FHE SOURCE OE Til E N I LE. 601 



fhe was feized that fame night, and was conveyed to Wai- 

 kayt, to be confined there, with private inftructions, how- 

 ever, to put her to death fpeedily, which were executed ac- 

 cordingly* * 



The queen had a fon within the year, whom the council 

 named Yafous, after his grandfather, whofe memory will 

 ever be dear in Abyffinia ; and this again revived the old ap- 

 prehensions that Welleta Georgis was to govern the coun- 

 try (as the prophet faid) for thirty years. Tormented with 

 this idea, rather than the havoc it had occafioned, he de- 

 vifed with, himfelf a fcheme which he thought would cer- 

 tainly detect this future ufurper of his crown and dethro- 

 ner of his child. But firft he directed that the queen fhould 

 he. crowned, a ceremony that carries great confequences a- 

 long with it when folemnized properly, as at that time 

 fhe is made regent, or Iteghe, in all minorities that may 

 happen afterwards. 



After he had created his wife iteghe, BacufFa pretend- 

 ed to be fick: feveral days pafTed without hopes of recovery ; 

 but at laft the news of the king's death were publifhed in 

 Gondar. The joy was fo great, and fo univerfal, that no- 

 body attempted to conceal it. Every one found himfelf 

 eafed of a load of fear which had become infupportable. 

 Several princes efcaped from the mountain of Wechne to 

 put themfelves in the way of being chofen ; fome were fent 

 to by thofe great men who thought themfelves capable of 

 effecting the nomination, and a fpeedy day was appointed 

 for the burial of the king's corpfe, when BacufFa appeared, 

 in the ordinary feat of j uflice, early in the morning of that 



Vol. II 4 G day, 



