52 
MEMOIR OP BRUCE. 
Lending mischievous designs on the part of his uncle,' 
promised to accompany him part of the way, and 
take upon himself his safe convoy. On the loth 
of November, after a detention of nearly two months, 1 
Bruce left Arkeeko, thankful at having escaped from 
a series of troubles, vexations, and perils beyond 
what he had ever experienced, and prosecuted his 
route to Gondar, the capital of Abyssinia. The 
road lay through deep ravines, dreary plains, and 
valleys thickly covered with acacia trees, in which 
the travellers encountered violent storms of thunder, 
and were exposed to imminent danger from ele- 
phants, hyaenas, and other boasts of prey. 
The most striking object was the lofty mountain 
of Tarenta, which rose above all the others, towering 
to the clouds, and sometimes completely enveloped 
in mist and darkness. Over this they passed with 
much difficulty, their clothes being tom, and their 
hands and feet lacerated with climbing up the rocks. 
Descending the other side, they found the natives 
busy with their harvest, the cows and bullocks being 
employed in treading out the com. The first town 
they reached was Dixan, -which was bruit on the 
pinnacle of a hill resembling a sugar-loaf. Leaving 
this place on the 25th of November, they entered 
the province of Tigre, the boundary of which they 
found to be marked by an immense daroo tree, 
seven and a half feet in diameter, with the head 
spreading in proportion. At this spot Bruce got 
quit of that part of his retinue belonging to the 
Naib of Massuah, whose presence had been a source 
