ASGERIAH. 
7 
The country was in a good state of cultivation, and many villages 
appeared on the hills around ; Murgah was on our right, Mandoo- 
bah opposite to it on our left ; and beyond, on a much loftier hill, 
was the Hadowe mentioned by Bruce. 
" Soon after we made our way through a grove of wild olive 
trees, and afterwards along the edge of a tremendous precipice, 
looking directly down into a gulley, in which were small pools of 
water, but no running stream. We then descended, and passed 
along the bed of the torrent for some distance; a shower of rain 
overtook us, but it was over before we had ascended the hill 
on which stands the village of Asceriah. At this place we were 
received with great coolness by the inhabitants ; they offered us 
no shelter but that which a tree afforded, and we were for some 
time apprehensive that this would be our only accommodation for 
the night. At length, however, an old man received us into his 
house, which was a better one, and more abounding in family con- 
veniences, than any which we had seen before. I took here a view 
of the mountains, which are extremely wild in their forms ; and a 
sketch of the Abou Gumba, of which Bruce has given a very correct 
representation. 
" August 16. — We were awakened at a very early hour in the 
morning by Negada Moosa, who seemed anxious to hurry us away 
from this inhospitable place ; I call it so, from the difficulty that 
we found in procuring even water for our consumption. One man 
only, superior to his neighbours in civility, brought us a small 
portion of milk. We soon left our baggage behind, but had not got 
far before we were overtaken by a party of men, one of whom, we 
were given to understand, was the chief of the place that we had 
