o f i t ; it is probably placed in fome public colleétion,, o r
at leaft ought to be.
T he fire increafing on the hill, and feveral mufquets having
been heard, it was plain the enemy, in all the camps,
were alarmed, and our further flay hecame every moment
more dangerous. Kefla Yafous now beat a retreat, and
fent the horfemen all round to. force the foot to make the
belt o f their way back, ordering alfo all mules taken to be
ham-ftringed and left, not to. retard our return. Trumpets
and drums were heard from our camp, to warn us not to
ftay, as it was not doubted but mifchief w ould follow, and
accordingly we were fcarce arrived within the limits o f
ou r camp when we heard the found o f horfe in the valley.
Michael, always watchful upo ft every accident, no>
fooner faw the fires lighted on the hill, than he ordered
Guebra Mafcal to place a good body o f muf-
queteers about h a lf way down the hill, as near as po.f-
fible to the ford o f Mariam, thinking it probable that the
enemy would enter at both ends o f the long hill, in order
to furround thofe who were deftroying their camp, which
they accordingly did, whiM thofe o f our people, who had
taken to drinking, fell into the hands o f the troops that
came by the lower road, and were all put to death. Thofe
that reached the upper ford ferved to afford us a fevere revenge,
for Guebra Mafcal, after having feen them pafs between
him and the river, though it was a dark and very
windy night, gueffed very lu ck ily their pofition, and gave
them fo happy a fire, that moil o f thofe who were not
flaia.
- flain returned back without feeing Ayto Tesfos’s camp,
being afraid that fome other trap might ftill be in their
way.
In the morning o f the 2 id, we found that the flain were
men o f Begemder andLafta. Tesfos, it feems, had been in
Powuffen’s camp when he faw the fire lighted on the hill,
and thence had provided an additional number o f troops' to
attack Kefla Yafous before he had done his bufinefs, but in
this he mifcarried. Tesfos’s party was thus totally deftroyed
and difperfed, his mules flaughtered, and his provifions
fpoiled. About thirty o f Kefla Yafous’s infantry, however,
loll their lives by flaying behind, and intoxicating themfelves
with liquor. O f the horfe, not a ma/P was either killed or
wounded. I was the only unfortunate p erfon ; and Providence
had feemed to warn me o f my danger the day before,
for palling then that rock which projeited into the valley,
the fire giv in g p erfed light, the multitude affembled above’
and prepared for that purpofe, poured down upon us fuch a
fliower o f arrows,-Hones, billets o f wood, and broken jars, as
is not to be imagined. O f thefe a ftone gave me a very
violent blow upon” my left arm, while a fmall fragment
o f the bottom o f a jar, or pitcher, ftruck me on the creft o f
my helmet, and occafioned fuch a concuflion as to deprive
me for a time o f all recolleaion, fo that, when ly ing in my
tent at no great diftance, I did not remember to have heard
Guebra Mafcai’s difcharge. I certainly had fome prefaging
that mifchief was to happen me, for palling that rock, juft
before we entered Tesfos’s camp, I defired Tecla, w hen I returned,
to allow fifty men to proceed up the hill and
cut thofe people in pieces who had flationed themfelves fo
inconveniently; but he would not confent, being defirous
B b 2 ta