( 6js )
HISTORY
OF
EASTERN ETHIOPIA.
Originally written in the Portuguefe Language, by the Reverend Father Joawo dos Santos, of theOrder of St. Domingo, and publilh&d at Paris in the Year 1684.
BOOK I.
CONTAINING A SUCCINCT RELATION OF THE MOST CURIOUS AND REMARKABLE
PRODUCTIONS OF THE COUNTRY.
CHAP. I .'—Of the three Divijions of the World, and the Fourth added to thefe by Don
r pHIS great monarch, crowned in the year 1496, wasfo fortunate during his reign as1 *to difcover empires fo numerous, that he excited the wonder of the whole worldat his fuccefs, his prudence, and good management; for, not a nation exifted butlooked on him with reverence, not a province in which he was unknown.
The geographers of his day afcertained that the world was of greater extent thanbefore imagined ; the ancients limiting it to three divifions only, to thefe this fovereignadded a fourth, in America , which was difcovered under his reign, and fubjected tohis dominion. Intent on aggrandizing himfelf in this quarter, Emmanuel, notwith-ftanding he could with facility have done them much injury, refrained from difturbingthe tranquillity of the Caftilians; preferring conquefts obtained over diftant and barba-rous countries to warring with Catholics , with whom the dictates of confcience enjoinedhim to live in peace; and applying the whole bent of his mind to the extermination ofidolatry in the Indies, and the fubftitution of the only true faith.
Infpired with zeal thus laudable he determined, if necefiary, to profecute his inten-tion in perfon; but previoufly he fitted an armament, deftined, either with allowanceof the fovereigns of thefe countries or by force, to effedt fettlenaents among them. With /
this view many fhips of war were equipped in 1586*, on board of which fome excellent
* This is an error of the prefs, the date Ihould be 1506. Emmanuel fucceeded John II. in the throneof Portugal in 1495-6, and Naya difcovered the empire of the Monomotopa in 1505-6. See Murr’sDiflertation on Martin Behaim , vol. xi. p. 302. of this work. Dos Santos, as the reader will perceive, appearsnot to have compofed his work until many years after the expedition, feeing he notices the difcovery ofthe ftrait of Magellan by the navigator of that name, an event which did not occur until the year 1520.
See the Voyage of Pigafetta round the World, vol. xi. p.288. of this work. Eng. Trans.
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VOL. XVI.
troops