THESOURCE OF THE NILE. 617
hiflory of the country, and of the particulars concerning the million in great detail, and with good judgment, yet he ne- ver mentions this journey of Peter Paez, though it proba- bly mull have been conveyed to Rome and Portugal, after his infpe&ion, and under his authority.
Balthazar Tellez, a learned Jefuit, has wrote two vo- lumes in folio with great candour and impartiality, confider- ing the fpirit of thofe times ; and he declares his work to be compiled from this hiftory of Alphonfo Mendes the pa- triarch, from the two volumes of Peter Paez, as well as from the regular reports made by the individuals of the company in fome places, and by the provincial letters in others; to all which he had compleat accefs, as alfo to the annual reports of Peter Paez among the rell, from 1598 to 1622 ; yet Tellez makes no mention of fuch a difcovery, though he is very particular as to the merit of each miflionary during the long reign of Sultan Segued, or Socinios, which occupies more than half of the two volumes.
After thefe ftrong preemptions, that Peter Paez neither made fuch a journey nor ever pretended it, 1 mall fubmit the account that Paez himfelf, or Kircher for him, has gi- ven of the expedition and confequent difcovery; and if any of my readers can perfuade themfelves that a man of ge- nius, fuch as was Peter Paez, tranfported by accident to thefe fountains, and exulting as he does \ipon the difcovery, the value of which he feems to have known well, could yet have given fuch a defcription as he does, I- am then contented with being only the partner of Peter Paez.
Vol. UI. 4 l Before
