TRAVELS IN ABYSSINIA. 
57 
semicircular sweep round Gojam and Damot, till 
it returns within a short day's journey of its 
spring ; and its final course through unknown re- 
gions to the west. He was ignorant of its farther 
course, till it arrived on the plains of Egypt. 
The author represents the part of the province 
of Damot, in which he now resided, as the most 
charming spot he had ever beheld. The air is 
healthful and temperate, the mountains shaded 
with cedars and other trees, which afford refresh- 
ment and coolness, without any thing uncouth or 
savage. They sow and reap at all seasons, the 
ground is always producing, and the whole coun- 
try resembles a pleasure-garden. It was not, there- 
fore, without regret, that, after several years resi- 
dence, he was recalled to Tigre. 
The concluding part of Lobo's residence was al- 
together disastrous. Sultan Segued falling into a 
state of dotage, great part of the power devolved 
upon his son, who, though outwardly a Catholic, 
cherished a secret attachment to the ancient faith. 
Under shelter of his connivance, the great men of 
Abyssinia gave full scope to that deadly antipathy, 
which they had always cherished against the Ro- 
mish missionaries. Lobo was assured that the 
viceroy of Tigre had formed a plan to deliver them 
as prisoners into the hands of the Turks. To 
avoid this fate, they fled, and put themselves into 
the hands of a chief who was then in rebellion 
