Ixx INTRODUCTION. 



and ten men, fo long, and fo eafily, as to enable you to un- 

 dervalue the uieful character of a phyiician, and feek nei- 

 ther to draw money nor protection from it ? And how came 

 it, that, contrary to the ufage of other travellers, at Gondar 

 you maintained a character of independence and equality, 

 efpecially at court ; inftead of crouching, living out of fight 

 as much as pofiible, in continual fear of prieft--, under the 

 patronage, or rather as fervant to fome men of power. 



To this fenfible and well-founded doubt F anfwer 

 with great pleafure and readinefs, as I would d<£> to all o- 

 thers of the fame kind, if I could poifibly di\ \j ) :— It 



is not at all extraordinary that aftranger like me, and a parcel 

 of vagabonds like thofe that were with me, mould get them- 

 felves maintained, and find at Gondar a p<ecarious liveli- 

 hood for a limited time. A mind ever fo little pulifheu and 

 inftructed has infinite fuperiority over Barbarians, and it is 

 in circumftances like thefe that a man fees the great ad- 

 vantages of education. All the Greeks in Gondar were o- 

 riginally criminals and vagabonds ; they neither had, nor 

 pretended to any profeffion, except Petros the king's cham- 

 berlain, who had been a fhoemaker at Rhodes, which pro- 

 feffion at his arrival he carefully concealed. Yet thefe 

 were not only maintained, but by degrees, and without 

 pretending to be phyficians, obtained property, commands, 

 and placer.. 



Hospitality is the virtue of Barbarians, who are hofpi- 



table in the ratio that they arc barbarous, and for obvious 



reafons this virtue fubfides among polifhed nations in the 



fame proportion. If on my arrival in Abyfiinia I afiumed 



2 a fpirit 



