32 T R A V E L S TO E l SCO) V E R
A f t e r the many promifes amdi engagements) Eafil had
made and broken, without ever affigning the. finalleft rea,
ion, it may. b e doubted; whether Sacinios believed this fair
tale im p lic itly ; but his. prefent intention! being to. gain
Wood age, it little fignified whether it was flrrilly true qjj
n o t; he therefore received it.as.true; • Fafil’s.requeit was
granted to the full;;, and; this robber, twenty, times; a rebel!
bred up in woods and deferts, in exercife o f every crime;
was appointed to a command the third in the kingdom for
rank, power, and' riches ; and, what: was. never before. feen,
the k in g went out o f hi® palace: tD Deppabye;. the public
market-place, to fee the circle .of .gold; called' th e Bias Weric,
put upon his head;;, this, with the: white- and; blue; mantle*
invefts him. with the-dignity o f Kafmati; on lieutenant-general
o f the king; in the province;given-him.
A now man; fuch.as Afaheliwas,. could not refill the; ca>
refles; o f His.fovereign^ he was entirely gained ;,and;.in;rei
m m , made privately to;Sadnios,. and)a., few; confidents,, a
communication o f a ll:he knew;.whichjtheir naturaltimpixu-
dence, and; private previous engagements,.afterwards made
public., The fubftance o f this; confidence wasy that: peace
had been made and Twom to, in the moft folemn maimer,
both by. Michael and Fafil; that they.’ were to reftore. the
k in g , Tecla: Haimanout; thao they were; by their-joint
means, toeffeib, if!poflible,.the ru in o f Gttiho andTPowuflen;
governors of:Begemder and-Amhara; FafiUwas to enjoy the
poil o f Ras and Betwudet, and to .difpofe ofi tHe government
o f Begemder and Amhara to his-friends ;; Ras Michael wasto
content himfelf with the province o f Tigre,ttS';he then en*
joyed it, and advance no further than the river Tacazze,
•where he was to deliver the k in g to Fafil, and return to his
3 province.
province. Sanuda was, in the mean time, to appear as
Ras by the connivance o f Fafil and Michael; and, i f he
faw the people o f the Iteghe’s party refolved upon electing
a king, he was to take care to choofe fuch a one as would
foon prove himfelf incapable o f reigning, but fill the vacancy
in the mean time, and prevent the eleftion from
fa llin g upon a worthier candidate from the mountain o f
Wechne. Fafil, on his. part, undertook b y promifes and
propofals, and occafionally by the approach o f his army,
to frighten and confufe the Iteghe, and prevent a good un-
derltanding taking place between her, Guflxo, and Powuf-
fen. The laft article o f this treaty was, that no more ihould
he faid o f Joas the late k in g ’s murder, but all that tranf-
afition was to be buried in eternal oblivion. This peace,
Afahel had faid, was made by the mediation o f Welleta Se-
laffe, nephew o f Ras Michael, whom we have often mentioned
as having been taken prifoner by Fafil at the battle
o f Lirnj our.
T his difcovery, dangerous as it might have been in other
times and circumftanees, from the weaknefs o f the prefent
government, had no confequences htirtful to any concerned
in it. Sanuda, who was not prefent when Afahel revealed
the fecret, affe&ed to laugh at it as an improbable fiftio n ;
and though this whole fcheme o f treachery was confirmed
part b y part, yet it was fo deeply laid, and fo well fup-
ported, that, even when difcovered, it could not be prevented,
till, ftep by fiep, it was carried into execution..
Fasil was encamped at Bamba, as we have already
mentioned; he had difcharged all thofe lavage Galla
that he had brought from the other fide, o f the Nile!
. V o l . IV . E A s