84 
TRAVELS IN ABYSSINIA. 
sought to ingratiate himself with the emperor; 
and his extensive information and address supplied 
him with many means of recommending himself. 
Among others which he employed during his resi- 
dence, it is mentioned, that he superintended the 
construction of a house built after the European 
fashion ; an object astonishing to the eyes of those 
who had never seen houses but of one story, the 
walls built chiefly of clay, and roofed with grass or 
straw. Payz found, that nothing would conduce 
so much to his credit as such an erection, both 
by the admiration which it would excite, and by 
removing that spirit of unbelief which the pomp- 
ous descriptions given of European architecture had 
excited. The task, however, was extremely ar- 
duous, as the Father had first to instruct the na- 
tives in the formation of pickaxes, hammers, chisels, 
and all the instruments of masonry ; then to ini- 
tiate them in the use of these, in cutting, shaping, 
and hewing the stones ; and, when the walls were 
built, to give similar instructions in all the depart- 
ments of carpentry, in order that the interior might 
be properly finished. The whole, when completed, 
might, it is said, have formed a very tolerable coun- 
try house for an European monarch. In Abyssi- 
nia, it was considered as one of the wonders of the 
world, and persons from the remotest parts of the 
empire flocked to view it. The raising, in parti- 
