THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 515 



ended ; all my trouble, all ray expences, all my time, and all 

 my fufFerings for fo many years were thrown away, from no 

 greater obftacle than the whimfies of one barbarian, whofe 

 good inclinations, I thought, I had long before fufficiently 

 fecured ; and, what was worfe, I was now got within lefs 

 than forty miles of the place I fo much wiihed to fee ; and 

 my hopes were fhipwrecked upon the laft, as well as the 

 moll unexpected, difficulty I had to encounter. 



I was jufl going to bed when Ayto Welleta Michael, Ras 

 Michael's nephew, taken at Limjour, and a prifoner with 

 Fafil, though now at large, came into the tent. I need not 

 repeat the difcourfe that pafled between us, it was all con- 

 dolence upon the ill-ufage I had met with. He curfed Faiil, 

 called him a thoufand opprobrious names, and faid, Ras 

 Michael one day would iliew me his head upon a pole : he 

 hinted, that he thought Fafil expected a prefent, and ima- 

 gined that I intended to pafs the king's recommendation 

 on him in the place of it. I have a prefent, faid I, and a 

 very handfome one, but I never thought that, while his -2.- 

 gareet was ftill beating, and when he had fcarcely pitched 

 his tent when he was tired, and I no lefs fo, that it v, as then 

 a time to open baggage for this purpofe ; if he had waited till 

 to-morrow, he fhould have had a gratification which would 

 have contented him. 



Wt'LL, well, faid Welleta Michael, as for your journey I 

 fhall undertake for that, for I heard him giving orders 

 about it when I came away, even though he expects no 

 prefent ; what does the gratifying your cu'riofity coll him? 

 he would be afhamed to refufeyou pcrmiflion; his own va- 

 nity would hinder him. This affurancc, more than all the 



3T2 quieting 



