ANTALOW. 41 
might obtain any additional information that I chose ; and when I 
represented to him that no verbal report would be so satisfactory, 
as sending one of the gentlemen who had accompanied me to make 
inquiries on the spot, he immediately assented to the proposal. He 
then said, that a hope was expressed in Lord Valentia's letter, that 
1 might go to Gondar ; but, though it was his anxious wish to com- 
ply with all our desires, it was at present impossible to secure the 
safety of our persons on the journey, he being on bad terms with 
Gusmatie Guxo, who had possession of Gondar. The Ras then en- 
tered into a detail of the circumstances out of which the present 
dispute between himself and his rival originated, and of this the 
following account, corrected in some particulars by Hadjee Hamed, 
who was well acquainted with the circumstances, is a correct 
abstract. 
" The differences arose at a very early period. Ras Welleta 
Selasse placed VVelleta Solomon on the throne, after the abdication 
of his father Tecla Hamainout ; but the new sovereign was soon 
opposed by the contrary party ; afterwards the Ras raised Tecla 
Georgis to the supreme command. This appointment, however, was 
not more agreeable to the opponents of the Ras, than the former 
had been, who compelled Tecla Georgis three several times to fly 
for protection to Tigre, which was more immediately under the 
control of his patron. The presence of the Ras being required at 
his capital in Tigre, every exertion was made by the other party to 
raise Ayto Ischias, and afterwards his son Ayto Gualoo, members 
of another branch of the royal family, to the throne. At length, the 
Ras finding, as it should seem, his two favourites, Welleta Solomon 
and Tecla Georgis, unequal to maintain the royal authority, was 
