All the disasters which I had been threatened with in the course of that journey, which I had thus begun, now presented themselves to my mind, and made, for a moment, a strong impression upon my spirits. But it was too late to draw back, the dye was cast, for life or for death; home was before me, however distant; and if, through the protection of Providence, I should be fortunate enough to arrive there, I promised myself both ease and the applause of my country, and of all unprejudiced men of sense and learning in Europe, for having, by my own private efforts alone, compleated a discovery, which had, from early ages, defied the address, industry, and courage of all the world.
Having, by these reflections, rather hardened, than comforted my heart, I now advanced down the steep side of the mountain, our course nearly N. N. W. through very strong and rugged ground, torn up by the torrents that fall on every side from above. This is called the Descent of Moura; and though both we and our beasts were in great health and spirits, we could not, with our utmost endeavours, advance much more than one mile an hour. Two Greeks, one of whom only was my servant; and a third, nearly blind, flying from poverty and want; an old janissary, who had come to Abyssinia with the Abuna, and a Copht who left us at Sennaar; these, and some common men who took charge of the beasts, and were to go no further than Tcherkin, were my only companions in this long and weary journey.
At a quarter past four we came to the river Toom Aredo, which arising in the country of the Kemmont, (a people inhabiting the high grounds above to the S. W.) falls into the river Mahaanah. The Kemmont were a sect once the same as the Falasha, but were baptized in the reign of Facilidas, and, ever since, have continued separate from their ancient brethren. No great pains seem to have been taken with them since their admission to Christianity, for they retain most of their ancient customs. They eat the meat of cattle killed by Christians, but not of those that are slaughtered, either by Mahometans or Falasha. They hold, as a doctrine, that, being once baptized, and having once communicated, no sort of prayer, nor other attention to divine worship, is further necessary. They wash themselves from head to foot after coming from the market, or any public place, where they may have touched any one of a sect different from their own, esteeming all such unclean. They abstain from all sorts of work on Saturday, keeping close at home; but they grind corn, and do many other such like works, upon Sunday.
Their women pierce their ears, and apply weights to make them hang down, and to enlarge the holes, into which they put ear-rings almost as big as shackles, in the same manner as do the Bedowis in Syria and Palestine. Their language is the same as that of the Falasha, with some small difference of idiom. They have great abhorrence to fish, which they not only refrain from eating, but cannot bear the sight of; and the reason they give for this is, that Jonah the prophet (from whom they boast they are descended) was swallowed by a whale, or some other such great fish. They are hewers of wood, and carriers of water, to Gondar, and are held in great detestation by the Abyssinians.
We crossed the river to the miserable village of Door-Macary, which is on the east side of it; and there we took up our quarters, after a short but very fatiguing, day's journey. The people shewed great signs of uneasiness upon our first appearance, and much reluctance to admit us under their roofs; and discovering that we were not any of those that had the honour of being descended from the prophet Jonah, they hid all their pots and drinking-vessels, lest they should be prophaned by our using them. From Door-Macary we discovered a high mountainous ridge, with a very rugged top, stretching from North to South, and towering up in the middle of the forest, about five miles distance; it is called Badjena.
On the 28th, a little after mid-day, we passed Toom Aredo; and went, first East, then turned North, into the great road. We soon after passed a number of villages; those on the high mountain Badjena on the East, and those belonging to the church of Koscam on the West. Continuing still North, inclining very little to the West, we came to a steep and rugged descent, at the foot of which runs the Mogetch, in a course straight North; this descent is called the And. At a quarter past two we passed the Mogetch, our direction N. W. It is here a large, swift running stream, perfectly clear, and we halted some time to refresh ourselves upon its banks; remembering how very different it was from what we had once left it, discoloured with blood, and choked up with dead bodies, after the defeat of the king's wing at the battle of Serbraxos.
At half past three we resumed our journey. A sharp and pyramidal mountain stands alone in the middle of the plain, presenting its high sharp top through the trees, and making here a very picturesque and uncommon appearance; it is called Gutch, and seemed to be distant from us about six miles due North. A few minutes after this we passed a small stream called Agam-Ohha, or the Brook of Jessamine; from a beautiful species of that shrub, very frequent here, and on the sides of the small streams in the province of Siré.
A few minutes past four we entered a thick wood, winding round a hill, in a south-east direction, to get into the plain below, where we were surrounded by a great multitude of men, armed with lances, shields, slings, and large clubs or sticks, who rained a shower of stones towards us, as I may say; for they were at such a distance, that all of them fell greatly short of us. Whether this was owing to fear, or not, we did not know; but supposing that it was, we thought it our interest to keep it up as much as possible. I therefore ordered two shots to be fired over their heads; not with any intention to hurt them, but to let them hear, by the balls whistling among the leaves of the trees, that our guns carried farther than any of their slings; and that, distant as they then were, they were not in safety, if we had a disposition to do them harm. They seemed to understand our meaning, by gliding through among the bushes, and appearing at the top of a hill farther off, where they continued hooping and crying, and making divers signs, which we could not, neither did we endeavour to understand. Another shot, aimed at the trees above them, shewed they were still within our reach, upon which they dispersed, or sat down among the bushes, for we saw them no more, till pitching our tent upon the plain below two of their villages; it seemed they were uneasy, for they had dispatched a man naked, and without arms, who, standing upon the rock, cried out in the language of Tigrè, that he wanted to come to us. This I absolutely refused, that he might not see the smallness of our number, crying out to him to get farther off, or we would instantly shoot him. There was no occasion to repeat the admonition. From the rock where he stood, he slid down like an eel, and appeared again at a considerable distance, still making a sign of wanting to speak with us.
While resting on the banks of the river Mogetch, we had been overtaken by two men, and two women, who were driving two loaded asses, and were going to Tcherkin; they had desired leave to keep company with us, for fear of danger on the road. I had two Abyssinian servants, but they were not yet come up, attending one of the baggage mules that was lame, as they said; but I believe, rather busied with some engagements of their own in the villages. We were obliged then to have recourse to one of these stranger women, who understood the language of Tigrè, and undertook readily to carry our message to the stranger, who was still very busy making signs from behind a tree, without coming one step nearer.