A Voyage to AbyssiniaA husband that doth not like his wife may easily find means to make the marriage void, and, what is worse, may dismiss the second wife with less difficulty than he took her, and return to the first; so that marriages in this country are only for a term of years, and last no longer than both parties are pleased with each other...-from "The Manner of Eating in Abyssinia, Their Dress, Their Hospitality, and Traffic"What makes this 17th-century work notable is not its tale of the nine years a Portuguese priest spent in Abyssinia as a missionary, although that certainly makes this a unique work of both travel and religious writing. What sealed this travelogue's place in history is that it was translated from French (the original Portuguese version was never published) into English by Samuel Johnson and published anonymously in 1735. With the wit and grace that cemented Johnson's standing as an icon of English literature, Johnson takes "great liberties," he admits in his preface, "and let the judicious part of mankind pardon or condemn them." Let the judicious reader celebrate them.JEROME LOBO (1593-1678) was born in Lisbon and spent much of his life traveling the East as a missionary.British essayist and critic DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON (1709-1784) created the first English dictionary, published in 1755. He may be the most quoted writer in the English language, after Shakespeare. |
Contents
Section 15 | 111 |
Section 16 | 116 |
Section 17 | 120 |
Section 18 | 128 |
Section 19 | 134 |
Section 20 | 147 |
Section 21 | 153 |
Section 22 | 163 |
Section 9 | 62 |
Section 10 | 67 |
Section 11 | 76 |
Section 12 | 80 |
Section 13 | 86 |
Section 14 | 103 |
Section 23 | 175 |
Section 24 | 183 |
Section 25 | 188 |
Section 26 | 193 |
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Common terms and phrases
Abyssinia Abyssins Æthiopia Agaus ancient apprehensions arrived bassa Bazaim bezoar called camels camp carried Catholic CHAPTER Christians Christopher de Gama coast colour continued cows Dambia Damot danger death desired Diou discovered distance Don Christopher Emperor enemies fathers favour Fremona Galles gave gelves give ground hands hath head heard honour imagined Indies informed inhabitants Jesuits journey killed kind King King of Portugal kingdom kingdom of Damot labours land leagues length lives Mahomet Mazna mission missionaries monks Moors mountains musket never night Nile numbers obliged orders ourselves passage passed patriarch Peter Leon Portugal Portuguese present prince procure province provisions Queen of Sheba received Red Sea religion rest river rocks sent servant ships soon stay Suaquem suffered Sultan Segued thought tion told travelled trees troops Turks utmost vessels Vidigueira village voyage whole Zeila
Popular passages
Page 10 - He appears, by his modest and unaffected narration, to have described things as he saw them, to have copied nature from the life, and to have consulted his senses, not his imagination. He meets with no basilisks that destroy with their eyes; his crocodiles devour their prey without tears; and his cataracts fall from the rock without deafening the neighbouring inhabitants. The reader will here find no regions cursed with irremediable barrenness, or blest with spontaneous fecundity...
Page 10 - The Portuguese traveller, contrary to the general vein of his countrymen, has amused his reader with no romantick absurdity, or incredible fictions ; whatever he relates, whether true or not, is at least probable; and he who tells nothing exceeding the bounds of probability, has a right to demand that they should believe him who cannot contradict him.
Page 11 - ... that wherever human nature is to be found, there is a mixture of vice and virtue, a contest of passion and reason ; and that the Creator doth not appear partial in his distributions, but has balanced, in most countries, their particular inconveniences by particular favours.
Page 11 - Hottentots without religion, polity, or articulate language; no Chinese perfectly polite, and completely skilled in all sciences; he will discover, what will always be discovered by a diligent and impartial enquirer, that wherever human nature is to be found, there is a mixture of vice and virtue; a contest of passion and reason, and that the Creator doth not appear partial in his distributions, but has balanced in most countries their particular inconveniences by particular favours.
Page 89 - Their musical instruments are little drums, which they hang about their necks and beat with both their hands ; and this exercise is performed even by the chief men as well as by the gravest of their ecclesiastics. They have sticks likewise with which they strike the ground, accompanying the blow with a motion of their whole bodies. They begin their devotions by stamping with their feet on the floor...
Page 89 - No country in the world is so full of churches, monasteries, and ecclesiastics as Abyssinia. It is not possible to sing in one church or monastery without being heard by another, and perhaps by several. They sing the Psalms of David, of which they have a very exact translation in their own language...
Page 87 - ... they retain the belief of the principal mysteries of our faith ; that they celebrate with a great deal of piety the sufferings and death of our Lord ; reverence the cross ; pay a profound devotion to the blessed Virgin, the angels, and the saints ; observe the festivals, and pay a strict regard to Sunday. Every month they commemorate the Assumption of the Virgin Mary ; and are of opinion that no Christians beside themselves have a true sense of the greatness of the mother of God, or render the...
Page 92 - ... and were obliged to continue there till November, because the winter begins here in May, and its greatest rigour is from the middle of June to the middle of September. The rains that are almost continually falling in this season make it impossible to go far from home, for the rivers overflow their banks, and therefore in a place like this, where there are neither bridges nor boats, are, if they are not fordable, utterly impassable. Some indeed have crossed them by means of a cord fastened on...