590 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER 



upon almoil every elephant and rhinoceros that I have feen, 

 and attribute them to this caufe. 



All the inhabitants of the fea-coaft of Melinda, down to 

 Cape Gardefan, to Saba, and the fouth coaft of the Red Sea, 

 are obliged to put themfelves in motion, and remove to the 

 next fand in the beginning of the rainy feafon, to prevent all 

 theirftockof cattle from beingdeftroyed. This is notapartial e- 

 migration ; the inhabitants of all the countries from the 

 mountains of Abyffinia northward, to the confluence of the 

 Nile and Aftaboras, are oncea-year obliged to change their a- 

 bode, and feek protection inthe fands of Beja ; nor is there any 

 alternative, or means of avoiding this, though a hoftile band 

 Was in their way, capable of fpoiving them of half their 

 fubftance ; and this is now actually the cafe, as we mail fee 

 when we come to fpeak of Sennaar. 



Of all thofe that have written upon thefe countries, the 

 prophet Ifaiah alone has given an account of this animal, 

 and the manner of its operation. Ifa. vii. ch. 18. and 19. ver. 

 " And it fhall come to pafs, in that day, that the Lord mall 

 " hlfs for the fly that is in the uttermofl part of the rivers of 

 " Egypt," — " And they fhall come, and fhall reft all of them 

 " in the defolate vallies *, and in the holes of the rocks, and 

 " upon all thorns, and upon all buflies." 



The mountains that I have already fpoken of, as running 

 through the country of the Shepherds, divide the feafons 



by 



* That is, they fhall cut off from the cattle their ufual retreat to the defert, by taking poffeffion 

 •f thofe places, and meeting them there where ordinarily they never come, and which therefore 

 re the refuge of the cattle. 



