For several days I continued to apply closely to the study of the Amharic language. My fever paroxysms on alternate days, became gradually less violent, and my simple fare and regular habits whilst living in Aliu Amba, seemed to promise the re-establishment of my health. The only thing I dreaded was the continual wet weather, which had now set in decidedly. In Shoa the rains commence in the month of June, Messrs. Isenberg and Krapf say about the 21st, and from the long residence of those gentlemen in Abyssinia, they must be considered very good authority. This year, the first rain that fell was on the 7th of July, but this was an extraordinary irregularity, for which the inhabitants could only account by referring it to the presence of the “Gypt sowitsh;” as subsequently, when it came down in greater quantities than they desired, and continued for a still more extraordinary long season. This evil was also charged to their unlucky visitors, many old monks having denounced the appearance of the white men as being the threatening harbinger of some coming evil. On making some inquiries respecting the commencement of the rainy season, Walderheros and others, whom I questioned, stated the first day was generally considered to be St. Michael’s-day, the eighteenth of June, when the King distributes the yearly clothing to his courtiers and slaves. This custom may, in some measure, be determined by the commencement of the rains, and in that case the observation of the natives differs but slightly from those of the English missionaries. A severe thunder storm, attended by two distinct shocks of an earthquake, at an interval of a few seconds, ushered in the first heavy fall of rain. No very serious consequences resulted; a few rocks were detached from the heights above, blocking up the narrow road to Ankobar in some places, and in others, ploughing deep channels through the young green crops. A few days previously to this convulsion, the town of Ankobar, and the ridge on each side of it, had been enveloped in clouds, that hung low down the precipitous cliffs like immensely large festooned curtains, which were now raised, and again lowered, as the morning, mid-day, or afternoon sun acted differently upon the temperature of the atmosphere.