296 A SPORTING TRIP THROUGH ABYSSINIA chap. 



saint was being drawn up to the monastery in a basket, 

 the Evil One severed the rope, but had the mortification 

 of seeing six wings miraculously unfold themselves from 

 under the holy man's garments and bear him safely aloft. 

 Tecla Haymanot's passion for still further mortifying the 

 flesh at length induced him to leave the monastery and 

 take up his abode in a small lake in Shoa, in the waters 

 of which he spent seven years, when, owing to one of 

 his legs dropping off, he was compelled to return to dry 

 land. The leg thus lost became a most sacred and 

 wonder-working relic, even the water with which it was 

 washed being an efficient cure for all diseases. On the 

 further career of Tecla Haymanot, and the miracles 

 and miraculous cures which he and his severed leg re- 

 spectively performed, we need not dwell. Suffice it to 

 say, that of his final exit from this sphere two different 

 v^ersions are given by his biographers. The more modest 

 ones are content with relating that, " he at last in the odour 

 of sanctity died," while, according to the others, he was 

 wafted up to heaven in a chariot with horses of fire. At 

 all events he is venerated to this day as the greatest saint 

 of all Ethiopia, and his name is so popular that numerous 

 emperors and chieftains have been christened after him. 

 Let me now revert to the description of the church 

 which occasioned this long digression. The steep, 

 grassy slope, scattered with the debris of a ruined 

 village, was crowned by a still massive outer wall, 

 nearly 600 feet in circumference and 15 feet high, from 

 which three towers stood out prominently. In the centre 

 of this enclosure rose the church, built in two tiers, the 

 Holy of Holies rising like a citadel within a fortress. 



