Page:A voyage to Abyssinia (Salt).djvu/187

 who came forward in front, keeping up a constant, but not very active motion with his feet, while his whole body, but more particularly his shoulders and breast, was agitated with a writhing gesture, which, as it proceeded, became too violent to be continued. The person thus exhausted retired, and another took his place; but I observed that this exercise was almost exclusively confined to the chiefs, whose proficiency in it appeared far greater than that of their companions, a circumstance owing, no doubt, to their possessing superior strength and activity, qualities extremely requisite for such violent exertions. To form any correct idea of the scene which surrounded us, the reader must fancy himself stationed on a clear night amidst a grove of lofty trees, standing in a lonely valley and skirted by abrupt mountains, bordered by a winding stream. On such a spot, and under the circumstances in which I was placed, a dance of the above description had a peculiarly wild and fantastic effect, greatly heightened as it was by the gleaming dashes of light thrown on the different objects from a number of scattered fires, round which the natives were clustered in irregular groups. The Abyssinians enjoyed this dance as much as ourselves, probably on account of its striking dissimilarity to their own; and I subsequently observed some of the more lively of our party, when they reached the upper country, mimicking it in a very ridiculous and laughable manner, to the no small amusement of their friends. On the first of March we left Leila at a quarter before six, and soon reached Assuba; a little beyond, on the left, a pass or gully in the mountains opens into the road, which is considered as by far the most dangerous spot on the passage, owing to a wild set of Bedowee residing there, who are accustomed to make predatory excursions on the cafilas travelling to and from Massowa. Ras Welled Selassé, in the campaign of 1809, sent a party from Zewan Búre, about fifteen miles distant, down to this place. The soldiers composing it met with but few of the natives, as they had retired to their fastnesses; but in one day they plundered them of upwards of two thousand goats, which proved a very serious loss to a