BUFFET.

more. He is exceedingly fond of games, especially those calling for bodily skill, and he often joins himself in the dangerous sport of javelin-throwing, in which horsemen going at full speed hurl lances at one another, often at the risk of life or limb. He is fond of rifle-shooting also; and formerly he used to amuse himself by playing with three fullgrown lions which were allowed to roam free about the palace grounds, to the great disquietude of visitors. "Do they never kill any one?" asked a European.

66

"Yes," answered Menelik, "they do occasionally; but whenever one of the lions kills a man, we kill the lion." He spoke of it as a matter of trivial moment. At the time of the great famine, about eight years ago, however, Menelik had them all killed, saying

that he could not bear to feed wild beasts while his people were dying of hunger.

in

When Monsieur Buffet was Abyssinia, the Emperor had a young pet elephant that was allowed to wander about the city and pick up food as it pleased. This habit of the elephant's gave Monsieur Buffet a fine surprise one evening, and nearly frightened his cook into convulsions, for just as they were about to begin their evening meal, a black form appeared in the door-way of the cabin, and before any one knew what was happening, everything eatable on the table had disappeared, including a dish of potatoes, an omelet, and an excellent chicken. Having thus satis

fied his appetite, the elephant started to withdraw, but could not get through the door for the height of his head, and in his struggles to get out he all but carried off the fragile structure like a big straw hat. resting on his shoulders. When Menelik heard of this adventure, he laughed until the tears ran down his cheeks. The elephant has since been sent as a gift to the President of France, and is now kept in the Paris Jardin des Plantes.

One visitor, observing that Menelik was exceedingly fond of playing draughts, told him about the game of billiards, and suggested that he have a table brought to the palace.

"No," said Menelik; "if it is as fascinating a game as you say, I will not have it

here, because I should waste too much time playing it."

Another traveler presented the Emperor with a phonograph, which Menelik studied with the greatest interest. "This brings Europe into Africa," he said, much pleased; "this is a new way of writing, so that you read with your ears instead of with your eyes."

The traveler went on to speak of the Röntgen rays, and said that he would have brought an apparatus for producing them had he not been warned that the Abyssinian priests would object to it. "That is not true," said Menelik. "I should be glad to have such an apparatus; we are no longer where we were twenty years ago."

Menelik's broad-mindedness and apprecia

edge from without is shown by the welcome accorded to Europeans visiting his country and by the fact that several Europeans have filled posts of importance in his service. One of the best times for seeing Menelik and his chief men is at the weekly gathering at the palace, the Sunday feasting, when the Emperor literally feeds his people. At ten o'clock in the morning, after the religious service, the great pillared dining-room is crowded with men (no women are received). They come in two hundred at a time, and seat themselves in groups, cross-legged, on the floor, heads bare, feet bare, some wearing a silken tunic under the chemma-these the richer ones others wearing the chemma alone, and each showing more or less of his body as his social standing allows, for in Abyssinia in proportion as a man is accounted proud and great he covers up his body; and so it is that Menelik alone, in all the gathering, wears over his chemma a black burnoose (a hooded cape reaching to the ankles), and shoes upon his feet (made in France), and a ribbon around his head, and lifts a fold of his chemma so as to hide the lower part of his face. Not that Menelik attaches great importance to pomps and ceremonies; indeed, he often laughs at them; but this is a custom of the country.

And on this occasion custom requires the Emperor to sit alone on an alga, a curtained and cushioned divan spread with Persian tapestries. In a circle on the floor, guarding this divan, sit the generals, but rise to their feet whenever the Emperor makes sign that he will put food into his mouth, it being a matter of strict etiquette that no one shall look upon his superior when he is in the act of eating. Having risen, the generals hold up their chemmas with zealous care before

Meanwhile attendants are moving about from group to group distributing hydromel (honey wine) and bread. The latter is served in long flat oval vessels with a hollow at the center filled with a sort of pepper sauce. One vessel of bread serves for each group, each man cutting away a chunk from the loaf and dipping it into the common well of sauce. Then great pieces of beef are brought around, quite raw, and each man cuts off a piece to his liking, and stripping it into shreds swallows it thus with the bread. The quantity of raw beef that an Abyssinian can dispose of on such an occasion is surprising. If need be, he can live for days without meat, getting on quite well with a handful of flour, some dried peas, and a bit of pepper for his day's rations. But when the chance offers, he can eat as much meat in a day as a European would eat in ten.

The Sunday feasting occupies a great part of the day, the Emperor remaining seated on his alga until all who care to come have been fed, often five or six hours. While he waits he talks freely with those sitting about him, especially with any Europeans who may be present, discussing with keenest interest the latest news from the distant civilized world, and asking endless questions as to recent discoveries and inventions. Most charming in his manner at such times, his voice is sweet and insinuating, his eye full of intelligence, and altogether he impresses the visitor as a man of unusual force and understanding.