I cannot but hope, the impossibility of performing this oath extinguished the sin of breaking it; at any rate, it was personal, and the subsequent death of the king[6] must have freed me from it; be that as it will, it had this good effect, that it greatly composed my mind for the time, as I now no longer considered myself as involved in that ancient and general rule of the country, Never to allow a stranger to return to his home. We that night learned, that the king had been in great straits ever since he came from Tigrè; that the Ras, who was possessed of all the revenues of the provinces that were in their allegiance, had never yet given the king an ounce of gold; and that he furnished his daily subsistence from his own house, a cow for his own and great officers table, and two loaves of bread for each of his servants; as small an allowance as any private person gave. It was believed that the Ras had left most of his money in Tigrè, and had trusted to the contributions he was to levy upon the great men whenever he should cross the Tacazzé; but in this he disappointed himself by his cruelty, for no person came before him, on his arrival at Gondar, from whom he could raise a farthing. It was about the 20th of January, that a message arrived from Powussen, to tell the Ras he had taken the usurper Socinios prisoner, and held him in irons at the king's disposal. He upbraided Michael with the cruelties of his executions, and declared his resolution of calling him to an account for these personally at Gondar; he warned him in time, to repass the Tacazzé, and retire while it was in his power to his government of Tigrè, where nobody would molest him, and leave the king at liberty to act for himself. Gusho likewise sent a messenger, but what word he brought did not transpire; after seeing the King and Ras Michael, both these messengers proceeded to Fasil. Soon after this came a message from Fasil, desiring only that the King and the Ras might renew to him the grant of his father's lands and estates, which he formerly possessed: what was the meaning of this message I could never learn; he was already in full possession of what he asked, and more; no person had attempted to take any thing from him, nor was it indeed in their power.