Page:A voyage to Abyssinia (Salt).djvu/432

 Finally, after three months of very severe affliction, on the 3rd day of the feast of the Nativity, in the year of our Lord 1752, we were by main force driven out of the palace; in leaving which, we shook the dust off from our feet, and publicly upbraided the Emperor and his people with their infidelity, exclaiming with a loud voice, "We are driven away by false Christians; let us fly then and seek refuge among the Gentiles." Thence we retired among the Turks (Mahomedans) at a league distance from Gondar, trying once more if it might not be possible to remain in the country; but all was in vain, though during a whole month we practised every means in our power to regain the favour of the Emperor, and to appease the people; and so being unwilling to expose our lives imprudently, and without any profit to those souls, we determined to return; and to this determination we were more particularly led by receiving a letter from our superior at Cairo, from which we learned that it was the wish of our most illustrious and most reverend Monsignor the Secretary of the Propaganda, that if we could not have the free exercise of our religion in that kingdom, and saw no hope of converting the king, his family, or more especially the monks, we should not remain from vain motives; as that people (the Abyssinians) have been always esteemed inconstant and faithless. By this letter, then, being fully informed of the intentions and wishes of the Sacred Council, as obedient sons, we announced at once, in the name of the Lord, our intention of quitting the country; when lo! the Emperor issued an order to arrest by force the Father Antonio of Aleppo, for the purpose of setting him to write a Pentateuch in Arabic. As I neither chose nor was empowered to give my consent to this, I sent the said Father to the Emperor, to say that it would be neither just nor feasible that one should stay alone without a companion. To which the Emporor suddenly with anger and rage answered, "I know that your Superior (for unworthy as I was, I acted in this capacity) wishes to take you with him; but I will never consent to it; nay, I swear that if he attempt to take you by force, I will send after him my servants, and cause him to be arrested, together with his companion and you, and bring you back to me either with your wills or against your wills." In consequence of this I left Father Antonio at Gondar, but under the condition and royal promise, that when his book should be written, he should be released, and sent in safety to Grand Cairo, where I believe him now happily arrived.

I, thereupon, and my companion, Brother Martino de Bohemia, turned ourselves afresh to the passage of the steep mountains and impracticable woods of Ethiopia, suffering in this new and most laborious journey, the severest inconveniences, dangers, and fatigue; so that being in a manner stripped naked, and robbed of every thing most necessary to us, we became objects of pity and contempt even to Mahomedans. Having got to Messava, the Governor demanded thirty scudes (dollars) for leave to depart; but seeing and proving by examination our actual poverty and misery, he contented himself with fifteen. Hence we crossed the Red Sea and went to Mocha, where we found several French merchant ships from India, and, thanks to