entirely different from the Abyssins; their hair is like that of
the other blacks, short and curled. In the year 1615, Rassela Christos,
lieutenant-general to Sultan Segued, entered those kingdoms with his army
in a hostile manner; but being able to get no intelligence of the
condition of the people, and astonished at their unbounded extent, he
returned, without daring to attempt anything.

As the empire of the Abyssins terminates at these deserts, and as I have
followed the course of the Nile no farther, I here leave it to range over
barbarous kingdoms, and convey wealth and plenty into Egypt, which owes
to the annual inundations of this river its envied fertility. I know not
anything of the rest of its passage, but that it receives great increases
from many other rivers; that it has several cataracts like the first
already described, and that few fish are to be found in it, which
scarcity, doubtless, is to be attributed to the river-horses and
crocodiles, which destroy the weaker inhabitants of these waters, and
something may be allowed to the cataracts, it being difficult for fish to
fall so far without being killed.

Although some who have travelled in Asia and Africa have given the world
their descriptions of crocodiles and hippopotamus, or river-horse, yet as
the Nile has at least as great numbers of each as any river in the world,
I cannot but think my account of it would be imperfect without some
particular mention of these animals.

The crocodile is very ugly, having no proportion between his length and
thickness; he hath short feet, a wide mouth, with two rows of sharp
teeth, standing wide from each other, a brown skin so fortified with
scales, even to his nose, that a musket-ball cannot penetrate it. His
sight is extremely quick, and at a great distance. In the water he is
daring and fierce, and will seize on any that are so unfortunate as to be
found by him bathing, who, if they escape with life, are almost sure to
leave some limb in his mouth. Neither I, nor any with whom I have
conversed about the crocodile, have ever seen him weep, and therefore I
take the liberty of ranking all that hath been told us of his tears
amongst the fables which are only proper to amuse children.

The hippopotamus, or river-horse, grazes upon the land and browses on the
shrubs, yet is no less dangerous than the crocodile. He is the size of
an ox, of a brown colour without any hair, his tail is short, his neck
long, and