TRAVELS IN ABYSSINIA. 
59 
Cambyses, Alexander the Great, and the renown- 
ed Julius Caesar, sought eagerly, but in vain, to 
reach. The water is very clear, light, and agree- 
able to the taste ; yet these two fountains have no 
outlet in the higher part of the mountain plain, but 
only at the foot. In trying their depth, we thrust 
into the first a lance, which, going down eleven 
palms, seemed then, as it were, to strike against the 
roots of the neighbouring trees, entangled together. 
The second fountain is about a stone's cast east 
from the first ; to ascertain the depth of which 
we put down a lance of twelve palms, but found 
no bottom ; then, by joining two lances together, 
we made a depth of twenty palms, but still found 
none. The inhabitants say that the whole moun- 
tain is full of water, which they prove by this, that 
all the plain about the fountain is tremulous 
and bubbling, — a sure proof of water beneath ; 
and that, for the same cause, the water does not 
run over the sources, but throws itself out with 
greater force lower down. The inhabitants, and 
the emperor himself, affirmed, that, though the 
ground had trembled little this year, on account of 
the great dryness, yet that, in common seasons, 
it shook and bubbled to such a degree as scarcely 
to be approached without danger. About a league 
west from the source is a village, called Guix, 
(Geesh), inhabited by heathens, who sacrifice many 
cows. They come to the source on a certain day 
