274 
CHELICUT. 
In consequence of this quarrel Mr. Pearce took leave of the 
few friends he had left and set out on his mule from Antalo, 
attended by two servants, a boy and girl;who, from kind treatment, 
had become ranch attached to his service. He felt doubtful, at 
first, which way he ought to direct his course, but, being informed, 
that the road through Lasta to Gondar was practicable, he re- 
solved to turn his mule to the south, and being anxious to get 
out of the neighbourhood of Antalo, before his quarrel with the 
Ras should become generally known, he travelled ten hours a 
day, which in two days brought him into the province of Woj- 
jerat. 
The inhabitants of this district are said to be descended from the 
Portuguese soldiers, who settled in the country in the middle of 
the seventh century, and they pride themselves on the distinction 
which this circumstance confers. They constitute one of the most 
powerful race of men in Abyssinia, being larger in stature and 
stouter in proportion than the generality of the natives, and their 
fidelity to their rulers has been so remarkable, that it is become 
proverbial throughout the country.* 
Here Mr. Pearce met with very hospitable treatment at the 
house of one of the Aristies (farmers), where he observed that his 
* The inhabitants of Wojjerat form, in my opinion, the strongest contrast that can be 
imagined to the degenerate descendants of the Portuguese in India, which perhaps may be 
attributed to the effects of climate and the striking difference in their modes of life. The 
first, proud of their descent from a race of warriors, were left in a mountainous country, 
under a temperate climate, to fight their way and maintain their character among savage 
nations by whom they were environed, and they have ever since kept up an independent 
superiority. The others, from being the offspring of petty traders, and from living under 
an intemperate sky, soon dwindled away, amid the debaucheries of Indian cities, into a more 
degenerate and feeble set of beings than even the natives among whom they resided. 
