THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 599
fays lie, I am an afs ; I mould know well enough what they faid if they fpoke Greek."—" Come, faid I, take a draught of this excellent water, and drink with me a health to his majefty king George III. and a long line of princes." I had in my hand a large cup made of a cocoa-nut fhelli which I procured in Arabia, and which was brim-full. He drank to the king fpeedily and chearfully, with the addition of, " Confufion to his enemies," and tolled up his cap with a loud huzza. " Now friend, faid I, here is to a more humble, but ftill a facred name, here is to— Maria !" He afked if that was the Virgin Mary ? I anfwered, " In faith, I believe fo, Stra- tes." He did not fpeak, but only gave a humph of disappro- bation.
The day had been very hot, and the altercation I had! with Woldo had occafioned me to Ipeak fo much that my third, without any help from curiofity, led me to thefe fre- quent libations at this long fought-for fpring, the moft an- cient of all altars. " Strates, faid I, here is to our happy re- turn. Come, friend, you are yet two toafts behind me ; can you ever befatiated with this excellent water?" — "Look you, Sir, fays he very gravely, as for king George I drank to him with all my heart, to his wife, to his children, to his bro- thers and filters, God blefs them all ! Amen ; — but as for the Virgin Mary, as I am no Papivt, I beg to be excufed from drinking healths which my church does not drink. As for our happy return, God knows, there is no one withes it more fincerely than I do, for I have been long weary of this beg- garly country. But you mull forgive me if 1 refute to drink any more water. They fay thefe favages pray over that hole every morning to the devil, and I am afraid 1 feel; his horns in. my belly already, from the great draught o
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