98 
TRAVELS IN ABYSSINIA. 
mation which he collected during these different 
excursions. 
Mr Salt first landed at the port of Massuah. 
Here the usual conflict began with the Nayib, as 
to the amount of the presents to be given, in re- 
turn for protection granted. Five hundred dol- 
lars, though very inadequate to the original de- 
mand, were at length reluctantly accepted. Ex- 
cept this extreme anxiety to extract as much as 
possible, the party had no particular cause of com- 
plaint against the Nayib. Mr Salt spent two days 
at Arkeeko, of whose inhabitants he draws a most 
unfavourable picture. They seem to unite the 
worst vices of civilized and savage society. Even 
those of Massuah, who are far from ranking high 
in the scale of morality, view with abhorrence the 
people of Arkeeko. After dark, while they were 
retiring to bed, the Nayib came to warn them of 
the absolute necessity that the door should be 
carefully fastened ; and the sentinel who guarded 
it put on his hat and shoes, lest they should be 
stolen from him in the night time. Mr Salt felt 
therefore considerable satisfaction in being able to 
commence his journey. It lay for some time over 
that chain of lofty and barren mountains which 
separates the province of Tigre from the sea-coast. 
The most difficult part of the track was through 
the pass of Taranta, which Mr Salt did not find 
quite so formidable as Mr Bruce*s narrative had 
