THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 62-31 



These houfes are compofed of the frail materials of the 

 country, wood and clay, thatched with draw, though, in the 

 infide, they are all magnificently lined, or furnifhed. They 

 have like wife magnificent names, which we have mention- 

 ed already. Thefe people, barbarous as they are, have al- 

 ways had a great tafte for magnificence and expence. All 

 around them was filver, gold, and brocade, before the 

 Adelan war, in which they loft the commerce of that coun- 

 try, by lofmg their connection with India. 



The next night the foldiers of Elias made their lodg- 

 ments fo near the walls, that, with fiery arrows,, they fet one 

 of thefe houfes, called " Werk Sacala," within the fquare,. 

 in flames ; but Welled de l'Oul, with the Toluma Galla, 

 fallying at that inflant, furprifed Elias's foldiers, not expect- 

 ing fuch interruption, and put the greateft part of them to 

 the fword, fetting on fire the houfes that were near the pa- 

 lace, till part was entirely burnt to the ground. The next 

 night, an attempt was made upon the gate to blow it up 

 with gunpowder ; but, before it was completed, the two 

 rebels employed in the work were mot dead from the wall 3 

 and their train mifcarriecL 



On the 25th of December they burned a new houfe in 

 the town built by the king, called Riggobee Bet. Thefe fre- 

 quent fires had turned the minds of people in general very 

 much againfl Hezekias the rebel. The night after, there 

 was another great fire in the king's houfe ; ZefFan Bet, and 

 another large building, were deftroyed by the rebels, as was 

 the church of St Raphael. Gondar looked like a town that 

 had been taken by an enemy, and battles were every day 

 fought in the ureas, with no decifive advantage to either 



% party.. 



