Kebra Nagast

Kebra Nagast — Budge — Section 17

when James Bruce of Kinnaird (1730-1794), the famous African traveller, published an account of his travels in search of the sources of the Nile. When he was leaving Gondar, Ras Michael, the all-powerful Wazir of King Takla Haymanot, gave him several most valuable Ethio- pic manuscripts, and among them was a copy of the Kebra Nagast to which he attached great importance. During the years that Bruce lived in Abyssinia he learned how highly this work was esteemed among all classes of Abyssinians, and in the third edition of his Travels 1 (vol. iii, pp. 41 1-416) there appeared a descrip¬ tion of its contents, the first to be published in any European language. Not content with this manuscript Bruce brought away with him a copy of the Kebra Nagast which he had made for himself, and in due course he gave both manuscripts to the Bodleian Library, where they are known as “ Bruce 93 ” and “ Bruce 87 ” respectively. The former, which is the “ Liber Axumea” of Bruce’s Travels , was described at great length by Dill- mann, 2 who to his brief description of the latter added a transcript of its important colophon.3 Thanks to Dillmann, who printed the headings of all the chapters of the Fetha Nagasti in the original Ethiopic, there was no longer any doubt about the exact nature and contents of the work, though there was nothing in it to show exactly when and by whom the work was compiled. In i87o(?) Francis Praetorius published,4 with a Latin translation, the Ethiopic text of Chapters xix to xxxii 1 Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile in the years 1768-1773, containing a Journey through Egypt , the three Arahias and Ethiopia. First edition in five vols., 1790 ; second edition in six vols., in 1805 ; 3rd edition in seven vols., 1813. 2 Cat. Codd. MSS. Bibliothecae Bodleianaef Oxford, 1848, No. xxvi, p. 68. 3 Ibid ., p. 74 (No. xxvii). 4 Fabula de Regina Sabaea apud FEthiopes. Dissertatio inauguralis. Halle (No date). XXV Introduction