Page:Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile - In the Years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, and 1773 volume 3.djvu/526

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£02 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

which is to the fouth-wcft. At half pad ten we relied un- der the before-mentioned hill ; it Hands alone in the plain, in fhape like a fugar-loaf, and feems almoft as regular as if it had been a work of art. At a quarter paft eleven we re- fumed our journey, our courfe always nearly weft fouth- wefl ; we palled the fmall village of Bowiha, at the diftance of about a mile ; and, on the left, about fix miles, is Gorgova, a peninfula that runs into the lake Tzana for feveral miles.

There was one of the firft and moil magnificent church- es and monafteries of the Portuguefe Jefuits, in the time of their million to convert this country : Socinios, then king, gave them the grounds, with money for the expence ; they built k with their own hands, and lined it elegantly with cedar. The king, who was a zealous Roman Catholic, chofe afterwards a country-houfe for himfelf there, and encou- raged them much by his prefents and by his charity ; it is one of the pleafantelt fituations in the world ; the vail ex- panfe of the lake is before you ; Dcmbea, Gojam, and Mait- fha, flat and rich countries all round, are in view ; and the tops of the high hills of Begemder and Woggora clofe the profpect.

The lake here, I am told, has plenty of 11m, which is more than can be laid for many of the other parrs of it ; the fifTi are of two kinds, both of them feemingly a fpecies of what the Engliili call bream* I never could make them to agree with me, which I attribute to the drug with which they are taken ; it is of the nature of mix vomica^ pounded in a morter, and thrown into ill-earns, where they run into the lake ; the lilli, feeding there, are thus intoxicated and taken; however, it would admit of a doubt of this being the rea- 2 fon,