In the mean time, the man having put up his knife, with each hand resting upon his neighbour’s knee, his body stooping, his head low and forward, and mouth open very like an idiot, turns to the one whose cartridge is first ready, who stuffs the whole of it into his mouth, which is so full that he is in constant danger of being choked. This is a mark of grandeur. The greater the man would seem to be, the larger piece he takes in his mouth; and the more noise he makes in chewing it, the more polite he is thought to be. They have, indeed, a proverb that says, “Beggars and thieves only eat small pieces, or without making a noise.” Having dispatched this morsel, which he does very expeditiously, his next female neighbour holds forth another cartridge, which goes the same way, and so on till he is satisfied. He never drinks till he has finished eating; and, before he begins, in gratitude to the fair ones that fed him, he makes up two small rolls of the same kind and form; each of his neighbours open their mouths at the same time, while with each hand he puts their portion into their mouths. He then falls to drinking out of a large handsome horn; the ladies eat till they are satisfied, and then all drink together, “Vive la Joye et la Jeunesse!” A great deal of mirth and joke goes round, very seldom with any mixture of acrimony or ill-humour.
All this time, the unfortunate victim at the door is bleeding indeed, but bleeding little. As long as they can cut off the flesh from his bones, they do not meddle with the thighs, or the parts where the great arteries are. At last they fall upon the thighs likewise; and soon after the animal, bleeding to death, becomes so tough that the canibals, who have the rest of it to eat, find very hard work to separate the flesh from the bones with their teeth like dogs.
In the mean time, those within are very much elevated; love lights all its fires, and every thing is permitted with absolute freedom. There is no coyness, no delays, no need of appointments or retirement to gratify their wishes; there are no rooms but one, in which they sacrifice both to Bacchus and to Venus[95]. The two men nearest the vacuum a pair have made on the bench by leaving their seats, hold their upper garment like a skreen before the two that have left the bench; and, if we may judge by sound, they seem to think it as great a shame to make love in silence as to eat.—Replaced in their seats again, the company drink the happy couple’s health; and their example is followed at different ends of the table, as each couple is disposed. All this passes without remark or scandal, not a licentious word is uttered, nor the most distant joke upon the transaction.
These ladies are, for the most part, women of family and character, and they and their gallants are reciprocally distinguished by the name Woodage, which answers to what in Italy they call Cicisbey; and, indeed, I believe that the name itself, as well as the practice, is Hebrew; schus chis beiim, signifies attendants or companions of the bride, or bride’s man, as we call it in England. The only difference is, that in Europe the intimacy and attendance continues during the marriage, while, among the Jews, it was permitted only the few days of the marriage ceremony. The aversion to Judaism, in the ladies of Europe, has probably led them to the prolongation of the term.
It was a custom of the ancient Egyptians to purge themselves monthly for three days; and the same is still in practice in Abyssinia. We shall speak more of the reason of this practice in the botanical part of our work, where a drawing of a most beautiful tree[96], used for this purpose, is given.
Although we read from the Jesuits a great deal about marriage and polygamy, yet there is nothing which may be averred more truly than that there is no such thing as marriage in Abyssinia, unless that which is contracted by mutual consent, without other form, subsisting only till dissolved by dissent of one or other, and to be renewed or repeated as often as it is agreeable to both parties, who, when they please, cohabit together again as man and wife, after having been divorced, had children by others, or whether they have been married, or had children with others or not. I remember to have once been at Koscam in presence of the Iteghè, when, in the circle, there was a woman of great quality, and seven men who had all been her husbands, none of whom was the happy spouse at that time.
Upon separation they divide the children. The eldest son falls to the mother’s first choice, and the eldest daughter to the father. If there is but one daughter, and all the rest sons, she is assigned to the father. If there is but one son, and all the rest daughters, he is the right of the mother. If the numbers are unequal after the first election, the rest are divided by lot. There is no such distinction as legitimate and illegitimate children from the king to the beggar; for supposing any one of their marriages valid, all the issue of the rest must be adulterous bastards.
One day Ras Michael asked me, before Abba Salama, (the Acab Saat) Whether such things as these promiscuous marriages and divorces were permitted and practised in my country? I excused myself till I was no longer able; and, upon his insisting, I was obliged to answer, That even if scripture had not forbid to us as Christians, as Englishmen the law restrained us from such practices, by declaring polygamy felony, or punishable by death.
The king in his marriage uses no other ceremony than this:—He sends an Azage to the house where the lady lives, where the officer announces to her, It is the king’s pleasure that she should remove instantly to the palace. She then dresses herself in the best manner, and immediately obeys. Thenceforward he assigns her an apartment in the palace, and gives her a house elsewhere in any part she chuses. Then when he makes her Iteghé, it seems to be the nearest resemblance to marriage; for, whether in the court or the camp, he orders one of the judges to pronounce in his presence, That he, the king, has chosen his hand-maid, naming her for his queen; upon which the crown is put upon her head, but she is not anointed.
The crown being hereditary in one family, but elective in the person, and polygamy being permitted, must have multiplied these heirs very much, and produced constant disputes, so that it was found necessary to provide a remedy for the anarchy and effusion of royal blood, which was otherwise inevitably to follow. The remedy was a humane and gentle one, they were confined in a good climate upon a high mountain, and maintained there at the public expence. They are there taught to read and write, but nothing else; 750 cloths for wrapping round them, 3000 ounces of gold, which is 30,000 dollars, or crowns, are allowed by the state for their maintenance. These princes are hardly used, and, in troublesome times, often put to death upon the smallest misinformation. While I was in Abyssinia their revenue was so grossly misapplied, that some of them were said to have died with hunger and of cold by the avarice and hard-heartedness of Michael neglecting to furnish them necessaries. Nor had the king, as far as ever I could discern, that fellow-feeling one would have expected from a prince rescued from that very situation himself; perhaps this was owing to his fear of Ras Michael.