Easter day, instead of being celebrated1 on the Sunday following the first full moon after the vernal equinox, is in Abyssinia kept one lunation later. On its recurrence2, we received a special invitation to the annual public banquet held in the palace; and, whilst ascending3 the hill in full uniform, were preceded by the capering5 leader of the royal band. “Let me sing—I will sing,” he exclaimed, as the attendants would have restrained his antics—“why should not the father of song dance before the fathers of gold?” Tents had been erected6 in the courtyard, and a separate repast provided for the members of the British Embassy. Countless7 crowds, decked out in their gayest apparel, filled every avenue and enclosure; and long files of slaves, with jars, baskets, and trenchers, hurrying to and fro from the kitchens and magazines, proclaimed the extensive nature of the preparations making for the regal entertainment.
In the morning at eight o’clock, the doors of the great hall were thrown open, and a burst of wild music from the royal band ushered8 in the company to a spacious9 barn-like apartment, the dingy10 aspect of which formed a strong contrast to the galaxy11 of light that illumines regal hospitality in Europe. Holding high festival to the entire adult population of the metropolis12, who for six weeks past had subsisted13 on cow-kail and stinging-nettles, the king reclined in state within a raised alcove14, furnished with the wonted velvet15 cushions and tapestries16, and loaded with silver ornaments—the abridgement of ancient Ethiopic magnificence. Priests, nobles, warriors17, baalomaals, and pages, stood around the throne, which was flanked by a long line of attendants, bearing straight silver falchions of antique Roman model, belonging to the different churches. Bull-hides carpeted the floor; and the lofty walls of the chamber18, although destitute19 of architectural decoration, were hung throughout with a profusion20 of richly-emblazoned shields, from each of which depended a velvet scarf or cloak of every colour in the rainbow.
A low horse-shoe table of wicker-work, supported upon basket pedestals, extended the entire length of the hall. Thin unleavened cakes of sour teff heaped one upon the other served as platters. Mountains of wheaten bread piled in close contiguity21, and crowned with fragments of stewed22 fowls23, covered the groaning24 board. Bowls containing a decoction of red pepper, onions, and grease, were flanked by long-necked decanters of old mead25; and at short intervals26 stood groups of slaves carrying baskets crammed27 with reeking28 collops of raw flesh just severed29 from the newly-slain carcass.
Taking their seats in treble rows upon the ground, the crowded guests were each provided with his own knife, fashioned like a reaping-hook, and serving him equally in the battlefield and at the banquet. Four hundred voracious30 appetites, whetted31 by forty days of irksome abstinence, were constantly ministered to by fresh arrivals of quivering flesh from the courtyard, where oxen in quick succession were being thrown down and slaughtered32 in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Barilles and capacious horns filled with hydromel of intoxicating33 age were rapidly drained and replenished34 under the eye of the monarch35; and strings36 of eunuchs with the females pertaining37 to the royal kitchen, clad in gala dresses and striped cotton robes, passed and repassed continually with interminable supplies of bread to rebuild the demolished38 fabric39 on the uprising of each satiated group.
Again the great doors were thrown open, and another famished40 set entered, amid the increasing din4. Harpers and fiddlers played, danced, and sang with untiring perseverance43; and ever and anon one of the king’s female choristers lifted up her shrill44 voice with the most extravagant45 panegyric46 on the hospitality and munificence47 of her royal master, or burst forth48 into unqualified eulogy49 on the liberality of his British guests.
“In stature50 like the lance he bears,
His godlike mien51 the prince declares;
And fam’d for virtue52 through the land,
All bow to Sáloo’s just command.
“The sabre feels the royal grasp.
And Pagans writhe53 in death’s cold clasp;
The Galla taste the captive fare.
And dread54 the vengeance55 which they dare.”
“Our warriors tremble at the sight of the mighty56 elephant, but he sinks prostrate57 beneath the guns of the white men—Weiho, weiho,
“They are a brave nation.
“We have been loaded with strange gifts, for the white men hold in their hands the keys of health and wealth—Weiho,
“They are a great nation.
“Then hail to the friends who came o’er the wide water,
Strangers and guests from a far distant land;
And welcome to Shoa, the fortune which brought her
The lords of the daring and generous hand.”
The royal band, which occupied the vacant space between the tables, is composed of many wind instruments of various lengths and sizes—the embilta having a perforation to which the lips are applied59 as in the flute60, whilst the malakat is fashioned after the form of a trombone. No performer possesses above one pipe, nor, like the Russian, is he master of more than one note. Tune58 there is none—each playing according to the dictates61 of his own taste, unguided by any musical scale. After the hoarse62 and terrible blast of the trumps63, the symphony falls soft upon the ear; and it was on this occasion curiously64 contrasted with the deep thunder of the kubbero, which pealed65 without intermission from the secret apartments of the queen.
The harp41, styled bugana, is a truly strange fabrication of wood, leather, and sheep’s entrails. It presents the appearance of an old portmanteau which has been built upon by children with the rudest materials, in imitation of the lyre of the days of Jubal. Possessing five strings, and used only as an accompaniment to the voice, the monotonous66 notes produced are in strict unison67 with the appearance of the instrument; and even in the halls of Menilek, where the chords are struck by a master finger, they shed “no soul of music,” and might be mute with advantage.
What then is to be said of the Abyssinian fiddle42, whose squeaking68 voice presided at this festive69 board? Alas70! the inharmonious sounds elicited71 by the grating contact of the bow might lead to the conclusion that the unhappy spirit of music was confined in the interior, and uttered harsh screams and moans as fresh tortures were inflicted72 upon her agonised sinews! A gourd73, or a hollow square of wood, is covered with a skin of parchment as a sounding-board, and furnished with a rude neck and a single string. Years of practice have imparted to Dághie, the court buffoon74, an extraordinary degree of excellence75; but even he is not Paganini; and every amateur performer in the realm considering himself at perfect liberty to scrape throughout the day with soul-harrowing perseverance, unlucky, indeed, must be pronounced the site of that residence which is adjacent to the proprietor76 of a masanko.
As Easter day drew on to its close, the riotous77 mirth of uncontrolled festivity waxed louder and louder within the palace walls, whilst quarrels and drunken brawls78 prevailed throughout the city. The carousal79 continued until dark, by which time the bones of three hundred and fifty steers80 had been picked—countless measures of wheat had been consumed—and so many hogsheads of potent81 old hydromel had been drained to the dregs, that, saving the royal and munificent82 host, scarcely one sober individual, whether noble or plebeian83, was any where to be seen.
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1 celebrated | |
adj.有名的,声誉卓著的 | |
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2 recurrence | |
n.复发,反复,重现 | |
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3 ascending | |
adj.上升的,向上的 | |
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4 din | |
n.喧闹声,嘈杂声 | |
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5 capering | |
v.跳跃,雀跃( caper的现在分词 );蹦蹦跳跳 | |
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6 ERECTED | |
adj. 直立的,竖立的,笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立,建立 | |
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7 countless | |
adj.无数的,多得不计其数的 | |
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8 ushered | |
v.引,领,陪同( usher的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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9 spacious | |
adj.广阔的,宽敞的 | |
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10 dingy | |
adj.昏暗的,肮脏的 | |
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11 galaxy | |
n.星系;银河系;一群(杰出或著名的人物) | |
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12 metropolis | |
n.首府;大城市 | |
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13 subsisted | |
v.(靠很少的钱或食物)维持生活,生存下去( subsist的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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14 alcove | |
n.凹室 | |
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15 velvet | |
n.丝绒,天鹅绒;adj.丝绒制的,柔软的 | |
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16 tapestries | |
n.挂毯( tapestry的名词复数 );绣帷,织锦v.用挂毯(或绣帷)装饰( tapestry的第三人称单数 ) | |
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17 warriors | |
武士,勇士,战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
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18 chamber | |
n.房间,寝室;会议厅;议院;会所 | |
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19 destitute | |
adj.缺乏的;穷困的 | |
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20 profusion | |
n.挥霍;丰富 | |
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21 contiguity | |
n.邻近,接壤 | |
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22 stewed | |
adj.焦虑不安的,烂醉的v.炖( stew的过去式和过去分词 );煨;思考;担忧 | |
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23 fowls | |
鸟( fowl的名词复数 ); 禽肉; 既不是这; 非驴非马 | |
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24 groaning | |
adj. 呜咽的, 呻吟的 动词groan的现在分词形式 | |
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25 mead | |
n.蜂蜜酒 | |
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26 intervals | |
n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 );间隔时间;[数学]区间;(戏剧、电影或音乐会的)幕间休息 | |
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27 crammed | |
adj.塞满的,挤满的;大口地吃;快速贪婪地吃v.把…塞满;填入;临时抱佛脚( cram的过去式) | |
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28 reeking | |
v.发出浓烈的臭气( reek的现在分词 );散发臭气;发出难闻的气味 (of sth);明显带有(令人不快或生疑的跡象) | |
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29 severed | |
v.切断,断绝( sever的过去式和过去分词 );断,裂 | |
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30 voracious | |
adj.狼吞虎咽的,贪婪的 | |
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31 whetted | |
v.(在石头上)磨(刀、斧等)( whet的过去式和过去分词 );引起,刺激(食欲、欲望、兴趣等) | |
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32 slaughtered | |
v.屠杀,杀戮,屠宰( slaughter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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33 intoxicating | |
a. 醉人的,使人兴奋的 | |
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34 replenished | |
补充( replenish的过去式和过去分词 ); 重新装满 | |
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35 monarch | |
n.帝王,君主,最高统治者 | |
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36 strings | |
n.弦 | |
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37 pertaining | |
与…有关系的,附属…的,为…固有的(to) | |
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38 demolished | |
v.摧毁( demolish的过去式和过去分词 );推翻;拆毁(尤指大建筑物);吃光 | |
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39 fabric | |
n.织物,织品,布;构造,结构,组织 | |
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40 famished | |
adj.饥饿的 | |
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41 harp | |
n.竖琴;天琴座 | |
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42 fiddle | |
n.小提琴;vi.拉提琴;不停拨弄,乱动 | |
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43 perseverance | |
n.坚持不懈,不屈不挠 | |
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44 shrill | |
adj.尖声的;刺耳的;v尖叫 | |
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45 extravagant | |
adj.奢侈的;过分的;(言行等)放肆的 | |
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46 panegyric | |
n.颂词,颂扬 | |
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47 munificence | |
n.宽宏大量,慷慨给与 | |
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48 forth | |
adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
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49 eulogy | |
n.颂词;颂扬 | |
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50 stature | |
n.(高度)水平,(高度)境界,身高,身材 | |
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51 mien | |
n.风采;态度 | |
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52 virtue | |
n.德行,美德;贞操;优点;功效,效力 | |
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53 writhe | |
vt.挣扎,痛苦地扭曲;vi.扭曲,翻腾,受苦;n.翻腾,苦恼 | |
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54 dread | |
vt.担忧,忧虑;惧怕,不敢;n.担忧,畏惧 | |
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55 vengeance | |
n.报复,报仇,复仇 | |
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56 mighty | |
adj.强有力的;巨大的 | |
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57 prostrate | |
v.拜倒,平卧,衰竭;adj.拜倒的,平卧的,衰竭的 | |
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58 tune | |
n.调子;和谐,协调;v.调音,调节,调整 | |
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59 applied | |
adj.应用的;v.应用,适用 | |
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60 flute | |
n.长笛;v.吹笛 | |
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61 dictates | |
n.命令,规定,要求( dictate的名词复数 )v.大声讲或读( dictate的第三人称单数 );口授;支配;摆布 | |
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62 hoarse | |
adj.嘶哑的,沙哑的 | |
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63 trumps | |
abbr.trumpets 喇叭;小号;喇叭形状的东西;喇叭筒v.(牌戏)出王牌赢(一牌或一墩)( trump的过去式 );吹号公告,吹号庆祝;吹喇叭;捏造 | |
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64 curiously | |
adv.有求知欲地;好问地;奇特地 | |
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65 pealed | |
v.(使)(钟等)鸣响,(雷等)发出隆隆声( peal的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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66 monotonous | |
adj.单调的,一成不变的,使人厌倦的 | |
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67 unison | |
n.步调一致,行动一致 | |
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68 squeaking | |
v.短促地尖叫( squeak的现在分词 );吱吱叫;告密;充当告密者 | |
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69 festive | |
adj.欢宴的,节日的 | |
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70 alas | |
int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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71 elicited | |
引出,探出( elicit的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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72 inflicted | |
把…强加给,使承受,遭受( inflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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73 gourd | |
n.葫芦 | |
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74 buffoon | |
n.演出时的丑角 | |
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75 excellence | |
n.优秀,杰出,(pl.)优点,美德 | |
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76 proprietor | |
n.所有人;业主;经营者 | |
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77 riotous | |
adj.骚乱的;狂欢的 | |
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78 brawls | |
吵架,打架( brawl的名词复数 ) | |
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79 carousal | |
n.喧闹的酒会 | |
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80 steers | |
n.阉公牛,肉用公牛( steer的名词复数 )v.驾驶( steer的第三人称单数 );操纵;控制;引导 | |
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81 potent | |
adj.强有力的,有权势的;有效力的 | |
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82 munificent | |
adj.慷慨的,大方的 | |
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83 plebeian | |
adj.粗俗的;平民的;n.平民;庶民 | |
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