688 Report on Shoa [No. 140. 



pend in picturesque confusion from the bare rafters of the roof ; no ceil- 

 ing protects the head from the descent of the lizard and spider ; and the 

 tout ensemble of the Abyssinian church presents the strongest mixture 

 of slattern finery and of squalid filth. 



Certain revenues and estates are set apart for the support of each 

 clerical establishment, and to ensure the proper distribution, an Alaha, 

 or chief, is elected by the monarch from either class of society. Whilst 

 a successful foray is followed by liberal donations from the throne, the 

 safe return from a journey is acknowledged by an ofTering on the part of 

 the private individual, and the shade of the venerable juniper trees which 

 adorn the church yard, is ever crowded with groups of sleek hooded 

 priests, who bask in the enjoyment of idle indulgence. 



Loss of office is the great punishment inflicted by the spiritual 

 court, which is composed of the assembled members of the individual 

 church, and degradation is followed by the expulsion of the offending 

 brother from the community. But the imperial hall of justice is no 

 unfrequently graced with the presence of the refractory priest, and 

 fetters in the dungeon, or banishment from the realm, maintain a 

 wholesome fear of the royal power of investigation in matters eccle- 

 siastical. 



Monks swarm throughout the land, and the huts of the monasteries 

 are always pleasantly situated in the depths of some shady forest 

 around the church dedicated to the patron saint. Fields and revenues 

 still remain in the possession of these orders, notwithstanding that the 

 duties for which they were originally assigned, are now seldom perform- 

 ed. Education was in former days to be obtained alone from the inmate 

 of the monastic abode ; and a life of scanty food, austerity, and severe 

 fastings was embraced only by the more enthusiastic. But the skin 

 cloak and the dirty head-dress now envelop the listless monk, who satis- 

 fied with a dreamy and indolent existence, basks during the day on the 

 grassy banks of the sparkling rivulet, and prefers a bare sufficiency of 

 coarse fare from the hand of royal charity, to the sweeter morsel earned 

 by the sweat of his brow. 



The monk is admitted to the order of his choice by any officiating 

 priest. A prayer is repeated, the skull cap blessed with the sign of the 

 cross, and the ceremony is complete. But a more imposing rite attends 

 the oath of celibacy before the Abuna. Priests assemble in numbers 



