The Portland daily press., 1896-04-11
A QUEER LAND.
The Abyssinia Of Tradition and the
Abyssinia Of Today.
A NATION OF SAVAGES CALLING
THEMSELVES CHRISTIANS.
The Land of the Queen of Sheba Where the
Italians Are Meeting Their Match in
Warfare-Cruel Customs of the People
Their Claim to Christianity.

1taIlans Are MeetinS lnelr maIcn IN
warfare-Cruel Customs of the People
Their Claim to Christianity.
Abyssinia is land once believed to be
the scene Of the ceaseless warfare between
the lion and the unicorn; land where
the rivers refused to flow unless over beds
of precious stones; whose mountains
were of solid gold; the home Of the Queen
OF Sheba, who gathered from its riches
the treasures which amazed King Solo
mon; and, finally, the land which, under
the name of Ethiopia, has had history
as marvellous as that Of Egypt, tor whose
| throne, In fact, it actually furnished
many monarchs.
That is the Abyssinia of tradition.
In reality, it is nothing to boast of. 1t
is land peopled by inhabitants who eat
their meat raw, who practice cruel tor
lures, who cut mans hand off for debt,
and who, strangely enough, profess to be
the Oldest body of Christians in the
world
The typical Abyssinian is tough GUS
toner. He would cast his father into
prison for. a small debt, chain his mother
in-law to post for some slight infraction
of domestic discipline, and then calmly
go to church and worship with clear
conscience.
The Abyssinian, to tell the truth, is a
strangely mixed individual. There Is
about as much of the original stock in
| him as there was in the Irishman's knife,
which had had new back four times
and new blades twice as often. Histori-
ans tell us that he was originally eau
easian, but he has welcomed Egyptian,
Jew, Arab, Greek, and Portuguese into
his civilization without restraint, and as
he stands today he is literally all things
to all men. 81
There are probably half million of the
scattered over 100, 900 miles of territory.
The Abyssinian fights mostly with a
| sword, which has blade Of good steel
two feet long and razor-like hook al
most as long With this he can reach
over an enemy s shield and pound hole
in him before he knows what has hurt
him. He is also fully armed with spears,
jayelins, and other weapons, and when =
cloud of warriors, ahousands s0rong
thus armed, suddenly appe-.1s - 49,
detached column of European intaptr.
humiliation generally sfollows TIE
practice OF scalping, strangely enough is
part OF the Abyssinian's warfare, and the
CHASTITY trophies thus gathered constitute
an Abyssinian's best claim to recognition
| as a warrior.
But peace has it's victories for this
strange people, as well as war. Thus,
for killing an elephant single handed, he
is permitted to wear silver chain and for
lion, similar ornament, etc. When he
has killed one foe, his head is shaved,
with the exception of a single plat, and
SO on till five adyersaries have fallen be-
fore his prowess, and then he develops
into barbaric Paid srewski n the mat
| ter o. hair, being allowed to let 1T grow
at will.
Abyssinia has been governed for CEN
| fury past by Kings who exercised only a
| limited authority. The warrior popula-
tion is too Independent to submit to
tyranny, as more than one monarch has
| found, to his sorrow. Each district sub
mits to the quasi authority of chief,
and this has led to a queer administra-
| ton of the law. The Mosaic interpreta-
| lions ara carried out in detail, and IAN
eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" is
the basic principle underlying the Abys-
sinian code.
| Thus, if a murder Is committed the
oulprit, if caught, is turned over to tine
relatives of the dead man, and they are
q lowed to put him to death in the same
manner which he employed to remove
his enemy. So partial to this form of
punishment are the natives that re-
| Gently returned traveller tells of case
where boy, playing with his compan-
ions, accidentally fell from tree on one
of them, kill him instantly. The occur
renee was brought to the notice of the
district chief, whose council, after delib-
GRAFTON, decided that the dead boys rela-
tives might take the offender, stand him
under the tree, and then, If they could,
put him to death by falling on him from
the same branch.
| The whole criminal code is meroiless
in Its infliotion Of penalties. Thieves are
publicly whipped, and, to heighten the
moral effect of the chastisement on the
community, the prisoner is made to cry
out with each lash: "Taks heed and
profit by my unfortunate position"
| Other offenses Are punished by the less
| of hand or foot, and by various mutila-
| tions. The Abyssinian, however, sets a
high estimate on honesty, and the I'M
| lucky debtor who cannot meet his obliga-
| lions has short shift when he gets into O
court of bankruptcy. He is thrown into
prison, chained to the wall, and a pecu-
| lar manacle is fastened to the wrist. Day
| by day he is visited by his creditors and
prison officials, and. If the prospects of
an ultimate settlement are not bright,
an extra turn Is given the manacle, and
it sinks further into the flesh, until final
ly, II the case is not compromised, the
debtor loses his hand. "Giveu under my
hand and seal" is not meaningless legal