Henry Salt

“ At Cabaçeiro stands an excellent house, belonging to a Signor Aranjo, who at this time was very prudently engaged in surrounding it with a high wall, as a protection against the Makooa. The shore on the side of the bay is flat, and intersected by a great number of sandy creeks and inlets, which are left dry at low water: these I repeatedly visited in search of sea productions, and I never met with so great a variety on any other coast. The star-fish and sea-flowers were particularly beautiful, and of many exquisite colours. ”

“ During these three days journey we suffered heat that was absolutely insupportable; the whole desert being flat, sandy, waste, and barren; where travellers are tormented with such burning thirst, that before the caravan comes to its halting place, it wears them out with languor and weariness: and as they cannot walk on foot, owing to the burning heat of the sand, they are compelled to ride on camels, whose tedious march and uneasy motion soon makes every bone in the body ache with fatigue. ”

“ As soon as we arrived at the village of Howakil, a very neat hut was prepared for me, and as the evening was far advanced I consented to stay for the night. Nothing could exceed the kindness of these good people; a kid was killed, and a large quantity of fresh milk was brought and presented in straw baskets made of the leaves of the doom-tree, seared over with wax, a manufacture in which the natives on these islands particularly excel. ”

“ In the course of the afternoon we went about half a mile, along the banks of the river Mareb, to visit an old ruin, seen from a considerable distance, called the monastery of Abba Asfé. The chief part of the remains consists of an ancient stone building, of an oblong square shape, about sixty feet long, and forty-five wide, standing on the centre of an eminence, partly surrounded by trees, and commanding a beautiful prospect, in which the river Mareb makes a conspicuous object, winding its circuitous course through the valley. ”

“ On the 7th we left Cali, and traversed a wild and uncultivated tract of land, abounding with game of every description. The general character of this country reminded me strongly of the scenes which I had often admired in the interior of the Cape, where a broad expanse of dark brushwood surrounds the traveller, beyond which, the tops of distant mountains are seen to rise, of a transparent purple hue, conveying the idea of an immeasurable chasm existing between them and the country over which you are passing. ”

“ Pearce instantly levelled his piece, and discharged the contents of it among them; when Alli Manda's friend being wounded fell to the ground. The noise of the gun reverberated from hill to hill, and, on so unusual a noise being heard, the natives of the village rushed out in a body, armed with spears and shields, headed by Hamood, to the spot: at the same moment Alli Manda and his party, with their wounded companion, fled in great alarm to the plains below. ”

“ The recollection of our feelings on that occasion formed a pleasing contrast to our present sensations; for now every thing promised success, the sun shone bright on the landscape before us, and we were surrounded with tried and faithful followers.
As the steepness of the path we had to descend rendered riding unsafe, we dismounted from our mules, threw the reins over their necks, and left them to make the best of their way down the mountain, as is customary with travellers in Abyssinia. ”

“ All the natives, both men and women, have an extraordinary craving after tobacco: they smoke it, take it in the form of snuff, and are in the habitual practice of chewing it, which, in a certain degree, I imagine, satisfies the calls of hunger. The dress of the men consists of a single piece of Arabian or Abyssinian cloth loosely wrapped round the body, and their hair, which is crisped, is curiously dressed out, frizzed, powdered with brown dust, and covered with grease in a similar way to that practised by the Hazorta and other tribes on the coast. ”

“ Conforming, as I have generally done, to most of these customs, I confess that I have felt almost as much repugnance to return to the tedious forms of an English entertainment, as I did to descend to the simple informality of these homely repasts; and possibly the irksome restraint of sitting in a constrained position for three hours, pampering the appetite with an accumulated succession of viands, may, with equal justice, appear to a savage quite as irrational, as his rude and unceremonious habits, to our more refined taste. ”

“ Near the beach, to the northward, grew a thick grove of trees, beyond which lay the bay, with its numerous islands stretching out into the distant horizon. Happy might the natives be thought, were these islands always in so flourishing a condition; but unfortunately, the appearance of plenty is but of short duration. Soon after the rain has ceased the ground becomes parched, the supplies of water exhausted, the vegetation burnt up, and the goats, for want of food, lean and barren. ”

“ As far as I could ascertain from the Ras, who spoke the language of the Galla, and seemed to be intimately acquainted with their history, it appeared that no common bond of union subsists between the different tribes, except that of their speaking the same language; twenty tribes, at least, being known perfectly independent of one another, each ruled by its peculiar chief, respectively at enmity among themselves, and the character of the people essentially varying, according to the districts in which they have settled. ”

“ Our Lord, the supreme Emperor and honourable King now happily reigning, is the hill of the Creature through the magnificence by which they are distinguished in particular and in general; bearing such and so great marks of his favour, that they exceed in numbers the stars themselves, and the multitude or density of the clouds. He is adorned with so many qualifications, that scarcely any one who breathes this air can equal him, in respect of which all other men would appear vile. ”

“ So soon, however, as the person approaches the moment of death, the drums and trumpets cease, and a mournful howl is set up by all the friends present, who, on the death being announced, tear their hair, scratch the skin from their temples, and cast themselves sobbing and screaming to the ground, in all the agony of despair, as if the existence of the whole universe was connected with his fate. ”

“ The effect of my late journies has tended to increase the preponderance of Tigré: and it appears to me that the only plan, which offers a hope of restoring any thing like a regular form of government into the distracted country of Abyssinia, would be to promote still further the welfare of that province, by removing the obstructions which interrupt her communications with the coast, and by establishing thence a free intercourse with the British settlements in the East. ”