ALVAREZ BERMUDEZ. 
^3 
panied with a large quantity of water, be got 
over these tender throats without choking. 
Alvarez and his companions soon after set out 
on their return to Portugal ; but the season prov- 
ing unfavourable, they found it more comfortable 
to return to court ; and having made themselvCvS 
more agreeable than at first to the young mo- 
narch, they remained for several years. On the 
28th April 15^6 they set sail, acconipanied by 
Zaga Zabo, an Abyssinian, who came as ambassa- 
dor to Portugal. An account of his embassy, 
and a treatise on the manners of the Ethiopians, 
derived from his information, were afterwards 
published by Damian Goez. 
In 1535,* Abuna Marcos, the patriarch of 
Abyssinia, being at the point of death, the king 
prevailed upon him to nominate, as his successor, 
John Bermudez, a Romish priest, then resident 
in that country. Bermudez accepted it, subject 
to the approbation of the Pope, which was easily 
obtained. The secret motive of the honour thus 
lavished upon Bermudez is not long of appearing. 
The king, who was hard pressed in war with 
Zeila, made an anxious application to obtain aid 
from the Portuguese, with whose military superio- 
rity he had become acquainted. Bermudez him- 
* Purchas, III. 9. 
