68 MEMOIR OF BRUCE. 



more, near the dangerous ford which he had formerly 

 passed with so much difficulty with the king's army. 

 On the bank they found some of the Galla tribe, 

 whose chief was called Jumper, to whom Bruce 

 paid his respects. He found him at his toilette, 

 after the fashion of his country; that is, he was 

 rubbing melted tallow on his arms and body, and 

 plaiting his hair with the large and small entrails 

 of an ox, some of which hung like a necklace 

 round his throat. Our traveller made his visit as 

 short as possible, glad to escape the perfume of filth 

 and carrion, which was far from being agreeable. 

 These savages offered no injury to the strangers, 

 but they paid the utmost deference to Fasil's horse, 

 which the owner told Bruce, when he made him a 

 present of it, would be a sufficient passport through 

 the country. 



Farther into the interior, and beyond the Assar 

 river, the soil was extremely rich, and bore wild 

 oats of a prodigious height and size. The trees 

 were covered with flowers of every colour, and 

 crowded with birds of uncouth forms, all of them 

 richly adorned with every variety of plumage ; few 

 of them, however, were musical, their notes re- 

 sembling the squalling noise of the jay. 



It was on the 2d of November that Bruce, for 

 the first time, obtained a distinct view of the moun- 

 tains of Geesh, the long wished-for object of his 

 most dangerous and troublesome journey ; and being 

 now within sight of his goal, he proceeded with 

 redoubled alacrity. The Nile was before him, and 



