LIBERATION OF THE CAPTIVES. 4:23 



great determination of blood to the head, and 

 among other things which I had suggested as pre- 

 ventives of the occasional giddiness, dimness of 

 sight, &c, which was complained of, was frequent 

 exercise by walking, and recommended that this 

 should be for some distance regularly every 

 morning and evening. It was this which had led 

 the Negoos to make some playful pemark in his 

 character, as his brother's representative, that this 

 indeed would be a pleasant medicine for him, and 

 which reminded the interpreter that if I went on 

 prescribing in that way I might say something 

 unpleasant to the Iloyal ear. Perhaps the uncon- 

 scious shrug, with which I acknowledged our error 

 operated upon the mind of the monarch more than 

 any direct appeal that I could have made in favour 

 of his unhappy relatives, and expressed more real 

 sorrow than the cold interpretation of Bethlehem 

 could have conveyed.*' 



The monarch soon after changed the subject by 



* About two months after this interview the captive princes of 

 the blood Royal were liberated from Guancho, in accordance with a 

 vow made by the Negoos whilst lying upon a bed of sickness, under 

 the impression that death was approaching, and that such an act 

 would propitiate heaven favourably for his recovery. It was a 

 spontaneous act, nor can any just claim be made by any one to 

 have instigated the Negoos to take this step. During his illness 

 he refused the aid and medicine of the Embassy, and it was a topic 

 of public conversation, that a monarch possessed of such abilities, 

 and so excellent a disposition as Sahale Selassee, should be so 

 under the influence of suspicion, as even in the extremity of 

 his illness on this occasion, he should have refused the proffered 



