TRAVELS IN ABYSSINIA. 
45 
ly diffused over that continent, begins fully to pre- 
vail. The mode of election to the crown is so ex- 
ceedingly barbarous, that I know not whether to 
give full credit to it, though it seems confirmed by 
Bruce. The crown is hereditary in one family > 
but, among the sons of the deceased, the election 
is made in the following manner : As soon as the 
sovereign dies, these princes run out, like wild 
beasts, to hide themselves in the bushes and thick- 
ets. Presently, all the persons attached to the 
court set forth in chase of their future sovereign* 
The flight of a bird of prey is the signal by which 
they are guided to him. The fidelity of the omen 
is confirmed by the finding him surrounded with 
lions, panthers, and other wild beasts. He him- 
self, counterfeiting their nature, resists and attacks 
those who come to raise him to the sovereignty 5 
taking care, however, to allow himself to be over- 
come in due time. His accession is celebrated by 
the death of two persons of distinction, with whose 
blood the threshold of his door is besmeared. 
The travellers left Gingiro, and, at the end of 
the first day's journey, came again to the banks of 
the terrible Zebee. Here they fell into " new 
" agonies," for while the stream rolled still with 
tempestuous rapidity, there was not even a plank 
which could assist them in crossing. Their conduc- 
tors, however, lighted upon a contrivance, which 
Fernandez particularly describes, that, as he says, 
