196 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER 



he, Bermudes, was a neftorian heretic, and worfliipped four 

 gods. Bermudes anfwered plainly, that he lied; that he 

 would take every Portuguefe from him, and return to In- 

 dia whence he came. The king's anfwer was, that he wifh- 

 edhe would return to hidia; but as for the Portuguefe, nei-; 

 ther they, nor any other perfon, fhould leave his kingdom 

 without his permifhon. Accordingl-y, having perfeftly 

 gained Arius Dias, he gave him the name of Marcus, with 

 the command of the Portuguefe, and fent him a ftandard 

 with his own arms, to ufe inftead of the king of Portugal's. 

 But the Abyffinian page being met, on his return, with the 

 Portuguefe ftandard in his hand, by James Brito, he wrefted 

 it from him, felling him to the ground with a blov^ of, 

 his fword on the head. 



From expoftulations with the king, the matter of religion 

 turned into difputes among the priefts, at which the king 

 always aflifted in perfon. If we fuppofe they were no bet- 

 ter fuftained on the part of the Abyili-nians than they were 

 by the patriarch Bermudas, who we know was no great 

 divine, we cannot expe(5l much that was edifying from the 

 arguments that either of them ufed. The Portuguefe priefls 

 fay*, that the king, ftruck with the ignorance of his own 

 clergy, frequently took the difcullion upon hinifelf, which 

 he managed with fuch force of reafoning as often to put 

 the patriarch to a ftand. From verbal difputes, which ter- 

 minated in nothing, Bermudes was refolved to appeal to ar- 

 guments in writing ; and, with the help of thofe that were 

 with him of the fame faith, a fair ftate of the differences in 

 queftion was made in a fmall book, and prefented to the 

 king, who read it with fo much pleafure that he kept 

 it conftantly by him. This gave very great offence to the 



Abyflinian 



* Icllcz, lib, 2. cap. 27. 



