3 o2 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER 



call the dew-lap in England, is cut only fo deep as to ar- 

 rive at the fat, of which it totally confifts, and, by the fepa- 

 ration of a few fmall blood- veffels, fix or feven drops of 

 blood only fall upon the ground. They have no Hone, 

 bench, nor altar upon which thefe cruel affaffins lay the a- 

 nimal's head in this operation. I ihould beg his pardon in- 

 deed for calling him an afTaflin, as he is not fo merciful as 

 to aim at the life, but, on the contrary, to keep the bealt alive 

 till he be totally eat up. Having fatisfied the Mbfaical law, 

 according to his conception, by pouring thefe fix or feven 

 drops upon the ground, two or more of them fall to work ; 

 on the back of the beaft, and on each fide of the fpine 

 they cut fkin-deep ; then putting their fingers between the 

 flefh and the fkin, they begin to flrip the hide of the animal 

 half way down his ribs, and fo on to the buttock, cutting 

 the fkin wherever it hinders them commodioufly to ftrip 

 the poor animal bare. All the flefh on the buttocks is cut 

 off then, and in folid, fquare pieces, without bones, or much 

 effufion of blood ; and the prodigious noife the animal 

 makes is a fignal for the company to fit down to table. 



There are then laid before every gueft, inflead of plates» 

 round cakes, if I may fo call them, about twice as big as a 

 a pan-cake, and fomething thicker and tougher. It is un- 

 leavened bread of a fourifli tafle, far from being difagreca- 

 ble, and very eafily digefted, made of a grain called teff. It 

 is of different colours, from black to the colour of the whi- 

 teft wheat-bread. Three or four of thefe cakes are generally 

 put uppermoft, for the food of the perfon oppofite to whofe 

 feat they are placed. Beneath thefe are four or five of ordi- 

 nary bread, and of a blackifh kind. Thefe ferve the mailer to 



wipe 



