6Q 
TRAVELS IN ABYSSINIA. 
place ; but the water is raised by machines drawn 
by oxen into vast reservoirs, whence it is distri- 
buted over the district. 
On the 13th November, Poncet arrived at Don- 
gola, and is, so far as we recollect, the only mo- 
dern traveller who has visited this ancient capital 
of Nubia. His description of it is not very splen- 
did. It stands on the declivity of a dry sandy 
hill, and the streets are almost choaked with 
sand, which the floods bring' down from the 
mountains behind. The houses are low and ill 
built, the streets half deserted. The castle, 
which stands in the centre of the city, is spacious, 
but poorly fortified, though it is sufficient to keep 
the Arabs in check. They dined several times 
with the king, who was dressed in green velvet, 
and had a numerous guard, armed with long 
swords and pikes. Persons of rank here go bare- 
headed, their hair being disposed in tresses, and 
their whole attire consisting in a rude vest without 
sleeves, Their horses are perfectly beautiful, and 
the riders very skilful. They profess the Maho- 
metan religion, but know nothing of it beyond the 
confession of faith, which they continually repeat. 
Their usual course of life is irregular and disso- 
lute in the extreme. Father Brevedent is said to 
have shed tears on reflecting that they were once 
Christians, and feli away, merely from the want of 
missionaries to instruct them. 
