THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 475 



would be eafy ; but, if I then went to Tigre, I was fully 

 pcrfuaded I fhould never have the refolution to come again 

 to Gondar. 



He feemed to take heart at the confidence with which I 

 fpoke of his return. " You, Yagoube, fays he, in a humble, 

 complaining tone, could tell me, if you pleafed, whether 

 I mall or not, and what is to befal me ; thofe inftruments 

 and thofe wheels, with which you are conftantly looking 

 at the ftars, cannot be for any ufe unlefs for prying into 

 futurity."—" Indeed, faid I, prince, thefe are things by 

 which we guide fhips at fea, and by thefe we mark down 

 the ways that we travel by land ; teach them to people that 

 never palled them before, and, being once traced, keep them 

 thus to be known by all men for ever. But of the decrees 

 of Providence, whether they regard you or myfelf, I know 

 no more than the mule upon which you ride."—" Tell me 

 then, I pray, tell me, what is the reafon you fpeak of my re- 

 turn as certain?"—" I fpeak, faid I, from obfervation, from 

 refleaions that I have made, much more certain than pro- 

 phecies and divinations by ftars. The firft campaign of your 

 reign at Fagitta, when you was relying upon the difpofitions 

 that the Ras had molt ably and fkillfully made, a drunk- 

 ard, with a fmgle fliot, defeated a numerous army of your 

 enemies. Povvuffen and Gufho were your friends, as you 

 •thought, when you marched out laft, yet they had, at that 

 very inftant, made a league to deftroy you at Derdera ; and 

 nothing but a miracle could have faved you, flint up be- 

 tween two lakes and three armies. It was neither you nor 

 Michael that difordered their councils, and made them fail 

 in what they had concerted. You was for burning Sam- 

 feen, whilft Woodage Afahel was there in ambufh with a 



3 O 2 large 



