THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 493
I asked him if any notice had been taken of the carper I had procured to cover the body of Joas, and hoped it had' given no umbrage. He faid, " No ; none at all ; on the con- trary, the king had faid twenty kind things upon it ; that he was prefent alfo when a priefl told it to Ras Michael, who only obferved, Yagoube, who is a ftranger in this coun- try, is fhocked to fee a man taken out of his grave, and thrown like a dog upon the bare floor. This was all Mi- chael faid, and he never mentioned a word on the fubjeel: afterwards ;" nor did he, or the king, ever fpeak of it to mc upon their return to Gondar.
The Itcghe, too, had much commended me, fo did all the nobility, more than the thing deferved ; for furely com- mon humanity dilated thus much, and the fear of Michael, which I had not, was the only caufe that fo proper an ac- tion was left in a ftranger's power. Even Ozoro Either, enemy to Joas on account of the death of her hufband Ma- riam Barea, after I had attended her one Sunday from church to the houfe of the Iteghe, and when fhe was fet down at the head of a circle of all thofe that were of diftinclion at the court, called out aloud to me, as I was palling behind, and pointing to one of the moil honourable feats in the room, faid, Sit down there, Yagoube ; God has exalted you above all in this country, when he has put it in your power, though but a ftranger, to confer charity upon the king of it. All was now acclamation, efpecially from the ladies ; and, I believe, I may fafely fay, I had never in my life been a favourite of fo many at one time.
T dispatched Guebra SelafTe with a meiTage to the king,, that I was refolved now to try once more a journey to the
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