the flesh from teeth, like dog In the mea are very much all its fires, an mitted with abi is no coynefs, appointments d tify their wishes but one, in whi to Bacchus and Although w fuits a great and polygamy, which may be than that ther marriage in A which is contra fent, without of only till diffolv or other, and peated as ofter both parties, w cohabit togeth wife, after ha had children by they have bee children with o Bruce remembe at Kofcam in pre when, in the cir man of great men who had al the great arteries are. At last they In the mean time, thofe within are very much elevated; love lights all its fires, and every thing is permitted with abfolute freedom. There is no coynefs, no delays, no need of appointments or retirement, to gratify their wishes; there are no rooms but one, in which they facrifice both to Bacchus and to Venus. Although we read from the Jefuits a great deal about marriage and polygamy, yet there is nothing which may be averred more truly, than that there is no fuch thing as marriage in Abyffinia, unless that which is contracted by mutual confent, without other form, fubfifting only till diffolved by diffent 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. Mr. Bruce remembers to have once been at Kofcam in prefence of the iteghè, when, in the circle, there was a woman of great quality, and feven men who had all been her husbands, none of whom was the happy fpoufe at that time. There is no fuch distinction as legi timate or illegitimate children, from the king to the beggar; for fuppofing any one of their marriages valid, all the iffue of the reft must be adulterous baftards. The king in his marriage ufes no other ceremony than this: he fends an azage to the house where the lady lives, where the officer announces to her, it is the king's pleafure that she should remove inftantly to the palace. She then dreffes herfelf in the beft manner, and immediately obeys. Thenceforward he affigns her an apartment in the palace, and gives her a house elsewhere in any part fhe chufes. Then, when he makes her iteghe, 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 prefence, that he, the king, has chofen his hand-maid, naming her for his queen; upon which the crown is put upon her head, but the is not anointed. The crown being hereditary in one family, but elective in the per fon, and polygamy being permitted, must have multiplied thefe heirs very much, and produced conftant difputes; fo that it was found neceffary to provide a remedy for the anarchy and effufion 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 |