came to Sancaho, at h a lf an hour pad one; and there wer
reded. •; it S f'f ;
S a n c a h o - I s an old frontier territory o f Abyflinia.? The-
town may confift o f about 300 huts or houfes, neatly bullet
o f canes, and curioufly thatched with leaves o f the fame.v
It rifes in the midft o f a plain, and’Tefembles in (hapeTchcr-
k in Amba, though much la rg e r ; a considerable diftrict all*
around belongs to it, o f wilds and woods, if inch as thefe,t
abandoned entirely to wild beads, can be faid. to belong to-
any man. The eaft end ilopes with rather a deep defcent
into the plain; and through that-is a narrow-winding roadh
feemingly the work o f art, being obdruited at turns by1’
huge dones, and at different dages, for the purpofe o f defence
by guns or a rrows; a ll’the other Sties o f the rock are-
perpendicular precipices. The inhabitants o f the town are?
Baafa, a race o f Shangalla, converted to the Mahometan relig
ion ;- it is an abfolute government, has a nagareet or-
kettle-drum for proclamations, yet is underftood to be inferior
to Ras el Feel, and dependent on i t ;, and always fub-
je ft to that nobleman, who is K a fm a tio f Ras el Feel, fuch •
as Ayto Confu then was, after he had refumed his government
at my-departure, though during my flay in Abyflinia t
it had devolved upon me by his furrendering it.
G i m b a s o , the Erbab or chief o f Sancaho, was the tailed;
and flouted man o f his nation ; about fix. feet fix inches
high, and ftrongly made in proportion; hunted always on
f o o t ; and was faid, among his people, to have fingly k illed
elephants with one blow o f his fpear. The features o f r
his face might well becalled hideous ; he paid his part off-
the revenue in buffaloes hides, o f which the befl ihields were?
made.;,
made and with elephants teeth, and rhinoceros’s horns,,
ufed for the handles o f the Crooked knives, which the Abyf*
finians> carry at their girdles. All the inhabitants o f San—
caho are hunters o f elephants. It is their principal food.
Erbab Gimbaro came with Yafine, and brought more than
a hundred o f the Shangalla to the kin g’s army at Serbraxos,.
where the Moors alledged he did not any way diflinguiih
himfelf. I had, however, taken confiderable notice o f h im ; ,
and at his earned defire carried him into the tent, and (hewed
him the king,
W i encamped at. the bottom o f the hill on the fourh-welt
fide o f the town, on the banks o f the river, which rifes inn
the mountains fix miles o ff to the Couth; and encompaffes
the h a lf o f the h ill where Sancaho (lands; after which it
'turns northward, but was now moftly d r y - While we were -
pitching our tent, I Cent one o f Yafine’s men to order Gimbaro
to fend us theu fu a l quantity o f provides for ourfelves ■
and camels, and told h im alfo, that my camels were few in
number, and w e a k ; defiring h e yvould fend two,, or one at
lead, which (hould .be dated in his deftar, or account o f
•rent, for that year; I was afloniflied. to fee Yafine’s men •
return^ bringing with them only; a woolly-headed black, ,
the Erbab’s (bn, as it feemed; who, with great freedom a n d :
pertnefs,.and in very good Amharic, faid,,“ My father fa-
lates y o u ; i f ye eat what he eats, ye (hall be very w elcome.” '
ta lk ed him, What that was ?— He faid, “ Elephant killed yef-
terday; and as for camels ye demand, he tells you he has--.
none ¡ elephants , are his. camels, ,asd rhinocerofes are his?;
mules.” ‘
AVsop