670 Report on Shoa [No. 140. 



107. GadelaAbeb. 



108. Gadela Makod Walale. 



109. Gadela Guebru Christas. 



110. Abicta Natrat. 



143. Such is the accumulated literature of ages, and in the mass 

 there are only four written in the language at present spoken and un- 

 derstood. His Majesty possesses a large assortment of manuscripts sel- 

 dom referred to, and indeed with the exception of the Holy Scriptures, 

 the remnant is but a tissue of absurd Church controversy, and lying 

 monkish legends. 



144. Thirty days constitute a month, to which five days and the fourth 

 part of a day are added to complete the year; this interpolation is called 

 " quagmin," and is introduced after the month of September, the 9th 

 day of which, according to our style, commences the Abyssinian year. 

 The year is also divided into four quarters, each being named after the 

 Gospel, which ought to be at that season reading in the churches. From 

 September to November, Luke gives name to the period; from December 

 to February, John ; from March till May, Matthew ; and during the re- 

 maining months, Mark. Events are commonly referred to as having 

 occurred during the days of Matthew, &c, but they have lost eight years 

 in their computations of time, and our present Christian era of 1842, 

 has only reached to 1833 of Abyssinian reckoning.* 



145. Superstitious to a degree, the Abyssinian will undertake no ex- 

 pedition or serious journey without, in the first instance, receiving the 

 desired omen of approbation from on high, and retracing their steps on 

 various pretences, they remain in their houses for days until the welcome 

 sign be witnessed. The sight of a hare is very bad indeed ; an antelope 

 springing across the road, good; a fox barking on the left hand, destroys 

 all hope of a happy result ; but on the right hand, a prosperous issue 

 may be expected; but of all the numerous birds of ill fame, is the "Goo- 

 rasovula." (?) Certain death or destruction, or the most dire disaster 

 are certain to follow his croak, and there is no inhabitant in the king- 

 dom, who has not some story to confirm the bad character of this evil 

 bird. The fool-hardy wight, who giveth no heed to the warning note 



* Giving the world an existence of 7334 years, they calculate that our Saviour was 

 born in the year 5,500 after the Creation, and thus account for their deficiency. 



