Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile, Volume 1 (of 5): In the years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772 and 1773Bruce, James
History
Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile, Volume 1 (of 5): In the years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772 and 1773
Bruce, James
Egypt -- Description and travel; Ethiopia -- Description and travel; Ethiopia -- History; Natural history -- Ethiopia; Nile River
That country, round by Cape Gardefan, and south towards Sofala, along
the Indian Ocean, was long governed by an officer called _Baharnagash_,
the meaning of which is, King of the Sea, or Sea Coast. Another officer
of the same title was governor of Yemen, or Arabia Felix, which, from
the earliest times, belonged to Abyssinia, down to the Mahometan
conquest. The king himself was called _Nagash_, or Najashi, so were the
governors of several provinces, especially Gojam; and great confusion
has risen from the multitude of these kings. We find, for example,
sometimes three upon the throne at one time, which is exceedingly
improbable in any country. We are, therefore, to suppose, that one of
these only is king, and two of them are the Najashi, or Nagash, we have
just described; for, as the regulation of the queen of Saba banished
the heirs-male to the mountain, we cannot conceive how three brothers
could be upon the throne at the same time, as this law subsists to the
present day. This, although it is one, is not the only reason of the
confusion, as I shall mention another in the sequel.
As we are about to take our leave of the Jewish religion and government
in the line of Solomon, it is here the proper place that I should
add what we have to say of the Falasha, of whom we have already had
occasion to speak, when we gave a specimen of their language, among
those of the stranger nations, whom we imagine to have come originally
from Palestine. I did not spare my utmost pains in inquiring into the
history of this curious people, and lived in friendship with several
esteemed the most knowing and learned among them, and I am persuaded,
as far as they knew, they told me the truth.
The account they give of themselves, which is supported only by
tradition among them, is, that they came with Menilek from Jerusalem,
so that they agree perfectly with the Abyssinians in the story of the
queen of Saba, who, they say,· was a Jewess, and her nation Jews before
the time of Solomon; that she lived at Saba, or Azaba, the myrrh and
frankincense country upon the Arabian Gulf. They say further, that
she went to Jerusalem, under protection of Hiram king of Tyre, whose
daughter is said in the xlvth Psalm to have attended her thither; that
she went not in ships, nor through Arabia, for fear or the Ishmaelites,
but from Azab round by Masuah and Suakem, and was escorted by the
Shepherds, her own subjects, to Jerusalem, and back again, making use
of her own country vehicle, the camel, and that hers was a white one,
of prodigious size and exquisite beauty.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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