550 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER 



deed, a little in the particular fituation he gives to the dif- 

 ferent nations. His Rhizophagi, Elephantophagi, Acrido- 

 phagi, Struthiophagi, and Agriophagi, are all the clans I 

 have juft defcribcd, exifling under the fame habits to this 

 day. 



This foil, called by the Abyflinians Maviaga^ when wet by 

 the tropical rains, and diflblving' into mire, forces thefe fa- 

 vages to feek for winter-quarters. Their tents under the 

 trees being no longer tenable, they retire with their refpec- 

 tive foods, all dried in the fun, into caves dug into the heart 

 of the mountains, which are not in this country bafakes, 

 marble, or alabaftcr, as is all that ridge which runs down 

 into Egypt along the fide of the Red Sea, but are of a foft, 

 gritty, fandy Hone, eafdy excavated and formed into differ- 

 ent apartments. Into thefe, made generally in the fteepeft 

 part of the mountain, do thefe favagcs retire to fliun the 

 rains, living upon the flefh they have already prepared in 

 the fair weather. 



I CANNOT give over the account of ihc Shangalla with- 

 out delivering them again out of their caves, bccaufe this 

 return includes the hiflory of an operation never heard of 

 perhaps in Europe, and by which confiderable light is 

 thrown upon ancient hiftory. No fooner does the fun pafs 

 the zenith, going fouthward, than the rains inftantly ceafe ; 

 and the thick canopy of clouds, which had obfcured the 

 fky during their continuance, being removed, the fun ap- 

 pears in a beautiful fky of pale blue, dappled with fmall 

 thin clouds, which foon after difappear, and leave the 

 heavens of a moil beautiful azure. A very few days of the 

 intcnfc heat then dries the ground fo pcrfcdly, that it gapes 

 4 in 



