of my medical friends, to carry along with me a preparation of hemlock, or cicuta, recommended by Dr. Stork, a physician at Vienna. I prescribed small doses to Welleta Yasous, being much more anxious to preserve myself from reproach, than warmly solicitous about the cure of my unknown patient. They were overjoyed at having succeeded so well in their commission, and declared before the king, That Fasil, their master, would be more pleased with receiving a medicine that would restore Welleta Yasous to health, than with the magnificent appointments the king's goodness had bestowed upon him.' 'If it is so,' said I, ' in this day of grace I will ask two favours.' 'And that's a rarity,' says the king.Come, out with them. I don't believe anybody is desirous you should be refused; I certainly am not ; only I bar one of them-you are not to relapse into your usual despondency, and talk of going home.' Well, sir,' said I, I obey, and that is not one of them. They are these: You shall give me, and oblige Fasil to ratify it, the village of Geesh, and the source where the Nile rises, that I may be from thence furnished with money for myself and servants; it shall stand me instead of Tangouri, near Emfras, and in value it is not worth so much. The second is, that when I shall see that it is in his power to carry me to Geesh, and show me those sources, Fasil shall do it upon my request, without fee or reward, and without excuse or evasion.' They all laughed at the easiness of the request; all declared that this was nothing, and wished to do ten times as much. The king said, 'Tell Fasil I do give the village of Geesh, and those fountains he is so fond of, to Yagoube and his posterity for ever, never to appear under another name in the deftar, and never to be taken from him or exchanged, either in peace or war.' The king's secretary and historian being then present, the king ordered him to enter the gift in the deftar, or revenuebook, where the taxes and revenue of the king's lands are registered. I will write it,' says the old man, in letters of gold; and, poor as I am, will give him a village four times better than either Geesh or Tangouri, if he will take a wife and stay amongst us, at least till my eyes are closed.' The next morning the whole army was in motion, it being resolved by the king and Michael to retire into Tigré. I had the evening before taken leave of the king, in an interview which cost me more than almost any one in my life. The substance was, · That I was ill in my health, and quite unprepared to attend him into Tigré; that my heart was set upon completing | clamation remitting to that province their taxes for a whole year, in consideration of their fidelity and services. the only purpose of my coming into Abyssinia, without which I should return into my own country with disgrace; that I hoped, through his majesty's influence, Fasil might find some way for me to accomplish it; if not, I trusted soon to see him return, when I hoped it would be easy; but, if I then went to Tigré, I was fully persuaded I should never have the resolution to come again to Gondar.' He seemed to take heart at the confidence with which I spoke of his return, and, after a confidential, friendly talk on the matter, advised me to live entirely at Koscam with the Iteghé. On the 5th of June, while Powussen, Adero, and the conspirators, were waiting his passage through Belessen, the king's army marched towards Koscam, so that the distance between them increased every day. Michael, when he arrived in his government, set himself seriously to unite every part under his jurisdiction. He took possession of the mountain Haramat, ordered the whole mountain to be surrounded with barracks, or huts, for his soldiers, erecting houses for himself, his principal officers, and the king. The country people were called in to plough and sow the ground in the neighbourhood. The king and Michael, by their wise behaviour, had reconciled Tigré as one man, and the Ras had issued a pro In the meantime Gusho and Powussen entered Gondar on the 10th of June, and their will was law while they remained in Gondar. I waited upon them and had an unpleasant interview with them, and I felt, on leaving, that my importance was now gone with the king. I was fallen, and they were resolved, I saw, to make me sensible of it. A council of the principal officers that remained at Gondar was held, and the result was, they fixed on a young man, about twenty-four years of age, reputed to be a son of Yasous, for their king, under the name of Socinios. I was resolved once more to try and continue my journey to the head of the Nile. The news that Ras Michael, with 30,000 men, was approaching Gondar, inspired me with a degree of confidence and composure of mind to which I had long been a stranger. a stranger. I looked upon this news as a good omen, slept soundly that night, and in the morning I was ready for the journey. CHAPTER XI. Arrival at the fountains of the Nile. ON the morning of the 28th of October 1770 we left Gondar, and in the course of two days we reached Bamba, a collection of villages, where Fasil was encamped. Fasil's tent was pitched a little below us, and I immediately sent Ayto Aylo's servant to present my compliments and acquaint him of my being on the road to visit him. I thought now all my difficulties were over, for I knew it was in his power to forward us to our journey's end. On the night of the 30th I received a message to attend him, when I repaired immediately to his tent. After announcing myself, I waited about a quarter of an hour before I was admitted; he was sitting upon a cushion, with a lion's skin upon it, and another stretched like a carpet before his feet, and had a cotton cloth, something like a dirty towel, wrapped about his head; his upper cloak or garment was drawn tight about him over his neck and shoulders, so as to cover his hands; I bowed, and went forward to kiss one of them, but it was so entangled in the cloth, that I was obliged to kiss the cloth instead of the hand. This was done either as not expecting I should pay him that compliment (as I certainly should not have done, being one of the king's servants, if the king had been at Gondar) or else it was intended for a mark of disrespect, which was very much of a piece with the rest of his behaviour afterwards. There was no carpet or cushions in the tent, and only a little straw, as if accidentally, thrown thinly about it. I sat down upon the ground, thinking him sick, not knowing what all this meant; he looked steadfastly at me, saying, half under his breath, Endett nawi? bogo nawi?' which, in Amharic, is, 'How do you do? Are you very well?' I made the usual answer, 'Well, thank God.' He again stopt, as for me to speak; there was only one old man present, who was sitting on the floor mending a mule's bridle. I took him at first for an attendant, but observing that a servant, uncovered, held a candle to him, I thought he was one of his Galla; but then I saw a blue silk thread, which he had about his neck, which is a badge of Christianity all over Abyssinia, and which a Galla would not wear. What he was, I could not make out; he seemed, however, to be a very bad cobbler, and took no notice of us. Ayto Aylo's servant, who stood behind me, pushed me with his knee, as a sign that I should speak, which I accordingly began to do with some difficulty. I am come,' said I, 'by your invitation, and the king's leave, to pay my respects to you in your own government, begging that you would favour my curiosity so far as to suffer me to see the country of the Agows, and the source of the Abay (or Nile) part of which I have seen in Egypt.' 'The source of the Abay !' exclaimed he, with a pretended surprise, | has dreamed something ill will befall me if you go into Maitsha.' I was as much irritated as I thought it possible for me to be. So, so,' said I, 'the time of priests, prophets, and dreamers is coming on again.' 'I understand you,' says he, laughing for the first time; 'I care as little for priests as Michael does, and for prophets too, but I would have you consider the men of this country are not like yours; a boy of these Galla would think nothing of killing a man of your country. You white people are all effeminate; you are like so many women; you are not fit for going into a province where all is war, and inhabited by men, warriors from their cradle.' 'do you know what you are He now put on a look of more complacency. 'Look you, Yagoube,' says he, 'it is true I can do it; and, for the king's sake, who recommended it to me, I would do it; but the Acab Saat, Abba Salama, has sent to me, to desire me not to let you pass further; he says it is against the law of the land to permit Franks like you to go about the country, and that he I saw he intended to provoke me, and he had succeeded so effectually that I should have died, I believe, if I had not, imprudent as it was, told him my mind in reply. Sir,' said I, 'I have passed through many of the most barbarous nations in the world; all of them, excepting this clan of yours, have some great men among them, above using a defenceless stranger ill. But the worst and lowest individual among the most uncivilized people, never treated me as you have done to-day, under your own roof, where I have come so far for protection.' He asked, 'How?' 'You have, in the first place,' said I, 'publicly called me Frank, the most odious name in this country, and sufficient to occasion me to be stoned to death without further ceremony, by any set of men, wherever I may present myself. By Frank, you mean one of the Romish religion, to which my nation is as adverse as yours; and again, without having ever seen any of my countrymen but myself, you have discovered, from that specimen, that we are all cowards and effeminate people like, or inferior to, your boys or women. Look you, Sir, you never heard that I gave myself out as more than an ordinary man in my own country, far less to be a pattern of what is excellent in it. I am no soldier, though I know enough of war to see yours are poor proficients in that trade. But there are soldiers, friends and countrymen of mine (one presents himself to my mind at this instant 1) who would not think it an action in his life to vaunt of, that with 500 men he had trampled all you naked savages into dust.' On this Fasil made a feigned laugh, and seemed rather to take my freedom amiss. It was, doubtless, a passionate and rash speech. As to myself,' continued I, 'unskilled in war as I am, could it be now without further consequence, let me but be armed in my own country fashion, on horseback, as I was yesterday, I should, without 1 It is with pleasure I confess the man in my mind was my brave friend, Sir William Erskine. thinking myself overmatched, fight the two best horsemen you shall choose from this your army of famous men, who are warriors from their cradle; and if, when the king arrives, you are not returned to your duty, and we meet again, as we did at Limjour, I will pledge myself, with his permission, to put you in mind of this promise, and leave the choice of these men in your option.' This did not make things better. He repeated the word duty after me, and would have replied, but my nose burst out in a stream of blood; and, that instant, Aylo's servant took hold of me by the shoulder, to hurry me out of the tent. Fasil seemed to be a good deal deal concerned, for the blood streamed out upon my clothes. The old man likewise assisted me when out of the tent; I found he was Guebra Ehud, Ayto Aylo's brother, whose servant we had met on the road. I returned then to my tent, and the blood was soon stanched by washing my face with cold water. I sat down to recollect myself, and the more I calmed, the more I was dissatisfied at being put off my guard; but it is impossible to conceive the provocation without having proved it. I have felt but too often how much the love of our native soil increases by our absence from it; and how jealous we are of comparisons made to the disadvantage of our countrymen by people who, |