and Tnhafntanls of the (Jold Caast. 79 



ginal Ethiopians ; but about this time the El which succeeds, 

 seems to denote a change in the dynasty, probably by a colony 

 of Syrians placed by Alexander to the south of the Axomites 

 near the mouth of the Red Sea." The people of a country 

 called Zatty were recorded in the inscription at Adulis, as one 

 of the Ethiopian nations subdued in the expedition of Ptolemy 

 Evergetes. Zerah was the name of the Ethiopian king whom 

 the Chronicles mention to have invaded Judah. 



Another very extraordinary coincidence is, that the king of 

 Ashantee has, as part of his state household, a band of royal 

 or licensed robbers, organized in the same manner as those who 

 annoyed the earliest European visitors to the capital of Abys- 

 sinia, and who there also were attached to the royal household. 

 The kings of Abyssinia in their expeditions are always at- 

 tended by judges or civil authorities ; no Ashantee army ever 

 proceeds on a campaign without one being attached to it, and 

 if the king is present, three or four. 



The Abyssinians, like the ancient Egyptians, never fight in 

 the night ; neither do the Ashantees, not even after sun-set, 

 whatever advantages they may lose. In general, execution im- 

 mediately follows sentence in both countries, and the bodies of 

 those who have been executed for treason or great offences, are 

 also, in both countries, left exposed, even in the streets, to the 

 wild beasts. 



There is no such thing as marriage in Abyssinia but by- 

 mutual consent, subsisting only until dissolved by the wish of 

 either party. So in Ashantee, the mere return of the marriage 

 present to the husband, by the wife's family, on her dissatis- 

 faction, dissolves the contract. There was a law in Babylon 

 precisely the same as this. 



Circumcision is arbitrary in Abyssinia, and it is rarely prac- 

 tised in Ashantee ; but in Dagwumba, and other of their more 

 eastern neighbours, who seem to possess a still superior degree 

 of civilization, it is general. 



I think we shall discover that Josephus was right in placing 

 Sheba in Africa, for Mr. Salt mentions, that the Abyssinians 

 have a tradition from Ham, that one of their queens named 



