Nothing Now Could Have
Prevented Our Perishing In The Flames Had Not Those Who Kindled Them
Omitted To Fasten That Door Near Which I Was Lodged.
We were no
longer in doubt that the inhabitants of the town had laid a train,
and set fire
To a neighbouring house, in order to consume us; their
measures were so well laid, that the house was in ashes in an
instant, and three of our beds were burnt which the violence of the
flame would not allow us to carry away. We spent the rest of the
night in the most dismal apprehensions, and found next morning that
we had justly charged the inhabitants with the design of destroying
us, for the place was entirely abandoned, and those that were
conscious of the crime had fled from the punishment. We continued
our journey, and came to Gorgora, where we found the fathers met,
and the Emperor with them.
Chapter XII
The author is sent into Tigre. Is in danger of being poisoned by
the breath of a serpent. Is stung by a serpent. Is almost killed
by eating anchoy. The people conspire against the missionaries, and
distress them.
My superiors intended to send me into the farthest parts of the
empire, but the Emperor over-ruled that design, and remanded me to
Tigre, where I had resided before. I passed in my journey by Ganete
Ilhos, a palace newly built, and made agreeable by beautiful
gardens, and had the honour of paying my respects to the Emperor,
who had retired thither, and receiving from him a large present for
the finishing of a hospital, which had been begun in the kingdom of
Tigre. After having returned him thanks, I continued my way, and in
crossing a desert two days' journey over, was in great danger of my
life, for, as I lay on the ground, I perceived myself seized with a
pain which forced me to rise, and saw about four yards from me one
of those serpents that dart their poison at a distance; although I
rose before he came very near me, I yet felt the effects of his
poisonous breath, and, if I had lain a little longer, had certainly
died; I had recourse to bezoar, a sovereign remedy against these
poisons, which I always carried about me. These serpents are not
long, but have a body short and thick, and their bellies speckled
with brown, black, and yellow; they have a wide mouth, with which
they draw in a great quantity of air, and, having retained it some
time, eject it with such force that they kill at four yards'
distance. I only escaped by being somewhat farther from him. This
danger, however, was not much to be regarded in comparison of
another which my negligence brought me into. As I was picking up a
skin that lay upon the ground, I was stung by a serpent that left
his sting in my finger; I at least picked an extraneous substance
about the bigness of a hair out of the wound, which I imagined was
the sting.
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