Tinta came very soon after, and with him, a learned scribe, who had been desired by the Negoos to watch the proceedings, and mark the proportionate amounts of saltpetre, charcoal, and sulphur, I used. The scales were produced, and then it was discovered there were no weights, but this difficulty I soon got over by employing bullets, and having duly apportioned the necessary amount of each ingredient, they were thrown together into the largest mortar, with water sufficient to make a stiff paste. A second pounding match now commenced, for to do the business effectually, I divided the mass into three portions, which I placed in separate mortars, and set as many couples at work again. The constant fear, that the whole party was now in, was most ludicrous. I was scarcely permitted to sit a moment--here, I was wanted--there, I must go and look, and the other mortar would, perhaps, be actually deserted; and all arose from a suspicion that an explosion would take place; water was continually being added, and the least approach to friableness frightened the workmen, as if a hot cinder was about to be thrown into a barrel of dry gunpowder. However, I managed to keep them to their guns until sunset, when they were discharged, without any casualty, from the dangerous duty; for which, I don’t know, if the Negoos has not rewarded some of them for military service. After Tinta, scribe, and all were gone, then my anxious moments came as to my success. A small quantity being taken out of the mortar, was placed upon paper near the fire, and soon drying, Walderheros had the immortal honour of firing the first sample, which flashed off in the most approved manner, much to the delight of Wallata Gabriel, and Goodaloo, and in fact, of us all, and more especially of myself, as I least expected it. _August 9._--Tinta was at my house, as soon as it was light, and as I had put the evening before a small portion of the damp powder in the fragment of a jar, and placed it among the warm ashes of the hearth, sufficient for two charges, was quite dry and ready for proofing when he came. I soon loaded my double-barrelled carabine, and having examined the nipples of the locks, covered them with caps. The shoulder-bone of an ox was our make-shift target, and each taking a shot at the distance of about forty yards, both of us were successful in perforating it with the balls.