354 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER 
morning lafts. The fame is obferved at night, and Mefet 
is meant to fignify the inftant of beginning the twilight, 
between the fun’s falling below the horizon and the flars 
appearing. Mid-day is by them called Kater, a very old word, 
which fignifies culmination, or a thing’s being arrived or pla- 
ced at the middle or higheft part of an arch. All the reft 
of times, in converfation, they defcribe by pointing at the 
place in the heavens where the fun then was, when what 
they are deicribing happened. 
I suatt conclude what further I have to fay on this 
fubje&, by obferving, that nothing can be more inaccurate 
than all Abyfflinian calculations. Beiides their abfolute ig- 
norance in arithmetic, their exceflive idlenefs and averfion 
to ftudy, and a number of fanciful, whimfical combina- 
tions, by which every particular fcribe or monk diftinguithes 
himfelf, there are obvious reafons why there fhould be a 
variation between their chronology and ours. I have al- 
ready obferved, that the beginning of our years are differ- 
ent; cours begin on the 1ft of January, and theirs on 
the 1ft day of September, fo that there are 8 months dif- 
ference between us. The laf day of Auguft may be the 
year ‘780 with us, and 1779 only with the Abyffinians. And 
in the reign of their kings they very feldom mention either 
month or day beyond an even number of years. Suppo- 
fing, then, it is known that the reign of ten kings extended 
from fuch to fuch a period, where all the months and days 
are comprehended, when we come to aflign to each of 
thefe an equal number of years, without the correfpondent 
months and days, it is plain that, when al! thefe feparare 
reigns come to be added together, the one fum-total will 
not agree with the orher, but will be more or lefs than the 
4 juft 
