truths and discourse in such a manner of the nature of the Air the Heavens and the Stars as if their residence had long been there For that the Air is colder upon the Mountains all Nations in their own Countries find by experience but that the Air is cold of it self and not warmed but by the repercussion of the Suns beams among the exhalations of the Earth is the opinion of other sage Philosophers which exhalations in the lower Region near the Earth rise more close and condens'd in the upper parts more thin and rarify'd so that tho the lower parts frie with heat high places freez the cool nature of the Air not suffering any alteration through the defect of heat Therefore the higher you ascend the Mountains of Ethiopia from the coast of the Red Sea the more temperate you shall feel the Air insomuch that as Tellezius witnesses in many Regions of Ethiopia the Summer heats are more mild then in Portugal so many degrees distant toward the North. Nay there are some Mountainous Countries as in Samen where the cold is more dreaded than the heat Nevertheless there falls none or very little Snow in those parts only a certain small sort of Hail sometimes covers the ground which at a distance looks like Snow It was a thing not known to Gregorie for as I Travelled with him over the Mountains of Tirol toward the end of September seeing some Snow that had fallen a little before crying out Haritz Haritz full of admiration he called it Meal From such a temper of the Air it follows that the Country must needs be healthy and consequently the Inhabitants sane and vivacious insomuch that some of them live to a hundred years of Age. Onely in Tigra toward the beginning of the Ethiopic Spring that is to say in the Months of September and October Feavers are very rise However this variety of the Air is the cause of most dreadful Thunders Which when Gregory describ'd he astonish'd his hearers For upon the rising of several Tempests altogether the Skie is of a sudden cover'd over with black and thick as it were Globes of smokie Clouds by and by the Thunder breaks forth on every side ratling continually with Lightning as incessantly flashing enough to amaze the most resolute and most accustom'd to the noise Their Rains are very violent powering from the Clouds not by drops but as it were in streams With those the torrents being swell'd rowle along with that rapid fury that they carry Trees and Stones and all things before ' em All their Rivers overflow and then the high ways being either covered with water or else all mirie and dirtie 't is a most tedious thing to Travel And this enduring three Months together renders their Winters very unpleasant Gregory describ'd the Ethiopian Winter to me in these words The Ethiopian Winters are not caus'd onely by the Rain which falls from the Skie for the Earth also opens her mouth and vomits up water There is a Fountain in every man's house if it stands low And therefore we never Build in low places but in high grounds So many and so great Rivers and Springs of water out of the Earth and such violent Rains are no where the like to be seen as in our Country This tempestuous weather is so troublesome and tedious to Forraigners that in a dispute which happen'd between an Abossine and an Egyptian about the excellency of their Countries when the first vaunted to the latter the natural fertilitie of Abessinia the temperateness of the Air their double Harvests and other benefits of the Country adding withall That the Egyptians cannot live without the assistance of Ethiopia in regard that Nilus fatten'd Egypt with the Mud of Ethiopia without which both Man and Beast would perish for want of Sustenance the Egyptian retorted upon the Abyssinian upbraiding him with the prodigious Showers the rapid Torrents the steep and rugged Mountains and the dreadful Thunders that render'd the Country so unpleasant upon which the Victory was allow'd on his side Nor does the season of the Winter keep the same Months nor the same Temperature in all places alike tho the situation may be the same for it is not only milder in some places sharper in others but also in different Months from our Climate Which was of old observ'd by (p) In the History of his Embassy some Collections out of which are to be seen in Bibliothec. Photii n. 3. p.m. 2. Nonnosus Ambassador from the Emperour Justinian to the King of the Axumites who travelling those Parts himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. From the City of the Adulites as far as Aüe the same Summer and Drouth affects the Air as with us From Aüe towards Axuma the Winter is very rigorous c. Gregory told me That the Coast of the Red Sea and all that two days Journey from the Shore to the Mountains of Ethiopia the Winter keeps its Station in November December and January as in Europe but they differ nothing in the Degrees of Latitude So that it is not always true what some (q) See the Notes upon Cluverius's Introduction to Geography l. 1. c. 5. and Aristot l. 2. de Meteorologic who without experience writes That the Heat and Cold do not exceed in regard of the Longitude but in regard of the Latitude Geographers have written That the Perioeci or those that dwell under the same Meridian have the same Winter and Summer Now what the Winter of that Coast is you may easily guess from the answer of Gregory who being ask'd upon a very sultry day whether it were not very hot in Germany made answer To day has been something hot Such is the Winter in Suaqena which is an Island upon that Coast Being ask'd concerning the Seasons of the Year he answer'd The Season Matzau the Season of Flowers or the Spring The Season Tzadai the Season of Harvest or Autumn The Season Hagai or the Summer The Season Crampt or Winter Thus he reckon'd the four Seasons But there is not the same reason for them nor the same benefits by them as with us nor could Gregory himself reconcile them with ours Matzau indeed may deservedly be call'd the Spring because it succeeds the Winter and covers the Fields with Grass and Flowers It begins upon a certain day of the Month that is upon the 25th of September But the Tzadai of the Ethiopians cannot be call'd properly Autumn as Gregory imagin'd for it is the second part of the year that succeeds the Spring and exhilarates the Husbandman with ripen'd Fruits and therefore ought more truly to be call'd Summer But how Hagai is to be interpreted is a question it is the third part of the year yet cannot justly be call'd Autumn in regard the Habessines are ignorant of any benefit they receive by it They get no Vintage in but are parch'd with extremity of Heat and therefore they oppose this hottest time of the year to the sharpest Cold of
Ropes Formerly those miserable Ethiopic Princes were here cag'd up in wild places in low Cottages among Shrubs and wild Cedars starv'd from all things else but Air and Earth as if they who were descended from a high Parentage were to be confind in a high and lofty Exile In Gojam as (y) In Mulurgia sua Univers T. 3. l. 9. c. 6. where instead of Iches Fays read Petrus Pays Kercher tells us from the Relation of Peter Pays there is a certain Rock so curiously hollow'd by Nature that afar off it resembles a Looking-Glass and over against it another on the top of which there is nothing that can be so softly whisper'd but may be heard a great way off and the reverberation of the sound is like the encouraging Ho up of Mariners Between these Mountains are immense Gulphs and dreadful Profundities which because the Sight cannot fathom Fancy takes them for Abysses whose bottoms Tellezius will have to be the Center of the Earth Nor did Gregory describe them otherwise than as places most dreadful and formidable to the Eye Levels are very rare the largest Plain is that in Dembea near the Lake Tzanicus about twenty Portugal Leagues in length and four or five broad A Region so Mountainous and so like to Switzerland may be look'd upon justly by all people as a most rude and unhusbanded Country but they that consider the benefits which the Habessines receive thereby will from the same reasons be drawn to an admiring Contemplation of Divine Providence For that stupendious height of their Mountains contemns the scorching heat which renders their Country the more inhabitable in those high places where the people breath a more serene Air. In the next place Heaven has thereby provided for their security so many inaccessible Mountains being like so many Castles which afford them not only Habitation but a safe defence against their Enemies For had it not been for those Fortresses of Nature they had been ruin'd long e're this by the Adelenses and the Gallans Moreover thorough all those Mountains you shall find most pleasant Springs of Water which are wanting in the Levels of the torrid Zone The reason of which we shall give you in another place CHAP. VII Of Metals and Minerals Abassia abounds in Metals and Minerals especially Gold which is found in the Sand of the Rivers and in Damota and Enarrea upon the Superficies of the Earth Silver they have not and yet not without Lead They neither know nor care to know what belongs to Metals Salt plentifully digg'd out of the Earth Gems they want They more esteem black Lead with which they colour their Eye-brows THat so many and so vast Mountains afford plenty of Metals and Minerals the Fathers of the Society attest And certainly 't is a thing easily credible that that part of the Earth lying under the fiercest and most maturing heat of the Sun cannot be without Metals and more especially Gold which is found in the shallows of Rivers polish'd and pure in great quantities about the bigness of a Tare or Vetch Whence it is conjectur'd that the Gold is brought to perfection in the neighbouring Mountains and carry'd away together with the Sand by the forces of the Stream Pliny affirms that sort of Gold to be the finest and most perfect Damota but more especially Enarrea enjoy this advantage it being the chiefest Tribute which they pay They are destitute of Silver whether it be that Nature denies them that benefit or that they know not how to dig it out and refine it For they have Lead which is said to be the Mother of Silver But they are altogether ignorant of the Minery Trade For the digging of Wells boaring of Mountains supporting of Mines with massy Timber hewing of Stones or forcing Rocks with Gunpowder or Fire to live in the dark sometimes hours sometimes days together and to be half strangled with Smoke and Damps to (z) Thus Pliny discourses concerning Minerals search the Vains of the Earth and examin the Secrets of Rocks are things altogether unsuitable to the Genius of the Habessines Rather they count it a piece of folly to pine after Minerals and heap up Riches to encourage the Turk to make War upon them They think themselves far more safe in Iron as being that with which Gold may be won And for Iron they have no occasion to delve for it in regard they find it in great plenty upon the Superficies of the Earth as P. Antonio Fernandez testifies Moreover in the Confines of Tigra and Angora from a place call'd the Land of Salt there (a) Concerning such kind of Salt see Pliny l. 31. c. 7. are natural Mountains of Salt from whence they supply themselves with inexhaustible quantities cutting it out of the sides of the Mountains in great pieces of a white and solid Substance In the Mountain it is soft and sliver'd off with little labour but in the Air it hardens From thence it is fetch'd by great numbers of Merchants who conveigh it away in Caravans which are call'd Cafila and vended through all the neighbouring Nations and Countries where it is a scarce Commodity Alphonsus Mendez the Patriarch writes That there is in another place a Mountain of Red Salt very useful in Physic So propitiously has Heaven compensated their want of Money with plenty of Salt which by virtue whereof as with ready Coyn in other places they purchase other necessaries Thus they abound in Salt which the Life of Man cannot want but they are destitute of other things that less conduce to the happiness of Human Being Nor do they desire those things of whose dazling Beauties and glittering Colours they are ignorant I mean Gems and Jewels rarely yet seen in Ethiopia whatever that same Trifler Valentinian Romances The Royal Diadem it self glitters only with counterfeit Jewels thinking it not worth their while to send their Salt or Gold to foreign and barbarous Nations to purchase true ones and admiring at our imprudence for expending our Money so idly They much more esteem those Minerals that conduce to the health and preservation of the Body chiefly among the rest Stibium or Black Lead which they in their Language call (b) A word well known in all the Eastern Languages from the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies Stibium from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fucavit or besmear'd with Fucus and whence the Greek word Collyrium as it were Cohollyrium seems deriv'd The Arabic word Elcohol still remains in the Spanish Language wherein there is a Proverb Elpolve de las ovejas Elcohol es para el Lobo The Dust which the Sheep raise is a Collyrium to quicken the Wolf's sight Cuehel or Cohol and believe it to be a great preserver of the Sight nor do they less esteem it for Ornament and to beautifie their Faces with it For being powder'd they mix it with Soot moisten'd and with a small Pencil which they call Blen besmear their Eye-brows
in mind of their duties in matters of Religion and ordinary Converse However the name of Homodei so well known in Italie is found among these People by the Name of Seb-Waamla which signifies Man and God The usual Names among the Women are Malacotavit Or Divine Wangelawit Or Evangelical Amataxos The Handmaid of Christ Romana Wark The Golden Pomgranat The Men have also several Names which are common with the Arabians and Copts as Bazen Abreha Atzbeha They have also some other Names which are peculiar among themselves as Susnejos or Susneus which are wonderfully corrupted and mistaken by our European Authors as when they write Sacinos and Socignos instead of Susneus CHAP. IV. Of the Domestick Oeconomie of the Habessines Their Marriages Dyet Cloathing Habitations and Burials Their Marriages Christian Polygamy lawful by the Civil Laws not by the Ecclesiastical Divorces Nuptial Ceremonies Benediction Sacerdotal Their Dyet raw Beef or half boyl'd and Herbs half concocted by the Cattle What Bread Their way of making Butter Their washing their Cloathes Their Drink Hydromel Ale Their Cloathing thin Very Parsimonious accustom'd to go Naked They Curl and anoint their Hair with Butter Mean Habitations The Kings Palaces Their manner of bewailing the Dead The Funeral Pomp of their Kings THe Habessines Marry with every one of their Wives after the Christian manner neither are they hindred by any Law of the Land from Marrying several though they are Prohibited by their Ecclesiastical Penalties as being contrary to the Sacred Canons and Institutions of the Christians and therefore they that Exercise Polygamie are not admitted to the Communion as we have already said For they are of that Opinion That whatever is not prejudicial to the Publick or to the security and Tranquillity of private Persons is not to be Prosecuted with secular Punishment Neither are they scrupulous in suing out Divorces assuming the same liberty to put away as to marry their Wives As for the particulars of their Nuptial Ceremonies they are not of that importance as to Merit a Relation nor are they the same in all Countries Those which Alvares recounts of the Nuptial Bed being brought forth and plac'd before the Doors of the House by Three of the Presbyters and then walking round it singing Hallelujas or the cutting off the Locks of the Couple to be Wedded for each to make an exchange they were altogether unknown to Gregory and that if it were the Custom any where so to do it was only as he said in some parts of Tygra but that the Sacerdotal Benediction was necessary to all Weddings he absolutely granted Their Diet is not only very homely but also far different from ours for they feed either upon raw Flesh or half boyl'd Alvares gives you an Example of the Governour of Hangot Angot-Ras who entertain'd Rodoric Limez at his Table with no other sort of Junkets then such mean Fare very loathsom to the Portuguess Embassadour for instead of Sauce they bring the Gall which pleases their vitiated Palates far better then Honey but what is worse than all this they covet as a daintie the half Concocted Grass and green Herbs which they find in the Maws of the Beasts which they kill and greedily devour those morsels having first season'd them with Pepper and Salt as if the Beasts better understood what Herbs were most wholsom then themselves a sort of Dyet which none of our Europeans will envy them Their Bread they bake upon the Embers made in the fashion of thin Pancakes which they call Apas We have already declared That in some of the Ethiopian Territories the People live all upon Grazing their Flocks and Herds are their only Riches they eat their Flesh and drink their Milk Thus that King and no King Jacob lurking in the recesses of the Rocks and Mountains always carry'd his living Kitchen and Cellar with him which were only three or four Goats at a time Where the Air is temperate they make excellent Butter and Cheese but in the violent hot Countries they want that Food by reason that the Excessive Heats hinder the Milk as well from thickning as turning Also their manner of Grinding is both very difficult and very laborious for they put the Grain into a dish and rub it round about with a wodden Pestel till it be all bruis'd afterwards they sift it and make Bread of the Flower this is properly the Maids and the Womens work so that you cannot compel the Servants to this sort of Labour but the Men wash their leathern or woollen Clothes if they have any themselves for Linnen is very scarce and indeed the general Coverings of their Nakedness are the Skins of their own Beasts Their Drink is somewhat more dainty and is the Glory and Consummation of all their Feasts for so far they still retain the Custom of many of the Ancients that as soon as the Table is clear'd they fall to drinking having always this Proverb in their mouths That it is the usual way to Plant first and then to Water they drink themselves up to a merry Pitch and till their Tongues run before their Wit and never give off till the Drink be all out They make excellent Hydromel by reason of their plenty of Honey which inebriates like Wine they call it Tzed they make it smaller for their Families mixing six parts of Wine with one of Water Another sort of Liquor they have of their Fruits whether an Invention of their own or that they learnt it from the Aegyptians they call it Tzal and it may be said to be a kind of Ale rather than Beer as being boyl'd without Hopps and therefore it will not keep it is white and sweet insomuch that our Ale was much more bitter to Gregories taste Their Apparel is no less mean and poor only the Princes wear Silk the Clergy and richer sort make use of Cotton the poorer sort half-naked cover themselves with Skins that hardly hide their privy Parts which is also common among some of the Nobility and Priesthood which by the Europeans would be lookt upon as a great Scandal to appear in the Church or the Chancel without Breeches However the more noble sort wear a kind of Breeches or rather Trouses down to their heels yet with such a frugality that the King is not asham'd of for from the Waste to the Knees so far as the cloak covers them they are only Linnen or else of some courser stuff and only that which appears below is of Silk nor are they concern'd though the other be seen as they sit or Mount their Horses The Boys and Girls go stark Naked which the heat of the Country may excuse yet Poverty is the main occasion till riper Years calls upon them to hide their Shame yet then having been so accustomed to go Naked they the less regard it But what they want in decent Habit they endeavour to supply in the Ornament of their Hair for you may safely say it is a full year
those Fountains and Spring-heads have been since discover'd so long and unsuccessfully sought for by the Ancients Athanasius Kircher has describ'd them from the Relation of Peter Pays who view'd them himself In the Kingdom of Gojam saith he and in the Western Parts thereof in the Province of Sabala which the Agawi inhabit are to be seen two round Spring-Heads very deep in a place somewhat rais'd the ground about it being quaggy and mershy nevertheless the Water does not spring forth there but issues from the foot of the Mountain About a Musquet Shot from thence toward the East the River begins to flow then winding to the North about the fourth part of a League it receives another River a little farther two more flowing from the East fall into it and soon after it enlarges it self with the addition of several other Streams About a days journey farther by the Relation of the same Peter it swallows up the River Jema then winding Westward some twenty Leagues it turns again to the East and plunges it self into a vast Lake This Relation differs not from what Gregory has discoursed to me only he particulariz'd the names of the Countries that perhaps were the more special Denominations of those places of which Sabala was the more general Name For as he related to me the Spring-head of Nile is in a certain Land call'd Secut upon the top of Dengla which perhaps is the name of a Mountain He also affirm'd that it had five Spring-heads reckoning in the Heads of other Rivers which have no particular name and are therefore taken for the Nile But it passes through the Lake Tzanicum preserving the colour of its own Waters like the Rhosne running through the Lake Lemann and the Rhine through Acronius or the Lake De Zell Then winding to the South it washes on the left hand the principal Kingdoms of Habessinia Bagemdra Amhara Waleka Shewa Damota and takes along the Rivers of those Countries Bashlo Tzohha Kecem Jema Roma and Wancit Then on the right hand embracing Gojam its Native Country almost like a Circle and swell'd with the Rivers of that Region Maga Abaja Aswari Temci Gult and Tzul it turns again to the West as it were bidding farewel to its Fountains and with a prodigious mass of ramass'd Rivers leaving Habessinia upon the right hand rolls to the North through several thirsty Nations and sandy Deserts to enfertile Egypt with its Inundations and there makes its way through several mouths into the Sea For the more certain Demonstration of the Truth it will be of particular moment to insert the Relation of Gregory himself perhaps the first that was ever made public by an Ethiopian Epist d. 20. Octob. 1657. The Course of Nile is like a Circle it encompasses Gojam but so that it never returns back to its Head making directly to Sennar And therefore Gojam lies always upon the right hand of Nile but all the other Kingdoms of Ethiopia as well those that lye near as those at a distance remain still upon the left As it flows along it takes in all the Rivers great and small with several Torrents as well Foreign as Habessinian which by that general Tribute acknowledge him their King who having thus muster'd together all the Waters of Ethiopia jocundly takes his leave and proceeds on his Journey like a Hero according to the Command of his Creator to drench the Fields of thirsty Egypt and quench the drowth of Thousands The Spring-head of this famous River first shews it self in a certain Land which is called Secut upon the top of Dengla near Gojam West of Bagemdra Dara the Lake Tzana and Bada Rising thus it hastens with a direct course Eastward and so enters the Lake of Dara and Bed as it were swimming over it Passing from thence it flows between Gojam and Bagemdra but leaving them upon the right and left speeds directly toward Amhara Having touch'd the Confines of Amhara he turns his Face toward the West and girdles Gojam like a Circle but so that Gojam lies always upon the right hand of it Having past the Limits of Amhara it washes the Confines of Walaka and so on to the extream bounds of Mugara and Shewa Then it slides between Bizama and Gonga and descends into the Country of the Shankelites Whence he winds to the right hand and leaves by degrees the Western Clime upon the left hand to visit the Kingdom of Sennar But before he get thither he meets with two great Rivers that plunge themselves into his Streams coming from the East of which one is call'd Tacazè that falls out of Tigra and the other Guangue that descends from Dembea After he has taken a view of the Kingdom of Sennar away he travels to the Country of Dengula and so comes to the Kingdom of Nubia and thence turns to the right hand in order to his intended Voyage for Alexandria and comes to a certain Country which is call'd Abrim where the Stream is unnavigable by reason of the Cliffs and Rocks after which he enters Egypt Sennar and Nubia are seated upon the shore of Nile toward the West so that they may drink of his Waters besides that he guards their Eastern Limits as far as he approaches near them But our People and Travellers from Sennar after they have cross'd Nubia quit the River Nile leaving it upon the right hand toward the East and ride through a Desert of 15 days journey upon Camels where neither Tree nor Water but only Sand is to be seen but then they meet with it again in the Country of Riffe which is the Upper Egypt where they either take Boat or travel a foot in Company with the Stream But as to what he wrote concerning the flowing of great and small Rivers into Nile he explains himself in these words All great Rivers and smaller Torrents flow into Nile excepting only two The one is call'd Hanazo which rises in Hangota and the other Hawash which runs near Dawara and Fatagara But as if this had not been enough he goes on with a farther Explanation in another Epistle as follows But whereas I told you in a Description of Nile that all the Rivers of Ethiopia flow'd into it except two I am not to be understood as if I spoke of all Ethiopia For those Rivers that are upon the Borders of the Circuit of Ethiopia which are near the Ocean they fall into the Sea every one in their distinct Regions Now the Countries adjoyning to the Ocean are these Canbat Guraghè Enaria Zandera Wed Waci Gaci and some others The Native Country of Nile being thus discover'd the cause of his Inundation is manifest For most of the Countries under the Torrid Zone when the Sun returns into the Winter Signs are wash'd as we have said with immoderate Showers So that the prodigious mass of Waters that randevouzes from all parts cannot be contain'd within his Channel and therefore when it comes into the Levels of Egypt