A B Y 



A B Y 



ftfion of namfs v/ill account for the difrcrence between t'ne 

 Ar.;bia» and AbylTmiaM records ; for if this Abveha was 

 the prince wh j had intjrcourie wi.h Abou Thaleb, Maho- 

 met's grandfather, to v/hom the ciiftody of tlic Caaba was 

 committed, and who was defeated before Mvcca, the fmall- 

 pox was introduced amon^ the Abyffinrans about the year 

 52 3, or loo years before the Hegira ; and thus the Ara- 

 bian and Abyflinian accounts may be made to correfpond. 

 Some hiilorians Iiave fiid, that the Ethiopian monarchs em- 

 br.\ccd the dodlrin' s of Mahomet, foon alter the appearance 

 of this impoftor ; but this account lias been confidered as 

 improbable. It u more certain, however, that Najafhi, 

 w!io was the Ethiopian governor of Yemen, and who was 

 rchited to the royal family of Abyflinia, was profelyted to 

 the Mahometan faith. On this occation the Abyfliniuns 

 loll their temtories in Arabia, and were forced to feek re- 

 fuge on the fide of Africa, where ihey eftablillied feveral 

 kingdoms, fuch as Adcl, Mara, Hadea, AufTa, Wypo, 

 Tarlhifh, and other dates, which acquired permanent power 

 and importance. The Jews being at this time opprcfll:d by 

 the caliphs, fought an afylum in Abyflinia ; and they con- 

 tributed to augment and ftrengthen an independent fove- 

 rcignty, which had been preferved in one fan:ily of Jewj on 

 the mountain of Samen, the royal rcfidence having been 

 fixed upon a high-pointed rock, called the Jews' rock. Judith, 

 a very beautiful and intriguing quejn of the Jews, had made fo 

 ilrong a party, that (he refolved to attempt tha fubverfion of 

 Chrillianity, and alfo the fueceffion in the line of Solomon. 

 Having maflacred the royal family, Ihe took poffeflion of the 

 throne, in defiance of the law of the queen of Saba ; but the 

 infant king, the only remaining prince of his race, fortunate- 

 ly efcaped into the province of Shoa, and thus the royal fa- 

 mily was prcfer\-ed to be again reftored. Judith and her de- 

 fcendants maintained their ufurpation for more than 300 

 years ; but no part of their hiftory is recorded in the Abyf- 

 iinian annals, except that of Lalibala, who lived at the clofe 

 of the 12th, or beginning of the 13th century, and was re- 

 puted to be a faint. This appellation he probably ac- 

 qun-ed from the proteftion which he afforded to the chrif- 

 tians, who, perfecuted by the Saracens in Egypt, fled for 

 refuge to Abyflinia. Lalibala employed them' in forming 

 various works in the folid rocks, fome traces of which re- 

 mam to this day ; and in unfuccefsful attempts to divert the 

 Nile out of its courfe, fo that it might no longer be the 

 caufe of the fertility of Egypt, which was then in pof- 

 icflion of the enemies of his religion. The race of Solomon, 

 which had been rellricled to the fovereignty of Shoa, was 

 unexpeftcdly reftored in the perfon of Icon Amlac, to whom 

 Naacueto Laab, grandfon of Lalibala, by the mediation of 

 Tecla Haimanout, a monk and native of Abyflinia, who had 

 been ordained Abuna, and who was highly efteemed for his 

 fanftity and patriotifm, refigned the kingdom of Abyflinia. 

 Amongft other articles of the treaty between them, one was, 

 that no native Abyflinian fhould for the future be chofen 

 Abuna ; and this article between Icon Amlac and the houfe 

 of Zague was obfen-ed for near 500 years. Icon Amlac 

 continued to refide at Tegulat in Shoa, from his accefiion in 

 1268, and his reign laded fifteen years. After a rapid fuc- 

 ccflion of princes, Amda Sion afcended the throne in 1312. 

 This fovcreign profefled Chriltianity, but difgraccd it by his 

 conduct. During a reign of thirty years, this prince was 

 almoft incefiantly engaged in various wars with the Moors, 

 who inhabited different provinces of Abyffmia and its vici- 

 nity I but at lafl, wear)- with conqueft and carnage, he returned 

 m triumph to his capital, and having never fuffered defeat in 

 any battle, he ended his days, and tranfmitted the crown to 

 liJS fon, Saif Araad. The only tranfaction that diftinguiflies 



this reign, is the relief aflbrded to the Coptic patriarch, 

 whom the fultan of Egypt had thrown into prifon, with a 

 view of extorting money from him. Of Zara Jacob, whofe 

 reign commenced in 1434, and continued thirty-four years, 

 Mr. Bruce obfervcs, that he was regarded in Abyfliuia as 

 another Solomon, and a model of what the bell of fovercigns 

 fliould be, though he was not julUy entitled to this high 

 encomium. This prince fent an embaffy to the council of 

 Florence, which formed a fubjed for a piclure in the Vati- 

 can, and he obtained from the pope a convent at Rome for 

 •the ufe of the AbylTinians. From this period a party was 

 formed in favour of the church of Rome ; and this beft of 

 fovereigns was the firll who introduced religious perfccution 

 into his dominions. Although the eftablilhed religion in 

 Abyflinia was that of the Greek church, many different fu- 

 perlUtions prevailed in every part of the country. An accu- 

 fation having been brought againft fome families for wor- 

 (hipping t'ne cow and the ferpent, they were feized by order 

 of the king, capitally convifted, and executed. This feve- 

 ritv was follov.ed by a proclamation, declaring, that any 

 perfon who did not, upon his right hand, carry an amulet, 

 with thefe words, / nnoutta' the devil for ChriJ} our Lord^ 

 fhould forfeit his perfonal eftate, and be liable to corporal 

 punilhment. Before the clofe of his reign perfccution was 

 fuppreffed, and he employed himfclf in repairing the churches 

 which had fallen into decay, or which had been deftroyed in 

 \'arious parts of the country in the v/ars with the Mahome- 

 tans. In the next reign, which commenced in 1468, the 

 old law for confining the royal children, which had been dif- 

 continutd from the reign of Judith, in the tenth century, 

 was revived ; and they were fent to the high mountain of 

 Geflien, on the confines of Amhara and Begemder, which 

 continued to be the ftate-prifon till a flaughttr occafioned 

 the defertion of Geihen. Bsda Mariam, having ingratiated 

 himfelf with liis people, by clemency towards thofe who 

 had been baniflied for various offences in the former reign, 

 commenced a war with the Dobas, who made inroads in- 

 to his countiy ; and he alfo turned his arms againft the 

 kingdom of Adel ; but being feized with a pain in his 

 bowels, which occafioned his death, all his plans and entcr- 

 prifes terminated. About this time Henry of Portugal, a 

 fcientific and adventurous prince, formed the projeft of dif- 

 covering a paffage to India, by doubling the cape of Africa, 

 and thus of (haring with the Venetians, and others, the pro- 

 fits of the commerce that was carried on with that country. 

 A plan was alfo concerted for penetrating into India through 

 the interior parts of Africa. The practicability of this lat- 

 ter Icheme was rendered probable, by the report of fome 

 monks who rcforted to Jerufalem and to Alexandria, and 

 who were the fubjefts of a chriftian prince, faid to be a 

 prieft, whofe dominions were faid to extend through the 

 African continent from the eaft to the weft fea. This re- 

 port had been confirmed at the court of Bemoy, the fove- 

 reign of the Jaloffes, on the weft coaft of Africa, and alfo 

 at Benin, another negro country ; though it was fomewhat 

 confuted and precarious, in confequeiice of the account 

 given by Marco Paulo, a Venetian traveller, v.-ho faid that, 

 in his travels into Tartaiy, he met with a chriftian prince, 

 who was a prieft, and who was called Preftjyter, or Prefter 

 John. The king of Portugal, however, refolved to fend 

 Peter Covillan and Alphonfo de Paiva, as ambaffadors to 

 this unknown prince. The objeft of their rnifiion was to 

 explore the fouices of the Indian trade, the principal mar- 

 kets for fpice and pepper, and the channels of their convey- 

 ance to Europe ; and to afcertain the country whence gold 

 and filver were obtained, and the poflibiHty of an-jving at the 

 Eall Indies by failing around the fouthern promontory of 



Africa. 



