132 
MOCHA. 
must have bordered on seventy) and there was besides a certain 
vivacity and drollery in his manner that rendered his conversa- 
tion singularly agreeable. I once began a sketch of his features, 
but before it could be completed he found out my intention, 
aod ran away, laughing and shaking his head, saying he was 
too old and too ugly \ ' nor could he ever again be induced to 
sit quiet when he saw a pencil in my hand. At the time he be- 
came known to me he was suiFering severely from ulcerations in 
his legs, a disease which very frequently occurs in this climate ; 
but, by the daily use of a caustic application, which in the Red 
Sea is always found to be extremely beneficial, he received so 
much relief that his gratitude became unbounded. 
From this man, and another person named Hadjee Belal, who 
had also acted as commercial agent to the Sultauri of Hurrur and 
who afterwards attended me on my journey to Abyssinia, I learnt 
so many curious particulars respecting the natives of the former 
country, as well as of the Galla and other tribes in its neighbour- 
hood, that I resolved, from repeated assurances of its practica- 
bility, to send a person into that part of Africa by the way of 
Zeyla. It was my intention that he should direct his way through 
Hurrur into Efat, and thence proceed, if it could be effected, to 
join me in the neighbourhood of Gondar or Antalo, as circum- 
stances might direct, while I determined, if possible, to return by 
the same route. 
I was enabled to execute the former part of this scheme without 
putting the government to any great additional expense, through 
a power which the African Association had vested in me to draw 
upon it for a sum not exceeding five hundred pounds, and 
