When Diogo died, about 1561, the Portuguese residents endeavoured to secure the throne for one of their own creatures, and caused the duly elected favourite of the people to be assassinated. As a result, the people of S. Salvador rose upon the Portuguese, many of whom were killed, not even priests being spared. The accounts[339] of this period of disorder are too confused to enable us to be certain even of the names of the reigning kings. D. AFFONSO II, a son (probably illegitimate) of D. Diogo, ascended the throne of his father, but was murdered by his brother, D. BERNARDO, who appears to have been the candidate favoured by the Portuguese. He at once sent Father Estevão de Laguos on an embassy to Queen Catherine of Portugal, who, in a letter dated June 26th, 1562,[340] congratulated him upon his accession, whilst gently chiding him for the murder of his brother. This King was evidently friendly disposed towards the Portuguese; and Antonio Vieira, a negro, who had visited Portugal as member of an embassy, when writing to Queen Catherine in April 1566,[341] suggested that he might be induced to allow the mines of copper and tin to be worked. D. Bernardo is stated by the Duke of Mbamba to have fallen in a war with the Anzicas, “in defence of Christianity and the Fatherland.” He was succeeded by D. HENRIQUE, a brother of D. Diogo, who, after a short and troubled reign, died of a wound received in a battle, either against some revolted vassals,[342] or fighting the Anzicanas.[343] He was the last king of the original dynasty, for Alvaro I, his successor, was only a step-son. D. ALVARO I AND THE AYAKA, 1568-1574.[344] D. Alvaro, immediately on his accession, sent an embassy to Portugal, to apologise for the massacre of many Portuguese during the reigns of his predecessors, which he excused on the ground of the vices and abuses of the clergy. These excuses were apparently accepted in Portugal, fortunately for D. Alvaro, for the very next year the dreaded Ayaka[345] invaded his kingdom by way of Mbata; and, being worsted, the King fled with his adherents to the Hippopotamus Island,[346] on the lower Kongo, where they suffered many hardships, and whence he appealed piteously to the Portuguese for help. This help was not denied him. Francisco de Gouvea, corregedor of S. Thomé, in 1570, hastened to his aid with six hundred Portuguese, expelled the Ayaka, reinstated the King in his capital, and built a wall round S. Salvador for greater security. The King fully recognised the value of the service that had been rendered him, for Paulo Dias de Novaes told Garcia Mendes[347] that he acknowledged himself a vassal of Portugal;[348] and as neither gold or silver had been discovered in his country, he agreed to pay a tribute in _njimbos_, which he actually did for a few years.