That This Prodigious Quantity Of Water Hath No Other Issue Or Gathering-Place Excepting The Nile; As Towards The Red Sea The Country Is Entirely Skirted By Very High Mountains.

Hence that river must necessarily swell prodigiously and go beyond its ordinary bounds, as unable to contain such vast quantities of water, and overflows therefore both in Egypt and the other lands through which it passes.

And as the territories of Egypt are the most plain of these, of necessity the overflowing there must be the more copious, as the river has there more scope and freedom to spread out its waters than in the high and mountainous lands of Abyssinia. Now, it is manifest that the inundations of the Nile in Egypt always begin when the sun is in the summer solstice, which is in June, while in July the river increases in greater abundance, and in August, when the rains diminish in Abyssinia, the river decreases by similar degrees to its former increase. Hence the manifest cause of the increase of the Nile is from the great and continual rains that fall in Abyssinia during the months of June and July. I was myself in Massua in the month of June and part of July, where I saw great storms of thunder and rain; and we saw within the continent great and constant black clouds; though the Abyssinians said what we saw was little in comparison of what it was in the inland country. We likewise know that the months of June and July are the winter season at the Cape of Good Hope and all the coast of Africa, where the rains are continual. I was likewise told that the Nile formed many islands, especially one exceedingly large, in which was a great and rich city; which on due consideration must be the Island of Meroe. They told me also that on this great island, and all through the river, there were great numbers of fierce and pestiferous animals, which doubtless must be crocodiles. Enquiring if the river in a certain place fell from such a height, that with the noise of the fall those who inhabited the neighbouring towns were born deaf; they said that certainly in one place the river did fall over a great rock with a prodigious noise, but had no such effects.

As an extended account of the manners and customs of the Abyssinians would interfere with this journal, I must touch them only shortly, though most worthy of being known; more especially the causes of the overthrow and ruin of this empire in these our own days.

Atini Tingill, afterwards named David, Prete Jani or Emperor of Ethiopia, reigning in the year 1530, became so cruel and tyrannized so much over his subjects that he incurred their universal hatred. At that time Gradamet, king of Zeyla, made war on Abyssinia, encouraged by the great enmity of the people against their sovereign, and perhaps secretly invited by some of the great lords of the kingdom. On entering into Abyssinia, and having reduced some towns and districts, Gradamet divided liberally the spoils among his warriors, among whom he had 300 Turkish arquebusseers, who formed the main strength of his army. He likewise enfranchised all the inhabitants of the towns through which he passed, exempting the inhabitants from the taxes and impositions they had to pay to their sovereign, by which he gained to his party all the common people, and even many of the principal nobles of the kingdom[281].

[Footnote 281: Of the cruelties of David, several examples are given in the journal of Alvarez, such as the death of two Betudetes, the chief justice, two Tigre mahons or governors of Tigre, and four Barnagassoes or governors of the maritime country, in six years. This disposition increased with his years, and perhaps he intended to force some alteration in the religion of the country; which indeed sufficiently appears by his sending Alvarez and Bermudez as his ambassadors to the Pope. - Purchas.]

King David sent an army against the king of Zeyla; but when the Turks began to shoot their calivers or arquebusses, among the Abyssinians, by which some of them were slain, they were seized with an universal panic and took flight. Proud of this victory, the king of Zeyla overrun the country, accompanied by a great number of Abyssinians, and advanced into that part of the south, towards Magadoxa and Melinda, where the vast treasures of the former kings of Abyssinia were secured on the top of an almost inaccessible mountain. Seeing every day the Abyssinians revolting to the Moors, David gathered a new army with which be marched against Gradamet and joined battle, but was again completely defeated, chiefly, by means of the Turkish musqueteers: On which David withdrew to a strong post on a mountain, where in a few days he died, in the year 1539. After this great victory Gradamet marched immediately to the mountain where the treasure was deposited, which he assaulted and took, gaining possession of the largest treasure that ever was known in the world. On the death of David, those of the nobles who had continued to adhere to him, elected his eldest son in his stead, who was a young man under age; and that nothing might be wanting to assist the ruin of the kingdom, already almost irrecoverably reduced by the Moors, another party of the nobles appointed a different son of the late king to succeed to the throne. In this hopeless condition of his affairs, the unfortunate youth, having to contend at the same time against foreign invasion and domestic division, withdrew for personal safety to the mountain of the Jews.

In the interior of Abyssinia there is a very large and high mountain which can only be ascended by one very difficult path, and on its summit there is a large plain, having abundance of springs, with numerous cattle, and even some cultivation. The inhabitants of this mountain observe the law of Moses.

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