Page:Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile - In the Years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, and 1773 volume 3.djvu/148

128 calm I resolved to take advantage of, and to set out immediately for Gondar. But the 17th of January was now at hand, on which the Abyssinians celebrate the feast of the Epiphany with extraordinary rejoicings, and as extraordinary ceremonies, if we believe what their enemies have said about their yearly repetition of baptism. This I was resolved to verify with my own eyes; and as Alvarez, chaplain to the embassy from Don Emanuel, king of Portugal, to king David III. says he was likewise present at it, the public will judge between two eye-witnesses which is likeliest to be true, when I come to give an account of the religious rites of this people. Adowa is in lat. 14° 7′ 57″ north.

the 17th, we set out from Adowa, resuming our journey to Gondar; and, after passing two small villages Adega Net, and Adega Daid, the first about half a mile on our left, the second about three miles distant on our right, we decamped at sun set near a place called Bet Hannes, in a narrow valley, at the foot of two hills, by the side of a small stream.

the 8th, in the morning, we ascended one of these hills, through a very rough stony road, and again came into the plain, wherein stood Axum, once the capital of Abyssinia, at least as it is supposed. For my part, I believe it to have been the magnificent metropolis of the trading people, or Troglodyte Ethiopians called properly Cushites, for the reason I have already given, as the Abyssinians never built any city, nor do the ruins of any exist at this day in the whole country. But the black, or Troglodyte part of it, called in the language of scripture Cush, in many places