and delicate since her first misfortunes, and the death of Mariam Barea. After giving her my advice, and directing her women how to administer what I was to send her, the doors of the tent were thrown open; all our friends came flocking round us, when we presently saw, that the interval, employed in consultation, had not been spent uselessly, for a most abundant breakfast was produced in wooden platters upon the carpet. There were excellent stewed fowls, but so inflamed with Cayenne pepper as almost to blister the mouth; fowls dressed with boiled wheat, just once broken in the middle, in the manner they are prepared in India, with rice called pillaw, this, too, abundantly charged with pepper; Guinea hens, roasted hard with butter, or any sort of sauce, very white, but as tough as leather; above all, the never failing brind, for so they call the collops of raw beef, without which nobody could have been satisfied; but, what was most agreeable to me, a large quantity of wheat-bread, of Dambea flour, equal in all its qualities to the best in London or Paris. "The Abyssinians say, you must plant first and then water; nobody, therefore, drinks till they have finished eating; after this, the glass went cheerfully about; there was excellent red wine, but strong, of the nature of cote-roti, brought from Karoota, which is the wine country, about six miles south-east from the place where we then were; good new brandy; honeywine, or hydromel, and a species of beer called bouza, both of which were fermented with herbs, or leaves of trees, and made very heady; they are disagreeable liquors to strangers. Our kind landlady, who never had quitted her sofa, pressed about the glass in the very briskest manner, reminding us that our time was short, and that the drum would presently give the signal for striking the tents. For my part, this weighed exceedingly with me the contrary way to her intentions, for I began to fear I should not be able to go home, and I was not prepared to go on with the army; besides, it was indispensably necessary to see both the king and ras Michael, and that I by no means chose to do when my presence of mind had left me; I therefore made my apology to Ozoro Esther, by a message delivered by one of her women, and slipt out of the tent.' 6 After an audience with the king, which was cut short by a message from the ras, the army decamped. On the 16th, Ozoro Welleta Israel, by a bold and hazardous effort, escaped from the camp; the old ras having threatened to put out her eyes, which were extremely beautiful, if Aylo, her son, did not join him. Shortly after, Gusho and Powussen appeared in open rebellion, and some of their officers robbed Bruce's servants, who were conducting his baggage. This, however, did not deter our traveller from visiting the cataract of Alata. This cataract itself,' says he, was the most beautiful sight that ever I beheld. The height has been rather exaggerated. The missionaries say, the fall is about 16 ells, or 50 feet. The measuring is, indeed, very difficult; but, by the position of long sticks, and poles of different lengths, at different heights of the rock, from the water's edge, I may venture to say, that it is nearer 40 feet than any other measure. The river had been considerably increased by rains, and fell in one sheet of water, without any interval, above half an English mile in breadth, with a force and noise that was truly terrible, and which stunned and made me, for a time, perfectly dizzy. A thick fume, or haze, covered the fall all round, and hung over the course of the stream both above and below, marking its track, though the water was not seen. The river, though swelled with rain, preserved its natural clearness, and fell, as far as I could discern, into a deep pool, or bason, in the solid rock, which was full, and in twenty different eddies to the very foot of the precipice; the stream when it fell, seeming part of it to run back with great fury upon the rock, as well as forward in the line of its course, raising a wave, or violent ebullition, by chafing against each other.' On the 25th of May, 1770, Mr. Bruce and his companions overtook the army, which was in a state of disorder, from the defection of so many great men. On the next day, the army commenced its retreat towards Gondar; and, on the evening of the following day, it reached the Nile. From the time," says our author, we decamped from the banks of the river Coga it poured incessantly the most continued rain we ever had yet seen; violent claps of thunder followed close one upon VOL. II. 3 A 6 another, almost without interval, accompanied with sheets of lightning, which ran on the ground like water; the day was more than commonly dark, as in an eclipse; and every hollow, or foot-path, collected a quantity of rain, which fell into the Nile in torrents. It would have brought into the dullest mind Mr. Home's striking lines on my native Carron--- Red came the river down, and loud and oft Douglas. The Abyssinian armies pass the Nile at all seasons. It rolls with it no trees, stones, nor impediments; yet the sight of such a monstrous mass of water terrified me, and made me think the idea of crossing would be laid aside. It was plain, in the face of every one, that they gave themselves over for lost; an universal dejection had taken place, and it was but too visible that the army was defeated by the weather, without having seen an enemy. The Greeks crowded around me, all forlorn and despairing, cursing the hour they had first entered that country, and following these curses with fervent prayers, where fear held the place of devotion. A cold and brisk gale now sprung up at north-west, with a clear sun; and soon after four, when the army arrived on the banks of the Nile, these temporary torrents were all subsided, the sun was hot, and the ground again beginning to become dry, Netcho, ras Michael's Fit Auraris, with about 400 men, had passed in the morning, and taken his station above us in little huts like bee-hives, which the soldiers, who carry no tents, make very speedily and artificially for themselves, of the long wild oats, each straw of which is at least eight feet long, and near as thick as an ordinary man's little finger. He had sent back word to the king, that his men had passed swimming, and with very great difficulty; that he doubted whether the horses, or loaded mules, could cross at any rate; but, if it was resolved to make the trial, they should do it immediately, without staying till the increase of the river. He said both banks were composed of black earth, slippery and miry, which would become more so when horses had puddled it; he advised, above all, the turning to the right immediately after coming ashore, in the direction in which he had fixed poles, as the earth there was hard and firm, besides having the advantage of some round stones which hindered the beasts from slipping or sinking. Instead, therefore, of resting there that night, it was resolved that the horse should cross immediately. 'The first who passed was a young man, a relation of the king, brother to Ayamico, killed at the battle of Banja; he walked in with great caution, marking a tract for the king to pass. He had gone upon rather solid ground, about twice the length of his horse, when he plunged out of his depth, and swam to the other side. The king followed him immediately with a great degree of haste, ras Michael calling him to proceed with caution, but without success. Afterwards came the old ras on his mule, with several of his friends swimming both with and without their horses, on each side of him, in a manner truly wonderful. He seemed to have lost his accustomed calmness, and appeared to be a good deal agitated; forbade, upon pain of death, any one to follow him directly, or to swim over, as their custom is, holding their mules by the tail. As soon as these were safely on shore, the king's household and black troops, and I with them, advanced cautiously into the river, and swam happily over, in a deep stream of reddishcoloured water, which ran without violence almost upon a level. Each horseman had a mule in his hand, which swam after him, or by his side, with his coat of mail and head-piece tied upon it. My horse was a very strong one, and in good condition, and a servant took charge of my mule and coat of mail, so that, being unembarrassed, I had the happiness to get safe and soon over, and up the path to the right without great difficulty, as had most others of the cavalry who swam along with us; but the ground now began to be broken on both sides of the passage, and it was almost as difficult to get in, as it was to scramble up the bank afterwards. It is impossible to describe the confusion that followed; night was hard upon us, and, though it increased our loss, it in a great measure concealed it; a thousand men had not yet passed, though on mules and horses; many, mired in the muddy landing-place, fell back into the stream, and were carried away and drowned. Of the horse belonging to the king's household, 180 in number, seven only were missing: with them Ayto Aylo, vice-chamberlain to the queen, and Tecla Mariam, the king's uncle, a great friend of ras Michael's, both old men. The Fit Auraris had left, ready made, two rafts for Ozoro Esther, and the other two ladies, with which she might have been easily conducted over, and without much danger; but the ras had made Ozoro Esther pass over in the same manner he had crossed himself, many swimming on each side of her mule. She would fain have stayed on the east side, but it was in vain to remonstrate. She was with child, and had fainted several times; but yet nothing could prevail with the ras to trust her on the other bank till morning. She crossed, however, safely, though almost dead with fright. It was said, he had determined to put her to death if she did not pass, from jealousy of her falling into the hands of Fasil; but this I will by no means vouch, nor do I believe it. The night was cold and clear, and a strong wind at north-west had blown all the afternoon. I was in the greatest distress for the good Ammonios, my lieutenant, who was missing, and did not join us till late in the morning, having been all night busy in seeking Ayto Aylo, the queen's chamberlain, and Tecla Mariam, who were his great companions, drowned probably at the first attempt to pass, as they were never after heard of." Kefla Yasous, with the rear and all the baggage of the army, remained on the other side, when he discovered that they had been decoyed to this dangerous passage by Fasil's spies, in order that the army might be safely attacked when separated by the river. The king and the ras were immediately informed of this alarming circumstance, and Kefla Yasous, with great celerity and resolution, marched to a proper ford, and joined the main body of the army in time sufficient to prevent Fasil from availing himself of its exposed situations. After the ras had offered Fasil battle, who declined it, the |