present would scarcely believe it possible. With regard to the encounter which had occurred among the Dumhoeta, the old man simply remarked, "that he wished he had killed a dozen more."
The musquets were afterwards distributed among the Ras's followers, though few of them, as I have before remarked, were fit for use; most of them having been condemned in India. The velvets Mr. Pearce parted with in pieces, and, though the sale proved slow, the profit upon them was very considerable.
At this time Mr. Pearce's courage and talents had brought him into great favour in the country, and, shortly afterwards, Ayto Manasseh presented him with the house in which I found him residing: a large plot of ground was annexed to it, that Mr. Pearce had cultivated with considerable care; so that we had the pleasure of eating cabbages and other European vegetables out of it, equally good with those produced in our own country; Captain Rudland having sent over the seeds from Mocha.
The reader, after the perusal of Mr. Pearce's adventures, will not be surprised at the satisfaction I felt in having chosen the road by Massowa for my own route; a circumstance which I consider to have been peculiarly fortunate; as I had certainly entertained no real conception of the difficulties attending the other passage, until I received, at Chelicut, the above relation of Mr. Pearce's journey through this barbarous country.
