the foremofi: horn, o f which it had carried off above an
in c h ; and this occalfoned a concufiion that had ftunned
him for a minute, till the bleeding had recovered him. I
preferved the horn from curiofity, and have it now by
me*. I faw evidently the ball had touched no other part
o f the beaft.
W h i l e we were bufy with the rhinoceros, Ammonios
joined us. A meflage from the k in g had carried away
Azage Kyrillos the fecretary. Two other mefiengers had'
arrived from the queen, one,to A yto Confu, and another to
Ozoro Either; and it was Ozoro Either’s commands to her
fon, to leave the hunting and return. There was no remedy
but to obey; Ammonios, however, wanted to have his
part o f the h u n tin g ; and the country people told us, that
multitudes o f buffaloes were tp be found a little to the
weftward, where there were large trees and Handing pools
o f water. We agreed then to hunt homeward, without bein
g over-folicitous about returning early.
W e had not gone far before a wild“ boar arofe between
me and Ayto Engedan, which I immediately killed with m y
javelin.: Before he, on his horfe, came up to it, another o f
its companions ihared the fame fate about a quarter o f an
hour after. This was the fport I had been many years ufed
to in Barbary, and was infinitely more dextrous at it than
any o f the prefent company; this put me more upon a par
w ith my companions, who had not failed to la,ugh at me,
upon my horfe’s refufal to. carry me near either to the elephant
* See the article Rhinoceros in the Appendix»
phant or rhinoceros. Nobody would touch the carcafe o f
the boar after it was dead, being an animal which is con-
fidered as unclean.
A m m o n i o s was a man of approved courage and conduit,
and had been in all the wars o f Ras Michael, and was placed
about A yto Confu, to lead the troops, curb the p re em p tion,
and check the impetuofity o f that youthful warrior. He
was tall, and aukwardly made ; flow in fpeech and motion,
fo much as even to excite ridicule; about fixty years o f age,
and more corpulent than the Abyfiinians generally are ; in
a word, as pedantic and grave in his manner as it is pof-
fible to exprefs. He fpent his Whole leifure time in reading
the fcripture, nor did he w illin g ly difcourfe o f any thing
elfe. He had been bred a foot-foldier; and, though he
rode as well as many o f the Abyflinians, yet, having long
flirrup-leathers, with iron rings at the .end o f them, into
which he put his naked toe only, inftead o f ftirrups, he
bad n o flrength or agility on horfeback, nor was his bridle
iu ch as could command his horfe to flop, or wind and turn
iharply among trees, though he might make a tolerable
figure on a plain.
A B o a r , roufed on our right, had wounded a horfe and
a footman o f Ayto Confu, and then efcaped. Two buffaloes
were found by thofe on the right, one o f which wounded a
horfe likewife. Ayto Confu, Engedan, Guebra Mariam,
and myfelf, killed the other with equal ihare o f merit, without
being in any fort o f danger. All this was in little more
than an hour, when our fport feemed to be at the bell;
o u r horfes were confiderably blown, not tired, and though
we were beating homewards, Hill we were looking very.
Q_q 2 keenly