TRAVELS

TO DISCOVER

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE.

BOOK IV.CONTINUED.

TECLA HAIMANOUT I.

From 1704 to 1706.

Writes in favour of Du Roule-Defeats the Rebels -Is assassinated while Hunting.

ELIAS the Armenian, of whom we have already spoken, and who was charged with letters of protection from Yasous to meet M. du Roule at Sennaar, had reached within three days journey of that capital, when he heard that King Yasous was assasinated. Terrified at the news, he returned in the utmost haste to Gondar, and presented the letters, which had been written by Yasous, to be renewed by his son, King Tecla Haimanout. Tecla Haimanout read his father's

letters, and approved of their contents, ordering them to be copied in his own name; and Elias, without delay set out with them. I have inserted a translation of these letters, which were originally written in Arabic, and seem to me to be of the few that are authentic, among those many which have been published as coming from Abyssinia.

"The king, Tecla Haimanout, son of the king of the church of Ethiopia, king of a thousand churches *. "On the part of the powerful august king, arbiter of nations, shadow of God upon earth, the guide of kings who profess the religion of the Messiah, the most powerful of Christian kings, he that maintains order between Mahometans and Christians, protector of the boundaries of Alexandria, observer of the commandments of the gospel, descended of the line of the prophets David and Solomon,may the blessing of Israel be upon our prophet and upon them.-To the king Baady, son of the king Ounsa, may his reign be full of happiness, being a prince endowed with these rare qualities that deserve the highest praises, as governing his kingdom with distinguished wisdom, and by an order full of equity. The king of France, who is a Christian, wrote a letter seven or eight years ago, by which he signified to me, that he wished to open a trade for the advantage of his subjects and mine, which request we have granted. We come at present to understand, that he has sent us presents by a man whose name is du Roule, who has likewise several others along with him, and that these people have been arrested at your town of Sennaar. We require of you, therefore, to set them immediately at liberty, and to suffer them to come to us with all the marks of ho

*The seal given in i.e Grande's Book is not the king's; it is the invention of some Mahometan, employed to write the letters.

邊

nour; and that you should pay regard to the ancient friendship which has always subsisted between our predecessors, since the time of the king of Sedgid and the king of Kim, to the present day. We also demand -of you to suffer all the subjects of the king of France to pass, and all those that come with letters of his consul, who is at Cairo, as all such Frenchmen come for trade only, being of the same religion with us. We likewise recommend to you, that you permit to pass freely all French Christians, Cophts, and Syrians who follow our rites, observing our religion, and who intend coming into our country; and that you do not suffer any of those who are contrary to our religion to pass, such as the monk Joseph and his companions, whom you may keep at Sennaar, it being in no shape our intention to suffer them to come into our dominions, where they would occasion troubles, as being enemies to our faith. God grant you your desires.". Wrote the 10th of Zulkade, Anno 1118, ie. the 21st of January 1706.

*

*The direction is-"To king Baady, son of king Ounsa, may God favour him with his

grace.

The first thing I remark upon this letter is, the mention of the ancient peace and friendship which subsisted between the predecessors of these two princes now corresponding. It was a friendship, he says, that had endured from the time of the king of Sedgid, and the king of Kim, to the present day.

The kingdom of Sennaar, as we shall see, was but a modern one, and recently established by conquest

The kings of Sedgid and Kim may have been princes of Pagan states on the N. W. of Abyssinia, from whom the kings of the Fungi descended.-E.

over the Arabs. Therefore the kingdoms of Sedgid and of Kim were, before that conquest, places whence this black nation came that had established their sovereignty at Sennaar by conquest: from which, therefore, I again infer, there never was any war, conquest, or tribute between Abyssinia and that state.

The Arabs, who fed their flocks near the frontiers of the two countries, were often plundered by the kings of Abyssinia making descents into Atbara; but this was never reckoned a violation of peace between the two sovereigns. On the contrary, as the motive of the Arabs, for coming south into the frontiers of Abyssinia, was to keep themselves independent, and out of the reach of Sennaar, when the king of Abyssinia fell upon them there, he was understood to do that monarch service, by driving them down farther within his reach. The Baharnagash has been always at war with them; they are tributary to him for eating his grass and drinking his water, and nothing that he ever does to them gives any trouble or inquietude to Sennaar. It is interpreted as maintaining his ancient dominion over the Shepherds, those of Sennaar being a new power, and accounted usurpers.

M. de Maillet, nor M. le Grande, his historian, have not thought fit to explain who the monk Joseph was, mentioned in this letter. Now it is certain, that when Murat and Poncet had returned from Abyssinia, there was a missionary of the minor friars, who arrived in Ethiopia, had an audience of the king, and wrote a letter in his name to the pope, wherein he has foisted many improbabilities and falsehoods; and concludes with declaring on the part of Yasous, that he submits to the see of Rome in the same manner the kings his predecessors had submitted. He makes Yasous speak Latin, too; and it is perfectly plain, from

the * whole letter, that, though he writes it himself, he cannot conceal that the king, Yasous, wished him very much away, and was very uneasy at his stay at Gondar. Who this was we know not, but suppose it was one of those assassins of M. du Roule, carrying on a private intrigue, without participation of the consul, some of whom were afterwards detected in Walkayt in the reign of David IV.

As for Elias, the forerunner of the French embassy, now become the only remains of it, he continued in Abyssinia (to judge by his letter) in great poverty, till the year 1718, immediately after which he went over to Arabia Felix, and first wrote from Mocha to M. de Maillet, consul at Cairo, as it will appear in the reign of David IV., where I have inserted his letter. That written to M. du Roule in the name of Yasous; that of Tecla Haimanout to the Basha and Divan of Cairo, I have now here inserted, because I have ad vanced facts founded upon them.

Translation of an Arabic Letter from the King of Abyssinia to M. du Roule.

"THE king Tecla Haimanout, king of the established church, son of the king of a thousand churches. "This letter cometh forth from the venerable, august king, who is the shadow of God, guide of Christian princes that are in the world, the most powerful of the Nazarean kings, observer of the commandments of the gospel, protector of the confines of Alexandria, he that maintaineth order between Mahometans and Christians, descended from the family of the prophets David and Solomon, upon whom be the blessings of

* See this letter, Le Grande, Rel. Hist. d'Abyssinie, p. 465468; and an account of Father Joseph himself, p. 447.