had lined all thefe little fortifications with mufquetry, from
the bottom o f the hill to the door o f his tent and the
kin g’s.
A b o u t noon the hill was afiaulted on all fides that were
acceifible, and the ancient fpirit o f the troops feemed to
revive upon feeing the enemy were the aggrefiors. Without
any aid o f mufquetry, the kin g’s foot repulfed Coque
Abou Barea, and drove him from the h i l l , into the plain,
without any confiderable Hand on his p a r t: the fame fuc-
cefs followed againft Mammo and Heraclius; they were
chafed down the hill, and feveral o f their men purfued and
flain on the p la in ; but a large reinforcement coming from
the camp, the king’ s troops were driven up the h ill again,
and Tesfos, with his mufquetry, had made a lodgment in
a pit on the low fide o f one o f thefe ftone-walls Ras Michael
had built for his own defence, from w hich he fired with
great effeit, and the k in g ’s troops were obliged to fall back
to the brow o f the hill immediately below the tent) and
that o f the Ras’s. In a moment appeared W oodage Afahel,
with a large body o f horfe, fupported likewife with a confiderable
number o f foot. This was the moll acceifible
part o f the hill, and under the cover o f Tesfos’s continued
fire : they mounted it with great gallantry, the troops above
expedling’ them with their irons fixed at a proper elevation
in the ground; fo r it mult be here explained, that no A-
bylfinian foldier in battle refts his gun upon his hand, as
every one is provided with a Hick about four feet long,
w hich h a h hooks, or refts, on alternate intervals on each
fide, and which he fticks in the ground before him, and
refts the muzzle o f his gun upon it, according to the height
o f the objecft he is to aim at x and here is difcovered the fatal,