From Aden, Covilham Crossed The Straits Of Babelmandeb To The South-
Eastern Coast Of Abyssinia, Where He Found Alexander The King, Or Negus,
At The Head Of An Army, Levying Tribute Or Contributions From His
Rebellious Subjects Of The Southern Provinces Of His Dominions.
Alexander
received Covilham with kindness, but more from motives of curiosity than
for any expectations of advantage that might result from any connection
or communication with the kingdom of Portugal.
Covilham accompanied the
king to Shoa, where the seat of the Abyssinian government was then
established; and from a cruel policy, which subsists still in Abyssinia,
by which strangers are hardly ever permitted to quit the country,
Covilham never returned into Europe. Though thus doomed to perpetual
exile in a strange and barbarous land, Covilham was well used. He married,
and obtained ample possessions, enjoying the favour of several successive
kings of Abyssinia, and was preferred to some considerable offices in the
government. Frequent epistolary intercourse took place between him and
the king of Portugal, who spared no expence to keep open the interesting
correspondence. In his dispatches, Covilham described the several ports
which he had visited in India; explained the policy and disposition of
the several princes; and pointed out the situation and riches of the gold
mines of Sofala; exhorting the king to persist, unremittingly and
vigorously, in prosecuting the discovery of the passage to India around
the southern extremity of Africa, which he asserted to be attended with
little danger, and affirmed that the cape was well known in India.
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