GUNS OF VALUE. 401 



called balla dinglii, and only to those whom he 

 most favoured did the monarch trust these much 

 prized arms, every one of which is valued by him 

 at twenty dollars, the price of two beautiful young 

 horses. The balla tezarb, or percussion guns, are 

 those which have come to the Negoos by the 

 voluntary contribution of strangers, or the direct 

 application of the monarch for the coveted weapon 

 at whatever price may be demanded. My single- 

 barreled fowling-piece was destined to the same 

 resting-place with nearly all the valuable stock of 

 private fire-arms brought up to Shoa by the 

 members of the Embassy, who found it very 

 difficult to retain more than one or two guns each 

 for their own use. The less valuable of these balla 

 tezarb are distributed among the superior courtiers 

 as great marks of favour, and besides, two or three 

 favourite pages have occasionally lent to them, by 

 the Negoos, guns for their amusement; and he 

 rewards them also for such petty services as cannot 

 well be paid in any other manner, by scanty dona- 

 tions of four or five percussion caps at a time. 

 These constitute a good coin in the precincts 

 of the palace, and a great deal of attention and 

 civility may be commanded in exchange for a few 

 caps. 



The Shoan gunpowder, as I have before described, 

 is very bad, and also, from the want of lead, all 

 manufactured bullets are made of small pieces of 

 iron, hammered into a round form. Many of the 



VOL. II. D D 



