the most southerly province of the empire of Abyssinia; a kingdom still governed by its own princes, who have the title of Beneros. Its territory was formerly more extensive than at present, the Galla having almost quite surrounded it, especially on the south-east and north. The country to the west is the most unknown part of Africa; the kingdom itself stands like a fortified place in the middle of a plain, being a high and mountainous country. A great many rivers, rising in the fourth and fifth degrees of north latitude, spread themselves over the level part of the country, and fill it with marshes all the way from south by east to north or north-west. These marshes are bounded by mountains, of which those nearest the marshes are overgrown with coffee trees, the largest, if not the only ones, which grow in this country. The kingdom of Narea Proper is interspersed with small, unwholesome, but very fertile valleys. The mountainous country of Caffa adjoins immediately to Narea, and is said to be governed by a separate prince; but the Galla having settled themselves in all the flat ground to the very edge of the marshes, have in a great measure cut off the communication with Abyssinia for a long time past. The Nareans who inhabit the mountainous country have the lightest complexion of any people in Abyssinia; but those who inhabit the borders of the marshes are perfectly black, and have the features and woolly heads of negroes; but the mountaineers of Narea, and much more those of Caffa, are fair complexioned, more so than even the Neapolitans or Sicilians. It is said that snow has been seen to lie on some of the mountains of Caffa; but Mr Bruce imagines this to be a mistake, and thinks that it must have been hail.

Narea abounds with cattle, grain, and all kinds of provisions, both in the high and low country. The medium of commerce is gold, which they sell by weight; but the principal articles of trade are coarse cotton cloths, antimony, beads, and incense, which are carried from this country to the kingdom of Angola, and the parts of the African continent towards the Atlantic. The people are exceedingly brave; and though they have been driven out of the low country by multitudes of Galla, they now bid them defiance, and drive them from their frontiers whenever they come too near. The Narean prisoners taken in these skirmishes are sold to the Mahometan merchants at Gondar; and at Constantinople, Cairo, or in India, the women are more esteemed than those of any other part of the world. Both sexes have a cheerful kind disposition, and attach themselves inviolably to their masters, if properly treated. The people of Narea and Caffa speak a language peculiar to themselves.