224 OFFEND MY ISLAM FRIENDS. 



one side, gave a rather saucy slovenly finish to my 

 cottage ornee. 



My indefatigable Islam friends now came to 

 congratulate me upon my roof being finished, and 

 began asking about the cow, with the blood of 

 which I was to sanctify the door-posts, as they said, 

 to keep " Shaitan" from disturbing me. They 

 contended that, to render the charm efficacious, the 

 animal must be killed by a Mahomedan. I shook 

 my head, and denied the necessity of this, or 

 indeed of the sacrifice at all ; but I told them, as 

 they had helped me so much, they were very 

 welcome to partake of the two sheep Walderheros 

 had already gone to purchase. They said not a 

 word in reply, and many of them considered my 

 offer to be a gross insult, and stayed away several 

 days in consequence. However, as I had now 

 begun to speak a little Amharic, and did not 

 require their assistance so much as formerly to 

 interpret for me, I was ungrateful enough to allow 

 them to come round again in their own good time. 



The evening was spent by Walderheros and his 

 friends killing the sheep ; and having boiled the 

 meat in several earthenware vessels, demonstrated, 

 by a very hearty meal, that on ordinary occasions 

 the Shoans are as fond of cooked meat as the rest 

 of mankind. 



The customary practice of eating it raw, so 

 singular, and apparently so characteristic of a 

 barbarous and savage disposition, has, in Abyssinia, 



