BOOK VIII.

THE AUTHOR RETURNS BY SENNAAR THROUGH NUBIA AND THE GREAT

DESERT--ARRIVES AT ALEXANDRIA, AND AFTER AT MARSEILLES.

CHAP. I.

_Journey from Gondar to Tcherkin._

The palace of Koscam is situated upon the south side of Debra Tzai;

the name signifies the Mountain of the Sun. The palace consists of a

square tower of three storeys, with a flat parapet roof, or terrace,

and battlements about it. The court of guard, or head-quarters of

the garrison of Koscam, is kept here; immediately below this is the

principal gate or entrance towards Gondar. It is surrounded by a high

outer-wall, which may have above an English mile of circumference.

This outer precinct is all occupied by soldiers, labourers, and

out-door servants; within this is another large court inclosed

by walls likewise, in this the apartments are but of one storey,

appropriated to the principal officers, priests, and servants. In this

also is the church, built by the present Iteghé herself, and reckoned

the richest in Abyssinia. They have large crosses of gold for their

processions, and kettle-drums of silver. The altar is all covered with

gold plates, all the gift of their magnificent patroness. The priests,

too, were all rich, till Ras Michael seized, and applied part of their

revenue to his own use, and that of the state, 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 reserved for the queen's own apartments,

and such of the noble women as are her attendants, are unmarried,

and make up her court. Behind the palace, higher up the hill, are

houses of people of quality, chiefly her own relations. Above these

the mountain rises very regularly, in form of a cone, covered with

herbage to the very top; on the east side is the road from Walkayt; on

the west from Kuara, and Ras el Feel; that is all the low country, or

north of Abyssinia, bordering upon the Shangalla, through which lies

the road to Sennaar.

It was the 26th of December 1771, at one o'clock in the afternoon,

that I left Gondar. I had purposed to set out early in the morning,

but was detained by the importunity of my friends. The king had

delayed my setting out, by several orders sent me in the evening each

day; and I plainly saw there was some meaning in this, and that he

was wishing to throw difficulties in the way, till some accident,

or sudden emergency (never wanting in that country) should make it

absolutely impossible for me to leave Abyssinia. When therefore the

last message came to Koscam on the 27th, at night, I returned my

respectful duty to his majesty, put him in mind of his promise, and,

somewhat peevishly I believe, intreated him to leave me to my fortune;

that my servants were already gone, and I was resolved to set out next

morning.

In the morning early, I was surprised at the arrival of a young

nobleman, lately made one of his bed-chamber, with fifty light

horse. As I was satisfied that leaving Abyssinia, without parade, as

privately as possible, was the only way to pass through Sennaar, and

had therefore insisted upon none of my friends accompanying me, I

begged to decline this escort; assigning for my reason, that, as the

country between this and Ras el Feel belonged first to the Iteghé,

and then to Ayto Confu, none of the inhabitants could possibly injure

me in passing. It took a long time to settle this, and it was now, as

I have said, one o'clock before we set out by the west side of Debra

Tzai, having the mountain on our right hand. From the top of that

ascent, we saw the plain and flat country below, black, and, in its

appearance, one thick wood, which some authors have called lately, the

Shumeta[16], or Nubian forest. But of the meaning of Shumeta I profess

myself entirely ignorant; no such word occurring, as far as I know,

in any language spoken in these countries.

All the disasters which I had been threatened with in the course of

that journey, which I had thus begun, now presented themselves to my

mind, and made, for a moment, a strong impression upon my spirits. But

it was too late to draw back, the dye was cast, for life or for death;

home was before me, however distant; and if, through the protection

of Providence, I should be fortunate enough to arrive there, I

promised myself both ease and the applause of my country, and of all

unprejudiced men of sense and learning in Europe, for having, by my

own private efforts alone, compleated a discovery, which had, from

early ages, defied the address, industry, and courage of all the world.

Having, by these reflections, rather hardened, than comforted my

heart, I now advanced down the steep side of the mountain, our course

nearly N. N. W. through very strong and rugged ground, torn up by

the torrents that fall on every side from above. This is called the

Descent of Moura; and though both we and our beasts were in great

health and spirits, we could not, with our utmost endeavours, advance

much more than one mile an hour. Two Greeks, one of whom only was my

servant; and a third, nearly blind, flying from poverty and want; an

old janissary, who had come to Abyssinia with the Abuna, and a Copht

who left us at Sennaar; these, and some common men who took charge

of the beasts, and were to go no further than Tcherkin, were my only

companions in this long and weary journey.

At a quarter past four we came to the river Toom Aredo, which arising

in the country of the Kemmont, (a people inhabiting the high grounds

above to the S. W.) falls into the river Mahaanah. The Kemmont were

a sect once the same as the Falasha, but were baptized in the reign

of Facilidas, and, ever since, have continued separate from their

ancient brethren. No great pains seem to have been taken with them

since their admission to Christianity, for they retain most of their

ancient customs. They eat the meat of cattle killed by Christians, but

not of those that are slaughtered, either by Mahometans or Falasha.

They hold, as a doctrine, that, being once baptized, and having

once communicated, no sort of prayer, nor other attention to divine

worship, is further necessary. They wash themselves from head to foot

after coming from the market, or any public place, where they may have

touched any one of a sect different from their own, esteeming all such

unclean. They abstain from all sorts of work on Saturday, keeping

close at home; but they grind corn, and do many other such 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 almost

as big as shackles, in the same manner as do the Bedowis in Syria and

Palestine. Their language is the same as that of the Falasha, with

some small difference of idiom. They have great abhorrence to fish,

which they not only refrain from eating, but cannot bear the sight of;

and the reason they give for this is, that Jonah the prophet (from

whom they boast they are descended) was swallowed by a whale, or some

other such great fish. They are hewers of wood, and carriers of water,

to Gondar, and are held in great detestation by the Abyssinians.

We crossed the river to the miserable village of Door-Macary, which

is on the east side of it; and there we took up our quarters, after a

short but very fatiguing, day's journey. The people shewed great signs

of uneasiness upon our first appearance, and much reluctance to admit

us under their roofs; and discovering that we were not any of those

that had the honour of being descended from the prophet Jonah, they

hid all their pots and drinking-vessels, lest they should be prophaned

by our using them. From Door-Macary we discovered a high mountainous

ridge, with a very rugged top, stretching from North to South, and

towering up in the middle of the forest, about five miles distance; it

is called Badjena.

On the 28th, a little after mid-day, we passed Toom Aredo; and went,

first East, then turned North, into the great road. We soon after

passed a number of villages; those on the high mountain Badjena on

the East, and those belonging to the church of Koscam on the West.

Continuing still North, inclining very little to the West, we came to

a steep and rugged descent, at the foot of which runs the Mogetch,

in a course straight North; this descent is called the _And_. At a

quarter past two we passed the Mogetch, our direction N. W. It is

here a large, swift running stream, perfectly clear, and we halted

some time to refresh ourselves upon its banks; remembering how very

different it was from what we had once left it, discoloured with

blood, and choked up with dead bodies, after the defeat of the king's

wing at the battle of Serbraxos.

At half past three we resumed our journey. A sharp and pyramidal

mountain stands alone in the middle of the plain, presenting its high

sharp top through the trees, and making here a very picturesque and

uncommon appearance; it is called Gutch, and seemed to be distant

from us about six miles due North. A few minutes after this we passed

a small stream called Agam-Ohha, or the Brook of Jessamine; from a

beautiful species of that shrub, very frequent here, and on the sides

of the small streams in the province of Siré.

A few minutes past four we entered a thick wood, winding round a hill,

in a south-east direction, to get into the plain below, where we were

surrounded by a great multitude of men, armed with lances, shields,

slings, and large clubs or sticks, who rained a shower of stones

towards us, as I may say; for they were at such a distance, that all

of them fell greatly short of us. Whether this was owing to fear, or

not, we did not know; but supposing that it was, we thought it our

interest to keep it up as much as possible. I therefore ordered two

shots to be fired over their heads; not with any intention to hurt

them, but to let them hear, by the balls whistling among the leaves

of the trees, that our guns carried farther than any of their slings;

and that, distant as they then were, they were not in safety, if we

had a disposition to do them harm. They seemed to understand our

meaning, by gliding through among the bushes, and appearing at the top

of a hill farther off, where they continued hooping and crying, and

making divers signs, which we could not, neither did we endeavour to

understand. Another shot, aimed at the trees above them, shewed they

were still within our reach, upon which they dispersed, or sat down

among the bushes, for we saw them no more, till pitching our tent upon

the plain below two of their villages; it seemed they were uneasy, for

they had dispatched a man naked, and without arms, who, standing upon

the rock, cried out in the language of Tigrè, that he wanted to come

to us. This I absolutely refused, that he might not see the smallness

of our number, crying out to him to get farther off, or we would

instantly shoot him. There was no occasion to repeat the admonition.

From the rock where he stood, he slid down like an eel, and appeared

again at a considerable distance, still making a sign of wanting to

speak with us.

While resting on the banks of the river Mogetch, we had been overtaken

by two men, and two women, who were driving two loaded asses, and were

going to Tcherkin; they had desired leave to keep company with us,

for fear of danger on the road. I had two Abyssinian servants, but

they were not yet come up, attending one of the baggage mules that was

lame, as they said; but I believe, rather busied with some engagements

of their own in the villages. We were obliged then to have recourse to

one of these stranger women, who understood the language of Tigrè, and

undertook readily to carry our message to the stranger, who was still

very busy making signs from behind a tree, without coming one step

nearer.

My message to them was, that if they shewed the smallest appearance of

further insolence, either by approaching the tent, or flinging stones

that night, the next morning, when the horse I expected were come up,

I would burn their town, and put every man of them to the sword. A

very submissive answer was sent back, with a heap of lies in excuse

of what they called their mistake. My two servants coming soon after,

both of whom, hereafter, were to be in the service of Ayto Confu, went

boldly one to each village, to bring two goats, some jars of bouza,

and to prepare fifty loaves of bread for next morning. The goats were

dispatched instantly, so was the bouza; but when the morning came, the

people had all fled from their houses, without preparing any bread.

These villages were called Gimbaar. They were three in number; each

situated upon the top of a pointed hill, in a direction from east to

west, and made a very beautiful appearance from the plain below. They

belonged to my great enemies, Guebra Mehedin, and Confu, late sons of

Basha Eusebius.

On the other hand, as my servants told me that a messenger of the king

had passed that morning without taking any notice of us, I began to

suspect that it was some stratagem of his to frighten me from pursuing

my journey; which, after the letters I had received from Sennaar,

and which he himself had heard read, he never thought I would have

undertaken. This I still believe might be the case; for these peasants

did not shew any forwardness to do us harm; however, it turned out as

unfortunately for them, as if they really pursued us for vengeance.

As soon as we found the villages deserted, and that there were no

hopes of a supply of bread, we struck our tent, and proceeded on our

journey; the pointed mountain Gutch bore north from our tent, at the

distance of about two miles.

On the 29th, at ten in the forenoon, we left the inhospitable villages

of Gimbaar, not without entertaining some apprehensions of meeting

the inhabitants again in the course of the day. But though we took

every precaution against being surprised, that prudence could dictate,

our fears of the encounter did not rise to any great height. I got,

indeed, on horseback, leaving my mule; and, putting on my coat of

mail, leaving the fire-arms under the command of Hagi Ismael, the old

Turk, I rode always about a quarter of a mile before the baggage,

that they might not come suddenly upon us, as they had done the night

before.

In a few minutes we passed three small clear streams in a very fertile

country; the soil was a black loomy earth; the grass already parched,

or rather entirely burnt up by the sun. Though this country is finely

watered, and must be very fertile, yet it is thinly inhabited, and,

as we were informed, very unwholesome. At three quarters past ten we

came to the river Mahaanah, which swallows up these three brooks, its

course nearly N. W. it was (even at this dry season of the year) a

considerable stream.

Here we rested half an hour, and then pursued our journey straight

north. We passed 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

bushes. We had left it six miles, at least, on our left hand, and

the baggage near half a mile behind, when I met two men very decently

dressed; one mounted on a mule, the other on foot; both of them armed

with lances and shields, and both seemed surprised to see a man on

horseback alone completely armed. The rider passed by at a very quick

pace, apparently not desirous of any intercourse with me. The man on

foot at passing saluted me with a _Salam Alicum_; by which I knew him

to be a Mahometan, and we were about to enter into conversation, when

his neighbour called to him, with seeming impatience. He immediately

left me, saying only these short sentences, "He there before is a

Christian, and a liar; don't be afraid, Ayto Confu will be at Tcherkin

as soon as you."

Upon this we parted, I passed on something more than a mile further,

and at ten minutes after twelve stopped for the baggage. The Mahaanah

is here about a quarter of a mile to the N. E. and the sharp-pointed

mountain of Gutch S. E. and by east, distance about three miles. It

was some time before our baggage came up, when our companions who

escorted it exhibited some small marks of confusion.

The Turk was blustering violently in Turkish, and setting all at

defiance, wishing to be attacked by a hundred that minute; the others

seemed to be much more moderate, and not to agree with Hagi Ismael,

either in time or in number, but were very willing to be exempted from

attacks altogether. I asked them what was the occasion of all this

warlike discourse from Ismael, who scarcely spoke Arabic so as to be

understood? I could learn nothing but threats against the Christians.

At last, the servants told me, that the Abyssinians who passed had

informed them, that, at a certain pass, called Dav-Dohha, which we

should arrive at next day, above a thousand men, Christians, Pagans,

and Mahometans, all armed, were waiting for us, resolved to cut us to

pieces rather than let us pass: that the Shangalla were expected to

burn Tcherkin, and Ayto Confu's house; and that his Billetana 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 sent for by Ayto Confu, and entrusted with the defence

of Tcherkin Amba, the hill upon which Ayto Confu's house is situated.

He then called the Mahometan who spoke to me, to witness the truth

of all this, which he did with repeated oaths; and concluded, that

nothing remained for us but to return to Gondar. They all, in anxious

expectation, awaited my resolution. One of the servants said, that,

by going out of the way about half a day, we could avoid the pass of

Dav-Dohha altogether. I told them, this was neither a time nor place

for deliberation; that we should make the best of our way to Waalia,

where we were to sleep that night; as that was a town where there was

a market, and people came from every part, we should there hear news,

after which I promised to tell them my opinion. We accordingly set out

for Waalia, and at half past four in the afternoon encamped in the

market-place.

Waalia is a collection of villages, each placed upon the top of a

hill, and inclosing, as in a circle, an extensive flat piece of ground

about three miles over, on which a very well-frequented market is

kept. The name is given it from a species of small pigeons[17], with

yellow breasts and variegated backs, the fattest and best of all the

pigeon kind. Waalia lies due N. W. from Gondar.

Having finished our dinner, or rather supper, about seven, for we

made but one meal a-day, after taking care of our beasts, we entered

into consultation what was next to be done. I told them, the first

step we were to take was to send and call the Shum of one of the

villages, and after him another, and if, knowing me to be the king's

stranger, seeing the smallness of our number, and being informed that

we were going to Tcherkin, to the house of Ayto Confu, their master,

they did not tell us there were dangers on the road, we might be

sure the intelligence we had received was void of foundation. "Sir,

says one of the strangers that drove the asses, it is a lie. No man

but Ayto Confu, not even Ayto Confu himself, could raise 500 men in

this country; no not even 300, Pagans, Mahometans, and Christians

altogether. Where is he to get his Pagans? unless he means his own

Christian sort, who, indeed, are more Pagans than any thing else, and

capable of every mischief; but there is not a Mahometan on this road

that does not know who you are, and that you was Yasine's master, and

gave him Ras el Feel. Stay here but a few days till I send to Ras el

Feel, and to Tcherkin, and if you do not take the houses and wives,

and all that these five hundred men have in the world from them, with

the help you may find at Waalia, spit upon me for a liar, or my name

is not Abdullah." "Abdullah, said I, you are a sensible fellow, though

I did not know you was so well acquainted with me, nor do I wish that

you speak of me in that manner publickly. But what convinces me of the

truth of what you say is, that the man on foot had no more time but to

say to me, in Arabic, while passing, that his companion on the mule

was a liar, and that I should not be afraid, for there was no danger

on the road, and that Ayto Confu would be at Tcherkin as soon as I;

from which, and his saying just the contrary to you, I do believe the

whole is a stratagem of the king."

All agreed in this. Hagi Ismael mentioned it as a proof of the

worthlessness of Christians, that even their kings were as great

liars as common men; and we had scarcely done with this consultation,

and dispelled our fears, when word was brought to the tent, that the

chiefs of two of the principal villages were at the door, desiring

to be admitted, and had with them several servants loaded with

provisions. They were immediately introduced, and they presented

us with two goats, several jars of bouza, and a quantity of bread,

which I divided among my retinue, now become half Christians and half

Mahometans, neither of whom ate meat killed by the other.

After the first civilities were over, I asked the governor of Waalia

all the questions that were needful about the state of the roads and

the country, and whether the Shangalla ever made an attempt upon

Tcherkin? They said, All was peace; that the people came and went to

the market without being interrupted. They laughed at the question

about the Shangalla. Ayto Confu, they said, sometimes went down and

destroyed many of that people, and brought others away as slaves;

but the Shangalla were not men to attack a place where there was a

number of horse, nor to climb mountains to destroy houses well stored

with fire-arms. Have you, said I, seen nobody pass by from Ayto Confu

lately? About four or five days ago, answered he, a servant was here,

with orders to have victuals ready for you; who also told us, that

he would come himself in three or four days after. I heard also, that

his servant Ammonios had gone round Nara to take possession of some

villages the king had given Ozoro Esther, and that he had with him a

number of horse and foot, and several Ozoros, going to Tcherkin, but

they had gone the upper road, consequently had not come this way. Is

there no danger, said I, in passing _Dav-Dohha_? Why, at Dav-Dohha,

said he, there is danger, it is a bad place, nobody passes it on

horseback; but I see your horses are shod with iron, which none in

this country are; however, to avoid all danger, you had better lead

your horses and mules, and walk on foot, it is not far.

I could not help bursting out into a fit of laughter at the fancied

danger that attended us at Dav-Dohha; and, as I saw this disconcerted

our informant, and that he thought he had said something wrong, I

told him briefly what had passed at meeting with the two men upon the

road. He laughed very heartily at this in his turn. "That man did

not stop here, says he, and who he is I know not; but whoever he is,

he is a liar, and a beast of the field. All the people of Dav-Dohha

are our relations, and Ayto Confu's servants; if there had been any

body to attack you, there would have been found here people to defend

you. What signifies his ordering us to furnish you with victuals, if

he was to suffer your throats to be cut before you came to eat them?

I will answer for you between this and Tcherkin; after that, all is

wilderness, and no man knows if he is to meet friend or foe."

I told him then what had happened to us at Gimbaar, at which he seemed

exceedingly surprised. "These villages, says he, do not belong to

Ayto Confu, but to his cousins, the sons of Basha Eusebius. They

indeed died in rebellion, but our master has taken possession of them

for the family, lest the king should give them away to a stranger.

Some bad news must have arrived from Gondar; at any rate, if you are

afraid, I will accompany you to-morrow past Dav-Dohha." We thanked him

for the kind offer, but excused ourselves from accepting it, as we

fully relied upon his intelligence; and having made him some trifling

presents, about the value of what he brought, though in his eyes much

more considerable, we took our leave, mutually satisfied 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 struck me, as most

improbable of all, was the story of that lying wretch who said that

Ayto Confu had sent a number of mules to carry away his furniture, and

trusted the defence of his place to Abba Gimbaro, chief of the Baasa.

For, first, 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 person whatever,

Shangalla or Christians, had intended to attack Tcherkin, he was not

a man to fight by proxy or lieutenants; he would have been himself

present to meet them, as to a feast, though he had been carried

thither in a sick-bed.

On the 30th, at half past six in the morning we set out from Waalia;

and, though we were perfectly cured of our apprehensions, the company

all joined in desiring me to go along with them, and not before them.

They _wisely_ 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 the

devil to do. I therefore hung my arms upon my horse, and, taking a

gun in my hand, wandered among the trees by the road-side, in pursuit

of the doves or pigeons. In a few hours I had shot several scores of

them, especially on the banks of the Mai Lumi, or the River of Lemons.

We came to it in about an hour from Waalia, and coasted it for some

minutes, as it ran north-east parallel to our course.

A prodigious quantity of fruit loaded the branches of these trees

even likely to break them; and these were in all stages of ripeness.

Multitudes of blossoms covered the opposite part of the tree, and

sent forth the most delicious odour possible. We provided ourselves

amply with this fruit. The natives make no use of it, but we found it

a great refreshment to us, both mixed with our water, and as sauce to

our meat, of which we had now no great variety since our onions had

failed us, and a supply of them was no longer to be procured.

At fourteen minutes past seven, continuing north-west, we crossed

the river Mai Lumi, which here runs west; and, continuing still

north-west, at eight o'clock we came to the mouth of the formidable

pass, Dav-Dohha, which we entered with good countenance enough, having

first rested five minutes to put ourselves in order, and we found our

appetites failing us through excessive heat. The pass of Dav-Dohha is

a very narrow defile, full of strata of rocks, like steps of stairs,

but so high, that, without leaping, or being pulled up, no horse or

mule can ascend. Moreover, the descent, though short, is very steep,

and almost choked up by huge stones, which the torrents, after washing

the earth from about them, had rolled down from the mountain above.

Both sides of the defile are covered thick with wood and bushes,

especially that detestable thorn the kantuffa, so justly reprobated in

Abyssinia.

Having extricated ourselves successfully from this pass, our spirits

were so elated, that we began to think our journey now at an end, not

reflecting how many passes, full of real danger, were still before

us. At three quarters past 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. These, and their

brethren of Magwena, are capital performers in all disorders of the

state; all prophets and diviners, keeping up the spirit of riot,

anarchy, and tumult, by their fanatical inventions and pretended

visions.

Having rested a few minutes at Tabaret Wunze, a wretched village,

composed of miserable huts, on the banks of a small brook, at a

quarter after two we passed the Coy, a large river, which falls

into the Mahaanah. From Mai Lumi to this place the country was but

indifferent in appearance; the soil, indeed, exceedingly good, but a

wildness and look of desolation covered the whole of it. The grass was

growing high, the country extensive, and almost without habitation,

whilst the few huts that were to be seen seemed more than ordinarily

miserable, and were hid in recesses, or in the edge of valleys

overgrown with wood. The inhabitants seemed to have come there by

stealth, with a desire to live concealed and unknown.

On the 31st of December we left our station at the head of a difficult

pass called Coy Gulgulet, or the Descent of Coy, at the foot of which

runs the river Coy, one of the largest we had yet seen, but I did not

discern any fish in it. Here we rested a little to refresh ourselves

and our beasts, after the fatigues we had met with in descending

through this pass.

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

some time by the side of the Germa, and crossed it going N. W. we,

at ten, passed the small river Idola; and half an hour after came to

Deber, a house of Ayto Confu, on the top of a mountain, by the side

of a small river of that name. The country here is partly in wood,

and partly in plantations of dora. It is very well watered, and seems

to produce abundant crops; but it is not beautiful; the soil is red

earth, and the bottoms of all the rivers soft and earthy, the water

heavy, and generally ill-tasted, even in the large rivers, such as the

Coy and the Germa. I imagine there is some mineral in the red earth,

with a proportion of which the water is impregnated.

At Deber, I observed the following bearings from the mountains; Ras el

Feel was west, Tcherkin N. N. W. Debra Haria, north. We found nobody

at Deber that could give us the least account of Ayto Confu. We left

it, therefore, on the morning of the 1st of January 1772. At half

past ten o'clock we passed a small village called Dembic, and about

mid-day came to the large river Tchema, which falls into the larger

river Dwang, below, to the westward. About an hour after, we came to

the Mogetch, a river not so large as the Tchema, but which, like it,

joins the Dwang. Here we have a view of the steep mountain Magwena,

where there is a monastery of that name, possessed by a multitude of

lazy, profligate, ignorant monks. Magwena, excepting one mountain,

is a bare, even ridge of rocks, which seemingly bear nothing, but

are black, as if calcined by the sun. In the rainy season it is said

every species of verdure is here in the greatest luxuriancy; all

the plantations of corn about Deber are much infested with a small,

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 passed along the side of a small river running

west, which falls into the Mogetch.

I took advantage of the pleasantest and latest hour for shooting the

waalia, or the yellow-breasted pigeon, as also Guinea-fowls, which are

here in great abundance among the corn; in plumage nothing different

from ours, and very excellent meat. The sun was just setting, and I

was returning to my tent, not from weariness or satiety of sport, 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 perfectly

acquainted, and who by his address likewise seemed no stranger to me.

I immediately recollected him to be a servant of Ozoro Esther, but

this he denied, and said he was a servant of Ayto Confu; however, as

Confu lived in the same house with his mother at Koscam, the mistake

seemed not to be of any moment. He said he came to meet Ayto Confu,

who was expected at Tcherkin that night, and was sent to search for

us, as we seemed to have tarried on the road. He had brought two

mules, in case any of ours had been tired, and proposed that the next

morning I should set out with him alone for Tcherkin, where I should

find Ayto Confu, and my baggage should follow me. I told him that it

was my fixed resolution, made at the beginning of my journey, and

which I should adhere to till the end, never to separate myself on the

road from my servants and company, who were strangers, and without any

other protection than that of being with me.

The man continued to press me all that evening very much, so that

we were greatly surprised at what he could mean, and I still more

and more resolved not to gratify him. Often I thought he wanted

to communicate something to me, but he refrained, and I continued

obstinate; and the rather so, as there was no certainty that Ayto

Confu was yet arrived. I asked him, if Billetana Gueta Ammonios was

not at Tcherkin? He answered, without the smallest alteration in his

countenance, that he was not. No people on earth dissemble like the

Abyssinians; this talent is born with them, and they improve it by

continual practice. As we had therefore previously resolved, we passed

the evening at Eggir Dembic, and the servant, finding he could not

prevail, left our tent, and we all went to bed. He did not seem angry,

but at going out of the tent, said, as half to himself, "I cannot

blame you; in such a journey nothing is like firmness."

On the 2d of January, in the morning, by seven o'clock, having dressed

my hair, and perfumed it according to the custom of the country, and

put on clean clothes, with no other arms but my knife, and a pair of

pistols at my girdle, I came out of the tent to mount my mule for

Tcherkin. I now saw Confu's servant, whose name was Welleta Yasous,

pulling the Guinea-fowls and pigeons out of the pannier, where my

servants had put them, and scattering them upon the ground, and he was

saying to those who interrupted him, "Throw away this carrion; you

shall have a better breakfast and dinner, too, to-day;" and turning

to me more than ordinarily pleased at seeing me dressed, and that I

continued to use the Abyssinian habit, he jumped upon his mule, and

appeared in great spirits, and we all set out at a brisker pace than

usual, by the assistance of the two fresh mules.

We passed through the midst of several small villages. At half an

hour past eight we came to the mountain of Tcherkin, which we rounded

on the west, and then on the north, keeping the mountain always

on our right. At twenty minutes past ten I pitched my tent in the

market-place at Tcherkin, which seemed a beautiful lawn laid out for

pleasure, shaded with fine old trees, of an enormous height and size,

and watered by a small but very limpid brook, running over beds of

pebbles as white as snow.

CHAP. II.

_Reception at Tcherkin by Ozoro Esther, &c.--Hunting of the

Elephant, Rhinoceros, and Buffalo._

The impatient Welleta Yasous would only give me time to see my

quadrant and other instruments safely stowed, but hurried me through

a very narrow and crooked path up the side of the mountain, at every

turn of which was placed a great rock or stone, the station for

musquets to enfilade the different stages of the road below, where it

was strait for any distance. We at last reached the outer court, where

we found the chamberlain Ammonios, whom Welleta Yasous had spoken of

as being still at Gondar; but this did not surprise me, as he told me

at the tent that Ayto Confu was arrived. I saw here a great many of my

old acquaintance whom I had known at Ozoro Esther's house at Gondar,

and who all welcomed me with the greatest demonstrations of joy, as if

I had come from a long journey.

I was then taken to an inner apartment, where, to my great surprise,

instead of Ayto Confu, I saw his mother, Ozoro Esther, sitting on a

couch, and at her feet the secretary's daughter, the beautiful Tecla

Mariam; and, soon after, the secretary himself, and several others

belonging to the court. After having made a profound obeisance,

"Ozoro Esther, said I, I cannot speak for surprise. What is the

meaning of your having left Gondar to come into this wilderness? As

for Tecla Mariam, I am not surprised at seeing her; I know she at

any time would rather die than leave you; but that you have both

come hither without Ayto Confu, and in so short a time, is what I

cannot comprehend."--"There is nothing so strange in this, replied

Ozoro Esther; the troops of Begemder have taken away my husband, Ras

Michael, God knows where; and, therefore, being now a single woman,

I am resolved to go to Jerusalem to pray for my husband, and to die

there, and be buried in the Holy Sepulchre. You would not stay with

us, so we are going with you. Is there any thing surprising in all

this?"

"But tell me truly, says Tecla Mariam, you that know every thing,

while peeping and poring through these long glasses, did not you learn

by the stars that we were to meet you here?"--"Madam, answered I, if

there was one star in the firmament that had announced to me such

agreeable news, I should have relapsed into the old idolatry of this

country, and worshipped that star for the rest of my life." Breakfast

now came in; the conversation took a very lively turn, and from the

secretary I learned that the matter stood thus: The king, restoring

the villages to the Iteghé, according to the stipulation of his last

treaty with Powussen, thought that he might so far infringe upon it,

from gratitude to Ras Michael, as to give part of the number to Ozoro

Esther, the Iteghé's daughter; and Ayto Confu, going to Tcherkin to

hunt, he took his mother along with him to put her in possession; for

the Iteghé's people were not lambs, nor did they pay much regard to

the orders of the king, nor to that of the Iteghé their mistress, at

all times, farther than suited their own convenience.

We now wanted only the presence of Ayto Confu to make our happiness

complete; he came about four, and with him Ayto Engedan, and a great

company. There was nothing but rejoicing on all sides. Seven ladies,

relations and companions of Ozoro Esther, came with Ayto Confu; and

I confess this to have been one of the happiest moments of my life.

I quite forgot the disastrous journey I had before me, and all the

dangers that awaited me. I began even to regret being so far in my

way to leave Abyssinia for ever. We learned from Ayto Confu, that it

had been reported at Gondar that we had been murdered by the peasants

of Gimbaar, but the contrary was soon known. However, Engedan and

he had set the lesser village on fire in their passage, and laid a

contribution of eleven ounces of gold upon the two larger.

Ayto Confu's house 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 composed of fascines

of canes, so neatly joined together as not to be penetrated by rain

or wind. The entry is from the south side of it, very crooked and

difficult, half way up the rock. On the east, is a very plentiful

spring, which furnishes the house with excellent water. Yet, after

all, this house, though inaccessible, is not defensible, and affords

very little safety to its master; for the Shangalla, with flax, or any

thing combustible, tied to the point of their arrows, would easily set

it on fire if they once approached it; and the Abyssinians with guns

could as easily destroy it, as, on such occasions, they wrap their

balls in cotton wads. The inside of the state-rooms were hung with

long stripes of carpeting, and the floors covered with the same.

There is great plenty of game of every sort about Tcherkin; elephants,

rhinoceroses, and a great number of buffaloes, which differ nothing in

form from the buffaloes of Europe or of Egypt, but very much in temper

and disposition. They are fierce, rash, and fearless of danger; and,

contrary to the practice of any other creature not carnivorous, they

attack the traveller and the hunter equally, and it requires address

to escape from them. They seem to be, of all others, the creature

the most given to ease and indulgence. They lie under the most shady

trees, near large pools of water, of which they make constant use, and

sleep soundly all the day long. The flesh of the female is very good

when fat, but that of the male, hard, lean, and disagreeable. Their

horns are used in various manners by the turners, in which craft the

Abyssinians are very expert. In the woods there are many civet cats,

but they know not the use of them, nor how to extract the civet. The

Mahometans only are possessed of this art.

Though we were all happy to our wish in this enchanted mountain, the

active spirit of Ayto Confu could not rest; he was come to hunt the

elephant, and hunt him he would. All those that understood any thing

of this exercise had assembled from a great distance to meet Ayto

Confu at Tcherkin. He and Engedan, from the moment they arrived, had

been overlooking, from the precipice, their servants training and

managing their horses in the market-place below. Great bunches of the

finest canes had been brought from Kuara for javelins; and the whole

house was employed in fitting heads to them in the most advantageous

manner. For my part, tho' I should have been very well contented to

have remained where I was, yet the preparations for sport of so noble

a kind roused my spirits, and made me desirous 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 slavery, as they did not

doubt, if the Shangalla missed us, they would come forward to the

mountain and slay them all. But a sufficient garrison was left under

Azage Kyrillos, and Billetana Gueta Ammonios; and we were well assured

that the Shangalla, being informed we were out, and armed, and knowing

our numbers, would take care to keep close in their thickets far out

of our way.

On the 6th, an hour before day, after a hearty breakfast, we mounted

on horseback, to the number of about thirty belonging to Ayto Confu.

But there was another body, both of horse and foot, which made hunting

the elephant their particular business. These men dwell constantly

in the woods, and know very little the use of bread, living entirely

upon the flesh of the beasts they kill, chiefly that of the elephant

or rhinoceros. They are exceedingly thin, light, and agile, both

on horseback and foot; are very swarthy, though few of them black;

none of them woolly-headed, and all of them have European features.

They are called Agageer, a name of their profession, not of their

nation, which comes from the word Agar, and signifies to hough or

ham-string with a sharp weapon. More properly it means, indeed, the

cutting the tendon of the heel, and is a characteristic of the manner

in which they kill the elephant, which is shortly as follows:--Two

men, absolutely naked, without any rag or covering at all about

them, get on horseback; this precaution is from fear of being laid

hold of by the trees or bushes, in making their escape from a very

watchful enemy. One of these riders sits upon the back of the horse,

sometimes with a saddle, and sometimes without one, with only a

switch or short stick in one hand, carefully managing the bridle

with the other; behind him sits his companion, who has no other arms

but a broad-sword, such as is used by the Sclavonians, and which is

brought from Trieste. His left hand is employed grasping the sword 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 sword

are as sharp as a razor, he carries it without a scabbard.

As soon as the elephant is found feeding, the horseman rides before

him as near his face as possible; or, if he flies, crosses him in all

directions, crying out, "I am such a man and such a man; this is my

horse, that has such a name; I killed your father in such a place, and

your grandfather in such another place, and I am now come to kill you;

you are but an ass in comparison of them." This nonsense he verily

believes the elephant understands, who, chafed and angry at hearing

the noise immediately before him, seeks to seize him with his trunk

or proboscis, and, intent upon this, follows the horse everywhere,

turning and turning round with him, neglectful of making his escape

by running straight forward, in which consists his only safety. After

having made him turn once or twice in pursuit of the horse, the

horseman rides close up alongside of him, and drops his companion just

behind on the off side; and while he engages the elephant's attention

upon the horse, the footman behind gives him a drawn stroke just above

the heel, or what in man is called the tendon of Achilles. This is the

critical moment; the horseman immediately wheels round, and takes his

companion up behind him, and rides off full speed after the rest of

the herd, if they have started more than one; and sometimes an expert

Agageer will kill three out of one herd. If the sword is good, and the

man not afraid, the tendon is commonly entirely separated; and if it

is not cut through, it is generally so far divided, that the animal,

with the stress he puts upon it, breaks the remaining part asunder.

In either case, he remains incapable of advancing a step, till the

horseman returning, or his companions coming up, pierce him through

with javelins and lances; he then falls to the ground, and expires

with the loss of blood.

The Agageer nearest me presently lamed his elephant, and left him

standing. Ayto Engedan, Ayto Confu, Guebra Mariam, and several

others, fixed their spears in the other, before the Agageer had cut

his tendons. My Agageer, however, having wounded the first elephant,

failed in the pursuit of the second, and, being close upon him at

entering the wood, he received a violent blow from a branch of a

tree which the elephant had bent by his weight, and, after passing,

allowed it to replace itself, when it knocked down both the riders,

and very much hurt the horse. This, indeed, is the great danger in

elephant-hunting; for some of the trees, that are dry and short,

break, by the violent pressure of so immense a body moving so rapidly,

and fall upon the pursuers, or across the roads. But the greatest

number of these trees, being of a succulent quality, they bend without

breaking, and return quickly to their former position, when they

strike both horse and man so violently, that they often beat them to

pieces, and scatter them upon the plain. Dextrous, too, as the riders

are, the elephant sometimes reaches them with his trunk, with which

he dashes the horse against the ground, and then sets his feet upon

him, till he tears him limb from limb with his proboscis; a great many

hunters die this way. Besides this, the soil, at this time of the

year, is split into deep chasms, or cavities, by the heat of the sun,

so that nothing can be more dangerous than the riding.

The elephant once slain, they cut the whole flesh off his bones into

thongs, like the reins of a bridle, and hang these, like festoons,

upon the branches of trees, till they become perfectly dry, without

salt, and they then lay them by for their provision in the season of

the rains.

I need say 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 description, at length, is given, with his usual accuracy and

elegance, by that great master of natural history the Count de Buffon,

my most venerable, learned, and amiable friend, the Pliny of Europe,

and the true portrait of what a man of learning and fashion should be.

I shall only take upon me to resolve a difficulty which he seems to

have had,--for what use the teeth of the elephant, and the horns of

the rhinoceros, were intended. He, with reason, explodes the vulgar

prejudice, that these arms were given them by Nature to fight with

each other. He asks very properly, What can be the ground of that

animosity? neither of them are carnivorous; they do not couple

together, therefore are not rivals in love; and, as for food, the vast

forests they inhabit furnish them with an abundant and everlasting

store.

But neither the elephant nor rhinoceros eat grass. The sheep, goats,

horses, cattle, and all the beasts of the country, live upon branches

of trees. There are, in every part of these immense forests, trees of

a soft, succulent substance, full of pith. These are the principal

food of the elephant and rhinoceros. They first eat the tops of these

leaves and branches; they then, with their horns or teeth, begin as

near to the root as they can, and rip, or cut the more woody part,

or trunks of these, up to where they were eaten before, till they

fall in so many pliable pieces of the size of laths. After this, they

take all these in their monstrous mouths, and twist them round as we

could do the leaves of a lettuce. The vestiges of this process, in

its different stages, we saw every day throughout the forest; 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.

There now remained but two elephants of those that had been

discovered, which were a she one with a calf. The Agageer would

willingly have let these alone, as the teeth of the female are very

small, and the young one is of no sort of value, even for food, its

flesh shrinking much upon drying. But the hunters would not be limited

in their sport. The people having observed the place of her retreat,

thither we eagerly followed. She was very soon found, and as soon

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 surprise, the young

one, which had been suffered to escape unheeded and unpursued, came

out from the thicket apparently in great anger, running upon the

horses and men with all the violence it was master of. I was amazed;

and as much as ever I was, upon such an occasion, afflicted, at seeing

the great affection of the little animal defending its wounded mother,

heedless of its own life or safety. I therefore cried to them, for

God's sake to spare the mother, tho' it was then too late; and the

calf had made several rude attacks upon me, which I avoided without

difficulty; but I am happy, to this day, in the reflection that I did

not strike it. At last, making one of its attacks upon Ayto Engedan,

it hurt him a little on the leg; upon which he thrust it through

with his lance, as others did after, and it then fell dead before

its wounded mother, whom it had so affectionately defended. It was

about the size of an ass, but round, big-bellied, and heavily made;

and was so furious, and unruly, that it would easily have broken the

leg either of man or horse, could it have overtaken them, and jostled

against them properly.

Here is an example of a beast (a young one too) possessing abstracted

sentiments to a very high degree. By its flight on the first

appearance of the hunters, it is plain it apprehended danger to

itself, it also reflected upon that of its mother, which was the cause

of its return to her assistance. This affection or duty, or let us

call it any thing we please, except instinct, was stronger than the

fear of danger; and it must have conquered that fear by reflection

before it returned, when it resolved to make its best and last

efforts, for it never attempted to fly afterwards. I freely forgive

that part of my readers, who know me and themselves so 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 first

rate in my esteem. If they should shew, in this place, a degree of

doubt, that, for once, I am making use of the privilege of travellers,

and dealing a little in the marvellous, it would be much more to the

credit of their discernment, than their prodigious scruples about the

reality or possibility of eating raw flesh; a thing that has been

recorded by the united testimony of all that ever visited Abyssinia

for these two hundred years, has nothing unreasonable in itself,

though contrary to our practice in other cases; and can only be called

in question now, through weakness, ignorance, or an intemperate desire

to find fault, by those 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 persuaded some will swallow it easily, who

cannot digest the raw flesh. In both instances I adhere strictly to

the truth; and I beg leave to assure those scrupulous readers, that

if they knew their author, they would think that his having invented

a lie, solely for the pleasure of diverting them, was much more

improbable than either of the two foregoing facts. He places his merit

in having accomplished these travels in general, not in being present

at any one incident during the course of them; the believing of which

can reflect no particular honour upon himself, nor the disbelieving

it any sort of disgrace in the minds of liberal and unprejudiced men.

It is for these only he would wish to write, and these are the only

persons who can profit from his narrative.

The Agageers having procured as much meat as would maintain them a

long time, could not be persuaded to continue the hunting any longer.

Part of them remained with the she-elephant, which seemed to be the

fattest; tho' the one they killed first was by much the most valuable,

on account of its long teeth. It was still alive, nor did it seem an

easy operation to kill it, without the assistance of our Agageers,

even though it was totally helpless, except with its trunk.

We sought about for the buffaloes and rhinoceroses; but though there

was plenty of both in the neighbourhood, we could not find them; our

noise and shooting in the morning having probably scared them away.

One rhinoceros only was seen by a servant. We returned in the evening

to a great fire, and lay all night under the shade of trees. Here we

saw them separate the great teeth of the elephant from the head, by

roasting the jaw-bones on the fire, till the lower, thin, and hollow

part of the teeth were nearly consumed; and then they come out

easily, the thin part being of no value.

The next morning we were on horseback by the dawn of day in search of

the rhinoceros, many of which we had heard make a very deep groan and

cry as the morning approached; several of the Agageers then joined

us, and after we had searched about an hour in the very thickest part

of the wood, one of them rushed out with great violence, crossing the

plain towards a wood of canes that was about two miles distance. But

though he ran, or rather trotted, with surprising speed, considering

his bulk, he was, in a very little time, transfixed with thirty or

forty javelins; which so confounded him, that he left his purpose of

going to the wood, and ran into a deep hole, ditch, or ravine, a _cul

de sac_, without outlet, breaking above a dozen of the javelins as

he entered. Here we thought he was caught as in a trap, for he had

scarce room to turn; when a servant, who had a gun, standing directly

over him, fired at his head, and the animal fell immediately, to all

appearance dead. All those on foot now jumped in with their knives to

cut him up, and they had scarce begun, when the animal recovered so

far as to rise upon his knees; happy then was the man that escaped

first; and had not one of the Agageers, who was himself engaged in

the ravine, cut the sinew of the hind-leg as he was retreating, there

would have been a very sorrowful account of the foot-hunters that day.

After having dispatched him, I was curious to see what wound the shot

had given, which had operated so violently upon so huge an animal;

and I doubted not it was in the brain. But it had struck him nowhere

but upon the point of the foremost horn, of which it had carried off

above an inch; and this occasioned a concussion that had stunned him

for a minute, till the bleeding had recovered him. I preserved the

horn from curiosity, and have it now by me[18]. I saw evidently the

ball had touched no other part of the beast.

While we were busy with the rhinoceros, Ammonios joined us. A message

from the king had carried away Azage Kyrillos the secretary. Two

other messengers had arrived from the queen, one to Ayto Confu, and

another to Ozoro Esther; and it was Ozoro Esther's commands to her

son, to leave the hunting and return. There was no remedy 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 westward, where there were large trees and standing

pools of water. We agreed then to hunt homeward, without being

over-solicitous about returning early.

We had not gone far before a wild boar arose between me and Ayto

Engedan, which I immediately killed with my javelin. Before he, on

his horse, came up to it, another of its companions shared the same

fate about a quarter of an hour after. This was the sport I had been

many years used to in Barbary, and was infinitely more dextrous at it

than any of the present company; this put me more upon a par with my

companions, who had not failed to laugh at me, upon my horse's refusal

to carry me near either to the elephant or rhinoceros. Nobody would

touch the carcase of the boar after it was dead, being an animal which

is considered as unclean.

Ammonios was a man of approved courage and conduct, and had been in

all the wars of Ras Michael, and was placed about Ayto Confu, to

lead the troops, curb the presumption, and check the impetuosity

of that youthful warrior. He was tall, and aukwardly made; slow in

speech and motion, so much as even to excite ridicule; about sixty

years of age, and more corpulent than the Abyssinians generally are;

in a word, as pedantic and grave in his manner as it is possible to

express. He spent his whole leisure time in reading the scripture,

nor did he willingly discourse of any thing else. He had been bred a

foot-soldier; and, though he rode as well as many of the Abyssinians,

yet, having long stirrup-leathers, with iron rings at the end of

them, into which he put his naked toe only, instead of stirrups, he

had no strength or agility on horseback, nor was his bridle such as

could command his horse to stop, or wind and turn sharply among trees,

though he might make a tolerable figure on a plain.

A Boar, roused on our right, had wounded a horse and a footman of Ayto

Confu, and then escaped. Two buffaloes were found by those on the

right, one of which wounded a horse likewise. Ayto Confu, Engedan,

Guebra Mariam, and myself, killed the other with equal share of

merit, without being in any sort of danger. All this was in little

more than an hour, when our sport seemed to be at the best; our

horses were considerably blown, not tired, and though we were beating

homewards, still we were looking very keenly for more game. Ammonios

was on the left among the bushes, and some large, beautiful, tall

spreading-trees, close on the banks of the river Bedowi, which stands

there in pools. Whether the buffalo found Ammonios, or Ammonios the

buffalo, is what we could never get him to explain to us; but he had

wounded the beast slightly in the buttock, which, in return, had gored

his horse, and thrown both him and it to the ground. Luckily, however,

his cloak had fallen off, which the buffalo tore in pieces, and

employed himself for a minute with that and with the horse, but then

left them, and followed the man as soon as he saw him rise and run.

Ammonios got behind one large tree, and from that to another still

larger. The buffalo turned very aukwardly, but kept close in pursuit;

and there was no doubt he would have worn our friend out, who was not

used to such quick motion. Ayto Engedan, who was near him, and might

have assisted him, was laughing, ready to die at the droll figure a

man of Ammonios's grave carriage made, running and skipping about

naked, with a swiftness he had never practised all his life before;

and Engedan continued calling to Confu to partake of the diversion.

The moment I heard his repeated cries, I galloped out of the bushes to

the place where he was, and could not help laughing at the ridiculous

figure of our friend, very attentive to the beast's motions, which

seemed to dodge with great address, and keep to his adversary with

the utmost obstinacy. As soon as Engedan saw me, he cried, "Yagoube!

for the love of Christ! for the love of the blessed Virgin! don't

interfere till Confu comes up." Confu immediately arrived, and laughed

more than Engedan, but did not offer to interfere; on the contrary,

he clapped his hands, and cried, "Well done, Ammonios," swearing he

never saw so equal a match in his life. The unfortunate Ammonios had

been driven from tree to tree, till he had got behind one within a

few yards of the water; but the brush-wood upon the banks, and his

attention to the buffalo, hindered him from seeing how far it was

below him. Nothing could be more ridiculous than to see him holding

the tree with both his hands, peeping first one way, and then another,

to see by which the beast would turn. And well he might be on his

guard; for the animal was absolutely mad, tossing up the ground with

his feet both before and behind. "Sir, said I, to Ayto Confu, this

will be but an ugly joke to-night, if we bring home that man's corpse,

killed in the very midst of us, while we were looking on." Saying

this, I parted at a canter behind the trees, crying to Ammonios to

throw himself into the water, when I should strike the beast; and

seeing the buffalo's head turned from me, at full speed I ran the

spear into the lower part of his belly, through his whole intestines,

till it came out above a foot on the other side, and there I left

it, with a view to hinder the buffalo from turning. It was a spear

which, though small in the head, had a strong, tough, seasoned shaft,

which did not break by striking it against the trees and bushes, and

it pained and impeded the animal's motions, till Ammonios quitting

the tree, dashed through the bushes with some difficulty, and threw

himself into the river. But here a danger occurred that I had not

foreseen. The pool was very deep, and Ammonios could not swim; so

that though he escaped from the buffalo, he would infallibly have

been drowned, had he not caught hold of some strong roots of a tree

shooting out of the bank; and there he lay in perfect safety from the

enemy, till our servants went round, and brought him out of the pool

on the further side.

In the mean time, the buffalo, mortally wounded, seeing his enemy had

escaped, kept his eyes intent upon us, who were about forty yards

from him, walking backwards towards us, with intent to turn suddenly

upon the nearest horse; when Ayto Confu ordered two men with guns to

shoot him through the head, and he instantly fell. The two we first

killed were females; this last was a bull, and one of the largest,

confessedly, that had ever been seen. Though not fat, I guess he

weighed nearer fifty than forty stone. His horns from the root,

following the line of their curve, were about fifty-two inches, and

nearly nine where thickest in the circumference. They were flat, not

round. Ayto Confu ordered the head to be cut off, and cleared of its

flesh, so that the horns and skeleton of the head only remained; this

he hung up in his great hall among the probosces of elephants, and

horns of rhinoceroses, with this inscription in his own language,

"_Yogoube the Kipt killed this upon the Bedowi_."

We were now within sight of home, to which we went straight without

further hunting. Neither the ridicule nor the condolence of the young

men could force one word from Ammonios; only when I asked him whether

or not he was hurt, he answered from the scripture, "He that loveth

danger shall perish in it." But at night Ozoro Esther, either really

or feignedly, expressing herself as displeased with her son Ayto

Confu, Ammonios, who loved the young man sincerely, could not bear to

be the occasion of this; so that all resolved itself into mirth and

joke. What added to the merriment was, that the messengers from the

Iteghé brought a large increase to our stock of brandy; but brought

also positive orders, both from her and the king, to Ozoro Esther, to

determine me, by all possible means, to return to Gondar, or else to

repair thither instantly herself.

The evening of the day whereon we set out to hunt, some men arrived

from Ras el Feel, sent by Yasine, with camels for our baggage,

nothing but mules being used at Tcherkin. They brought word, that

the Shangalla were down near the Tacazzé, so that now was the time

to pass without fear; that Abd el Jeleel, the former Shum of Ras el

Feel, Yasine's mortal enemy, had been seen lurking in the country near

Sancaho; but as he had only four men, and was himself a known coward,

it was not probable he would attempt any thing against us, though it

would be always better that we keep on our guard.

Tcherkin has a market on Saturdays, in which raw cotton, cattle,

honey, and coarse cotton cloths are sold. The Shangalla formerly

molested Tcherkin greatly, but for thirty years past they had done

little damage. The small-pox raged so violently for a number of

years among them, that it has greatly diminished their numbers, and

consequently their power of troubling their neighbours. At Tcherkin we

saw a prodigious quantity of black scorpions, of a very small kind,

seldom in the houses, but chiefly hid under stones; several of our

people were stung by them, but no other mischief followed, but a small

swelling, and a complaint of cold in the part, which went away in a

few hours.

From the descent of Moura, after leaving Debra Tzai, and Koscam, all

was thick woods till we arrived at Tcherkin; the roads very rugged

and broken, but the weather was exceedingly pleasant; for though the

thermometer was sometimes at 115°, it was always cool in the shade;

and by the side of every river there was a fresh gentle breeze from

N. E. especially at mid-day. The mornings were always calm, or with

little wind at N. E. It regularly changed about nine to N. W. and then

fell calm. About four in the afternoon it generally was at west or

near it; but two currents were constantly distinguished at night; the

lower N. E. veering easterly towards morning; while the white small

clouds very thin and high, coming very rapidly from the S. W. shewed

the direction and strength of the higher current. The mornings and

nights were cloudy from the first of January, but the days perfectly

serene.

On Wednesday the eighth of January, having rectified my quadrant with

great attention, I found the latitude of Tcherkin, by a meridian

altitude of the sun, to be 13° 7´ 30´´ N.; and taking a mean

between that and the meridian altitude of eleven different stars,

the following night, I found the true latitude of Tcherkin Amba

to be 13° 7´ 35´´ north. But though from that time I was ready to

depart, I could not possibly get disengaged from my friends, but by

a composition, which was, that I should stay till the 15th, the day

before Ozoro Esther and her company were to set out on their return

to Gondar; and that they, on their part, should suffer me to depart

on that day, without further perswasion, or throwing any obstacle

whatever in my way. The king had recommended to them this sort of

agreement, if I was obstinate, and this being settled, we abandoned

ourselves to mirth and festivity.

CHAP. III.

_From Tcherkin to Hor-Cacamoot, in Ras el Feel--Account of

it--Transactions there._

On the 15th of January, at a quarter past eight in the morning, we

left Tcherkin, and entered immediately into thick woods; but proceeded

very slowly, the road being bad and unknown, if it could be called a

road, and our camels overloaded. About an hour afterwards we passed

a small village of elephant hunters on our right, and our course

was straight north, through dark thick woods, overgrown with long

grass, till at half an hour past ten we came to another small village

close on our right. We then turned N. W. and continued in that

direction, passing several villages, all of elephant hunters, and

mostly Mahometans. At three quarters after twelve we came to a small

river which runs W. N. W. and falls into the Germa; here we rested.

At ten minutes past one we set out again, thro' the thickest and most

impenetrable woods I ever saw; and at half past four we encamped

about two miles west of Amba Daid, a small village of elephant

hunters, often destroyed by the Shangalla, but now lately rebuilt, and

strengthened by Agageers and their families under protection of Ayto

Confu. We went not to the village, for the sake of a small brook which

we had found here, running north, and falling into the Angrab.

On the 16th, at half after seven in the morning we resumed our

journey, going westward; 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 passed the Germa, and going

N. W. through the very thickest woods, came to Dabdo, a hill almost

deserted, its inhabitants having been so frequently destroyed by the

Pagan Shangalla.

At twenty minutes past ten, still going through the thickest woods,

and ground all opened by the heat of the sun, we found, in a grassy

marsh, a pretty abundant spring of foul water. This is the resort of

the hunters of the elephant, as also of their rivals and enemies the

Shangalla; and here much human blood has been shed by people whose

occupation and intention, when they went from home, were that of

slaying the wild beasts only. The Baasa or Dobena Shangalla, possess

the country which lies about four days journey N. E. from this.

At a quarter past eleven we came to the river Terkwa; which, after

running N. W. falls into the Angrab; it then flood in large deep

pools; the banks were covered with tall green grass; the taste of the

water foul, and earthy. At twelve we passed the river Terkwa; and

going north, about an hour after we came to the Dongola, running east

and west; and an hour after that to Jibbel Myrat river, which, running

east and west, was once the boundary between Sennaar and Abyssinia.

History does not tell us when these boundaries were altered, or upon

what occasion. It was probably upon the first invasion that new ones

were settled. It should seem that the Abyssinians had then the better

of Nubia; for a large accession of territory was ceded by the latter

to the former. A few minutes after we came to the river Woodo, larger

than the last. It has a rocky bottom, and is full of small fish of

a brownish and silver colour. Where we crossed, it runs from west

to east, and falls into the Angrab. There we passed the night, not

without alarms, as fresh footsteps in the sand were very plainly

discovered, which, by the length of the foot, and the largeness of

the heels, our people pronounced were surely Shangalla; but nothing

disastrous appeared all night.

On the 17th, before seven in the morning we were again upon our

journey, our direction N. and N. W. winding to due West. Andoval

mountain stood W. N. W. distant from us four miles. At forty minutes

past eight, going due west, Andoval mountain lay to the north of us;

and Awassa mountains to the south. This is a ridge which, coming from

the north, stretches south to Dabda, and Abra Amba. Andoval mountain

is a small pointed peek, which constitutes the north end of them. We

halted here a few minutes, and resumed our route to the westward, and

N. W. till we came to Sancaho, at half an hour past one, and there we

rested.

Sancaho is an old frontier territory of Abyssinia. The town may

consist of about 300 huts or houses, neatly built of canes, and

curiously thatched with leaves of the same. It rises in the midst of

a plain, and resembles in shape Tcherkin Amba, though much larger; a

considerable district all around belongs to it, of wilds and woods,

if such as these, abandoned entirely to wild beasts, can be said to

belong to any man. The east end slopes with rather a steep descent

into the plain; and through that is a narrow winding road, seemingly

the work of art, being obstructed at turns by huge stones, and at

different stages, for the purpose of defence by guns or arrows;

all the other sides of the rock are perpendicular precipices. The

inhabitants of the town are Baasa, a race of Shangalla, converted to

the Mahometan religion; it is an absolute government, has a nagareet

or kettle-drum for proclamations, yet is understood to be inferior to

Ras el Feel, and dependent on it; and always subject to that nobleman,

who is Kasmati of Ras el Feel, such as Ayto Confu then was, after he

had resumed his government at my departure, though during my stay in

Abyssinia it had devolved upon me by his surrendering it.

Gimbaro, the Erbab or chief of Sancaho, was the tallest and stoutest

man of his nation; about six feet six inches high, and strongly made

in proportion; hunted always on foot; and was said, among his people,

to have singly killed elephants with one blow of his spear. The

features of his face might well be called hideous; he paid his part

of the revenue in buffaloes hides, of which the best shields were

made; and with elephants' teeth, and rhinoceros's horns, used for the

handles of the crooked knives, which the Abyssinians carry at their

girdles. All the inhabitants of Sancaho are hunters of elephants. It

is their principal food. Erbab Gimbaro came with Yasine, and brought

more than a hundred of the Shangalla to the king's army at Serbraxos,

where the Moors alledged he did not any way distinguish himself. I

had, however, taken considerable notice of him; and at his earnest

desire carried him into the tent, and shewed him the king.

We encamped at the bottom of the hill on the south-west side of the

town, on the banks of the river, which rises in the mountains six

miles off to the south, and encompasses the half of the hill where

Sancaho stands; after which it turns northward, but was now mostly

dry. While we were pitching our tent, I sent one of Yasine's men to

order Gimbaro to send us the usual quantity of provision for ourselves

and camels, and told him also, that my camels were few in number,

and weak; desiring he would send two, or one at least, which should

be stated in his deftar, or account of rent, for that year. I was

astonished to see Yasine's men return, bringing with them only a

woolly-headed black, the Erbab's son, as it seemed, who, with great

freedom and pertness, and in very good Amharic, said, "My father

salutes you; if ye eat what he eats, ye shall be very welcome." I

asked him, What that was?--He said, "Elephant killed yesterday; and

as for camels ye demand, he tells you he has none; elephants are his

camels, and rhinoceroses are his mules."

Ayto Confu's servants, who heard this message delivered, and who were

as desirous of getting over this journey to Ras el Feel as I was,

advised me to go with him up the hill to the town, and expostulate

with the Erbab, who, he said, would be ashamed to refuse. Accordingly,

I armed myself with a pair of pistols at my girdle, with a fusil and

bayonet in my hand; and took with me two servants with their pistols

also, each carrying a large ship-blunderbuss. We mounted the hill with

great difficulty, being several times obliged to pull up one another

by the hands, and entered into a large room about fifty feet long. It

was all hung round with elephants heads and trunks, with skeletons of

the heads of some rhinoceroses, and of monstrous hippopotami, as also

several heads of the giraffa. Some large lion skins were thrown on

several parts of the room, like carpets; and Gimbaro stood upright at

one end of it, naked, only a small cloth about his middle; the largest

man I ever remembered to have seen, perfectly black, flat-nosed,

thick-lipped, and woolly-headed; and seemed to be a perfect picture of

those Cannibal giants which we read of as inhabiting enchanted castles

in fairy tales.

He did not seem to take notice at my first entering the room, nor

till I was very near him. He then came aukwardly forward, bowing,

endeavouring to kiss my hand, which I withdrew from him, and said in a

firm voice, "I apprehend, Sir, you do not know me." He bowed and said

he did, but did not conceive, at the time, it was me that encamped at

the brook. "You did know, Sir, when you sent your son with Yasine's

servant, and you know that you are considerably in my debt. Besides,

if you had any gratitude, you would remember the arrears I remitted

you, and the presents I made you when at Serbraxos, even though you

misbehaved there. Your message to me while below at the river was the

language of a rebel. Are you willing to be declared in rebellion?"

He said, "By no means; he had always been a faithful servant to Ayto

Confu, Ras Michael, and the king, and had come to Serbraxos upon

receiving the first order, and would obey whatever I should command."

"Then pay me the meery you owe me, and begin first by bringing two

camels." "He said, he never refused the camels, and the message he

sent was but in sport." "And was it sport too, Sir, said I, when you

said you would send me the flesh of elephants to eat? Did you ever

know a Christian eat any sort of flesh that a Mahometan killed?" He

answered, "No; and begging my pardon, promised he would send me bread

and honey, and the camels should be ready in the morning. They must

be ready to-night, said I, and before night too; for I am to dispatch

a servant this evening to Ayto Confu to complain of your behaviour,

as I do not know what you may meditate against us in our way to Ras

el Feel." He begged now, in the most earnest manner, I would not

complain; and said, he would have all his spies out to the eastward,

that not a Shangalla should pass to molest us, without our being

informed of them. Some of his principal people now interfering, I

consented to forget and forgive what had passed. We then ate bread,

and drank beer, to show the reconciliation was sincere, and so the

affair ended.

About six in the evening came two strong camels, and about thirty

loaves of bread made of Dora; two large wheat loaves for me, as also a

jar of wild honey, of excellent flavour, and with these a present to

Ayto Confu's servant.

On the 18th, about six 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 already enough of honey, upon

which we breakfasted with the Erbab, who, to confirm the friendship,

took two or three glasses of strong spirits, which put him into

excellent humour. His son, too, that he might atone for his last

night's misbehaviour, brought a better camel than any we had seen, and

exchanged it for one of those that came yesterday in the evening. I,

on the other hand, gave him a cotton cloth, and some trifles, which

made him perfectly happy; and we parted in the most cordial friendship

possible, after having made a promise that, at my return, I should

stay a week at Sancaho to hunt the elephant and rhinoceros.

Before leaving Sancaho, I had an opportunity of verifying a fact

hitherto doubtful in natural history. Mr Hasselquist, the Swedish

traveller, when at Cairo, saw the skins of two giraffos stuffed, which

came from Sennaar. He gives as minute a description as possible he

could from seeing the skins only; but says nothing about the horns,

because I suppose he did not see them; on which account the doubt

remained undecided, whether the giraffo's horns were solid as the

deer's, and cast every year; or whether they were hollow, attached

to a core, or bone, like those of sheep, and consequently permanent.

The Count de Buffon conjectures them to be of this last kind, and so

I found them. They are twisted in all respects like the horns of an

antelope.

At ten minutes past eight we set out from Sancaho; but my people took

it into their heads, that, notwithstanding the fair behaviour of Erbab

Gimbaro, he intended to lay some ambush to cut us off, and rob us

on the way. For my part, I was very well satisfied of the contrary;

but this did not hinder them from forsaking the accustomed road, and

getting among a thick wood of canes; we were obliged to cut our way

out of them when our direction was west, or to the southward of west.

They were also afraid of Abd el Jileel.

At ten minutes past eleven we crossed the Bedowi, which we had passed

twice before; at half past eleven we crossed it again, travelling

southward; and a quarter after twelve we were so entangled with

woods, and so fatigued with cutting the way for our camels, that we

thought we should get no further. We had, however, continued till

three quarters past one in a direction south-east, at which time we

were not above five miles from Sancaho; and, at half past two, had

turned south-west on the banks of the large river Tokoor-Ohha, which

signifies the Black River. It comes from the mountains of Awassa on

the south-east, and, after winding considerably, it falls into the

Guangue, about eight miles from Guanjook.

Tokoor-Ohha is a river famous for the number of buffaloes that are

upon its banks, which are covered with large beautiful shady-trees,

all of a hard red wood, called Dengui 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 Zopé.

On the 19th, at three quarters past six we left our station on

Tokoor river, which we crossed about a quarter of an hour after,

our direction being nearly S. W. The territory here is called

Gilmaber, from Gilma, a small village a mile and a half distant to

the southward. 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 small

gun-shot before us; and wherever it came to a bare spot, it would sit

down and grumble as if it meant to dispute the way with us. Our beasts

trembled, and were all covered with sweat, and could scarcely be kept

on the road. As there seemed to be but one remedy for this difficulty,

I took a long Turkish rifled gun, and crawling under a bank as near

as possible, shot it in the body, so that it fell from the bank on

the road before us, quite dead, and even without muscular motion. It

proved to be a large lioness. All the people in this country eat the

flesh of lions; as I have seen some tribes[19] in Barbary do likewise.

We left the lioness to the inhabitants of the neighbouring village,

skin and all; for we were so tired with this day's journey, that we

could not be at the pains of skinning her.

A few minutes after this we passed the river Gilma, twice, which runs

to the northward. At half past nine we joined Dabda road, and a few

minutes after crossed the Quartucca, a small river running north.

The country here becomes more open, for the thick woods have small

plains between them. In the entrance of a wood we found a man that had

been murdered, and that very lately, as the wild beasts had not yet

begun to touch the body; he had been ham-strung, and his throat cut,

a performance probably of the neighbouring Shangalla. At fifty minutes

past ten, our route being west, we passed under a hill a quarter of

a mile on our right, upon which is a village called Salamgué. At

a quarter past eleven we crossed the small river of Kantis; and a

quarter of an hour afterwards we ascended a hill upon which stands a

village of that name, inhabited by Mahometan Shangalla of the tribe of

Baasa.

On the 20th we proceeded but a mile and a half; our beasts and

ourselves being equally fatigued, and our cloaths torn all to rags.

Guanjook is a very delightful spot by the river side; small woods

of very high trees interspersed with very beautiful lawns; several

fields also cultivated with cotton; variety of game (especially Guinea

fowls, in great abundance) and, upon every tree, perroquets, of all

the different kinds and colours, compose the beauties of Guanjook. I

saw no parrots, and suppose there were none; but on firing a gun, the

first probably ever heard in those woods, there was such a screaming

of other birds on all sides, some flying to the place whence the

noise came, and some flying from it, that it was impossible to hear

distinctly any other sound. It was at this place that I shot that

curious bird called the Erkoom[20] in Amhara; the Abba Gumba, in

Tigrè; and here at Guanjook, _Teir el Naciba_, or the Bird of Destiny.

On the 22d, at three quarters past six we left Guanjook, and a few

minutes after passed a small river called Gumbacca, and afterwards

the river Tokoor. At half an hour past eight we rested there, and

three hours after came to the Guangue. The Guangue is the largest

river we had seen in Abyssinia except the Nile and Taccazé. It rises

near Tchelga, or between Tchelga and Nara. It joins the Tacazzé 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 mostly smaller than those of the Nile.

At a quarter after one we came to Mariam-Ohha, and at half past three

arrived at Hor-Cacamoot. Hor in that country signifies the dry deep

bed of a torrent, which has ceased to run; and Cacamoot, the shade of

death; so that Yasine's village, where we now took up our quarters,

is called the Valley of the Shadow of Death: A bad omen for weak and

wandering travellers as we were, surrounded by a multitude of dangers,

and so far from home, that there seemed to be but one that could bring

us thither. We trusted in Him, and He did deliver us.

Hor-Cacamoot is situated in a plain in the midst of a wood, so much

only of which has been cleared away as to make room for the miserable

huts of which it consists, and for the small spots of ground on which

they sow mashilla, or maize, to furnish them with bread. Their other

food consists entirely of the flesh of the elephant and rhinoceros,

and chiefly of the former; for the trouble of hunting the elephant is

not greater than chasing the rhinoceros, and the difference of gain is

much superior. The elephant has a greater quantity of better flesh,

while his large teeth are very valuable, and afford a ready price

everywhere. The inhabitants being little acquainted with the use of

fire-arms, the smaller game, of the deer kind, are not much molested,

unless by the wild Shangalla, who make use of bows and arrows, so that

these animals are increased beyond imagination.

Ras el Feel consisted once of thirty-nine villages. All the Arabs of

Atbara resorted to them with butter, honey, horses, gold, and many

other commodities; and the Shekh of Atbara, living upon the frontier

of Sennaar, entertained a constant good correspondence with the Shekh

of Ras el Feel, to whom he sent yearly a Dongola horse, two razors,

and two dogs. The Shekh of Ras el Feel, in return, gave him a mule and

a female slave; and the effect of this intercourse was to keep all the

intermediate Arabs in their duty.

Since the expedition of Yasous II. against Sennaar, no peace has ever

subsisted between the two states; on the contrary, all the Arabs

that assisted the king, and were defeated with him, pay tribute no

longer to Sennaar, but live on the frontiers of Abyssinia, and are

protected there. The two chiefs of Atbara, and Ras el Feel, understand

one another perfectly, 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 these Arabs the king of Abyssinia's army was furnished,

as we have seen, with heavy horses; and it was in consequence of my

depending on this friendship with the Shekh of Teawa, that I attempted

going thro' that province to Sennaar.

Sometime before I left Gondar I had been threatened with an attack

of the dysentery. At my arrival at Hor-Cacamoot it grew worse,

and had many unpromising symptoms, when I was cured by the advice

and application of a common Shangalla, by means of a shrub called

Wooginoos[21], growing very common in those parts, the manner of using

which he taught me.

The country, from Tcherkin to Ras el Feel, or Hor-Cacamoot, is all

a black earth, called Mazaga, which some authors have taken for the

name of the province. However, the word Mazaga, in the language of

the country, signifies fat, loose, black earth, or mold, such as all

that stripe of land from 13° to 16° of latitude is composed of, at

least till you reach to the deserts of Atbara, where the rains end.

Ras el Feel is, I suppose, one of the hottest countries in the known

world. On the 1st day of March, at three o'clock in the afternoon,

Fahrenheit's thermometer, in the shade, was 114° which was at 61° at

sun-rise, and 82° at sun-set. And yet this excessive heat did not make

a proportional impression upon our feelings. The evenings, on the

contrary, rather seemed cold, and we could hunt at mid-day. And this I

constantly observed in this sultry country, that, what was hot by the

glass, never appeared to carry with it any thing proportionate in our

sensations.

Ras el Feel formerly paid 400 ounces of gold, which is 4000 crowns;

Sancaho paid 100. But trade having decreased, since the expedition of

Yasous II. to Sennaar, without the king's demand being lessened, many

people have left it, and are gone to Tcherkin.

I have several times, in the course of this work, taken notice of a

black nation called Shangalla, who surround all the N. N. W. and N.

E. of Abyssinia, by a belt scarcely sixty miles broad. This is called

by the Abyssinians, Kolla, or the Hot Country, which is likewise one

of their names for hell. Two gaps, or spaces, made for the sake of

commerce, in this belt, the one at Tchelga, the other at Ras el Feel,

have been settled and possessed by strangers, to keep these Shangalla

in awe; and here the custom-houses were placed, for the mutual

interest of both kingdoms, before all intercourse was interrupted

by the impolitic expedition of Yasous against Sennaar. Ras el Feel

divides this nation of woolly-headed blacks into two, the one west

below Kuara, and bordering on Fazuclo (part of the kingdom of Sennaar)

as also on the country of Agows. These are the Shangalla that traffic

in gold, which they find in the earth, where torrents have fallen

from the mountains; for there is no such thing as mines in any part

of their country nor any way of collecting gold but this; nor is

there any gold found in Abyssinia, however confidently this has been

advanced; neither is there gold brought into that kingdom from any

other quarter but this which we are now speaking of; notwithstanding

all the misrepresentations of the missionaries to make the attempts

to subdue this kingdom appear more lucrative and less ridiculous to

European princes. The other nation, on the frontiers of Kuara, has Ras

el Feel on the east, about three days journey from the Cacamoot. The

natives are called Ganjar; a very numerous and formidable nation of

hunters, consisting of several thousand horse. The origin of these is

said to have been, that when the Funge (or black nation now occupying

Sennaar) dispossessed the Arabs from that part of the country, the

black-slaves that were in service among these Arabs, all fled and took

possession of the districts they now hold; where they have greatly

increased in numbers, and continue independent to this day. They are

the natural enemies of Ras el Feel, and much blood has been shed

between them, from making inroads one upon the other, murdering the

men and carrying their women into slavery. Yasine, however, had become

too strong for them, by the assistance of Ayto Confu, and they had

offered to assist the king at the campaign of Serbraxos. But they were

found not fit to be trusted, so were sent away, under pretence that

they should attack Coque Abou Barea governor of Kuara for the rebels,

and hinder him from coming to their assistance; and even this they did

not do.

The title of their chief is Sheba, which signifies the Old Man. His

residence is called Cashumo, by his own people; and Dendy Kolla, by

the Abyssinians of Kuara. Yasine, however, was now at peace with them,

without which our journey would scarce have been possible. Sheba sent

his son to see me at Ras el Feel; we thought, at that time, he came

as a spy. However, when we departed I gave him a small present; and

we swore mutual friendship, that he was to be ready always to fight

against my enemies, and that we were to act kindly by each other,

though we were to meet, horse to horse, alone in the desert.

Yasine had done every thing, on his part, to secure me a good

reception from Fidele Shekh of Atbara. Every assurance possible had

been given, and I had before travelled some thousand miles upon much

slighter promises, which had, however, been always faithfully kept; so

that I did not at all suspect that any thing unfair could be intended

me at Teawa, where Fidele resided. But as the loss of life was the

consequence of being mistaken, I never did omit any means to double my

security.

Mahomet Gibberti, as we have before observed, had already carried a

letter of mine from Gondar to his master Metical Aga, Selictarto the

Sherriffe of Mecca in Arabia, requesting that he would write to some

man of consideration in Sennaar, and, taking it for granted that I was

then arrived at Teawa, desire that a servant of the king might be sent

to give me safe conduct from that frontier to the capital. Yasine had

written to the same effect, directly to Sennaar, and sent a servant

of his, who, for security sake, had nothing but the letter and an old

ragged cloth about his waist; and he had long ago arrived at Sennaar,

the before-named place of his destination.

Among the tribes of Arabs that were protected by Yasine, and furnished

with pasture, water, and a market for their cattle, and milk and

butter, at Ras el Feel, were the Daveina, by much the most powerful of

all the Arabs in Atbara; but they ventured no further southward 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 had often corresponded with him

upon the subject of horses for the king while I was at Gondar. He

was greatly tormented with the stone, and by means of Yasine I had

several times sent him soap-pills, and lime, with directions how to

make lime-water. I therefore sent a servant of mine with a letter to

the Shekh of Beyla, mentioning my intention of coming to Sennaar by

the way of Teawa and Beyla, and desiring him to forward my servant

to Sennaar, to Hagi Belal my correspondent there, and, at the same

time, write to some other friend of his own, to see that the king's

servant should be dispatched to Teawa without delay. This servant,

with the letters, I committed to the care of the Shekh of the Daveina,

who promised that he would himself see him safe into Beyla; and, by a

particular Providence, all these letters and messengers arrived safe,

without miscarriage of one, at the places of their destination, though

we were long kept in suspence before they took effect.

I was now about to quit Ras el Feel for ever, in a firm perswasion

that I had done every thing man could do to insure a safe journey

and good reception at Sennaar, till one day I received a visit from

Mahomet Shekh of Nile; which does not mean Shekh of the river, but of

a tribe of that name, which is but a division of the Daveina. To this

Shekh I had shewn a particular attention in several trips he had made

to Gondar, in consequence of which he was very grateful and anxious

for my safety. He told me, that he saw I was setting out perfectly

content with the measures I had taken for my safety at Sennaar, and he

owned that they were the best that human prudence could suggest; "but,

says he, in my opinion, you have not yet been cautious enough about

Teawa. I know Fidele well, and I apprehend your danger is there, and

not at Sennaar." He then drew a most unfavourable picture of that

Shekh, whom he affirmed to have been a murderer and a thief all his

days, and the son of a father no better than himself; that he was of

no religion, neither Mahometan, Christian, nor Pagan, but absolutely

without fear of God; he said, however, he believed him to be a great

coward; and therefore the whole of my safety reduced itself to this.

Was he really afraid of Yasine, or not? If he was, that became the

best handle we could lay hold on; but if, on the contrary, he was not

afraid of Yasine, or was persuaded, as he very well might be by wicked

people about him, that, when once I was out of the country, Yasine

took no further charge of me, he doubted very much I should never

pass Teawa, or, at least, without suffering some heavy affront or

ill-usage, the extent of which it was impossible to determine.

These sensible suggestions made a very strong impression on Yasine and

me; Yasine's first position was, that Fidele was certainly afraid to

disoblige him; but, allowing the possibility he was not, he owned he

had not substituted any second measure to which I could trust. We all

regretted that our friends the Daveina had been suffered to depart

without taking me with them by Sim-Sim and Beyla; but it was now too

late, as the Daveina had for some days arrived at the station the

nearest Beyla and the farthest from us. It was then agreed, that Nile

should send a relation of his, who was married to one of the tribes of

Jehaina Arabs, encamped upon Jibbel Idriss near to Teawa, with whom

Fidele was at that time making peace, lest they should burn the crop

about the town. This man was not to enter the town of Teawa with me,

but was to come there the next day, as if from his friends at Jibbel

Idriss; and, if I then informed him there was danger, should return to

the Jehaina, mount a hajan or dromedary, and give Yasine information

with all possible speed. All this being now settled, I prepared for my

journey, having first, by many observations by night and day, fixed

the latitude of Hor-Cacamoot to be 13° 1´ 33´´ north.

CHAP. IV.

_From Hor-Cacamoot to Teawa, Capital of Atbara._

It was on the 17th of March that we set out from Hor-Caamoot on our

journey to Teawa, capital of the province of Atbara. Our course was N.

N. W. through thick brush-wood, with a few high trees; our companions

being eleven naked men, with asses loaden with salt. We had several

interruptions on the road. At three in the afternoon we encamped at

Falaty, the east village of Ras el Feel, a little to the northward.

A small mountain, immediately north from this village, the one end

of which is thought to resemble the head of an elephant, gives the

name to the village and the province[22]. This mountain stretches

in a direction nearly north and south, as do the villages, and the

small river when it has water, but it was now apparently dry. However,

by digging pretty deep in the sand, the water filtering through the

sides of the holes filled in a certain time with a putrid, ill-tasted,

unwholesome beverage, which is all this miserable village has for its

use. The people look sickly and ill-coloured. Falaty is three miles

and a half distant from Hor-Cacamoot, its name interpreted is Poverty.

On the 18th, at half after six in the morning we continued our journey

through thick, and almost 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 loose sand, we found great plenty

of fresh water exceedingly well tasted, being sheltered by projecting

rocks from the action of the sun. 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 skin squared, and the edges sewed together very

artificially by a double seam, which does not let out water, much

resembling that upon the best English cricket-balls. An opening is

left in the top of the girba, in the same manner as the bung-hole

of a cask. Around this the skin is gathered to the size of a large

handful, which, when the girba is full of water, is tied round with

whip-cord. These girbas generally contain about sixty gallons each,

and two of them are the load of a camel. They are then all besmeared

on the outside with grease, as well to hinder the water from oozing

through, as to prevent its being evaporated by the action of the sun

upon the girba, which in fact happened to us twice, so as to put us

in imminent danger of perishing with thirst.

Yasine had provided a camel and two girbas, as well as every other

provision necessary for us, till we should arrive at Teawa. Surf el

Shekh is the boundary of Ras el Feel. Here I took an affectionate

leave of my friend Yasine, who, with all his attendants, shewed, at

parting, that love and attachment they had constantly preserved to me

since our first acquaintance.

Soliman, my old and faithful servant, who had carried my first letter

to Sennaar, though provided for in the king's service, insisted upon

attending me to Sennaar, and dying with me if it should be my fate;

or else gaining the reward which had been promised him, if he brought

back the good news of my safe arrival and good reception there. At

parting, I gave the faithful Yasine one of my horses and my coat of

mail, that is my ordinary one; for the one that was given me by Ozoro

Esther had belonged to king Yasous, and as it would have been an

affront to have bestowed it on a common man like Yasine, who, besides,

was a Mahometan, so I gave it (with Ozoro Esther's consent) to Ayto

Engedan, king Yasous's grandson. Before parting, Yasine, like an old

traveller, called the whole company together, and obliged them to

repeat the Fedtah, the Prayer of Peace.

At half past seven in the evening we came to Engaldi, a large bason

or cavity, several hundred yards in length, and about thirty feet

deep, made for the reception of water by the Arabs, who encamp by

its side after the rains. The water was almost exhausted, and what

remained had an intolerable stench. However, flocks of Guinea fowls,

partridges, and every sort of bird, had crowded thither to drink, from

the scarcity of water elsewhere. I believe, I may certainly say, the

number amounted to many thousands. My Arabs loaded themselves in a

very little while, killing them, with sticks and stones; but they were

perfectly useless, being reduced to skeletons by hunger and thirst.

For this reason, as well as that I might not alarm any strolling

banditti within hearing, I did not suffer a shot to be fired at them.

At eight we came to Eradeeba, where is neither village nor water, but

only a resting-place about half a mile square, which has been cleared

from wood, that travellers, who pass to and from Atbara, might have a

secure spot whence they could see around them, and guard themselves

from being attacked unawares by the banditti sometimes resorting to

those deserts.

At a quarter past eleven we arrived at Quaicha, a bed of a torrent

where there was now no water; but the wood seemed growing still

thicker, and to be full of wild beasts, especially lions and hyænas.

These do not fly from man, as those did that we had hitherto seen, but

came boldly up, especially the hyæna, with a resolution to attack us.

Upon our first lighting a fire they left us for a time; but towards

morning they came in greater numbers, than before; a lion carried

away one of our asses from among the other beasts of burden, and a

hyæna attacked one of the men, tore his cloth from his middle, and

wounded him in his back. As we now expected to be instantly devoured,

the present fear overcame the resolutions we had made, not to use

our fire arms, unless in the utmost necessity. I fired two guns,

and ordered my servants to fire two large ship-blunderbusses, which

presently freed us from our troublesome guests. Two hyænas were

killed, and a large lion being mortally wounded was dispatched by our

men in the morning. They came no more near us; but we heard numbers of

them howling at a distance till day-light, either from hunger or the

smarts of the wounds they had received, perhaps from both; for each

ship-blunderbuss had fifty small bullets, and the wood towards which

they were directed, at the distance of about twenty yards, seemed to

be crowded with these animals. The reason why the hyæna is more fierce

here than in any part of Barbary, will be given in the natural history

of that wild beast in the Appendix.

Though this, our first day's journey from Falaty and Ras el Feel, to

Quaicha, was of eleven hours, the distance we had gone in that time

was not more than ten miles; for our beasts were exceedingly loaded,

so that it was with the utmost difficulty that either we or they could

force ourselves through those thick woods, which scarcely admitted

the rays of the sun. From this station, however, we were entertained

with a most magnificent sight. The mountains at a distance towards

the banks of the Tacazzé, 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 beast

in this country eats grass. When therefore the water is dried up, and

they can no longer stay, they set fire to the woods, and to the dry

grass below it. The flame runs under the trees, scorches the leaves

and new wood, without consuming the body of the tree. After the

tropical rains begin, the vegetation immediately returns; the springs

increase, the rivers run, and the pools are filled with water. All

sorts of verdure being now in the greatest luxuriancy, the Arabs

revisit their former stations. This conflagration is performed at two

seasons; the first, by the Shangalla and hunters on the southern parts

of this woody country, begins in the month of October, on the return

of the sun, the circumstances of which I have already mentioned; the

latter, which happens in March, and lasts all April, besides providing

future sustenance for their flocks, is likewise intended to prevent,

at least to diminish, the ravages of the fly; a plague of the most

extraordinary kind, already described.

We left Quaicha a little before four in the morning of the 19th of

March, and at half an hour past five we came to Jibbel Achmar, a small

mountain, or rather mount; for it is of a very regular form, and not

above 300 feet high, but covered with green grass 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

grass, it should be called[23] the Green Mountain, in the middle of

the red country; though there is nothing more vague or undetermined

than the language of the Arabs, when they speak of colours. This hill,

surrounded 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 sorts of beasts, crowd hither; tho' few

elephants, but they are those of the largest kind, mostly males;

so that the Arabs make this a favourite station, after the grass is

burnt, especially the young part of them, who are hunters.

We reached Imserrha at half past eleven, the water being about half

a mile distant to the S. W. The wells are situated upon a small

ridge that runs nearly east and west. At one extremity of this is a

small-pointed mountain, upon which was formerly a village belonging

to the Arabs, called Jehaina, now totally destroyed by the hunting

parties of the Daveina, the great tyrants of this country, who,

together with the scarcity of water, are the principal causes that

this whole territory is desolate. For though the soil is sandy and

improper for agriculture, yet it is thickly overgrown with trees;

and were the places where water is found sufficiently flocked with

inhabitants, great numbers of cattle might be pastured here, every

species of which live upon the leaves and the young branches of trees,

even on spots where grass is abundant.

On the 20th, at six o'clock in the morning we set out from Imserrha,

and in two hours arrived at Rashid, where we were surprised to see the

branches of the shrubs and bushes all covered with a shell of that

species of univalve called Turbines, white and red; some of them from

three to four inches long, and not to be distinguished by the nicest

eye from those sea-shells, of the same species, which are brought in

great quantities from the West India islands, especially St Domingo.

How these came first in a sandy desert so far from the sea is a

disquisition I shall not now enter into. There are of this fish

great numbers in the Red Sea, and in the Indian Ocean; how they came

upon the bushes, or at the roots of them, appears more the business

of the present narrative. To confine myself to the matter of fact,

I shall only say, that throughout this desert are many springs of

salt-water; great part of the desert is fossile salt, which, buried in

some places at different depths according to the degree of inclination

of all minerals to the horizon, does at times in these fountains

appear very near the surface. Here I suppose the seed is laid, and,

by the addition of the rain-water that falls upon the salt during the

tropical rains, the quantity of salt-water is much increased, and

these fishes spread themselves over the plain as in a temporary ocean.

The rains decrease, and the sun returns; those that are near springs

retire to them, and provide for the propagation of future years. Those

that have wandered too far off in the plains retire to the bushes as

the only shelter from the sun. The intense heat at length deprives

them of that shade, and they perish with the leaves to which they

crept for shelter, and this is the reason that we saw such a quantity

of shells under the bushes; that we found them otherwise alive in the

very heart of the springs, we shall further circumstantiate in our

Appendix, when we speak of mussels so found in our history of the

formation of pearls.

Rashid was once full of villages, all of which are now ruined by the

Arabs Daveina. There are seven or eight wells of good water here, and

the place itself is beautiful beyond description. It is a fairy land,

in the middle of an inhospitable, uninhabited desert; full of large

wide spreading trees, loaded with flowers and fruit, and crowded with

an immense number of the deer kind. Among these, we saw a large one,

like the antelope, his buttocks (a considerable 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.

These we had never seen before. They are called Ariel in Arabia, go

in large flocks, are exceedingly swift; though, from the necessity of

coming to water, and its only being found in particular places, they

were an easy victim to those that watched for them at night.

Sim Sim is a copious spring, which supplies a large bason the Arabs

have dug for it near thirty feet deep. It lies west of Rashid, or

a little to the southward of west. It is in a sandy desert, in the

direct way to Beyla and Sennaar, and here the Daveina kept their

flocks, equally secure 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, supplying that country amply

with provisions of all kinds, and getting from it, in return, what

they have not in their own district.

We were just two hours in coming to Rashid, for we were flying for

our lives; the _Simoom_, or hot-wind, having struck us not long after

we had set out from Imserrha, and our little company, all but myself,

fell mortally sick with the quantity of poisonous vapour that they had

imbibed. I apprehend, from Rashid to Imserrha it is about five miles;

and though it is one of the most dangerous halting-places between

Ras el Feel and Sennaar, yet we were so enervated, our stomachs so

weak, and our head-achs so violent, that we could not pitch our tent,

but each wrapping himself in his cloak, resigned himself immediately

to sleep, under the cool shade of the large trees, invited by the

pleasant breeze from the north, which seemed to be merely local,

confined to this small grove, created probably by the vicinity of the

water, and the agitation we had occasioned in it.

In this helpless state to which we were reduced, I alone continued

not weakened by the simoom, nor overcome by sleep. A Ganjar Arab, who

drove an ass laden with salt, took this opportunity of stealing one

of the mules, together with a lance and shield belonging to one of my

servants. The country was so woody, and he had so much advantage of us

in point of time, and we were in so weak and discouraged a state, that

it was thought in vain to pursue him one step. So he got off with his

booty, unless he was intercepted by some of those wild beasts, which

he would find everywhere in his way, whether he returned to Ras el

Feel, or the frontiers of Kuara, his own country.

Having refreshed ourselves with a little sleep, the next thing was to

fill our girbas, or skins, with water. But before we attempted this, I

thought to try an experiment of mixing about twenty drops of spirit of

nitre in a horn of water about the size of an ordinary tumbler. This I

found greatly refreshed me, though my headach still continued. It had

a much better effect upon my servants, to whom I gave it; for they all

seemed immediately recovered, and their spirits much more so, from the

reflection that they had with them a remedy they could trust to, if

they should again be so unfortunate as to meet this poisonous wind or

vapour.

On the 21st, we set out from Rashid at two o'clock in the morning, and

at a little past eight arrived at Imhanzara, having gone mostly N. W.

to north and by west. This, too, is a station 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 less than sixty yards long. The water was just then drying up;

and stood only about half a foot in depth, in the bottom of one of

the pools. The borders of the basons were thick set with acacia and

jujeb-trees; but the fruit of the latter was drying upon the stones,

and had fallen shrivelled in great quantities upon the ground. We

gathered about a couple of pecks, which was a very great refreshment

to us. The fruit, though retaining a very sharp acid taste, is mixed

with a sweetness not unlike the tamarind; and which it communicated to

water, upon a handful of the dry fruit being steeped therein for half

an hour. The ordinary jujeb in Barbary is oblong like an olive; this

is perfectly round like the cherry, but something smaller. The tree is

thorny, and differs in nothing from the other, but only in the shape

of the fruit. When dried, it is of a golden colour; and is here called

Nabca, being the principal sustenance of the Arabs, till these pools

are dry, when they are obliged to seek other food, and other water, at

some more distant station.

This day, being the fifth of our journey, we had gone about five hours

very diligently, though, considering the weak state we were in, I do

not think we advanced more than seven or eight miles; and it was to me

very visible, that all the animals, mules, camels, and horses, were

affected as much as we were by the simoom. They drank repeatedly, and

for a considerable length of time, but they seemed to go just so much

the worse for it.

Upon approaching the pool, that had water in it, though yet at some

distance from it, my servants sent me word to come up speedily, 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 noise we

had made in alighting. In place of him, five or six hyænas had seized

the carcase, and several others were at the instant arriving to join

them, and partake of the prey the lion had abandoned. I hastened

upon the summons, carrying with me a musket and bayonet, and a ship

blunderbuss, with about forty small bullets in it. I crept through the

bushes, and under banks as near to them as possible, for fear of being

seen; but the precaution seemed entirely superfluous; for though they

observed me approaching, they did not seem disposed to leave their

prey, but in their turn looked at me, raising the bristles upon their

back, shaking themselves as a dog does when he comes out of water,

and giving a short but terrible grunt. After which they fell to their

prey again, as if they meant to dispatch their deer first, and then

come and settle their affairs with me. I now began to repent having

ventured alone so near; but knowing, with the short weapon I had,

the execution depended a good deal upon the distance, I still crept

a little nearer, till I got as favourable a position as I could wish

behind the root of a large tree that had fallen into the lake. Having

set my musket at my hand, near and ready, I levelled my blunderbuss at

the middle of the group, which were feeding voraciously like as many

swine, with a considerable noise, and a civil war with each other. Two

of them fell dead upon the spot; two more died about twenty yards

distance; but all the rest that could escape fled without looking

back, or shewing any kind of resentment: I then took my musquet in my

hand, and stood, prepared with my bayonet, behind the tree, but fired

no more, not knowing what their humour or disposition might be as to a

return upon accession of new companions.

About twenty small foxes, and a flock of several hundred Guinea-fowls,

now came up from the inside of the pool. The fowls lighted

immediately, and ran back again to the water. The foxes retired

quickly into the woods. Whether they had assembled with a view of

getting a share of the deer, an animal of this kind being generally

attendant upon the lion, or whether, as is most likely, they were

seeking the Guinea-fowls, I do not know. I suspect it was the latter,

by their number; for never more than one at a time is remarked to

accompany the lion.

We observed a variety of traps and cages, some of them very ingenious,

which the Daveina, or other Arabs, had set to catch these birds,

several of which we found dead in these snares, and some of them had

not yet been touched by beasts; and as there was but a small distance

between the traps and the water's edge, which could only be answerable

to a few days evaporation, we with great reason inferred, that the

Daveina, or some other Arabs, had been there a very short time before.

We found in the mud of the pool large green shell-snails, with the

animals alive in them; some of them weighed very near a pound, in

nothing, but size and thickness of the shell, different from common

garden-snails.

Not a little alarmed at this discovery that the Arabs were near us, we

left Imhanzara at four o'clock in the evening of the 21st, our journey

mostly N. W.; at eight we lost our way, and were obliged to halt in a

wood. Here we were terrified to find, that the water in our girbas was

entirely gone; whether by evaporation of the hot wind, or otherwise,

I know not; but the skin had the appearance of water in it, till its

lightness in unloading discovered the contrary. Though all the people

were sick, the terror of being without water gave us something like

alacrity, and desire to push on. We set out at eleven, but still

wandered in the wood till three o'clock in the morning of the 22d,

when we were obliged again to alight. I really then began to think we

were lost. I ordered the girbas to be examined: a large one which we

had filled at Rashid was entirely empty; and that one which we had

partly filled at Imhanzara on account of the badness of the water,

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 conducted the asses, seeing that we

had skins to contain plenty of water for us, had omitted to fill the

small goat-skin which each of them carried. A general murmur of fear

and discontent prevailed through our whole company; for we could have

no guess at the nearness or situation of the next well, as we had lost

our road; and some of the caravan even pretended that we had passed

it. But though we had travelled thirteen hours, I cannot compute the

distance to have been above fourteen miles.

This day, being the sixth from Ras el Feel, at half after five in the

morning, we set off in great despondency; and, upon the first dawn of

day, I set our route by the compass, and found it north and by east,

or more easterly. This did not seem the probable road to Sennaar,

after having gone so considerably to the north-west. But, before I

could make much reflection upon the observation, one of the caravan

declared he knew the road, and that we had gone very little out of it,

and were now proceeding straight to the well. Accordingly, at half

past nine, we reached it; it is called Imgellalib[24]. There is great

plenty of water, with a leather-bucket, and a straw rope to draw it

up, but it is very ill-tasted. However, the fear of dying with thirst,

more than having materially suffered from it, made every one press to

drink; and the effect of this hurry was very soon seen. Two Abyssinian

Moors, a man and woman, died after drinking; the man instantly, and

the woman a few minutes after; for my own part, though thirsty, I was

sensible I could have held out a considerable time without danger;

and, indeed, I did not drink till I had washed my head, face, and

neck all over. I then washed my mouth and throat, and, having cooled

myself, and in great measure assuaged my thirst, I then drank till I

was completely satisfied, but only by small draughts. I would have

persuaded all my companions to do the same, but I was not heard; and

one would have thought, like the camels, they had been drinking once

for many days to come. Yet none of them had complained of thirst till

they heard the girbas were empty; and it was not sixteen hours since

they had drank at Imhanzara, and but twelve since the girbas were

found to be dry, when we first lost our way, and stopped in the wood.

The extensive, and very thick forest, which had reached without

interruption all the way from Tcherkin, ended, here at Imgellalib. The

country is perfectly flat, and hath very little water. The forest,

however, though thick, afforded no sort of shade; the hunters, for

the sake of their sport, and the Arabs, for destroying the flies,

having set fire to all the dry grass and shrubs, which, passing with

great rapidity, in the direction of the wood from east to west,

though it had not time enough to destroy the trees, did yet wither,

and occasion every leaf that was upon them to fall, unless in those

spaces where villages had been, and where water was. In such spots a

number of large spreading trees remained full of foliage, which, from

their great height, and being cleared of underwood, continued in full

verdure, loaded with large, projecting, and exuberant branches. But,

even here, the pleasure that their shade afforded was very temporary,

so as to allow us no time for enjoyment. The sun, so near the zenith,

changed his azimuth so rapidly, that every few minutes I was obliged

to change the carpet on which I lay round the trunk of the tree,

to which I had fled, for shelter; and, though I lay down to sleep,

perfectly skreened by the trunk, or branches, I was presently awakened

by the violent rays of a scorching sun, the shade having passed beyond

me; and this was particularly incommodious, when the trees, under

which we placed ourselves, were of the thorny kind, very common in

those forests. The thorns, being all scattered round the trunk upon

the ground, made either changing-place, or lying, equally uneasy; so

that often, however averse we were to fatigue, with the effects of the

simoom, we found, that, pitching the head of our tent, and sometimes

the whole of it, was the only possible means of securing a permanent

protection from the sun's oppressive heat. In all other places, though

we had travelled constantly in forests, we never met with a tree that

could shade us for a moment, the fire having deprived them of all

their leaves.

---------------- _Latè tibi gurgite rupto

Ambitur nigris Meroë fœcunda colonis,

Læta comis hebeni; quæ quamvis arbore multâ

Frondeat, æstatem nullâ sibi mitigat umbrâ,

Linea tam rectum mundi ferit illa leonem._

LUCAN.

Having refreshed ourselves for near two hours by the enjoyment of this

water at Imgellalib, and raked a sufficient quantity of sand over the

dead bodies of our two companions, from piety and decency rather than

for use, we abandoned them to the hyænas, who had already smelled the

mortality, and were coming, two and three together, at the distance

of a long shot from the well where we were then drinking. We set

out at eleven, our road being thro' a very extensive plain; and, at

two in the afternoon, we alighted at another well, called Garigana;

the water was bad, and in small quantity. In this plain is situated

the principal village of Atbara, called Teawa. The thermometer,

slung under the camel, in the shade of the girba of water, had yet,

nevertheless, varied within these three hours from 111° to 119½.

At five o'clock we left Garigana, our journey being still to the

eastward of north; and, at a quarter past six in the evening, arrived

at the village of that name, whose inhabitants had all perished with

hunger the year before; their wretched bones being all unburied and

scattered upon the surface of the ground where the village formerly

stood. We encamped among the bones of the dead; no space could be

found free from them; and on the 23d, at six in the morning, full of

horror at this miserable spectacle, we set out for Teawa: this was

the seventh day from Ras el Feel. After an hour's travelling we came

to a small river, which still had water standing in some considerable

pools, although its banks were perfectly destitute of any kind of

shade.

At three quarters after seven in the evening we arrived at Teawa, the

principal village and residence of the Shekh of Atbara, between three

and four miles from the ruins of Garigana. The whole distance, then,

from Hor-Cacamoot, may be about sixty-five miles to Teawa, as near as

I then could compute; that is, from Hor-Cacamoot to Rashid, thirty-two

miles, and from Rashid to Teawa, thirty-three miles; but Rashid from

Hor-Cacamoot bears N. W. and by N. and the latitudes are:--

Teawa, lat. 14° 2´ 4´´ N.

Hor-Cacamoot, 13° 1´ 33´´

-------------

Difference, lat. 1° 0´ 31´´

-------------

The difference of longitude is then but five or six miles; so that

Teawa is very little to the westward of due north from Hor-Cacamoot,

and nearly in the same meridian with Ras el Feel, which is four miles

west of Hor-Cacamoot. From Imhanzara to Teawa, but especially from

Imgellalib, we went always to the eastward of north. From Teawa we

observed the following bearings and distances:

Beyla, W. S. W. about 28 miles at farthest.

Hasib, S. and by W.

Jibbel Imsiddera, S. about 8 miles, where is good water.

Mendera, N. 48 miles; indifferent water from deep wells.

Rashid, S. nearly 33 miles; plenty of good water all the year.

Jibbel Isriff, E. N. E. about three miles; water.

Jibbel Attesh and Habharras, W. and by N. between 50 and 60

miles.

Sennaar, W. and by N. as far as we could guess about 70 miles.

Guangue River, from 14 to 16 miles due east.

Derkin, E. N. E. about 27 miles.

At Garigana, several of our caravan, with their asses and loading

of salt, left us, either afraid of entering Teawa, or because their

friends dwelt at Jibbel Isriff, where the clan of Jehaina were then

encamped, being afraid of the Arabs Daveina, who, the preceding year,

had destroyed 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 respects, and as by assembling upon

Jibbel Isriff, 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 deposited the principal of their effects, they had given

this pledge of mutual assistance to the inhabitants of Teawa in case

of an attack from those great destroyers the Daveina.

The Daveina being Arabs, who constantly live in tents, bear a mortal

enmity to all who inhabit villages, and, as occasion offered, had

destroyed, starved, and laid waste the greatest part of Atbara. They

had been outlawed by the government of Sennaar for having joined

Yasous II. upon the expedition against that kingdom. They had ever

since been well-received by the Abyssinians, lived independent, and

in perpetual defiance of the government of Sennaar. They had often

threatened Teawa, but had given the Shekh of Beyla an assurance of

friendship ever since Yasine had married a daughter of that Shekh.