MOUNTAIN OF ASSAULI. 447 
remained here, before we received a visit from the chief of the 
adjoining district, named Baharnegash Oual, who came down 
to pay his complimeuts, preceded by two men blowing a long 
kind of trumpet, the shrill sound of which re-echoed through 
the valley. On enquiry, I discovered that this chief was an 
Abyssinian, a circumstance which gave me great pleasure, as 
I had not been before aware, that the Christian influence 
had extended so near the coast. He appeared to be a very 
respectable man, and expressed himself happy that we had 
adopted this route ; in consequence of which, on his taking leave, 
I made him a small present, and he promised, in return, to be- 
friend any Englishman who might afterwards pass through the 
country. In the evening we were greatly amused by some wan- 
dering musicians, whom the Baharnegash sent to entertain us. 
The instrument on which they played was a species of lyre, pro- 
ducing very agreeable notes, of which a sketch is given in one of 
the accompanying plates, and this they accompanied with singing 
some wild airs peculiar to their country. During the night 
I was awakened by an outcry in the camp, which occasioned so 
much alarm that it induced me to rush out of the tent, when it 
appeared that some furious wild beast had been endeavouring 
to carry off one of our mules, and, in consequence, the whole of 
our animals, which had been picketted in a line, had started from 
their fastenings ; and they now stood trembling in a cluster to- 
gether, covered with profuse perspiration. The extraordinary 
alarm which they manifested on this occasion, made me suppose 
that the animal, of which I myself caught only a glimpse, must 
have been a lion. 
