The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1868-03-13
Fashionable Dinner Party IN
sabysststi0.

A great degree of sceptlcism has beer
entertained in regard to the mode of sup
plying Jriade, or raw meat, to the guests
in the fashionable parties at Goudar, thu
capital of Abyssinia. When the company
have taken their seats at table, COW OF
bull is brought to the door, and his fee
strongly tied after which the cooks pro
coed toselect the morsels Before killing
the animal, all the flesh on the buttocks
is cut off in solid square pieces, without
bones or much effuson Of blood. Two OF
three servants are then employed, who,
as fast as they can procure 6rinde, lay il
upon cakes of teff placed like dishes down
the table, without cloth or anything else
beneath them. By this time all the
guests have knives in their hands, aud the
men prefer the large crooked ones, which
in the time of war they put to all sorts oil
uses. The company are so ranged that
one gentleman sits betw zen two ladies
and the former with his long knife begins
by cutting thin piece, which would be
thought good steak in England, while
the motion of the fibres is yet perfectly
distinct. La Abyssinia no man of any
fashion feeds himself or touches his own
meat. The women take the flesh and cut
it iengthwise like strings, about the thick
ness of ones little finger, then crosswise
into square pieces somewhat smaller than
dice. This thay lay upon a portion Of
the teF bread, strongly powdered with
black pepper, or cayenne, and fossil salt,
and then wrap it up like cartridge. In
the meantime, the gentleman, having put
up his knife, with each hand resting upon
mis- neighbours knee, his body STOPPING,
his head low and forward, and mouth open,
very like an idiot, turns to one whose
cartridge is first ready, who stuffs it be.
tween his jaws at the imminent risk OF
choking him. This is the mark Of gran.
deur. The greater the man would seem
to be, the larger is the piece which he
takes in his mouth the more noiso he
makes in chewing it, the more polite does
he prove himself. None but beggars and
thieves, say they, eat small pieces, in 81,
leDce. Having dispatched this morsel,
which he does very expeditiously, his
neighbor on the other hand holds forth q
second pellet, which he devours in the
same way, and so ON till he is satisfied
Lie never drinks till he has finished cat.
ing and before he begins, in gratitude
to the fair ones who have fed him, he
makes up two small rolls of the same
kind and form, each of the ladies opens
her mouth at once, while with his own
hand ho supplies a portion to both at the
same moment. Then commence the po-
tations, which, we are assured, are not
regulated with much regard to sobriety OF
decorum. All this time the unfortunate
victim at the door is bleeding, but bleed.
ing very little ; for SO skillful are the
butchers, that while they strip the bones
of the flesh, they avoid the parts which
are traversed by the great arteries. Al
last they fall upon the thighs likewise i;
and soon after, the animal perishing from
loss of blood, becomes so tough that the
unfeeling wretches who feed on the re-
mainder can scarcely separate the muscles
with their teeth. In the description now
given, we have purposely omitted some
features, which it is not improbable, have
been little too highly colored, if not even
somewhat inaccurately drawn. But
there is no reason to doubt the genera
correctness of the delineation, not ex.
cepting the grossest and most repulsive
particulars.