bers really had attacked us,that he might have fliewn us how
qu ick ly and dexteroufly he would have cut them to pieces
though*there had been a hundred o f them. I mentione
d to Woldo my obligations to the Lamb for his good willies,
■but that things were quite as well as they were'; that I had
no fort o f curiofity for fuch exhibitions, which I did not howe
ve r doubt he would have performed mo4 dexteroufly.
Wb were now taking leave to proceed on our journey,
and my fervant folding up the table-cloth, when the Lamb
■defired to fpeak to Woldo, and for the firft time ventured to
make a requeft, which was a very extraordinary o n e ; he
begged that I would give him the table-cloth to cover his
head, and keep his face from the fun. I could not ;help
laughin g within myfelf at the idea o f preferving that beautiful
complexion from fun -burnin g; but I gave him the
cloth very readily, which he accordingly fpread upon his
head, till it covered h a lf his face.; he then got upon his horfe
and rode quietly away. Before he went, he detached fifteen
men, Woldo faid he did not know where, but by what he
had gathered, and the route they had taken, he was fure
that detachment was mtant for our fervice, and to.protedi
Us on the right o f our route, not having yet fufliciently
■quieted his own mind about the five Agows that palled between
the army and his poll the night we were at Kelti; thefe,
however, being poorly mounted and armed, would not have
found their account in meddling w ith us, though we had no
wiihes to fhe w our dexterity in deftroying them, as our friend
.the Lamb was fodefirous o f doing, and we after difcovered
■they were notquitefodefpicable as they were reprefented,nor
were they Agows. All this palled in much lels time than it is
told. We were on horfeback again in little more than h a lf
3 an
an h o u r ; our friends were, like us, w illin g to meet and willing
to part, only I ordered Strates to fufpend his firing for
that day, left it ihould procure us another interview, w h ich
we by no means courted.
We1 had halted by the fide of a fmall river which falls
into the A ffa r ; and a little before one o’clock we came to
the Affar itfelf. The Affar, as I have already faid, is the
fouthern boundary o f Aroolfi, as Kelti is the northern ; and
as Aroofii is the fouthern diftrifi: o f M aitlha on the weft fide
o f the Nile, it follows that the Affar is the fouthern boundary
o f Maitlha.
On the other fide o f this river begins the province o f
Goutto, which, according to the ancient rules o f government
before Ras Michael deftroyed a ll diftin&ions, depended
on the p rovince o f Damot; whereas Maitlha belonged to
the office o f BetwudetfinceFafil had appropriated both tohim-
fe lf by force, as well as the whole country o f the Agows,,
which he had pofieffed by the fame title ever fince the battle
©f Banja: the inhabitants o f Goutto are the ancient natives o f
that country ; they are not Galla as thole o f Maitlha, b u t
much more civilized and better governed. The language o f
the Agowand the Amharic are.the two chiefly fpoken in Goun-
to, though there are diflam places towards the Jemma on the
fide o f the Nile, where they fpeak that o f theFalalha likewife.
The people in Goutt© are richer and better lodged than
thole o f the neighbouring Ma itlha ; their whole country
is fu ll o f cattle o f the largeftfize, exceedingly beautiful, and;
o f all the different colours ; there ate fome places likewife
where their honey is excellent, equal to any in, the country
, o f the Agows,. but the gyeateft quantity o f it is of. low p rice
and’