T h e entry is from the fouth fide o f it, very crooked and difficult,
ha lf way up the rock. On the eafi, is a very plentiful
foring, which furniihes the houfe with excellent water.
Yet, after all, this houfe, though inacceffible, is not defen-
fible, and affords very little fafety to its mailer ; for the
Shangalla, with flax, or any thing combuftible, tied to the
point o f their arrows, would eafily fet it on fire i f they onCe
approached i t ; and the Abyfiinians with guns could as
eafily deftroy it, as, on fuch occafions, they wrap their
balls in cotton wads. The infide o f the ftate-rooms were
h u n g with long ftripes o f carpeting, and the floors covered
with the fame.
T h e r e is great plenty o f game o f every fort about Tcherk
in ; elephants, rhinocerpfes, and a great number o f buffaloes.,
which differ nothinh in form from the buffaloes o f
Europe or o f Egypt, but very much in temper and difpofi-
tion. They are fierce, raih, and fearlefs o f dang er; and,
contrary to the practice o f any other creature not carnivorous,
they attack the traveller and the hunter equally, and
it requires addrefs to cfcape from them. They feem to be,
o f all others, the creature the moil given to eafe and. indulgence.
They lie under the moil ihady trees, near large
pools o f water, o f which they make conftant ufe, and ilcep
foundly all the day long. The fleih o f the female is very
good when fat, but that o f the male, hard, lean, and dii-
agreeable. Their horns are ufed in various manners by
the turners, in which c raft the Abyffmians are very expert.
In the woods there are many civet cats, but they know not
the ufe o f them, nor how to extrail the civet. T h e Mahometans
only are poffeffed o f this art.
T h o u g h
T h o u g h we were all happy to our wifh in this enchanted
mountain, the a ¿live fpirit o f Ayto Confu could not re ft;
he was come to hunt the elephant, and hunt him he would.
A ll thofa that underftood any thing o f this exercife had af.
fembled from a great diftance to meet Ayto Confu at Tcherkin.
He and Engedan, from the moment they arrived, had
been overlooking, from the precipice, their fervants training
and managing their horfes in the market-place below.
Great bunches o f the fineft canes had been brought from
Kuara for javelins; and the whole houfe was employed
in fitting heads to them in the moft advantageous manner.
For my part, tho’ I ihould have been very well contented to
have remained where I was, yet the preparations for fport o f
fo noble a k ind roufed my fpirits, and made me defiraus to
jo in in it. On the other hand, the ladies all declared, that
th e y thought, by leaving them, we were devoting them to
death or flavery, as they did not doubt, i f the Shangalla
milled us, they tvould come forward to the mountain and
fla y them all. But a fufficient garrifon was left under A-
zag e Kyrillos, and Bilietana G ueta Ammonios ; and we were
well affured that the Shangalla, being informed we were
out, and armed, and knowing our numbers, would take care
to keep clofe in their thickets far cu t o f our way.
On the 6th, an hour before day, after a hearty breakfaft,
we mounted on horfeback, to the number o f about thirty
belonging to Ayto Confu. But there was another body, both
o f horfe and foot, w hich made hunting the elephant their
particular bufinefs. Thefe men dwell conftantly in the
woods, and know very little the ufe o f bread, livin g entirely
upon the fleih o f the beafts they kill, chiefly that o f
the elephant or rhinoceros. They are exceedingly thin,
V ol. IV. P p ligh t,