As We Could Not Go To Court Before November, We Resolved, That We
Might Not Be Idle, To Preach And Instruct The People In The Country;
In Pursuance Of This Resolution I Was Sent To A Mountain, Two Days'
Journey Distant From Maigoga.
The lord or governor of the place was
a Catholic, and had desired missionaries, but his wife had conceived
an implacable aversion both from us and the Roman Church, and almost
all the inhabitants of that mountain were infected with the same
prejudices as she.
They had been persuaded that the hosts which we
consecrated and gave to the communicants were mixed with juices
strained from the flesh of a camel, a dog, a hare, and a swine; all
creatures which the Abyssins look upon with abhorrence, believing
them unclean, and forbidden to them, as they were to the Jews. We
had no way of undeceiving them, and they fled from us whenever we
approached. We carried with us our tent, our chalices, and
ornaments, and all that was necessary for saying mass. The lord of
the village, who, like other persons of quality throughout
Aethiopia, lived on the top of a mountain, received us with very
great civility. All that depended upon him had built their huts
round about him; so that this place compared with the other towns of
Abyssinia seems considerable; as soon as we arrived he sent us his
compliments, with a present of a cow, which, among them, is a token
of high respect. We had no way of returning this favour but by
killing the cow, and sending a quarter smoking, with the gall, which
amongst them is esteemed the most delicate part. I imagined for
some time that the gall of animals was less bitter in this country
than elsewhere, but upon tasting it, I found it more; and yet have
frequently seen our servants drink large glasses of if with the same
pleasure that we drink the most delicious wines.
We chose to begin our mission with the lady of the village, and
hoped that her prejudice and obstinacy, however great, would in time
yield to the advice and example of her husband, and that her
conversion would have a great influence on the whole village, but
having lost several days without being able to prevail upon her to
hear us on any one point, we left the place, and went to another
mountain, higher and better peopled. When we came to the village on
the top of it, where the lord lived, we were surprised with the
cries and lamentations of men that seemed to suffer or apprehend
some dreadful calamity; and were told, upon inquiring the cause,
that the inhabitants had been persuaded that we were the devil's
missionaries, who came to seduce them from the true religion, that
foreseeing some of their neighbours would be ruined by the
temptation, they were lamenting the misfortune which was coming upon
them. When we began to apply ourselves to the work of the mission
we could not by any means persuade any but the lord and the priest
to receive us into their houses; the rest were rough and untractable
to that degree that, after having converted six, we despaired of
making any farther progress, and thought it best to remove to other
towns where we might be better received.
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