AND BIKKALO MALT. 349 



tion of double the quantity of gaisho. To make 

 the bikkalo, a quantity of barley is placed in a flat 

 dish and well wetted with water, a large stone 

 being placed upon it. This presses the sprouting 

 grain into one mass of a wheel-like form, which, 

 when the operation has proceeded as far as is 

 desired, is taken from the dish, a hole made 

 through the centre, and it is strung upon a rope, 

 where it hangs to dry against the wall, and is 

 a common ornament of the interior of the houses 

 in Shoa. On occasions of brewing, the quantity 

 required is broken off, and its value as an ingredient 

 is well-known, for a common Shoan proverb says, 

 " the more bikkalo the better ale." 



The proportions of the different ingredients are 

 generally from forty to fifty pounds of grain, to 

 which is added one pound of gaisho, and two 

 pounds of bikkalo. From these quantities are 

 made about thirty gallons of very good beer, but 

 which, as I have observed before, will not keep 

 more than ten or twelve days, which is one reason 

 why ale is brewed generally in such small 

 quantities. 



There is no beverage so largely indulged in by 

 the Shoans, whether Christian or Islam, as tailah. 

 The Hurrahgee people are also extremely addicted 

 to drinking it, and when they arrive in the country, 

 every saltpiece that they can get is sure to be 

 spent in ale. It is, therefore, an essential on all 

 occasions of rejoicings, whether of a religious 



