THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 31 j 



^£8fc 



CHAP. XII. 



State of Religion — Circumcifion, Excifion, Sse. 



THERE is no country in the world where there are fo 

 many churches as in Abyflinia. Though the country 

 is very mountainous, and confequently the view much ob- 

 ftruded,it is very feldomyou fee lefs than five or fix churches, 

 and, if you are on a commanding ground, five times that 

 number. Every great man that dies thinks he has atoned 

 for all his wickednefs if he leaves a fund to build a church, 

 or has built one in his lifetime. The king builds many. 

 Wherever a victory is gained, there a church is erected in 

 the very field flinking with the putrid bodies of the flain. 

 Formerly this was only the cafe when the enemy was Pa- 

 gan or Infidel ; now the fame is obferved when the victories 

 are over Chriftians. 



The fituation of a church is always chofen near running 

 water, for the convenience of their purifications and ablu- 

 tions, in which they obferve flrictly the Levitical law. They 

 are always placed upon the top of fome beautiful, round 



Vol III. R r hiU - 



