Title: The Romance of the Portuguese in Abyssinia: an Account of the Adventurous Journeys of the Portuguese to the Empire of Prester John; their Assistance to Ethiopia in its struggle against Islam, and their Subsequent Efforts to impose their own Influence and Religion, 1490–1633
Abstract: IN the volume under notice, Mr. Rey tells the story of the endeavours made by the Portuguese nation for a century and a half to secure a footing in Abyssinia. This was an outcome of the policy of exploration and expansion initiated by Henry the Navigator. When Pedro da Covilham and Alphonso da Payva were sent out in 1487 in search of Pr ester John, it was not entirely in a spirit of romantic adventure. They were also instructed to search out the sources of the wealth of the East and of its commercial products. They stumbled, by accident as it were, on Abyssinia; but in the dispatches which they were allowed to send home, though they themselves were never permitted to leave the country, they reported that they had found the legendary kingdom of their search.