THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 597 



ther cfTcdl, that nobody would fupply this deficiency aftcn 

 his death, a general belief prcvaihng in Abyliinia chat he 

 is alive to this day, and will appear again in all his terrors.. 

 It is owing to this circumftance that we have nothing con;j- 

 plete of this king's reign ; only a few anecdotes are prefer- 

 ved, fome of them very odd ones. I fhall only, for the pre- 

 fent,choofe fuch of thofe as lead inc to the fubjecT: I have ln^ 

 hand. 



Bacufta was exceedingly fond of divinations, dreams, 

 and prophecies, fo are aU the Abyllinians ; but he imbibed 

 an additional propenfity to thefe, among the Pagans to whom 

 he had fled. One day, when walking alone, he perceived a 

 prieft exceedingly attentive in obferving the forms that httle 

 pieces of flraw, cut to certain lengths, made upon a pool of. 

 water into which ran a fmall ilream. From the combina. 

 tion of thefe in letters, or figures, as they chanced to fall, 

 an anfwer is procured to the doubt propofed, which, if you. 

 believe thefe idlers, is perfectly infallible. 



Bacuffa in difguife, dreffed like a poor man, is faid to^ 

 have aiked the prieft after what he was inquiring. The. 

 prieft anfwered, He was trying whether the king would have 

 a fon, and who fhould govern the kingdom after him. The 

 king 'abode -the inveftigation patiently; and the anfwer was. 

 Thai he fhould have a fon; but that a Welleta Georgis fliould 

 govern the kingdom after him for thirty years, though that 

 Welleta Georgis iliould be neither his fon nor any defcem 

 dant of his. Full of thought at this untoward prediction, 

 he harboured it in his breaft without communicating it to 

 any one, and refolved to blaft the hopes of every Wellcia 

 Georgis that lliouldbe fo unfortunate as to ftand wiih'n the. 



ppftibiuty, 



