THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 255: 



young nobleman through Begemder, in order to fupplanc 

 his uncle Guflio, by the great confidence fhewn by the king 

 in the old officers and relations of Ras Michael, now air 

 Gondar, and the difmiffion of Fafil's friends, (Adera Tacca- 

 Georgis and Confu Adam) the moft ample confeflion pof- 

 iible was made, that the king had again thrown himfelf in- 

 to the arms of the province of Tigre and Begemder united, 

 to which Amhara was to be added, by keeping Gufho pri- 

 foner, till fuch time as his nephew Adigo could gain entire 

 pofleffion. 



To counterpoife this, a mclTenger arrived from Fafil, de^ 

 manding privately of the king, that Gufho fhould be fet au 

 liberty, and return to his province of Amhara ; that Lika 

 Netcho, one of the murderers of Joas, (who had been fpared, 

 as being married to a relation of the king) lllould be im- 

 mediately put to death, and that all the officers belonging to ^ 

 Ras Michael, then at court, fhould be baniflied for ever to 

 Tigre, their native country. The king returned a pofitive 

 refufal, not quahfiedinany Ihape whatever. 



A DISAGREEMENT now happened, which, more than all 

 the reft, was interefting, and difturbed me in particular. 

 Pofitive information was brought to the Iteghe, and, 1 

 believe, very authentic, that the king, weary of the ma- 

 ny councils held at Kofcam by the fervants and deputies 

 of the feveral parties, in the queen's prefence, (to which he 

 was not called) had determined to give up the palace of 

 Kofcam, in which it was thought there were great riches, to 

 be plundered by his foldiers. As the death of the queen by 

 her confinement in fome diftant defert and unwholefome 

 eonvenr, muft have probably been the confcquence of fuc- 



cefs 



