offences, however, are rare; for murder and sacrilege alone give umbrage
to the easy conscience of the natives of Shoa. Abstinence and largesses of
money are equivalent to wiping away every sin. Their creed advises the
invocation of saints, confession to the priest, and faith in charms and
amulets. Prayers for the dead, and absolution, are indispensable; and, as
a more summary mode of relieving the burdens of the flesh, it is
pronounced, that all sins are forgiven from the moment that the kiss of
the pilgrim is imprinted on the stones of Jerusalem, and that even kissing
the hand of a priest purifies the body from all sin. A creed of this order,
which makes spiritual safety dependent, not upon personal purification of
mind and divine mercy, but upon forms which are unconnected with either,
and which even can be executed by a substitute, of course excludes the
necessity for morals of any kind. All is corruption--"Born amid falsehood
and deceit, cradled in bloodshed, and nursed in the arms of idleness and
debauchery, the national character almost defies the missionary."

There are some strange remnants of Judaism still lingering amongst the
tribes of these highland regions. The Galla have a tradition, that their
whole nation will one day be called on to march, _en masse_, and reconquer
Palestine for the return of the Jews. The king of Shoa regards himself as
a direct descendant of the house of Solomon, calls himself king of Israel,
and the national standard bears the motto, "The Lion of the tribe of Judah
hath prevailed." They believe the 45th Psalm to be a prophecy of Queen
Magueda's visit to Jerusalem; whither she was attended by a daughter of
Hiram, king of Tyre. The Jewish prohibitions against the flesh of unclean
animals, are observed by the Abyssinians. The sinew which shrank, and the
eating of which was prohibited to the Israelite, is also prohibited in
Shoa. The Jewish Sabbath is strictly observed. The Abyssinians are said,
by Ludolf, to be the greatest fasters in the world. The Wednesdays and
Fridays are fasts; the forty days before Easter are rigidly observed as a