lineage so ancient as that claimed by
Menelek II, Negus Negusti, "King of the Kings of Ethiopia, and
Conquering Lion of Judah."

Old Abyssinian tradition has it that in the tenth century, B.C., early
in her reign, Makeda, Queen of Sheba, paid a ceremonial visit to the
Court of King Solomon, coming with her entire court and a magnificent
retinue bearing royal gifts of frankincense and balm, gold and ivory
and precious stones. Her gorgeous caravan was bright with the
many-colored plumes and silks of litters, blazing with the golden
ornaments of elephant and camel caparisons, glittering with the glint
of spears and bucklers.

That the two greatest souls of their time, so met, should fuse and
blend is little to be wondered at. She of Sheba bore Solomon a son and
called him Menelek, so the legend runs. Later the boy was twitted by
playmates for that he had no father. In this annoyance the Queen sent
an embassy to Solomon asking some act that should establish their son's
royal paternity. Promptly Solomon returned the embassy bearing to
Sheba's court in far southwest Arabia a royal decree declaring Menelek
his son, and accompanied it by a son of each of the leaders of the
twelve tribes of Israel, enjoined to serve as a sort of juvenile royal
court to Menelek.

Whether or not the claim of Menelek II be true, that he himself is
lineally descended from the son of Solomon and Sheba's Queen, certain
it is that in race type Abyssinians are plainly come of sons of Israel,
crossed and modified with Coptic, Hamite, and Ethiopian blood. To this
day they cling closely as the most orthodox Hebrew, to some of the
dearest Israelitish tenets, notably abstention from pork and from meat
not killed by bleeding, observance of the Sabbath, and the rite of
circumcision. Notwithstanding this the Abyssinians have been
Christians since the fourth century of this era, when, only eight years
after the great Constantine decreed the recognition of Christianity by
the State, a proselytising monk came among them with a faith so strong,
a heart so pure, and an eloquence so irresistible, that, singlehanded,
he accomplished the conversion of the Abyssinian race.

Throughout the centuries the Abyssinians have held fast to their faith
as first it was taught them. The great wave of Mohammedanism that
swept up the Nile and across the Indian Ocean broke and parted the
moment it struck the Abyssinian plateau. It completely surrounded, but
never could