4 
THE SOURCE°OF THE NILE — agg 
Sennaar willbe but 13 years upon an average; eight of the 
twenty have been depofed, and Ifmain the prefent king 
ftands the faireft chance anaes of being very toon the 
gth of that og 
Art the ‘ehablifhing of is eather the ike: and the 
whole nation of Shillook, were Pagans. They were foon 
after converted to Mahometifm, for the fake of trading 
with Cairo, and took the name of Funge, which they inter- 
pret fometimes lords, or conquerors, and, at other times, 
free citizens. All that can be faid with certainty of this 
term, as there is no accefs to the ftudy of their language, is, 
that it is applicable to thofe only that have been born eaft 
of the Bahar el Abiad. It does not feem to me that they 
fhould pride themfelves in being free citizens, becaufe the 
firft title of nobility in this country is that of flave; indeed 
there isno cther. Upon any appearance of your undervalu- 
ing a man at Sennaar, he inftantly afks you if you know who 
he is? if you don’t know that he is a flave, in the fame idea of 
ariftocratical arrogance, as would be faid in England upon 
an altercation, do you know to whom you are fpeaking? do 
you know thatIl ama peer? All titles and dignities are un- 
dervalued, and precarious, unlefs they are in the hands 
of one who is aflave. Slavery in Sennaar is the only true 
nobility. 
As I do not know that the names of thefe fovereigns are 
to be found any where elfe, I have fet them down here. The 
record from which I drew them is at leaft as extraordinary 
as any part of their hiftory ; it was'the hangman’s roll, or 
ene It is one of the fingularities which obtains among 
3Ma2 this 
