THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 483 



ly calls Duvarna, and fays it is the capital of the province 

 of Tigre, whereas it is that of the Baharnagafli. Ifaac Ba- 

 harnagafli, when in rebellion againft his fovereign, furren- 

 dered this town to the Turks in the year 1558, as may be 

 feen at large in my hiftory of the tranfadlions of thofc 

 times. 



As the authenticity of this journey, and the reality of 

 Poncet's having been in Abyffinia, has been queftioned by 

 a fet of vain, ignorant, fanatic people, and that from ma- 

 lice only, not from fpirit of invefligation, of which they 

 were incapable, I have examined every part of it, and com- 

 pared it with what I myfelf faw, and fhall now give one 

 other inftance to prove it genuine, from an obfervation Pon- 

 cent has made, and which has efcaped all the miflionaries, 

 though it was entire and vifible in my time. 



Among the ruins of Axum * there is a very high obelifk, 

 flat on both fides, and fronting the fouth. It has upon it no 

 hieroglyphic, but feveral decorations, or ornaments, the 

 fancy of the architetft. Upon a large block of granite, into 

 which the bottom of it is fixed, and which Hands before it 

 like a table, is the figure of a Greek patera, and on one fide 

 of the obelifk, fronting the fouth, is the reprefentation of a 

 woodendoor,lock,andalatch to it, which firfl feems defigned 

 to draw back and then lift up, exactly in the manner thofe 

 kind of locks are fafhioned in Egypt at this very day. Pon- 

 cet obferved very juftly, there are no fuch locks made ufc of 



3 P 2 in 



See an elevation of this in my account of Axura, 



