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to this diet, without variety or change, fhould have it for their characteristic that they were long livers.

The fhepherds were not at all alarmed at the arrival of Cambyfes's ambaffadors. On the contrary, they treated them as an inferior fpecies of men. Upon afking them about their diet, and hearing it was upon bread, they called it dung, probably from having the appearance of that bread which the miferable Agows, their neighbours, make from feeds of baftard rye, which they collect in their fields under the burning rays of the fun. They laughed at Cambyfes's requifition of fubmitting to him, and did not conceal their contempt of his idea of bringing an army thither. They treated ironically his hopes of conqueft, even fuppofing all difficulties of the defert overcome, and his army ready to enter their country, and counselled him to return while he was well, at leaft for a time, till he fhould produce a man of his army that could bend the bow that they then fent him; in which cafe, he might continue to advance, and have hope of conqueft. It is well known, that the Perfians were all famous archers. The mortification, therefore, they experienced, by receiving the bow they could not bend, was a very fenfible one, though the narrative of the quantity of gold the meffengers had feen made a much greater impreflion upon Cambyfes. To procure this treasure was, however, impracticable, as he had no provifion, nor was there any in the way of his march. His army, therefore, wafted daily by death and difperfion; and he had the mortification to be obliged to retreat into Egypt, after part of his troops had been reduced to the, neceffity of eating each other.

Trade was now attempted to be opened by Darius, king of Perfia, in a much more worthy and liberal manner, as he fent fhips down the river Indus into the ocean, whence they entered the Red Sea. It is probable, in this voyage, he acquired all the knowledge neceffary for establishing this trade in Perfia; for he must have paffed through the Perfian gulf, and along the whole eastern coaft of Arabia; he must have feen the marts of perfumes and fpices that were at the mouth of the Red Sea, and the manner of bartering for gold and filver, as he

was neceffarily in thofe trading places which were upon the very fame coaft from which the bullion was brought.

Alexander's expedition into India was, of all events, that which most threatened the deftruction of the commerce of the continent, or the difperfing it into different channels throughout the Eaft: first, by the destruction of Tyre, which must have, for a time, annihilated the trade by the Arabian gulf; then by his march through Egypt into the country of the fhepherds, and his intended further progrefs into Ethiopia to the head of the Nile. If we may judge of what we hear of him in that part of his expedition, we fhould be apt not to believe, as others are fond of doing, that he had schemes of commerce mingled with those of conquests. His anxiety about his own birth at the temple of Jupiter Ammon, this first question that he asked of the priest,

Where the Nile had its fource?" feetned to denote a mind busied about other objects; for eife he was then in the very place for information, being in the temple of the horned god, the deity of the fhepherds, the African carriers of the Indian produce; a temple which, though in the midst of sand, and deftitute of gold or filver, poffeffed more and better information concerning the trade of India and Africa, than could be found in any other place on the continent.

Mr. Bruce next proceeds to give fome account of the vifit made by the queen of Sheba, as we erroneously call her, and the confequences of that vifit; the foundation of an Ethiopian monarchy, and the continuation of the fceptre in the tribe of Judah, down to this day.

"Many," fays Mr. Bruce, "have thought this queen was an Arab. But Saba was a feparate ftate, and the Sabeans a diftinct people from the Ethiopians and the Arabs, and have continued fo till very lately. We know, from history, that it was a cuftom among thefe Sabeans, to have women for their fovereigns in preference to men, a custom which still subfifts among their defcendants.

Medis levibufque Sabais, Imperat hic fexus Reginarumque fub armis, Barbarice pars magna jacet.

Ppz

CLAUD

"Her

1

"Her name, the Arabs fay, was Belkis; the Abyffinians, Maqueda. Our Saviour calls her Queen of the South, without mentioning any other name, but gives his fanction to the truth of the voyage. The Queen of the South (or Saba, or Azab) fhall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and fhall condemn it; for the came from the uttermoft parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.' No other particulars, however, are mentioned about her in fcripture; and it is not probable our Saviour would fay fhe came from the uttermoft parts of the earth, if she had been an Arab, and had near 50 deg. of the continent behind her. The gold, the myrrh, caffia, and frankincenfe, were all the produce of her own country; and the many reafons Pineda gives to fhew fhe was an Arab, more than convince me that she was an Ethiopian or Cufhite fhepherd.

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"A ftrong objection to her being an Arab, is, that the Sabean Arabs, or Homerites, the people that lived oppofite to Azab on the Arabian fhore, had kings inftead of queens, which latter the fhepherds had, and ftill have. Moreover, the kings of the Homerites were never seen abroad, and were ftoned to death if they appeared in public; fubjects of this ftamp would not very readily fuffer their queen to go to Jerufalem, even fuppofing they had a queen, which they had not.

"Whether he was a Jewefs or a Pagan is uncertain: Sabaifm was the religion of all the Eaft. It was the conftant attendant and ftumbling block of the Jews; but confidering the multitude of that people then trading from Jerufalem, and the long time it continued, it is not improbable fhe was a Jewels. And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, the came to prove him with hard queftions.' Our Saviour, moreover, fpeaks of her with praise, pointing her out as an example to the Jews. And, in her thankfgiving before Solomon, the alludes to God's bleffing on the feed of Ifrael for ever, which is by no means the language of a Pagan, but of a perfon fkilled in the ancient history of the Jews.

"She likewife appears to have been a perfon of learning, and that fort of

learning which was then almost peculiar to Palestine, not to Ethiopia. For we fee that one of the reafons of her coming, was to examine whether Solomon was really the learned man he was faid to be. She came to try him in allegories, or parables, in which Nathan had inftructed Solomon.

"The learning of the Eaft, and of the neighbouring kings that correfponded with each other, efpecially in Palestine and Syria, confifted chiefly in thefe: And Joafh king of Ifrael fent to Amaziah king of Judah, faying, The thistle that was in Lebanon fent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, faying, Give thy daughter to my fon to wife: and there paffed by a wild beast that was in Lebanon, and trode down the thistle. Thou fayeft, Lo, thou hast fmitten the Edomites, and thine heart lifteth thee up to boaft: abide now at home, why shouldeft thou meddle to thine hurt, that thou shouldest fall, even thou, and Judah with thee?'

"The annals of Abyffinia, being very full upon this point, have taken a middle opinion, and by no means an improbable one. They fay fhe was a Pagan when the left Azab, but being full of admiration at the fight of Solomon's works, fhe was converted to Judaism in Jerufalem, and bore him a fon, whom the called Menilek, and who was their firft king. However ftrongly they affert this, and however dangerous it would be to doubt it in Abyffinia, I will not here aver it for truth, nor much lefs ftill will I pofitively contradict it, as fcripture has faid nothing about it. I fuppofe, whether true or not, in the circumftances the was, whilft Solomon alfo, fo far from being very nice in his choice, was particularly addicted to Idumeans, and other ftrange women, he could not more naturally engage himself in any amour than in one with the queen Saba, with whom he had fo long entertained the most lucrative connections, and moft perfect friendship, and who, on her part, by fo long a journey, had furely made fufficient advances.

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"The Abyffinians, both Jews and Chriftians, believe the xlvth pfalm to be a prophecy of this queen's voyage to Jerufalem; that fhe was attended by a daughter of Hiram's from Tyre to Jerufalem, and that the last part contains a declaration of her having a fon by So

lomon,

lomon, who was to be king over a nation of Gentiles.

"To Saba, or Azab, then, fhe returned with her fon Menilek, whom, after keeping fome years, the fent back to his father to be inftructed. Solomon did not neglect his charge, and he was anointed and crowned king of Ethiopia, in the temple of Jerufalem, and at his inauguration took the name of David. After this he returned to Azab, and brought with him a colony of Jews, among whom were many doctors of the law of Mofes, particularly one of each tribe, to make judges in his kingdom, from whom the prefent umbares (or fupreme judges, three of whom always attend the king) are faid and believed to be defcended. With thefe came alfo Azarias, the son of Zadok the prieft, and brought with him a Hebrew tranfcript of the law, which was delivered into his cuftody, as he bore the title of nebrit, or high-prieft; and this charge, though the book itself was burnt with the church of Axum in the Moorish war of Adel, is ftill continued, as it is faid, in the lineage of Azarias, who are nebrits, or keepers of the church of Axum, at this day. All Abyffinia was thereupon converted, and the government of the church and ftate modelled according to what was then in ufe at Jerufalein.

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By the last act of the queen of, Saba's reign, fhe fettled the mode of fucceffion in her country for the future. First, he enacted, that the crown fhould be hereditary in the family of Solomon for ever. Secondly, that, after her, no woman fhould be capable of wearing that crown or being queen, but that it fhould defcend to the heir male, however diftant, in exclufion of all heirs female whatever, however near; and that these two articles fhould be confidered as the fundamental laws of the kingdom, never to be altered or abolifhed. And, laftly, That the heirs male of the royal houfe, fhould always be fent prifoners to a high mountain, where they were to continue till their death, or till the fucceffion fhould open to them."

The Abyffinians have the whole fcriptures entirely as we have, and count the fame number of books; but they divide them in another manner, at least

in private hands, few of them, from extreme poverty, being able to purchase the whole, either of the hiftorical or prophetical books of the Old Testament. The fame may be faid of the New, for copies containing the whole of it are very fcarce. Indeed no where, unless in churches, do you fee more than the Gofpels, or the Acts of the Apostles, in one perfon's poffeffion, and it must not be an ordinary man that poffeffes even thefe. Many books of the Old Teftament are forgotten, fo that it is the fame trouble to procure them, even in churches, for the purpofe of copying, as to confult old records long covered with duft and rubbish. The Revelation of St. John is a piece of favourite reading among them. There is no fuch thing as diftinctions between canonical and apocryphal books. Bell and the Dragon, and the Acts of the Apostles, are read with equal devotion, and, for the most part, with equal edification. The Song of Solomon is a favourite piece of reading among the old priests, but forbidden to the young ones, to the deacons, laymen, and women. The Abysfinians believe, that this fong was made by Solomon in praise of Pharaoh's daughter; and do not think, as fome of our divines are disposed to do, that there is in it any mystery or allegory refpecting Chrift and the church.

Next to the New Teftament they place the conftitutions of the Apoftles, which they call Synnodos, which, as far as the cafes or doctrines apply, we may fay is the written law of the country. These were tranflated out of the Arabic. They have next a general liturgy, or book of common prayer, befides feveral others peculiar to certain feftivals, under whofe names they go. The next is a very large voluminous book, called Haimanout Abou, chiefly a collection from the works of different Greek fathers, treating of, or explaining feveral herefies, or difputed points of faith, in the ancient Greek church. Tranflations of the works of St. Athanafius, St. Bazil, St. John Chryfoftome, and St. Cyril, are likewise, current among them.

The next is the Synaxar, or the Flos Sanctorum, in which the miracles and lives, or lies of their faints, are at large recorded, in four monftrous volumes in

folio,

folio, ftuffed full of fables of the moft incredible kind. They have a faint that wrestled with the devil in the shape of a ferpent nine miles long, threw him from a mountain, and killed him. Another faint who converted the devil, turned monk, and lived in great holiness forty years after his converfion, doing penance for having tempted our Saviour upon the mountain: what became of him after, they do not fay. Again, another faint, that never ate nor drank from his mother's womb, went to Jerufalem, and faid mass every day at the holy fepulchre, and came home at night in the fhape of a ftork. The laft Mr. Bruce mentions, was a faint, who, being very fick, and his ftomach in diforder, took a longing for partridges; he called upon a brace of them to come to him, and immediately two roafted partridges came flying, and refted upon his plate, to be devoured. Thefe ftories are circumftantially told and vouched by unexceptionable people, and were a grievous ftumbling-block to the Jefuits, who could not pretend their own miracles were either better established, or more to be credited.

The laft of this Ethiopic library is the book of Enoch. Upon hearing this book first mentioned, many literati in Europe had a wonderful defire to fee it, thinking that, no doubt, many fecrets and unknown hiftories might be drawn from it. Upon this, fome impoftor getting an Ethiopic book into his hands, wrote for the title, The Prophecies of Enoch, upon the front page of it. M. Pierifc no fooner heard of it than he purchafed it of the impoftor for a confiderable tum of money: being placed afterwards in cardinal Mazarine's library, where Mr. Ludolf had accefs to it, he found it was a Gnoftic book upon myfteries in heaven and earth, but which mentioned not a word of Enoch, or his prophecy, from beginning to end; and, from this dif appointment, he takes upon him to deny the existence of any fuch book any where else. This, however, is a miftake; for, among the articles Mr. Bruce configned to the library at Paris, was a very beautiful and magnificent copy of the prophecies of Enoch, in large quarto; another is amongst the books of fcripture which he brought

home, standing immediately before the book of Job, which is its proper place in the Abyffinian canon; and a third copy he prefented to the Bodleian library at Oxford.

The Abyffinian annals mention an expedition to have happened into the fartheft part of Arabia Felix, which the Arabian authors, and indeed Mahomet himself in the Koran calls by the name of the War of the Elephant, and the cause of it was as follows-There was a temple nearly in the middle of the peninfula of Arabia, that had been held in the greatest veneration for about one thoufand four hundred years. The Arabs fay, that Adam, when shut out of paradife, pitched his tent on this fpot; while Eve, from fome accident or other, died and was buried on the fhore of the Red Sea, at Jidda. Two days journey east from this place, her grave, of green fods about fifty yards in length, is fhewn to this day. In this temple alfo was a black stone, upon which Jacob faw the vifion mentioned in fcripture, of the angels defcending, and afcending into Heaven. It is likewife faid, with more appearance of probability, that this temple was built by Sefoftris, in his voyage to Arabia Felix, and that he was worshipped there under the name of Ofiris.

This tower, and idol, being held in great veneration by the neighbouring nations, fuggefted the very natural thought of making the temple the market for the trade from Africa and India. They chofe this town in the heart of the country, acceffible on all fides, and commanded on none, calling it Becca, which fignifies the house; though Mahomet, after breaking the idol and dedicating the temple to the true God, named it Mecca, under which name it has continued, the centre or great mart of the India trade to this day.

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Abreha, in order to divert this trade into a channel more convenient for his present dominions, built a very large church or temple, in the country of the Homerites, and nearer the Indian Ocean. To encourage alfo the refort to this place, he extended to it all the privileges, protection, and emoluments, that belonged to the Pagan temple of Mecca.

Among

Among the various tribes of Arabs, one called Beni Koreish, had the care of the Caba, the name by which the round tower of Mecca was called. These people were exceedingly alarmed at the profpect of their temple being at once deferted, both by its votaries and merchants, to prevent which, a party of them, in the night, entered Abreha's temple, and having firft burned what part of it could be confumed, they polluted the part that remained, by befimearing it over with human excre

ments.

So grofs an affront could not be paffed unnoticed by Abreha, who, mounted upon a white elephant, at the head of a confiderable army, refolved, in return, to deftroy the temple of Mecca, and with this intent laid fiege to that place. Abou Thaleb was then keeper of the Caba, who had intereft with his countrymen the Beni Koreifh to prevail upon them to make no refiftance, nor fhew any figns of wishing to make a defence. He had prefented himself early to Abreha upon his march. There was a temple of Ofiris at Taief, which, as a rival to that of Mecca, was looked upon by the Beni Koreifh with a jealous eye. Abreha was fo far mifled by the intelligence given him by Abou Thaleb, that he mistook the temple of Taief for that of Mecca, and razed it to the foundation, after which he prepared to return home.

Being foon afterwards informed of his mistake, and not repenting of what he had already done, he refolved to deftroy Mecca alfo. Abou Thaleb, however, had never left his fide; by his great hofpitality, and the plenty he procured to the emperor's army, he fo gained Abreha, that hearing, on inquiry, he was no mean man, but a prince of the tribe of Beni Koreifh, noble Arabs, he obliged him to fit in his prefence, and kept him conftantly with him as a companion. At laft, not knowing how to reward him fufficiently, Abreha desired him to ask any thing in his power to grant, and he would fatisfy him. Abou Thaleb, taking him at his word, wifhed to be provided with a man, that fhould bring back forty oxen, the foldiers had ftolen from him. Abreha, who expected that the favour he was to afk, was to fpare

the temple, which he had in that cafe refolved in his mind to do, could not conceal his aftonishment at fo filly a request, and he could not help teftifying this to Abou Thaleb, in a manner that fhewed it had lowered him in his esteem. Abou Thaleb, fmiling, replied very calmly, "If that before you is the temple of God, as I believe it is, you fhall never deftroy it, if it is his will that it fhould ftand: if it is not the temple of God, or, which is the fame thing, if he has ordained that you should deftroy it, I fhall not only affift you in demolishing it, but fhall help you in carrying away the laft ftone of it upon my fhoulders: but as for me, I am a fhepherd, and the care of cattle is my profeffion; twenty of the oxen which are ftolen are not my own, and I shall be put in prifon for them to-morrow; for neither you nor I can believe that this is an affair God will interfere in: and therefore I apply to you for a foldier who will feek the thief, and bring back my oxen, that my liberty be not taken from me."

Abreha had now refreshed his army, and, from regard to his guest, had not touched the temple; when, fays the Arabian author, there appeared, coming from the fea, a flock of birds called Ababil, having faces like lions,' and each of them, in his claws, holding a small stone like a pea, which he let fall upon Abreha's army, fo that they were all destroyed. The author of the manufcript from which Mr. Bruce took this fable, and which is alfo related by feveral other hiftorians, and mentioned by Mahomet in the Koran, does not feem to fwallow the story implicitly. For he fays, that there is no bird that has a face like a lion, that Abou Thaleb was a Pagan, Mahomet being not then come, and that the Chriftians were worshippers of the true God, the God of Mahomet; and, therefore, if any miracle was wrought here, it was a miracle of the devil, a victory in favour of Paganism, and deftructive of the belief of the true God. In conclufion, he fays, that it was at this time that the fmall-pox and measles firft broke out in Arabia, and almost totally deftroyed the army of Abreha. But if the ftone, as big as a pea, thrown by the Ababil, had killed Abreha's army to the last man,

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