Page:Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile - In the Years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, and 1773 volume 4.djvu/200

 begun to require satisfaction for the blood of the late king Joas, in the shedding of which these two were particularly concerned. Among the slain were our friends the Baharnagash and his son, who died valiantly fighting before the king at the time he escaped down the bank into the valley,

But what served as comfort to the king, was the still heavier loss sustained by the enemy, who, by their own accounts that day, lost above 9000 men, seven thousand of whom were from the troops of Begemder and Lasta, with which the king was engaged. For my own part, I cannot believe, but that both these accounts are much exaggerated; the great proportion that died of those that were wounded must have greatly swelled the loss of the rebels, because most gun-shot wounds, especially if bones are broken, mortify, and prove mortal. Among the slain, on the part of Begemder, were two chiefs of Lasta, and two relations of Powussen, (a brother-in-law and his son) they were both shot, bearing the banner of king Theodorus. The unworthy Confu, brother to Guebra Mehedin, and nephew to the Iteghé, whom I have often mentioned, had escaped, indeed, from Kasmati Ayabdar, who had given orders to confine him, to die a rebel this day among the troops of Begemder.

The king being washed and dressed, and having dined, received a compliment from Ras Michael, who sent him a present of fruit, and a thousand ounces of gold. There began then the filthiest of all ceremonies that ever disgraced any nation stiling themselves Christians; a ceremony that cannot be put in terms sufficiently decent for modest ears, without adapting the chaste language of scripture, which,