here is called Gilmaber, from Gilma, a fmall village a milè
and a h a lf diftant to the fouthward. Gilmaber is about a
mile and a h a lf long, fu ll o f tall canes. From the time
we-left Tokoor river, we had been followed by a lion, or
rather preceded by one, for it was generally a fmall gun-
ihot before us ; and wherever it came to a bare fpot, it
would1 fit down and grumble as i f it meant to difpute the
w ay with us. Our beafts trembled, and were all covered;
with fweat, and could fcarcely be kept on the road. AS.
there feemed to be but one remedy for this difficulty, I.
took a long Turkiih rifled gun, and'crawling under a bank
as near as poflible, ihot it in the body, fo that it fell' from,
the bank on the-road before us, quite dead, and even without
mufcular motion. It proved to be a large lionefs. All
the people in this country eat the fleih o f lions ; as I have
feen fome tribes * in Barbary do likewife. We left the lionefs
to the inhabitants o f the neighbouring village, Ikin
and all 5 fo r we were fo tired with this day’s journey, that
we could not, be at the pains o f fldnning her. ,
A f e w minutes after this w e palled the river Gilma, twice,,
which runs to the northward. At h a lf paft nine we joined
Dabda road, and a few minutes after crolTed the Quartuc-
ca, a fmall river running north..
T he country here becomes more open, for the thick
woods have fmall plains between them. In the entrance
o f a wood we found a man that had been murdered, and
that very lately, as the wild beafts had not yet begun
- to.
* Welled Sidl Boogamira at Hydra. See Shawls Trayels.
to touch the body ; he had been ham-ftrung, and his throat
cut, a performance probably o f the neighbouring Shangal-
la. At fifty minutes paft ten, our route being weft, wfi
palled under a hill, a quarter o f a mile on our right, upon
which is a village called Salamgué. At a quarter paft eleven
we crofted the fmall river o f Kantis ; and a quarter o f an
hour afterwards we afcended a hill upon which Hands a
village o f that name, inhabited by Mahometan Shangalla
o f the tribe o f Baafa.
On the aoth we proceeded but a mile and a h a lf ; our
beafts and ourfelves being equally fatigued, and our cloaths
torn all to rags. Guanjook is a very delightful fpot by the
river fide ; fmall woods o f very high trees interfperfed with
very beautiful lawns ; feveral fields alfo cultivated with
cotton ; variety o f game (efpecially Guinea fowls, in great
abundance) and, upon every tree, perroquets, o f all the different
kinds and colours, compofe the beauties of- Guanjook.
I faw no parrots, and fuppofe there .were none ; but
on firing a gun, the firft probably ever heal'd in thofe
woods, there was fuch a fcreaming o f other birds on all
fides, fome flying to the place.whence the noife came, and
fome flying from it, that "it was impoflible to hear di-
ffiinrily any other found. It was at this place that I ihot
that curious bird called the Erkoom * in Amhara ; the
Abba Gumba, in T igré; and here at Guanjook, Teir el.Naciba,
or the Bird o f Deftiny.
On the 22d, at three quarters paft fix we left Guanjook,
and a few minutes after palled a fmall river called Gum-
S f 2 bacca,
* See the article Erkoom in the Appendix.