plit into deep chasms, or cavities, by the heat of the fun, fo that nothing can be more dangerous than the riding..

As foon as the elephant is flain, they cut the whole flesh off his bones into thongs, like the reins of a bridle, and hang thefe, like feftoons, upon the branches of trees, till they become perfectly dry, without falt, and they then lay them by for their provifion in the season of the rains.

There now remained but two elephants of those that had been discovered, which were a fhe one with a calf. The Agageer would willingly have let these alone, as the teeth of the female are very small, and the young one is of no fort of value, even for food, its flefh fhrinking much upon drying. But the hunters would not be limited in their fport. The people having obferved the place of her retreat, thither they eagerly followed. She was very foon found, and as foon lamed by the Agageers; but when they came to wound her with the darts, as every one did in their turn, to their very great furprise, the young one which had been suffered to escape unheeded and unpurfued, came out from the thicket apparently in great anger, running upon the horses and men with all the violence, it was mafter of. Mr. Bruce was amazed, and as much as ever he was, upon fuch an occasion afflicted, at seeing the great affection of the little animal defending its wounded mother, heedless of its own life or fafety. He therefore cried to them for God's fake to fpare the mother, though it was then too late; and the calf had made feveral rude attacks upon Mr. Bruce, which he avoided without difficulty; but he fays he is happy to this day, in the reflection that he did not strike it. At laft, making one of its attacks upon Ayto Engedan, it hurt him a little on the leg; upon which he thrust it through with his lance, as others did after, and it then fell dead before its wounded mother, whom it had fo affectionately defended.

"Here (Mr. Bruce fays) is an example of a beast, a young one too, poffeffing abstracted fentiments to a very high degree. By its flight on the first appearance of the hunters, it is plain it apprehended danger to itself, it alfo reflected upon that of its mother, which was the cause of its return to her affistance.

Ff

fiftance. This affection or duty, or let us call it any thing we please, except instinct, was stronger than the fear of danger; and it must have conquered that fear by reflection before it returned, when it refolved to make its best and last efforts, for it never attempted to fly afterwards."

Mr. Bruce and his party then fought about for the buffaloes and rhinoceroses; but though there was plenty of both in the neighbourhood, they could not find them; their noise and shooting in the morning having probably scared them away. One rhinoceros was only seen by a fervant. They returned in the evening to a great fire, and lay all night under the fhade of trees.

The next morning they were on horfeback by the dawn of day in fearch of the rhinoceros, many of which they had heard make a very deep groan and cry as the morning approached; feveral of the Agageers then joined them, and after they had fearched about an hour in the very thickest part of the wood, one of them rushed out with great violence, croffing the plain towards a wood of canes that was about two miles distance. But though he run, or rather trotted, with furprising speed, considering his bulk, he was, in a very little time, transfixed with thirty or forty javelins; which so confounded him, that he left his purpose of going to the wood, and ran into a deep hole, ditch, or ravine, a cul de fac, without outlet, breaking above a dozen of the javelins as he entered. Here they thought he was caught as in a trap, for he had scarce room to turn; when a fervant, who had a gun, standing directly over him, fired at his head, and the animal fell immediately, to all appearance dead. All thofe on foot now jumped in with their knives to cut him up, and they had scarce begun, when the animal recovered fo far as to rife upon his knees; happy then was the man that escaped first; and had not one of the Agageers, who was himself engaged in the ravine, cut the finew of the hind leg as he was retreating, there would have been a very forrowful account of the foot hunters that day.

After having dispatched him, Mr. Bruce was curious to fee what wound the fhot had given, which had operated fo violently upon fo huge an animal ; and he doubted not it was in

the

the brain. But it had ftruck him no where but upon the point of the foremost horn, of which it had carried off above an inch; and this occafioned a concuffion that had stunned him for a minute, till the bleeding had recovered him. Mr. Bruce preferved the horn from curiosity, and has it now by him.

They had not gone far before a wild boar arose between Mr. Bruce and Ayto Engaden, which our traveller immedi ately killed with his javelin. This was the fport Mr. Bruce had been many years used to in Barbary, and was infinitely more dextrous at it than any of the prefent company; this put him more upon a par with his companions, who had not failed to laugh at him, upon his horse's refusal to carry him 'near either to the elephant or rhinoceros.

Ammonios was a man of approved courage and conduct, and had been in all the wars of Ras Michael, and was placed about Ayto Confu, to lead the troops, curb the presumption, and check the impetuofity of that youthful warrior. He was tall, and aukwardly made; flow in fpeech and motion, fo much as even to excite ridicule; about fixty years of age, and more corpulent than the Abyffinians generally are; in a word, as pedantic and grave in his manner as it is poffible to exprefs. He spent, his whole leifure time in reading the fcripture, nor did he willingly difcourfe of any thing else. He had been bred a foot foldier; and though he rode as well as many of the Abyffinians, yet, having long ftirrup leathers, with iron rings at the end of them, into which he put his naked toe only instead of stirrups, he had no ftrength or agility on horfeback, nor was his bridle fuch as could command his horfe to stop, or wind and turn sharply among trees, though he might make a tolerable figure on a plain.

A boar, roufed on our right, had wounded a horse and a footman of Ayto Confu, and then efcaped. Two boffaloés were found by those on the right, one of which wounded a horfe likewife. Ayto Confu, Engedan, Fuebra, Mariam, and Mr. Bruce killed the other with equal fhare of merit, without being in any fort of danger. All this was in little more than an hour, when their sport seemed to be at the best; their horfes were confiderably blown, not tired, and though they

were

were beating homewards, still they were looking very keenly for more game. Ammonios was on the left among the bushes, and fome large, beautiful, tall spreading-trees, clofe on the banks of the river Bedowi, which stands there in pools. Whether the buffaloe found Ammonios, or Ammonios the buffaloe, is what they could never get him to explain to them; but he had wounded the beaft flightly in the buttock, which, in return, had gored his horfe, and thrown both him and it to the ground. Luckily, however, his cloak had fallen off, which the buffaloe tore in pieces, and employed himself for a minute with that and with the horse, but then left them, and followed the man as foon as he faw him rife and run. Ammonios got behind one large tree, and from that to another ftill larger. The buffaloe turned very aukwardly, but kept clofe in purfuit; and there is no doubt he would have worn out their companion, who was not used to such quick motion. Ayto Engedan, who was near him, and might have affisted him, was laughing, ready to die at the droll, figure a man of Ammonio's grave carriage made, running and skipping about naked, with a swiftness he had never practised all his life before and Engedan continued calling to Confu to partake of the diverfion.

The moment Mr. Bruce heard his repeated cries, he galloped out of the bushes to the place where he was, and could not help laughing at his ridiculous figure, very attentive to the beast's motions, which feemed to dodge with great addrefs, and keep to his adversary with the utmost obftinacy. As foon as Engedan faw Mr. Bruce, he cried, "Yagoube! for the love of Chrift! for the love of the blessed virgin ! don't interfere till Confu comes up." Confu immediately arrived, and laughed more than Engedan, but did not offer to interfere; on the contrary, he clapped his hands, and criWell done, Amimonios," fwearing he never faw fo equal a match in his life. The unfortunate Ammonios had been driven from tree to tree, till he had got behind one within a few yards of the water; but the brush-wood upon the banks, and his attention to the buffalo, hindered him from feeing how far it was below him. Nothing could be more ridiculous than to fee him holding the tree with both

ed,

his hands, peeping first one way, and then another, to fee by which the beast would turn. And well he might be on his guard; for the animal was abfolutely mad, toffing up the ground with his feet both before and behind. "Sir, (faid Mr. Bruce, to Ayto Confu) this will be but an ugly joke to night, if we bring home that man's corpfe, killed in the very midst of us, while we were looking on." Saying, this, he parted at a canter behind the trees, crying to Ammonios to throw himself into the water, when he should strike the beast; and feeing the buffaloe's head turned from Mr. Bruce, at full speed, he ran the spear into the lower part of his belly, through his whole inteftines, till it came out above a foot on the other fide, and there he left it with a view to hinder the buffaloe from turning. It was a spear which, though finall in the head, had a strong, tough, seasoned fhaft, which did not break by ftriking it against the trees and bushes, and it pained and im peded the animal's motions, til! Ammonios quitting the tree, dafhed through the bushes with fome difficulty, and threw himself into the river. But here a danger occurred that Mr. Bruce had not forefeen. The pool was very deep, and Ammonios could not swim; fo that though he escaped from the buffalo, he would infallibly have been drowned, had he not caught hold of some frong roots of a tree fhooting out of the bank; and there he lay in perfect safety from the enemy till the fervants went round, and brought him out of the pool on the further fide.

In the mean time, the buffalo, mortally wounded, feeing his enemy had efcaped, kept his eyes intent upon the hunters, who were about forty yards from him, walking backwards towards the company, with intent to turn fuddenly upon the nearest horfe; when Ayto Confu ordered two men with guns to fhoot him through the head, and he inftantly fell. The two they firft killed were females: this last was a bull, and one of the largest, confeffedly, that had ever been seen. Though not fat, Mr. Bruce supposes he weighed nearer fifty than forty ftone. His horns from the root, following the line of their curve, were about fifty-two inches, and nearly, nine where thickeft in the circumference. They were flat, not round. Ayto Confu ordered the head to be cut off, and cleared

Ff2