034 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER,
fafhioned into many flielves or flages, each of which is oc- cupied by a clufter of houfes feldom above eight or ten in number ; fome above, fome below, fome along the fide of each other, but chiefly occupying the fpace, or two-thirds of the middle of the cliff, that is, none of them nearer to the top of the cliff, nor to the plain of AfToa below, than a diflance equal to that proportion of the whole. The reafon of choo- fing this fituation is the fear of the Galla, who have often invaded that part of Abyflinia, and have even exterminated fome clans of Agows entirely.
In the middle of this cliff, in a direction flraight north' towards the fountains, is a prodigious cave, whether the- work of nature or of art, I cannot determine ; in it are many bye- paths, fo that it is very difficult for a flranger to extri- cate himfelf ; it is a natural labyrinth, large enough to con- tain the inhabitants of the village, and their cattle ; there' are likewife two or three lefTer ones, which I did not fee ; in this large one, I tired myfelf part of feveral days, en- deavouring to reach as far northward as poffible, but the air, when I had advanced fomething above one hundred yards, feemed to threaten to extinguifh my candle by its dampnefs ; and the people were befides not at all difpofed to gratify my curiofity farther, after alluring me that there.- was nothing at the end more remarkable than I then faw, , which I have reafon to believe was the cafe. .
The face of this cliff, which fronts to the fouth, has a molt picturefque appearance from the plain of AfToa below, parts of the houfes at every ftage appearing, through the thickets of trees and bufhes with which the whole face of the cliff is thickly covered ; impenetrable fences of the very
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