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 visit Axum, a circumstance which I had been anxious to secure, for the purpose of once more examining its ruins.

On my leaving him, he presented me with one of his favourite mules, richly caparisoned with trappings of red velvet, and the skin of a black leopard, which is extremely rare, and worn only by governors of provinces. He also gave me two small manuscripts, one of which he assured me contained the true doctrines of the faith, as believed by the orthodox part of the Abyssinians, which I have since found to be a pastoral letter, addressed by the patriarch of Alexandria to the Abyssinian church. This treatise, on my return to England, was translated by the Reverend Mr. Murray, the late editor of Mr. Bruce's works, for the benefit of the British and Foreign Bible Society, which is at present engaged in printing a portion of the Scriptures in Ethiopic. The writing, as might be expected, is extremely diffuse, and in some parts obscure; but contains, on the whole, a fair abstract of the Abyssinians' tenets, and a considerable portion of curious matter respecting the absurd disputes which have latterly taken place in their church. The other manuscript contains an account of his last campaign against the Galla, written by a scribe at the court, which is filled more with adulatory compliments than facts. Parts of this were occasionally read in the Ras's presence, and it seemed to afford him no small portion of gratification; the Abyssinians, indeed, generally possessing an anxious desire of having their names handed down to the admiration of succeeding ages.

On the 25th of April, which, according to the Abyssinian reckoning, was the last day of Lent, the Ras very early in the morning informed us, that it was his intention to remove his residence to Antálo, and expressed a desire that we should accompany him to that place, with which request we complied. Accordingly, at day-light, he sent three of his best horses for our use, one of which, named Shummut, had for many years been his favourite, and the two others had lately been sent as presents from Liban, the chief of the Galla. The Ras himself had already set out; but on our arriving at a plain, near the village of Afguol, we found him waiting to receive us,