HISTORY OF ABYSSINIA. 
^43 
Greek or Ethiopic being written from left to right, the Cufic from 
right to left ; the former having each character distinct and square 
in its form, and the latter chiefly consisting of curves running 
wildly into each other. Even the very form of their government, 
which always appears to have been monarchical, points out Egypt, 
rather than Arabia, for their origin. 
But as this is a point of considerable importance, it may not 
be uninteresting to enter a little deeper into the discussion. 
" In the earliest records of history, we find the Ethiopians re- 
presented as a very numerous and powerful people ; their im- 
portance, however, progressively declined, as Egypt advanced in 
consequence ; for as the population of that country increased, it 
naturally extended its conquests in the direction of the Nile, com- 
pelling the Ethiopians to retire towards the south. Meroe seems 
to have been the point at which their progress was stopped ; yet, 
beyond this, bands from Egypt afterwards emigrated and settled 
themselves among the Ethiopians : of one of these flights we have 
an account in Herodotus, who mentions that it consisted of two 
hundred and forty thousand in number ; that they were called, as 
a nation, Asmack, or Askham; that they fled from Psammiticus six 
hundred and thirty years before the time of that historian, and went 
as far beyond Meroe as that place is from Elephantine. These people 
are considered by Dr. Vincent to be the same as those described 
by Strabo, under the name of Sebritoe, or Sembritoe (Advenae), who 
inhabited all the country above Meroe, and extended across the 
mountains nearly to the Red Sea. They are also described, more 
accurately perhaps, by Pliny under the names of Semberritoe and 
Asachie, on the mountains. These I consider, with Dr. Vincent, to 
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