Page:Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile - In the Years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, and 1773 volume 3.djvu/126

106 each, and one piece of white, value one pataka. Our companions, rather than stay behind, made the best bargain they could; and we all decamped, and set forward together. I was surprised to see, at the small village Zarow, several families as black as perfect negroes, only they were not woolly-headed, and had prominent features. I asked if they descended from slaves, or sons of slaves? They said, No; their particular families of that and the neighbouring village Sebow, were of that colour from time immemorial; and that this did not change, though either the father or mother were of another colour.

the 1st of December we departed from Balezat, and ascended a steep mountain upon which stands the village Noguet, which we passed about half an hour after. On the top of the hill were a few fields of teff. Harvest was then ended, and they were treading out the teff with oxen. Having passed another very rugged mountain, we descended and encamped by the side of a small river, called Mai Kol-quall, from a number of these trees growing about it. This place is named the Kella, or Castle, because, nearly at equal distances, the mountains on each side run for a considerable extent, straight and even, in shape like a wall, with gapes at certain distances, resembling embrasures and bastions. This rock is otherwise called Damo, anciently the prison of the collateral heirs-male of the royal family.

river Kol-quall rises in the mountains of Tigrè, and, after a course nearly N.W. falls into the Mareb. It was at Kella we saw, for the first time, the roofs of the houses made in form of cones; a sure proof that the tropical rains grow more violent as they proceed westward.