TOPOGRAPHY, EACES, KELIGIONS, LANGUAGES AND CUSTOMS. 83 



Candace, the queen of that country, had gone on a pilgrimage 

 to Jerusalem, and was found on his return journey reading in 

 his chariot the book of Isaiah the Prophet; or it may be that 

 this servant of Candace was one of the Jewish captives who 

 was intrusted with confidential duties, as were Daniel and 

 Nehemiah by Darius and Artaxerxes respectively. Ethiopian 

 tradition gives this eunuch the name of Judich, and represents 

 him as having propagated Christianity in Arabia Felix and 

 Ethiopia, and brought Candace herself to the true faith. 

 Phny (vi, 35) and 8trabo (xvii, 820), two heathen authors, 

 confirm scripture as to Candace being the name of the 

 Ethiopian queens, as the Pharaohs were of the Egyptian 

 kings. 



There has been a good deal of speculation amongst the 

 learned as to the country or countries over which the Queen 

 of Sheba ruled. Sheba (Saba or Sabians) is mentioned in 

 the Bible in different localities like the Chaldeans aud the 

 Cushites; and there is no doubt their chief centre was in 

 Southern Arabia, but in the time of Solomon the Queen of 

 Sheba's sovereignty embraced that part of Ethiopia now 

 known by the name of the Soudan, Nubia, Abyssinia, 

 Somaliland, and Galla; as one has only to study the 

 features, the rehgion, and languages of the peoples of 

 those countries, in order to find that the Semitic element is 

 largely diffused, in their customs and rehgious observances, 

 more especially in regard to circumcision, which is prac- 

 tised hj both Christians and Mohammedans just as it is 

 among the Jews. 



I have always been a believer in traditions ; and though 

 I know that fabulous and exaggerated anecdotes are often 

 mixed up with truth, nevertheless I have found in my experi-^ 

 euce that a good deal of reliability lies at the bottom of 

 unwritten history. 



There is one noticeable fact in the history of the Queen 

 of Sheba, which proves more than anything else that 

 her sway extended to Ethiopia (the African Cush of the 

 Bible), and that is the possession of such a quantity of gold 

 and spices (fragrant or aromatic) which could only be got in 

 tropical chmates.* In the 12th chapter of St. Matthew our 

 Lord mentions this pc>tentate as the "queen of the south" 

 coming to Solomon "from the uttermost parts of the earth," 



* In Jeremiah vi, 20, it is said " To what purpose cometh to me 

 incense from Sheba, etc." 



