80 Origin of the AshanteeSy 



Magueda, who was queen Df the south, visited Solomon, by 

 whom she had a son named Menelich. This tradition, with 

 additional circumstances, seems to have reached Mr. Hutchison 

 in Ashantee, who writes in his diary, " Balkis, (Queen of 

 Sheba,) according to them, adored the sun, and Solomon made 

 her turn and worship God ; he commanded the genii to trans- 

 port her palace from her own country to Jerusalem, and the 

 three palaces he built for her in Arabia Felix, had gold mixed 

 with the mortar with which they were formed." Mr. Hutchison 

 naturally concluded the country of this queen to be in Arabia 

 Felix, because it has hitherto been so placed by the greater 

 number of opinions. Arabia Felix was not mentioned to him 

 by the Negro Moors I am positive, I even question if Sheba 

 was, though in his mind there could not be the least doubt 

 that these countries were alluded to. If ever I have the plea- 

 sure of seeing Mr. Hutchison again, which I hope I shall, I 

 shall inquire particularly as to this tradition, which is the more 

 curious, as it asserts, that " the queen turned from worshipping 

 the sun and worshipped God," which, though not directly 

 stated, may be expected as a result from her exclamation, 

 (2 Chron. ix. 8.) and from the observation of Stackhouse : 

 " Accordingly it was Solomon's fame concerning the name of 

 the Lord, that is, concerning his knowledge of the Supreme 

 Being, and the proper manner of worshipping him, which ex- 

 cited her to take so long a journey. And therefore our Saviour 

 says, " that as she came so far to hear his wisdom, (his wisdom 

 concerning the nature and worship of Almighty God.) Matt, 

 xii. 42., she would, at the day of judgment, rise up against 

 that generation which had refused to listen to him." We have 

 thus traced the close resemblance, and in many cases the 

 identity of the customs of the Abyssinians and those of the 

 Ashantees, so that the latter are as evidently descendants from 

 the civilized Ethiopians of Herodotus as the former, especially 

 as the two or three particulars which he and Diodorus afford 

 of the customs of the savage Ethiopians, are not to be traced 

 at all in Ashantee, but are actually identified amongst the 

 Sheekans, Jum Jums, and the existing or modern Anthropo- 

 phagi of Ethiopia. 



