Abatis

“ The foolish merchant did as the demon bade him and emptied every jar, saving not even a cupful. On and on they traveled and the streak on the sky faded with the sunset. There was no forest, the dark line being only clouds. No water was to be found. The men had no water to drink and no food to eat, for they had no water in which to cook their rice, so they went thirsty and supperless to bed. The oxen, too, were hungry and thirsty and dropped down to sleep here and there. Late at night the demons fell upon them [49] and easily carried off every man. ”

“ From the high province of Giralta, we descended the steep pass of Atbara; and about half way down arrived at a beautiful spot, whence a spring of water rises, which successively falls into several basons in the rocks, formed, in the lapse of years, by the perpetual action of the stream. These waters are held in great repute throughout the country for their sanative properties; many people of consequence resorting to them from the distant provinces; and, while we remained in the neighbourhood, an Abyssinian nymph and some of her attendants, were observed bathing in one of the basons. ”

“ His eyes grew worse, and on the very day which brought us the news of your safe arrival in Babylon, Amasis became totally blind.
"The cheerful, active man has become old, gloomy and decrepit since that day. The death of Apis, and the unfavorable constellations and oracles weigh on his mind; his happy temper is clouded by the unbroken night in which he lives; and the consciousness that he cannot stir a step alone causes indecision and uncertainty. The daring and independent ruler will soon become a mere tool, by means of which the priests can work their will. ”

“ The Abyssinians have a story, probably created by themselves, that the devil appears to them, and with him they eat the head, swearing obedience to him upon certain conditions, that of sending rain, and a good season for their bees and cattle: however this may be, it is certain that they pray to the spirit residing in the river, whom they call the Everlasting God, Light of the World, Eye of the World, God of Peace, their Saviour, and Father of the Universe. ”

“ The intention of this latter proceeding can hardly be doubtful—it is a last effort to stop the soul about to take flight forever. So among the Abipones, a dying man is surrounded by a crowd of old crones brandishing rattles, stamping and yelling, while every now and then one of them flings water over his face so long as there is breath left in his body. ”

“ Certain spies of mine last night saw four white men riding on fine camels towards Egypt, and reported it to me as I led my army to the secret pass that Harmac showed me, which you Abati could never find. But I said, ‘Let them go; it is right that brave men who have been the mock of the Abati should be allowed their freedom.’ Yes, I said this, although one of them was my daughter’s husband, or near to it. ”

“ He has also a Moabitic bas-relief in black basalt: he bought it of the Arabs on the Dead Sea. If it be indeed what he supposes, it is the only relic of the sort existing in Europe.
Abbadie, one of the Ethiopian travellers of that name, who has lately been so much assailed by other savants as a narrator of his adventures, is superintending the cutting of a complete font of Ethiopic letters, at Paris, to be used in printing some two hundred and fifty Ethiopian manuscripts. They will form four printed volumes, and are said to be among the most beautiful specimens of chirography ever seen. ”

“ Beside their power to transform themselves into hyænas or other wild beasts, all sorts of other strange things are ascribed to them; and the Abyssinians are firmly persuaded that they rob the graves by midnight, and no one would venture to touch what is called quanter, or dried meat in their houses, though they would not object to partake of fresh meat, if they had seen the animal, from which it came, killed before them. ”

“ It is enough to make a Vandal weep, and I pray heaven that you may not succeed in your infamous design. What does it matter if the Abati are wiped out, as lots of better people have been before them? What does it matter if we accompany them to oblivion so long as that noble sphinx is preserved to be the wonder of future generations? Well, thank goodness, at any rate I have seen it, which is more, probably, than any of you will ever do. There, another brute is dumping his rubbish over the skull of No. ”

“ In a third inscription a devil is named "Abdi," which may be derived from the root abad, and be regarded as the same as the New Testament Abaddon (Rev. ix. 10) —the king of the slaughterers, bucaneers, rovers, &c. We can fancy that Negroes who are captured and sold in droves to foreigners, might imagine that Abdi was the devil which ruled the African slave drivers and Christian purchasers. This demon is associated with Levatta,—with tribulations, the machinations of the Assyrians, misery, treachery, rebellion ”

“ The Abati being such cowards it was quite probable that they would run in their thousands before the onset of a few hundred determined men, and that, if once victory declared itself for the Child of Kings, the bulk of her subjects would return to their allegiance. So we settled on it in preference to surrender, which we knew meant death to ourselves, and for Maqueda a choice between that last grim solution of her troubles and a forced marriage. ”

“ It is an inhabitant of the high country of Abyssinia, and indigenous there; I never saw it in the Kolla, nor in Arabia, nor in any other part of Asia or Africa. It is an instance of the wisdom of providence, that this tree does not extend beyond the limits of the disease of which it was intended to be the medicine or cure.
The Abyssinians of both sexes, and at all ages, are troubled with a terrible disease, which custom however has enabled them to bear with a kind of indifference. Every individual, once a month, evacuates a large quantity of worms ”

“ On the Batta cannibalism, hear so competent an authority as Marsden. “They,” the Battas, “do not eat human flesh as the means of satisfying the cravings of nature, for there can be no want of sustenance to the inhabitants of such a country and climate, who reject no animal food of any kind; nor is it sought after as a gluttonous delicacy.
“The Battas eat it as a species of ceremony, as a mode of showing their detestation of certain crimes by an ignominious punishment, and as a savage display of revenge and insult to their unfortunate enemies. ”

“ As Abaddon or Apollyon he is the king of the abyss, or “Bottomless Pit,” and when he appears it is with purpose and equipment for destruction. Just as God sent the “Destroying Angel” throughout Egypt, bringing a [Pg 30] curse upon Pharaoh for his hardness of heart, this mighty messenger of the Abyss visits his destruction wherever and whenever he finds, not the absence of the typical blood upon the door, but when he finds it, or any evidence of allegiance to the One whose sacrificial blood he seeks to destroy. ”

“ It is a custom among the kings of Abyssinia, especially in intervals of peace, to disappear for a time, without any warning. Sometimes, indeed, one or two confidential servants, pretending to be busied in other affairs, attend at a distance, and keep their eye upon him, while, disguised in different manners, he goes like a stranger to those parts he intends to visit. In one of these private journeys, passing into Kuara, a province on the N. E. of Abyssinia, near the confines of Sennaar, Bacuffa happened, or counterfeited, to be seized by a fever, a common disease of that unwholesome country. ”

“ The soldiers live by plunder, the monks by alms. The haughtiest Abyssinian is not above begging, excusing himself with the remark, “God has given us speech for the purpose of begging.” The Abyssinians are vain and selfish, irritable but easily appeased; and are an intelligent bright people, fond of gaiety. ”

“ The Abyssinians, to a man, are fearful of the night, unwilling to travel, and, above all, to fight in that season, when they imagine the world is in possession of certain genii, averse to intercourse with men, and very vindictive, if even by accident they are ruffled or put out of their way by their interference. ”

“ Now about this Abington Abbey. Are there rats? If so, I won't go there."
"Is there a nice clergyman?" asked Beatrix. "You and Caroline must call on the clergyman, and tell me what he's like when you come home; and how many children he has; and all about the neighbours. A nice house is all very well, but you want nice people too. Somebody you can make fun of."
"B darling," expostulated the Dragon again. "I don't think you should set out by making fun of people. You will want to make friends of your neighbours, not fun of them."
"We can do both," said Beatrix. "Will you be the Squire, dear? ”

“ Subsequently, Abydus made a vigorous defence against Philip II., king of Macedonia, before it surrendered. On the conclusion of the war with Philip (B.C. 196) , the Romans declared Abydus, with other Asiatic cities, to be free. (Liv. xxxiii. 30.) The names of Abydus and Sestus are coupled together in the old story of Hero and Leander, who is said to have swam across the channel to visit his mistress at Sestus. The distance between Abydus and Sestus, from port to port, was about 30 stadia, according to Strabo. ”

“ Abasch is a large province, and is called middle, or second India. The chief sovereign of this country is a Christian; and there are six other kings, three of whom are Christians, and three Moors, all subject to his authority.—The greater Christian king has his residence in the centre of the country. The Moorish king has his jurisdiction near the district of Adem (or as it should be properly written, Adel.) —The Abyssinians are a very strong people in arms, and great warriors, and have continual wars with the Soldan of Adel, and the people of Nubia, and many other nations on their confines ”

“ The Abuna, the king, and queen, were the three first baptised, all three being absolutely naked, having only a cotton cloth round their middle. I am sure there never could be a greater deviation from the manners of any kingdom, than this is from those of Abyssinia. The king is always covered; you seldom see any part of him but his eyes. The queen and every woman in Abyssinia, in public and private, (I mean where nothing is intended but conversation) are covered to the chin. It is a disgrace to them to have even 330 their feet seen by strangers ”

“ They pitched a white tent in a large plain without inhabitants, where there were quite five or six thousand people to be ordained. The Abima arrived upon a mule, and I with him, as I came in his company, and many others who came with him. In the midst of these people he made a speech from his mule in Arabic, which one of his priests translated into Abyssinian. I asked the interpreter that I brought with me what the Abima said. ”

“ You are still many, the strangers here have skill in war, they can lead if you will follow. Be brave a while, and I swear to you that by harvest the Abati shall sit in the city of Harmac and not the Fung in Mur. I have spoken, now do what you will,” and rising from her chair of state Maqueda left the chamber, motioning to us to do likewise. ”

“ It was known to a day when Maffudi was to enter upon his expeditions against Abyssinia. For near thirty years he had begun to burn the churches, and drive off the people and cattle on the first day of Lent; and, as Lent advanced, he with his army penetrated farther up the country. The Abyssinians are the strictest people in the world in keeping fasts. They are so austere that they taste no sort of animal food, nor butter, eggs, oil, or wine. ”

“ Abaches, or Apaches, an erratic tribe of Indians, who infest the prairies of western Texas and New Mexico. They are supposed by some, to consist of not less than 15,000 souls. They are divided into petty bands, known under various names. They are the most vagrant of all the wild hunter tribes of the general area denoted. They do not live in fixed abodes, but shift about in search of game or plunder, and are deemed a pest by the Santa Fe traders. They raise nothing and manufacture nothing. ”

“ He lay down one day on his straw and refused to go out, gazing at Batiste with glassy yellow eyes which silenced all angry oaths and threats upon the master's lips. Poor Morrut seemed to be a human being! Batiste, remembering his glance, felt like weeping. The farm-house was all upset, and this misfortune for the time being made the family forget poor Pascualet, who was trembling with fever in his bed. ”

“ They are carefully collected and thrown in the direction of enemies in order to give them toothache. The Bahima, a pastoral people of Uganda, often suffer from deep-seated abscesses: “their cure for this is to transfer the disease to some other person by obtaining herbs from the medicine-man, rubbing them over the place where the swelling is, and burying them in the road where people continually pass; the first person who steps over these buried herbs contracts the disease, and the original patient recovers.” ”

“ All workers in iron are called Búda by the Abyssinians: and a very strange superstition is attached to this employment; every man engaged in the occupation being supposed to possess a power of transforming himself at night into an hyæna, during which he is thought to be capable of preying even upon human flesh ”

“ The disease with which he had been afflicted, is called Tigre-tér, a species of fever, for which the remedy in use among the Abyssinians is somewhat extraordinary. On a person being seized with this complaint, the relatives expose to his sight all the ornaments of gold, silver, and fine clothes which their respective friends can collect, making at the same time as much noise as possible with drums, trumpets and vociferous outcries, which is practised with a view, as far as I could ascertain, "of driving the devil out of the patient;" ”