ASCENT OF TARANTA. 
235 
seldom stand in the way of these minor candidates for public 
fame. 
From Mijdivella the road takes a south-west direction, and 
becomes in parts so extremely steep, that though Mr. Pearce 
and others of our party continued to ride, yet the rest found 
themselves compelled to dismount, as one false step of the mule 
might have precipitated his rider into the depths below. To 
walk, however, or rather to climb, required no trifling efibrt, for 
people so long unaccustomed to exertions of this nature, and 
we consequently felt ourselves obliged every few minutes to rest. 
Meantime our attendants, who were habituated from their youth 
to such expeditions, passed merrily on with their burthens, and 
some of the more light-hearted among them amused themselves 
and companions by singing extempore verses, in a manner some- 
what similar to that, which, I have been informed, German sol- 
diers frequently practise on a march. The person who com- 
posed each distich first sang it alone, when it was immediately 
taken up and repeated in chorus by the rest of the company. 
One of the songs, composed on the present occasion, was trans- 
lated literally to me as we proceeded by Mr. Pearce, which I 
shall here insert, as a characteristic specimen of the very rude 
poetry in which the Abyssinians delight. 
Our fathers are soldiers of the Badinsah,* 
Each of them has killed his foe. 
We are young and carry his burthens. 
But shall in time ^ght as well as our fathers. 
This was the name of a horse belonging to the Ras Welled Selass^, on which he 
fought many of his battles, and it is now become among his followers, a favourite war- 
appellation for this celebrated chief. 
H h 
