36 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER 



only 40,000 men, and that they were commanded under 

 thefe fixteen by 2712 leaders, or governors of diflricSts, all 

 which are fet down by name, we mull have a very contemp- 

 tible opinion of the extent and populoufnefs of thefe new- 

 ly-ere(R:ed kingdoms. 



It appears to me unneceflary to repeat, after my hif- 

 torian, the names of each of thefe villages, which probably 

 do not now exift, and are, perhaps, utterly unknown. I fhall 

 only obferve in paffing, that here we find Tarihis, or Tar- 

 fliifli, a kingdom on the coaft of the ocean, direftly in the 

 way to Sofala ; another ftrong prefumption that Sofala and 

 Ophir were the fame, and that this is the Tarfliilh where 

 Solomon's fleet llopt when going to Ophir, 



Amda Sign's fever hindering him to march forward, and 

 being unwilling to rifk a battle where he was not able him- 

 felf to command, he continued clofe in his ftrong camp at 

 Daffi, waiting his recovery ; but, in the mean time, he made 

 confiderable detachments on all fides to lay the country 

 waftc around him, till he Hiould be able to advance farther 

 into it^ 



Of all the royal army, as it flood upon the eftablifhment, 

 the king had only with him the troops from the provinces 

 of Amhara, Shoa, Gojam, and Damot, and thefe were what 

 compofed the rear, when the whole, called the royal army, 

 was aiTemblcd ; all his troops v/ere regularly paid, well 

 armed, and cloathed, and were not only provided with every 

 necelfary, but were become exceedingly rich, and, there- 

 fore, the more carelefs of difcipline, and difficult to manage, 

 QXi account of the repeated conquefts that had followed one 



another 



