_ 561 _ way. They travelled all night, and when day broke, they found themselves close to the encampment of the King of Massawa and the Captain of Zeila, who was accompanying him(A). When the King of Massawa saw the Portuguese at the top of a hill, he went towards them, and fighting began. The Portuguese killed seven or eight of the Moors, and four or five of the Portuguese were wounded, including a man of high lineage whom they had taken as their captain(B). When the King saw that he could not overcome them by fighting he decided to use deceit, as they are accustomed to do in their trickery, and he sent a message to the Portuguese to say that he desired their friendship and that they should be allies. As security he sent them some of his [contas], and they agreed a pact between them. So, the Portuguese came down from their hill towards level ground near the King of Massawa, and as this land is very hot and they had walked all night without drinking it was not more than half an hour before one man fell to the ground dead. They were all in a bad state of dehydration, so they sent (A) The 'King' of Massawa had allied himself with the King of Zeila 'who was at war with the Prester', says Correia, 'and they were prepared to kill the people who were going to the Prester'.(Ibid.). (B) According to Correia his name was António de Sousa (Ibid., p.182).
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