114 DISCOVERIES OF THE PORTUGUESE. 
whole hour without intermission. Our traveller 
here bursts into an ecstasy of admiration, and la- 
ments, that these " miserable Ethiopians" should 
thus put to shame European Christians, who, far 
from employing themselves in similar exercises, 
loaded with the opprobrious appellations of her- 
mits and wry-necks, those who paid a greater re- 
gard than themselves to the precepts of the church. 
To complete his satisfaction, the logs, after hav- 
ing duly pressed on the shoulders of this devout 
assembly, were left behind, to serve as fuel for the 
convent. 
After residing a short time, our author began to 
feel his health impaired by the influence of the 
climate. This would have affected him less, had 
it not been for some local annoyances to which he 
was exposed. The wall of his apartment being of 
fat ill-cemented clay, nourished a colony of very 
large rats. These treated him with no ceremony, 
and established a sort of highway across his per- 
son, on which severe and frequent bites were con- 
sequently inflicted. The bed was moved to every 
corner of the room ; but *' these cursed creatures 
" always found him out." His next plan was to 
cause all his negroes to lie round the bed on mats, 
like a species of body-guards. The rats, however, 
found their way over every impediment ; and, as 
each of the negroes had " some wild and disagree- 
" able smell," their presence formed a serious ag« 
