THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 47 1 



As I had never defpaired, fome way or other, of arriving 

 at the fountains of the Nile, from which we were not fifty 

 miles dillant when we turned back at Karcagna, fo I never 

 neglected to improve every means that held out to me the 

 leall probability of accompliihing this end. I had been very 

 attentive and ferviceable to Faiil's iervants while in the 

 camp. I fpoke greatly of their mailer, and, when they went 

 away, gave each of them a fmall prefent for himfelf, and 

 a trifle alfo for Fafil. They had, on the other hand, been 

 very importunate with me as a phylician to prefcribe fome- 

 thing for a cancer on the lip, as I underilood it to be, with 

 which Welleta Yafous, Fafil's principal general, was afflic- 

 ted. 



I had been advifed, by fome of my medical friends, to 

 carry along with me a preparation of hemlock, or cicuta,. 

 recommended by Dr Stork, a phyfician at Vienna. A confi- 

 derable quantity had been fent me from France by commif- 

 fion, with directions how to life it. To keep on the fafe 

 fide, I prcfcribed fmall dofes to Welleta Yafous, being much 

 more anxious to preferve myfelf from reproach than warm- 

 ly folicitous about the cure of my unknown patient. I gave 

 him pofitive advice to avoid eating raw meat ; to keep to a 

 milk diet, and drink plentifully of whey when he ufed this 

 medicine. They were overjoyed at having fucceeded fo 

 well in their commiffion, and declared before the king, That 

 Fafil their mailer would be more pleafed with receiving a 

 medicine that would reftore Welleta Yafous to health, than 

 with the magnificent appointments the king's goodnefs had 

 bellowed upon him. " If it is fo, faid I, in this day of grace, 

 I will aik two favours." — " And that's a rarity, fays the king ; 

 come, out with, them ; I don't believe anybody is defirous 



you. 



