their neighbours in time o f war. The whole country o f'
Degwafla, the diftridt w h ich Aclog commanded, was totally
deftroyed; men, women, and children, were entirely extirpated,
without difti’ncition o f age or fex.; the houfes all razed
to the ground,'and the country ahout it left as defolate as
after the deluge. The villages belonging to the k in g
w efe as feverely treated ; an univerfal cry was heard from
every part, but no one dared to. fuggeft any means o f help;
parties were fo entirely mixed: and confounded, that no,
one could fafely enter into any confidence with his neighbour
; but the common people, who had little to lofe, be-,
gan again to cry out.for the return and government o f Raa,
Michael..
Fash, having given the k in g this fample o f what h'e ■
was capable o f doing, halted at Sar-Ohha, and from thence
fent a peremptory demand that, Guiho Ihould be at liberty.
His mefienger was a crooked, diminutive dwarf, called
Dohho, o f w hom I have already, fpoken. It was a very
bad fign o f a treaty when fuch a one was the manager;.
He upbraided the k in g in terms, fcarcely decent, with the
protection, life, and kingdom the Ras Fafil had givCn him,,
when the contrary was abfolutely in his power. H e a ik - .
ed the k in g i f he knew who had prdtedted him the night
o f the retreat from, the hill o f Serbraxos band told him, in,
plain terms, that, being entirely void o f the noble p r in c i ples
o f gratitude himfelf, he had forced him, Fafil, to be
wanting to the next great virtue, that o f hofpitality, in fuf-.
fcring a man o f G uiho’s quality to be made prifoner after
arriving within the limits o f his government. I Ie concluded;.
by telling the kin g plainly, that, unlefs he reftored Gulho,
to his liberty and government,, without condition, he
w ou ld ,,
tVould, in three days, make Gondar, the metropolis, as de-
fert and deftitute o f inhabitants as he had left the paltry "
diftridt o f DegwalTa.
T he kin g received all this with great compofure, for he
had as much fortitude, and as little fear as ever fell to the
ihare o f any man ; his misfortune, however, was, that he ^
had no refources in which he could tra il; and the T ig ré
officers about him, more imprudent, and fu lly as fearlels as
he, gave him the fame advices they would have done had
he been at the head o f the army. Ras Michael was moreover
gone, and Kefla Yafous was at a diftance ; thefe two
were the men for planning and contriving bufinefs, and
who faved others the trouble o f thinking. The reft, fuch
as Billetana Gueta Tecla, Guebra Mafcal, and Baflia He-
zekias, were only fit to be trailed with execution, and
to proceed according to . the letter o f , the orders' they
might receive, and the confequences o f which they could
not, nor did they wilh to underftsnd. By being ufed, however,
to confiant fuccefs in executing plans maturely di-
gefted by wifer heads, they had acquired a degree o f pre-
fumption which made them very dangerous counfellors to
a young king, in the prefent cafe, where nothing but the
greateft prudence, aflifted b y the manifeft interpofition o f
the hand o f Heaven, (many examples o f w hich he had already
proved) could fave him from perdition.
I w a s not prefent at the audience, being at Kofcam, but
his fecretary, to whom I. am indebted for every thing that
palTed in private, in this hiftory, and which otherwife was
beyond the reach o f my knowledge, allured me the k in g
anfwered thefe threatenings without any change o f coun-
& ^ 2 tenance