but chiefly Galla, and fame-of thefe had turned Mahometan;;
but that th e y had no knowledge: o f any: commerce with the
Weftern, or Atlantic Ocean,, though they knew the Eaftern
or Indian1 Ocean, which was nearer;, were often ferved with
Indian goods f r o m Mahometan merchants from thence ; b u t
that the Galla Irad o-uer-nm moft o f the intermediates c o u n tries,
and made the ways dangerous». if, U l ' !
r:'Vi ':' •'! OTiifo I :: C-îf 'r-r rr c-; r >!uOt< .“ U-v. ¿iff;-»-*.*.. -y.
A f t e r Amha Yafous’s: audience with the king, he wait-
ed.on.Ras Michael aUb„ to whom, h e b rou ght a prefénc in
gold ; politely exculing himfelf for having brought it in,thatv
form, oh account that any other ¡would hâvp beennrouble--
foine,'from-the. len gth o f the way. He.well knew, however,
. that. an. apology, was.. needlefs,. and that Ras Micha-
el never faw any p re fen t.in a more agreeable form than
that of, gold. I was not ais the audience, nor do J know
w hat palied at it ; o n ly that,, on his introduction,: the Ras
was held up on his fdet, and received him Handing ; they
then both iat down upon thé famé feat, after which they dh
ned heartily together at Ozoro.Efther’s apartment, who came
from. Kofcam on purpofe to prepare their entertainment,,
and they .drank, and: converted together, till .late at night. .
The fight o f gold, and: a thoufandi horfe at the junéïure,.
made; Ras : Michael as lig h t and ehearful as a young man o f
twenty-five;. ¡No words' concerning the government o f
Shoa paffed, nor any proclamation relative to the ftate o f
t h a t province ; and this: filence was equal to declare it independent,
i as it ¡was intended, and indeed it had been coa-
fidered as fuch a lon g time before. As I law Amha Yafous
eat;raw beef like the Abyffinians, I afked him i f it ¡was the
cuftom o f other nations to the fouthward ? He faid he believed
io, i f they were not Mahometans ; and .inquired o f me
i f it: was not like wife the praftice among us. , I ’imagine it
prevails as far as the Cape o f Good Hope.
.. A n o t h e r interview, which happened at Kahha, was m uch
more extraordinary in ■ itfelf, though o f much lefs importance
t o : the ft'ate.. Gtiangoul, chie f o f the Galla o f Angot,
thatis, o f the eaftern Galla, came to pay his refpefts to the
k in g and Ras Micha e l; he, had. iwith him about ¡00 foot
and 40 horfel: h e brou ght with him a number o f large
horns fofijcarxying the k in g ’s, wine;' and fome other fuch
trifled. :He was.a littlej; thiri,: crofs^mide man, o f no apparent
ftrength o f fwilftnefs,las' far as could he conjedlured;
his legs and thighs being thin and fmall for his body, and
his head la rg e ; he was o f a yellow, unwholelome colour,
not black nor b row n ; he had long hair plaited and interwoven
with the,bowels o f oxen, and fo knotted and twitted
together as to render it impoffible to diftinguifh the hair
from the bowels, which hung down in long ftrings, part
before his breaft and part behind his ihoulder, the
moft extraordinary ringlets I had ever feen. He had
likewife, a wreath o f guts h u n g about his neck, and fe-
veral rounds o f the fame about his middle,- which ferved
as a girdle, below which was a ihort cotton cloth dipt
in butter, and all his body was wet, and running down w ith
the fame ; he feemed to be about fifty years o f age, with a
confident and infolent fuperiority painted in his face. In
his country it feems,when he appears in ftate, the beaft 'he
rides upon is a cow. He w as then in. fu ll dreis and cere-'
mony, and mounted upon one, not o f the largeft fort,' but
which had monftrous horns. He had no faddle on his cow;
He had Ihort drawers, that did not reach the middle, o f his;
thighs ; his knees, feet, le g s ,, and all his body were bare;
N a He