My memolagee, on the occasion of this visit was, the gunpowder, which, although Tinta had carried it in previously, with the written account of the mode of preparing it, had been returned to Walderheros, so that I might deliver it in person. The usual Arab word “_kaphanter_,” did duty for “How do you do?” and, disfigured as the countenance of the monarch is by one sightless orb, which is more striking from its mottle pearly hue, contrasting with the dark brown colour of his face, still, I consider, the expression of the monarch’s features to be pleasing and good-natured. He received the bottle containing the gunpowder, and uncorking it, poured out a little into the palm of his hand, and examined it attentively, and evidently with the eye of a man of business. Sahale Selassee, in fact, is particularly interested in the production of a good article of the kind, as, could he command a good supply of gunpowder, he would, I am convinced, greatly extend his conquests. After some examination, he pronounced it to be genuine; and I then found that he questioned, or at least, suspected, that it might he adulterated. A previous traveller had attempted to practise upon the Negoos, by representing as having been made in Shoa, some gunpowder he had brought with him from Europe, and who had been detected by the knowledge of a little fact, which it had been presumed, that the clever monarch was not aware of. The saltpetre obtained in Shoa, although very plentiful, abounds with another salt, that not decomposing by explosion leaves a residium of white globules which, besides fouling the barrels of the guns, deteriorates, considerably, the exploding effects of the powder; so much so, that an ordinary charge for a common musket, is two or three large handsful, and it is nothing unusual to see the ram-rod, after loading, projecting twelve, or even eighteen inches beyond the muzzle. The presence of this salt occasions the powder to be of a very light grey colour, not unlike wood-ashes. From not possessing any chemical tests, I was unable to decide its mineral character, but I supposed it to be the nitrate of soda.