Page:Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile - In the Years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, and 1773 volume 3.djvu/348

324 him under the banner of Christ,—"I confess one baptism for the remission of sins," says the Symbol. Now it was maintained by the Jesuits, that, in Abyssinia, once every year, they baptised all grown people, or adults. I shall, as briefly is possible, set down, what I myself saw while on the spot.

small river, running between the town of Adowa and the church, had been dammed up for several days; the stream was scanty, so that it scarcely overflowed. It was in places three feet deep, in some, perhaps, four, or little more. Three large tents were pitched, the morning before the feast of the Epiphany; one on the north for the priests to repose in during intervals of the service, and beside this one to communicate in; on the south there was a third tent for the monks and priests of another church to rest themselves in their turn. About twelve o'clock at night the monks and priests met together, and began their prayers and psalms at the water-side, one party relieving each other. At dawn of day the governor, Welleta Michael, came thither with some soldiers to raise men for Ras Michael, then on his march against Waragna Fasil, and sat down on a small hill by the water-side, the troops all skirmishing on foot and on horseback around them.

soon as the sun began to appear, three large crosses of wood were carried by three priests dressed in their sacerdotal vestments, and who, coming to the side of the river, dipt the cross into the water, and all this time the firing, skirmishing, and praying went on together. The priests with the crosses returned, one of their number before them carrying something less than an English quart of water in a silver cup, or chalice; when they were about