504 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER 



gerous lie propagated, which could have no other end but 

 Ills deftru(5lion. 



Belac, a Moor, and faAor for the king of Sennaar, was 

 chief of the caravan which he then joir.ed. Du Roule had 

 employed, while at Cairo, all the ufual means to gain 

 this man to his intercft, and had every rcafon to fuppofe he 

 had fucceeded. But, on his meeting him at Siout, he had 

 the mortification to find that he was fo far changed tliat it 

 coll him 250 dollars to prevent his declaring himfelf an 

 abettor of his enemies. And this, perhaps, would not have 

 fufiTiced, had it not been for the arrival of Fornetti, drugo- 

 man to the French nation at Cairo, at Siout, and with him 

 a capigiand chiaouxfrom Ifmael Bey, the port of janizaries, 

 and from the bafha of Cairo, exprefsly commanding the 

 governor of Siout, and Belac chief of the caravan, to look 

 to the fafety of du Roule, and proteft him at the hazard of 

 their lives, and as they fliould anfwer to them. 



All the parties concerned were then called together ; 

 and the fcdtah, or prayer of peace, ufed m long and dan- 

 gerous journics, was folemnly recited and affented to by 

 them all ; in confequence of which, every individual be- 

 came bound to ftand by his companion even to death, and 

 not fcparate himfelf from him, nor fee him wronged, though 

 it was for his own gain or fafety. This tell brought all the 

 fecret to light; for Ali Chclebi, governor of Siout, informed 

 the amballador, that the Chrillian merchants and Francif- 

 can friars were in a confpiracy, and had fworn to defeat 

 and difappoint his embalTy even by the lofs of his life, and 

 that, by prefents, they had gained him to be a partner in 

 that confpiracy. 



Belac, 



