14 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER 



Again, when it is faid that the king had marched to 

 Samhar, it is meant that he had paffed this fruitful coun- 

 try, and is come to that part of the zone, or bek, (neareft the 

 fea) compofed of gravel ; which, though it enjoys neither 

 the water nor the fruitf ulnefs of the black earth, is in a great 

 meafure free from its attendant difeafcs, and here the cities 

 and towns are placed, while the crop, oxen, and cattle, are 

 in the cultivated part near the mountains, which in the 

 language of the country is called Mazaga, fignifying black 

 mould. 



Lastly, when he hears the army murmuring at being 

 kept during the rainy feafon in the KoUa below, he is to 

 remember, that all was cool, pleafant, and fafe in Upper A- 

 byflinia. The foldiers, therefore, languiilied for the enjoy- 

 ment of their own families, without any other occupation 

 but merriment, feftivity, and every fpecies of gratification 

 that wine, and the free and uncontrouled fociety of the fe- 

 male-fex, could produce. 



Having now fufficiently explained and defcribed the 

 various names and inhabitants, the fituation, foil, and cU- 

 mate of thofe provinces about to be the theatre of the war, 

 I Ihall proceed to declare the occafion of it, which was no- 

 thing more than tlie fruit of thofe prejudices which, I 

 have already faid, the loofe behaviour of the king in the 

 beginning of his reign had produced among his neigh- 

 bours, and the calamities which had enfeebled the king- 

 dom in the preceding reigns. 



It happened that one of thofe Moorifli factors, whom I 



have already defcribed, having in charge the commercial 



I interells 



