The  sources  of  that  branch  were  presently  explored
(1624-25)  by  the  energetic  Jesuit,  Father  Jerome  Lobo.^

^  Nat.  Coimbra,  sent  to  Abyssinia  (i  597-1 600)  by  D.  Francisco
da  Gama,  grandson  of  D,  Vasco,  and  wrote  the  "  History  of
Ethiopia,"  published  in  1650.  The  book  was  translated  in  1785,
much  to  the  detriment  of  Bruce,  by  Dr.  Johnson.  "  Rasselas  "  (by
the  way)  is  not  a  fancy  name,  as  has  often  been  supposed  :  it  is  either


The  Travels  of  Camoens  in  the  Nearer  East.     517

The  Jesuit  D'Almeyda  (1660)  declares  that  Gojjam  and
Dembia  (Lake  Tsana)  "  belong  to  the  famous  Nile,  one
giving  birth  to  it,  and  the  other  increasing  it."  The  map
of  B.  Telles,  who  abridged  the  work,  makes  the  Nile
describe  an  oval  open  to  the  N.-West  and  sweeping
through  Lake  Dembia:  like  Bruce  (1790)  and  Beke
(1843),  ^"^6  places  the  head-waters  of  the  Blue  River  in  a
pool  to  the  S.-West  of  that  Lake.
Thus  the  "  Coy  Fountains "  were  transferred  from
Ptolemy's  tolerably  correct  position  (when  reduced)  to
i2°-i3°  North  of  the  Equator;  and,  by  a  contrary  pro-
cess, a  traveller  in  our  day  sought  them  in  S.  Lat.  2o°.i
Replicas  of  "  Barcena"  multiplied,  and  private  judgment
stultified  geographical  fact.  Thus  Milton,  the  "  novus
Ulysses,"  speaking  of  the  place  "  where  Abyssin  kings
their  issue  guard,"  could  write  such  poetic  nonsense  as:

By  some  supposed
True  Paradise  under  the  Ethiop  line,
By  Nilus  head,  inclosed  with  shining  rock,
A  whole  day's  journey  high.  (Par.  L.,  iv.  281.)


Ras  (chief)  Salasah  (The  Trinity),  often  used  in  compound  proper
names,  or  Ras  el-Asad  =  /i  Leonis.
