THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 341 



on horfeback, clad in coats of mail. Very different was the 

 army of Damots. They were fuperior in number for they 

 exceeded r2ooo men, and among thefe were 400 monks, well 

 armed with fwords, lances, and fhields, earneftly bent upon 

 the obtaining a crown of martyrdom in defence of their re- 

 ligion, from the innovation propofed by Socinios. At the 

 head of thefe was a fanatical monk (one Batacu) who pro- 

 mifed them armies of angels, with flaming fwords, who 

 fhould flay their enemies, but render them invulnerable, 

 as he declared himfelf to be, either by fword or lance. 



The battle was fought at the foot of the mountains of 

 Amid Amid, on the 6th of October 1620. Sela Chriftos, 

 fure of victory, and unwilling to flaughter a people he had 

 been ufed to protect, began firft to- mew his fuperiority in 

 flight fkirmifhes. After which, defiring a parley, he fent 

 meflengers to them, begging them to conflder their own- 

 danger, and offering them a general amnefty upon their 

 fubmiflion. Thefe meflengers were not allowed to approach, 

 for fhowers of arrows that were poured upon them ; fo the' 

 battle began with great animofity on both fides. The Da- 

 mots were, foon broken and put to flight by the fuperiority 

 of Sela Chriftos's foldiers. But the 400 monks, already men- 

 tioned, fought molt defperately in defiance of numbers, nor 

 did they feek their fafety by a flight. One hundred and 

 eighty of them were killed on the place they occupied, vali- 

 antly fighting to the very laft. A rare example, and feldom 

 found in hiflory, that fanatics like thefe, always ready to 

 rebel, fhould perfifl and facrifice their lives to the follies of 

 their own preaching. 



