1843.] and the Abyssinian Church. 639 



individuals are pointed out as being possessed of even common bravery, 

 and the high honor and esteem in which they are held, evince the ab- 

 sence of this virtue among the rest. The principle of bullying the 

 weaker party may be distinctly traced in every form and relation of 

 life, and much of the mean subserviency and respect of the inferior may 

 be justly attributed to the well-known consequences of arousing the 

 dread anger of the superior. 



47. Their system of war is entirely predatory, and consists of suc- 

 cessively overwhelming with immense masses of men solitary tribes in 

 the vicinity, taking the unsuspecting foe by surprise ; massacring all the 

 males of the family ; sweeping off into captivity the maids, widows and 

 cattle ; and utterly burning and devastating fields, houses, and farm 

 stock : but there is seldom any fighting ; the unfortunate Galla is taken 

 completely unaware ; those who have swift horses at hand make their 

 escape to their hiding places, and the unlucky remnant are shot down, 

 speared and emasculated without mercy : a few only offering any resis- 

 tance to the numbers who surround the devoted band. 



48. A very different scene, however, presents itself when timely 

 intimation is carried to the tribes of the destination of the locust army 

 of the Amhara; the women and cattle are sent to the fastnesses, and 

 the men assemble mounted on their light, active and well broken steeds. 

 The invaders halt at the sight, for the courage of the Amhara is not 

 sufficient to carry him into fair fight with an armed foe, and after a lit- 

 tle skirmishing at a distance, the intruding numbers retire before the 

 few, until some more favorable opportunity occurs of dealing the death- 

 blow in the dark. 



49. But the Gallas, from their better acquaintance with the locali- 

 ties of the country, oftentimes make the invader pay dearly for the 

 spoil, and more especially when entangled in a morass these wild riders 

 charge splashing through the swamp at full speed, and cut the bewil- 

 dered Amhara to pieces. Whilst returning from a late successful sur- 

 prise, His Majesty had the deep mortification on coming up with the 

 plunder and rear division, to find his advanced guard nearly annihilat- 

 ed, and the bodies of 800 of his most distinguished warriors lying 

 trampled in the mud as a bloody memento of the successful rush of the 

 Pagans, who were lining the tops of the surrounding hills in utter de- 

 rision of his remaining force. Many of the Galla tribes, also of the Loomi, 



