06 TRAVELS IN ABYSSINIA* 
nor their merits imputed to us ; and that priests 
may be lawfully married, provided it be to one 
wife only. From these specimens, we may judge 
how far the religion of Abyssinia would have 
been improved by the introduction of the Catho- 
lie faith. 
In 1698, the emperor of Abyssinia being ex- 
tremely indisposed, sent a message, accompanied 
with liberal promises, to Poncet, an eminent phy* 
sician at Cairo, requesting that he would come 
and afford him the benefit of his medical advice, 
Poncet accepted the invitation ; and the opportu- 
nity being judged favourable for making a new 
attempt to establish the Catholic religion, Xavier 
de Brevedent, a Jesuit missionary, went along 
with him. On the 2d October they set out from 
Siout with the Sennaar caravan. Poncet felt an 
extraordinary emotion at entering this desert of 
moving sand, where the slightest breeze raised a 
cloud that darkened the air. The danger is here 
imminent, of separating even for the smallest 
space from the rest of the caravan, as in this case 
it is scarcely possible ever to rejoin it, or to avoid 
being lost in these immense deserts. In four 
days they arrived at Helaoua, (Ellwah), called 
commonly the Greater Oasis. The name signi- 
fies the country of sweets, and it seemed entirely 
to answer the appellation. Gardens watered 
