Incidentally, this story of Alexander the Great subduing China does have a preponderance of evidence as it is not limited to Ethiopian manuscripts, but appears in Syriac and many other manuscripts as well.
As I promised, here is the section of Callisthenes's 'Deeds of Alexander' which relates of Alexander the Great's meeting with the king of China taken from pages 172 to 181 of the Wallis Budge translation
(
http://books.google.com/books?id=rSpAdHLT3rMC&pg=PR8#v=onepage&q&f=false ). The Matyaas referred to in the story is Alexander himself disguised as one of his own ambassadors:
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"And I came on with twenty horsemen, and we marched until we arrived at the country of Kas Alexanderi-makatim, and we encamped therein for three days; then we marched from it for fifteen nights, passing through a region which was full of streams and watercourses, and we travelled through it.
And we departed from this place and marched again for fifteen nights, and we passed through caves which were beneath the mountains; now that road had not before been trodden by any other man. And we marched from that place and arrived in the country of China; now that country is called "Naas".
And I drew nigh unto one of my friends, and I commanded that they should not call me Alexander, and I made out myself to be a messenger of Alexander, the king of Greece. Now when I arrived at the gate of the city the people thereof marvelled at me, and said unto me, "Whence "hast thou come, and whither wouldst thou go in "this our country?" and they wished to lead me before their king. And when I had arrived at the gate of the king of China a captain went in and spake to the king, saying, "O king, behold
"there is an ambassador of the king of Greece "at the gate." And the king said to the captain, "Enquire diligently from him what he wisheth, and "why he hath come hither." Then the captain went out to him, and said unto him, "O ambassador, why hast thou come, and what dost "thou desire?" And I said unto him, "Thou art "a servant, and thy master who hath set thee in "his gate will be enraged at thy desiring to know "the secret things which appertain unto kings before "he himself knoweth them; I am sent unto the king "of China, and not unto thee." Then he went in and told these words to his master. And the king of China commanded that they should spread out costly stuffs upon a couch, and the couch was made of gold ornamented with jewels and inlaid with a design in gold; and he sat in his recephall, and his princes and nobles were round about him, and when he spake they made answer unto him and spake submissively. Then he commanded the captain to bring in Alexander the ambassador.
Now when I had come in with the captain he made me to stand before the king, and the men stood up dressed in raiment of gold and silver; and I stood [there] a long time and none spake unto me. Then the captain came to me and spake unto me haughtily, saying, "To "whom hast thou come? Who hath sent thee? "What dost thou need? Tell me, that thou mayest "not die." And I spake unto the captain, saying, "Thou art a servant, as I have already told thee. "I was not sent unto thee, but unto the king, and "it is not meet that a captain should know things "before the king. I will not declare my embassy "to any but him, and to him alone." Now when he had seen and heard these things from me, he commanded me to speak unto the king of China; and the king made me to sit by his side upon the couch.
And he said unto me, "Who art thou? "Who hath sent thee? And what dost thou want?"
And I said, "I am an ambassador of the Two-horned one, the king of the Greeks."
Then he said unto me, "Who is this Two-horned one?"
And I said unto him, "He is a Macedonian. He is the "king of the earth, and he is a man {or servant) of God, and he is the prince of all the armies of the earth."
Then he said unto me, "Where is this country of Macedonia?"
And I said unto him, "It is away to the west, and is nigh unto the place where the sun setteth."
And he said unto me, "Where hast thou left this Two-horned "one?"
And I said, "He is near and is not far from the borders of thy country."
And he said unto me, "Why hath he sent thee to me, and what dost thou desire?"
And I said, "The glorious God hath bestowed upon him dominion over all the kings of the world, and whosoever will not submit unto him willingly must do so by force, and he hath sent me to bring thee to him, for God hath made him to be governor of [all] the inhabitants of the world. Whosoever hearkeneth unto him, and submitteth unto him, to him will he act graciously and strengthen him in his kingdom, but whosoever will not submit him will he destroy, and he will lay waste his land, and he will wipe out his cities, and he will make his people to be servants in his house. But, if one hath not made thee acquainted with these things, ask and learn concerning Darius, the king of Persia, if there was ever in the world a king
who was greater than he, or who had more power, or who was richer, or who had more arms or a larger army. Yet when he acted wickedly God Almighty ordered what [the Two-horned one] did unto him, and he slew him, and set aside his kingdom, and laid waste his country. And again as concerning the mighty Porus, the Defeat of king of India, unto whom had been given wealth, and honour, and arms, and horsemen, and footmen, when he acted wickedly and would not submit to him, and was obstinate before him, God cast him down and destroyed his country. Now when my master heard tell of thy kingdom, he wished to send an army against thee, and to lay waste thy country, and to destroy thy cities. But he heard that thou wert a wise and an understanding man, and he hath sent me unto thee, while he himself hath encamped on the borders of thy territory, saying, 'Go and bring [him] to me, for, according to what hath been told to me, he is a wise man. If he hearkeneth and "becometh subject [unto me], leave him [to rule] over his kingdom; but if he acteth wickedly, and sheweth himself obstinate, I myself will come together with my army, and I will do battle with him.'"
The king of China when he had heard these words from me, he spake, saying,
"O Metyaos,' [return] to thy master, and tell him [this my] answer to thy message to us:
?I have heard concerning what "hath been given unto thee by God Almighty, "and how sovereignty hath been given unto thee in the world, and victory over Darius, the king of Persia, and over Porus, the king of India. Now although [divers] nations have sub"mitted unto thee and thou hast conquered kings, thou must know that this hath not happened because God Almighty hath magnified thee, but victory is [by reason of His] vengeance and wrath hath He sent thee to do what He desired. And, moreover, victory hath been given unto thee over them because their days had come to an end, and because the period of their existence had been brought to a close; for this reason He willed to destroy them out of the world. And fate hath exalted thee and hath abased them, because God Almighty hath given unto thee what He hath never given unto any who were before thee, or shall give unto any who shall come after thee. Now, do thou thyself consider and know these things, and let not thy position in this world lead thee astray, for fortune is a fickle thing. And it hath, moreover, destroyed those who were before thee; and it will come upon thee, in thy turn, although thou hast been master of it; and do not thou put confidence in it, for it will depart from thee [to go] to another man, and thou wilt pass away naked. Further, it will destroy thee thyself, together with those nations whose days have passed and whose time is ended. Thou imaginest that it is by thy mighty men of war and by thy strength that Alexander thou hast conquered them, but it is God Almighty who hath sent thee against them as a mark of punishment for their sins. Now as concerning thy message that I should come to thee, behold, "thy ambassador and servant hath delivered it unto me, but be not angry with me because I do not come unto thee in the flesh, for my speech cometh unto thee as befitteth thy command, and hearken and submit myself unto God and unto thee. Now do not come to our country and do not make war with us, for we will give unto "thee service and tribute; moreover, we have never surrendered to our foes, no man hath ever vanquished us, and we have never been subject unto any; and this I say because there existeth none who is able to meet us in battle. And as "concerning thy desire to come to us, behold, if our days have passed, and our time is ended, thou wilt do unto us even as thou hast done to Darius, the king of Persia, and to Porus, the king of India, but we should choose death rather than life if we were to become men who "were disgraced in our own country. Know, however, that if thy days and thy time have "drawn to an end thou thyself wilt die by our hands. Now this world is fleeting, and it abideth not "long for any, especially for us who are the children of men. Yet we weary ourselves everywhere in the world, and our transgressions, and the slaughter of our neighbour committed by us for the sake of the goods of this world, are manifold, and [finally] we must leave them [all] against our will, and no one thing remaineth [unto us], except the victory wherewith God Almighty, the Conqueror, hath made us victors. And since we leave that which we have gathered together to others, we give up the world to men".
And thus he ended his message. And he gave gifts to Matyaas the ambassador, and he said unto him, "Go to Alexander and salute him fervently with "many salutations, and say unto him, 'Thy servant "enquireth concerning thee and concerning thy "well-being. And behold I send unto thee gifts "for thine acceptance.'" And he sent unto him the crown which was upon his head, saying, "It befitteth thee more than me." And he sent unto him garments of finely woven stuff, one hundred pounds in weight, and again, he sent him two hundred tents, and men-servants and maid-servants; and two hundred shields of elephant hide; and two hundred Indian swords mounted in gold and ornamented with gold and precious stones of great value; and two hundred horses suitable for [the use of] kings; and seven thousand pieces of ... and one thousand loads of the finest gold and silver, for in this country are situated the mountains wherefrom they dig gold.
Now the wall of that city is built of gold ore and likewise the habitations of the people, and from this place Solomon, the son of David, brought the gold with which he built the sanctuary, and he made the vessels and the shields of the gold of the land of China. And again the king of China brought for Alexander one hundred shrines of gold, upon [the backs of] wild asses; and five hundred men-servants and maid-servants, the like of which existed not ?and glory be to God Who created them!?and one thousand iron swords and helmets; and twenty snakes' horns, each of which was a cubit long. Each and all of these things of his possessions did he send away after me borne on camels, and afterwards I wished heartily that I had left him without any of them, but I was afraid [to give them back] lest he should discover who I was, and lest he should seize me, and do unto me according to his desire. Now, although I took all these things against my will, I said unto the bearers of them, "In God's sight all these things "are as nothing at all."
After these things I returned to my soldiers and commanded them to march from that place, and I left behind in that palace which I had begun to build of cedar wood, and which they were ornamenting with precious stones, certain of my friends that they might finish the building thereof, and so make a memorial of me [which should endure] until God shall inherit the earth and all that there is upon it. Now I had already founded one city in the land of Egypt, and I had called it "Alexandria the Great", and this smaller city I called "Alexandria the Less".
Then we turned away from the mountains, and we departed and marched through a desert country ..."