452 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER 



was the firfl who began the attack, and was in great dan- 

 ger, as Mazmur, captain of his guard, was killed by a lance 

 at his fide. But the foldiers rufhing in upon fight of the 

 king's fituation, who had already flain two with his own 

 hand, the village was carried, and the inhabitants put to 

 the fword, refufmg all to fly, and fighting obftinately to the 

 laft gafp. 



From Kunya the king proceeded rapidly to Tzaada Am- 

 ba*, the largeft and moll powerful fettlement of thefe fava*. 

 ges. They have no water but what they get from the river 

 Mareb, which, as I have elfewhere obferved, rifes above 

 Dobarwa, and, after making the circle of that town, lofes 

 itfelf foon after in the fand for a fpace, then appears again, 

 and, after a fhort courfe, hides itfelf a fecond time to the 

 N. E. near the Taka, whofe wells it fupplies with frefh wa- 

 ter. But in the rainy months it runs with a full ftream, in 

 a wide and deep bed, and unites itfelf to the Tacazze, with 

 it making the northmofl point of the ancient ifland of Me-v 

 roe, 



The king met the fame fuccefs at Tzaada Amba that hfr 

 had before experienced at Kunya, at which laft village he 

 paired the feaft of the epiphany and benediction of the wa- 

 ters ; a ceremony annually obferved both by the Greek and 

 Abyffinian church, the intent of which has been ftrangely 

 miflaken by foreigners.. 



From: 



* The white mountain. 



