coloured with them beyond the sight of the eye, and all the trees are loaded with them." In Abyssinia, the number of criminals executed for high treason, whose bodies are cut in pieces and thrown about the streets, invite the hyænas to the capital, in the same manner as the birds of prey are invited by the carrion of the camp. To keep them off" an officer called Serach Massery, with a long whip begins cracking and making a noise worse than twenty French postilions at the door of the palace before the dawn of day. This chases away the hyenas and other wild beasts: this too is the signal for the king's rising, who sits in judgment every morning fasting, and after that, about eight o'clock, goes to breakfast."

The houses of Abyssinia are in general thatched and mean; those of the grandees are spacious, but the only approach to architectural grandeur is to be seen in their churches, which are built on commanding eminences of a circular form, with conical thatched roofs, surrounded with pillars of cedar; within which is commonly a refreshing arcade.

Gondar, the metropolis of Abyssinia, is built upon a hill of considerable height, the top of which is flat. It consists of about 10,000 families. The houses are mostly of clay, and the roofs thatched in the form of cones. The king's palace at the west end of the town, consists of four stories, flanked with square towers, commanding a fine view of the country southward as far as the lake Tzana. It was formerly a considerable edifice; but having been often burnt, most of it is now in ruins. The audience chamber is 120 feet long. The palace and its contiguous buildings are surrounded by a stone wall 30 feet high, with battlements and a parapet roof, from which the street is seen to great advantage. Koscam the palace of the Iteghe, is situated on the southern side of the Mountains of the Sun. It is a square tower of three stories, with flat roof and battlements, encompassed by a wall which is a mile in circumference, including the richest church in the kingdom. Higher on the hill are the houses of the people of rank, who are for the most part relations of the Iteghe.

Arum, the ruins of which are very extensive, was the ancient capital of Abyssinia, supposed to have been constructed in the time of Abraham. Among the ruins are 40 obelisks of granite; but without hieroglyphics; also the traces of a magnificent temple, originally 110 feet in length, with two wings on each side, a double porch, and an ascent of 12 steps. Sire is larger than Axum, and is situated on the brink of a steep narrow valley. The houses are built of clay, and covered with thatch. Adowa, a town of great importance in the province of Tigré, does not contain more than 300 houses; although by reason of the inclosures of a tree, called the wanzey, surrounding each of the houses, it occupies a spacious area. It stands on the declivity of a hill, on the west side of a small plain, surrounded by mountains, and is watered by three streams, which never become dry, even in the most arid seasons. Masuah is situated on an island, and the houses, except about 20, which

are of stone, are built of poles and bent grass. It carries on a considerable trade, but upon small capitals; property where the hand of power is unlimited, being too precarious to risk a venture in valuable commodities. Gondar and all the neighbouring country depend for the necessaries of life upon the Agows, who inhabit the province at the sources of the Nile, and come down to the number of 1000, or 1500 at a time, loaded with wheat, honey, butter, cattle, hides, wax, &c. to the capital.

The natives of this country are of a dark olive complexion, and are so averse to white, that they dislike white grapes on account of the colour. Their dress consists of a large folding mantle with a blue and yellow border, wrapped round them and bound with a sash. Close drawers are also common, to which the priests add a vest of white linen next the skin. They are commonly girt with a belt of white cloth; or among the higher orders, of red Indian cotton with girdles of silk or worsted, brought from the Levant. On the head they wear a small shawl of white cotton, with the crown exposed. Their principal liquor is called maize, made with honey, fermented with barley, and strengthened with the root of the Rhamnus inebrians, called sadoo. The liquor is drank out of Venetian decanters, called brulhes. The common drink amongst the lower classes is made of the bread left at their feasts, and parched barley: it is called sowa, and is drank out of horns.

Marriage amongst the Abyssinians is generally a civil contract, and for the most part imperfectly observed. The female, who is seldom consulted on the occasion, is carried to the house of her husband, either on his shoulders or those of his friends. The bride and bridegroom are sometimes seated on a throne of turf, shaded with boughs, round which the relations vociferate and dance. Marriage by civil contract, can be dissolved at pleasure, and requires for this purpose, nothing more than the assent of one or other of the parties. It is renewed again as often as it is agreeable to both parties; who, after they have been divorced, and connected with others, cohabit together as before. "I remember," says Bruce," to have been once at Koscam, in the presence of the Iteghe, when in the circle there was a woman of great quality, and seven men who had all been her husbands, none of whom was the happy spouse at that time." Ladies of rank retain their estates and maiden names, and assume great superiority over their husbands. There is no distinction between legitimate and illegitimate children; and in case of separation, they are equally divided; the eldest son falls to the mother's first choice, the eldest daughter to the father, &c. If the numbers are unequal after the first election, the rest are divided by lot. The dowry which consists of gold, cattle, musquets, and cloth, is also returned in case of separation. Princesses of the royal blood are not permitted to marry foreigners; and when they take the air, they go in great state, with 400 or 500 women attendants. In some cases marriage is entered into by religious contract, and the sacrament taken imme

they then wrap it up in the tent bread like a cartridge in the mean time the man having put down his knife, with each hand resting upon his neighbour's knee, puts his head forward, and opening his mouth, turns to the one whose cartridge is first ready, who stuffs the whole of it into his mouth, which is so full that he is in constant danger of being choked. This is a mark of grandeur; the greater a man would seem to be, the larger a piece he takes in his mouth; and the more noise he makes in chewing it, the more polite he is thought to be. Having dispatched this morsel, his next female neighbour holds forth another cartridge, which goes the same way, and so on till he is satisfied. He never drinks till he has finished eating; and before he begins, in gratitude to the fair ones who fed him, he makes up two small rolls of the same kind and form, each of his neighbours opening their mouth at the same time, while with each hand he puts their portion into their mouths. He then falls to drinking out of a large handsome horn. The ladies eat till they are satisfied, then all drink together, Vive la joye et la jeunesse. A great deal of joke and mirth goes round, very seldom with any mixture of acrimony or ill-humour. At this time the unfortunate victim at the door is bleeding, indeed, but bleeding little. As long as they can cut off the flesh from his bones, they do not meddle with the thighs or the parts where the great arteries are. At last they fall upon the thighs likewise, and soon after the animal bleeding to death, becomes so tough that the cannibals who have the rest of it to eat, find very hard work to separate the flesh from the bones with their teeth like dogs." Such is Bruce's description of an Abyssinian feast; and although that of Mr. Salt in some respects softens the impressions produced by his predecessor, he nevertheless represents the barbarity of the inhabitants in a light almost equally degrading.

The languages spoken in Abyssinia and the neighbouring districts are a corruption of the Geez called Tigre, Gafat, Amharic, Agow, Falashan, Teheretch, Agow, Galla, and Shangalla. The Amharic, the modern language of Abyssinia, is an Arabic dialect, more simple than the Geez in the form of its verbs. The Falasha is spoken by the tribes professing the religion of the Jews, who formerly ruled in Dembea, Samen, and near the Augrab; and Kahha is one of the ancient Ethiopian tongues. The people of Gafat speak a corrupt dialect of the Amharic.

The Abyssinians compute their time by the solar year, after the manner of the ancient Egyptians. Their month consists of thirty days, to which, in the month of August, is added five days and a quarter to complete the year. The year commences with the 29th or the 30th of August, which is the 1st of their month Mascaram; and to every fourth year they add a sixth day. Their common epoch is from the creation of the world, from which they reckon 5500 years to the birth of Christ, rejecting the odd eight years of the Greeks, who made that period. They have other epochs, as from the councils of Nice and Ephesus, but in ecclesiastical computations, they follow the golden number and epact, invented in the reign of Severus

by Demetrius, the twelfth patriarch of Alexandria. They also compute time, by calling their years after the names of the Evangelists, whose writings are read in order every year in their churches; thus, for example, they would say of any events, "They happened in the days of Saint Matthew," that is, in the first quarter of a year, while the writings of Saint Matthew were read in their churches. Their computation of the day is very arbitrary. The beginning of the day comprehending the duration of the twilight they call naggé. From the beginning of evening twilight, to the rising of the stars, they call méset. Midday is called kater, or culmination; and every other part of the day is described by pointing out the place in the heavens where the sun was at the time of which they are speaking.

The use of money being unknown, the revenue is paid in bullion gold. Agowmidre pays annually to the king 1000 ounces of gold, 1000 dabres of honey, and 1000 or 1500 cattle. Damel pays 800 ounces of gold, and thus the income of government is levied in different proportions all over the country. Fossil salt supplies the want of money, and passes current in square pieces. At Masuah several coins have been introduced. The Venetian sequin is equal to two and a quarter pataka; the pataka, or imperial dollar to 28 harfs; one harf to four diwani; one diwani to ten kibur; and one kibur to three boorjoorke or grains, which latter consists of small glass beads of all descriptions and colours, broken or entire. The wakea, or ounce, is equal to ten derims or drachms, and twelve ounces make a liter, rotal, or Abyssinian pound. A gondar or wekea is equal to six drachms forty grains troy weight, and is divided into ten drachms of forty grains each. The ordinary value of a wakea is about 76 of the salt pieces mentioned above, The grain measure used in Abyssinia is the ardeb, containing ten measures called madaga, each equal to twelve ounces Cairo weight. An ardeb of grain costs two derims, or two patakas, An ardeb of teff is the same, and six or eight ardeb of tocusso are equal to an ounce, or ten derims of gold.

The commerce of Abyssinia is confined mostly to the shores of the Arabian gulf, and its manufactures are few and insignificant. They unravel the threads of the blue cloth of Surat, and weave them into their own webs; and procure a black dye from earth, and red, light blue, and yellow, from vegetables. Fine cloth is manufactured at Gondar, and coarse at Adowa, and the latter, besides its common use, circulates as money. The natives of Abyssinia tan hides to great perfection, through the use of the plant merjombey, a species of the solanum, and the juice of the kolquall tree.

The Abyssinians appear in every respect greatly below the rank of civilized nations. They seem indeed, by their churches and other ruined places, to have had a knowledge of architecture. But the workmen were sent for from other countries; so that when these fabrics were reared, especially the imperial palace built by Fr. Paez, a Spanish Missionary, the people flocked from all parts of Ethiopia to view it, and admired it as a new wonder of the world. Gold, silver, copper, and iron, are the

principal ores with which their mines abound in this extensive part of Africa: but not above onethird part is made use of by way of merchandize, or converted into money; of which they have little or no use in Abyssinia. They cut their gold indeed into small pieces for the pay of their troops, and for the expences of the court; but this is a modern custom among them; the king's gold, before the end of the 17th century, was laid up in his treasury in ingots, with intent to be never carried out, nor ever used in any thing but vessels or trinkets for the service of the palace.

Mr. Bruce informs us, from the annals of Abyssinia, that, in the reign of Solomon, the Abyssinians were converted to Judaism, and the government, ecclesiastical and civil, modelled according to what was then in use at Jerusalem. Some ecclesiastical historians affirm, that the conversion of the Abyssinians to Christianity, took place in the days of the Apostles, and was effected by the Ethiopian eunuch, whom Philip baptized. Whatever truth may be in that tradition, it appears that Frumentius, who was ordained about the year 333, was their first bishop, and instructed them in the religion of the Greek church of Alexandria. At present they are a mixture of Moors, Pagans, Jews, and Christians. This last was the reigning and established religion, but in a very low state of degradation, when father Jerome Lobo visited it in 1624, as well as when Mr. Bruce travelled through it. This diversity of people and religion is the reason, that the kingdom in different parts, is under different forms of government, and that their laws and customs are extremely various.

The Abyssinians are described as a branch of the Copts or Jacobites, with whom they agree in admitting but one nature in Jesus Christ, and rejecting the council of Chalcedon, on which account they are called Eutychians and Monophysites. The church is governed by a bishop or metropolitan, styled Abuna, appointed by the Coptic patriarch of Alexandria, residing at Cairo. Next in dignity is the Komos, or Hegumenos, a sort of arch-presbyter, who has the inferior clergy, together with the secular affairs of the parish, under his inspection. The deacons are of the lowest order of priesthood. The canons never marry. The monks, at their admission, vow aloud before their superiors to keep chastity, but they add, in a whispering tone, 'as you keep it. The debtarahs, or chanters, who assist in the musical parts of the service, are in higher esteem than the Komos, though not of equal rank. The emperor confers all benefices except that of Abuna, and takes cognizance of all ecclesiastical causes. The monks are extremely ignorant, and are of two kinds, viz, those of Debra Libanos, and those of St. Eustathius. Their superior in the north west of the country, is the Itchegué. He is ordained by two chief priests holding a veil or white cloth over his head, and a third repeating a prayer; after which they all join together in singing psalms.

ACACIA, akakia or akaw, to sharpen; in botany, a name given by Pliny to a thorny tree of Egypt, supposed to have yielded the gummi

Though the Abyssinians profess Christianity, they practise circumcision, which they extend to both sexes. They observe Saturday and Sunday for sabbaths; oblige women to perform the legal purifications, and abstain from meats forbidden in the law of Moses. Their Lent continues 52 days, during which they never taste food till after sunset. On the feast of Epiphany, which, according to the Abyssinians, is the 11th of January, they assemble near brooks, into which, after receiving the priest's blessing, they jump, leaping, dancing, and shouting. In the performance of baptism, their priests are engaged, one with incense, another with a golden cross, and a third with the consecrated oil from the patriarch of Alexandria. The candidate is first washed over with water, then crossed on the forehead with some of that water, over which the incense has been waved, and the consecrated oil dropped into. If the candidate be a Mahometan, every joint and limb is crossed with the consecrated oil; he is then wrapped in a white linen cloth, and partakes of the sacrament. No unbaptized person may enter a church. Great numbers of pilgrims, in a yellow dress, with cords round their waists, resort to the beautiful plains of Walasse. The Christians near Dixan, are distinguished by a cross on their breast, arm, &c. They say prayers over whatever they eat, drink, receive, or give, and then blow on it, turning their heads to the east. When they kill animals they turn their backs to the west. They never kill the goodie-goodie falcon, and when a traveller meets one he watches it,-if it sit still with its breast towards him till he is past, it is a good omen,—if its back be towards him, it is unpropitious,-if it fly away, he returns. It is generally believed that every worker in iron at night, transforms himself into an hyæna, and devours human flesh. One of their saint's days is consecrated to Balaam's ass, another to Pilate and his wife, because Pilate washed his hands before he condemned Christ, after the message received from his wife. They at least equal the church of Rome in miracles and legends of saints, which greatly embarrassed the Jesuits; to whom they told such miracles in proof of their religion, that the missionaries were obliged to deny miracles to be any proof at all. Prayers for the dead, invocation of saints and angels, &c. &c. are common. Images in painting decorate their churches, but they abhor all images in relievo except the cross. They admit the apocryphal books with the apostolic canons and constitutions to be genuine, but consider the Canticles a love-song of Solomon to Pharaoh's daughter. The Jews in this country retain their ancient distinction, Caraites and Talmudists. Ludolf mentions another sect upon the frontiers, between them and the Caffres, supposed to have descended from the captives taken by the kings of Assyria and Babylon. They were never incorporated with other Jews, but have always been salara, or strangers. Their Bible is in the corrupt Talmudic dialect.

Arabicum. In the Linnæan system it is the mimosa nilotica.

The common acacia of this country is the