John Bermudes, one of Roderigo's attendants, who had been detained in Abyssinia, was chosen as ambas sador to his native monarch, with the additional dignity of Abuna. Bigoted to the Roman catholic religion, he refused to accept of this new office, unless his ordina tion should be approved by the pope ;—a provision to which, though it virtually submitted the church of Abyssinia to that of Rome, David was induced, by the necessity of his affairs to comply. On his arrival at Lisbon, Bermudes ordered Zaga Zaab to be put in irons for neglecting the interests of his master ; and repre sented so strongly the distresses of the Abyssinians, that he soon obtained an order for 400 musketeers to be sent to their relief, under Don Garcia de Noronha. He would have sailed along with Don Garcia to accelerate the progress of the fleet, but was detained a whole year by sickness, occasioned, he suspected, by poison given him by Zaga Zaab, whom the king had set at liberty. Another delay was occasioned by the death of Don Gar. cia. At length it was resolved that Don Stephen de Gana, who had succeeded to Noronha, should sail to the Arabian gulf, in order to secure some Turkish ves sels which then lay at Suez. Finding that the vessels had been withdrawn before his arrival, he anchored in the port of Masuah, and sent some boats to Arkeeko for water and provisions; but that coast was now in posses sion of the floors, who seized the goods which he had sent in exchange for the desired supplies, and dismissed the boats without any thing in return. A message was afterwards sent to Don Stephen, importing, that if lie would make peace with the king of Adel, who was now master of all Ethiopia, his goods should be restored, and his fleet plentifully supplied with water and provisions of every kind. Don Stephen, aware of the perfidy of this proposal, accepted it with seeming pleasure ; pro mised to conic ashore as soon as the festival, which the l\Iahometans were then celebrating, should be ended, sent more goods, and obtained as much provisions as he required. No sooner were they on hoard, than lie strictly prohibited all intercourse with the shore, and, selecting 600 of his best men, attacked the town of Ar keeko, massacred all the people he met with, and sent the head of the governor to the Abyssinian court.
A new monarch had ascended the throne of that king dom. During the wars which David carried on with the Moors, a Mahometan chief, named Vizir Mugdid, had attacked the rock of Geshen, the state prison of the royal family, and, ascending it without opposition, put all the princes to the sword. The heart or this heroic mo narch could not stand this disaster, and he died in the same year (1540). His son Claudius, who succeeded him, though then only 18 years of age, possessed all the great qualities necessary in the dreadful exigencies of his kingdom; and, before the arrival of the Portuguese, had already made considerable progress against his ene mies. He frustrated a league which they had formed against him in the beginning of his reign; obliged them to desist from pillage; defeated them in a general en gagement; and, having intelligence of a design formed against his life by one of his own governors, decoyed the traitor into an ambush, and slew the greater part of his army.
Such was the situation of affairs when Don Stephen de Gama came to the assistance of the Abyssinians.
The number of men whom the king of Portugal had al lotted to this service, amounted to 4.50; but the officers were men of the first rank, by whose retinue the army was considerably increased. A general ardour for this enterprise prevailed in the fleet ; and the bay, where they were moored, has received, from the murmurs of those who were detained on board, the name of Bahia dos Agrayados—the Bay of the Injured.
This small but gallant army set out without delay, tinder the command of Don Christopher de Gama, youngest brother of the admiral. They were met on their march by the queen, attended by her two sisters, and many others of both sexes; and, after a mutual ex change of civilities, the queen returned, escorted by 100 musketeers, whom the general had appointed as her guard. After marching eight days through a very rug ged country, Don Christopher received from Gragne very insulting defiance, which lie returned in a similar tone. A battle was fought, in which the Moor, though greatly superior in horse, got such a convincing speci men of Portuguese valour, that he did not choose, on that occasion, to venture a second engagement.
The Portuguese, owing to the advanced state of the season, had now retired into winter quarters ; while Gragne, having received powerful reinforcements to his army, wished to bring them to action before they should be joined by the king. Hurried away by his natural impetuosity, Don Christopher resolved, in opposition to the remonstrances of his most skilful officers, to venture an engagement, though at prodigious disadvantage The superiority of the Portuguese, however, was still so great, that they seemed likely to obtain the victory, till their general, rashly exposing hinroell, was wounded in the arm by a musket ball. Confusion and defeat ensued ; and the bat barians, obtaining of the camp, began to violate the women, who had all retired into the general's tent. On this, an Abyssinian lady, who had married one of the Portuguese, set fire to some barrels of gunpowder which stood in the tent, and thus perished with the ravishers.
Don Christopher, disdaining to fly, was forced into a litter, and carried off the field. At the approach 01 night, lie entered a rave to have his wound dressed, but obstinately refused to proceed farther. Betrayed by a woman whom he loved, he was seized next day by a party of the enemy, and carried in triumph to Gragne, who, after many mutual insults, struck off his head, which was sent to Constantinople, while his body was cut to pieces, and dispersed through Abyssinia.
The cruelty of this barbarian proved more detrimental to his cause, than if he had been completely defeated. The Portuguese, exasperated by the loss of their gene ral, were ready to undergo any danger to revenge hi; death; while the Turks, irritated by an action which de prived them of Don Christopher's ransom, abandoned their leader, and returned to their own country. Gragne, thus deserted, was easily defeated by Claudius; and in a subsequent battle, fought on the 10th of February, 1543, his army was routed, and he himself slain by a Portuguese, named Peter Lyon, who had been Don Christopher's valet de chambre. Gragni!'s wife and son, with Nur, the on of Mugdid, who destroyed the royal family, fell into the hands of Claudius; and happy had it been for that monarch if he had immediately ordered them to execution.