taking an adverfe turn while befieging the mountain Ha-
ramat; that the Abuna, Itchegué, and Aeab Saat, had fo-
lemnly excommunicated the king,: Ras Michael, and all
their adherents, declaring them accurfed, and abfolving all
people from their allegiance to Tecla Haimanout. But as
foon as the k in g began his march from Tigré, application
for pardon was made through every channel poffible, and
it was not without great difficulty, that Ras Michael could
be brought to pardon them, chiefly by the entreaty o f Qzo-
To Either. But this mortification was preferibed to them
as a condition o f forgivenefs, that they Ihould meet the
k in g at Mariam-Ohha, not with drums and croffes, or a retinue,
but in the habit and appearance o f fUpplicants. Accordingly
they both came by the time the k in g had alighted,
but they brought no tent with them, nor was ,apy
pitched, for. them, nor any honour ihewn them.
T he Abuna had with him a prieft, o r m onk, on am u le ,
and two beggarly-looking fervants on foot ; the Itchegûè
two monks, that looked like fervants, diftinguiffied by a
cowl only on their heads ; they were both kept waiting
till paft three o’clock, and then* were admitted, and iharply
rebuked by the has : they-after went to the king, who pre-
fcntly difmiffed them without faying a word to either, or
without allowing them to b e feated in his prefence, which
both o f them, by their rank, were intitled, to,be. I alked the
Abuna to,make u fe 'o f my tent to avoid the fun : this he
w illin g ly accepted of, -was creft-fallen a little, fpoke very
lowly and familiarly ; faid he had always a regard for mç,
w hich I had no reafon to believe ; defired me to fpeak fa vourable
o f him before the Kin g and the Ras, which l pro-
;mifcd faithfu lly to do. I .ordered coffee, which he drank
with
with great pleafure, during which he gave me feveral
hints, as i f he thought his pardon was not compleated;
and atlaft aiked me direftly what were my fentiments, and
what I had heard ? I faid, I believed every thing was favourable
as to him and the Itchegue, but I did not know
how much farther the k in g ’s forgivenefs would extend.
I know, fays he, what you mean ; that Abba Salama, (curfe
upon him) he is the author.of it a l l : What do I know o f
thefe black people, who am a ftranger, fo lately come into
the country ? and, indeed, he feemed to know very little ;
for, befides his native Arabic, which he fpoke like a pea-
fant, he had not. learned one word o f any o f the various
languages ufed in the country in which he was to live and
die. Having finiffied coffee, I left him fpeaking to fome
o f his own people ; about h a lf an hour afterwards, he went
away.
R a s M ich a e l had brought with him from Tigre about
20,000 men, the beft foldiers o f the empire ; about 6000 o f
thefe weremufqueteers, about 12,000 armed with lances and
fhields, and about 6000 men had joined them from Gon-
dar ; a large proportion o f thefe were liorfemcn, who were
fcouring the country in all directions, bringing with them
fuch unhappy people as deferved to be, and were therefore
deftined for public example.
T he ihort way from Tigre to Gondar was by Lamalmon,
(that is the mountain o f Samen) and b y Woggora. Ay to
Tesfos had maintained h imfelf in the government-of Samen
fince Joas’s time, by w hom he was appointed ; he had continued
conftantly in enmity with Ras Michael, and had now
taken poffeffion o f the paffes near the Tacazze, fo as to cut off
2 ' all