ii6 TRAVELS TO DISCOVEU 



ftructive of civil order and monarchical government. At 

 this period the Galla again made an irruption into Gojam. 



It is now time we fliould fpeak of this nation, which has 

 contributed more to weakening and reducing the Abyf- 

 fmian empire, than all their civil wars, and all the foreign 

 enemies put together. When I fpoke of the languages of 

 the feveral nations in Abyffinia, I took occafion merely to 

 miention the origin of thefe Galla, and their progrefs north- 

 ward, till their firft hoflile appearance in Abyflinia. I fhall 

 now proceed to lay before the reader what further I have 

 colledled concerning them. Many of tiiem were in the 

 king's fervice while I was in Abyffinia ; and, from a mul- 

 titude of converfations I had with all kinds of tht m, I flat- 

 ter myfclf I have gathered the beil accounts regarding thefe 

 tribes. 



The Galla are a very numerous nation of Shepherds, who 

 probably lived under or beyond the Line. What the caufe 

 of their emigration was we do not pretend to fay with cer- 

 tainty, but they have, for many years, been in an uniform 

 progrefs northward. They were at firft all infantry, and faid 

 -the country they came from would not permit horfes to 

 breed in it, as is the cafe in 13° north of the Line round 

 Sennaar. Upon coming northward, and conquering the 

 Abyfhnian provinces, and the fmall R^ahometan diflritfls 

 bordering on them, they have acquired a breed of horfes/ 

 which they have multiplied fo induftrioufly that they are 

 become a nation of cavalry, and now hold their infantry in 

 very little efteem. 



As 



