Page:A voyage to Abyssinia (Salt).djvu/170

 of extraordinary activity; and his knowledge of a ship, considering how long he had been absent from every thing of the kind, was very remarkable, for, though we had several excellent sailors on board, there was not a single person that could follow him aloft, owing to the rapidity with which he darted from one point of the ship to another. I was also glad to find that the cultivation of his mind had kept pace with the improvement of his bodily powers. To a complete knowledge of the language of Tigré, which is reckoned by the natives extremely difficult to acquire, he had added a tolerable share of the Amharic, and possessed so perfect an insight into the manners and feelings of the Abyssinians, that his assistance to me as an interpreter became invaluable.

On the 11th, Abba Yusuph and a slave were sent to me by the Kaimakan, with a present of two bullocks and fifteen sheep, accompanied by a request that my first visit might be arranged for the following day. Accordingly, on the 12th, I left the ship and proceeded to the shore, under a salute of thirteen guns from the Marian, which was returned by the discharge of an old dismounted six-pounder, lying on the beach. On landing, I was conducted by about twenty Ascari to the Divan, where all the principal people on the island were assembled. The Kaimakan, a respectable looking Turk, with somewhat of dignity in his manners, sitting in a retired corner, which had been formerly occupied by the Nayib. This chief received me very ceremoniously, ordered sherbet to be handed about, asked the few customary questions, with as much haughtiness as the Grand Seignor himself could have assumed, and then presented me with a kaftan, lined with ermine. All this passing in a wretched apartment, with a low ceiling and a mud floor, in the midst of a half-naked and dirty rabble, produced a most incongruous and ridiculous effect. I continued, however, though with no inconsiderable difficulty, to keep my countenance, endeavoured to sustain my part with all the unbending gravity I could muster, and returned, amidst a crowd of the inhabitants, who attended me with shouting and hallooing, to the shore. I observed during my visit, that the Nayib and his son kept completely in