(Cathay, P. Clxxxi.;
Quat., Mem., Sur L'Egypte, II.
98, 113; India in XVth Century, 37;
Ludolf, I. 10, 32; Armandi, H. Militaire des Elephants, p. 548.)
NOTE 5. - To the 10th century at least the whole coast country of the Red
Sea, from near Berbera probably to Suakin, was still subject to Abyssinia.
At this time we hear only of "Musalman families" residing in Zaila' and
the other ports, and tributary to the Christians (see Mas'udi, III. 34).
According to Bruce's abstract of the Abyssinian chronicles, the royal line
was superseded in the 10th century by Falasha Jews, then by other
Christian families, and three centuries of weakness and disorder
succeeded. In 1268, according to Bruce's chronology, Icon Amlac of the
House of Solomon, which had continued to rule in Shoa, regained the
empire, and was followed by seven other princes whose reigns come down to
1312. The history of this period is very obscure, but Bruce gathers that
it was marked by civil wars, during which the Mahomedan communities that
had by this time grown up in the coast-country became powerful and
expelled the Abyssinians from the sea-ports. Inland provinces of the low
country also, such as Ifat and Dawaro, had fallen under Mahomedan
governors, whose allegiance to the Negush, if not renounced, had become
nominal.
One of the principal Mahomedan communities was called Adel, the name,
according to modern explanation, of the tribes now called Danakil. The
capital of the Sultan of Adel was, according to Bruce at Aussa, some
distance inland from the port of Zaila', which also belonged to Adel.
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