SALT. 
99 
led him to expect. Dixan is a considerable town ; 
the houses are flat-roofed, and without chimneys, 
having merely two pots of earthen ware set up as 
vents. The people here are of a dark complexion ; 
they are idle, ignorant, and dirty. All the labours 
of agriculture are devolved upon the females, who 
are obliged to go out to the fields with their chil- 
dren on their backs. Their music was found by 
Mr Salt to be quite intolerable. There are no 
schools for instruction in reading ; not one in 
twenty possesses that qualification ; so that the 
small number who do, consider themselves fully 
entitled to rank as priests. The commodities for 
which there was most demand in the market of 
Dixan, were white cloths, tobacco, pepper, look- 
ing-glasses, and spirits. 
Mr Salt was introduced to the Baharnagash, 
and tolerably received by him. He was a tall el- 
derly man, with a mild countenance. He had a 
single garment round his body, and an ensign was 
borne before him, consisting of a peeled staff six 
feet long. His jurisdiction extended only over 
six or seven villages. He was chief priest as well 
as first magistrate, and read prayers morning and 
evening to a numerous assembly. 
Passing through Abha, Agouma, and some 
other villages, Mr Salt arrived at Genater, where 
he was invited by the chief to a splendid enter- 
tainment. Here, for the first time, he saw the 
