472 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER 



and Jews, with their correfpondents the Cufhites and Shep- 

 herds on the coafc of Africa. This had gone fo far, as very 

 naturally to have created a defire in the queen of Azab, the 

 fovereign of that country, to go herfelf and fee the applica* 

 tion of fetch immenfe treafures that had been exported from 

 her country for a feries of years, and the prince who fo 

 magnificently employed them. There can be no doubt of 

 this expedition, as Pagan, Arab, Moor, Abyflinian, and all 

 the countries round, vouch it pretty much in the terms of 

 fcripturc 



Many* have thought this queen was an Arab. But Saba 

 was a feparate ftate, and the Sabeans a diftincT: people from 

 the Ethiopians and the Arabs, and have continued fo till 

 very lately. We know, from hiftory, that it was a cuftom 

 among thefe Sabeans, to have women for their fovereigns 

 in preference to men, a cuftom which ftill fubfifts among 

 their defcendents. 



Medis levlbufque Sabais-, 



Imperat hos Jexus Reginariimque fubarmis, 



Barbaria "f", pars magna jacet. Claudian. 



Her name, the Arabs fay, was Belkis ; the Abyffinians, 

 Maqueda. Our Saviour calls her Queen of the South, without 

 mentioning any other name, but gives his fanction to the 

 truth of the voyage. " The Queen of the South (or Saba, 



" or 



* Such as Juftin, Cyprian, Epiphanius, Cyril. 



f By this is meant the country between the tropic and mountains of Abyffinia, the 

 country of Shepherds, from Berber, Shepherd. 



