THE SOURCE OF THE: NILE. gr 
to him. But the Ras returned for anfwer, that the Nabye 
fhould keep them to: be his chaplains; ashe hoped, fome 
day, he would be converted to the Chriftian faith himfelf; 
af not, he might fend them to Arabia with the reft; they 
~ would ferve to be carriers of wood and drawers of water ; 
and that there ftill remained at Damo enough ‘of their kind 
to carry on the trade with Dixan and Mafuah. 
Tuts ftory I heard from Ras Michael himfelf, at his grand- 
daughter’s marriage, when he was feafting, and in great 
{pirits. He, and all the company, laughed heartily; and al- 
though there were in the room at leaft two dozen of priefts, 
none of them feemed to take this incident more ferioufly 
than the reft of the company. From this we may guefs at 
the truth of what the Catholic writers advance, with regard 
to the refpect and reverence fhown to the priefthood by the 
government and great men in Abyflinia. 
Tue prieft of Axum, and thofe of the monaftery of Abba 
Garima, are equally infamous with thofe of Damo for this 
practice, which is winked at by Ras Michael, as contribu- 
ting to his greatnefs, by furnifhing fire-arms to his province 
of Tigre, which gives him a fuperiority over all Abyflinia. 
Asa return for this article, about five hundred of thefe 
unfortunate people are exported annually from Mafuah to 
Arabia; of which three hundred are Pagans, and come 
from the market at Gondar; the other two hundred are 
Chriftian children, kidnapped by fome fuch manner as this 
we have fpoken of, and in times of fcarcity four times that 
number. The Naybe receives fix patakas of duty for each one 
exported. Dixan is in lat. 14° 57’ 55” North, and long. 40° 
7’ 30” eaft of the meridian of Greenwich, 
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