728 Report on Shoa and the Abyssinian Church. [No. 140. 



feeling insecure in his hiding place, escaped with great difficulty to the 

 sea coast, where he was seized by the Turks, and for a season forced to 

 work like a slave. Before taking leave of Akayus, his consent had been 

 obtained to the sojourn of four Jesuits until assistance should arrive 

 from the Portuguese possessions. Five years, however, elapsed with- 

 out any accomplishment of their hopes, and they were finally delivered 

 up to the Abyssinian monarch, who exiled them as traitors to the pro- 

 vince of Lasta, where falling into the grasp of the infuriated populace, 

 they were hung upon a tall tree to expiate their ambitious zeal. 



After much persecution and insults at the hands of the Turks, and ex- 

 treme suffering from the intolerable heat of the climate, the Patriarch 

 was ransomed for the sum of four thousand dollars, and landed at Goa, 

 where he sedulously employed himself in raising troops for the conquest 

 of Abyssinia. Father Lobo was despatched to Europe in order to de- 

 mand military assistance, which was never granted, and all the prelate's 

 endeavours proving unsuccessful, he was at length reluctantly compelled 

 to abandon the project in despair. 



Thus terminated the labours of a mission, which for craft and cruelty 

 has been seldom equalled in the annals of time. Whilst Rome must 

 indeed have been prompted by no ordinary motion, to persevere so per- 

 tinaciously in a work of conversion through all the horrors of banish- 

 ment and martyrdom, the unworthy means resorted to by the daunt- 

 less, but unsuccessful agents employed in the enterprize, have left an 

 indelible stain upon the page of her history. 



(Signed) D. Graham, Captain, 



Principal Assistant to the Embassy. 

 (True Copies.) 

 Signed) J. P. Willoughby, 

 Secretary to the Government of Bombay. 



