Page:A voyage to Abyssinia (Salt).djvu/285

 time under water, being obliged to come up to the surface in the course of some such intervals for the purpose of respiration. One of the most interesting parts of the amusement was to observe the ease with which these animals quietly dropped down to the bottom; for the water being very clear, we could distinctly see them so low as twenty feet beneath the surface. I should conceive, that the size of those that we saw did not exceed sixteen feet in length, and their colour was a dusky brown, like that of the elephant.

While we were thus engaged, we occasionally observed several crocodiles, called by the natives agoos, rising at a distance to the surface of the river: they appeared to be of an enormous size and of a greenish colour. The natives of Abyssinia in general seem to entertain more than usual dread of this animal; for, if any one goes to the Tacazze even to wash his hands, he takes a companion with him to throw stones into the water for the purpose of keeping off the crocodile; and in crossing a ford, it is usual with the natives to carry their spears and to make as much noise as possible, though these animals are seldom known to frequent the shallower parts of the stream: while the very thought of bathing in the river seemed to strike them all with horror. The thermometer in the neighbourhood of the Tacazze rose as high as 95 in the shade.

I shall not attempt to discuss the question, whether this river were the Astaboras or Astapus of the ancients, which are said to have partly encircled the Island of Meroe; since this appears to me a subject that has been already sufficiently handled, until further discoveries shall have been made, which may throw some new light upon the subject. If the account given by Ptolemy be correct, that celebrated island must have been situated very far eastward, between the Tacazze and the Mareb, since he includes the city of Axum within its limits; but this so totally contradicts the accounts given by more correct writers, that I think little doubt can be entertained that he was mistaken. Strabo observes, that Meroe was distant fifteen days journey for a messenger from the Red Sea, (Vol. II. p. 771,) and that the island of Meroe is formed by two rivers coming from the east, which flow