262 Agricultural and Land produce of Shoa. [No. 148. 



field. Hedges are unknown, except in a few of the greatest thorough- 

 fares to enclose and render more impassable the muddy lanes ; and 

 the boundaries in pasture land are simply marked by large stones 

 erected apart at great intervals. 



25. In consequence of this want of enslosure animals are continu- 

 ally trespassing among the grain, and the regulations on this point 

 are clearly defined and stricly adhered to. If the stray animal be a 

 horse or a mule, the bridle is the forfeit ; if a donkey, a dowla of grain 

 must be paid ; and if a goat or sheep, one of the legs being tied up, 

 the animal is carried before the governor, who ascertains the damage, 

 and the proprietor is compelled to pay the exact amount of destruc- 

 tion, called affelama, being moreover obliged to swear by the king's 

 life, that the animal shall in future be kept in due restraint. 



26. The process of paring and burning is in general practice, 

 without reference to the quantity or quality of the soil, a portion of 

 which by this operation, becomes reduced to ashes. The ashes in some 

 situations, and in the absence of extended means of conveyance, have 

 certainly the effect of acting favorably as a manure, and besides 

 obtaining in some degree the object of fertilizing the soil the process 

 is also advantageous in destroying the weeds and rubbish. This their 

 only attempt to fatten the soil, is mentioned as being in use in the 

 most ancient recorded system of agriculture, 



" Saepe etiam steriles incendere profuit agros, 

 Cotque levem stipulam crepitantitrio urere flammis." 



But the system in modern husbandry has been very nearly exploded 

 as erroneous and inefficacious, except in obstinate bog lands. Shovels 

 and spades are unknown in this land, and the heaps are after- 

 wards scattered over the surface of the ground, by the hands of 

 the village urchins, who may be seen scratching and scraping at the 

 earth like dogs, their utter nakedness being but little concealed by the 

 enveloping cloud of red dust. 



27- In all the districts of Shoa, a regular system of cropping has been 

 established, and these rotations of crops are scarcely ever departed from, 

 founded on the principle of preserving the soil from becoming utterly 

 impoverished, and depending also upon the qualities and the diversity 

 of the situations; but altogether indicating the very small advancement 

 made by the Abyssinian in the art of agriculture. 



