34 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER 



fcafon, and, having filtered tliTov^h tlie loole earth, iias - 

 reached the fand and gravel, where it flagnates, or finds- 

 llowly its level to th»: fea. Here the king wa5 taken tlan- 

 gerouiiy ill with the fever of the K,oIia. 



The altercations hetwccn Amda Sion and his foldicrs, . 

 and the refolutions taken in confequence of . thefe, were 

 faithfully carried to the king of AdeL . The march of the 

 king forward at fuch a feafon of the year, the How pace 

 with which he advanced towards the very heart of the 

 country, the care, he took of providing all neceliaries for 

 his army, and his reinforcing it ai; fuch a feafon, all fliew- 

 ed this was no partial, fuddcn incurfion, but that it was 

 meant as a decifive blow, fatal to the independence of thefe 

 petty fovereigns and flates. To this it may be added, that 

 Gimmel-eddin, whom the king had rcieafed from prifon, 

 and fet over the Mooriih provinces of Abyflinia, conveyed to 

 them, in the mod diredl manner, that fuch were the king's , 

 purpofes. He told them, moreover, this march into their 

 country was not either to increafe their tribute, or for the 

 fake of plunder, or to force them to be his fubjecls ; that 

 Amda Sion's main defign was againft their rehgion, which 

 he and his foldiers had vowed they were to deftroy ; that 

 it was not their time to think of peace or tribute upon any 

 terms ; for, were they even to fell their wives and children, . 

 the price would not be accepted, unlefs they forfook the 

 religion of their fathers, and embraced Chriftianity. He 

 further added, that his refolution was already taken, that he • 

 would die firm in the faith, a good Mahometan, as he had 

 lived ; not tamely, however, but in the middle of his ene- 

 mies ; and that he was now making every fort of prepara- 

 tion to refift to the latefl breath. 



No 



