84 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER 



men or beafts near it with great force and fiercenefs, fo that 

 I was obliged to ftab it with a bayonet. It was of a dirty 

 white ; only the head and upper part of its wings were of 

 a light brown. 



On the 22d, at eight in the morning, we left our ftation on 

 the top of Taranta, and foon after began to defcend on the 

 fide of Tigre through a road the mod broken and uneven 

 that ever I had feen, always excepting the afcent of Taran- 

 ta. After this we began to mount a fmall hill, from which 

 we had a diftinct view of Dixan.. 



The cedar-trees, fo tall and beautiful on the top of Taran-- 

 ta, and alfo on the eaft fide, were greatly degenerated when, 

 we came to the weft, and moftly turned into fmall fhrubs 

 and fcraggy bufhes. We pitched our tent near fome marfhy 

 ground for the fake of water, at three quarters paft ten, but 

 it was very bad, having been, for feveral weeks, ftagnant. 

 We faw here the people bufy at their wheat harveft ; 

 others, who had finilhed theirs, were treading it out 

 with cows or bullocks. They make no ufe of their ftraw ; 

 fometimes they burn it, and fometimes leave it on the fpot. 

 to rot. 



We fet out from this about ten minutes after three, de^ 

 fcending gently through a better road than we had hitherto 

 feen. At half pail four in the evening, on the 2 2d of No- 

 vember, we came to Dixan. Halai was the firft village, fo 

 is this the firft town in Abyflinia, on the fide of Taranta. 

 Dixan is built on the top of a hill, perfectly in form of a 

 fugar loaf ; a deep valley furrounds it everywhere like a 



trench ; 



