THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 599 



fays lie, I am an afs ; I mould know well enough what 

 they faid if they fpoke Greek."—" Come, faid I, take a 

 draught of this excellent water, and drink with me a health 

 to his majefty king George III. and a long line of princes." I 

 had in my hand a large cup made of a cocoa-nut fhelli 

 which I procured in Arabia, and which was brim-full. He 

 drank to the king fpeedily and chearfully, with the addition 

 of, " Confufion to his enemies," and tolled up his cap with a 

 loud huzza. " Now friend, faid I, here is to a more humble, 

 but ftill a facred name, here is to— Maria !" He afked if that 

 was the Virgin Mary ? I anfwered, " In faith, I believe fo, Stra- 

 tes." He did not fpeak, but only gave a humph of disappro- 

 bation. 



The day had been very hot, and the altercation I had! 

 with Woldo had occafioned me to Ipeak fo much that my 

 third, without any help from curiofity, led me to thefe fre- 

 quent libations at this long fought-for fpring, the moft an- 

 cient of all altars. " Strates, faid I, here is to our happy re- 

 turn. Come, friend, you are yet two toafts behind me ; can 

 you ever befatiated with this excellent water?" — "Look you, 

 Sir, fays he very gravely, as for king George I drank to him 

 with all my heart, to his wife, to his children, to his bro- 

 thers and filters, God blefs them all ! Amen ; — but as for the 

 Virgin Mary, as I am no Papivt, I beg to be excufed from 

 drinking healths which my church does not drink. As for our 

 happy return, God knows, there is no one withes it more 

 fincerely than I do, for I have been long weary of this beg- 

 garly country. But you mull forgive me if 1 refute to drink 

 any more water. They fay thefe favages pray over that 

 hole every morning to the devil, and I am afraid 1 feel; 

 his horns in. my belly already, from the great draught o 



r .hai 



