Page:Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile - In the Years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, and 1773 volume 3.djvu/424

400 Damot joins Gojam, and it was even said, that Welleta Israel, his mother, had been the occasion of this, from her hatred to Michael and her attachment to Fasil; the first cause was sufficiently apparent, the last had formerly been no less so.

the 17th, after sun-rise, the king passed the Nile, and encamped at a small village on the other side, called Tsoomwa, where his Fit-Auraris had taken post early in the morning. I have often mentioned this officer without explanation, and perhaps it may now be right to state his duty. The Fit-Auraris is an officer depending immediately upon the commander in chief, and corresponding with him directly, without receiving orders from any other person. He is always one of the bravest, most robust, and most experienced men in the service; he knows, with the utmost exactness, the distance of places, the depth of rivers, the state of the fords, the thickness of the woods, and the extent of them; in a word, the whole face of the country in detail. His party is always adapted to the country in which the war is; sometimes it is entirely composed of horse, sometimes of foot, but generally of a mixture of both. He has the management of the intelligence and direction of the spies. He is likewise limited to no number of troops; sometimes he has 1000 men, sometimes 200. In time of real danger he has generally about 300, all picked from the whole army at his pleasure; he had not now about 50 horse, as it was not yet thought to be the time of real business or danger.

the post of Fit-Auraris is a place of great trust, so it is endowed with proportionable emoluments. The king's