T h i s w a s the fir ft battle o f Serbraxos, which, though it
contained nothing decifive, had d ill two very material con-
fequences, as it fo daunted the fpirits'of the Begemder horfe,
that many chiefs o f that country withdrew their troops, and
went home, whilft fuch difcord was fown among the leaders,
that I believe they never fincerely trailed one another
afterwards ; Ouiho and Ayabdar, in particular, were known*
to correfpond with the k in g daily. .
On the morrow after the battle, three mefiengers arrived
from Guflio, Powufièn, and Ayabdar, and each had aSeparate
audience o f the Ring and Ras, before whom they a ll
three feverally declared, that their' mailers defired to continue
in allegiance to him their k in g, Tecla Haimanout, but
under this condition only, that Ras Michael fhould be fen«
to his government o f Tigré, never more to return. They
endeavoured to perfuade the k in g alfo to take the fenfe o f
his army, the majority o f which, tlicy .afferted, were ready to-
abandon him. I f Michael ihould agree to return to Tigré,
they offered to carry the k in g to Gondar, place him in his
palace, and allow him to choofè his own minifters, and govern
for the future after his own ideas. This, indeed, was-
the univerfal wilh, and I did not fee what Ras Michael could
have done, had he adopted it; but fear, or gratitude, or both,
reftrained the young k in g from fuch a meafure ; and the
mefiengers left him after a plain declaration, That they had
endeavoured all in their power to fave him, and he mu ll
now abide the confequences, for they wafhed their hands
o f them.
T he rains were now become more frequent, and an epte
demical fever had ihewn itfelf in the rebel army on the
plain.; every cpnfideration, therefore, feemed to perfuade a
peedy decifion, but the confequences o f the laft engagement
feemed to have damped the fpirit o f the rebels, without hav
in g much ratfed that o f the k in g ’s army. In f a i l the
days were dark and wet, and the foghts fold, « ¿ S b l
ces in which no. Abyffinian choofes. to-'.fight. The armv
was.thinly cloathed.or not cloathed at all, and encamped on
u f r°U u rC ’ thouS h “ had mu ll foon have done To. ‘ not failed them 7ye t’
An accident that happened this night hadnearly brought
about a revolution w hich the wifeft heads had laboured
fo r many years in vain. Ras Michael had retired to bed at
h is . ordtnaiy tune, fomewhat before eleven o’clock, anil a
kunp was left burning as ufual in his tent, for he was afraid
fjp r ts . He was juft fallen afieep, when he felt a man’s
Z p J T t / T th e bCd ° Ver him’ W,Uch he immediately
fetzed hold o f, c ryin g to his attendants, at the fame time
fo r help Thofe that ran firft into the tent threw down the
lamp and put °n t the light, fo that the man would have
efcaped, had not the people behind got about him, and
endeavoured to hold him down, while entangled in, and
d r a g g lin g with the cords o f the tent. The firft perfon that
feized him was a favourite fervant o f the Ras, a young man
named Laeca Mariam, o f a good family in Tigre • he not
ptn-cetvmg Ins danger for want o f light, received a flab with
S br° ad ,kmfe> whlch Pierced his heart, fo that he fell with-
,om fpeakmg a word. Numbers immediately fecured the
afiaffin, who was found to have dropt one knife within the
ftabb T h ’ W 1 , ,WhlCh he had 3ttemPted at firft to have
abhed h im : but he was found to have another knife '
-two-edged, and fkarp in the point, fixed along his arm, with
T 2 which