Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 2.djvu/39

 army set out from Gondar to meet the rebel Fasil, and Bruce took that share in the fatigues and perils of the campaign which his office rendered necessary. He was of great service in improving the discipline of the army, and was looked upon as a finished warrior. After a good deal of marching and countermarching, the royal forces gained a complete victory over Fasil, who was consequently obliged to make his submission. This rebel now lived on amicable terms with the king and his officers, and Bruce, recollecting the interesting site of his government, busied himself in performing medical services to his principal officers. When the king came to ask Bruce what reward he would have for his share in the campaign, the enthusiastic traveller answered, that he only wished two favours, the property of the village of Geesh, with the spot in its neighbourhood where he understood the Nile to arise, and a royal mandate obliging Fasil to facilitate his journey to that place. The king, smiling at the humility of his desires, granted the request, only regretting that Zagoube (such was the name assumed by Bruce in his travels,) could not be induced to ask something ten times more precious. The attention of the sovereign and his minister were now distracted by the news of another insurrection in the western parts of the kingdom; and it was necessary to move the army in that direction. Bruce made the excuse of his health ( which was really bad) to avoid attendance in this campaign; and at length, with some difficulty, he obtained the king's permission to set out for Geesh, which lie was now resolved on, notwithstanding that the breaking out of another rebellion omened ill for the continued submission of Fasil, and consequently for the safety of the traveller. Bruce set out upon this last great stage of his journey on the 28th of October, 1770, and he was introduced to the presence of Fasil at a place called Bamba. Fasil, partly through the representations of those officers to whom Bruce had recommended himself, was in reality favourably disposed to him; but he at first thought proper to affect a contrary sentiment, and represented the design as impracticable. In the course of the wrangling which took place between the two on this subject, Bruce Was so much incensed that his nose spontaneously gushed with blood, arid his servant had to lead him from the tent. Fasil expressed sorrow at this incident, and immediately made amends by taking measures to facilitate Bruce's journey. He furnished him with a guide called Woldo, as also seven savage chieftains of the country for a guard, and furthermore added, what was of greater avail than all the rest, a horse of his own, richly caparisoned, which was to go before the travelling party, as a symbol of his protection, in order to insure the respect of the natives. By way of giving a feasible appearance to the journey, Bruce was invested by Fasil with the property and governorship of the district of Geesh, in which the Nile rises, so that this strangely disguised native of Stirlingshire, in the kingdom of Scotland, looked entirely like an Abyssinian chief going to take possession of an estate in the highlands of that remote and tropical country. Bruce left Fasil's house on the 31st of October, and as he travelled onward for a few days through this rude territory, the people, instead of giving him any annoyance, everywhere fled at his approach, thinking, from the appearance of Fasil's horse, that the expedition was one of taxation and contribution. Those few whom Bruce came in contact with, he found to have a religious veneration for the Nile, the remains of that Pagan worship which was originally paid to it, and which was the sole religion of the country before the introduction of Christianity. Even the savages who formed his guard, would have been apt, as he found, to destroy him, if he had crossed the river on horseback, or employed its waters in washing any part of his dress. He also learned that there was still a kind of Driest of this worship, who dwelt at the fountain of the Nile, and was called "the servant of the river." It thus appeared that, as in the ruder parts of Bruce's native country, the aboriginal