80 
ROUTE TO AXUM. 
the Prince came out with his slender retinue, and requested me to 
dismount, seeming extremely anxious to speak with me in private. 
On my complying, and going apart with my interpreter to hear 
what he had to communicate, Guebra Selasse called out most voci- 
ferously to him in an angry tone, which compelled us very reluc- 
tantly to part in silence. His complexion was extremely dark, but 
his features were good : he was living at this time under the pro- 
tection of the Ras ; by whom, under the guise of respect, he was 
kept in a state of honourable restraint. 
Our road from Adowa lay along the valley in nearly a west- 
ward direction: we crossed the Mai Gogua, and another stream, 
which I suppose may be the Riberani of Bruce ; and after travelling 
about five miles, arrived at the extremity of the valley, marked 
by a peaked hill, green up to the top, on which stands the church 
of Hannes; and immediately opposite, on a smaller rising ground, 
the church of Anna Mariam. Hither the Ras, as governor of Tigre, 
when residing at Adowa, used to come out to meet any message 
from the King. The direct road to Axum passes by the side of this 
hill; but our guide informing me there was a curious place called 
Calam Negus, in the neighbourhood, we turned off a little to the 
northward for the purpose of visiting it. On our way we met with 
a grandson of Ras Michael, mounted on a mule ; he stopped to ask 
me for some medicine for a well known disorder said to be very 
prevalent here, which I was obliged to evade on the true plea of 
having left it at Antalow. Notwithstanding this application, from 
all the enquiries we made during my stay in the country, I am of 
opinion, that the venereal disease does not exist in Abyssinia : de- 
bility, and a bad sort of itch, common in the country, are generally 
