To The East They Border On The Red Sea For 120
Leagues, This Being The Smallest Side, As Their Whole Extent Is 670
Leagues.
On the west it borders on those Negroes who possess the great
mines of gold, and who pay tribute to the sovereign of Abyssinia.
On the
north it is divided from the Moors by a line drawn from the city of
Suakem to the isle of Meroe in Nubia. On the south it borders on
the kingdom of Adel, from the mountains of which country the river
Obi descends, and falls into the sea at the town of Quilimane in the
kingdom of Melinda.
[Footnote 151: It is not worth while to inquire whence this ridiculous
legend of king or Saint Jovarus has been derived. The origin of
Christianity in Abyssinia will be considered on an after occasion, when
we come to the particular travels in that country. - E.]
The kings of Abyssinia pretend to descend from King Solomon by the queen
of Sheba or Saba; who being delivered by the way, named her son
Melech, and sent him to his father, to be by him declared king of
Ethiopia. Whereupon Solomon anointed him, and gave him the name of
David, after his grandfather. Solomon likewise appointed him a
household, giving him officers of his own, and sent with him as high
priest, Azaria the son of Zadoc, who stole the tables of the law from
the temple of Jerusalem, and carried them along with his new prince. It
is affirmed that the descendants of these original officers still
possess the same employments. The Abyssinians had some knowledge of the
law of Christ from Queen Candace, in whom they glory as being of their
country: But their true apostles were St Philip and St Mathew. In memory
of his descent, the king or emperor of Abyssinia begins the enumeration
of his many titles in this manner: "David, beloved of God, pillar of
the Faith, descendant of Judah, grandson of David, son of Solomon, son
of the pillar of Sion, son of the progeny of David, son of the hand of
Mary, &c. Emperor of the higher Ethiopia," &c. He dwells for the most
part in a camp, resembling a populous city, and is frequently removing
from one part of the country to another. In his messages, he uses a
style similar to that of the kings of Portugal and Spain, beginning "I
the king." The people are very religious, having many churches and
great numbers of monasteries which belong only to two religious orders,
that of St Anthony, and the Canons regular. Those religious persons who
live in convents wear long cotton garments; but all the others, and
their priests and nuns, are dressed in skins, hardly covering so much as
modesty requires. They have no considerable towns, have little learning,
no skill in mechanics, and are very rude in their diet and clothing. In
such houses as assume any degree of grandeur, all the furniture is
brought from other countries. There are as expert thieves in this
country as our gypsies are in Europe. This is the substance of what
could be gathered by the first discoverers of Abyssinia.
On the news of the arrival of the Portuguese fleet at Massua, and of the
return of Mathew the ambassador, the Baharnagash[152] or governor of the
province in which Arkiko is situated came there attended by 200 horse
and 2000 foot. After some difference about a proper place of meeting
between him and Sequeira, they at length agreed to meet on the
sea-shore, and were seated on chairs on the sand, under the burning heat
of the sun. At this meeting, Sequeira delivered Mathew the Abyssinian
ambassador to the Baharnagash, and recommended to his protection Don
Rodrigo de Lima who was sent ambassador from King Manuel to the emperor
of Abyssinia. They treated likewise about building a fort as a
protection against the Moors, either at Kamaran or Massua, and both
swore to the sincerity of their friendly intentions on a cross, after
which they separated and presents were mutually interchanged. Don
Rodrigo de Lima set forwards on his journey unaccompanied by Mathew, who
soon afterwards died in the monastery of the Vision. Sequeira erected a
great cross in that port, in memory of the arrival of the Portuguese
fleet, and caused many masses to be said in the mosque of Massua. From
that port he went to the island of Dalac, where he burnt the town,
previously abandoned by its inhabitants. He then stood over to the coast
of Arabia, where one galley was cast away in a storm and most of her men
lost. Leaving the Red Sea and sailing along the coast of Yemen, the
fleet arrived at Cape Kalayat, towards the entrance of the Persian Gulf,
where George Albuquerque waited its arrival. Going from thence to
Muscat, Albuquerque was left to winter there with all the ships, and
Sequeira went on to Ormuz with the gallies.
[Footnote 152: In Faria called Barnagux.]
In this same year 1520, during the expedition of Sequeira to the Red
Sea, Chrisna-rao king of Bisnagar collected together a vast army of
35,000 horse, 733,000 foot, and 686 armed elephants, each of which
carried a castle on its back with four men. In this army there were
12,000 water-bearers, that all might be supplied without any being under
the necessity of dispersing to seek for it. The baggage was immense and
the followers numberless, among whom were above 20,000 common women.
This prodigious army was collected for the purpose of taking the city of
Rachol then under the power of Adel Khan king of Visiapour, but which
had belonged to the ancestors of Chrisna-rao, who had left it in charge
to their successors to attempt its recovery. The city of Rachol was
naturally almost impregnable, being situated on a high mountain and
fortified by several stone walls, with large deep ditches and strong
towers, well stored with artillery and other means of defence, and
having a garrison of 400 horse, 8000 foot, 20 elephants, and a
sufficient quantity of provisions and ammunition to tire out the most
patient besiegers.
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