Negade Ras Mahomet, of whom we have already spoken, brother to Hagi Saleh, who had procured me my first lodging at Gondar, was head of all the Mahometans in that capital, nay, I may say, in Abyssinia. He, too, was a favourite of the Ras, and shewed the same attachment to me, on account of Metical Aga, as had his brother Saleh. This man came to me one morning, and told me, that Yasine, whom I had brought with me to Abyssinia, and was recommended to me by Metical Aga, had married Abdel Jelleel’s daughter, and that a son of Saleh had married a daughter of Yasine’s. He said there was not a man in Abyssinia that was a braver soldier and better horseman than Yasine; that he had no love for money, but was a man of probity and honour, as indeed I had always found him; that the people of Ras el Feel, to a man, wished to have him for their governor in the room of Abdel Jelleel; and that all the Arabs, as well as Shekh Fidele, governor of Atbara, for Sennaar, wished the same. Mahomet did not dare to speak for fear of Ozoro Esther, who was thought to favour Abdel Jelleel, but he promised, that, if Ayto Confu would appoint him instead of Abdel Jelleel, he would give him 50 ounces of gold, besides what Yasine should allow upon his settlement, and would manage the affair with Michael when he had leave so to do. He added, that his brother Saleh should furnish Yasine with 200 men from the Mahometans at Gondar, completely armed with their firelocks, and commanded by young Saleh in person. I was not at this time any judge of the expediency of the measure; but one resolution I had made, and determined to keep, that I never would accept a post or employment for myself, or solicit any such for others. My reader will see, that, for my own safety, most unwillingly I had been obliged to break the first of these resolutions almost as soon as it was formed, and I was now deliberating whether it was not better that I should break the other for the same reason. Two things weighed with me extremely, the experience of Yasine’s prudence and attachment to me during the whole journey, and my determination to return by Sennaar, and never trust myself more in the hands of that bloody assassin the Naybe of Masuah, who I understood had, at several times, manifested his bad intentions towards me when I should return by that island.