Page:Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile - In the Years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, and 1773 volume 4.djvu/306

 divers signs, which we could not, neither did we endeavour to understand. Another shot, aimed at the trees above them, shewed they were still within our reach, upon which they dispersed, or fat down among the bushes, for we saw them no more, till pitching our tent upon the plain below two of their villages; it seemed they were uneasy, for they had dispatched a man naked, and without arms, who, standing upon the rock, cried out in the language of Tigré, that he wanted to come to us. This I absolutely refused, that he might not fee the smallness of our number, crying out to him to get farther off, or we would instantly shoot him. There was no occasion to repeat the admonition. From the rock where he stood, he slid down like an eel, and appeared again at a considerable distance, still making a sign of wanting to speak with us.

While resting on the banks of the river Mogetch, we had been overtaken by two men, and two women, who were driving two loaded asses, and were going to Tcherkin; they had desired leave to keep company with us, for fear of danger on the road. I had two Abyssinian servants, but they were not yet come up, attending one of the baggage mules that was lame, as they said; but I believe, rather busied with some engagements of their own in the villages. We were obliged then to have recourse to one of these stranger women, who understood the language of Tigré, and undertook readily to carry our message to the stranger, who was still very busy making signs from behind a tree, without coming one step nearer.