any punishment upon me that can possibly equal the pleasure I feel this day at seeing you sitting there." He smiled with great good nature, giving me first the back, and then the palm of his hand to kiss. He then made me a sign to stand in my place, which I immediately did for a moment; and, seeing he was then upon business, which I knew nothing of, I took leave of him, and could not help reflecting, as I went, that, of all the vast multitude then in my sight, I was perhaps, the only one destitute either of hope or fear.
All Gondar, and the neighbouring towns and villages, had poured out their inhabitants to meet the king upon his return. The fear of Ras Michael was the cause of all this; and every one trembled, lest, by being absent, he should be thought a favourer of Socinios.
The side of the hill, which slopes gently from Belessen, is here very beautiful; it is covered thick with herbage down to near the foot, where it ends in broken rocks. The face of this hill is of great extent, exposed to the W. and S. W.; a small, but clear-running stream, rising in Belessen, runs through the middle of it, and falls into the Mogetch. It is not considerable, being but a brook, called Mariam-Ohha, (i. e. the water of Mariam) from a church dedicated to the Virgin, near where it rises in Belessen; an infinite number of people spread themselves all over the hill, covered with cotton garments as white as snow. The number could not be less than 50 or 60,000 men and women, all strewed upon the grass promiscuously. Most of these had brought their victuals with them, others trusted to their friends and acquaintances in the army; the soldiers had plenty of meat; as soon as the king had crossed the Tacazze all was lawful
