A G A 



A G A 



AcA. See Agar. 



AGAAZI, or Agagi, in Gengraphy, a denomination 

 given ill Abyiriuia to a clafs of thofc sni-pni;Rns, who are 

 laid to have been employed by tlic dcfccndaiits of Ciifh, the 

 firfl inliabitants of the country, in difperliiig the produce ot 

 Aivbia and tlie eafteni coiill of Africa over the Continent, 

 and who thus acquired wealth and ijiflucncc. The nobloil 

 and moll warlike of all the llieplicrds ws;re thofe that in- 

 habited the mountains of Habab, a coniiderahle ridge reach- 

 ing along the Red Sea, from the neighbourhood of Maluah 

 to Suakem, and who by degrees extended themfelves through 

 the whole province of Tigrc. yl\^-ag, fays Mr. Bruce, denoted 

 the nobles and chiefs of the armed (heplierds, whence came 

 their title, king of king! ; and the plural of this is ylgtigi, or, 

 as it is written in the Ethiopic, Agaa%t. Tlie king of 

 Amalek, mentioned i Samuel, ch. xv. and flain by Samuel, 

 was, according to this writer, an Arab (hepherd. Brucc's 

 Trav. V. i. 387. Of this appellation, Ludolf (Hift. jEthiop. 



b. i. c. 1.) gives a different etymology. The Agaa/.i af- 

 fumed this denomination, and called their country Geex, 

 either on account of the liberty they enjoyed, or bccaule 

 they tranfported themfelves from one place to another : the 

 radical word Geeta admitting both thefc fignifications. Their 

 language is Gees ; they have always had letters among them ; 

 and they are all circumcifed, both men and women. This 

 right they profefs to have derived from the family of Idimael 

 and his defcendants, with whom they were connecT.ed at an 

 early period in their trading voyages. 



AGABENI. SeeAcuBENi. 



AGABUS, in Scripture h'ljlory, a prophet, and as the 

 Greeks fay, one of the 70 difciples of our Saviour (Afts 

 XI. 28) A. D. 4-;. He predifted a great famine, which, as 

 St. Luke informs us, occurred in the 4th year of Claudius, 

 A. D. 44. It is alfo mentioned by profane hiftorians, Sueton. 

 in Claud, c. xvni. t. i. p. 668 ed. Pitifc. Jofephus, ant. 1. xx. 



c. ii. Oper. t. i. p. 960. ed. Haverc. On this occafion the 

 Chrillians at Antioch fent their contribution by Paul and 

 Barnabas to Jerufalem, for the rehef of their diftrefled 

 brethren. Helena, queen of Adiabene, alfo alTiilied the 

 Jews with corn and other provifions from Egypt and Cyprus, 

 as Jofephus (^tili fiipra) informs us. Several years after this 

 period [viz. A. D. 58) Agabus had an interview with St. 

 Paul, at Casfarea, and foretold the fufferings that awaited him 

 at Jerufalem, whither he was determined to proceed, Afls 

 xxi. 10. From the Greeks we learn, that Agabus fuffered 

 martyrdom at Antioch, and they obfcrve his feftival, 

 Ivlarch 8. The Latins, fince the 9th century, have kept 

 it, Feb. 9. 



AGABRA or JEGA.'&^k,\n^nctent Geography, z.\.0'via of 

 Boetica, in Spain. 



AGADEK, one of the Fox iflands in the Northern Pa- 

 cific Ocean. 



AGADEZ, \n Geography, a kingdom of Africa, placed 

 by Leo Africanus and Marmol, direClly eail of Yguida, and 

 by De Lifle, fouth and fouth-eail of it. On the eaft it 

 has the kingdom of Bornou ; on the north-north-eaft, 

 the defert of Lempta, and Yguida ; on the fouth, Cano ; 

 and on the weft, the provinces Zapara and Guber, and a 

 lake north of the Niger. This province is divided into two 

 diftridls, the northern, called on account of its fterility, the 

 Defert, and the fouthern, fertile in grafs, corn and cattle. 

 De Lifle mentions three confiderable towns in the latter divi- 

 fion, viz. Agad, the capital of the whole province, Deyhir 

 and Sccmana, little inferior in wealth and population to the 

 metropolis. He adds, that fena is produced here in great 

 abundance, and that the principal trade of the natives confifts 

 Ui tiiia article and manna. The fouthern inhabitants feed 



cattle, live in the open country, and refemble in their manners 

 the wandering Arabs. Agad, the capital, called alio by 

 the Arabs Aiidcgalt, isfituatcd in a valley between two high 

 mountain^, and at the fpring of a confiderable river that 

 waters the fouthern country and difcharges itfclf into the 

 Niger. According to La Croix's account, the inh.abitants 

 arc chiefly merchants, and flrangcrs, who have fettled there, 

 enclofed the town with walls, and built tlicir houfcs in the 

 Morefco fafliion. The fovercign is laid to be tribulai-y to 

 the king of Tombufto, and yet to picierve the ilatc of a 

 powerful, independent and defi)Otic prince. Mod. Un. Hift. 

 vol. xiv. p. 260. 8vo. The province of Agadez is placed by 

 Major Rennell, in his map ot North Africa, in the eaRern 

 divifion of the Great Defert, or Sahara, and the capital in 

 N. hit. 20° 15'. E. long. 13" 14'. In the proceedings of 

 the African afTociation, Agadez is made a province of the 

 Calhna empire, and the inhabitants arc faid to load their 

 immenfe caravans with the fait of Bornou, and to engrofs 

 the profits of this invaluable trade. The only acknowledg- 

 xuent they make for it is the trifling price which they pay in 

 brafs and copper (the currency of Bornou) to the neigh- 

 bouring peafants. 



AGADNA, a fmall town in the ifland of; Guam. 



AGAG, or Agaga, a kingdom of Africa, which de- 

 pends on the empire of Monomotapa. It is bounded on the 

 eaft by the countiy of the Negroes, and on the north by the 

 kingdom of Tacua. The capital is of the fame name. 



AGAGEER, a name given in Abyflinia to thofe whofe 

 bufmefs it is to hunt and kill elephants. Their appellation 

 is formed from the word Agar, which fignifies to hough or 

 ham-ftring with a fliarp weapon, Thefe perfons dwell con- 

 ftantly in the woods, and live entirely upon the flelh of the 

 beafts which they kill, chiefly on that of the elephant and 

 rhinoceros. They are light and agile, both on horfeback. 

 and on foot ; of a fwarthy complexion ; and have Europeaa 

 features. None of them are woolly-headed. The manner in 

 which they kill the elephant is as follows : two men, alto- 

 gether naked, mount the fame horfe ; the foremoft manages 

 the horfe, and the hindmoft has a broad fword, fuch as the 

 Sclavonians ufe, and procured from Triette ; the handle of 

 which he grafps with his left hand, whilfl with his right he 

 takes hold of a part of theblade, round which whip-cord is 

 twifted. The edges of the fword are as fliarp as a i-azor, 

 and yet he thus carries it without a fcabbard. When the 

 elephant is found feeding, the horfeman runs before him, 

 and when he flies, croffes him in all direftions, ufmg at the 

 fame time a variety of expreflions and exclamations, which, 

 he is foolilh enough to beheve the elephant underftands. 

 The animal incenfed by this noife, attempts to feize the 

 horfe and rider with his trunk, or probofcis ; and for this 

 purpofe he turns himfelf about in every direftion, inftead of 

 making his efcape. The horfeman after fome evolutions of 

 this kind, rides up to the fide of the elephant and drops his 

 companion on the oH-fide ; and whilft the rider engages the 

 attention of the animal, the other perfon gives him a llroke 

 above the heel, in that part which in the human fnbjedl is 

 called the tendon of Achilles. At tliis moment the horfeman 

 turns round and takes up his companion ; and runs with full 

 fpeed after the reft of the herd ; and fometimes an expert 

 Agageer will kill three out of one herd. The blow com- 

 monly feparates the tendon, or at leaft wounds it to fuch a 

 degree that the weight of the animal breaks it. In this 

 ftate the horfeman, and his companions, fpeedily difpatch 

 the animsl with their javelins and lances ; when he is fliiin, the 

 fiefli is cut off the bones into firings, and thefe are hung on 

 the branches of trees to dry, without fait ; and are then 

 luid by for their ftock of provifion in the feafon of the rains. 

 3 B 2 The 



