ed him to pafs there, or at Kerr. I kept him to th e place
where you pafled; you would have all periflied at Kerr. This,
to be fure, was not a good ford, nor paflable at all except in
fummer, unlefs' by fwim m in g; but fo many men eroding
L ad made it ftill worfe ; befides, do you remember what a
florin it was ?— what a night o f rain ? O Lady Mariam, always
a virgin, faid I, while they ftruggled in the mud and
clay. O holy Abba Guebra Menfus Kedus, who never ate or
drankfromhis mother’s womb till his death,will you not open
th e earth, that all this accurfed m ultitude may defcend alive
in to hell, like Dathan and Abiram ?”— A kind and charitable
■prayer!— “ I thank you fdr it, Welled Amlac, faid I ; firft,for
carrying us to that charitable ford, where, with one o f the
itrongeft and ableft horfes in the world, I had nearly pe-
Ti i h e d a n d , fecondly, for your pious wiih, to difpofe o f us
out o f the regions o f rain and cold into fo warm quarters in
company with Dathan and Abiram !”
“ if mm not kn ow you was there, fays h e ; I heard you
;had ftaid at Gondar in order to bring up the black horfe.
I faw a white perfon* with the Ras, indeed, who had a good
hanjar and gun, but his mule was weak, and he himfelf
feemed lick. As 1 returned I could have carried him off
in the n ight, but I faid, perhaps it is the brother o f Yagoube,
m y friendand phyfician ; he is white like him, and for your
fake I le ft him. 1 was much with you white people in the
time o f Kafmati Efhte.”— “ And pray, faid I, what did you
after we pafled the Abay ?”— “ After I faw that devil Ras Michael
over, faid ‘Welled Amlac, I returned .under pretence o f
aiEfting
* This was Francifco, who was lick.
aflifting Kefla.Yafous there; and, being joined by all my
people, we fe ll upon the ftragglers wherever we found them.
You know what a day o f rain it was ; we took 17 guns, 12
horfes, and about 200 mules and afles laden, and fo returned
home,, leaving the reft to Faiil, who, i f he had been im a n ,
fh o u ld have cut you all to pieces the day after.”— “ And
what did you, faid I, w ith theie ftragglers whom you met
and robbed; did you k ill them i”—M We always k ill them,
anfwered Amlac ; we fpare n on e ; we never do a man an
injury, and leave him alive to revenge it upon us after; but
it was really the fame; they were all fick and weak, and the
liyana would have finilhed. them in the morning, io it was
ju ll laving them fo much fuffering to k ill them outright
the night before; and I aflure you, Yagoube, whatever you
may think, 1 did not do i t out o f m alice.”— From this con-
verfation one may fufficiently guefs what fort o f a man Welled
Amlac was, and w hat were his ideas o f mercy.
W e pafled the church o f K'edus Michael at h a lf after
nine, on the road to our right. At nine and three quarters
our courfe was N. by W. and, at a quarter after ten, we p a t
fed the Coga, a large river. At three quarters paft ten our
courfe was north. We pafled the church o f Abbo a quarter
o f a mile bn our right. The country, after we had c r o lt
ed thejemma,was much lefs b eautiful than before. At twelve
bur courfe Was N. by W. and at h a lf paft twelve the church
o f Mariam Net, 200 yards to the le f t ; and here we forded the
fmall river Amlac-Ohha. Every ftep o f this ground put us
in mind o f our difaftrous campaign in M a y ; and we were
now palling direitly in the trail; o f the ever-memorable retreat
o f Kefla Yafous and the rear o f the army. At a quarter
after one w e halted at a fmall village o f low houfes, as it
V ol. IV, C were