572 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER 



when he fpied occafion, he came fuddenly down and" fur- 

 prifed the enemy below. Among all the rude^ high, a«id 

 tremendous mountains of which this country confift*,. 

 there is one efpecially, called by the name of Lajia. It is in 

 the territory of Waag, ftrongly furround'ed with inaccelTible 

 precipices, having a large plain on the top, abounding with 

 every thing neceiTary, and- watered by a fine ftream that 

 never fails. 



The manner in which the Agows remained fecure in 

 this Ilrong poft was mifconih'ued into fear by the king's ar- 

 my, which, in two divifions, advanced to the attack of the 

 mountaiHi That on the right had with fomc difficulty 

 fcrambled up without oppofition ; but, being now arrived to 

 the ileep part of the rock, fuch a number of large ftones 

 was rolled down upon them fi-om above, that this divifion 

 of the army was entirely delh'oyed. The number of ftones 

 on the brink of the precipices was inexhauflible ; and, once 

 put in motion, purfued the fcattered troops with unavoidable 

 fpccd, even down to the plains below. Among the flain was 

 Guebra Chriftos, the king's fon-in-law, dafhed to pieces by 

 the fragment of a rock. The left divifion was upon the 

 point of fufiering the fame misfortune, had not Keba Chri- 

 ftos come to their relief and drawn them olf, juft before the 

 enemy had begun to difchargc this irrefiHible artillery a- 

 gainft them. 



The king, thus fliamefully beaten, retired to Dancaz, X^'sy 

 ving the entrances from Laita ftrongly defended, left thefe 

 mountaineers fhould, by way of retaliation, fall upon the 

 province of Begemder. But the late ill-fortune had difpi- 

 rited the troops, and caufed an indifference about duty, a 



want 



