m6 travels TO DISCOVER 



fore four, pafTecl the village of that name, leaving it to the- 

 S. E. and began the moll rugged and" dangerous defcent we 

 had mec with fmceTaranta. 



At half part five in the evening we pitched our tent at 

 the foot of the hill, cloie by a fmall, but rapid and clear 

 ftream, which is called Ribieraini. . This name was given 

 it by the banditti of the villages before mentioned, becaufe 

 from this you fee two roads ; one leading from Gondar, that 

 is, from the weltward ; the other from the Red Sea to the 

 eaftward. One of the gang that ufed to be upon the out- 

 look from this ftation, as foon as any caravan came in fighr, 

 cried out, Ribieraini, which in Tigre fignifies they are coming 

 this way, upon which notice every one took his lance and 

 fhield, and flationed himfelf properly to fall with advan- 

 tage upon the unwary merchant; and it was a current report, 

 which his prefent greatnefs could not ftifle, that, in his 

 younger days, Ras Michael himfelf frequently was on thefe 

 expeditions at this place. On our right was the high, fteepj 

 and rugged mountain of Samayat, which the iame Mi- 

 chael, being in rebellion, chofe for his place of ftrength, 

 and was there befieged and taken prifoner by the late king 

 Yafous. 



The rivulet of Ribieraini is the fource of the fertility of 

 the country adjoining, as it is made to overflow every part 

 of this plain, and furnifhes a perpetual fiore of grafs, which 

 is the reafon of the caravans chufing to flop here. Two or 

 three harvefls are alfo obtained by means of this river ; for, 

 provided, there is water, theyfowin Abyffinia in all feafons. 

 We perceived that we were now approaching fome confider- 

 able town, by the great care with which every fmall piece of 



ground, , 



