70 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER 



municate you, Tecla Haimanout. And he was going on, 

 when Tecla Mariam, fon of the king's feci'etary, a young 

 man, ftruck the Acab Saat fo violently on the face, that it 

 made his mouth gulh out with blood, faying, at fame time, 

 What ! fuffer this in the king's prefence ? Upon which 

 both Chremation and the Acab Saat were hurried out of 

 the tent without being fufFered to fay more ; indeed the 

 blow feemed to have fo much difconcerted Abba Salama, 

 that it deprived him for a time of the power of fpeak- 

 ing. 



In Abyflinia it is death to ftrike, or lift the hand to 

 ilrike, before the king ; but in this cafe the provocation was 

 fo great, fo fudden, and unexpected, and the youth's worth 

 and the infolence of the offender fo apparent to every body, 

 that a flight reproof was ordered to be given to Tecla Ma- 

 riam (by his father only) but he loft no favour for what he 

 had done, either with the King, Michael, or the people. 



When the two prifoners were carried before the Ras, 

 he refufed to fee them, but loaded them with irons, and 

 committed them to clofe cuftody. That night a council was 

 held in the king's tent, but it broke early up ; afterwards 

 another before the Ras, which fat much later ; the reafon 

 was, that the firft, where the king was, only arranged the 

 bulinefs of to-morrow, while that before the Ras confidered 

 all that was to be done or likely to happen at any time. 



On the 24th the drum beat, and the army v/as on their 

 march by dav-'n of day: they halted a little after palling the 

 roiigh ground, and then doubled their ranks, and formed 

 into clofe order of battle, the king leading the center; a 



few 



