232 A SPORTING TRIP THROUGH ABYSSINIA chap, xxi 



which a hole is bored at an obtuse angle ; through 

 this a stake is passed, forming at once the handle and 

 the plough. The iron ploughshare may be bought 

 at nearly all the markets ; it weighs from four to ten 

 pounds and costs from one to two and a half dollars. It 

 is made like an elongated lozenge, a socket at one end 

 fitting on to the pointed end of the stake. While the 

 ploughman guides the plough with one hand, he wields 

 with the other a short-handled whip, with a long lash 

 made of twisted gut. The yoke is of heavy wood, with 

 four pegs through it, fastened under the beasts' necks 

 by bands of plaited tendons. It is for this purpose that 

 the natives are always anxious to secure tendons from 

 the larger beasts shot. While oxen are usually seen 

 in the yoke, I have come across mixed pairs of cows, 

 horses, mules, and donkeys doing their turn of tilling 

 the soil. The Abyssinian is not a believer in a long, 

 straight furrow, for, even where the absence of big 

 stones and tree-stumps — which are generally numerous — 

 would permit of it, he prefers a short length and many 

 headlands. 



