402 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER 



they introduced in the worfhip of. the Nile, is a further 

 proof that they came from Canaan, where they imbibed 

 materialifm in place of the pure Sabean worfhip of the 

 Shepherds, then the only religion-of. this part of Africa. 



v The fourth is a nation bordering upon the fouthern-' 

 banks of the Nile near Damot. It calls itfelf Gafat, which, 

 figniiies oppreffed by violence, torn, expelled; or chaced a- 

 way by force. If we were to follow the idea ariling mere- 

 ly from this name, we might be led to imagine, that thefe 

 were part of the tribes torn . from Solomon's fbn and fuccef- 

 for, Rehoboam. This, however, we cannot do confluent 

 with the faith to be kept by a hiflorian with his reader. 

 The evidence of the people themfelves, and the tradition of. 

 the country, deny they ever were Jews, or ever concerned 

 with that colony, brought with Menilek and the queen of 

 Saba, which eftablifhed the Jewifh hierarchy. They declare, 

 that they are now Pagans, and ever were fo;. that they are 

 partakers with their neighbours the Agows in the worfhip 

 of the river Nile, the extent or particulars of which I can- 

 not pretend to explain.- — The fifth is a tribe, which, if we 

 were to pay any attention to fimilarity of names, we mould 

 be apt to imagine we had found here in Africa a part 

 of that great Gaulifh nation fo widely extended in Europe? 

 and Afia. A comparifon of their languages, with what we 

 know exifts of the former, cannot but be very curious. — 

 Thefe are the Galla, the moft confiderable of thefe nations,, 

 fpecimens of whofc language I have cited. This word, in 

 their own language, figniiies Shepherd* -, they fay that for- 

 merly 



* Thefe people likewife call themfelves Agaazt, or Agagi, they have over-run the kingdom of 

 Congo fouth of the Line, and on the Atlantic Ocean, as the Galla have done that part of the king- 

 dom of Add and AbyfTmia, on the Eafiern, or Indian Ocean. Purch. lib.ii. chap. 4. Seft. 8; 



