Page:Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile - In the Years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, and 1773 volume 3.djvu/220

198 Mahometans came to the Angrab to meet the caravan. They all knew of my coming perfectly, and I soon explained my situation. I had Janni's letters to Negadé Ras Mahomet, the chief of the Moors at Gondar, and principal merchant in Abyssinia, who was absent likewise with the army. But one of his brethren, a sagacious, open-hearted man, desired me not to be discouraged; that, as I had not put off my Moorish dress, I should continue it; that a house was provided for Mahomet Gibberti, and those that were with him, and that he would put me immediately into possession of it, where I might stay, free from any intercourse with the priests, till Petros or the Ras should return to Gondar. This advice I embraced with great readiness, as there was nothing I was so much afraid of as an encounter with fanatical priests before I had obtained some protection from government, or the great people in the country. After having concerted these measures, I resigned myself to the direction of my Moorish friend Hagi Saleh.

moved along the Angrab, having Gondar on our right situated upon a hill, and the river on our left, proceeding down till its junction with a smaller stream, called the Kahha, that joins it at the Moorish town. This situation, near running water, is always chosen by the Mahometans on account of their frequent ablutions. The Moorish town at Gondar may consist of about 3000 houses, some of them spacious and good. I was put in possession of a very neat one, destined for Mahomet Gibberti. Flour, honey, and such-like food, Mahometans and Christians eat promiscuously, and so far I was well situated. As for flesh, although there was abundance of it, I could not touch a bit of it, being killed by Mahometans, as that communion would have