SECTION I

AFFAIRS OF ETHIOPIA.

On the death of Alexander, Emperor of Ethiopia, he was suceeded by Naod, his younger brother. The principal danger which at this time (a.d. 1495) threatened the kingdom was to be apprehended from the Moors of Adel, a powerful Mahometan nation, between whom and the Ethiopians there was always a hostile feeling, often open war. He compelled them to accept an honorable peace; but the event showed that they were held in restraint by the terror of Naod's name, rather than by any other motive.

On his death, Helena, his stepmother, and the Abuna Mark procured the election of his young son, David, a child of eleven years old. Queen Helena became Regent; and seems to have conducted the government on wise principles. She was desirous of peace with Adel : her own nation was Moorish, though she had early embraced the Christian religion; and she saw that, besides the danger to be apprehended to Abyssinia from a Mahometan war, it was to the commercial interest of the two nations that a peace should be preserved between them.

Covilhaa was still detained in Abyssinia; and it was doubtless by his advice that Helena turned her thoughts to the possibility of an alliance with Portugal. She made choice for her ambassador of one Matthew, an Armenian merchant about the Court, and a man not only of trust, but well acquainted with the character of the people with whom he had to deal. The letter with which he was charged, after a complimentary opening, requests the King of Portugal to enter into an alliance with her against the Mahometans generally, and proposes an intermarriage in the two royal families; but the ambassador was further charged with a private commission, and that, if we may believe the Portuguese historians, of a very important character, being no less than an offer of the third part of the empire in retum for the assistance which the Portuguese were to furnish.

Matthew, however, was most unfortunate. He sailed for India, that being the route by which communications between Portugal and Abyssinia were carried on : was thrown into prison on landing, by the local Portuguese governor, as a spy; and, though magnificently received by Albuquerque, the Viceroy at Goa, allowed to remain in India three years before he was sent on to Portugal in a spice-fleet. Even then he was insulted and ill-treated by the captains; his arrival, however, at Lisbon, produced a very favourable change. The King of Portugal received him with the greatest joy, threw his maltreaters into prison, and only released them on his intercession.

War between the emperor and Maffudi.

In the meantime, the kingdom of Abyssinia suffered greatly, not froui Mahomet, King of Adel, who still observed the peace concluded with him by Naod, but from Maffudi, a powerful Mahometan chieftain; who had spread the terror of his name along the Western Coast of the Red Sea. He had received, in return for the number of slaves whom he had sent to Mecca, a banner of green silk, and a tent of black velvet, embroidered with gold; the greatest honor which could be bestowed on the supporter of the creed of the False Prophet.

This Maffudi was in the habit of making an incursion into Abyssinia every year, choosing Lent as his time; and having at length induced Mahomet to renounce his league with the Christians, and to unite his forces with his own, the allied princes in one year slew, or carried captive, nineteen thousand Christians.

The murmurs of his people determined David, in spite of the remonstrances of his grandmother, to take the field himself: he had not a general who had not been defeated by the Mahometans, and he hoped that a royal commander might inspire the troops with fresh courage. A numerous body of troops flocked to his standard : he advanced by forced marches on the capital of Adel, before the allies considered his army of sufficient importance to be opposed. By a prudent partition of his forces into two bodies, David drove the enemy into a dangerous defile, where he resolved to attack them, with superior forces, on the following day. That night, Mahomet, by the advice of Malffudi, made his escape, and the latter chieftain, on the succeeding morning, sent a challenge to the Christian army, offering to meet any champion in single combat. With the leave of David the challenge was accepted by Andreas, a monk of considerable eminence for learning, affabilitv, and courage. He struck Maffudi's head from his body with a double-edged sword : the Christians seized the opportunity, and made a fierce attack upon the Infidels; the Mahometans were routed, and pursued as far as the gates of the first market-town of Adel : the green standard of Mahomet was taken, and David and Andreas were welcomed back with the triumphant exclamations of a grateful people. The island of Zeyla, in the mouth of the Red Sea, was taken by the Portuguese armament on the same day that Maffudi was defeated and slain (July, 1516).

We now return to Portugal. The ambassador Matthew was sent back in the next India-fleet, and was accompanied by three ambassadors to the Court of Abyssinia, one of whom, however, died on the voyage. The Portuguese were well received by the Governor of Arkeeko, near to which place they landed, and were cordially welcomed by the Monks of the Convent of Bisoim, distant about twenty-four miles. A few days subsequently, the Baharnagash, or governor of that part of Abyssinia, had an interview with the Portuguese General, in which it was determined that an embassy, headed by Rodrigo de Lima, should set forward to the Court of the Emperor.

It was unfortunate for this little company that King David was in the southern part of his dominions, while they had landed in the north. Mountains, ravines, forests, underwood, and wild beasts opposed their progress, and it was not till after a painful journey of six months that they at length reached the head-quarters of that monarch, now encamped on the borders of the kingdom of Adel. Matthew had been carried off, on the journey, by an epidemic disease. The history of this expedition has been written by Father Alvarez, chaplain to De Lima; but some doubt is attached to his strict veracity. He affirms that the embassy was detained five years before it was dismissed. Even then some of its members were detained; but Rodrigo de Lima, together with an Abyssinian plenipotentiary named Zaga Zaab, a Monk by profession, sailed from Masuah for India, at the latter end of April, 1526.

Letters of David to Pope Clement VII and Manuel.

Manuel, King of Portugal, had been succeeded by John ; and to him David addressed a letter, which is still extant; as well as to the Roman Pontiff, Clement VII. In these he describes himself as "the King, at whose name lions tremble, called by the grace of God, the Frankincense of the Virgin, the son of King David, the son of Solomon, the son of the Hand of Mary, the son of Naod by the flesh, and by grace the son of SS. Peter and Paul". These epistles show the friendly disposition of David towards the Western Powers.

On the death of Helena, David renewed the war against the kingdom of Adel. But a terrible chief now arose amongst the Infidels, Mahomet, surnamed Gragne, "the left-handed". By him David was constantly defeated, and hunted like a wild beast from city to city; the churches of Amhara were laid waste by fire and sword, and at length the brave Andreas fell gloriously, fighting in the sight of his monarch for his country and for his faith.