carved in the Greek tafte. Below, there is a door bolt and lock, which Poncet fpeaks of, carved on the obelisk, as if to reprefent an entrance through it to fome building behind. The lock and bolt are precifely the fame as thofe ufed at this day in Egypt and Palestine, but were never feen, as far as I know, in Ethiopia, or at any time in use there. I apprehend this obelifk, and the two larger that are fallen, to be the works of Ptolemy Evergetes. There is a great deal of carving upon the face of the obelisk in a Gothic tafte, fomething like metopes, triglyphs, and guttæ, difpofed rudely, and without order, but there are no characters or figures. The face of this pyramid looks due fouth; has been placed with great exactnefs, and preferves its perpendicular pofition till this day. As this obelisk has been otherwife defcribed as to its ornaments, I have given a geometrical elevation of it fervilely copied, without fhading or perspective, that all kinds of readers may understand it. After paffing the convent of Abba Pantaleon, called in Abyffinia, Mantilles, and the finall obelifk fituated on a rock above, we proceed fouth by a road cut in a mountain of red marble, having on the left a parapet-wall above five feet high, folid, and of the fame materials. At equal distances there are hewn in this wall folid pedeftals, upon the tops of which we fee the marks where flood the Coloffal ftatues of Syrius the Latrator Anubis, or Dog Star. One hundred and thirtythree of these pedestals, with the marks of the ftatues I just mentioned, are ftill in their places; but only two figures of the dog remained when I was there, much mutilated, but of a tafte easily distinguished to be Egyptian. Thefe are compofed of granite, but fome of them appear to have been of metal. Axum, being the capital of Siris, or Siré, from this we may eafily fee what connection this capital of the province had with the dog-ftar, and confequently the abfurdity of fuppofing that the river derived its name from a Hebrew word, (Shibor) fignifying black. There are likewife pedeftals, whereon the figures of the Sphinx have been placed. Two magnificent flights of fteps, feveral hundred feet long, all of granite, exceedingly well fafhioned, and ftill in their places, are the only remains of a magnificent temple. In the angle of this platform where that temple ftood, is the prefent fmall church of Axum, in the place of a former one deftroyed by Mahomet Gragné, in the reign of King David III; and which was probably remains of a temple built by Ptolemy Evergetes, if not the work of times more remote. The church is a mean, fmall building, very ill kept, and full of pigeons dung. In it are fuppofed to be preferved the ark of the covenant, and copy of the law which Menilek, fon of Solomon, is faid, in their fabulous legends, to have ftolen from his father Solomon, in his return to Ethiopia, and these were reckoned as it were the palladia of this country. Some ancient copy of the Old Teitament, I do believe, was depofited here, probably that from which the first verfion was made. But whatever this might be, it was deftroyed, with the church itself, by Mahomet Gragné, though pretended falfely to fubfift there till. This I had from the king himfelf. • There There was another relique of great importance that happened to escape from being burnt, by having, in time, been transferred to a church in one of the islands in the lake Tzana, called Selé Quarat Rafou. It is a picture of Chrift's head crowned with thorns, faid to be painted by St. Luke, which, upon occafions of the utmost importance, is brought out and carried with the army, efpecially in a war with Mahometans and Pagans. We have juft feen, it was taken, upon Yafous's defeat at Sennaar, and restored afterwards upon an embaffy fent thither on purpose, no doubt, for a valuable confideration. Within the outer gate of the church, below the fteps, are three fmall fquare inclofures, all of granite, with fmall octagon pillars in the angles, apparently Egyptian; on the top of which formerly were fmall images of the dog tiar, probably of metal. Upon a stone, in the middle of one of thefe, the king fits and is crowned, and always has been fince the days of Paganifm; and below it, where he naturally places his feet, is a large oblong flab like a hearth, which is not of granite, but of free ftone. The inscription, though much defaced, may fafely be reftored. ΠΤΟΛΕΜΑΙΟΥ EVERΓΕΤΟΥ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ Poncet has miftaken this laft word for Bafilius; but he did not pretend to be a fcholar, and was ignorant of the hiftory of this country. • Axum is watered by a small stream, which flows all the year from a fountain in the narrow valley, where ftand the rows of obelifks. The fpring is received into a magnificent bafon of 150 feet fquare, and thence it is carried, at pleafure, to water the neighbouring gardens, where there is little fruit, excepting pomegranates, neither are these very excellent.' Part of this chapter is disfigured by a controverfy with Jerome Lobo, and his tranflator S. Johnfon, who commends the Jefuit for what he certainly did not poffefs, geographic knowledge, and fobriety of narration. Seriously to confute fuch mittakes as are here rectified, to expofe the abfurdity of fuch fables as are here repeated, is below the dignity of history; if noticed at all, they ought only to have furnished a note.We remark this, as we cannot fufpect Mr. B. to have purpofely re-produced the poifon-darting ferpents and envenomed briftles of the Portuguefe father, merely to befpeak our indulgence to the following curious narrative of his own. P. 142. Not long after our lofing fight of the ruins of this ancient capital of Abyffinia, we overtook three travellers driving a cow before them; Those who are acquainted with entomology, know, that man of the larvæ of the Bombyx kind, when taken up, leave fome hairs in the finger-joints of thofe who handle them, which, if the fingers be rubbed in a contrary direction, produce a fmall inflammation: Perhaps the fnake of Lobo was nothing but the caterpillar of fome enormous Bombyx. E 3 R. they they had black goatkins upon their fhoulders, and lances and fhields in their hands, in other refpects they were but thinly cloathed; they appeared to be foldiers. The cow did not feem to be fatted for killing, and it occurred to us all that it, had been stolen. This, however, was not our bufinefs, nor was fuch an occurrence at all remarkable in a country fo long engaged in war. We faw that our attendants attached themselves in a particular manner to the three foldiers that were driving the cow, and held a fhort converfation with them. Soon after, we arrived at the hithermoft bank of the river, where I thought we were to pitch our tent. The drivers fuddenly tript up the cow, and gave the poor animal a very rude fall upon the ground, which was but the beginning of her fufferings. One of them fate across her neck, holding down her head by the horns, the other twifted the halter about her forefeet, while the third, who had a knife in his hand, to my very great furprife, in place of taking her by the throat, got aitride upon her belly before her hind legs, and gave her a very deep wound in the upper part of her buttock. From the time I had feen them throw the beaft upon the ground, I had rejoiced, thinking, that when three people were killing a cow, they must have agreed to fell part of her to us; and I was much difappointed upon hearing the Abyffinians fay, that we were to pafs the river to the other fide, and not encamp where I intended. Upon my propofing they fhould bargain for part of the cow, my men anfwered what they had already learned in converfation, that they were not then to kill her, that fhe was not wholly theirs, and they could not fell her. This awakened my curiofity; I let my people go forward, and flaid myself, till I faw, with the utmost aftonishment, two pieces, thicker and longer than our ordinary beef fteaks, cut out of the higher part of the buttock of the beaft. How it was done I cannot pofitively fay, becaufe judging the cow was to be killed from the moment I faw the knife drawn, I was not anxious to view that catastrophe, which was by no means an object of curiofity; whatever way it was done, it furely was adroitly, and the two pieces were spread upon the outfide of one of their fhields. One of them ftill continued holding the head, while the other two were bufied in curing the wound. This too was done not in an ordinary manner; the skin which had covered the flesh that was taken away was left entire, and flapped over the wound, and was fastened to the correfponding part by two or more fmall skewers, or pins. Whether they had put any thing under the skin between that and the wounded flesh I know not, but at the river fide where they were, they had prepared a cataplafm of clay, with which they covered the wound; they then forced the animal to rife, and drove it on before them, to furnish them with a fuller meal when they should meet their companions in the evening. I could not but admire a dinner fo truly foldier-like, nor did I ever fee fo commodious a manner of carrying provifions along the road as this was. I naturally attributed this to neceffity, and the love of expedition. It was a liberty, to be fure, taken with Chriftianity; but what tranfgreffion is not warranted to a foldier when diftreffed by his enemy in the field? I could not as yet conceive that this was the ordinary banquet of citizens, and even of priests, throughout all this country. In the hofpitable, humane houfe of Janni, thefe thefe living feafts had never appeared. It is true we had feen raw meat, but no part of an animal torn from it with the blood. The first fhocked us as uncommon, but the other as impious. . When firft I mentioned this in England, as one of the fingularities which prevailed in this barbarous country, I was told by my friends it was not believed. I asked the reafon of this difbelief, and was answered, that people who had never been out of their own country, and others well acquainted with the manners of the world, for they had travelled as far as France, had agreed the thing was impoffible, and therefore it was fo. My friends counfelled me further, that as these men were infallible, and had each the leading of a circle, I fhould by all means obliterate this from my journal, and not attempt to inculcate in the minds of my readers the belief of a thing that men who had travelled pronounced to be impoffible. They fuggefted to me, in the moft friendly manner, how rudely a very learned and worthy traveller had been treated for daring to maintain that he had eat part of a lion, a ftory I have already taken notice of in my introduction. They faid, that, being convinced by thefe connoiffeurs his having eat any part of a lion was impoffible, he had abandoned this affertion altogether, and after only mentioned it in an appendix; and this was the fartheft I could poffibly venture. • Far from being a convert to fuch prudential reasons, I must for ever profefs openly, that I think them unworthy of me. To reprefent as truth a thing I know to be a falfehood, not to avow a truth which I know I ought to declare; the one is fraud, the other is cowardice; 1 hope I am equally diftant from them both; and I pledge myfelf never to retract the fact here advanced, that the Abyffinians do feed in common upon live flesh, and that I myfelf have, for feveral years, been partaker of that difagreeable and beaftly diet. On the contrary, I have no doubt, when time fhall be given to read this history to an end, there will be very few, if they have candour enough to own it, that will not be ashamed of ever having doubted.' In chapter VI, the author paffes from the province and town of Siré along the banks of the Tacazzè, into the province of Samen, to Addergey; and in chap. 7, continues his route over the fteeps of Lamalmon to Gondar, the metropolis of Abyffinia, where, in the Moorish town, he was accommodated with a neat habitation.. The VIIIth chapter details the author's reception, and the characters of the court of Abyffinia; defcribes the triumphal entry of the king; his firft interview with Ras Michael, and audience at court. Chapter IX. Tranfactions at Gondar. Both these chapters are in themselves highly entertaining, from their variety of materials and incidents, but as they do not immediately relate to the main fubject; as one incident is clofely connected with another; and as the author does not in them appear in any new light, we must refer the reader to the work itfelf, as we do alfo for chap. x. which contains a geographical divifion of Abyffinia into provinces. E 4 Chap. Chap. XI. treats of various cuftoms in Abyffinia, fimilar to thofe in Perfia; defcribes the public and private conftitution of Abyffinian fociety; and after a differtation on the propriety or impropriety of feeding on raw fiefh, exhibits the following fpecimen of an Abyffinian banquet. P. 301. In the capital, where one is safe from surprise at all times, or in the country or villages, when the rains have become fo conftant that the valleys will not bear a horfe to pafs them, or that men cannot venture far from home through fear of being furrounded and swept away by temporary torrents, occafioned by fudden fhowers on the mountains; in a word, when a man can fay he is fafe at home, and the fpear and shield is hung up in the hall, a number of people of the best fashion in the villages, of both fexes, courtiers in the palace, or citizens in the town, meet together to dine between twelve and one o'clock. A long table is fet in the middle of a large room, and benches befide it for a number of guests who are invited. Tables and benches the Portugucze introduced amongst them; but bull hides, spread upon the ground, ferved them before, as they do in the camp and country now. A cow or bull, one or more, as the company is numerous, is brought close to the door, and his feet ftrongly tied. The skin that hangs down under his chin and throat, which I think we call the dew-lap in England, is cut only fo deep as to arrive at the fat, of which it totally confifts, and, by the feparation of a few small blood-veffels, fix or seven drops of blood only fall upon the ground. They have no ftone, bench, nor altar upon which thefe cruel affaffins lay the animal's head in this operation. I fhould beg his pardon indeed for calling him an affaffin, as he is not fo merciful as to aim at the life, but, on the conrrary, to keep the bealt alive till he be totally eat up. Having fatisfied the Mofaical law, according to his conception, by pouring thefe fix or feven drops upon the ground, two or more of them fall to work; on the back of the beaft, and on each fide of the fpine, they cut fkin-deep; then putting their fingers between the fleth and the fkin, they begin to ftrip the hide of the animal half way down his ribs, and fo on the buttock, cutting the skin wherever it hinders them commodioufly to ftrip the poor animal bare. All the flesh on the buttocks is cut off then, and in folid, fquare pieces, without bones, or much effufion of blood; and the prodigious noife the animal makes is a fignal for the company to fit down to table. There are then laid before every gueft, inftead of plates, round cakes, if I may fo call them, about twice as big as a pan-cake, and fomething thicker and tougher. It is unleavened bread of a fourifh tafte, far from being difagreeable, and very eafily digefted, made of a grain called teff. It is of different colours, from black to the colour of the whiteft wheat-bread. Three or four of thefe cakes are generally put uppermoft, for the food of the perfon oppofite to whofe feat they are placed. Beneath thefe are four or five of ordinary bread, and of a blackifh kind. These ferve the mafter to wipe his fingers upon; and afterwards the fervant, for bread to his dinner. Two or three fervants then come, each with a fquare piece of beef in their bare hands, laying it upon the cakes of teff, placed like difhes down the table, without cloth or any thing elfe beneath them. By this time all the guests have knives in their hands, and their men have the |