THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 477 



heir male, however diflant, in exclufion of all heirs female 

 whatever, however near ; and that thefe two articles mould 

 be confidered as the fundamental laws of the kingdom, ne- 

 ver to be altered or abolifhed. And, laftly, That the heirs 

 male of the royal houfe, mould always be fent prifoners to a 

 high mountain, where they were to continue till their death, 

 or till the fucceffion mould open to them. 



What was the reafon of this laft regulation is not known, 

 it being peculiar to Abyflinia, but the cuftom of having wo- 

 men for fovereigns, which was a very old one, prevailed 

 among the neighbouring fhepherds in the laft century, as 

 we fhall fee in the courfe of this hiftory, and, for what we 

 know, prevails to this day. It obtained in Nubia till Augus- 

 tus's time, when Petreius, his lieutenant in Egypt, fubdued 

 her country, and took the queen Candace prifoner. It en- 

 dured alio after Tiberius, as we learn from St Philip's bap- 

 tifing the eunuch*fervant of queen Candace, who muft have 

 been fucceflbr to the former; for fhe, when taken prifoner 

 by Petreius, is reprefented as an infirm woman, having but 

 one eye j\ Candace indeed was the name of all the fove- 

 reigns, in the fame manner Csefar was of the Roman emper- 

 ors. As for the laft fevere part, the punifhment of the princes, 

 it was probably intended to prevent fome diforders among 

 the princes of her houfe, that flic had obferved frequently 

 to happen in the houfe of David X at Jerufalem. 



The 



* Acls, chap. viii. ver. 27 and 38. f This (hews the falfehoodof the remark 



Strabo makes, that it was a cuftom in Meroe, if their fovereign was any way mutilated, for tht 



fubjefts to imitate the imperfection. In this cafe, Candace's fubjetf s would have all loft an eye. 



Stiabo, lib. 17. p. 777, 778. 



% 2 Sam, chap, xvi, ver. 22. 1 Kings, chap. ii. ver. n. 



