Gufho and Powuffen to try to ftorm our camp, without any
afliftance from the main army, in order to bring the whole
to a fpeedy conclufion. There had been a time when fuch
an undertaking would not have been thought a prudent one
to much better men than any o f thofe who now were parties
in i t ; but our fpirits were greatly fallen, our number,
too, much decreafed ; above all, a relaxation o f difcipline
(and defertion, the confequence o f it) began to prevail a-
mong us to an alarming degree. This was generally faid
to be owing to the defpondency o f the Tigre troops upon
the arrival o f Tesfos ; but it required little „penetration to
difcern, that all forts o f men were weary o f conftant fightin
g and hardfhips, fo r no other end but unjuftly maintainin
g Michael in a poft in which he governed at difcretion,
to the terror o f the whole kingdom, and ruin o f the confti-
tution.
T h e hill o f Serbraxos, when we firft took poft on it, was
rugged and uneven, fu ll o f acacia and other ill-thriving
trees, and various flumps o f thefe had been broken by the
wind; or' undermined by the torrents. The great need the
foldiers had o f fue l to roaft the miferable pittance o f barley,*
(which was all their food) had cleared away thefe incumbrances
from the fide o f the hill, and the conftant refort
o f men go in g up and down, had rendered the furface
perfeftly linooth and flippery; fo that our camp did not
appear as placed fo high, nor nearly fo inacceflible as it
was at firft. For this reafon, Ras Michael had ordered the
foldiers to gather all the ftones on the hill, and range them
in fmall walls, at proper places, in a kind o f zig-zag, under
which the foldiers lay concealed, and with their fire-arms
prote&ed the mules which went down to drink. Michael
4 had