Bazen,
Tzenaf Segued,
Garima Asferi,
Saraada,
Tzion,
Sargai,
Bagamai,
Jan Segued,
Tzion Heges,
Moal Genha,
Saif Araad,
Agedar,
Abreha and Atzbeha, 333,
Asfeha,
Arphad and Amzi,
Araad,
Saladoba,
Alamida,
Tezhana,
Caleb, 522,
Guebra Mascal,
Constantine,
Bazzer,
Azbeha,
Armaha,
Jan Asfeha,
Jan Segued,
Fere Sanai,
Aderaaz,
Aizor,
Del Naad, 960[341].
This list is kept in the monastery of Debra Libanos in Shoa; the
Abyssinians receive it without any sort of doubt, though to me it seems
very exceptionable: If it were genuine, it would put this monarchy in a
very respectable light in point of antiquity.
Great confusion has arisen in these old lists, from their kings having
always two, and sometimes three names. The first is their christened
name, their second a nick, or bye-name, and the third they take upon
their inauguration. There is, likewise, another cause of mistake, which
is, when two names occur, one of a king, the other the quality of a
king only, these are set down as two brothers. For example, Atzbeha
is the _blessed_, or _the saint_; and I very much suspect, therefore,
that Atzbeha and Abreha, said to be two brothers, only mean Abraham
the _blessed_, or _the saint_; because, in that prince’s time, the
country was converted to Christianity; Caleb[342] and Elesbaas, were
long thought to be contemporary princes, till it was found out, by
inspecting the ancient authors of those times, that this was only
the name or quality of _blessed_, or _saint_, given to Caleb, in
consequence of his expedition into Arabia against Phineas king of the
Jews, and persecutor of the Christians.
There are four very interesting events, in the course of the reign of
these princes. The first and greatest we have already mentioned, the
birth of Christ in the 8th year of Bazen. The second is the conversion
of Abyssinia to Christianity, in the reign of Abreha and Atzbeha, in
the year of Christ 333, according to our account. The third the war
with the Jews under Caleb. The fourth, the massacre of the princes on
the mountain of Damo. The time and circumstances of all these are well
known, and I shall relate them in their turn with the brevity becoming
a historian.
Some ecclesiastical[343] writers, rather from attachment to particular
systems, than from any conviction that the opinion they espouse
is truth, would persuade us, that the conversion of Abyssinia to
Christianity happened at the beginning of this period, that is, soon
after the reign of Bazen; others, that Saint Matthias, or Saint
Bartholomew, or some others of the Apostles, after their mission
to teach the nations, first preached here the faith of Christ, and
converted this people to it. It is also said, that the eunuch baptized
by Philip, upon his return to Candace, became the Apostle of that
nation, which, from his preaching, believed in Christ and his gospel.
All these might pass for dreams not worthy of examination, if they were
not invented for particular purposes.
Till the death of Christ, who lived several years after Bazen, very
few Jews had been converted even in Judea. We have no account in
scripture that induces us to believe, that the Apostles went to any
great distance from each other immediately after the crucifixion. Nay,
we know positively, they did not, but lived in community together for a
considerable time. Besides, it is not probable, if the Abyssinians were
converted by any of the Apostles, that, for the space of 300 years,
they should remain without bishops, and without church-government, in
the neighbourhood of many states, where churches were already formed,
without calling to their assistance some members of these churches,
who might, at least, inform them of the purport of the councils held,
and canons made by them, during that space of 300 years; for this was
absolutely necessary to preserve orthodoxy, and the communion between
this, and the churches of that time. And it should be observed, that
if, in Philip’s time, the Christian religion had not penetrated (as
we see in effect it had not) into the court of Candace, so much
nearer Egypt, it did not surely reach so early into the more distant
mountainous country of Abyssinia; and if the Ethiopia, where Candace
reigned, was the same as Abyssinia, the story of the queen of Saba
must be given up as a falsehood; for, in that case, there would be a
woman sitting upon the throne of that country 500 years after she was
excluded by a solemn deliberate fundamental law of the land.
But it is known, from credible writers, engaged in no controversy, that
this Candace reigned upon the Nile in Atbara, much nearer Egypt. Her
capital also was taken in the time of Augustus, a few years before the
Conversion, by Philip; and we shall have occasion often to mention her
successors and her kingdom, as existing in the reign of the Abyssinian
kings, long after the Mahometan conquest; they existed when I passed
through Atbara, and do undoubtedly exist there to this day. What puts
an end to all this argument is a matter of fact, which is, that the
Abyssinians continued Jews and Pagans, and were found to be so above
300 years after the time of the Apostles. Instead, therefore, of taking
the first of this list (Bazen) for the prince under whom Abyssinia was
converted from Judaism, as authors have advanced, in conformity to the
Abyssinian annals, we shall fix upon the 13th (Abreha and Atzbeha,
whom we believe to be but one prince) and, before we enter into the
narrative of that remarkable event, we shall observe, that, from Bazen
to Abreha, being 341 years inclusive, the eighth of Bazen being the
first of Christ, by this account of the conversion, which happened
under Abreha and Atzbeha, it must have been about 333 years after
Christ, or 341 after Bazen.
But we certainly know, that the first bishop, ordained for the
conversion of Abyssinia, was sent from Alexandria by St Athanasius,
who was himself ordained to that See about the year 326. Therefore, any
account, prior to this ordination and conversion, must be false, and
this conversion and ordination must have therefore happened about the
year 330, or possibly some few years later; for Socrates[344] says,
that St Athanasius himself was then but newly elected to the See of
Alexandria.
In order to clear our way of difficulties, before we begin the
narrative of the conversion, we shall observe, in this place, the
reason I just hinted at, why some ecclesiastical writers had attributed
the conversion of Abyssinia to the Apostles. There was found, or
pretended to be found in Alexandria, a canon, of a council said to be
that of Nice, and this canon had never before been known, nor ever seen
in any other place, or in any language, except the Arabic; and, from
inspection, I may add, that it is such Arabic that scarce will convey
the meaning it was intended. Indeed, if it be construed according to
the strict rule of grammar, it will not convey any sense at all. This
canon regulated the precedency of the Abuna of Ethiopia in all after
councils, and it places him immediately after the prelate of Seleucia.
This most honourable antiquity was looked upon and boasted of for their
own purposes by the Jesuits, as a discovery of infinite value to the
church of Ethiopia.
I shall only make one other observation to obviate a difficulty which
will occur in reading what is to follow. The Abyssinian history
plainly and positively says, that when Frumentius (the apostle of the
Abyssinians) came first into that country, a queen reigned, which is an
absolute contradiction to what we have already stated, and would seem
to favour the story of queen Candace. To this I answer, That though it
be true that all women are excluded from the Abyssinian throne, yet it
is as true that there is a law, or custom, as strictly observed as the
other, that the queen upon whose head the king shall have put the crown
in his life-time, it matters not whether it be her husband or son, or
any other relation, that woman is regent of the kingdom, and guardian
of every minor king, as long as she shall live. Supposing, therefore,
a queen to be crowned by her husband, which husband should die and
leave a son, all the brothers and uncles of that son would be banished,
and confined prisoners to the mountain, and the queen would have the
care of the kingdom, and of the king, during his minority. If her
son, moreover, was to die, and a minor succeed who was a collateral,
or no relation to her, brought, perhaps, from the mountain, she would
still be regent; nor does her office cease but by the king’s coming
of age, whose education, cloathing, and maintenance, she, in the mean
time, absolutely directs, according to her own will; nor can there be
another regent during her life-time. This regent, for life, is called
_Iteghè_; and this was probably the situation of the kingdom at the
time we mention, as history informs us the king was then a minor, and
consequently his education, as well as the government of his kingdom
and household, were, as they appear to have been, in the queen, or
_Iteghè’s_ hands; of this office I shall speak more in its proper
place.
Meropius, a philosopher at Tyre, a Greek by nation and by religion, had
taken a passage in a ship on the Red Sea to India, and had with him
two young men, Frumentius and Œdesius, whom he intended to bring up to
trade, after having given them a very liberal education. It happened
their vessel was cast away on a rock upon the coast of Abyssinia.
Meropius, defending himself, was slain by the natives, and the two
boys carried to Axum, the capital of Abyssinia, where the Court then
resided. Though young, they soon began to shew the advantages attending
a liberal education. They acquired the language very speedily; and,
as that country is naturally inclined to admire strangers, these were
soon looked upon as two prodigies. Œdesius, probably the dullest of the
two, was set over the king’s household and wardrobe, a place that has
been filled constantly by a stranger of that nation to this very day.
Frumentius was judged worthy by the queen to have the care of the young
prince’s education, to which he dedicated, himself entirely.
After having instructed his pupil in all sorts of learning, he strongly
impressed him with a love and veneration for the Christian religion;
after which he himself set out for Alexandria, where, as has been
already said, he found St. Athanasius[345] newly elected to that See.
He related to him briefly what had passed in Ethiopia, and the great
hopes of the conversion of that nation, if proper pastors were sent
to instruct them. Athanasius embraced that opportunity with all the
earnestness that became his station and profession. He ordained
Frumentius bishop of that country, who instantly returned and found
the young king his pupil in the same good disposition as formerly;
he embraced Christianity; the greatest part of Abyssinia followed
his example, and the church of Ethiopia continued with this bishop
in perfect unity and friendship till his death; and though great
troubles arose from heresies being propagated in the East, that church,
and the fountain whence it derived its faith (Alexandria,) remained
uncontaminated by any false doctrine.
But it was not long after this, that Arianism broke out under
Constantius the Emperor, and was strongly favoured by him. We have
indeed a letter of St Athanasius to that Emperor, who had applied to
him to depose Frumentius from his See for refusing to embrace that
heresy, or admit it into his diocese.
It should seem, that this conversion of Abyssinia was quietly
conducted, and without blood; and this is the more remarkable, that it
was the second radical change of religion, effected in the same manner,
and with the same facility and moderation. No fanatic preachers,
no warm saints or madmen, ambitious to make or to be made martyrs,
disturbed either of these happy events, in this wise, though barbarous
nation, so as to involve them in bloodshed: no persecution was the
consequence of this difference of tenets, and if wars did follow, it
was from matters merely temporal.
CHAP. VIII.
_War of the Elephant--First Appearance of the Small-Pox--Jews
persecute the Christians in Arabia--Defeated by the
Abyssinians--Mahomet pretends a divine Mission--Opinion
concerning the Koran--Revolution under Judith--Restoration of
the Line of Solomon from Shoa._
In the reigns of the princes Abreha and Atzbeha, the Abyssinian annals
mention an expedition to have happened into the farthest part of Arabia
Felix, which the Arabian authors, and indeed Mahomet himself in the
Koran calls by the name of the War of the Elephant, and the cause of it
was this. There was a temple nearly in the middle of the peninsula of
Arabia, that had been held in the greatest veneration for about 1400
years. The Arabs say, that Adam, when shut out of paradise, pitched
his tent on this spot; while Eve, from some accident or other I am
not acquainted with, died and was buried on the shore of the Red Sea,
at Jidda. Two days journey east from this place, her grave, of green
sods about fifty yards in length, is shewn to this day. In this temple
also was a black stone, upon which Jacob saw the vision mentioned in
scripture, of the angels descending, and ascending into Heaven. It is
likewise said, with more appearance of probability, that this temple
was built by Sesostris, in his voyage to Arabia Felix, and that he was
worshipped there under the name of Osiris, as he then was in every part
of Egypt.
The great veneration the neighbouring nations paid to this tower, and
idol, suggested the very natural thought of making the temple the
market for the trade from Africa and India; the liberty of which, we
may suppose, had been in some measure restrained, by the settlements
which foreign nations had made on both coasts of the Red Sea. To remedy
which, they chose this town in the heart of the country, accessible on
all sides, and commanded on none, calling it Becca, which signifies
the House; though Mahomet, after breaking the idol and dedicating
the temple to the true God, named it Mecca, under which name it has
continued, the centre or great mart of the India trade to this day.
In order to divert this trade into a channel more convenient for his
present dominions, Abreha built a very large church or temple, in the
country of the Homerites, and nearer the Indian Ocean. To encourage
also the resort to this place, he extended to it all the privileges,
protection, and emoluments, that belonged to the Pagan temple of Mecca.
One particular tribe of Arabs, called Beni Koreish, had the care of
the Caba, for so the round tower of Mecca was called. These people
were exceedingly alarmed at the prospect of their temple being at once
deserted, both by its votaries and merchants, to prevent which, a party
of them, in the night, entered Abreha’s temple, and having first
burned what part of it could be consumed, they polluted the part that
remained, by besmearing it over with human excrements.
This violent sacrilege and affront was soon reported to Abreha, who,
mounted upon a white elephant at the head of a considerable army,
resolved, in return, to destroy the temple of Mecca. With this intent,
he marched through that stripe of low country along the sea, called
Tehama, where he met with no opposition, nor suffered any distress but
from want of water; after which, at the head of his army, he sat down
before Mecca, as he supposed.
Abou Thaleb (Mahomet’s grandfather, as it is thought) was then keeper
of the Caba, who had interest with his countrymen the Beni Koreish to
prevail upon them to make no resistance, nor shew any signs of wishing
to make a defence. He had presented himself early to Abreha upon his
march. There was a temple of Osiris at Taief, which, as a rival to
that of Mecca, was looked upon by the Beni Koreish with a jealous eye.
Abreha was so far misled by the intelligence given him by Abou Thaleb,
that he mistook the Temple of Taief for that of Mecca, and razed it to
the foundation, after which he prepared to return home.
He was soon after informed of his mistake, and not repenting of what he
had already done, resolved to destroy Mecca also. Abou Thaleb, however,
had never left his side; by his great hospitality, and the plenty he
procured to the Emperor’s army, he so gained Abreha, that hearing, on
inquiry, he was no mean man, but a prince of the tribe of Beni Koreish,
noble Arabs, he obliged him to sit in his presence, and kept him
constantly with him as a companion. At last, not knowing how to reward
him sufficiently, Abreha desired him to ask any thing in his power to
grant, and he would satisfy him. Abou Thaleb, taking him at his word,
wished to be provided with a man, that should bring back forty oxen,
the soldiers had stolen from him.
Abreha, who expected that the favour he was to ask, was to spare the
Temple, which he had in that case resolved in his mind to do, could
not conceal his astonishment at so silly a request, and he could not
help testifying this to Abou Thaleb, in a manner that shewed it had
lowered him in his esteem. Abou Thaleb, smiling, replied very calmly,
If that before you is the Temple of God, as I believe it is, you shall
never destroy it, if it is his will that it should stand: If it is not
the Temple of God, or (which is the same thing) if he has ordained
that you should destroy it, I shall not only assist you in demolishing
it, but shall help you in carrying away the last stone of it upon my
shoulders: But as for me, I am a shepherd, and the care of cattle is
my profession; twenty of the oxen which are stolen are not my own, and
I shall be put in prison for them to-morrow; for neither you nor I can
believe that this is an affair God will interfere in; and therefore I
apply to you for a soldier who will seek the thief, and bring back my
oxen, that my liberty be not taken from me.
Abreha had now refreshed his army, and, from regard to his guest, had
not touched the Temple; when, says the Arabian author, there appeared,
coming from the sea, a flock of birds called Ababil, having faces
like lions, and each of them in his claws, holding a small stone like
a pea, which he let fall upon Abreha’s army, so that they all were
destroyed. The author of the manuscript[346] from which I have taken
this fable, and which is also related by several other historians, and
mentioned by Mahomet in the Koran, does not seem to swallow the story
implicitly. For he says, that there is no bird that has a face like
a lion, that Abou Thaleb was a Pagan, Mahomet being not then come,
and that the Christians were worshippers of the true God, the God of
Mahomet; and, therefore, if any miracle was wrought here, it was a
miracle of the devil, a victory in favour of Paganism, and destructive
of the belief of the true God. In, conclusion, he says, that it was at
this time that the small-pox and measles first broke out in Arabia, and
almost totally destroyed the army of Abreha. But if the stone, as big
as a pea, thrown by the Ababil, had killed Abreha’s army to the last
man, it does not appear how any of them could die afterwards, either by
the small-pox or measles.
All that is material, however, to us, in this fact, is, that the time
of the siege of Mecca will be the æra of the first appearance of that
terrible disease, the small-pox, which we shall set down about the year
356; and it is highly probable, from other circumstances, that the
Abyssinian army was the first victim to it.
As for the church Abreha built near the Indian Ocean, it continued free
from any further insult till the Mahometan conquest of Arabia Felix,
when it was finally destroyed in the Khalifat[347] of Omar. This is
the Abyssinian account, and this the Arabian history of the War of
the Elephant, which I have stated as found in the books of the most
credible writers of those times.
But it is my duty to put the reader upon his guard, against adopting
literally what is here set down, without being satisfied of the
validity of the objection that may be made against the narrative in
general. Abreha reigned 27 years; he was converted to Christianity
in 333, and died in 360; now, it is scarcely possible, in the short
space of 27 years, that all Abyssinia and Arabia could be converted
to Christianity. The conversion of the Abyssinians is represented to
be a work of little time, but the Arab author, Hameesy, says, that
even Arabia Felix was full of churches when this expedition took
place, which is very improbable. And, what adds still more to the
improbability, is, that part of the story which states that Abreha
conversed with Mahomet’s father, or grandfather. For, supposing the
expedition in 356, Mahomet’s birth was in 558, so there will remain
202 years, by much too long a period for two lives. I do believe we
must bring this expedition down much lower than the reign of Abreha and
Atzbeha, the reason of which we shall see afterwards.
As early as the commencement of the African trade with Palestine, the
Jewish religion had spread itself far into Arabia, but, after the
destruction of the temple by Titus, a great increase both of number
and wealth had made that people absolute masters in many parts of
that peninsula. In the Neged, and as far up as Medina, petty princes,
calling themselves kings, were established; who, being trained in the
wars of Palestine, became very formidable among the pacific commercial
nations of Arabia, deeply sunk into Greek degeneracy.
Phineas, a prince of that nation from Medina, having beat St Aretas,
the Governor of Najiran, began to persecute the Christians by a new
species of cruelty, by ordering certain furnaces, or pits full of fire,
to be prepared, into which he threw as many of the inhabitants of
Najiran as refused to renounce Christianity. Among these was Aretas, so
called by the Greeks, Aryat by the Arabs, and Hawaryat, which signifies
the _evangelical_, by the Abyssinians, together with ninety of his
companions. Mahomet, in his Koran, mentions, this tyrant by the name of
the Master of the _fiery pits_, without either condemning or praising
the execution; only saying, ‘the sufferers shall be witness against him
at the last day.’
Justin, the Greek Emperor, was then employed in an unsuccessful war
with the Persians, so that he could not give any assistance to the
afflicted Christians in Arabia, but in the year 522 he sent an embassy
to Caleb, or Elesbaas, king of Abyssinia, intreating him to interfere
in favour of the Christians of Najiran, as he too was of the Greek
church. On the Emperor’s first request, Caleb sent orders to Abreha,
Governor of Yemen, to march to the assistance of Aretas, the son of
him who was burnt, and who was then collecting troops. Strengthened by
this reinforcement, the young soldier did not think proper to delay
the revenging his father’s death, till the arrival of the Emperor; but
having come up with Phineas, who was ferrying his troops over an arm of
the sea, he entirely routed them, and obliged their prince, for fear
of being taken, to swim with his horse to the nearest shore. It was
not long before the Emperor had crossed the Red Sea with his army; nor
had Phineas lost any time in collecting his scattered forces to oppose
him. A battle was the consequence, in which the fortune of Caleb again
prevailed.
It would appear that the part of Arabia, near Najiran, which was the
scene of Caleb’s victory, belonged to the Grecian Emperor Justin,
because Aretas applied directly to him at Constantinople for succour;
and it was at Justin’s request only, that Caleb marched to the
assistance of Aretas, as a friend, but not as a sovereign; and as such
also, Abreha, Governor of Yemen, marched to assist Aretas, with the
Abyssinian troops, from the south of Arabia, against the stranger Jews,
who were invaders from Palestine, and who had no connection with the
Abyssinian Jewish Homerites, natives of the south coast of Arabia,
opposite to Saba.
But neither of the Jewish kingdoms were destroyed by the victories
of Caleb, or Abreha, nor the subsequent conquest of the Persians. In
the Neged, or north part of Arabia, they continued not only after the
appearance of Mahomet, but till after the Hegira. For it was in the 8th
year of that æra that Hybar, the Jew, was besieged in his own castle in
Neged, and slain by Ali, Mahomet’s son-in-law, from that time called
Hydar Ali, or Ali the Lion.
Now the Arabian manuscripts says positively that this Abreha, who
assisted Aretas, was Governor of Arabia Felix, or Yemen; for, by this
last name, I shall hereafter call the part of the peninsula of Arabia
belonging to the Abyssinians; so that he might very well have been the
prince who conversed with Mahomet’s father, and lost his army before
Mecca, which will bring down the introduction of the small-pox to
the year 522, just 100 years before the Hegira, and both Arabian and
Abyssinian accounts might be then true.
The two officers who governed Yemen, and the opposite coast Azab,
which, as we have above mentioned, belonged to Abyssinia, were stiled
_Najashi_, as was the king also, and both of them were crowned with
gold. I am, therefore, persuaded, this is the reason of the confusion
of names we meet in Arabian manuscripts, that treat of the sovereigns
of Yemen. This, moreover, is the foundation of the story found in
Arabic manuscripts, that Jaffar, Mahomet’s brother, fled to the
Najashi, who was governor of Yemen, and was kindly treated by him,
and kept there till he joined his brother at the campaign of Hybarea.
Soon after his great victory over the Beni Koreish, at the last
battle of Beder Hunein, Mahomet is said to have written to the same
Najashi a letter of thanks, for his kind entertainment of his brother,
inviting him (as a reward) to embrace his religion, which the Najashi
is supposed to have immediately complied with. Now, all this is in
the Arabic books, and all this is true, as far as we can conjecture
from the accounts of those times, very partially writ by a set of
warm-headed bigotted zealots; such as all Arabic authors (historians
of the time) undoubtedly are. The error only lies in the application
of this story to the Najashi, or king of Abyssinia, situated far from
the scene of these actions, on high cold mountains, very unfavourable
to those rites, which, in low flat and warm countries, have been
temptations to slothful and inactive men to embrace the Mahometan
religion.
A most shameful prostitution of manners prevailed in the Greek church,
as also innumerable heresies, which were first received as true
tenets of their religion, but were soon after persecuted in a most
uncharitable manner, as being erroneous. Their lies, their legends,
their saints and miracles, and, above all, the abandoned behaviour of
the priesthood, had brought their characters in Arabia almost as low as
that of the detested Jew, and, had they been considered in their true
light, they had been still lower.
The dictates of nature in the heart of the honest Pagan, constantly
employed in long, lonely, and dangerous voyages, awakened him often to
reflect who that Providence was that invisibly governed him, supplied
his wants, and often mercifully saved him from the destruction into
which his own ignorance or rashness were leading him. Poisoned by
no system, perverted by no prejudice, he wished to know and adore
his Benefactor, with purity and simplicity of heart, free from these
fopperies and follies with which ignorant priests and monks had
disguised his worship. Possessed of charity, steady in his duty to his
parents, full of veneration for his superiors, attentive and merciful
even to his beasts; in a word, containing in his heart the principles
of the first religion, which God had inculcated in the heart of Noah,
the Arab was already prepared to embrace a much more perfect one than
what Christianity, at that time, disfigured by folly and superstition,
appeared to him to be.
Mahomet, of the tribe of Beni Koreish (at whose instigation is
uncertain) took upon himself to be the apostle of a new religion,
pretending to have, for his only object, the worship of the true
God. Ostensibly full of the morality of the Arab, of patience and
self-denial, superior even to what is made necessary to salvation by
the gospel, his religion, at the bottom, was but a system of blasphemy
and falsehood, corruption and injustice. Mahomet and his tribe were
most profoundly ignorant. There was not among them but one man that
could write, and it was not doubted he was to be Mahomet’s secretary,
but unfortunately Mahomet could not read his writing. The story of the
angel who brought him leaves of the Koran is well known, and so is all
the rest of the fable. The wiser part of his own relations, indeed,
laughed at the impudence of his pretending to have a communication
with angels. Having, however, gained, as his apostles, some of the
best soldiers of the tribe of Beni Koreish, and persisting with great
uniformity in all his measures, he established a new religion upon the
ruins of idolatry and Sabaism, in the very temple of Mecca.
Nothing severe was injoined by Mahomet, and the frequent prayers
and washings with water which he directed, were gratifications to a
sedentary people in a very hot country. The lightness of this yoke,
therefore, recommended it rapidly to those who were disgusted with
long fasting, penances, and pilgrimages. The poison of this false,
yet not severe religion, spread itself from that fountain to all the
trading nations: India, Ethiopia, Africa, all Asia, suddenly embraced
it; and every caravan carried into the bosom of its country people not
more attached to trade, than zealous to preach and propagate their new
faith. The Temple of Mecca (the old rendezvous of the Indian trade)
perhaps was never more frequented than it is at this day, and the
motives of the journey are equally trade and religion, as they were
formerly.
I shall here mention, that the Arabs begun very soon to study letters,
and came to be very partial to their own language; Mahomet himself
so much so, that he held out his Koran, for its elegance alone, as a
greater miracle than that of raising the dead. This was not universally
allowed at that time; as there were even then compositions supposed
to equal, if not to surpass it. In my time, I have seen in Britain
a spirit of enthusiasm for this book in preference to all others,
not inferior to that which possessed Mahomet’s followers. Modern
unbelievers (Sale and his disciples) have gone every length, but to
say directly that it was dictated by the Spirit of God. Excepting the
command in Genesis chap. i. ver. 3. “And God said, Let there be light;
and there was light;” they defy us to shew in scripture a passage equal
in sublimity to many in the Koran. Following, without inquiring, what
has been handed down from one to the other, they would cram us with
absurdities, which no man of sense can swallow. They say the Koran is
composed in a style the most pure, and chaste, and that the tribe of
Beni Koreish was the most polite, learned, and noble of all the Arabs.
But to this I answer--The Beni Koreish were from the earliest days,
according to their own[348] account, part established at Mecca, and
part as robbers on the sea-coast, and they were all children of
Ishmael. Whence then came their learning, or their superior nobility?
Was it found in the desert, in the temple, or did the robbers bring it
from the sea? Soiouthy, one of those most famous then for knowledge
in the Arabic, has quoted from the Koran many hundred words, either
Abyssinian, Indian, Persian, Ethiopic, Syrian, Hebrew, or Chaldaic,
which he brings back to the root, and ascribes them to the nation
they came from. Indeed it could not be otherwise; these caravans,
continually crowding with their trade to Mecca, must have vitiated the
original tongue by an introduction of new terms and new idioms, into
a language labouring under a penury of vocabules. But shall any one
for this persuade me, that a book is a model of pure, elegant, chaste
English, in which there shall be a thousand words of Welsh, Irish,
Gaelic, French, Spanish, Malabar Mexican, and Laponian? What would be
thought of such a medley? or, at least, could it be recommended as a
pattern for writing pure English?
What I say of the Koran may be applied to the language of Arabia in
general: when it is called a copious language, and professors wisely
tell you, that there are six hundred words for a sword, two hundred for
honey, and three hundred that signify a lion, still I must observe,
that this is not a copious language, but a confusion of languages:
these, instead of distinct names, are only different epithets. For
example, a lion in English may be called a young lion, a white lion, a
small lion, a big lion: I style him moreover the fierce, the cruel, the
enemy to man, the beast of the desert, the king of beasts, the lover
of blood. Thus it is in Arabic; and yet it is said that all these are
words for a lion. Take another example in a sword; the cutter, the
divider, the friend of man, the master of towns, the maker of widows,
the sharp, the straight, the crooked; which may be said in English as
well as in Arabic.
The Arabs were a people who lived in a country, for the most part,
desert; their dwellings were tents, and their principal occupation
feeding and breeding cattle, and they married with their own family.
The language therefore of such a people should be very poor; there
is no variety of images in their whole country. They were always bad
poets, as their works will testify; and if, contrary to the general
rule, the language of Arabia Deserta became a copious one, it must have
been by the mixture of so many nations meeting and trading at Mecca.
It must, at the same time, have been the most corrupt, where there was
the greatest concourse of strangers, and this was certainly among the
Beni Koreish at the Caba. When, therefore, I hear people praising the
Koran for the purity of its style, it puts me in mind of the old man in
the comedy, whose reason for loving his nephew was, that he could read
Greek; and being asked if he understood the Greek so read, he answered,
Not a word of it, but the rumbling of the sound pleased him.
The war that had distracted all Arabia, first between the Greeks
and Persians, then between Mahomet and the Arabs, in support of his
divine mission, had very much hurt the trade carried on by universal
consent at the Temple of Mecca. Caravans, when they dared venture
out, were surprised upon every road, by the partizans of one side or
the other. Both merchants and trade had taken their departure to the
southward, and established themselves south of the Arabian Gulf, in
places which (in ancient times) had been the markets for commerce,
and the rendezvous of merchants. Azab, or Saba, was rebuilt; also
Raheeta, Zeyla, Tajoura, Soomaal, in the Arabian Gulf, and a number
of other towns on the Indian Ocean. The conquest of the Abyssinian
territories in Arabia forced all those that yet remained to take
refuge on the African side, in the little districts which now grew into
consideration. Adel, Mara, Hadea, Aussa, Wypo, Tarshish, and a number
of other states, now assumed the name of kingdoms, and soon obtained
power and wealth superior to many older ones.
The Governor of Yemen (or Najashi) converted now to the faith of
Mahomet, retired to the African side of the Gulf. His government, long
ago, having been shaken to the very foundation by the Arabian war, was
at last totally destroyed. But the Indian trade at Adel wore a face of
prosperity, that had the features of ancient times.
Without taking notice of every objection, and answering it, which has
too polemical an appearance for a work of this kind, I hope I have
removed the greatest part of the reader’s difficulties, which have,
for a long time, lain in the way, towards his understanding this part
of the history. There is one, however, remains, which the Arabian
historians have mentioned, viz. that this Najashi, who embraced the
faith of Mahomet, was avowedly of the royal family of Abyssinia.
To this I answer, he certainly was a person of that rank, and was
undoubtedly a nobleman, as there is no nobility in that country but
from relationship to the king, and no person can be related to the king
by the male line. But the females, even the daughters of those princes
who are banished to the mountain, marry whom they please; and all the
descendents of that marriage become noble, because they must be allied
to the king. So far then they may truly assert, that the Mahometan
Governor of Yemen, and his posterity, were this way related to the king
of Abyssinia. But the supposition that any heirs male of this family
became mussulmen, is, beyond any sort of doubt, without foundation or
probability.
Omar, after subduing Egypt, destroyed the valuable library at
Alexandria, but his successors thought very differently from him in
the article of profane learning. Greek books of all kinds (especially
those of Geometry, Astronomy, and Medicine,) were searched for every
where and translated. Sciences flourished and were encouraged. Trade at
the same time kept pace, and increased with knowledge. Geography and
astronomy were every where diligently studied and solidly applied to
make the voyages of men from place to place safe and expeditious. The
Jews (constant servants of the Arabs) imbibed a considerable share of
their taste for earning.
They had, at this time, increased very much in number. By the violence
of the Mahometan conquests in Arabia and Egypt, where their sect did
principally prevail, they became very powerful in Abyssinia. Arianism,
and all the various heresies that distracted the Greek church, were
received there in their turn from Egypt; the bonds of Christianity
were dissolved, and people in general were much more willing to favour
a new religion, than to agree with, or countenance any particular
one of their own, if it differed from that which they adopted in the
merest trifle. This had destroyed their metropolis in Egypt, just now
delivered up to the Saracens; and the disposition of the Abyssinians
seemed so very much to resemble their brethren the Cophts, that a
revolution in favour of Judaism was thought full as feasible in the
country, as it had been in Egypt in favour of the newly-preached, but
unequivocal religion of Mahomet.
An independent sovereignty, in one family of Jews, had always been
preserved on the mountain of Samen, and the royal residence was upon
a high-pointed rock, called the Jews Rock: Several other inaccessible
mountains served as natural fortresses for this people, now grown very
considerable by frequent accessions of strength from Palestine and
Arabia, whence the Jews had been expelled. Gideon and Judith were then
king and queen of the Jews, and their daughter Judith (whom in Amhara
they call _Esther_, and sometimes _Saat_, i. e. _fire_[349],) was a
woman of great beauty, and talents for intrigue; had been married to
the governor of a small district called Bugna, in the neighbourhood of
Lasta, both which countries were likewise much infected with Judaism.
Judith had made so strong a party, that she resolved to attempt the
subversion of the Christian religion, and, with it, the succession in
the line of Solomon. The children of the royal family were at this
time, in virtue of the old law, confined on the almost inaccessible
mountain of Damo in Tigrè. The short reign, sudden and unexpected
death of the late king Aizor, and the desolation and contagion which
an epidemical disease had spread both in court and capital, the weak
state of Del Naad who was to succeed Aizor and was an infant; all these
circumstances together, impressed Judith with an idea that now was the
time to place her family upon the throne, and establish her religion by
the extirpation of the race of Solomon. Accordingly she surprised the
rock Damo, and slew the whole princes there, to the number, it is said,
of about 400.
Some nobles of Amhara, upon the first news of the catastrophe at Damo,
conveyed the infant king Del Naad, now the only remaining prince of
his race, into the powerful and loyal province of Shoa, and by this
means the royal family was preserved to be again restored. Judith
took possession of the throne in defiance of the law of the queen of
Saba, by this the first interruption of the succession in the line
of Solomon, and, contrary to what might have been expected from the
violent means she had used to acquire the crown, she not only enjoyed
it herself during a long reign of 40 years, but transmitted it also
to five of her posterity, all of them barbarous names, originating
probably in Lasta: These are said to be,
Totadem,
Jan Shum,
Garima Shum,
Harbai,
Marari.
Authors, as well Abyssinian as European, have differed widely about
the duration of these reigns. All that the Abyssinians are agreed upon
is, that this whole period was one scene of murder, violence, and
oppression.
Judith and her descendents were succeeded by relations of their own,
a noble family of Lasta. The history of this revolution, or cause of
it, are lost and unknown in the country, and therefore vainly fought
after elsewhere. What we know is, that with them the court returned
to the Christian religion, and that they were still as different from
their predecessors in manners as in religion. Though usurpers, as were
the others, their names are preserved with every mark of respect and
veneration. They are,
Tecla Haimanout,
Kedus Harbé,
Itibarek,
Lalibala,
Imeranha Christos,
Naacueto Laab.
Not being kings of the line of Solomon, no part of their history is
recorded in the annals, unless that of Lalibala, who lived in the
end of the twelfth, or beginning of the thirteenth century, and was
a saint. The whole period of the usurpation, comprehending the long
reign of Judith, will by this account be a little more than 300 years,
in which time eleven princes are said to have sat upon the throne of
Solomon, so that, supposing her death to have been in the year 1000,
each of these princes, at an average, will have been a little more
than twenty-four years, and this is too much. But all this period is
involved in darkness. We might guess, but since we are not able to do
more, it answers no good purpose to do so much. I have followed the
histories and traditions which are thought the most authentic in the
country, the subject of which they treat, and where I found them; and
though they may differ from other accounts given by European authors,
this does not influence me, as I know that none of these authors
could have any other authorities than those I have seen, and the
difference only must be the fruit of idle imagination, and ill-founded
conjectures of their own.
In the reign of Lalibala, near about the 1200, there was a great
persecution in Egypt against the Christians, after the Saracen
conquest, and especially against the masons, builders, and hewers
of stone, who were looked upon by the Arabs as the greatest of
abominations; this prince opened an asylum in his dominions to all
fugitives of that kind, of whom he collected a prodigious number.
Having before him as specimens the ancient works of the Troglodytes,
he directed a number of churches to be hewn out of the solid rock in
his native country of Lasta, where they remain untouched to this day,
and where they will probably continue till the latest posterity. Large
columns within are formed out of the solid rock, and every species
of ornament preserved, that would have been executed in buildings of
separate and detached stones, above ground.
This prince undertook to realize the favourite pretensions of the
Abyssinians, to the power of turning the Nile out of its course, so
that it should no longer be the cause of the fertility of Egypt, now in
possession of the enemies of his religion. We may imagine, if it was in
the power of man to accomplish this undertaking, it could have fallen
into no better hands than those to whom Lalibala gave the execution of
it; people driven from their native country by those Saracens who now
were reaping the benefits of the river, in the places of those they had
forced to seek habitations far from the benefit and pleasure afforded
by its stream.
This prince did not adopt the wild idea of turning the course of the
Nile out of its present channel; upon the possibility or impossibility
of which, the argument (so warmly and so long agitated) always
most improperly turns. His idea was to famish Egypt: and, as the
fertility of that country depends not upon the ordinary stream, but
the extraordinary increase of it by the tropical rains, he is said to
have found, by an exact survey and calculation, that there ran on the
summit, or highest part of the country, several rivers which could be
intercepted by mines, and their stream directed into the low country
southward, instead of joining the Nile, augmenting it and running
northward. By this he found he should be able so to disappoint its
increase, that it never would rise to a height proper to fit Egypt for
cultivation. And thus far he was warranted in his ideas of succeeding
(as I have been informed by the people of that country), that he did
intersect and carry into the Indian Ocean, two very large rivers, which
have ever since flowed that way, and he was carrying a level to the
lake Zawaia, where many rivers empty themselves in the beginning of the
rains, which would have effectually diverted the course of them all,
and could not but in some degree diminish the current below.
Death, the ordinary enemy of all these stupendous Herculean
undertakings, interposed too here, and put a stop to this enterprize
of Lalibala. But Amha Yasous, prince of Shoa (in whose country part
of these immense works were) a young man of great understanding, and
with whom I lived several months in the most intimate friendship at
Gondar, assured me that they were visible to this day; and that they
were of a kind whose use could not be mistaken; that he himself had
often visited them, and was convinced the undertaking was very possible
with such hands, and in the circumstances things then were. He told me
likewise, that, in a written account which he had seen in Shoa, it was
said that this prince was not interrupted by death in his undertaking,
but persuaded by the monks, that if a greater quantity of water was
let down into the dry kingdoms of Hadea, Mara, and Adel, increasing
in population every day, and, even now, almost equal in power to
Abyssinia itself, these barren kingdoms would become the garden of
the world; and such a number of Saracens, dislodged from Egypt by the
first appearance of the Nile’s failing, would fly thither: that they
would not only withdraw those countries from their obedience, but be
strong enough to over-run the whole kingdom of Abyssinia. Upon this,
as Amha Yasous informed me, Lalibala gave over his first scheme, which
was the famishing of Egypt; and that his next was employing the men
in subterraneous churches; a useless expence, but more level to the
understanding of common men than the former.
Don Roderigo de Lima, ambassador from the king of Portugal, in 1522 saw
the remains of these vast works, and travelled in them several days, as
we learn from Alvarez, the chaplain and historian of that embassy[350],
which we shall take notice of in its proper place.
Lalibala was distinguished both as a poet and an orator. The old fable,
of a swarm of bees hanging to his lips in the cradle, is revived and
applied to him as foretelling the sweetness of his elocution.
To Lalibala succeeded Imeranha Christos, remarkable for nothing but
being son of such a father as Lalibala, and father to such a son as
Naacueto Laab; both of them distinguished for works very extraordinary,
though very different in their kind. The first, that is those of the
father we have already hinted at, consisting in great mechanical
undertakings. The other was an operation of the mind, of still more
difficult nature, a victory over ambition, the voluntary abdication of
a crown to which he succeeded without imputation of any crime.
Tecla Haimanout, a monk and native of Abyssinia, had been ordained
Abuna, and had founded the famous monastery of Debra Libanos in Shoa.
He was a man at once celebrated for the sanctity of his life, the
goodness of his understanding, and love to his country; and, by an
extraordinary influence, obtained over the reigning king Naacueto
Laab, he persuaded him, for conscience sake, to resign a crown, which
(however it might be said with truth, that he received it from his
father) could never be purged from the stain and crime of usurpation.
In all this time, the line of Solomon had been continued from Del Naad,
who, we have seen, had escaped from the massacre of Damo, under Judith.
Content with possessing the loyal province of Shoa, they continued
their royal residence there, without having made one attempt, as far as
history tells us, towards recovering their ancient kingdom.
RACE OF SOLOMON BANISHED, BUT REIGNING IN SHOA.
Del Naad,
Mahaber Wedem,
Igba Sion,
Tzenaf Araad,
Nagash Zaré,
Asfeha,
Jacob,
Bahar Segued,
Adamas Segued,
Icon Amlac.
Naacueto Laab, of the house of Zaguè, was, it seems, a just and
peaceable prince.
Under the mediation of Abuna Tecla Haimanout, a treaty was made between
him and Icon Amlac consisting of four articles, all very extraordinary
in their kind.
The first was, that Naacueto Laab, prince of the house of Zaguè, should
forthwith resign the kingdom of Abyssinia to Icon Amlac, reigning
prince of the line of Solomon then in Shoa.
The second, that a portion of lands in Lasta should be given to
Naacueto Laab and his heirs in absolute property, irrevocably and
irredeemably; that he should preserve, as marks of sovereignty, two
silver kettle-drums, or nagareets; that the points of the spears of his
guard, the globes that surmounted his sendeck, (that is the pole upon
which the colours are carried), should be silver, and that he should
sit upon a gold stool, or chair, in form of that used by the kings of
Abyssinia; and that both he and his descendents should be absolutely
free from all homage, services, taxes, or public burdens for ever, and
stiled Kings of Zaguè, or the Lasta king.
The third article was, That one third of the kingdom should be
appropriated and ceded absolutely to the Abuna himself, for the
maintenance of his own state, and support of the clergy, convents, and
churches in the kingdom; and this became afterwards an æra, or epoch,
in Abyssinian history, called the æra of partition.
The fourth, and last article, provided, that no native Abyssinian could
thereafter be chosen Abuna, and this even tho’ he was ordained at, and
sent from Cairo. In virtue of this treaty, concluded and solemnly sworn
to, Icon Amlac took possession of his throne, and the other contracting
parties of the provisions respectively allotted them.
The part of the treaty that should appear most liable to be broken was
that which erected a kingdom within a kingdom. However, it is one of
the remarkable facts in the annals of this country, that the article
between Icon Amlac and the house of Zaguè was observed for near 500
years; for it was made before the year 1300, and never was broken, but
by the treacherous murder of the Zaguean prince by Allo Fasil in the
unfortunate war of Begemder, in the reign of Joas 1768, the year before
I arrived in Abyssinia; neither has any Abuna native of Abyssinia ever
been known since that period. As for the exorbitant grant of one third
of the kingdom to the Abuna, it has been in great measure resumed, as
we may naturally suppose, upon different pretences of misbehaviour,
true or alledged, by the king or his ministers, the first great
invasion of it being in the subsequent reign of king Theodorus, who,
far from losing popularity by this infraction, has been ever reckoned a
model for sovereigns.
_END OF VOLUME FIRST._
FOOTNOTES:
[1] This epithet given to the springs from which the Nile rises, was
borrowed from a very elegant English poem that appeared in Dr Maty’s
Review for May 1786. It was sent to me by my friend Mr Barrington, to
whom it was attributed, although from modesty he disclaims it. From
whatever hand it comes, the poet is desired to accept of my humble
thanks. It was received with universal applause wherever it was
circulated, and a considerable number of copies was printed at the
desire of the public. Accident seemed to have placed it in Dr Maty’s
book with peculiar propriety, by having joined it to a fragment of
Ariosto, then first published, in the same Review. It has since been
attributed to Mr Mason.
[2] He was long a slave to the Bey of Constantina, and appears to have
been a man of capacity.
[3] This will be explained afterwards.
[4] Ludolf, lib. i. cap. 15.
[5] This is a running figure cut through the middle like the check of a
bank note.
[6] Hippo. Reg. from Ptol. Geog. lib. iv. p. 109.
[7] Hippo. Reg. id. ib.
[8] Aphrodisium. id. ib.
[9] Thabarca, id. ib.
[10] Plin. Ep. xxxiii. l. 9.
[11] Liv. Epit. xxx. l. 9.
[12] Strabo lib xvii. p. 1189. It signifies the river of Cows, or Kine.
P. Mela lib. i. cap. 7. Sil. It. lib. vi. l. 140.
[13] Ptol. Geog. lib. iv. Procop. lib. vi. cap. 5. de Ædif.
[14] Val. Max. lib. ii. cap. 6. § 15.
[15] Ptol. Geog. lib. iv.
[16] Ptol. Geog. lib. iv. p. 106.
[17] Ptol. Geog. lib. iv. p. 111.
[18] Ptol. Geog. lib. iv. p. 108.
[19] Vide Itin. Anton.
[20] Procop. Bell. Vand. lib. ii. cap. 13.
[21] Ptol. Geog. lib. iv. p. 111.
[22] Shaw’s Travels, chap. viii. p. 57.
[23] Shaw’s Travels, cap. v. p. 119.
[24] Sal. Bel. Jug. § 94. L. Flor. lib. iii. cap. 1.
[25] Shaw’s Travels, chap. v. p. 118.
[26] Itin. Anton. p. 3.
[27] Itin. Anton, p. 3.
[28] Shaw’s Travels, cap. v. p. 115.
[29] Cel. Geog. Antique, lib. iv. cap. 4. and cap. 5. p. 118.
[30] Itin. Anton. p. 2.
[31] Ptol. Geog. lib. iv. p. 110.
[32] This fountain is called El Tarmid. Nub. Geog. p. 86.
[33] Sal. Bell. § 94.
[34] Itin. Anton, p. 4.
[35] Shaw’s Travels, cap. v. p. 126.
[36] Itin. Anton. p. 4.
[37] Id. Ibid.
[38] Shaw’s Travels, p. 117. cap. 5.
[39] Boch. Chan. lib. i. cap. 25. Shaw’s Travels, cap. iv. p. 115.
[40] Itin. Anton. p. 104.
[41] Ptol. Geog. p. 4.
[42] Shaw’s Travels, sect. vi. p. 156.
[43] Jerboa, see a figure of it in the Appendix.
[44] Itin. Anton. p. 4.
[45] The north boundary of the Holy Land.
[46] It is a post where a party of men are kept to receive a
contribution, for maintaining the security of the roads, from all
passengers.
[47] Ezek. chap. xxvi. ver. 5.
[48] Mrs Bruce died in 1784.
[49] The nucta, or dew, that falls on St John’s night, is supposed
to have the virtue to stop the plague. I have considered this in the
sequel.
[50] Strabo, lib. xiv. p. 781.
[51] It is called Mamilho.
[52] Newton’s Chronol. p. 183.
[53] Strabo, lib. xiv. p. 684.
[54] Strabo, lib. xiv. p. 780.
[55] This is an old prejudice. See Herodotus, lib. ii. p. 90. sect. 5.
[56] Berytus.
[57] Laodicea ad mare.
[58] Herod. lib. ii. p. 90.
[59] Strabo, lib. xvii. p. 922.
[60] Strabo, lib. xvii. p. 922.
[61] Strabo, lib. xvii. p. 920. Q. Curt. lib. iv. cap. 8.
[62] Plin. lib. v. cap. 10. p. 273.
[63] We see many examples of such leaves both at Palmyra and Baalbec.
[64] Marmol, lib. xi. cap. 14. p. 276. tom. 3.
[65] Strabo, lib. xvii. p. 922.
[66] A peasant Arab.
[67] Means a narrow or shallow entrance of a river from the ocean.
[68] Herod, p. 108.
[69] Shaw’s Travels, p. 293.
[70] See a figure of this animal in the Appendix.
[71] See Appendix.
[72] Shaw’s Travels, p. 294.
[73] The Mamaluke Beys.
[74] Vid. Introduction.
[75] Ptol. Geograph. lib. 4 Cap. 5.
[76] Shaw’s travels p. 294.
[77] Herod. lib. 2. cap. 8.
[78] This has been thought to mean the Convent of Figs, but it only
signifies the Two Convents.
[79] See Mr Irvine’s Letters.
[80] Herod. lib. ii. p. 99.
[81] Herod. lib. ii. cap. 8.
[82] See the Chart of the Nile.
[83] Pococke, vol. I. cap. v. p. 39.
[84] Plin. lib. 5. cap. 9.
[85] Plin. lib. 36. cap. 12.
[86] Diod. Sic. p. 45. § 50.
[87] Shaw’s Travels, p. 296. in the latitude quoted.
[88] Shaw’s Travels, cap. 4. p. 298.
[89] Id. ibid. 299.
[90] Id. ibid.
[91] Id. ibid.
[92] Ptol. Geograph. lib. iv. cap. 5.
[93] Herod. lib. ii. p. 141. Ibid. p. 168. Ibid. p. 105. Ibid. p. 103.
Edit. Steph.
[94] Herod. lib. ii. § 97. p. 123.
[95] Shaw’s Travels, cap. 4.
[96] Strabo. lib. vii. p. 914.
[97] Id. ibid.
[98] Id. ibid.
[99] Strabo, ibid.
[100] Id. ibid.
[101] Named _Binny_. See Appendix.
[102] Strabo, lib. xvii. p. 936.
[103] Norden’s travels, vol. ii. p. 19.
[104] Herod. lib. ii, cap. 19.
[105] Dagjour.
[106] Norden’s Travels, vol. ii. p. 17.
[107] I cannot here omit to rectify another small mistake of the
translator, which involves him in a difference with this Author which
he did not mean.--
Mr Norden, in the French, says, that the master of his vessel being
much frightened, “avoit perdu la tramontane;” the true meaning of which
is, That he had lost his judgment, not lost the north wind, as it is
translated, which is really nonsense. _Norden’s Travels_, vol. ii. p.
59.
[108] Strabo, lib. xvii. p. 936.
[109] Signifies the Narrow Passage, and is meant what _Phylæ_ is in
Latin.
[110] Messoudi
[111] Itin. Anton. p. 14.
[112] It is called Hamseen, because it is expected to blow all
Pentecost.
[113] Theophrast. Hist. Plan. lib. iii. cap. 8--lib. iv. cap. 2.
[114] Strabo lib. vii. p. 941.
[115] A poor saint.
[116] Diod. Sic. lib. I.
[117] Plin. lib. 26. cap. 14.
[118] See Norden’s views of the Temples at Esné and Edfu. Vol. ii.
plate 6. p. 80.
[119] This inclined figure of the sides, is frequently found in the
small boxes within the mummy-chests.
[120] Diod. Sic. lib. 1.
[121] See the figure of this Insect in Paul Lucas.
[122] Gen. xxxi. 27, Isa. chap. xxx. ver. 32.
[123] Eccles. chap. i. ver. 10.
[124] Ezek. chap. xxviii. ver. 13.
[125] Nay, prior to this, the harp is mentioned as a common instrument
in Abraham’s time 1370 years before Christ, Gen. chap. xxxii. ver. 27.
[126] Diod. Sic. Bib. lib. i. p. 42. § d.
[127] Strabo, lib. 17. p. 943.
[128] Nah. ch. 3. ver. 8, & 9.
[129] A similar instrument, erected by Eratosthenes at Alexandria, cut
of copper, was used by Hipparchus and Ptolemy.--Alm. lib. I. cap. II.
3. cap. 2. Vide his remarks on Mr Greave’s Pyramidographia, p. 134.
[130] Signior Donati.
[131] Diod. Sic. Bib. lib. I. p. 45. § c.
[132] Vide Norden’s map of the Nile.
[133] Juven. Sat. 15. ver. 76.
[134] Idris Welled Hamran, our guide through the great desert, dwelt in
this village.
[135] The ancient Adei.
[136] The Bishareen are the Arabs who live in the frontier between the
two nations. They are the nominal subjects of Sennaar, but, in fact,
indiscreet banditti, at least as to strangers.
[137] They were _Shepherds_ Indigenæ, not Arabs.
[138] _Qui Ludit in Hospite fixo_--Was a character long ago given to
the Moors. HORACE ODE.
[139] This kind of oath was in use among the Arabs, or _Shepherds_,
early as the time of Abraham, Gen. xxi. 22, 23. xxvi. 28.
[140] Strabo, lib. xvii. p. 944.
[141] This word, improperly used and spelled by M. de Volney, has
nothing to do with these Ansaris.
[142] Cicero de Somnio Scipronis.
[143] Pliny, lib. ii. cap. 73.
[144] Strabo, lib. xvii. p. 944.
[145] Strabo, lib. ii. p. 133.
[146] Spectacle de la Nature.
[147] Strabo, lib. 17. p. 944.
[148] L’histoire d’astronomie, de M. de la Lande, vol. i. lib. 2.
[149] Vide Mr Norden’s Voyage up the Nile.
[150] It is no town, but some sand and a few bushes, so called.
[151] Ptol. Almag. lib. 4. Geograph. pag. 104.
[152] The Arabs call these narrow passes in the mountains Fum, as the
Hebrews did Pi, the mouth. Fum el Beder, is the mouth of Beder; Fum el
Terfowey, the mouth or passage of Terfowey; Piha Hhiroth, the mouth of
the valley cut through with ravines.
[153] Ptolem. Geograph. lib. 4. p. 103.
[154] That is, I am under your protection.
[155] On the east coast of Arabia Felix, Syagrum Promontorium.
[156] Itin. Anton. a Carth. p. 4.
[157] So the next stage from Syené is called Hiera Sycaminos, a
sycamore-tree, Ptol. lib. 4. p. 108.
[158] Plin. lib. xxxvii. cap. 5.
[159] Ditto.
[160] Tavernier vol. II. Voyag.
[161] Theophrastus Περιλιθων.
[162] Clamps.
[163] It is a Keratophyte, growing at the bottom of the sea.
[164] Vide the track of this Navigation laid down on the Chart.
[165] Ezek. chap. xxvii. 6th and 29th verses.
[166] Ajam, in the language of Shepherds, signifies _rain-water_.
[167] Vide his Journal published by Abbé Vertot.
[168] Gen. chap. xiii. ver. 17th.
[169] Gen. chap. xiii. ver. 6th. Exod. chap. xiii. ver. 17th.
[170] Exod. ch. xii. 33.
[171] Such is the tradition among the Natives.
[172] Diod. Sic. Lib. 3. p. 122.
[173] Dionysii Periegesis, v. 38. et Comment. Eustathii in eundem.
Strabo, lib. xvi. p. 765. Agathemeri Geographia, lib. ii. cap. 11.
[174] _Jerome Lobo_, the greatest liar of the Jesuits, ch. iv. p. 46.
English translation.
[175] I saw one of these, which, from a root nearly central, threw out
ramifications in a nearly circular form, measuring twenty-six feet
diameter every way.
[176] Anciently called Pharos.
[177] The Koran is, therefore, called _El Farkan_, or the Divider, or
Distinguisher between true faith and heresy.
[178] See the article Ashkoko in the Appendix.
[179] 2 Chron. chap. xx. ver. 37th.
[180] See the Map.
[181] El Har signifies extreme heat.
[182] Vide Irvine’s letters.
[183] Levit. chap. xvi. ver. 5.
[184] Native of Tripoli; it is Turkish.
[185] See the article Balessan in the Appendix.
[186] Cape Fever.
[187] This is a common sailor’s phrase for the Straits of Babelmandeb.
[188] Captain of the port.
[189] Philosoph. Transact. Vol. 27. p. 186.
[190] A late publication of Dr Madan’s, little understood, as it would
seem.
[191] Sovereign of Arabia Felix, whose capital is _Sana_.
[192] Gen. xv. 18.
[193] Gen. xvi. 12.
[194] The island of the Shepherds.
[195] Or Porcupine.
[196] Yemen, or the high land of Arabia Felix, where water freezes.
[197] Arabia Deserta.
[198] Deregé, from that word in Hebrew.
[199] It signifies Pharaoh’s worm.
[200] Ligustrum Ægyptiacum Latifolium.
[201] Arabia Felix, or Yemen.
[202] That is, the Peek of Arabia Felix, or Yemen.
[203] Governor of the Province of Tigré in Abyssinia.
[204] See the article Pearl in the Appendix.
[205] Jibbel Teir, the Mountain of the Bird; corruptly, _Gibraltar_.
[206] Millet, or Indian corn.
[207] See the article Tortoise in the Appendix.
[208] A Subaltern Governor.
[209] Poncet’s Voyage, translated into English, printed for W. Lewis in
1709, in 12mo, page 121.
[210] This must not be attributed wholly to the weather. We spent much
time in surveying the islands, and in observation.
[211] Exod. xxxviii 39.
[212] Lib. 21. cap. 6.
[213] These are far from being synonymous terms, as we shall see
afterwards.
[214] See the article papyrus in the Appendix.
[215] Gen. xxxvii. 3 and 2 Sam. xiii. 18.
[216] Prov. vii. 16.
[217] Vide Appendix, where this tree is described.
[218] The quantity of similar drugs brought from the New World.
[219] Boch. lib. 4. cap. 3.
[220] Herod. lib. 2. cap. 29.
[221] Joseph. antiquit. Jud.
[222] At Gerri in my return through the desert.
[223] It is very probable, some of these words signified different
degrees among them, as we shall see in the sequel.
[224] Diod. Sic. lib. 1. cap.
[225] This was the name of the king of Amalek; he was an Arab shepherd,
slain by Samuel, 1 Sam. xv. 33.
[226] Ludolf lib. 1 cap. 4.
[227] That is, they shall cut off from the cattle their usual retreat
to the desert, by taking possession of those places, and meeting them
there where ordinarily they never come, and which therefore are the
refuge of the cattle.
[228] Gen. chap. xxxvii. ver. 25. 28.
[229] Ezek. chap. xxvii. ver. 13.
[230] Rev. chap. xviii. ver. 13.
[231] Gen. vi. 14.
[232] Gen. xxxv. 4.
[233] 2 Kings, xvii. 4.
[234] Nahum, chap. iii. 8.
[235] Misphragmuthosis.
[236] Manethon, Apud. Josephum Apion. lib. 1. p. 460.
[237] Eight years less than the Greeks and other followers of the
Septuagint.
[238] Isaiah, chap. xviii. ver. 2.
[239] Joshua, iii. 16.
[240] Procop. de bello vind. lib. 2. cap. 10.
A Moorish author, Ibn el Raquique, says, this inscription was on a
stone on a mountain at Carthage. Marmol. lib. 1. cap. 25.
[241] Gen. ix. 25, 26, and 27. verses.
[242] These people likewise call themselves Agaazi, or Agagi, they have
over-run the kingdom of Congo south of the Line, and on the Atlantic
Ocean, as the Galla have done that part of the kingdom of Adel and
Abyssinia, on the Eastern, or Indian Ocean. Purch. lib. ii. chap. 4.
Sect. 8.
[243] Jerem. chap. xiii. ver. 23.--id. xxv. 24.--Ezek. chap. xxx. ver.
5.
[244] Numb. chap. xii. ver. 1.
[245] Exod. chap. iv. ver. 25.
[246] 2 Chron. chap. xiv. ver. 9.
[247] Gen. chap. 21. ver. 30.
[248] Gen. chap. 13. ver. 6. and 9.
[249] Isa. chap. xlv. ver. 14.
[250] Ezek. chap. xxx. ver. 8. and 9.
[251] Ezek. chap. xxix. ver. 10.
[252] Ezek. chap. xxx. ver. 4.
[253] Jerem. chap. xiii. ver. 23.
[254] Jerem. chap. xxv. ver. 24.
[255] Ezek. chap. xxx. ver. 5.
[256] Isa. chap. xviii. ver. 2.
[257] Uranologion. P. Petau.
[258] Banbridge, Ann. canicul.
[259] An astronomer greatly above my praise.
[260] Jamblich. de Myst. sect. 8. cap. 5.
[261] Sozomen, Eccles. Hist. lib. 7. cap. 15.
[262] Herw. theolog. Ethnica, p. 11.
[263] I apprehend this is owing to the circumstances of the climate,
in the four months, the time of the inundation, the heavens were so
covered as to afford no observations to be recorded.
[264] Porpyhry Epist. ad Anebonem.
[265] Exod. chap. xxviii. ver. 21.
[266] Exod. chap. xxviii. ver. 36.
[267] Deut. chap. xxxi. ver. 24.
[268] Vide the hieroglyphics on the drawing of the stone.
[269] Ezek. chap. xxix. ver. 11.
[270] Psalm. chap. lx. ver. 9. and Psal. cviii. ver. 10.
[271] 2 Sam. chap. viii. ver. 14. 1 Kings chap. xi. ver. 15, 16.
[272] 1 Kings, chap. ix. ver. 26. 2 Chron. chap. viii. ver. 17.
[273] 1 Chron. chap. xxii. ver. 14, 15, 16. Chap. xxix. ver. 3, 4, 5,
6, 7,--Three thousand Hebrew talents of gold, reduced to our money,
amount to twenty-one millions and six hundred thousand pounds Sterling.
[274] The value of a Hebrew talent appears from Exodus, chap. xxxviii.
ver. 25, 26. For 603,550 persons being taxed at half a shekel each,
they must have paid in the whole 301,775; now that sum is said to
amount to 100 talents, 1775 shekels only; deduct the two latter sums,
and there will remain 300,000, which, divided by 108, will leave 3000
shekels for each of these talents.
[275] 2 Chron. chap. viii. ver. 17.
[276] 1 Kings, chap. x. ver. 22.
[277] 1 Kings, chap. x. ver. 22. 2 Chron. chap. ix. ver. 21.
[278] Vid. Voyage of Dos Santos, published by Le Grande.
[279] See the map of this voyage.
[280] Apud Euseb. Prœp. Evang. lib. 9.
[281] Dionysii Periegesis, ver. 38. and Comment. Eustathii in eundem.
Strabo, lib. 16. p. 765. Agathemeri Geographia, lib. 2. cap. 11.
[282] Ezek. chap. xxvii. ver. 6.
[283] Ezek. chap. xxvii. ver. 26.
[284] Dr Douglas, Bishop of Carlisle.
[285] Vide L’Esprit des Loix, liv. xxi. cap. 6. p. 476.
[286] Plin. lib. vi. cap. 22.
[287] Strabo, lib. xv.
[288] I know there are contrary opinions, and the junks might have been
various. Vide Salm.
[289] Pto. Geog. lib. 4. cap. 7.
[290] id. ibid.
[291] Agath. p. 60.
[292] 1 Kings, chap. xxii. ver. 48. 2 Chron. chap. xx. ver. 36.
[293] 2 Kings, chap. viii. ver. 22. 2 Chron. chap. xxi. ver. 10.
[294] 2 Kings, chap. xiv. ver. 22. 2 Chron. chap. 26. ver. ii.
[295] 2 Kings, chap. xvi. ver. 6.
[296] 2 Kings, chap. xvi. ver. 6.
[297] Ezek. chap. xxvi. ver. 7.
[298] 2 Kings, chap. xxiv ver. 13. and 2 Chron. chap. xxxvi. ver. 7.
[299] Dan. chap. vi. ver. 8. and Esther, chap. i. ver. 19.
[300] Ezra, chap. v. ver. 14 and chap. vi. ver. 5.
[301] Dan. chap. v. ver. 30.
[302] Lucan lib. x. ver. 280.
[303] Vide Montesq. liv. 21. chap 8.
[304] Lucan, lib. 9. ver. 515.
[305] Athen. lib. 5.
[306] This is probably from Atbara, or the old name of the island of
Meroë, which had received that last name only as late as Cambyses.
[307] Plin. lib. 6. cap. 23.
[308] Strabo, lib. 17. p. 932.
[309] Mon. Aduli.
[310] Strabo, lib. ii. p. 98.
[311] Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. 2. cap. 67.
[312] Dodwell’s Dissertat. vol. I. Scrip. Græc. Min. ld. Ox. 1698. 8vo.
[313] Plut. Vita. Ant. p. 913. tom. 1. part 2. Lubec. 1624. fol.
[314] Strabo, lib. 3.
[315] Plin. lib. vi. cap. 23.
[316] Strabo, lib. 2. p. 81.
[317] Strabo, lib. ii. p. 98.
[318] Ptol. lib. iv. cap. 9. p. 115.
[319] Ptol. lib. vii. cap. 3.
[320] It should properly be Saba, Azab, or Azaba, all signifying
_South_.
[321] Such as Justin, Cyprian, Epiphanius, Cyril.
[322] By this is meant the country between the tropic and mountains of
Abyssinia, the country of Shepherds, from _Berber_, Shepherd.
[323] Matth. chap. xii. ver. 42. Luke xi. 31.
[324] Pin. de reb. Solomon, lib. iv. cap. 14th.--Josephus thinks she
was an Ethiopian, so do Origen, Augustin, and St Anselmo.
[325] 1 Kings, chap. x. ver 1. and 2 Chron. chap. ix. ver. 1.
[326] Matt. chap. xii. ver. 43. and Luke, chap xi. ver. 31.
[327] 1 Kings, chap. x. ver. 9. and 2 Chron. chap. ix. ver 8.
[328] 2 Chron. chap. xxv. ver. 18. 19.
[329] 1 Kings, chap. xi. ver. 1.
[330] Acts, chap. viii. ver. 27 and 38.
[331] This shews the falsehood of the remark Strabo makes, that it was
a custom in Meroë, if their sovereign was any way mutilated, for the
subjects to imitate the imperfection. In this case, Candace’s subjects
would have all lost an eye. Strabo, lib. 17. p. 777, 778.
[332] 2 Sam. chap. xvi. ver. 22. 1 Kings, chap. ii. ver. 13.
[333] What immediately follows will be hereafter explained in the
Narrative.
[334] The temple which the Queen of Saba had seen built, and so richly
ornamented, was plundered the 5th year of Rehoboam, by Sesac, which is
13 years before Menilek died. So this could not but have disgusted him
with the trade of his ancient habitation at Saba.
[335] Numb. chap. xv. ver. 38, 39. Deut. chap. 22. ver. 12.
[336] We see this happened to them in a much shorter time during the
captivity, when they forgot their Hebrew, and spoke Chaldaec ever after.
[337] I shall have occasion to speak much of this priest in the sequel.
He was a most inveterate and dangerous enemy to all Europeans, the
principal ecclesiastical officer in the king’s house.
[338] Then Prime Minister, concerning whom much is to be said hereafter.
[339] Vid. Origen contra Celsum, lib. 5. Tertull. de Idolol. c. 4. Drus
in suo Enoch. Bangius in Cœlo Orientis Exercit. 1. quæst. 5. and 6.
[340] Gassend in vita Pierisc, lib. 5.
[341] The length of these princes reigns are so great as to become
incredible; but, as we have nothing further of their history but their
names, we have no data upon which to reform them.
[342] Caleb el Atsbeha, which has been made Elesbaas throwing away the
t.
[343] Surius Tom. 5. d. 24. Oct. Card. Baronius. Tom. 7. Annal. A. C.
522. N. 23.
[344] Ludolf, vol. 2 lib. iii. cap. 2.
[345] Vid. Baron, tom. 4. p. 331. et alibi passim.
[346] El Hameesy’s Siege of Mecca.
[347] Fetaat el Yemen.
[348] El Hameesy.
[349] She is also called by Victor, _Tredda Gahez_.
[350] See Alvarez, his relation of this Embassy.
[Transcriber’s Note:
Inconsistent double quotes and capitalization are as in the original.
Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation are as in the original.]