I Imagined The Reader Would Not Be Displeased To Be Informed Who
This Man Was, Whose Precious Remains Were Searched For By A Viceroy
Of Tigre, At The Command Of The Emperor Himself.
The commission was
directed to me, nor did I ever receive one that was more welcome on
many accounts.
I had contracted an intimate friendship with the
Count de Vidigueira, viceroy of the Indies, and had been desired by
him, when I took my leave of him, upon going to Melinda, to inform
myself where his relation was buried, and to send him some of his
relics.
The viceroy, son-in-law to the Emperor, with whom I was joined in
the commission, gave me many distinguishing proofs of his affection
to me, and of his zeal for the Catholic religion. It was a journey
of fifteen days through part of the country possessed by the Galles,
which made it necessary to take troops with us for our security;
yet, notwithstanding this precaution, the hazard of the expedition
appeared so great, that our friends bid us farewell with tears, and
looked upon us as destined to unavoidable destruction. The viceroy
had given orders to some troops to join us on the road, so that our
little army grew stronger as we advanced. There is no making long
marches in this country; an army here is a great city well peopled
and under exact government: they take their wives and children with
them, and the camp hath its streets, its market places, its
churches, courts of justice, judges, and civil officers.
Before they set forward, they advertise the governors of provinces
through which they are to pass, that they may take care to furnish
what is necessary for the subsistence of the troops. These
governors give notice to the adjacent places that the army is to
march that way on such a day, and that they are assessed such a
quantity of bread, beer, and cows. The peasants are very exact in
supplying their quota, being obliged to pay double the value in case
of failure; and very often when they have produced their full share,
they are told that they have been deficient, and condemned to buy
their peace with a large fine.
When the providore has received these contributions, he divides them
according to the number of persons, and the want they are in: the
proportion they observe in this distribution is twenty pots of beer,
ten of mead, and one cow to a hundred loaves. The chief officers
and persons of note carry their own provisions with them, which I
did too, though I afterwards found the precaution unnecessary, for I
had often two or three cows more than I wanted, which I bestowed on
those whose allowance fell short.
The Abyssins are not only obliged to maintain the troops in their
march, but to repair the roads, to clear them, especially in the
forests, of brambles and thorns, and by all means possible to
facilitate the passage of the army. They are, by long custom,
extremely ready at encamping. As soon as they come to a place they
think convenient to halt at, the officer that commands the vanguard
marks out with his pike the place for the King's or viceroy's tent:
every one knows his rank, and how much ground he shall take up; so
the camp is formed in an instant.
Chapter VII
They discover the relics. Their apprehension of the Galles. The
author converts a criminal, and procures his pardon.
We took with us an old Moor, so enfeebled with age that they were
forced to carry him: he had seen, as I have said, the sufferings
and death of Don Christopher de Gama; and a Christian, who had often
heard all those passages related to his father, and knew the place
where the uncle and nephew of Mahomet were buried, and where they
interred one quarter of the Portuguese martyr. We often examined
these two men, and always apart; they agreed in every circumstance
of their relations, and confirmed us in our belief of them by
leading us to the place where we took up the uncle and nephew of
Mahomet, as they had described. With no small labour we removed the
heap of stones which the Moors, according to their custom, had
thrown upon the body, and discovered the treasure we came in search
of. Not many paces off was the fountain where they had thrown his
head, with a dead dog, to raise a greater aversion in the Moors. I
gathered the teeth and the lower jaw. No words can express the
ecstasies I was transported with at seeing the relics of so great a
man, and reflecting that it had pleased God to make me the
instrument of their preservation, so that one day, if our holy
father the Pope shall be so pleased, they may receive the veneration
of the faithful. All burst into tears at the sight. We indulged a
melancholy pleasure in reflecting what that great man had achieved
for the deliverance of Abyssinia, from the yoke and tyranny of the
Moors; the voyages he had undertaken; the battles he had fought; the
victories he had won; and the cruel and tragical death he had
suffered. Our first moments were so entirely taken up with these
reflections that we were incapable of considering the danger we were
in of being immediately surrounded by the Galles; but as soon as we
awoke to that thought, we contrived to retreat as fast as we could.
Our expedition, however, was not so great but we saw them on the top
of a mountain ready to pour down upon us. The viceroy attended us
closely with his little army, but had been probably not much more
secure than we, his force consisting only of foot, and the Galles
entirely of horse, a service at which they are very expert. Our
apprehensions at last proved to be needless, for the troops we saw
were of a nation at that time in alliance with the Abyssins.
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