The Washington times., 1918-08-18

"YHILE the great war has been aD-
M sorbing most of the attention Of
" civilization strange and thrilling
events have been happening in the far
away, little known African land of Abys-
sinia.
| A fierce civil war in that country has re-
suited in placing a Christian Empress on
the throne of her fathers and the complete
defeat of the pagan, pro-German, Moham-
medan forces.
This event is of more than merely cur
ious interest, for Abyssinia has good
claims to be regarded as the oldest Chris
tian land in the world and to the posses
sion of the largest proportion of the purest
ancient Hebrew blood-the blood of King
David, King Solomon and other great He
brew patriots of the most glorious period
of Judaism.
The new Empress Zaoditu, who has just
been secured on the throne, is reputed to
be a descendant of King Solomon and the
immortal Queen of Sheba, which enor-
mously increases her claims to our atten-
tion.
There is no doubt that Abyssinia was
the country of that magnificent and gen.
eTous Queen of Sheba, whose visit to King
Solomon at Jerusalem is described with
considerable detail in the Bible In the
Book of Kings, Chapter Y, we read:
a When the Queen of Sheba heard of
the fame of Solomon concerning the name
of the Lord, she came to prove him with
hard questions.
"2 And she came to Jerusalem with
very great train, with camels that bare
spices, and very much gold, and precious
stones and when she was come to Solo,
mon, she communed with him of all that
was in her heart.
''3. And Solomon told her all her ques-
tions: there was not any thing hid from
the King which he told her not:
J 40 And she gave the King an hundred
talents of gold, and Of spices very great
store, and precious stones: there came no
more such abundance Of spices as these
which the Queen of Sheba gave to King
Solomon.
"13 And King Solomon gave unto the
Queen of Sheba all her desire. whatsoever
-she asked. beside that which Solomon gave
her of his royal bounty. So she turned
and went to her own country, she and her
servants"
Very ancient Hebrew and Arab legends
prove that this famous Queen came from a
land that roughly corresponds 10 the pres
ent Abyssinia. The land was also known
in the Bible and in the classics as Ethiopia
The reason why Sheha and Ethiopia are
thus associated is simple. Sheba, or Saba
was an important country of southern
Arabia. The Sabaean Arabs extended
their rule across the few miles of the Red
Sea that separated them from Ethiopia,
and in King SOlomon's time the race had
its most important territory in the latter
country.
The Arabic legends tell the story of the
Queen Of Sheba. partly as it is given in
the Bible, but with many additional inter-
esting details. They give the Queens
name as Balkis. They say she had a son
by King Solomon, whom she called Meme
lex, and that has ever since been a favor
ite name in the land. 1t was borne by the
late Emperor Menelek and he, in turn,
was reputed to be a descendant of King
Solomon. AS the present Empress is his
daughter she can claim the same Illus
ltrious ancestry.
| Concerning the early conversion of the
land to Christianity, there is strong evil
ldence. In the Acts of the Apostles, Chap