80 
TRAVELS IN ABYSSINIA. 
civil war. Ras Michael, the governor of Tigre, 
had assassinated the late king Joas, and had 
placed on the throne Tecla Haimanout, a youth 
of fifteen, who acted entirely under his direction. 
To consolidate this usurped power, he endeavour- 
ed to secure an alliance with the queen-dowager 
or Iteghe, by marrying her daughter Ozoro Es- 
ther ; and he courted Powussen and Gusho, the 
governors of Amhara and Begemder, who were 
in the queen's interest. All these persons mere- 
ly temporized with Michael, till they could find 
an opportunity of overthrowing his power. Be- 
sides this internal source of dissension, Fasil, the 
chief of the Galla, had seized the fertile southern 
provinces of Damot, Gojam, Maitsha, and Agou- 
midre, and, with a view to extend his footing in 
Abyssinia, had declared his determination to 
avenge the murder of the late king. 
When Mr Bruce arrived at Gondar, the prin- 
cipal persons to whom he was recommended hap- 
pened to be absent. An accident, however, soon 
introduced him at court. Two young princes, 
the grandchildren of the Iteghe, were seized with 
the small-pox ; and Mr Bruce, who, during his 
stay at Tripoli, had acquired a slight knowledge 
of medicine, which rendered him much superior 
to the Abyssinian physicians, was sent for to at- 
tend them. Their mother, Ozoro Esther, was 
then assiduously nursing them j a circumstance 
