MISSION OF PAYZ. 
ns 
dress supplied him with many means of recom- 
mending himself. Among others which he em- 
ployed during his residence, 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 pompous descriptions given of 
European architecture had excited. The task, 
however, was extremely arduous, as the Father 
had first to instruct the natives in the formation 
of pickaxes, hammers, chisels, and all the instru- 
ments of masonry ; then to initiate 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 departments of car- 
pentry, in order that the interior might be proper- 
ly finished. The whole, when completed, might, 
it is said, have formed a very tolerable country 
house for an European monarch. In Abyssinia, 
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- 
cular, of one story above another, was considered 
by the whole nation as little short of a miracle* 
