58 
TRAVELS IN ABYSSINIA. 
against Abyssinia. This person received them at 
first with all imaginable kindness ; but, to their ut- 
ter consternation, they soon found themselves in- 
volved in the fate which they had fled to avoid, 
and were sold to the basha of Suakem. Their ap- 
prehensions, on approaching this destination, were 
very considerable ; as the basha was known to be a 
rooted enemy to the Catholics, and to have declar- 
ed, that he would die content, provided he had the 
satisfaction of killing them all with his own hand* 
On their arrival, accordingly, he for some time 
talked of nothing but impaling and flaying alive. 
On finding, however, that a liberal ransom might 
be obtained, his views changed, and he directed 
his rigour solely to the object of extorting the ut- 
most possible sum. A high ransom being accord- 
ingly paid, they were at length set at liberty, and 
sailed for Diu. 
Lobo gives a somewhat particular account of the 
Abyssinian religion. There does not from thence 
appear much room for such extreme zeal to convert 
them to the Catholic faith, as they appear merely 
to carry a little farther some of its superstitions. 
Their reverence for the Holy Virgin surpasses even 
that of the Romish church, and it is their pride, 
that no nation on earth, except themselves, enter- 
tains an adequate sense of the dignity of that sa- 
cred personage. Their fasts are much stricter, as 
they include milk and butter, and the country af- 
