40 
TRAVELS IN ABYSSINIA. 
both about four palms in diameter. Great was 
my pleasure in beholding what Cyrus, king of 
the Persians, Cambyses, Alexander the Great, 
and the renowned Julius Cgesar, sought eagerly, 
but in vain, to reach. The water is very clear, 
light, and agreeable to the taste ; yet these two 
fountains have no outlet in the higher part of the 
mountain plain, but only at the foot. In trying 
their depth, we thrust into the first a lance, which, 
going down eleven palms, seemed then, as it were, 
to strike against the, roots of the neighbouring 
trees, entangled together^ The second fountain 
is about a stone's cast east from the first ; to as- 
certain the depth of which we put down a lance 
of twelve palms, but found no bottom ; then, by 
joining two lances together, we made a depth of 
twenty palms, but still found none. The inha- 
bitants say that the whole mountain is full of 
water, which they prove by this, that all the plain 
about the fountain is tremulous and bubbling, 
— a sure proof of water beneath ; and that, for 
the same cause, the water does not run over the 
sources, but throws itself out with greater force 
lower down. The inhabitants, and the emperor 
himself, affirmed, that though the ground had 
trembled little this year, on account of the great 
dryness, yet that, in common seasons, it shook 
and bubbled to such a degree as scarcely to be 
approached without danger. About a league west 
