MEMOIR OP BRUCE. 
47 
Except its river and its religion, Abyssinia seems 
to possess little that can excite the interest of 
Europe, or connect it with the civilized ■world. 
Alternately deluged with rain, or burnt up by a 
vertical sun, it presents at different seasons a picture 
of luxuriant vegetation or cheerless solitude. Satu- 
rated with heat and moisture, the black fat earth 
is impregnated with swarms of insects, which burst 
into existence, and overshadow the land with flying 
armies of desolation. To avoid this living pesti- 
lence, even the elephant and rhinoceros plunge into 
marshes, that the mud, when dried on their skin, 
may form a shield impenetrable to their attacks. 
The inhabitants, with their cattle, repair to the 
deserts, or take refuge in their cities, which are 
generally perched on the tops of mountains. The 
country of the Shangalla tribes, being low and flat, 
is chiefly exposed to this annoyance. 
This rude people migrate in tents, and during the 
rainy season they live in holes, excavated in the 
soft sandy rocks. They are Pagans, and worship 
the moon, stars, trees, and serpents. They are 
early trained to archery, and practice polygamy, as 
they reckon a great number of children the best 
defence against their enemies. One of the savage 
amusements of the Abyssinians is to hunt these 
ill-fated tribes in the woods, a sort of horrid recrea- 
tion which is customary on the accession of every 
new king to the throne. As the Shangalla men 
are active, and quite familiar with the intricacies of 
the forests, their merciless pursuers enjoy, what in 
