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of RhcSa. Accord!no;ly it is maintained by many learned 

 men, and in confonniiy to the Abydinian recoidri, of which 

 Mr. Bruce has availed himLlf, that Shcba, or rather Saba, 

 A7.ab, or A/.aba, fijrnifying Soulk, was the Tame gountry 

 with Abyflinia, whatever might have been its extent ; and 

 that it was the kingdom of queen Catidace, wliofc eunuch 

 or prime miniller, came to wordiip at Jenifalem ; and who, 

 on his return homewards, was baptifed by Tlnlip the dea- 

 con, and from whom the Abyfliiiians acknowledge they af- 

 terwards received the gofpel. See Aas viii. 2;— 38. This 

 countr)-, fay Phny (1. vi. c. 29.),andStrabo, (1. xvi. xvii. t.2. 

 p. II 16. 1 175. ) was commonly governed by queens; and, it is 

 faid, that Candace was a name common to them all, as Pharaoh 

 was to the kings of Egypt ; the term Candace importing 

 their fovereign authority. The queen cf Sheba or Saba, 

 having heard of Solomon's fame, determined to pay him a 

 vifit at fenifalem. Slie was there converted, as the Aby- 

 fliulans fav, from heathenifm to the Jcwilh religion, and had 

 a fon by' Solomon, who was named Meniltk. With this 

 ion flie returned to lier own countr)-, and after fome time 

 fent him back to Jerufalem to be inftrufted by his father. 

 Having been anointed and crowned king of Ethiopia in the 

 temple of Jerufalem ; and having alfo, at his inauguration, 

 alTnmed the name of David, he returned to A?.ab with a 

 cokniy of Jews, among whom were many learned doftors 

 of the law, and particularly one of each tribe, from whom 

 the prefent Umbares, or fiipreme judges, three of whom al- 

 ways attend the king, are tliought to be defcended. Aza- 

 lias, the fon of Zadok, the prieft, was one of the number, 

 and he brought with him a Hebrew copy of the law, which 

 was committed to his euftody as high prieft, and which was 

 burnt with the church ofAxum in the Mooriih war of 

 Adel. By the laft act of the queen of Saba's reign, Ihe 

 fettled the mode of fuccefiion in her country for tl;e future ; 

 enacting, ift. That the crown Ihould be hereditar,- in the 

 family of Solomon for ever: 2dly, That, after her, no 

 woman ftiould be capable of wearing that crown, or being 

 queen, but that it Ihoiild dcfcend to the heir-male, however 

 diftant ; a'lid that thefe two articles fliould be confidered as 

 fundamental and immutable laws of the kingdom : and 3dly, 

 That the heirs-male of the royal houfe (hould always be fcnt 

 prifoners to a high mountain, where they were to continue 

 till their death, or till the fuccefnon (liould open to them. 

 The cuftom, however, of having women for fovereigns pre- 

 vailed among the neighbouring kingdoms till the laft cen- 

 tuiy, and may poffibly prevail in fome of them to this day. 

 It obtained in Nubia, and the kingdom of Meroc, till the 

 time of Auguftus, when Petronius, his lieutenant, fubdued 

 the country, and took and deftroyed Napata, the rcfidence of 

 queenCandace;and this queen,- Mr. Bruce (v. i. p. 477.) fup- 

 pflfes, was fucceedcd by the Candace above mentioned. What- 

 ever was the origin of the laft regulation, it feems to have 

 been ncceflar)- in order to prevent the confufion that muft 

 have arifen from various claimants, in a country where poly- 

 gamy was allowed, and where the heirs to it muft have been 

 numerous ; as tlie crown was to be hereditary in one family, 

 but cleftrve as to the perfon. Whilft they are confined in 

 a good climate, on a high mountain, they are taught mere- 

 ly to read and write, and the ftate allows to the amount of 

 30,000 dollars for their maintenance. However, they are 

 often feverely treated, and in times of tumult, put to death 

 upon the flighteft mifinforination. It is anotlier rule of the 

 fociety in AbyflTinia, that no perfon that is maimed (liaU 

 inherit the crown. The queen of Saba having eftablifticd 

 •the laws above recited, snd reigned forty years, died in the 

 year 986 bet-jre Clirift ; and v.as fucceeded by her fon Me- 

 uilek, or McLilehcch, i. e. Another frlf; whofe pollerity, 



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according to the annals of Abyflinia, have ever flnce reign- 

 ed. The device of thefe kings is a lion pafTant, proper up- 

 on a field gules, and their motto, " Mo Anhafa am Nizilet 

 " Solomon am h\^nile Juilc :" i. e. " The lion of the race 

 " of Solomon and tribe of Jiidah hath overcome." Inftcvid 

 of the liun pafiant, the Portuguefe miffionaries introduced 

 a hon rampant, in order, as it is fuppofed, to put a crofs 

 into the paw of tliis Jewilh lion ; but the lion pali'mt is re- 

 ftored. In virtue of this noble defcent, the AbyfTinian mo- 

 narchs alTume the title of Nagulh, and are always addrelTid 

 either by that of Naguftia Nagalh.t, king cf kings, or by 

 that of Natzeghe, equivalent to the Frencli Sire. They 

 are approached with adoration ; when feated in council, they 

 are concealed ; they are attended by a fplcndid retinue ; 

 their camp is extenfive and magnificent, and t'ney wear a 

 very rich and coftly crown. The imperial revenue chiefly 

 arifes from the four following fources : tlie tribute paid 

 by thofe provinces which have gold mines, or whicli 

 trade with the Caffrcs and other neighbouring nations, 

 which amounts to about 5 or 6coo ounces per annum ; the 

 fecond fource of revenue is, the fale of all the great places 

 in the empire, the annual tax on holding them and their ap- 

 pendages, the amount of which from two provinces, one the 

 largeft, and the other the richeft, is about 75,000 French 

 livres : the third fource is, a tenth, levied eveiy third year, 

 upon all the cattle in the empire : the 4th fource is, a duty 

 laid upon every loom of cotton clotli, which, if it belongs 

 to a Chriftian, pays one piece of cloth, and if to a Maho- 

 metan, a piece of eight per annum. Tins revenue, the 

 whole amount of which is not eafily ettimated, falls far 

 (liort of what might be expefted from an empire of which 

 the fovereign is tlie fole proprietor and ditpofer. 



The military force of Abyffinia has besn greatly exag- 

 gerated. Mr. Bruce does not imagine iJ.at any king of 

 this country' ever commanded 40,000 effedlive men at any 

 time, or upon any caufe whatever, exclufively of his houfe- 

 hold troop";, which are about 8000 infantiy ; 2coo of thefe 

 laft cany 'firelocks, and fupply the place of archers ; bows 

 having been laid aude for near a hundred years, and being 

 now ufed only by the Waito Shangalla, and fome other in- 

 confiderable barbarous nations. As they are in a ftate of 

 almoft continual war, either among themfelves, or with their 

 neighbours, the face of thecountry is ftrewed with dead bodies ; 

 and as they bury neither their friends nor enemies, and their 

 beafts of burthen are perpetually dying under the load of 

 baggage which they carry, the army is followed by an im- 

 menie number of birds and beafts of prey, who devour the 

 putrefying carcafes when fcattered over the ground ; and the 

 furrounding trees are covered with them ; and they form a 

 kind of dark canopy over the marching army. 



The AbyfTinianr, in computing time, have continued the 

 life of the folar year. Thirty days conftitute their montk, 

 to which they add five days and a quarter, and thus they 

 complete their year. The five days are added to the month 

 ofAuguft, and to every fourth year they add a fixth day. 

 They begin their year with the 29th or 30th of Augiift, 

 /. e. 'the kalends of September : the 29th of Auguft being 

 the firft of their month MaCcaram. The common epoch 

 which the Abyflinians ufe is from the creation of the world, 

 and they reckon 5500 years from the creation to the birth 

 of Chrift, rejecting the odd eight years of the Greeks, who 

 make this period 5508 years. Thcv have alfo many other 

 epochs, fiich as from the council of Nice and Ephefus. In 

 their ecclefiaftical computations they make ufe of the golden 

 number and epac>. Tlie firft ufe of epafts amongit them 

 was not earlier, according to Scaligc-, than the time of Dio- 

 clci'ian ; but Mr. Bruce obfen-«s, (vol. iii. p. 3 J 2.) that 



this 



