26o RECOLLECTIONS OF FORTY YEARS. 



the throne in 1508, when twelve years of age, the 

 Queen-Regent, Helena, and Bishop Mark, her favourite, 

 assuming the reins of government in Abyssinia, which 

 began to suffer from the attacks of the Mussulman 

 kings upon the eastern coast of Africa and on the 

 Arabian side. 



Helena, the daughter of a Moorish prince, did all 

 she could to keep the peace between the Abyssinian 

 Christians and their Mahometan neighbours by creat- 

 ing business relations between them, and she had 

 succeeded to a great extent, when a third Power came 

 in to disturb the equilibrium. The Turks, who had 

 never appeared in the south of Africa or Asia, came 

 upon the scene, under Selim, the Emperor of Constan- 

 tinople, who had just conquered the Soudan of Egypt, 

 soon establishing themselves in the Arabian peninsula 

 up to the shores of the Indian Ocean. 



The leading towns on the coast of Arabia Jeddah, 

 Moka, Suakim, and Massowah, upon the African coast, 

 at the gates of Abyssinia were garrisoned with 

 Turkish janissaries, who preyed upon commerce instead 

 of protecting it, so the Arab traders took to flight, 

 going with their riches to the coasts of the kingdom 

 of Adel, upon the south-eastern limits of Abyssinia. 

 The trade of India, in order to avoid a like hindrance, 

 w T as also concentrated upon Adel. 



The Turks then seized Zeyla, a small island situated 

 upon the coast of Adel, at the entrance to the Indian 

 Ocean, where they established a custom-house and sub- 



