Page:Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile - In the Years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, and 1773 volume 2.djvu/660

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TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

cretion. He then hurried them on board a vessel, giving Michael and the Baharnagash notice that they were gone in safety, and that he had obeyed the king's orders in all respects. Michael was at that time in the strictest friendship with the Naybe, who was his principal instrument in collecting fire-arms in Arabia to strengthen him in the quarrel he was then meditating against his sovereign.

On the 8th of February 1744 the priests and their guides sailed from Masuah; and they did not arrive at Jidda till the 14th of April. There they found that the ships for Cairo were gone, and that they had lost the monsoon; and, as no misfortune comes single, the Sherriffe of Mecca made a demand upon them for as much money as they had paid the Naybe; and, upon refusal, he put Abdelcader in prison, nor was he released for a twelvemonth after, when the money was sent from Abyssinia; and it was then agreed, that 75 ounces of gold[1] should in all future times be paid for leave of passage to those who went to Cairo to fetch the Abuna; and 90 ounces a-piece to the Sherriffe, and to the Naybe, for allowing him to pass when chosen, and furnishing him with necessaries during his stay in their respective government; and this is the agreement that subsists to this day.

In this interim, Likianos of Azazo, one of the priests, weary of the journey and of his religion, and having quarrelled with Abdulla, renounced the Christian faith, and embraced that of Mahomet; and Theodorus, Abdulla, and Hamet Ali, being the only three remaining, hired a vessel at Jidda to carry them to the port of Suez, the bottom of the

  1. About one hundred and eighty-six pounds, an ounce of gold at a medium being 10 crowns.