description which is given of this people and of many of their customs, of their activity, roving disposition, mode of warfare,[1] and particularly the direction which they subsequently took, lead to the conclusion that they were tribes of Galla; for the last account we have of the Muzimbas states, that they reached Quiloa in 1593, and thence passed on to Melinda, where they were stopped by a tribe of natives called Mossequeios, and the first we hear of the Galla is at Patta, where they were seen by Jerome Lobo in 1625; and it was about the same time, that they made from that point, their first inroad into Abyssinia.
The endeavours of the Portuguese to introduce the Catholic religion into the country, proved as abortive as their schemes of conquest; for, though, by the daring enthusiasm of a fanatic named Peter Gonsalvo de Sylva, they gained in 1571 (Vide Pory's Africa, p. 414) access to the court of the Quitéve, and made an impression on the mind of that sovereign, yet shortly afterwards the Mahomedan traders gained the ascendency, and De Sylva himself fell a martyr to the cause he had espoused. As to the numbers stated to have been baptized, it will be found, I fear, that the Portuguese priests, too often made nominal instead of real converts; and that their motives proceeded rather from an idle vanity of extending the list of their proselytes, than from any actual desire to benefit the individuals whom they pretended to convert.[2]
The above short account contains a summary of all that I conceive material to be known respecting the establishment and progress of these settlements; the follow-
- ↑ They in all probability first introduced the savage custom of mutilating those whom they had killed in battle, which is still retained by the Galla. Of this an extraordinary plate is given in Du Bree's Collection.
- ↑ J. Dos Santos asserts, "that in the four years he staid at Sofala, he baptised 1694 persons; and the Dominicans are said to have baptised 16,000 in the Querimbo Islands, besides 20,000 on the Cuama or Zambezi. The Jesuits boast of having baptised three times this number in Japan; but I fancy the converts of both must have greatly resembled the Dutch Christians in Ceylon, who acknowledged to Mr. North, that though they had faith in Christ, they still believed in Boudah!"
