ANTALO. 375 
down the room.) On the following day, however, to the great 
surprise of the company, the jester made his appearance, mount- 
ed on the shoulders of one of his attendants, in which ludicrous 
situation he advanced close up to the Ras, and with a very 
whimsical expression of features, cried out, you can't say that I 
am on your carpet now/' The Ras, who, like most of his coun- 
trymen, delights in humour, could not refrain from smiling, 
which insured the jester's forgiveness. Several other anecdotes 
were related to me, that displayed much originality, but they 
were of a description that the reader will probably forgive me for 
omitting. 
The chief amusement of the lower class of the community 
during this season of festivity, consists in playing at a game called 
* kersa,' which is precisely similar to the common English game 
of ' bandy/ Large parties meet for this purpose ; the inhabitants 
of whole villages frequently challenging each other to the contest. 
On these occasions, as might be expected^ the game is violently 
disputed, and when the combatants are pretty equally matched, 
it sometimes takes up the greater part of the day to decide. The 
victors afterwards return shouting and dancing to their homes, 
amidst the loud acclamations of their female friends. I also 
occasionally observed, at Antalo, that the vanquished were 
received with similar honours, and we often heard them chal- 
lenging their opponents, in a friendly way, to renew the sport, 
though at other times, the parties, engaged in these contests, fell 
into a violent rage, both men and women uttering the most 
terrible menaces, and pouring forth torrents of abuse ; so that, as 
frequently happens in our own country, that which was begun in 
