They had met a small body of Habashes on the road, who attempted to turn them back, and these men loaded their rifles as a menace. They were probably soldiers of the King of Godjam, but as the Abyssinian troops wear no uniform it is difficult to distinguish those who are “in the service” from those who are not. As among the Boers, the combatant can at any time become a non-combatant if he has time to hide his rifle and cartridges. My friends took no notice of the hostile demonstration and rode on. Nothing came of it. Probably the threat was intended to extort money. Usually we were well received, and I attribute this to the sound judgment of our chief, who took care to leave the villages near which we camped a little richer than we found them. The bridge is a most interesting relic of the times of Portuguese ascendency in Abyssinia. I am indebted to Dupuis for permission to reproduce his photograph of it. The following account of its construction is taken from Dr. Johnson’s translation of Father Jerome Lobo’s[88] “Voyage to Abyssinia.” I quote the passage _in extenso_ because it contains a reference to a question which has been much discussed, though it has merely an academic interest, viz. whether Lake Tsana, or the river which is its principal tributary, should be regarded as the true source of the Blue Nile. “The Nile, which the natives call Abavi” (Abai), “that is the father of waters, rises first in Sacala, a province of the kingdom of Goiama” (Godjam), “which is one of the most fruitful and agreeable of all the Abyssinian dominions. This province is inhabited by a nation of the Agaus, who call themselves Christians, but by daily intermarriages they have allied themselves to the Pagan Agaus, and adopted all their customs and ceremonies. These two nations are very numerous, fierce, and unconquerable, inhabiting a country full of mountains, which are covered with woods, and hollowed by nature into vast caverns, many of which are capable of containing several numerous families and hundreds of cows. To these recesses the Agaus betake themselves when they are driven out of the plain, where it is almost impossible to find them and certain ruin to pursue them. This people increases extremely, every man being allowed so many wives as he hath hundreds of cows; and it is seldom that the hundreds are required to be complete.