THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 481 



ed by black Haves, armed with coats of mail, and without 

 any other weapon but a broad Sclavonian fword. Thefe I 

 fuppofe, by the weight and power of man and horfe, would 

 bear down, or break through double the number of any 

 other troops in the world : nobody, that has not feen this 

 cavalry, can have any idea to what perfedion the horfe rifes 

 here. The Mek has not one mufket in his whole army. 

 Befides thefe horfe, there is a great, but uncertain number of 

 Arabs, who pay their tribute immediately to the Mek and 

 to the great men in government, and live under their pro- 

 tection clofe by the town, and thereby have the advantage 

 of trading with it, of fuppiying it with provifions, and, no 

 doubt, mull contribute in part to its ftrength and defence 

 in time of need. 



After what I have faid of the latitude of Sennaar, it will 

 fcarcely be necelTary to repeat that the heats are exceflive. 

 The thermometer rifes in the fliade to 1 1 9% but as I have 

 obferved of the heats of Arabia, fo now I do in refpe(5t to 

 thofe of Sennaar. The degree of the thermometer does not 

 convey any idea of the efFe6t the fun has upon the fenfa- 

 tions of the body or the colour of the fkin. Nations of blacks 

 live within lat. 13° and 14°, when lo* fouth of them, nearly 

 tinder the Line, all the people are white, as we had an op- 

 portunity of feeing daily in the Galla, whom we have de- 

 fcribed. Sennaai% which is in lat 13°, is hotter, by the ther- 

 mometer, 50 degrees, when the fun is mod diftant from it, 

 than Gondar is, though a degree farther fouth, when the 

 fun is vertical. 



Cold and hot are terms merely relative, not determined by 



the latitude, but elevation of the place ; when, therefore, we 



Vol. IV. 3 P fay 



