Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 1.djvu/80

Rh ABYSSINIA Engaged as they are in continual wars, and accustomed to bloodshed, human life is little regarded among them. Murders and executions are frequent, and yet cruelty is said not to be a marked feature of their character ; and in war they seldom kill their prisoners. When one is con victed of murder, he is handed over to the relatives of the deceased, who may either put him to death or accept a ransom. When the murdered person has no relatives, the priests take upon themselves the office of avengers. The Abyssiuians are irritable, but easily appeased ; and are a gay people, fond of festive indulgences. On every festive occasion, as a saint s day, birth, marriage, &c., it is customary for a rich man to collect his friends and neigh bours, and kill a cow and one or two sheep. The principal parts of the cow are eaten raw while yet warm and quiver ing, the remainder being cut into small pieces, and cooked with the favourite sauce of butter and red pepper paste. The raw meat in tliis way is considered to be very superior in taste and much tenderer than when cold. &quot; I can readily believe,&quot; says Mr Parkyns,&quot; that raw meat would be preferred to cooked meat by a man who from childhood had been accustomed to it.&quot; The statement by Bruce respecting the cutting of steaks from a live cow has fre quently been called in question, but there can be no doubt that Bruce actually saw what he narrates, though it would appear to have been a very exceptional case. Mr Parkyns was told by a soldier, &quot; that such a practice was not un common among the Gallas, and even occasionally occurred among themselves, when, as in the case Bruce relates, a cow had been stolen or taken in foray.&quot; The principal drinks are mese, a kind of mead, and bousa, a sort of beer made from feimented cakes. Their dress consists of a large folding mantle and close-fitting drawers ; and their houses are very rude structures of a conical form, covered with thatch. Marriage is a very slight connection among them, dissolvable at any time by either of the parties ; and poly gamy is by no means uncommon. Hence there is little family affection, and Avhat exists is only among children of the same father and mother. Children of the same father, but of different mothers, are said to be &quot; always enemies to each other.&quot; Gobat. Abyssinia is one of the most ancient monarchies in the world, and has been governed from time immemorial by an emperor. For many years, however, until the accession of the late Emperor Theodore, he had been a mere puppet in the hands of one or other of his chiefs. Each chief is entire master of all sources of revenue within his territory, and has practically full power of life and death. His sub jection consists in an obligation to send from time to time presents to his superior, and to follow him to war with as large a force as he can muster. For several generations the emperor had been little better than a prisoner in his palace at Gondar, his sole revenue consisting of a small stipend and the tolls of the weekly markets of that city, the real power being in the hands of the ras or vizier of the empire, who was always the most powerful chief for the time. If at any time a chief &quot; has found himself strong enough to march upon the capital, he has done so, placed upon the throne another puppet emperor, and been by him appointed ras or vizier, till a rival stronger than himself could turn him out and take his place.&quot; Dr Beke. The three principal provinces of Abyssinia are Tigre in the north, Amhara (in which Gondar the capital is situated) in the centre, and Shoa in the south. The governors of these have all at different times assumed the title of Ras. Three other provinces of some importance are Lasta and Waag, whose capital is Sokota ; Godjani, to the south of Lake Dembea ; and Kivara, to the west of that lake, the birth-place of the Emperor Theodore The two provinces of Tigre&quot; and Shoa have generally been in a state of rebellion from or acknowledged independence of the central power at Gondar. The geographical position of Tigre enhances its political importance, as it lies between Gondar and the sea at Massowah, and thus holds as it were the gate of the capital. The province of Shoa is almost separated from that of Amhara by the Wolla Gallas, a Mohammedan tribe, and for a long time the former had been virtually indepen dent, and governed by a hereditary line of princes, to one of whom the Indian government sent a special embassy under Major Harris in 1841. The principal towns are Gondar in Amhara, the former capital of the kingdom, and containing about 7000 inhabit ants, and Debra Tabor in Amhara, formerly a small village, but which rose to be a place of considerable size in conse quence of the Emperor Theodore having fixed upon it as his residence, and near it was Gaffat, where the European workmen resided. It was burned by the emperor when he set out on his fatal march to Magdala. Adowa is the capital of Tigre, and the second city in the empire, having about GOOO inhabitants. Antalo is also one of the principal towns of Tigre, and the capital of Enderta. Near Antalo is Chelicut. Sokota, the capital of Lasta Waag, is a town of considerable size. The capital of Shoa is Ankobar, and near it is Angolala, also a place of considerable size. The capital of Agam6 is Adigerat. The language of the religion and literature of the country is the Geez, which belongs to the Ethiopic class of languages, and is the ancient language of Tigre; of this the modern Tigre is a dialect. The Amharic, the language of Amhara, is that of the court, the army, and the merchants, and is that too which travellers who penetrate beyond Tigre have ordinarily occasion to use. But the Agow in its various dialects is the language of the people in some provinces almost exclusively, and in others, where it has been super seded by the language of the dominant race, it still exists among the lowest classes. This last is believed to be the original language of the people; and from the affinity of the Geez, Amharic, and cognate dialects, to the Arabic, it seems probable that they were introduced by conquerors or settlers from the opposite shores of the Eed Sea. The Gallas, who have overrun a great part of Abyssinia, have introduced their own language into various parts of the country, but in many cases they have adopted the language of the people among whom they have come. The literature of Abyssinia is very poor, and contains nothing of much value. During the late war the libraries in connection with the religious communities were found to contain only modern works of little interest. On the capture of Magdala, a large number of MSS. were found there, which had been brought by Theodore from Gondar and other parts. Of these 359 were brought home for examination, and are now deposited in the British Museum. The oldest among them belong to the 15th and 16th centuries, but the great bulk of them are of the 17th and 18th, and some are of the present century. They are mostly copies of the Holy Scriptures, canonical and apocryphal, including the Book of Enoch, prayer and hymn books, missals, lives of saints, and translations of various of the Greek fathers. The trade and manufactures of Abyssinia are insignificant, the people being chiefly engaged in agriculture and pastoral pursuits. Cotton cloths, the universal dress of the country, aie made in large quantities. The preparation of leather and parchment is also carried on to some extent, and manu factures of iron and brass. &quot; The Abyssinians are, I think,&quot; says Mr Markham, &quot; capable of civilisation. Their agriculture is good, their manufactures are not to be despised; but the combined effects of isolation, Galla inroads, and internal anarchy, have thrown them back for centuries.&quot; The foreign trade of Abyssinia is carried on entirely through Massowah. Its principal imports are lead,