M. Ludolf thinks, that the words I have set down are a proof the Abyssinians do not believe in transubstantiation. For my part, from those very words, I cannot think any thing is clearer than that they do; the bread is upon the plate; they pray that that plate may be blessed, “That in it the bread may be made God’s holy body[104];” and of the wine they say, “That it may be made thy holy blood:” and in their prayer they say, “Change this bread that it may be made thy body;” and again, “May the Holy Ghost shine upon this bread, that it may be made the body of Christ our God, and that this cup may be changed and become the blood, not the _symbol_, of the blood of Christ our God.” With all respect to Mr Ludolf’s opinion, I must think that, though the benediction prayed upon the patine, spoon, and chalice, is but an aukward expression, yet, if I understand the language, “converte” and “immutetur” are literal translations of the Ethiopic, and seem to pray for a transubstantiation as directly as words will admit, whether they believe in it or not; nor, as far as I know, can any stronger or more expressive be found to substitute in their place. I shall finish this subject (which is not of my province, and which I have mentioned, because I know it is a matter which some of my readers desire information upon) by an anecdote that happened a few months before my coming into Abyssinia, as it was accidentally told me by the priest of Adowa the very day of the Epiphany, and which Janni vouched to be true, and to have seen. The Sunday before Ras Michael’s departure for Gondar from Adowa, he went to church in great pomp, and there received the sacrament. There happened to be such a crowd to see him, that the wine, part of the consecrated elements, was thrown down and spilt upon the steps whereon the communicants stood at receiving. Some straw or hay was instantly gathered and sprinkled upon it to cover it, and the communicants continued the service till the end, treading that grass under foot.