TRAVELS IN ABYSSINIA. 
fight in the same cause. With their aid the king 
defeated the Moors in successive battles, killed their 
king, and drove them out of all the provinces which 
they had conquered from him. When he had thus 
attained all his own objects, his respect for the Por- 
tuguese, and his deference to the see of Rome, be- 
gan sensibly to abate. As soon as Bermudez per- 
ceived this defection, and that the king was return- 
ing with his courtiers into submission to the patri- 
arch of Alexandria, he totfk a high tone, and threat- 
ened, if this conduct should be persisted in, instantly 
to remove, with all the Portuguese troops, out of 
Abyssinia. The king warned him, that he would 
by no means permit such a removal ; that he 
would compel the Portuguese to continue their 
services, and would place them under a general of 
his own appointment. These dissensions soon 
broke out into open hostilities, where the superior 
discipline of the Portuguese gave them the advan- 
tage, though they were unable to make any im 
pression on the vast numbers of the Abyssinian 
army. The king, however, seeing that he could 
not prevail by open force, resolved to employ stra- 
tagem. He sent, therefore, to Bermudez a large 
present of oxen and sheep, with liberal promises of 
pay to the men, and of celebrating in person gene- 
ral orders by Christmas next, according to agree- 
ment. These tokens of friendship so delighted 
Bermudez, that he, with the rest of the Portu- 
guese, immediately set out to visit the king in his 
