Page:A voyage to Abyssinia (Salt).djvu/200

 tied to one of our boys by Debib, according to a singular practice which is universal throughout the country, and carried forward with us to answer for the death, before his superior the Baharnegash Subhart. In the mean time, while we proceeded on our journey, Debib rode across the country to visit his friend Shum Woldo, and to acquaint him with the occurrence; and this chief, though himself a notorious marauder, not only expressed great abhorrence at the treachery of the act, but sent forward immediately a messenger to Baharnegash Subhart, to declare, that if the murderers were not discovered and sent to the Ras, he would himself, before the moon changed, set fire to the town.

Though the day was very fine, this event gave a gloomy complexion to our feelings, which made us not very observant of the scenery through which we passed. Our course lay to the south, and after passing Asceriah, we descended a steep declivity, that brought us into the eastern end of the fine plain of Serawé, which is thickly interspersed with tombo-trees, and seems to extend westward, on a low flat, to Hamazen. This plain may be considered as part of the western boundary of the mountains of Taranta. The country through which we had hitherto descended constituting only the lower ridge of that extensive range. Soon afterwards, we arrived at the picturesque village of Abha, where the Baharnegash Subhart generally resides.

The reception he gave us was very obliging; but there appeared in his conversation, as Ayto Debib observed, using an expressive, though not very polite, English phrase, which he had learned from Mr. Pearce, "so much blarney," in which some of the Abyssinians are great adepts, that it gave us very strong reason to doubt his sincerity. This suspicion, unluckily, did not turn out to be ill-founded; for instead of laying a repast before us, which is always customary on the arrival of strangers, he sent out to me, from an inner room to which he had retired, only a single horn of maiz. This partial distribution of his bounty, being considered by our party as an absolute affront, I refused to receive, and having in vain sent to remonstrate on the subject by three or four