In the morning early, I was surprised at the arrival of a young nobleman, lately made one of his bed-chamber, with fifty light horse. As I was satisfied that leaving Abyssinia, without parade, as privately as possible, was the only way to pass through Sennaar, and had therefore insisted upon none of my friends accompanying me, I begged to decline this escort; assigning for my reason, that, as the country between this and Ras el Feel belonged first to the Iteghé, and then to Ayto Confu, none of the inhabitants could possibly injure me in passing. It took a long time to settle this, and it was now, as I have said, one o'clock before we set out by the west side of Debra Tzai, having the mountain on our right hand. From the top of that ascent, we saw the plain and flat country below, black, and, in its appearance, one thick wood, which some authors have called lately, the Shumeta[16], or Nubian forest. But of the meaning of Shumeta I profess myself entirely ignorant; no such word occurring, as far as I know, in any language spoken in these countries. All the disasters which I had been threatened with in the course of that journey, which I had thus begun, now presented themselves to my mind, and made, for a moment, a strong impression upon my spirits. But it was too late to draw back, the dye was cast, for life or for death; home was before me, however distant; and if, through the protection of Providence, I should be fortunate enough to arrive there, I promised myself both ease and the applause of my country, and of all unprejudiced men of sense and learning in Europe, for having, by my own private efforts alone, compleated a discovery, which had, from early ages, defied the address, industry, and courage of all the world. Having, by these reflections, rather hardened, than comforted my heart, I now advanced down the steep side of the mountain, our course nearly N. N. W. through very strong and rugged ground, torn up by the torrents that fall on every side from above. This is called the Descent of Moura; and though both we and our beasts were in great health and spirits, we could not, with our utmost endeavours, advance much more than one mile an hour. Two Greeks, one of whom only was my servant; and a third, nearly blind, flying from poverty and want; an old janissary, who had come to Abyssinia with the Abuna, and a Copht who left us at Sennaar; these, and some common men who took charge of the beasts, and were to go no further than Tcherkin, were my only companions in this long and weary journey.