THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 741 
‘are ‘not in proportion to the prefent confequence of the fe- 
veral clans. Geefh has a principal flice, though the moft 
inconfiderable territory of the whole ; Sacala has the next; 
and Zeegam, the moft confiderable of them all in power and 
riches, has the leaft of the whole. I found it in vain to afk 
upon what rules this diftribution was founded ; their gene- 
ral and conftant anfwer was, It was fo obferved in old 
times. - 
Arrer having ate this carcafe raw, according to their 
cuftom, and drunk the Nile water to the exclufion of any 
other liquor, they pile up the bones on the place where 
they fit, and burn them to afhes. This ufed tobe perform- 
ed where the church now ftands; but Ras Sela Chriftos, 
fome time after, having beaten the Agows, and defirous, at 
the Jefuits infligation, to convert them to Chriftianity, he 
demolifhed their altar where the bones were burnt, and 
built a church upon the fite, the doors of which, I believe, 
were never opened fince that reign, nor is there now, as far 
_as we could perceive, any Chriftian there who might with 
to fee it frequented. After Sela Chriftos had demolifhed 
their altar by building this church, they ate the carcafe, 
and burnt the bones, on the top of the mountain of Geefh 
out of the way of profanation, where the veftiges of this 
ceremony may yet be feen; but probably the fatigue at- 
tending this, and the great indifference their late gover- 
- nors have had for Chriftianity, have brought them back to a 
fmall mllock by the fide of the naarfh, weft of faint Michael’s 
‘church, and a little to the fouthward, where they perform 
this folemnity every year, and they will probably refume 
their firft altar when the church is fallen to ruins, which 
they are every day privately haftening. 
442 AFTER 
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