216 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER 



ftructive of civil order and monarchical government. At 

 this period the Galla again made an irruption into Gojam. 



It* is now time we fliould fpeak of this nation, which has 

 contributed more to weakening and reducing the Abyf- 

 iinian empire, than all their civil wars, and all the foreign 

 enemies put together. When I fpoke of the languages of 

 the feveral nations in Abymnia, I took occafion merely to 

 mention the origin of thefe Galla, and their progrefs north- 

 ward, till their nrft hoftile appearance in Abymnia. I mail 

 now proceed to lay before the reader what further I have 

 collected concerning them. Many of them were in the 

 king's fervice while I was in Abymnia ; and, from a mul- 

 titude^ of converfations I had with all kinds of them, I flat- 

 ter myfelf I have gathered the bell accounts regarding thefe 

 tribes. 



The Galla are a very numerous nation of Shepherds, who 

 probably lived under or beyond the Line. What the caufe 

 of their emigration was we do not pretend to fay with cer- 

 tainty, but they have, for many years, been in an uniform 

 progrefs northward. They were at nrft all infantry, and faid 

 the country they came from would not permit horfes to 

 breed in it, as is the cafe in if north of the Line round 

 Sennaar. Upon coming northward, and conquering the 

 Abymnian provinces, and the fmall Mahometan diftricts 

 bordering on them, they have acquired a breed of horfes, 

 which they have multiplied fo induftrioufly that they are 

 become a nation of cavalry, and now hold their infantry in 

 very little efteern, 



As 



