Begemder, marched with his whole force, and encamped under the mountain. He then rescued Bacuffa from the hands of his relations; and, in order to obviate, as much as possible, any future trouble, he obliged the different branches of the royal family to a reconciliation with each other, making Bacuffa, on the one side, swear that he was not to remember nor revenge any injury or affront received upon the mountain; and the princes, that they would forget all old disagreements, consider Bacuffa as their king, and not create him any trouble in his reign by escapes, or other rebellious practices.

As it was then night, Bacuffa staid in the house of Azage Assarat, and next morning came to Serbraxos, whence he sent to the monks of Tedda to meet him there. From Tedda he proceeded to Gondar, where he was met by the Abuna and Itchegue, amidst the acclamations of a prodigious number of people.

BACUFFA.

From 1719 to 1729.

Bloody Reign-Exterminates the Conspirators-Gains Lasta-Nation disturbed by a report of his deathHis general character.

ONEST men, who loved their country, saw the dangerous situation it was then in. Every day had produced instances of a growing indifference to that form of government, which, from the earliest times, they had accounted sacred; and upon every slight and unreasonable disgust a person of consequence thought he had met with, a party was immediately formed, and nothing less agreed on than directly imbruing their hands in the blood of their sovereign.

A prince, who had qualities of mind able to put a stop to these enormities before they involved the state in one scene of anarchy and ruin, was necessary. Bacuffa was to answer these expectations; and, in the end, he was found to exceed them. Silent, secret, and unfathomable in his designs, surrounded by soldiers who were his own slaves, and by new men of his own creation, he removed those tyrants who opposed their sovereigns upon the smallest provocation.

Conspiracy followed conspiracy, and rebellion rebellion; but all were defeated, as soon as they had birth, by the superior activity and address of the king*.

Atzham Georgis, called by the Galla, Bacuffa, the inexorable, having thus ascended the throne, assumed the name of Adebar Segued. His reign extended only to eight years, and one month; but short as it was, it exhibited many proofs of the king's severe character and wise administration. As the annals of this period are very complete, the public transactions of Bacuffa are well known, though his motives seldom escaped from his own impenetrable breast. To enumerate these transactions in detail, as they are given in the Ethiopic chronicle, would exceed the limits of this history; but the principal events of his reign are given in the following narrative.

Bacuffa, when a youth, had accompanied his father Yasous in the Galla wars, where he acquired fame for his early intrepid courage. As he had been educated amongst people of that nation, he charmed the rude tribes of the Djawi with the idea that a sovereign of their own manners and character would one day ascend the throne of Habbesh. Those who, on account of age and experience, were considered by their countrymen as endowed with a knowledge of futurity, ventured to predict that he should rule both the Metsha and Toluma in a long and glorious reign. In consequence of this early popularity, he had, several times, under the three preceding kings, escaped from Wechne, and absconded himself in the country, which flattered him with hopes of the

crown.

David expired on the twelfth Ginbot A. M. 7213. Of all the principal actors during his short and bloody reign, none were more unfortunate than Betwudet Georgis, who first proclaimed the new king at Gondar. Finding that Bacuffa was detained at Wechne by the violence of his competitors, and frightened at the prospect of vengeance on account of his late conduct, the Ras, along with his fatherin-law Gebra Medehin, Kasmati Yustos, and Lik-magwass

Mamo, deserted the cause of his sovereign, and on the third night after the sedition at Wechne, left the capital for Gojam. The honour of confirming the king was reserved for Amha Yasous, Kasmati of Begemder, who surrounded the mountain with his cavalry, terrified the princes into submission, and conducted Bacuffa to the capital. This transaction occupied nearly the space of a week, during which great excesses were committed in Gondar; the wuladjat, or household troops, having plundered the houses of the Ras and his party, and quartered at large on the defenceless inhabitants. On the 17th Ginbot, the azajes, the Abuna Christodulus, and Ichegue Tecla-haimanout, with all the principal clergy, met the king at Tedda. The coronation took place on the 18th; and a large promotion immediately followed. Amha Yasous was appointed Betwudet, with the government of Begemder; Heraclius was made Ras; Negade Mammo Kasmati of Samen; Manem ligaba; Beniam, son of Abba Betaxos, Lik-magwass; Ayto Wesen-segued, son of Ras Welled Georgis, takakin billetanagueta, and Helawe Christos gerasmati. The former governors retained the other provinces.

In a few days after, the unfortunate Georgis returned towards Gondar, and received an order from court to chuse his place of exile. He pitched on the solitudes of Magwena; but the monks exclaiming, "Here is the man who shed the blood of our brethren like water!" so disturbed his retreat, that he was forced to supplicate the king to change his banishment to the Kolla za Adagat, a low unwholesome place in the north of the kingdom.

The rains were begun, when accounts arrived that the Djawi, Basso and Luban Galla, whom Yasous the Great had brought from Guba, and placed on the hither bank of the Nile, in Damot, were all in rebellion. Mamo, Kasmati of Damot, conveyed this intellegence, which determined Bacuffa to visit that province in person. He assembled his forces in haste, and taking the route of Aringo, every day collected a larger army. His soldiers were struck with admiration and terror at the violent majesty of their king, who, mounted on a fierce courser, crossed the Reb at the head of his cavalry.

He was dressed in white; a large canopy was borne over his head by those who followed on horseback behind, and

Gebra Leoul, the Lik-magwass, carried the spear and shield before him. Having crossed the Nile, the king halted at Agamoha, where he was met by Beniam, Azage of Ibaba. As the Djawi came not in to throw themselves at his feet, he ordered Kasm. Tesfa Yasous to slay and plunder the whole nation, wherever he should find them; though, at first, to induce them to surrender, he had forbidden the soldiers to spoil the villages, and had cut off the ears of several who had transgressed these commands. Having appointed Gerasmati Helawe Christos his fit-aurari, he arrived at Enamora, where he was met by the people of Damot, and the Agows of Abolla and Buta. With these he ordered Kasmati Mamo and Azaje Beniam to pursue the Galla into the mountains of Damot, whither he was informed they had fled along with their cattle. He then advanced to Gafat, seizing the honey, butter, and herds of the enemy; whose corn was utterly destroyed, and cottages wasted, by the army. Driven to the last extremity, the Talta, and several other tribes of Gojam and Damot, submitted to the king's mercy, and pleading their Christianity, and former obedience to his father, were pardoned. The Zawe and Umber, on the other hand, defeated Basha Arkillidas, and slew a number of his soldiers. Bacuffa finding the Galla in general disposed for peace, ordered his officers to desist from the war, and returning to Ibaba, directed, by the usual stages, his march to Gon

dar.

Many inveterate abuses required a vigorous reform in the capital. But these were objects of inferior consideration to the king, whose dark, imperious, and cruel character, was already better known than confirmed. His vehement temper had alarmed the nobles, no less than his gloomy disposition had terrified the Ozoros on the mountain. He was generally unpopular; for he had resolved to humble the aristo cracy, that had so often insulted the throne; and depose, at pleasure, and for the slightest crimes, the greatest officers in his kingdom.

The three principal state punishments in Abyssinia, are deposition from office, imprisonment in a low, unhealthy province, and death inflicted by the guards, or the common executioner. To these may be added scourging and mutilation, of which the first is inflicted for smaller offences, and