

MEMOIR ofr BRUCE. 



and surrounded with a stone wall thirty feet high, 

 and hroad enough at the top for a parapet and a 

 path. The whole population of the town was at 

 that time estimated at ahout ten thousand families; 

 On the opposite side of the river Angrah was a 

 large suhurb consisting of about a thousand houses^ 

 occupied by the Moors or Mahometans. 



On reaching the capital, Bruce found that the 

 king and Ras Michael, as well as the principal 

 Greeks, to all of whom he had brought letters of 

 introduction, were not then returned from their mili- 

 tary expedition. In this dilemma, and knowing 

 nobody to whom he could address himself, a Moor 

 intimately acquainted with their chief, to whom he 

 had brought a letter from his friend Janni, con- 

 ducted him to a house in the Moorish town, sup- 

 plied him with food, and promised to screen him 

 from danger until he could procure protection from 

 the government. Here he was soon discovered by 

 Ayto Aylo, the queen's chamberlain, who had 

 already heard of his renown as a physician. This 

 functionary told Bruce that Welled Hawaryat, son 

 of Ras Michael, had arrived from the camp, ill of a 

 fever which was supposed to be the small-pox, and 

 that the Iteghe, or queen-mother, had sent to request 

 his attendance at her palace at Koscam, to consult 

 about the patient. 



In obedience to the royal mandate, he repaired to 

 her majesty's residence; but the sick youth had 

 received so much benefit from a charmed potion 

 administered by a saint, consisting of certain mystic 



