第166章 28th June,1839(2)

'The binder has brought me eight Bibles,which he has contrived to make up out of THE SHEETS GNAWN BY THE RATS,and which would have been necessary even had they amounted to eight thousand (Y ERANECESARIO SE PUVIERAN VUELTO 8000),(7)because the people are innumerable who come to seek more.Don Santiago has been here with some friends,who insisted upon having a part of them.The Aragonese gentleman has likewise been,he who came before your departure and bespoke twenty-four.He now wants twenty-five.Ibegged them to take Testaments,but they would not.'

We go on selling Testaments at Seville in a quiet satisfactory manner.We have just commenced offering the book to the poor.

That most remarkable individual,Johannes Chrysostom,the Greek bricklayer,being the agent whom we employ.I confess that we might sell more than we at present do,were we to press the matter;but we are cautious,and moreover our stock of Testaments is waning apace.Two or three ladies of my acquaintance occasionally dispose of some amongst their friends,but they say that they experience some difficulty,the cry for Bibles being great.Dionysius also tells me that for every Testament which he sells he could dispose of with ease fifty Bibles.Within a few weeks I propose to cross the water to Ceuta and Tangiers with part of the books at present in embargo at San Lucar.I shall take the liberty of giving you a full and minute description of the state of those places,the first of which has,I believe,never been visited by any one bearing the Gospel.When I consider the immensity of what remains to be done,even in this inconsiderable portion of the globe,before wretched mortals can be brought to any sense of their lost and fallen state,I invariably lose all hope of anything efficient being accomplished by human means,unless it shall please the Almighty to make of straws and rushes weapons capable of cleaving the adamantine armour of superstition and unbelief.

It is eight o'clock at night,and Johannes Chrysostom has I just arrived from his labour.I have not spoken to him;but I hear him below in the courtyard detailing to Antonio the progress he has made in the last two days.He speaks barbarous Greek,plentifully interlarded with Spanish words;but I gather from his discourse that he has already sold twelve Testaments among his fellow-labourers.I hear copper coin falling on the stones and Antonio,who is not of a very Christian temper,reproving him for not having brought the proceeds of the sale in silver.He now asks for fifteen [Testaments]more,as he says the demand is becoming great,and that he shall have no difficulty in disposing of them in the course of the morrow whilst pursuing his occupations.Antonio goes to fetch them,and he now stands alone by the little marble fountain,singing a wild song,which I believe to be a hymn of his beloved Greek Church.Behold one of the helpers which the Lord has sent me in my Gospel labours on the shores of the Guadalquivir.

Should you wish to transmit to me any part of the Report,I should conceive that you had best direct it to the care of Mr.Brackenbury at Cadiz,on whom I propose to call on my way to Ceuta,etc.As for Cadiz itself,I have no intention of attempting to do any thing there,at least for the present.After a great deal of gloomy and unsettled weather the genuine Andalusian summer has come upon us at last.The brilliancy of the sun and the azure of the heavens are perfectly indescribable.The people here complain sadly of the heat,but as for myself,I luxuriate in it,like the butterflies which hover about the MACETAS,or flowerpots,in the court.Hoping that you will present my remembrances to Mrs.Brandram,and likewise to all other dear friends,I remain Revd.and dear Sir,yours truly,GEORGE BORROW.