534 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER 



colours are carried), mould be filver, and that he fhould fit 

 upon a gold ftool, or chair, in form of that ufed by the kings 

 of Abyflinia ; and that both he and his defcendents fhould 

 be abfolutely free from all homage, fervices, taxes, or pub- 

 lic burdens for ever, and ftiled Icings of Zague, or the Laf- 

 ta king. 



The third article was, That one third of the kingdom 

 fhouid be appropriated and ceded abfolutely to the A- 

 buna himfelf, for the maintenance of his own flate, and 

 fupport of the clergy, convents, and churches in the king- 

 dom ; and this became afterwards an sera, or epoch, in Abyf- 

 finian hiftory, called the sera of partition. 



The fourth, and laft article, provided, that no native Abyf- 

 fmian could thereafter be chofen Abuna, and this even tho* 

 he was ordained at, and fent from Cairo. In virtue of this 

 treaty, concluded and folemnly fworn to, Icon Amlac took 

 pofTemon of his throne, and the other contracting parties 

 of the provifions respectively allotted them. 



The part of the treaty that mould appear moft liable to 

 be broken was that which erected a kingdom within a 

 kingdom. However, it is one of the remarkable facts in 

 the annals of this country, that the article between Icon 

 Amlac and the houfe of Zague was obferved for near 500 

 years ; for it was made before the year 1 300, and never 

 was broken, but by the treacherous murder of the Zaguean 

 prince by Alio Fafil in the unfortunate war of Begemder, in 

 the reign of Joas 1 768, the year before I arrived in Abyili- 

 nia ; neither has any Abuna native of Abymnia ever been 

 known lince that period. As for the exorbitant grant of one 



third 



