68 4 Report on Shoa [No. 140. 



stranger, that the barrier can be finally overcome, and one step be 

 gained towards the restoration of the unhappy country of the true 

 word of God. 



The constitution of the church, the second great power of Shoa, is 

 simple, and the sway over the public mind seems to be the effect rather 

 of individual power than of a public body. Few lay men attend a 

 chapel unless on the festival of their own saint ; but all present offerings 

 according to their means, and whilst few peruse the Holy Scriptures, 

 every great man entertains in his house a priest in the capacity of 

 father Confessor. In every clerical conclave, the king possesses the 

 supreme voice of authority, and as from him proceeds, in a principal 

 measure, not only the more temporal comforts of bread, beef and hydro- 

 mel, but also punishments for real or fancied delinquency ; the despotic 

 monarch may here be justly regarded as the head of his own Church. 



The Abuna or Archbishop is, however, the real spiritual chief of 

 Ethiopia ; consecrated by the Patriarch of Alexandria, and possessing 

 with rich revenues, the intelligence of other lands : he is universally 

 feared and respected throughout the empire, and all religious differences 

 and dissensions must be carried for his final decision. Princes and 

 rulers pay implicit deference to his high behest, and seated on the 

 ground before his episcopal throne, receive, with the utmost respect, 

 his every wish and advice. 



Feuds and quarrels betwixt state and state are satisfactorily arranged 

 in his presence, and war, tyranny, and violence are controlled by his 

 commanding voice of mildness and benevolence. But the extent of his 

 diocese is great, and many local difficulties oppose the pastoral visit 

 to the extremities of his See. 



The wild Galla, the bigot Moslem, and the pestilential morass, in- 

 tervene in every direction, and the kingdom of Shoa, peculiarly in- 

 sulated by these obstacles to access, has for ages been deprived of 

 the advantages accruing from the residence of an Archbishop. 



In the hands of the Abuna are vested the exclusive power of consecra- 

 tion. Bishops, priests, and deacons can from him alone receive holy 

 office and function; and before assuming the clerical crook and 

 cloak, the inhabitants of the most remote provinces must invariably 

 repair to his court to undergo the requisite examination, and receive 

 the indispensible blessing and authority. He only it is who grants ab- 



