which request was refused without any ceremony. Then came two or three more, in the name of Ach-met, who were told by the servant, that they would not be admitted. They then asked to speak with me, and grew very tumultuous, pressing with their backs against the door. When I came to them, a young man among them said he was son to Emir Achmet, and that his father and some friends were coming to drink a glass of aracky (so they call brandy) with me. I told him my resolution was not to admit either Emir Achmet, or any other person, at night; and that I never drank aracky.

They attempted again to force open the door, which was strongly barricaded. But as there were cracks in it, I put the point of a sword through one of them, desiring them to be cautious of hurting themselves upon the iron spikes. Still they attempted to force open the door, when the servant told them, that Achmet, when he left him the charge of that door, had ordered us to fire upon them who offered to force an entrance at night. A voice asked him, Who the devil he was? The servant answered, in a very spirited manner, That he had greater reason to ask who they were, as he took them for thieves, about whose names he did not trouble himself. "However," he, mine is Abdelcader (the son of somebody else, whom I do not remember). Now you know who I am, and that I do not fear you; and you, Yagoube, if you do not fire upon them, your blood be upon your own head. The Sardar from the castle will soon be up with the rest." I ordered then a torch to be brought, that they might have a view of us through the cracks of the door; but Abdelcader's threat being fully sufficient, they retired, and we heard no more of them.

says

It was the 4th of November when the servant of

Achmet returned in a boat from Arkeeko, and with him four janizaries. He was not yet well, and was very desirous to see me. He suspected either that he was poisoned or bewitched, and had tried many charms without good effect. We arrived at Arkeeko about eleven, passed the door of the Naybe without challenge, and found Achmet in his own house, ill of an intermitting fever, under the very worst of regimens.

He was much apprehensive that he should die, or lose the use of his limbs, as Emir Achmet had done: the same woman, a Shiho, and a witch, was, he said, the occasion of both. "If, Achmet, your uncle had lost the use of his tongue," said I, "it would have saved him a great deal of improper discourse in the divan." His head ached violently, and he could only say, "Aye! aye! the old miscreant knew I was ill, or that would not have happened." I gave Achmet proper remedies to ease his pains and his stomach, and the next morning began with bark.

This medicine operates quickly here; nay, even the bark that remains, after the stronger spirtuous tincture is drawn from it, seems to answer the purpose very little worse than did the first. I staid here till the 6th in the morning, at which time he was free from the fever. I left him, however, some doses to prevent its return; and he told me, on the 7th, he would come to Masuah with boats and men, to bring us, with our baggage, to Arkeeko, and free us from the bondage of Masuah.

Upon the 6th, in the morning, while at breakfast, I was told that three servants had arrived from Ti. gre; one from Janni, a young man and slave, who spoke and wrote Greek perfectly; the other two servants were Ras Michael's, or rather the king's, both wearing the red short cloak lined and turned up with mazarine-blue, which is the badge of the king's ser

vant, and is called shalaka. Ras Michael's letters to the Naybe were very short. He said the king Hatze Hannes's health was bad, and wondered at hearing that the physician, sent to him by Metical Aga from Arabia, was not forwarded to him instantly at Gondar, as he had heard of his being arrived at Masuah some time before. He ordered the Naybe, moreover, to furnish me with necessaries, and dispatch me without loss of time; although all the letters were the contrivances of Janni, his particular letter to the Naybe was in a milder style. He expressed the great necessity the king had for a physician, and how impatiently he had waited his arrival. He did not say that he had heard any such person was yet arrived at Masuah, only wished he might be forwarded, without delay, as soon as he came.

To us Janni sent a message by a servant, bidding us a hearty welcome, acknowledging the receipt of the patriarch's letter, and advising us, by all means, to come speedily to him; for the times were very unsettled, and might grow worse.

In the afternoon I embarked for Masuah. At the shore I received a message from the Naybe to come and speak to him; but I returned for answer, "It was impossible, as I was obliged to go to Masuah to get medicines for his nephew, Achmet."

CHAP. II.

Directions to Travellers for preserving Health Diseases of the Country-Music-Trade, &c. of Masuah-Conferences with the Naybe.

We arrived in the island at eight o'clock, to the great joy of our servants, who were afraid of some stratagem of the Naybe. We got every thing in order, without interruption, and completed our observations upon this inhospitable island, infamous for the quantity of Christian blood shed there upon treacherous pretences.

Masuah, by a great variety of observations of the sun and stars, we found to be in lat. 15° 35′ 5′′, and, by an observation of the second satellite of Jupiter, on the 22d of September 1769, we found its latitude to be 39° 36′ 307 east of the meridian of Greenwich: the variation of the needle was observed at mid-day, the 23d of September, to be 12° 48′ west. From this it follows, that Loheia, being nearly opposite (for it is in lat. 15° 40′ 52"), the breadth of the Red Sea be tween Masuah and Loheia is 4° 10′ 22′′. Supposing, then, a degree to be equal to 66 statute miles, this, in round numbers, will bring the breadth to be 276 miles, equal to 92 leagues, or thereabouts.

Again, as the generality of maps have placed the coast of Arabia, where Loheia stands, in the 44°, and

it is the part of the peninsula that runs farthest to the westward, all the west coast of Arabia Felix will fall to be brought farther east about 3° 46′ 0′′.

Before packing up our barometer at Loheia, I filled a tube with clean mercury, perfectly purged of outward air; and, on the 30th of August, upon three several trials, the mean of the result of each trial was, at six in the morning, 26° 8′ 8′′; two o'clock in the afternoon, 26° 4′ 1′′; and, half past six in the evening, 26° 6′ 2′′, fair clear weather, with very little wind

at west.

At Masuah, the 4th of October, I repeated the same experiment with the same mercury and tube. The means were as follow: At six in the morning 25° 8' 2"; two o'clock in the afternoon, 25° 3′ 2′′; and, at half past six in the evening, 25° 3′ 7′′, clear, with a moderate wind at west; so that the barometer fell one inch and one line at Masuah lower than it was at Loheia, though it often rose upon violent storms of wind and rain; and, even where there was no rain, it again fell instantly upon the storm ceasing, and, never arrived to the height it stood last at on the coast of Arabia. The greatest height I ever observed Fahrenheit's thermometer in the shade, at Masuah, was on the 22d of October, at two in the afternoon, 93°, wind north-east and by north, cloudy; the lowest was on the 23d, at four in the morning, 82°, wind west. It was, to sense, much hotter than in any part of Arabia Felix; but we found no such tickling or irritation on our legs, as we had done at Loheia, probably because the soil was here less impregnated with salt.

We observed here, for the first time, three remark. able circumstances shewing the increase of heat. I had carried with me several steel plates for making screws of different sizes. The heat had so swelled the pin, or male screw, that it was cut nearly one