Lutra inunguis (Devil’s sheep), rarely surprised on the banks of the river Bereza, furnishes in its body divers secret medicines to the initiated. Viverra Civetta (Angeso) is wild, but frequently kept in cages in the Galla countries to the south-west of Shoa. The Civet (Dering), taken out of the bag by means of a small spoon, and collected in cow-horns, is one of the precious articles which the slave caravans proceeding from the interior through Shoa to the coast, barter for their daily food. One Ichneumon (Mootsheltshella) robs the poultry-yard. The lion (Anbassa), and the leopard (Nabr), are well-known throughout Abyssinia. The former seldom pays a visit to the hills, hunting nightly along the banks of rivers, and lurking during the day in his jungle retreats; the latter is more common, and shuns less the presence of man. Both are run down on foot by bodies of men armed solely with lances, which they shower over the slowly retreating beast under a deafening yell. The spoils are an indispensable part of a chief’s dress, and objects of importation from the West; the most prized, however, is the skin of the black leopard (Gasela), living in and beyond Guráguê.
The domestic cat is a rarity in Shoa; only great men place them as guardians in their storehouses. The dog (Oosha), generally a half-wild companion of the farmer, and inmate of his premises, becomes attached and useful when allowed to share the master’s protection. It is taught to keep the herds in order, to catch birds, to defend property, to give warning on the approach of wild beasts. Not the tenth part of the quickly-multiplying race possess owners; but their utility as scavengers proves their safeguard. Canis Anthus (Dahela), a wolf-like dog and an offensive thief, frequent in Efát, is caught in pitfalls; its liver has some mysterious virtue. The jackal (Kabbaro), and Hyaena crocuta (Gib), make nightly inroads into villages and towns; they fight the dogs, and for want of other prey drag off some of these. On the borders of the low country, the night camps must be fenced round with thorns, as a protection against their inroads.
Cercocebus griseo-viridis (Tota), lives upon wild figs. Cynocephalus Hamadryas (Zingiro), the male, with the mane of a lion and a powerful frame, is very mischievous and even dangerous; it congregates in caves and fissures of the rocks. Colobus (Guresa), the prettiest of all monkeys, and one duly patronised by the Abyssinians on account of its retired habits, is always on the top of the highest trees, commonly on the Woira, which bears its food.
Filfil, an animal that throws up mole-hills, baffles all attempts to catch it. Pteropus Egyptiacus and Nycteris Thebaica (Lelit off, i.e. night-bird), are harmless, but suspected inhabitants of ruined buildings. An obscure idea of a former supremacy of man over the beasts of the field causes the Abyssinian Christian to view, in a literal sense, those legends which his pious ancestors have recorded of the singular dealings of holy men with the arch-fiend; and he still figuratively personates every evil passion of the human heart by some savage, treacherous, or subtle animal of the inferior creation.
The highlands of Abyssinia can, however, offer but a small number of wild animals, and even of these very few are exclusively her own. The cultivation of the greater portion of the land, the absence of extensive forests, jungles, morasses, caverns, and other places of retreat, added to the great diversity of the clime from that of the adjacent countries, which at once excludes the migratory tribes, are the causes of the fortunate contrast presented to the lowlands of the Adaïel, where the dominion of man has yet been very imperfectly established.
On the Coffee Tree, Tea Plant, and Cotton, of Southern Abyssinia.
Tradition assigns to the countries of Enárea and Cáffa the indigenous residence of the coffee tree. In Shoa Proper the cultivation and consumption are strictly interdicted, as savouring too strongly of the abhorred Mohammadan; but in proper situations it grows strong and healthy, and in all the bordering districts subject to Sáhela Selássie, where the restriction is not enforced, the plantations are numerous and thriving.
Planted before the rains, the seed soon appears above the ground, and when six months old, the offspring is transferred to take the place of some worn-out tree. Water and the manure of the sheep are plentifully supplied, and the crop, which, from a full bearing adult, is generally from thirty to forty pounds, is gathered in March and April. Averaging from eight to ten feet in height, with dark shining foliage, and branches loaded with fruit, it grows luxuriantly in the valleys in any sheltered situation, delighting especially in the soil produced by a decomposition of trap rock, which has been washed down from the adjacent heights; and although taking six years to arrive at maturity, it yields a slight return on the second season of its transplantation.
The berries are in the first instance of a dark green hue, which before pulling is suffered to turn red, a white milky-looking pulp called gullaboo meanwhile filling up the space between the cuticle and the seed. Having been shaken and gathered from the branches, the crop is spread in the sun until the pulp becomes sufficiently dry to admit of its removal, which, by continual free ventilation out of doors, is usually the case in one month. The seeds intended for the plantation are not divested of the husk, but sown by the handful in a small plot, which is carefully manured and watered; and the (gullaboo), sold separately from the bean, is employed as a beverage with the decoction of the chaat.
For the better security of his own monopoly at the ports of Zeyla and Berbera, the Ameer of Hurrur opposes the importation of coffee into his own dominions, both from Shoa and from the country of the Galla. The plant is extensively and successfully cultivated; but the price given at Hurrur is high in comparison with that paid in Abyssinia; and the average demanded on the coast by the merchants of the former principality, varying from five pence to seven pence per pound, would seem to be in unison with that customary at Massowah in the Red Sea.