Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile, Volume 2 (of 5): In the years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772 and 1773 — John Shaqi
Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile, Volume 2 (of 5): In the years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772 and 1773Bruce, James
History
Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile, Volume 2 (of 5): In the years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772 and 1773
Bruce, James
Egypt -- Description and travel; Ethiopia -- Description and travel; Ethiopia -- History; Natural history -- Ethiopia; Nile River
The king, well informed of what had passed, decamped immediately from
the station where he was, exceedingly irritated; and, having passed
the great river called Aco, he took post in the town of Marmagab;
and the next day, dividing his army, he sent two bodies by different
routes into the enemy’s territories, with a strict command to leave
nothing undestroyed that had the breath of life; he himself, with the
third division, burning and laying waste the whole country before him,
proceeded straight to the place where he heard the chiefs of Adel were
assembling an army. There he found some troops, mostly infantry, who
kept a good countenance, and seemed perfectly prepared and disposed
to engage him. But an immense multitude of useless people covered the
plain, old men, women, and children, with the parents, wives, and
families of those he had already slain; and these were determined, with
the remnant of their countrymen, to conquer this invader, or to perish.
The king, upon perceiving this strange mixture, halted for a time in
great surprise and astonishment. He could not penetrate into the motive
of assembling such an army; and sending a party of horse, as it were,
to disperse them, he found everywhere a stout resistance; soldiers
well provided with swords and shields, and a multitude of archers, who
rained showers of arrows upon him, while the women, with clubs, poles,
stakes, and stones, damped the ardour of his soldiers, who, when they
first charged, scarcely expected resistance. The king, seeing the
battle every minute become more doubtful, and having but few troops,
began to repent that he had weakened his army by detachments; he
instantly dispatched orders to them to advance, and fall upon the enemy
in the nearest direction possible. At the same time, he himself made an
extraordinary effort with his horse, but all in vain; and he found, on
every side, people who presented themselves willingly to death, but who
would not quit their station while they had power to defend themselves
in it.
Conspicuous above all these for his dress, his youth, his many acts
of valour, and his graceful figure, was the young king of Wypo, who,
encouraging his troops, presented himself wherever Amda Sion was in
person. The remarkable resistance that this young prince made, soon
drew the attention of the king of Abyssinia; who, sheathing his
sword, took a bow in his hand, and, as my historian says, choosing the
broadest arrow he could find, struck this young hero through the middle
of his neck, so that, half being cut through, his head inclined to one
shoulder, and soon after he fell dead among his horse’s feet.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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