THE SOURCE t3F THE NILE. j 



Hope, and the fettlements made by the Portuguefe on the 

 continent of India. 



The firft government of Mafuah under the Turks was by 

 a bafha fent from Conftantinople, and from thence, for a 

 time, the conqueft of Abyffinia was attempted, always with 

 great confidence, though never with any degree of fuccefs ; 

 fo that, loling its value as a garrifon, and, at the fame time, 

 as a place of trade, it was thought no longer worth while 

 to keep up fo expenfive an eftablilhment as that of a ba- 

 flialik. 



The principal auxiliary, when the Turks conquered the 

 place, was a tribe of Mahometans called Belowee, fliepherds 

 inhabiting the coaft of the Red Sea under the mountains 

 of the Habab, about lat. 14". In reward for this affiftance, 

 the Turks gave their chief the civil government of Ma- 

 fuah and its territory, under the title of Naybe of Mafuah ; 

 and, upon the bafha's being withdrawn, this officer 

 remained in fact fovereign of the place, though, to fave 

 rppearances, he held it of the grand fignior for an an- 

 nual tribute, upon receiving a firman from the Ottoman 

 Porte. 



The body of janizaries, once eftablifhed there in garrifon, 

 were left in the iiland, and their pay continued to them 

 from Conftantinople. Thefe marrying the women of the 

 country, their children fucceeded them in their place and 

 pay as Janizaries ; but being now, by their intermarriages, 

 Moors, and natives of Mafuah, they became of courfe rela- 

 tions to each other, and always fubject to the influence of 

 the Naybe, 



A 2 The 



