• ■ ADOWA. 423 
m village near his residence to the tomb, all his other horses 
and mules following, decked out in gay ornaments and apparel, 
collected during his life time, according to custom, for this par- 
ticular purpose. A number of hired female mourners attend this 
procession, who, while it passes along, continually keep up a kind 
of fearful howl, calling at times upon the deceased by name, and 
crying out, why did you leave ns ? had you not houses and 
lands ? had not you a wife that loved you ?" and, by a number 
of similar complaints^ accusing him of unkindness in leaving 
his friends. On reaching the tomb, the cries and lamentations are 
redoubled, and these mixed with the ''hallelujahs' of the priests 
and the screams of the relatives, who again are seen tearing the 
skin from their faces, produce a terrible kind of concert, which 
may be justly said to 
'' Embowel with outrageous noise the air." Milton. 
When this part of the ceremony is concluded, the whole com- 
pany returns to the mansion of the deceased, where a number of 
cattle are killed for the consumption of the attending crowd, and 
an abundant quantity of maiz and soua is served out, which 
generally proves amply sufficient to intoxicate the whole party. 
This strange kind of commemoration is at certain intervals re- 
newed ; every near relation in the course of the following year 
striving to outvie the others in the splendour of the entertain- 
ment which he gives in honour of the deceased, and in the fre- 
quency of the lamenting visits which he makes to the tomb. An 
attendance at these meetings is considered as the highest com- 
pliment which can be paid to a family ; but some of the more 
sensible of the priesthood, as well as of the nobility, have been 
