either learn her my language,' o r ih e would teach me Gallai .
The party was accepted as foon as offered; the morning was-
frelh and cool, nor had , laft night’s libation any way-difor-
dered my ftomach.: Strates himfelf, though afraid o f Welled
Aml.ac, and exceedingly exafperated at the impudent behaviour,
as he called it, o f Meleftanea, was, however, a little :
pacified at the approaeh o f the white cow ,. Brother, fays he •
to Michael, we have nothing to do with.people’s manners ;
a« long as they- are civil to us : as to this houfe, there is
no doubr but the men are robbers and murderers, and their
women wh— es4 but if- th.eysufe.us-well while we are now
here, and we are fo lu ck y as to get to Gondar alive, let thè:
devil take me i f ever I. feek again to be at Welled Abea
Abbo. It was agreed to relax that day, and dedicate it to .
herborizing, as alfo to the. fatisfying the curiofity o f our female
friends, by anfwenng all their queitions ; and thus,
the forenoon .paffed as" agreeable as poffible..
Welled A mlac,- a great ; hunter, had gone with me-
early to a neighbouring thicket on horfeback, armed with
lances- in fearch o f venifon, though we certainly did not
want provifions.. We in a few minutes raifed two bohur,
a large animal *of the deer kind, and each purfued his beaft ¡ .
mine had not run 400 -yards before I overtook him, and
pierced h im w ith my pike ; and the fame would have happened
probably to the other, had not Welled Amlac’s liorfe
put his fore-feet into a fox’s hole, which > threw him and
his rider headlong- to the ground; he was- not, however;
hurt; bin rofe very gravely,, and defired me to return ; it
being a rulé among -thefe people, never to perfift when
any thing unfortunate falls-out in the beginning o f a
day..
O ur
I O ur company was now increafed by our former landlo
rd at Goutto,. where we were obliged to Woldo’s ftrata-
gem for difcovering the cow that was hid. We fat down
chearfully to dinner. Welled Amlac’s fall had not fpoiled
his appetite ; I think he ate equal to four ordinary men. I,
for the mod part, ate the venifon, which was made into an
excellent diih, only too much .fluffed with all kind o f fpices.
Fafil’s wife alone feemed to have a very poor appetite, not-
withftanding her violent fits o f laughter, and outward appearance
o f chearfulnefs. A melancholy gloom returned
upon her beautiful-,face, -that feemed to indicate, a
mind not at eafe. She was o f a noble fam ily o f Galla,
which had conquered and fettled in -the low country o f Na-
rea. I wondered that Fafil her huiband had not carried
her to Gondar. She faid .her huiband had twenty other
wives befides her, but took none o f them -to Gondar';
which was a place o f war, where it was the cuftom to marry
the wives o f their enemies that th e y . had forced, to fly,
Fafil will.be married therefore to Michael’s wife, Ozoro Either.
I could not help being ftartled at this declaration, remembering
that I was here lofing my time, and forgetting
my word o f returning as foon as poffible; but we had, fo r
many months, lived in fuch conftant alarms, that it was ab-
folutely as needful to feize the moment in which we could
repofe .our mind, as to give reft to tire body.
In the afternoon we diftributed our prefents among the
ladies. Eafil’s wife was not fo rg o t ; and the beautiful Me:
leftanea was covered with beads, handkerchiefs, and ribbands
o f all colours. Fafil’s wife, on my firft rcqueil, gave m e a
lock o f her fine hair from the root, w hich has ever fince,
B a and