A CONVERSATION

WITH

ABRAM, AN ABYSSINIAN,

CONCERNING

THE CITY OF GWENDER AND THE SOURCES OF THE NILE.

BY THE PRESIDENT.

HAVING

AVING been informed, that a native of Abyffinia was in Calcutta, who spoke Arabick with tolerable fluency, I fent for and examined him attentively on several subjects, with which he seemed likely to be acquainted: his answers were fo fimple and precise, and his whole demeanour fo remote from any fufpicion of falsehood, that I made a minute of his examination, which may not perhaps be unacceptable to the Society. Gwender, which BERNIER had long ago pronounced a Capital City, though LUDOLF afferted it to be only a Military Station, and conjectured, that in a few years it would wholly difappear, is certainly, according to ABRAM, the Metropolis of Abyffinia. He fays, that it is nearly as large and as populous as Mifr or Kábera, which he saw on his pilgrimage to Jerufalem; that it lies between two broad and deep rivers, named Caba and Ancrib, both which flow into the Nile at the distance of about fifteen days' journey; that all the walls of the houses are of a red ftone, and the roofs of thatch; that the ftreets are like thofe of Calcutta, but that the

ways,

ways, by which the king paffes, are very fpacious; that the palace, which has a plaistered roof, refembles a fortrefs, and ftands in the heart of the City; that the markets of the town abound in pulse, and have also wheat and barley, but no rice; that sheep and goats are in plenty among them, and that the inhabitants are extremely fond of milk, cheese, and whey, but that the country people and foldiery make no fcruple of drinking the blood and eating the raw flesh of an ox, which they cut without caring whether he is dead or alive; that this favage diet is, however, by no means general. Almonds, he fays, and dates are not found in his country, but grapes and peaches ripen there, and in fome of the distant provinces, efpecially at Cárudár, wine is made in abundance; but a kind of mead is the common inebriating liquor of the Abyffinians. The late King was Tilca Mabút (the first of which words means root or origin), and the present, his brother Tilca Jerjis. He represents the royal forces at Gwender as confiderable, and afferts, perhaps at random, that near forty thoufand horse are in that station: the troops are armed, he fays, with mufkets, lances, bows and arrows, cimeters, and hangers. The council of state confifts, by his account, of about forty Minifters, to whom almoft all the executive part of government is committed. He was once in the fervice of a Vazir, in whose train he went to fee the fountains of the Nile or Abey, ufually called Alwey, about eight days' journey from Gwender : he faw three fprings, one of which rises from the ground with a great noife, may be heard at the distance of five or fix miles. I fhowed him the defcription of the Nile by GREGORY of Ambara, which LUDOLF has printed in Ethiopick: he both read and explained it with great facility; whilst I compared his explanation with the Latin verfion, and found it perfectly exact. He afferted of his own accord, that the defcription was conformable to all that he had seen and heard in Ethiopia; and, for that reason, I annex it. When I interrogated him on the languages and learning of his country, he answered, that fix or seven tongues at least were spoken there; that the most elegant idiom, which the King used, was the

that

Ambarick;

Ambarick; that the Ethiopick contained, as it is well known, many Arabick words; that, befides their facred books, as the prophefy of ENOCH, and others, they had histories of Abyffinia and various literary compofitions; that their language was taught in schools and colleges, of which there were feveral in the Metropolis. He faid, that no Abyffinian doubted the existence of the royal prison called Wabinin, fituated on a very lofty mountain, in which the fons and daughters of their Kings were confined; but that, from the nature of the thing, a particular defcription of it could not be obtained. "All these matters, faid he, are explained, I fuppose, "in the writings of YA'KU'B, whom I faw thirteen years ago in Gwen"der: he was a physician, and had attended the King's brother, who “ was also a Vazir, in his laft illness: the prince died; yet the king loved "YA'KU'B, and, indeed, all the court and people loved him: the king "received him in his palace as a guest, supplied him with every thing, "that he could want; and, when he went to fee the fources of the Nile "and other curiofities (for he was extremely curious), he received every

poffible affistance and accommodation from the royal favour: he un"derstood the languages, and wrote and collected many books, which "he carried with him." It was impoffible for me to doubt, especially when he described the perfon of YA'KU'в, that he meant JAMES BRUCE, Efq. who travelled in the drefs of a Syrian physician, and probably affumed with judgement a name well known in Abyffinia: he is still revered on Mount Sinai for his fagacity in discovering a spring, of which the monaftery was in great need; he was known at fedda by Mi'r MOHAMMED HUSSAIN, one of the most intelligent Mahommedans in India; and I have seen him mentioned with great regard in a letter from an Arabian merchant at Mokhá. It is probable, that he entered Abyffinia by the way of Mufuwwa, a town in the poffeffion of the Mufelmans, and returned through the defert mentioned by GREGORY in his defcription of the Nile. We may hope, that Mr. BRUCE will publish an account of his interesting travels, with a version of the book of ENOCH, which

no

518

no man but himself can give us with fidelity. By the help of Abyssinian records, great light may be thrown on the hiftory of Yemen before the time of MUHAMMED, fince it is generally known, that four Ethiop kings fucceffively reigned in that country, having been invited over by the natives to oppose the tyrant DHU' NAWA's, and that they were in their turn expelled by the arms of the Himyarick princes with the aid of ANUSHIRVAN king of Perfia, who did not fail, as it usually happens, to keep in fubjection the people, whom he had confented to relieve. If the annals of this period can be restored, it must be through the histories of Abyffinia, which will also correct the many errors of the best Afiatick writers on the Nile, and the countries which it fertilises.

ON