2io TRAVELS TO DISCOVER 



into his prefence, he ordered him forthwith to leave his 

 kingdom upon pain of death. But Oviedo, who feems to 

 have had an ambition to be the proto-martyr, refufed abfo- 

 lutely to obey thefe commands. He declared that the orders 

 of God were thofe he obeyed, not the fmful ordinances of 

 man; and, letting flip his cloak from his moulders, he offered 

 his bare neck to the king to flrike. This anfwer and ges- 

 ture fo incenfed Menas, that, drawing his fword,. he would 

 have very foon put the patriarch in poffeflion of the mar- 

 tyrdom he coveted, had it not been for the interpofition o£ 

 the queen and officers that flood round him. 



Oviedo, after having been again foundly beaten, was 

 baniihed a fecond time to the mountain ; and in this fen- 

 tence were included all the reft of the Portuguefe priefts, 

 as well as others. But the bifhop would not fubmit to this 

 punifliment, but with the Portuguefe, his countrymen, join- 

 ed the Baharnagafh, who had already completed his treaty 

 with Samur Bafha. 



Isaac, before the Portuguefe priefls, had fhewn a defire of 

 becoming Catholic, and of protecting, or even embracing, 

 their religion ; and they, on their part, had aflured him of a 

 powerful and fpeedy fuccour from India, which was juft 

 what he wanted ; and with this view he had placed him- 

 felf to the greateft advantage, avoiding a battle, and await- 

 ing thofe auxiliaries, of the arrival of which the king was 

 very apprehenfive. But the feafon of fhips coming from 

 India had pafled without any appearance of Portuguefe, and 

 the king was refolved to try his fortune without expecting 

 what another feafon might produce. On the other hand, 

 Ifaac, ftrengthencd by his league with the bafha, thought 



himfelf 



