I 
LOBO's JOURNEY. ^9 
ment and coolness, without any thing uncouth 
or savage. The inhabitants sow and reap at all 
seasons, the ground is always producing, and the 
whole country resembles a pleasure-garden. It 
was not, therefore, without regret, that, after a re- 
sidence of several years, he was recalled to Tigre. 
The concluding part of Lobo's residence was 
altogether disastrous. Sultan Segued falling into 
a state of dotage, great part of the power devolv- 
ed upon his son, who, though outwardly a Catho- 
lic, cherished a secret attachment to the ancient 
faith. Under shelter of his connivance, the great 
men of Abyssinia gave full scope to that dead- 
ly antipathy which they had always cherished 
against the Romish missionaries. Lobo was as- 
sured that the viceroy of Tigre had formed a plan 
to deliver them as prisoners into the hands of the 
Turks. To avoid this fate, they fled, and put 
themselves into the hands of a chief who was then 
in rebellion against Abyssinia. This person re- 
ceived them at first with all imaginable kindness ; 
but, to their utter consternation, they soon found 
themselves involved in the fate which they had 
fled to avoid, and were sold to the basha of Sua- 
kem. Their apprehensions, on approaching this 
destination, were very considerable ; as the basha 
was known to be a rooted enemy to the Catholics, 
and to have declared, that he would die content 
provided he had the satisfaction of killing them 
