Alvarez's narrative. 
august ceremonies of the Abyssinian religion e 
The first was baptism, which is here annually ad- 
ministered. It was performed in an artificial lake 
or pond, made of such a depth, as to take grown 
persons up to the neck. Each individual des- 
cended by steps, till only his head appeared above 
the surface, when an old priest, who was almost 
frozen to death by standing all night naked in 
the lake, came and put it thrice under water, 
which constituted the ceremony. The king, the 
queen, and the Abuna, had a piece of cloth 
round the waist ; but all the others, both men 
and women, deemed such a covering superfluous. 
The next ceremony was the admission by the 
Abuna into priest's orders. The number on 
whom this honour was conferred amounted to 
two thousand three hundred and fifty-six. They 
were first assembled in a large field, where the 
Abuna, seated on a mule, called out, that if any 
man had two wives or more, he was excommuni- 
cated if he attempted to become a priest. The 
candidates were then seated in three long rows ; 
and three priests went from one to another, and 
examined them — merely as to their capacity of 
reading. From the vast number present, this in- 
vestigation was necessarily so short, that several 
did not read above two words. When the cere- 
mony was over the Prete sent for Alvarez, and 
asked his opinion as to the mode of conducting 
