354 
BANKS OF THE TACAZZE. 
before us, and we found ourselves at a short distance only from 
the banks of the Tacazze. 
I immediately ran forward, prompted by a sort of natural 
impulse, till we came to the edge of the stream, where, seated on the 
bank, I remained for some time contemplating with delight the 
smooth course of the waters gliding beneath. It would be in 
vain for me to attempt a description of the tumult of ideas which 
at this moment rushed upon my mind. The various monuments 
of antiquity which I had seen in Egypt, and a whole chain of 
classical circumstances connected with the history of the Nile 
were brought to my recollection, while the idea that I was sitting 
by a branch of the same stream, though at the distance of eleven 
hundred miles from its junction with the sea, added in an extra- 
ordinary degree to the interest which such feelings inspired. 
While my attention was absorbed by these reflections, the noise 
of an hippopotamus rising to the surface, and the cry of our atten- 
dants, Gomari,'' Gomari," * roused me from my meditations, 
and the sight of so rare and stupendous an animal pretty speedily 
gave a new turn to my thoughts. The view we obtained of this 
creature was only instantaneous, and its action appeared tome at 
the moment greatly to resemble the rolling of a grampus in the sea. 
The point on which we stood commanded a small extent only 
of the river ; as in this part of its course it makes a considerable 
bend, owing to the abruptness of the rocks on its western bank, 
which rising up immediately opposite completely intercepted from 
our view the higher summits of the mountains. As we advanced 
up the line of the stream we found it interrupted by frequent 
* The Abyssinian name for the hippopotamus. 
