CHAPTER VII.
THE ABYSSINIANS.
According to Bruce, who travelled extensively in
Africa, the Abyssinians have among them a tradition,
handed down from time immemorial, that Cush was
their father. Theodore, late king of Abyssinia, maintained
that he descended in a direct line from Moses.
As this monarch has given wider fame to his country
than any of his predecessors, it will not be amiss to
give a short sketch of him and his government.
Theodore was born at Quarel, on the borders of the western Amhara, and was educated in a convent in which he was placed by his mother, his father being dead. He early delighted in military training, and while yet a boy, became proficient as a swordsman and horseman.
Like Robert Clive, Warren Hastings, and many other great warriors, Theodore became uneasy under the restraint of the school-room, and escaped from the convent to his uncle, Dejatch Comfu, a noted rebel, from whom he imbibed a taste for warlike pursuits, and eventually became ruler of a large portion of Abyssinia. Naturally ambitious and politic, he succeeded
