without a moment's hesitation, he urged his mule. forward, and gal loped to the front; his white turban and red sheep-skin, streaming wildly behind him, rendering him at once a conspicuous object to his troops. The energy of his action produced an instantaneous effect upon the Abyssinians; a terrible cry spread throughout the ranks, "the adinsáh," "the Badinsáh," and, at the same moment they charged with such impetuous fury, that Gojee's horsemen were suddenly arrested in the midst of their career. Repeated vollies of musquetry now poured in upon them from the flanks, at which the horses of the Galla began to take alarm, and, in a few minutes they were thrown into absolute confusion.'

From this they could not recover; the rout and flight became general; and trophies indicating the death of nearly two thousand of the enemy were collected, according to the barbarous practice described by Brce, and of which there is mention in the Jewish history. It is an unaccountable circumstance, that this victory cost the Abyssinians hardly forty men. The country of the Galla was invaded and ravaged, and the ferocious chieftain, completely humiliated, was admitted to terms, under guarantee of his better behaviour given by another principal Galla chief; in the negotiation with whom the Ras gave another remarkable proof of his contempt of danger, and of the power which a strong mind has to over-awe even the pride of armed barbarians.

Among the peculiarities of this Abyssinian warfare, Mr. Pearce mentioned one very remarkable fact, which by its perfect correspondence to one of those descriptions in Bruce which contributed to destroy all confidence in his veracity, is available to a certain limited extent in his vindication. This fact, on the evidence of Pearce's own eyes, is no other than the cutting of pieces of flesh from a living cow, by soldiers who then proceeded to drive the animal forward on their march. The testimony,. now no longer questionable, to the existence of such a practice, will be the more gratifying to the adorers of human nature, the more precisely and explicitly it is enounced; we will therefore produce it in the terms of the deposition.

On the 7th of February he (Pearce) went out with a party of the Lasta soldiers on one of their marauding expeditions, and in the course of the day they got possession of several head of cattle, with which, towards evening, they made the best of their way back to the camp. They had then fasted for many hours, and still a considerable distance remained for them to travel. Under these circumstances, a soldier attached to the party preposed "cutting out the shulada” from one of the cows they were driving before them, to satisfy the cravings of their hunger. This "term" Mr. Pearce did not at first understand, but he was not long left in doubt upon the subject; for VOL. III. N. S. 2 II

the others having assented, they laid hold of the animal by the horns, threw it down, and proceeded without further ceremony to the operation. This consisted in cutting out two pieces of flesh from the buttock, near the tail, which together, Mr.P supposed, might weigh about a pound: the pieces so cut out being called "shulada," and composing, as far as I could ascertain, part of the two "glutei maximi," or larger muscles of the thigh." As soon as they had taken these away, they sewed up the wounds, plaistered them over with cow dung, and drove the animal forward, while they divided among their party the still reeking steaks. They wanted Mr. Pearce to partake of this meat, raw as it came from the cow; but he was too much disgusted with the scene to comply with their offer; though he declared that he was so hungry at the time, that he could without remorse have eaten raw flesh, had the animal been killed in the ordinary way; a practice which, I may here observe, he never could before be induced to adopt, notwithstanding its being general throughout the country. The animal, after this barbarous operation, walked somewhat lame, but nevertheless managed to reach the camp without any apparent injury, and. immediately after their arrival, it was killed by the Worari (the denomination of the soldiers of the marauding parties) and consumed for their supper.

This practice of cutting out the shulada in cases of extreme necessity, is said very rarely to occur; but the fact of its being occasionally adopted, was certainly placed beyond all doubt, by the testimony of many persons, who declared that they had likewise witnessed it, particularly among the Lasta troops. I certainly should not have dwelt so long, or so minutely, on this disgusting transaction, had I not deemed it especially due to the character of Mr Bruce, to give a faithful account of this particular occurrence, since I have found myself under the necessity of noticing, on several other occasions, his unfortunate deviations from truth. p. 295.

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As one of these deviations, he adverts again to Bruce's representation of its being a general practice at their festivals, to keep the animals they slaughter, alive during the time they are preying on their flesh; no such practice,' says Mr. S. having ever been witnessed by myself, or having ever been heard of by Mr. Pearce, and the Ras, Kasimaj Yasons, Dofter Esther, and many other very respectable men, who had spent the greater part of their lives at Gondar, having solemnly` assured me that no such inhuman practice had ever come under their observation.' Bruce's most filthy description of the Galla chief, Guanguol, Mr. S. was assured by Dofter (i. e. Doctor) Esther, who knew that chief well, must be a piece of wanton extravagance or absolute fiction."

Our Author gives a brief account of the Galla, a people consisting of at least twenty independent tribes, with their respective rulers, but the same language. The degree of barbarism

among some of these tribes may be guessed from the custom," among two of them at least, of drinking the warm blood of animals. Their progress into Abyssinia is judged to have been from a great distance in the south. Their manners are somewhat improving as they mingle with the Abyssinians. From Pagans, numbers of them are become Mahomedans. Many circumstances in the state and customs of the Abyssinians, power, fully reminded Mr. Salt of the Old Testament representations of the Jewish people; and their situation relatively to the Galla, gave back a lively image of the antipathy, warfare, and nearly balanced strength of the Jews and Philistines.

Among various other curious particulars in Pearce's account, is a brief notice of a hunt, or rather massacre of elephants, in which we confess we were little pleased to see the Ras so much delighted to employ his troops, on their return through a wild forest country after quelling a rebellion.

On one occasion, Mr. Pearce mentioned, that a whole herd of these tremendous animals were found feeding in a valley; and the troops having, by the Ras's orders, completely encircled them, no less than sixty-three trunks of these beasts were brought in and laid at the Ras's feet, who sat on a rising ground, which commanded the whole scene, directing his soldiers in the pursuit. During the gress of this dangerous amusement, a considerable number of people were killed, owing to a sudden rush made by these animals through a defile, where a large party had been assembled to stop their advance.'

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The concluding part of Pearce's contribution to this volume, is an account of a most vexatious, perilous and ably conducted enterprise, into which he had been drawn by the urgency of the English agent from Mocha, in spite of his own decided conviction of its being little less than a desperate undertaking. It was that of giving effect to a project of a trading experiment in Abyssinia, by conveying a quantity of rather costly merchandize by a direct route from Amphila-bay, through the country overrun by those villanous Arabs. Through a series of the most harrassing plagues, and after the narrowest possible escape from being murdered, he accomplished the enterprise, to the astonishment of the Ras and all the Abyssinians,

Mr. S. left this intelligent and high-spirited man in great favour and reputation in the country, married to an amiable young woman, the daughter of a Greek, successfully assiduous in acquiring such a command of the languages of the country as should best qualify him to be of service and of consequence, and not less fitted than devotedly zealous to promote the advantage equally of the English and Abyssinians, in any intercourse which may hereafter take place. Another Englishman,

of the name of Coffin, one of the attendants of the mission, was at his own request and that of the Ras, permitted by Mr. Salt to remain in the country.

Our Author's visit to the court of Tigré happened to be in Lent, which lasts fifty-two days, with a rigorous and effectual prohibition not only of every kind of meat at all times, but of all food till after sunset, so that towards the end of the season many of the stoutest,' he says 'began to look pallid, and to express an anxious desire for its conclusion.' The whole party attached to Mr. Salt, had been absolved from the duty by a priest, a privilege which it appears the priests of the country are entitled to grant to all persons engaged in travelling, or similar pursuits." It is easy to imagine, or rather perhaps not easy to imagine adequately, the ravenous spirit and execution in which the revenge for all this tyranny of their superstition began on the morning of the fifty-third day, the happy hour of their escape from purgatory, to what we should not have wondered to hear that they denominated heaven. Perhaps the most obvious mischief of the austerities of superstition, is the notion of their high religious merit; but we question whether it be not a still greater mischief, that they tend to magnify, to an indefinite degree, the estimate of the felicity of sensual indulgence, an estimate always so dangerously excessive without any artificial aggravation.

Superstition prevails greatly in the country, but rather in weak and childish than in stern and virulent modes. Among the Agows, Pearce found a peculiar prejudice against furnishing water to a stranger; when he visited their huts, he found the occupiers always ready to supply him with milk and bread, but never with the first-mentioned essential necessary.' In his wanderings he fell in with a strolling monk, a clever, roguish fellow, who, among other pretensions, assumed the character of a physician, and obtained belief that, by writing a few characters on bits of parchment, he cured the maladies of the sick, and also created a protective charm against evil spirits.

A little while after the arrival of the English party at Chelicut, there was a heavy fall of rain, which, being unusual at that season of the year, and very beneficial, was attributed to the influence of the English, and conciliated those who had been least pleased with their visit to the country. English patriotism may, indeed, hardly comprehend why this last instance should be cited as an example of superstition; but we shall have no difficulty of opinion as to the following:

All workers in iron are called Búda by the Abyssinians, and a very strange superstition is attached to this employment, every man engaged in the occupation being supposed to possess a power of transforming himself at night into a hyena, during which he is

thought to be capable of preying even upon human flesh; and it is further believed, that if during the period of his transformation he should experience any bodily injury, a corresponding wound would be found on his proper frame. The credit attached to these fabulous ideas appears to be inconceivably strong throughout the country. I was not aware, until my return, that a very similar superstition existed among the Greeks, as well as the Romans, with respect to men turning themselves into wolves. (Vide Plin. Hist. Nat. Lib. viii. c. xxii.)'

Was he not aware that in some parts of England, even to this day, there might be found sober church-going people, probably not a few, that seriously believe the ancient dames, they account witches, have the power of transforming themselves into cats?

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He says, the Abyssinians in general entertain a 'rooted belief that most diseases are occasioned by the afflicted party's being possessed with an evil spirit.' Of course the Materia Medica consists of the various modes of exorcism. One prescription is worth quoting as a sample.

• On a person being seized with the fever called Tigre-ter, the re latives expose to his sight all the ornaments of gold, silver, and fine clothes, which their respective friends can collect, at the same time making as much noise as possible with drums, trumpets, and vociferous outcries."

There is a curious description of the funeral ceremonies, of which we wish we had room for inserting more than one sentence this we must not transcribe without observing, that the superior classes avoid all such extravagance and uproar.

On reaching the tomb, the cries and lamentations are redoubled, and these mixed with the hallelujahs" of the priests and the screams of the relatives, who again are seen tearing the skin from their faces, produce a terrible kind of concert, which may justly be said to

"Embowel with outrageous noise the air." MILTON.

The finish of the whole is often a drunken carousal, much according to a custom existing in several parts of this country of highly rectified civilization.

There is a minute and very curious relation of the baptism of a young Bedowee Mussulman, a servant of Mr. Pearce, whom,' says our Author, we had persuaded to become a convert to the Christian faith, not only with the view of benefiting 'the poor boy, but also from being desirous, by this last act, of making an impression on the minds of the Abyssinians favourable to the British character: The consciences of the Moslem relations had been put to rest, and therefore their remonstran