56 DISCOVERIES OF THE PORTUGUESE. 
own power, than upon re-establishing himself on 
the throne of his ancestors. Whether he was thus 
drawn into a correspondence with the rest of his 
countrymen ; whether he was merely suspected of 
such conduct ; or whether, as there appears some 
room to imagine, the whole originated in a private 
quarrel,— it appears, that the Portuguese comman- 
der stabbed Bemoy to the heart with a dagger, on 
board of his own vessel. This event is said to 
have caused extraordinary chagrin to the King, 
and to have even induced him to give up all im- 
mediate design of constructing the fort ; but a 
pestilential disorder, which made its appearance 
among the troops employed, might afford perhaps 
a more urgent reason. 
The arrival, however, of so great an armament 
is said to have caused an extraordinary revolution 
in the minds of the African princes. Formerly 
they had seen only one or two small vessels, ill 
manned and equipped, and having on board a mere 
handful of mariners, who could not trade, nor even 
land, without their favour and permission. But 
the arrival of so large a force, both naval and mili- 
tary, and one so amply supplied with all the mate- 
rials of war, impressed the most formidable idea of 
the power of this distant monarch. Not only the 
fear of his arms, but the hope of his support in 
those furious wars which they were waging with 
each other, induced them to send embassies, and 
