in the mean time, ordered us coffee; conversing naturally enough about the king and Ras Michael, their campaign against Fasil, and the great improbability there was they should be successful.

At this time came in a servant, covered with dust and seemingly fatigued, as having arrived in haste from afar. The Naybe, with a considerable deal of uneasiness and confusion, opened the letters; which were said to bring intelligence, that the Hazorta, Shiho, and Tora, the three nations who possessed that part of Samhar through which our road led to Dabarwa, the common passage from Masuah to Tigre, had revolted, driven away his servants, and declared themselves independent. He then (as if all was over) ordered his secretaries to stop writing; and, lifting up his eyes, began, with great seeming devotion, to thank God we were not already on our journey; for, innocent as he was, when we should have been cut off, the fault would have been imputed to him.

Angry as I was at so bare-faced a farce, I could not help bursting out into a violent fit of loud laughter; when he put on the severest countenance, and desired to know the reason of my laughing at such a time. "It is now two months," answered I, "since you have been throwing various objections in my way; Can you wonder that I do not give into so gross an imposition? This same morning, before I struck my tent, in presence of your nephew Achmet, I spoke with two Shiho just arrived from Samhar, who brought letters to Achmet, which said all was in peace. Have your earlier intelligence than that of this morning?"

He was for some time without speaking; then said, "If you are weary of living, you are welcome to go; but I will do my duty, in warning those that are along with you, of their and your danger, that when the mischief happens, it may not be imputed to me.”

No number of naked Shiho," said I, "unless instructed by you, can ever be found in our road that will venture to attack us. The Shiho have no firearms; but if you have sent on purpose some of your soldiers that have fire-arms, these will discover by what authority they come. For our part, we cannot fly; we neither know the country, the language, nor the watering-places; and we shall not attempt it. We have plenty of different sorts of fire-arms, and your servants have often seen, at Masuah, we are not ignorant in the use of them. We, it is true, may lose our lives; that is in the hand of the Almighty; but we shall not fail to leave enough on the spot, to give sufficient indication to the king and Ras Michael, who it was that were our assassins; Janni of Adowa will explain the rest."

I then rose very abruptly to go away. It is impossible to give one, not conversant with these people, any conception what perfect masters the most clownish and beastly among them are of dissimulation. The countenance of the Naybe now changed in a moment. In his turn he burst out into a loud fit of laughter, which surprised me full as much as mine, some time before, had done him. Every feature of his treacherous countenance was altered and softened into complacency; and he, for the first time, bore the appearance of a man.

"What I mentioned about the Shiho," he then said, "was but to try you; all is peace. I only wanted to keep you here, if possible, to cure my nephew Achmet, and his uncle Emir Mahomet; but since you are resolved to go, be not afraid; the roads are safe enough. I will give you a person to conduct you, that will carry you in safety, even if there was danger; only go and prepare such remedies as may be proper for the Emir, and leave them with my nephew

Achmet, while I finish my letters." This I willingly consented to do; and at my return I found every thing ready.

Our guide was a handsome young man, to whom, though a Christian, the Naybe had married his sister; his name was Saloome. The common price paid for such a conductor is three pieces of blue Surat cotton cloth. The Naybe, however, obliged us to promise thirteen to his brother-in-law, with which, to get rid of him with some degree of good grace, we willingly complied.

Before our setting out I told this to Achmet, who said, that the man was not a bad one naturally, but that his uncle the Naybe made all men wicked as himself. He furnished me with a man to shew me where I should pitch my tent; and told me he should now take my final deliverance upon himself; for we were yet far, according to the Naybe's intentions, from beginning our journey to Gondar.

Arkeeko consists of about 400 houses; a few of which are built of clay, the rest of coarse grass like reeds. The Naybe's house is of these last-named materials, and not distinguished from any others in the town; it stands upon the south-west side of a large bay. There is water enough for large ships close to Arkeeko; but the bay being open to the north-east, makes it uneasy riding in blowing weather. Besides, you are upon a lee-shore; the bottom is composed of soft sand. In standing in upon Arkeeko from the sea through the canal between Shekh Seide and the main land, it is necessary to range the coast about a third nearer the main than the island. The point, or Shekh Seide, stretches far out, and has shallow water upon it.

The cape that forms the south-west side of the large

bay is called Ras Gedem; being the rocky base of a high mountain of that name, seen a considerable distance from sea, and distinguished by its form, which is that of a hog's back.

CHAP. III.

Journey from Arkeeko, over the mountain Taranta, to Dixan.

ACCORDING to Achmet's desire, we left Arkeeko the 15th, taking our road southward, along the plain, which is not here above a mile broad, and covered with short grass nothing different from ours, only that the blade is broader. After an hour's journey I pitched my tent at Laberhey, near a pit of rain water. The mountains of Abyssinia have a singular aspect from this, as they appear in three ridges. The first is of no considerable height, but full of gullies and broken ground, thinly covered with shrubs; the second, higher and steeper, still more rugged and bare; the third is a row of sharp, uneven-edged mountains, which would be counted high in any country in Europe. Far above the top of all towers that stupendous mass, the mountain of Taranta, I suppose one of the highest in the world, the point of which is buried in the clouds, and very rarely seen but in the clearest weather; at other times abandoned to perpetual mist and darkness, the seat of lightning, thunder, and of storm.

Taranta is the highest of a long steep ridge of mountains, the boundary between the opposite seasons. On its east side, or towards the Red Sea, the rainy season is from October to April; and, on the western, or Abyssinian side, cloudy, rainy, and cold weather prevails from May to October.