THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 73.,
are not in proportion to the prefent confequence of the fe- veral clans. Geelli has a principal flice, though the moft inconfiderable territory of the whole ; Sacala has the next ; and Zeegam, the moft confiderable of them all in power and riches, has the leaft of the whole. I found it in vain to afk upon what rules this diftribution was founded ; their g< ral and conftant anfwer was, It was fo obferved in times.
After having ate this carcafe raw, according -o tl cuftom, and drunk the Nile water to the excluiion of any other liquor, thfey pile up the bones on the place where they fit, and burn them to afhes. This ufed to be perform- ed where the church now ftands ; but Ras Sela Chriftos, fome time after, having beaten the Agows, and defirous, at the Jefuits inftigation, to convert them to Chriftianity, he demolifhed their altar where the bones were burnt, and built a church upon the fite, the doors of which, I believe, were never opened fince that reign, nor is there new, as far as we could perceive, any Christian there who might wifli to fee it frequented. After Sela Chriftos had demolifhed their altar by building this church, they ate the carcafe, and burnt the bones, on the top of the mountain of Geefh out of the way of profanation, where the veftiges of this ceremony may yet be feen ; but probably the fatigue at- tending this, and the great indifference their late gover- nors have had for Chriftianity, have brought them back to a fmall hillock by the fide of the marfli, weft of faint Michael's church, and a little to the fou th ward, where they perform this folemnity every year, and they will probably refume their firft altar when the church is fallen to ruins, which they are every day privately haftening.
4 ^ 2 After
