743 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER 



then perform their facred ceremonies, to which none but 

 the heads of families in the. Agows country are ever ad-* 

 mitted. 



When I fhewed'our landlord, Kefla Abay, the dog-ftan 

 (Syrms) he knew it perfectly, faying it was Seir, it was the 

 liar of the river, the mefTenger or flar of the convocation of 

 the tribes, or of the feaft ;. but I could not obferve he ever 

 prayed to it, or looked at it otherwife than one does to a 

 dial, nor mentioned it with the refpect he did the Abay ; 

 nor did he mew any fort of attention to the planets, or to 

 any other ilar whatever. 



On the 9th of November, having finifhed my memoran- 

 dum relating, to thefe remarkable places, I traced again on 

 foot the whole courfe of this river from its fource to the 

 plain of Goutto. I was unattended by any one, having with 

 me only two hunting dogs, and my gun in my hand. . The 

 quantity of game of all forts, efpecially the deer kind, was, 

 indeed, furprifing ; , but though I was, as ufual, a very fuc-- 

 cefsful fportfman, I was obliged, for want of help, to leave 

 each deer where he fell. They fleep in the wild oats, and 

 do not rife till you are about to tread upon them, and then 

 flare at you for half a minute before they attempt to run off- 



The only mention I fhall make of the natural produc- 

 tions of this place comes the more properly in here, as it 

 relates to my account of the religion of this people. In the 

 "writings of the Jefuits, the Agows are faid to worfhip canes*; 



but 



•-See a very remarkable letter of Ras Sela Chriftos to the emperor Socinios, in Balthazar 

 Tellez, torn. 2. p. 496, 



