524 
INTRODUCTION TO 
serrate warns us in a marginal note that he has changed his mind as to the extent of 
the passages to be transferred elsewhere. Isto se ha de escrever , “this is to be 
written,” he notes, meaning: “This must remain as part of this first Book, my 
history of the Moghul Mission.” The note of warning implies, also, I believe, that, 
as the MS. of Bk. I had, after so many changes, taken again the form of a rough copy, 
he intended to write it out again, in the abridged form he contemplated. Did he 
ever do so ? I note that at fol. 9 Ja: he writes “ tudo esta trelladdo,” which would 
mean: “ all is transcribed.” But are there in existence copies of this abridged form ? 
Probably not. If we have to trust our bibliographers, neither Bk. I, the Calcutta 
MS., nor Bk. II is known in Europe. Fr. C. Sommervogel, S.J., (cf. the last edition 
of Biblioth. dela C. de J.) and Monserrate’s biographers knew nothing of them. 
The Calcutta MS. is, therefore, all the more valuable. For, supposing Bk. II to 
have been lost, much of its contents is still preserved in our MS., and whatever 
Monserrate may have thought of his hors-d’ oeuvre , the descriptions of towns and ruins 
interspersed in the narrative are of paramount interest to the historian and antiquarian, 
and detract little, if at all, from the continuity of the story. 
Concerning Monserrate’s other writings, it would seem that no copies of his account 
of a journey to Ethiopia and his captivity in Arabia [Bk. Ill], nor of his Geography 
and Natural History of Arabia [Bk. IV] have yet been discovered. Fr. C. Beccari, 
S.J., who is now editing, at the expense of the Italian Government, some sixteen 
volumes of old Jesuit records regarding Ethiopia, is not aware of them. He mentions 
only two letters of his: one dated Sanaa, 22nd July 1593, and indicating to the 
General in Rome how it would be possible to free him and his companion from 
captivity ; the other, a short letter in Portuguese, dated from Goa, December 7th, 
1596, and addressed to the General of the Society, in which he announces his libera- 
tion from captivity. 1 * There is another letter on the same subject by Fr. Peter 
Paez, S.J., dated Goa, December 17th, 1596 J 
If Monserrate’s Bks. Ill and IV be lost, we have, at least, as a compensation for 
the loss of Bk. Ill, Fr. P. Paez’ Storia d’ Etiopia, of which Bk. Ill (chh. 15-22) gives 
a long account of Paez’ and Monserrate’s captivity. Fr. Emmanuel d’ Almeida 
touches on the same subject in his Historia de Ethiopia a alta „ . . Bk. V, chh. 1-7. 3 * * 6 * * * * 11 
1 I have a photographic facsimile of this letter. . It covers little more than a page. The signature and address are 
cl earl}' in Monserrate’s handwriting. He signs “Monserrate,” not “ Monserrat. ” — See in J. A. S. B., 1896, p. 76, 
what happened at Akbar’s Court at Rahore, when a letter of Monserrate’s about his captivity was read before the 
Finperor by Fr. Jerome Xavier. 
• These letters have appeared in Fr. C. Beccari’s Rerum /Ethiopicarum Scriptores, Vol. X, Romae, C. de Ruigi, 1910, 
Nos. 126, 139. 
6 Cf. C. Beccari, S.J. Notizia e Saggi di opere e docuvnenti inediti riguardante la storia di Etiopia durante i secoli 
xvi, xvii, e xviii . . . Roma, 1903, p. 1 1 , and s.v Monserrate. I have no means of discovering to what work the 
lollowing extract from Monserrate’s Menology alludes : “ Travelling with Fr. Peter Paez from Mascat to Zeila, in order 
' penetrate into Rthiopia, Monserrate was cast by a violent tempest upon the coast of Dafar, laden with chains and 
1 1 :en across the sands through the desert of Hadramaut as far as the town of Ainad. where the King of that country 
1 1 e i ave still the account of the captivity of these two apostolic men , first at the court of the petty King of 
u - 'l, next at the court of the Turkish Pasha of Yemen, who claimed them as slaves of the Grand Seignior and ordered 
1 hem to be brought to the prisons of Sana, finally on the hulks of Moclia, where they were chained to the oars with the 
e- die} -slaves . . Cf. H. de GuipHERMV, S.J., M&nologe de la C. de J. , Assist, d’ Espagne , Vol. I, p. 384. The 
