As I Have Lived A Long Time In This Country, And
Borne A Share In All That Has Passed, I
Will present the reader with
a short account of what I have observed, and of the revolution which
forced us
To abandon Aethiopia, and destroyed all our hopes of
reuniting this kingdom with the Roman Church.
The empire of Abyssinia hath been one of the largest which history
gives us an account of: it extended formerly from the Red Sea to
the kingdom of Congo, and from Egypt to the Indian Sea. It is not
long since it contained forty provinces; but is now not much bigger
than all Spain, and consists but of five kingdoms and six provinces,
of which part is entirely subject to the Emperor, and part only pays
him some tribute, or acknowledgment of dependence, either
voluntarily or by compulsion. Some of these are of very large
extent: the kingdoms of Tigre, Bagameder, and Goiama are as big as
Portugal, or bigger; Amhara and Damote are something less. The
provinces are inhabited by Moors, Pagans, Jews, and Christians: the
last is the reigning and established religion. This diversity of
people and religion is the reason that the kingdom in different
parts is under different forms of government, and that their laws
and customs are extremely various.
The inhabitants of the kingdom of Amhara are the most civilised and
polite; and next to them the natives of Tigre, or the true Abyssins.
The rest, except the Damotes, the Gasates, and the Agaus, which
approach somewhat nearer to civility, are entirely rude and
barbarous. Among these nations the Galles, who first alarmed the
world in 1542, have remarkably distinguished themselves by the
ravages they have committed, and the terror they have raised in this
part of Africa. They neither sow their lands nor improve them by
any kind of culture; but, living upon milk and flesh, encamp like
the Arabs without any settled habitation. They practise no rites of
worship, though they believe that in the regions above there dwells
a Being that governs the world: whether by this Being they mean the
sun or the sky is not known; or, indeed, whether they have not some
conception of the God that created them. This deity they call in
their language Oul. In other matters they are yet more ignorant,
and have some customs so contrary even to the laws of nature, as
might almost afford reason to doubt whether they are endued with
reason. The Christianity professed by the Abyssins is so corrupted
with superstitions, errors, and heresies, and so mingled with
ceremonies borrowed from the Jews, that little besides the name of
Christianity is to be found here; and the thorns may be said to have
choked the grain. This proceeds in a great measure from the
diversity of religions which are tolerated there, either by
negligence or from motives of policy; and the same cause hath
produced such various revolutions, revolts, and civil wars within
these later ages.
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