Mount Sinai, El-Tor and across the Red Sea, he reached Zeila, where he struck inland to the court of Prester John (Ethiopia). Here he was honorably received by the Emperor Eskender; lands and lordships were bestowed upon him, but Eskander refused to grant him permission to leave, and his successors evaded granting Covilhã permission. According to James Bruce, Covilhã maintained a correspondence with the king in Portugal, describing Ethiopia as "very populous, full of cities both powerful and rich". In 1507, he was joined by João Gomes, a priest sent by Tristão da Cunha, who had reached Ethiopia by way of Socotra. When the Portuguese embassy under Rodrigo de Lima, which included Ethiopian ambassador Mateus and missionary Francisco Álvares, entered Ethiopia in 1520, Covilhã wept with joy at the sight of his fellow-countrymen. It was then forty years since he had left Portugal and over thirty since he had been a prisoner of state in Ethiopia. Álvares, who professed to know him well, and to have heard the story of his life, both in confession and out of it, praises his power of vivid description as if things were present before him, and his extraordinary knowledge of all the spoken languages of Christians, Muslims and Gentiles. His services as an interpreter were valuable to Rodrigo de Lima's embassy. Covilhã was well treated but was not allowed to leave the country for the rest of his life. Legacy Covilhã's extensive travels in the medieval world saw him visit the modern day states of Spain, Morocco, Italy, Greece, Egypt, Sudan, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, India, Mozambique, Iran, Eritrea and Ethiopia. These journeys, together with the maritime achievements of Bartolomeu Dias, were instrumental in paving the way for subsequent Portuguese expeditions, most significantly the Portuguese discovery of the sea route to India by Vasco da Gama in 1497. Covilhã's arrival in Ethiopia also marked the beginning of Portuguese-Ethiopian relations which culminated in the formal invitation for the Portuguese to interfere directly in the affairs of Abyssinia in the Ethiopian–Adal War of 1541. The sustained Portuguese presence in Ethiopia also led to the influx of Jesuit missionaries into the country although their success at converting the population to Catholicism was mixed. From their base in the city of Fremona, the Jesuits were able to convert the Ethiopian Emperors Za Dengel and Susenyos I to the faith in the 17th century but this resulted in a