2^6 TRAVELS TO DISCOVEPv ^ 



The entry is from tlie foutli fide of ir, very crooked and diiti- 

 cult, half way up the rock. On the caft, is a very plenrifal 

 fpring, which furniihes the houfe with excellent vafer. 

 ^Yet, after all, this houfe, though inacceffible, is not defen- 

 fiblc, and affords very little fafety to its maftcc ; for the 

 Shangalla, with flax, or any thing combuftible, tied to the 

 point of their arrows, would eafily fet it on fire if they once 

 approached it; and the Abyflinians with guns could as 

 ealily deilroy it, as, on fuch occafions, they wrap their 

 balls in cotton wads. The in fide of the ftate-rooms were 

 hung with long ilripcs of carpeting, and the floors covered 

 with the fame. 



There is great plenty of game of every fort about Tcher- 

 kin ; elephants, rhinocerofes, and a great number of buf- 

 faloes, which differ nothing in form from the buffaloes of 

 Europe or of Egypt, but very much in temper and difpofi- 

 ■ tion. They are fierce, rafh, and fearlefs of danger ; and 

 contrary to the pra(5tice of any other creature not carnivo- 

 rous, they attack the traveller and the hunter equally, and 

 it requires addrefs to efcape from them. They feem to be, 

 of all others, the creature the mod giren to eafe and indul- 

 gence. They lie under the moil fhady trees, near large 

 pools of water, of which they make conftant ufe, and fleep 

 foundly all the day long. The flefli of the female is very 

 good when fat, but that of the male, hard, lean, and dif- 

 agreeable. Their horns are ufed in various manners by 

 the turners, in which craft the Abyflinians are very expert. 

 In the woods there are many civet cats, but they know not 

 .the ufe of them, nor how to extraft the civet. The Maho- 

 metans only are poffelled of this art. 



5 



Thougk 



