The venerable mistress of this worthy family, Welled Amlac's mother, was a very stout, chearful woman, and bore no signs of infirmity or old age: his wife was, on the contrary, as arrant a hag as ever acted the part on the stage; very active, however, and civil, and speaking very tolerable Amharic. His two sisters, about sixteen or seventeen, were really handsome; but Fasil's wife, who was there, was the most beautiful and graceful of them all; she seemed not to be past eighteen, tall, thin, and of a very agreeable carriage and manners. The features of her face were very regular; she had fine eyes, mouth, and teeth, and dark-brown complexion; at first sight a cast of melancholy seemed to hang upon her countenance, but this soon vanished, and she became very courteous, chearful, and most conversible of the whole, or at least seemed to wish to be so; for, unfortunately, she spoke not a word of any language but Galla, though she understood a little Amharic; our conversation did not fail to give great entertainment to the whole family, and for her part, she laughed beyond all measure. The two sisters had been out helping my servants in disposing the baggage; but when they had pitched my tent, and were about to lay the mattress for sleeping on, the eldest of these interrupted them, and not being able to make herself understood by the Greeks, she took it up and threw it out of the tent-door, whilst no abuse or opprobrious names were spared by my servants; one of whom came to tell me her impudence, and that if they understood her, she said I was to sleep with her this night, and they believed we were got into a house of thieves and murderers. To this I answered by a sharp reproof, desiring them to conform to every thing the family ordered them. I saw the fair nymph was in a violent passion; she told her tale to the matrons with great energy, and a volubility of tongue past imagination, and they all laughed. Fasil's wife called me to sit by her, and began to instruct me, drolly enough, as they do children, but of what she said I had not the smallest guess. I endeavoured always to repeat her last words, and this occasioned another vehement laugh, in which I joined as heartily as any, to keep up the joke, for the benefit of the company, as long as possible.