After travelling till one o'clock in the morning, they reached a small village near that dangerous ford on the Nile which, with the king's army, Bruce had before passed with so much difficulty. They there found some of the Galla, commanded by a robber called the Jumper. Bruce next morning waited upon this personage, who was quite naked, except a towel about his loins. When Bruce entered this hero was at his toilet: in other words, he was rubbing melted tallow on his arms and body, and twining in his hair the entrails of an ox, some of which hung like a necklace round his throat. Bruce paid his respects; but, overcome with the perfume of blood and carrion, escaped as soon as possible from his presence. At the village of Maitsha Bruce was informed that such was the dread these people entertained of the smallpox, if it made its appearance in a village the custom was at once to surround the house, set fire to it, and burn both it and its inhabitants. After passing the Assar river they entered the province of Goutto, where they found the people richer and better lodged than in the province of Maitsha. The whole country is full of large and beautiful cattle of all colours, and is finely shaded with the acacia vera, or Egyptian thorn, the tree which, in the sultry parts of Africa, produces the gum-arabic. Beneath these trees were growing wild oats, of such a prodigious height and size that they are capable of concealing both a horse and his rider: some of the stalks were little less than an inch in circumference, and they have, when ripe, the appearance of small canes. The soil is a fine, black garden mould; and Bruce supposes that the oat is here in its original state, and that it is degenerated with us. With these magnificent oats before him, Bruce could not resist cooking some oat-cakes, after the fashion of Scotland; but his companions, regarding these dainties with all the disdain of a Dr. Johnson, declared that they were "bitter; that they burned their stomachs, and made them thirsty." Though the Galla guides paid but little attention to Bruce, it was curious to observe the respect they all showed to Fasil's horse. Some gave him handfuls of barley, while others, with more refined knowledge of the world, courted his favour "by respectfully addressing him." After passing several streams, they came to the cataract or cascade of the Assar, which runs into the Nile. This river is about eighty yards broad, and the fall is about twenty feet. The stream entirely covers the rock over which it is precipitated, and in solemn magnificence rushes down with irresistible violence and force.