146 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER 
Turs was the firft battle of Serbraxos, which, though it 
contained nothing decifive, had ftill two very material con- 
fequences, as it fo daunted the fpirits of the Begemder horfe, 
that many chiefs of that country withdrew their troops, ané 
went home, whilft fuch difcord was fown among the lead- 
ers, that I beheve they never fincerely trufted one another 
afterwards ; Gufho and Ayabdar, in particular, were known 
to coure(pond with ane king daily. 
On the morrow after the battle, three meflengers arrived: 
from Gutho, Powuffen, and Ayabdar, and each had a fepa- 
rate audience of the King and Ras, before whom they al£ 
three feverally declared, that their mafters defired to conti- 
nue in allegiance to him their king, Tecla Haimanout, but 
under this condition only, that Ras Michael fhould be fent 
to his government of Tigré, never more to return. They 
endeavoured to perfuade the king alfo to take the fenfe of 
his army, the majority of which, they afferted, were ready to: 
abandon him. If Michael fhould agree to return to Tigré, 
they offered to carry the king to Gondar, place him in his 
palace, and allow him to choofe his own minifters, and go- 
vern for the future after his own ideas. This, indeed, was — 
the univerfal wifh,and I did not fee what Ras Michael could 
have done, had he adopted it; but fear, or gratitude, or both, 
reftrained the young king from fuch a meafure; and the 
meflengers left him after a plain declaration, That they had 
endeavoured all in their power to fave him, and he muft 
now abide the confequences, for they wafhed their hands: 
of them. 
Tue rains were now become more frequent, and an epi- 
demical fever had {hewn itfelf in the rebel army on the 
1 plain ; 
