The German Traveller Could Find No Trace Of This Story In Any Of
The Versions Of The Abyssinian Chronicle Which He Consulted, Nor Was It
Known To A Learned Abyssinian Whom He Names.
Bruce himself says that the
story, which he has "a little abridged and accommodated to our manner of
writing,
Was derived from a work written in very pure Gheez, in Shoa,
under the reign of Zara Jacob"; and though it is possible that his
amplifications outweigh his abridgments, we cannot doubt that he had an
original groundwork for his narrative.
The work of Makrizi already quoted speaks of seven kingdoms in Zaila'
(here used for the Mahomedan low country) originally tributary to the Hati
(or Negush) of Amhara, viz., Aufat,[7] Dawaro, Arababni, Hadiah,
Shirha, Bali, Darah. Of these Ifat, Dawaro, and Hadiah repeatedly occur in
Bruce's story of the war. Bruce also tells us that Amda Zion, when he
removed Hakeddin, the Governor of Ifat, who had murdered his agent,
replaced him by his brother Sabreddin. Now we find in Makrizi that
about A.H. 700, the reigning governor of Aufat under the Hati was
Sabreddin Mahomed Valahui; and that it was 'Ali, the son of this
Sabreddin, who first threw off allegiance to the Abyssinian King, then
Saif Arad (son of Amda Zion). The latter displaces 'Ali and gives the
government to his son Ahmed. After various vicissitudes Hakeddin, the son
of Ahmed, obtains the mastery in Aufat, defeats Saif Arad completely, and
founds a city in Shoa called Vahal, which superseded Aufat or Ifat.
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