KAFFALAND. 215 



fortunate than those of Yangaro and other neighbouring states, are also allowed to 

 eat poultry. According to custom, if the women eat this latter food they loose their 

 liberty and are immediately sold as slaves, the traffic in human flesh not being for- 

 bidden to the Christians of KafPa, as it is to those of northern Abyssinia. Their 

 clothing is also rigorously regulated, skins, tanned or untanned, being forbidden ; 

 their garments are made of cotton tissues or coarse stuffs woven from the fibres of 

 the ensete. Althovigh Bonga, the capital of Kaffa, maybe *'the largest town exist- 

 ing in Abyssinia," and an active market, money was hardly known there in the 

 middle of this century. The only mediums of exchange were glass beads and the 

 salt imported from Sokota. To the south-west, in the Sheka or Siaka country, the 

 natives collect gold-dust from the sands of the rivers. The sovereigns of Kaffa 

 maintain a ceremonious etiquette nearly as rigorous as that of the kings of Yan- 

 garo. According to Soleillet, who has recently penetrated into this country, the 

 ministers and grandees of the kingdom cannot speak to their master unless covered 

 with fetters like slaves, although they are separated from the royal presence by a 

 curtain. To shun recognition the king himself goes out shabbily clothed and 

 mounted on a miserable horse ; but his escort is observed from afar, and everyone 

 hides so as to escape the consequences of meeting him. In this country of etiquette 

 the formula of salutation is, "I hide myself under the earth." When the 

 Christian priests still resided in the country, the faithful were bound never to let 

 them touch the ground between the mission-house and the church, so they were 

 carried on the shoulders of strong men. It is related that these priests being 

 unable to go to Gondar to receive consecration from the abuna, had brought to 

 them by caravan a precious box which the " father " had filled with his sacred 

 breath. 



South of Kaffa, on the watershed of the Indian Ocean, stretch the forests peopled 

 by the mysterious Dokos, that is to say, in Galla, the " Ignorant," or the " Savages." 

 According to Krapf , Isenberg, and most other explorers, the Dokos are dwarfs, like 

 the Akkas of the Welle River, whilst D'Abbadie asserts they are in no wa}^ different 

 from their neighbours, the Swaheli. 



The King of Shoa, absolute in his kingdom, exercises only an indirect influence 

 over the small tributary Galla states, and the southern kingdoms have been induced 

 to accept the suzerainty of the " king of kings," less through his influence than 

 that of the râs of Go jam, who controls the trade routes leading from Gondar and 

 Sokota to Kaffa. However, the material power of the King of Shoa over the sur- 

 rounding coimtries has greatly increased during the last few years, thanks to the 

 organisation of his armj', which already comj^rises a body of jjermanent troojjs 

 amounting to a thousand riflemen. In time of war, when the great nagarit, or 

 war-drum, is beaten, this corps is followed by crowds of warriors and plunderers. 

 According to Chiarini, the armed rabble occasionally amounts to nearly a 

 hundred thousand persons. The tribute paid to the negus by the kings of Shoa 

 and Gojam is very considerable. Besides a present of Maria-Theresa crown -pieces, 

 the sovereign of Shoa is said to be obliged to supply his master with a hundred 

 thoiisand oxen, two thousand horses, and two hundred leopard skins. 



