ABRAM, AN ABYSSINIAN. 385 



their facred books, as the Prophecy of Enoch, and 

 others, they had Hiftories of Abyjfinia, and various 

 literary compofitions ; that their language was taught 

 in fchools and colleges, of which there were feveral in 

 the Metropolis. He faid, that no AbyJJinian doubted 

 the exiftence of the royal prifon called Wahininfiiuaied 

 on a very lofty mountain, in which the fons and daugh- 

 ters of their Kings were confined ; but that, from the 

 nature of the thing, a particular defcription of it could 

 not be obtained. " All thefe matters (faid he) are ex- 

 " plained, I fuppofe, in the writings of Yakub, whom 

 <; I faw thirteen years ago in Gwender. He was a 

 " phyfician, and had attended the King's brother, who 

 <; was alfo a Vazir, in his laft illnefs. The prince died; 

 " yet the King loved Yakub ; and, indeed, all the court 

 " and people loved him. The King received him in 

 " his palace as a gueft, (upplied h'im with every thing 

 " that he could want ; and, when he went to fee the 

 " fources of the Nik, and other curiofities, (for he was 

 " extreme!} curious, )he received everypoflibleaffiftance 

 " and accommodation from the royal favour. He un- 

 " derfto' d the languages, and wrote and collected many 

 " books, which he carried with him," It was impofli- 

 ble for me to doubt (efpecially when he defcribed the 

 perfon of Yakub) that he meant James Bruce, Efq. who 

 travelled in thedrefsofa Syrian phyfician, and probably 

 affumed with judgment a name well known in AbyJJinia, 

 He is ftill revered on Mount Sinai for his fagacity in 

 difcovcring a fpring, of which the Monaftery was in 

 great need. He was known at Jedda by Mir Moham- 

 med Ilu/j'ain, one of the moil intelligent Mahomedans in 

 India ; and I have feen him mentioned with great regard 

 in a letter from an Arabian merchant at Mokha. It is pro- 

 bable that he entered AbyJJinia by the way of Mufuwwa, 

 a town in the poffeffion of the Mufelmans, and returned 

 through the delert mentioned by Gregory in his defcrip- 

 tion of the Nile. We may hope that Mr. Bruce will 

 publilh an account of his interefting travels, with a 

 yernon of the Book of Enoch, which no man but him- 

 3 felf 



