Page:A voyage to Abyssinia (Salt).djvu/377

. Throughout this period a regular communication appears to have been kept up between Abyssinia and Europe: and in 1445, Zara Jacob, then reigning, sent an ambassador to the council of Florence, and wrote some interesting letters to his priests at Jerusalem, which are still extant in the Church History of Abyssinia by Geddes, (vide p. 27.)

It affords an interesting subject for reflection, to trace occasionally the fortuitous course of events, by which the most important changes in the affairs of the world have been brought about. It may not therefore be foreign to the object I have in view, to observe that, owing to the slight connection kept up by the Abyssinian Church with Europe, we may perhaps be indebted for our knowledge of India and the discovery of a passage round the Cape of Good Hope; as it was in consequence of the flattering accounts which the Abyssinian priests delivered at Jerusalem respecting the Eastern Empires and their commerce with the south, that the attention of learned men was first excited to the subject, and that the princes of Portugal were induced, subsequently, to send their emissaries into the East. To one of these agents, named Peter Covilham, we are indebted for the renewal of a more extended intercourse with Abyssinia; as in 1490 he succeeded in reaching the court of the Negush, at that time held in Shoa: and shortly afterwards, owing to his representation, the reigning Queen-mother, or Iteghé, was induced to send Matthew, an Armenian, as her ambassador to Portugal, for the purpose of opening a direct communication with that country.

The arrival of this mission produced a strong impression in Europe respecting Abyssinia; and in return an embassy was sent back with Matthew, consisting of several Portuguese gentlemen of different professions, which, after many unforeseen difficulties and considerable delay, arrived safely, in 1520, at Massowa. A very interesting narrative of the transactions which occurred during its stay in Abyssinia, was subsequently published by Francis