36 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER 



only 40,000 men, and that they were commanded under 

 thefe fixteen by 2712 leaders, or governors of diftricts, all 

 which are fet down by name, we mufl have a very contemp- 

 tible opinion of the extent and populoufnefs of thefe new- 

 ly-erected kingdoms. 



It appears to me unnecefTary to repeat, after my hi£> 

 torian, the names of each of thefe villages, which probably 

 do not now exift, and are, perhaps, utterly unknown. I fhall 

 only obferve in paffing, that here we find Tarlhis, or Tar- 

 fhiih, a kingdom on the coaft of the ocean, directly in the 

 way to Sofala ; another ftrong prefumption that Sofala and 

 Ophir were the fame, and that this is the Tarfliiih where 

 Solomon's fleet ft opt when going to Ophir.. 



Amda Sion's fever hindering him to march forward, and 

 being unwilling to 1'ifk a battle where he was not able him- 

 felf to command, he continued clofe in his ftrong camp at 

 Dafli, waiting his recovery ; but, in the mean time, he made 

 confiderable detachments on all fides to lay the country 

 wafte around him, till he mould be able to advance farther 

 into it, 



Of all the royal army, as it flood upon the eftabliihmenr-,, 

 the king had only with him the troops from the provinces, 

 of Amhara, Shoa, Oojam, and Damot, and thefe were what 

 compofed the rear, when the whole, called the royal army, 

 was afTembled ; all his troops were regularly paid, well 

 armed, and cloathed, and were not only provided with every 

 neceifary, but were become exceedingly rich, and, there- 

 fore, the more carelefs of difcipline, and difficult to manage, 

 on account of the repeated concruefts that had followed one 



another 



