1844.] Agricultural and La7id produce of Shoa. 277 



of sustenance during the long weary fastings which are strictly im- 

 posed on the Abyssinian subject, but are rarely on other occasions 

 produced as adjuncts to the dinner board. The seeds of the goomum 

 are thrown about the enclosure before the commencement of the rainy 

 season, and soon afford a supply of green food in the accumulation of 

 filth which encircles every hut, whilst the onions, chillies, and gourds 

 are invariably raised in the immediate vicinity of running streams. 



72. The " chaat" is a shrub very extensively cultivated in Shoa 

 and the adjacent countries, and is much used by all the inhabitants 

 as a substitute for tea, which it resembles in all its properties and 

 qualities. The affinity in the name with the Hindoostanee term used 

 for the China plant, is passing strange, though many words of the Am- 

 haric and Ethiopic, and more particularly the Galla language, seem to 

 possess a common origin. This plant is said to have been originally 

 brought from the western mountains, the elevation of which agree with 

 that of the Chinese tea districts, being from five to eight thousand feet 

 above the level of the sea. The leaves are alone used, either chewed 

 plain, or boiled in milk or water, and sweetened with honey; the 

 qualities and properties are bitter and stimulative, like those of the 

 tea plant, and if used in excess, prevent sleep entirely during the 

 night. The shrub is cultivated in plantations, where the average heat 

 of the year may be about 60° in the shade; although the rays of the 

 sun are very powerful ; it thrives best in a light gravelly soil, and 

 grows to the height of twelve feet from the ground. Planted during 

 the month of June, the leaves are plucked during the dry season, and 

 simply exposed on a skin, until well dried in the sun ; one pound 

 weight costing from one-penny to two-pence in the bazaar. 



73. The diminished import of tea into England has introduced the 

 " yerba mate" from Brazil and Paraguay. The virtues of the l ' chaat" 

 are equally to be appreciated; the beverage produced from it by infu- 

 sion has a pleasant flavour, not unlike some of the eastern teas, and as 

 the plant is said to be indigenous in the countries watered by the 

 '• Gochob," it might be found convenient as a medium of exchange 

 for British manufactures. From the following description of the plant 

 it will be seen, that it is of the same family as that used by the lower 

 orders of the Chinese, and that the climate in which the one is 

 produced, is most suitable for the cultivation of the higher flavored, 



