J 843.] and the Abyssinian Church. 641 



54. The buckler, resembling the Roman clypeus is made of a good 

 tough bull's hide, or cut from the hardened skin of the wild buffaloe ; 

 it is of large dimensions and well studded with silver and brass crosses 

 and ornaments, and being conveniently portable, can be turned with the 

 greatest ease to ward off the threatened blow of the coming missile. 

 Anointed and rubbed with oil, as a preservative against cracking 

 and injury from the weather, this defensive armour is generally stowed 

 in a cotton bag, and on the return of a triumphant army, is frequently 

 presented as a votive offering, and hung on the vestibule of a church. 

 When not worn on the arm, it depends from the high pummel of the 

 saddle, and " the bull skin border of the bossy shield" protects the 

 leg from all the crushing and kicking, invariably experienced in the 

 disorderly array of the Amhara rabble. 



55. The troops move in masses under their respective governors 

 and leaders, and take any direction they choose, provided they do 

 not interfere with His Majesty's particular route, or go before the 

 state umbrellas. The king's concubines and women follow on mules 

 immediately behind their lord and master, and a band of 30 bearers 

 of the royal silver shields preserve the faint line in front of the con- 

 fused mass of succeeding horsemen, who are kept from intruding too 

 near the sacred person of Majesty, by the strenuous efforts of the 

 master of the horse and his assistants, who lay about lustily with their 

 ratans, without much regard to rank or station. 



56. The striking of the royal suite of tents, which is pitched enclosed 

 in a compound of black woollen walls, is the signal for packing up, and 

 at the beat of the drum and the sound of the horn, the king, bare-headed 

 as Masinissa of old, issues forth about 9 o'clock, when the mass follow 

 in his route. On His Majesty's dismounting to proceed on foot across 

 the meadows, all follow his example ; the march is seldom very lengthy, 

 and the household ladies' alighting from their mules is the signal for 

 the halt ; a general rush at speed takes place from all directions of the 

 host, for the purpose of securing a good grassy spot for the bivouac, 

 and fierce wrangling, and often times quarrels and bloodshed ensue, 

 before the array is quietly located for the night. None have tents 

 except the king and a few of his great governors, and like the black 

 woollen awnings of Kedar, they are warm and of a close texture, 

 and are kept firmly erect by loops fixed to hooked wooden pegs. 



4 p 



