INHABITANTS— THE SHANGALLAS AND LEGAS. 



223 



persons. Although their king can put twenty thousand warriors on the battlefield, 

 without counting the Negro troops of his vassals, he never abuses his power to make 

 conquests. A kind and peaceful people, the Legas allow the women great liberty, 

 and permit their slaves to work in their own way. They themselves are laborious 

 and enthusiastic agriculturists ; they till the red soil of their fertile valleys, and 

 in the evening sit before their huts smoking narghilehs, whose globe consists of a 



Fig. 73. — The Lega Country. 

 Scale 1 : 750,000. 



54-° 55' 



bb' L . of ureenwich 



12 Miles. 



pumpkin, or else chewing coffee berries, roasted with salt, butter, and onions. They 

 pay no taxes to the king, but the tribes alternately cultivate and reap the fields set 

 apart for the support of the royal family. The king decides upon the fines, when 

 his subjects do not prefer to settle their disputes by the law of retaliation. The 

 nation also recognises a high priest, who celebrates the sacred mysteries in a 

 kinissa, a local name apparently derived from the term " kilissa," or church, used 

 by the Christian populations of the eastern plateaux. The sacrificer, on killing an 

 animal, always bathes his forehead in the blood, and allows it to dry on his cheeks 

 in blackish clots. But their ancient religion seems to be on the decline, and the 



