The next day a white cow was killed, and every one was invited to partake of her. The Shum ought to have been of the party, but he declined sitting or eating with the strangers, though his sons were not so scrupulous. He accordingly was left to pray to the Spirit of the river, which these poor people call The everlasting God, Light of the World, Eye of the World, God of Peace, Saviour, and Father of the Universe!'

Bruce asked the old Shum if ever he had seen the Spirit? he answered, without hesitation, 'Yes, very frequently!"

ser

The Shum, whose title was Kefla Abay, or vant of the river,' was a man of about seventy. The honourable charge which he possessed had been in his family, he conceived, from the beginning of the world; and as he was the happy father of eighty-four children, it appeared that his race was likely to flow as long as the Nile itself. He had a long white beard; round his body was wrapped a skin, which was fastened by a broad belt. Over this he wore a cloak, the hood of which covered his head; his legs were bare, but he wore sandals, which he threw off as soon as he approached the bog from which the Nile rises-a mark of respect which Bruce and his attendants were also required to perform.

The Agows, in whose country the Nile, or Blue River, rises, are, in point of number, one of the most considerable nations in Abyssinia, although they have been much weakened by their battles with the Galla tribes. They supply Gondar with cattle, honey, wheat, hides, wax, butter, &c. To prevent their butter from melting on the road, they

mix with it the yellow root of a herb called mot-moco. This country, although within ten degrees of the line, is, from its elevation, healthy and temperate; the sun is, of course, scorching, but the shade is cool and agreeable. The Agows are not said to be long livers, but their precise age it is very difficult to ascertain. We saw,' says Bruce, a number of women, wrinkled and sunburnt, so as scarce to appear human, wandering about under a burning sun, with one and sometimes two children upon their back, gathering the seeds of bent grass to make a kind of bread.'

6

By the 9th of November Bruce had finished all his observations relating to these remarkable places he had traced again, on foot, the whole course of the Nile, from its source to the plain of Goutto.

Our business,' says he, being now done, nothing remained but to depart. We had passed our time in perfect harmony; the address of Woldo, and the great attachment of our friend Irepone, had kept our house in a cheerful abundance. We had lived, it is true, too magnificently for philosophers, but neither idly nor riotously: and, I believe, never will any sovereign of Geesh be again so popular, or reign over his subjects with greater mildness. I had practised medicine gratis, and killed, for three days successively, a cow each day, for the poor and the neighbours. I had clothed the high priest of the Nile from head to foot, as also his two sons, and had decorated two of his daughters with beads of all the colours of the rainbow, adding every other little present they seemed fond of, or that we thought

would be agreeable. As for our amiable Irepone, we had reserved for her the choicest of our presents, the most valuable of every article we had with us, and a large proportion of every one of them; we gave her, besides, some gold: but she, more generous and noble in her sentiments than us, seemed to pay little attention to these that announced to her the separation from her friends; she tore her fine hair, which she had every day before braided in a newer and more graceful manner; she threw herself upon the ground in the house, and refused to see us mount on horseback or take our leave, and came not to the door till we were already set out-then followed us with her good wishes and her eyes, as far as she could see or be heard.

'I took my leave of Kefla Abay, the venerable priest of the most famous river in the world, who recommended me, with great earnestness, to the care of his god, which, as Strates humorously enough observed, meant nothing else than that he hoped the devil would take me. All the young men in the village, with lances and shields, attended us to Saint Michael Sacala, that is, to the borders of their country, and end of my little sovereignty.'

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CHAPTER XIV.

BRUCE RETURNS TO GONDAR-HIS RESIDENCE THEREACCOMPANIES THE KING IN THE BATTLES OF SERBRAXOSREVOLUTION AT GONDAR-DEFEAT AND OVERTHROW OF RAS MICHAEL-BRUCE RETURNS TO GONDAR-AND SUCCEEDS IN OBTAINING PERMISSION TO LEAVE ABYSSINIA.

On the 10th of November, 1770, Bruce left Geesh to return to Gondar, and on the evening of the 11th, he reached the house of Shakala Welled Amlac, to whom he had been addressed by Fasil. This singular character was from home, but his wife, mother, and sisters received Bruce kindly, knowing him by report; and, without waiting for Amlac, a cow was instantly slaughtered.

The venerable mistress of this worthy family, Welled Amlac's mother, was a very stout, cheerful woman, and bore no signs of infirmity or old age: 'but his wife,' says Bruce,‘ was, on the contrary, as arrant a hag as ever acted the part on the stage; very active, however, and civil, and speaking very tolerable Amharic.' His two sisters, about sixteen or seventeen, were really handsome; but Fasil's wife, who was there, was the most beautiful and graceful of them all; she seemed to be scarcely eighteen, tall, thin, and of a very agreeable carriage and manners. At first sight, a cast of melancholy seemed to hang upon her countenance, but this soon vanished, and she became very courteous, cheerful, and conversible.

'Fasil's two sisters,' says Bruce,' had been