656 Report on Shoa [No. 140. 



and privileges. Bringing any article whatever, the begging petitioner 

 hands it over to his superior as a " mamalecha" or memento, for what- 

 ever he has the assurance to demand. Servants bring a stick or a bunch 

 of grass, and ask for swords, clothes, and money ; and chiefs and officers 

 of the state present to His Majesty a pot of honey or a cotton cloth, 

 and demand a horse or a mule, or an embroidered garment. If the ma- 

 malecha be received, the modest request must be acceded to, and indeed 

 the custom of the country imperatively requires that the extortion 

 should be invariably complied with. 



107. With the first dawn, bands of petitioners station themselves on 

 the top of the eminences adjacent to the palace, and the cry of " aliet" 

 " aliet," " master," resounds deep in the still air of the morning ; the 

 door-keepers order them to draw nigh, but well aware of the understand- 

 ing between these servants and the " four chairs," against whose deci- 

 sion they are appealing, they give no heed to the summons, but lift up 

 their voices the louder, until the king orders one of his pages to cause 

 the whole to assemble in the court-yard. At home and abroad, on ex- 

 cursions and military expeditions, the cry of "aliet" salutes the royal 

 ear from the most strange and unexpected situations, and is in general, 

 promptly attended to ; the stick, however, is sometimes applied to the 

 most importunate, who will not remain content with the promise of a 

 future consideration of their claims, but every available opportunity is 

 taken by the king of listening to these endless petitions and appeals. 

 The halting stones on the green turf are frequently transferred into 

 seats of justice, judgment is given whilst ambling over the fields on 

 private excursions, and three-quarters of the entire day, with the excep- 

 tion of the Sabbath, is devoted to unravelling the knotty points of con- 

 troversy, or settling the disputes and quarrels of his subjects. 



108. In Shoa, the men have the entire responsibility in all the bar- 

 gains regarding cattle and sheep, farming and warlike implements ; and 

 the women barter in the minor articles of sustenance, grain and pepper, 

 salt, ghee and earthenware. And although the man cannot carry the 

 water or bake bread, he must wash the foul linen belonging to both 

 sexes, an operation which is performed in the running stream, the 

 clothes being deposited in a skin together with the seeds of the indote, 

 and well trampled under foot. It is the province of the men to plough, 

 sow and reap, split the wood, cut the grass, and repair the house ; 



