THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 481 
ed by black flaves, armed with coats of mail, and without 
any other weapon but a broad Sclavonian fword. Thefe I 
fuppofe, by the weight and power of man and horfe, would 
bear down, or break through double the number of any 
other troops in the world: nobody, that has not feen this 
cavalry, can have any idea to what perfection the horfe rifes 
here. The Mek has not one mufket in his whole army, 
Befides thefe horfe, there is a great, but uncertain number of 
Arabs, who pay their tribute immediately to the Mek and 
to the great men in government, and live under their pro- 
tection clofe by the town,and thereby have the advantage 
of trading with it, of fupplying it with provifions, and, no 
doubt, muft contribute in part to its flrength and defence 
in time of need, ; 
Arter what I have faid of the latitude of Sennaar, it will 
{carcely be neceffary to repeat that the heats are exceflive. 
The thermometer rifes in the fhade to 119°, but as I have 
obferved of the heats of Arabia, fo now I do in refpec to 
thofe of Sennaar. The degree of the thermometer does not 
convey any idea of the effect the fun has upon the fenfa- 
tions of the body or the colour of the {kin. Nations of blacks 
live within lat. 13° and 14°, when ro° fouth of them, nearly 
under the Line, all the people are white, as we had an op- 
portunity of feeing daily in the Galla, whom we have de- 
fcribed. Sennaar, which is in lat 13°, 1s hotter, by the ther- 
mometer, 50 degrees, when the fun is moft diftant from it, 
than Gondar is, though a degree farther fouth, when the 
fun is vertical. | 
Cotp and hot are terms merely relative, not determined by 
the latitude, but elevation of the place ; when, therefore, we 
Vor. IV. ee fay 
