193 
AXUM. 
quest, and one better planned; two armies (we will suppose) are 
marched, one to take possession of Laeta, and to follow up his last 
year's conquests, and the other across the Tacazza, or Mill. He 
there subdues Halaat or Salalt, Sembre or Samen; then proceeding 
down the Tacazza, conquers Shawa, or Zaa, Gabala, or Aba Gale, 
Atalmo, or Lamalmo, and then falls in with the other army, after 
its conquest of Lasta ; and they together subdue the whole kingdom 
of Bega, or Bega Midra,* Midra being only terra, or regio, a district, 
as in Midra Bahre, Regio Maris, as inLudolf 's map. The south being 
now quiet, a fourth expedition is planned to the north, of which 
our account is very short, perhaps from the greater part of this 
country being previously in their possession ; for it is to be re- 
marked, that it was from this point that their power in Africat 
arose ; the Tangaite on the borders of Egypt are subdued ; and 
here we meet with this remarkable expression, which could never 
have been used by an Egyptian monarch, " and then I made them 
open a foot road from the places of my dominion into Egypt." 
aito TO)v TTjg BfMvig ^cccriXsiag tottoov f/^ex^ig AiyvTrris ; a road, which was kept 
up until the time of Justinian, in 506, as we learn from Procopius, 
who says, Ab Auxomide ad Elephantidem urbem Romani imperii 
limitaneam in Egypto, tantum est vise quantum diebus triginta 
vir expeditus conficiat. After this he turns again to the south-east 
(would Ptolemy have done so, would he not rather have gone on 
to Egypt?), conquers the Aletine and Annine, or wild tribes on the 
mountains, and subdues the Sesea or Shiho (as I suspect), the Rauso 
(or modern Rusamo perhaps), a nation of the Frankincense country, 
and afterwards theSolaute, or shepherd tribes, to whom he gave the 
* Vide Ludolf, p. 123. f Vincent, p. Qg. 
