Nubia and Abyssinia

THERE is no country in the world more interest ing to the antiquary and scholar than that which was known to the ancients as "Ethiopia above Egypt," the Nubia and Abyssinia of the present day. It was universally regarded by the poets and philosophers of Greece as the cradle of those arts which at a later period covered the kingdom of the Pharaohs with so many wonderful monuments, as also of those religious rites which, after being slightly modified by the priests of Thebes, were adopted by the ancestors of Homer and Virgil as the basis of their mythology. A description of this remarkable nation, therefore, became a necessary supplement to the "View of Ancient and Modern Egypt," which has been some time before the public.*

In tracing the connexion of the primitive people who dwelt on the Upper Nile, with the inhabitants of Arabia and of the remoter east, I have availed myself of the latest information that could be derived from Continental authors, as well as from the volumes of such of our own travellers as have ascended above the Second Cataract. The work of Heeren on the

* No. XXIII. of the Family Library.

Politics, Intercourse, and Trade of the Carthaginians, Ethiopians, and Egyptians, possesses considerable value, not less on account of the ingenious views which it unfolds, than for the happy application of ancient literature to the illustration and embellishment of the main hypothesis.

The reader will be surprised at the extent and magnificence of the architectural remains of Nubia, which, in some instances, have been found to rival, and, in others, even to surpass the more celebrated buildings of Egypt. It will no longer be denied by any one who has seen the splendid work of Gau, that the pattern or type of those stupendous erections, which continue to excite the admiration of the tourist at Karnac, Luxor, and Ghizeh, may be detected in the numerous monuments still visible between the site of the famed Meroë and the falls of Es Souan. The more learned among professional artists are now nearly unanimous in the opinion that the principles of architecture, as well as of religious belief, have descended from Ethiopia to Egypt; receiving improvement in their progress downward, till at length their triumph was completed at Diospolis, in the palace of Osymandias and the temple of Jupiter Ammon.

The late expedition of Ishmael Pasha into Sennaar and the other countries bounded by the two great branches of the Nile has added materially to our topographical knowledge of that portion of Af

rica,-one of the least frequented by Europeans. Cailliaud, English, and Linant have supplied to the geographer some important notices relative to the position of certain towns and mountains, of which only the names had formerly been conveyed to our ears. The Publishers have taken the utmost pains to imbody in the map prefixed to this volume the results of the latest discoveries accomplished by British, French, and American travellers, under the protection of the Turkish army.

But no consideration associated with the history of Ethiopia is more interesting than the fact that the Christian religion, received about fifteen hundred years ago, continues to be professed by the great majority of the people. In regard to the mixture of Jewish rites with the institutions of the gospel, still observable among the Abyssinians, I have suggested some reflections which seem calculated to throw a new light on that obscure subject. Of the literature of the same nation, so far as the relics could be collected from their chronicles and books of devotion, a uitable account has been given: connected in some degree with the brighter prospects which may yet be entertained by the friends of theological learning as arising from the well-directed efforts of certain benevolent associations in this country.

For some valuable information, not hitherto published, I am indebted to William Erskine, Esq., of Blackburn, late of Bombay, who kindly placed in my

hands two large manuscript volumes, containing Travels and Letters written in the East. Among these is a number of communications from Mr. Nathaniel Pearce, during his residence in Abyssinia, addressed to several British residents at Mocha and Bombay, and embracing the more prominent events of his history between the years 1810 and 1818.

In like manner, I have to express my obligations to Captain Armstrong of the Royal Artillery, who, in the course of his travels in Nubia, made drawings and measurements of the principal temples as far south as Wady Halfa. By means of these I have been enabled to ascertain the exact dimensions of several of those structures, the views of which have been given by some recent tourists with more attention to ele gance than to professional accuracy in the details.

In order to render this little volume as complete as possible, the Publishers obtained the assistance of two eminent naturalists, Mr. WILSON and Dr. GREVILLE; to the former of whom the reader owes the instructive chapter on Zoology, while to the latter he is under a similar obligation for the Botanical outline, in which are ably described the vegetable productions of the Abyssinian provinces.

To complete the plan entertained with respect to Africa, there remains yet one volume, which will appear in due time, on the History, Antiquities, and Present Condition of the Barbary States.

EDINBURGH, March, 1833.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTION.

Difficulties to be encountered by the Historian of Ethiopia-Record of

Monuments; their Uncertainty-Obstacles which opposed the Know-

ledge of the Ancients-Supposition that Civilization descended the

Nile-Progress of Oriental Emigration-Resemblance of Nubian Tem-

ples to those of India-Fame of Ancient Ethiopians-Ambiguity of the

Term-Two great Classes of Africans-Mixture of Arabians-Opinion

of Heeren as to Language-Discoveries of Hornemann and Lyon-

Tuaricks and Tibboos-Nubians-Abyssinians-Hypothesis of Hee-