no A SPORTING TRIP THROUGH ABYSSINIA chap. 



Towards the centre and on the north side of the sentry- 

 boxes is the jewellers' row, where the vendors are nearly 

 all women. They ride in from the villages round, very 

 little jewellery being made in the capital itself. The chief 

 commodities in this section are thick silver rings, which 

 are threaded on a blue string and worn round the neck, 

 women's ear-rings in the form of highly ornamented 

 solitaire studs, generally gilt, and curious ear-rings worn 

 only by men who have killed an elephant, which are 

 fashioned like elaborate finger-rings, sometimes with little 

 chains pendent from them. There are also hair-pins with 

 filigree heads, like those used for women's hats at home, 

 tiny ear- picks in the form of spoons with handles of 

 variegated shapes and patterns, bracelets and rings, 

 necklets of fine chain, and little charm-boxes as pendants, 

 as well as crosses, plain or of filigree-work. None of 

 these articles give evidence of great ingenuity in design 

 or skill in workmanship, and, if any more highly finished 

 article is met with, it is almost certain to be of Indian 

 manufacture, or to have come from Tigre. Next to the 

 raw-hide market, where you may usually find some leopard 

 skins and occasionally a lion's pelt, are established the 

 vendors of imported dressed and dyed leather, coloured 

 to bright reds and greens for the decoration of saddles, 

 bridles, and cartridge-belts. There also are for sale 

 the large, soft sleeping- skins which every Abyssinian 

 loves to possess, and leather sacks for holding personal 

 luggage while travelling by mule. In the crowded 

 corner devoted to the sword-sellers you may see a petty 

 chief, with one or two trusty followers, testing the blades 

 of the big, straight swords taken from the Dervishes, 



