THE SOURCE OF THE NILE, 471 
As I had never defpaired, fome way or other, of arriving 
at the fountains of the Nile, from which we were not fifty 
miles diftant when we turned back at Karcagna, {fo I never. 
neglected to improve every: means that held out to me the 
leaft probability of accomplifhing this end. I had been very 
attentive and ferviceable to Fafil’s fervants while in the 
camp. I fpoke greatly of their mafter, and, when they went 
away, gave each of them a {mall prefent for himfelf, and. 
a.trifle alfo for Fafil. They had, on the other hand, been 
very importunate with me as a phyfician to prefcribe fome- 
thing for a cancer on the lip, as I underftood it to be, with: 
which Welleta Yafous, Fafil’s principal general, was. afflic-- 
ted.. : ae. 
-Inap been advifed, by fome of my medical friends, to: 
earry along with me a preparation of hemlock, or cicuta,. 
recommended by Dr Stork, a phyfician at Vienna. A confi-- 
derable quantity had been fent me from France by commit-- 
fion, with directions how to ufe it. To keep on the fafe’ 
fide, I prefcribed fmall dofes to Welleta Yafous, being much: 
more anxious to preferve myfelf from-reproach than warm-: 
ly folicitous about the cure of my. unknown patient. I gave 
him pofitive advice to. avoid eating raw meat; to keep to a. 
milk diet, and drink plentifully of whey when he ufed this. 
medicine. They were overjoyed at having fucceeded fo: 
well in their commiffion, and declared before the king, That 
Fafil their mafter would be more pleafed with receiving a 
medicine that would reftore Welleta Yafous to health, than 
with the magnificent appointments the king’s goodnefs had. 
beftowed upon him. “If it is fo, faid J,in this day of grace, . 
Twill afk two favours.”—* And that’s a rarity, fays the king ;, 
come, out.with.them ; I don’t believe anybody is aefirous. 
Yo 
