with him in his sorrow. The child was the son of his brother the Gadado. The practice of adopting children is very prevalent among the Felatahs; and though they have sons and daughters of their own, the adopted child generally becomes heir to the whole of the property.

April 11-I was sitting in the shade before my door, with Sidi Sheikh, the Sultan's Fight, when an ill-looking wretch, with a fiend-like grin on his countenance, came and placed himself directly before me. I asked Sidi Sheikh who he was? He answered with great composure, "The executioner." I instantly ordered my servants to turn him out. "Be patient," said Sidi Sheikh, laying his hand upon mine, "he visits the first people in Sackatoo, and they never allow him to go away without giving him a few Goora nuts, or money to buy them." In compliance with this hint, I requested forty cowries to be given to the fellow, with strict orders never again to cross my threshold. Sidi Sheikh now related to me a professional anecdote of my uninvited visitor. Being brother of the executioner of Yacoba, of which place he was a native, he applied to the Governor for his brother's situation, boasting of superior adroitness in the family-vocation. The governor coolly remarked, "We will try go fetch your brother's head!" He instantly went in quest of his brother; and finding him seated at the door of his house, without noise or warning he struck off his head with a sword, at one blow, then carrying the bleeding head to the Governor, and claiming the reward of such transcendent atrocity, he was appointed to the vacant office. The Sultan being afterwards in want of an expert headsman, sent for him to Sackatoo, where a short time after his arrival he had to officiate at the execution of two thousand Tuaricks, who, in conjunction with the rebels of Goober, had attempted to plunder the country, but were all made prisoners: this event happening about four years ago. I may here add, that the capital punishments inflicted in Soudan are beheading, impaling, and crucifixion;

the first being reserved for Mohammedans, and the other two practised on Pagans. I was told, as a matter of curiosity, that wretches on the cross generally linger three days before death puts an end to their sufferings.

April 19.-The Gadado's favourite son, by Bello's sister, died to-day of the small-pox, after being considered convalescent, in consequence of riding out too early to visit his grandfather. This lad was buried in the house, as usual, a few hours after death, amid the loud lamentations of the female slaves of the family.

I went the next morning to condole with the Gadado on the death of his son. He was sitting in an inner apartment, and smiling mournfully at my entrance, he said, "This is very kind of you, Abdullah; I have met with a great misfortune; but it is the will of God." I endeavoured to reconcile him to this severe dispensation of Providence; and expressed a hope that he might yet have another son instead of him he had lost. He shook his head, and said, "God willing; but I am an old man." Then covering his face with his hands, we sat together nearly an hour in silence, when, unable to alleviate his grief, I took him by the hand; he pressed mine in return; and I left this disconsolate father with heaviness of heart.

April 30.-The Sultan sent for me in the afternoon. I was taken to a part of his residence I had never before seen. It was a handsome apartment, within a square tower, the ceiling of which was a dome, supported by eight ornamental arches, with a bright plate of brass in its centre. Between the arches and the outer wall of the tower, the dome was encircled by a neat balustrade in front of a gallery, which led into an upper suite of rooms. We had a long conversation about Europe. He spoke of the ancient Moorish kingdom in Spain, and appeared well pleased when I told him that we were in possession of Gibraltar. He asked me to send him from England some Arabic books, and a map of the world; and, in recompense, he promised his protection to as many of

our learned men as chose to visit his dominions. He also spoke of the gold and silver to be obtained in the hills of Jacoba and Adamowa; but I assured him that we were less anxious about gold mines than the establishment of commerce, and the extension of science. He now gave me a map of the country; and after explaining it to me, he resumed the old theme of applying by letter to the King of England, for the residence of a Consul and a Physician at Sackatoo; and again expressed his hope that I would revisit his dominions. He next inquired to what place on the coast the English would come, that he might send an escort for the guns; when I promised to write to His Highness on that subject from Kouka. He proposed to have two messengers waiting at the place I should select, at whose return he would send down an escort to the sea-coast.

May 1.-1 began to make preparations for my return to Bornou. The Rhamadan commenced to-day; and the Felatahs keep the fast with extreme rigour. The chief people never leave their houses, except in the evening, for prayer, and the women frequently pour cold water on their backs and necks, under the idea that the greater thirst they appear to endure, the better entitled they become to Paradise; although I am inclined to believe that they make a parade of these privations, in a great measure, to obtain the reputation of extraordinary sanctity.

May 2.-I sent for the steward of the Gadado's household, and all the female slaves, who had daily performed the duty of bringing me provisions from the time of my arrival: these provisions were, about a gallon of new milk every morning, in a large bowl, for myself, and two gallons of sour milk and ticcory for my servants, at noon; in return for each of which I always gave fifty cowries: at three o'clock, three roast fowls, with doura or nutta sauce, for which I sent fifty cowries; again, after sunset, two bowls of bazeen were brought by two female slaves, to whom I gave one hundred cowries, and about two quarts of new milk afterwards, for

which I gave fifty cowries more. Aš an acknowledgment for their attention during my residence in Sackatoo, I now presented the steward of the household with ten thousand cow. ries, and the slaves with two thousand each. The poor creatures were extremely grateful for my bounty, and many of them even shed tears. In the afternoon, I waited upon the Sultan, who told me that he had appointed the same escort which I had before, under the command of the Gadado's brother, to conduct me through the provinces of Goober and Zamfra, and that an officer of the Gadado's, after the escort left me, should accompany me to Zirmee, Kashna, Kano, and Katagum; the Governor of which would receive orders to furnish me with a strong escort through the Bedite territory, and to deliver me safely into the hands of the Sheikh of Bornou.

May 3.-To-day I was visited by all the principal people of Sackatoo, to bid me farewell; and at seven o'clock in the evening; I went to take leave of the Sultan: he was at the mosque, and I had to wait about two hours till he came out. I fol lowed him, at a little distance, to the door of his residence, where an old female slave took me by the hand and led me through a number of dark passages, in which, at the bidding of my conductress, I had often to stoop, or at times to tread with great caution, as we approached flights of steps, while a faint glimmering light twinkled from a distant room. I could not imagine where the old woman was conducting me, who, on her part, was highly diverted at my importunate inquiries. After much turning and winding, I was at last brought into the presence of Bello, who was sitting alone, and immediately delivered into my hands a letter for the King of England, with assurances of his friendly sentiments towards the English nation. He had previously sent to me to know what was His Majesty's name, style, and title. He again expressed with much earnestness of manner, his anxiety to enter into permanent relations of trade and friendship with England; and reminded me to apprise him, by

We believe in one God, and in his only Son Jesus Christ, who is his Word, and his Power, and his Council, and his Wisdom; who was with him before the world was created. In the last days he came to us, but not so as to depart from the throne of his Divinity, and he was made man by the Holy Spirit, of the Holy Virgin Mary, and was baptized in Jordan in his thirtieth year. He was made a perfect man, and was hung on the wood of the cross, in the days of Pontius Pilate; he suffered, died, and was buried, and rose the third day; and on the fortieth day afterward, he ascended with glory into the heavens, and he sat down at the right hand of his Father; and again he shall come with glory to judge the living and the dead, and there shall be no end of his kingdom.

And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the life-giving Lord, who proceeded from the Father; and we believe in one baptism for the remission of sins, and we hope for the resurrection of the dead to the life to come in eternity. Amen.

We walk also in the plain, true, and royal way; and decline not either to the right hand or to the left from the doctrine of our fathers, the twelve Apostles, and of Paul the fountain of wisdom, and of the seventy-two Disciples, and of the three hundred and eighteen* orthodox Divines who were convened at Nice, and of the one hundred and fifty convened at Constantinople, and the two hundred at Ephesus. Thus I, Claudius, king of Ethiopia, proclaim and teach; and the name of my kingdom is Atznaf* That is, the articles of faith agreed upon at the councils held in the above places. The Ethiopie Christians acknowledge only three Ecumenic Councils, viz., of Nice, Constantinople, and Ephesus. They do not acknowledge the authority of the Council of Chalcedon, because Dioscorus, Patriarch of Alexandria, was condemned in it without the privilege of a fair hearing.

That is, the sirname given at his coronation, or instalment, it being the custom of the Abyssinians to impose a name portentive of some good on the above occasion, which was called the "name of the kingdom,” because given at the time in which the King was confirmed in the government.

saged, the son of Wanag-saged, the son of Naod.

As to what appertains to the celebration of the ancient Sabbath, truly § we do not celebrate it as do the Jews who crucified Christ, saying, “His blood be upon us and upon our children;" because the Jews neither draw water, nor kindle a fire, nor boil a mess of victuals, nor bake bread, nor visit from house to house. But we celebrate so as to bring gifts to the table; and we make a supper on it, as our fathers the Apostles commanded us in their doctrine. We do not celebrate it as we do the Sabbath of the chief of holy days, which is that new day of which David says "This is the day which the Lord hath made; let us exult and be joyful in it." Because on it our Lord Jesus rose from the dead; and on it the Holy Spirit descended on the Apostles in the Oratory of Zion; and on it our Lord was incarnated in the womb of the holy, perpetual Virgin Mary; and on it, shall he come again to reward the righteous and punish the wicked.

As to what relates to the rite of circumcision, we do not circumcise as the Jews; because we know the words of the doctrine of Paul, the fountain of wisdom, who says, "To be circumcised does not profit, and to be uncircumcised does not help; but rather a new creation;” which is faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. And again, to the Corinthians he says,

Atznaf-saged, i.e., Venerable even to the ends of the earth; for so much the words in the original import.

The Ethiopians observe both the Jewish and Christian Sabbath, according to the custom of many of the primi tive Christians, who for a long time held both sacred. But they celebrate the Lord's Day much more solemuly than the Jewish Sabbath, or Saturday, on which they only abstain from rural labour.

It is very probable that" the house," in which the Disciples were assembled on the day of Pentecost, was not a private house, but the temple; for roR

KOP, sometimes signifies the temple, by way of eminence. In Matthew xii. 4, Toy olkov Toû coû, is indisputably The Temple. See also Mark ii. 26. This is what Claudius terms, "The Oratory of Zion."