the Moor's taking the straw was not really the reason of the uproar, for they made no use of it, except to burn; but that a report had been spread abroad, that an action had happened between Fasil and Ras Michael, in which the latter had been defeated, and the country no longer in fear of the Ras, had indulged themselves in their usual excesses; and, taking us for a caravan of Mahometans with merchandize, had resolved to rob us.

Welleta Michael, grandson to Ras Michael, commanded this part of the province; and, being but thirteen years of age, was not with his grandfather in the army, nor was he then at home, but at Gondar. However, his mother, Ozoro Welleta Michael, was at home, and her house just on the hill above. One of the king's servants had stolen away privately, and told her what had happened. The same evening, a party was sent down to the village, who took the ringleaders and carried them away, and left us for the night. They brought us a present also of provisions, and excuses for what had happened, warning us to be upon our guard the rest of the way; but they gave us positive assurance, at the same time, that no action had happened between Fasil and Ras Michael; on the contrary, it was confidently reported, that Fasil had left Bure, and retired to Metchakel, where, probably, he would repass the Nile into his own country, and stay there till the rains should oblige Michael to return to Gondar.

On the 22d, we left Selech-lecha at seven o'clock in the morning, and at eight passed a village 200 yards on our left, without seeing any body; but, advancing half a mile further, we saw a number of armed men, from sixty to eighty; and we were told they were resolved to oppose our passage, unless their comrades, taken the night before, were released. The

people that attended us on the part of Welleta Michael, as our escort, considered this as an insult, and advised me by all means to turn to the left to another village immediately under the hill, on which the house of Welleta Michael, mother to Welleta Gabriel, their governor, was situated; as there we should find sufficient assistance to force these opponents to reason. We accordingly turned to the left; and, marching through thick bushes, came to the top of the hill above the village, in sight of the governor's house, just as about twenty men of the enemy's party reached the bottom of it.

The governor's servants told us, that now was the time if they advanced to fire upon them; in which case they would instantly disperse, or else they would cut us off from the village. But I could not enter into the force of this reasoning; because, if this village was strong enough to protect us, which was the cause of our turning to the left to seek it, these twenty men, putting themselves between us and the village, took the most dangerous step for themselves possible, as they must unavoidably be destroyed; and, if the village was not strong enough to protect us, to begin with bloodshed was the way to lose our lives before a superior enemy. I therefore called to the twenty men to stop where they were, and send only one of their company; and, upon their not paying any attention, I ordered Yasine to fire a large blunderbuss over their heads, so as not to touch them. Upon the report, they all fled, and a number of people flocked to us from other villages; for my part, I believe some who had appeared against us came afterwards and joined

us.

We soon seemed to have a little army, and, in about half an hour, a party came from the governor's house with twenty lances and shields, and six firelocks,

and, presently after, the whole multitude dispersed. It was about ten o'clock when, under their escort, we arrived at the town of Siré, and pitched our tent in a strong situation, in a very deep gulley on the west extremity of the town.

CHAP. VI.

Journey from Sire to Addergey, and Transactions there.

THE province of Sire, properly so called, reaches

from Axum to the Tacazze. The town of Sire is situated on the brink of a very steep, narrow valley, and through this the road lies, which is almost impassable. In the midst of this valley runs a brook bor. dered with palm-trees, some of which are grown to a considerable size, but bear no fruit; they were the first we had seen in Abyssinia.

The town of Sire is larger than that of Axum; it is in the form of a half-moon fronting the plain, but its greatest breadth is at the west end; all the houses are of clay, and thatched; the roofs are in form of cones, as, indeed, are all in Abyssinia. Sire is famous for a manufacture of coarse cotton cloths, which pass for current money through all the province of Tigre, and are valued at a drachm, the tenth part of a wakea of gold, or near the value of an imperial dollar each; their breadth is a yard and quarter. Besides these, beads, needles, cohol, and incense at times only, are considered as money. The articles depend greatly on chance, which or whether any are current for the time or not; but the latter is often not demanded; and, for the first, there are modes and fashions among these

barbarians, and all, except those of a certain colour and form, are useless. We have already spoken of the fashions, such as we have found them, at Kella, and we heard they were the same here at Sire. But these people were not of a humour to buy and sell with us. They were not perfectly satisfied that Michael was alive, and waited only a confirmation of the news of his defeat, to make their own terms with all strangers unfortunate enough to fall into their hands. On the other hand, we were in possession of superior force, and, knowing their inclinations, we treated them pretty much in the manner they would have done us.

On the 22d of January, at night, I observed the passage of many stars over the meridian, and, after that, of the sun, on the 23d at noon; taking a medium of all observations, I determined the latitude of Sire to be 14° 4′ 35′′ north. The same evening, I observed an immersion of the first satellite of Jupiter, by which I concluded its longitude to be 38° 0′ 15′′ east of the meridian of Greenwich.

Although Sire is situated in one of the finest countries in the world, like other places it has its inconveniencies. Putrid fevers, of the very worst kind, are almost constant here; and there did then actually rage a species of these, that swept away a number of people daily. I did not think the behaviour of the inhabitants of this province to me was such, as required my exposing myself to the infection for the sake of relieving them; I therefore left the fever and them to settle accounts together, without anywise interfering.

At Sire we heard the good news, that Ras Michael, on the 10th of this month, had come up with Fasil at Fagitta, and entirely dispersed his army, after killing 10,000 men. This account, though not confirmed by