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VOL. II

2 P

sent to him by Metical Aga from Arabia, was not forwarded to him instantly at Gondar, as he had heard of his being arrived at Masuah some time before. He ordered the naybe, moreover, to furnish me with necessaries, and dispatch me without loss of time; although all the letters were the contrivances of Janni, his particular letter to the naybe was in a milder style. He expressed the great necessity the king had for a physician, and how impatiently he had waited his arrival. He did not say that he had heard any such person was yet arrived at Masuah, only wished he might be forwarded, without delay, as soon as he came.

To us Janni sent a message by a servant, bidding us a hearty welcome, acknowledging the receipt of the patriarch's letter, and advising us, by all means, to come speedily to him; for the times were very unsettled, and might grow worse.

In the afternoon I embarked for Masuah. At the shore I received a message from the naybe to come and speak to him; but I returned for answer, "It was impossible, as I was obliged to go to Masuah to get medicines for his nephew, Achmet."

Mr. Bruce arrived at eight o'clock in this inhospitable island, and began immediately to take measures to ensure his departure. The naybe endeavoured in vain to extort from him a large sum of money. He next pretended that that part of Samhar, through which our traveller must pass, was in a state of rebellion and when he found this stratagem had failed, he confessed it was all a trick to detain so valuable a person. On the 15th, the naybe furnished him with a guide named Saloome, who had married his sister. Mr. Bruce immediately after begun his journey. In the evening, Achmet waited upon him, and discharged four men whom his uncle had furnished to carry the baggage, but replaced them with four others.

'Achmet,' says Mr. Bruce, now came into the tent, called for coffee, and, while drinking it, said, "You are sufficiently persuaded that I am your friend; if you are not, it is too late now to convince you. It is necessary, however, to explain the reasons of what you see. You are not to go to Dobarwa, though it is the best road, the safest being preferable to the

easiest. Saloome knows the road by Dixan as well as the other. You will be apt to curse me when you are toiling and sweating ascending Taranta, the highest mountain in Abyssinia, and on this account worthy your notice. You are then to consider if the fatigue of body you shall suffer in that passage is not overpaid by the absolute safety you will find yourselves in. Dobarwa belongs to the naybe; and I cannot answer for the orders he may have given to his own servants; but Dixan is mine, although the people are much worse than those of Dobarwa. I have written to my officers there; they will behave the better to you for this; and as you are strong and robust, the best I can do for you is to send you by a rugged road, and a safe one."

'Achmet again gave orders to Saloome; and we, all rising, said the fedtah, or prayer of peace; which being over, his servant gave him a narrow web of muslin, which, with his own hands, he wrapped round my head in the manner the better sort of Mahometans wear it at Dixan. He then parted, saying, "He that is your enemy is mine also; you shall hear of me by Mahomet Gibberti."

Thus finished a series of trouble and vexation, not to say danger, superior to any thing I ever before had experienced, and of which the bare recital (though perhaps too minute a one) will give but an imperfect idea. These wretches possess talents for tormenting and alarming, far beyond the power of belief; and, by laying a true sketch of them before a traveller, an author does him the most real service. In this country, the more truly we draw the portrait of man, the more we seem to fall into caricature."

Our traveller now began his journey, over a bleak and mountainous country, covered with loose stones; and at the end of four days, began to ascend the great mountain Taranta. The unevenness and incredible steepness of the road, rendered the conveyance of the baggage and instruments extremely difficult, and in executing this task, Mr. Bruce and Yasine, the Moor, had their hands and knees all cut, mangled, and bleeding, with climbing over and sliding down the sharp points of the rocks.

After passing this mountain, and travelling four days longer, our traveller entered the province of Tigre, in Abyssinia, when the king's servants, who accompanied Bruce, threatened immediate destruction to the naybe's people, if they offered to pass the boundary, for their treachery to him. The threat produced its proper effect, and here,' observes our author, I recovered a portion of that tranquillity of mind to which I had been a stranger ever since my arrival at Masuah.'

On

Mr. Bruce was here joined by about 20 loaded asses driven by Moors, and two loaded bulls. The caravan set off early next morning, and the same day reached the residence of the baharnagash, who was appointed to watch over the naybe. From this nobleman our traveller purchased a horse. the following day,' says he, after pitching our tents we were overtaken by our friend the baharnagash, who was so well pleased with our last interview, especially the bargain of the horse, that he sent us three goats, two jars of honey-wine, and some wheat-flour. I invited him to my tent, which he immediately accepted. He was attended by two servants on foot, and some horsemen with lances and shields; he had no arms himself, but, by way of amends, had two drums beating, and two trumpets blowing before him, sounding a charge.

'He seemed to be a very simple, good-natured man, indeed' remarkably so; a character rarely found in any degree of men in this country. He asked me how I liked my horse? said, he hoped I did not intend to mount it myself? I answered, God forbid; I kept him as a curiosity. He commended my prudence very much, and gave me a long detail about what horses had done, and would do, on occasions. Some of the people without, however, shewed his servants my saddle, bridle and stirrups, which they well knew, from being neighbours to the Arabs of Sennaar, and praised me as a better horseman by far than any one in that country; this they told to the Baharnagash, who, nothing offended, laughed heartily at the pretended ignorance I had shewn him, and shook me very kindly by the hand, and told me he was really poor, or he would have taken no money from me for the horse. He shewed so much good nature, and open honest behaviour, that I gave

him a present, which was very agreeable, as it was not expected. Razors, knives, steels for striking fire, are the most valuable presents in this country, of the hardware kind.

• The baharnagash now was in such violent good spirits, that he would not go home till he had seen a good part of his jar of hydromel finished; and he little knew, at that time, he was in the tent with a man who was to be his chief customer for horses hereafter. I saw him several times after at court, and did him some services, both with the king and Ras Michael. He had a quality which I then did not know: with all his simplicity and buffoonery, no one was braver in his own person than he: and, together with his youngest son, he died afterwards in the king's defence, fighting bravely at the battle of Serbraxos.

'I had gained the baharnagash's heart so entirely, that it was not possible to get away the next day. We were upon the very verge of his small dominions, and he had ordered a quantity of wheat-flour to be made for us, which he sent in the evening, with a kid. For my part, the share I had taken yesterday of his hydromel had given me such a pain in my head that I scarce could raise it the whole day.

'It was the 29th we left our station at Barranda, and had Ascarcely advanced a mile when we were overtaken by a party of about 20 armed men on horseback. The Shangalla, the ancient Cushites, are all the way on our right hand, and frequently venture incursions into the flat country that was before us. This was the last piece of attention of the baharnagash, who sent his party to guard us from danger in the plain. It awakened us from our security; we examined carefully the state of our fire arms; cleaned and charged them anew, which we had not done since the day we left Dixan.

The first part of our journey to-day was in a deep gully; and, in half an hour, we entered into a very pleasant wood of acacia trees, then in flower. We came out of this wood into the plain, and ascended two easy hills; and again entered a straggling wood, so overgrown with wild oats that it covered the men and their horses. The plain here is very wide.