After this they inflicted various kinds of tortures on him,
which he endured with incredible resolution, and without uttering
the least complaint, praising the mercy of God who had ordained him
to suffer in such a cause.
Mahomet, at last satisfied with cruelty, made an offer of sending
him to the viceroy of the Indies, if he would turn Mussulman. The
hero took fire at this proposal, and answered with the highest
indignation that nothing should make him forsake his heavenly Master
to follow an impostor, and continued in the severest terms to vilify
their false prophet, till Mahomet struck off his head.
Nor did the resentment of Mahomet end here; he divided his body into
quarters, and sent them to different places. The Catholics gathered
the remains of this glorious martyr, and interred them. Every Moor
that passed by threw a stone upon his grave, and raised in time such
a heap, as I found it difficult to remove when I went in search of
those precious relics.
What I have here related of the death of Don Christopher de Gama I
was told by an old man, who was an eye-witness of it: and there is
a tradition in the country that in the place where his head fell, a
fountain sprung up of wonderful virtue, which cured many diseases
otherwise past remedy.
Chapter VI
Mahomet continues the war, and is killed. The stratagem of Peter
Leon.
Mahomet, that he might make the best use of his victory, ranged over
a great part of Abyssinia in search of the Emperor Claudius, who was
then in the kingdom of Dambia. All places submitted to the
Mahometan, whose insolence increased every day with his power; and
nothing after the defeat of the Portuguese was supposed able to put
a stop to the progress of his arms.
The soldiers of Portugal, having lost their chief, resorted to the
Emperor, who, though young, promised great things, and told them
that since their own general was dead, they would accept of none but
himself. He received them with great kindness, and hearing of Don
Christopher de Gama's misfortune, could not forbear honouring with
some tears the memory of a man who had come so far to his succour,
and lost his life in his cause.
The Portuguese, resolved at any rate to revenge the fate of their
general, desired the Emperor to assign them the post opposite to
Mahomet, which was willingly granted them. That King, flushed with
his victories, and imagining to fight was undoubtedly to conquer,
sought all occasions of giving the Abyssins battle. The Portuguese,
who desired nothing more than to re-establish their reputation by
revenging the affront put upon them by the late defeat, advised the
Emperor to lay hold on the first opportunity of fighting.
