and bring him to Gondar, his capital: A backwardness was visible in the behaviour of each of them, because in each one's breast the fear was the same.
In so uncommon a conjuncture and disposition of men's minds, a subject had the ambition and boldness to offer himself for king, and he was accordingly elected. This was Oustas[1], son of Delba Yasous, by a daughter of the late king of that name; and Abyssinia now saw, for the second time, a stranger seated on the throne of Solomon. Oustas was a man of undisputed merit, and had filled the greatest offices in the state. He had been Badjerund, or master of the household, to the late king Yasous. Tecla Haimanout, who succeeded, had made him governor of Samen; and though, in the next reign, he had fallen into disgrace with Theophilus, this served but to aggrandize him more, as he was very soon after restored to favour, and by this very prince raised to the dignity of Ras, the first place under the king, and invested at once with the government of two provinces, Samen and Tigré. He was, at the death of Theophilus, the greatest subject in Abyssinia; one step higher set him on the throne, and the circumstances of the time invited him to take it. He had every quality of body and mind requisite for a king; but the constitution of his country had made it unlawful for him to reign. He took, upon his inauguration, the name of Tzai Segued.
Oustas, though a new king, followed the customs of the ancient monarchs of Abyssinia; for that very reason was
- ↑ It signifies justus.
