j^4 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER 



knowing how to build fuch cities as Axum. I wonder a 

 man's underftanding does not revolt againft fuch abfurdi- 

 ties in the moment he is ftating them. 



The AbyfTmians, while at war, ufe tents and encamp- 

 ments, to fecure the liberty of movements and changing of 

 ground, and defend therafelves, when ftationary, from the 

 inclemency of the weather. But no tent has, I believe, yet 

 been invented that could ftand in the fields in that coun- 

 try from June to September ; and they have not yet form- 

 ed an idea of Abyffinia who can fuppofe this. 



I CONCEIVE it is ignorance of the language which has led 

 thefe learned men into this miftake. The Abyflinians call 

 a houfc, Handing by itfelf, allotted to any particular pur- 

 pofe. Bet. So Bet Negus is a palace, or the houfe of a king; 

 Bet Chriilian is a church, or a houfe forChriftian worfliip ; 

 whilft Bet Mocha is a prifon, or houfe under ground. But 

 houfes in towns or villages are called Taintes, from the 

 Abylllnian word Tain, to lleep, lie down, reft, or repofe. I 

 fuppofe the fimilitude of this word to tents has drawn thefe 

 learned critics to believe, that, inftead of towns, thefe were 

 only colle6lions of tents. But ftill I think, no one acquaint- 

 ed whh the Abyflinian language, or without being fo, would 

 be fo void of underftanding as to believe, a people that had 

 built Axum of ftone, fliould endure, for ages after, a tropi- 

 cal winter in bare tents. 



The fifth thing that fixes falfehood upon Poncct is, that 

 lie defcribes delicious valleys beyond European ideas ; beau- 

 tiful plains, covered with odoriferous trees and llirubs, to 

 be everywhere in his way on the entrance of Abyffinia ; 

 J whereas. 



