THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 269 
tions in which they were firft obferved; others, not fo learn- 
ed, have thought they originated in Abyflinia. I fhall fir& 
take notice of thofe that regard the king and court. 
Tue kings of Perfia*, like thefe we are {peaking of, were 
eligible in one family only, that of the Arfacidz, and it was 
not till that race failed they chofe Darius. The title of the 
king of Abyflinia is, King of Kings; and {uch Daniel f tells us 
was that of Nebuchadnezzar. The right of primogeniture 
does not fo prevail in Abyfiinia as to exclude election in the 
perfon of the younger brothers, and this was likewife the 
cafe in Perfia t. 
In Perfia§.a preference was underftood to be due to the 
king’s lawful children; but there were inftances of the na+ 
tural child being preferred to the lawful one. Darius, tho’ 
abaftard, was preferred to Ifogius, Xerxes’s lawful fon, and 
that merely by the election of the people. The fame has 
always obtained in:Abyflinia. A very great part of their 
kings are adulterous baftards; others are the iflue of con+- 
cubines, as we fhall fee hereafter, but they have been pre- 
ferred to the crown by the influence of a party, always un- 
der name of the Voice of the People. 
A.ttuoucHu the Perfian kings || had various palaces to 
which they removed at different times in the year, Pafagar- 
da, the metropolis of their ancient kings, was obferved as 
the 
———— 
* Strabo, lib. xv. p. 783. — Jofeph. lib. xviii. cap. 3. Procop. lib. i. de Bel Pers 
+ Dan. chap. ii. {Procop. lib. i. cap.rx.  § Arrian, lib. ii. cap. 14. {| Plu‘ 
in Artax. lib. xy. p. 730. 
