Page:Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile - In the Years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, and 1773 volume 3.djvu/139

Rh for their size, quantity, or goodness. The best are those of Mai Gogua, a clear and pleasant rivulet, running very violently and with great noise. This circumstance, and ignorance of the language, has misled the reverend father Jerome, who says, that the water of Mai Gogua is called so from the noise that it makes, which, in common language, is called guggling. This is a mistake, for Mai Gogua signifies the river of owls.

are many agreeable spots to the south-east of the convent, on the banks of this river, which are thick-shaded with wood and bushes. Adowa consists of about 300 houses and occupies a much larger space than would be thought necessary for these to stand on, by reason that each house has an inclosure round it of hedges and trees; the last chiefly the wanzey. The number of these trees so planted in all the towns, screen them so, that, at a distance, they appear so many woods. Adowa was not formerly the capital of Tigré, but has accidentally become so upon the accession of this governor, whose property, or paternal estate, lay in and about it. His mansion-house is not distinguished from any of the others in the town unless by its size; it is situated upon the top of the hill. The person who is Michael's deputy, in his absence, lives in it. It resembles a prison rather than a palace; for there are in and about it above three hundred persons in irons, some of whom have been there for twenty years, mostly with a view to extort money from them; and, what is the most unhappy, even when they have paid the sum of money which he asks, do not get their deliverance from his merciless hands; most of them are kept in cages like wild beasts, and treated every way in the same manner.