WERKETARVE. 
.351 
^owgli it is noticed in the very earliest account of the country , 
in the Adulic inscription given by Cosmas, {Kcci 2e^^va< eQvog 
'TTSpoiv t5 Ne/Xi? (the Tacazze,) bv ^vcr^oiroig jccii x^ovo^B(r(riv o^bciv oiK^vrocg, 
ev olg ^ixTfiXVTog vi(pBTo] Koci K,pvv] xoa '/lovBq QoiQvTocroif c^g {-X£%p; yovocTLov 
Kdra^vviiv ccv^pa, rov TTorocfjLbv ^ixQoig vTTiTcc^ci,) and subsequently by 
several of the best informed among the Jesuits who travelled 
in Abyssinia. 
In the afternoon we proceeded forwards to Werketarve, a small 
town situated on a hill, inhabited by the Agows. To a stranger 
there appears to exist a slight difference only between this people 
and the Abyssinians, except that the Agows are, perhaps, on the 
whole, a stouter race of men, and, in general, not so active in 
their habits : their language is, nevertheless, perfectly distinct, 
and appeared to my ear to sound much softer and less energetic 
than that of Tigre, bearing a strong resemblance, when indis- 
tinctly pronounced, to some of our own country dialects. This 
people is distinguished by the name of the Tchertz, or Tacazze 
Agows, and the country they inhabit extends from Lasta to the 
borders of Shire. According to tradition, the Agows were once 
worshippers of the Nile, but so late as in the seventeenth century 
they were converted to the Christian religion, and are now more 
particular in their attention to its duties, than most of the other 
natives of Abyssinia. Like the people of Dixan they are very 
regular in their morning's devotion ; for which purpose, the in- 
habitants of each village assemble before the door of their respec- 
been seen to lie on the mountains of Caffa, &c. ; but this I do not believe. Hail has pro- 
bably been seen to lie there, but I doubt much whether this can be said of a substance of 
m loose a texture as snow." Vide Mr. Bruce's Travels, Vol. III. p. 329. 
