595 TRAVELS TO DISCaVER 



BacufFa was thought to anfwer thefe expedlations ; and, in 

 the end, he was found to exceed them.- Silent, fecret, ar.d 

 unfathomable in his defigns, furrounded by foldiers wna. 

 were his own flaves, and by new men of his own creation,, 

 he removed thofe tyrants who oppofed their fovereigns up- 

 on the fmalleft provocation. Confpiracy followed confpiracy, , 

 and rebellion rebellion ; but all were defeated, as foon. 

 as they had birth, by the fuperior a(5tivity and addrefs of/ 

 the king. 



I HAVE faid he was called Bacuffa by the Galla; but, im 

 compliance with the-cuftom of -Abyffinia,^ already mentioned,, 

 he had afTumed ftill two other names, which were, Atzham 

 Georgis, his name of baptifm, and Adebar Segued, which 

 means " reverenced by the towns or inhabited places of the 

 country," given him at his inauguration. As for that of 

 BacufFa, which meant the inexorable^ it was the lefs difho- 

 nourablc from having been given him by impartial flran— 

 gers from their own. obferv-ation while he was yet in pri- 

 vate life ; his whole condu(5t afterwards fliewed how juftly. . 



The king has near his perfon an officer who is meant to,' 

 be his hiftoriographer. He is alfo keeper of his feal, and is 

 obliged to make a journal of the king's acflions, good or bad, 

 without comment of his own upon them. This, when the 

 king dies, or at leaft foon. after,. is delivered to the council, 

 who read it over, and erafe every thing falfe in it ; whilil 

 they fupply any material fad: that may have been omitted,, 

 whether purpofely or not. This would have been a very 

 dangerous book to have been kept in Bacuffa's time ;, and, 

 accordingly, no perfon chofe ever to run tliat rifk ; and the 

 king's particular behaviour afterwards had {lill the fur- 

 ther 



