THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 505 



more diftant mountainous country of Abyfiinia; and if the 

 Ethiopia, where Candace reigned, was the fame as Abyfiinia, 

 the ftory of the queen of Saba muft be given up as a falfe- 

 hood ; for, in that cafe, there would be a woman fitting up- 

 on the throne of that country 500 years after flic was ex- 

 cluded by a folemn 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 alio was taken in 

 the time of Auguftus, a few years before the Converfion, by 

 Philip; and we fhall have occafion often to mention her fuo- 

 ceffors and her kingdom, as cxifting in the reign of the Abyf- 

 finian kings, long after the Mahometan conqueft ; they ex- 

 ifted when I palled through Atbara, and do undoubtedly exift 

 there to this day. What puts an end to all this argument 

 is a matter of fact, which is, that the Abyfiinians continued 

 |ews and Pagans, and were found to be fo above 300 ye s 

 after the time of the Apoftles. Inftead, therefore, of taking 

 the firft of this lift (Bazen) for the prince under whom Abyf- 

 iinia was converted from Judaifm, as authors have advanced, 

 in conformity to the Abymnian annals, we fhall fix upon 

 the 1 3th (Abrcha and Atzbeha, whom we believe to be but 

 one prince) and, before we enter into the narrative of that 

 remarkable event, we fhall obierve, that, from Bazen to 

 Abrcha, being 341 years inclufive, the eighth of Bazen be- 

 in ^ the lirft of Chrift, bv this account of the converfion, 

 which happened under Abrcha and Atzbeha, it muft have 

 been about t,^^ years after Chriit, or 341 after Bazen. 



But wc certainly know, that the fir ft bifhop, ordained 



for the converfion of Abyfiinia, was fent from Alexandria by 



Vol. I. 3 S St 



