io8 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER 



but charged the Ras with every fort of enormity, and upon 

 his refufal fent him a. defiance^ 



The fame evening came an exprefs from Shoa, which 

 moil puntflually brought the book I fo much wiihed for, 

 containing the lives of the firft kings that Hved at Shoa ; 

 a fair and fine copy, wrote upon parchment in a large quarta 

 fize, in the pure ancient language of Geez. The author 

 was nearly contemporary with the annals which he writes* 

 I Ihewed it to the king, who till then had never feen it, 

 and wlio only faid, Ifear, Yagoube, you are carrying home 

 thefe books only to make your kings laugh at ours. The 

 fatisfacftion I received upon the acquifition of this book was 

 greatly diminifhed by the lofs of the donor, Amha Yafousj 

 who fet out the 20th of February, attended with about a 

 hundred men, his own fervants, and followed by the regret 

 and the good wifhes of all that had known him, mine in 

 particular, having been, from the firft time I Ikw him, very 

 much attached to him. 



Before his departure he had two long conferences with 

 fhe king upon the contents of the difpatches fent by his 

 father from Shoa. The fubftance he frankly told me was, 

 that he did not intend to meddle with the quarrels of Ras 

 Michael, nor thofe of Fafil ; that they fhould fettle thefe in 

 iheir own way ; but if either attempted any thing againll 

 the king, fet up any ufurpers, as they had done in the perfon 

 ©f Socinios, and continued fo far againft their allegiance to 

 Tecla Haimanout as to withhold his whole revenue, and 

 HOt to pay him wherewithal to fupport his ftate, that he 

 would confider himfelf as prote(5tor of the royal family of 

 Solamon, as the governors o£ Shoa had always been. — 



k 



