•though he: feemed under very great impatience, did 'not
often interrupt him, further than, You lie, and, It is a lie, w hich
he repealed at every new charge. His accufer had not faid
one word o f the murder o f Joas, but palled it over without
the fmalleit allufion to it. . .
In this, however, Abba Salama did not follow his examp
le : being defired to anfwer in his own defence, he entered
upon it with great d ignity, and an air of. fuperiority, very
different from his behaviour in the k in g ’s tent fhe day before
: he laughed, and made extremely light o f the charges*
on the article o f women, /which he neither confefled nor
denied ; but faid thefe might be crimes among the Fr^n^s,
(looking at me) or other Chriftians, b u t not the Chriftians^
o f that country, who Jived undeyadouble.difpenfation, the
.law o f Mofes and the law effChrift-: he faid the Abyflinfans
I were Beni Ifrael, as indeed they call themfelves, that is, Children
o f Ifra e l; and that in every age the.patiiarchs had
afted as he did, and were not lefs beloved o f God. ‘He went
roundly into the murder o f Joas, and o f his two brothers,
Adigo and Aylo, on the mountain o f Wechne,' and charged
Michael direftly with it, as alfo with the poisoning the
late Hatze Hannes’, father o f .the prefent king.
. T h e Ras feemed'td avoid hearing, fometimes b y fpeak-
in g to people Handing behind him, fometimes by reading
a paper ; in particular, he alked me, Handing d ire ftly'b e hind
his chair, in a low voice, What is the puniihment in
your country/for fuch a prime ? It was his cuHom to fpeak
to me in his own language o f Tigre, and one o f his greateH
paftimes to laugh at my fau lty expreflion. He fpake this
to me in Amharic, fo I knew he wanted my anfwer Ihould
be
be underflood: I therefore faid, in the fame low tone o f
voice he had fpoke to me, High-treafon is punifhed with
death in all the countries , I have ever known.— This I oWed
to Abba Salama, and it was not long before I had my return.
A bba.Salama next went into the murder o f Kafmati Elhte,
which he confefled he was the promoter of. He faid' the
Iteghe, with her brothers’ and Ay to Aylo, had' all turned
Franks, fo had- Guiho o f Am h a ra ; and that, in order, to
make the country Catholic, they had fent for priefis, who
lived with them in confidence,, as that fran k did, pointing to
me :. that it was againfl the law o f the country, that I ihould
be fuffered here that I was accurfed/and ihould be Honed
as an enemy to the Virgin Mary. There the Ras interrupted
him, by. faying, Confine-' yourfelf to your own defence
; • clear yourfelf firfi, and then accufe any one you
pleafe: it is the k in g ’s intention to put the law in execution’
againfl all offenders, and it is only as believing you the -
great’e fftha the has begun with you..
* T his calnmefs o f the Ras feemed, to difconcert the Acab *
Saat; he loft all method ; he warned the Ras that it was ow-
ip g to his excommunicating Kafmati Elhte that room was
madefor him to come to Gondar f. without that event this
k in g would never have been upon the. throne, fo that he
had ftill done them as much good b y his excommunications
as he had done them harm : he told the'Ras, and the 'judges -
that they were all doubly under a curfe, - i f they offered
either to pull out his'eyes, or cut out his to n g u e ; and prayed
them, burfting into tears, not fo m uch as to think o f either^
i f it was only for old fellowfhip, or friendlhip which1 Had
long fubfifted between them.
, K 2 . T here;