68 
TRAVELS m ABYSSINIA. 
On the 13th November Poncet arrived at Don- 
gola, and is, so far as we fecollect, the only mo- 
dern traveller who has visited this ancient capi- 
tal of Nubia. His description of it is not very 
splendid. It stands on the declivity of a dry 
sandy hill, and the streets are almost choked 
with sand, which the floods bring down from 
the mountains behind. The houses are low and 
ill built, the streets half deserted. The castle, 
"which stands in the centre of the city, is spaci- 
ous, but poorly fortified, though it is sufficient to 
keep the Arabs in check. They dined several 
times with the king, who was dressed in green 
velvet, and had a numerous guard, armed with 
long swords and pikes. Persons of rank here go 
bareheaded, their hair being disposed in tresses, 
and their whole attire consisting in a rude vest 
without sleeves. Their horses are perfectly beau- 
tiful, and the riders very skilful. They profess 
the Mahometan religion, but know nothing of it 
beyond the confession of faith, which they con- 
tinually repeat. Their usual course of life is irre- 
gular and dissolute in the extreme. Father Bre- 
vedent is said to have shed tears on reflecting that 
they were once Christians, and fell away, merely 
from the want of missionaries to instruct them. 
On the 6th January 1699 the party left Don- 
gola, and arrived at Korti, in the kingdom of 
Sennaar. The people who inhabit the banks of 
