260 Agricultural and Land produce of Skoa. \_No. 148. 



made the highest advances, six (0) pounds of grain is reckoned a high 

 weight of crop per ninety-nine (99) square feet, and granting to 

 the imperfect cultivation of Abyssinia one-half of this produce, the ex- 

 tent of ground required to realize the above amount of grain would be 

 2,700 square miles, and as calculating that the Shoan population is 

 scattered over an area of about 159 miles in length by about 90 in 

 breadth, it would appear from this rough calculation, as well as from 

 actual observation, that about one-fifth of the country is under the 

 plough. The surplus of product annually imported into the country 

 of the Adaiel and elsewhere, together with the seed corn, will be suf- 

 ficiently accounted for, by the produce of the supplementary har- 

 vest, which is always taken advantage of by the more industrious 

 farmer. 



20. The ground belongs partly to the king, partly to the temporary 

 resident governors of the districts, and partly to the inhabitants them- 

 selves. Where there is no previous right existing, a field can be pur- 

 chased by a private individual on payment to the governor of a regu- 

 lated present of honey, cloth or pieces of salt, and subject to an 

 annual taxation of produce ; but all the more favored spots of the 

 country already appertain to his majesty, whether in pasture or ara- 

 ble land, and the royal magazines for grain and farm produce, are 

 profusely studded over every portion of the kingdom. The price of 

 a field of course varies according to its size and locality, bearing a no- 

 minal value in the district from three to twenty-five German crowns ; 

 but neither money nor value in kind is ever in the first instance paid 

 down by the purchaser, the present is alone made to the governor of 

 the village as an entrance fee, and the holder is made accountable for 

 rent, according to the will and pleasure of the Government authority. 

 Neither can a man part with his field to any individual without the 

 express consent of the governor, who must be first propitiated by a 

 present, and in the event of compliance, the half of the annual rent is 

 assigned to the original proprietor as the payment of his land. 



21. The king's fields are cultivated either by his numerous slaves 

 who receive but a scanty pittance of food for their labour by the vo- 

 luntary working of the whole district en masse, or by free peasants 

 who receive as compensation a portion of rent-free ground for their 

 subsistence and expenses ; a third of their labour being demanded by 



