We passed the church of Kedus Michael at half after nine, on the road to our right. At nine and three quarters our course was N. by W. and, at a quarter after ten, we passed the Coga, a large river. At three quarters past ten our course was north. We passed the church of Abbo a quarter of a mile on our right. The country, after we had crossed the Jemma, was much less beautiful than before. At twelve our course was N. by W. and at half past twelve the church of Mariam Net, 200 yards to the left; and here we forded the small river Amlac-Ohha. Every step of this ground put us in mind of our disastrous campaign in May; and we were now passing directly in the tract of the ever-memorable retreat of Kefla Yasous and the rear of the army. At a quarter after one we halted at a small village of low houses, as it were in bent grass, where, for the first time, we saw flocks of goats lying on the tops of the houses for fear of wild beasts.
"You shall see, says Welled Amlac, whether I am telling truth or not; this is the house of Welled Aragawi; if he is here at home, then I have deceived you." We saw a number of women laden with jars of bouza and hydromel, and asked where they were going. They said to their master at Delakus, who waited there to prevent Welleta Michael of Degwassa from passing the river. Our Greeks on this began to relapse into their panic, and to wish we were again at Welled Abea Abbo. At three quarters past one we continued our journey to the north, and passed a river, called Amlac-Ohha, larger than the former: it comes from the east, and, half a mile further, receives the other stream already mentioned. The sun was now burning hot. At three o'clock we halted a quarter of an hour; and, beginning to descend gently, an hour after this we came to the banks of the Abay. Here we saw the two combatants, Welleta Michael and Welled Aragawi, exactly opposite to each other, the first on the west the other on the east side; they had settled all their differences, and each had killed several kine for themselves and friends, which was all the blood shed that day.
The Nile is here a considerable river; its breadth at this time full three quarters of an English mile; the current is very gentle; where deep you scarce can perceive it flow; it comes from W. by S. and W. S. W. and at the ford runs east and west. The banks on the east side were very high and steep; and on the west, at the first entrance, the bottom is soft and bad, the water four feet and a half deep, but above another foot, which we sink in clay. I cried to Welled Amlac, while he was leading my mule across, that he should not pray to his saint that never eats, as at the passage of the Jemma in May. He only answered lowly to me, Do you think these thieves would have let you pass if I was not with you? My answer was, Welleta Michael would not have seen me wronged; I saved his life, he and every body knows it.
We gained with difficulty the middle of the river, where the bottom was firm, and there we rested a little. Whilst we were wading near the other side, we found foul ground, but the water was shallow, and the banks low and easy to ascend. The river side, as far as we could see, is bare and destitute of wood of any kind, only bordered with thistles and high grass, and the water tinged deep with red earth, of which its banks are composed. This passage is called Delakus, and is passable from the end of October to the middle of May. Immediately on the top of the hill ascending from the river is the small town of Delakus, which gives this ford its name; it extends from N. E. to N. N. E. and is more considerable in appearance than is the generality of these small towns or villages in Abyssinia, because inhabited by Mahometans only, a trading, frugal, intelligent, and industrious people.
Our conductor, Welled Amlac, again put us in mind of the service he had rendered us, and we were not unmindful of him. He had been received with very great respect by the eastern body of combatants, and it is incredible with what expedition he swallowed near a pound of raw flesh cut from the buttocks of the animal yet alive. After some horns of hydromel, he had passed to the other side, where he was received with still more affection, if possible, by Welleta Michael, and there he began again to eat the raw meat with an appetite as keen as if he had fasted for whole days; he then consigned us to Ayto Welleta Michael, his friend and mine, who furnished us with a servant to conduct us on our way, while he himself remained that night at the ford among the combatants. He advised us to advance as far as possible, for all that country was destroyed by a malignant fever which laid all waste beyond Delakus.
We left the ford at a quarter past five in the evening, and, pursuing our journey north, we passed the small town of Delakus, continuing along the hill among little spots of brush-wood and small fields of corn intermixed. At half past six passed the river Avola. At half past seven crossed another swift-running stream, clear and shallow, but full of slippery stones. At three quarters after seven we alighted at Googue, a considerable village, and, as it was now night, we could go no farther; we had already several times mistaken our way, and lost each other in the dark, being often also mired in a small plain before we passed the last river; but our guide had heard the orders of his master, and pushed on briskly.
We found the people of Googue the most savage and unhospitable we had yet met with. Upon no account would they suffer us to enter their houses, and we were obliged to remain without, the greatest part of the night. At last they carried us to a house of good appearance, but refused absolutely to give us meat for ourselves or horses; and, as we had not force, we were obliged to be content. It had rained violently in the evening, and we were all wet. We contented ourselves with lighting a large fire in the middle of the house, which we kept burning all night, as well for guard, as for drying ourselves, though we little knew at the time that it was probably the only means of saving our lives; for in the morning we found the whole village sick of the fever, and two families had died out of the house where these people had put us: for my own part, upon hearing this I was more affrighted than for Welled Aragawi and all his robbers. Though weary and wet, I had slept on the ground near the fire six whole hours; and, tho' really well, I could not during the day persuade myself there was not some symptom of fever upon me. My first precaution was to infuse a dose of bark into a glass of aquavitæ, a large horn of which we had with us; we then burnt frankincense and myrrh in abundance, and fumigated ourselves, as practised at Masuah and in Arabia. Early in the morning we repeated our dose of bark and fumigation. Whether the bark prevented the disease or not, the aquavitæ certainly strengthened the spirits, and was a medicine to the imagination.
The people, who saw the eagerness and confidence with which we swallowed this medicine, flocked about us demanding assistance. I confess I was so exasperated with their treatment of us, and especially that of lodging us in the infected house, that I constantly refused them their request, leaving them a prey to their distemper, to teach them another time more hospitality to strangers.
This fever prevailed in Abyssinia in all low grounds and plains, in the neighbourhood of all rivers which run in valleys; it is really a malignant tertian, which, however, has so many forms and modes of intermission that it is impossible for one not of the Faculty to describe it. It is not in all places equally dangerous, but on the banks and neighbourhood of the Tacazzé it is particularly fatal. The valley where that river runs is very low and sultry, being full of large trees. In Kuara, too, it is very mortal; in Belessen and Dembea less so; in Walkayt it is dangerous; but not so much in Tzegadè, Kolla, Woggora, and Waldubba. It does not prevail in high grounds or mountains, or in places much exposed to the air. This fever is called Nedad, or burning; it begins always with a shivering and headache, a heavy eye, and inclination to vomit; a violent heat follows, which leaves little intermission, and ends generally in death the third or fifth day. In the last stage of the distemper the belly swells to an enormous size, or sometimes immediately after death, and the body within an instant smells most insupportably; to prevent which they bury the corpse immediately after the breath is out, and often within the hour. The face has a remarkable yellow appearance, with a blackish cast, as in the last stage of a dropsy or the atrophy. This fever begins immediately with the sun-shine, after the first rains, that is, while there are intervals of rain and sun-shine: it ceases upon the earth being thoroughly soaked in July and August, and begins again in September; but now, at the beginning of November, it finally ceases everywhere.