lowed by a whale, or fome other fuch great fiih. They arc
hewers o f wood, and carriers o f water, to Gondar, and are
held in great deteftation by the Abyflinians..
Ws eroded the river to the miferable village o f Door-Mac-
ary, which is on the eaft fide o f i t ; and there we took up*
our quarters, after a ihort but very fatiguing, day’s journey..
The people Ihewed great figns o f uneafinefs upon our firflr
appearance, and much rclu&ance to admit us under their
roofs ; and difeovering that we were not any o f thole that
had the honour o f being defcended'from the prophet Jonah,
they hid aid theirpots and drinking-vefiels, left they Ihould
be prophaned b y our ufing them. From Door-Macary we
difcovered a- h igh mountainous- ridge, with a very rugged
top, ftretching from North to South, and towering up in
the middle o f the foreft, about five miles diftance ; it is called
Badjena.
O n the 28th, a little after micMay, we patted Toom Aredo ;;
and went, firft Eaft, then turned North,- into the great road.
We foon after palled a number o f villages ; thofe on th e
high mountain Badjena on the Eaft, and thofe belonging
to the church o f Kofcam on the Weft. Continuing ftill
North,, inclining very little to the \yeft, we came to a fteep.
and rugged defeent, at the foot o f which runs the Mogetch,
in a courfe ftraight North ; this defeent is called the And..
At a quarter paft two we pafled the Mbgeteh, our direction
N. W. It is here a large, fwift running ftream, perfeitly
clear, and. w e halted fome time to refrefh ourfelves, upon;
its banks ; remembering how very different it was from
what'we hadonce le ft it, difcoloured with blood, and chokedi
ed up with dead bodies, after the defeat o f the k in g ’s w in g
at the battle o f Serbraxos.
A t h a lf paft three we refumed our journey. Afliarp and*
pyramidal mountain ftands alone in the middle o f the
plain, prefenting its high iharp top- through the trees, and
making here a very pi&urefque and uncommon appearance;
it is called Gutch, and feemed to be diftant from us about
fix miles due North. A few minutes after this we pafled a
fmall ftream called Agam-Ohha, or the Brook o f Jeflamine;
from a beautiful fpecies o f that fhrub, very frequent here,
and on the fides o f the fmall. ftreams in. the province o£:
Sire;.
A raw minutes paft four we entered a.thick wood, w impin
g round a hill, in a fouth-eaft diredion, to get into the-
plain below, where we were furrounded by a great multitude
o f men, armed with lances, fhieids, flings, and la rg e
clubs or flicks, who rained a ihower o f fton.es towards u s ,
as I may fay ; for they were at fuch a diftance, that all o f
them fell greatly ihort o f us. Whether this was owin g to-
fear, or not, we did not know ; but fuppofing that it was
we thought it our intereft to keep it up as much as poffible.
I therefore ordered two fhots to be fired over their heads ;.
not with any intention to hurt them, but to let them hear,
by the balls whittling among the leaves o f the trees, that
our guns carried farther than any o f their flings ; and
that, diftant as they then were, they were not in fafety,
i f we had a difpofition to do them harm. They feemed
to underhand our meaning, by gliding through among
the bufhes, and appearing at the top o f a hill farther o ff,
where they continued hooping and crying,, and inaking:
divers.