Page:Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile - In the Years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, and 1773 volume 2.djvu/668

652 shed before he brings about the destruction of his country, which I know in his heart he has been long meditating."

I help mentioning it as an extraordinary circumstance, that at the time I was at Gondar, in the very height of Suhul Michael's tyranny, a man quarrelled with another who was a scribe, and accused him before Michael of having recorded this speech of the king, as I have now stated it, in a history that he had written of Yasous's reign. The book was produced, the passage was found and read; and I certainly expected to have seen it torn to pieces, or hung upon a tree about the author's neck. On the contrary, all the Ras said was, "If what he writes is true, wherein is the man to blame?" And turning with a grin to Tecla Haimanout, one of the judges, he said, "Do you remember? I do "believe Yasous did say so." The book was restored to the author, and no more said of the matter, not even an order was given to erase the passage. He had no objection to Yasous and to his whole race being prophets; he had only taken a resolution that they should not be kings.

A silence followed this speech of Yasous, instead of the acclamations of joy usual in such cases. The king then ordered Ras Welled de l'Oul to lead the army on to Gondar, which he did with great pomp and military parade, while the king, who could not forget his forebodings, retired to an island, there to fast some days in consequence of a vow that he had made. This being finished, Yasous returned to Gondar; and, as he was now in perfect peace throughout his kingdom, he began again to decorate the apartments of his palace. A large number of mirrors had arrived at