408 
AXUM. 
Which I should translate, This is the sepulchral stone of 
Bazen ebne'* signifying a " stone gube, a grave and 
Bazen''' being the name of several of the Abyssinian kings^ 
while the " za'' prefixed to two of the words, in one case ex- 
presses the relative this/' and in the other acts as the sign of 
the genitive case. I offer these conjectures with considerable 
hesitation, from my possessing a very imperfect knowledge only 
of the language, and from my not being acquainted, unfortu- 
nately, with any person who could assist me in this undertaking, 
since the death of my friend Mr. Murray, whose extraordinary 
acquirements in Eastern literature, will not, I am afraid, be 
easily replaced. It is a singular circumstance, that the stone 
above described contains the only epitaph which I have ever met 
with in Abyssinia. 
On our return from the church, I noticed in the pavement over 
which we were passing, a fragment of a flat stone, on the surface 
of which was carved the representation of two spear-heads, and 
some other ornaments which I have thought sufficiently curious 
to be engraved, (vide A in the annexed plate.) I have likewise 
added sketches from two lions' heads, in stone-work, fixed in a 
modern wall outside of the church, which probably once served 
* The initial and final characters are merely crosses without any particular meaning. 
