Page:A voyage to Abyssinia (Salt).djvu/427

 No. III.

the month of June, 1751, I, Brother Remedio of Bohemia, reformed Missionary for propagating the faith, was recalled from the town of Girge, in Upper Egypt, to Grand Cairo, where, by our Prefect established there, I was appointed to a mission destined for Ethiopia, together with Father Martino of Bohemia, and Antonio of Aleppo, of the same order. As it was wholly impossible for a few persons to penetrate into that country by land, on account of the various tribes of Arabs which infest the road, our departure was delayed till the 27th of August, when we set out, provided with such things as were necessary to found there a new mission, in company with a caravan of the Turks destined for Medina and Mecca, to adore their false prophet Mahomet. For three days we travelled over the deserts of Egypt, where there is neither bread, nor water, nor other sustenance to be procured, on which account travellers carry with them provisions from Cairo, sufficient to last till their arrival at Suez. During these three days journey we suffered heat that was absolutely insupportable; the whole desert being flat, sandy, waste, and barren; where travellers are tormented with such burning thirst, that before the caravan comes to its halting place, it wears them out with languor and weariness: and as they cannot walk on foot, owing to the burning heat of the sand, they are compelled to ride on camels, whose tedious march and uneasy motion soon makes every bone in the body ache with fatigue. Being obliged to content ourselves with a scanty supply of water and biscuit, we slept but little, partly from restlessness, and partly on account of robbers, who are so numerous, as to prevent Christians from undertaking this voyage, except in the month of August, along with the Turkish caravan, (composed of more than 100,000 souls,) without the protection of which they would certainly lose their lives and property.

Having passed this dangerous desert on the first of September, we entered into the city of Suez, the first port in the Red Sea, where, through the recommendation of some Catholic merchants at Cairo, we procured a passage on the tenth, having to pay for this first embarkation 70 zequins; notwithstanding which we were confined in a place so miserably small, that we had scarcely room to lift up our heads. In this way we commenced our voyage, passed a lake named "Pharoun" on the 14th, and on the 17th paid our salutation at a distance to Mount Sinai; during which time our only