THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 49 t 



their own religion, and remain Haves and Mahometans at 

 Cairo, a nuifance to all European nations eftabliihed there. 



Upon the arrival of the triumvirate at Paris, Monhenaut 

 immediately repaired to the minifter ; Verfeau was introdu- 

 ced to the king, and Ponce t, foon after, had the fame hon- 

 our. He was then led as a kind of mow, through all Paris, 

 cloathed in the Abymnian drefs,and decorated with his gold 

 chain. But while he was vainly amufing himfelf with this 

 filly pageantry, the conful's letters, and the comments made 

 upon them by Monhenaut, went directly to deflroy the 

 credit of his ever having been in Abyllinia, and of the reali- 

 ty of Murat's embafly. 



The Fxancifcan friars, authors of the murder of M. du 

 Roule, enemies to the million, as being the work of the Je- 

 fuits ; M. Piques, member of the Sorbonne, a body never 

 much diftinguimed for promoting difcoveries, or encoura- 

 ging liberal and free inquiry; Abbe Renaudot, M. le Grande, 

 and fome ancient linguifls, who, with great difficulty, by 

 the induflry of M. Ludolf, had attained to a very fuperficial 

 knowledge of the AbyfTmian tongue, all fell furioufly upon 

 .Poncet's narrative of has journey. One found fault with the 

 account he gave of the religion of the country, becaule it 

 was not fo conformable to the rites of the church of Rome, 

 as they had from their own imagination and prejudice, and 

 for their own ends conceived it to be. Others attacked the 

 truth of the travels, from improbabilities found, or fuppofed 

 •to be found, in the description of the countries through 

 which he had .pafled ; while others discovered the for- 

 gery of his letters,, by faults found in the orthography of 



2 Q^2 that 



