Evening star., 1896-03-28

sinians make a good deal of noise when
they eat. and the bigger bite man can
ing it, the more polite the man is thought
to be. They are very fond Of red pepper,
and they sometimes eat pellets Of raw
meat red pepper and onions.
How the Abyssinians Dress.
The Abyssinians are very f1ne-look-
ing people. They are q mixed race.
and have, it is said, considerable Cau-
casian blood. Some Of them are as
black as the blackest negro. Others are
as bronzed as an American Indian. Their
noses are straight, rather than thick. They
They are very hospitable, but they live
very simply. They have practically no
stores, and the business is chiefly done in
the markets at the fairs, which are held
country. There is very little farming. The
women and children work the fields and
tend to the herds and flocks Every man
has the right to as much land as he can
pay taxes upon, but one-fifth Of all he
raises goes to the king and one-tenth to the
governor. In some parts of Abyssinia salt
is used as money, and salt and cotton are
the chief commodities. The people dress,
to a large extent, in cotton. They wear q
sort of a toga about nine feet long and six
feet wide, which they wrap about their
bodies. These togas are homemade. In
addition to them, the soldiers and rich peo-
pie and chiefs wear close-ftting trousers
from the low waist to the middle thigh.
The chief. also wears a sort OF shirt OF au-
thority. This is of foreign make, though a
lions skin sometimes takes the place OF 1t.
Abyssinian Women.
The Abyssinian women are said to be
very beautiful. They are of different colors,
some jet black, others copper-colored and
others fair. They are roted for their very
pretty soft hands, which are so small that
IN, fhn
bracelets which fit their wrists. They use
mutton fat in the dressing of their hair,
and sleep upon pillows, upon which they
rest only the neck, much like the Japanese.
The women do all the work connected with
the household and the men scorn to do
anything of a domestic nature The wo-
men do not fight in battle though they
go to the field and take care of the wound
cd. They are often given charge Of the
captives, and during Gen. Dyes trip one
of the doctors escaped through a woman
who fell in love with him. Abyssinia is
said to be a land of free love- Marriage sell
dom lasts for any length of time. Couples
inarry and separate at pleasure Upon
separation they divide the children. The
eldest son gees to the mother and the eld-
est daughter to the father. If there is
but one daughter and all the rest sons, the
father gets the girl, but if there is one son
and all the rest daughters, the boy goes to
the mother
Abyssininn Christians.
The most of the Abyssiniars are Chris
tians They believe in the Bible, though
not just as We do. I saw a number of them
during my stay in Egypt anG 1 met quite
crowd of Abyssinian Christians at Je-
rusalem during an Easter week sew
eral years ago. These Abyssinians had
come to Jerusalem on a pilgrimage
They wanted to worship in the Church
OF the Holy Sepulchre. They were
tall, fine looking men with regular fea-
lures and with faces of a dead black
Their complexion was not oily Ike that of a
negro but it was Of rich dull black There
are large number of priests in Abyssinia.
There are said to be at least twelve thou
sand monks in the country. These men
have great deal to do with the govern
ment. The Abyssinians have no liter
ature worth mentioning. They have
neither painting, sculpture, nor archi-
lecture. There is no foreign commerce,
though there ale some imports, upon
which the king collects an immense duty.
A mule load Of goods pay s., donkey load
81, and porters load 81.
Queer Surgical Methods.
Gen. Dye saw something of Abyssinian
surgery during mis- stay in the country. He
says that when limb is broken in battle
the Abyssinians pound that part of the
limb below the break into a jelly Some
times they pound it up as far as the next
joint, and he says that in most of such
cases the men get well. They know moth
ing of ordinary amputation. While DR..
Johnson was in captivity he was asked to