THE ABYSSINIAN AND ETHIOPIC GROUPS 381 



is a branch of the Coptic Church of Egypt, and its head is the Patriarch of Alexandria. He 

 appoints the Abuna, or Prelate of Abyssinia, who must be a Copt. But his influence is 

 controlled by the Echegheh, a native dignitary at the head of the religious orders. Both live in 

 Gondar, which is the ecclesiastical centre. The priests are allowed only one wife each, and 

 are not allowed to remarry. The creed of the Church is monophysite that is, it holds to 

 the single and not the dual nature of Christ. It also believes in the three births of Christ 

 viz His proceeding from the Father, His birth by the Virgin Mary, and His reception of the 

 Holy Ghost: that the last was a birth was settled by a sanguinary civil war. Fasting is one of 

 the practices of the Church; and the priests are supposed to fast for nine months of the year. 



The political organisation of the country is theoretically a despotism, limited by the weakness 

 of the central authority and the slowness of communications. There is a paid standing army 

 of about 70,000 men, with an unpaid militia of about 140,000 more. Nearly all the men have 

 rifles of some sort, and the army has eighty mountain guns. 



The criminal code dates from the time of Constantine, but it appears to be arbitrarily 

 and sometimes cruelly enforced. In the time of King Theodore criminals at Magdala were 

 crucified, flayed, or hurled over a cliff. But the rule of the present king, Menelik of Shoa, 

 appears to be very superior to that of his predecessors in the administration of justice. 



As an example of the Abyssinian Negro races we may take the Shangallas, who live in 

 the plains to the north-west of the Abyssinian plateau. They are a fierce, warlike race, and 

 are described by Plowden as people with light, slim legs, but powerfully built from the waist 

 upward. Their food is meat and wild honey, and they eat the carrion of animals slain by 

 Abyssinian ivory-hunters. They live in large caves in the rainy season, and at other times 

 bivouac in the scrub. Their religion is fetishism, and they are guided by omens drawn from 

 the flights of birds. 



Photo by Mr. J. }}'. Roland. 



