Dr Shaw, indeed[174], says, that there seems to be a descent from the

banks to the foot of the mountains, but this he considers as an optic

fallacy; I wish he had told us upon what principle of optics; but if it

was really so, how comes it that the banks are every year dry, when the

foot of the mountains is at same time under inundation; or, in other

words, what is the reason of that undisputed fact, that the foot of the

mountains is laid under water in the beginning of the rivers rising,

while the ground which they cultivate by labour near the banks, cannot

supply itself from the river by machines, till near the height of the

inundation? these facts will not be contraverted by any traveller, who

has ever been in Upper Egypt; but if this had been admitted as truth

instead of an optic fallacy, this question would have immediately

followed. If the land of Egypt at the foot of the mountains, is the

lowest, the first overflowed, and the longest covered with water, and

often the only part overflowed at all, whence can it arise that it is

not upon a level with the banks of the river if it is true that the

land of Egypt receives additional height every year by the mud from

Abyssinia deposited by the stream? and this question would not have

been so easily answered.

The Nile for these thirty years has but once so failed as to occasion

dearth, but never in that period so as to produce famine in Egypt.

The redundance of the water sweeping every thing before it, has

thrice been the cause, not of dearth, but of famine and emigration;

but carelessness, I believe, hath been, the occasion of both, and

very often the malice of the Arabs; for there are in Egypt, from

Siout downwards, great remains of ancient works, vast lakes, canals,

and large conduits for water, destined by the ancients to keep this

river under controul, serving as reservoirs to supply a scanty year,

and as drains, or outlets, to prevent the over abundance of water

in wet years, by spreading it in the thirsty sands of Libya to the

great advantage of the Arabs, rather than letting it run to waste in

the Mediterranean. The mouths of these immense drains being out of

repair, in a scanty year, contribute by their evacuation to make it

still scantier by not retaining water, and if after a dearth they are

well secured, or raised too high, and a wet season follows, they then

occasion a destructive inundation.

I hope I have now satisfied the reader, that Egypt was never an arm

of the sea, or formed by sediments brought down in the Nile, but

that it was created with other parts of the globe at the same time,

and for the same purposes; and we are warranted to say this, till we

receive from the hand of Providence a work of such imperfection, that

its destruction can be calculated from the very means by which it was

first formed, and which were the apparent sources of its beauty and

pre-eminence. Egypt, like other countries, will perish by the _fiat_

of Him that made it, but when, or in what manner, lies hid where it

ought to be, inaccessible to the useless, vain inquiries, and idle

speculations of man.

CHAP. XVIII.

_Inquiry about the Possibility of changing the Course of the

Nile--Cause of the Nucta._

It has been thought a problem that merited to be considered, Whether

it was possible to turn the current of the Nile into the Red Sea, and

thereby to famish Egypt? I think the question should more properly

be, Whether the water of the Nile, running into Egypt, could be so

diminished, or diverted, that it should never be sufficient to prepare

that country for annual cultivation? Now to this it is answered, That

there seems to be no doubt but that it is possible, because the Nile,

and all the rivers that run into it, and all the rains that swell those

rivers, fall in a country fully two miles above the level of the sea;

therefore, it cannot be denied, that there is level enough to divert

many of the rivers into the Red Sea, the Indian, and Atlantic Oceans,

or, perhaps, still easier, by turning the course of the river Abiad

till it meets the level of the Niger, or pass through the desert into

the Mediterranean.

Lalibala, as we have already seen, attempted the former method with

great appearance of success; and this prince, to whom the accidental

circumstances of the time had given extraordinary powers, and who was

otherwise a man of great capacity and resolution, might, if he had

persevered, completed his purpose, the thing being possible, that is,

no law of nature against it, and all difficulties are only relative

to the powers vested in those who are engaged in the undertaking.

Alexander the Great would have succeeded--his father Philip would have

miscarried--Lewis the XIV. would perhaps have accomplished it, as

easily as he united the two seas by the canal of Languedoc, and with

the same engineers; but he is the only European prince of whom this

could have been expected with any degree of probability.

Alphonso Albuquerque, viceroy of India, is said to have wrote

frequently to the king of Portugal, Don Emanuel, to send him some

pioneers from Madeira, people accustomed to level ground, and prepare

it for sugar-canes, with whose assistance he was to execute that

enterprise of turning the Nile into the Red Sea, and famishing Egypt.

His son mentions this very improbable story in his[175] father’s

commentaries; and he says further, that he imagines it might have been

done, because it was a known fact that the Arabs in Upper Egypt, when

in rebellion against the Soldan, used to interrupt the course of the

canal between Cosseir on the Red Sea, and Kenna in Egypt.

Tellez and le Grande, mentioning the two opinions of the father and the

son upon this subject, give great praise to the son at the expence of

the father, but without reason.

In the first place, we have seen that the utmost exertion Don Emanuel

could make was to send 400 men to assist the king of Abyssinia, whose

country was then almost conquered by the Turks and Moors. It was not

then from India we were to expect the execution of so arduous an

undertaking. And as to the second, the younger Albuquerque is mistaken

egregiously in point of fact, for there never was a canal between

Cosseir and Kenna, the goods from the Red Sea were transported by a

caravan, and are so yet. We have seen, in the beginning of this work,

the account of my travelling thither from Kenna; this intercourse

probably was often interrupted by the Arabs in the days he mentions,

and so it is still; but it is the caravan, not the canal, that is stopt

by the Arabs, for no canal ever existed.

The sum of all this story is, a long and violent persecution followed

the conquest of Egypt by the Saracens, who were accustomed to live

in tents, which, with their dislike to the Christian churches, made

them destroy all the buildings of stone, as also persecute the masons,

whom they considered as being employed in the advancement of idolatry:

these unhappy workmen, therefore, fled in numbers to Lalibala, an

Abyssinian prince of their own religion, who employed them in many

stupendous works for diverting the Nile into the Red Sea, or the Indian

Ocean, which I have already described, and which exist entire to this

day[176].

This idea, indeed, had subsisted as long as the royal family lived

in the south part of Abyssinia, in Shoa, in the neighbourhood, and

sometimes on the very spot where the attempt was made. When the court,

however, removed northward, and the princes, no longer confined in

Geshen, (a mountain in Amhara) were imprisoned, as they now are, in

Wechné, in Belessen, near Gondar, these transactions of remote times

and places were gradually forgot, and often misrepresented; though,

so far down as the beginning of this century, we find Tecla Haimanout

I.[177] (king of Abyssinia) expostulating by a letter with the basha of

Cairo upon the murder of the French envoy M. du Roule, and threatening

the Turkish regency, that, it they persisted in such misbehaviour, he

would make the Nile the instrument of his vengeance, the keys of which

were in his hand, to give them famine or plenty, as they should deserve

of him. In my time, no sensible man in Abyssinia believed that such a

thing was possible, and few that it had ever been attempted.

As for the opinion of those, that the Nile may be turned into the

Red Sea from Nubia or Egypt, it deserves no answer. What could be

the motive of such an undertaking? Would the Egyptians suffer such

an operation to be carried on in their own country for the sake of

starving themselves? and if the country had been taken from them by an

enemy, still it could not be the interest of that conqueror to let the

inhabitants, now become his subjects, perish, and much less to reduce

them to the necessity of so doing by such an undertaking.

Much has been wrote about a miraculous drop, or dew, called Gotta, or

Nucta, which falls in Egypt precisely on St John’s day, and is believed

to be the peculiar gift of that saint; it stops the plague, causes

dough to leaven, or ferment, and announces a speedy and plentiful

inundation.

I hope my reader will not expect that I should enter into the

discussion of the part St John is thought to have in this event, my

business is only with natural causes.

Memphis and Alexandria, and all the ancient cities of Lower Egypt,

stand upon cisterns, into which the Nile, upon its overflowing, was

admitted, and there remained till it had deposited all its sediment,

and became fit for drinking. These cisterns are now full of filth;

though in disrepair, the water, when the Nile is high insinuates itself

into them through the broken conduits.

In February and March the sun is on its approach to the zenith of one

extremity of Egypt, and of course has a very considerable influence

upon the other. The Nile being now fallen low, the water in the

cisterns putrifies, and the river itself has lost all its volatile

and finer parts by the continued action of a vertical sun; so that,

instead of being subject to evaporation, it becomes daily more and

more inclined to putrefaction. About St John’s day[178] it receives a

plentiful mixture of the fresh and fallen rain from Ethiopia, which

dilutes and refreshes the almost corrupted river, and the sun near at

hand exerts its natural influence upon the water, which now is become

light enough to be exhaled, though it has still with it a mixture of

the corrupted fluid, so that it rises but a small height during the

first few days of the inundation, then falls down and returns to the

earth in plentiful and abundant dews; and that this is really so, I am

persuaded from what I observed myself at Cairo.

My quadrant was placed on the flat roof, or terrass, of a gentleman’s

house where I was taking observations; I had gone down to supper,

and soon after returned, when I found the brass limb of the quadrant

covered with small drops of dew, which were turned to a perfect green,

or copperas colour; and this green had so corroded the brass in an

hour’s time, that the marks remained on the limb of the quadrant

for six months; and the cavities made by the corrosion were plainly

discernible through a microscope.

It is in February, March, or April only, that the plague begins in

Egypt. I do not believe it an endemial disease, I rather think it comes

from Constantinople with merchandise, or passengers, and at this time

of the year that the air having attained a degree of putridity proper

to receive it by the long absence of dews, the infection is thereto

joined, and continues to rage till the period I just spoke of, when it

is suddenly stopped by the dews occasioned by a refreshing mixture of

rain-water, which is poured out into the Nile at the beginning of the

inundation.

The first and most remarkable sign of the change brought about in the

air is the sudden stopping of the plague at Saint John’s day; every

person, though shut up from society for months before, buys, sells, and

communicates with his neighbour without any sort of apprehension; and

it was never known, as far as I could learn upon fair inquiry, that one

fell sick of the plague after this anniversary: it will be observed I

don’t say _died_; there are, I know, examples of that, though I believe

but few; the plague is not always a disease that suddenly terminates,

it often takes a considerable time to come to a head, appearing only by

symptoms; so that people taken ill, under the most putrid influence of

the air, linger on, struggling with the disease which has already got

such hold that they cannot recover; but what I say, and mean is, that

no person is taken ill of the plague so as to die after the dew has

fallen in June; and no symptoms of the plague are ever commonly seen in

Egypt but in those spring months already mentioned, the greater part of

which are totally destitute of moisture.

I think the instance I am going to give, which is universally known,

and cannot be denied, brings this so home that no doubt can remain of

the origin of this dew, and its powerful effects upon the plague.

The Turks and Moors are known to be predestinarians; they believe the

hour of man’s death is so immutably fixed that nothing can either

advance or defer it an instant. Secure in this principle, they expose

in the market-place, immediately after Saint John’s day, the clothes

of the many thousands that have died during the late continuance of

the plague, all which imbibe the moist air of the evening and the

morning, are handled, bought, put on, and worn without any apprehension

of danger; and though these consist of furs, cotton, silk, and

woollen cloths, which are stuffs the most retentive of the infection,

no accident happens to those who wear them from this their happy

confidence.

I shall here sum up all that I have to say relating to the river Nile,

with a tradition handed down to us by Herodotus, the father of ancient

history, upon which moderns less instructed have grafted a number of

errors. Herodotus[179] says, that he was informed by the secretary of

Minerva’s treasury, that one half of the water of the Nile flowed due

north into Egypt, while the other half took an opposite course, and

flowed directly south into Ethiopia.

The secretary was probably of that country himself, and seems by his

observation to have known more of it than all the ancients together.

In fact, we have seen that, between 13° and 14° N. latitude, the Nile,

with all its tributary streams, which have their rise and course within

the tropical rains, falls down into the flat country, (the kingdom of

Sennaar), which is more than a mile lower than the high country in

Abyssinia, and thence, with a little inclination, it runs into Egypt.

Again, in lat. 9° in the kingdom of Gingero, the Zebeé runs south, or

south-east, into the inner Ethiopia, as do also many other rivers, and,

as I have heard from the natives of that country, empty themselves

into a lake, as those on the north of the Line do into the lake

Tzana; thence distribute their waters to the east and to the west.

These become the heads of great rivers that run through the interior

countries of Ethiopia (corresponding to the sea-coast of Melinda and

Mombaza) into the Indian Ocean, whilst, on the westward, they are the

origin of the vast streams that fall into the Atlantic, passing through

Benin and Congo, southward of the river Gambea, and the Sierraleona.

In short, the periodical rains from the tropic of Capricorn to the

Line, being in equal quantity with those that fall between the Line and

the tropic of Cancer, it is plain, that if the land of Ethiopia sloped

equally from the Line southward and northward, half of the rains that

fall on each side would go north, and half south, but as the ground

from 5° N. declines all southward, it follows that the river which runs

to the southward must be equal to those that run to the northward,

_plus_ the rain that falls in the 5° north latitude, where the ground

begins to slope to the southward, and there can be little doubt this

is at least one of the reasons why there are in the southern continent

so many rivers larger than the Nile that run both into the Indian and

Atlantic Oceans.

From this very true and sensible relation handed to us by Herodotus,

from the authority of the secretary of Minerva, the Nubian geographer

has framed a fiction of his own, which is, that the river Nile divides

itself into two branches, one of which runs into Egypt northward, and

one through the country of the negroes westward, into the Atlantic

Ocean. And this opinion has been greedily adopted by M. Ludolf[180],

who cites the authority of Leo Africanus, and that of his monk Gregory,

both of them, in these respects, fully as much mistaken as the Nubian

geographer himself. M. Ludolf, after quoting a passage of Pliny, tells

us that he had consulted the famous Bochart upon that subject whether

the Nile and the Niger (the river that runs through Nigritia into the

Western Ocean) were one and the same river? The famous Bochart answers

him peremptorily in the true spirit of a schoolman,--That there is

nothing more certain than that the Niger is a part of the river Nile.

With great submission, however, I must venture to say there is not the

least foundation for this assertion.

Pliny seems the first who gave rise to it, but he speaks modestly

upon the subject, giving his reasons as he goes along. “Nigri fluvio

eadem natura, quæ Nilo, calamum & papyrum, & easdem gignit animantes,

iisdemque temporibus augescit.[181]” That it has the same soil from

which the Nile takes its colour, the water is the same in taste,

produces the same reeds, and especially the papyrus; has the same

animals in it, such as the crocodile and hippopotamus, and overflows

at the same season; this is saying nothing but what may be applied

with equal truth to every other river between the northern tropic

and the Line; but the other two authors, the Nubian and the monk,

assert each of them a direct falsehood. The Nubian says, that if the

Nile carried all the rains that fall in Abyssinia down into Egypt,

the people would not be safe in their houses. To this I answer by a

matter of fact, the map of the whole course of the Nile is before the

reader; and it is plain from thence, that the whole rain in Abyssinia

must now go, and ever has gone down into Egypt, and yet the people are

very safe in their houses, and very seldom is the whole land of Egypt

compleatly overflowed: and it is by no means less certain from the same

inspection, that, unless a river as large as the Nile, constantly full,

having its rise in countries subject to perpetual rains, and pouring

its stream, which never decreases, into that river, as the Abiad does

at Halfaia, all the waters in Abyssinia collected in the Nile would not

be sufficient to pass its scanty stream through the burning deserts of

Nubia and the Barabra, so as it should be of any utility when arrived

in Egypt.

The next falsehood in point of fact is that of the monk Gregory, who

says that this left branch of the Nile parts from it, after having

passed the kingdom of Dongola into Nubia, after which it runs through

Elvah, and so down the desert into the Mediterranean, between the

Cyrenaicum and Alexandria. Now, first, we know, from the authority of

all antiquity, that there is not a desert more destitute of rivers than

that of the Thebaid. This want of water (not the distance) made the

voyage to the temple of Jupiter Ammon an enterprise next to desperate,

and so worthy of Alexander, who never, however, met a river in his way;

had there been there such a stream, there could be no doubt that the

banks of it would have been fully as well inhabited as those of the

Nile, and the Thebaid consequently no desert. Besides the caravans,

which for ages passed between Egypt and Sennaar, must have seen this

river, and drunk of it; so must the travellers, in the beginning of

this century, Poncet and M. du Roule. They were both at Elvah; and,

passing through the dreary deserts of Selima, they must have gone

along its side, and crossed it, where it parted from the Nile in their

journey to Sennaar. Whereas we know they never saw running water from

the time they left the Nile at Siout in Egypt, till they fell in again

with it at Moscho, during which period they had nothing but well water,

which they carried in skins with them.

The district of Elvah is the Oasis Magna and Oasis Parva of the

ancients; large plentiful springs breaking out in the middle of the

burning sands, and running constantly without diminution, have invited

inhabitants to flock around them. These conducting off the water that

spills over the fountain by trenches, the neighbouring lands have

quickly produced a plentiful vegetation: gardens and verdure are spread

on every side, large groves of palm tree have been planted, and the

overflowings of every fountain have produced a little paradise, like so

many beautiful and fruitful islands amidst an immense ocean.

The coast of the Mediterranean, from the Cyrenaicum or Ptolemaid (that

is, the coast from Bengazi, or Derna, to Alexandria) is well known by

the shipping of every nation; but what pilot or passenger ever saw this

magnificent watering-place in that desert coast, where this branch of

the Nile comes down into the Mediterranean? Besides, the author of this

fable betrays his ignorance in the very beginning, where he derives

this left branch of the Nile from the principal river, and says, that,

after passing the kingdom of Dongola, it enters Nubia. Now, when it

entered Dongola it must have already passed Nubia, for Dongola is the

capital of the Barabra, every inch of which is to the northward of

Nubia. I do not know worse guides in the geography of Africa than Leo

Africanus and the Nubian geographer. I believe them both impostors,

and the commentators upon them have greatly increased by their own

conjectures, the confusion and errors which the text has everywhere

occasioned.

As far as I have been ever able to learn, by a very diligent and

cautious inquiry, from the inhabitants of the neighbouring countries, I

believe the origin of the Niger is in lat. 12° north, and in long. 30°

from the meridian of Greenwich nearly; that it is composed of various

rivers falling down the sides of very high mountains, called Dyre and

Tegla; and runs straight west into the heart of Africa. I conclude

also, that this river (though it has abundant supply from every

mountain) is very much diminished by evaporation, running in a long

course upon the very limits of the tropical rains, when entire, under

the name of Senega; or, perhaps, when divided under those of Senega and

Gambia, it loses itself in the Atlantic Ocean. I conceive also, that,

as Pliny says, it has the same taste and natural productions with the

Nile, because it runs in the same climate, and like that river owes, if

not its existence, yet certainly its increase and fulness to the same

cause, the tropical rains in the northern hemisphere falling from high

mountains.

I hope I have now fully exhausted every subject worthy of inquiry

as to the place where the fountains of the Nile are situated, also

as to its course and various names, the different countries through

which it flows, the true cause, and every thing curious attending

its inundations; and that as, in old times, Caput Nili Quærere, _to

seek the source of the Nile_, was a proverb in use to signify the

impossibility of an attempt, it may hereafter be applied, with as much

reason, to denote the inutility of any such undertakings.

CHAP. XIX.

_Kind reception among the Agows--Their Number, Trade, Character, &c._

After having given my reader so long, though, I hope, no unentertaining

lecture, it is time to go back to Woldo, whom we had left settling

our reception with the chief of the village of Geesh. We found the

measures taken by this man such as convinced us at once of his capacity

and attachment. The miserable Agows, assembled all around him, were

too much interested in the appearance we made, not to be exceedingly

inquisitive how long our stay was to be among them. They saw, by the

horse driven before us, we belonged to Fasil, and suspected, for the

same reason, that they were to maintain us, or, in other words, that

we should live at discretion upon them as long as we chose to tarry

there; but Woldo, with great address, had dispelled these fears almost

as soon as they were formed. He informed them of the king’s grant to

me of the village of Geesh; that Fasil’s tyranny and avarice would end

that day, and another master, like Negadé Ras Georgis, was come to

pass a chearful time among them, with a resolution to pay for every

labour they were ordered to perform, and purchase all things for ready

money: he added, moreover, that no military service was further to be

exacted from them, either by the king or governor of Damot, nor from

their present master, as he had no enemies. We found these news had

circulated with great rapidity, and we met with a hearty welcome upon

our arrival at the village.

Woldo had asked a house from the Shum, who very civilly had granted

me his own; it was just large enough to serve me, but we were obliged

to take possession of four or five others, and we were scarcely

settled in these when a servant arrived from Fasil to intimate to

the Shum his surrendry of the property and sovereignty of Geesh to

me, in consequence of a grant from the king: he brought with him a

fine, large, milk-white cow, two sheep, and two goats; the sheep and

goats I understood were from Welleta Yasous. Fasil also sent us six

jars of hydromel, fifty wheat loaves of very excellent bread, and to

this Welleta Yasous had added two middle-sized horns of excellent

strong spirits. Our hearts were now perfectly at ease, and we passed

a very merry evening. Strates, above all, endeavoured, with many a

bumper of the good hydromel of Buré, to subdue the devil which he had

swallowed in the inchanted water. Woldo, who had done his part to great

perfection, and had reconciled the minds of all the people of the

village to us, had a little apprehension for himself; he thought he had

lost credit with me, and therefore employed the servant of Ayto Aylo

to desire me not to speak of the sash to Fasil’s servant. I assured

him, that, as long as I saw him acting properly, as he now did, it

was much more probable I should give him another sash on our return,

than complain of the means he had used to get this last. This entirely

removed all his fears, and indeed as long after as he was with us, he

every day deserved more and more our commendations.

Before we went to bed I satisfied Fasil’s servant, who had orders from

Welleta Yasous to return immediately; and, as he saw we did not spare

the liquor that he brought us, he promised to send a fresh supply as

soon as he returned home, which he did not fail to perform the day

after.

Woldo was now perfectly happy; he had no superior or spy over his

actions; he had explained himself to the Shum, that we should want

somebody to buy necessaries to make bread for us, and to take care

of the management of our house. We displayed our lesser articles for

barter to the Shum, and told him the most considerable purchases, such

as oxen and sheep, were to be paid in gold. He was struck with the

appearance of our wealth, and the generosity of our proposals, and

told Woldo that he insisted, since we were in his houses, we would

take his daughters for our house-keepers. The proposal was a most

reasonable one, and readily accepted. He accordingly sent for three in

an instant, and we delivered them their charge. The eldest took it upon

her readily, she was about sixteen years of age, of a stature above

the middle size, but she was remarkably genteel, and, colour apart,

her features would have made her a beauty in any country in Europe;

she was, besides, very sprightly; we understood not one word of her

language, though she comprehended very easily the signs that we made.

This nymph of the Nile was called by nickname Irepone, which signifies

some animal that destroys mice, but whether of the ferret or snake kind

I could not perfectly understand; sometimes it was one and sometimes

another, but which it was I thought of no great importance.

The first and second day, after disposing of some of our stock in

purchases, she thought herself obliged to render us an account, and

give back the residue at night to Woldo, with a protestation that she

had not stolen or kept any thing to herself. I looked upon this regular

accounting as an ungenerous treatment of our benefactress. I called on

Woldo, and made him produce a parcel that contained the same with the

first commodities we had given her; this consisted of beads, antimony,

small scissars, knives, and large needles; I then brought out a pacquet

of the same that had not been broken, and told her they were intended

to be distributed among her friends, and that we expected no account

from her; on the contrary, that, after she had bestowed these, to buy

us necessaries, and for any purposes she pleased, I had still as many

more to leave her at parting, for the trouble she had given herself.

I often thought the head of the little savage would have turned with

the possession of so much riches, and so great confidence, and it

was impossible to be so blinded, as not to see that I had already

made great progress in her affections. To the number of trifles I had

added one ounce of gold, value about fifty shillings sterling, which I

thought would defray our expences all the time we staid; and having now

perfectly arranged the œconomy of our family, nothing remained but to

make the proper observations.

The houses are all of clay and straw. There was no place for fixing my

clock; I was therefore obliged to employ a very excellent watch made

for me by Elicott. The dawn now began, and a few minutes afterwards

every body was at their doors; all of them crowded to see us, and we

breakfasted in public with very great chearfulness. The white cow

was killed, and every one invited to his share of her. The Shum,

priest of the river, should likewise have been of the party, but he

declined either sitting or eating with us, though his sons were not so

scrupulous.

It is upon the principal fountain and altar, already mentioned, that

once a-year, on the first appearance of the dog-star, (or, as others

say, eleven days after) this priest assembles the heads of the clans;

and having sacrificed a black heifer that never bore a calf, they

plunge the head of it into this fountain, they then wrap it up in its

own hide, so as no more to be seen, after having sprinkled the hide

within and without with water from the fountain. The carcase is then

split in half, and cleaned with extraordinary care; and, thus prepared,

it is laid upon the hillock over the first fountain, and washed all

over with its water, while the elders, or considerable people, carry

water in their hands joined (it must not be in any dish) from the two

other fountains; they then assemble upon the small hill a little well

of St Michael, (it used to be the place where the church now stands)

there they divide the carcase into pieces corresponding to the number

of the tribes, and each tribe has its privilege, or pretensions,

to particular parts, which are not in proportion to the present

consequence of the several clans. Geesh has a principal slice, though

the most inconsiderable territory of the whole; Sacala has the next;

and Zeegam, the most considerable of them all in power and riches, has

the least of the whole. I found it in vain to ask upon what rules this

distribution was founded; their general and constant answer was, It was

so observed in old times.

After having ate this carcase raw, according to their custom, and drunk

the Nile water to the exclusion of any other liquor, they pile up the

bones on the place where they sit, and burn them to ashes. This used

to be performed where the church now stands; but Ras Sela Christos,

some time after, having beaten the Agows, and desirous, at the Jesuits

instigation, to convert them to Christianity, he demolished their altar

where the bones were burnt, and built a church upon the site, the doors

of which, I believe, were never opened since that reign, nor is there

now, as far as we could perceive, any Christian there who might wish

to see it frequented. After Sela Christos had demolished their altar

by building this church, they ate the carcase, and burnt the bones, on

the top of the mountain of Geesh out of the way of profanation, where

the vestiges of this ceremony may yet be seen; but probably the fatigue

attending this, and the great indifference their late governors have

had for Christianity, have brought them back to a small hillock by the

side of the marsh, west of saint Michael’s church, and a little to the

southward, where they perform this solemnity every year, and they will

probably resume their first altar when the church is fallen to ruins,

which they are every day privately hastening.

After they have finished their bloody banquet, they carry the head,

close wrapt from sight in the hide, into the cavern, which they say

reaches below the fountains, and there, by a common light, without

torches, or a number of candles, as denoting a solemnity, they perform

their worship, the particulars of which I never could learn; it is a

piece of free-masonry, which every body knows, and no body ventures

to reveal. At a certain time of the night they leave the cave, but

at what time, or by what rule, I could not learn; neither would they

tell me what became of the head, whether it was ate, or buried, or how

consumed. The Abyssinians have a story, probably created by themselves,

that the devil appears to them, and with him they eat the head,

swearing obedience to him upon certain conditions, that of sending

rain, and a good season for their bees and cattle: however this may be,

it is certain that they pray to the spirit residing in the river, whom

they call the Everlasting God, Light of the World, Eye of the World,

God of Peace, their Saviour, and Father of the Universe.

Our landlord, the Shum, made no scruple of reciting his prayers

for seasonable rain, for plenty of grass, for the preservation of

serpents, at least of one kind of this reptile; he also deprecated

thunder in these prayers, which he pronounced very pathetically with

a kind of tone or song; he called the river “Most High God, Saviour

of the World;” of the other words I could not well judge, but by the

interpretation of Woldo. Those titles, however, of divinity which he

gave the river, I could perfectly comprehend without an interpreter,

and for these only I am a voucher.

I asked the priest, into whose good graces I had purposely insinuated

myself, if ever any spirit had been seen by him? He answered, without

hesitation, Yes; very frequently. He said he had seen the spirit the

evening of the 3d, (just as the sun was setting) under a tree, which

he shewed me at a distance, who told him of the death of a son, and

also that a party from Fasil’s army was coming; that, being afraid,

he consulted his serpent, who ate readily and heartily, from which he

knew no harm was to befal him from us. I asked him if he could prevail

on the spirit to appear to me? He said he could not venture to make

this request. If he thought he would appear to me, if, in the evening,

I sat under that tree alone? he said he believed not. He said he was

of a very graceful figure and appearance; he thought rather older than

middle age; but he seldom chose to look at his face; he had a long

white beard, his cloaths not like theirs, of leather, but like silk,

of the fashion of the country. I asked him how he was certain it was

not a man? he laughed, or rather sneered, shaking his head, and saying,

No, no, it is no man, but a spirit. I asked him then what spirit he

thought it was? he said it was _of the river_, it was God, the Father

of mankind; but I never could bring him to be more explicit. I then

desired to know why he prayed against thunder. He said, because it was

hurtful to the bees, their great revenue being honey and wax: then, why

he prayed for serpents? he replied, Because they taught him the coming

of good or evil. It seems they have all several of these creatures in

their neighbourhood, and the richer sort always in their houses, whom

they take care of, and feed before they undertake a journey, or any

affair of consequence. They take this animal from his hole, and put

butter and milk before him, of which he is extravagantly fond; if he

does not eat, ill-fortune is near at hand.

Nanna Georgis, chief of the Agows of Banja, a man of the greatest

consideration at Gondar, both with the king and Ras Michael, and my

particular friend, as I had kept him in my house, and attended him

in his sickness, after the campaign of 1769, confessed to me his

apprehensions that he should die, because the serpent did not eat upon

his leaving his house to come to Gondar. He was, indeed, very ill of

the low country fever, and very much alarmed; but he recovered, and

returned home, by Ras Michael’s order, to gather the Agows together

against Waragna Fasil; which he did, and soon after, he and other seven

chiefs of the Agows were slain at the battle of Banja; so here the

serpent’s warning was verified by a second trial, though it failed in

the first.

Before an invasion of the Galla, or an inroad of the enemy, they say

these serpents disappear, and are nowhere to be found. Fasil, the

sagacious and cunning governor of the country, was, as it was said,

greatly addicted to this species of divination, in so much as never to

mount his horse, or go from home, if an animal of this kind, which he

had in his keeping, refused to eat.

The Shum’s name was Kefla Abay, or Servant of the river; he was a

man about seventy, not very lean, but infirm, fully as much so as

might have been expected from that age. He conceived that he might

have had eighty-four or eighty-five children. That honourable charge

which he possessed had been in his family from the beginning of the

world, as he imagined. Indeed, if all his predecessors had as numerous

families as he, there was no probability of the succession devolving

to strangers. He had a long white beard, and very moderately thick; an

ornament rare in Abyssinia, where they have seldom any hair upon their

chin. He had round his body a skin wrapt and tied with a broad belt:

I should rather say it was an ox’s hide; but it was so scraped, and

rubbed, and manufactured, that it was of the consistence and appearance

of shamoy, only browner in colour. Above this he wore a cloak with the

hood up, and covering his head; he was, bare-legged, but had sandals,

much like those upon ancient statues; these, however, he put off as

soon as ever he approached the bog where the Nile rises, which we

were all likewise obliged to do. We were allowed to drink the water,

but make no other use of it. None of the inhabitants of Geesh wash

themselves, or their cloaths, in the Nile, but in a stream that falls

from the mountain of Geesh down into the plain of Assoa, which runs

south, and meets the Nile in its turn northward, passing the country of

the Gafats and Gongas.

The Agows, in whose country the Nile rises, are, in point of number,

one of the most considerable nations in Abyssinia; when their whole

force is raised, which seldom happens, they can bring to the field 4000

horse, and a great number of foot; they were, however, once much more

powerful; several unsuccessful battles, and the perpetual inroads of

the Galla, have much diminished their strength. The country, indeed, is

still full of inhabitants, but from their history we learn, that one

clan, called Zeegam, maintained singly a war against the king himself,

from the time of Socinios to that of Yasous the Great, who, after all,

overcame them by surprise and stratagem; and that another clan, the

Denguis, in like manner maintained the war against Facilidas, Hannes

I. and Yasous II. all of them active princes. Their riches, however,

are still greater than their power, for though their province in length

is no where 60 miles, nor half that in breadth, yet Gondar and all

the neighbouring country depend for the necessaries of life, cattle,

honey, butter, wheat, hides, wax, and a number of such articles, upon

the Agows, who come constantly in succession, a thousand and fifteen

hundred at a time, loaded with these commodities, to the capital.

As the dependence upon the Agows is for their produce rather than on

the forces of their country, it has been a maxim with wise princes to

compound with them for an additional tribute, instead of their military

service; the necessities of the times have sometimes altered these wise

regulations, and between their attachment to Fasil, and afterwards to

Ras Michael, they have been very much reduced, whereby the state hath

suffered.

It will naturally occur, that, in a long carriage, such as that of a

hundred miles in such a climate, butter must melt, and be in a state

of fusion, consequently very near putrefaction; this is prevented

by the root of an herb, called Moc-moco, yellow in colour, and in

shape nearly resembling a carrot; this they bruise and mix with their

butter, and a very small quantity preserves it fresh for a considerable

time; and this is a great saving and convenience, for, supposing salt

was employed, it is very doubtful if it would answer the intention;

besides, salt is a money in this country, being circulated in the form

of wedges, or bricks; it serves the purpose of silver coin, and is the

change of gold; so that this herb is of the utmost use in preventing

the increase in price of this necessary article, which is the principal

food of all ranks of people in this country. Brides paint their feet

likewise from the ancle downwards, as also their nails and palms of

their hands, with this drug. I brought with me into Europe a large

quantity of the seed resembling that of coriander, and dispersed it

plentifully through all the royal gardens: whether it has succeeded or

not I cannot say.

Besides the market of Gondar, the neighbouring black savages,

the woolly-headed Shangalla, purchase the greatest part of these

commodities from them, and many others, which they bring from the

capital when they return thence; they receive in exchange elephants

teeth, rhinoceros horns, gold in small pellets, and a quantity of

very fine cotton; of which goods they might receive a much greater

quantity were they content to cultivate trade in a fair way, without

making inroads upon these savages for the sake of slaves, and thereby

disturbing them in their occupations of seeking for gold and hunting

the elephant.

The way this trade, though very much limited, is established, is by

two nations sending their children mutually to each other; there is

then peace between those two families which have such hostages; these

children often intermarry; after which that family is understood to be

protected, and at peace, perhaps, for a generation: but such instances

are rare, the natural propensity of both nations being to theft and

plunder; into these they always relapse; mutual enmity follows in

consequence.

The country of the Agows, called Agow Midrè, from its elevation, must

be of course temperate and wholesome; the days, indeed, are hot, even

at Sacala, and, when exposed to the sun, we are sensible of a scorching

heat; but whenever you are seated in the shade, or in a house, the

temperature is cool, as there is a constant breeze which makes the sun

tolerable even at mid-day, though we are here but 10° from the Line, or

a few minutes more.

Though these Agows are so fortunate in their climate, they are not said

to be long-livers; but their precise age is very difficult to ascertain

to any degree of exactness, as they have no fixed or known epoch to

refer to; and, though their country abounds with all the necessaries

of life, their taxes, tributes, and services, especially at present,

are so multiplied upon them, whilst their distresses of late have been

so great and frequent, that they are only the manufacturers of the

commodities they sell, to satisfy these constant exorbitant demands,

and cannot enjoy any part of their own produce themselves, but live in

misery and penury scarce to be conceived. We saw a number of women,

wrinkled and sun-burnt so as scarce to appear human, wandering about

under a burning sun, with one and sometimes two children upon their

back, gathering the seeds of bent grass to make a kind of bread.

The cloathing of the Agows is all of hides, which they soften and

manufacture in a method peculiar to themselves, and this they wear

in the rainy season, when the weather is cold, for here the rainy

seasons are of long duration, and violent, which still increases the

nearer you approach the Line, for the reasons I have already assigned.

The younger sort are chiefly naked, the married women carrying their

children about with them upon their backs; their cloathing is like

a shirt down to their feet, and girded with a belt or girdle about

their middle; the lower part of it resembles a large double petticoat,

one ply of which they turn back over their shoulders, fastening it

with a broach, or skewer, across their breast before, and carry their

children in it behind. The women are generally thin, and, like the

men, below the middle size. There is no such thing as barrenness known

among them. They begin to bear children before eleven; they marry

generally about that age, and are marriageable two years before: they

close child-bearing before they are thirty, though there are several

instances to the contrary.

Dengui, Sacala, Dengla, and Geesh, are all called by the name of

Ancasha, and their tribute is paid in honey. Quaquera and Azena pay

honey likewise; Banja, honey and gold; Metakel, gold; Zeegam, gold.

There comes from Dengla a particular kind of sheep, called Macoot,

which are said to be of a breed brought from the southward of the Line;

but neither sheep, butter, nor slaves make part of their tribute, being

reserved for presents to the king and great men.

Besides what they sell, and what they pay to the governor of Damot,

the Agows have a particular tribute which they present to the king,

one thousand dabra of honey, each dabra containing about sixty pounds

weight, being a large earthen vessel. They pay, moreover, fifteen

hundred oxen and 1000 ounces of gold: formerly the number of jars of

honey was four thousand, but several of these villages being daily

given to private people by the king, the quantity is diminished by the

quota so alienated. The butter is all sold; and, since the fatal battle

of Banja, the king’s share comes only to about one thousand jars. The

officer that keeps the accounts, and sees the rents paid, is called

Agow Miziker[182]; his post is worth one thousand ounces of gold; and

by this it may be judged with what œconomy this revenue is collected.

This post is generally the next to the governor of Damot, but not of

course; they are separate provinces, and united only by the special

grant of the king.

Although I had with me two large tents sufficient for my people, I was

advised to take possession of the houses to secure our mules and horses

from thieves in the night, as also from the assaults of wild beasts,

of which this country is full. Almost every small collection of houses

has behind it a large cave, or subterraneous dwelling, dug in the rock,

of a prodigious capacity, and which must have been the work of great

labour. It is not possible, at this distance of time, to say whether

these caverns were the ancient habitation of the Agows when they were

Troglodytes, or whether they were intended for retreats upon any alarm

of an irruption of the Galla into their country.

At the same time I must observe, that all the clans, or districts of

the Agows, have the whole mountains of their country perforated in

caves like these; even the clans of Zeegam and Quaquera, the first of

which, from its power arising from the populous state of the country,

and the number of horses it breeds, seems to have no reason to fear

the irregular invasions of naked and ill-armed savages such as are the

Galla. The country of Zeegam, however, which has but few mountains,

hath many of these caverns, one range above another, in every mountain

belonging to them. Quaquera, indeed, borders upon the Shangalla; as

these are all foot, perfectly contiguous, and separated by the river,

the caverns were probably intended as retreats for cattle and women

against the attacks of those barbarians, which were every minute to be

apprehended.

In the country of the Tcheratz Agow, the mountains are all excavated

like these in Damot, although they have no Galla for their neighbours

whole invasions they need be afraid of. Lalibala, indeed, their

great king and saint, about the twelfth century, converted many of

these caves into churches, as if he had considered them as formerly

the receptacles of Pagan superstition. At the same time, it is not

improbable that these caverns were made use of for religious purposes;

that of Geesh, for instance, was probably, in former times, a place

of secret worship paid to the river, because of that use it still is,

not only to the inhabitants of the village, but to the assembly of the

clans in general, who, after the ceremonies I have already spoken of,

retire, and then perform their sacred ceremonies, to which none but

the heads of families in the Agows country are ever admitted.

When I shewed our landlord, Kefla Abay, the dog-star, (Syrius) he knew

it perfectly, saying it was Seir, it was the star of the river, the

messenger or star of the convocation of the tribes, or of the feast;

but I could not observe he ever prayed to it, or looked at it otherwise

than one does to a dial, nor mentioned it with the respect he did the

Abay; nor did he shew any sort of attention to the planets, or to any

other star whatever.

On the 9th of November, having finished my memorandum relating to these

remarkable places, I traced again on foot the whole course of this

river from its source to the plain of Goutto. I was unattended by any

one, having with me only two hunting dogs, and my gun in my hand. The

quantity of game of all sorts, especially the deer kind, was, indeed,

surprising; but though I was, as usual, a very successful sportsman, I

was obliged, for want of help, to leave each deer where he fell. They

sleep in the wild oats, and do not rise till you are about to tread

upon them, and then stare at you for half a minute before they attempt

to run off.

The only mention I shall make of the natural productions of this place

comes the more properly in here, as it relates to my account of the

religion of this people. In the writings of the Jesuits, the Agows are

said to worship _canes_[183]; but of this I could find no traces among

them. I saw no plant of this kind in their whole country, excepting

some large bamboo-trees. This plant, in the Agows language, is called

Krihaha. It grows in great quantity upon the sides of the precipice of

Geesh, and helps to conceal the cavern we have already mentioned; but

though we cut several pieces of these canes, they shewed no sort of

emotion, nor to be the least interested in what we were doing.

Our business being now done, nothing remained but to depart. We had

passed our time in perfect harmony; the address of Woldo, and the

great attachment of our friend Irepone, had kept our house in a

chearful abundance. We had lived, it is true, too magnificently for

philosophers, but neither idly nor riotously; and I believe never

will any _sovereign_ of Geesh be again so popular, or reign over his

subjects with greater mildness. I had practised medicine gratis, and

killed, for three days successively, a cow each day for the poor and

the neighbours. I had cloathed the high priest of the Nile from head

to foot, as also his two sons, and had decorated two of his daughters

with beads of all the colours of the rainbow, adding every other little

present they seemed fond of, or that we thought would be agreeable.

As for our amiable Irepone, we had reserved for her the choicest of

our presents, the most valuable of every article we had with us, and a

large proportion of every one of them; we gave her, besides, some gold;

but she, more generous and nobler in her sentiments than us, seemed

to pay little attention to these that announced to her the separation

from her friend; she tore her fine hair, which she had every day before

braided in a newer and more graceful manner; she threw herself upon

the ground in the house, and refused to see us mount on horseback, or

take our leave, and came not to the door till we were already set out,

then followed us with her good wishes and her eyes as far as she could

see or be heard.

I took my leave of Kefla Abay, the venerable priest of the most famous

river in the world, who recommended me with great earnestness to the

care of his god, which, as Strates humorously enough observed, meant

nothing less than he hoped the devil would take me. All the young men

in the village, with lances and shields, attended us to Saint Michael

Sacala, that is, to the borders of their country, and end of my little

sovereignty.

REGISTER

OF THE

QUANTITY OF RAIN-WATER,

_IN INCHES AND DECIMALS_,

WHICH FELL AT GONDAR, IN ABYSSINIA, IN THE YEAR 1770,

THROUGH A FUNNEL OF ONE FOOT ENGLISH IN DIAMETER.

The rain began this year on the first of March: there fell } INCHES.

in showers, that lasted only a Few minutes, between the }

1st of March and the last of April, } .039

____

MAY.

1. From the 1st to the 6th, .039

From the 6th to the 8th, .120

From the 10th to the 12th it rained chiefly in the night, .711

From the 12th to the 14th, .123

19. At four in the afternoon a small shower, but heavy rain

in the night, .526

21. At 7 o’clock in the evening a small shower, which continued

moderately through the night, .171

27. At 6 in the evening heavy rain for an hour, .540

29. At 3 in the afternoon frequent showers of light rain.

It continued one hour 30 minutes, .487

Total rain in May, 2.717

JUNE.

1. At 12 noon, light rain for 15 minutes, .028

2. Between 12 o’clock night it has rained 30 minutes, in

small showers, which lasted 5 or 6 minutes at a time, .049

4. At 8 in the morning slight showers for 30 minutes, .014

5. Between 6 and 10 in the morning four small showers,

that lasted 32 minutes, and at 12 a very gentle rain

that lasted 15 minutes, .031

10. It has rained very violently for 6 hours 30 minutes, .342

11. Between 2 and 6 in the afternoon, at three several times,

it has rained 20 minutes, .014

12. At noon a violent rain for one hour 30 minutes. At half

past 1 in the afternoon light rain for an hour. At 4

afternoon, light rain for 30 minutes. At half past six

same afternoon, a very gentle rain for 3 hours, .421

13. Between 4 and 5 afternoon it rained twice for 15 minutes,

but not perceptible in the recipient, ----

16. Between 2 and 6 afternoon it has rained three times

smart showers, in all about 20 minutes, .033

17. There fell in the night small rain for an hour, .002

18. At 1 afternoon there was a strong shower for 15 minutes.

At half past 1 another for 45 minutes. Same

day at 6 afternoon, it rained at intervals for 2

hours, .750

19. At half after 2 afternoon it began to rain violently with

intervals. At night a slight shower for 20 minutes, .118

20. At twelve noon there was a very slight shower for 6 minutes.

At half past 5, same day, a small shower that

lasted 30 minutes. At 8 o’clock evening it began to

rain smartly at intervals for 4 hours, .171

21. At a quarter past 11 it rained violently with thunder and

lightning for about 2 hours. At half past 4 in the

evening it rained, with intervals, in all about 45 minutes, .330

22. At half past 12 noon, it rained an hour, .175

23. At one o’clock afternoon slight showers for 2 hours.

Heavy rain in the night for 4 hours, .358

25. At a quarter past one afternoon, a small shower, which

lasted one hour 35 minutes. At night it rained one hour

30 minutes; heavy rain with thunder and lightning, .552

26. At two in the afternoon, violent rain with intervals for 30

minutes. At half past five it rained for 30 minutes;

and the beginning of the night for three hours, .233

27. At a quarter past twelve, a small shower for one hour 45

minutes, and at night a moderate shower, .302

28. At half past twelve, a gentle rain. At 50 minutes after

twelve, violent. At two in the afternoon very gentle

rain for 15 minutes; and at 7, moderate rain for one

hour and 30 minutes, .290

29. At 1 in the afternoon, light rain, but a heavy rain

must have fallen somewhere else, as the river Kahha

is overflowed, .092

30. At noon a very gentle rain for 15 minutes, .002

-----

Total rain in June, 4.307

JULY.

1. At 20 minutes past eleven, strong rain for 30 minutes,

with some showers through the night, .306

2. At half past eleven, a small shower for 30 minutes, and

then, at twelve, a violent shower, wind south-west,

for 45 minutes, .792

3. It rained at four in the afternoon, and in the night, .311

4. It rained from twelve to two, and in the night likewise, .390

5. It rained at noon, and some in the night, .029

7. It rained and hailed violently. It rained in the night

likewise, 1.686

8. Light rain in the night, .038

9. Light rain for a few minutes, and no more all day; but

the river Kahha has suddenly overflowed, and there

is appearance of rain on the Mountain of the Sun, .017

10. No rain, ----

11. Ditto, ----

12. At half an hour past noon it rained violently, .422

13. Violent rain at mid-day, and also in the night, 1.185

14. A few light showers night and day, .054

15. A small shower in the evening, and another in the night, .251

16. No rain, ----

17. A small shower at one in the afternoon, and flying

showers throughout the day. It rained at ten at

night violently, .658

18. A gentle shower at noon, but continued raining in the

night, .463

19. Light showers all the night, .237

20. It rained all night till eight o’clock next morning, .714

21. Light showers in the afternoon, but violent rain in the

night, 1.329

22. Light showers in the evening, .174

23. It rained one shower at half past ten in the morning, .107

24. Light showers night and day, .226

25. Light rains and frequent, .015

26. Light showers throughout the evening, .081

27. Light rains, .148

28. Flying showers, .070

29. Ditto, .081

30. Light showers, .013

31. Flying light showers night and day, .292

------

Total rain in July, 10.089

AUGUST.

1. Light rain in the afternoon, .056

2. It rained in the night smartly, .329

3. It rained at noon violently, 1.318

4. It rained from mid-day to evening, and some showers in

the night, 1.723

5. At 2 in the afternoon it began to rain violently for 2

hours, 1.042

6. Smart showers at different times in the evening and night, .490

7. It rained in the night, .580

8. Light rain in the night, .053

9. Flying showers through the day, but for 6 minutes.

Evening very violent, .186

10. Smart showers in the evening and night, .342

11. & 12. Frequent showers, with a high wind, 1.184

13. & 14. Light rain the first day, but violent on the second, 1.423

15. Fair all day, but rained at night, .475

16. Flying showers night and day, .144

17. A very violent shower of short duration, .371

18. & 19. Several small showers, .609

20. & 21. Frequent light showers, .236

22. & 23. Constant rain, 1.502

24. Frequent showers in the evening, .306

25. & 26. Constant rain, 1.763

27. Frequent showers, .289

28. Ditto, .280

29. It rained in the night, .355

30. Ditto, .302

31. Ditto, .211

------

Total rain in August, 15.569

SEPTEMBER.

1. It rained in the night, .079

2. Ditto, .107

3. & 4. Frequent showers night and day, .358

5. & 6. Ditto, .568

7. It rained in the night only, .213

8. No rain, ----

9. It rained violently for a few minutes at 8 in the

Evening, .055

10. No rain, ----

11. It rained in the night only, .227

12. It rained smartly in the night, .566

13. No rain, ----

14. Light showers in the day, .042

15. Frequent showers night and day, .159

16. It rained a little in the night, .132

18. No rain, ----

19. Ditto, ----

20. Flying showers night and day, .263

21. No rain, ----

22. Ditto, ----

23. Some rain in the night, .039

24. Ditto, .026

25. The rain ceased, ----

_____

Total rain in September, 2.834

N. B. This is the festival of the Cross in Egypt, when the inundation

begins to abate. It rains no more in Abyssinia till towards the

beginning of November, and then only for a few days; but these are the

rains Abyssinia cannot want for their latter crops, and it was for

these the Agows prayed when we were at the fountains of the Nile the

5th of November 1770.

STATE

OF THE

QUANTITY OF RAIN-WATER,

WHICH FELL IN ABYSSINIA AT KOSCAM, THE QUEEN’S PALACE, IN 1771, DURING

THE RAINY MONTHS,

_THROUGH A FUNNEL OF ONE FOOT ENGLISH IN DIAMETER, AS IN THE PRECEDING

YEAR 1770._

FEBRUARY.

INCHES.

23. This day it rained, for the first time, from a

quarter before four o’clock afternoon to

half past four ditto, .003

28. It rained in the night one hour and a quarter, .001

MARCH.

4. It rained in the night near two hours small rain, .042

7. It rained a small shower in the evening, .014

12. It rained three quarters of an hour this afternoon, .017

24. It rained and hailed violently for 18 minutes in

the night, .017

29. It rained an hour and a half in the afternoon, .066

30. It rained hard in the night, .504

----

Total rain in February and March, .664

APRIL.

3. It rained, or rather hailed, nine minutes, ----

5. It rained an hour in the afternoon, .067

8. Small rain at intervals throughout the afternoon, .002

10. It rained an hour in the night, .003

30. It rained one hour and a quarter in the night, .013

----

Total rain in April, .085

MAY.

1. From the 31st ult. to this day, at different times, .330

3. It rained hard in the night, .355

6. It has rained violently since three in the afternoon,

wind S. E. variable, .095

7. It has rained heavily in the night, wind varying

from N. to S. and S. W. .368

8. It rained small rain in the afternoon, .042

11. It has rained small rain this afternoon, wind N. W. .002

14. It has rained since yesterday at three all night, and

till noon to-day, .675

27. From yesterday at two P. M. it rained to half past

six, and heavily most part of the night, wind varying

from N. to S. .634

-----

Total rain in May, 2.501

JUNE.

1. From yesterday at noon, in the night, and this

day, wind W. S. W. .212

3. At night, south, .002

5. It rained in the night, S. W. .223

6. Ditto, .006

9. It rained in the night and afternoon, wind W. by S. .725

10. Ditto, .463

11. It rained in the night, .343

13. It rained from the 12th, at noon, to the 13th at

ten, S. S. W. 1.265

14. It rained from three till seven, .120

15. It rained last night from sun-set till midnight, S. .160

N. B. The 16th at night, is the day the Egyptians

say the Nile ferments, and is troubled, by falling

of the nucta.

18. After three days fair, wind fresh, N. it began to

rain yesterday, and rained three quarters of an

hour, wind varying from north to west, .490

19. It rained with intervals from four to ten last

night, wind north, varying by east to south,

and south-west, where it fell calm, and rained

violently, .530

20. It rained from a quarter before six, till ten at night,

wind at north, fresh; changed to east, then to

south, and there fell calm; violent thunder and

lightning, .635

21. It began to rain yesterday at three, and rained till

near five; wind changed from north to south,

and fell calm; cleared with wind at north, .550

22. It began to rain at three, and rained till five; wind

changed from north to east, then to south, and

fell calm; cleared with wind at north; fair all

night, .149

25. It has been fair till yesterday evening: at three it

began raining, and rained till five this morning,

a few drops; wind north, .067

26. It rained small rain at several times yesterday afternoon,

and a few drops this morning, wind N.

calm; at ten it came to south and then to west, .120

27. It rained yesterday afternoon from four to five;

wind changed from north to west, but speedily

returned to north, fresh, .054

28. & 29. It rained the 27th in the afternoon and in the

night, wind at north. Yesterday it rained small

rain all day till five, and cleared in the night,

with wind at north, .268

-----

Total rain in June, 6.388

JULY.

1. There fell small showers the night of the 29th and

of the 30th, .093

3. There fell a small shower the second in the afternoon,

and last night hard, .267

4. It rained small rain at noon. From two, and all

night, heavy and constant rain. It thundered

from noon till three, .373

5. It rained all yesterday afternoon, and by intervals,

till nine at night. Small rain this morning;

calm; W. S. W. and S. W. .423

6. It rained yesterday afternoon and in the night;

S. W. .489

N. B. The 6th of July is the first of the month Hamlie, and of

the Egyptian month Abib. It is this day they first begin to cry

the Nile's increase in the streets of Cairo. The night before,

or 30th of Senne, is called at Cairo the Eide el Bishaara, or

the eve of good news, because, after having measured at the

Mikeas, they come and tell at Cairo that to-morrow they begin

to count the Nile's rising.

7. It rained from two in the afternoon till four, and

from ten till midnight, .318

10. It rained yesternight, and in the afternoon and

night the day before, .289

11. It rained till yesterday afternoon: in the night a

violent shower that lasted 39 minutes; wind

south by west, 1.162

12. It rained a little from two to three in the afternoon,

but in the night violently for a short time, .319

13. It rained yesterday from three quarters past twelve

till midnight; W. S. W. calm, .912

14. It rained all yesterday afternoon till midnight, .739

15. It rained the 14th in the afternoon, and the 15th

a few showers through the day, .816

16. It rained in the night, and small rain in the afternoon, .290

17. It rained in the afternoon two showers, and in the

night a little; S. W. .212

19. It rained in the afternoon the 17th and 18th, and

the 18th only in the night, .912

20. It rained yesterday from two till half past ten constant

rain, and the hail lay all the afternoon on

the hills S. E. of the town; very cold wind;

S. by W. 1.371

21. & 22. It rained but one small shower the 20th, the 21st

it rained little in the afternoon, but hard in

the night, 1.185

24. It rained in the morning of yesterday only, fair

in the afternoon; to-day, in the morning, fair

in the night, .766

25. It rained all yesterday afternoon, and all this

morning small rain, but none in the night, .452

28. From the 25th in the afternoon to this day at

noon, 2.137

29. From the 28th at noon to the 29th it rained in

the first part of the night, but was fair all afternoon

and this morning, .267

From the 29th at noon, to the 31st at ditto, .568

------

Total rain in July, 14.360

AUGUST.

1. It rained yesterday afternoon, but in the night little.

To day fair, .544

4. It rained only the third in the evening, and night

and this morning, 1.188

5. It rained yesterday evening and in the night, till

noon little, .544

6. It rained yesterday afternoon, and all night, and

a little this morning, .250

8. It was fair these two days, and only rained one

hard shower last night, .178

9. It rained last night only, was fair all day, and in this

morning, .214

10. It rained yesterday all the afternoon, and the first

of the night. To-day fair, .869

11. It rained in the night yesterday; all day and this

morning fair, .188

12. It rained a small shower yesterday afternoon, and

in the night a little, .268

13. It rained yesterday at three a hard shower, and

a little in the night, .308

14. It rained a few drops in the day, and a hard

shower at night, .360

15. It rained a hard shower near three, and at ten

at night, .386

16. In the night, .027

17. It rained hard several times in the evening and

night, .831

18. It rained hard yesterday afternoon, and in the

night, .329

19. It rained all day, but not hard, .491

20. It rained in the afternoon only, .010

21. Ditto, .097

22. It was fair all yesterday, and rained only a hard

shower at 9, .424

23. It rained hard at noon, and the evening, with little

intervals, till 9 at night, and again this morning at

sun-rise till 7, 1.148

24. It did not rain yesterday, ----

25. It rained an hour between two and three, .332

26. It rained a small shower yesterday, and none in the

night, .005

27. It rained a hard shower at four, and this day at 12

morning, the night clear, .268

28. It rained hard yesterday at 2 for a few minutes, .201

29. It rained a hard shower for near an hour, after

two, but clear all night and this morning, .450

30. & 31. It rained a small shower the 30th, and heavily for

a quarter of an hour the 31st, at night, at ten, .109

------

Total rain in August, 10.019

SEPTEMBER.

2. It rained yesterday a hard shower in the evening,

and at ten at night, .664

3. It rained only a few drops, which did not appear

in the funnel, ----

4. It rained from noon till sun-set yesterday, with hard

and violent thunder: night fair, 1.739

N. B. It is observed at Gondar, the Pagomen is

always rainy. It begins this year the 4th, and consists

of six days, being Leap Year.

5. It rained yesterday all afternoon, small rain, .399

6. It rained yesterday all afternoon, and small rain in

the night till ten, .306

7. It rained from before noon till four, small rain;

the night fair. Wind high at north, .846

8. It rained from noon for an hour, small rain, .214

9. It rained a small shower at noon; clouds drive

from east to west; wind north, .107

10. Saint John's day, no rain, ----

11. It rained from noon till five o'clock, wind W.

cold; clouds drive from east and west, 1.135

12. It rained a smart shower a little before noon.

Clouds drive from east and from west, .214

13. It rained a small shower a little after noon. Cold

and calm. Clouds drive from east and west, .035

14. It rained small rain from noon to three, and hard

from eleven till near midnight, .344

15. It was fair all yesterday, but rained hard for a few

minutes at seven, and also a little before midnight,

from the east, .186

16. No rain to-day, ----

18. It rained a small shower last night, and to-day at

noon, .053

19. It rained and hailed violently in the afternoon, 1.096

-----

Total rain in September, 7.338

The rain totally ceased the 19th, none having

fallen from this day to the 25th.

Saint John's day is the time observed for the rains beginning

to abate.

N. B. At the 5th of October the people were all crying for

rain; the ground all in cracks, and teff in the blade burnt up.

TOTAL _of_ RAIN _that fell in_ ABYSSINIA _in the Years_ 1770 _and_

1771, _in the Rainy Months_.

GONDAR.

1770.

March } INCHES.

& } .039

April,}

May, 2.717

June, 4.307

July, 10.089

August, 15.569

September, 2.834

------

35.555

------

KOSCAM.

1771.

February,} INCHES.

& } .664

March, }

April, .085

May, 2.501

June, 6.388

July, 14.360

August, 10.019

September, 7.338

------

41.355

------

_END OF THE THIRD VOLUME._

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Supposed from its name to have been formerly the capital of the

Dobas.

[2] Levit. chap. xix, ver. 28. Jerem. chap. xvi, ver. 6.

[3] See the article kol-quall in the appendix.

[4] I apprehend this is the same instrument used by the ancients,

and censured by the prophets, which, in our translation, is rendered

crisping-pins. Isa. chap. iii. ver. 22.

[5] See the article Erkoom in the Appendix.

[6] A rebel governor of Samen, of which I shall after have occasion to

speak.

[7] Gol. p. 22. proem.

[8] Poncet says that these obelisks are covered with hieroglyphics;

but in this he is wrong; he has mistaken the carving, I shall directly

mention, for hieroglyphics. London edit. 12mo. 1709, p. 106.

[9] Shihor.

[10] See Johnson’s translation of Jerome Lobo, p. 29.

[11] See page 28.

[12] Page 28.

[13] Poncet’s voyage to Ethiopia, p. 99.

[14] It signifies _cold_.

[15] A man much attached to Michael, and had been preferred by him to

many commands and consequently was the only Greek that could be called

a good soldier.

[16] The crooked manner in which they hold their neck when this

ornament is on their forehead, for fear it should fall forward,

perfectly shews the meaning of speaking with a stiff neck when you hold

the horn on high, or erect like the horn of the unicorn.

[17] See Introduction.

[18] See the article ensete in the appendix.

[19] Vid. Le Grande’s Hist. of Abyssinia.

[20] Baalomaal, which, literally translated, is, Master of his effects,

or goods.

[21] Hatzè Azazé.

[22] Strabo, lib. xv. p. 783. Joseph. lib. xviii. cap. 3. Procop. lib.

i. de Bel Pers.

[23] Dan. chap. ii.

[24] Procop. lib. i. cap. 11.

[25] Arrian, lib. ii. cap. 14.

[26] Plut in Artax. lib. xv. p. 730.

[27] Lucretius, lib. v. Ovid. Metam. lib. i. Lucian, in Navig.

[28] Arrian, lib. iv. cap. 11. Exod. chap. 4. Matth. chap. 2.

[29] Justin, lib. vi. Omil. Prob.

[30] Justin, lib. 2.

[31] Herod. lib. iii.

[32] Herod, lib. vi.

[33] Suet. Vespas. cap. 23, Sex. Aurel. Victor, cap. 23.

[34] Lucian. de Votis ceu in Navigio, Esdras, lib. iii.

[35] Valer. Maxim. lib. vi. cap. 2.

[36] Justin lib. xv.

[37] Philostrat. lib. ii.

[38] Val. Max. lib. v. cap. 16.--Q. Curt. lib. viii.

[39] Procop. lib. i. cap. 11.

[40] Justin. lib. i.

[41] Herod. lib. i.

[42] Dio. Chrysost. Orat. 3. pro regno.

[43] Joseph. lib. xi. cap. 1.

[44] Esdras, cap. 5.

[45] Judith, cap. 2.

[46] Ctesias in Persicis. Xenephon, lib. i.

[47] Plutarch, in Apothegmat.

[48] De Mundo.

[49] Herod lib. vii.

[50] Xenoph. lib. iv.

[51] Strabo lib. xv.

[52] Esther, chap. ii.

[53] Joseph. lib. xi. cap. 6.

[54] If I remember right, it is D. Prideaux that says Esther is a

Persian word, of no signification. I rather think it is Abyssinian,

because it has a signification in that language. Eshté, the masculine,

signifies an agreeable present, and is a proper name, of which Esther

is the feminine.

[55] Athen, lib. xii. cap. 2.

[56] Herod, lib. vii.

[57] Herod. lib. iii.

[58] Xenoph. lib. i. Xenoph. lib. viii.

[59] Ammonios, Billetana Gueta to Ayto Confu.

[60] Thucyd. lib. i. Strabo, lib. xiv. Theod. Sic. lib. xi.

[61] Xenoph. lib. i.

[62] Diod. lib. xii.

[63] Vide annals of Abyssinia, life of Socinios.

[64] Esther, chap vii, and viii.

[65] Cicero, lib. v. de Finib.

[66] Ecclesiast. Histor. chap. xxii.

[67] Procop. lib. i. cap. 5. de Bell. Pers.

[68] Agath. lib. iii.

[69] See this history of Abyssinia in vit. David IV.

[70] Vide Ctesiani Hockerii.

[71] Xenoph. lib. i.

[72] Amm. Mar. lib. vii.

[73] Q. Curt. lib. iii. 2. 19.

[74] Q. Curt. v. 12.

[75] Plin. Hist. Nat. lib. xiii. cap. 11.

[76] Plin. lib. xiii. cap. 11.

[77] Diod. Sic. lib. ii.

[78] Genesis, chap. xlvii. ver. 4.

[79] Exod. chap. viii. ver. 26.

[80] Herod. lib. ii. p. 104. sec. 40.

[81] Herodot. p. 121. sect. 92.

[82] Herodot. lib. ii. p. 101. sect. 35.

[83] Herodot. lib. ii. p. 101. sect. 35.

[84] Herodot. lib. ii. p. 104. sect. 41.

[85] Gen. chap. i. ver. 29.

[86] Gen. chap. i. ver. 30.

[87] Gen. chap. ix. ver. 3.

[88] Gen. chap. ix. v. 4.

[89] Deut. chap. xii.

[90] Levit. chap. xvii.

[91] Maimon. more. Nebochim.

[92] 1 Sam. chap. xiv. ver. 32. 33.

[93] Levit. chap. xvii. ver. 7.

[94] Arnob. adv. Gent. Clem. Alexan. Sextus Impiricus, lib. iii. cap.

25. and Selden. de Jur. natur. and Gent. cap. 1. lib. vii.

[95] In this particular they resemble the Cynics of old, of whom it was

said, “Omnia quæ ad Bacchum et Venerem pertinuerint in publico facere.”

Diogenes Laertius in Vit. Diogen.

[96] Vide appendix, article Cusso.

[97] The first invention is attributed to the Portuguese.

[98] Ludolf, in his dictionary, says, this word, in Hebrew, signifies

any tall tree. In this, however, he is mistaken. The translators did

not, indeed, know what tree it was, and so have said this to cover

their ignorance; but Arz is as exclusively the oxy-cedrus, as is an oak

or an elm when so named. Arz is indeed a tall tree, but every tall tree

is not Arz, which is the Virginia berry-bearing cedar.

[99] See Ludolf, lib. iii. cap. 2. N^o. 17.

[100] Prince of Shoa, often spoken of in the sequel.

[101] Vide Alvarez’s narrative in his account of the embassy of Don

Roderigo de Lima, page 155.

[102] Vid. Alvarez, hoc loco.

[103] Tournef. tom. i. p. 111.

[104] See the Ethiopic liturgies passim. Ludolf, lib. iii. cap. 5.

[105] Gen. chap. ix. ver. 22.

[106] Exod. chap. iv. ver. 25.

[107] Gen. chap. xvii. ver. 14.

[108] Lib. xvii. p. 950.

[109] The reader will observe, by the obscurity of this passage, that

it is with reluctance I have been determined to mention it at all; but

as it is an historical fact, which has had material consequences, I

have thought it not allowable to omit it altogether. Any naturalist,

wishing for more particular information, may consult the French copy.

[110] Deut. chap. xiv. ver. 1.

[111] Encom. 12th October, Od. 3. tom. 1. Ann. Alexan. p.m. 363.

[112] The largest court, or outer space, surrounding the king’s house.

[113] It signifies the hill, or high ground.

[114] Maguzet.

[115] Guilty of our blood, and subject to the laws of retaliation.

[116] This is a large church belonging to the palace, called by this

extraordinary name, _Noah’s Ark_.

[117] See a figure of this bird in the Appendix.

[118] Polymnia frondosa.

[119] This affected ignorance was probably intended to bring me to

mention the donation the king had given me of Geesh, which he never

much relished, and made effectually useless to me.

[120] It is with pleasure I confess the man then in my mind was my

brave friend Sir William Erskine.

[121] The person here called old Fasil, is Kasmati Waragna, in the time

of Yasous II.

[122] By this is meant the Amharic, for in Geez the word for snow is

Tilze: this may have been invented for translating the scriptures.

[123] Hortus Siccus, a large book for extending and preserving dry

plants.

[124] Vol. II. b. ii. chap. v.

[125] Arrianus de Exped. Alexandri, lib. vi.

[126] Another reason why I think this journey of the centurions is

fictitious is, that they say the distance between Syene and Meroë is

660 miles. Plin. lib. 6. cap. 29.

[127] Pliny, Nat. Hist. lib. v. cap. 9.

[128] In Œdipo Syntagma, I. cap. vii. p. 57.

[129] I never heard that Cyrus had attempted this discovery.

[130] Called, in the Ethiopic annals _Hendaqué_; wrote originally, I

suppose, with an _X_ or _Ch_.

[131] Lib. v. cap. 9. Nat. Hist.

[132] Diod. Sicul. Bibliothec. lib. i. p. 20.

[133] Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. v. cap. 9.

[134] From a nation of Shangalla of that name, through which it runs,

after having passed its source, and taken its course into Nubia.

[135] Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. v. cap. 9.

[136] Jerem. chap. ii. ver. xviii.

[137] Diod. Sic. lib. i.

[138] Pausanius Arcad. chap. xvii.

[139] 1 Kings, chap. xviii. ver. 43.

[140] See this figure in Dr Shaw, chap. ii. sect. 3. p. 385.

[141] Herod, lib. ii. p. 127. sect. 109.

[142] Several Arabian MSS. attest this.

[143] Shaamy and Taamy, of whom we have already spoken.

[144] Herod. Eut. sect. 4, 5. Diod. Sic. lib. iii. p. 101. Arist.

Meteorol. lib. i. cap. 14.

[145] Deut. chap. iii. ver. 11.

[146] Encyclop. voce Cubit.

[147] Vide Encyclop. voce Cubit.

[148] Herod. lib. ii. sect. 168. p. 149.

[149] The king’s yearly land-tax, or rent.

[150] Gen. chap. xlvii. ver. 20 & 23.

[151] This was apparently the reason why Joseph, who had bought not

only the lands, but the people of Egypt likewise, transferred them from

farms, not convenient for them, to others where they could thrive. The

same they do spontaneously at this day, now they are free.

[152] Dr Shaw, chap. ii, sect. 3. p. 383.

[153] Psalm lxxviii. ver. 12.

[154] Herod. eut. sect. 13.

[155] Herod. lib. ii. sect. 19.

[156] Herod. lib. ii. sect. 4. 101. and 149.

[157] Strabo, lib. xiii. p. 945.

[158] Strabo, lib. xvii. p. 915.

[159] Plin. lib. xxxvi. cap. 7. Philost. de icon. Nili.

[160] Julian. Epist. egdicio prefecto Egypti.

[161] Procop. lib. iii. de Reb. Goth.

[162] Or Nilometer.

[163] Vid. geometrical elevation and plan of the Mikeas.

[164] We know that these lakes were dug, and in use as early as Moses’s

time. Exod. chap vii. ver. 19. chap. viii. ver. 5.

[165] A. C. 622.

[166] Shaw’s Travels, chap. ii. sect. 3. p. 382.

[167] Descript. of the East, vol. I. p. 256.

[168] A View of the Levant, p. 282. 284. 286.

[169] Shaw, p. 380. 381.

[170] Descript. de l’Egypte, p. 60.

[171] Pococke, vol. i. p. 199, 200.

[172] Pococke, vol. i. p. 201.

[173] See Table, or Register of Rain, that fell in these years,

inserted at the end of this volume.

[174] Shaw’s Travels, sect. 4. p. 401.

[175] Alph. d’Albuquerque, Comment. lib. iv. cap. 7.

[176] Vol. I. b. ii. chap. 8.

[177] See this letter in the life of that prince.

[178] In Abyssinia, the 24th June.

[179] Herod. lib. ii. p. 98. sect. 28.

[180] Vid. Ludolf in Proemio Histor. Æthiop. 1. 8. Id. lib. i. cap.

viii. p. 178. Leo Africanus in descrip. Africa, lib. i. cap. vii.

[181] Plin. lib. v. cap. 8.

[182] Accountant of the Agows.

[183] See a very remarkable letter of Ras Sela Christos to the emperor

Socinios, in Balthazar Tellez, tom. 2. p. 496.

[Transcriber's Note:

Inconsistent punctuation and capitalization are as in the original.

Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation are as in the original.]