139 ABYSSINIA: I. THE AFRICAN ETHIOPIA. FEW persons identify the Abyssinia of which we have lately heard so much, with the Ethiopia mentioned in several passages of the Old Testament, and in one of the New; yet the country is the same. It is true that, for many ages, all those different races whose complexion is Each darkened by the sun were called Ethiops or Indians; but even before the language of geographers in general had attained anything approaching to precision, some distinction was clearly enough marked between different countries whose inhabitants were spoken of as Ethioplans. The Prophets were precise just where precision was called for, and they usually distinguished the African Ethiopia by connecting it with Egypt. One example (Isai. xlv. 14) is enough for illustration. *Thus saith the Lord, The labour of Egypt, and merchandise of Ethipic and of the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over unto thee," &c. One cannot doubt that this refers to our Abyssinia; or, if doubt were possible, it would be removed by a quotation from Herodotus; who deserves the position of the country of these men of stature," to whose king Cambyses sent, an embassy. "The Ethiopians who welt in that part of Libya which borders upon the Southern Sea. 66 The Ethiopians to whom this embassy was sent are said to be the tallest and handsomest men in the world."* In the Acts of the Apostles, too, the road taken by the Ethiopian eunuch, returning from Jerusalem by way of Gaza, demonstrates that he was not going towards Arabia, much less to India, but towards Egypt. And independntly of other authorities, we know from Herodotus that, in his day, a-in later times, the high road to the African Ethiopia was along the banks of the Nile; which, with all its difficulties, was more easy for travellers who could afford the time, than to embark on the Red Sea, land at Arkiko or the neighbourhood, and cross the burning desert which lies between any of the ports on that sea and the mountains of the interior. Ancient Ethiopia, including the lowlands along the coasts on the Red Sea and the Arabian Gulf, was far more extensive than the territory now known as Abyssinia; to which, however, is referable nearly all that is peculiar in the history of the nation, isolated as it has been for so many ages, impenetrable to the commerce of the world, superior in strength to the savage tribes of Africa, tenacious of its own barbaric institutions, chiefly of a half Christian Christianity, which still exists, defiant alike of reform or innovation. It is a nest from which no Assailant has yet been able to eject the occupants. Not attempting an exact geographical description, which would be superfluous now that Lat readers have access to ample information of the kind, we offer a few wda which may serve to convey a general idea of this singular land. Abyssinia, then, is a remarkable elevation of a portion of the surface of the globe above the ordinary level. It is a vast table-land, whose extent * Herodotus, book iii., chapters 17-25. might be estimated at about two hundred and forty-five thousand square miles. On the east it is separated from the sea by a tract of sterile couutry from twenty miles (or at one part much less) to two hundred miles in breadth. Southward and westward are unexplored wildernesses of Central Africa. Northward lies Sennaar. Regarding Abyssinia as a table-land, it may be said to rise eight thousand feet above the sealevel on the eastern side, and six thousand on the western; so that if it were an unbroken plain, the water-shed would be of great extent, and the heavy tropic rains would flow down over the western side into the centre of Africa. But it is not a mere table-land: the plain is intersected and broken by ranges of mountains, which rise for the most part very suddenly, and tower to great heights. Some of their tops are fourteen thousand or even fifteen thousand feet above their base, and are capped with snow that, for a great part of the year, if not all through, shines like pure silver-under the same sun that makes much of the surrounding region, from beyond the Equator up to the Tropic of Cancer, almost as unfit for human habitation as the old poet fancied the whole zone to be, when he dismissed his readers with an account of it in two decisive words, inhabitabilis æstû. But those wide-ranging mountain heights serve to condense the moisture thrown up from all sides by the burning heat, and send it down their rugged steeps in torrents of purest water; which, again, are gathered into numerous lakes, or, dashing at once into channels of their own, supply rivers of no small magnitude. These streams either become tributary to the Nile, or they feed the Niger westward, or they irrigate the lowlands of old Ethiopia; where some are spent in the sands and evaporated by perpetual heats, while a few have sufficient volume to continue their course till they reach the ocean. The chief mountain streams have worn away channels for their passage at an unusual depth; and it is said that the Tacazzé, issuing from the mountains of Samen, winds its way at the bottom of a precipitous valley sometimes three thousand feet below the level of the plain. Two important results follow from the creation of this great platform, with the mountain system that crowns and completes it: one is, that a country having such a climate as might be found in Europe is thrown into the heart of Africa, there to be the home of a long-lived and athletic race, far superior to all their neighbours. The other result is, that the country is full of natural fortresses, where a few brave men can dare any of the savage hordes that venture to molest them. Even to enter Abyssinia from the east and south is difficult: the elevated plains, edged with sierras that seem interminable, can only be approached by a few passes, perilous to the invader who comes not as Colonel Merewether lately came, with regular troops, and meeting with a welcome rather than with any opposition from the native tribes. There are passages in the history of the country that would scarcely be intelligible without some knowledge of its unique geography. Whether certain things written of this African Ethiopia should be called romance or history, is a question. A short method would be to set down all that is doubtful as romance, profess ignorance or disbelief, and pass on till we reach a point where indisputable history begins. In the present case it may be doubtful whether, in treating of the religion of the country, we should begin with the Queen of Sheba, nearly three thousand years ago, or with Frumentius, little more than fifteen hundred after much consideration, we venture to brave the smiles of the incredulous, and commence with the former. but The narrative of the visit of the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon is certainly authentic history. (1 Kings x. ; 2 Chron. ix.) The only thing to be ascertained is whether she came from Arabia or from Africa; this question after all does not suggest any insuperable difficulty. The Himyarite Arabs were on one side of Bab-el-mandeb, at the southern entrance of the Red Sea, and their neighbours, the Ethiopians of Africa, on the other: either party might at some time occupy both. It has been supposed, if not proved, that they were one people, and there have been times when both were under the same sovereign. They were in close communication, either for pacific intercourse, or for war, and some of their wars are on authentic record. It cannot be doubted that Abyssinia owes its distinctive population to Asia, not to Africa, whence could not have been derived the physiognomy they bear, nor the language they speak. Our Lord, making allusion to the event, says that *the Queen of the South...came from the uttermost parts of the earth”— which, by one speaking in Palestine, may more properly be said of African Ethiopia than of Arabia-" to hear the wisdom of Solomon." Ludolph gives a summary of the Ethiopic history, or tradition, to the following effect;-" Maqueda, Queen of Ethiopia, when she had heard from her merchant, Tamerin, of the power and wisdom of Solomon, went to visit him with her princes, and with rich presents, and to learn of him the true worship of God. After some time had elapsed, she returned home, and gave birth to a son, whom she had by Solomon, and named him David. In due time she sent him to his father at Jerusalem, by whose command he was well instructed in the law of God; and being then anointed King of Ethiopia, he was sent back again, attended by some noble Israelites, to be his friends and servants in the new kingdom, ministers at court, and teachers of the law, with Azariah himself, son of Sadoc the High Priest, to be chief in matters religion; and to this event the kings of Abyssinia, and chief men of the nation, at this day trace up their origin." 66 However apocryphal the statement may sound, it is in no way inconsistent with later history, and it entirely agrees with some passages of Holy Scripture. In the year that Tartan came unto Ashdod, (when Sargon the King of Assyria sent him,) and fought against Ashdod, and took it......the Lord said, Like as My servant Isaiah hath walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and wonder upon Egypt and upon Ethiopia," &c. (Isai. xx. 1-3.) Now unless there had been an established communication between Palestine, Egypt, and Ethiopia, the conduct and ministration of the prophet Isaiah could not have been a sign to the Ethiopians during the period specified, B.C. 713-710. So in a subsequent passage of the same book, (Isai. xlv. 14,) which we have above quoted, (p. 139,) the same relation is yet more clearly indicated, A later prophecy fully justifies the belief of the Abyssinians that Israelites went into their country, and that their ancestors had intimate relations with Jerusalem and the Holy Land: "From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia "—a land eminently remarkable for its rivers— "My suppliants, even the daughter of My dispersed, shall bring Mine offering." (Zeph. iii. 10; B.C. 630.) If the Queen of Sheba and her people came over from Arabia to Abyssinia, for Sheba is said to have been in Arabia,-and if also Hebrews, either as messengers from Solomon, or as voluntary settlers, established themselves in the latter country, the superiority of the united race, and its distinctness, formerly as now, can be easily accounted for, and is in striking agreement with the report which Herodotus heard of them when in Egypt. Relating the account given him by the Egyptians of the attempt of Cambyses (B.c. 525) to open correspondence with the King, he writes: "In their customs they differ greatly from the rest of mankind, and particularly in the way they choose their kings; for they find out the man who is the tallest of all the citizens, and of strength equal to his height, and appoint him to rule over them." This report, indeed, differs from what is said of an hereditary monarchy in line of descent from Solomon; but it is quite conceivable that such was a popular report of them in Egypt; and the alleged message of their king to Cambyses is perfectly characteristic of the people as we know them now. "Bear him this bow, and say, 'The King of the Ethiops thus advises the King of the Persians: when the Persians can pull a bow of this strength thus easily, then let him come with an army of superior strength against the long-lived Ethiopians.' As time advances, the evidence of a Hebrew element in the popula tion grows more and more distinct, and a great increase of such a population was what might even be expected from the large deporta tions of Jews from Judæa into Egypt which took place in the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus. It is quite probable that in troublous times many of them would make their way up the valley of the Nile into the island of Meroë, or Sabea, as it was called, nearly answering to the present provinces of Dembea and Gojam. The Ethiopian eunuch, treasurer of Queen Candace, of whose conversion to Christianity we read in the Acts of the Apostles, (viii.,) was a Jew who came to worship at Jerusalem, and who as he journeyed read from a roll of the Scriptures a prophecy of Isaiah. Whence he came is placed beyond doubt, not only by the road he took in returning home, by way of Gaza, but by the very name of his queen, Candace. A passage of Pliny corroborates this. After describing the town of Meroë, this historian adds:"They say that a woman named Candace reigns there, that being the name borne by the queens of this country for many years past."† Strabo, about half a century earlier, had borne the same testimony; and if it be true that the name Candace has not yet been found in the lists of Ethiopian sovereigns, the silence of native witnesses cannot * Rawlinson's Herodotus, book iii., chaps. 20, 21. Hist. Nat., vi., 35. outweigh the concurrent evidence of independent and almost contemporaneous authorities. They do not appear to have preserved the names of any queens. Our present purpose is to trace the continuity of Jewish influence, confining our attention to this feature of Abyssinian history, as essential to a clear apprehension of the religion of the people. We refrain therefore from touching on matters of general import, which have been discussed by writers of great eminence, most of them embarrassed, however, by the scantiness of authentic information, and whose labours may soon be superseded by discoveries of the learned men attached to the present military expedition. Keeping, accordingly, to this line of observation, we proceed to speak of the conversion of Abyssinia. Early in the fourth century (about the year 326) two Roman boys, Frumentius and his younger brother Edesius, were landed on the shore of the Red Sea, made prisoners, taken to the King at Axum, employed in his household, and soon promoted to places of trust. Frumentius, it is related, used to inquire after Christians in the crews of vessels that put into port, and not only invited them on shore to join in Christian worship, but, when he had risen to power, built churches for Christian congregations. There is a tradition that the Ethiopians already believed in Christ, worshipped the Trinity, and wore crosses; but the last particular is quite inconsistent with the practice of Christians before Constantine, and the whole statement is more than doubtful. It is remarkable that the Gospel was received so readily. No hostile priesthood, nor any idolatrous superstition, appears to have hindered the progress of the truth, although the Arabs were altogether given to idolatry, and the old Ethiopians, like their African successors, were devoted to serpent-worship, and sunk in brutal superstitions. It is evident, indeed, from all that we can gather from Ruffinus, Athanasius, and Theodoret, that no obstruction was thrown in the way of the evangelists, but rather the contrary; and as there was no trace of worship offered to false gods, it remains undoubted that the worship of the true God must in their time have already become prevalent. The tradition in Abyssinia is that the Queen of Sheba learned that worship in Jerusalem. The statement of the sacred historians is, that, having "heard of the fame of Solomon oncerning the name of the Lord, she came to prove him with hard questions;"that" Solomon told her all her questions;" and that, full of admiration of his wisdom and prosperity, and having seen, amidst his royal state, "his ascent by which he went up," or, as the Vulgate renders, "his holocausts which he offered up, in the house of the Lord,” she said, "Blessed be the Lord thy God, which delighted in thee, to set thee on the throne of Israel: because the Lord loved Israel for ever, therefore made He thee king, to do judgment and justice." The Caughter of Pharaoh, Solomon's principal wife, is not known to have made any such profession of reverence to his God; and as for his other heathen wives, they eventually turned away his heart from Him; but it should not be overlooked that this "Queen of the South, who came from the uttermost parts of the carth to hear" the King's wisdom, and who on that account "shall rise up in the judgment" against many |