AJ3FSSINIA. 249 



journey upon a white camel or dromedary of very 

 great size and surpassing beauty. 



Many ancient writers imagined this queen to be of 

 Arabic descent ; but Sheba was a kingdom of itself, 

 and must not be confounded with a small town in 

 Arabia also called Saba, to the south of Mecca. "We 

 know from history that the Sabeans were accustomed 

 to be governed by a queen rather than a king, while 

 the Homerites, or Arabian Sabeans, who inhabited the 

 coast of Arabia opposite Azab, were ruled by kings. 

 The Homerite kings were not allowed to leave their 

 country or even their residence, and if they appeared 

 in public the people had a right to stone them. 



"We may be sure that a people which treated its 

 sovereigns in this way would not have allowed the 

 queen, if perchance they were ruled by one, to under- 

 take a long journey. The Arabs assert that the name 

 of the Queen of Sheba who came to Jerusalem was 

 Belkis, while the Abyssinians call her Maqueda. In 

 the New Testament, Matthew speaks of her as the 

 Queen of the South (chap. xii. v. 42). 



The annals of Abyssinia are full of details con- 

 cerning her journey. They say that the queen, who 

 was a pagan when she left Azab, was so filled with 

 admiration of Solomon, that she became converted to 

 the Jewish faith while at Jerusalem, and had a son 

 by Solomon, whom she named Menilek. The queen 

 brought him back with her to Sheba, but a few years 

 afterwards sent him to his father to be educated. 



VOL. II. 8 



