His Companion Was Very Ill, And Incapable Of
Moving.
I went to see the poor fellow upon several occasions, and
found him suffering from dysentery and diseased liver.
These
excellent but misguided people had a first-rate medicine chest,
filled with useful drugs and deadly poisons, that had been
provided for them cheaply, by the agent for their society at
Cairo, who had purchased the stock in trade of a defunct doctor.
This had been given to the missionaries, together with the
caution that many of the bottles were not labelled, and that some
contained poison. Thus provided with a medicine chest that they
did not comprehend, and with a number of Bibles printed in the
Tigre language which they did not understand, they were prepared
to convert the Jews, who could not read. The Bibles were to be
distributed as the word of God, like "seed thrown upon the
wayside;" and the medicines, I trust, were to be kept locked up
in the chest, as their distribution might have been fatal to the
poor Jews. These worthy and well-meaning missionaries were
prepared to operate mentally and physically upon the Abyssinians,
to open their minds as well as their bowels; but as their own
(not their minds) were out of order, I was obliged to assist them
by an examination of their medicine-chest, which they had
regarded with such dread and suspicion that, although dangerously
ill, they had not dared to attempt a dose. This medicine-chest
accompanied them like a pet dog suspected of hydrophobia, which
they did not like to part with, and were yet afraid to touch.
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