Recalled to a recollection of the circumstances of the condition of the Royal relations, by a remark of the Negoos, Bethlehem turned to me, and commented upon the sanitary observances I had been recommending for the benefit of my supposed patient, as he was a prisoner, and I then learnt, that the Negoos was consulting me upon the subject of a disease, to which he was himself subject. The symptoms that he had detailed plainly indicated a great determination of blood to the head, and among other things which I had suggested as preventives of the occasional giddiness, dimness of sight, &c., which was complained of, was frequent exercise by walking, and recommended that this should be for some distance regularly every morning and evening. It was this which had led the Negoos to make some playful remark in his character, as his brother’s representative, that this indeed would be a pleasant medicine for him, and which reminded the interpreter that if I went on prescribing in that way I might say something unpleasant to the Royal ear. Perhaps the unconscious shrug, with which I acknowledged our error operated upon the mind of the monarch more than any direct appeal that I could have made in favour of his unhappy relatives, and expressed more real sorrow than the cold interpretation of Bethlehem could have conveyed.[13] The monarch soon after changed the subject by alluding to the bad state of my own health, and of the necessity of my remaining quiet in Aliu Amba until the termination of the wet season, which was expected about the middle of the present month. He did not forget to recommend to me the study of the Amharic language during that time, so that in the next expedition against the Galla, to which he had already invited me, I might be able to converse with him. The Negoos did not detain me much longer, but after telling me not to miss seeing the Muscal (at Debra Berhan on the 24th), if it were possible for me to come, he dismissed me, glad enough to escape from the fatiguing interview. I returned to Musculo’s house a great deal too tired to think of going on to Aliu Amba directly, but made up my mind to stay until an hour or two before sunset, to arrive in that town just in time for bed, and so escape the houseful of inquiring friends, who would have thronged around me with compliments and congratulations on my return.