CHAPTER XXVII.

Perilous Ascent of Tchad-Amba. — The Church. — The Monks. — We move on again.— An Old Acquaintance.— Arrival at Sanheit.— The Town of Sanheit. — A Last Attempt to recover the Stolen Property. — A Visit to the Church and Schools at Sanheit.

We passed a very curious mountain named Tchad-Amba, which we left on our right. We had accomplished its ascent the year before, and were, I believe, the first white people to have done so, no Turk or Egyptian even having previously gained the summit. It is a very remarkable mountain, standing nearly alone. We spent some time at its foot, and were told by our Arabs that it was impossible to climb it except by one very difficult path known only to the Abyssinian monks dwelling on the top. We were not very ambitious of attempting its ascent, and had formed no plan for doing so ; when one day an Abyssinian arrived in camp with a note from Pere Picard, our missionary friend of Sanheit. He informed us in his letter, that the bearer of it was one of the monks who dwelt on the top of the mountain, and that for a consideration he was willing to guide us to its summit. Pere Picard added that he strongly recommended us to embrace this opportunity of seeing what former travellers had vainly attempted to accomplish.

Munzinger Pacha, a former governor of Sanheit and the surrounding country, as well as a recent Italian traveller, the Marquis Antinori, had offered considerable sums to be permitted to make the ascent ; but their offers had been invariably 240