fays he, do not belong to Ay to Confu, but to his coufins, the
foris o f Baiha Eufebius. They indeed died in rebellion, but
our matter has taken poffeflion o f them fo r the family,
left the k in g ihould give them away to a ftranger. Some
bad news mutt, have arrived from Gonda r; at any rate, i f
you are afraid, I w ill accompany you to-morrow paft Dav-
Dohha. We thanked him for the kind offer, but excufed
ourfelves from accepting it, as we fu lly relied upon his intelligence^
and having made him fome trifling prefents,
about the value o f what he brought, though in his eyes
much more confiderabie, we took our leave, mutually fatif-
fied with each other. From this I no longer doubted that
the whole was aprojeft o f the k in g to terrify me, and make
me return. What ftruck me, as moft improbable o f all,
was the ftory o f that lyirig wretch who faid that, Ay to Cori-
fu had fent a number o f mules to carry away his furniture,
and trufted the defence o f his place to Abba G imbaro, chief
o f the Baafa. For, firft, I knew well it did not need many
mules to carry away the furniture which Ayto Confu left
at Tcherkin in time o f war, and when he was not there ;
next, had he known that any perfon whatever, Shangalla
or Chriftians, had intended to attack Tcherkin, he was not
a man to fight by proxy or lieutenants ; he would have
been himfelf prefent to meet them, as to a feaft, though he
had been carried thither in a fick-bed.
On the 30th, at h a lf paft fix in the morning we fet out
from Waalia ; and, though we were perfectly cured o f our
apprehenfions, the company all joined in defiring me to go
along with them, and not before them. They wifely added,
that, in a country- like that, where there was no fear o f
God, I could not know what it might be in the power o f
¿ the
r
the devil ' to do. I therefore hu ng my arms upon my
horfe, and, taking a gun in my hand, wandered among
the trees by the road-fide, in p u rfu ito f the doves or pigeons:
In a few hours I had. Ihot feveral fcores o f them, efpecially
on the banks o f the Mai Lumi, or the River o f Lemons.
We came to it in about an hour from Waalia, and coafted
it for fome minutes,, as it ran north-eaft parallel, to our
cour-fe..
A p r o d i g i o u s quantity o f fru it loaded the branches of
thefe trees even like ly to b reak them : and thefe w ere in a ll
ftages; ofripenefs. 'Multitudes o f bloflbms covered the op-
pofite part o f the tree, and fent forth the moft delicious
odour poflible. We provided ourfelves amply with this
fruit.1 The natives make no ufe o f it, but we found it a
gfeat refreftiment to us, both mixed with our water, and as
fauce to our meat, o f which we had now no great variety
fi’ncè our onions had failed us, and-afupply-of them wàs. 110 >
longer to be procured:
A t fourteen minutes paft feven, continuing north-weft;
we croffed the river Mai Lumi, which here runs weft ; and,
continuing ftill north-weft, at eight o’clock we came to the
mouth o f the formidable pafs, Dav-Dohha; which we entered
with good countenance enough, having, firft retted
five minutes to put ourfelves in order, and we found our
appetites failin g us through exceflive heat. The pafs o f
Dav-Dohha is a very narrow defile, fu ll o f ftfata o f rocks-,
like fteps o f ftairs, but fo high; that, without leaping, or
being pulled up, no horfe or mule can afcend. Moreover,
the defcent, though ihort, is very fteep, and .almoft choked
up by huge ftones,. w hich the torrents, after waihing the.
earth i