A ROYAL DINNER PARTY IN ABYSSINIA.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 507, 9 October 1912, Page 7

A ROYAL DINNER PARTY IN ABYSSINIA.

—. —+ The new Negus of Abyssinia, like his predecessors on the throne before him, gives a public dinner to all and sundry of his subjects once a week, when they may feast to their heart's content. On the three great annual festivals this "gheber" becomes a spectacle probaly unequalled in the annals of Court dinners. An Italian traveller who has recently been privileged to be present describes - it graphically in a letter to the "Corriere." The background of the" barnlike structure which serves as diningroom is all but filled by the famous throne-bed which the French Republic had presented to the late King Menelik,; the present Negus, on the occasion of the State dinner, sat on the edge of it when the European visitors, the first to enter the room, filed past him, each one being received with a smile and a shake of the hand. As soon as they were seated, and began to eat, King Jarsu also began, but his State dignitaries have to wait till their lord, after a while, gives the sign that they also may fall to. THE MENU. The Abyssinian Royal menu .is sprung as a surprise on the- European who has expected either the food of primitive man or the concoctions ol a French chef. There are six courses but they do nqt vary much, the chiei ingredient of all being the flesh oi Fowls. The table service is a curious medley of costly, beautiful gold vessels and broken crockery of the cheapest kind. The Europeans use knives and forks, the Abyssianians are fed by slaves. A strange silence pervades the room during the three houra from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., while the feast is going on, and you hear the distant sound of the great crowd waiting impatiently, for admittance, and the beating of the drums in honour of the archangel Gabriel, at the church close by. THE FEASTING OF THE MULTITUDE. The moment the Europeans have ended their meal the curtains are Irawn aside, and through every door Lhe stream of natives pours in. There, are eight tables, each one in charge of an overseer and four assistants, and from five to six thousand Abyssinians are in an incredibly short ;ime engaged in feeding and talking it the:same time at the top of their voices. Each table is served b5 sight slaves, who are kept hard at work supplying the diners with great umps of raw meat, with which they eat the leaves of a native vegetable, the anghera. They eat enormous quantities of both, drinking honey water, the national beverage, out o gigantic horns. As soon as on< crowd is satisfied it has to maki room for another, and all the time the musicians are •> doing their utmos' on trumpets, flutes, and other in struments, 1 to add to the deafening din. Last of all, a cluster of singeri group themselves round the Negus chanting a hymn in his praise, o which, however, he cannot possible near a single word. And so ends his cheerful State dinner in the >alace of the King of Kings.—'West linster Gazette."