a26 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER 



young in court, when their fathers fled, after the murder 

 of the late king their mafter, were better Chriflians and 

 better foldiers than any Abyffinians we had. 



It is not a matter of fniall curiofity to know v/hat is their 

 food, that is fo eafy of carriage as to enable them to traverfe 

 immenfe deferts, that they may, without warning, fall up- 

 on the towns and villages in the cultivated country of Abyf- 

 fmia. This is nothing but coffee roailed, till it can be puU 

 verifed, and then mixed with butter to a confiilency that 

 will fuffer it to be rolled up in balls, and put in a leather 

 bag. A ball of this compofition, between the circumfer- 

 ence of a fhilling and half-a-crown, about the fize of a. 

 billiard-ball, keeps them, they fay, in ftrength and fpirits^ 

 during a whole day's fatigue, better than a loaf of bread, or 

 a meal of meat. Its name in Arabia and Abyffinia is Bun„ 

 but I apprehend its true name is Caffe, from CafFa the fouth 

 province of Narea, whence it is firft faid to liave come ; it i&, 

 white in the bean. The coffee-tree is the wood of the 

 country, produced fpontaneouily everywhere in great a-- 

 bundance, from Caffa to the banks of the Nile. 



Thus much for this remarkable nation, whofe language 

 is perfectly different from any in Abyffmia, and is the fame 

 throughout all the tribes, with very httle variation of dia- 

 led:. This is a nation that has conquered fome of the fineft 

 provinces of Abyffmia, and of whofe inroads we fliall here« 

 after have occakon to fpeak continually ; and it is very dif- 

 ficult to fay how far they might not have accompliflied rhe 

 conqueft of the whole, had not providence interpofed in a 

 jnanner little expe^ed, but more efficacious than a thoufand 



armies, and all the inventions of man.. 



Ths 



