ABHA. 245 
behaved very insolently, we rose up in a body, left the village, 
and pitched a tent in the valley below. 
This decisive step brought the old man, as was expected, to a 
sense of the impropriety of his conduct, and he presently after- 
wards came down the hill, attended by the head men of the 
place and fell down, cringing abjectly at my feet, until I reluc- 
tantly promised to forgive the transaction ; but all their solicita- 
tions could not induce us to return to a house, where so little 
respect had been shewn to the laws of hospitality. 
In the afternoon a bullock was brought, as a present from the 
village, and a profusion of maiz and bread. The old man himself 
returned to partake our good cheer in the evening, when, though 
he affected to be unwell and to have lost his appetite, he ate 
about two pounds of brind, and drank a proportionable quan- 
tity of maiz. This man possessed throughout the country the 
character of being particularly crafty, penurious and subtle; 
which qualities, together with his numerous family connexions, 
had contributed, more than his courage, towards raising him to 
the rank which he at that time enjoyed. His own family con- 
sisted of twenty-six sons, and about the same number of daugh- 
ters. One of the former, a very acute and intelligent young man, 
had paid great attention, in the absence of the Baharnegash, to 
Mr. Pearce and Mr. Coffin, on their way down to the coast : in 
consequence, at parting, I gave him the present which had been 
intended for his father. 
March 7th. — We struck our tents at five in the morning, and 
after proceeding about a mile southward, brought the hill of 
Cashaatto bear due east of us, at which point. Instead of passing 
