There Is No Money In Abyssinia, Except In The Eastern Provinces,
Where They Have Iron Coin:
But in the chief provinces all commerce
is managed by exchange.
Their chief trade consists in provisions,
cows, sheep, goats, fowls, pepper, and gold, which is weighed out to
the purchaser, and principally in salt, which is properly the money
of this country.
When the Abyssins are engaged in a law-suit, the two parties make
choice of a judge, and plead their own cause before him; and if they
cannot agree in their choice, the governor of the place appoints
them one, from whom there lies an appeal to the viceroy and to the
Emperor himself. All causes are determined on the spot; no writings
are produced. The judge sits down on the ground in the midst of the
high road, where all that please may be present: the two persons
concerned stand before him, with their friends about them, who serve
as their attorneys. The plaintiff speaks first, the defendant
answers him; each is permitted to rejoin three or four times, then
silence is commanded, and the judge takes the opinions of those that
are about him. If the evidence be deemed sufficient, he pronounces
sentence, which in some cases is decisive and without appeal. He
then takes the criminal into custody till he hath made satisfaction;
but if it be a crime punishable with death he is delivered over to
the prosecutor, who may put him to death at his own discretion.
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