CHELICUT. 
321 
On his return the Ras received him with extraordinary atten- 
tion, and, when he mentioned the quantity of goods he had 
brought with him, the chiefs who were present would scarcely 
believe it possible. With regard to the encounter which had 
occurred among the Duinhoeta, the old man simply remarked, 
that he wished he had killed a dozen more/' 
The musquets were afterwards distributed among the Ilas*s 
followers, though few of them, as I have before remarked, were 
fit for use ; most of them having been condemned in India : the 
velvets Mr. Pearce parted with in pieces, and, though the sale 
proved slow, the profit upon them was very considerable. 
At this time Mr. Pearce's courage and talents had brought 
him into great favour in the country, and, shortly afterwards, 
Ayto Manasseh presented him with the house in which I found 
him residing : a large plot of ground was annexed to it, that Mr. 
Pearce had cultivated with considerable care ; so that we had 
the pleasure of eating cabbages and other European vegetables 
out of it, equally good with those produced in our own country j 
Captain Rudland having sent over the seeds from Mocha. 
The reader, after the perusal of Mr. Pearce's adventures, will 
not be surprised at the satisfaction I felt in having chosen the 
road by Massowa for my own route ; a circumstance which I 
consider to have been peculiarly fortunate ; as I had certainly 
entertained no real conception of the difficulties attending the 
other passage until I received, at Chelicut, the above relation of 
Mr. Pearce's journey through this barbarous country. 
