THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. aij^ 



his reign was marked by a mutiny of his foldiers, who. 

 joining themfelves tO' fome Mahometans, plundered the 

 town, and then difbanded. A mifunderllanding alfo hap- 

 pened with Ayto Hamelmal, fon to Romana Werk, daughter 

 of Hatze Naod, which threatened many misfortunes in its 

 confequences. 



Tecla Asfadin, governor of Tigre, was ordered by the 

 king to march againft him ; and the armies fought with 

 equal advantage. But Hamelmal dying foon after, his party 

 difperfed without further trouble. Fafil, too, his coufm, who 

 had been appointed governor of Damot, rebelled foon after, 

 and was defeated by the king, who this year (the fourth; 

 of his reign) commanded his army for the firft time in per- 

 fon, and greatly contributed to the viaory, though he was 

 but then fixteen years of age. 



The fixth year of his reign he marched againft a clan of 

 Galla, called Aze, whom he often beat, ftaying in the coun- 

 try two whole years. Upon his return, he found the Ba- 

 harnagafh, Ifaac and Harla, and other malcontents, when 

 a fort of a pacification followed ; and having received from, 

 tlie rebels confiderable prefents, he fat down at Dobu, a 

 fmall town in Dembea, where he palTed the winter. 



All this time Oviedo and the Pbrtuguefe did not appear 

 at court. The king, however, did not moleft the priefts in 

 their baptifms, preachings, or any of their funftions. He 

 often fpake favourably of their moral characters their fo- 

 briety, patience, and decency of their lives ; but he condemn- 

 ed decifively the whole of their religious tenets, which he 

 pronounced to be full of danger and contradidion, and de- 



Urudive, 



