I shall therefore now give a list of their kings of the race of Solomon, descended from the queen of Saba, whose device is a lion passant, proper upon a field gules, and their motto, “Mo Anbasa am Nizilet Solomon am Negadè Jude;” which signifies, ‘the lion of the race of Solomon and tribe of Judah hath overcome.’ The Portuguese missionaries, in place of a lion passant, which is really the king’s bearing, have given him, in some of their publications, a lion rampant, purposely, as is supposed, to put a cross into the paw of this Jewish lion; but he is now returned to the lion passant, that he was in the time of Solomon, without any symbol either of religion or peace in his paws.

LIST of the KINGS of ABYSSINIA,
FROM
MAQUEDA, QUEEN OF SABA, TO THE NATIVITY.

Years.
Menilek, or David I. reigned4
Hendedya, or Zagdur,1
Awida,11
Ausyi,3
Sawé,31
Gesaya,15
Katar,15
Mouta,20
Bahas,9
Kawida,2
Kanaza,10
Katzina,9
Wazeha,1
Hazer,2
Kalas,6
Solaya,16
Falaya,26
Aglebu,3
Asisena,1
Brus,29
Mohesa,1
Bazen,16

Menilek succeeded to the throne in the 986th year before Christ; and this number of years must be exhausted in the reign of these twenty-two kings, when each reign, in that case, will amount to more than forty-four years, which is impossible. The reign of the twenty-one kings of Israel, at a medium, is a little more than twenty-two years at an average, and that is thought abundantly high. And, even upon that footing of comparison, there will be wanting a great deal more than half the number of years between Menilek and Bazen, so that this account is apparently false. But I have another very material objection to it, as well as the preceding one, which is, that there is not one name in the whole list that has an Ethiopic root or derivation.

The reader will give what credit he pleases to this very ancient list. For my part, I content myself with disproving nothing but what is impossible, or contrary to the authority of scripture, or my own private knowledge. There are other lists still, which I have seen, all of no better authority than this. I shall only observe, upon this last, that there is a king in it, about nine years before our Saviour’s nativity, that did me the honour of using my name two thousand years before it came into Britain, spelled in the same manner that name anciently was, before folly, and the love of novelty, wantonly corrupted it.

The Greeks, to divert the king, had told him this circumstance, and he was exceedingly entertained at it. Sometimes, when he had seen either Michael, or Fasil[333], or any of the great ones do me any favour, or speak handsomely of me, he would say gravely, that he was to summon the council to inquire into my pedigree, whether I was descended of the heirs-male of that Brus who was king nine years before the nativity; that I was likely to be a dangerous person, and it was time I should be sent to Wechné, unless I chose to lose my leg or arm, if I was found, by the judges, related to him by the heirs-male. To which I answered, that however he made a jest of this, one of my predecessors was certainly a king, though not of Abyssinia, not nine years before, but 1200 after our redemption; that the arms of my family were a lion like his; but, however creditable his majesty’s apprehensions as to Abyssinia might be to me, I could venture to assure him, the only connections I had the honour ever to have had with him, were by the heirs-female.

At other times, when I was exceedingly low-spirited, and despairing of ever again seeing Britain, he, who well knew the cause, used to say to the Serach Massery, “Prepare the Sendick and Nagareet; let the judges be called, and the household troops appear under arms, for Brus is to be buried: he is an Ozoro of the line of Solomon, and, for any thing I know, may be heir to the crown. Bring likewise plenty of brandy, for they all get drunk at burials in his country.” These were days of sun-shine, when such jests passed; there were cloudy ones enough that followed, which much more than compensated the very transitory enjoyment of these.

Although the years laid down in the book of Axum do not precisely agree with our account, yet they are so near, that we cannot doubt that the revolt of the ten tribes, and destruction of Rehoboam’s fleet which followed, occasioned the removal of Menilek’s capital to Tigré[334]. But, whatever was the cause, Menilek did remove his court from Azab to a place near Axum, at this day called Adega Daid, the House of David; and, at no great distance, is another called Azabo, from his ancient metropolis, where there are old remains of building of stone and lime, a certain proof that Axum was then fallen, else he would have naturally gone thither immediately upon forsaking his mother’s capital of Azab.

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.