a kind of grain, sown all over Abyssinia, from which is made the bread commonly used throughout the country. We have no description of this plant but from Mr Bruce, who says that it is herbaceous; and that from a number of weak leaves surrounding the root proceeds a stalk of about 28 inches in length, not perfectly straight, smooth, but jointed or knotted at particular distances. This stalk is not much thicker than that of a carnation or julyflower. About eight inches from the top, a head is formed of a number of small branches, upon which it carries the fruit and flowers; the latter of which is small, of a crimson colour, and scarcely perceptible by the naked eye but from the opposition of that colour. The pistil is divided into two, seemingly attached to the germ of the fruit, and has at each end small capillaments forming a brush. The stamina are three in number; two on the lower side of the pistil, and one on the upper. These are each of them crowned with two oval stigma, at first green, but after crimson. The fruit is formed in a capsule, consisting of two conical hollow leaves, which, when closed, seems to compose a small conical pod, pointed at the top. The fruit or seed is oblong, and is not so large as the head of the smallest pin; yet it is very prolific, and produces these seeds in such quantity as to yield a very abundant crop in the quantity of meal.

Our author, from the similarity of the names, conjectures it to be the tipha mentioned, but not described, by Pliny; but this conjecture, which he acknowledges to be unfounded, is of very little importance.

There are three kinds of meal made from teff, of which the best (he says) is as white as flour, exceedingly light, and easily digested; the second is of a browner colour; and the last, which is the food of soldiers and servants, is nearly black. This variety he imagines to arise entirely from the difference of soils in which the seeds are sown, and the different degrees of moisture to which the plant is exposed when growing. The manner of making the meal or flour into bread is by taking a broad earthen jar, and having made a lump of it with water, they put it into an earthen jar at some distance from the fire, where it remains till it begins to ferment or turn sour; they then bake it into cakes of a circular form, and about two feet in diameter: it is of a spongy soft quality, and not a disagreeable fourth taste. Two of these cakes a-day, and a coarse cotton cloth once a-year, are the wages of a common servant.

At their banquets of raw meat, the flesh being cut in small bits, is wrapped up in pieces of this bread, with a proportion of fossil salt and Cayenne pepper. Before the company sits down to eat, a number of these cakes of different qualities are placed one upon the other, in the same manner as our plates, and the principal people sitting first down, eat the white teff; the second or coarser sort serves the second rate people that succeed them, and the third is for the servants. Every man, when he is done, dries or wipes his fingers upon the bread which he is to leave for his successor, for they have no towels; and this is one of the most beastly customs among them.

Of this teff bread the natives makes a liquor, by a process which our author describes in the following words: The bread, when well toasted, is broken into small pieces, which are put into a large jar, and have warm water poured upon them. It is then set by the fire, and frequently stirred for several days, the mouth of the jar being close covered. After being allowed to settle three or four days, it acquires a fourth taste, and is what they call bouza, or the common beer of the country. The bouza in Atbara is made in the same manner, only in- stead of teff, cakes of barley meal are employed. Both are very bad liquors, but the worst is that made of barley.