ed. 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.

We found, however, a more unpleasing treatment at the next place, and had
certainly ended our lives there had we not been protected by the governor
and the priest, who, though not reconciled to the Roman Chu