It was about four o’clock in the afternoon, but the day had been very hot for some hours, and they were sitting in the shade of a grove of magnificent cedars, intermixed with some very large and beautiful cusso-trees, all in the flower; the men were lying on the grass, and the beasts fed, with the burdens on their backs, in most luxuriant herbage. I called for my herbary[123], to lay the rose-branch I had in my hand smoothly, that it might dry without spoiling the shape; having only drawn its general form, the pistil and stamina, the finer parts of which (though very necessary in classing the plant) crumble and fall off, or take different forms in drying, and therefore should always be secured by drawing while green. I just said indifferently to Woldo in passing, that I was glad to see him recovered; that he would presently be well, and should fear nothing. He then got up, and desired to speak with me alone, taking Aylo’s servant along with him. “Now, said I, very calmly, I know by your face you are going to tell me a lie. I do swear to you solemnly, you never, by that means, will obtain any thing from me, no not so much as a good word; truth and good behaviour will get you every thing; what appears a great matter in your sight is not perhaps of such value in mine; but nothing except truth and good behaviour will answer to you; now I know for a certainty you are no more sick than I am.”—“Sir, said he, with a very confident look, you are right; I did counterfeit; I neither have been, nor am I at present any way out of order; but I thought it best to tell you so, not to be obliged to discover another reason that has much more weight with me why I cannot go to Geesh, and much less shew myself at the sources of the Nile, which I confess are not much beyond it, though I declare to you there is still a hill between you and those sources.”—“And pray, said I calmly, what is this mighty reason? have you had a dream, or a vision in that trance you fell into when you lagged behind below the church of St Michael Sacala?” “No, says he, it is neither trance, nor dream, nor devil either; I wish it was no worse; but you know as well as I, that my master Fasil defeated the Agows at the battle of Banja. I was there with my master, and killed several men, among whom some were of the Agows of this village Geesh, and you know the usage of this country, when a man, in these circumstances, falls into their hands, his blood must pay for their blood.”
I burst out into a violent fit of laughter which very much disconcerted him. “There, said I, did not I say to you it was a lie that you was going to tell me? do not think I disbelieve or dispute with you the vanity of having killed men; many men were slain at that battle; somebody must, and you may have been the person who slew them; but do you think that I can believe that Fasil, so deep in that account of blood, could rule the Agows in the manner he does, if he could not put a servant of his in safety among them 20 miles from his residence; do you think I can believe this?” “Come, come, said Aylo’s servant to Woldo, did you not hear that truth and good behaviour will get you every thing you ask? Sir, continues he, I see this affair vexes you, and what this foolish man wants will neither make you richer nor poorer; he has taken a great desire for that crimson silk-sash which you wear about your middle. I told him to stay till you went back to Gondar; but he says he is to go no farther than to the house of Shalaka Welled Amlac in Maitsha, and does not return to Gondar; I told him to stay till you had put your mind at ease, by seeing the fountains of the Nile, which you are so anxious about. He said, after that had happened, he was sure you would not give it him, for you seemed to think little of the cataract at Goutto, and of all the fine rivers and churches which he had shewn you; except the head of the Nile shall be finer than all these, when, in reality, it will be just like another river, you will then be dissatisfied, and not give him the sash.”
I thought there was something very natural in these suspicions of Woldo; besides, he said he was certain that, if ever the sash came into the sight of Welled Amlac, by some means or other he would get it into his hands. This rational discourse had pacified me a little; the sash was a handsome one; but it must have been fine indeed to have stood for a minute between me and the accomplishment of my wishes. I laid my hand then upon the pistols that stuck in my girdle, and drew them out to give them to one of my suite, when Woldo, who apprehended it was for another purpose, ran some paces back, and hid himself behind Aylo’s servant. We were all diverted at this fright, but none so much as Strates, who thought himself revenged for the alarm he had given him by falling through the roof of the house at Goutto. After having taken off my sash, “Here is your sash, Woldo, said I; but mark what I have said, and now most seriously repeat to you, Truth and good behaviour will get any thing from me; but if, in the course of this journey, you play one trick more, though ever so trifling, I will bring such a vengeance upon your head that you shall not be able to find a place to hide it in, when not the sash only will be taken from you, but your skin also will follow it: remember what happened to the seis at Bamba.”
He took the sash, but seemed terrified at the threat, and began to make apologies. “Come, come, said I, we understand each other; no more words; it is now late, lose no more time, but carry me to Geesh, and the head of the Nile directly, without preamble, and shew me the hill that separates me from it. He then carried me round to the south side of the church, out of the grove of trees that surrounded it, “This is the hill, says he, looking archly, that, when you was on the other side of it, was between you and the fountains of the Nile; there is no other; look at that hillock of green sod in the middle of that watery spot, it is in that the two fountains of the Nile are to be found: Geesh is on the face of the rock where yon green trees are: if you go the length of the fountains pull off your shoes as you did the other day, for these people are all Pagans, worse than those that were at the ford, and they believe in nothing that you believe, but only in this river, to which they pray every day as if it were God; but this perhaps you may do likewise.” Half undressed as I was by loss of my sash, and throwing my shoes off, I ran down the hill towards the little island of green sods, which was about two hundred yards distant; the whole side of the hill was thick grown over with flowers, the large bulbous roots of which appearing above the surface of the ground, and their skins coming off on treading upon them, occasioned two very severe falls before I reached the brink of the marsh; I after this came to the island of green turf, which was in form of an altar, apparently the work of art, and I stood in rapture over the principal fountain which rises in the middle of it.”
It is easier to guess than to describe the situation of my mind at that moment—standing in that spot which had baffled the genius, industry, and inquiry of both ancients and moderns, for the course of near three thousand years. Kings had attempted this discovery at the head of armies, and each expedition was distinguished from the last, only by the difference of the numbers which had perished, and agreed alone in the disappointment which had uniformly, and without exception, followed them all. Fame, riches, and honour, had been held out for a series of ages to every individual of those myriads these princes commanded, without having produced one man capable of gratifying the curiosity of his sovereign, or wiping off this stain upon the enterprise and abilities of mankind, or adding this desideratum for the encouragement of geography. Though a mere private Briton, I triumphed here, in my own mind, over kings and their armies; and every comparison was leading nearer and nearer to presumption, when the place itself where I stood, the object of my vain-glory, suggested what depressed my short-lived triumphs. I was but a few minutes arrived at the sources of the Nile, through numberless dangers and sufferings, the least of which would have overwhelmed me but for the continual goodness and protection of Providence; I was, however, but then half through my journey, and all those dangers which I had already passed, awaited me again on my return. I found a despondency gaining ground fast upon me, and blasting the crown of laurels I had too rashly woven for myself. I resolved therefore to divert, till I could on more solid reflection overcome its progress.
I saw Strates expecting me on the side of the hill. “Strates, said I, faithful squire, come and triumph with your Don Quixote at that island of Barataria where we have wisely and fortunately brought ourselves; come and triumph with me over all the kings of the earth, all their armies, all their philosophers, and all their heroes.”—“Sir, says Strates, I do not understand a word of what you say, and as little what you mean: you very well know I am no scholar; but you had much better leave that bog, come into the house, and look after Woldo; I fear he has something further to seek than your sash, for he has been talking with the old devil-worshipper ever since we arrived.”—“Did they speak secretly together, said I?”—“Yes, Sir, they did, I assure you.”—“And in whispers, Strates!”—“As for that, replied he, they need not have been at the pains; they understand one another, I suppose, and the devil their master understands them both; but as for me I comprehend their discourse no more than if it was Greek, as they say. Greek! says he, I am an ass; I should know well enough what they said if they spoke Greek.”—“Come, said I, take a draught of this excellent water, and drink with me a health to his majesty king George III. and a long line of princes.” I had in my hand a large cup made of a cocoa-nut shell, which I procured in Arabia, and which was brim-full. He drank to the king speedily and chearfully, with the addition of, “Confusion to his enemies,” and tossed up his cap with a loud huzza. “Now friend, said I, here is to a more humble, but still a sacred name, here is to—Maria!” He asked if that was the Virgin Mary? I answered, “In faith, I believe so, Strates.” He did not speak, but only gave a humph of disapprobation.
The day had been very hot, and the altercation I had with Woldo had occasioned me to speak so much that my thirst, without any help from curiosity, led me to these frequent libations at this long sought-for spring, the most ancient of all altars. “Strates, said I, here is to our happy return. Come, friend, you are yet two toasts behind me; can you ever be satiated with this excellent water?”—“Look you, Sir, says he very gravely, as for king George I. drank to him with all my heart, to his wife, to his children, to his brothers and sisters, God bless them all! Amen;—but as for the Virgin Mary, as I am no Papist, I beg to be excused from drinking healths which my church does not drink. As for our happy return, God knows, there is no one wishes it more sincerely than I do, for I have been long weary of this beggarly country. But you must forgive me if I refuse to drink any more water. They say these savages pray over that hole every morning to the devil, and I am afraid I feel his horns in my belly already, from the great draught of that hellish water I drank first.”—It was, indeed, as cold water as ever I tasted. “Come, come, said I, don’t be peevish, I have but one toast more to drink.”—“Peevish, or not peevish, replied Strates, a drop of it never again shall cross my throat: there is no humour in this; no joke; shew us something pleasant as you used to do; but there is no jest in meddling with devil-worshippers, witchcraft, and inchantments, to bring some disease upon one’s self here, so far from home in the fields. No, no, as many toasts in wine as you please, or better in brandy, but no more water for Strates. I am sure I have done myself harm already with these follies—God forgive me!”—“Then, said I, I will drink it alone, and you are henceforward unworthy of the name of Greek; you do not even deserve that of a Christian.” Holding the full cup then to my head, “Here is to Catharine, empress of all the Russias, and success to her heroes at Paros; and hear my prediction from this altar to-day, Ages shall not pass, before this ground, whereon I now stand, will become a flourishing part of her dominions.”
He leaped on this a yard from the ground. “If the old gentleman has whispered you this, says he, out of the well, he has not kept you long time waiting; tell truth and shame the devil, is indeed the proverb, but truth is truth, wherever it comes from; give me the cup, I will drink that health though I should die.” He then held out both his hands. “Strates, said I, be in no such haste; remember the water is inchanted by devil-worshippers; there is no jesting with these, and you are far from home, and in the fields, you may catch some disease, especially if you drink the Virgin Mary; God forgive you. Remember the horns the first draught produced; they may with this come entirely through and through.”—“The cup, the cup, says he, and—fill it full; I defy the devil, and trust in St George and the dragon.—Here is to Catharine, empress of all the Russias, confusion to her enemies, and damnation to all at Paros.”—“Well, friend, said I, you was long in resolving, but you have done it at last to some purpose; I am sure I did not drink damnation to all at Paros.”—“Ah, says he, but I did, and will do it again—Damnation to all at Paros, and Cyprus, and Rhodes, Crete, and Mytilene into the bargain: Here it goes, with all my heart. Amen, so be it.”—“And who do you think, said I, are at Paros?”—“Pray, who should be there, says he, but Turks and devils, the worst race of monsters and oppressors in the Levant; I have been at Paros myself; was you ever there?”—“Whether I was ever there or not is no matter, said I; the empress’s fleet, and an army of Russians, are now possibly there; and here you, without provocation, have drank damnation to the Russian fleet and army who have come so far from home, and are at this moment sword in hand to restore you to your liberty, and the free exercise of your religion; did not I tell you, you was no Greek, and scarcely deserved the name of Christian?”—“No, no, Sir, cries Strates, for God’s sake do not say so, I would rather die. I did not understand you about Paros; there was no malice in my heart against the Russians. God will bless them, and my folly can do them no harm—Huzza, Catharine, and victory!” whilst he tossed his cap into the air.
A number of the Agows had appeared upon the hill, just before the valley, in silent wonder what Strates and I were doing at the altar. Two or three only had come down to the edge of the swamp, had seen the grimaces and action of Strates, and heard him huzza; on which they had asked Woldo, as he entered into the village, what was the meaning of all this? Woldo told them, that the man was out of his senses, and had been bit by a mad dog; which reconciled them immediately to us. They, moreover, said, he would be infallibly cured by the Nile; but the custom, after meeting with such a misfortune, was to drink the water in the morning fasting. I was very well pleased both with this turn Woldo gave the action, and the remedy we stumbled upon by mere accident, which discovered a connection, believed to subsist at this day, between this river and its ancient governor the dog-star.