60 GOLD IN 



CHAP. II. 



quite close to it *. The people of Barbaria, in 

 the neighbouring country of Sasu, fetch the 

 incense and other valuable spices, which they 

 convey by water to India and to Arabia. The 

 country of Sasu is verj rich in gold mines, and 

 the kings of Axum 2 send people there every 

 year for the sake of the trade in gold. Others 

 who are merchants join them, and thus a cara- 

 van is formed of more than 500 persons. They 

 carry witli them oxen, and salt, and iron. As 

 soon as they reach the boundary they fix on an 

 encampment, which they surround with a thorn 

 hedge 3 . Within this enclosure the cattle are 

 slaughtered and cut up, and the pieces of meat, 

 as well as the salt and the iron, are laid upon the 

 fence. The people of the country come and 

 place on the wares one or more pieces of gold, 

 and wait outside till the bargain is concluded. 

 The owners of the wares, if they are satisfied, 

 take the gold, and the others their articles. If 

 the gold is not thought sufficient, those without 

 either add more to it or take away what they 

 have offered. This traffic is generally continued 

 during five days, or till the whole of the wares 



1 This is probably the country noticed in Salt's map of 

 Abyssinia as the land of the Somaulis. 



2 Axum was at that period the capital of Abyssinia. 



3 We may conclude these were the kantuffa-trees, noticed 

 by Salt and by Bruce, which seem peculiarly appropriate for 

 the purpose of such fortification. 



