I tried to persuade these Abati to organize an expedition to rescue my son, but they laughed in my face.

By degrees I found out that there was only one person among them who was worth anything at all, and she happened to be their hereditary ruler who bore the high-sounding titles of Walda Nagasta, or Child of Kings, and Takla Warda, or Bud of the Rose, a very handsome and spirited young woman, whose personal name is Maqueda----" "One of the names of the first known Queens of Sheba," muttered Higgs; "the other was Belchis." "Under pretence of attending her medically," I went on, "for otherwise their wretched etiquette would scarcely have allowed me access to one so exalted, I talked things over with her.

She told me that the idol of the Fung is fashioned like a huge sphinx, or so I gathered from her description of the thing, for I have never seen it." "What!" exclaimed Higgs, jumping up, "a sphinx in North Central Africa! Well, after all, why not?
Some of the earlier Pharaohs are said to have had dealings with that part of the world, or even to have migrated from it.

I think that the Makreezi repeats the legend.

I suppose that it is ram-headed." "She told me also," I continued, "that they have a tradition, or rather a belief, which amounts to an article of faith, that if this sphinx or god, which, by the way, is lion, not ram-headed, and is called Harmac----" "Harmac!" interrupted Higgs again.