to the doctor's description of Gondar and the palaces which the Portuguese built, that it must be an invention, for it is well known that the Abyssinians only dwell in huts and tents, so how could they have palaces ?' Poncet's post-mortem reputation has, however, been saved, for these palaces have been frequently visited of late years. Also Poncet visited Bizen, and says that he there saw a staff of gold hung up. At this also the editor scoffs. But I do not see that there is the least reason why this should be an exaggeration. In nearly every respect Poncet, as far as I saw, is accurate, far more so than Bruce, and there is plenty of evidence to prove that some time ago Bizen was a much grander place than it is

now.

Alvarez describes a church there, of grand structure, well built, and the buildings magnificently arrayed, and the chief part of this is enriched with three naves well and carefully constructed.' Salt alludes to Bizen as having been in ruins and abandoned when he passed near it, and the church and buildings which we see to-day are quite new; so there can be no doubt that the glories of Bizen were once. much greater than they are now. The ascent to Bizen occupied us at least three hours, and they were hours of real hard mountaineering. We had started very early so that we might get the view before the mists came up, and we were not disappointed; we were just in time to catch a glimpse of the Red Sea glimmering in the sunshine many thousand feet below us, and of all the neighbouring mountains, before the

inevitable mists came on. Gradually they rolled up the mountain sides, first hiding one point and then another, until by midday it was as if we were on a rocky island floating on a sea of clouds.

Before starting, we had been warned that things female, whether of man or beast, are not admitted into the monastical precincts. My wife was, therefore, prepared not to see much, but she was not prepared for the terrible reception which awaited her. Suddenly, when within a hundred yards of the convent, we came upon some monks in long yellow garments, who at first scarcely realised the audacity of a female in approaching so near; but when they did, their horror knew no bounds, for not even a female mule is allowed to approach within half a mile of the convent. Better would it be for them to die than to have such a thing happen,' they said. However, we were firm and sat down, saying that my wife was tired, and that, though she did not wish to enter the buildings, she must stay where she was until she had rested and had some food. Imagining that all had been settled, I set off with our interpreter, and left her with the escort and muleteers to rest. When I returned, after inspecting the convent, to my dismay she was gone, and what happened she thus tells in her Chronicle: I sat down and pretended not to understand, and then another monk came, and he also shook hands with me, and kept mine a long time. in his, whilst he gesticulated with the other arm and assured me that a famine, a pestilence, a war, or the burning of the monastery would be better than my

presence. The she-mules were quickly despatched; but I was not so easily disposed of. The two monks continued to stand there, and a soldier, one of our escort, who feared that I should be taken ill for my unholy trespass. As soon as my husband was out of sight, one monk began sighing and groaning loudly, and the other fairly sank to the ground, and, winding his arms round his head, wept and sobbed aloud. I was quite sorry for them, so I got up and went over and took the weeping monk's hand off his head, and said, "Salam!" (i.e. good-bye). Then the standing monk grasped me by the hand, and the soldier very kindly placed his on my back, and so I was rattled down the rocks in the sun for nearly half a mile. Then, the place being a little flatter, I was left to walk alone, and espied a boulder with a hollow in it, so that I could just get in, into the shade. In spite of expostulations, I could not be dislodged again, and refused to go further to a place where two crosses are erected, beyond which female animals, with or without souls, are not allowed to ascend.'

Such was the melancholy termination to my wife's expedition to Debra Bizen. This exclusion of females is also another parallel to the customs of the Greek Church. On Mount Athos, for example, the sacred abode of Hellenic monasticism, they do not even allow hens to exist for the purpose of laying eggs.

Unconscious of the difficulties my wife was encountering, I proceeded to the monastic buildings to inspect them. The church stood out prominently almost at the summit of the rocky mountain; but it

and a few books.

was new, and the old thatch roof of the Abyssinian churches had given place to a hideously glaring roof of tin. It was round as usual, with its outer corridor for the laity, its inner court for the priests and its Holy of Holies. They showed me some fine brass censers, Oriental carpets, a sacred picture or two, Unfortunately, the memer, or head of the monastery, was away; so I could not see all the books which were under lock and key. Perhaps it was no great loss; for, having previously informed myself as to what to look for in Abyssinian bibliography, I have come to the conclusion, from books I saw at Aksum and other places, that there are no grounds for the belief that a vast wealth of old MS. books exists in Abyssinia. All their books are in constant use, and as they wear out they get new ones, and few of the now existing books appear to date further back than the fifteenth century, these being copies of early Coptic and Arabic works.

Ethiopia is rich, however, in apocryphal literature, concerning the genuineness of which they appear to entertain no doubt whatsoever; the Book of Enoch, 'Parva Genesis,' the 'Liber Adami,' an exciting history of Adam and Eve, a second Acts of the Apostles, bristling with miracles, being a few instances of works placed by them on the same footing as the other books which form our Bible. Besides these, there are the 'Synaxaria,' or lives of the saints, works full of wonders, yet from which many interesting facts might be obtained for Ethiopian history, if truth and exaggeration were not so hopelessly blended. These

books the priests and monks go over again and again, seated in shady corners, gently waving their fly-flaps to and fro as they study.

The outer court of the convent church was full of drums and rattles, umbrellas, and staffs or crutches; the pateressa, or pastoral staff of the Greeks, used to rest on during the long services, and to wave gracefully to and fro in the religious dances. Outside

ABYSSINIAN BOOKS AND CASES

hung the stone bells, probably the same Alvarez saw here three centuries ago, and which he thus quaintly describes: The bells are of stone; long, thin stones suspended by cords passed through them, and they strike them with sticks made for the purpose, and they make a sound as of cracked bells heard at a distance.' The monks of Bizen have also a bell-tower and three bells of European manufacture, but for all ordinary purposes they still use the stone ones. The