52^ TRAVELS TO DISCOVER 



to murder all the brothers of the prince that fucceeds, in- 

 ftead of fending them to a mountain, as they do in Abyf- 

 linia. 



The next thing remarkable is his proteftion of the pil- 

 grims who go to Mecca, and the merchants that go to In- 

 dia. Several caravans of both fet out yearly from his king- 

 dom, all Mahometans, fome o-f whom go to Mecca for reli- 

 gion, the others to India, by Mocha, to trade. But it is not 

 poiTible to underiland how he is to proted the trade in Per- 

 fia, with which country he certainly has had no fort of con- 

 cern thefe 800 years, nor has it been in that time poffible 

 for him either to molefl or proted a Perfian. What, there- 

 fore, I would fuppofe, is, that the king has made ufe of the 

 common phrafe which univerfally obtains here both in wri- 

 ting and converfation, calling Ber el Ajam the Weft, and Ber 

 cl Arab the Eaft coaft of the Red Sea. — Ber el Ajam, in the 

 language of the country, is the coaft where there is wa- 

 ter or rain, in oppofition to the Tehama, or oppofite fhore 

 of Arabia, where there is no water. The Greeks and Latins 

 tranllated this word into their own language, but did not 

 tmderftand it ; only from the found they called it Azamia, 

 from Ajam. Now Ajam, or Ber cl Ajam, is the name of 

 Pcrfia alfo ; and the French interpreter fays, the king of A- 

 byflinia proteds the caravans of Perfia; when he Ihould fay, 

 the caravans, going through Ber cl Ajam, tlie Azamia of 

 the ancients, to embark at the two ports Suakem and Ma- 

 fuah, both in the country of that name. 



The next thing to remark here is, that the king acknow- 

 ledges Murat to be his amballador ; and it is the arrefting 

 him, which we have fccn was done at the inftance of M. de 



Maillet 



