Page:The land of enchantment (1907, Cassell).djvu/78



“Yes, please go on,” said Harry, stuffing the letter into his pocket and settling himself in the grass. “You broke off in the middle of a sentence last week. Don’t you remember? You were telling about the Ethiopians.”

“I am glad thou rememberest so well.”

“Well, wasn’t it strange? On Sunday at church the text was, “Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?’ I nearly shouted when I heard it.”

“That would not have been seemly in the holy building,” said Herodotus. “Well, I will tell thee more of these same Ethiops. I left thee as I was telling of the fountain which they showed the Ichthyophagi—the messengers of Cambyses. This fountain had a scent like violets. When they bathed in it their skin became glossy, as if they had bathed in oil, and they ascribed their long life in part to this.”

“It sounds delicious,” said Harry. “And what then?”

“Then the king showed them a prison in which all the prisoners were loaded with golden chains. For copper—not gold—was the most precious metal among the Ethiops.”

“How funny. Fancy if a penny were worth more than a pound!”

“Next the messengers were shown the Table of the Sun—of all strange things in Ethiopia surely the strangest. The Table of the Sun was a meadow outside the city, which was filled with the boiled flesh of various animals. The magistrates of the city are said to provide the meat during the night, and anyone may eat of it during the day. The meat, is, however, supposed by the people to appear miraculously out of the ground.”

“I have never heard anything stranger,” said Harry. “Please tell me some more.”

“Last of all, the Ethiopians showed the messengers their manner of burial. They embalm the bodies something in the manner of the Egyptians; then they cover them with plaster, and paint this to resemble the living man. The body is then encased in a crystal pillar and preserved, first for a year at home, then outside the town.”

“That’s queer, too,” said Harry. “I wish I had seen all those sights.”

“When the messengers had seen everything they returned to Cambyses, who flew into a violent rage at the message. He was already half mad at the time, for he set off for Ethiopia without any preparation or food. Naturally, he had not proceeded far before the little