Malicious Reports—Four Expounders of the Law—Boisterous Meetings—Picturesque Groups—Mode of Travelling—Meeting with a Priest—A Motionless Snake—Weavers abandon the Loom—An Annoying Brawl—Suspicious Quarters—The Potters of Gorgora Eila—A Settlement without a Bible— Deplorable Ignorance—A Morose Host—Numerous Visitors —Eagerness to obtain Bibles

To employ our time profitably, we availed ourselves of the interval that elapsed before the news of our arrival reached the scattered Falasha settlements to make some missionary excursions in the neighbourhood. Woggida being one of the nearest villages, we rode there early the following morning. Several Jewish peasants, who were weeding the green teff fields, when they saw us, left their agricultural implements, and quickly hurried away to communicate the tidings. The intelligence evidently produced great consternation. We immediately conjectured, that the vicious Amharas had also here plied their mischievous tongues to sow distrust and alarm. To ascertain the truth, we dispatched Debterah Negousee into the enclosure which, everywhere in Habesh, secures the homes of Israel from the polluting foot of the unbeliever. He soon returned with a knot of Falashas, who candidly told us that every man, woman, and child would have gladly assembled to hear us, had they not been frightened by a report, that we were authorized to bind round their necks the matteb ^* — the hated badge of Abyssinian Christianity. We removed their fears and prejudices before we separated, and they all promised to visit us frequently whilst at Genda .