POLITICAL CAUTION. 407 



bourhoort of Farrcc, would be well calculated for 

 the interesting experiment. 



Our conversation was not, however, altogether 

 upon this subject, but merely that I might be 

 prepared for the interview the next day with the 

 Negoos, when Bethlehem was to act as interpreter. 

 Information respecting the state of Northern Abys- 

 sinia, as regarded differences in the manners and 

 customs of the inhabitants from those of Shoa, 

 was freely volunteered by my new acquaintance, 

 but who was exceedingly cautious and reserved 

 upon political matters, so that I supposed that the 

 discussion was a delicate one, and that his visit 

 to the Negoos was connected with some business 

 of that kind. Bethlehem is an intelligent man, 

 and might be made exceedingly useful, and as 

 his knowledge of the English language appears 

 to give him a bias towards the interests of this 

 country, his probable value as an agent, must 

 not be passed over without being remarked. As 

 he was nearly twice as old as myself, I talked 

 just as much the more in proportion, for I had no 

 other way of parrying the questions that his 

 apparently careless curiosity prompted him to make. 

 I knew nothing of the objects for which the 

 Embassy had been sent to the Court of Shoa ; at 

 least nothing beyond what might naturally be 

 supposed — such as the extension of our commerce, 

 and the establishment of friendly relations with 



