472 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER 



you mould be refufed ; I certainly am not ; only I bar one 

 of them, you are not to relapfe into your ufual defpondency, 

 and talk of going home." — " Well, Sir, faid I, I obey, and 

 that is not one of them. They are thefe — You mall give 

 me, and oblige Fafil to ratify it, the village Geefh, and the 

 fource where the Nile rifes, that I may be from thence fur- 

 nifhed with honey for myfelf and fervants ; it fhall Hand 

 me inftead of Tangouri, near Hmfras, and, in value, it is 

 not worth fo much. The fecond is, That, when I fhall fee 

 that it is in his power to carry me to Geefh, and fhew me 

 thofe fources, Fafil fhall do it upon my requeft, without fee 

 Gr reward, and without excufe or evafion. 



They all laughed at the eafinefs of the requeft ; all de- 

 clared that this was nothing, and wiihed to do ten times as 

 much. The king faid, " Tell Fafd I do give the village 

 of Geefh, and thofe fountains he is fo fond of, to Yagoube 

 and his pofterity for ever, never to appear under another's 

 name in the deftar, and never to be taken from him, or 

 exchanged, either in peace or war. Do you fwear this to 

 him in the name of your mafter," Upon which they took 

 the two fore fingers of my right hand, and, one after the 

 other, laid the two fore fingers of their right hand acrofs 

 them, then kiffed them ; a form of fwearing ufed there, at 

 leaft among thofe that call themfelves Chriftians. And as 

 Azage Kyrillos, the king's fecretary andhiftorian, was then 

 prefent, the king ordered him to enter the gift in the def- 

 tar, or revenue-book, where the taxes and revenue of the 

 king's lands are regiflered. " I will write it, fays the old 

 man, in letters of gold, and, poor as 1 am, wili give him a 

 village four times better than either Geefh or Tangouri, if 

 he wili take a wife and flay amongft us, at leaft till my eyes 

 2 ' are 



