2 4 2 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER 



mufkets, cattle, and horfes. All the town, that wi^ed to be 

 well-looked upon by either party, brought fomethimr con- 

 siderable as a prefcnt. The Ras, Ozoro Efther, and Ozoro 

 Altafh, entertained all Gondar. A vaft number of cattle was 

 Slaughtered every day, and the whole town looked like one 

 great market ; the common people, in every Slreet, appear- 

 ing loaded with pieces of raw beef, while drink circulated 

 in the fame proportion. The Ras infilled upon my dining 

 with him every day, when he was fure to give me a head- 

 ach with the quantity of mead, or hydromel, he forced me- 

 to fwallow, a liquor that never agreed with me from the 

 firfl day to die lail. 



After dinner we flipt away to parties of ladies, where- 

 anarchy prevailed as complete as at the houfe of the Ras.. 

 Ail the married women ate, drank, and fmoaked like the 

 men ; and it is impoiTible to convey to the reader any ide»- 

 of this bacchanalian fcene in terms of common decency. 

 I found it neceffary to quit this riot for a Short time, and 

 get leave to breathe the frefh air of the country, at fuch a 

 diflance as that, once a day, or once in two days, I might be 

 at the palace, and avoid the conftant fucceffion of thofe vio-- 

 lent fcenes of debauchery of which no European can form, 

 any idea, and which it was impomble to eicape, even at. 

 Koicam. 



Although the king's favour, the protection of the Ras, 

 and my obliging, attentive, and lowly behaviour to every 

 body, had made me as popular as 1 could wiih at Gondar, 

 and among the Tigrans fully as much as thofe of Amhara, 

 yet it was eafy to perceive, that the cauie of my quarrel 

 with Guebra Mafcal was not yet forgot, 



Ons 



