THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 397 



?ived." — " True, fays Fidele, then it is impoffible." " Your 

 meffengers and mine, laid I, Shekh, are not of the fame 

 fort, nor fhall I afk your leave when I am to fend to 

 Ras el Feel or Sennaar, nor fliall you ever cut off the 

 head from any one of them. But why are you alarmed at 

 thefe afles being taken ? Should you not be afraid of fome- 

 thing fmiilar happening at Mecca ? Am not I under the 

 prote6lion of the IherrifFe ? When Metical Aga hears this, 

 will he not refent it ? Will Youfef Kabil, the Chriltian, the 

 iherfiffe's vizir at Jidda, through whofe hands your people 

 pafs, will he be gentler to them upon this account ?" — " A 

 curfe upon him ! fays the flierriffe ; he gentle! he is a Ihark." 

 " Meloun Ibn Sheitan, fays the Turk Ifmael, /; e. accurfed 

 wretch, child of the devil !" — *' Well then, faid I, the diffi- 

 culty is only to know if he is informed of this at Mecca. 

 Friday the 1 7th is your feftival. If the afternoon of that 

 lliall pafs like thofe of common days, I am a worthleis 

 jnan and an impoftor ; but if on that day, before el'afTer*,, 

 afign be feen in the heavens that fliall be thought by all of 

 3^ou unufual and extraordinary, then am I an innocent man, 

 and Fi4ele's defigns againil me are known to the world, at 

 Sennaar and at Mecca, at Cairo and at Gondar, and every- 

 where elfe, and will not be pleafmg either to God or man." 

 Yarif el Hakim f, fays the fherrilTe ; Hakim J ! fays the 

 Shekh of the Jehaina ; Ullah Akbar || ! fays the Moullah-,, 

 lifting his eyes up to heaven, and counting his beads very- 

 devoutlv.. 



The-: 



* El'afler is four, o'clock. f The Hakim, or wife man knows, 



^ He is iadced wife. ||, God is gr^at. 



