Soldan o f Egypt, with w hich country the Abyflinians at that
time were in conftant correfpondence, though I never
heard they were with Sennaar, which indeed did not exiii
at that time, nor was there either city: or kingdom till the
reign o f Naod ; ib it was a correfpondence with the fove-
reigns ofiCairo, Tecla Haimanoumniftook for that with Sennaar,
which monarchy' was not then founded.— The third
obfen-ation is, that this Baady el Achmér, b e in g 'thè Very
k in g who murdered M. duRoule in 1704, did, neverthelefs,
live till the year 1726, having reigned 25 years ; whereas
M. de Maillet* writes to his court, that this prince*'had
been defeated and flain in a battle he had; with the Arabs,
under their Shekh at Herbagi in tyoy.
U pon the death o f a k in g o f Sennaar, his eldeft fori fuc-
ceeds by right ; and immediately afterwards às many o f
the brothers o f the reigning prince as can be apprehended
are put to death by the Sid el Coom, in the manner already
defcribed. Achmet, one o f the fons o f Baady, brother o f
Naffer, andlfmain now on the throne, fled, upon his brother’s
accelBon, to the frontiers o f Kuara, and gathering together
about a hundred o f the Ganjar horfe,1 he came to
Gondar, and was kindly received by the Iteghè- who perfua-
ded him to be baptiied. Some time after he returned
to Kuara, and joined the k in g ’s army a- little before thè bat-
tie o f Serbraxos, with about the fame number o f horfe,
and there h e mifbehaved, taking flight upon the firft appearance
* Vid. Confili Màillet’s letter to the Fjench ambaflador publi/hed by L e Grande in. bis
Hiftory o f AbyiEnia.. vi
pearance.iof the enemy, before a man was killed o r wounded
oft either fide. He was graceful in his perfon and carriage)
but a liar and drunkard beyond all conception.
T h e .praftice which obtains at Sennaar o f m urdering all
the collaterals o f the royal family, fee ms to be but a part
o f the fame idea* which prevails in Abyflinia, o f confining
the princes all their lives upon a mountain. The difference
o f treatment, in cafes perfectly.,parallel, feems to .offer a
juft manner o f judging, how much the one people furpaffes
the other in barbarity o f manners and difpofition. In Abyf-
finia, the princes aye confined for life on a mountain, and
in Sennaar they .are murdered in their father’s fight, in the
palace where- they were born.
As in Abyflinia, fo neither in Sennaar do women fucceed
to fovereignty, . No hiftorjcal reafon is giyep for this exclu-
fion, It probably was a rule brought from El-aice, their
own country, before founding their monarchy, for the very
contrary, prevailed among rhe,Shepherds, whom they fub-
dued in Atbara. - The princeffes, however, ip Abyflinia, are
upon: a. much biefter fopfipg than thofe Of S.ennaar. Thefe
laft have po,-ftate. nor fepled income, and are regarded very
little more than the daughters o f private individuals. A-
mong that crowd o f women which I faw the two nights I
was in the-palace, there were many princefles, fitters o f the
king, as I was after told. At that tinie they were not di-
ftinguilhable by their manners, nor was any particular
mark o f refpeiSt fliewn them. ,
3 N 2 7 , ... , . The
* Bear, like the T u rk ,'n o brother near the throne. Pof*.