the capital of Abyssinia; situated, according to Mr Bruce's observations, in latitude 12. 30. north, and longitude 37. 40. east from Greenwich. It lies upon the top of a hill of considerable height, and consists of about 10,000 families in times of peace. The houses are chiefly of clay, with roofs thatched in the form of cones. At the west end of the town is the king's palace; formerly, as Mr Bruce informs us, a structure of considerable consequence, being a large square building four stories high, flanked with square towers, and affording from the top of it a magnificent view of all the country southward, to the lake Tzana. It was built in the time of Facilidas, by masons from India, and by such Abyssinians as had been instructed in architecture by the Jesuits before their expulsion. Great part of it is now in ruins, having been burnt at different times; but there is still ample lodging in the two lowest floors, the audience chamber being above 120 feet long. By the side of this structure there have been built by different kings apartments of clay only, in the fashion of their own country. The palace, with all its contiguous buildings, is surrounded by a double stone wall thirty feet high and a mile and a half in circumference, with battlements upon the outer wall, and a parapet roof between the outer and inner, by which you can go along the whole and look into the street. The hill on which the town is built rises in the middle of a deep valley, through which run two rivers: one of which, the Kakha, coming from the Mountain of the Sun, flanks all the south of the town; while the other, called the Angrab, falling from the mountain Woggora, encompasses it on the north and north-east; and both rivers unite at the bottom of the hill about a quarter of a mile south of the town. Upon the bank opposite to Gondar, on the other side of the river, is a large town of Mahometans; a great part of whom are employed in taking care of the king's and nobility's equipage, both when they take the field and when they return from it. They are formed into a body under proper officers; but never fight on either side, being entirely confined to the occupation just mentioned, in which by their care and dexterity in pitching and striking the tents, and in leading and conducting the baggage-waggons, they are of great service.—The valley of Gondar is described as having three outlets; one south, to Dembea, Matilha, and the Agows; another on the north-west, towards Sennaar, from which it is distant 180 miles, over the Mountain of the Sun; and the third north, leading to Woggora, over the high mountain Lamalmon, and so on through Tigre to the Red sea.