CHELICUT. 
275 
appearance did not excite that kind of surprise which the first 
sight of a white man is generally observed to produce in other 
parts of the country. The wife of the Aristi was peculiarly attentive 
to him, and, on his quitting them the following day, she prepared 
some cakes, and supplied him w ith a calibash full of booza for 
his journey. 
On the 28th, having crossed the narrow and mountainous dis- 
trict of Wojjerat, he arrived, in about eight hours, at an extensive 
and uncultivated plain, inhabited by a people called Doba ; one 
of the isolated tribes of negroes which are to be found occasionally 
interspersed throughout all the regions of Africa. In the earlier 
history of the country, the Doba * were considered as a formidable 
set of marauders, but, latterly, it appears that they have expe- 
rienced great difficulties in maintaining their native independence. 
Here Mr. Pearce passed unmolested, on account of his being 
supposed to travel in the service of the Ras, but he had little com- 
munication with the natives, owing to his not understanding their 
language. 
On the 29th, after seven hours travelling, he reached a district 
called lyah, held by a tribe of Galla, under Welleda Shabo, a 
chieftain distinguished by his uncommon ferocity. Mr. Pearce 
declared, that he saw this sanguinary wretch drink a great part 
of a hornful of blood warm from the neck of a cow, though, by a 
* Vide Historiale Description de I'Ethiopie, par Dom. Francisque Alvarez. Anvers 1558, 
p. 129. " Ces hommes de Dobas sont fort braves et vaillans gens: ayant una telle loy, 
que personne d'entre eux ne s'y peut marier, sans premierement faire foy, et declarer par 
serment d'avoir prive de vie douze Chretiens, qui rend ces chemins tant d^criez et si fort 
dangereuse que personne n'y ose passer, si ce n'est en caravanne, &c." This was written 
tn 1520. 
N n 
