1843.] and the Abyssinian Church. 713 



Church, and on a humble remonstrance being attempted, in the violence 

 of his wrath he rushed upon the Missionary with drawn sword, vowing 

 to immolate him on the spot. The weapon, however, say the holy 

 fathers, dropped miraculously from his impious hand, and for a season the 

 last extremity of vengeance was exchanged for a system of vile durance. 



Portuguese troops in the mean time arrived from Goa, and the 

 Bharnegash, the lord of the sea coast, bought over by the gold of India, 

 and stirred up by the wily emissaries of the viceroy, assembled his forces 

 in rebellion, and marching with his European allies to the capital, de- 

 feated and slew the emperor in a pitched battle, and rescued the Jesuit 

 missionaries from their unpleasant captivity. 



Warned by former difficulty and distress, the worthy fathers now 

 assumed a more modest and humble demeanor, and were allowed to 

 settle again in their old haunt of Maignagna, where they remained for a 

 time unmolested by the new emperor, Malac Sarshed, who inherited 

 all the horror of his father to the Catholic creed, although tempered by 

 the mildness of his uncle Claudius. But the jealous monks had not 

 yet relinquished their hope of advancement, and bending to the pressure 

 of the times, the deep plot was veiled under the garb of passive obedi- 

 ence. The most pressing solicitations were dispatched to Goa for 

 assistance, and the dauntless Oviedo pledged himself, with six hundred 

 staunch Europeans, to convert not only the empire of Abyssinia, but 

 all the adjacent countries. 



The scheme, however, did not suit the politics of the day, and in 1560, 

 the Bishop received an order from the head of his Society, to repair 

 forthwith to his more promising charge in Japan ; loath to abandon all 

 his favorite projects of ambition in the country, and utterly reckless of 

 truth, he addressed the most specious letters to the Pope, holding 

 out a certain prospect of prostrating the Church of Ethiopia before the 

 Apostolic throne ; whilst to his immediate superior, he dilated upon the 

 richness of the land and the mines of pure gold, which he falsely assert- 

 ed to exist in every province of the kingdom. But his artful motives 

 were thoroughly pierced by the more wily successor of St. Peter, and 

 vessels soon after arrived on the coast of Africa, to convey the reluctant 

 fathers to the Monastery of St. Xavier in Goa. 



(Signed) D, C. Graham, Captain, 



Principal Assistant to the Embassy. 



