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BOSTON UNIVERSITY

College of Liberal Arts
Library

GRADUATE SCHOOL
I 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. IV.

Sola pot ejl Lihye turbam prtjlare malorum,
Ut deceat fugijfe •vlros,

LucAN, lib. ix.

EDINBURGH:

PRINTED BY J. RUTHVEN,
FOR G. G. J. AND J. ROBINSON, PATERNOSTER-ROW,

LONDON.

M.DCCXC.

I'

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CONTENTS

OF THE

FOURTH VOLUME.

BOOK VIL

llETURN FROM THE SOURCE OF THE NILE TO GONDAR — ■

TRANSACTIONS THERE BATTLE OF SERBRAXOS, AND ITS

CONSEQUENCES THE AUTHOR PREPARES TO LEAVE ABYS-
SINIA.

CHART.

Return from the Source of the Nile by Maltfju — Come to the Houfs
of Welled Amlac — Reception there — Pcfs the Nile at Delakus —
uirrive at Gondar^ P. I

CHAP. II.

FifiVs infdious Behaviour — Arrival at Gotidar — Kingpafcs the "ta-
eazze — Iteghe and Socinios fy from Gondar^ 30

Vol. IV, a * C H A P*

ii CONTENTS.

CHAP. III.

The Author joins the Army at Mar'cam-Ohha — Reception there — Uni-

verfal Terror on the Approach of the Army Several great Men of

the Rebels apprehaided and executed — Great Hardnefs of the Kings
Heart, P. 54

C H A P. IV.

The King promifes Leave to the Author to depart — Receives a Rein-
forcetnent from Shoa — Amiable Carriage of Amha Yafous — Stri-
king Contnfl between him and a Prince of the Galla — Bad State
of the King's Ajairs-^ S7

G H A P. V.

R'belArmy approaches Gondar — King marches out ofGondar — Takes.
Pojl at Serbraxos — The Author r€tU7-ns to Gondar with Confu,
wounded^ 1 1 o .

CHAP.

CONTENTS. Hi

CHAP. vr.

Michael attempts to enter Bege^ndcr — F'lrji Battle of Serbraxos — The
Rebels offer Battle to the King in the Plain — Armies feparated by
ti violent Storm^ P« 13S

CHAP, VII.

King offers Battle to the Rebels in the Plain — Defer iption ofthefe-
cond Battle of Serbraxos — Rafi Condu6l^and narrow Efcape of the
King — Both Armies keep the Ground^ 15^

CHAP. VIIL

King rewards his Officers — The Author again perfecuted by Guebra
Mafcal— Great Dfpleafure of the King — The Author and Gue-
bra Mafcal are reconciled and rewarded-^'Third Battle of Ser-
braxos^ 1 8 1

a a -CHAP.

iv CONTE*NTS»

C H A l\ IX.

Merviezo 'with GuJIoo in his ^oit—Convcrfation and Inlerejlifig lit"
tdWigcncc there — Return to the Gamp — Kings Army returns to
Gondar—Greal Confufton in that Night's March^ V. 204

CHAP. X.

tiehcl Army invejls Gondar — -Kings 7'roopf deliver up their Arms
'—7'be Murderers of Joas put to death — Gujho made Ras — Ras
Michael carried aivay Frifoner by Po'WuJ)en-—Iteghe returns to
KofeaUi — Fafil arrives at Gondar — King acknowledged by all Par-
tics — Bad Conduct of Gufio-^Ohliged to fy^ but is taken and put
in Irons y. 229.

C H A P. XI.

^he Author obtains Liberty to return Home — 'Takes Leave of the lieghe
at Kofcath — Lqft Intervielv .'With. the Monks ^. 249

BOOK

CONTENTS,

BOOK VIII.

THE AUTHOR RETURNS BY SENNAAR THROUGH NUBIA AND
THE GREAT DESERT — ARRIVES AT ALEXANDRIA, AND AF-
TER AT MARSEILLES.

CHAP. I.

yourneyfrom Gondarto fcherkin^ P. 27I

CHAP. II.

Reception at Tcberkin hy Ozoro EJlher, ^C,~~Himlh?g of the Ele-
phant^ Rhinoceros, and Biiffah^ 293

CHAP. in.

From Tcherk'in to Ihr-CMamrAin Ras el Feel — dcconnt ofit—Tran-
fatlions there ^ . 0^"^

CHAP.

vi CONTENTS.

CHAP. IV.

From Hor-Cacamot to Teatva^ Capital of Athara^ "P. 333

CHAP. V.

Traiifa£fions at Teawa — Attempts of the Shekb to detain the Author
there. Admwiflers Medicines to him arid his Wives — Various Con-
verfations with him^ and Inflances of his Treachery ^ ^^^

C H A P. VI.

'TranfdElions at Teawa continued— A Motdlah and Sherriffe arrive
from Beyla — News from Ras el Feel and Sennaar — An Eclipfe of
the Moon-— Leave Teawa y 384

CHAP. vir.

Arrival at Beyla — Friendly reception there^ and after y amongft the
Nuba — Arrival at Sennaar ^ 408

CHAP.

CONTENTS. xu

CHAP. V5II.

Cotiverfathn •with the King — With Shekb Addan — Interview with
the Kitig's Ladies^ &c.- P- 4-9

CHAP. IX.

CoriverfatioTis with Jchmet — Hifiory and Govermnent of Sennaar —
Heat — Difeafes — Trade of that Country — Tbt Jrithors diftreffed
Situation-^Leaves Sennaary_ acc

CHAP, x;

jFourneyfrom Semiaar to Chendi^ ^po

e H A P. XI.

Reception at Chendi by Sittina-^Converfations with her''— Enter the '
Defert — Pillars of moving Sand — The Simociw^Laliiude of
Cbiggre^ 529,

C H A P.

viii CONTENTS,

C HA P. XIL

D'lJlreJJ'es in the Defert — Meet with Arabs — Camels die — Baggage
abandoned — Come lo Sycne^ P. 562

CHAP. XIIL

Kind Reception at JJfouan — Arrival at Cairo — TravfaElions ivith
the Bey there—'Land at Marfeilles^ 60

'>

TRAVELS

TRAVELS

TO DISCOVER

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE.

li O O K VII.

RETURN FROM THE SOURCE OF THE NILE TO GONDAR TRANS-
ACTIONS THERE BATTLE OF SERBRAXOS, AND ITS CONSE-
QUENCES THE AUTHOR PREPARES TO LEAVE ABYSSINIA.

CHAP. I

Return from the Source of the Nik by Ma'itfia — Come to the Houfe of
Welled Amlac — Reception there — Pafs the Nile at Delakus — Arrive
at Gondar^

T was on the loth of November 1770 we left Geefli in
our return to Gondar, and pafTed the Abay, as before,
under the church of Saint Michael Sacala. We defcended
the hiil through the wood, croffed the river Davola, and
that night haUed at a few huts, called Dembea, on the
north-eall fide of the entrance of a valley.

Vol. IV. A On

a TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

On the nth we continued our journey in our former
road, till we arrived at the church of Abbo ; we then
turned to the right, our courfe N. by E. and at three quar-
ters pail nine relied under the mountain on the right of
the valley ; our road lay Hill through Goutto, but the coun-
try here is neither fo well inhabited nor fo pleafant as the
weft fide of the Nile. At eleven, going N. N. E. we paffed
the church of Tzion, about an eight part of a mile diftant
to E. N. E. ; we here hav^ a diftincft view of the valley thro*
which runs the Jemma, deep, wide, and full of trees, which
continue up the fides of the mountains Amid Amid. At a.
quarter pall eleven we paffed a fmall flream coming from
the weft, and at twelve another very dangerous river called
Utchmi, the ford of which is in the midil of two cataradfs,
and the ftream very rapid ; after pailing this river, we en-
tered a narrow road in the midft of brushwood, pleafant
and agreeable, and full of a kind of foxes * of a bright
gold colour. At three quarters paft one we halted at the
houfe of Shalaka Welled Amlac, with whom I was well
acquainted at Gondar ; his houfe is called Welled Abea.
Abbo, from a church of Abbo about an eight part of a mile
diftant.

I HAVE deferred, till the prefent occafion, the introducing
of this remarkable characler to my reader, that I might
not trouble him to go back to paft tranfadtions that are not
of confequence enough to interrupt the thread of my nar-
rative. Soon after I had feen part of the royal family, that

had

* I fuppofe this to be the animal called Lupus Aureus) it is near as large as a wolf, and:
lives u£on moles.

THESOURCEOFTHENILE. 3

had been infedled with the fmall-pox, happily recovered,
and was fettled at Kofcani in a houfe of my own, for-
merly belonging to Baflia Eufebius, my friend Ayto Aylo
recommended to my care a man from Maitlha, with two
fervants, one of whom, with his mailer, had been taken ill
of the intermitting fever. As I was fupplied plentifully
with every necefTary by the Iteghe, the only inconvenience
that I fuffered by this was, that of bringing a ftranger and
a difeafe into my family. But as I was in a ftrange coun-
try, and every day flood in need of the affiilance of the
people in it, it was necclTary that I fliould do my part,
and make myfelf as ufeful as poffible when the oppor-
tunity came in my way. I therefore fubmitted, and accord-
ing to Ayto Aylo's defire, received my two patients with
the bed grace poffible ; and the rather, as I was told that
he was one of the mod powerful, refolute, and befl-attend-
ed robbers in all Maitfha ; that he lay dire(5tly in my way
to the fource of the Nile ; and that, under his protetSlion, I
might bid defiance to Woodage Afahel, confidered as the
great obflacle to my making that journey.

The fervant was a poor, timid wretch, exceedingly afraid
of dying. He adhered ftridlly to his regimen, and was very
foon recovered, h was not fo Vv^ith Welled Amlac ; he had,
as I faid, another fervanr, who never, that I fav/, came with-
in the door; but as often as I was out attending my other
patients, or with the hcghe, which was great part of the
morning, he ftole a vifit to his mafler, and brought him
as mnch raw meat, hydromel, and fpirits, as, more than
once, threw him into a fever and violent delirium. Luckily
I was early informed of this by the fei'vant tliat was reco-
vered, and who did not doubt* but this was to end in his

A 2 mailer's

4 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

mafter's death, as it very probably might have done ; bur,
by the interpofition of Ayto Aylo and the Iteghe, we got
the unv^orthy fubjedl baniflied to Maitfha, fo that Welled
Amlac remained attended by the fervant who had been lick,
with him, and was to be trufted.

Not to trouble the reader with uninterefting particulars^
Shalaka Welled Amlac at laft recovered after feveral weeks
illnefs. When he firft came to my houfe he was but very in-
differently cloathed, which, in a fick man, was a thing not
to be remarked. As he had no change of raiment, his
cloaths naturally grew worfe during the time he ftaid with
me ; and, indeed, he was a very beggarly fight when his
difeafe had entirely left him. One evening, when I was
remarking that he could not go home without kiiling the
ground before the Iteghe, he faid, Surely not, and he was
ready to go whenever I fliould think proper to bring him his
cloaths. I underftood at firft from this, that he might
have brought fome change of cloaths, and delivered them
into my fervant's cuftody ; bur, upon farther explanation, I
found he had not a rag but thofe upon his back ; and he told
me plainly, that he had much rather ftay in my houfe all
his life, than be fo difgraced before the world, as to leave it
after fo long a ftay, without my firft having cloathed him
from l>ead to foot ; afking me, with much confidence, What
fignifics your curing me, if you turn me out of your houfe
like a beggar ?

I STILL thought there was fomcthing of jeft in this ; and'
meeting Ayto Aylo that day at Kofcam, I told him, laugh-
ing, of the converfation that had pafled, and was anfwcred
gravely, " There is no doubt,, you muft cloath him ; to be

fure

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 5

fure it is the cuftom." " And his fervant, too ? faid I." Cer-
tainly, his fervant too ; and if he had ten fervants that
ate and drank in your houfe, you moft cloath them all."
" I think, faid I, Ayto Aylo, a phyfician at this rate had
much better let his patients die than recover them at his
own expence." " Yagoube, fays Aylo, I fee this is not a cuf-
tom in your country, but it is invariably one in this : it is
not fo among the lower fet of people ; but if you will pafs
here as a man of fome degree of.confcquence, you cannot
avoid this without making Welled Amlac your enemy : the
man is opulent ; it is not for the value of the cloaths, but
he thinks his importance among his neighbours is meafur-
cd by the refpecfh fliewn him by people afar off; never fear,
he will make you fome kind of return, and for the cloaths
I fliall pay for them." " By no means, faid I, my good
friend ; I think the anecdote and cuftom is fo curious that
it is worth the price of the cloaths ; and I beg that you
•would believe, that, intending to go through Maitflia, I con-
fider it as a piece of friendfliip in you to have brought me
under this obligation." " And fo it is, fays he :. I knew you
w^ould think fo ; you are a cool difpaflionate man, and walk
by advice, and do not break through the cuftoms of the
country, and this reconciles even bad men to you every
day, and fo much the longer fliall you be in fafety."

The reader will not doubt that I immediately fulfilled'
my obligation to Welled Amlac, who received his cloaths,
a girdle, and a pair of fandals, in all to the amount of about
two guineas, withthe fame indifference as if he had been buy-
ing them for ready money. He then afked for his fervant's
cloaths, which were ready for him. He only faid he thought
tkey were too good, and hinted as if he fliould take them

for

€ TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

for his own ufe when he went to Maitfha. I then carried
him new-drelTed to the Iteghe, who gave him ftri6t injunc-
tions to take care of me if ever I fliould come into his hands.
He after went home with Ayto Aylo, nor did I ever know
what was become of him till now, when we arrived at his
houfe at Welled Abea Abbo, unlefs from fome words that
fell in difcourfe from Falil at Bamba.

Shalaka Welled Amlac was, however, from home, btit
his wife, mother, and fillers, received us kindly, knowing
us by report ; and, without waiting for our landlord, a cow
was inflantly llaughtered*

The venerable miflrefs of this worthy family. Welled
Amlac 's mother, was a very ftout, chearful woman, and
bore no figns of infirmity or old age : his wife was, on the
contrary, as arrant a hag as ever adied the part on the ftage;
very adtive, however, and civil, and fpeaking very tolerable
Amharic. His two fillers, about fixteen or fcventeen, were
really hand fome ; but Fafil's wife, who was there, was the
mofl beautiful and graceful of them all ; flic fccmed not
to be pall eighteen, tall, thin, and of a very agreeable car-
riage and manners. The features of her face were very re-
gular; flie had fine eyes, mouth, and teeth, and dark-brown
complexion ; at firll fight a call of melancholy feemed to
hang upon her countenance, but this foon vanifi[icd, and flie
became very courteous, chearful, and moll converfible of
the whole, or at leall feemed to wifli to be fo ; for, unfor-
tunately, flic fpoke not a word of any language but Galla,
though flie undcrllood a little Amharic ; our convcrfation
did not fail to give great entertainment to the whole family,
and for her part, flic laughed beyond all meafure.

I The

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 7

The two fifters had been out helping my fervants in dif-
pofiig the baggage ; but when they had pitched my tent,
and were about to lay the mattrefs for fleeping on, the el-
deft of thefe interrupted them, and not being able to make
herfelf underftood by the Greeks, Ihe took it up and threw
it out of the tent-door, whilft no abufe or opprobrious names
were fpared by my fervants ; one of whom came to tell me
her impudence, and that if they underftood her, fhe faid I
was to fleep with her this night, and they believed we were
got into a houfe of thieves and murderers. To this I an-
fwered by a fharp reproof, defiring them to conform to
every thing the family ordered them. I faw the fair nymph
was in a violent paffion ; flie told her tale to the matrons
with great energy, and a volubility of tongue paft imagina-
tion, and they ail laughed. Fafil's wife called me to fit by
her, and began to inftru(5t m-e, drolly enotigh, as they do
children, but of what fhe faid I had not the fmalleft guefs^
I endeavoured always to repeat her laft words, and this oc-
cafioned anotlier vehement laugh, in which I joined as
heartily as any, to keep up the joke, for the benefit of the
company, as long as pofiible-

Immediately after this Welled Amlac arrived, and
brought us the difagreeable news, that it was impoflible ta
proceed to the ford of the Abay, as two of the neighbour-
ing Shums were at variance about their refpecftive dillriiSls,
and in a day or two would decide it by blows. The faces
of all our companions fell at thefe news ; but as I knew the
man, it gave me little trouble, as 1 fuppofed the meaning to-
be, that, if we made it worth while, he would accompany us
h^mfelf, and in that cafe we lliould pafs without fear : at
ajiy rate, I well knew that, after the obligations I had laid

kimi

8 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

him under at Gondar, he could not, confident with the re-
ceived ufagcs of the country, if it was but for his own re-
putation's fake, fail in receiving me in the very befl man-
ner in his power, and entertaining me to the utmoft all the
time I was in his houfe.

Satisfied that I underftood him, he put on the moll
chearful countenance : another cow was killed, great plenty
of hydrorael produced, and he prepared to regale us as famp-
tuoully as pofTible, after the manner of the country. We
were there, as often before, obliged to overcome our repug-
nance to eating raw flefh. bhalaka Welled Amlac fet us
the example, entertained us with the (lories of his hunting
elephants, and feats in the lafl wars, moftly roguifli ones.
The room where we were (which was indeed large, and
contained himfelf, mother, wife, fillers, his horfes, mules,
and fervants, night and day) was all hung round with the
trunks of thefe elephants, which he had brought from the
neighbouring Kolla, near Guefgue, and killed with his own
hands, for he was one of the boldeil and beil horfemen in
AbylTinia, and perfecftly mafter of his arms.

This Polyphemus's feaft being finifhed, thehornof hydro-
mel went brilkly about. Welled Amlac's eldeft filler, whofe
name was Mele6lanea, took a particular charge of me, and I
began to find the necellity of retiring and going to bed while
I was able. Here the former ftory came over again ; the invari-
able cuftom of all Maitflia and the country of the Galla, of
eflabliiliing a relationfliip by lleeping with a near of kin, was
enlarged upon ; and, as the young lady herfelf was prefent,
and prefented every horn of drink during this polite difpute
concerning her perfon, I do not know whether it will not.be

3 thouglu

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 9

thought a greater breach of deUcacy to have refufed than to
have compUed : —

But what fuccefs VaneiTa met

Is to the world a fecret yet ;

Can never to mankind be told,

Nor fhall the confcious mufe unfold.

Fye upon the confcious mufe, fays lord Orrery; and fye, too,
fay I : — a man of honour and gallantry fliould not permit
himfelf fuch a hint as this, though the Red Sea was betweeit
him and his miflrefs.

It was impofTible to fleep ; the whole night was one con-
tinued florm of thunder, rain, and lightning; the morn-
ing was clearer, and my people very urgent to go away ;
but I had Itill to fettle with Zor Woldo, who had been kept
by his millrefs, Fafil's wife, notwithflanding his matter's or-
ders, till he had told her the whole circumilances of our ex-
pedition, and made her laugh heartily at the oddity of our
fentiments and cuftoms. This flie repaid to him by plen-
tiful horns of mead and bouza, as alfo large collops of raw
meat, which made him a very eloquent hiftorian ; whether
or no he was a faithful one, I cannot polTibly judge.

After having fettled with him to his perfeiH: fatisfadlionj
and cancelled entirely the memory of fome difagreeable
things pafTed, he configned us very folemnly to Ayto Aylo's
fervant, in prefence of Welled Amlac, and had taken his
leave, when a very fine white cow was brought to the door
of the tent from Fafil's wife, whoinfifled, as a friend of her
hulband, that I would Itay that day for her fake 5 and I fliould

Vol. IV. B cither

3<5 TRAVELS TO DISCOVERi

either learn her my language, or flic would reach me Galla;.
The party was accepted as loon as offered; the morning waa
frefh and cool, nor had laH night's libation any way difor-
dered my flomach. Strates himfelf, though afraid of Wel-
led Amlac, and exceedingly exafperated at the impudent be-
haviour, as he called it, of Meledanea, was, however, a little
pacified at the approach of the white cow. . Brodier, fays he
to Michael, we have nothing to do widi people's manners
2t6 long as they are civif to us : as to -this houfe, there is
no doubt but the men are robbers and murderers, and their
women wh — es ; but if they ufe us well while we are now
here, and we are fo lucky as to get to Gondar alive, let the
devil take me if ever I feek again to he at Welled Abea
Abbo. It was agreed to relax thaf day, and dedicate it to
herborizing, as alfo to the fatisfying the curiofity of our fe-
male friends, by anfwenng all their queflions ; and thus
the forenoon pafFed as agreeable as poffible. .

Welled Amlac, a great hunter, had gone with me
early to a neighbouring thicket on horfeback, armed with ;
lances^ in fearch.of venifon, though we certainly did not
want provifions. We in a few minutes raifed two bohur,
a large animal of the deer kind, and each purfu€d his beaft;
mine had not run 400. yards before I overtook him, and
pierced him with my pike ; and the fame would have hap--
pened probably to the other, had not Welled Amlac's horfe
put his fore- feet into a fox's hole, which threw him and
his rider headlong to the ground; he was nor, however,
hurt, but rofe very gravely, and defired me to return ; it
being a rule among thefe people, never to perfift when
anv thing unfortunate falls out in the beginning of a
day.

Our

T^ESOURCEOFTHENtLE. m

Our company was now increafed by our former bnd-
lord at Goutto, where we were obliged to Woldo's ftrata-
gem for difcovering the cow that was hid. We fat down
chearfully to dinner. Welled Amiac's fall had not fpoiled
his appetite ; I think he ate equal to four ordinary men. f,
for the moft part, ate the venifon, which was made into an
excellent dilh, only too much fluffed with all kind of fpices.
Fafd's wife alone feemed to have a very poor appetite, not-
withflanding her violent fits of laughter, and outward ap-
pearance of chearfulnefs. A melancholy gloom return-
ed upon her beautiful face, that feemed to indicate a
mind not at eafe. She was of a noble family of Galla,
which had conquered and fettled in the low country of Na-
rea. I wondered that Fafil her hulband had not carried
her to Gondar. She faid her hufband had twenty other
wives befides her, but took none of them to Gondar;
which was a place of war, where it was the cuftom ro mar-
ry the wives of their enemies that they had forced ro fly,
Fafil will be married therefore to Michael's wife, Qzoro Ef-
ther. I could not help being flariiled at this declaration, re-
membering that I was here lofing my time, and forgetting
my word of returning as foon as poluble ; but we had, for
many months, lived in fuch conilant alarms, that it was ab-
folutely as needful to feize the moment in which we could
repofe our mind, as to give refl to the body.

In the afternoon we diftributcd our prefents among the
ladies. Fafd's wife was not forgot ; and the beautiful Me-
le(fi:aneawas covered with beads, handkerchiefs, and ribbands
of all colours. Fafd's wife, on my firft requeft, gave me a
lock of her fine hair from the root, which has ever fmce,

B 2 and

12 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

and at this day does fufpend a plummet of an ounce and
half at the index of my three-feet quadrant.

The next morning, the 13th of November, having fettled
our account with our hoft, we fet out from the hofpitable
houfe of Shalaka Welled Amlac, after having engaged, by
promifcs to the ladies, that we fhould pay them foon ano-
ther viiit. Our landlord accompanied us in perfon to the
ford, and by this, and his readinefs to fliew us what he
thought worthy of our curioiity, and by his care in afccr-
taining for us the diftances and fituations of places, he gave
us a certain proof he was well contented, and therefore that
we had nothing to fear.

We had both nights heard the noife of cataracfts, and we
thought it might be of the Nile, as we were in fadl but
five miles from the fecond fmall catara(5l at Kerr, which
lay W. S. W. of us. We were informed, however, in the
morning, that it was the found of falls in the river Jemma,
near whofe banks this houfe is fituated. We fet out at eight
o'clock, the hills of Arooffi bearing north ; and at half pail
eight we came to the ford of the Jemma, which is Itrong,
rugged, and uneven.

The Jemma here comes from the eaft ; its banks are moil
beautifully fliaded with acacia and other trees, growing as on
the weft of the Nile, that is, the trunks or ftems of the trees
at a diftance, but the tops touching each other, and fpread-
ing broad. Though growing to no height, thefe woods are
full of game of different kinds, moftly unknown in Eu-
rope. The bohur is here in great nmnbcrs ; alfo the Buffalo,
though not fo frequent. Whoever fees Richmond hill has

an

\

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 13

an idea of the banks of the Jemma, and the country eaft of
it, with all that addition that an eaftern and happier climate
can give it ; for the rains had now ceafed, and cveiy hill
was in flower ; the fun indeed was hot, but a conilant
and frefli breeze prevented its being felt near the river. The
heat in this country ceafes, in the warmed day, the mo-
ment we pafs from the fun to the fliade : we have none of
thefe hot winds or violent refledions which we had fufFered
in Egypt, Syria, and Arabia, and both the coafls of the Red
Sea.

There are two cataradls lower than this ford of the Jem-
ma, the firft about 300 yards below the ford, and another
larger, fomething about half a mile; it is not, however, more
than feven or eight feet high, perhaps about ninety feet
broad, and the Iheet of water is not entire, but is interrup-
ted in many places. It falls, however, into a magnificent
bafon above 400 yards fquare, and very deep, in which are
large fifli in great plenty, but no crocodiles ; nor indeed are
there any feen, as I have heard above the third catara(5t,
nor confiderably below, when, after having made the tour of
Gojam, it again turns northward towards its fources. The
Gomari, however, often comes to the mouth of the Jemma,,
efpecially when the firft rains fall ; the crocodile feems to
require a warmer climate.

After having fatisfied our curiofity as to the Jemma, I
began to reproach thofe that were with me about the pa-
nic which they felt the night before ; thefe were, a Greek,
of Gondar, Strates, and three others, my fervants, whom I
brought from Cairo. " You fee, faid I, what danger there
is ; Welled Amlac is with us upon a mule, without a lance
4 OT

i4 TRAVELS TO DISCO VE'R

or fhield, and only two naked fcrvants with him ; did not
I tell you what was the meaning of the news ?" 'I hough
this was fpoken in a language of which it was impoffible Am-
lac could know a fyllable, yet he prefcntly apprehended in
part what I would fay. " 1 fee, fays he, you believe what
I told you laft night to be falfe, and invented only to get
from you a prefent : but you fhall fee ; and if this day we
do not meet Welled Aragawi and his fokliers, you are then
in the right; it is as you imagine." — " You do me wrong,
faid I, and have not underftood me, for how fliould you.
Thofe white people believe too well all you told them, and
are only apprehenfive of your not being able to defend us,
being without arm_s and followers. All I faid was, that where
you were, armed or unarmed, there was nod anger, "-rr-" True,
fays he, you are now in Maitlha, and not in my coun-
try, vvliich is Goutto ; you are now in the worfl: country in
all Abyllinia, where the brother kills his brother for a
loaf of. bread, of which he has no need: you are in a
country of Pagans, or dogs, Galla, and worfe tlian Galla ; if
ever you meet an dd man here, he is a liranger ; all that are
natives die by the lance young; and yet, though thefe two
chieftains I mentioned fight to-day, unarmed as I am, (as
you well faid) you are in no danger while I am with you.
Thefe people of Maitllia, fliut up between the Jemma, the
N'le, and the lake, have no where but from the Agows to
get what they want ; they come to the fame market with
lis here in Goutto ; the fords of the Jemma, they know, are
in my hands ; and did they offer an injury to a friend of
mine, were it but to whiftle as he paffed them, they know
1 am not gentle; though not a Galla, they are.fenfible,
one day or other, I fliould call them to account, though i'C
^vere in the bed-chamber of their mafter Fafil."

.2 " Yoi^R

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. ly-

"Your mafter, Welled Amlac, with your leave, fald I."
"Yes, miile too, faid he, by force, but he never fhiU be my
mailer by inclination, after murdering Kafmati Eflite. He
calls me his brother, and believes me his friend. You faw
one of his wives, whom he leaves at my lioufe, lad.
nightv but I hope ftill to fee him and his Galla flaugh-
tered as the cow in my houfe was yefterday." " I am
furprifed, faid I, your houfe was fpared, and that Ras
Michael did not burn it in either of his paffages through
Maitfha." — " In 1769, replied he, I was not with Fafil at Fa-
gitta, and the Ras pafTed the Nile above this far beyond the
Kelti; after which I returned with him to Gondar. In Gin-
bot *, Falll informed us that Amhara and Begemder were
come over to him. When then all Maitlha joined Fafil, I went
with my people to meet Michael at Derdera, as I knew he
mull pafs the Nile here oppofite to Abbo, and Begemder
and Amhara would then be behind him, or elfe try to crofs •
at Delakus, which was then fwollen with rain, and unford-
able : but apprehenfive left, marching ftill higher up ■
along the Nile to find a ford, he might burn my houfe in
his way, I myfelf joined him the night before he knew of.
PowuiTcn's revolt, and he had it then in contemplation to
burn Samfeen. The next morning was that of his retreat
and he chofe me to accompany him acrofs the Nile, dill con-
fidering me as his friend, and therefore, perhaps, he would
have done no harm to my houfe." — " So it was you, faid I,
that led us that day into that curfed clay- hole, which you
call a ford, where fo many people and beafts were maimed
and loft ?" — ^He replied, " It was Fafil's fpies that firft perfuad-

ed

* The ift of GInbot is the 26th of our Ajril.

i6 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

ed him to pafs there, or at Kerr. I kept him to the place
■where you pafTcd; you would have all periflied at Kerr. This,
to be fure, was not a good ford, nor pafTable at all except in
fummer, unlefs by fwimming ; but fo many men crolling
had made it ftill worfe ; befides, do you remember what a
llorm it was ? — what a night of rain ? O Lady Mariam, al-
ways a virgin, faid I, while they ftruggled in the mud and
clay. O holy Abba Guebra Menfus Kedus, who never ate or
drank from his mother's womb till his death,willyou not open
the earth, that all this accurfed multitude may defcend alive
into hell, like Dathan and Abiram ?" — A kind and charitable
prayer ! — " I thank you for it, Welled Amlac, faid I ; firft, for
carrying us to that charitable ford, where, with one of the
ftrongeft and ableft horfes in the world, I had nearly pe-
riflied : — and, fecondly, for your pious wifli, to difpofe of us
out of the regions of rain and cold into fo warm quarters in
company with Dathan and Abiram !"

"I DID not know you was there, fays he ; I heard you
had flaid at Gondar in order to bring up the black horfe.
I law a white perfon* with the Ras, indeed, who had a good
hanjar and gun, but his mule was weak, and he himfelf
fecmed fick. As 1 returned I could have carried him off
in the night, but I faid, perhaps it is the brother of Yagoube,
my friend and phyfician ; he is white like him, and for your
fake I left him. 1 was much with you white people in the
time of Kafmati Eflite." — " And pray, faid I, what did you
after we palled the Abay ?" — " After I faw that devil Ras Mi-
chael over, faid Welled Amlac, I returned under pretence of

allifting

' This was Francifco, who was Cck.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 17

afTifling Kefla Yafous there, and, being joined by all my
people, we fell upon the ftragglers wherever we found them.
You know what a day of rain it was ; we took 1 7 guns, 1 2
horfes, and about 200 mules and afles laden, and fo return-
ed home, leaving the reft to Fafil, who, if he had been a man,
fliould have cut you all to pieces the day after." — " And
what did you, faid I, with thefe flragglers whom you met
and robbed ; did you kill them ?" — " We always kill them,
anfwered Amlac ; we fpare none ; we never do a man an
injury, and leave him alive to revenge it upon us after; but
it was really the fame; they were all fick and weak, and the
hycena would have finiflied them in the morning, fo it was
juft faving them fo much fufFering to kill them outright
the night before ; and I affure you, Yagoube, whatever you
may think, I did not do it out of malice." — From this con-
verfation one may fufficiently guefs what fort of a man Wel-
led Amlac was, and what were his ideas of mercy.

We paffed the church of Kedus Michael at half after
nine, on the road to our right. At nine and three quarters
our courfe was N. by W. and, at a quarter after ten, we paf-
fed the Coga, a large river. At three quarters paft ten our
courfe was north. We palTed the church of Abbo a quar-
ter of a mile on our right. The country, after we had croll^
€d the Jemma,was much lefs beautiful than before. At twelve
our courfe was N. by W. and at half paft twelve the church
of Mariam Net, 200 yards to the left ; and here we forded the
fmall river Amlac-Ohha. Every ftep of this ground put us
in mind of our difaftrous campaign in May ; and we were
nowpaffing dire(5lly in the tradt of the ever- memorable re-
treat of Kcfla Yafous and the rear of the army. At a quar-
ter after one we halted at a fmall village of low houfes, as it

Vol. IV. G were

i8 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

were in bent grafs, where, for the firft time, we faw flocks
of goats lying on the tops of the houfes for fear of wild
hearts.

" You fhall fee, fays Welled Amlac, whether I am telling-
truth or not ; this is the houfe of Welled Aragawi ; if he is
here at home, then I have deceived you." We faw a num-
ber of women laden with jars of bouza and hydromel, and
aflced where they were going. They faid to their mailer
at Delakus, who v/aited there to prevent Welleta Michael
of DegwafTa from paffing the river. Our Greeks on this
began to relapfe into their panic, and to wifli we were again
at Welled Abea Abbo. At three quarters pad one we con-
tinued our journey to the north, and pafled a river, called
Amlac-Ohha, larger than the former: it comes from the
call, and, half a mile further, receives the other flream al-
ready mentioned. The fun v/as now burning hot. At three
o'clock we halted a quarter of an hour ; and, beginning tq
defcend gently, an hour after this we came to the banks of
the Abay. Here vy^e faw the two combatants, Welleta Mi-
chael and Welled Aragawi, exadly oppofue to each other,
tlie firft on tlie weft the other on the eaft fide ; they had
fettled all their differences, and each had killed fcveral
kine for themfelvcs and friends, which was all the blood
filed that day.

The Nile is here a confiderable river; its breadth at this
time full three quarters of an Englifh mile ; the current
is very gentle ; where deep you fcarce can perceive it flow ;
it comes from W. by S. and W. S. W. and at the ford runs
eaft and weft. The banks on the eaft fide were very high
and fteep ; and on the weft, at the firft entrance, the bot-
tom

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 19

Com is foft and bad, the water four feet and a half deep,
but above another foot, which we fink in clay. I cried to
Welled Amlac, while he was leading my mule acrofs, that
he flaould not pray to his faint that never eats, as at the
palTage of the Jenima in May. He only anfwered lowly to
me. Do you think thefe thieves would have let you pafs if
I was not with you ? My anfwer was, Welleta Michael
would not have feen me wronged ; I faved his life, he and
every body knows it.

We gained with difficulty the middle of the river, where
the. bottom was firm, and there we refled a little. Whilil
we were wading near the other fide, we found foul ground,
but the water was fhailow, and the banks low and eafy
to afcend. The river fide, as far as we could fee, is bare
and deftitute of wood of any kind, only bordered with thiftles
and high grafs, and th,c water tinged deep with red earth,
of which its banks are-.'compofed. This pafi^age is called
Delakus, and is paflable from the end of Otftober to the
middle of May. Immediately on the top of the hill afcend-
ing from the river is the fmall town of Delakus, which gives
this ford its name ; it extends from N. E. to N. N. E. and is
more confiderable in appearance than is the generality of
thefe fmall towns or villages in Abyffinia, becaufe inhabited
by Mahometans only, a trading, frugal, intelligent, and in-
flufirious people.

Our conductor. Welled Amlac, again put us in mind of
the fervice he had rendered us, and we were not unmindful
of him. He had been received with very great rcfpecft by
the eaftern body of combatants, and it is incredible with
what expedition he fwallov/cd near a pound of raw flefli

C 2 cut

20 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

cut from the buttocks of the animal yet aUve. After
fome horns of hydromel, he had paiTed to the other fjde,
where he was received with flill more afFedion, if poffible,
by Welleta Michael, and there he began again to eat the
raw meat with an appetite as keen as if he had fafted for
whole days ; he then configned us to Ayto Welleta Michael,
his friend and mine, who furnifhed us with a fervant to con-
duct us on our way, while he himfelf remained that night
at the ford among the combatants. He advifed us to ad-
vance as far as poffible, for all that country was deftroy-
ed by a. malignant fever which laid all waile beyond Dela-
kus.

Wb left the ford at a quarter pafl five in the evening, and,
purfuing our journey north, we pafTed the fmall town of De-
lakus, continuing along the hill among little fpots of brufli-
wood and fmall fields of corn intermixed At half pafl; fix
pafiTed the river Avola. At half pallfeven crofTed anotherifvvift-
running fl;ream, clear and fliallow, but full of flippcry fl:ones.
At three quarters after feven we alighted at Googue, a con-
fiderable village, and, as it was now night, we could go no
farther ; we had already feveral times mifliaken our way,
and loft each other in the dai-k, being often alfo mired in
a fmall plain before we pafled the laft river ; but our
guide had heard the orders of his mailer, and puflied on
brifkly.

We found the people of Googue the mod favage and un-
hofpitable we had yet met with. Upon no account would
they fufTer us to enter their houfes, and we were obliged
to remain without, the greateft part of the night. At laft
they carried us to a houfe of good appearance, but refufed

ablolutely

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. - 21.

abfolutely to give us meat for ourfelves or horfes ; and, as
we had not force, we were obliged to be content. It had
rained violently in the evening, and we were all wet. We
contented ourfelves with lighting a large fire in the
middle of the houfe, which we kept burning all night, as
well for guard, as for drying ourielves, though we little
knew at the time that it was probably the only means of
faving our lives ; for in the morning we found the whole-
village fick of the fever, and two families had died out of
the houfe where thefe people had put us : for my own part^
upon hearing this I was more affrighted than for Welled
Aragawi and all his robbers. Though weary and wet, I had
flept on the ground near the fire fix whole hours ; and, tho'
really well, I could not during the day perfuade myfelf
there was not fome fymptom of fever upon me. My firft
precaution was to infufe a dofe of bark into a glafs of aqua-
vitse, a large horn of which we had with us ; we then
burnt frankincenfe and myrrh in abundance, and fumiga-
ted ourfelves, as pradlifed at Mafuah and in Arabia, tarly in
the morning we repeated our dofe of bark and fumigation..
Whether the bark prevented the difeafe or not, the aquavitse
certainly llrengthened the fpirits, and was a medicine to the
imagination.

The people, who faw the eagernefs and confidence with
which we fwallowed this medicine, flocked about us de-
manding affifiance. I confefs I was fo exafperated with their
treatment of us, and efpecially that of lodging us in the in-
fetfled houfe, that I conUantly refufed them their rcqueft,
leaving them a prey to their diftemper, to teach them ano-
ther time more hofpitality to ftrangers.

iiiss

22 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

This fever prevailed in Abyflinia in all low grounds and
plains, in the neighbourhood of all rivers which run in val-
leys ; it is really a malignant tertian, which, however, has
fo many forms and modes of intermiflion that it is impoffi-
ble for one not of the Faculty to defcribe it. It is not in all
places equally dangerous, but on the banks and neighbour-
hood of the Tacazze it is particularly fatal. The valley
where that river runs is very low and fultry, being full of
large trees. In Kuara, too, it is very mortal ; in Beleflen
and Dembea lefs fo ; in Walkayt it is dangerous ; but not
fo much in Tzegade, Kolla, Woggora, and Waldubba. It
does not prevail in high grounds or mountains, or in pla-
ces much expofed to the air. This fever is called Ne-
dad, or burning ; it begins always with a fliivering and
headach, a heavy eye, and inclination to vomit ; a violent
heat follows, which leaves little intermiilion, and ends ge-
nerally in death the third or fifth day. In the lail flage of
the diilemper the belly fwells to an enormous fize, or fome-
times immediately after death, and the body within an in-
flant fmells mofl infupportably; to prevent which they bury
the corpfe immediately after the breath is out, and often
within the hour. The face has a remarkable yellow ap-
pearance, with a blackifli caft, as in the laft ftage of a drop-
fy or the atrophy. This fever begins immediately with the
fun-fliine, after the firft rains, that is, while there are inter-
vals of rain and fun-fliine : it ceafes upon the earth being
thoroughly foaked in July and Awguft, and begins again
in September; but now, at the' beginning of November, it
finally ceafes everywhere.

The country about Googue is both fertile and pleafant,

all laid out in wheat, and the grain good. They were now

I in

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 23

in the midfl: of their harveft, but there were fome places, to
which the water could be conducted, where the corn was
juft appearing out of the ground. From Googue we have
an extenfive view of the lake Tzana, whilfl the mountains
of Begemder and Karoota, that is, all the ridge along Fog-
gora, appear diftindly enough, but they arc funk low, and
near the horizon. *

On the 14th, at three quarters paft fevcn in the morning,
we left the inhofpitablc village Googue ; our road lay N.
by W. up a fmall hill. At half paft eight we croiTed the vil-
lage of Azzadari, in which runs a fmall river, then almoft
llagnant, of the fame name. At three quarters after eight,
the church of Turcon Abbo, being a quarter of a i^ile to
our right. At three quarters after nine we palTed the river
Avolai, coming fi'om N. W. and which, with all the other
llreams above mentioned, fall into the lake : from this be-
gins DegwafTa. At half paft ten we reftcd half an hour.
At eleven -continued our journey N. by W. and, at half after
eleven, entered again into the great road of Bure, by Kelti.
All the country from Googue 'is bare, unpleafanr, unwholc-
fome, and ill watered. Thofe few ftreams it has are now
ftanding in pools, and are probably ftagnant in January and
February. The people, too, are more miferable than in any
other part of Maitiha and Goutto.

As we are now leaving Maitflia, it will be the place to
fay fomething concerning it in particular. Maitiha is either
proper, or what is called fo by extenfion, Maitflia Proper is
bounded on the weft by the Nile, on the fouth by the ri-
ver Jemnia, dividing it from Goutto ; and, on the other
fide of Amid Amid, by the province of Damot ; on the fouth

by

S4 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

by Gojam ; on the eaft and north by the Abay or Nile, and
the lake : this is Maitfha proper ; but by extenfion it com-
prehends a large tradl on the weft fide of the Nile, which
begins by Sankraber on the north, and is bounded by the
Agows on the weft, comprehending Atcheffer and Aroofli
to the banks of the Nile. This is the Maitftia of the books,
'but is not properly fo.

Maitsha is governed by ninety-nine Shums, and is an
appendage of the oftice of Betwudet, to whom it pays two
thoufand ounces of gold. The people are originally of
ithofe Galla weft of the Abay. Yaibus the Great, when at
war with that people, who, in many preceding reigns, had
laid wafte the provinces of Gojam and Damot, and efpecial-
ly Agow, when he pafled the Abay found thefe people at
variance among thernfelves ; and the king, who was every-
where vicftorious, being joined by the weakcft, advanced to Na-
xea, and, on bis return, tranfplanted thefe Galla into Maitflia,
placing part of them along the Nile to guard the pafles.
His fucceiTors at different times followed his example;
part they fettled in Maitfha, and part along the banks of
the Nile in Damot and Gojam, where being converted to
Chriftianity, at leaft to fuch Chriftianity as is profeiTed in
Abyffinia, they have increafed exceedingly, and amotinted,
at leaft before the war in 1768, to 15,000 men, of whom a-
bout 4000 are horfemen.

The capital of Maitfha is Ibaba. There is here a houfe
■or fmall caiUe belonging to the king. The town is one of
the largeft in Abyffinia, little inferior to Gondar in fizt or
riches, and has a market every clay ; this is governed by an
officer called Ibaba Azage,whofe employment is worth Coo
3 ounces

THE SOURCE OP THE NILE. ^^

ounces of gold, and is generally conferred upon the princi-
pal perlbn of Maitiha, to keep him firm in his allegiance,
as there is a very confiderable territory depends upon this
office. The country round Ibaba is the molt pleafant and
fertile, not of Maitiha only, but of all Abyffinia, efpecially
that part called ^Kollela, between Ibaba and Gojam, where
the principal Ozoros have all houfes and polTeffions, called
Goult or Fiefs, which they have received from their refpec-
tive anceflors when kings.

Though Maitiha be peculiarly the appendage of Betwu-
det, and governed by him, yet it has a particular political
government of its own. The ninety-nine Shums, who are
each a diilin(5l family of Galla, chufe a king, like the Pa-
gan Galla, every feventh year, with all the ceremonies an-
ciently obferved while they were Pagans ; and thefe gover-
nors have much more influence over them than the King
or Betwudet ; fo have they (in my time at leaft) been in a
conftant rebellion, and that has much leffened their num-
bers, which will not now amount to above 10,000 men,
^as Michael having every where dedroyed their houfes,
and carried into llavery their v/ives and children, who
have been fold to- the Mahometan merchants, and tranf-
ported to Mafuah, and from thence to Arabia.

At twelve o'clock, Guefgi^ie was to the right, three or
■four, perhaps more miles ; and the very rugged mountain
Cafercla, broken and full of precipices, on our right, at a-
bout 1 2 miles dillance ; they rife from KoUa. Guefgiie,
which, though the language and race be Agow, is not com-
prehended in the government of that country, but generally
goes with Kuara. At a quarter pall one we arrived at the
Vol. IV. D houfe

26 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

houfe of Ayto Welleta Michael, at DegwafTa, after entering
into a country fomething more pleafant and cultivated than
the former. The village of DegwafTa is but fmall ; it had
alfo been burnt in the late war ; it is pleafantly fituated on
a hill fouth of the lake, about 3 miles diftance, and is fur-
rounded with large wanzey-trees ; we were but ill-received
at this village, notwithflanding the promifes of the mafter
of it at the pafTage of the Abay, and we found thefe people
fcarcely more hofpitable than at Googue. T his village is a
little out of the road, to the right. We had travelled this
day five hours, and a half, or little more than ten miles.

On the 15th of November, from DegwafTa we- entered
Gonzala, immediately bordering upon it : heavy rain pre-
vented our fetting out till noon. Gonzala is full of villages,
and belongs to the queen- mother. At a quarter after one we
pafTed a large marfh, in the midfl of which runs a fmall ri-
ver which here falls into the lake. We refled here half an
hour ; and, at three quarters pafl one, we entered the great
road which we had pafTed to the left in going to DegwafTa.
At two o'clock we came fliil to a dilHndter view of the
lake, as alfo where the river enters and goes out; it appears
here to enter at S. W. and go out at N. E, and is dillant about
eight or nine miles. At three quarters pafl two, we arrived
at Dingleber, having this day travelled only two hours and
a half, or five miles.

On the i6th we left Dingleber at fcven o'clock in the
morning ; it was very hot; and, a little before we came to
Mefcalaxos, in a flripe of land, or peninfula, which runs out
into the lake, we halted a fhort time under the fliade of

. . fome.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 27

fome acacia-trees. Here we faw plenty of water-fowl, and
feveral gomaris. A fmall river croHes the road here, and
falls into the lake: and, at one o'clock in the afternoon, we
continued our journey, and overtook a troop of Agows, who
were going to Gondar, laden with honey, butter, and un-
tanncd hides. They had with them alfo about 800 head of
cattle. Thefe people accuttomed to the road (though hea-
vily laden) go long journies : they had at this time 50 miles
to make by nine o'clock in the morning of the i8th, and
it was now the 16th, patt one o'clock.

A Shower overtook us foon after pafllng Mefcalaxos, and
forced us to take refuge in fome fmall huts near the lake,
called Goja, where we remained. The inhabitants of this
and the neighbouring villages fpeak Falafha, the language
anciently of all Dembea, which, as has been already obltrved,
in mod of the plain country, has now given place to Am-
haric. Here we faw two gomari come out of the lake and
enter the corn, but fpeedily, upon the dogs of the villages
attacking them, they ran and plunged into the v/ater ; we
could not have a dillinft view of them, nor time enough to
defign them, but they were very different from any draught
we had ever feen of them. The head feemed to me to
refemble that of a hog more than of a horfe. We had this
day travelled fiX hours and a half, or about thirteen miles.

On the 1 7th, at a quarter pail feven, we left Goja. At one
o'clock we halted at Sar Ohha, after a journey of five hours
and a half, or about eleven miles ; and on the i8th, at half
paft fix, left Sar Ohha. At three quartei s paft feven we palTed
the river Talti, and at half pad eleven halted at Abba Abram,
near the church, under a large falla-tree. At one, con-

D 2 tinued

28 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

tinued our joiu'iiey,. and at a quarter pafl two arrived at Ke-
mona.

On the 19th of November, at feven in the morning, we
left Kemona, and going conftantly without flopping by
Chergue and Azazo, I fent my fcrvants and baggage on to
Abba Samuel at Gondar, v/here they arrived at one o'clock
afternoon, and finillied our long-projeded expedition, or
journey, to the fountains of the Nile, having, in our re-
turn home, made as it were the chord of the arch of our
former journey, or about ninety-three miles, with which
we found our points, as fettled by obfervation, did very
nearly agree.

Two things chiefly oc<:upied my mind, and prevented me-
from accompanying my. fervants and baggage into Gondar.
The fird was my defire of inllantly knowing the flate of -
Ozoro Efther's health : the fecond v/as, to avoid Fafil, till I
knew a little more about Ras Michael and the king. Ta-
king one fervant along with me, I left my people at Azazo,
and turning to the left, up a very craggy, ftccp mountain, I
made the utmoil diligence I could till I arrived at the gate
of Kofcam, near two o'clock, without having met any one
from Faiil, who was encamped oppofite to Gondar, on the
Kahha, on the fide of the hill,fo that 1 had pafled obliquely
behind him. He had, however, feen or heard of the arrival '
of my fervants at Gondar, and had fent for me to wait up-
on him in his camp ; and, when he was informed I had
gnne forward to Kofcam, it was faid he had uttered fome
words of difcontent,

I WINT

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 29

I WENT flraighc to thelteghe's apartment, but was not ad-
mitted, as ihe was at her devotions. In crollingone of the
courts, however, I met a ilave of Ozoro Ellher, who, in-
ftead of anfwering the queflion I put to her, gave a loud
lliriek, and went to inform her miflrefs. I found that prin-
cefs greatly recovered, as her anxiety about Fafd had ceafed.
She had admitted him to an audience, and he had commu-
nicated to her the engagement he was under to her huf-
band, as alfo the condud he intended to purfue in order
to keep Gudio and PowufTen from taking any effeduai
meafures which might fmflrate, or at Icaft delay, the reilo--
ration of the king and arrival of Ras Michael.

GHAE

go TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

«f.r

tgo^-^ == ' ^-^^g^

CHAP. II.

FafiPs infidious Behaviour' — Arrival at Gondar — Kingpajfes the ^accav:,'
ze — Iteghc and Socinios Jiy from Gofidar.

SHALL now refume the hiftory of AbyfTinia itfelf, fo far
as I was concerned in it, or had an opportunity of know-
ing, and this I fliall follow as clofely as pofTible, till I begin
my return home through thofe dreary and hitherto-un-
known deferts of Sennaar, though not the moll entertain-
ing, yet by far the moll dangerous and moll difficult part
of the voyage.

It was about the 20th of October that Woodage Afahel
came with a llrong body of horfe into the neighbourhood
of Gondar, and cut ofl' all communication between the
capital and thofe provinces to the fouthward of it. This
occafioned a temporary famine, as his troops plundered all
thofe they met on the road carrying provifions to the mar-
ket. At firll he refuied to tell what his real errand was ;
4 but,

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. ^

But, a few days afrer, having pafTed the low country of Dem-
bea he took poft at Dingleber, on the road to Maitflia and
the country of the Agows, and then he declared his only in^
tention in coming was to join Fafil, then marching to Gon-
dar at the head of a large army ; nor was the caufe of that
great army, nor the reafon of Fafil's coming, fo fufficiently
known as to free any party entirely from their apprehen--
fions..

Sanuda, who filled the office of Ras, and the reft of that
party, endeavoured to determine Afahel to enter Gondar,
and pay his homage to Socinios, now king ; not doubting
but his example would have the efTe^l of making others do
the like, and that fo by degrees they might collect troops e-
nough to make Michael refpec^ them, fo far at leaft as to de-
fer for a feafon his march from Tigre. They prevailed, in-
deed, fo far as to engage Afahel to enter Gondar on the 28th
of Odober, the day that we left it ; fo, by a few hours, and
his taking a low road that he might plunder the villages in
Dembea, we miffed a meeting of the moft dangerous and
moft difagreeable kind. After having made his ufual pa-
rade, and paffed his cavalry in review before Socinios, he had
his public audience, where he faid he came charged by Fa-
fd to declare that he was ready to fet out for Gondar, and
bring with him that part of the revenue due to the king
from the provinces he commanded, provided he had a man
of fufficient truil to leave in his Head at home ; that there-
fore he prayed the king to appoint him Woodage Afahel to
command in the provinces of Damot, Maitflia, and Agow,
in his abfence. -

After

32 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

After the many promifes and engagements Fafil had
made and broken, without ever affigning the fmallefl; rea-
ibn, it may be doubted whether Socinios beheved this fair
tale imphcitly ; but his preicnt intention being to gain
Woodage, it httle fignified whether it was ftridrly true or
not ; he therefore received it as true. Fafd's recjueft was
granted to the full; and this robber, twenty times a rebel,
bred up in woods and deferts, in exercife of every crime
was appointed to a command the third in the kingdom for
rank, power, and riches ; and, v/hat was never before teen
the king went out of his palace to Deppabye, the public
market-place, to fee the circle of gold, called the Ras Werk,
put upon his head ; this, with the white and blue mantle,
invefts him v/ith the dignity of Kafmati, or lieutenant-ge-
neral of the king, in the province given him.

A LOW man, fuch as Afaliel was, could not refift the ca-
relles of his fovereign ; he was entirely gained ; and, in re-
turn, made privately to Socinios, and a few contidents, a
communication of all he knew, which their natural impru-
dence, and private previous engagements, afterwards made
public. The fubilance of this confidence was, that peace
had been made and fworn to, in the mofl: folemn manner,
both by Michael and Fafd ; that they were to reltore the
king, Tecla Haimanout ; that they were, by their joint
means, to effedl, if pofhble, the ruin of Guflio and PowuiTen,
governors of Begcmder and Amhara ; Fafd was to enjoy the
pod of Ras and Betwudet, and to difpofe of the government
of Begemdcr and Amhara to his friends ; Ras Michael was to
content himfelf with the province of Tigre, as he then en-
joyed it, and a^dvance no further than the river Tacazzc,
where he was to deliver the king to Fafd, and return to his
2 province.

TH£ SOURCE OF THE NILE. 33

province. Sanuda was, in the mean time, to appear as
Pvas by the connivance of Fafil and Michael ; and, if he
faw the people of the Iteghe's party refolved upon eledling
a king, he was to take care to choofe fuch a one as would
foon prove himfelf incapable of reigning, but fill the va-
cancy in the mean time, and prevent the eiedlion from
falling upon a worthier candidate from the mountain of
Wechne. Fafil, on his part, undertook by promifes and
propofals, and occafionally by the approach of his army,
to frighten and confufe the Iteghe, and prevent a good un-
derflanding taking place between her, Guftio, and Powuf-
fen. The laft article of this treaty was, that no more fhould
be faid of Joas the late king's murder, but all that tranf-
a(5tion was to be buried in eternal oblivion. This peace,
Afahel had faid, was made by the mediation of Welleta Se-
laflTc, nephew of Ras Michael, whom we have often men-
tioned as having been taken prifoner by Fafil at the battle
ofLimjour.

This difcovcry, dangerous as it might have been in other
times and circumllances, from the weaknefs of the prefent
government, had no confequences hurtful to any concerned
in it. Sanuda, who was not prefent when Afahel revealed
the fecret, affedled to laugh at it as an improbable fidlion ;
and though this whole fchcme of treachery was confirm-
€d part by part, yet it was fo deeply laid, and fo well fup-
ported, that, even when difcovcrcd, it could not be prevent-
ed, till, fiep by Hep, it was carried into execution.

Fasil was encamped at Eaniba, as we have already
mentioned ; he had difcharged all thofe favage Galla
that he had brought from the other fide of the Nile.

Vol, IV. E As

j4 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

As foon as he had heard in how favourable a manner Wood-
age Afahel had been received, he decamped, taking with
him 400 horfe and 5oo foot,all chofen men, from Maitlhaand
Damor, and with thefe he advanced, by forcedmarches,toGon-
dar, where he arrived the: 2d of November, to the furprife of
the whole tov/n and court, for he had already fo often pro-
mifed, and fo often broken his word, that nobody pretended
to guefs more about him till they aflually faw him arrived.
That fame evening he waited on the queen, where he made
a fhort vifit ; he paid a ftill fhorter to the king, and no
bufinefs paffed at either pf thefe meetings.

The king, Socinios,was now more than ever confirmed-
in the belief of Afahel's information, becaufe, notvvithftand-
ing that f afil knew perfe6lly his neceflities, and that for
feven years he had not paid a farthing to the revenue, he
ilill had not brought either payment, or prefent of any fort;
and, inftead of coming with a large army to give battle to
Ras Michael, he arrived as in peace with fcarce a body guard;
and, what feemed to put the matter beyond all doubt, the
very night of his arrival, upon coming from his audience,
he fet Welleta LSelaffe at liberty, and fent him to Tigre to his
uncle Ras Michael, loaded with many prefents, and with
every mark of refpecft. There were, however, about Soci-
nios fome people of wifdom enough to ccunfel him to take
no notice of this behaviour of Fafil, which feemed to favour
llrongly of defiance ; and he was wife enough for a fhort
time to follow their advice. As he had, by fair means,
gained Woodage Afahel, he thought he might, by purfuing
the fame condud:, fucceed with Faiil alfo.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE.

3S

In the morning, therefore, of the 3d of November, with-
out attempting further difcuffion, proclamation was made
that Fafil was Ras and Betwudet, governor of Damot, Mait-
flia, and Agow, and had the difpofal of all places under the
king throughout the empire ; declaring alfo, that all ap-
pointments that had been made by the heghe or himfelf, in
Fafd's abfence, were null and void, to be again filled up by
Fafil only. Socinios, however, foon found that he had a
different fpirit to manage than that of Woodage Afahel.
Fafil took him at his word, accepted of the appointment, be-
gan immediately toexercife his pow^r, and the very firft day
he gave the poft of Cantiba, that is, governor of Dembea,
to Ayto Engedan, nephew to the queen-mother, and fon to
Kafmati Eflite, whom he himfelf had depofed, murdered,
and fuccceded in the government of Damot and Maitfha ;
and Selaffe Barea, brother to Ayto Aylo, he made Palamba-
ras. Thefe appointments juft planted the king in the diffi-
culty that was intended ; for the places had been given to
Kafmati Sanuda, as a recompence for refigning the- pofts of
Ras and Betwudet, which were now conferred upon Fafil ;
and Sanuda,- whom Socinios believed his only friend, and
the perfon that raifed him to the throne, was now left def-
titute of all employment whatever, by an adlof feeming in-
gratitude flowing from the king alone.

The next day Fafil, purfuing the fame line of Gonduc51:j
appointed Adera Tacca Georgis, a creature of his own. Fit-
Auraris to the king. None of thefe preferments Socinios
could be brought to comply with ; fo that when thefe no-
blemen came to do homage for their refpeftive places, So-
cmios abfolutelyrefufed to receive them, or difplace Kafma-
ti Sanuda. This involved the king in ftill greater difficult

^6 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

ties, for he thereby broke his word with Fafil, who had done
nothing more than Socinios gave him authority to do. On
the other hand, Selaffe Barea was brother to Ayto Aylo, the
queen's greateft counfellor and confident ; equal to his bro-
ther both in wifdom, integrity, and riches, and in the fa-
vour of the people, but much more ambitious and defirous
of governing, confequently more dangerous when difobli^
ged.

Socinios, who did not believe that Sanuda was treacher-
oufly urging him to his ruin, continued obllinate in rejed:-
ing Fafil's appointment, and all fell immediately into con-
fufion. Troops flocked in from every quarter, as upon a
fignal given. Ayto Engedan, in difcontent, with a thoufand
men fat down near Gondar on the river Mogetch; his bro-
ther Aylo, at Emfras, about 15 miles further, with double
that number ; Ayto Confu, his coufin-german, with abouc
600 horfe, lay above Kofcam for the prote<5lion of Ozoro-
Efther, his mother, and the Iteghe his grandmother — alii
were in arms, though upon the defenfive^

In this fituation of things I arrived at Gondar on the
igzh of November, but could not fee the queen, who had
retired into her apartment under pretence of devotion, but ra-
ther from difguft and melancholy, at feeing that every thing,
however the contrary might be intended, feemed to con-
fpire to bring about the return of Ras Michael, the event
in the world flie dreaded moft. I found with Ozoro Eflher
the Acab Saat, Abba Salama, v/ho, as we have already ob-
ferved, had excommunicated her uncle Kafmati Eflite, and
afterwards contrived his murder, and had alfo had a very
principal fliare in that of Joas himfelf. It was he that Fafil

faid

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 57

faid had fent to him to defire that I might not be allowed
to proceed to the head of the Nile, and that from no other
reafon but a hatred to me as a Frank. We bowed to each
other as two not very great friends, and he immediately
began a very dry, ill-natured, admonitory difcourfe, ad-
drefled, for the greatell part, to Ozoro Ellher, explaining to
her the mifchief of fufFering Franks to remain at liberty in
the country and meddle in aiFairs. I interrupted him by
a laugh, and by faying, If it is me, father*, you mean by the
word Frank, I have, without your advice, gone where I in-
tended, and returned in fafety ; and as for your coimtry, I
will give you a very handfome prefent to put me fafely
out of it, in any direiflion you pleafe, to-morrow — the foon--
er the better.

At this inftant Ayto Confu came into his mother's
apartment, caught the laft words which I had faid, and afl^ed
of me, in a very angry tone of voice. Who is he that wiihcs
you out of the country ? — " I do, fmcerely and heartily, faid
I, for one ; but what you laft heard was in confequence of a
friendly piece of advice that Abba Salama here has been
giving me." — " Father, father, fays Confu, turning to him
very fternly, do you not think the meafure of your good
deeds is yet near full? Do you not fee this place, Kafmati
Eflitc's houfe, furrounded by the troops of my father Mi-
chael, and do you ftill think yourfelf in fafety, when you
have fo lately excommunicated both the King and Ras ?
Look you, fays he, turning to his mother, what dogs the
people of this country are ; that Pagan there, who calls
himfelf a Chriftian, did charitably recommend it to Fafd to
rob or murder Yagoube, a ftranger oiFending nobody, whea
be got him among his Galla in Damot: this did not fuc-

ceed-

3B TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

cced. He then perfuadcd Woodage Afahel to fend a party of
robbers from Samfeen to intercept him in Madtflia. Coque
Abou Barea himfclf told me it was at that infidel's de-
iire that he fent Welleta Selafle of Guefgue with a party to
cut him off, who miffed him narrowly at Degwaffa ; and
all this for what ? I fliall fwear they fhould not have found
ten ounces of gold upon him, except Fafil's prefent, and
that they dared not touch." — " But God, faid Ozoro Efther,
faw the integrity of his heart, and that his hands were
clean ; and that is not the cafe with the men in this coun-
try."— " And therefore, faid Confu, he made Fafil his friend
and protecftor. Woodage Afahel's party fell in with an
officer of Welleta Yafous, who cut them all to pieces
while robbing fome Agows." Then rifmg up from the
place where he was fitting at his mother's feet, with a raif-
ed voice, and countenance full of fury, turning to Abba Sa-
lama, he faid, " And I, too, am now nobody ; a boy ! a child !
a mockery to three fuch Pagan infidels as you, Fafil, and
Abou Barea, becaufe Ras Michael is away !" — Says the Acab
Saat, with great compofure, or without any feeming anger,
" You are excommunicated, Confu ; you are exct mmuni-
cated if you fay I am Infidel or Pagan : L am a Chriliian
pried." — " A prieil of the devil, fays Confu, in a great paf-
fion — wine and women, gluttony, lying, and diunkennefs
— thefe are your gods ! Away i lays he, putting his hand to
his knife : by Saint Michael I fwear, ten days Ihall not pafs
before I teach both Coque Abou Barea and you your dury.
Come, Yagoube, come and fee my horfes ; when I have put
a good man upon^each of them we (hall together hunt
your enemies to Sennaar." He fwang haftily out of the
door, and I after him, and left Abba Salama dying with
fear, as Ozoro Either told me afterwards, faying only to

3 her

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. jgi

her, as he went out, Remember I did not excommunicate
him.

I LEFT Confu with his horfes and men ; and, though it
was now late, I went to the camp to pay my compUments
to Fafd. Having no arms, I was very much molefted both
in going and coming, under various pretences ; I was after-
wards kept waiting about half an hour in the camp with-
out feeing him ; he only fent me a meflcige that he would
fee me on the morrow. However, we met feveral friends
we had feen at Bamba, and from them we learned at length
what we fhortly had heard from Ayto Confu, that Woodage
Afahel had fent a party to intercept and rob us ; and it was
that party which was called the five Agows, who had pafTed
Fafil's army the night after we left Kelti*. They told us
that the Lamb faid they were Agows, not to alarm us, but
that he knew very well who they were, and what was their
errand ; and that, the night after he left us, he got upon
their track by information from three country men whonx
they had robbed of fome honey, furrounded them, and, in
the morning, had attacked them well of Geeih, and, though
inferior in number, had llain and wounded the whole par-
ty as dexteroufly as he had promifed to us a,t our laft in-
terview.

I SENT a fmall prefent to our friend the Lamb, in tokerii
of gratitude ro him, and delivered it to three people, that I
might be fare one of them would not Ileal it, and took Fa-
fil's guarantee to fee it delivered ; but this was upon a fol-
lowing^

^-See ray laft joamey to the fountains of the Nile.

49 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

lowing day. I refolved to remain at Kofcam in the houfc
the Iteghe had given me, as it was eafy to fee things were
drawing to a crifis, which would inevitably end in blood.

It was not till the 23d of November I firft faw the Iteghe.
She fent for me early in the morning, and had a large break-
fafl prepared: Ay to Confu andJAyto Engedan were there ; fhe
looked very much worn out and indifpofed. When I came
firft into her prefence, I kneeled, with my forehead to the
ground. She put on a very ferious countenance, and, with-
out defning me to rife, faid gravely to her people about her,
" There, fays fhe, fee that madman, who in times like thefe,
when we the natives of the country are not fafe in our own
houfes, ralhly, againll all advice, runs out into the fields to
be hunted like a wild beall by every robber, of which this
country is fuU."

She then made me a fign to rife, which I did, and kifTed
her hand. " Madam, faid I, if I did this, it was in confequence
of the good lellbns your majefty deigned to give me."-^" Me!
fays flie, with furprife, was it I that advifed you, at fuch a
time as this, to put yourfelf in the way of men like Coque
Abou Barea, and Woodage Afahel, to be ill-ufed, robbed, and
probably murdered ?" — " No, faid I, Madam, you certainly
never did give me fuch advice ; but you muft own that
every day I have heard you fay, when you was threatened
by a multitude of powerful enemies, that you was not
afraid, you was in God's hands, and not in theirs. Now,
Madam, Providence has hitherto proteded you : I have, in
humble imitation of you, had the fame Chriflian confidence,
and I have fucceeded. I knew I was in God's hands, and
therefore valued not the bad intentions of all the robbers
I in

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 41

in Abyflinia." — " Madam, fays Ayto Confu, is not Guefgue
yours ? does it pay you any thing ?"

*' It was mine, fays the queen, while any thing was mine ;
but Michael took it and gave it to Coque Abou Barea, and
fince, it has paid me nothing. Fafd has fent for him about
the affair of Yagoube, as he fays, and has ordered him to
come in the fame manner that he himfelf is come in pri-
vate; but forbid him to bring his army with him, in order
that no means of relief may be poffible to this devoted
country." Large tears flowed down her venerable face at
faying thefe words, and iliewed the deep-rooted fear in her
heart, that Michael's coming was decreed without poffibility
of prevention. " I wonder, fays Ayto Engedan, laughing, to
divert her, if Coque Abou Barea is the fame good Chriilian
that you and. Yagoube are; i'~^ he is not, nothing elfe will
fave him from the hands of Confu and me ; for we both
want horfes and mules for our men, and he has good ones,
and arms too, that belonged to my father." — " And both of
you, fays the queen, are as b^d men as either Woodage A-
fahel or Coque Abou Barea." At this moment the arrival of
Fafil was announced, and we were all turned out, and went
to breakfaft. I faw him afterwards going out of the pa-
lace. He faluted me flighily, and feemed much pre-occu-
pied in mind. He only defired me to come to Gondar next
morning, and he would fpeak to me about Coque Abou Ba-
rea ; but this the Iteghe refufed to permit me to do, fo I
remained at Kofcam.

Fasil, although he did not deny that he had made peace
with Ras Michael, yet, to quiet the minds of the people, al-
ways folemnly protclled, that, fo far from coming to Gondar,
Vol. IV. F he

42 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

he never would confent to his crofling the Tacazze ; and
this had, with nioft people, the defired elFe<51: ; for all Gon-
dar loved TeclaHaimanoutas much asthe) detefledSocinios;,:
but the bloodflied, and cruelty that would certainly attend
Michael's coming, inade them wii'h for any government that
would free them from the terror of that event. Un the
other hand, Socinios, though now perfectly perfuaded of
Fafd's motives, had not deferted his own caufe; he had
fent Woodage Afahel, fortified with all his authority, in-
to Maitllia, in order to raife a commotion there ; ordered it
to be proclaimed to the whole body of Galla in that pro-
vince, that if they would come to Gondar, and prevent the
arrival of Ras Michael, and bring their Bouco (or fceptre)
along with themj they fhould have the eledion of their
own governor, and not pay any thing to the king for feven
years to come ; and, befides, he had ordered Powuflen of
Begemder to endeavour, by a forced march, to furprife Fafil,,
then at Gondar, attended by a few troops. Mean time, he
diflembled the beflhecould; but, as he hadvery fhrewdpeople
to deal with, it was more than probable his fecret was early
difcovered.

Every hand being now armed, and all meafures taken, as
far as human forefight could reach, it was impoffible to de-
fer any longer the coming to blows in fome part or other.
On the aid, at night, advice was received from Adera Tacca
Georgis, an officer of Fafd in Maitlha, that he had attack-
ed Woodage Afahel, who had collecled a number of troops,
and was endeavouring to raife commotions ; and, after an
obRinate combat, he had defeated him, and llain or wound-
ed moil of his followers i that Afahel himfelf, wounded
twice with a lance, had, by the goodnefs- of his horfe, efcap-
ed, and joined Powuflen in Begemder.

These

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 45

These news occafionedFafil to throw off the mafk : he now
publicly avowed it was his intention to reftore Tecla Haim-
anout to the throne, and that, rather than fail in it, he would
replace Ras IV'Iichaei in all his pofts and dignities. He faid
that Socinios was created for mockery only ; and publicly
alTerted, that he was not fon of Yafous, but of one Mercurius,
a private man at Degwaffa ; and indeed he bore not, in his
features or carriage, any refemblance to the royal tamiiy
from which he pretended to be defcended.

Socinios now faw that he was from henceforward to
look upon Fafil as an enemy. Orders were accordingly
given to fliut the gates of the palace, and to Hation a num-
ber of troops in the different courts and avenues leading
to the king's apartment. No perfon v/as to be admitted to the
king without examination. The drums were beat, and con-
llant guard kept; and three hundred Mahometans taken into
hL fervice as mulketeers ; a meafure that gave great oiiencc.

Fasil had taken up his refidence in the houfe which he^
longed to the ofEce of Ras, at the other end of the tcwn. ;
and, to fliew his contempt for the king, was very ilightly
guarded, his army remaining encamped under the palace.
One tli:ng at this time feemed particular ly remarkable ; a
drum was heard to beat in the houfe where Fanl was ^
whereas it is an invariable rule, that no drum is luffered
to beat in the capital any where but in the houfe where the
king refides. It was faid that king Yafous, fecond fon to the
Iteghe, or queen-mother, and father 10 Joas, h-ad left two
fons by a flave of the queen ; indeed he had i'o many hv low
people, that very little care was taken of them, not even
that of fending them to tlie mountain Wechiie. One of

F 2 thefc,

44 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

thefc, after the murder of Joas, had appeared in Gojam, re-
folved to try his fortune ; but he was apprehended by the
governor of that province, fent to Gondar, and then to Wech-
ne. It was faid the other was with Fafil, in Gondar ; that
the drum that then beat in Fafil's houfe announced his
fpeedy intention of making him king : all was confufion
within the palace, but the Ras kept up a ftridt police in the
town.

It was then towards the end of November, when, by me-
diation of the Abuna, the Queen, and the Itchegue, peace
was unexpededly made between Socinios and Fafil ; the
latter fwearing allegiance to Socinios as to his only fovereign,
and the Abuna pronouncing excommunication upon either
of them which fliould become the enemy of the other.
What was the intention of this farce I never yet could learn ;
for the very next ddy Fafil deprived Guflio and Powuffen of
their governments of Amhara and Begemder, which was
an exprefs proof that his intention ftill was to reftore
Tccla Haimanout. The doors of the king's palace were again
immediately fhut, and figns of hoftilities commenced as be-
fore.

I WAS dining with Ozoro Efther, when a meflenger ar-
rived from Coque Abou Barea, with a complaint to the que^n
that he was on his march to. Gondar, to pay his allegiance
to Socinios, and bring him the tribute of his province, when
he received a meffage from Fafd to return the greateft part
of his troops ; but that, defuing to be as ufeful as pofTible
in preventing the coming of Michael, he fo far difobcyed
that order as to bring with him a confiderable body of
the bed of his foldiers, fending the reft home under tli£

conduft

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. ^5

condudb of Welleta Selafle ; but that on the 26th, early in the
morning, he had been furprifed by Confu and Engedan^
who, without any caufe alledged, had killed and difperfed
all his troops, and taken from them all the horfes and mules
they could lay their hands on: that they after followed Wel-
leta Selafl'e, and had come up with him unawares, juft as
he entered Guefgue, had defeated him, and that Ayto En-
gedan, in the beginning of the fight, had flain him with
his own hand, by wounding him in the throat with a lance
when flretching out his hand to parley ; after which, they
had fet fire to nine villages in Guefgue, and given the plun-
der to their foldiers..

In the mean time PowufTen had not dlfregarded the re-
queft of Socinios. He had attempted to furprife Fafil, but
eould not pafs Aylo, who was at Emfras, without falling upon
him firft, which he did, difperfing his troops with little re-
finance. Upon the firft intelligence of this, Fafil proclaimw
ed Tecla Haimanout king ; and,ftrikinghis tents, fat down
at Abba Samuel, a coUcdion of villages about two miles
from Gondar, inviting all people, that would efcape the
vengeance of Ras Michael, to come and join him, and
leave Gondar. From this he retreated near to Dingleber,
on the fide of the lake, and intercepted all provifions co-
ming to Gondar, which occafioned a very great famine, and
many poor people died.

Hitherto I had no intercourfe with Socinios, never ha-
ving been in his prefence, but when the Galla, the murderer
of Joas, was tried ; nor had I any reafon to think he knew
me, or cared for me more than any Greek that was in Gondar;
but I had a good friend at court, who waked when I llept,

and

46 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

and did not fufFer me to pafs unknown.; this was the
Acab Saat, ^)aiama, who had ini^igated the king, on the 5th
of December, in one of his drunken fits, to fet our from the
palace in the night, attended by a number of banditti, moll-
ly Mahometans, to plunder feverai houfes; he flew one man,
as it was faid, with his own hand : among thefe devoted
houfes mine happened to be one, but I was then happily at
Kofcam. The next was Mecical Aga's, one of whofe fervants
efcaped into a church-yard, the other being flain. The lead-
er of this unworthy mob was Confu, brother to Guebra
Mchedin. Every thing that could be carried away was
flolen or broken ; among which was a refle(5ting telefcope,
a barometer, and thermometer; a great many papers and
•flcetches of drawings, firft torn, then burnt by Confu's own
hand, with niany curfes and threats agaiml me.

The next day, about nine o'clock, I had a meiTage to
come to the palace, where I went, and was immediately ad-
mitted. Sccinios was fitting, his eyes half clofed, red as icar-
let with lafl; night's debauch ; he was apparently at that mo-
ment much in liquor; his mouth full of tobacco, fquirt-
ing his fpitrle out of his mouth to a very great diftance ;
with this he hau fo covered the flof^r, that it was with very
great difficulty I could chufe a clean place to kneel and
n ake my obeifance. Ke was dreiled like the late king,
but, in e\ery thing elfe, how unlike ! my mind was filled
with horror and deteftation, to fee the throne on which he
fat fo unworthily occupied. I regarded him as I advanced
with the molt pertcCt contempt : Hamlet's lines defcribed
him exactly : — ■

2 A

THE SOURCE QF THE NILE. 47

A murtherer and a villain :

A flave, that is not twentieth part the tithe

Of your preceding lord ; a vice of kings ;

A cutpurfe of the empire, and the rule,

That from a Ihelf the precious diadem ftole

And put it in his pocket ;

A king of fhreds and patches..

Shakespeare..

It requires fomethingof innate royalty to perfonate a king.

When I got up and flood before him, he feemed to be
rather difconcerted, and not prepared to fay any thing to
me. There were few people there belides fervants, moiV
men of confideration having left Gondar, and gone with
Fafd. After two or three fquirts through his teeth, and a
whifper from his brother Chremation, whom I had never
before feen—" Wherefore is it, fays he, that you who are
z. great man, do not attend the palace ? you were conftantly
withTecla Haimanout, the exile, or ufurper, in peace and war i :
you ufcd to ride with him, and divert him with your tricks
on horfeback, and, I believe, ate and drank with him.
Where is all that money you got from Ras el Feel, of.
which province, I am told, you are flill governor, though
you conceal it ? How dare you keep Yafme in that govern-
ment, and not allow Abd eljeileel, wiio is my Have, appoint-
ed to enter and govern that province ?" I waited patiently
till he had faid all he had to fay, and made a flight in-
clination of the head. I anfwered, " I am no great man,
even in my own country ; one proof of this is my being
here in yours. 1 arrived in the time of the late king, and
Ilwas recommended to him by his friends in Arabia. You

are

48 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

are perfectly well-informed as to the great kindnefs he did
all along flicw me, but this was entirely from his goodnefs,
and no merit of mine. I never did eat or drink with him ; it
was an honour I could not have been capable of afpiring
to. Cuftom has eftabliflied the contrary; and for me, I
faw no pleafure or temptation to tranfgrefs this cultom,
though it had been in my option, as it was not. I have, for
the moft part, feen him eat and drink; an honour I enjoyed
in common with his confidential fervants, as being an offi-
cer of his houfehold. The gold you mention, which I have
feveral times got from the late King and Ras el Feel, I con-
ilantly fpent for his fervice, and for my own honour. But
at prefent I am neither governor of Ras el Feel, nor have I
any port under heaven, nor do I defire it. Yafme, I fup-
pofe, holds his from t^yto Confu his fuperior, who holds it
from the king by order of Ras Michael, but of this I know
nothing. As for tricks on horfeback, I know not what you
mean. I have for many years been in conflant practice of
horfemanfhip among the Arabs. Mine, too, is a country
of horfemen ; and I profefs to have attained to a degree not
common, the management both of the lance and of fire-
arms; but I am no buffoon, to fliew tricks. The profeiiion
of arms is my birth-right derived frorii my anceilors, and
with thefe, at his defire, I have often diverted the king, as
an amufcmcnt worthy of him, and by no means below me."
— " The king ! fays he in a violent paffion, and who then
am I ? a Have ! Do you know, with a llamp of my foot I can
order you to be hev/n to pieces in an inilant. You are a
Frank, a dog, a liar, and a flave ! Why did you tell the
Iteghe that your houfe was robbed of 50 ounces of gold ?
Any other king but myfelf would order your eyes to be

4 pulled

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 49

pulled out in a moment, and your caixafe to be thrown to
the dogs."

What he faid was true ; bad kings have mofl execu-
tioners. I was not, however, difmayed ; I was in my own
mind, flranger and alone, fuperior to fuch a beaft upon a
throne. " The Iteghe, faid I, is at prefent at Kofcam, and
will inform you if I told her of any gold that was ftolen from
me, except a gold-mounted knife which the late king gave
me at Dingleber the day after the battle of Limjour, and
which was accidentally left in my houfe, as I had not worn
it fmce he went to Tigre." He fquirted at this moment an
arch of tobacco-fpittle towards me, whether on purpofe or
not I do not know. I felt myfelf very much moved; it nar-
rowly miffed me. At this inftant an old man, of a noble
appearance, who fat in a corner of the room next him, got
up, and, in a firm tone of voice, faid, " I can bear this no
longer ; we fliall become a proverb, and the hatred of all
mankind. What have you to do with Yagoube, or why did
you fend for him ? he was favoured by the late king, but
not more than 1 have feen Greeks or Armenians in all the
late reigns ; and yet thefe very people confefs, in their own
country, they are not worthy of being his fervants. He is
a friend, not only to the king, but to us all : the whole peo-
ple love him. As for myfelf, I never fpoke to him twice
before ; when he might have gone to Tigre with Mi-
chael his friend, he flaid at Gondar with us : fo you, of all
others, have lead reafon to complain of him, fmce he has
preferred you to the Ras, tho' you have given him nothing.
As for riding, I wifli Yagoube had juft rode with you as
much as with Tecia Haimanout, and you fpent as much
time with him as your predeceffor did; laft night's difgrace

Vol. IV. G would

so TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

would not then have fallen upon us, at leaft would have been
confined to the limits of your own kingdom ; you would
have neither difobliged Fafil nor the Iteghe ; and, when the
day of trial is at hand, you would have been better able to
anfwer it, than, by going on at this rate, there is any appear-
ance you will be." This perfon, I underflood afterwards,,
was Ras Sanuda, nephew to the Iteghe, and fon of Ras Wel-
led de rOul ; he had been baniflied to Kuara in the late-
king's time, fo I had no opportunity of knowing him.

All the time of this harangue Socinios's eyes were moftly
fhut, and his mouth open, and Havering tobacco; he was roll-
ing from fide to fide fcarcely preferving his equilibrium.
When Sanuda flopt, he began with an air of drollery, " You
are very angry to-day, Baba." And turning to me, faid, " To-
morrow, fee you. bring me that horfe which Yafine fent
you to Kofcam ; and bring me Yafine himfelf, or you will
hear of it ; fiave and Frank as you are, enemy to Mary the
virgin, bring me the horfe !" Sanuda took me by the hand,
faying in a whifper, " Don't fear him, I am here ; but go
home ; next time you come here you will have horfes
enough along with you." He, too, feemed in liquor; and,
making me a fign to withdraw, I left the king and his mi-
niller together with great willingnefs, and returned to Kof-
cam to the Iteghe, to whom I told what had palled, and who
ordered me to flay near Ozoro Either, as in her fervice, and
go no more to the palace.

At this time certain intelligence wa^ received that Ras
Michael was arrived in Lafla with Guigarr, Shum, or chief
of the clan called Waag, once a mortal eaemy to Michael,
though now at peace with him, and ferving him as his con-

dudor».

THE SOURCE OF THE N ^L E. 51

du6lor. Through his country is the only pafTage from Tigre
to Begemder and Beleffen, and many armies have periflied
by endeavouring to force it. Michael and the king now paflt
ed under the protection of Guigarr, notwithftanding Povvruf-
fen had many parties among the other clans that wiflied to
prevent him. On the 15th of December he forded the Ta-
cazze, and turned a little to the left, as if he intended to
pafs through the middle of Begemder, though he had real-
ly no fuch defign, but only to bring Powuffento an engage-
ment. Seeing this w^as not likely, and only tended to wafte
time, he purfued his journey ilraight tow^ards Gondar, not
in hii ufual way, burning and delb-oying, but quietly, cor-
recSting abufes, and regulating the police of the country
through which he pafled, for he was yet in fear.

The news of his having pafTed the Tacazze determined
Socinios and the Iteghe to fly ; and they fet out according-
ly. Sjcinios dirc6led his flight, firft towards Begemder, but,
the next day, turned to the right, through Dembea, and
joined the queen at Azazo, where great altercations and
difputes followed between them. The queen had engaged
the Abuna to attend her, and that prelate had confented, up-
on receiving fifteen mules and thirty ounces of gold, which
were paid accordingly : But v/hen the queen fent, the morn-
ing of her departure, to put the Abuna in mind of his pro-
mife, his fervants ftoned the Iteghe's meflcnger, without
fuffering him to approach the houfe, but they kept the
mules and the gold. The queen continued her flight to
Degwafla, near the lake Tzana, and fent all that Avas va-
luable that ihe h?.d brought with her, into the ifland
of Dek.

G 2 Ayto

53 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

Ayto Engedan and Confu were at hand at the head of
large parties fcouring'the country, at once proteding the
Iteghe, and fecuring as many of thofe of Sociyios's people
as were thought worthy of punifhment. Sanuda, too, was
in arms ; and, throwing off the mafk, was now adling under
the immediate direction of Ras Michael, and had apprehend-
ed many of thofe noblemen of Tigre who hadrevolted againft
the Ras, particularly Guebra Denghel, married to Ras Mi-
chael's grand-daughter, defcended from one of the noblell
houfes in the province, and a man particularly diftinguiflied
for generofity, opennefs, and affability of manners ; and
Sebaat Laab and Keila Mariam, men of great confideration in
Michael's province. Confu and Sanuda having joined, en-
tered Gondar, and took poffeffion of the king's houfe, and
put a flop to thefe exceffes and robberies which had become
very frequent fmce the Iteghe's flight.

One day, while I was fitting at Kofcam, Yafme enter-
ed the court before the houfe, and, coming into the room,
fell down and kiffed the ground before me, after the
manner they falute their fuperior. He told me he came
from Ayto Confu, who ordered him to do homage to me as
ufualfor the province of Ras el Feel, and that I was to come
to him dire^lly, and go out to meet the king, for feveral of
his people were already arrived at Gondar. I fent him back
to Ayto Confu with my refpecflful thanks, declined accept-
ing of any office till I ffiould fee the king ; and, as he him-
felf had named the place to be Mariam Ohha, I thought it
was my duty to Hay till he came there.

In the mean time the imfortunate Socinios continued
his flight, in company with the q^ueen, till they came to

the

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE.

SS

the borders of Kuara, her native country. Thofe wha
made Socinios a king had never made him a friend. It
was here fuggefted, that his prefence would infalhbly oc-
callon a purfuit which might endanger the queen, her
country, and all her friends. Upon this it was refolved to
abandon the unworthy Socinios to the foldiers, who ftript
him naked, giving him only a rag to cover him, and a
good horfe, and with thefe they difmifTed him to feek his
fortune.

After a fliort flay in Kuara, the queen turned to the-
left towards Bure. All Maitfha alTembled to efcort her to
Fafil, while he led her through Damot to the frontiers of
Gojam, where fhe was received in triumph by her daughter
Ozoro Welleta Ifrael, and Ayto her grandfon, to whom half
of that province belonged, and with them flie relied at
lall in fafety, after a long and anxious journey.

On the 21 ft of December a melTage came to me from
Ozoro Efther, defiring I would attend her fon Confu to meet
the king, as his Fit-Auraris had marked out the camp at
Mariam-Ohha; obferving, that I had a very indilFerent knife
or dagger in my girdle, (that which I had received from
the king being ftolen, when my houfe was plundered) with
her own hands llie made me a prefent of a magnificent
one, mounted with gold which fhe had chofen v/ith that
intention, and laid upon the feat befide her. She told me
fhe had already fcnt to acquaint her hufband, Ras Michael,
how much flie had been obliged to me in his abfence, both
for my attention to her and her eldeft fon, who had beea-
feveral times fick fmce his departure, and that I might ex^
pe(fl to receive a kind reception,.

54 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

=^^^^'

CHAP. III.

iTbe Author joins the Army at Mariam-Ohha — "Reception there — XJni'
V€rfal Terror on the Approach of the Army — Several great Men of
ihe Rebels apprehended and executed — Great Hardnefs of the King's
Heart.

HAVING ftill fome doubt about the propriety of going
to Mariam-Ohha, till the king had taken poit there,
I appointed with Ayto Confu to meet him next morning,
the 2 2d, in the plain below the church of Abbo, where is
the pafs called Semma Confu, the dangerous path, from
its being always a place where banditti refort to rob paf-
fengers in unfettled times.

In my way through the town, though the day had
fcarce dawned, numbers of the king's fervants, that had
come fiom Tigre, flrjcked about me with great demonftra-
tions of joy ; and, by the time I got into the plain below
Abba, I had already coUeded a ftrong party both of horfe
4 and

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 53

and foot. This was not my intention ; I had fet out un-
armed, attended only by two Abyilinian fervants on horfe-
back, but without lance or Ihield, and in this manner I in^
tended to prefent myfelf to the king as one of the fuite of
Ayto Confu: but all my endeavours were in vain ; and I
faw that, making the beft of my way, and profiting of the
early time of the morning, was the only method left to a-
void increafmg my retinue. I muft own the good difpofition
of thefe people to me, and the degree of favour they report-
ed me to be in, and, above all, Ozoro Efther's afTurances
had given me great comfort ; for feveral people of no au-
thority, indeed, had prophefied that Ras Michael would be
much offended at my having thrown a carpet over the
body of Joas, and at my not having gone to Tigre with
him.

I PASSED the three heaps of ftones under which lie the'
three monks who were Honed to death in the time of Da-
vid IV. ; and at the bottom of the hill whereon Hands the
church of Abbo, I was met by Yafme, and about 20 horfe^
men, having on their coats of mail, their helmets upon their
heads, and their viziers down ; their pikes perpendicular,
with their points in the air, fo that by one motion more,
placing them horizontally in their refts, they were pre-
pared to charge at a word. I afked Yafme what was the
meaning of his being in that equipage in fuch hot weather,
when there was no enemy ? He replied. It was given him
in, orders from Ayto Confu laft night ; and that, with regard
to an enemy, there was one that had feized the pafs of Sem-
ma Confu, and obllinately refufed to let us through, un-
iefs we forced them. Sure, faid I, Ayto Confu knows, that
heavy armed- men on horfeback are not fit to force paffes

through

j6 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

through craggy mountains, where they may be all killed
by rolling flones upon them, without their even feeing
their enemiy. Strange, ftrange, faid I, (fpeaking to my-
felf) that any party fliould be fo audacious as to take pofl
in the king's front, at fix miles diftance, and put themfelves
between him and the capital : I am fure they heartily de-
ferve to be cut in pieces, and fo they certainly will. Where
is Ayto Confu ? It was anfwered by Yafme, That he was
gone forward to the mouth of the pafs to reconnoitre it,
and would meet us there. We marched on accordingly,
acrofs the plain, about half a mile ; but I was furprifed to
fee all my attendants, that I had picked up by the way,
laughing, excepting Yafme's men, and that none of the
reft made horfe, mule, or gun ready as if they were in dan-
ger ; fo that I began now ftrongly to fufpedl fome trick
on the part of Confu, as he was much given to jeft and
fport, being a very young man.

A LITTLE before we came to the mouth of the pafs, a
foldier came to us and aflced who we were ? and was
anfwered, it was Yafme, Ayto Confu's fervant at Ras el Feel.
To which it v/as replied, he knew no fuch perfon. He
was fcarcely gone when another arrived with the fame que-
ftion. I began to be impatient, as the fun was then growing
very hot ; and anfwered, It was Yagoube, the white man,
the king's friend and fervant. I was again anfwered. No
fuch perfon could pafs there. The third time, being inter-
rogated by one whom I knew to be Ayto Confu's fervant,
Yafme anfwered, it is Yagoube, the king's governor of Ras
el Feel, with the flave Yafme, the moor, come to do the kin-g
horriage, and to die for him, if he commands, in the midfl
of his enemies. We were anfwered, He is welcome : upon
^ which

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE.

57

which the fervant, going back, brought a drum, and beat
it upon the rock, crying, as in a proclamation, " Yagoube
is Governor of Ras el Feel, Commander of the king's black
horfe, Lord of Geefli, andGentleman of the king's bed-cham-
ber." Here this farce, the contrivance of Ayto Confu, end-
ed. With him were many more of the king's fervants, my
old acquaintances, and we all fat down by a fpring-well,
under the Ihade of the rock, to a hearty breakfaft prepar-
ed for us by Ozoro Efther.

After this was finifhed with a great deal of chearful-
nefs, and being ready to get on horfeback, we faw a man
running towards us in great fpeed, who, upon his arrival,
alked us where the king was, and if we were his Fit-Aura-
ris ? To this we made him no anfwcr ; but, laying hold of
him, obliged him to declare his errand. He faid that he
was a fervant of Negade Ras Mahomet, of Dara, who had
apprehended Ayto Confu, brother of Guebra Mchedin, of
whom I have fpoken at large, (never for any good) and that
he had brought him along with him. This mifcreant,
whom we had found out to be the principal ador and per-
fuader of the robbery of my houfe, while in a drunken frolic
with the wretched Socinios, was now in his way before the
king, where, if all his delinquency had been known,
he would infallibly have loll his eyes, his life, or both. He
was nephew to the Iteghe, as has been already mentioned,
fon to her brother Balha Eufebius, and confequently coufm-
german to Ayto Confu himfelf, who, with great diffidence,
alked me if I could pardon his coufin, and allow him to be
delivered out of Mahomet's hands, which, ill as he defervedof
me, I very readily complied with; for I would not for the world

Vol. IV. H have

58 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER.

liavc had it thought that I was the occafion of his death, after-
it had been fo often faid, though f alfely, that I had been the
caufe of that of his brother. Mahomet dehvered him to-
Confu and me, without hefitation, and promifed not to com-
plain to Ras Michael ; but he threatened, if ever again he
fell into his hands, that he would certainly put him to
death, which he well faw would not be very difagreeable
to any of his relations, provided it happened in the field, or
any other way than by the hands of a public executioner.
Ay to Confu, however, infifted upon bringing him out, and"
corredling him publicly, though he was by ten years the
younger of the two ; and the wretch was accordingly fe-
verely whipt with wands, and delivered after to a fervant
of Ozoro Kfther's to condu6l him to fome fafe place, where
he might be out of the reach of Ras Michael, at lead for a.
time.

We now got on horfeback, and having ordered Yafme
and his foldiers to difarm, we all went in the habit of peace,
with joyful hearts, to meet the king, who was already ar-
rived at Mariam-Ohha, and was encamped there fmce about
eleven o'clock that forenoon.

My iirll bufmefs was to wait on Ras Michael, who, tho'
very bufy, admitted me immediately upon being announ-
ced. This was a compliment I was under no neceffity of
paying him, as the king's fervant ; but I was refolved to
take nothing upon me, but appear in all the humility of a
private ilranger. This he quickly perceived, fo that, when
he faw me approaching near him to kifs the ground, he
made an effort as if to rife, which he never did, being lame,
nor could do without help ; flretching out his hand as if to

prevent

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 59

prevent me, repeated the words in a hurry, k gzeir^ he gzeir^
or, for God's fake don't, for God's fake don't. However, the
compliment was paid. As foon as I arofe, without defiring
me to fit down, he afked aloud, Have you feen the king? I
faid, Not yet. Have you any complaint to make againft any
one, or grace to afk? I anfwered, None, but the continuance
of your favour. He anfwered. That I am fure I owe you ;
go to the king. I took my leave. I had been joftled and
almoft fqueezed to death attempting to enter, but large
room was made me for retiring.

The reception I had met with was the infallible rule
■according to which the courtiers were to fpeak to me
from that time forward. Man is the fame creature every-
where, although difFerent in colour : the court of London
and that of Abyffinia are, in their principles, one. I then
^ent immediately to the king in the prefence-chamber. His
largeft tent was crowded to a degree of fufFocation ; I re-
folved, therefore, to wait till this throng was over, and was
going to my own tent, which my fervants pitched near that
of Kefla Yafous, by that general's own defire, but before I
could reach it I was called by a fervant from the king.
Though the throng had greatly decreafed, there was Hill a
very crowded circle.

The king was fitting upon an ivory ftool, fuch as are rc-
prefented upon ancient medals ; he had got this as a pre-
fcntfrom Arabia fince he went to Tigre; he was plainly, but
very neatly drefled, and his hair combed and perfumed.
When I kiffed the ground before him, " There, fays he, is
an arch rebel, what puni/Iiment fhall we inflid; upon him?"
*' Your majefty's juftice, faid I, will not fuffer you to inflift

H 2 any

Co TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

any punifhment upon me that can poffibly equal the plea-
fure I feel this day at feeing you fitting there." He fmiled
with great good nature, giving me firft the back, and then
the palm of his hand to kifs. He then made me a fign to
ftand in my place, which I irnmediately did for a moment ;
and, feeing he was then upon bufmefs,which I knew nothing
of, I took leave of him, and could not help refle(5ling, as I
went, that, of all the vaft multitude then in my fight, I was^
perhaps, the only one deftitute either of hope or fear.

All Gondar, and the neighbouring towns and villages,,
had poured out their inhabitants to meet the king upon his
return. The fear of Ras Michael was the caufe of all this j;
and every one trembled, left, by being abfent, he fhould be
thought a favourer of Socinios..

The fide of the hill, which flopes gently from BelefTen, is.
here very beautiful ; it is covered thick with herbage down
to near the foot, where it ends in broken rocks. The face
of this hill is of great extent, expofed to the W. and S. W. ;
a fmall, but clear-running ftream, rifing in Beleflfen, runs
through the middle of it, and falls into the Mogetch. It is
not confiderable, being but a brook, called Mariam-Ohha^
(/'. e. the water of Mariam) from a church dedicated to the
Virgin, near where it rifes in BelelTen ; an infinite number
of people fpread thcmfelves all over the hill, covered with
cotton garments as white as fnow. The number could not
be lefs than 50 or 60,000 men and women, all ftrewed upon
the grafs promifcuoufly. Moft of thefe had brought their
vi(5luals with them, others trufted to their friends and ac-
quaintances in the army ; the foldiers had plenty of meat ;
as £oon as the king had crolTed the Tacazze all was lawful

prize ;,

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 6i

prize ; and though they did not murder or burn, as was
Michael's cuftom in his former marches, yet they drove a-
way all the cattle they could feize, either in Begemdcr or
BelefTen. Befides this, a great quantity of provifions of
every fort poured in from the neighbourhood of Gondar,
in prefents to the king and great men, though there was
really famine in that capital, by the roads being every way
obilru^ed ; there was plenty, however, in the camp.

It was then the month of December, the faireft time of
the year, when the fun was in the fouthcrn tropic, and no
danger from rain in the day, nor in the night from dew ;.
fo that, if the remembrance of the pail had not hung hea-
vy on fome hearts, it was a party of pleafure, of the moil
agreeable kind, to convoy the king to his capital. The priefls
from all the convents for many miles round, in drefles of
yellow and white cotton, came, with their crofTes and drums,.
in proceflion, and greatly added to the variety of the fcene.
Among thefe were 300 of the monks of Kofcam, with their
large crofTes, and kettle-drums of fdver, the gift of the Iteg-
he in the days of her fplendour ; at prefent it was very
doubtful what their future fate was to be, after their patro-
nefs had iled from Kofcam. But what moft drew the at-
tention of all ranks of people, was the appearance of the
Abuna and Itchegue, whofe chara6ler, rank, and dignity ex-
empted them from leaving Gondar to meet the king him-
felf ; but they were then in great fear, and in the form of
criminals, and were treated with very little refpecft or cere-
mony by the foldiers, who confidered them as enemies.

It will be remembered, upon a report being fpread juft
after theelecStionof Socinios, that Ras Michael's affairs were

taking

62 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

taking an adverfe turn while beficging the mountain Ha^
ramat ; that the Abuna, Itcheguc, and Acab Saat, had fo-
lemnly excommunicated the king, Ras Michael, and all
their adherents, declaring them accurfed, and abfolving all
people from their allegiance to Tecla Kaimanout. But as
foon as the king began his march from Tigre, application
for pardon was made through every channel poliible, and
it was not without great difFiculty that Ras Michael could
be brought to pardon them, chiefly by the entreaty of Ozo-
ro Efther. But this mortification was prefcribed to them
as a condition of forgivenefs, that they fliould meet the
king at Mariam-Ohha, not with drums and crolTes, or a re-
tinue, but in the habit and appearance of fupplicants. Ac-
cordingly they both came by the time the king had alight-
ed, but they brought no tent with them, nor was any
pitched for them, nor any honour Ihewn them.

The Abuna had with him a priefl:, or monk, on a mule,
and two beggarly-looking fervants on foot ; the Itchegue
two monks, that looked like fervants, difl:inguilhed by a
cowl only on their heads ; they were both kept waiting
till pail: three o'clock, and then were admitted, and fliarply
rebuked by the Ras : they after went to the king, who pre-
fently difmilTcd them without faying a word to either, or
without allowing them to be feated in his prefence, which
both of them, by their rank, were intitled to be. I afked the
Abuna to make ufe of my tent to avoid the fun : this he
willingly accepted of, was crell- fallen a little, fpoke very
lowly and familiarly ; faid he had always a regard for me,
which I had no reafon to believe ; defircd me to fpeak fa-
vourable of him before jhe King and the Ras, which I pro-
miled faitlifully to do. I ordered coffee, which he drank

v^ith

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. (Tj

with great pleafure, during which he gave me feveral
Mints, as if he thought his pardon was not compleated ;
and at laft aficed me direiftly what were my fentiments, and
what I had heard ? I faid, I beUeved eveiy thing was fa-
vourable as to him and the hcheguc, but I did not know
how much farther the king's forgivenefs wovild extend.
I know, fays he, what you mean ; that Abba Salama, (curfe
upon him) he is the author of it all : What do I know of
thefe black people, who am a flranger, fo lately come into
the country ? and, indeed, he feemed to know very little ;
for, befides his native Arabic, which he fpoke like a pea-
fant, he had not learned one word of any of the various
languages ufcd in the country in which he was to live and'
die. Having finifhed coffee, I left him fpeaking to fome
of his own people ; about half an hour afterwards, he went >
away.

Ras Michael had brought with him from Tigre about
20,000 men, the beft foldiers of the empire ; about 6000 of
thefe were mufqueteers, about 1 2,000 armed with lances and
fhields, and about 6000 men had joined them from Gon-
dar ; a large proportion of thefe were liorfemen, who were
fcouring the country in all dire<5lions, bringing with them-
fuch unhappy people as deferved to be, and were there-
fore deflined for public example.

The iliort way from Tigre to Gondar was by Lamalmon,
(that is the mountain of Samen) and by Woggora. Ayto
Tesfos had'maintained himfelf in the government of Samen
fmce Joas's time, by whom he was appointed ; he had con-
tinued conftanrly in enmity with Ras Michael, and had now
taken poileiiion of the paiies near the Tacazze, fo as to cut off
3 all

54 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

all communication between Gondar and Tigre. On the fide of
Beleffen, between Lalla and Begemder, was Ras Michael and
his army. PowufTen and the Begemder troops cut off the
road to Gojam by Foggora and Dara. Ayto Engedan, who
was to be confidered as an advanced poll of Fafil, was at
Tfliemmera, in the way of the Agow and Maitlha, and Coque
Abou Barea on the N. W. fide, towards Kuara ; fo that Gon-
dar was fo completely invelted, that feveral of the people
died with hunger.

Ras Michael had ordered his own nephew, Tecla and
Welleta Michael, the king's mailer of the houfehold, to en-
deavour to force their way from Tigre to Woggora, and
open that communication, if poffible, with Gondar ; and
for that purpofe had left him 4000 men in the province of
Sire, on the other fide of the Tacazze ; and now fcarce was
his tent pitched at Mariam-Ohha, when he detached Kefla
Yafous with 6000 men to force a jundion with Michael
and Tecla from the Woggora fide. Their orders were, if
poffible, to draw Tesfos to an engagement, but not to ven-
ture to llorm him in the mountain ; for Tesfos's principal
poll, the Jews Rock, was inacceffible, where he had plow-
ed and fowed plentifully for his fubfiftence, and had a quan-
tity of the purell running-water at all feafons of the year :
to irritate Tesfos more, Kefla Yafous was then named gover-
nor of Samen in his place. This brave and adive officer
had fet out immediately for his command, and it was to
me the greatell difappointment poffible, that I did not fee
him.

Although Ras Michael had been in council all night,

the fignal was made to Urike the tents at the firft dawn of

4 - day,

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 65

day, and foon after, the whole army was in motion ; the
council had been in the Ras's tent, not in prefence of the
king, with whom I had ftaid the moft part of the evening,
indeed, till late in the night ; he feemed to have loft all his
former gaiety, and to be greatly troubled in mind; inquir-
ed much about the Iteghe, and Fafil ; told me he had fent
his affurance of peace to the Iteghe, and defired her not to
leave Kofcam : but fhe had returned for anfwer, that fhe
could not truft Michael, after the threatnings he had fent
againft her from Tigre. It was obferved alfo, in this day's
march, that, contrary to his cuftom before crofling the Ta-
cazze, he received all that came out to meet him with a
fuUen countenance, and fcarce ever anfwered or fpake to
them, Michael alfo, every day fmce the fame date, had put
on a behaviour more and more fevere and brutal. He had
enough of this at all times.

It was the 23d of December when we encamped on the
Mogetch, jitft below Gondar. This behaviour was fo con-
fpicuous to the whole people, that no fooner were the tents
pitched, (it being about eleven o'clock) than they all ftole
home to Gondar in fmall parties without their dinner, and
prefently a report was fpread that the king and Ras Mi-
chael came determined to burn the town, and put the inha-
bitants all to the fvvord. This occafioned the utmoft con-
ilernation, and caufed many to fly to Fafil.

As for me, the king's behaviour Iliewed me plainly all
was not right, and an accident in the Vv^ay confirmed it. He
had defired me to ride before him, and fliew him the horfe
I had got from Fafil, which was then in great beauty and
order, and which I had kept purpofely for him. It happen-

V.01-. IV. I -ed

66 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

ed that, crofling the deep bed of a brook, a plant of the
kantufFa hung acrofs it. I had upon my fliouldcrs a white
goat fkin, of which it did not take hold; but the king,,
who was drefled in the habit of peace, his long hair floats
ing all around his face, wrapt up in his mantle, or thin cot-
ton cloak, fo that nothing but his eyes could be feen, was
paying more attention to the horfe than to the branch of
kantuffa befide him ; it took firfl hold of his hair, and the
fold of the cloak that covered his head, then fpread itfelf
over his whole fhoulder in fuch a manner, that, notwith-
Handing all the help that coulvl be given him, and that I had^
at firft feeing it, cut the principal bough afunder with my
knife, no remedy remained but he mull throw off the up-
per garment, and appear in the under one, or waiilcoat, with
his head and face bare before all the fpedators..

This-is accounted great difgrace to a king, who alwaytJ
appears covered in public. However, he did not feem to be
ruMed, nor was there any thing particular in his counten-
ance more than before, but with great compofure, and in
rather a low voice, he called twice, Who is the Shum of
this diilrid ? Unhappily he was not far off. A thin old man
offixty, and his fon about thirty, came trotting, as tlieir
euftom is, naked to their girdle, and flood before the king,
who v/as, by this time, quite cloathed again. What had
flruck the old man's fancy, I know not, but he palled my
horfe laughing, and feemingly wonderfully content with
himfelf. I could not help confidering him as a type of
mankind in general, never more confident and carelefs than
when on the brink of deflruaion; the king aflced if he was
SKum of that place ? he anfwered in the aflirmacive, and

added,,

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. ^^

added, which was not alked of him, that the other was his
fon.

There is always near the king, when he marches, an
officer called Kanitz Kitzera, the executioner of the camp;
he has upon the tore of his faddle a quantity of thongs made
of bull hide, rolled up very artificially, this is called the ta-
rade. The king made a fign with his head, and another
with his hand, without fpeaking, and two loops of the ta-
radc were inflantly thrown round the Shum and his fon's
neck, and they were both hoifted upon the fame tree, the
tarade cut, and the end made faft to a branch. They were
both left hanging, but I thought fo aukwardly, that they
Ihould not die for fome minutes, and might furely have
been faved had any one dared to cut them down ; but
fear had fallen upon every perfon who had not attended the
king to Tigre.

This cruel beginning feemed to me an omen that violent
rcfolutions had been taken, the execution of vrhich was
immediately to follow; for though the king had certainly a
delight in the fliedding of human blood in the field, yet till
that time I never faw him order an execution by the hands
of the hangman; on the contrary, I have often feen him
fliudder and exprefs difgufl, lowly and in half words, at
fuch executions ordered every day by Ras Michael. In this
inflancc he feemed to have lofl that feeling ; and rode on,
fometimes converfing about Fafil's horfc, or other indiffer-
ent fubje(5ts, to thofe who were around him, without once
reflecting upon the horrid execution he had then fo recent-
ly occafioned.

I 2 Ijlf

6S TRxWELS TO DISCOVER

In the evening of the 23d, when encamped upon the
Mogetch, came Sanuda, the perfon who had made Socinios
king, and who had been Ras under him ; he was received
with great marks of favour, in reward of the treacherous
part he had ad:ed. He brought with him prifoners,
Guebra Denghel, the Ras's fon-in-law, one of the befl and
moft amiable men in Abyffinia, but who had unfortunate-
ly embraced the wrong fide of the queftion ; and with him
Sebaat Laab and Kefla Mariam, both men of great famihes
in Tigre. Thefe were, one after the other, thrown violent-
ly on their faces before the king. I was exceedingly dif-
trefled for Guebra Denghel ; he prayed the king with the
greateil earneflnefs to order him to be put to death before
the door of his tent, and not delivered to his cruel father^
in-law. To this the king made no anfwer, nor did he
fhew any figns of pity, but waved his hand, as a fign to car-
ry them to Ras Michael, where they were put in cuil:od.y
and loaded with irons..

About two hours later came Ayto Aylo, fon of Kafmati
Efhte, whom the king had named governor of Begemder ;
he brought with him Chremation brother to Socinios, and
Abba Salama the Acab Saat, who had excommunicated his
father, and been inftrumental in his murder by Fafil. I
had a great curiofity to fee how they would treat the Acab
Saat, for my head was full of what I had read in the Eu-
ropean books of exemption that churchmen had in this
country from the jurifdi(5lion of the civil power.

Aylo had made his legs to be tied under the mule's bel-
ly, his hands behind his back, and a rope made fail to
them, which a man held in his hand on one fide, while an-
1 other.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 69.

other led the halter of the mule on the other, both of them
with lances in their hands. Chremation had his hands
bound, but his legs were not tied, nor was there any rope
made fail to his hands by which he was held. While they
were untying Abba Salama, I went into the prefence-cham^
ber, and flood behind the king's chair. Very foon after
Aylo's men brought in their prifoners, and, as is ufual,
threw them down violently with their faces to the ground ;
their hands being bound behind them, they hada very rude
fall upon their faces.

The Acab Saat rofe in a violent paffion, he ftruggled to
get loofe his hands, that he might be free to ufe the ad of
denouncmg excommunication, which is by lifting the right
hand, and extending the fore-finger ; finding that impofli-
ble, he cried out, Unloofc my hands, or you are all excom-
municated. It was with difficulty he could be pre-
vailed upon to hear the king, who with great compofure,
or rather indifference, faid to him. You are the firft ccclefiaf-
tical officer in my houfehold, you are the third in the
whole kingdom ; but I have not yet learned you ever had
power to curie your fovereign, or exhort his fubjedls to
murder him. You are to be tried for this crime by the
judges to-morrow, fo prepare to fhew in your defence, up-
on what precepts of Chrift, or his apoftles, or upon what
part of the general councils, you found your title to do
this.

Let my hands be unloofed, cries Salama violently ;.I am
a prieil, a fervant of God ; and they have power, fays David,
to put kings in chains, and nobles in irons. And did not
Samuel hew king Agag to pieces before the Lord ? I excom-
municate

70 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

municate you, Tecla Haimanout. And he was going on,
when Tecla Mariam, fon of the king's feci'etary, a young
man, ftruck the Acab Saat fo violently on the face, that it
made his mouth gulh out with blood, faying, at fame time,
What ! fuffer this in the king's prefence ? Upon which
both Chremation and the Acab Saat were hurried out of
the tent without being fufFered to fay more ; indeed the
blow feemed to have fo much difconcerted Abba Salama,
that it deprived him for a time of the power of fpeak-
ing.

In Abyflinia it is death to ftrike, or lift the hand to
ilrike, before the king ; but in this cafe the provocation was
fo great, fo fudden, and unexpected, and the youth's worth
and the infolence of the offender fo apparent to every body,
that a flight reproof was ordered to be given to Tecla Ma-
riam (by his father only) but he loft no favour for what he
had done, either with the King, Michael, or the people.

When the two prifoners were carried before the Ras,
he refufed to fee them, but loaded them with irons, and
committed them to clofe cuftody. That night a council was
held in the king's tent, but it broke early up ; afterwards
another before the Ras, which fat much later ; the reafon
was, that the firft, where the king was, only arranged the
bulinefs of to-morrow, while that before the Ras confidered
all that was to be done or likely to happen at any time.

On the 24th the drum beat, and the army v/as on their
march by dav-'n of day: they halted a little after palling the
roiigh ground, and then doubled their ranks, and formed
into clofe order of battle, the king leading the center; a

few

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. jt

few of his black horfe were in two lines immediately before
him,their fpears pointed upwards, his officers and nobility on
each fide, and behind him the reft of the horfe, diftributed
in the wings, excepting prince George and Ayto Confu, who,
with two fmall bodies, not exceeding a hundred, fcoured
the country, fometimes in the front, and fometimes in the
flank. I do not remember who commanded the reft of the
army, my mind was otherwife engaged ; they marched clofe
and in great order, and every one trembled for the fate of
Gondar. We paiTed the Mahometan town, and encamped
upon the river Kahha, in front of the market-place. As
foon as we had tvirned our faces to the tovvrn, our kettle-
drums were brought to the front, and, after beating fome
time, two proclamations were made. The firft was, That
all thofe who had flour or barley in quantities, fliould bring
it that very day to a fair market, on pain of having their
houfes plundered ; and that all people, foldiers, or others,
who attempted by force to take any provifions without ha-
ving firft paid for them in ready money, fhould be hanged
upon the fpot. A bench was quickly brought, and fet under
a tree in the middle of the market ; a judge appointed to fit
there ; a ftrong guard, and feveral officers placed round him ;
behind him an executioner, and a large coil of ropes laid
at his feet. The fecond proclamation v/as, That everybody
fliould remain at home in their houfes, otherwife the per-
son flying, or deferting the town, fhould be reputed a rebel,
his goods confifcated, his houfe burnt, and his family cha-
ftifed at the king's pieafure for feven years ; fo far was well
and politic.

There was at Gondar a fort of mummers, being a mix-
ture of buffoons and ballad-flngers, and pofturc-mafters.
^ Thefe

72 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

Thefc people, upon all public occafions, run about the
ftreets, and on private ones, fuch as marriages, come to the
court-yards before the houfes, where they dance, and ling
fongs of their own compofing in honoiu- of the day, and per-
form all forts of antics : man)' a time, on his return from the
field with vidory, they had met Ras Michael, and received
his bounty for fmging his praifes, and welcoming him up-
on his return home. The day the Abuna excommunicated
the king, this fet of vagrants made part of the folemnity;
they abufed, ridiculed, and traduced Michael in lampoons
and fcurrilous rhymes, calling him crooked, lame, old, and
impotent, and feveral other opprobrious names, which did
not affed him near fo much as the ridicule of his pcrfon :
upon many occafions after, they repeated this, and parti-
cularly in a fong they ridiculed the horfe of Sire, who had
run away at the battle of Limjour, where Michael cried
out, Send thefe horfe to the mill. It happened that thefe
wretches, men and women, to the number of about thirty
and upwards, were then, with very different fongs, celebra-
ting Ras Michael's return to Gondar. The King and Ras,
after the proclamation, had juft turned to the right to Aylo
Meidan, below the palace, a large field where the troops exer-
cife. Confu and the king's houfehold troops were before,
and about 200 of the Sire horfe were behind ; on a fignal
made by the Ras, thefe horfe turned Ihort and fell upon the
fingers, and cut them all to pieces. In lefs than two minutes
the")' were all laid dead upon the field, excepting one young
man, who, mortally wounded, had jufl fl;:ength enough to
arrive within twenty yards of the king's horfe, and there
fell dead without fpcaking a word.

All

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 73

All the people prefent, moft of them veteran foldiers,
and confequently inured to blood, appeared fliocked and
difgufted at this wanton piece of cruelty. For my part, a
kind of faintilhnefs, or feeblenefs, had taken poireUion of
my heart, ever fmce the execution of the two men on our
march about the kantuffa ; and this fecond act of cruelty
occaiioned fuch a horror, joined with an abfence of mind,
that I found myfelf unable to give an immediate anfwer,
though the king had fpoken twice to me.

It was about nine o'clock in the morning when we en<-
tered Gondar ; every perfon we met on the itreet wore the
countenance of a condemned malcfador; the Ras went
immediately to the palace with the king, who retired, as
ufual, to a kind of cage or lattice-window, where he always
fits unfeen when in counciL We were then in the council-
chamber, and four of the judges feated ; none of the go-
vernors of provinces were prefent but Ras Michael, and *
Kafmati Tcsfos of Sire. Abba Salama was brought to the
foot of the table without irons, at perfe(fl: liberty. The
accufer for the king (it is a port in this country in no
great eflimation) began the charge againft him with great
force and eloquence: he ftated, one by one, the crimes com-
mitted by him at different periods, the fum of which a-
mounted to prove Salama to be the gjreateft monfter upon
earth : among thefe were various kinds of murder, efpe-
cially by poifon ; inceft, v/ith every degree collateral and ;
defcendant. He concluded this black, horrid lift, with t!ie
charge of high treafon, or curfing the king, and abfolving
iiis fubjec5ts from their allegiance, which he ftated as the ■
greateft crime human nature was capable of, as involving .;
in its confequences all forts of other crimes. x'\bba Salama, ..
Vol. IV. K - though ^

74 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

though he feemed under very great impatience, did not
often interrupt him, further than, Ton lie, and, // is a lie, which
he repeated at every new charge. His accufer had not faid
one word of the murder of Joas, but pafTed it over without
the fmallefl: alhiiion to it.

In this, however, Abba Salama did not follow his exam-
ple : being defired to anfwer in his own defence, he enter-
ed upon it with great dignity, and an air of fuperiority, very
different from his behaviour in the king's tent the day be-
fore : he laughed, and made extremely light of the charges
on the article of women, which he neither confeffed nor
denied ; but faid thefe might be crimes among the Franks,
(looking at me) or other Chriftians, but not the Chriflians
of that country, who lived under a double difpenfation, the
law of Mofes and the law of Chrill : he faid the Abyffinians
were Betii Ifrad, as indeed they call themfelves, that is. Chil-
dren of Ifrael ; and that in every age the patriarchs had
a(?ted as he did, and were not lefs beloved of God. He went
roundly into the murder of Joas, and of his two brothers,
Adigo and Aylo, on the mountain of Wechne, and char-
ged Michael direcflly with it, as alfp with the poifoning the
late Hatze Hannes, father of the prefent king.

The Ras feemed to avoid hearing, fometimes by fpeak-
ing to people flanding behind him, fometimes by reading
a paper ; in particular, he alked me, (landing dire(5tly be-
hind his chair, in a low voice, What is the punifliment in
your country for fuch a crime ? It was his cullom to fpeak
to me in his own language of Tigre, and one of his greateft*
paftimes to laugh at my faulty expreffion. He fpake this
to me in Amharic, fo I knew he wanted my anfwer fliould

be

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 75

be underllood : I therefore faid, in the fame low tone of
voice he had fpoke to me, High-treafon is punKhed with
death in all the countries I have ever known. — This I owed
to Abba Salania, and it was not long before 1 had my return.

Abba Salama next went into the murder of Kafmati Efhte,
which he confelTed he was the promoter of. He fuid the
Iteghe, with her brothers and Ayto Aylo, had all turned
Franks, fo had Gufho of Amhara ; and that, in order to
make the country Catholic, they had fent for priells, who
lived with them in confidence, as that frank did, pointing to
me : that it was againll the law of the country, that I fliould.
be fufFered here ; that I was accurfed, and Ihould be iloned
as an enemy to the Virgin Mary, There the Ras interrupt-
ed him, by faying, Confine yourfelf to your own de-
fence ; clear yourfelf firft, and then accufe any one you
pleafe: it is the king's intention to put the law in execution
againfl all offenders, and it is only as believing you the
greatefl that he has begun with you»

This calmnefs of the Ras feemed to difconcert the Acab
Saat ; he loll all method ; he warned the Ras that it was ow-
ing ta his excommunicating Kafmati Elhte that room was-
made for him to come to Gondar ; without that event this
king would never have been upon the throne, fo that he
had ilill done them as much good by his excommunications
as he had done them harm : he told the Ras, and the judges
that they were all doubly under a curfe, if they offered
either to pull out his eyes, or cut out his tongue ; and pray-
ed them,buriUng into tears, not fo much as to think of either,
if it was only for old fellowlhip, or friendfliip which had
long fubfifted between them.

K 2 There

76 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

There is an officer named Kal Hatze who (lands always
upon ileps at the fide of the lattice-window, where there is
a hole covered in the infide with a curtain of green taffeta ;
behind this curtain the king fits, and through this hole he
fends what he has to fay to the Board, who rife and receive
the meilenger (landing: he had not interfered till now, when
the officer faid, addreffing himfelf to Abba Salama, " The
king requires of you to anfwer dirc6lly why you perfuaded
the Abuna to excommunicate him ? the Abuna is a Have of
the Turks, and has no king; you are born under a monarchy,
why did you, who are his inferior in office, take upon you
to advife him at all ? or why, after having prefumed to ad-
vife him, did you advife him wrong, and abufe his ignorance
in thefe matters ?" This queflion, which was a home one,
made him lofe all his temper ; he curfed the Abuna, called
him Mahometan, Pagan, Frank, and Infidel ; and was go-
ing on in this wild manner, when Tecla Haimanout *, the
eldeft of the judges, got up, and addreffing himfelf to the Ras,
It is no part of my duty to hear all this railing, he has not
fo much as offered one fadt material to his exculpation.

The king's fecretary fent up to the window the fubflance
of his defence, the criminal was carried at feme diftance
to the other end of the room, and the judges deliberated
whilft the king was reading. Very few words were faid
among the reil; the Ras was all the time fpeaking to other
people : after he had ended this, he called upon the young-
ell judge to give his opinion, and he gave it, 'He is guilty,
and ffiould die ;' the fame faid all the officers, and after
them the judges, and the fame faid Kafmati Tesfos after

thenio

•*The lame whole foot uashurt hy £tratci's,r:ule in the canpnign of Maitfl.a.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 7^

tliem. When it came to Ras Michael to give his vote, he
afFeaed moderation ; he faid that he was accufed for being
his enemy and accomplice ; in either cafe, it is not fair
that he fliould judp^e him. No fuperior officer being pre-
fent, the laft voice remained with the king, who fent Kal
Hatze to the Board with his fentence ; ' He is guilty and
/^^//die the death.— rYh.z hangmany^^// hang him upon a tree
to-day: The unfortunate Acab Saat was immediately hur-
ried away by the guards to the place of execution, which is
a large tree before the king's gate ; where uttering, to the
very laft moment, curfes againft the king, the Ras, and the
Abuna, he fufFered the death he very richly deferved,
being hanged in the very veftments in which he ufed to'
fit before the king, without one ornament of his civil or
facerdotal pre-eminence having been taken from him
^ before the execution. In going to the tree he faid he had
400 cows, which he bequeathed to fome priefls to fay prayers
for his foul ; but the Ras ordered them to be brought to
Gondar, and diftributed among his foldiers.

I HAVE entered into a longer detail of this trial, at the
whole of which I affifted, the rather that I might all^ this
queftion of thofe that maintain the abfolute independence of
•the Abyffinian priefthood, Whether, if -the many inllances
already mentioned have not had tlie effccfl, this one does
not fully convince them, that all ecclefiaftical perfons arc
fubjed to the fecular power in Abyffinia as much as they
are in Britain or any European Protellant ftatc whatever ?

Chremation, Socinios's brother, was next called he
Teemed half dead with fear; he only denied having' any
concern in his brother being elected king. He faid he

had

78 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

had no port, and in this he fpoke the truth, but confefTed
that he had been fent by Abba Salama to bring the Itchegue
and the Abuna to meet him the day of excommunication
at Dippabye. It was further unluckily proved againft him,
that he was prefent with his brother at ^plundering the
houfes in the night-time when the man was killed ; and
upon this he was fentenced to be immediately hanged ;
the court then broke up and went to breakfaft. All this had
palTed in lefs than two hours ; it was not quite eleven o'clock
when all was over, but Ras Michael had fworn he would
not tafte bread till Abba Salama was hanged, and on fuch
occafions he never broke his word.

Immediately after this laft execution the kettle-drums
beat at the palace- gate, and the crier made this proclama-
tion, " That all lands and villages, which are now, or have
been given to the Abuna by the king, fhall revert to the
king's own ufe,and be fubjed to the government, or the Can-
tiba of Dembea, or fuch olficers as the king fliall after ap-
point in the provinces where they are fituated."

I WENT home, and my houfe being but a few yards from
the palace, I pafTed the two unfortunate people hanging
upon the fame branch ; and, full of the cruelty of the fcene
I had wirnefTed, AvhichI knew.was but a preamble to much
more, I determined firmly, at all events, to quit this coun-
try.

The next morning came on the trial of the unfortunate

Gucbra Denghel, Sebaat Laab, and Kefla Mariam ; the Ras

claimed his right of trying thefe three at his own houfe, as,

they were all three fubjeds of his government of Tigre*

/^ . Guebra

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 79

Guebra Denghel bore his hard fortune with great uncon-
cern, declaring, that his only reafon of taking up arms a-
gainfl the king was, that he faw no other way of prevent-
ing Michael's tyranny, and monilrous thirft of money and
of power : that the Ras was really king, had fubverted the
conftitution, annihilated all difference of rank and perfons,
and transferred the efficient parts of government into the
hands of his own creatures. He wiflied the king might
know this was his only motive for rebellion, and that unlefs
it had been to make this declaration, he would not have
opened his mouth before fo partial and unjuil a judge as
he confidered Michael to be.

But Welleta Selaffe, his daughter, hearing the danger her
father was in, broke fuddenly out of Ozoro Eflher's apart-
ment, which was contiguous ; and, coming into the council-
room at the inftant her father was condemned to die, threw
herfelf at the Ras's feet with every mark and expreffion of
the moft extreme forrow. I cannot, indeed, repeat what her
expreffions were, as I was not prefent, and I thank God that
I was not ; 1 believe they are ineffable by any mouth but
her own, but they were perfecftiy unfuccefsful. The old
tyrant threatened her with immediate death, fpurned her
away with his foot, and in her hearing ordered her father
to be immediately hanged. Welleta Selaffe, in a fit, or faint,
which refemblcd death, fell fpeechlefs to the ground ; the
father, forg' tful of his own fituation, flew to his daughter's
affiftance, and they were both dragged out at feparate doors,
the one to death, the other to after fufferings, greater than
death itfelf.

lORTUNB

So TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

Fortune feemed to have taken delight, from very earl}*'"
life, conftantly to traverfe the greatnefs and happinefs of;
this young lady. She was firft delUned to be married to--
Joas, and the affair was near concluded, when the fatal dif-
covery, made at the battle of Azazo, that the king had fenD
his houfehold troops privately to fight for Fafil againft Mi->
chael, prevented her marriage, and occafioned his death.
She was then deftined to old Hatze Hannes, Tecla Haima-t
nout's father : Michael, who found him incapable of being-
a king, judged him as incapabk of being a hufband to a
woman of the youth and charms of Welleta Selafle, and,
therefore, deprived him at once of his life, crown, and
bride. She was now not feventeen, and it was defigned flie
fhould be married to the prefent king ; Providence put a
flop to a union that was not agreeable to either party : fhe
died fome time after this, before the battle of Serbraxos ;
being ftrongly prefled to gratify the brutal inclinations of
the Ras her grandfather, whom, when fhe could not refill
or avoid, flie took poifon ; others faid it was given her by
Ozoro Efther from jealoufy, but this was certainly without
foundation. I faw her in her laft moments, but too late to
give her any affiftance ; and flie had told her women- fervants
and ilaves that fhe had taken arfenic, having no other way
to avoid com.mitting fo monftrous a crime as inceft with;
the murderer of her father.

The rage that the intercellion of the daughter for her
faiher Guebra Denghel had put the Ras into, was feen in
the feverity of the fentcnce he pafl^ed upon the other
two criminals ; Kcfla Mariam's eyes were pulled out, Se-
baat Laab's eye-lids were cut oiF by the roots, and both of
vhem were expofcd in the market-place to the burning fun,
3- without

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 8t

without any covering whatever. Sebaat Laab died of a
fever in a few days ; Kefla Mariam Uved, if not to fee, at Icaft
to hear, that he was revenged, after the battle of Serbraxos^
by the difgrace and captivity of Michael.

I WILL fpare myfelf the difagreeable tafk of Ihocking my
readers with any further account of thefe horrid cruelties ■;
enough has been faid to give an idea of the charader of
thefe times and people. Blood continued to be fpilt as wa-
ter, day after day, till the Epiphany ; priefts, lay-men, young
men and old, noble and vile, daily found their end by the
knife or the cord. Fifty-feven people died publicly by the
hand of the executioner in the courfe of a very few days ;
many difappeared, and were either murdered privately, or
fent to prifons, no one knew where.

The bodies of thofe killed by the fword were hewn to
pieces and fcattered about the ftreets, being denied burial.
I was miferable, and almoft driven to defpair, at feeing my
hunting-dogs, twice let loofe by the carelellnefs of my fer-
vants, bringing into the court-yard the head and arms of
flaughtered men, and which I could no way prevent but
by the deftruc^ion of the dogs themfelves ; the quantity of
carrion, and the llcnch of it, broughc down the hyaenas in
hundreds from the neighbouring mountains; and, as few
people in Gondar go out after it is dark, they enjoyed the
flreets to themfelves, and feemed ready to difpute the pof-
feffion of the city with the inhabitants. Often when I went
home late from the palace, and it was this time the king
chofe chiefly for converfation, though I had but to pafs the
corner of the market-place before the palace, had lanthorns
with me, and was furrounded with armed men, I heard

Vol. IV. L them

82 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

them grunting by two's and three's fo near me as to be a-*
fraid they would take Ibme opportunity of feizing me by the
leg ; a piflol would have frightened them, and made them
fpeedily run, and I conllantly carried two loaded at my gir-
dle, but the difcharging a piftol in the night would have a-
larmed every one that heard it in the town, and it was not
now the time to add any thing to people's fears. I at laft
fcarce ever went our, and nothing occupied my thoughts
but how to efcape from this bloody country by way of
Scnnaar, and how I could bed exert my power and influ-
ence over Yafme at Ras el Feel to pave my way, by afliiling
me to pafs the defert into Atbara.

The king miffing me fome days at the palace, and hear-
ing I had not been at Ras Michael's, began to inquire who
had been with me. Aytb Confu foon found Yafine, \vho
informed him of the whole matter; upon this I was fent
for to the palace, where I found the king, without any bo-
dy but menial fervants. He immediately remarked that I
looked very ill ; which, indeed, T felt to be the cafe, as I had
fcarcely at€ or flept fince I faw him la(l,_^ or even for fome
days before. He aflccd me, in a condoling tone, What ail-
ed me ? that, befides looking fick, I feemed as if fomething;
had ruffled me, and put me out of humour. I told him
that what he obfcrvcd was true : that, coming acrofs the
market-place, I had feen Za Mariam, the Ras's doorkeeper,
with three mien bound, one of whom he fell a-hacking to
pieces in my prefence. Upon feeing me running acrofs the
place, flopping my nofe, he called me to ftay till he Ihould
come and difpatch the other two, for he wanted to fpeak to
me, as if he had been engaged about ordinary bufinefs : that
the foldiers, iji conUdcration of his haflc, immediately fell

upon

THESOURCEOFTHENILE. 83

mpon the other two, whofe cries were flill remaining in my
cars : that the hyxnas at night would fcarcely let me pafs
in the ftreets when I returned from the palace ; and the
dogs fled into my houfe to eat pieces of human carcafes at

leifure.

Although his intention was to look grave, I faw it was
all he could do to llifle a laugh at grievances he thought
very little of. " The men you faw with Za Mariam juil now,
fays he, are rebels, fent by Kefla Yafous for examples : he
has forced ajun(5tion with Tecla and Welleta Michael in
Samen, and a road is now open through Woggora, and
plenty eftablilhed in Gondar. The men you faw fuffer were
thofe that cut off the provifions from coming into the city;
they have occafioned the death of many poor people ; as for
the hyaena he never meddles with living people, he feeks
carrion, and will foon clear the llreets of thofe incumbran-
ces that fo much offend you ; people fay that they are the
JFalalha of the mountains, who take that fliape of the hyasna,
and come down into the town to eat ChriHian flefh in the
night." — " If they depend upon Chrillian flelh, and eat no
other, faid I, perhaps the hyxnas of Gondar will be the
'worfl fed of any in the world." — " True, fays he, burfting
out into a loud laughter, that may be, few of thofe that die
by the knife anywhere arc Chriftians, or have any religion
•at all ; why then fhould you mind what they fulFer r" —
"*' Sir, faid I, that is not my fentiment ; if you was to order a
■dog to be tortured to death before me every morning, I
could not bear it. The carcafes of Abba Salama, Guebra
Denghel, and the refl, are flill hanging where they were up-
on the tree; you fmell the ftench of them at the palace-gate,
and will foon, I apprehend, in the palace itfelf. This cannot

L 2 be

84 TRAVELS TO DISCO VER-

be pleafant, and I do afllire you it mull be very pernieioiij
to your health, if there was nothing eKc in it. At the battle
of Fagitta, though you hadho intention to retreat, yet you
went half a day backward, to higher ground, and purer
air, to avoid the ftench of the field, but here in the city yoii
heap up carrion about your houfes, where is your conti- -
nual refidence."

" The Ras has given orders,' fays he gravely, to remove
all the dead bodies before the Epiphany, whea we go down
to keep that feftival, and wafli . away all . this pollution iii
the clear-running water' of' the Kahha : -but tell me now,
Yagoube, is it really poffibk thatyou' can take fuch thing?
as thefe fo much to heart ? You are a brave man ; we all
know you are, and have feen it: we have all blamed you,
ilranger as you are in this country, for the little care you
take of yourfelf; and yet about thefe things you are as
much alfedled as the- moft cowardly woman, girl, or child
could be," — " Sir, faid I, Ido not- know if I am brave or not ;
but if to fee men tortured or- murdered, or to live among
dead bodies without concern, be courage, I have it not, nor
defire to have it : war is the profeiHon of noble minds ; it is
a glorious one; itisthe fcicnce and occupation of kings ;
and many wife and many humane men liave dedicated their
whole life to the ftudy of it in every "* country ; it foftens
men's manners, by obliging them to fociety,. to affift, be-
friend, and even fave one another, though at their own rifle
and danger. A barbarian of that profefTion fliould be point-
ed-at. Obferve Ayto Erigedan, (who came at that very in-
ftant into the room) there is a young man, faid I, who, with
the bravery, has alfo the humanity and gentlenefs of my
Gountrymen that are foldiers,"

Engedan

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE.. %

Engedan fell on his face before the king, as is ufual,
while the king went on feriouily — " War you want ; do
you, Yagoube? war you lliall have; it is not far diflant,
and Engedan is come to tell us how near." They then went
into a confiderable converfation about Guflio, Powuflen,- and
the preparations they were making, and where. they were,
with which I Ihall not trouble the reader, as I fhall have an
occafion to fpeak of the particulars afterwards as they arife. .
" I want Confu, fays the king ,-^.1 want him to fend his men
of Ras el Feel to Sennaar,. and to the Baharnagaili to get
horfes and fome coats of mail. And what do you think of
fending Yagoube there? he knows their manners and their
language, and has friends there to whom he is intending to
efcape, without fo much as alking my leave." — " Pardon
me. Sir, faid I ; if I have ever entertained that thought, it is
proof fufficient of the extreme neceffity 1 am under to go."
*' Sir, fays Engedan, I have rode in the Koccob horfe ; I will
do fo again, if Yagoube commands them, and- will ftay with
us till we try the horfe of Begemder. I have eight or ten
coats of mail, which I will give your majefty ; they belong-
ed to my father, Confu, and I took them lately from that
thief Abou Barea, with whom they were left at my father's
death ; but I will tell your Majefty, 1 had rather figlit naked
without a coat of mail, than that you fliouid fend Yagoube
to Sennaar to purchafe them from thence, for he will never '
return.".

Ras Michael was now announced, and we made hafte to
get away. I would have Confu, Engedan, and you, come
here to-morrow night, fays the king, as foon as it is dark;
and do not you, Yagoube, for your life, fpeak one word of
Semiaar, till you know my will upon it. He faid this in the

ilerncfl.

■86 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

fternefl manner, and with all the dignity and majefty of a
king.

We pafTed the Ras in the an ti- chamber, attended by a
great many people. We endeavoured to Hide by him in
the crowd, but he noticed us, and brought us before him.
We both kifled his hands, and he kept hold of one of mine,
while he afked Engedan, " Is Fafd at Ibaba?" to which he
was anfwered, " Yes." " Who is with him ? fays the Ras." —
•*' Damot, Agow, and Maitflia," anfwered Engedan. " Was
you there ? fays the Ras." " No, anfwered Engedan, I am at
Tfliemera, with few men." He then turned to me, and faid,
" My fon is ill ; Ozoro Efther has jull fent to me, and com-
plains you vifit her now no more. Go fee the boy, and
don't neglea Ozoro Efther, flie is one of your beft friends."
I inquired if ftie was at Gondar, and was anfwered, No; fhe
is at Kofcam. We parted; Engedan went to Kofcam to Ozoro
Efther's, and 1 went home to plan my route to Sennaar, and
to prepare letters for Hagi Belal, a merchant there, to whom
J was recommended from Arabia Felix.

gSs?^— ' sg^

CHAP«

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE, V 87

^i^S^^

C H A P. IV.

ItfJe King promifes Leave to the Author to depart — Receives a Rein-'
forceinent from Shaa — Amiable Carriage of Amha Yafous — Striking
Contrajl between him and a Prince of the Galla — Bad State oj the
Kitig's Affairs.

T was the 31ft of December that we were at Kofcam. A
proclamation had been made fome days before of a ge-
neral pardon to all that would return to Gondar ; but no
one had ventured but Ayto Engedan, who was with Fafil as
the king's friend ; nor were any of thofe who went with
Fafil the obje(ft of the proclamation, for it was not thought
that the retiring from Socinios with Fafil was daing any-
thing againit their allegiance.

That night the bodies of Guebra Denghel, Kefla Ma^

riam, and Sebaat I.aab, were taken down from the tree and

laid upon the giound ; after having been watched in the

J niglit

€8 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

night by their friends to keep the beafls fromithem, were
at laft fuffered to be taken privately away, at the intercef-
fion of the troops of Tigre, whofe countr) men they were.
Chremation and Abba Salama were abandoned to their for-
tune, and in part putrified ; they were covered with heaps
of flones thrown upon them by fuch as were pafling, and
had no other burial.

The next night, the ift of January 1771, according to or-
der, I waited upon the king with Confu and Engedan, and
with them Yafine : meafures were then taken for buying
their horfes and coats of mail ; the Ras had advanced part
of the money, the reft was co be made up by the meery, or
king's duty, due by the Mahometan provinces, which had
not been paid fmce he went to Tigre ; a Mahometan fer-
vant of the king was fent for from the cuftomhoufe ; with
him was to go a man from Yafme, and with them I fent
my letters by the hand of Soliman, a black of Ras el Feel,
a man remarkable for his ftrength, courage, and lize, and
very flirewd and difcerning, under the appearance of an
idiot : Yafme was fent with them to get a fafe conducft from
his friend Fidcle Shekh of Atbara, who \vas to convoy them
to Beyla, and thence to Sennaar.

It was not without great difpute and altercation the
king would allow me the permiiTion to fend letters ; at laft,
feeing he could do no better, it was agreed that, as an im-
mediate engagement between Powuftcn, Guflio, and Ras
Michael, was inevitable, I fhould fwear not to attempt to
leave him till tTiat affair was fettled feme way or other;
J)ut the king infifted I fliould alio take an oath, that, fhould
he be viftoriovis over, or reconciled to the rebels, if the en-
2 gagemenjt

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 89

gagement I was under in my own country was not fulfill-
ed, and I recovered my health, I fhould bring as many of
my brethren and family as poflible, with their horfes, muf-
kets, and bayonets ; that, if I could not pafs by Sennaar,
I fliould come by the way of the Eaft Indies from Surat to
Mafuah, which, by how much it was more tedious, was by
fo much more fecure, than that by Sennaar.

. I CANNOT but hope, the impoffibility of performing this
oath extinguifhed the fin of breaking it ; at any rate, it was
perfonal, and the fubfequent death of the king * muft have
freed me from it ; be that as it will, it had this good effedV,
that it greatly compofed my mind for the time, as I now
no longer confidered myfelf as involved in that ancient and
general I'ule of the country, Never to allow a ftranger to re-
turn to his home. We that night learned, that the king had
been in great flraits ever fince he came from Tigre ; that
the Ras, who was polTefTed of all the revenues of the provin-
ces that were in their allegiance, had never yet given the
king an ounceof gold; and that he furnifhedhis daily fubfifl-
ence from his own houfe, a cow for his own and great officers
table, and two loaves of bread fo~r each of his fervants ; as
fmall an allowance as any private perfon gave. It was be-
lieved that the Ras had left moft of his money in Tigre, and
had trufted to the contributions' he was to levy upon the
great men whenever he fliould crofs the Tacazze; but in
this he difappointed himfelf by his cruelty, for no perfon

Vol. IV. M came

* It was reported, when I was at Sennaar, that the king had been defeated and /lain. I
have no other authority, only thiak, all things confidered, it was rnoft probable.

90 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

came before him, on his arrival at Gondar, from whom he
could raife a farthing.

It was about the 20th of January, that a meflage arrived
from PowulTen, to tell the Ras he had taken the ufurperSo-
cinios prifoner, and held him in irons at the king's difpo-
fal. He upbraided Michael with the cruelties of his execu-
tions, and declared his refolution of calUng him to an ac-
count for thefe perfonally at Gondar ; he warned him in
time, to repafs the Tacazze, and retire while it was in his
power to his government of Tigre, where nobody would-
molefl; him, and leave the king at liberty to adl for himfelf.
Gufho likewife fent amelfenger, but what word he brought
did not tranfpire ; after feeing the King and Ras Michael,,
both thefe mefTengers proceeded toFafil. Soon after this came-
a meflage from Fafii, defu-ing only that the King and the
Ras might renew to him the grant of his father's lands and
eftates, which he formerly poflefled : what was the mean-
ing of this meflage I could never learn ; he was already in
full pofleflion of what he afked, and more ; no perfon had
attempted to take any thing from him, nor was it indeed in:
their power.

Proclamation was made accordingly in terms of the
requcft, and all the lands that he had poflefled were given;
him : before he could have news of this firft grant, a fe-
eond meflenger came, dcliring that he might be confirmed;
in his government of Maitflia, Damot, and Agow. This
too was immediately granted him, but a condition was
added, that he fliould bring the troops of thefe provinces,
and as many others as he could raife, to join the king with
ill poflible fpeed, and take the field with Ras Michael againll

Eowuflen,

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. ^t

PowufTen and Gufho ; and this was but what he had fpofi,
taneoufly promifed when he made his peace at Dingleber*
At the fame time Ay to Aylo, brother to Engedan, was pro-
claimed governor of Begemder ; and all people holding of
the king or of Aylo's friends, (for he had a very large eftate in
that province) were ordered to join him ; but a very few
came, among whom was the famous Guigarr, chief of the
clan, Waag of Lafta, fon to Aylo's filler.

Mean time the king ufed all the means in his power td
induce the Iteghe to return to Kofcam, for her prefence in
Gojam kept alive the fpirit of a number of people that
were attached to her, who bore very impatiently to fee hef
banifhed, as fhc then was, though refident with her daugh-
ter Ozoro Welleta Ifrael, and furrounded by the forces of
Aylo her grandfon, who was governor of Gojam, and to
whom half of that province belonged in property. But
the queen was refolute never to trufl Ras Michael, though
it was believed fhe fent the king a fum in gold privately
by Engedan.

It was in the end of January that another meflage ar-
rived from Fafil, excufing his coming to Gondar on account
of the badnefs of his health ; he faid, bcfides, he could not
truft Michael unlefs he gave him Welleta Selaffe, his grand-
daughter, to wife, and fent her to him to Burc. I have al-
ready mentioned that the Ras was fond of this young lady
himfelf, and nothing but that hindered him from giving
her to the king in marriage ; and it was faid, and I believe
with truth, that fome delicacy * the king had expreiTed about

M 2 this

' Suljncion of fatniiiarity with the Ras her grandfather.

92 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

this fincc his return from Tigre, was the reafon of coldnefs
between him and the Ras, and of Michael's putting the
king on fo Ihort allowance on his firfl coming to Gondar :
but all that was now removed by the neceflities of the times;
gold came from Tigre in plenty ; even Powuflen had fenc
fome of the revenue of Begemder, all the other provinces, a
proportion, with butter,^ cattle, and cotton cloths, for the
maintenance of the king's houfehold and troops : for my
part, though I enjoyed the name of feveral pofts, I had par-
taken fmce this laft revolution of a very fmall part of their
revenues ; I had been liberally fupplied in the king's abfence
by Ozoro Eflher and the queen. I had few fervants, and lived
cheaply in the Iteghe's palace at Kofcam ; but after my arri-
val, the king, on purpoie I believe to difconcert my journey,
ran me grievoufly into debt with the foldiers, and other
expences that were, as I was told, abfolutely neceJTary ; it is
true, thefe were paid in part at times but very irregularly.
Ras Michael was not a man to be craved, nor was my tem-
per fuch as could be brought to crave him ; from this it
arofe that often I had been in great llraits, and obliged to
live fparingly, which luckily was never a great hardfl:iip up-
on me, in order to fulfil my promife to others. And now the
campaign was beginning, horfes, and mules, and every
thing neceflary were to be purchafed, and I was in debt a-
bove one hundred pounds, nor would it have been poilible
I ever lliould have cleared myfelf, for my daily expences
were enormous, if it had not been for the fituation that a
certain Greek, named Petros, was in, from whom I borrowed
about three hundred pounds, as I fliall after mention. With
regard to Kafmati Fafil, he fent me, twice, two large jars of
honey from my lord£hip of Geefli, at two different times :
the firft was taken by Coque AbouBarea, the lail tailed fo bit-
ter

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 93

ter of lupines, that no vife could be made of it. I was a Sove-
reign, it is true, and my revenue was what wife men have faid
is the heft, — the love of the people. It went, however, buE
little way towards fupporting my dignity.

While the king was at Kahha, keeping the feftival of
the Epiphany, he received a very extraordinary vifit from:
Amha Yafous, fon of the governor of Shoa, offering his per-
fonal fervice and afliftance to the king, and brought with
him, as a prefent, 500 ounces of gold, and a thoufand ex-
cellent horfemen ready equipt at all points. Upon his being
prefentedto the king, two young noblemen were inftruc-
ted to be ready to lay hold of him by the arms, and prevent
his throwing himfelf upon the ground if he intended fo to
do. The king was feated upon the throne, very richly
drelTed in brocade, a very fine muflin web wrapt loofely a-
bout him, fo as to hang in plaits, and in fome parts fhow,
and in fome conceal, the flowers of the cloth of gold of
which his waiftcoat was compofed. His hair was loofe,
combed out at its full length, and falling about his head in
every direcftion, and a fork, like a fkewer, mad^ of a rhino-
ceros horn, with a gold button or head upon it, lluck thro'
his hair near his temples ; he was all perfumed with rofe
water, and two people flood on the oppofite fides of the
tent, each of them with a filver bottle full of it.

Amha Yasous with his thoufand horfe prefented him-
felf before the door of the tent, and rode on till he was
compleatly in it ; he then defcended as in a great hurry or
furprife, and ran forward, flooping, to the foot of the
throne, inclining his body lower andloweras he approached-,
and, jufl before the adt of proflration, he was feized by Tec la.
3, ' Mariam:

94 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

Mariam and Giiebra Menfus KctUis, and prevented from kiHl
ing the ground ; the king held his hand uncovered, but not
extended, that is, as if he did nq^ intend or exped that he
fhould kifs it. Amha Yafous, after the ftruggle was over
about the proftration, fuddenly feized the king's hand and
kifled it, with fome refiftance on the part of the king, who,
when he had kiffed the back of his hand, turned the
palm likewife ; a great mark of familiarity and confidence
in this country. There was a fmall ftool, about half a foot
from the ground, covered with a Perfian carpet. Amha
Yafous attempted to fpeak (landing, but was not fuffered,
but conftrained by the two noblemen to fit down on the
iittle ftool ; they then deluged him fo with rofe-water, that
I do believe he never in his life was fo wet with rain. Af-
ter fome general queftions the tent was cleared. All this ce-
remonial was premeditated and fludied ; the etiquette could
not have been more pundlually and uniformly obferved
in any court of Europe, and would have juft fignified what
it did here. -

Amha Yasous was a man from twenty-fix to twenty-eight
years of age, tall, and of a juft degree of corpulence, with
arms and legs finely made ; he had a very beautiful face,
fmall features, and the moft affable manners. I have thought,
when I have feen them together, that the king, Engedan,
and himfclf, were three of the handfomcft men I had ever
beheld in any country ; befides this, all three had fine under-
ftandings, noble fentiments, and courage fuperior to the
greateft danger ; charitable too, and humane incHnations,
were it not for that accurfed indifference, or rather pro-
penfity, one of them had to fhed human blood ; this the
A young

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 9^^

young king had imbibe<i in the fchool of Michael, but for
natural talents he certainly was the firil of the three.

Apartments in the palace, and a table, were affigned to-
Amha Yafous, and he was ferved by the king's fervants as
well as his own; a guard was appointed at his door, the offi-
cer of which attended to receive his orders and take the
word daily. This was the manner of receiving illuftrious
ftrangers in ray time at Gondar. Anthule, a Greek, mailer
of the king's wardrobe, was ordered from time to time to
bring him clothes of the fame kind with thofe the king
wore. All the Ozoros, or noble women at court, fell vio-
lei)rly in love with Amha Yafous, as fame reported, except
Ozoro lillher. The young prince had not a grain of cold-
nefs nor indifference in his nature ; he carried himfelf,
wherever he went, with honourable, attentive, and decent
gallantry. But his chief attention was paid to Welleta Se-
lafle ; nor was Ras Michael jealous, nor, as public report:
went, was Welleta SelafTe unkind. I was often in the even-
ings in his parties at her houfe ; a fixed, never-changing me-
lancholy hung upon her face ; deep, and involuntary fighs
efcaped from her under vifible conllraint: it did not appear
to me poffible this could have been her behaviour, if in ac-
tual enjoyment of fuccefsful love ; or that, after having gra-
tified it, fhe could have put in execution that defperate re-
fblution whicli apparently jQie had then formed in her
mind,

Amha Yasous was fon of a filler of Guilio ; itwas faidi
afterv^ards that he had a commiffion from his father, go-
vernor of Shoa, to detach Guflio, if poflible, from his alliance
withPowuiTen, and bring him back to his allegiance to the

96 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

king. Whether this was true or not I can.iot fay, but that
this, or fomething fimilar, was the cafe, feemed to be more
than probable from the behaviour of Gufho afterwards, dur-
ing the whole campaign. Amha Yafous did not come to
take part in the war, he only brought, in imitation of old
times, a tribute to the king as a teftimony of the loyalty of
the faithful province of Shoa ; but he was fo interelled for
the king, after being admitted into intimacy with him, and
fo pleafcd with the fociety of the young noblemen at court,
that he determined to come back with the command of
the troops of his father, and in his way force Gufho to re-
turn to his duty, if he was not already determined.

He had heard, while at Shoa, from fome priefls of Debra
Libanos, that there was a ftrange white man in favour with
the king at Gondar, who could do every thing but raife the
dead ; it was among his firft requefts to the kmg, to make
him acquainted with me. The king therefore ordered me
to wait upon him every morning, and I, on my part, did not
let flip that opportunity. Infenfibly we came to be infepar-
able companions. Our converfation fell one day to be upon
the Abyflinian kings who firft lived at Shoa at the time
when the kingdom of Add was a great mart for the Eaft
Indian trade, before the difcovery of the Cape of Good Hope.
He faid that a book containing their hiftory, he believed,
was in fome of the churches in Shoa, and that he would
immediately fend for it. Although I could not help teftify-
ing my defire of having a book which I had fought for in
vain through the reft of the provinces of Abyflinia, yet I
thought it unreafonable to defire a man to fend 300 miles
merely for the purpofe of getting it ; I therefore did not
prefs it, being fatisfied with his promife ; but as my work

would

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 97

V/ould have been incomplete without it, I afked my friend
Tecla Mariam to mention it to him as from the king. His
anfwer was, " 1 have ahxady promifed to get it for Yagoube,
the meffenger by this time is in Amhara ; depend upon it,
my father will not fail to let me have it ; for fear of miflake,
I iiave difpatched a very intelligent man, who knows and
has feen the book at Debra Libanos." The promife was
pundually kept, tb.e book came, and from it I have drawn
the hiftory of the Adelan war, and the reign of thofe kings
who had not yet returned to Axum, but reigned in Shoa.

One evening I inquired of him concerning the ftory
which the Poriuguefe heard, at the difcovery of Benin,
that the blacks of that country had intercourfe with a
Chriftian inland ftate they acknowledged as fovereign, from
which they procured the inveaiture of their lands, as has
been already mentioned in the beginning of this work ?
whether any fuch commerce did exill with Shoa at prefent,
or if traces remained of it in older times ? if there was any
other Chriftian or Jewilh ftate in^his neighbourhood to
which this defcription could apply*? He faid they knew
nothing of Benin at Shoa, nor had he ever heard of the
name, nor any cuftom of the kind that I had mentioned,
which either then did, or ever had prevailed in Shoa : he
knew of no Chriftian ftate farther to the fouthward, except-
ing Narea, a great part of which was conquered by the
Galla, who were Pagans. The blacks that were next to
Shoa, he faid, were exceedingly fierce, warlike, and cruel ;
worie than the Galla, and of the fame kind with the Shan-
gallain Abyffinia. 1 he other nations were partly Mahometan,
Vol. IV. . N but

* Conquetes des Portugais, liv. i. p. 46, Lafitan.

^8 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

but chiefly Galla, and fome of thefc had turned Mahometan; ;
but that they had no knowledge of any commerce with the
Weflern, or Atlantic Ocean, though they knew the Eafteni^
or Indian Ocean, which was nearer ; were often ferved with
Indian goods from Mahometan merchants from thence ; but
that the Galla had over- run moft of the intermediate court-
tries, and made the ways dangerous..

After Amha Yafous's audience with the king, he wait-
ed on Ras Michael aUb, to whom he brought a prefent in
gold ; politely excufnig himfelf for having brought it in,that
form, on account that any other would have been trouble-
fome, from the length of the way. He well knew, how-
ever, that an apology was needlefs, and that Ras Micha-
el never faw any prefent in a more agreeable form than
that of gold. 1 was not at the audience, nor do I know
what pafled at it; only that, on his introduction, the Ras
was held up on his feet, and received him {landing ; they
then both fat down upon the fame feat, after which they di-
ned heartily together at Ozoro Efther's apartment, who came
from Kofcam on purpofe to prepare their entertainment,
and they drank and converfed together till late at night.

The fight of gold, and a thoufand horfe at the juncture,
made Ras Michael as light and chearful as a young man of
twenty-five. No words concerning the government of
Shoa paifed, nor any proclamation relative to the Hate of
that province ; and this filence was equal to declare it in-
dependent, as it was intended, and indeed it had been con-
fidered as fuch a long tim€ before. As I faw Amha Yafous
eat raw beef like the Abyfllnians, I afked him if it was the
cuftom of other nations to the fouthward ? He faid he belie-
ved lo, if they were not Mahometans ; and inquired of me

if

THESOURCEOFTHENILE. 99

k" it was not likewife the pra(5lice among us. I imagine it
prevails as far as the Cape of Good Hope.

Another interviev/, which happened at Kahha, was much
more extraordinary in itfclf, though of much lefs import-
ance to the ftate. Guangoul, chief of the Galla of Angot,
that is, of the eaftern Galla, came to pay his refpedts to the
king and Ras Michael ; he had with him about 500 foot
and 40 horfe ; he brought with him a number of large
horns for carrying the king's wine, and fome other fucli
trifles. He was a little, thin, crofs-made man, of no appa-
rent ftrength or fwiftnefs, as far as could be conjectured ;
his legs and thighs being thin and fmall tor his body, and
his head large ; he was of a yellow, unwholefome colour,
not black nor brown ; he had long hair plaited and inter-
woven with the bowels of oxen, and fo knotted and tVv^iiied
together as to render it impollible to diftinguilh the hair
(from the bowels, which hung down in long ilrings, part
before his bread and part beiiind his Ihoulder, the
moll extraordinary ringlets I had ever feen. He had
likewife, a wreath of guts hung about his neck, and fe-
veral rounds of the fame about his middle, which fer-
ved as a girdle, below which v/as a fhort cotton cloth dipt
in butter, and all his body was wet, and running down with
the fame ; he feemed to be about fifty years of age, with a
confident and infolent fuperiority painted in his face. In
'his country it feems,when he appears in ftate, the beaft he
rides upon is a cow. He was then in full drefs and cere-
mony, and mounted upon one, not of the.largeft fort, but
which had monftrous horns. He had no faddle on his co^'.
He had fhort drawers, that did not reach the middle of his
thighs ; his knees, feet, legs, and all his body were bare.

N 2 He

loo TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

He had a fliield of a fingle hide, warped by the heat in feve-
ral directions, and much in the fliape of a high-crowned,
large, flraw-hat, with which the fafliionable women in our
own country fometimes difguife themfelves. He carried a
fhort lance in his right hand, with an ill-made iron head,
and a lliaft that feemed to be of thorn-tree, but altogether
without ornament, which is feldom the cafe with the arms
of barbarians. Whether it was neceflary for the poizing
himfelf upon the fliarp ridge of the beafl's back, or whether
it was meant as graceful riding, I do not know, being quite
unflcillsd in cowmanfhip ; but he leaned exceedingly back--
wards, pulliing his belly forwards, and holding his left arm
and fhield ftretched out on one fide of him, and his right,
arm and lance in the fame way on the other, like wings.

The king was feated on his ivory chair, to receive him,
almoft in the middle of his tent ; the day was very hot, and
an infufferable flench of carrion foon made every one in
the tent fenfible of the approach of this nafty fovereign, even
before they faw him. The king, when he perceived him
coming, was fo ftruck with the whok figure and appear-
ance, that he could not contain himfelf from an immoder-
ate fit of laughter, which finding it impoffible to ftifle, he
rofe from his chair, and ran as hard as he could into ano-
ther apartment behind the throne.

The favage got off from his cow at the door of the tent
with all his tripes about him ; and, whik we were ad-
miring him as a moniler, feeing the king's feat empty, he
took it for his own, and down he iat upon the crimlbn filk
Gufliion, with the butter running from every part of
him. A general cry of allonifhment was made by every peiJ-

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. loi

fon in the tenc: he ftarred up I believe without divining the
Gaufe, and before he had time to recollecT: himfelf, they fell
ah upon him, and with puflies and blows drove this greafy
chiettain to the door of the tent, flaring with wild amaze-
ment, not knowing wliat was next to happen. It is high
treafon, and punifliable by immediate death, to fit down up-
on the king's chair. Poor Guangoul owed his life to his
ignorance. The king had beheld the whole fcene through
the curtain; if he laughed heartily at the beginning, he
laughed ten times more at the cataftrophe ; he came out
laughmg, and unable to fpeak. The cuflaion was lifted and
thrown away, and a yellow Indian fhaul fpread on the ivory
flool ; and ever after, when it was placed, and the king not
there, the ftool was turned on its face upon the carpet to
prevent fuch like accidents,.

Guangoul, difappointed of having an audience of the
king, went to the Ras, where he was better received, but
what pafled I know not. His troops, armed like himfelf,
with (hields of no refiflance, and hedge-Hakes burnt and
lliarpened at the end inftead of lances, were no acquifition
to any party, efpecially in the prefent quarrel, where all the
veteran troops in Abyffinia were nearly equally divided on
oppofite fides ; befides, the Shoa horfe had taken the eyes of
people fo much, that they began to think little of any ca-
\^alry that was not in fome degree equipped like them.

After the king returned to the palace, great diverfion
was made at Guangoul's appearance, in. fo much that Ozo-
ro Eft her, who hated the very name of Galla, and of this
race in particular, infilled upon feeing a reprefentation of
it. Doho, accordingly, a dwarf belonging to Ras Michael,

very

102 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

very ugly, with a monftrous big head, but very fharp and
clever, and capable of a6ting his parr, was brought to re-
prefent the perlbn of Guangoul : a burnt ftick and a bad
flaield were provided ; but the great diiEciiitv remained, how
to perfuade Doho the dwarf to piit on the raw guts about
his neck and waift, and, above all, to plait them in the hair,
which he abfolutely refufed, both from religious and cleanly
•motives ; as for the butter, it was no objecftion, as all the A-
byflinians anoint themfelves with it daily, after bathing.
Here we were very near at a Hand, all the ladies having in vain
fupplicated him to fuifer for their fakes a temporary pollution,
with promifes that oceans of rofe and fccnted water fliould
be poured upon him afterwards, to rellore his former fweet-
nefs. Doho was a man who conllantly fpent his time in
reading fcripture, the a<ft:s of the councils, the works of St
John Chryfoilom, and other fuch books as they have among
them. He remained inflexible : at lail I fuggefted that fe-
veral hanks of cotton, dyed blue, red, and yellow, fliould be
got from the weavers in the Mahometan town, and thefe
oiled, greafed, and knotted properly, and twifled among the
hair, well-anointed with butter, would give a pretty accu-
rate relemblance of what we faw in the king's tent. All
hands were immediately fct to work ; the cotton was provi-
ded ; Ozoro Efther's fervants and flavcs decked Doho to the
life. I fpotted his face wdth llibium, and others anointed
him with butter : an old milk-cow was found, contrary to
my expe(^tation, that fullered a rider without m.uch impa-
tience, and in came Guangoul into a great hall in Ozoro
Efther's apartment.

Nevf.r was any thing better pcrfonatcd or better received ;

the whole hall refounded with one cry of laughter; Doho,

2 encouraged

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 1C3

encouraged by this and the perfed: indifference and ilea-
dinefs of his cow, began to ad: his part with great humour
and conlidence : he was born in the neighbourhood of
thefe very Galla, knew their manners, and fpoke their
language perfedly. Amha Yafous, Confu, Aylo brother to
Engedan, fome fervants of the king, ad;ed the part that
we did in the tent the day of the audience, that is, flood on
each fids of the king's chair : the cow was brought into
the middle of the room, and Guangoul defcended with his
lance and fhield in great flate ; a cafhion was not fpared,
nor did Doho fpare the cufhion ; the butter fliewed very
diflindlly where he had been fitting : v/e all fell upon him
and belaboured him heartily, and chaced him to the door.
His fpeedy retreat was not counterfeited. Ozoro Altafh,
Eflher's fiiler, and a number of the ladies of the court,
were prefent. Ozoro Eflher declared fire would fend for
the Ras, he had been in great good humour fince the ar-
rival of Amha Yafous. 1 had not feen him fince the reco-
very of his fon, and happened to be at the door next him ;
he took me by the hand, and faid, " Welleta Hawaryat (that
is the name of his fon) is well, you arc very kind."

Michael was efleemed the befl orator in his country, ■
and fpoke his own language, figran, with the utmofl purity
and elegance ; yet in common converfation he was very
fententious, two or three words at a time, but never obfcure ;
this he had contra<5led by a long pracfice of commanding
armies, where he faw as inllantly and clearly, as he fpoke
fhortly and diftindly. He bowed very civilly to the ladies,
and pointed to me to fit down on the feat by him. Amha
Yafous was flanding before him, I haflened to fit down on
the carpet at his feet, and he fecmed to recoiled himfelf

and

I04 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

and placed Amha Yafous befide him : it was eafy to fee his
mind was otherwife occupied, and as eafy to perceive by his
look, that he gave me credit for my behaviour. When thqy
were all feated,^ " Well, fays he, in great good humour,
v/hat now, what is the matter ? what can I do for you, Ya-
goube ? are the women in your country as idle and fool-
ifli as thefe ? has Ozoro Either chofen a wife for you ?
llie fliall give you your dinner: I will give her a por-
tion ; and as you are a horfeman, the king, with Am-
ha Yafous's leave, faid he bowing, fhall give you the com-
mand of the Shoa horfe ; I have fcen them ; the men I think
are almoft as white as yourfelf." Amha Yafous bowed
in return, and faid, " Sir, if the king bellows them fo wor-
thily, I promife to bring another thoufand as good as thefe
to join them after the rains, before next Epiphany." — " And
I, fays Ozoro Eilher, for my part, I have long had a wife for
him, but this is not the prefent bufinefs, we know your time
k precious, Guangoul is without, and defires an audience
of you." — Poh ! fays the Ras, Guangoul is gone to Gufho,
at Minziro, and there is like to be a pretty llory : here arc
accounts come from Tigre, that he has committed great
barbarities in his journey, laid wade fome villages, killed
the people, for not furnifhing him with provifions : here in
BelelTen he alfo buint a church and a village belonging to
the Ircgiie, and killed many poor people; I do not know what
he means; 1 hope they will keep him where he is, and not
€nid him home again through Tigre.

A COMMUNICATION of tliis "kind, very uncom.mon from
the Ras, occafioned a ferious appearance in the whole com-
pany; but he had no fooner done with fpeaking, than in
comes Doho upon his cow : neither man nor woman that
4 had

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 105

had yet feen him, ever laughed fo heartily as the old Ras ;
he humoured the thing entirely ; welcomed Doho in Galla
language, and faw the whole farce, finilhed by his flight to
the door, with the utmoft good humour. Then taking
Amha Yafous with him, and feveral great officers who had
come in the interim, he returned by a private pafTage to his
own apartments.

As I fhall have no occafion for further mention of this
chieftain, I will here finifh his Hory, though not in the or-
der of time. Gulho and PowulTen had gained Guangoul,
and perfuaded him to make an irruption with his Galla
into the province of Tigre, to create a diverfion againll
Michael, and, for that purpofe, they had fent him home
nearly the way he had come through that province. From
this encouragement he had begun to condu<5t himfelf ftiil
worfe than formerly. Ras Michael, fufpedling what would
happen, privately difpatched Ayto Confu after him with 600
horfe. That young foldier, happy in a command that high-
ly gratified his mother, and guided by the cries of the peo-
ple, followed with the utmoll diligence, and came up with
him in the neighbourhood of Lafta, and there, after little
refidance, Guangoul and his troops were cut to pieces,
thofe that had efcaped being all llain by the exafperated
peafants. Confu returned to Gondar the night of the fifth
day, together with the bloody trophies of his conquelt over
Guangoul and his Galla.

> I HAVE before mentioned that this chief had brought
with him a quantity of large horns for the king's fervice.
Some of this fort having been feen in India filled with ci-
vet, have given occafion to thofe travellers who faw them
Vol, IV. O there

xo6 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

there to fay, that the animal producing thefe large horns
was a carnivorous bull of a prodigious fize, ini;abiting the
interior parts of Africa. That no illuftration of this kind'
may be wanting, a copperplate of this curious bull is, I
think, in fome of the firft volumes of the Philofophical
Tranfa*5lions» The origin of the tale is believed to be in
Bernier or Thevenot. It may, however, with great cer-
tainty, be relied upon, that no fuch animal exifts in Africa,
nor probably in the whole creation. The animal furnifh-
ing thofe monftrous horns is a cow or bull, which would
be reckoned of a middling fize in England ; its head and
neck are larger and thicker in proportion, but not very
remarkably fo. I have been told this animal was firfl
brought by the Galla from near the Line, where it rains
continually, and the fun is little feen. This extraoidinary
fize of its horns proceeds from a difeafe that the cartle
have in thofe countries, of which they die, and is probably
derived from their paflure and climate.

Whenever the animal fhews fymptoms of this diforder,
he is fet apart in the very bell and quieteft grazing- place,
and never driven nor molefted from that moment. His va-
lue lies then in his horns, for his body becomes emaciated
and lank in proportion as the horns grow large. At the
laft period of his life the weight of his head is fo great that
he is unable to lift it up, or at leaft for any fpace of time.
The joints of his neck become callous at laft, fo that it is
not any longer in his power to lift his head. In this fitua-
tion he dies, with fcarcely flefli covering his bones, and it is
then the horns are of the greateft fize and value. 1 have
feen horns that would contain as much as a common-fized
iron-hooped water-pale, fuch as they make ufe of in the

houfes

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. toy

houfes in England ; but the Galla, who have a ready mar-
ket for thefe of all fizes, generally kill the beaft when his
horns will contain fomething lefs than fix gallons. Two of
thefe horns, filled with wine or fpirits, are carried very com-
modioully upon a woman's back, flung over her fhoulders,
I had two of the largeft fize Hole from me that night Soci-
nios, Confu, and Chremation plundered my houfe, nor could
I ever tecover them. I have feen them at Gondar fold for
four ounces of gold, equal to ten pounds llerling, the pair.

On the i yth of February came meflengers from Fafil, with
the old language of propofals of fubmiflion and peace, and
a repetition of his demand, that Welleta Selafl!e fhould be
given him for a wife, and fent to him, at leaft as far as Din-
gleber, where he would advance to meet her; excufing him-
felf from coming to Gondar, becaufe the Ras had already
broken his proraife to him; for the condition of peace made
with the Ras, when he was befieging the mountain, was.
That if Michael fliould bring the king to the Tacazze, and
furrender him there, and then return and content himfelf
with the government of Tigre, without proceeding to Gon-
dar, that Fafil fhould receive the king and condudt him to
the capital, and be created Ras and governor in place of
Michael. Fafil had punctually performed his part, and of
this Michael had taken advantage, and had violated every
article which he had ftipulated on the other fide ; and this
was at leaft the alledged reafon why Fafil had refufed to come
to Gondar. The fame evening arrived alfo meflengers from
Guflio and Powuflen, declaring to Ras Michael, that, if he
did not leave Gondar and return to Tigre, they would come
and burn the town. They profeflTed great duty to the king,

O 2 but

io8 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

but charged the Ras with every fort of enormity, and upon
his refufal fent him a. defiance^

The fame evening came an exprefs from Shoa, which
moil puntflually brought the book I fo much wiihed for,
containing the lives of the firft kings that Hved at Shoa ;
a fair and fine copy, wrote upon parchment in a large quarta
fize, in the pure ancient language of Geez. The author
was nearly contemporary with the annals which he writes*
I Ihewed it to the king, who till then had never feen it,
and wlio only faid, Ifear, Yagoube, you are carrying home
thefe books only to make your kings laugh at ours. The
fatisfacftion I received upon the acquifition of this book was
greatly diminifhed by the lofs of the donor, Amha Yafousj
who fet out the 20th of February, attended with about a
hundred men, his own fervants, and followed by the regret
and the good wifhes of all that had known him, mine in
particular, having been, from the firft time I Ikw him, very
much attached to him.

Before his departure he had two long conferences with
fhe king upon the contents of the difpatches fent by his
father from Shoa. The fubftance he frankly told me was,
that he did not intend to meddle with the quarrels of Ras
Michael, nor thofe of Fafil ; that they fhould fettle thefe in
iheir own way ; but if either attempted any thing againll
the king, fet up any ufurpers, as they had done in the perfon
©f Socinios, and continued fo far againft their allegiance to
Tecla Haimanout as to withhold his whole revenue, and
HOt to pay him wherewithal to fupport his ftate, that he
would confider himfelf as prote(5tor of the royal family of
Solamon, as the governors o£ Shoa had always been. —

k

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 109

It was believed very generally, by Amha Yafous coming in
perfon, that a treaty between fome of the great men in
both fides, begun at his inflance, would bring every man
that could mount a horfe from as far fouth as Gingiro, to
over-run both the provinces of Begemder and Amhara, and
either difplace the two governors, or at leaft force them to
their duty; and it was owing to this, in all probability, that
Gufho zO:ed with fuch moderation as he did in the camr.
paign that foon followed.

GHA,P>

no TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

GR"-* ^

C H A P. V.

Rebel Army approaches Gotidar — King marches out of Gondar-^Takes
Pdi at Serbraxos — The Author returns to Gondar with Confu wound'
ed,

GENTLE fhowers of rain began now to fall, and to an-
nounce the approach of winter ; nay, fome unufually
fevere and copious had already fallen. Gufho and Powuffen
of Amhara and Begemder, KafmatiA^'abdar governor of Fog-
gora, Aylo fon of Ozoro Welleta Ifrael the queen's daughter,
governor of Gojam, Woodage Afahel, with the troops of
Maitlha, and Coque Abou Barea from Kuara, were at the head
of all the forces they could raife about Emfras and Nabca,
and the borders of the lake Tzana. A brother-in-law of
Powuflen had brought a confiderable body of troops from
Zaat and Dehannah, two clans of Lafta, enemies to Guigarr,
who had declared for Michael ; and thefe were the bell horfe

in the rebel army, fuperior to any in Begemder.

3 This

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. iir

This numerous army of Confederates were all ready, ex-
pe(.T:ing rhe ram would make the Tacazze impalTable, and
cut off ivlichaers retreat to I'igrc. Fafil alone kept the n in
iiifpenfe, who, with about 12,000 men, remained at Ibaba,
profeffiiig to be at peace with Michael, in the mean time
keeping all Maitlha quiet, and waiting for the coming of
Wcileta Yalbus, and 20,000 Galla, whom he had fent for
from the other fide of the Nile, intending, as he faid, to
march on the arrival of this reinforcement, and join the
kidg at Gondar. Alth )Ugh it may well be doubted if ever
he intended all or anv part of this, one thmg was very cer-
tain, that he was fincere in his hatred to Guflio and I'o-
wufTen ; he never could forget their treachery in breaking
their appointment and promife at Court-Ohha, and expofing
him either to fi^ht Michael fingly, or have his whole coun-
try burnt and dellroyed. Although Michael had, for thefe
lul months, done every thing in his power to bring back
to the king fuch people of confideration that pofTeiled the
lands and eilates about Gondar, and were the moil rerpe(5t-
able of their nobility for influence and riches, bred up a-
bout court, and who did chiefly conftitute it ; yet the cruel-
ty of his executions, his infatiable greed of money and
power, and the extreme facility with which he broke his
moft facred engagements, had terrified them from putting
themfelves into his hand ;. though they did not raife men,
or join any fide, bur lived privately at a diftance, yet their
abfence from about the king had the very worfl: effeS: upon
his alTairs. A great defertion had likewife happened fince
his coming among his old troops of Tigre, both of officers
and Ibldiers. The execution of Guebra Denghel, and other
two noblemen, had greatly alienated the minds of many of
their countrymen and their connexions ; but, above all,

his.

Ill YRAVELS TO DISCOVER

bis breach of promife made before the mountain of Hara-
mat, that he was to levy no taxes upon that province for
fcven years, (but which he was now doing with the great-
eft rigour before one had expired) difcontented them all.

The return of Welleta Michael and Kefla Yafous from
Saraen, with about 6000 men, had coniiderably ftrength-
ened his army ; added to this, 2000 more, who came volun-
tarily, from their love to Kefla Yafous, from Temben, where
he was governor ; thefe were picked men, partly mufque-
teers ; there was nothing equal to them in the army.

GusHo was advanced to Minziro. Powuflen had his
head-quarters at Korreva, not above fixteen miles from
Gondar. The whole plain to the lake was covered with
troops. The weather was unfeafonably cold, and confider-
able quantities of rain had fallen from the 23d of February
to the 29th of March. The rebels had begun to lay wafte
Dembea, and burnt all the villages in the plain from fouth
to weft, making it like a defert between Michael and Fafil,
as far as they dared venture to advance towards either.
This they did to exafperate Michael, and draw him out
from Gondar ; for they had moft of them great property
i-n the town, and did not wilh to be obliged to fight him
there. He bore this fight very impatiently, as well as the
conftant complaints of people flying into the town from the
depredations of the enemy, and flripped of every thing.

The king often afcended to the top of the tower of his
palace, the only one to which there remains a flair, and
there contemplated, with the greateft difpleafure, the burn-
ing of his rich villages in Dembea. One day while he
I was

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 113

was here he fliewed an mftance of that quick penetration
for which he was remarkable, and which, as a proof of this,
I fliall here mention.

There is a large wafle fpace on each fide of the palace
where the market is kept. It had rained, and it was in the
evening almofl deflitute of people ; there were only two
men at a conliderable diftance, who feemed to be in clofc
converfation together, one of them apparently very much
the worfe of liquor, the other had hold of the end of the
fafh, or girdle, which was round the body of the drunk
man ; it is a narrow web of cotton cloth, which they wind
eight or ten times about their waift. The king faid to me,
Do you know, Yagoube, what thefe two men are about ? I
anfwered. No. I faw the drunkard untwine one turn of his
falh, which the other was feeling and looking curio'ully
at, as if examining and doubting its goodnefs. That man,
fays the king, is robbing the drunkard of his fafh : go down
two or three of you who run beft, and apprehend him, but
hide yourfelves till he has committed the theft, and feize him
as he pafTes. The orders Avere quickly obeyed ; the drunk-
ard unwound his fafh, by turning himfelf round and
round, while the other feemed to be meafuring it by the
length of his arm, from his elbow to his forefinger, and
then gathering it up. This was done very deliberately till
it was all unwound, and the far end loole ; upon which
the fellow, who was meafuring, gathering it in his arms,
ran off as fafl as he could, leaving the drunkard Handing
motionlefs, apparently in great furprife and amazement.
The thief was immediately feized and brought up to the
king, who ordered him to be tlirov.'n over the tower. At
Vol, IV. P my

114 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

my interceflion, and that of thofe about him, he was par-
doned, and the di'unkard's fafh was returned to him.

Ever fince the middle of February, Ras Michael had re-
folved to march out, and give battle to the rebels encamp-
ed about Korreva, committing every fort of violence, and
burning all the villages, houfes, and barns in Dembea,
with the corn they contained more than what ferved for
their prefent ufe; but the great fuperiority of the enemy
in horfe had always made him delay his intention^

Yasine had, indeed, fucceeded in his commiflion to Sen-
naar, as far as it regarded the horfes. He had found the
Arabs encamped immediately upon the frontier at Ras el
Feel, and had received from them very near 200 of one
kind or other, of which 76 only anfwered the purpofe of
mounting the king's black fervants ; the others were dif-
tributed among the reft of the army that wanted them. But
they had not been equally fuccefsful in purchafing their
coats of mail, fourteen only of which had been brought
with the horfes. In order to buy the reft, the meflenger con-
tinued his journey to Sennaar, and with him my fervant So-
liman with my letters, to which, of confequence, I had as
yet no return. But what appeared at that time mofl; mate-
rial to me, Fidele Shekh of Atbara wrote to Yafme, " That,
there was no fear but that I fhould be well received at Sen-
naar, where Naffer, a young king, had fucceeded his father,
whom he had depofed ; but that the great difficulty was
to pafs between Ras el Feel and Teawa, the place of his refi-
dence, and from thence to the banks of the river Dender,
for that the Ganjar horfe of Kuara, and the Arabs their
friends, were at war with the Arabs of Atbara, and had

burnt

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 115

burnt all their crops and villages: that he fometimes did not
think himfelf fafe in Teawa, and that a load of fait had not
been fufFered to pafs for feveral months ; which, indeed, was
the reafon why the Arabs of Atbara were come fo near Ras
el Feel, and that the king's horfe were procured fo readily
at the firft coming." This traitor, however, added, " That
if, by any means, f could advance to him at Teawa, I need
not take any thought about the reft of the journey; and
that it was better I fliould come quietly and quickly, without
writing to Sennaar before-hand : and he conckided with
great profcffions of refped: and friendlhip for me."

It had been very cold, and more than ufual rainy, fmcc
the beginning of February ; the 9th was a day of clofe rain ;
and this, being earlier than common, very much difcou-
raged the foldiers who were naked, and, therefore, very fen-
fible of cold, or rain, and, as I have before faid, never can be
brought to engage willingly, unlefs under the influence of
a warm fun.

At laft the cries of the people flying into Gondar, feek-
ing protedion from the cruekies of the rebels, determined
the Ras to march out, and fet his all upon the fortune of a
battle. The rifle was not thought great, as he had been all his
life in ufe to conquer ; had a better army at that time than
ever he commanded ; the Begemder troops, too, in whom the
rebels trufted moft, were but thofe which he and his men
had beaten at Nefas Mufa, although led by a very brave
and valiant officer, Mariam Barea. All this was true ; but
then, fmce that period, thefe troops of Begemder had been
conftantly led by himfelf, had been trained, and difciplined
with the old troops of Tigre, and taught to conquer wkli

P 2 , them.

iiG TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

them. Above all, they had been ufed to fee the effeA of
fire-arms, which they no lonf^er feared as formerly, but
boldly rufhed in upon the mufqueteers, fometimes without
giving them time to fire, or at leaft before they had time to
charge again*

At laft, having previoufly called in all his out-pofts, on
the 13th of May he marched out of Gondar, taking with
him the King and Abuna, as alfo Ozoro Efther, and Ozoro
Altafla her fifter, and all the other ladies about court, who
were in pofTeffion of the great fiefs of the crown, and whom
he obliged to perfonal attendance, as well as to bring the
quota of troops they were boundto by their refpe6tive te-
nures.

The king*s army halted upon the fame ground they had
done on their return to Gondar. They were then fuppofed
to be near 20,000 foot, belonging to Tigre and its dependen-
cies, incomparably the bell troops of the empire, 6000 of
which were armed with mufquets, fix times the number
that all the reft of Abyfiinia could furnilh, and, confidering
they v^ere all match-locks, very expert in the management
of them. The reft of the foot which joined them fince he
pafi^ed the Tacazze were about 10,000, befides 2000 of the
king's houfehold, 500 of which were horfemen ; of thefe,
few fliort of 200 were his black fervants, armed with coats
of mail, the horfes with plates of brafs on their. cheeks and
faces, with a Iharp iron fpike of about five inches in length,
which ftuck out in the middle of their forehead, a very trou-
blefome, iifelefs piece of their armour ; their bridles were
iron chains ; the body of the horfe covered with a kind of
thin quilt ftuffcd with cotton, v/iih two openings made

above

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 117

above the flaps of the faddle, into which the horfeman put
his thighs and legs, and which covered him from his hip
(where his fhirt of mail ended) down to a httle above his
ancle : his feet were covered with flippers of thin leather,
without heels, and his flirrups were of the Turkifli or
Moorifli form, into which his whole foot entered, and, be-
ing hung very fliort, he could raife himfelf, and ftand as
firmly as if he was upon plain ground. The faddles were
in the Moorifli form like wife, high before and behind ; a
flrong lace made faft to the coat of mail by the one end, the
other pafl^ed through a fmall hole in the back of the faddle,
kept it clofe down, fo that the back was never expofed by the
coat of mail rifmg over the hinder part of the faddle. Each
had a fmall ax in the furcingle of his faddle, and a pike
about fourteen feet long, the weapon with which he char-
ged ; it was made of very light wood, brought from the banks
of the Nile, with a fmall four-edged liead, and the butt
end balanced by a long fpike of iron"; this entered a lea-
ther cafe faftened by a thong to the faddle, and was refled
fometimes below the thigh, and fometimes above, and guid-
ed by the right hand at the height the point was intended
to ftrike at. The horfeman's head was covered with a hel-
met of copper, or block tin, much like thofe of our light-
horfe, with large crefls of black horfe tail..

The oflicers were diftinguifhed from the foldiers by locks
of hair dyed yellow, interfperfed with the black. Upon the
front of each helmet was a iilver flar, at leaft a white-metal
one, and before the face, down to the top of the nofe, a flap
of iron chain, made in the fame manner as the coat of mail,
but only lighter, which ferved as a vizier. This was the
iaoi[ troublefome part of the whole, it was hot and heavy,

and

ii8 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

and conftantly fretted the cheek and nofe, when either the
man or the horfe were in motion; and therefore I always
fubftituted a black filk net, which concealed my colour bet-
ter, and for the reft of my face I committed it to the care of
Providence.

This body of horfe was able to make their way through
all the cavalry in AbyfTinia, if they had been drawn up a-
gainft them with equal fronts ; for every horfeman fat im-
moveable upon his faddle, and ad^ed moft powerfully by
his weight alone, and was perfectly matter of his perfon
alfo by the breadth and flaortnefs of his ftirrups ; whereas
the Abyilinian horfemen were placed moft difadvantageouf-
ly, their head and body naked, their faddle fmall, and of
no fupport to them, their ftirrup- leathers long, and no ftir-
rups to put their foot in ; but being conftantly afraid of
their horfe falling upon them, the only hold which they
had was the outfide of an iron ring, which they grafped be-
tween their great and fecond toe, fo that they had no
ftrength from their ftirrups, whilft their foot was always
fwellcd, and their toes fore and galled.

Of the thoufand Shoa horfe about 60 had deferted ; the reft
were all in good order, each armed with their lances about
ten teet long, and two light javelins, their Ihafts being of
cane, which they threw at a great diftance ; the lance they
never loofed out of their hand ; as for their ftirrups and
faddle, they were of the fame bad conftrudlion as thofe of
the .'-\b', ftuiians in general, and this reduced them nearly
to a looting with them.

The

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 119

The horfemen of the king's army were about 7000, moft-
ly very indifferent troops ; fo that his whole mufter was
nearly 7000 mufqiteteers, 25,000 foot, armed with lances
and fhields, and about 7500 horfemen ; in round numbers
about 40,000 men. It is not poffible, 1 believe, to know,
with greater precifion, the number, fuch is the confufion of
barbarous armies on thefe occafions, and fuch the inclina-
tion of their leaders to magnify and increafe their quotas.
Befides thefe, Ayto Confu and Sanuda were left with about
600 men each, to proted Gondar from flying, pillaging
parties, and to keep the communication open between the
army and the capital, from whence the provilions were to
be fupplied..

This army was furnilhed with a number of excellent of-
ficers, veterans of noble families, who had fpent their
whole life in war, which we may fay, for thefe laft 400-
years, has never ceafed to lay defolate this unhappy coun-
try ; the principal were Ras Michael, who, arrived at the age
of feventy-four, had palTed the laft 50 years of his life in a
courfe of continued vidories, Atfliam Georgis, and Gue-
bra Chriftos, uncles by the mother's fide to the king ; Kefla
Yafous, in the full vigour of life, who, though unhap-
pily born in a country plunged in ignorance, and where
there is no education, pofiefTed every quality that became
a man, whether a foldier, ftatefman, citizen, or friend ; Wel-
leta Michael, mafter of the houfehoTd to the king ; Billeta-
na Guera Tecla ; Bafha Hezekias, and Guebra Mafcal, two
principal officers of his mufquctry, and a great number of
others of equal merit, known better in-ihe c?mp than at the
court ; Aylo, and Engedan, two fons of Kafmati bfhte ; Ayto
Confu, fon of Ozoro Efthei, all young ^len, employed gene-

4 J^ally

120 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

rally in enterprifes, and growing every day more and more
into reputation.

It is impoflible fo much as to guefs at the number of the
enemy, they were always very numerous, but conflantly
changing. It was faid, that Begemder and Lafta had at one
time 30,000 horfemen ; I fhould believe this number greatly
exaggerated, from what I heard afterwards ; and that the
whole cavalry in their army did not exceed what it was at the
battle of Serbraxos. I fuppofe indeed, that, together with their
foot, they did not much exceed that number, tho' they were
at times magnified to 50 and 60,000, moft of them very bad
troops, continually deferting, excepting about 4000 men be-
longing to Gufho, from Amhara, who likewife brought
about 100 match-locks, and befides thefe there were fcarce-
ly any in the rebel army. I mull not, however, forget 200
horfemen, Edjow Galla, fervants and relations of the late king
Joas, who behaved in the mofl gallant and undaunted man-
ner, and upon all occafions fet a noble example to the reft of
the army.

Ras Michael himfelf led the van; the king the center,
with Guebra Mafcal,and a confidcrable body of mufquetcers
of Tigre ; he had no horfe but thofe of his own houfehold.
The rear was commanded by Wclleta Michael, and Tecla:
how difpofcd, or of what troops conllituted I know not, for
the front, center, and rear were undcrftood to march
in order, btit it was often impoffible to difcern any fuch di-
vifions ; we were often all in confufion, fometimes we were
in the middle of the front, fometimes joined and mixed
with the rear ; all c .r oflicers had left their command, and
were crowding abou, Ras Michael and the king ; women
2 bearing

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 121

l)earing provifions, horns of liquor, and mills for grinding
corn, upon their backs ; idle women of all forts, half dead
with fear, crying and roaring, mounted upon mules ; and
men driving mules loaded with baggage, mingled with the
troops, and palling through in all dire(5lions, prefented fuch
a tumultuous appearance that it furpafled all defcription.
There were above 10,000 women accompanying the army :
the Ras had about 50 loaded with bouza, and the king I
fuppofe near, as many.

The fight threw me for a moment into low fpirits. I
know not if the king faw it. I was perfecStly fdent, when he
cried. Well, what do you fay to us now, Yagoube ? I anfwer-
ed. Is this the order in which your majefly means to engage ?
He laughed, and faid. Aye; why not, you will fee. If that is
fo, I replied, I only hope it is the enemy's cuftom as well as
your raajefty's to be in no better order. The king was going
to anfwer me, when Guebra Mafcal, who was juft befide him,
criedout,Thisisa bufmefsyou know nothing about,Yagoube;
go to your Felac (quadrant) and your fortune-telling, if you
are afraid ; we have no need of you, nor your advice to-day.
Refped-for theprefenceof the king, which youfeem to be void
of, faid I, hinders me from anfwering you as I otherwife would
have done ; but be allured, in which ever army they were
to-day, they are not men like Guebra Mafcal whom Ifhould
be afraid of. The king looked at him much difpleafed, and,
I believe, faid fomething favourable of me ; what it was I did
not diflindlly hear.

It was now about 10 o'clock, when, marching clofe along
the foot of the hills, we arrived at Tedda. The burying-
place of Hatzc Hannes I. fon of Facilidas, and father of Ya-

VoL. IV. Q^ fous

122 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

fous the Great, was fcarce a quarter of a mile to the S. W.
of us, and the church of St George a htile more on the eaft,
when orders came from the Ras for us to encamp on the
fide of the hill, which we accordingly did, and were prefeni^ly
in better order than we were when marching. The Ras, wlio
had pafl'ed the river of Tedda, encamped on the fouth fide
of it. It happened that our two bodies, the front and cen-
ter, were at that time treading upon one another's heels ; but
the rear, from fome accident, was confiderably behind, and
part of it had fcarce pailed the Mogetch.

' Both the bury ing-pl ace, and church near it, were planted
thick round with Cyprus and cedar trees. Juft a little be-
fore the Ras ordered us to encamp, a mefTenger arrived
from Netcho, (the Fit-Auraris) that he had that morning
met the Fit-Auraris of Begemder on this fide of the river
Mariam ; that he had killed the Fit-Auraris himfelf, (a man
of Lafta) with 37 of his men, and driven them back : he
added, that he intended to fall back himfelf upon the Ras's
army, unlefs ll:opt by contrary orders ; thefe the Ras did
not fend, being deiirous that he fliould join him, as he
foon after did, without being purfued : he brought word
that the army of the rebels was near at hand, between.
Korreva and the lake ; that PowufTen's head-quarters were
at Korreva,- and that he had heard Gulho had puflied on
advanced ports, as far as the church of Mariam ; but this he
did not know for certain, being only the information of a
dying man. Ras Michael immediately detached Guebra
Mafcal, and another officer, with 400 men to take pollef-
fion of the fepulchre and the church at Tedda, and conceal
themfelves among the cedar-trees»

We

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 123

We had not encamped long, before the rear came in
fight, Confu, fon of Ozoro Either, whom the Ras had left
to guard Gondar, hearing how near the enemy was, and
the probability of a battle that day, had left his poft, and
joined Yafme, with the horfe of Ras el Feel, that were in
the rear ; foon after this juncftion, Afahel Woodage, with
about 400 men, partly Edjow Galla, (the late king Joas's
houfehold) partly Maitfha, came up from the Denibea fide
of the lake Tzana, and began to harrafs the rear, marching
in great confufion. Conlu, though fomething fuperior in
number, was thought to be inferior in the goodnefs of
troops by much more than the difference ; but the event
proved the contrary, for he charged Woodage Afahel fo for-
cibly, that he obliged him to quit our rear, and retire acrofs
the plain at a pace, which if not a flight, did very much re-
femble it. Ayto Confu preffed vigoroufly upon him, till,
being now clear of the rell of the army, and in the fair
open plain, Woodage wheeled (hortly about, and fiiewed
by his countenance that it was not to avoid Ayto Confu,
but Ras Michael's mufquetry, that he retreated to a greater
diflance ; both fides llopt to breathe their horfes for fome
minutes ; but it was plain afterwards, Afa.hel Woodage, an
old foldier, trufled much to the known valour of his troops,
and willied to Ifrike a blow of confequehce in prefence of
his old enemy the Ras,

Ras Michael was at the door of his tent then playing at
dams, or drafts, as was his cuftom, and Ozoro Either v/as
trembling to fee her fon on the point of being furrounded
by mercilefs Galla, the nation who moil of all flie detefted,
and who had every caufe to hate her. All the young men,
(Confu's friends) with their lances in their hands, and rea-

0^2 dy

124 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

dy to mount on horfeback, befeeched the Ras to allow tliem
to go down into the plain to the ailiflance of (lonfu ; but
the old general, without leaving off his game, faid, " I do
ftridtly forbid one of you to ftir ; Confu has broke my orders
to-day, and brought himfelf into a fcrape by his own folly;
let me fee him get out of it by his courage and conduft, and
thereby fet the army a better example than he yet has
done." — " Sir, faid I, at leaft ila^tion fome mufquetry on the
fmall hill, at the edge of the plain, that, if Confu is beaten,
I may not have the mortification of feeing Yafme, and
the new troops of Ras el Feel, (who were in their proper poll)
and have all my baggage and provifions, maffacred before
my eyes by thefe cowardly barbarians." I fpoke this in
the Utmoft anguifh, when the Ras lifted up his head with
a ghaftly kind of laugh, and faid, " Right, well do fo, Ya-
goube." Though this was but an imperfedl permiflion, I
ran down to the ftation with fuch hafte that 1 fell twice in
my way, and was confiderably hurt, for the ground was
rocky, and the grafs llipperyo

Although I had only waved my cloak, and cried comc^
on firs, a large number of matchlocks of Ozoro Efl:her's,
and the king's, haftened immediately to the ground. Con-
fu by this time had charged, and after a flioiu refiflance
beat Woodage back into the plain; Woodage, however, again
faced about, and after fome refi fiance, Confu in his turn
•was driven back in evident diforder, and puflied almoft in
upon the poft, where our foldiers had made ready their
mufquets, to fire if they came a ftep nearer. At this inflant
a body of about 30 or 40 horfe (the commander we after-
wards knew to be Ay to Engedan) came up full gallop from
the right, and fi;opt the Galla in their purfuit, Confu's men

rallied.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. r^jF

rallied upon this alTiftance, and Afahel Woodage retired ina di-
re<'T:ion palliug clofe under thefepLilchre,Engedan and Confu
keeping at a moderate pace on his left between them and the
aniiy, and farcing them down, as it were, to the trap they
knew was laid for them. They were yet a long fhoi from
the cedars that furroimded the fepulchre, when a volley
was discharged at them from among the trees, where Mi-
chael had polled his 400 men, wnich, though it did little
or no execution, terrified Woodage Afahel's men fo much,
that Confu and Engedan, charging in that initant a.-, upon
a fignal, they all difperfed through different parts of the
field, and their leader after them: Joas's Edjow, indeed,
would not fall back a Hep upon the volley, but, after an ob-
flinate refirtance, they were broken by fuperior numbers,,
and forced to retreat before an enemy, fo overcome with
fatigue and wounds, as to be unable to purfue them.

The whole of this engagement lafted near an hour by
my watch. One hundred and thirteen of Woodage Afahel's
men were flain upon the fpot, and their bloody trophies
brought and thrown before the king. On Confu's fide about
70 were killed and wounded ; he himfelf received two
wounds, one a large flelh wound in the hip, the other more
flight upon the head, both of them at the very beginning of
the engagement.

Notwithstanding the natural hardnefs of his heart,
and that the misfortune which had happened was in im-
mediate difobedience of orders, R as Michael fliewed great
fenfibility at hearing Confu was wounded ; he came imme-
diately to fee him, a vifit not according to etiquette, and
gave him. a flighter reproof than was expeded for leaving

his-

126 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

his port in the town, as well as for his fighting without
his orders. Confu, witli great luhmillion and addrefs at
the fame time, excufed his leaving his poft, from the repeat-
ed information he had received that a decilive battle was
to be fought that day, and knowing the Ras's want of
horfe, he could not flay at Gondar, and keep his idle, when
the fate of fo kmd a father, (as the Ras had been) and that
of a another, to whom he owed every thing, was depend-
ing. He faid it would be more agreeable to him to die by
the hands of the executioner of the camp, as an example
for difobedience of orders, than furvive with the refledlion
that he had been voluntarily abfent from fiich an occauon.
As for engaging with Ai'ahel Woodage that day, he faid he
had no intention of that kind ; that he knew not who he
was when he attacked him, and only endeavoured to hin-
der him from harrafling the rear of the army, and deftroy-
ing the provilions : That when he charged him firft, Wood-
age was among the women, loaded with bouza, flour, and
fpirits, which were coming to the Ras, and great part of
which he had intercepted, as the Ras would find. Michael
could not help laughing at this lad part of the excufe, but
went away, and, in his converfation that evening, gave Con-
fr the highefl: praifes for his conduct and bravery, but
faid nothing of his fault.

Engedan was next arraigned for fighting without orders.
He, too, anfwered with great humility, That when he faw
the infantry run down the hill, with their matches lighted,
he thought it was the Ras's intention to relieve Confu - by
the moft effedual means poffible; but at any rate he could
never, with arms in his hands. Hand looking on, while his
coufin-german and companion was mafiacred by Gall a.
4 Ail

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 127

All ended well. 1 he truth is, Michael never would find fault
with a man that fought, however imprudently he ibught
the occafion: courage was to him in place of charity ; it co-
vered a multitude of fms.

OzoRo Esther, in the deepeft concern, had attended her
fon from the moment of his arrival, and had feen his
■wound dreffed and fwathed up. A large gaping flefh- wound
(fuch as his was)^frighfens ignorant people more than the
fmall orifice made by a Ihot, which breaks bones and en-
dangers life. Such was Ozoro Efther's apprehenfion ; and
every minute (he inquired of me if f. thought it was pofR-
ble he could recover, i had not quitted him fince he had
got off his horfe. I advifed him by all means to go in a
litter to Gondar, either carried by men or mules; but no
perfuafion, nor confideration, would induce him to go o-
therwsfe than on a mule, with Ins horfe harneffed and led
By him.

Every thing was accordingly prepared, when I received a
meffage from the Ras to wait \ipon him. I immediately
went to his tent, and found him v/ith two dwarf boys only,
who were fanning the flies fi-om his face. " Ozoro tfther
wifhes, fays he, that you would fee Confu fafe to Gondar,,
and bring us word to-morrow how he is; and you muft flay
with him altogether, if he is in danger." — " If he has no
fever, faid I, he is in no danger. If the king and you" — He
then interrupted me, — " The king, and I, and every one,
wiflies you to attend Confu." 1 bowed, and went away with-
out reply. When I was got to the door he cried after me,.
" Don't be afraid, you will be in time enough to fee every

thing I

12? TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

thing ; neither they nor I wifh an engagement but at Ser-
braxos."

■ I DID not underftand the meaning of the fpeech, but
went away without reply ftraight to the king's tent ; and I
was juft going to fpeak when he ftopt me, by crying, " Go,
go, for God's fake ! Ozoro Efther has been here almoft out
of her fenfes." I went on this to her tent, where I found her
fitting by Confu and drowned in tears, which at times were
interrupted by fits of feeming diftradtion. He began to feel
the lofs of blood, which would have made me wifh not to
move him ; but there was no flaying here for fick people ;
and fo violent a fpirit had fpread through the army, upon
Netcho's fuccefs and Confu's vi<51:ory, that one and all infifl-
ed upon fighting the next day ; and feveral of my friends,
who knew where I was going, fliook hands with me at my
paffing them, faying, " Farewell, Yagoube ; we are forry to
lofe you, but all will T^e over before you come back."

I NOW infifled more than ever upon Confu's going in a
litter, and fetting out immediately, which was according-
ly complied with. Ozoro Efther had dinner, or rather fup-
per, ready in a moment, and I had great need of it, having
fcarcely tafted any thing for two days. While I was eating,
Ozoro Efther could not flop the efi'ufions of her gratitude
for the care I had again taken of Confu. " I knew, fays
fhe, you would have refufed me, if I had endeavoured to
perfuade you to go away from the camp, when there are
fuch fair expectations, you may be knocked on the head
to-morrow ; and therefore I applied to the Ras by force to
bend that rafli, proud fpirit of yours, which one day will
be the occafion of your death."—" Madam, faid I, you do
3 "^^

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 129

mc injuftice if you vvill not believe that I had rather obey
your commands than thofe of any general upon earth :
But, pray, what is the meaning of the Ras's fpeech to me
about both armies wilhing to fight at Serbraxos * ? Where is
this Serbraxos ?" — " Why, fays (lie, here, on a hill juft by ;
the Begemder people have a prophecy, that one of their go-
vernors is to fight a king at Serbraxos, to defeat him, and
flay him there : in his place is to fucceed another king,
whofe name is Theodorus, and in whofe reign all Abyfli-
nia is to be free from war, or from any trouble, ficknefs, or
famine ; that the Galla, Shangalla, and Mahometans are all
to be dcilroyed, and the empire of Abyflinia to be extended
as far as Jerufalem." — " All this deftruction and conquell
withou.t v/ar ! That will be curious indeed. I think 1 could
wifli to fee this Theodorus," faid I, laughing. " See him
you will, replied Ozoro Ellher ; peace, happinefs, and plen-
ty will lail all his reign, and a thoufand years afterwards.
Enoch and Elias will rife again, and will fight and deftroy
Gog and Magog, and all this without any war." — " On
which I again faid, that muft be cleverly managed. And
now, why does Ras Michael choofe to fight at Serbraxos ? I
do not think he is defirous to pay his court to the king
Theodorus, or any king brought him by Begemder." —
*' Y\^hy, fays flie, all tlic hermits and holy men on our fide,
that can prophecy, have allured him he is to beat the re-
bels this month at Serbraxos ; and a very holy man, a her-
mit from Waldubba, came to him at Gondar, and obliged
him to march out againft his will, by telling hun this pro-
phecy, which he knows to be true, as the man is not like
Vol. IV, R common

Seibraxos, abbrevution for Serba Chriftos, the Crofs of Chrlfl.

ijo TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

common prophets, but one who never ate anv thing but
roots, or drank other liquor than-«warer, fince the day of his
nativity. Such a man as this, you know, Yagoube, can-
not lie." "And I, fays Ay to Confu, being a prophet that hath
ate beef and drunk bouza ever fince my naiivity, vvlienever
I could not get wine or brandy, and who give my fliare of
water freely to the faints of Waldubba, as a proper reward
for the lies they tell, I do prophecy, that there are now
two thoufand men eating their fupper within fight of Ser-
braxos, who will never fee it nearer, but will all be flain in
a battle fought at this place to-morrow, at which time Ya-
goube fhall be feafting with me at Gondar, without caring
a fig for king Theodorus and his plenty." — " A bleffcd pro-
phet yau !" fays Ozoro Either.

At this inftant the fervants at the door informed lis there
was fcarce light to fee the way down the hill, and we got
cur wounded prophet, without much difficulty or com-
plaint, into the litter. A number of men fupportcd him
down the hill, and about 50 of his own horfe attended. I
defired him to feel often the bandage if his wound
bled ; and, finding it did not, I rode on horfeback clofe by
his fide. For fome time, not hearing him ftir or fpeak, I
thought he was alleep, or had fainted ; on which I ftopt the
litter, felt his pulfe, and allied him if he was dofmg ? He
faidjNo ; he was thinking of all the lies his mother had been
telling me : but there is one thing flie did not care to tell
you, Yagoube, fhe fays you laugh at thefe llories ; but there
is a fpirit who always appears to Michael and affures him
of vicftory. I'he devil, faid I, probably ; for what good arifes
from all thcfe vidories ? are they not the ruin of innocent
people, and of the country ? No, replied Confu, it is St iVli-

chael

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. im

J

chad the archangel ; he faw him jiill before he furprifed
the mountain Ha^-amat, but ncitlier at Gondar, nor fince he
paiTed the Tacazze, and this makes him forrowful. The
fpirit has been afraid to catch cold, faid I, by wetting his
feet in that cold fiver. I doubt fo, anfwered Confu ; but the
liar of a monk, who my mother fuppofes never eats nor
drinks, told him he was to fee him at Serbraxos.

At this time we heard the noife of horfes, and could dif-
cern (as we thought) three men that paffed the bridge of
Mogetch brifkly before us. As they feemed to avoid us, fix or
eight of Confu's men purfued them at full gallop, but lofl
them in the darknefs. They, however, were found to be
foldiers of Kafmati Sanuda, who hearing Woodage Afahel
had been engaged with Ayto Confu, had come out with the
unworthy purpofe of colletfting fome filthy trophies, by
mangling the dead or wounded, though thefe muft have
been their own companions, the foldiers of Ayto Confu, who
had been flain ; for the whole of Woodage Afahel's men
had already undergone what Strates emphatically called
the operation^ by the knives of Confu's foldiers. ' We now
arrived at Kofcam without any adventure, and Confu was
laid to repofc, after taking a little food : in obedience to the
orders of Ozoro Efther, I lay down by him in the fame apart-
ment.

Early next morning I was fent for by a fervant of Ozoro
Efther, to attend Welleta Selafi^e, who I was told was at the
point of death. I repaired immediately to the houfe of Ras
Michael, where flie then was, but found her without pofil-
bility of recovery, having already loft her fpeech. She ex-
pired a few minutes afterwards, apparently in violent ago-

R 2 nies.

132 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

nies. The caufe was never properly known; fome attri-
buted it to the jealoufy of Ozoro Either, others alledged
that £he had taken poifon from apprehenfion of faUing into
the hands of Ras Michael: whatever was the truth, her fer-
vants certainly told me, that fhc had confeffed fhe had taken
poifon, and not till the pain became violent, and then flie
turned afraid, would flie confent to have an exprefs fent to
Ozoro Efther, to bring me from the camp. 1 had unluckily
left it before to attend Ayto Confu, neither is it probable I
could have been of any fervice, as the poifon fhe had taken
was arfenic. This accident detained me that whole day, fo
that,inftead of returning to the army, I went to Ayto Confu
at Kofcam, where I found another melTenger in fearch of
me. •

The king's Mahometan was returned fromSennaar, and
with him Soliman my fervant, who brought me anfwers to
the letters I had written ; they had come by Beyla to Ras el
Feel, by Sim Sim, and the wellern deferts, the way to Teawa
being much infefted by gangs of Arabs, and Ganjar horfe,
who murdered every body they found in their way. They
brought with them only twelve horfes, eighteen coats of
mail, and about thirty libd*; thefe were moftly returns made
by the principal members of government to the prefcnts
the king had fent them, for every body at Sennaar no\y fet
too great a value upon the armour, and horfes, to part ca-
fily with them, on account of the unfettled ftate of the
times, the hiflory of which we Ihall give afterv.-ards.

My

* Thefe are leather coats quUted with cotton, ufed inHead of coats of mail : botli man an*
liorfe are covered wiUx them, and they give to both a monfirons apjiearance.

»

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 1.13

My letters informed me that the whole kingdom of
Sennaar was in arms, that Naffer (wl\o had dcpofed his fa-
ther by the help of two great brothers, Mahomet Abou Ca-
lec, and Adelan) was upon the point of trufling his life and
kingdom to the event of a battle with thefc two oflicers.
I was, moreover, conjured, with all the carnellnefs, as I
thought, of a truly honeft man, that I would by no means
undertake the journey I intended ; that to come from Ra&
el Feel to Sennaar, was, for a white man like me, next to
an abfolute impoflibiHty, conneding the danger of the way
with the great hardlhips from the exceffive heat of the cli-
mate, and want of food and water; that even arrived at
Sennaar, I lliould be in the utmoft danger from the foldiery^
and the king's flaves, under no fubordination or govern-
ment ; and that, even if I was happy enough to efcape
thcfe, the worft ftill remained, and no human power could
convoy or protetSt me, in my remaining journey to Egypt
through the great defert. I was therefore begged to lay
all fuch intention afide as impoffible, and either ftay where
I was, or return by Tigre, Mafuah, and Arabia, the way by
which I firft entered AbyfTmia. This was the fevereft of
all blows to me, and threw me for fome time into the low-
eft delpondency, but it did not change my refolution, which
was already taken, not to turn to the right or the left, but
either compleat my journey to Syene, the frontier of
Egypt, by Sennaar, and Nubia, or periih in the attempt.

I NOW refolved to proceed immediately to the camp, ta-
king twenty horfe from Sanuda, and twenty from Coiitu,
to efcort the coats of mail and horfes from Sennaar. I fee
out that evening with Mahomet the king's fervant, by the
load of Sema Confu, and arrived about nine o'clock in the

campv,

134- TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

camp, without any adventure, bringing the news of Wel-
leta Selafle's death, which feemed to caufe neither furprife
nor forrow, and was never after fpoken of either by the Ras
or Ozoro Ellher ; but very great rejoicings were made at the
good accounts of Ayto Confu, with very kind expreffions of
me, both from the Ras and Ozoro Efther.

Before he went to bed, the king had examined Mahomet,
and drawn from him the true Hate of the kingdom of Sen-
naar; he then fent for me, and ordered me to deUver him
my letters, which I did, interpreting them to him, word for
word. He faid, however, but httle at this time, as he
thought that that door, being fo effecftually fhut againft me,
lefs could be urged againft the fafer, and more known road
through Tigre, which, of courfe, it was prefumed 1 fliould
more eagerly embrace ; he kept my letters, and ordered me
to choofe two of the horfes for myfelf, which I did, one of
them near feventeen hands high, I fuppofe one of the moft
powerful horfes in the world. The reft he diftributed a-
mong the black troops ; the fame he did with the coats of
mail. I found the army in great fpirits, but ftill the ftory
of fighting only at Serbraxos feemed to be obftinately per-
fifted in. I alked Ozoro Efther if St Michael had yet appear-
ed to the Ras; Ihe anfwered, " Hulh ! for God's fake, don't
make a joke of this, one word of this kind repeated to him
would prevent your ever receiving a favour from Michael.

It happened that, the day after I had attended Ayto Con.
fu to Gondar, Ras Michael fent fome foldiers into Dembea
to forage, thefe had been intercepted by a party pofted on
purpofe by Kafmati Ayabdar and Gufho, confifting of Ed-
joyv Galla, with fome horfe from Foggora and Amhara. An
3 engagement

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 135

engagement happened pretty much in the fame place and
manner as that with Woodage Afahel and Ayto Confu, ni
full view of the camp, and affiftance was fent on both fides
to the refpe6live parties. The troops commanded by Aylo,
brother of Engedan, and Guebra Mafcal, were beaten back
almoil: clofe to the camp, by the horfe led by the Edjow Gal-
la, though brave and veteran foldiers, while Ras Michael
oi^ered Yafme and his 200 from Ras el Feel, (all with their
libds on) to charge the Galla, now advanced very near.
Each horfe had a number of brafs bells at his neck, and
they no fooner appeared than the whole cavalry of the ene-
my, ftarting at the hideous figure and noife, fell into con-
fufion, and, being clofcly prefled with violent blows of their
great fwords, no longer difputed the ground, but left the
field on the gallop. A beautiful grey horfe of Guflio's, fu-
perbly ornamented with gold and filver, and having a very
rich broad-fword hanging at his faddle, and a pole-ax on
the other fide under the furcingle, was taken by fome fol-
diers of Ras el Feel, who fpread the report inilanily that
Gufho was flain. Immediately on this, orders were given
for the whole army to defcend into the plain, which they
did with great alacrity, forming in order of battle, though
neither the king nor Ras Michael left the camp, nor did
any adverfary appear ; and. the troops, content with this
bravado, returned again in great fpirits to the camp.

This is the account I heard of that day^s fkirmifli, for I
was not prefent there, being at Gondar with Ayto Confu.
In the evening of that very day amved a mefienger from
Guflio, telling Ras Michael, that a young boy, a nephew of
his, had, without his knowledge, gone to fee the engage-
ment, and had taken with him his- favourite horfe, who,

being

136 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

being frightened at the Arabs with their Hbds, had thrown
him, after which he had run off and left the horfe among
the enemy. He begged to have his horfe redored at any
price, if the man that had taken him was allowed to fell
him. He at the fame time fcnt a prefent of a large quan-
tity of fruit and frefli filh from the lake. The meffenger
was a priefl well known by Ras Michael, and warmly at-
tached to the king, and it was thought came with an er-
rand of more confequence than either about the horfe or
the fifh. The Ras fent him for his anfwer to the King, who
told him, the horfe being taken by the troops of Ras el
Feel, belonged to me, and with me he mull make his bar-
gain : that I was at Gondar, and my return uncertain ; but
that the next day he might have my anfwer. This v/as the
better to conceal the prieft's real bufinefs, for the King and
Ras knew how they were to difpofe of the horfe ; at leaft
they certainly knew I was not to return him without their
orders.

The morning after my arrival this fame priefl: came to
me with a melTage from Guflio, defiring I would fend him
his horfe, as a proof of the friendihip which he faid had al-
ways fubfifted between us, at the fame time offering me any
fum of money that I might have promifcd to content the
foldiers who took him. As I had before obtained leave
from Ras Michael to rcftore the horfe, fo I did it with the
very bed grace poffdile, fending Yafine himfelf, chief of the
troops of Ras el Feel, with the melFage to Guflio, that I rec-
koned myfclf exceedingly happy in having that opportunity
of obliging him, and of fhcwing the value I had ever fet
upon his fricndflaip"; that he very well knew the little re-
gard I had for money, and that the foldier who took the
I horfe

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 157

horfe was my fervant, and had already been abundantly fa-
tisfied. I defired Yafine to add, that I hoped, in order to a
continuation of that friendfliip, he would avoid, in his own
particular command, or in that of his relations, attacking
where the king was in perfon, becaufe it was my indifpen-
fible duty to be there, and that his nephew might not efcapc
with the lofs of a horfe, if he again happened to be engaged
with the Moorifh troops, who, though under my command,
were Mahometans, ftrangers to the language, and to whom
it was impoflible for me to convey any diftincStion of perfons,
Gufho was exceedingly fenfible of this civil return of the
horfe ; he cloathed Yafine magnificently, made him a pre-
fent of another horfe, and fent a very flattering meflage by
him to me.

gi»i.ii I ■ ...Ilia

Vol. IV. S CHAP»

ijS TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

**!^c:^*

CHAP. VI.

Michael attempts to enter Begemder — Firft Battle of Serbraxos — The
Rebels offer Battle to the King in the Plain — Armies Jeparated by a
violent Storm.

YA S I N E had fcarcely returned to the camp when all the
tents were ftruck, and the army on its march. The Ras
and Guebra Mafcal led the van, the king and Guebra Chrif-
tos the center, Kafmati Kefla Yafous the rear ; Netcho the
Fit-Auraris being about half an hour's march before us^
we proceeded along the plain without interruption ; Ayto
Engedan, with a fmall body of horfe, was covering the king's
right flank at fome diftance. The church of Serbraxos was
on our left upon the fide of a hill, and we expeded to fee
the Fit-Auraris take up his ground for encamping there, as
it was the field of adion determined upon by both parties^
The Fit-Auraris, however, firft, and then Ras Michael with
the van, paffed below Serbraxos at fo brifk a pace that we
in the center found it difficult to keep up with them.

4, A L0N6,

FIRST BATTLE.

Explanation.

1. King's palace and high walls furround-
ing it.

2. Aflioa, public place where the troops
afTemble, and gun-pov\'djr is fold, and
■where public executions are made,

3. Hamar Noh, Noah's Ark, a church.

4. A clofe quarter over a precipice on the
Weft, to which the merchants carry
their effe-fb upon fiidden revolutions,
efpccially thoie that have flour and
provilions.

J. Abbo, where the Romifhpriefts were
ftoned and lye unburicd.

6. Debra Dcrhan, famous church upon*
rile highefl part of the hill over tin;
Angrab.

7. Riggobce Ber, or Pigeons Pafs, a rocky
part of the town, fortified in time of
troubles.

8. Abbo, great ftreet, called from the
church and faint of that name.

9. INIahometan town on the river Kaha.

10. King's palace on the river Kaha.
I r. Brook of St Raphael.

1 2. The river Angrab.

A The centre ccmmanded by the king
and Guebra Chriftos encamped on the
South of the hill Serbraxos.

B Ras Michael, who leads the van, en-
camped upon the South-Eaft, and high-
eft part of the hill.

C Kefla Yafous, who commands the rear
encamped upon the North-Well.

D Ras Michael march'ng from his camp
at Serbraxos, is flopt at the mouth of
the valley, and engages Powufl'en and
the troops of Begemder at E.

E The rebel troops of Begemder engag-
ing Rss Michael.

F Ayto Engcd.;ii with a thoufand men
marches from the King's camp to rein-
force Michael at the mouth of the val-
ley.

G PowufTen's camp at Correva.

H A -inforcement m..r;hes from Pow-
ui; I's camp, and joins the rebels tn-
. , :.\ with Michael at E.

I Ras Michael beat back into the valley,
retires under cover of his mufketry at
K and L, which ftop the rebels ad-
vancing.

M Kefla Yafous^ joins the king, marches
to the head of the valley, wheels to-
the right, and faces to the weftward.

N The king's horfe upon the ford of
the ISIariam facing weftward.

00 Two bodies of the king's muflcetry
placed to defend the ford of the Ma-
riam.

P Ayabdar's army encamped.

Q_Q^ Ayabdnr's army marches from
the camp, and halts a fmall diflance
from the king's horfe at NN, but
retreats to SS without attacking them.
All but the Edjow Galla, who remain
at T, and sre all cut to pieces by the
king's horfe, and the muikctry on the
hiU.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 13^

A LONG valley, having the mountains of Begcmder on the
fouth, or fartheft end, was what the Ras had now entered,
and he flattered himfelf, by a forced niaixh, to arrive at thofc
mountains. When once in Begemder, he knew that he not on-
ly fhould occafion a revolt among the troops of Powuiren,
(many of whom had followed him by force rather than in-
clination) but likewife he was afllired that he lliould be met
by many powerful noblemen and friends to the king, both
of Lafta and Begemder, whom Powuflen dared not force to
follow him, and who had ftaid at home; by this means,
he conceived his army would be fo much increafed that he
foon Ihould bring the rebels to reafon.

The river Mariam runs along the weft fide of this valley^
fliallow, but brilk and clear, and the water excellent, while
a fmall brook, called Deg-Ohha, (that is, the water of ho-
nour, or of worth) falling from- the mountains on the eaft,
runs clofe by the bottom of the hill of Serbraxos, where it
joins the Mariam. The center of the army was juft en-
tering from the plain into the valley, and the king's horfe
pafling Deg-Ohha, when we heard a firing in the front,
which we gueiTed to be from the Fit-Auraris; foon after fol-
lowed a repeated firing from the van, engaged about a Ihorc
two miles diftance, though a long even hill in the midft
of the valley, and its windings, hindered us from feeing
them,

GuEBRA Christos immediately made his difpofition ; he
placed his horfe, and foot in the intervals of the horfe, in the
middle of the valley ; his mufquetry on the right and left,
the former upon the fkirts of the hill already mentioned, to
i-un along the valley ; the latter up the fliirts of the hill of

S 2 Serbraxos*

140 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

Scrbraxos. Orders very foon arrived from Ras Michael,,
which did not alter the difpofition ; and Kefla Yafous with-
the rear arriving at the fame time, jitll joined and doubled;
the feveral poils as they had been taken-; oiu- pofition was
to the utmofl of our wifli ; but it had not been fo with.
Michael, for he no fooaer had got int9 the plain,, where he
had the hills no longer either on his right or left, than he
was attacked by Powuflen, with the whole force of Begem-
der, who cut off the troops of his FitrAuraris to a man, he,
and two or three common foldiers, only efcaping. This was
owing to Michael's retreating inftead of fupporting him ;
for he had fcarcely given time for PowufTen to come up;
with his horfe, who fought more defperately than was their
ufual cuftbmj than he himfelf again took poflellion of the-
entrance of the valley, and lined the hill on both fides
with fire-arms. A very general and fliarp fire from Gue-
bra Mafcal, and the mufquetry,, (who had occupied the:
fouth end of the long hill) foon obliged PowufTen to leave:
Michael's cavalry, which he would elfe have inevitably de-
llroyed, and Ihelter himfelf in the plain from the violent;
efFedl. of the fhot, which rained upon him alternately from,
the hills on. each fide of the valley.

At this time we were in the greateft anxiety, from the-
report of the mufquets always, coming nearer us, though^
by the contrary winds, the fmoke was carried from us. The
day was far advanced, and excefilvely hot : the foot foldiers
were bufy in giving our horfes drink out of our own hel-
mets, which they filled from Deg-Ohha. All the troops;
were impatient, however, to come to an aAion upon that'
ground. At this time an officer from Michael came to
Kefia Yafous, who was on horfehack near, the king, order-
ing.

T H E S O U R C E O F T H E N I L E. 141

mg him to fend a body of frefh horfe to fupport the caval-
ry of his divifion, with an intention, if poffible, to bring on
a general engagement. In the mean time he ordered Kef-
la Yafous to keep firm, as he then was, in the poll of Ser-
braxos, and not to advance till he was fure that Giilho
and Ayabdar had left their gromid, joined PowufTen, and
were engaged with him at the fouth end of rhe valley.
Thefe inftrudtions were perfectly underllood by that faga-
cious and veteran general. He detached 500 Shoa, with
near the fame number of horfe belonging to Engedan, and
commanded by him, and thefe, joined t© the cavalry already
in the van, again attempting to pafs the plain, were at-
tacked by PowufTen and the troops of Begemder, who had
been likewife reinforced, and after an obftinate engage-*,
ment they had retired into the mouth of the valley, not
from being a(flually beaten, but by dirc(5lion of Ras Mi-
chael, in order to bring the enemy purfuing them under
the fire of the mufquetry, on each fide of. the entrance of
the valley..

I WAS exceedingly curious to have feen this engagement,-,
and I begged Kefla Yafous to fpeak to the king to permit me
to go fmgly with Engedan. To this, however, I had a flat
refufal, not without fome marks of peeviflmefs and difplea-
fure, which Kefla Yafous qualified by faying, " Don't be dif*
mayed, you fhali fee ;" and in that inflant the word was
given to march to the right, whilll the troops left the valley
between the long hill and the mountains,, and took poll on
the fide of the river Mariam, with their faces fronting the
weft. The mufquetry was placed upon the eminences to the
north and fouth, as if to defend the ford of the river, thro!
which, the entrance was, to the north end of the valley. Mi-.

cliaelj,.

142 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

thael, in the mean time, had, by the feigned retreat of his'
cavahy, decoyed the Begemder troops within reach of the
mufquetry, and they were again put in diforder by the dif-
charge on each fide of the hill, without being able to ad-
vance a flep further ; after which he ordered fome tents to
be pitched upon the hill on his right, as if intending to en-
camp there.

Kasmati Ayabdar, who commanded the left wing of the-
rebels, imagining that the whole army had advanced to the
fouth of the valley with Ras Michael, thought this was an
opportunity of furrounding the king's troops, and cutting
them off from their camp and ftrong poll upon the hill of
Serbraxos ; with this intention he advanced rapidly to the
ford of the river Mariam, thinking to take poll on the hill
which was to our rear, being that of Serbraxos. When he
advanced, however, near that river, and faw the king and
his cavalry drawn up on the banks of it, his heart failed him,
and he halted within a fliort quarter of a mile of our troops.
In order to decoy and make him more confident, Kefla Ya-
fous ordered the horfe to retreat and crofs the river as fall
as they could, with an appearance of confufion, that he might
draw their horfe within reach of our mufquetry planted up-
on every eminence. The king fliewed great reluctance at
this manoeuvre, however wife. He repeated very peeviilily.
What is this ! What is this ! Am I retiring before rebels? —
Neither did this llratagem fucceed but in part, for Ayabdar,
either dillruiling the trap laid for him, or afraid to enter in-
to an engagement with the king, advanced but a few paces,
and again halted, apparently not decided what he was to
do.

The

THE SOtJRCE OP THE NILE. 145

The Fdjow Galla alone advanced to the very brink of the
river, and when the mufquetry began to be fired at them,
which would probably quickly have put them into confu-
fion, the king, lofing all patience, ordered the black horfe,
and all the heavy-armed troops, to charge them, which
■was inflantly executed with the greateft fpeed; the Gal-
la were all borne down, with little or no refiilance, by
■the length of our pikes, and the fuperior weight of our
horfes, and thofe that were not {lain were fcattered over the
plain. But a greater misfortune befel us from our friends
than from our enemies, as a volley of lliot was poured up-
on us from Serbraxos hill, on the right hand, which killed
feven men, notwithllanding their coats of mail. The king
himfelf was in great danger, being in the middle of the en-
gagement, and unarmed; young prince George, who
fought by his fide, was lliot in the thumb of his left
hand. Kefla Yafous, who faw the danger the king was in,
ridmg about, holdmg out his hand and crying not to fire,
was fhot through the hair, the ball juft grazing his head
above the ear, and another wounding his horfe juft above
his thigh, but fo flightly, that it was afterwards extradled
by a fervant's fingers.

Ayabdar, after the lo(s of his Ed jo w Galla, retreated to
the camp, amidlt the curies and imprecations of the army,
who, not informed of the king's ftrength, thought the war
might have been ended by a proper exertion and perfeve-
rance in his part that day. Gulho his nephew, who had
flaid to guard the. camp, but who had reinforced Powufi^en
and Ayabdar each of them with a part of his troops, fpoke
of his uncle in the bittereft terms of reproach, continually
calling him dotard and coward, and declaring him incapa-
ble

.144 TRAVELS TO DIS GOV EH

'ble of command or fervice. Whether this was really his
.opinion, or only faid vv^ith a view of forwarding a fcheme
already laid, I will not fay ; but certainly it was the foun-
dation of a quarrel which, by its confequences, did greatly
•weaken the rebels, and contributed much afterwards to
maintain the king upon the throne ; for Gulho, who, upon
the defeat of Ras Michael, was deftined by all parties to take
the lead, was as lavifli in praifes of Powuilen for his beha-
A'iour that xiay, as he was bitter in condemning his uncle,
•which created a violent mifunderftanding between thefe
two chiefs, infomuch that Afahel Woodage, with his troops
•of Maitfha, left Ayabdar, and joined Powuilen. Confu,
moreover, fon of Bafha Eufebius, and brother to Guebra
Mehedin, who had fruftrated my firft attempt to difcover
the fource of the Nile, endeavouring to promote a revolt a-
■mong the troops of Foggora, to which he belonged, was
put in irons by Ayabdar, from which he was but too fooQ
releafed to meet, a few days afterwards, a fate that put an
end to his profligacy and follies.

PowussEN in this confli(5l had retreated, if not beaten,
with a confiderable lofs ; nine hundred of his bell troops
were faid to have been flain that day, and a great many
tnore wounded, moft of whom (thofe I mean that had gun-
Ihot wounds) died from the want of furgeons, and the igno-
rance of thofe who imdertook to cure them. On the part
of Michael about 300 men, all of the cavalry, were faid to
have perilhed that day, including the troops of Netcho the
Fit-Auraris. Of the king's divifion about twenty- three were
killed, feven of thefe being his guards, I believe moflly by
the unfortunate fire of his troops, arifing from his own im-
patience in attacking the Galla unadvifedly,of whom about
a fixty

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 145

fixty were left upon the field, all {lain in the attack, for thpy
were not purfued, but joined their main body immediate-

Ras Michael fell back upon the army, which had en-
camped on the hill of Serbraxos ; and it now was believed
more than before, that the fate of the empire was to be
determined on that fpot. Another thing, however, appear-
ed plain, that whatever belief Michael pretended in the
prophecy, he would not have preferred fighting at Serbrax-
os, if he could by any means have given the rebels the
flip, and marched his army into Begemder. The king was
exceedingly pleafed at the part he had taken that day ; it was
the firft time he was engaged in perfon, nor did any body
venture to condemn it ; he fhewed, indeed, very little con-
cern at his brother's wound, which was only a flight one
in the flefliy part of his thumb, nor did the young prince
trouble himfelf much about it ; on the contrary, when I
went todrefs and bind it up, he faid to me, I wiili, Yagoube,
the fliothad carried the thumb off altogether, it would have
made nie incapable of fucceeding to the throne, and they
would not then fend me to the hill of Wechne. The king,
upon hearing this, faid with a fmile, George forgets that
Hatze Hannes, my father and his, was called to the throne
many years after his whole hand had been cut off. Every
one agreed that Ras Michael had that day ihewn a degree
of intrepidity and military ikill fuperior to any thing which
had appeared in many former engagements in v/hich he
had commanded. No fooner had he refreflied himfelf
with a meal, than he called a council of his officers, which
larted great part of the evening, notwithftanding the fa-
tigue he had undergone throughout the day.

Vol. IV, T This

t45 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

This was the firfl battle of Serbraxos, which, though i?
contained nothing decifivc, had flill two very material con-
fequences, as it fo daunted the fpirits of the Begemder horfe,
that many chiefs of that country withdrew their troops, and
went home, whilft fiich difcord was fown among the lead-
ers, that I believe they never lincerely trufted one another
afterwards ; Gufho and Ayabdar, in particular, were known.
to correfpond with the king daily.

On the morrow after the battle, three melTengers arrived
from Gulho, Powuffen, and Ayabdar, and each had a fepa-
rate audience of the King and Ras» before whom they all
three feverallv declared, that their mailers defired to conti-
nue in allegiance to him their king, Tecla Haimanout, but
■under this condition only, that Ras Michael fliould be fent
to his government of Tigre, never more to return. They
endeavoured to perfuade the king alfo to take the fenfe o£
liis army, the majority of which, they aiTerted, were ready to*
abandon him. If Michael fliould agree to return to Tigre,.
they oifered to carry the king to Gondar, place him in his-
palace, and allow him to choofe his own minillers, and go--
vern for the future after his own ideas. This, indeed, was
the univerfal wifh, and I did not fee what Ras Michael could;
have done, had he adopted it; but fear, or gratitude, or both,,
rellrained the young king from fuch a meafure ; and the.
melTengers left him after a plain declaration, That they had,
endeavoured all in their power to fave him, and he muft.
now abide the confequences, for they waflied their hands:;
of them.

The rains were now become more frequent, and an epi-
demical fever had Ibcwa itfelf in the rebel army on the
I plain;;

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. t^iy

plain ; every confideration, therefore, feemed to perfuade a
rpeedy decilion, but the confequences of the laft engagement
feemed to have damped the fpirit of the rebels, without ha-
ving much raifed that of the king's army. In facfl, the
days were dark and wet, and the nights cold, circumftan-
ces in which no Abyffinian choofes to fight. The army
was thinly cloathed, or not cloathed at all, and encamped on
high ground, where fuel, though it had not failed them yet,
mull foon have done fo.

An accident that happened this night had nearly brought
about a revolution which the wifell heads had laboured
for many years in vain. Ras Michael had retired to bed at
his ordinary time, fomewhat before eleven o'clock, and a
lamp was left burning as ufual in his tent, for he was afraid
oi fpirits. He was juft fallen afleep, when he felt a man's
arm reach into the bed over him, wdiich he immediately
feized hold of, crying to his attendants, at the fame time,
for help. Thofe that ran firfl: into the tent threw down the
lamp and put out the light, fo that the man would have
-efcaped, had not the people behind got about him*, and
endeavoured to hold him down, while entangled in, and
flruggling with the cords of the tent. The iirft perfcm that
feized him was a favourite fervant of the Ras, a young man
named Laeca Mariam, of a good family in Tigre ; he, not
perceiving his danger for want of light, received^a llab with
a broad knife, which pierced his heart, fo that he fell with-
out fpeaking a word. Numbers immediately fecured the
alTaffin, who was found to have dropt one knife within the
Ras's tent, wiih which he had attempted at firft to have
ilabbed him : but he was found to have another knife,
two-edged, and fliarp in the point, fixed along his arm, with

T 2 which

148 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

which he had ftabbed Laeca Mariam. This wretch was a
native of a very barbarous nation near Shoa, 8. E. of Go-
jam. The name of their country is Gurague. They are
Troglodytes, and all robbers : their conftant occupation is
attending the Abyilinian camps, and Healing horfes, mules^
or whatever they can get, which they do in a very fingular.
manner.

They all wear their hair very Ihort, ftrip themfelves ftarki-
naked, and befmear themfelves from head to foot with but-
ter, or fome fort of greafe, whilfl, along the outfide of their
arm, they tye a long, llraight, two-edged, fharp-pointed
knife, the handle reaching into the palm of their hand,
and about four inches of the blade above the knob of their
elbow, fo that the whole blade is fafe and inoffenlive when
the arm is extended, but when it is bent, about four inches
projecHrs, and is bare beyond the elbow joint ; this being
all prepared, they take a leafy faggot, fuch as the gatherers
of fuel bring to the camp, which they faften to their middle
by a ftring or withy, fpreading it over to conceal or cover
all their back, and then drawing in their legs, they lie
down, in all appearance, as a faggot, and in the part of the
camp they intend to rob, crawling llowly in the dark when
they think they are unperceived, and lying flill when there
is any noife or movement near them: In cafe they find
themfelves difcovered, they flip the faggot and run ; and
whatever part of them you feize efcapes your fingers by
reafon of the greafe. If you endeavour to clafp them, how-
ever, which is the only way left, the Gurague bends his
elbow and ftrikes you with his knife, and you are mor^
tally wounded, as was the cafe with Laeca Mariam.

This

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 149

This afTafTin was no fooner fecured and difarmed, than
a noofe, with a running knot, was flipt round his neck,
and his hands tied behind his back, in which manner he
was carried before Ras Michael, who fat upon a flool at
fome diftance from his tent, after every part of it had been
fearched. The fellow at firft refufed to fpeak, but, being
threatened with torture, anfwered, in his own language,
which I did not underftand. He was afked, who had em-
ployed him to attempt that affaffination ? He faid. The re-
bels ; and named Gufho and Powuflen : he then varied,
and faid the Iteghe employed him. Before he was fent a-
way he contradided all this, and declared, that Hagos, his
brother, had employed him ; and that he was then adual,
ly in the camp, with four pthers, who were determined to
murder the Ras and Guebra Mafcal, whatever it Ihould coil-
them..

A SEARCH was on this ordered through all the camp, but'
no ftranger found, excepting one of the fame nation, who
bad planted himfelf and his faggot near the tent of the A-
buna; and who being feized, examined, and promifcd par-
don, declared himfelf abfolutely ignorant of any fcheme
but robbing, for which pm-pofe three of them, he faid, had
come into the camp together;, one of them had ftolen two
mules the night before, and gone off, and that he was that
night intending to take away two of the Abuna's mules;
and he fuppofed his companion had the fame intention
with regard to the Ras; but as to murder, or any other plot,
he knew nothing of it. Being put ilightly to the torture,
he perfifled in his declaration ; and when interrogated, de-
clared, that they all three had come from Gurague with
Amha Yafous, to load and unload his baggage, and take care

ofe

:iSo TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

of his beads : that none of them had been at Gondar Ije-
■forc the attempt, except the alTaflinjWho had formerly hved
tliere fome years, but whether with Hagos, or any other,
he did not know, nor did he ever hear him pronounce the
name of Hagos, nor fee any ftranger, whom he did not
know, converfe with him : that they all three had lain the
laft night at the church of Serbraxos : but he further de-
clared, that the perfon apprehended fpoke the Amharic lan-
guage as well as his own, x:ontrary to what the villain had
^11 along pretended.

This declaration, Vv^hich I heard from the king's fecretary,
word for word as it was given, threw all the council into
great confufion, the more fo, that, being gently talked to, and
food given him after his examination, at night theaflallinhad
again repeated what he before faid about Gufho, and that
Fafil, too, was accefTory to the attempt. And w hat made
this labyrinth of lies Hill more intricate was, that it was
certainly known that Hagos, his brother, had conftantly
lived v/ith Coque Abou Barea, in Kuara, from the time Ras
Michael had put his brother to death at Gondar. It was
intended therefore to try the effedl of further torture in the
morning, to make him confefs the trutla. His guard, how-
ever, having fallen aflecp, or gone out of the tent, he was
found ftrangied by the running noofe that was left roimd
his neck ; nor was any further light ever tlirown upon this
affair at any time after ; but it was generally believed the
attempt had been made at the inftigation of fome connec-
tion of the 1 tcghe, and there were iome who went fo far
as to name Wclictalfrael

Early

' THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 151

Early in the moraiag foxne priefts came from Powuf-
fen, Ayabdar, aiid Guilio, to take the moR iblemn oaths be-
fore the Abun^i, that they never had the fmallefl knowledge
©f what the ajGfairm had laid to their charge; and they
took upon themfeU^es fentence of excommunication, which
the Abuna then pronounced condiiionally, if they had di-
r-ec^ly, or indireclly, been principal or accei1bry,-or known,
or been conhdted, in any manner whacevcr, as to the de-
figns of that alTaffin. Several principal officers of the rebels,,
moreover, who had left Gondar and gone over to Fafd, and
who were there in Guflio's camp, came over to congratu-
late with Ras Michael upon his efcape, fo that, for a mo-
ment, one would have thought the whole country interefted
in faving him v/hom all were actually in arms at that in-
llant to dellroy. What furpiifed me mofl of all, probable
as the thing might feem to be, not one man in the camp,,
from the Ras and King downward, feemed to think that
this attempt of the Gurague. had been in any ihape the
plot of the rebels ; and yet, in old times, murder by treaion
muft have been very frequent in his kingdom, as appears
by their cuftoms preferved to this day ; no perfon, be their
ftation, connexion, or friendlliip what it will, can offer any
one meat or drink withkjut tailing it before them.

Proposals of peace followed this friendly intcrcourfe,,
but the condition being always that Michael Ihould depart,
to Tigre, which he thought was but in otiier terms a pro-
pofid to deflroy him, thefe friendly overtures ended in de--
fiance and proteftation, Tiiat to him alone was owing the
effufion of human blood, and the ruin of his country, which;
was immediately to follow,.

5^2 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

It was the 1 7th of May, at night, the attempt had been
made on the Ras's Ufe ; and the 18th was fpent in excom-
munication before the Abuna ; and, in the evening, Michael
received intelligence, that Ayto Tesfos, from the mountains
jof Samen, and Heraclius and Samuel Mamhio, from Wal-
kayt and Tzegade, were both preparing to join the rebels
with a confiderable force. We were now arrived at the fa-
tal field of Serbraxos, as we had endeavoured to pafs it, but
-in vain ; nothing now remained but to try to which fide
the devil (the father of lies) had been forced to tell the
truth, or whether he had yet told it to either. Darion, a
principal man of BelelFen, and Guigarr of Lafta, joined the
Has's army about noon, bringing with them 1 200 men,chief-
iy horfemen, good troops, and they were joyfully received,

A COUNCIL was held with all the great officers that eve-
ning, and the order of battle fixed upon for next day. Kef-
la Yafous, with the bell of the foot from Tigre, with the
king's houfehold troops, the Shoa horfe, and the Moors of Ras
el Feel, with their libds, {in all not amounting to j 0,000
men, but the flower of the army) compofed the left wing,
in the center of which was the king in perfon, the heavy-
armed black horfe before him, and the officers and nobi-
lity furroundinghim; Guebra Chriilos,and Kafmati Tesfos
of Sire, commanded the center, in which was Darion and
Gviigarr's cavalry, for the Lafta men, though of different
fides, could never be prevailed upon to fight againft one
another, fo infl;ead of being with the king againft Begemder
and Lafta, they were placed in the center againft Gufho and
Anihara. The right of the king's army was commanded
by WcUeta Michael and Billetana Gueta Tecia, oppofed to
the left wijig of the rebels under Kafmati Ayabdar, who
A had

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 1^3

the left wing of the rebels, under Kafmati Ayabdar, who
had lately received large reinforcements from Gojam, by
means of the Iteghe, who well knew him to be an invete-
rate enemy to Ras Michael, and one who would never
make peace with him.

I HAVE often heard it obferved by officers of Ikill and ex-
perience, that nothing is more difficult to defcribe than a
battle, and that as many defcriptions as are given of it, they
generally difagree, and feem as many different battles. To
this I fhall add, that I find as great difficulty in giving an
idea of the ground on which a battle was fought, which
perhaps is not the cafe with profeffional men ; and though
I defcribe nothing but what I faw, and what my horfe paft
ed over, ftill I very much doubt if I can make myfelf intel-
ligible to my readers. The hill of Serbraxos was neither
very high nor fteep, unlefs on the north and eaft, where it
was almoft a precipice. It was not a mountain joined with
others, as the bed of a torrent, that ran very rapidly from
Beleffen fouth of Mariam-Ohha, divided it from thefe
mountains. The weft fide of it floped gently to a large
plain, which extended to the brink of the lake Tzana, and
upon this our rear was encamped. The S. W. fide of this
hill was like the former, and about half a mile from it
came an elbow of the river Mariam, fo called from a church
in the plain: on this fide of the hill our center was encamp-
ed with the king, Abuna, and the princeffes ; whilft on the
fouth face (which looked down a valley) was Ras Michael
and the van of the army : the hill here was confiderably
fteeper, and I have already faid ended with the precipice on
the north. Along the bottom of this fouth face of the hill
lay the fmall ft ream called Deg-Ohha, which flood in pools.
Vol, IV, u and

154 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

and was the fafefl and readieft fupply for the army, zs
being perfecHily under command of our mufquets, where
our horfes could water without danger : immediately louth
from this ran a valley full half a mile broad, which ended
in a large plain about two miles ofF.

The valley where Michael and the van ITrfl: enga.ged\ was
formed by the hills of BeleflTen on the eaft, and the river Ma-
riam on the weft, and near the middle of the valley there
was a low and flat-topt hill, not above 30 yards in height,
which did not join with the hill of Serbraxos. Between
them there was an opening of about 100 yards^ through
which ran Deg-Ohha, to the ford of the river ]Vlariam,from
which you afcended in a diredion nearly N. W. up into the
plain which reached to the lake Tzana. On the fouth end
©f this hill, as I have faid, which might have been about
two miles in length, the banks of the Mariam are very
high, and the river ftands in large deep pools, with banks
of fand between them. Where this hill ends to the right
is another ford of the river Mariam, where a deep and nar-
row fandy road goes winding up the banks, in a direcflion
N. \V. like the former, and leads to the fame plain border-
ing on the lake Tzana : fo that the plain of the valley
where the Mariam runs, which is bordered by the foot of
the mountains of BelefTen, and continues along the plain
fouth to Tangoure, is near 200 feet lower than the plain
that extends on the lide of the lake Tzana. Nor is there a
convenient accefs from the plain to the valley, at leaft that
I faw, by reafon of the height and fteepnefs of the banks of
the Mariam, excepting thele two already mentioned ; one
between the extremity of the long even hill, and Hope cf
the mountain on the north, and the other on the fouth,

through

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 155

through the winding fandy road up the fteep banks of the
river, by the fouth end of that low hill, as I have already
faid. At thefe two places are the two fords of the river,
which continue paffable even in the rainy feafon, and the
water at that time ilands in pools below it, till feveral miles
further it joins the Zingetch Gomara, a larger ftream than
itfelf, whofe banks are low, and where the flream is
fordable alfo ; but the banks of the river Mariam continue
fleep, and run in a fouthern diredion. In this valley, at the
fouth end of this hill near the ford was the engagement be-
tween Michael with the van, and the Begemder troops, on
the 1 6th ; at the ford on the north end of this hill, in the
fame valley, was the fight between the light troops and Kaf-
mati Ayabdar, and the king in perfon, the very fame day ; fo
that the valley was perfedlly known by the enemy, and as
they had few or no mufquetry, was wifely confidered as not
fit ground for their purpofes being narrow and commanded
by hills everywhere.

On the 19th of May, word was brought that the whole
rebel army was in motion, and before eight o'clock (reck-
oned in Abyffinia an early hour for fuch bufinefs) a great
cloud of dull: was feen rifing on the right of the rebels to-
wards Korreva, and this was the moment the Begemder
troops got on horfeback in the dufty plain ; foon after we
heard their ketde- drums, and abovu nine o'clock we faw
the whole troops of Begemder appear, drawn up at fuch
a diilance in the plain, above the road up the fl:cep bank
of the Mariam, as to leave great room for us to form with
the road on our left, and a little on our rear ; Michael eafi-
ly divined PowuiTen's intention, which was to beat us back
by a fuperior force of horfe, and then making a num-

U 2 ber

ij6 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

ber of troops glide below unfeen, along the river in the
valley, take polTeffion of the round hill, at the north ford of
Mariam, and cut off our retreat to our camp at Serbraxos ;
the Ras immediately difpatched fome fmgle horfemen to
take a view of the enemy more nearly, and report what
their numbers were, and where Gufho and Ayabdar were
polled, for we could dillinguifh the colour of the horfes,
and all the movements of the Begemder troops, not being -
much above three miles diftance, yet we did not know whe-
ther they were alone, or whether one or more of the other ge-
nerals were with them : we faw indeed Powuffen's ftandards,
but they were fo weather-beaten and faded, that we could not
diftinguifli their real colours, which were blue and yellow.

The king's whole army was defcending into the valley,
and palling over the ford of the Mariam, to the plain above
where Kefla Yafous was riding to and fro with great ear-
neftnefs, encouraging his troops. In a very fliort time the
left was formed ; the Ras, having given all his orders, and
taken to himfelf the charge of the camp and the referve, fat
down, as was ufual,to play at drafts with the black fervants.
The army was now all in. the plain, when the fcouts arriv-
ed, and brought word that Guiho and Ayabdar had both
taken their ground, not dire(5lly in a llraight line from Po-
wuffen, fquare with the lake, but as it were diagonally de-
clining more to the fouthward, fo that the moil advanced, or
neareft to us, were the troops of Begemder ; and this was
probably done, in order that, our backs being more turned
to the lake, we might be eafier cut off from our camp, and
furrounded in the plain, between their army and the Tzana ,
if Powuflen was fo fortunate as to beat the king and the
left ; but this difpofition of thefe troops was out of our

fight,

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 157

light, being down nearer the lake. Nor is it to be uiider-
ftood that I mean here to give any account of their move-
ments, or of any other, unlefs thofe of tlie left wing under
the king, where I was myfelf engaged.

Several fpies came into Ras Michael at this time, and'
they, and the horfemen that had been fent on the fervice,
all agreed, that in the center of the Begemder horfe a large
red rtandard was difplayed, with a number of kettle drums
beating before it, which the Ras no fooner heard, than gi-
ving his draft board a kick with his foot, he overturned
the whole game, and afforded, at lead, a bad omen of
the future engagement. He then called for Kefla Yafous,
and Guebra Mafcal, and having conferred with them both,
he detutched Guebra Mafcal with five hundred mufqueteers
to take pofTellion of the hvU in the valley below, and
coaft along the left flank, of our left without appearing in
fight.

The day had been exceeding clofe, feeming to threaten
violent thunder, and we were now come fo near as to fee
dilbnftly the large red ftandard, which being pointed out
to the king, he faid, fmiling with a very chearful coun-
tenance, " Aye, aye, now we ftiall foon fee what mira-
cle king Theodorus will work." The clouds had been ga-
thering ever fince we went down the hill, and fome big
drops of rain had fallen. The foldiers were now covering
their lighted matches, for fear of more, when firfl a moil
violent ftorm of thunder, lightening, and rain began, then
a tempeft of rain and wind, and laft a dead calm, with fuch
a heavy fhower that I fcarce ever faw the like even in the
rainy feafon,

Hab-

«58 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

Had I been commander of the Begemder troops that da)%
this fhower fhould have been the fignal of charging ; for
all the king's fire-arms were ufelefs, and the matches wef ;
but the Begemder horfe feemed raoll: uneafy under the fall
of rain; they began to be unmanageable, and turn tail to the
wind, which now arofe and was dire^ly in their faces, and
in a few minutes they wheeled about, and retired to their
camp. The king halted on the ground where he was, or-
dered the kettle-drums to beat, and the trumpets to found ;
and having continued half an hour till the heavy fliower
began, he fell back as did the whole army, and retired to
the camp. When he got up the hill, and pafled the brow
where Ras Michael was fitting with fome flaves, who held
up a piece of fail-cloth over his head to keep off the rain,
the fervants raifed the Ras upon his feet; without any pre-
/ vious falutation, he then afked the king what he had done

with king Theodorus ? and was anfwered, " Begemder
brought him, and Begemder took hini away, we faw no-
thing but his flag." Lafia carried his flag, fays one of the
nobility. He is a peaceable prince, fays the king ; yet he
begins with fighting, but he will make amends afterwards,
if he governs this country in peace a thoufand years. If
he does that, fays the Ras, Powufl;en is to die at the next
battle, for the thoufand )'ears peace will never begin, as
long as he is alive.

CHAP.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 153

?gg^ ■ ^

GH A-P. VII.^

King- offers Battle t^ the Rebels in the Plain — Defer ipt'ion of the Second
Battle of Serbraxos — Rafo CondnEl;, and narrow Efcape of the King
~—Both Armies keep the Gromidi

THE whole evening of the 19th of May was fpent in
feftivity and joy ; a prophet from fome part in Dem-
bea had foretold the defeat of king Theodoras, and what
was much more interefling, two large droves of cattle, the
one from BelelTen, near Mariam-Ohha, the other from Dem-
bea, were driven that day into the camp. Ras Michael,
who knew the value of to-morrow, fpared nothing that
might refrefh the -troops this day. The king and he, Ozo-
ro Erther, and Ozoro Alrafli, Refla Yafous, and the Abuna
himfelf,gave each of them entertainments to the principal
oflicers of the army, and all thofe who were likely to bear
the burden of the enfuing conflid. The foldiers were in
great fpirit, but it was now very generally known that the

^ officers.-

if)0 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

officers were moftly difafFecfled, engaged in private treaties,
and in daily expedlation of peace.

A VERY fliort council was held at the king's tent ; all
that could be refolved upon had been already fixed the
day before, and little had happened fince to occafion any
alteration. All the young nobility were, as ufual, at Ozoro
Efther's. It was with infinite pity I heard them thought-
lefsly praying for a warm and fair day to-morrow, the eve-
ning of which many of them were never to fee.

Besides the flores that Ozoro Efther always was provid-
ed with, the king had fent her two live cattle, wine, bran-
dy, and hydromel ; and what was a very unufual conde-
fcenfion, the Ras, immediately after council, came into the
tent, and brought with him a frefh fupply. He was very
gracious and affable, faid a number of kind things to eve-
rybody, and aflced me particularly how we drank in Eng-
land?

I EXPLAINED to him as well as I could the nature of our
toafls, and drinking to the health of our miflrefles by their
names in bumpers ; that our foldiers toalls on fuch a night
as that, if the general honoured them as he did us now
with his company, would be, A fair morning, and fpeedy
fight of our enemy. He comprehended it all very eafily,
and when I faw he did fo, I afked if I fhould give my toall ?
and he and all the company joining in a loud cry of appro-
bation, I filled a horn with wine, and fi^anding up, for he
had forced us all to be feated, I drank, Long life to the king,
health, happincfs, and vii5tory, to you, Sir, and a fpeedy fight
of king Theodorus. A violent fliout of appiaufe followed.
3 He

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. x6i

He himfelf (the fobereft of men) would drink his horn full,
which he did, with many interruptions from immoderate
fits of laughter ; the horn went quickly round, and I ven-
tured to prophecy, that, in the thoufand years he is to reign,
Thcodorus will never again be fo chearfuUy toafted.—

The Ras then turning to me faid, I wifli I had 5000 of your
countrymen, Yagoube, to-morrow, fuch as you are, or fuch
as you have defcribed them. I anfwered. Would you had
one thoufand, and I had twenty lives llaked upon the iflue.
Ayto Engedan upon this got up, and palling acrofs the tent
in a very graceful manner, kifled the Ras's hand, faying. Do
not make us think you undervalue, ordiftruft yourchildren,
by forming fuch a wifh : Yagoube is one of us, he is our
brother, and he Ihall fee and judge to-morrow, if we, your
own fons, are not able to fight your battle without the aid
of any foreigners. Tears, on this, came into the old man's
eyes, who took Engedan in his arms, and kifled him ; then
recommending to us not to {n up late, he withdrew. A great
.deal of buffoonery followed about toads, and foon after
arrived two officers from the king, dcfiring to know what
was the reafon of that violent outcry ? by which he meant
the fliout when we drank the toall. Ozoro Eflher anfwered,
We were all turned traitors, and were drinking the health of
king Theodorus. But it was afterwards thought proper to
explain the whole matter before the melTengers went back,
and make them drink the toaft alfo,

Tecla "Mariam had not fpoken much, her father having
fent for her at that time to the king. Before flie departed,
I begged Ozoro Eilher to apologife for me, that I had ab-
fented myfelf, and had not waited upon her in the morn-

VoL. IV. X ing^

s6fl TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

ing. I intreated her to continue her kind partiaUty to me the
next day, and to judge for ever of the efteeni 1 had for her by
my then behaviour. She promifed to do fo with the utmofl^
complacency and fweetnefs, and departed.

Soon after this, a fervant arrived from Ras Michael, with
a magnificent faddle and bridle as a prefent to Engedan,
This man told us that a meffenger had come from Waragna
Fafil, defiring a place might be marked out for him to en-
camp, for he wa,s to join the king early in the morning ; but
nobody gave any credit to this, nor did he, as far as I ever
heard, advance a foot nearer the camp. The melTenger
commanded us all, moreover, to go to bed, which we imme-
diately complied with. I only went to the king's tent, where
the company was difpcrling, and kifTcd his hand, after which
I retired. In my way home to my tent, I favv a faggot lying
in the way, when the ftory of the Gurague came prefently
into my mind. I ordered fome foldiers to feparate it witlis
their lances ; but it had been brought for fuel, at leaft no
Gurague was there.

I WAS no fooner laid upon my bed, than Ifell into a proi-
found deep, which continued uninterrupted till five o'clock
in tlie morning of the 20th. I had fpared myfelf induftri-
oufly in lad night's caroufal, for fear of contributing to a re-
lapfe into defpondency in the morning ; but I found all with-
in ferene and compofed as it fliould be, and entirely re-
iigned to what was decreed, I was perfecftly fatisfied, thac:
the advancing or retarding the day of my death was not in
the power of the army of Begemder.. I then vifited all the
horfes and the black foldiers, and ordered two or three of
ihem, who were not perfedly recovered from their hurts,,

to

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 165

to flay in the camp. I afterwards went to the king's tent,
who was not yet up ; and the very inflant after, the Ras's
iirft drum beat, and the king rofe ; foon after which, rhe
fecond drum was heard for the foldiers to go to b; eakfafb,
I went into the king's tent to kifs his hand, and receive liis
orders. He told me they were fpeedily then going to break-
fall within, to which meal I was engaged at Ozoro Efther's.
He anfwered, Make hafte then, for 1 am reiolved to be on
the field before king Theodorus to-day. I am his fenior,
and fhould lliew him the example. He feemed more than
ordinary gay and in fpirits.

I FINISHED my breakfaft in a few minutes, and took a
grateful, but chearful leave of Ozoro Eflher, and received
many acknowledgements, and kind expreffions, both from
her and Tecla Mariam, who did not fail to be there accord-
ing to appointment. The day was clear, the fun warm, and
the army defcended into the plain with great alacrity, in
the fame order as the day before, Guebra Mafcal, with his
mufqueteers, took pofTeflion of the long hill in the valley,
and coafted the left flank of our left wing, the river Ma-
riam and its high banks being only between us. The king
took his poft, with the winding road aforementioned (up
the fleep banks of the Mariam) clofe on his left. Guebra
Mafcal having come to the fouth end of the hill below,
•marched brifkly up the road, and then advanced about 200
yards, making his men lye down at the brink of the hill
next the plain, among bent grafs, and thin tall flirubs like
Spanifli broom, fo as to be perfedly out of fight ; his line
was at right angles with our front, fo that his lire mull
eafilade the whole front of our line.

X 2 U

i64 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

If not very ufeful, yet it may, however, be thought cu-
rious, to know the difpofition of a barbarous army ready to
engage in a pitched battle as this was. Kefla Yafou5,who
cominanded the left-wing under the king, placed his ca-
valry in a line to the opening of the road down into the val-
ley; between every two mufquets were men armed with
lances and fhields ; then, at a particular diftance, clofe be-
fore this line of horfe, was a body of lances, and mufquets,
or fometimes either of them, in feveral lines, or, as they ap-
peared, a round body of foldiers, Handing together without
any order at all ; then another line of horfe, with men be-
tween, alternately as before ; then another round corps of
lances and mufquets, advanced juft before the line of horfe,
and fo on to the end of the divifion.

I KNOW nothhig of the difpofition of the reft of the ar-
my, nor the ground they were engaged on ; that where we
Hood was as perfe(5l a plain as that commionly chofen to
run races upon, and fo I believe was the reft, only Hoping
more to the lake Tzana.

The king's infantry was drawn up in one line, having a
mufqueteer between every two men, with lances and fliields.
Immediately in the center was the black liorfe, and the
Moors of Ras el Feel, with their libds, difpofed on each of
their flanks. Immediately behind thefe was the king in
perfon, with a large body of young nobiUty and great of-
ficers of Rate, about him. On the right and left flank of tb-C
line, a little in the rear, were all the reft of the king's horfe,
divided into two large bodies, Gucbra Mafcal hid in the bank
on our left at right angles with the line, enfilading, as 1 have

already

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SECOND BATTLE.

Explanation.

I-. Gondar,

2, Bang's palace.

3- King's palace on the River Kaha.
4. Mahometan town on the River Kahjt'

A Tlie king marches from his camp to

F by the road D and E.
GG The two bodies of horfe.
HH Line of infantry, mufcets, and lan-
ces alternately,
I Guebra Mafcal in ambufli, in the face

of the banks of the Mariam, among the

bufhes.
KK Pownflcn's march from his camp at

Correva.
LL PownfTen'sfirfl: appearance in diiorder.
MM Powuflen's line formed in the front

of the king.
NN The army of Begemder galloping to

charge the king, receive a clofe iire

from Guebra Mafcal hid in the bank

at I, and immediately after from the

king's line HH.
00 Part of the army of Begemder wheel-
ing to the left, and flying over the

plain in diforder.
PP The king, with his referve following

the right of the Begemder horfe.
Qg^The right of the Begemder horfe

purfued by the king, having rallied.

RR The Begemder horfe turn H o
furround tlie king at SS, and drive him
to the edge of the Bank.

T The king efcaping down the bank,.
crofles between the pools of the River
Mariam, and enters the valley.

V Tlie king arrived in the valley, is join*
ed by the foot ihat ran fcattercd down
by the bank.

W Engedan detached from the camp by

Ras M:chael, joins the king.
X Mufketeers detached by Michael, take

poft on the iouth fide of the long hill.

Y Part of the king's mulketry ported oa
a rocky ground on the fouth liJe of
the valley.

Z The king's troops under Kefla Yafous
filing down the narrow road from the ■
plain above into the valley, with the
heavy armed horfe behind him.

a Guebra Mafcal drawn up at the foot
of the banks, makes way by his fire for
the black horfe to take poll in the

king':

front.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 165

already faid, the whole line of our infantry ; this will be
eafily underftood by confulting the plan w^here K H,
G G, F, and I, reprefent the difpofition that I have now def-
cribed.

It was full half an hour after the king had formed be-
fore the army of Begemder made any motion. The Ras
firft faw them from the hill, and made a fignal, by beating
his drums and blowing his trumpets ; this was immediately
anfwered by all the drums and trumpets of the left wing,
and for the fpace of a minute, a thick cloud of dufl; (like the
fmoke of a large city on fire) appeared on the fide of Korreva,
occafioned, as the day before, by the Begemder troops mount-
ing on horfeback ; the ground where they were encamped
being trodden into powder, by fuch a number of men and
horfe palling over it fo often, and now raifed by the mo-
tion of the horfes feet, was whirled round by a very moder-
ate breeze, that blew fleadily ; it every minute increafed
in darknefs, and alTumed various Ihapes and forms, of towers
caftles, and battlements, as fancy fuggefted. In the middle,
of this great cloud we began to perceive indiilin6lly part of
the horfemen, then a much greater number, and the figure
of the horfes more accurately defined, which came moving
majeJlically upon us, fometimes partially feen, at other times
concealed by being wrapt up in clouds and darknef^ ; the
vvhole made a moll; extraordinary, but truly picSlurefque ap-
pearance.

I WAS £0 flruck with this, that I could not help faying
to Billetana Gueta Ammonios, who commanded the horfe
under me, Is not that a glorious fight Ammonios ! who,

that

sm TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

■that was a king, would not be fond of war? David, however,
curfes thofe that delight in war, fays Ammonios. Therefore,
replied I, there muft be pleafure in it, or elle no body would
fall into a fui that was difagreeable in itfelf, and at the fame
time forbidden by God. Well, well, replied Ammonios, this is
not a time for argument, fee what a glorious fpcdacle we
Ihall all be before funfet.

At this time Powuflfen^s whole army was diftincftly feen;
they came riding backwards and forwards with great vio-
lence, more as if they were diverting themfelves, than ad-
vancing to attack an enemy, of our confequence, that was
waiting them. They feemed like two wings, and a main bo-
dy, each nearly equal in numbers, as far as I could guefs, and
are defcribed in the plan by the letters L L, but they were
fom«times all in one croud together, and in fuch perpetual
motion, that it was impoliible to afcertain their precife
form.

Four men, upon unruly, high-mettled, or at leaft ill-
broke horfes, rode galloping a fmall fpace before, conver-
fing together, as if making their obfervations upon us:
they were now arrived at about fix hundred yards difianre,
but it was not a time to make accurate calculation ; they
then made a Hop, and began extending the left of their
line to the weftward, as defcribed by M M. I fuppofe, too,
their horfes needed to breathe a little, after they had fo
imprudently blown them to no purpcfe.

In the middle of their cavalry, or rather a little more

towards their right, than oppofue to the place where the

king was, a large red flag was feen to rilie, and was faluted

I ' - by

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 167

By the drums and trumpets of their whole army. An ac-
cident happened at this moment, which endangered the
diicovery of the hidden part of our difpofition, and which
would thereby have deftroyed the fanguine hopes we had
of vi'ftory, and endangered the fafety of the whole army.
Upon difplaying the red flag, two mufquets were fired from
the poll in the face of the hill where Guebra Mafcal lay in
ambulh. Luckily, at that v^ery inllant, all the king's drums
beat, and trumpets founded, a kind of mock alarm, (fuch
as the pofture - maflers and mountebanks ufe, ) in ridi-
cule of king Theodorus, and his red flag then flying before-
us.

Immediately upon this, as on a flgnal for battle, the
whole army of Begemder fet out full gallop, to charge, as
at N N, and a long hundred yards -before they joined, they
received, through the very depth of their fquadron, a clofe
well-diredled fire from the whole mufquetry of Guebra
Mafcal, and from the king's line an inftant after, which
put them into the utmoU confufion, fo that they in pare
came reeling down upon our line, half wheeled about to
the left, as men that had loft their way, with their right,
that is, their naked fides expofed as they turned, their
fliields being in their left. The fire from Guebra Mafcal was
the fignal for our line to charge, and the licavy-armed horfe-
men, with their pikes, broke thro' them with little refiflance,
the line in the mean while, with horfe and foot, clofed with:
them, after the mufquets had given them their fire, and:
then ftaid behind to recharge. Pare of their left did not
engage at all, but wheeled about, and fled fouthward over.
the plain.

Whilb^

i68 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

While their army was thus feparated into two dlvifions,
both in great confiifion, the king, with his referve, fell fu-
riouily upon them ; and being followed by all the reft of
the horfe, they pulhed the right diviflon (where Powuffen
was in perfon) along the plain, but thefe retired, fighting ve-
ry obftinately, and often rallying. Kefla Yafous faw the great
danger to which the king would quickly be expofed by pur-
fuing the troops of Begemder fo far at a diftance from his
foot, and that they would foon turn upon and overpower
him with numbers, and then furround him. He therefore,
with great prefence of mind, provided for his retreat. He
drew up the heavy-armed horfe which could not gallop,
the Moors of Ras el Feel, and the foot which were left be-
hind, and which had now recharged their firelocks before
the narrow road, and ordered Guebra Mafcal to refume his
ftation. He then twice, with great earneftnefs, cried in a
loud voice to the foldiers. The king's fafety depends upon
you,--Stand firm, or all is loft. After which, he galloped, with
a fmall body of horfe, to join the king, clofely engaged at
a confiderable diftance : The foot that had purfued, or
were fcattered, now came in by tens and twelves, and joined
the heavy-armed horfe, fo that we began again to fhew a
very good countenance. Among thefe, a common foldier
of the king's houfehold, bufied in the vile practice of mang-
ling and fpoiling the dead, found the red colours of king
Theodorus lying upon the field, which he delivered me, up-
on promife of a reward, and which I gave a fervant of
my own to keep till after the engagement.

At this inft:nt Guebra Mafcal came up from below the
bank, leaping and flourifliing his gun about his head, and
crying, juft before my horfe, "Now, Yagoube,ftand firm, if

I you

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. i6$

you are a man." " Look at me, you drunken flave, faid I»
armed, or unarmed, and fay, it is not a boafl if I count
myfelf at all times a better man than you. Away to your
hiding - hole again, and for your life appear within my,
reach. Away ! you are not now, as the other day, before the
king." The man cried out in a tranfport of impatience, " By
G--d, you don't know what I mean ; but here they all come,
ftand firm, if you are men ;" and faying this, he ran nimbly
oflF, and hid himfelf below the bank, with his lighted
match in one hand, and all ready.

ir is proper, for connexion's fake, though I did not my-
felf fee it, to relate what had happened to the king, who had
purfued the Bcgemder horfe to a very confiderable diftance,
and was then at S S in the plan, when the whole army of
the rebels that had not engaged, obferving the refiflance
made by PowulTen, and part of the divifion which they had
left, turned fuddenly back from their flight, and at R R
nearly furrounded the king and his cavalry, whom they
had now driven to the very edge of the fteepell part of the
bank of the Mariam. Kefla Yafous's arrival, indeed, and
his exerting himfelf to the utmoft, fighting with his own.
hand like any common foldier, had brought fome relief;
yet as frefh horfe came in, there can be little doubt at the
end, that the king muft have been either flain or taken
prifoner, if Sertza Denghel, a young man of Amhara, a re-
lation of Gufho, and who had a fmall poft in the palace,
had not difmounted, and offered to lead the king's horfe
down the fleepeft of the banks into the river. To this, how-
ever, he received an abfolute refufal. " I fliall die here this
day, fays the king, but wJiile I have a man left, will never
turn my back upon the rebels." Sertza Denghel hearing

Vol. IV. Y this

170 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

this vain difcourfe, and feeing no time was to be loft, took
hold of the bridle by force, at T, and happily led the horfe
along one of the Iheep-paths, ilanting down the declivity of
the bank. The king having in vain threatened difpleafure^
and even death, with the butt-end of his lance, in defpair,
ftruck Sertza Denghel in the mouth, and beat out all his
fore-teeth. A bank of gravel, like a bridge, feparated two
deep pools, in the river Mariam, over which the king efca-
ped, though with difficulty, the ground being foul with:
quick fand.

All the foot that had remained about the king ran
down the bank, where the Begemder horfe could not pur-
fue them, and joined him in the valley, where he made the
bed of his way towards the fouth fide of the long low hill,
by the winding road, on the fide of which, and juft above
him, was placed Guebra Mafcal. Ras Michael, who faw the
dangerous fituation and efcape of the king, and who had
kept Ayto Engedan near for fome fuch purpoles, difpatchccl
him with a confiderable body of horfe, along the low hill,
ordering him immediately to join the king, and cover his
retreat j he likewife detached a confiderable body of muf-
quetcers, and mounted for the greater fpeed upon mules,
who were direcfted to take poll upon the fouth end of the
round hill, below the winding road, while another party
poirefled themfelves of fome rocky ground on the fouth fide
of the valley. This command was as foon executed as
given. Ayto Engedan joined the king, who had loft all his
kettle-drums but one, now beating before him, and upon
his arrival at the entrance of the valley, the king, at V, turn-
ed his face to the enemy, having the mtifquetry, at X and Y,
newly arrived from the camp on his right and left.

Kefla

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. lyt

Kefla Yasous was immediately acquainted with the
king's efcape, and, knowing the confequence of protra(5ling
time, renewed the engagement with fomuch vigour, that he
pufhed the horfe of Begemder to fome fmall diftance back
into the plain. PowufTen, whofe only view was to take the
king prifoner, and wreft the poiTeffion of his perfon, and
with that his authority from Ras Michael, was much dif-
concerted at the unexpecfled way by which the king ef-
caped ; he after this halted a little for council, then divid-
ed his troops, with one part of which he refolved to go
down the winding road, and with i;he other to pafs at the
jundlion of the rivers, and enter the valley in that direc-
tion, in order to overtake the king, and intercept him in his
way to the camp, in cafe any thing obilrufled his palling
the winding road. Kefla Yafous took advantage of this
movement, and with his horfe made his way to join the
heavy-armed troops, and thofe who had joined the line.
Handing clofely and firmly where they were llationed.

The firft perfon that appeared was Kefla Yafous, and the
horfe with him, ftretching out his hand, (his face being all
befmeared with blood, for he was wounded in his forehead)
he cried as loud as he could, Stand firm, the king is fafe in
the valley. He had fcarce faced about, and joined the
line, when the enemy approached at a brifk gallop. The
Begemder horfe were clofer than ufual, and deeper than the
front was broad; they refembled therefore an oblong fquare,
if they refembled any thing ; but the truth is, they were all
in diforder, and their figure, never regular, changed every
moment ; the right of their front (which was not equal to
ours ) was finally placed againft the road, being clofe by
■Guebra Mafcal's poft, whofe men were much increafed in

Y 2 number ;

ty-i TRAVELS TO DISCOVER-

niimbei-; they received the difcharge of his whole mufque-
try in two vol lies, fo near that I fcarce believe there was one
fhot that did not take place on man or horfe. A great cry
from the bank at the fame time added to their panic, which
was aiifwered by the king's troops, who immediately char-
ged them as before, ns they wheeled half round to the left.
They were purfued, for a fmail' diltance, by fome of the
troops that had not engaged in the morning, and it was
eafy to perceive their diforder was real, and thuv r^ey were
not likely to rally. By this lall difcharge, PowuiTen war
ilightly wounded, and his men were plainly feen hurrying
him ofi'the field. In the very inflant the rebels turned their,
backs, Kefla Yafous ordered all the troops, horfe and foot, to
file off down the narrow road into the valley, behind the
heavy, armed horfe, who kept their ground before the road,
and there to join the king^

For my part, I thought the affair was over, when, lall of
all, we, too, with our heavy horfes, defcended the road,
where we found Guebra Mafcal, (whofe adlivity was
above all praife) drawn up on our right along the foot of
the bank, (with a large pool of water in his front) flanking
the valley, the king drawn up in the narroweft part of it,
and juft engaged with the troops of Lafla and Begemder,
that had gone round by the jundtion of the rivers. Thefe
had loft, as we afterwards heard, much time in giving their
horfes water. They were, however, the more refrelhed
when they did come, and thooigh they had received a fire
from the troops on the round hill, and from thofe pofted
on the rocky grotmd, on the other fide of the valley, they
had beat the king and Engedan back, and wounded him
in the thigh.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 173

At this time the Koccob hoiTe, and Yafine with his Mcor.-.
(who had the charge of the road above till all the tronp.-j
were gone) arrived, being as it were fhut out from the ar-
my, who were engaged at the other fide of the hill. Kefla
Yafous, after defcending through the winding road into the
valley, ordered Guebra Mafcal to pafs the pool, and \land
at the bottom of the winding road, for fear the enemy
fliould enter at the valley on the king's right, where the.
river ran, and fo cut us off from our camp.

This fpace he was then occupying when Yafme, firft, and^
afterwards, our black horfe, arrived. He had, it feems, cried
out to me before from the fide of the pool, but I had not
then heard him. He now, however, repeated. Where are
you going, Yagoube ? To die, faid I, furlily ; it is the bufinefs
of the day. He then added, Kefia Yafous has croffed over
behind Balha Hezekias, and fallen into the king's rear.
You know well, faid I, our poft is in his front. Then follow
me, cried Mafcal, for by G--d I fay you fliall not take one
Hep to-day, but I will go five before you. So faying, he ad-
vanced very haftily, and when he faw the Begem der co-
lours retreating before the king, he poured- in a volley,
which, though at a conliderable diflance, turned all to a.
perfect: flight.

We entered upon the fmoke, juft before the Shoa;
horfe, with no lofs, and very little refiftance, and came
jull: into the place which we occupied in the morning.
Though the flight of the rebels was apparently real, Kefla
Yafous would not fuffer a purfuit into the plain, but ad-
vancing fingly before us, began to form immediately ; the
mufc^uetry were planted on each lide of the valley as far

174 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

up the hill as to be out of reach of the horfe, and the reft
of the infantry in the plain ; Baflia Hezekias was on the round
hill jull behind the center, where the king had placed him-
felf, and Guebra Mafcal nearly where he flood before.

The army now made an appearance of a large feftion of
an amphitheatre. I obferved the king had pulled off the
diadem, or white fillet he wears for diftindlion, and was
very intent upon renewing the engagement : the Begemder
troops were forming, with great alertnefs, about half a mile
below, being reinforced from time to time. The king order-
ed his. drums to beat, and his trumpets to found, to inform
the enemy he was ready ; but they did not anfwer, or advance :
foon after (it being near three o'clock) the weather became
overcafl, and cold, on which the troops of Begemder beat a re-
treat ; the king, very foon after, did the fame, and returned
to the camp without further moleftation ; only that coming
near a rock which projedled into the valley, (not far diflant
from the camp) a multitude of peafants belonging to Ma-
riam-Ohha, threw down a fliower of ftcnes from their hands
and flings, which him feveral. The king ordered them to
be fired at, though they were a great diflance off, and pafTed
on : but Guebra Mafcal commanding about fifty men to
run brifkly up the hill, on each fide of the rock, gave them
two difcharges at a lefs diftance, which killed or wounded
many, and made the reft difappear in a moment.

I DOUBT that my reader will be more than fufficiently
tired with the detail of this fecond battle of Serbraxos ; but,
as it was a very remarkable incident in my life, I could not
omit it as far as I faw it myfelf, and fuppreffing any one part
of it would have involved the reft in a confufion, with which
^ I fear

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 175

T fear it may be dill too juflly charged. I therefore fliali
only fay for connexion's fake, that Gufho and Guebra Chri-
ftos, in the center, were but partially engaged, and Kafniati
Tesfos of Sire, fecond commander for the king, in that di-
vifion, wounded, and taken pnfoner. Guebra Chrillos, the
king's tmcle, was flain, (as it was believed) by afhotof his
own men; few other lives of note were loft on either fide,
in that divifion. The king's troops fell back under the hill
of Serbraxos, where Michael was, and, though followed by
Guflio, were no hirther attacked by him. But on the right,
Billetana Gueta 'lecla, and Welleta Michael, after a very ob-
ilinate and bloody engagement, were beaten by Kafmati
Ayabdar, and forced acrofs the river Mogetch, where, ha-
ving rallied and pofted themfelves llrongly, it was not
thought proper to attempt to force them, and they all join-
ed the camp foon after the king, but with very great lofs. .

This battle, though it was rather a vi(51:ory than a defear,.
had, however, upon the king's affairs, all the bad confe-
quences of the latter, nor was there any thinking man who
had confidence in them from that day forward. Near
3000 men perifhed on the king's fide, a great proportion of
whom was of the left wing, which he commanded ; near
180 young men, of the greateft hopes and noblcft families
in the kingdom, were among that number; Guebra
Chriftos was in all refpefts a truly national lofs. Kcfla Ya-
fous was twice wounded, but not dangeroufly, befides a
multitude of others of the firft rank, among whom was Ayto
Engedan, who by proper care foon recovered alfo, but in
the mean time was fent to Gondar, to his coulin Ayto Cor-
fu. On our fide, too, a fon of Lika Netch©, and a fon of Ne-
hritTeclaj were boili {Iain. — Providence feemed now to have

begun

.176 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

begun to require fatisfacftion for the blood of the late king
Joas, in the fliedding of which thefe two were particularly
concerned. Among the flain were our friends the Baharna-
gafli and his fon, who died valiantly fighting before the
king at the time he efcaped down the bank into the val-
Jey,

But what ferved as comfort to the king, was the flill
'heavier lofs fuftained by the enemy, who, by their own ac-
counts that day, loft above 9000 men, feven thoufand of
whom were from the troops of Begemder and Lafla, with
which the king was engaged. For my own part, I cannot
believe, but that both thefe accounts are much exaggerated ;
the great proportion that died of thofe that were wounded
mull have greatly fwelled the lofs of the rebels, becaufe
moll gun-lhot wounds, efpecially if bones are broken, mor-
tify, and prove mortal. Among the flain, on the part of Be-
gemder, were two chiefs of Laila, and two relations of Po-
wufTen, (a brother-in-law and his fon) they were both fliot,
bearing the banner of king Theodorus. The unworthy
Confu, brother to Guebra Mehedin, and nephew to the Ite-
ghe, whom I have often mentioned, had efcaped, indeed,
from Kafmati Ayabdar, who had given orders to confine him,
to die a rebel this day among the troops of Begemder.

The king being wafhed and drelTed, and having dined,
received a compliment from Ras Michael, who fent him a
prefent of fruit, and a thoufand ounces of gold. There be-
gan then the fikhieil of all ceremonies that ever difgraced
any nation fliling themfelves Chriflians ; a ceremony that
-cannot be put in terms fufficiently decent for modefl ears,
^^yszithout adapting the challe language of fcripture, which,
2 when

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE, 177

when neceflity obliges to treat of grofs fubjefts, always
makes choice of the leaft offenfive language.

All thofe, whether women or men, who have fiefs of the
crown, 3.VG obliged to furnifli certain numbers of horfe and
foot. The women were feldom obliged to perfonal atten-
dance, till Ras Michael made it a rule, in order to compofe
a court or company for Ozoro Efhher. At the end of a day
of battle each chief is obliged to fit at the door of his tent,
and each of his followers, who has flain a man, prefents
himfelf in his turn, armed as in fight, with the bloody
forefkin of the man whom he has llain hanging upon the
wrift of his right hand. In this, too, he holds his lance,
brandilhing it over his mailer, or miftrefs, as if he intended
to ftrike ; and repeating in a feeming rage, a rant of non-
fenfe, which admits of no variation, " I am John the fon of
George, the fon of William, the fon of Thomas ; I am the
rider upon the brown horfe ; I faved your father's life at
fuch a battle ; where would you have been if I had not
fought for you to-day ? you give me no encouragement, no
cloaths, nor money ; you do not deferve fuch a fervant as I ;"
and with that he throws his bloody fpoils upon the ground
before his fuperior. Another comes afterwards, in his turn,
and does the fame ; and, if he has killed more than one man,
fo many more times he returns, always repeating the fame
nonfenfe, with the fame geftures. I believe there was a
heap of above 400 that day, before Ozoro Lilher ; and it was
monftrous to fee the young and beautiful Tecla Mariam
fitting upon a flool prefiding at fo filthy a ceremony ; nor
was flie without furprife, fuch is the force of cufcom, that
no compliment of that kind was paid on my part ; and Hill

Vol. IV. Z more

178 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

more fo, that I could not be even prefent at fo horrid and
bloody an exhibition.

The fuperiors appear at this time with their heads covered
as before their valTals ; their mouth, too, is hid, and nothing
is feen but their eyes : this does not proceed from modelly,
but is a token of fuperiority, of which, covering or
uncovering the head is a very fpecial demonflration. After
this ceremony is over each man takes his bloody conqueft,
and retires to prepare it in the fame manner the Indians do
their fcalps. To conclude this beaftly account, the whole
army, on their return to Gondar, on a particular day of re-
view, throws them before the king, and leaves them at the
gate of the palace. It is in fearch of thefe, and the unburi-
ed bodies of criminals, that the hyaenas come in fuch num-
bers to the llreets, where it is dangerous, even when armed,,
to walk after dark.

This inhuman ceremony being over, alfo the care of
the wounded, which indeed precedes every thing, the king
received all thofe of the nobility who had diftinguifhed
themfelves that day ; the tent was crowded, and he was in
great fpirits at the llaughter that had been made, which
unbecoming pleafure he never could difguife. He men-
tioned the death of his uncle Guebra Chriflos with a degree
of chearfulnefs, prefuming, that when fuch a man died on
his fide, many of that rank and merit mud have fallen on
the other. Villages, appointments, and promotions, gold,
promifcs, and prefents of every kind, had been liberally
beftowed upon thofe who had prefented themfelves, and
who had merited reward that day by their behaviour. The
king had been furnilhed with means from the Ras, and ac-
cording

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 17^

cording to his natural inclination (efpecially towards fol-
diers) he had beflowed them liberally, and I believe im-
partially. Guebra Mafcal had not appeared ; he was wait-
ing upon his uncle Ras Michael, looking after his own in-
tereft, to which no Abyffinian is blind, and expofmg thofe
bloody fpoils, which I have juft mentioned, to the Ras, his
uncle and general.

I HAD been abfent from another motive, the attendance
on my friend Engedan, to whofe tent I had removed my
bed, as he complained of great pain in his wound, and
I had likewife obtained leave of the Ras to fliift my tent
near that of his, and leave the care of the king's horfc to
Laeca Mariam, an old Have and confidential fervant of the
king.

As thefe men were the king's menial fervants in his pa-
lace, a number of them (about a foiu'th) {laid at Gondar
with the horfes, and few more than 100 to 120 could now
be muftered, from about 200 or 204 which they at firft were :
the arranging of this, attendance upon Ayto Engedan, and fe*-
veral delays in getting accefs to the Ras, who had all his
troops of Tigre round him, made it pafl eight o'clock in the
evening before I could fee the king after he entered the
camp ; he had many times fent in fearch of Sertza Deng-
hel, but no fuch perfon could be found ; he had been fcen
bravely fighting by Engedan's fide in the entrance of the
valley, when that young nobleman was wounded, and he
had retired with him from the field, but nobody could give
any account of him, and the king, by his repeated inquiries
after him, fliewed more anxiety, from the fuppolttion he
was loll:, than he had done for Guebra Chrifios his uncle,

Z 2 or

i8o TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

or all the men that had fallen that day ; I had feen him in
Ayto Engedan's tent, fitting behind his bed, in the darkcft
place of it ; both his lips, nofe, and chin were violently cut,
his whole fore teeth beat out, and both his cheeks greatly
fwelled. I had given him what relief I could, nor was
there any thing dangerous in his wounds ; but the affront
of receiving the blow from the king, when he was doing
a moil meritorious a(ft of duty, (the faving him from death,
or the hands of the rebels), had made fuch an impreffion
upon a noble mind, that as foon as he arrived in Engedan's
tent, he had ordered his hair to be cut off, put a white
cap, or monk's cowl upon his head, and by a vow dedicated
himfelf to a monaftic life. In vain the king flattered, re-
warded, and threatened him afterwards, and went fo far as
to make the Abuna menace him with excommunication
if he perfilled in his refolution any longer. After this I
carried him, as we fhall fee, by the king's deiire, to Gufho,
in his camp, and interelled him alfo to perfuade Sertza Deng-
hel to renounce his rafh vow : no confideration could how-
ever prevail, for, like a private monk, he lived at home in
the village which belonged to him in patrimony, and, tho*
he often came to court, never flept or ate in the palace,
the excufe being, when deflred to flay dinner, that he had
no teeth. He conftantly flept at my houfe, fometimes chear-
ful, but very feldom fo. He was a young man of excellent
underftanding, and particularly turned to the ftudy of reli-
gion ; he was well read in all the books of his own country,
and very deflrous of being inflruded in ours ; he had the
very worft opinion of his own priefts, and his principal de-
fire (if it had been poffible) was to go with me to die, and
to be buried in Jerufalem.

CHAP.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. i8i

GjK»fift========«^

CHAP. VIII.

King rewards his Officers — The Author again perfecuted by Guebra
Mafcal — Great Dijpleafure of the King — The Author and Guebra
Mj/cal are reconciled and rewarded — 'Third Battle of Serbraxos.

AFTER the engagement, as every body had accefs to the
king's prefence, I did not choofe to force my way
through the crowd, but went round through the more pri-
vate entry, by the bed-chamber, when I placed myfelf be-
hind the king's chair. As foon as he faw me, he laid, with
great benignity, " I have not inquired nor fent for you, be-
caufe I knew you would be necelTarily bufied among thofe of
your friends, who have been wounded to-day ; you are your-
felf, befides, hurt : how are you ?" I anfwered, " that I was
not hurt to-day, but, though often in danger, had efcaped
without any other harm than exceffive fatigue oceafioned
by heat and weight of my coat of mail, and that one of
my horfes was killed under Ammonios."

I THEK

i82 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

I THEN took the red colours from the fervant behind me,
and going to the carpet fpread before the king, laid them
at his feet, faying, " So may all your majefty's enemies fall,
as this arch rebel (the bearer of this) has fallen to-day ;" a
great murmur was immediately raifed upon feeing thefe
colours, and the king cried out with the utmofl impatience,
" Has he fallen into your hands, Yagoube ? who was he,
where did you meet him, or where did you flay him?" " Sir,
faid I, it was not my fortune to meet him to-day, nor did
I flay him. I am no king-killer ; it is a fm, I thank God,
from which my anceftors are all free; yet, had Providence
thrown in my way a king like this, I believe I might have
overcome my fcruples. He was killed, as 1 fuppofe, by a fliot
of Guebra Mafcal, on the flank of our line; a foldier picked up
the colours on the field, and brought them to me in hopes
of reward, while you was engaged with the troops of Begem-
der, near the bank ; but the merit of his death is with Gue-
bra Mafcal. I do him this juflice, the rather becaufe he is
the only man in your majefty's army who bears me ill-will,
or has been my conftant enemy, for what reafon I know
not; but God forbid, that on this, or any perfonal account,
I fhould not bear vvitnefs to the truth : this day, my for-
tune has been to be near him .during the whole of it, and I
fay it from certain infpe<5tion, that to the bravery and ac-
tivity of Guebra Mafcal every man in your left wing owes
his life or liberty." — " He is a fliame and difgrace to his
family, fays the king's fecretary, who was ftanding by him,
if after this he can be your enemy." — "It mull beamiftake,
fays the king's prieft (Kiis Hatze), for this fliouid atone for
it, though Yagoube had flain his brother."

4 While

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 1S3

While this converfation was going on, an extraordinary
buftle was obferved in the crowd, and this unquiet genius
pulliing through it with great violence, his goat's ikin upon
his flioulders, and covered with dull and fweat, in the fame
manner he came from the field ; he had heard 1 was gone
to the king's tent with the red flag, and not doubting I was
to complain of him,orpraife myfelf at his expence, had di-
rectly followed me, without giving himfelf time to make the
leaft inquiry. He threw himfelf fuddenly, with his face to
the ground, before the throne, and rifmg as quickly, and in
violent agitation, he faid to the king, or rather bellowed,
very indecently, "It is a lie Yagoube is telling; he does not
fay the truth; I meant him no harm but good to day, and
he did not underftand my language. I don't fay Yagoube is
not as good a man as any of us, but it is a lie he has been^
telling now, and 1 will prove it."

A GENERAL filence followed this wild rhapfody; the king
•was furprifed, and very gravely faid, I am forry, for your
fake, if it is a lie ; for my part, I was rafli enough to believe
it was true. Guebra Mafcal was ftill going to make bad
worfe, by fome abfurd reply, when the fecretary, and one or
two of his friends, hauled him out behind, the throne to
one of the apartments within, not without fome refiftance,
every one fuppofmg, and many faying, he was drunk ; the
king was lilent, but appeared exceedingly difpleafed, when
I fell upon the ground before him, (a form of afldng leave
to fpeak upon any particular fubjedt) and rifmg faid, Sir,
Wivh great fubmiflion, it is not, I apprehend, true, that Gue-
bra Mafcal IS drunk, as fome have raflily faid now in your
prcfence; we have all ate and drank, and changed our
cloathiiig fmce the battle 5 but this man, who has been on

foot:

i84 TRAVELSTODISCOVER

foot fince five in the morning, and engaged all day, has
not, I believe, ate or drank as yet ; certainly he has not
wafhed himfelf, or changed his habit, but has been taking
care of his wounded men, and has prefented himfelf now
as he came from the field, under the unjuft fufpicion I
was doing him wrong. I then repeated what had hap-
pened at the bank when the king was purfuing the troops
of Begemdcr. Now 1 underfland him, fays the king, but
flill tie is wrong, and this is not the firft inftance I have
feen, when there was no fuch miftake. At this time a mef-
fenger came to call me from within.

The king divined the reafon of fending, and faid, No, he
fhall not go to Guebra Mafcal ; I will not fuffer this. Go,
fays he to one of his fervants that flood near him, defire
the Ras to call Guebra Mafcal, and aflc him what this bru-
tality means ? I have feen two inllances of his miftehavi-
our already, and wifti not to be provoked by a third. At
this inftant came Kefla Yafous, with his left hand bound
up, and a broad leaf like that of a plane upon his fore-
head. After the ufual falutation, and a kind of joke of
the king's on his being wounded, I afked him if he would
retire and let me drefs his forehead ? which he fhewing
inclination to do, the king faid. Aye, go, and afk Guebra
Mafcal why he quarrels with his bell friends, and prevents
me from rewarding him as he otherwife would have de-
ferved. I went out with Kefla Yafous, being very defi-
rous this affair fhould not go to the Ras, and we found
Guebra Mafcal in appearance in extreme agony and de-
fpair.

% Thb

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 1.S5

The whole ftory was told diilindly to Kefla Yafous, who

took it up in the moil judicious manner. He faid he had

been detained at his tent, but had come to the king's pre-

fence exprefsly to give Guebra Mafcal the juft praife he

deferved for his behaviour that day : that he was very Jiap-

py that [, who was near him all the adion, and was a ftran-

ger, and unprejudiced (as he might be thought not to be) had

done it fo juftly and fo handfomely. At the fame time he

could not help faying, that the quarrel with Yagoube in the

palace, the taunting fpeech made without provocation in.

the king's prefence on the march, his apoftrophe in the field,

and the abrupt manner in which he ignorantly broke in

upon the converfation before the king, interrupting and

contradicting his own commendations, fliewed a diftem-

pered mind, and that he afted from a bad motive, which, if

inquired into, would inevitably ruin him, both with King

and Ras ; and he had heard indeed it already had done with

the former.

Guebra Mascal, now crying like a child, condemned
iiimfelf for a malicious madman in the two firft inftances :
but fwore, that on the field he had no intention but to fave
me, if occafion threv/ it in his way ; for which purpofe alone
it was he had cried out to me to fiand firm, for the troops
of Bcgemder were coming upon us, but that I did not un-
deriland his meaning. Guebra Mafcal advances nothing
but truth, faid I, to Kefia Yafous ; 1 did not perfeilly under-
fland him to-day in the field, as he fpoke in !his own lan-
guage of Tigre, and fiammers greatly, nor did I diftinaily
comprehend what he faid acrofs the pool, for the fame
reafon, and the confudon we were in : I fliall however moil
readily confefs my obligation to him, for the opportunity
Vol. IV. A a he

lS6 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

he gave me to join the king. I am a ftrangcr, and Habie
to err, vvhilft, for the fame reafon, I am entitled to all your
protections and forgivennefs. I am, moreover, the king's
llranger, and as fuch, entitled to fomething more as long as
I conducft myfelf with propriety to every one. I have never
fpoken a word but in Guebra Mafcal's praife, and in this I
have done him no more than juflice ; his impatience per-
verted what I had faid ; but the -real truth, as I fpoke it, re-
mains in the ears of the king and of thofe that were by-
Handers, to whom I appeal.

Every thing went after this in the manner that was to
be wiflied. Guebra Mafcal and I vowed eternal friendfhip to
each other, of which Kefla Yafous profeiTed himfelf the
guarantee. All this pafTed while I was binding up his head;
he went again to the king. For my own part, tired to
deuth, low in fpirits, and curfmg the hour that brought me to
fuch a country, I almoil regretted I had not died that day in
the field of Serbraxos. I went to bed, in Ay to Engedan's tent,
refufingtogo to Ozoro Efther, who had fentfor me. I could
not help lamenting how well my apprehenfions had been
verified, that fome oJF our companions at laft night's fupper,
fo anxious for the appearance of morning, fliould never
fee its evening. Four of them, all young men, and of great
hopes, were then lying dead and mangled on the field ; two
others befides Engcdan had been alfo wounded. I had, how-
ever, a found and refrefliing fleep. I think madnefs would
have been the confequence, if this neceffary refrefliment
had failed me ; fuch was the horror I had conceived of my
prefent fitpation.

Ok

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. jt8;

On the 21ft, Engedan was conveyed in a litter to Gondar;
and early in the morning of that day arrived an officer from
PowuiTen, together with three or four priefts. He brought
with him twenty or thirty kettle-drums belonging to the
king, with their mules, and as many of the drummers as
were alive. The errand was iham propofals of peace, as ufual,
and great profeffions of allegiance to the king. As Powuf-
fen's attack, however, that day, had fomething very perfon-
al in it, and that the llory of Theodorus was founded upon
a fuppofition that the king was to be ilain on the field of
Serbraxos, little anfwer was returned, only the red flag was
fent back with a melTage, That perhaps, from the good for-
tune that had attended it, Powuflen might wifh to keep it
for Theodorus his fucceflbr, but it was never after feen or
heard of.

GusHo likewife, and Ayabdar, fent a kind of embalTy to
inquire after the king's health and fafety ; they wifhed him,
in terms of the greateil refpedl, not to expofe himfelf in the'
field as he had done in the lafl battle, or a^leaft, if hechofe
to command his troops in perfon, that he fliould diftinguifli
himfelf by fome horfe, or drefs, as his predeceffors ufed to
do ; and they concluded vv^ith fevere refledlions on Michael,
as not fufficiently attentive to the fafety of his fovercign!
Gracious mellages were returned to thefe two, and they all
were difmilFed with the ufual prefects of clothes and
money.

About eleven o'clock in the forenoon I received an or-
der from the Ras to attend him, and, as I thought it was
about the alFair of Guebra Mafcal, I went very unwillingly.
I was confirmed in this by feeing him waiting with manv

Aa2 of

i§S TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

of his friends without the tent, and ftill more fo upon our
being called in together: the Ras was converfing low to two
priells, who by their drefs feemed to have come lately from
Gondar; he paid little regard to either of us, but nodded, and
aflced in Tigre how we did ? Three or four fervants, how-
ever, brought out new fine cotton clothes, which they put
upon us both ; and, upon another nod, feveral officers and
priefts, and a number of other people, conduced us to the
king, though fi:ill, as the Ras had fcarcely fpoken to us, I
\vondered how this fliould end. After flaying a little wc
were both introduced; the Likaontes, or judges, Ibme priefts,
and my friend the fecretary, flood about the king, who fat
in the middle of his tent upon the flool Guangoul had fat
down upon ; the fecretary held fomcthing in his lap, and,
upon Gucbra Mafcal's firft kneeling, bound a white
fillet like a ribband round his forehead, upon which were
written in black and red ink. Mo amhajfa am Ni%eld Solomon am
Ncgacle Jude, " The lion of the tribe of Judah of the race of
Solomon has overcome." The fecretary then declared his
inveflitiu-e ; the king had given him in fief, or for military
fervice for ever, three large villages in Dembea, which he
named, and this was proclaimed afterwards by beat of drum
at the door of the tent. The king then likewife prefented
him with a gold knife, upon which he kiifed the ground^
and arofe.

It was my turn next to kneel before the king. ■ Vv7ie-
ther tliere was any thing particular in my countenance, or
what fancy came into his head I know not, but when I
looked him in the face he could fcai cc refrain from laugh-
ing. Pie had a large chain of gold, wiih veiymafTy links,
which he doubled twice, and then put it over my neck,

while

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 189

while the fecretary faid, " Yagoube, the king does you this
great honour, not as payment of pail fervices, but as a pledge
that he will reward them if you will put it in his power."
Upon this I kifled the ground, and we were both recon-
du6lcd to the Ras, with ourinfignia ; and, having kifled the
ground before him, and then his hands, we both had leave
to retire. He feemed very bufy with people arrived from
without ; he only lifted up his head, fmiled, and faid. Well,
are you friends now ? We both bowed without anfwer, and
left the tent.

The chain confifted of 184 links, each of them weighing
3-Vdwts of fine gold. It was with the ucmofl relu6lance
that, being in want of every thing, I fold great part of this
honourable diftinction at Sennaar in my return home ; the
remaining part is ftill in my pofleffion. It is hoped my
fucccfTors will never have the fame excufe I had, for fur-
ther diminifliing this honourable monument which I have
left them»

About a few hours after this, a much more intereftin^
fpeclacle appeared before the whole camp. Ay to Tesfos, go-
vernor of Samen under Joas, had never lard dcv/n his arms,,
nor paid any allegiance to the prefent king or his father,
but had conilantly treated them as ufurpers, and the Ras
as a rebel and parricide. He had continued in friendfhip
with Fafd, but never would co-operate or join with him,
not even when he was at Gondar as Ras. He lived in the
inacceffible rock, (called the Jev,^s Rock) one of the higliell
of the mountains of Samen, where he maintained a large
number of troops, with which he overawed tlic whole ncigh-
bouiingcountry,andmade perpetual inroads intoTigrc. Ene-
my

r^o TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

my as he was to Ras Michael, he would not venture to
take an adlive part againll him, till the king's affairs were
plainly going to ruin. I have already mentioned, that the
laft thing Michael did was to fend Kefla Yafous, Baflia He-
zekias,and Welleta Michael, to difpoffeis him of his llrong-
hold if poflible, and in this they had failed. But now that
Tesfos faw there was no probability that Michael fliould
be able to retreat to Tigre, he came at laft to join Gufho,
bringing with him only about a thoufand men, having left
all his polls guarded againit furprife, and ftrong enough to
cut off all recruits arriving from Tigre. Nothing that had yet
happened ever had fo bad effed: upon Michael's men as
this appearance of Tesfos. It was a little before mid-day
when his army appeared, and from the hills above march-
ed down towards the valley below us, not two mufquec-
iliot from our camp.

Though Samen is really on the weft of the Tacazze, and
confequently in the Amharic divifion of this country, yet,
on account of its vicinity to Tigre, the language and cuf-
toms are moflly the fame with thofe of that province.
There is a march peculiar to the troops of Tigre, which,
Avhen the drums of Tesfos beat at paffmg, a defpondency
feemed to fall on all the Tigran foldiers, greater than if
ten thoufand men of Amhara had joined the rebels. It
was a fine day, and the troops, fpread abroad upon the face
of the hill, not only Ihewed more in number than they
really were, but alfo more fecurity than they were, in point
of prudence, warranted to do, when at fo I'mall a diftance
from fuch an army as ours«

Tesfos

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 191

Tesfos took a poft very likely to diflrefs us, as he had
more than 300 mufquetry with him. He fat down with
horfe and foot in the middle of the valley before us, with
part of his mufquetry pofted upon the flcirts of the moun-
tain Belefien on one fide, and part on the top of that long,
even hill, dividing the valley from the river Mariam.
Over his camp, like a citadel, is the rock that proje(5ts into
the valley, from which the peafants of Mariam-Ohha had
thrown the Hones when we were returning to our camp
after the laft battle. Upon this rock Tesfos had placed a
multitude of women and fervants, who began to build flraw-
huts for themfelves, as if they intended to flay there for
fome time, though there was ilill plenty of the female fex be-
low with the camp. Indeed, I never remember to have feen fo
many women in proportion to any army whatever, no not
even in our own.

If Tesfos had been long in coming, he was refolved, now
lie was come, to make up for his loit time, as he was not
a mile and a half from our camp, and could fee our horfes
go down to water, either at Deg-Ohha or Mariam ; that
fame day at two o'clock, his horfe attacked our men at wa-
tering, killed fome fervants, and took feveral horfes. This
behaviour of Tesfos was taken as a defiance to Kefla Ya*
fous in particular, and to the army in general.

There was no perfon in the w^hole army, of any rank
whatever, fo generally beloved as Kefla Yafous ; he was
looked upon by the foldiers as their father. He was named
by the Ras to the government of Samen, but had failed, as
we liave already flatcd, in difpofTefTing Ayto Tesfos, ^^'hofe:
diford'^rly march at broad mid -day, fo near our army, the
2 oflentatious

192 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

often tatious beating of the Tigran march upon his kettlc-
dium as he pafTed, and his taking poft fo near, were all con-
fidered as meriting chaiUfement. That general, however,
though very fenfible of this bravado, did not venture to
fugged any thing in the prefent fuuation of the army, but
all his friends propofed it to him, that fome reproof flaould
be given to Tesfos, if it was only to raife the drooping
fpirits of the troops of Tigre. Accordingly 400 horfe, and
about 500 foot, armed with lances and fliields only, without
mufquetry for fear of alarm, were ordered to be ready
as foon as it was perfedly dark, that is, between feven and
eight o'clock,

Tesfos having waited the coming of his baggage, and
arranged his little camp to his liking, was feen to mount,
with about |oo horfe, to go to the campof Gufho or Powuf-
fen a little before fun-fet, at which time Kefla Yafous was
dillributing plenty of meat to the foldiers. About eight
o'clock they defcended the hill unperceived even by part of
our camp. Kefla Yafous was governor of Temben (a pro-
vince on the S. W. of Tigre) immediately joining to Samen,
and the language and dialed was the fame. The foot were
ordered to take the lead, fcattcred in a manner not to give
alarm, and the horfe were to pafs by the back of the low,
even hill, in the other valley, along the banks of the river
Mariam, clofe to the water, in order to cut off the retreat to
the plain. A great part of the Samen foldiers were afleep,
whilll a number of the mules that had been loaded were
ftraggling up and down, and fome of them returning to the
camp. The Temben troops had now infmuated themfelves
among the tents, cfpecially on the fide of the hill.

1 The

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 193

The firft circumftance that gave alarm was the appear-
ance of the horfe, but they were not taken for an enemy,
but for Ayto Tesfos returning. Kefla Yafous now gave
the fignal to charge, by beating a kettle-drum, and every
foldier fell upon the enemy neareft him. It is impoffible
to defcribe the confufion that followed, nor was it eafy to
diftinguifh enemies from friends, efpecially for us on horfe-
back ; only thofe that fled were reckoned enemies. The
greateft execution done by the horfe was breaking the jars
of honey, butter, beer, wine, and flour, and gathering as
many mules together as poffible to drive them away. Few
of the enemy came our way towards tlie plain, but mofl;
fled up the hill : in an inftant the flraw huts upon the
rock were fet on fire, and Kefla Yafous had ordered rather
to deftroy the provifions than the men, fince there was no
refiftance. I pafl:ed a large tent, which I judged to be that
of Ayto Tesfos, which our people immediately cut open ;
but, inftead of an oflicer of confequence, we faw, by the
light of a lamp, three or four naked men and women, to-
tally overpowered with drink and fleep, lying helplefs, like
fo many hogs, upon the ground, utterly unconfcious of
what was palling about them. Upon a large tin platter,
on a bench, lay one of the large horns, perfectly drain-
ed of the fpirits that it had contained ; it was one of
the moll beautiful, for fhape and colour, I ever had feen,
though not one of the iargeft. This horn was all my
booty that night. Upon my return to Britain, it was afl^-
ed of me by Sir Thomas Dundas of Carfe, to ferve for a
bugle-horn to the Fauconberg regiment, to which, as being
part urn fangulne, it was very properly adapted. That regiment
being dilbanded foon after, I know not further what came
Vol. IV, B b of

104 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

of it ; it is probably placed in fome public colle(^ion, or
at leaft ought to be.

The fire increafing on the hill, and feveral mufquets ha-
ving been heard, it was plain the enemy, in all the camps,
were alarmed, and our t'urcher ftay became every moment
more dangerous. Kefla Yafous now beat a retreat, and
fent the horfcmen all round to force the foot to make the
beft of their way back, ordering alfo all mules taken to be
liam-ftringed and left, not to retard our return. Trumpets
and drums were heard from our camp, to warn us not to
ftay, as it was not doubted but mifchief would follow, and
accordingly we were fcarce arrived within the limits of
our camp when we heard the found of horfe in the vair
ley,

Michael, always watchful upon every accident, no
fooiier faw the fires lighted on the hill, than he or-
dered Guebra Mafcal to place a good body of muf-
queteers about half way down the hill, as near as pof-
fible to the ford of Mariam, thinking it probable that the
enemy would enter at both ends of the long hill, in order
to furround thofe who were deftroying their camp, which
they accordingly did, whilfi; thofe of our people, who had
taken to drinking, fell into the hands of the troops that
came by the lower road, and were all put to death. Thofe
that reached the upper ford ferved to afford us a fevere re-
venge, for Guebra Mafcal, after having feen them pafs ber
twcen hiin and the river, though it was a dark and very
windy night, guelled very luckily their pofirion, and gave
tb,em fo happy a fi.re, that moft of thofe who were not

flain.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. jg^

flain returned back without feeing Ayto Tesfos's camp,
being afraid that fome other trap might Hill be in their
way.

In the morning of the 2 2d, we found that the flain Were
men of Begemder and Lafla. Tesfos, it fe^ms, had been in
Powufl^en's camp when he faw the fire lighced on the hill,
and thence had provided an additional number of troops to
attack Kefla Yafous before he had done his bufinefs, but in
this he mifcarried. Tesfos's party was thus totally deflroyed
and difperfed, his mules flaughtered, and his provilions
fpoiled. About thirty of Kefla Yafous's infantry, however,
lofl their lives by flaying behind, and intoxicating themfelves
with liquor. Of the horfe, not a man was either killed or
wounded. I was the only unfortunate perfon ; and Provi-
dence had feemed to warn me of my danger the day before^
for pafling then that rock which projc(5led into the valley, '
the fire giving perfect light, the multitude aflfembled above,
and prepared for that purpofe, poured down upon us fuch a
fliower of arrows, ftones, billets of wood, and broken jars, as
■is not to be imagined. Of thefe a ftone gave me a very
violent blow upon my left arm, while a fmall fragment
of the bottom of a jar, or pitcher, flruck me on the creft of
my helmet, and occafioned fuch a concuffion as to deprive
me for a time of all recoilecT:ion, fo that, when lying in my
tent at no great diflance, I did not remember to have heard
Guebra Mafcal's dilcharge. I certainly had fome prefaging
that mifchief was to happen me, for pafling that rock, juft
before we entered Tesfos's camp, I defired Tecla, when I re-
turned, to allow fifty men to proceed up the hill and
cut thofe people in pieces who had flationed themfelves fo
inconveniently ; but he would not confent, being defirous

B b 2 to

196 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

to return without lofs of time, and before the enemy knew
the calamity that had befallen them,

Ayto Te«fos now became a little more humble, retreated
to the fouth end of the long hill, till being joined, next day
the 23d, by his neighbours, Samuel Mammo of Tzegade,
and Heraclius of Walkayt, who had a very large force,
he again removed nearer us, about half a mile farrher
than his firll pofuion, and extended his camp quite acrofs
the valley, from the foot of the hill to the river Mariam,
keeping his head-quarters on the top of the long, even hill,
fo often mentioned. Mammo and Heraclius had pafl'ed by
Gondar, and, being much fuperior in number, had taken
Sanuda, Ayto Confu, and Ayto Engedan prifoners, and,
though the two lafl were wounded, carried them to Guflio's
camp.

I NEED not trouble the reader with the attention fliewed
me upon my accident ; all that was great and noble at court,
from the king downwards, feemed to be as fenfible of it as
if it had happened to one of their own family ; the Ras
very particularly fo; and I mull: own, above all, Guebra Maf-
cal fhewed himfelf a fmcere convert, by a concern and
friendfhip that had every mark of lincerity. Ozoro Eilher
was feveral times the next day at my tent, and with her
the beautiful Tecla Mariam, whofe fympathy and kindnefs
would more than have compenfated a greater misfortune ;
for, laving that it had occalioned an inflammation in my
eyes, the hurt was of the flightell kind.

Many pec pie came to-day from the feveral camps with
propofals of peace, which ended in nothing, though it w as

vifible

THE SOUPtCE OF THE NILE. 197

vifible enough to every one that a treaty of fome kind was
not only on foot, but aheady far advanced, hi the evening
a party of 400 foot and 50 horfe, M^hich went to Demhoa
to forage for the king, was furprifed by Coque Ab'.u Earea,
and cut to pieces ; after which that general encamped wich
Gullio, and brought witii him about jooo men.

Provisions were now become fcarce in the camp, and
there was a profpedt that they would be every day Icarcer ;
and, what was ftill worfe, Deg-Ohha, which long had Hood
in pools, was now almoit dry, and, from the frequent ufe
made of it by the number of beads, began to have both an
ofFenfive fmell and talle ; whilll, every time we attempted
to water at the Mariam river, a battle was to be fought with
Tesfos's horfe in the valley. On the other hand, an epide-
mical fever raged in the rebels camp on the plain, elpecial-
ly in that of Gufho and Ayabdar. The rain, moreover, was
now coming on daily, and fomething deciiive became ne-
ceffary for all parties.

On the 24th, in the morning, a meiTage arrived from Gu-.
llio to the king, deiiring I might have liberty to come and
bring medicines with me, for his whole family were ill
of the fever. The king anfwered, that I had been wound-
ed in the head, and waj. ill ; nor did he believe ,1 could be
able to come; but, if 1 was, he Ihouldfend me in the morn-
ing.

A LITTLE before noon the drums in the plain beat to
arms. Heraclius, Mammo, and Tesfos on the fide of the
valley, Coque Abou Barea and Afahel Woodage on the fide
of the plain, with frelli troops, had obtained leave from

Guflio

198 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

Gufho and Powuflcn to try to liorm our camp, without any
affiilancc from the main army, in order to bring the whole
to a fpeedy conclufion. 1 here had been a time when fuch
an undertaking would not have been thought a prudent one
to much better men than any of thofe who now were par-
ties in it ; but our fpirits were greatly fallen, our number,
too, much decreafed ; above all, a relaxation of difcipline
(and defertion, the confequence of it) began to prevail a-
mong us to an alarming degree. This was generally faid
to be owing to the defpondency of the Tigre troops upon
the arrival of Tesfos ; but it required little penetration to
difcern, that all forts of men were weary of conftant fight-
ing and hardlhips, for no other end but unjuftly maintain-
ing Michael in a pod in which he governed at dii'cretion,
to the terror of the whole kingdom, and ruin of the confli-
tution.

The hill of Serbraxos, when we firfl: took port on it, was
rugged and uneven, full of acacia and sither ill- thriving
tree, and various Humps of thefe had been broken by the
wind, or underrhined by the torrents. The great need the
foldiers had of fuel to roaft the miferable pittance of bar-
ley, (which was all their food) had cleared away thefe in-
cumbrances from the fide of the hill, and the conflant re-
fort of men going up and down, had rendered the furfacc
perfedlly fmooth and flippery ; fo that our camp did not
appear as placed fo high, nor nearly fo inacceilible as it
was at firft. For this reafon, Ras Michael had ordered the
foldiers to gather all the ftones on the hill, and range them
in fmall walls, at proper places, in a kind of zig-zag, under
which the foldiers lay concealed, and with their fire-arms
proteded the mules which went down to drink. JVIichael
4 had

THIRD BATTLE.

Explanation.

A The center commanded by the king
in perfon.

B The Tan encamped under Ras Mi-
chael.

C The rear encamped, Guebra Cliriftos
being flain, commanded by feveral of-
ficers.

DD Woodage Afahel nfarching np to-
wards the hill to attack the king's
camp.

E Ayto Tesfos of Samen making a lodge-
ment in the bank, or fide of the hill,
mider the van, to favour the attack of
Woodage Afahel.

F Coque Abou Barea making a mock at-
tack on the rear to create a diverfioa
in favour of Woodage Afahel.

G Servants of Tesfos, his camp and re-
bellious peafants of Mariam Ohlia on
a high rock.

THE S^OURCK OF THE NILE. 199

had lined all thefe little f n-tifications with mufquetry, from
the bottom of tiie hill to the door of his tent and the
king^'s.

About noon the hill was aflaulted on all fides that were
acceilible, an:) die ancient fpirit of the troops feemed to
revive upon fcemg the enemy were the aggreflbrs. With-
out any aid of muiqustry, the king's foot repulfed Coque
Abou Barei, and drove him from the hill into the plain,
without any confiderable Hand on his part : the fame fuc-
cefs followed agaia'i Mammo and Heraclius ; they were
chafed down the hill, and feveral of their men purfued and
flain on the plain ; but a large reinforcement coming from
the camp, the king's troops were driven up the hill again,
and Tesfos, with his mufquetry, had made a lodgment in
a pit on the low fide of one of thefe ftone-walls Ras Michael
had built for his own defence, from which he fired with
great elFedf, and the king's troops were obliged to fall back
to the brow of the hill immediately below the tent, and
that of the Ras's. In a moment appeared Woodage Afahel,
with a large body of horfe, fupported likewife with a con-
fiderable number of foot. • This was the raofl acceffible
part of the hill, and under the cover of Tesfos's continued
fire : they mounted it with great gallantry, the troops above
expedling them with their irons fixed at a proper elevation
in the ground ; for it muft be here explained, that no A-
h\ ifinian foldier in battle rcfts his gun upon his hand, as
every one is provided with a ftick about four feet long,
which hath hooks, or refts, on alternate intervals on each
fide, and which he fiicks in the ground before him, and
refts the muzzle of his gun upon it, according to the height
of the objedt he is to aim at ; and here is difcovered the fa-
tal

200 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

tal and moft unreafonable effecft of fear in thefe troops, who
have not the knowledge or prac5tice of fire-arms, and are a-
bout to charge, for as foon as they hear this noife of planting
the flicks, (which is fomewhat louder than that of our men
cocking their mufquets) they halt immediately, and give the
fairefl opportunity to their enemies to take aim ; and, after
thus fufferingfromawell-direfted fire, they fall into confu-
fion, and run, leaving the mufquetry time to re-charge. This
is as if they voluntarily devoted themfelves to deftrudtion ;
for if, either upon hearing the noife of fetting the flicks
in the ground, or before or after they have received the
fire, the horfe were to charge thefe mufqueteers, having no
bayonets, at the gallop, they mull be cut to pieces every
time they were attacked by cavalry ; the contrary of which
is always the cafe.

WooDAGE AsAHEL had now advanced within about thir-
ty yards of the mufquetry that were expeding him, when
unluckily the hill became more fteep, and Ayto Tesfos (for
fome reafon not then known) ceafed firing. The king was
now clofe to the very brow of the hill, nor could any one
perfuade him to keep at a greater diftance. I was not far
from him, and had no fort of doubt but that I fliould pre-
fently fee the whole body of the enemy deflroyed by the
fire awaiting them, and blown into the air. Woodage Afa-
hel was very confpicuous by a red fillet, or bandage, wrapt
about his head, the two ends hanging over his ears, whilft
he was waving with his hands for the troops below to fol-
low brilkly, and fupport thofe near him, who were impe-
ded by the roughncfs and mofly quality of the ground. At
tliis inflant the king's troops fired, and I expeded to fee the
enemy flrewed dead along the face of the hill. Indeed we
3 ' faw

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. atai

faw them fpeedily difappear, but like living men, ri-
ding and running down the dedivicy fo as even to ex^
cite laughter. Woodage Afahel, with two men only,
bravely gained the top of the mountain, and, as he
palled the king's tent, pulled off his red fillet, making a fign
as of faluting it, and then galloped through the middle of
the camp. He was now defcending unhurt upon the left,
where Abou Barea had been engaged and beaten, when
Sebaftos, a Greek, the king's cook, feventy-five years of age,
of whom I have already fpoken in the campaign of Mait-
Iha, lying behind a ftone, with his gun in his hand, fee-
ing the troops engage below, fired at him as he palR-d :
the ball took place in the left fide of his belly. He was
fcen (looping forward upon the tore of his faddle, with fome
men fupporting him on each fide, in his way to his tent,
where he died in the evening, having, by his behaviour that
day, deferved a better fate. Sebailos reported this feat of
his to the king, but it was not believed, till a cctnfirmatioa
of the facH: came in the evening, when Sebaflos was cloatlied,
and received a reward from, the king.

Tesfos had been obferved nor to fire fince -Woodage Afa-
hel gained the llccp part of the hill, and it was thought it
was from fear of gallnig his friends ; but it was foon known
to be owing to another caufe. fCefla Yafous had ordered two
of his nephews to take a body of troops, with lances and
fliields onh , and thefe were to go round the Ras's tent, and
down the lide of the hill, till they were even with Tesfos
behind the fcreen where he lay. Thefe two young men,
proud of the fole coxumand which tliey had then received
for the firft time, executed it with great alacrity ; and tho*
they were ordered by ilieir uncle to watch the time when.

Vol. IV. C c Tesfos

202 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

Tesfos had fired, and then to run in upon him, they difdain-
cd that precaution, but coming fpeedily upon him, part of
them threw down the ftones under which he was con-
cealed, and part attacl-Lcd him in the hollow, and, while
much intent upon the fuccefs of Woodage Afahel, he
was in a moment overpowered and diflodgcd; and, being
twice wounded, with great difficulty he efcaped. Se-
venteen of his match-locks were brought into the camp,
and with them a man of great family in Samen, a relation
or friend of Kefla Yafous. This perfon, after having been
regaled with the befl that was in the camp, and cloath-
ed anew after their cuftom, was fent back the fame
night to Ayto Tesfos, with this fhort mefTage, " Tesfos had
" better be upon his rock again, if my boys can beat hira^
" upon the plain at broad noon-day.!'

CoQUE Abou Bare a, after having attempted feveral times
to afcend the hill, was beaten back as often, and obliged to
defift. On the king's fide only eleven men were killed. The
lofs of the enemy was varioufly reported.. Sixty-three men
only, and feveral horfes of thofe with Woodage Afahel, were
left upon the fide of the hill, after the fire of near looo muf-
quets — fo contemptible is the mofl dangerous weapon in an
ignorant and timid hand. That night the body of mufque-
teers called Lafta, part of the king's houfehold, (in number
about 300 men) deferted in a body. One of the worfl: con^
fequences of that day's engagement was, that the enemy,
when in poiTeffion of the foot of the hill, had thrown a
great number of dead bodies, both of men and beafts,
into Deg-Ohha, which therefore now was abandoned alto-
gether by our troops. To make up for this, Ras Michael,
tjiat very evening,. advanced 2000 men upon the end of the

longi

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 205

long hill, immediately below him, which poll was never
molefted after, lb that our beafts had water in greater plen-
ty and fafety than when they were at a lefs confiderablc
dillance.

Below the north-weft fide of the hill, where it was a
fteep precipice, two or three pools of water were found re-
taining all their original purity, out of the reach or know-
ledge of the enemy, in the bed of the torrent which fur-
rounded the north fide of the mountain : the defcent was
very difficult for beafts, but thither I went feveral times on
foot, and bathed myfelf, efpecially my head, in very cold
water, which greatly ftrengthened my eyes, much weaken-
ed from the blow I had received.

G^-" -' ' ''"'^

Cc£ GHAP.

:o4 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

^^ ,,...., , ..„..,, ,.„..^_.^„.^,^^^

CHAP. IX.

interview with GuJJoo in his 'Tent — Convej-fation and inter cjltng IntellU-
gence there — Return to the Camp — Kings Army returns to Gondar-'-'
Great Confnfion in that Night's March. .

ON the 25th of May, early in the morning, I went to >
Gufho. When I arrived near his tent I difmounted
my mule, and, as the king had commanded me, bared my-
felf to below the breafts, the fign of being bearer of the
king's orders. Four men were now fent from the tent,,
who, two and two, fupported each arm, and introduced me
in this ftate immediately to Gufho. He was fitting on a kind .
of bed, covered with fcarlet cloth, and edged with a deep
gold fringe. As foon as I came near him, I began, " Hear
what the king fays to you." In a moment he rofe, and,
llripping himfelf bare to the waift, he bowed with his
forehead on the fcarlet cloth, but did not, as was his duty,
iland on the ground, and touch it with his forehead, tho'

there

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. aoj

there was a good Periian carper, as pride and newly-ac-
quired independence had relealed him from thofe forms,
in the obiervance of which he had been brought up from
his childhood.

On feeing him attentive, I continued, " The king fends
you word by me, and I declare to you from my own Ikiil as
a phyfician, that the fever now amongil you will foon be-
come mortal ; as the rains increafe, you will die ; confe-
quently, being out of your allegiance, God only knows
what will happen to you afterwards. The king thercrore
wifhes you to preferve your health, by going home to Am-
hara, taking Powuflen, and all the reft along with you who
are ill likevvife, and the fooner the better, as he heartily
wifhes to be rid of you all at once, without your leaving any
of your friends behind you." It was with diiEculty I kept
my gravity in the courfe of my harangue ; it did not feem
to be lefs fo on his part, as at the end he broke out in a
great fit of laughter. " Aye, Aye^ Yagoube, fays he, I fee
you are ftill the old man ; but tell the king from me, that if
I were to do what you juft now defireof me, it was then I •
Ihould be afraid to die, it was then I Ihould be out of my
duty ; alTure the king, continued GuHio, I will do him bet-
ter fervice. Were I to go home and leave Michael with him,
I, who am no ph^'Tician, declare, the Ras would prove in the
end a much more dangerous difeafe to him than all the fe^
vers in Dembea."

I THEN introduced his relation, Tecla Mariam, who flood '
with the people beliind ; and, as he had on his monk's drefs,
Guflio at firft did not know him. He had been well inform-
ed, liowever, of his having faved the king, and of the blow
that he liad received from him. He faid every thing in,
a commendation ^

zo6 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER .

Gommendation of the young man, and his honourable ac-
tion, adding, that the prefervation of kings was a gift of
Providence particularly referved for the people of Amhara.
He then ordered new cloaths to be brought and put upon
Tecla Mariam, who fcrupled to take off his cowl ; on which
Guflio violently tore it from his head, daftied it on the floor,
ftamped twice on it with his foot, and then threw it behind
the back of the fofa. At parting, Gufho ordered him five
ounces of gold, a large prefent for one that loved money as
Guflio did, commanding him llriclly to return to his duty
and profeffion, and ordering me to carry him to the king,
and fee him reinflated in his office in the palace.

I THEN defired his permiffion to vifit the fick, and left
^ ipecacuanha and bark with Antonio, (his Greek fervant,)
and dire(5lions how to adminifter them. One of his ne-
phews, (Ayto AderclTon) the young man who had loftGufho's
horfe, had the fmall-pox, upon which I warned Gufho
ferioufly of the danger to which he expofed all his army
if that difeafe broke out amongll them, and advifed him to
fend his nephew forthwith to the church of Mariam, under
the care of the priefts, which he did accordingly.

The t^nt being cleared, he alked me if I had feen Welleta
Selalle ; if I was with her when fhe died ; and who was faid
to have poifoned her, Ras Michael or herfelf, or if I had ever
heard that it was Ozoro F.fther? I told him her friends
had fent for me from the camp, but miffed me, not know-
ing I was at Kofcam with Ayto Confu, who had been
wounded ; but that I could have been of little fervice to
her if they had found me fooner: That flie had fcarce
any figns of life when I entered her room, and died foon
after: That ihe conteffed flie had taken arfenic herfelf, and

named

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 207

named a black fervant of hers, a Mahometan, from whom
Ihe had bought it ; and the reafbn was, licr fears thac her
grandfather, Ras Michael, whom die had always looked up-
on as the murderer of her father, fliould force her when he
retui'ned to Gondar. He fee ncd exceedinglv attentive to-
all I faid, and mufed for a couple of minutes after I had
done fpeaking.

A PLENTIFUL breakfail was then brought us, and many
of his officers fat down to it. I obferved like wife forae peo-
ple of Gondar, who had formerly fled to Faiil at Michael's
firft coming. He faid he wiflied me to bleed him before I
went away, which I affured him I would by no means do,
for if he was well, as I then faw he was, the unnecefTary
bleeding him might occalion licknefs ; and, if he was dan-
geroufly ill, he might die, when the blame would be laid
upon me, and expofe me to mifchicf afterwards. " No, fays
he, I could certainly truft you, nor would any of my people
believe any harm of you ; but I am glad to fee you fo pru-
dent, and that you have a care of my life, for the reafon I
fliall give you afterwards." I bowed, and he made me then
tell him all that pafTed in my vifit to Fafd, which I did,
without concealing any circumftance. All the company
laughed, and he more than any, only faying, " Fafil, Fafd,
thou waft born a Galla, and a Galla thou ilialt die."

Breakfast being over, the tent was cleared, and w£
were again left alone, when he put on a very ferious coun-
tenance. " You know, fays he, you are my old acquain-
tance. I faw you with Michael after the battle of Fagitta,
as alfo the prefents you brought, and heard the letters
read, both thole that came from Meticai Aga, and thofe of
' i> All

'tbS TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

Ali Bey from Cairo. All the Greeks here who have confi-
derable polls, and are proud and vain enough, have yet de-
clared to us feveral times, (as Antonio my fervant did to
me lall night) that, in their own country, the beil of them
are not higher in rank than your lervants ; and that thofe
who hitherto have come into this country were no better.
We know then, and the king is fenfible, that in your own
country you are equal to the beft of us, and perhaps fu-
perior, and as fuch, even in thefe bad times, you have been
treated. Now, this being the cafe, you are wrong to ex-
pofe yourfelf like a common foldier. We all know, and
have feen, that you are a better horfeman, and Ihoot better
than we ; your gun carries farther, becauCe you ul'e leaden
bullets ; fo far is well ; but then you (hould manage this
fo as never to aift alone, or from any thing that can have
the appearance of a private motive ♦." " hir, ("aid I, you
know that when 1 firfl came recommended, as you fay,
into this country, Ayto Aylo, the moll: peaceable, as well
as the wifeft man in it, the Ras, and I believe yourfelf,
but certainly many able and confiderable men who were
fo good as to patrnnize me, did then advife the putting me
into the king's fervice and houfehold, as the only means
of keeping me from robbery and infult. You faid that I
could not be fafe one inilar.t after the king left Gondar,
being a fmgle man, who was fuppofed to have brought
money with him ; that therefore I muft connect myfclf
witli young noblemen, officers of confcquence about court,
whofe authority and friendfliip would keep ill-difpoled
people in awe. The king obferving in me a facility of

managing

* He meant, from tlie infiigaiicn of Ozoro Ellher.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 209

managing my horfe and arms, with which, until that
time, he had been unacquainted, placed me about his per-
fon, both in the palace and in the field, for his own amufe-
ment, and I may fay inftru6tion, and for my fafety ; and
this advice has proved fo good, that I have never once de-
viated from it but rny life has been in danger. The firft
attempt I made to go to the cataradl, Guebra Mehedin
way-laid and intended to murder me. When the king was
in Tigre, Woodage Afahel defigned to do me the fame fa-
vour by the Galla he fent from Samfeen; and fo did Coque
Abou Barea at Degwalla, by the hands of Welleta SelafTe.
No fafety, therefore, then remained to me but in adhering
clofely to the king, as I have ever fince done, and was ad-
vifed from the firll to do, which indifpenfibly brought me
to Serbraxos, or wherever he was in perfon. You cannot
think it is from a motive of choice that a white man like
myfelf runs the rifk of lofmg his life, or limbs, fo far from
home, and where there is fo little medical ailiflance, in a
war where he has no motive that can concern him."

" Do not miftake me, Yagoube, fays Guflio, your beha-
viour at Sebraxos does you honour, and will never make
you an enemy, fo does the like affair with Kefla Yafous ;
there is no man you can fo properly connecft yourfelf with
as Kefla Yafous ; all 1 wanted to obferve to you is, that it is
faid Woodage Afahel v/oukl have efcaped fafely from the
mountain if you had not lliot him, and that yours was the
only mufquet that was fired at him ; which is thought
invidious in you, being a llranger, as lie is the head of
the Edjow Galla, the late king's guards ; they may yet return
toGondar, and will look npon you as their enemy, becaufe

YoL. 1 V. D d a leaden

2IO TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

a leaden bullet was found in Woodage Afahel's body fired at
him by you." — " Sir,faid I, it is very feldom a man in fuch
a cafe as this can have the power of vindicating himfelf to
convi(5tion, but that I now happily can do. All the Greeks
in the king's army, their fons and families, all Mahometans,
who have been in Arabia, India, or Egypt, ufe leaden bul-
lets. The man who lliot Woodage Alahel is well known
to you. He is the king's old cook, Sebaftos, a man paft fe-
venty, who could not be able to kill a fheep till fomebody
firft tied its legs. He himfelf informed the king of what
he had done, and brought witneffes in the ufual form,
claiming a reward for his action, which he obtained. It
was faid that I, too, killed the man who carried the red
flag of Theodorus at Scrbraxos, though no leaden bullet, I
believe, was found in him. A foldier picked up this flag
upon the field, and brought it to me. I paid him, indeed,
for his pains ; and, when I prefented the flag to the kino-,
told him what 1 had feen, that the bearer of it had fallen
by a fliot from Guebra Mafcal. I had not a gun in my
hand all that day at Serbraxos, nor all that other day when
Woodage Afahel was flain. I faw him pafs within lefs
than ten yards where I was Handing behind the king, in
great health and fpirits, with two other attendants ; but,
fo far from firing at him, 1 was very anxious in my own
mind that he fhould get as fafely out of the camp as he had
gallantly, though imprudently, forced himfelf into it. It is
not a cullom known in my country for oflicers to be em-
ployed to pick out diilinguiflied men at fuch advantage, nor
would it be confidered there as much better than murder:
certainly no honour would accrue from it. But when means
are neceflfary to keep officers of the enemy at a proper dif-

tance,

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 211

tance, for confequences that might other wife follow, there
are common foldiers chofen for that purpofe, and for which
they are not the more efteemed. This, however, I will con-
fefs to you, that when either the king's horfes or mine went
down to Deg Ohha to water, and never but then, I fat upon
the rock above, and did all in my power to protecl: them,
and the men who were with them, and to terrify the enemy
who came to moleft them, by Ihewing the extenfive range of
our rifle guns ; and that very day when Ayto Tesfos arrived,
fome of his troops having driven ofF the mules, among
which were two of mine, I did, I confefs, with my own
hand flioot four of them from the rock, and at laft obliged
the reft to keep at a greater dillance ; but as for Woodage
Afahel, I difown having had arms in my hand the day he
entered the camp, or having been abfent, till late in the
evening, from the king's perfon."

Now, all this is very well, continued Guflio ; who killed
Theodorus, or the man at Serbraxos ; who killed Ayto Tes-
fos's men, is no objecft of inquiry ; Deg-Ohha was within -
the line of the king's camp, and they that wanted to deprive
him of this poiTcffion, or the ufe of it, did it at their peril.
If you had fhot Ayto Tesfos himfelf, attempting to deprive
you of water for the camp, no man in all Amhara would
have faid you did wrong ; but I am very much pleafed
with what you tell me of Woodage Afahel. The lliort, yel-
low man, who breakfafted with you, was one of thofe two
who accompanied Woodage Afahel when he was fhot^
and is a friend of mine; he brought word that he was
killed by a frank, and the leaden bullet fix'd it upon
you." '

Dd2 This

212 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

This man was now immediately called for. He went
by the nickname of Gou/, or the Giant, from his fmall fize
and debility of body. " Is this your man, fays Guflio, who
fliot Woodage Afahel on the hill ?" " O, by no means, fays
Goul ; he was an old man with a long grey beard, and a
white cloth round his head. This man I know well. I faw
him with Fafil. This is Yagoube, the king's friend; he
would not do fuch a thing." " No, certainly he would nor,
fays Gu(ho, and fo mind that you tell Woodage Afahel's
friends." Upon this he withdrew. And now, fays Gufho,
talk no more upon this affair, I will take the rell upon my-
felf. There is a fcrvant of Metical Aga's now in the camp,
fent over by defire of your friends and countrymen * at Jid-
da, to know if you are alive and well. He has alfo a mef-
fage to the king, and perhaps I may fend him to the camp
to-morrow, but more probably defer it till we meet at Gon-
dar. Meantime, remember my injuncflion to you, to keep
clofe by the perfon of the king, and then no accident
can befal you in the confufion that will foon happen. I
thanked him for his friendly advice, which I promifed to
follow. I then allced for Ayto Confu and Engedan, as alfo
for Metical Aga's fcrvant, but he anfwered, I could not then,
fee them.

He had now in his hand, fome filk paper, in which they
generally wrap their ingots of gold, and he was preparing
to flip this into my hand at parting, in the fame manner
we do the fee of a phyfician in Europe. " You forget,
faid I, what you mentioned in the morning, that I am no

caft-

* Cajtain Thomas Price of tlrj Lyon ax Bombay..

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 213

caft-away, no Greek nor Armenian fervant, but perhaps of
equal rank to yourfelves : if I wanted money, Metical Aga's
fervant would procure it for me upon demand. It is your
wife and two daughters who are ill ; and when you fliall
hereafter be great, and governing every thing at Gondar,
I will by them put you in mind of any piece of friendfliip
I may ftand in need of at your hand ; and you fliall grant
it." — " You are a good prophet, Yagoube, fays he ; and fo
I ihall ; bat remember my advice ; I know you are a friend
of Ozoro Efther, but £he cannot protedt you ; Ozoro Altafli*
may: the bell of all is to keep clofc to the king, to defend
yourfelf if any body molefts you on your way to Gondar,
and leave the reft to me.

An officer was now appointed to conduft me acrofs the
plain, and feveral fervants laden with fifli and fruit. About
a hundred yards from the tent, a man muffled up met me,
whom I found to be a fervant of Engedan. " Your army
will diihand, fays he to me, in a low tone of voice ; keep
by the king, or Aylo my matter's brother, and he will
bring you over here." Having left him, we continued a-
crofs the plain, and faw feveral fmall parties of horfe pa-
troling, but they came not near us. My conducT:or faid they
were Galla, waiting for fome opportunity to do mifchief.
He told me that Ozoro Welleta Ifrael, and his fon Ayla,
had joined their army that day with 10,000 men from Go-
jam, to no purpofe at all, continued he, but that of eating
up the country. But your friend the Iteghe could not
fee Ras Michael fall without giving him- a Ihove, though

flie

* Her daughter was married to Fowuflvn^

214 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

flae has flaid till the very laft day before flie ventured, for
fear of accidents. Gufho's men fet the liih down at the
advanced guard, and returned with the officer who had at-
tended me, while I went towards the king's tent, mufmg
what all this might mean, what power was to carry us to
Gondar, difband the army, depofe Michael, and not hurt
the king.

I FOUND the king had not been well, and had taken
warm water to vomit, a remedy I adviCed him fometimes
to make ufe of, not choofmg to venture on all occafions to
give him medicines, and he was then quiet. I therefore
went to Ras Michael, who was alone, and feemingly much
chagrined. He interrogated me flriftly as to what paffcd
between me and Gufho. I told him the difcourfe about
Woodage Afahel's death, and about Fafil ; then about the
fick family I had feen, the offer of money, the fifli, &c.
The fame I repeated when I went back to the king, but
nothing about our meeting at Gondar. I begged, however,
as he flill complained a little of his head, that he would fee
nobody that night, but lie down and compofe himfelf, al-
lowing me to wait in the fecretary's apartment till he fliould
awake. I thought he embraced this propofal willingly,
Ozoro Eflher having had a long conference with him the
night before. I do not imagine the flate of the realm had
much fliare in their converfation. After he was laid down,
I went and found Azage Kyrillos, and with him the beau-
tiful daughter of Tecla Mariam, who was juft dreffed to go
t© Ozoro Eflher's. She faid fhe would either take me along
•with her to Ozoro Efther's, or flay, and the king would fend
us fupper at her father's. I excufed myfelf from either,
on account of the king's indifpofition, and my bufmefs with
3 her

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 215

her father, who, gueTing by my countenance I had fome-
thing material to communicate, fentheron her vifit, and fo
we were left alone.

As he was a man with whom I had always lived in the
mofl confidential friendihip, and knew the fame fubfifted
between him and the king, I made no fcruple to tell him,
word for word, what I had heard from Gufho, and Enge-
dan's fervant. He faid, without any feeming furprife, Why,
we are all worn out, but Hate all this to the king. Soon
after, came in the flave who had the charge of the king's
bed-chamber, and told the fecretary that the king found
himfelf well, only wanted to know what he fhould drink.
I ordered him fome water, with fome ripe tamarinds, a li-
quor he ufually took in time of Lent. See him and advife
him yourfelf, fays the fecretary. I accordingly went in,
and told the king the whole llory. He feemed to be in
great agiration, repeating frequently, " O God ! O God ! O
Guebra Menfus Kedus*!"— " Who is this Guebra Menfus
Kedus ?" faid 1 afterwards to Tecla Mariam, who in his
heart believed in him no more than I did. " Why, anfwer-
ed he gravely, he is a great faint, who never ate or drank
from his mother's womb till his death, faid mafs at Jerufa-
lem every day, and came home at night in form of a ftork."
—" But a bad regimen his, faid I, for fuch violent exercife."
— " That is not all, fays Tecla Mariam, he fought wirh the
devil once in Tigre, and threw him over the rock Amba Sa-
1am, and killed him."—" I wifli you joy, faid I, this h good
news indeed." All this converfation had pafled in half a

whifpcn

*■ Servant of the Holy Ghoft.

2i6 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

whifper. The king was quiet ; but, hearing me fay the
lail words, he ftarted, and cried, " What joy, what good
news, Yagoube ?" — " Why, faid I, Sir, it is only Tecia Ma-
riam informing me that the devil is dead, which is good
news, at lead to me, who always dreaded falling into his
clutches." — " Aye, fays the king, the monks fay fo ; it
muft have been long ago ; but the faint was furely a holy
man."

Though the king was violently agitated, yet he neither
faid that he did or did not underfland what was meant br
Guflio and Engedan, but only ordered me home imme-
diately, faying, " As you value your life, open not your
mouth to man or woman, nor feem to take particular care
about any thing, more than you did before; trufi: ail in the
hands of the Virgin Mary, and Guebra Menfus Kedus."

I NEEDED no incitement to go to my tent, where I went
immediately to bed. I cannot fay but I had a ray of hope
' that Providence had begun the means which were to extri-
cate me out of the difiiculties of my prefent fituarion, bet-^
ter and fooner than I had before imagined; I therefore fell
foon into a profound fleep, fatisiied that I fhould be quickly
called if any thing ailed the king. The lights were nov/
all put out, and, except the cry of the guards going their
rounds, very little noiie in the camp, conlidering the vaft
number of people it contained, I was in a profound fleep
when Francifco, a Greek fervant of the Ras, a brave and
veteran foldier, but given a little to drink, came bawling in-
to my tent, " It is madnefs to lleep at this time." — "I am lure,
fbrid I, very calmly, I fliould be mad if I was not to fleep.
Whv, when would -vou have me to take mvreft? and what
I is

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. ei?

ss the matter ?"— " Get up, cries he, quickly, for we fhall all
be cut to pieces in a minute." — " Then hang me, faid I, if
I don't lie ftill, for if I have no longer to live, it is not worth
while to drefs." — " Fafil (continued he) has furprifed the
camp, and gives no quarter." — " Fafd ! faid I, impollible:
but go to the guard commanded by Laeca Mariam, and if
he has a horfe ready faddled bring him to me."

On this Francifco catchedVp a lance and flileld that were
in my tent, for fear of danger in the way, and ran off. In
a minute he returned to afk the -word. " Googue, faid 1, is
the parole, (it lignifies Owl.) A curfe upon his facher, fays,
he, (meaning the owl's father), and a curfe upon thc-ir
fathers who gave fuch unlucky words for the parole at
night ; no wonder misfortunes happen, fays he, in Greek :
he then returned to the guard under Laeca Mariam. In
the mean time, furveying the camp around, I could not
help doubting the truth of this alarm ; for not a foul was
ftirring about ICefla Yafous's tent, and the light fcarcelyburn-
ing. Un the other hand, however, there Teemed feveral in t:ie
tent of the Ras, and people moving abcut it, though the
Tigre guard around v^ere quiet, who, I 'Knew well, would
have been alarmed by the motion of a moufe.

There was, however, Hill a light, and an unufual noife in
the upper end of the camp to the N. h. Francifco now re-
turned from the king's tent, and, without my fpeaking to
him, faid, in a great palfion, " Thofe black fellows are all
become mad ; you don't keep them in any fort of order."
*' Has Laeca Mariam got ready a horfe for me, faid I ; where
is he ?" — " When I delivered your orders, replied Francifco,
to have a horfe ready for you, he faid there were fifty, but
did not fuppofe you intended gallopnig to-night." Fran-

VoL. IV. Ec cifco

3i8 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

cifco continued, " I told him Fafil was in the camp ; at
which he laughed outright, faid I was drunk, and wonder-
ed you had given me the parole with a curfe upon its fa-
ther ; a great catch this word, to be fure, it will make me
rich." " I am afraid, faid I, friend, Laeca Mariam hath fta-
ted the truth ; at leafl I never heard of an army cut to
pieces fo very quietly as ours is." While I was fpeaking, the
flambeaux at the Ras's tent were all fuddenly lighted, which
was like wife done by Kefla Yafous, all the general officers,
and laftly from the king's tent. This is a kind of torch, or
flambeau, ufed by the janizary Aga, at Cairo and Conflan-
tinople, when he patroles the ftreets ; in the night-time
it is lighted, but the fire does not appear till you whirl
it three or four times round your head, and then it burfts
out into a bright flame. Michael had fixteen always on the
guard, ever fince the attempt upon his life by the Gurague.
In a moment all the camp was lighted, and the people
awakened, whilft, as nobody knew the reafon, the tumult
increafed. Francifco, with great exultation, upon feeing
the Ras's torches lighted, cried, " See who is drunk now ;
where are your jokes ? this will be a fine night, and no-
body is armed." " Sir, faid I, you faw Laeca Mariam and
his guard armed ; fo is every other guard in the camp as
much as ever ; and you may thank God you have my fer-
vant's lance and fhield, fo you are armed. I may drink
coffee, though I very much fear there may be fome embroil
on foot, of which you may be yourfelf part of the occafion.
Go, however, to the Ras's tent, and afk if he has any orders
for me."

In fhort, we foon after found that the caufe of all this
difliirbance v/as, that fome part of Tesfos's men had come
to the back of the camp and attempted to recover the mules

which

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 21^

which had been taken from them ; and they had fucceeded
in part, when they were difcovered, purfued, and fome of
the mules retaken. At the fight of armed men running up
and down the hill, an alarm fpread that nobody knew the
occafion of, till the Ras caufed the mule-keeper to be baf-
tinado'd in the morning. That day, the 26th, we received
advice, that the Edjow Galla, and fome other horfe of the
fame diftrid, had malTacred ail the people they met on their
way to and from Gondar, and that a body of troops had
marched into the town, which threatened to fet it on fire if
any more provilions were fent to the camp.

We were now without food or water ; a great council
was therefore held, in which it was agreed to decamp the
a§th in the night, and return to Gondar on the 29th, in the
morning. A prefent of frelh provifions had been fent to
Ras Michael, and, in one of the bafkets, a number of torch-
es. A melTage was alfo delivered from Gulho, " That as
he was informed the Ras intended travelling in the night,
that therefore he had fent him flore of torches, left he
Ihould miftake his way to Gondar by having burnt all he
had by him in the laft night's alarm about Fafil." He de-
clared, moreover, in name of all the Confederates, that it
was their refolution not to moleft him in his march ; that
the whole kingdom was in alliance with them to fave the
effufion of blood, now abfolutely unneceflary, and to meet
and treat with him at Gondar.

Upon receipt of this meflage, with the torches, the Ras
flew into a moft furious paflion. He called for Kefla Ya-
fous and Guebra Mafcal, and fharply upbraided them with
having betrayed him to his enemies. He gave orders to

E e 2 the

aio TRAVELS TO DISCOVER.

the troops to refrefh themfelves, for he was that day refol-
ved to try the fortune of another battle. To this, however^
it was replied by all the principal officers, That the army
was ftarving, therefore a refrefliment at this time was out
of the queftion, and that fighting was as much fo ; for Gu-
Iho, having fent to the Abuna and to the King, had folemn-
ly excommunicated his whole army if any harm was of-
fered to them in perfon or baggage, if they marched direcft-
ly back to Gondar that night, as they had of their own accord,
before intended ; and that the army was refolved, therefore,-
as one man, to return ; and, if tlie Ras did not agree
to it, there was great fear they would difband in the night,
and leave him in the hands of the enemy, without terms.
The Ras was now obliged to make a virtue of neceffity; and
it was given in orders, that the army fhould be ready to de-
camp at eight in the evening, but nobody fliould ilrike
their tent before that hour on pain of death. The old ge-
neral was afliamed to be feen for the firll time flying be-
fore his enemies.

It was plain to be read in everybody's countenance,
that this refolution was agreeable to them all. I confefs,.
however, that I thought the meafure a very dangerous one,
conlidcring how much blood the king's army had fo lately
fpilt, and the ordinary prejudices univerfally adopted in
that country, allowing to every individual the right of re-
taliation. Before 1 llruck my tent, 1 called Yallne to me^
and told him that Ayto Confu, being wounded and a pri-
foner, myfelf neceflarily obliged to attend the king, and
the event of that night's retreat unknown to any body, I
thought he could do neither himfelf nor me any further
fervice by ftaying where he was i that therefore, fo long as.

the

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. m

the road to Azazo was open to him, he fhould march thro^
Dembea, as if going to Faiil, then turn on the right behind
the hills of Kofcam, and make the bell of his way to Ras
el Feel, in which government he fhould maintain the llric-
teft difcipline, and be particularly careful of the intrigues
of Abd el Jeleel, the former governor, whofe application I
flaould defeat if I had any intereft, or if the king remain-
ed, both which I thought very improbable. I annexed,
moreover, this condition, that on his part he fhould be ac-
tive and unwearied in procuring information concerning
the propereit way of my attempting to reach Sennaar ; I en-
joined him alfo to be very circumllantial in all the advices
which he fent to me at Gondar ; that they fhould be writ-
ten in Arabic, and fent dire6lly to me by my black fervant
Soliman,who was with him, and told him that I myfelf fliould
join him as foon as poflible. Yafme, with tears in his eyes,
protefled againfl leaving me in the dangerous fituation of
that night ; he faid we fhould be all cut to pieces as foon as
we were in the plain, and that there was not a man of the
troops under him who would not rather die with me, than
abandon me to be murdered by the hands of thefe faithlefs
Chriilian dogs, who never were to be bound by oath or pro-
mife. He faid, it would be incomparably fafer, as tliey
were all under my command, that I fhould put myfelf at
their head, and continue my march to Ras el Feel, where,
if I was once an-ived, Ayto Confu's troops, being behind
me at Tcherkin, (that is, between me and Gondar), I;
might, at my own leifure, folicit a fafe CQndu(5t to Sen-
naar.

I CONFESS this propofal at firfl flruck me as extremely fea-
£ible ; but receding on my foiemn promife to the kmg, not

to

222 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

to leave him without his dired permiffion, that Gufho had
affured me of fafety if I kept clofe to his perfon, that it
would be a breach of trull to leave my Greek fervant un-
provided at Gondar, and that forfaking my inftruments
would have the efFedl of making my return through the de-
fert imperfea,— I rejedted this propofal, and difmifled Yafine,
with orders to adhere inviolably to the inftrudions 1 had
given him.

As for the king himfelf, his countenance was not chan-
ged, nor did he fay to me one word that day in confidence,
whether he did or did not intend to return to Gondar.

As no body knew what conditions were made, or whether
any were really made at all, fear kept the common foldiers
under obedience till it was night. The firfl who began to
file off, it being near dark, were the women, who carried
the mills, jars, and the heavy burdens ; thefe were in great
numbers. Soon after, the foldiers were in motion, and the
Ras and the King's tents were ftruck juft as it was night ;
darknefs freed the whole army from obedience to orders,
and a confufion, never to be forgot or defcribed, prefently
followed, every body making the befl of their way to get
fafe down the hill. At firft fetting out I kept clofe by the
king ; bur, without treading upon, or riding over a number
of people, I could not keep my place. I was now, for the
firft time, on one of the ftrong black horfies that came laft
from Sennaar, given me by the king, and he was fo impa-
tient and fretful at beii;g preffed on by the crowd of men
and beafts, that there was no keeping him within any fort
of bounds. The defcent c^' the hill had become very llip-
4 pery.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 223

pery, and men, horfes, and mules were rolling promifcuouf-
ly over one another.

I RESOLVED to try for myfelf fome other way that might
be lefs thronged. " I went to the place where Woodage A-
fahel defcended when he was (hot by Sebaftos ; but the
ground there was more uneven, and fully as much crowd-
ed. I then crofled the road to the eaftward, where the Ras's
tent ftood, and where Kefla Yafous's two nephews had gone
round to diflodge Ayto Tesfos : there was a confideraBle
number of people even here, but it was not a croud, and
they were moftly women. I determined to attempt it, and
got into a fmall flanting road, which I hoped would con-
dudt me to the bed of the torrent ; but I found, upon going
half way down the hill, that, in place of a road, it had been
a hollow made by a torrent, which ended on a precipice,
and below, and on each fide of this, the hill was exceedingly
fteep, the fmall diftance 1 could fee.

Ik Abyflinia, the camp-ovens for making their bread are
in form of two tea-faucers joined bottom to bottom, and are
fomething lefs than three feet in diameter, being made of
a light, beautiful potter's ware, which, although red when
firft made, turns to a gloffy black colour after being greaied
wuh butter. This being placed upright, a fire of charcoal
is put under the bottom-part ; the bread, made like pan-
cakes, is pafted all within the fide of the upper cavity, or
bowl, over which is laid a cover of the lame form or lliape.
It is in form of a broad wheel, and a woman carries one of
thele upon her back for baking bread in the camp. It hapn
pened that, jufl as I was deliberating whether to pro-
ceed or return, a woman had rolled one of thefe down the

hill

.«44 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

hill on purpofe, or let it fall by chance: whichever was the
cafe, it came bounding, and jull pait behind my hwrle. Whe-
ther it touched him or not I cannot tell ; but ir determined
him, without further deliberation, to fpurn all coiuroul of
his rider. On the finl leap that he made it was wiih the ut-
moft difficulty I avoided going over his head; I will not
pretend to fay what followed. 1 was deprived of all lenfe
or refledion, till Humbling often, and Hiding down upon
his haunches oftener, 1 found myfelf at the bottom of the
hill perfetT:ly Itupified with fear, but f.ife and found in body,
though my faddle was lying upon the horfe's neck.

Soon after, I faw a fire lighted on the top of the hill above
"where Ras Michael's tent flood, and 1 did not doubt but
that it was the work of- fome traitor, as a fignal to the re-
bels that we were now in the plain in the greateil confu-
iion. 1 made all haite therefore to go rouid and join the
ting, palled Deg-Ohha incim>bercd with carcafes of men.
and hearts, from which, as wt 11 as from the bottom of the
hill, a terrible flench arofe, which muft foon have forced us
out of the camp if we had not refolved, of our own accord,
to remove. A little further in the opening to the river Ma-
riam, I found myielf in the middle of about twenty perfons,
three or four of whom were upon mules, in long clean
white clothes, as if in peace, the refl apparently foldieis;
this was Engedan's brother, A)Io, whom I was pafTing with-
out rec'Olecting him, v.hen he ciicd. Where do you come
from, Yagoube ? this is not a night for white men like you
to be alone ; come with me, and I will carry you to your
friend Engedan. My horfe, replied I, found a new way for
jtfelf down the hill, and I confefs I would rather be alone
than with ih much company: our colour by this ligiitfeems
2 to

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE, 225

to be pretry much the fame. Remember me to Engedan, I
am feeking to join the king. ,

Immediately after, I got into the crowd : though they
were now in the plain, they ftill kept in a line clofe to the
foot of the mountain, as in fear of the enemy's horfe. I
pafTed on at as brilk a walk as my horfe could go ; nor was
I fo tender of thofe who were before me in the plain as I
had been on the fide of the hill. Among thofe that were
ftill in th€ crowd, that had not got yet down the hill, I
heard the Abuna's fervant faying they had loft their mules,
and denouncing excommunication and curfes againil thofe
who had ftolen his baggage. I could not refrain fr^m'^ fit
of laughter at the ftupidity of that pried, to think zuj man
of fuch a nation would pay attention to his anathemas in
fuch a fcene. Soon after, however, 1 overtook the Abuna
himfelf, with Ozoro Altalli. He aflced me in Arabic, and
in a very mournful tone of voice, what I thought they were
going to do ? I anfwered, in the fame language, " Pray for
them, father, for they know not what to do." Ozoro Altalli
Tiow told me the king was a great way before them, with
Ras Michael, and advifed me to ftay and accompany her.
As fhe fpoke this confidently, and it was part of the advice
■Gufho had given me if I mifled the king, I was deliberating
what courle i ihould purfue, when a great noile of horle
and men was heard on the fide of the plain, and prefently
the Abuna and Ozoro Altafli were furrounded by a large
•body of horfemen, whofe cries and language I did not un-
derftand, and whom therefore I took for Galla, As I found
inv horfe ftrong and willing, and being alone, and unincum-
l)ered with baggage, I thought it was better to keep free,
and not truft to who thcfe flrangers might be. I therefore

Vol. IV. F f got

226 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

got out of the line of the troops towards the plain, fpurred
my horfe, and arrived at the body of cavalry where the
king was.

As I had a white turban upon my head, (having {haved
the fore part of it after the blow I had received from the
ftone) I was employed taking this off before I prefented
myfelf to the king, when fomebody faid out loud, Ozoro
Eilher is taken prifoner. Ras Michael anfwered. That is im-
poflible; Ozoro Efther is here. It is Ozoro Altafh and the
Abuna, faid I, from behind ; I came juft now from them»
By whom are they taken ? fays the king. By the Galla, I
bel'^ve, anfwered I ; at leaft by men whofe language I did
not underftand, though indeed I took no time to confider,
but they are clofe in our rear, and I fuppofe they will be
here prefently. Here ! fays the Ras, what will they do
here ? It muft be Powuflen, and the troops of Lafla, to re-
cover his mother-in-law, that flie may not go to Gondar ;:
and it is the Tcheratz Agow language that Yagoube has
taken for Galla. It is fo, fays another horfeman ; the people
of Lafta have carried her off, but without hurting any body.
Tliis I thought a good fign, and that they were under or-
ders, for a bloodier or more cruel race was not in the army,
the Galla not excepted ; and they had met with their deferts>
and had fuffered confiderably in the courfe of this fliort:
campaign..

The whole road was now as fmooth as a carpet ; and we
had fcarce done fpeaking when Ras Michael's mule fell
flat on the ground, and threw him upon his face in a fmall
puddle of water. He was quickly lifted up unhurt, and fet
upon his mule again. We paffed the Mogetch, and at about

4 200

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. Itf

aoo yards from the bridge, upon ground equally plain
as the former, the mule fell again, and threw the Ras ano-
ther time in the dirt, on which a general murmur and
groan was heard from all his attendants, for every body
interpreted this as an omen that his power and fortune
/ were gone from him for ever. Another mule was fpeedily
brought, but he refufed to mount it, and we pafTed on by
the Mahometan town, and up to Confu's houfe, by Aylo
Meidan. I could not, however, help refleding how juftly
the Ras was now punifhed for the murder of the fmgers in
that very fpot, when he returned from Mariam-Ohha and
entered Gondar. The king went dire^ftly to the palace, the
Ras to his own houfe, and, by the fecretary's advice, I went
with him to that of the Abuna, where I left my Greek fer-
vants with my gold chain, and fome trifles I wanted to pre-
ferve, together with my inilruments. I then drefTed myfelf
in the habit of peace, and returned to the palace, where, re-
membering the advice of Gullio, I refolved to exped my fate
with the king. Upon feeing me with the fore part of my
head fhaven, and remembering the caufe, as his firft mark
of favour he ordered me to cover my head, a thing other-
wife not permitted in the king's prefence to any of his
houfehold.

The king's fervants brought meabuU's hide for my bed;
:and although many a night I have wanted reil upon lefs
dangerous occafions, I fcarcely ever flept more foundly, till
I heard the cracking of the whips of che Serach MalTery,
about five o'clock in the morning of the 29th. He performs
this funiftion much louder than a French poililion upon
finilhing a poft, it being the fignal for the king to rife. There
was, indeed, no occafion for this cuilom, now there was no

F f 2 court,

228 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

court, nor judgment of caufes civil or criminal. The palace
was quite deferted ; even the king's Haves, of both fexes,
(fearing to be carried off to Begemder and Amhara) had
hid themfelves among the monks, and in the houfes of
private friends, fo that the king was left with very few at-
tendants.

SRi"" '^i*^

CHAF,

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 229

j:^k- ^^

CHAP. X.

ReM Army invep Gondar — Kings Troops deliver up their Arms — fher
Murderers of Joas ajfajfinated — Giifio made Ras — Ras Michael car-
ried away Rrifoner by Powujfen — Iteghes return to Kojcam — Fafd
<irrives at Gondar — King acknowledged by all Parties — Bad ComiuB
ofGiipo — Obliged to fy^ but is taken and put in Irons.

ABOUT eight o'clock in the morning of the 29th of
May, the day immediately following the night of our
retreat, came Gviflio's Fit- Auraris, and marked out the camp
for his mailer between the Mahometan town and the church
of Ledeta, on the very fpot where Michael had encamped
after his late return from Tigre ; Coque Abou Barea from
Ledeta to Kofcam ; Aylo and Ayabdar on the other fide of
the Kahha, in a line paffing by Kedus Raphael, the Abuaa's
houfe at the foot of the mountain, above Debra Berhan ;
Ayto Tesfos in the valley below, by the lide of the Angr^ib ;
on the road from Woggora to Gondar, and all along rhe

Angrab,

230 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

Angrab, till it joined the Kaliha, and Kafmati Gufho's camp,
were PowufTen and the reft of the confederate army ; fo
that by nine o'clock the town was completely invefted, as if
a wall had been built round it. The water being all in
poffefTion of the enemy, centinels were by them placed a-
long the banks of each river, with orders to fuffer every
townfman to fill fingle jars, fuch as one man or woman
could carry, and to break any fupernumerary jars, that
might be brought by way of fecuring a larger provifion*.
All the people of confequence who had property in and a-
"bout Gondar, who had fled to Fafil and to the provinces,
from fear of Ras Michael when he returned from Tigre,
had gone back upon Gufho's word, each man to his houfe;
Gondar was full of men in arms. In Gufho's and Ayabdar's
army, and depending on them, was the property of all
Gondar. Ras Woodage, Guflio's father, and brother
to Ayabdar, had been Ras in Yafous' time, till he died,
univerfally beloved and regretted; Ayto Engedan and Ay-
lo, fons of Kafmati Eflite, (by a fifter of king Yafous) had
the property of near one half of the town. Though Enge-
dan was prifoner, and Aylo had married Ras Michael's
daughter, they were, by intereft and inclination, united to
Guflio, and had ferved Michael only through fear, from at-
tachment to the king, fo that Guflio and Ayabdar were the
only citizens in whom the inhabitants of Gondar confided.
PowufTen, and the reft, were looked upon as free-booters in
their inclinations, at leaft by the townfmen ; very little bet-
ter than Michael, or his troops of Tigre.

From

* For extlnguifliing fire.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 231

From the moment the town was invefled, and indeed in
the field, before Guflio had taken the lead, and though
neither Ayabdar nor Powuflen were his friends, all Gon-
dar was at his command ; and in it an army infinitely fu-
perior in number and riches, now they had got fuch a
chieftain, to all the Confederates put together, and Michael's
army added to them. Gufho, a man of great underftand-
ing, born and bred in Gondar, knew this perfectly well,
and that he alone was looked up to as the father of his coun-
try. He knew, moreover, that he could not ruin Michael
fo efifedtually as to lodge him fafely in Gondar, amidft a
multitude of enemies, and blockade him there before he
had time for refources. He therefore detached Ay to Tes-
fos, the very day he arrived before the town, after Darien,.
Bafl-ia of Belelfin, whom Ras Michael had fent before him
into Woggora to effect a pafTage through that province in-
to Tigre by fair means, promifes, and prefents. Tesfos
came up with Darien before he had time to enter upon his
commiifion, and, having beaten and taken him prifoner^
raifed all Woggora in arms againft Michael, fo that not a.
man could longer pafs between Tigre and Gondar.,

No perfon from the rebel army had yet entered Gondar^
The king's fecretary, Azage Kyrillos, a relation of Guflio,
had gone to his camp the day of his arrival. The fame
day the kettle-drums v/ere brought to the brink of Kah-
ha, and a proclamation made. That all foldiers of the pro-
vince of Tigre, or who had bore arms under Ras Michael,
fliould, on the morrow before mid-day, bring their arms,
offenfive andjdiefenfive, and deliver them on a fpot fixed up-
on near the church of Ledeta, to commillaries appointed
for the purpofe of receiving them ; with further intimation

to

i^2 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

to the inhabitants of Gondar, That any arms found in any
houfe in that town, after noon of the day of proclama-
tion, fhould fubje6l the owner of fuch houfe and arms to
death, and the houfe, or houfes, to be razed to their foun-
dation.

The firft of ttie Tigre troops who fet this example was
Guebra Malcal ; he carried down to the place appointed,
and furrendered, about 6000 mufquets, belonging to the
Ras and his family ; all the reft of the principal officers
followed, for the inhabitants of Gondar were willing inqui-
fitors, fo that the whole arms were delivered before the
hour appointed, and locked up in the church of Ledeta, un-
der a ilrong guard both without and within the church. The
Tigre foldiers, after furrendering their arms, were not-fuf-
fered to depart, but a fpace was afligned between Gulho's
tent and the town, where they were difpofed that night,
and centinels placed upon them, that they might not dif-
perfe. This indeed was needlefs ; for they were every day
furrounded with troops and enemies, fo that all their wealth
remained with their landlords in Gondar, which home they
were not fufFered again to enter, a meafure which greatly
added to Guflio's popularity in the town. A great number
of flour facks were brought down to Gufho's camp, and
many mules, loaded therewith, were delivered to the dif-
armed army, fufficient to carry them by fpeedy marches
to their own country, for which they had orders to fet out
the next morning.

Kefla Yasous alone, with about 400 men, had fhut

himlclf up in the church of Debra Berhan, where there

was water, and he had carried in fufficient proviiions for

I . ' feveral

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 233

feveral days. He refufed therefore to furrender upon the
o-eneral fummons ; on which PowufTen, who was encamped
immediately below him, fent an officer to require him to
fubmit, which he not only peremprorily refufed, but told
the officer, that, unlefs he inftantly retired, he would give
orders to fire upon him, as he had a treaty with Guiho, and,
till that was ratified by Gufho himfelf, he would not furren-
der, nor fuffer any other perfon to approach his poft ; at any
rate, that he did not intend to furrender to a man of Powuf-
fen's low birth, however high his prefent poft had raifed
him, which he no longer acknowledged, being the mere
gift of Michael, one complaint againft whom was that of
levelling and confounding the nobility with their infe-
riors.

GuSHo accordingly fent an officer, a man of great cha-
rader, and a relation of the kmg, with a confirmation of
his promife; whereupon Kefla Yafous furrendered, and
fent down his foldiers, with what arms he pleafed, to Gu-
flio's camp, carrying the reft privately to his own houfe, to
which he retired that very evening. Kefla Yafous was
much beloved by the inhabitants of Gondar, though a Ti-
gran, and perhaps in neither party was there a man fo uni-
verfally efteemed. He had done the townfmen often great
fervice, having always flood between Michael and them in
thofe moments of wrath and vengeance when no one elfe
dared to fpeak ; and, in particular, he had faved the town
from burning that morning the Ras had retired with the
king to Tigre,when warned, as he faid, by an apparition of
Michael the archangel, or more probably of the devil, to put
the inhabitants of Gondar to the fword, and fet the city on
fire; a meafure that was fuppoited by Nebrit Tecia, and

Vol. IV. G g Several

234 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

feveral other leading men among the Tigrans. If the devil
can fpeak true, here furely was one example of it, Gondar
that very day had proved fatal to the Ras ; and Kefla Ya-
fous himfelf told me, long after Michael was gone, and all
was peace, that having vifited him that very evening he left
Debra Berhan, Michael had privately upbraided him with
having prevented his burning the town, and told him, that
his guardian fpirit, Saint Michael the archangel, or the de-
vil, or whatever we may pleafe to call it, had left him, and
never appeared to him again fmce he had pafled the river
Tacazze on his return to Gondar ; and to this he attribu-
ted his prefent misfortunes.

All the king's arms were furrendered with the reft, and
Kefla Yafous was the only man that remained unfubdued,
a diftinftion due to his fuperlative merit, and preferved to
him by his enemies themfelvcs in the very heat of con-
quefl.

As for the Ras, he had continued in the houfe belonging
to his office, vifited only by fome private friends, but had
fent Ozoro Eflher to the heghe's at Kofcam, as foon as he
entered Gondar. He ate, drank, and flept as ufual, and rea-
foned upon the event that had happened with great equa-
nimity and fceming indifference. There was no appearance
of guards fet upon him ; but every motion and look were
privately, but llricflly watched. The next day, when he
heard how ill his difarmed men were treated by the popu-
lace, when, they were difmilTed to Tigre, he burfl into tears,
and cried out in great agony, Had I died before this I had
been happy. He played no more at drafts, by which game
formerly he pretended to divine the ifllie of every affair of

confequence,

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 22>s

confequence, but gave his draft-board and men to a private
friend ; at the fame time renouncing his pretended divina-
tions, as deceitful and fmful, by the confidence he had pla-
ced in them.

The king behaved with the greateft firmnefs and compo-
fare ; he was indeed graver than ufual, and talked lefs, but
was not at all dejeaed. Scarce any body came near him
the firft day, or even the fecond, excepting the priefts, fome
of the judges, and old inhabitants of the town, who had ,
taken no part. Some of the priefls and monks, as is their
cuftom, ufed certain liberties, and mixed a confiderable de-
gree of impertinence in their converfations, hinting it as
doubtful, whether he would remain on the throne, and men-
tioning it, as on the part of the people, that he had imbibed
from Michael a propenfity towards cruelty and bloodflied,
what fome months ago no man in Gondar dared to have fur-
mifed for his life. Thefe he only anfwered with a very fevere
look, but faid nothing. One of thefe fpeeches being report-
ed to Gufho, not as a complaint from the king, but through
a by- (lander who heard it, that nobleman ordered the offen-
der (a prieft of Erba Tenfa, a church in Woggora) to be
llript naked to his waift, and whipt with thongs three times
round Aylo Mcidan, till his back was bloody, for this vio-
lation of the majefty of the fovereign : and this example,
which met with the public approbation of all parties, the
clergy only excepted, very much lefTened that infolencc
which the king's misfortunes had excited.

He had ate nothing the firft day but a fmall piece of
wheat-loaf, dividing the reft among the few fervants that

G g 2 attended

:z:^6 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

attended him, who had all fared better than he, among?
their friends in town, though they did not own it. The
fecond day began in the fame ftile, and lafted till noon^
without any appearance of provifions. After the furren,
dry of the arms, however, came great plenty, both from the
town and the camp, and fo continued ever after ; but he ate
very fparingly, though he had generally a very good appetite^
and ordered the rcfidue to be given, to his fervants, or the
poor about the gates of the palace, many of whom,
he faid, mull llarve by the long ilay of fo large an army.
He feemed to be totally forgotten. About three o'clock of
the fecond day came his fecretary from Gufho, ftaid about
an hour, and returned immediately ; but what had paffed
I did not hear, at leaft at that time. There was no alteration
in his looks or behaviour. He went early to bed, and had not
yet changed the cloachs in which he came from the camp.

The next day the unfortunate troops of Tigre, loaded
with curfes and opprobrious language, pelted with ftones
and dirt, and a few way-laid and flain for private injuries^
were condu(5led up the hill above Debra Berhan, on th<i
road through Woggora to Tigre, by a guard of horfe from
Guflio's camp, who protecffcd them with great humanit}"'
as far as they were able ; but it Vv'as out of the power of
any force but that of an army to proted: them from the
enraged populace, over whom they had tyrannifed fo many
years. Arrived at the river Angrab, in the rear of Powuf-
fcn's army, they were configncd to him, and he delivered
them to Ayto Tesfos, who was toefcortthem acrofs the Ta-
cazze. Many of the mob, however, continued to purfue
them even farther ; but thcfe were all to a man difarmecl,
and ftript naked, on their return to Gondar, by Tesfos and
PowufTen's foldiers, who juRIy judged, that in the like

fituatioii

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 237

iimation they would themfelves have met with no better
treatment.

While every rank of people was intent upon this fpec-
tacle, a body of Galla, belonging to Maitiha, Hole privately
into the town, and plundered feveral houfes : they came
next into the king's palace, and into the prefence-chamber,
where he was futing alone in an alcove, whilft, juft by his
fide, but out of fight, and without the alcove, I and two of
his fervants were fitting on the floor. This room, in the
time of Yafous and the Iteghe, (the days of luxury and
fplendour of the AbyfTmian court), had' been magnificently
hung with mirrors, brought at great expence from Venice,
byway of Arabia and the Red Sea; tliefe were very neatly fix-
ed in copper-gilt frames by fome Greek fiiligrane- workers
from Cairo; but the mirrors were now moflly broken by
various accidents, cfpecially wheirthe palace was fet on fire,
in Joas's time, upon Michael's coming from the campaign
of Begemden Thefe favages, though they certainly faw
the king at the other end of the room, attached themfelves
to the glafs nearefl the door, which was a large oblong
one, and after they had made many grimaces, and a variety
of antics before it, one of them flruck it jull in the middle
with the butt-end of his lance, and broke it to fliivers,
which fell tinkling on the floor. Some of thefe pieces
they took up, but in the end they were moftly reduced to
powder with the repeated ftrokes of their lances. There
were three glafles in the alcove where the king fat, as al-
fo one in the wings on each fide without the alcove ; un-
der the king's right hand we three were fitting, and the
Galla were engaged with a mirror near the door, at the o-t
ther end of the room, on the left fide, fo that there was.:

bu|:

238 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

but one glafs more to break before they arrived at thofc
in the alcove where the king was fitting.

I WAS in great fear of the confequences, as they were
about thirteen or faurteen in number ; nor did we know
how many more of their companions might be below, or
in the town, or of what party they were, nor whether re-
finance on our part was lawful. We three had no arms but
a fhort knife at our girdle, nor had the king any, fo that
we were in the greateft fear that, if their humour of break-
ing the glalTes had continued when they came near the
king, he w^ould ilrike one of them, and we fliould be all
maffacred : We all three therefore got up and flood before
the king, who made a gentle motion with his hand, as if
to fay, " Stay a little, or, have patience." At this inftant,
Tenfa Chriftos, (a man of confiderable authority in Gondar,
who was underdood by Gufho to be trufted with the care
of the town, though he had no name or poll, for there was
yet no form of government fettled,) hearing the Galla had
plundered houfes, and gone into the palace, followed them
as fall as poffible, with about a hundred flout young men
belonging to Gondar, v/ell- armed. The Galla foon fav/
there was a more ferious occupation awaiting them, and
ran out to the great hall of the king's chamber, called
Adcraflia, when one of thefe foldiers of Gondar fliut the
door of the room where the king fat. The Galla at firfl
made a fliew of refiftance; but two of them being very much
wounded, and feeing themfelvcs in a houfe where they did
not know their way, and all affiftance from their comrades
impoffible, they furrendered their arms ; they then were
tied two and two, and fent in this manner down to Guflio's

3 , camp,

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 239

camp, who immediately ordered two of them to be hanged,
and the reft to be whipt and difmilTed.

Tensa Christos, after having done this good fervice,
came into the room to the king, and killed the ground in
the ufual manner before him. The king immediately or-
dered him to rife, gave him his hands to kifs, and then per-
mitted him to withdraw, without having faid one word in
his commendation for having deUvered him from fo great
a danger. That fame day, a Uttle after noon, a party of
foldicrs was fent into the town, who apprehended Shalaka
Becro and his fon ; Nebrit Tecla, and his two fons ; two fons
of Lika Netcho a prieft, and another man, whofe name I
have forgot, in all eight perfons, natives of the province of
Tigre, dependants and fervants of Ras Michael, and mur-
derers of the late king Joas. Thefe being brought to the
market-place, were delivered into the hands of the Edjow
Galla, formerly Joas's guard. Becro and his fon were hewn
to pieces with knives ; Nebrit Tecla's fons, the eldeil rivPc,.
and then the youngeft, were thruft through with lances ;
and their father being then brought to them where they
lay, and defused to fay if he knew who they were, and an-
fwering in the negative, he was immediately cut to pieces,
as were the others, with great circumftances of cruel-
ty, and their mangled bodies thrown about the ftreets,
Thefe were all the executions which followed this great
and fudden revolution ; a proof of very exem.plary mode-
ration in the conquerors, confidering the number of people
concerned in the parricide firft, and the confequential rebel-
lion after. Lika Netcho, in particular, fully as guilty as his
fons, was neverthelefs fpared, becaufe he had married one

of the king's relations.

As

240 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

As yet none of the chiefs of the rebels had entered Gon-
dar. MefTages had paiFed, but not frequently, between the
king and Guflio ; fewer ilill between him and PovvuiTen ;
as for the reft, they feemed to take no lead at all.

On the ift of June, Gu(ho and PowufTen came both to
the houfe of the Ras, where they interrogated him very
roughly as to all his paft conduct. Till the execution of
Joas's murderers, he had conftantly drefled himfelf in his
very beft apparel, with all the infignia of command. As
foon as this was told him, he cloathed himfelf plainly, and
conflantly in white, with a cowl of the fame colour on his
head, like the monks, a fign he had retired from the world.
It feemed as if this was done through a fondnefs for life,
for by that a(ft he devoted the remainder of his days to ob-
fcurity and penitence. Nothing remarkable happened at
this interview, at leaft as far as was known. From thence
Guflio and PowufTen went to the king's palace, where they
jdid homage, and took the oaths of allegiance.

It was there refolved that Guflio fliould be Ras, and
^lie other places were all difpofed of. From this time for-
ward the king began to have a fliew of government, no
party having teftified any fort of difcontent with him ; on
the contrary, each of the rebel chiefs now waited upon him
feparately, and had long conferences with him ; but, what
bade faireft to re-eftablifli his aiitliority entirely was, the dif-
fentions that evidently reigned among the leaders of the re-
bels thcmfelves, whom we, liowever, Ihall no longer confider
as fuch, not becaufe their trcafon had profpered, but be-
caufe they were now returned to their duty. It was ftrong-
Jy fufpe<5ted that a treaty was on foot between Gufho and
2 iMichael,

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 241

Michael, by which the latter, in confideration of a large
fum, was to put the former again in pofleffion of the pro-
vince of Tigre ; others again faid, that Kefla Yafous, at
Ras Michael's defire, was to be made governor of Tigre,
and to have a large fum of gold, which Michael was fup-
pofed to have concealed there, and which he was to remit
to Gullao, whilft he and Michael were to undeiiland each
other about the government of the province.

Be that as it may, Powuflen, on the 4th of June, without
any previous notice given to Guflio, marched into Gondar
with a thoufand horfe, and, without further ceremony, or-
dered Ras Michael to be placed upon a mule, and, joining
the reft of his army, who had all ilruck their tents, march-
ed av.;ay fo fuddenly to Begemder, that Ozoro Efther, then
j-efidiag at the queen her mother's houfe at Kofcam, had
fcarcely time to fend her old hufband a frefli mule, and
fome fupply of neceflary provifions. All the reft of the
troops decamped immediately after, the rains beginning
now to be pretty conftant, and the foldiers deftrous to be
at home. Some of the great men, indeed, remained at
Gondar, fuch as Ayabdar, Engedan, and others, who had
views of preferment* Gufho took pofteffion of the Ras's
houfe and office ; the king's officers and fervants returned
to the palace ; the places of thofe that had fallen in battle
were filled, and the whole town began to refumc an ap-
pearance of peace, which every one who confidered feared
would be of a very fliort duration.

A FEW days after the army of Begemder had left Gondar,
Powuflen fent the ufurper Socinios, loaded with irons, from
Agar Salam, a fmall town in Begemder, where he had

Vol. IV. l:i h been

242 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

been kept prifoner. He was brought before the king iii
the fame equipage he arrived, and being interrogated who
he was, anfwered with great boldnefs, that he was Socinios,
fon to king Yafous, fon of Bacuffa ; that he had not fought
to be made king, but was forced by the Iteghe and Sanuda ;
this every one knew to be true. Soon after his mother
was examined ; but denying now what fhe had formerly
fworn, that fhe ever had any intimate connexion with the
late king Yafous, Socinios was fentenced to death; but being
in his manners, figure, and converfation perfectly defpica-
ble, the king diredted he fliould ferve as a flave in his kit-
chen, whence he was taken, fome time afterwards, and hang-
ed for theft.

On the 21ft of June, the Iteghe arrived from Gojam, and^
all the people of Gondar flocked to fee her without the-
town. Gufho had met her at Tedda; and, at the fame time
that he welcomed her, told her, as from the king, that it
was his orders that neither Palambaras Mammo, nor Likaba
Beccho, were to enter the town with her. This fhe confi-
dered as a very high affront, and the work of Gufho, not
the king's orders. She upbraided Guflio with avarice,
pride, and malice, declared him a greater tyrant than Mi-
chael, without his capacity, forbidding him to appear any
more before her, and with great difficulty could be prevail-
ed to go on to Kofcam inftead of returning to Gojam. It is
impoflible to conceive the enthufiafm with which the fight
of the old queen infpirctr all forts of people. Gufho had no.
troops, the king as few, being left even without a fervant
in his palace. Then was the feafon for mifchief, had not
Fafil been hovering with his axmy, without declaring his

approbation.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 443

approbation or difapprobation of any thing that had been
<lonc, or was doing.

About the end of June he came at once to Abba Samuel,
without announcing himfelf before hand, according to his
ufual cuftom, and he paid his firft vifit to the Iteghe, then
a fliort one to the king, where I faw him : he was very fa-
cetious with me, and pretended I had promifed him ray
horfe when I returned from Maitflia, which I excufed, by
obferving the horfe was out of town. "Well, well, fays lie,
that fhall not fave you ; tell me where he is and I will fend
for him, and give you the beft mule in the army in exchange,
and take my chance of recovering him wherever he is. With
all my heart, replied I ; you will find him perhaps in the
valley of Serbraxos, at the foot of the hill, oppofite to the
fouth ford of the river Mariam. He laughed heartily at
this, fliook me by the hand at parting, faying. Well, well,
for all this you fhall not want your mule.

The king was exceedingly pleafed at what had palTed, and
faid, " I willi you would tell me,Yagoube, how you reconcile
all thefc people to you. It is a fecret which will be of much
more importance to me than to you. There is Guflio now,
for example, fo proud of his prefent fortune, that he fcarce-
ly will fay a civil word to me ; and Fafd has brought me
a lift of his own fcrvants, whom he wants to make mine
without afking my leave, (Adera Tacca Georgis, whom he
named to be Fit-Auraris to the king, as he had done formerly
when he wanted to quarrel with Socinios, Gubena to be
Cantiba, and fome others), yet he never fees you come into
the room but he begins immediately joking and pleafant
converfation,

H h 3 After

244 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

After thefe appointments, which were not difputed with
him, though otherwife very much againft the king's incU-
nation, Fafil retired with his army to Maitiha.

In the mean time, Gufho fet every thing to fale, content
with the money the offices produced, and what he could
fqueeze from people who had crimes, real or alledged, to
compound for. He did not perceive that fteps were taking
by his enemies which would foon deprive him of all the ad-
vantages he enjoyed. Inllead of attending to this, he amu-
fed himlelf with mortifying the Iteghe,whofe daughter,Wel-
leta Ifrael, he had formerly married, but who had long left
him by the perfuafion of her mother. He thought it was an
affront to his dignify that the king had pardoned Likaba
Beecho, and Palambaras Mammo, the very day after he had
forbid them to enter the town ; and, what was ftill ftronger,
that the king, without his confent, had fent an invitation to
the Iteghc to return to Gondar, and govern, as his mother,
to the extent Ihe did in the time of Joas ; he refolved there-
fore to attempt the creating a mifunderftanding between
the king and queen, a matter not very difficult in itfelf to
bring about.

Gdsho had confifcated, in the name of the king, all the
queen's villages, which made her believe that this offer of
the king to bring her to Gondar was an iniidious one. In
order to make the breach the wider, he had alfo prevailed
upon the king's mother to come to Gondar, and infill with
her fon to be crowned, and take the title and fcate of Iteghp.
The king was prevailed upon to gratify his mother, under
pretence that the Iteghe had refufed to come upon his in-
vitation ; but this, as it was a pretence only, fo it was ex-

prefsly

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 245

prefsly a violation of the law of the land, which permits but
one Iteghe, and never allows the nomination of a new one
while the former is in life, hoy/ever diftanr a relation fhe
may be to the then reigning king. In confequence of this
new coronation, two large villages, Tfhemmera and Tocufla,
which belonged to the Iteghe as appendages of her royalty,
of courfe devolved upon the king's own mother, newly crown-
ed, who fending her people to take poflefTion, the inhabi-
tants not only refufed to admit her officers, but forcibly drove
them away, declaring they would acknowledge no other
miftrefs but their old ene» to whom they wei'e bound by the
laws of the land.

If Gufho, in this manner, dealt hardly with the queen,
his behaviour to the king was neither more juft nor gene-
rous : he had not only failed to advance any gold for the
king's fubfiftence, but had intercepted that part of his re-
venue which he knew was ready to be paid him, and in the
hands of others of his fubjedls. A ftated daily allowance
was, indeed, delivered to the king in kind for the mainte-
nance of his houfehold, but even this was fmaller than had
been fettled by Ras Michael ; befides which, 120 jars of ho-
ney, being one day fent the king from Damot, and at the
fame time 1000 cotton coats from Walkayt, both thefe were
feized upon by Gufho, without any part being offered to
the king, who thereupon determined to break with him, as
did the Iteghe from the former provocation.

Ayabdar, never reconciled to him before the battle of

Serbraxos, had frefli reafon of difl'jrence v/ith him from an

unequal diftribution of Ras Michael's effeds, while Enge-

dan, who had been promifed the province of Kuara, and

1 Avhom

«46 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

whom the king very much favoured, foUicited that poft in
vain, unlefs he would advance a thoufand ounces of gold,
which he pofitively refufe:? to do. The king fomented
all thefe complaints by fending a perfon of confequence to
PowufTen, who advifed him to arrefl Gulho immediately,
and promifed, if reflftance was made, to be at Gondar in
three days. Engedan and Ayabdar were trufted with the
execution of this, but as Gufho was beloved by the people
of Gondar, the fecret was not fo well kept but that it came
to his ears.

On the i6th of July, (the feaft of Saint Michael) Guflio
|)retended he had made a vow to vifit the church of that
Saint at Azazo, and accordingly, early in the morning, he
fet out for that village, attended with thirty horfe and fifty
mufqueteers ; but no fooner had he paiTed the church
than his real intention appeared, and he was purfued by
Gubeno, Cantiba of Dembea ; Ayto Adigo, Palambaras ;
and Ayto Engedan. Gubeno alone, being hearty in the
caufe, came up with him firft, as they had pafTed the river
Derma, when Gulho, feeing Gubeno's troops clofe behind
him, turned quickly upon them, repafled the river, and,
having killed two of the foremofl with his own hand, and
repelled the reft, he returned acrofs the river, and faced a-
bout upon the banks of it. Upon the other troops coming
up, he called to Engedan, putting him in mind how late-
ly he had been in his hands, and advifmg them all to re-
turn to Gondar, and tell the king he fhould again be with
him in fifteen days..

A COUNCIL was thereupon held, and as it was plain,
from the countenance of the man, that he was refolved to

refift

THE SOURCE OF THE ^^ILE. 247

refift to the utmoft, none of the leaders then prefent thouglit
themfelves warranted to rifk the death of a perfon fo no-
ble, and fo powerfully related, efpecially in an obfcure
fliirmifli, fuch as was then likely to happen, the motives
for which were not publicly known ; they accordingly all
returned to Gondar, leaving the Ras to purfue his way,
who being now advanced as far as DegwaiTa, and think-
ing himfelf out of all danger, was fuddenly furrounded
by Aclog, governor of a little diflricT; there, and even
from him he would have efcaped by his own courage and
exertion, had not his horfe funk in miry ground whence
he could not recover him. After receiving thefe news, the
king fent his Fit-Auraris, Adera Tacca Georgis, and Ayto
Engedan, wich a number of troops, to bring Guflio to
town, when he returned a miferable figure, with his head
Ihaven : he was cloathed in black, and was confined that
fame day (the firll of Auguft) a clofe prifoner, and in irons,,
in a high, damp, uninhabited tower of the king's houfe,,
without being pitied by either party..

It was now the feafon of the year when this country
ufed to overflow with milk and honey; becaufe, being in alV
the low part of it covered with rain, the horfemen and
foldiers, who ufed to obflrudl the roads, were all retired to
quarters, and the peafants, bringing provifions to the mar-
ket, pafTed the high grounds in fafety ; all forts of people,
profiting by the plenty which this occafioned, indulged
themfelves to the greatefl excefs in every fort of pleafura
to which their refpedive appetites led them. The rains
had fallen, indeed, as ufual, but had not, however, flopped
tJie march of the armies, and if not a famine, at leafl a

4w fcarcityv

S48 TRAVELS to DISCOVER

fcarcity of provifions in Gondar, had been the confc-
quence ; not a word was heard, indeed, of Ras Michael,
whether he was aUve or dead, but his familiar fpirits
ieemed to prelide in tlie air, and pour down mif chief.

f^^~

tHAP,

T H E S O U R G E O F T H E N I L E. U9

Ss-^-^ ' "^

CHAP. XI.

The Author obtains Liberty to return Home — Takes Leave of the Iteghc
at Kofcam — Laji Interview ivith the Monks.

s

INGE the queen came again to Kofcam, I had pafled a
' great part of my time there, but my heakh de-
clining every day, I had obtained, with great difficulty,
liberty from her to attempt my return home. The king,
too, after a hundred exceptions and provifos, had at length
been brought to give an unwilling confent. I had feen alfo
Metical Aga's fervant, who, upon finding Ras Michael was
difgraced, would not ftay, but hafled back, and would fain
have prevailed upon me to return with him thro' Tigre into
Arabia. But befides that I was determined to attempt com-
pleting my journey through Sennaar and the defert, I by
no means liked the rifk of paffing again through Mafuah,
to experience a fecond time the brutal manners of the
Naybe and garrifon of that place.

Vol. IV. I i Captain

2rs& TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

Captain Thomas Price, of the Lion of Bombay, had
been obHged, by his bufinefs with the government of Mec-
ca, to continue at Jidda till the feafon after I went from
thence to Abyflinia. I had already heard once from him,
and now a fecond time. He informed me my coun-
trymen had been in the greateft pain for me ; that feveral
reports had been current, both at Jidda and Mocha, of my
having been afTaffinated ; fometimes it was faid by the
Naybe of Mafuah ; fometimes that it had happened at
Gondar ; by others at Sennaar, in my return home. Cap-
tain Price wrote me in this laft letter, that, thinking I mull
be diflrelTcd for want of money, he had left orders with
Ibrahim SerafF, the Englifh broker at Jidda, to advance me
looo crowns, deiijing my draft to be fent to Ibrahim, di-
refted to him or his brother at Bombay, and to make it
payable to a gentleman of that name who lived in Smith-
field. Icannotomit mentioning thefe inilances of the philan-
thropy and generofity of Mr Price, to whom I bore no rela.-
tion, and who was but a common acquaintance, whom I
had acquired among my countrymen during my flay at
Jidda. The only title I had to this confideration was, that
he thought I was probably in diilrefs, and that as it was
in his power alone to relieve me, this in itfelf, to a noble
mind, conftituted a fufficient obligation. I do not believe
Captain Price was able to read a word of Latin, fo that fen-
timent in Terence, "Homo fum, nihil humani mihi alie-
" rJtim elTe puto," was as much an original in Mr Price's,
breail: as if it had never before been uttered.

I TOLD A-letical Aga's fervant the bad news I had got
from Sennaar, and he agreed perfectly with the contents,
adding, that the journey was not pradlicable ; he declared

they

THE SOURCE OF THENILE. 851

they were fo inhuman and fo barbarous a race, that he
would not attempt the journey, Mahometan as he was,
for half the Indies. I begged him to fay no more on that
head, but to procure from his mafler, Metical Aga at Mecca,
a letter to any man of confequence he knew at Sennaar.

My refolution being therefore taken, and leave obtain-
ed, this will be now the place to refume the account of my
finances. I have already gone fo far as to mention three
hundred pounds which I had occafionally borrowed from
a Greek whofe name was Pecros. This man was originally
a native of the ifland of Rhodes, which he mull have left
early, for he was not at this time much paft thirty ; he
had been by trade a flioemaker. For what reafon he left
his own country I know not, but he was of a very pleafing
figure and addrefs, though very timid. Joas and the keghe
very much diftinguifhed him, and the king had made him
-AzelefFa el Camiflia, which anfwers precifely to groom of
the ftole, or firft lord of the bed-chamber in England. Being
pliant, civil, and artful, and always well-drefled, he had gain-
ed the good graces of the whole court ; he was alfo rich,
as the king was generous, and his perquifites not inconft-
-derable.

After the campaign of Mariam Barea, when the dwarf
was fhot who was Handing before Ras Michael, and the pa-
lace fet on fire in the fray which followed, the crown, Which
was under Petros's charge, was melted ; the gold, indeed,that
it confiftedof, was afterwards found, but there was faidtohave
been on the top of it a pearl, or jewel, of immenfe price and
fize, larger than a pigeon's egg; and this, whatever it was, had
dilappeared, being in. all probability confumed by the fire.

I i 2 Ras

252 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

Ras Michael, on the contrary, beheved that it had been taken
out by Petros with a view to fell it, and for this reafon he had
conftantly refufed him liberty to leave Abyflinia, and had
kept him always in fear that fome day or other he would
flrip him of all that he had faved. While Michael was be-
fieging the mountain Haramat, Petros befeeched me to take
L.300 of him, and give him my firfl, fecond, and third bill of
exchange upon Meffrs Julian and Rofa, my correfpondents
at Cairo, payable a month after fight, to the Maronite Bi-
fhop of Mount Sinai, after which he fet out for his own
country, in forma pauperis^ and thereby efcaped the rapacity of
both Ras Michael and the Naybe of Mafuah. As for the bill,
it came duly to hand, and was paid to the bifliop, who would
very fain have received for each of the duplicates, and was
near being baftinado'd for infilling upon this before the Bey
at Cairo.

A Bill drawn from Gondar is a very great curiofity when
arrived in London ; it fliould be now upon the file in the
fhop of my very worthy and honourable friends the Meffrs
Drummond and Company at Charing- Crofs. It was the on-
ly piece of writing of any kind which found its way to its
intended deftination, though many had been written by me
on different occafions which prefented for Arabia ; fo that
I will recommend to all travellers, for the future, to tack bills
of exchange to their letters of greareft confequence, as a fure
method of preventing their mifcarriage.

I HAD made a fliew, and with fome degree of oflentation,
of fending my gold chain to Cairo by the hands of Metical
Aga's fervant, declaring always that it was the only piece of
Abyflinian gold I fliould carry out of the country, which I

^ - ~ was

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 253

was CO leave, both in fa(5l and appearance, a pauper. Mules
are the only bcafts for carriage commonly ufed in Abyflinia,
though bulls and cows, of a particular kind, are bought for
the purpofe by carriers, merchants, and fuch like, in that
country, efpecially near the mines or quarries of fait ; they
are very flow, however, and capable of no great burden,
though very eafily maintained. I had abundance of mules
of my own for carrying my inftruments and baggage, and
the king and Iteghe furnifhed me with others for my own
riding. I had, befides, two favourite horfes, which I intend-
ed to attempt to carry home, fooliihly enough ; for though I
thought in my own mind thr.t I was fufficiently informed
of, and prepared for all forts of hardfliips, I had not forefeeu
the hundredth part of the difficulties and dangers that were
then awaiting me.

On the 6th of Auguft meflengers came from Fafil, and the
day after from PowufTen, Begemder, Gojam, Damot, and
Maitflia, which provinces, by their deputies, defired that Gu-
Hio might be fet at liberty. This the king agreed to, but
upon condition that the Ras fliould inftantly pay him 1000
ounces of gold, and 500 mufquets, which, on the other lide;
was as pofitively refufed. Upon this Guflio was' put into
clofe confinement, and heavier irons than before : and,
what was the molt unjuft, his two fons, who had left their
own country to affift their father in diftrefs, were confined
in chains with him. All thefc violent mcafures were attribu-
ted toAyabdar, Billetana Gueta Tecla, Gucbra Mafcal, and
Bafl:ia Hezekias, officers conneded with Ras Michael, whom
the king had permitted to return from Tigre, and very much
confided in their councils.

O]^

254 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

On the other hand, Adera Tacca Georgis, (the king's Fit-
Aurarisy and Guebra Wellcta Yafous, principal people in
Maitllia, and whom Fafil had put about the king, dellred leave
to retire to their own country, from which it is probable
they will never again return to Gondar, unlefs as ene-
mies.

Although the king ftill obftinarely infilled that tlie Ras
ihould pay him his thoufand ounces of gold, and live
hundred mufquets, as a price for his being let at liberty,
this was refuted by Gu(ho, in terms that fhewed he was
not now, as formerly, afraid of the king's power. On ihe
other hand, the king proclaimed Kefla Yafous governor of
the province of Tigre, with the fame extent of command
as R.as Michael had enjoyed it ; and he was already there,
and had taken upon him the government of that province.
At the fame time the king fuperfeded GuHio, and deprived
him of his province of Amhara, which was given to his
nephew Ayfo Adigo, fon of Palambaras Durrie, a man of
very great intereft and property in the province; after
which he immediately left Gondar, and took his way thro'
Begemder ; but at the very entrance into Amhara, he was
defeated by a fon of Gulho w^ho w-as expecting him ; his
troops were difperfed, and his brother, Ayto Adereflbn, (the
man who loil Gufho's h'orfe at the battle of Tedda) wound-
ed and taken prifoner.

There remained no longer any doubt that, as foon as
the rains were over, the former fcenes of bloodflied and
,confufion were to be adted over again ; for, by appointing
Kefla Yafous to the government of Tigre, and Ayto Adigo
to that of Amhara, and the peaceable palfage given to this

2 young

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 255:

young nobleman through Begemder, in order to fupplanc
his uncle Guflio, by the great confidence fhewn by the king
in the old officers and relations of Ras Michael, now air
Gondar, and the difmiffion of Fafil's friends, (Adera Tacca-
Georgis and Confu Adam) the moft ample confeflion pof-
iible was made, that the king had again thrown himfelf in-
to the arms of the province of Tigre and Begemder united,
to which Amhara was to be added, by keeping Gufho pri-
foner, till fuch time as his nephew Adigo could gain entire
pofleffion.

To counterpoife this, a mclTenger arrived from Fafil, de^
manding privately of the king, that Gufho fhould be fet au
liberty, and return to his province of Amhara ; that Lika
Netcho, one of the murderers of Joas, (who had been fpared,
as being married to a relation of the king) lllould be im-
mediately put to death, and that all the officers belonging to ^
Ras Michael, then at court, fhould be baniflied for ever to
Tigre, their native country. The king returned a pofitive
refufal, not quahfiedinany Ihape whatever.

A DISAGREEMENT now happened, which, more than all
the reft, was interefting, and difturbed me in particular.
Pofitive information was brought to the Iteghe, and, 1
believe, very authentic, that the king, weary of the ma-
ny councils held at Kofcam by the fervants and deputies
of the feveral parties, in the queen's prefence, (to which he
was not called) had determined to give up the palace of
Kofcam, in which it was thought there were great riches, to
be plundered by his foldiers. As the death of the queen by
her confinement in fome diftant defert and unwholefome
eonvenr, muft have probably been the confcquence of fuc-

cefs

2S5 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

cefs on one part, fo an immediate revolution, and the death
of the king, was certainly to follow the mifcarriage on the
other, that is, fliould he be defeated in, or after making
the attempt.

Troops, headed by Engedan, Ayto Confu, and by Mam-
nio, and all theiteghe's relations, now crowded into Kofcam,
into which great plenty of provifions was alfo carried. The
wall was high and llrong, the gates lately put into good re-
pair, the tower, or caftle, within in perfecfl good order ; the
Iteghe had not furrendered her fire-arms, and all the inha-
bitants around, efpecially the poorer fort, were firmly at-
tached to her, as in times of diftrefs and famine her charity
afforded them a conilant refuge.

SiNcii. the Iteghe had returned, I always lived at Kof-
cam by her own defire, as her health was very precarious
fince her refidence in Gojam. This fuited my intention of
withdrawing privately, and therefore, not to multiply the
number of leave-takings, I had feen Gufiio but once, and
that for a moment, and Ayabdar not at all, fo that nay whole
attendance was now between the king and queen. The
king had denied publicly his intention of plundering Kof-
cam, but in a manner not at all fatisfacStory to the Iteghe ;
I ventured therefore to mention it to him one day when he
was alone, on which he faid, " I would not do it for your
fak^, Yagoube, were there no other reafon; but my mother
(meaning the Iteghe) is ill-advifed, and worfe informed."

On the 13th of Ocftober, Powuflfen, with a very confider-
able army, and without any previous intimation, arrived at
Kofcam, his head-quarters all the laft campaign. He con-

■^ tinned

THE SOURCE OFTHENILE. 257

tinued there till the 2 2d of the fame month, and then de-
camped, pafling by Goi\dar, without entering it ; he came
to Ras Gufho's houfe, under the hill of Kofcam, where he
had feveral interviews with the king and Iteghe, to what
purport was never known ; but it probably was to endea-
vour fome reconcilement between the king and queen, and
this was efFe(5ted a few days afterwards (at lead in appear-
ance) by Ayabdar, and fome of the great men at Gondar,
after which PowufTen returned to Begemder. For my part,
I neither defired nor obtained an interview ; I faw that the
florm was ready to break, and I was taking the moil fpeedy
and eiFeftual way to be out of the fphere of its adion.

On the 12 th of November, all Gondar was flruck with
-a panic at the news brought in by the peafants from the
country, flying for refuge to the capital, deilitute of every
thing, and thankful only they had efcaped with life. Fa-
iil had marched v/irh a confidcrable army from Ibaba, and
advanced to Dingleber in peace, when he left the main
body, under the conduft of Welleta Yafous, and all his
baggage, confidering that place as the limits of his govern-
inent. He marched from this, without taking for him-
.felf two changes of raiment, at the head of 700 horfe, the
moll vv^ild and dcfperate banditti that ever were introduced
into anv unfortunate countrv. ^Yitll thefe he burnt every
village and everv church between Dingleber and Sar-Ohha,
Tnurdered every male, without dillinction of prieft or lay-
man; killed every woman pad the age of child-bearing, and
gave the others as flaves to the wild Pagan Galla whom he
had with him. In lliort, he jull indulged that body of men
in the fame enormities that rhey themielves exercife in the
inroads they malic into countries unhappy enough to be

Vol. IV. K k their

258 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

their neighbours in time of war. The whole country of
Degwalfa, the diftrift which Aclog commanded, was totally
deftroyed ; men, women, and children, were entirely extirpa-
ted, without diflincflion of age or fex ; the houfes all razed
to the ground, and the country about it left as defolate as
after the deluge. The villages belonging to the king
were as feverely treated ; an univerfal cry was heard from
every parr, but no one dared to fuggeft any means of help ;
parties were fo entirely mixed and confounded, that no
one could fafely enter into any confidence with his neigh-
bour ; but the common people, who had little to lofe, be-
gan again to cry out for the return and government of Ras,
Michael.

Fasil, having given the king this fample of what hs
was capable of doing, halted at Sar-Ohha, and from thence
fent a peremptory demand that Gulho Ihould be at liber-
ty. His melTenger was a crooked, diminutive dwarf, call-
ed Dohho, of whom I have already fpoken. It was a very
bad fign of a treaty when fuch a one was the manager.
He upbraided the king in terms fcarcely decent, with the
pr6te(5lion, life, and kingdom the Ras Fafil had given him,
when the contrary was abfolutely in his power. He afk-
ed the king if he knew who had protected him the night
of the retreat from the hill of Serbraxos ? and told him, in
plain terms, that, being entirely void of the noble princi-
ples of gratitude himfelf, he had forced him, Fafil, to be
wanting to the next great virtue, that of hofpitality, in fuf-
fering a man of GuQio's quality to be made prifoner after
arriving within the limits of his government. He concluded,
by telling the king plainly, that, unlefs he reilored Guflio
to his liberty and government, without condition, he

would.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 259

wolild, in three days, make Gondar, the metropoHs, as de-
fert and deftitute of inhabitants as he had left the pakry
diltrid of DegwafTa.

The king received all this with great compofure, for he
had as much fortitude, and as little fear as ever fell to the
iliare of any man ; his misfortune, however, was, that he
had no refources in which he could truft ; and the Tigre
officers about him, more imprudent, and fully as fearlefs as
he, gave him the fame advices they would have done had
he been at the head of the army. Ras Michael was more-
over gone, and Kefla Yafous was at a diilance ; thefe two
were the men for planning and contriving bufinefs, and
who faved otliers the trouble of thinking. The reft, fuch
as Billetana Gueta Tecla, Guebra Mafcal, and Baflia He-
zckias, were only fit to be trufted with execution, and
to proceed according to the letter of the orders they
might receive, and the confequences of which they could
not, nor did they wifli to undcrftand. By being ufed, how-
ever, to conftant fuccefs in executing plans maturely di-
gefted by wifer heads, they had acquired a degree of pre-
fumption which made them very dangerous counfellors to
a young king, in the prefent cafe, where nothing but the
p-reateft prudence, af?iiled by the manifeft interpofition of
the hand of Heaven, (many examples of which he had al-
ready proved) could fave him from perdition.

I WAS not prefent at the audience, being at Kofcam, but
his fecretary, to whom I am indebted for ever)^ thing that
paffed in private, in this hiftory, and which otherwife was
beyond the reach of my knowledge, alTured me the king
anfwered tiiefe threatenings without any change of coun-

K k 2 tenance

26o TRAVELSTODISCOVER

tenance or language, and in very few words : " Tell Kaf-
mati Fafil from me, that what I am obliged to do by the
rules of jullice, is not to be meafured either by his inclina-
tion or power to do wrong. Men have crucified their Sa-
viour ; and many kings in this country (better men than I
am) have been, in various manners, flain by their deluded
fubjedls. The race of Solomon, however, God has prefei-ved
till this day on the throne, where I am now fitting, while
nothing but the memory of thofe who opprefled them re-
mains loaded with the curfes of mankind. I am kinxr of
this country, and have often been acknowledged as fuch
by Kafmati Fafil. I will not give up Guiho, but at my own
time, if ever ; nor can he inlifl upon it, confiflently with
the duty of a fubje(5l to his fovereign." Noble words thefe^
had he been at the head of an army to enforce them.

This meiTage was quickly conveyed toFafil, who was ad-
vanced to Azazo, where it met him, and he continued his
march without halting till he came to Abba Samuel, about
two miles from Gondar. It was on the 13th of November
that his army made a Ihew of encamping at Abba Samuel,
for there was not above fix tents pitched, and next day, the
14th, by eight in the morning, a drum and trumpet, guard-
ed by about a hundred horfe, came immediately under
the town to the banks of the river Kahha, where the trum-
pet having founded three times, and the kettle-drum beat
as often, it was proclaimed. That all manner of perfons, of
what degree foever, whether fervants of the palace, or others,
lliould inftantly leave Gondar as they regarded their lives;
and if any llaid after this warning, their blood Ihould be up-
on their own head. The whole tov/n, therefore, in an inftanc
-was dcferted, and very few, even of his own fervants, remained

with

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 261

with the king. I had already once partaken of afimilar fcene,
and found it of the moA dilagreeable kind ; Providence fpa-
red me, however, this repetition of it, as I was at Kofcam, and
determined to be retired there fo perfecT:ly, that I did not ftir
out of my apartment till night, v^iien the gates were locked,
and the guards placed. ■

On the 15th, the king releafed Ras Guflio from his con-
finement, who immediately went to the camp to Fafil ; and
next day, at night, he returned, and had an audience at the
palace with the king, and again retired to lleep at Abba Sa-
muel. On the 17th, a little before noon, Fafd, came to the
palace for an audience, but firft took poiTeffion of every ave-
nue leading to it; a ftrong guard was alfo placed in the anti-
ehamber, and the charge of the door of the king's prefence-
chamberwas taken from the king's ordinary black fervants^
and given to Confu Adam, who mounted guard there with
about twenty wild Galla. What further paffed I did not flri6l-
ly inquire, being exceedingly diftrefTed, by the bad profpedl
that prefented itfelf, and firmly refolved to take no further
part. In general, however, I underflood, that all was humi-
liation ; and Faiil having announced to the king that he had
given his daughter to Guftio in marriage, to him the king
gave Gojam, and reflored the province of Amhara. Aclog
was condemned to find fecurity for laoo ounces of gold,
which was faid to be the fum Guflio hod with him whea
taken.

The king was to reftore to the Iteghe the whole of her vil-
lages that fhe had^ver enjoyed, from the time of Bacuffa,
her hulband, to that prefcnt moment. To Fafil, were given
Damot, Maitfha, and Agow, and to Confu Adam, ibaba Aza-

2(52 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

ge ; and, for the greater folemnity, the king and Fafil took
a formal oath, to ratify all thefe articles, and to remain in
friendfliip for ever. After which, the Abuna, in pontificals,
being called to be prefent, pronounced a formal curfe and
fentence of excommunication, upon whichever of the par-
ties fhould firfh break the vow they had taken.

No word was mentioned of Tigre, or Kefla Yafous, or of
PowuiTen, nor the fmalleil notice taken of Ras Ayabdar, who
remained in his houfe and office, as if he had not exiiled.
It appeared to me the party was again made by one half of
the kingdom againll the other; Kefla Yafous and Powuffen
againfl Fafil and Guflio ; as for Ayabdar and Ayto Tesfos of
Samen, thefe were left, contemptuoully in medio, to take any
fide they pleafcd, which, indeed, was of no confequcnce.
After this interview, Fafil never again entered the king's
houfe, though he went often to Kofcam ; but I neither faw
him nor fought to fee him, nor did he ever inquire after
me, as far as I could learn.

On the 19th of November Fafil fent orders to the palace,

that four bodies of the king's houfehold-troops, Gimja Bet,

Werk Sacala, Ambafele, and Edjow, fliould immediately

join liim, which they did, to the number of 1200 men, all

armed. Thefe he carried, with Gufho his fon-in-Iaw, in

triumph to Damot, nor was this the only inftance Fafil" gave

of the great regard lie had to his late oaths, and to the fa-

cred charader of the perfon that adminiilered them; for the

morning he marched off, a party of the Galla, meeting the

'"-hnna, and a numerous retinue mounted on mules, going

he king's houfe, obliged them all to difmount at

once, withortit diflindion, taking their mules with them to

4 the

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 263

^he camp, from whence they never returned, and lea ing
die Abuna on foot, to find his way back to his houle, at
Kedus Raphael, from the top of which, as from a callle, iie
wifely poured out his excommunications, againfl an army,
compofed entirely of Pagans, without one Chriilian among,
them:.

It is here a proper per'iod to finifh the hiftory of Abyfli^
nia, as I was no further prefent at, or informed of the pub-
lic tranfadions which followed. My whole attention was
now taken up in preparations for my return through the
kingdom of Sennaar and the defert. Neither ihall I take up
the reader's time with a long narrative of leave-taking, or
what pafled between me and thofe illuHrious perfonages
with whom I had lived fo long in the moft perfed and cor-
dial friendlliip. Men of little, and envious minds, would
perhaps think I was compofmg a panegyric upon myfelf,
from which, therefore, I moil willingly refrain. But the fe-
veral marks of goodnefs, friendfliip, and efteem, which I
received at parting, are confined within my own breaft,
where they never fliall be elTaced, but continue to furnifli
me with the moft agreeable reflexions, fince they were the
fruit alone of perfonal merit, and of honeft, ileady, and up-
right behaviour. All who had attempted the fame journey
hitherto, had met with difappointment, difgracc, or death ;
for my part, although I underwent every fort of toil, dan-
ger, and all manner of hardlhip, yet thefe were not con-
fined to myfelf. I fufFercd always honourably, and in
common with the reft of the ftate ; and when fun-fliiny
days happened, (for fun-lliiny days there were, and very
brilliant ones too) of thefe I was permitted freely to partake;
and the moft. diftinguiilied charaders, both at court and in

the

s64 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

the army, were always ready to contribute as far as pofllble>
to promote what they thought or law was the object of my
purfuits or entertainment.

I SHALL only here mention what pafTed at the laft in-
terview I had with the Iteghe, two days before my depar-
ture. Tenfa Chriftos, who was one of the chief priefts of
Gondar, was a native of Gojam, and confequently of the
low church, or a follower of Abba Euflathius, in other
words, as great an enemy as poffible to the Catholic, or as
they will call it, the relig'wti of the Franks. He was, however, re-
puted a perfon of great probity and fandlity of manners, and
had been on all occafions rather civil and friendly to ms
when we met, though evidently not defirous of any inti-
mate connections or fricndfliip ; and as I, on my part, expec-
ted little advantage from conned;ing myfelf with a man of
his principles, I very willingly kept at all poffible diftance;
that I might run no riik of difobliging him was my only
aim.

This prieft came often to the Iteghe's and Ayto Aylo's,
with both of whom he was much in favour, and here I
now happened to meet him, when I was taking my leava
in the evening. I beg of you, fays he, Yagoube, as a favour,
to tell me, now you are imniediately going away from this
country, and you can anfwer me without fear, Are you
really a Frank, or are you not ? Sir, faid I, I do not know
what you mean by fear ; I fliould as little decline anfvvcr-
ing you any qucftion you have to alii had I ten years ro
flay, as now I am to quit this country to-morrow : I came
recommended, and was well received by the king and Ras
Michael : I neitlicr taught nor preached ; no man ever
I heard

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 2S5

lieard me fay a word about my particular mode of worfliip;
and as often as my duty has called me, I have never failed
to attend divine fervicc as it is eftablifhed in this country.
What is the ground of fear that I Ihould have, while under
the king's protedlion, and when I conform in every fhapc
. to the laws, religion, and cuftoms of AbyfUnia ? True, fays
Tenfa Chriftos, I do not fay you fhould be alarmed ; what-
ever your faith is I would defend you myfelf ; the Iteghe
knows I always fpoke well of you, but will you gratify an
old man's curiofity, in telling me whether or not you real-
ly are a Frank, Catholic, or Jefuit ?

I HAVE too great a regard, replied I, to requefl; oF a man, fo
-truly good and virtuous as you, not to have anfwered you
the queflion at whatever time you could have afked me;
and I do now declare to you, by the word of a Chriftian,
that my countrymen and I are more diftant in matters of re-
ligion, from thefe you call Catholics, Jefuits, or Franks, than
you and your AbylTinians are ; and that a prieft of my reli-
gion, preaching in any country fubjed: to thofe Franks,
would as certainly be brought to the gallows as if he had
committed murder, and jull as fpeedily as you would ftone
a Catholic prieft preaching here in the midft of Gondar.
They do precifely by us as you do by them, fo they have
no reafon to complain. And, fays he, don't you do the fame
to them ? No, replied I ; every man in our country is al-
lowed to ferve God in his own way ; and as long as their
teachers confme themfelves to what the facred books have
told them, they can teacli no ill, and therefore deferve no
punifhment. No religion, indeed, teaches a man evil, but
when forgetting this, they preach againft government,
curfe the king, abfolve his fubjeds from allegiance, or in-
Vqu IV. L 1 cit<;

266 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

cite them to rebellion, as being lawful, the fword of the
civil power cuts them off, without any blame falling up-
on their religion, becaufe thefe things were done in con-
tradidion to what their priefts, from the fcripture, fliould
have taught them were truly the tenets of that very reli-
gion.

The Iteghe now interpofed : What do you think, Tenfa
Chriflos, if Yagoube is not a prieft, fliould he not be one ?
Madam, fays he, I have one queftion more to inquire of him,
and that fhall be all, nor would I afk it if he was not going
away to-morrow. It is an unfair one, then faid I, but out with
it ; I cannot fuifer in the opinion of good men, by anfwering
direftly a queftion which you put to me out of curiofity.
It feems then, fays he, you are not a frank, but you think
your own religion a better one than theirs ; you are not of
our religion, however, for you fay we are nearer the Catho-
lics than you ; now what objediion have you to our religion,
and what is your opinion of it ?

As far as I am informed, faid I, I think well of it; it is the
ancient Greek church, under St Athanafms, fucceflbr to
St Mark, in the chair of Alexandria. This being the cafe,
you cannot have a better, as you have the religion neareft
to that of the apoftles, and, as I have before faid, no religion
teaches a man evil, much lefs can your religion give you
fuch inftruflion, if you have not corrupted it ; and if you
have, it is no longer the religion of St Athanafius, or the
Apoftles, therefore liable to error. And now,. Tenfa Chriftos,
let me aflv you two queftions ; you are in no fear of anfwer-
ing, neither are you in danger, though not about to leave
the country, Does your religion permit you to marry one

3 fiftcr.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 267

Cfter, to divorce her, and marry the other, and then, keep-
ing the aunt, to marry the niece likewife ? Does St Athana-
fius teach yon to marry one, two, or three wives, and di-
vorce them as often as you pleaie ; to mai-ry others, and
then go back to the former again ? No, r^phed he. Then
as you do this daily, anfwered I, you certainly are not liv-
ing in this one inftance according to the religion of St Atha-
nafius. Now I afic you. If any prieft, truly a Chriflian,
from our parts, (not a Frank, but agreeing in every thing
elfe with you), was to preach againll this, and fome fuch
like pracftices, frequently ufed in Abyllinia, could this priell
live amongft you, or how would you treat him ? Stone him
to death, fays Ayto Aylo, who was fitting by ; flone him to
death like a frank, or a Jefuit ; he fiiould not live a week*
Yagoube is hard upon me, continued Tenfa Chriftos, turn-
ing to the Iteghe, but I am forry to fay with truth, I fear they
never would abandon the fleih-pots of Egypt, their ancient
inheritance ; for the teaching of any prieft, however perfect
his religion might be, or pure his life, or however corrupt
their manners. Then Tenfa Chriftos, faid I, do not be over fure
but that ihedding the blood of thofe Franks as you call thenij
may be criminal in the fight of God. As their religion has
fo far ferved them, as to prevent the pra(5tice of fome horrid
crimes, that are common here, yours hath not yef had
that efFecft upon you ; if you do not want precept, perhaps
you may want example, thefe Franks are very capable of
fliewing you this laft, and your own religion inft:rutT;s you
to imitate them.

All this time there was not the fmalleft noife in the
room, in which above a hundred people were prefent ; but,
as I wifhed this converfation to go no further, and . was

L 1 2 afraid

a<)8 TR A V £ t S T O D T S C O V E R

afraid of fomc queilioii about; the Virgin Mary, I got up, and;,
nailing to the other lide of the room, I Hood by Ten fa Chrif-
tos, faying to him, And now,,holy fatlicr, I have one, laft fa-
vour, to alk you, winch. is your forgivenefs, if I have at any
time offended you ; your bkffmg, nov/ that I anv immedi-
ately to depart, if I have not ; and your prayers while on my.
long and dangerous journey, through countries of Infidels
and Pagans,

Ahum of applaufe founded alb throughout the room,.
The Iteghe faid fomething, but what, I did not hear. Ten-
fa Chrillos was furprifed apparently at my humility, which,
he had not expefted, and cried out, with tears in his eyes,,
Is it poffible, Yagoubc, that you believe my prayers can do
you any good ? I Ihould not be a Chriftian, as I profefs to be,
Father, replied I, if 1 had any doubt of the effeA of good
men's prayers. So faying, I Hooped to kifs his hand, when
he laid a fmall iron crofs upon my head, and, to my great
furprife, inftead of a benediaion, repeated the Lord's pray-
er. I was afraid he would have kept me Hooping till he
ihould add the ten commandments likewife, when he con-
cluded, " Gzier y' Baracuc," May God blefs you. After
which,' I made my obeifance to the Iteghd, and immediately
withdrew, it not being the cuftom, at public audience, to fa-
lute any one in the prefence of the fovereign.

Twenty greafy monks, however, had placed themfelves
in my way as I went out, that they might have the credit of,
giving me the bleffing likewife after Tenfa Chriflos. As I
had very little faith in the prayers of thefe drones, fo I had
fome reludance to kifs their greafy hands andfleeves; how-
ever, in running this difagi^eeable g^auntlet, I gave them my^

bleliing^

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 26g

Bleffing in Englifli, — Lord fend you all a halter, as he did '
Abba Salama, (meaning the Acab Saat.) But they,thinkn>g
L was recommending them to the patriarcii Abba Salanvi,
pronounced at random, witli great feeming devotion, theu'
Amenj-— So be it.

t;ravels

TRAVEL S

TO DI SCOVE R

THESOURCEOFTHENILE.

BOOK VIII.

THE AUTHOR RETURNS BY SENNAAR THROUGH NUBIA AND

THE GREAT DESERT ARRIVES AT ALEXANDRIA, AND AFTER

AT MARSEILLES.

CHAP. I.

yotirney from Gondar to Tcherkin. .

TH E palace of Kofcam is fituated upon the foutli iide
of Debra Tzai ; the name fignifies the Mountain of
the Sun. The palace coniifls of a fquare tower of three fto-^
reys, with a flat parapet roof, or terrace, and battlements a-
bout it. The court of guard, or head-quarters of the garri-
fon of Kofcam, is kept here; immediately below this is the
principal gate or entrance towards Gondar. It is furround-

ed

272 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

ed by a high outer- wall, which may havo above an Englilh
mile of circumference. This outer precinct is ail occupied
by foldiers, labourers, and out door I'ervant,- ; within this
is another large court inclofed by walls likewife, in this the
apartments are but of one Itorey, appropriated to the princi-
pal officers, priells, and fervants. In this alio is the thuich,
built by the prefent Iteghe herfelf, and reckoned the nch-
efl in Abyffinia. They have large crofTes of gold for their
proceilions, and kettle-drums of filver. The altar is all co-
vered with gold plates, all the gift of their magnificent pa-
tronefs. The prieils, too, were all rich, till Ras Michael
feized, and applied part of their revenue to his own ufe, and
that of the flate, and thereby reduced them to a condition
much more agreeable to the vows of poverty, which from
pride they had made, than was their former one.

The third, or inner court, is referved for the queen's own
apartments, and fuch of the noble women as are her attend-
ants, are unmarried, and make up her court. Behind the
palace, higher up the hill, are houfes of people of quality,
chiefly her own relations. Above thefe the mountain rifes
very regularly, in form of a cone, covered with herbage to
the very top ; on the eaft fide is the road from Walkayt ; on
the well: from Kuara, and Ras el Feel ; that is all the low
country, or north of Abyfllnia, bordering upon the Shan-
galla, through which lies th€ road to Sennaar.

It was the 26th of December 1771, at one o'clock in the
afternoon, that I left Gondar. I had purpofed to fet out early
in the morning, but was detained by the importunity of my
friends. The king had delayed my fetting out, by feveral
wOrdejs fcnt me in the evening each day ; and I plainly faw

2 there

tHfi SOURCE OF THE NILE. 275

there was fome meaning in this, and that he was wifhing to
throw difficulties in the way, till fome accident, or fudden
emergency (never wanting in that country) lliould make it
abfolutely impoffible for mc to leave Abyffinia. When there-
fore the laft meflage came to Kofcam on the 27th, at night,
I returned my refpecStful duty to his majefty, put him in
mind of his promife, and, fomewhat peevillily I believe,
intreated him to leave me to my fortune ; that my fer-
vants were already gone, and I was refolved to fet out next
morning.

In the morning early, I was furprifed at the arrival of a
young nobleman, lately made one of his bed-chamber,
with ilfty light horfe. As I was fatisfied that leaving Abyf-
finia, without parade, as privately as polTible, was the only
way to pafs through Sennaar, and had therefore infifted
upon none of my friends accompanying me, I begged to de-
cline this efcort ; affigning for my reafon, that, as the coun-
try between this and Ras el Feel belonged firft to the Iteghe,
and then to Ayto Confu, none of the inhabitants could pof-
fibly injure me in paffing. It took a long time to fettle
this, and it was now, as I have faid, one o'clock before wc
fet out by the well fide of Debra Tzai, having the moun-
tain on our right hand. From the top of that afcent, w€
faw the plain and flat country below, blav:k,'^^and, in its ap-
pearance, one thick wood, which fome authors have called
lately, the Shumeta *, or Nubian forefl. But of the mean-
ing of Shumeta 1 profcfs myfelf entirely ignorant ; no

Vol. IV. M m fuch

* See* chart of the Arabian Gulf publifhed at London i£ 1781 by L. S.Dela Rochette.

274 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

fuch word occurring, as far as I know, in any language
fpoken in thefe countries.

All the difafters which I had been threatened with in:
the courfe of that journey, which I had thus begun, now
prefentcd themfelves to my mind, and made, for a moment,
a ftrong impreffion upon my fpirits. But it was too late to
draw back, the dye was call, for life or for death ; home was
before me, however diftant ; and if, through the prote^flion
of Providence, I fhould be fortunate enough to arrive therCj
I promifed myfelf both eafe and the applaufe of my country,
and of all unprejudiced men of fenfe and learning in Eu-
rope, for having, by my own private efforts alone, compleat-
ed a difcovery, which had, from early ages, defied the ad?.
drefs, induftry, and courage of all the world.

Having, by thefe refle(5lions, rather hardened, than com--
forted my heart, I now advanced down the lleepfide of the
mountain, our courfe nearly N. N. W. through very ftrong
and rugged ground, torn up by the torrents that fall on
every fide from above. This is called the Defcent of Moura;
and though both we and our beads were in great health and
fpirits, we could not, with our utmoil endeavours, advance
much more than one mile an hour. Two Greeks, one of
whom only was my fervant ; and a third, nearly blind, fly-
ing from poverty and want ; an old janiffary, who had come
to Abyffinia with the Abuna, and a.Copht who left us at
Senhaar; thefe, and fome common men who took charge of
the bealls, and were to go no further tlian Tcherkin, were,
my only companions in this long and weary journey.

At

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 275

At a quarter pall four we came to the river Toom Aredo,
which arifing in the country of the Kcmmont, (a people in-
habiting the high grounds above to the S. W. ) falls into the
river Mahaanah. The Kemmont were a fe(5t once the
Jame as the Falaflia, bur were baptized in the reign of
Facilidas, and, ever iince, have continued feparate from
their ancient brethren. No great pains feem to have been
taken with them fmce their admillion to Chriftianity, for
they retain moft of their ancient cufloms. They eat the
meat of cattle killed by Chriftians, but not of thofe that are
flaughtered, either by Mahometans or Falafha. They hold,
as a docftrine, that, being once baptized, and having once
communicated, no fort of prayer, nor other attention to di-
vine worfliip, is further neceflary. They waflithemfelvesfrom
head to foot after coming from the market, or any public
place, where they may have touched any one of a fedl
different from their own, efteeming all fuch unclean. They
abllain from all forts of work on Saturday, keeping clofe at
home ; but they grind corn, and do many other fuch like
works, upon Sunday.

Their women pierce their ears, and apply weights to make
them hang down, and to enlarge the holes, into which they
put ear-rings almoll as big as lliackles, in the fame manner
as do the Bedowis in Syria and Paleftine. Their language is
the fame as that of the Falaflia, with fome fmall difference of
idiom. They have great abhorrence to filh, which they not
only refrain from eating, but cannot bear the fight of ; and
the reafon they give for this is, that Jonah the prophet
(from whom they boafl they ai-e defcended) was fwal-

Mm2 lowed

^75 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

lowed by a whale, or fome other fuch great fifh. They are
hewers of wood, and carriers of water, to Gondar, and are
held in great deteftation by the Abyffinians.

We crolTed the river to the miferable village of Door-Mac-
ary, which is on the eafi; fide of it ; and there wc took up
our quarters, after a fhort but very fatiguing, day's journey.
The people Ihewed great figns of uneafinefs upon our firfl
appearance, and much relucftance to admit us under their
roofs ; and difcovering that we were not any of thofe that
had the honour of being defcended from the prophet Jonah,
they hid all their pots and drinking-veflcls, left they fliould
be prophaned by our ufmg them. From Door-Macary we
difcovered a high mountainous ridge, with a very rugged
top, ftretching from North to South, and towering up in
the middle of the forert, about five miles diftance ; it is call-
ed Badjena.

On the 28th, a little after mid-day, we pafTed Toom Aredo ;
and went, firft Eaft, then turned North, into the great road.
We foon after paffed a number of villages ; thofe on the
high mountain Badjena on the Eaft, and thofe belonging
to the church of Kofcam on the Weft, Continuing ftill
North, inclining very little to the Weft, we came to a ftecp
and rugged defcent, at the foot of which runs the Mogctch,
in a courfe ftraigh.t North ; this defcent is called the And.
At a quarter paft two we pafled the Mogetch, our direction
N. W. It is here a large, fwift running ft ream, perfecftly
clear, and we halted fome time to refrefli ourfclves upon
its banks ; remembering how very different it was from
what we had once left it, difcolourcd Vv'ith blood, and chok-
ed

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 277

ed up with dead bodies, after the defeat of the king's wing
at the battle of Serbraxos.

At half pad three we refumed our journey. A fharp and
pyramidal mountain (lands alone in the middle of the
plain, prefenting its high fharp top through the trees, and
making here a very pi(5lurefque and uncommon appearance;
it is called Gutch, and feemed to be diftant from us about
fix miles due North. A few minutes after this we pafTed a
fmall ftfeam called Agam-Ohha, or the Brook of JelTamine;
from a beautiful fpec es of that fhrub, very frequent here»
and on the fides of the fmall ftreams in the province of
Sire.

A FEW minutes paft four we entered a thick wood, wind-
ing round a hill, in a fouth-eall dircdion, to get into the
plain below, where we were furrounded by a great mul-
titude of men, armed with lances, fhields, flings, and large
clubs or fticks, who rained a fliower of flones towards us,
as i may fay ; for they were at fuch a dirtance, that all of
them fell greatly flaort of us. "Whether this was owing to
fear, or not, we did not know ; but fuppofing that it was
we thought it our interell to keep it up as much as poffible.
I therefore ordered two fliots to be fired over their heads ;
not vv^ith any intention to hurt them, but to kt them hear,
by the balls whiftling among the leaves of the trees, that
our guns carried farther than any of their flings ; and
that, diftant as they then were, tley were not in fafety,
if we had a difpofition to do them harm. Ihcv Item-
ed to underfland our meaning, by gliding through among
the bufnes, and appearing at the top ol- a hill larther ofl^,
where they continued hooping and crying, and making

divers

ftjS TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

divers figns, which we could not, neither did we endea-
vour to underftand. Another fliot, aimed at the trees a-
bove them, fliewed they were dill within our reach, upon
which they difperfed, or fat down among the bufhes, for
we faw them no more, till pitching our tent upon the
plain below two of their villages ; it feemed they were un-
eafy, for they had difpatched a man naked, and without
arms, who, Handing upon the rock, cried out in the lan-
guage of Tigre, that he wanted to come to us. This I
abfolutely refufed, that he might not fee the fmallnefs of
our number, crying out to him to get farther off, or we
would inftantly fhoot him. There was no occafion to re-
peat the admonition. From the rock where he Hood, he
flid down like an eel, and appeared again at a confider-
able diftance, ftill making a fign of wanting to fpeak with
■us.

While refling on the banks of the river Mogetch, we had
been overtaken by two men, and two women, who were
driving two loaded alTes, and were going to Tcherkin; they
had delired leave to keep company with us, for fear of dan-
ger on the road. I had two Abyilinian fervants, but they
were not yet come up, attending one of the baggage mules
that was lame, as they faid ; but I believe, rather bufied
with fome engagements of their own in the villages. We
were obliged then to have recourfe to one of thefe llranger
women, who underftood the language of Tigre, and un-
dertook readily to carry our meflage to the ftranger, who
was ftill very bufy making figns from behind a tree, with-
ovLt coming one ftep nearer.

/L My

THE SOnUCE OF THE NILE.

79

My meffage to them was, that if they fhewed the fmall-
eft appearance of further infolence, either by approaching
the tent, or flinging flones that night, the next morning,
"when the horfe I expe<fled were come up, I would burn their
town, and put every man of them to the fword. A very fub-
miflive anfwer was fent back, with a heap of Hes in excufe
of what they called their millake. My two fervants co-
ming foon after, both of whom, hereafter, were to be in the
fervice of Ayto Confu, went boldly one to each village,
to bring two goats, fome jars of bouza, and to prepare fifty
loaves of bread for next morning. The goats were difpatch-
ed inftantly, fo was the bouza ; but when the morning
came, the people had all fled from their houfes, without
preparing any bread. Thefe villages were called Gimbaar.
They were three in number ; each fituated upon the top
of a pointed hill, in a dirediion from eaft to weft, and made
a very beautiful appearance from the plain below. They
belonged to my great enemies, Guebra Mehedin, and Con- -
fii, late fons of Baflia Eufebius.

On the other hand, as my fervants told me that a mef-
fenger of the king had pafled that morning without taking
any notice of us, I began to fufpedl that it was fome ftra-
tagem of his to frighten me from purfuing my journey ;
which, after the letters I had received from Sennaar, and
which he himfelf had heard read, he never thought I
would have undertaken. This I ftill believe might be the
cafe ; for thefe peafants did not fliew any forwardnefs to
do us harm ; however, it turned out as unfortunately for
them, as if they really purfued us for vengeance.

As

28o TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

As foon as we found tlic villages deferted, and that tliere
were no hopes of. a fuppiy of bread, we ftruck our tent, and
proceeded on our journey ; the pointed mountain Gutchbore
north from our tent, at the difiance of about two miles.

On the 29th, at ten in the forenoon, .we left the inhof-
pitable villages of Ginibaar, not without entertaining fome
apprehenfions of meeting the inhabitants again in the
courfe of the day. But though we took every precaution
againft being furprifed, that prudence could didlate, our
fears of the encounter did not rife to any great heiglit. I
got, indeed, on horfeback, leaving my mule ; and, putting
on my coat of mail, leaving tiie jfire-arms under the com-
mand of Kagi Ifmael, the old Turk, I rode alv/ays about
a quarter of a mile before the baggage, that they might
not come fuddenly upon us, as they had done the night
before.

In a few minutes we pafTed three fmall clear ftreams in a ve-
ry fertile country; the foil was a black loomy earth; the grafs
already parched, or rather entirely burnt up by the fun.
Though this country is finely watered, and mul^ be very
fertile, yet it is thinly inhabited, and, as we were informed,
very unv/holefome. At three quarters pad ten we came
to the river Mahaanah, which fwallows up thefe three
brooks, its courfe nearly N. W. it was (even at this dry fea-
fon of the year) a confidei-able ftream.

Hers wc refted half an hour, and then purfued our

journey ftraight north. We pafTed a large and deep valley

called Werk Meidan, or the country of gold, though there

is no gold in it. It is full of wood and bufhes. We had

I left

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. e§i

left it fix miles, at leaft, on our left hand, and the baggage
near half a mile behind, when I met two men very decent-
ly dreiTed ; one mounted on a mule, the other on foot; both
of them armed with lances and fhields, and both feemed
furprifed to fee a man on horfeback alone completely arm-.
ed. The rider pafTed by at a very quick pace, apparently
not defirous of any intercourfe with me. The man on foot
at palling faluted me with a Salain AUcum ; by which I knew
him to be a Mahometan, and we were about to enter in-
to converfation, when his neighbour called to him, with
feeming impatience. He immediately left me, faying only
thefe fhort fentences, " He there before is a Chriltian, and
a liar ; don't be afraid, Ayto Confu will be at Tcherkin as
foon as ycu."

Upon this we parted, I palTed on fomething more than
a mile further, and at ten minutes after twelve Hopped
for the baggage. The Mahaanah is here about a quarter
of a mile to the N. E. and the fliarp-pointed mountain of
Gutch S. E. and by eaft, diftance about three miles. It was
fome time before our baggage came up, when our compa-
nions who efcorted it exhibitedfome fmall marks of confufion.

The Turk was bluflering violently in Turkifli, and fet-
ting all at defiance, wilhing to be attacked by a hundred
that minute ; the others feemed to be much more mode-
rate, and not to agree with Hagi Ifmael, either in time or
in nmrrber, but were very willing to be exempted from at-
tacks altogether. I afkcd them what was the occafion of
all this warlike difcouvfe from Ifmael, who fcarcely fpoke
Arabic fo as to be underfliood ? I could learn nothing but
threats againil the Chriilians. At lail, the fervants told me,

Vol. IV. N n that

iSz TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

that the Abyflinians who pafTed had informed them, that;
at a certain pafs, called Dav-Dohha, which we Ihould arrive
at next day, above a thoufand men, Chriftians, Pagans, and
Mahoip.etans, all armed, were waiting for us, refolved to^
Gilt us to pieces rather than let us pafs : that the Shangalla
were expeifted to burn Tcherkin, and Ay to Confu's houfe ;
and that his Billetaiia Gueta, Ammonios, had come with
a multitude of mules to carry away all that was valuable
in it. He added, moreover, that Abba Gimbaro, chief of
Sancaho, was fent for by Ay to Confu, and entrufted with
the defence of Tcherkin Amba, the hill upon which Ayto
Confu's houfe is fituated. He then called the Mahometaa
who fpoke to me, to witnefs the truth of all this, which he
did with repeated oaths ; and concluded, that nothing re^
mained for us but to return to Gondar. They all, in anxi-
ous expe(5lation, awaited my refolution. One of the fer-
vants faid, that, by going out of the way about half a dayy
we could avoid the pafs of Dav-Dohha altogether. I told
them, this was neither a time nor place for deliberation ;
that we fliould make the bell of our way to Waalia, where
we were to lleep that night; as that was a town where there
was a market, and people came from every part, we lliould
there hear news, after which I promifed to tell them my
opinion. We accordingly fet out for "Waalia, and at half
pail four in the afternoon encamped in the market-place.

Waalia is a colle<5lion of villages, each placed upon the top
of a hill, and inciofing, as in a circle, an exteniive flat piece
of ground about three miles over, on which a very well-fre^
quented market is kept. The name is given it from a Ipe-
eiesof fmall pigeons*, with yellow brealls and variegated

backs,

* See ihe article Waalia in the AppendL-j,

THE SOURCEOF THE NILE. 285

"backs, the fatteft and bed of all the pigeon kind Waalia
lies due N. W. from Gondar.

HAviNG'finifhed our dinner, or rather fupper, about feven,
for we made but one meal a- day, after taking care of our
beads, we entered into confultation what was next to be
done. I told tliem, the firft ftep we were to take was to fend
and call the Shum of one of the villages, and after him an-
other, and if, knowing me to be the king's ftranger, feeing
the fmallnefs of our number, and being informed that we
were going to Tcherkin, to the houfe of Ay to Confu, their
mailer, they did not tell us there were dangers on the road,
we might be fure the intelligence we had received was
void of foundation. " Sir, fays one of the llrangers that drove
the alTes, it is a lie. No man but Ayto Confu, not even Ay-
to Confu himfelf, could raife 500 men in this country; no
not even 300, Pagans, Mahometans, and Chriflians altogether.
Where is he to get his Pagans r unlefs he means his own
Chriftian fort, who, indeed, are more Pagans than any thing
elfe, and capabk of every mifchief ; but there is not a Ma-
hometan on this road that does not know who you are, and
that you was Yafme's mailer, and gave him Ras el Feel. Stay
here but a few days till I fend to Ras el Feel, and to 7cher-
kin, and if you do not take the houfes and v/ives, and all that
thefe five hundred men have in the world from them, with
the helpyou may find atWaalia, fpit upon me for a liar, ormy
name is not Abdullah" " Abdullah, faid I, you are a fenfi-
ble fellow, though I did not know you was fo well ac-
quainted with me, nor do I wifli that you fpeak of me in
that manner publickly. But what convinces me of the
truth of what you fay is, that the man on foot had no more
time but to fay to me, in Arabic, while pafiing, that his com-

N n 2 panion

284 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

pan ion on the mule was a liar, and that I fliould not be a-
fraid, for there was no danger on the road, and that Ayto
Confu would be at Tcherkin as foon as I ; fiom which, and
his faying juft the contrary to you, I do believe the whole is
a Aratagem of the king.

All agreed in this. Hagi Ifmacl mentioned it as a proof
of the worthleffnefs of Chriftians, that even their kings
wei-e as great liars as common men; and we hadfcarcely
done with this confuhation, and difpelled our fears, when
word was brought to the tent, that the chiefs of two of
the principal villages were at the door, defiring to be ad-
mitted, and had with them feveral fervants loaded with
provifions. They were immediately introduced, and they
prefcnted us with two goats, feveral jars of bouza, and
a quantity of bread, which I divided among my retinue,
now become half Chriftians and half Mahometans, neither
of whom ate meat killed by the other.

After tlie firil civilities were over, I afked the governor
of Waalia ail the queftions that were needful about the
ftate of the roads and the country, and whether the Shan-
galla ever made an attempt upon Tcherkin ? They faid, All
was 'peace ; that the people came and went to the market
without being interrupted. They laughed at the queftion
about the Shangalla. Ayto Confu, they faid, fometimes
went down and deilroyed many of that people, and brought
others away as flaves ; but the Shangalla w^ere not men to at-
tack a place where there was a number of horfe, nor toclimb
mountains to deftrov houfes well ftored with fire-arms.
Have yon, faid I, fecn nobody pafs by from Ayto Confu
lately ? About four or five days ago, anfwered he, a fervant
was here, with orders to have viduals ready for you ; who

alfo

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 285

alfo told us, that he would come himfelf in three or four
days aFter. I heard alio, that his fervant Ammonios had
gone round Nara to take pofleirion of fome villages the
king had given Ozoro Edher, and that he had with him
a number of horfe and foot, and feveral Ozoros, going to
Tcherkin, but they had gone the upper road, confequently
had not come this way. Is there no danger, faid I, in
pzfCmg Dav-Dobba I' Why, at Dav-Dohha, faid he, there is
danger, it is a bad place, nobody pafTes it on horfeback; but
I fee your horfes are fliod with iron, which none in this
country are ; however, to avoid all danger, you had better
lead your horfes and mules, and walk on foot, it is not far.

I couLi> not help burfting out into a fit of laughter at
the fancied danger that attended us at Dav-Dohha ; and,
as I faw this difconcerted our informant, and that he thought
he had faid fomething wrong, I told him briefly what had
paflfed at meeting with the two men upon the road. He
laughed very heartily at this in his turn. " That man did
not llop here, fays he, and who he is I know not ; but who-
ever he is, he is a liar, and a beafl of the field. All the
people of Dav-Dohha are our relations, and Ayto Confu's
fervants ; if there had been any body to attack you, there
would have been found here people to defend you. What
fignifies his ordering us to furnilh you with victuals, if he
was to fuffer your throats to be cut before you came to eat
them ? 1 will anfv/er for you between this and Tclierkin ;
after that, all is wildernefs, and no man knovirs if he is to
meet friend or foe."

I TOLD him then what had happened to us at Gimbaar^
at which he feemed exceedingly furprifed. *' Thefe villages,

fays

a^6 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

fays he, do not belong to Ayto Confu, but to his coufins, the
fons of Baflia Eufebius. They indeed died in rebellion, but
our matter has taken pofleffion of them for the family,
left the king fhould give them away to a ftranger. Some
bad news muft have arrived from Gondar ; at any rate, if
you are afraid, I will accompany you to-morrow paft Dav-
Dohha. We thanked him for the kind offer, but excufed
ourfelves from accepting it, as we fully relied upon his in-
telligence ; and having made him fome trifling prefents,
about the value of what he brought, though in his eyes
much more confiderable, we took our leave, mutually fatif-
fied with each other. From this I no longer doubted that
the whole was a project: of the king to terrify me, and make
me return. What ftruck me, as moft improbable of all,
was the ftory of that lying wretch who faid that Ayto Con-
fu had fent a number of mules to carry away his furniture,
and trufted the defence of his place to Abba Gimbaro, chief
of the Baafa. For,^ firft, I knew well it did not need many
mules to carry away the furniture which Ayto Confu left
at Tcherkin in time of war, and when he was not there ;
next, had he known that any perfon whatever, Shangalla
or Chriftians, had intended to attack Tcherkin, he was not
a man to fight by proxy or lieutenants ; he would have
been himfelf prefent to meet them, as to a feaft, though he
had been carried thither in a fick-bed.

On the 30th, at half paft fix in the morning we fet out
from Waalia ; and, though v;e were perfedlly cured of our
apprehenfions, the company all joined in defiring me to go
along with them, and not before them. They -wifely added,
that, in a country like that, where there was no fear of
God, I could not know what it might be in the power of
3 the

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 287

the devil to do. I therefore hung my arms upon my
horfe, and, taking a gun in my hand, wandered among
the trees by the road-fide, in purfuit of the doves or pigeons.
In a few hours I had lliot feveral fcores of them, efpecially
on the banks of the Mai Lumi, or the River of Lemons.
We came to it in about an hour from WaaUa, and coallcd
it for fome minutes, as it ran north-eaft parallel to our
courfe.

A PRODIGIOUS quantity of fruit loaded the branches of
thefe trees even likely to break them ; and thefe were in all
ftages of ripenefs. Multitudes of bloflbms covered the op-
pofite part of the tree, and fent forth the moft delicious
odour poffible. We provided ourfelves amply with this-
fruit. The natives make no ufe of it, but we found it a^
great refreflament to us, both mixed with our water, and as-
fauce to our meat, of which we had now no great variety
fince our onions had failed us, and a fupply of them was no.
longer to be procured.

At fourteen minutes paft feven, continuing norch-well,
we croiTed the river Mai Lumi, which here runs well ; and,
continuing Hill north- weft, at eight o'clock we came to the
mouth of the formidable pafs, Dav-Dohha, which wc en-
tered with good countenance enough, having firft reded
five minutes to put ourfelves in order, and we found our
appetites failing us through exceflive heat. The pafs of
Dav-Dohha is a very narrow defile, full of ftrata of rocks,
like fteps of ftairs, but fo high, that, without leaping, or
being pulled up, no horfe or mule can afcend. Moreover^
the defcent, though fhort, is very ftcep, and almoft choked
up- by huge ftones, which the torrents, after wafhing the

earth

«88 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

earth from about them, had rolled down from the moun-
tain above. Both fides of the defile are covered thick with
wood and bufhes, efpecially that deteftable thorn the kan-
tuiFa, fojuilly reprobated in Abyffinia.

Having extricated ourfelves fuccefsfully from this pafs,
our fpirits were fo elated, that we began to think our jour-
ney now at an end, not refledting how many pafles, full of
real danger, were ftill before us. At three quarters pail
eight we came to Werkleva, a village of Mahometans. Above
this, too, is Armatchiko, a famous hermitage, and around
it huts inhabited by a number of monks. Thefe, and their
brethren of Magwena, are capital performers in all difor-
ders of the ftate ; all prophets and diviners, keeping up the
fpirit of riot, anarchy, and tumult, by their fanatical inven-
tions and pretended vifions.

Having refted a few minutes at TabaretWunze, a wretch-
ed village, compofed of miferable huts, on the banks of a
fmall brook, at a quarter after two we palTed the Coy, a
large river, which falls into the Mahaanah. From Mai
Lumi to this place the country was but indifferent in ap-
pearance ; the foil, indeed, exceedingly good, but a wild-
nefs and look of defolation covered the whole of it. The
grafs was growing high, the country extenfive, and almofl
without habitation, whilil the few huts that were to be feen
feemed more than ordinarily miferable, and were hid in re-
cedes, or in the edge of valleys overgrown with wood. The
inhabitants feemed i-o have come there by Health, with a
defire to live concealed and unknown.

4

On

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 289

On the ^i{\i of December we left our ftation at the head
< of a difficult pafs called Coy Gulgulet, or the Defcent of

Coy, at the i^oot of which runs the river Coy, one of the
' largeft we had yet feen, but I did not difcern any fifli in it.

Here we refted a little to refrefli ourfelves and our beads,
-after the fatigues we had met with in defcending throu^^h

this pafs.

At half after eight we came to the banks of the Germa,
■which winds along the valley, and falls into the Angrab.
^After having continued fome time by the fide of the Germa,
-and crolTed it going N. W. we, at ten, pafTcd he fmall river
Idola; and half an hour after came to Deber, a houfc of Ay-
to Confu, on the top of a mountain, by the Me of a fmall
:river of that n-ame. The country here is partly in wood,
and partly in plantations of dora. It is very well watered
and feems to produce abundant crops ; but it is not beau-
tiful; the foil is red earth, and the bottoms of all the ri-
vers foft and earthy, the water heavy, and generally ill-tafted,
even in the large rivers, fach as the Coy and the Germa. I
imagine there is fome mineral in the red earth, with a
proportion of which the water is impregnated.

At Deber, I obferved the following bearings from the
mountains ; Ras el Feel was weft, Tcherkin N. N. W. Debi a
Haria, north. We found nobody at Deber that could give
•us the leaft account of Ayto Confu. We left it, therefore, on
the morning of the ift of January 1772. At half paft ten
o'clock we paffed a fmall village called Dembic, and about
mid- day came to the large river Tchema, which falls into
the larger river Dwang, below, to the weftward. About
an hour after, we came to the Mogetch, a river not fo large
Vot, IV, O o as

290 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

as the Tchema, but which, hkc it, joins the Dwang. Here
we have a view of the fteep mountain Magwena, where
there is a monallery of that name, poffefTed by a multitude
of lazy, profligate, ignorant monks. Magwena, excepting
one mountain, is a bare, even ridge of rocks, whicli feem-
ingly bear nothing, but are black, as if calcined by the fun.
In the rainy feafon it is faid every fpecies of verdure is he e
in the grcateflluxuriancy ; all the plantations of corn abo ;t
Deber are much infefted with a fmall, beautiful, green
monkey, with a long tail, called Tota.

Between three and four in the afternoon we encamped
at Eggir Dembic ; and in the evening we pafled along tiie
fide of a fmall river running weft, which falls into the Mo-
getch.

I TOOK advantage of the pleafanteft and latefl hour for
fliooting the waalia, or the yellow-breafted pigeon, as alfo
Guinea-fowls, which are here in great abundance among the
corn; in plumage nothing di.Terent from ours, and very ex-
cellent meat. The fun was jull fetting, and I was return-
ing to my tent, not from wearinefs or futiety of fport, but
from my attendant being incapable of carrying the load of
game I had already killed, when I was met by a man with
whom I was perfet!:fly acquainted, and who by his addrefs
likevv^ife feemed no Granger to me. I immediately recol-
iedled him to be a fervant of Ozoro Either, but this he de-
nied, and faid he was a fervant of Ayto Confu; however, as
Confu lived in the fame houfe with his mothei' at Kofcam,
the miilake feemed not to be of any moment. He faid he
came to meet Ayto Confu, who was expeded at Tcherkin

I*. that

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. .291

that night, and was fent to fearch for us, as we feemed to
have tarried on the road. He had brought two mules, in
cafe any of ours had been tired, and propofed that the next
morning I fhould fet out with him alone for Tcherkin,
where I fliould find Ayto Confu, and my baggage ilioukl
follow me. I told him that it was my fixed refolution, made
at the beginning of my journey, and which I fliould ad-
here to till the. end, never to feparate myfelf on the road
from my fervants and company, who were ftrangers, and
without any other protedion than that of being with me.

The man continued to prefs meallthat evening very much,
£0 that we were greatly furprifed at what he could mean,
and I ftill more and more refolved not to gratify him. Often
I thought he wanted to communicate fomething to me, but
he refrained, and I continued obftinate ; and the rather fo,
as there was no certainty that Ayto Confu was yet arrived.
I aflced him, if Billetana Gueta Ammonios was not at Tcher-
kin ? He anfwered, without the fmalleft alteration in his
countenance, that he was not. No people on earth dilTemble
like the AbyiTmians ; this talent is born with them, and
they improve it by continual pradice. As we had there-
fore previouily refolved, we paffed the evening at Eggir Dem-
bic, and the fervant, finding he could not prevail, left our
tent and we all went to bed. He did not feem angry, but
at going out of the tent, faid, as half to himfelf, " 1 cannot
blame you; in fuch a journey nothing is like firmnefs."

On the 2d of January, in the morning, by feven o'clock,
having dreiTcd my hair, and perfumed it according to the
cuilom of the country, and put on clean clothes, with no
other arms but my knife, and a pair of piflolg at my girdle,

Q Q 2 1 came

292 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

I came out of the tent to mount my mule for Tcherkin. I
now faw Confu's fervant, whofe name was Welleta Yafous,
pulling the Guinea-fowls and pigeons out of the pannier,
where my fervants had put them, and fcattering them upon
the ground, and he was faying to thofe who interrupted him,
" Throw away this carrion ; you fhall have a better break-
fall and dinner, too, to-day ;" and turning to me more than
ordinarily pleafed at feeing me drelTed, and that I continued
to ufe the Abyffinian habit, he jumped upon his mule, and
appeared in great fpirits, and we all fet out at a brilker pace
than ufuaJ, by the affiftance of the two frefli mules.

We pafTed through the midil of feveral fmall villages. At
half an hour pall eight v/e came to the mountain of Tcher-
kin, which we rounded on the weft, and then on the north,
keeping the mountain always on our right. At twenty mi-
nutes paft ten I pitched my tent in the market-place at
Tcherkin, v^^hichfeemed a beautiful lawn laid out for plea-
lure, lliaded with fine old trees, of an enoiTnous height and
ilze, and watered by a fmall but very limpid brook, riui-
ning over beds of pebbles as white as fnQW,_

-2:sv^=

CHAP,

THE SOURCEOFTHENILE. 293

^- '^

CHAP. II.

Reception at tcherktn by Ozoro Efther^ 'xJe. — Hunting of the Lkpbanty

Rhinoceros, and Buffalo. -

THE impatient Welleta Yafous would only give me time
to fee my quadrant and other inftruments fafely flow-
ed, but hurried me through a very narrow and crooked
path up the fide of the mountain, at every turn of which
was placed a great rock or ftone, the flation for mufqucts
to enfilade the different ftages of the road below, where it
WIS ftrait for any diftance. We at lail reached the outer
court, where we found the chamberlain Ammonios, whom
Welleta Yafous had fpoken of as being ftill at Gondar ; but
this did not furprife me, as he told me at the tent that Ayto
Confu was arrived. I favv here a great many of my old ac-
quaintance whom I had known at Ozoro Efther's houfe at

Gondar^

594 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

Gondar, and who all welcomed me with the greateft de-
monftrations of joy, as if I had come from a long journey.

I WAS then taken to an inner apartment, where, to my
great furprife, inftead of Ayto Confu, 1 faw his mother, Ozo-
ro Efther, fitting on a couch, and at her feet the fecretary's
daughter, the beautiful Tecla Mariam ; and, foon after, the
fecretary himfelf, and feveral others belonging to the court.
After having made a profound obeifance, " Ozoro Efther,
faidi, I cannot fpeak for furprife. What is the meaning of
your having left Gondar to come into this wildernefs ? As
for Tecla Mariam, I am not furprifed at feeing her ; I know
fhe at any time would rather die than leave you ; but tiiat
you have both come hither without Ayto Confu, and in fo
Ihort a time, is what I cannot comprehend " — " 1 here is no-
thing fo ftrange in this, replied Ozoro tllher; the troops of
Begemder have taken away my hufband, Ras Michael, God
knows where ; and, therefore, being now a lingle woman,
I am refolved to go to Jerufalem to pray for my hufband,
and to die there, and be buried in the Holy Sepulclire. You
would not Hay with us, fo we are going with you. Is there
any thing furprifing in all this ?"

" But tell me truly, fays Tecla Mariam, you that know
every thing, while peeping and poring througli thefe long
glafles, did not you learn by the ftars that we were to meet
you here ?"---" Madam, anfwered I, if there was one liar in
the firmament that had announced to me fuch agreeable
news, I fnould have rclapfed into the old idolatry of this
country, and worfhipped that ftar for the reft of my life."
Brcakfaft now came in ; the conyerfation took a very lively
turn, and from the fecretary I learned that the matter flood

I thus :

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 295

thus : The king, reftoring the villages to the Iteghe, ac-
cording to the llipulacion of his laft treaty with PovvuiTen,
thought that he might fo far infringe upon if,_ from grati-
tude to Ras Michael, as to give part of the number to Ozoro
Efther, the Iteghe's daughter ; and Ayto Confu, going to
Tcherkin to hunt, he took his mother along with him to
put her in pofTellion ; for the Iteghe's people were not
lambs, nor did they pay much regard to the orders of the
king, nor to that of the Iteghe their miftrefs, at all times,
farther than fuited their own convenience.

We now wanted only the prefence of Ayto Confu to
make our happinefs complete ; he came about four, and
"with him Ayto Engedan, and a great company. There was
nothing but rejoicing on ali fides. Seven ladies, relations
and companions of Ozoro Efther, came with Ayto Confu ;
and I confefs this to have been one of the happieft mo-
ments of my life. I quite forgot the difaftrous journey I had
before me, and all the dangers that awaited me, I began even
to regret being fo far in my way to leave Abylllnia for ever.
We learned from Ayto Confu, that it had been reported at
Gondar that we had been murdered by the peafants of Gim-
baar, but the contrary was foon known. Hov/ever, Knge-
dan and he had fet the lelTer village on fire in their paflage,
and laid a contribution of eleven ounces of gold upon lac
two lareer.

o^

Ayto Confu's houfe at Tcherkin is built on the edge of
a precipice which takes its name from the mountain Amba
Tcherkin. It is built all with cane very artificially, the
outer wall being compofed of fafcines of canes, fo neatly
joined together as not to be penetrated by rain or wind.

The

2^6 TRAVELS TO DISCOVEPv ^

The entry is from tlie foutli fide of ir, very crooked and diiti-
cult, half way up the rock. On the caft, is a very plenrifal
fpring, which furniihes the houfe with excellent vafer.
^Yet, after all, this houfe, though inacceffible, is not defen-
fiblc, and affords very little fafety to its maftcc ; for the
Shangalla, with flax, or any thing combuftible, tied to the
point of their arrows, would eafily fet it on fire if they once
approached it; and the Abyflinians with guns could as
ealily deilroy it, as, on fuch occafions, they wrap their
balls in cotton wads. The in fide of the ftate-rooms were
hung with long ilripcs of carpeting, and the floors covered
with the fame.

There is great plenty of game of every fort about Tcher-
kin ; elephants, rhinocerofes, and a great number of buf-
faloes, which differ nothing in form from the buffaloes of
Europe or of Egypt, but very much in temper and difpofi-
■ tion. They are fierce, rafh, and fearlefs of danger ; and
contrary to the pra(5tice of any other creature not carnivo-
rous, they attack the traveller and the hunter equally, and
it requires addrefs to efcape from them. They feem to be,
of all others, the creature the mod giren to eafe and indul-
gence. They lie under the moil fhady trees, near large
pools of water, of which they make conftant ufe, and fleep
foundly all the day long. The flefli of the female is very
good when fat, but that of the male, hard, lean, and dif-
agreeable. Their horns are ufed in various manners by
the turners, in which craft the Abyflinians are very expert.
In the woods there are many civet cats, but they know not
.the ufe of them, nor how to extraft the civet. The Maho-
metans only are poffelled of this art.

5

Thougk

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 497

Though we were all happy to our wifli in this enchant-
ed mountain, the adlive fpirit of Ay to Confu could not reft;
he was come to hunt the elephant, and hunt him he would.
All thofe that underftood any thing of this exercife had af-
fembled from a great diftance to meet Ayto Confu at Tcher-
kin. He and Engedan,from the moment they arrived, had
been overlooking, from the precipice, their fervants training
and managing their horfcs in the market-place below.
Great bunches of the fineft canes had been brought from
Kuara for javelins; and the whole houfe was employed
in fitting heads to them in the moft advantageous manner.
For my part, tho' I fhould have been very well contented to
have remained where I was, yet the preparations for fport of
fo noble a kind roufed my fpirits, and made me defirous to
join in it. On the other hand, the ladies all declared, that
they thought, by leaving them, we were devoting them to
death or flavery, as they did not doubt, if the Shangalla
miffed us, they would come forv/ard to the mountain and
flay them all. But a fufficient garrifon was left under A-
zage Kyrillos, and Billetana Gueta Ammonios ; and we were
well affured tliat the Shangalla, being informed we were
out, and armed, and knowing our numbers, would take care
to keep clofe in their thickets far out of our way.

On the 6th, an hour before day, after a heart)' breakfaft,
we mounted on horfeback, to the number of about thirty
belonging to Ayto Confu. But there was another body, both
of horfe and foot, which made hunting the elephant their
particular bufmefs. Thefe men dwell conftantly in the
v/oods, and know very little the ufe of bread, living en-
tirely upon the flefli of the beafts they kill, chitefly that of
the elephant or rhinoceros. They are exceedingly thin.

Vox. IV. Pp light,

298 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

light, and agile, both on horfeback and foot ; are very fwar-
thy, though few of them black; none of them woolly- head-
ed, and all of them have European features. They are call-
ed Agageer, a name of their profeffion, not of their nation,
which comes from the word Agar, and fignifies to hough or
ham-ftring with a fliarp weapon. More properly it means,
indeed, the cutting the tendon of the heel, and is a charac-
teriftic of the manner in which they kill the elephant, which
is fliortly as foUov/s : — Two men, abfolutely naked, without
any rag or covering at all about them, get on horfeback ;
this precaution is from fear of being laid hold of by the
trees or buflies, in making their efcape from a very watch-
ful enemy. One of thefe riders fits upon the back of the
horfe, fometimes with a faddle, and fometimes without one,
with only a fwitch or lliort flick in one hand, carefully ma-
naging the bridle with the other ; behind him fits his
campanion, who has no other arms but a broad-fword,
fuch as is ufed by the Sclavonians, and which is brought
from Triefte. His left hand is employed grafping the fword
by the handle, and about fourteen inches of the blade is
covered with whip-cord. This part he takes in his right
hand, without any danger of being hurt by it ; and, though
the edges of the lower part of the fword are as lliarp as a
razor, he carries it without a fcabbard.

As foon as the elephant is found feeding, the horfeman
rides before him as near his face as pofTible ; or, if he flies,
crolTes him in all directions, crying out, " I am fuch a
man and fuch a man ; this is my horfe, that has fuch a
name ; I killed your father in fuch a place, ajid your
grandfather in fuch another place, and 1 am now come
to kill you ; you are but an afs in comparifon of them."

This

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE.

299

This nonfenfe he verily believes the elephant imderftands,
who, chafed and angry at hearing the noife immediately
before him, feeks to feize him with his trunk or probofcis,
and, intent upon this, follows the horfe everywhere, turn-
ing and turning round with him, negleeTiful of making
his efcape by running ftraight forward, in which confifts
his only fafety. After having made him turn once or twice
in piirfuit of the horfe, the horfeman rides clofe up a-
long-fide of him, and drops his companion juft behind on
the off fide ; and while he engages the elephant's attention
upon the horfe, the footman behind gives him a drawn
ftroke juft above the heel, or what in man is called the
tendon of Achilles. This is the critical moment; the horfe-
man immediately wheels round, and takes his companion
up behind him, and rides off full fpeed after the reft of the
herd, if they have ftarted more than one ; and fometimes
an expert Agageer will kill three out of one herd. If the
fword is good, and the man not afraid, the tendon is com-
monly entirely feparated; and if it is not cut through, it is
generally fo far divided, that the animal, with the ftrefs he
puts upon it, breaks the remaining part afunder. In either
cafe, he remains incapable of advancing a ftep, till the horfe-
man returning, or his companions coming up, pierce him
through with javelins and lances; he then falls to the ground,
and expires with the lofs of blood.

The Agageer neareft me prefently lamed his elephant,
and left him ftanding. A) to Engedan, Ayto Confu,Guebra
Mariam, and feveral others, fixed their fpears in the other,
before the Agageer had cut his tendons. My Agageer,
however, having wounded the firft elephant, failed in the
purfuit of the fecond, and, being clofe upon him at enter-

P p 2 ing

300 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

ing the wood, he received a violent blow from a branch of
a tree which the elephant had bent by his weight, and,
after palling, allowed it to replace itfelf, when it knocked
down both the riders, and very much hurt the horfe. This,
indeed, is the great danger in elephant-hunting; for fome
of the trees, that are dry and fliort, break, by the violent
preflure of ib immenfe a body moving fo rapidly, and fall
upon the purfuers, or acrofs the roads. But the greateil
number of thefc trees, being of a fucculent quality, they
bend without breaking, and return quickly to their former
pofition, when they ftnke both horfe and man fo violently,
that they often beat them to pieces, and fcatter them upon
the plain. Dextrous, too, as the riders are, the elephant
fomecimes reaches them with his trunk, with which he
dafhes the horfe againft the ground, and then fets his feet
upon him, till he tears him limb from limb with his pro-
bofcis ; a great many hunters die this way. Befides this,
the foil, at this time of the year, is fplit into deep chafms,.
or cavities, by the heat of the fun, fo that nothing can be
more dangerous than the riding.

The elephant once llain, they cut the whole ilclh off his
bones into thongs, like the reins of a bridle, and hang thefe,
like feftoons, upon the branches of trees, till they become
perfedly dry, without fait, and they then lay them by for
their provilion in the feafon of the rains.

I NEED fay nothing of the figure of the elephant, his form
is known, and anecdotes of his life and character are to be
found everywhere. But his defcription, at length, is given,
with his ufual accuracy and elegance, by that great mailer
of natural hiftory the Count de Buflbn, my molt venerable,

learned^

THESOURCE OF THE NILE. 301

learned, and amiable friend, the Pliny of Europe, and the
true portrait of. what a man of learning and falhion fliould
be.

I SHALL only take upon me to refolve a difEcuky which
he feems to have had, — for what ufe the teeth of the ele-
phant, and the horns of the rhinoceros, were intended. He,
with reafon, explodes the vulgar prejudice, that thefe arms
were given them by Nature to fight with each other. He
afl«:s very properly, What can be the ground of that animo-
fity ? neither of them are carnivorous ; they do not couple
together, therefore are not rivals in love ; and, as for food,
the vaft forells they inhabit furnilli them with an abun-
dant and everlafting llore.

But neither the elephant nor rhinoceros eat grafs. The
flieep, goats, horfes, cattle, and all the beafts of the coun-
try, live upon branches of trees. There are, in every part
of thefe immenfe forefls, trees of a fofr, fucculent fubdance,
full of pith. Thefe are the principal food of the elephant
and rhinoceros. They firll eat the tops of thefe leaves and
branches ; they then, with their horns or teetli, begin as
near to the root as they can, and rip, or cut the more woody
part, or trunks of thefe, up to where they were eaten be-
fore, till they fall in fo many pliable pieces of tlie fize of
laths. After this, they take all thefe in their monllrous
mouths, and twill them round as we could do the leaves of
a lettuce. The velligcs of this procefs, in its diflercnt ftages,
\vc faw every day- throughout the forefl: ; and the horns of
the rhinoceros, and teeth of the elephant, are often found
broken, when their gluttony leads them to attempt too

large or firm a tree.

TaERSi

303 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

There now remained but two elephants of thofe that
had been di (covered, which were a ilie one with a calf.
The Agageer would v/illingly have let thefe alone, as the
teeth of the female are very fmall, and the young one is of
no fort of value, even for food, its llefli Ihrinking much
upon drying. But the hunters would not be limited in
their fport. The people having obferved the place of her
retreat, thither we eagerly followed. She was very foon
found, and as foon lamed by the Agageers ; but when they
came to wound her with the darts, as every one did in their
turn, to our very great furprife, the young one, which had
been fuflered to efcape unheeded and unpurfucd, came out
from the thicket apparently in great anger, running upon
the horfes and men with all the violence it was mailer of.
I was amazed ; and as much as ever I was, upon fuch an
occafion, afflicT:ed, at feeing the great afTedlion of the little
animal defending its wounded mother, heedlefs of its own
life or fafety. I therefore cried to them, for God's fake to
fpare the mother, tho' it was then too late ; and the calf had
made feveral rude attacks upon me, which I avoided with-
out difficulty ; but I am happy, to this day, in the reflexion
that I did not ftrike it. At laft, making one of its attacks
upon Ayto Engedan, it hurt him a little on the leg ; upon
which he thruft it through with his lance, as others d^d
after, and it then fell dead before its wounded mother, whom
it had fo airecT:ionately defended. It was about the fize cf
an afs, but round, big-bellied, and heavily made ; and was
fo furious, and unruly, that it would eafily have broken the
leg either of man or horfe, could it have overtaken them,
and jollied againil them properly.

Here

THESOURCEOFTHENILE. 303

Here is an example of a bead (a young one too) pofTeffing
abftraaied fentiments to a very high degree. By its flight on
the firft appearance of the hunters, it is plain it apprehended
danger to itfelf, it alfo refleded upon that of its mother,
which was the caufe of its return to her afliftance. This
affecftion or duty, or let us call it any thing we pleafe, ex-
cept inftinc% was ftronger than the fear of danger; and it
muft have conquered that fear by refleftion before it re-
turned, when it refolved to make its beft and laft efforts,
for it never attempted to fly afterwards. I freely forgive
that part of my readers, who know me and themfelves fo
little, as to think I believe it worth my while to play the
mountebank, for the great honour of diverting them ; an
honour far from being of the firft rate in my efleem. If
they fhould fhew, in this place, a degree of doubt, that,
for once, I am making ufe of the privilege of travellers, and
dealing a little in the marvellous, it would be much more
to the credit of their difcernment, than their prodigious
fcruples about the reality or pofTibility of eating raw fiefh;
a tiling that has been recorded by the united teftimony of
all that ever vilited AbyfTmia for thefe two hundred years,
has nothing unreafonable in itfelf, though contrary to our
pradlice in other cafes ; and can only be called in queftion
now, through v/eaknefs, ignorance, or an intemperate de-
fire to find fault, by thofe that believed that a man could
get into a quart, bottle.

What I relate of the young elephant contains difficulties
of another kind ; though I am very well perfuaded fome
will fwallow it eafily, who cannot digeft the raw flefh. hi
both inftances I adhere ftridly to the truth; and I begleava
to dTure thofe fcrupulous readers, that if they knew their

author,.

3^4

TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

author, they would think that his having invented a lie,
folely for the pleafure of diverting them, was much more
improbable than either of the two foregoing fa6ls. He
places his merit in having accomplifhed thefe travels in ge-
neral, not in being prefent at any one incident during the
courfe of them ; the believing of which can refleft no
particular honour upon himfelf, nor the difbelieving it
any fort of difgrace in the minds of liberal and impreju-
diced men. It is for thefe only he would wifli to write,
and thefe are the only perfons who can profit from his nar-
rative.

The Agageers having procured as much meat as would
maintain them a long time, could not beperfuaded to con-
tinue the hunting any longer. Part of them remained
with the fiie-elephant, which feemed to be the fattefl ; tho'
the one they killed firfl was by much the moft valuable, on
account of its long teeth. It was ftill alive, nor did it feem
an eafy ojieration to kill it, without the afliflance of our
Agageers, even though it was totally helplefs, except with
its trunk.

We fought about for the buffaloes and fhinocerofes ; "but
though there was plenty of both in the neighbourhood,
we could not find them ; our noife and fliooting in the
morning having probably feared them away. One rhino-
ceros only was feen by a fervant. We returned in the
evening to a great fire, and lay all night under the fliade
of trees. Here we faw them feparate the great teeth of
the elephant from the head, by roafting the jaw-bones on
the fire, till the lower, thin, and hollow part of the teeth
4 were

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE, 305

\vere nearly confumed ; and then they come out eafily, the
thin part being of no vahie.

The next morning we were on horfeback by the dawn
of day in fearch of the rhinoceros, many of which we had
heard make a very deep groan and cry as the morning ap-
proached ; feveral of the Agageers then joined us, and after
we had fearched about an hour in the very thickefl part
of the v/ood, one of them ruflied out with great violence,
crofQng the plain towards a wood of canes that was about
two miles diftance. But though he ran, or rather trotted,
with furprifing fpecd, confidering his bulk, he was, in a
very little time, transfixed with thirty or forty javelins: which
fo confounded him, that lie left his purpofe of going to the
wood, and ran into a deep hole, ditch, or ravine, a cul defac^
w^ithout outlet, breaking above a dozen of the javelins as
he entered. Here we thought he was caught as in a trap,
for he had fcarce room to turn ; when a fervant, who had
41 gun, Handing dire6tly over him, fired at his head, and
the animal fell immediately, to all appearance dead. All
thofe on foot now jumped in v/ith their knives to cut
him up, and they had fcarce begun, when the animal
recovered fo far as to rife upon l^is knees ; happy then was
•the man that efcaped firft ; and had not one of the Aga-
geers, VntIio v/as himfelf engaged in the ravine, cut the fmew
of the hind-leg as he was retreating, tliere would have been
a very forrowfuj account of the foot-hunters that day.

Atter having difpatchcd him, I was curious to fee what

wound the fhot had given, which had operated fo violently

upon fo huge an animal ; and I doubted not it v/as in the'

ferain. But it had flruck him nowhere but upon the pc int of

Vol, IV. CLq the

3o5 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

the foremofl horn, of which it had carried ofF above an
inch ; and this occafioncd a concuffion that had ftunned
him for a minute, till the bleeding had recovered him. I
preferved the horn from curiofity, and have it now by
me *. I faw evidently the ball had touched no other part
of the beaft.

While we were bufy with the rhinoceros, Ammonios
joined us. A mefllige from the king had carried away
Azage Kyrillos the fecretary. Two other meffengers had
arrived from the queen, one to Ayto Confu, and another to
Ozoro Eilher ; and it was Ozoro Efther's commands to her
fon, to leave the hunting and return. There was no reme-
dy but to obey ; Ammonios, however, wanted to have his
part of the hunting ; and the country people told us, that
multitudes of buffaloes were to be found a little to the
weftward, where there were large trees and {landing pools
of water. We agreed then to hunt homeward, without be-
ing over-folicitous about returning early.

We had not gone far before a wild boar arofc between
me and Ayto Engedan, which I immediately killed with my
javelin. Before he, on his horfe, came up to it, another of
its companions fliared the fame fate about a quarter of an
hour after. This was the fport I had been many years ufed
to in Barbary, and was infinitely more dextrous at it than
any of the prefent company; this put me more upon a par
with my companions, who had not failed to laugh at me,
upon my horfe's refufal to carry me near cither to the ele-
phant

* See the ailiclc Rliiiioceros in the Appendix.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 307

phant or rhinoceros. Nobody would touch the carcafe of
the boar after it was dead, being an animal which is con-
fid ?red as unclean.

Ammonios was a man of approved courage and conduct:,
and had been in all the wars of Ras Michael, and was pla-
ced about Ayto Confu, to lead the troops, curb the prefump-
tlod, and check the impetuofity of that youthful warrior. He
xvas'tall, and aukwardly made ; flow in fpeech and motion,
fo much as even to excite ridicule; about fixty years of age,
and more corpulent than the Abyfllnians generally are ; in
a word, as pedantic and grave in his manner as it is pof-
fible to exprefs. He fpent his whole leifure time in reading
the fcripture, nor did he willingly difcourfe of any thing
elfe. He had been bred a foot-foldier ; and, though he
rode as well as many of the Abyfllnians, yet, having long
flirrup-leathers, with iron rings at the end of them, into
which he put his naked toe only, inflead of ftirrups, he
had no flrcngth or agility on horfeback, nor was his bridle
fuch as could command his horfe to Hop, or wind and turn
f]-iarply among trees, though he might make a tolerable
ligure on a plain.

A Boar, roufed on our right, had wounded a horfc and
a footman of Ayto Confu, and tlien efcapcd. Two buifaloes
were found by thofe on the right, one of which wounded a •
horfe likev.'ife. Ayto Confu, Engedan, Guebra Mariam,
and myfelf, killed the other with equal fliare of merit, with-
out being in any fort of danger. All this was in little more
than an hour, when our fport feemed to be at the bell;
our horfcs were confidcrably blown, not tired, and though
we were beating home-vards, llill we were looking very

Q^q 2 keenly

3o8 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

keenly for more game. Ammonios was on the left among-
the buflies, and fome large, beautiful, tall fpreading-trees,
clofe on the banks of the river Bedov/i, which ftands there
in pools. Whether the buffalo found Ammonios, or Am-
monios the buffalo, is what we could never get him to ex-
plain to VIS ; but he had wounded the beafl: flightly in the
buttock, which, in return, had gored his horfe, and thrown
both him and it to the ground. Luckily, however, his
cloak had fallen off, which the buffalo tore in pieces, and
employed himfelf for a minute with that and with the
horfe, but then left them, and followed the man as foon as
he faw him rife and run. Ammonios got behind one large
tree, and from that to another ftill larger. 7 he buffalo
turned very aukvv^ardly, but kept clofe in purfuit; and there
was no doubt he would have worn our friend out, who was
not ufed to fuch quick motion. Ayto Engedan, who was
near him, and might have affiUed him, was laughing, ready
to die at the droll figure a man of Ammonios's grave car-
riage made, running and fkipping aboiu naked, with at
fwiftnefs he had never pradtifed all his life before ; and En-
gedan continued calling to Confu to partake of the diver-
lion.

The moment I heard his repeated cries, I galloped our.
of the buflies to the place where he was, and could noG
help laughing at the ridiculous figure of our friend, very
attentive to the beaiVs motions, which feemed to dodge with
great addrefs, and keep to his a<lverlary with the utmoil
obftinacy. As foon as Engedan faw me, he cried, " Yagoube!.'
for the love of Chrifi. ! for the love of the bleffed Virgin!
don't interfere till Confu comes up." Confu immediately
a.rrivcd,;and laughed more than Engedan, but did not of-
fer

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 509-

fer to interfere ; on the contrary, he clapped his hands,
and cried, " Well done, Ammdnios," fwearing he never faw
fo equal a match in his life. The unfortunate Ammo-
nios had been driven from tree to tree, till he had got be-
hind one within a few yards of the water ; but the brufli-
wood upon the banks, and his attention to the bulTalo,
hindered him from feeing how far it was below him. No-
thing could be more ridiculous than to fee him holding"
the tree with both his hands, peeping firft one way, and
then another, to fee by which the beaft would turn. And
well he might be on his guard ; for the animal was abfo-
lutely mad, toffing up the ground with his feet both be-
fore and behind. " Sir, faid I, to Ayto Confu, this will be
but an ugly joke to-night, if we bring home that man's
corpfe, killed in the very midft of us, while we were
looking on." Saying this, I parted at a canter behind the
trees, crying to Ammonios to throw himfelf into the
water, when I fliould ftrike the bead; and feeing the
buiFulo's head turned from me, at full fpecd I ran the
fpc ar into the lower part of his belly, through his whole
inteftincs, till it came out above a foot on the other fide,,
and there-I left it, with a view to hinder the buffalo from
turning. It wj."^ a fpear \yhich,. though fmall in the head,
had a ftrong, tough, feafoned fliaft,. which did not break by
ftriking it againll the trees and bullies, and it pained and
impeded the animal's motions, till Ammonios quitting the
tree, dallied rhrou^^h the bufhes with feme difficulty, and
threw himfelf into the river. But here a danger occurred
that i had not forefecn. Ihe pool was voy deep, and
Amm Miios could not fwim ; fo that tliough he efcapcd
from the buffalo, he vv^ould uifailibly have been drowned,
J. lia^I

310 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

had he not caught hold of fome ftrong roots of a tree flioot-
iiig out of the bank ; and there he lay in perfe(ft fafety from
the enemy, till our fervants went round, and brought him
out of the pool on the further fide.

In the mean time, the buffalo, mortally v/oundcd, feeing
his enemy had efcapcd, kept his eyes intent upon us, who
were abovit forty yards from him, walking backwards to-
wards us, with intent to turn fuddenly upon the nearcil
horfe ; when Ayto Confu ordered two men with guns to
llioot him through the head, and he indantly fell. The two
we firft killed were females ; this laft was a bull, and one
of the largeil, confefTedly, that had ever been feen. Though
not fat, T guefs he weighed nearer fifty ihan forty ftone. His
horfis from the root, following the line of their curve, were
about fifty-two inches, and nearly nine where thickeft in
the circumference. They were flat, not round. Ayto Con-
fu ordered the head to be cut off, and cleared of its flefli, fo
that the horns and flccleton of the head unly remained ; this
he hung up in his great hall among the probofces of ele-
phants, and horns of rhinocerofes, with this infcription in
Jiis own language," Togouhe the Kipt killed this upcii tkc Bcdcwi,*

We were now within fight of home, to v^hich we went
ftraight without further hunting. Neither the ridicule nor
the condolence of the young men could force one word
from Ammonios ; only when I ailced him whether or not
he was hurt, he anfwercd from the fcripcure, " He that io-
" veth danger fl^.all perifii in it." But at night Ozoro Eflher,
either really or feignedly, cxpreffing herfelf as difplcafcd
with her fon Ayro Confu, Ammonios, who loved the young
;'man fincerely, could not bear to be the occafion of this ; fo

that

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 311

-lliatall refolved itfelf into mirth and joke. What added to the
merriment was, that the meiTengers from the Iteghe brought
a lai-ge increafe to our Hock of brandy ; but brought alfo
pofitive orders, both from her and the king, to Ozoro Eilher,
to determine me, by all poiTible means, to return to Gondar,
or elfe to repair thither inftantly herfelf.

The evening of the day whereon we fet out to hunt,
fome men arrived from Ras el Feel, fent by Yafine, with
camels for our baggage, nothing but mules being ufed at
Tcherkin. They brought word, that the Shangalla were
down near the Tacazze, fo that now was the time to pafs
without fear ; that Abd el Jeleel, the former Shum of Ras el
Feel, Yafme's mortal enemy, had been feen lurking in the
country near Sancaho ; but as he had only four men, and
was hirafelf a known coward, it was not probable he would
attempt any thing againil us, though it would be always
better that we keep on our guard,.

Tcherkin has a market on Saturdays, in which raw cot-
ton, cattle, honey, and coarfe cotton cloths are fold. 1 he
Shangalla formerly moleiled Tcherkin greatly, but for thir-
ty years pad they had done little damage. The fmall-pox
j-aged fo violently for a nimiber of years among them, that
it has greatly diminiflied their numbers, and confequently
their power of troubling their neighbours. Ac Tcherkin
we faw a prodigious quantity of black fcorpions, of a very
fmall kind, feldom in the houfes, but chiefly hid under
ilones ; feveral of our people were flung by them, but no
other mifchief followed, but a fmall fwelllng, and a com-
plaint of cold in the part, which went away in a few
hours.

From

312 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

From the defccnt of Moura, after leaving Debra Tzai, and
ILofcam, all was thick woods till we arrived at Tcherkin ;
the roads very rugged and broken, but the weather was
exceedingly pleafant ; for though the thermometer was
fometimes at 115°, it was always cool in the fliade ; and
by the fide of every river there was a frefti gentle breeze
from N. E. efpecially at mid-day. The mornings were al-
ways calm, or with little wind at N. E. It regularly chan-
ged about nine to N. \V. and then fell calm. About four in
the afternoon it generally was at well or near it ; but two
currents were conflantly diftinguiflied at night ; the lower
N. E. veering eafterly towards morning; while the white
fmall clouds very thin and high, coming very rapidly from
the S. \V. fhewed the direcSlion and llrength of the higher
current. The mornings and nights were cloudy from the
;the firft of January, but the days perfediy ferene.

On Wcdnefday the eighth of January, having redlified my
quadrant with great attention, I found the latitude of Tcher-
kin, by^a meridian altitude of the fun, to be 13° 7' 30" N. ;
and taking a mean between that and the meridian altitude
of eleven different ftars, the following night, I foimd the true
latitude of Tcherkin Aniba to be 1 3° 7' 3 j;" north. But though
from that time T was ready to depart, I could not poliibly
get difengaged from my friends, but by a compofition, which
was, that I fhould Hay till the ijih, the day before Ozoro
Efther and lier company were to fet out on their return to
Gondar ; and that they, on their part, fliould fuffer me to
-depart on that day, without further perfv/allon, or throwing
any obllacle whatever in my way. The king had recom-
mended to them this fort of agreement, if I was obflinate,
and this being fettled, we abandoned ourfelves to mirth and
feflivity*

CHAP,

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE.

3»^

■0^=^ ■-^•^

CHAP. tIT.

Wro7n Tcherkin to Hor-Cacamoot^ in Ras el Fee! — Account of it' — Tran*'

adlions there.

ON the 15th of January, at a quarter pafl eight in the
morning, we left Tchcrkin, and entered immediately
into thick woods ; but proceeded very flowly, the road
being bad and unknown, if it could be called a road, and
our camels overloaded About an hour afterwards we palled
a fmall village of elephant hunters on our right, and our
courfe was itraight north, through dark thick woods, over-
grown with long grafs, till at half an hour pail ten we
=came to another fmall village clofe on our right. We then
turned N. W. and continued in that diredion, pafling feve-
ral villages, all of elephant hunters, and mollly Mahome-
tans. At three quarters after twelve we came to a fmall
4-ivcr which runs \V. N. W. and falls into the Germa ; here
Vol. IV. R r wc

314 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

we refted. At ten minutes paft one we fet out again, thro'
the thickell and mofl impenetrable woods I ever faw ; and
at half pall four we encamped about two miles weft of Am-
ba Daid, a fmall village of elephant hunters, often deftroy-
ed by the Shangalla, but now lately rebuilt, and ftrength-
ened by Agageers and their families under protedtion of
Ayto Confu. We went not to the village, for the fake of a
fmall brook which we had found here, running north, and^
falling into the Angrab,

On the i6th, at half after feven in the morning we re-
fumed our journey, going weftward ; about an hour and a .
half afterwards we arrived at the Germa, a large river which
runs N. N. W. and falls into the Angrab ; and a quarter
after nine we paffed the Germa, and going N. W. through
the very thickeft woods, came to Dabdo, a hill almoft de-
ferted, its inhabitants having been fo frequently deftroyed
by the Pagan Shangalla.'

At twenty minutes paft ten, ftill going through the
thickeft woods, and ground all opened by the heat of the
fun, we found, in a gralTy marlh, a pretty abundant fpring
of foul water. This is the refort of the hunters of the
elephant, as alfO of their rivals and enemies the Shangalla ;
and here much human blood has been fhed by people
v/hofe occupation and intention, when they went from
home, were that of flaying the wild beafts only. The Baafa
or Dobena Shangalla, poflefs the country which lies about
four days journey N. E. from this.

At a quarter paft eleven we came to the river Terkwa;
which, after running N. W. falls into the Angrab ; it then

ftood

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 31^

flood in large deep pool^ ; the banks were covered with tall
green grafs ; the taile of the water foul, and earthy. At
twelve vv^e paiTcd the river Terkwa ; and going north, about
an hour after we came to the Dongola,running eaft and weft;
and an hour after that to Jibbel Myrat river, which, running
eaft and weft, was once the boundary between Sennaar and
Abyffinia. Hiftory does not tell us when thefe boundaries
were altered, or upon what occafion. It was probably upon
the firft invafion that new ones were fettled. It fliould feem
that the Abyffinians had then the better of Nubia ; for a
large acceffion of territory was ceded by the latter to
the former. A few minutes after we came to the river
Woodo, larger than the laft. It has a rocky bottom, and
is full of fmall filli of a brownidi and fdver colour. Where
we crolTed, it runs from weft to eaft, and falls into the An-
grab. There we pafTed the night, not without alarms, as
frefh foot-fteps in the fand were very plainly difcovercd,
which, by the length of the foot, and the largenefs of the
heels, our people pronounced were furelyShangalla ; but
nothing difaftrous appeared all night.

On the 17th, before feven in the morning we were agalil
upon our journey, our diredion N. and N. W. winding to
due Weft. Andoval mountain ftood W. N. W. diftant from
us four miles. At forty minutes paft eight, going due weft,
Andoval mountain lay to the north of us ; and AwafTa
mountains to the fouth. This is a ridge which, coming from
the north, ftretches fouth to Dabda, and Abra Amba. An-
doval mountain is a fmall pointed peck, which conftitutes
the north end of them. We halted here a few minutes,
and refumed our route to the weftward, and N. W. till we

iR.r 2 came

yi6- T R A V E DS T O D I S COTE R

came to. Saacaho, at half an hour pad one, and there we-
rertcd.

i Sancaho IS an old frontier territory of Abyffinia. The-
town may coniHl of about 300 huts or houfcs, neatly built;
of canes, and curiouily thatched wirh leaves of the fame. .
Ie rifes in the midft of a plain, and refembks in {liape Tcher-
kin Amba, though much larger; a conhderable diilritTh all;
around belongs to it, of wilds ajid woods, if fuch as thefe,
abandoned entirely to wild beails, can be faid to belong to
any man. The eall end Slopes with rather a fteep defcent
into the plain; and through that is a narrow winding road, ,
feemingly the work of art, being obrtrucfled at turns by
huge Oones, and at difierent ftages, for the pin-pofe of de-
fence by guns or arrows ; ail the other fides of tlie rock arc
perpendicular precipices. The inhabitants of the town are •
Baafa, a race of Shangalla, converted to the Mahometan re-
ligion ; it is an abfolute government, has a nagareet or
kettle-drum for proclamations, yet is underllood to be in-
ferior to Ras el Feel, and dependent on it ; and always fub-
jeA to that nobleman, who is Kafmati of Ras el Feel, fuch,
as Ayto Confu then was» after he had refumed his govern-
ment at my departure, though during my flay in Abyflinia,
jt had devolved upon me by his furrendering it. .

GiMBARO, the Erbab or chief of Sancaho, was the tallcfl'
and ftoutefi man of his nation ; about fix feet fix inches
high, andflrongly made in proportion ; hunted always on^
foot ; and was faid, among his people, to have fingly kill-
ed elephants with one blow of his fpear. The features of .
his face might well be called Kideous ; he paid his part of
the revenue in, buffaloes hides, of which the beil fhields were.

made ; .

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. . jiy-

madc ; and with elephants teetii, and rhinoceros's horns,,
nfed for the handles of the crooked knives, which the Abvf^
fmians carry at their girdles. All the inhabitants of San-
c^ho are hunters of elephants. It is their principal food.
Lrbab Gimbaro came with Yafine, and brought more than
a hundred of the Shangalla to the king's army atScrbraxos,
where the Moors alledged he did not any way diftinguifli
himielf I had, however, taken confiderable notice of him;
and at his earncil: defire carried him into the tent, and Ihew—
ed him the king. .

We encamped at the bottom of the hill on the fouth-weft
fide of the town, on the banks of the river, which rife.s in
the mountains fix miles off to the fouth, and encompalTes
the half of the hill where Sancaho Hands; after which it
turns northward, but was now moflly dry. While we were
pitching our tent, I fent one of Yaiine's men to order Gim-
baro to fend us the ufual quantity of provifion forourfelves
and camels, and told him alio, that my camels were few in
number, and weak ; defiring he would fend two, or one at
leaft, which fhould be dated in his deftar, or account of
rent, for that year. I was aftoniflied to fee Yafme's men
return, bringing wirii them only a woolly-headed black,
the Erbab's fon, as it feemed, who, with great freedom and
pertnefs, and. in very good Amharic, faid, " My father fa-
lutes you ; if ye eat what he eats, ye fhall be very welcome." '
I afked him, What that was ? — He faid, " Elephant killed yef-
terday ; and as for camels ye demand, he tells you he has
none; elephants are his camels, and rhinocerofes are his,
mules,!'

Ayto:'

3x8 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

Ayto Confu's fervants, who heard this meflage deliver-
ed, and who were as defirous of getting over this journey
to Ras el Feel as I was, adviled me to go with him up the
hill to the town, and expoftulate with the Erbab, who, he
faid, would be afliamed to refufe. Accordingly, I armed
myfelf wdth a pair of piftols at my girdle, with a fufil and
bayonet inmy hand ; and took with me two fervants with
their piftols alfo, eacli carrying a large Ihip-blunderbufs.
V/e mounted the hill with great difficulty, being feveral
times obliged to pull up one another by the hands, and en-
tered into a large room about fifty feet long. It was all
hiung round v/ith elephants heads and trunks, with fkele-
tons of the heads of feme rhinocerofes, and of monftrous
hippopotami, as alfo feveral heads of the girafFa. Some
large lion fkins were thrown on feveral parts of the room,
like carpets ; and Gimbaro flood upright at one end of it,
naked, only a fmall cloth about his middle ; the largefl
man I ever remembered to have feen, perfectly black, flat-
nofed, thick-lipped, and v/oolly-headed ; and feemed to be
a perfect pidure of thofe Cannibal giants which we read of
as inhabiting enchanted caflles in fairy talcs.

He did not feem to take notice at my firfl entering the
room, nor till I was very near him. He then came auk-
wardly forward, bowing, endeavouring to kiis my hand,
whicli I withdrew from him, and faid in a firm voice, " I
apprehend, Sir, you do not know me." He bowed and faid
he did, but did not conceive, at the time, it w^as me that en-
camped at the brook. " You did know. Sir, when you fent
your fon.with Yafmc's fcrvant, and you know that you are
confiderabl)' in my debt. Befides, if you had any gratitude,
you would remember the arrears I remitted you, and the pre-

fents

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 319

l^nts I made you when at Serbraxos, even though you mif-
bchaved there. Your meflage to me while below at the ri-
ver was the language of a rebel. Are you willing to be
declared in rebellion ?" He faid, " By no means ; he had
always been a faithful fervant to Ayto Confu, Ras Michael,
and the king, and had come to Serbraxos upon receiving the
firfl order, and would obey whatever I fliould command."
" Then pay me the meery you owe me, and begin firft by
bringing two camels." " He faid, he never refufed the ca-
mels, and the meflage he fent was but in fport." " And was
it fport too. Sir, faid I, when you faid you would fend me
the flefh of elephants to eat ? Did you ever know a Chriftian
eat any fort of flefh that a Mahometan killed ?" He anfwer-
ed. No ; and begging my pardon, promifed he would fend
me bread and honey, and the camels fliould be ready in the
morning." They muft be ready to-night, faid I, and before
night too; for I am to difpatch a fervant this evening to Ay-
to Confu to complain of your behaviour, as I do not know
what you may meditate againft us in our way to Ras el
Feel." He begged now, in the moft earnell manner, I would
not complain ; and faid, he would have all his fpies out to
the eaftward, that not a vShangalla fliould pafs to moleft us,
without our being informed of them. Some of his princi-
pal people now interfering, I confented to forget and for-
give what had pafled. We then ate bread, and drank beer,
to fliow the reconciliation was flncere, and fo the afl'air
ended. -

About fix in the evening came two flrong camels, and
about thirty loaves of bread made of Dora; two large wheat
loaves for me, as alfo a jar of wild honey, of excellent fla-
vour, and with thefe a prefent to Ayto Confu's fervant.

4v On

320 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

On the i8th, about fix in the morning, Erbab Gimbaro^
coming down to our tent, brought thirty loaves of Dora as
before, and four of wheat, for the journey ; and we had al-
ready enough of honey, upon which we breakfafted wuh
the Erbab, who, to confirm the friendfhip, took two or three
glaffes of ftrong fpirits, which put liim into excellent hu-
mour. His fon, too, that he might atone for his lail night's
milbehaviour, brought a better camel than any we had leen,
and exchanged it for one of thofe that came yelterday in
the evening. I, on the other hand, gave him a cotton cloth,
and fome trifles, which made him perfectly happy ; and we
parted in the moft cordial friendfhip poiiible, after having
made a promife that, at my return, I Ihould flay a week at
Sancaho to hunt the elephant and rhinoceros.

Before leaving Sancaho, I had an opportunity of verify-
ing a fa(5l hitherto doubtful in natural hillory, Mr Haflel-
tjuift, the Swedilh traveller, when at Cairo, faw the fkins of
two girafFos ftufTrd, which came from Sennaar, He gives
as minute a defcription as poflible he could from feeing the
Ikins only ; but fays nothing about the horns, becaufe I
fuppofe he did not fee them ; on which account the doubt
remained undecided, whether the girafFo's horns were folid
as the deer's, and call every year ; or whether they were
hollow, attached to a core, or bone, like thofe of flieep, and
confequently permanent. The Count de Buflon conje(5lures
them to be of this lall kind, and fo I found them. They
are twifted in all refpeds like the horns of an antelope.

At ten minutes paft eight we fet out from Sancaho ; but

my people took it into their heads, that, notwithftanding the

fair behaviour of Erbab Gimbaro, he intended to lay fome

2 ambufh

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 321

ambufli to cut us ofF, and rob us on the way. For my part,
I was very well fatisfied-of the contrary ; but this did not hin-
der them from forfaking the accuflomed road, and getting
among a thick wood of canes; we were obHged to ciu our
way out of them when our diredlion was weft, or to the
fouthward of weft. They were aifo afraid of Abd el Jileel.

At ten minutes paft eleven we croffed the Bedowi,
•which we had pafted twice before ; at half paft eleven we
crofted it again, travelling fouthward ; and a quarter
after twelve we were fo entangled with woods, and fo fa-
tigued with cutting the way for our camels, that we thought
we fliould get no further. We had, however, continued
till three quarters paft one in a direcflion fouth-eaft, at which
time we were not above five miles from Sancaho ; and, at
half paft two, had turned fouth-weft on the banks of the
large river Tokoor-Ohha, which fignifies the Black River.
It comes from the mountains of Awaft^a on the fouth-eaft,
and, after winding confiderably, it falls into the Guangue,
about eight miles from Guanjook.

Tokoor-Ohha is a river famous for the number of buf-
faloes that are upon its banks, which are covered with large
beautiful fhady-trees, all of a hard red wood, called Den-
gui Sibber, or Breaker of Stones. They had neither fruit
nor flower on them at this time, by which we might judge
to what tribe they belong ; but they are not ebony, which
in this country is known by the name of Zope.

On the 19th, at three quarters paft fix we left ourftation

on Tokoor river, which we croftTed about a quarter of an

hour after, our dire(5lion being nearly S. W. The territory

Vol. IV. ' S f here

322 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

liere is called Gilmaber, from Gilma, a fmall village a mile
and a half diftant to the fouthward. Gilmaber is about a
mile and a half long, full of tall canes. From the time
we left Tokoor river, we had been followed by a lion, or
rather preceded by one, for it was generally a fmall gun-
fliot before us ; and wherever it came to a bare fpot, it
would fit down and grumble as if it meant to difpute the
way with us. Our beails trembled, and were all covered
with fwcat, and could fcarcely be kept on the road. As
there feemed to be but one remedy for this difficulty, I
took along Turkifh rifled gun, and crawling under a bank
as near as poffible, Ihot it in the body, fo that it fell from
the bank on the road before us, quite dead, and even with-
out mufcular motion. It proved to be a large lionefs. All
the people in this country eat the flefh of lions ; as I have
feen fome tribes* in Barbary do likewife. We left the.lion-
€fs to the inhabitants of the neighbouring village, fls;in
and all ; for we were fo tired with this day's journey, that
we could not be at the pains of fkinning her,

A FEW minutes after this we pafled the river Gilma, twice,
which runs to the northward. At half paft nine we joined
Dabda road, and a few minutes after crofTed the Quartuc-
ca, a fmall river running north..

The country here becomes more open, for the thick
woods have fmall plains between them. In the entrance
of a wood we found a man that had been murdered, and
that very lately, as the wild beafts had not yet begun

to

* Welled Sidi Boogannini at Hydra. See Shaw's Travels,

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 323

to touch the body ; he had been ham flrung, and his throat
cut, a performance probably o£ the neighbouring Shangal-
la. At fifty minutes pail ten, our route being weft, we
pafTed under a hill a quarter of a mile on our right, upon
which is a village called Salamgue. At a quarter paft ele-
ven we crolTed the fmall river of Kantis ; and a quarter of an
hour afterwards we afcended a hill upon which ftands a
village of that name, inhabited by Mahometan Shangalla
of the tribe of Baafa.

On the 20th we proceeded but a mile and a half; our
beafts and ourfelves being equally fatigued, and our cloaths
torn all to rags. Guanjook is a very delightful fpot by the
river fide ; fmall woods of very high trees interfperfed with
very beautiful lawns ; feveral fields alfo cultivated with
cotton ; variety of game (efpecially Guinea fowls, in great
abundance) and, upon every tree, perroquets, of all the dif-
ferent kinds and colours, compofe the beauties of Guan-
jook. I faw no parrots, and fuppofe there were none ; but
on firing a gun, the firft probably ever heard in thofe
woods, there was fuch a fcreaming of other birds on all
fides, fome flying to the place whence the noife <:ame, and
fome flying from it, that it was impofilble to hear di-
fl;in<5lly any other found. It was at this place that I fhot
that curious bird called the Erkoom * in Amhara ; the
Abba Gumba, in Tigre; and here at Guanjook, Tcir elNaciba^
or the Bird of Deftiny.

On the 22d, at three quarters pafl fix we left Guanjook,
and a few minutes after pafiTed a fmall river called Gum-

S f 2 bacca,

* See the article Erkoom in the Appendix.

324 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

bacca, and afterwards the river Tokoor. At half an hour
paft eight we refled there, and three hours after came to
the Guangue. The Guangue is the largeft river we had
feen in Abyffinia except the Nile and Taccaze. It rifes near
Tchelga, or between Tchelga and Nara. It joins the Tacaz-
ze in the Barabra, in the kingdom of Sennaar. The two
rivers when joined are called the Atbara, which gives its
name to the province. It abounds with hippopotami, and
crocodiles, chiefly the former, which however we thought,
were nioftly fmaller than thofe of the Nile.

At a quarter after one we came to Mariam-Ohha, and
at half pafl three arrived at Hor-Cacamoot. Hor in that
country fi^gnifies the dry deep bed of a torrent, which has
ceafed to run ; and Cacamoot, the fliadc of death ; fo that
Yafine's village, where we now took up our quarters, is call-
ed the Valley of the Shadow of Death : A bad omen for
weak and wandering travellers as we were, furroundcd by
a multitude of dangers, and fo far from home, that there
feemed to be but one that could bring us thither. We truft-
ed in Him, and He did deliver us.

Hor-Cacamoot is fituated in a plain in the midft of a
wood, fo much only of v/hich has been cleared away as
to make room for the miferable huts of which it confifts,
and for the fmall fpots of ground on which they fow ma-
Ihilla, or maize, to furnifli them with bread. Their other
food confifls entirely of the flelh of the elephant and rhino-
ceros, and chiefly of the former ; for the trouble of hunt-
ing the elephant is not greater than chafing the rhinoceros,
and the difference of gain is much fuperior. The elephant
has a greater quantity of better flefh, while his large teeth
3 are

. THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. :^2s

are very valuable, and aiFord a ready price everywhere. The
inhabitants being little acquainted with the ufe of fire-arms,
the fmaller game, of the deer kind, are not much molefted,
unlefs by the wild Shangalla, who make ufe of bows and
arrows, fo that thefe animals are increafed beyond imagi-
nation.

Ras el Feel confifted once of thirty-nine villages. All
the Arabs of Atbara reforted to them with butter, honey,
horfes, gold, and many other commodities ; and the Shekh
of Atbara, living upon the frontier of Sennaar, entertained a
conftant good correfpondence with the Shekh of Ras el Feel,
to whom he fent yearly a Dongola horfe, two razors, and
two dogs. The Shekh of Ras el Feel, in return, gave him a
mule and a female Have ; and the effed; of this intercourfe
was to keep all the intermediate Arabs in their duty.

Since the expedition of Yafous IL againil Sennaar, no
peace has ever fubfifled between the two ftates ; on the con-
trary, all the Arabs that aflifled the king, and were defeat-
ed with him, pay tribute no longer to Sennaar, but live on
the frontiers of Abyffinia, and are protecT:ed there. The
two chiefs of Atbara, and Ras el Feel, underftand one ano-
ther perfedly, and give the Arabs no trouble ; and, if they
pay their rent to either, it is divided between both. It was
through the means of thefe Arabs the king of Abyfiinia's
army was furniflied, as we have feen, with heavy horfes ;
and it was in confequence of my depending on this friend-
Ihip with the Shekh of Teawa, that I attempted going thro'
that province to Sennaar,

Sometime

:zG

TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

Sometime before I left Gondar I had been threatened
with an attack of the dyfentery. At my arrival at Hor-
Cacamoot it grew worfc, and had many unpromifmg fymp-
toms, when I was cured by the advice and application of a
common Shangalla> by means of a llirub called Wooginoos*
growing very common in thofe parts, the manner of ufing
which he taught me.

The country^ from Tcherkin to Ras el Feel, or Hor-Caca-
moot, is all a black earth, calledMazaga, which fome authors
have taken for the name of the province. However, the
word Mazaga, in the language of the country, fignifies far,
loofe, black earth, or mold, fuch as all that flripe of land
from 13" to 16" cf latitude is compofed of, at leaft till you
reach to the deferts of Atbara, where the rains end. Ras
cl Feel is, I fuppofe, one of the hottell countries in the
known world. On the ill day of March, at three o'clock in
the afternoon, Fahrenheit'^ thermometer, in the fliade, was
1 14% which was at 61" at fun-rife, and 82° at fun-fet. And
yet this excelTive heat did not make a proportional impref-
fion upon our feelings. The evenings, on the contrary, ra-
ther feemed cold, and we could hunt at mid- day. And this
I conftantly obferved in this fultry country, that, what was
hot by the glafs, never appeared to carry with it any thing
proportionate in our fenfations.

Ras el Feel formerly paid 400 ounces of gold, which is
4000 crowns ; Sancaho paid 100. But trade having decrea-
fed, fmce the expedition of Yafous II. to Sennaar, without

the

* See the article Wooginoos in the Appendix.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 'y^^rJ

the king's demand being lefTened, many people have left it,
and are gone to Tcherkin.

I HAVE feveral times, in the courfe of this work, taken
notice of a black nation called Shangalla, who furrround
all the N. N. W. and N. E. of Abyfhnia, by a belt fcarcely
fixty miles broad. This is called by the Abyffinians, Kolla,
or the Hot Country, which is likewife one of their names
for hell. Two gaps, or fpaces, made for the fake of com-
merce, in this belt, the one at Tchelga, the other at Ras el
Feel, have been fettled and pofTelTed by ftrangers, to keep
thefe Shangalla in awe ; and here the cuflom-houfes were
placed, for the mutual intereft of both kingdoms, before all
intercourfe was interrupted by the impolitic expedition of
Yafous againft Sennaar. Ras el Feel divides this nation of
woolly-headed blacks into two, the one welt below Kuara,
and bordering on Fazuclo (part of the kingdom of Sen-
naar) as alfo on the country of Agows. Thefe are the
Shangalla that traffic in gold, which they find in the earth,
where torrents have fallen from the mountains ; for there
is no fuch thing as mines in any part of their country nor
any way of colleifting gold but tliis ; nor is there any gold
found in Abyffinia, however confidently this has been ad-
vanced ; neither is there gold brought into that kingdom
from any other quarter but this whicli we are now ipeak-
ing of ; notwithftanding all the mifreprefentations of the
miffionaries to make the attempts to fubdue this king-
dom appear more lucrative and lefs ridiculous to Euro-
pean princes. The other nation, on the frontiers of
Kuara, has Ras el Feel on the eaft, about three days
journey from the Cacamoot. The natives are called Gan-

3 jar;,

325 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

jar-; a very numerous and formidable nation of hunters,
confifling of feveral thoufand horfe. The origin of thcfe
is faid to have been, that when the Funge (or black nation
now occupying Sennaar) difpofTefled the Arabs from that
part of the country, the black-flaves that were in fervice
among thefe Arabs, all fled and took pofTeffion of the dif-
tric^s they now hold ; where they have greatly increafed
in numbers, and continue independent to this day. They
are the natural enemies of Ras el Feel, and much blood has
been fhed between them, from making inroads one upon
the other, murdering the men and carrying their women
into flavery. Yafme, however, had become too ftrong for
them, by the alTillance of Ayto Confu, and they had offered
to afliil the king at the, campaign of Serbraxos. But they
were found not fit to be trulled, fo were fent away, under
pretence that they fhould attack Coque Abou Barea govern-
or ofKuara for the rebels, and hinder him from coming
to their alTiflance ; and even this they did not do.

The title of their chief is Sheba, which fignifies the Old
Man. His refidence is called Cafhumo, by his-own people ;
and Dendy Kolla, by the Abyffmians of Kuara. Yafine,
however, was now at peace with them, without which our
journey would fcarce have been poillble. Sheba fent his
fon to fee me at Ras el Feel ; we thought, at that time, he
came as a fpy. However, when we departed I gave him a
fmall prefent ; and we fwore mutual friendfhip, that he
was to be ready always to fight againll my enemies, and
that we were to a(5l kindly by each other, though we were
to meet, horfe to horfe, alone in the defert.

Yasine

THESOURCEOFTHENILE. 325

Yasine had done every thing, 011 his part, to fccure mc
a good reception from Fidele bhekh of Atbara. Every af-
furance pollible had been given, and 1 had before travelled
fome thoufand miles upon much llighter promifes, which
had, however, been always faithfully kept ; fo that I did
not at all fufped that any thing unfair could be intended
me at Teawa, where Fidele relided. But as the lofs of life
was the confequence of being miftaken, I never did omit
any means to double my fecurity.

Mahomet Gibberti, as we have before obferved, had al-
ready carried a lerrer of mine fromGondar to hh mailer Meti-
cal Aga,SelicT:arto the Sherriffe of Mecca in Arabia, requefting
that he would write to fome man of confideration in Sennaar,
and, taking it for granted that I was then arrived at i'eawa,
defire that a fervant of the king might be fent to give me
fafe condu(ft from that frontier to the capital. Yallne had
written to the fame effed, diredtly to Sennaar, and fent a
fervant of his, who, for fecurity fike, had nothing but the
letter and an old ragged cloth about his waill ; and he had
long ago arrived at Sennaar, the before-named place of his
deilination.

Among the tribes of Arabs that were protcded by Yafine,
and furnilhed with pafture, water, and a market for their
carile, and milk and butter, at Ras el Feel, were the Daveina,
by much the moft powerful of all tlie Arabs in Atbara; but
they ventured no further fouihward than Beyla, for fear
-of the troops of Sennaar.

The Shekh of Beyla was a man of very great character

for courage and probity. His name was Mahomet ; and I

Vol. IV. T t had

330 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

had often correfponded with him upon the fubjed of hor-
fes for the king while I was at Gondar. He was greatly
tormented with the ftone, and by means of Yafine I had
fcveral times fent him foap-pills, and lime, with dire(5tions
how to make lime-water. I therefore fent a fervant of mine
with a letter to the Shekh of Beyla, mentioning my inten-
tion of coming to Sennaar by the way of Teawa and Bey-
la, and defiring him to forward my fervant to Sennaar, to
Hagi Belal my correfpondent there, and, at the fame time,
write to fome other friend of his own, to fee that the king's
fervant fhould be difpatched to Teawa without delay. This
fervant, with the letters, I committed to the care of the Shekh
of the Daveina, who promifed that he would himfelf fee
him fafe into Beyla ; and, by a particular Providence, all thefb
letters and meiTengers arrived fafe, without mifcarriage of
one, at the places of their dcllination, though we were long
kept in fufpence before they took efied:.

I WAS now about to quit Ras el Feel for ever, in a firm
perfwafion that I had done every thing man could do to
infure a fafe journey and good reception at Sennaar, till
one day I received a vifit from Mahomet Shekh of Nile;
which does not mean Shekh of the river, but of a tribe of
that name, which is but a divifion of the Daveina. To this
Shekh I had fliewii a particular attention in feveral trips he
had made to Gondar, in confequence of which he was very
grateful and anxious for my fafety. He told me, that he faw
I was fetting out perfectly content with the meafures I had
taken for my fafety at Sennaar, and he owned that they
were the beft that human prudence could fugged; "but, fays
he, in my opinion, you have not yet been ca\itious enough a-
bout Teawa. I know Fidele well, and I apprehend your danger

is-,

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 3^^

is there, and not at Sennaar," He then drew a moft unfa-
vourable pidlure of that Shekh, whom he affirmed to have
been a murderer and a thief all his days, and the fon of a
father no better than himfelf ; tlrat he was of no religion,
neither Mahometan, Chriftian, nor Pagan, but abfolutely
without fear of God ; he faid, however, he believed him to
be a great coward ; and therefore the whole of my fafety re-
duced itfelf to this. Was he really afraid of Yaline, or not ?
If he was, that became the bell handle we could lay hold
on ; but if, on the contrary, he was not afraid of Yafine, or
was perfuaded, as he very well might be by wicked people
about him, that, when once I was out of the country, Ya-
line took no further charge of me, he doubted very much
I fliould never pals Teawa, or, at lead, without fuiTering
fome heavy affront or ill-ufage, the extent of which it was
iinpoffible to determine.

These fenfible fuggellions made a very ftrong impreffion
on Yafine and me ; Yallne's firft podtion was, that Fidele was
certainly afraid to difoblige him; but, allowing the poffi-
bility he was not, he owned he had not fubftituted any fe-
cond meafure to which I could truft. We all regretted that
our friends the Daveina had been fuffered to depart without
taking me with them by Sim-Sim and Beyla ; but it was now
too late, as the Daveina had for fome days arrived at the
ftation the neareft Beyla and the fartheil from us. It was
then agreed, that Nile fhould fend a relation of his, who was
married to one of the tribes of Jehaina Arabs, encamped upon
Jibbel IfrifF near to Teawa, with whom Fidele was at that
time making peace, left they Ihould burn the crop about
the town. This man wa« not to enter the town of Teawa
with me, but was to come there the next day, as if from, his

T t 2 friends

23^

TRAVELS TO DISCO VER'

friends at Jibbel TfrifF; and, if I then informed him tliere--
was danger, fliould return to the Jehaina, mount a hajan
or dromedary, and give Yafine information with aU pollible
fpeed. All ibis being now fettled, I prepared for my jour-
ney, having firfl:, by many obfervations by night and day,;^
fixed the latitude of Hor-Cacamoot to be if i' 33" north..

Ktej—taaM— SMiiuiiiiiiwiiiii III I I ^^ ^

C H A P.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 333

=«3

CHAP. IV.

F^'bnt Hor-Cacamobt to '^eawa^ Capital of Athara.

T was on the 17th of March that we fet out fromHor-Caca-
moot on our journey to Feawa, capital of the province of
Atbara, Our courfe was N. N, W. through tliick brufliwoody
with a few high trees ; our companions being eleven naked
men, with alFes loaden with fait. We had ieveral interrupt
tioas on the road. At three in the afternoon we encamped
at Falaty, the eaft village of Ras el Feel, a little to the north-
ward, A fmall mountain, immediately north from this viU
lage, the one end of which is thought to refemble the head
of an elephant, gives the name to the village and the pro»
vince*. This mountain ftretches in adiredion nearly north

and

'fHR.ws el Feel flgmfiet the head ef' art eleplisis«,

S34

TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

and fouth, as do the villages, and the fmall river when it
has water, but it was now apparently dry. However, by
digging pretty deep in the fand, the water filtering through
the fides of the holes filled in a certain time with a putrid,
ill-tafted, unwholefome beverage, which is all this mifer-
able village has for its ufe. The people look fickly and ill-
coloured. Falaty is three miles and a half diftant from Hor-
Cacamoot, its name interpreted is Poverty.

On the i8th, at half after fix in the morning we conti-
nued our journey through thick, and almofl; impenetrable
woods full of thorns ; and in two hours we came to the
bed of a torrent, though in appearance dry, upon digging
with our hands in the loofe fand, we found great plenty
of frefli water exceedingly well tailed, being fhelter-
ed by projecfling rocks from the adlion of the fun. This is
called Surf el Shekh. Here we filled our girbas, for there
is very little good water to be found between this and
Teawa.

A GiRBA is an ox's flcin fquared, and the edges fewed to-
gether very artificially by a double feam, which does not
"let out water, much refembling that upon the beft Englifli
cricket-balls. An opening is left in the top of the girba, in
the fame manner as the bung-hole of a cafk. Around this
the {\dn is gathered to the fize of a large handful, which,
when the girba is full of water, is tied round with whip-
cord. Thefe girbas generally contain aibout fixty gallons
each, and two of them are the load of a camel. They are
then all befmeared on the outfide with greafe, as well to
hinder the water from oozing through, as to prevent its
being evaporat£d by the ad:ion of the fun upon the girba,

which

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. :^2S

which in faft happened to us twice, fo as to put us in ini-
minent danger of pcrifhing with thirft.

Yasine had provideti a camel and two girbas, as well as
every other provifion neceflary for us, till we Ihould arrive
at Teawa. Surf el Shekh is the boundary »f Ras el Feel.
Here I took an affedtionate leave of my friend Yafme, who,
with all his attendants, fhewed, at parting, that love and at^
tachment they had conftantly preferved to me fince our firft
acquaintance»

SoLiMAN, my old and faithful fervant, who had carried
my firft letter to Sennaar, though provided for in the king's
fervice, infilled upon attending m€ to Sennaar, and dying
with me if it fhould be my fate ; or elfe gaining the reward
which had been promifed him, if he brought back the
good news of my fafe arrival and good reception there. At
parting, I gave the faithful Yafme one of my horfes and
my coat of mail, that is my ordinary one ; for the one
that was given me by Ozoro Efther had belonged to king
Yafous, and as it would have been an affront to have be-
flowed it on a common man like Yafme, who,bcfides, was a
Mahometan, fo I gave it (with Ozoro Efther's confent) to
Ay to Engedan, king Yafous's grandfon. Before parting,
Yafme, like an old traveller, called the whole company to-
gether, and obliged them to repeat the Fedtah, the Prayer
of Peace.

At half paft feven in the evening we came to Engaldi,
a large bafon or cavity, feveral hundred yards in length,,
and about thirty feet deep, made for the reception of water

the Arabs, who encamp by its fide after the rains. The
4^ water;

:^.^6 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

water was almoft exhauftecl, and what remainpd bad an in^.
tol'.rable ftench. However, flocks of Guinea fowls, partrid-
ges, and every fort of bird, had crowded thither to drink,
from the fcarciry of water elfewhere. I believe, 1 may cer-
tainly fay, the number amounted to many thoufands. My
Arabs loaded themfelves in a very httle while, killing thera
with flicks and Hones ; but they were perfedly ufelefs,
being reduced to fkeletons by hunger and thirft. For this
rcafon, as well as that I mightJiot alarm any ftrolling banditti
within hearing, I did not fulFer a fliot to be fired at them.

At eight we came to Eradeeba, where is neither village
nor water, but only a refting-place about half a mile fquare,
which has been cleared from wood, that travellers, who
pafs to and from Atbara, might have a fecure fpot whence
they could fee around them, and guard themfelves from
being attacked unav/ares hy the banditti fometimes reforc-
ingto thofe deferts.

At a quarter paft eleven we arrived at Quaicha, a bed of
a torrent where there was now no water; but the wood
feemed growing ftill thicker, and to be full of wild bealfs,
efpeciaily lions and hycenas. Thefe do not fly froin man,
as thofe did that we had -hitherto fecn, but came boldly up,
efpeciaily the hyaena, with a refolution to attack us. Upon
our firfl lighting a fire they left us for a time ; but towards
morning they came in greate'r numbers, than before; a lion
carried away one of our afTes from among tlie other beafts of
burden, and a hyama attacked one of the men, tore his cloth
from lis middle, and wounded him in his back. As we
>nowexpe6lcd to be inftantly devoured, the prefent fear over-
came the reiolutions we had made, not to ufe our fire arms,

.a unlcfs

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 337

unlefs in the utmofl: neceffity. I fired two guns, and order-
ed my fervants to fire two large fhip-blunderbiifles, which
prefently freed us from our troublefome guefts. Two hy-
enas were killed, and a large lion being mortally wounded
was difpatched by our men in the morning. They came no
more near us ; but we heard numbers of them howling at
a diftance till day-light, either from hunger or the fmarts
of the wounds they had received, perhaps from both ; for
each fliip-blunderbufs had fifty fmall bullets, and the
wood towards which they were dire6led, at the diftance of
about twenty yards, feemed to be crowded with thefe animals.
The reafon why the hycena is more fierce here than in any
part of Barbary, will be given in the natural hiftory of that
wild beaft in the Appendix.

Though this, our firfl: day's journey from Falaty and
Ras el Feel, to Quaicha, was of eleven hours, the diftance we
had gone in that time was not more than ten miles ; for
our beafts were exceedingly loaded, fo that it was with the
utmoft dififtculty that either we or they could force ourfelves
- through thofe thick woods, which fcarcely admitted the rays
of the fun. From this ftation, however, we were entertained
with a moft magnificent fight. The mountains at a dif-
tance towards the banks of the Tacazze, all Debra Haria,
and the mountains towards Kuara, were in a violent bright
flame of fire.

The Arabs feed all their flocks upon the branches of trees ;
no beaft in this country eats grafs. When therefore the
water is dried up, and they can no longer ftay, they fet fire
to the woods, and to the dry grafs below it. The flame
runs under the trees, fcorches the leaves and new wood,

Vol. IV. . u u without

33S TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

without confuming the body of the tree. After the tropical
rains begin, the vegetation immediately returns ; the fprings
increafe, the rivers run, and the pools are filled with water^
All forts of verdure being now in the greeted luxuriancy,
the Arabs revifit their former ftations. This conflagration
is performed at two feafons ; the firft, by the Shangalla and
hunters on the fouthern parts of this woody country, begins
in the month of OcT:ober, on the return of the fun, the cir-
cumftances of which I liave already mentioned ; the latter,
which happens in March, and lafts all April, befides provid-
ing future fullenance for their flocks, is likewife intended to
prevent, at leaft to diminifli, the ravages of the fly ; a plague
of the moft extraordinary kind, already defcribed.

We left Quaicha a little before four in the morning
of the 19th of March, and at half an hour paft five we came
to Jibbel Achmar, a fmall moimtain, or rather mount ; for
it is of a very regular form, and not above 300 feet high,
but covered with green grafs to the top. What has given
it the name of Jibbel Achmar, or the Red Mountain, I
know not. All the country is of red earth about it ; but
as it hath much grafs, it fliould be called * the Green
Mountain, in the middle of the red coimtry ; though there
is nothing more vague or undetermined than the language
of the Arabs, when they fpeak of colours. This hill, fur-
rounded with impenetrable woods, is in the beginning of
autumn the rendezvous of the Arabs Daveina, when there
is water ; at which time the rhinoceros and many forts of
beafls, crowd hither ; tlio' few elephants, but they are thofe

of

* Jibbel Achdat.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE.

339

of the largefl kind, moflly males ; fo that the Arabs make
this a favourite ftarion, after the grafs is burnt, efpeciully
the young part of them, who are hunters.

We reached Imferrha at half paft eleven, the water
being about half a mile diftant to the S. W. The wells
are fituated upon a fmall ridge that runs nearly eafl and
weft. At one extremity of this is a fmall-pointed mountain,
upon which was formerly a village belonging to the Arabs,
called Jehaina, now totally deftroyed by the hunting parties
of the Daveina, the great tyrants of this country, who, to-
gether with the fcarcity of water, are the principal caufes
that this whole territory is defolate. For though the foil
is fandy and improper for agriculture, yet it is thickly over-
grown with trees ; and were the places where water is^
found fufficiently ftocked with inhabitants, great numbers
of cattle might be paftured here, every fpecies of which
live upon the leaves and the young branches of trees, evea
on fpots where grafs is abundant.

On the 20th, at fix o'clock in the morning we fet out
from Imferrha, and in two hours arrived at Ralliid, where
we were furpriied to fee the branches of the Ihrubs and
buflies all covered with a fliell of that fpecies of univalve
called Turbines, white and red ; fome of them from three
to four inches l<mg, and not to be dillinguiflied by the niceft
eye from thofe fea-ihclls, of the fame fpecies, which are
brought in great quantities from the Weft India iflands,
efpecially St Domingo.

How thefe came firft in a fandy defert fo far from the
fea is a difquifition I fliall not now enter into. There are

U u 2 of

340 TRAVELSTODISCOVER'

of this fifh great numbers in the Red Sea, and in the Indian
Ocean ; how they came upon the buflies, or at the roots of
them, appears more the bufmefs of the prefent narrative.
To confine myfelf to the matter of fa6t, I fhall only fay, that
throughout this defert are many fprings of fak- water ; great
part of the defert is foflile fak, which, buried in fome places
at different depths according to the degree of inclination
of all minerals to the horizon, does at times in thefe foun-
tains appear very near the furface. Here I fuppofe the feed
is laid, and, by the addition of the rain-water that falls up-
on the fak during the tropical rains, the quantity of falt-
water is much increafed, and thefe fifhes fpread themfelves
over the plain as in a temporary ocean. The rains decreafe,
and the fun returns ; thofe that are near fprings retire to
them, and provide for the propagation of future years.
Thofe that have wandered too far oiFin the plains retire
to the buflies as the only flicker from the fun. The in-
tenfe heat at length deprives them of that fliade, and they
perifli with the leaves to which they crept for flicker, and
this is the reafon that we faw fuch a quantity of fliells un-
der the buflies ; that we found them otherwife alive in the
very heart of the fprings, we fliall further circumftantiate
in our Appendix, when we fpeak of niuflels fo found in our
hillory of the formation of pearls,.

Rashid was once full of villages, all of which are now
ruined by the Arabs Daveina. There are feven or eight
wells of good water here, and the place itfelf is beautiful
beyond defcription. It is a fairy land, in the middle of an
inhofpitable, uninhabited defert ; full of large wide fpread-
ing trees, loaded with flowers and fruit, and crowded with-
an immenfe number of the deer kind. Among thefe,-

we

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 341

we faw a large one, like the antelope, his buttocks (a
confiderable way up his back) being covered with white,
which terminated upon his thigh in a black line, drawn
from the haunch down very nigh to the joint of his hind
leg. Thefe we had never feen before. They are called
Ariel in Arabia, go in large flocks, are exceedingly
fwift ; though, from the neceffity of coming to water,
and its only being found in particular places, they were
an eafy vidim to thofe that watched for them at night.

Sim Sim is a copious fpring, which fupplies a large ba-
fon the Arabs have dug for it near thirty feet deep. It lies
weft of Rafliid, or a little to the fouthward of weft. It is in
a fandy defert, in the diretfl way to Beyla and Sennaar, and
here the Daveina kept their Hocks, equally fecure from
the fly and the troops of Sennaar, the two great enemies
they have to fear ; and being in the neighbourhood of Ras
el Feel, they keep a large market there, fupplying that
country amply with provifions of all kinds, and getting
from it, in return, what they have not in their own diftri(5l,.

We were juft two hours in coming to Ralhid, for we
were flying for our lives ; the Simoom, or hot-wind, having
ftruck us not long after we had fet out from Imferrha, and
our little company, all but myfelf, fell mortally flck with
the quantity of poifonous vapour that they had imbibed. I
apprehend, from Rafliid to Imferrha it is about five miles;
and though it is one of the moft dangerous halting-places
between Ras el Feel and Sennaar, yet we were fo enervated,
our ftomachs fo weak, and our head-achs fo violent, that
we could not pitch our tent, but each wrapping himfelf in
his cloak, refigned himfelf immediately to fleep, under

the.

342 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

the cool fhade of the large trees, invited by the pleafant
breeze from the north, which leemed to be merely local,
confined to this fmall grove, created probably by the vici-
nity of the water, and tlie agitation we had occafipncd
in it.

In this helplefs ftate to which w€ were reduced, I alone
continued not weakened by th-e iimoom, nor overcome by
fleep. A Ganjar Arab, who drove an afs laden with fait, took
this opportunity of Healing one of the mules, together with
a lance and fhield belonging to one of my fervants. The
country was fo woody, and he had fo much advantage of
us in point of time, and we were in fo weak and discoura-
ged a ftate, that it was thought in vain to purfue him one
llep. So he got olF with his booty, unlefs he was intercept-
ed by fome of thofe wild bcafts, which he would find eve-
rywhere in his way, whether he returned to Ras el Feel,
or the frontiers of Kiiara, his own country.

Having refrefhed ourfelves with a little fleep, the next
thing was to fill our girbas, or fkins, with water. But be-
fore we attempted this, I thought to try an experiment of
mixing about twenty drops of fpirit of nitre in a horn of
■waier about the fize of an ordinary tumbler. This I found
greatly refrefhed me, tliough my headach ftill continued.
It had a much better efTecfl upcn my fervants, to whom I
gave it ; for they all feemed immediately recovered, and
their fpirits much more fo, from the rcfledlion that they
had with them a remedy they could truft to, if they fliould
again be fo imforiunate as to meet this poifonous wind or
vapour.

On

TH£ SOURCE OF THE NILS. 343

On the 2 1 ft, we fet out from Rafhid at two o'clock in the
morning, and at a Uttle pall eight arrived at Imhanzara, ha-
vino- crone moftly N. W. to north and by wefl. This, too, is
a flation of the Arabs Daveina ; and there had been here
large pools of water, the cavities, apparently dug by the hands
of men, were from twenty to thirty feet deep, and not lefs
than fixty yards long. The water was juft then drying up;
and flood only about half a foot in depth, in the bottom of
one of the pools. The borders of the bafons were thick fet
with acacia and jujeb-trees ; but the fruit of the latter was
drying upon the ftones, and liad fallen Ihri veiled in great
quantities upon the ground. We gathered about a couple of
pecks, which was a very great refrefnment to us. The fruit,
though retaining a very (harp acid taile, is mixed with a
fweetnefs not unlike the tamarind ; and which it commu-
nicated to water, upon a handful of the dry fruit being rteep-
ed therein for half an hour. The ordinary jujeb in Bavba-
ry is oblong like an olive ; this is perfectly round like the
cherry, but Ibmethiug fmaller. The tree is thorny, and dif-
fers in nothing from the other, but only in the fliapc of the
fruit. When dried, it is of a golden colour ; and is here
called Nabca, being the principal fuftcnance of the Arabs,
till thefe pools are dry, when they are obliged to feek other
food, and other water, at fome more diftant flation.

This day, being the fifth of our journey, we had gone
about five hours very diligently, though, confidcring the
weak ftate we were in, I do not think we advanced m.orc
than feven or eieht miles ; arad it was to me very vifible,
that all the animals, mules, camels, and horfes,were auecT:ed
as much as we were by the fimcom. They diank repeatedly,,
a and

344 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

and for a confiderablc length of time, biu they feemcd to
go juft fo much the worfe for it.

Upon approaching the pool, that had water in it, though
yet at fome dillance from it, my fervants fcnt me word to
come up fpeedily, and bring fire-arms with me. A lion
had killed one of the deer, called Ariel, and had ate a part
of it, but had retired upon the noife we had made in alight-
ing. In place of him, five or fix hysenas had feized the
carcafe, and feveral others were at the inftant arriving to
join them, and partake of the prey the lion had abandoned.
I haftened upon the fummons, carrying with me a mufket
and bayonet, and a fhip blunderbufs, with about forty fmall
bullets in it. I crept through the bullies, and under banks
as near to them as poflible, for fear of being feen ; but the
precaution feemed entirely fuperfluous ; for though they
obferved me approaching, they did not feem difpofed to
leave their prey, but in their turn looked at me, raifing the
briftles upon their back, fliaking themfelves as a dog does
when he comes out of water, and giving a fliort but terrible
grunt. After which they fell to their prey again, as if they
meant to difpatch their deerfirft, and then come and fettle
their affairs with me. I now began to repent having ven-
tured alone fo near ; but knowing, with the fhort weapon
I had, the execution depended a good deal upon the di-
ftance, I flill crept a little nearer, till I got as favourable a po-
fition as I could wifli behind the root of a large tree that had
fallen into the lake. Having fet my mufl^et at my hau'l,
near and ready, I levelled my blunderbufs at the middle of
the group, which were feeding voracioufly like as many
fwine, with a confiderable noife, and a civil war with each
other. Two of them fell dead upon the fpot ; two more
7 died

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 34^

4ied about twenty yards diftance; but all the reft that could
efcape fled without looking back, or ihewing any kind of
refentment : I then took my mufquet in my hand, and
flood, prepared with my bayonet, behind the tree, but fired
no more, not knowing what their humour or difpofition
might be as to a return upon acceflion of new compani-
ons.

About twenty fmall foxes, and a flock of fereral hun-
dred Guinea-fowls, now came up from the infide of the
pool. The fowls lighted immediately, and ran back again
to the water. The foxes retired quickly into the woods.
Whether they had aflembled with a view of getting a fliare
of the deer, an animal of this kind being generally attendant
upon the lion, or whether, as is moft likely, they were
feeking the Guinea-fowls, I do not know. I fufpect it
•was the latter, by their number ; for never more than one
at a time is remarked to accompany the lion.

We obferved a. variety of traps and cages, forae of them
very ingenious, which the Daveina, or other Arabs, had fet
to catch thefe birds, feveral of which we found dead in
thefe fnares, and fome of them had not yet been touched
by beafts ; and as there was but a fmall diftance between
the traps and the water's edge, which could only be an-
fwerable to a fev/ days evaporation, we with great rea-
fon inferred, that the Daveina, or fome other Arabs, had
been there a very fliort time before. We found in the mud
of the pool large green flieli-fnails, with the animals alive in
them ; fome of them weighed very near a pound, in no-
thing, but fize and thicknefs of the fhell, different from
common garden-fnails.
Vol. IV. .X x 'Not

34^ TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

Not a little alarmed at this difcovery that the Arabs
were near us, we left Imhanzara at four o'clock in the eve-
ning of the 2ift, our journey moftly N. W. ; at eight we loft
our way, and were obliged to halt in a wood. Here we
were terrified to find, that the water in our girbas was en-
tirely gone ; whether by evaporation of the hot wind, or
otherwife, I know not ; but the fkin had the appearance of
water in it, till its lightnefs in unloading difcovered the
contrary. Though all the people were fick, the terror of
being without water gave us fomething like alacrity, and
defire to pulh on. We fet out at eleven, but ftill wandered in
the wood till three o'clock in the morning of the 2 2d,,
when we were obliged again to alight. I really then began
to think we were loft. I ordered the girbas to be examin-
ed : a large one which we had fdled at Rafhid was entirely
empty ; and that one which we had partly filled at Imhan-
zara on account of the badnefs of the v/ater, had not much
more in it than what kept liquid the mud which had been
taken up with it. This, however, (bad as it was) was
greedily guzzled up in a moment. The people who con-
duced the aftes, feeing that we had fkins to contain plen-
ty of water for us, had omitted to fill the fmall goat-ftvin
which each of them carried. A general murmur of fear
and difcontent prevailed through our whole company; for
we could have no guefs at the ncarnefs or fituation of the
next well, as we had loft our road ; and fome of the ca-
ravan even pretended that we had pafled it. But though
we had travelled thirteen hours, I cannot compute the-
diftance to have been above fourteen miles.

This day, being the fixth from Ras el Feel, at half af-
tpr five in the morning, we fet off in great defpondency ;

and>

~\

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 347

and, upon the firft dawn of day, I fet onr route by the com-
pafs, and found it north and by eaft, or more eaflcrly. This
did not feem the probable road to Sennaar, after having
gone fo confiderably to the north- welt. But, before I could
make much reflexion upon the obfervation, one of the ca-
ravan declared he knew the road, and that we had gone
very little out of it, and were now proceeding ftraight to
the well. Accordingly, at half paft nine, we reached it ; it
is called Imgellalib*. There is great plenty of water, with
a leather-bucket, and a Itraw ro^e to draw it up, but it is
very ill-tafted. However, the fear of dying with thirft, more
than having materially fuffered from it, made every one
prefs to drink ; and the effceT; of this hurry was very foon
f^en. Two Abyffinian Moors, a man and woman, died after
drinking; the man inftantly, and the woman a few minutes
after ; for my own part, though thirfty,! was fenfible I could
have held out a confiderable time without danger ; and,
indeed, I did not drink till I had walhed my head, face,
and neck all over. I then waflied my mouth and throat,
and, having cooled myfelf, and in great meafure ailuaged
my thirft, I then drank till 1 was completely fatisfied, but
onl}' by fmall draughts. I would have perl'uaded all my
companions to do the fame, but I was not heard; and one
would have thought, like the camels, they had been drink-
ing once for many days to come. Yet none of them had
complained of thirft till they heard the girbas were empty;
and it was not fixteen hours fmce they had drank at Im-
hanzara, and but twelve fuice the girbas were found to be
.dry, when we firft loft our way, and ftopped in the wood.

X X 2 The

*Tlic word ngnifies the Well of Caravans : I fuppofe.of thofe which, like ours, bring
fait into Atbara, for there is no other trade between the two nations.

348 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

The extenfive, and very thick foreft, which had reached
without interruption all the way from Tcherkin, ended
here at Imgellalib. The country is perfedly flat, and hath
very little water. The foreft, however, though thick, af-
forded no fort of fliade ; the hunters, for the fake of their
fport, and the Arabs, for deftroying the flies, having fet fire
to all the dry grafs and flirubs, which, pafling with
great rapidity, in the diredion of the wood from eaft to
weft, though it had not time enough to deftroy the trees,
did yet wither, and occafion every leaf that was upon them
to fall, unlcfs in thofe fpaces where villages had been, and
where water was. In fuch fpots a number of large fpread-
ing trees remained full of foliage, which, from their
great height, and being cleared of underwood, con-
tinued in full verdure, loaded with large, projecT:ing, and
exuberant branches. But, even here, the pleafure that their
fliade afforded was very temporary, fo as to allow us no
time for enjoyment. The fun, fo near the zenith, changed,
his azimuth fo rapidly, that every few minutes I was obli-
ged to change the carpet on which I lay round the trunk
of the tree, to which I had fled, for fhelter ; and, though
I lay down to flcep, perfedly fkreened by the trunk,,
or branches, I was prefently awakened by the violent rays,
of a fcorching fun, the fhade having paffcd beyond me;;
and this was particularly incommodious, when the trees,,
under which we placed ourfelvcs, were of the thorny kind,,
very common in thofe forefts. The thorns, being all fcat-
tered round the trunk upon the ground, made either chan-
ging-place, or lying, equally uneafy ; fo that often, how-
.ever averfe we v/ere to^ fatigue, with the efFe6ls of the
fimoom, we found, that, pitching the head of our tent, and
fcmctimes the whole of it, was the only pofTible means of

fecuring;

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 349

fecuring a permanent protedlion from the fmi's opprcfIl;'e
heat. In ali other places, though we had travelled con-
flan dy in forefls, we never met with a tree that could ihade
•us for a moment, the fire having deprived them of all their
leaves.

Late tibi gurgite rtipto

Ambitur n'lgr'is Mero'e facunda colonis^
Lata conns hebcjii ; qtiiE qiiamvh arbore miilth
Frondeat^ ceftatem nulla ftbi mit'igat iimbra^
Linea tarn reBum mundiferit ilia Iconcm.

Luc AN.

Having refreflied ourfelves for near two hours by the
enjoyment of this water at Imgellalib, and raked a fufficient
quantity of fand over the dead bodies of our two compa-
nions, from piety and decency rather than for ufe, we aban-
doned them to the hysenas, who had already fmelled the
mortality, and were coming, two and three together, at the
diftance of a long fhot from the well where we were then
drinking. We fet out at eleven, our road being thro' a very
extenfive plain ; and, at two in the afternoon, we alighted
at another well, called Garigana ; the water was bad, and in
fmall quantity. In this plain is fituated the principal
village of Atbara, called Teawa. The thermometer, flung
under the camel, in the fhade of the girba of water, had
yet, neverthelefs, varied within thefe three hours from 1 1 1"
to ii9i-.

At five o'clock we left Garigana, our journey being ft ill
to the eaftward of north; and, at a quarter paft fix in the even-
ing arrived at the village of that name, whofe inhabitants had

all.

550 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

all perillied with hungei- rtie year before; their wretched
bones being all unburied and fcattered upon the furface of
the ground where the village formerly flood. We encamped
among the bones 'of the dead; no fpace could be found free
from them ; and on the 23d, at fix in the morning, full of
horror at this miferable fpedtacle, we fet outf or Teawa : this
was the feventh day from Ras el Feel. After an hour's tra-
velling we came to a fmall river, which ftill had water
Handing in fome confiderable pools, although its banks
were perfedly deftitute of any kind of fliade.

At three quarters after feven in the evening we arrived
at Teawa, the principal village and refidence of the Shekh
of Atbara, between three and four miles from the ruins of
Garigang» The whole diftance, then, from Hor-Cacamoot,
may be about fixty-five miles to Teawa, as near as I then
could compute; that is, from Hor-Cacamoot to Rafliid, thir-
ty-two miles, and from Ralliid to Teawa, thirty-three miles;
but Rafliid from Hor-Cacamoot bears N. W. and by N. and
the latitudes are ,: —

Teav/a, lat. 14* 2' 4" N.

Hor-Cacamoot, 13° i' 33"

Difference, lat. 1° o' 31'

The difference of longitude is then but five or fix miles ; fo
that Te?twa is very little to the weflward of due north from
Hor-Cacamoot, and nearly in the fame meridian with Ras
el Feel, which is foiu- miles weft of Hor-Cacamoot. From
Imhanzara to Teawa, but efpecially from Im^cUalib, we
I went

THE SOl/RCE OF THE NILE. 351

went always to the eaftward of north. From Teawa we
obferved the following bearings and diftances :

Beyla, W. S. W. about 28 miles at fartheft.

Hafib, S. and by W«

Jibbel Imfiddera, S. about 8 miles, where is good water.

Mendera, N. 48 miles ; indifferent water from deep wells.

Rafhid, S. nearly 33 miles ; plenty of good water all the

year.
Jibbel IfrifF, E. N. E. about three miles ; water.
Jibbel Attefli and Habharras, W. and by N. between 50

and Co miles.
Sennaar, W. and by N. as far as we could guefs about 70

miles.
Guangue River, from 14 to 16 miles due eaft.
Deakin, E. N. E, about 27 miles.

At Garigana, feveral of our caravan, with their afles and
loading of fait, left us, either afraid of entering Teawa, or
bccaufe their friends dwelt at Jibbel Ifriff, where the clan
of Jchaina were then encamped, being afraid of the Arabs
Daveina, who, the preceding year, had deilroyed all the
crops and villages that belonged to them, or rather reaped
them for their own advantage. The whole tribe of Jehaina
is greatly their inferiors in all refpecTrs, and as by afTem-
bling upon Jibbel IfrifF, a low though very rugged ridge
of hills, abounding in water, where the pits in which they
hide their grain were, and where, too, they had depofited
the principal of their effedis, they had given this pledge of
mutual aliiftance to tiie inhabitants of Teawa in cafe of an
attack from thole great deilroyers the Daveina.

The

552 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

The Daveina being Arabs, who conftantly live in tents,
bear a mortal enmity to all who inhabit villages, and, as
occafion offered, had dellroyed, flarved, and laid wafte the
greatefl part of Atbara. They had been outlawed by the
government of Sennaar for having joined Yafous II. upon
the expedition againft that kingdom. They had ever fince
been well-received by the Abyffinians, lived independent,
and in perpetual defiance of the government of Sennaar.
They had often threatened Teawa, but had given the Shekh
of Beyla an afTurance of friendfliip ever fince Yafine had
married a daughter of that Shekh,

#

The flrength of Teawa was about 25 horfe, of which
about ten were armed with coats of mail. They had about a
dozenof firelocks, very contemptible from the order in which
they were kept, and flill more fo from the hands that bore
them. The refl of the inhabitants might amount to twelve
hundred men, naked, miferable, and defpicable Arabs, like
the reft of thofe that live in villages, who are much infe-
rior in courage to the Arabs that dwell in tents : weak as
its ftate was, it was the feat of government, and as fuch a
certain degree of reverence attended it. Fidele, the Shekh
of Atbara, was reputed by his own people a man of courage ;
this had been doubted at Sennaar. Welled HafTan, his father,
had been employed by Naffer the fon, late king of Sennaar,
in the murder of his father and fovereign Baady, which
he had perpetrated, as I have already mentioned. Such was
the flate of Teawa. Its confequence was only to remain
till the Daveina fliould refolve to attack it, when its corn-
fields being burnt and deflroyed in a night by a multitude
of horfemen, the bones of its inhabitants fcattercd upon
4 the

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 353

the earth, would be all its remains, like thofe of the mi-,
ferable village of Garigana.

I HAVE already obferved, in the beginning of the jom^ney,
that the Shekh of the Arabs Nile, vv^ho refidcd in Abyflinia,
near Ras el Feel, fince the expedition of Yafous, had warned
me, at Hor- Cacamoot, to diftruft the fair promifes and
friendly profeffions of Shekh Fidele, and had, indeed,
raifedfuch doubts in my mind, that, had not the Daveina
been parted from Sim Sim, (or the confines of AbyfTinia)
though there would have been a rifk, that if, coming with
that tribe, I fhould have been-ill received atSennaar, I never-
thelefs would have travelled with them, rather than by
Teawa ; but the Daveina were gone.

The Shekh of Atbara, having no apparent intercft. to
deceive us, had hitherto been a friend as far as words would
go,and had promifed every thing that remained in his power;
but, for fear of the worfl-, Nile had given us a confidential
man, who was related to the Jehaina and to the principal
Shekh of that tribe. This man condUv5tedan afs, loaded with
fait, among the other Arabs of the caravan, and was to fet off
to Ras el Feel upon the firft: appearance of danger, which he
was to learn by coming once in two days, or oftner, either
to Teawa, v;here he was no farther known than as being
one of the Jehaina, or to the river, where my Soliman was
to meet him at the pools of water ; but his fecret was only
known to Soliman, myfelf, and a Greek fervant, Michael.
From leaving Hor- Cacamoot, he had no perfonal interview
with me ; but the night, when we were like to perilh for
thiril in the wood, he had fent me, by Soliman, privately,
a horn- full of water, which he had in his goat's fkin, and

Vol. IV. Y y for

354 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

for which I had rewarded liim handfomely in the inflant,^.
glad of tliat opportunity of confirming him in his duty.

This man we fet off to Jlbhei ICriff, as a ftrangcr, with
orders not to come to us till the third day; for we were
weiKperfuadcd, whatever the end v/as to be, that our firft
reception would be a. gracious one. Indeed we were all of
us inclined to believe, that our fufpicions of Fidelc Shekh of
Atbara, and of his intentions towards us, were rather the
effe(5ts of the fear that Shekh Nile had infufed into us, than
any apprehenfion which we could reafonably form after fo
many promifes ; at the fame time, it was agreed on all
hands, that, life being at ilake, we could not be too careful
in providing means that could, if the worll happened, at.
the leall diminifh our rilk.

{S3!fi"Ii?^°^'*?''i*i''^-''*8Bi»ta5fi6ata6tswfl^^

CHAP..

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 555

G^s^— ^ ■ ' ' ''^

CHAP. V.

-Tran/aciions at Teawa — Attempts of the Shekh to detain the Author
there — Adm'inijler Medicines to him and his Wives — Various Convert
fations -with bim^ and Injiances of his 'treachery.

AT the pafTage of the fmall river, about a quarter of a
mile from Teawa, we were met by a man on horfe-
back, rloathed with a large, loofe gown of red camlet, or
fome fuch ftuff, with a white mullin turban upon his head,
and about ao naked, beggarly fervants on foot, with lances,
but no fliields ; two fmall drums were beating, and a pipe
playing before them. He flopt upon my coming near them,
and alTected a delicacy in advancing to falute me, he be-
ing on horfeback, and I upon a mule, for my horfe was led.
behind, faddled and bridled, with a loofe blue cloth cover-
ing him. Soliman, who firft accoflcd him, told him it was
the cuilom of Abyffinia not to mount horfes but in time of

Y V 2 ■ war

3j6 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

war, upon which he immediately difmounted, and, upon
feeing this, I ahghted Hkewife. We fahited one another
very courteoufly. He was a man about feventy, with a
very long beard, and of a very graceful appearance. It was
with the utmoft difficulty I could prevail upon him to mount
his horfe, af& he declared his intention was to walk by the
fide of my mule till he entered the town of Teawa. This
being over- ruled, by an invincible obflinacy on my part, he-
was at laft conftrained to mount on horfeback, which he
did with an agility only to be expefted from a young maa
of twenty.

Being mounted, he fliewed us a variety of paces on horfe*
back. All this, too, was counted a humiliation and polite-
nefs on his part, as playing tricks, and prancing on horfe-
back, is never done but by young men before their elders,
or by meaner people before their fuperiors. We palled by
a very commodious houfe, where he ordered my fervants
to unload my baggage, that being the refidence alTigned
for me by the Shekh. He and I, with Soliman on foot by
the fide of my mule, crofTed an open fpace of about five
hundred yards, where the market is kept ; he protefted a
thoufand times by the way, what a fliame it was to him to.
appear on horfeback^ when a great man. like me was riding
on a mule..

A LITTLE after, having paiTcd this ixjuare, we came to the
Shekh's houfe, or rather a colledion of houfes, one llorey
high, built with canes j near the ftreer, at entering, there
was a large hall of unburnt brick, to which we afcended
by four or five flcps. The hall was a very decent one, co-
vered with lira w- mats ; and there was in the m.iddle of it,,

a cliairi,

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 2S7

a chair*, underftood to be the place of the grand fignior.
The Shekh himfelf was fitting en the ground for humiUty's
<ake, reading the Koran, or pretending to read it. At our
entry he feemed to be furprifed, and made an attempt as
if to rife up, which immediately I prevented him from doing,
holding him down by the hand, which I kiffed.

I SHALL not fatigue the reader with the uninterefling
converfation that paffed at this firll interview. He affedt-
ed to admire my fize and apparent ftrength, introduced
fame loofe hints about AbyfTinian women; and, in ge-
neral, pretended to blame me for expoling myfelf to tra-
vel in fuch a country. In return, I complained of the ex-
treme fatigue of the journey and heat, the beafts of prey,,
the thick woods without fliade, the want of water, and,
above all, the poifonous blafts of the limoom that had al-
moft overcome me, the effects of which I was at that in-
ftant feeling..

He then blamed himfelf very politely, in a manner na--
tural to the Arabs, for having fuffered me to come to him
before I had repofed myfelf, which he excufed by his defire
of feeing fo great a man as me. He faid alio, that he
would detain me no longer ; bid me repofe a day or two-
in quiet and in fafety ; and, upon my riflng to go away, he
got up likewife, and holding me by the hand, faid, " 1 he

greateft

* It is the cuflom, in all places where the governor is invefled with fjnreme power, to
have an atm-chair left empty in the middle of the hall where juftice is adnxiuiftered, which,
reprefjnts the fovereigo, and to wiiieh obeifance is made.-

358 TRAVELS TO DISCOVEH

greateft part of the dangers you have paiTed in the way
are, I believe, as yet unknown to you. Your Moor, Yafine,
of Ras el Feel, is a thief worfe than any in Habefh. Se-
veral times you efcaped very narrowly, by mere chance,
from being cut off, efpecially at Rafhid, by the Arabs Da-
veina, whom Yafme had polled there to murder you. But
you have a clean heart, and clean hands. God faw their
defigns, and protected you ; and, I may fay alfo, on my
own part, I was not wanting."

Being then on my legs for retiring, I returned no an-
fwer,, but the ufual one (Ullah Kerim) i. e. God is merciful.
Soliinan, on the other fide, echoed, " Ullah Kerim /" by which
I faw he underftood me. We both went out, and were
condudled to the apartment provided by the old man in
the red cloak, who met us on oiu- firft arrival at the river,
and who now walked before me till we came to the houfe.
It was a very decent one, confiiHng only of one large room,
and flood clofe upon the river. This fituation v^^as chofcn
with an intention to keep open the correfpondence with the
Shekh of Nile's fervant, whom we had fent to thejehaina,
and who occafionally was to meet us there ; but Soliman
told the old man, it was neceflar)' to me, on account of fre-
quent ablutions before prayer, which my religion obliged
nie to perform. This old man was called Hagi Soliman
Kaiya, that, is, the Sliekh's Lieutenant, He had been at
Mecca, and had feen Metical Aga, and knew his poft and
confcquencc ; but he was a nxurdcrcr and robber like his
mafter, a liar and •dillcmbkr beyond all conception.

We had fcarce taken polTefllcn of our lodging, or thrown

off our clothes to put ourfelves at our eafe, when feveral

2 flaves

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 3-59^

flaves of both fexes, brought lis a quantity of di flies of
meat from the Shekh, with many flattering comphmcnts
and good wifhes* The whole was difpatched very fpeedily,.
and fome of oUr poor companions of the caravan, v/ith the
faltj came and helped us very thankfully, without ceremony,
as is the cuilom of the country. When all was over, I was
aftonifhed at one young man, who came and put his mouth
clofe to my ear, faying thefe few Words in Arabic, " Seitati
Fidele ! el Shekh el Atbara Seitan !" i.e. l-idele is a devil !
the Shekh of Atbara is the devil himfelf !

All ftrangers were now difmifTed, under pretence of oils'-
going immediately to repofe. V^Ie had, indeed, much need
of reft in our prefent fituaiion, but ftill more of council, for
which we immediately aiTembied by ourfelves, after having
fliut the door. I alked Soliman what he thought of the
Shekh of Atbara^ and his difcourfe. He anfwered, without
hefitation, " He is a traitor, has deceived Yaiine, and means
vou ill." The word,^rf^/ 7)7an, fo often applied to me- — the
abufe beftowed upon Yafme, whom in his letters he had
called his dear brother — the wondering that I came that
way, after, in his letters, and by his fervants, he had fo often
perfuaded us, while at Ras el Feel, that it was the beft, nay,,
the only road pofTible ; all this united together,feemed to leave
us no doubt but that we had fallen into a trap, from which,
our own activity and relblutions, under- the protection of
Providence, could alone releafe us. .

It may be remembered that, fome time before our fetting
out frcun Pvas el Feel, I had difpatched a fervant with the
Daveina to Sennaar, whom they were to efcort as far as Bey-
la; and they had confxgned him into the bands of Maho-

m&t,,

55o TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

met, Shekh of Beyla, who was to forward him to Sennaar ;
and this he certainly would have done immediately without
delay, but for a misfortime that happened, and entirely dif-
concerted the plan. The Daveina, on their way to Beyla,
had heard that an encampment of Arabs, (who ufually,
at this time, occupy the banks of the Nile) had come eall-
ward towards Atbara. Whether the Daveina intended to
attack thefe Arabs, or were afraid the Arabs intended to
fall upon them, I know not ; but they returned weftward
to the left, inftead of coming to Beyla ; they fent my fer-
vant forward, after fome lofs of time, and Mahomet, Shekh
of Beyla, had forwarded him to Sennaar. Here, too, he was
detained by Shekh Adelan, the firft minifter, who happened
then not to be at Sennaar, but levying taxes upon the Arabs.
This we did not know at that time ; fo every moment we
expedled his arrival. We were difappointed, likewife, in not
finding a fervant of the Shekh of Beyla waiting for us, who
was to inform us of the fituation of the country about Bey-
la. This we more wondered at, becaufe, being ill of the
gravel, he had expreficd himfelf very anxious, in his letter to
Yafme, to have fome lime-water, which his fervant was to
get from, me at Teawa. We did not then know, as v«re foon
afterwards did, that this fervant had been waiting for us at
Teawa, and that Shekh Fidele had informed him that I was
no longer coming by Atbara, but that Coque Abou Barea had
fent me, under the care of fome Ganjar horfe, ftraight down
the Dcnder from Kuara ; fo that the Shekh of Beyla did not
expe(5t to fee me.

All this being imknown to us, we were in conflant ex-

pedlation of icrvants from Sennaar, and the meiTage from the

Shekh of Beyla. But, as we all agreed we were in danger,

4 we

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 361

we refolved, the next day, at meeting Shekh el Nile's fervant,
to difpatch him to Ras el Feel, requiring Yafme to fend
feme perfon, as from the king or Ayto Confu, to alk the rea-
fon of our being detained, and to be a witnefs of the Shekh's
behaviour and our departure. In the mean time, we de-
termined to make our interviews with him as few as poffi-
ble, till fome affiftance fliould arrive. Soliman met the
Shekh el Nile's fervant, and gave him the letter he was to
carry to Yaiine, explaining himfelf to the Arab by word of
mouth.

On the night of the 24th of March, the day after our ar-
rival, our difpatch fet off from Jibbel Ifriff for Has cl Feel ;
where he arrived fafely, but found Yafme was gone to Ay-
to Confu at Tcherkin, elfe he would certainly have been
the firft to bring us comfort, for he had executed his com-
miflion with great fidelity. This day I had ilaid in the
houfe, being ill of the fimoom ; but had fent to Fidele, to let
him know I fliould v/ait upon him next day, having as yet
given him no prefent, and being defirous to know what
effed that might have.

On the 25th, at four o'clock I waited upon the Shekh ac-
cordingly, in his own houfe. Soliman the Moor, Hagi
Ifmael the Turk, who, bcfides, was a flierriffe, and my Greek
fervant, were along with me. I gave the Shekh, for a pre-
fent, a large piece of blue Indian cotton cloth, with gold
flowers, a filk and cotton fafli, about two ounces of civet,
two pounds of nutmegs, and ten pounds of pepper. He
received the prefentsrvery gracioufiy to appearance, and laid
all the articles down beiide him. I deiired that he would
difpatch me as foon as poffiblc, and, for that end, be pre-

Vol. IV. Z z paring

362 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

paring the camels. He anfwercd, the camels were fifteen
days journey off, in the fandy deferc, for fear of the flies ;
but that the want of them fhould not detain us, if he had
leave from Sennaar, for which he was to write that night.
He added, that they always were exceedingly tedious at Sen-
naar, and both the town and road were, at prefent, in a
very unfettled ftate. I told him, I was furprifed at this, as
Hagi Belal had written to Yafme and myfelf alfo, in a letter
(then in my cuflody) that orders were gone both to him
and the Shekh of Bey la, to receive me kindly, and forward
me fafely and fpeedily to Sennaar : that he himfclf had con-
fefTed this to Yafme in a letter written to him from Teawa,
dcfiring that I would come fpeedily, as he had every thing
ready, which letter I myfelf had read. Fidele feemed in
the utmod furprife at this. He lifted up his hands and
eves, as if I had been tellinq; the ffreateft of lies. He faid,
" he never wrote a letter about me to Valine in his life ; or,
at leafl:, nor this year ; that it was all a forgery ot Yafine,
knowing that I had a quantity of gold with me, to get
me out into the defert, to rob and murder me there ; that I
might fee he never could receive fuch orders, or elfc it
would have been as inuch as his life was worth, not to
have prepared to difparch me immediately ; but fo far from
that, fays he, feek all over the town, and if you find one-
camel, or any other number, I Vvill make you a prefcnt of
them all, for this is entirely a forgery of Yafme."

SoLTMAN could bear this no longer. He told Fidele,.
" That it was he who v/as a forger and a liar, not Yafine.
Will you perfuade mc that I do not know of your letter to
Y'afme ? Have not your fervants Ibvaiiim and Naffer lived
with us at Ras el Feel for weeks together as bearers of thefe

letters.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 3^5

letters, which I have fecn in their hands before reading, /

and al'fo read them afterwards ? Was I not fpeaking to them /

both this morning about the letters ? and are not they jud — ^

now waiting without ? If you have a mind to call them in,
and quefliou them, do it now before me. What do you
think Yafine will fay when he hears of the fine character
you give him ?" " Soliman, replies the bhekh, in a very foft
tone'of voice, I may have forgotten, in the many letters and
affairs that pafs through my hands in a day ; but Yafme is
my brother, and I will do every thing for him and you
that you could wifn : flay only this week, and if my camels
do not arrive, I v/ill fend and take them from the Arabs,
wherever they can be found. They are for the king's bufi-
iiefs, and not mine." He faid this with fuch an air of can-
dour and fihcerity, that it was impofTible to doubt hmi.

•On the 26th, I went in the forenoon to fee the Shekh ; I

fat a few minutes v.'ith him, then rofe ^o go away. He

then inquired if I had any thing particular to afic ? T an-

fvvered, I had nothing but to pay my compliments to him.

He made me a very civil bow, and I took my leave. Next

day, the 2 7th, I ftaid in the houfe all day, it being the Shckh's

feftival. In the evening, the old man, who was the Kaiya,

cam.e to my houfe with compliments from the Shekh. Ke

told me Fidele was often ill with complaints in the ftomach,

and hinted that it was from exceffive drinking. He wifaed

that I Vi^ould give him fome medicine to vomit him, and

reilorc his appetite, which he had perfectly lod. The old

man added, that tliis was the way to make the Shekh do

what I wiilied, fooner than all the prefents in the Vv^orld.

I told him, that he might afllire Fidele, that I both could,

and would do him that fervice, and for that purpofe Vvould

wait upon him at 6 o'clock next evening.

Z z 2 On

3(54 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

On the 28th, in the evenhig I went to the Shekh's houfe
with the medicine, and it anfwered all our expe6lations. I
obferved, however, when the cup with the ipecacuanha
was in his hands, that they trembled, and alfo his under
lip. He was apparently at that time under fome apprehen-
fion, which his confcience fuggefted, of what it was in my
power to do to him. In thefe countries they have an eme-
tic which they take occafionally, which operates fo violently,
that it often throws them into convulfions. What it may
be I know not. Some fay it is the fmall feed of a flower
like the poppy ; fome, the pith of a tree, after it has
been dried and rubbed into a fine powder by the hand ;
whatever it may be, it is fo fevere in proportion to the
ftrongeft doze of ipecacuanha, that the latter feemed but
like a fport in compariibn. The cafe that warm water gc-
cafioned, which he had never experienced before, was fo
unexpedled, that he could hardly be fatisfied with drinking.
After this was over, all was thankfulnefs, and promifes of
doing whatever I fliould defire of him, provided I would
adminider two or three dozes more to him, and, if he for-
warded me quickly, leave him fome of the powder, with
direcflions how to take it in my abfence. This I engaged
faithfully to do, and we parted apparently the befl friends
in the world.

The 29th, early in the morning, before fun-rife, I had a
melTage from him again by the Kaiya, to whom I gave
coffee at the door while I was dreffmg. He told me, the
Shekh was wonderfully well, and never in fuch health and
fpirits in his life, but defired that I would come to him in the
evening, for two of his wives were ill of the fame diforder
that he had. 1 excufed myfelf, under pretence that it was

Sundav,

\

T H E S OU R C E O F T H E NILE. s<^S

Sunday, my feftival, and that I never \vent out upon any
buiinels.

IThis excufe paffed as to the Shekh, but at noon a black
common Have came down with a meiFage from her mif-
trefles, who thought the anfwer given to the Kaiya was a
refuflil. They faid, they v/ere forry if I had not meat to my
hking ; that they drefled it with their own hands every day
in the beil manner poflible, but they would aker it in
any refpect I chofe, if I would inilruc^ them. I foon found
how necelTary it was to content my benefacftrefTes. I ex-
plained my anfwer to the Shekh about Sunday ; but afTured
them, that on Monday evening I fliould be with them, to
vomit them till they were perfecT:ly fatisfied ; in the mean
time, I took a fmall cup, which I filled with civet, and fent
it by the Have to her miftrelles ; giving likewife, at the
fame time, two handfuls of pepper for herfclf.

On the 30m, in the evening I went to the Shekh's houfe
according to promife, and was carried into a large room,
Avhere he was fitting alone, fmoaking in an alcove ; I fup-
pofe meditating future mifchief, for he had no other ap-
parent employment. He was perfedly fober, however, and
feemed rather thoughtful ; was very civil, and thanked me
in an unufual Urain of kindnefs, for the care I had taken
of his family. I aflced him if he was recovered ? He declared,
he had never been ib well in his life as fince I had given
him the laft vomit ; but that he had received very bad news
from Sennaar, that Mahomet Abou Calcc (the firft miniiler)
had taken the greateft part of the horfe and troops, and was
gone to Kordofan, a very diftant province, furrounded with
deferts, where he governed independently ; and by his man-
3^ ners.

e

^66 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

ners and difcourfe feemed refolved to withdraw himfelf
from his duty to the king: That Shekh Adclan, his young-
er brother, with the remaining troops, had left Sennaar,
and was encamped at Aira, a few miles from the town, v/here
he too governed defpotically by his own v/ill ; it being the
prerogative of the minifter to have abfolutc power as foon
as he has left the capital, and put himfelf at the head of
the army, for levying the tax from the Arabs ; but that he had
parted v/ith the king on terms very little fhort of rebellion.
He then faid, " Since this is the cafe, that Providence has
thrownyour lot here, that you cannot go forward to Sen-
naar, nor back to Abyffinia, if you will refolve to ftay with
me, and turn Mahometan, which is the only true religion,
I will give you my daughter for your wife, and you fliall
be fecond man in the government of Teawa ; and as my
intention is to go next year to Mecca, you fliall then be
appointed to the government of iVtbara, Vvhile I go to Sen-
naar, and procure an office fitter for an old man,"

Although I feldcm, in my life, was lefs inclined to mer-
riment, I aifeded to break out into a loud fit of laughter;
at which he looked grave, feeraing to take it ill, and aflcing
me if I laughed at huii ? " Exactly fo, laid I, at you ; I vras
laughing to think that a man fet over a province to govern
it, like you, fhould yet knowfo little cf mankind as to ima-
gine, one like me capable of turning renegado. You may
deny it for forae purpofe of your own, but 1 know you are
well informed of the degree of favour and honour in which
I was whilft in Abyffinia, where I had every thing that. I
dcfired. They were people of my religion, and yet I never
could confcnteithertofc?y w'ththem or marry among them.
What then could be my inducement to marry here, to
3 ^ change

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. ^Sj

change my religion, and live in a country where there is
nothing but poverty, mifery, famine, fear, and dependence?"
" Hearken, fays he, you are a fool ; this country is a thou-
fand times healthier and fweeter than Abyflinia; but, fmce
you wont take my advice, I fliall fay no more ; come and
fee my Harem''." — "With all my heart, replied I, as far as
that I will go, and fhall be happy to do both you and your
family all the good I can."

The Shekh went before me, through feveral apartments^
well proportioned, but very meanly furniOied, flovenly, and
in bad order. This was the part of the houfe that belong-
ed to hiinfeli^, and formed one fide of a fquare. We crolTed
the fquare to the oppofite fide, where there were feveral a-
partments furnidied in a much better Ityle. The floors
were all covered with Turkey carpets. In an alcove fat one
of his wives upon the ground, with a number of black Haves
about her. Her face was uncovered ; the circle made way
for me; fo that, firfl putting my hand to my lips, I touched
the end of her fingers with the end of mine. In the mean
tiw.e, the Shekh had brought a fecond vv^ife from another
apartment, and fet her down befide the firft. They were
both women pafl the middle age, feemed to have a great
many Haves attending them, but never had been hand-
fome. One of them, I learned afterwards, was daughter to
the firft minifter Shekh Adelan.

I THOUGHT it ncceflary to explain myfelf a little with Fi-
dele. You know, Shekh, faid I, it is not always that you

an^

The houfc where tliev keen their ^vomen,.

36S TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

and I agree, and though I have lived many years v/ith peo-
ple of your religion of all ranks, yet I am far from knowing
what are the manners of Atbara ; what will offend you or
them, or what not ; for, as I have no view but your good
and theirs, I would not expofe myfelf to any ill ufage to
which a miftake of your cuftoms may fubjed; me. In fliort,
I muft afk thefe ladies a number of queftions, which, if you
choofe to hear, you may, but no perfon elfe muft, as is the
cuftom of my country." " What has he to do with us and
our phyXician ? faid the eideft of the two ; all his bufmefs is
to pay you money when you have made us well." " What
would become of him, fays Adelan's daughter, if we were
to be ill ? he would ftarve for want of people to make ready
his meat." — Aye, and his drink too, fays the other, which
he is fonder of than his meat."—" No, no, fays ShekhFidele,
in perfe6t good humour, we know you, Hakim ; you arc
not like us ; afk them all the queftions you pleafe, I neither
wifti nor intend to hear them ; I hear too much of them
every day againft niy will, and only wifli to God you would
cure them or make them dumb altogether, and then they
will not teaze me with their illnefs any longer; a fick wo-
man is plague fufficicnt for a devil." — " Then, clear the
room, faid I, in the firft place, of all thefe idle women-fer-
vants; 6nly leave two or three of the fteadieft ftaves to ferve
their miftrefles." He did not feem at a lofs how to do this,
for he took up a fliort whip, or fwitch, which lay at hand,
and happy were they who got firft to the door. I faw among
thefe a genteel female figure, covered from head to foot,
whom Fidele pulled in with his hand, after he had puflied
the others otit of the door, faying, " Come in, Aifcach ;" and
immediately after this he went away.

I WAS

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 369

1 WAS very fenfiblc that I was playing a farce upon which
a very great deal depended. Though in thefe countries
the daughters of minifters and great men are given to in-
feriors, this is only with a view of having them provided
for ; they are fpies upon their hufbands, and keep up
the confequence of their birth in their hu{ba:)d's houfc
even after they are married, and this I underllood was
precifely the cafe with Adelan's daughter. Notwithftand-
ing the bad character I had of Fidele, I knew he durfl
not rob me, without murdering me alfo ; and I was fure
he did not dare to do either, if it was once known that I
was arrived in the dominions of Sennaar ; and this his
wife could inform Adelan her father of, whenever flie plea-
fed. This was then the full Hep towards fafety.

I SHALL not trouble my reader with a repetition of my
medical inquiries, nor the complaints of ladies, which
arc properly fecrets with me, though at the diftance of At-
l)ara. The ipecacuanha operation gave high fatisfaclion.
It vv^as now happily terminated ; but, whilft it was admi-
niftering, i obferved the figure, who till then appeared co-
vered, had unveiled her face and head down to her flioul-
ders ; and foon after one of the Haves, her attendant, as in
play, pulled off the remaining part of the veil that cover- -
ed her. I was aftoniilied at the fight of fo much beauty.
Her hair, which was not woolly, but long, and in great
quantity, was braided and twilled round like a ci'own up-
on the top of her head, ornamented with beads, and the
fmall white Guinea-lliells, commonly known here by the
name of blackamoor's teeth. She had plain rings of
gold in her ears, and four rows of gold chain about her
neck, to wliich was hung a number of fcquins pierced;

Vol IV. 3 A the

370 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

the reft of her drefs was a bkie fhift, which hung loofely
about her, and covered her down to her feet, though it
was not very rigoroufly nor very clofely difpofed all below
her neck. She was the talleft of the middle fize, and not yet
fifteen years of age; her whole features faultlefs; they might
have ferved alone for the ftudy of a painter all his life, if he
was in fearch of abfolute beauty. Her mother being an
Arab of the tribe of Jehaina, her complexion was a dark
brown. Such was the beautiful Aifcach, daughter of the
eldeft of the ladies that I was then attending.

Neither ficknefs nor medicine could prevent thofe who
were prefent from difcovering plainly how exceedingly I
was difconcerted. Adelan's daughter faid to me, You wiM
think nothing of the women in Atbara, after fa long a ftay
in Abyffinia ; but the women in Europe, they fay, are fo
white, that they are the handfomeft of all. I never
was lefs perfuaded of that truth than at prefent, faid I ;
and I fee perfetftly you obferve it. " Aye, aye, fays her
mother, and fo we do ; if Aifcach was ill, you would take
better care of her than of either of us." " Pardon me,
faid I, Madam ; if the beautiful Aifcach was ill, I feel I
ftiould myfelf be fo much affected as not to be able to at-
tend her at all."

AiscACH made the moft gracious inclination with her
head, to fliew flie was perfectly fenfible of the compliment.
The women laughed out aloud. " Send for Yafme and
your horfe from Ras el Feel, cries a voice behind me laugli-
ing, but fpeaking perfect: good Amharic ; take her away,
and carry her back with you to Abyffinia, I'll go with you
with all my heart, and fo will fhe, I fv/ear to you." I turn-
ed

THESOURGEOFTHENILE. 371

fed with furprife to the perfon that fpoke the language,
which I had not heard fpoken of late. " She is a poor
Chrillian flave, fays the eldefl: of Fidele's wives, taken by
the Jehaina when the Mek Baady was defeated in his re-
turn to Sennaar ; fhe is a foolilh, but merry creature, as you
fee." All our diet and regimen being fettled, I took my
leave, and was attended to the door by the Abyffmian flave
and Aifcach, who feemed to be very much her friend.
When flie came to the outer door, flie covered herfelf again
with her veil, from head to foot, as before, faying, in a low
voice, Shall we not fee you to-morrow ?

On the 31ft of March, Fidele again infilled upon under-
going another experiment of the ipecacuanha. I waited up-
on him at the fame hour as before, curious to know what
he would fay to me about his wives. Upon my inquiring
after them, he only anfwered, that they were well ; and
when cofl'ee was brought, before I went away, told me,
that he knew perfedly well, from Ras el Feel, that, when
I fet out from thence, I had difpofed, in various boxes and
chefls, (which I pretended were inilruments) 2000 ounces of
gold, befides variety of cloth of gold, and other valuable
things for prefents ; and as all this was now in his power,
he could not tliink me mad enough to refufe him 500 piaf-
tres, which were only 50 of thefe ounces I carried with
me ; that, if I gave them to him civilly, he would forward
me to Sennaar in tv/o days ; if not, Fwas in his hands, and
he could eafiiy take the whole by force, and after difpofe of
me as he plea fed.

Well done ! out with it ! fard I ; this is but what I knew
long to be in your heart. But let me fet you right ; 1 have

.3 A 2 not

^72 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

not three oiances of gold in all my pofTciTion. It is of no:.
ufe to me in my country ; take all my cafes and boxes,.,
and fearch them ; the gold that you find there I freely give
you, and without refcrve. As for the cloth of gold, \vi)ich
I- have, it is a prefent from the king of Abyflinia to the king
of Sennaar, to be delivered with his letter. I have likewife a
prefent to Shekh Adelan, with a letter to him ; and fomc
other trifles for Sennaar, prefents to people in governmci\t :
look at them; if you think they are too great, apply to your
own ufe what part of them you pleafe, and account with
the king and Adelan for what you take from them, with
vour reafon for fo doing. 7 he little money I may want at
tjennaar, Hagi Belal, Metical Aga's fervant from. Mecca, will
furnifh me with, and, upon my letter, will take payment for
the amount from my countrymen on board the Eafl India;
fliips at Jidda. As for force, do not deceive yourfelf ; if all,
thofe cafes were gold it never would be in your power to open,
oneof them. Do not think that I am a girl or a child ; con-
fiderthe danger and difficulties I have paired,undcr God's pro-
tedion only, and by my own force and courage : I am well
armed, and have brave men about me, fo try your force
when you pleafe. I dare fay you will keep yourfelf out of
danger, to give an account of your brave exploit to the king
of Sennaar afterwards." I then arofe, and faid, "Good
evening." The Shekli called after me to ftay. I faid, " Ano-
ther time ;" and immediately left him.

We had hitherto been fupplied plentifully with provi-
fions from the Shckh's houfe once a-day. When I came
home at night, I found that after Magrib, which is after fun--
jfet, a large (lore had been fent by the ladies from the
Shekh's houfe, as acknowledgements for the attention I had

paid.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 375

^id them; but no particular mcfTage, except than that
they had been exceedingly well after their medicines, and
hoped I would not abandon them, but fee them again. A
Greek fervant of mine, who knew perfedly their culloras,-
had anfwered, that I certainly would wait upon them when,
the Shekh thould defu'C me fo to do.

The weather was extremely hot, and people, avoiding fun-
fliine of the day, generally fat up the whole of the night,
enjoying the only hours when it was poffible to breathe free-
ly. It was about eleven o'clock at night, when the old Kaiya,
whom I never faw but upon thefe occafions, came to me
for coffee, of which he drank at leaft twenty difhes every
vilit. He appeared at firil very moderate, and, as he pre-
tended, a friend. But immediately afterwards, being fear-
ed, and affuming a new kind of air and tone of voice, he
reproved me roundly for my behaviour to the Shekh that
day," He extolled him highly for his generofity, courage,
and his great intereft at Sennaar from his father's merits, ,
and from his having married Shekh Adelan's daughter.
He faid, it was the greateft prefumption, in a fet of infidels
like us, to behave in the manner we had done toFidele that
day. " Hagi Soli man, anfwered I, you are an old man ; if
years have not given you wifdom, your journey to Mecca,
and converfation with perfons of all nations there, fliould at
leall have taught you an appearance of it, which, at this time, -
you have not. I am here, immediately under the protec-
tion of the fherriile of Mecca, the chief of your religion, an4
Metical Aga his miniller. I have letters from the king of
Abyfllnia to your king of Sennaar, rcqueiling only, under
the faith of nations, to pafs through y^our country in my
way to Cairo, to rejoin Ali Bey, whofe phyfician I am, and;

isi.\

S74 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

in whofe hands at lead three thoufand fubjedls of Sennaar,
and their efFeds, are at this moment. I fay to you now, as
I did to your mafter in the morning, that he cannot either
rob or murder me at Teavva without all your nation being
refponfible for it, wherever they ihall go. But I am not a
iheep, or a lamb, to be fpoiled of my goods, or robbed of
my life, without defending myfelf to the utmofl ; and I tell
you, for your proper inftru6tion, that there are probably
now at Sennaar, people from the king of Abyffinia, com-
plaining of my being detained here, and demanding ju-
■ilice.

He feemed to pay no attention to this threat. He did
•not think it poffible that I could have had any communica-
tion with Ras el Feel fmce I came to Teawa, but declared,
that, as my particular friend, he had calmed the Shekh's
wrath, and obliged him to promife, that, for 2000 piaftres,
he would difpatch me in two days to Sennaar. Indeed,
Hagi Soliman, faid I, I have not 20 piaftres in the world to
give either him or you, nor would I give them if I had
them. The Shekh may take all that I have by force, and is
welcome to try the experiment. You, as his friend and fol-
dier, may command the party, if you pleafe ; but I am re-
-folved, were he willing, never to leave Teawa till I depart,
under the condudl of another man than one of your or of
Shekh Fidele's chufmg. Upon my faying this, he arofe,
Ihook the bofom of his cloak, and faid, he was foiTy for it ;
but he w allied his hands of all the confequences.

Immediately after this we fliut our tloors ; and our fire-
arms being cleaned, loaded, and primed, v.-c relblved to a-
foide the ifliic of this bad affair in the beft manner poffible,
4 and

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE.

315^

and live o- die together. . One thing, however, diverted us :,
One of cac >.:ge bluade'bulTes being accidentally laid acrofs
the door, tiiis veteran foidier llarted back at the fight of it,
and, although the muzzle was pointed far from him, would,
not enter till the piece was removed, and placed at a confi-
derable diftance from him.

As we faw thing^s were growing to a crilis, we became
every hour more impatient for the arrival of relief, either
from Ras el Feel or Sennaar. On the ift of April came a fer-
vant from the Shekh of Beyla, and delivered a meflage to
Fidele : What it was I know not ; but about noon he came
to inquire after us, and pay us a vifit.

All this time Fidele had kept our arrival at Teawa a fe^
cret from the Shekh of Beyla; but the people, who frequent-
ed the market of Teawa, having told their governor that
they had feen ftrangers there, he all at once fufpefted the
truth, and difpatched a confidential fervant to Fidele, under
a fhew of bufinefs, to inquire whether we w^rethofe ftran-
gers. An explanation immediately followed upon his co-
ming to my houfe, and efpecially concerning the meffage
the Shekh of Beyla had received from the Shekh. of Atbara^
that we were gone by Kuara down the Dendar. lie faid,
that his matter either had Tent, or intended to fend, advice
of this to my fervant at Sennaar, who, expecTiingus no long,
er by Teawa, would neither come himfelf, nor fcek a king's,
fervant to conduft us from hence, but would feek meafures
for our fafety the other way, or wait at Sennaar, expecting
our arrival daily; for the way from Kuara was through a
number of outlawed, or banditti Arabs, fo that it was not
in the power of the government of Sennaar, if ever fo well

inclined.

376 TRAVELS TO DISCOVE

inclined, to conduA us one Hep in fafety on that road till
we fliould be within two days journey of Sennaar. The
fervant therefore propofed, that he lliould return inftantly
to Beyla, (as he did that night) and that his maflsr Ihould
fend a meflenger on a dromedary exprefs to Sennaar, to in-
form Hagi Belal of our fituation, and procure immediate re-
lief. He promifed further, that his mailer fliould fend a
MouUah, (or man of extraordinary holinefs and learning)
in whofe prefence Shekh Fidele would not dare to proceed
to extremities, as this was a man univerfally efteemed, and
of great weight and reputation at Sennaar, both with Abou
Calec and Adelan, as well as throughout Atbara.

I MUST here obviate a very reafonable objection which
may be made by my reader: — " Why, when you knew your
fafety depended upon the government of Sennaar, when
you was arrived at Teawa, did you not take the firft oppor-
tunity of notifying it to Fidele, that you had already fent
to.acquaint your correfpondent at Sennaar that you had fct
out for that place r" I anfwer. That to do this had been
many times in agitation among us, but was always rejed;-
ed. It was thought a dangerous meafure to leave a man
like Fidele, the only perfon who had feen us, to give us any
character and defcription he pleafed, who, from the con-
neclion and correfpondence he muft have in that capital,,
and the confidence necelTarily placed in him, as governor
of a frontier province, might fo far prejudice the minds of
.that credulous and brutal people, by mifreprefenting us, as
either to get orders fo cut us off upon our journey, or pro-
cure us a fate fimilar to that of M. du Roule, the French en-
voy, after our arriving in that capital. It was by the good-
nels of Providence alone that we were reftrained from
2 adopting

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 377

adopting that meafure, often confidcred as the moll advife-
able, but which, we fince have certainly known, would have
ended in our deftrudtion.

Nothing material pafled on the 3d of April, their fefti-
val day ; but on the 4th no meat was fent us. However,
on Sunday the 5th it was brought rather in larger propor-
tion than before, and we fpent the whole day in conjec-
turing what was become of our fervants, and of the Moul-
lah whom the Shekh of Beyla's lervant had promifed us.
On the 6th the Kaiya came, and, without ceremony, told
me that the Shekh had heard I wanted to efcape to Beyla,
in which journey I fliould certainly perifli, and therefore
he had taken my horfe from me, which was in a liable at
fome diftance. From this time we got our vicTiuals very
fparingly. On the 7th he fent me word, that I lliould
bring him a vomit the day after, which I promifed to com-
ply with. It was very plainly feen Beyla's fecret was not
kept, and to this we attributed the delay of the Moullah ;
but nothing could comfort us for the want of an anfwer
from Ras el Feel.

On the 8th, in the evening, a little before fix o'clock,
when I was making ready to go to the Shekh, a melTage
came, that he was bufy, and could not fee me ; with which,
for a time, I was very well pleafed. About ten, arrived a
naked, very ill- looking fellow, more like an execution-
er than any other fort of man, with a large broad-fword
in his hand, and feemingly very drunk, tie faid he was
one of the Shekhs of Jehaina, and in a little time became
extremely infolent. He liril demanded coffee, which was
given him, then a new coat, then fome civet, and, lall of

Vol. IV. 3 B all,

378^ TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

all, drawing his fword, that we Ihould inllantly provide
him with a new fcabbard, his own being but a piece of
common leather, which he threw with a kind of indigna-
tion down upon the floor. Till that time I had been wri-
ting thefe very memoirs, at leaft the journal of the day. I
was not any way afraid of one drunkard, but laid down,
my pen, wondering where this infolence was to end. Before
I had time to fpeak a word, I heard my old Turk, the flier-
rifTe, Hagi Ifmael, fay, " You are of the Jehaina, are you ?
then I am of the Daveina ;" and with that he caught the
ftranger by the throat, taking his fword from him, which
he threw out of the houfe, after calling the owner violently
upon the floor. The fellow crept out upon all-four, and, as
foon as he had picked up his fword, attempted again to en-
ter the houfe, which Soliman perceiving, fnatched his own
Ihort, crooked fword, from a pin where it hung, and ran
readily to meet him, and would very fpeedily have made
an end of him, had I not cried out, " For God's fake. Soli-
man, don't hurt him ; remember where you are." Indeed,
there was little reafon for the caution ; for when the Arab
obferved a drawn fword in the Turk's hand, he prefent-
ly ran away towards the town, crying, Ullah ! Ullah I
Ullah ! which was, God ! God ! God ! an exclamation of ter-
ror, and we faw no more of him ; whilft, inftead of a new
fcabbard, he left his old one in the houfe. Seeing at once
the cowardice and malice of our enemies, we were now
apprehenfive of fire, things were come to fuch an extre-
mity ; and as our houfe was compofcd of nothing but dry
canes, it feemed the only obvious way of defti'oying us.

On the 9th, in the morning I fent Soliman with the
fcabbard to Fidele, and a grievous complaint againft the

fuppofed

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 379

fappofed Shekh of the Jehaina for his infolence the night
before. Shekh Fidele pretended to be utterly ignorant of
the wholes made light of what had pafled, and faid the fel-
low was a fool. But a violent altercation took place be-
tween him and my fervant black Soliman, who then told
him all his mind, threatening him with Yafme's immedi-
ate vengeance, and afTuring him he was, before this, fully
informed of his behaviour. They, however, both cooled be-
fore parting. Fidele only recommended to Soliman to
perfuade me to give him 2000 piaftres, without which he
fwore I never fhould go alive out of Atbara. Soliman, on the
other hand, declared, that I was a man that fet no value upon
money, and therefore carried it not about with me, other-
wife I fhould not refufe what he defired, but warned him to
think well before he uttered fuch expreffions as he now
liad done.

In the courfe of converfation, as Soliman told me, the
Shekh gave him feveral hints, that, if he would agree with
him, and help to rob and murder me, he fliould fliare the
booty with him, and it never would be known. But So-
liman pretended not to underftand this, always affuring him
that I was not the man he took me for ; and that, except
the king's prefent, all I had was brafs, iron, and glafs bot-
tles, of no value to any but myfelf, who only knew how
to ufe them. They then finiflied their difcourfe ; and he
defired Soliman to tell me, that he expedled me at the
ufual hour of 6 o'clock to-morrow evening, which was
Friday the loth.

This fecmed to me to be an extraordinary appointment,
'^becaufe Friday is their feflival, when they eat and drink

3B 2 heartily

38o TRAVELSTODISCOVER

heartily, nor did I ever remember any of them take medi-
cine upon that day. But with Fidele all was feftival, not
even their annual folemn fail of Ramadan did he ever keep,
but was univerfally known to be an unbeliever, even in
what was called his own religion. I had ftill this further
objeftion to wait upon him at night, that he had gone fo
far as to folicit Soliman to affift him in murdering me. But
I confidered at laft, that we could not efcape from his hands ;
and that the only way to avoid the danger was to brave it.
Providence, indeed, feemed all along to have referved our
deliverance for our own exertions, under its diretSlion, as
all the ways we had taken to get relief from others had
hitherto, in appearance at leaft, mifcarried. However, it was
refolved to go armed, for fear of the worft ; but to conceal
our v/eapons, fo as to give no umbrage. I had a fmall Bref-
cian blunderbufs, about 22 inches in the barrel, which had
a joint in the ftock, fo that it folded double. It hung by
an iron hook to a thin belt under my left arm, clofe to
my fide, quite unperceivcd, like a cutlafs. I likewife took a
pair of piftols in my girdle, and my knife as ufual. All
thefe were perfecTrly covered by my burnoofe ; fo that, with
a little attention, when I fat down, it was impoffible to dif-
eover my having any weapons about me.- Hagi Ifmael
the Turk, Soliman my fervant, and two other Moorilh fer-
vants, took alfo their fire arms, fmall and great, and fwords,.
along with them. We all went to the houfe of th6 Shekh
a little before feven o'clock in the evening. I entered the
back door into the fquare where the women's houfe was ;
but declined going fo far as their apartment without leave,
turning to the left hand into the fide of the fquare where
he ufually fvaid. I was furprifcd to meet but one fervant, a
2 black

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 381

black boy, in the whole houfe, and he carried me to
the Shekh, my fervants remaining at the outer-door.

FiDELE was fitting in a fpacious room, in an alcove, on a
large broad fofa like a bed, with India curtains gathered on
each fide into feftoons. Upon feeing the boy, in a very fur-
ly tone he called for a pipe ; and, in much the fame voice,
faid to me, " What ! alone ?" I faid, " Yes, what were his
commands with me ?" I faw he either was, or affecfted to
be, drunk, and which ever was the cafe, I knew it would lead
to mifchief ; I therefore repented heartily of having come
into the houfe alone.

After he had taken two whiiFs of his pipe, and the flate
had left the room, " Are you prepared ? fays he ; have you
brought the needful -Aoxi^ with you ?" I wilhed to have occa-
fion to join Soliman, and anfwered, "My fervants are at
the outer door, and have the vomit you wanted." " D — n
you and the vomit too, fays h^ with great paflion, I want
money, and not poifon. Where are your piafi:res ?" " I
am a bad perfon, l\iid I, Fidele, to furnifh you v/ith either.
I have neither money nor poifon ; but I advife you to drink
a little wariH water to clear your ftomach, cool your head,
and then lie down and compofe yoiu-felf, I will fee you to-
morrow morning." I was going out. " Hakim, fays he,
infidel, or devil, or whatever is your name, hearken to
what I fay. Confider where you are; this is the room where
Mek Baady, a king, was flain by the hand of my father :
look at his blood, where it has fiaiaed the floor, which never
could be wafhed out. I am informed you have 20,000 piaf-
ters in gold with you; either give me 2000 before you go
out of this chamber, or you Ihall die; I will put you to death

with.

3^2 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

with my own hand." Upon this he took up his fword, that
was lying at the head of his fofa, and, drawing it with a
bravado, threw the fcabbard into the middle of the room ;
and, tucking the flecve of his fhirt above his elbow like a
butcher, faid, " I wait your anfwer."

I NOW flept one pace backwards, and dropt the burnoofe
behind me, holding the little blunderbufs in my hand, with-
out taking it off the belt. I faid, in a firm tone of voice,
" This is my anfwcr : I am not a man, as I have told you
before, to die like a beail by the hand of a drunkard ; on
your life, I charge you, ftir not from your fofa." I had no
need to give this injundtion ; he heard the noife which the
clofing the joint in the ftock of the blunderbufs made, and
thought I had cocked it, and was inftantly to fire. He let
his fword drop, and threw himfelfonhis back on the fofa,
crying, " For God's fake, Hakim, I was but jelling." At the
fame time, with all his might, he cried, *' Brahim f Maho-
met! Elcoom! El coom*i" — " If one of your fervants ap-
proach me, faid I, that inllant I blow you to pieces ; not
one of them lliall enter this room till they bring in my fer-
vants with them ; I have a number of them armed at your
gate, who will break in the inllant they hear me fire.

The women had come to the door. My fervants were
admitted, «ach having a blunderbufs in his hand and piilols
at his girdle. We were now greatly an overmatch for
the Shekh, who fat far back on the fofa, and pretended
that all he had done was in joke, in which his fervants

joined,

f £1 cooni, that 'u, all bis fervatits.

THE SOURCE OP THE NILE. 3^3

joined, and a very confufed, defultory difcourfe followed,
till the Turk, fherriffe Ifmael, happened to obferve the
Shekh's fcabbard of his fword thrown upon the floor, on
which he fell into a violent fit of laughter. He fpoke very
bad Arabic, mixed with Turkifli, as I have often obferved.
He endeavoured to make the Shekh underftand, that drunk-
ards and cowards had more need of the fcabbard than the
fword ; that he, Fidele, and the other drunkard that came
to our houfc two or three nights before, who faid he was
Shekh of the Jehaina, were juft poflfefled of the fame por-
tion of courage and infolence.

As no good could be expected from this expoftulation, I
flopt it, and took my leave, defiring the Shekh to go to bed
and compofe himfelf, and not try any more of thefe expe-
riments, which would certainly end in his fhame, if not
in his punifhraent. He made no anfwer, only willied us
good night.

CHAP.

384 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

g^TTii i„ ^

CHAP. VI.

Tranfa6lioiis at Teawa continued — A Moiillahand Sherrtffe arrive
from Bey la — News from Ras el Feel and Sennaar — A71 Eclipfe of

the Moon — Leave 'Teawa.

WE went to the door, through the feveral apartments,
very much upon our guard, for there was no per-
fon to hght us out, and we were afraid of fome treachery
or ambufli in the antichamber and dark paffages ; but we
met nobody ; and were, even at the outer gate, obhged to
open the door ourfelves. Without the gate there were a-
bout twenty people gathered together, but none of them
with arms ; and, by the half words and expreffions they
made ufe of, we could judge they were not the Shekh's
friends. They followed us for a little, but difperfed before
we arrived at our houfe. Soliman, my fervant, told me by
the way, that the Moullah was arrived, and that the Shekh of

Bey la's

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 385

Bey'la's fervant, who had come with him, had been at my
houfe ever lince I went to Fidele's. Accordingly we found
him ftill there, and explained to him what had happened,
and the great diftrefs we had been in from the Moullah's
not arriving fooner, as alfo from receiving no melTage either
from Sennaar or Ras el Feel. He told us, the reafon of our
fervants not joining us was the faife information his maf-
ter the Shekh of Beyla had received from Fidele ; that wc
were coming by the Dender, and not by Teawa, as already
mentioned. He now advifed us to come up, and fhew our-
felves in the morning to theMoullah, who would be fitting
with Shekh Fidele, adminiilering jullice; but to take no parti-
cular notice of him, and only obferve to what his difcourfe
pointed, and he would bring us word if any thing more was
necelTary.

I recommended to this fervant of the Shekh of Beyla
that he fliould tell tlie Moullah that he was not to ex-
pe6l I was to open my baggage here, but that I was a
man who undcrftood perfe6tly the value of a favour done
me, and fhould not be in his debt longer than arriving at
Beyla, which I wifhed to reach as foon as poffible; nothing
can be quicker than thefe people are on the fmalleil hint
given ; we feparated, fully fatisfied that we were now a
fufficient match for the Shekh, even a: his own weapons.

Ever fince the adventure of the Sheldi of theJehaina,onc
of us had kept guard, the door being open every night
for fear of fire, and it was my turn that night, a poll that
I never declined, for the fake of good example ; but my
fpirits were fo exhaulled this day, that I gave the old Turk
plenty of coffee and tobacco, to undertake, as he did with
Vol. IV, 3 C grea-

386 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

great willlngnefs, the office of that night for me. I went
to bed, and fell prefently into a profound fleep, from which
I was awakened, a little before midnight, by a meflage
from the ladies, my patients, in the Shekh's houfe, fent by
the black flave that had fpoken in the Abyflinian language
to me while I was attending her miftre fs. They advifed
me to be upon my guard, for the Shekh was abfolutely
refolved to take a fevere revenge upon us all : That after
we had left him that evening, an exprefs arrived from the
lower part of Atbara, giving him an account that Shekh»
Ibrahim, a great man at Sennaar, and favourite of Adelaa
the prime minifter, while he was employed in gathering
the taxes from the Arabs, had fought with the tribe called
Shukorea, fomewhere eaft of Sennaar ; that he had beea
completely beaten, and many of his people killed ; as alfo^
that Shekh Ibrahim and his two fons were wounded ; that
Shekh Fidele had immediately fent back word, that he had:
then with him a furgeon and phyfician, meaning me, who
could, upon occalion, even bring a dead man to life, but that
1 would never confent to come to him unlefs I was forced ;
therefore, if he would difpatch a fufficient number of armed
men, to help him to furprife me in the night, he .would con-
du<5t the execution of that fcheme, and would fend me to him;
in iron^;^ He faid I was an infidel, a white man from Abyf-^
finia, and had feveraL ftout people with me expert in fire^
arms, (of which I had a number,) who would be of great ufe
to him in fubduing the Arabs. They aflured mc, however^
of their friendship, and begged me to confider what I had.
Uo do in time, for many wild men would be poured in up--
0J3. mo, who would not fail to kill me if I rcfifled.

A I RETURNEZ^

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 387

1 RETURNED iTiy mofl humblc thanks to my kind infor-
mants ; with a fmall gratification of civet to the two elder
ladies, and a feparate portion to the beautiful Aifcach, af-
furing them I fhould not fail to profit by any advice they
fliould give me. After this I again fell into a found fleep^
which continued till morning ; and, though my affairs had
not the moft profperous appearance, I felt a calmnefs of
mind to which I had been utterly a flranger ever fmce I
had left Ras el Feel. My fervants awakened me in the
morning of the nth; I drank coffee, and dreffed, and
took along with me Soliman and Ifmael, without arms in
our hands, but having knives and piflols in our girdles, to
fliew that we had lived in fear.

The MouUah's name was Welled Meftah, or the fin of
hiterpretat'miy or explanation. He was reputed to have at-
tained fuch a degree of holinefs as to work miracles, and,
more than once in his life, to have been honoured with
the converfation of angels and fpirits, and, at times, to have
called the devil into his prefence, and reproved him. He
was a man below the middle fize, of a very dark com-
plexion, and thin beard, feemingly pafl fixty, hollow-eyed^
and very much emaciated. If holy, we could not fay he
was the beauty of holinefs. I tmderftood, afterwards, he
was much addicfled to the ufe of opium, to the effedrs of
which he probably was indebted for his converfation" with
fpirits. He had brought with him another faint, much
younger and robufler than himfelf, who had been feveral
times at Mecca, and had feen Metical Aga, but did not
know him. He had feen likewife the Englifli fhips at Jid-
da, and knew the name of the nation, but nothing more*
He was a flierriffe, (that is, a defcendant of Mahomet) a de^

3 C 2 gree

J>

88 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

gree of nobility much refpcdted among the Arabs, diiTin=-
guifhcd by wearing a green turban; The Davcina, when
they burnt all the country between Teawa and Bcyla, faved
this man's houfe,effecls,and crop, in veneration of his fancfti*^
ty. Thefe two were fitting on each i\de of Shekh Fidelej
and before him ftood two black Haves holding each a mon<i
ftronis long broad-Iword. I approached thefe powers, ecs-
GleliaPiical and civil, with great compoiure, as if nothing
had happened ; but Ifmael, the Turk, had almoft fpoiied
my gravity, for, feeing the fwords in the men's hands be-
fore Fidele, he faid, in his barbarous language, loud enough
to be heard, " O, ho, they have got their fcabbards upon
their fwords to-day."

FiDELE feemed to have a very ferene countenance, till
we approached nearer, when, feeing the piftols in our gir*
dies, he appeared rather difcompofcd, and probably- he
thought the bhmderbufs was not far off; I made him, how-
ever, a bow, and iliook him by the hand; I iikewife made an-
other bow to their two holineiTes. As people of that ianc-
tity feldom chofe to have, even their cloaths, touched by
unbelievers in public, I made no further advance towards
them. 1 he fherrifie no fooner faw Ifmael's turban, than
he got up, took him in his arms, and, as he was an older
man than himfelf, though all in rags, kifTed his forehead
with great refpe^t. This was returned by Hagi Ifmae},
firll killing his forehead and then his hand ; after which
the Moullah did the fame, as I thought with rather Icfs
ceremony, ifmael gave a very flight falutation of Salama
to the Shekh, and we ail fat down.

2. " Brothir,

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 3%

« Brother, fays the flierriffe to Ifmael,you feem a Granger
in this country." " I am a Turk, dnfwered Ifmael, born in
Anatolia, a janizavy of Ali Bey at Cairo." " He came, fays
Shckh Fidele, to Habelli, with their Kafr, the Abuna or great
prieil, and is returning to Cairo with that white man, who
is phy{ician to Ah Bey." " Kafr there, or Kafr here, conti-
nued Ifmael (who did but half underftand what was laid)
the greatell of all Kafrs (that is Infidel) is, I believe, in Tca^
wa. ^I do not think there is one Muffulman in this curfed
place." " Is this the Frank, fays the Moullah, whofe fer-
vant brought letters to the Shekh of Beyla fome week«
ago, and was forwarded to Sennaar ?" "No, fays Fidele, he
does not know the Shekh of Beyla." " I am fure, fays the
Moullah, that, fuch a day, wheii I was at Sennaar, there
was a talk of a man of this kind, whofe fervant was at
Aira with Shekh Adelan, and had orders to come hither
with a fervant of his, and one from the king ; and I am
fure, upon refleaion, continued the Moullah, this muft be
the man." " Shekh, fays he, turning to me, (who fat fi-
lent, overjoyed at the train I faw the affair taking) did you
come from Habcfli? have you letters for Sennaar?" " I
came from Habelh, replied I, with- letters to the king of
Sennaar ; likewife letters, to him from the Oierriffe of M-c-
ca, and from Ali Bey of Cairo, (you are welcome to fee
them, all,) yet, contrary to faith, obferved even in Pagan
nations, I am here detained by Shekh Fidele, who laft night
attempted to murder me in his own houfe, becaufe I would
not pay him 2000 piaftres." Shekh Fidele'sface turned pale;
he could fcarcely utter, "That is not true." " As that book
is the word of God, fays Ifmael, (pointing to the Koran, ly-
ing in the ilierrille's lap) it is every word true. Look upon

my

390 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER •

my turban, (fays he to Fidele) do you call me a liar?" Tid.
*' I did not call you a liar, only that Chriflian lied." J/}?u " I
fay, that every word he fpoke is truth, or I am no true be-
liever. Was not your fword drawn, and your fcabbar^ ly-
ing on the floor, when I entered the room ? Was there any
one prefent but him and you? Whom did you draw your
fword upon ?" " Pure merriment for a little amufement,
fays Fidele, turning to the Moullah, I was diverting myfelf
with the Chrillian, who came to give me medicines." " The
diverfion, I fancy, was over on your part, fays Soliman, my
fervant, when you threw away your fword, after drawing it,
and called upon all your fervants for affillance. Were not
your women at the door upon my entering it?" Fid. " Would
you have had me fhot in my own houfe by an infidel ?
Did he not prefent a piftol at me ?" J/}?2. "Lord ! Lord ! he
was only diverting himfelf, too? Did not you fee that? You
fhould have gone on with your merriment : — What llopt
you ?" " Look you, Shekh, faid I, your inward thoughts arc
feen by me. Did not you fend two meflengers to Shekh
Ibrahim in Atbara that very night, within thefe twelve
hours, defiring him to take me by force, while afleep, to
heal his wounded men ? Was this amufement, too ? Beware
in time, for every thought in your heart is known to me as
foon as it is formed."

The flierrifTe muttered to himfelf, " Hakim y'Eref he

is a learned man ; he knows thefe things." " Shekh Ibra-
him is returned to Sennaar, fays the Moullah, that is the
reafon why he fhould make hafte, and all this that has
paired is very improper. If a man diverts himfelf with
drawn fwords, is he not likely, when angry, to kill ? this
ought not to be ; fend the man away ; you can get camels

from

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. ,391

from the Jehaina. Men like him have no money. There
are many of them» at all times and places, wandering over
the face of the earth, and will be fo till Hagiuge Magiuge *
come; they are Derviflies, ftudy the herbs and the water,,
and cure difeafes." " God blefs the truth ! faid I ; there it
is. I am a Dervifli, a poor, but an innocent man." The
Moullah feemed to take credit to himfelf for all this learn-
ing. " I faw, fays the Ihcrriffe, a number of his country-
men in large fhips from the Indies, when I was at Jidda ;,
they are called Inglefe." " They are brave men, fays If-
mael, and came firft from Turkey. Their country is called
Caz Dangli to this day. I have feen it, and am fure no
man would hurt Yagoube that knew him."' Fid. " So, Ya-
goube is his name ; the firft time I knew it." Moul. " Ya-
goube el Hakim ; now I remember it perfedlly. Ali Tche-
lebi, Mahomet Abou Calec's facStor, is ill of an. enchantment
from an enemy ; his bowels are out of order ; he it was
that afked me if fuch a man was yet come to Beyla. They
furely expe6t that you fhould forward him to Sennaar.
True, Yagoube el Hakim, that was his name." Fid. " He
fliall go next week, fince it is fo, if I can but get camels."
Upon this we rofe, feeing other people coming in. When
I took hold of the Shekh's hand at going away, he aflced
me, in apparent good humour, " Well, Yagoube, are we
friends now ?" I anfwered him, in the moft complacent
tone of voice polTible, " Sir, I never was your enemy ; fo -
far otherwife, that my only anxiety now is, left your beha-
viour may brimg upon you powerful adverfaries, before
whom you are not able to ftand. The ill-ufage Lhave met

with

* By^ this they mean Gog and Magog. We fliall after fee their belief cohceraing theia..

39^ TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

v/ith will not be eafily palled over either in Abyflinia or at.
Sennaar. I am neither fcrvant nor merchant ; and it has
been your ill-luck to try your wicked experiments upon a
man like me, who never in his life carried much money a-
bout him, becaujfe he never valued it." Moid. You muft
forget all, and I will be your friend with the Shckh, fince
you come from the Iherriffe of Mecca." « And I, too, fays
the other, for the kindnefs you have ihewed our brother
Ifmael there, in carrying him home from among the Kafrs
of Habefli ; and if Fidele cannot procure camels, we will
try and help him ; fo go in peace, .and get ready."

We had fcarte got rid of this real danger, when the ap-
prehenfion of an imaginary one Uruck us violently. The
water at Teawa is llagnant in pools, and exceedingly bad.
Either that, or the bouza, a kind of new beer which they
fent us with our meat, had given all of us, at the fame time,
a violent diarrhoea, and I was tormented with a perpetual
thirll ever fince we had been overtaken by the fxmoom ;
and the bouza being acid, was not only more agreeable,
but, I thought, relieved me more than bad water ; in this,
therefore, 1 certainly had exceeded. When we found we
were all taken ill at the fame time, it came into our wife
heads that Shekh Fidele had given us poifon in our dinner,
and we were very much perplexed what we fhould do the
next day. None of us, therefore, tailed the meat fent us ;
when at night, our friemi, the black Have came, and to her
we frankly told our doubts. The poor creature fell into
fuch violent fits of laughing, which followed fo clofe the
pne upon the other, and lafied fo long, that I feared flie
would have expired upon the fpot. " It is the water, fays
.ilie; it docs fo to all flrangers ;" and then flie fell into an-
other

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 593

other great fit of laughter. " Child, anfwercd I, you
know the Shekh is not our friend, and there is no eafier
way to get rid of us than by poifon, as we eat everything
that comes from you without fear." — " And fo you may,
fays fhe ; the Shekh could do no fuch thing without
our knowledge,^ and we would rather all be burnt alive
than be guilty of fo vile an aftion. Bclides, fays fhe, this
is not like Habefli, where both meat and drink, brought to
you, are tailed by the bearer before you ufe them. There is
no fuch thing as poifon in Atbara ; the lance and the knife
in the field, that is the manner in which they kill one an-
-other here,"

We then fhew^d her our dinner uneaten, and fhe again
fell into a violent fit of laughter, and took the meat away
that fhe might warm it, and we heard her laughing all the
wr\y as flie went by herfelf. She was not long in returning
with provificns in plenty, and told us, that her miftrefTes
never were fo diverted in their lives, and that (he left them
llill laughing. The black flave then called me to the door,
and gave me an India green handkerchief, which flie faid
Aifcach had pulled from her head, and fent with her to me,
with orders to inquire, " Do the women of your country do
fuch things, Yagoube, which, for all the fathers and gold
in the world, Aifcach would not be guilty of? My father
is indeed a Funge *, but my mother is a Jehaina|."

Neither the Shekh nor Moullah expelled me out on

Sunday, which I told them was my feflival. I employed

Vol. IV. 3 D that

* Which means a flave. -j- A noble and free Arab.

394 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

that day in mounting and reftifying my quadrant, and
that fame evening had a clear and diftinft obfervation of
Procyon, and feveral other of the fixed flars, the largeft and
fitted for my purpofe. The next day alfo, having a good
obfervation of the fun in the meridian, all equations adopt-
ed from a mean, I found the latitude of Teawa, the capital
of Atbara, to be 14° 2' 4" north. With regard to longitude,
Hor-Cacamoot is about fix miles eaft of Teawa, which is near-
ly under the fame meridian with Ras el Feel, fo there was
no occafion for any obfervation on that fubjed.

On the 13th of April arrived a naked Arab of the Jehaina,
%vith intelligence that a caravan belonging to Atbara, which
had come to Nara in Abyflinia for fait, had been all feized
by Ammonios, Ayto Confu's governor of Nara, their affes
and fait taken from them, and the men put in clofe pri-
fon. The Shekh of the Jehaina, an old man of very comely
prefence, with ten or twelve of his clan on camels, came
over to Shekh Fidele that morning before I went out, and
they found the Moullah fitting with him. The news firuck
all of them with a panic, but none more fo than our Shekh
of Atbara. The Shekh of the Jehaina faid he had not heard
the caufe of it, but fo violent a prdcedure had not happened
even when Yafous II. invaded Sennaar, for the people of the
two frontiers had all that time been friends. He begged,
however, Shekh Fidele immediately to interfere, and fend
fome perfon to Ras el Feel, to his friend Yafine. When
they had fettled thus far, a meffage came for me to attend
the Shekh. I immediately went, leaving my fervants to put
up my quadrant. I had, indeed, an inclination to obferve
the approaching eclipfe ; biit as I knew perfcdlily the fitua-
tion of Teawa with regard to- Ras el Feel, I thought I

might

THESOURCEOFTHENILE. 395

might fpare myfelf this unnecefTary trouble, and only make
ufe of the eclipfe to frighten Fidele as part of the punifli-
ment he fo amply deferved.

There was a prodigious number of people afTembled at
the Shekh's door. The Jehaina had all come upon camels ;
two or three of the principal ones were fitting with him and
the Moullah. One of thefe, whom I did not know, but who
had feen me at Ras el Feel, upon my approaching the
Shekh, got up, took mc by the hand, and made a very re-
fpedlfvil falutation. As he was a friend of Yafine, and Shekh
el Nile, I never doubted from that minute that this was a
contrivance of theirs in my favour.

The Moullah had alledged, that probably I had difpatch-
ed fome intelligence to Yafine of my being detained, which
had caufed him to make this reprifal ; but Shekh Fidele
afliired them that he knew it to be impoffible, and that this
feizure of the caravan mull have been occafioned by fome
ill-ufage to the people belonging to Tchelga and Nara, the
frontier villages to the weftward. In this the Shekh of Je-
haina agreed ; for he had heard Ammonios mentioned,
but nothing of Yafine. The Moullah was unconvinced, but
aiked me, " Hakim, have you never fent a complaint to
Yafine fince you came to Teawa ? tell me truly ; no harm
feall befal you from it." " If I were not to tell you truly
faid I, Shekh, I would not anfwer you at all. I am under
no obligation to do it, nor am I under any fear. You are
but at the beginning of this affair, and many will fuffer
before I do." " Truly, fays the Moullah, but have you fent
intelligence to Ras el Feel r" " No, no, fays Fidele, he had
it not in his power ; nor is there a man in Teawa, that

3 D 2 durft

39^ TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

durft go on fuch an errand, it is fome diflurbance about
Tchelga."

I EASILY perceived that the Moullah wanted me to con-
fefs, which I Hkewife faw the ufe of myfelf. " I fent, faid
I, melTengers from Teawa two feveral times. The firft,
when Fidele pretended Yafme was to murder me in the
defert ; the fecond, when he faid he had no camels ; and
I alfo mentioned the piallres, and his intention to murder
me." " Ammonios, fays black Soliman, and Yafinc, Nara,
and Ras el Feel, all belong to Ay to Confu, and were given
to Yagoube by him, for his maintenance all the time he
was at Gondar. Ayto Confu and he are brothers ; they
were together in the camp, llept together in the fame houfe; .
they are brothers and more than brothei-s, for they fwore
to each other, when we paiTed Tcherkin, upon the heart of
the elephant * I fwear by our holy faith, that Confu will
be down here himfclf ; what does he care for a journey of.
two days T'

All now with one voice condemned Fidele, who had'
not a word to fay, only, that if he knew the perfon who-
carried that mcflage, he would cut off his head, if he was
his brother. " But it is impoffiblc, fays the Shekh ; fliouldl
not have known of the meffenger being abfent? impoffible i"
Then turning to his fervant, faidj " Is Kutcho el Hybari
h^re ? I have not feen him lately." — " Sir, fays he, you know
you fent Kutcho to Mendera long before the Flakim ar-
rived."

This is a Teryhorrid oath, full of nonfenfe, and vows of friendfhip and fecKCj.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 397

?ived." — " True, fays Fidele, then it is impoffible." " Your
meffengers and mine, laid I, Shekh, are not of the fame
fort, nor fhall I afk your leave when I am to fend to
Ras el Feel or Sennaar, nor fliall you ever cut off the
head from any one of them. But why are you alarmed at
thefe afles being taken ? Should you not be afraid of fome-
thing fmiilar happening at Mecca ? Am not I under the
prote6lion of the IherrifFe ? When Metical Aga hears this,
will he not refent it ? Will Youfef Kabil, the Chriltian, the
iherfiffe's vizir at Jidda, through whofe hands your people
pafs, will he be gentler to them upon this account ?" — " A
curfe upon him ! fays the flierriffe ; he gentle! he is a Ihark."
" Meloun Ibn Sheitan, fays the Turk Ifmael, /; e. accurfed
wretch, child of the devil !" — *' Well then, faid I, the diffi-
culty is only to know if he is informed of this at Mecca.
Friday the 1 7th is your feftival. If the afternoon of that
lliall pafs like thofe of common days, I am a worthleis
jnan and an impoftor ; but if on that day, before el'afTer*,,
afign be feen in the heavens that fliall be thought by all of
3^ou unufual and extraordinary, then am I an innocent man,
and Fi4ele's defigns againil me are known to the world, at
Sennaar and at Mecca, at Cairo and at Gondar, and every-
where elfe, and will not be pleafmg either to God or man."
Yarif el Hakim f, fays the fherrilTe ; Hakim J ! fays the
Shekh of the Jehaina ; Ullah Akbar || ! fays the Moullah-,,
lifting his eyes up to heaven, and counting his beads very-
devoutlv..

The-:

* El'afler is four, o'clock. f The Hakim, or wife man knows,

^ He is iadced wife. ||, God is gr^at.

398 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

The foretelling the fign feemed not at all to pleafe the
Shekh, who appeared very much difconcerted with the fup-
pofed invifibility of melTengers. I got up, having puflied
my defign juil far enough. I then Ihook hands with the
Shekh, faying, " I am glad to fee you don't want camels,
alluding to the number I faw come with the Jehaina ; get
your bouza made, and your provifions ready, you'll have
flrangers with you foon." He faid only, " (Ullah Kerim!")
/. e. God is merciful ; which was echoed by every mouth in
the room. I faluted particularly the Shekh of the Jehaina,
who had feen me at Ras el Feel, and I then went out of the
room, leaving them all there, and going home very chear-
ful, began to prepare for leaving Teawa, which v/e were fa-
tisfied was now near at hand.

On the 14th, in the morning, the Moullah and flierriffe,
with the Shekh of Bey la's fervant, and the old Kaiya Soli-
man, came to fee our clocks and watches. They fat upon
benches at the door and drank coffee, not caring to enter
the houfe, I fuppofe, for fear of being defiled. As the old
Kaiya was there, it was almoft impoHible to fpeak concern-
ing our affairs, all was about our religion, and the manner
in which a Derviili lived. All at once, a fervant behind cried
out, " News from Sennaar !" and, prefently after, we faw
three men ; one of whom was my fervant, whom I fent to
Sennaar with the Daveina, who delivered to me a letter from
Hagi Belal, informing me, that Mahomet Abou Calec, and
Shekh Adelan, were both at a diftance from Sennaar, at the
head of armies, and the king in the capital almoft alone,
under great apprehenfions ; but as no mifchief had yet hap-
pened, and the king had no force, it was hoped things might
be made up. He added, that he thought it better to wait a
?s little.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE.

399

little, to get a fervant of Adelan to accompany the king's,
than to triift to that one alone. Having communicated the
contents of my letter to Shekh Fidele, and received his con-
gratulations, they all left me,' and went to the Shekh to hear
what fiu'ther news were brought to him. What I told him
was confirmed ; and the Shekl having no longer any op-
tion, declared his refolution to obey without further delay,
and defired us to get ready for our journey.

It was told us, however, foon after, that the king's fer-
vant who had arrived, whofe name was Mahomet, was a
great friend of Shekh Fidele, and the ufual one lent to him
at Teawa; and that he was a great driuikard, and reprobate.
On the contrary, Adelan's fervant, though young, was a
very gentle, fober perfon, a Have that had been given to A-
delan by the Shekh of Beyla ; and he was very urgent for
us to'depart. We foon faw the confequence of this differ-
ence of manners; and that Shekh Fidele had not relinquifli-
ed his view to the piaflres. For having tutored the king's
fervant all night, and gained him to his interefl, he had,
early in the morning of the 15th, declared that he was not
to Itir from Teawa for a fortnight, and he was ordered to
get the camels from fome diflance in Atbara, the place I
do not remember. This difpleafed Adelan's fervant inuch,
who declared before the afTembly, that he was determined
to fet out the next day, that he knew not the orders the
king had given, but he knew his mafters orders; and that
if the Shekh did not furnilh him with cam.els, or oppofed
our fetting our, he would take him witli him to Adelan at
Aira, or, upon his rcfufal to go, denounce him a rebel, and
his mafler's enemy, and leave him to what would be the
confequence. Upon this bold fpeech, every body left the

Shekh .

400 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

Shekh, and went away, wliifpering, two and two together.
The king's fervant joined his companion, who told me to be
ready, and fear nothing, for he would fee me to-morrow
night at Beyla.

About half an hour after my return home I was again
called to the Shekh, who had only the Moullah and the old
Kaiya fitting by him, with two fliort letters in his hand
from Yafme, full of reproaches for his behaviour to me, and
declaring with moft folemn oaths, that if thofe letters found
me at Teawa, or if I was not gone from thence in peace, be
v*rould, before a fortnight was elapl'ed, be down as an enemy
upon Teawa ; and unlefs the Daveina did engage to burn
every ftalk of corn between that and Beyla as foon as it
was in the ear, he would fliirt Ab) iTmia againft them, and
that they lliould neither eat bread nor drink water in it as
long as he was alive and governor of Ras el Feci. Thefe
letters mentioned a complaint likewife that had been fent
to SI;.vjkh Adelan at Sennaar, but by wliom they did not fay,
probably from Ay to Confu, complaining of Fidele's ufage to
me. Yafuie's men, that brought the letters from Ras el
Feel to Teawa, were faid to be three in number, mounted on
camels, or dromedaries, and armed with coats of mail and
head-pieces. They refiifed to come into Teawa, to eat of
Shekh Fidele's bread *, or driuk of his water, looking upon
him as a declared enemy of Yaiine, their mailer. Fidele
with fome difficulty at lafl allovi/ed black Soliman to go to
meet them, to perfuade them to enter the town ; but all to
J no

* This refufal among the Arabi is a declaratiun of the moft deadly cniuit^-o

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 401

no purpofe, for the only favour he could obtain was, that
they fhould flay with the Jehaina at Jibbel IfriiF till they
heard I was fairly fet out on my journey.

The next day, the i6th of April, I received a meflage
from the Moullah, that the camels were all ready, that gir-
bas for the water were wanting, but girbas fliould be found
for me ; and he would give me his word they fhould be
found filled at the river where I directed ; as alfo all forts
of provifions and necefTaries to carry me to Beyla, to which
place I fhould fet out the moment I pleafed ; only that I
mufl not go from Teawa without making peace with the
Shekh, and promifing to forgive him, and not make any
complaint againfl him at Sennaar or elfewhere, provided he,
on his part, gave over all further machinations againfl me.
I anfwered, That however illufed, yet, for his fake, I would
do any thing he wifhed me to do, and that I was ready
to pacify Yafme, by writing to him by the return of his
mefTengers. All was agreed, fo we packed up our baggage
with the utmofl diligence.

On the 17th, in the forenoon, I was appointed to meet
the Shekh at his own houfe, and told the Moullah I expect-
ed he would have the camels ready. As we fufpefled, our
girbas were infuflicient, and indeed we had found them fo
when they lofl our water in the wood nearlmgellalib; we got
three new ones from the Shekh in perfed good condition,
and gave him our two in exchange, which were fomething
larger than his. Each of thefe fkins are valued at 1 2 dol-
lars, or about three pounds flerling. There is great art and
labour required in making the feams water-tight ; they are
Vol. IV. 3 E - all

402 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

all ilitched mofl dexteroufly, ftrongly greafed, and then laid
over thick on the outfide with warm tar, and need conftant
care and infpe^tion. About nine o'clock we went to the
Shckh, and entered prefently upon bufinefs. I engaged to
pacify Yafine, whofe fervants, upon my meflage, came to
town to fee me depart, and were kindly received and
cloathed by the Shekh. A large breakfafl was ordered; Fi-
dele and I, with Yafine's fervants, ate together of feveral
very good diflies. The two holy men, and another ftran-
ger equally holy, ate together out of a feparate plate ; af-'
ter which we all flood up, and faid the prayer of peace,
and I took my leave. We all then went out together into
the market-place, and eight camels were ordered down to
my houfe, with people to wait upon them.

The girbas, which lay filled and foaking at the river-
fide, were ready to be loaded upon our camels. A fervant
of the Kaiya held my horfc, which had been taken from
me by Fidele foon after my arriving at Teawa, but which
was now reflored me. My fervant who came from Sen--
naar had indeed told me that no horfes would live there ;
that thofe that were neceflary for the troops of the govern-
ment were all kept at a diflance from Sennaar, and main-
tained at Aira, or places in the fand at a fmall diflance, but
free from the plague of the fly. The Shekh made no ob-
fervation upon this. I faid, The horfe is a very excellent one,
and I will now fhew him to you. I fent for a fhort double-
barrelled gun, threw off my burnoofe, and mounting the
horfe, made him do every thing he was capable of, put-
ting him to his full fpeed, firing to right and left on each
fide of him.

3 They

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 403

They were all flruck with amazement, and with a kind
of terror. They had never before feen a gun fired on horfe-
back, much lefs a gun fired twice without charging. I
did not want to .explain the matter to them ; and, as far as
I could perceive, the Moullah efpecially was very glad
when I fent it home. " This is the way, faid I, that my
countrymen ride, and the way they fight ; no people on
earth underftand fire-arms or horfemanfliip like them.
For my part, I am a man of peace, a Dervifh, and no fol-
dier ; it is not my profeiTion, and I do the thing aukward-
ly. If you faw fome of our foldiers ride, it would be a
fight indeed." Fidele laughed, or counterfeited a laugh,
but being a foldier, it was his part to fay fomething. " If
many of your countrymen like you were here, man of
peace as you are, imlefs they were friends to us they would
get all Atbara to themfelves. If they were friends, fays he,
I think I could do fomething with them ; that horfe feems
to have the fenfe of a man."—" Such as he is, faid I, dif-
mounting, a prince gave him to me, and fuch as he is I
now give him to you, as a proof that I am your friend,
and that I fliould not grudge you a few paltry piafters, if
I had not been under a vow of poverty ; money is of no
kind of value to me, and confequently not carried a-
bout with me." The horfe was gladly received, though, as
I was going to Sennaar, where no horfes are kept, the
compliment was a cheap one on my part.

" How could you, Fidele, fays the Moullah in great fur-
prife, have it in your heart to torment fuch a man as this ?
I told you what he was, our books fpeak of them : ihey are
not Kafrs, but fpend all their lives in wandering over the'

3 E 2 face

404 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

face of the earth in fearch of wifdom, and are always to
do fo till Hagiuge Magiuge come, and then there will be
an end of the world." I jnade a bow of aflent to the Moul-
lah, and all the reft turned up their eyes to heaven in
wonder of fo much learning, repeating their ufual ejacu-
lation, " Ullah Akbar!" God is great. I now took my
leave of them, and was going home, when the younger
Iherriffe called after me, and faid, " I fuppofe, now you are
all at peace, we fliall not fee the fign that you foretold us
was to appear in the heavens to-day," " I fhould be
thought a liar if it did not appear, faid I ; do you wifh to
fee it ?" — " I wifli to fee it, fays he, if it will do no harm." —
" Then, replied I, you fhall fee it, and it Ihall do no harm
now. I hope it will bring health and happinefs, and a
good crop to Teawa, and all the kingdom of Sennaar. Ga
home, while I order my affairs. Something more than
two hours after this I will come to you, and it will then
appear. They all went away, and, as I thought by their
looks, they would have been better fatisfied that affair had;
been forgot, the Shekh faying peevifhly to the fherriffe^
" Let him mind his affairs and his journey ; what is the;
vfe of thefe things now ?"

I HAD redlified my watch by obfervation. I knew 1
could not be far wrong, having fccn in the ephemerides.
the hour the echpfe was to begin. I pafTed a corner of
the Shekh's houfe, and went in at the back-door. He was
there with his ufual friends, the Moullah, the fherrifte, the
Kaiya, and one or two more. The flierriffe afke'd me
where the fign would appear ; and the Moullah, if there
would be any thunder and lightning ? I told them there
would be nothing difagreeable at all.. I went to the door,,

aad

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 405

and faw it was begun. There was to be a total eclipfe
of the moon. I did not tell them at firft, till it had advanced
fome way, and was apparent upon the dillc. " Now ! look at
thar, faid I ; in feme time after this the moon fhall be fo total-
ly fwallowed up in darknefs, that a fmall light fliall only be
fcen in the edges." They were frightened at the denuncia-
tion, ratlier than at any thing they obferved, till a little be-
fore the eclipfe became total. A violent apprehenfion then
fell upon them all ; and the women from their apartments
began to howl as they do on all melancholy occafions of
misfortune, or death. They were in the inner fquare.
" Now, continued I, I have kept my word ; it will foon be
clear again, and will do no harm to man or beaft."

It was agreed among them that I fhould not go home
till it was totally at an end. I confented to this ; and only
faid to the Shekh, that I wifhed he would let me fee my pa-
tients before I went away, for that one of them was really
ill, and needed advice. He feemed to take it very kindly,
and defired me to go' in. I was met in the anti- chamber by
Aifcach, and two or three black flaves, who cried out in
great terror, " O! Hakim ! what is this ! what are you going
to do!" " I am going to do, Madam, faid I, one of the mofl
difagreeable things I ever did in my life ; I am going to
take leave of you." I was immediately furrounded with
a number of women, fome of them crying, fome of them
with children in their arms. I went into the room where
the two ladies were, whom I quieted and fatisfied to the
utmoft of my power. We parted with reciprocal profcffions
of friendfliip and regret at feparation. I then begged that
I might fee their flave, who ufed to bring us meat, with a
clean cloth, to wrap up fomething I had for them. They
A teld

4o6 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

told me, Sennaar was but a bad place for white people; but
promifed to fend recommendations in my favour, both to
Adelan and the king's women, by Adelan's fervant, who
was to conduct us.

When I returned to the Shekh, the emerfion was far ad-
vanced, and they all feemed to be regaining their compo-
fure, though ftrong marks of furprife remained in their
countenances. After a little converfation, turning chiefly
upon Hagiuge Magiuge, and their filly flories about them,
which I fhall not repeat, I took my leave, and went home,
renewing my affurances that all was forgotten.

At night, the flave came and brought a clean cotton
cloth. I fent a piece of thin India yellow fatin, andfixhand-
fome crimfon and green handkerchiefs, to the beautiful
Aifcach ; and, to the bell of my power, difcharged all our
obligations to thofe that were our friends and had been
kind to us.

In a country fo defert, and exceedingly poor as Teawa,
binder fuch a government, it is not to be expelled that trade
of any kind fhould flourilh ; yet there is a miferable ma-
nufacT:ure of coarfe cotton cloths of the fize of large towels,
juft enough to go round the middle, which pafs current,
like fpecie, all over Atbara : They are called Dimoor, and
are ufed in place of fmall filver money. The Mahalac, a
very bad copper coin, pafTes for fmaller matters ; fo that the
currency of Teawa Hands thus : —

20 Mahalac, i Crufh,
12 Crufh, I Metical,

4 Metical, i Vakia.

The

THESOURCEOFTHENILE. 407

The vakia of gold is worth about forty-five fhilhngs ; but
the only commerce of Teawa is carried on by exchange,
as fait for grain, camels for fait ; the value of goods varying
according to the fcarcity or plenty of one fort of commodi-
ties with refpe(5t to the other.

The reader will, I believe, by this, be as defirous to get
out of Teawa as I was ; and if fo, it is charity in time to
deliver him. I took leave of the Shekh on the 18th in the
morning ; but before we could get all ready to depart it was
five in the afternoon. The day had been immoderately hot,
and we had refolved to travel all night, though we did
not fay fo to the Shekh, who advifed us to lleep at Imge-
dedema, where there was frefli water. But we had taken
a girba of water with us, or rather, in cafe of accident, a
little in each of the three girbas ; and all being ready on
the river- fide, except the king's fervant, we fet out, and he
overtook us in lefs than two hours afterwards, pretty well
refreflied with the Shekh's bouza, and ftrongly prejudiced .
againftus, as we had occafion to difcover afterwards.

^^ ' ' =^'

GHAP-

4o8 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

Es^^w ' ' I II I " iji^aas^tj

CHAP. VII. -

Arrival at Beyla — Friendly Reception there, and after, amongfl the Nu-
ba— Arrival at Sennaar,

WHEN we got a few miles into the plain, my fervant
delivered me a meflage from the Moullah, that he
would join us the next day at Beyla ; that we were not to
truft to the king's fervant in any thing, but entirely to that
of the Shekh Adelan ; and if thefe two had any difpute
together, to take no fhare in it, but leave them to fettle it
between themfelves ; that, upon no account whatever, we
fliould fuffer any companions to join us upon the road to
Beyla, but drive them off by harfli words, beat them if they
did not go away, and, if they ftill perfifted, to fhoot them,
and make our way good by force; that between Teawa and
Beyla was a place, the inhabitants of which had withdrawn
themfelves from their allegiance to the king of Sennaar,

wild

THE SOUPvCE OF THE NILE. ^Gf

^vlio could not there proteA us ; therefore we were to truft
to ourfelves, and admit of no parley ; for if we pafled, wc
fhould pafs with applaufe, as if the king's force had con-
duded us ; and if we mifcarried, the blame would be
laid upon ourfelves, as having ventured, fo thinly attended,
through a country laid watte by rebel Arabs, exprefsly in
defiance of government. He added, that he did not believe
it was in bhekh Fidele's power, from want of time, to do us
any injury upon the road ; that the people in Teawa were
in general well-affecfed to us, and afraid we fliould bring
Yafme and the Daveina upon them, and fo v/ere the Jehai-
na ; and as for the pack of gracelefs foldiers that were then
ab. ur the Shekh, their belief that we had really no money
with us, and the laft exhibition I had flicwn them on horfe-
back, had perfectly cured them of venturing their lives for
little, againft people fo much fuperior to them in the ma-
nagement of arms ; yet he wiilied us to be adtive and vigi-
lant like men, and truft in nothing till we had feen the
Shekh of Beyla, and not to lofe a moment on the road.

Our journey, for the firft feven hours, was through a
barren, bare, and fandy plain, without finding a vetlige of
any living creature, without water, and without grafs, a
country that feemed under the immediate curfe of Heaven.
At twelve o'clock at night we turned a little to the caft-
ward of fouth, to enter through very broken ground into a
narrow defile, between two hills of no confiderable height.
This pafs is called Mattina. One- of our camel-drivers de-
clared that he law two men run into the bufhes before him,
upon which our people took all to their fling;!, throwing
many Hones before them into tlie buflies, directed nearly to
a man's height. At their earneit defire I ordered Ifmael to
Vol. IV. ' F fire

4IO TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

fire our large Ihip-blunderbufs, with fifty fmall bullets in itj.
among the buflies, in the direction of the road-fide ; bua
we neither faw nor heard any thing of thofe people there^
after, if there really were any, nor did I, at the time, indeed,
believe the camel- driver had feen any one but through the
medium of his own fears ; for the Arabs never attack you
till near fun-fet, if they are doubtful of their own fuperio-
rity, or at dawn of day, if they think they have the advan--
tage, that they may have time to purfue you.

We, however, all continued on foot, from four till the
grey of the morning of the 19th of xA.pril. Indeed, fo vio-.
lent an inclination to fleep had fallen upon me, that I was
forced to walk, for fear of breaking my neck by a fall from
my camel, till eight o'clock, when we halted in a wood of
ebony buflies, growing like the birch tree in many fhoots
from the old ftems, which had been cut down for fear of
harbouring the fly, and totally deprived of their leaves af-
terwards, by the burning of grafs, from the fame reafon.
This place is called Abou Jehaarat, and is the limit between,
the government of Teawa and Beyla. After fuch a very fa-
tiguing journey, we reiled at Abou Jehaarat till the after-^ .
noon. The fun was very hot, but fortunately ibme flicp- .
herds caves were dug in the bank, and to thefe we fled for
fhelter from the intenfe heat of the fun, where the ebony
trees, though in a. very thick wood, could aflbrd us no fliade^ .
for the reafons already given.

At three o'clock in the afternoon we fet oat from
Abou Jehaarat, in a diredion wefl-, and at eight in the
evening we arrived at Beyla. There is no water her
twe:;n Teawa and Beyla. Once, Imgededema,,and a number

of

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 411

of villages, were fupplied with water from wells and
had large crops of Indian corn fown about their pof-
feffions. The curfe of that country, the Arabs Daveina,
have deftroyed Imgededema, and all the villages about it,
filled up their wells, burnt their crops, and expofed all the
inhabitants to die by famine.

We found Beyla to be in lat. 13° 42' 4"; that is, about
eleven miles weft of Teawa, and thirty-one and a half miles
due fouth. We were met by Mahomet, the Shekh, at the
very entrance of the town. He faid, he looked upon us as
rifen from the dead ; that wc muft be good people, and
particularly under the care of Providence, to have efcaped
the many fnares the Shekh of Atbara had laid for us. Ma-
homet, the Shekh, had provided every fort of refrefliment
poilible for us ; and, thinking we could not live without it,
he had ordered fugar for us from Sennaar. Honey for the
moft part hitherto had been its fubilitute. We had a good
comfortable fupper ; as fine wheat-bread as ever I ate in my
life, brought from Sennaar, as alfo rice ; in a word, every-
thing that our kind landlord could contribute to our plen-
tiful and hofpitable entertainment.

Our whole company was full of joy, to which the Shekh
greatly encouraged them ; and if there was an alloy to the
happinefs, it was the feeing that I did net partake of it.
Symptoms of an aguifli diforder had been hanging about
me for feveral days, ever fmce the diarrhoea had left me. I
found the greateft repugnance, or naiifea, at the fmell of
warm meat ; and, having a violent headach, I infiftcd up-
on going to bed fupperlefs, after having drank a quantity
of warm water by way of emetic. Being exceedingly ti-

3 F 2 red

413 T R A -V E L S T 0 D I S C 0 V E R

red, I foon fell found afleep, having firft taken fome drops^.
of a llrong fpirituous tindure of tliC bark which I had
j^rcpared at Goiidar, refoiving, if I found any remiffion, as
I thea did, to cake fcveral good dozes of the bai k in pow-
der on the morrow, beginning at day-break, which I ac:-
cordingly did with its ufual fuccefs..

On the 2.0th of April, a little after the dawn of day, tlie
Shekh, in great anxiety, came to the place where I was
lying, lipon a tanned buifaloe's hide, on tlie ground. His
forrow v/as foon turned into joy when he found me quite
recovered from my illnefs. I had taken the bark, and
expreiled a defire of eating a hearty breakfafl of rice, which
was immediately prepared fox' me.

The Shekh of Beyla was an implicit believer in medi-
cine. Seeing me take fome drops of the tindurc before
coffee, he inllfted upon pledging me, and I believe would'
have willingly emptied the wliole bottle. After baring
fuffered great agony with his own cotuplaint, he had
paiied fome fmall ftones, and was greatly better, as he faid,.
for the foap- pills.. I put him in a way to prepare thefe,
as alfo his lime-water. It V'/s.s impoflibie to have done any
favour for him equal to this, as his agony had been fo
great. He told me our Moullah was arrived from Teawa
and had left Shekh Fidele ftill repining at our departure,
without leaving him the piaftres. As for the eclipfe, he
faid he did not care a ftraw,,nor for what they did or
knew at Mecca, for he had no interefl there. I underftood
our friend Mahomet, Shekh of Beyla, had been under great
uneafinefs at the eclipfe, when it advanced in the immer-
fion,.and became total, Some time before this, as he faid,

ther&

>

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 413

rRere had been another, but not fo great, on the day the
Daveina burnt Imgededema, with above thirty other villa-
ges, and difperfed or deilroyed about two thoufand inhabi-
tants of Atbara.

It vi^as now the time to give the Shekh a prefent, and
I had prepared one for him, fuch as he very well deferved ;
but no intreaty, nor any means I could ufe, could prevail
upon him to accept of the mereft trifle. On the contrary,
he folemnly fwore, that if I importuned liim further he
would get upon his horfe and go into the country. All
that he defired, and that too as a favour, was, that, when I
had reiled at Sennaar, he might come and confult me fur-
ther as to his complaints, for which he promifcd he fliould
bring a recompence with him. We then fettled to give his
prefent to the Moullah, with which he v/as very well plea-
fed, and which he took without any of thofe oifficul-
ties the Shekh of Beyla had flarted when it was oiFered to
him,.

All being friends now, and contented, the day was
given to repofe and joy. The king's fervant came and told
me, by way of fecret, that we could not do lefs to pjeafe the
Shekh than ilay with him a week at Beyia, and I believe
it would not have difpleafed him ; but after fo much co-
ming and going, fo much occafif?n for talk relative to me,
r was refolved to follow Hagi Bclal's advice, and prefs on to
Sennaar before affairs there were in a defperate fituation, or
fome fcheme of mifchief jQioiild be contrived by Fiddle.
One thing Shekh Adeian's fervant told us, that he had, by
his mailer's orders, taken from Fidele the prefent I had
given him, though he had already made it up into a gown,.

* 414 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

or robe, for himfelf. " He is a poor wretch, fays the Shekh
of Beyla ; he has fpent two years of the king's revenues
from Atbara, and nobody has fupported him except Shekh
Adelan, whofe daughter he married, but he now has
given him up fmce he has fully known him ; and, if our
troubles do not follow quickly, I fuppofe one of thefe days
I lliall have him here in his way to Sennaar, never to re-
turn ; for everybody knows now that it was in hatred to
him, and for the many faithlefs and bad adions he was
guilty of, that the Arabs have deftroyed all that part of
the country, though they have not burnt a flraw about
Beyla."

We had again a large and plentiful dinner, and a quan-
tity of bouza ; venifon of feveral different fpecies of the
antelope or deer-kind, and Guinea-fowls, boiled with rice,
the beft part of our fare, for the venifon fmelled and tail-
ed ftrongly of mufk. This was the provifion made by the
Shekh's two fons, boys about fourteen or fifteen years old,
who had got each of them a gun with a match-lock and
whofe favour I fecured to a very high degree, by giving
them fome good gunpowder, and plenty of fmall leaden
bullets.

In the afternoon we walked out to fee the village,
which is a very pleafant pne, fituated upon the bottom of
a hill, covered with wood, all the refl flat before it.
Through this plain there are many large timber trees,
planted in rows, and joined with high hedges, as in Eu-
rope, forming inclofures for keeping cattle ; but of thefe
we faw none, as they had been moved to the Dender for
ifear of the flies. There is no water at Beyla but what is

4 ^at

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 415^

got from deep wells. Large plantations of Indian corn
are everywhere about the town. The inhabitants are in con^
tinual apprehenfion from the Arabs Daveina at Sim Sim,
about 40 miles fouth-eaft from them ; and from another
powerful- race called Wed abd el Gin, /. e. Son of tbeJJaves of
the Devil, who live to the fouth-weft of them, between tho
Dender and the Nile. Beyla is another frontier town of
Sennaar, on the fide of Sim Sim ; and between Teawa and
this, on the Sennaar fide, and Ras el Feel, Nara, and Tchelgaj
upon the Abyffinian fide, all is defert and wafte, the Arabs
only fufFering the water to remain there without villages-
near it, that they and their flocks may come at certain
feafons while the grafs grows, and the pools or fprings fill
elfewhere. .

Although Iwent early to bed with full determination
to fet out by day-break, yet I found it was impoffible to puc
my defign in execution, or get from the hands of our kind
landlord. One of our girbas feemed to fail, and needed to
be repaired. Nothing good, as he truly faid, could come
from the Shekh of Atbara. A violent difpute had arifen in
the evening, after I was gone to bed, over their bouza, be-
tween the king's fervant and that of Shekh Adelan. It was
about dividing their fees which they had received from Shekh
Fidele. This was carried a great length, and it was at laft a-
greed that it fliould be determined by the Shekh of Beyla in
the morning, when both of them, as might be fuppofed^
Ihould have cooler heads. For my part, 1 took no thought
or concern about it, as no circumftance of its origin had
been notified to me ; but it took up fo much of our time,
that it was after dinner before we were. ready.

4i6 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

On the 21ft of April we kftBeyla at three o'clock in the
afternoon, our diredion foiuh-weR, through a very plea-
fanr,fiat countr}', but without water ; there had been none
in our way nearer than the river Rahad. About eleven at
night we al ghted in a wood : The place is called Bahene, as
near as we could compute, nine miles from Bey la.

On the 22d, at half paft -five o'clock in the morning we
left Baherie, iiill continuing weftward, and at nine we
came to the banks of the Rahad. The ford is called Tchir
Chaira. The river itfelf was now Handing in pools, the
water foul, {linking, and covered with a green mantle ; the
bottom foft and muddy, but there was no choice. The water
at Bcyla was fo bad, that we took only as much as was ab-
folutely necelTary till we arrived at running water from
the Rahad. We continued half an hour travelling along
the river at N. W. and W. N. W. till three quarters pail ten.
At noon we agaia met the river Rahad, which now had
turned to the wellward of north, and by its fides we pitch-
ed our tents near the huts of the Arabs, called Cohala, a
ilationary tribe, that do not live in tents, but are tributary
to the Mek, and regularly pay all the taxes and exadlions the
government of Sennaar lays upon them, and from thefe,
therefore, we were not under any apprehenfion.

On the 23d, at fix o'clock in the morning we left the Co-
hala, continuing along the river Rahad, wiuch here rins
a very little to the eallward of north. At three o'clock we
alighted at Kumar, another ftacion of the fame Arabs of Co-
hala, on the river fide. This river, here called Rahad, or
Thunder, winds the moll of any ftream in Abyffinia, It
begins not far fiom Tchclga, pajQTes between Kuara and
2 Sennaar,

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 417

Sennaar, feparating Abyllinia from Nubia, and making, with
the river Atbara, the Allaboras or Tacazze, and the Nile, a
perfedl ifland, whereas before it was only a peninfula. It
feems to intercept all the fprings that would go down to the
middle of the peninfula, frorn the high country of Abyffinia,
and is probably the reafon of the great dearth of water
there. While it is in Abyffinia it is called Shimfa. It falls
into the Nile at Habharras, about thirty-eight miles north
of Sennaar.

The quarrel between our two conductors was fo little
made up, that the king's fervant would not travel with us,
but always went half a day before, and we joined him when
we encamped in the evening. We did not pay him the
compliment of afking him why he did this, but allowed
him to take his own way, which he feemed not to be plea-
fed with, giving many hints at night, that he had, all his life,
been averfe to the having any thing to do with white people.

We fet out at five in the afternoon from Kumar, and
in the clofe of the evening met feveral men, on horfcback
and on foot, coming out from among the bufhes, who en-
deavoured to carry off one of our camels. We indeed were
foraewhat alarmed, and were going to prepare for refift-
ance. The camel they had taken a way had on it the king's and
Shekh Adelan's prefents, and fome other things for our fu-
ture need. Our clothes too, books, and papers, were upon
the fame camel. Adelan's fervant, though he was at firfl
furprifed, did not lofe his prefence of mind ; he foon knew
thefe Arabs could not be robbers, and gueffed it to be a
piece of malice of the king's fervant to frighten us, and ex-
tort money from us, in order to obtain reftitution of the
camel. He therefore rode up to one of the villages of the

Vol. IV. 3 G Arabs

4i8 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

Arabs, to aflc them who thofe were that had ^ taken away
ourcamcL

In one of the huts he found the king's fervant regaling
himfelf ; upon which he faid to him, " I fuppofe, Mahomet;
you have taken charge of that camel, and will hring it with
you to Sennaar; it has your mafter's prefctits, and mine
alfo, upon it:" and faying this, he rode off to join us, and
to punilh thofe that had taken the camel, who, we were
fure after this notification, muft follow us. We kept on at a
verv briflc pace, for it was eleven o'clock before they came
up to where we were encamped for the night, bring-
ing our camel, which they had taken, along with them,
with an Arab on horfebaek, attended with two on foot, and
with them the king's fervant. I did not fcem at all to have
underftood the affair, only that robbers had taken away
our camel. But it did not fit fo eafy upon the Arabs, who
did not know there wa& any with us but the king's fervant,
and v/ho wanted to frighten us for not making them a pre-
fent for eating their grafs and drinking their water. At
jEirft, Adelan's fervant refufed to take the camel again upon
any terms, infifting that the Cohala ffiould carry it to vSen^
naar ; but, after a great many words, I determined to make
peace, upon condition they fliould furnifh us with milk,
wherever they had cattle, till we arrived at Sennaar. This
was very readily confented to ; and as this affair probably
was owing to the malice of the king's fervant, lb it ended:
without further trouble.

On the 24th, we fet out at half after five in the morfi>
ing, and paffed through fevcral fmall villages of Cohala on
the right and on the left, till at eleven- we came to the ri-
ver

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 419

•verDender, Handing now in pools, but by the vail widenefs
of its banks, and the great deepnefs of its bed, all of white
fand, it fliould feem that in time of rain it will contain near-
ly as much water as the Nile. The banks are everywhere
thick overgrown with the rack and jujeb tree, efpecially the
latter. The wood, which had continued moftly from Beyla,
here failed us entirely, and reached no further towards Sen-
naar. Thefe two forts of trees, however, were in very great
beauty, and of a prodigious fize. Here we found the main
body of Cohala, with all their cattle, living in perfe6t le-
curity both from Arabs and from the plague of the fly.
They were as good as their word to us in fupplying us
plentifully with excellent milk, which we had fcarcelyever
tailed fince we left Gondar.

At fix o'clock in the evening of the 24th we fet out from
a fliady place of repofe on the banks of the Dender, through
a large plain, with not a tree before us ; but we prefently
found ourfelves encompalTed with a number of villages,
nearly of a fize, and placed at equal diftances in form of a
femi-circle, the roofs of the houfes in fliape of cones, as are
all thofe within the rains. The plain was all of a red, foapy
earth, and the corn juft fown. This whole country is in
perpetual cultivation, and though at this time it had a
bare look, would no doubt have a magnificent one when
waving with grain. At nine we halted at a village of
Pagan Nuba. 1 hefe are all foldiers of the Mek of Sennaar,
cantoned in thefe villages, which, at the dillance of four
or five miles, furround the whole capital. They are either
purchafed or taken by force from Fazuclo, and the provin-
ces to the fouth upon the mountains Dyre and Tegla. Ha-
ving fettlcmcnts and provifions given them, as alfo arms

3 G 2 put

420

TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

put in their hands, they never wifh to defert, but live a
very domeftic and fober life. Many of them that I have
converfed with feem a much gentler fort of negro than
thofe from Bahar el Aice, that is, than thofe of whom the
Funge, or government of Sennaar, are compofed.

These have fmall features likewife, but are woolly-
headed, and flat-nofed, like other negroes, and fpeak a lan-
guage rather pleafant and fonorous, but radically different
from many I have heard. Though the Mek, and their
mafters at Sennaar, pretend to be Mahometans, yet they
have never attempted to convert thefe Nuba ; on the con-
trary, they entertain, in every village, a certain number of
Pagan prielts, who have foldiers pay, and aflift them in the
offices of their religion. Not knowing their language per-
feiftly, nor their cufloms, it is impollible to fay any thing
about their religion. Very few of the common fort of
them fpeak Arabic. A falfe account, in thefe cafes, is al-
ways worfe than no account at all. I never found one of
their priefts who could fpeak fo much Arabic as to be able
to give any information about the obje(5ls of their worfliip
in diflinc^ and unequivocal terms ; but this was from my
not underftanding them, and their not underflanding me,
not from any defire of concealment, or fhynefs on their part ;
on the contrary, they feemed always inclined to agree with
me, when they did not comprehend my meaning, and there
is the danger of being mifmformed.

They pay adoration to the moon ; and that their worfhip
is performed with pleafure and fatisfadlion, is obvious eve-
ry night that flie fliines. Comiiag out from the darknefs of

their

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 421

their huts, they fay a few words upon feeing her bright-
nefs, and teftify great joy, by motions of tiieir feet and
hands, at the fir(l appearance of the new moon. I never
faw them pay any attention to the fun, either rifing or fet-
ting, advancing to or receding from the meridian ; but, as
far as I could learn, they worihip a tree, and likewife a
Hone, tho' I never could find out wiiat tree or Hone it was,
only that it did not exift in the country of Sennaar, but in
that where they were born. Their priells feenied to have
great influence over them, but through fear only, and not
from affedtion. They are dillinguiihed by thick copper
bracelets about their wrifts, as aUb fometimes one, and.
fometimes two about their ancles.

These villages are called Dahera, which feems to me to
be the fame word as Daflirah, the name given to the
Kabyles, or people in Barbary, who live in fixed huts on
the mountains. But not having made myfelf mailer
enough of the Kabyles language when in Barbary, and
being totally ignorant of that of the Nuba we are now
fpeaking of, I cannot pretend to purfue this refemblance
farther. They are immoderately fond of fvyine's flelli, and
maintain great herds of them in their polTellion. The
hogs are of a fmall kind, generally marked with black and
white, exceedingly prolific, and exactly refembling a fpe-
cies of that kind common in the north of Scotland. The
Nuba are not circumcifed. They very rarely turn Maho-
metans, but the generality of their children do. Few of
them advance higher than to be foldiers and officers in
their own corps. The Mek maintains about twelve thou-
fand of rhefe near Sennaar, to keep the Arabs in fubjetftion.
They are very quiet, and fcarcely ever known to be guilty

of.

422 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

of any robberies or mutinous diforders, declaring always
for the mafter, that is, the great one fet over them. There
is no running water in all that immenle plain they inha-
bit, it is all procured from draw-wells. We faw them
cleaning one, which I meafured, and was nearly eight fa-
thoms deep. In a climate fo violently hot as this, there is
very little need of fuel, neither have they any, there
being no turf, or any thing refembling it, in the coun-
try, no wood, not even a tree, fmce we had palled the ri-
ver Dender. However, they never eat their meat raw
as in Abyflinia ; but with the ilalk of the dora, or millet,
and the dung of camels, they make ovens under ground,
in which thcy^'oaft their hogs whole, in a very cleanly,
and not difagreeable manner, keeping the fkins on till
they are perfed;ly baked. They had neither flint nor ileel
wherewith to light their fire at firft, but do it in a manner
flill more expeditious, by taking afmall piece of flick, and
making a fliarp point to it, which they hold perpendicular,
and then make a fmall hole of nearly the fame fize in an-
other piece of flick, which they lay horizontal ; they
put the one within the other, and, between their two
hands, they tvun the perpendicular flick, (in the fame man-
ner that we do a chocolate mill) when both thefe flicks
take fire, and flame in a moment upon the fridion ; fo
perfectly dry and prepared is everything here upon the
furface to take fire, notwirhflanding they are every year
fubjc<5t to fix months r^in.

On the 25th, at four o'clock in the afternoon we fet out

from the villages of the Nuba, intending to arrive at Baf-

boch, where is the ferry over the Nile ; but we had fcarcely

advanced two miles into the plain, when we were inclofed

i by

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 423

■ \
By a violent wliirlwind, or what is called at fea the water-

fpout. The plain was red earth, which had been plentiful^
ly moiilened by a Ihower in the n ght-time. The unfortu-
nate camel that had been taken by ihe Cohala feemed to be
nearly in the center of its vortex It was lifted and thrown
down at a confiderable diftance, and feveral of its ribs bro-
ken. Although, as far as I could guefs, I was not- near the
center, it whirled me off my feet, and threw me down upoa
my face, fo as to make my nofe gufli out with blood. Two
of the fervants likewifc had the fame fate. It plaiftered us
all over with mud, almoft as fmoothly as could have been
done with a. troweL It took away my fenfe and breathing
for an inftant, and my motuh and nofe were full of mud
when I recovered. I guefs the fphere of its a6lion to be
about 200 feet. It demoliihed one half of a fmall hut as if
it had been cut through with a knife, and difperfed the ma-
terials all over the plain, leaving; the other half Handing,

As foon as we recovered ourfelves, we took refuge in a
village, from fear only, for we faw no veftige of any other
■whirlwind. It involved a great quantity of rain, which
the Nuba of the villages told us was very fortunate, and por-
tended good luck to us, and a profperous journey ; for they
faid, that had duft and fand arifen with the whirlwind, in
the fame proportion it would have done had not the earth
been moiftened, we lliould all infallibly have been fu£-
focated ; and they cautioned us, by faying, that tem-
pefts were very frequent in the beginning and end of the
rainy feafon, and whenever we fhould fee one of them co-
ming, to fall down upon our faces, keeping our lips clofe
to the ground, and lb let it pafs ; and thus it would neither

have.

424 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

have power to carry us off our feet, nor fuffocate us, which
was the ordinary cafe.

Our kind landlords, the Nuba, gave us a hearty welcome,
and helped us to wafh our clothes firft, and then to dry them.
When I was ftripped naked, they faw the blood ninning
from my nofe, and faid, they could not have thought that
one fo white as me could have been capable of bleeding.
They gave us a piece of roafted hog, which we ate, (except
Ifmael and the Mahometans) very much to the fatisfa(5tion
of the Nuba. On the other hand, as our camel was lame,
we ordered one of our Mahometan fervants to kill it, and
take as much of it as would ferve themfelves that night; we
alfo provided againft wanting ourfelves the next day. The
reft we^ave among our new-acquired acquaintance, the Nu-
ba of the village, who did not fail to make a feaft upon it
for feveral days after ; and, in recompence for our liberality,
they provided us with a large jar of bouza, not very good,
indeed, but better than the well-water. This I repaid by
tobacco, beads, pepper, and ftibium, which I faw plain-
ly was infinitely more than they expedled. Although we
had been a good deal furprifed at the fudden and violent
effedis of the whirlwind of that day, and feverely felt the
bruifes it had occafioned, yet we paffed a very focial and
agreeable evening ; thofe only of the Nuba who had been
any time at Sennaar fpeak a bad kind of Arabic, as well as
their own language. I had feldom, in my life, upon a
journey, pafifed a more comfortable night. I had a very
neat, clean hut, entirely to myfelf, and a Greek fervant that
fat near me. Some of the Nuba watched for us all night,
and took care of our beafts and baggage. They fung and
3 replied

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 425

replied to one another alternately, In notes full of pleafant
melody,

Ei can tare pares Sff refpondere paral't —

Virgil.

till I fell fall afleep, involuntarily, and with regret, for, tho'
bruifed, we were not fatigued, but rather difcouraged, ha-
ving gone no further than two miles that day.

The landlord of the hut where I was afleep having pre-
pared for our fafety and that of our baggage, thought him-
felf bound in duty to go and give immediate information
to the prime minifter of the unexpedled guells that then oc-
cupied his houfe. He found Adelan at fupper, but was im-
mediately admitted, and a variety of quellions afked him,
which he anfwered fully. He defcribed our colour, our
number, the unufual lize and number of our fire-arms, the
poornefs of our attire, and, above all, our great chearful-
nefs, quietnefs, and affability, our being contented with eat-
ing any thing, and in particular mentioned the hogs flefh.
One man then prefent, teflifying abhorrence to this, Adelan
faid of me to our landlord, " Why, he is a foldier and a Kafr
like yourfelf. A foldier and a Kafr, when travelling in a
ftrange country, fliould eat every thing, and fo does every
other man that is wife ; has he not a fervant of mine with
him ?" He anfwered, " Yes, and a fervant of the king too ;
but he had left them, and was gone forward to Sennaar."
" Go you with them, fays he, and flay with them at Baf-
boch till I have time to fend for them to town." He had
returned from Aira long before we arofe^ and told us the
converfation, which was great comfort to us all, for we

Vol. IV. 3 H were

426 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

were not much pleafed with the king's fervant going be-
fore, as we had every reafon to think he was difaiFecftcd to-
wards us.

On the 26th, at fix o'clock in the morning, we fet out
from this village of Nuba, keeping fomething to the wcfl-
ward of 8. W. our way being ftill acrofs this immenfe plain.
All the morning there were terrible llorms of thunder and
lightning, fome rain, and one fliower of fo large drops
that it wet us to the fkin in an inflant. It was quite
calm, and every drop fell perpendicularly upon us. I think
I never in my life felt fo cold a rain, yet it was not difa-
greeable ; for the day was clofe and hot, and we fliould
have wiflied every now and then to have had fo moderate
a refrigeration ; this, however, was rather too abundant.
The villages of the Nuba were, on all fides, throughout this
plain. At nine o'clock we arrived at Baiboch, which is a
large collection of huts of thefe people, and has the ap-
pearance of a town.

The governor, a venerable old man of about feventy, who
was fo feeble that he could fcarcely walk, received us with
great complacency, only faying, when I took him by the
hand, " O Chriftian ! what dofl thou, at fuch a time, in
fuch a country ?" I was furprifed at the politcnefs of his
fpeech, when he called me Nazarani, the civil term for
Chriftian in the eaft ; whereas Infidel is the general term
among thefe brutifli people; but it feems he had been fe-
veral times at Cairo. I had here a very clean and comfort-
able hut to lodge in, though we were fparingly fupplied
with provifions all the time we were there, but never were
fuiTercd to faft a whole day together.

Basboch

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 4^7

Basboch is on the eallern bank of the Nile, not a quarter
of a mile-from the ford below. The river here runs north
and fouth ; towards the fides ir is fliallow, but deep in the
middle of the current, and in this part it is much infefted
with crocodiles. Sennaar is two miles and a half S. S. W. of it.
We heard the evening drum very diftinctly, and not with-
out anxiety, when we refleiSted to what a brutilh people, ac-
cording to all accounts, we were about to truft ouifclves.
The village of Aira, where the vizir Adelan had then
his quarters, was three miles fouth and by well.

Next morning, the 27th, Shekh Adelan's fervant left us
to the charge of the Nuba, to give his mailer an account
of his journey, and our fafe arrival. He found Mahomet,
the king's fervant, our other guide, before him there, and
Adelan well informed of all that had pafled relating to Fi-
dele, though not from Mahomet ; for as loon as he began
to mention that he had found us at Teawa, Adelan faid in a
very angry lliie, " Will no one fave me the difgrace of hang-
ing that wretch ?" Adelan fent back his fervant to inform
us, that, two days afterwards, we fliould be admitted. Ma-
homet, the king's fervant, too, came back with him, and
fiaid till the evening ; then he returned to Sennaar ; but
he did not give us the fatisfa(ftion to tell us one word of
what the king had faid to him about us, or how we
were likely to be received, leaving us altogether in fuf-
pence.

On the 29th, leave was fcnt us to enter Sennaar. It was
not without fome difficjiilty that we got our quadrant and
heavy baggage fafely carried down the hill, for the banks
are very fteep to the edge of the water. The intention of

3 H 2 our

428 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

our afTiftants was to Hide the quadrant down the hill, in its
cafe, which would have utterly deftroyed it ; and as our boat
was but a very indifferent embarkation, it was obliged to
make feveral turns to and fro before we got all our feveral
packages landed on the weftern fide. This aflemblage, and,
the paffage of our camels, feemed to have excited the appe-
tite, or the curiofity, of the crocodiles. One, in particu-
lar, fwam feveral times backwards and forwards along
the fide of the boat, without, however, making any attack
upon any of us ; but, being exceedingly tired of fuch com-
pany, upon his fecond or third venture over, I fired at him
with a rifle- gun, and fliot him diredlly under his fore fhoul-.
der in the belly. The wound was undoubtedly mortal, and;
Very few animals could have lived a moment after recei-
ving it. He, however, dived to the bottom, leaving the wai-
ter deeply tinged with his blood. Nor did we fee him again
at that time ; but the people at the ferry brought him to me
the] day after, having found him perfe6lly dead. He was
about twelve feet long ; and the boatmen told me that thefe
are by much the mofl: dangerous, being more fierce and ac--
tivc than the large ones. The people of Sennaar eat the
crocodile, efpecially the Nuba. I never tailed it myfelf, but
it looks very much like Congor eel..

=^S^=

CHAa

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 429^

^m, ' ■ „., :i^

GHAP. VIII.

Conver/atim ivli/j the King — With Shekh Addan^ — Interview with the

Kt?igs Ladies^ &C. &c.

WE were condudled by Adelan's fervant to a very fpaci-
ous good houfc belonging to the Shekh himfclf, ha-
ving two ftoreys, a long quarter of a mile from the king's pa-
lace. He left a meffage for us to rcpofe ourfelves, and in a,
day or two to wait upon the king, and that he fliould
fend to tell us v/hen we were to come to him. This we re-
folved to have complied with moll exadlly ; but the very
next morning, the 30th of April, there came a fervant from
the palace to fummon us to wait upon the king, which we
imrr.ediately obeyed. I took with me three fervants, black
Soliman, Ifmael the Turk, and my Greek fervant Michael.
The palace covers a prodigious deal of ground. It is all of
one ftorey, built of clay, and the floors of earth. The cham-
bers through which we pafled ^ere all unfurniflied, and.

feemed

430 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

feemed as if a great many of them had formerly been def-
tined as barracks for foldiers, of whom I did not fee above
fifty on guard. The king was in a fmall room, not twenty
feet fquare, to which we afcended by two fhort flights of
narrow Heps. The floor of the room was covered with
broad fquare tiles ; over it was laid aPerflan carpet, and the
walls hung with tapeflry of the fame country ; the whole
very well kept, and in good order.

The king was fitting upon a matrefs, laid on the ground,
which was likewife covered with a Perfian carpet, and
round him was a number of cufliions of Venetian cloth of
gold. His drefs did not correfpond with this magnificence,
for it was nothing but a large, loofe ftiirt of Surat blue cotton
cloth, which feemed not to differ from the fame worn by his
fervants, except that, all round the edges of it, the feams
were double-Hitched with white filk, and likewife round the
neck. His head was uncovered ; he wore his own fliort black
hair, and was as white in colour as an Arab. He feemed
to be a man about thirty-four, his feet were bare, but co-
vered by his fliirt. He had a very plebeian countenance, on
which was ftamped no decided character ; I fliould rather
guefs him to be a foft, timid, irrefolute man. At my co-
ming forward and kifling his hand, he looked at me for a
mmute as if undetermined what to fay. He then aflced for
an Abyfiinian interpreter, as there are many of thefe about
the palace. I faid to him in Arabic, " That I apprehended I
tinderftood as much of that language as would enable me
to anfwer any quefl.ion he had to put to me," Upon which
he turned to the people that were with him, " Downright
Arabic, indeed! You did not learn that language in Habefli?'*
faid he to me. I anfwered, " No ; I have been in Egypt,
I Turke/j

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 431

Turkey, and Arabia, where I learned it ; but I have Hkewife
often fpoken it in Abyffinia, where Greek, Turkilh, and fe-
veral other languages, were ufed." He faid, " Impoilible ?
he did not think they knew any thing of languages, except-
ing their own, in Abyffinia."

There were fitting in the fide of the room, oppofite to
him, four men drefiTed in white cotton fliirts, with a white
fhaul covering their heads and part of their face, by
which it was known they were religious men, or men of
learning, or of the law. One of thefe anfwered the king's
doubt of the Abyffinians knowledge in languages. " They
have languages enough; and you know that Habefli is
called the paradife of afTes." During this converfation, I
took the llierrifFe of Mecca's letter, alfo one from the king
of Abyffinia; I gave him the king's firfl, and then the
flierriiFe's. He took them both as I gave them, but laid
afide the king's upon a cufhion, till he had read the fher-
riffe's. After this he read the king's, and called immediate-
ly again for an Abyffinian interpreter ; upon which I faid no-
thing, fuppofmg, perhaps, he might chufe to make him de-
liver feme meflage to me in private, which he woidd not
have his people hear. But it was pure confufion and ab-
fence of mind, for he never fpoke a word to him when he
came. " You are a phyfician and a foldier," fays the king.
" Both, in time of need," faid I. " But the flierrifTe's letter
tells me alfo, that you are a nobleman in the fcrvice of a
great king that they call Englife-man, who is mafter
of all the Indies, and who has Mahometan as well as
Chriflian fubjccfls, and allows them all to be governed
by their own laws."—" Though I never faid fo to the flier-
riiTe, replied I, yet it is true ; I am as noble as any inchVi-

duai

432 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

dual in my nation, and am alfo fervant to the greatell
king now reigning upon earth, of whofe dominions, it is
likewife truly faid, thefe Indies are but a fmall part." —
*' The greatell king ! fays he that fpofce about the aiTes, you
fhould not fay that : You forgot the grand lignior ;
there are four, Otman, Ferfee, Bornow, and Habelh." — " I
neither forgot the grand lignior, nor do him wrong, re-
plied I. What I have faid, I have faid." — " Kafrs and
flaves ! all of them, fays Ifmael ; there is the Turk, the
king of England, and the king of France ; what kings are
Bornow and the reft? — Kafrs." — " How comes it, fays the
king, you that are fo noble and learned, that you know all
things, all languages, and fo brave that you fear no dan-
ger, but pafs, with two or three old men, into fuch coun-
tries as this and Habefh, where Baady my father perifhed
with an army? how comes it that you do not flay at
home and enjoy yourfelf, eat, drink, take pleafure and reft,
and not wander like a poor man, a prey to every danger ?" —
" You, Sir, I replied, may know fome of this fort of men ;
certainly you do know them ; for there are in your religion,
as well as mine, men of learning, and thofe too of great
rank and nobility, who, on account of fins they have com-
mitted, or vows they have made, renounce the world, its
riches and pleafures : They lay down their nobility, and
become humble and poor, fo as often to be infuked by
wicked and low men, not having the fear of God before
their eyes." — *' True, thefe are Dervifli," faid the other three
men. " I am then one of thefe Dervifli, faid I, content
with the bread that is given me, and bound for fome years
to travel in hardfliips and danger, doing all the good I can
to poor and rich, ferving every man, and hurting none."
" Tybe ! that is well," fays the king. " And how long
4 have

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 433

have you been travelling about ?" adds one of the others.
*' Near twenty years," faid I. — " You muft be very young,
fays the king, to have committed fo many fins, and fo
early ; they muft all have been with women ?" — " Part of
them, 1 fuppofe, were, replied I ; but I did not fay that I
was one of thofe who travelled on account of their fins,
but that there were fome Derviflies that did fo on account
of their vows, and fome to learn wifdom." He now made a
fign, and a flave brought a cufliion, which I v;ould have
refufed, but he forced me to fit down upon it.

I FOUND afterwards who the three men were who had
joined in our converfation ; the firll was Ali Mogrebi, a na-
tive of Morocco, who was Cadi, or chief judge at Sennaar,
and was then fallen into difgrace with the two brothers,
Mahomet Abou Kalec, governor of Kordofan,and ShekhAde-
ian, prime minifler at Sennaar, then encamped at Aira at the
head of the horfe and Nuba, levying the tax upon the Arabs
as they went down, out of the limits of the rains, into the
fandy countries below Atbara to protect their cattle from
the fly. Another of thefe three was Cadi of Kordofan, in the
interell of Mahomet Abou Kalec, and fpy upon the king.
The third was a faint in the neighbourhood, confervator
of a large extent of ground, where great crops of dora not
only grow, but when threflied out are likewife kept in large
excavations called Matamores ; the place they call Shaddly.
This man was efteemed another Jofeph among the Funge,
who accumulated grain in years of plenty, that he might
diflribute it at fmall prices among the poor when fcarcity
carne. He was held in very great reverence in the neigh-
bourhood of Sennaar.

Vol. IV. . 3 1 .Th£

434 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

The cadi then afkcd me, " If I knew when Haguige Ma-i
giu;;c was to come ?" Remembering my old learned friend'
at Teawa, I fcarce could forbear laughing. " I have no
Willi to know any thing about him, faid I ;. I hope thofo-
days are far off,, and w-iil not. happen in my time." "Whac
do your books fay concerning him ? (fays he, affecting:, a
great look of wifdom) Do they agree with ours ?" " I don't'
know that, faid I, till I hear what is written in your books."
" Hagiuge Magiuge, fays he, are little people,. not fo big, asf
bees, or like the zimb, or fly of Sennaar, that come in great
fwarms out of the earth, aye, in multitudes that cannot be
counted ; two of their chiefs are to ride upon an afs, and eve-
ry hair of that afs is to be a pipe, and every pipe is to play a
different kind of mufic, and all that hear and follow tliem
are carried to hell." " I know them not, faid. I, and, in the
name of the Lord, I fear them not, were they twice as little
as you fay they are, and twice as numerous. I truft in God
I fhall ne\^r be fo fond of mufic as to go to hell after an afs
for all the tunes that he or they can play." The king
laughed violently.. I rofe to go away, fori was heartily ti-
red of the converfation. I whifpered the AbylFmian fervant
in Amharic, to alk when I fhould bring a. trifle I had to
offer the king. He faid, Not that night, as I fhould be tired,
but defired that I fhould now go home, and he would fend
me notice when to come. I accordingly went away, and
found a number of people in the ftreet,.all having fome taunt
or affronting matter to fay. I paffed through the great
fquare before the palace, and could not help fliuddering-,
upon reflecftion, at what had happened in that fpot to the
Unfortunate M. du Roule and his companions, though un«.
■der a protei5lion v/hich fhould have fecured them from all
datjgcr, every part of which I was then unprovided with.

TiiE

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. ^X5

The drum beat a little after fix o'clock in the evening.
"vVe then had a very comfortable dinner fent us, camels
flelh ftewed with an herb of a vifcous ilimy fubftance, called
Bammia. After having dined, and finiftied the journal of
the day, I fell to unpacking my inilruments, the barometer
and thermometer firft, and, after having hung them up,
was converfmg with Adelan's fervant when I fhould pay my
vifit to his mailer. About eight o'clock came a fervant from
the palace, telling me now was the time to bring the pre-
fent to the king. I forted the feparate articles with all the
fpeed I could, and we went diredlly to the palace. The
king was then fitting in a large apartment, as far as I could
guefs, at fome diftancc from the former. He was na-
ked, but had feveral clothes lying upon his knee, and about
him, and a fervant was rubbing him over with very ftinking
butter or greafe, with which his hair was dropping as if
wet with water. Large as the room was, it could be fmell-
ed through the whole of it. The king afked me, If ever I
greafed myfelf as he did ? I faid, Very feldom, but fancied
it would be very expenfive. He then told me. That it was
elephants greafe, which made people flrong, and preferved
the flcin very fmooth. I faid, 1 thought it very proper, but
could not bear the fmell of it, though m.y fkin fhould turn
as rough as an elephant's for the want of it. He faid, " If
I had ufed it, ray hair would not have turned fo red as it
was, and that it would all become white prefently when
that rednefs came off. You may fee the Arabs driven in
here by the Daveina, and all their cattle taken from them,
becaufe they have no longer any greafe for their hair. The
fun firil turns it red and then perfectly white ; and you'll
know them in the flreet by their hair being the colour

3 I 2 of

436 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

of yours. As for the fmell, you will fee that cured pre-
fently."

After having rubbed him abundantly with greafe, they
brought a pretty large horn, and in it fomething fcent-
cd, about as liquid as honey. It was plain that civet was
a great part of the compofition. The king went out
at the door, I fuppofe into another room, and there two
men deluged him over with pitchers of cold water, whilll,
as I imagine, he was ftark-naked. He then returned, and a
ilave anointed him with this fweet ointment ; after which he
fat down, as completely drefled, being jull going to his
women's apartment where he was to fup. I told him I won-
dered why he did not ufe rofe- water as in Abyllinia, Arabia,
and Cairo. He faid, he had it often from Cairo, when the
merchants arrived ; but as it was now long fmce any came,
his people could not make more, for the rofe would not grow
in his country, though the women made fomething like it
of lemon- flower.

His toilet being finiflied, Ithen produced my prefcnt which
I told him the king of Abylfmia had fent to him, hoping
that, according to the faith and cuftom of nations, he would
not only proteifl me while here, but fend me fafely and
fpcedily out of his dominions into Egypt. He anfwered,
There was a time when he could have done all this, and
more, but thofe times were changed. Sennaar was in ruin,
and was not like what it once Avas. He then ordered fome
perfumed forbet to be brought for me to drink in his pre-
fence, which is a pledge that your perfon is in fafery. I there-
upon withdrew, and he went to his ladies.

THE SOURCE OFTHENILE. 437

It was not till the eighth of May I had my audience of
Shekh Adelan at Aira, which is three miles and a half from
Sennaar; we walked out early in the morning, for the
greateft part of the way along the fide of the Nile, which
had no beauty, being totally divefted of trees, the bottom
foul and muddy, and the edges of the water white with
fmall concretions of calcarious earth, which, with the bright
fun upon them, dazzled and affedled our eyes very much.

We then ftruck acrofs a large fandy plain without trees
or buflies, and came to Adelan's habitation ; two or three^
very confiderable houfes of one ftorey occupied the middle
of a large fquare, each of whofe fides was at leaft half of an
Engliih mile, hiftead of a wall to inclofe this fquare, was
a high fence or impalement of ftrong reeds, canes, or ilalks
of dora, (I do not know which) in fafcines ilrongly joined
together by flakes and cords. On the outfidc of the
gate, on each hand, were fix houfes of a flighter conflru(5tion
than the reft; clofeupon the fence were iheds where the fol-
diers lay, the horfes picqueted before them with their
heads turned towards the ilieds, and their food laid before
them on the ground ; above each loldier's fleeping-place, co-
vered only on the top and open in the fides, were hung a
lance, a fmall oval fhield, and a large broad-fword. Thefe,
I underftood, were chiefly quarters for couriers, who being
Arabs, were not taken into the court or fquare, but fliut out,
at night.

Within the gate was a number of horfes, with the fol-
dicrs barracks behind them ; they were all picqueted in
ranks, their faces to their mailers barracks. It was one of
the finefl: fights 1 ever faw of the kind. They were all above

lixteen.

4j8 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

fixteen hands high, of the breed of the old Saracen horfes,
all finely made, and as llrong as our coach-horfes, but ex-
ceedingly nimble in their motion ; rather thick and fliort
in the forehand, but with the moil beautiful eyes, ears, and
heads in the world ; they were moflly black, fome of them
black and white, fome of them milk- white foaled, fo not
white by age, with white eyes and white hoofs, not per-
haps a great recommendation.

A STEEL fliirt of mail hung upon each man's quarters
oppofite to his horfe, and by it an antelope's fkin made foft
like Ihamoy, with which it was covered from the dew of the
night. A head-piece of copper, without crell or plumage,
was fufpended by a lace above the fliirt of mail, and was
the moft pidlurefque part of the trophy. To thefe was add-
ed an enormous broad-fword in a red leather fcabbard ;
and upon the pummel hung two thick gloves, not divided
into fingers as ours, but like hcdgers gloves, their finders
in one poke. They told me, that, within that inclofure at
Aira, there were 400 horfes, which, with the riders, and ar-
mour complete for each of them, were all the property of
Shekh Adelan, every horfeman being his flave, and bought
with his money. There were five or h^ (I know not which)
of thefe fquares or inclofures,noneof them.half amile from
the othei-, which contained the king's horfes, flaves, and fer-
vants. -Whether they were all in as good order as Adelan's
1 cannot fay, for I did not go further ; but no body of horfe
could ever be more magnillcently difpofed^under the direc-
tion of any Ghriftian power.

Adelan was then fitting upon a piece of the trunk of a

palm-tree, in the front of one of thefe divifions of liis hor-

2 fcs,

THE S OU R G E OE T HE N I'L E. 43<>

fes,. which he feemed to be contemplating with pleafure ; a--
number of black people, his own fervants and friends, were-
ftanding around him. He had. on a long drab-coloured-
camlet gown, lined with yellow fattin, and a camlet cap
like a head piece, with two fliort poinis that covered his
ears. This, it feems, was his drefs when he rofe early in?
the morning to vilit his horfes, which he never negleded;
The Shekh was a' man above fix- feet high, and rather cor^
pulent, had a heavy walk, feemingly more from affectation:
of grandeur than want of agility. He was about fixty, o^
the colour and features of an Arab< and not of a Negro,
but had rather more beard than falls to the lot of people
in this country; large piercing eyes, and a determined, tho',
at the fame time, a very pleafmg countenance. Upon my
coming near him he got up, " You that are a horfeman,
(fays he, without any falutation) what would your king of
Habefh give for thefe horfes ?"— What king, anfwercd 1, in
the fame tone, would not give any price for fuch horfes
if he knew their value >"—^' Well, replies he, in a lower-
voice, to the people about him, if we are forced to go to
Habefh (as Baady was) we will carry our horfes along with
lis." I underilood by this he alluded to the ilTue of his
approaching quarrel with the king.

We then went into a large faloon, hung round with
mirrors and fcarlet damailc ; in one of the longed fides, were
two large fofa's covered with crimfon and yellow damaflc,
and large cufliions of cloth of gold, like to the king's. He
now pulled off his camlet gown and cap, and remained
in a crimfon fattin coat reaching down below his knees,
which lapped over at the breaft, and was girt round his
waiO with a fcarf or fafli, in which he had ftuck a fhoPt
' tlagger in an ivory Iheath, mounted with gold ; and one of

the-

440 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

the largefl and mod beautiful amethyfls upon his finger
that ever I faw, mounted plain, without any diamonds, and
a fmall gold ear-ring in one of his ears.

" Why have you come hither, fays he to me, without
arms, and on foot, and without attendants ?" Tagotibe. " I was
told that horfes were not kept at Sennaar, and brought none
with me." Adclan. " You fuppofe you have come through
great dangers, and fo you have. But what do you think of
me, who am day and night out in the fields, furrounded by
hundreds and thoufands of Arabs, all of whom would eat
me alive if they dared ?" I anfwered, " A brave man, ufed
to command as you are, does not look to the number of his
enemies, but to their abilities; a wolf does not fear ten thou-
fand fheep more than he does one." Ad. " True ; look out
at the door ; thefe are their chiefs whom I am now taxing,
and I have brought them hither that they may judge from
v/hat they fee whether I am ready for them or not." Tag.
" You could not do more properly ; but, as to my own af-
fairs, I wait upon you from the king of AbyiTmia, defiring
fafe conduct through your country into Egypt, with his roy-
al promife, that he is ready to do the like for you again, or
any other favour you may call upon him for." He took the
letter and read it. Ad. " The king of Abyfilnia may be af-
fured I am always ready to do more for him than this. It
is true, fince the mad attempt upon Sennaar, and the next
ilill madder, to replace old Baady upon the throne, we have
had no formal peace, but neither are we at war. We un-
derftand one another as good neighbours ought to do ; and
what eife is peace ?" Yog. " You know I am a ftranger and
traveller, feeking my way home. I have nothing to do
with peace or war between nations. All I beg is a fafe con-
3 dud

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 44?

duifl through your kingdom, and the rights of hofpitality
beftowed in fuch cafes on every common flranger ; and one
of the favours I beg is, your acceptance of a fmall prefent.
I bring it not from home ; I have been long abfent from
thence, or it would have been better." Ad, " I'll not re-
fufe it, but it is quite unnecefTary. I have faults like other
men, but to hurt, or ranfom flrangcrs, was never one of
them. Mahomet Abou Kalec, my brother, is however a
much better man to ftrangers than I am; you will be lucky
if you meet him here ; if not, I will do for you what I can
when once the confufion of thefe Arabs is over.

I GAVE him the flierrifFe's letter, which he opened, looked at,
and laid by without reading, faying only, " Aye, Metical
is a good man, he fometimes takes care of our people
going to Mecca ; for my part, I never was there, and proba-
bly never fliall." I then prefented my letter from Ali Bey
to him. He placed it upon his knee, and gave a flap upon
it with his open hand. Ad. " What ! do you not know,
have you not heard, Mahomet Abou Dahab, hisHafnadar, has
rebelled againfl: him, banifhed him out of Cairo, and now
fits in his place? But don't be difconcerted at that, I
know you to be a man of honour and prudence ; if Maho-
met, my brother, does not come, as foon as I can get leifurc
I will difpatch you." The fcrvant that had conduded me
to Sennaar, and was then with us, went forward clofe to
him, and faid, in a kind of whifper, " Should he go often
to the king ?" — " When he pleafes ; he may go to fee the
town, and take a walk, but never alone, and alfo to the pa-
lace, that, when he returns to his own country, he may
report he faw a king at Sennaar, that neither knows how
to govern, nor will fuiFer others to teach him ; who knows

Vol. IV. 3 K not

442 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

not how to make war, and yet will not fit in peace." I
then took my leave of him, but there was a plentiful break-
fall in the other room, to which he fent us, and which
went far to comfort Hagi Ifmael for the misfortune of his
patron Ali Bey. At going out, I took my leave by kiffing
his hand, which he fubmitted to without reluctance.
" Shekh, faid I, when I pafs thefe Arabs in the fquare, I
hope it will not difoblige you if I converfe with fome of
them out of curiofity ?" Ad. " By no means, as much as
you pleafe ; but don't let them know where they can find
you at Sennaar, or they will be in your houfe from morn-
ing till night, will eat up all your victuals, and then, in
return, will cut your throat if they can meet you upon
your journey."

I RETURNED liomc to Scunaar, very well pleafed with my
reception at Aira. I had not fecn, fmce 1 left Gondar, a
man fo open and frank in his manners, and who fpoke
without difguife what apparently he had in his heart ; but
he was exceedingly engaged in bufmefs, and it was of fuch
extent that it feemed to me impoilible to be brought to
an end in a much longer time than I propofed flaying at
Sennaar. l^ie dillance, too, between Aira and that town
was a very great difcouragement to me. The whole way
was covered with infolent, brutifh people, fo that every
man we met between Sennaar and Aira produced fome al-
tercation, fome demand of prefents, gold, cloth, tobacco,
and a variety of other difagreeable circumflances, which
liad always the appearance of ending in fomcthing fe-
rious.

I HAD

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 44J

I HAD a long converfation with the Arabs I met with at
Aira, and from them I learned pretty nearly the lituation
oir the difT^:rent clans or tribes in Atbara. Thefe were all in
their way northward to the refpedive countries in the fands
to the eaflward of Mendera and Barbar. Thefe fands, fo
barren and defolate the reft of the year, were beginning
now to be crowded with multitudes of cattle and inhabi-
tants. The fly, in the flat and fertile mold which compofes
all' the foil to the fouthward of Sennaar, had forced this
number of people to migrate, which they very well knew
was to coft them at 1-caft one half of their fubftance ; of fuch
confequence is the weakeft inftrument in the hand of Provi-
dence. The troops of Sennaar, few in number, but well
provided with every thing, flood ready to cut thefe people
off from their accefs to the fands, till every chief of a tribe
had given in a well-verificd inventory of liis v/hole flock,
and made a compofltion, at paffing, wdth Shekh Adelan.

All fubtcrfuge was in vain. The fly, in pofTefilon of the
fertile country, inexorably purfued every Angle cam.el till he
took refuge in the fands, and fhere he was to flay till the
rains ceafed ; and if, in the interim, it was difcovered that
any concealment of number or quality had been made, they
were again to return in the beginning of September to their
old paRures ; and in this fccond palTage, any fraud, whether
Tcai or alkdgijd, was puniihed with great fevcrit)-. Refin-
ance had been often tried, and as often found inelTe^lua],
However great their numbers, encumbered with families
and baggage as they were, they had always fallen a facri-
fi-ce to thofe troops, well mounted and armed, that awaited
th^m in their way within fight of their own homes. Ar-

3 K 2 rived "

444 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

rived once in the fands, they were quiet during the rains,,
having paid their paiTage northward, and fo they were after-
wards, for the fame reafon,when they came again to thein
own llation, fouthward, when thofe rains had ceafed..

It may be aiked reafonably, What does the governmenf
of Sennaar do with thatirhmenfe number of camels which,
they receive from all thofe tribes of Arabs in their pafTage
by Sennaar ? To this I anfwer, That all this tribute is not
paid in kind. The different tribes poffeffing fo many ca-
mels, or fo many other cattle, have a quantum laid upon
them at an average value. This is paid in gold, or in.,
flaves, the reft in kind ; fo many for the maintenance of the
king and government ; for there is no flefh commonly ufed,
at Sennaar in the markets but that of camels. The refidue
is bought by the merchants o£ Dongola, and fent into.
^gypf> where they fupply that great confumption of.
thefe animals made every year by the caravans going to-
Mecca.

One thing had made a very ftrong impreffion on nic,
which was the contemptuous manner in which Adelan ex-
preffed himfelf as to his fovereign. I was fatisfied that
with fomc addrefs, I could keep myfelf in favour with either-
of them ; but in the terms they then were, or were very
foon to be, I could not but fear I was likely to fall into trou-
ble between the two.,

The next morning, after I came home from Aira, I was
agreeably furprifed by a vifit from Hagi Belal, to whom I
had been recommended by Metical Aga, and to vv'hom Ibra-
kim SerafF, the Englilli broker at Jidda, had addreffedme for

any

THESOURCE OF THE NILE. 445

any money I fl^.ould need at Sennaar. He welcomed me
with great kindnefs, and repeated teftimonics of joy and
wonder at my fafe arrival. He had been down in Atbara
at Gerri, or Ibme villages near it, with merchandize, and
had not yet feen the king fince he came home, but gave
me the very worft defcription poiUble of the country, info-
much that there feemed to be not a fpot, but the one I then
Hood on, in which I was not in imminent danger of deftruc-
tion, from a variety of independent caufes, which it feemed
not pofllbly in my pow^er to avoid. He fent me in the even-
ing fome refrefhments, which I had long been unaccuftom-
ed to; fome tea, excellent coffee, fome honey and brown
fugar, feveral bottles of rack, likewife nutmegs, cinnamon,,
ginger, and fome very good dates of the dry kind which?
he had brought from Atbara.

Hagi Belal was a native of Morocco. He had been at
€airo, and alfo at Jidda and Mocha. He knew the Englifh
well, and profeffed himfelf both obliged and attached to
them. It was fome days before I ventured to fpeak to him
upon money bufmefs, or upon any probability of finding,
affiftance here at Sennaar. He gave me little hopes of the
latter, repeating to me what I very well knew about the dif-
agreement of the king and Adelan. He feemed to place all
his expectations, and thofe were but faint ones, in the co-
ming of Shekh Abou Kalec from Kordofan. He faid, no-
thing could be expected from Shekh Adelan without going
to Aira, for that he would never trull: himfelf in Sennaar,,
in this king's lifetime, h\n that the miniller was abfolute
the. moment he affembled his troops without the town.

©NE

446 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

One morning he came to me, after having been with
the king, when I was myfelf preparing ro go to the palace.
He faid, he had been fent for upon my account, and had
been queflioned very narrowly what fort of a man I was.
Having anfwered very favourably, both of me and my na-
tion, he was afked for Mctical Aga's letters, or any other
letters he had received concerning me from Jidda ; he faid,
that he had only fliewn Merical's letter, wrote in the name
of the flierrifFe, as alfo one from himfelf ; that there were fe-
veral great ofllcers of government prefent ; and the Cadi
(whom I had feen the firil time I had been with the king)
had read the letters aloud to them all : That one of them
had afl:ed. How it came that fuch a man as I ventured to
pafs thefe defer ts, with four or five old fervants, and what
it was I came to fee ; that he anfwered, he apprehended
my chief objetfl at Sennaar was to be forwarded to my own
country. It was alfo afked, AVhy I had not fomc Englifli-
nien with me, as none of my fervants were of that nation,
but poox beggarly Kopts, Arabs, and Turks, who were none
of them of my religion ? Eelal anfwered. That travellers
through thefe countries muft take up with fuch people as
they can find going the fame way ; however, he believed
fome Englifli fervants had died in Abylluiia, which coun-
try I had left the fiifl opportunity that had oflered, being
wearied by the perpetual war which prevailed. Upon which
the king faid, " He has chofen well, when lie came in-
to this ecuntry for peace. You know, Hagi 3elal, I can do
nothing for him ; there is nothing in my hands. I could
eafier get him back into Abyffinia than forward liini into
Egypt, Who is it now that can pafs into Egypt r" The Cadi
then faid, " Hagi Belal can get him to Suakein, and {o to

Jidda

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 447

Jidda to his countrymen." To which Belal replied, " The
king will find feme way when he thinks farther of it."

A FEW days after this I had a melTage from the palace.
I found the king fitting alone, apparently much chagrined,
and in ill-humour. He afl^ed me, in a very peevilh man-
ner, " If I was not yet gone ?" To which I anfwered, " Your
Majefty knows that it is impolTible for me to go a ftep from
Sennaar without alliftance from you." He again allced me,
in the fame tone as before, " How I could think of coming
that way ?" I faid, nobody imagined in Abyffinia but that
he was able to give a ilranger fafe condu(5l through his own
dominions." He made no reply, but nodded a fign for me
to depart, which I immediately did, and fo finifhed this fhortr,.
but difagreeable interview.

About four o'clock that fame afternoon I was again fent
for to the palace, when the king told me that feveral of
his wives were ill, and defired that I would give them my
advice, which I promifed to do without difficulty, as all
acquaintance with the fair fex had hitherto been much to
my advantage. I muft confefs, however, that calling thefe
the fair fex is not preferving a precifion in terms. I was
admitted into a large fquare apartment very ill lighted, in
which were about fifty women, all perfe^flly black, Avithouc
any covering but a very narrow piece of cotton rag about
their waifts. While I was mufing whether or not thefe all
might be queens, or whether there was any queen among
them, one of them took me by the hand and led me rudely
enough into another apartment. This was much better
lighted than the firft. Upon a large bench, or fvfa, covered
I with

44B TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

with blue Surat cloth, fat three perfons cloathcd from the
neck to the feet with blue cotton ihirts.

One of thefe, who I found was the favourite, was a-
bout fix feet high, and corpulent beyond all proportion.
She feemed to me, next to the elephant and rhinoceros, to
be the largeft living creature I had met with. Her fea-
tures were perfecftly like thofe of a Negro ; a ring of gold
pafled through her under lip, and weighed it down, till,
like a flap, it covered her chin, and left her teeth bare,
which were very fmall and fine. The infide of her lip fhe
had made black with antimony. Her ears reached down
to her fhoulders, and had the appearance of wings ; flie
had in each of them a large ring of gold, fomewhat fmaller
than a man's little finger, and about five inches diameter.
The weight of thefe had drawn down the hole where her
ear was pierced fo much that three fingers might eafily
pafs above the ring. She had a gold necklace, like what
we ufed to call Efclavage, of feveral rows, one below an-
other, to which were hung rows of fequins pierced. She
had on her ancles two manacles of gold, larger than any
I had ever feen upon the feet of felons, with which I could
not conceive it was pofilble for her to walk, but afterwards I
foundthcy werehollow. The otherswere drefit'ed pretty much
in the fame manner; only there was one that had chains
which came from her ears to the outfide of each noftril,
where they v/ere fafiened. There was alfo a ring put thro'
the grifiile of her nofe, and which hung down to the open-
ing of her mouth. I think flic muft have breathed with
great difficulty. It had altogether fomething of the ap-
pearance of a horfe's bridle. Upon my coming near them,
the eldell put her hand to her mouth and kifitd it,

4 faying,

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 449

faying, at the fame time, in very vulgar Arabic, " Kifhalek
howaja?" (how do you do, merchant). I never in my hfe
was more pleafed with diftant fakitations than at this time.
I anfwered, " Peace be among you ! I am a phyfician, and
not a merchant."

I SHALL not entertain the reader with the muhitude of
their complaints ; being a lady's phyfician, difcretion and
filence are my firft duties, h is fufficient to fay, that there
was not one part of their whole bodies, infide and outflde,
in which fome of them had not ailments. The three
queens infilled upon being blooded, which defire I complied
with, as it was an operation that required fliort attendance ;
but, upon producing the lancets, their hearts failed them.
They then all cried out for the Tabange, v>rhich, in Arabic,
means a piilol ; but what they meant by this word was, the
cupping inflrument, which goes off with a fpring like the
fnap of a piftol. I had two of thefe with me, but not at
that time in my pocket. I fent my fervant home, however,
to bring one, and, that fame evening, performed the ope-
ration upon the three queens with great fuccefs. The
room was overflowed with an effufion of royal blood, and
the whole ended with their infifling upon my giving them
the inflrument itfelf, which I was obliged to do, after cup-
ping, two of their flaves before them, who had no com-
plaints, merely to fliew them how the operation was to be
performed.

Another night I was obliged to attend them, and gave

the queens, and two or three of the great ladies, vomits. I

will fpare my reader the recital of fo naufeous a fcene.

The ipecacuanha had great effeft, and warm water was

Vol. IV. 3 L drunk

450 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

drunk very copioufly. The patients were numerous, and'
the floor oF the room received all the evacuations. It was
moft prodigiouliy hot, and the horrid, black figures, moan-
ing and groaning with fickncfs all around me, gave me, I
think, feme flight idea of the punifliment in the world be-
low. My mortifications, however, did not flop here. 1 ob-
lerved that, in coming into their prelence, d\e queens were
all covered with cotton lliirts ; but no fooner did their
complaints make part of our con verfation,' than, to my uc-
mofl furprife, each of them, in her turn, ftript herfelf entire-
ly naked, laying her cotton Ihirt loofcly on her lap as flie
fat croi^-legged like a tailor. The cuftom of going na^
ked in thefe warm countries aboliflies all delicacy concern-
ing it. I could not but obferve that the breafts of each of
them reached the.length of their knees.

This exceeding confidence on their parr, they thought
merited fome conflderation on mine ; and it was not with-
out great aftonifliment that I heard the queen defire to fee
me in the like difliabille in which flie had fpontaneoufly
put herfelf. The whole court of female attendants flocked
to the fpedtacle. Refufal, or refiflance, were in vain. I
was furrounded with fifty or fixty women, all equal in fla.-
ture and ftrength to myfelf. The whole of my cioathing
was, like theirs, a long loofe lliirt of blue Surat cotton
cloth, reaching from the neck down to the feet. The on--
ly terms I could polTibly, and that with great diflicultVi
make for myfelf were, that they fliould be contented to
fl:rip me no farther than the fhoulders and breafl. Upon
feenig the whitenefs of my fkin, they gave all a loud cry
in token of diflike, and fliuddered, feeming to confider it
rather the effefts of difeafe than natural. I think in my

life--

THE SOURCE OF THE NIL^. 4>.i

"life I never felt fo difagreeably. I have been in more than
one battle, but furely I would joyfully have taken my
chance again in any of thein to have been freed from that
examination. I could not help likewife refledling, that, if
the king had come in during this exhibition, the confe-
quence would either have been impaling, or ilripping off
that fkin whofe colour they were fo curious about ; tho'
I can folemnly declare there was not an idea in my breail,
fmce ever I had the honour of feeing thefe royal beauties,
that could have given his majefty of Sennaar the fmalleft
reafon for jealoufy ; and I believethe fame may be faid of the
fentiments of the ladies in what regarded mc. Ours was a mu-
tual paffion, but dangerous to no one concerned. I returned
home with very different fenfations from thofe I had felt
after an interview with the beautiful Aifcach of Teawa.
Indeed, it was impoflible to be more chagrined at, or more
difgufted with, my prefent fituation than I was, and the
more fo, that my delivery from it appeared to be very dif-
tant, and the circumflances were more and more unfavour-
able every day.

An event happened which added to my diftrefs. Going
one evening to wait upon the king, and being already with-
in the palace, palling through a number of rooms that are
now totally deferted, where the court o£ guard ufed to be
kept, I met Mahomet, the king's fervant, who accompanied
us from Teawa. Such people, though in reality often
enough drunk, yet if they happen to be fobcr at the time of
their committing a crime, counterfeit drunkennefs, in order
to avail themfelves of it as an excufe. This fellow, feeing me
alone, came ftaggering up to tue, faying, " Damn you, Ya-
goube, I have met you now, pay me for the trouble of go-

3 L 2 ing

4J2 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

ing for you to Teawa ;" and with that he put his arm to
lay hold of me by the breaft. I fiiid to him, " Off hands, you
ruffian ;" and, taking him by the arm, I gave him fuch a
pufli that he had very near fallen backward ; on which he
cried out, in great fury, " Give me fifty patakas (about twelve
guineas) or I'll ham-llring you this inftant." I had always
pifiols in my pocket for an extremitv ; but I could not con-
fider this drunkard, though armed, to have reduced me to
that fituation ; I therefore immediately clofed upon him,
and, catching him by the throat, gave him a violent wrench
backward, which threw him upon the ground. 1 then took
his fword out of his hand ; and in the inftant my black fer-
vant Soliman appeared, who had ftaid behind converfing
with fome acquaintance in the ftreet. Several other black
companions of this rafcal likewife appeared ; part fecmed
to defend, and part to intercede for him, but none to con-
demn him. Soliman, however, infifted upon carrying him be-
fore the king with his drawn fword in his hand. But how
were we furprifed, when the king's anfwer to our complaint
was, " That the man was drunk, and that the people in
that country were not ufed to fee franks, like me, walking
in the ftreet." He then gave Soliman a fliarp reproof for
having the prefumption, as he called it, to difarm one of
his fervants in his palace, and immediately ordered his
fword to be reftored him.

We were retiring full of thoughts what might be the
occafion of this reception, when we were met by Kittou,
Adelan's brother, who was left with the care of the town.
I told the whole affair. He heard me very attentively, and
with apparent concern. " It is all the king's fault ; every

Have

THE SOURCE OF THENILE. 453

flave does what he pleafes, faid he. If I mention this
to Adelan, he will order the drunkard's head to be llriick ofF
before the palace-gate. But it is better for you that nothing
of this kind happen while you are here. Mahomet Abou
Kalec is daily expeded, and all thefe things will be put up-
on another footing. In the mean time, keep at home as
much as poffible, and never go out without two or three
black people along with you, fervants, or others. While
you are in my brother's houfe, as you now are, and we alive,
there is no body dares moleft you, and you are perfedly at
liberty to refufc or admit any perfon you pleafe, whether
they come from the king or not, by only faying, Adelan
forbids you. I will anfwer for the reft. The lefs you
come here the better, and never venture into the llrect at
night."

At this inftant a meflage from the king called him in..

I went away, better fatisfied than before, becaufe I now

had learned there was a place in that town where I could

remain in fafety, and I was refolved there to await the

arrival of Abou Kalec, to whom I looked up as to the

means Providence was to ufe to free me from the defigns

the king was apparently meditating againft me. I was

more confirmed in the belief of thefe bad intentions, by a

convcrfation he had with Hagi Belal, to whom he faid,

That he was very credibly informed I had along with

me above 2000 ounces of gold, befides a quantity of

fdver, and rich embroideries from India, from which

laft place, and not from Cairo, I was come as a merchant,

■ and not a phyfician. I refolved, therefore, to keep clofe at

home, and to put into feme form the obfervations that

L had'.

454 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

I had made upon this extraordinary government ; a mo-
narchy that had llarted up, as it were, in our days, and
of which no traveller has as yet given the fmallell ac-
count.

gSr'-'-^ ==>^

CHAE

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 4ss

CHAP. ix;.

Cdnverfat'iom withAchmet — Hl/lory andGoveniment ofSennaar-'^Heat—^
Difcafes — l^rade of that Coufitry-^The Authors dijlreffcd Situation—'
Leaves Sennaar. ■

FROM Salidan's time, till the conqucil of Selim empe*
ror of the Turks, who linifhed the reign o'i the Ma-
malukes by the murder of Tomum Bey, that is, from the
twelfth to the fixteenth century, the Arabs in Nubia and Beja,
and the feveral countries above Egypt, had been incorpora-
ted with the old indigenous inhabitants of thofe territo-
ries, which were the Shepherds^ and, upon converfion of thefe
laft to the Mahometan religion, had become one pcopla
with thofe Saracens who over-ran this country in the Kha-«
lifat of Omar. The only diftindlion that remained was^
that the Arabs continued their old manner of life in tents,
while the indigenous inhabitants lived in huts, mollly by
the fides of rivers, and among plantations of dace-trees.;

i

&-

It:

45^5 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

It muiI be, however, remembered, that this, though a
pretty general obfervation, does not hold without excep-
tion ; for the Arabs of Mahomet's own familj-, the Beni
Koreiili, moftly lived in towns, fuch as Mecca, Tajef, and
Medina, efpecially after the expulfion of the Jews and the
eftablilhment of his empire. Many alfo of thefe, who
came over to Beja and the eaftern part of Nubia, continued
their pra6lice of living in fmall towns or villages, and were
diilinguiflied by the name of Jaheleen : This appellation, li-
terally interpreted, fignifies Pagans ; but by extention, the
ancient races of Arabs converted immediately from Pa-
ganifm to the Mahometan faith, by Mahomet himfelf,
without having ever embraced Chrillianity, or any other Pa-
.gan fuperftition befides pure Sabaifm, and this was the old
religion of Arabia, and of the whole peninfula of Africa to
the Wellern Ocean. Thefe Jaheleen are generally known
by their name, referring to men of conlideration in the time
of Mahomet's life, whom they call their father, or to fome
circumllance relating to Mahomet himfelf. An example of
the firft of the race is, Rabatab, that is, Rabat ivas our father, or,
•' we are the children of Rabat." An example of the fecond
is the Macabrab, or, the fepulchre is our father^ meaning the
fepulchrc of their prophet at Medina.

These Jaheleen are, as I have faid, truly noble Arabs of
the race of Beni Koreilli. Though they live in villages, they
are the mofl dangerous and mofl fanatic wretches a travel-
ler can meet. All this country, though nominally fubje(5t
to Egypt for the fake of trade, had their own prince of the
race of Beni Koreifli, whofc title was Welled Ageeb,5o« of the
Gooa', which was his general inauguration name; and, be-
fides this, he was called Ali, or Mahomet Welled Ageeb,
3 ' which

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 457

which is part of his title, or, as it were, his Chriftian name
addeci to that of his family. This prince was, neverthelefs,
but the Shekh of all the Arabs, to whom they paid a tribute
to enable him to maintain his dignity, and a fufficient
ftrength to keep up order and inforce his decrees in public
matters. As for oeconomical ones, each tribe was under the
government of its own Shekh, old men, fathers of families
in each clan.

The refidence of this Arab prince, called for Ihortnefs
Wed Ageeb, was at Gerri, a town in the very limits of the
tropical rains, immediately upon the ferry which leads a-
crofs the Nile to the defert of Bahiouda, and the road to Don-
gola and Egypt, joining the great defert of Selima. This
was a very well-chofen fituation, it being a toll-gate, as it
were, to catch all the Arabs that had flocks, who, living
within the rains in the country which was all of fat earth,
v/ere every year, about the month of May, obliged by the
fly to pafs, as it were, in review, to take up their abode in
the fandy defert without the tropical rains. By the time
fair weather returned in the fertile part of the country to
the fouthward, and freed them from the fly, all forts of ver-
dure had grown up in great luxuriancy, while hunger fla-
red them now in the face among the lands to the north-
ward, where every thing eatable had been confumcd by
the multitudes of cattle that had taken refuge there. The
Arab chief, with a large army of lighr, unincumbered horfe,
flood in the way of their return to their pallures, till they
had paid the uttermoil farthing of tribute, including arrears,
if any there were. Such was the flate and government
of the whole of this vaft country, from the frontiers of
Vol. IV. 3 M Egypt

458 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

Egypt to thofe of AbyfUnia, at the beginning of the 1 6th
century.

In the year 1504, a black nation, hitherto unknown, inha-
biting the weftern banks of the Bahar el Abiad, in about lati-
tude 13°, made a defcent, in a multitude of canoes, or boats,
upon the Arab provinces, and iti a battle near Herbagi,
they defeated Wed Ageeb, and forced him to a capitulation,
by which the Arabs were to pay to their conquerors, in the
beginning, one half of their flock, and every fubfequent
year, one-half of the increafe, which was to be levied at the
time of their palling into the fands to avoid the lly. Upon
this condition, the Arabs were to enjoy their former polTef-
fions unmolefted, and Wed Ageeb his place and dignity, that
he always might be ready to ufe coercion in favour of the
conquerors, in cafe any of the diftant Arabs refufed pay-
ment, and he thus became as it were their lieutenant..

This race of negroes is, in their own country, called
Shillook. They founded Sennaar, lefs advantageoully fitu-
ated than Gerri, and removed the feat of government of
Wed Ageeb to Herbagi, that he might be more immediate-
ly uncrer their own eye. It was the year 1504 of the Chriflian
.-Era that Amru, fon of Adelan, the firft of their fovereigns
on the eaftern fide of the Nile, founded this m.onarchy, and
built Sennaar, which hath ever fmcc been the capital. From
this period, till the time when I was at Sennaar, 266 years
had elapfed, in which 20 kings had reigned, that is, from
Amru the iirll, to Ifmain the prefent king. He was about
34 years of age, and had reigned three years, fo that, not-
withftanding the long reigns of Amba Rabat the firft, and
the two Baadys, the duration of the reigns of the kings of

Sennaar

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 459

Sennaar will be but 13 years upon an average ; eight of the
twenty have been depofed, and Ifmain the prefcnt king
{lands the fairell chance poffible of being very foon the
9th of that number.

At the cllablifhing of this monarchy, the king, and the
whole nation of Shillook, were Pagans. They were foon
after converted to Mahometifm, for the fake of trading
with Cairo, and took the name of Funge, which they inter-
pret fometimes loi'ds, or conquerors, and, at other- times,
free citizens. All that can be faid with certainty of this
term, as there is no accefs to the fludy of their language, is,
that it is applicable to thofe only that have been born eaft
of the Bahar el Abiad. It does not feem to me that they
Ihould pride themfelves in being free citizens, becaufe the
firll title of nobility in this country is that of ilave ; indeed
there is no other. Upon any appearance of your undervalu-
ing a man at Sennaar, he inflantly alks you if you know who
he is ? if you don't know that he is a Have, in the fame idea of
ariftocratical arrogance, as would be faid in England upon
an altercation, do you know to whom you are fpeaking ? do
you know that I am a peer ? All titles and dignities are un-
dervalued, and precarious, unlefs they are in the hands
of one wdio is a flave. Slavery in Sennaar is the only true
nobility.

As I do not know that the names of thefe fovereigns are
to be found any where elfe, I have fet them down here. The
record from which I dre\v them is at leaft as extraordinary
as any part of their hiflory ; it was the hangman's roll, or
regifler. It is one of the fmgularities Vv'hich obtains among

3 M 2 this

46o TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

this brutifh people, that the king afcends his throne under
an adniiffion that he may be lawfully put to death by his own
fubjedis or flaves, upon a council being held by the great of-
ficers, if they decree that it is not for the advantage of the
Hate that he be fuffered to reign any longer. There is one
officer of his own family, who, alone, can be the inftrument
of lliedding his fovereign and kinfman's blood. This of-
ficer is called, Sid cl Coom, mafter of the king's houfehold,
or fervants, but has no vote in depofing him ; nor is any
guilt imputed to him, however many of his fovereigns he
thus regularly murders. Achmet Sid el Coom, the prefent
liccnfed parricide, and refident in Ifmain's palace, had mur-
dered the late king Naffer, and two of his fons that were
well grown, befides a child at his mother's breail ; and he
was expeding every day to confer the fame favour upon
Ifmain ; though at prefent there was no malice on the one
part nor jealoufy on the other, and I believe both of them
had a guefs of what was likely to happen. It was this Ach-
mer, who was very much my friend, that gave me a lift of
-the kings that had reigned, how long their reign lafted,.
and whether they died a natural death, or were depofed and
murdered.

This extraordinary officer was one of the very few that
fliewed me any attention or civility at Sennaar. He had
been violendy tormented with the gravel, but had found
much eafe from the ufe of foap-pills that I had given him,
and this had produced, on his part, no fmall degree of gra-
titude and friendihip ; he was alfo fubjeift to the epilepfy,,
but this he was [>erfuaded was witchcraft, from the machi-
nations of an enemy who refided far oir. 1 often Haid ac

his.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 46s

his houfe all night, when he fufFcred exceffive pains, and I
may fay then only I was in fafety.

AcHMET feemed, by ftrange accident, to be one of the
gentled fpirits of any that it was my misfortune to convcrfe
•with at Sennaar. He was very little attached to, or convin-
ced of, the truth of the Mahometan religion, and as little
zealous or in{lru6ted in his own. He ufed often to qualify
his ignorance, or diibelief, by faying, that any, or no reli-
gion, was better than that of a Chriftian, His place of birth
was in a village of Fazuclo, and it appeared to me that he
was flill a Pagan. He was conftantly attended by Nuban
priefts, powerful conjurers and forcerers, if you believed
him. I often converfed with thefe in great freedom, when
it happened they underftood Arabic, and from them I learn-
ed many particulars concerning the fituation of the inland
part of the country, efpecially that vail ridge of mountains,
Dyre and Tegla, which run into the heart of Africa to the
wcRward, whence they fay anciently they cajne, after ha-
ving been preferved there from a deluge. I a&ed them
often, (powerful as they were in charms). Why they did
not cure Achmet of the gravel, or epilepfy ? Their anfwer
was. That it was a Chriilian devil, and not fubjecl to their
power.

Ac H MET did not believe that I was a Chriflian, knew I
was no Mahometan, but tliought I was like himfelf, fome-
thing between the two, nor did I ever undeceive him. I was
no miffionary, nor had I any care of fouls, nor defire to en-
ter into converfation about religion with a man whofe only
office was to be tlie deliberate murderer of his fovcreign.
He fpokc good Arabic, was ofiended at no quellion, hut an-

fwercd

462 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

fwered freely, and without referve, whether about the coun-
try, rehgion, or government, or the pofl which he enjoyed,
if we can term it enjoying an office created for fuch horrid
crimes. He told me, with great coolnefs, in anfwer to a
queftion why he murdered NafTer's fon in his father's pre-
fence, that he did not dare to do otherwife from duty to
NalTer, whofe right it was to fee his fon flain in a regular
and lawful manner, and this was by cutting his throat with
a fword, and not by a more ignominious and painful death,
which, if it had not been done in the father's fight, the ven-
geance of his enemies might have fuggefted and inflicTied.
He faid, that Naffer was very little concerned at the fpeftacle
of his fon's death, but very loth when it came to his turn
to die himfelf ; that he urged him often to fuffer him to
efcape, but, finding this in vain, he fubmitted without i^-^
fiftance. He told me, Ifmain, the prefent king, flood upon
very precarious ground; that both the brothers, Adelan and
Abou Kalec, were at the head of armies in the field ; that
Kittou had at his difpofal all the forces that were in Sen-
naar ; and that the king was little efteemed, and had nei-
ther experience, courage, friends, money, nor troops.

I ASKED him if he was not afraid, when he entered into
die king's prefence,left he, too, might take it into his head
to fliew him, that to die or be flain was not fo flight a mat-
ter as he made of ir. He faid, " By no means,; that it was
his duty to be with the king the greateft part of the morn-
ing, and neceffarily once very late in the evening; that
the king knew he had no hand in the wrong that might be
done to him, nor any way advanced his death ; but, being
come to the point that he muft die, the reft was only a
A matter

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 463

matter of decency, and it would undoubtedly be the objedl
of his choice' rather to be flain by the hands of his own re-
lation in private, than thofe of a hired aflafTin, an Arab, or
a Chriftian Have, in public view before the populace."
When Baady the king's father was taken prifoner, and fent
to Teawa to Welled Haflan governor of Atbara, (Shekh Fi-
dele's father) Adelan ordered him to be put to death there,
and Welled Haiian carried that order into execution. The
king being always armed, was ftout, and feemed to be up-
on his guard ; and Welled HafTan found no way of killing
him but by thrufting him through the back with a lance
while wafliing his hands. The people murmured againft
Adelan exceedingly, not on account of the murder itfelf,
but the manner of it, and Welled HalTan was afterwards
put to death himfelf, though he aded by exprefs orders,-
becaufe, not being the officer appointed, he had killed the
king, and next, becaufe he had done it with a lance, where-
as the only lawful inllrument was a fword,

I HAVE already faid, that it was the year of the Hegira,.
anfwering to 1504 of the Chriftian cera, that this people, call-
ed Shillook, built the town of Sennaar, and eftablifhed
their monarchy, which has now fubfifted under a fucceffion
of. twenty kings of the fame family..

LIST

464

TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

Lift of the Kings of Sennaar.

Years

Amru, fon of Adelan, began his reign in the

year 1504, and reigned
Neil, his fon,
Abdelcader, fon of Amru,
Amru, fon of Neil, depofed,
Dekin, fon of Neil,
Douro, his fon, depofed,
Tiby, fon of Abdelcader,
Ounfa, depofed,

Abdelcader, fon of Ounfa, depofed,
Adelan, fon of Ounfa, depofed,
Baady, fon of Abdelcader,
Rebat, fon of Baady,
Baady, his fon,

Ounfa, fon of Naffer fon of Rebat,
Baady el Achmer, his fon,
Ounfa, his fon, depofed,
L'Oul, fon of Baady,
Baady, his fon, depofed,
Naffer, his fon, depofed,
Ifmjiin,

REIGNED, A, B.

3<^

1534

17

^55^

8

1559

II

1570

17

^5^7

3

1590

3

1593

13

1606

4

1610

5

16x5

6

1 62 1

30

1651

38

1689

12

1701

25

1726

3

1729

4

1733

3Z

1766

3

1769

3

1772

Alt

HOUGH

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 465

Although thefe kings began with a very remaikablc
conqueft, it does not appear they added much to their
kingdom afterwards. Ounfa, fon of Nafler, is faid to have
firft fubdued the province of Fazuclo. I Ihall but make
three obfervations upon this Hil, which is undoubtedly au-
thentic. The firft is, that this monarchy having been efta-
bhlhed in the 1504, it rauft anfwer to the 9th year of the
reign of Naod in the Abylhnian annals, as that prince began
to reign in 1495. — The fecond is, that Tecla Haimanout, the
fon of Yafous the Great, writing to Baady el Achmer, or the
White, who was the fon of Ounfa, about the murder of M.
du Roule the French Amballador, in the beginning of this
century, fpeaks of the ancient friendihip that had fubfifted
between the kings of AbyfTmia and thofe of Sennaar, ever
fmce the reign of Kim, whom he mentions as one of
Baady's remote predecellbrs on the throne of Sennaar. Now,
in the whole lill of kings we have jufl given, we do not
find one of the name of Kim ; nor is there one word
mentioned of a king of Sennaar, or a treaty with him,
in the whole annals of Abyflinia, rill the beginning of
Socinios's reign. I therefore imagine that the Kim*,
which Tecla Haimanout informs us his predecelTors
correfponded with in ancient tim.es, was a prince, who,
imder the command of the Caliph of Cairowan, in the
kingdom of Tunis in Africa, took Cairo and fortified it,
by lurrounding it wich a ftrong wall, and who reigned, by
himfelf and fucceffors, 100 years, from 998 to 1101, when
Hadcc, the lall prince of that race, was ilain by Sahdan, firft

Vol IV. 3 N Soldan

* Vid. Matmol, torn. I p. 274.

466 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

Soldan of Egypt, with which country the Abyflinians at that
time were in conftant correfpondence, though I never
heard they were with Sennaar, which indeed did not exill
at that time, nor was there either city or kingdom till the
reign of Naod ; fo it was a correfpondence with the fove-
reigns of Cairo, Tecla Haimanout miilook for that with Sen-
naar, which monarchy was not then founded. — The third
obfervation is, that this Baady el Achmer, being the very
king who murdered M. du Roule in 1704, did, neverthelefs,
live till the year 1726, having reigned 25 years; whereas
M. de Mailiet '^ writes to his court, that this prince had
been defeated and flain in a battle he had with the Arabs,
under their Shekh at Herbagi in 1705.

Upon the death of a king of Sennaar, his eldefc fon fuc-
cecds by right ; and immediately afterwards as many of
the brothers of the reigning prince as can be apprehended
are put to death by the Sid el Coom, in the manner already
defcribed. Achmet, one of the fons of Baady, brother of
Naffer, andlfmain now on the throne, fled, upon his brother's
acceflion, to the frontiers of Kuara, and gathering to-
gether about a hundred of the Ganjar horfe, he came to
Gondar, and was kindly received by the Iteghe, who perfua-
ded him to be baptifed. Some time after he returned
to Kuara, and joined the king's army a little before the bat-
tle of Serbraxos, with about the fame number of horfe,
and there he milbehaved, taking flight upon the lirll ap-
pearance

* Vid. Conful Maillet's letter to the French ambaflador piibliflied by Le Grande, in his
Hiftory of Abyflinia,

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 467

pearance of the enemy, before a man was killed or wound-
ed on either fide. He was graceful in his perfon and car-
riage, but a liar and drunkard beyond all conception.

The praAice which obtains at Sennaar of murdering all
the collaterals of the royal family, feems to be but ;• part
of the fame idea* which prevails in Abyffinia, of confining
the princes all their lives upon a mountain. The difference
of treatment, in cafes perfectly parallel, feems to offer a
juft manner of judging, how much the one people furpaffes
the other in barbarity of manners and difpofition. In Abyf-
fmia, the princes are confined for life on a mountain, and
in 8ennaar they are murdered in their father's fight, in the
palace where they were born.

As in Abyffmia, fo neither in Sennaar do women fucceed
to fovereignty. No hiflorical reafon is given for this exclu-
fion. It probably was a rule brought from lil-aice, their
own country, before founding their monarchy, for the very
contrary prevailed among the Shepherds, whom they fub-
dued in Atbara. The princeffes, however, in Abyffmia, are
upon a much better footing than thofe of Sennaar. Thefe
laft have no ftate nor fettled income, and are regarded very
little more than the daughters of private individuals. A-
mong that crowd of women which I faw the two nights I
was in the palace, there were many princeffes, fifters of the
king, as I was after told. At that time they were not di-
ftinguiffiable by their manners, nor was any particular
mark of refpcd: fliewn them.

3 N 2 The

Bear, like the Turk, no brother near the throne. Pops.

468 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

TfiE royal family were originally Nfgrocs, and remain
fo ftill, when their mothers have been black like thcoifelvcs j.,
but when the king has happened w. marry an Arab woman,
as he often does, the black colour of the father cedes to the
white of the mother, and the child is white. Such was the
cafe of Baady, therefore named Achmer ; Ins fatlicr R.ebat
was black, but marrying an Arab, his fon who fucceedcd
him was white. The lafi Baady who was flain at Teawa
was a perfedt Negro ; and by a ilave from his own country
he had the late king Naffer, w]\o, like his father, was a
perfed black. By an Arab of the tribe of Davema he had
Ifmain the prefent king, who is white, and fo it has inva-
riably happened in the royal family, as well as in private
ones. But what is llill more extraordinary, though equally
true, an Arab who is white\ marrying a black woman Have,
has infallibly white children. 1 will not fay that this is fo -
univerfal as that an example of the contrary may not be
found, but all the inftances I happened to fee confirmed
this. The Arabs, from choice, cohabit only v/ith Negro
women in the hot months of fummer, on account of the
remarkable coolnefs of their [\dns, in which they are faid
to differ from the Arab women ; but I never faw one black
Arab in the kingdom of Sennaar, notwithllanding the ge-
nerality of this intercourfe.

There is a conllant mortality among the children in
and about this metropolis, infomuch that, inall appearance,
the people would be extin6l v/ere they not fupplied by a
number of Haves brought from all the different countries
to the fouthward. The men, however, are ihong and re-
markable for fize, but (liort-lived, owing, probably, to
their indulging themfelves in every fort of excefs from

their

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 4%

theirvery infancy. This being the cafe, niis climat^i mull
have \indcrgone a flrange revolution, as Sennaar is but a..
fmall diRance from where the ancients phice the Macrobii,
a nation fo called froin the remarkable length of their
lives. Btit perhaps thefe were moiuitaineers from the fron-
tiers of Kuara, being defcribed as having gold in their ter-
ritory, and are the race now called Guha. It is very re-
markable, that, though they are Mahometans, they are fa
brutal, not to fay indelicate, with regard to their women,
that they fell their flaves after having lived with, and even
bad children by them. The king himfelfjit is faid, is often
guilty of this unnatural praflice, utterly unknown in any
other Mahometan country.

Once in his reign the king is obliged, with his own hand,
to plow and fow a piece of land. From this operation he
is called Eaady, the countryman or peafant ; it is a name
common to the whole race of kings, as Ca^far was among the
Romans, though they have generally another name peculi-
ar to each perfon, and this not attended to has occalloned
confufion in the narrative given by llrangers writing con^
cerning them. .

No librfe, mule, afs, or any beafl of burden, will breed, or
even live at Sennaar, or many iniles about it. Poultry does
not live there. Neither dog nor cat, flreep nor bullock, can
be preferved a feafon there. They mull go all, every half
year, to the fands. Though all poflible care be taken of
them, they die in every place where the fat earth is abour
the town during the firft feafon of the rains. Two grey-
hounds v/hich I brought from Atbara, and the mules which

I brought ;

470 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER ^

I brought from Abyflinia, lived only a few weeks after I ar-
rived. They feemed to have fome inward complaint, for
nothing appeared outwardly. The dogs had abundance of
water, but I killed one of them from apprehenfion of mad-
nefs. Several kings have tried to keep lions, but no care
could prolong their lives beyond the firft rains, Shekh
Adelan had two, which were in great health, being kept with
his horfes at grafs in the fands but three miles fromSennaar:
neither rofe, nor any fpecies of jeflamin, grow here ; no tree
but the lemon flowers near the city, that ever I faw ; the rofe
has been often tried, but in vain.

Sennaar is in lat. 13° 34' 36" north, and in long. 33" 30' 30"
call from the meridian of Greenwich. It is on the well lide
of the Nile, and clofe upon the banks of it. The ground
whereon it ftands rifes juft enough to prevent the river
from entering the town, even in the height of the inunda-
tion, when it comes to be even with the Ilreet. Poncet fays,
that when he was at this city, his companion, father Bre-
vedent, a Jefuit, an able mathematician, on the 2 ill of
March 1699, determined the latitude of Sennaar to be 13°
4' N. the difference therefore will be about half a degree.
The reader however may implicitly rely upon the fituation
1 have given it, being the mean refult of above fifty obfer-
vations, made both night and day, on the mod favourable
occalions, by a quadrant of three feet radius, and telefcopes
of two, and fome times of three feet focal length, both re-
lledlors and refra6tors made by the beil matters.

The town of Sennaar is very populous, there being in it

many good houfes after the fafliion of the country. Poncet

fays, in his time they were all of one ftorey high ; but now

2 the

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 47 1

the great officers have all houfes of two. They have para-
pet roofs, which is a fingular conftrudlion ; f^r in other
places, within the rains, the roofs are all conical. The honfes
are all built of clay, with very little flraw mixed with it,
which fufficiently fhews the rains here mufl be lei's violent
than to the fouthward, probablv from the dillance of the
mountains. However, when I was there, a week of con-
ftant rain happened, and on the 30th of July the Nile increa-
fed violently, after loud thunder, and a great darknefs to the
fouth. The whole ftream was covered with wreck of houfes,
canes, wooden bowls, and platters, living camels and cat-
tle, and feveral dead ones pafTed Sennaar, hurried along by
the current with great velocity. A hyasna, endeavouring to
crofs before the town, was furrounded and killed by the in-
habitants. The water got into the houfes that ftand upon
its banks, and, by rifmg feveral feet high, the walls melt-
ed, being clay, which occafioned feveral of them to fall. It
feemed, by the floating wreck of houfes that appeared in
the ftream, to have deftroyed a great many villages to the.
fouthward towards Fazuclo.

The foil of Sennaar, as I have already faid, is very unfa-
vourable both to man and beaft, and particularly adverfe to
their propagation. This feems to me to be owing to fome
noxious quality of the fat earth with which it is every way
furrounded, and nothing inay be depended upon more fure-
ly than the fact already mentioned, that no mare, or flie-
beait of burden, ever foaled in the town, or in any village
within feveral miles round it. 1 his remarkable quality
ceafes upon removing from the fertile country to the fands..
Aira, between three and four miles from Sennaar, with no
water near it but the Nile, furrounded v/ith white barren

fandjj

47-

TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

fand, agrees peifeclly with all animals, and here are the
quarters where I faw Shekh Adelan the minifter's horle, (as
I fuppofe, for their numbers) by tar the fineft in tlte world,
where in fafety lie watched the motion of his fovereign,
who, lliut up in his capital of Sennaar, could not there niaux-
tain one horfe to oppofe him.

But however unfavourable this foil may be for the pro-
pagation of animals, it contributes very abundantly both to
the nouriflimcnt of man and bealL It is pofitively faid to
render three himdred for one, which, however confidently
advanced,is,Ithink.,bothfrom reafon and appearance, a great
exaggeration. It is all fown with dora, or millet, the prin-
cipal food of the natives. It produces alfo wheat and rice,
but thefe at Sennaar are fold by the pound, even in years of
plenty. The fait made ufe of at Sennaar is all extracted
from the earth about it, efpecially at Halfaia, fo ilrongly is
the foil impregnated with this ufeful folhle.

About twelve miles from Sennaar, nearly to the N. W. is
a collection of villages called Shaddiy, from a great faint,
who in his time dire^ed large pits to be dug, and plaftercd
clofely within with clay, into which a quantity of grain was
put when it was at the clieapell, and thefe were covered
up, and plaflered again at the top, wliich they call fealing,
and the hole itfelf matamore. Thefe matamores are in great
number all over the plain, and, on any profpec^ of corn
growing dearer, they are opened, and corn fo^d at a low
price both to the town and country.

To the north of Shaddiy, about twenty-four miles, is a-

nother foundation of this fort, called Wed Aboud, itill great-

.2 er

THESOURCEOFTHENILE. 473

er than Shaddly. Upon thefe two charities the chief fub-
liftence of the Arabs depends ; for as there is continual war
among thefe people, and their violence being always di-
redled againfl the crops rather than the perfons of their
enemies, the deftrutSlion of each tribe would follow the
lofs of its harveil, was it not for the extraordinary fupplies
furnifhed at fuch times by thefe granaries.

The fmall villages of foldiers are fcattered up and down
through this immenfe plain to watch the grain that is fown,
which is dora only, and it is faid that here the ground will
produce no other grain. Prodigious excavations are made
at proper diftanccs, which fill with water in the rainy fea-
fon, and are a great relief to the Arabs in their pafTage be-
tween the cultivated country and the fands. The fly, that
inexorable perfecutor of the Arabs, never purfues them to
the north of Shaddly. The knowledge of this circumftance
was what, perhaps, determined the lirll builders of Sennaar
to place their capital here ; this too, probably, induced the
^wo faints, Shaddly and Wed Aboud, to make here thefe vaft
excavations for corn and v/ater. This is the iirft refting-
place the Arabs find, where, having all things ncccffary
for fubfidence, tliey can at leifure traniadt their allairs with
government.

To the weflward of Shaddly and Aboud, as far as the ri-
ver Abiad, or El-aice, the country is full of trees, which make
it a favourite ftation for camels. As Shaddly is not above
three hours ride on horfeback from Sennaar, there could not:
:be chofen a fituation more convenient for levying the tri-
bute ; for though Gerri, from the favourable fituation of the
ground, being mountainous and rocky, and jufl on the ex-
VoL. IV. 3 O tremity

474 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

tremity of the rains, was a place properly chofen for this
purpofe by the Arab prince before the conqueft of the
Funge, (for his troops there cut them off, either from the
fands, or the fertile country, as he pleafed), yet many of
them might have remained behind at Shaddly, and to the
weflward, free from the terror of the fly, and confequently
without any neceffity of advancing fo far north as Gerri,
and there fubjeding themfelves to contribution.

In this cxtenfive plain, near Shaddly, arife two mountain-
ous diftrias, the one called Jibbel Moia, or the Mountain of
Water, which is a ridge of confiderable hills nearly of the
fame height, clofely united ; and the other Jibbel Segud,
or the Cold Mountain, a broken ridge compofed of parts,
fome high and fome low, without any regular form. Both
thefe enjoy a fine climate, and are full of inhabitants, but of
no confiderable extent. They ferve for a protedion to the
Daheera, or farms of Shaddly and Wed Aboud. They are
alfo fortreffes in the way of the Arabs, to detain and force
them to payment in their flight from the cultivated coun-
try and rains to the dry lands of Atbara. Each of thefe dif-
trids is governed by the defcendant of their ancient and na-
tive princes, who long refiflcd all the power of the Arabs,
having bothhorfe and foot. They continued to be Pagans
till the conquefl: of the Funge. Bloody and unnatural fa-
erifices were faid to have been in ufe in thefe mountainous
fl:ates,with horrid circumfliances of cruelty, till Abdelcader,
fon of Amru, the third of the kings of Sennaar, about the
year 1554,, befieged firfl the one and then the other of thefe
princes in their mountain, and forced them to furrender ;
and, having faflened a chain of gold to each of their ears,

he

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 475

iie expofed them in the public market-place at Sennaar in
that lituation, and fold them to the higheil bidder, at the
vile price of fomething like a farthing each. After this
degradation, being circumcifed, and converted to the Maho-
metan religion, they were reftored each to their govern-
ment, as flaves of Sennaar, upon very eafy conditions of tri-
bute, and have been faithful ever fuice.

Nothing is morepleafantthanthecountry aroundSennaar,
in the end of Auguil and beginning of September, I mean fo
far as the eye is concerned; inilead of that barren, bare wafte,
which it appeared on our arrival in May, the corn now
fprung up, and covering the ground, made the whole of
this immenfe plain appear a level, green land, interfperfed
with great lakes of water, and ornamented at certain inter-
vals with groups of villages, the conical tops of the houfes
prefenting, at a diftance, the appearance of fmall encamp-
ments. Through this immenfe, extenfivc plain, winds the
Nile, a delightful river there, above a mile broad, full to
the very brim, but never overflowing. Every where on
thefe banks are feen numerous herds of the moll beauti-
ful cattle of various kinds, the tribute recently extorted
from the Arabs, who, freed from all their vexations, return
home with the remainder of their flocks in peace, at as
great a diftance from the town, country, and their oppreflbrs,
as they poffibly can.

The banks of the Nile about Sennaar refemble the plea-
fanteft parts of Holland in the fummer feafon ; but foon
after, when the rains ceafe, and the fun exerts his utmoft
influence, the dora begins to ripen, the leaves to turn yel-
low and to rot, the lakes to putrify, fmcll, and be full of

3 O 2 vermin,

476 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

vermin, all this beauty fuddenly difappears ; bare, fcorched"
Nubia returns, and all its terrors of poifonous winds and
moving fands, glowing and ventilated with fultry blafts,
which are followed by a troop of terrible attendants,,
epilepfies, apoplexies, violent fevers, obftinate agues, and
lingering, painful dyfenteries, ftill more obilinate and
mortal.

War and treafon feem to be the only employment of
this horrid people, whom Heaven has feparated, by almoft
impaflable deferts, from the reft of mankind, confining them
to an accurfed fpot, feemingly to give them earneft in time
of the only other worfe which he has referved to them,
for an eternal hereafter.

The drefs of Sennaar is very fimple. It confifts of a long
fliirt of blue Surat cloth called Marowty, which covers,
them from the lower part of the neck down to their
feet, but does not conceal the neck itfelf; and this is^
the only dillerence between the men's and the women's
drefs ; that of the women covers their neck altogether, being
buttoned like ours. The men have fomctimes a fafli tied
about their middle ; and both men and women go bare-
footed in the houfe, even thofe of the better fort of people..
Their floors are covered with PerCan carpets, efpecially the
women's apartments. In fair weather, they wear fandals ;,
and without doors they ufe a kind of wooden patten, very
neatly ornamented with fhclls. In tlie greareft heat at
noon, they order buckets of water to be thrown upon thera
inilead of bathing. Both men and women anoint them-
felves, at lead once a-day, with camels greafe mixed with
civet,, which they imagine foftens their lldn, and prcferves-

tUciIl;

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 477

them from cutaneous eruptions, of which they are fo fear-
ful, that the fmalleft pimple in any vifible part of their bo^
dy keeps them in the houfe till it difappears : For the
fame reafon, though they have a clean fliirt every day, they
life one dipt in greafe to lie in all night, as they have no
covering but this, and lie upon a bull's hide, tanned, and
very much foftened by this conftant greafnig, and at the
fame time very cool, though it occafions a fmell that na
wafliing can free them from.

The principal diet of the poorer fort is millet, made in--
to bread or flour. The rich make a pudding of this, toaft-
ing the flour before the fire, and pouring milk and butter
into it ; befides which, they eat beef, partly roafled and
partly raw. Their horned cattle are the largefl and fatted
in the world, and are exceedingly fine ; but the common
meat fold in the market is camels flefli. The liver of the
animal, and the fpare rib, are always eaten raw through
the whole country. I never faw one inftance where it was
drelTed with fire : it is not then true that eating raw flelh
is peculiar to Abyllinia ; it is pradifed in this inftance of ca-
mels fleili in all the black countries to the weftward.

Hogs flefli is not fold in the market ; but all the people
of Sennaar eat it publicly : men in ofTice, who pretend to be
Mahometans, eat theirs in fecret. Tlie Mahometan religion
made a very remarkable progrefs among the Jews and
Chriftians on the Arabian, or eaftern fule of the Red Sea,
and foon after alfo in Egypt ; but it was cither received
coolly, or not at all, by the Pagans on the wefl fide, unlefs
when, after a fignal victory, it was flrongly enforced by the

fvvord of tjie conqueror^

The

478 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

The Saracens, who over-ran this country, were bigots in
their religion, as their pofterity continue to be at this day.
They have preferved the language of the Koran in its an-
cient purity, and adhere rigidly to the letter of its precepts.
They either extirpated the Pagans, or converted them ; but
this power and tyranny of the Saracens received a check,
both in Egypt and Arabia, about the i6th century, by Selim,
who eflabliflied Turkiih garrifons in all their principal
places on the frontiers of Beja, or Barbaria, and in the Ber
el Ajam, or ancient Azamia, along the well coaft of the Red
Sea.

These Turks were all truly atheifls in their hearts, who
defpifed the zeal of the Arabs, and opprelTed them fo, that
Paganifm again ventured to fliew its head. The Shillook,
as I have faid before, made an eruption into Beja, and con-
quered the whole of that country. They became mailers
of the Arabs, and embraced their religion as a form, but
never anxioufly followed the law of Mahomet, which did
not hold out to them that liberty and relaxation by which
it had tempted the Jews and Chriflians. Thcfe the law of
Mahomet had freed from many reftraints upon pleafures
and purfuits forbidden by the gofpel, and thus made their
yoke eaficr. But it was not fo with the Pagan nations. The
Mahometan religion diminiflied their natural liberty, by
impofmg prayers, ablutions, alms, circumcillon, and fuch-
like, to wliich before they were under no obligation. The
Pagans therefore of Sennaar, and all the little Hates to the weft-
ward, Dar-Fowr, Dar-Sele, Bagirma, Bornou, andTombu6lo,
and all that country upon the Niger, called Sudan, trouble
themfelvcs very little with the detail of the Mahometan re-
ligion, which they embraced merely for the fake of per-
4 . . fonal

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 479

fonal freedom and advantages in trade ; but they are Pa-
eans in their hearts and in their practices, Mahometans in
their converfation only. As for the fons of thefe, they are
Pagans like their fathers, unlefs fome Fakir, or Arab faint,
takes pains to inftruft and teach them to read, otherwife the
whole of their religion confifts in the confeifion of faith,
« La lllah el Ullah, Mahomet Rafoul Ullah," — " There is
" but one God, and Mahomet is his prophet."

There are three principal governments in the kingdom
of Sennaar. The firfl is at El-aice, the capital of that coun-
try, from which the Shillook come. The Bahar el Abiad
fpreads itfelf all over the territory, and, divided into a quan-
tity of fmall channels, (whether by art or nature I know
not) furrounds a number of little iflands, upon each of which
is a village, and this colledion of villages is called the town,
of El-aice. The inhabitants are all fifliermen, and have a
number oFboats, like canoes, in which they fail up and
down to the catara6ts. With incredible fleets of thefe their
invafion was made when they undertook the conqueft of
the Arabs, who had not the fmalleft warning of the attempt.
They had, at that time, no weapons of iron : their fwords
and lances were of a hard wood called Dengui-Sibber. It
muft be a relation of the Mek of Sennaar that commands
at El-aice ; and he is never fufFered to leave that poft, or
come to Sennaar.

The fecond government, next to this in importance, is
Kordofan. The revenue confifts chiefly in flaves procured
from Dyre and Tegla. It feems this lituation is the mofl:
convenient for invading thofe mountains, either from its
having water in the way, or from fome other circumftance

that

4So TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

that is not known. Mahomet Abou Kalec had this g;overii-
nient, and with him about looo black horfe, armed with
coats of mail, with whom he maintained hirafelf at this
time independent of the king. It is a frontier neareft to
Dar-Fowr, a black flate flill more barbarous, if poffible,
than Sennaar, and by them it often has been taken from
Sennaar, and again retaken.

The third government is Fazuclo, bounded by the river
El-aice on the weft, and the Nile on the eaft, and the moun-
tains of Fazuclo, where are the great catara<5ls, on the fouth.
Thefe are part of the large cha,in of mountains of Dyre and
Tegla, which reach fo far weftward into the continent, from
whence comes the chief fupply both of gold and flaves
which conftitute the riches of this country ; for the greateft
part of the revenue of Fazucl6 is gold ; and the pcrfon that
commands it is not a Funge, but the fame native prince from
whom the array of Sennaar conquered it. This feems to be
a very remarkable piece of policy in this barbarous nation,
which muft have fucceeded, as they conftantly adhere to it,
of making the prince of the ftate they have conquered their
lieutenant in the government of his own country after-
wards. Such was the cafe with Dongola, whofc Mek they
continue ; alfo with Wed Ageeb, prince of the Arabs, whom
tliey fubdued ; and fuch was the cafe with Fazuclo, Wed
Aboud, Jibbel Moia, and other petty ftates, all of which
they conquered, but did not change their prince.

The forces at Sennaar, immediately 'around the capital,

confift of about 14,000 Nuba, who fight naked, having no

other armour but a fliort javelin and a round fliield, very

bad troops, as I fuppofe ; about 1800 horfe, all black, mount-

I ^d

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 481

ed by black Haves, armed with coats of mail, and without
any other weapon but a broad Sclavonian fword. Thefe I
fuppofe, by the weight and power of man and horfe, would
bear down, or break through double the number of any
other troops in the world : nobody, that has not feen this
cavalry, can have any idea to what perfedion the horfe rifes
here. The Mek has not one mufket in his whole army.
Befides thefe horfe, there is a great, but uncertain number of
Arabs, who pay their tribute immediately to the Mek and
to the great men in government, and live under their pro-
tection clofe by the town, and thereby have the advantage
of trading with it, of fuppiying it with provifions, and, no
doubt, mull contribute in part to its ftrength and defence
in time of need.

After what I have faid of the latitude of Sennaar, it will
fcarcely be necelTary to repeat that the heats are exceflive.
The thermometer rifes in the fliade to 1 1 9% but as I have
obferved of the heats of Arabia, fo now I do in refpe(5t to
thofe of Sennaar. The degree of the thermometer does not
convey any idea of the efFe6t the fun has upon the fenfa-
tions of the body or the colour of the fkin. Nations of blacks
live within lat. 13° and 14°, when lo* fouth of them, nearly
tinder the Line, all the people are white, as we had an op-
portunity of feeing daily in the Galla, whom we have de-
fcribed. Sennaai% which is in lat 13°, is hotter, by the ther-
mometer, 50 degrees, when the fun is mod diftant from it,
than Gondar is, though a degree farther fouth, when the
fun is vertical.

Cold and hot are terms merely relative, not determined by

the latitude, but elevation of the place ; when, therefore, we

Vol. IV. 3 P fay

4S2 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

fay hot, fome other explanation is necefTary concerning the-
place where we are, in order to give an adequate idea of the
fenfations of that heat upon the body, and the efFedls of it
upon the lungs. The degree of the thermometer conveys
this very imperfedily ; 90° is excellively hot at Loheia in
Arabia Felix, and yet the latitude of Loheia is but 15°, where-
as 90° at Sennaar is, as to fenfe, only warm^ although Sen-,
naar, as we have faid, is in lat. 1 3°.

At Sennaar, then, I call it co/d, when one, fully cloathed
and at reft, feels himfelf in want of fire. I call it coo/, when
one, fully cloathed and at reft, feels he could bear more co-
vering all over, or in part, more than he has then on. I
call it temperate, when a man, fo cloathed and at reft, feels.no
fuch want, and can take moderate exercife, fuch as walking
about a room without fweating. 1 call it warm, when a man,
fo cloathed, does not fweat when at reft, but, upon mode^-
rate motion, fweats, and again cools. I call it /60/, when a man
fweats at reft, and exceftively on moderate motion. T call
it very hot, when a man, with thin or little cloathin.q;, fweats
much though at reft. I q^SWx excejftve hot, when a man, in his
Ihirt, at reft, fweats exceftively, when all motion is painful,
and the knees feel feeble as if after a fever; I call it extreme
hot, when the ftrength fails, a difpolition to faint comes on,
a ftraitnefs is found in the temples, as if a fmall cord was
drawn tight around the head, the voice impaired, the fkin
dry, and the head feems more than ordinary large and light.
This, I apprehend, denotes death at hand, as we have feen
in the inftanceof Imhanzara, in our journey to Teawa ; but,
this is rarely or never effecfted by the fun alone, without the
addition of that poifonous wind which purfued us through
Atbara, and will be more particularly defcribed in our

journey

THE SOURCE GF THE NILE. 4S3

journey down the defert, to which Heaven, in pity to man-
kind, has confined it, and where it has, no doubt, contribu-
ted to the total extindtion of every thing that hath the breath
of hfe. A thermometer graduated upon this fcale would
exhibit a figure very different from the common one ; fori
am convinced by experiment, that a web of the fineft muf-
Jin, wrapt round the body at tiennaai-, will occafion at mid-
day a greater fenfation of heat in the body than the rife of
5° in the thermometer of Fahrenheit,

At Sennaar, from 70° to 78° in Fahrenheit's thermometer
is cool ; from 79° to 92° temperate ; at 92" begins warm.
Although the degree of the thermometer marks a greater
heat than is felt by the body of us ftrangers, it feems to me
that the fenfations of the natives bear Hill a lefs proportion
to that degree than ours. On the 2d of Auguft, while I
was lying perfeftly enervated on a carpet, in a room delu-
ged with water, at twelve o'clock, the thermometer at 116°,
I law feveral black labourers pulling down a houfe, work-
ing with great vigour, without any fymptoms of being at
all incommoded.

The difeafes of Sennaar are the dyfentery, or bloody flux,
fatal in proportion as it begins with the firft of the rains, or
the end of them, and return of the fair weather. Intermit-
ting fevers accompany this complaint very frequently,
which often ends in them. Bark is a fovereign remedy in
this country, and feems to be by fo much the furer, that it
purges on taking the firft doze, and this it does almoft with-
out exception, hpilepfies and fchirrous livers are like wife
very frequent, owing, as is fuppofed, to their defeating or
/liminifhing perfpiration, or flopping the pores by conftant

.3 P 2 uncTiion^

484 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

unction, as alfo by the quantity of water they deluge
themfelves with at the time they are hotteft. The in-
fluence of the moon in epilepfies, and the certainty with
which the third day after the conjundlion brings back
the paroxyfm in regular intermitting fevers, is what natu-
rally furprifes people not deeper read than I am in the ftu-
dy of medicine. Thofe who live much in camps, or in the
parts of Atbara far from rivers, have certainly, more or lefs,
the gravel, occafioned, probably, by the ufe of well-water ;
for at Sennaar, where they drink of rhe river, I never faw
but one inflance of it, that of the Sid el Coom ; as for
Shekh Ibrahim, whom I fhall fpeak of afterwards, he had
paired a great part of his life at Kordofan. The venereal
difeafe is frequent here, but never inveterate, infomuch that
it does not prevent the marriage of either fex. Sweating
and abftinence never fail to cure it, although, where it had
continued for a time, I have known mercury fail.

The elephantiafis, fo common in AbylTmia, is not known,
here. The fmall-pox is a difeafe not endemial in the coun-
try of Sennaar. It is fometimes twelve or fifteen years
without its being known, notwithftanding the conllant in-
tercourfe they have with, and merchandizes they bring
from Arabia. It is likewife faid this difeafe never broke
out in Sennaar, unlefs in the rainy feafon. However, when
it comes, it fweeps away a vaft proportion of thofe that are
infe6ted : The women, both blacks and Arabs, thofe of
the former that live in plains, like the bhillook, or inhabi-
tants of El-aice, thofe of the Nuba and Cuba, that live in
mountains, all the various fpecics of fiaves that come from
Dyre and Tegla, from, time immemorial have known a fpecies
of inoculation which they call Tifliteree el Jidderee, or, the

buying

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 4S5

Buying of the fmall pox. The women are the condii6lors of
this operation in the faireft and dried feafon of the year, but
never at other times. Upon the firft hearing of the fmali pox
any where, thefe people go to the infeded place, and, wrap-
ping a fillet of cotton cloth about the arm of the perfon in-
feded, they let it remain there till they bargain v/ith the mo-
ther how many flie is to fell them. It is neceflary that
the terms be difcufled judaically, and that the bargain be
not made collufively or gratuitouily, but that one piece of
filver, or more, be paid for the number. This being con-
cluded, they go home, and tie the fillet about their own
child's' arm ; certain, as they fay, from long experience,,
that the child infeded is to do well, and not to have one
more than the number of puftules that were agreed and
paid for. There is no example, as far as I could learn,,
either here or in Abyffinia, of this difeafe returning, that is,
attacking any one perfon more than once.

The trade of Sennaar is not great ; they have no manu-
fadures, but the principal article of confumption is blue
cotton cloth from Surat. Formerly, when the ways were
open, and merchants went in caravans with fafcty, Indian
goods were brought in quantities to Sennaar from Jidda,
and then difperfed over the black country. The return
was made in gold, in powder called Tibbar, civet, rhinoce-
ros's horns, ivory, ollrich feathers, and, above all, in flaves
or glafs, more of which was exported from Sennaar than all
the eaft of Africa together. But this trade is almoit deflroy-
ed, fo is that of the gold and ivory. However, the gold
flill keeps up its reputation of being the pureft and beft in
Africa, and therefore bought at Mocha to be carried to

India,

486 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

India, where it all at lafl centers. If the wakea of Abyffi-
Txian gold fells at i6 patakas, the Sennaar gold iells at the
fame place for 22 parakas. The ivory fells at i^ oz. * per
rotol at Cairo, which is about 25 per cent lighter than the
rotol of Mocha. Men-flaves, at a medium, may be about
a wakea per head at Sennaar. There are women, however,
who fell for 13 or 14 wakeas. What their peculiar excel-
lencies may be, which fo far alters the price, 1 cannot tell, on-
ly they arc preferred by rich people, both Turks and Moors,
to the Arab, Circaflian, and Georgian women, during the
warm months in fummer.

The Daveina Arabs, who are great hunters, carry the
ivory to Abyffinia, where they are not in fear. But no ca-
ravan comes now from Sudan f to Sennaar, nor from Abyf-
fmia or Cairo. The violence of the Arabs, and the faithlefs-
nefs of the government of Sennaar, have ihut them up on
every fide but that of Jidda, whether they go once a-yearby
Suakem.

The wakea of Sennaar, by which they fell gold, civet,
fcented oils, &c. confifts of 10 drums; 10 of thefe wakeas
jnake a rotol. This wakea at tiennaar is accounted the
fame as that of Maliiah and Cairo. It is equal to 7 drams
57 grains troy weight.

1 Rotol 10 Wakeas.
fi Wakea 10 Drams.

But

* Ounce of gold is here meant.
• t Nigritia, or the black countries on both fides of the- Niger.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 487-

But there is another wakea ufed by the merchants called -
the Atareys.

I Rotol 12 Wakeas,
1 Wakea 12 Drams.

But this is only ufed for coarfe goods. There is but one
long meafure in Sennaar, called the Draa, which is the
peek, or cubit, and is meafured from the center of the
elbow-joint to the point of the middle finger. This is
probably the ancient cubit of Egypt, and of the holy icrip-
ture.

I HAVE faid, that the 5th and 6th of Auguft it rained, and '
the river brought down great quantities of fragments of
houfes which it had fwept away from the country to the
fouthward. It was a very unufual fight to obferve a mul-
titude of men fwimming in this violent current, and then
coming afliore riding upon flicks and pieces of timber. .
Many people make a trade of this, as fuel is exceedingly
fcarce at Sennaar. But there were other figns in this inunda-
tion, that occupied the imagination of this fuperftitious
people. Part of the town had fallen, and ahysena, as already
obferved^ had come alive acrofs the river, from which the
•wife ones drew melancholy prefages, .

I HAD not been out of the houfe for two days on account
of the rain. On the 7th I intended to have gone to Aira ;
but on the morning was told by Hagi Belal, that Mahomet
Abou Kalec had advanced to the river El-aice, to crofs it in- '
to Atbara, and that ShekhAdelan had decamped from Aira,,
and was gone to meet him ; to this it was added, that Wed
3. Ageeb-i

488 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

Ageeb had been fent to by the king, to colledl all his forces
among the Arabs, and join him between Herbagi and Sen-
naar. It was forefeen, that if this was true, a revolution of
fome kind was near at hand, probably the depofmg and
death of the king, and that, in the interim, all fubordina-
tion would ceafe in the town, and every man do what feem-
ed good in his own eyes.

Hagi Belal had, befides, told rac that Shekh Fidele of
Teawa had been feveral days in the palace with the king, and
had informed him that I was laden with money, befides a
quantity of cloth of gold, the richeft he had ever feen,
which the king of Abyflinia had deftined as a prefent to
him, but which I had perverted to my own ufe : He add-
ed, that the king had exprefled himfelf in a very threaten-
ing manner, and that he was very much afraid I was not
in fafety if Shekh Adelan was gone from Aira. Upon this
I delired Hagi Belal to go to the palace, and obtain for me
an audience of the king. In vain he reprefented to me the
rilli I ran by this meafure ; 1 perfifted in my refolution, I
was tied to the flake. To fly was impoffible, and I had often
overcome fuch dangers by braving them.

He went then unwillingly to the palace. Whether he
delivered the meflage I know not, but he returned faying,
the king was bufy, and could not be feen. I had, in the in-
terim, fent Soliman to the Gindi, or Sid el Coom, telling him
my difficulties, and the news I had heard. In place of re-
turning an anfwer, he came directly to me himfelf ; and
was fitting with me when Hagi Belal returned, who, I
thought, appeared fome what difconcerted at the meeting.
4 He

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 489

He told me the ftory of Abou Kalec was falfc, as alfo that of
Wed Ageeb ; but it was really true that Shekh Adelan had
left Aira, and was then encamped at Shaddly. He chid Ha-
gi Belal very fliarply, afldng him, what good all that tittle
tattle did either to him or me? and infmuatcd pretty plainly,
that he believed Hagi Belal did this in concert with the king,
to extort fomc prefent from me. " What is.the difference to
Yagoube, fays he, if Shekh Adelan be at Aira, three hours
journey from Sennaar, or at Shaddly, five ? Is not Kittou
in town ? and fliali not I bring every Have of the king to
join him upon the firll requifition ? At a time like this, will
you perfuade me, Hagi Belal, the king is not rather think-
ing of his ownfafcty than of robbing Yagoufee ? I do nor wifli
that Yagoube fhould flay a minute longer at Sennaar ; bur,
till fome way be found to get neceflaries for his journey, it
is not in the king's power to hurt him in the houfe where
lie is ; and he is much fafer in Sennaar than he could be
any where out of it. Before the king attempts to hurt Ya-
goube, as long as he flays in Adelan's houfe, he will think
•twice of it, while any of the three brothers are alive. But I
will fpeak to Kittou in the evening, and the king too, if I
have an opportunity. In the mean time, do you, Yagoube,
pur your mind at reft, defend yourfelf if any body attempts
to enter this houfe, and do what you will to thofe that fhall
force themfelves into it." I then attended him down flairs,
with many profefTions of gratitude ; and at the door he faid,
in a very low voice, to me, " Take care of yon Bcial, he is
a dog, worfe than a Chriftian."

I RESOLVED at all events to leave Sennaar, but I had not

yet founded Hagi Belal as to money- affaiis. It \^^s now

Vol. IV. 3 0^ ^ \he

490 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

the 2oih ; and, for feveral days iince Adelan's departure, no
provilions were fent to my houfe, as before was ufual.
Money therefore became abfokuely neceflary, not only for
daily fubfiftence, but for camels to carry our baggage, pro-
vifions, and water, acrofs the defert.

I NOW defpaired abfolutely of affiftance of any kind
from the king ; and an accident that happened made me
lay all thoughts afide of ever troubling him more upon
the fubje6l. There are at Mecca a number of black eunuchs,
whofe fervices are dedicated to that temple, and the fepul-
chrc at Medina. Part of thefe, from time to time, procure
Hberty to return on a vifit to their refpedive homes, or to'
the large cities they were fold from, on the Niger, Bornou,
Tocrur, and Tombudo, where they beg donations for the
holy places, and frequently collect: large fums of gold, which
abounds in thefe towns and territories. One of thefe,
called Mahomet Towafli, which fignifies Eunuch, had
returned from a begging voyage in Sudan, or Nigritia,
and was at Sennaar exceedingly ill with an intermitting fe-
ver. The king had fent for me to vifit him, and the bark
in a few days had perfedlly recovered him. A proportional
degree of gratitude had, in return, taken place in the breall
of Mahomet, who, going to Cairo, was exceedingly defu-ous
of taking me with him, and this defire was increafed when
he heard I had letters from the fherrifie of Mecca, and was
acquainted with Metical Aga, who was his imme'diate
mafter.

Nothing could be more fortunate than this rencounter
at fuch a time, for he had fpare camels in great plenty,
and the Arabs, as he paffed them, continued giving him

more

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 491

more, and fupported him with provifions wherever he went,
for thefe people, being accounted facred, and regarded with
a certain rehgious awe, as being in the immediate fervice of
their prophet, till now ufed to pafs inviolate wherever they
were going, however unfettled the times, or however flen-
derly attended.

Every thing was now ready, my inftruments and bag-
gage packed up, and the 25th of Auguft fixed when we
fliould begin our journey for Atbara. Mahomet, who pafC.
ed a great part of his time at my houfe, had not been feen
by us for feveral days, which we did not think extraordi-
nary, being bufy ourfelves, and knowing that his trade de-
manded continual attendance on the great people ; but wc
were exceedingly furprifed at hearing from my black Soli-
man, that he and all his equipage had fet out the night of
the 20th for Atbara. This we found afterwards v/as at the
earneft perfuafion of the king, and was at that time a hea-
vy difappointment to us, however fortunate it turned out
afterwards.

The night of the 25th, which was to have been that of
our departure, we fat late in my room up Hairs, in the back,
or moft private part of the houfe. My little companv was
holding with me a melancholy council on what had fo
recently happened, and, in general, upon the unpromifmg
face of our affairs. Our fmgle lamp was burning very low,
and fuggeilcd to us that ii: v/as the hour of ilecp, to which,
however, none of us were very much inclined. Georgis,
a Greek, who, on account of the forenefs of his eves had
(laid below in the dark, and had fallen afleep, came run-
ning up flairs in a great fright, and told us he had been

3 Qj2 wakened

492 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

wakened by the noife of men endeavouring to force open
the door ; that he hearkened a little, and found there were
many of them. Our arms were all ready, and we fnatch-
ed them up and ran towards the door ; but I ftopr,
and planted them upon the firfl landing-place in the ftair-
cafe, as I wiflicd not to fire till the enemy was fairly in the
houfe, that no excufc might remain for this their violation
of hofpitality.

I STATIONED Ifmacl at the outer door of the houfe, intend-
ing that he fliould fire firft, as it would be lefs odious in
him, being a Turk and a flierrifFe, than for us Chriflians.
I then went out to the outer gate, and Soliman with me.
The entry into the yard was through a kind of porters
lodge, where fervants ufed to fit in the day-time, and fleep at
night. It had a door from the fi;rect, and then another into
the yard, the latier fmal],but very flrong. They had forced
the outer gate, and were then in the lodge, endeavouring
to do the fame by the inner, having put a handfpike under
it to lift it up from tlie hinges. " Are you not madmen^
faid T, and weary of your Uvc's, to attempt to force Adelan's
houfe, when there arc witliin it men abundantly provided
with large fire-arms, t]:iat, upon one difcharge through the
door, will lay you all dead where you now uand ?" " Stand
by from the door, cries Ifmacl, and let mc fire. Thefe
black Kafrs don't yet know what my blunderbufs is." They
had been filent from the time I had fpokcn, and had with-
drawn the handfpike from under the door. " Uilah! UUah!
cries one of them foftly, how found you fieep ! we have
been endeavouring to waken you this hour. The king is
ill; tell Yagoube to co.re to the palace, and open the door
inHantly." " Tell the king, faid I, to drink v/arm water,

and

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 493

and I will fee him in the morning," Ah ! Mahomet, cries
SoHman, is, that you? I thought you had hada narrow enough
efcape in the palace the other day, but Hay a little, a fer-
vant is gone over the back wall to call the Gindi, and we
are here niunerous enough to defend this houfe till morning
againft all the fervants the king has, fo do not attempt to
break the door, and Yagoube will go to the king with the
Gindi.

At this time one of my fervants fired a piilol in the air
out of an upper window, upon which they ail ran off. They
feemed to be about ten or twelve in number, and left three
handfpikes behind them. The noife of the piilol brought
the guard, or patrols, in aboiu half an hour, who carried
intelligence to the Sid el Coom, our friend, by whom 1 was
informed in the morning, that lie had found them all out,
and put them in irons ; that Mahomet, the king's fervant,
who met us at Teawa, was one of them ; and that there
was no poffibility now of concealing this from Adclan, who
would order him to be impaled.

Things were now come to fuch a crifls that I was de-
termined to leave my inftruments and papers with Kinou,
Adelan's brother, or with the Sid el Cpom, while I went to
Shaddly to fee Adelan. But firll I thought it neceilary to
apply to Hagi Belal to try what funds we could raife to
provide the neceifaries for our journey. I flicwtd him the
letter of Ibrahim, the Enghfli broker of Jidda, of v/hich
before he had received a copy and repeated advices, and
told him I Ihould want 200 fequins at ieail, for my camels
avid provifions, as well as for fome prefents that I lliuuld
have occaiion for, to make my way to the great men m At-

bara.

494 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

bara. Never was furprife better counterfeited than by this
man. He held up his hands in the utmofl aftonifliment,
repeating, 200 fequins ! over twenty times, and afked me if I
thought money grew upon trees at Sennaar, that it was
with the utmoft difficuky he could fpare me 20 dollars,
part of which he muft borrow from a friend.

This was a ftroke that feemed to infure our deftrudion
no other refource being now left. We were already indebted
to Hagi Belal twenty dollars for provifion ; we had feven
mouths to feed daily ; and as we had neither meat, money,
nor credit, to continue at Sennaar was impoffible. We had
feen, a few nights before, that no houfe could protcd: us
there ; and to leave Sennaar was, in our fituation, as impof-
fible as to ftay there. We had neither camels to carry our
provifions and baggage, nor Ikins for our water, nor, in-
deed, any provifions to carry, nor money to fupply us with
any ofthefe, nor knew any perfon that could give us alTill-
ance nearer than Cairo, from which we were then diftant a-
bout 1 7° of the meridian, or above 1 000 miles in allraight line;
great part of which was thro' the moft barren, unhofpitablede-
ferts in the world, deilitute of all vegetation, andof every ani-
mai that had the breath of life. Hagi Belal was inflexible;
he began now to be weary of us, to fee us but feldom, and
there was great appearance of his foon withdrawing himfelf
entirely.

My fervants began to murmm-; fome of them had known
of my gold chain from the beginning, and thefe, in the
common danger, imparted what they knew to the reft. In
Ihort, I refolved, though very unwillingly, not to facrifice
my own hfe and that of my fervants, and the finilliing my
3 . travels

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 495

travels now fo far advanced, to childifli vanity. I deteripi-
ned therefore to abandon my gold chain, the honourable re-
compence of a day full of fatigue and danger. Whom to in-
trull it to was the next conlideration ; and, upon mature de-
liberation, I found it could be to nobody bin Hagi Belal, bad
as I had reafon to think, he was. However, to put a check.
upon him, I fent for the Sid el Coom, in whofe prefence I
repeated my accufation againll; Belal ; I read the SerafF's let-
ter in my favour, and the feveral letters that Belal had writ-
ten me whilft 1 was at Gondar, declaring his acceptance of
the order to furnifli me with money when I Ihould arrive at
Sennaar ; and I upbraided him in the flrongeft terms with
duplicity and breach of faith.

But all that I could fay was very far fliort of the violent
expollulation from the Gindi that immediately followed.
He gave Hagi Belal many not obfcure hints, " that he looked
upon this injury as done to himfelf, and would repay him ;.
that though he had done this to pleafe the king, the time
might not be far off when that favour would be of very
little ufe to him ; on the contrary, might be a reafon for
ftripping him of all he had in the world." The force of
thefe arguments feemed to ftrike Hagi Belal's imagination
very powerfully. He even offered to advance 50 fequins,
and to fee if he could raife any more among his friends.
The Gindi (a rare inftance in that country) offered to lend
him fifty. But the dye was now caft, the chain had been
produced and feen, and it was become exceedingly danger-
ous to carry fuch a quantity of gold in any fliape along
with me. I therefore confented to fell it to Hagi Belal in
prefence of the Gindi, and we immediately fet about the
purchafc of neceffarics, with this provifo, that if Adelan,

upon.

49,6 T R A V E L S T O D I S C O V E R

upon my going to Shaddly, did furnifh me with camels and
neceiraries, fo much of the chain fliould he returned.

It was the 5th of September that we were all prepared to
leave this capital of Nubia, an inhofpitable country from
the beginning, and which, every day we continued in it,
had engaged us in greater difficulties and dangers. We
flattered ourfelves, that, once difengaged from this bad ftep,
the greareil part of our fufFerings was over ; for we appre-
hended nothing hut from men, and, with very great realbn,
thought we had feen the worfl of them.

In the evening I received a meffage from the king to
come dirc(5tly to the palace. I accordingly obeyed, taking
two fervants along, with me, and found him fitting in a
little, low chamber, very neatly fitted up with chintz, or
printed calUco curtains, of a very gay and glaring pattern.
He was fmoaking with a very long Perfian pipe through
water, was aljne, and feeraed rather grave than in ill-hu-
m.our. lie gave me his hand to kifs as ufual, and, after
paufing a moment without fpeaking, (during which I was
ilanding before him) a fiave brought me a little ftcol and
fet it down jufl oppofite to him ; upon which he faid, in a
low voice, fo that I could fcarcely hear him, " Fudda, fit
down," pointing to the ftool. I fat down accordingly.
*' You are going, I hear, fays he, to Adelan." I anfwered,
" Yes." " Did he fend tor you ?" 1 faid, " No ; but, as I
wanted to return to E,uypf, I expcded letters from him in
anfwcr to thofe \ broui^ht from Cairo." He told me, Ali
Bey that wrote thefe letters was dead ; and aflced me if I
knew Mahomet Abcu Dahab ? Tagotibe. "Pcrfe^*l:ly ; I was well
jicquaintcd with him and the other uicmbcrs ofgovcrn-
I ment.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. A97

ment, all of whom treated me well, and refpeded my na-
tion." Ki/ig. " You are not fo gay as when you firft ar-
rived here." Ta. " I have had no very great reafon." Our
converfation was now taking a very laconic and ferious
turn, but he did not feera to underiland the meaning of
what I faid laft. K. " Adelan has fent for you by my dein^e 5
Wed AbrolF and all the Jehaina Arabs have rebelled, and
will pay no tribute. They fay you have a quantiiy of power-
ful fire-arms with you that will kill twenty or thirty men
at a fliot." Ta. " Say fifty or fixty, if it hits them." K. " He
is therefore to employ you with your guns to punifli thofe
Arabs, and fpoil them of their camels, part of which he will
give to you." I prefcntly underflood what he meant, and
only anfvvered, " I ?.m a ftraager here, and defire to hurt
no man. My arms are for my own defence againft robbery
and violence." At this inftant the Tuik, Hagi Ifmael, cried
/rom without the door, in broken Arabic, *' VVliy did not
you tell thofe black Kafrs, you fent to rob and murder us
ihe other night, to flay a little longer, and you would have
been better able to judge what our fire-arm.i can do, with-
out fending for us either to AbrolF or Adelan. By the head
of the prophet ! let them come in the day tinxe, and I will
iighc ten of' the beft you have in Sennaar."

K. " The man is mad, but he brings me to ("peak of what
was in my head when I dcfired to fee you. Adcliiii has
■been informed that Mahoiiu^t, my fervant, who brought
you from T'eawa, has been guilty of a -drunken frolic at
the door of his houfe, and has fent foldiers to take him to-
day, with two or three others of his companions." Ta. " I
\know nothing about Mahomet, nor do i drink with hinij
Vol. IV. 3 R or

49^ TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

or give him drink. About half a fcore of people broke in-
to Adelan's houfe in the night, with a view to rob and mur-
der us, but I was not at the pains to fire at fuch wretches
as thefe. Two or three fervants with flicks were all that
were needful. I underftand, indeed, that Shekh Adelan is
exceedingly difpleafed that I did not fire at them, and has
fent to the Gindi, ordering him to deliver two of them to
him to-morrow to be executed publicly before the door
of his houfe on the market-day. But this, you know, is
among yourfelves. I am very well pleafed none of them
are dead, as they might have been, by my hands or thofe
of ray people." K. " True ; but Adelan is not king, and I
charge you when you fee him to afk for Mahomet's life,
or a confiderable deal of blame will fall upon you. When
you return back, I will fend him to conduct: you to the
frontiers of Egypt." Upon this I bowed, and took my
leave. I went home perfe6lly determined what I was to
do. I had now obtained from the king an involuntary
fafe-guard till I fliould arrive at Adelan's, that is, I was fure
that, in hopes I might procure a reprieve for Mahomet, no
trap would be laid for me on the road. I determined there-
fore to make tlie beft ufe of my time; and every thing be-
ing ready, we loaded the camels, and fent them forward
that night to a fmall village called Soliman, three or four
miles from Scnnaar ; and having fettled my accounts with
Hagi Belal, I received back fix links, the miferablc re-
mains of one hundred and eighty-four, of which my noble
chain once confiHed.

This traitor kept me thefewlaft minutes to write a let*,
ter to the Hnglifli at Jidda, to recommend him for the fer-

vice

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 499

vice he had done me at Sennaar ; and this I complied
wit?i, that I might inform the broker Ibrahim that I had
received no money from his correfpondent, and give him
a caution never again to truft Hagi Belal in limilav cir-
cumflances.

CS;. ^

3R2 CHAP.

50O TRAVELS TO DISCOVER-

Bti^WH ' " ' ' 'f'-'T^A^

CHAP. X.

yourney from Sennaar to Chendu\

TTFR leaving Sennaar I was overtaken on the road by
a black Have, who at firft gave me feme appi^^hen-
fion, as I was alone with only one Barbarian, a Nubian !isr-
vaii., by the fide of ray camel, and was going flowly^ Up,
on mquiry I found him to be fent from Hagi Belal, with
a b?.i]cet containing fome green tea and fugar, and four bot-
tles of rack, in return for my letter. I fent back the mef-
fenger, and gave the care of the bafket to my own fervant;
and, about ten o'clock in the evening of the 5th of Septem-
ber, we all met together joyfully at Soliman.

Bepore my departure from Sennaar I had prevailed on
a Fakir, or Mahometan monk, fervant to Adelan, to write a

istter

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 501

letter to his mafter, unknown to any oilier perfon what-
ever, to let him know my apprehenfions of the king, and
that, in the uncertainty how far his occupations might o-
blige him to move from Shaddl) , my way was diredly for
Herbagi, and requefting that he would give me fuch re-
commendations to Wed Ageeb as fhould put me in fafety
from the king's perfecution, and infure me protciflion and
good reception in Atbara. I begged him, in the mod feri-
ous manner, to confider, however llightly he had thought
of the king of Abyffinia's recommendatory letters, he would
not treat thofe of the regency- of Cairo, and of /"he Iherriffe
of Mecca, in the fame manner ; that my nation was highly
refpe('iled in both places ; and that it was knov/n, by letters
written from Sennaar, that 1 adually was arrived there;
that they ftiould take care therefore, and not by ilLufage of
me expofe their merchants, eitlier at Mecca or Cairo, to a
fevere retaliation that would immediately follow the re-
ceiving bad news of me, or no news at all. My faithful
Soliman, who was now to leave me, was charged to carry
the anfwers they fhould choofe to return to the letters I
tirought from Abyffinia, and I fent him that very night, to-
gether with the Fakir, to Adelanat Shadclly, fully inftracfted
with every particular of ill-ufage I had received from the
King, of which he had been an eye-witnefs.

Although my fervants, as well as Hagi Belal, and every
©ne atSennaar but the Fakir and Soliman, did imagine I
was going to ShatMly, yet their own fears, or rather good
feafe, had convinced them that it was better to proceed at
once for Atbara than ever again to be entangled between
Adelan and the king. Sennaar fat heavy upon all their
%irits, fo that I had fcarce difmounted from my cameJj.,

and*

502 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

and before I tafted food, which that day I had not done,
when they all intreated me with one voice that I would
•confider the dangers I had efcaped, and, inftead of turning
weilward to Shaddly, continue north through Atbara.
They prbmifed to bear fatigue and hunger chearfuUy, and
to live and die with me, provided I would proceed home-
ward, and free them from the horrors of Sennaar and its
-king. I did not feem to be convinced by what they faid,
but ordered fupper, to which we all fat down in company.
As we had lemons enough, and Hagi Belal had furnilhed
us with f"gar, we opened a bottle of his rack and in
punch (the liquor of our country) drank to a happy return
thro' Atbara. I then told them my refolution was perfe<5t-
ly conformable to their wifhes ; and informed them of the
meafures I had taken to infure fuccefs and remove danger
as much as poffible. I recommended diligence, fobriety,
and fubordination, as the only means of arriving happily
at the end propofed ; and afllired them all we fhould fliare
one common fare, and one common fortune, till our jour-
ney was terminated by good or bad fuccefs. Never was
any difcourfe more gratefully received ; every toil was wel-
come in flying from Sennaar, and they already began to
think themfelves at the gates of Cairo.

As I had recommended great diligence and little fleep,
before four in the morning the camels were loaded, and on
their way, and it was then only they came to awake me.
The camels were abundantly loaded, and we had then but
five, four of which carried all the baggage, the other, a
fmaller one, was referved for my riding. This I told them
I willingly accepted at the beginning of the journey, and
we fliould all of us take our turn, while water and provi-
3 fions

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 505

lions were to be procured, and that Ifmael the Turk, an old
man, and Georgis the Greek, ahnoft blind, required an ad-
ditional confideration, fo long as it pollibly could be done
with fafety to us all ; bur, when we fliould advance to the
borders of the defert, we mull all refolve to pals that jour-
ney on foot, as upon the quantity of water, and the quan-
tity of provilions alone, to be carried by us, could depend
our hopes of ever feeing home.

On the 8th of September we left the village of Soliman,
and about three o'clock in the afternoon came to Wed el
Tumbel, which is not a river, as the name would feem to
lignify, but three villages fuuated upon a pool of water,
nearly in a line from north to fouth. The intermediate
country between this and Herbagi is covered with great
crops of dora. The plain extends as far as the fight reach-
es. Though there is not much wood, the country is not
entirely deftitute of it, and the farther you go from Sen-
naar the finer the trees. At Wed el Tumbel there is preat
plenty of ebony-bullies, and a particular fort of thorn which
fecms to be a fpecies of dwarf acacia, with very fm-iU
leaves, and long pods of a llrong faccharine tafte. This is
here in great abundance, and is called Lauts, or Loto, which
I fufpecl to be the tree on whofe fruit, we are told, the an-
cient Libyans fed. At a quarter pall three we left Wed el
Tumbel, and entered into a thick wood, in which we tra-
velled all late, when we came to the Nile. We continued
along the river for about 500 yards, and alighted at Sit el
Bet, a fraail village about a mile's dill^ince from the llream.
Here we faw the tomb of a Shekh, or faint, built of brick
in a conical form, much after the fame figure as fome we
hadfeen in Barbary, which were of Hone.

Qn

,504 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

•On the 12th, at ten minutes paft fix we fet out from Sk
el Bet, and a few minutes after came to a village called A-
geda, and five miles further to another, whofe name is U-
Iheta. At half pail nine we palled a third village, and at
half after eleven encamped near a pool of water, called Wed
Hydar, or the River of the Lion. All the way from Wed
el fumbel to this village we were much tormented with
the fly, the very noife of which put our camels in fuch a
•fright that they ran violently into the thickeft trees and
buihes, endeavouring to bruih olf iheir loads. Thefe flies
do not bite at night, nor in the cool of the morning. We
were freed from this difagreeable companion at Wed Hydar,
and were troubled with it no more.

At four o'clock we again fet out through an extenfive
plain, quite deltuure of wood, and all fown with dora, and
about five miles further we encamped at a place named
Shwyb, where there is a Shekh called Welled Abou Halilin.
While at Abou Hallan, we were iurprifed with a violent
ftorm of rain and wind, accompanied with great flalhcs of
lightning. This ftorm being blown over, we proceeded to
a village called Imfurt. At one mile and a half further we
joined the river. 1 he Nile here is in extreuie beauty, and
winds confiderably; it is broader than at I'^ennaar, the banks
flat, and quite covered with acacia and other trees in tuU
bloom. 7he tlvick parts of this wood were ftored with
great numbers of ant-flopes, while the open places were co-
vered v;ith large Clocks of cattle belonging to the Arabs
Refaa, who were returning fiom the lands to their paflures
to the fouthward. Large (locks of ftorks, cranes, and a va-
riety of other birds, were Icatteied throughout the plaii\,
.2 which

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 505

which was overgrown with fine grafs, and which even the
mukitude of cattle that thronged upon it feemed not ca-
pable of confuming. At three quarters pafl fix in the even-
ing we came to a large village called Wed Medinai, clofe
upon the fide of the river, which here having made a large
turn, comes again from the S. E. This town or village be-
longs to a Fakir, who received us very hofpitably.

On the 14th, at fix in the morning we fet out from Wed
Medinai in a diredlion N. W. and at three quarters pad eight
arrived at the village Beroulc. We then entered a thick
wood, and thence into a very extenfive and cultivated plain,
fown with dora and bammia ; a plant .which makes a prin-
cipal article in their food all over the fouthern part of the
kingdom of Sennaar, which is defcribed, and the figure of
it publilhed, by Profper Alpinus* At a quarter paft eleven
we arrived at Azazo, about a mile and a half diftant from
the Nile. The corn feemed here much more forward than
that at Sennaar, and in feveral places it was in the ear. It
Tained copioufly in the night of the 14th, but before this
there had been a very dry fcafon, and very great fcarcity
the preceding year. At ten minutes pafl: four in the after-
jioon we left Azazo, our journey, like that of the day be-
fore, partly through thick woods, and partly through plains
fown with dora. Our direcflion was nearly north, and the
3-iver about two miles and a half difl:ant, nearly parallel to
the road wc went. At fix we came to a fmall village called
:Sidi Ail el GenowL

Vol. IV. -. S On

* Vjd> Pj-ofper Alpin. cap. fj. psge 44.. torn. 2,

5o6 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

On the i6th, at half paft fix in the morning we left Sidi
Ali el Genowi, and a few minutes after palled two vil-
lages on our left along the river fide, not fifty yards from
the water, after which we went through the village of El
Menfy. The next to this were two tombs of Fakirs, nothing
different from the former ones, x^t a quarter paft ten we
arrived at Herbagi, a large and pleafant village, but thinly in-
habited, placed on a dry, gravelly foil. The people told us,
that the greateft part of the townfmen were at fome diftance
looking after their farms. Herbagi is the feat of Wed
Ageeb, hereditary prince of the Arabs, now fubjedl to the
government of Sennaar, whofe lieutenant he is according
to treaty. He raifes the tribute, and pays it to the Mek,
or his minifters, from all thofe Arabs that live in the diftanE
parts of the kingdom, as far as the Red Sea, who do not
pafs by Sennaar to the fands, in the feafon of the fly ; for
thefe, as I have mentioned, are taxed by the chief minifter,
or the perfon who hath the command of the troops of that
capital. The revenue arifing from this is very large, and
more than all the reft put together. The Refaa, one tribe
of Arabs who had compounded at this time with Shekh
Adelan, were faid to polTefs 200,000 flie-camels, every one
of which, at a medium, was worth half an ounce of gold,
each ounce being about ten crowns. The tribute then which
that Arab paid was 100,000 ounces of gold, or i,ooo,ooodollars
or 2 50,0001. There were at leaftten of thefe tribes with which
Adelan was to account, and at leaft fix times that number
that fell to the fliare of Wed Ageeb, whofe compofition is the
fame as that paid to Sennaar, befides whatever extraordinary
fum he impofes for himfel'f. There is alfo a tax upon the
male camels ; but this is fmall in comparifon of the others,
and the young ones pay no duty, till they are three years old.

Camels.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 507

Camels flefh is tlie ordinary food of the Arabs ; but
there is Hill room to inquire what becomes of the prodigi-
ous numbers of this animal annually confumed. The ca-
ravan of Mecca requires a large fupply, and vaft num-
bers are employed in the fervice of Damafcus, of Sy-
ria and Perfia, and efpecially of Sudan, whofe caravans
traverfe Africa from eaft to well with Indian commodi-
ties, which they carry from the Arabian Gulf to the At-
lantic Ocean. Thefe, and this vaft inland trade of which
they were maflers, the gold, ivory, pearls, and tortoife
fliells, that ferved for returns to India, were the fource of
the riches and power of thofe Shepherds, of which fo
many things are recorded in ancient hiftory almoft exceed-
ing belief.

Immediately upon entering Herbagi, I went to wait
upon Wed Ageeb. He had a very good houfe, confidered
as fuch, though but a very indifferent palace for a prince.
He feemed to be a man of very gentle manners ; was about 30
years of age ; had a thick black beard and whifl<ers, large
black eyes, and a long thin face, which marked his confti-
tution not to be a ftrong one. We foimd, indeed, after-
wards, that he had been very much addi^fbed to drinking,
which he had often endeavoured in vain to leave off, by
fubftituting opium in its place. He had never before feen
an European, and teftified great furprifeat my complexion.
He fent us abundance of provifions, two fheep and two
goats, and begged I would give him advice about his health
in the evening. He inquired very parcicularly about my
reception at Sennaar, which I told him only in part, and,
among other circumftances, the report at Sennaar, that he
was gathering his forces to the affiilance of the king againft

3^2 Adelan

5o8 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

Adelan and Abou Kalec. He anfwered with a fneer, " Ge*
hennim el Kafr, i. e. The Pagan may go to hell. He fpoke con-
temptuoufly of the king of Sennaar, but very refpecStfully
of Adelan and Abou Kalec, any one of whofe little fingers,
he faid, was fuflficient to crulh the Mek, and all who ad-
hered to him. I then took my leave, and went home to
reft.

On the 17th, at noon, I obferved the meridian altitude of
the fun, and found the latitude of the place to be 14° 30' N,
but this obfervation was made with Hadley's quadrant, that
I might fave time, being willing to advance to as great a.
diftance as poffible from Sennaar, fo there may be perhaps
a minute of error, and more there ought not to be, as it
was confirmed by feveral obfervations at night. The in-
ftrument, infpedled and redlified by day light, was exami-
ned, and I found it to be without alteration before ufing is
at night.

About eight o'clock in the evening I went to fee Wed
Ageeb, who had fupped, and was drinking forbet made of
tamarinds, I believe rather to fweeten his breath than from;
third, for he had apparently drunk of ftronger liquor be-
fore he took the forbet. He told me that afervantof Adelan
was arrived that evening from the camp, who had brought
him a letter and meflages on my account, and bade me
be of good courage, for I fhould be fafer in my tent than,
in Adelan's houfe at Sennaar ; that two men had been exe-
cuted for attempting to rob Adclan's houfe ; and that Ma-
homet, the king's fervant, was deftined to fufTer upon a
Hake, as foon as ever Adelan fliould move at a greater dif-
I tauce

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 509

tance from Shekh Shaddly's tomb, where fuch executions
could not be performed with decency.

I MADE him a fmall prefent of fine muflin, which I had
bought at Sennaar; and, in the courfe of converfation, he told
me that the Moorilh troops from Ras el Feel had burnt Tea-
wa.; that the Daveina were with them, and had plundered
the Jehaina, and forced Fidele to fly to Beyla. I afked if
any Chriilian troops were among them? fufpe(5ling much
Ayto Engedan and Ayto Confu. He faid there were none
but the Moors of Ras el Feel, the Ganjar horfc of Kuara,
and the Arabs Daveina. As I did not wifh to be known in
tliis matter, I puihed my inquiries no further : I afked him
to provide me with one of his men for fear of the Shukorea
Arabs, with which he complied, adding, that he was him-
fclf going out to the Shukorea, and would fend a man to
Halfaia, where I was toconfider,and acquaint him, whether
I was to pafs the Nile at Gerri, and go by the defert of Ba-
hiouda and Dongola, or by the more unfrequented way of
Chendi, Barbar, and the great defert, the fatigues and dan-
gers of which he rhought it impofTible for a European to
fufFer, but would give me a letter to Sittina his filler, to
whom that country belonged. After Chendi, he afTured me
there was no protecSlion to be relied upon but that of
Jieaven. This fenfible difcourfe was of great fcrvice ta
me, as it fet me all the reft of the journey upon the in-
quiry as to the proper fteps for performing this dangerous
expedition.

Gn the iSth, at feven o'clock I left Herbagi, after wri-
ting a letter to Adelan, thanking him for his punctuality
aiid care of me, and giving the fervant that had come on

the

Sio TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

the errand a fmall prefent. He told me it would be ten
days before he returned to the camp ; with which lafljn-
telligence I was very well pieafed, as thereby no informa-
tion could arrive where I was, till I was forgot, or out of
their power. At ten minutes paft eleven we arrived at Wed
ql Frook, a fmall village clofe upon the Nile. Nothing
could be more beautiful than the country we pafTed that
day, partly covered with very pleafant woods, and partly in
lawns, with a few fine fcattered trees. The Nile is a fliort
quarter of a mile from the village, and is fully half a mile
broad. It runs fmooth, and when in inundation, overflows
the fmall fpace of ground between its prefent banks and
Wed el Frook. It was now conliderably lower than it had
been, and was confined within its banks.

On the 19th we fet out from Wed el Frook at half pafl five
in the morning, and about four miles from it came to a
large village, and the tomb of a Fakir, the Nile running all
the way parallel to our road. At ten o'clock we came to
another village called Abouafcar ; and a little way ea(l of
it, in the river, there is a large ifland confiderably above the
water, where flirubs and grafs grow abundantly. The vil-
lage is placed upon a fmall hill, and there are a great many
of the fame fize and fhape fcattered about the country on
the banks of the river, which add greatly to the beauty of
it, as we had not yet feen fuch fmce our leaving Sennaar.
At three quarters pafl one we came to the village of Kamily.
The country here is more open, the foil lighter, the grafs
fhort and thin ; it is all laid out in pafture, and there is
here plenty of goats, as well as black cattle. This day we
met a caravan from Egypt, lafl from Chendi, who brought
IW word that AU Bey was depofed, and Mahomet Abou
4 Dahab

THE SOURCE OF THE NIlLE. ^la

Dahab was made Bey in his place. They faid, one part of
the caravan, that went before them, had been attacked
and cui off by the Bilhareen under Aboii Bertran ; that they
had efcaped by a few hours only, and that all the road was
fo infefted with robbers, that it was a miracle if any one
could pafs.

On the 20th we left Kamily at a quarter pail five in the
morning,andat about fix miles (the diftance between that and
Wed Tyrab) we pafiTed a bare and fandy country, interfpei-
fed with fmall coppices, and three quarters paft ten came
to Bifhaggara. This is a large village, fome thing above
a mile's diftance from the Nile, which fpace is entirely ta^-
ken up with brufhwood, without any timber trees. We
begin now to fee the eifeds of the quantity of rain having
failed. There was little fown, and that fo late as to be
fcarcely above the ground. It feems the rains begin later
as they pafs northward. Many people were here employed
in gathering grafs feeds* to make a very bad kind of
bread. Thefe people appear perfecft flceletons, and no won*
der, as they live upon fuch fare. Nothing increafes the
danger of travelling, and prejudice againft ftrangers, more
than the fcarcity of provifions in the country through which
you are to pafs..

At fifty minutes paft three in the afternoon we left Bi-
fhaggara, and at feven came to Eltie, a ftraggling village,
about half a mile from the Nile, in the north of a large-,
bare plain, allpafture, except the banks of the river, which

are

* We had feen this praclifed too by the Agows at the fource of the Nllt

514 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

are covered with wood. We now no longer faw any cora
fown : The people here were at the fame miferable employ-
ment as thofe we had feen before, that of gathering grafs-
feeds ; yet, though ftarving, they brought us plenty of
milk in exchange for tobacco, a commodity very much in
requeft in thefe parts,. At half paft ten we arrived at Gi-
did ; the houfes were built of clay, with terralTed roofs : on
our way we palTed through feveral little cantonments of
Nuba. All this country is fand, interfperfed with thick cop-
pices and acacia-trees that feemed not to thrive. On the o-
ther fide are large, dead, fandy plains, but both fides of the
river are covered with wood. The ferry over the Nile is
here from the well to the eaft. The country about Gidid,
efpecially to the weftward, is very bare and barren, and
fcarcely produces any tiling faving grafs and bent, of which
the poor people ufe the feed for bread. This is the cafe all
to the w^ftward of El-aice ; and the country here, for want
of rain, is faft dwindling into a defert, and the foil is chan-
ged to fand. There is no corn, though, from the vicinity
of two large rivers, it produces grafs enough for cattle,
flieep, and goats, and there is as yet plenty of milk : but as
foon as the fun Ihines conftantly, no herbage will remain
that can be food for any other cattle but goats, and at laft
the whole becomes a perfedt defert, capable of nourifliing
aiothing but antelopes and ollriches.

On the 21ft, at feven in the morning "we left Gidid, and
near three miles further we came to the paflage, and def-
<:endcd a long way with the current before we landed. The
manner they pafs the camels at this ferry is by faflcning
£ords under their hind quarters, and then tying a halter to
their heads. Two men fuitain thefe^ cords, and a third the

lialterj

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 513

halter, fo that the camels, by fwimming, carry the boat on
Ihorc. One is faftened on each fide of the ftern, and one
along each fide of the ftern. Thefe ufeful beafts fuffer
much by this rude treatment, and many die in the paffage,
with all the care that can be taken, but often through ma-
lice, or out of revenge. Thefe boatmen privately put fait in
the camels ears, which makes the animal defperate and un-
governable, till, by fretting and plunging his headconftantly
in the water, he lofes his breath, and is drowned; the boat-
men then have gained their end, and feaft upon the flefli.
But the Arabs, when they pafs their camels, ufe a goat's
Ikin, blown with wind like a bladder, which they tie to the
fore part of the camel, and this fupports him where he is
heavieft, while the man, fitting behind on his rump, guides
him, for this animal is a very bad fwimmer, being heavieft
before. The boats here are larger and better made than
in any other part on the river. All between the Nile and
Halifoon is bare ground, interfperfed with acacia-trees.
The lofs of a camel is very confiderable, but the price of
ferrying very moderate ; it is only three mahalacs for
each camel, with his merchandife and every thing be-
longing to him. The river is fomething more than a quar-
ter of a mile broad, but is double that meafure in the
rainy feafon, the current very violent, and ftrong at all
times.

Notwithstanding our boatmen had a very bad charac-
ter at this time, we palfed with our camels and baggage
without lofs or accident. They feemed indeed to fliew a
very indifferent countenance at firft, but good words, and a
promife of recompence, prefently rendered them tradable.
By half paft twelve we were all fafe on the other fide, and

Vol. IV. 3T at

514 TR AVE lis TO DISC OVER

•at thirty-five minutes pafl three we arrived at Halifoon;.
about five miles from the ferry on the eaft fide of the Nile.
One mark of the boatmen's attention I cannot but mention : .
The weather was very hot, and we had plenty of time ; the
water being clear and tempting, I propofed fvvimmingover to
the other fide foi the pleafure of bathing ; but they, one and
all, oppofed my defign with great violence, and would not
fuffer me to undrefs. They faid there was a multitude of
crocodiles in the river near that place, and although they
were not large enough to kill, or carry off a camel, they
very often wounded them, and it would be a wonder if
we paffed without feeing them; indeed the laft boat had
not reached the fliore before two of them rofe in the mid-
dle of the fiream. I made what hafl;e I could to get a gun,
and fired at the largeft, but, as far as I could judge, without
effe(5t.

On the sad, at three o'clock in the afternoon we left Ha- -
lifoon, and by ten at night came to Halfaia, a large, hand-.'
fome, and pleafant town, although built with clay. The
houfes are terraffed at the tops, their inhabitants being no
longer afraid of the rains, which have been for fome time
here very inconfiderable. The Battaheen were encamped
near Umdoom, a large village on the fide of the river, about
fevcn miles from Halifoon. They are a thievifli, pilfering
fet, and we paffed them early in the morning, before it was
light. The road is very pleafant, through woods of acacia-
trees, interfperfed with large fields covered with bentgrafs.
At Umdoom we found troops of women going to their
loorning occupation, that of gathering feeds to naake bread. .

TH£.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. fij

The command of Mahomet Wed Ageeb is very extenfive.
It reaches from this pafiage of the river at Halifoon on the
fouth, as far as Wed Baal a Nagga on the north, and to the
eaft as far as the Red Sea, though a great part of thofe Arabs
have been in rebellion, and have not paid their tax for fomc
years. His command on the weftward of the river reaches
to Korti, all over the defert of Bahiouda, though lately the
Beni Gerar, Beni Faifara, and Cubba-beefli, have expelled the
ancient Arabs of Bahiouda, who pretend now only to be the
fubjefts of Kordofan. He has alfo the charge of levying the
tribute of horfes from Dongola, in which confifts the great
ftrength of Sennaar.

Halfaia is the limit of the rains, and is fituated upon
a large circular peninfula furrounded by the Nile from S.
W. to N. W. that is, at all the points of W. It is half a mile,
or fomething more, from the river. This peninfula cou'
tains all their fown land, and is not watered by the river,
but by what is raifed from the ftream by wheels turned by
oxen. Halfaia confifts of about three hundred houfes ; their
principal gain is from a manufadure of very coarfe corron
cloth, called Dimour, which ferves for fmall money through
all the lower parts of Atbara. There are palm-trees at Hal-
faia, but they produce no dates. The people here eat cats,
alfo the river- hori'e and the crocodile, both of which are
in great plenty. Halfaia, by many altitudes of the fun and
liars, was found to be in lat. 15' 45' 54", and in long. 32*
49' 15" eaft from the meridian of Greenwich.

On the 29th, at fix o'clock in the morning we left Hal-
faia, and continued our journey about 3 miles and a half
further, when we came to two villages, a fmall one to the

2 T a north

5i6 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

north and a large one to the weft. The Nile here runs ^.
E. of us. This whole day was fpent in woods of a very plea-
fan t kind ; there were large numbers of birds of various co-
lours, but none of them, fo far as I could hear fmce we
left Sennaar, endowed with the gift of fong. Sakies* in the
plain, all between the Nile and the road, lift the water
from the ftream, and pour it on the land, in hopes that it
may produce fome miferable crops of dora ; for the river
overflows none of this country, and it is very precarioufly
and fcantily watered with rain.

In a little time, continuing our journey, we came to
Shekh Atman's, the tomb of a Fakir on the road. There
js a high ridge of mountains on our left, weft of the Nile
about five miles, and a low ridge on our right, about eight
miles diftant ; our diredion was ftraight north. At half paft
eight, about five miles further, we came to the village Wed
Hojila. The river Abiad, which is larger than the Nile,
joins it there. Still the Nile preferves the name of Bahar
el Azergue, or the Blue River, which it got at Sennaar. The
village was once intended to be built at the jundlion of the
two rivers, but the Fakir's tomb being on ' t]\e fide of ilie
Nile, the village likewife was placed there. The Abiad is
a very deep river; it runs dead and with little inclination,
and preferves its ftream always undiminifhed, becaufe ri-
fing in latitudes where there arc continual rains, it there-
fore fuffers' not the decreafe the Nile does by the fix months
dry weather. Our whole journey this day was through
woods, with large intervals of fandy plains producing no-
tliing ..except fome few fpots of corn fown in time of the

fhowers,

* A machine for raiCng waljct from ite Nile, otherwifc called the Perfr.n wheel.

THESOURCEOF.THENILE. 517

Ihowers, while the fun returned over the zenith, but ftill
looking very poorly. At half pad twelve we arrived at
.Suakem, under trees, near a fakia. At four o'clock in the
afternoon we left Suakem, the mountains of Gerri bearing
N. E. of us, and, five miles further, alighted in a wood near
the Arabs Abdelab.

On the 30th, at five o'clock in the morning we left this
ftation, and after having gone eight miles N. E. we came to a
village, which is, as it were, the fuburb of Gerri. The A-
caba of Gerri is a low ridge of rocks that feems firft to run
from both fides acrofs the bed of the river, as if defigned
to flop it ; and it is impoflible to look at the gap through
which it falls down below, without thinking that this paf-
fage was made by the Nile itfelf when firft it began to flow.
Gerri is built on a rifmg ground, confifting of white, barren
fand and gravel, intermixed with white alabafter like peb-
bles, which, in a bright fun, are extremely difagrceable
to the eye. It confifts of about 140 houfes, none of them
above one llorey high, neat, well built, flat-roofed, and all
of one height, compofed wirh the fame coloured earth as
that on which it Hands, and, for this reafon, it is fcarccly
viflble at a diftance. It is immediately at the foot of the
Acaba, fomething more than a quarter of a mile from the
Nile. Gerri is fituated at the end of the tropical rains, in
lat. tG" 15', and the Acaba fe^ms to anfwer thofe mountains
of Ptolemy, beyond which (that is to the N.) he fays it is
^la.ij.'Ji'jv ytca o.(t.f.o')/oy p/wpar *, that is, a country full of fand and
without rain ; it is but a fmall fpot immediately on the Nile,
v/hich is all cultivated, as it enjoys the double advantage
both of the overflowing of the river and the accidental

fliower''^

* Ptol. Geograjjh. lib. iv. cag, 8.

^1$ TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

fhowers. It is alfo called Beladullah, or the Country of God,
on account of this double blelling. The dates of Gerri are
fent to the Mek, and are referved on purpofe for him. They
are dry, and never ripen, nor have any of the moift and
pulpy fubilance of the dates of Barbary. They arc firm
and fmooth in the fkin, and of a golden colour.

On the ifl of October, at half pafl five in the morning
^ve left Gerri, the Acaba continuing on the eafl. and weft,
hut the two extremities curving like a bow or an amphi-
theatre. This ridge of mountains is compofed of bare, red
flone, without any grais. At ten minutes after eight we
changed our road to N. E. endeavouring to turn the point
of the Acaba about three miles off, and at ten o'clock alight-
ed among green trees to f<;ed our camels. At three o'clock
in the afternoon we left our refting-place in the wood. The
mountains, which were then on our left hand, are thofe of
the Acaba of Gerri ; but thofe on the right ftill ran parallel
to our courfe, and ended in the Acaba of Mornefs : we were
now two miles from the river, its courfe due north. About
twenty minutes part four we came to the Acaba of Mornefs,
ji ridge of bare, (lony hills, and half an hour after we palled
it. There is very little afcent, and the road is only loofe^
broken ftones, which laft about a quarter of an hour.

At {iX o'clock in the evening we came to Hajar el AfTad,
• or Hajar Serrareek, the firil fjgnifying the Lion's Stone, the
next the Stone of Thieves, a beggarly, ftraggling village,
where there is 'a fakia, and fmall ftripes of dora, as if fown
in a garden, and watered from the well at pleafure. Hajar
el AlTad is the boundary between Wed Ageeb and the Mek
..of Chendi ; it is a yellow Hone fet upon a rock, which they
2 imagine

THE SOURCE OF Tilt NILE. 51$-

iraagine has the figure of a Hon. We now alighted near
half a mile from the river, in a fmall plain, where was only
one fhepherd with his cot and flock. At fome diflance, near
the river, there was a houfe or two with fakies. September
is the feed-time in this country. Wlien the Nile is at its.
height, the flat ground along the fide of the water, which
is about a quarter of a mile broad, is Ibwn with dora, as
far as water can be conducted in rills to it, but after this
fliort fpace, the ground rifes immediately ; there the har-
veft-time is in November ; and the feed-time at Sennaar is
in July, and their harveft in September ; both regulated by
the height of the Nile at the refpedive places.

On the 2d of October, at half paft five in the morning we
left Hajar el Aflad ; for the two lall days paft our journey lay
through woods and defert, without water or villages ; we
refted upon the Nile, which foon receded from us. After
having gone about two miles we faw fome fmall houfes
and fakies, with narrow fliripes of corn on both fides of the
river. About a mile further, we began, inftead of the fandy
defert, to fee large ftratums of purple, red and white mar-
ble, and alfo alabafter. It feems as if thofe immenfe quar-
ries, which run into Upper Egypt 10" N. from this, firft take
their rife here. This day we journied through woods of
acacia and jujebs. At twenty minutes paft eight we alight-
ed in a wood to feed our camels. The fun was fo immo-
derately hot that we could not travel. The Nile from Ger-
ri declines almoft infenfibly from the E. of N. The whole
country is defert and without inhabitants, faving the banks
of the river ; for there are here no regular rains that can
be depended upon at any certain time for the purpofe of
agriculture ; only there fall violent fliowers at the time

the

520 ' TRAVLES TO DISCOVER

the fun is in the zenith, on his progrefs fouthward from
the tropic of Cancer towards the Line, and the grafs grows
up very luxuriantly in all the fpots watered by thefe acci-
dental fhowers ; but all the reft of the country is dry and
burnt up.

Near Gerri, a little north, is the large rock Acaba, full
of caves, the firft habitations of the builders of Meroe. A
little below it is the ferry over which thofe who go by the
weft fide of the Nile to Dongola, through the defert of Ba-
hiouda, muft all pafs. It is five days journey before you
come to Korti, where travellers arrive the morning of the
fixth, that is, going at the rate of fifteen miles a-day. Near
Korti you again meet the Nile, which has taken a very unna-
tural turn from Magiran, or where it meets the Tacazze from
Angot. The way through this defert, which was that of Pon-
cet, is now rendered impafTable, as I have already faid, by
the Beni Faifara, Beni Gerar, and Cubba-beefh Arabs, three
powerful clans, which come from the weftward near Kor-
dofan from fear o£ the black horfe there, and which have
taken pofTelTion of all the wells in that defert, fo that it is
impofTible for travellers to avoid them. The Cubba-beefh
arc fo called, from kebfli*, a fheep, becaufe they wear the
fkin of that animal for cloathing. They are very numerous,
and extend far into the great defert Selima and to the frontiers
of Egypt. Thefe tribes have cut off the laft three caravans co-
ming from Dongola and Egypt. This ferry, and the Acaba
beyond it, belongs to Wed Ageeb ; and here all goods, pafl^
ing to and from Egypt, Dongola, and Chendi, pay a duty,
3 which

* Kebflu a iheep; pi. Cubba-beefh, fheep.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. ^2i

■%vhich is not regulated as to its extent, but is levied arbitra-
rily, according to circumftances of the times, and paid to
the Shukorea, or other Arabs, who are in the neighbour-
hood, which happens from February to July. The Mek, or
prince of the Arabs, pafTes them by fair means or force.
After the rains become conftant, thefe go eallward to Men-
dera and Gooz^ and then the road from Sennaar to Suakem
through thefe places becoming dangerous on account of
all the other Arabs aflembling there to avoid the fly, the ca-
ravan of Suakem is obliged to pafs through Halfaia to Bar-
bax', and from thence to Suakem, fo that this was the mofl:
frequented road in the kingdom. Now, indeed, the com-
munications on all fides are obftrucSted by the anarchy that
prevails among the Arabs, fo that he who pafTes to or from
Egypt mull depend folely upon his own exertions and the
protevftion of Heaven.

The Acaba of Gerri, and the banks of the Nile there, are
•inhabited by tribes of Arabs, called Beni Hamda, and Haf-
fani. They are all poor and miferable banditti, and would
-not fufFer a man to pafs there at the ferry were it not for
the extraordinary di-ead they have of fire-arms. The report
of a gun, even at a dillance, will make a hundred of them
•fly and hide themfelves. We gave them feveral vollies of
blunderbulles, and double-barrelled guns, fired in the air,
from the time of our entering their territory till near Wed
Baal a Nagga ; we faw them upon the tops of the pointed
rocks as far diftant as we could wifli, nor did they ever ap-
pear nearer us, or defcend into the plain.

At Halfaia and Gerri begins that noble race of horfes

■juftly celebrated all over the world. They are the breed that

Vol. IV. 3 U was

522 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

was introduced here at the Saracen conqueft, and have been
preferved unmixed to this day. They feem to be a diftindt
animal from the Arabian horfe, fuch as I have fcen in the.
plains of Arabia Deferta, fouth of Palmyra and Damafcus,
where I take the mod excellent of the Arabian breed to be,
in the tribe of Mowalli and Annecy, which is about lat. 36° ;
whilft Dongola and the dry country near it feems to be the
center of excellence for this nobler animal, fo that the
bounds within which the horfe is in its greateft perfection
feems to be between the degrees of lat. 20°, and ^6°^ and
between long. 30° eaft from the meridian of Greenwich to
the banks of the Euphrates. For this extent Fahrenheit's,
thermometer is never below 50° in the night, or in the day
below 80°, though it may rife to 1 20° at noon in the fhade, at
which point horfes are not affe^Sled by the heat, but will
breed as they do at Halfaia, Gerri, and Dongola, where the
thermometer rifcs to thefe degrees, Thefe countries, from
what has been faid, muft of courfe be a dry, fandy defert,
with little water, producing fliort, or no grafs, but only roots,
which are blanched like our cellery, being always covered
with earth, having no marfhes or fwamps, fat foapy earth,,
or mould.

I NEVER heard of wild horfes in any of thefe parts. A-
rabia Deferta, where they are faid to be, feems very ill cal-
culated to conceal them, it being flat without wood or co-
ver, they muft therefore be conftantly in view; and I ne-
ver heard any perfon of veracity fay they ever faw wild
horfes in Arabia. Wild afles I have frequently feen alive,
but never dead, in neck, head, face, and tail very like oiu's,
only their flcins are ftreaked, not fpotted. The zebra is
found nowhere in AbyfUnia, but in the S. W. extremity of

Kuara

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 523

Kuara among the Shangalla and Cuba, in Narca and CafFa,
and in the mountains of Dyre and Tegla, and to the fouth-
ward near as far as the Cape.

What figure the Nubian breed would make in point
of fleetnefs is very doubtful, their make being fo entirely
different from that of the Arabian ; but if beautiful and
fymmetrical parts, great fize and ftrengch, the moll agile,
nervous, and elallic movements, great endurance of fa-
tigue, docility of temper, and feeming attachment to man,
beyond any other domeflic animal, can promiie any thing
for a flallion, the Nubian is, above all comparifon, the
moft eligible in the v/orld. Few men have feen more hor-
fes, or more of the different places where they are excellent,
than I have, and no one ever more delighted in them, as
far as th€ manly exercife went. What thefe may produce
for the turf is v/liat I cannot fo much as gucfs, as there i^
not, I believe, in the world one more indifferent to, or ig-
norant of, that amufement than I am. The experiment
would be worth trying in any view. The expcnce would
not be great, yet there might be fome trouble and applica-
tion neceffary, but, if adroitly managed, not much even of
that.

I COULD not refrain from attempting a dravving of one
of them, which I fince, and but very lately, unfortimately
miilaid. It was a horfe of Shekh Adelan, which with fome
difficulty I had liberty to draw. It was not quite four years
' old, was full 16 hands high : I mean this only as an idea ;
I know the faults of my drawing, and could correft many
of them 'y -but it is a rule I have invariably adhered to in
this, as well as in defcription, to correct nothing from recol-

3 U 3 kcSion

5,24^ TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

lecT:ioii when the objeft is out of my fight. This hone's
name was El Fudda, the meaning of which I will not pre-
tend to explain. In Egypt this is the name of a fmall piece
of money clipped into points, otherwife called a parat ; but,
very probably, the name of horfes in Nubia may have as
little allufion to the quality of the animal as the name-
which our race-horfes have in England ; they are, how-
ever, very jealous in keeping up their pedigree. All noble
horfes in Nubia are faid to be defcended of one of the
five upon which Mahomet and his four immediate fuc-
ceffors, Abou Beer, Omar, Atman, and Ali, fled from Mecca^
to Medina, the night of the Hegira. From which of thefe
El Fudda was defcended I did not inquire; Shekh Adelan,.
armed, as he fought, with his coat of mail and war faddle,
iron-chained bridle, brafs cheek-plates, front-plate, breaft-
plate, large broad-fv/ord, and battle-ax, did not weigh lefs
upon the horfe than 26 ftone, horfeman's weight. This
horfe kneeled to receive his mailer, anued as he was, when
he mounted, and he kneeled to let him difmount armed'
Hkewife, fo that no advantage could be taken of him in
thofe helplefs times when a man is obliged to arm and
difarm himfelf piece by piece on horfeback. Adelan, in
war, was a fair-player, and gave every body his chance.
He was the firll man always that entered among the ene-
my, and the lafl to leave them, and never changed this horfe,.
The horfes of Halfaia and Gerri do not arrive at thcfize of
thofe in Dongola, where few are lower than 16 hands. They
areblackor white, but a vail proportion of the former to the
latter. I never faw the colour we call grey, that is, dappled, but
there are fome bright bays, or inclining to forcl. They are
ali kept monflrouily fat upon dora, eat nothing green but

the-

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 525

the {Kort roots of grafs that are to be found by the fide of
the Nile, after the fun has withered it. This they dig out
tvhere it is covered with earth, and appears blanched, which
they lay in fmall heaps once a- day on the ground before
them. They are tethered by the fetlock joint of the fore-
leg with a very foft cotton rope made with a loop and large
button. They eat and drink with the bridle in their mouth,
not the bridle they adually ufe when armed, but a light
one made on purpofe to accuftom them to eat and drink
with it : If you afk the reafon, they tell you of many battles
that have been loft by the troops having been attacked by
their enemy when taking off the bridles to give their horfes
drink. No Arab ever mounts a flallion ; on the contrary,
in Nubia they never ride mares ; the reafon is plain : The
Arabs are conflantly at war with their neighbours, (for fo
robbery in that country is called) and always endeavour to
take their enemies by furprifc in the grey of the evening,
or the dawn of day. A ftallion no fooner fmells the ftale
of the mare in the enemy's quarters, than he begins to
neigh, and that would give the alarm to the party intend-
ed to be furprifed. No fuch thing ever can happen Vvhen
they ride mares only ; on the contrary, the Funge truft on*
ly to fuperior force. They are in an open, plain country,
muft be difcovered at many miles diftancf , and all fuch
furprifes and ftratagems are ufelefs to them.

The place where we alighted is called Hajar el Dill, and
is a mile eaft from where we halted in the wood to feed our
camels. We continued along the Nile at about a mile's di-
flance from it, and, after advancing near three miles, came
in fight of a large village called Derreira ; on the oppofite
lide of the Nile, and beyond that, about four miles on tha
4 fame

526 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

fame fide, is Deleb, a large village, with the flirine of a fa-
mous faint of that name. The country here is more culti-
vated and pleafant than that which we had pafled ; there is
a low ridge of hills in the way. At half pad fix in the even-
ing of the 2d of Odober we arrived at Wed Baal a Nagga.
The village is a very large one, belonging to a Fakir, a faint
of the firil confideration in the government of Chendi. All
this country, except immediately upon the Nile, is defert
and fandy. All along the plain we faw numbers of people
digging pits, and taking out the earth, which they boil in
large earthen vafes or pans. This is the only way they
procure themfelves fait, of which they fend great quanti-
ties to Halfaia, where is a market, and from whence it is
fent to Sennaar.

On the 3d, at five o'clock, we left Wed Baal a Nagga, and
continued along the Nile, which is about a quarter of a mile
oflF; and feven miles further to the N. E. we pafiTed a tomb
of the Fakir el Deragi, clofe to the road on our left hand
Ail from Wed Baal a Nagga, on both fides of the Nile, is
pi6turefque and pleafant, full of verdure, and varied with
houfes in diflferent fituations till we come to the tomb of
this Fakir. Immediately from this all is bare and defolate^
except one verdant fpot by the fide of the river, -fliaded with
fine trees, and full of herbage, and there we alighted at
nine o'clock. This place is called Maia ; a few trees appear
on the other fide, but beyond thefe all the country is defert.
It is inhabited atprefent by the Jaheleen Arabs of Wed el
Faal; as they have bad violent fliowers in the high coun-
try, and their pools were Hill full of water, they ftaid by
them longer than ordinary feeding their cattle. Idris Wed
€l Faal, governor of Chendi, nephew to Wed Ageeb, and fon
4 '<"

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 527

to Sittina his filler, to whorti this country belongs, was then
with them, fo we did not fear them, otherwife there is not
a worfe fet of fanatical wretches, or greater enemies to the
name of Chriftian, than thefe are.

As we are here fpeaking of Arabs and their names, I
fliall once for all obferve, that Wed,' a word which I have
frequently made ufe of in the courfe of this hiftory, and
which in this fenfe is peculiar to the kingdom of Sennaar,
does not mean river, though that is its import in Arabic.
Here it is an abbreviation of Welled, peculiar to the inhabi-
tants of this part of Atbara, who feem to have an averlioQ to
the letter 1 ; Wed el Faal, the fon of Faal ; Wed Hydar, the
fon of Hydar, or the lion ; Wed HafTan, the fon of Haflan,
and fo of the reft. For the fame reafon, Melek Sennaar,
the king of Sennaar, called Mek^ by throwing out the 1 ;
Abd el Mek, the flave of the king, inftead of Abd el Melek.
Here alfo I had the pleafure to find the language of the
Koran that of the whole people in common converfation ;
and as this was the book in which I firft ftudied the Ara-
bic, I found now a propriety and facility of expreilion I had
not been fenfible of before ; for that of the Koran, in Ara-
bia, is a kind of dead language, rarely underftood but by
men of learning..

At Wed Baal a Nagga there is a ferry for thofe who
go to Dongola by the defert of Bahiouda, Derreira is the
landing-place on the other fide ; I fuppofe it is to avoid
thefe Jaheleen that caravans ferry over at Gern rather
than come fo low as Wed Baal a Nagga. We left Maia at
half paft three in the afternoon, and, after going three

miles.

528 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

miles, we came to Gooz, a fmall village on our left, where
we found plenty of good food for our camels. At fix we
alighted at Fakari. Chendi was now five miles eaft of us,
where we arrived at eight o'clock in the morning of the 4th
of Odober.

iS6;"" ">'8g

CHAP.

THE SOURCE GF THE KILE. ,s*9

=i^'^-

CHAP. XL

■Reception at Chend'i by Sittlna—Converfat'ions witb fjer-^— Enter the De^
"ijtrt — Pillars of movmg Sand — The Simoom — Latitude of Chiggre.

CHENDI, or Chandi, is a large village, the capital of its
diftridl, the government of which belongs to Sittina,
(as (he is called) which fignifies the Millrefs, or the Lady, fhe
i)eing fitter to Wed Ageeb, the principal of the Arabs in
rthis country. She had been married, but her hufband was
dead. She had one fon, Idris Wed el Faal, who was to fuc-
ceed to the government of Chendi upon his motlier's death,
and who, in effed, governed all the affairs of his kindred al-
ready. The governor of Chendi is called in difcourfe Mek
• ei Jaheleen, prince of the Arabs of Beni Koreifh, who are
all fettled, as I have already faid, about the bottom of At-
bara, on both fides of the Magiran.

There is a tradition at Chendi, that a woman, whofe
name was Hendaque, once governed all that country,
whence we might imagine that this was part of the king-
dom of Candace ; for writing this name in Greek letters
it will come to be no other than Hendaque, the native, or

Xi^fu IV. 3 X raiftrefs.

530 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

millrefs, of Chendi, or Chandi. However this may be,
Chendi was once a town of great refort. The caravans of
Sennaar, Egypt, Suakem, and Kordofan, all were in ufe to
rendezvous here, efpecially lince the Arabs have cut off the
road by Dongola, and the defert of Bahiouda ; and though
it be not now a place of great plenty, yet every thing here
is at a cheaper rate, and better than at Sennaar ; we muft
except the article fuel, for wood is much dearer here than
in any part of Atbara ; the people all burn camels dung.
Indeed, were it not for dreffing vidtuals, fire in a place fo
hot as this would be a nuifance. It was fo fultry in the
end of Auguft and beginning of September, that many
people dropt down dead with heat, both in the town and
villages round it ; but it is now faid to be much cooler,
though the thermometer at noon was once fo high as
119".

Chendi has in it about 250 houfes, which are not all
built contiguous, fome of the bed of them being feparate,
and that of Sittina's is half a mile from the town.
There are two or three tolerable houfes, but the reft of
them are miferable hovels, built of clay and reeds. Sit-
tina gave us one of thefe houfes, which I ufed for keep--
ing my inftruments and baggage from being pilfered or
broken ; I flept abroad in the tent, and it was even there
hot enough. The women of Chendi are eileemed the moft
beautiful in Atbara, and the men the greateft cowards.
This is the character they bear among their countrymen,,
but we had little opportunity of verifying either^.

On our arrival at Chendi we found the people very

much alarmed at a phenomenon, which, though it often

3 happens.

THE SOURCE OF.THE NILE. 531

happens, by forae ftrange inadvertency had never been obfer-
ved, even in this ferene llcy. [he planetVenus appeared Ihi-
ning with vmdiminiihed Hght all day, in defiance of the
brighteft fun, from which flie was but little diftant. Tho'
this phcenomenon be vifible every four years, it filled all
the people, both in town and country, with alarm. They
flocked to me in crowds from all quarters to be fatisfied
what it meant, and, when they faw my telefcopes and
quadrant, they could not be perfuaded but that the ftar
had become vifible by fome correfpondence and intelli-
gence with me, and for my ufe. 1 he bulk of the people
in all countries is the fame ; they never foretell any thing
but evil. The very regular and natural appearance of this
planet was immediately converted, therefore, into a fign that
there would be a bad harveft next year, and fcanty rains ;
that Abou Kalec with an army would depofe the king,
and over-run all Atbara ; whilfl: fome threatened me as a
principal operator in bringing about thefe difaflers. On
the other hand, without feeming over-folicitous about my
vindication, I infinuated among the better fort, that this was
a lucky and favourable fign, a harbinger of good fortune,
plenty, and peace. The clamour upon this fubfided very
much to my advantage, the rather, becaufe Sittina and her
fon Idris knew certainly that Mahomet Abou Kalec was
not to be in Atbara that year.

On the 12th of Ocflober I waited upon Sittina, who received
me behind a fcreen, fo that it was impoffible either to fee
her figure or face ; 1 obferved, however, that there were a-
pertures fo managed in the fcreen that Ihe had a perfedt
view of me. She exprefiTed herfelf with great poli'tenefs,
talked much upon the terms in which Adelan was with

3X2 the

j.3^- TRAVE%S TO DiSCOVEIti

the king, and wondered exceedingly how a white maro
like me lliould venture fo far in fuchan ill-goverrred coun-
try. " Allow me, Madam, faid I, to complain of a breach
of hofpitality in you, which no Arab has been yet guilty of ■
towards me."^— " Me ! faid flie, that would be ftrange indeed,
to a sian that bears my brothers letter. How can that

|je !" " Why, you tell m^e, Madam, that I am a white man, .

l>y which I know that you fee me, without giving me the
like advantage. The queens of Sennaar did not ufe me fo
hardly ; I had a full fight of them without having ufed .
any importunity." On this flie broke out into a great fit
of laughter ; then fell into a converfation about medicines^
to make her hair grow, or rather to hinder it from falling
off. She defired me to come to her the next day- that her
fon Idris would be then at home from the Howat *, and ;
that he very much wiflied to fee me. She that day fent;
us plenty of provifions from her own table.

On the t3th it was fo exceffively hot that it was impof-
fible to fuffer the burning fun. The poifonous fimoom bkw
iiliewife as if it came from an oven. Our eyes were dim, .
our lips cracked, our knees tottering, our throats perfeftiy
dry, and no relief was found from drinking an immoderate .
quantity of water. The people advifed me to dip a fpunge
in vinegar and water, and hold it before my mouth and
nofe, and this greatly relieved me. In the evening I went
to Sittina. Upon entering the houfe, a black ilave laid hold
of me by the hand, and placed me in a paffage, at th-e end of
which were two oppofite doors. I did not well know the

re afon

* The farm where he kept the flocks belonging to himlelf.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 533'

reafon of this ; but had ftaid only a few liiinutes when I
heard one of the doors at the end of the pafTage open, and
Sittina appeared magnificently drclfed, with a kind of round
cap of folid gold upon the crown of her head, all beat very
thin, and hung round with fcquins ; with a variety of gold
chains, folitaire?, and necklaces of the fame metal, about
her neck. Her hair was plaited in ten or twelve fmall di-
vifions like tails, which hung down below her waiil, and
over her was thrown a common cotton white garment. She
had a purple fiik Hole, or fcarf, hung very gracefully upon
her t\ack, brought again round her waift, without covering
her llioulders or arms. Upon her wrifts flie had two brace-
lets like handcuffs, about half an inch thick, and two gold '
manacles of the fame at her feet, fully an inch diameter,
the moft difagreeable and aukward part of all her drefs.
I expedted Hie would have hurried through with fome af-
fetftation of furprife. On the contrary, fhe ftoptin the middle
of the pafTage, faying, in a verv grave manner, " Kifhalec,"
— how are you ? I thought this was an opportunity of kif-
fmg her hand, which I did, without her fhewing any fort
of relucT:ance. " Allow me as a phylician, laid I, Madam,
to fay one word." She bowed with her head, and faid, " Go
in at that door, and I will hear you." The Have appeared,
and carried me through a door at the bottom of the pafTage
into a room, while her miftrefs vaniflied in at another door
at the top, and there was the faeen I had feen th-e day be-
fore, aud the lady fitting behind it. .

She was a woman fcarcely forty, taller than the middlfe
fize,had a very round, plump face, her mouth rather large,
Trery red lips, the fmeft teeth and eyes I have feen, but at the

534 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

top of her nofe, and between her eye-brows, Ihe had a fmall
fpeck made of cohol or antimony, fom'-corner'd, and of the
fize of the fmallefl patches our women ufed to wear ; ano-
ther rather longer upon the top of her nofe, and one on the
middle of her chin.

Sitt'ina. " Tell me what you would fay to me as a phyfi-
cian." — Ta. " It was, Madam, but in confequence of your
difcourfe yeflerday. That heavy gold cap with which you
prefs your hair will certainly be the caufe of a great part
of it falling off." S'ltt. " I believe fo; but I fhould catch cold,
I am fo accuftomed to it, if I was to leave it off. Are you a
man of name and family in your own country ?" Ta. " Of
both, Madam." Sitt. " Are the women handfome there ?"
Ta. " The handfomefl: in the world. Madam ; but they are
fo good, and fo excellent in all other refpefts, that nobody
thinks at all of their beauty, nor do they value themfelves
upon it." S'ltt. " And do they allow you to kifs their hands ?"
Ta. " I underftand you. Madam, though you have miftaken
me. There is no familiarity in killing hands, it is a mark
of homage, and diftant refpedl paid in my country to our
fovereigns, and to none earthly befides." Sitt. " Oyes! but
the kings." Ta. " Yes, and the queens, too, always on the
knee, Madam; I faidour fovereigns, meaning both king and
queen. On her part it is a mark of gracious condefcenfion,
in favour of rank, merit, and honourable behaviour; it is a
reward for dangerous and difficult lervices, above all other
compenfation." 6'///. " But do you know that no man e , er
kifled my hand but you ?" Ta. "It is impoffible 1 fho Jd
know that, nor is it material. Of this I am confiden . it
was meant reipedfully, cannot hurt you, and ought not to

offend

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. S3

j^

offend you." Siu. " It certainly has done neither, but I wifli
very much Idris my fon would come and fee you, as it is
on his account I drefled myfelf to-day." Ta. " I hope. Ma-
dam, when I do fee him he will think of fome way of for-
warding me fafely to Barbar, in my way to Egypt." Sitt.
" Safely ! God forgive you ! you are throwing yourfelf away
wantonly. Idris himfelf, king of this country, dares not un-
dertake fuch a journey. But why did not you go along with
Mahomet Towalh? He fet out only a few days ago for Cairo,
the fame way you are going, and has, I believe, taken all
the Hybeers with him. Go call the porter", fays fhe to her
flave. When the porter came, " Do you know if Mahomet
Towalh is gone to Egypt ?" " I know he is gone to Barbar,
fays the porter, the two Mahomets, and Abd el Jelleel, the
Bifhareen, are with him." " Why did he take all the Hy-
beers?" fays Sittina. " The men were tired and difcoura-
ged, anfwered the porter, by their late ill-ufage from the
Cubba-beefli, and, being dripped of every thing, they want-
ed to be at home." Siu. " Somebody elfe will offer, but
you muil not go without a good man with you; 1 will not
fuffer you. Thefe Bithareen are people known here, and
may be trufted; but while you ilay let me fee you every day,
and if you want any thing, fend by a fervant of mine. It
is a tax, I know, improperly laid upon a man like you, to
afk for every necefTary, but Idris will be here, and he will
provide you better." I went away upon this converfation,
and foon found, that Mahomet Towafli had fo well follow*
ed the direftion of the Mek of Sennaar, as to take all the Hy-
beers of note with him on purpofe to difappoint nie.

This being the Srft time T have had occafion to mention'
this ufeful fet of men, it will be neceffary I Ihould here ex-

piaini

r.s^6 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

plain their office and occupation. A Hybeer is a guide,
'from the Arabic word Hubbar, to inform, inftru(5t, or diretfl,
'becaufe they are u fed to do this office to the caravans tra-
velhng through the defert in all its diredions, whether to
Egypt and back again, the coaft of the Ked Sea, or the coun-
,'tries of Sudan, and the weftern extremities of Africa. They
are men of great confideration, knowing pcrfeiflly the fitua-
tion and properties of all kinds of water to be met on the
route, the diftance of wells, whether occupied by enemies
or not, and, if fo, the way to avoid them with the leaft in-
convenience. It is alfo necelTary to them to know the places
occupied by the fanoom, and the feafons of their blow-
ing in thofe parts of the defert, likewife thofe occupied by
moving fands. He generally belongs to fome powerful
tribe of Arabs inhabiting thefe deferts, whofe protedtion he
makes ufe of to affill his caravans, or prote(5l them in time
of danger, and handfome rewards were always in his
power to diilribute on fuch occafions ; but now that the
Arabs in thefe deferts are everywhere without government,
the trade between Abyffinia and Cairo given over, that be-
tween Sudan and that metropohs much diminiflaed, the
'importance of that office of Hybeer, and its confideration, is
fallen in proportion, and with thefe the fafe condu(51: ; and
we fliall fee prefently a caravan cut off by the treachery of
the very Hybeers that conducted them, the firll inflance of
.the kind that ever happened.

One day, fitting in my tent mufliig upon the very un-
promifing afpe^l of my affairs, an Arab of very ordinary ap-
pearance, naked, with only a cotton cloth around his mid-
^,.dle, came up to me, and offered to condud: me to Barbar
.and thence to Egy2:)t. He faid his houfe was at Daroo on the

fide

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. sT7

fide of the Nile, about twenty miles beyond Syene, or AlTou*.
an, nearer Cairo. I alked him why he had not gone with
Mahomet Towafli? He faid, he did not like the company,
and was very much miftaken if their journey ended welh
Upon preHlng him further if this was really the only rea-
fon ; he then told me, that he had been fick for fome months
at Chendi, contraded debt, and had been obUged to pawn
his cloaths, and that his camel was detained for what
Hill remained unpaid. After much converfation, repeated
feveral' days, I found that Idris (for that was his name) was
a man of fome fubftancc in his own country, and had a
daughter married to the Schourbatchie at AiTouan. He faid
that this was his laft journey, for he never would crofs the
defert again. A bargain was nowfoon made. I redeemed
his camel and cloak ; he was to lliew me the way to Egypt,
and he was there to be recompenfed, according to his beha-
viour.

Chendi, by repeated obfervations of the fun and (lars,
made for feveral fucceeding days and nights, I fo.und to be
in lat. 16° 38' ^s" north, and at tlie lame place, the 13th of
Ocflober, I obferved an immerfion of the firil fateUite of Ju-
piter, from which I concluded its longitude to be 33° 24' 45"
eaft of the meridian of Greenwich. Tiie higheft degree of
the thermometer of Fahrenheit in the fliade was, on the loth
of oarober, at one o'clock P. M. 1 19°, wind north ; the loweft
was on the nth, at midnight, 87°, wind well, after a fmall
Ihower of rain.

I PREPARED now to Icave Chendi, but firfl returned my
benefaftrefs Sittina thanks for all her favours. She had
called for Idris, and given him very pofitive inflrudions,

Vol. IY. 3 '^ ^^^^

S3^- TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

iTiixt with threats, if he mifbehaved ; and hearing what I'
had done for him, flie too gave him an ounce of gold, and
faid, at parting, that, for knowledge of the road through
the defert, flie believed Idris to be as perfedt as any body ;
but in cafe we met with the Bilhareen, they would neither
fliew to him nor to me any mercy. She gave me, how-
ever, a letter to Mahomet Abou Bertran, Shekh of one of
the tribes of Bifliarcen, on the Tacazze, near the Magiran,
which flie had made her fon write from the Howat, it not
being ufual, flie faid, for her to write herfelf. 1 begged I
might be again allowed to teftify my gratitude by kiffing her
hand, which flie condefcended to in themoft gracious man-
ner, laughing all the time, and faying, " Well, you are an
odd man ! if Idris my fon faw me jufl now, he would think.
me mad."

On the 20th of 06lober, in the evening, we left Chendi,.
and relied two miles from the town, and about a mile from
the river; and next day, the 2rft, at three quarters pail four
in the morning we continued our journey, and pafTed
through five or fix villages of the Jahcleen on our Icfr;
at nine we alighted to feed our camels under fome trees,
having gone about ten miles. At this place begins a large
ifiand in the Nile feveral miles long, full of villages, trees,
and corn, it is called Kurgos. Oppofite to this is the moun-
tain Gibbainy, where is the firft fcene of ruins I have met
with fince that of Axum in Abyffinia. We faw here heaps
of broken pedefials, like thofe of Axum, all plainly defigned
for the fi:atues of the dog ; fome pieces of obeliik, likewife,
with hieroglyphics, almoft totally obliterated. The Arabs
told us theie ruins were very extci five ; and that many pie-

4 ces

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 539

CCS of flatues, both of men and animals, had been dug up
there ; the flatues of the men were moftly of black ftone.
It is impoffible to avoid rifquing a guefs that this is the an-
cient city of Meroe, whofe latitude fliould be 16° 26' ; and I
appi^ehend further, that in this iHand was the obfervatory
of that famous cradle of aftronomy. The Ethiopians can-
not pronounce P ; there is, indeed, no fuch letter in their
alphabet. Curgos, then, the name of the ifland, Ihould
probably be Purgos, the tower or obfervatory of that city.

There are four remarkable rivers mentioned by the an-
cients as contributing to form the ifland of Meroe. The
firll is the Aftufafpes, or the river Mareb, fo called from
hiding itfelf under ground in the fand, and again im-
merging in the time of rain, and running to join the Ta-
cazze.

The next is the Tacazze, as I have faid, the Siris of the
ancients, by the natives called Aftaboras, which forms, as
Pliny has faid, the left channel of Atbara, or, as the Greeks
have called it, the ifland of Meroe.

On the weft, or right hand, is another confiderable river,
called by the name of the White River, and by the ancients
Aftapus, and which Diodorus Siculus fays comes from large
lakes to the fouthward, which we know to be truth. This
river throws itfelf into the Nile, and together with it makes
the' right-hand channel, inclofing Mcroc or Atbara. The
Nile here is called the Blue River; and Nil, in the language
of the country, has precifely that fignification. This too
was known to the ancients, as the Greeks have called it' the
Blue River, and tliefe being ail found to inclofe Meroe, nei-

' 3 Y 2 ther

540 TRAVELS TO DTBCGVER

tlier Gojam, nor any place that is not fo limited, can ever-
be taken for that illancL

I WILL not pretend to fay that any pofitive proof fliouldn
be founded upon the aftronomical obfervations of the an-
cients, unlefs there are circumftances that go hand in hand
with, and corroborate them ; but we fhould be at a very
great lofs indeed, notwithftanding all the diligence of mo-
dern travellers, were we to throw the celeftial obfervations -
of the ancients entirely behind us. We have, from various
concurring circumftances, fixed our Meroe at Gerri, or be-
tween that town and Wed Baal a Nagga, that is about lat,
16° 10' north ; and Ptolemy, from an obfervation of the Sol-
ftice, fixes it at 16" 26', fo that the error here, if any, feems
to be of no confequence, as the direction of the city might
extend to the northward. The obfervations mentioned by
Pliny are not fo accurate, nor do they merit to be put in
competition with thofe of Ptolemy, for very obvious reafons;
yet ilill, when flridly examined, they do not fail, inaccurate
as they are, to throw fome light upon this fubjed. He fays
the fun is vertical at Meroe twice a-year, once when he
enters the 18° of Taurus, and again when he is in the i4tli .
degree of the Lion.^

Here are three impofTibilities, which plainly fliew that
ihis error is not that of Pliny, but of an ignorant tranfcri-
ber ; for if the zenith of Meroe anfwered to the 1 8th degree ■
of Taurus, it is impoffible that the fame point fhould an-
fwer to the i4rh degree of the Lion ; and if Syene was 5000
fl:adia from the one, it is impoflible it could be no more
from the other which was fouth of it, if they were all

three

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 541 =

tKrce under the fame meridian ; let us then confefs, as
we muft, that both thefe obfervations are erroneous.

But let us fuppofe that the firft will make the latitude of '
Meroe to be 17° io\ and the fecond 16° 40'; taking then a
medium of thefe two bad obfervations, as is the prac^lice in
all fucli cafes, we fhall find the latitude of Meroe to be 16°
30', only 4' difference from the obfervation of Ptolemy.

Vosius*, among a multitude of errors he has commit-
ted relating to the Nile, denies that there are any iflands
in that river. The reader will be long ago fatisfied from
our hillory, that this is without foundation, feeing that
from the ifland of Rhoda, where flands the Mikeas, to the
ifland of Curgos, which we have jufi now mentioned, we
have defcribed feveral. . He would indeed infmuate, that
Meroe, or Atbara, is not an ifland, but a pehinfula, though
it is well known in hiftory thefe words are conflantly ufed
as fynonimous ; but were it not fo, Meroe fcarcely flands
in need of this excufe. If the reader will cafl his eye upon
the map, he will fee two rivers, the Rahad and Tocoor,
that almofc meet in lat. 12" 40' north. Acrofs the peninfula
left by thefe rivers, is a fmall ftripe called Falaty, running in
a contrary diredion from the general courfe of rivers in
this country, that is from eaft to weft, though part of it in
dry weather is hid in the fand, and this river makes Atba-
ra a complete ifland in time of rain. .

SiMONIDES

De. oiig. flura. cap, xvi. p. 57.

542 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

SiMONiDES the Lefs flaid five years in Meroe ; after him,
Ariftocreon, Bion,and Bafilis -. It is not then probable that
men of their character omitted to afcertain the fad; whe-
ther or not the place where they lived was an ifland. Dio-
dorus Siculus has faid, that Meroe was in the form of a
fliield, that is, in the figure of that triangular fliield called
Scutum, pointed at the bottom, and growing broader to-
wards the top where it is fquare. Nothing can be more
exaft than this refemblance of the lowerpartof Atbara, that
is, from Gerri to the Magiran, the part we fuppofe Diodorus
was acquainted with, and it is fcarcely poffible that he could
have fixed upon this refemblance without having feen fome
figure of it delineated upon paper.

As this muft fuppofe a more than ordinary knowledge in
Diodorus, we fliall examine how the meafures he has given
lis of the ifland correfpond with the truth. He fays, that
the ifland is 3000 iladia long, and icco ftadia broad. Now
taking 8 Iladia for a mile, v/e have 375 miles, and meafu-
ring with the compafs from the river Falaty, where, as I have
faid, Atbara becomes an ifland by the confluence of the ri-
vers, I find that diftance to be 345 miles, of 60 miles to a de-
gree, fo that without making any allowance for the difad-
vantages of the country, it is impofiible at this day to have
a more accurate eflimation. As for the breadth, it is fcarce-
ly poffible to guefs at what part Diodorus means it was mea-
fured, on account of the figure of the fliield, as I have al-
ready obferved, as conflantly varying. But fuppofe, as is
moit probable, that the breadth of the ifland was referred to

the

* Piln. lib. vi. c.

3=-

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 543

fhe place where the city Hood, then, in place of 125 miles, the
produce of 1000 iladia, I find it meafures 145 miles, a differ-
ence as little to be regarded as the other.

Let us now examine what information we can leam
from the report of the centurions fent on purpofe by Nero
to explore this unknown country, whofe report has been
looked upon as decifive of the diftances of places through
which they palled.

These travellers pretend, that between Syene and the en-
trance into the ifland of Meroe was- 873 miles, and from
thence to the city 70 miles ; the whole diftance then be-
tween Syene and the city of Meroe will be 943 miles, or 15°
43'. Now Syene was very certainly in 24°, a few minutes
more or lefs ; and from this if we take 15°, there will remain
9" of latitude for the iiland of Meroe, according to th^ re-
port of thefe centurions, and this would have carried Meroe
far to the fouthward of the fountains of the Nile, and con-
founded every idea of the geography of Africa. The paral-
lel which marks 11° cuts Gojamveryexadly in the middle,
and this peninfula may befaid to refemble the fliield called
Pelta ; but very certainly not the Scutum, to which Diodorus
has very properly hkened it. Befides, their own obfervation
condemns them, for it is about Meroe where they firft faw
an appearance of verdure ; thereafon of which is very plain,
if the latitude of that city was in 16°, upo*^ the verge of the
tropical rains,where, as ane) e-wifnefs, I who have paffed that
dreary ditlance on foot can tellify, tliofe green* herbs and
Ihrubs, though they begin, as is very properly and cautioufly
expreffed, to appear there, feem neither luxuriant nor abun-
dant.

But.-

544- TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

But had the centurions gone to Gojam, they would have
pafled a hundred miles of a more verdanc and nioie beauti-
ful country before arriving there. The pfittaci aves, or the
paroquets, which they very properly obferved were firft feen
in Meroe, that is, in Atbara, would have been fought for in
vain in Gojam, a cold country ; whereas the paroquet's de-
light is in the low, or hot country, where there is always va-
riety of fruit ; neither could Ptolemy's obfervation, nor thofe
two juft mentioned by Pliny, be admitted, after any fort of
jjnodiiication wliatever.

Strabo remarks of the fituatlon of Meroe, that it was
placed upon the verge of the tropical rains ; and, with his
ufual accuracy and good fenfe, he wonders the regularity
of thefe tropical rains, as .to their coming and duration, was
not known earlier, when fo many occafions had offered to
obferve them at Meroe before his time. The fame author
fays, that the fun is vertical at Meroe forty-five days before
the fummer folftice ; fo that this too will place that ifland
in lat. 16" 44', very little different from the latitude that
Ptolemy gives it. From all which circumflances we may
venture to maintain, that very few places in ancient geo-
graphy have their fituations more flric^ly defined, or by a
greater variety of circumflances, than the ifland of Atbara or
Meroe. But fuppofing the cafe v/ere otherwife, there is not
one of thefe circumflances that I know of, that could be ad-
duced with any efFccl to prove Gojam to be Meroe, as Le
Grande and the Jefuits have» vainly afTerted.

At half pail eleven o'clock in the forenoon of the 21ft

•of October, having fpcnt the whole day in winding through

:vallies, and the bare hills of the Acaba, we alighted in a

ji wood

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. ^45

wood about a mile from the river. This fide of the Nile,
along which we travelled to-day, is quite bare, the other
full of trees and corn, where are feveral large villages.

On the 2 2d, in the afternoon, we left this place, which is
called Hor-Gibbaity, and paffed through feveral villages of
the Macabrab, named Dow-Dowa, and three miles further
came to Deniar, a town belonging to Fakir Wed Madge
Doub, who is a faint of the firfl confequence among the
Jaheleen. They believe that he works miracles, and can
ftrike whom he pleafes with lamenefs, blindnefs, or mad-
nefs ; for which reafon they ftand very much in awe of
him, fo that he pafTes the caravans in fafety through this
Reft of robbers, fuch as the Macabrab are, and always have
been, though there are caravans who chufe rather to pnfs
unfeen under the cloud of night, than truft to the venera-
tion thefe Jaheleen may have of Wed Madge Doub's fan(5liry.
After thefe are Eli^ib, their habitation four miles on our
left at Howiah,

On the 25th, at three quarters pafl fix in the morning
we left Demar, and at nine came to the Tacazze, five fliort
miles diftant from Demar, and two fmall villages built with
canes and plaiftered with clay, called Dubba-beah; thefe
are allies of the Macabrab, as coming from Demar. They
took it in their heads to believe that we were a caravan
going to Mecca, in which they were confirmed by a fon of
Wed Madge Doub, whom I brought with me, and it was
neither my bufinefs nor mclination to undeceive them, but
,juft the contrary.

.Vol. IV. 3 Z The

546' TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

The Tacazze is here about a quarter of a mile broad, ex-
ceedingly deep, and they have chofen the deeped part for
the ferry. It is clear as in Abyffinia, where we had often
feen it. It rifes in the province of Angot, in about lat. 9°,
but has loft all the beauty of its banks, and runs here thro'
a dcfert and barren country. I reflcdlcd with much fatif-
facflion upon the many circumftances the fight of this river
recalled to my mind ; but ftill the greateft was, that the
fcenes of thefe were now far diftant, and that I was by fo
much the more advanced towards home. The water of
the Tacazze is judged by the Arabs to be lighter, clearer,
and wholefomer than that of the Nile. About half a mile
after this ferry it joins with that river. Though the boats
were fmaller, the people more brutilh, and lefs expert than
thofe at Halifoon, yet the fuppofed fan(5tity of our charac-
ters, and liberal payment, carried us over without any diffi-
culty. Thefe fons of Mahomet are very robuft and ftrong,
and, in all their operations, feemcd to truft to that rather
than to addrefs or flight. Wq left the paflage at a quarter
after three, and at half paft four arrived at a gravelly, wafte
piece of ground, and all round it planted thick with large
trees without fruit. Tlie river is the boundary between At-
bara and Barbar, in which province we now are. Its inha-
bitants are the Jaheleen of the tribe of Mirifab.

On the 26th, at fix o'clock, leaving the Nile on our left
about a mile, we continued our journey over gravel and
fand, through a wood of acacia-trees, the colour of whofe
flowers was no^v changed to white, whereas all the reft we
had before feen were yellow. At one o'clock we left the
wood, and at 40 minutes paft ^hree we came to Gooz, a
fmall village, which neverthelefs is the capital of Barbar.

The.

THE SOURCE OF THE N ILE. 547

The village of Gooz is a coUetlrion of miferable hovels com-
pofed of clay and canes. There are not in it above 30 houfcs,
but there are fix or feven different villages. The heat
feemed here a little abated, but everybody complained of
a difeafe in their eyes they call Tilhafh, which often termi-
nates in blindnefs. I apprehend it to be owing to the
fimoom and fine fand blowing through the defert. Here a
misfortune happened to Idris our Hybeer, who was arrefled
for debt, and carried to prifon. As we were now upon the
very edge of the defert, and to fee no other inhabited place
till we fliould reach Egypt, I was not difpleafed to have it
in my power to lay him under one other obligation before
we trufted our lives in his hands, which we were immedi-
ately to do. I therefore paid his debt, and reconciled him
with his creditors, who, on their part, behaved very mode-
rately to him.

When trade flouriflied here, and the caravans went re-
gularly, Gooz was of fome confideration, as being the firfl
place where they flopped, and therefore got the firfl offer
of the market ; but now no commerce remains, nor is it
worth while for flated guides to wait there to condud the
caravans through the defert, as they did formerly. Gooz
is fituated fifteen miles from the jundion of the two rivers
the Nile and Tacazze. By many obfervations of the fun
and flars,and by a mean of thefe, I found it to be in lat. if
57' 22"; and by an immerfion of the firfl fatellite of Jupi-
ter obferved there the 5th of November, determined its lon-
gitude to be 34° 20' 30" eafl of the meridian of Green-
wich. The greatefl height of Fahrenheit's thermometer
was, at Gooz, the 28th day of Odober, at noon, in".

3 Z 2 Having

j,f^ TRAVELS TO DISCOVER'

Having received all the affurances pofTible from Idris-
that he v/ould live and die with us, after having repeated the
prayer of peace, we put on the beft countenance poffible,
and committed ourielves to the dcfert. There were Ifmael
th-e Turk, two Greek fervants befides Georgia, who was
almoll blind and ufelefs. Two Barbarins, who took care
of the camels, Idris, and a young man, a relation of his,
who joined him at Barbar, to return home ; in all nine
perfons, eight only of whom were efFeftive. We were all
well-armed with blunderbufTes, fwords, piflolsy and double-
barrelled guns, except Idris and his lad, who had lances,
the only arms they could ufe. Five or fix naked wretch-
es of the Tucorory joined us at the watering place, much
againrt my will, for I knew that we fhould probably be re-
duced to the difagreeable necelTity of feeing them die with
thirrt before our eyes ; or by affiiling them, Ihould any ac-
cident happen to our water, we ran a very great rifli of
gerilhing with th*;m. .

It was on the 9th of November, at noon, we left Gooz,
and fet out for the fakia, or watering-place, which is be-
low a little village called Hail'a. All the weft fide of tlife
Nile is full of villages down to Takaki, but they are all
Jaheleen, without government, and perpetually in rebel-
lion. At half paft three in the afternoon we came to the
Nile to lay in our llore of water. We filled four Ikina,
which might contain altogether about a hogfhead and a
half. As for our food, it confifted in twenty-two large
goat5 fikins fluffed with a powder of bread" made of dora
here at Gooz, on purpofe for fuch expeditions. It is about
the fize and Ihape of a pancake, but thinner. Being much
dried, rather than toafted at the fire, it is afterwards rub-
bed

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. s¥)

htd between the hands into a ckift or powder, for the fake
of package; and the goat's lldn .crammed as Full as pofliblff,.
and tied at the mouth with a leather thong. This bread
has a fouriih talle, which it imparts to the water when
mingled with it, and fwells to fix times the fpace that it
occupied when dry. A handful, as much as you could
grafp, put into a bowl made of a gourd fawed in two, about
twice the contents of a common tea-bafon, was the quan-
tity allowed to each man every day, morning and evening.; ;
and another fuch, gourd of water divided, one half two
hours before noon, the other about an hour after. Suck
were the regulations we all of us fubfcribed to ; we had not
camels for a greater provifion. The Nik at Hafla runs
at the foot of a mountain called Jibbel Atefhan, or the
Mountain ofThirJl; the men, emphatically enough, confider-
ing that thofe who part from it, entering the defert, take
there the firil provifions againft thiril, and there thofe thai
come to it from the defert firfl ailuage theirs.

On the nth, about eleven o'clock in the forenoon we
left Hafla. It required a whole day to fill our ficins, and
foak them well in the water, in order to make an experi-
ment, which was of the greatell confequence of any one we
ever made, whether thefe fkins were water-tight or not. I
had taken the greateft care while at Chendi to dawb them
well over with grcafe and tar, to fecure their pores on the
outfide ; but Idris told us this v/as not enough, and that
foaking the infide with water, filling them choak-full, and
tying their mouths as hard as poffible, w^as the only way to
be certain if they were v/ater-tight without.

\Vhil2

55a TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

While the camels were loading, I bathed myfelf with in-
finite pleafure for a long half hour in the Nile, and thus
took leave of my old acquaintance, very doubtful if we
fliould ever meet again. We then turned our face to N. E.
leaving the Nile, and entering into a bare defert of fixed
gravel, without trees, and of a very difagreeable whitilh co-
lour, mixed with fmall pieces of white marble, and pebbles
like alabafter. At a quarter paft four we alighted in a fpot
of high bent grafs, where we let our camels feed till eight
o'clock, and at three quarters paft ten we halted for the
night in another patch of grafs ; the place is called Ho-
weela. Jibbel Ateflian bore b. W. and by W. of us, the dif-
tance about feven miles. I inquired of Idris, if he knew, to
point out to me, precifely where Sycne lay, and he fhewed
me without difficulty. I fet it by the compafs, and found
it to be N. and by W. very near the exaft bearing it turned
out upon obfervation afterwards. He faid, however, we
fliould not keep this tracft, but fliould be obliged to vary oc-
cafionally in fearch of water, as we fhould find the wells in
the defert empty or full.

On the 12th, at feven o'clock in the morning we quitted
Howeela, continuing our journey through the defert in the
fame dire(5lion, that is to the N. E. ; our reafon was, to avoid
as much as poffible the meeting any Arab that could give
intelligence of our being on our journey, for nothing was
fo eafy for people, fuch as the Bifliareen, to way-lay and cut
us off at the well, where they would be fure we muft of
neceffity pafs. At twenty minutes paft eight we came to
Waadi el Haimcr, where there are a few trees and fome bent
grafs, for this is the meaning of the word Waadi in a de-
fert. The Arabs, called Sum gar, are here on the weft of us,

3 by

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 551.

by the river fide. At half pad: twelve we alighted on a fpot
of grafs. Takaki from this diftance will be twenty-four
miles, between the points N. W. and N. N. W. and from Ta-
kaki to Dongola ten Ihort days jom-neys, I fuppofe i8o miles
at moft. We are now in the territory of the Bifliareen, but
they were all retired to the mountviins, a high even ridge,
that is fomething above two days diftance from us, and runs
parallel to our courfe, on the right hand of us, all the way
into Egypt»

At half paft eight we alighted in a fandy plain without
trees or grafs. Our camels, we found, were top heavily
loaded, but we comforted ourfelves that this fault would be
mended every day by the ufe we made of our provifions ;
feowever, it was very much againft them that they were
obliged to pafs this whole night without eating. This
place is called Umboia. We left Uiuboia, ftill ilretching
farther into the defert at N. E. At nine we faw a hill called
AfTero-baybe, with two pointed tops N. of us, which may
be about twelve or fourteen miles diitant, perhaps more.
Tins is the next Hybeer's mark, by which he direds his
Gourfe. On the eail is Ebenaat, another fliarp-pointed rock,
about ten miles diftant. All this day, and the evening be-
fore,our road has been through ftony, gravelly ground, with-
out herb or tree. Large pieces of agate and jafper, miKt
with many beautiful pieces of marble, appear everywhere:
on the ground.

At two o'clock in the afternoon we came to Waadi Amour,
where we alighted, after we had gone fix hours this day
w::U great diligence. Waadi Amour has a few trees and
fhrubs, but fcarce enough to aJOford any Ihade, or night's

provifion;

SS.2 TRAVELS T O D I S C O V E R

provifion for our camels. Being now without fear of the
Arabs who live upon the Nile, from which we were at a
fufficient diftance, we with the fame view to fafety, declined
approaching the mountains, but held ourcourfe nearly N.
to a fmall fpot of grafs and whitt; fand, called AlTa-Nagga.
Here our misfortunes began, from a circumrtance we had
not attended to. Our Ihoes, that had needed conftant repair,
■were become at laft abfolutely ufelefs, and the hard ground,
from the time we pafled Amour, had worn the llcin off in
feveral places, fo that our feet were very much inflamed by
the burning Ijand.

About a mile north-weft of us is Hambily, a rock not
confiderable in fize, but, from the plain country in which it
is fituated, has the appearance of a great tower or caftle,
and fouth of it two hillocks or little hills. Thefe are all
land- marks of the utmoft confcquence to caravans in their
journey, becaufe they are too confiderable in fize to be co-
vered at any time by the moving fands. At AlTa Nagga, AfTi-
ro-baybe is fquare with us, and with the turn which the
Nile takes eaftward to Korti and Dongola. TheTakaki arc the
people neareft us, weft of Affa Nagga, and Affero-baybe up-
on the Nile. After thefe, when the Nile has turned E. and W.
are the Chaigie, on both fides of the river, on to Korti, where
the territory called the kingdom of Dongola begins. As the
Nile no longer remains on our left, but makes a remark-
able turn, which has been much mifreprefentcd in the maps,
I put my quadrant in order, and by a medium of three ob-
fervarions, one of Procyon, one of Rigel, and one of the mid-
dle ftar of the belt of Orion, I found the latitude of Aila
Nagga to be 19" 30', which being on a parallel with the far-
.ihcft point of the Nile northward, gives the latitude of that

place

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. S53

place where the river turns weft by Korti towards Dongola,
and this was of great fervice to me in fixing fome other mate-
rial points in my map.

On the 14th, at feven in the morning we left AfTa Nagga,
our courfe being due north. At one o'clock we alighted a-
mong fome acacia-trees at Waadi el Halboub, having gone
twenty-one miles. We were here at once furprifcd and ter-
rified by a fight furely one of the moft magnificent in the
world. In that vaft expanfe of defert, from W. and to N. W. of
us, we faw a number of prbdigious pillars of fand at differ-
ent diftances, at times moving with great celerity, at others
ftalking on with a majeflic flownefs; at intervals we thought
they were coming in a very few minutes to overwhelm us ;
and fmall quantities of fand did ad:ually more than once
reach us. Agaia they would retreat fo as to be almoft out of
fight, their tops reaching to the very clouds. There the tops
often feparated from the bodies ; and thefe, once disjoined,
difperfed in the air, and did not appear more. Sometimes
they were broken near the middle, as if ftruck with a large
cannon fliot. About noon they began to advance with confi-
derable fwiftnefs upon us, the wind being very ftrong at north.
Eleven of them ranged alongfide of us about the dillance of
three miles. The greateft diameter of the largeft appeared to
me at that difiance as if it would meafure ten feet. They reti-
red from us with a wind at S. E. leaving an impreffion upon
my mind to which 1 can give no name, though (urely one in-
gredient in it was fear, with a confiderabic deal of wonder
and aftonifliment. It was in vain to think of flying ; the
fwifteft horfe, or fafteft failing fliip, could be of no ufe to
carry us out of this danger, and the full perfuafion of
this rivetted me as if to the fpot where I flood, and let the

Vol. IV. 4 A camels

554 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

camels ;^ain on me fo much in my ft ate of lamenefs, that it
was With fome diificuky I couid overtake them.

The efFevfh this ftupendoiis fight had upon Idris was to
fet hiin to his prayers, indeed rather to his charms ; for,
befides the name of God and Mahomet, all the reft of the
words were mere gibberiih and nonfenfe. This created a
violent altercation between him and Ifmael the Turk, who
abufed him for not praying in the words of the Koran, main-
taining, with apparent great wifdom at the fame time, that
nobody had charms to ftop thefe moving fands but the in-,
habitants of Arabia Deferta,.

The Arabs to whom this inhofpitable fpot belongs are
the Adelaia. They, too, are Jahelcen, or Arabs of Beni Ko-
reifh. They are faid to be a harmlefs .race, and to do no
hurt to the caravans they meet; yet I very much doubt,
had we fallen in with them they would not have deferved'
the good name that was given them. We went very flow^
ly to-day, our feet being fore and greatly fwelled. The
whole of our company were much diftieartened, (except-
Idris) and imagined that they were advancing into whirl-
winds of moving fand, from which they fliould never be
able to extricate themfelves ; but before four o'clock in the
afternoon thefe phantoms of the plain had all of them
fallen to the ground and difappeared. In the evening we
cam.e to Waadi Dimokea, where we pafTed the night, much,
difheartened, and our fear more increafed, when v/e found,,
upon wakening in the morning, that one fide was perfedly
buried in the £and that the wind had blown above us ij?,
the nightv

From

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. s^S

From this day, fubordination; though not entirely ceafcd,
was faft on the decUne ; all was difcontent, murmuring, and
fear. Our water was greatly diminifhed, and that terrible
death by thirft began to flare us in the face, and this was
owing in a great meafure to our own imprudence. Ifmael,
who had been left centinel over the fkins of water, had
llept fo foundly, that this had given an opportunity to a
Tucorory to open one of the fkins that had not been touch-
ed, and ferve himfelf out of it at his own difcretion. I fup-
pofe that, hearing fomebody ftir, and fearing detecT:ion, he
had withdrawn himfelf as fpeedily as pofTible, without ta-
king time to tie the mouth of the girba, which we
found in the morning with fcarce a quart of water in it.

On the 15th, at a quarter paft feven in the morning wc
left Waadi Dimokea, keeping a little to the weftvvard of
north, as far as I could judge, jufl upon the hne of Syene.
The fame ridge of hills being on our right and left as
yeflerday, in the center of thefe appeared Del Aned. At
twenty minutes pafl two o'clock in the afternoon we came
to an opening in the ridge of rocks ; the paffage is about
a mile broad, through which we continued till we alight-
ed at the foot of the mountain Del Aned. The place is call-
ed Waadi Del Aned.

The fame appearance of moving pillars of fand prefent-
ed themfelves to us this day in form and difpofition like
thofe we had feen at Waadi Halboub, only they feemed to
be more in number, and lefs in fize. They came feveral
times in a direction dole upon us ; that is, I believe, with-
in lefs than two miles. They began, immediately after
fun-rife, like a thick wood, and alniofl darkened the fun :

4 A 2 His

^S6 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

His rays fliining through them for near an hour, gave them
an appearance of pillars of fire. Our people now became
defperate : The Greeks flirieked out, and faid it was the
day of judgment. Ifmael pronounced it to be hell, and the
Tucorories, that the world was on fire. I afked Idris if ever
he had before feen fuch a fight ? He faid he had often feen
them as terrible, though never worfe ; but what he feared
mofl was that extreme rednefs in the air, which was a fure
prefage of the coming of the fimoom. I begged and en-
treated Idris that he would not fay one word of that in the
hearing of the people, for they had already felt it at Im-
hanzara in their way from Ras el Feel to Teawa, and again
at the Acaba of Gerri, before we came to Chendi, and they
were already nearly diftra6ted at the apprehenfion of find-
ing it here.

At half pad four o'clock in the afternoon we left Waadi
Del Aned, our courfe a little more to the weftward than the
direflion of Syene. The fands which had difappeared yef-
terday fcarcely fliewed themfelves at all this day, and at
a great diftance from the horizon. This was, however, a
comfort but of fliort duration. I obferved Idris took no
part in it, but only warned me and the fervants, that, upon
the coming of the fimoom, we fliould fall upon our faces,
with our mouths upon the earth, fo as not to partake of
the outward air as long as we could hold our breath. We
alighted at fix o'clock at a fmall rock in the fandy ground,
without trees or herbage, fo that our camels failed all that
night. This place is called Ras el Seah, or, by the Bifliareen,.
El Mout, which fignifies death, a name of bad omen.

On

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. SS7

On the i6th, at half pail ten in the forenoon we left El
Mout, {landing in the diredlion clofe uponSyene. Our men,
if not gay, were however in better fpirits than I had feen
them fince we left Gooz. One of our Barbarins had even
attempted a fong ; but Hagi Ifmael very gravely reproved
him, by telling him, that fmging in fuch a fituation was a
tempting of Providence. There is, indeed, nothing more
different than aftive and paflive courage. Hagi Ifmael would
fight, but he had not ftrength of mind to fuffer. At eleven
o'clock, while we contemplated with great pleafure the rug-
ged top of Chiggre, to which we were fail approaching, and
where we were to folace ourfelves with plenty of good wa-
ter, Idris cried out, with a loud voice, Fall upon your faces,
for here is the fnnoom. I faw from the S. E. a haze come,
in colour like the purple part of the rainbow, but not fo com-
prefled or thick. It did not occupy twenty yards in breadth,
and was about twelve feet high trom the ground. It was a
kind of bluHa upon the air, and it moved very rapidly, for
I fcarce could turn to fall upon the groimd with my head to
the northward, when I felt the heat of its current plainly up-
on my face. We all lay flat on the ground, as if dead, till
Idris told us it was blown over. The meteor, or purple haze,
which I fasv, was indeed paffed, but tht light air that Hill
blew wa- of heat to threaten fuffocarion. For my part, I
found diflind:ly in my bread that I had imbibed a part of it,
nor was I free of an ailhmatic fenfation till 1 had been fome
months in Italy, at the baths of Poretta, near two years af-
terwards..

An univerfp.l defpondency had taken poffeiTion of our
people. Ihey cealed to fpeaL to one anothcr,_ and when.

they;.

558 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

they did, it was in whifpers, by which I eafdy gueffed their
difcourfe was not favourable to me, or elfe that they were
increafing each others fears, by vain fuggeftions calculated
to fink each others fpirits ftill further, but from which no
earthly good could poflibly refult. I called them together,
and both reprimanded and exhorted them in the flrongeft
manner I could ; I bade them attend to me, who had nearly
loft my voice by the fimoom, and defired them to look at
my face, fo fwelled as fcarcely to permit me to fee; my
neck covered with blifters, my feet fwelled and inflamed,
and bleeding with many wounds. In anfwer to the lamen-
tation that the water was exhaufted, and that we were upon
the point of dying with thirft, I ordered each man a gourd
full of water more than he had the preceding day, and
fliewed them, at no great diilance, the bare, black, and fliarp
point of the rock Chiggre, wherein was the well at which
we were again to fill our girbas, and thereby baniih the fear
of dying by thirft in the defert. I believe I never was at
any time more eloquent, and never had eloquence a more
fudden efFedt. They all protefted and declared their con-
cern chiefly arofe from the fituation they fav/ me in ; that
they feared not death or hardlhip, provided I would fubmit
a little to their direftion in the taking a proper care of my-
fclf. They intreated me to ufe one of the camels, and throw
ofiT the load that it carried, that it would eafe me, of the
wounds in my feet, by riding at leaft part of the day. This
I pofitively refufed to do, but recommended to them to be
ftrong of heart, and to fpare the camels for the laft re-
fource, if any fliould be taken ill and unable to walk any

longer.

This

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 559

This phsenomenon of the fimoom, unexpedled by uSj
though forefeen by Idris, caufed us all to relapfe into our
former defpondency. It Hill continued to blow, fo as to ex-
hauft us entirely, though the blaft was fo weak as fcarcely
would have raifed a leaf from the ground. At twenty mi-
nutes before five the fimoom ceafed, and a comfortable and
cooling breeze came by Harts from the north, blowing
five or fix minutes at a time, and then falling calm. We
were now come to the Acaba, the afcent before we arrive d
at Chiggre, where we intended to have fiopt that night ,
but we all moved on with tacit confcnt, nor did one perfon
pretend to fay how far he guefled we were to go.

At thirteen minutes paft eight we alighted in a fandy
plain abfolutely without herbage, covered with loofe ftonesi
a quarter of a mile due north of the well, which is in the
narrow gorge, forming the fouthern outlet of this fmall
plain. Though we had travelled thirteen hours and a quar-
ther this day, it was but at a flow pace, our camels being
famiflied, as well as tired, and lamed likewife by the fliarp
Hones with which the ground in all places was covered.
The country, for three days paft, had been deftitute of
herbage of any kind, entirely defert, and abandoned to
moving fands. We faw this day, after pafling Ras el Seah,
large blocks and ftrata of pure white marble, equal to any
in colour that ever came from Paros,

Chiggre is a fmall narrow valley, ciofely covered up and
furrounded with barren rocks. The wells are ten in num*
ber, and the narrow gorge which opens to them is not
ten yards broad. The fprings, however, are very abundant;
Wherever a pit is dug five or fix feet deep, it is immediate-
ly

500 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

ly filled with water. The principal pool is about forty
yards fquare. and five feet deep ; but the beft tafted water
was in the cleft of a rock, about 30 yards higher, on the
weft fide of this narrow outlet. All the water, however,
was very foul, with a number of animals both aquatic and
land. It was impoffible to drink without putting a piece
of our cotton girdle over our mouths, to keep, by filtration,
the filth of dead animals out of it. We faw a great many
partridges upon the face of the bare rock ; but what they
fed upon I could not guefs, unlefs upon infeifts. We did
not dare to fhoot at them, for fear of being heard by the
wandering Arabs that might be fomewhere in the neigh-
bourhood ; for Chiggre is a hauntof the Billiareen of the
tribe of Abou, Bertran, who, though they do not make it a
ftation, becaufe there is no paflure in the neighbourhood,
nor can any thing grow there, yet it is one of the moll va-
luable places of refrelhment, on account of the great quan-
tity of water, being nearly half way, when they drive their
cattle from the borders of the Red Sea to the banks of the
Nile ; as alfo in their expeditions from fouth to north, when
they leave their encampments in Barbar, to rob the Ababde
Arabs on the frontiers of Egypt.

Our firfc attention was to our camels, to whom we gave
that day a double feed of dora, that they might drink for
the reft of their journey, fliould the wells in the way prove
fcant of water. We then walhed in a large pool, the coldeft
water, I think, I ever felt, on account of its being in a cave
covered with rock, and was inaccellible to the fun in any
diredlion. All my people feemed to be greatly recovered by
this refrigeration, but from fome caufe or other, it fared
otherwife with the Tucorory ; one of whom died about
an hour afterour arrival, and another early the next morning.

3 SUjBORDINATION

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 5<5i

Subordination^, if now not entirely gone, was expiring,
fo that I fcarcely expe(5led to have intereft enough with my
ownfervants to help me to fet up my lai-ge quadrant : Yet
I was exceedingly curious to know the fituation of this
remarkable place, which Idris the Hybecr declared to be
halfway to Aflbuan. But it feems their curioiity was not lefs
than mine ; above all, they wanted to prove that Idris was
miftaken, and that we were confiderably nearer to Egypt
than we were to Barbar. While Idris and the men filled the
fkins with water, the Greeks and I fet up the quadrant, and,
by obfervation of the two bright liars of Orion, I found the
latitude of Chiggre to be 20° 58' 30" N.; fo that, allowing even
fome fmall error in the pofition of Syene in the French maps^
Idris's guefs was very near the truth, and both the latitude
and longitude of Chiggre and Syene feemed to require no
further invelligation.

During the whole time of the obfervation, an antelope,
of a very large kind, went feveral times round and round
the quadrant ; and at the time when my eyes were fixed
upon the flar, came fo near as to bite a part of my cotton
cloth which I had fprcad like a carpet to kneel on. Even
when I fiirred, it would leap about two or three yards from
me, and then Hand andgaze with fuch attention,thatit would
'have appeared to by-llanders (had there been any) that we
had been a long time acquainted. The firil idea was
tTie common one, to kill it. I eafily could have done this
with a lance ; but it feemed fo interelled in what I was do-
ing, that I began to think it might perhaps be my good ge-
nius which had come to vifit, protedl, and encourage me in
the defperacc fituation in which I then was.

ToL. IV. 4 B C H A P,

j63 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

Ct^^ll ■—~^^~- ■;,„^_^VBj3

CHAP. XII.

Dljlrejfcs in the Defer t — Meet with Arabs — Camels die — Baggage abat^

doned — Come to Syene^

^N the 17th of November, at half pail ten in the fore^
noon, we left the valley and pool of Chiggre, If-
macl, and Georgis the blind Greek, had complained of
Ihivering all night, and I began to be very apprehenfive
fome violent fever was to follow. Their perfpiration had
not returned but in fmall quantity ever fnice their coming
out of the water, and the night had been cxceilively cold,
the thermometer Handing at 63°. The day, however, was
infufferably hot, and their complaints infenfibly v/ore off to
my great comfort. A little before eleven we were again
terrified by an army (as it feemcd) of fand pillars, whofe
march was conftantly fouth, and the favourite field which
they occupied was that great circular fpacc which the Nile
makes when oppofite to AfTa Nagga, where it turns wefl
to Korti and Dongola. At one time a number of thefe pil-
lars

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 563

lars faced to the eaftward, and feemed to be coming direct-
ly upon us ; but, though they were little nearer us than
two miles, a confiderable quantity of fand fell round us.
I began now to be fomewhat reconciled to this plijenome-
non, feeing it had hitherto done us no harm. The great
magnificence it exhibited in its appearance, feemed, in fome
aneafure, to indemnify us for the panic it had firfl occafion-
cd : But it was otherwife with the fimoom ; we all of us
were firmly perfuaded that another pafTage of the purple
meteor qvcf us would be attended with our deaths.

At half pall four we alighted in a vaft plain, bounded on
isdl fides by low fandy hills, which feemed to have been tranf-
ported hither lately. Thefe hillocks were from feven to
■thirteen feet high, drawn into perfed cones, with very fliarp
•points and well-proportioned bafes. The fand was of an
incorxceivable finenefs, having been the fportT)f hot winds
for thoufands of years. There could be no doubt that the
day before, when it was calm, and we fuflered fo mucli
"by the fimoom between El Mout and Chiggre, the wind
had beenraifing pillars of fand in this place, called Umdoom;
marks of the v/hirling motion of the pillars were dilHndly
feen in every heap, fo that here again, while vv^e were re-
pining at the fimoom, Providence was bufied keeping us out
of the way of another fccne, where, if we had advanced a
day, we had all of us been involved in inevitable dcftruc-
tion.

On the r8th we left Umdoom at fcven in the morning,
-our diredion N. a little inclined to \V. ; at nine o'clock
we pafTed through a fandy plain, without trees or ver-
dure. About 300 yards out of our way, to the left, among

4 13 2 fome

5(54 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

fofne fanrly hillocks, where the gi^ound feems to be more'
filevated than the reft, Idris the Hybeer told me, that one of
the largeft caravans which ever came out of Egypt, under
the condu(5t of the Ababde and the Bilhareen Arabs, was
there covered with land, to the number of fome thoufands
of camels. There are large rocks of grey granite fcattered
through this plain. Ac ten o'clock we alighted at a place
called trboygi, where are fome trees, to feed, our camels.
The trees I have fo often mentioned in our journey thro'
the defert are not timber, or tall- growing trees ; there are
none of thefe north of Sennaar, except a few at Chendi.
The trees 1 fpeak of, which the camels eat, are a kind of
dwarf acacia, growing only to the height of bufhes ; and
the wood fpoken of likewife is only of the defert kind, ate
almoft bare by the camels- There are fome high trees, in--
deed, on the banks of the Nile. At half paft one o'clock
we left Erboygi, and came to a large wood of doom (Palma
Guciofera). Here, for the firft time, we faw a flirub which
very much refembled Spanifh broom. The whole ground
is dead fand, with fome rocks of reddiili granite.. Exactly
at five o'clock we alighted in the wood, after having tra-
velled a moderate pace,. The place is called El Cowie, and'
is a ftation of the Bilhareen in the fummer months ; but
thefe people were now eaft of us, three days journey, towards
the Red Sea, where the rains had fallen, and there was plen-
ty of pafture. At forty minutes pail twelve we left Ei
Cowie, and at five o'clock in the evening alighted in a wood,
called Terfowey, full of trees and grafs. The trees are the
talleft and largeil we had feen fince leaving the Nile. We
had this day enjoyed, as it were, a holiday, free from the
terrors of the fand, or dreadful influence of the fimoom.
Ihis poifonous wind had made feveral attempts to prevail

this;

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. jtJj;

fliis day, but was always overpowered by a cool breeze ati
north.

On the 19th we left the weft end of the wood, or rather
continued the whole length of it, and at a quarter paft eight;
in the evening arrived at the. well. It is about four fa-
thoms deep, but the fpring. not very abundant. We drain^-
ed it feveral times, and were obliged to wait its. filling again..
Thefe laft two days, fince we were at El Cowie, we had feeii
more verdure than we had altogether fince we left Barbar.
Here, particularly at Teffowey, the acacia- trees are tall and
verdant, but the mountains on each. fide appear black and;
barren beyond imagination..

As foon as we alighted at Terfowey, and had chofen 3
proper place where our camels could feed, we unloaded
our baggage near them, and fent the men to clean the well,
and wait the filling of the fkins. We had lighted a large
fire. The nights were exccflively cold, though the thermo-
meter was at S3° ; and that cold occafioned me inexprefilble
pain in my feet, now fwelled to a monftrous fize, and eve-
rywhere inflamed and excoriated. I had taken upon me the
charge of the baggage, and Mahomet, Idris's young man,
the care of the camels ; but he too was gone to the well,
though expeded to return immediately, .

A DOUBT had arifen in my mind by the way, which was
then giving me great uneafinefs. If Syene is under the
fame meridian with Alexandria, (for fo Eratoflhenes con-
ceived when he attempted to meafure the. circumference of

tha

^66 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

the earth), in this cafe, Alexandria being fuppofed to lye in
long. 30°, Syene miifl: be in 30° likevvife ; but Gooz being in
34°, it is impoflible that Syene can be within a trifle north
of Gooz ; and therefore we mufl have a much greater quan-
tity of welling to travel than Idris the Hybeer imagines,
who places Syene a very little weft of the meridian of
Gooz, or immediately under the fame meridian, and due
north from it

Our cajnels were always chained by the feet, and the
chain fccured by a padlock, left they fliould wander in the
night, or be liable to be ftolen and carried off. Mufmg
then upon the geographical difficulties juft mentioned, and
gazing before me, without any particular intention or fuf-
picion, I heard the chain of the camels clink, as if fome-
body was unloofmg them, and then, at the end of the gleam
made by the fire, I law diftinctly a; man pafs fwiftly by, Hoop-
ing as he went along, his face almoll to the ground. A lit-
tle time after this I heard another clink of the chain, as if
from a pretty fharp blow, and immediately after a move-
ment among the camels. I then rofe, and cried in a threaten-
ing tone, in Arabic, *' I charge you on your life, whoever
you are, either come up to me dire(5lly, or keep at a diftancc
till day, but come that way no more; why fliould you throw
your life away?" In a minute after, he repafTed in the fhade
among the trees, pretty much in the manner he had done
before. As I was on guard between the baggage and the
camels, I was confequently armed, and advanced deliberate-
ly fomc fteps, as far as the light of the fire fhone, on purpofe
to difcovcr how many they were, and was ready to fire up-
on the next I faw. " If you are an honeft man, cried I aloud,
and want any thing, come up to the fire and fear not, I am
I alone ;

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 567

alone ; but if you approach tlie camels or the baggage a-
gain, the world will not be able to fave your life, and your
blood be upon your own head." Mahomet, Idris's nephew,
who heard me cry, came running up from the well to fee
what was the matter. We went down together to where
the camels were, and, upon examination, found that the
links of one of the chains had been broke, but the opening
not large enough to let the correfponding whole link
through to feparate it. A hard blue Hone was driven
through a link of one of the chains of another camel, and
left flicking there, the chain not being entirely broken
through ; we faw, befides, the print of a .man's feet on the
fand. There was no need to tell us affer this that we were
not to lleep that night ; we made therefore another fire
on the other fule of the camels with branches of the aca-
cia-tree, which we gathered. I then fent the man back to
Idris at the well, defiring him to fdl his flcins with water
before it was light, and tranfport them to the baggage
where I was, and to be all ready armed there by the dawn
of day ; foon after which, if the Arabs were fufficiently
llrong, we were very certain they would attack us. This
agreed perfectly with Idris's ideas alfo, fo that, contenting
themfelves with a leller quantity of water than they firil
intended to have taken, they lifted the fkins upon the camels
I fent them, and were at the rendezvous, near the baggage,
a. little after four in the morning.

The Barbanns, and, in general, all the lower fort of Moors
and Turks, adorn their arms and wrills with amulets ; thefe
are charms, and are fome favourite verfe of the Koran
wrapt in paper, neatly covered with Turkey leather. Tlie two
Barbarins that were with me had procured for themfelves-

new

558 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

new ones at Sennaar, which were to defend them from tlie
fimoom and the fand, and all the dangers of the defert. That
they might not foil thefe in filling the water, they had taken
them from their arms, and laid them on the brink of the
well before they went down. Upon looking for thefe after
the girbas were filled, they were not to be found. This double
attempt v/as an indication of a number of people being in the
neighbourhood, in which cafe our prefcnt fituaiion was one
of the moft defperate that could be figured. We were in
the middle of the moft barren, inhofpitable defert in the
world, and it was with the utmoft difficulty that, from day
to day, we could carry wherewithal to afi^uage our thirft.
We had with us the only bread it was pofilble to procure
for fome hundred miles ; lances and fwords were not ne-
ceflary to deftroy us, the burfiing or tearing of a girba, the
lamencfs or death of a camel, a thorn or fprain in the foot
which might difable us from walking, were as certain death
to us as a fliot from a cannon. There was no flaying for
one another ; to lofe time was to die, becaufe, with the ut-
moft exertion our camels could make, we fcarce could cany
along with us a fcanty provifion .of bread and water fuffi-
,cient to keep us alive.

That defert, which did not afford inlialiitants for the at
fiftance or relief of travellers, had greatly more than fufii-
cient for deftroying them. Large tribes of Arabs, two or
three thotifand, cncam.ped together, were cantoned, as it
were, in different places of this defert, where there was wa-
ter enough to fcrve tlieir numerous herds of cattle, and thefe,
as their occafion required, traverfed in parties all that wide
expanfe of folitude, frcm the mountains near the Red Sea
,eaft, to the ba^ks of the Nile on tlie wtft, according as tlieir
^ feveral

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 569

feveral defigns or neceflities required. Thefe v/cre Jaheleen
Arabs, thofe cruel, barbarous fanatics, that deliberately (hed
fo much blood during the time they were eftablifliing the
Mahometan religion. Their prejudices had never been re-
moved by any mixture of ftrangers, or foftened by fociety,
even with their own nation after they were poliflied ; but
buried, as it were, in thefe wild deferts, if they were not
grown more favage, they had at leaft preferved, in their
full vigour, thofe murdering principles which they had
brought with them into that country, under the brutal and
inhuman butcher Kaled Ibn el Waalid, impioufly called
n^be Sword of God. If it fliculd be our lot to fall among thefe
people, and it was next to a certainty that we were at that
very inftant furrounded by them, death was certain, and
our only comfort was, that we could die but once, and that
to die like men was in our own option. Indeed, without
confidering the bloody character which thefe wretches na-
turally bear, there could be no reafon for letting us live.:
We could be of no fervice to them as flaves ; and to have
fent us into Egypt, after having firfl rifled and deftroyed our
goods, could not be done by them but at a great expence,
to which well-inclined people only could have been induced
from charity, and of thatlaft virtue they had not even heard
.the name. Our only ciiance then remaining was, that their
number might be fo fmall, that, by our great fuperiority in
fire-arms and in courage, we might turn the misfortune
upon the aggreiTors, deprive them of their camels and
means of carrying water, and leave them fcattered in the
defert, to that death which either they or we, without al-
ternative, mufl: fuifer.

¥0L. IV. 4 G I EXPLAINED

0/

70 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

I EXPLAINED myfelf to this purpofe, briefly to the people,
on which a great cry followed, " God is great ! let them
come !" Our arms were perfedlly in order, and our old
Turk Ifmael feemed to move about and diredl with the vi-
gour of a young man. As we had no doubt they would,
be mounted on camels, fo we placed ourfelves a little with-
in the edge of the trees. The embers of our two fires were
on our front ; our tents, baggage, and boxes, on each fide of
us, between the opening of the trees ; our camels and wa-
ter behind us, -the camels being chained together behind
the water, and ropes at their heads, which were tied to trees.
A fkin of water, and two wooden bowls befide it, was left
open for thofe that fliould need to drink. We had finifhed"
our breakfaft before day-break, and I had given all the
men dire<5tions to fire fcparately, not together, at the fame
fet of people ; and thofe who had the blunderbufles to fire
where they faw a number of camels and men together,,
and efpecially at any camels they faw with girbas upon them,,
or where there was the greateft confufion..

The day broke; no Arabs appeared; all was ftill. The dan-
ger which occurred to our minds then was, left, if they were
few, by tarrying we fhould give them time to fend off mef-
fengers to bring affiftance. I then took Ifmael and two
Barbarins along with me, to fee who thefe neighbours of ours
could be. We foon traced in the fand the footfteps of the man
who had been at our camels ; and, following them behind
the point of a rock, which feemed calculated for concealing
thieves, we faw two ragged, old, dirty tents, pitched with
grafs cords.

The

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 571^

The two Barbarins entered one of them, and found a
naked woman there. Ifmael and I ran brilldy into the lar-
geil, where we faw a man and a woman both perfedlly na-
ked, frightful, emaciated figures, not like the inhabitants
of this world. The man was partly fitting on his hams ; a
child, feemingly of the age to fuck, was on a rag at the cor-
ner, and the woman looked as- if fhe wifhed to hide her-
felf. I fprung forward upon the man, and, taking him by
the hair of the head, pulled him upon his back on the
floor, fetting my foot upon his bfeaft, and pointing my
knife to his throat ; I faid to him fternly, " If you mean to
pray, pray quickly, for you have but this moment to live."
The fellow was fo frightened, he fcarce could beg us to
fpare his life ; but the woman, as it afterwards appeared,
the mother of the fucking child, did not feem to copy the
pairive difpofition of her hufband ; flie ran to the corner of
the tent, where was an old lance, with which, I doubt
not, fhe would have fufficiently diflinguiftied herfelf, but
it happened to be entangled with the cloth of the tent, and
Ifmael felled her to the ground with the butt-end of his
blunderbufs, and wrefled the lance from her. A violent
howl was fet up by the remaining woman like the cries of
thofe in torment. " Tie them, faid I, Ifmael ; keep them
feparate, and carry them to the baggage till I fettle accounts
with this camel-ilealer, and then you fliall ilrike their
three heads off, where they intended to leave us miferably
to perifli with hunger ; but keep them feparate." While
the Barbarins were tying the woman, the one that was the
nurfe of the child turned to her hufband, and faid, in a
nioft mournful, defpairing tone of voice, " Did I not tell
you, you would never thrive if you hurt that good man ?

3 C 2 did

572 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

did not I tell you this would happen for murdering the

Aga ?"

Our people had come to fee what had paiTed, and I
fent the women away, ordering them to be kept feparate,
out of the hearing of one another, to judge if in their an-
fwers they did not prevaricate. The woman defired to have-
her child with her, which I granted. The little creature,
inilead of being frightened, crowed, and held out its little
hands as it pafled me. We fallened the Arab with the chain
of the camels, and fo far was well ; but ftill we did not
know how near the Bifliareen might be, nor who thefe
were, nor whether they had fent off any intelligence in the
night. Until we were informed of this, our cafe was little
mended. Upon the man's appearing, all my people decla-
red, with one general voice, that no time was tohe loft, but
that they fliould all be put to death as foon as the camels-
were loaded, before we fet out on our journey ; and, in-
deed, at firft view of the thing, felf-prefervation, the firft
law of nature, feemed ftrongly to require it. Hagi Ifmael
was fo determined on the execution that he was already
fecking a knife fharper than his own. " We will ftay, Hagi
Ifmael, faid I, till we fee if this thief is a liar alfo. If he pre-
varicates in the anfwers he gives to my queftions, you fhali
then cut his head off, and we will confign him with the
He in his mouth, foul and body to hell, to his mafter whomr
he ferves." Ifmael anfwered "The truth is the truth ; if:
he lies, he can defervc no better„

The reader will eafdy undcrftand the neceffity of my
fpeaking at that moment in terms not only unufual for a
Cliriftian,^ but even, in any fociety or converfation ; and if the.

fexocit?/.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 57.

ferocity and brutality of the difcourfe fhould fliock any,
elpecially my fair readers, they will remeinbcr, that thefe
were intended for a good and humane purpofe, to produce
fear in thofe upon whom we had no otiier tie, and thereby
extort a confeflion of the truth; which might anfwer two
purpofes, the faving the effufion of their blood, and provi-
ding for our own prefervation. " You fee, faid I, placing the
man upon his knees, your time is fhort, the fword is now
drawn which is to make an end of you, take time,^ anfwer
diilin(5lly and deliberately, for the firft trip or lie that you
make, is the laft word that you will utter in this world. Your
wife fliall have her fair chance likewife, and your child ; yoix
and all fhall go together, unlefs you tell me the naked
truth. Here, Ifmael, ftand by him, and take my fword it
is, 1 believe,. the fliarpeil in the company,"

« Now I afk you, at your peril. Who was the good man
your wife reproached you with having murdered ? where
was it, and when, and who were your accomplices ? He
anfwered trembling, and indiftinaily, through fear, "It was
a black, an Aga from Chendi." " Mahomet Towafh, fays If-
mael ; Ullah Kerim ! God is merciful !" " The fame," fays
the Bifliareen. He then related^the particulars of his death
in the manner in which I fhall have occafion to ftate after-
wards. •' Where are the Bifhareen ? continued I ; where is
Abou Bertran ? 1k)w foon will a light camel and meifenger
arrive where he now is ?" "In lefs than two days ; perhaps,
fays he, in a day and a half, if he is very diligent and the
camel good." " Take care, faid I, you are in danger. Where
did you and your women come from, and when ?" " From
Abou Bertran, fays he; we arrived here at noon on the jth

574 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

day*, but the camels were all flic- camels ; they are favourite
camels oi' Sh'ekh t>eide ; we drove them fof tly ; the two you
faw at the tents are lame ; befides there were fome others
unfound ; there were alfo women and children." " Where
did that party, and their camels, go to from this ? and what
number of men was there with them ?" " There were about
three hundred camels of all forts, and about thirty men,
all of them fervants ; fome of them had one lance, and
fome of them two ; they had no fhields or other arms."
•' What did you intend laft night to do with my camels ?"
" 1 intended to have carried them, with the women and
child, to join the party at the Nile." " What muft have
become of me in that cafe ? we muft have died ?" He did
not anfwer. " Take care, faid I, the thing is now over, and
you are in my hands; take care what you fay." " Why,
certainly, fays he, you muft have died, you could not live,
you could not go anywhere elfe." " If another party had
found us here, in that cafe would they have flain us ?" He
hefitated a little, then, as if he recolled:ed himfelf,faid, "Yes,
furely, they murdered the Aga, and would murder any
body that had not a Bifliareen with them." A violent cry
of condemnation immediately followed. " Now attend and
underftand me diftindlly, faid I, for upon thefe two que-
ftions hangs your life : Do you know of any party of
Bilhareen who are foon to pafs here, or any wells to the
north, and in what number? and have you fent any
intelligence fmce laft night you faw us here ?" He anfwer-
ed, with more readinefs than ufual, "We have fent nobody

anywiicre ;

* It is not here to be underftood that the Arab defcribed the day by the 5th, but by an
interval of time which we knew correfponded to the 5th.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. siS

anywhere; our camels are lame; we were lo follow, as foon
as they could be able to travel, to join thofe at the Nile.
The parties of the Bifliarecn are always paffing here, fome-
times more, fometimes lefs ; they will not come till they
hear from the Nile whether the grafs is grown. They have
with them two dromedaries, who will carry the news from
the Nile in three days, or they will come in fmall parties
like the laft, for they have no fear in thefe parts. The wells
to the north belong to the Ababde. When they pafs by
them with cattle they are always in great numbers, and a
Shekh along with them ; but thofe wells are now fo fcan-
ty they have not water for any number, and they muft
therefore all pafs this way.!'

I GOT up, and called on Ifmael. The poor fellow thought
he was to die. Life is fweet even to the mod miferable.
He was ftill upon his knees, holding his hands clafped round
the back of his neck, and already, I fuppofe, thought he felt
the edge of Ifmael's knife. He fwore that every word he
had fpoken was truth; and if his wife was brought flie could
not tell another llory.

I THEREUPON left him, and went to his wife, who, when.
Ihe faw Hagi Ifmael with a drawn fvvord in his hand,
thought all was over with her hufband, and fell into a vio-
lent fit of defpair, crying out, " That all the men were liars
and murderers, but that fhe would have told the truth if I
had afked her firft." " Then go, Hagi Ifmael, faid I, tell
them not to put him to death till 1 come, and now you have
your chance, which if you do not improve by telling the
truth, I will firft flay your child with my own hand before
your face, and then order you all to be cruelly put to.
^ deacli

^jS TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

death together." She began with great earneftnefs to fay,
"She could not tell who killed Mahomet Towafli, for Ihe
only heard it in converfation from her hufband, who was
there, after he had come home." I then, v/ord for word,
put thofe queftions to her that I had done to her hufband,
and had precifely the fame anfwers. The only difference
was, that flie believed a party of the Ababde would pafs Chig-
gre foon; but feeing me rife to go away, (he burft out into a
flood of tears, and tore her hair in the mod violent excefs
of paffion; Ihrieking out, to have mercy upon her, and prcf-
flng the little child to her breaft as if to take leave of it»
then laying it down before me, in great agony and bitter-
nefs of heart, flie again fhrieked out, " If you are a Turk,
make it a flave, but do not kill my child, and fpare my huf-
rband."

Though I underflood Arabic well, I did not, till that

day, know it had fuch powers, or that it contained expref-

fions at once fo forcible and fo ftmple. I found myfelf fo

much moved, and my tears came fo fail, that it was in

vain to endeavour to carry on a farce under fuch tragical

appearances, " Woman, faid I, I am not a Turk, nor do I

make flaves, or kill children. It is your Arabs that force

me to this ; it was you that attacked me laft night, it was you

that murdered Mahomet Towafli, one of your ovv^n religion,

and bufied in his duty. I am a ilranger, fecking my own

fafety, but you are all murderers and tliicves."— " It is true,

fays flie, they are all murderers and liars, and my hufband,

not knowing, may have lied too. Only let me hear what

he told you, and I will tell you whether it is truth or not."

Day was now advancing apace, and no refolution taken,

whilft our prefent fituation was a very unfafe one. We

. carried

THE SOURCE OFTHENILE. . 577

carried the three prifoners bound, and fet George, the
Greek, ceiitinal over them. I then called the people toge-
ther.

I STATED fairly, in a council held among ourfelves, the
horror of llaughtering the women and child, or even lea-
ving them to ftarve with hunger by killing their camels,
from whom they got their only fullenance ; for, though we
fhould not ftain our hands with their blood, it was the fame
thing to leave them to perifli : that we were Grangers, and
had fallen upon them by accident, but they were in their
own country. On the contrary, fuppofe we only flew the
man, any of the women might mount a camel, and, travel-
ling v/ith diligence, might inform the Bifliareen, who would
fend a party and cut us off at the next well, where we muft
pafs, and where it would be impolTible to efcape them. I
mull fay, there was a conliderable majority for fparing the
V omen and child, and not one but who willingly decreed
the death of the man, who had confefTed he was endeavour-
ing to Ileal our camels, and that he intended to carry them
to his party at the Nile ; in which cafe the lofs of all our
lives was certain, as we fliould have been flarvcd to death,
or murdered by the Arabs.

The very recital of this attempt fo enraged Hagi Ifmael
that he defired he might have the preference in cutting off
his head. The Barbarins, too, were angry for the lofs of
their bracelets. Indeed every one's opinion was, that the
Arab fhould die, and efpecially fmce the account of their be-
haviour to Mahomet Towath, whofe death I, for my ovv'n
part, cannot fay I thought myfelf under any obligation to
revenge. " Since you are dilTering in your opinions, and

Vol. IV. 4 D there

5yS travels to discover

there is no time to lofe, faid I, allow me to give you mine.
It has appeared to ine, that often, fmce we began this jour-
ney, we have been prefcrved by vifible inftances of God's
protedion, when we fliould have loft our lives if we had
gone by the rules of our own judgment only. We are, it is
true, of diiTerent religions, but all worlhip the fame God.
Suppofe the prefent cafe fliould be a trial, whether we truft
really in God's protedion, or whether we believe our fafe-
ty owing to our own forefight and courage. If the man's
life be now taken away, to-morrow we may meet the Biflia-
reen, and then we fhall all refled upon the folly of our precau-
tion. For my own part, my conftant creed is, that I am in
God's hands, whether in the houfe or in the defert ; and not
in thofe of the Bilhareen, or of any lawlefs fpoiler. I have
a clear confcience, and am engaged in no unlawful purfuit,
feeking on foot my way home, feeding on bread and water,
and have done, nor defign, wrong to no man. We are well
armed, are nine in number, and have twice as many fire-
locks, many of thefe with double- barrels, and others of a fize
never before feen by Arabs, armies of whom have been de-
feated with fewer: we are ragged and tattered in our clothes,
and no prize to any one, nor do I think we fhall be found
a party of pleafure for any fet of wild young men, to leave
their own homes, with javelins and lances to way-lay us at
the well for fport and diverfion, fince gain and profit arc cut
of the queflion. But this I declare to you, if ever we meet
thefe Arabs, if the ground is fuch as has been near all the
wells we have come to, I will fight the Biiliareen boldly
and chearfully, without a doubt of beating them with eafe.
I do not fay my feelings would be the fame if my confcience
was loaded with that moft heinous and horrid crime, mur-
der

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 5/9

der in cold blood ; and therefore my determination is to
fpare the life even of this man, and will oppoie his being-
put to death by every means in my power."

It was eafy to fee, that fear of their own lives only, and
not cruelty, was the reafon they fought that of the Arab.
They anfvvered me, two or three of them at once, " That
it was all very well; what fhould they do? fhould they
give themfelves up to the Bifhareen, and be murdered like
Mahomet Towafh ? was there any other way of efcaping ?"
" I will tell you, then,.fmce you alk me what you ihouid do:
You fliall follow the duty of felf-defence and felf-preferva-
tion, as far as you can do it witliout a crime. You fhall
leave the women and the child where they are, and with
them the camels, to give them and their child m.ilk; you
fliall chain the hufband's right hand to the left of fome of
yours, and you Ihall each of you take him by turns till we
fliall carry him into Egypt. Perhaps he knov/s the defert
and the wells better than Idris; and if he fhould not, Hill we
have two Hybeers inftead of one ; and who can foretell
what may happen to Idris more than to any other of us ?
But as he knows the ftations of his people, and their cour-
fes at particular feafons, that day we meet one Billiareen,
the man that is chained with him, and condu(Ss him, fliali
inflantly ftab him to the heart, fo that he ihali not fee, much
lefs triumph in, the fuccefs of his treachery. On the con-
trary, if he is faithful, and informs Idrij. where the danger
is, and where we are to avoid it, keeping us rather by fcanty
wells than abundant ones, on the day 1 arrive fafely in Egypc
I will cloath him anew, as alfo his women, give him a good
camel for himfelf, and a load of dura for them all. As for

4 D 2 the

58o TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

the camels we leave here, they are fhc-ones, and neceflkry to
give the women food. They are not lame, it is faid, but we
Ihall lame them in earneft, fo that they Ihall not be able to
carry a meflenger to the Bifliareen before they die with
thirfl in the way, both they and their riders, if they fliould
attempt it."

An univerfal applaufe followed this fpeech ; Idris, above
all, declared his warmell approbation. The man and the
women were fent for, and had their fentence repeated to
them. Tlicy all fubfcribed to the conditions chearfullyj^
and the woman declared flae would as foon fee her child
die as be an inllrument of any harm befalling us, and that,
if a thoufand Bifharcen fliould pafs, {he knew how to mif-
lead them all, and that none of them fhould follow us till
.we were far out of danger.

IsEKT two Barbarins to lame the camels efTc^lually, bur
not fo as to make them pad recovery. After which, for tire
nurfe and the child's fake, I took twelve handfuls of the
bread which was our only food, and indeed we could
fcarcly fpare it, as we faw afterwards, and left it to this^ mi-
ferable family, with this agreeable reflecT:ion, however, tha.t
we fhould be to them in the end a much greater blefling
than in the beginning we had been an affliction, provided
cnly they kept their faith, and on their part deferved it.

On the 20th, at eleven o'clock wc left the well at Terfowey,
after having warned the women, that their chance of feeing
their hufband again depended wholly upon his and their
faithful condud. We took our prifoncr with us, his right
liaaid being chained to the left of one of the Barbarins. We had

no

THE SOURCE OF THE N ILE. jg^i

ho fooner got into the plain than we felt great fymptoms of
the fiiiioom, and about a quarter before twelve, our prifoner
firft, and then Idris, cried out, The Simoom i the Simoom !
My curiofity would not fufFer mc to fall down without
looking behind me. About due fouth, a little to the eaft,
I faw the coloured haze as before. It fecmcd now to be ra--
ther lefs comprelled, and to have with it a fliade of blue.
The edges of it weie not defined as thofe of the former,
but like a very thin fmoke, with about a yard in the mid-
dle tinged with thofe colours. We all fell upon our faces,
and the fimoom pafled with a gentle rullling wind. It con-
.tinucd to blow in this manner till near three o'clock, fo we
were all taken ill that night, and fcarcely flrength was left
us to load the camels and arrange the baggage. This day-
one of our camels died, partly famifhed, partly overcome
with extreme fatigue, fo that, incapable as we were of la-
bour, we were obliged, for felf-preferv at ion's fiike, to cut
offihin flices of the flefliy part of the camel, and hang it
in fo many thongs upon the trees all night, and after upoa
the baggage, the fun drying it immediately, fo as to prc-
Ycnt pturefaiftion, ;

At half pad eight in the evening wc alighted at a well
called Naibey, in a bare, fandy plain, where there were a few
draggling acacia-trees. We had all this day fcen large
blocks of folhle fait upon the furface of the earth wliere
we trod. This was the caufe, I fuppofe, that both the fpring
at Terfowey, and now this of Naibey, were brackiin to the
tafte, and efpecially that of Naibey. We found near the
well the corpfe of a man and two camels upon the ground.
It v/as apparently long ago that this accident happened, for
the moiilure of the camel was fo exhaled that it fcemed to

weigh

,582 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER-

weigh but a very few pound? ; no vermin had touched i%
as in this whole dcfert there is neither -woim, fly, nor a\iy
thing that has the breath ot life.

On th€ 2ift, at fix in the morning, having filled the gir-
bas 'viih water, we fet.out from Naibey, our dn-edion due
north, and, as we thought, in a courfe almcll llraight upon
Syene. The fait hour of our journey was through fliarp-
poimed rocks, which it was very eafy to forefee would very
ibon finilli our cainels. About eight we had a view of the
delcrt to the weitward as before, and faw the fands had al-
ready begun to rife ininimcnfe twilled pillars, which dark-
ened the heavens. The riling of thefe in the morning fo ear-
ly, we began now to obferve, was a fure fign of a hot day,
with a bnlk wmd at north ; and that heat, and the early-
riling of the fands, was as fure a fign of its falhng calm abouc
mid-day, and its being followed by two hours of the poifon-
ous wind. That laft conlideration was what made the great-
t;!. imprellion, for we had felt its cfFeds ; it had filled us
with fear, and abforbed the laft remnant of our llrength;
whereas the fand, though a deflruc^ion to us if it had in-
volved us in its compafs, had as yet done us no other hai'm
than terrifying us rhe firll days we had feen it.

It was this day more magnificent than any we had as
yet feen. The iun Ihining through the pillars, which Avere
thicker, and contained more fand apparently than any of
the preceding days, feemed to give thofe neareft us an ap-
pearance as if fpoticd with liars of gold. I do not think
at any time they feemed to be nearer than two miles. The
moft remarkable circumftance was, that the fand feemed
to keep in that vail circular fpace furrounded bj the Nile
2 oa

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 583

on our left, in going round by Cliaigie towards Dongola^
and feldom was obierved much to the eaftward of a meri-
dian, pailuig along the Nile through the Magiran, before it
takes that turn ; whereas the fnuoom was always on the
oppofue fide of our courfe, coming upon us from the fouth-
eaft.

A LITTLE before twelve our wind at north ceafed, and a
confiderable quantity of fine fand rained upon us for an-
hour afterwards. . At the time it appeared, the defcription
of this phsenomenon in Syphax's fpeech to Cato was perpe-
tually before my mind :

So, where our wide Numidian waftes extend,
Sudden th' impetuous hurricanes defcend,
Wheel through the air, in circling eddies play.
Tear up the fands, and fweep whole plains away.
The helplefs traveller, with wild furprife.
Sees the dry defert all around him rife,
And fmother'd in .the duliy whirlwind dies.

Addison.

Tliefe lines are capital, and are a fine copy, which can only
appear tame by the original having been before our eyes,
painted by the great mailer, the Creator and Ruler of the
world.

The fimoom, with the wind at S. E. immediately follows'
the wind atN. and the ufual defpondency that always ac-
companied it. The blue meteor, with which it began, pafT-
ed over us about twelve, and the ruffling wind that follow-
ed it continued till near two. Silence, and a defperate kind-:

584 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

of indifference about life, were the immediate cfTcifls upon
us ; and I began now, feeing the condition of my camels,
to fear we were all doomed to a fandy grave, and to con-
template it with fome degree of refignation. At half paft
eight in the evening we alighted in a fandy flat, where there
was great Here of bent grafs and trees which had a confi-
derable degree of verdure, a circumftance much in favour
of our camels. We determined to flop here to give them an
opportunity of eating their fill where they could find it.

On the 22d, at fix o'clock we fet out from the fandy flat^
and one of the Tucorory was feized with a phrenzy or mad-
nefs. At firft I took it for a fit of the epilepfy, by the di-
ftortions of his face, but it wasfoon feen to be of a jtrore feri-
ous nature. Whether he had been before affli6led with it
I know not. I offered to bleed him, which he refufcd ; nei-
ther, though Vv'e gave him water, would he drink, but very
moderately. He rolled upon the ground, and moaned, oft-
en repeating two or three words which I did not underfland.
He refufed to continue his journey, or rife from where he
lay, fo that we were obliged to leave him to his fortune.
We went this day very diligently, not remarkably flow nor
fafl; ; but though our camels, as w€ thought, had fared well
for thefe two nights, another of them died about four
o'clock this afternoon, when we came to Umarack.

I HERE began to provide for the word. I faw the fate of
our camels approaching, and that oiu' men grew weak in
proportion; cur bread, too, began to fail us, altho'we had
-plenty of camels flcfli in its flead ; our water, though in
all appearance we were to find it mere frequently than in
t tlie

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 5S5

the beginning of our journey, was neverthelefs brackifli,
and fcarce ferved the purpofe to quench our third ; and,
above all, the dreadful fimoom had perfecT;ly exhaufted our
ftrength, and brought upon us a degree of cowardice and
.languor that we ftruggled with in vain ; I therefore, as the
laft effort, began to throw away every thing weighty I could
fpare, or that was not abfolutely neceflary, fuch as all {hells,
folliles, minerals, and petrefac^ions that I could get at, the
counter-cafes of my quadrant, telefcopes, and clock, and fe-
veral fuchlike things.

Our camels were now reduced to five, and it did not
feem that thefe were capable of continuing their journey
much longer. In that cafe, no remedy remained, but that
each man Ihould carry his own water and proviiions.
Now, as no one man could carry the water he fhould
ufe between well and w^ell, and it was more than proba-
ble that diftance would be doubled by fome of the wells
bein^ found dry ; and if that was not the cafe, yet, as it was'
impoffible for a man to carry his provifions who could not
walk without any burden at all, our fituation feemed to be
moft defperate.

, The Bifhareen alone feemed to keep up his ftrength,
and was in excellent fpirits. He had attached himfelf, in
a particular manner, to me, and with a part of that very
fcanty rag which he had round his waift he had made a
wrapper, very artificially, according to the manner his
countrymen the Bifliareen practice on fuch occaGons. This
had greatly defended my feet in the day, but the paiu
occafioned by the cold in the night w?s really fcarce fuffer-
able. I offered to free him from the confinement of his lefc
Vol. IV. 4 E hand.

SB6 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

hand, which was chained to fome one of the company night
and day ; but he very fenfibly refufed it, faying, " Unchain
my hands when you load and unload your camels, I can-
not then run away from you ; for tho' you did not fhoot me,
I ihould itarve with hunger and thirft ; but keep me to the
end of the journey as you began with me, then I cannot
mifbehave, and lofe the reward which you fay you are to
give me."

At forty minutes paft three o'clock we faw large ftratas
of fofhle fait everywhere upon the furl-ace of the ground.
At five we found the body of Mahomet Towafh, on the
fpot where he had been murdered, ftript naked, and lying
on his face unburied. The wound in the back-fmew of
his leg was apparent ; he was, befides, thruft through the
back with a lance, and had two wounds in the head with
fwords. We followed fome footlleps in the fand to the
right, and there faw three other bodies, whom Idris
knew to be his principal fervants. Thefe, it feemed, had
taken to their arms upon the Aga's being firft wounded, and
the cowardly, treacherous Bifliareens had perfuadcd them
to capitulate upon promife of givmg them camels and pro-
vifion to carry them into Egypt, after which they had
murdered them behind thefe rocks.

At fix o'clock we alighted at Umarack, fo called from a
number of rack- trees that grow there, and which feem to
afifecfl a faltifti foil; at Raback and Mafuah I had fcen
them growing in the fea. When I ordered a halt at Um-
arack, the general cry was, to travel all night, fo that we
might be at a diftance from that dangerous, unlucky fpot.
The fight of the men murdered, and fear of the like fate,

liad

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 587

had got the better of their other fenfations. hi iliort, there
was nothing more vifible, than that their apprehenfions
were of two forc-^, and produced very different operations.
The fimoom, the talking pillars of fand, and probability of
dying with thirft or hunger, brought on a torpor, or in-
difference, that made them inaftive; but the difcovery of
the Arab at Terfowey, the fear of meeting the Bifhareen at
the wells, and the dead bodies of the Aga and his unfor-
tunate companions, produced a degree of adtivity and irri-
tation that refembled very much their fpirits being elevated
by good news. I told them, that, of all the places in the
defert through which they had pafled, this was by far the
fafeft, becaufe fear of being met by troops from AlTouan,
feeking the murderers of Mahomet Towafla would keep all
the Bifliareen at a diftance. Our Arab faid, that the next
well belonged to the Ababde, and not the Bifliareen, and
that the Bifliareen had flain the Aga there, to make men
believe it had been done by the Ababde. Idris contributed
his morfel of comfort, by afTuring us, that the wells now, as
far as Egypt, were fo fcanty of water, that no party above
ten men would truft their provifion to them, and none of
us had the leaft apprehenfion from marauders of twice
that number. The night at Umarack was exceflively cold
as to fenfation ; Falirenheit's thermometer was however at
49° an hour before day-light.

On the 23d we left Umarack at fix o'clock in the morn-
ing, our road this day being between mountains of blue
ftones of a very fine and perfecfl quality, through the heart
of which ran thick veins of jaiper, their llrata perpendicu-
lar to the horizon. There were other mountains of marble
of the colour called Ifabella. In other places the rock feem-

4 E 2 ed

58S TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

ed compofed of peirified wood, fuch as we had fecn in the
mountains near CoiTeir. At a quarter pall eleven, going due"
N. we entered a narrow valley, in which we palTed two wells
on our left, and following the windings through this valley,
all of deep fand, we came to a large pool of excellent water,,
called Umgwat, flickered from the rays of the fun by a large
rock, which projecfled over it, the upper part of which was.
fhaped like a wedge, and was compofed all of green mar-
ble, without the fmallell variety or fpot of other colour;
in it.

Through this whole valley, to-day, we had feen the bo-
dies of the Tucorory who had followed Mahomet Towafli^
and been fcattered by the Bifliareen, and left to perifli with;
thirfl there. None of them, however, as far as we could*
obferve, had ever reached this well. In the water we found
a bird of the duck kind called Teal, or Widgeon. The Turk
Ifmael was preparing to flioot at it with his blunderbufs^
but I defired him to refrain, being willing, by its flight, ta
endeavour to judge fomething of the nearnefs of the Nile.
We raifed it therefore by fudden repeated cries, which me-
thod was likely tomakeitfeek its home flTaight,.and abandon
3. place it mud have been a flranger to. The bird flew
ftraight wefl, rifnig as he flew, a fure proof his journey.
was a long one, till at laft, being very high and at a diflance,
he vaniflicd from oiu' fight, without defcending or feeking
to approach the earth ;. from which I drew a.n unpleafant
inference that we vv'cre yet far from the Nile, as was really
the cafe.

HrRE we threw away the brackifli v/ater that remained
u\ our girbaS; and filled them with the wholefome elemens

clra.wix

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. s^^

drawn from this pool of Utngwat. I could not help re-^
preaching Idr's with the inaccuracy of the information he
had pretended to give us the day before, that no party z-
bove ten men could meet us at any of thefc wells, as none-
of them could lupply water for more ; whereas in this pool
th€^FC was certainly enough of excellent water to ferve a
wliole tribe of Arabs for a month. He had little to fay,
further than that H timer, though near, was a fcanty well,
and perhaps we fhould not find water there at all. He trufl-
ed, however, if our people would take heart, we were our
of all danger from Arabs,, or any thing elfe...

At a quarter paft three we left the well, and continued
along a fandy valley, which is called Waadi Umgwat. This
night it was told me that Georgis, and the Turk Ifmae!,>
were both fo ill, and fo defponding, that they had refolved
to purfue the journey no farther, but fubmit to their deftiny,
as they called it, and ftay behind and die. It was with the
utmoft difficulty L could get them to lay afide this refolu^
tion, and the next morning I promifed they fhould ride
by turns upon one of the camels, a thing that none of
us had yet attempted. They had, indeed, often deHred me
to do fo, but I well knew, if I had fet them that example,
befides deftroying the camels, it would have- had the very
worft efFedt upon their daftardly fpirits ; and, indeed, we
very foon faw the bad efl'eCts of this humane confideraticn
for the two invalids.

On the 24th, at half pall fix in the morning we left
Umgwat, following the windings of fandy valleys between
ftony hills. At half paft nine we found Mahomet Aga's
horfe dead, . The poor creature feemed, without a guide, ta

have.

590 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

have followed exa(flly enough the tracft of the wells and
way to Egypt, and had furvived all his fellow-travellers. At
eleven o'clock we came to fome plains of loofe, moving fand,
and faw fome pillars in motion, which had not wind to
fnftain them for any time, and which gave us, therefore,'
little concern. At one we alighted near the well Mour,
which was to the N. E. of us. At four we left the well Mour :
At forty minutes after four pafled the well itfelf, which was
then dry ; and at a quarter paft fix we found a dead man,
whofe corpfe was quite dry, and had been fo a confiderable
time. At feven o'clock in the evening we alighted at El
Haimer, where are the two wells in a large plain of fand.
The water is good. There is another well to the weft of
us, but it is bitter and faltifli, though more abundant than
either of the other two, which, by filling our Ikins, we
had feveral times drained.

On the 25th, at half paft feven in the morning we left
the well hi Haimer, and at ten o'clock alighted among
fome acacia-trees, our camels having ate nothing all night,
except the dry bitter roots of that drug, the fenna. While
we were attending the camels, and refting ourfelves on the
grafs, we were furprifed at the appearance of a troop of
Arabs all upon camels, who looked like a caravan, ea h
camel having a fmall loading behind him. They had two
gentle afcents before they could arrive at the place where we
were. 1 he road is between two fandy hills, at the back of
which our camels were feeding in a wood ; and near the
road was the well El Haimer, where our fkins were lying
full of water, it was neceilary then to underftand one an-
other before we allowed them to pals between the fandy
hills. Upon the firil alarm, my people all repaired to me,
3 bringing

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 591'

bringing their arms in their hands, as well thofe that they
carried upon them, as the fpare arms, ail of which were
primed and charged.

The firft queftion was, what to do with the Bifliareen ?
None of us had any fufpicion of him. We unchained him
from the Barbarin, and faftened his other hand, then gave
him to the Tucorory, and made them Hand behind to in-
creafe the appearance of our number. I then advanced to
the edge of the hill, and cried out with a loud voice, " Stop !
for you cannot pafs here." Whether they underftood it I
do not know, but they Hill perfifted in mounting the hill.
I again cried, fhewing my firelock, "Advance a ftep farther
and I'll fire." After a flaorc paufe they all difmounred from
their camels, and one of them, with his lance in his hand,
came forward till within twenty yards, upon which Idris
immediately knew them, and faid, they were Ababde. " A-
babde or not, faid I, they are feventeen men, and Arabs,
and I am not of a difpofition, without further furety, to put.
myfelf in their hands as Mahomet Aga did. I am fure they
are perfedly in our power now, as long as they Hand where
they are." Idris then told me that he was married to one
of the Ababde of Shekli Ammer, and he would go and get
a fure word from them. Tell them from me, faid I, that I,
too, am the friend of Nimmer their Shekh^and his tv/o fons,,
and of Shekh Hammam of Furfliout ; that I am going into
Egypt, have been followed by the Bifhareen, and truft no-
body ; have twenty men armed with firelocks, and will do
them no harm, provided they confent to pafs, one by onCj,
and give a man for a hoflage.

iBRIfc

592 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

Idris, without arms, having joined the man who had ad-
vanced towards us, went down with him to the body of
llrangers, and the treaty was foon agreed to. Two of the
principal men among them approaching me without their
lances, and the compHment of peace, " Salam Ahcum ! and
AUcum Salam !" was given and return-cd by both fides.
They feemed, however, llartled at feeing the Bifliareen with
both his hands chained ; but I told them, that had no re-
gard to them, and defired Idris to order their camels to go
on; and one of the Barbarins in the meantime brought them
a gourd full of water, and bread, for eating together is like
pledging your faith. They had not heard of the fate of
Mahomet Aga, and feemed very ill-pleafed at it, faying, that
Aboil Bertran was a thief and a murderer. All the camels
being paft, I aflced them whither they were going ? They
faid to Atbieh, weft of Terfowey, to gather fenna for the
government of Cairo. I would very fain have had them to
-fell or exchange with me a couple of camels. They faid
theirs were not ftrong ; that before they could reach home
they would be much in the fame condition with our own ;
that they were obliged to load them very heavily, as indeed
the bags they had behind them to carry the lenna feem-
ed to indicate their profit was but fmall, fb that the death
of one camel was a moft ferious lofs,

I THOUGHT myfelf obliged in humanity to introduce our
prlfoner to the two Ababde that had remained with us.
They faid, they intended to take water at Terfowey, and we
told them briefly the accident by which we came in com-
pany with the Bifliareen. They, on the contrary, though-t
that we had been a party of foldiers from Afibuan who ap-
prehended the Arab. Immediately after which they con-
^ verfed

THESOURCEOFTHENILE. 593

Terfed'in the language of Beja, which is that of the Habab,
Suakem, and Mafuah. I told them plainly, that, though I
knew that language, I would not fuffer them to fpeak
any but Arabic, underftood by us all. They immediately
complied, and then inquired about the pofition of Abou Ber-
tran and his tribe of Bilhareen. This, too, I would not fuf-
fer the Arab to inform them of, but charged them, as he
did alfo, to tell his wives that he was well, and ate and
drank as we had done, and was within two days of arriving
at AlTouan, whence he Ihould be returned to them with the
rewards promifed. I then defired him to lay a lance in a
manner that the point Ihould be towards Syene, which they
accordingly did, and with a long needle of 12 inches in a brafs
box, having an arch of a few degrees marked on it, I, with
theutmoft attention, took the direction from Maimer to
Syene N. N. W. or more northerly. I would very willingly
have had it in my power to have made an obfervation of la-
titude, but noon was pall ; I contented myfelf, therefore,
with keeping my route as diilinaiy as poflible till the even-
ing.

At 40 minutes paft one o'clock we left Haimer, and our
friends, the Ababde, continued their route, after giving us
great praife, as well for our civility, as our keeping the
watch like men, as they exprefTed it. At half paft eight we
alighted at Abou Ferege, a place where there was very little
verdure of any kind. Here, for the firft time on our jour-
ney, we met with a cloudy fky, which effecftually difap-
pointed my obfervation of latitude ; but every noon and
night I defcribed, in a rough manner, my courfe through
the dav, carrying always a compafs, with a needle about five

Vol.' IV, 4 F "^chcs

594 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

inches radius, round my neck, by a lace, and refting in
my pocket. I thus found that we had kept the hne diredly
upon Syene, which the Ababde Arab had Ihewed us.

On the 26th, at half after fix in the morning we fet out
from Abou Ferege, continuing nearly in the fame diretftion
upon Syene till eleven o'clock, when, for the purpofe of
obfervation only, I alighted at a place called Abou Here-
gi, without water, grafs, or food for our camels. We were
exceedingly averfe to exertions, and became fo weak and
fpiritlefs, that it was not poffible to prevail upon our people
to take the large quadrant out of its cheil to put it together,
and prepare it for obfervation. I therefore took a Hadley's
quadrant, with a mixture I had made, which ferved me bet-
ter than quick- filver, and made my obfervation by reflection
at Abou Heregi, and found it in lat. 23°, from which I infer-
red, with fome decree of comfort to myfelf, that the longi-
tude of Syene in the French maps is ill laid down, and that
we were now in the dire(5lion upon Syene, had no wefting
to run down, but the journey mult finifli in a very few days.

At two o'clock in the afternoon we left Abou Heregi,
and at four had an unexpected entertainment, which filled
our hearts with a very fliort-lived joy. The whole plain
before us feeraed thick-covered with green grafs and yel-
low daifies. We advanced to the place with as much fpeed
as our lame condition woul-d fufter us, but how terrible was
our difappointment, when we found the whole of that ver-
dure to confifl: in fenna and coloquintida, the moll naufeous
of plants, and the moit incapable of being fubitituted as food
for man or bcaft. At nine o'clock in the evening we alight-
ed at Saffieha, which is a ridge of craggy mountains to the

S«- £>■

THESOURCEOFTHENILE. 595

S. E. and N. W. The night here was immoderately cold,
and the v/md north. We were now very near a crifis, one
way or the other. Our bread was confumed, fo that we had
not fufficient for one day more; and though. we had camels
flefli, yet, by living fo long on bread and water, an invin-
cible repugnance arofe either to fmell or tade it. As our
camels were at their lail gafp, we had taken fo fparingly
of water, that, when we came to divide it, we found it in-
fufficient for our neceffities, if Syene was even fo near as we
conceived it to be.

Georgis had loil one eye, and was nearly blind in the
other. Ifmael and he had both become fo ftiff by being
carried, that they could not bear to fet their feet to the
ground ; and I may fay for myfelf, that, though I had fup-
ported the wounds in my feet with a patience very uncom-
mon, yet they were arrived at that height as to be perfedl-
ly intolerable, and, as I apprehended, on the point of mor-
tification. The bandage, which the Bifhareen had tied a-
bout the hollow of my foot, was now almoft hidden by
the flefh fwelling over it. Three large wounds on the
rip-ht foot, and two on the left, continued open, whence a
quantity of lymph oozed continually. It was alio with
the utmoft difficulty we could get out the rag, by cutting
it to flireds with fciffars. The tale is both unpleafant and
irkfome. Two foles which remained from our fandals, the
upper leathers of which had gone to pieces in the fand
near Gooz, were tied with a cotton cloth very adroitly
by the Bifhareen. But it feemed impoffible that I could walk
further, even with this affiltance, and therefore we deter-
mined to throw away the quadrant, telefcopes, and time-
keeper, and fave our lives, by riding the camels alternately.

/I F 2 But

595 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

But Providence had already decreed that we fliould not ter-
minate this dangerous journey by our own ordinary fore^
fight and contrivance, but owe it entirely to his vifible fujy-
port and interpofition.

On the 27th, at half paft five in the morning we attempr-
ed to raife our camels at Saffieha by every method that
■we could devife, but all in vain, only one of them could
get upon his legs, and that one did not Hand two minutes
till he kneeled down, and could never be raifed afterwards.
This the Arabs all declared to be the effccfts of cold ; and yet
Fahrenheit's thermometer, an hour before day, flood at 42°.
Every way we turned ourfelves death now flared us in the
face. We had neither time nor Itrength to waile, nor pro-
vifions to fupport us. We then took the fmall fkins that
had contained our water, and filled them as far as we
thought a man could carry them with eafe ; but after all
thefe Ihifts, there was not enough to ferve us three days, at
which 1 had eftimated our journey to Syene, which flill
however was uncertain. Finding, therefore, the camels
■would not rife, we killed two of them, and took fo much
llefh as might ferve for the deficiency of bread, and, from
the flomach of each of the camels, got about four gallons
of water, which the Bifhareen Arab managed with great
dexterity. It is known to people converfant with natural
hiftory, that the camel has within him refervoirs in which
he can preferve drink for any number of days he is ufed
to. In thofe caravans, of long courfe, which come from the
Niger acrofs the defert of Selima, it is faid that each camel,
by drinking, lays in a flore of water that will fupport him
for forty days. I will by no means be a voucher of this ac-
count, which carries with it an air of exaggeration ; but

fourteen

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 597

fourteen or fixteen days, it is well known, an ordinary ca-
mel will live, though he hath no frelh fupply of water.
When he chews the cud, or when he eats, you conilantly fee
him throw, from this repofitory, mouthtuls of water to di-
lute his food ; and nature has contrived this velTel with
fuch properties, that the water within it never putrifies,nor
turns unwholefome. It was indeed vapid, and of a bluifh
caft, but had neither tafle nor fmelL

The fmall remains of our miferable ftock of black bread
and dirty water, the only fupport we had hitherto lived on
amidft the burning fands, and our fpirits likewife, were
exhaufted by an uncertainty of our journey's end. We
were furrounded among thofe terrible and unufual pha^no-
mena of nature which Providence, in mercy to the weak-
nefs of his creatures, has concealed far from their light in
deferts almoit inacceffible to them. Nothing but death was
before our eyes ; and, in thefe terrible moments of pain,
fuffering, and defpair,. honour, inftead of relieving me, fug-
gelled ftill what was to be an augmentation to my misfor-
tune ; the feeling this produced fell diredly upon me alone,
and every other individual of the company was unconfcious
of it.

The drawings made at Palmyra and Baalbec for the king,
were, in many parts of them, not advanced farther than the
outlines, which I had carried with me, that, if leifure or con-
finement fliould happen, I might finilli them during my
travels in cafe of failure of other employment, fo far at
leall, that, on my return through Italy, they might be in a
ftate of receiving further improvement, which might carry
them to that perfec^tion I have fince been enabled to con-

dudi

SgS TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

ducTt them. Thefe were all to be thrown away, with other
not lefs valuable papers, and, with my quadrant, telefcopes,
and time-keeper, abandoned to the rude and ignorant hands
of robbers, or to be buried in the fands. Every memoran-
dum, every defcription, fketch, or obfervation lince I depart-
ed from Badjoura and paffed the defert to CofTeir, till I
reached the prefent fpot, were left in an undigefled heap,
with our carrion-camels, at Saffieha, while there remained
with me, in lieu of all my memoranda, but this mournful
confideration, that I was now to maintain the reality of thefe
my tedious perils, with thofe who either did, or might af-
fe(5l, from malice and envy, to doubt my veracity upon my ip-
fc dixit alone, or abandon the reputation of the travels which
I had made with fo much courage, labour, danger, and diffi-
culty, and which had been confidered as defperate and im-
pracflicable to accomplifli for more than 2000 years.

I WOULD be underftood not to mean by this, that my
thoughts were at fuch a time in the leaft diiturbed with
any reflecStion on the paltry lies that might be propagated
in malignant circles, which has each its idol, and who, meet-
ing, as they fay, for the advancement of learning, employ
themfelves in blalling the fame of thofe who mufl be al-
lowed to have furpalled them in every circumftance of in-
trepidity, forethought, and fair atchievement. The cenfure
of thefe lion- faced and chicken-hearted critics never entered
as an ingredient in my ibrrows on that occafion in the fad-
nefs of my heart ; it I had not poflefled a fliare of Ipirit
enough to defpife thefe, the fmallelt trouble that occured
in my travels muft have overcome a mind fo feebly arn.ed.
My forrows were of another kind, that 1 fliouhi, of courfe,
be deprived of a conliderable part of an oiTering I meant
3 ^s

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 599

as a mark of duty to my fovereign, that, with thofe that
knew and efteemed me, I (liould be obliged to run in debt
for the credit of a whole narrative of circumftanccs, which
ought, from their importance to hiftory and geography, to
have a better foundation than the mere memory of any man,
confidering the time and variety of events which they em-
braced ; and, above all, I may be allowed to fay, I felt for
my country, that chance alone, in this age of difcovery, had
robbed her of the faireft garland of this kind flie ever was
to wear, which all her fleets, full of heroes and men of
fcience, in all the oceans they might be dellined to explore,
were incapable of replacing upon her brow. Thefe fad re-
flections were mine, and confined to myfelf. Luckily my
companions were no fliarers in them ; they had already,
in their own fufferings, much more than their little flock
of fortitude, philofophy, or education enabled them to
bear.

About three o'clock in the afternoon of the 27th we
faw two kites, or what are called Haddaya, very numerous
in Egypt ; about a quarter of an hour afterwards, another of
the fame fort, known to be carrion-birds, probably going in
fearch of the dead camels. I could not conceal my joy at
what I regarded as a happy omen. We went five hours
and a half this day, and at night came to Waadi el Arab,
where are the firft trees we had feen fince we left El Hai-
mer.

On the 28th, at half paft feven in the morning we left
Waadi el Arab, and entered into a narrow defile, with rug-
ged, but not high mountains on each fide. About twelve
o'clock we came to a few trees in the bed of a torrent. Ill

Coo TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

as I was, after lefrefhing myfelf with my laft bread and
water, I fet out in the afternoon to gain a rifing ground,
that I might fee, if poffible, what was to the weflward ; for
the mountains feemed now rocky and high Hke thofe of
the Kennoufs near Syene. I arrived, with great difficulty
and pain, on the top of a moderate hill, but was exceeding-
ly difappointed at not feeing the river to the weltward ;
however, the vicinity of the Nile was very evident, by the
high, uniform mountains that confine its torrent when it
comes out of Nuhia. The evening was ftill, fo that fitting
do vvn and covering my eyes with my hands, not to be di-
verred by external objects, I liilened and heard dill:in6lly
the noife of waters, which I fuppofed to be the cataradt,
but it feemed to the fouthward of us, as if we had pafled
it. I was, however, fully fatislied that it was the Nile,

Just before I left my ftation the fun was already low,
when 1 faw a flock of birds, which, in Syria, where they
are plenty, are called the Cow Bird. In Egypt they are alfo
numerous upon the Nile, but ! do not know their name.
They are a fmall fpecies of the heron, about a third of the
fize of the common one, milk-white, having a tnft of flefli-
coloured feathers upon their brcaft, of a coarfer, ilronger,
and more hairy- like quality than the fliorter feathers. A
flock of thefe birds was flying in a ftraighc line, very low, evi-
dently feeking food along the banks of the river. It was
not an hour for birds to go far from their home, nor does
this bird feed at a diflance from its accuftomcd haunt at
any time. Satisfied then that, continuing our courfe N. W.
we fliould arrive at or below Sycne, I returned to join my
dCompanions., but it was aow dark, and I found Idris and
,2 the

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 6ot

the Barbarins in fome pain, endeavouring to trace me by
my footfteps.

I COMMUNICATED to them this joyful news, which was
confirmed by Idris, though he did not himfelf know the
juft diftance from this place (Abou Seielat) as Iiis ufual way
had been to Daroo, not to Aflbuan, which he did not choofe
to approach, for fear of the vexations from the Turkifh gar-
rifon. A cry of joy followed this annunciation. Chriilians,
Moors, and Turks, all burfl into floods of tears, kif-
fmg and embracing one another, and thanking God for his
mercy in this deliverance, and unanimoufly in token of
their gratitude, and acknowledgment of my conftant atten-
tion to them in the whole of this long journey ; faluting me
with the name of Abou Ferege, Father Forefight, the only re-
ward it was in their power to give.

On the 29th, at feven o'clock in the morning we left Abou
Seielat ; about nine, we faw the palm trees at Aflbuan,
and a quarter before ten arrived in a grove of palm-trees
on the north of that city.

^= ' ' )^

Vol. IV, 4G CHAR

6o2 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

gl^-"— — — " = v^

CHAP. Xllf.

Kind reception at A[fouan — Arrival at Cairo — Tran/a&tons with the
Bey there — Land at Marfeilks,

'\%T I T H O U T congratulating one another on their
▼ ▼ efcape and fafe arrival, as they had the night before
at Abou Seielat, my companions with one accord ran to the
Nile to drink ; though they had already feen, in the courfe
of the journey^two or three tragical inftanees, the confe-
quences of intemperance in drinking water. I fat myfelf
down under the fhade of the palm-trees, to recolle<5t my-
felf. It was very hot, and I fell into a profound fleep. But
Hagi Ifmael, who was neither fleepy nor thirfly, but ex-
ceedingly himgry, had gone into the town in fearch of
fomebody that would give him food. He was not gone far
before his green turban and ragged appearance ftruck fome
brethren janizaries, who met him ; one of whom afkcd him
the reafon of his being there, and whence he came? Ifmael,
in a violent paliion, and broken Arabic, faid, that he was a
1 janizary

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 6oj

janizary of Cairo, was laft come from hell, where there was
not one devil, but thoufands, from a country of Kafrs that
called themfelves Muffulmen ; that he had walked through
a defert where the earth was on fire and the wind was
flame, and in fear of dying every day with third and hun-
ger.

The foldier who heard him talk in this disjointed, raving
manner, defired him to go with him to the Aga. This was
the very thing that Ifmael wanted. He only dcfired time
to acquaint his companions. " Have you companions,
fays the foldier, from fuch a country ?" — " Companions ?
fays Ifmael ; what the devil ! do you imagine I came this
journey alone ?" — " If the journey, fays the man, is fuch as
you defcribe it, I do not think many would go with you ;
well, go along with my companions, and I will feek
yours, but how flia.ll I find them ?"— " Go, fays Ifmael, to
the palm-trees, and when you find the tailed man you ever
faw in your life, more ragged and dirty than I am, call
him Yagoube, aad defue him to come along with you to
the Aga."

The foMier accordingly found me ftill fitting at the root
of the palm-tree. The fervants, who had now fatisfied their
third, and were uncertain what was next to be done, were
fitting together at fome didance from me. They began
to feel their own wearinefs, and were inclined to leave
me to a little repofe, which they hoped might enable
me to overcome mine. For my own part, a dullnefs and
infenfibility, an univerfal relaxation of fpirits which I can-
not defcribe, a kind of dupor, or palfy of the mind, had o-
vertaken me, almod to a deprivation of underdanding. f

4G 2 found

5o4 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

found in myfelf a kind of ftupidity, and want of power to
refle<n: upon what had pailed. I feemed to be, as if awaken-
ed from a dream when the fenfes are yet half afleep,
and we only begin to doubt whether what has before
pailed in thoughts is real or not. The dangers that I was
juft now delivered from made no impreffion upon my mind,
and what more and more convinces me I was for a time
not in my perfect fenfes, is, that I found in myfelf a hard-
heartednefs, without the leaft inclination to be thankful
for that fignal deliverance which I had juft now expe-
rienced.

From this ftupor I was awakened by the arrival of the fol-
dier, who cried out to us at fome diftance, " You muft come
to the Aga to the caftle, all of you, as faft as you can, the
Turk is gone before you." " It will not be very faft, if we
even fliould do that, faid I ; the Turk has ridden two days on
a camel, and I have walked on foot, and do not know at pre-
fent if I can walk at all." I endeavoured, at the fame time,,
to rife and ftand upright, which I did not fucceed in, after
feveral attempts, without great pain and difficulty. I obfer-
ved the foldier was in a prodigious aftonifhment at my ap-
pearance, habit, and above all, at my diftrefs. " We fliall
get people in town, fays he, to affift you, and if you cannot
walk, the Aga will fend you a mule."

The Turk and the Greeks were cloathed much in the
fame manner ; Ifmael and Michael had in their hands two
monfirous blunderbulTes. The whole town crowded after
us while we walked to the caftle, and could not fatiate
themfelvcs with admiring a company of fuch an extraordi-
nary appearance. The Aga was ftruck dumb upon our
4 entering

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 6as.

entering the room, and told me afterwards, that he thought
me a full foot taller than any man he had ever feen in his
life. I faw he was embarrafled whether he ftiould defire
me to fit down or not, fo that I faved him the deliberation,
by faying, immediately after fainting him, " Sir, you will
excufe me, I muft fit." He bowed, and made a fign, com-
placently afking me, " Are you a Turk ? Are you a Muf-
fulman ?" " I am not a Turk, faid I, nor am I a MuITulman ;
I am an Englifhman, and bearer of the grand fignior's fir-
man to all his fubje6ls, and of letters from the regency
of Cairo, and from the Porte of Janizaries, to you." " Caz
Dangli, fays Ifmael, they are the fame as Turks, they came
firll from Anatolia, I have been at the place." Upon my
mentioning the grand fignior, the Aga got upon his feet,
and, without heeding Ifmael's fpeech, faid, very politely,
" Do you choofe to have your fervants fit?" " In fuch a dif-
aftrous journey as I have made, Sir, faid I, our fervants muft
be our companions ; befides, they have a fl;rong excufe for
fitting, neither they nor I have a foot to fl;and upon."

j4ga, " Where are thofe letters and firman ?" Ta. " Where
they may be now I know not, we left them at Saffieha with-
all the reft of our baggage ; our camels died, our provifions
and water were exhaufted, we therefore left every thing
behind us, and made this one eflJbrt to fave our lives. It is
the firft favour I am to aflc of you, when I fliall have rcfted
myfelf tv/o days, to allow me to get frefli camels, to go in
fearch of my letters and baggage." ^ga. " God forbid I
fliould ever fuffer you to do fo mad an a(5lion. You are
come hither by a thoufand miracles, and after this, will
you tempt -God and go back ? we lliall take it for granted'
what thofe papers contain. You will have no need of a

firman

6o6 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

firman between this and Cairo." Ta. " We fliall leave it
upon that footing for the prefent, allow me only to fay, I am
a fcrvant of the king of England, travelling, by his order,
and for my own and my countrymen's information ; that I
had rather rifk my life twenty times, than lofe the papers I
have left in the defert." Jga. " Go in peace, and eat and fleep.
Carry them, fays he, fpeaking to his attendants, to the houfe
of the Schourbatchie." Thus ended our firft interview with
the Aga, who put us in poflelfion of a very good houfe, and i^
happened to be the veiy man to whom I was recommended
by my correfpondents at Cairo when I was firft here, who
had abfolutely forgotten, but foon remembered me, as did
many others, but my old friend the Aga had been changed,
^nd was then at Cairo.

We were not long arrived before we received from the
Aga about fifty loaves of fine wheat bread, and feveral large
diflies of dreft meat. But the fmell of thefe laft no fooner
reached me than I fainted upon the floor. I made feveral
trials afterwards, with no better fuccefs, for the firft two
days, nor could I reconcile myfelf to any fort of food but
toafted bread and coflTee. My fervants had none of thefe
qualms, for they partook largely and greedily of the Aga's
bounty,

I HAD kept the houfe five or fix days after my arrival,
during which I correfponded with the Aga only by meftages,
and fiom my fervant who had pafled between us he had
learned the whole of our adventures. I then went to the
caftle for an audience, and intreated the Aga that he would
* procure fix or eight camels to mount my men upon, and

bring

'THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 607

bring my baggage from SafEeha. He gave a ftart at the
firft requeft, and would not by any means hear of that pro-
pofal ; he called it tempting God, and aflured me I fhould
be cut oiF by the very men that had murdered Mahomet
Aga ; that, having feen the cafes and things which I had
thrown away at Umarack, they would follow my tra6t on
to Saffieha, would have taken ever thing that I had left, and
would be now purfuing me up to the gates of AfFouan. All
this was extremely probable, but it was not to fuch reafon-
ing that I could be a convert. I had infmuated that the well-
fare of mankind was concerned in the recovery of thofe
papers ; that there was among them recipes, which, if they
did not totally prevent the plague, and the fmall-pox, would
at leall greatly lefTen their violence and duration. Tins,
and perhaps a more forcible infmuation, that he fhould not
be without a recompence for any trouble that he gave him-
felf on my account, brought him at lafl to confent to my
requeft, and we arranged our expedition accordingly.

Our firft ftep was to fend for Idris and the Arab from
Daroo, for neither of them would enter the town with us,
for fear fome ftory fhould be trumped up againft them
regarding Mahomet Towafli's murder, which would not
have failed to have been the cafe had not we been with
them; but upon the Aga fending a man of ^confidence for
them, they both came without delay, and were lodged in
my houfe, under my protecftion.

The night following, everything being ready, we fet out
after it was dark from the caftle, all upon dromedaries.
The gates of the town were open for us, and were imme-
diately fliut upon our paffing through them ; the Aga fear-
ing

6o8 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

ing his own people as much as the Bifhareen ; and faying
always, by way of proverb, " Every body is an enemy in
the defert." The Aga had fent four fervants belonging to
his ftables to accompany us ; adive, lively, and good-hu-
moured fellows. Our people too, were all recruited. If-
mael, and blind Georgis, were left to take care of the houfe
in my abfence. About twelve o'clock we got into a valley,
and hid ourfelves in the lowed part of it, under a bank,
for the night was exceeding cold ; but we had fpirits with
us, which we drank with moderation. We there refreflied
our beafts about half an hour, and again ftopt in a valley
among trees. I was afraid that we had palTed our baggage
in the dark, as none of us were perfectly fure of the place ;
but as foon as light came, we recovered our traft as frefli
and entire as when we made it. After having gone about
half an hour in our former footfleps, we had the unfpeak-
able fatisfaflion to find our quadrant and whole baggage ;
and by them the bodies of our llaughtered camels, a fmall
part of one of them having been torn by the haddaya, or
kite.

It was agreed we fliould not ftay here, but load and de-
part immediately ; this was done in an inftant ; five camels
r eafily carried the loads, with a man upon them befides ; and
there were three more camels, upon which we rode by
turns. We made a brifk retreat from Saffieha to Syene,
which is about forty miles. At a little pall four in the af-
ternoon we entered the town again, without any accident
whatever, or without having feen one man in our jour-
ney.

Here

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 60$

Here then we were to clofe our travels through the de-
fert, by difcharging the debts contradled in it. We had now
got our credit and letters, which furniflied us with money.
1 began by recompenfing Idris Welled Hamran, the Hybeer,
for his faithful fervices. The next thing was to keep our
faith with our prifoner. I had made Idris chufe him a good
camel, cloathed him anew, and gave him drefles for his two
wives, with a load of dora. I then difpatched him with
the Aga's prote<5lior^ wondering what men we were, who,
without compulfion or fubterfuge, kept our words fo exact-
ly. Though rich beyond his hopes, and fo very lately our
enemy, the poor fellow, with tears in his eyes, declared,
if I would permit him, he would only go back and deliver
up what I had given him to his family, and return to me
at Syene, and follow me as my fervant wherever I fliould
go.

ALTHotycH we had wherewitlial toliave bought proper
drefles, I thought it better to do this when we fliould come to
Cairo. We got each of us a coarfe barracan, for cleanlinefs
only, afid a pair of trowfers. I furniflied Ifmael with a
green turban, to give us fome weight with the vulgar du-
ring our voyage down the Nile. I then w^nt to my friend
the Aga, to concert the meafurcs that remained necefiixry
for leaving Affju an and beginning our journey. He tefti-
fied the greateft joy at feeing us again. He had been in-
formed of our whole expedition by his fervants the night
before, and praifed us, in the prefence of his attendants, for
our alacrity, (leadinefs, and courage under the great fa-
tigues of travelling. Ifmael had told him of the trees and
plants which I painted, and he exprefled great curiofiiy to
fee them when I fliould find it convenient. Frcm the
Vol, IV. 4 H known

6id TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

known difpofition of thofe people, that what they defire
muft be granted inftantly, I aflced him whether he was at
leiiure or not to lee them? He faid, " By all means; it was
a good time." I then fent Michael my fervant for a book
of trees, and one of fiflies.

In the interijn arrived one of their priefts, or an Imam,
who are efteemed the moft learned of their clergy. Ill-hu-
mour and ill-breeding is the chara6teriftic of violent people
of all religions ; a Chriftian fanatic is not one bit more cha-
ritable towards thofe that differ from him than a Turkifli
faint ; the greateft difference between them is the turban.
Though I was the only reafon of his coming there at that
time, he palTed me with the moll contemptible indifference,
his eyes half Ihut and lifted up to heaven, full of that ex-
alted pride by which his great mailer fell from happinefs..
" I wifh to know, (fays he to the Aga, regardlefs of me) if
that Kafr faw any thing of Mahomet Towafh in the defert."
The Aga afked me, I faw, with fome degree of Hiame, and
I anfwered him : — " I faw ?vIahomet Towafli alive at Chendi,
richly cloathed as if he had been at Mecca. He had twelve
or fourteen men armed with firelocks, and about fourfcore
Tucorory, each with a lance in his hand, to whom he was
to give food and water in crofling the dcfert. There were
three Hybcers, all Bifhareen, who had come from Suakem
with the caravan, and were carrying back fenna to the
neighbourhood of Syene. I offered to join company with
them ; and though one Hybeer was enough for him, yet,
to diilrefs me as being a Chriflian, he took the whole tliree
along with him. In vain Sitrina, Wed Ageeb's filler, and
Wed el Faal's mother, defircd him to leave one of the Bifha-
reen

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 6ii

reeiiHybeers for me, or rather to join our companies to-
gether, for theBifhareen were not to be truiled. Contrary
to the denre of the chief of the Arabs, he took away the
three Hybeers, to difappoint me ; he found them three mur-
derers, and left me the only honeft man whom he did not
know. God punilhed the prefumption and pride of which
h,e was full, jull as this MouUah, who laft came in, and fits
before you, appears to be."

The Aga then ailced me, if I faw him afterwards ? " You
know, I fuppofe, the ftory. One of the three Hybeers went
to Abou Bertran, a principal Shekh of the Bifhareen, and
prepared a party to meet them on the road at the next fta-
tion, while the other two Hybeers, their guides, took care to
deceive him by lies, and carried him dirccTily upon the road
where the plot was laid. About twenty men on camels,
armed with lances, and as many young men on foot, with
fwords, came to meet him, and thofe upon camels made
their beafts kneel down at fome diftance from him, as out
of refpe^t coming to kifs his hands, as of a holy perfon be-
longing to the Caaba, their fancfluary at Mecca.

" The vain, imprudent man difmounted from his
camel to give them a more eafy opportunity of paying him
their refpe6ls, and wlien one of them held him by the hand
in token of friendfliip, another cut him acrofs the hams
with a broad-fword, and a third run him through the back
with a lance. He endeavoured to put his hands to his pif-
tols, but it was too late. They afterwards perfuaded his fer-
vants, who had fire-arms in their hands, and, like fools, did
not life them, to capitulate ; and, after they had difarmed
them, they carried them afide and murdered them alfo, then

4 H 2 took

Sr2- TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

took away all the water and camels, and left the Tucorcr^r
to die with third. You allced me when I faw him after his
leaving Chendi ? I tell you it was at a ftation of the Bifha-
reen, two hours before you come to Umarack ; his body-
lay upon the fand v/ithered and dried, but not corrupted ;■
his hough- of the right leg, and back-fmew^ of tlie left,
jull above the heel, were cut afunder by a fword. The
wounds through his body were apparent. The lance^
I apprehend, had feme crooks below the head of it, as is
their cuftom, becaufe a confiderabie quantity of his bowels
were drawn out at the back. He had two ■ wounds upon
his head, which I fuppofe were given him after he was
dead, for they had cut through the fkull entirely, and any
one of them would have been mortal in a moment. Ifmaei
and the Barbarin threw fand over him.. For my part, I
paid no fort of refpe(5t to the carcafe of a man, who, wherr
living, had fliewed fo little for my. prefervation. We
■went to the right, and followed fome footfleps ;. we faw
three men dead, all big and corpulent ; they were allthruft
through with three lances ; each of them had his throat cutj
and one his jaw. broken, .

" All the next day the road was ftrewed with the bo-
dies of the Tucorory, and the day after, at nine o'clock in
the morning, we found his horfe dead ; the day following'
•we found dead bodies of people, who had perilhed with thirft,
fcattered here and there like the tracft of a purfuit after a
"battle ; their dry bottles, made of gourdsj were grafped in
.heir hands, and fomcheld them to their mouths as if fucking
chcm. God, as I fay, puniflied this man, by allowing his'
pride and prefumption to blind him ; for, had we joined
Qi\r. companies, there could not have been a better place.'

imagined

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. Sij

jmaglncd to have fought the Bifiiarcen than that fpct, had
they dared to attacb, which is not probable. It was a nar-
row, deepi fandy ftraic, and rugged on each fide of it. Via
could have put our camels, with our water, in perfect: Securi-
ty behind us, while our fire-arms, fafely from- the rock,
would, with the firfl difoharge, have deflroyed the bed men
among them, and fcattered the herd of them into the def^rt.-
The Tucorory would have feized their camels and water, of
which they had but a fmall quantity, or we (hould have
fliot the fkins through, or the Aga's horie would have over-
taken them. In either cafe, as they were two days journey
from Abou Bertran, the greateft part of them wouW have
died with thirft ; and if they had chofen to folluw us, which-
af ter this rude treatment they would not have done, they
could never have reached us till we had got out of clieir
territory into thofe of the Ababde, where they were as-
much Grangers, and in as great danger as we^ and the wells
not capable of filling their girbas, fo that they would have
brought themfelvcs both into diftrefs and difpute. This is-
all that I know of Mahomet To vvafli."

The Aga faid to himfeif," Ullah Akbar;" and Several of
the company made their private ejaculations. The Imam
had not yet fpoke,butaddreffing himfeif to the Aga, " True-
it is, fays he, God is great, and does what feems to him bell;
or who would have thought that, a fervant of the Caaba^
fliould be forfaken, while Kafrs like them, a thoufand
of them not of the account of one hair of that man'sf
head, were proteded by him, and arrived fafe and un»
hMVt r

I WASi

6i4 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

I WAS exceedingly angry, but weak in health and fpirits ;
befides, I defpifed the hnam heartily, and was determined
to be filent. But diredly addreffing himfelf to me, which
he hitherto had not done, " I wonder, fays he, how a Kafr
like you, a man of no more worth than the duft under a
niuiralman's feet, fhould dare to wear a white turban,
which none are permitted to do but true believers, and men
of confideration in learning, or in the law !" I could hold
no longer. " Kafr ! faid I, do you call me ? You are a Kafr
yourfelf. I worfliip God as you do, and Jefus Chrift, whom
Mahomet calls Rouch Ullah,the Spirit of God. Kafrs worfliip
ftofies and trees, are ill-bred, and rude in manners, fuch as
you are. Sir, faid I to the Aga, I demand of you if the grand
fignior, whofe firman you have in your hand, when wri-
ting of me, calls mie Kafr ? Does Ali Bey, and the Porte of Ja-
nizaries, ufe fuch opprobrious expreflions? If they do not, you
fuffer me to be affronted in contempt of their orders, in a
fortrefs which you command in the grand fignior's name,
which is not to your credit either as a muflulman or a fol-
dier." — " He is right," fays an old man, who feemed to be a
fecretary. " MouUah, fays the Aga, I did not expecft this
from you ; T did not think you could be i'o abfurd as to afk
any man, returning from fo dangerous a journey as his,
the reafon of the colour of his tvu-ban." — " I do not refer
that to his difcretion, faid I, there is my firman ; I inlift up-
on its being read at the divan, and I will afterwards drcfs
my head and my body in any colour that is permitted me
therein, and that I know is every fort of colour*, and I
infill, that my firman may be read in the Divan."

MOULLAH,

* It is always the part of a firman from the Pcrte, that the bearer is at liberty to wear
■what colour, drefs, or arms he pleafcs.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 6i

J

" MouLLAH, fays Hagi Ifmacl, addreffing himfelf to the
Imam, who had twice attempted to fpeak but could not
get permiflion, you put me in mind of thefe Uars and
thieves at Teawa ; all their turbans were white or green ;
they call themfelves muffulmen, and llierafFe, and men of
learning like you ; but I fwear, greater Kafrs than they
were never in hell. I wifh you may not be fomething of
that kind. Hagi Ifmael was Handing behind. He had a
barracan like us, a red cap and no turban, and the Moul-
lah, I believe, did not know he was a Turk, and ftill lefs
that he was a Iherriffe ; I fancy he rather took him for a
Greek, from the bad manner in which he pronounced the
Arabic. " Friend, faid the prieft, take this piece of advice
from me. and fpeak more reverently of your betters, or
you may have a chance to get your tongue fcraped." Ha-
gi Ifmael was never blefled with much temper. He was
very honeft, but, though feventy years old, was as paflion-
ate as a child, and the more fo, as he did not underftand
the language. He was an officer in the Porte of Janizaries,
befides being a flierriffe ; had been fent, as I have already
faid, by the Bey to efcort the Abuna to Abyflinia. Un-
luckily at this time he underftood what was faid diflin6lly,
and came up clofe to the MouUah, faying, in a violent paf-
fion, " Kafr Meloun Ibn kelb, /. e. Pagan accurfed, and
race of a dog !" do you threaten me, a flierriffe, with a grey
beard? Who are my betters ? The Aga is not my fuperior,
were he a flierriffe, which he is not. He is an officer of the
janizaries as I am; he commands me to-day, and I com-
mand him to-morrow ; but, if it was not for his prefence,
I would not leave that beard of yours till I had fliaken
your head from your flioulders."

3 All

6i6 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

All now was confufion. I cried, " Hagi Ifmacl.for God's
fake forbear." Every body fpoke, no body heard. The
Mcullah had crofTed the room and fat down befide the Aga,
who laid to him very flernly, " What Yagoube may do,
and what he may not do, in Syene, has never been confided
to you, though it has been to me, and 1 have not thought it
neceflary ro take your advice upon it. This man is the fer-
vant of a king. Were you to infult him in Conftantint-ple,
his complaint would coftamuch greater man than you his
life, even ihis day before fun-fet. Who taught you to call
him Kafr whom you had never before feen, and then a-
biife ihe janizary, who, befides, is a Iherriffe, and an aged
man, whole hand better men than you kifs when they meet
him in the ftreet ? Go home and learn wifdom, fmce you
canrot teach it ; at leaft, don't make the grand fignior's
caflle the fcene of your abufe and folly." The Moullah up-
on this rebuke departed, very much humbled.

As Michael had brought the drawings, I turned to the
trees and flowers. The Aga was greatly pleafed with them,
and laughed, putting them up to his nole as if fmelling
them. They did not ofi'end him, as they were not the
likenefs of any thing that had life. I then Ihewed him a
filh, and reached the book to an old man with a long beard,
but who had a very chearful countenance. He looked at it
wiih great furprife. '] he Aga had feveral times called him
his father. " Do not be angry, fays he to me, if I afjc you a
quellion, I am not fuch a man as the Moullah that is gone."
" 1 will anfwer all your qucftions-with plcafure, faid 1, and,
in your turn, you mull not take the anfwer ill." " No, no,
liiid two or three of them, Hagi Soliman knows better." So-
Mmuf!. " Do you not believe, fays he, that that fiih will rife
■2 againft

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 617

againft you at the day of judgment ?" Ta. " I do not 'know,
but 1 fhall be very much furprifed if it does." " I afliire you
he will, fays Hagi Soliman." Ta. " Be it fo, it is a matter of
indifference to me." So/. " Do you know what God will fay
to you about that fifli ? Shall I tell you? Ta. " I have not the
leaft idea, and you will oblige me." Sol. " God will fay to
you, Did you make that fifli ? What will you anfwer ?
Ta. " I will anfwer, I did." SoL " He will fay to you again.
Make a foul to it." Ta. " I will anfwer, I cannot." So/. " He
will fay. Why did you make that fifli's body, when you was
not capable to give it a foul? What can you anfwer then?"
Ta. " 1 made that body, becaufe thou gaveft me talents and
capacity to do it. I do not make the foul, becaufe thou haft
denied me power and ability, and referved that to thyfelf on-
ly." So/. " Do you think he will be contented with that an-
fwer?" Ta. " I do moft certainly think fo. It is truth, and
I do not think a more dired one can be given." So/. " Aha i
the Moullah would tell you that will not do; painting things
that have life is idolatry^ and the punifliment is hell-fire."
Ta. " Patience, then, my cafe is defperate, for it is not a fin
I intend to repent of." Thus ended this curious difcuflion,
and we went away in perfecft good humour one with the
other. A number of the better fort drank coiFee with me
in the evening. The Aga fent me two flieep, and, obferving
my feet much inflamed and wounded, made me likewife a
prefent of a pair of flippers of foft Turkey leather to defend
ihcmfrom the inclemency of the weather.

It was the nth of December when we left Syene ; we
cannot fay failed, for our maft being down, we went with
the current and the oars, when the wind was againfl:
us. In our voyage down the Nile we had but very

Vol. IV. 4 1 indifl^ercnt

6i8 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

indifferent weather, clear throughout the day, exceed-
ingly cold in the night and morning; but, being bet-
ter cloathed, better fed than in the defert, and under
cover, we were not fo fenfible of it, though the ther-
mometer fhewed the fame degrees. Above all, we had a
good decent provifion of brandy on board, part of which I
had procured from the Aga, part from the Schourbatchie
my landlord, neither of whom knew the other had given
me any, and both of them pretended to each other, and
to the world, that they never tafted fermented liquors of any
kind, nor kept them in their cuftody.

I HAD given to each of my fervants, to Soliman and to^
the Greeks like wife, a common blanket called a barracan,
of the warmeft and coarfeft kind, with a waiflcoat and
trowfers of the fame, and all of us, I believe, had configned
to the Nile the clothes in which we paffed the defert. The
meannefs of our appearance did not at all fhock us, fmce-
nothing contributes more to fafety in a country like this.
I paffed Shekh Nimmer not without regret, but it was night,,
and I was very ill.

On the 19th we arrived at How, where the intermitting-
fever, which I had at Syene, again returned, with unufual
violence, and, what was mofl unlucky, my Hock of bark was
almod cxhaufted, and the Rais had bufmcfs that obliged
him to lie by for a day. As we were within a fmall diftance
of FurOiout, I difpatchcd one of tlic Earbarins, with a
eamel, to the fathers at the monaflcry of Furlhout inform-
ing them of my arrival and very bad flate of health, and
yequelling them to fend me fome wheat bread, as mine was

alii

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 619

all confiimcd, and likewife fome rice, if they had any. Uoon
the Arab's firil delivering his mcffage the fathers treated him
as an irapollor, declaring that they knew from good au-
thority that I was drowned in the Red Sea, which another
of them contradidled, being equally pofuive, from the fame
good.^uthority, that my death had-happened from robbers
in Abyffinia. The Barbarin {a ihrewd fellow) defired the
fathers to obferve, that, if I had been drowned in the Red
Sea, it was not poffible I could be flain by robbers on land
two years afterwards ; therefore, as oi)e report was certainly
falfe, both might be fo, and he allured them this was the
cafe, and that I was at How ; but they laughed him to fcorn,
and threatened to carry him to Shekh Hamam to puniflr him.
The poor fellow anfwered very pertinently. If I had come
in Yagoube's name for gold or fdver, then you might have
diftrufted me ; but fure it is not v/orth my v/hile to hire a
camel to come here from How, and go back again to cheat
you out of two loaves of bread and a pound of rice, Vv^hich I
never tailed myfelf till I was with Yagoube, who made us
partake of every thing that he ate as long as it lafled, and
failed with us when our meat was exhaufced." They con-
tinued to allc him, where he had found me ? The fellow
faid, At Ras el Feel ; and not being able to dcfcribe where
that was, a frefli altercation began, in which it v/as con-
cluded betwixt the two reverend difputants, that I had been
drowned three years before in the Red Sea, and therefore all
the flory of Ras el Feel muft be a lie.

It happened, as indeed was often the cafe in thcfe mat-
ters, that my Greek fervant Michael had been more orovi-
dent than I. He had thought fomethingof this kind might
be poffible, and therefore had defircd the Barbarin, if fo it

4^2 happened,

Czo TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

happened, to call at Shekh Ifmael's at Badjoura,and inquire
of him in my name for a loaf or twoof wheat bread and fome
rice. This the Barbarin did with fome diffidence, after the
refufal received from the fathers, and was very much fur-
prifed at the chearful reception Shekh Ifmael gave him.
The bread and rice were fent ; he too had heard of my
death, but was much eafier convinced tliat I was ftill alive
than the reverend fathers had been, becaufe more defirous
that it fliould be fo.

Next day, the 20th, w€ arrived at Furfhout, though HagI
Ifmael's invitation, and the unkindnefs of the fathers, had
ftrongly tempted me to take up my quarters at Badjoura
to guard him againft thepleurify, and the miftaking again
the month of Ramadan. Some aukward apologies pafTed at
meeting ; and if thefc fathers, the fole objeft of whofc mif-
fion was the converfion of Ethiopia and Nubia, were averfe
before to the undertaking their miffion, they did not feem-
to increafe in keennefs from the circumflances which theyr
learned from me.

On the 27th we failed for Cairo. At a fmall village be-
fore we came to Achmim we were hailed by a perfon, wlio,.
though meanly drelled, fpoke with the tone of authority^
and afked for a pafTage to Cairo, which I would have de-
nied him if I could have had my own will ; but the Rai&
readily promifcd it him upon his fird application. He after-
wards told me he was a Copht and a Chnilian, employed;
to gather the Bey's taxes in fuch villages as were only in-
habited by Chriftians, to which the Bey did not permit his
Turks to go. " I heard, fays he, you was coming down
the Nile^ and I way-laid you for a pallage ; the Rais knows

who-'

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 621

who I am, and that I fliall not be troublefome to you ; but
I have a large fum of money, and do not chufe to have it
known, I hope, however, you willgive me your protecftion fov
the fake of my mailer." — " Indeed, friend, faid I, I have but
feven lliillings in the whole world, and my cloaths, I be-
lieve, are not worth much above that fum, and it is but a
few days ago I was rejoicing at this as one of mygreateft
fecurities. Bur fince Providence has, I hope for yoiir good,
thrown you and your money in my way, I will do the bell
for you that is in my power, the fame as if it was my own."

On the loth of January 1773 we arrived at the convent
of St George, all of us, as I thought, worfe in health and
fpirits than the day we came out of the defert. Nobody
knew us at the convent, either by our face or our language,
and it was by a kind of force that we entered. Ifraael,
and the Copht went ftraight to the Bey, and I, with great -
difficulty, had intercft enough to fend to the patriarch and
my merchants at Cairo, by employing the two only piaftres
1 had in my pocket. If the capuchins at Furfliout received us
coldly, thefe Caloyeros of St George kept us Hill at a greater
diftance. It was half by violence that we got admittance
into the convent. But this difficulty was to be but of fhort
duration ; the morning was to end it, and give us a fight
of our friends, and in the meantime we were to ileep
foundly. We had nothing elfe to do, having no visuals,
and the Caloyeros nothing to give us, even if they had beent
inclined, of which we had not feen yet the fmallell to-
ken.

This we thought, and this, in the common view of things,
we were intitled to think ; but wc forgot that we were at

Cairo-

62t TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

Cairo, no longer to depend upon the ordinary or rational
courfe of events, but upon the arbitrary, oppreflive will of
irrational tyrants. Accordingly I had, for about an hour,
loft myfelf in the very uncommon enjoyment of a moft
profound fleep, when I was awakened by the noife of a
a number of ftrange tongues ; and, before I could recolle(5t
myfelf fufiiciently to account what this flrange tumult
might be, eleven or twelve foldiers, very like the worft of
banditti, furroundcd the carpet whereon I was afleep. I had
prefence of mind fufficient to recollect this was not a place
where people were robbed and murdered without caufe; and,
convinced in my own mind that I had given none, from that
alone I inferred I was not to be robbed or murdered at
that inftant. Without this, the appearance of the ftrangers,
their drefs, language, and behaviour, all joined to perfuade
me of the contrary. I afked them, with fome furprife,
" What is the matter, Sirs ? What is the meaning of this
freedom ?" The anfwer was in Turkifh, " Aya ! Aya ! Get
up ! the Bey calls you." — The Eey, fays I, certainly calls at
a very unfeafonable hour." The anfwer was, " Get up, or
we will carry you by force." — I fancy friends, faid I, you
have miftaken me for fome other perfon, I have not been
here above tv/o hours, and fmce that time have never been
out of the convent. It is impoflible the Bey fliould know that
lamhcre." — " What fjgnilies it to us, fays one in lingua Fran-
ca, whether he knows you are here or not ? he has fent us for
V weare come, Aya! Aya! get up!" He put his hand

to take me by the arm. " Keep your diftancc, you
lack guar (f, faid I, remember I am an Engliihman ;
y your hands upon me. If the Bey calls me, he
in his own country, and I vvill wait upon him ;
ids oil I though I have not fsen Mahomet Bcv thefe

three

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 623

three years, he knows what is owing to his own chara(T:er
better than to fufFer a Have Hke you to lay his lilthy
hands on a ftranger hke me."—" No ! No ! Mallem, fays the .
man that fpoke Italian, we will do you no harm. Ifmael,.
that you brought from Habefli, has been with the Bey, and
he wants to fee you ; and that is all." — Then Hay without,
faid I, till I am ready, and I will come to you prefently."

Out they went: I heard them crying to the Caloyeros for
drink, but they never in their lives were in a place where
they could addrefs themfelves worfe for either meat or li-
quors; on the other hand, I did not keep them long in drefT-
ing. I had no flairt on, nor had I been mailer of one for
fourteen months pafl. I had a waiftcoat of coarfc, brown,
woollen blanket, trowfers of the fame, and an upper blan-
ket of the fame wrapt about me, and in thefe I was lying.
I had cut off my long beard at Furfliout, but ftill wore pro-
digious muflachocs, I had a thin, white, muflin cloth round
a red Turkifli cap, which ferved me for a night-cap, a girdle
of coarfe woollen cloth that wrapt I'ound my waift eight
or ten times, and fwaddled me up from the middle to the
pit of my ftomach, but without cither Ihoes or flockings,.
In the left of my girdle Ihad two Englifli pillbls mounted
with filver, and on the right hand a common crooked Abyf-
fmian knife, with a handle of a rhinoceros horn. ThuS'
e^uipt, I was ufhered by the banditti, in a dark and very
windy night, to the door of the convent.

. The Sarach, or commander of the party, rode upon a mule,
and, as a mark of extreme confideration, he had brought an
afs for me, with fods, or a carfaddlc upon his back, the only
animal that, to the fliame o£ our Chriftian rulers, any of our
^ faith;

624 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

faith is fuffered to ride on in Cairo. The beaft had not a
light load, but was ftrong enough. The diiEcuky was, his
having no faddle, and there were no llirrups, fo that my
feet would have touched the ground had I not held them
up, which I did with the utmoft pain and difficulty, as they
were all inflamed and fore, and full of holes from the inflam-
mation in the defert. Nobody can ever know, from a more
particular defcription, the hundredth part of the pain I fuf-
fered that night. I was happy that it was all external. I
had hardened my heart ; it was fl;rong, vigorous, and whole,
from the near profpe6t I had of leaving this moft accurfed
.country, and being again refl:ored to the converfation of
men.

The mule on which the Sarach rode went at a very brilk
pace ; my animal did her befl;, but fhe could not keep up
with the mule. Each man of the foldiers, beiides the reft
of his arms, had a quarter-ftafF like a watchman's pole, a-
bout nine feet long, with which every one in his turn laid
heartily on the afs to make her keep up with the Sarach's
mule. I had every reafon to fympathize with the bcafl: for
the feverity of the blows, of which I was a perfc(5t judge,
as whether through malice or heedleflliefs, every fourtli
ftroke landed upon my back or haunches, fo that my flelh
was diicoloured for more than two months afterwards.
Speaking was in vain ; you might as well have cried to the
wind not to blow. Few people walk in the flreets of Cairo
at night ; fome we did meet who made us way, only obfer-
ving to each other, when we pafled, that I was fome thief
j:he Janizary Aga had apprehended. In this moft difagree-
^ble nianner, I had rode near three miles, when I arrived at

J - the

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 625

the Bey's palace. There all was light and all was buftle, as
if it had been noon-day. I alighted with great difficulty
from my difconfolate afs, but with much greater pleafure
than ever I mounted the finellhorfe in the world. None of
the people there knew what I came for, but thought I was
fome Arab from the country. At laft I faw a Copht who
had been a fervant of Ali Bey. I told him who I was, and
he immediately knew me, but had not heard that I was ar-
rived, and ftill lefs that I was fent for ; but he went in to
the Bey's fecretary, who ordered my immediate admiffion.

In the mean time, my Sarach and company, who hadufed
me fo tenderly, came round me, de firing the Bacfifh, or
money to drink. " Look you, friend, faid I, your mafter
knows me well, and you fliall fee what is the Bacfifh he will
give you." A number of Turks Handing by alked, " What
did he do to you ? Did he ufe you ill? Tell the Bey, and he
will do for him." My friend ieemed to be fenfible he was in a
fcrapc, and, though the order of the Bey came for my
being admitted, he would not allow me to pafs, but put
his back againft the door till I promifed to fay nothing to
the Bey.

I WAS introduced to Mahomet Bey Abou Dahab. He was
fon-in-law to Ali Bey my friend, whom he had betrayed,
and forced to fly into Syria, where he ftill was at the head
of a fmall army. He had been prefent with him the day
1 had my laft audience, when he was plainly dreffed as a
foldier. A large fofa, or rather two large fofas furniftied with
cuiliions, took up a great part of a fpacious faloon. They
were of the richeft crimfon and gold, excepting a fmall yel-
low and gold one like a pillow, upon which he was leaning,

Vol, IV, 4K fupporting

626 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

fupporting his head with his left hand, and fitting juft in the
corner of the two fofas. Though it was late, he was in full'
drefs, his girdle, turban, and handle of his dagger, all Ihi-
ning with the finefl brilliants, and a finer fprig of diamonds
upon his turban than what I had fecn his father-in-law.
wear once when I was with him..

The room was light as day, with a number of wax-torches r
or candles. I found myfelf humbled at the fight of fo much
greatnefs and affluence. My bare feet were lb dirty, I had
a fcruple to fet them upon the rich Perfian carpets with
which the whole floor was covered, and the pain that walk-
ing at all occafioned gave me altogether fo crouching and
cringing a look, that the Bey, upon feeing me come in, cried
out, "What's that? Who is that? From whence is become ?
His fecretary told him, and immediately upon that I faid to
him in Arabic, with a low bow, "Mahomet Bey, I am Yagoube,
an Englifliman, better known to your father-in-law than to
you, very unfit to appear before you in the condition I am, ha-
ving beeji forced ou,t of my bed by yourfoldiers in the middle
of the only found fleep I have had for many years." He feem-
ed to be exceedingly fhocked at this, and faid to his attend-
ants in Turkilli, " My people ! who dares do this ? it is
impoflible." Thofe. that.were,priyy to the mefi^age remind-
ed him of his fending for me, and the caufe, which he had
forgot. They told him what Ifmael had faid, and what the
Copht, the tax-gatherer, had mentioned, all very much in my
favour. He turned himfelf v/ith great violence on the fofa,
and faid, " I remember the man well, but it was not a man
like this, this is bad payment indeed. I was going to aflc you,
Yagoube, fays he, who thofe were that had brought you out
%.fuch.di(lrefs. and I find that I have done it myfelf; but

take.^

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 627

take my word, as I am a mufTulman, I did not intend it, f
did not know you was ill."

My feet at that time gave me fuch violent pain that I
was like to faint, and could not anfwer, but as there were
two flowered velvet cufhions upon one of the fteps above
the floor, I was obliged to kneel down upon one of them, as I
did not know how fitting might be taken. The Bey im-
mediately faw this, and cried out, " What now ? what is the
matter ?" I faw he thought I had fome complaint to make,
or fomething to afk. I fhewed him my feet in a terrible
fituation, the effecfts, I told him, of my paffing through the
defert. He defired me immediately to fit down on the
cufliion. " It is the coldncfs of the night, and hanging
upon the afs, faid I, occafions this ; the pain will be over
prefently." "Yon are an unfortunate man, fays the Bey,
whatever I mean to do for your good, turns to your mif-
fortune." •'" I hope not, Sir, faid I ; the pain is now over, and
I am able to hear what may be your commands." "I have
many queftions to afk you, fays the Bey. You have been
very kind to poor old Ifmael, who is a fherriffe, and to
my Chriftian fervant likewife ; and I wanted to fee
what I could do for you ; but this is not the time, go home
and fleep, and I will fend for you. Eat and drink, and
fear nothing. My father-in-law is gone, but, by the grace
of God, I am here in his place ; that is enough." I bowed,
and took my leave.

The Bey had fpoken feveral times to his fervant in Turk-
ilh ; but thefe interruptions are too common at fuch au-
diences to be taken notice of. I went out to the anticham-
ber attended by five or fix people, and then into another

4 K 2 room

028 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

room, the door of which opened to the lobby where his fol-
diers or fervants were. There was a flave very richly dref-
fed, who had a fmall bafket with oranges in his hand, who
came out at another door, as if from the Bey, and faid to
me, " Here, Yagoube, here is fonne fruit for you."

In that country it is not the value of the prefent, but the
charadter and power of the perfon that fends it, that creates
the value ; 20,000 men that flept in Cairo that night would
have thought the day the Bey gave them at an audience
the worft orange in that bafket the happieft one in their life.
It is a mark of friendfliip and protecflion, and the bell of all
afTurances. Well accuftomed to ceremonies of this kind,.
I took a lingle orange, bowing low to the man that gave it
me, who whifpered me, " Put your hand to the bottom,
the bed fruit is there, the whole is for you, it is fi"om the
Bey." A purfe was exceedingly vifible. It was a large
crimfon one wrought with gold, not netted or tranfpaient
as ours are, but liker a flocking. I lifted it out ; there were
a confiderable number of fequins in it ; I put it to my mouth
and kifTed it, in refpe(5l from whence it came, and faid to
the young man that held the baflcet, " This is, indeed, the
beft fruit, at leaft commonly thought fo, but it is forbid-
den fruit for me. The Bey's prote(5tion and favour is more
agreeable to me than a thoufand fuch purfes would be."

The fervant fhewed a prodigious furprife. In fliort, no-
thing can be more incredible to a Turk, whatever his qua-
lity may be, than to think that any man can refufe moriey
offered him. Although I exprefled myfelf with the utmoil
gratitude and humility, finding it impofTible to prevail up-
'on me, the thing appeared fo extraordinary, that a beggar

■ a i^-

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 629

in a barracan, drcfled like thofe flaves who carry water, and
wafh the flairs, fhould refufe a purfe of gold, he could no
longer confent to my going away, but carried me back to
where the Bey was Hill fitting. He was looking at a large
piece of yellow fat tin. He afked the ufual queftion, " How,
now? What is the' matter? To which his flave gave him a
long anfwer in Turkifh. He laid down the fattin, turned
to me, and faid, " Why, what is this ? You mull furely want
money; that is not your ufual drefs ? What! does this pro-
ceed from your pride ?"

" Sir, anfwercd I, may I beg leave to fay two words to
you ? There is not a man to whom you ever gave money
more grateful, or more fenfible of your generofity in oiTer-
ing it me, than I am at this prefent. The reafon of my
waiting upon you in this drefs was, becaufe it is only a
few hours ago fince I left the boat. I am not however a nee-
dy man, or one that is diftrefled for money ; that being the
cafe, and as you have already my prayers for your chari-
ty, I would not deprive you of thofe of the widow and
the orphan, whom that money may very materially relieve.
Julian and Rofa, the firft houfe in Cairo, will furnifh me
with what money I require; befides, I am in the fervice
of the greateft king in Europe, who would not fail to fup-
ply me abundantly if my neceffities required it, as I am
travelling for his fervice." — " This being fo, fays the Bey,
with great looks of complacency, what is in my power to
do for you ? You are a llrangcr now where I command ;
you are my father's llranger likewife, and that is a double
obligation upon me : What fliall i do ?" — " There are, faid
I, things that you could do, and you only, if it were not too

great.

6,2o TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

great prefumption for me to name them." — " By no means,
if I can I will do it ; if not, I will tell you fo."

I SAW by the Bey's manner of fpeaking that I had rifen
confiderably in chara6ter in his opinion fuice my refufal of
the money. " I have,- Sir, faid I, a number of countrymen,
brave, rich, and honefl, that trade in India, where my king
has great dominions." He faid, as half to himfelf, " True,
we know that." " Now there are many of thefe that come
to Jidda. I left there eleven large flaips belonging to them,
who, according to treaty, pay high duties to the cuftom-
houfe, and, from the didates of their own generofity
and magnificence, giveJarge prefents to the prince and
to his fervants for protedlion; but the fherrifFe of Mecca has
of late laid duty upon duty, and extortion upon extortion,
till the Englifh are at the point of giving up the trade altoge-
ther." " Ibn Cahaba, fays he, (which is, fon of a wh — re,) he
paid for that v/hen I was at Mecca." The Bey took Mecca,"
fays a man at my flioulder, " Why, fays the Bey, when
they fay you are fuch a brave nation, why don't you beat
down Jidda about his ears ? Have you no guns in your
Ihips ?" " Our fliips, Sir, faid I, are all armed for war; flout
vefTels, full of brave officers and fl-cilful feamen : Jidda, and
much flronger places than Jidda, could not refifl one of
them an hour. But Jidda is no part of our dominions ; and,
in countries belonging to flranger princes we cany our-
felves lowly, and trade in peace, and never ufe force till o-
bliged to it in our own defence." " And what would you
have me to do ?" fays he. " Our people, replied I, have ta-
ken a thing into their head which I am fatisfied they
are well founded in : They fay, that if you would permit
them to bring their fhips and merchandize to Suez,
4 and

T H E S O U R C E O F T H E N IL E. 6^i

and ilot to Jidda, they might then depend upon your
word, that, if they were pundual in fulfiUing their en-
gagements, they Ihould never find you faiUng in yours."
" That they fliall never have to fay of me, fays the Bey; all
this is to my advantage. But you do not tell me what I
am to do for you?" " Be fleady, Sir, f^id I, in your promife;
it is now late, but I will come again to fettle the duties with
you ; and be afTured, that when it is known at home what,
at my private defire, you hare done formy country in gene-
ral, it will be the greatefl honour that ever a prince confer-
red on me in my life." " Why, let it be fo, fays he, bring
coffee; fee you admit him whenever he calls ; bring a caf-
tan*." Coffee was accordingly brought, and I was cloath-
ed in my caftan. I went down flairs with my barracan
hid under it, and was received with greater refpeft by the
bye-ilanders than when I came up ; the man was the fame,
but it was the caftan that made the difference. My friend
the Sarach and his banditti were ready at the door with
a mule, which had gilt ftirrups, an-d was finely capari-
foned, .

I WENT back with fullas much fpeed as I came, but free
from thofe falutations of the quarter-ftaff, which I flill felt
upon my haunches. The fcale of politenefs was now turn-
ed in my favour ; and to fliew their refpecfl for me, the fol-
diers knocked down every perfon they overtook in the
flireets, giving him firft a blow with the quarter-ftaff upon
the head, then afking him, why he did not get out of the
way ? All my people at St George had given me over for

*■ It is a loofe garment like a night-gown ; it is a gift of ceremony, and mark.sf favout,.

6j2 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

loft, or thought I had gone home to the French merchants,
and taken my bed there.

I WAS twice after this with Mahomet Bey, in which time
I concluded the agreement in favour of the Englifh mer-
chants. Inftead of ^4 per cent, and an enormous prefent,
the Bey agreed for 8, and no prefent at all, and at his own
expence fcnt the firman to Mocha, together with my letter,
a copy of which, and inftrutStions given in India in confe-
quence, I have here fubjoined.

Mr GREiG,.capt, Thornhill's lieutenant, whom I have
mentioned as having feen at Jidda, was the lirft who came
down the Gulf to Suez in the Minerva, and in the whole
voyage, both by fea and after at Cairo, behaved in a manner
that did honour to his country.

In the two fubfequent vifits which I paid to Mahomet
Bey, i received the firman, and had a converfation before
the Bey with the man that was to go exprefs to Mocha ; not
that I thought my recommendation was of any confequence
after his receiving orders from the Bey, but I knew very
well, as dihgence was recommended to him, that it might
be fecured by a fmall gratuity given unknown to the Bey.
Two other fimilarprefents, of no great value, were /I ike wife
given to the two fervants who had afllfled me in procu-
ring the firman, the original of which I left with the Vene-
tian conful. I thought it was unbecoming of me to ftarve a
caufe that promifed to be both a private emolument and
public benefit ; and, as i never expeded, fo I never received
the fmalleil return or acknowledgement either public or

private.

It

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 6:^^

It may be faid, that the trade carried on there by Suez
ftnd the Ifthtnus would not be of any advantage to the India
Company, but rather a detriment to it. Such was the an-
fwerlgot from Lord North upon my firft interview with
his Lordfliip after my return, and upon which I fhall not
pretend to decide. But this I fhall fubmit to the public,
whether, when a great object, fuch as that was, is unex-
peftedly in the power of an individual, he is not obli-
ged, as a good citizen, to avail himfelf of the occafion.
that offers, and leave it to that part of the public concerned,
to determine whether they can make it of fervice to them,
or not.

I HAVE read, either in Abbe Prevot or M. de Maillet, (the
reader will affift me, as neither of thefe books are in my
hands at prefent) that the French, in the beginning of this
century, offered a Very large fum of money to the govern-
ment of Cairo, to be allowed to fend only an advice-boat to
Suez, to carry and bring back their difpatches from their
fettlements in India, but they were conftantly refufed ; both
the India Company and Britifli Government are, by my
means, now in poffcffion of that privilege, and I am in-
formed it has already been of ufe, both in public and pri-
vate difpatches.

I MUST further be permitted to fay, that, independent of
tliefe particulars, it feemed very ftrange that, confidering
the immenfe empire which belonged to Britain in the Eaft
Indies, the Company and their fervants fhould be, to a man,
fo perfectly ignorant of the Red Sea and ports in it, and fo in-
different as to the means of being better informed ; a fea

Vol, IV. 4 L which

634 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

which wafhed the fliores of their conquefts, and came, at
the fame time, within twodays journey of the Mediterranean.
To my endeavom's it is owing that fo many mgenious gen-
tlemen have had an opportunity of lending their hands to
perfed the chart of that fea, which I hope is now in great
forwardnefs. It would perhaps, too, have been more ge-
nerous and liberal-minded in them, had they honoured the
author of the liberty and fafety they enjoyed, with at lead
a word of their approbation. Prifons and chains, ranfoms,
torments, and perhaps death itfelf, were the calamities they
efcaped by my preparing, their way, and to this would have
been added the mifcarriage of their defiga and their under-
taking likewife*..

* Not one fliip has ever yet entered the Red Sea, as I am informed, without a copy of raj^,-
letter and fitman.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 635

Copy of Mr Bruce's Letter to the Gentlemen trading to the
Red Sea from the Britifli Settlements Bombay and Ben-
gal.

Cairo, \ft February^ ^111'

GiNTLEMEN,

AT the defire of feveral of the gentlemen trading to
Jidda in the year 1 769, 1 have fpoken to the Bey of Cai-
ro (Mahomet Bey,) that he would give permiffion for bring-
ing the India fliips direaiy to Suez, without flopping at Jid-
da,where they were conflantly ill-treated by thefherrifre,and
neither payments puna:ual nor their effears in ilifety. Ma-
homet Bey exprelTed all the defire poffible to have this
fpeedily executed. He difpatched this exprefs, in which I
iaclofe you the terms of agreement, with a tranilationfrom
the Arabic original. You will fee he renounces all prefents,
which, however, it will be always prudent to give. Mo-
derate ones will ferve, provided he behaves faithfully and
generoully, as 1 believe firmly lie will. He feeks 8 per cent,
cufloms, and leaves it in your option to pay this in goods
or money, and 50 patackas ancliorage for each vefi:el ; this
is for the captain of the port of Suez.

" Arrived at Suez, you will do well to give notice to
any of the houfes you chufe to addrefs yourfelves to. There
are three French houfes of note here ; MeiL Napollon
and Co. Meii: Rofa and Co. and Meli: I'Angladc and Co. ;
and thefe three are rich houfes, in great credit, and with
whom you are very fafe. There is alfo an Italian houfe of

4^2 credit

636 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

credit equal to thefe, but not fo rich ; it is Pini and Co.
It will always be your intereft, if more than one lliip comes,
to addrefs yourfelves to feparate houfes, for by this means
you will be fooner difpatched, have more friends, lefs rifk,.
and more intelligence.

" As I have no view in this but your advantage, fo I wiU
not take upon myfclf toanfwer for any confequences. You^
know what Turks are. I never faw one of them to be
trufted in money affairs. You mufl keep your eyes open,
and deal for ready money. You will, however, be much fa-
fer, be better ufed, have better markets, and be fooner dif-
patched ; and if any of your cargo remains unfold, you may
leave it here in great fecurity, with a certainty'of its felling
in winter; and the money will be either remitted to-
England, or ready for you here at your return, as you di^
re6t.

" Cairo is in lat. 30* 2' 45"; two days and a half eafy-
journey from it is Suez, in lat. 29° 57' 15". Ras Mahomet,
the Cape that forms the eaftern fliore of the entrance into
the Gulf of Suez, is in lat. 27° 54' 10". You fhould make
this Cape while it bears N. E. or N. E. by E. at farthell,
for farther call: is the entrance of a gulf which has often
been miflakcn for that of Suez. Laflly, Tor, the firll inha-
bited place after paffing the Cape, is in lat. 28' 12' 4" ; here
you may have provifions, water, and a pilot.

" There are no Englifh merchants at Cairo ; but there

comes, from time to time, a wandering fort of (harpers

under that name, cither from Mahon, the Greek iflands, or

3 Leghorn ;

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. ^37-

«

Leghorn ; and after an eftablifliment of one year, break and
difappcar. Be careful of having any thing to do with thefe,
for they will either rob you themfelves, or betray you to the
government, or both. There is no fafety but with the
three French and one Italian houfe, before mentioned. If
you addrefs youi^felf to the government, in your affairs of
iariffs and firmans, you may do it through means of the
Venetian conful, immediately upon your arrival, putting
yourfelves under his protedlion. He is a man of honour and
credit, and is a colonel in the fervice of his ftate. Let him
fend you the tariff of the Bey before you come to Cairo,
or land an ounce of cargo, and you will Aitisfy him for
his trouble. He does not trade, but is very well-affedled
to our nation, and there is no conful here but the French
and Venetian.

" In a word. Gentlemen, I have feen yourtrade to Jidda,
and it is a ruinous one, and the flierriffe, now poor and
hungry, will every day rob you more ^nd more. After
the fealing up the houfe, and exacting part of the effects of
the captains who died at Jidda, there is no fafety for you but.
either at Mocha or Suez,.

I am always,

Gentlemen,

Your mofl obedient and mofl humble ferv*.

JAMES BRUCE."
** To Captain Thornliill of the Ben-
gal Merch', Captain Thomas
Price of the Lion, or any other of
the Englilh veffds trading to Jid-
da."

r.s.

638 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

P. S. " I fend you a copy of the firman ; alfo letters for the
governors of Bombay and Bengal, inclofing the fame ;
you will fee the tranilator be a perfon of truft, and have
no intereft in deceiving you. If I did not think you very
fafe at Suez I would not write you. You are to bring no
coffee, or any produce of Arabia, at leafl the firll voyage,
till you make your terms here. I inclofe you a letter from
the chief of the cuilomhoufq.

J.B.^

Copy of Inflru(5lions from the Managers of the Suez Adven-
venture, to Mr John Sha'w, and Captain William Greig^

" Gentlemen,

THE proprietors of the Suez Adventure having made
choice of you to condu(5l the undertaking, it is our
duty as managers to give you the neceffary inftrudtions.
Inclofed you will receive invoice and bills of loading of
the cargo, and likewife of the freight loading on the Bengal
Merchant, on account and rilk of the concerned, which you
are to difpofe of in the gulf of Mocha, Jidda, or Suez, on
the mofl advantageous terms, obferving at the fame time,
as nearly as poiTible, the following inftruftions :

" As many unforefeen accidents may happen that we
cannot guard againfl, and as the proprietors have placed in
us an implicit confidence, we now delegate to you, Gentle-
men, full power and authority to condiKfl and manage
this new undertaking, for which your credit, as well
I as

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 659

as ours, is engaged ; and though we hope it is unnecefTary
to recommend to you as an ohjeil of the greatcft importance,
and on which the fuccefs of all uadertaldngs depends, a
good underllandmg and "harnony between thofe who are
to execute, we are fatisfied that your attention to the in-
tereft of the proprietors, and your own reputation, will out-
weigh every other confideration, and that nothing will in^
terrupt that union which is fo abfolutely necelFary to infure.
fuccefs in new undertakings like the prefent.

" You are to draw a commillion of 5 per cent, on the fales..
Mr Shaw, as chief fupcrcargo, will draw 3, and Capt. Greig
2 per cent, and on all freight in the fame proportion as the
cargo. PaiTengers, or other emoluments that are cuftomary,
are to be equally divided between you, and no feparate inter-
eft to be allowed. As it is ufual in all voyages from tliis
port, where there is a fupercargOj to allow one-fixth of the
cargo as privilege, in lieu of which 12,000 rupees will be
divided between you and the ofiiccrs on return of thevef-
fel..

"Mr Shaw, as chief fupercargo, is to have the fole manage-
ment and difpofal of the cargo, and Captain Greig to have
the entire management of the navigation of the vefTels em-
ployed. At the fame time, we recommend and defire, that,
in all points which require advice in either of the depart-
ments, you confult with each other, and that no material
ftep be taken without fuch advice and confultation ; and,,
fliould there be a difference in opinion, we expe6l a minute
be made, and the reafon for fuch difference fully fet forth^
in order to be laid before the proprietors at your return. Ta
prevent any mifunderftanding of the general inftrudions,.

we

640 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

we fliall feparate, in the latter part, the two branches of the
naval and mercantile, and hz more clear and explicit in each
particular department.

"The vefTels to be employed in the voyage are the Ben-
gal Merchant, on board of which the cargo is {hipped. The
Cuddalore fchooner, Captain Wedderburn, is granted by the
governor* to the proprietors as a tender, to allill in the dif-
covery of the pafTige to Suez, and the proprietors are to pay-
half the failing charges. On her Mr Cunningham, a fur-
veyor, is appointed, and both he and the vefTel are entirely
under your diredlion, and they are to receive, from time to
time, fuch inftrudlions as you may judge neceffary. The
Suez pacquet is a fmall fchooner equipped for the purpofe
of attending the Bengal Merchant in the moft difficult parts
of the navigation ; and as fhe cannot be further ufeful af-
ter your return from Suez to Mocha, we defire fhe may be
fold there, where frequently fmall velTels fell to advantage*

" On your leaving the pilot you will make the beft of
your way, with the other two vellels under your charge, to
the Malabar coaft, and touch at Anjingo and Cochin, ta-
king in there coir, hav/fers, aiid water, or any thing you
may ftand in need of, and without lofs of time proceed di-
recTt to Mocha. On your arrival there you mufl make in-
quiry if any pilots are come down from Suez; ftiould none
be arrived, lofe as little time as poilible, and proceed up a-
bove Jidda to Yambo, provided you hear no unfavourable
accounts from Suez, I'uch as war, or any commotions at

Cairo.

Warren Haflings, Efq.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 641

Cairo, which you might think may endanger the fuccefs
of the voyage.

" If fuch accounts are rumoured at Mocha, trace them fo
as to be fully fatisfied there is foundation for them, and
if you have good authority to credit the reports propagated,
and are certain they are not fpread with a view co difcourage
your proceeding, in that cafe we advife your proceeding to
Jidda as moft for the intereft of the concerned. At Jidda
you will deliver the cuftomary letters to the bafha and
flierrifFe, and, without taking notice of any further projedt,
difpofe of your cargo, as the articles are all of the proper
aflbrtment for that market, and we defire, in that cafe, you
collecft your returns as expeditioufly as poffible ; and if you
find any confiderable freight for Bombay, and rhe feafon
will admit your going there from Mocha, fo as to arrive in
Bengal by the middle of 0(5tober, in that cafe you will
purchafe a cargo of cotton, and proceed here direcftly.
Whatever lilver you may have after the purchafe of the
cotton, you will pay into the Company's treafury for bills
on this prefidency. If you cannot procure a good freight
at Jidda for Bombay, we delire you will proceed ifrom Mo*-
cha to the coaft of Coromandel, and touch at Negapatnam-,
where letters will be lodged for you.

" On your arrival at Mocha, fhould you hear no unfa-
vourable accounts of war, or any diflurbances at Cairo, you
will proceed to Yambo, where you will again inquire if
there are any pilots acquainted with the paflage to Suez.
If you meet with any who, upon examination, appear ca-
pable of condudting the veflel, we recommend your taking

Vol. IV. 4 M them

642 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

them on board, but flill be very cautious how you truft
them ; order them to condu(5t you up the common tracft, and
keep the two velFels with you till you are fatisfiedof their abi-
lities, then we advife your difpatching the Cuddalore the out-
ward paiTage, in order to furvey it up to Suez, and give them
orders to join you there. But fliould you be to unlucky as not
to meet with pilots, there v/ill be no alternative but to pro-
ceed with the greateft care and caution the outward pafTage,
with your two tenders a-head both day and night, till you
reach Tor, where you will meet with pilots and water; and as
we have reafon to believe the danger of the paflage is then
over, if you find it to be the cafe, you will difpatch back
the Cuddalore to make a correifl furvey as far down as Jid-
da, in the lat. of 21° 30/ As it cannot be fuppoled you will
be able to make an exaft furvey in going up in mid-channel,
you will initrudt Captain Wedderburn to follow the fur-
veyor's order, but at the fame time to make all nccelTary re-
marks himfelf, as alfo his ofiicers, and to finifli the furvey
as expeditioully as poffible, and to return to the fliip at Suez;
but fliould more time be taken up, and he finds it imprac-
ticable, he mull endeavour to go to Yambo, and there wait
for the difpatches, if he can do it with fafety ; if not, to return
to Moeha, and remain there to fupply himfelf with fuch
necelfaries as he may (land in need of, to be ready to make
the bell of his way to Bengal, as foon as he receives your
difpatches, and the monfoon will allow him to proceed.

" On your arrival at Suez you will inquire of the nra-
fter of the port, or governor, whether or not he has any
letters, &c. from his mailer the Bey, refpecling you ?■ Should
he have none, you will defire him to forward the fhort
letter from the governor, informing him of the arrival of
1 t^e

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 643

the fhip at his port. You muft not land a piece of goods,
or enter into any agreement or contrail, &c. till you hear
from the Bey, and, from the anfwer you receive, confult
how to a6t ; but let it be witli great caution, till you are
perfecftly fatisfied of the friendly difpofition of the Bey to-
wards you, as we have reafon to expe6l the Bey's anfwer
will be polite and favourable, and an invitation to vifit Cai-
ro. Mr Shaw will then proceed with the purfer, and any
other of the officers you may think proper, with a few laf-
cars and fervants, properly equipped, to make the embalTy
brilliant and refpecftable. The letters, prefents, and mufters
of the cargo fhov'u go at the fame time ; and we recom-
mend that, on Mr Shaw's arrival at Cairo, after he retires
from the Bey, he makes a vifit to the Venetian Conful, whom
Mr Bruce has mentioned very particularly in his letter. If
he finds him the fame perfon he has defcribed, he will re-
ceive from him fuch necelTary information as may be ufe-
ful in his future tranfacftions, and will put himfelf under
his protedlion in preference to the French houfes ; but he
will ad with extreme caution, till he difcovers fuch connec-
tion is not difagreeable to the Bey, with whom he muft ap-
pear to be, on all occafions, perfedly fatisfied. We furnifli
you with a copy of Mr Bruce's letter, to whom we confider
ourfelves much obliged for the information he has given
us. His letters you will find of great fervice in condutSling
your bufinefs there, and to which viC advife your paying
ftri(5l attention.

" We defire that Captain Greig may remain on board the
fliip till all the cargo is difpatched and landed, in order to
give every necefifary advice in tranfporting the fame, and
when that is finifhed, Captain Greig is to proceed to Cairo,

4 M 2 and

644 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

and afford Mr Shaw any affiftance he may require; and wa-:
deiire, and parcicularly recommend, that; as foon as the
cargo is fold, and Mr Shaw has made the neceffaiy obferva-
tions and remarks on the reception he has met with, the
goods that have fold to moft advantage, and of the forts that
will beft anfwer in future, and other occurrences, that you
difpatch fuch accounts, by the firll conveyance you may
have to Jidda, to Captain Anderfon of the Succefs galley, and
duplicate, by the Suez pacquet to Mocha, to Captain Wed-
derburn of the Cuddalore fchooner, with orders for him
to proceed to Bengal without delay ; and we defire that thefe
difpatches may be directed in a large pacquet to the go-
vernor for his perufal, with draughts and remarks on the •
paffage,

"As we think it of great confequence that you ufe alf
poffible difpatch in linifliing your bufinefs at Grand Cairo,
fo as to leave Suez as early as the feafon will permit, if the
Cuddalore* has been able to join you after the furvey, you
will then proceed down the channel fhe has difcovered; but
if, on the contrary, fhe has not jained you, and that the
Suez pacquet is likewife gone with the difpatches, you muft-
then procure good pilots, and, if poffible, a fmall veffel for-
fear of. accidents, and go down the ufual tr-a(?t of the Suez
veffels ; making particular remarks on thatpaffage, proceed .
on to Mocha, and you will attend to th^e former part of your-
iollrudions refpetfting the deftination of the veffel.

" Having-

• The Cuddalore was loft in a ftorm in the bay of Bengal, and Captain Weddeiburn ^,
drowned before the commencement of the voyage. A fmall veffel, called a G.allevat, viaSj.
J!i>fcfli»u;edjConycai)dccrby Captain MofTatj who made the voyage.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. C45

" Having now finifhed our general inftrudlions, we
think it neceffary to be more particular in each branch of
^0ur departments.

{CUDBERT ThORNHILL.
Robert Holford.
David Killican."

To Captain Greic

'*SIR,

WE rely on your knowledge, experience, and good con-
duct for the navigating part of the voyage, which is
entirely intrulled to you"; and though we have defired that
you advife with Mr Shaw on all difficult points, yet we give
you a latitude to follow your own opinion, though contrary
to Mr Shaw's, but we expedl you both enter a minute, and
fet forth your reafons for being of different opinions*
Should it be a point of confequence, we advife that you
confult with all the officers, and.their opinions are to be re-
corded.

" We deiire that a fair log-book be kept, figned by the of-
ficer who leaves the deck at noon, in which book every re-
mark and. tranfadlion during the voyage is to be inferted,
and no erafures muft be made, or leaves torn out. Inclofed
is a letter from us to Captain Wedderburn of the Cuddalore,
dire(5ling him to follow fuch orders as he may from time to
tim^ receive from, you,«

«t,

At.

646 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

** At Ingerlee you will give him written orders to keep
you company, with fuch proper fignals for day and night
as may be neceflary ; and fliould he, by flrefs of weather or
any other accident, part company, you will inform him of
your firft place of rendezvous, Anjango and Cochin ; fhould
he arrive firft, he muft remain till you come : Should you
arrive and finifh your bufmefs before the arrival of the Cud-
dalore, you will wait two or three days, and then proceed to
Mocha, leaving orders for his joining you there. If by any
accident he fhould not join you there, and you have got
pilots for Suez, you mufl not lofe time, but proceed without
him, leaving him inftru(5lions to proceed on the furvey : but
fliould it fo happen that you meet with no pilots at Mocha,
and the Cuddalore fhould not arrive, we flill recommend
your waiting at Mocha as long as you think it prudent ; and
if you have the Suez pa,cquet with you, you will proceed to
Suez if pofTible, and endeavour to make the illand to the
S. W. of Cape Ras Mahomet, that you may not make any
miftake and get into the falle gulf : but fhould you find it
impra(5ticable after making every prudent attempt, you will
then have a confultation with Mr Shaw and your officers,
and bear away for Jidda, following the diredlions in your
general inftruftions.

" The concerned has been at an immenfe expence to
equip the vefTels with additional ftores, which in any other
vovage than the prefent would be fuperfluous, we therefore
defu-e (fhould your voyage terminate at Jidda) that you en-
deavour to difpofe of fuch articles of ftores as you are not
in want of ; but fliould you arrive at Suez, let them remain
till )our return to Mocha, and there, if you have an oppor-
tunity

THESOURCEOF THE NILE. 647

tunity to difpofe of them for the advantage of the concern-
ed, we defire it may be done.

" Should any of the officers be good draughts-men, we de-
fire you will encourage them to make draughts of every
thing remarkable in the Red Sea, and we will make them an
acknowledgement for their trouble ; but we recommend
that every remark, draught, or drawing of the paffage, may
be colledled together for the governor's * perufal ; and we
hope you will take proper care that, on your return, no-
thing tranfpire till the governor's fentiments are knowii.
Should Mr Shaw be obliged to flay with the goods at Cairo,
you are to let him keep an officer, and any number of
lafcars he may require, and that you can fpare them.

CUDBERT ThORNHILL.

(Signed) ^ Robert Holford.

David Killican.

>>

• Mr Haftings, here alluded to, with tliefe memorandums and informations, difpatched the
Swallow ^jacket to the Red Sea.

Mahomet

(548 YRAVELS XO discover

Mahomet Bey being about to depart to give battle to his
father-in-law, I thought it was no longer convenient forme
to llay at Cairo ; I went therefore the laft time to the Bey,
who prefTed me very much to go to the camp with him. I
was fufficiently cured, however, of any more Don Quixottc
undertakings. I excufed myfelf with every mark of grati-
tude and profeflion of attachment ; and I fliall never forget
his laft words, as the handfomeft thing ever faid to me, and
in the politeft manner. " You won't go, fays he, and be a
foldier ; What will you do at home ? You are not an India
merchant ?" I faid, " No." " Have you no other trade nor
occupation but that. of travelling?" I faid, "that was my
occupation." " Ali Bey, my father-in-law, replied he, often
obferved there was never fuch a people as the Englifli ; no
other nation on earth could be compared to them, and none
had fo many great men in all profeflions by fea and land:
I never underllood this till now, that I fee it muft be fo,
when your king cannot find other employment for fuch a
man as you, but fending him to perifh by hunger and thirft
in the fands, or to have his throat cut by the lawlefs barba-
oans of the defert."

I SAW that the march of the Bey was a fignal for all E-
gypt's being prefently in diforder, and I did not delay a mo-
ment to fet out for Alexandria, where I arrived without any
thing remarkable. There I found my fliip ready ; and
the day after, walking on the key, I was accofted by a
friend of mine, a Turk, a man of fome confequence. He
told me it was whifpered that the Beys had met, and that
Ali Bey had been totally defeated, wounded, and taken,
" We are friends, fays he ; you are a Chriilian ; and this
connection of the Bey with tlie Ruffians has exafperated the
' 4 lower

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 649

lower fort of people greatly againft you all. What is a day
or two to you, now you are going at any rate ? Be advifed ;
go on board your fhip earlv in the afternoon, and make
your captain haul out beyond the Diamond *, for mifchief
is at hand." My captain was as ready as I ; and we accord-
ingly hauled out beyond the Diamond. The weather was
fo clear, and the wind fo directly fair, that, contrary to cu-
llom, we fet fail that very night, after being witnefles that
the mifchief had begun, by the number of lights and re-
peated firings of mufkets we heard from the town.

Our vefTel fprimg a leak ofTDerha on the coaft, where I
was once before (liipwrecked. The wind being contrary,
we put about fliip, and flood before it for Cyprus, our velfel
filled apace, and we were intending to put a cable round her
waifl when the leak was found. A violent florm overtook
us the night after. I apprehend our fliip was old, and the-
captain was again much alarmed, but the wind calmed next
day. I was exceedingly diftreffed v/ith the Guinea-worm
in my leg, when the captain came and fat down by my bed-
fide. " Now the matter is over, fays he, will you tell me
one thing? it is mere curiofity ; I will not let any one
know." " Before I tell you, faid I, I dare fay you will not ;
what is it ?" " How many of thofe tilings, you know, fays
he, winking, have you on board ?" " Upon the word of a
man, faid I, I do not know what you mean." " Ces morts!
thefe dead men ! how many have you in thefe trunks ? for
lail night the crew was going to throw all your boxes over-
board." " I can tell you, captain, faid 1> that you and they

Vol. IV. .] N 3 had

*'The Diamond is a fmall rock, j.jft without the harbour of Alexandria ; vvhen fhips art
rive-.there, they are cleared out, and never moiellcd further by ihg cuftomhoufs...

6 so TRAVELS, &c.

had better been in bed fick of a fever, than been guiky of
that unprovoked violence. ' Brutal comme un Provencal,'
is a proverb even in your own country ; I would not wifh
to have luch a confirmation of the truth of it. But there
are my keys, in cafe another gale fhould come, choofe out
of my trunks the one that, according to your idea, and
theirs, is likelieft to have a dead man in it, and then take
another ; and the firft one you find, throw them all over-
board. I forced him to open two of the chefts, and, lucky
It was, as I believe, for off the iiland of Malta we had ano-
ther violent gale, but which did us no damage. At laft,
after a paffage of about three weeks, we landed happily at
Marfeilles.

Nullum numen aheft fi fit pnideutia ; fed 7<r,
Nos facimus^ Fort una Deum, ccchque locomus,

JUVEN.

REGISTER

REGISTER

OF THE

BAROMETER and THERMOMETER

S N

Abyffinia, 1770.

Months

JAN.
I

Hours. I Barometer.

6lM.
I3N.
2 E.
6iE.

7 M.
12N.

6 E.

7 M.
I2N.
2f E.
6 E.
6 M.
|l2N.
[2 E.

6 E.

7 M.
;I2JJ.
|6 E.

17 M.

|l2N.
6 E.

7 E.

21
2 1
21
2 1

22
22
22
22
22
22
22
22
22
22
22
22
22
22
22
22
22

64

5 6

5
5
4

3

2

4

o
2

3
4
4
3
5
4
3

3

4

3
3
3

o
8
2
o
6
I

9

o

4
o

5
I

8

5

2

o
6

5
2

6

Ther.

Winds.

NE

72

WSW

721

ditto.

69

W

.-6

NW

641

ditto.

65

N

56

651

S

671

N

^5i

N

57

54

NW

66

N

66

N

S^^

NE

66V

NW

651

SbE

57

ESE

66

S

66

W

65

s

Remarks on the Weather.

A few ftreaky clouds at the horizon, at S and S W.
Great white clouds throughout the whole air.
Ditto. Ditto.

Clouds near the whole horizon.
Clear.
Ditto.
Ditto.
Ditto.

Perfedly clear.

A violent turn of wind which lafted fix minutes..
Clear and calm.
Ditto.
Ditto.

Clear with a good breeze.

Calm. Mifty in the eaft, flying clouds thro' the fky.
Clear and calm-
A light breeze-
Clear-
Ditto.
Ditto-
Ditto, and calm.
Ditto, with a fmall breeze-

^5-

Regifter of the Barometer and Thermometer in Abyflinla.

Months
JAN.

Hours.

Barometer.

Ther.

° 1

winds.

Remarks on th.; Weather

0

'

//

^^

7

6 M.'22

4

656

N

Clear.

I2N. 2 2

3

2,67

S

Ditto.

6 £. 22

3

o64t

N

Ditto.

8

6 M.;2 2

4 3i

55t

N

Mifty in the eaft, and calm.

I2N.j22

2

9

68-^

NE

Clear and a light breeze.

6 E.I22

2

9

66

N

A few clouds at N. and E. but vei*y thin.

9

7 M.!

22

2

4

56

NW

Clear, with a very few thin clouds near the horizon.

I2N.

22

2

9

65 i

S '

-A fmall breeze, with thin white clouds throughout
[ the fh.y.

6 E.

22

3

2

65

NNE

lO

7 M.

2 2

4

6

55

N

A few clouds at the horizon at N- E-

I2N.

22

3

4

65

wsw

Clear.

6 E.

22

3

2

NbyW

Calm and clear-

II

7 ^'i

22

5

2

56

NE

Calm, and a little hazy in the eaft.

I2N.

22

2

3

66

SW

Clear and a light breeze-

6 E.

22

3

4

65

N

Light clouds to the fouth, everywhere is clear-

12

7 M.

22

4

6

59

NNE

Clear and cahn-

I2N.

2 2

3

I

67

ESE \
(

Clear, but the wind variable from E- to E- S- E-
and S- E-

6 E.

22

5

3

67

SbE

A brills wind and clear.

13

7 M.

2 2

4

5

61

N

Clear weather.

I2N.

22

3

3

67

SW

Ditto.

6 E.

22

3

I

66

NE

Ditto-

The Obfervations that follow, made while pafTmg
the high Mountain of Lamalmon-

FEB.

7

5 M.

22

5

0

58

NW t
(

; Star-light and clear — We are at Taguzait, the foot
[ of the Mountain of Lamalmon-

13

5 M.

19

8

8

42

^ , C Hoar cold, clear ftar-light- We are at the top of
( the Mountain.

I2N.

19

7

0

74

NW

Frefli breeze- No dew fell laft night on Lamalmon-

6 E.

^9

10

0

56

N

Hazy in the horizon-

H

6 M.

19

10

0

32

WNW

Near calm, hoar-froft, never before feen-

I2N.

19

9

0

78

ditto

A cool breeze, and white flying clouds-

6 E.

19

9

0

^4

NW

A fmall breeze, perfedlly clear, and v.-ithout clouds.
GONDAR.

19

6-5-M.

21

7

2

61

N

Heavy clouds all over the fky.

I2N. 2 1

6

076

SE

Ditto.

Regifter of the Barometer and Thermometer in Abyflinla.

655

Months Hours. Barometer.

F£B. I
1912 E

20 6^M.
12N.
2 E.
6 E.
6yM.
I2N.
2 E.
6iE.

I2N.

2 E.
61- E.
6^M.

I2N.
2 E.
6i E.
6^M.
I2N.
2 E.
6iE.
6tM.
I2N.

21

22

23

24

25

26

64- E.
6iM.
1-2 N.
2 E.
64- E.

27 6iM.
I2N.
2 E.
6^E.

28 6iM.
I2N.
2 E.
6-^E.

2

.,2
'2

'2

I2
I
2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

Mdrcli

5
6

6

5

5

5
6

6

7
6

6

6

6

6

6

5

5

5
6

6

5

5
6

5

Ther.

Winds.

Remai ks on the Weather

5
5
5
5
5
6

6

5

5
6

5
5

5

6172

o!73

5 8

I 7 M. 2 1 6 3 68

63T

72
72

71
67

71

72

71
67
71

7^

71
68

72
72

72
67

72

72

71

57
72

72

71

65

72

72
71
65

72

72

71
68

72

73

73

N N E Heavy clouds all over the iky.
N E Ditto.
Clear.

S W White clouds flying,

ditto. Ditto.

N W Little wind, clear.

S A few white clouds flying, but feem very light.

N W The whole fky covered with light flying clouds,

ditto. White flying clouds, little wind,

ditto. Ditto.

E Little wind, and clear.

W White flying clouds.

N W Ditto,

ditto. Ditto.

E Clear, and nearly calm.

W A light breeze, and white flying clouds,

N W Ditto.

ditto. The clouds becoming a little heavier.

S by W The Iky covered with flying clouds.

W Light white clouds fcattered.

S W Little wind, the weather overcaft.

N W Ditto.

"S E Clear and calm.

W Small white light clouds in the S. W.

^ ,y c All the fky clear, excepting four fmall clouds in the

C South,

ditto. Ditto.

S E Clear and calm.

W White flying clouds in confiderable numbers.

S W Light white clouds flying to the Eaft.

W Weather clear.

S E Little wind, clear and cloudlefs.

S S E Ditto.

W b S A few white clouds flying to the fouth-wefl:.

N W Clear.

E Ditto.

WNW All the fky is covered with darklfh clouds.

8 The clouds are ftill turned heavier and thicker.

S The clouds are a little broken.

E I The fky perfeftly clear.

654

Regifter of the Baromctei* and Thermometer In Abyffinia.

Monthsl Hours.

I 1~M.
2^E.

61 E.
6 M.

2 E.

6lE.

6|M.

12 N.
2 E.

6^E.

12 N.

2- E

61 E.

5 *'''

6^M,

12 N. 3

2 E.

Barometer. iTher.

6y E.

12 N.
2 E,
2 1 E.

6;-E.

12 N.

2 F.

6^E.

6iM.
12 N.

2 E.

6^E.

6tM.

12 N.

2 E.

6 1

6

6
6

5

5

6
6

5
4

6
6

5 3

6 I

5 8

4 7

5 4

5 I

5 o

5
6

5

4

5

5
6

5
5
5

7 3
6 o

73

73

71
68

72
69
65

73
74

73

68

73
82

74
6

6

63

Winds.

82

78

t

71
62

80

/^

73
69

60

78

78

72

59

79

79

73
61

81

80

Remarks on the Weather.

NE
ditto
EbS
SW

NW

ESE

EbN

SSW

W

w

SbE

SW

W

W

E

E

White heavy clouds, the fun entirely covered. A
few big drops of rain.

White clouds which cover the fun.

Thick clouds at the horizon at north and weft.

Clear, and little wind.

The whole heavens full of white thick clouds.

A good breeze, and heavy clouds throughout the fky.
Lightning at north.

Clear and cloudlefs.

Ditto.

White flying clouds throughout all the fky.

The day all overcaft, fo is the fun.
5 Very cloudlefs everywhere but at the horizon and
C fouth-weft.

Clear.

A quantity of white thick clouds fill all the air.

Ditto.

Clear,

Ditto.

Ditto.

r, , ,^, ] All the air is full of white flying clouds, the fun
j appears lauitly.
Many clouds. The fuif is hid only a liitle at weft.
Clear.

W

s

E

S

S

SE

SW

EbS

W

W

N

S
S S w
N W
WNW
ditto
SSE
NW

Many clouds throughout the whole fky.

Calm and Clear.

Clouds fill the whole ain

Overcaft, with thick clouds and thunder.

Clouds cover the whole air, and the lun hid..

Small rain.

Overcaft with clouds, all but at north.

White clouds thro' the. whole flcy, the fun not feen.

Ditto.

A few clouds and high, but clear in the horizOn.

The fky is clear, with very white thin clouds.

Great v.'hite flying clouds.

Ditto.

Clear and cloudlefs.

Perfeftly clear and cloudlefs.

Large white clouds flying all through the fky.

Ditto.

Regifter of the Barometer and Thermometer In AbyfTinla.

^55

!

Months
March

Hours.

B

iromcter.

Ther

Winds.

Remarks on the V> cailier.

0

' •'

0

9

6'-E. 2 1

5 3

73

ditto

Large white clouds flying all through the fky.

lO

5 M. 2 I

6 3

60:

\V

Clear.

6 M.21

6 3

60

W

Small white clouds flying to the ibuth.

12 N. 21

I 5

80

w

The white clouds are become much larger.

2 E. 2 1

5 I

80

\Y

Ditto.

6 E. 21

5 0

75

NW

Light clouds throughout the air, but heavy at N. W.

1 1

6 M.,2 1

5 7

68

N

Ditto.

I l4^M..2I

6 2

62

N

Very clear.

12 N.

2 1

6 4

79

■VT Yy 5 AH the air is covered with very thin clouds, but large
C vv'hite clouds in the horizon to the fouth.

2 E.

21

5 0

80

W

White clouds flying throughout the fky.

6 E.

2]

5 2

74

WNW

Clear fmall clouds at the horizon in the north.

12

6 M.

2]

6 2

65

NE

The fky is covered with thin clouds like a veil.

12 N.

2]

5 3

79

NW

A few light flying clouds throughout the fky.

2 E.

2]

5 0

80

W

Ditto.

6 E.

21

5 4

73

NW

Clear and cloudlefs.

13

6 M.

21

6 7

60

W

Clear and calm.

12 N.

21

5 °

81

NW

Clear, only a few light clouds to the fouth-eaft.

6 E.

21

5 5

74

ditto

Clear, and a few fmall clouds near the horizon.

14

6 M.

2]

6 6

63

NE

Clear and cloudlefs.

12 N.

21

t 5 0

79

W

Large flying clouds, the fun is covered.

The whole fky is covered with heavy clouds, only a

2 E.

21

I 5 0

79

S ■

fmall part of the horizon clear at north, a fmall
fhower of rain for a few minutes.

6 E.

21

5 6

72

s

Flying clouds throughout the air.

16

6 M.

21

6 5

62

SSE

A few clouds at eaft, the reft clear.

1 2 N.

T ■

5 4

80

-^ 5 Flying clouds throughout the air, a fudden violent
C. v\'ind from the weft which lafted ? min.

^ .

6 E.

21

5 5

7-

NW

Clear.

74- E.

21

6 0

70

W

Clear and cloudlefs.

17

6 M,

21

6 5

63

SE

Clear.

12 N.

21

' 5 2

80

SW

Flying clouds throughout the air.

'^AL B. Thermometer expofed to the fun, and in half
[ a minute mounted to 106".

(

2 E.

21

[ 4 9

80

WbS-
(

1 Ditto, Thermometer expofed to the fun, in half a
^ minute mounted to 1 10".

6 E.

2

t 5 2

72

w

Clear, only a few clouds to the weft.

18 4 M.

2

[ 6 4

60

s

Calm and hazy.

6 M. 2

[ 6 8

58

s

Calm, all the air covered with thin clouds like a veil.

6s6

Reglder of the Barometer and Thennometer in Abyflinla.

Months Hours.
March [

l8 2 E.

Barometer. Ther. Wnds.

Re-marks on the Wea'her.

21

6 E,

19 6 M.

12 N.

2 E,

6 E.

20, 6 M.
12 N.

6 E.
2 1 6 M.

12 N,

2 E

21

;2i

22

6 E,

6 M.

1 E.

2 E.

6 e!

6 M.

12 N.

2 E.

6 E.

24 12 N.

; 2 E.

21
21
21
2 1

2 1

21

21
21

21
21
21

5 o

5 5

6 8

5 5

5 o

5 6

6 8

5 6

5 o

5 6

6 7

5 3

4 9

5 o

81

6 E. 2

6 7

5 2
4 7

W

72 W

5S
80
81

73
62

79

80

73
62

80
80

74

62
Si

81

74
62

WNW

S

NW

WNW

E

W ;

NW

ditto
E

N \V
W

N

Thermometer expofed to the fun, mounted

to 100".
A few light clouds in the eaft.

Thermometer expofed to the fun, mounted

to 107".
Clear.
Ditto.
Ditto, — — Thermometer expofed to the fun, 105".

Ditto, Thermometer Do. ii3"«

Ditto.

Ditto.

Large heavy clouds to the fouth and to the eril, the
I fun hid.
I Thermometer expofed to the fun, 105'^.

C Ditto, Ditto, In half

C a minute mounted to loi".

I Heavy clouds to the eaft and weft,
j Clear and cloudlefs.

^Thin clouds like a veil cover the fky. ^Thermo-
meter expofed to the fun, 106*^.

Clear, only a few thin clouds to the north. In

half a minute the thei-mometer expofed to the
fun, mounted to 106".
All the air is covered with thin clouds like a veil.

E QJJ I N O X.

£ j Clear.

J- A few light clouds flyinj;: in the fouth. Thermo-

\\' b JN ^ meter, in halt a minute, rofe to 1 10°.
N N E I ^^^^*'> thermometer in half a minute rofe to 1 1 1 °.
NN U' ^ ^^^^ ftreaky clouds like a veil to the eaft ward.
£ I Clear and cloudlefs.

C Large white clouds, the fun covered. Thermo-

5 3I 81 WbN^ meter 88°.

6,

5 3
4 6: 85

5 31 75 S
4 7! 83 W
4 6j 8i|WNW

(JO y^J- N W

c Q ^yS-^'^ ^^^^ ^y is covered with white heavy clouds.

(. Thermometer expofed to the fun, rofe to 106''.
Ditto.

Heavy clouds throughout the air, the fun covered.:

Ditto Ditto.

Cioiii'; r» '■.- W. ,-.'1 >\ W towards the horizon.

Reglfter of the Barometer aud Thermometer in Ab}^rinla.

^sy

Months
March
25

Hours. ' Barometer. Ther. Winds.

26

27

28

6 M. 2 1

12 N, 2 I

2 E.;2I

6 E.2I
4 M.J2I
21

6 M.

29

30

31

1 1 E.

31 E.

6 M-

12 N.

2 E.

6 E.

6 M.

12 N.

2-VE.
6 E.

6 M.

N,
E,
M,

12 N,
2 E,

6
6

21

21

21

21
21

21

21
21
21
21
21
21

M. 21

6 3.63
4 781

81

2 E. 21

3 4

6 o
6 3

21 5 2

21 5 5

21 6 s

21 61

21 5 5

5 8

6 6

A 6

4

5

6

5

4
6

5

4

5
6

68

63
63

77

72

5^
76

77

70

58
81

83
71

59

80
80

4|63
380

s'So

2i72
161

12 NJ21 4 6 83

082

6 E. 21 5 o 73
'VOL^ IV.'

W
WNW

\V

W

w

w

Remarks on the Weather.

1

s

w
s

WNW

NW

E

W

SbE
S

N
W
E
W
W

w
w

\v

NW

w

Clouds to W. and N. W. towards the horizon.
White flying clouds throughout all the air.
S Short claps of thunder, whh a fmall fhowerof rain
C. for a few minutes at different times.
Heavy clouds, wilh a violent wind.
Clouds and lightning, very pale towards the fouth.
All the fky covered with clouds.
Violent fhowers of hail, without any mixture of
rain, for 15', the hail as big as a meddling cherry.
^ Thunder, but not loud, and of fhort duration.
C^Hail and rain, mixed in fhowers, with fhort inter-
l vals, that may have lafled an hour.
Clear.

Flying clouds all throughout the air.
Ditto.

r Violent wind in blafls, which lafted for 5 or 6' at

a time. All the fliy is covered with large heavy

clouds, efpecially at north ; thunder, with violent

blafts of wind alternately every 8 minutes.

Clear till ten o'clock, and the fky obfcured with

^ white clouds.

C Large clouds cover the fky, going violently to the
I fouth-wefl.

I Large clouds, and the fun covered.
I Small clouds to the eaflward.

( Clear till nine, when the fliy is covered with white
C clouds.

I Clouds through all the fky, and the fun covered.
All the air is full of fmall white clouds.
Clear.

Small white clouds flying throughout the air.
Wind varying to north.
Clouds towards the horizon.
A few clouds in the fouth towards the horizon.

White flying clouds fcaitered thro' all the air.

Thermometer expofed to the fun, in half a mi-
nute rofe to 1 01*^.
Clouds as above, but thinner and fmaller. Ther-
mometer expofed to the fun, in half a minute
rofe to 113^'
i Clear.

i

4O

658

Regifter of rhe Barometer and Thermometer Irr Abyffinla.

Remarks on the Weather.

Perfe'ftly clear and cloudlefs.

All the air covered with white flying clouds.

Ditto.

Frequent clouds throughout the air, which come
from the eaft againft the wind.

Clouds throughout the air.

Ditto

Ditto, the fun is covered. .

A few flying clouds. .

Clear and cloudlels.

A few flying clouds, efpecially at the weft and north.

Ditto.

Ditto.

A few clouds through all the air. .

Rain, the drops large and diftant, that lafted a quar-
ter, of an hour.

Thunder, and very thick clouds at north-weft, fud
den blafts of wind which lafted with intervals a
bout a quarter of an hour at a time.
C The clouds a little lighter, but the wind ftill ftrong
(, with intervals-
(Thunder at the eaft fouth-eaft, the clouds are very

thick at eaft and north-weft.
( The wind blows like a tempeft, with lightning at eaft
and north, black clouds at north-weft and north

There begins a fiuall fhower, then ccmes thunder, the
rain increafes with a ftrong wind for 2 hours.

Clouds ail thro' the air, efpecially at N. W. and S. W.

Great heavy clouds all over the horizon, efpecially at
north-vv'eft. .

Ditto.

Heavy clouds at north-weft, and thunder for half
an hour.

Clear-
Small clouds in the horizon at north-weft.

Clear.

Ditto, and cloudlefs.

All the air is covered with a light veil.

Ditto.

Ditto.

Ditto. ______

Rcglfter of the Barometer and Thermometer iu Abyfiiiua.

^S^

Mnn'hsl Hours. Barometer.

Aj,lil

12

13

H

15

16

12 N.

2 E.

6 E.

6 M.

12 N.

2 E.

6 £.

6 M.

12 N.

2 E.

,21

!2I
J2I
121

121

J22

!2I

6

■2

E
M.

7t m,

12 N,
2 E.
E.

E.

7 M.

12 N.

I.

3
6

18

2 E.

6 E.

6 M.
I^E.

2 E.

21
2 1
22
21
21
21
21
22

4iF..

19

6 E.

1 M.

12 N.

2 E.

3tE-

6 E.

6 M.

21

22
21

I I
I I
I I
I I
I I
I I
I I
O
I I
1 I
I I
I I

3
II

1 1

1 1

1 1

o

rher.

21 II

I I

O

I I

21 I I

21 II

21 II

22 O

21 II

21 II

21 II

22 O

WinO-;.

75^

11

71

SIS'^

476

76
76

69

76t

79

80

76^

N
N W.

21 II 8

21 1 1 8

ir-^.

77r

78

73
76t

79

79i-
76

75i

75
77

W

w

NW

N E
WNW

N W

N
NNE

ditto.

N W

ditto.
W
• N

NE

N W

W

W

N
NW

ditto.

Remarks on the Weather.

A few clouds towards the horizon.

White clouds all flying over the air.

Clouds towards the horizon at weft and fouth-weft.

Clear.

Clouds towards the horizon at north.

Small clouds at eaft.

A thin veil has covered the heavens.

A light veil over the fky.

White clouds in the eaft.

Ditto, lighter in the fouth.

A veil of white clouds cover the whole air.

Clear and cloudleis.

White clouds like a veil flying through the air.

Clouds as above, but more united.

Clouds at Jiorth-weft, clear at fouth-eaft.

Ditto.

Clear.

Ditto,
f White light clouds at north-weft north and north-
C eaft, Till the reft clear.

^ White flying clouds through all the air, the fun is
\ covered.

Heavy clouds all over the air, but clear at weft.

Clear.

Flying clouds throughout the air.

Ditto. A fmall part clear towards

!

11
76
64

the zenith at fouth-eaft
Flying clouds throughout the air, efpecially at north

north-weft and north eaft.
Heavy clouds throughout the air.
p. , „ (Heavy rain for 10 min. thunder in the north, and

^ \ lightning in the north and fouth.
N W Large white clouds fcattered throughout the fky.
ditto. Clouds as above, but very heavy to the eaftward.

Heavy thick clouds at the north, lighter at eaft and
ditto. \ well, the fouth clear towards the zenith, but heavy
clouds in the horizon, the wind very violent.
N N W Clouds thro' all the air, and great appearance of rain.
At feven o'clock ther^e was at the S. S. E. a fmall white
N { cloud, from which came a great quantity of light*
ning. Thunder thro' the night, but no rain.

ditto,
ditto.

4O

66o

RegUler of the Barometer and Thennometer in Abyflinla.

Months: Hours. 1 Barometer.

April
19

20

21

22

12 N.

2 E,

6 E.

6 M.

12 N.

3 E.

6 E.
8 E.
6 M.
12 N.
I E.
6 E.
S^E.
6 M.
12 N.
I E.

E-

E.

E.

E.

2

3
4
5

6

7
8

9

10

1 1

12

I

2

3

4

5
6

E.

E.

E.
E.
E.
E,
E,
M,
M,
M,
M
M,
M

7 M<

8 M,

9 M,
10 M,
I I M,
12 N,

21
I2I
'22
21
21
21
21
21
22
21
21
21
22
22
21
21
21
21
21

21

21

21
2 1

22
22
22
22
22
22
22
22
22
22
21
J22
122
■22
21

3
1

o 5

9

3

3

3
o

2

6

3

7

7
o

6

3

2

o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o

11
o
o
o

1 1

Ther.; Winds.

91

78

77

64t

77t

78

77

77

65

77

79

78

75 ■

63

77t

79

79

79

80

80
78

76

WN W
NW
ditto.

N
NW

W

N E

ENE

S E
NW

W

SE

E
NE

W

w

WNW
W

w

w

NW
NE

Reniirks on the Weather.

75

74

74

73

73
o

66

6

o
o
o
o
o

068
166

2 6^

2170

9 79
2 76

277

078

6I79

N

NE

SE

ENE

NE

ESE

SE

E

SE

EN E

ditto

ESE

ditto.

W N W

NW

ditto

W

Small flying clouds through the air.

Clear.

Clear and cloudlefs.

The fky covered with a very light veil.

Small flying clouds.

Clear, at four o'clock, the wind changed to caft.

Clear and cloudlefs.

Ditto.

Ditto.

Clear, only three fmall clouds near the zenith.

Calm and a few very light clouds.

Clear for three nights paft

All the air is covered with thin clouds like a veil.

Clear.

Ditto.

Ditto.

Ditto.

Ditto.

Ditto.
S Clouds all over the horizon efpecially at wefl: and
C north weft.

(Great clouds towards the horizon and black at north
I weft.
1 Ditto.

Clear and cloudlefs.

Ditto.

Ditto.

Ditto.

Small light clouds in the eaft.

Clear.

Ditto.

Ditto.

Ditto.

Ditto.

Clear and cloudlefs.

Ditto.

Ditto.

Ditto.

Ditto.

Ditto,

Regifter of the Barometer and Thermometer in Abyffinia.

66i

Months

April
23

24

25

26

Hours. I Barometer. Ther.i Winds.

2

6

E. 21 II O

£.21 II 2

27

6 M.,22
12 N..21

2 E.
6iE.

6 M.

21

21 II

22

2-i- E. 21

O 2
II 7
II

6-:
6

E.
M.

12 N.
2 E.
6|-E.

I2yM.

6 M.
12

2

21

22

2 I
21
21

O
II
I I

O

II
II
II

E,

28

29

30

6iE

12

2

M,

N,
E,

6i E.

6|m,

12

2

N.
E.

O 2
O 4

22

22

21 II 10

21 II 3

21 II

22

22
21

O
I I

21 II 10

22

22

22
22

6 i-E.}2I
6 M.j22

12 N.i22

E.

21

O

I I

O

o

I I

o

o
1 1

6

9

3

82

77

63
79

81

78

64
82
79
64

79t
79

78
66

63

78
80

77

^5

78

80

77t
67
69
79

Remarks on the Weather.

o!8o
9,! 78

71^5

o|8i
5j8i

N E Clear, only a few clouds at the north-weft
ditto i Clouds all throughout the horizon except at north-

C weft.
S E Clear.

S W A few clouds to the north and eaft.
\V Ditto.

ivT S Clouds all over the horizon, and a veil all over the
C fky.
E S E Clear.
W Clouds throughout the air, but clear at fouth-weft.
N Flying clouds throughout all the horizon.
S E Clear.
■^jsjYY^ Flying clouds all over the (ky efpecially at north-
C weft,
ditto. I All the air covered, the fun likewife covered.
XT ( Flying clouds all over the fky, efpecially at north-

l weft.
N Clear.
N E Small clouds through >he horizon.
W N W White clouds In the north and eaft.
N \V Ditto.

All the fky is covered with heavy clouds, which go

ditto. <^ againft the wind, that is to the north-weft, a few

drops of rain fall.

■£ r Clouds in the horizon, and a thin veil covering all

I the {kj at north-eaft and fouth up to the zenith.

N W I White and hoary clouds flying all over the fky

N : Large flying clouds.

{Flying clouds throughout all the air, they go towards
the weft, a violent wind about mid-night from
the eaft.
ENE I Clear.

g cMoftly clear, with fome part of the heavens covered

C with a thin veil.
E Light clouds flying in the ftcy.
N E Strong blafts of wind from time to time,
N by W Clouds throughout the horizon.
E j Clouds flying to- the north and eaft.
pj , y S Large white clouds all over the horizon, efpec*.?J'}'
Y at ncrth-eaft.
WN W Ditto.

66:

Re^lfter of the Barometer and Thermometer m AbyiTmia.

Moiuhs
Aprir

MAY
I

[lours. Baromettr. Ther.
--— -

6Ve. 2 1 II 6 8i V

Vl'inds.

I M. 2 2

6 M.

12 N.
2 E.

6',-E.
81 E.

6 M.

7-5-M.i22

2 £v
61 E.
12 N.
2 E.
61 E.

6Vm.

12 N.
2 E.

61 E.

21

21
22
21
21
22
2.1
21

jsr.U2

6

12
2 E.i2I
6l E. 2 1

6
12

M,
N,

7:

41 E.

f J. p

J 4 *•

61 E.
6 M-

1

12 N.
2 E.
61 E.

68

12 o 4j65

21 II 5!8ol

2 1 II ij8il

21 II -ihS
21 II 777

22 O 565I

2 2
22

2 2

21
21
31

I I

I I
O

II
II

o

I I

1 1

21 II

867

i

7-77
9.75
M77t
3;8o
c --6-!-

9!79
380

4

77i

o

o

1 1

1 1

o

II

4171

80

77t
8 661

8

22 00

8a

7^1

o ei/ii

o .771
o 860

ditto.

E

NE
NW
ditto.

ENE
W

SE

ditto-

NNW
ditto.
NW

N

V

NW
NNE

NW

NbyE

NNE

ditto.

In n w

NE
NW

SE

ditto.

Remarks on I'ae \Vcither.

" 5

77t
II 6J72I

7>)4

NW
N
N

Large -white clouds all over the horizon.

C Flying, clouds much united all over tht fl^y, the eafl;
is the part that is.freeft.

Heavy clouds towards the north, the reft clear.,^

Flying clouds at north and north-eail:.

Clouds as. above, and alfo at the horizon.
^ Thick clouds all over the horizon, and the Iky al-
t rnoft covered as with a veil.

Rain, tliunder, and lightning, but in no great quan-
tity, all the &y is .covered e:^:ceptlng at fcuth-eaft
("AH the air is coveredwith thickclouds, a fe*-;' dropsof
J rain ; at half paft fix a very light raiti began which
I lafted for a few minutes, and begins aguin.
fit has begun a light fliower, which ceafes and begins
; again at intervals.

Large clouds throughout the air, the fun covered.

Ditto.

Large moving clouds, the fun is covered.

Ditto.

Clouds every where joined, and cover the whole air.

Light hying clouds.

Small white flying clouds.

Small white clouds m the horizon.

Clouds throughout the air, they come from fouth
eaft, and go againft the wind.

Small light 'clouds throughout the horizon.

Clouds at eaft. •

Heavy moving clouds throughout the air.

United clouds through the air, appearance of rain.

threat clouds which cover all the air.

Dhto.

All the air covered with white clouds, it begins to
rain.

Ditto — Ditto ; it begins to thunder.

A light fhower, which ceafes in a few minutes.

Oouds at the horizon efpecially at E. and N.
C Great white flying clouds, nothing clear but the
I zenith.

1 Clouds cover the whole air.
C It has begun to rain a little, all the iir is covered with

2 heivy cicuds. _^__

Regirter of the Barometer and Thermometer in Abyffinia.

66s

Months Hours. Barometer.

,_ ; ;

MAY

7 6IE.21 II 7

8 6 M. 22 o o
iz N.:2i 1 1 6

2 E.I2I II 3

6^E.,21 II 6

74-E.|22 O I

9' 6 M.'22 O 6

1.2. N.

2 E.
6i-E.

10' 6;m.

12 N.

. 2. E.
6^E.

6^m.

1 2 N.
2 E.

I I

12

14

I— F

6fE.

6Vm.

12 N.

2 E.

6 E.

61 E.

6-^M.
12 N.

2C 00

21 II 5

21 117

22 06

22 00

21 II 3

21 I I 6

2 2 06

22 07
21 II 5

2 2 00

2 2
2 2
2 2
22
2 2
2 2
22

O O

O 4

o o

° 3

o J

o 8

Thcr

72;-

74
76
74
73

74

73

75

73 T
62;-

75i
75

72-
62

■73 T
7Si

73i

67^

21 II 6
21 II I

64^ E. 21 II 2

62^

73
74

7ii
69^

64^

744-
76

74

Winds.

N

6 M.'22 O 466^

12 N.2I II 4:74
2|E. 2 1 II 0,75

NW
ditto

NE

SSE

NE

NW

ditto

N
N E

N W

ditta
ESE

EbS

NW

W

E

NE

SE

SbyE

NE

E
NE
ditto.

W

,NW
NE

ditto.

NNE
NE

Remarks on the Weather.

The rain has ceafed, clouds throughout the air.

Clouds throughout the whole air.

Ditto.

All the air is covered with clouds.

Ditto.

Clouds as above, it begins to rain lightly at eight.

Ditto.
( White cloudi at the horizon at north and eaft, a
C light veil covers the fky.

Thunder in fhort claps.

Flying clouds throughout the air.

Light clouds throughout the whole air.

Large clouds flying throughout the air, efpecially at
^ north and eaft, thunder.

C Flying clouds throughout the air) the fun is covered,
I a fmall fhower which Lifted for a few minutes.
! Thick clouds throughout all the air.

White light clouds throughout the air, dark towards

the horizon, efpecially in the eaft.
I Great malTes of white clouds, with clear intervals.
(Thick, clouds in every part, the zenith only
C clear.

! Violent rain, with clouds, thunder and hghtnlng.
(It rains a little, all the heavens covered, but darkeft
I at north-weft and fouth-eaft.
j Clear and cloudlefs.

C Great maftes of white clouds throughout the horizon;
C. zenith clear,
j Ditto,"

C The ftcy covered wnth black clouds, it begins to rain
\ fmartly.

i Black clouds, and rains violently,but without thunder.
CA light veil covers the fun, which does net hinder
^ it from being warm.

I Flying ctouds throughout the air.

' Ditto.

Ditto-

All the air is covered with thick clouds, which threa-

) ten rain.

I Ditto.

1 Scattered clouds throughout the air.

m P.Pji ■■w—jiUJif II "^"PJ'JiP ^ B iW '

664

Regifter of the Barometer and Thermometer in Abyflinla.

Month?
MVY
14

15

16

17

JUNE
I

Hours.

4tE.

6iE.

4iM.

6 M.

12 N.

2 E.

6|E.

6^M.

12 N.

2 E.
6|E.
6 M.

12 N.

2 E.
6iE.

6 M.

12 N.

2 E-

6iE.

6 M.

12 N.

2 E.

6^E.
6 M

12 N

Barometer. ITher.

21 ID 5
21 10 9

22
2
21
2 I
21
22
22

21

21

O

O

II

I I

I I

21 I I

21 II

22 O

O O
O 2

21 116

21117

21 114
211X6

21 6 5
21 3 6

21 3 I

3 8

21 5 8

21 42

21 3 8

21 40

77

73 i

62^:
641

75

76i

74t

63

76

77

73t

62

74

74i
70-;

^^3
69

68

65

63i
671

68^
671

Winds.

Remarks on the Weather.

N N \V Flying fhoAvers for ten minutes, the fun clear.
■»^ -p C Thick black clouds, thunder at fouth-eaft and vio-

^ lent lightning.
S E A large thick cloud at weft, all the reft clear,
ditto Ditto.

N W Great clouds flying to north and eaft, zenith clear,
ditto, j White clouds towards the horizon, zenith clear.
N E I One fingle cloud covers the whole fky equally,
ditto I Clear, only a very few white clouds at the horizon,
ditto, j Clear, only a few white clouds at weft.
SSE vary- (Large clouds at N. N. W. all the heavens covered as
inHtoSw^ with a veil, wind changing to N. N. W.

N A great cloud covers the zenith.
E N E United clouds cover the whole air.
ditto. Clear-
Thick clouds to the north-weft, and thunder from
WNW-i the fame quarter, and the other part of the Iky,
[ clouds flying againft the wind.
N E j All the fky is covered with clouds, it threatens rain
' All the fky is covered with black clouds, it lightens
alfo, and threatens rain.

N NW:

5 8;^^

21 4 468

2 E. 21 40 67^

w

N
NNW

N

N
N

NNE

N
SW

NNE
N

cThe weft is all full of heavy clouds, which reaches

} from the horizon to the zenith.

j It begins to rain heavily, and large drops-

CAll the air covered with thick clouds, efpecially at

(^ the fouth and weft-

[ Between this and the laft obfei-vation three or four

< fmall iliowers, and the whole fky covered with

[ thick clouds.

f Flying clouds through the whole air efpecially at

i north and north-weft-

Flying clouds through the air.

Ditto ; all this afternoon have fallen fmall

Ihowers, which lafted for live or fix minutes at a
time.

The fky at prefent is all clouded.
^All the air is covered with thick clouds, at the E,
(^ and N. E- the air a little thinner.
CAll the air covered as above with thick clouds, and
I the fun not leen-
jScatfered clouds through all the fky.

Regifter of the Barometer cind Thermometer in AbylTmia.

665

"Months

junF
.3

10

1 1

12

15

Hours

61- E.

6 M.

12 N,

61 E.

6 M.
12 N,

2 E.

7 E.

12 M.
6^ E.

6 M.

2 E.

6-i-E.
6 M.

12 N.

I2iE.

6lE.

6 M.

12 N.

2 E.

4 E.

6y E.

6 M.
6iE.

6 M.

Baromer-?

5
4
4

4

5
4

5

46

4 0

5 2

5 I

5 2

4 9

5
4
4

4 6

4
4

4 9

66
62

^7

6y{
(3 1

67T
66

56 1

66

u6
64t

64

"5

641

0^

66

06
64^

>5
>4V

Winds,

NNE
N

Remarks on the Veaiher.

Black clouds at N- and W. the S. perfediy clear.
CCJouds united all over the heavens, it rained a httle
I in the morning.

f.The fouth covered with a thick cloud, the reft of the
NNE < heavens covered with flying clouds, but pretty hea
vy ; at half paft twelve it rained violently.
j^ r The fouth covered with very thick clouds, with fome
^ thunder-
Thick clouds at north and weft the reft of the hea

NNE

N

NNE

N

N ,

NN.E,

S

NNE
ditto

SE

NW
NNE

NW

NNE

SE varying
to S W

SE

NNE

vens clear.

CI
lear.

There has fallen a little rain for about 'ten minutes-
Thick clouds but the fun appears.

C Clouds iti the horizon to north and weft, very fmall

^ clouds in the reft of the air-

j Cloudy, all the heavens are perfedly covered.

3 Very heavy clouds cover the whole air, coming firft

( from the fouth, it rains very violently.

C Flying clouds thro' the whok air, efpecially at the

^ horizon.

V Heavy clouds through the whole air, it has rained

I very heavily two or three times.

I Ditto.

I Scattered cloudsthroughout the air, efpecially totheS.

(All the air is covered with heavy thick clouds, and

C it begins to rain with great violence.

( It has continued to xain every half minute, to fix o'-

C clocl:, with violuit chips of thunder.

Cit ftill continues to rahi moderately for three hour€

(^ in the night.
Clouds in the horizon at S. and E,
All the air is covered with thick clouds.

Ditto, but the ^.m appears.

The fouth is covered vv ilh thick black clcv.ds, it has
rained feveral times between four^and five.

Vol. IV.

C Small rain for about an hour, clouds flving through

I the air Aery heavy In the horiK)n to the S-

} Heavy clouds from the fouth-e?ft to the weft.

I Black clouds to the fouth and weft.

^Clouds in the fouth and in the eaft, towards the

( horizon-

666

Reglfter of the Barometer and Thermometer in AbyfTmia.

Winds.

Remarks on the Weather.

j Clouds throughout the whole ah-, it thunders with
^ long intervals.

\ Ditto; and great appearances of rain, it

C lightens at fouth.

C Thick clouds to the fouth, thinner through the reft
I of the air-

C Dark mift on every fide, w^hich lafled only half
^ an hour.

I Heavy clouds throughout the air efj ecially to the S
'Clouds throughout ihe air, it has rained for three
times violently, but of fliort duration.
Black clouds throughout the air, with violent light-
ning.
! Flying clouds throughout the air, efpecially in the E,
^ Light clouds, but clofely united all over the fky like
C a veil, and fomething blacker to the S. S. W.
Black clouds throughout the air, a violent rain has
fallen for a quarter of an hour the wind S. S. W.
and N. N. E. alternatelv.
About hatx paft one, a moft violent rain which
■< laftcd a quarter of an hour violent, and conftant
thunder with lightning the whole afternoon.
Sky covered with dark clouds, and a violent rain be-
gun which lafted tv^o hours.
5 Flying clouds throughout the air but heavieft to-
C wards the fouth.
Heavy fcattered clouds throughout the air.
Clouds as above, only the horizon at S. S. W. is clear.
^ Thick black clouds throughout the air efpecially at
I fouth fouth-weft.
Clouds icattered every where throughout the air.
Thick clouds throughout the air. The higheft cur
i rent from the fouth, the low ell comes from the
north with great rapidity, rain and thunder.
Clouds as above.
Rain and \ iolent thunder, Avhich began at five in the
i evening and lafted till midnight without intermif-
fion.
Clear, only a very few clouds in the horizon to
the fouth-weft.

Regifter of the Barometer and Thermometer in Abyffima,

66f

Months

JUNE
21

Hours. I Bdromelcr

Ther,

Winds.

Remarks on the Weather.

I I^"M. 21 5 O 65

12 N.2I 5 965}

2 E. 21 4 6 64

6j £.'21 4 6

22

23

7 M, 21 4 8
12 N.lai 4 8

E. 2 I 4 5 64

6ji

63
641

j^ £ C Clouds thick and heavy at the eaft and north, vio-
^lent rain.

W S ^^^^^ clouds to the north and weft, at eaft fouth-
( eaft clear.
NNE j Clouds fcattered throughout the whole air-
ditto

24

25

26

6^ E,

7 M.

12 X.

2 E.

6-Ve.
6;-M,

2 E.
7 E.

7 M.

21 4 4
21

63
261

I 2 N.

2 E.
6', IE.

12 N.

21 5 I 64
2 1 4 9 62 I

21 5 06

27

6

21 4 9

2147
2144
21 50

21 46

2143
21 46

21 4 8

21 48

21 4 3
21 46

^-^3

65

63
6ii

64

64

63I

621

t)4
^3

7 M.21 5 7,60!

12 N 21 5 463I

2 E.2I 5 r63

C Many thick clouds to the north and eaft, wind chang-

C ing from that to S. W.
N E i Clear, only a few clouds to the horizon, and a thick

I mift to the north,
ditto, j Clouds throughout the whole air.

N N WS^'' ^'^ ^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ horizon to the S. \V. a current
'I of air is feen coming from the N. W.
j^ c Clouds throughout the whole air, with mift and rain,
I a violent w^nd in the night.
WN W^^'^"^S clouds through the air, efpecially north-weft,
l weft and fouth-weft.
\V I — — Ditto; to the Weft of north it has rained often.
NNE 1"^^^ ^^^^ heavens covered with very thick clouds, it
C threatens rain.

("Thick clouds throughout the air, which come from
N E <; north-weft, there is a current thinner wiiich comes
[ from the fouth-weft-. ,

(Clouds throiigiiout the v.-hole air, a great quantity
( of mift going foulhward, thunder likevvife.
Clouds through all the air, and thunder.
Heavy clouds tiiroughout the air.
Ditto. — the fun covered,
r Clouds as above, the higheft current of clouds come
( from the fourli.
I The fky overeail, it rains violently*
I Ditto. — It begins to rain fmall rain.
S Clouds througliout the whole air, and fo heavy they
C fcarcely mo^ e.
i Ditto

Black clouds at fouth fouth-weft, lighter flying clouds
to the eaft.
I Heavy clouds throughout the whole air.
Light flying clouds.
Very cloudy, fonietimes there comes a blaft from the

eaft with a little rain.
Thick clouds throughout the air, it rains.

S

NK
N

N

ditto.

NE

N

NE

SS E

\y

N E
W

N

4P2

668

Regifter oFthe Barometef and Thermometer in Abyffmia.

Months

JUN2
27

28

29

30

JULY

Hours.
6'j E,

12 N.

2 E,

6^e;.

G^M,

12 N.
2 E.

6^e.

7 M.

12 N.

2 E.

6^E.

6yM.

12 'N,
2 E.

6 ...

12 N.

• 2 E.

6 i- E.

4' cJtM.
;i2 N.

j 2 E.
• 6^E.

BaromcUr.

Ther.* Winls.

Rfirirks on tlie Weather.

2 1 4 862^ NNE
5 761^: ENE

5 401

5 o

5 7

NE

NE

C Thick clouds to the north-«aft and north, clear in
( the weil; and fouth, quite clear in the zenith.
CLight cl-otids all over the fKiy, but. .in the fouth a little
C heavier.

Heavy clouds, the higher current X)f wind louth-weft
the lower north-eaft, it threatens rain .and vio-
lent thunder and lightning.
Small rain and thundei".
Thick clouds through all the air. There are currents
of air vi^hich carry the clouds fome to the W. and
and others to N. the lower current N. N..E.
C Clear, there are a few ftreaky clouds in the horizon to
/ the fouth
C Light flying clouds, thicker towards the horizon in
^ the fouth-weft
The air quite overcaft.
Clear only a few clouds at t.he horizon-
r Light flying clouds throughout the horizon efpecially
^ to the fouth-eaft and fouth-weft.
C Heavy clouds through all the air, it rains ; two cur-
(^ rents of wind from the N. W, and N. E.
^ Clear, excepting a few clouds in the horizon towards
the fouth-eaft, it thunders.
Heavy clouds throughout the air, great appearance
of rain.

Many clouds flying throughout the air.

Ditto.

Ditto.— Efpecially at fouth-eaft.

Thick heavy clouds throughout the air.

Flying clouds throughout the air.

White flying clouds throughout the air, they feem-
higher towards the horizon, the low clouds cover-
ing the north-eaft. .

Ditto.

'^rhick clouds to the north and north-weft, lighter in
all other places.

Many fmall clouds throughout the air. .

Rain and very thick clouds throughout the air,

P'requcnt clouds throughout the air.

Ditto-

Reglfter of the Barometer and Tiiermmneter In Abyflinla.

Months Hours. Baromettr.

JULY
5

5i-M.j2I

12 N.'ai

2 E.lll
64- E.I2I

Ther. Winds.

6 758

60
62

7 I
6 8

10

5tM.

12 N.
2 E.

S'jM.

I 2 N.

2 E.

6 E.

12 N.
2 E.

6|E.

12 N.

21

21
21

21
21

21
21

21

21
21

2 1
21
2 1 ■

6 7

7 2

6 8

6 6

7 I
67

67

65

7 2

6 8
6 6

6 7

59

62
>9

;7
541

^9i

Remarks oi ;hc vVritN.r.

7 t-
6 6

J /4

55t
59

J / 4

2 E. 21
64^ £. 2t
5^M. 21

12 N.

I

64

<5 5
67

21

2 E. 21

I

6t E. 21
Hi 5jM. 21
12 N, 21

6-5
6 I
6 1

6H

6 3

6 v'^i^

66

66^
58

57

%■
fi5T
59

^>*>*— g^iWaiy,- ■ .J-;

N W S'^'S^*'- ^y^"g '^louds throughont all the air, and dsrh-

I er towards the horizon-
N b E j Thick clouds with violent rain.
N N \V j The clouds are fcattering, hut remain thick at Vv.
N N E S^'-^^y ^^^'^^ clouds to north north-werT and north-
^ eaft, the reft clear ■■
^ C White flying clouds, throughout all the■ah■;feemin^-
C■ to unite in Ibuth.
N N WJVeryr thick eiouds, thhnder and lightning in the S
N j Clouds uruting throughout the air.

N E i ^'^''^'"' <^"'7 a very few fmall clouds in the horizon
I towards the eaft.

VJ S ^''■^^^^^^ rahi, the wind changed firft from norch I'acn
I to weft:.

NNW^ ^^'^^ clouds throughout the air, rather clear in
C the eaft.
j^ (Clouds through the -whole air^ but efpecially m the

^ hon7.on to the north.
^ CDark clouds in the horizon, everywhere but in the
I north is clear.
N N W j White clouds throughout the whole air.

tS' varying ( -^.

by 3 I D.IttO. .

1^ SThick clouds in the horizon, every where but in the
(. . north, where they are very black.
N by eS^Iou'Js united all through the air, the north only

C clear.
Nvaryings^ Clouds all ovcr the ■•■horizon, they feem to erofs one

^. another in the zenith, which as yet is clear-.
Vo'n^w^ 5 ^^^^^^ ^'^"'^s over the horizon, thefe frcn north-eaft
. ^ and north crofs one another in the fouth.

IN varying I ry.., •11,..

tcNw 1 thick clouds unite m the fouth.
W ^'^^^ norrh, the fouth, fouth-eaft and fouth-weft are

V covered wdth clouds. .
j^ [While clr.uds in great maffes all over the horizon,

I the zenith clear.
N I Great thick clouds'througbout.
N v.,ryinp (White flving clouds throughout the air, only black
, '^^ E & w [ at ^eft ^^^^ tj^g horizon.

W' I Clouds united through all the air-

W I'T^^'yk black clouds throughout the air, thunder at a

[ ciiftance, with i'c.me drcps of rain.

^ r — r " ■ I I '

670

Reglfter of the Barometer and Thermometer in Abyfilnla.

Months

JULY
I 1

Hours.

Barometer.

Ther,

Winds.

Rcmarlts on the VVeather.

2 E.

0 ' "

21 6 3

591

,^ ^Tliick black clouds cover the Iky, there has fallen a
(. fmall Ihower.

6- E

21 6 s

r-^N 1

N \

Thick black clouds through all the air, they come

V-l ■) i-«

j9i

from the north above the Mountain of Kofcam.

12

5iM-

21 70

57t

N

Ditto.

12 N.

21 70

59}

N

Ditto.

2 E.

21 67

59t

NNE

Ditto.

6^E.

21 67

59t

NE 1

Clouds throughout the whole air, excepting the weft
which is clear.

13

5iM.

2 1 72

561

ditto.

Clear, only a fmall cloud in the weft.

12 N.

21 70

58

\V varying
to N

Rain, and the whole air covered with clouds.

2 E.

2 1 67

60

N varying
to E & VV

Moderate rain, the air covered as above.

6-^E.

21 69

58}

N

Large maffes of clouds cover the whole air-

H

5iM.

21 7 3

56

NNE !

Clear, only two very fmall clouds vifiblc in the hori-
zon to the eaft.

12 K.

21 7 0

60

W -

Very thick clouds through all the air, excepting in

the eaft, which is clear.

3 E-

21 67

60

NN \V^

The clouds intercept one another from the fouth-

/

i tI 1 ^ » ¥

eaft and fouth-weft.

6-^E.

21 67

59t

NE

Rain.

JI5

5|M.

21 7 2

5.7

NNE

All the air is covered with very thick clouds.

12 N.

21 69

60}

W

Ditto. — With rain.

Very thick black clouds come from north-eaft, and

6^E.

2 1 6 8

59t

N vary! no;
to NNE ■

fouth-eaft, a thick mift at north which is very
low.

26

5yM.

31 72

57

N

Thick clouds at north, and very low.

12 N.

21 6 8

65i

N

<

N ^

.White clouds flying throughout the air, heavy at S.

2 E.

21 67

64

Thick clouds united throughout the air, heavier at

/

fouth and north-eaft.

6iE.

21 6 8

61

N

Very thick mift to the north.

27

6 M.

21 7 0

59

NW

All the air is covered with clouds joined together.

2 E.

21 67

64t

N

Thick flat clouds through all the air.

6{-E.

21 6 6

59^

N

DitLo.

28

6 M-

21 7 1

.3 / 4

N -

1 Flying but fcattered clouds through all the air, they
L come from eaft and fouth.

/

12 N.

21 6 7

63

S W j Thick clouds through all the air, especially at S. W.

2 E.

21 6 a

o^i

\\r^yj^T^ Clouds throughout all the air, but blackell towards
( north-eaft, and north.

1

•-/ •(■

6iE.

21 61

61

js^ ( Thick clouds, which come in great quantities from
C the north.

*, • V- J

29r 6 M.

21 6 7

57i

■YYj^\y^ Clouds throughout all the air, but thickcH towards

/

w* / *t

C welt and north-weit. j

Regifter of the Barometer and Thermometer In Abyflln'ia.

6-ji

Monthsl Hcurs. , Barometer.

JULY
29

30

31

AUG.
I

12 N.

2 E.
6|E.
6 M.

12 N.

2 E.
61 E.

6i M.
2 E.

6^ E.

6 M.

12 N.

2 E.
6^E.
6 M.
2 E.
6^E.
6 M.
12 N.
2 E.
6^E,

6 r.".

12 N.
61- E.

6 M.

12 N.

2 E.
6i-E.

12 N.
2 £•

6
6
6

5

5
6

6

5
6

6

6

6

6
6
6
6

6 6

rher.

6
6

6
6

6 2

6
6

63T
61

63
S9r
58
61

59

Wimls.

Rcmarkb on the Wca'.hcr.

j^ S Large flying clouds throughout all the air, two cur-
C rents of wind, one from S. the other from N.

63

64

60}

■ - !
/4

58
S9
59i
59

58

59

1

601

58-^

58A

58
59 i

159

NNW
N
N

W

N
I N
N W
WNW

NNE

Clouds clofeiy united throughout all the air.
Clouds come from north-eaft are very low and heavy.
All the air is covered with clouds clcfely united-
Large clouds flying through ail the air, they come

from north-weil and north-eaft.
All the air is covered with clouds.
The clouds come from north-eaft, and are very thick.
All the air is covered with clouds.
Thick united clouds through all the air-
Large flying clouds very black efpecially in the hori-
zon at fouth and north, loud thunder and the fun
covered-
Clouds flying throughout the air.
Thick flying clouds from the eaft, likewife fome

come to meet them from the weft-
Rain for a few minutes.

Thick clouds at north they come from north-eaft.

Thick flying clouds throughout all the air.

Rain.

Great mafles of clouds at north-weft-

x^U the air is covered with clouds.

It rained for fome minutes.

Flying clouds throiighout the air.
NNE j Rain, with clouds united all over the air.
xT-.y CThe cloudy are joined all over the air, and a mift

NNE

ws w
w

N varying
tnNNE

WNW

NNE

NNW

SWbN

N
N

NE

N
NbyE

W

NNE

comes from fouth
Heavy clouds throughout the air, it rains.
The whole flcy is covered with clouds, it rains.
All the air is covered with clouds.
Moderate rain, the clouds crofs from north-weft

north and fouth-eaft.

Large flying clouds at north v/hich come from eaft.
ditto. Large clouds remain in the horizon,
ditto. Flying clouds, they come frequent ail over the air.
S W I Large clouds ail over the air.

MW S^'^^^^''^ clouds through all the air, and are very low.
I a ftream of mill goes conftautly to the S.

672

Regiiler of the Barometer and Thermcjineter In AhyrTinla.

•>Ioiit:is! Hours.

MJC.

6 6^E.

Barointtcr. iTher.l Winds.

7; 6 M.'2I 7 Oi54|:

12 N.{ai 6 5i58
2 E.'ai 6 2;6i

8

10

li

64- E. 21 .6 4
6 M.Ui 6 7

i2 N.J2I
2 E, 21
6jE.J2I

6 M.
12 N.

31

21

3 £, 2 1

65
62

6 2

« 3
6 I

21 6 I

21 6 9
2165

21 6

0|E.

6 M.

12 N.

2 E.

6-1 E.

6 M. 21 6 6

I 2 N. 2 I 64
2 E/2I C 3

21 6 3

60
62

57i

57
6o|

611

iSi

56^

6oi

Heiiiarki on tiii" Weather.

N
SW

w

SW

to y/ s w

S varying
tQ S S W

0 4 FJ."^ ? i^

M.l?, J 6 0

l.-^^-

5^

H

"9

5"

All the fky is covered with thick clouds, the low-

cft come from louth very quickly.
A thick mift covers the whole air.
Ditto.

i he clouds heavier to the fouth.
N 1 W ^ The clouds are all joined throughout the air, there

(, is a ftream of mift coming from the north.
N N W ! All the air is covered wuh clouds, it rains,
u' varying ^ Thick clouds through all the air, they come from
fouth-eaft, and north-eaft.
Ditto.
Thick clouds throughout 'the iiir efpecially at north,

they come from foiith-eall, fmall rain.
Thick clouds in great mailes through all the horizon.
,Clouds flying throughout all the air, they come
^ from no'th and fouth.

vr cw^^'^'^'^^ '^'^°"' ^^^^ north, and very thick clouds through-
^ ^ out the air, they come from north and fomh.

Rain and thick clouds throughout the air. Two cur

rents of v.'ind, the one from the fouth the other

from the north.

Thick clouds cover all the air.

Clouds mixed with large fpaces of clear. The clouds

come fromthe eaft with great violence againft the

wind.

Thick clouds throughout the air, two currents of

wind, one from north-eaft the other from north-

wcIL crofs one another. Thunder in the W.

All the f^y is covered with thick clouds. The upper

current from the cafl, the next from north, and

the laft fo low as to touch the earth. They crofs

with great velocity and force.

Clouds cover the vdiole face of the fsy.

Clouds throivghoutihe air, the wind in two currents

nonh and fouth.
I Moderate rain the whole fky overcafl: with clouds.
^, j Very thick clouds throughout the air. Two currents

'3 n''r-^ ] of wind, the higheft from north, the lowcrt from

( north-eaft.
N N v.. j Light clouds cover the fky like a veil.

N varving

to n' vv

NE
W

N'N E

N
NE

SE

N by f:

Regifter of the Barometer and Thermometer In Abyffinia.

^71

Months.

AUG.
13

H

15

i6

17

Hours.

12 N.
2 E,

7tE.

6|M.
12 N.

2 E.

6^E.

6iM,

12 N,

6^E.

12 N.

2 E.

6^E.

6 M.

12 N.

3 E.

18 6 M,

19

20

12 TST,

2 E.
64- E.
6|M.
12 N.
2 E.
6^E.
6 M.

Barometer.

6 6

12 N. 2

Vol. IV.

rher.

69
64

6 3

6 2

64

6 3
<5 2

6
6

6'
6
6
6

6

6

6

6
6
6

6ii

60

60
61^

\V inds.

Remarlcs on the Weather.

57

60
6i-i-

55t
611

C Large cloiuls near the hoiizon, efpecially at north
noith-eafl:.
The \k.j is oveixaft with tliick clouds and clofely

uruted at fouth.
Black clouds, and very low in the horizon. Two cur-
rents of v.'ind, the one caft fouth-eafl the other
north, which crofs each other.
Clouds blowing about the horizon, the zenith clear,
'\ A current of clouds from north and fouth, thunder and
lightning through all the fky.
w varying C Violent rain, it has thunderexl two hours without in-
\ terval.
Large flying clouds throughout the air.
Ditto.
. Clouds through all the air, and it begins to rain.
Black clouds. Two currents of air come from the
N. and S. along the Mountain of the Sun. It has

i thundered and lightned all afternoon, and the light
ning runs in fheets upon the earth like water.
I The fky overcaft with thick clouds,
j Ditto.

( The fky overcaft with clouds, excepting in the foutli,
\ welt clear.

Thick clouds throughout the air.

Thin clouds like a veil cover the fky.

Thick black clouds cover the fky, and come from N.

Clouds as above but thickeft at fouth.

Black clouds throughout the air, efpecially at north
\ well:.

I Thin clouds cover the air like a veil.
t Very thick clouds throughout the air, it rains, clouds
C come from north and fouth.

Ditto.

Black clouds all over the air-

W

NW

N

NE
ditto. \

in

to N

NNE
W
N

NNE

ditto.

N

NNE

ditto-
ditto-
N

N Varying

toKNE

N by E

NE

NW

6 5|^4

6 3,60

6 9|^6t

6 5'6i

NW
NNE

ditto.

ditto.

N by E

NNE

ditto.

Small light clouds fiy throiighout the air*
Pvain, thunder, and lightning.

Black clouds all over ihc flcy.
Ditto.

Flying clouds cover the whole air.
N N W '^^'^ begins to rain, clouds very heavy, they come from!
1^ norlh and Ibuth, and meet in the zenith

6/4

ftegifter of the Barometer and Thermometer in Abyffinia.'

Months

AUG

20

Hoursi

Barome'er. iTher.l Winds

23

£.2 1

12 N.'2I

2 E.
6^E.

21

21

6 M.

12 N,

21

12 N.|2I
2 E. 2 I

6i E.2I

7 M.

12 N.
2 E.

21 70

67 E. 2 1

2 1
2 1

6^M.
12 N.

6^ E
6iM

I
21

21
21

12 N,

2-7 E. 2 1

|Ther.[

6 3

6 J £.'2 1 6 3
6 M.:2I 6 9

6 5
6 3

6 5

12 N.21 6 4

6i £.'21 6 4
6 S
64

2 E. 21 63

67E.I21 6 -7

7 M-ki

6 7

6 ^

6 6

62i

59

554

63i

64

59?
63

5H

.0

:>^

59t

^H

6o|

57

?9t

S'9i

58I

6-

6 6

6 5
6 6

6 7
6^

6 8

65
6 A

62

59i

57
55 T

-Q3
J^4

^'9
56

6ii-

kcnjarks un itit W^

N varying
to N N ii

N

N
N
N
N

Nby E

N N E

NE

N

N

N
NE

J,

j^ r Great clouds throughout the air, the S. W. is
1 clear.
NN E Clouds throughout the air, they come from the N,
ditto. Clear and cloudlefs.

Thick clouds come from the fouth, fome fmall ones
from the north.
M \l wl'^^^'^^ clouds cover the whole airs they come with
1 great violence from the nortli.
jThick clouds and very low from the north, thunder
[ and rain without ceafmg.
! Clouds with violent rain thunder and lightning.
Broken clouds throughout the air, but black ones
come from the north,
i Flying clouds cover the air.
Thick clouds .throughout the air, but thickeft at

north.
Thick clouds throughout the air, rain in the S.
Rain and thick clouds.
Clear, except a little hazy at S. S. W,
Thick clouds throughout the air, it rains at north
It rains at eaft.
Rain and thick clouds throughout the air^ efpecially

in the weft.

Great clouds thi-oughout the air, efpecially at fouth

and north, a ftrcam of dark mill comes from the

fouth very low.

W 9 w/^^*^'^'' ^^^^ thick clouds throughout the fky, efpecially

I at fouth and north.

ditto. ! INIoderate rain, thick clouds throughout the fky.

XT /Dark clouds very low throughout the air, it is very

1 cold.

NNE
W

NW

Light clouds, but frequent throughout the air.
It rains violently efpecially from the fouth-weft.
Very thick clouds throughout the air, a low ftream
comes from north.
^ J Light clouds fly throughout the r.ir, they come from
j eaft and weft.
W h g/-^^'"?^ thick clouds efpecially at north, the loweft
^ \ come from the weft.
|., /Thick clouds in the horizon, it rains hard, the air
[ is all covered

■ «a ii»« ipii«ji.iiuiii II

Reg'ifter of the Barometer and Thermometer in Abyffinia.

675

Months

AUG'

27

28

30

Hours.

Barometer. Ther.l Winds.

3^

SEPT.

6^E.

6 M.

12 N.
2 E.

6 M.

12 N.
2 E.
6|-E.
6 M.

12 N,

2 E.

6^E.

6 M.

12 N.

2 E.

6iE.

6 M.

12 N.

2 E.
6i- E.
6 M.

12 N.

2 E,
6^E,
6 M.

12 N,

2 E,

e'-E,

6 M,

21

21
21
21

21

21
21
21
21

21
21

21
21
21
21

21

21

21
21
2 1

21

21
21

21

21

21
21
21

6
6
6

7

6
6
6
6

21 64

6
6
6
6

6
6

6

6
6

6
6
6

6
6
6

Remarks on the Weather.

59t

57
61

58

57

62
62

59

5H

59
63

58i

57
62

64

61

56;
624

63
60

57

64

65t

58
63t

631
60

N

NE
N
N

NE

W

NNW
N
N

N

NNE

N

N
N
N

NNE

NE

N

NNE

N
NE

N

N

NNE
N

C Thick clouds, all the air is covered efpecially at fouth
^ and north.
All the air is cloudy-'

Clouds as above a ftormy rain at north-weft.
Thick clouds in the horizon.
S Large clouds flying throughout the air, efpecially at
( fouth.
Wandering clouds throughout the air.
Clouds as above, but thicker.
Large mafles of clouds from the N. W-
Both eaft and weft are covered with thick clouds.
Great clouds throughout the air, violent rain, thun

der, and lightning.
Large clouds throughout the air, and a moderate

rain.

Very thick clouds through the whole horizon, thefe
go in currents to the fouth-weft and north-eaft,
but leave the zenith clear.
Light clouds throughout the air.
Flying clouds, but dark to the fouth.
Large clouds efpecially at fouth and north
Very thick black clouds cover the air-
Clear and cloudlefs-
( Thick clouds cover the air, they come from north
I and fouth.
I Thunder at fouth-weft.

j Dark clouds in the horizon, efpecially at S. W,
i Clear and cloudlefs.

^Thick broken clouds, they ftream from north and
fouth.
Ditto.

Clear fmall clouds in the horizon at N* W. and S.
Clear.
C Clouds throughout the air efpecially at north, thun
(^ der in the eaft.

Moderate but conftant rain, coming from the north-
weft.
N N E j Clouds in the horizon to the north and north-weft.

N varying
to NE

56^ N by El Clear.

4 0.2

5^6

Reglfter of the Barometer and Thermometer In Abyflinia.

Months) Hours.

SEPT. 1

4*12 N,

2 E,
6^E.

6 M.

12 N.

2 E.

6|-E.

6 M.

12 N.
2 E.

6 M.

12 N.

2 E.

6^E.
6 M.
12 N.
2 E.
6^E.

64-M.

12 N.
2. E.

6^ £.

Barometer.

10

6 M,

12 K.

2 E,

,6^ E.

Ill 6 M.

'12 N.

I

' 2 E.

I 6iE,

12; 61.M,

!I2 N,

6 7

6 4
67

4

6

7
6

6

6

7
6

6

7
6

6

6

7
6

6
6

2

Ther,

7

7
6

7

7

6
6
6
6

61

60

sH

6 7

5§
62

63
60,

57

63t

66

61

57

62

60

67

65

(^7

6ji

SH

68 i
66

587

68:

69

64,

60,

661-

65

Winds.

Remarks on the Weather.

ENE

NE
N

NNE

N
NN W

NNE

N E '

NNE
ditto.

N
NE

W -

N E

N

N E

WNW

NW

N
NE

S E
NE

N _N E

NW

toNE

NNE
ditto
N
NNE
■N E

N vaty'.iig
to .ME

N
N

Clouds throughout the air efpecially at weft, violent
C thunder and lightning.

SCioud.s throughout the air, and rain which feems to
Y be violent to the weftward.

) Very thick clouJr, throughout the air, efpecially at
eaft, louth, and louth-weft.

x4i.ll the air is covered with light clouds. .

Clouds which have overcaft all the air.

Ditto.

Violent rain and clouds everywhere efpecially at N

Small clouds throughout the air, they come from
the fouth and north

Large clouds throughout the horizon-
Ditto.

Large dark clouds from the north and eaft.

Light clouds Hying throughout the air.

A mort violent rain, which began with north-eaft
winds> but changed to weft, and ended in a hail
fhower..

Rain and thick clouds, the rain comes moft violently
from north-weft.

The clouds are united through the whole air.

Light clouds in the horizoa.

Ditto..

Ditto..

Low dark clouds in the nonh-weft and fouthi-weft.

Small white clouds fcattered through the horizon.

Light fmall clouds through the air.

Great clouds through all the horizon.

Black clouds in the horizon to the W. N. W. and S
W.

Clear and cloudlefs.

Thick clouds throughout the air.
Small flying clouds throughout the air.
Large -clouds occupy the air-
Ditto.
Ditto-

violent rain from N. E. and the whole (kj overcaft
Thick clouds throughout the air.

j Light clouds cover the fl^y like a veil.

j Cloud-:; cover the air which come from the north-eaft.

Reglfter of the Barometer and Thermometer in Abyflinia.

Months Hours.

SEPT.

12: 6\- E.

Baro;n£ter. Ther.j Winds.

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

6 M

12 N,

2 E.

64- E,

6 M,

12 N.

2 N,
6i-E,

12 N,
2 E,

6i^E.

6^M.

12 N.

2 E.

6|E.

6 M.

12 N.
G{ E.

6 M-

12 N.

-^ '- E.

6 M.

12 N.

2 E.

6|E.

6 M.

iI2 N,
I

i 6iE.

21' 6 M.

12 N, 2

6

6

6

6
6
6
6
6

6
6
6
6

7
6

6

6

Remarks on the XVeather.

9h

NbyE^^'

ght clouds towards the zenith, heavy ones tc
the horizon at north and weft, lightning at

W vif L.

72

7
6

6

6

6

6

6

6

6 4

6 6

7 o

6 5

5SI

65
65

63

59
66

66

61

59
6M

6 c

61

58.

65,
62

58^
67

67
02

58 f

66

64-1

63
59

66

6o-'-

57
60 A

NNE j Clear.

\VS W<J White clouds fly throughout the air, which come
\ from north-eaft and fouth-weft.

Clouds as above but more frequent.

Large black clouds in the horizon at fouth.

Clouds cover the whole air.

Large clouds from N. W. and S. E.

Large clouds thro' the vfhoie air.

Black clouds in the horizon at north. .

Ditto.

Ditto.

The clouds are lighter.

All the air is covered with thick clouds, lightning

at north-weft
The whole air is covered with thick clouds.
Ditto.
Ditto.

It rains violently, the fky all overcaft.
The fky clear, except a fmall cloud in the horizon

at weft.
Great clouds cover the-air, which come north-eaft

and fouth weft
Thick clouds to the horizon.
Clear.
Clouds fly through the air.

Ditto.

Ditto.

Clear.

Many clouds throughout the air.

Large clouds darken the whole air.

All the air is covered with clouds.
(Light clouds cover the air thicker towards the hoii-
C zon

N

N

NNE

N N W

ditto.

N varying
to VV

NNE

S %arying
to S E

N

N

NN E

wsw

ditto.

N

NNE

NW

N

NE

E

N varying
to N N W

N-

N E

Nby E

ditto.

ditto

NE

, Thick clouds throughout the air, they come from

weft-
Ditto.
Cicar.

NW

N E
N by E

N W S^ quantity of black clouds throughout the horizon,
- tbey move from the north-eaft.

678

Reglfter of the Barometer and Thermometer in AbyfTioia.

Months

Hours.

Barometer.

Ther.

winds.

Remarks on the Weather.

SEPT.
2J

2 E.

0 '

21 6

4

0
64

ditto.

Ditto.

6^E.

21 6

5

64

N E '

Thick clouds throughout the air, the lower current

comes from the fouth the other from north-eaft.

22

6 M.

21 6

7

57t

NE j

Clear everywhere, excepting one cloud in the hori-
zon to the weft.

12 N.

21 6

3

67

S !

A dark cloud is fplit into many and covers the whole
air.

2 E.

21 6

3

68

NNE

Flying v;hite clouds throughout the air.

6^-E.

21 6

3

6x^

N E '

1 Small rain, the clouds are thick and heavy, they

^j 2

<

[ come with the wind from north-eaft.

23

6 M.

21 6

4

58

ditto.

Clear fmall clouds to the horizon at weft

12 N.

21 6

3

67

ditto. -

' Thick heavy clouds throughout the air, which come
from north-eaft.

2 E,

21 6

4

65

NW

Thick clouds and thunder at weft.

6iE.

21 6

3

61

NE

Thick black clouds throughout the air-

24

6 M.

21 6

8

58

ditto.

Ditto. ■

12 N.

21 6

3

65i

S E

Ditto.

2 E.

21 6

3

65\

N W

Ditto.

6^E.

21 6

3

63

N j

Thick heavy clouds throughout the air, efpecially
at fouth and weft.

25

6 M.

21 6

4

59

NE

Thin clouds cover the whole air.

12 N.

21 6

3

66i

E N E

Ditto.

2 E.

21 6

2

68

NW

Ditto.

6^E.

21 6

3

62

N

The clouds are heavier.

26

64 M.

21 6

6

59

N E

Ditto.

I 2 N.

21 6

3

68

E by n'

Strong fqualls of wind come in ftarts, white clouds

through the air, coming from north-eaft.

2 E.

21 6

2

68|

NE

Ditto.

6^E.

21 6

2

65

N

Clear.

27

6 jvi.

21 6

8

6gL

NNE

Clear.

12 N,

21 6

3

68

E bv N

Ditto. — But a few flying clouds.

2 E.

21 6

2

69I

n'e

Thick clouds fcattered about the air.

61 E.

21 6

3

63

W NW

Black clouds in the horizon to the S. and W.

28

6 M.

"I I 7

- /

I

571

N E

Small black clouds flying in the weft.

12 N.

21 6

4

68

ditto- ^
(

^ Small white clouds iu the north north-eaft and north-
' weft.

2 E.

21 6

70

ditto.

Dhto.

6i-E.

21 6

3

64

N

Clear, excepting a fevr fmall clouds to the W.

29 6 M.

21 '7

0

58

NE

Clear.

12 N.

21 6

4

hi

ES E

Ditto.

2 E.

21 6

3 69 1 ditto.

Ditto.

Regiiler of the Barometer and Thermometer in Abyflinla.

'679

Month?

SE
29

30
OCT

Hours, i

i

6t

E.

6

M.

2

E.

6"-

E.

6

7

6 M
12 N.

6-i-E,

6 M.
12 N.

2 E.

O M.
12 N.
6-!- -^

6 M.

12 N.

6 M.

I 2 N.

2 E.

64- E.

6 M.
12 N.

64- E.

6 M.

12 N.

2 E.

3iE,
6-Le.

6 M.

12 N.

2 E.

Barometer.

t; > '/

II 6 3

21 6 7
21 63

21 64

21
21
21
21
21
21

21

21
21
21

21

21

21
21
21
21
21
21

21
21
21
21

21

'21
21
21
21

Ther- Winds.

Remarks on the Weather.

6
6
6
6
6
6

6

6
6
6

6

6

6
6
6
6
6
6

6
6
6
6

66 'I N C Flying couds throughout the air, they come from

^ I the E. N. E. and S. E.

58f N E ; Clear.

E S E i While light clouds throughout the air.
j^ S Clear except a few fmall clouds in the horizon to

70
66

6g
66

593
69^
69"

66

60
6c,i

60

64

60
64

■ » o
.*)

6U

5«
68

64

59

68-^

67-

the weft.

NE

\V
•>Iby W

NE

ditto

N

^7

N

NNE
NE

N

NE

N varvint^
to N W

N

N

N

N

N E

E

NbE.

ditto.

NE

N by E

N E

6 2'6i|

6 758i
6 2 65 -V
6 I 67

N

N
NE
NW

Clear, only a few clouds atfouth-weft.
Clouds cover the whole air.
Clear.
Ditto.
Ditto.

Clouds throughout the whole air, clear in the E
CCIear, excepting a very few fmall clouds at fouth-
\ eaft andfouth-weft.
Clear.
Ditto.
Ditto.
CCIear till mid-day, it then overcaft and rained an hour
C with violent thunder and lightnino-.
C Thick clouds near the horizon at north-weft and
C fouth-weft.
Light clouds throughout the air.
Small rain, the whole fky overcaft; it thunders.
Clouds throughout the air, a little rain at S.. W.
Clouds throughout the air.
Ditto.
Ditto.
Ditto.
Clear,
j Clouds flying through the air.
[.The fky is overcaft, but the fun appears fometlmes.
j Rain and violent large hail, it lafted about half an
J hour, and came from the fouth againft the wind,^
fome of the hail nearly half an inch round. It lay
upon the Mountain of the Sun near one hour
without melting.
Many c'ouds through the air.
Light clouds flying throughout the aii".
Ditto;
Ditto.

6'8o

Regifter of the Barometer and Thermometer in AbyfTinia.

Month?
OCT

8
o

lO

n

12

*0

15

16

Hours, i Barometer. iTher

! I

I , ' "'.a

6i-M.|2

12 y ,-2

6^ E.|2

64m. ,2

12 N. 2
64 E. 2

6iM.

12 N. 2

2 E.
6|E.

6yM.

12 N.

2 E.

6^ K

12 N.

6lz.

iS

^9

6j

12
2

M.
E

6|M.

12 N.

2 E.

6^E.

12 N.
2 E.

6| e.

12
2
6| E.I2

6|M.|2

12 N.;2

2 E.:2

6|E.'2

6-Vm. 2

N. 2

E.'2

N. 2

I
E.'2

6

6
6
6
6
6
6

o'6U

I

066
i!6o

6i57T
2K>4

3:^1

6''--'

6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
•6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6

6
6
6
6
6

6
6
6

I 601

60

56

63

s^

66
661

4

69^
66

o
o

9
I

I

I

3
I

i';59t

69
66

59

67

67I

WinHs.

Remarks on the Weather.

N

N

S
N E
ditto,
ditto,
ditto.

ditto.

SW

N
N

NE

ws w

N

NE

NbyW

N
N E
ditto.

N

N.N E ,

N W

W

N

NE
S AV

N

W

NE

NW

NbyW

N

Nby E

ditto.

'I

0)69

o'65i

I 67

067^.

^W

o

S N V/

; N E

,KNE
>•! '-.J E

Clear, unlefs fomc clouds ia the caft and well near

the horizon.
Small clouds Scattered thro' the air.
Large clouds come from fouth-welV.
Dark clouds throughout the air.
Clear,

Clouds flying throughout the air, the fun covered.
Violent rain thunder and lightning.
Clear, only fome fmall clouds in the horizon at N.W.

fouth and fouth-weft.
White 'lying clouds from the S., E- and fouth-weft.
The fky is overcaft, and there is appearance of rain.
The air overcaft with thick clouds.
Thin flying clouds throughout the air.
Thin vvhitc clouds to the weft and to the north.
Large moving clouds throughout the air.
Ditto.

Ditto, the fun covered.
All the air is covered with clouds.
Clear.

Light flying clouds throughout the air.
Clear.
Ditto.
Ditta

White clouds flying throughout the ah.
Ditto. — They come from fouth-eaft
Clear.
Cloudy-
White clouds come from the fouth-eaft.

Clear.

Ditto.

Clouds throughout the air.

Ditto.

Clear.

Thin clouds like a veil cover the whole Iky.

White flying clouds throughout the air.

Ditto.

Ditto-

Ditto.

Small flying clouds throughout the nir.

Ditto- ■

Regifter of the Barometer and Thermbmetei' In Abyffinia.

68 1

Month J

OC'i.
20
21

22

23

24

Hours.

61m.

12 N.
2 E,
6iE.

Barometer.

2 I

2
2
2
2

6^
12

NOV.

20

21

2 E.
6y E.
64-M.
|P. M,
2 E
64^ E
G^M

12 N

2

6^

12

2

6

6
12

E.
E.

M-
E.
E.

M.

N.

22

23

6

24; 6

12

2
6

6 E.

6 M.
12 N.
2 E.
6^E.
6 M.
I 2 N.
2 E.
E.
M.

N.'2

E.!2

p. -7
1'

6
6
6
6
6
6

6
6
6
6

5
6

6

4
o

o

I

4

o

o
o
I
o

9

o

2
O

8
o

Ther.

O

59t

S9I
61

68i

67
61

69,.

69i
66}
61

66^

66-1
65

4 9:71

4 517^

5 569^

6 660

5 771

5 i'73

5 7%^
6761

5 571

4 9 74

5 769

6 561

Winds

N by E

NE

NNE

NW

N

NE

ssw

N

N

Nby E

sw

wsw

N
N E

N

N W
N

Rtinarks on the Weather.

Ditto.

Ditto.

Ditto.

Ditto,
j Ditto.
! Clear.

(White flying clouds throughout the air the fun is
C fometimes darkened.

Dhto.

Clear.

Ditto.

White clouds flying throughout the air.

There has fallen three or four fmall {howers*

Tl

Clear,
f Flying clouds throughout the air, they come from
I N. E. arid S. E.

The {kj overcaft, fmall fliowers and thunder

Clear.

nicK cloud'^ throughout the air.

5 4

4 8

5 4

6 2

4 9

4 7

5 3

71

74
69

6x

72
71

NbNW

N N W

N

N E

W varying
to S W

w

N

NE

W

w

N E

ditto.

W

NbyW

N W
N by E

Vol. IV.

Flying clouds throughout the air.

Ditto.

Black clouds near the hox'izon.

Clear.

Ditto.
(Little clouds flying throughout the air, they come
C from north-eafl:.

Clear.

Ditto.

Flying clouds throughout the air.

Ditto.

Black clouds in the horizon at weft.

Clear. ■

Light clouds throughout the air-
Ditto.

Clear.

Ditto.

W S W^^^^^''^ clouds flying througliout the air, they come
(. from north-eaft.
W I Ditto.
N N W All the fouth is covered with thick clouds.

i -- ....Ul ..I. .■ . ■.!.'. I..MI, — ..- ... . . ■ ■

4R

682

Rcgiiler of tlie BaVom^feT and Thermometer m AbylFuria.

Months!

Hours.

Barometer. iT.ier. ' V\in-ls.
1 1 _ __

Remarks on the Weather.

NOV. 1

0

' " r. 1

^

25

6 M.

21 -

6 3 6oi^ NE

Clear, only a thin veil covers the fky fouth.

12 K.

2 1

5 2,70

N N E

Ditto.

2 E.

2 1

4 871

N\V I

Ditto.

6 E.

21

•

5 8

/
Hr

^ All the fky is covered with very thick clouds, which
\ come from north-eaH.
. - (Small fpotted clouds iic;ir the horizon, all the reft

26

6^M.

21

6 3

59.

N \ clear.

'

r

The air is covered with clouds which come from

12 N.

21

6 5

68

N N W-

theTouth.

2 E.

2 1

5 0

70T

N E

Small white clouds throughout the horizon.

6 E.

21

6y

/ *

N N W

Clear, only Imall clouds in the horizon,. at north.

27

6lM.

2:1

6 2

59i

N

Ditto-

12 N.

2r

5 6

60

ws w|

A quantity of clouds thro' the whole air, efpecially
at fov^th; ,

Clouds as above, there have been three blaflis of wind

2 E.

21

5 2

69

NW '

which lafted for about half a minute each, then
calmed.

6 E.

21

5 5

67

NNW

Clear. ,

28

6^M.

21

0 4

60 V

N

CHear, except a few fmali clouds to the W. S. W.

12 N.

21

5 H

69

NbW

Flying clouds thrcughcut the air, the fun is covered.

2 E.

21

5 2

71

ditto.

Flying clouds from the fouth.

6 E.

21

5 7

67

NNW

Light clouds like a veil.

29

6^M.

21

6 8

59

N N E

Clear and cloudlefs.

I 2 N.

21

5 8

69

NW )

Clouds flying throughout the air, efpecially at fouth,
the fun ii covered.

6 E.

2.1

5 8

65'

ditto.

Clear and cloudlefs.

-50

6iM.

21

6 9

59
69r

W N W

,Thin clouds throughout the air.

«-/

12 N.

21

6 0

N varying <
to N \V I

Thick clouds thioughout the air^ which come from
eaft, the fun covered.

2 E.

!2I

i

5 4

71

NW j Thin clouds throughout the air. j

6 E.

Ui

5 7

67

duto.

Ditto.

DEC.

1

6iM.

21

6 8

597

N

Clear.

12 N

:2I

i

5 9

69

N W

White flying clouds throughout the air.

2 E.

j'? I

5- 2

72

ditto.

Ditto.

n

6'^M

i2I

6 2

59i

NbE

Clear.

12 i; 2 1

5 7

^A

N W

Thin white clouds throughout the air.

6 E.21

5 f^

68

NbE

Clear.

3

6 M. 2-1

6 3

5^4

1 NE

Clear and cloudl : •

12 1<I. 2 1

5 4

1

i N W

Dltio.

2 E 21

4 4

-n

IN b W

Ditco.

6 2. 21

.>■ :?

6,

1 N N E

d; to. ...

Reglfter of the Barometer and Thennonicter in Abyffinia,

683

Months
DEC
4

Hours. I Barometer. iTher.

6

12

2
6
6

M.

N

E.
E

M

10

I 1

12

I^

12 N.

2 E

6 E.

6 M.

12 N.

2 E.

6 E.

12 N.
2 E

61- E.

6i-M.

12
2

E.

6iE.

6i-M.

12 N.
2 E.

6^E.

6^M.

(2 N.
2 E.

6i-M.

^ N.
6^E.
O^M.

6| E.

1

I

6 4| 59
5 8j69i

5 Oi73v

5 6169^^

6 4I59

5
4
5
6

5
4

5
6

5

5

6

6

5 2

6 I

6 8

5 7

^9y

73

59I

70

71^
68

6y

70T
654
60

Remarks on the Weather.

Ditto.

Clear, excepting fome fmall ftreaks in the horiz;on to

the weft.
Ditto.

Clear, except fome fmall clouds to the fouth.
Clear and cloudlefs.
Ditto.
Ditto.
Ditto.
Ditto.

Small flying clouds throughout the air.
Ditto,
r Thick heavy clouds throughout the air, they come
^ ^ -^ • from the fouth-eaft.

7IT
^^

60

70

72

8167'^

'59^

67
68
67
60-V
6
o'67i
6 4601
5 869

5 867^

6 460

1J09

ditto.

NE
SW

'n

ditto.

NW

L

N E Clear,
W N W Small clouds fcattered like a veil about the air,
N W Ditto.

J Clear, except fome fmall ftreaks in the horizon, at

weft and fouth-weft
j Clear.

f^Large clouds throughout the air, which come from
> noith-eaft, the fun is covered.
} Ditto.

„ \ Large dai-k clouds throughout the air, they come
^ ^ (^ from the north-eaft.
N E I Clear and cloudlefs.

Flying clouds come from the north-weft.
The clouds are increafed in number.
Large clouds throughout the air, they come from
north-weft.
N E ^ Clear.

ditto. Heavy clouds cover the air from the north-eaft.
N Ditto.
NbvW Clouds in -the fouth-eaft and fouth.
N E Clear.

N W Clouds throughout the air, the fun covered.
N Flying clouds throughout the air, efpecially at S. W,
N by E Clear.

N N W Small flying clouds throughout the air.
N Ditto.
N E I Clear. ^

J. R 2

N

684

Regifter of the Barometer and Thermometer In Abyffinia.

Months' Hours. : Barometer. Ther. Winds.

DEC- j

13112 N.

2 E.

7 E.

7 M.

7 E-

7 M

2 E.

14

16

/

18

19

20

7 E.

7 M.
12 N.

64- E.

6^M.

12 N.

I 2 E.

6|E.

6^M,

I 2 K .

■2 E.

6-V E.

6|m,

12 N,
2 E.

5tE,

6r E
12 K

2 E.

6^E.

21

6^M.

12 N.

2 E.

6iE.

22

6-Lm.

12 N.

2 E.

6-V r.

5 969

5

5
6

5
6

5

5

^^ 7
6 o

6 o

2,70t

767
360

5-,67.

7'59

37°!

,591
091

69

59i

%H
72
68
60
5 270
2

6 5

6 5

4 7

5 4

6 3

4 6

6 3
5 3

s O

6

6c)

62

70
6 9 1,

W

N W
NNW
NbyW

w ,

NN E
NbyW

N

NE
W

Remarks on the Weather

09

63^
71

/^

5 3

5 ^
<;• 4170

6 662

5 8 71
5 3 70

6 Oi;i

7 o

5 8

5 2

6 I

63

72
74

70T

w

NE-
Yv^
W

N W
NE
W

v/

N va'ylnp C
to N \V j

NE

N W

W

N W

dkto.

N'f^

ditto.

W

N N E

N E

ditto.

N N E

N E
ditto.

w

N E
W

Ditto. . - .-

Small clouds flying through the fouth.

Clear.

Ditto.

Ditto.

Ditto.

Ditto.

(Ditto — Only a finail white ilreak of clouds in the
( horizon, to tlie fouth-weft.

Clear and cloudlefs.

Small clouds, near the zenith.

Clear, only fome fmail llreaks cf clouds in the hori
zon, to the S. W.

Light ciQuds like a veil covei^ the air.

Small clouds throughout the air.

Ditto.

Dark clouds in t'he horizon to the W. and S. W-

Clear-
Light clouds throughout the air-
Ditto.

Large black clouds cover the whole iky, they come
from-the.eaft.

Clear, only fmall ftieaks of black clouds to the W-

White clouds through the air, they come from N. E-

Ditto-
Great clouds throuehout the air, a fmall rain for
feveu minutes', the Iky cloudy to the N.

Ditto.

Clear, except a few ftreaks of clouds at the horizon.

Many clouds throughout the iky, the fun is covered.

Ditto.

Clear.

Ditto- . .

Ditto.

Clear and cloudlefs.
C Clear, but Ibrne fti-eaky clouds in the horizon at fouth
; and ibuth-well-

Clear and cloudlefs.

Ditto.

Ditto.

Ditto.

i

Regifter of the Barometer and Thermometer in Abyflinla.

685

(Months
DEC.
23

Hours.

24

25

26

27

28

6yM,

12 N,
2 E

64- E,

29

30

6

12
2
6

6|m.

12 N.
2 E.
6^E.

64m.

12 N.
2 E.
6^E.

12 N.
2 E,
6^ E,

6|ivi.

12 N.
2 E.

6^E.

64-M.
12 N.

2 E.

6|E.

6^M.
12 N.

2 E.

6y E.

6iM-

12 N.

2 E.
■6-L E.

Barometer. Ther. Winds.

7 2
5 7
5 o

6 6

5
5
5
6

5

4

5
6

5

5

5
6

5
5

5
6

5
4

6lT

71

73

5 2

6

5

4

5
6

5
4

5 7
46

71

60

71
73
71

7H

71

707
62

7°i
73
71T
62

70T

73

71X

63

71

73-

7^

6i
71

73r

7^

62i

70
72
70
63-;-

71?

72
69t

NE

W

W

w

NE
W

w
w

N E
W

w
vv

NE
W

w
w

NE
W

w
w

NE
\V

w
w

N E

wsw
w

w

NE

W

\v
w

N E
W

w

WNW

Remarks on the Weather.

Ditto.

Ditto.

Ditto.

t Ditto. — Only a few flreaks in the horizon to the
fouth.

Clear and cloudlefs.

Ditto.

Ditto.

Ditto.

Ditto.

Ditto.

Ditto.

Ditto.

Ditto.

Ditto.

Ditto.

Ditto.

Ditto.

Ditto.

Ditto.

Ditto.

Clear.
, Ditto.

j Small flying clouds throughout the air.
r Small ftreaky clouds in the horizon ; at weft fouth-
weft, about ten at night, there came violent blaft;
of wind which lafted only a few minutes.

Small thin clouds throughout the air.

Small fivinjH; clouds.

The clouds increafe, and the fun covered.

Streaky clouds to the weft and fouth-weft.

Light flying clouds througlioat the air.

The clouds are turned heavier.

Heavier ftill^and the fun covered.

Large clouds in the horizon to the fouth.

Thick clouds flying throughout the air.
(The clouds are larger and more united, the fun is
C covered, and the fouth only clear.

Ditto.

Many clouds at the fouth fouth-eaft and eaft.

me

Regifter of the Barometer and Thermotneter m AbyfTmk'

-

<^ondar, 177 1.

Months

Hours.

Barometer.

Ther.

winds.

Remarks on the Weather.

JAN.

o

'

0

I

6iM.

2.1

M

^3^

N E

Small ftreakes of clouds in the horizon at fouth-wefl.

12 N.

2 1

56

72

W S Wj

Great white clouds throughout the air, the fun co-
vered.

2 E.

21

5 o

72t

ditto.

Ditto. .

6iE.

21

^ ^

69

W

Clouds near the horizon'

2

6|M.

21

63

62t

NE

Streaky clouds in the horizon at weft.

r2 N.

2 1

5 7

69

W

Small white flying clouds.

2 E.

21

5 0

721

wsw

Clear, only a few ftreaks in the horizon.

6^E.

21

5 5

68

w

Many clouds throughout the air.

3

6iM.

21

6 3

61

w

Clear, except a little mift at weft.

12 N.

21

5 I

70

w

Small flying clouds throughout the air.

iP.M.

21

5 0

71

w ]

(

A violent ftorm of wind changing to all points of
the compafs.

2 E.

2 1

4 8

71

w

Great clouds to the fouth. '

6^E.

2 1

5 6

68

NE •

Clear-

4

6iM.

21

64

6i

ditto.

Ditto.

12 N.

21

5 4

70

WNW

Ditto.

2 E.

21

4 9

71

W

Small white clouds flying about the air.

6iE.

2 1

5 6

68i

yr S Clear, only a fmall ikeak of clouds at fouth and
I and fouth-weft.

5

6-^M.

21

6 5

62

N E

Ditto.

12 N.

21

5 6

70

\v s w

Ditto.

2 E.

2 1

4 9

72

w

Clouds flying to the north.

6^E.

21

5 6

69

w

Clouds flying to the fouth-eaft.

6

'. 2 E.

21

4 9

72

w

Flying clouds in the north.

6^E.

21

5 5

70

w

flying clouds to the fouth-eaft.

7 6yM.

21

6 6

62^

wsw

C louds throughout the air.

12 N.

21

5 6

73

w

Overcaft and the fun is coA'^ered.

-ITT- 1 XT ^ Ditto. — A violent ftorm of wind, whicli lafted four

IyE.:21

t

1

5 3

72

WbyNj . '
■^ C mmuies.

'2 E. 21

5 I

■73

W Clouds cover the whole air.

Regifter of the Barometer and Thermometer in Abyffinia.

687

Months

Tlours.

B

arometer.

Thcr.
1 °

Winds.

Remarks on the Weather.

JAN.

0

' /'

7 6fE.

2

t 5 7!*59i

N

Clear, but a black ftreak of clouds to fouth and 8. W.

8 6^M.

2

[ 6 464

W

Clean

12 N.

2

f 5 5i7^

w

Flying clouds through the air and the fun covered.

2 E.

2

[ 4 8j74v

w

Ditto.

6'-£.

2

t 5 7;69t

w

Clear.

9

12. M,

2

[ 6 3]6s^

NE

Ditto.

12 N.

2

f 5 3i7^

ssw

Small clouds flying through the air.

2 E.

2

I 4 7i72T

WNW

Ditto. — The fun covered.

6^E.

2 J

1 ' 1 '

5 4;70

w

A very few fmall clouds in the air.

ID

6yM.

21

6 060

N E

All the air is overcaft..

12 N.

21

4 9 73i

ditto.

Ditto.

2 E.

21

4 672^

ditto-

Ditto.

61 E.

2]

1

' 5 0

72t

W

Small but black flying clouds through the ain-

II

6-^M.

21

6 I

64

NNE

Clouds flying through the horizon.

29

12 N.

21

f 5 5

75

S W Flying clouds throughout the air.- j

2 E.

21

5 4

74

WSW

Ditto. _^

30

12 N.

^ 1

7 3
[ 6 4

66',

A little thicker at the horizon.

21

70

NW

Ditto.- — With appearance of rain*

2 E.

21

[ 6 3

70

ditto.

Overcaft.

6iE.

21

6 6

69

ditto.

A little clearer, the clouds come from fouth-weft.

61m.

65

(

Overcaft, efpecially at eaft and north-eaft, the clouds

31

21

7 4

coming from the north-weft.

12 N.

21

6 8

70 i

s s w

White clouds come from the north-eaft..

2 E.

21

6 4

73

NNW

Light white clouds from the fouth-weft.

,FEB.
I

6i E.

21

^9

70

N W

Clear,, except a few clouds from the north-eaft.

64-M.

21

[ 74

6?

SSW

All overcaft, and the fun covered.

12 N.

21

: 7 o'69

ditto.

Ditto.

2 E.

21

[ 0 5172

N VV

Ditto. ^

6^E.

21

i 7 o;68

N

Ditto.

2

6yM.

21

7 2165

Nby E

Ditto.

12 N.

21

■6 8 72

N.

^Vhite clouds in the fouth and eaft-

2 E.

21

64

74

N W

Ditto — But a violent wind-

64- E.

21

6 9

68

NNW

Clear-

3

6|M.

21

6 8

65

NNE

Ditto.

12 N.

21

6 6

73

. W

Ditto-

■

2 E.

21

6 I

74

W

White clouds flying; throughout the air;

6^E.

21

64

69

NNW

Clear, but a violent ftorm of wind-

4

6lM.

21

7 I

65

N

Clouds throughout the alr-

I 2 N.

21

7 0

72

S W

Ditto-

2 E.

2]

67

72-r

N W

Ditto- — But the fun covered.

6S8

Regifter of the Barometer and Thermometer hi Abyflinla.

Months

TTbT
4
5

Hours.

Baroiue'cr.

lO
I I

12

16
17

6^E.2

12 N.
2 E.
6i E.

64m.

12 N.
2 E.

6-Ve

64-M.

12
2
6

6^
12
2
6
6

2
6
6

12

12
2
6

12
2
6

12
2
6

12
2
6

12

2

6

G

12

E.

e.

M.
N.
E.

tE-

N.
E.

- E

yM.

N.
N.
E.

- E
N,
E.

IE.

N.

E.
M.
N.

E.
M.
N.

E.

E.
M

I

n:.'2

7
7

6^

7

7

I

7

7 4

6

7
6

6

7

7

7
6

7

7
6

6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6

7
6

6
6

7
7

Ther.

Winds.

70

N

64

N

70^

■ iN

71

N W

08

ditto.

63 V

N

71

N

71^

N W

68

ditto.

64^

nJ

73

N\V

74

N

69I

N

66

N E

73

N

75

N W

70

N by W

63

N by H

72

•■NW

74

ditto.

694

ditto.

C>3l

N NE

72

S W

73

NW

7.^-

ditto.

70

N

72

S

75

W

70

N W

72-

s w

75

NW

70

s w

72

ditto.

75

w

631

N

727

N W

75

ditto.

70

W

631

N

71

N i

Remarks on the Weather.

Clouds flying throughout the air.

Clouds like a veil cover the fky.

Flying clouds throughout the air ^fpecially at north.

Clouds at fouth fouth-eaft and fouth«

Clouds flying through all the horizon.

Small white clouds flying from north, the reft clear

Scattered clouds.

Light clouds.

Ditto.

White clouds at fauth and fouth-eaft, towards the

horizon.
White clouds at eaft, north, and north-eaft-
Clear.
Ditto.
Ditto.

White clouds from the eaft, north,^and fouth-eaft-
Clear.

Clear and cloudlefs-
Ditto.

White clouds flying in the fouth and eaft.
Ditto.
Clear-
Clear and cloudlefs.
Light clouds like a veil cover the fky.
Clear.
Ditto.
Ditto.

Small clouds in the north-eaft near the horizon.
White clouds in the eaft.
Clear.

Large white clouds throughout the air.
Ditto.
Clear.
Ditto-
White broken clouds at eaft, the reft clear.
Clear.
Ditto.
Ditto.
Ditto.

All the horizon is black and covered v;ith clouds.
White broken cloud;; throughout the air.

RegiHer of the Barometer and Thermometer in Abyflinia.

■6S^

Months

FEB.
26

27

28

March
I
2

Hours.

Barometer. ,Thei.

2 E. 2

6 E. 2

6 M. 2

6 E, 2

6 M. 2

12 N.'2

6 E.

6 M.

12 N.

6 E.

6 M.

12 N.

6 E.

M.
M.
N.
E.
M.

6
6
12
6
6

12 N.

6 E.

6 M.

6 M,

12 N.

6 E,

6 M.

12 N

6 E

6 M,

12 N

3iE

6 E

8 6 M

il2 N.

2
2

2
2

^

2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2

2

2

2

2

2

2
2

i

I

6 4 74
6 2 69

6 470

6 870

7 464
6 873

6 6:70

6
6

6
6
6
6
6

5

.5
6

6

5
5

/^

66

7

5 o

5 8

6 3

5 7^
71

69-^

70^
71

75
64

73'.
72

69ir

74

75t
681

65

79^
72

63

77

63

4 7'8o

4 480

5 480

5 281

Winds.

N
N
N

NW
N

N

N

NbvE

NbyW

ditto.

N

NW
N byW

N

N

S

S£

ES E

S S \V

W

S by E

N E

NW

W

w
s
s
w

WbyN

W

W

SE

S W

Remarks on the Weather.

High white clouds.

Ditto.

Ditto.

Ditto.

Clouds at the wefl and eaft.
C A violent ilorm of wind from the fouth, which lafl:-
^ ed five minutes.

c Clouds and rain for about three quarters of an hour.
I Violent thunder, the clouds come from the eaft.

It rained in the night for about an hour and a quarter

Large thick clouds, but the fun fhines.

Clouds throughout the air.
cTJie heavens are covered with a light veil ; it rained
I half an hour in the night.

Ditto. — Clouds come from N. E. and S W.

Clouds all over the (ky, but moft at fouth and weft.

A thin veil covers the fky, but the fun fhines thro' it.

Flying clouds in the fouth.

White flying clouds, the fun is covered.

Ditto.

Clear.

Thick heavy clouds cover the whole air^

Ditto.

It rained two hours in the night.

The fky is covered with a light veil.

Ditto. :

Ditto.
C Thick; clouds cover the air, it has rained about half
(^ an hour in the night-
i Thick dark clouds, and appearance of rain.
C Thick clouds in the fouth, it has rained and hailed
(^ about an hour.

Clear.

Thick clouds in the fouth, but clear in the zenith.

Overcaft with thick clouds in the fouth and weft, it
^ rained and -liailed with thunder and lightning.

Thick and fiat clouds, with frequent lightning.
A Clear, but has rained twice in the night half an hour
\ at a time.
I \^v'hite clouds throughout the air.

4S

6,

90

Reglfter of the Earome-er and Thermometer in AbyiTinia.

Months Hours.

Mar(-'i j

8i 6 E

9 6 M,

12 N,

6 E.

6 M.

12 N.

6 E.

6 M.

12 N.

6 M.

lO

I I

12

H

15

16; 6

Bar

ometer. jTh

12 N.

& E

13 6 M

1 2 N,
6 E,

6 M.

12 N.I2

6 E,

6 M.

12 N,

6 E.

M

112 N

j 6 E-

17 6 M-

12 N.

6 E.

18' 6 M-

i I 2 N.

j 6 E.

19' 6 M .

12 N •
' 6 E.

20 6 M-;2

6

5

5
6

5

5
6

6

6

471

3,64

C|74

2:74
0,82

4176

9

6
6

7
6

7

7
6

7

6 I

7 4

6 9

7 o

6 9

f, 7

o I

7 o
6 o

6 3

7 o

64

6 ^

671
76^
69^

09 T

70

71

67i

70

694-
66^

70^
691

75

69i

56

77

7r

65 i

77

73

67-^
76

7^i

winds.

w

NNE

W

N W

NNE

WNW

N W

N by E

N W

N

N W

Remarks on the Weather.

N :

N
N

N N W'

N

N W

NbyW

N

NW

N b W

NWbN

N W
NWbN
N ■

N \V
N b W
N N Yv
j NW

! ditto.

N
N W
ditto.

7 0 77T1 N

Ditto.

Clear.

White thin clouds very hot in the fiin.

Clear.

White thin clouds throughout the air.

Clear.

Ditto.

Sky is covered with a thin veil.

Clear, only fmall clouds appear in the air*

The fliy is covered with a thin veil.
[OvercaR with thick clouds, which come from north-
< eafl; andibuth-weft, it is likely to rain, cold and
I unpleafant.

t Cloudy to the north and warm. It rained hard for
I three quarters of an hour immediately after noon

Cloudy every whei'e.

Cloudy and cold.

A thick veil covers the iky, clouds in the horizon
to the fouth-

Overcaft all round.

Clouds all round, with fmall drops of rain.

Cloudy everywhere except in the zenith.

A thin veil covers the fky, faint fun-fbine.

Cloudy all round, and a few drops of rain.

Cloudy everywhere except in the zenith,
(f Small white clouds united all over head, high wind
( all night.

Large white clouds in the eaft.

Clear.

Ditto. "^

Ditto-
Cloudy, but the fun fets clear.

A thin veil covers the^ Iky.

Light flying clouds, but a clear fun-fhine.

Clear all above^ and v/ithout clouds,, but hazy in the
horizon.

Perfeilly clear everywhere.

Cloudy, but fun-lhine.

Clear and fereiie.
C Clear above, but hazy in the horizon at north-eaft,
^ and fouth, _^__^__

Reglder of die Barometer an-i Thermometer in Abyffinia.

69!

Montlio^ H-iurs.

■ Trcii ■

20 12 N.

1 6 E.

21; 6 M.

;i2 N'

Barometer.

j 6 £.12

22) 6 M.

12 N,

6 E.

6 M,

12 N,

23

24

27
28

6 E,

29

30

31

N,
E,
M.
M,
12 N,

6 E,

6 M,
12 N.

2|N,

4iE.

6 E.
2|m,
6 M,
8 M,
12 N,
6 M

21
21
2 1
21

rier.

6 6:77!

6 3;73t
6 9

6 4

6
6

6 2

6 9

7 o
6 4

o o

o 4

II 9

20 II 5

20 II .6

20 II 5

21 II 5

o o
o 9
I

70T

76i

69^

75

71I

7^
72

681

7t

O 5:744

Remarks en the Wc-uther

ditto.

21 o o 67I

ditto.

NE

NE

E

NE

ditto.
E

N

S

N W

Large white flying clouds, but clear fun-fhine.

Clear and lereiie.

A thin veil covers the fky.

Clear, but large white clouds to the fouth-eafl.
C Clear above, and hazy in the horizon at north eaft
? and fouth.

Overcaft with fmall broken clouds.

Cloudy*

Cloudy all over and clofe,
I Cloudy, efpecially at fouth, clofe.
I Large heavy white clouds and clofe.
S Cloudy to the fouth, a violent fliower of hail and
rain which lafted 18 minutes.

Cloudy and warm.

Ditto.

Cloudy and clofe.

Ditto. — Heavy towards the fouth.

Sun-fhine, with large white clouds*
("Rains, overcaft with dark heavy clouds. The firft
C violent lightning and thunder.
C AH overcaft, heavy and dark clouda come from weft,
i loud thunder in the night.

C Cloudy and clofe, wind varying to fouth, clouds come
(^ from north-weft and weft.

fA violent blaft which lafted a few minutes- Loud
thunder in the zenith and fouth, clouds, with rain,
drive from eaft and fouth-vveft.

"It has rained till now and cleared, with the wind at
north-eaff, thunder and cloudy ftill in the fouth,
clouds drive from north-weft.

Clear fun-fliiae, clouds Hy fwiftly from vv'eft.

Lightning, clouds from weft and north, clqfe.
rlt has thundered, lightned, and rained violently all
^ night ; cloudsjfrom- weft and eaft fly moderately,
j Conftant heavy rain, clouds fly all roimd.
^ It has ceafed raining with wind at north varying to
^ north-weft.

j Heavy white clouds froin north-weft, faint fun-fhine.
r Cloudy, the clouds come from north-weft, faint fun-
i fliine.

4 S

692

Regifler of the Baro.^let:er and Theraiometer in Abyfliaia.

Monthi

March
. 31

April

Hour

12 N.

6

6

[■2

3\
6

6

12

6

6

12

E.

M.

N.

•N.

N.
E,

M.

N.

3tE-

6 E.

6

12

6

6

12

M

N

E.

M

N

Barometer. ITher.

2 1

21

2 1

2 1

21
21

21

21
21
21
2 1
21
21

21

2 1
21

-E.

2^E,

10

6

6

12
6

3
6

6

12

6

6

M

N
E
E.

21

21

21
21
21
21
E. 2 1
M. 21

E.

21

21

o 4

I

o

o o

21 O. 3

I o
o 9

04

1

o
o
o
I
o

Winds.

Rcrjarks on the Weather.

Nb E
NN W

o 8

o
o

o

o
o.
o
o
o
I
1

68}

72-

72 T
71

691

67V

72

7244

7oi
^7

7H
69 V
73

73i
69

70
68i

73

73}

m

72\

^ Cloudy all round, clouds come from north, dark in
I the eaft.
Cloudy, the clouds come from north und fouth-^eaft.

E Faint fun-fliine with a light veil over the fky.

N E Cloudy and dark, ftormy like to the fouih.
^ C A violent lliower of hail which lafted nine minutes,

\ and cleared with wind at north north-eaft.
ditto, j Cloudy and clofe, dark and ftormy like to fouth.

' Clear fun-fhine, with large white clouds, lightning

N

and rain all the night.

N W j Cloudy all over.
,., ^., „ C Cloudy in mod parts, which fly fwiftly from eaft and

ditto,
ditto.

SSEvarvlng-
to N N E

N N E

N E

NbWvary-
ing toNNE

N

73

I o;7i

7;68,^

Cloudy to the fouth and dark, clear to the northward

Cloudy, they crofs ftom weft and eaft.

Raiii and cloudy all over.

Cloudy throughout.

Clear and lerene everywhere, no rain laft night.

Cloudy, the clouds drive from eaft and weft-
Cloudy, with a violent high wind, clouds crofs the
zenith Iwrftly from weft.
N E b E I High wind, but clear.
N W I Large white clouds-, bat clear fun-fliine.

(Heavy rain,. thunder in the fouth, clouds from eaft
C. and weft. .

It is all overcaft, and thunders in the zenith ; it has
\ rained till now, there has been a ftrong wind
l^ which lafted 25 minutes. .

S Clear, witli a few clouds in the horizon at north
C and fouth'

Cloudy, high white clouds cool and frefh.

Cloudy, dark and rainy like in the fouth.

Large clouds chiefly to the north- and clofe.

Clouds with fmall rain.

High light white clouds clofe and warm.

Dappled fky, and faint fun-ftaine.

It has thundered all dav, but no rain.

Varying to eaft and north, dark and ftormy like
all round.
N N E j Cloudy all over, it rained in the night one hour.

N

NAV

N E

NEbE
E

NN E

S E varying
to S

S E

E

S E

NE

Regifter of the Barometer and Therinometer la AbyiTiuia.

6gy

Months Hours. ! Barome'cr.

April I

Io'l2 N.

. II

26

27
28

29

30

31

MAY
I

6 E,
6 M.

12 N.

6 E.

6 M.
12 N.

6 M*
12 N.

6 M.
12 N.

6 E.

6 M.
12 N.

6 £.

6 M.
12 N.

6 E.

6 M.
12 N.

6 M.

12 N.

6 E.

6 M.

6 E.

6. JNI.

12 N.

6 E.

6 M.

12 N

6 E

6 M

:2 N

6 E.
6 M.

12 i>r.

21
21
21

!^-.

iai

*

•21

i

21

21

21

21

21

21

21

21

21

21

21

21

21

21

21
21
21

21

21

21

II
21

21
21
21

;2i

!2 I

i

O
O

o
o

I
I
1

Ther.l Winds.

Remarks on the Weather.

467^

3p7T
467^

°,72i

0,7 1 i

467

073

5^7
871^

467

772
70
68',

67

70

69

73

71

70

75i

21

'2 1
21

O

o
o
o
o
I
I

I

o

73 r

69t

63

78

75

74y

^3

77

6gi
7^

757

65
79 I

C Faint fim-fhlne, with fome high white clouds, it
^ rained half an hour in the night, and thundered,
j Cloud and ftormy-like, dark clouds.fly from E. toW
C Faint fun-lhine, with fome high white clouds,it rain-
C ed a little.

Heavy white clouds.'

Clofe clouds flying from eaft and weft,

Sun-fhine and cloudy by turns.

Sun-fliine, but f^iint large white clouds.

Clear and ferene.

Fligh wind, and clouds from north-eaft.-

Clear, but cold and windy.

Cloudy and dark both in the fouth and weft.

High wind fince noon.

Cloudy, windy, and ftormy like, it begins to rain.

Cloudy to the fouth and north.

Wind cold bleak, but clear-
Cloudy, it rained in the night.

Cloudy and windy.

High wind, bleak and cool, .cloudy in the fouth.

Cloudy and heavy to the fouth.

Rain, heavy and dark clouds to the weft.

Heavy rain, with intervals.

Cloudy in the weft.
N E Cloudy all over, it thunders in the fouth.
c r- ^ Cloudy, and like to rain, the clouds come from north-
^ ^ I eaft. .

N W '.Cloudy and heavy in fouth and weft
v.. ^All overcaft, cloudy in north-eaft, it rained hard in

NE

N

NE

w s w

N

■ NE

S E

NE

N

N E

S S E

N

N N E

N.

N

N

N W

N

ditto.

N
NNE

NN E
N E
ditto-
N W
ditto.
N E
N W

ditto.

NT E

N \y

the night.
Cloudy, but not like rain.
Cloudy all over head, but high.
Clear and ferene, but hazy in the horizon to the S.
Clear, and without clouds-
All overcaft, it lightens- violently^
Clear, and ferene, it rained a few drops in the night.
Clear a few white clouds come fwiftly from eail.
Cloudy and dark in the fouth, clouds come from

fouth-eaft and fouth-weft
Heavy clouds in the fouth.
I All cvercait, douds come from fouth-eaft, and eaft.

6()^

PvegiHer cf the Barometer and Thermometer in Ahv/linla.

[Month!

may"

6

7

Hours. I Baroine'.er. riicr.' Wir.di

6 £.

6 M.

12 N.
6 E.

S 6 M.

1 2 N.

21

21

2 1

P 8 70

^I I 9:59

121

i

6 £.121

10 6jM.
il2 N.
i 6 E.

11 6 m.

I 2 N.

6 E.

14I 6 M.

12 N.

6 E.

15 6 m-

12 N,

6 E,

6 M.

I 2 N.

6 E.

6 M.

I 2 N,

6 M.

I 2 N .

6 E.

16

19

21

22

6 M

1 2 N,

6 E.

2-1, 6 '\^

il2 K.

21
21
21
21

21

21
21
2 1
21
21
21
21
21
21

(21

I
2 I

21

21

21

21
21

21

21

I
'21

2 I

ivemarks on [!<.- Wca'her.

S E It hae rained violently fincc three, overcafl all round
Clear, though there are Hill clouds to the Jbuth, it
E

rained heavily in the night, y-iad varying ail
round from fouth to north.

2 74

71-

o\6^i

° 517.3

61721

7162
0I78

77c>T
7|6it

074

o

4

6

o

5

7^-.

63

74
66

66

78

73i

63 _

4|75t

0174

6^3

o

,1-

I o

62

73

73
62

76

I 074
I 9|6i
I 2 73

N W

ditto.

N ,
N E

ditto.

ENE
N E
ditto.
N\V

N by \y

N W
ditto,
ditto.
N E

N E
NW
S W

NE
S W
ESE
N W
SSE

N E

N by W

NWbW

N W

W

S E

N W
ditto.

^Cloudy to windward arid to S. F. clouds fly rapid-

i ly different ways, but chiefly from fouth-weft.

c Cloudy and warm, heavy to the ibuth, lightning and

i fmall rain.

j Clear and pleafant light, white clouds from call.

r Cloudy, clouds fly from north-well, north-eaft, fouth-

> weft and louth.

/Small m.in, wind varying to fouth-eaft, fouth fouth-

) - eaft, dark in the fouth.

Clear fun-fhine, a few thin clouds to the eaft.

Light clouds in the fouth-eaft.

Thin narrow ftreaks of red clouds to the W.

Clear every\siiere, and warm.
C A heavy cloud rifes in the feuth, light clouds at N.

It has rained fmall rain by intervals, but is very dark,

Cloudy everywhere but in the zenith.

Overcaft clouds come flo-.vly from fouth and north.

Clear, only a few light clouds to th . i( uth.

Ditto.

Cloudy in the fouth and north, but the zenith clear.

Cloudy all round, and likely to rain, clofe and warm.

Clear, bright funftiine.

Cloudy and davk to the fouth and north-weft.

Cloudy, it has rained a few drops.

Clear, unlefs in the fouth-eaft a few clouds.

H"gh white clouds, but no rain.

Clear, with a few white clouds to the north and eaft.

Ditto. — They feem ftationary.

Cloudy, it lightens ; thunders heavily in the fouth.

Clear and fercne, but warm

A fmall black cloud afcends from the eaft, turning

round like a wheel upon its axis, qu'^ker as it ap

proaches the zenith.
Heavy and cloudy, it lightens greatly.
Large heavy white clouds all round.
Cloudy and bleak.

Regifter of the Barometer and Tbermomcter in AbyfTinia.

^OS

Months

may"

23

25

26

29

30

31

Hours.

6 E,

6 M.

12 N.

6 E.

6 M.

12 N.

6 E.

6 M.

12 N.

6 E.

6 M.

12 N.

6 E.

6 M.

12 N,

6 E,

Barometer.

21 I 3

21 16

21 O 3

2 1 04

21 08

21 O 5

21 10

21

21
21
21
21
21

21

Ther.i Winds.

67 j ditto.
6;^ I ditto.

21 10

21 14

Remarks ci the Weather.

/J)

62

ditto.

N Tiryiiig
to E & S

N

I

73 N W

72

75

7o\

64

75

73

70

N W vary,
ing to 3

.f

N

N W
NE
ditto,
ditto-
EN E

ne

N W

N

Cloudy and clofe.

Some white heavy clouds to the Ibuth-eaft and '^~ft,.
they fly fwiftiy, and turn as a wheel as before j.
[ at ten o'clock heavy clouds,
j Cloudy, the fun covered, dark in the north-weii.
fit began to rain, thunder and lightning aboiit three,
^ and fo continues dark every wriere.
fit has rained heavily alt night, the fun at times
^ overcaft.
i Cloudy, it has rained feveral times this forenoon.

It has rained heavily lince two, dark and cloudy;
when the wind comes fouth it falls calm, and
I then is the heavieft rains.
5 High white large clouds to the weft andeaft, it rain-
\ ed all night.

Large white clouds all round the horizon.

Ditto.

Cloudy to the fouth, but the fun clear and pleafant

Cloudy.

Cloudy in the fouth, but clear everywhere elfe.
5 Clouds veiy high, they come irom the eaft towards
t the zenith.

C Cloudy all round, clouds crcfTmg from fouth and
C eaft, and north-weft,
j It has rained a few drops, afid thuncered.

£ND OF THE FOURTH FOLJJME,

f./

w

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