Page:Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile - In the Years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, and 1773 volume 2.djvu/680

664 that, though in possession of saints, did not seem to have been made for the solitary pleasures of one sex only. This piece of violence was, by the whole body of monks, called Sacrilege. Violent excommunications, and denunciations of divine vengeance, were thundered out against Kasmati Netcho. An army was sent against him; he was defeated and taken prisoner, and confined upon a mountain in Walkayt, where soon after he died, but not before the Iteghè had shewn her particular mark of displeasure, by taking her daughter Ozoro Esther, his wife, from him, that she, too, and her only son Confu, might not be involved in the monk's excommunications, and the imputed crime of sacrilege.

this time died Kasmati Waragna, full of years and glory, having, though a stranger, preserved his allegiance to the last, and more than once saved the state by his wisdom, bravery, and activity. He is almost a single example in their history, of a great officer, governor of a province, that never was in rebellion, and a remarkable instance of Bacuffa's penetration, who, from a single conversation with him, while engaged in the vilest employment, chose him as capable of the greatest offices, in which he usefully served both his son and grandson.

after, Ayo governor of Begemder, an older officer still than Waragna, arrived in Gondar, and resigned his government into the queen's hands. This resignation was received, because it was understood that it was directly to be conferred upon his son Mariam Barea, by far the most hopeful young Abyssinian nobleman of his time. Another mark of favour, soon followed, perhaps was the occasion of this.