Next Day
Ten Monks Came From A Neighbouring Convent Of The Vision To Visit
Mathew, And Were Received In Great Ceremony By The Priests Of The Fleet
Dressed In Their Surplices.
Great rejoicings were made on occasion of
this meeting between two such distant nations agreeing in the same
faith; and the consequence of this meeting was, that those who from the
beginning had not acknowledged the supremacy of the Roman pontiff, now
submitted to his authoritye[150].
[Footnote 150: The submission of the Abyssinian church to the Roman
pontiff was a mere pretence, which afterwards produced long and bloody
civil wars, and ended in the expulsion of the Portuguese from the
country. - E.]
The kingdom of Prester John, now first visited by Sylveira, is mostly
known by this appellation but improperly, as its right name is the
empire of Abyssinia, Abassia, Habesh, or the higher Ethiopia. It
received the former appellation from the great king Jovarus, who came
to it from the Christians of Tartary, having a cross carried before him
like our bishops, and carrying a cross in his hand, with the title of
Defender of the Faith, as being a Jacobite Christian[151]. The
dominions of this prince are situated between the rivers Nile,
Astabora, and Astapus. To the east they border on the Red Sea for 120
leagues, this being the smallest side, as their whole extent is 670
leagues. On the west it borders on those Negroes who possess the great
mines of gold, and who pay tribute to the sovereign of Abyssinia. On the
north it is divided from the Moors by a line drawn from the city of
Suakem to the isle of Meroe in Nubia. On the south it borders on
the kingdom of Adel, from the mountains of which country the river
Obi descends, and falls into the sea at the town of Quilimane in the
kingdom of Melinda.
[Footnote 151: It is not worth while to inquire whence this ridiculous
legend of king or Saint Jovarus has been derived. The origin of
Christianity in Abyssinia will be considered on an after occasion, when
we come to the particular travels in that country. - E.]
The kings of Abyssinia pretend to descend from King Solomon by the queen
of Sheba or Saba; who being delivered by the way, named her son
Melech, and sent him to his father, to be by him declared king of
Ethiopia. Whereupon Solomon anointed him, and gave him the name of
David, after his grandfather. Solomon likewise appointed him a
household, giving him officers of his own, and sent with him as high
priest, Azaria the son of Zadoc, who stole the tables of the law from
the temple of Jerusalem, and carried them along with his new prince. It
is affirmed that the descendants of these original officers still
possess the same employments. The Abyssinians had some knowledge of the
law of Christ from Queen Candace, in whom they glory as being of their
country: But their true apostles were St Philip and St Mathew.
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