THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 151 



The battle ended with the death of Za Denghel ; many 

 faw him fall, and more his body after the defeat ; but no 

 one chofe to be the firft that fhould in any way difpofe of 

 it, or care to own that they knew it. It lay in this abject 

 Hate for three days, till it was buried by three peafants in a 

 corner of the plain, in a little building like a chapel (which 

 I have feen) not above fix feet high, under the made of a 

 very fine tree, in Abyffinia called Jaffa : there it lay till ten 

 years after, when Socinios removed it from that humble 

 maufoleum, and buried it in a monaftery called Daga, in 

 the lake Dembea, with great pomp and magnificence. 



The grief which the death of Za Denghel occasioned was 

 fo univerfal, and the odium it brought upon the authors of 

 it fo great, that neither Za SelaiTe nor Ras Athanafius dared 

 for a time take one ftep towards naming a fucceflbr, which 

 the fear of Za Denghel, and the uncertainty of victory, had 

 prevented them from doing by common confent before the 

 battle. There was no doubt but that the election would fall 

 upon Jacob, but he was far off, confined in the mountainous 

 country of CafFa in Narea. The diftance was great ; the 

 particular place uncertain ; the way to it lay through deferts, 

 always dangerous on account of the Galla, and often im- 

 paflable. 



I i 2 JACOB^ 



