MISCELLANIES. 
village by almost every man that 
sawus. They frequently entreat- 
ed the gentlemen of the embas- 
sy to allow them the honour of 
being their hosts ; and sometimes 
laid hold of their bridles, and 
did not permit them to pass till 
they had promised to breakfast 
with them on some future day, 
and even confirmed the promise 
by putting their hands between 
theirs. . 
From the nature of the coun- 
try, the charms of which were 
heightened by novelty, and by the 
expectations we formed of the 
sights and incidents which we 
should meet with among so wild 
and extraordinary a people, itmay 
be supposed that these morning 
expeditions were pleasing and in- 
teresting. Our evening rides were 
not less delightful, when we went 
out among the gardens round the 
city, and admired therichness and 
repose of the landscape, contrast- 
ed with the gloomy magnificence 
of the surrounding mountains, 
which were often involved in 
clouds and tempests, while we en- 
joyed the quiet and sunshine of 
the plain. The gardens are usu- 
ally embellished with buildings, 
among which the cupolas of Ma- 
hommedan tombs make a conspi- 
cuous figure. The chief objects 
of this nature are a lofty and spa- 
cious building, which ends in se- 
veral high towers, and, at a dis- 
tance, has an appearance of gran- 
deur, which I believe it does not 
preserve on anearer view: a gar- 
den house, which has once been 
splendid, erected by Ali Merdaun 
Khaun, a Persian nobleman, who 
has filled the country from Mesh- 
hed to Debli with monuments of 
his taste and magnificence ; and 
527 
some considerable tombs and re- 
ligious edifices, more remarkable 
from their effect in enlivening the 
prospect of the groves, with which 
they are surrounded, than for any 
merit of their own. 
THE MAKOOA NEGROES. 
(From Mr. Salt?s Voyage to 
Abyssinia. } 
The Makooa, or Makooana, as 
they are often called, comprise a 
people consisting of a number of 
very powerful tribes lying be- 
hind Mosambique, which extend 
northward as far as Melinda, and 
southward to the mouth of the 
river Zambezi, while hordes of the 
same nation are to be found ina 
south-west direction, perhaps al- 
most to the neighbourhood of the 
Kaffers bordering on the Cape of 
Good Hope. A late traveller in 
that settlement mentions them 
as a tribe of Kaffers, and says 
the name is derived from the 
Arabic language, signifying— 
“workers in iron.” In this he 
is surely mistaken, as the Makooa 
are negroes, which the Kaffers 
are not, and as there is no word 
in Arabic bearing such a signifi- 
cation. Still his notice of the 
name is satisfactory, as it tends to 
prove that such a people has been 
heard of by the Kaffers, which 
thus establishes the link of con- 
nection between the tribes of the 
Cape and the Mosambique. 
The Makooa are a strong ath- 
letic race of people, very formi- 
dable, and constantly in the habit 
of making incursions into the 
small tract of. territory which the 
Portuguese possess on the coast. 
