1 C Z 
TRAVELS IN ABYSSINIA. 
as soon as the intelligence could be conveyed, the 
whole body, it is asserted, put themselves in mo- 
tion, some flying before, and some after the mis- 
sionaries. A violent thunder storm, which soon 
after arose, was doubtless more efficacious, and the 
dead locusts were soon after seen piled up in heaps 
along the banks of the rivers. 
The party, in a short time, arrived at Caxumo, 
(Axum.) They describe particularly its antiquity, 
its church, obelisk, and other ruins. Nothing of con- 
sequence thence occurs, till they arrived at the king- 
dom of Angot. This region is described as ex- 
tremely fertile, being watered by streams almost 
innumerable, which maintain perpetual verdure. 
Seed-time and harvest continue together without 
intermission during the whole year. The people, 
however, are harassed by the vicinity of the Dobas, 
a Moorish tribe, who hold it unlawful for any man 
to marry till he has put twelve Christians to death. 
The travellers were here astonished by seeing 
churches, often of great extent, cut out of the 
solid rock. In one of them, called St Saviour, the 
body of the church is 200 palms long, and 120 
broad, with five aisles, an extensive open circuit and 
entrance, all excavated in this manner. Alvarez 
thinks it necessary here to say : " I take God to 
" witness, in whose hands I am, that all which I 
" have written is most true." He adds, " that 
" he went to see them twice, so great was his de- 
