MISCELLANIES. 
of station. He had, one day, so 
much offended the Ras by some 
liberties that he had taken with 
him, that he ordered him never 
again to set foot upon his carpet, 
(which, it may be noticed, ex- 
tends about half way down the 
room.) On the following day, 
however, to the great surprise of 
the company, the jester made his 
appearance, mounted on the 
shoulders of one of his attend- 
ants, in which ludicrous situation 
he advanced close up to the Ras, 
and with a very whimsical ex- 
pression of features, cried out, 
‘ you can’t say that I am on your 
carpet now.” The Ras, who, 
like most of his countrymen, de- 
lights in humour, could not re- 
frain from smiling which insured 
the jester’s forgiveness. Several 
other anecdotes were related to 
me, that displayed much original- 
ity, but they were of a descrip- 
tion that the reader will probably 
forgive me for omitting. 
The chief amusement of the 
lower class of the community du- 
ring this season of festivity, con- 
sists in playing at a game called 
‘ kersa,’ which is precisely similar 
tothe common English game of 
‘bandy. Large parties meet for 
this purpose ; the inhabitants of 
whole villages frequently challeng- 
ing each other to the contest. 
On these occasions, as might be 
expected, the game is violently 
disputed, and when the combat- 
ants are pretty equally matched 
it sometimes takes up the greater 
part of the day to decide. The 
victors afterwards return shouting 
and dancing to their homes 
amidst the loud acclamations of 
their female friends. I also oc- 
casionally observed, at Antalo, 
535 
that the vanquished were received 
with similar honours, and we 
often heard themchallenging their 
opponents, ina friendly way, to 
renew the sport, though at other 
times, the parties, engaged in 
these contests, fell into a violent 
rage, both men and women utter- 
ing the most terrible menaces, and 
pouring forth torrents of abuse; 
so that, as frequently happens in 
our own country, that which was 
begun in jest, ended in blows: 
but, even in such cases, they are 
never known to attack each other 
with any other weapon than the 
sticks, or bandies, which they 
employ inthe game. In one in- 
stance, Mr. Pearce mentioned an 
incident which occurred in his 
presence, where one-half of the 
town of Moculla was so hotly en- 
gaged against the other, that at 
last the combat became very 
alarming, and the Ras himself 
was obliged to interfere, but did 
not succeed in parting them, till 
several men had been Jaid dead in 
the field. The Ras received an 
accidental blow in the fray, not- 
withstanding which he would not, 
from a feeling of humanity, which 
is the distinguishing feature of his 
character, permit Mr. Pearce to 
use his pistols, which he had 
drawn out for the occasion. 
ABYSSINIAN BAPTISM. 
(From the Same.) 
After leaving the Ras at Antalo 
we proceeded towards Chelicut ; 
and, on our arrival at that place, 
completed the preparationsfor our 
journey to the coast. On the fol- 
lowing day I attended the baptism 
of a Bedowee boy, at that time 
living as servant with Mr. Pearce, 
whom we had persuaded ‘to be- 
