Example of Arab fanaticism—Profusion of animal life—Fine marching qualities of Egyptian troops—Front view of the valley of Gura—Ratib suddenly changes the predetermined plan without consulting the chief-of-staff—Characteristics of the flora of the country—Arrival of an Abyssinian chief hostile to King John—His proffered services refused—Abbé Duflot is sent for by the commanding general—Services rendered by this able and devoted man—Another instance of Ratib's cowardice and folly—He finally agrees to move further into the valley of Gura—Continued blundering in changing a position—General Field sent to the rear to regulate the base of supplies and communications and to urge forward supplies—The camel and his importance in the desert—The camel cormorant—How Ratib's proclamation was received by King John—Another disaffected chief offers his services to the Egyptians—Conversation with this chief—The dangerous diseases prevalent in Abyssinia—The music of the country.

I WAS much interested during our next march, while riding over the plains of Halua, by a conversation with an intelligent Arab who had been educated in Europe. We saw upon a tree a beautiful little Abyssinian parrot, about the size of a Florida paroquet and not unlike it in its dress of green and gold. It had probably strayed, for it was alone. He said to me, “ You know that we have a belief in our religion, and many give credence to it, that all of us who are killed in battle for our faith go at once to heaven.” But I replied, “ You are not fighting for your faith in Abyssinia.” “ Ah ! but we consider if we battle under a Mahometan government that we are martyrs in that sense. Our belief is, that until the day of judgment, the souls of the Faithful go into the crops of green birds, which eat the fruits of Paradise and drink of its rivers. Look at that beautiful bird,” he said ; “ I wonder if it will please Allah that I shall be killed and my soul take its flight to Paradise in its crop.” I was familiar with this belief, nevertheless this incident gave it a distinctly personal flavor.

The trail, rugged at the outset, had now spread itself into the broad plains of Halua. Still the thorny mimosa and grassy vegetation were abundant. The partridge, the flight of quail, the guinea-fowl, the ever-beautiful gazelle, and innumerable small birds richly colored and singing merrily, enlivened the long march. The bustard is also found here, which is nearer in size to the ostrich than any bird in this part of Abyssinia. Numerous antelopes and a magnificent animal called elan, a large species of antelope, with long, corkscrew horns, were seen along our route. General Field, our great hunter, killed a splendid buck at Bahr Rezza. So far we had found no settlements near our trail, though passing through a broad valley, a sort of circle in the centre of a nest of high mountains with innumerable trails covered with stumpy mimosa. Some distance to the right there was a heavy growth, and now and then a stray Abyssinian was seen, who pretended to be friendly ; this caused the general to search his map very carefully for fear these stragglers' presence might portend the advance of King John.

Throughout this day the splendid marching quality of the Egyptian was observable, and we had a good chance to test it. Stepping close to the ground, he moves easily along without fatigue. He is tall and finely proportioned ; never touching bacon, and living upon little, mostly bread and vegetables, he has no surplus flesh about him ; never taking strong drink, his blood courses purely, and he is the healthiest soldier in the world. Free from the effects of liquor, his blood unexcited, painful and dangerous wounds heal rapidly, and, whether or not it be the result of fatalism ingrained in his very existence, he bears, while calling upon Allah, the most excruciating agony from wounds with a fortitude approaching almost to apathy. I have never seen, even among the most determined men of our Western civilization, more indifference to suffering or more heroic fortitude in submitting to fearful operations. And when death approaches, he meets it without a murmur. In answer to a word of sympathy, his invariable reply is “ Inahlillaahoewah inahillihee raageeoon” (“ Verily to God we belong, and verily to Him we return”) ! An inquiry about his health evokes the reply, “ Alham deeleelah rallah Kareem” (“ Praise be to God ! Our Lord is bountiful”).

This day's march finished, we encamped in a pocket in the mountain of Khaya Khor, which was covered with a thick growth of the mimosa, and was near a small Abyssinian village. We found a trail leading through our camp, gently at first, but afterward abruptly to the top of the pass over the mountain. After our severe march we found it difficult to get water. Upon the height, over 3000 feet above, we placed a strong guard for the night, as we were approaching the village of the enemy. Next morning, having climbed the pass, we had a pleasant and gradual descent to the plateau or table-lands of Abyssinia. From this pass, which is hemmed in, we got a slight glimpse of the plain of Halua and of the small sombre valley of Gura, which is about eight miles long and two broad. There are heights around the valley of Gura, which I climbed in order to view the great nest of mountains of Abyssinia, which can be fully appreciated in all their beauty from this point alone.

Before leaving Massowah, we had with the aids mentioned, learned the ways to Khaya Khor ; and there was not an intelligent staff officer who cared to learn them that did not have a perfect knowledge of the pass and its approaches, the valley of Gura and the trails entering in and out of it, the places and quantity of wood and water in it, the surrounding hills, their probable height, and the villages in the valley and on the sides. So when we entered the valley, General Field, the inspector-general of the army, whose duty it was to place the camp, and myself were in advance of the army on the trail leading to the camp selected before we left Massowah. A few miles after leaving the pass near the centre of the valley, and just before coming to the camp, the forces were suddenly halted by Ratib Pacha, and to our surprise turned off to the left. Passing through the village of Gura and over a high hill we descended into a very small contracted valley without trees, or even undergrowth, scarcely large enough to hold us and entirely surrounded by high, heavily timbered hills and completely commanded by them. The army was in a splendid place for King John to creep down upon us. A Remington rifle could reach any spot in the camp from the encircling hills. It was as complete a cul-de-sac as an army ever got into, and, considering that a wily enemy was on the lookout, it was a most dangerous position. The occasion of this change of mind on the part of the commander was that he had met a chief of the village who, he thought, knew better than he did where an army ought to camp. He crossed the mountain ridge and established the camp before he could be reasoned with. This camp was a sort of pen for and was filled with the small, long-horned, and humped cattle of Abyssinia which, with the teff, doura, and barley, constitute the people's food. The water was in holes and difficult to get at, besides being dabbled in by the cattle and the people. The grass was short, well cropped, and little was left for our animals to feed on. The horns of these Abyssinian cattle are very long, but Salt says, when in the country of the Gallas east of Abyssinia, a pair were given him, now in the museum at London, four feet long and measuring twenty-one inches in circumference at the base. I will mention that on the hills near this encampment I saw a most interesting tree, called by the natives kolkual. It answers to the description of a Euphorbia Arborescent. It has all the appearance of the cactus, grows to a great size, and spreading out its branches covers a large extent of ground. Other travellers have likened it to a huge candelabrum. Covered with thorns, it bears a small saffron-colored flower and has a fruit in shape like a fig. When pierced a slimy substance exudes which is deadly poisonous. Colonel Mökln killed near here a bird resembling in size, color, and taste the black-cock of Russia, and small game, gazelles, and antelopes were everywhere very abundant.

The Egyptians called this people Habaishe. Abadie writes that the Portuguese about the middle of the sixteenth century, called them Habaichi, then Abexum, and finally Abyssinians. The name given them by the Arab was one of opprobrium, meaning a people without genealogy. This change of names is something like what occurs in America when pronouncing foreign names. A river in Oregon, named by the French voyagers La Creole, is now pronounced and written on the map Rickreall. The Abyssinians designate their country as the kingdom of Ethiopia, and name themselves Ethiopians.

Our coming to this camp was marked by the arrival of Leige Barrou, an enemy of King John, who had just burned for this chief his village Adda-Huala and a number of others of those who had adhered to his cause. Being friendly disposed, he came to offer his services to Ratib Pacha. He was tall, magnificently formed, and much the finest specimen of an Abyssinian we had yet seen. He came into our camp with drums and horns, accompanied by the usual rag-tag and bob-tail. Mild and pleasantly mannered, he claimed royal descent and was anxious to join in the fight. He could have rallied a large following of the disaffected. Ratib Pacha positively refused to accept his services, as he did in the case of all others ; why he could never explain. I could hear of no orders from higher authority against it. Possibly it was that he did not intend to fight much if he could avoid it, and did not want many allies to help him. At first, Ratib Pacha took a great liking to the chief, but his Mahometan dragoman, Adam (Naib), a Shoho chief from the coast, persuaded him out of the notion. I was desirous, as a matter of course, to get further information of the different trails leading to Adua, the king's capital, which when Ratib left Cairo was an objective point. To the end that maps might be arranged with a certain knowledge of the country for the use of the commanding general, reliable guides were necessary. Failing to get these among the natives, it became absolutely necessary to procure the services of Abbé Duflot, the only one who had given accurate information, and really the only one so far as I knew in Abyssinia who could give it. He was then absent at some distance in his province. The endeavor to send for him by one of the natives was thwarted by this fellow Adam, under the sneaking connivance of Ratib Pacha, whom I caught in the trick. I have never been able to put any other interpretation upon this conduct of Ratib than that his fears were aroused, for he had already satisfied me that he was morally and physically an arrant coward. He dreaded that he might, if he had information, be forced to move forward. However, after a few days this was all changed, and he suddenly became anxious for it. Finding that all the information he had got of King John's movements in the distance proved false, and that even the trails that Adam and his employés had settled on as to Adua were calculated to lead him into a snare, he became anxious for the Abbé, and an express was sent for him. I will say here that I am not a Catholic, but my attachment for this brave and good man was founded upon sincere respect for his many manly virtues, for the great suffering he had undergone among these savages for his numerous people, and for his religion. I knew that he was sincerely anxious to aid us, and that he would have been pleased to see Abyssinia under the Egyptian Government. He did more than anyone belonging to the country to help us, thinking that he and a large tribe where his influence was paramount would soon have protection against the constant tyranny to which they were subjected. Upon coming he gave us the necessary information, and went so far as to take his life into his hands and go with Captain Irgins into the enemy's lines to enable us not only to get a map of the country, but to bring us valuable information of the movements of the king. During this interesting episode Ratib became satisfied from information obtained, as he said privately, which really was not true, that the enemy was only twenty-five or thirty miles distant on the Adua road and was about to throw himself upon him. Thoroughly alarmed, without regard for the future, and taking counsel from his fears, he sent a dispatch ordering the greater part of his forces, strung along the line in his rear, to his camp, and at once commenced fortifying the western hill far away from water. Before sending his order, I expostulated with him in the most forcible language I could find, urging upon him the fact that he had 6000 troops of all arms with a heavy park of artillery at his camp in a cul-de-sac, and that it was folly to fortify the position he proposed ; I told him that it was the part of wisdom to move into the valley of Gura, about two miles distant, and there make his camp, with the double object of protecting the pass of Khaya Khor, and fortifying for a depot, which he needed, where he could safely leave baggage and supplies, when he desired, with a small force ; that he could there find abundance of wood, water, and grass, while his present situation was deficient in water for a permanent camp. I urged on him that he could find abundance of water almost anywhere in the numerous dry beds of rivers in the valley, there being a substratum of rock a few feet beneath the surface which retained it, and by digging he could get abundance—certainly within two or three miles of the pass or at the camp originally selected, three or four miles below, which was only a few miles from Khaya Khor. With his force fortified he could defy the enemy. His people had managed so badly with their transportation that there was not food enough for additional troops, and with his limited transportation he could never hope to keep his command supplied in the valley unless he increased his means beforehand. I also called to my aid the Prince, who then had influence with Ratib, and succeeded in counteracting some of his folly. Finally he agreed to move into the valley if I should find for him a suitable camp.

The engineers selected a position about two and a half miles from Khaya Khor, and commenced digging wells. In a short time there would have been an unlimited water supply for his army, including the immense number of animals ; besides, the spot had all the requisites for a depot and fortification. Unfortunately, Ratib came to look on, and decided not to take the place selected. This, as the result soon taught him, was a fatal mistake. Striking while the iron was hot, I finally persuaded him to move to water in the valley two or three miles from his camp, which would do very well for the present. He had no sooner pitched his tent on the 2d of February than he commenced fortifying. There was subsequent talk of moving nearer Khaya Khor, but he was impressed with the idea that the enemy might suddenly come upon him, and for other reasons known best to himself the movement was given up. This was another fatal mistake of Ratib. It would have been better for him to be nearer Khaya Khor, and with that pass fortified he would have been secure from attack, and his forces would have been more closely drawn together. With any other commander it would have made little difference ; the place he held would have answered. With him every military principle was set at defiance, and his fears at times possessed him to such a degree that his senses seemed completely benumbed. Every exertion was used to handle the elephant and keep him straight, but in spite of earnest and persistent care he constantly rushed into difficulties, and then only by careful watching was it possible to keep him from certain ruin. Colonel Derrick soon threw up an impregnable fortification, which did him great credit, and answered all that we required, and eventually stood the test of a severe ordeal. General Field was sent to the rear to take charge of the transportation, and by main strength of will and energy, with his able assistant, he brought some regularity out of chaos. But the constant interference of Ratib Pacha and his Egyptian commanders, in violation of his own instructions regularly issued, thwarted him no little in this important duty. If he had been allowed to carry out his orders there would not have been the slightest difficulty in his having the troops and supplies at Fort Gura or Khaya Khor in ample time, notwithstanding that those who had the control of the transportation had, by their wretched management, lessened the number of animals by the 22d of February by some 1900. Many of them had died, and the usefulness of others was destroyed. A part of this wholesale destruction came from not properly feeding and watering the animals on the road, disregard of their wounds, in never removing the pack-saddle, if the drivers could help it, of either camel or mule, which was the transportation entirely used, and in overworking them, particularly with forbidden property by Egyptian commanding officers. In my experience, the camel on the desert has a very hard time ; and man, his companion, shares the same exposure and suffering for want of water and food ; but never had I witnessed such utter disregard for the poor camel, where food was comparatively abundant, as in this campaign. Having made with a large command the longest march on record over a trackless country, and having had many animals necessarily die from starvation and want of water, I can speak as few can, when I say that for cruelty and wanton waste of animal life in this Abyssinian war there is no parallel. There was no excuse for it, for the camel will live on what no other animal will touch. The cartilages which line his lips and mouth are insensible to the rough food and pricking thorns of the bushes of the desert. He grinds the date seeds to powder after man has eaten the fruit, and relishes them with zest. He has such a delicate sense of smell that after going six days without water, he often lets his master know where it is to be found. Called the ship of the desert, he is far more independent than any ship. With bags of boxomat (biscuits), dates, and a skin of water he enables man to track those otherwise pathless wastes. No one doubts his affection, on seeing him look with his large amiable eye at his master from under his great long eyelashes. When talked to he seems to understand, and always quickens his pace when sung to. When trained, by a simple touch and a peculiar sympathetic intonation of the voice, the docile creature will lie down and get up at his master's bidding. A pre-Ishmaelite poet thus describes himself and his camel :

“ My body can endure everything, but my soul cannot endure disgrace ;
I am the son of patience, and the camel is my companion.”

The camel is not found upon the earliest monuments of Egypt, yet was a part of the wealth of Abraham when in Egypt during the time of the Hyksos dynasty. He may have been introduced by these Semitic Pharaohs. He has never been found wild, and cannot be happy without man, there is such evident sympathy between them. The tradition is that the camel was formed out of the same clay with Adam who, when turned out of Paradise, was allowed to take his camel and date-tree with him. With so much in common between the camel and man, his ill-treatment is a great crime.

There was a species of refined cruelty which came to my knowledge as having been inflicted upon the poor miserable animal ; and I will say that Ratib, who had a stoic indifference to human suffering, when it came to his knowledge, could not tolerate this visitation upon the dumb brute, but took decided measures to stop it. It seems that in Egypt, where few can write or have any authorized seal with which to furnish vouchers for public property destroyed, as in the case of animals, men who report losses are compelled to furnish the brand of the dead animal as a voucher for its loss. As many animals were too weak to bear their burdens and were left on the road, it was the custom of these inhuman rascals to cut the brand out of the living animal. Camels thus mutilated sometimes gained strength by resting and came into camp, and it was in this way that we learned of this horrible practice. Strange to say, a pretty gray bird, nearly the size of a mocking-bird, with a red bill, very active, and chirping its lively air, has the habit of sitting on the back of the injured animal and sticking its bill into his wounds. Being fond of living flesh, it pushes it down until its taste is fully gratified, and if the wound is healing its great delight seems to be to reopen it. Upon observing the habits of this winged monster, I was surprised at its great skill in keeping its place in spite of the biting, kicking, and brushing of the animal in its agony.

There were many supplies in the country, such as teff, doura, and barley flour, and an unlimited supply of cattle and sheep. To induce the inhabitants to bring them into camp a market was established, and the people heartily responded. But their treatment by the Soudanese soldiers, who were really savages and not able to distinguish between friend and foe, destroyed the trade to a great extent. Timely efforts by the Pacha, in censuring the commanders of troops who committed the outrages, would have preserved the useful trade, but in this as in many other cases he neglected his duty.

There were constant complaints from the office of disobedience of orders on the part of the Arab officers and men ; when correction could be effected through Ratib Pacha, it was always done. Officers sometimes protested that they could not understand the orders, which were said to be too voluminous and badly translated. This may have been true in some instances, but the utmost pains were always taken. Certain it is that Ratib was often worried, and the difficulty kept my amiable temper on the strain. I will say here that though Ratib was thrown in constant contact with me in many of these trying scenes, he never in a single instance showed any ill-temper toward me. This much justice must be done the man, with all his faults. The trials of the staff officers were very great, for, as a rule, the translators, who were constantly employed, could not at times make out their own translations, which were no doubt singular compounds. Upon inquiring of the people of King John who came into our camp if he had ever received a proclamation sent to the people of Abyssinia, written in what purported to be the Amharic, the written language of the country, we learned that a document of large size, done up with great pretentiousness, came to King John as he was squatting on his throne in council. It was opened by the king, who looked at the great seal. As he was not able to read it, it was passed around to each of his head men, all of whom failed to interpret the paper. The abouna, the father of the church, was sent for, and in the most solemn manner, in the presence of the eager throng, he took the paper and tried to make it out. Finally, removing his spectacles and carefully wiping them, he made another effort, turning the paper every way. Being supposed to be the most learned man in Abyssinia, and not wishing to lower his prestige, he was most anxious to make it out, for all eyes were upon him, in eager expectation. At length, handing it back he acknowledged his inability to read it.

The king scanned it, wondering what Ratib had sent that for. His Majesty then laughed, in which he was followed by his counsellors, chiefs, and lastly by the whole assemblage. The two traditional lions, who always sat on the right and left of the king, started at the unusual sound and roared, which so entertained his Highness, who believed this to be a good omen, that he ordered his cellar to be emptied of its teige, the national beverage, for the assembled public. So all Abyssinia was happy for one day, and took a universal drink to Ratib Pacha. It may be noticed here that the Amharic looks like the Hebrew, and is said to be derived from it.

Another of the princes deposed by King John, Degatch Weldo Mikaïl, came into camp about this time with his two sons and two or three hundred followers. His motley crowd came marching in military fashion, having learned the art no doubt from Arrendrup, with whom this chief had had intercourse.

Mikaïl was a large, compactly built man of sixty, strong and nervous. He had a splendid head, his iron-gray locks were encircled by a band of gold, and his entire head was reeking with melted butter which made his neck and shoulders shiny and sleek in the noon-day sun. His marked face, prominent Roman nose, and deep-set scintillating eyes had a wonderfully cunning and knowing expression. His kuarie (toga) was thrown around his person, a rich lebde (leopard) skin lay over his shoulder, a curved sabre hung at his right side, and a buckler of rhinoceros skin glittering with brass encircled his left arm. This was his appearance as he sat on his horse with his big toes in his stirrup, and to add to his grandeur, this grave and dignified savage, covered himself with a traditional red umbrella. Those who followed him, and some in advance, beat on drums and blew instruments which emitted a shrill, piercing sound. The party was a curious medley of patched and parti-colored humanity—of chiefs, warriors, servants, horses and mules, promiscuously mixed as they came pushing and knocking to get the best place, and each one in the disorder trying to be thought the biggest chieftain in the clan. Looking at them in the distance, one would take them for a war-party of Comanches on a trail to steal cattle from the settlements. The chief seemed pleased with my acquaintance, for he gave me a handsomely caparisoned mule, expecting no doubt a much larger present in return, as is their custom. I was puzzled to make a suitable return, as they do not value money, salt being their medium of exchange, and now and then the Maria Theresa silver dollar. Doing the best I could to make him a return, I made the mule and its trappings a present to my friend Abbé Duflot. Unlike Leige Barrou, he did not cover his crown with a red tarboosh (fez) nor encase his feet in red pointed Egyptian shoes.

In conversation Mikaïl said that he was “ descended from royalty.” Upon being asked if he was related to Raz Mikaïl, who seventy years before held great power and was in constant wars with Raz Welled Sellassee, he replied that he was, and that he was now opposed to King John, and that Raz Welled Sellassee, who was fighting on the side of the king, was the grandson of that prince, and that they were still on opposite sides. I demanded, “ Why do you fight against the king?” “ Because Kassa (the name they call him) has no right to be king ; he is nothing but a robber and sold himself to the English for a few old guns and an old English uniform ; besides, he has outraged me and my family, burned my villages, killed my people, and carried off my cattle, for no other reason than to break the spirit by starving the stomach. I have come here with my people to help the Egyptians, but my heart is sick because they will not let me do so.”

“ I see your people eat raw meat ; do you like it?”

“ Yes, I like it when it is freshly killed, but if it is kept it must be cooked.”

“ Is it true that your people cut steaks out of living animals?”

“ No ; I have never known that, but I know that the Gallas drink the warm blood of living animals.”

“ I hear that living upon raw meat makes you sick sometimes?”

“ Yes, where people live upon nothing else. They have the tape-worm. Some say the glutinous matter in the teff and doura when not well cooked causes it.”

I learned that the remedy for this ailment comes from the flower of a beautiful tree which grows in the high altitudes of Abyssinia and is known to medical men ; they call it here the kosso, and give that name to the medicine. It is of medium height, of slender and graceful body, and has symmetrical branches. The edges of its green leaves are prettily indented, like those of the rose, and its flowers are very beautiful. All the people take the kosso two or three times a month, it being dangerous to take too much. It is administered a little at a time, expelling portions of the tape-worm gradually until it all disappears. It is a most nauseous medicine. The Abyssinians take the dried flower of this tree and crush it upon a stone with a little water or teige until it becomes a paste ; it is then diluted, and some filter it. A handful of dry flowers is considered a dose. Many attribute this disgusting disease to eating raw meat without salt and reeking with blood just after it is killed. Others think it comes from the glutinous matter of badly cooked teff and doura. On the frontier along the Rio Grande in the early days (1851 to 1856) it was a common thing with the Mexican people there, who lived almost entirely upon dried beef and venison without cooking it, to be afflicted in this way. In Switzerland it is said to be the water which causes the disease so frequently there. This eating of raw meat, Baker says, is universal with the Arabs and other tribes on the Atbara and throughout the desert ; he has seen them eat the heart, liver, and entrails of the gazelle, sheep, and buffalo, while cutting them up, and they consider it a bonne bouche to take the paunch fresh from the animal, sprinkle the contents of the gall-bladder upon it, and then smack their lips over it. It is also done by many tribes among the North American Indians.

The most fearful disease in Abyssinia is the frendeet (filaria). This is supposed to be communicated by the water. It is caused by a worm which installs itself usually in the leg and causes it to swell enormously. No larger than a very small string, the worm is embedded a little distance under the skin and soon produces great pain. The savages accustomed to it make what they call doors by burning spots along the route of the worm with a heated needle. In the course of a week one of these spots festers into a small white boil, through which the head issues. This is seized, and they daily with great care wind it around a stick about the size of a match, and in about a week it is all drawn out. In case this parasitic worm is broken, inflammation ensues and another opening is necessary ; then the trouble becomes more dangerous. I saw two men who had accompanied Colonel Long to the Equator terribly afflicted with this malady. Another ailment is an enlargement of the throat, which is sometimes cured with a root, but often ends in death from suffocation ; and elephantiasis, itch, and scrofulous diseases are frequent. Dysentery during the cold and rainy season proves fatal to Europeans, and a malignant fever lurks on the rivers, just after that season, at the time when vegetable malaria is rife. This is one reason why the people of the country during this season do not sleep on the banks of the rivers, but construct their villages high enough up on the mountains to escape the malaria from below. They have another reason : in war mountain elevations are their principal means of protection. From these mountain eyries they can better communicate with their neighbors. It is their custom in case of alarm for the whole people of a village to collect on the top of the mountain and scream ; this is taken up from some other hill-top, and soon the tocsin is sounded over vast stretches of country calling their friends to arms. It is not surprising that these people are visited by the extraordinary maladies mentioned when it is considered that they take no sanitary precautions, but live in filth, without the slightest attempt at cleanliness in eating or in person. They never wash themselves except on holidays, and great numbers are crowded into a single small hut, where they cook, eat, and sleep. They live half the year upon teff and doura, and the other half upon raw meat, hot and reeking from the animal. They are utterly debased in morals. They are drunken when they can get strong drink ; failing in this they swallow great quantities of teige or bonsa, swilling it to get at a few drops of alcohol. No wonder the tape-worm and frendeet are so common. There is no more healthy country in the world than these beautiful mountain plateaus are, for the air is pure and exhilarating, and ordinary sanitary measures are necessary to keep the country free of disease.

A word or two about the music of the Abyssinian may be of interest while I am speaking of their every-day life. Every one who goes to Axum visits the great church erected by the Portuguese during their stay in the country, and is attracted by the peculiarity of its pictures, among them that of St. George, the patron saint of the Abyssinians. They point to another picture with great pride. It is a painting of one of their numerous saints, the one whom they believe gave them the music which they so dolefully drawl out in their religious services, than which to their primitive minds nothing is more delicious. “ Music at its origin expresses languor and sadness ; it is a grief, painfully portrayed by those whose life is one of suffering ; the cry of war succeeds to it. The song of mirth and joy comes with the refinements of civilization,” says an able writer. The Abyssinians tell you of the tradition of their musical saint, how he gathered the three notes from the three beautifully feathered birds he heard carolling amid the foliage of the large daro-tree which grew near the great church, and combining them while his mind was inspired by the Holy Trinity, into one melodious song. He then invented an instrument, and struck his chords before the delighted king. The latter was so enraptured that in planting his spear, that he might better enjoy the delicious sounds, he struck it into the big toe of the celebrated saint, who was so absorbed by his inspiration that he had not the slightest idea of being pinned fast to the earth. Those, however, who have ever heard the hideous din which the Abyssinians call music are forced to believe that the saint had no ear for sweet sounds, and the birds from which he copied his notes must have produced a cacophony so distressing as to make the nightingale and mocking-bird commit instant suicide.

Part II, Chapter IX

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