The Prince of Arar, having recovered from the de feat which he hau suffereu from Naau, and ,licrcased his power by alliances with the Turks in Arabia, had renewed his annual incursions into Abyssinia with great er success than before. In return for the multitude of slaves which he had sent to Mecca, he was made of Zeyla, w hich may be considered the key to the Aby:. sinian dominions ; and the king of Adel had been :lido ced, by his success, to enter into a league with Lim against that empire, which he had always regarded v. ith a very unfriendly eye. Accordingly, they invaded Abys sinia their united forces, and committed such devas tation as spread terror through the whole coure•y. To revenge these injuries, David, then a youth of sixteen, levied a powerful army, by a judicious dispo,ilion of which, he hemmed in the Moors among soma narrow defiles, where they could not hazard on ena:ag,:m.-nt without certain destruction. To add to their consterna tion, Mafi•di came to the king of Adel, and assur,d that his time was now come ; that he had been ..varoed long before, by a prophecy, that if in this year 1 6.) he should encounter toe king of Abyssinia in pea,i..1:, he should certainly die. He therefore advised 1.;[*1 to retreat, as speedily as possible, over the least diffiauit part of the mountain, before the battle should The Melia!). already dismayed by the situation of In army, is follow , us ads ice ; and Al affudi, 2ts soon as he supposed his ally beyond the reach of danger, sent a message to the Abyssinian camp, challenging any man of quality to fight him in single combat, on condition that the party of the victorious champion should he ac counted conquerors, and that both armies should imme diately separate without further bloodshed. A monk, named Gabriel Andreas, instantly accepted the chal lenge ; and, when the combatants met, Mafl'udi received from his antagonist such a violent stroke with a two handed sword, as almost severed his body in two. An dreas cut off his hcsd ; and, throwing it at the king's feet, exclaimed, ,• Th( re is the Goliah of the Infidels !" Notwithstanding the teems stipulated before the combat, a general engagement ensued, in which the Moors were completely discomfited.
On the same day (in the month of July 1516) Zeyla was taken, and its tow n burnt by the Portuguese fleet, under Lopez Suarez de Alberguiera. On board this fleet was Matthew, the Abyssinian ambassador, who had been treated, during his residence in Portugal, with the highest respect, and the most flattering attention. Splen did lodgings were assigned him, with a magnificent equipage, and a suitable maintenance ; and, on his re turn, he was accompanied by an ambassador from the court of Lisbon to the Abyssinian king. This ambassa dor was Edward Galyan, a man who had filled the most important state departments with great applause, but whose advanced age (for lie was now 86) rendered him surely very unfit for a voyage so distant and perilous. As might have been foreseen, he died on the island of Camaran, in the Red Sea, where Suarez had imprudent ly wintered, in the utmost distress for want of provisions. Suarez was superseded by Lopez de Seguevra, who, sailing first to the island of Goa, returned with a strong fleet to the Red Sea, and landed at l)lasteth, an island belonging to Abyssinia. At the approach of this fleet the inhabitants fled ; but when it had remained fur sonic days off Masuah without committing hostilities, a Chris tian and a Moor ventured to come from the continent, who informed Segucvra, that the land opposite to Ma suah was part of Abyssinia; adding, that the inhabitants were Christians, and that the reason it by they fled at the appearance of the fleet was their dread 4,1 th?• Turks, who frequently made descents, and ra\ aged the coast.
The admiral, ON crioyed at this intelligence, dismissed them presents, and was soon after visited by the governor of Arkeeko, who informed him, that seven monks sieve deputed to wait on him from the monaste ry of Bisan, about twemy-four miles up the country. These monks, on their arrival, instantly recognised attlic iv, and congratulated him warmly on his return. Lopez had next an interview with the Baharnagash, who informed him that the arriN al of the Portuguese had been long expected in r onsequence of ancient prophecies; and that he himself, and all the officers of the king, were ready to sLri e him. Mutual pie sents were ex changed, and an embassy was prepared by the admiral to be sent to the court. Don Roderigo de Lima, who was appointed ambassador instead of Ualvan, who had died, cram accompanied by a small company of resolute men, is illing to undergo any hardship or danger for the glory of their king, and the honour of their country. Their nt journey required all their constancy. Be line they could reach the king, they had to cross the mole extent of the empire, over rugged mountains, .cad through v. nods almost impervious, interwoven with briers and thorns, and ingested with innumerable w ilu beasts. Their reception but ill requited the toils of their journey. De Lima, instead of gaining an imme diate audience of the king, was waited upon by an offi cer, called Hadug Ras, who ordered Linn to pitch his tent three miles larther from the camp; and it was not till three years afterwards that he obtained leave to de part. After that long interval, David determined to send an embassy to Portugal, and dismissed Rodcrigo with an Abyssinian monk, named Zaga Zaab, w horn he appointed his own ambassador.
Meanwhile, the Mahometans v. erg alarmed by this long intercourse between two such distant nations, to both of which they were equally inimical. An alliance was formed between the king of Adel, and the Turks in Arabia; and the Adelians thus reinforced, and being trained by their new allies to the use of lire-arms, then unknown to the Abyssinians, defeated David in every engagement, and hunted him, like a wild beast, from place to place. Mahomet, surnamed Gragne, or le handed, who commanded the Turkish army, sent a mes sage to the king, exhorting him to desist from fighting against God, to make peace while it was yet in his power, and to give him his daughter in marriage, otherwise he would reduce his kingdom to such a state as to be ca pable of producing nothing but grass. The spirited monarch, yet unsubdued by his misfortunes, would listen to no terms proposed by an infidel and a blasphemer. Frequent encounters succeeded, in which David was constantly worsted; in one engagement his eldest sun was killed; in another his youngest was taken prisoner; and he himself, destitute and forlorn, was forced to wan der about on foot, skulking among the bushes on the mountains. Struck with admiration of his heroism, and with compassion for his misfortunes, many of his veteran soldiers sought him out in his retreat, and with these he gained some slight advantages, which served to revive the spirits of himself and his followers. But his enemies were too powerful to be resisted with any probability ut final success, and the king, in this hopeless situation, be gan to turn his thoughts seriously towards Portugal.