son of Ischias, should be placed on the throne. Some religious disputes having subsequently arisen between these powerful chieftains, it had occasioned a rupture, which, since my return, has again thrown the country into a civil war; the Emperor, in the mean time, remaining neglected at Gondar, with a very small retinue of servants, and an income by no means adequate to the support of his dignity; so that, as he possesses neither wealth, power, nor influence in the state; royalty may be considered, for a time, almost eclipsed in the country.
The duties of the Ras's situation, who may be regarded as an independent ruler, are extremely arduous, some notion of which may be formed by a reference to the map, where the extent of the country under what may be called "his personal jurisdiction," is marked out. Throughout this extensive district, all crimes, differences, and disputes, of however important or trifling a nature, are ultimately referred to his determination, all rights of inheritage are decided according to his will, and most wars are carried on by himself in person. To rule a savage people of so many different dispositions, manners, and usages as the Abyssinians, requires a firmness of mind, and a vigour of constitution, rarely united in the same individual at his advanced age; yet, whenever I have seen him in the exercise of his power, he has shewn a vivacity of expression, a quickness of comprehension, and a sort of commanding energy, that overawed all who approached him. During his continuance in power, he has made it his uniform practice to treat the different attempts at rebellion with perfect indifference; so that when those concerned in such conspiracies have, in their own imagination, brought affairs to a crisis, he has constantly expressed contempt, rather than alarm at their machinations.
After a second attempt against his life by the same persons, he has been repeatedly known to pardon, and even to permit the parties convicted to attend about his court, priding himself particularly on having never been guilty of the cruelties of Ras Michael, and being led with reluctance to the condemnation of a common culprit; while no possible provocation can induce him "to cut off a limb, put out the eyes," or commit any other of
