This Slight Wound I Took Little Notice Of, Till My Arm
Grew Inflamed All Over; In A Short Time The
Poison infected my
blood, and I felt the most terrible convulsions, which were
interpreted as certain signs that my death
Was near and inevitable.
I received now no benefit from bezoar, the horn of the unicorn, or
any of the usual antidotes, but found myself obliged to make use of
an extraordinary remedy, which I submitted to with extreme
reluctance. This submission and obedience brought the blessing of
Heaven upon me; nevertheless, I continued indisposed a long time,
and had many symptoms which made me fear that all the danger was not
yet over. I then took cloves of garlic, though with a great
aversion, both from the taste and smell. I was in this condition a
whole month, always in pain, and taking medicines the most nauseous
in the world. At length youth and a happy constitution surmounted
the malignity, and I recovered my former health.
I continued two years at my residence in Tigre, entirely taken up
with the duties of the mission - preaching, confessing, baptising -
and enjoyed a longer quiet and repose than I had ever done since I
left Portugal. During this time one of our fathers, being always
sick and of a constitution which the air of Abyssinia was very
hurtful to, obtained a permission from our superiors to return to
the Indies; I was willing to accompany him through part of his way,
and went with him over a desert, at no great distance from my
residence, where I found many trees loaded with a kind of fruit,
called by the natives anchoy, about the bigness of an apricot, and
very yellow, which is much eaten without any ill effect.
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