ABYSSINIA. 257 



entrance. King Alexander received him with great 

 kindness and kept him at his court. The ambassador 

 married an Abyssinian woman, and was in high 

 favour with several of the princes who succeeded one 

 another upon the throne. lie kept up a correspon- 

 dence with the King of Portugal, describing to him 

 the different parts of India which he had seen, the 

 wealth of the Sofala mines, to the north of the Cape 

 of Good Hope, and exhorted him, on his own behalf 

 as well as that of the King of Abyssinia, to persevere 

 in his researches as to the feasibility of a passage 

 round the Cape. He assured him that the possibility 

 of it was well known in India and Abyssinia, and 

 sent him a map upon which the Cape and the country 

 round were correctly drawn. 



Thereupon, the King of Portugal fitted out three 

 vessels which he placed under the command of Bar- 

 tholomew Diaz, who reached the formidable cape, but 

 his sailors, terrified by the force of the wind and the 

 rough seas, refused to go any farther. The sailors, 

 whose complexions were burnt brown by the sun and 

 the long sea voyage, were afraid of becoming literally 

 Negroes. All the stories which had been told them 

 before their departure appeared to them as realities, 

 and Diaz was obliged to content himself with seeing 

 the Cape of Good Hope, instead of sailing round it, 

 returning to Portugal, where, for the remainder of the 

 king's life, the dangers of the expedition were being 

 constantly dwelt upon. 



