700 Report on Shoa [No. 140. 



The Jewish temple consisted of three distinct divisions ; the fore Court, 

 the Holy, and the Holy of Holies. To the first, laymen were admitted, 

 to the second only the priest, and to the third the High-priest alone. All 

 entrance was denied to the Pagan, a custom which is still enforced 

 in Abyssinia, and her churches are in a like manner divided into three 

 parts. 



" Keunic Maalt" is the first enclosure to which all laymen have ac- 

 cess, and wherein the priests and defteras perform Divine service by 

 singing, dancing, and drumming. " Mukdas" is the second, a corner of 

 which is set apart for laymen during the administration of the Holy 

 Supper, whilst a cloth screens the mysteries of the interior. Here also 

 hang arranged around the walls, the bones of many deceased worthies 

 which have been carefully gathered from the newly opened sepulchre, 

 and are deposited by the hand of the priest in cotton bags. By the 

 nearest relative the first opportunity is embraced of transporting these 

 mouldering emblems of mortality to the sacred resting place of Debra 

 Lebanos, where the living and the dead are alike blessed with a rich 

 treasure of righteousness, since the remains of Tekla Haiman, the 

 patron saint of Abyssinia, still throw over the scene of his miracles upon 

 earth, a bright halo of holiness. 



" To Kuddist," the Holy of Holies, none but priests are admitted. 

 Behind its veil, the Sacrament is consecrated, and the tremendous 

 mysteries of the ark are shrouded from the eyes of the uninitiated. 

 Prayers, vows, and offerings are daily made to this idol sitting in the 

 centre of the Abyssinian church, and the handiwork of some vain eccle- 

 siastic is held up to the admiring multitude as the true ark of holiness, 

 which secreted in a cave during the inroad of the conquering Graigne, 

 has been discovered by a miraculous dream from heaven. Even unto this 

 day the spoils of the temple of Jerusalem are supposed to remain a 

 blessing to the land, and old and young, rich and poor, bow the knees as 

 to the Omnipotent Creator, before a round wooden box which contains 

 nought save the name of the patron saint of the Church. 



But among the ignorant mass, the mystery is carefully preser- 

 ved. The priest who dared open the lip to his countrymen regarding 

 the contents of the casket, would suffer the heavy penalties due to 

 sacrilege ; and although the gold of the foreigner has penetrated the 

 secret of its interior, the dense fog of superstition will long obscure the 



