THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 475
would be eafy ; but, if I then went to Tigre, I was fully pcrfuaded I fhould never have the refolution to come again to Gondar.
He feemed to take heart at the confidence with which I fpoke of his return. " You, Yagoube, fays he, in a humble, complaining tone, could tell me, if you pleafed, whether I mall or not, and what is to befal me ; thofe inftruments and thofe wheels, with which you are conftantly looking at the ftars, cannot be for any ufe unlefs for prying into futurity."—" Indeed, faid I, prince, thefe are things by which we guide fhips at fea, and by thefe we mark down the ways that we travel by land ; teach them to people that never palled them before, and, being once traced, keep them thus to be known by all men for ever. But of the decrees of Providence, whether they regard you or myfelf, I know no more than the mule upon which you ride."—" Tell me then, I pray, tell me, what is the reafon you fpeak of my re- turn as certain?"—" I fpeak, faid I, from obfervation, from refleaions that I have made, much more certain than pro- phecies and divinations by ftars. The firft campaign of your reign at Fagitta, when you was relying upon the difpofitions that the Ras had molt ably and fkillfully made, a drunk- ard, with a fmgle fliot, defeated a numerous army of your enemies. Povvuffen and Gufho were your friends, as you •thought, when you marched out laft, yet they had, at that very inftant, made a league to deftroy you at Derdera ; and nothing but a miracle could have faved you, flint up be- tween two lakes and three armies. It was neither you nor Michael that difordered their councils, and made them fail in what they had concerted. You was for burning Sam- feen, whilft Woodage Afahel was there in ambufh with a
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