better spirits than I had seen them since we left Gooz. At elev en o'clock, while we contemplated with great pleasure the rugged top of Chiggre, to which we were fast approaching, and where we were to solace ourselves with plenty of good water, Idris cried out, with a loud voice, Fall upon your faces, for here is the Simoom. I saw from the S. E. a haze come, in colour like the purple part of the rainbow, but not so compressed or thick. It did not occupy twenty yards in breadth, and was about twelve feet high from the ground. It was a kind of blush upon the air, and it moved very rapidly, for I could scarce turn to fall upon the ground with my head to the northward, when I felt the heat of its current plainly upon my face. We all lay flat on the ground, as if dead, till Idris told us it was blown over. The meteor, or purple haze, which I saw, was indeed passed, but the light air that still blew was of heat to threaten suffocation. For my part, I found distinctly in my breast that I had imbibed a part of it, nor was I free of an asthmetic sensation till I had been some months in Italy, at the baths of Poretta, near two years afterwards.

An universal despondency had taken possession of our people. They ceased to speak to one another, and whan they did, it was in whispers, by which I easily guessed their discourse was not favourable to me, or else they were increasing each other's fears, by vain suggestion calculated to sink each other's spirits still further, but from which no earthly good could possibly result. I called them together, and both reprimanded and exhorted them in the strongest manner I could; I bade them attend to me, who had nearly lost my voice by the Simoom, and desired them to look in my face, so swelled as scarcely to permit me to see; my neck covered with blisters, my feet swelled and inflamed, and bleeding with many wounds. In answer to the lamentation that the water was exhausted, and that they were upon the point of dying with thirst, I ordered each man a gourd full of water more than he had the preceding day, and shewed them at no great distance, the bare, black, and sharp point of the rock Chiggre, wherein was the well, at which we were again to fill our girbas, and thereby banish the fear of dying by thirst in the desert. I believe I never was at any time more eloquent, and never had eloquence a more sudden effect.They all protested and declared their concern chiefly arose from the situation they saw me in; that they feared not death or hardship, provided I would submit a little to their direction in the taking a proper care of myself. They intreated me to use one of the camels, and throw off the load that it carried, that it would ease me of the wounds in my feet, by riding at least part of the day. This I positively refused to do, but recom

mended to them to be strong of heart, and to spare the camels for the last resource, if any should be taken ill and unable to walk any longer.

This phenomenon of the Simoom, unexpected by us, though foreseen by Idris, caused us to relapse into our former despondency. It still continued to blow, so as to exhaust us entirely, though the blast was so weak as scarcely would have raised a leaf from the ground. At twenty minutes before five the Simoom ceased, and a comfortable and cooling breeze came by starts from the north, blowing five or six minutes at a time, and then falling calm. We were now come to the Acaba, the ascent before we arrived at Chiggre, where we intended to have stopped that night, but we all moved on with tacit consent, nor did one person pretend to say how far he guessed we were to go.

At eight, we alighted in a sandy plain absolutely without herbage, covered with loose stones, a quarter of a mile due north of the well, which is in the narrow gorge forming the southern outlet of this small plain. Though we had travelled thirteen hours this day, it was but at a slow pace, our camels being famished as well as tired, and lamed likewise by the sharp stones with which the ground in all places was covered. The country, for three days past, had been destitute of herbage of any kind, entirely desert, and abandoned to the moving sands. We saw this day, large blocks and strata of pure white marble, equal to any in colour that ever came from Paros.

Chiggre is a small narrow valley, closely covered up and surrounded with barren rocks. The wells are ten in number, and the narrow gorge that opens to them is not ten yards broad. The springs however are very abundant. Wherever a pit is dug five or six feet deep, it is immediately filled with water.The principal pool is about forty yards square and five feet deep; but the best tasted water was in the cleft of a rock, about thirty yards higher, on the west side of this narrow outlet. All the water, however was very foul, with a number of animals both aquatic and land. It was impossible to drink without putting a piece of our cotton girdle over our mouths, to keep, by filtration, the filth of dead animals out of it. We saw a great many partridges upon the face of the bare rock; but what they fed upon I could not guess, unless upon insects. We did not dare to shoot at them, for fear of being heard by the wandering Arabs that might be somewhere in the neighbourhood; for Chiggre is a haunt of the Bishareen of the tribe of Abou Bertran, who, though they do not make it a station, because there is no pasture in the neighbourhood, nor can any thing grow there, yet it is one of the most valuable places of refreshment, on account of the great quantity of water, being nearly half way,

when they drive their cattle from the borders of the Red Sea to the banks of the Nile; as also in their expeditions from south to north, when they leave their encampments in Barbar, to rob the Ababde Arabs on the frontiers of Egypt.

Our first attention was to our camels, to whom we gave that day a double feed of dora, that they might drink for the rest of their journey, should the wells in the way prove scant of water. We then washed in a large pool, the coldest water, I think, I ever felt, on account of its being in a cave covered with a rock, and was inaccessible to the sun in any direction. All my people seemed greatly recovered by this refrigeration, but from some cause or other, it fared otherwise with the Tucorory; one of whom died about an hour after our arrival, and another early the next morning."

Of Abram's ancient stock, and Ishmael's swarthy bands;

Their progeny's rove here amid the fiery sands,

The bond maid Hagar's seed, a sanguinary host,

Where Pyramids of whirling dust; and Simoom's walk the coast.

TRAVELS OF BRUCE.

Extracts from the travels and adventures of Mr. Bruce in various parts of the southern hemisphere.

MR. BRUCE on his return to Egypt from Gondar, the capital of Abyssinia, made some stay at the town of Tcherkin, situate in the north of that kingdom, on the confines of Atbara. Here he was hospitably entertained by a young nobleman named Ayto Confu, with whom he had been acquainted at Gondar, but was now at his country seat at Tcherkin. Our traveller gives us the following entertaining description of that part of Abyssinia, and the mode practised by the natives in hunting the elephant, rhinoceros and buffalo.

There is great plenty of game of every sort about Tcherkin; elephants, rhinoceroses, and a great number of buffaloes, which differ nothing in form from the buffaloes of Europe or Egypt, but very much in temper and disposition. They are fierce, rash, and fearless of danger: and contrary to the practice of every other creature not carnivorous, they attack the traveller and the hunter equally, and it requires address to escape from them. They seem to be, of all others, the creature the most given to ease and indulgence. They lie under the most shady trees, near large pools of water, of which they make constant use, and sleep soundly all the day long. The flesh of the female is very good when fat, but

that of the male, hard, lean, and disagreeable. Their horns are used in various manners by the turners, in which craft the Abyssinians are very expert. In the woods there are many civit cats, but they know not the use of them, nor how to extract the civit. The Mahometans only are possessed of this art.

On the 6th of January, 1772, an hour before day, we mounted on horseback, to the number of about thirty belonging to Ayto Confu. But there was another body, both of horse and foot, which made huuting the elephant their particular business. These men dwell constantly in the woods, and know very little of the use of bread, living entirely upon the flesh of the beasts they kill, chiefly that of the elephant and rhinoceros. They are exceedingly thin, light, and agile, both on horseback and foot; are very swarthy, though few of them black; none of them woolly-headed, and all of them have European features. They are called Agageer, a name of their profession, not of their nation, which comes from the word Agar, and signifies to hough or ham-string with a sharp weapon. More properly it means, indeed, to cut the tendon of the heel, and is a characteristic of the manner in which they kill the elephant, which is as follows:-Two men, absolutely naked, without any rag or covering at all about them, get on horseback; this precaution is for fear of being laid hold of by the trees or bushes, in making their escape from a very watchful enemy. One of these riders sits upon the back of the horse, sometimes with a saddle, and sometimes without one, with only a switch or short stick in one hand, carefully managing the bridle with the other; behind him sits his companion, who has no other arms but a broad-sword, such as is used by the Sclavonians, and which is brought from Trieste. His left hand is employed grasping the sword by the handle, and about fourteen inches of the blade is covered with whip cord. This part he takes in his right hand, without any danger of being hurt by it; and, though the edges of the lower part of the sword are as sharp as a razor, he carries it without a scabbard.

As soon as the elephant is found feeding, the horseman rides before him, as near his face as possible; or, if he flies, crosses him in all directions, crying out, "I am such a man, and such a man; this is my horse, that has such a name ; I killed your father in such a place, and your grand father in such another place, and I am now come to kill you; you are but an ass in comparison of them." This nonsense he verily believes the elephant understands, who, chafed and angry at hearing the noise immediately before him, seeks to seize hi n with his trunk or proboscis, and, intent upon this, follows the horse every where, turning and turning round with him, neglectful of making his escape by running straight forward, in which consists his only safety. After having

made him turn once or twice in pursuit of the horse, the horseman rides close up along-side of him, and drops his companion just behind on the off side; and while he engages the elephant's attention upon the horse, the footman behind gives him a drawn stroke just above the heel, or what in man is called the tendon of Achilles. This is the critical moment; the horseman immediately wheels round, and takes his companion up behind him, and rides off full speed after the rest of the herd, if they have started more than one; and sometimes an expert Agageer will kill three out of one herd. If the sword is good, and the man not afraid, the tendon is commonly entirely separated; and if it is not cut throngh, it is generally so far divided, that the animal, with the stress he puts upon it, breaks the remaining part asunder. In either case, he remains incapable of advancing a step, till the horseman returning, or his companions coming up, pierce him through with javelins or lances; he then falls to the ground, and expires with the loss of blood.

The huntsman nearest me presently lamed his elephant, and left him standing, but failed in the pursuit of the second, and, being close upon him at entering the wood, he received a violent blow from a branch of a tree which, the elephant had bent by his weight, and after passing, allowed to replace itself, when it knocked down both the riders, and-very much hurt the horse. This, indeed, is the great danger of elephant hunting; for some of the trees, that are dry and short, break, by the violent pressure of so immense a body moving so rapidly, and fall upon the pursuers, or across the roads. But the greatest number of these trees, being of a succulent quality, they bend without breaking, and return quickly to their formes position, when they strike both horse and man so violently, that they often beat them to pieces, and scatter them upon the plain. Dextrous, too, as the riders are, the elephant sometimes reaches them with his trunk, with which he dashes the horse against the ground, and then sets his feet upon him, till he tears him limb from limb with his proboscis ; a great many hunters die this way. Besides this, the soil, at this time of the year, is split into deep chasms, or cavities, by the heat of the sun, so that nothing can be more dangerous than the riding.

The elephant once slain, they cut the whole flesh off his bones into thongs, like the reins of a bridle, and hang these, like festoons upon the branches of trees, till they become perfectly dry, without salt, and then they lay them by for their provision in the

season of the rains.

I shall take upon me to resolve a difficulty, viz.-for what use the teeth of the elephant, and the horn of the rhinoceros were intended. The sheep, goats, horses, cattle, and all the beasts