256 MUGGA. 
ance from swarms of vermin, and the continual howling of 
hjgenas, which seemed to be more than usually numerous in the 
neighbourhood, would permit. 
On Monday 11th, we quitted Mugga with great satisfaction, 
at the break of day, determining to make a long march forward 
to Gibba, a residence belonging to the Ras, where we had reason 
to expect more decent treatment. Though the people at the 
former place have a bad name, yet the district which they inhabit 
is one of the finest eastward of the Tacuzze. The vale, through 
which the first part of the road conducted us, wore a beautiful 
aspect, and was interspersed with groves of trees, a circumstance 
rarely met with in Abyssinia. In about two hours we arrived at 
a point where another road turns olF, towards the pass of Atbara, 
The route we had taken by Mugga saves this very difficult ascent, 
but, owing to the incivility of its inhabitants, is rarely frequented 
by cafilas. I could almost be led to suspect, that Mugga is the 
district to which Aeizana sent a tribe of the Boja, a set of barba- 
rians whom he had subdued, a circumstance recorded in the 
inscription which I discovered at Axum. The name of the 
country there mentioned, is extremely indistinct, but begins with 
an M, and ends with an A ; so that it might, at a much less ex- 
pense of conjecture than is usual on such occasions, be easily 
converted by an ingenious antiquarian into Mugga.* 
* That I may not interrupt the subsequent course of the narrative, I shall here 
give the result of the affair at Mugga. The Ras, on being informed of the treat- 
ment we had received, was exceedingly enraged, and sent off a messenger iiiimediately 
to take the head-men of the place into custody. In consequence, they were brought up 
to Ant&lo while I was residing there, and were ushered as culprits, during a public 
assembly, into the presence of the Ras. On entering they fell down prostrate on the 
