100 
TRAVELS IN ABYSSINIA. 
brinde feast in all its glory. The hall contained 
ninety-five persons, who, with their long knives, 
contending for pieces of raw flesh, from which 
the blood was dripping, presented a truly savage 
spectacle. The ladies sat behind a half-drawn 
curtain, and seeing probably that their visitor did 
not much relish his actual situation, invited him 
to seat himself along with them, Mr Salt found 
this change very agreeable, as the lady of the 
house was young, pretty, and even gentle in her 
manners. 
Leaving Genater, our traveller came to Abuha- 
subba, a large church entirely cut out of the solid 
rock : One of the rooms was fifty feet by thirty ; 
another had a dome forty feet high. The walls 
were carved, adorned with crosses, Ethiopic in- 
scriptions, and paintings which represented Christ, 
the Apostles, and St George. They then arrived 
at Antalo, which is now the residence of Ras 
Welleta Selasse, the viceroy of Tigre. Antalo 
is a town of about a thousand houses, all, except 
the king's residence, mere hovels of mud and 
straw. Its situation is not agreeable ; but its vi- 
cinity to the frontier, in the present disturbed 
state of the kingdom, has made it be chosen as 
the most convenient seat of government. Mr 
Salt was soon introduced ta the Ras, whom he 
found a fine old man, with an animated and in- 
telligent countenance. He was invited to break- 
