Even in the eighth century, after the country had become Christian, her monarchs were so powerful, that it was asserted, about the year 737, that the kings of Nubia and Ethiopia could bring into the field 100,000 horse, and as many camels. When Christianity was spread over Ethiopia, the painter’s and sculptor’s skill would be no longer necessary to make representations of their gods but the ministers of the gospel at that time were more occupied in schismatical disputes, and in making converts to their peculiar and often fanciful tenets, than in propagating the pure principles of their religion, dispelling the darkness of superstition, and advancing the civilisation and prosperity of the kingdom.
According to the tradition which I learned at Dongolah, in the reign of the fourth caliph after Mahomet this country was conquered by the Arabs, and the inhabitants blended with the conquerors, who forced them to become Mussulmen, or drove them out of the country, probably into Abyssinia.
After all that has been said, those who view the present rude and degraded state of this territory may feel a difficulty in believing that it ever could be so enlightened and flourishing as I have now described it. They ought, however, to consider, that it is not more surprising that Meroe, under the uncivilised and ignorant dominion of the Arabs, would lose all knowledge of the arts, than that the little island of Rhodes, once eminent for power, civilisation, and commerce, should now, although not, like Meroe, deprived of her rich soil, be equally ignorant and barbarous. Syracuse, from the same cause, had risen to such a height of civilisation and power, as to be able to resist the vast efforts of the Athenians; and finally, with little assistance, inflict a deadly blow on the prosperity of the city of Minerva. What is Tunis, compared to Carthage? Where are Tyre and Sidon, the cities of Phœnicia? If it was necessary, numerous similar examples might be adduced, of the vicissitudes to which kingdoms and cities are liable. Sufficient reasons have been assigned for the downfall of Meroe. The failure of her commerce; her rich soil carried away, or swallowed up by the deserts, and the consequent diminution of her population; her mines exhausted, and the active rivalry of a nation finally more powerful; the long and ruinous wars with Egypt; and at last the Arabian conquest, swept away every trace of her affluence and civilisation: the invaders, with a brand in one hand, burning her libraries[91] and edifices, and in the other the sword, forcing her subjects to embrace a different faith, and renounce the arts and knowledge of their ancestors.
In a country where the arts are now totally unknown, and which is become little better than a desert, it is not surprising to find commerce reduced to the mere exchange of the most absolute necessaries of life, and a few trifling superfluities. Small caravans occasionally go from Shendy to Abyssinia. Sometimes the rulers of the latter country do not permit them to enter their dominions, and civil wars not unfrequently put an entire stop to the trade; but when, as is generally the case, the merchants succeed in procuring an entrance, they inform me that the profits on their Cairo goods are enormous. They receive in exchange a little ivory; gold, the value of which is several dollars per ounce lower there than in Egypt; a very fine species of cotton scarf, much esteemed and worn by the Abyssinian women in the Turkish harems, and the Abyssinian coffee; which, although not equal to the Mocha, is almost the only kind drunk in Nubia: but their chief return is in slaves. The wars which generally distract that unfortunate country furnish to each state abundance of these victims, which, like cattle, are exchanged with the merchant for the luxuries of Egypt: few are the Turks who have not Abyssinian girls in their harems, and I have seen numerous eunuchs brought from that country. It is horrid to think that beings called Christians should be guilty of such enormities; but there is no doubt of the fact. The slaves, whether girls or boys, by compulsion or inclination, invariably become Mahometans.
A caravan also occasionally goes to Souakim, where they get India stuffs, Mocha coffee, and a great part of the spices, the use of which is so general. Small caravans also go to Kordofan and Darfour. In the former of these countries the Pasha of Egypt monopolises the richest produce, as gum, ivory, and ostrich feathers; but Kordofan is the chief mart of the negro slaves. The jealousy of the King of Darfour against any persons going or coming from the dominions of the Pasha of Egypt, at whose power he trembles, prevents that commerce being now very extensive. The merchants are very illiterate, and in general extremely debauched. Even their interest does not check their dissoluteness, or protect the honour of their poor Abyssinian female slaves. The supply of gold is very much diminished: some, however, is still found, and of the finest quality; but in every direction the caravans regard slaves as the most advantageous exchange for their goods. They drive them like cattle over the burning sands, and, what I have been an eye-witness to, over the bones of their brethren which lie bleaching in the desert. The ingenuity of their masters seems to be exercised, not in alleviating their pains, but in devising how to economise their own purses, by discovering on how little and how coarse food their victims can exist, and what extent of fatigue and suffering they can endure, and still remain saleable. In the district which we have seen to have been once the emporium of the East, there remains only this miserable traffic. Instead of palaces and splendid edifices, there are now only rude and miserable huts. Of the power, civilisation, and wealth of Meroe, not a vestige remains to corroborate the testimony of the historians but a few small temples, and the splendid sepulchres of her departed kings.
CHAPTER XXII.
ON THE ARTS OF MEROE.
AFFLUENCE WOULD INTRODUCE A TASTE FOR THE ARTS. — THE HEAT OF THE CLIMATE FAVOURABLE TO SEDENTARY PURSUITS. — PRIVATE EMULATION WOULD AFFORD FURTHER ENCOURAGEMENT. — DESIRE OF DISTINGUISHING THEMSELVES BY INTELLECTUAL PURSUITS. — TESTIMONY OF DIODORUS THAT KNOWLEDGE WAS VERY GENERALLY DIFFUSED IN ETHIOPIA. — THE PYRAMIDS OF MEROE THE OLDEST SPECIMENS OF ETHIOPIAN ART. — CIVILISATION OF THE ETHIOPIANS PROVED BY THEIR MONUMENTAL EDIFICES. — THE ETHIOPIANS INVENTORS OF THE ARCH. — EGYPTIAN ARCHES. — ETHIOPIAN SCULPTURE. — PROBABLE CAUSE OF THEIR PECULIAR STYLE. — REASONS FOR PRESERVING IT. — DEFERENCE OF THE PTOLEMIES AND ROMANS FOR THE SUPERSTITIONS OF THE EGYPTIANS. — PLEASING EFFECT OF THE EGYPTIAN AND ETHIOPIAN SCULPTURE. — ADMIRABLE MANNER OF DRAWING ANIMALS, HIEROGLYPHICS, AND THEIR TASTE IN ORNAMENTS. — COLOURING ON ETHIOPIAN SCULPTURE. — THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE ARTS DESCENDED FROM ETHIOPIA. — COMPLEXION OF THE ANCIENT AND PRESENT INHABITANTS. — ACCURACY OF DIODORUS’ ACCOUNT PROVED BY THE MONUMENTS. — TASTE FOR THE ARTS IN A NATION INSEPARABLE FROM OTHER INTELLECTUAL PURSUITS. — WORKS OF THE ETHIOPIAN KING TIRHAKA. — REVIEW OF THE ANTIQUITIES IN ETHIOPIA. — FOLLY OF COMPARING THE PRESENT WITH THE ANCIENT INHABITANTS OF THE VALLEY OF THE NILE.
It has appeared in the preceding chapters, that the kingdom of Meroe was the emporium of the interior of Africa, and from her rich productions, and the abundance of her precious metals, was resorted to by the inhabitants of the regions in her vicinity. This influx of population would naturally oblige many to employ their capital and talent in other pursuits besides commerce. Every branch of industry would gradually improve; a rich and luxurious people would constantly desire new objects to please the fancy, and contribute to the enjoyment of life. The son of the merchant, who had earned great wealth, would, as in our days, be able to reap the fruits of that industry. Some might indulge in foolish extravagance; but others would place their enjoyment in the encouragement of the arts, or in those studies which gratify and enrich the mind, and, at the same time, tend to improve and civilise society.