394 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER 



There is ftill alive a man of the name of Matthews, who 

 was prefent at one of thofe bloody banquets on the weft 

 of Africa, to the northward of Senega. It is probable the con- 

 tinuation of the flave-trade would have aboliihed thefe, in 

 time, on the weft fide alfo. Many other reafons could be 

 alledged,did my plan permit it. But I mall content myfelf 

 at prefent, with faying, that I very much fear that a relaxa- 

 tion and effeminacy of manners, rather than genuine ten- 

 dernefs of heart, has been the caufe of this violent paroxyfm 

 of philanthropy, and of fome other meafures adopted of late 

 to the difcouragementof discipline, which I do not doubt will 

 foon be felt to contribute their mite to the decay both of trade 

 and navigation that will neceffarily follow. 



The Ethiopian fhepherds at firft carried on the trade on 

 their own fide of the Red Sea ; they carried their India com- 

 modities to Thebes, likewife to the different black nations to 

 the fouth-weft ; in return, they brought back gold, probably 

 at a cheaper rate, becaufe certainly by a fhorter carriage than 

 by- that from Ophir. 



Thebes became exceedingly rich and proud, though, by 

 the moft extenfive area that ever was affigned to it, it never 

 could be either large or populous. Thebes is not mention- 

 ed in fcripture by that name ; it was deftroyed before the 

 days of Mofes by Salatis prince of the Agaazi, or Ethiopian 

 fhepherds ; at this day it has affumed a name very like the 

 ancient one. The firft fignification of its name, Medinet 

 Tabu, I thought was the Town of our Father. This, hiftory 

 fays, was given it by Sefoftris in honour of his father ; in 

 the ancient language, its name was Ammon No. The next 

 that prefented itfelf was Theba, which was the Hebrew 



name 



