“After both parties have given security the plaintiff only is allowed to produce his witnesses; the defendant can, when they are called by name, admit or reject their evidence, in almost every case great indulgence being shown in this respect. . . . In small affairs, such as a sudden dispute on the high road, the meeting of an absconded debtor, or any civil matter, the first decent person to be found is obliged to act as a temporary judge, if adjured by the ‘death of the chief’ paramount. He must then place the accused in bonds, which is done by tying his cloth (shama) to that of his accuser, and escort or send them to the nearest magistrate, who, should the accused demand it, must in like manner forward him to his immediate master or chief, where the case is first heard, the plaintiff having right of appeal; the law in this being, however, highly favourable to the defendant, the plaintiff not being always disposed for a long journey.”[217]
Every man is his own advocate. Those who wish to read an account of the proceedings “in court” should refer to “Modern Abyssinia,” p. 308, or “Wanderings among the Falashas,” pp. 48, 170. The hearing usually gives occasion for a good deal of eloquence and a great deal of lying.
There is no sort of general education in Abyssinia. Men of attainments are found in the upper classes, and some of the higher officials are capable linguists. But as regards the bulk of the nation learning has advanced little since the days of Harris. “The stores of literature being bound up in a dead letter (the Geez language), few excepting the priests and defterers can decipher them, and many of these learned men are often more indebted to the memory of their early youth than to the well-thumbed page in their hand. The ignorance of the nation is, indeed, truly deplorable; for those children only receive the rudiments of an education who are designed for the service of the Church; and, the course of study adopted being little calculated to expand the mind of the neophyte, a peculiar deficiency is presented in intellectual features.”[218] Plowden remarked of the priests that they “teach but one book to the children of the laity, ‘The Psalms of David;’ and without forbidding other learning, discourage it, confining it as much as possible to the clergy and the scribes.”[219] Allusion has already been made to the classes held by the priests in the precincts of the churches.[220] Such instruction as is obtainable is given, of course, to all pupils under clerical supervision. There are no secular schools, and at the present time, as Mr. Vivian remarked, “no one in Abyssinia ever does get any education beyond learning to read and write, and quote passages from the Gospels.”[221] Those whose acquirements exceed this standard are not indebted for them to native teachers.
The habits of the young girls, among the generality of the people, do not foster any strict notions of morality. Parkyns wrote: “The boys are turned out wild to look after the sheep and cattle, and the girls, from early childhood, are sent to fetch water from the well or brook, first in a gourd, and afterwards in a jar proportioned to their strength. If the well be far from the village, the girls usually form parties to go thither and amuse themselves on the road by singing sentimental or love songs; while, during their halt at the well for an hour or so, they engage in romps of all kinds, in which parties of the other sex frequently join. This early licence lays the foundation for worse, when at a later period they are sent to the woods to collect fuel.”[222]
Courtship can hardly be said to exist. “In Abyssinia young people begin to think of marriage at a very early age. I have seen brides of eight or nine years old; and boys at a proportionally youthful age are considered marriageable. When a lad wishes to marry he only inquires for a girl who may possess twice the number of oxen that he can muster, or their value. His proposals are made to the girl’s father, and, unless there is some strong motive for rejecting him, he is accepted, and everything is arranged without consulting the lady’s taste or asking her consent. They are usually betrothed three or four months before marriage, during which time the bridegroom frequently visits his father-in-law elect, and occasionally propitiates him with presents of honey, butter, a sheep, or a goat; but he is never allowed to see his intended wife even for a moment, unless, by urgent entreaty or a handsome bribe, he induces some female friend of hers to arrange the matter, by procuring him a glance at his cruel fair one. For this purpose he conceals himself behind a door or other convenient hiding-place, while the lady, on some pretext or other, is led past it. Should she, however, suspect a trick, and discover him, she would make a great uproar, cover her face, and, screaming, run away and hide herself, as though her sense of propriety were greatly offended by the intrusion; although previous to his making the offer she would have thought it no harm to romp with him, or any other male acquaintance, in the most free and easy manner. Even after she has been betrothed, she is at home to every one, except to him who most sighs for the light of her countenance.
“In Tigre, and especially in Shire, there is a superstition that if a girl leave her father’s house during the interval between her betrothal and marriage she will be bitten by a snake.
“When the wedding day approaches the girl is well washed, her hair combed and tressed, and she is rendered in every way as agreeable as possible. She has then to undergo a course of diet and medicine.”[223]
Of marriages there are three kinds. The foregoing extract refers to the usual merely civil contract; for such unions there are “bridesmen” (arkees), who have peculiar privileges in the community, including that of theft, remain “on duty” after the nuptials, and occupy the most singular relation to the newly wedded damsel.[224] There are also bridesmaids, who keep their faces covered during the wedding, which is a very simple ceremony. Mr. Wylde and an Italian friend obtained an illicit view of an Abyssinian bride and bridesmaids, and were rewarded by the sight of some very charming girls. Both he and Parkyns have written entertaining descriptions of an Abyssinian marriage of this kind.[225]
Rassam has given the following particulars with regard to such contracts. “The parties simply swear, in the presence of two witnesses, that they will live together as husband and wife. This bond may be dissolved at any time by mutual consent; in that case, the wife is entitled to retain whatever property she possessed before wedlock, as also any presents which she may have received from her husband during coverture, unless a stipulation to the contrary was agreed to by both sides, on their union. Most Abyssinian marriages are of this sort, and the generality of the respectable classes so wedded live together as husband and wife until separated by death.”[226]
Harris wrote: “In Shoa a girl is reckoned according to the value of her property; and the heiress to a house, a field, and a bedstead is certain to add a husband to her list before many summers have shone over her head. Marriage is generally concluded by the parties declaring, before witnesses, ‘upon the life of the King,’ that they intend to live happily together, and the property of each being produced is carefully appraised. A mule or an ass, a dollar, a shield and a sheaf of spears on the one side,[227] are noted against the lady’s stock of wheat, cotton, and household gear; and the bargain being struck, the effects become joint for the time, until some domestic difference results in either taking up their own, and departing to seek a new mate.