CHELIO.UT. 
297 
Let me here caution the reader against confounding this isolated 
fact, with the general practice attributed to the Abyssinians by 
Mr. Bruce,* of keeping all the animals they slaughter alive dur- 
ing the time that they are preying on their flesh ; an horrible and 
detestable refinement in barbarism, sufhcientto stamp them among 
the lowest of the human race. Upon this question I still remain 
of opinion, that Mr. Bruce is decidedly mistaken, no such practice 
having ever been witnessed by myself, or having ever been heard of 
by Mr.Pearce, or any other person with whom I conversed ; and the 
Ras,Kasimaj Yasous,Dofter Esther, and many other very respecta- 
ble men, who had spent the greater part of their lives at Gondar, 
having solemnly assured me, that no such inhuman custom had ever 
come under their observation. They all, indeed, asserted that it 
was impossible ; and as a proof of it, remarked, that it would 
be flying in the face of heaven, as the person who kills the ani- 
mal invariably sharpens his knife for the occasion, and nearly 
dissevers the head from the body, pronouncing the invocation ; 
bism Ab wa Welled wa Menfus Kedoos in the name of the 
Father, Son and Holy Ghost,'' which gives a kind of religious 
sanctity to the act. 
A few days after the army had encamped in the plain, (during 
which period Gojee had sent repeated messages to the Has, to depre- 
cate his anger,) a deputation arrived in the Abyssinian camp from 
Degusmati Liban, for the purpose of arranging a meeting between 
this chief and the Ras Welled Selasse, and it was agreed between 
the parties, that it should take place half way up a high moun- 
tain in the neighbourhood, on which Liban was encamped, 
* Vide Vol. IV. p. 487. 
