After I Had
Baptised And Relieved Them, I Continued My Walk, Reflecting With
Wonder On The Mercy Of God, And
About evening discovered another
infant, whose mother, evidently a Catholic, cried out to me to save
her child, or at
Least that if I could not preserve this uncertain
and perishable life, I should give it another certain and permanent.
I sent my servant to fetch water with the utmost expedition, for
there was none near, and happily baptised the child before it
expired.
Soon after this I returned to Fremona, and had great hopes of
accompanying the patriarch to the court; but, when we were almost
setting out, received the command of the superior of the mission to
stay at Fremona, with a charge of the house there, and of all the
Catholics that were dispersed over the kingdom of Tigre, an
employment very ill-proportioned to my abilities. The house at
Fremona has always been much regarded even by those emperors who
persecuted us; Sultan Segued annexed nine large manors to it for
ever, which did not make us much more wealthy, because of the
expensive hospitality which the great conflux of strangers obliged
us to. The lands in Abyssinia yield but small revenues, unless the
owners themselves set the value upon them, which we could not do.
The manner of letting farms in Abyssinia differs much from that of
other countries: the farmer, when the harvest is almost ripe,
invites the chumo or steward, who is appointed to make an estimate
of the value of each year's product, to his house, entertains him in
the most agreeable manner he can; makes him a present, and then
takes him to see his corn.
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