THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 443 



aries, as little fliort of impiety, fo mortified Koll^ (the kees 

 hatze,) a great believer in, and protedlor of the dreamers, 

 that he refigned all his employments, and retired among 

 the hermits into the defert of Werk-leva towards Sennaar, 

 to ftudy the afpedts of the ftars more accurately, and more 

 at leifure. 



Though we neither pay this comet the fuperftitious re- 

 verence the idle fanatics of Abyffinia Ihewed it, nor yet 

 treat it with that contempt which this great king's good 

 fenfe prompted him to do, we Ihall make fome ufe of it, ac- 

 knowledging our gratitude to the hillorian who has re- 

 corded it. We fliall hereby endeavour to eftablifh our 

 chronology in oppofition to that of the catholic writers, re- 

 lating to the date of fome tranfadlions with which they 

 were not cotemporaries, and only relate from hearfay, as 

 happening before the arrival of the miflionaries in this 

 country. 



Yasous the Great, of whom we are now writing, came 

 to the throne upon the death of his father Hannes in 1680 ; 

 the 9th year of this reign then was 1689. 



Hedar is the 3d month of the AbyfTmians, andanfwers to 

 part of our November ; and the 12th of that month, Hedar, 

 is the feafl; of St Michael the archangel, or 8th day of our 

 month November, N. S. 



GoNDAR is in lat. 12° 34' 30'' N. and in long. 37" 33' o" E. 

 from the meridian of Greenwich. By the fiery appearance 

 of the nucleus, or body of the comet, it certainly then was 

 "very near the fun, and either was going down upon it to its 



3 K 2 perihelion, 



