and did not fuffer me to pafs unknown-; -this was the
Acab Saat, Salama, who had initigated the k in g , on the j th
o f December, in one o f his drunken 'fits, -to fet out from the
palace in the night, attended by a number o f banditti, mod-
ly Mahometans, to plunder feveral houfes; he flew one man,
as it was faid, with his own h an d : among thefe devoted
houfes mine happened to be one, but I was then happily at
Kofcam. The next w as Metical Aga’s, one o f whofe Servants
efcaped into-a churOh-yard, the other being flam. The leader
o f this unworthy mob was Confu, brother to! Guebra
Mehedin. Every thing that could be carried away was
flolen or broken ; among which was a refledting telefcope,
a barometer, and thermometer; a great many papers and
iketches o f drawings, firfl torn, then burnt by Confu’s own
hand, with manyxurfes and threats againfLme.
T he next , day, about nine o’clock, I had a meflage to
come to the palace, where I went, and was immediately admitted.
Socinios was fitting, his eyes h a lf clofed, red as fcar-
let with laft night’s debauch-; he was apparently at that moment
much in liquor; his mouth fu ll o f tobacco, fquirt-
in g his fpittle out o f his mouth to a very great diitance;
with this he had fo covered the floor, that it was with ve ry
great difficulty I could chufe a clean place to kneel and
make my obeifance. He was drefled like the late king,
but, in every thing elfe, how unlike ! my mind was filled
with horror, and deteftation, to fee the throne on which he
fat fo unworthily occupied. I regarded him as I advanced
with the moil perfect contempt: Hamlet’s lines defcribed
h im exaftly
a A
A murtherer and a v illa in :
A flave, that is not twentieth part the tithe
Of your preceding lord ; a vice o f k ings ;
A cutpurfe o f the empire, and the rule,
• That from a fhe lf the precious diadem ftole-
And put it in his p o cke t;
A k in g o f fhreds and patches,.
S h a k e s p e a e e ."-
It requires fomething o f innate royalty'to perfonate a king.
W hen I got u p and flood before him, he feemed to b e
rather difconcerted, and not prepared to fay any thing to
me. There were few people there befides fervants, moft
m e n o f confideration having left Gondar, and gone with.
Fafil, After two o r three fquirts through his teeth, and a
whifper from his brother Chremation, whom- I had never
before feen— “ Wherefore is it, lays he, that you who are
a great man-, do -not attend the palace ? you were conflantly
withTeclaHaimanout, the exile,orufurper, in peace and w a r ::
you ufed to ride with him, and divert-him with your tricks
on horfeback, and, I believe, ate and-drank with him.
Where, is all- that money you got from ; Ras el Feel, o f
which- province; I am tofd, you are-ftill- governor, though -
you conceal it ? How dare you keep Yafine in that govern- -
ment, and not allow Abd el Jelkel; who is m y Have; appointed
' to. enter, and govern -that province I waited patiently '
till he- had faid all he had to -fay; and made, a flight in- -
dination o f the head.- I anfwered; “ T am no great m a n ,,
even in my own coun try ; one proof o f this is -my being
here in yours. I arrived in the time o f the late king, and -
Ilwas recommended to him b y his friends in Arabia. You;
ace;