Page:A voyage to Abyssinia (Salt).djvu/193

 served for houses to the old inhabitants, the Troglodytes;" these, however, we were not fortunate enough to discover; nor do I believe that they ever existed, except in the imagination of the author; for in spite of the censure passed upon me for what I mentioned on this subject in my former journal, it does not appear to me any argument in favour of the existence of caves on one side of the mountain, that "the houses at Dixan and Halai, on the other side, are formed in a manner somewhat to resemble caves;" but situation and distance seldom stand in the way of these minor candidates for public fame. From Mijdevella the road takes a south-west direction, and becomes in parts so extremely steep, that though Mr. Pearce and others of our party continued to ride, yet the rest found themselves compelled to dismount, as one false step of the mule might have precipitated his rider into the depths below. To walk, however, or rather to climb, required no trifling effort, for people so long unaccustomed to exertions of this nature, and we consequently felt ourselves obliged every few minutes to rest. Meantime our attendants, who were habituated from their youth to such expeditions, passed merrily on with their burthens, and some of the more light-hearted among them amused themselves and companions by singing extempore verses, in a manner somewhat similar to that, which, I have been informed, German soldiers frequently practise on a march. The person who composed each distich first sang it alone, when it was immediately taken up and repeated in chorus by the rest of the company. One of the songs, composed on the present occasion, was translated literally to me as we proceeded by Mr. Pearce, which I shall here insert, as a characteristic specimen of the very rude poetry in which the Abyssinians delight.

Our fathers are soldiers of the Bandinsáh, Each of them has killed his foe.