DERIVATIOK OP OSSAI AND ISSA. 387 
The learned essay"*-' to \vhich we must refer our 
readers, clearly traces the resemblance, in several points, 
between the Abyssiniaus and Ashantis, not only in 
many of the observances but also in the title of royalty. 
Thus according to Mr. Salt, the prefix of the Ethio- 
pian or shepherd kings was Za or Zo, which at a later- 
period was written Zai or Sai, from which Bowdich 
very properly inferred, the Ashanti designation of Ozzai 
or Ossai — sometimes used simply Zai or Sai — to have 
been taken, and we believe the Ezzeh or Issa, (royal 
or the neighbourhood of Timbuctoo, or Houssa. This may admit of 
argument, but that such extensive expeditions must have compelled 
or induced many nations and tribes, not very remote from the Niger 
to emigrate further southwards for safety, cannot be doubted. 
“Probus undertook an expedition against the Blemmyi, near the 
frontiers of Thebes, vanquished them, and sent several prisoners to 
Rome. Diocletian transported considerable numbers of the Blemmyi 
and Nobatae, to an island in the Nile near Elephantine, accorded them 
temples and allowed them to choose their own priests. Before the 
reign of Diocletian, the’^Roman frontier extended to within twenty- 
three journies of Axum. Thus then it would appear, that tribes or 
nations of the more civilized Ethiopians were ejected hy the great 
Egyptian emigration ; pressed still farther l)y the conquerors, whose 
invasions were recorded at Axum and Adulis ; again dispossessed by 
the enterprising Carthaginian colonies spread from Cyrene to the 
Atlantic; by the Nuraidiaus, Gaitulians, and Garamantes, driven 
southwards by the Romans ; and ultimately arrived at their present 
situation, through a series of internal wars and emigrations, positivefy 
recorded in their own historical traditions, hut otherwise unknown to 
us. Many of the superstitions and customs which these people had 
previously adopted from the Egyptians, are still existing, and many 
must have been lost or corrupted in their change of abode, and their 
consequent connexion with the less civilized Ethiopians.’’ 
* Bowdich’s Essay. 
2 c 2 
