dare not venture for many reafons." " Ayabdar, faid I, pafled the Karoota three days ago." " Well, well, replied Mahomet, fo much the better. Ayabdar has the leprofy, and goes every year once, fometimes twice, to the hot wells at Lebec ; they muft pafs near one another, and that is the reafon Guebra Mehedin has aiTembled all thefe banditti of horfe about him. He is a beggar, and a fpendthrift ; a fortnight ago he fent to me to borrow twen- ty ounces of gold. You may be fure I did not lend it him; he is too much in my debt already ; and I hope Ras Michael will give you his head in your hand before winter, for the fhameful action he has been guilty of to you and yours this day. " Woodage Asahel, faid I, what fay you of him?" — 4i Why, you know, replied Mahomet, nobody can inform you about his motions, as he is perpetually on horfeback, and never refts night nor day; however, he has no bufinefs on this fide of the water, the rather that he muft be fure Ras Michael, when he pafled here, took with him all the 3 G 2 king's * Guilty of our blood, and fubjefl to the laws of retaliation. 42o TRAVELS TO DISCOVER king's money that I had in ray hands. When day-light is fairly come, for we do not know the changes a night may- produce in this country, take half a dozen of your fervants ; I will fend with you my fon and four of my fervants ; you will call at Alata, go down and fee the cataract, but do not (lay, return immediately, and, Ullab Kerim, God. is merci- ful." I thanked my kind landlord, and let him go; but-recollec- ting, called him again, and afked, " What lhail I do withNet- cho ? how fhall 1 rejoin him ? my company is too fmall to pafs Mairfha without him." — " Sleep in peace, fays he, I will pro- vide for that. I tell you in confidence, the king's money is in my hands, and was not ready when the Ras palled ; my fon is but juft arrived with the laft of it this evening, tired to death ; I fend the money by Netcho, and my fon too, with forty flout fellows well armed, who will die in your fervice, and not run away like thofe vagabond Chriftians, in whom you muft place no confidence if danger prefents itfelf, but immediately throw yourfelf among the Maho- metans. Befides, there are about fifty foldiers, moil of them from Tigre, Michael's men, that have been loitering here thefe two days. It was one of thefe that fired the gun juft before you came, which alarmed Netcho ; fo that, when you are come back in fafety from the cataract, they mall be, by that time, all on their march to the paffage. My fon fhall mount with you ; I fear the Nile will be too deep, but when once you are at Tfoomwa, you may fet your mind at reft, and bid defiance to Woodage Afahel, who knows his enemy always before he engages him, and at this time will not venture to interrupt your march." As THE SOURCE OF THE NIL'E. 421 As I have mentioned the name of this perfon fo often, it will be neceffary to take notice, that he was by origin a ©alia, but born in Damot, of the clan Elmana, or Denfa, two tribes fettled there in the time of Yafous I. that he was the mod intrepid and active partizan in his time, and had an invincible hatred to Ras Michael, nor was there any love loft betwixt them. It is impoilible to conceive with what velocity he moved, fometimes with 200 horfe, fometimes with half that number. He was conftantly falling upon fome part of Michael's army, whether marching or. en- camped ; the blow once (truck, he difappeared in a minute. When he wanted to attempt fomething great, he had only to fummon his friends and acquaintance in the country, and he had then a little army, which difperfed as foon as the bufmefs was done. ; It was Ras Michael's iirft queition to the fpies ; Where was Woodage Afahel lafl night? a queftion they very feldom could anfwer with certainty. He was in his perfon too tall for a good horfeman, yet he was expert in this qualification by conftant practice. His face was yellow, as if he had the jaundice, and much pitted with the fmall-pox ; his eyes flaring, but fiery; his nofe as it were broken, his mouth large, his chin long and turned up at the end; he fpoke very faft, but net much, and had a very my, but ill-defigning look. In his character, he was avaricious, treacherous, inexorable, and cruel to a proverb; infhort, he was allowed to be the moft mercilefs robber and murderer that age had produced in all Abyffmia. Wearied with thinking, and better reconciled to my ex- pedition, I fell into a found fleep. I was awakened by Strates in the morning, (the 21ft of May) who, from the next room, had heard all the converfation between me and Negade Ras, and 422 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER and began now to think there was no fafety but in the camp of the king. I will not repeat his wife expoftulations againft going to the cataract. We were rather late, and I paid little regard to them. After coffee, I mounted my horfe, with five fervants on horfeback, all refolute, active, young fellows, armed with lances in the fafhion of their country. I was joined that moment by a fon of Mahomet, on a good horfe, armed with a fhort gun, and piftols at his belt, with four of his fervants, Mahometans, flout men, each having his gun, and piftols at his girdle, and a fword hung over his moulder, mounted upon four good mules, fwifter and ftrong- er than ordinary horfes. We galloped all the way, and were out of fight in a fhort time. We then purfued our journey with diligence, but not in a hurry; we went firft to a hilly and rocky country, full of trees, moftly of unknown kinds, and all of the greateft beauty poffible, having flowers of a hundred different colours and forms upon them, many of the trees were loaded with fruit, and many with both fruit and flowers. I was truly forry to be obliged to pafs them without more diftinct notice ; but we had no time, as the diftance to the cataract was not abfolutely certain, and the cataract then was our only object. After paffing the plain, we came to a brifk flream which rifes in Begemder, paffes Alata, and throws itfelf into the Nile below the cataract. They told me it was called Mariam Ohha; and, a little farther, on the fide of a green hill, ha- ving the rock appearing in fome parts of it, ftands Alata, a eonfiderable village, with fcveral fmaller, to the fouth and weft. Mahomet, our guide, rode immediately up to the houfe where he knew the governor, or Shum, refided, for fear of alarming him ; but we had already been feen at a 4 eonfiderable THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 423 confiderable diftance, and Mahomet and his fervants known. All the people of the village furrounded the mules directly, paying each their compliments to the matter and the fer- vants ; the fame was immediately obferved towards us; and, as I faluted the Shum in Arabic, his own language, we fpeedily became acquainted. Having overfhot the cataract, the noife of which we had a long time diftinctly heard, I re- filled every entreaty that could be made to me to enter the houfe to refrefh myfelf. I had imbibed part of Strates's fears about the unfettlednefs of the times, and all the kind invitations were to no purpofe ; I was, as it were, forced to comply to refrefh ourhorfes.. I happened to be upon a very deep part of the hill full' of bufhes ; and one of the fervants, dreiTed in the Arabian fafhion, in a-burnoofe, and turban ftriped white and green, led my horfe, for fear of his flipping, till it got into the path leading to the Shum's door. I heard the fellow exclaiming in Arabic, as he led the horfe, "Good Lord! to fee you here! Good God! to fee you here!" — " I afked him who he was fpeaking of, and what reafon he had to wonder to fee me there." — " What ! do you not know me !" " I faidl did not." — " Why, replied he, I was feveral times with you at Jidda. I faw you often with Capt. Price and Capt. Scott, with the Moor Yafine, and Mahomet Gibberti. I was the man that brought your letters from Metical Aga at Mecca, and was to? come over with you to Mafuah, if you had gone directly there, and had not proceeded to Yemen or Arabia Felix. I was on board the Lion, with the Indian nokeda (fo they call the captain of a country fhip) when your little veflel, all co- vered with fail, parted with fuch brifknefs through the Eng- lifh mips, which all fired their cannon ; and everybody faid3 , there. #m TRAVELS TO DISCOVER there is a poor man making great hafte to be affaffinated among thofe wild people in Kabefh ; and fo we all thought. He concluded, Drink ! no force ! Englishman ! very good ! G--d damn, drink !" We had juft arrived, while my friend •was uttering thefe exclamations, at the place where theShum and the reft were Handing. The man continued repeating the fame words, crying as loud as he could, with an air of triumph, while I was reflecting how fhameful it was for us to make thefe profligate exprefiions by frequent re- petition, fo eafily acquired by ftrangers that knew nothing ■elfe of our language. The Shum, and all about him, were in equal aftonifh- ment at feeing the man, to all appearance, in a paffion, bawl- ing out words they did not tinderftand ; but he, holding a horn in his hand, began louder than before, drink ! very good ! Englifhman ! making the horn in the Shum his ma- fter's face. Mahomet of Alata was a very grave, compofed man ; " I do declare, fays he, Ali is become mad : Does any- body know what he fays or means ?" — " That I do, faid I, and will tell you by-and-bye ; he is an old acquaintance of mine, and is fpeaking Englifh ; let us make a hafty meal, how- ever, v/ith any thing you have to give us." Our horfes were immediately fed ; bread, honey, and butter fervcd : Ali had no occafion to cry, drink ; it went a- bout plentifully, and I would Hay no longer, but mounted my horfe, thinking every minute that I tarried might be better fpent at the cataract. The firft thing they carried us to was the bridge, which confifts of one arch of about twen- ty-five feet broad, the extremities of which were ftrongly let into, and relied on the folid rock on both fides ; but frag- 2 ments THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 425 merits of the parapets remained, and the bridge itfelf feem- ed to bear the appearance of frequent repairs, and many at- tempts to ruin it ; otherwife, in its conftruction, it was ex- ceedingly commodious. The Nile here is confined between two rocks, and runs in a deep trough, with great roaring and impetuous velocity. We were told no crocodiles were ever feen fo high, and were obliged to remount the ftream above half a mile before we came to the cataract, through trees and buihes of the fame beautiful and delightful appearance with thofe we had feen near Dara. The cataract itfelf was the mod magnificent fight that ever I beheld. The height has been rather exaggerated. The miflionaries fay the fall is about fixteen ells, or fifty feet. The meafuring is, indeed, very difficult, but, by the pofition of long flicks, and poles of different lengths, at dif- ferent heights of the rock, from the water's edge, I may venture to fay that it is nearer forty feet than any other mcafure. The river had been confiderably increafed by rains, and fell in one lheet of water, without any interval, above half an Englilli mile in breadth, with a force and noife that was truly terrible, and which flunned and made me, for a time, perfectly dizzy. A thick fume, or haze, co- vered the fall all round, and hung over the courfe of tire ftream both above and below, marking its track, though the water was not feen. The river, though fwelled with rain, preferved its natural ciearnefs, and fell, as far as I could difcern, into a deep pool, or bafon, in the folid rock, which was full, and in twenty different eddies to the very foot of the precipice, the ftream, when it fell, feeming part of it to run back with great fury upon the rock, as well as for- Vol. III. 3 H ward 426 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER ward in the line of its courfe, railing a wave, or violent ebullition, by chaffing againll each other. Jerome Lobo pretends, that he has fat under the curve,, or arch, made by the projectile force of the water ruffling over the precipice. He fays he fat calmly at the foot of it, and looking through the curve of the ftream, as it was fall- ing, law a number of rainbows of inconceivable beautv in this extraordinary prifm. This however I, without hefita- tion, aver to be a downright falfehood. A deep pool -of wa- ter, as I mentioned, reaches to the very foot of the rock, and is in perpetual agitation. Now, allowing that there was a feat, or bench, which there is not, in the middle of the, pool, I do believe it abfolutely impoffible, by any exertion of human ftrength, to have arrived at it. Although a very robuft man, in the prime and vigour of life, and a hardy, practifed, indefatigable fwimmer, I am perfectly confident I could not have got to that feat from the fhore through the quieteft part of that bafon.. And, fuppofing the friar placed in his imaginary feat under the curve of that immenfe arch of water, he mull have had a portion of firmnefs, more than falls to the lhare of ordinary men, and which is not likely to be acquired in a monaliic life, to philofophife upon op- tics in fuch a fituation, where every thing would feem to his dazzled eyes to be in motion, and the ftream, in a noife like the loudeft thunder, to make the folid rock (at leaft as to fenfe) lhake to its very foundation, and threaten to tear- every nerve to pieces, and to deprive one of other fenfes be- sides that of hearing. It was a moft magnificent fight, that ages, added to the greateft length of human life, would not deface or eradicate from my memory ; it ftruck me with a. kind of ftupor, and a total oblivion of where I was, and of 3 every THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. . 427 every other fublunary concern. It was one of the moll magnificent, ftupendous fights in the creation, though de- graded and vilified by the lies of a groveling, fanatic pea- fan t. I was awakened from one of the moft profound reveries that ever I fell into, by Mahomet, and by my friend Dr'wk, who now put to me a thoufand impertinent queftions. It was after this I meafured the fall, and believe, within a few feet, it was the height I have mentioned ; but I confefs 1 could at no time in my life lefs promife upon precifion ; my reflection was fufpended, or fubdued, and while in fight of the fall I think I was under a temporary alienation of mind; it feemed to me as if one element had broke loofe from, and become fuperior to all laws of fubordination; that the fountains of the great deep were extraordinarily opened, and the deftruction of a world was again begun by the agen- cy of water. It was now half an hour pad one o'clock, the weather per- fectly good ; it had rained very little that day, but threatened a fhowery evening ; I peremptorily refufed returning back to Alata, which our landlord importuned us to. He gave us a reafon that he thought would have weight with us, that he, too, had his meery, or money, to fend to the king, which would be ready the next morning as earlv as we pleafed. The mention of to-morrow morning brought all my engagements and their confequences into my mind, and made me give a flat refufal, with fome degree of pee- vifhnefs and ill-humour. I had foon after found, that he had otherwife made up this affair with Mahomet our guide; but being refolute, and, a moment after, taking leave of 3 H 2 our 42S TRAVELS TO DISCOVER our kind Shum, we were joined by Seide his eldeft fon, and our Englijh friend Drink, each upon a mule, with two fervants on foot, his father, as he faid, being unwilling to fpare more people, as the whole inhabitants of Alata, their neighbours and friends, intended foon to furprife Guebra. Mehedin, if a feafible opportunity offered. Though we went brifkly, it was part five before we ar- rived at Dara. Netcho had not ftirred, and had procured another cow from Mahomet, of which all the flrangers, and foldiers who remained, partook. Mahomet, I believe, out of kindnefs to me, had convinced them of the neceffity of ta- king along with them the Shum of Alata's money ; and Netcho well knew that thofe who brought any part of the revenue to Ras Michael were always received kindly ; and he was not interested enough in the caufe to make more hafle than neceilary to join the king. Strates was completely cloathed, and received his faili. upon my arrival. He feigned to be wonderfully hurt at my having left him behind in my excurfion to the cataract. At fupper I began to queftion him, for the firft time, what had happened to him with Guebra Mehedin. " Sure, Strates,. faid I, you two were once friends ; I have dined with you together many a time at Ayto Engedan's, and often feen you with him in Gondar." — " Gonclar! fays he, I have known him thefe fourteen years, when he was a child in his father Bafha Eufebius's houfe ; he was always playing amongft us at his uncle Kafmati Eflite's ; he was juft one of us ; nay,. he is not now twenty-fix.. Strates- THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 429 Strates proceeded — " We were croffing the plain below Dara, and not being inclined to go into the town without you, we made to a large daroo-tree, and fat down to reft ourfelves till you fhould come up. As the ground was fomewhat elevated, we faw feveral horfes in the bed of a torrent where there was no water running, and, when thefe were pulled up the bank, their mailers got immediately upon them. I conceived the one with the red fafh upon his head was Guebra Mehedin, and prefendy eight or ten naked people, armed with lances and fhields, came out of the hole neareft me. I was furprifed, and thought they might be robbers, and, kneeling down upon one knee, I preiented the large blunderbufs at them. On this they all ran back to their hole, and fell flat on their faces ; and they did well ; I fhould have given them a confounded pepper- ing."— " Certainly, faid I, there is little doubt of that." — " You may laugh, continued Strates, but the firft thing I faw near me was Confu and Guebra Mehedin, the one with a red, the other a kind of white fillet tied round his fore- head. O ho ! friend, fays Guebra Mehedin, where are you going ? and held out his hand to me as kindly, familiarly, and chearfully as poflible. I immediately laid down my blunderbufs, and went to kifs his hand. You know they are the good old queen's nephews ; and I thought if their houfe was near we fhould have good entertainment, and fome merriment that night. I then {-aw one of their fervants lift the blunderbufs from the ground, but ap- parently with fear, and the reft took poilemon of the mules and baggage. I began to afk Guebra Mehedin what this meant ? and faid accidentally, ente you ! initead of f peak- ing it entow, as you know they pronounce it to great people. Without further provocation he gave me a lafh with his wt . 43° TRAVELS TO DISCOVER whip acrofs the eyes, another behind took hold of your fword that was flung upon my fhoulders, and would have ftrangledme with the cord if I had not fallen backwards ; they all began then to flrip me. I was naked in a minute as I was the hour I was born, having only this night-cap ; when one of them, a tall black fellow, drew a crooked knife, and propo- fed to pay me a compliment that has made me fhudder every time I have fince thought of it. I don't know what would have been the end of it, if Confu had not faid, Poh ! he is a ivbite man, and not worth xhefcarifying: Let us feek his mafter, faysGuebraMehedin,he will by this have palled the Gomara; he has always plenty of gold both from the king and Iteghe, and is a real Frank, on which account it would be a fin to fpare him. On this away they went fkirmifhing about the plain. Horfemen came to join them from all parts, and every one that palled me gave me a blow of fome kind or other. None of them hurt me very much, but, no matter ; I may have my turn : we fliall fee what figure he will make before the Iteghe fome of thefe days, or, what is better, be- fore Ras Michael." " That you fliall never fee, fays Negade Ras Mahomet, who entered the room in the inflant, for there is a man now without who informs us that Guebra Mehedin is either dead or juft a-dying. A fhot fired at him, by one of you at the Gomara, cut off part of his cheek-bone; the next morn- ing he heard that Kafmati Ayabdar was going to the hot wa- ters at Lebec with fervants only, and the devil towhom he be- longed would not quit him; he would perfift, ill as he was, to attack Ayabdar, who having, unknown to him, brought a number of flout fellows along with him, without difficulty cut his fervants to pieces. In the fray, Tecla Georgis, a fer- vant THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 431 vant who takes care of Ayabdar's horfe, coming up with Guebra Mehedin himfelf, hurt as he was, ftruck him over the ikull with a large crooked knife like a hatchet, and left him mortally wounded on the field, whence he was carried to a church, where he is now lying a miferable fpeclacle, and can never recover." btrates could hold no longer. He got up and danced as if he had been frantic, fometimes finging Greek fongs, at another time pronoun- cing ten thoufand curfes, which he wifhed might overtake him in the other world. For my part, I felt very differently, for I had much rather, conlidering whofe nephew he was, that he mould have lived, than to have it faid that he re- ceived hi> firil wound, not a mortal one, but intended as fuch, from my hand. —^SS*'— CHAP, 432 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER **£}£&* CHAP. V. ■Pafs the Nile and encamp at Tfoomwa — Arrive at Derdera — Alarm on approaching the Army — Join the King at Karcagna. ON the 2 2d of May we were all equally defirous to re- fume our journey. We fet out accordingly at fix o'clock in the morning, afcending fome hills covered, as the former ones, with trees and fhrubs, utterly unknown to me, but of inexpremble beauty, and many of extraordinary fragrance. We continued afcending about three miles, till we came to the top of the ridge within fight of the lake. As we rofe, the hills became more bare and lefs beautiful. We af- terwards defcended towards the paflage, partly over fteep banks which had been covered with bufhcs, all trodden down by the army, and which had made the accefs to the river ex- ceedingly flippery. Here we faw the ufe of Mahomet's fervants, three of whom, each with a lance in one hand, holding that of his companion in the other, waded acrofs the vio- lent flream, founding with the end of their lances every x Hep THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 433 ilep they took. The river was very deep, the current, I fup- pofe, fifty yards broader than it was at the cataract ; but the banks were, for a great way on each fide, almoft perfect- ly level, though much obftructed with black ftones. In the middle it was very deep, and the ftream fmooth, fo that it was apparent our horfes mult fwim. For my part I did not like the fmooth ftones at the bottom, as a fall there would have been irrecoverable ; and my horfe was mod with iron, which is not ufual in AbyfTinia. I therefore re- folved to fwim where I could not wade, and, wrapping my cloaths in a bundle, I gave them to a fervant, who carried them over on his head. I then waded in, and found the water unexpectedly cold. Mahomet rode on a mule by my fide, fometimes fwimming, fometimes walking. I attempted to found up towards the lake, and found it deeper there. I re- turned, therefore, being unwilling to try experiments, and, committing myfelf to the ftream, fwam to the other fide, much comforted by the aiiurance that no crocodile palled the cataract. The beafts having got over, the men followed much quicker; many women, going to join the army, fwam over, holding the tails of the horfes, and we were all on the other fide before twelve o'clock, the beads a good deal tired with the parlage, the fteepnefs of the acceis to it, and the ftill greater depth on the other fide. For my parr, I thought we could not have gone on to Tfoomwa, but it was carried againft me. Tfoomwa is about twelve nules diftant ; and I fuppofe it was not much paft three o'clock when we arri- ved there,which was very fortunate, as we had fcarcely pitch- ed our tents before a molt terrible ftorm of rain, wind, and thunder Overtook us. My tent was happily placed in one Vol. III. 3 I refpect 4^4 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER refpecl, being on a flat on the lee-fide of a hill, and flicker- ed from the ftorm ; but, on the other hand, the water ran fo plentifully from above as quite to overflow it on the infide till a trench was dug to carry it off. Ras Mk;hael had burnt nothing at Tfoomwa, though there was a houfe of PowufTen's in the place, built by his fa- ther. But that diflembler, to prevent the worft, and carry on the farce to the uttermoft, had fent many bags of flour for the ufe of the King and the Ras, which were to be diftributed , tp th,e array in cafe they wanted* From the paffage to Tfoomwa, all the country was for-- taken ; the houfes uninhabited, the grafs trodden down, and the fields without cattle. , Every thing that had life and ftrength fled before that terrible leader, and his no lefs terrible army; a profound filenee was in the fields around us, but no marks as yet of defolation. We kept Ariel: watch in this folitude all that night. I took my turn till twelve, as I was the leail fatigued of: any. Netcho had picquets about a quarter of a mile on every fide of us, with fire-arms tg give the alarm. . On the 23d, about three in the morning, a gun was heard em the fide towards the paflage. This did- not much alarm us, though we all turned out. In a few minutes came Ayto Adigo, (not the Shum of Karoota, already mentioned, who left us at the Gomara,) but a young nobleman of Begem- der-ef great -hopes, one of the gentlemen of the king's bed- chamber, and consequently my colleague. He intended to have brought four horfes to the king, one of which he had drowned, or rather, as I afterwards underflood, throttled in pafling ; THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 435' palling the Nile at the mouth of the lake ; and two men, the king's fervants, had perifhed there likewife. He came in great hurry, full of the news from Begcmder, and of the particulars of the confpiracy, fuch as have been already ftated. With Ayto Adigo came the king's cook, Sebaftos, an old Greek, near feventy, who had fallen fick with fa- tigue. After having fatisfied his inquiries, and given him what refrelhment we could fpare, he left Sebaftos with us, and purfued his journey to the camp. On the 24th, at our ordinary time, when the fun began to be hot, we continued our route due fouth, through a very plain, flat country, which, by the conftant rains that now fell, began to ftand in large pools, and threatened to turn all into a lake. We had hitherto loft none of our beafts of car- riage, but we now were fo impeded by ftreams, brooks, and quagmires, that we defpaired of ever bringing one of them to join the camp. The horfes, and beafts of burthen that car- ried the baggage of the army, and which had palled before us, had fpoiled every ford, and we faw to-day a number of dead mules lying about the fields, the houfes all reduced to ruins, and lmoking like fo many kilns; even the grafs, or wild oats, which were grown very high, were burnt in large plots of a hundred acres together; every thing bore the marks that Ras Michaelwas gone before, whilft not a living creature appeared in thole extenfive, fruitful, and once well- inhabited plains. An awful filence reigned everywhere a- round, interrupted only at times by thunder, now become daily, and the rolling of torrents produced by local fliowers in the hills, which ceafed with the rain, and were but the •children of an hour. Amidft this univerfal filence that pre- vailed all over this fcene of extenfive dcfolation, I could not g I 2 help 436 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER1 help remembering how finely Mr Gray paints the pafTage of fuch an army, under a leader like Ras Michael — Confufion in his van with flight combin'd, And Sorrow's faded form, and Solitude behind. At Derdera we faw the church of St Michael,! the only building which, in favour of -his -own name, the Ras had fparcd. It ferved us then for a very convenient lodging, as i much rain had fallen in the night, and the priefls had all fled or been- murdered. We had this evening, when it was clear, feen the mountain of Samfeen. Our next ftage from Derdera was Karcagna, a fmall village near the banks of the Jemma, about two miles from Samfeen. We knew the king had refolved to burn it, and we expected to have feen the clouds of fmoke ariiing from its ruins, but all was per- fectly cool and clear, and this very much furprilcd us, con- fidering the time he had to do this, and the great punctu- ality and expedition with which his army ui'ed to execute orders of this kind. As we advanced, we had feen a great number of dead mules and horfes, and the hycenas fo bold as only to leave the carcafe for a moment, and fnarl a;> if they had regretted at feeing any of us pafs alive. Since palling the Nile I found myfelf more than ordi- narily depreffed ; my fpirits were funk almofl to a degree of tlefpondency, and yet nothing had happened fince that pe- riod more than was expected before. This difagreeable fituation of mind continued at night while I was in bed. The rafhnefs and imprudence with which I had engaged myfelf in fo many dangers without any neceflity for fo do- ing; the little pro fpect of my being ever able to extricate myfelf THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 437 myfelf out of them, or, even if I loft my life, of the account being conveyed to my friends at home ; the great and un- reafonable preemption which had led me to think that, after every one that had attempted this voyage had mifcar- ried in it, I was the only perlbn that was to fucceed ; all thefe refledions upon my mind, when relaxed, dozing, and half oppreffed with fleep, filled my imagination with whirl have heard other people call the horrors, the mod difagreea- ble fenfation I ever was confcious of, and which I then felt for the firft time. Impatient of fuffering any longer, I leap- ed out of bed, and went to the door of the tent, where the outward air perfeftly awakened me,and reftored my ftrength and courage. All was ftill, and at a diftance I faw feveral bright fires, but lower down, and more to the right than I expe&ed, which made me think I was miftaken in the fiti*- ation of Karcagna. It was then near four in the morning of the 25th. I called up my companions, happily buried in deep fleep, as I was defirous, if pofiible, to join the king that day. We accordingly were three or four miles from Derdera when the fun rofe ; there had been little rain that night, and we found very few torrents on our way; but it. was flippery, and uneafy walking, the rich foil being trod- den into a confluence like pafte. About feven o'clock we entered upon the broad plain of Maitfha, and were fall leaving the lake. Here the country- is, at leaf! a great pant of it, in tillage, and had been, in ap- pearance, covered with plentiful crops, but all was cut down by the army for their horfes, or trodden under foot, from careleflhefs or vengeance, fo that a green blade-could fcarce* ly be feen. We faw a number of people this day, chiefly fkaggling foldiers, who, in parties of threes and fours, had been1 438 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER 'been feeking, in all the bufhes and concealed parts of the river, for the miferable natives, who had hid themfelves thereabouts ; in this they had many of them been fuccefsful. They had fome of them three, fome of them four women, boys and girls, who, though Chriftians like themfelves, they neverthelefs were carrying away into flavery to fell them to the Turks for a very fmall price. A little before nine we heard a gun fired that gave us fome joy, as the army feemed not to be far off; a few mi- nutes after, we heard feveral dropping mots, and, in lefs than a quarter of an hour's time, a general firing began from right to left, which ceafed for an inftant, and then was heard again as fmart as ever, about the occafion of which we were divided in opinion. Netcho was fatisfied thatWoodage Afahel, from Samfeen, had fallen upon Ras Michael at Karcagna, to prevent his burning it, and that Fafil had ftrongly reinforced him that he might be able to retard the army's march. On the other hand, having been informed by Ayto Adigo, that news were come to Gondar that Fafil had left Bure, and that Derdera was the place agreed on by Gufho and Powuffen to fhut up Michael on the rear, I thought that it was Fafil, to make good his part of his promife, who had crofled the Nile at Goutto, and attacked Ras Michael before he fuffered him to burn Samfeen. Indeed we all agreed that both opinions were likely to be true, and that Fafil and Woodage Afahel would both attack the king at the fame time. The firing continued much in the fame way, rather flacker, but ap* parently advancing nearer us ; a fare fign that our anny was beaten and retreating. We, therefore, made ourfelves 4 ready, THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 439 ready, and mounted on horfeback, that we might join them. Yet it was a thing appeared to us fcarcely poffible, that Fa- fil mould beat Ras Michael fo eafily, and with .fo fliort a re- finance. We had not gone far in the plain before we had a fight of the enemy, to our very great furprifo and no fmall comfort. A multitude of deer, buffaloes, boars, and va- rious other wild beafts, had been alarmed by the noife and daily advancing of the army, and gradually driven be- fore them. The country was all overgrown with wild oats, a great many of the villages having been burnt the year be- fore the inhabitants had abandoned them ; in this fhelter the wild beads had taken up their abodes in very great num- bers. When the army pointed towards Karcagna to the left, the filence and folitude on the oppofite fide made them turn to the right to where. the Nile makes a femi-circle, the Jemma being behind them, and much overflowed. When the army, therefore, inftead of marching fouth and by eafl towards Samfeen, had turned their courfe north-weft, their faces towards Gondar, they had fallen in with thefe innu- merable herds of deer and other beafts, who, confined be- tween the Nile, the Jemma, and the lake, had no way to re- turn but that by which they had come. Thefe animals, finding men in every direction in which they attempted to pafs, became defperate with fear, and, not knowing what courfe to take, fell a prey to the troops. The foldiers, hap- py in an occaiion of procuring animal food, prefently fell to firing wherever the beafts appeared; every loaded gun was difcharged upon them, and this continued for very near an hour. A numerous flock of the largeft deer met us juft in the. face, and feemed fo defperate, that they had every appearance 44© TRAVELS TO DISCOVER appearance of running us down ; and part of them forced themfelves through, regardlefs of us all, whilft others turn- ed fouth to efcape acrofs the plain. The king and Ras Michael were in the mod violent agi- tation of mind : though the caufe was before their eyes, yet the word went about that Woodage Afahcl had attacked the army ; and this occafioned a great panic and diforder, for everybody was convinced with reafon that he was not far off. The firing, however, continued, the balls flew about in every direction, fome few were killed, and many people and horfes were hurt ; Hill they fired, and Ras Michael, at the door of his tent, crying, threatening, and tearing his grey locks, found, for a few minutes, the army was not under his command. At this inftant, Kafmati Netcho, whofe Fit- Auraris had fallen back on his front, ordered his kettle- drums, to be beat before he arrived in the king's pre- fence ; and this being heard, without it being known ge- nerally who we were, occafioned another panic; great part of the army believed that PowufTen and Gufho were now at hand to keep their appointment with Fafil, and that Net- cho and I were his Fit-Auraris. The king ordered his tent to be pitched, his ftandard to be fet up, his drums to beat, (the fignal for encamping) and the firing immediately cea- fed. But it was a long while before all the army could believe that Woodage Afahel had not been engaged with Feme part of it that day. Happily, if near at hand, he did not lay hold of this favourable opportunity ; for I am con- vinced, if, jufi before our arrival, he had attacked Michael on the Samfeen fide, with 500 horfc, our whole army had fled without refiitance, and difperfed all over the country. 2 Here THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 441 Here I left Kafmati Netcho, and was making my way towards the king's tent, when I was met by a fervant of confidence of Kefla Yafous, who had that day commanded the rear in the retreat, a very experienced officer, brave even to a fault, but full of mildnefs and humanity, and the moft fenfible and affable man in the army. He fent to de- fire that I would come to him alone, or that I would fend one of the Greeks that followed me. I promifed to do fo, after having anfwered moll of the queftions that he bade his fervant afk of me. After this I fearched for Strates and Sebaftos, who had been fick upon the road. I soon came up with them, and was more furprifed than I had been for feveral days, to fee them both lie extended on the ground ; Strates bleeding at a large wound in his forehead, fpeaking Greek to himfelf, and crying out his leg was broken, whilft he prefled it with both his hands below the knee, feemingly regardlefs of the gafh in his head, which appeared to me a very ugly one, fo that I, of courfe, thought his leg was ltill worfe. Sebaftos was lying ftretch- ed along the ground, fcarcely faying, any thing, but fighing loudly. Upon my afking him whether his arm was broken I he anfwered feebly, that he was a dying man, and that his legs, his arms, and his ribs were broken to pieces. I could not for my life conceive how this calamity had happened fo fuddenly, for I had not been half an hour abfent talking to Kefla Yafous's fervant ; and, what feemed to me flill ftranger, every body around them were burfting out into fits of laughter. Ali Mahomet's fervant, who was the only perfon that I faw concerned, upon my afking, told me that it was all ow= Vol. IIL 3 K. in§ 442 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER ing to prince George, who had frightened their mules. I have already hinted that this prince was fond of horfemanfhip, and rode with faddle, bridle, and ftirrups, like an Arab ; and, though young, was become an excellent horfeman, fuperior to any in Abyflinia. The manner that two Arabs falute one another, when they meet, is, the perfon inferior in rank, or age, prefents his gun at the other, about 500 yards diftance, charged with powder only; he then, keeping his gun always prefented, gallops thefe 500 yards as fall as he can, and, be- ing arrived clofe, lowers the muzzle of his gun, and pours the explofion juft under the other's ftirrups, or horfe's belly. This they do, fometimes twenty at a time, and you would often think it was impoflible fomebody mould efcape being bruifed or burnt. The prince had learned this exercife from me, and was very perfect at the performance of it. We had procured him a fhort gun, with a lock and flint inflead of a match, and he (hot not only jultly, but gracefully on horfeback. Ke had been out after the deer all the morning ; and hearing that I was arrived, and- feeing the two Greeks riding on their mules, he came galloping furioudy with his gun prefented, and, not feeing me, he fired a mot under the belly of Stra- res's mule, upon the ground, and wheeling as quick as light- ning to the left, regardlefs of the mifchief he had occafion- ed, wras out of fight in a moment, before he knew the con- fcquenccs. Never was compliment worfe timed or relifhed. Stratcs had two panniers upon his mule, containing two great: earthen jars of hydromel for the king ; Sebaftos had alfo feme jars and pots, and three or four dozen of drinking- gla-iTeS; THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 443 riaffes, likewife for the king ; each of the mules was covered with a carpet, and alfo the panniers ; and upon the pack-fad- dle between thefe panniers, did Strates and Sebaftos ride. The mules as well as the loading belonged to the king, and they only were permitted to ride them becaufe they were fick. Strates went firft, and, to fave trouble, the halter of Seba- ftos's mule was tied to Strates's faddle, fo the mules were fattened to and followed one another. Upon firing the gun fo near it, Strates's mule, not ufed to compliments of this kind, ftarted, and threw him to the ground ; it then tram- pled'upon him, began to run off, and wound the halter a- round Sebaftos behind, who fell to the ground likewife a- mongft fome Hones. Both the mules then began kicking at each other, till they had thrown off the panniers and pack-faddles, and broke every thing that was brittle in them. The mifchief did not end here, for, in ftruggling to get loofe, they fell foul of the mule of old Azage Tecla Haim- anout, one of the kings criminal judges, a very old, feeble man, and threw him upon the ground, and broke his foot, fo that he could not walk alone for feveral months after- wards. As foon as I had pitched a tent for the wounded, and likewife dreffed Tecla Haimanoui's foot, I went to Kefla Yafous, while the two Mahomets proceeded to the Ras with .their money. The moment I came into the tent, Kefla Yafbns rofe up end embraced me. He was fitting alone, but with rather a chearful than a deje£©d countenance ; he told me they were all in great concern, till Ayto Adigo's arrival, at a re- port which came from Gondar that we had fought with Guebra Mehedin, and had.all been {lain. I informed him every thing I knew, or had heard, but he had better intel- 3K2 ligence TRAVELS TO DISCOVER ligence than I in every article but this lair, frefli news ha- ving arrived the night before by way of Delakus. He laid, the rebellion of Gufho and PowufTen was certain ; that the King and Ras knew every circumftance of it, and that Gourt-ohha was the place appointed with Fafil to meet and cut them off; he had not heard of Woodage Afahel's march, but feemed to give full credit to it ; he faid it was certain, likewife, that Fafil had advanced towards Maitiha ; but where his quarters were he did not know, probably they were not at a great diftance, He complained violently of his march, and of the number of beafts which they had loft; he wifhed alfo that Fafil would be induced to give battle where they were encamped, as his horfe would probably be of little ufe to him among fo many torrents and rivers, and mult fuffer confiderably in their advancing hither. I asked him whither they were now marching? He faid, that, as foon as the news of the confpiracy were known, a council was held, where it was the general opinion they mould proceed, brifkly forward, and attack Fafil alone at Bure, then turn to Gondar to meet the other two ; but then they had it upon the very bell authority that great rain had fallen to the fouthward ; that the rivers, which were fo frequent in that part of the country, were moftly impaffable, fo there would be great danger in meeting Fafil with an army fpent and fatigued with the difficulty of the roads. It was, therefore, determined, and the Ras was decidedly of that opinion, that they mould keep their army entire for a better day, and immediately crofs the Nile, and march back to Gondar ; that they had accordingly wheeled about, and that day was the firft of their proceeding, which had been in- terrupted by the accident of the firing. Kefla Yafous of- fered THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 445 fered me all forts of refrefhments, and I dined with him ; he fent alfo great abundance for my fervants to my tent, left I mould not have yet got my appointments from the king. I then went directly to my own tent, where I found all that belonged to me had arrived fafe, under the care of Francifco ; and having now procured clothes, inftead of thofe taken from me by Guebra Mehedin, I waited up- on the king, and ftaid a confiderable time with him, alking much the fame queftions Kefla Yafous had done. I would have paid my refpefts to the Ras alfo, but mined him, for he was at council. £&Uu. 11 1 «S CHAP. 446 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER fflf 3gg CHAP. VI. Whig's Army retreats towards Gondar — Memorable Pafage of the Nile-— Dangerous Situation of the Army — Retreat of Kef a Yafous — Battle of Limjour — Unexpccled Peace with Fa/il — Arrival at Gondar. IT was on the 26th of May, early in the morning, that the army marched towards the Nile. In the after- noon we encamped, between two and three, on the banks of the river Coga, the church Abbo being fomething more than half a mile to the .north-weft of us. Next morning, the 27th, we left the river Coga, march- ing down upon the Nile ; we palled the church of Mariam- Net, as they call the church of St Anne. Here the fupe- rior, attended by about fifty of his monks, came in proceflion to welcome Ras Michael; but he, it feems, had received fome intelligence of ill-offices the people of this quarter had done to the Agows by Fafil's direction ; he therefore 1 ordered THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 447 ordered the church to be plundered, and took the fuperio'r, and two of the leading men of the monks, away with him to Gondar; feveral of the others were killed and wounded, without provocation, by the foldiers, and the reft difperfed. through the country, Prince George had fent immediately in the morning to put me in mind that I had promifed, in the king's tent at Lamgue, under Emfras, to ride with him in his party when in Maitfha. He commanded about two hundred and fifty chofen horfe, and kept at about half a mile's diftance on the right flank of the army. I told the king the prince's defira; who only anfwered, dryly enough, " Not till we pais the Nile ; we do not yet know the Hate of this country." Imme- diately after this, he detached the horfe of Sire and Sc- rawl, and commanded me with his own guards to take pof- feflion of the ford where the Fit-Auraris had crofted, and to fulFer no mule or horfe to pafs till their arrival. There were two fords propofed for our pafFage ; one op- pofite to the church Bofkon Abbo, between the two rivers Keiti and Aroofli, (on the weft of the Nile,) and the Koga and Amlac Ohha from the eaft ; it was faid to be deep, but paflable, though the bottom was of clay, and very foft ; the other ford propofed was higher up, at the fecond cataract of Kerr. It was thought of confequence to chufe this ford, as the Kelti, (itfelf a large and deep river) joined by the Branti, which comes from the weftward of Quaquera, brings, in the rainy feafon, a prodigious acceihon of water to the Nile ; yet, below this, the guides had advifed the Kas to pafs, and many found it afterwards a found bottom, very little deeper, with level ground on both fides. We arrived ibout four on the bank ■448 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER banks of the Nile, and took poflefhon in a line of about 600 yards of ground. From the time we decamped from Coga it poured incef- fantly the moft continued rain we ever had yet feen, violent claps of thunder followed clofe one upon another, almoft without interval, accompanied with meets of lightning, which ran on the ground like water ; the day was more than commonly dark, as in aneclipfe; and every hollow, or foot-path, collected a quantity of rain, which fell into the Nile in torrents. It would have brought into the dulled mind Mr Hume's (hiking lines on my native Carron — Red ran the river down, and loud and oft The angry fpirit of the water fhriek'd. Douglas. The Abyflinian armies pafs the Nile at all feafons. It rolls with it no trees, ftones, nor impediments ; yet the fight of fuch a monftrous mafs of water terrified me, and made me think the idea of crofling would be laid afide. It was plain in the face of every one, that they gave themfelves over for loft ; an univerfal dejection had taken place, and it was but too vifible that the army was defeated by the weather, without having feen an enemy. The Greeks crowded a- round me, all forlorn and defpairing, curfmg the hour they had firft entered that country, and following thefe curfes with fervent prayers, where fear held the place of devotion. A cold and brifk gale now fprung up at N. W. with a clear fun; and foon after four, when the army arrived on the banks of the Nile, thefe temporary torrents were all fubfided, the 3 fun THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 449 fun was hot, and the ground again beginning to become dry. Netcho, Ras Michael's Fit-Auraris, with about 400 men, had pa(Ted in the morning, and taken his ftation above us in little huts like bee-hives, which the foldiers, who carry- no tents, make very fpeedily and artificially for themfelves, of the long, wild oats, each iiraw of which is at lead eight feet long, and near as thick as an ordinary man's little fing- er. He had fent back word to the king, that his men had pailed fwimming, and with very great difficulty ; that he doubted whether the horfes, or loaded mules, could crofs at any rate; but, if it was refolved to make the trial, they fliould do it immediately, without flaying till the increafe of the river. He faid both banks were compoled of black earth, flip- pery and miry, which would become more fo when horfes had puddled it; he advifed, above all, the turning to the right immediately after coming afhore, in the direction in which he had fixed poles, as the earth there was hard and firm, be- sides having the advantage of fome round ilones which hindered the beafts from flipping or finking. In Head, therefore, of retting there that night, it was refolved that the horfe fliould crofs immediately. The firfl who paffed was a young man, a relation of the king, brother to Ayamico killed at the battle of Banja ; lie walked in with great caution, marking a track for the king to pafs. He had gone upon rather folid ground, about twice the length of his horfe, when he plunged out of his depth, and fwam to the other fide. The king followed him immediately with a great degree of hade, Ras Michael call- ing to him to proceed with caution, but without fuccefs. Vol. III. 3 L Afterwards 450 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER Afterwards came the old Ras on his mule, with feveral of his friends fwimming both with and without their horfes on each lide of him, in a manner truly wonderful. He feem- ed to have loft his accuftomed calmnefs, and appeared a good deal agitated ; forbade, upon pain of death, any one to fol- low him directly, or to fwim over, as their cuftom is, hold- ing their mules by the tail. As foon as thefe were fafely afhore, the king's houfehold and black troops, and I with them, advanced cautioufly into the river, and fwam happily over, in a deep ftream of reddifh-coioured water, which ran without violence almoft upon a level, Each horfeman had a mule in his hand, which fwam after him, or by his fide, with his coat of mail and head- piece tied upon it. My horfe was a very ftrong one, and in good condition, and a fervant took charge of my mule and coat of mail, fo that, being unembarraffed, I had the hap- pinefs to get fafe and foon over, and up the path to the right without great difficulty, fo had molt others of the cavalry who fwam along with us ; but the ground now began to be broken on both fides of the paffage, and it was almoft as dif- ficult to get in, as it was to fcramble up the bank after- wards, Quis cladem illius ?io&is, quis funcra fando, Tc/npcret a lacbrymis,- — i VlRG. It is impoiTible to defcribe the ccnfufion that followed; night was hard upon us, and, though it increafed our lofs, it in great meafure concealed it ; a thoufand men had not yet paiied, though on mules and horfes; many mired in the muddy THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 451 muddy landing-place, fell back into the ftream, and were carried away and drowned. Of the horfe belonging to the king's houfehold, one hundred and eighty in number, feven only were miffing ; with them Ayto Aylo, vice-chamberlain to the queen, and Tecla Mariam the king's uncle, a great friend of Ras Michael's, both old men. The ground on the weft fide was quite of another con- fiftence than was that upon the eafl, it was firm, covered with fhort grafs, and rofe in fmall hills like the downs in England, all Hoping into little valleys which carried off the water, the declivity being always towards the Nile. There was no baggage (the tent of the Ras and that of the king excepted) which had as yet come over, and thefe were wet, being drenched in the river. The Fit-Auraris had left, ready made, two rafts for Ozoro Either, and the other two la- dies, with which fhe might have eafily been conducted over, and without much danger ; but the Ras had made Ozoro Either pafs over in the fame manner he had crof- fed himfelf, many fwimming on each fide of her mule. She would have fain ftaid on the eafl fide, but it was in vain to remonftrate. She was with child, and had fainted feveral times ; but yet nothing could prevail with the Ras to truft her on the other bank till morning. She croffed, however, fafely, though almoft dead with fright. It was faid he had determined to put her to death if fhe did not pafs, from jealoufy of her falling into the hands of Fa- fil ; but this I will by no means vouch, nor do I believe it. The night was cold and clear, and a ftrong wind at north- wed had blown all the afternoon. Guebra Mafcal, and fe- veral of Ras Michael's officers, had purpofely tarried behind for gathering in the flragglers. The river had abated to- 3 L 2 wards 452 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER wards mid- night, when, whether from this caufe, or, as they alledged, that they found a more favourable ford, all the Tigre infantry, and many mules lightly loaded, paffed with lei's difficulty than any of the reft had done, and with them feveral loads of flour ; luckily alfo my two tents and mules, to my great confolarion, came fafely over when it was near morning. Still the army continued to pafs, and thofe that could fwim feemed bed off. 1 was in the great- efl diflrefs for the good Ammonios, my lieutenant, who was miffing, and did not join us till late in the morning, having been all night bufy in feeking Ayto Aylo, the queen's cham- berlain, and Tecia Mariam, who were his great companions, drowned probably at the firft attempt to pafs, as they were never after heard of. The greater! part of the foot, however, crofTed in the night ; and many were of opinion that we had miftakeri the paffiage altogether, by going too high, and being in too great a hafte ; the banks, indeed, were fo deep, it was very? plain that this could never have been an accuflomed ford for cavalry. Before day-light the van and the center had. all joined the king; the number, I believe, that had perilled was never diftinctly known, for thofe that were miffing were thought to have remained on the other fide with Kefla Ya- fous, at leaf! for that day. Kefla Yafous, indeed, with the rear and all the baggage of the army, had remained on the other fide, and, with very few tents pitched, waited the dawiv. of the morning. It happened that the priefls of the church of Mariamr Net, in the confufion, had been left unheeded, chained armr %p arm, in. the rear with Kefla Yafous, and they had began interceding THE SOURCE OF THE NTLE. 453 interceding with him to procure their pardon and difmif- fion. He was a man, as I (kid, of the greateft affability and complacency, and heard every one fpeak with the utmoft pa- tience. Thefe priefls, terrified to death left Michael mould pull their eyes out, or exercife fome of his ufual cruelties upon them, which was certainly his intention by bringing them with him to Gondar, frankly declared to Kefla Yafous what they apprehended. They fa id that they had never known a ford there before, though they had lived many years in the neighbourhood, nor had ever heard of one at Kerr, the firft cataract, which the guides had perfuaded the rather of the two ; they did believe, therefore, that Michael's guides had deceived him on purpofe, and that they intend- ed the fame thing by him to-morrow, if he attempted to pafs at Kerr. They told him further, that, about three days before Michael had arrived in the neighbourhood of Samfeen, they had heard a nagareet beat regularly every evening at fun-fet, behind the high woody hill in front, whereon was the church of Boikon Abbo ; that they had feen alfo a man the day before who had left Welleta Ya* fous, Fafil's principal officer and confident, at Goutto, wait- ing the arrival of fome more troops to pafs the Nile there; whence they doubted not that there was treachery intend- ed.. The fagacious and prudent Kefla Yafous weighed every word of this in his mind, and, combining all the circum- ftances together, was immediately convinced that there had been a fnare laid by Falil for them. Entering further in- to converfation with the prieits, and'encouraging them with affurances of reward inftead of punifhment, he inquired if they certainly knew any better ford below. They anfwer- 454 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER ed him they knew of no ford but the common one of Dc- lakus, about eight miles below ; that it was true it was not "good, and it was deeper than ordinary, as the rainy feafon had begun early, but that it was fo perfectly fordable that all the country people had gone with affes loaded with but- ter and honey, and other provifions, for the market of Gon- dar laft week ; from whence they inferred that he could eafdy ford it, and fafely, even with loaded mules. They advifed him farther, as the night was dry, and the rain fell generally in the day, to lofe no time, but to collect his troops, weary as they were, as foon as poffible, and fend the heavy baggage before ; that there was no river or tor- rent in their way, but Amlac Ohha, which, at that time of night, was at its loweft, and they might then pafs it at their leifure, while he covered them with his troops behind ; that in fuch cafe they might all be fafe over the ford by the time the fun became to be hot in the morning, about which hour they did not doubt he would be attacked by Welle ta Yafous. They faid farther, that, though they could claim little merit, being prifoners, by offering to be his guides, yet he might perhaps find his ufe in the meafure, and would thereby prove their faith and loyalty to the king. Although all this bore the greateft fhew of probability, and the lives of the informers were in his hands, that cau- tious general would not undertake a ftep of fo much con- fequence, as to feparate the rear of the army from the king, without further inquiry. There was then in his camp, waiting the event of next day, two of the guides who had brought them to this ford ; a third had gone over the ri- ver with Ras Michael. There was likewife in his camp a fervant of Nanna Georgis, who had arrived fome days be- 4 fore THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 455 fore with information to Ras Michael. The two guides pretended to be Agows, consequently friends to the king. He called thefe into his prefence, and ordered them to be put in irons, and then fent for the fervant of Nanna Geor- gis. This man immediately knew the one to be his coun- tryman, but declared the other was a Galla, both of them fervants of Fafil, and then living in Maitfha. Kefla Yasous immediately ordered the Kanitz Kitzera (the executioner of the camp) to attend, and having exhort-, ed them to declare the truth for fear of what would fpeedi- ly follow, and no fatis factory anfwer being given, he direct- ed the eyes of the eldeft, the Galla, to be plucked out ; and he continuing ftill obftinate, he delivered him to the fol- diers, who hewed him to pieces with their large knives in prefence of his companion. In the mean time the priefts had been very earneft with the young one, the Agow, to confefs, with better fuccefs ; but this execution, to which he had been witnefs, was more prevailing; than all their ar- guments. Upon promife of life, liberty, and reward, he de- clared that he had left Fafil behind a hill, which he then fhewed, about three miles diftant, in front of the king's army, and had gone down to Welleta Yafous, who was wait- ing at Goutto ready to pafs the Nile : that they were fent forward to decoy the king to that paflage, under the name of a ford, where they expected great part of the army would periili if they attempted to pafs: that Fad was to attack fuch part of the king's army as mould have palled as foon as it appeared upon the heights above the river, but not till, by the firing on the eait fide, he knew that Welleta Yafous was engaged with the rear, or part of the army, which mould ftill remain on that fide feparated by the river : that they did nor 4-5G TRAVELS TO DISCOVER not imagine Ras Michael could have paffed that night, but that to-morrow he would certainly be attacked by Fafil, as his companion, who had croffed with Ras Michael, was to go directly to rafil and inform him of the fituation of the King, the Ras, and the army. Kefla Yasous fent two of his principal officers, with a «liftinc"r. detail of this whole affair, to the king. It being now dark, they fwam the river on horfeback, with much more difficuUy and danger than we had done, and they found Ras Michael and the king in council, to whom the)- told their meffage with every circumftance, adding, that Kefla Yafous, as the only way to preferve the army, quite fpent with fatigue, and encumbered with i'uch a quantity of bag- gage, had (truck his tent, and would, by that time, be on his march for the ford of Dclakus, which he thould crofs, and, after leaving a party to guard the baggage and, lick, he ihould with the frefheft of his men join the army. The fpy that had paffed with Michael and the king was now fought for, but he had loft no time, and was gone off to Fafil at Bof- kon Abbo. Kefla Yafous, having fcen all the baggage on their way before him, did, as his lail act, perhaps not ftrictly con- fident with juftice, hang the poor unfortunate informer, the Agow, upon one of the trees at the ford, that Welleta Yafous, when he paffed in the morning, might fee how certainly his fecrei was discovered, and that co.nfequcntly he was on his guard. On the 28th he croffed Amlac Ohha with fome degree of difficulty, and was obliged to abandon fcveral baggage- mules. He advanced after this with as great diligence as poffible to Delakus, and found the ford, though deep, much % better THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 457 better than he expected. He had pitched his tent on the high road to Gondar, before Welleta Yafous knew he was decamped, and of this paffage he immediately advifed Mi- chael refreshing his troops for any emergency. About two in the afternoon Welleta Yafous appeared with his horfe on the other fide of the Nile, but it was then too late. Kefla Yafous was fo ftrongly polled, and the banks of the river fo guarded with fire-arms, down to the water- edge, that Fafd and all his army would not have dared to attempt the paffage, or even approach the banks of the river. As foon as Ras Michael received the intelligence, he dif- patched the Fit-Auraris, Netcho, to take poft upon the ford -of the Kelti, a large river, but rather broad than deep, about three miles off. He himfclf followed early in the morning, and pafTed the Kelti jufl at fun-rife, without halting ; he then advanced to meet Kefla Yafous, as the army began to want provilions, the little flour that had been brought over, or which the foldiers had taken with them, being nearly ex- haufted during that night and the morning after. It was found, too, that the men had but little powder, none of them having recruited their quantity fince the hunting of the deer ; but what they had was in perfect good order, being kept in horns and fmall wooden bottles, corked in fuch a manner as to be fecured from water of any kind. Kefla Yafous, therefore, being in poffeffion of the baggage, the powder, and the provilions, a junction with him was abfo- iutely neceffary, and they expected to effect this at Waina- -dega, about twenty miles from their laft night's quarters. Vol. III. 3 M The 4jS TRAVELS TO DISCOVER The ground was all firm and level between Keki and the Avoley, a fpace of about 15 miles. Ras Michael halted after palling the Kelti, and fent on the Fit-Auraris about five miles before him ; he then ordered what quantity of flour, or provifions of any kind could be found, to beidiftributed among the men, and directed them to refrefh themfelves for an hour before they again be- gan their march, becaufe they might expect foon to engage with Fafil. The day being clear, and the fun hot, thofe that the cold affected, from the pafTage of lafl: night, began to recover their former health and agility; their clothes were now all dry, clean wafhed, and comfortable ; and had it not been for the fatigue that remained from the two lafl: days, and the fliort allowance to which they were reduced, per- haps there were few occafions wherein the army was fitter for an engagement. Being now difembarrafled from dan- gerous rivers, they were on dry folid ground, which they had often marched over before in triumph, and where all the villages around them, lying in ruins, put them in mind of many victorious campaigns, and efpecially the recent one at Fagitta over this fame Fafil. Add to all this, they were on their way home to Gondar, and that alone made them march with a tenfold alacrity. Gondar, they thought, was to be the end of all their cares, a place of relaxation and eafe for the red of the rainy feafon. It was between twelve and one we heard the Fit-Auraris engaged, and there was fharp firing on both fides, which foon ceafed. Michael ordered his army immediately to halt; he and the king, and Billetana GuetaTecla, commanded the van ; Welleta Michael, and AytoTesfos of Sire, the rear. Having marched THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 419 marched a little farther, he changed his order of battle ; he drew up the body of troops which he commanded, toge- ther with the king, on a fiat, large hill, with two valleys running parallel to the fides of it like trenches. Beyond thefe trenches were two higher ridges of hills that ran along the fide of them, about half a mufket-fhot from him ; the valleys were foft ground which yet could bear horfes, and thefe hills, on his right and on his left, advanced about 100 yards on each fide farther than the line of his front. The grofs of thefe fide-divifions occupied the height ; but a line of foldiers from them came down to the edge of the valleys like wings. In the plain ground, about three hundred yards directly in his front, he had placed all the cavalry, except the king's body-guards drawn up before him, commanded by an old officer of Mariam Barea. As prince George was in the cavalry, he flrongly folicited the Ras at leafl to let him remain with them, and fee them engage ; but the Ras, confidering his extreme youth and natural rafhnefs, called him back, and placed him befide me before the king. It. was not long before the Fit-Auraris's two meffengers arri- ved, running like deer along the plain, which was not abfo- lutely flat, but floped gently down towards us, declining, as I fhould guefs, not a fathom in fifteen. Their account was, that they had fallen in with Fafil's Fit-Auraris ; that they had attacked him fmartly, and, though the enemy were greatly fuperior, being all horfe, except a few mufqueteers, had killed four of them. The Ras having firft heard the meffage of the Fit-Auraris alone, he fent a man to report it to the king ; and, immediately after this, he or- dered two horfemen to go full gallop along the eafl fide of the hill, the low road to Wainadega, to warn Kefla Yafous 3 M 2 of 46o TRAVELS TO DISCOVER of FafiTs being near at hand ; he like wife directed the Fit- Auraris to advance cautioufly till he had feen Fafil, and tc purfue no party that mould retreat before him. i The King, the Ras, and the whole army, began to be in pain for Kefla Yafous ; and we mould have changed our ground, and marched forward immediately, had we not heard the alarm-guns fired by Fit-Auraris Netcho, and prc- fently he and his party came in, the men running, and the horfes at full gallop. Ras Michael had given his orders, and returned to the prefence of the king on his mule ; he could not venture among horfc, being wounded in the middle of the thigh, and lame in that leg, but always char- ged on a mule among the mufquetry. He faid iliortly to the king, " No fear, Sir, Hand firm ; Fafil is loft if he fights to- day on this ground," Fasil appeared at the top of the hill. I have no guefs about the number of fuch large bodies of troops, but, by thofe more ufed to fuch computations, it is faid he had about 3000 horfe. It was a fine fight, but the evening was beginning to be overcafl. After having taken a full view of the army, they all began to move flowl-y down the hill, beating their kettle-drums. There were two trees a little before the ca- valry, that were advanced beyond our front. Fafil fentdown a party to fkirmifli with thefe, and he himfelf halted after having made a few paces down the hill. The two bodies of horfe met jufl half way at the two trees, and mingled together, as appeared at leaf!:, with very decifive intention; but whether it was by orders or from fear, (for they were not overmatched in numbers) our horfe turned their backs and came precipitately down, fo that we were afraid they 1 would. THESOURCEOFTHENILE. 461 would break in upon the foot. Several fhots were fired from the center at them by order of the Ras, who cried out aloud in derifion, " Take away thefe horfes and fend them to the mill." They divided, however, to the right and left, into the two graffy valleys under cover of the mufquetry, and a very few horfe of Fafd's were carried in along with them, and flain by the foldiers on the fide of the Kill. On the king's fide no man of note was miffing but Welleta Michael, nephew of Ras Michael, whofe horfe falling, he was taken prifoner and carried off by Fafil. A few minutes after this, arrived a meflenger from Fafil;, a dwarf, named Doho, a man always employed on errands of this kind ; it is an intercourfe which is permitted, and the meffenger not only protected, but rewarded, as I have before obferved ; it is a fingular cuftom, and none but fhrewd fellows are fent, very capable of making obferva- tions, and Doho was one of thefe. He told the Ras to pre- pare immediately, for Fafil intended to attack him as foon as he had brought his foot up : Doho further added a requeft from his mafter, as a mark of his duty, that the king might not change his drefs that day, left he might fall in- to the hands of fome of the ftranger troops of Galla, who might not know him otherwife, or fhew the proper refpect to his perfon. The Ras, I was told afterwards, for he was too far before us to hear him, laughed violently at this com- pliment. " Tell Fafil, fays he, to wait but a few minutes where he now is, and I promife him that the king fha!l drefs in any way he pleafes." When Doho's meffage was told to the king, he fent back anfwer to Ras Michael, " Let Doho tell Fafil from me, that, if I had known thofe two trees had been where they are, I would have brought Welleta Ga*. brick 462 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER bricl, Ozoro Esther's lie ward, to him; by which he very arch- ly alluded to the battle of Fagitta, where that drunkard, mooting from behind a tree, and killing one Galla, made all the reft fly for fear of the zibib. Dono being thus difmiiied, the whole army advanced im- mediately at a very briik pace, hooping and fcreaming, as is their cullom, in a mofl harfli and barbarous manner, crying out Hatze Ali ! Michael Ali ! But Fafil, who faw the forward countenance of the king's troops, and that a few minutes would lay him under neceflity of rifking a battle, which he did not intend, withdrew his troops at a fmart trot over the fmooth downs, returning towards Boikon Abbo. It feems, as we heard afterwards, he was in as great anxiety about the fate of Welleta Yafous, of whom he had no intelligence, as we had been for that of Kefla Yafous ; and he had got as yet no intelligence till he had taken Welleta Michael prifon- er ; he had heard no firing, nor did he confequently know whether Kefla Yafous had palled the Nile with the Ras or not ; he had, therefore, left his camp, and marched with his horfe only to take a view of Michael, but had no fort of in- tention to give him battle ; and he was now very much ex- afperated againfl both Gufho and Powuffen, by whom he law plainly that he had been betrayed. This is what was called the battle of Limjour, from a village burnt by Ras Michael laft campaign, which flood where the two trees are ; the name of a battle is furely more than it deferves. Had Fafil been half as willing as the Ras, it could not have failed being a decifive one. The Ras, who faw that Fafil would not fight, eafdy penetrated his rea- fons, and no fooner was he gone, and his own drums fxlent, 3 than THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 463 than he heard a nagareet beat, and knew it to be that of Kefla Yafous. This general encamped upon the river Avoley, lea- ving his tents and baggage under a proper guard, and had marched with the beft and frefheft of his troops to join Mi- chael before the engagement. All was joy at meeting, every rank of men joined in extolling the merit and conduct of their leaders ; and, indeed, it may be fairly faid, the fitua- tion of the king and the army was defperate at that inilant, when the troops were feparatcd on different fides of the Nile ; nor could they have been faved but by the fpeedy rcfolu- tion taken by Kefla Yafous to march without lofs of time- and pafs at the ford of Dclakus, and the diligence and afti- vity with which he executed that refolution. Although a good part of Kefla Yafous's foldiers were- left at the Avoley, the Ras, as a mark of confidence, gave him the command of the rear. We were retreating before an enemy, and it was, therefore, the poft of honour, where the Ras would have been himfelf, had not Kefla Yafous join- ed us. We foon marched the five miles, or thereabout, that remained to the Avoley, and arrived juft as the fun was fet- ting, and there heard from the fpies that Welleta Yafous with his troops had retired again to Goutto, after having been joined by Woodage Afahel. There again were frefh re- joicings, as every one recovered their baggage and provi- sions, many rejoined their friends they had given over as lo'tt at the paiTage, and the whole army prepared their fup- per. All but Ras Michael feemed to have their thoughts bent upon fleep and reft ; whilft he, the moft infirm and a<*ed of the army, no fooner was under cover of his tent than he ordered the drum to beat for aflembling a coun- cil What palled there I did not know; I believe nothing but 464 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER but a repetition of the circumilances that induced Keila Ya- fous to advance to Delakus, for, after fupper, juft before the king went to bed in the evening, a man from Kefla Yafous brought the four prieils of Mariam Net, who had been the guides to the ford at Delakus. The king ordered meat to be let before them, but they had done very well already with Keila Yafous, and, therefore, only took a fmall piece of bread and a cup of bouza, the eating and drinking in prefence of the king being an affurance that their life was fafe and pardon real. They had then five ounces of gold, and feveral changes of clothes given to each of them, and the king took them to Gondar with him, to provide for them there, out of the reach of the revenge of Fafil, and placed them in the church of Hamar Noh*. The army marched next day toDingleber, a high hill, or rock, approaching fo clofe to the lake as fcarcely to leave a paflage between. Upon the top of this rock is the king's houfe. As we arrived very early there, and were now out of Fafil's government, the king infilled upon treating Ras Michael and all the people of confideration. A great quan- tity of cattle had been fent thither from Dembea by thofe who had enates in the neighbourhood, out of which he gave ten oxen to Ras Michael, ten to Keila Yafous, the fame number to feveral others, and one to myfelf, with two oun- ces of gold for Strates and Sebaftos to buy mules ; but they had already provided themfelves ; for, befides the two they rode upon of mine, they and my fervants had picked up four others in very good condition, whofe mailers had pro- bably perifhed in the river, for they were never claimed af- terwards. Just * This is a Urge church belonging to the palace, called by this extraordinary name, Noah's Ark, THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 465 Just as the king fat down to dinner an accident happen* ed that occafioned great trepidation among all his fervants. A black eagle* was chafed into the king's tent by fome of the birds of prey that hover about the camp ; and it was after in the mouth of every one the king would be dethro- ned by a man of inferior birth and condition. Every body at that time looked to Fafil : the event proved the applica- tion falfe, though the omen was true. PowufFenof Begem- der was as low-born as Fafil, as great a traitor, but more fuc- cefsful, to whom the ominous prefage pointed ; and, though we cannot but look upon the whole as accident, it was but too foon fulfilled. In the evening of the 29th arrived at Dingleber two horfe- men from Fafd, clad in habits of peace, and without arms ; they were known to be two of his principal fervants, were grave, genteel, middle-aged men ; this meffage had nothing of Doho's buffoonery. They had an audience early after their coming, firft of the Ras, then of the King. They faid, and faid truly, that Fafil had repafled theKeki,was encamp- ed on the oppofite fide, and was not yet joined by Welleta Yafous. Their errand was, to defire that the Ras might not fatigue his men by unneceffarily hurrying on to Gondar, becaufe he might reft fecured of receiving no further mo- legation from Fafil their mafler, as he was on his march to Bure. They told the Ras the whole of the confpiracy, as far as it regarded him, and the agreement that PowufTen and Gu- fho had made with their mailer to furround him at Derde- ra: they mentioned, moreover, how fenfible Fafil was of their Vol. Ill, 3 N treafon See a figure of this bird in the Appendix. 466 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER treafon towards him ; that, inflead of keeping their word,,, they had left him to engage the King and the Ras's whole force at a time when they knew the greateft part of his Galla troops were retired to the other fide of the Nile, and could be affembled with difficulty : That if the Ras by chance had crofTed at Delakus, as Kefla Yafous had done, in- Head of embarramng his army among the rivers of Mait- fha, and croffing the Nile at that moll dangerous place near Amlac-Ohha, (a paffage never before attempted in the rainy feafon) the confequence would have been, that he mull have either fought at great difadvantage with an inferior army againft the Ras, or have retired to Metchakel, leaving his whole country to the mercy of his enemies. Fafil decla- red his refolution never again to appear in arms againft the king, but that he would hold his government under him, and pay the accuftomed taxes punctually : he promifed al- io, that he would renounce all manner of connection with Gufho and Powuffen, as he had already done, and he would take the field againft them next feafon with his whole force, whenever the king ordered him. The mellengers conclu- ded, with deliring the Ras to give Fafil his grand-daughter, Welle ta Selafie, in marriage, and that he would then come to Gondar without diftruft. At the audience they had of the king the fame night,, they added, That Fafil could not truft Ras Michael, he broke his word fo often, and had fo many refervations and eva-. lions in his promifes. The Ras, though he did not believe all this, made no dif- ficulty in agreeing to every thing that they defired. He promifed the grand- daughter; and, as an earneft of his be- lieving THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 467 lieving the reft, the king's two nagareets were brought to the door of the tent, where, to our very great furprife, we heard it proclaimed, " Fafd is governor of the Agow, Maitfha, Gojam, andDamot; profperity to him, and long may he live a faithful fervant to the king our mailer !" — This was an extraordinary revolution in fo fmall a fpace of time. It vas fcarce 43 hours fmce Fafd had laid a fcheme for drowning the greater part of the army in the Nile, and cutting the throats of the refidue on both fides of it; it was not twenty- four hours, fince he had met us to fight in open field, and now he was become the king's lieutenant-general in four of the moil opulent provinces of Abyffinia. This was pro- duced, however, by the necefhty of the times, and both par- ties were playing at the fame game who mould over-reach the other. Fafil's meffengers were magnificently cloathed, and it was firft intended they mould have gone back to him ; but, after refleaion, another perfon was fent,thefe two chu- fing to go to Gondar with the king to remain hoftages for Fafil's word, and to bring back his inveftiture from thence to Bure. The whole camp abandoned itfelf to joy. Late in the evening Ozoro Efther came to the king's tent* She had been ill, and alarmed, as Ihe well might, at the paflage of the Nile, which had given her a more delicate look than ordinary; fhe was drcflcd all in white, and I thought I feldom had fecn fo handfome a woman. The king, as I have mentioned, had fent ten oxen to Ras Michael, but he had given twenty to Ozoro Either ; and it was to thank him for this extraordinary mark of favour that iTie had come to vifit him in his tent. I had for fome time pad, indeed, thought they were not infenfible to the merit of each other. Upon her thanking the king for the diftinclion 5N2 he 468 TRAVELS TO DFSCOVER" he had fhewri her, Madam, faid he, your hufband Ras Mi- chael is intent upon employing, in the belt way polfible for my fervice, thofe of the army that are ftrong and vigorous;, you, I am told, beftow your care on the fick and dilabled, and; by your attention, they are reftored to their former health and activity ; the ftrong active foldier eats the cows that I have fent to the Ras ; the enfeebled and lick: recover upon yours, for which reafon I fent you a double portion, that you may have it in your power to do double good. After this the room was cleared, and me had an audience alone for half an hour. I doubt very much whether Ras Michael had any (hare in the converfation ; the king was in the very gayelt humour, and went to reft about twelve. The Ras, loved Ozoro Eilher, but was not jealous.. I had violent threatenings of the ague, and had gone to bed full of reflections on extraordinary events that, in a few hours, had as it were crowded upon one another. I had appointed FafiFs fervants to come to my tent in the evening. I underftood a council had been called, to which Welleta Kyrillos, the king's hiftoriographer, had been fent for, and inftructed how to give an account of this campaign of Man- illa, the paffage of the Nile, and the meeting with Fafil at Limjour. Kefla Yafous's march to DeJakus, and paffage there, were ordered to be written in gold letters, and fo was* Fafil's appointment to Damot and Maitfha. From this au- thentic copy, and what I myfelf heard or obferved, I formed, thefe notes of the campaign;. On the 30th of May nothing material happened, and, in- a few days, we arrived at Gondar. The day before we en- tered, being encamped on the river Kemona, came twome£ fengers , THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 469 fengers from Guflio and PowufTen, with various excufcs why they had not joined. They were very ill received by the Ras, and refufed an audience of the king. Their prefent, which is always new clothes to fome value, was a (mall piece of dark-blue Surat cloth, value about half-a-crown, intended as an affront; they were not fuffered to fleep in the camp, but forwarded to Fafil where they were going. The 3d of June the army encamped'on the river Kahha, under Gondar. From the time we left Dingleber, fome one or other of the Ras's confidential friends had arrived every day. Several of the great officers of (late reached us at the Kemona, many others met us at Abba Samuel. I did not per- ceive the news they brought increafed the fpirits either of the King or the Ras ; the foldiers, however, were all con- tented, becaufe they were at home ; but the officers, who faw farther, wore very different countenances, efpecially thofe that were of Amhara. I, in particular, had very little reafon to be pieafed; for, after having undergone a conftant feries of fatigues, dangers, and expences, I was returned to Gondar difappoint- ed of my views in arriving at the fource of the Nile, with- out any other acquifition than a violent ague. The place where that, river rifes remained itill as great a fecret as k. had been ever fince the cataftrophe of Phaeton:— Nilus in extremum fugit pert err it us orhemt Oiculuitque caput, quod adhuc latet. Ovid. Metam. lib. iiij CHAR. 47o TRAVELS TO DISCOVER *m3g&& CHAP. VII. King and Army retreat to Tigre — Interefiing Events following that Re- treat— 'The Body of Joas is found — Favourable Turn of the Kings Affairs — Socinios, a new King, proclaimed at Gondar. TH E king had heard that Gufho and PowufTen, with Gojam under Ayto Aylo, and all the troops of BelefTen and Lafta, were ready to fall upon him in Gondar as foon as the rains fliould have fwelled the Tacazze, fo that the army could not retire into Tigre ; and it was now thought to be the inftant this might happen, as the king's procla- mation in favour of Fafd, efpecially the giving him Gojam, it was not doubted, would haflen the motion of the rebels. Accordingly that very morning, after the king arrived, the proclamation was made at Gondar, giving Fafil Gojam, Da- mot, the Agow, and Maitma ; after which his two fervants were again magnificently cloathed, and fent back with ho- nour. 4 As THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 471 As I had never defpaired, fome way or other, of arriving at the fountains of the Nile, from which we were not fifty miles dillant when we turned back at Karcagna, fo I never neglected to improve every means that held out to me the leall probability of accompliihing this end. I had been very attentive and ferviceable to Faiil's iervants while in the camp. I fpoke greatly of their mailer, and, when they went away, gave each of them a fmall prefent for himfelf, and a trifle alfo for Fafil. They had, on the other hand, been very importunate with me as a phylician to prefcribe fome- thing for a cancer on the lip, as I underilood it to be, with which Welleta Yafous, Fafil's principal general, was afflic- ted. I had been advifed, by fome of my medical friends, to carry along with me a preparation of hemlock, or cicuta,. recommended by Dr Stork, a phyfician at Vienna. A confi- derable quantity had been fent me from France by commif- fion, with directions how to life it. To keep on the fafe fide, I prcfcribed fmall dofes to Welleta Yafous, being much more anxious to preferve myfelf from reproach than warm- ly folicitous about the cure of my unknown patient. I gave him pofitive advice to avoid eating raw meat ; to keep to a milk diet, and drink plentifully of whey when he ufed this medicine. They were overjoyed at having fucceeded fo well in their commiffion, and declared before the king, That Fafil their mailer would be more pleafed with receiving a medicine that would reftore Welleta Yafous to health, than with the magnificent appointments the king's goodnefs had bellowed upon him. " If it is fo, faid I, in this day of grace, I will aik two favours." — " And that's a rarity, fays the king ; come, out with, them ; I don't believe anybody is defirous you. 472 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER you mould be refufed ; I certainly am not ; only I bar one of them, you are not to relapfe into your ufual defpondency, and talk of going home." — " Well, Sir, faid I, I obey, and that is not one of them. They are thefe — You mall give me, and oblige Fafil to ratify it, the village Geefh, and the fource where the Nile rifes, that I may be from thence fur- nifhed with honey for myfelf and fervants ; it fhall Hand me inftead of Tangouri, near Hmfras, and, in value, it is not worth fo much. The fecond is, That, when I fhall fee that it is in his power to carry me to Geefh, and fhew me thofe fources, Fafil fhall do it upon my requeft, without fee Gr reward, and without excufe or evafion. They all laughed at the eafinefs of the requeft ; all de- clared that this was nothing, and wiihed to do ten times as much. The king faid, " Tell Fafd I do give the village of Geefh, and thofe fountains he is fo fond of, to Yagoube and his pofterity for ever, never to appear under another's name in the deftar, and never to be taken from him, or exchanged, either in peace or war. Do you fwear this to him in the name of your mafter," Upon which they took the two fore fingers of my right hand, and, one after the other, laid the two fore fingers of their right hand acrofs them, then kiffed them ; a form of fwearing ufed there, at leaft among thofe that call themfelves Chriftians. And as Azage Kyrillos, the king's fecretary andhiftorian, was then prefent, the king ordered him to enter the gift in the def- tar, or revenue-book, where the taxes and revenue of the king's lands are regiflered. " I will write it, fays the old man, in letters of gold, and, poor as 1 am, wili give him a village four times better than either Geefh or Tangouri, if he wili take a wife and flay amongft us, at leaft till my eyes 2 ' are THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 473 are clofed." It will be eafily guefled this rendered the con- verfation a chearful one. Faiil's fervants retired to fet out the next day, gratified to their utmoft wifh, and, as foon as the king was in bed, I went to my apartment likewiie. But very different thoughts were then occupying Mi- chael and his officers. They could not truft Fafil, and, be- fides, he could do them no fervice ; the rain was fet in, and he was gone home ; the weftern part of the kingdom was ready to rife upon them ; Woggora, to the north, immedi- ately in his way, was all in arms, and impatient to re- venge the feverities they had fuffered when Michael firft marched to Gondar. The Tacazze, which feparates Tigre from Woggora, and runs at the foot of the high mountains of samen, was one of the largeft and moll rapid rivers in Abyffinia, and, though not the firft to overflow, was, when f welled to its height, impaflable by horfe or foot, rolling down prodigious Hones and trees with its current. Danger- ous as the paflage was, however, there was no fafety but in attempting it : Michael, therefore, and every foldier with him, were of opinion that, if they muft perifli, they mould rather meet death in the river, on the confines of their own country, than fall alive into the hands of their enemies in Amhara. For this, preparation had been making night and day, fince Ras Michael entered Gondar, and probably before it. There was in Beleflen, on the neareft and eafieft way to a ford of the Tacazze, a man of quality called Adero, and his fon Zor Woldo. To thefe two Ras Michael ufed to truft the care of the police of Gondar when he was abfent upon . any expedition ; they were very active and capable, but had Vol. III. 3 ° fallen 474 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER fallen from their allegiance, and joined Powuflen and Gufho, at lcaft in councils. The Ras, immediately upon arriving at Gondar, diiTembling what he knew of their treafon, had fent to them to prepare a quantity of flour for the troops that were to pafs their way ; to get together what horfes they could as quietly as poflible ; to fend him word what ftate the ford was in ; and alfo, if Powuflen had made any move- ment forward ; or if Ayto Tesfos, governor of Samen, had ihewn any difpofition to difpute the paffage through Wog- gora into Tigre. Word was immediately returned by the traitor Adero, that the ford was as yet very paflable ; that it was faid Powuflen was marching towards Maitflia ; that Ay- to Tesfos was at home upon his high, rock, the feat of his government, and that no time was to be loft, as he believed he had already flour enough to fuflice ; he added alfo, that it would be dangerous to collect more, for it would give the alarm. This was all received as truth, and a meflenger fent back withorders,that ZorWoldo fliould leave the flourin fmall bags at Ebenaat, and that he fhould himfelf and his father wait the Ras at the ford, with what horfe they had, the fourth day from that,, in the evening,. The next morning the whole army was in motion. I' had the evening before taken leave of the king in an in- terview which coft me more than almoft any one in my life. The fubftance was, That I was ill in my health, and quite unprepared to attend him into Tigre ; that my heart was fet upon completing the only purpofe of my coming into Abyilinia, without which I fliould return into my own country with difgrace ; that I hoped, through his majeity's influence, Fafil might find fome way for me to accomplifh it ; if not, I trufted foon to fee him return, when I hoped it would; THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 475 would be eafy ; but, if I then went to Tigre, I was fully pcrfuaded I fhould never have the refolution to come again to Gondar. He feemed to take heart at the confidence with which I fpoke of his return. " You, Yagoube, fays he, in a humble, complaining tone, could tell me, if you pleafed, whether I mall or not, and what is to befal me ; thofe inftruments and thofe wheels, with which you are conftantly looking at the ftars, cannot be for any ufe unlefs for prying into futurity."—" Indeed, faid I, prince, thefe are things by which we guide fhips at fea, and by thefe we mark down the ways that we travel by land ; teach them to people that never palled them before, and, being once traced, keep them thus to be known by all men for ever. But of the decrees of Providence, whether they regard you or myfelf, I know no more than the mule upon which you ride."—" Tell me then, I pray, tell me, what is the reafon you fpeak of my re- turn as certain?"—" I fpeak, faid I, from obfervation, from refleaions that I have made, much more certain than pro- phecies and divinations by ftars. The firft campaign of your reign at Fagitta, when you was relying upon the difpofitions that the Ras had molt ably and fkillfully made, a drunk- ard, with a fmgle fliot, defeated a numerous army of your enemies. Povvuffen and Gufho were your friends, as you •thought, when you marched out laft, yet they had, at that very inftant, made a league to deftroy you at Derdera ; and nothing but a miracle could have faved you, flint up be- tween two lakes and three armies. It was neither you nor Michael that difordered their councils, and made them fail in what they had concerted. You was for burning Sam- feen, whilft Woodage Afahel was there in ambufh with a 3 O 2 large 476 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER large force, with a knowledge of all the fords, and mafter of all the inhabitants of the country. Remember how you palled thofe rivers, holding hand in hand, and drawing one another over. Could you have done this with an ene- my behind you, and fuch an enemy as Woodage Afahel ? He would have followed and harrafled you till you took the ford at Goutto, and there was Welleta Yafous waiting to oppofe you with 6000 men on the oppofite bank. When Ras Michael marched by Mariam Net, he found the priefts at their homes. Was that the cafe in any of the other churches we palled ? No ; all were fled for fear of Michael ; yet thefe were more guilty than any by their connections with Fafil ; notwithflanding which, they alone, of all others, flaid, though they knew not why ; an invifible hand held them that they might operate your prefervation. Nothing could have faved the army but the defperate paffage, fo tremendous that it will exceed the belief of man, crofting the Nile that night. Yet if the priefts had croffed before this, not a man would have proceeded to the ford. The priefts would have been Ras Michael's prifoners, and, on the other fide, they never would have fpoken a word whilft in the prefence of Michael. Providence, therefore, kept them with Kefla Yafous ; all was difcovered, and the army faved by the retreat, and his fpeedy palling at the ford of Delakus. What would have happened to Kefla Yafous, had I-afil marched down to Delakus either before or after the paffage ? Kefla Yafous would have been cut off before Ras Michael had palled the Kelti ; inftead of which, an unknown caufe detained him, moft infatuated-like, beating his kettle- drums behind Bofkon Abbo, while our army under the Ras was fwimming THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 477 fwimming that dangerous river, and moft of us pafling the night, naked, without tents, provifion, or powder. Nor did he ever think of prefenting himfelf till we had warmed ourfelves by an eafy march in a fine day, when we were every way his fuperiors, and Kefla Yafous in his rear. From all thefe fpecial marks of the favour of an over- ruling Pro- vidence, I do believe ftedfaftly that God will not leave his work half finifhed. " He it is who, governing the whole univerfe, has yet referved fpecially to himfelf the depart- ment of war ; he it is who has ftiled himfelf the God of Battles." The king was very much moved, and, as I con- ceived, perfuaded. He faid, " O Yagoube, go but with me to Tigre, and I will do for you whatever you defire me."— " You do, Sir, faid I, whatever I defire you, and more. I have told you my reafons why that cannot be ; let me flay here • a few months, and wait your return." The king then ad- vifed me to live entirely at Kofcam with the Iteghe, with- out going out unlefs Fafil came to Gondar, and to fend him punctually word how I was treated. Upon this we parted with inexpreffible reluctance. He was a king wor- thy to reign over a better people ; my heart was deeply pe- netrated with thofe marks of favour and condefcenfion which I had uniformly received from him ever fince I enter- ed his palace. On the 5th of June, while Powuffen, Adero, and the con- fpirators were waiting his paffage through BelefTen, (that is to the S. W.) the king's army marched towards Kofcam, over the mountain Debra Tzai towards Walkayt, and the low, hot provinces of AbyfTmia which lie to the N. E. fo that the diilance between them increafed every day in the greateft proportion poflible. The 478 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER The queen ordered her gates at Kofcam to be fhut. A little before the Ras mounted his mule, Ozoro Efther and her fcrvants took refuge with her mother the Iteghe; Gon- dar was like a town which had been taken by an enemy ; everyone that had arms in his hands did jufl whathepleafed. Two very remarkable things were faid to have happened the night before Michael left the city. He had always pre- tended, that, before he undertook an expedition, a perfon, er fpirit, appeared -to him, who told him the iffue and con- fequence of the meafures he was then taking ; this he ima- gined to be St Michael the archangel, and he prefumed very much upon this intercourfe. In a council that night, where none but friends were prefent, he had told them that his fpirit had appeared fome nights before, and ordered him, in his retreat, to furprife the mountain of Wechne, and either Hay or carry with him to Tigre the princes fequeftered there. Nebrit Tecla, governor of Axum, with his two fons, (all concerned in the late king's murder) were, it is faid, itrong advifers of this meafure ; but Ras Michael, (probably fatiated with royal blood already) Kefla Yafous, and all the more worthy men of any confequence, acting on principle, abfolutely refufed to confent to it. It was upon this the paffage by Beleffen was fubftituted inflead of the attempt on Wechne, and it was determined to conceal it. The next advice which, the Ras faid, this devil, or angel, gave him, was, that they mould fet fire to the town of Gon- dar, and burn it to the ground, otherwife his good fortune was to leave him there for ever ; and for this there was a great number of advocates, Michael feeming to lean that way himfelf. But, when it was reported to the king, that i young THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 479 young prince put a dire<5t negative upon it, by declaring that he would rather flay in Gondar, and fall by the hands of his enemies, than either conquer them, or efcape from them, by the commimon of fo enormous a crime. When this was publicly known, it procured the king univerfal good-will, as was experienced afterwards, when he ar.d Mi- chael were finally defeated, and taken prifoners, upon their march in return to Gondar- The army' advanced rapidly towards Walkayt. Being near the Tacazze, they turned fhort upon Mai-Lumi, (the River of Limes) the governor of which, as I have already faid, in our journey from Mafuah, detained us feveral days at Addergey with a view to rob us, upon a report prevailing that Ras Michael was defeated at Fagitta. This thief the king furprifed and made prifoner, fet lire to his houfe after having plundered it, and carried him as hoftage to Tigre, for the payment of a fum which he laid upon every village to fave them from being fct on fire. Being now fafely arrived on the banks of the Tacazze, the firft province beyond which is that of Sire, Michael fent before him Ayto Tesfos the governor, a man exceedingly be- loved, to affemble all fort of ailillance for paffing the river. Every one flocked to the ftream with the utmoft alacrity ; the water was deep, and the baggage wet in cro fling, but the bottom was good and hard ; they palled both expeditioufly and fafely, andwere received in Sire, and then in Tigre, with every demonflration of joy Michael, now arrived in his government, fet himfelf fe- rioully to unite every part under his own jurisdiction. Itwas now the rainy feafon ; there was no poflibility. of taking the field,. 48o TRAVELS TO DISCOVER field, and a rebellion prevailed in two different diftricts of his province. The fons of Kafmati Woldo, whole father Ras Mi- chael put to death, had declared for themfelves, in their pa- ternal government of Enderta, and Netcho who married Ras Michael's daughter, had taken proffeirion of the mountain Aromata, commonly called Haramat, an ancient ftrong-hold of his father's, of which Michael had made himfelf matter, while yet a young man, after befieging it fifteen years. Netcho had alfo united himfelf with ZaMenfusKedus,aman of great property in that and the neighbouring country. Enderta is a flat, fertile territory, in the very fouth-eaft of Abyflinia, de- pending on Tigre, and the mountain Aromata is fituated near the middle of that province ; before taking the field, Michael had directed the twoWoldos to be anaflinated during afeaftat Enderta, andtheirpartydifperfedofitfelfwithoutfartherefTort. The mountain fhewed a better countenance, and feemed to promife employment for a long time ; it was garrifoned by old and veteran troops who had ferved under Ras Mi- chael. Netcho was the fon of his hereditary enemy, ancient- ly governor of that mountain, whom he had reconciled by giving him his daughter in marriage ; notwithftanding which he had now rebelled, jull as the Ras marched to Maitfha againft Fafil, by the perfuafion of Gufho and Powuf- fen, purpofely that he might form a diverfion in Tigre, and for this reafon he had little hopes of mercy, if ever he fell into the hands of Ras Michael. I had feen him often, and knew him; he was a tall, thin, dull man, of a foft tem- per, and eafily impofed upon. Za Menfus, the other chief in the mountain, was a very active, refolute, cnterprifing man, of whom Michael was afraid. He had a large pro- perty all around the mountain ; had been put in irons by Michael, and had efcaped ; befides, on his return to Tigre, he i had THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 481 had flain the father of Guebra Mafcal, Michael's nephew by marriage, who was commander in chief of all the muf- quetry Michael had brought from Tigre, fo that he feared nothing fo much as falling into Ras Michael's hands. Ras Michael faw the danger of leaving an enemy fo prepared and fo lituated behind him ; he therefore, before the rainy feafon was yet finilhed, ordered the whole moun- tain to be furrounded with barracks, or huts, for his fol- diers ; he alfo erected three houfes for himfelf, the principal officers, and the king. The country people were called in to plow and fow the ground in the neighbourhood, fo that his intention was plainly never to rife from thence till he had reduced the mountain of Aromata for the fecond time, after having once before fucceeded in taking it, after jifteen years fiege, from Netcho's father. There we fhall leave him at this fiege, and return to Gondar. It was on the 10th of June that Gufho and PowufTcn entered Gondar, and next day, the nth, waited upon the .queen ; they both befeeched her to return from Kofcam to the capital, and take into her hands the reins of government for the interim : this me pofitively refufed, unlefs peace was .firft made with Fafil, She faid, that Fafd was the only perfon who had endeavoured to avenge his mailer Joas's death; that he had continued till that day in aims in that quarrel ; and, notwithstanding all the offers that could be made her, fhe never would come to Gondar, nor take any part in public bufinefs, without this condition. Fafil, moreover, informed her by a meffenger, that there was no trufl to be put either in Gufho or PowufTen ; that they had failed in their engagement of following and fighting Ras Vol. IIL 3 P Michael 4S2 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER Michael in Maitfha, and had purpofely (laid at home till a; fuperior army fhould fall upon him fingly, and ravage his country : That they had broken their word a fecond time by entering into Gondar without him ; whereas the agree- ment was, that they all three mould have done this at once, to fettle the form of government by their joint delibera- tion. Many days palled in thefe negociations ; Fafil always promifing to come upon fome condition or other, but never- keeping his word, or flirring from Bure. On the 20th, the queen's fervants, who had gone to offer terms of reconciliation to Fafil on the part of Gufho and Powuflen, returned to their homes. The fame day he or- dered it to be proclaimed in the market-place, That Ayto Tesfos fhould be governor of Samen, and that whoever, ihould rob on that road, or commit any violence, fhould fuf* fer death. This was an act of power, purpofely intended to affront Powuflen and Gufho, and feemed to be opening a road for a correfpondence with Ras Michael; but, above all, it fhewed contempt for their party and their caufe, and that he confidered his own as very diflincl: from theirs ; for Tesfos had taken arms in the late king's lifetime, at the fame time, and upon the fame principles and provocation,, as Fafil, and had never laid down his arms, or made peace, with Ras Michael, but kept his government in defiance of. him. On the 24th, for fear of giving umbrage, I waited upon Gufho and Powuffen at Gondar. I faw them in the fame room where Ras Michael ufed to fit. They were both ly- ing on the floor playing at draughts, with the figure of a draught-table drawn with chalk upon the carpet ; they of- fered; THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. fered no other civility or falutation, but, fhaking me each by the hand, they played on,without lifting their heads, or look- ing me in the face. Gusho began by afking me, " Would it not have been better if you had gone with me to Amhara, as I defired you, when I faw you laft at Gondar ? you would have faved your- felf a great deal of fatigue and trouble in that dangerous march through Maitfha." To this I anfwered, " It is hard for me, who am a flranger, to know what is belt to be done in fuch a country as this. I was, as you may have heard, the king's gueft, and was favoured by him ; it was my duty therefore to attend him, efpecially when he defired it; and fuch I am informed has always been the cuftom of the coun- try; befides, Ras Michael laid his commands upon me." On this, fays Powuffen, fhaking his head, " You fee he cannot forget Michael and the Tigre yet." — " Very naturally, added Gufho, they were good to him ; he was a great man in their time ; they gave him confiderable fums of money, and he fpent it all among his own foldiers, the king's guard, which they had given him to command after the Armenian. Ya- goube taught him and his brother George to ride on horfe- back like the Franks, and play tricks with guns and pikes on horfeback ; folly, all of it to be fure, but I never heard he meddled in affairs, or that he fpoke ill of any one, much lefs did any harm, like thofe rafcals the Greeks when they were in favour in Joas's time, for it was not their fault they did not direct every thing." — " I hope I never did, faid I; fure I am I never fo intended, nor had I any provocation. I have received much good ufage from every one ; and the honour, if I do not forget, of a great many profeffions and affurances of friendihip from you, faid I, turning to Gufho. He hefi- 3 P 2 tated 4S4 TR A V E LS TO DISCO V E R > tat'ed a little, and then added very fupercil ion fly, "Aye, aye,, we were, as I think, always friends."— "You have had, fays Powuilen, a devilifh many hungry bellies fincewe left Gorr- dar." — "You will excufe me, Sir, replied I, as to that ar- ticle; I at no time ever found any difference whether you i was in Gondar or not;" — "There, fays Gufho, by St Deme- trius, there is a truth' for }ou, and you don't often hear that in Begenider. May I fuflcr death if ever you gave a jar of honey to any white man in your life."—" But I, fays Powuf- fen, fitting upright on the floor,- and leaving off play, will give you, Yagoube, a prefent better than Gufho's paulffy jars of honey.- I -have brought with me, addreffing himfclf to me, your double-barrelled gun, and your fword, which I took from that fon ofawh- — e Guebra Mehedin : by St Mi- chael, continued Powuffeh, if I had got hold of that infidel I would have hanged him upon the firlt tree in the way for daring to fay that-he was one of my army when he com- mitted that unmanly robbery upon your people. The Ite- ghe, your friend, -would yefterday have given me ten loads of wheat for your gun, for fhe believes I am to carry it back to Begemder again, and do not mean to give it you, but come to my tent to-morrow and you fhall have it." I very well underftood his meaning, and that he wanted a prefent; ; but was happy to recover my gun at any rate. I arose to get away, as what had patted did not pleafe me ; for before the king's retreat to Tigre, Gufho had fat in mv Dre-fence uncovered to the waift, in token of humility, . and many a cow, many a fheep, and jar of honey he had fent me ; but my importance was now gone with the king; I was fallen ! and they were refolved, I law, to make me fenfi- ble of it, I told the queen, on my return, what had pafTed. They THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 485 They are both brutes, faid me ; but Qutoo fhould have known better. The next morning, being the 25th, about eight o'clock I- went to PowuiTen's tent. His camp was on the Kahha, near the church of Ledata, or the Nativity. After waiting near an hour, I was admitted ; two women fat by him, nei- ther handfome nor cleanly drefled ; and he returned me my gun and fword, which was followed by a fmall prefent on my part. This, fays he, turning to the women, is a man who knows every thing that is to come ; who is to die, and who is to live ; who is to go to the devil, and who not ; who loves her hufband, and.who cuckolds him."— " Tell me then, Yagoube, fays one of the women, will Tccla Haima- nout and Michael ever come to Gondar a gam ?"— " I do not kno^v who you mean, Madam, faid I; is it the king and the Ras you mean ?"— " Call him the King, fays the other wo- man in half a whifper; he loves the king."—" Well, aye, come, let it be the king then, fays fhe; will the King and Ras Michael ever come to Gondar ?"— " Surely, faid I, the king is king, and will go to any part of his dominions he pleafes,and when he pleafes; do you not hear he is already on his way?" — " Aye, aye, by G--d, fays Powuffen, no fear he'll, come with a vengeance, therefore I think it is high time that I was in Begemder." He then fhrugged up his moulders, and rofe, upon which I took my leave. He had kept me Handing all the time; and when I came to Kofcam I made my report as ufual to the Iteghe, who laughed very hearti- ly, though the king's arrival, which was prophecied, was likely to be a very ferious affair to her. THAT 486 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER That very clay, in the evening, came a fervant from Ras Michael, with taunts and fevere threats to the queen, to Powunen, and Gufho ; he faid he was very quickly bring- ing the king back to Gondar, and being now old, intended to pafs the reft of his life in Tigre ; he, therefore, hoped they would await the king's coming to Gondar, and chufe a Ras for his fucceffor from among themfelves, as he un- derflood they were all friends, and would eafily agree4 efpe- cially as it was to oblige him.. On the 27th, Gufho and PowufTen waited upon the queen to take their leave. They declared it was not their inten- tion to flay at Gondar, merely to be alternately the fubject of merriment and fcoffing to Michael and to Fafil, and up- on this they immediately fet out on their way home, with- out drum or trumpet, or any parade whatever. Immediately after, arrived another fervant from Fafil to the queen, defiring that PowufTen and Gufho might halt at EmiVas, adding, that he had jufl then begun his march from Bure, anil would be at Gondar in a few days. Gufho and PowufTen did accordingly halt there, and were detain- ed for the fpace of fix weeks, amufed by falfe pretences and mefTages, in very uncomfortable quarters, till their ar- mies difbanded, the foldiers, from hunger and conflant rains, deferted their leaders, and went every man to his home. In the beginning of Augufl the queen came to Gondar, and fat on the throne all day. She had not been there thefe three years, and I fincerely wifhed fhe had not gone then. It was in meditation that day to chufe a new king ; fhe was prefent at that deliberation, and her intention was known 4 to THESOURCE OF THE NILE. 487 to place a fon of Aylo, Joas's brother, a mere infant, upon the throne. All thofe that were in fear of Michael, and it was very general at that time, cried out againft an infant king at fuch a critical period ; but, old as that princefs was, the defire of reigning had again returned. Upon the return of the Iteghe that night to Kofcam, Sa- nuda held a council of the principal officers that had re- mained at Gondar, and fixed upon one Welleta Girgis, a young man of about 24 years of age, who had, indeed, been reputed Yafous's fon, but his low life and manners had procured him fafety and liberty by the contempt they had raifed in Ras Michael. His mother, indeed, was of a noble origin, but fo reduced in fortune as to have been obliged to gain her livelihood by carrying jars of water for hire. The mother fwore this fon was begot by Yafous, and as that prince was known not to have been very nice in his choice of mif- trefies, or limited in their number, it was, perhaps, as likely to be true as not, that Welleta Girgis was his fon. He took the name of Socinios. On the morning after, the new king came to Kofcam, attended by Sanuda and his party, with guards, and all the enfigns of royalty. He threw himfelf at the Iteghe's feet, and begged her forgiven- nefs if he had vindicated the rights of his birth, without her leave or participation ; he declared his refolution to govern entirely by her advice, and begged her to grant his requeft and come to Gondar, and again take pollemon of her place as Iteghe, or regent of the kingdom. It was about the 10th of Auguft that an accident happen- ed, which it was generally thought would have determined Eafil to come to Gondar. A common woman, wife of a Galla 483 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER Galla atTchelga, a town upon the frontiers of Sennaar, being at variance with her huiband, upbraided him with being the perfon that, with his own hand, had afTaffinated the late lung Joas. This Galla was immediately feized and fent to Gondar, and was examined before the queen, where I was prefent. He, with very little hefitation, declared, That, on a night immediately after the battle of Azazo, he was fent for to Ras Michael, who gave him fome money and large pro- mifes, on condition that he would undertake to murder the king that night. The perfons prefent were Laeca Netcho, and his two fons, Nebrit Tecla and his two fons, Shalaka Becro relation to the prefent king, and Woldo Hawaryat a monk of Tigre. The prifoner faid, he was afraid, if he mould refufe, they would murder him for the fake of fecrecy. He •further faid, that they had given him fpirits to drink till he was intoxicated, and then delivered to him the keys of the apartments where Joas was confined, and they all went with him to the palace; they found the unfortunate king alone, walking in his apartment, very penfive, and, though at the late hour of twelve at night, dreffed in his ufual habit. Two of Laeca Netcho's fons attempted to put a cord round his neck, but the king, being young and ltrong, ihewed a difpo- fition to defend himfelf, and wrefled the cord out of the murderers hands ; upon which Zor Woldo (the name of the Galla) flruck him a violent blow with a bludgeon on the head, which felled him to the ground : The others 4:hen, with a'fhort cord, ftrangled him, the monk, Woldo Hawaryat, crying, difpatch him quickly ; after this they carried the body to the neighbouring church of St Raphael, where a grave, or rather hole, was ready, into which they jhrew it with the clothes juft as he was. The prifoner faid, That, when they were carrying the king's body out of the 2 palace THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 489 palace into the church-yard, over a breach in the church- yard wall, they were challenged by a perfon, who afked them what they were about? to which they replied, Bury- in o- a Granger who died that day of a peftilential fever. Immediately upon this confeflion, the Galla was carried out and hanged upon the daroo-tree before the king's gate. Many condemned this hafly execution, but many likewife thought it prudent; for he had already named a great part of the people about the queen as acceflhry to the death of her fon. I have faid his name was Zor Woldo; he was of the race of Galla, called Toluma, on the borders of Amhara; he had been formerly a fervant to Kafmati Becro ; was of fmall fta- ture, thin and lightly made; his complexion a yellowiih black, and Angularly ill-favoured. When under the tree, he acknowledged the murder of the king with abfolute in- difference; nor did he deiire any favour, or fliew any fear of death. Zor Woldo's examination and declaration were fent immediately to Fafil, who, as ufual, promifed to come to Gondar quickly. The body of Joas was railed alfo, and laid in the church (in his clothes, juft as he was dug up) upon a little ftraw ; his features were eafily diftinguifhable, but fome animal had ate part of his cheek. The day after, I went from Kofcam to Gondar without acquainting the Iteghe, and took a Greek called Fetros with me ; he had been chamberlain to Joas. We went about eleven o'clock in the forenoon to the church of St Raphael, expecting to have feen many as curious as ourfelves, but, by reafon of the atrocioumefs of the act, now for the firft Vol. III. 3 0, timc 490 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER time known to be true, and the fear of Ras Michael threat- ening Gondar every day, not a living foul was there but a. monk belonging to the church itfelf, who kept the key. It was thought criminal to know what it was apparent Michael had wifhed to conceal. Petros no fooner faw his mailer's face than, faying, It is he ! he ran off with all the fpeed poffible : for my part, I was mocked at the indecent manner in which the body was expoled ; it affected me more than the murder itfelf, for it appeared as if it had been thrown down upon the ground, the head, arms, and legs lying in all forts of directions, and great part of his haunch and thigh bare. I defired the monk to lock the door, and come along with me to Petros's houfe. Petros was a merchant who fold carpets, and fuch fort of goods ufed in the country, which he brought from Cairo. It was full an hour before we could make him behave fenfibly, or de- liver me a fmall Perfian carpet, fuch as Mahometans ufe to pray upon, that is about feven feet long and four feet broad, and a web of coarfe muflin, which I bought of him. I told the prieft (for Petros abfolutely refufed to return to the church) how to lay the body decently upon the carpet, and to cover. his face and every part with the muflin cloth, which might be lifted when any body came to fee the corpfe. The prieft received the carpet with great marks of fatif- fa&ion, and told me it was he who had challenged the murderers when carrying the body over the wall ; that he JJncw them well, and fufpected they had been about fome mifchief ; and, upon hearing the king was miffing the next day, he was firmly convinced it was his body that had bten buried. Upon going alio to the place early in the mom- 3 &"& THE SOURCE OF THE NTLE. 491 Ing, he had found one of the king's toes, and part of his foot, not quite covered with earth, from the haite the mur- derers were in when they buried him ; thefe he had put pro- perly out of fight, and conilantly ever after, as he faid, had watched the place in order to hinder the grave from being, dilturbed, or any other perfon being buried there. About the beginning of October, Guebra SelafTe, a fer- vant of the king and one of the porters in the palace, came on a meflage to the queen. It was a laconic one, but very eafily underftood. — " Bury your boy, now you have got him ; or, when I come, I will bury him, and fome of his relations with him." Joas, upon this, was privately buried. As this SelafTe was a favourite of mine, who took care of my fhoes when I pulled them off to go into the audience-room, I waited impatiently for this mefTenger's coming to my apart- ment, which he did late in the evening. I was alone, and he advanced fo foftly that I did not at firfl hear or know him ; but, when the door was fhut, he began to give two or three capers ; and, pulling out a very large horn, " Drink ! drink ! G — d d — n ! repeating this two or three times, and brandifhing his horn over his head. SelafTe, faid I, have you loft your fenfes, or are you drunk ? you ufed to be a fobe'r man." — " And fo I am yet, fays he, I have not tafled a mor- fel fince noon ; and, being tired of running about on my affairs, I am now come to you for my f upper, as I am fure you'll not poifon me for my mailer's fake, nor for my own either, and I have now enemies enough in Gondar." — " I then afked, How is the king ?" — " Did not you hear, faid he — ' Drink ! — the king told me to fay this to you that you might know me to be a true meffenger." And an Irifli fervant of mine, opening the door in the inflant, thinking it was 3 Qj?, I that 492 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER I that called drink ! Selafle adroitly continued, " He knows you are curious in horns, and fent you this, defiring me firft to get it filled at the Iteghe's with good red wine, which I have done ; and now, Hallo ! Drink ! Englishman !" He then added in a whifper, when the fervant had fhut the door, " I'll tell it you all after flipper, when the houfe is quiet, for I fleep here all night, and go to Tigre to-morrow morn- ing." The time being come, he informed me Ras Michael and Fa-fil had made peace ; Welleta Michael, the Ras's nephew, taken by Fafil at the battle of Limjour, had been the medi- ator ; that the king and Michael, by their wife behaviour, had reconciled Tigre as one man, and that the Ras had ifllied a proclamation, remitting to the province of Tigre their whole taxes from the day they paffed the Tacazze till that time next year, in confideration of their fidelity and fervices ; and this had been folemnly proclaimed in feveral places by beat of drum. The Ras declared, at the fame time, that he would, out of his own private fortune, with- out other afEftance,, bear the expence of the campaign till he featccl the king on his throne in Gondar. A kind of madnefs, he faid, had feized all ranks of people to follow their fovereign to the capital ; that the mountain Haramat flill held out ; but that all the principal friends, both of Za Menfus andNetcho, had been up with the governors of that fortrefs offering terms of peace and forgivennefs, and de- firing they would not be an obflacle in the king's way, and a hinderance to his return, but that all terms had been as yet refilled ; however, fays he, you know the Ras as well a3 I, he will play them a trick fome of thefe days, winking with his eye, and then crying out, Drink ! I ASKED THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 493 I asked him if any notice had been taken of the carper I had procured to cover the body of Joas, and hoped it had' given no umbrage. He faid, " No ; none at all ; on the con- trary, the king had faid twenty kind things upon it ; that he was prefent alfo when a priefl told it to Ras Michael, who only obferved, Yagoube, who is a ftranger in this coun- try, is fhocked to fee a man taken out of his grave, and thrown like a dog upon the bare floor. This was all Mi- chael faid, and he never mentioned a word on the fubjeel: afterwards ;" nor did he, or the king, ever fpeak of it to mc upon their return to Gondar. The Itcghe, too, had much commended me, fo did all the nobility, more than the thing deferved ; for furely com- mon humanity dilated thus much, and the fear of Michael, which I had not, was the only caufe that fo proper an ac- tion was left in a ftranger's power. Even Ozoro Either, enemy to Joas on account of the death of her hufband Ma- riam Barea, after I had attended her one Sunday from church to the houfe of the Iteghe, and when fhe was fet down at the head of a circle of all thofe that were of diftinclion at the court, called out aloud to me, as I was palling behind, and pointing to one of the moil honourable feats in the room, faid, Sit down there, Yagoube ; God has exalted you above all in this country, when he has put it in your power, though but a ftranger, to confer charity upon the king of it. All was now acclamation, efpecially from the ladies ; and, I believe, I may fafely fay, I had never in my life been a favourite of fo many at one time. T dispatched Guebra SelafTe with a meiTage to the king,, that I was refolved now to try once more a journey to the head ^94 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER head of the Nile ; that I thought I lhould have time to be there, and return to Gondar, before the Tacazze was ford- able, foon after which I expected he would crofs it, and that nothing but want of health would prevent me from join- ing him in Beleffen, or fooner, if any opportunity fhould offer. Before I took my lafl refolutions I waited upon the queen. She was exceedingly averfe to the attempt ; fhe bade me remember what the laft trial had cofl me; and beg- . ged me to defer any further thoughts of it till Fafil arrived in Gondar ; that flie would then deliver me into his hands, and procure from him fure guides, together with a fafe con- duct. She bad me beware alfo of troops of Pagan Galla which were paffing and repaffing to and from his army, who, if they fell in with me, would murder me without mercy. She added, that the priefts of Gojam and Damot were mortal enemies to all men of my colour, and, with a word, would raife the peafants againft me. This was all true; but then many reafons, which I had weighed well, con- curred to mew that this opportunity, dangerous as it was, might be the only time in which my enterprife could be practicable ; for I was confident a fpeedy rupture between Fafil and Michael would follow upon the king's return to Gondar. I determined therefore to fet out immediately without farther lofs of time. . £J$ "">' ' ===== l_ ;•?*»#%} CHAR THE SOURCE. OF THE NILE, 495 Cftn" ■ ' 'ilg CHAP. VIII. Second Journey to difcover the Source of the Nile—Favourable 'Turn of the Kings Affairs in Tigr'c—Wefall in with Fafiis.Army at Barnba. THOUGH the queen fhewed very great diflike to my at- tempting this journey at fuch a time, yet £he did not pofitively command the contrary; I was prepared, therefore, to leave Gondar the 27th of October 1770, and thought to get a few miles clear of the town, and then make a long ftretch the next day. I had received my quadrant, time- keeper, and telefcopes from the ifland of Mitraha, where I had placed them after the affair of Guebra Mehedin, and 1 had now put them in the very bell order. But, about twelve o'clock, I was told a meflage from Ras Michael had arrived with great news from Tigre. i went immediately to Kofcam as fall as I could gallop, and found there Guebra Chriftos, a man ufed to bring the jars of bou- za 496 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER za to Ras Michael at his dinner and fupper: low men are al- ways employed on fuch errands, that they may not, from their confequence excite a defire of vengeance. The mef- fage that he brought was to order bread and beer to be rea- dy for 30,000 men who were coming with the king, as he had juft decamped from before the mountain Haramat, which he had taken, and put Za Menfus to the fword, with every man that was in it : this meflage flruck the queen with fuch a terror that fhe was not viable the whole day. After afking the meffenger if he had any word from the king to me, he faid, " Very little ;" that the king had called him to tell me he mould foon begin his march by Beleffen; and that he would fend for me to meet him when he mould arrive at Mariam-Ohha ; he told me befides, that the king had got a ftone for me with writing upon it of old times, which he was bringing to me ; that it had been dug up at Axum, and was ftanding at the foot of his bed, but that he did not order him to tell me this, and had only learned it from the fervants. My curiofity was very much raifed to know what this flone could be, but I foon faw it was in vain to endeavour to learn any thing from Guebra Chriftos ; he anfwered in the affirmative to every inquiry : when I alked if it was blue, it was blue; and if black, it was black ; it was round, and fquarc, and oblong, juft as I put my queltion to him: all he knew about it at laft, he faid, was, that it cured all fort of licknefs ; and, if a man ufed it pro- perly, it made him invulnerable and immortal: he did not, however, pretend to warrant this himfelf, but fwore he had the account from a pricfl of Axum who knew it. 1 was perfectly fatisfied all further inquiry was unneceflary ; he 1 had THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 497 had got a very plentiful portion of bOuza from his friends, and was, I faw, fad engaged in the purfuit of more, fo I gave him a fmall prefent for his good news, and took my leave, my mind being full of reflections upon the king's goodnefs, who, after fuch an abfence, and in fo critical a fituation as he then was, ftill remembered the trifling purfuits in which he had feen me often engaged. In the afternoon I received a mefTage from Ozoro Eft her, as brought to her by a fervant of Ras Michael. It feems the giving up the king's revenue due from Tigre, and a) I fort of taxes upon the inhabitants, had interefted the whole province fo flrongly, that all of them, as one man, endeavoured to remove the obftacle which flood in the way of the king's return : Michael, moreover, offered peace and pardon to the rebels, certain compenfations, and an amnefty of all that was paft. All the friends, both of Netcho and Za Menfus, and the other leaders upon the mountain, endea- voured to perfuade them to accept the terms offered, whilft all the priefts and hermits, eminent for fanctity, became as mediators between them and Ras Michael : this intercourfe, though it had no effect upon Za Menfus, had feduced Net- cho, and opened a large field for treachery. In the midft of this treaty, Kefla Yafous, with a detach- ment of chofen men, in a very flormy night, was appointed to afcend up a private path to that part of the mountain where Netcho kept the principal guard, and being admitted, found the garrifon moftly afleep ; he furprifed and obliged them to furrender, with very little bloodfhed ; Za Menfus was taken prifoner, and, while Kefla Yafous conducted him to the camp, was met by Guebra Mafcal, who thrufl him through Vol. III. 3 R with 49.8 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER with a lance, as a retaliation for his father's death. Netch-D and the reft of the garrifon being pardoned, all joined Ras Michael's army. I looked upon thefe news as a good omen, and experienced a degree of confidence and compofure of mind to which I for a long time had been a ftranger. I ilept found that night, and it was not till half after nine in the morning that 1 was ready, for my journey* In the evening before, I had endeavoured to engage my old companion Strates to accompany me on this attempt as he had done, on the former ; but the recollection of paft dan- gers and fufferings was not yet baniihed from his mind ; and upon my aiking him to go and fee the head of this famous river,, lie coarfely, according to his ftile, anfwered, Might the devil fetch him if ever he fought either his head or his taiL again.. 't>i It was on the 28th of October, at half pail nine in the morning, that we left Gondar, and palled the river Kahha at the foot of the town; our route was W. S. W. the road. a little rugged upon the fide of a hill, but the day was fair, with funihine ; and a fmall breeze from the north had rifen with the fun, and made the temperature of the air per- fectly agreeable. We left the church of Ledeta about a mile on the right, and paned by feveral poor villages called Abba Samuel ; thence we came to the fmall river Shimfa, then to the Dumaza, fomething larger. Upon the banks of this river, very pleafantly fituated, is Azazo, a country- houfe built by the late king Yafous, who often retired here to re- lax himlelf with his friends. It is furrounded, I may fay covered, with orange-trees, fo as to be fcarcely feen ; the trees are grown very large and high; they are planted without; THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 499 without order, the only benefit expected from them being the made. At fome fmall diftance is the village Azazo, ori- ginally built for the accommodation of the king's fervants while he refided there, but now chiefly occupied by monks belonging to the large church of Tecla Haimanout, which is on a little hill adjoining. Azazo, though little, is one of the moll chearful and pleafant villages in the neighbour- hood of Gondar. The lemon-tree feems to thrive better and grow higher than the orange ; but the houfe itfelf is going fail to ruin, as the kings of this country have a fixed averlion to houfes built by their predeceflbrs. The Dumaza is a very clear and pleafant ftream, Tun- ing brifkly over a fmall bed of pebbles : both this river and the Shimfa come from Woggora on the N. W. they pafs the hill of Kofcam, called Debra Tzai, join below Azazo, and, traverfing the flat country of Dembea,they meet the Angrab, which pafTes by Gondar, and with it fall into the Tacazze, or Atbara. At noon we palled a fmall rivulet called Azzargiha, and, foon after, the Chergue, where there began a molt violent ftorm of rain, which forced us, much againft our will, into the village, one of the mod miferable I ever entered ; it con- fiflcd of fmall hovels built with branches of trees, and co- vered with thatch of flraw. Thefe rains that fall in the lat- ter feafon are what the natives very much depend upon, and without which they could not low the latter crops ; for, though it rains violently every day from May to the beginning of September, by the end of October the ground is fo burnt that the country would be unlit for culture. 3R2 Our 5oo TRAVELS TO DISCOVER Our quarters here were fo bad that we were impatient to depart, but came to a water juft below Chergue, which quickly made us wifh ourfelves back in the village ; this is a torrent that has no fprings in the hills, but only great bafons, or refervoirs, of ftone ; and, though it is dry all the year elfe, yet, upon a fudden, violent mower, as this was, it fwclls in an inflant, fo that it is impalTable for man or horfe by any device whatever. This violence is of fliort duration; we waited above half an hour, and then the peafants fliewed. us a place, fome hundred yards above, where it was fliallow- er ; but even here we paffed with the utmoft difficulty, from the impetuofity of the dream, after getting all poflible aflift- ance from four people of the village ; but we flood very much in need of fome check to our impatience, fo eager were we to get forward and finifli our journey before fome revolution happened. We had not many minutes been delivered from this torrent, before we palled two other rivers, the one larger, the other fmaller. All thefe rivers come from the north- weft, and have their fources in the mountains a few miles above, towards Woggora, from which, after a fliort courfe on the fide of the hills, they enter the low, flat country of Dembca, and are fwallowed up in the Tzana. We continued along the fide of the hill in a country very thinly inhabited ; for, it being directly in the march of the army, the peafants naturally avoided it, or were driven from it. Our road was conftantly interfered by rivers, which abound, in the fame fpace, more than in any other country in the world. We then came to the river Derma, the largeft and molt rapid we had j et met with, and THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 501 and foon after a fmaller, called Ghelghel Derma. In the afternoon, at a quarter paft three, we pafTed another river, called Gavi-Corra ; thefe, like the others, all point as radii to the center of the lake, in which they empty themfelves. A little before four o'clock we encamped on the fide of the river Kemona. Upon the hill, on the other fide of the river, ftands the village of that name; it was full of cattle, very few of which we had feen during the fore-part of the jour- ney ; we had all that day travelled fix hours and a quarter, which we computed not to exceed 14 miles : the reafon of this flownefs was the weight of my quadrant, which, though divided into two, required four men to carry it, tied upon bamboo, as upon two chair-poles. The time- keeper and two telefcopes employed two men more. We pitched our tent on the fide of the river, oppofite to the village, and there palled the night. On the 29th of October, at feven in the morning, we left our ftation, the river Kemona ; our direction was W. S. W. after, about an hour, we came to a church called Abba Abraham, and a village that goes by the fame name ; it is immediately upon the road on the left hand. At the diftance of about a mile are ten or twelve villages, all belonging to the Abuna, and called Ghendi, where many of his predecef- fors have been buried. The low, hot, unwholefome, woody part of the Abyffinian Kolla, and the feverifh, barren pro- vince of Walkayt, lay at the diftance of about fourteen or fixteen miles on our right. We had been hitherto amend- ing a gentle rifing-ground in a very indifferent country, the fides of the hill being fkirted with little rugged wood, and full of fprings, which join as they run down to the low coun- try of Walkayt. We faw before us a fmall hill called Guarre, which. £02 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER which is to the fouth-wcft. At half pad ten we relied un- der the before-mentioned hill ; it Hands alone in the plain, in fhape like a fugar-loaf, and feems almoft as regular as if it had been a work of art. At a quarter paft eleven we re- fumed our journey, our courfe always nearly weft fouth- wefl ; we palled the fmall village of Bowiha, at the diftance of about a mile ; and, on the left, about fix miles, is Gorgova, a peninfula that runs into the lake Tzana for feveral miles. There was one of the firft and moil magnificent church- es and monafteries of the Portuguefe Jefuits, in the time of their million to convert this country : Socinios, then king, gave them the grounds, with money for the expence ; they built k with their own hands, and lined it elegantly with cedar. The king, who was a zealous Roman Catholic, chofe afterwards a country-houfe for himfelf there, and encou- raged them much by his prefents and by his charity ; it is one of the pleafantelt fituations in the world ; the vail ex- panfe of the lake is before you ; Dcmbea, Gojam, and Mait- fha, flat and rich countries all round, are in view ; and the tops of the high hills of Begemder and Woggora clofe the profpect. The lake here, I am told, has plenty of 11m, which is more than can be laid for many of the other parrs of it ; the fifTi are of two kinds, both of them feemingly a fpecies of what the Engliili call bream* I never could make them to agree with me, which I attribute to the drug with which they are taken ; it is of the nature of mix vomica^ pounded in a morter, and thrown into ill-earns, where they run into the lake ; the lilli, feeding there, are thus intoxicated and taken; however, it would admit of a doubt of this being the rea- 2 fon, THE SOURCE OF THE NTLE. 505 fon, becaufe the queen and all the great people in Gondar eat them in Lent without any bad confequenees. The great elevation of the peninfula of Gorgora makes it one of the heakhieft, as well as beautiful parts of the country, for, out of this neck of land, at feveral different feafons of the year, the inhabitants of the flat country dif- fer from malignant fevers. From Gondar hither we had always been edging down to the lake. At a quarter before noon we halted to reft upon the banks of a fmail river called Baha ; the country was rich, and cultivated ; great part of it, too, was laid out in paflure, and flocked with an immenfe quantity of cattle. At one o'clock we refumed our journey, going weft fouth- we ft as before; we were apparently turning the north end of the lake as fhort as poffible, to fet our face due fouth to the country of the Agows. At a quarter before three we pitch- ed our tents at Bab Baha, after having travelled five hours and three quarters, which we computed to be equal to twelve miles. The firfi part of our journey this day was not like that of the day before; the road was, indeed, rough, burled through very agreeable valleys and gentle-riling hiils ; it appeared, on the whole, however, that we had afcended con*- fiderably fince we left Gondaiv The country about Bab Baha is the richefl in AbyfTmia.* this on the fouth, and Woggora on the north, are the two granaries that fupply the reft of the kingdom. Bab Baha is a parcel of final 1 villages, more confiderable in number and ftrength than thofe at Kemona, and is near the lake Tza.- na. The queen and many of her relations have here their houfes 504 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER houfes and poflemons, and thefe, therefore, being refpected by Michael, had not been involved in the devaftation of the late war. The villages are all furrounded with KoL quail trees, as large at the trunk as thofe we met on the fide of the mountain of Taranta, when we afcendedit on our journey from Mafuah to enter into the province of Tigre ; but the tree wants much of the beauty of thofe of Tigre ; the branches are fewer in number, lefs thorny, and lefs in- dented, which feems to prove that this is not the cli- mate for them. The 30th of October, at fix in the morning, we continued our journey from Bab Baha ftill rounding the lake at W. S. W. and on the very brink of it : the country here is all laid out in large meadows of a deep, black, rich foil, bearing very high grafs, through the midft of which runs the ri- ver Sar-Ohha, which, in Englifh, is the Graffy River ; it is a- bout forty yards broad and not two feet deep, has a foft clay bottom, and runs from north to fouth into the lake Tzana. We turned out of the- road to the left at Bab Baha, and were obliged to go up the hill ; in a quarter of an hour we reached the high road to Mefcala Chriuos. At feven o'clock we began to turn more to the fouthward, our courfe being S. W. ; three miles and a half on our right remained the vil- lage of Tcnkel ; and four miles and a half that of Tfhem- mera to the N. N. W. ; we were now clofe to the border of the lake, whole bottom here is a fine fand. Neither the fear of crocodiles, nor other monfters in this large lake, could hinder me from fwimming in it for a few minutes. 4 Though THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 505 Though the fun was very warm, the water was intenfe- ly cold, owing to the many frefh ftreams that pour them- felves continually into the lake Tzana from the mountains. The country here is fown with dora, which is maize, or millet ; and another plant, not to be diftinguifhed from our marigold either in fize, fliape, or foliage ; it is called Nook *, and furnilhes all Abyllinia with oil for the kitchen, and other ufes. At a quarter paft nine we refted a little at Delghi Mariam ; the village called limply Delghi, adjoining to it, is but fmall, and on the S. W. is the hill of Gov Mariam, where the queen-mother has a houfe. All the habitations in this country were burnt by Ras Michael in his return toGondar after the battle of Fagitta. The mountain Debra Tzai above Kofcam, was feen this day at N. E. and by E. from us. At a quarter paft ten we again fet out, our route being S. W. at eleven we left the fmall village Arrico, about two miles on our right. At a quarter paft eleven we halted to reft our men ; we palled the church of St Michael on our right, and at a quarter paft one we palled two fmall illands in the lake, called Kedami Aret ; and, half an hour after, we pafTed a fmall river, and came to Melcala Chriftos, a large village upon a high mountain, the fummit of which it occupies en- tirely ; it is furrounded on both fides by a river, and the de- scent is fteep and dangerous. We thought to haveftaid here all night ; but, after mounting the hill with great fatigue and trouble, we found the whole village abandoned, on intelli- gence that Waragna Fafil was on his march to Gondar, and not far diftant. Vol. III. 3 S This * Polymnia frondoL, 5o6 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER This intelligence, which came all at once upon us, made us lay afide the thoughts of fleeping that night ; we defcended the hill of Mefcala Chriftos in great hafte, and with much difficulty, and came to the river Kemon below it, clear and limpid, but having little water, running over a bed of very large flones. This river, too, comes from the north- weft, and falls into the lake a little below ; we refted on its banks half an hour, the weather being very fultry; from this place we had a diftincr. view of the Nile, where, after crofting the lake, , it iftlies out near Dara, the fcene of our former misfor- tunes ; we fet it carefully by the compafs, and it bore nearly S. W. We began our journey again at three quarters after two^ . and at half after three we pafted a river, very clear, with little water, the name of which I have forgot ; by the largenefs of its bed it feemed to be a very confiderable ftream in win- ter ; at prefent it had very little water, but a fine gravelly bottom; here we met multitudes of peafants flying before the army of Fafil, many of whom, feeing us, turned out of the way ; one of thefe was a fervant of Guebra Ehud, brother to Ayto Aylo, my mod intimate friend : he told us it was very pofiible that Fafil would pafs us that night, advifed us not to linger in the front of fuch an* army, but fall in as ibon as poflible with his Fit-Auraris, rather than any other of his advanced ports; he was carrying a meftage to his mailer's brother at Gondar. I told him I had rather linger in the front of fuch an army than in the rear of it, and fhonld be very forry to be detained long, even in the middle of it ; that I only wifhed to falute Fafil, and procure a pafs and re-r commendations from him to Agow Midre. Ayto THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 507 Ayto Aylo's fervant, who was with me, prcfently made acquaintance with this man, and I traded him to learn from ■him as much as he knew about Fafil ; the refult was, that Fafil pretended to be in a violent hurry, from what motive was not known ; but that he, at the fame time, marched very flowly, contrary to his ufual cuftom ; that his fpecch and behaviour promifed peace, and that he had hurt no- body on the way, but proclaimed conftantly, that all people mould keep their houfes without fear ; that Ayto Woldo of Maitfha, a great robber, was his Fit-Auraris, and never diftant from him more than three miles ; that the troops of A- gow, Maitfha, and Damot, were with him, and with fome Galla of Gojam and Metchakel compofed the van and cen- ter of his army, whilft his rear confided of wild lawlefs Galla, whom he had brought from the other fide of the Nile from Bizamo, his own country, and were commanded by Ayto Welleta Yafous, his great confident ; that thefe Gal- la were half a day generally behind him, and there was fome talk that, the fame day, or the next, he was to fend thefe invaders home ; that he marched as if he was in fear ; always took ftrong pods, but had' received every body that came to him, either from the country or Gondar, affably and kindly enough, but no one knew any thing of his in- tentions. About half pad four o'clock we fell in with Woldo, his Fit-Auraris, whom I did not know. Ayto Aylo's fervant, however, was acquainted with him ; we afked him fome quedions about his matter, which he anfwered very candid- ly and difcreetly ; on his part he made no inquiry, and feem- ed to have little curiofity about us ; he had taken his pod, and was advancing no farther that night. I made him a 3 S 2 . little 5o8 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER little prefent at taking my leave, which he feemed furprifed at ; and, very much contrary to my expectations, had iome difficulty about receiving, faying, he was afhamed that he had not any return for us ; that he was a foldier, and had nothing but the lance in his hand and the goat's fkin on his moulders, neither of which he could be fure to poffefs for twenty-four hours ; he then told us that Fafil had, by that time, pitched his tent at Bamba, within a mile of us, and was to difpatch the wild Galla from thence to their own country : he gave us a man who, he faid, would take care of us, and defired us not to difmifs him till we had feen Fafil, and not to pitch our tent, but rather to go into one of the empty houfes of Bamba, as all the people had fled. We now parted equally contented with each other ; at the fame time I faw he fent off another man, who went fwiftly on, probably to carry advice of us to Falil : we had ftaid. with him fomething lefs than half an hour. "•"^■^►VkJL' "m" CHAP. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. s<>9 CHAP. IX. Interview with Faftl—Tranfatlions in the Camp, WE found Bamba a collection of villages, in a valley now filled with foldiers. We went to the left with our guide, and got a tolerable houfe, but the door had been carried away. Fafil's tent was pitched a little below us, larger than the others, but without further diftinction : it was eafily known, however, by the lights about it, and by the nagareet, which ftill continued beating : he was then juft alighting from his horfe. I immediately fent Ayto Aylo's fervant, whom I had with me, to prefent my compli- ments, and acquaint him of my being on the road to vifit him. I thought now all my difficulties were over : for I knew it was in his power to forward us to our journey's end ; and his fervants, whom I faw at the palace near the king, when Fafil was invefted with his command, had allu- red me, not only of an effectual protection, but alfo of a mag- nificent reception if I chanced to find him in Maitfha. It fi.o TRAVELS TO DISCOVER It was now, however, near eight at night of the 30th be- fore I received a meflage to attend him. I repaired imme- diately to his tent. After announcing myfelf, I waited about a quarter of an hour before I was admitted ; he was fitting upon a cufhion with a lion's fkin upon it, and another ftretched like a carpet before his feet, and had a cotton cloth, fomething like a dirty towel, wrapped about his head; his upper cloak, or garment, was drawn tight about him over his neck and moulders, fo as to cover his hands ; I bowed and went forward to kifs one of them, but it was fo entan- gled in the cloth that I was obliged to kifs the cloth inftead of the hand. This was done either as not expecting I mould pay him that compliment, (as I certainly mould not have done, being one of the king's fervants, if the king had been at Gondar) or elfe it was intended for a mark of difrefpeet, which was very much of a-piece with the reft of his beha- viour afterwards. There was no carpet or cufhions in the tent, and only a little ftraw, as if accidentally, thrown thinly about it. I fat down upon the ground, thinking him fick not knowing what all this meant; he looked lledfaftly at me, faying, half under his breath, Endett nawi ? bogo nawi ? which, in Am- haric, is, How do you do? Are you very well? I made the ufual anfwer, Well, thank God. He again flopt, as for me to fpeak ; there was only one old man prefent, who was fit- ting on the floor mending a mule's bridle. I took him at firft for an attendant, but obferving that a fervant unco- vered held a candle to him, I thought he was one of his Galla, but then I faw a blue filk thread, which he had about his neck, which is a badge of Chriftianity all over Abyf- iinia, and which a Galla would not wear. What he was I 1 could THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. jir could not make out; he feemed, however, to be a very bad cobler, and took no notice of us. Ayto Aylo's fervant, who flood behind me, pufhcd me with his knee, as a fign that I mould fpeak, which I ac- cordingly began to do with fome difficulty. " I am come, faid I, by your invitation, and the king's leave, to pay my refpects to you in your own government, begging that you would favour my curiofity fo far as to fuffer me to fee the country of the Agows, and the fource of the Abay, or Nile, part of which I have feen in Egypt." " The fource of the Abay! exclaimed he, with a pretended furprife, do you know what you are faying ? Why, it is, God knows where, in the country of the Galla, wild, terrible people. The fource of the Abay! Are you raving! repeats he again: Are you to get there, do you think, in a twelvemonth, or more, or when ?" 44 Sir, faid I, the king told me it was near Sacala, and ftiH nearer Geefh; both villages of the Agows, and both in your government." " And fo you know Sacala and Geefh ? fays he, whittling and half angry*." " I can repeat the names that I hear, faid I ; all Abyflinia knows the head of the Nile." — " Aye, fays he, imitating my voice and manner, but all Abyffinia won't carry you there, that I promife you." " If you are refolved to the contrary, faid I, they will not; I wifli you had told the king fo in time, then I mould not have at- tempted it ; it was relying upon you alone I came fo far, con- fident, if all the reft of Abyffinia could not protect -me there, that your word fingly could do it." IiE * This afFefted ignorance was probably intended to bring me to mention the donatioo, the king had given me of Geefh, which lie never much relifhed, and made effeclually.ufelef' - so me. 5i2 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER He now put on a look of more complacency. "Look you, Yagoube, fays he, it is true I can do it ; and, for the king's fake who recommended it to me, I would do it; but the Acab Saat, Abba Salama, has fent to me, to defire me not to let you pais further; he fays it is againft the law of the land to permit Franks like you to go about the country, and that he has dreamed fomething ill will befal me if you go into Maitfha." 1 was as much irritated as 1 thought it poffible for me to be. " So fo,faid I,the time of priefts, prophets, and dream- ers is coming on again." " I underfland you, fays he laugh- ing for the firft time ; I care as little for priefts as Michael does, and for prophets too, but I would have you confider the men of this country are not like yours ; a boy of thefe Galla would think nothing of killing a man of your coun- try. You white people are all effeminate ; you are like fo many women ; you are not fit for going into a province where all is war, and inhabited by men, warriors from their cradle." I saw he intended to provoke me; and he had fucceeded fo effectually that I mould have died, 1 believe, imprudent as it was, if I had not told him my mind in reply. " Sir, faid I, I have paffed through many of the moft barbarous nations in the world ; all of them, excepting this clan of yours, have fome great men among them above tiring a de- fencelefs ftranger ill. But the worft and loweft individual among the moft uncivilized people never treated me as you have done to-day under your own roof, where 1 have come fo far for protection." He afked, " How ?" " You have, in the firft place, faid I, publicly called me Frank, the moll odious name in this country, and fufficient to occafion me to be ftoned to death without further ceremony, by any fet of 3 men THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 513 men wherever I may prefent myf&f. By Frank you mean one of the Romifh religion, to which my nation is as adverfe as yours ; and again, without having ever feen any of my countrymen but myfelf, you have difcovered, from that fpe- cimen, that we are all cowards and effeminate people, like, or inferior to, your boys or women. Look you, Sir, you ne- ver heard that I gave myfelf out as more than an ordinary man in my own country, far lefs to be a pattern of what is excellent in it. I am no foldier, though I know enough of war to fee yours are poor proficients in that trade. But there are foldiers, friends and countrymen of mine, (one prefents himfelf to my mind at this inftant*,) who would not think it an action in his life to vaunt of, that with 500 men he had trampled all yon naked favages into duft. On this Fafil made a feigned laugh, and fcemed rather to take my freedom amifs. It was, doubtlefs, a pallionate and rafli fpeech. As to myfelf, continued I, unfkilled in war as I am, could it be now without further confequence, let me but be armed in my own country-fafhion on horfeback, as I was yelterday, I fhould, without thinking myfelf overmatch- ed, fight the two befl horfemen you fliall choofe from this your army of famous men, who are warriors from their cradle; and if, when the king arrives, you are not returned to your duty, and we meet again, as we did at Limjour, I will pledge myfelf, with his permiflion, to put you in mind of this promife. This did not make things better. He repeated the word duty after me, and would have re- plied, but my nofe burft out in a flream of blood ; and, that Vol. III. 3 T inftant, * It is with pleafuie I confefs the man then in my mind was my brave friend Sir WiHIaa Erfkint. 5.i4 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER initant, Aylo's fervant took hold of me by the moulder to hurry me out of the tent. Fafil feemed to be a good deai- concerncd, for the blood dreamed out upon my clothes. The old man likewife ailllled me when out of the tent ; I found he was Guebra Ehud, Ayto Aylo's brother, whofe fervant we had met on the road. I returned then to my tent, and the blood was foon (launched by warning my face with cold water. I fat down to recollect myfelf, and the more I calmed, the more I was diffatisfied at being put off my guard ; but it is impoffible to conceive the provoca- tion without having proved it. I have felt but too often how much the love of our native foil increafes by our abfence from it ; and how jealous we are of comparifons made to the difadvantage of our countrymen by people who, all pro- per allowances being made, are generally not their equals, . when they would boaft themfelves their fuperiors. I will confefs further, in gratification to my critics, that I was, from my infancy, of a fanguine, paffionate difpofition ; very fen- fible of injuries that 1 had neither provoked noi deferved; but much reflection, from very early life, continual habits of fullering in long and dangerous travels, where nothing but patience would do, had, I flattered myfelf, abundantly fubdued my natural pronenefs to feel offences, which, com- mon fenfe might teach me, I could only revenge upon my- felf. However, upon further confultingmyown breafl,I found ; there was another caufe had co-operated ftrongly with the . former in making me lofe my temper at this time, which, upon much greater provocation, I had never done before. 1 found now, as I thought, that it was decreed decifively my hopes of" arriving at the fource of the Nile were for ever ended ; , THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 515 ended ; all my trouble, all ray expences, all my time, and all my fufFerings for fo many years were thrown away, from no greater obftacle than the whimfies of one barbarian, whofe good inclinations, I thought, I had long before fufficiently fecured ; and, what was worfe, I was now got within lefs than forty miles of the place I fo much wiihed to fee ; and my hopes were fhipwrecked upon the laft, as well as the moll unexpected, difficulty I had to encounter. I was jufl going to bed when Ayto Welleta Michael, Ras Michael's nephew, taken at Limjour, and a prifoner with Fafil, though now at large, came into the tent. I need not repeat the difcourfe that pafled between us, it was all con- dolence upon the ill-ufage I had met with. He curfed Faiil, called him a thoufand opprobrious names, and faid, Ras Michael one day would iliew me his head upon a pole : he hinted, that he thought Fafil expected a prefent, and ima- gined that I intended to pafs the king's recommendation on him in the place of it. I have a prefent, faid I, and a very handfome one, but I never thought that, while his -2.- gareet was ftill beating, and when he had fcarcely pitched his tent when he was tired, and I no lefs fo, that it v, as then a time to open baggage for this purpofe ; if he had waited till to-morrow, he fhould have had a gratification which would have contented him. Wt'LL, well, faid Welleta Michael, as for your journey I fhall undertake for that, for I heard him giving orders about it when I came away, even though he expects no prefent ; what does the gratifying your cu'riofity coll him? he would be afhamed to refufeyou pcrmiflion; his own va- nity would hinder him. This affurancc, more than all the 3T2 quieting 516 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER quieting draughts in the world, compofed my mind, and brought me to myfelf. I went to bed, and falling into a. found fleep, was waked near mid-night by two of Fafil's fer- vants, who brought each of them a lean live fheep ; they faid they had brought the fheep, and were come to afk how I was, and to flay all night to watch the houfe for fear of the thieves in the army ; they likewife brought their mas- ter's order for me to come early in the morning to him, as» he wanted to difpatch me on my journey before he gave the Galla liberty to return. This difpelled every doubt, but it raifed my fpirits fo much, that, out of impatience for, morning, I flept very little more that night. It was a time of year when it is not broad day till after fix o'clock ; I went to the camp and faw Guebra thud, who confirmed what Welleta Michael had faid, and that Fafil had given orders for bringing feveral of his own horfes for me, to choofe which he was to prefent me with ; in efTecl: there were about twelve horfes all faddled and bridled, which were led by a mafler-groom. I was very indifferent about thefe horfes, having a good one of, my own, and there was none of thefe that would in this country have brought 7I. at a market; the fervant, who feemed very officious, pitched upon a bright-bay poney, the fattefl of the whole, but not flrong enough in appearance to carry me ; he afiured me, however, the horfe had excellent paces, was a great favour- ite of Fafil's, but too dull and quiet for him, and defired me to mount him, though he had no other furniture but the wooden part of a faddle covered with thin, brown leather, and, inftead of flirrups, iron rings. All the Abyffinians, in- deed, ride bare-footed and legged, and put only their great toe. into the iron ring, holding it betwixt their great and' fecond.- THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 517 fccond toe, as they are afraid of being entangled by the ftirrup if their horfe falls, fliould they put their foot into it. I consented to try him very willingly. A long experience with the Moors in Barbary put me above fear of any horfe, however vicious, which I had no reafon to think this was; befides, I rode always with a Barbary bridle, broad ftirrups, and fhort ftirrup-leathers, after their fafhion ; the bridle is known to every fcholar in horfemanfhip, and mould be ufed by every light-horfeman or dragoon, for the moil vicious horfe cannot advance a yard againft this bridle, when in a ftrong hand. I ordered the feis, or groom, to change the faddle and bridle for mine, and I had on a pair of fpurs with very long and fharp rowels. I faw prefently the horfe did* not like the bit, but that I did not wonder at; my faddle was what is called a war faddle, high behind and before, fo,un- lefs the horfe fell, it was impoffible to throw the rider. X had alfo a thick, knotty flick, or truncheon, of about three feet long, inflead of a whip, and well was it for me I was fo prepared for him* For the firft two minutes after I mounted I do not' know whether I was moll on the earth or in the air; he kicked behind, reared before, leaped like a deer, all four off the ground, and it was lome rime before I recollected my- felf ; he then attempted to gallop, taking the bridle in his teeth, but got ac check which daggered- him ; he, however,. continued to gallop; and, finding! flacked the bridle on his neck, and that he was at eafe, he let off and ran away as hard as he could, flinging out behind every ten yards ; *he ground was very favourable, fmooth, foftj and up-hilL. We; SiS TRAVELS TO DISCOVER We paired the poll of the Fit-Auraris like lightning, leaving him exceedingly furprifed at feeing me make off with his mailer's horfe. He was then going to the head-quarters, but faid nothing at palling; we went down one hill auk- wardly enough ; and, when we got to a fmall plain and a brook below, the horfe would have gone eaiily enough ei- ther a trot or walk up the other, but I had only to ihake my ilirrups to make him fet oif again at a violent gallop, and when he ilopt he trembled all over. I was now refol- ved to gain a victory, and hung my upper cloak upon a tree, the attempting which occaiioned a new battle ; but he was obliged to fubmit. I then between the two hills, half up the one and half up the other, wrought him fo that he had no longer either breath or ftrength, and I began to think he would fcarce carry me to the camp. I now found that he would walk very quietly ; that a gentle touch of the fpur would quicken him, but that he had not ftrength or inclination to gallop ; and there was no more rearing or kicking up behind. I put my cloak, there- fore, about me in the bell manner poffible, juil as if it had never been ruffled or difcompofed by motion, and in this manner repairing the Fit-Auraris' quarters, came in fight of the camp, where a large field fown with teff, and much watered, was in front. I went out of the road into this field, which I knew was very foft and deep, and therefore favour- able for me. Coming near Faiil's tent, the horfe ilopt upon, gently ftraitening the bridle, as a horfe properly broke would have done, on which my fervant took the faddle and bridle, and returned the groom his own. The THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. po: The poor beaft made a fad figure, cut iu the fides to pieces, and bleeding at the jaws ; and the feis, the rafcal that put me up m him, being there when I difmounted, he held up his hands upon feeing the horfe fo mangled, and began to teftify great furprife upon the fuppoled harm I had done. I took no notice of this, only laid, Carry that horfe to your mailer; he may venture to ride him now* which is more than either he or you dared to have done in the morn- ing. As my own horfe was bridled and faddled, and 1 found myfelf violently irritated, I refolved to ride to compofe ray- felf a little before another interview, for I thought this laft piece of treachery, that might have coll me my legs and arms, was worfe than what pa fled in the tent the night be- fore ; it feemed to be aimed at my life, and to put- a very ef- fectual itop to the continuing my journey. My fervant had in his hand a fhort double-barrelled gun loaded with fhot for killing any uncommon bird we might fee by the way. I took the gun and my horfe, and went up the fide of the green hill about half way, in fair view of the camp, and conuderably above it, I galloped, trotted, and made my horfe perform every thing he was capable of. He was excellent in his movements, and very fufficiently trained ; this the Galla beheld at once with aftonifhment and pleai'ure ; they are naturally fond of horles, fufficiently perfect in the ufe- ful part of horfemanfhip, to be fenfible of the beauty of the ornamental. There was then, as there always is, a vaft number of kites following the camp, which are quite familiar and live up-, on the carrion ; choofmg two gliding near me, I fhot lirft one $a« TRAVELS TO DISCOVER one on the right, then one on the left ; they both fell dead on the ground ; a great ihout immediately followed from the fpectators below, to which I feemingly paid no attention, pretending abfolute indifference, as if nothing extraordinary had been done. I then difmounted from my horfe, giving him and my gun to my fervant, and, fitting down on a large Hone, I began to apply fome white paper to flaunch .a -fmall fcratch the firfl horfe had given me on the leg, by rubbing it againft a thorn tree : as my trowfers, indeed, were all flained with the blood of the firfl horfe, much cut by the fpur, it was generally thought I was wounded. Fasil on this fent for me to come immediately to him, having juft got up from a fleep after a whole night's de- bauch. He was at the door of the tent when I began ri- ding my own horfe, and, having feen the mots, ordered the kites immediately to be brought him : his fervants had la- boured in vain to find the hole where the ball, with which I had killed the birds, had entered ; for none of them had ever feen fmall-fhot, and I did not undeceive them. I had no fooner entered his tent than he afked me, with great -earnellnefs, to fhew him where the ball had gone through. I gave him no explanation ; but, if you have really an in- .clination to kill me, faid I, you had better do it here, where I have fervants that will bury me, and tell the King and the Iteghc the kind reception you have given ftrangers whom .they have recommended. He afked what I meant ? What was the matter now ? and I was going to anfwer, when Welleta Michael told him the whole ftory, greatly in my favour, in- deed, but truly and plainly as to the trick about the horfe. The Fit-Auraris Woldo faid fomething to him in Galla, which plainly made the matter worfe. Fafil now feemed in 4 a ter- THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 521 a terrible fury, and faid three words to the Fit-Auraris in Galla, who immediately went out ; and, as my fervants told me afterwards, after lending for the feis, or groom, who had brought me the horfe, the firft falutation that he gave him was a blow over the head with a bludgeon, which felled him to the ground, then a dozen more ftrokes, and ordered him to be put in irons, after which he returned in- to the tent. Fasil, who heard I was hurt, and faw the quantity of blood upon my trowfers, held up his hands with a fhew of horror and concern, which plainly was not counterfeited : he protefted, by every oath he could devife, that he knew no- thing about the matter, and was afleep at the time; that he had no horfes with him worth my acceptance, except the one that he rode, but that any horfe known to be his, driven before me, would be a paffport, and procure me reflect a- mong all the wild people whom I might meet, and for that reafon only he had thought of giving me a horfe. He repeat- ed his protections that he was innocent, and heartily forry for the accident, which, indeed, he appeared to be: he told me the groom was in irons, and that, before many hours palled, he would put him to death. I was perfectly fatisfied with his fincerity. I wifhed to put an end to this difagree- able converfation: "Sir, faid l,as this man has attempted my life, according to the laws of the country, it is I that fhould name the puniihmcnt." " It is very true, replied Fafil, take him, Yagoube, and cut him in a thoufand pieces, if you pleafe, and give his body to the kites." " Are you really fincere in what you fay, faid I, and will you have no after excufes." He fwore folemniy he would not. "Then, faid I, I am a Chriflian; the way my religion teaches me to punifh my enemies is Vol.' III. 3 U by 522 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER by doing good for evil; and therefore I keep you to the oath you have fworn, and defire my friend the Fit-Auraris to fet the man at liberty, and put him in the place he held before, for he has not been undutiful to you." I need not fay what were the fentiments of the company- upon the occafion; they feemed to be moil favourable to me;, old Guebra Ehud could not contain himfelf, but got out o£ the dark corner, and fqueezed both of my hands in his; and turning to Falil, faid, " Did not I tell you what my brother Aylo thought about this man?" Welleta Michael faid, " He was juft the fame all through Tigre." Fam, in a low voice, replied, "A man that behaves as he does may go thro' any country." They then all begged that I would take care of my wound, looking at the blood upon my trowfers. I told them it was already ftaunched ; and turning to Fafil, faid, "We. white people, you fee, are not fo terrified at feeing our own blood as you fuppofed we were." He then defired that the tent might be cleared for a fhort time, and we all went- out. About ten minutes after, I was called in to partake of a- great breakfaft ; honey and butter,and raw beef in abundance, as alfo fome ftewed diihes that were very good. I was very hungry, having tailed nothing fince dinner the day before;, and I had had much exercife of body as well as of mind. We were all very chearful, every one faying fomething about the Agows, or of the Nile ; and Fafil declaring, if it was peace, he would carry me to his country acrofs the Nile as- far as the kingdom of Narea. I thanked him. " You are at- peace, faid I, with the King and the Ras, and going to meet themat Gondar." — " At Gondar, fays he, no ; I hope not this THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 523 this time ; the Ras has work enough on his hands for the reft of his life." "What work ? faid I." "Why, the mountain," re- plies he." "The mountain Aromata!" "The fame, fays he; you never faw fuch a place; Lamalmon, and all the mountains of Abyffmia, are nothing to it : he was, when at the prime of life, fifteen years in taking it from this Netcho's father." " But he has been luckier this time, replied I, by fourteen years." " How!" fays he, with fome amafement." " Pardon me, faid I, if I have unawares told you unwelcome news ; but the moun- tain is taken, the garrifon put to the fword, and Za Menfus, after furrendering, flain, in cold blood by Guebra Mafcal, in revenge for the death of his father." Fafd had in his hand a blue cut-glafs goblet, gilt round the edges with gold. I had bought it at Cairo, with feveral other articles of the fame kind, from a merchant who procured them from Triefte. I had given it to the king, who drank out of it himfelf, and had fent it as an honourable token to Fafil from Dingleber, the day when they made peace, after the battle of Limjour. Upon hearing what I laid, he threw it violently upon the ground, and broke it into a thoufand ■pieces. " Take care what you fay, Yagoube, fays he, take care .this be not a lie ; tell it me again." I told him the whole cir- cumftances from beginning to end ; how the news had come .to the iteghe— who had brought the intelligence — how it had .come from the Ras to Ozoro Either — and how Kefla Yafous had furprifed the mountain by treachery, having full lulled -the befieged afleep by a negociation, and a propofed media- tion of the priefts and hermits. GnthisFafilobferved,itwas the very way Michael took it lad time ; and, putting his forefinger in his mouth, bit it very hard, crying, Fool, fool, was he not warned? We all were again dilraiiied from the tent, and ilaid 3 U 2 out 524 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER out about a quarter of an hour, when we were again call- ed in. I cannot fay but I enjoyed heartily the fright I had vi- iibly given him ; it feemed to me that Aylo's brother, Gue- bia thud, was the only peribn whom he confulted, for it was he alone that remained with him in his tent when we entered ; he had changed his drefs ; a man was combing his hair, and perfuming it ; and he had a new, white, fine cotton cloth thrown about his middle loofely, which cover- ed his legs and feet, his breafts, neck, and moulders, being quite naked ; he rofe half up from his feat when I came in, made me fit down on a cufhion befide him, and was going to fpeak, when I refolved to have the firft word, for fear he fhould engage me in more difcuffions. " Your continual hurry, faid I, all the times I have feen you, has put it out of my power till now to make you the acknowledgment it is ordinary for ftrangers to prefent when they vifit great men in their own country, and afk favours of them." I then took a napkin, and opened it before him ; he feemed to have for- got the prefent altogether, but from that moment I faw his countenance changed, he was like another man. "OYagoube, fays he, a prefent to me ! you mould be fenfible that is per- fectly needlefs; you were recommended to me by the King and the Ras ; you know, fays he, we are friends, and I would do twenty times as much for yourfelf, without re- commendation from either ; befides, I have not behaved to you like a great man." It was not a very hard thing to conquer thefe fcruples ; he took the feveral pieces of the prefent one by one in his hands, and examined them; there was a crimfon filk fafh, 3 made THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 525 made at Tunis, about five yards long, with a filk fringe of the fame colour; it was as beautiful a web of (ilk as ever I faw ; it had a fmall waved pattern wrought in it ; the nexr was a yellow, with a red narrow border, or flripe, and a filver- wrought fringe, but neither fo long nor fo thick as the other; the next were two Cyprus manufactured fames, filk and cotton, with a fattin flripe, the one broader than the other, but five yards long each ; the next was a Perfian pipe, with a long pliable tube, or worm, covered with Turkey lea- ther, with an amber mouth- piece, and a chryftal vale for fmoking tobacco through water, a great luxury in the eaft- ern countries ; the next were two blue bowls, as fine as the one he had juft then broken, and of the fame fort. He moved them from him, laughing, and faid, " I will not take them from you, Yagoube ; this is downright robbery; I have done nothing for this, which is a prefent for a king."—" It is a prefent to a friend, faid I, often of more confequence to a ftranger than a king; I always except your king, who is the ftranger's beft friend."—" Though he was not eafily difcon- certed, he feemed, at this time, to be very nearly fo."— " If you will not receive them, continued I, fuch as they arc of- fered, it is the greater! affront ever was put upon me; I can never, you know, receive them again." By this he was convinced. More feeble arguments would indeed have fatisfied him, and he folded up the napkin with all the articles, and gave them to an officer ; after which the tent was again cleared for confultation ; and, during this time, he had called his man of confidence, whom he -was to fend with us, and inftrucled him properly. I faw plainly that I had gained the afcendant ; and, in the expectation of Bias Michael's fpeedily coming to Gondar, he was as willing to EiC TRAVELS TO DISCOVER to be on his journey the one way, as I was the other. T had ordered my fervants and baggage to fet out on the road to Dingleber before me, fending Ay to Aylo's fervant along with them, leaving me only my horfe and a common Abyflinian fervant to follow them : all had been ready fince early in the morning, and they had fet out accordingly with very great alacrity. It was about one o'clock, or after it, when I was admitted toFafil: he received me with great complacency, and would have had me fit down on the fame cufhion with himfelf, which I declined. " Friend Yagoube, fays he, I am heartily forry that you did not meet me at Bure before I fet out; there I could have received you as I ought, but I have been tor- mented with a multitude of barbarous people, who have turned my head, and whom I am now about to difmifs. I go to Gondar in peace, and to keep peace there, for the king on this fide the Tacazze has no other friend than me ; ■Powuffen and Gufho are both traitors, and fo Ras Michael knows them to be. I have nothing to return you for the prefent you have given me, for I did not expect, to meet a man like you here in the fields ; but you will quickly be back ; we fhall meet on better terms at Gondar ; the head of the Nile is near at hand ; a horfeman, exprefs, will arrive there in a day. 1 have given you a good man, well known in this country to be my fervant ; he will go to Geefh with you, and return you to a friend of Ayto Aylo's and mine, Shalaka Welled Amlac ; he has the dangerous part of the country wholly in his hands, and will carry you fafc to Gondar ; my wife is at prefent in his houfe : fear nothing, I ihall anfwer for your 1'afcty : When will you fet out? to- morrow r" I I REPLIED THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 527 I replied, with many thanks for his kindnefs, that I wifhed to proceed immediately, and that my fervants were already far off, on the way. You are going to difmifs thofe wild people, I would wifli to be as clear of them as pof- fible ; I intend to travel long journies, till we part (as I un- derftand we mall do) from the rout that they are taking. You are very much in the right, fays Fafil, it was only in the idea that you was hurt with that accurfed horfe that I would have wifhed you to flay till to-morrow ; but throw off thefe bloody clothes, they are not decent, I mull give you new ones, you are my valfal. I bowed. The king has granted you Geefh, where you are going, and I mull inv veil you. A number of his fervants hurried me out ; Guebra Ehud, Welleta Michael, and the Fit-Auraris, attended me. I prefently threw off my trowfers, and my two upper garments, and remained in my waiflcoat ; thefe were prefently re- placed by new ones, and I was brought back in a mi- nute to Fafil's tent, with only a fine loofe muflin under gar- ment or cloth round me, which reached to my feet. Upon my coming back to the tent, Fafil took off the one that he had put on himfelf new in the morning, and put it about my moulders with his own hand, his fervants throwing an- other immediately over him, faying at the fame time to the people, " Bear witnefs, I give to you, Yagoube, the Agow Geefh, as fully and freely as chc king has given it me." I bowed and killed his hand, as is cuftcmary for feudatories,, and he then pointed to me to fit down. " Hear what I fay to you, continued Fafil; I think it right for you to make the bell of your way now, for you will he the fooner back at Gondar. You need not be alarmed a£ 528 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER at the wild people you fpeak of, who are going after you, tho' it is better to meet them coming this way, than when they are going to their homes ; they are commanded by Welleta Yafous, who is your friend, and is very grateful for the medi- cines you fent him atGondar : he has not been able to fee you, being fo much bufied with thofe wild people ; but he loves you, and will take care of you, and you muft give me more of that phyfic when we met at Gondar." I again bowed, and he continued, — " Hear me what I fay ; you fee thofe feven people (I never faw more thief- like fellows in my life), — thefe are all leaders and chiefs of the Galla — favages, if you pleafe ; they are all your brethren." I bowed. " You may go through their country as if it were your own, without a man hurting you : you will be foon related to them all ; for it is their cuftom that a ftranger of ditlin&ion, like you, when he is their gueil, lleeps with the filler, daughter, or near relation of the principal men among them. I dare fay, fays he archly, you will not think the cuftoms of the Galla contain greater hardlhips than thofe of Amhara." I bowed, but thought to myfelf I Ihall not put them to the trial. He then jabbered fomething to them in Galla which I did not under- ftand. They all anfwered by the wildeft howl I ever heard, and flruck themfelves upon the breaft , apparently aflenting. " When Ras Michael, continued he, came from the battle of Fagitta, the eyes of forty-four, brethren and relations of thefe people prefent, were pulled out at Gondar, the day af- ter he arrived, and they were expofed upon the banks of the river Angrab to ftarve, where moft, I believe, were devoured by the hyaena ; you took three of them up to your houfe ; nouriihed, cloathed, protected, and kindly treat- ed them." " They are now in good health, faid I, and want nothing THE SOURCE OF THE NILfi. 529 nothing : the Iteghe will deliver them to you. The only other thing I have done to them was, I got them baptifed * I do not know if that will difpleafe them ; I did it as an additional protection to them, and to give them a title to the charity of the people of Gondar." " As for that, fays he, they don't care the leaft about baptifm ; it will neither do them good nor harm ; they don't trouble themfelves about thefe matters ; give them meat and drink, and you will be very welcome to baptife them all from morning to night ; after fuch good care thefe Galla are all your brethren, they will die for you before they fee you hurt." He then faid fomething to them in Galla again, and they all gave ano- ther affent, and made a ihew of killing my hand. They fat down ; and, I muft own, if they entertained any good-will to me, it was not difcernible in their counte- nances. " Bciides this, continued Faul, you was very kind and courteous to my fervants while at Gondar, and faid many favourable things of me before the king; you fent me apre- fent alfo, and above all, when Joas my mailer's body was dug up from the church-yard of St Raphael, and all Gon- dar were afraid to fliew it the leaft refpecl, dreading the vengeance of Ras Michael, you, a flranger, who had never teen him, nor received benefit from him, at your own ex- pence paid that attention to his remains which would have better become many at Gondar, and me in particular, had I been within reach, or had intelligence of the matter : now, before all thefe men, afk me any thing you have at heart, and, be it what it may, they know I cannot deny it you." He delivered this in a tone and graceful nefs of manner, fuperior, I think, to any thing I had ever before feen, although the A- byfiinians are all orators, as, indeed, are moll barbarians. 'voL.IU. 3 X « Why 530 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER "Why then, faid I, by all thofe obligations you are pleafed to> mention, of which you have made a recital fa truly honour- able to me, I a Ik you the greateft favour that man can be- llow upon me — fend me, as conveniently as poilible, to the hc*d of the Nile, and return me and my attendants in fafety, after having difpatched me quicklv, and put me under no conltraint that may prevent me from fatisfy- ing my curiofity in my own way." "This, fays he, is no re- queft, I have granted it already ; befides, I owe it to the com- mands of the king, whole: fervant I am. Since, however* it is fo much at your heart", go in peace, I will provide you with all necelTaries. If I am alive, and governor of Damot, as you are, we all know, a prudent and fenfible man, ur> fettled as the Hate of the country is, nothing difagreeable can befal you. He then turned again to his feven chiefs, who all got up, himfelf and I, Guebra Ehud, Welleta Michael, and the Fit-Auraris ; we all Hood round in a circle, and raifed the palm of our hands, while he and his Galla together repeat- ed a prayer about a minute long; the Galla feemingly with great devotion. Now, fays Fafil, go in peace, you are a Galla; this is a curie upon them, and their children, their corn, . grafs, and cattle, if ever they lift their hand againlt you or yours, or do not defend you to the utmoft, if attacked by others, or endeavour to defeat any defign they may hear is intended againll you." Upon this I offered to kifs his hand before I took my leave, and we all went to the door of the tent, where there was a very handfome grey b.orfe bridled and faddled. " Take this'horfe, fays Fafil, as a prefent from me; it is not fo good as your own, but, depend upon it, it is not of the kind that rafcal gave you in the morning ; it is the THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. i3t the horfe which I rode upon yefterday, when I came here to encamp; but do not mount it yourfelf, drive it before you faddled and bridled as it is ; no man of Maitfha will touch you when he fees that horfe ; it is the people of Maitiha whole houfes Michael has burnt that you have to fear, and not your friends the Galla. I then took the moft humble and refpectful leave of him poffible, and alfo of my new-acquired brethren the Galla, praying inwardly I might never fee them again. I re- commended myfelf familiarly and affectionately to the re- membrance of Welleta Michael, the Ras's nephew, as well as GuebraEhud; and turning to Fafil, according to the cuf- tom of the country to fuperiors, afkcd him leave to mount on horfeback before him, and was fpeedily out of fight. Shalaka Woldo (the name of my guide) did not fet out with me, being employed about fome affairs of his own, but he prefently after followed, driving FauTs horfe before kim. X& **—== -asag 3X2 CHAP. 53* TRAVELS TO DISCOVER gfe^ ' ffig CHAP. X. Leave Samba, and continue our Journey fouthward-^Fall in with Fa- ftYs Pagan Galla — Encamp on the Kelti. AT Bamba begins a valley full of fmall hills and trees, all brum-wood, none of them high enough for tim- ber. On the right hand of the valley the hills flope gently up, the ground is firm, and grafs fhort like fheep pafture ; the hills on the left are fleeper and more craggy, the low- er part of the valley had been cleared of wood, and fown with different forts of grain, by the induftry of the inhabi- tants of the village of that name — induftry that had ferved them to very little purpofe, as the encampment of this wild army deftroyed in one night ever)' veftige of culture they had bellowed upon it. Shalaka Woldo was not, to all appearance, a man to pro- tect a ftranger in the middle of a retreating army, difband- ed THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. $$$ ed as this was, and returning to very diftant countries, per- haps never to be afTembled again ; yet this man was cho- fen bv one that perfectly knew he was above all others ca- pable of the trull he had repofed in him ; he was about 55 years of age, was by birth an Agow, and had ferved Paul's father from his infancy, when Kafmati Efhte fuccceded to the government of Damot, upon old Faiil's death* ; he had been his fervant likcwife, as had young Fafil, fo they were both at one time fellow-domeflics of Kafmati liftite. When Fafil had flain this nobleman, and fucceeded to 1 lis fathers government of Damot, Shalaka Woldo was taken into his fervice as an old fervant of his father; it feemed his merit had not entitled him to further advance- ment ; he had no covering on his head, except long, buihy, black hair, which ju't began to be mingled with grey, but no beard, the defect of all his countrymen. He had a cot- ton cloth thrown about his moulders in many different forms, pccaiionally as his fancy fuggefted to him ; but, un- lefs at night, laid it generally upon one of the mules, and walked himfelf, his body naked, hi;, moulders only covered with a goat's fkin in form of what the women call a tippet ; he had alfo a pair of coarfe cotton trowfers that reached to the middle of his thigh, and thefe were fattened at the waiftband by a coarfe cotton falh, or girdle, which went fix or feveri times about his waifl, and in which he ftuck a crooked knife, the blade about ten inches long, and three i iches where broader!, which was the only weapon he wore, id ferved him to cut his meat, rather than for any wea- v. iii. 3 x pon '■ The psrlbnhere called oIJ Fafil, is Kafmati Waragna, in the time of Yaious II. 534 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER pon of offence or defence ; for a man of confequence, as he was, could not fuppofe a pofiibility of danger while he was in the territory of his mafter. Sometimes he had a long pipe in his hand, being a great fmoker ; at other times, a fticfodf about three feet long, fomething thicker than one's thumb, with which he dealt about him very liberally, either to man, woman, or beaft, upon the flighteft provocation ; he was bare-legged and footed, and without any mule, but kept up with us eafily at whatever pace we went. With all this he was exceedingly fagacious and cunning, and feemed to penetrate the meaning of our difcourfe, though fpoke in a language of which he did not underftand a fyllable. As for Shalaka Welled Amlac, he was a man whom I fhall hereafter mention as having been recommended to me by Ayto Aylo foon after my coming to Gondar. I did not, however, choofe to let Fafil know of this connection, for fear he might lead him to fome gainful imposition for his own account in the courfe of my journey through Maitflia. At a quarter pail two o'clock of the 31ft of October we halted for a little on the banks of the river Chergue, a fmall and not very rapid ilream, which coming from the fouth-weft, runs N. E. and lofes itfelf in the lake Tzana. At three o'clock in the afternoon we paffed the fmall river of Dinglebef, and in a quarter of an hour after came to a vil- je -of that nan d upon the top of a rock, which we :ended ; here the n ad comes clofe to the end of the lake, Lit and the rock is a very narrow pafs through tich all pro rom theAgows and Maitfha mult go ; \vl e is any difturbance in the fouth part 4 of THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 5^ o? the kingdom; this pafs is always occupied to redacc Gon- darto famine. The village itfelf belongs to the office of Betwudet, and,, fince that office -has 'been difcontinued, it makes part of the revenue of the Ras ; the language here is Falafha, enough only ufed now by the Jews who go by that name: it was anciently the language of all the province of Dembea, which has here its fouthern boundary. The air of Dingleber is excellent, and the profpedt one of the mofl beautiful in Abyffinia ; on the one fide you have a diftinct view of the lake 1 zana and all its iflands ; on the north, the peninfula of Gorgora, the former refidence of the Jefuits, where too are the ruins of the king's palace. On the north of the lake you have a diftant profpect of Dara, and of the Nile croffing that lake, preferving diitindtly the tract of its ftream un- mixed with the reft of the water, and iffuing out to form what is called the fecond cataract at Alata, all places fixed in our mind by the memory of former diftreffes. On the fouth-eaft, we have a diftant view of the flat country of Maitfha, for the moil part covered with thick trees, and black like a foreft ; farther on the territory of Sacala, one of the di. briefs of the Agows, near which are the fountains of the Nile, the object of all my wiihes ; and clofe behind this, the high mountains of Amid Amid, which furrounded them in two femicircles like a new moon, or amphitheatre, and feem by their lhape to deferve the name of mountains of the moon, fuch as was given by antiquity to mountains, in the neighbourhood of which the Nile was fuppoled tc rife, . At 536 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER At Dinglcber I overtook my fervants, who were difpofed to flop there for that night. They had been very much op- prefled by troops of wild Galla, who never having feen white men, could not refrain indulging a troublefome cu- riofity, without indeed doing any harm, or mewing any ligns of infolence ; this, however, did not hinder my fer- vants from being terrified, as neither I nor any protector was near them. I refolved to avoid the like inconvenience by proceeding further, as I knew the next day the main body of thefe ravages would be up with us at Dingleber ; and I rather wifhed to be at the point where our two roads feparated, than pafs a whole day in fuch company. It is true, I was under no fort of apprehenfion, for I perceived Fafil's horfe driven before us commanded all necefTary refpecl, and Zor Woldo had no occafion to exert himfelf at all. At four o'clock in the afternoon we left Dingleber, and at fcven palled a great river ; at eight in the evening we crofTed two inconfiderable ftreams, and came to a collection of fmall villages, called DegwafTa : here we entered into fome narrow defiles between mountains, covered to the very top with herbage, and brufhwood ; it was a delightful night, and we were refolved to make the moil of it. On every fide of us we heard Guinea fowls, of which the woods here are full. At half part nine we halted a little, juft leaving the narrow pafTes, and entering upon the plain. The diftrict is called Sankraber. I found myielf exceedingly fatigued, and Ilept a good half hour upon the ground. At half pad ten we began our journey anew, palling im- mediately the fmall village of Wainadega, famous for the decifivc battle fought between king Claudius and the Moor 4 Gragne, THE SOUR-CEOF THE NILE. 537 ©ragne, where the latter was flain, and an end, for a time, put°to the moil difailrous war that ever Abyffinia was en- gaged in. At half after eleven we paffed Guanguera on our left hand ; it is a collection of many villages, at about ten miles diftance ; and at mid- night we had Degwaffa on our right and Guanguera on our left. At half pail twelve we again relied at the fide of a fmall river, of which I know not the name: we were now in the flat country of Maitfha, de- fending very gently fouthward. At three quarters part one in the morning of the firft of November I alighted at two fmall villages, whofe huts were but jail finifhed, about 500 yards from the two trees that were in the front of our army, when after pafling the Nile at that dangerous ford near the jemm'a, we offered Fafil battle at Limjour, which was the place we were now again come to, but in better health and fpirits than before. Shalaka Woldo, upon my obferving to him that I was happy to fee the people again railing their houfes which Michael had deftroyed, faid, with a barbarous kind of fmile, « Aye, and fo am I too ; for if thofe two villages had not been built, we mould have had no fire- wood at Kelti to-night;" by which he meant, that the Galla, who were behind him, and whofe next flation was the banks of the river Kelti, would pull down all the new-built houfes, in order to carry fire- wood along with them ; and indeed we faw traces of fome houfes which had been newly built, and Hill as newly de- ftroyed, the wood of which, partly kindled, and partly lying on the ground, ferved us for'our fire that night at Kelti. I found myfelf exceedingly indifpofed, and could fcarcely force on a couple of hours tin '.her, when we came to the VOL..III. $J- bank3' Si$ TRAVEL S TO DISCOVER banks of the river Kelti, at a quarter after fix in the morn- ing. The Kelti here is a large river; at the ford it was four feet deep, though now the dry feafon : it is here called the K T.RAVEL;S TO DISCOVER and his fon David, as a. defence for the rich countries .of the Agows,.Damot, Gojam, and Dembca, againft the defa- lations and inroads of the wild Galla their countrymen, from whom they had revolted ; they confirt of ninety-nine fami- lies ; and it is a common faying among them, .that the de- vil holds the hundreth part for his own family, as there is nowhere elfe to be found a family of men equal to any of the ninety-nine. It has been fometimes connected with Gojam, oftener with Damot and the Agows, who were at this time under the government of Fafil.. . The houfes in Maitfha are of a very Angular conftruc- tion : the firft proprietor has a field, which he divides into three or four, as he pleafes, (fuppofe four) by two hedges made of the., thorny branches of the acacia-tree. In the corner, or interfection of, the, two hedges, he begins his low hut, and occupies as much of the angle as he pleafes. Three other brothers, perhaps, occupy each of the three other angles ; behind thefe their children place their houfe, and inclofe the end of their father's by another, which they make generally . Ihorter than the firft, becaufe broader. After they have raifed as many houfes as they pleafe, they furround the whole with a thick and almoft impenetrable abbatis, or thorny hedge, and all the family are under one roof,, ready to aifift each other on the firfl alarm ; for they have nothing to do but every man to look out at his own door, and they are clofe in a .body together, facing every point that danger can poffi- bly come from. They are, however, fpeedily deftroyed by a itronger enemy, as we eafrly found, for we had only to fet the dry hedge, and the canes that grew round it, on fire, which communicated at once to the houfes, chiefly confifV ing of dry ftraw. Such is their terror of the fmall-pox, which THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 5+7 which comes here feldom more frequently than once in fif-" ■ teen or twenty years ; that when one of thefe houfes is taint- ed with the difeafe, their neighbours, who know it will infedl the whole colony, furround it in the night, and fet fire to it, which is confumed in a minute, whilfl the unfortunate people belonging to it (who would endea- vour to efcape) are unmercifully thruft back with lan- ces and forks into the flames by the hands of their own neighbours and relations, without an inftance of one ever being fuffered to furvive. This to us will appear a barba- rity fcarcely credible : it would be quite otherwife if we faw the fituation of the country under that dreadful vifita- tion of the fmall-pox ; the plague has nothing in it fo ter- rible. The river Kelti has excellent fiih, though the Abyflinians care not for food of this kind ; the better people eat fome fpecies in the time of Lent, but the generality of the com- mon fort are deterred by pailages of fcripture, and distinc- tions in the Mofaic law, concerning fuch animals as are clean and unclean, ill understood ; they are, befides, exceed- ingly lazy, and know nothing of nets ; neither have they the ingenuity we fee in other favages of making hooks or lines : in all the time I {laid, I never faw one Abyffinian .fiiher engaged in the employment in any river or lake. At Keiti begins the territory of Aroofli : it is in fact the fouthmoft divifion of Maitfha, on the weft-fide of the Nile : it is not inhabited, however, by Galla, but by Abyflini- ans, a kindred of the Agow. When therefore we palled the river Kelti, we entered into the territory of Arooffi -bounded on the north by that river, as it is -on the fouth 3 Z a by 543 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER by the AfTar, the Arooffi running through the midft of that diftridt. My anxiety to lofe no time in this journey had determi- ned me to fet out this afternoon. I had for this purpofe dif- patched Ozoro Efther's fervant, but when we began to ftrike our tents, we were told neither beaft nor man was capable of going farther that day ; in a word, the forced march that we had made of 29 miles without reft, and with but little food, had quite jaded our mules ; our men, too, who carried the quadrant, declared, that, without a night's reft, they could proceed no farther ; we were then obliged to make a virtue of neceffity, and to confefs, that, fince we could go no farther, we were in the moft convenient halting place poflible, ha- ving plenty of both food and water, and as to protection, we had every reafon to be fatisfied that we were mailers of the country in which we were encamped. It was generally agreed therefore to relax that day. I fet afide an hour to put thefe memoirs in order, and then joined our fervants, who, on fuch occafions, are always our companions, and who had provided a fmall horn full of fpirits, and a jar full of beer, or bouza, by offering fome trifling prefent to our com- mandant the Jumper, who was much more tenacious of his drink than his meat: wefwam and dabbled with great delight in the Kelti, where are neither crocodiles nor gomari ; flept a little afterwards, and retired into the tent to a fupper, which would have been a chearful one could I have forgot that Ozoro Either was fuffering. We now began to difcufs the motive that had induced our friend Strates again to tempt the danger of the ways* This fingulaj fellow, as we learged from Guebra Maiiam> as THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 549 as well as from his own confeillon, repented of his refolution as foon as we were gone, and had determined on foot to fol- low us, when he heard of this opportunity of Ozoro Efther's fervant being fent on a meffage, and that princefs was fo well pleafed with his anxiety that fhe gave him a mule that he might not retard her fervant. This Greek had known Fafil intimately, both when he was a private man in Kafmati Efhte's time, and afterwards, when he was governor of Damot, for he was a fervant in the palace when Joas was king, as all the Greeks were; had a company of f ufileers, and one or two other fmall appoint- ments, all of which were taken from him, and from moil of the other Greeks, upon the death of the dwarf, who, 1 be- fore mentioned, was mot on the fide of Ras Michael by an unknown hand upon his firft arrival at Gondar. He now lived upon the charity of the queen- mother, and what he picked up by his buffoonery among the great men at court. We found that in Shalaka Woldo we had got a man of more underftanding than our friend Strates, but much about his equal in mimicry and buffoonery. *%£**=* =~ — Qft v. iii. 3 z CHAP, 550 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER S^= CHAR XL. Continue our Journey — Fall in 'with a Party of Galla — Prove our Friends — Pafs the Nile — Arrive at Goutto, and vifit thefrjl Cataracl. ON the fecond of November, at feven in the morning we purfued. our journey in a direction fouthward, and palled the church, of Bofkon Abbo; ever memorable to us as being the ilation of Falil in May, .when he intended to cut us off after our paffage of the Nile. This brought on a con- versation with our guide Woldo, who had been prefent with Fafil at his camp behind this church, and afterwards when Michael offered him battle at Limjour, he was there attend- ing his mailer. He faid, that the army of Welleta Yafous was above 12,000 itrong; that they were intending to attack the king at the ford, and had no doubt of doing it fuccefs- fully, as they imagined the King and Ras Michael, with part of both horle and foot, would pal's early, but the reft with dif- ficulty and danger; it was at that inflant Welleta Yafous was to fall upon thole that remained with Kefla Yafous, on the other lide of the Nile, in that conluiion in which they necef- faxily TH-E SOURCE OF THE NILE. 551 {arify muft be. Fafil then, with above 3000 horfe, and a large body of foot, was ready to inclofe botli Ras Michael and the King, and to have taken them prifoners ; nothing could fall out more exactly, as it was planned, than this did; the king's black horfe, and the other horfe of his houfehold, had taken poffeffion of the ford, till the King, the Ras, and the greateft part of the Tigre mufqueteers, under Guebra Mafcal, had paffed. On the other hand, Kefla Yafous, who had the charge of " the rear, and the pafling the mules, tents, and baggage, find- - ing fo many itraggler s conftantly coming in, had determin- ed to wait on that fide till day-light : this was the moment that would have decided the fate of our army ; all was fa- tigue and defpondency; but Welleta Yafous having lin- gered with the army of execution, and in the mean time the priefts having been examined, and the fpies detected, the moment Kefla Yafous begauhis march to Delakus, the favourable inilant was loft to Fafil, and all that followed was extremely dangerous -to him ; for, before Welleta Ya- fous arrived, Kefla Yafous had paffed the Nile, and was ftrongly polled with his mufquetry, fo that Welleta Yafous duril not approach him, and this gave Kefla Yafous an op- portunity of detaching the beil or frefheft of his troops to- reinforce Michael, whom Fafil found already an overmatch for him at Limjour, when he was. forced to retreat before the king, who very willingly offered him battle : add to thisj that Welleta Yafou? was not acquainted how near this junc- tion of Kefla Yafous witli Ras Michael might be, nor where Fafil was, or whether or not he had been beaten. Woldo pretended to know nothing of the fpy whom we had left hanging on the tree at the ford when Kefla Yafous march- ed 3 " 552 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER ed ; but he laid all the blame upon the priefts, of whofe information he was perfectly inflructed. At three quarters after ten in the morning we pafled the fmall river Aroom, which either gives its name to, or receives it from the diftrict through which it paiies : it falls into the Nile about four miles below ; is a clear, fmall, brifk ilream ; its banks covered with verdure not to be de- fcribed. At half an hour before noon we came to R#>o; it is a level fpace, fhaded round with trees in a fmall plain, where the neighbouring people of Goutto, Agow, and Maitfha hold a market for hides, honey, butter, and all kinds of cattle. Gold too is brought by the Agows from the neighbouring Shangalla ; all the markets in Abyflinia are held in fuch places as this in the open fields, and un- der the made of trees : every body, while he is there, is fafe under the protection of the government where that mar- ket is kept, and no feuds or private animofities muft be re- fented there ; but they that have enemies muft take care of themfelves in coming and going, for then they are at their own rifk. In the dry bed of a river, at the foot of a fmall wood before you afcend the market-place at Roo, we found the Lamb, cur friend the Jumpers brother, concealed very much lik i thief rn a hole, where we might eafily have pafTed ■him unnoticed; we gave him fome tobacco, of which he : ry fond, and a few trifles. We afked him what quef- we pleafed about the roads, which he anfwered plain- irtly, and difcreetly ; he a flu red us no Maitflia peo- p'< ■ ri pafled, not even to the market, and this we found . aids was ftrictly true ; for fuch as had intelligence a that THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 553 that he and his party were on that road, did not venture •from home with their goods, fo that the day before, which had been that of the market, no one chofe to run the rifk of attending it. Woldo was very eloquent in praife of this officer the Lamb; he faid he had a great deal more humanity than his brother, and when he made an inroad into Gojam, or any part of Abyflinia, he never murdered any women, not even thofe that were with child ; a contrary cuftom it feems pre- vailing among all the Galla. 1 congratulated him upon this great inttance of his humanity, which he took very gravely, as if really intended ; he told me that it was he that attacked Michael's horfe at Limjour ; and added, that, had it been any other, Ayto Welleta Michael's lire would not have been fpared when he was taken prifoner. That want of curiofity, inattention, and abfolute indifference for new objects, which was remarkable in the Jumper, was very plainly difcernible in this chieftain likewile, and feems .to be a character i (lie of the nation. I asked Woldo what became of thofe 44 Galla who had their eyes pulled out, after the battle of Fagitta, by Michael, on his return to Gondar. Not one of them, faidhe, ever came into his own country. It was reported the hyama ate them upon the Angrab, where they were turned out to ilarve. I faved three of them, laid I. Yes, anfwered he, and others might have been faved too: and then added, in a low voice, the hyamas eating them at the Angrab was a ftory contrived for the Galla ; but we that are Faiil's fervants know they were made away with by his order in Maicfiia and the Agow country, that none of them might be feen in Vol. III. 4 A their 554 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER their own provinces to terrify the reft of their clans by the mangled appearance they then bore ; for this was Ras Mi- chad's intention in disfiguring them, and yet leaving them alive ; to prevent therefore the fuccefs of this fcheme, Fafil put them to death in their way before they reached their own country. I confefs I was ftruck at the fineiTe which completed Waragna Fafil's character in my mind. What, faid I, kill his own people taken prifoners whilft lighting for him, merely becaufe their enemies had cruel- ly deprived them of their fight ! indeed,Woldo, that is not credible. O ho, fays he, but it is true ; your Galla are not like other men, they do not talk about what is cruel and what is not ; they do jufl what is for their own good, what is reafonable, and think no more of the matter. Ras Michael, fays he, would make an excellent Galla ; and do not you believe that he would do any cruel action which my mafter Fafd would not perpetrate on the fame provocation, and to anfwer the fame purpofe ? It now occurred to me why the three Galla, whom I had ^maintained at Gondar, had constantly refufed to return in- to their own country with the many fafe opportunities which at times had prefented to them, efpecially fince the king's retreat to Tigre ; neither had I obferved any de- fire in Fafd's fervants, who occasionally came to Gondar, of helping to reftore thefe unfortunate men to their coun- try, becaufe they knew the fate that awaited them. Although the Lamb, and the other Galla his foldiers, paid very little attention, as I have faid, to us, it was remarkable to ice the refpcct they mewed Fafil's horfe ; the greateil part of them, one by one, gave him handfuls of barley, and the THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 55S the Lamb himfelf had a long and ferious converfation with him ; Woldo told me it was all fpent in regretting the horfe's ill- fortune, and Falll's cruelty, in having bellowed him up- on a white man, who would not feed him, or ever let him return to Bizamo. Bizamo is a country of Galla fouth of the Nile, after it makes its fouthmoft turn, and has fur- rounded the kingdom of Gojam. I was better pleafed with this genuine mark of kindnefs to the horfe, than all the proofs of humanity Woldo had attributed to his chieftain for not frequently putting to death pregnant women. When I remarked this, Bad men { bad men! all of them, fays Wol- do ; but your Ras Michael will be among them one of thefe days, and pull alltheireyes outagain; and fo much the better. At Roo we left the direct road which leads to Bure, the refidence of the governor of Damot, towards which place the route of the army was directed; fo I took leave, as I hoped, for ever of my brethren the Galla, but ftill continued to drive the horfe before me. We turned our face now directly upon the fountains of the Nile, which lay S. E. by S. ac- cording to the compafs. At a quarter before noon we faw the high fharp-pointed mountain of Temhua, Handing fingle in the form of a cone, at about 18 miles diftance, and behind this the mountain of Banja, the place where Fafil almoil exterminated the Agows in a battle foon after his return to Bure, and to revenge which the king's laft fatal campaign was undertaken in Maitma, terminated by his retreat to Tigre. Here Strates,whilft amufmg himfelf in the wood in fearch of new birds and beads for our collection of natural hif- tory, fired his gun at one of the former, diftinguifhed by 4 A 2 the S56 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER the beauty and variety of its plumage. I flopt to make a rough fketch of it, which might be finifhed at more leifure : this was fcarcely done, and we again moving forwards on our journey, when we heard a confufion of fhrill, barbarous cries, and prefently faw a number of horfemen pouring down upon us, with their lances lifted up in a poflure ready to attack us immediately. The ground was woody and uneven, fo they could not make the fpeed they feemed to defire, and we had juft time to put ourfelves upon our defence with our firelocks, mufquets, and blunderbufles in our hands, behind our baggage. Woldo ran feveral paces towards them, knowing them by the cry to be friends, even before he had feen them, which was, Fafil ali, Fafd ali — there is ?ione but Fafil that com?natids here. Upon feeing us with- out any marks of difcompofure, they all flopt with Woldo, and by him we learned that this was the party we had palled commanded by theZa;//Z>, who, after we had left him,' had heard that live Agoxv horfemen had pa/Ted between the army and his party, and from the mot he had feared they* might have attempted fomething againft us, and he had' thereupon come to our aiGftance with all the fpeed pofV fible. Thus did we fee that this man, who, according to our ideas, feemed in underftanding inferior to moll of the brute- creation, had yet, in executing his orders, a difcernmentf punctuality, activity, and fen fe of duty, equal to any Chris- tian officer who mould have had a like commiffion ; he now appeared to us in a quite different light than when we firft had met him; and his inattention, when we were with him, was the more agreeable, as it left us at our entire liberty, without teazing or moleiling us, when he could be of THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 557 of no real fcrvice, as every Amharic foldier would have done. On the other hand, his alacrity and refolution, in the moment he thought us in danger, exhibited him to our view as having on both occasions juft the qualities we could have defircd. We now, therefore, fhewecl him the utinoft civility, fpread a table-cloth on the ground by the brock, mixed our honey and liquid butter together in a plate, and laid plenty of tefT bread befide it. We invited the Lamb to lit down and breakfaft with us, which he did, each of us dipping our hand with pieces of bread alternately into the dim which contained the honey ; but Strates, whofe heart was open, for he felt very gratefully the Lamb's attention to fave him from being murdered by the Agows, pulled out a large piece of raw beef, part of the bullock we killed at Kelti, which he had perfectly cleared from all incumbrance of bones, this he gave to the Lamb, defiring him to divide it among his men, which he did, keeping a very fmall pro- portion to himfelf, and which he ate before us. Drink we had none, but the water of the brook that ran by, for my people had linimed all our other liquors at Kelti after I was in bed, when they were taking their leave of Gucbra Ma- nam, Ozoro Either' s fervant. It was now time to purfue our journey ; and, to fhew our gratitude for the real Tervice this Lamb intended to have rendered us, I gave him four times the quantity of tobacco he had got before, andfo in proportion of every other trifle; all thefe he took with abfolute indifference as formerly, much as if it had been all his own ; he expreffed no fort of thanks either in his words or in his countenance ; only while at breakfaft faid, that he was very much grieved that it had been but a falfe alarm, for he heartily denred that fome rob- bers 55$ TRAVELS TO DISCOVER bers really had attacked us, that he might have fliewn us how quickly and dexteroufly he would have cut them to pieces though there had been a hundred of them. I mention- ed to Woldo my obligations to the Lamb for his good wifhes, but that things were quite as well as they were ; that I had no fort of curiofity for fuch exhibitions, which I did not how- ever doubt he would have performed moll dexteroufly. We were now taking leave to proceed on our journey, and my fervant folding up the table-cloth, when the Lamb defired to fpeak to Woldo, and for the firfl time ventured to make a requeil, which was a very extraordinary one ; he begged that I would give him the table-cloth to cover his head, and keep his face from the fun. I could not help laughing within myfelf at the idea of preferring that beau- tiful complexion from fun- burning ; but I gave him the cloth very readily, which he accordingly fpread upon his head, till it covered half his face ; he then got upon his horfe and rode quietly away. Before he went, he detached fifteen men, Woldo faid he did not know where, but by what he had gathered, and the route they had taken, he was fure that detachment was meant for our fervice, and to protect us on the right of our route, not having yet fufficiently quieted his own mind about the five Agows that palled be- tween the army and his pofl the night we were at Kelti; thefe, however, being poorly mounted and armed, would not have found their account in meddling with us, though we had no withes to mew our dexterity in deflroying them, as our friend the Lamb was fo dcfirous of doing, and we after difcovered they were not quite fodefpicable as they were reprefented,nor were they Agows. All this palled in much lefs time than it is told. We were on horfeback again in little more than half 3 an THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 55-9 an hour ; our friends were, like us, willing to meet and will- ing to part, only I ordered Strates to fufpend his firing for that day, left it fhould procure us another interview, which we by no means courted. We had halted by the fide of a fmall river which falls into the Affar ; and a little before one o'clock we came to the Affar itfelf. The Affar, as I have already faid, is the fouthern boundary of Aroofii, as Kelti is the northern ; and as Arooffi is the fouthern diftiict of Maitfha on the weft fide of the Nile, it follows that the Affar is the fouthern bounda- ry of Maitfha. On the other fide of this river begins the province of Goutto, which, according to the ancient rules of govern- ment before Ras Michael deftroyed all diftinctions, depend- ed on the province of Damot ; whereas Maitfha belonged to the office of Betwudet fince Fafil had appropriated both to him- felf by force, as well as the whole country of the Agows, which he had pofleffed by the fame title ever fince the bartle of Banja : the inhabitants of Goutto are the ancient natives of that country ; they are not Galla as thofe of Maitfha, but much more civilized and better governed. The language of the Agowand the Amharic are the two chiefly fpokcn in Gout- to, though there are diftant places towards the Jemma on the fide of the Nile, where the)- fpeak that of the Fataiha likewife. The people in Goutto are richer and better lodged than thofe of the neighbouring Maitfha ; their whole country is full of cattle of the largeft fize, exceedingly beautiful, and of all the different colours ; there are fome places likewife where their honey is excellent, equal to any in the country of the Agows, but the greateft quantity of it is of low price and £6o travels to discover and of little efteem, owing to the lupine flowers on which the bees feed, and of which a great quantity covers the whole face of the country; this gives a bitternefs to the greateft part of the honey, and occafions, as they believe, vertigo's, or diz- zinefles, to thofe that eat it : the fame would happen with the Agows, did they not take care to eradicate the lupines throughout their whole country. All this little territory of Aroofli is by much the mofl pleafant that we had feen in Abyflinia, perhaps it is equal to any thing the eaft can produce ; the whole is finely (haded with acacia- trees, I mean the acacia vera, or the Egyptian thorn, the tree which, in the fultry parts of Africa, produces the gum-arabic. Thefe trees grow feldom above fifteen or fixteen feet high, then flatten and fpread wide at the top, and touch each other, while the trunks are farafunder, and under a vertical fun, leave you, many miles together, a free fpace to walk in a cool, delicious fhade. There is fcarce any tree but this in Maitfha ; all Guanguera and Wainade- ga are full of them ; but in thefe lad-mentioned places, near the capital, where the country grows narrower, being confined between the lake and the mountains, thefe trees are more in the way of the march of armies, and are thinner, as being conftantly cut down for fuel, and never replanted, or fuffered to replace themfelves, which the) o- therwife would do, and cover the whole face of the coun- try, as once apparently they did. The ground below tbofe trees, all throughout Aroofli, is thick covered with lupines, almoft to the exclusion of every other flower ; wild oars alfo grow up here fpontaneoufly to a prodigious height and (ize, capable often of concealing both the horfe and his rider, and fome of the italks being little lefs than an inch i « in THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 561 in circumference. They have, when ripe, the appearance of fmall canes. The inhabitants make no fort of life of this grain in any period of its growth : the uppermost thin hulk of it is beautifully variegated with a changeable pur- ple colour ; the tatle is perfectly good. I often made the meal into cakes in remembrance of Scotland. The Abyflinians never could relifh thefe cakes, which they faid were bitter, and burnt their ftomachs, as alfo made them thirfty. I do, however, believe this is the oat in its original Hate, and that it is degenerated everywhere with us. The foil of this country is a fine black mould, in appearance like to that which compofes our gardens. The oat feems to de- light in a moift, watery foil ; and, as no underwood grows under the fhadow of the trees, the plough pafTes without interruption. As there is likewife no iron in th«dr plough, (for is it all compofed of wood) the furrow is a very flight one, nor does the plough reach deep enough to be entang- led with the roots of trees ; but it is the north part of Mait- fha, however, that is chiefly in culture ; fouth of the Kelti all is paflure ; a large number of horfes is bred here yearly, for it is the cuftom among the Galla to be all horfemen or graziers. All Aroofii is finely watered with fmall flreams, though the Aflar is the largeft river we had feen except the Nile; it was about 1-70 vards broad and two feet deep, running over a bed of large flones ; though generally through aflat and level country, it is very rapid, and after much rain fcarcely pafC able, owing to the height of its fource in the mountains of the Agows ; its courie, where we forded it, is from fouth Vol. III. 4 B to 56z TRAVELS TO DISCOVER to north, but it foon turns to the north-eaft, and, after flowing five or fix miles, joins the Nile and lofes itfelf in that river. Immediately below this ford of the AfTar is a magnificent cafcade, or cataract. I computed the perpendicular height of the fall to be above 20 feet, and the breadth of the flream to be fomething more than 80 ; but it is fo clofely covered with trees or bufhes,and the ground fo uneven, that it needs great perfeverance and attention to approach it nearly with fafety ; the flream covers the rock without leaving any part of it vifible, and the whole river falls uninterrupted down with an incredible violence and noife, without being anyway broken or divided ; below this cataracl it becomes confiderably narrower, and, as we have faid, in this ftate runs on to join the Nile* The ftrength of vegetation which the moifture of this river produces, fupported by the action of a very warm fun, is fuch as one might naturally expect from theory, though we cannot help being furprifed at the effects when we fee them before us, trees and fhrubs covered with flowers of every colour, all new and extraordinary in their fhapes, crowded with birds of many uncouth forms, all of them richly adorned with variety of plumage, and feeming to fix their rcfidence upon the banks of this river, without a de- fire of wandering to any diftance in the neighbouring fields : But as there is nothing, though ever fo beautiful, that has not fome defect or imperfection, among all thefe feathered beauties there is not one fongfter ; and, unlefs of the rofe,. or jcfTamin kind, none of their flowers have any fmell ; we hear indeed many fqualling noify birds of the jay kind, and we find two varieties of wild rofes, white and yellow, to which I mar THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 563 I may add jeffamin (called Leham) which becomes a large tree; but all the reft of the birds or flowers may be con- fidered as liable to the general obfervation, that the flowers are deftitute of odour, .and the birds of fong. After pairing the Affar, and feveral villages belonging to Goutto, our courfe being S. E. we had, for the firft time, a diftincl view of the high mountain of Geefh, the long-wiihed- for end of our dangerous and troublefome journey. Under this mountain are the fountains of the Nile; it bore from us S. E. by S. about thirty miles, as near as we could conjecture, in a flraight line, without counting the deviations or crook- ednefs of the road. Ever fince we had paiTed the Affar we had been defend- ing gently through very uneven ground, covered thick with trees, and torn up by the gullies and courfes of torrents. At two o'clock in the afternoon of the fecond of November we came to the banks of the Nile ; the paffage is very diffi- cult and dangerous, the bottom" being full of holes made by considerable fprings, light finking fand, and, at every little diftance, large rocky {tones; the eaftern fide was muddy and full of pits, the ground of clay: the Nile here is about 260 feet broad, and very rapid; its depth about four feet in the middle of the river, and the fides not above two. Its banks arc of a very gentle, cafy defcent ; the weftern fide is chief- ly ornamented with high trees of the falix, or willow tribe, growing flraight, without joints or- knots, and bearing long pointed pods full of a kind of cotton. This tree is called, in their language, Ha; the ufe they have for it is to make charcoal for the compofition of gunpowder ; but on the eaftern fide, the banks, to a confiderable diftance from the v. iii. 4 B 2 river, 564. TRAVELS TO DISCOVER river, are covered with black, dark, and thick groves, with craggy-pointed rocks, and overloaded with fome old, tall, timber trees going to decay with age; a very rude and ,v - ful face of nature, a cover from which our fancy fuggeft '. a lion inould iffue, or fome animal or moniler yet more fa- vage and ferocious. The veneration ftill paid in this country for the Nile, fuch as obtained in antiquity, extends to the territory of Goutto, and I believe very little farther; the reafon is, I apprehend, that to this, and no lower, the country has remained under its ancient inhabitants. Below, we know Maitflia ha. been occupied within. thefc few ages by Pagan Galla, tranfplant- ed here for political purpofes ; at Goutto, however, and in the provinces of the Agows, the genuine indigent have not emigrated, and with thefe the old fuperftition is more firm- ly rooted in their hearts than is the more recenr doctrine of tairiitianity; they crowded to us at the ford, and thev were, after fome ltruggle, of great life in paffmg us, but they pro- tefted immediately with gi eat vehemence agamic any man's riding acrofs the urream, mounted either upon horfe or mule: they, without any, fort of cere many, unloaded our mules, and laid our 1), . . <-' upon the grafs, infilling that we fhould take off our llioes, and making an appearance of ftoning thole who attempted to warn the dirt off their cloaks, and trowfers in the ftrcam My fervants were by this pro- voked to return rudenefs for mdenefs, and Woldo gave them two or three fi gniflcant threats, while I fat by exceed- ingly happy at having fb unexpectedly found the remnants of veneration for that ancient deiry Hill fubiifting in fuch full vigour. They after this allowed us, as well as ourhor- ies. and mules, to drink, and conducted me acrofs the river, 1 holding THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 565 holding me on each fide very attentively for fear of the holes ; but the want of fhoes was very inconvenient, the pointed rocks and Hones at the bottom giving me fcveral deep cuts on the foles of my feet; after this the beafts were led all to the fame fide with myfelf, alio one fervant was palfed with the greateft care by thefe poor people. Woldo had tipt me the wink to crofs as they defired me : except my fingle gun, all the fire-arms and fervants remained with the baggage and Woldo ; and now we foon faw what was his intention, and how well he underftood that the coun- try he was in belonged to Faiil his mailer.. There were between twenty and thirty of the Agows, old and young, fome of them armed with lances and fhields,. and all of them with knives. Woldo took his fmall Hick in one hand, fat down upon a green hillock by the ford with his lighted pipe in the other ; he ranged my people behind him, leaving the baggage by itfelf, and began gravely to exhort the Agows to lofe no time in carrying over our bag- gage upon their moulders. This propofal was treated with a kind of ridicule by the foremoft of the Agows, and they began plainly to infinuate that he mould firft fettle with them a price for their trouble. He continued, however, fmoaking his pipe in feeming. leifure, and much at his eafe, and, putting on an air of great wifdom, in a tone of mode^ ration he appealed to them whether they had not of their own accord infilled on our eroding the river on foot, had unloaded our baggage, and fent the mules to the other fide without our confent. The poor people candidly de- clared that they had done fo, becaufe none are permitted in any other manner to crofs the Nile, but that they would like wife carry our baggage fafely and willingly over for pay £66 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER pay ; this word was no fooner uttered, when, apparently in a moil violent paflion, he leapt up, laid by his pipe, took his Hick, and ran into the midft of them, crying out with violent execrations, And who am I ? and who am I then ? a girl, a woman, or a Pagan dog like yourfelves ? and who is Waragna Fafil ; are you not his flaves ? or to whom elfe do you belong, that you are to make me pay for the confe- quences of your devilifh idolatries and fuperflitions? but you want payment, do ye ? here is your payment : he then tuckt his clothes tight about his girdle, began leaping two or three feet high, and laying about him with his Hick over their heads and faces, or wherever he could flrike them. After this Woldo wrefted a lance from a long, aukward fellow that was next him, ftanding amazed, and levelled the pointathiminamanner that I thought to fee the poor peafant fall dead in an inflant : the fellow fled in a trice, fo did they all to a man ; and no wonder, for in my life I never faw any one play the furious devil fo naturally. Upon the man's running off, he cried out to my people to give him a gun, which made thefe poor wretches run fafter and hide them- lelves among the bufhes : lucky, indeed, was it for Woldo that my fervants did not put him to the trial, by giving him the gun as he demanded, for he would not have ven- tured to fire it, perhaps to have touched it, if it had been to have made him m after of the province. I, who fat a fpedator on the other fide, thought we were now in a line fcrape, the evening coming on at a time of the year when it is not light at fix, my baggage and fer- vants on one fids of the river, myfelf and beails on the 4 ^other, THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 567 other, crippled abfolurely in the feet by the flones, and the river fo full of pits and holes, that, had they been all laden on the other fide and ready, no one could have been bold enough to lead a beaft through without a guide : the difficulty was not imaginary, I had myfelf an inftant before made proof of it, and all difficulties are relative, greater or lefs, as you have means in your hands to overcome them. I was clearly fatisfied that Woldo knew the country3 and was provided with a remedy for all this ; I conceived that this pacific behaviour, while they were unloading the mules, and driving them acrofs the river, as well as his fury afterwards, was part of fome fcheme, with which I was refolved in no fhape to interfere ; and nothing convin- ced me more of this than his refolute demand of a gun, when no perfuafion could make him flay within ten yards of one if it was discharged, even though the muzzle was pointed a contrary direction. I fat ftill, therefore, to fee the end, and it was with fome furprife that I obferved him to take his pipe, flick, and my fervants along with him, and crofs the river to me as if nothing had happened, leaving the baggage on the other fide, without any guard whatfo- ever ; he then defired us all to get on horfeback, and drive the mules before us, which we did accordingly ; and I fup- pofe we had not advanced about a hundred yards before wc faw a greater number of people than formerly run down to where our baggage was lying, and, while one crofled the river to defire us to Hay where we were, the reft brought tire whole over in an inftant. This, however, did not fatisfy our guide; he put on a ful- kv air, as if he had been grievoufly injured ; lie kept the mules, where they were, and would not fend one back to be loaded 568 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER loaded at the river-fide, alledging it was unlucky to turn back upon a journey ; he made them again take the bag- gage on their moulders, and carry it to the very place where our mules had halted, and there lay it down. On this they all flocked about him, begging that he would not report them to his mailer, as fearing fome fine, or heavy chaftife- ment, would fall upon their villages. The guide looked very fulky, faid but very little, and that all in praife of himfelf, of his known mildnefs and moderation; as an in- ftance of which he appealed (impudently enough) to his late behaviour towards them. If fuch a one, fays he, naming a man that they knew, had been in my place, what a fine reckoning he would have made with you; why, your punifh- jnent would not have ended in feven years. They all acknow- ledged the truth of his obfervation, as well as his moder- ation, gave him great commendations, and, I believe, fome promifes when he palled there on his return. Here I thought our affair happily ended to the fatisfac- tion of all parties. I mounted my horfe, and Woldo went to a large filk bag, or purfe, which I had given him full of tobacco, and he had his match and pipe in his hand, juft as if he was going to fill it before he fet out; he then unloofed the bag, felt it on the outfide, putting firfl: his three fingers, then his whole hand, pinching and fqueezing it both within- fide and without ; at laft he broke out in a violent tranfport of rage, crying that his gold was gone, and that they had robbed him of it. I had not till this fpoke one word : I afked him what he meant by his gold. He faid he had two ounces (value about 5L) in his tobacco purfe, and that fome perfon had laid hold of them when the baggage lay on the other fide of the water ; that the Agows had done it, and 2 that THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. s6g that they muftpay him for it. The defpair and anguifh that he had counterfeited quickly appeared in true and genuine colours in the faces of all the poor Agows ; for his part, he difdained to fpeak but in monofyllables — So, fo, and very well, and no matter, you mail fee — and fhook his head. We now proceeded on our journey; but two of the eldeft among the Agows followed him to our quarters at night, where they made their peace with Woldo, who, I doubt not, dealt with them according to his ufual mildnefs, juftice, and mo- deration ; a fpecimen of which we have already feen. I confess this complicated piece of roguery, fo fuddenly invented, and fo fuccefsfully carried into execution, gave me, for the firft time, ferious reflections upon my own fitua- tion, as we were in fact entirely in this man's hand. Ay to Aylo's fervant, indeed, continued with me, but he was now out of his knowledge and influence, and, from many hints he had given, very defirous of returning home : he feemed to have no great opinion of Woldo, and, indeed, had been in low fpirits, and difgufted with our journey, fince he had feen the reception I firft met with from Fafil at Bamba: but I had. ufe for him till we mould arrive at the houfe of Shalaka Welled Amlac, which was in the middle of Maitfha, and in the way by which we were to return. I had therefore been very kind to him, allowing him to ride upon one of my mules all the way. I had given him fome prefents likewife, and promifed him more, fo that lie continued with me, though not very willingly, obferving every thing, but fay- ing little ; however, to me it was plain that Woldo flood in awe of him, for fear probably of his mailer Fafil, for Aylo had over him a moft abfolute influence, and Guebra Ehud Vol. IIL 4 C (Aylo'? 570 TRAVETSTODISCOVER (Aylo's brother) had been prefent, when Aylo's fervant fet out with us from Bamba under charge of this Woldo. To Woldo, too, I had been very attentive : I had anticipated what I faw were his willies, by fmall prefents and more con- fiderable promifes. I had told him plainly at Bamba, in pre- sence of FauTs Fk-Auraris and Ayto Welleta Michael, (Ras Michael's nephew) that I would reward him in their fight according to his behaviour ; that I fcarcely thanked him for his being barely faithful, for fo he was accountable to his mailer, whofe honour was pledged for my fafety ; but that ■I expected he would not attempt to impofe upon me, nor fuffer others to do fo, nor terrify me unneceffarily upon the road, nor obftruct me in my purfuits, be fulky, or refufe to anfwer the inquires that Lmade about the countries through which we were to pafs. All this was promifed, repromifed, and repeatedly fworn to, and the Fit-Auraris had allured me that he knew certainly this man would pleafe me, and that Fafil wras upon honour when he had chofen him to attend me, although he had then ufe for him in other bufmefs ; and it is not lefs true, that, during the whole of our jour- ney hitherto, he had behaved perfectly to the letter of his promife, and I had omitted no opportunity to gratify him by Several anticipations of mine. I had upon me a large beautiful red-filk fafh, which went fix or feven times round, in which 1 carried my crook- ed knife and two pillols; he had often admired the beauty •of it, inquired where it was made, and what it might have coil. 1 had anfwered often negligently and at random, and I had thought no more of it, as his inquiries had gone no •further. The time which he had fixed upon was not yet ■i come, THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 571 come, and we mall prefently fee how very dexteroufly he pro- longed it. We arrived, with thefe delays, pretty late at Goutto, (the village fo called) and took up our lodgings in the houfe of a confiderable perfon, who had abandoned it upon our ap- proach, thinking us part of FafilV army. Though this ha- bitation was of ufe in protecting us from the poor, yet it hurt us by alarming, and fo depriving us of the affiftance of the opulent, fuch as the prefent owner, who, if he had known we were itrangers from Gondar, would have willing- ly ftaid and entertained us, being a relation and friend cf Shalaka Welled Amlac. As we heard diftinctly the noife of the cataract, and had ftill a full hour and a half of light, while they were in fearch of a cow to kill, (the cattle having been all driven a- way or concealed) 1 determined to vifit the water- fall, left I ihould be thereby detained the next morning. As Fafil's horfe was frefh, by not being rode, I mounted him inftead of driving him before me, and took a fervant of my own, and a man of the village whom Woldo procured for us, as I would not allow him to go himfelf. Being well armed, I thus fet out, with the peafant on foot, for the cataract ; and, after riding through a plain, hard country, in fome parts very ftony, and thick-covered with trees, in fomething more than half an hour's eafy galloping all the' way, my fervant and I came ftraight to the cataract, conducted there by the noife of the fall, while our guide remained at a confider- able diilance behind, not being able to overtake us. 4 C i This- 572 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER This, known by the name of the Firft Cataract of the Nile, did not by its appearance come up to the idea we had form- ed of it, being fcarce fixteen feet in height, and about fixty yards over ; but in many places the meet of water is inter- rupted, and leaves dry intervals of rock. The fides are nei- ther fo woody nor verdant as thofeofthe cataract of the AfTar; and it is in every fhape lefs magnificent, or deferving to be feen, than is the noble cataract at Alata before defcribed, erroneoufly called the Second Cataract ; for below this there is a water-fall, nearly weft of the church of Bofkon Abbo, not much above the place where we fwam our horfes o- ver in May, and lefs than this firft cataract of which I am fpeaking, and nearer the fource ; there is another ftill fmaller before the Nile joins the river Gumetti, after falling from the plains of Sacala ; and there are feveral ftill fmaller between the fountains and the junction of the Nile with the river Davola ; thefe laft mentioned, however, are very infignincant, and appear only when the Nile is low : in the rainy feafon, when the river is full, they fcarcely are dif- tinguifhed by ruffling the water as it pafles. Having fatisfied my curiofity at this cataract, I galloped back the fame road that I had come, without having feen a fingle perfon fince I left Goutto. Fafil's horfe went very pleafuntly, he did not like the fpur, indeed, but he did not need it. On our arrival we found a cow upon the point of being killed ; there was no appearance of any fuch to be found when I fet out for the cataract, but the diligence and fagacity of Woldo had overcome that difficulty. By a par- ticular manner of crying through his hands applied to his mouth, he had contrived to make fome beafts anfwer him, who THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. $73 who were hid in an unfufpected bye-place, one of which being detected was killed without mercy. It was now, I thought, the proper time to give Woldo a leffon as to the manner in which I was refolved to behave among the Agows, who I knew had been reduced to abfo- lute poverty by Fafil after the battle of Banja. I told him, that fince the king had given me the fmall territory of Geefh, I was refolved to take up my abode there for fome time; and alfo, to make my coming more agreeable, it was my in- tention for that year to difcharge them of any taxes which they paid the king, or their fuperior Fafil, in whofe places I then ftood. " Stay, fays Woldo, don't be in fuch a huny, fee firft how they behave."—" No, faid I, I will begin by teaching them how to behave; I will not wait till their prefent mifery prompts them to receive ill (as they very naturally will do) a man who comes, as they may think, wantonly for cunofity only, to take from them and their ftarved families the little Fafil 'has left them : the queftion I afk you then is briefly this, Do you conceive yourfelf obliged to obey me, as to what I mall judge neceffary to direct you to do, during my journey to Geefh and back again ?" He anfwered, By all means, or he could never elfe return to his mailer Fafil. " This,' then, faid I, is the line of conduct I mean to purfue ' while I am among the Agows ; you fhall have money to buy every thing; you fhall have money, or prefents, or both, to pay thofe that ferve us, or that fhew us any kindnefs, and when we fhall join your mailer Fafil (as I hope we mall do together) you lhall tell him that I have received his maje- fty's rent of the Agows of Geefh, and I will enter a receipt for it in the king's deftar, or revenue-book at Gondar, if we fee him there, as I expect we fhall, upon my return. I, moreover, 574 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER moreover, undertake, that we fhall gain more by this than by any other method we could have purfued." " There is? one thing, however, fays Woldo, you would not furely have me free them the dues paid by every village where a king's fervant is employed to conduct flrangers, as I am you." " No, no, I do not go fo near as that ; we fhall only buy what you would have otherwiie taken by force for my ufe." " Some years ago, fays Woldo, when I was a young man, in king Yafous's time, a white man, called Negade Ras Georgis, had both Geefh and Sacala given him by the king ; he went there twice a-year, and ftaid a month or more at a time ; he was a great hunter and drinker, and a devil for the women ; he not only fpent what he got from the vil- lage, but all the money he brought from Gondar into the bargain ; it was a jovial time, as I have heard ; all was mer- riment : The firft day he came there, fome of the men of Sacala, out of fport, difputing with three of the Agows of Zeegam, fell to it with their knives anil lances, and four men were killed in an inftant upon the fpot ; fine flout fellows, every one like a lion ; good men all of them ; there are no fuch days feen now, unlefs they come about when, you are there, and then 1 fhall have my fliare of every thing'". ** WoldOjfaid I, with all my heart; I fhallbe other wife employ- ed ; but you mall be at perfect liberty to partake of every fport, always excepting thediverfion of killing four men." Eur I had obferved this day, with fome furprife, that he doubt- ed feveral times whether we were on the way to the foun- tains of the Nile or not ; and I did not think this profpect of entertainment which I held out to him was received with fuch joy as I expected, or as if he meant to partake of it. St RATES THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 575 Strates had refufed to go to the firft cataract, having fo violent an appetite that he could not abandon the cow ; and, after my arrival, it was his turn to watch that night. When I was lain down to reft in a little hovel like a hog's fly, near where they were fitting, I heard a warm difpute among the fervants, and, upon inquiry, found Strates was preparing fteaks on a gridiron to make an entertainment for himfelf while the reft were fieeping ; thefc, on the other hand, were refolved to play him a trick to punifh his gluttony. When the fteaks were fpread upon the gridiron, Woldo had undertaken to pour fome fine duft, or fand, through the hole in the roof, which ferved as a chim- ney ; and this he had done with fuccefs as often as Strates went to any diftance from the fire. Not content, however, with the pofition in which he then was, but defirous to do it more effectually, he attempted to change his place upon the roof where he flood, thinking it all equally ftrong to bear him ; but in this he was miftaken ; the part he was removing to fuddenly gave way, and down he came upon tlie floor, bringing half the roof and pare of the wall, together with a, prodigious duft, into the fire. The furprife and fight of his own danger made Woldo repeat fome ejaculation to himfelf in Galla. My fervants, who were waiting the fuccefs of the fcheme, cried, The Galla! the Galla ! and Strates, who thought the whole ar- my of wild Galla had furrounded the houfe, fell upon his face, calling Maruni ! Maruni ! — Spare me ! fpare me ! — I was in a profound fieep when roufed by the noife of the roof, the falling of the man, and the cry of Galla ! Galla ! I flatted up, and laid hold of a mufket loaded with flugs, a bayonet at the end of it, and ran to the door, when the firft thing Sj6 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER thing I faw was Woldo examining his hurts, or burns, but without any arms. A laugh from without made me direct- ly fuppofe what it was, and I was prefently fully fatisfied by the figure Strates and Woldo made, covered with dirt and dull from the roof; but, while they were entertaining themfelves with this foolifh trick, the thatch that had fal- len upon the fire began to flame, and it was with the ut- mofl difficulty we extinguifhed it, otherwife the whole vil- lage might have been burnt down. — I heard diftinctly the noife of the cataract all this night. sss£E55jK«a CHAP. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 517 =2&*-*3&e CHAP. XII. Leave Goulto- -Mountains of the Moon-Roguery of 'Waldo our Guide- Arrive at the * Source of the' Nile. IT was the 3d of November, at eight o'clock in the morn- ing that we left the village of Goutto, and continued, for the 'firft part of the day, through a plain country full of acacia-trees, and a few of other forts ; but they were all pollards, that is, Hunted, by having their tops cut off when young fo that they bore now nothing but imall twigs, or branches ; thefe, too, feemed to have been lopped yearly. As there appeared no doubt that this had been done pur- pofely, and for ufe, I afked, and was informed, that we were now in the honey country, and that thefe twigs were for making large bafkets, which they hung upon trees at the fides of their houfes, like bird-cages, for the bees to make their honey in them during the dry months ; all the houies we pafTed afterwards, and the trees near them, were fur- Vol. HI. 4 D nilhed 578 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER nifhed with thefe bafkets, having numerous hives of bees at work in them ; the people themfelves feemed not to heed them, but they were an excemve plague to us by their flings during the day, fo that it was only when we were out in the fields, or at night in the houfe, that we were free from this inconvenience. i The high mountain of Berfa now bore fouth from us a>- bout ten miles diftant ; it refembles, in fhape, a gunner's wedge, and towers up to the very clouds amidft the lefler mountains of the Agow. Sacala is fouth fouth-eaft. The country of the Agows extends from Berfa on the fouth to the point of due weft, in form of an amphitheatre, formed all round by mountains, of which- that of Banja lies fouth fouth- weft about nine miles off. The country of the Shan- galla, beyond the Agows, lies weft north- weft. From this point all the territory of Goutto is full of villages, in which the fathers, fons, and grandfons live together ; each degree, indeed, in a feparate houfe, but near or touching each other, as in Maitfha, fo that every village confifts of one family. At three quarters paft eight we crofted a fmall, but clear river, called Dee-ohha,or the River Dee. It is fingular to ob- ferve the agreement of names of rivers in different parts of the world, that have never had communication together. The Dee is a river in the north of Scotland. The Dee runs through Chefhire likewife in England ; and Dee is a river here in Abyflinia. Kelti is the name of a river in Monteith ; Kelti, too, we found in Maitfha. Arno is a well-known ri- ver in Tufcany ; and we found another Arno, below Emfras, falling into the lake Tzana. Not one of thefe rivers, as far as I could obferve, refemble each other in any one circum- 2 fiance, THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 579 ilance, nor have they a meaning or fignification in any one language I know. The church of Abbo is a quarter of a mile to our right, and the church of Eion Mariam bears eaft by fouth half a mile. We refumed our journey at half pall nine, and, after advan- cing a few minutes, we came in fight of the ever-memorable field of Fagitta. At a quarter paft ren we were pointing to the fouth-eaft, the two great clans of the Agow, Zeegam and Dengui, being to the fouth- well; the remarkable moun- tain Davenanza is about eight miles off, bearing fouth-eaft by fouth, and the courfe of the Nile is eaft and weft. Eaft- ward ftill from this is the high mountain of Adama, one of the ridges of Amid Amid, which form the entrance of a narrow valley on the eaft fide, as the mountains of Litch- ambara do on the weft. In this valley runs the large river Jemma, rifing in the mountains, which, after palling thro' part of Maitfha, falls below into the Nile. The mountains from this begin to rife high, whereas at Samfeen they arc very low and inconfiderable. Adama is about ten miles from our prefent fituation, which is alfo famous for a battle fought by Faiil's father, while governor of Damot, againft the people of Maitfha, in which they were totally defeated. We now defcended into a large plain full of rnarfhes, bounded on the weft by the Nile, and at ten and three quar- ters we crofted the fmall river Diwa, which comes from the eaft and runs to the weftward : though not very broad, it was by much the deepeft river we had pafled; the bank/ of earth being perpendicular and infirm, and the bottom foul and clayey, we were obliged to difmount ourfelves, unload the mules, and carry our baggage over. This was a trouble- 4 D 2 fome j.8o- T R A V E L S T O DISCOVER fome operation, though we fucceeded at laft. I often regret-- ted to Woldo, that he could not here find fome of the good people like the Agows at the ford of the Nile ; but he fhook his head, faying, Thefe are another fort of ftufF; we maybe very thankful if they let us pafs ourfelves : in the flat coun- try I do not wifh to meet one man on this fide the moun- tain Aforrnafha. In this plain, the Nile winds' more in the fpace of four miles than, I believe, any river in the world; it makes above a hundred turns in that diftance, one of which advances fo abruptly into the plain that we concluded we mufl pafs it, and were preparing accordingly, when we faw it make as fharp a turn to the right, and run far on in a contrary di- rection, as if we were never to have met it again : the Nile is not here above 20 feet broadband is nowhere above a foot deep. The church of Yafous was above three quarters of a mile to the weft. At one o'clock we afcended a ridge of low hills which terminates this plain to the fouth. The mountains behind them are called Attata ; they are covered thick with brufh- wood, and are cut through with gullies and beds of tor- rents. At half paft one we were continuing S. E.; in a few minutes after we palled a clear but fmall \ ftream, called Minch, which fignifies the Fountain. At two o'clock we arrived at the top of the mountain of Attata, and from this dilcovered the river Abola coming from the S..S..E. and in ; a few minutes paflcd another fmall river called Giddili, which lofes itfelf immediately in a turn, or elbow, which the river Abola makes here below. At half pad two we de- fended the mountain of Attata,, and immediately at the foot . THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 581 foot of it crofted a fmall river of the fame name, which ter- minates the territory of Attata ; here, to the fouth, it is indeed narrow, but very difficult to pafs by reafon of its muddy bottom. The fun all along the plain of Goutto had- been very hot till now, and here fo excemvely, that it quite overcame us : what was worfe, Woldo declared himfelf fo ill, that he doubted if he could go any farther, but believed lie mould die at the next village. Though I knew too much of the matter to think him in any danger from real difeafe,- I faw eafily that he was infected with a counterfeit one, which I did not doubt was to give me as much trouble as a real one would have done. . At three o'clock, however, we pufhed on towards the - S. E. and began to enter into the plain of Abola, one of the divifions of the Agow. The plain, or rather valley, of Abo- la, is about half a mile broad for the mofl part, and no- where exceeds a mile. The mountains that form it on the eaft and weft fide are at firft of no confiderable height, and are covered with herbage and acacia-trees to the very top; but as they run fouth, they increafe in height, and be- come more rugged and woody. On the top of thefe are moll delightful plains, full of excellent pafture; the moun- tains to the weft are part of, or at leaft join the mountain of Aformafha, where, from a direction nearly S. E. they turn fouth, and inclofe the villages and territory of Sacala, which lie at the foot of them,: and ftill lower, that is more to. the weftward,the fmall village of Geefh, where are the long-ex- pected fountains of the Nile. These mountains are herein the form of a crefcent ; the ■: river runs in the plain along the foot of this ridge, and ! along-; J 82 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER along the fide of it Kafmati Fafil palled after his defeat st Fa- gitta. The mountains which form the eaft fide of this plain run parallel to the former in their whole courfe, an I arfe part of, or at lead join the mountains of Litchambara, and thefe two, when behind Aformama, turn to the fouth, and then to the S. \V. taking the fame form as they do, only- making a greater curve, and inclofing them likewife in the form of a crefcent, the extremity of which terminates im- mediately above the fmall lake Gooderoo, in the plain of Affoa, below Geefh, and directly at the fountains of the Nile. The river Abola comes out of the valley between thefe two ridges of mountains of Litchambara and Aformama, but does not rife there ; it has two branches, one of which hath its fource in the weftern fide of Litchambara, near the center of the curve where the mountains turn fouth ; the o- ther branch rifes on the mountain of Aformama, and the eaft fide of our road as we afcended to the church of Mari- am. Still behind thefe are the mountains of Amid Amid, another ridge which begin behind Samfeen, in the S. W. part of the province of Maitfha, though they become high only from the mountain of Adama, but they are in fhape exactly like the former ridges, embracing them in a large curve in the fhape .of a crefcent. Between Amid Amid and the ridge of Litchambara is the deep valley now known by the name of St George ; what was its ancient, or Pagan name, I could not learn. Through the middle of this valley runs the Jemma, a river equal to the Nile, if not larger, but infinitely more rapid: after leaving the valley, it croiies that part of Maitfha on 4 the THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 583 the eaft of the Nile, and lofes itfelf in that river below Sam- feen, near the ford where our army palled in the unfor- tunate retreat of the month of May : its fources or fountains are three ; they rife in the mountains of Amid Aifnd, and keep on clofe to the eall fide of them, till the river ili'ues out of the valley into Maitfha. This triple ridge of mountains difpofed one range behind the other, nearly in form of three concentric circles, feem to* fuggeft an idea that they are the Mountains of the Moon, or the Montes Lunce of antiquity, at the foot of which the Nile was faid to rife ; in facf , there are no others. Amid A- mid may perhaps exceed half a mile in height, they cer- tainly do not arrive at three quarters, and are greatly fhort- of that fabulous height given them by Kircher. Thefe mountains are all of them excellent foil, and everywhere covered with fine pafture ; but as this unfortunate country had been for ages the theatre of war, the inhabitants have only ploughed and fown the top of them out of the reach of enemies or marching armies. On the middle of the mountain are villages built of a white fort of grafs, which makes them confpicuous at a great diftance ; the bottom is- all grafs, where their cattle feed continually under their eye ; thefe, upon any alarm, they drive up to the top of the mountains out of danger. The hail lies often upon the top of Amid Amid for hours, but mow was never feeri in this country, nor have they a word * in their languge for it, It is alfo remarkable, though we had often violent hail at * By this is meant the Amhatic, for in Geez the word for fnow is Tjke ; this may have been invented for tranflating the fcripturss. 584 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER at Gondar, and even when the fun was vertical, it never came but with the wind blowing directly from Amid Amid. At ten minutes pad three o'clock we croffed the fmall river Iworra, in the valley of Abola ; it comes from the eaft, and runs wefhvard into that river. At a quarter after four we halted at a houfe in the middle of the plain, or valley. This valley is not above a mile broad, the river being diftant about a quarter, and runs at the foot of the mountains. This village, as indeed were all the others we had feen fmce our croffing the Nile at Goutto, was fur- rounded by large, thick plantations, of that fingular plant the Enfete, one of the mofc beautiful productions of nature, as well as mofl agreeable and wholefome food of man. It is faid to have been brought by the Galla from Narea, firft to Maitfha, then to Goutto, the Agows, and Damot, which Jafl is a province on the fouth fide of the mountains of A- mid Amid. This plant, and the root, called Denitch, (the fame which is known in Europe by the name of the Jeru- faiem artichoke, a root deferving more attention than is paid to it in our country,) fupply all thefe provinces with food. We were but fcldom lucky enough to get the people of the villages to wait our arrival ; the fears of the march of the Galla, and the uncertainty of their deftination, made them believe always we were detachments of that army, to which the prefence of Fafil's horfe driven conftantly before us very much contributed : we found the village where we a- lighted totally abandoned, and in it only an earthern pot, with a large flice of the Enfete plant boiling in it ; it was about a foot in length, and ten inches broad, and was almoft ready 2 for THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 585' for eating: we had fortunately meat with us, and only want-* ing vegetables to complete our dinner. We appropriated to ourfelves, without fcruple, this enfete; and, by way of repara- tion, I infifted upon leaving, at parting, a brick, or wedge of fait, which is ufed as fmall money in Gondar, and all over Abyflinia ; it might be in value about a milling. On the 4th of November, at eight o'clock we left our fmall village on the plain of Abola, without having feen any of the inhabitants; however, we were fure there were among them fome who were curious enough to wifh to look at us, for, in walking late at night, I heard feveral voices fpeaking low among the enfete-trees and canes. It was not poflible to collect what they faid in the low tone in which they fpoke ; and I mould not probably have been much wifer, had they fpoken louder, as their language was that of their country, the Agow, of which I did not underfland one word ; how- ever, I thought I could diuinguifh they were women, the men apprehending we were enemies having probably taken refuge in the mountains above. I did every thing poflible to furround or furprife one or two of thefe people, that, by good-ufage and prefents, we might reconcile them to us, and get the better of their fear ; but it was all to no purpofe; they fled much quicker than we could purfue them, as they knew the country, and it was not fafe to follow them far into the wildernefs, left we might Humble upon people who might mifinterpret our intentions. I was determined to try whether, by taking away that fcare-crow, Fafil's horfe, from before us, and riding him my- felf, things would change for the better : this I diflinclly faw, that Woldo would have wifhed the horfe to have gone Vol. III. 4 E rather 586 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER rather without a rider, and this I had obferved the night I went to the cataract from Goutto. Sitting on the king's faddle, or in his feat at Gondar, is high-treafon; and Woldo thought, at all times, but now efpecially, that his mafter was infe- rior to no king upon earth. I even attributed to that laft expedition at Goutto his filence and apparent licknefs ever fince ; but in this laft circumftance I found afterwards that I was miftaken : be that as it would, my plan was very dif- ferent from Woldo's as to the horfe, he was become a fa- vourite, and I was refolved, in the courfe of my journey, to improve his talents fo, that he mould make a better appear- ance on his return to Gondar, than he did when I received him from Falil at Bamba. I compounded, as I conceived, with Woldo's fcruples, by laying afide Fafil's faddle, which was- a very uneafy one, befides, that it had iron rings in- stead of ftirrups ; in fhort, as this horfe was very beautiful, (as many of the Gallahorfes are) and all of one colour, which was of lead, without any fpot of white, 1 hoped to make him an acceptable prefent to the king, who was pailionate- ly fond of horfes. Here it may not be improper to obferve, that all very great men in Abyfiinia choofe to ride horfes of one colour only, which have no diftinguifhing mark where- by they may be traced in retreats, flights, or fuch unlucky expeditions : It is the king alone in battle who rides upon a horfe diftinguifhed by his marks, and that on purpofe that he may be known. There were many villages in this valley which feemed to have efcaped the havock of war, nor had they that air of po- verty and mifery fo apparent in all the other habitations we had feen. We were pointing nearly eaft fouth-eaft, when we paffed the fmall river Googucri, which, like all the others 3 on THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 587 on this fide of the mountain, falls into the Abola. We then left the valley of Abola on our right, and began to travel along the fides of the mountains on the weft. At three quarters after eight we paired a violent torrent called Kar- nachiuli, which falls from north-eaft into the Abola. At nine we again defcended into the valley, and, a few mi- nutes after, came to the banks of the Caccino, which flows from the north juft above, and joins the Abola. Here we halted for a little to reft our men, and to adjuft thoroughly the minutes of our journey, that the whole might appear in a diftinct manner in the map that I intended to make on my return to Gondar. At half pail nine we again fet out, and, a few minutes after, palTed the river Abola, which gives its name to the valley into which we had defcended, and receives many lef- fer ftreams, and is of confiderable breadth. I could disco- ver no traces of fifh either in it or in any river fince we left the Aftar, from which circumftance I apprehend, that, in thefe torrents from the mountains, almoft dry in fummer, and which run with vaft rapidity in winter, the fpawn and fifh are both deftroyed in different feafons by different caufes. After coafting fome little time along the fide of the val- ley, we began to afcend a mountain on the right, from which falls almoft perpendicularly a fmall, but very violent dream, one of the principal branches of the Abola, which empties itfelf into the Nile, together with the other branch, a ftill more confiderable ftream, coming from eaft fouth-eafl along the valley between Litchambara and Aformafha. At eleven o'clock cur courfe was fouth by eaft, and we pafTed 4 E 2 near jS8 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER near a church, dedicated to the Virgin, on our left. The cli* mate feemed here moil agreeably mild, the country covered with the moil lively verdure, the mountains with beautiful trees and fhrubs, loaded with extraordinary fruits and flowers. I found my fpirits very much raifed with thefe plea- fmg fcenes, as were thofe of all my fervants, who were, by our converfation, made geographers enough to know we were near approaching to the end of our journey. Both Sfrates and I, out of the Lamb's hearing, had ihot a variety of Cllrjous birds and beails. All but Woldo feemed to have ac- quired new ilrength and vigour. He continued in his air of defpondency, and feemed every day to grow more and more weak. At a quarter pail eleven we arrived at the top of the mountain, where we, for the firil time, came in fight of Sacala, which extends in the plain below from weft to the point of fouth, and there joins with the village cf • Geefli. Sacala, full of fmall low villages, which, however, had efcaped the ravages of the late war, is the eailermofl branch cf the Agnws, and famous for the bed honey. The fmall river Kebezza, running from the eail, ferves as a boundary between Sacala and Aformafha ; after joining two other ri- vers, the Gometti and the Googueri, which we prefently came to, after a fhort courfe nearly from S. E. to N. \V. it falls into the Nile a little above its junction with the Aboia. At three-quarters pail eleven we crofTed the river Kebez- za, and defcended into the plain of Sacala; in a few minutes we alio paifed the Googueri, a more considerable flream than the former ; it is about iixty feet broad, and perhaps eighteen inches deep, very clear and rapid, running over a rugged.. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 5S9 rugged, uneven bottom of black rock. At a quarter paft twelve we halted on a fmall eminence, where the market of Sacala is held every Saturday. Homed cattle, many of the greateft beauty poffible, with which all this country a- bounds ; large afles, the mod ufeful of all beaits for riding or carriage ; honey, butter, enfete for f • >d, and a manufac- ture of the leaf of that plant, painted w.cli different colours like Mofaic work, are here expofed to fale in great plenty ; the butter and honey, indeed, are chiefly carried to Gondar, or to Bure ; but Damot, Maitfha, and Gojam likewife take a considerable quantity of all thel'e commodities. At a quarter after one o'clock we palled the river Gu- metti, the boundary of the plain : we were now afcending a very iteep and rugged mountain, the worfl pafs we had met on our whole journey. We had no other path but a road made by the fheep or the goats, which did not feem to have been frequented by men, for it was broken, full of holes, and in other places obftru&ed with large ftones that feemed to have been there from the creation. It muft be added to this, that the whole was covered with thick wood, which often occupied the very edge of the precipices on which we Hood, and we were everywhere ftopt and entang- led by that execrable thorn the kantuffa, and feveral other thorns and brambles nearly as inconvenient. We afcended, however, with great alacrity, as we conceived we were fur- mounting the laft difficulty after the many thoufands we had already overcome. Juft above this almoft impenetra- ble wood, in a very romantic fituation, ftands St Michael, in a hollow fpace like a nitch between two hills of the fame height,, and from which it is equally diftant. This church has been unfrequented for many years ; the excufe they viii. 46 make 590 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER make is, that they cannot procure frankincenfe, without which, it feems, their mafs or fervice cannot be celebrated ; but the truth is, they are ftill Pagans ; and the church, ha- ving been built in memory of a victory over them above a hundred years ago, is not a favourite object before their eyes, but a memorial of their inferiority and misfortune. This church is called St Michael Sacala, to diftinguifh it from another more to the fouthward, called St Michael Geefh. At three quarters after one we arrived at the top of the mountain, whence we had a diflinct view of all the re- maining territory of Sacala, the mountain Geefh, and church of St Michael Geefh, about a mile and a half diftant from St Michael Sacala, where we then were. We faw, im- mediately below us, the Nile itfelf, ftrangely diminifhed in fize, and now only a brook that had fcarccly water to turn a mill I could not fatiate myfelf with the fight, revolving in my mind all thofe claflical prophecies that had given the Nile "up to perpetual obicuriry and concealment. The lines of the poet came immediately into my mind, and I enjoy- ed here, for the firft time, the triumph which already, by the protection of Providence, and my own intrepidity, I had gained over all that were powerful, and all that were learned, fince the remotefl antiquity: — Arcanum naiura caput vo?i prodidit id/i, Nee Ucuit populis parvum te, Nile^ v id ere ; AmovitquefinuSy et gentes maluit ortus - Mir art i quam ?:6jfe iuos. LUC AN. I was THE SOURCE OE THE NILE. 591 I was awakened out of this delightful reverie by an alarm that we had loft Woldo our guide. Though I long had ex- pected fomething from his behaviour, I did not think, for his own fake, it could be his intention to leave us. The fer- vants could not agree when they laft faw him : Strates and Aylo's fervant were in the wood mooting, and we found by the gun that they were not far from us ; I was therefore in hopes that Woldo, though not at all fond of fire-arms, might be in their company ; but it was with great diflatisfaction I faw them appear without him. They faid, that, about an hour before, they had feen fome extraordinary large, rough apes, or monkeys, feveral of which were walking upright,, and all without tails ; that they had gone after them thro' the wood till they could fcarce get out again ; but they did not remember to have feen Woldo at parting. Various conjectures immediately followed ; fome thought he had refolved to betray and rob us ; fome conceived it was an in- ftruction of Fafil's to him, in order to our being treacheroufly murdered ; fome again fuppofed he was flain by the wild beafts, efpecially thofe apes or baboons, whofe voracity,, fize, and fierce appearance were exceedingly magnified, ef- pecially by Strates, who had not the leaft doubt, if Woldo had met them, but that he would be fo entirely devoured, that we might feek in vain without difcovering even a frag- ment of him. For my part, I began to think that he had been really ill when he firft complained, and that the fick- nefs might have overcome him upon the road ; and this, too, was the opinion of Ayto Aylo's fervant, who faid, however, with a figniiicant look, that he could not be far off; we therefore fent him, and one of the men that drove the mules, back to feek after him ; and they had not gone but a few hundred yards when they found him coming, but fo deciepid 59' TRAVELS TO DISCOVER dccrcpid, and fo very ill, that he faid he could go no farther than the church, where he was pofitively reiblved to take •up his abode that night. I felt his pulie, examined every part about him, and faw, 1 thought evidently, that no- thing ailed him. Without lofing my temper, however, I told him firmly, That I perceived he was an impoftor ; that he ihould conlider that I was a phyfician, as he knew I cu- red his mailer's firft friend, Welleta Yafous : that the feel- ing of his hand told me as plain as his tongue could have done, that nothing ailed him ; that it told me likewife he had in his heart fome prank to play, which would turn out very much to his difadvantage. He feemed diimayed after this, faid little, and only defired us to halt for a few minutes, and he mould be better ; for, fays he, it requires flrength in us all to pais another great hill before we arrive at GeehV " Look you, faid I, lying is to no purpofe ; I know where Geefli is as well as you do, and that we have no more mountains or bad places to pafs through; therefore, if you choofe to flay behind, you may ; but to-morrow I fhall in- form Welleta Yafous at Bure of your behaviour." I faid this with the moil determined air poffible, and left them, walking as hard as I could down to the ford of the Nile. Woldo remained above with the fervants, who were load- ing their mules ; he feemed to be perfectly cured of his lamenefs, and was in cloie converfation with Ayto Aylo's fervant for about ten minutes, which I did not choofe to interrupt, as I faw that man was already in pofTefnon of part of Woldo' s fecret. This being over, they all came down to me, as I was fketching a branch of a yellow rofe-tree, a number of which hang over the ford. The THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 593 The whole company pafTed without difturbing me ; and Woldo, feeming to walk as well as ever, afcended a gentle- rifing hill, near the top of which is St Michael Geefh. The Nile here is not four yards over, and not above four inches deep where we croffed ; it was indeed become a very trifling brook, but ran fwiftly over a bottom of fmall ftones, with hard, black rock appearing amidft them : it is at this place very eafy to pals, and very limpid, but, a little lower, full of inconfiderable falls ; the ground rifes gently from the river to the fouthward, full of fmall hills and eminences, which you afcend and defcend almoft imperceptibly. The whole company had halted on the north fide of St Michael's church, and there I reached them without affecting any hurry. It was about four o'clock in the afternoon, but the day had been very hot for fome hours, and they were fitting in the fhade of a grove of magnificent cedars, intermixed with fome very large and beautiful cuffo-trees, all in the flower ; the men were lying on the grafs, and the hearts fed, with the burdens on their backs, in mod luxuriant herbage. I called for my herbary *, to lay the rofe-branch I had in my hand (moothly, that it might dry without fpoiling the fliape; having oniy drawn irs general form, the piftil and ftamina, the finer parts of which ('hough very neceffary in clailing the plant) crumble and fall off, or take different forms in drying, and therefore ihould always be fecured by drawing while green. I juft faid indifferently to Woldo in paffing, that I was glad to fee him recovered ; that he would pre- sently be well, and ihould fear nothing. He then got up, Vol. III. 4 F and * I'lortus Siccus, a large book, for extending and preferring dry plants. 594 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER and defired to fpeak with me alone, taking Aylo's fervant along with him, " Now, faid I, very calmly, I know by your face you are going to tell me a lie. I do fwear to you fo* lemnly, you never, by that means, will obtain any thing from me, no not fo much as a good word ; truth and good behaviour will get you every thing ; what appears a. great matter in your fight is not perhaps of fuch value in mine ; but nothing except truth and good behaviour will anfwer to you ; now I know for a certainty you are no more fick than I am." — " Sir, faid he, with a very confident look, you ars right ; I did counterfeit ; I neither have been, nor am I at prefent any way out of order; but I thought it befl to tell you fo, not to be obliged to difcover another reafon that has- much more weight with me why I cannot go to Geefh, and much lefs mew myfeif at the fources of the Nile, which I confefs are not much beyond it, though I declare to you there is ftill a hill between you and thofe fources." " And pray, faid I calmly, what is this mighty reafon ? have you had a dream, or a vifioii in that trance you fell into when- you lagged behind below the. church of St Michael SacalaP " No, fays he, it is neither trance, nor dream, nor devil ei- ther ; I wifh it was no worfe ; but you know as well as I, that my mailer Faiil defeated: the Agows at the battle of Banja. I was there with my mailer, and killed feveral men;, among whom fome were of the Agows of this village Geefh, and you know the ufage of this country, when a man, iw thefe circumftances, fails into their hands, his. blood mud", pay for their blood. I burst out into a violent fit of laughter which very much difconcerted him. " There, faid I, did not I fay to you it was a. lie that you was going to tell me? do not think I diibe- lievc THESOURCEOFTHENILE. 595 lieve or difpute with you the vanity of having killed men ; many men were flain at that battle ; fomebody mud, and you may have been the perfon who flew them ; but do you think that I can believe that Fafil, fo deep in that account of blood, could rule the Agows in the manner he does, if he could not put a fervant of his in fafety among them 20 miles from his refidence ; do you think I can believe this ?" " Come, come, faid Aylo's fervant to Woldo, did you not hear that truth and good behaviour will get you every thing you afk? Sir, continues he, I fee this afFair vexes you, and what this foolifli man wants will neither make you richer nor poorer ; he has taken a great defire for that crimfon filk-fafh which you wear about your middle. I told him to flay till you went back to Gondar ; but he fays he is to go no far- ther than to the houfe of Shalaka Welled Amlac in Maitfha, and does not return to Gondar; I told him to ftay till you had put your mind at eafe, by feeing the fountains of the Nile, which you are fo anxious about. He faid, after that had happened, he was fure you would not give it him, for you feemed to think little of the cataract at Goutto, and of all the fine rivers and churches which he had fhewn you ; except the head of the Nile mail be finer than all thefe, when, in reality, it will be juft like another river, you will then be diilatisfied, and not give him the fafh," I thought there was fomething very natural in thefe fufpicions of Woldo ; befidcs, he faid he was certain that, if ever the falh came into the fight of Welled Amlac, by fome means or other he would get it into his hands. This ra- tional difcourfc had pacified me a little; the fafh was a hand- fome one ; but it m'uft have been fine indeed to have flood for a minute between me and the accomplishment of my 4 E 2 willies. 596 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER wifhes. I laid my hand then upon the piitols that fluck in my girdle, and drew them out to give them to one of my mite, when Woldo, who apprehended it was for another purpofe, ran fome paces back, and hid himfelf behind Ay- lo's fervant. We were all diverted at this fright, but none fo much as Strates, who thought himfelf revenged for the alarm he had given him by falling through the roof of the houfe at Goutto. After having taken off my fafh, " Here is your fafh, Woldo, faid I ; but mark what I have faid, and now moll ferioufly repeat to you, Truth and good behavi- our will get auy thing from me ; but if, in the courfe of this journey, you play one trick more, though ever fo trifling, I will bring iuch a vengeance upon your head that you fhall not be able to find a place to hide it in, when not the fafh only will be taken from you, but your fkin alfo will follow it : remember what happened to the feis at Bamba." He took the fafh, but feemed terrified at the threat, and began to make apologies. " Come, come, faid I, we under- ftand each other ; no more words ; it is now late, lofe no more time, but carry me to Geefii, and the head of the Nile directly, without preamble, and fhew me the hill that fe- jnrates me from it. He then carried me round to the fouth fide of the church, out of the grove of trees that furrounded it, " This is the hill, fays he, looking archly, that, when you was on the other fide of it, was between you and the fountains of the Nile; there is no other; look at that hil- lock of green fod in the middle of that watery fpot, it is in that the two fountains of the Nile are to be found : Geefh is on the face of the rock where yon green trees are : if you go the length of the fountains pull off your fhoes as you did the other day, for thefe people are all Pagans, worfe than: f THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 597 than thofc that were at the ford, and they believe in nothing that you believe, but only in this river, to which they pray every day as if it were God ; but this perhaps you may do likewife." Half undreffed as I was by lofs of my fafli, and throwing my (hoes off, I ran down the hill towards the little ifland of green lbds, which was about two hundred yards dittant ; the whole fide of the hill was thick grown over with flowers, the large bulbous roots of which appearing above the furface of the ground, and their (kins coming off on treading upon them, occafioned two very fevere falls before I reached the brink of the marfh ; I after this came to the ifland of green turf, which was in form of an altar, apparently the work of art, and I flood in rapture over the principal fountain which rifes in the middle of it. It is eafier to guefs than to defcribe the fituation of my mind at that moment— Handing in that fpot which had baf- fled the genius, induitry, and inquiry of both ancients and moderns, for the courfe of near three thoufand years. Kings had attempted this difcovery at the head of armies, and each expedition was diflinguifhed from the laft, only by the difference of the numbers which had perifhed, and a- greed alone in the difappointment which had uniformly,.. and without exception, followed them all. Fame, riches, and honour, had been held out for a feries of ages to every individual of thofe myriads thefe princes commanded, with- out having produced one man capable of gratifying the curiofity of his fovereign, or wiping off this flain upon the enterprife and abilities of mankind, or adding this de- fideratum for the encouragement of geography. Though a mere private Briton, I triumphed here, in my own mind, , over kings and their armies; and every comparifon was leading. 39S TRAVELS TO DISCOVER leading nearer and nearer to prefumption, when the place iti'elf where I flood, the object of my vain- glory, fuggefted what depreffed my fhort-lived triumphs. I was but a few minutes arrived at the fources of the Nile, through num- berlefs dangers and fufferings, the leafl of which would have overwhelmed me but for the continual goodnefs and protection of Providence ; I was, however, but then half through my journey ,and all thofe dangers which I had already palled, awaited me again on my return. I found aidefpondency gaining ground fall upon me, and Dialling the crown of laurels I had too rafhly woven for my- felf. I relblved therefore to divert, till I could on more folid reflection overcome its progrefs. I saw Strates expecting me on the fide of the hill. " Stra- tes, faid I, faithful fquire, come and triumph with your Don Quixote at that ifland of Barataria where we have wife- ly and fortunately brought ourfelves ; come and triumph with me over all the kings of the earth, all their armies, all their philofophers, and all their heroes." — " Sir, fays Strates, I do not underfland a word of what you fay, and as little what you mean.: you very well know I am no fcholar ; but you had much better leave that bog, come into the houfe, and look after Woldo ; I fear he has fomething further to feek than yourfafh, for he has been talking with the old devil- worfhipper ever fmce we arrived." — "Did they fpeak fecretly together, faid I ?" — " Yes, Sir, they did, I allure you." — " And in whifpers, Strates !" — " As for that, replied he, they need not have been at the pains ; they under- Hand one another, I fuppofe, and the devil their mailer un- derllands them both ; but as for me I comprehend their difcourfe no more than if it was Greek, as they Jay. Greek I i fays THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 599 fays lie, I am an afs ; I mould know well enough what they faid if they fpoke Greek."—" Come, faid I, take a draught of this excellent water, and drink with me a health to his majefty king George III. and a long line of princes." I had in my hand a large cup made of a cocoa-nut fhelli which I procured in Arabia, and which was brim-full. He drank to the king fpeedily and chearfully, with the addition of, " Confufion to his enemies," and tolled up his cap with a loud huzza. " Now friend, faid I, here is to a more humble, but ftill a facred name, here is to— Maria !" He afked if that was the Virgin Mary ? I anfwered, " In faith, I believe fo, Stra- tes." He did not fpeak, but only gave a humph of disappro- bation. The day had been very hot, and the altercation I had! with Woldo had occafioned me to Ipeak fo much that my third, without any help from curiofity, led me to thefe fre- quent libations at this long fought-for fpring, the moft an- cient of all altars. " Strates, faid I, here is to our happy re- turn. Come, friend, you are yet two toafts behind me ; can you ever befatiated with this excellent water?" — "Look you, Sir, fays he very gravely, as for king George I drank to him with all my heart, to his wife, to his children, to his bro- thers and filters, God blefs them all ! Amen ; — but as for the Virgin Mary, as I am no Papivt, I beg to be excufed from drinking healths which my church does not drink. As for our happy return, God knows, there is no one withes it more fincerely than I do, for I have been long weary of this beg- garly country. But you mull forgive me if 1 refute to drink any more water. They fay thefe favages pray over that hole every morning to the devil, and I am afraid 1 feel; his horns in. my belly already, from the great draught o r.hai 600 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER that hellifh water I drank firft." — It was, indeed, as cold wa- ter as ever I tailed. "Come, come, faid I, don't be peevifh, I have but one toaft more to drink." — " Peevifh, or not peevifh, replied Strates, a drop of it never again fliall crofs my throat: there is no humour in this ; no joke ; fhew us fomething pleafant as you ufed to do ; but there is no jeft in meddling with devil- worfhippers, witchcraft, and inchantments, to bring fome difeafe upon one's felf here, fo far from home in the fields. No, no, as many toaits in wine as you pleafe, or better in brandy, but no more water for Strates. I am fure I have done myfelf harm already with thefe follies — God forgive me !" — " Then, faid I, I will drink it alone, and you are henceforward unworthy of the name of Greek; you do not even deferve that of a Chriftian." Holding the full cup then to my head, " Here is to Catharine, emprefs of all the Ruffias, and fuccefs to her heroes at Paros ; and hear my prediction from this altar to-day, Ages fhall not pafs, be- fore this ground, whereon I now Hand, will become a flou- rifhing part of her dominions." He leaped on this a yard from the ground. " If the old gentleman has whifpered you this, fays he, out of the well, he has not kept you long time waiting ; tell truth and fhame the devil, is indeed the proverb, but truth is truth, wherever it comes from ; give me the cup, I will drink that health though I fhould die." He then held out both his hands. " btrates, faid I, be in no fuch hafte ; remember the water is inchanted by devil- worfhippers ; there is no jelting with thefe, and you are far from home, and in the fields, you may catch fome difeafe, efpecially if you drink the Virgin Mary; God forgive you. Remember the horns the firft .draught produced; they may with this come entirely 2 through THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 601 through and through."— " The cup, the cup, fays he, and— fill it full ; 1 defy the devil, and trufl in St George and the dragon. — Here is to Catharine, emprefs of all the Ruffias, con- fufion to her enemies, and damnation to all at Paros." — " Well, friend, faid I, you was long in refolving, but you have done it at laft to feme purpofe ; I am fure I did not drink damnation to ail uam Nil urn defonte bibit. Luc AN. Ca mb yses' attempt to penetrate intoEthiopia, and the defeat of his fchemes, I have already narrated at fufficient length*. , «. Vefauus in ortus Cambyfes longi populos pervenit ad cev'i, Defetlufque epulis, Iff pajlus cade fuorum Ignoto te, Nile, reditu Lucan. The attention paid by Alexander, the next prince who at- tempted an expedition towards thefe unknown fountains, merits a little more of our confideration. After he had con- quered Egypt, and was arrived at the temple of Jupiter Am- nion, (the celebrated and ancient deity of the fhepherds) in the Theban defert, the firft queftion he afked was con- cerning the fpot where the Nile rofe. Having received from the priefts fufficient directions for attempting the difcovery, he is faid, as the next very fenfible ftep, to have chofen na- tives of Ethiopia as the likeliefl people to fucceed in the fearch he had commanded them to make : — Summits * Vol. II, b. u( chap. v. 6o8 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER Summus Alexander regum, quern Memphis adorat^ Inv'idit NIIo, tnijitque per ultima terra ./Ethiopian leclos : illos rubicunda pcrujii Zona poll tenuit, Nilum vidcre calentem. LucAN. These Ethiopians, parting from their temple in the de- fort of Elvah, or Oafis, or, which will come to the fame thing, from the banks of the Nile, or Thebes, would hold nearly the fame courfe as Poncet had done, till they fell in with the Nile about Mofcho in the kingdom of Dongola ; they would continue the fame route till they came to Halfaia, where the Bahar el Abiad (or white river) joins the Nile atHojila, five miles above that town; and, to avoid the mountains of Kuara, they would continue on the weft fide of the Nile, between it and the Bahar el Abiad ; and, keep- ing the Nile clofe on their left, they would follow its direc- tion fouth to the mountains of Fazuclo, through countries where its courfe muil neceffarily be known. After having paffed the great chain of mountains, called Dyre and Tegla, between lat. 1 1° and 1 20 N. where are the great cataracts, they again came into the flat country of the Gongas, as far as Bizamo, nearly in 90 N. there the river, leaving its hitherto conftant direction, N. and S. turns due E. and furrounds Gojam. It is probable the difcoverers, always looking for it to the fouth, took this unufualfudden turn eaft to be only a wind- ing of the river, which would foon be compenfated by an equal return to the weft where they would meet it again ; they therefore continuedtheirjourney fouth, till near theline, and never faw it more, as they could have no pomble notion 4 it THES0URCE0FTHEN1LE. 609 it had turned back behind them, and that they had left it as far north as lat. 1 1° They reported then to Alexander what was truth, that they had afcended the Nile as far fouth as lat. 9°, where it unexpectedly took its courfe to the eaft, and was feen no more. The river, moreover, was not known, nor to be heard of near the Line, or farther fouthward, nor was it diminished in fize, nor had it given any fymptom they were near its fource ; they had found the Nile cakntem, (warm) while they expe&ed its rife among melting mows. This difcovery (for fo far it was one) of the courfe of the river to the eaft,feems to have made a ftrong impreflion on Alexander's mind, fo that when he arrived at near the head of the Indus, then fwelled with the thawing fnows of mount Caucafus, and overflowing in fummer, he thought he was arrived at the fource of this famous river the Nile which he had before feen in the weft, and rejoiced at it ex- ceedingly, as the nobleft of his achievements * ; he imme- diately wrote to acquaint his mother of it ; but being foon convinced of his error, and being far above propagating a falfehood, even for his own glory, he inftantly erafed what he had wrote upon that fubject. This however did not en- tirely diflatisfy Alexander, for he propofed an expedition in perfon towards thefe fountains, if he had returned from India in fafety. Vol. III. 4 H Nou Aniarms de Exped. Alexandri, lib. vi. fro TRAVELS TO DISCOVER -No7i illijlamma, nee tmdcey Necjlerilh Libye, nee Syrtieus objlitit /bmnon. IJfet in occafus, mundi devexa fecutus • Ambijfetque polos, Nilumque a font e bibiffet : Occurrit fuprema dies, naturaqnc folum Hunc poluit Jinan vcfano ponere regi. Luc AN". * It muft no doubt feem prepofterous to tliofc that arc not very converfant with the dallies, that a prince fo well inftructed as Alexander himfelf was, who had with him in his army many philofophers, geographers, and aftrono- mers, and was in conftant correfpondence with Ariftotle, a man of almoft univerfal knowledge, that, after having feen the Nile in Egypt coming from the fouth, he mould think he was arrived at the head of it while on the banks of the Indus, fo far to the N. E. of its Ethiopian courfe. This difficulty, however, has a very eafy folution in the prejudi- ces of thofe times. The ancients were incorrigible as to their error in opinion concerning two feas. The Cafpian Sea they had failed through in feveral direc- tions, and had almoft marched round it ; and whilil they conquered kingdoms between it and the lea, its water was fweet, it neither ebbed nor flowed, and yet they mod ridi- culouily would have it to be part of the ocean. On the other hand, they obitinately perliiled in believing that, from the eaft coaft of Africa, about latitude 150 fouth, a neck of land ran eaft and north-caft, and joined the peninfula of In- dia, and by that means made this part of the ocean a lake. In vain mips of different nations failed for ages to Sofala, and faw no fuch land ; this only made them remove the j neck THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 6it neck of land further to the fouth ; and though Eudoxus had failed from the Red Sea around the Cape of Good Hope, which mull have totally deftroyed the pombility of the ex- igence of that land fuppofed to join the two continents, ra- ther than allow this, they neglected the information of this navigator, and treated it as a fable. It was the conflant opinion of the Greeks, that no river could rife in the torrid zone, as alfo, that the melting of fnow was the caufe of the overflowing of all rivers in the heat of fummer, and fo of the Nile among the reft ; when, therefore, Alexander heard from his difcoverers, that the Nile,about latitude 9°,ran ftraightto the eaft,and returned no more, he imagined the liver's courfe was eallward through the imaginary neck of land inclofmg the imaginary lake, and joining the peninfula of India, and that the river, after it had croiled, continued north till it came within reach of the thawing of the mows of Mount Caucafus ; and this was alfo the opinion of Ptolemy the geographer. Ptolemy PniLADELPHUS,the fecond of thofe princes who had fucceeded to the throne of Alexander in Egypt, was the next who marched into Ethiopia with an army againfl the Shangalla. His object was not only to difcover the fource of the Nile, but alfo to procure a perpetual fupply of ele- phants to enable him to cope with the kings of Syria. The fuccefs of this expedition we have related in the flrfl vo- lume, book ii. chap. v. Ptolemy Evergetes, his fucccfTor, in the 27th year of his reign, being in peace with all his neighbours, under- took an expedition to Ethiopia. His defign was certainly 4H2 to 6i2 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER to difcover the fountains of the Nile, in which he had pro* bably fucceeded had he not miftaken the river itfelf. He fuppofed the Siris, now the Tacazze, was the Nile, and, a£* cending in the direction of its ftream, he came to Axura, the capital of the province of Sire and of Ethiopia. But the flory he tells about the {how which. he found knee-deep oa the mountains of Samen, makes me queftion whether he ever croffed the Siris, or was himfelf an ocular, witnefs of. what he fays he obferved there,. G&sar, between the acquifltion of a rich and powerful kingdom, and the enjoyment of the fineft woman in the world, the queen of it, is faid to have employed fo interefl- ing an interval in a calm inquiry. after the fource of this river, and, in fo doing at fuch a time,. furely has paid it a greater compliment than it ever yet received from any that attempted the difcovery. On that night, which completed the deftruction of the Egyptian monarchy, it is faid this was the topic upon which he entertained the learned, of Alexandria at fupper ; addrefling himfelf to Achorcus, high prieft of the Nile, he fays,.. Nihil eft, quod tiofcere mahm\\ s^uam fluvii caufas, per fecula tauta latentis, . Ignoi unique caput : Jpesjit mihi ce?-ta videndi Ni/iacosfontet, bellum civile rclinquam, . Lux AN. The poet here pays Caefar a compliment upon his curic- fity, or defire of knowledge, very much at the expence of his patriotifm ; for he makes him declare, in fo many words, chat, he confidercd . making war with his country as the a, greatcfl THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 613, greateft pleafure of his life, never to be abandoned, butfoz* that fuperior gratification — the difcovery of the fountains. of the Nile. Achoreus, proud of being referred to on fuch a fubjecl: by fuch a perfon, enters into a detail of information. §tutf tibi nofccndl Nilum, Romane, cup'tdo eft, Hczc Pbari'iSy Perfifquefuit, Macedumque tyrannis : Nullaque. no?i cetas voluit confcrre futuris Notitia?n : fed vindt adhuc natura latendu LtTCAN^ Nero, as we are tofd, fent two centurions in fearch of this river, and on their return they made their report in prefence of Seneca, who does not feem to have greatly dif- tinguifhed himfelf by his inquiries. They reported, that after having gone a very long way, they came to a king of Ethiopia, who furniihed them with neceilaries and aiiiftance, and with his recommendations they arrived at fome other kingdoms next to thefe, and then came to immeiife lakes, the end of which was unknown to the natives, nor did any one ever hope to find it : this was all the fatisfaetion Nero procured, and it is probable thefe centurions went not far, but were difcouraged, and turned back with a trumped-up ftory invented to cover their want of fpirit, for we know now that there are no fuch lakes between Egypt and. the fource of the Nile, but the lake Tzana, or Dembea, and while on the banks of this, they might have feen the country be<- yond, and on every fide of it * ; bin I rather think no fuch attempt * Another reafon why 1 think this journey" of the centurions is fictitious is, th:< they fay .the diftar.ee between Syer.csnd Meroe is £60 miles. Flirt"*, lib. 6. cap. 29. 614 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER attempt was made, unlcfs they endeavoured to pafs the country of the Shangalla about the end of June or July, when that province, as I have already faid, is absolutely impaflible, by the rapid vegetation of the trees, and the ground being all laid under water, which they might have miftaken for a feries of lakes. After all thefe great efforts, the learned of antiquity began to look upon the difcovery as defperate, and not to be attained, for which reafon both poets and hiftorians fpeak of it in a ftrain of defpondency : — Secreto defonte cadem ; qui femper inani §>uacrcndus ratione /diet, nee contigit ulli, Hoc vidijjc caput, fertur fine tcjie crcatus* Claudian. And Pliny, as late as the time of Trajan, fays, that thefe fountains were in his time utterly unknown — N'rfus incertis ortns fontibus, it per deferta et ardentia, et immenfo longitudinis [patio ambulant *, — nor was there any other attempt made later by the ancients. From this it is obvious, that none of the ancients ever made this difcovery of the fource of the Nile. They gave it up entirely, and caput Nili quaerere became a proverb, marking the difficulty, or rather the impoilibility, of any under- taking. Let us now examine the pretenlions of the mo- derns. The * Pliny, Nat. Hift. lib. v. cap. 9. / THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 615 The firft in latter days who vifitcd Abyflinia was a monk, and at the fame time a merchant ; he was fent by Nonnofus, ambafTador of the emperor Juttin, in the fifth year of the reign of that prince, that is A. D. 522. He is called Cofmas the hermit, as alfo Indoplauftes. Many have thought that this name was given him from his having travelled much in India, properly fo called ; but we have no evidence that Cof- mas was ever in the Afiatic India, and I rather imagine he obtained his name from his travels in Abyflinia, called by the ancients India ; he went as far as Axum, and leems to have paid proper attention to the difference of climates, names, and fituations of places, but he arrived not at the Nile, nor did he attempt it. The province of the Agows was probably at that time inacceffible, as the court was then in Tigre at Axum, a coniiderable diftance beyond the Tacazze, and is to the eailward of it. None of the Poriuguefe who firfl arrived in Abyfilnia, neither Covillan, Rcd'-rigo de Lima, Chriflopher de Gama, nor the patriarch Afphonfb Mendes, ever faw, or indeed pre- tended to have feen, the fource of the Nile. At hit, in the reign of ZaDenghel, came Peter Paez, who laid claim to this honour ; how far his pretenfions are juil I am now going to confider. — Paez has left a hiilory of the million, and fome remarkable occurrences that happened in that country, in two thick volumes octavo, clofely written in a plain ftile 5 copies of this work were circulated through every college and feminary of Jefuits that exiited in his time, and which, have been everywhere found in their libraries fince the dif- grace of that learned body. Athanasius. 6i6 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER Athanasius Kircher, a Jefuit,well known for his exten- sive learning and voluminous writings, and ftill more for the rafhnefs with which he advances the mofl improbable facts in natural hiftory, is the man that firft publifhed an account of the fountains of the Nile, and, as he fays, from this journal left by Peter Paez. I must, however, here ohferve, that no relation of this kind was to be found in three copies of Peter Paez's hiftory, to which 1 had accefs when in Italy, on my return home. One of thefe copies I faw at Milan, and, by the intereft of friends, had an opportunity of perufmg it at my leifure. The other two were at Bologna and Rome. I ran through them rapidly, attending only to the place where the descrip- tion ought to have been, and where I did not find it ; but having copied the iirft and laft page of the Milan manu- fcript, and comparing them with thefe two laft mentioned, I found that all the three were, word for word, the fame, and none of them contained one fyllable of the difcovery of the fource. However this be, I do not think it is right for me to pro- nounce thus much, unlefs I bring collateral proofs to nrengthen my opinion, and to fhew that no fuch excurfion •was ever pretended to have been made by that miflionary, in any of his works, unlefs that which palled through the hand of Kircher. Alphonso Mendes came into AbyiTmia about a year af- ter Paez's death. New and delireable as that difcovery mull have been tohimfelf, to the pope, king of Spain, and all his •great patrons in Portugal and Italy, though he wrote the hiftory THESOURCE OF THE NILE. 617 hiflory of the country, and of the particulars concerning the million in great detail, and with good judgment, yet he ne- ver mentions this journey of Peter Paez, though it proba- bly mull have been conveyed to Rome and Portugal, after his infpe&ion, and under his authority. Balthazar Tellez, a learned Jefuit, has wrote two vo- lumes in folio with great candour and impartiality, confider- ing the fpirit of thofe times ; and he declares his work to be compiled from this hiftory of Alphonfo Mendes the pa- triarch, from the two volumes of Peter Paez, as well as from the regular reports made by the individuals of the company in fome places, and by the provincial letters in others; to all which he had compleat accefs, as alfo to the annual reports of Peter Paez among the rell, from 1598 to 1622 ; yet Tellez makes no mention of fuch a difcovery, though he is very particular as to the merit of each miflionary during the long reign of Sultan Segued, or Socinios, which occupies more than half of the two volumes. After thefe ftrong preemptions, that Peter Paez neither made fuch a journey nor ever pretended it, 1 mall fubmit the account that Paez himfelf, or Kircher for him, has gi- ven of the expedition and confequent difcovery; and if any of my readers can perfuade themfelves that a man of ge- nius, fuch as was Peter Paez, tranfported by accident to thefe fountains, and exulting as he does \ipon the difcovery, the value of which he feems to have known well, could yet have given fuch a defcription as he does, I- am then contented with being only the partner of Peter Paez. Vol. UI. 4 l Before 6i8 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER Before I flate the account of his obfervations in his own, or in Kircher's words, I have one obfervation to make re- garding the dates and time of the journey. That memo- rable day which has been fixed upon for the difcovery, is the 21ft of April 1618. The rains are then begun, and on that account the feafon being very unwholefome, armies, without extreme neceflity, are rarely in the field ; between September and February at fartheft is the time the Abyfli- nian army is abroad from the capital, and in aclion. There are two nations of Agows in Abyfiinia, the one near the fountains of the Nile, called the Agows of Damot ; the other near the head of the Tacazze, in the province of Lafta, called the Tcheratz Agows. Now, we fee from the annals of Socinios's reign, that he had feveral campaigns againft the Agows. The firft was in the fourth year of his reign, in the year 1608 ; his annals fay it was againft the Tcheratz Agow. His fecond campaign was in the feventh year of his reign, or 161 1 ; that, too, was againft the Agows of Lafta ; fo that if Peter Paez was with the emperor in either of thefe campaigns, he could not have feen the head of any river but that of the Tacazze. The third campaign was in in 1625, againft Sacala, Geefh, and Afhoa, when the Galla made an inroad into Gojam, but retired upon the royal army's marching againft them, and crofted the Nile into their own country. Socinios upon this had advanced againft the Agows of Damot, then in rebellion alfo, and had fought with Sacala, Aflioa, and Geefh likewife, the clan imme- diately contiguous to the fources. Now this was furely the time when Peter Paez, or any attendant on the emperor, might have feen the fountains of the Nile in fafety, as the king's army, in whole or in part, mufl have been encamp- ed THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 619 ed near, or perhaps upon, the very fources themfelves ; a place, of all other, fuited for fnch a purpofe ; but this was in the year 1625, and Peter Paez died in the year 1622. I shall now Hate, in Kircher's own words, tranflated in- to Englifli, the defcription he has given, as from Paez, of the fources which he faw ; and I will fairly fubmit, to any reader of judgment, whether this is a defcription he ought to be content with from an eye-witnefs, whether it may not fait the fources of any other river as well as thofe of the Nile, or whether in itfelf it is diftinct enough to leave one clear idea behind it. " The river*, at this day, by the Ethiopians is called the Abaoy; it rifes in the kingdom of Gojam, in a territory called Sabala, whofe inhabitants are called Agows. The fource of the Nile is fituated in the weft part of Gojam, in the higheft part of a valley, which refembles a great plain on every fide, furrounded by high mountains. On the 21ft of April, in the year 1 6 1 8, being here, together with the king and his army, I afcended the place, and obferved every thing with great attention ; I difcovered firft two round fountains, each about four palms in diameter, and faw, with the great- eft delight, what neither Cyrus f king of the Perfians, nor Cambyfes, nor Alexander the Great, nor the famous Julius Csefar, could ever difcover. The two openings of thefe foun- tains have no iffue in the plain on the top of the mountain, but flow from the root of it. The fecond fountain lies 4 1 2 about * In CEdipo Syntagma, I. cap. vii. p. 57. ■f I never heard that Cyrus had attempted this difcovery. 62© TRAVELS TO DISCOVER about, a ftone-caft weft from the firft: the inhabitants fay- that this whole mountain is full of water, and add, that the whole plain about the fountain is floating and un- fteady, a certain mark that there is water concealed un- der it ; for which reafon, the water does not overflow at the fountain, but forces itfelf with great violence out at the foot of the mountain. The inhabitants, together with the emperor, who was then prefent with his army, maintain that that year it trembled little on account of the drought, but other years, that it trembled and overflowed fo as that it could fcarce be approached without danger. The breadth of the circumference may be about the call of a fling: be- low the top of this mountain the people live about a league diitant from the fountain to the weft ; and this place is call- ed Geefh, and the fountain feems to be a cannon-fhot di- ftant from Geefh ; moreover, the field where the fountain is, is upon all fides difficult of accefs, except on the north fide, where it may be afcended with eafe," I shall make only a few obfervations upon this defcrip- tion, fufficient to fliew that it cannot be that of Paez, or any man who had ever been in Abyflinia : there is no fuch place known as Sabala ; he mould have called itSacala: in the E- thiopic language Sacala means the higheft ridge of land, where the water falls down equally on both fides, from eaft and weft, or from north and fouth. So the fharp roofs of our houfes, or tops of our tents, in that manner are called Sacala, becaufe the water runs down equally on oppofite fides ; fo does it in the higheft lands in every country, and fo here in Sacala, where the Nile runs to the north, but feveral ftreams, which form the rivers Lac and 1 emfi, fall down the cliff, or precipice, and proceed fouthward in the r THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 621 the plain of Afhoa about 300 feet below the level of the ground where the mountain of Geefh Hands, at the very foot of which is the marfli wherein are the fources of the river. Again, neither Sacala nor Geefh are on the weft fide of Gojam, nor approach to thefe directions ; as, firft the high mountains of Litchambara, then the ftill higher of Amid Amid, are to be crofled over, before you reach Gojam from Sacala; and after defcending from that high barrier of moun- tains called Amid Amid, you come into the province of Da- mot, when the whole breadth of that province is ftill be- tween you and the weft part of Gojam. Thefe are miftak.es which it is almoft impofhble to make, when a man is up- on the fpot, in the midft of a whole army, every one ca- pable, and furely willing (as he was a favourite of the king to give him every fort of information; nor was there proba- bly any one there who would not have thought himfelf honoured to have been employed to fetch ajraw for him from the top of Amid Amid. - Both the number and fituations of the fountains, and ths fituations of the mountain and village of Geefh with refpect to them, are therefore abfolutely falfe, as the reader will ob* ferve in attending to my narrative and the map. This rela- tion of Paez's was in my hand the 5th of November, when I furveyed thefe fountains, and all the places adjacent. I mea* fured all his diftances with a gunter's chain in my own hand, and found every one of them to be imaginary ; and thefe meafures fo taken, as alfo the journal now fubmitted to the public, were fairly and fully written the fame day that they were made, before the clofe of each evening. It. 622 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER It is not cafy to conceive what fpecies of information Paez intends to convey to us by the obfervation he makes lower, " That the water, which found way at the foot of the mountain, did not flow at the top of it." It would have been very lingular if it had ; and I fully believe that a mountain voiding the water at its top, when it had free ac- cefs to run out at its bottom, would have been one of the raoft curious things the two Jefuits could ever have feen in any voyage. But what mountain is it he is fpeaking of? he has never named any one, but has faid the Nile was fi- tuated in the higheft part of a plain. I cannot think he means by this that the higheft part of a plain is a moun- tain ; if he does, it is a fpecies of defcription which would need an interpreter. He fays again, the mountain is full of water, and trembles ; and that there is a village below the top of the mountain, on the mountain itfelf. This I ne- ver faw ; they mult have cold and llippery quarters in that mountain, or whatever it is ; and if he means the moun- tain of Geelh, there is not a village within a quarter a mile of it. The village of Geelh is in the middle of a high clilF, dcicending into the plain of Allioa. The bottom of that cliff or plain is 30c feet, as I have already faid, below the bale of the mountain of Geelh, and the place where the fountains rife. Paez next fays, that it is three miles from that village of Geelh to the fountains of the Nile. Now, as my quadrant was placed in my tent, on the brink of the cliff of Geelh, it wa$ necefiary for me to meafure thatdiftance ; and by al- lowing for it to reduce my obfervations to the exact fpot where the fources rofe, I did accordingly with a chain 4 rneafure THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 623 meafure from the brink of the precipice to the center of the altar, in which the principal fountain ftands, and found it 1760 feet or 506 yards 2 feet, and this is the diftance Paez calls a league, or the largeft range of a fliell (hot from a mortar; this I do aver is an error that is abfolutely impofli- ble for any travellers to commit upon the fpot, or elfe his narrative in general fhould have very little weight in point of precifion. I shall clofe thefe obfervations with one which I think muft clearly evince Paez had never been upon the fpot. He fays the field, in which the fountains of the Nile are, is of very difficult accefs, the afcent to it being very fteep, excepting on the north, where it is plain and eafy. Now, if we look at the beginning of this description, we fhould think it would be the defcent, not the afcent that would be troublefome ; for the fountains were placed in a valley, and people rather defcend into valleys than afcend into them ; but fuppofing it a valley in which there was a field, upon ■which there was a mountain, and on the mountain thefe fountains, flill I fay that thefe mountains are nearly inac- ceflible on the three fides, but that the molt difficult of them all is the north, the way we afcend from the plain of Gout- to. From the eaft, by Sacala, the afcent is made from the valley of Litchambara, and from the plain of Affba, to the fouth, you have the almofl perpendicular craggy cliff of Geefh, covered with thorny bufhes, trees, and bamboos, which conceal the mouths of the caverns; and, on the north, you have the mountains of Aformafha, thick- fet with all forts of thorny fhrubs and trees, efpecially with the kantuffa i thefe thickets are, moreover, full of wild beads, efpecially 524 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER efpecially huge, long-haired baboons, which we frequently met walking upright. Through thefe high and difficult mountains we have only narrow paths, like thofe of fheep, made by the goats, or the wild beafls we are fpeaking of, which, after we had walked on them for a long fpace, land- ed us frequently at the edge of fomc valley, or precipice, and forced us to go back again to fearch for a new road. From towards Zeegam, to the weftward, and from the plain where the river winds fo much, is the only eafy accefs to the fountains of the Nile, and they that afcend to them by this way will not think even that approach too eafy. It remains only for me to fay, that neither have thejefuits, (Paez his, brethren in the million, and his contemporaries) made any geographical ufe of this difcovery, either hi lon- gitude or latitude ; nor have the hiftorians of his fociety, who have followed afterwards, with all the information and documents before them, thought proper even to quote his travels ; it will not be eafy, from the authority of a man like Athanafius Kircher, writing at Rome, to fupport the reality of fuch a difcovery, not to be found in the genuine writings of Peter Paez himielf. With fuch a voyage, if it had been real, there Ihould have b^cn publifhed at leaft an itinerary, and mod of the jefuits were capable enough to have made a rough obfervation of longitude and latitude, in the coun- try where they refided, for near one hundred years, Add to this, no obfervation appears from any Jeiiiit of the idola- try or pagan worfhip, which prevailed near the fource of the Nile, and this would feem to have been their immediate province. 2 From THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 623 From Dancaz they might have taken very properly their departure, and, by a compafs, the ufe of which was then well known to the Portuguefe, they might have kept then- route to thofe fountains without much trouble, and, with a fumcient degree of exadtnefs, to mew all the world the road by which they went. They were not fifty miles di- ilant from Geefh when at Gorgora, and they have erred a- •bove fixty, which is ten miles more than the whole diftance; this happened becaufe they fought the fountains inGojam, from which, at Gorgora, they knew themfelves to be at that diftance, and where the fource of the Nile never was. When I fet out from Gondar, whofe latitude and longi- tude I had firft well afcertained, I thought in fuch a pur- fuit as this, where local difcovery was the only thing fought after in all ages, that the befl way was to fubftitute perhaps a drier journal, or itinerary, to a more pleafant account; with this view I kept the length of my journies each day by a watch, and my direction by the compafs. I did obferve, indeed, many altitudes of the fun and ftars at Dingleber, at Kelti, and at Goutto ; and laftly, I afcertained the other ex- treme, the fources of the Nile, by a number of obfervations of latitude, and by a very diftinct and favourable one for the longitude : I calculated none of thefe celeftial obfervations till t went back to Gondar. I returned by a different way on die other fide of the Nile, and made one obfervation of the fun at Welled Abea Abbo, the houfe of Shalaka Welled Am- lac, of whom I am about to fpeak. Arrived at Gondar, I fummed up my days journies, reduced my bearings and diftances to a plain courfe, as if I had been at fea, taking a mean where there was any thing doubtful, and in this topo- graphical draught laid down every village through which Vol. III. 4 ^ * -had ■Si6 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER I had parted, or which I had feen at a fmall diflance out of; the road, to which I may add every river, an immenfe num- ber oF which I had crofled between Gondar and Gee(li> whither I was going. The reader, upon the infpection or' this fmall map, will form fome, but a very inadequate idea of the immenfe labour it colt me : However, the remit, when I arrived at Gondar, amply rewarded me for my pains, upon comparing my route by the compafs, to what it came to be when afcertained by obfervation ; I found my error of computation upon the whole to be fomething more than 9 miles in latitude, and very nearly 7 in longitude ; an error not perceptible in the journey upon any reduced fcale, and very immaterial to all purpofes of geography in any large one. Now Peter Paez, or any man laying claim to a difcovery fo long and fo ardently defired, mould furely have done the fame ; efpecially as from Gorgora he had little more than half of the journal to keep. But if it were true, that he made the difcovery which Kircher attributes to him, rtill, for want of this neceiTary attention, he has left the world in the darknefs he found it; he travelled like a thief, difcover- ed that fecret fource, and took a peep at it, then covered it again as if he had been afFrightened at the fight of it. Ludolf and Voflius are very merry, without mentioning names, with this ftory of the difcovery, , which they think Kircher makes for Peter Paez, whom they call the River Finder: they fay, it is extremely laughable to think, that the emperor of Abyflinia brought a Jefuit of Europe to be the antiquary of his country, and to inftruc"t him firft, that the fountains of the Nile were in his dominions, and in what 3 part THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 627 part of them. But, with Vomu.= .s leave, this is a fpecies of intemperate ill-founded criticifm ; neither Kircher, nor Paez, nor whoever was author of that work, ever faid they in- nructed the emperor about the place in his dominions where the Nile arofe, as what he fays is only that the Agows or Geefh reported that the mountain trembled in dry weather, and had done fo that year, when the emperor, who was prefent, confirmed the Agow's report: this is not faying that Peter Paez told the emperor encamped with his army upon the fountains, that the Nile rofe in his dominions, and that this was the fource. Wo be to the works of Scaliger, Bo- chart, or Voffius, when they mail, in their turn, be fubmitted to fuch criticifm as this. A Protestant million was the next, that I know of at leaft, which fucceeded that of the Portuguefe, and confided only of one traveller, Peter Heyling, of Lubec ; although he lived in the country, nay, governed it feveral years, he never attempted to vifit the fource of that river ; he had de- dicated himfelf to a ftudious and folitary life, having, a- mong other parts of his reading, a very competent know- ledge of Roman, or civil law ; he is laid to have given a great deal of his time to the compiling an inftitute of that law in the Abyffinian language for the ufe of that nation, upon a plan he had brought from Germany; but he did not Jive to finifh it, though that and two other books, written in Geez, flill exiit in private hands in Abyninia, at lead I have "been often confidently told fo. The next and lad attempt I fliall take notice of, and one of the moft extraordinary that ever was made for the dif- covery of the Nile, was that of a German nobleman, Peter 4 K 2 Jofeph 628 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER Jofeph le Roux, comte de Defneval. This gentleman had" been in the Danifh navy ever fince the year 1721, and in 1739 was raifed to the rank of rear-admiral in that fervice.- He fays, in a publication of his own now lying before me, that the ambafTador of Louis XIV. (M. du Roule) and all thofe fent by the Dutch and Englifh to vifit that country, had perifhed, becaufe they were ignorant of the proper key- to be employed to enter that country, which he flattered., himfelf he had found in Denmark. In 1739 he refigned his Danifh commiflion, and began his nrfl attempt in Egypt, whilft, for the greater facility of- travelling in thefe mild and hofpitable countries, he took hi-s> wife along with him. The count and the countefs went as far as Cairo, where they wifely began at a feftival to dis- pute upon the etiquette with a Turkifh mob, and this bring- ing the janizaries and guards of police upon them to take- them into cuftody, the grey marey as they fay, proved the- better horfc ; Madame la comtene de Defneval exerted her-- felf lb much, that fhe defeated the body of janizaries,- wounding feveral of them, armed only with a very femi- nine weapon, a pair of fciffars, which, with full as much- profit, and much more decency, fhe might have been ufing^( lurrounded with her family at home. However well acquainted the count was with the key- for entering into Abyffinia, he had not apparently got the door. In fact, his firfl fcheme was a molt ridiculous one \ he refolved to afcend die Nile in a barge armed with fmall cannon, and all necelFary provifions for himfelf and wife. Some people wifer than himfelf, whom he met at Cairo, iuggelled to him, that, fuppofing government might protect THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 629 protect him fo far as to allow his barge fafely to pafs the confines of Egypt and to the firll cataract, where the ma- lice of the pilots would certainly have deftroyed her, and fuppofing Hie was arrived at Ibrim or Deir, the laft garrifons depending on Cairo, and that this might have been atchie- ved by money, (for by money any thing may be obtained from the government of Cairo,) yet ftill, fome days jour- ney above the garrifons of Deir and lbrim, begin the bar- ren and dreadful deferts of Nubia ; and farther fouth, at the great cataract of Jan Adel, the Nile falls twenty feet down a perpendicular rock ; fo here certainly was to be the end of' his voyage ; but the count, being ignorant of the manners of thofe countries, and exceedingly prefumptuous of his • own powers, flattered himfelf to obtain fuch afMance from the garrifon of lbrim and Deir, that he could unferew his • vefiel, take her to pieces, and carry her, by force of men, round behind the cataract, where he was to refcrew andi- launch her again into the Nile. . The Kennoufs, inhabiting near the cataract, have feveralr villages, particularly two, one called Succoot, or the place of" tents, where Kalid Ibn el Waalid, after taking Syene in the Khalifat of Omar, encamped his army in his march to Dongola ; the other, in a plain near the river, called Afcl Dimmo, or the Field of Blood, where the fame Kalid defeated an army of Nubians, who were marching to the re- lief of Dongola, which was by him immediately after befie- ged and taken. Thefe two villages are on the Egyptian fide of the cataract ; the direct occupation of the inhabitants is gathering fena, where it very much abounds, and they carry it in boats down to Cairo. Above, and on the other- fide of the catatact, is another large village of the Ken- jioufs. 630 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER noufs, called Takaki. Some of thefe miferable wretches, were brought to the count, and a treaty made, that all thefe men of the two villages were to am It him in his re- em- barkation, after he had got his barge round the cataract ; and among thefe barbarians he would have loll his life. The count, befides his wife, had brought with him his lieutenant, Mr Norden, a Dane, who Was to ferve him as draughtfman; but neither the count, countefs, nor lieuten- ant underilood one word of the languages. There are always (happily for travellers) wife and honeft men among the French and Venetian merchants at Cairo, who, feeing the obftinacy of the count, perfuaded him that it was more mi- litary, and more in the ftilc of an admiral, to detach Nor- den, his inferior officer, to reconnoitre Ibrim, Deir, arid the cataract of Jan Adel, as alfo to renew his treaty with the Kennoufs at Succoot and Afel Dimmo. Norden accordingly failed in the common embarkations ufed upon the Nile ; the voyage is in every body's hands. It has certainly a conliderable deal of merit, but is full of fquabbles and lightings with boat-men and porters, which might as well have been left out, as they lead to no inftruc- tion, but ferve only to difcourage travellers, for they were chiefly owing to ignorance of language. It was with the utmolt difficulty, and after many difailers, that Norden ar- rived at Syene, and the lirfl cataract ; after which greater and greater were encountered before he reached Ibrim, where the Kafcheff put him in prifon, robbed him of what he had in the boat, and Scarcely fullered him to return to Cairo without cutting his throat, which, for a confiderable time, he and his foldiers had determined to do. This THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 631 This fample of the difficulties, or rather impoffibility of the voyage into Abyilinia by Nubia, difcouraged the count ; and much reafon had he to be thankful that his attempt had not ended among the Kennoufs at Succoot. He there- fore changed his plan, and reiblved to enter Abyffinia by a voyage round the Cape into the Indian Ocean, through the Straits of Babelmandeb into the Red Sea, and fo to Ma- fuah. In this voyage he began to make ufe of his Spanilh commiffion, and, having taken two Englifh fhips, under protection of a neutral fort in the Ifle of May, he was met there fome days after by commodore Barnet, who made all his mips prizes, and fent the count home paflenger in a. Portuguefe fhip to Lifbon, CHAP, 632 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER ffi^ ■ —^5 CHAP. XIV. Dcfcrlption of the Sources of the Nile — OfGeefh — Accounts of its feve~ ral Cataracls — Courfe from its Rife to the Mediterranean. I HOPE that what I have now faid will be thought fuffi- cient to convince all impartial readers, that thefe cele- brated fources have, as it were, by a fatality, remained to our days as unknown as they were to antiquity, no good or genuine voucher having yet been produced ca- pable of proving that they were before difcovered, or feen "by the curious eye of any traveller, from earliefl ages to this day ; and it is with confidence I propofe to my reader, that he will confider me as flill Handing at thefe foun- tains, and patiently hear from me the recital of the origin, courfe, names, and circumftances of this the moft famous river in the world, which he will in vain feek from books, or from any other human authority whatever, and which, by the care and attention I have paid to the fubjecl, will, I hope, be found fatisfactory here :— a Nov THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 633 Nonfabula mendax Aufa loqui defonte tuo eft : nbicnnque videris, Shtareris ; et nulli contingit gloria genti, Ut Niloftt latafuo, tiia fiumina prodam, 9ua Dens undarnm celator, Nile, tnarum Te mihi nojfe dedit. > Lucan. The Agows of Damot pay divine honour to the Nile; they worfhip the river, and thoufands of cattle have been offered, and ftill are offered, to the fpirit fuppofed to refide at its fource. They are divided into clans, or tribes; and it is worthy of obfervation, that it is faid there never was a feud, or hereditary animofity between any two of thefe clans ; or, if the feeds of any fuch were fown, they did not vegetate longer than till the next general convocation of all the tribes, who meet annually at the fource of the river, to which they facrifice, calling it by the name of the God of Peace. One of the leaft confiderable of thefe clans, for power and number, has ftill the preference among its bre- thren, from the circumftance that, in its territory, and near the miferable village that gives it name, are fituated the much fought-for fprings from which the Nile rifes. Gees h, however, though not farther diftant from theie than 600 yards, is not in fight of the fources of the Nile. The country, upon the fame plane with the fountains, ter- minates in a cliff about 300 yards deep down to the plain of AfToa, which flat country continues in the fame fubaltern degree of elevation, till it meets the Nile again about feven- ty miles fouthward, after it has made the circuit of the pro- vinces of Gojam and Damot. This cliff feems purpofely Vol, III, 4 L fafliioned 034 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER, fafhioned into many flielves or flages, each of which is oc- cupied by a clufter of houfes feldom above eight or ten in number ; fome above, fome below, fome along the fide of each other, but chiefly occupying the fpace, or two-thirds of the middle of the cliff, that is, none of them nearer to the top of the cliff, nor to the plain of AfToa below, than a diflance equal to that proportion of the whole. The reafon of choo- fing this fituation is the fear of the Galla, who have often invaded that part of Abyflinia, and have even exterminated fome clans of Agows entirely. In the middle of this cliff, in a direction flraight north' towards the fountains, is a prodigious cave, whether the- work of nature or of art, I cannot determine ; in it are many bye- paths, fo that it is very difficult for a flranger to extri- cate himfelf ; it is a natural labyrinth, large enough to con- tain the inhabitants of the village, and their cattle ; there' are likewife two or three lefTer ones, which I did not fee ; in this large one, I tired myfelf part of feveral days, en- deavouring to reach as far northward as poffible, but the air, when I had advanced fomething above one hundred yards, feemed to threaten to extinguifh my candle by its dampnefs ; and the people were befides not at all difpofed to gratify my curiofity farther, after alluring me that there.- was nothing at the end more remarkable than I then faw, , which I have reafon to believe was the cafe. . The face of this cliff, which fronts to the fouth, has a molt picturefque appearance from the plain of AfToa below, parts of the houfes at every ftage appearing, through the thickets of trees and bufhes with which the whole face of the cliff is thickly covered ; impenetrable fences of the very worfl THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 635 worft kind of thorn, hide the mouths of the caverns above mentioned, even from fight ; there is no other communica- tion with the houfes either from above or below, but by narrow-winding fhcep-paths, which through thefe thorn? are very difficult to be difcerned,forallare allowed to be over- grown with the utmoft wildnefs, as a part of their defence ; lofty and large trees (moil of them of the thorny kind) tower high up above the edge of the cliff, and feem to be a fence againft people falling down into the plain; thefe are all at their proper feafon covered with flowers of different forts and colours, fo are the bufhes below on the face of the cliff: every thorn in Abyffinia indeed bears a beautiful flower ; a fmall atonement for the evils they occafion. From the edge of the cliff of Geefh above where the vil- lage is fituated, the ground flopes with a very eafy defcent due north, and lands you at the edge of a triangular marih above eighty fix-yards broad, in the line of the fountains, and two hundred and eighty-fix yards two feet from the edge of the cliff above the houfe of the prieft of the river, where I refided : this triangle, fuppofing it a right one, will meafure one hundred and ninety-fix yards in its length, or in the perpendicular ; I mean it did fo on the 6th of Novem- ber 1770 ; douotlefs, like other marines, in the middle of the dry feafon, and of the rains, it will vary its dimenfions. I fuppofe that this perpendicular reprefents the north of the marfh, and immediately from the brink of it the ground rifes in a rather fleep bank, and forms a round hill not a hundred yards high, upon the top of which is placed the church of St Michael Geefh ; I did not meafure this diftancc, but am fure it is very little lefs than five hundred yards from the church to the middle fountain. On the eaft the 4 L 2 ground 636 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER ground defcends likewife with a very eafy tho' perceptible flope from the large village of Sacala, which gives its name to that territory; it is diftant fix miles from the fource, but; to fight,. feems fcarcely to be two. I sahll fuppofe the fharp point of the triangle cornpo- fed of the hypothenufe and the perpendicular, to point like the needle of a compafs to Sacala, and the line of the hypothenufe to reprefent the fouth fide of the marfii near the village Geeih. The bafe, or line, uniting the weft end of the hypothenufe, and forming the right angle with the other fide, I fuppofe to be the edge of the marfh. formed by the bottom of the mountain of Geelh, and 'from this weft fide of it rifes this high and beautiful mountain, quite de- tached from others, like a pyramid, which it refembles in its elegant and regular form. It is about 4870 feet high meafured in the flope ; for near one half way the afcent is very eafy and gradual. The bafe being of a remarkable breadth, it then becomes exceedingly fteep, but all the way covered with good earth, producing fine grafs and clover3 interfperfed with wild flowers. Upon the rock in the middle of this plain, the Agows ufed to pile up the bones of the beafts killed in facrifice, mixing them with billets of wood, after which they fet them on fire. This is now difcontinued, or rather transfer- red to another place near the church, as they are at prefent indulged in the full enjoyment of their idolatrous ritess both under Falil and Michael. In the middle of this marfh (that is about forty yatds from each fide of it) and fome thing lefs from the bottom of THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 637 of the mountain of Geefh, arifes a hillock of a circular form, about three feet from the furface of the marfh it- felf, though apparently founded much deeper in it. The diameter of this is fomething fhort of twelve feet, it is fur- rounded by a mallow trench, which collects the water and voids it eaft ward ; it is firmly built with fod or earthen turf, brought from the fides, and conftantly kept in repair, artel this is the altar upon which all their religious ceremo. ks are performed. In the middle of this altar is a hole, obvi- oully made, or at leaf!: enlarged by the hand of man. It is kept clear of grafs, or other aquatic plants, and the wa- ter in it is perleclly pure and limpid, but has no ebullition or motion of any kind difcernible upon its furface. This mouth, or opening of the fource, is fome parts of an inch Iefs than three feet diameter, and the water ftood at that time the 5th of November, about two inches from the !:p or brim, nor did it either increafe or diminifh during all the time of my ftay at Geefh though we made plentiful ufe of it. Upon putting down the fbaft of my lance at fix feet four inches, I found a very reeble refinance, as if from weak rufhes or grafs, and about lix inches deeper I found my lance had entered into foft earth, but met with no ftones or gravel; this was confirmed by another experiment, made on the 9th with a heavy plummet and line befmeared with foap, the bottom of which brought up at the above depth only black earth, fuch. as the marfh itfelf and its fides are compofed of. Ten feet diftant from the firft of thefe fprings, a little to the weft of fouth, is the fecond fountain, about eleven inches in diameter, but this is eight feet, three inches deep. And &?8 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER fj And about twenty feet diftant from the firft, to the S. S. W. is the third fource, its mouth being fomething more than two feet large, and it is five feet eight inches deep. Both thefe lafl fountains Hand in the middle of fmall altars, made, like the former, of firm fod, but neither of them above three feet diameter, and having a foot of lefs elevation than the firft. The altar in this third fource feemed almofl riiflblved by the water, which in both flood nearly up to the brim ; at the foot of each appeared a clear and brifk running rill ; thefe uniting joined the water in the trench of the firft altar, and then proceeded directly out, I fup- pofe, at the point of the triangle, pointing eaftward, in a quantity that would have filled a pipe of about two inches diameter. The water from thefe fountains is very light and good, and perfectly taftelefs ; it was at this time mofl intenfely cold, though expofed to the mid-day fun without fhelter4 there being no trees nor bufhes nearer it than the cliff of Ceefh on its fouth fide, and the trees that furround Saint Michael Geefh on the north, which, at\iording to the cuftom of Abyffinia, is, like other churches, planted in the midft of a grove. On Monday the 5th of November, the day after my ar- rival at Geefh, the weather perfectly clear, cloudlefs, and nearly calm, in all refpects well adapted to obfervation, being extremely anxious to afcertain, beyond the power of controverfy, the precife fpot on the globe that this foun- tain had fo long occupied unknown, I pitched my tent on the north edge of the cliff, immediately above the prieft's houfe, having verified the inilrumcnt with all the care pof- 2 fible THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 639 fible, both at the zenith and horizon. With a brafs qua- drant of three feet radius, by one meridian altitude of the fun's upper limb, all neceflary aquations and deductions confidered, I determined the latitude of the place of obfer- vation to be 10° 59 1 1" ; and by another obfervation of the fame kind made on the 6th, io° 59 »*J after which> b7 a medium of thirty-three obfervations of liars, the largeft and neareft, the firft vertical, I found the latitude to be io059' 10"; a mean of which being io° 59' 9*", fay io° 59' -10"; and if we mould befo unneceflarily fcrupulous as to add ij" for the meafured diftance the place of the tent was Couth of the altar, then we mail have io° 59 25" in round num: bers, for the exa& latitude of the principal fountain of the Nile,' though the Jefuits have fuppofed it, 1 2° N. by a random guefs ; but this being nearly the latitude of Gondar, the capital from which they fet out, (hews plainly they knew not the precife latitude of either of thefe places. On the 7th of November I was fortunate enough to be in time for the obfervation t)f an immerfion of the firft fa- tellite of Jupiter, the laft viable here before that- planet's conjunction with the fun. 'My fituation was. very unfa- vourable, my view of the heavens being every way inter- rupted by a thick grove of bamboo canes, with high and fhady trees growing upon the head of the precipice. Jupi- ter was low, and" the prodigious mafs of that beautiful mountain of Geefli, bade fair to hide him before our buCi- neCs was done ; I was therefore obliged to remove my tele- Ccope up to the edge of the cliff, after which; the weather being perfectly favourable, I had as fair and -diftincT: a view of the planet as I could defire, and from that obfervation I did conclude unalterably the longitude of the chief foun- tain 640 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER tain of the Nile to be 36° $5' 30" eait of the meridian of Greenwich. The night of the 4th, that very night of my arrival, me- lancholy reflections upon my prefent ftate, the doubtful- nefs of my return in fafety, were I permitted to make the attempt, and the fears that even this would be refufed, ac- cording to the rule obferved in Abyfiinia with all travellers who have once entered the kingdom ; the confcioufnefs of the pain that I was then occafioning to many worthy indi- viduals, expecting daily that information concerning my fituation which it was not in my power to give them ; fome other thoughts, perhaps, Hill nearer the heart than thofe, crowded upon my mind, and forbade all approach of fleep. I was, at that very moment, in poffeiiion of what had, for many years, been the principal objecl: of my ambition and willies : indifference, which from the ufual infirmity of human nature follows, at leafl for a time, complete en- joyment, had taken place of it. The marm, and the foun- tains, upon comparifon with the rife of many of our rivers, became now a trifling objecl: in my fight. I remembered that magnificent fcene in my own native country, where the Tweed, Clyde, and Annan rife in one hill ; three rivers, as I now thought, not inferior to the Nile in beauty, prefer- able to it in the cultivation of thofe countries through which they flow ; fuperior, vaflly fuperior to it in the virtues and qualities of the inhabitants, and in the beauty of its flocks; crowding its paftures in peace, without fear of violence from man or beafb I had feen the rife of the Rhine and Rhone, and the more magnificent fources of the Soane ; 1 began, in 1 my THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 641 my forrow, to treat the inquiry about the fource of the Nile as a violent effort of a diftempered fancy : — What's Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba, That he ihould weep for her ? — Grief or defpondency now rolling upon me like a torrent ; relaxed, not refreihed, by unquiet and imperfect fleep, I ftart- e:i from my bed in the utmoit agony ; I went to the door of my tent ; every thing was Hill ; the Nile, at whofe head 1 fto' d, was not capable either to promote or to interrupt my {lumbers, but the coolnefs and ferenity of the night braced my nerves, and chafed away thofe phantoms that, while in bed, had oppreffed and tormented me. It was true, that numerous dangers, hardfhips, and for- rows had befet me through this half of my excurfion ; but it was ftill as true, that another Guide, more powerful than my own courage, health, or underllanding, if any of thefe can be called man's own, had uniformly protected me in all that tedious half; I found my confidence not abated, that ftill the fame Guide was able to conduct me to my now wiihed-for home : I immediately refumed my former forti- tude, confidered the Nile indeed as no more than rifing from fprings, as all other rivers do, but widely different in this, that it was the palm for three thoufand years held out to all the nations in the world as a dettar digmjimo, which, in my cool hours, I had thought was worth the attempting at the rifk of my life, which I had long either refolved to lofe, or lay this difcovery, a trophy in which I could have no competitor, for the honour of my country, at the feet of my -fovereign, whofe fervant I was. Vol. III. 4 M I had 04-2 T R A VE L S T O D I S G O V E H "T T'ha-d ■• procured from the Englifh mips, while at Jidda, fome quick-fdver, perfectly pure, and heavier than the com- mon fort ;. warming therefore the tube gently at the fire, I filled it with this quick-filver, and, to my great furprife, found that it Hood at the height of 22 Englifh inches : fuf- pecting that fome air might have infmuated itfelf into the tube, I laid it by in a warm part of the tent, covered till morning, and returning to bed, llept there profoundly till fix, when, fatisfied the whole was in perfect order, 1 found it to ftand at 22 Englifh inches ; neither did it vary fenfibly from that height any of the following days I ftaid at Geefh ; and thence I inferred, that, at the fources of the Nile, I was then more than two miles above the level of the fea ; a pro- digious height,, to enjoy a fky perpetually clear, as alfo a hot fun never over-cad for a moment with clouds from riling to fetting.. On the 6th of November, at a quarter paft five in the morning, Fahrenheit's thermometer flood at 440, at noon 96% . and at fun-fet 460. It was, as to fenfe,.cold at night, and flilli more fo an hour before fun-rife. .. The Nile, keeping nearly in the middle of the marfh, runs - eaft for thirty yards, with a very little increafe of ftream, but perfectly vifible, till met by the graffy brink of the land declining from Sacala. This turns it round gradually to the N. E. and then due north ; and, in the two miles it flows in that direction, the river receives many fmall contributions from fprings that rife in the banks on each fide of it: there &re two, particularly one on the hill at the back of St Mi- shael Geefh, the other a little lower than it on the other fide, on the ground declining from Sacala, Thefe laft-mention- ed THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. .643 ed fprings are more than double its quantity ; and being arrived under the hill whereon ftands the church of Saint Michael Sacala, about two miles from its fource, it there becomes a ftream that would turn a common mill, fhallow, clear, and running over a rocky bottom about three yards wide : this muft be understood to be variable according to the feafon ; and the prelum observations are applicable to the 5th of November, when the rains had ceafedfor feyeral weeks. There is the ford which we palled going to Geefh, and we crofled it the day of our arrival, in the time of my converiation with Woldo about the fafh. Nothing can be more beautiful than this fpot ; the fmall rifing hills about us were all thick-coveredwith verdure,efpe- cially with clover, the largeft arid nneft I ever faw; the tops of the heights crowned with trees of a prodigious lize ; the ilream, at the banks of which we were fitting, was limpid and pure as the nneft cryftal ; the ford, covered thick with a bulhy kind of tree that feemed to affecT: to grow to no height, but thick with foliage and young branches, rather to court the furface of the water, whilft it bore, in prodigi- ous quantities, a beautiful yellow flower, not unlike a fingle wild rofe of that colour, but without thorns ; and, indeed, upon examination, we found that it was not a fpecies of the i'ofe, but of hypericum. From the fource to this beautiful ford, below the church of St Michael Geefh, I enjoyed my lecond victory over this coy river, after the firft obtained at the fountains themfelves. What might Hill be faid of the world in general no longer applied to me : — 4 M 2 Nee 644 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER 'Nee contigit ulli Hoc vidijfe caput; And again, Nee licuit populis parvum tet Nile, videre. Here, at the ford, after having ftepped over it fifty times, I obferved it no larger than a common mill ftream. The Nile, from this ford, turns to the weftward, and, after run- ning over loofe Hones occafionally, in that direction, about four miles farther, the angle of inclination increafing great- ly, broken water, and a fall commences of about fix feet, and thus it gets rid of the mountainous place of its nativity, and iflues into the plain of Goutto, where is its firft cata- ract ; for, as I have faid before, I don't account the broken water, or little falls, cataracts, which are not at all vifiblein the height of the rains. Arrived in the plain of Goutto, the river feems to have loll all its violence, and fcarcely is feen to flow, but, at the fame time, it there makes fo many fharp, unnatural wind- ings, that it differs from any other river I ever faw, making above twenty lharp angular peninfulas in the courfe of five miles, through a bare, marfhy plain of clay, quite deftitute of trees, and exceedingly inconvenient and unpleafant to travel. After pairing this plain, it turns due north, receives the tribute of many fmall ftream s, the Gometti, the Goo- gueri, and the Kebezza, which defcend from the mountains of Aformafha; and, united, fall into the Nile about twenty miles below its fource ; it begins here to run rapidly, and again receives a number of beautiful rivulets, which have their rife in the heights of Litchambara, the femi-circular range of mountains that pafs behind, and feem to inclofe Aformaiha . THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 645 Aformafha: Thefe are the Caccino, the Carnachiuli, the Googueri, the Iworra, the Jeddeli, and the Minch, all which, running into the Davola, join the Nile fomething lefs than a mile weft of the church of Abbo, It is now become a confiderable ftream ; its banks high and broken, covered with old timber trees for the fpace of about three miles; it inclines to the north-eaft, and winds ex- ceedingly, and is then joined by the fmall river Diwa from the eaft. It then makes a femi-circle, and receives Dee-ohha, turns fharply to the eaft, and falls down its fecond cataract at Kerr. About three miles below this cataract, the large, pleafant, and limpid Jemma pays its tribute to the Nik. Though its courfe is now moftly north, through Mait- flia on the eaft, and Aroofli and Sankraber on the weft, it ftill is inclining toward the lake Tzana, and, after recei- ving the rivers Boha and Amlac Ohha, fmall ftreams from the weft, and the Affar, Aroofli, and Kelti, large rivers from the eaft, it croffes the fouth end of the lake Tzana for about feven leagues, preferving the colour of its ftream diftinet from that of the lake, till it iflues out at the weft fide of it in the territory of Dara, where there is a ford, though very deep and dangerous, immediately where it firft re- fumes the appearance of a river.. The deep ftream is here exceedingly rapid; the banks in the courfe of a few miles beccme very high, and are co- vered with a verdure, abundant and varied beyond all de- fcription : palling afterwards below Dara, it bounds that narrow ftripe of flat country which is called Foggora, con- fined between the lake and the mountains ofBegemder, tiil it arrives at its third cataract 01" Alata, a fmall village of Maho- 4 jaiei.-.ms> 646 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER metans, on the eaft fide of the river, and there exhibits afcene that requires more fancy, and the defcription of a more poeti- cal pen than mine, alt hough the imprefiion the fight of it made upon me will certainly never be removed but with life. The courfe of the river is now S. E. ; in that direction it wafhes the weftern part of Begemder and Amhara on the right; the river then inclofes the province of Gojam, fo that, in the circle that it makes in returning towards its fource, that province remains always on the right. From both fides, the Nile receives a number of tributary flreams, the Muga, Gammala, Abea, Afwan, and Mafhillo, from the mountains of Gojam ; and the Bafhilo, Boha, and Geefhem from thofe of Begemder and Amhara ; it then pann- es below Walaka. The river now has a courfe near the fouth- ward, paflesUpper and Lower bhoa. From thefe countries, on the eaft of the Nile, come the great rivers Samba, Jemma, Ro- ma, with fome others, and the Temii, Gult, and Tzul from the high country of the Agows, and Amid Amidto the northward. From Shoa the Nile winds to the S. W. to the W. N. \V. nearly inclofing all the fouth of Gojam. Immediately adjoining to it, turning Hill more northerly, is the province ot Bizamo, bordering on the river Yabous, which, coming from the fouthwai d, and terminating this province, falls into the Nile. The Nile, now turned aim oft due north, approaches its fource fo as to be diflant from it only about 62 miles ; it is here very deep and rapid, and is only fordable at certain feafons of the year. The Galla, however, when they in- vade Abyflinia, crofs it at all times without difficulty, either by lwimming, or on goats fkins blown up like bladders : 2 other THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 047- other means of palling are in fmall rafts, placed upon two- {kirn filled with wind; or, twilling their hands round the horfe's tail, thev are drawn over by them ; this laft is the way that the women, who follow the armies of *byffima, crofs unfordable rivers, a cafe that always occurs in late campaigns. Crocodiles abound exceedingly in this part of the Nile ; but the people, who live on the banks of the ri- ver, have or pretend to have charms which- defend them from the moll voracious of thefe animals. Adjoining to the Gongas, and bounding them on the north arifes a vail chain of very high mountains ; the fouth'fide of this is inhabited by tribes of Gongas and o- thers but on the north-eaft fide, nearell Abyffinia, is a na- tion of perfed blacks, called Cuba. The Nile feems to have forced its way through a gap in this prodigious barrier, and falls down a catarafl of about 280 feet. This is imme- diately followed by two others- in the fame ridge of moun- tains, both very confiderable, if not compared with the firft, This high ridge runs weft far into the continent of Africa, where it is called Dyre and Tegla ; the caft end (that is eaft of the Nile) joins the mountainous country of Kuara, and is there called the Mountains of Fazuclo. Thefe mountains, as far as 1 could learn, are all very fully inhabit- ed throughout by many powerful clans, or nations, moftly Pagans. It is, however, a country the lead known of any in Africa, but a very large quantity of gold is brought from thence, as well as many ilaves ; the gold is warned down by the torrents in the time of the tropical rains, and, upon thefe ceafing, they fearch after that metal found in fmall pellets entangled amongroots, branches, tufts of grafs, hollows, 6^S TRAVELS TO DISCOVER hollows, or in any thing that can imprifon and detain iv This is the fine gold of Sennaar, called Tibbar. The Nile now runs clofeby Sennaar, in a direction near- ly north and fouth ; it then turns fharply toward the eaft, is brim- full and vaftly pleafant in the fair feafon, being in- deed the only ornament of this bare and fiat, though cul- tivated country. From Sennaar it panes many large towns inhabited by Arabs, all of them white people. The Nile then pafies Gerri, and runs N. E. to join the Tacazze, pafling in its way a large and populous town called Chendi, pro- bably the ancient metropolis of Candace *. If we are not to reject entirely the authority of ancient Iriftory, the iiland of Meroe, fo famous in the firfl ages, mull be found fomewhere between the fource of the Nile and this point, where the two rivers unite ; for of the Nile we are certain, and it feems very clear that the Atbara is the Afta- boras of the ancients. Pliny f fays, it is the ftream which inclofes the left fide of Meroe as the Nile does the right ; and we mull confider him to be looking fouthward from Alex- andria, when he ufes the otherwife equivocal "terms of right and left, and, after this junction of thefe two rivers, the Nile receives or unites itfelf with no other till it falls into the fea at Alexandria. Much inquiry has been made about this ifland, once a moll diftinguifhed fpot on our globe, the cradle of fcience and * Called in the Eihiopic annals Hendaque ; wrote originally, 1 fuppofe, with an X or Ck, i + Lib. v. cap. 9. Nat. Hilt, THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 649 and philofophy, which fpread itfelf from this to enlighten other nations, we are now full of uncertainty, fearching in a defert for the place of its exigence ; inch is the miferable initability of all human excellence. Nothing but confufion has followed this inquiry, becaufe they who were engaged in it rather fubftituted vain fyftematical prejudices of their own, than fet themfelves to confider thofe lights which were immediately before them, The Jefuits, and a French writer, who is a conftant cham- pion of their errors, have fixed the peninfula of Gojam to be the Meroe' of the ancients. M. le Grande (the compiler al- luded to) having in vain endeavoured to anfwer the objec- tions againft Gojam being Meroe, at laft declares, in a kind of literary paffion, that the ancients have fpoken fo differ- ently about Meroe, that Gojam is as likely to be the place as any other. I have a proper efteem for the merit of M. le Grande, where he forms his conjectures from his own opinion, and I have alfo a due deference to that learned Order the Jefuits; it is to their labours, that learning in general, and geography in particular, has been more indebted than to thofe of any o- ther fet of men whatever. Yet ftill I can never believe, either that Gojam is Meroe, or that there is any difficulty in finding its true fituation, or that the ancients have written confufedly about it. On the contrary, I find it defcribed by its latitude, its diilance from places known, the produce of its foil, co- lour of its inhabitants, and feveral other circumnances which peculiarly belong to it, with greater accuracy and precifion than many other difputed fituations. Vol. III. 4 N l SHA** 650 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER I shall begin by giving my reafons why Gojam is iioe Meroe' : and, firil, Diodorus * tells us, this ifland had its name from a filler of Cambyfes, king of Perfia, who died there in the expedition that prince had undertaken againft Ethiopia. Now, Cambyfes's army periflied in the defert immediately to the fouthward, after he had palled Meroe, confequently he never was in Gojam, nor within 200 miles of it ; his mo- ther, therefore, could not have died there, nor would hi3 army have periflied with hunger if he had arrived in Go- jam, or near it, for he would then have been in one of the: moll plentiful countries in the world. The next reafon to prove that Gojam is not Meroe, sr that that illand was inclofed between the Allaboras and the Nile, but Gojam is furrounded entirely by the Nile ; there is no other river than it that can, or ever did, pafs for the Allaboras, whofe fituation was dillant, and which, retaining its ancient name, cannot be millaken, for it is at this day called Atbara. Again, as the ancients knew Meroe, if Go- jam had been Meroe, they mull have known the fountains- of the Nile ; and this we are fure they did not. On the other hand, Pliny fays, Meroe, the moll conllder- able of all the illands of the Nile, is called Allaboras, from the name of its left channel — "Circa daciffhnam earum Meroe//, " dftabores h?vo aheo dltlus; f" which cannot defcribe any other place than the confluence of thofe two rivers, the Nile and Atbara. The fame author fays farther, that the fun is ver- tical twice a-year, once when proceeding northward he enters * Piod. SicuL Eibliothec. lib. i. p. 20. \ Plin. Nat.Hift. lib. v. cap. 9. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 651 enters into the 18th degree, Taurus, and after returning fouthward into the 14th degree of the Lion. Lucan fays the fame : — -Late tibi gurgite mpto Ambit ur nigris Mero'e ' facunda colonis^ Lata comis hebeni ; quce quamvis arbor e multa Frondeat) ajlatem nulla fibi mitigat umbra : Linea tarn reffum mundiferit ilia Lconem. Now Gojam, being in lat. io°, could never anfwer this de- fcription. But there are in thefe lines two circumftances which are peculiar to the peninfula of Atbara, or Meroe, and defcri- bed as fuch by the poet. The firft is, the inhabitants of Me- roe were black, fuch were the Gymnofophifts, the firft phi- lofophers and inhabitants of this ifland, and fuch they have ever been down to the Saracen conquer!. On the o- ther hand, nobody will pretend to fay that the people of Gojam are black ; they are long-haired, and of as fair a com- plexion as other Abyffinians ; nor was it ever fuppofed that they had philofophers or fcience among them before the jefuits arrived in the country. The next circumftance, peculiar to Meroe, is, that the ebo- ny-tree grew there, which is fpread all over the peninfula of Atbara, and out of it this tree is not found, (as far as I know) unlefs a few trees in the province of Kuara, in the low and northermoft part of it ; a country, for its intolerable heat, not inferior to that of Atbara, and contiguous to it ; but in 4 N z Gojam, 652 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER , Gojam, a country deluged with fix months rain, this tree would not grow ; though fo much farther fouth it is near two Englifh miles higher than Atbara, and is therefore too cold. Such are my reafons for believing that Gojam cannot be Meroe. In my return through the defert I mall confirm this, by proving that Atbara is Meroe, and that we are to look for it about lat. i6° 29', near the end of the tropical rains. The Nile, now united with the Aftaboras, takes its courfe flraight north for more than two degrees of the meridian; it then makes a very unexpected turn W. by S. confiderably more than that fpace in longitude, winding very little till it arrives at Korti, the nrfl town in the Barabra, or kingdom of Dongola. The river by this time, with three fides, inclofed the great deferts of Bahiouda the road through this from Dereira to Korti (before it was cut off by the Arabs, as it now con- tinues to be) made the fourth fide of the fquare which bound this defert ; by this route it was that Poncet and the unfortunate M. du Roule went to AbyfTinia. From Korti the Nile runs almofl S. W. where it pafTes Dongola, a country of the Shepherds, called alfo Beja, the capital of Barabra, and comes to Mofcho, a confiderable town, and welcome place of refrefliment to the weary tra- veller, when the caravans were fuffered to pafs from Egypt into Ethiopia, who, after traverfing the dreary defert of Seli- raa for near 500 miles, found himfelf at Mofcho, in repofe, in the enjoyment of plenty of frefh water, long ago become to him an indulgence more delicious than ever he had be- fore conceived. From Mofcho the Nile turns gradually to the N. E, and in lat. 220 15' it meets with a chain of moun- 3 tains, THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 6S$ tains, and throws itfelf over them down a cataract called Jan Adel, which is its feventh cataract; and, continuing ftill N. E. it panes Ibrim and Deir, two fmall garrifons belonging to Egypt. The fall of the Nile in the country of Kennoufs, which forms the 8th catarad, and its courfe through E» gypt, are already defcribed in my voyage up the river. ^aags i ™ag CHAP, o54 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER *#OT^£= CHAP. XVI Various Names of ibis River — Ancient Opinion concerning the Caufe of its Inundation — Real Manner by which it is effecled — Remarkable Difpo- fition of the Peninfula of Africa. I T is not to be wondered, that, in the long courfe the Nile makes from its fource to the fea, it mould have acqui- red a different name in every territory, where a different lan- guage was fpoken ; but there is one thing remarkable, that though the name in found and in letters is really different, yet the fignification is the fame, and has an obvious refer- ence to the dog-liar. Among the Agow, a barbarous and idolatrous nation, it is called Gzeir, Geefa *, Seir ; the firfh of thefe names figni- fying God; it is alfo called Abba, or Ab, Father; and by many other terms which I cannot write in the language of that nation, whilfl, with a fervent and unfeigned devotion, under * From a nation of Shangalla of that name, through which it runs, after having paflcd its fcurce, and taken its courfe into Nubia. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 65$ tinder thefe, or fuch-like appellations, they pray to the Nile, or fpirit refiding in that river. The next name it receives " is when defcended into Gojam, where it is called Abay. Foreigners, of all denominations, not acquainted with the language of the country, have, from hearing it was ftiled Ab, Father, by the Agows, or Abai, imagined its name Abawi, a cafe of that noun, which, in their ignorance, they have made to fignify, the Father,. Ludolf, the only one in the age he lived that had any real knowledge of either the Geez or Amharic, was the firft' to perceive this : he found in neither of thefe languages A- bawi could be a nominative, and confequently could noE be applied to any thing ; and next he as truly found it could not be of the Angular number, and, if fo, could not fignify one river. He flopped, however, as it were, in the very brink of difcovery, for he knew there was no writing or letters in Amharic, which were therefore neceflarily borrowed from the old and written language Geez, fo that all that could be done was, firft, attentively to hear the pro- nunciation of the word in Amharic, and then to write it in Geez characters as nearly conformable to the found as pof- fible. Now, the name of the river in Amharic is Abay, pro- nouncing the y open, or like two (i), and the fenfe of that word fo wrote in Geez, as well as Amharic, is, " the river M that fuddenly fwells, or overflows, periodically with rain ;'1 than which a more appoiite name could never have been invented. By the Gongas, on the fouth of the mountains Dyre and. Tegla, who are indigent, the river is called Dahli, and, on the north of thefe mountains, where the great cataracts are by 65(5 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER the Guba, Nuba, and Shangalla, it is filled ICc ' feotfe which names fignify a watching dog, the latrator anubis, or, the dog-far. In the plain country, between Fazuclo and Sennaar, it is called Nil, which fignities blue; and the Arabs interpret it by the word Azergue, which it keeps as far as Halfaia, or near it, where it joins the White River. The next name by which the Nile went was Siris : Pliny tells us it was called Siris both before and after it came into Beja. " Nee ante Nilus, qtiamfe tot urn aquis concor dibus rurfus junxit. " Sic quoque etiamnum Siris, ut ante nomhmtus per aliquot millia, et in *' totum Homcro Egyptus, aliifque TritoTi*" This name the Greeks thought was given to it, becaufe of its black colour during the inundation, which miftake prefently produced confu- fion ; and we find, according to this idea, the compiler of the Old Teftament, (I mould fuppofe Efdras, after the capti- vity) has tranflated Siris, the black river, by the Hebrew, Shihor; but nobody ever faw the Nile black when it overflowed ; and it would be a very ftrong figure to call it fo in Egypt, where it is always white during the whole of the inun- dation. Had Efdras, or whoever it was that followed the Greek interpretation of Siris, viz. black, inquired in Beja what was the origin of this name, they would have there learn- ed it imported the River of the Dog-ftar, on whofe vertical appearance this Nile, or Siris, overflows ; and this idolatrous worfhip, paid to the Nile, was probably part of the reafon. of the queftion the prophet Jeremiah afks f, " And what haft " thou to do in Egypt, to drink the water of Seir? or the " water profaned by idolatrous rites ?" As * Plin. Nat, Kift. lib. t. cap. 9. f Jerem. chap. ii. ver. xviii. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 657 As for the firft, it is only the tranflation of the word Ba- liar, applied to the Nile. The inhabitants of the Barabra, to this day, call it Bahar el Nil, or, the Sea of the Nik, in con- tradistinction to the Red Sea, which they know by no other name but Bahar el Melech, the Salt Sea. The junction of the three great rivers ; the Nile, flowing on the weft of Meroe ; the Tacazze, which wafhes the eaft fide, and joins the Nile at Maggiran, in lat. 1 f ; and the Mareb, which falls into this laft, fomething above this junction — gives the name •of Triton to the Nile. More doubt has been raifed as to the third name, ^Egyp- tus, which it obtains in Homer, and which, I apprehend, was a very ancient name given it even in Ethiopia. The generality, nay, all interpreters, I may fay, imagine, as in that of Siris, that this name was given it in relation to its colour, viz. black; but with this I cannot agree; Egypt, in the Ethiopic, is called y Gipt, Agar; and, an inhabitant of the country, Gypt, for precifely fo it is pronounced, which means the country of ditches, or canals, drawn from the Nile on both fides at right angles with the river ; nothing, fure- ly is more obvious than to write y Gipt, lb pronouncing Egypt, and, with its termination, us, or os, Egyptus. The Nile is alfo called Kronidcs, Jupiter ; as alfo fevei al other names ; but thefe are rather the epithets of poets, relative and tran- ficory, not the permanent appellation of the river. I would pafs over another name, that of Geon, which fome of the fathers of the church have fondly given it, pre- tending it was one of the rivers that came from the terref- trial paradife, and enconipaifcd the whole land of Cum, whilll, for this purpofe, they bring it two thoufand miles by Vol. III. 4 O a feries 658 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER a feries of miracles, as it were, under the earth and under- the fea : To do what ? to furround the whole land of Culm And does it furround it, or does it furround any land what- ever ? This, and fome fimilar wonders told by St AuguftinCi have been eagerly catched at, and quoted by unbelieving fceptics ; meaning to infinuate, that no better, in other re* fpects, was the authority of thefe fathers when they explain and defend the truths of Chriftianity. For my own parti though perfectly a friend to free and temperate inquiry, thefe injudicious arguments which I need not quote, have little weight with me. St Auguftine, when explaining thofe truths, was undoubtedly under the direction of that fpirit which could not lie, and was promifed to the priefthood while occupied in their mailer's commiffion the pagation of Chriltian knowledge ; but when, from vanity and human frailty, he attempted to eflabliih things he had nothing to do with, fpeaking no longer by commandmene, he reafoned like a mere man, milled by vanity and too great confidence in his own underflanding. We come now to inveftigate the reafon of the inundation of ; the Nile, which, being once explained, I cannot help thinking that all further inquiries concerning this fubject are fuper- fl-uous. It is an obfervation that holds good through all the works of Providence, That although God, in the beginning, gave an inftance of his almighty power, by creating the world with one (ingle fat, yet, in the laws he has laid down for the maintaining order and regularity in the details of his crea-- tion, he has invariably produced all thefe effects by the leafl degree of power pomble, and by thofe means that feem mofl obvious to human conception,. But it feemed, however, not according THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 6S? according to the tenor of his ways and wifdom, to create a country like Egypt, without fprings, or even dews, and fub- ject it to a nearly vertical fun, that he might fave it by fo extraordinary an intervention as was the annual inunda- tion, and make it the moft fertile fpot of the univerfe. This violent effort feemed to be too great, above all propor- tion, for the end for which it was intended, and the caufe was therefore thought to merit the application of the fublimeft philofophy ; and accordingly, as Diodorus Siculus * tells us, it became the ftudy of the moll learned men of the firft ages, the principal of whom, with their opinions, he quotes, and at the fame time al ledges the reafon why they were not univer- fally received. The firft is Thales of Miletum, one of the feven fages, who afligns for the caufe the Etefian winds, which blowing, all the hot feafon, from the Mediterranean, in con- trary direction to the ft ream of the river, force the Nile to accumulate, by obfl.ruc~t.ing its flowing to the fea, occafion it to rife above its banks, and confequently to overflow the country. But to this it was anfwered, That, were this the caufe, all rivers running in a northern direction, to the fea, would be fubjeit to the fame accident ; and this it was known they were not. And we may further add, that were this really the caufe, the inundation of the Nile would be very irre- gular ; for the winds at this feafon often blow from the fouth-weft for two or three days together, and then the in- undation would be interrupted. To this it muft be added, that a very confiderable part of Egypt, and that the moil 4 O 2 fertile, » Diod. Sic. lib- i. €6o TRAVELS TO DISCOVER fertile, the Delta, is under the dominion of variable winds,, which lafl long, from one point, at no time. I shall trefpafs upon my reader's patience, on this head,, by no more than one additional obfervation. If the Etcfian winds, by oppofing the ftream, occafioned the inundation, they could effev5t this no longer than they continued to blow. Now, it was an obfervation we made when on the Nile, and it was almoft without exception, that as often as the Etefian winds blew throughout the day, the night was either calm, or the wind blew gently from the fouth or eaft, fo that it is morally impoffible the river could have over- flowed at all, without a much more powerful and corw llant agent than the Etefian winds : — ■ Zephyros quoque vana vetujlas His adfcripfit aquis, — — — — LuCAN. Vain, indeed ! A philofopher of the prefent age would be thought mad who mould rely on a fyftem fo contrary to experiment and obfervation ; though Thales, the propa- gator of this now mentioned, was fo highly efteemed for his knowledge. The next opinion quoted is that of Anaxagoras, who attributes the inundation of the Nile to fnow melting in Ethiopia ; and this Diodorus contradicts, for a very fubftan- tial reafon, that there is no fnow in Ethiopia to melt. Bur fuppofing all the mountainous part of Ethiopia north of the Line, that is all Abyffinia, were covered with fnow, then the inundation mull happen in other months, as it mull begin in January, for the fun being then within few de- 2 grees THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 66t grees of being vertical, it mud have been the very height of flood when the fun patted over that country in April ; whereas its increafe is not difcerned till about June, when the fun has left the zenith of all Abyflinia, having then patted over Nubia, and is Handing vertical to Syene, or as far to the northward as it can proceed. It is not my meaning to maintain that there never was mow in Abyflinia, as climates have wonderfully changed. In Csfar's time, the greateft rivers in the Gaul almoft every year were frozen over for months, fo that armed nations, with their families, cattle, and incumbrances, patted regu- larly over them upon the ice without fear ; an event that happens not now once in a century. In Pruflia* alfo were found white bears, an animal now confined to the fevereft fnowy regions of the north ; and, what comes ftill nearer to the prefent fubject, in the infcription found in Abyflinia by Cofmas Indoplauftes, Ptolomams Evergetes, fpeaking there, in the firft perfon,of his own conquefts in Ethiopia, fays, that he had palled the river Siris, and had entered the kingdom of Samen, a country intolerable on account of cold and deep £now. This account I think almoft incredible. Ptolemy parted from Egypt, his fleet coafting along the Red Sea, oppofite to his army, and carrying provifions for it ; we know, more- over, the time his fliips failed, the beginning of June, when the Nile was overflowed, and confequently of great utility to his army on the firft part of his expedition, while he was in Egypt and part of Nubia. Now fuppofing him to pafs the Paufanius Arcad. chap. xvii. 652 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER the defert as quickly as poffible, and come to Axum, it mull have been then Summer, or near it ; and as it was neceflary his fleet mould return by the monfoon in October, fo it mufl have then rained continually, and the fun been perpendicu- lar to the country when he found the deep fnows in Sa- men, which is not very probable. The river Tacazze, more- over, which Ptolemy croffed, was really not paffable at that time, and no Abyffinian army did ever attempt it during a flood, though, without, fcruple at ail feafons they crofs the Nile when moll deep and rapid. I remember that when I firft afcended Lamalmon, the higheft mountain of that ridge, running the whole length of the province of Samen, it was in the depth of winter ; the thermometer flood at 32", wind N. W. clear and cold, but attended with only hoar frofl, though at that height, and at that feafon ; the grafs fcarcely was difcoloured, and only felt crifp below my feet, with this fmall degree of freezing ; but this vanifhed into dew after a quarter of an hour's fun, nor did I ever fee any fign of congelation upon the water, however fhaded and ftagnant, upon the top of that, or any other hill. I have feen hail indeed lie for three hours in the forenoon upon the mountains of Amid Amid. The opinion of Democritus was, that the overflowing of .the Nile was owing to the fun's attraction of fnowy vapour from the frozen mountains of the north, which being car- ried by the wind fouthward, and thawed by warmer cli- mates, fell down upon Ethiopia in deluges of rain : and the fame is advanced by Agatharcides of Cnidus in his Periplus •of the Red Sea. This opinion of Democritus, Diodorus at- tempts to refute, but we lliall not join him in his refutation, 4 becaufe THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 663 * becaufe we are now perfectly certain, from obfervation, that Democritus and Agatharcides both of them had fallen upon the true caufes of the inundation. I shall now mention a treatife of a modern philofopher^ wrote expreisly upon this fubjecl, I mean a difcourfe on the caufes of the inundation of the Nile, by M. de la Chambre, printed at Paris in quarto, 1665, where, in a long dedica,- tion, he modeftly allures the king, he is perfuaded that his majefty will confider, as one of the glories of his reign, the difcovery of the true caufe of the Nile's inundation, which he had then made, after it had baffled the inquiry of all philofophers for the fpace of 2000 years ; and, indeed, the caufe and the difcovery would have been both very remark- able, had they been attended with the leaft degree of poili- bility. M. de la Chambre fays, that the nitre with which the ground in Egypt is impregnated, ferments like a kind of pafle, occafioning the Nile to ferment likewife, and thus increafes the mafs of water fo much, that it fpreads over the whole land of Egypt. . Far be it from me to bear hard upon th'ofe attempts with which the ancients endeavoured to folve thofe phs*- nomena, when, for want of a fufficient progrefs in experi- mental philofophy and obfervation, they were generally deilitute of the proper means ; . but there is no cxcufe for a man's either believing or writing, that earth, impregnated with fo fmall a quantity of any mixture as not to be dif- cernible to the eye, fmell, or tafte, could periodically fwell the waters of a river, then almoft dry, to fucli an immen- fity, as to cover the whole plains of Egypt, and difcharge millions of tons every day into the fea, at the fame time that 664 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER that.it contributed to the health of the people and the fer- tility of the land. It puts me in mind of an aftertion of M. de Maillet, almoft as abfurd as de la Chambre's treatife, that the Nile, which in Egypt is the only fountain of plea- fure, of health, and plenty, has a mixture of one tenth of rnud during the time of the inundation: pleafant and wholefome flream, truly, to which Fleetditch would be Hip- pocrene. But whatever were the conjectures of the dreamers of antiquity, modern travellers and philofophers, defcribing without fyftem or prejudice what their eyes faw have found that the inundation of Egypt has been efTecfted by natural means, perfectly confonant with the ordinary rules of Providence, and the laws given for the government of the reft of the univerfe. They have found that the plenti- ful fall of the tropical rains produced every year at the fame time, by the action of a violent fun, has been uniform- ly, without miracle, the caufe of Egypt being regularly over- flowed. The fun being nearly ftationary for fome days in the tropic of Capricorn, the air there becomes fo much rarified, that the heavier winds, charged with watery particles, rum in upon it from the Atlantic on the weft, and from the In- dian Ocean on the eaft. The fouth wind, moreover, loaded with heavy vapour, condenfed in that high ridge of moun- tains not far fouth of the Line, which forms a fpine to the peninfula of Africa, and, running northward with the o- ther two, furnifh wherewithal to reftore the equilibrium. The THE SOURCE OF THENILE. 665 The fun, having thus gathered fuch a quantity of va- pours as it were to a focus, now puts them in motion, and drawing them after it in its rapid progrefs northward, on the 7th of January, for two years together, feemed to have extended its power to the atmofphere of Gondar, when, for the firfl time, there appeared in the fky white, dappled, thin clouds, the fun being then diilant 340 from the zenith, with- out any one cloudy or dark fpeck having been feen for fe- veral months before. Advancing to the Line with increa- fed velocity, and defcribing larger fpirals, the fun brings on a few drops of rain at Gondar the ill of March, being then diftant 50 from the zenith ; thefe are greedily abforbed by the thirfty foil, and this feems to be the farthefl extent of the fun's influence, capable of caufmg rain, which then only falls in large drops, and lafts but a few minutes : the rainy fea- fon, however, begins moll ferioully upon its arrival at the zenith of every place, and thefe rains continue conllant and increafmg after he has palTed it, in his progrefs northward. Before this, green boughs and leaves appear floating in the Bahar el Abiad, and fhew that, in the latitude where it rifes, the rains are already abundant. The Galla, who inhabit, or have palled that river, give account of its fituation, which lies, as far as I could ever calculate, about 50 from the Line.- In April, all the rivers- in Amhara, Begemder, and Lafla, firfl: difcoloured, and then beginning to fwell, join the Nile in the feveral parts of its courfe nearell them ; the river then, from the height of its angle of inclination, forces it- felf through the llagnant lake without mixing with it. In the. beginning of May, hundreds of llreams pour themfelves from Gojam, Damot, Maitfha, and Dembea, into the lake Tzana, which had become low by intenfe evaporation, but Vol. III. 4 P now 66ti TRAVELS TO DISCOVER now begins to fill infenfibly, and contributes a large quan- tity of water to the Nile, before it falls down the cataract of Alata. In the beginning of June, the fun having now pafled all Abyffinia, the rivers there are all full, and then is the time of the greateft rains in Abyffinia, while it is for ibme days, as it were, flationary in the tropic of Cancer. These rains are collected by the four great rivers in A- byffinia; theMareb, the Bowiha,Tacazzc, and the Nile. All thefe principal, and their tributary ftreams, would, how- ever, be abforbed, nor be able to pafs the burning deferts, or find their way into igypt, were it not for the White Ri- ver, which, riling in a country of almoft perpetual rain, joins to it a never- failing ftream, equal to- the Nile itfelf. In the firfl days of May, the fun, in his way to the northern tropic, is vertical over the fmall village of Gerri, the limit of the tropical rains. Not all the influence of the fun, which has already paft its zenith, and for many days has been as it were ftationary within a few degrees of it over Syene, in the tropic of Cancer, can bring them one inch far- ther to the northward, neither do any dews fall there as might be reafonably expected from the quantity of frefh and exhalable water that is then running in the Nile, though it pafTes clofe by that village, and after, through that wild and dreary defert. The fac~t is certain, and fure- ly curious ; the caufe perhaps unknown, although it may be gueffed at. I conceive, that mountains are neceffary to occafion either rain or dew, by airefting and flopping the great quan- tity THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 66; tity of vapour which is here driven foiuhward before the Etefian winds. Novv,allthat country between Gerri and Syene is flat and defert,fo that this interruption is wanting; and it is owing to the famecaufe, that the bounds of the tropical rains do flop farther to the fouthward as you travel weftward, and in place of lat i6°, which is their limits at Gerri, they are con- fined within lat. 140 in that part of the kingdom of Sennaar which lies fouth and weft of that capital, where all is free from mountains till you come to thofe of Kuara and Fa- zuclo. Yet although the fun's influence when at its greateft, is not ftrong enough to draw the boundaries of the fummer's rain farther north than Gerri, all the time that it is in the tropic of Cancer at its greateft diftance, thefe rains are then at their heavieft throughout all Abyflinia ; and Egypt,andall its labours, would foon be fweptinto the Mediterranean did not the fun now begin to change its fphereof a&ion by ha- ilening its progrefs fouthward. From Syene the fun pafles over the defert, and arrives at Gerri'; here he reverfes the eflfe&s his influence had when on his paflage northward ; for whereas, in his whole courfe of declination northward, from the Line to Gerri, he brought on the rains at every place where he became vertical, fo now he cuts off thofe rains the inftant he returns to the zenith of each of thofe places pafling over Abyflinia in his journey fouthward, till arrived at the Line, in the autumnal equinox, his influence ceafes on the fide of Abyflinia, and goes to extend itfelf to the fouthern hemifphere. And fo precifely is this ftupendous operation calculated, that, on the 25th of September, only three days after the equinox,the 4 p 2 Nik 668 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER Nile is generally found at Cairo to be at its highefl, and be- gins to diminfh every day after. Thus faras to the caufe and progrefs of the Nile's inun- dation in our northern hemifphere ; but fo much light and confirmation is to be drawn from our consideration of the remainder of the fun's journey fouthward, that I am per- fuaded my following him thither will require no apology to my philofophic or inquifitive reader. Immediately after the fun has paffed the Line he begins the rainy feafon to the fouthward, ftill as he approaches the zenith of each place; but the fituation and neceffities of this country being varied, the manner of promoting the inunda- tion is changed. A high chain of mountains run from about 6° fouth all along the middle of the continent towards the Cape of Good Hope, and interfects the fouthern part of the peninfula nearly in the fame manner that the river Nile does- the northern. A ftrong wind from the fouth, flopping the progrefs of the condenfed vapours, daihes them againit the cold fummits of this ridge of mountains, and forms many rivers which efcape in the direction either eafl or weft, as the level prefents itfelf. If this is towards the well, they fall down the fides of the mountains into ihe Atlantic, and if on the eaft, into the Indian Ocean. Now all thefe would be ufelefs to man, were the hteiian winds to reign, as one would think muil be the cafe, analagous to what paffes in Egypt; nay, if any one wind prevailed, thefe rivers, fwelled. with rains, would not be navigable, but another wife and providential dilpofition has remedied this. Tiis THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 669 The clouds, drawn by the violent adtion of the fun, are condenfed, then broken, and fall as rain on the top of this high ridge, and fwell every river, while a wind from the ocean on the eaft blows like a monfoon up each of thefe ftreams in a direction contrary to their current, during the whole time of the inundation, and this enables boats to af- cend into the weftern parts of Sofala,and the interior coun- try to the mountains, where lies the gold. The fame effect, from the fame caufe, is produced on the weftern fide towards the Atlantic ; the high ridge of mountains being placed between the different countries weft and eaft, is at once the fource of their riches, and of thofe rivers which con- dud to the treafures which would be otherwife inacceflible in the eaftern parts of the kingdoms of Benin, Congo, and Angola. There are three remarkable appearances attending the inundation of the Nile ; every morning in Abyffinia is clear, and the fun mines. About nine, a fmall cloud, not above four feet broad, appears in the eaft, whirling violently round as if upon an axis, but, arrived near the zenith, it firft abates its motion, then lofes its form, and extends itfelf greatly, and feems to call up vapours from all oppolite quarters. Thefe clouds having attained nearly the fame height, ruin againft each other with great violence, and put me always in mind of F.lifha foretelling rain on Mount Carmel*. The air, impelled before the heavieft mafs, or fwifteft mover, makes an impreffion of its own form in the collection of clouds oppofite, and the moment it has taken poffeinon of the fpace made * 1 Kings, di^jj. XTiii. ver. 43. 670 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER made to receive it, the moft violent thunder poffible to be conceived inftantly follows, with rain; after fome hours, the fky again clears, with a wind at north, and it is always dis- agreeably cold when the thermometer is below 6f. The fecond thing remarkable is the variation of the thermometer ; when the fun is in the fouthern tropic, 36* diftant from the zenith of Gondar, it is feldom lower than 720; but it falls to 6o° and 590 when the fun is immediately vertical ; fo happily does the approach of rain compenfate the heat of a too-fcorching fun. The third is, that remarkable ftop in the extent of the rains northward, when the fun, that has conducted the va- pours from the Line, and mould feem, now more than ever, to be in pofleflion of them, is here over-ruled fuddenly, till, on its return to the zenith of Gerri, again it refumes the ab- folute command over the rain, and reconducts it to the Line to furnifh diftant deluges to the Southward. I cannot omit obferving here the particular difpofition of this peninfula of Africa; fuppofinga meridian line, drawn through the Cape of Good Hope, till it meets the Mediter- ranean where it bounds Egypt, and that this meridian has a portion of latitude that will comprehend all Abyflinia, Nubia, and Egypt below it, this fection of the continent, from fouth to north, contains 640 divided equally by the equator, fo that, from the Line to the fouthmoft point of Africa, is 320; and northward, to the edge of the Mediter- ranean, is 3 20 alfo : now, if on each fide we fet off 20, thefe are the limits of the variable winds, and we have then 300 fouth, and 300 north, within which fpace, on both fides, the 3 trade- THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 67i trade- winds are confined; fet off again i6° from the 32% that is, half the diftance between the Cape of Good Hope and the Line, and 160 between the Line and the Mediter- ranean, and you have the limits of the tropical rains, 160 on each fide of the equator : again, take half of 160, which is 8°, and add it to the limit of the tropical rains, that is to 16% and you have 24°, which is the fituation of the tropics. There is fomething very remarkable in this difpofition. S^^"^ i'Mg. CHAP. 672 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER £%">" ag CHAP. XVI. Egypt not the Gift of the -Nile — Ancient Opinion refuted — Modern Opinion contrary to Proof and Experience. IT is here we mall difcufs a queftion often agitated, whether Egypt owed its exiftence to the Nile, and whe- ther it was formerly an arm of the fea, but in procefs of time, being filled up. by the quantity of mud which the Nile depofited in its inundation, it at length became firm land, above the furface of the waters ? I believe this is the general opinion, as well of the books, as of the greatefl part of travellers of the prefent age; it therefore merits ex- amination, whether it is founded in fact and obfervation, or whether it is to be ranked among the old and ill fup- ported traditions fancifully now again brought into fa- shion. Egypt is a valley bounded on the right and left by very rugged mountains ; it muft, therefore, occur toany one that ! the THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 673 die Nile, being a torrent falling from very high ground in Ethiopia, were this valley concave, the violent rapidity, or motion, would be much likelier to carry away mud and foil, than to leave it behind in a ftate to accumulate. The land of Egypt Hopes gently from the middle of the •valley to the foot of the mountains on each fide, fo that the center is really the highell part of the valley, and in the middle of this runs the Nile * At right angles with the ftream large trenches are cut to the foot of the moun- tains, in which canals the water enters, and infenfibly flows down to the end of thefe trenches, where it diffufes itfelf over the level ground. As the river fwells, thefe canals fill with water, which goes feeking a level to the foot of the mountains ; fo that now the flood, which begins to reftagnate towards the bank of the river, acquires no motion, as the califhes are formed at right angles to the ftream. Sometimes, indeed, the ri- ver is fo high, when the rains in Ethiopia are exceflive, that the back-water joins the current of die Nile, when imme- diately it communicates its motion to the flagnant water, and fweeps away every thing that is planted into the fea. It is a miftake then to aflert,— the fuller the Nile, the bet- ter for Egypt. It has been faid by various authors, that it was necef- fary Egypt mould be meafured every year, on account of Vol. III. 4 0^ the * See this figure in Dr SL^v, chap, ii.fetf. 3- p- 385. 5;4 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER the quantity of mud which the Nile brought down by its inundation, which fo covered the land-marks, that no proprietor knew or could difcover the limits of his own farm, and that this annual neceftity firft gave rife to the fcience of Geometry *. How or when Geometry was firft known and praftifed, is not my bufinefs in this place to inquire, though T think the origin here given is a very probable one. The land of Egypt was certainly meafured" annually : it is as certainly fo at this very time ; and if fo, the prefent reafon for this is probably the very one which firft gave rife to it ; but that this is not owing to the mud of the Nile, will appear on the ilighteft confideration ; for if Egypt increafe a foot in a hundred years, one year's increafe of foil could be but the one hundredth part of a foot, which could hide no land God has given us our defire, men J'Mel, alia Jibbel, the Nile has overflowed, from the mountains on one fide of the valley to the mountains on the other. Be- fides, * Shaamy and Taamy, of whom we have already- fpoken, 67g TRAVELS TO DISCOVER fides, there is no country in the world, perhaps, but where this trick may be played with impunity, except in Egypt, for a realbn that I am about to explain. The extenfion of the land of Egypt northward, the d*i- flance between it and Cyprus, and the fituation of Canopus, all (hew, that no or veny little alteration has been made thefe 3000 years. Dr Shaw, and the other writers, who are advocates for what has been advanced by Hercdotus *, that Egypt hath been produced b.y the Nile, have defcrted this ground of maintaining then hi potheiis, and have recourfc to the Nilometer to prove, that the foil has increafed in height, and' that a greater quantity of water is neceflary now to overflow the land of Egypt than was required in the days of Homer. If the firft part of their affertion can be proved, I mail make no fort of difficulty of giving up the other. But I rather conceive, that none of thoie who have written upon this fubjedr. hitherto, whatever degree of learning and in- formation they may have pollened, have poiTelTed fufficient data to explain this fubjecl: intelligibly. It feems, indeed, to have remained with the Jonrce of the river, a iecret referved for latter times. It will be necelTary for us firft to coniider what the ufe of a Nilometer was, for what caufe it was made, and by whom. 2 It • Herod. Eut. left. 4, 5. Diod. Sic. lib. iii. p. 101. Ariil. Mtteorol. lib. i. cap. 14, THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 679 It is fcarcely necefTary to obferve, that, in every ftate or fociety, the product or revenue fhould be known, as well as what will be wanted for the fupply of the neceffities of the people. Now, it was only the ground overflowed by the Nile that could produce grain for the fubfiftence of the in- habitants and revenue of the ftate. The firft confideration, then, was, to know how much of the land of i(gypt was overflowed in a given term of years, and how much grain was produced upon that average. This could only be afcertained by meafuring, and they, therefore, fettled with precifion the land that was overflow- ed from the earlieft times, and do fo to this day. Thefe actual meafurements gave them a ?naximum and a mini- mum, which furnifhed them with a mean, and thus they were in pofTeflion of all the principles necefTary for making aNilometer, by dividing a pillar into correfponding cubits, and divifions of cubits called digits, placing it alfo firm and perpendicular, fo as to be liable to no alteration or injury, , though in the middle of the ftream. The firft ftated meafure was certainly that mentioned in fcripture, the cubit, fecundum cubitum vlrilis mantis, meafur- ing from the center of the round bone in the elbow to the point of the middle finger*. This is Hill the meafure of all unpolifhed nations, but no medium or term, expreffive of its exact contents, having been applied, writers have dif- fered as to the length of this cubit, and no flandard exifting to which it might be referred, a great deal of confu- fion f Deut. chap. ili. tm. II. 6&> TRAVELS TO DISCOVER fion has thereupon followed. Dr Arbuthnot * fays, that there are two cubits in fcripture, the one, i foot 9 inches, and to— parts of an inch, according to our meafure, being the 4th part of a fathom, twice the fpan, and fix times the palm. The other is equal to 1 foot AW parts of a foo't, or the 4oodth part of a ftadium. I mall not inquire in- to the- grounds he goes on ; I believe, however, that neither are precifely the ancient cubit of the eaft, but both are too large ; at lead the Egyptian I found to be very exactly i foot 5} inches, which is 2 inches more than father Mer- fenne f has made his Hebrew cubit. But this is of lefs confequence to us now, becaufe Herodotus J informs us, that in his time, and probably at the firft inftitution of a Ni- lometer, the meafure was the Samian cubit, which is about 1 8 inches Englifh, or half an inch lefs than the ancient cubit. The reader will then confider, that the divifions of this Nilometer were a reprefentation of certain facts : That the Nile's reaching to fuch a divifion correfponded to a certain quantity of corn that was fown, a proportion of the produce of which was to be paid to the king, the reft to go to the landlord and the labourer. The Nilometer then afcertained the contract between king and people on thefe terms, That, in the event of fo much corn being produced by the land of Egypt, fuch a tribute was to be paid : But, in cafe a certain quantity of ground, lefs than that, was overflowed, or, which is the fame thing, a lefler quantity of grain was produced, then the 4 kinS * £ncyclop. voce Cubit, f Vide Encyclop. voce Cubit. % Herod, lib. ii. fe&. 168. p. 149. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 681 king was not to exact his tribute, becaufe it was underffood fuch a quantity only was produced as was fufficient for the maintenance of the landholder and labourer. This was re- ferred to the Nilometer, whofe divifion fhewed to what height the Nile had rifen. Men appointed by the fovereign were to fuperintend this Nilometer, and to publifh the height of the Nile, whilfl the reafon why the king was to have the direction of the Nilometer, and not his fubjects, was very obvious, though it has not yet been underftood, becaufe the king could not gain by fubftituting falfe meafures, where- as the people might. The Nile, though in an average of years it brought down nearly the fame quantity of water, yet, in particular ones, it varied fometimes more and fometimes lefs. It is like- wife obferved, like moll other rivers, to run more on one fide of the valley for fome years than to the other. The confequence of this varying and deviation was, that though, upon the whole, the quantity indicated by the Nilometer was the fame, yet nobody knew his quota, or what proportion of the whole was drawn from the property of each individual; as for this they were obliged to apply to actual menfuration, Suppofing a man's property was a fection of the land of E- gvpt, of 1 2,000 feet from the brink of the river to the moun- tain, and of any given breadth, 4000 feet of this perhaps were overflowed, whilii the other 8000 remained dry, and above the level of the water. The tenant, after having mea- fured, did not till then know what his farm of 12,000 feet would give him for that year, only 4000 of which had been overflowed by the water, and was then fit for fowing ; for this he paid his landlord the higheft rent laid upon cultiva- Vol. III. 4 R ted 68z TRAVELS TO DISCOVER ted land. But the 8000 feet that ftill remained were not equally ufelefs, though not overflowed by the inunda- tion; for 4000 of the 8000, which lay by the bank of the ri- ver, could be overflowed by machines, and by the labour of man, when, for a certain time, the river was high enough to be within reach of machinery; fo that the value of this 4.C00 feet to the farmer was equal to the firft, minus the ex- pence and trouble it cofl him for watering it by labour; for this, then, he paid one half of the rent only to the land- lord. Now, though it was known that the whole farm was 12,000 feet, yet, till it was meaiured, no one could fay how much of that would be overflowed by the Nile alone, and fo manured without expence ; how much was to be water- ed by labour, and fo pay half rent ; and how much was to be incapable of any fuch cultivation, and for that year e- qually ufelefs to landlord and tenant. I fpeak not of a fadt that happened in antiquity, but one that is neceiTary and in practice at this very hour ; and though a man, by this menfuration, attains to the knowledge of what his farm produces this fame year, this is no general rule, as his cul- tivated land next year may be doubled, or perhaps reduced to one- fourth ; and his neighbour, on the other fide of the Nile, may in his farm make up the correfpondent deficien- cy, or excels ; and the average quantity produced by them both being the fame, the degree of the Nilometer will be the fame hkewifc. From this it is obvious to infer, that there are two points of great advantage to the tenant : The one is, when it is 3 juft THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 683 juft high enough not to pay the meery*, for then he has all the harvefl to himfelf, and pays nothing, though he has very near the fame quantity as if he was fubjedt to the tax. The other is, when near the whole of thefe 12,000 feet is overflowed by the Nile, but before the water is in contact with the current of the river; for then, though he is liable to pay the meery, he has fown the greateft part of his land pomble, without additional labour or expence ; more than this is lofs, for then the water of the inundation is put like- wife in motion, and all the floating pulverifed earth that has been troae into an impalpable powder, during March, April, and May, is fwept away by the current into the fea, and nothing left but a bare, cold, hard till, which produces little, and is not eafily pulverifed by the poor inftruments of hufbandry there in ufe, when neither farmer nor landhold- er pays any thing, becaufe, indeed, there is not any re- ceipt. However, from this uncertainty one thing arifes which does not feem to have been underttood ; for the tenant, not knowing precifely the quantity of feed that he may want, comes to his farm unprovided, and, being uncertain of its produce, takes his land only from year to year ; the land- lord furnifhes him with feed f, and even with all labour- ing utenfils. And here I am to explain what I have before advanced, what to fome will feem a paradox, That the fubftituting 4 R 2 falfe * The king's yearly land-tax, orient. I Gen. chap, xlvii. ver. zo & 23. f&jt TRAVELS TO DISCOVER falfe meafures in tlie Nilometcr by the fovereign is abfo- hnely impracticable. Suppofmg the height of the Milo- meter, when at 8 cubits, mewed that there was juft corn enough to maintain the inhabitants, and that the tenant knew, by the quantity of land meafuredr that he had bare- ly what was to pay his rent and fupport his family ; this he mull know before he fowed, becaufe he meafured im- mediately after the inundation ; and this he mull know likewife by the corn he borrows for feed from his landlord, who, as I have faid, furnifhes his tenant both with feed and labouring utenlils. If, then, he finds he can barely main- tain himfelf, and not pay his rent,, upon the proclamation at the Nilometer, he deferts his farm, and neither plows nor fows *, but flies to Paleftine to the Arabs, or into the cities, and.brings famine along with him. The next year there is a plague, and fweeps alTthcfe poor wretches, in a bad ftate of health by living upon bad food, into their graves, fo that the introduction, of a fuppofed falfe meafure,. directly advanced by Dr Shawf, and often alluded to by others, but always without poffibility of foundation, is ons of the many errors he has fallen into.. He knew nothing but of the Delta, never was in Upper, and no confiderable time even in Lower Egypt, but when the Nile had overflowed it, and I fuppofe never converfed with a fellah, or Egyptian peafant, in his life. All his wonders are in * This was apparently the reafon why Jofeph, who had bought not only the lands, but the people of Egypt likewife, transferred them from farms, not convenient for them, to o- ihers where they could thrive. The fame they do fpontaneoufly at this day, now they are Sk& f E>r Shaw, chap, ii, fc& 3. p. 383, THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 685 in the land of Zdan*\ and his observations mould have reach- ed no farther, becauie they are not facl, but fanciful imagi- nations of his own ; not from any bad intention, but becaufe he never was in the way of being better informed, but de- termined not to abandon afyftem he had once formed. HERODOTUsf mentions, that in the time of Maoris, whea the minimum came to be 8 Samian cubits, all Egypt below Memphis was overflowed, but that in his days it took 16 cubits, or at lead 15, to put the fame land in like condition for cultivation; or, in other words, the minimum, when they paid their meery, was 16, or at leafl 15 cubits in his time ; and the uncertainty of thefe two terms mews, that there were unaccountable inequalities, even in his days, as we fliall find there have been ever fince. But I mull here beg leave to afk, why we mould believe Herodotus knew the management of the Nilometer more than travellers have done fince, as he tells us conftantly throughout this part of his hiflory, that when he inquired of thepriefls concerning the Nile, they would tell him nothing about it + ? In Moeris's time there were great lakes dug, as- Herodc-^ tus fays |, to carry off the fupcrfluous water, to what place is not faid, but furely into the defert for the ufe of the Arabs. Now, unlefs we knew what time thefe lakes were opened, to receive the ftream, we do not know whether it was the evacuation by the lake, or fcarcky of the water that impe- ded the rife of the Nile upon the Nilometer. We have no account * Pfalm l.txviii, ver. 12. f Herod, eut. feft. 13. J Herod, lib. ii. kQ., 19. |( Herod, lib. ii. fetf. 4. 101. and 149.. <586 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER account of thefe tranfactions, and we lhall be lefs inclined to rely upon them, when I fhall mew, that the Nilometer could be of no ufe in folving this queilion at all, either in Herodotus's days, or any time fince, without a previous knowledge of feveral other circumftances never yet taken into the calculation, and of which Herodotus muil have been ignorant. But let us grant that the Nile in Mseris's time rofe only 8 cubits, and in the days of Herodotus to 16, let us fee if, at certain periods afterwards, it kept to any thing like that proportion. Above 400 years after Herodotus, Strabo tra- velled in Egypt ; he went through the whole country from Alexandria to beyond Syene and the firfl cataract ; and as he is an hiftorian whofe character is eflablifhed, both for ve- racity and fagacity, we may receive what he fays as un- exceptionable evidence, efpecially as he travelled in fuch company as it is not probable the priefls could have refilled him any thing. Now Strabo J fays, that, in his days, 8 cu- bits were a minimum, or the Wafaa Ullab of the Nile's increafe ; therefore, from Mceris's time to Strabo there is not an inch difference in the minimum, and this includes the fpace of 1400 years. It may be faid, indeed, that the pafTage in Strabof imports, that, in the time of Petronius, by a particular care of the banks and califhes, the Nile at 8 peeks (or cubits) enabled the Egyptians to pay their meery without hardllup ; but this was by particular induflry, more than what had been in * Strabo, lib. xiii. p. 945. 1' Strabo, lib. xvii. p. 91J. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 687 in common ufe, and this, too, I conceive to be Strabo's mean- ing. But let us compute from Herodotus, who fays that 16, or at lead 15, were neceffary in his time, whilft Strabo informs us, that, before Petronms exerted himfelf as to the banks and califiies juft mentioned, the extreme abundance mufl then have been at 12, and the minimum at 10. Now,, by this paffage, beyond all exception, it is clear that there could have been no increafe indicated by the Nilometer; for 10 cubits watered the whole land of Egypt fufficiently in Stra- bo's time, whereas 16 and 15 were neceflary in the days of Herodotus: and I muft likewife obferve* that if we mould fuppofe the fame induftry and attention ufed in Mxris's time that was in Petronius's, (and there is every reafon to induce us to think there was) then the proof is pofitive, that there was no difference in the foil of Egypt indicated by the Ni- lometer for thefirft 1400 years. From this let us defcend to Hadrian, about 100 years after- wards. We know from Pliny*, and from an infenpdon upon a medal of great brafs of Hadrian's, who was himfelf in Egypt, that 16 cubits were then the fifcal term or rife of the Nile, by which the Egyptians paid their rent ; and this is precifely what Herodotus fays, in his time, was no more than fufficient. Aboi;t the beginning of the 4th century, in the emperor Julian's reignf, 15 cubits were a fufficient minimum to in- cur the payment of the tribute, and this is one of the terms v' iH- 4 * that * Plin. Jib. xxxvi. cap. *r. PhHoft. d: Icon. Nili. t Julian. Epift. egdicio prefeflo Egypti. 688 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER that Herodotus fixes upon, as being fufficient to oblige the payment in his days; and the other is 1 6, or a cubit more ; fa that if the Nilometer proves any thing at all, it is this, that preemptively the Nile has never increafed from Masris to Perronius's, or in 1400 years, and certainly that, if it has not diminifhed, it has not increafed for 700 years from Herodo- tus to the emperor Julian. t Procopius, in his firft book, I think, fays, that 18 peeks was too full a Nile, and occafioned dearth by its quantity. But, in the middle of the 6th century, he tells* us it requi- red 18 cubits for a minimum, by which Egypt was to pay the meery; fo that in 100 years from Julian to Juftinian, the minimum had increafed three cubits, which was 4I feet ; not one foot in 100 years as the propofition bears ; and this would prove too much, if it was true, but it is impofli- ble. Thus far, then, we are at liberty to fay, that, as long as Egypt was a Greek kingdom, no vifible alteration or in* creafe of the foil can be fairly eftablilhed from hiftory or infpeclion. * Procop. lib. iii. de Reb. Goth. CHAP. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 689 KSftw- '■' mi s^v CHAP. XVII. the fame Subjecl continued — Nilometer what. How divided and mea- sured. IN the 7th century a revolution happened that flops our Gre- cian account from proceeding farther, Egypt was con- quered by an ignorant and barbarous enemy, theSaracen, and Amru Ibn el Aas was governor of Egypt for Omar, the fecond Caliph after Mahomet. Omar was a foreigner, conqueror, bi- got and a tyrant; he deftroyed the Grecian Nilometer from motives of religion, the fame which had before moved him to burn the library of Alexandria ; and after, with the fame degree o£ found judgment, determined to eftablifh his empire at Medina, in the middle of the peninfula of Arabia, a country without water, and'furrounded on all fides with barren lands ; but he was neverthelefs defirous of feeding his famifhed Sa- racens with the wheat of Egypt, a province he had fub- dued ; for this purpofe he ordered Amru to begin a ca- nal from the Nile to the Red Sea, to carry the wheat to the Vol. III. 4 S Arabian 69o TRAVELS TO DISCOVER Arabian Gulf, and thence to Yambo, the port of Medina on that gulf. The traitor Greeks, who had delivered the country to the Saracens, had probably informed him of the great plenty which conilantly reigned in Egypt, and which every body had an opportunity of knowing by the cheapness or grain at the market. Omar thought that a larger tribute was due to put the conquerors a little more upon a footing with the conquered ; for Egypt, which had once 20,000 cities, had not then the tenth part of them. Having therefore a larger extent to culti- vate, with the fame quantitycf water,it produced more grain, and at the fame time having fewer people to eat it, nothing was lefs oppreflive than that a part of the furplus of the pro- duce fhould go in augmentation of the tribute. For this purpofe, following the very weak lights of his own judg- ment, he introduced a different meafure on the Kilometer, and the confequence of that meafure, impofed by a conquer- or, affected the people (not reflecting upon their decreafe in population) fo much, that they prepared to fly the country; from which it immediately would have followed, that all Egypt would have lain de folate and uncultivated, and all Arabia been ftarved. They were perfectly acquainted with their ancient mea- fure, and it is probable that Omar made an exceflive addi- tion by the new Milometers which he had erected ; fo that faith being thereby broken between the government and peo- ple, the Egyptians fet about watching the Nile upon the Milo- meter with its new meafure, as the only way of being inform- ed when poverty or famine was to overtake them. This being 3 told O ////;?/., Ret Son-im J'i//'//i,'i..i 'J),t ■'■■■' , ,■/{.: THESOURCEOFTHENILE. 691 told to Omar, he ordered the new Milometer to be demolifli- ed ; but as it had been part of the complaint to him, that their counting the divifions of the Mikeas * was the reafon why the people were kept in continual terror, he fhut up the accefs to Chriilians, and that prohibition continues in Cairo to this day ; and, inftead of permitting ocular infpec- tion, he ordered the daily increafe to be proclaimed, but in a manner fo unintelligible, that the Egyptians in general no longer underttood it, nor do they underftand it now; for, be- ginning at a given point, which was not the bottom of the Nilometer, he went on, telling the increafe by fubtra&ing from the upper divifion; fo that as nobody knew the lower point from which he began, although they might compre- hend how much it had rifen fince the crier proclaimed its increafe, yet they never could know the height of the water that was in the Nilometer when the proclamation began, nor what the divifion was to which it had afcended on the pillar. To underftand this, let us premife, that, on the point of the ifland Rhoda, between Geeza and Cairo, near the middle of the river, but nearer to Geeza, is a round tower, and in that an apartment, in the middle of which is a very neat well, or ciftern, lined with marble, to which the Nile has free accefs, through a large opening like an embrafure, the bottom of the well being on the fame level with the bottom of the river. In the middle of this well rifes a thin column, as far as I can remember, of eight faces of blue and white marble, to the foot of which, if you are permitted to defcend, 4 S 2 you Oi Nilometer. 692 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER you are then on the fame plane with the foot of the column and bottom of the river. This pillar is divided into 20 peeks, called Draa El Belledy, of 22 inches each*. The two lowermofT peeks arc not divided at all, but are left absolutely without mark, to ftand for the quantity of fludge the water depofits there, and which occupies the place of water. Two peeks are then divided on the right hand into 24 digits each ;• then, on the left, four peeks are divided each into 24 digits ; then, on the right, four; and, on the left, another four : again, four on the right, which complete the number of 18 peeks from the firlt divilion marked on the pillar each of 22 inches. The whole, mark- ed and unmarked, amounts to 36A feet Englifli. On the night of St John, when the Nucta has fallen, that is, when they fee the rain-water from Ethiopia is fo mixed with the Nile that at Cairo it is become exhalable, and falls down in dews upon the earth, which till that time it ne- ver does, they then begin to cry, having five peeks of wa- ter marked on the Mikeas, and two unmarked for the iludge; of which they take no notice in the proclamation. 1 heir firil proclamation, fuppofe the Nile hath rifen 12 digits, is i2 from fix, or it wants 12 digits to be fix peeks. When it rifes three more, it is nine from fix, or, Tijfa a?n Si//e, and fo it goes on, fubtracling the digits from the upper number, without giving you any information what that fix is, or that they began to count from five, which 1 fuppofe is the af- fumed depth of the Nile before it begins to increafe. When f Vid. geometrical elevation and plan of the Mikeas. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 693 When the river has riien on the Mikeas eight pecks and 23 digits, they then call WWW am erba Tujh, i. e. one from 14, five peeks of water being left marked in the Mikeas, but only eight of augmentation that has rifen upon the column, according to the divifions, which make in all 13 peeks and 23 digits, which wants one from being nine of augmenta- tion, and that being added, they cry Wafad Ulldh, which ob- liges the country to the payment of the meery. Again, fuppofe 17 peeks, or cubits, and 23 digits to Hand on the column, the cry is Wahddam temen T?//Ij, i. e. one from 18, and, upon this being filled, and the divifions complete by a cer- tain day in Auguft, the next is AJloarcen, 20, or, men Jibbed alia Jibbed from mountain to mountain, that is, 1 8 peeks mark- ed on the pillar, and two unmarked at the foot of it, fup- pofed to be covered with mud. All the land of Egypt is then fitted for cultivation ; the great canal at Manfoura, and feveral others, are opened, which convey the water in- to the defert, and hinder any further ilagnation on the fields, though there is dill a great part of the water to come from Lt! iopia, but which would not drain foon enough to lit the land for tillare, were the inundation fullered to go on. Now, from thefe 16 peeks the Wafaa Ullah if we deduce 5, which were in the well, and marked on the column when the crier began, there will have been but 1 1 peeks of rife as a minimum, which full made the meery due, or 15, de- ducing 5 from 20, the maximum, men Jibbel, alia Jibbel, the i.xreafe that fits all t.gypt for cultivation, after which is lofs and danger. Therefore, fuppofe the 16 peeks on the medal of Hadrian to have been the minimum or fifcal term, we xnuft infer, that the fame quantity of inundation produced the 694 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER the Wafaa Ullab or payment of the meery, in Hadrian's time, that it does at this day, and confequcntly the land of E- gypt has not increafed fince his time, that is, in the laft 1600 years. As a fnmmary of the whole relating to this periodical inundation of the Nile, Ifhall here deliver my opinion, which I think, as it is founded upon ancient hiftory, confonant to that of intermediate times, and, invincibly eitablifhed by modern observation, can never be overturned by any argu- ment whatever. And this I fhall do as fhortiy as pomble, left, having anticipated it in part by reflections explanatory of the narrative, it may at firfl light have the appearance of repetition. It is agreed on all hands, that Egypt, in early ages, had water enough to overflow the ground that compofed it. It was then a narrow valley as it is now ; having been early the feat of the arts, crowded with a multitude of people, en- riched by the moft flouriihing and profitable trade, and its numbers mpplied and recruited when needful by the im- menfe nations to the louthward of it, having grain and all the neceffaries and luxuries of life (oil excepted) for the great multitude which it fed, Egypt was averfe to any communication with Grangers till after the foundation of Alexandria. The firft princes, after the building of Memphis, finding the land turn broader towards the Delta, whereas before it had been a narrow ftripe confined between mountains ; o >- ferving alfo that they had great command of water for fit- ting their land for cultivation, nay, that great part of it ran to THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 69S to wafte without profit, which muft have been the cafe, fince it is Co at this day: obferving likewile, that the fuperabun- dance of water in the Nile did harm, and that the neigh- bouring fandy plains of Libya needed nothing but a judi- cious di'tribution of that water, to make it equal to the land of Egypt in fertility, and furpafs it in the variety of natural productions, applied themfelves very early to dig- ging large lakes*, that, preferving a degree of level fumcient, all the year long watered the dry deferts of Libya like fo many fruitful mowers. Geometry, architecture, and all the mechanic arts of thofe times, were employed to accomplifh thofe defigns. Thefe canals and vaft works communicated one with another to imprifon the water, and fet it again at liberty at proper times. We may be fatisfied this was obferved attentively all the time of the dynafties, or reigns of the Egyptian prints. Af- ter the acceffion of the Ptolemies, who were {hungers, the multitude of inhabitants had greatly decreaied. There was no occafion for works to water lands that were not peopled; fo far as they were neceiFary for cities, gardens, and plea- fure -grounds, they were always kept up. The larger and more extenfive conduits, dykes, and flukes, though they were not ufed, were protected by their own folidity and ftrength from fudden ruin. Egypt, now confined within its ancient narrow valley, had water enough to keep it in cul- ture, and make it flill the granary of the inhabited world. When * We know that thefe lakes were dug, and in ufe as early as Mofes's time. Exod. chap vii. ver. 19. chap. viii. ver. 5. i96 TRAVELS TO DTSC6VER When the ancient race of the Ptolemies ended, a fcene of war and confufion, and bad government at home, was fucceeded by a worfe under foreigners abroad. The num- ber of its inhabitants was Mill greatly decreafed, and the val- ley I* ad yet a quantity of water enough to fit it for annual culture. In the reign of the fecond emperor after the Roman con- queft, Petronius Arbiter, a man well known for taite and learning, was governor of Egypt. He faw with regret the decay of the magnificent works of the ancient native Egyptian princes. His fagacity penetrated the ufefulnefs and propriety of thofe works. He faw they had once made Egypt populous and flounihing. Like a good citizen and fubject of the ftate he ferved, and from a humane and ra- tional attachment to that which he governed, he hoped to v make it again as ilouriming under the new government as it had been under the old. Like a man of fenfe, and mailer of his fubject, he laughed at the datlardly fpirit of the modern Egyptians, anxious and trembling left the Nile fhould not overflow land enough to give them bread, when they had the power in their hands to procure plenty in abundance for fix times the number of the people then in Egypt. To fhew them this, he repaired their ancient works, raifed their banks, refitted their fluices, and by thus imprifoning, as I may fay, the inundation at a proper time in the beginning, he over- flowed all Egypt with S peeks of water, as fully, and as ef- fectually, as to the purpofes of agriculture, as before and fince it hath been with i 6 ; and did not open the fluices to allow the water to run and wafle in the defert (where there was now no longer any inhabitants), till the land of the valley of Egypt had been fo well watered as only to need i that THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 697 that the inundation mould retire in time to leave the far- mer the ground firm enough for plowing and fowing. Let any one read what I have already quoted from Stra- bo; it is juft what I have here repeated, but in fewer, words. Let him confider how fair an experiment this of Petronius was, that by re-eftablifhing the works of Maoris, and putting the inundation to the fame profit that Mseris did, he found the fame quantity of water overflow the fame quantity of ground, and confequently, that the land of Egypt had not been railed an inch from Maris's time to that of Petronius, above 1400 years. Now the fecond part of the queflion comes, what differ- ence of meafure was made by the Saracens, and how does it now Hand, after that period, as to the fuppofed rife of a foot in a hundred years ? It is now above 1100 years fince the f firil of the Hegira, and near 900 years fince the erec- tion of the prefent Mikeas, which being equal to the period between Maris and Herodotus, and again to that between Herodotus and Julian, we fhould begin to be certain if any fuch increafe in the land has ever, from Maris to the pre- fent time, been indicated by the Nilometer. The reader will 'perhaps be furprifed, at what I am going to advance, That thofe writers, as well as their fupporters Who have pronounced fo pofitively on this fubjeet, have not furnifhed themfelves with the data which are abfolutely neceffary to folve this queftion. Quantity is only to be af- Vol. III. 4 x certained t A. C. 622. TRAVELS TO DISCOVER certained by meafure, yet none of them have fettled that/ only medium of. judging.. The Mikeas, or. pillar, is the fub« jecl to be meafured, and they are not yet agreed within 2.0 feet of its extreme height, nor about the divifion of any part of it. As this aceufation appears to be a ftrong one; I mail fct down the proof for the reader's confideration, that it may not be fuppofed I mean to criticife improperly^ or to do any author injuftice,.. And firflofthe Mikeas. Mr Thomas Humes, a gentle-* man quoted by * Dr Shaw, who had been a great many years a factor at Cairo, fays, that the. Mikeas is 58. feet Eng-* lifh in height. Now, there is really no reafon why fuch an- enormous pillar fhould have been built, as the Nile would drown all Cairo before it was to rife to this height ; accord-" ingly, as we have feen, its height is not To much by near 22 feet. Dr Perry f next, who has wrote largely upon the fub- ject, fays, the Mikeas, or column, is divided into 24 peeks, and each peek or cubit is 24 inches nearly. Dr Pococke $j who travelled at the fame time, agrees in the divifion of 24. peeks, but fays that theie peeks are unequal.; The 16 low- er he fuppofes are- 21. inches, the 4 next, 24 inches, and the uppermoft, 22. So that one of thefe gentlemen makes the Mikeas 43 feet, which is above fix feet more than the truth, and the other 48, which is above 1 1 ; befides the fecond error which Dr Pococke has committed, by faying the divi- fions are of three different dimenfions, when they really are not * Shjuv's Travels, chap. ii. feft. 3. p. 3S2. f Defcript. of the Eaft, vol. I. p. 256. X A View of the Levant, p. zSz. 284. 286. THESOURCEOFTHENILE. 699 not any one of them what he conceives, nor is the Mikeas divided unequally. As for Mr Humes, who had lived long at Cairo, I would by no means be thought to infinuate a doubt of his veracity : There may, in change of times, be occafions when Chriftians may be admitted to the Mikeas, and be allowed to meafure exactly. This, however, muft be with a long rod, divided and brought on purpofe, with a high ftool or fcaffbld, and this fort of preparation would be attended with much dan- er if feen in the hand of a Chriftian without, and much more if he was to attempt to apply it to the column within. At Cai- ro a man may fee or hear any thing hedefires, by the ordinary means of gold, which no Turk can withftand or refufe ; but often one villain is paid for being your guide, and another villain, his brother, pays himfelf, by informing againft you; the end is mifchicf to yourfelf, which, if you are a ftranger, generally involves alfo your friends. You are afked.What did you at the Mikeas when you know it is forbidden? and your filence after that queftion is an acknowledgement of guilt ; fentence immediately follows, whatever it maybe, and execu- tion upon it. I rather am inclined to think, that though feve- ral Chriftians have obtained admiilion to the Mikeas, very few have had the means or instruments, and fewer Hill the courage, to meafure this column exactly; which leads me ro believe, as Dr Shaw fays, he procured the number of feet in a letter from Mr Humes, that the Doctor has miilaken 58 for 38, which, in a foreign hand, is very eafily done ; it would then be 38, inftead of 58 Englifh feet, and to that number it might approach near enough, and the difference be account- ed for, from an aukward manner of meafuring with a trem- bling hand, there being then only a little more than one foot of error. 4 T 2 From 7oo TRAVELS TO DISCOVER From what I have juft now mentioned, I hope it is fuffi- ciently plain to the reader, that the length and divifion of the column in the Mikeas, by which the quantity of water, and confequently the increafe of the foil, was to be determin- ed, was utterly unknown to thofe travellers who had un- dertaken this mode of determining it. I shall now inquire, whether they were better inftruct- ed in the length of that meafure, which, after the Sa- racen conquelt, was introduced into the Nilometer, of Geeza, where it has remained unaltered fince the year 245 ? Dr Shaw introduces the confideration of this fubjecl: by an enumeration of many different peeks, feven of which he quotes from Arabian authors, as being then in ufe. Firit, the Homarams if digit of the common cubit. 2. The Ha- famean, or greater peek, of 24 digits. 3. The Belalasan, lefs than the Hafamean. 4. The black cubit lefs than the Bela- lean 2| digits. 5. The Joflippamn f of a digit lefs than the black cubit. 6. The Chord, or Afaba, i| digit lefs than the black peek. 7. The Maharanius, 2f digits lefs than the black cubit*. Now, I will appeal to any one to what all this information amounts, when I am not told the length of the common peek to which he refers the reft, as being i\ digit, or 2 digits more or lefs. He himfelf thinks that the meafuring peek is the Stambouline peek, but then, for com- putation's fake, he takes a peek of his own invention, being a medium of 4 or 5 guetfes, and fixes it at 25 inches, for which he has no authority but his own imagination. I WILL * Shaw, p. 380. 381. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 701 1 will not perplex the reader more with the different meafnres of thefe peeks, between the Hafamean and great peek of Kalkafendas, which is 18 inches, and the black peek, a model of which Dr Bernard* has given us from an Arabic MS. at Oxford, the difference is 10 inches. The firft being 18 inches equal to the Samian peek, the other 284- inches, and from this difference we may judge, joined to the un- certainties of the height and divifions of the Mikeas, how impoffible it is for us to determine the increafe of 12 inches in a hundred years.. As the generality of writers have fixed upon the Con- ftantinople, or Stambouline p =ek, for the meafure of the Mi- keas, in which choice they have erred, we will next feek what is the meafure of the Stambouline peek, and whether they have in this article been better informed. M. de Maillet, French conful at Cairo, fays, that this peek is equal to 2 French feet, or very nearly 26 inches of our meafure : and, to add to this another miftake, he ftates, that by this peek the Mikeas is meafured ; and, for the completing of the confufion, he adds, that the Nile muft rife 48 French feet before it covers all their lands. What he means by all their lands is to very little purpofe to inquire, for he would probably have been drowned in his clofet in which he made thefe computations, long before he had feen the Nile at that height, or near it. Without, then, wandering longer in this extraordinary confufion, which I have only ftated to fhew that a traveller 4 may * Defcript. de l'Egypte, p. 60. ■jo* TRAVELS TO DISCOVER may differ from Dr Shaw, and yet be right, and that this writer, however learned he may be, cannot, for want of infoimation, be competent to folve this queftion which he fo much infifts upon, I ihall now, with great fubmimon to tne judgment of my reader, endeavour to explain, in as few words as poilible, how the real Hate of the matter ftands, and he will then apply it as he pleafes. There was a very ingenious gentleman whom I met with at Cairo, M. Antes, a German by birth, and of the Mo- ravian perfuafion, who, both to open to himfelf more freely the opportunities of propagating his religious tenets, and to gratify his own mechanical turn, rather than from a view of gain, to which all his fociety are (as he was) perfectly indifferent, exercifed the trade of watch-maker at Cairo. This very worthy and fagacious young man was often my unwearied and ufeful partner in many inquiries and trials, as to the manner of executing fome inftruments in the moft compendious form for experiments propofe,d to be made in my travels. By his affiftance, I formed a rod of brafs, of half an inch fquare, and of a thicknefs which did not eafily warp, and would not alter its dimenfions unlefs with a violent heat. Upon the three faces of this brafen rod we traced, with good glafTes and dividers, the meafure of three different peeks, then the only three known in Cairo, the exact length of which was taken from the ftandard model furnifhed me by the Cadi. The firft was the Stambouline, or Conftantinople peek, exactly 23 1 inches ; the fecond, the Hendaizy, of i\-J- inches ; and the third the peek El JBelledy, jq? 22 inches, all Englifh meafure. 2 It THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. joy. It was natural to fuppofe, that, after knowing v we do, tliat no alteration has been made in the Mikeas fince the 245th year of the Hegira, that the peek of Conftantinople, a fo- reign meafure, was probably then not known, nor introdu- ced into Egypt ; nor, till after the conquer! of Sultan Se- lim, in the year 15 16, was it likely to be the peek with which the Mikeas was meafured. It did not, as I conceive, exift in the 245th of the Hegira, though, even if it had, its dimenfions may have been widely different from thofe fix- ed upon by the number of writers -whofe authority we have quoted, but who do not agree. It was not likely to be the Hendaizy peek either, for this, too, was a foreign meafure, originally from the ifland of Meroe, and well known to the Egyptians in Upper Egypt,; but not at all to the Saracens their prefent matters. The peek, El Belledy, the meafure in common. ufe, and known to all the Egyptians, was the proper cubit to, be em-ployed in an operation which con- cerned a. whole nation,, and was, therefore, the meafure made ufe of in the divifion of the Mikeas, for that column, as I have faid, is divided equally into peeks, or draas, called . Draa El Belledy ', confifting of 22 inches; and each of thefe: peeks is again divided into 24 digits, . A very ingenious author; who treats of the particular cdrcumftances of thofe times, in his MS. called Km el Moha- derat, fays, that the inhabitants of Seide counted 24 peeks on their Nilometer, when there were 18 peeks marked as the rife of the water upon the Mikeas at Rhoda ; and this ihews perfectly two things : Firft, That they knew the whole fe- cret of counting, there both by the marked and unmarked part of the column ; for the peek of the Mikeas being 22: inches Engliih, it was, by confequence, four inches larger each. 704 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER each peek than the Samian peek ; fo that if, to 20 peeks oT Seide, you add twenty times four inches, which is 80, the difference of the two peeks, when divided by 18, gives four, which, added to the 20 peeks on the column, make 24 peeks, the number fought. Secondly, That this obfervation in the Han el Mohaderat fufficiently confirms what I have faid both of the length of the column and length of the peek ; that the former is 20 peeks in height, and that the meafure, by which this is afcertained, is the peek El Belledy of 22 inches, as it appears on the brafs rod, four inches longer than the Samian peek, and confequently is not the peek of Stambouline, nor any foreign meafune whatever. A traveller thinks he has attained to a great deal of precifion, when, obferving 18 peeks on the higheft diviiion of the column from its bafe, or bottom of the well, he finds it 37 feet ; he divides this by 18, and the quotient is 24 inches; when he mould divide it by 20, and the anfwer would be 22 and a fraction, the true content of the peek El Belledy, 01 peek of the Mikeas. This erroneous divifion of his he calls the peek of the Mikeas ; and comparing it with what authors, lefs informed than himfelf, have faid, he names the Stambouline peek, and then the black peek, when it really is his own peek, the creature of his own er- ror or inadvertence ; but, as he does not know this, it is handed down from traveller to traveller, till unfortunately it is adopted by fome man of reputation, and it then be- comes, as in this cafe, a fort of literary crime to any man, from the authority of his own eyes and hands, to difpute it. TVIr THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 705 Mr Pococke makes two very curious and fenfible remarks in point of fact, but of which he does not know the reafon. u The Nile, he fays, in the beginning, turns red, and fome- times green ; then the waters are unwholefome. Hefuppofes that the fourcc of the Nile beginning to flow plentifully, the waters at firft bring away that green or red filth which may be about the lakes at its rife, or at the rife of thefe fmall rivers that flow into it, near its principal fource ; for, though there is fo little water in the Nile, when at loweft, that there is hardly any current in many parts of it, yet it cannot be fuppofed that the water mould ftagnate in the bed of the Nile, fo as to become green. Afterwards the water becomes very red and ftill more turbid, and then it begins to be wholefome V The true reafon of this appearance is from thofe immenfe marfhes fpread over the country about Nareaand Caffa, where there is little level, and where the water accumulates, and is ftagnant, before it overflows into the river Abiad, which ri- fes there. The overflowing of thefe immenfe marfhes carry firft that difcoloured water into Egypt, then follows, in Abyf- finia, the overflowing of the great lakeTzana, through which the Nile paffes, which, having been ftagnated and without rain for fix months, under a fcorching fun, joins its putrid waters with the firft. There are, moreover, very few rivers in Abyflinia that run after November, as they Hand in pro- digious pools below, in the country of the Shangalla, and afford drink for the elephant, and habitation and food for die hippopotamus. Thefe pools likewife throw off their ftagnant water into the Nile on receiving the firft rains ; Vol. III. 4 U at * Pococke. vol. i. p. 199. 200. 7o6 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER at laft the rivers, marfhes, and lakes, being refrefhed by lhowers, (the rain becoming conftant) and parting through the kingdom of Sennaar, the foil of which is a red bole ; This mixture, and the moving fands of the deferts, fall in- to the current, and precipitate all the vifcous and putrid fubflances, which cohere and float in the river ; and thence (as Pococke has well obferved) the fign of the Nile being wholefome, is not when it is clear and green, but when mingled with frefh water, and after precipitation it be- comes red and turbid, and ftains the water of the Mediter- ranean. The next remark of Mr Pococke * is equally true. It has been obferved, fays he, that after the rainy feafon is over, the Nile fallen, and the whole country drained from inundation, it has begun again to rife ; and he gives an, inflance of that in December 1 737, when it had a fudden in- creafe, which alarmed all Egypt, where the received opinion was that it prefaged calamities. This alfo is faid to have happened in the time of Cleopatra, when their government was fubverted, their ancient race of kings extinguifhed. in the perfon of that princefs, and Egypt became a province to the Romans. The reader will not expect, in thefe enlightened times, that I fhould ufe arguments to convince him, that this ri- ling of the Nile had nothing to do with the extinction of the race of the Ptolemies, though popular preachers and prophets have always made ufe of thefe fortunous events to confirm the vulgar in their prejudices. The * Pococke, voJ. i.p. 201. THESOURCEOFTHENILE. 707 The rains, that ceafc in Abyffmia about the S'th of Sep- tember, leave generally a fickly feafon in the low country; but other rains begin towards the end of October, in the Ia.il days of the Ethiopic month Tekemt, which continue moderately about three weeks, and end the 8th of Novem- ber, or the 1 2th of the Ethiopic month Hedar. All ficknefs and epidemical difeafes then difappear, and the 8th of that month is the feaft of St Michael, the day the king marches, and his army begins their campaign ; but the effect of thefe fecond rains feldom make any, or a very fhort appearance in Egypt, all the canals being open. But thefe are the rains upon which depend their latter crops, and for which the Agows, at the fource of the Nile, pray to the river, or to the genius rending in the river. We had plentiful mowers both in going and coming to that province, efpccially in our journey out. Whenever thefe rains prove exceffive, as in fome particular years it feems they do, though but very rarely, the land-floods, and thofe from the marfhes, falling upon the ground, already much hardened and broken into chafms, by two months intenfe heat of the fun, run vio- lently into the Nile without finking into the earth. The confequence is this temporary fifing of the Nile in Decem- ber, which is as unconnected with the good and bad crops of Egypt, as it is on thofe of Paleftine or Syria. The quantity of rain that falls in Ethiopia varies great- ly from year to year, as do the months in which it falls. The quantity that fell, during 1770,111 Gondar, between the vernal equinox and the 8th of September, through a funnel of one foot Englifh in diameter; was 35.55$ inches ; and, in 4U2 1771, 7o8 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER 1 77 1, the quantity that fell in the fame circumference was 41.355 inches in the fame fpace *. In 1770, Auguft was the rainy month; in 1771 July. Both thefe years the people paid the meery, and the Wafaa Ullah was in Auguft. When July is the rainy month, the rains generally ceafe for fome days in the beginning of Auguft, and then a prodigious deal falls in the latter end of that month and the firft week of September. In other years, July and Auguft are the violent rainy months, whilft June is fair. And laftly, in others, May, June, July, Auguft and the firft .week of September. Now we mall fuppofe (which is the moft common cafe of all) that every month from June doubles its rain. The Wafaa Ullah generally takes place a- bout the 9th of Auguft, the tribute being then due, and all attention to the Mikeas is abandoned at 14 real peeks, the Caliih is then cut, and the water let down to the Delta.. Now thefe 14 peeks are not a proof how much water there is to overflow the land ; for fuppofing nine days for its paffage from Ethiopia, then the 9th of Auguft receives at Cairo no later rains than thofe that have fallen the ift of Auguft in Ethiopia, and from that date till the 17th of September, the Nile increafes one third of its whole inunda- tion, which is never fufFered to appear on the Mikeas, but is turned down to the lakes in the Delta, as I fuppofe it al- ways has been ; fo that the quantity of water which falls in Ethiopia hath never yet been afcertained, and never can be by the Mikeas, nor can it ever be known what quantity of £ee. Table, or Regifter of Rain, that fell in thefe years, inferted at the end of this 7?lum«. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 709 of water comes in to Egypt, or what quantity of ground it is fumcient to overflow, unlefs the dykes were to be kept clofe till the Nile attained its extreme height, which would be about the 25th of September, long before which it would be over the banks and mounds, if they held in till then, or have fwept Cairo and all the Delta into the Mediterranean, and if it mould not do that, it would retire fo late from the fields as to leave the ground in no condition to be fown that yean I do not comprehend what idea other travellers have formed of the beginning of the inundation of the Nile, as they feem to admit that the banks are not overflowed; and this is certainly the cafe ; becaufe the cities and villages are built there as fecurely as on the higheit part of f'gypt, and even when the Nile has rifen to its greatefl height they ftiLl are obliged to water thofe fpots with machines. In another part of the work it is explained how the califhes carry the water upon the lands, approaching always to the banks as the river rifes in proportion, and thefe califhes being deri- ved from the Nile at right angles with the flream, and carry- ing the water by the inclination of the ground, in a di- rection different from the courfe of the river, the water is perfectly flagnated at the foot of the hills, till accumulated as the flream rifes, it moves in a contrary direction back- wards again, and approaches its banks. But when the in- undation is fo great that the back-water comes in contact with the current of the Nile, by known laws it mufl par- take the fame motion with it, and fo all Egypt become one torrent. Br 7*0 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER Dr Shaw, indeed % fays, that there feems to be a defcent from the banks to the foot 6f the mountains, but this he confiders as an optic fallacy; I with he had told us upon what principle of optics ; but if it was really fo, how comes it that the banks are every year dry, when the foot of the mountains is at fame time under inundation ; or, in other words, what is the reafon of that undifputed fact, that the foot of the mountains is laid under water in the begin- ning of the rivers riling, while the ground which they cul- tivate by labour near the banks, cannot fupply itfelf from the river by machines, till near the height of the inunda- tion ? thefe facts will not be contravened by any traveller, who has ever been in Upper Egypt ; but if this had been ad- mitted as truth inftead of an optic fallacy, this queftion would have immediately followed. If the land of Egypt at the foot of the mountains, is the loweft, the firft over- flowed, and the longeff. covered with water, and often the only part overflowed at all, whence can it arife that it is not upon a level with the banks of the river if it is true that the land of Egypt receives additional height every year by the mud from Abyflinia depoflted by the flream ? and this queftion would not have been fo eafily anfwer- ed. The Nile for thefe thirty years has but once fo failed as to occafion dearth, but never in that period fo as to produce famine in Egypt. The redundance of the water fweeping every thing before it, has thrice been the caufe, not of dearth, but of famine and emigration ; but careleflhefs, I 4 believe, * Shaw's Travels, [t£t. 4. p. 401. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 711 believe, hath been, the occafion of both, and very often the malice of the Arabs ; for there are in Egypt, from Siout down- wards, great remains of ancient works, vaft lakes, canals, and large conduits for water, deftined by the ancients to keep this river under controul, ferving as refervoirs to fupply a fcanty year, and as drains, or outlets, to prevent the over abundance of water in wet years, by fpreading it in the thirfly fands of Libya to the great advantage of the Arabs, rather than letting it run towafte in the Mediterranean. The mouths of thefe im- menfe drains being out of repair, in a fcanty year, contribute by their evacuation to make it ftill fcantier by not retaining water, and if after a dearth they are well fecured, or raifed too high, and a wet feafon follows, they then occafion a deftructive inundation. I hope I have now fatisfied the reader, that Egypt was never an arm of the fea, or formed by fediments brought down in the Nile, but that it was created with other parts of the globe at the fame time, and for the fame purpofes ; and we are warranted to fay this, till we receive from the hand of Providence a work of fuch imperfection, that its destruction can be calculated from the very means by which it was firft formed, and which were the apparent fources of its beauty and pre-eminence. Egypt, like other countries, will perifh by x.hefut of Him that made it, but when, or in what manner, lies hid where it ought to be, inacceflible toa the ufelefs, vain inquiries, and idle fpeculations of man. Sj&s*= ===== =i^i^ CHAP. 7i.2 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER ^^r^^= CHAP. XVIII. Inquiry about the PoJJibility of changing the Courfe of the Nile — Caufe of the Nutla. IT has been thought a problem that merited to be confider- ed, Whether it was poflible to turn the current of th< N le into the Red 8ea, and thereby to famifh Egypt ? I think the queftion mould more properly be, Whether the water of the Nile, running into Egypt, could be fo dimmiihed, or divert* ed, that it mould never be fufficient to prepare that country for annual cultivation? Now to this it is anfwered, That there feems to be no doubt but that it is poflible, becaufe the Nile, and all the rivers that run into it, and all the rains that fwell thofe rivers, fall in a country fully two miles a- bove the level of the fea ; therefore, it cannot be denied, that there is level enough to divert many of the rivers into the Bed ea, the Indian, and Atlantic Oceans, or, perhaps, flill eafier, by turning the courfe of the river Abiad till it meets the level of the Niger, or pafs through the defert into the Mediterranean. x Lalitala, THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 713 Lalibala, as we have already fesn, attempted the for- mer method with great appearance of fuccefs ; and this prince, to whom the accidental circumflances of the time had given extraordinary powers, and who was otherwife a man of great capacity and refolution, might, if he had perfe- vered, completed his purpofe, the thing being poflible, that is, no law of nature againft it, and all difficulties are ^nly relative to the powers veiled in thole who are engaged in the undertaking. Alexander the Great would have luc- ceeded — his father Philip would have mifcarried — Lewis the XiV. would perhaps have accomplifhed it, as eafily as he united the two feas by the canal of Languedoc, and with the fame engineers ; but he is the only European prince of whom this could have been expected with any degree of probability. Alphonso Albuquerque, viceroy of India, is faid to have wrote frequently to the king of Portugal, Don Emanuel, to fend him fome pioneers from Madeira, people accuftom- ed to level ground, and prepare it for fugar- canes, with whofe affiltance he was to execute that ■enterprife of turn- ing the Nile into the Red Sea, and fa miming Egypt. His fon mentions this very improbable ftory in his * father's commentaries ; and he fays further, that he imaginesitmight have been done, becaufe it was a known fact that the Arabs in Upper Egypt, when in rebellion againft the Soldan, ufed to interrupt the courie of the canal between Cofleiron the Red Sea, and Kenna in Egypt. Vol. III. 4 X Tellez * A!ph. d'Albucpercpe, Comment, lib. iv. cap. 7. 714 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER Tellez and le Grande, mentioning the two opinions of the father and the fon upon this fubject, give great praife to the fon at the expence of the father, but without reafon. In the firft place, we have feen that the utmofl exertion Don Emanuel could make was to fend 400 men to afiift the king of Abyffinia, whofe country was then almofl: con- quered by the Turks and Moors. It was not then from India we were to expect the execution of fo arduous an underta- king. And as to the fecond, the younger Albuquerque is mif- taken egregio-ufly in point of fact, for there never was a canal between Coffeir and Kenna, the goods from the Red Sea were tranfported by a caravan, and are fo yet. We have feen, in the beginning of this work, the account of my travelling thither from Kenna ; this intercourse probably was often interrupted by the Arabs in the days he mentions, and fo it is ftill ; but it is the caravan, not the canal, that is ftopt by the Arabs, for no canal ever exilted.. The fum of all this ftory is, a long and violent persecution followed the conqueft of Egypt by the Saracens, who were ac- euftomed to live in tents, which, with their diHike to the Chriflian churches, made them deftroy all the buildings of flone, as alio perfecute the mafons, whom they considered as being employed in the advancement of idolatry : thefe un- happy workmen, therefore, fled in numbers to Lalibala, an Abyffinian prince of their own religion, who employed them in many flupendous works for diverting the Nile into the Red Sea, or the Indian Ocean, which I have already deferibed, and which exift entire to this day*. This * Vol.. I. b. ii. chaE. 8. / THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 71$ This idea, indeed, had fubfifted as long as the royal fa- mily lived in the fouth part of Abyflinia, in Shoa, in the neighbourhood, and fometimes on the very fpot where the attempt was made. When the court, however, removed northward, and the princes, no longer confined in Gefhen, (a mountain in Amhara) were imprifoncd, as they now are, in Wechne, in BelefTen, near Gondar, thefe tranfaclions of remote times and places were gradually forgot, and often mifreprefented ; though, fo far down as the beginning of this century, we find Tecla Haimanout I. * (king of Abyflinia) expoftulating by a letter with the bafha of Cairo upon the miirdsr of the French envoy M. du Roule, and threateningthe Turkiih regency, that, if they perfifled in fuch mifbehaviour, he would make the Nile the inftrument of his vengeance, the keys of which were in his hand, to give them famine or plenty, as they fhould deferve of him. In my time, no iea- Jfible man in Abyflinia believed that fuch a thing was pof- iible, and few that it had ever been attempted. ■ As for the opinion of thofe, that the Nile may be turned into the Red Sea from Nubia or Egypt, it deferves no an- fwer. What could be the motive of fuch an undertaking ? Would the Egyptians fufFer fuch an operation to be carried on in their own country for the fake of ftarving themfelves ? and if the country had been taken from them by an enemy, flill it could not be the intereft of that conqueror to let the inhabitants,, now become his fubjeifts, perifh, and much lefs to reduce them to the neceflity of fo doing by fuch an un- dertaking. 4X2 Much * See this fetter in the life of that prince. 7i(5 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER Much has been wrote about a miraculous drop, or dew, called Gotta, or Nucla, which falls in Egypt precifely on St John's day, and is believed to be the peculiar gift of that faint; it flops the plague, caufes dough to leaven, or ferment, and announces a fpeedy and plentiful inunda- tion. I hope my reader will not expecT: that I mould enter into the difcuflion of the part St John is thought to have in this event, my bufmefs is only with natural caufes. Memphis and Alexandria, and all the ancient cities of Lo- wer Egypt, ftand upon cifterns, into which the Nile, upon its overflowing, was admitted, and there remained till it had depofited all its fediment, and became fit for drinking. Thefe cifterns are now full of filth; though in difrepair, the water, . when the Nile is high infinuates itfelf into them through the broken conduits. In February and March the fun is on its approach to the zenith of one extremity of Egypt, and of courfe has a very confiderable influence upon the other. The Nile being now fallen low, the water in the cifterns putrifies, and the river itfelf has loft all its volatile and finer parts by the continued aclion of a vertical fun ; fo that, inftcad of being fu-bject to evaporation, it becomes daily more and more inclined to putrefaction. About St John's day * it receives a plentiful mixture of the frefh and fallen rain from Ethiopia, which dilutes and refreshes the almoft corrupted river, and the fun near * la Abyffima, the 24th June. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 7: near at hand exerts its natural influence upon the water, which now is become light enough to be exhaled, though it has ftill with it a mixture of the corrupted fluid, fo that it rifes but a fmall height during the fir A few days of the in- undation, then falls down and returns to the earth in plenti- ful and abundant dews ; and that this is really fo, I am per- fuaded from what I obferved myfelf at Cairo. My quadrant was placed on the flat roof, or terrafs, of a gentleman's houfe where I was taking obfervations ; I had gone down to fupper, and foon after returned, when I found the brafs limb of the quadrant covered with fmall drops of dew, which were turned to a perfect green, or copperas colour; and this green had fo corroded the brafs in an hour's time, that the marks remained on the limb of the quadrant for fix months ; and the cavities made by the corrofion were plainly difcernible through a micro- fcope. . It is in February, March, or April only, that the plague begins in Egypt. I do not believe it an endemial difeale, I ra- ther think it comes from Conftantinople with merchandife, or paffengers, and at this time of the year that the air ha- ving attained a degree of putridity proper to receive it by the long abfence of dews, the infection is thereto joined, and continues to rage till the period I jull fpoke of, when it is fuddenly flopped by the dews occafioned by a refrefhing mix- ture of rain-water, which is poured out into the Nile at the beginning of the inundation. . The firfl and moil remarkable fign of the change brought about in the air is the fudden flopping of the plague a: 2 - Saint ' 7i8 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER Saint John's day; every perfon, though fhut up from fociety for months before, buys, fells, and communicates with his neighbour without any fort of apprehenfion ; and it was ne- ver known, as far as I could learn upon fair inquiry, that one fell fick of the plague after this anniverfary : it will be obferved I don't fay died; there are, I know, examples of that, though I believe but few; the plague is not always a difeafe that fuddenly terminates, it often takes a confider- able time to come to a head, appearing only by fymptoms ; fo that people taken ill, under the moft putrid influence of the air, linger on, ilruggling .with the difeafe which has already got fuch hold that they cannot recover ; but what I fay, and mean is, that no perfon is taken ill of the plague fo as to die after the dew has fallen in June ; and no fymp- toms of the plague are ever commonly feen in Egypt but in thofe fpring months already mentioned, the greater part of which are totally deftitute of moiiture. I think the inflance I am going to give, which is univer- fally known, and cannot be denied, brings this fo home that no doubt can remain of the origin of this dew, and its powerful effects upon the plague. The Turks and Moors are known to be predeflinarians ; they believe the hour of man's death is fo immutably fixed that nothing can either advance or defer it an inftant. Se- cure in this principle, they expofe in the market-place, im- mediately after Saint John's day, the clothes of the many thoufands that have died during the late continuance of the plague, all which imbibe the moid air of the evening and the morning, are handled, bought, put on, and worn without any apprehenfion of danger; and though thefe i coufiA THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 719 confift of furs, cotton, filk, and woollen cloths, which are fluffs the moft retentive of the infection, no accident hap- pens to thofe who wear them from this their happy con- fidence. I shall here fum up all that I have to fay relating to the river Nile, with a tradition handed down to us by Herodo- tus, the father of ancient hiftory, upon which moderns lefs inftru^ted have grafted a number of errors. Herodotus * fays, that he was informed by the fecretary of Minerva's treafury, that one half of the water of the Nile flowed due north into Egypt, while the other half took an oppofite courfe, and flowed diredUy fouth into Ethiopia. The fecretary was probably of that country himfelf, and feems by his observation to have known more of it than all the ancients together. In fact, we have feen that, between 1 30 and 140 N. latitude,*the Nile, with all its tributary itrcams, which have their rife and courfe within the tropical rains, falls down into the flat country, (the kingdom of Sennaar), which is more than a mile lower than the high country in AbyiTmia, and thence, with a little inclination, it runs into- Egypt.. Again, in lat. 90 in the kingdom of Gingero, the Zebee runs fouth, or fouth-eait, into the inner Ethiopia, as do ajfo many other rivers, and, as I have heard from the natives of that country, empty themfelves into a lake, as thofe on the north of the Line do into the lake Tzana; thence diflribiwe their * Herod. lib. ii. p. 98. feft.22. 72o TRAVELS TO DISCOVER their waters to the eaft and to the weft. Thefe become the heads of great rivers that run through che interior cqutl- tries of Ethiopia (correfponding to the fea-coaft or Melinda and Mombaza) into the Indian Ocean, whilft, on the weft- ward, they are the origin of the valt i i; s that fall into the Atlantic, palling through Benin and Congo, fouthward of the river Gambea, and the Sierraleona. In fhort, the periodical rains from the tropic of Capricorn to the Line, being in equal quantity with thofe that fall between the Line and the tropic of Cancer, it is plain, that if the land of Ethiopia floped equally from the Line fouth- ward and northward, half of the rains that fall on each fide would go north, and half fouth, but as the ground from 5* N. declines all fouthward, it follows that the river which runs to the fouthward mull be equal to thofe that run to the northward, plus the rain that falls in the 50 north latitude, where the ground begins to flope to the fouthward, and there can be little doubt this is at lead one of the reafons why there are in the fouthern continent fo many rivers larger than the Nile that run both into the Indian and At- lantic Oceans. From this very true and fenfible relation handed to us by Herodotus, from the authority of the fecretary or Minerva, the Nubian geographer has framed a fiction of his own, which is, that the river Nile divides itfelfinto two branch es,one of which runs into Egypt northward, and one through the country of the negroes weilward, into the Atlantic Ocean. And this opinion has been greedily adopted by M. Ludolf*, who * Vid. Ludolf in Proemio Hiftor. iEt'.-iop. i. 8. K. lib. !. cap. yiii. p. 178. L;o Africam.8 in defcrip. Africa, lib. i. C3p. < ii. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 721 who cites the authority of Leo Africanus, and that of his monk Gregory, both of them, in thefe relpeds, fully as much miftaken as the Nubian geographer himfelf. M.Ludolf, after quoting a paffage of Pliny, tells us that he had confulted the famous Bochart Upon that fubject, whether the Nile and the Niger (the river that runs through Nigritia into the Weftern Ocean) were one and the fame river ? The famous Bochart anfwers him peremptorily in the true fpirit of a fchoolman, — That there is nothing more certain than that the Niger is a part of the river Nile. With great fubmimon, however, I mull venture to fay there is not the leail founda- tion, for this allertion. Pliny feems the firfl who gave rife to it, but he fpeaks modetlly upon the fubjeet, giving his reafons as he goes along. " Nigri fluvio eadem natura, quae Nilo, calamum " & papyrum, & eafdem gignit animantes, iifdemque " temporibus augefcit. *" That it has the fame foil from which the Nile takes its colour, the water is the fame in talle, produces the fame reeds, and efpecially the papyrus; has the fame animals in it, fucli as the crocodile and hip- popotamus, and overflows at the fame feafon ; this is faying nothing but what maybe applied with equal truth to every other river between the northern tropic and the Line ; but the other two authors, the Nubian and the monk, alien each cf them a direct falfehood. The Nubian fays, that if the Nile carried all the rains that fall in Abyffinia down into Egypt, the people would not be fafe in their houfes. To this I anfwer by a matter of fact, the map of the whole Vol. III. 4 Y courfe Plin, lib. v. cap. 8. 722 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER courfe of the Nile is before the reader ; and it is plain from thence, that the whole rain in AbyfTinia muft now go, and ever has gone down into Egypt, and yet the people are very fafe in their houfes, and very feldom is the whole land of Egypt compleatly overflowed : and it is by no means lefs certain from the fame infpection, that, unlefs a river as large as the Nile, conftantly full, having its rife in countries fubject to perpetual rains, and pouring its ftream, which never decreafes, into that river, as the Abiad does at Halfaia, all the waters in Abyilinia col- lected in the Nile would not be fufhcient to pafs its fcanty ftream through the burning deferts of Nubia and the Barabra, fo as it mould be of any utility when arrived in Egypt. The next falfehood in point of fact is that of the monk Gregory, who fays that this left branch of the Nile parts from it, after having paffed the kingdom of Dongola into Nubia, after which it runs through Elvah, and fo down the defert into the Mediterranean, between the Cyrenaicum and Alexandria, Now, nrft, we know, from the authority of all antiquity, that there is not a defert more deftitute of rivers than that of the Thebaid. This want of water (not the diftance) made the voyage to the temple of Ju- piter Ammon an enterprife next to defperate, and fo wor- thy of Alexander, who never, however, met a river in his way ; had there been there fuch a ftream, there could be no doubt that the banks of it would have been fully as well inhabited as thofe of the Nile, and the Thebaid confequently no defert.. Befides the caravans, which for ages THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 723 ages paHed between Egypt and Sennaar, muft have feen this river, and drunk of it; fo muft the travellers, in the beginning of this century, Poncet and M. du Roule. They were both at Elvah ; and, paffing through the dreary deferts of Sclima, they muft have gone along its fide, and croffed it, where it parted from the Nile in their journey to Sen- naar. Whereas we know they never faw running water from the time they left the Nile at Siout in Egypt, till they fell in again with it at Mofcho, during which period they had nothing but well water, which they carried in fkins with them. The diftrid of Elvah is the Oafis Magna and Oafis Parva of the ancients; large' plentiful fprings breaking out in the middle of the burning fands, and running conftantly with- out diminution, have invited inhabitants to flock around them. Thefe conduding^off the water that fpills over the fountain by trenches, the neighbouring lands have quickly produced a plentiful vegetation : gardens and verdure are fpread on every fide, large groves of palm tree have been planted, and the overflowings of every fountain have pro- duced a little paradife, like fo many beautiful and fruitful iflands amidil an immenfe ocean. The coaft of the Mediterranean, from the Cyrenaicum or Ptolemaid (that is, the coaft from Bengazi, or Derna, to Alexandria) is well known by the {hipping of every nation ; but what pilot or paflenger ever faw this magnificent wa- tering-place in that defert coaft, where this branch of the Nile comes down into the Mediterranean ? Befides, the au- thor of this fable betrays his ignorance in the very begin- 4 Y 2 ningt 724 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER ning, where he derives, this left branch of the Nile from the principal river, and fays, that, after palling the kingdom of Dongola, it enters Nubia. Now, when it entered Don- gola it mult have already paffed Nubia, for Dongola is the capital of the Barabra, every inch of which is to the north- ward of Nubia. I do not know worfe guides in the geo- graphy of Africa than Leo Africanus and the Nubian geo- grapher. I believe them both impoftors, and the commen- tators upon, them have greatly increafed by their own con- jectures, the confufion and errors which the text has every- where occafioned. As far as I have been ever able to learn, by a very diligent and cautious inquiry,from the inhabitants of the neighbour- ing countries, 1 believe the origin of the Niger is in lat. i za north, and in long. 300 from the meridian of Greenwich nearly ; that it is compofed of various rivers falling down the fides of very high mountains, called Dyre and Tegla;. and runs ftraight wed into the heart, of Africa. I conclude alio, that this river (though it has abundant fupply from eve- ry mountain) is very much diminifhed by evaporation, run- ning in a long courfe upon the very limits of the tropical rains, when entire, under the name of Senega ; or, perhaps, when divided under thofe of Senega and Gambia, it lofes itfelf in the Atlantic Ocean. I conceive alfo, that, as Pliny fays, it has the fame tafle and natural productions with the Nile, becaufe it runs in the fame climate, and like that river owes, if not its exiflcnce, yet certainly its increafe and fui- nefs to the fame caufe, the tropical rains in the northern, .'.mifphcre failing from high mountains. I HOPE THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. ?25 I hope I have now fully exhaufted every fubjcft worthy of inquiry as to the place where the fountains of the Nile are fttuated, alio as to its courfe and various names, the different countries through which it flows, the true caufe, and every thing curious attending its inundations; and that as in old times, Caput Nili Quaarere, tofeek tbefource of the Me, was a proverb in ufe to fignify the impoffibility of an at- tempt, it may hereafter be applied, with as much reafon,to denote the inutility of any fuch undertakings. CHAP, £& TRAVELS TO DISCOVER ■Qfc«*. = ,, ,^g CHAP. XIX. Kind reception among the dgows — Their Number, Trade, Character, AFTER having given my reader fo long, though, I hope, no unentertaining lecture, it is time to go back to Woldo, whom we had left fettling our reception with the chief of the village of Geefli. We found the meafures taken by this man fuch as convinced us at once of his capa- city and attachment. The miferable Agows, affembled all around him, were too much interefted in the appearance we made, not to be exceedingly inquifitive how long our flay was to be among them. They faw, by the horfe driven be- fore us, we belonged to Fafd, and fufpected, for the fame reafon, that they were to maintain us, or, in other words, that we mould live at dilcrction upon them as long as we chofe to tarry there ; but Woldo, with great addrefs, had difpelled thefe fears almofl as foon as they were formed. * He THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 727 He informed them of the king's grant to me of the village of Geefh; that FafiTs tyranny and avarice would end that day, and another matter, like Negade Ras Georgis, was come to pafs a chearful time among them, with a refolution to pay for every labour they were ordered to perform, and purchafe all things for ready money : he added, moreover, that no military fervice was further to be exacted from them, either by the king or governor of Damot, nor from their prefent mailer, as he had no enemies. We found thefe news had circulated with great rapidity, and we met with a hearty welcome upon our arrival at the village. Woldo had afked a houfe from the Shum, who very ci- villy had granted me his own; it was juft large enough to ferve me, but we were obliged to take pofTeinon of four or five others, and we were fcarcely fettled in thefe when a fervant arrived from Fafil to intimate to the Shum his fur- rendry of the property and fovereignty of Geefli to me, in confequence of a grant from the king : he brought with him a fine, large, milk-white cow, two fheep, and two goats ; the fheep and goats I underftood were from Wel- leta Yafous. Fafil alfo fent us fix jars of hydromel, fifty wheat loaves of very excellent bread, and to this Welleta Yafous had added two middle-fized horns of excellent ftrong fpirits. Our hearts were now perfectly at eafe, and we palled a very merry evening. Strates, above all, endeavoured, with many a bumper of the good hydromel of Bure, to fubdue the devil which he had fwallowed in the inchanted water. Woldo, who had done his part to great perfection, and had reconciled the minds of all the people of the village to us, had a little apprehenfion for himfelf ; he thought he had loft credit with me, and therefore employed the fervant of Ayi<* 728 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER Ayto Aylo to defire me not to fpeak of the fafh to FafiPs fer- vant. I allured him, that, as long as 1 fa w him acting pro- perly, as he now did, it was much more probable I mould give him another fafh. on our return, than complain of the means he had ufed to get this laft. This entirely removed .all his fears, and indeed as long after as he was with u;, he every day deferved more and more our commendations. Before we went to bed I fatisiied Fafil's fervant, who had orders from Welleta Yalbus to return immediately ;, and, as he faw we did not fpafe the liquor that he brought us, he promifed to fend a frefli fupply as foon as he returned home, which he did not fail to perform the day after, Woldo was now perfectly happy ; he had no fuperior or fpy over his actions ; he had explained himfelf to the 8hum, that we fhould want fomebody to buy necefiaries to make bread for us, and to take care of the management of our houfe. We difplayed our leffer articles for barter to the Shum, and told him the moft confiderable purchafes, fuch as oxen and flieep, were to be paid in gold. He was itruck with the appearance of our wealth, and the generofity of our propofals, and told Woldo that he infifted, iince we were in his houfes, we would take his daughters for our houfe-keepers. The propofal was a moft reafonable one, and readily accepted. He accordingly fent for three in an inftant, and we delivered them their charge. The eldefl took it upon her readily, me was about fixteen years of age, of a ftature above the middle fize, but ihe was re- markably genteel, and, colour apart, her features would have made her a beauty in any country in Europe; fne was, beftdes, very fprightly ; we understood not one word of her i language, THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 729 language, though fhe comprehended very eafily the figns that we made. This nymph of the Nile was called by nick- name Irepoae, which fignifies fome animal that deftroys ■mice, but whether of the ferret or fnake kind I could not perfectly underftand ; fometimes it was one and fometimes another, but which it was 1 thought of no great import- ance. The firft and fecond day, after difpofing of fome of our flock in purchaf'es, lhe thought herlelf obliged to render us an account, and give back the refidue at night to Woldo, with a proteftation that fhe had not flolen or kept any thing to herielf. 1 looked upon this regular account- ing as an ungenerous treatment of our benefactress. I cal- led on Woldo, and made him produce a parcel that contain- ed the fiame with ch< trfi >nYmodities we hid given her ; this connied of beads, antimony^ fmalJ fciffars, knives, and large needle ; I then brought out a pacquet of the fame th it had noi been broken^ ai i her they were intended to be diifaribmed among her fi iends, and that we expected no account from her; on the contrary, that, after fhe had bellowed thcfe, to buy us neceflaries, and for any purpofes fhe pleafed, I had ftill as many more to leave her at parting, for the trouble fhe had given herfelf. I often thought the head of the little favage would have turned with the pof- feffion of fo much riches, and fo great confidence, and it was impoffible to be fo blinded, as not to fee that I had already- made great progrefs in her affections. To the number of trifles I had added one ounce of gold, value about fifty mil- lings fieri ing, which I thought would defray our expences all the time we flaid ; and having now perfectly arranged Vol. III. 4 Z the 730 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER the ceconomy of our family, nothing remained but to make the proper obfervations. The houfes are all of clay and ftraw. There was no place for fixing my clock ; I was therefore obliged to em- ploy a very excellent watch made for me by Elicott. The dawn now began, and a few minutes afterwards every body was at their doors ; all of them crowded to fee us, and we break falfed in public with very great chearfulnefs. The white cow was killed, and every one invited to his ihare of her. The Shum, prieft of the river, mould likewife have been of the party, but he declined either fitting or eating with us, though his ions were not fo fcrupulous. It is upon the principal fountain and altar, already mentioned, that once a-year, on the firfl appearance of the dog-ftar, (or, as others fay, eleven days after) this prieit a£- fembles the heads of the clans; and having facrificed a black heifer that never bore a calf, they plunge the head of it into this fountain, they then wrap it up in its own hide, fo as no more to be feen, after having fprinkled the hide within and without with water from the fountain. The carcafe is then fplit in half, and cleaned with extraor- dinary care ; and, thus prepared, it is laid upon the hillock over the firft fountain, and wafhed all over with its water, while the elders, or confidei able people, carry water in their hands joined (it mull not be in any difh) from the two o- ther fountains ; they then aflemble upon the fmall hill a little weft of St Michael, (it ufed to be the place where the church now Hands) there they divide the carcafe into pieces correfponding to the number of the tribes, and each tribe has its privilege, or pretenfions, to particular parts, which are THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 73., are not in proportion to the prefent confequence of the fe- veral clans. Geelli has a principal flice, though the moft inconfiderable territory of the whole ; Sacala has the next ; and Zeegam, the moft confiderable of them all in power and riches, has the leaft of the whole. I found it in vain to afk upon what rules this diftribution was founded ; their g< ral and conftant anfwer was, It was fo obferved in times. After having ate this carcafe raw, according -o tl cuftom, and drunk the Nile water to the excluiion of any other liquor, thfey pile up the bones on the place where they fit, and burn them to afhes. This ufed to be perform- ed where the church now ftands ; but Ras Sela Chriftos, fome time after, having beaten the Agows, and defirous, at the Jefuits inftigation, to convert them to Chriftianity, he demolifhed their altar where the bones were burnt, and built a church upon the fite, the doors of which, I believe, were never opened fince that reign, nor is there new, as far as we could perceive, any Christian there who might wifli to fee it frequented. After Sela Chriftos had demolifhed their altar by building this church, they ate the carcafe, and burnt the bones, on the top of the mountain of Geefh out of the way of profanation, where the veftiges of this ceremony may yet be feen ; but probably the fatigue at- tending this, and the great indifference their late gover- nors have had for Chriftianity, have brought them back to a fmall hillock by the fide of the marfli, weft of faint Michael's church, and a little to the fou th ward, where they perform this folemnity every year, and they will probably refume their firft altar when the church is fallen to ruins, which they are every day privately haftening. 4 ^ 2 After 732 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER After they have finifhed their bloody banquet, they carry the head, clofe wrapt from fight in the hide, into the cavern, which they fay reaches below the fountains, and there, by a common light, without torches, or a number of candles, as denoting a folemnity, they perform their wor- fhip, the particulars of which I never could learn; it is apiece of free-mafonry, which every body knows, and no body ventures to reveal. At a certain time of the night they leave the cave, but at what time, or by what rule, I could not learn ; neither would they tell me what became of the head, whether it was ate, or buried, or how con fumed. The Abyffinians have a ftory, probably created by themfelves, that the devil appears to them, and with him they eat the head, fwearing obedience to him upon certain conditions,, that of fending rain, and a good feafon for their bees and cattle : however this may be, it is certain that they pray to the fpirit refiding in the river, whom they call the Everlaft- ing God, Light of the World, Eye of the World, God of: Peace, their Saviour, and tather of the Univerfe.. Our landlord, the Shum, made no fcruple of reciting his prayers for feafonable rain, for plenty of grafs, for the pre- fervation of ferpents, at lead of one kind of this reptile ; he alio deprecated thunder in thefe prayers, which he pro- nounced very pathetically with a kind of tone or fong ; he called the river " Moft High God, Saviour of the World ;" of the other words I could not well judge, but by the in- terpretation of Woldo. Thofe titles, however, of divinity which he gave the river, I could perfectly comprehend without an interpreter, and for thefe only I am a voucher. I ASKED THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 733 I asked the pried, into whofe good graces I had purpofe- ly infinuated myfelf, if ever any fpirit had been feen by him? He anfwered, without hefitation, Yes ; very frequently. He faid he had feen the fpirit the evening of the 3d, (juft as the fun was fetting) under a tree, which he fhewed me at-a dif- tance, who told him of the death of a fon, and alfo that a party' from Fafd's army was coming; that, being afraid, he confulted his ferpent, who ate readily and heartily, from which he knew no harm was to befal him from us. I afked him if he could prevail on the fpirit to appear to me ? He faid he could not venture to make this requeft. If he thought he would appear co me, if, in the evening, I fat under that tree alone ? he faid he believed not. He faid he was of a very graceful figure and appearance; he thought ra- ther older than middle age ; but he feldom chofe to look at his face ; he had a long white beard, his cloaths not like theirs, of leather, but like filk, of the fafhion of the country. I afked him how he was certain it was not a man ? he laughed, or rather fneered, fhaking his head, and fay- ing No, no, it is no man, but a fpirit. I afked him then what fpirit he thought it was ? he faid it was of the ri- ver it was God, the Father of mankind ; but I never could bring him to be more explicit. I then defired to know why he prayed againft thunder. He faid, becaufe it was hurtful to the bees, their great revenue being honey and wax : then, why he prayed for ferpents ? he replied, Becaufe they taught him the coming of good or evil. It Teems they have all feveral of thefe creatures in their neighbourhood, and the richer fort always in their houfes,whom they take care of, and feed before they undertake a journey, or any affair of confequence. They take this animal from his hole, and put butter and milk before him, of which he is 734 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER extravagantly fond ; if he does not eat, ill-fortune is near at Land. Nanna Georgis, chief of the Agows of Banja, a man of the greateft confideration at Gondar, both with the king and Ras Michael, and my particular friend, as I had kept him in my houfe, and attended him in his ficknefs, after the cam- paign of 1 769, confefTed to me his appreheniions that ite fiiould die, becaufe the ferpent did not eat upon his leavi g his houfe to come to Gondar. He was, indeed, very ill of the low country fever, and very much alarmed; but he re- covered, and returned home, by Ras Michael's order, to ga- ther the Agows together againit Waragna Fafil ; which he did, and foon after, he and other feven chiefs of the Agows were flain at the battle of Banja; fo here the ferpent's warn- ing was verified by a fecond trial, though it failed in the firft. Before an invafion of the Galla, or an inroad of the ene- my, they fay thefe ferpents difappear, and are nowhere to be found. Fafil, the fagacious and cunning governor of ihe country, was, as it was faid, greatly addicted to this fpecies of divination, in fo much as never to mount his horfe, or go from home, if an animal of this kind, which he had in his keeping, refufed to cat. I* The Shum's name was Kefla Abay, or Servant of the ri- ver ; he was a man about ieventy, not very lean, but infirm, •fully as much fo as might have been expected from that age. He conceived that he might have had eighty-four or eighty-five children. That honourable charge which he pollelfed had been in his family from the beginning of the 2 world, THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. yyf world, as he imagined. Indeed, if all his predeceffors had as numerous families as he, there was no probability of the fucceihon devolving to Grangers. He had a long white beard, and very moderately thick; an ornament rare in Abyffinia, where they have feldom any hair upon their chin. He had round his body a fkin wrapt and tied with a broad belt : I mould rather fay it was an ox's hide ; but it was {o fcraped, and rubbed, and manufactured, that it was of the confidence and appearance of fhamoy,only browner in co- lour. Above this he wore a cloak with the hood up, and covering his head; he was, bare-legged, but had fandals, much like thofe upon ancient flames ; thefe, how- ever, he put off as foon as ever he approached the bog where the Nile rifes, which we were all likewife obliged to do. We were allowed to drink the water, but make no other ufe of it. None of the inhabitants of Geefh wafh themfelves, or their cloaths, in the Nile, but in a ftream that falls from the mountain of Geefh down into the plain of Affoa, which runs fouth, and meets the Nile in its turn northward, pafhng the country of the Gafats and Gongas.. The Agows, in whofe country the Nile rifes, are, in' point of number, one of the moil coniiderable nations in Abyffinia ; when their whole force is raifed, which feldom happens, they can bring to the field 4000 horfe, and a great number of foot; they were, however, once much more powerful ; feveral unfuccefsful battles, and the perpetual inroads of the Galla, have much diminiihed their ftrength. The country, indeed, is flill full of inhabitants, but from their hiftory we learn, that one clan, called Zeegam, man* tained fingly a war againft the king himfelf, from the time of Socinios to that of Yafous the Great, who, after all,. overcame-. 736 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER overcame them by furprife and ftratagem ; and that an- other clan, the Denguis, in like manner maintained the war againft Facilidas, Hannes I. and Yafous II. all of them active princes. Their riches, however, are ftill great- er than their power, for though their province in length is no where 60 miles, nor half that in breadth, yet Gondar and all the neighbouring country depend for the neceflaries of life, cattle, honey, butter, wheat, hides, wax, and a number of fuch articles, upon the Agows, who come conftantly in fucceffion, a thou fan d and fifteen hundred at a time, loaded with thefe commodities, to the capital. As the dependence upon the Agows is for their produce rather than on the forces of their country, it has been a maxim with wife princes to compound with them for an ad- ditional tribute, inftead of their military fervice ; the ne- ceflities of the times have fometimes altered thefe wife regulations, and between their attachment to Fafil, and af- terwards to Ras Michael, they have been very much redu- ced, whereby the llate hath fufFered. It will naturally occur, that, in a long carriage, fuch as that of" a hundred miles in fuch a climate, butter mull melt, and be in a flate of fufion, consequently very near putrefaction ; this is prevented by the root of an herb, cal- led Moc-moco, yellow in colour, ard in fhape nearly re- fenhling a carrot : this they bruife and mix with their but- ter, and a very fma'il quantity preferves it frefh for a confi- derable tunc; and this is a great faving and convenience, for, fuppofing fair was employed, it is very doubtful if it would anfwer the intention ; befidcs, fait is a money in this coun- 4 tr^ THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 737 cry, being circulated in the form of wedges, or bricks ; it ferves the purpofe of filver coin, and is the change of gold ; fo that this herb is of the utmoft ufe in preventing the increafe in price of this neceflary article, which is the principal food of all ranks of people in this country. Brides paint their feet likewife from the ancle downwards, a* alfo their nails and palms of their hands, with this drug. I brought with me into Europe a large quantity of the feed refembling that of coriander, and difperfed it plen- tifully through all the royal gardens : whether it has fuc- ceeded or not I cannot fay. Besides the market of Gondar, the neighbouring black favages, the woolly-headed Shangalla, purchafe the greateft part of thefe commodities from them, and many others, which thev bring from the capital when they return thence; they receive in exchange elephants teeth, rhinoceros horns, gold in fmall pellets, and a quantity of very fine cotton ; of which goods they might receive a much greater quantity were they content to cultivate trade in a fair way, with- out making inroads upon thefe favages for the fake of flaves, and thereby diflurbing them in their occupations of feeking for gold and hunting the elephant. The way this trade, though very much limited, is efta- blifhed, is by two nations fending their children mutually to each other ; there is then peace between thofe two families which have fuch hoftages ; thefe children often intermar- ry ; after which that family is underftood to be protected, and at peace, perhaps, for a generation : but fuch inftances are rare, the natural propenfity of both nations being to theft Vol. III. 5 A and 733 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER and plunder; into thefe they always relapfe; mutual en- mity follows in confequence. The country of the Agows, called Agow Midre, from its elevation, muft be of courfe temperate and wholefome ; the da/s, indeed, are hot, even at Sacala, and, when expofed to the fun, we are fenfible of a fcorching heat ; but whenever you are feated in the fhade, or in a houfe, the temperature is cool, as there is a conitant breeze which makes the fun tolerable even at mid day, though we are here but 10* from the Line, or a few minutes more. Though thefe Agows are fo fortunate in their climate, they are not faid to be long-livers ; but their precife age is very difficult to afcertain to any degree of exaclnefs, as they have no fixed or known epoch to refer to ;. and, though their country abounds with all the necefTaries of life, their taxes, tributes, andfervices, efpecially at prefent, are fo mul- tiplied upon them, whilft their diitreiles of late have been fo great and frequent, that they are only the manufacturers of the commodities they fell, to fatisfy thefe conftant exor- bitant demands, and cannot enjoy any part of their own produce themfelves, but live in mifery and penury fcarce to be conceived. We faw a number of women, wrinkled and fun- burnt fo as fcarce to appear human, wandering about under a burning fun, with one and fometimes two children up:>n their back, gathering the feeds of bent grafs to make a kind of bread. The THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 739 The cloathing of the Agows is all of hides, which they foften and manufacture in a method peculiar to themfelves, and this they wear in the rainy feafon, when the weather is cold, for here the rainy feafons are of long duration, and vio- lent, which flill increafes the nearer you approach the Line, for the reafons I have already ailigned. The younger fort are chiefly naked, the married women carrying their chil- dren about with them upon their backs ; their cloathing is like a fhirt down to their feet, and girded with a belt or girdle about their middle ; the lower part of it refembles a large double petticoat, one ply of which they turn back over their moulders, fattening it with a broach, or fkewer, , acrofs their bread before, and carry their children in it be- hind. The women are generally thin, and, like the men,, below the middle fize. There is no fuch thing as barren- nefs known among them. They begin to bear children be- fore eleven ; they marry generally about that age, and are marriageable two years before : they clofe child-bearing before they are thirty, though there are fe vera! inilances to > the contrary. . Dengui, Sacala, Dengla, and 'Geeffi, are all called by the name of Ancafha, and their tribute is paid in honey. Qua- quera and Azena pay honey likewife ; Banja, honey and gold ; Metakel, gold ; Zeegam, gold. There comes from Dengla a particular kind of fheep, called Macoot, which are faid to be of a breed brought from the fouthward of the i ine ; but neither fheep, butter, nor flaves make part of their tribute, being referved for prefents to the king and great men. S A a-" Beside? 74o TRAVELS TO DISCOVER Besides what they fell, and what they pay to the gover- nor of Dam it, the Agows have a particular tribute which they prefent to the king, one thoufand dabra of honey, each dabra containing about fixty pounds weight, being a large earthen veiTel. They pay, moreover, fifteen hundred oxen and i ooo ounces of gold : formerly the number of jars of honey was four thoufand, but feveral of thefe villages being daily given to private people by the king, the quantity is diminimed by the quota fo alienated. 1 he butter is all fold ; and, fince the fatal battle of Banja, the king's fhare comes only to about one thoufand jars. The officer that keeps the accounts, and fees the rents paid, is called Agow Miziker* ; his poll is worth one thoufand ounces of gold ; and by this it may be judged with what ceconomy this revenue is collected. This poll is generally the next to the governor of Damot, but not of courfe ; they are fe- parate provinces, and united only by the fpecial grant of the king. Although I had with me two large tents fufficient for my people, I was advifed to take poffemon of the houfes to fecure our mules and horfes from thieves in the night, as alfo from the alTaults of wild beafts, of which this country is full. Almoft every fmall collection of houfes has behind it a large cave, or fubterraneous dwelling, dug in the rock, of a prodigious capacity, and which mull have been the work of great labour. It is not poflible, at this diftance of time, to fay whether thefe caverns were the ancient habita- tion of the Agows when they were Troglodytes, or whether they * Accountant of the Agows. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 74i they were intended for retreats upon any alarm of an irrup- tion of the Galla into their country. At the fame time I mud obferve, that all the clans, or diftricts of the Agows, have the whole mountains of their country perforated in caves like thefe ; even the clans of Zeegam and Quaquera, the firfl of which, from its power ariiing from the populous Hate of the country, and the number of horfes it breeds, feems to have no reafon to fear the irregular invafions of naked and ill-armed ravages fuch as are the Galla. The country of Zeegam, however, which has bat few mountains, hath many of thefe caverns, one range above another, in every mountain belonging to them. Quaquera, indeed, borders upon the Shangalla; as thefe are all toot, perfectly contiguous, and feparated by the river, the caverns were probably intended as retreats for cattle and women again!! the attacks of thofe barbarians, which were every minute to be apprehended. In the country of the Tcheratz Agow, the mountains are all excavated like thefe in Damot, although they have no Galla for their neighbours whole invafions they need be afraid of. Lalibala, indeed, their great king and (aint, about the twelfth century, converted many of thefe caves into churches, as if he had considered them as formerly the re- ceptacles of Pagan fuperllition. At the lame time, it is not improbable that thefe caverns were made life of for religi- ous purpofes ; that of Geefli,. for inftance, was probably, in former times, a place of fecret worfhip paid to the river, be- caufe of that ufe it Hill is, not only to the inhabitants of the village, but to the aiTembly of the clans in general, who, after the ceremonies I have already fpoken of, retire, and 4 then 743 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER then perform their facred ceremonies, to which none but the heads of families in the. Agows country are ever ad-* mitted. When I fhewed'our landlord, Kefla Abay, the dog-ftan (Syrms) he knew it perfectly, faying it was Seir, it was the liar of the river, the mefTenger or flar of the convocation of the tribes, or of the feaft ;. but I could not obferve he ever prayed to it, or looked at it otherwife than one does to a dial, nor mentioned it with the refpect he did the Abay ; nor did he mew any fort of attention to the planets, or to any other ilar whatever. On the 9th of November, having finifhed my memoran- dum relating, to thefe remarkable places, I traced again on foot the whole courfe of this river from its fource to the plain of Goutto. I was unattended by any one, having with me only two hunting dogs, and my gun in my hand. . The quantity of game of all forts, efpecially the deer kind, was, indeed, furprifing ; , but though I was, as ufual, a very fuc-- cefsful fportfman, I was obliged, for want of help, to leave each deer where he fell. They fleep in the wild oats, and do not rife till you are about to tread upon them, and then flare at you for half a minute before they attempt to run off- The only mention I fhall make of the natural produc- tions of this place comes the more properly in here, as it relates to my account of the religion of this people. In the "writings of the Jefuits, the Agows are faid to worfhip canes*; but •-See a very remarkable letter of Ras Sela Chriftos to the emperor Socinios, in Balthazar Tellez, torn. 2. p. 496, THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 743 but of this I could find no traces among them. I faw no plant of this kind in their whole country, excepting fome large bamboo- trees. This plant, in the Agows language, is called Krihaha. It grows in great quantity upon the lides of the precipice of Geefh, and helps to conceal the cavern we have already mentioned ; but though we cut feveral pieces of thefe canes, they fliewed no fort of emotion, nor to be the leafl interested in what we were doing. Our bufinefs being now done, nothing remained but to depart. We had palfed our time in perfect har- mony ; the addrefs of Woldo, and the great attachment of our friend Irepone, had kept our houfe in a chearful abun- dance. "We had lived, it is true, too magnificently for phi- lofophers, but neither idly nor riotoufly ; and I believe ne- ver will any fovereign of Geefli be again fo popular, or reign over his fubjeets with greater mildnefs. I had prac- tifed medicine gratis, and killed, for three days fuccefiively, a cow each day for the poor and the neighbours. I had cloathed the high prieft of the Nile from head to foot, as alfo his two fons, and had decorated two of his daughters with beads of all the colours of the rainbow, adding < ve- ry other little prefent they feemed fond of, or that we thought would be agreeable. As for our amiable Irepone, we had referved for her the choiceft of our prefents, the moft valuable of every article we had with us, and a large proportion of every one of them ; we gave her,befides, fome gold ; but flie, more generous and nobler in her ientiments than us, feemed to pay little attention to thefe that an- nounced to her the feparation from her friend ; fhe tore her fine hair, which me had every day before braided in a newer and more graceful manner ; me threw herfelf upon 2 the 744 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER the ground in the houfe, and refufed to fee us mount on horfeback, or take our leave, and came not to the door tilt we were already fet out, then followed us with her good willies and her eyes as far as me could fee or be heard. I took my leave of Kefla Abay, the venerable prieft of the moll famous river in the world, who recommended me with great earneftnefs to the care of his god, which, as Strates humoroufly enough obferved, meant nothing lefs than he hoped the devil would take me. All the young men in the village, with lances and fliields, attended us to Saint Michael Sacala, that is, to the borders of their coun~ try, and end of my little fovereignty. g&aa = *^g REGISTER *■>• REGISTER O F THE QUANTITY OF RAIN-WATER, IN INCHES AND DECIMALS, WHICH FELL AT GONDAR, IN ABYSSINIA, IN THE YEAR I770, THROUGH A FUNNEL OF ONE FOOT ENGLISH IN DIAMETER. The rain began this year on the firft of March : there fell! inches. in fhowers, that la'fted only a few minutes, between the > 1 ft of March and the laft of April, - J .039 MAY. 1. T^ROM the 1 ft to the 6th, - - .039 Ji From the 6th to the 8th, - - .120 From the 10th to the 12th it rained chiefly in the night, .71 r From the 12th to the 14th, - - - -i23 19. At four in the afternoon a fmall fhower, but heavy rain in the night, - -52^ 21. At 7 o'clock in the evening a fmall fhower, which con- tinued moderately through tl'e night, - .17* 27. At" 6 in the evening heavy rain for an hour, - .540 Vol. III. 5 B 29- At ( 74^ ) MAY. ; . INCHES. 29. At 3 in the afternoon frequent fhowers of light rain. It continued one hour 30 minutes, - - .487 Total rain in May, 2.717 JUNE. 1. At 12 noon, light rain for 15 minutes, .028 2. Between 12 o'clock night it has rained 30 minutes, in fmall fhowers, which lafted 5 or 6 minutes at a time, .049 4. At 8 in the morning flight fhowers for 30 minutes, .014 5. Between 6 and 10 in the morning four fmall fhowers, that lafted 32 minutes, and at 12 a very gentle rain that lafted 1 5 minutes, - - .031 5.0. It has rained very violently for 6 hours 30 minutes, .342 1 1. Between 2 and 6 in the afternoon, at three feveral times, it has rained 20 minutes, - - .-014 12. At noon a violent rain for one hour 30 minutes. At half paft 1 in the afternoon light rain for an hour. At 4 afternoon, light rain for 30 minutes. At half paft fix fame afternoon, a very gentle rain for 3 hours, .421 13. Between 4 and 5 afternoon it rained twice for 15 mi- nutes, but not perceptible in the recipient, - 16. Between 2 and 6 afternoon it has rained three times fmart fhowers, in all about 20 minutes, - .033 17. There fell in the night fmall rain for an hour, - .002 18. At 1 afternoon there was a ftrong fhower for 15 mi- nutes. At half paft 1 another for 45 minutes. Same day at 6 afternoon, it rained at intervals for 2 hours, - - - '75° 19. At half after 2 afternoon it began to rain violently with intervals. At night a flight fhower for 20 minutes, .118 20. At twelve noon there was a very flight fhower for 6 mi- nutes. At half paft 5, fame day, a fmall fhower that lafted 30 minutes. At 8 o'clock evening it began to rain fmartly at intervals for 4 hours, - .I71 21. At a quarter paft 1 1 it rained violently with thunder and lightning for about 2 hours. At half paft 4 in the ^ . evening ( 747 ) TUNE, evening it rained, with intervals, in all about 45 mi- nutes, half paft 1 2 noon, it rained an hour, one o'clock afternoon flight fhowers for 2 hours. Heavy rain in the night for 4 hours, a quarter paft one afternoon, a fmall fhower, which Lifted one hour 35 minutes. At night it rained one hour 30 minutes ; heavy rain with thunder and lightning, two in the afternoon, violent rain with intervals for 30 minutes. At half paft five it rained for 30 minutes ; and the beginning of the night for three hours, a quarter paft twelve, a fmall fhower for one hour 45 minutes, and at night a moderate fhower, half paft twelve, a gentle rain. At 50 minutes after twelve, violent. At two in the afternoon very gentle rain for 15 minutes ; and at 7, moderate rain for one hour and 30 minutes, - 29. At 1 in the afternoon, light rain, but a heavy rain muft have fallen fomewhere elfe, as the river Kahha is overflowed, - 30. At noon a very gentle rain for 15 minutes, INCHES. 22. At 23- At 25- At 26. At 27. At 28. At ■33°- •175 .358 •55* •233' .302 .29© .092 .002 Total rain in June, 4>3°7 JULY. r. At 20 minutes paft eleven, ftrong rain for 30 minutes, with fome fhowers through the night, 2. At half paft eleven, a fmall fhower for 30 minutes, and then, at twelve, a violent fhower, wind fouth-weft, for 45 minutes, It rained at four in the afternoon, and in the night, It rained from twelve to two, and in the night likewife, It rained at noon, and fome in the night, It rained and hailed violently. It rained in the night likewife, - 8* Light rain in the night, - 5 B 2 9. Light .306- .792 •3" .390 .029 1.6S6" .6$m ( 74* ) JULY. INCHES. 9. Light rain for a few minutes, and no more all day ; but the river Kahha has fuddenly overflowed, and there is appearance of rain on the Mountain of the Sun, .017 10. No rain, - - - — — - 11. Ditto, - - ■ ■ 12. At half an hour part noon it rained violently, .422 13. Violent rain at mid-day, and alfo in the night 1-185 14. A few light fhowers night and day, - - '°54 15. A fmall fhower in the evening, and another in the night, .251 16. No rain, - — » — 17. A fmall fhower at one in the afternoon, and flying fhowers throughout the day. It rained at ten at night violently, - - - .658 18. A gentle fhower at noon, but continued raining in the night, - - - .463 19. Light fhowers all the night, *■ - ,2^j 20. It rained all night till eight o'clock next morning, '7*4 21. Light fhowers in the afternoon, but violent rain in the night, - 1.329 22. Light fhowers in the evening, - - «J74 23. It rained one fhower at half paft ten in the morning, .107 24. Light fhowers night and day, - .226 25. Light rains and frequent, - .015 26. Light fhowers throughout the evening, - .081 27. Light rains, - - .148 28. Flying fhowers, - - .070 29. Ditto, - - - - .081 30. Light fhowers, - - - -- -013 31. Flying light fhowers night and day, - - .292 Total rain in July, 10.089 AUGUST. 1. 2. Light rain in the afternoon," - - ^056 , It rained in the night fraartly, - - «329 3. It rained at noon violently, - - - l-3l§ 4. It rained from mid-day to evening, and fome fhowers in the night, - J-723 5. At t 749 ) TVT^lMi AUGUST. ( INCHES. 5. At 2 in the afternoon It began to rain violently for 2 hours, - 1.042 6. Smart fhowers at different times in the evening and night, .490 7. It rained in the night, - - .580 8. Light rain in the night, - - .053 . 9. Flying fhowers through the day, but for 6 minutes. Evening very violent, - - .186 10. Smart fhowers in the evening and night, - .342 1 1. & 12. Frequent fhowers, with a high wind, - 1.184 1 3. & 14. Light rain the firft day, but violent on the fecond, 1-423 1 5. Fair all day, but rained at night, - -475 16. Flying fhowers night and day, - •I44 17. A very violent fhower of fliort duration, - «37* 38. & 19. Several fmall fhowers, - .609 20. &21. Frequent light fhowers, - - •236 22. & 23. Conftant rain, - - I-502 24. Frequent fhowers in the evening, - «3°^ 25. & 26. Conftant rain, - - l-7^3 27. Frequent fhower6, - - .289 28. Ditto, - - .280 29. It rained in the night, - .355 30. Ditto, , - - .302 31. Ditto, - - .211 Total rain in Auguft, 15-569 SEPTEMBER. s. It rained in the night, - .079 2. Ditto, - - .107 3. Sc 4. Frequent fhowers night and day, - .358 5. & 6. Ditto, - - -568 7. It rained in the night only, - .213 8. No rain, - - 9. It rained violently for a few minutes at 8 in the Evening, *• *• .055 10. No rain* * - — — 1 1. It rained in the night only, <■ .227 tfc. It rained fraartly in the night, - .560" J 3. No ( 75° ) SEPT. INCHES. 13. No rain, - - — — 14. Light fhowers in the clay, - .042 1 5. Frequent fhowers night and day, . 159 16. It rained a little in the night, - .132 18. No rain, - ■ 19. Ditto, - 20. Flying fhowers night and day,. - .263 21. No rain, - - — — 22. Ditto, - - 23. Some rain in the night,. - - .039 24. Ditto, - - .026 2.5. The rain ceafed, - - ■ Total rain in September, 2.834 N. B. This is the feftival of the Crofs in Egypt, when the inundation begins to abate. It rains no more in Abyffiniatill towards the beginning of No- vember, and then only for a few days ; but thefe are the rains Abyflinia cannot want for their latter crops, and it was for thefe the Agows prayed when we were at the fountains of the Nil* the 5th of November 1770.. STATE STAT O F T H E QUANTITY OF RAIN-WATER, WHICH FELL IN ABYSSINIA AT KOSCAM, THE QUEEN'S PALACE, IN I77I, DURING THE RAINY MONTHS, {THROUGH A FUNNEL OF ONE FOOT ENGLISH IN DIAMETER, AS IN THE PRECEDING TEAR I J JO. FEBRUARY. INCHES. 23. ^IHHIS day it rained, for the firft time, from a JL quarter before four o'clock afternoon to half paft four ditto, - - .003 28. It rained in the night one hour and a quarter, ,00 1 MARCH. 4. It rained in the night near two hours fmall rain, .042 7. It rained a fmall fhower in the evening, .014 12. It rained three quarters of an hour this afternoon, .017 24. It rained and hailed violently for 1 8 minutes in the night, -> - .017 29. It ( 752 ) .664 * APRIL. 3. It rained, or rather hailed, nine minutes, - ■■■ 5. It rained an hour in the afternoon, - .067 8. Small rain at intervals throughout the afternoon, .002 10. It rained an hour in the night, - '°°3 30. It rained one hour and a quarter in the night, .013 Total rain in April, .085 MAY. I. From the 31ft ult. to this day, at different times, -330 3. It rained hard in the night, - - '355 6. It has rained violently finc.e three in the afternoon, wind S. E» variable, - - •°95 7. It has rained heavily in the night, wind varying from N. to S. and S. W. - .368 8. It rained fmafl rain in the afternoon, .042 II. 'It has rained fmall rain this afternoon, wind N. \V. .002 14. It has rained fince ycflerday at three all night, and till noon to-day, - - '^75 -zj. From yefterday at two P. M. it rained to half pah: fix, and heavily moft part of the night, wind va- rying from N. to S. - - -6,34 Total rain in May, 2.501 1 JUNE. ( 753 ) JUNE. INCHES. I. From yefterday at noon, in the night, and this day, wind W. S. \V. - - .212 3. At night, fouth, -• - .002 5. It rained in the night, S. W. - - .223 6. Ditto, - .006 9. It rained in the night and afternoon, wind W. by S. .725 Ijo. Ditto, - - .463 • 31. It rained in the night, - - .343 j 3. It rained from the 12th, at noon, to the 13th at ten, S. S. W. - - 1.265 14. It rained from three till feven, - .120- 15. It rained laft night from fun-fet till midnight, S. .160 N. B. The 1 6th at night, .is the day the Egyp- tians fay the Nile ferments, and is troubled, by fall- ing of the nueta. 38. After three days fair, wind frefh, N. it began to rain yefterday, and rained three quarters of an hour, wind varying from north to weft, .490 19. It rained with intervals from four to ten laft night, wind north, vaiying by 'eaft to fouth, and fouth-weft, where it fell calm, and rained violently, - - -5 3° ' 20. It rained from a quarter before fix, till ten at night, wind at north, frefh ; changed to eaft, then to fouth, and there fell calm ; violent thunder and lightning, _ - , .63s 21. It began to rain yefterday at three, and rained till near five ; wind changed from north to fouth, and fell calm ; cleared with wind at north, '55® 22. It began to rain at three, and rained till five ; wind changed from north to eaft, then to fouth, and fell calm ; cleared with wind at north ; fair all night, ■ ->- - .149 25. It has been fair till yefterday evening : at three it Vol. Ill, .5 C began . ( 754 ) JUNE. t ^ INCHES, began raining, and rained till five this morning, a few drops ; wind north, - .067 26. It rained fmall rain at feveral times yefterday after- noon, and a few drops this morning, wind N. calm ; at ten it came to ibuth and then to weft, . 1 20 27, It rained yefterday afternoon from four to five ; wind changed from north to weft, but fpeedily returned to north, frefh, - .054 28. SC29. It rained the 27th in the afternoon and in the night, wind at north. Yefterday it rained fmall rain all day till five, and cleared in the night, with wind at north, - - .268 Total rain in June, 6.388 JULY. 1. There fell fmall fhowers the night of the 29th and of the 30th, - - .093 3. There fell a fmall fhower the fecond in the after- noon, and laft night hard, - .267 4. It rained fmall rain at noon. From two, and all night, heavy and conftant rain. It thundered from noon till three, - - .373 5. It rained all yefterday afternoon, and by intervals, till nine at night. Small rain this morning; calm ; W. S. W. and S. W. 6. It rained yefterday afternoon and in the night ; S.W. N. B. The 6th of July is the firft of the month Hamlie, and of the Egyptian month Abib. It is this day they firft begin to cry the Nile's increafe in the ftreets of Cairo. The night before, or 30th of Senne, is called at Cairo the Eide el Bilhaara, or the eve of good news, becaufe, after having mea- fure:! at the Mikeas, they come and tell at Cairo that to-morrow they begin to count the Nile's ri- fing. 7. It •423 .489 JULY. INCHES, 7. It rained from two in the afternoon till four, and from ten till midnight, - «310 10. It rained yefternight, and in the afternoon and night the day before, - >2°9 11. It rained till yefterday afternoon : in the night a violent (hower that Lifted 39 minutes ; wind fouthbyweft, - - 1-162 1 2. It rained a little from two to three in the afternoon, but in the night violently for a fhort time, .3 1 9 13. It rained yefterday from three quarters paft twelve till midnight ; \V. S. W. calm, - .912 14. It rained all yefterday afternoon till midnight, .739 15. It rained the 14th in the afternoon, and the 15th a few fhowers through the day, - .816 16. It rained in the night, and fmall rain in the af- ternoon, - _ _ ,29° 1 7. It rained in the afternoon two fhowers, and in the night a little ; S. W. ■ .212 19. It rained in the afternoon the 17th and iSth, and the 1 8th only in the night, - .912 20. It rained yefterday from two till half paft ten con- ftant rain, and the hail lay all the afternoon on the hills S. E. of the town ; very cold wind ; S. byW. - - l-37l Ci. & 22. It rained but one fmall fhower the 20th, the 21ft it rained little in the afternoon, but hard in the night, - # 1*I85 24. It rained in the morning of yefterday only, fair in the afternoon ; to-day, in the morning, fair in the night, - _ -7^ 25. It rained all yefterday afternoon, and all this morning fmall rain, but none in the night, .452 28. From the 25th in the afternoon to this day at noon, - " 2,I37 29. From the 28th at noon to the 29th it rained in the firft part of the night, but was fair all after- noon and this morning, - .267 From the 29th at noon, to the 31ft at ditto, .568 Total rain in July, 14.360 t 5 C a AUGUST. ( 7J6 ) INCHES. AUGUST. i . It rained yefterday afternoon, but in the night little. To day fair, - -544 4. It rained only the third in the evening, and night and this morning, - 1. 188 5. It rained yefterday evening and in the night, till noon little, - -544 &. It rained yefterday afternoon, and all night, and a little this morning, - ^250 8. It was fair thefe two days, and only rained one hard fhower laft night, - .178 9. It rained laft night only, was fair all day, and is this morning, - .214 10. It rained yefterday all the afternoon, and the firft of the night. To-day fair, .869 11. It rained in the night yefterday ; all day and this morning fair, - - . 18S 12. It rained a fmall fhower yefterday afternoon, and in the night a little, - .268 13. It rained yefterday at three a hard fhower, and a little in the night, - •3°$ 14. It rained a few drops in the day, and a hard fhower at night, - -360 1 5. It rained a hard iho wer near three, and at ten at night, - .386 16. In the night, - .027 1 7. It rained hard feveral times in the evening and night, - r;im -$3l 1 8. It rained hard yefterday afternoon, and in the night, - - .329 19. It rained all day, but not hard, - .491 20. It rained in the afternoon only, - .010 21. Ditto, - " -097 22. It was fair all yefterday, and rained only a hard fhower at 9, - «424 .23. It rained hard at noon, and the evening, with little in- < 757 ) AUGUST. m _ INCHES, intervals, till 9 at night, and again this morning at fun-rife till 7, 24. It did not rain yefterday, 25. It rained an hour between two and three, 26". It rained a fmall fhower yefterday, and none in the night, 27. It rained a hard fhower at four, and this day at 12" morning, the night clear, 28. It rained hard yefterday at 2 for a few minutes, 29. It rained a hard fhower for near an hour, after two, but clear all night and this morning, 450 30. & 31. It rained a fmall fhower the 30th, and heavily for a quarter of an hour the 31ft, at night, at ten, .109 Total rain in Auguft, 10.019 SEPTEMBER. 2. It rained yefterday a hard fhower in the evening, and at ten at night, - &&&. 3. It rained only a few drops, which did not appear in the funnel, - _ . 4. It rained from noon till fun-fet yefterday, with hard and violent thunder : night fair, I«739 N. B. It is obferved at Gondar, the Pagomen is always rainy. It begins this year the 4th, and con- fifts of fix days, being Leap Year. 5. It rained yefterday all afternoon, fmall rain, .399 6. It rained yefterday all afternoon, and fmall rain in the night till ten, _ o05 7. It rained from before noon till four, fmall rain ; the night fair. Wind high at north, .846 8. It rained from noon for an hour, fmall rain, .214 .4 . 9. It ( 75S ) SEPTEMBER. INCHES. 9, It rained a fmall fhower at noon ; clouds drive from eaft to weft; wind north, - .107 10. Saint John's day, no rain, - 11. It rained from noon till five o'clock, wind W. cold ; clouds drive from eaft and weft, ltl3S 12. It rained a fmart fhower a little before noon. Clouds drive from eaft and from weft, .214 13. It rained a fmall fhower a little after noon. Cold and calm. Clouds drive from eaft and weft, .035 14. It rained fmall rain from noon to three, and hard from eleven till near midnight, - -344 15. It was fair all yefterday, but rained hard for a few minutes at feven, and alfo a little before mid- night, from the eaft, - .186 16. No rain to-day, — 1 8. It rained a fmall fhower laft night, and to-day at noon, - - «°53 19. It rained and hailed violently in the afternoon, 1.096 Total rain in September, 7-338 . The rain totally ceafed the 19th, none having fallen from this day to the 25th. Saint John's day is the time obferved for the rains be- ginning to abate. N. B. At the 5th of October the people were all crying for rain ; the ground all in cracks, and teff in the blade burnt up. TOTAL ( 759 ) TOTAL of RAIN that fell in Abyssinia in the Years 1770 ami 1 771, in the Rainy Months. G O N D A R. 1770. March & April, May, . . June, July» Auguft, . September, INCHES. . .039 2.717 4-3°7 10.089 ^•569 2.834 3S-55S K O S G A M. 1 771. February, & March, April, May, June, . Jul7» • Auguft, September, } INCHES. .664 .085 2.5OI 6.388 I4.360 IO.OI9 7-33$ 4J-355 £J\r£> OF THE THTRD I'OLVME, • • p BOSTON UNWERSrrr 1719 02266 0080 BOSTON UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES Not to be taken from this room