3 1® t r a v e l s t o d i s c o v e r
had he not caught hold o f fome llrong roots o f a tree flioot-
m g out o f the b a n k ; and there he la y in perfect fafety from
the enemy, till our fervants went round, and brought him
out o f the pool on the further fide.
I n the mean time, the buffalo, mortally wounded, feeing
his enemy had efcaped, kept his eyes intent upon us, who
■were about forty yards from him, w a lk in g backwards towards
us wtth intent to turn fuddenly upon the neareit
h o r fe ; when Ayto Confu ordered two men with guns to
moot him through the head, and he inllantly fell. The two
we firft killed were females; this laft was a bull, and one
o f the largeft, ConfeiTedly, that had ever been feen. Though
not fat, I guefs he weighed nearer fifty than forty ftone His
horns from the foot, following the line o f their curve, were
about fifty-two inches, and nearly nine where thickeft in
the circumference. T h e y were flat, not round. Ayto Conf
u ordered the head to be cut off, and cleared o f its flefli fo
that the horns and Ikeleton o f the head only remained : this
She hung up in his great hall among the probofces o f elephants,
and horns o f rhinocerofes, with this infcription in
ins own language, | P a g o u b e th e Kipt k ille d t h is u p o n t h e B c d o w iP
We were now within fight o f home, to which we w e n t '
llraight without further hunting. Neither the ridicule nor
the condolence o f the young men could force one word
from Ammomos; only when I afked him whether or not
he was hurt, he anfwered from the feripture, “ He that In
c ither really or feignedly, exprefling herfelf as difpleafed
with her ion Ayto Confu, Ammonios, who loved the young
jaan fincerely, could not bear to be the occafion o f th is ; fo
that
that all refolved itfelf into mirth and joke. What added to the
merriment was, that the meflengers from the Iteghebrought
a large increafe to our flock o f brandy ; but brought alfo
pofitive orders, both from h er and the king, to Ozoro Either,,
to determine me, by all poflible means, to return to Gondar,
or elfe to repair thither inftantly herfelf.
T h e evening o f the day whereon w e fet out to hunt,
fome men arrived from Ras el Feel, fent by Yafine, with
camels for our baggage, nothing but mules being ufed at
Tcherkin. They brought word,, that the Shangalla were
down near the Tacazze, fo that now was the time to pafs
without fear \ that Abd el Jeleel, the former Shum o f Ras e l
Feel, Yafine's mortal enemy, had been feen lu rk in g in the
country near Sancalio ; hilt as he had only four men, and
was himfelf a known coward, it was not probable he would
attempt any thing againft us,1 though it would be always,
better that we keep on our guard-
T c h e r k i n has a market on Saturdays, in which raw cotton,
cattle, honey, and coarfe cotton cloths are fold. T h e
Shangaila formerly molefted Tcherkin greatly, but for thirty
years paft they had done little' damage. The fmall-pox.
raged fo violently for a number o f years among them,, that
it has greatly diminiflied their numbers, and confequently
their power o f troubling their neighbdurs. At Tcherkin
we flaw a prodigious quantity o f black fcorpions, o f a very
fmall kind, feldom in the houfes, but chiefly hid under
flones ; feveral o f our people were flung by them,; but no
Other mifchief followed, but a fmall fwelling, and a complaint
o f co ld in the part, which went away in a few-
hour s..
Enoitf