MASSOWAH 
455 
*' July 5. — Hamed Chamie waited on us at breakfast time, with 
the agreeable intelligence of the dispatch of a letter, which I had 
sent over to Arkeko to be forwarded to the Ras, requesting him to 
send people to meet us on our arrival at Dixan. For the convey- 
ance of this letter Currum Chund demanded no less a sum than 
thirty dollars ; but exorbitant as it was for the conveyance of a 
single letter, for so short a distance, I thought it best at the time to 
submit to the imposition, as it was a point of the greatest import- 
ance to acquaint the Ras with the success of our negotiation with 
theNayib ; particularly as, from several circumstances^, we doubted 
whether Lord Yalentia's letter to the Ras, announcing our intended 
visit, had been forwarded. 
*' July 6. — The weather since our arrival at Massowah has been 
intensely hot ; the thermometer varying for the most part from 
96° to 99° during the day; but we have been relieved by frequent 
breezes from the south. Nothing particular has occurred, and we 
have been reducing our baggage as much as possible preparatory to 
our journey. In other respects affairs are going on so well that we 
expect to set off by the thirteenth or fourteenth instant. 
" July 7. — An attendant of the Nayib came to us in the afternoon, 
bringing with him a man just arrived from Dowarba. His mode 
of salutation differed from that made use of at Massowah. He first 
kissed the back of his hand, and then made a slight inclination of 
the head. We offered him coffee, which he refused : he called 
himself a Christian, and said that he was ' all one with us.' We 
were beginning to question him concerning the news in the upper 
country, when he was sent for in a great hurry by the Nayib. 
" Abou Yusuff came to us in the evening: he told me that he 
