40 
TRAVELS IN ABYSSINIA; 
of the year, with a sacrifieer, whom they account 
a priest, who sacrifices a cow at the fountain ; - 
and, having cut off the head, throws it into the abyss 
with a variety of ceremonies, which make him pass 
for a great saint among these people.'* 
Payz then relates the early course of the Nile, 
—the tributaries which it receives, — its crossing 
the Dembea, with a visible separation of waters, — 
the tremendous cataract of Alata, — and then the 
semicircular course round Begemder, Shoa, Am- 
hara, and Damot, till it approaches within a day's 
journey of its sources. The regions which it next 
watered were barbarous and almost unknown, so that 
by an Abyssinian prince, who had lately marched 
an army into them, they were called the " New 
" World." Passing then " through innumerable re- 
" gions, and over stupendous precipices," it enters 
Egypt. 
Amid the prosperous state into which Payz had 
brought the Portuguese affairs in Abyssinia, con- 
siderable difficulty occurred in communicating 
with the government in Europe. The province of 
Tigre, by which alone they could reach Massuah, 
was in a state of rebellion ; and, supposing that dan* 
ger surmounted, the Red Sea was entirely in pos- 
session of the Turks, — the deadly enemies of the 
Christian name. There seemed no hope, there- 
fore, of the object being accomplished, unless by 
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