Page:Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile - In the Years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, and 1773 volume 3.djvu/418

394 after this the glass went chearfully about; there was excellent red wine, but strong, of the nature of cote-roti, brought from Karoota, which is the wine country, about six miles south-east from the place where we then were; good new brandy; honey-wine, or hydromel, and a species of beer called Bouza, both of which were fermented with herbs, or leaves of trees, and made very heady; they are disagreeable liquors to strangers. Our kind landlady, who never had quitted her sofa, pressed about the glass in the very briskest manner, reminding us that our time was short, and that the drum would presently give the signal for striking the tents. For my part, this weighed exceedingly with me the contrary way to her intentions, for I began to fear I should not be able to go home, and I was not prepared to go on with the army; besides, it was indispensibly necessary to see both the king and Ras Michael, and that I by no means chose to do when my presence of mind had left me; I therefore made my apology to Ozoro Esther, by a message delivered by one of her women, and slipt out of the tent to wait upon the king.

to put on my most sedate appearance, that none of my companions in the king's tent should see that I was affected with liquor; tho' intoxication in Abyssinia is neither uncommon nor a reproach, when you are not engaged in business or attendance. I therefore went on as composedly as possible, without recollecting that I had already advanced near a hundred yards, walking on that forbidden precinct or avenue between the king's tent and Ras Michael's, where nobody interrupted me. The case with which I proceeded, among such a crowd and bustle, soon