FATHER A. MONSER RATE’S MONGOLICAE LEGATIONIS COMMENTARIES. 
519 
this weighty Mission, and towards his companions; again, Rodolf’s zeal, consum- 
mate prudence and remarkable erudition, and our disputations with the Agarenes; 1 
next, the Chabul war, which was marked by great tenacity of purpose and superior 
statesmanship on the part of Zelaldin, and ended successfully by the flight of 
Hachirn; finally, the joyful ovations that signalized this triumph. 
“When, after my return, some of the Fathers of our v Society, men commendable 
for their age, prudence and literary accomplishments, heard me read my notes, 
rough and incomplete as they were, considering that they had been taken down on 
the tramp ( cursim ), they urged me warmly and in no common terms to write them 
out in full, in what manner and order I might judge best. And, as in other matters 
of greater moment, I had made it my practice to defer to their enlightened opinion 
and judgment, I scrupled to differ from them in what was ultimately to be submit- 
ted to your examination and would stand or fall on the strength of your opinion. 
“It is now eight years since I put my hand to the task. The sixth year after 
I had started with it, Peter Martinius, 2 the Superior of the Indian Province, sent me 
to Ethiopia, and the time for taking ship being at hand, I was forced to desist from 
my literary pursuits. Nor did I find again favourable time or place to return to the 
work, save when, in the neighbourhood of Dofar, 3 a town of Arabia (that is, Sabsea), 
close to Atramis 4 (where frankincense is collected), I was captured by our enemies 
the Agarenes and sent on to Eynan, where King Ommar, an Agarene, granted that 
my books and my scanty and modest furniture should not only not be destroyed, but 
returned to me. He kept me in honourable confinement ; for he gave me four months’ 
leisure to correct my writings and add to them what was still wanting. By a 
2a. singular favour of God, my captivity brought me no other bodily sufferings 
than the restraints of my prison. What consoled me was the society of Peter Paes, a 
priest, — which allowed me to make my confession — the reading of sacred books, and 
my breviary, 6 wherewith I could pay to God night and day my tribute of prayer. But, 
when those four months were spent, I was once more compelled to lay down my 
literary weapons; for, I was told to leave for Sanaa, where lived the Turkish Viceroy, 
an Epirote by birth. The Turks commonly call him Arnaut, 6 after the chief town of 
his country; ours call it Alessio[?]. ; He affected to treat me with the same kindness, 
and ordered my books to be restored to me. Consequently, I returned to my 
writings, corrected and enlarged them, and freed them from erasures. 
“ Whether the work is written in a manner worthy of the Society and will afford 
any utility to the reader, I must leave to your judgment. For my part, unless self- 
1 “Agarenes,” Agareni, in Monserrate means “ Muhammadans. ’ We find the word applied by him to the people 
of Arabia and Morocco. Fr. L. Delaunoit, S.J., offers the very likely suggestion that the word is not derived from 
Agra, Akbar’s capital, but from Agar, the mother of Ismael. 
2 Peter Martins or Martinez. 
3 Dhafar. Cf. Ain-i-Akbari. (Jarrett’s transl. III. 5 i.) 
* 1 * Juxta Atramitem.' ’ Hadramaut. 
3 Sacyorum epitome. He had written first : sacrorum breuiarium. 
6 Dr. J. Honigberger in his Thirty-five Years in the East, London, 1852(2 vols. in 1), p. 1, speaks of “seventeen 
Arnauts ” or Albanian-Tuikisk soldiers. 
I “ All ane sium. ” 
