The Portuguese Expedition to Abyssinia in 1541–1543/Chapter XVIII

by Miguel de Castanhoso

[60]

Of how there was a Battle between D. Christovão and the King of Zeila, in which D. Christovão was defeated.

The next day, in the morning, Wednesday, August 28th, 1542, the day of the beheadal of St. John the Baptist, the [61] Moor came out with all his power, with one thousand Turks in advance, to give us battle: the artillery was in the van, all prepared. D. Christovão, seeing his intentions, manned the positions in the best way he could, and stood on the defensive. At daybreak the artillery began to play, for at that hour they advanced against us; by it and the matchlocks many on both sides were wounded. The Turks, as they were many and but recently arrived, advanced very proudly, doing us much hurt. When D. Christovão saw the great hurt they did us, and that the palisades of our camp were not strong enough to be defended, especially from the Turks, he decided to sally out frequently and attack them, and then retreat. It appeared to him that in this way he would secure victory, for they could not await the very first onset of any body of Portuguese. He acted accordingly: he being the very first who, with fifty soldiers, with matchlocks and pikes, attacked over one hundred Turks who were on that flank. He drove them back a considerable way, killing and wounding many. He began to retreat when he met the main body of the enemy, and in the retreat they killed four of his men; the remainder all returned wounded, including D. Christovão himself, with a matchlock bullet in one leg. When he had returned, Manuel da Cunha, as he had been ordered, attacked on the other side, and drove the Turks back for another space: for they were those who came closest to us and pressed us hardest. He, too, killed and wounded many, but in the retreat they killed five or six of his men, and wounded several. The other [62] captains of the positions, as one retreated another attacked, but always in the retreat they killed some of our men. The affair became so confused that they killed some of our men in the very camp. In this way we continued for a great part of the day; the followers of the Moor were pleased enough, seeing the Turks on their side, and the hurt we received. D. Christovão, wounded as he was, went round the positions, encouraging the men: for these are the days when leaders are recognised; I have no words wherewith even to express his courage, when looking at the positions and the camp, he saw his men very weary, and the greater number wounded. The Queen was in her house in the direst trouble, weeping for the hour that had come to her. The house was filled with men too wounded to fight, and she, with her women — who that day did their duty in this well — bound up their wounds. They fired many shot into her house, and wounded two of her women. When D. Christovão saw this, and the great hurt the Turks were causing, and that in each retreat men were killed, he ordered Francisco de Abreu to attack with his men on his side, and his brother, Inofre de Abreu, to follow on his flank, so that when the first retreated the other should support, that they might not have the opportunity of doing so much hurt. He attacked, killing many of them, but in the retreat his fortune willed that they killed him by a matchlock bullet. When his brother saw this, he ran to bring him in, forcibly driving them off; lifting his brother to carry him, a shot struck him and stretched him on the other; thus they both lay. Our men retreated with difficulty, for here they met the main body of the [63] Moors, who slew many of them. D. Christovão, seeing that they had slain the greater part of his people, collected whom he could — and they but few — round the royal standard: for there were not many now to fight, for midday was past. When they were collected, he left word with Manuel da Cunha to attack the Moors with his men during his retreat, to hinder their harming him; and he charged them straight, driving them back over the field a great space. Truly, had we had the horses, which were on the way, the victory was ours; but we deserved for our sins that this should befall us, to happen what did happen. While our men attacked they drove them like sheep, but they were now so weary they could not bear the fatigue. When D. Christovão turned to retreat he was so far in the field, that in the retreat they killed many of his men and wounded him with another bullet that broke his right arm; and he returned in great pain. Here Manuel da Cunha helped greatly, for he attacked the Moors, and then retreated with him; they also slew and wounded many of his. João da Fonseca, who had sallied from his position to drive off the Moors, was, after two or three sallies, killed, and Francisco Velho the same. When D. Christovão found that they had killed four of his Captains, and that the rest of his people, as well as himself, were so badly wounded, he determined to sally out no more, but continued encouraging his men, and trying to induce them to return to the positions, which now had none to guard them, and none to fight in them, for it grew very late. At this time the Turks entered the positions, and twice they were driven out; but, as matters stood, there was none to rally to the royal standard. When the patriarch saw affairs in this state, he mounted a mule, and retreated to a hill on our flank. The Queen wanted to do [64] the same, but D. Christovão ordered her to be restrained, lest the Portuguese should accompany her. By now many of the Moors were inside the palisades, and of ours there was none to fight, the greater part being wounded or dead. We were compelled to retreat up the hill, which D. Christovão refused, being determined to die. Our men, seeing that it served no purpose to delay, as there was none to fight, made him retreat, telling him that he could see that all the Portuguese were withdrawing, and that those around him were too few to resist the enemy; that, for all this, they would all die with him, as honour bade them, but that it would be wiser to join his own men, as the Lord God was pleased to give them that punishment for the sin of all. With this they made him retreat, riding a mule; the Queen preceding him, ready to share whatever fate befell us. With great labour we retreated up the hill, for we were all wounded, each one going as he could. The steepness of the hill was our safeguard, as horsemen could only follow us slowly; but the foot did us much hurt, as numbers followed us, and slew many who could not travel with arrows and stones. When night fell, some went one way, some another, without waiting the one for the other. D. Christovão went one way with the fourteen Portuguese, who always accompanied him, and the Queen another, with the rest of us; we continued our retreat in this confusion, and in these difficulties. The Turks staying in the camp to collect the spoil, they entered the Queen's houses, where they found more than forty wounded, who [65] could not stir, and began to kill them (fazer a gazua nelles). A Portuguese, when he saw this, determined not to allow them to enjoy that satisfaction, but to die and revenge himself on them. He raised himself and crept on all fours, with a lighted match that lay handy, and went to where the powder was, and fired it. The house blew up, none escaping, for D. Christovão had a very large store of powder, which he had made during the winter, and this was kept in the Queen's houses, as the most watertight. It is probable that this cavalier set fire to the house less because the Turks were killing those who were already dead, than in order to prevent them using the powder with which they might have done great hurt, for there was much of it.