GRAND CAIRO. 93 
was so caustic, that although he washed the 
sabre immediately, the stain never left it". We 
were amused by the eager quickness with 
which our Abyssinian recognised and named the 
Kantuffa; telling us all that Bruce relates 
of its thorny nature, as if he had his work by 
heart. The Balesscm, or Ralsam-tree, was en- 
tirely unknown to him. He had seen the 
Papyrus in Emhcira, in the province of Lebot 
growing in marshy lands. Concerning the 
other plants engraved in Bruce s work, his ob- 
servations agreed with those of Bruce, with very 
little exception. He denied that the mode of 
eating raw meat was by wrapping it up in cakes 
made of TeJ^. These cakes, he said, were used 
for plates, or as bread only for women and sick 
persons. The Abyssinians do not make beer from 
Teff, according to his account, but from a plant 
called Selleh. Bruce mentions different sorts 
of Teff'^, of which, perhaps, Selleh may be one. 
The Abyssinian concurred with Bruce, in attri- 
buting the frequency of worm-disorders, in his 
country, to the practice of eating raw flesh*. 
. <2) Ibid. p. 4:5. 
(3) SecBtuce's Travels, vol. III. p. 280. Edinb. 1790. 
(4) Bruce entertained the same opinion. See Travels, Append, p. 80. 
Edinb. 17D0. 
