ANTALOW 
155 
and the cotton clothes of some of his attendants. We afterwards 
took our leave with great, and, I trust, mutual regret, not knowing 
whether we should meet again before our departure, which we had 
fixed for an early hour in the morning. 
" The kind attentions which we received ft*om the Ras during 
our stay at Antalow, must ever make me remember him with res- 
pect and esteem ; yet I do not consider him as a man of any great 
ability. He gained his power by cunning, rather than by strength 
of character ; and though not remarkably brave, maintains himself 
in his high station by a dexterous management of parties. But to 
accomplish this, he sacrifices in a great degree the importance of 
his command ; for to conciliate a chief, he will often remit a por- 
tion of his tribute. His power, notwithstanding, is very great, and 
the district immediately under his rule is very extended, com- 
prehending, the whole of that part of Abyssinia which is to the 
eastward of the Tacazza, and which includes the provinces of Sire, 
Tigre Enderta, of which Antalow is the capital, Upper and Lower 
Bure, and the whole of the Midre Bahar, or district bordering on 
the Sea. 
"After the cru€l administration of Michael Suhul, the mild 
government of the present Ras is most grateful to the Tigrians ; 
and from the number of matchlocks in this district, it always has 
held, and is still likely to keep up a superiority over the more re- 
mote provinces of the empire. 1 had no means of judging of the 
population, except from the land being cultivated wherever it 
admitted of it, and from the number of the troops assembled at the 
review, which certainly exceeded ten thousand. More than double 
this number I understood, could be assembled in time of war. 
VOL. in. X 
