play
seemed to have been borrowed from the days of European knighthood. The
king's master of the horse advanced at the head of his squadrons of picked
household cavalry, "the flower of the Christian lances." Ayto Melkoo,
their leader, was arrayed in a party-coloured vest, surmounted by a
crimson Arab fleece, handsomely studded with silver jets. A gilt embossed
gauntlet encircled his right arm, from the wrist to the elbow; his targe
and horse trappings glittered with a profusion of silver crosses and
devices, and he looked a stately and martial figure, curveting at the head
of his well-appointed lancers.

This warrior, advancing with his line, galloped up in front, and made a
speech in the manner of old heroic times, vaunting his past prowess and
his present loyalty, his troopers accompanying the more succcessful parts
of his speech by striking the lance upon the targe. At the close, he threw
his spears upon the ground, unsheathed his two-edged falchion, gave a howl,
which was answered by a roar from his horsemen, and a discharge of
fire-arms; and the whole made a dash, and charged across the parade.

At the royal command, the British now fired a salute of twenty-one guns,
to the great wonder and astonishment of the wild Galla and the multitude
of spectators. Thirteen governors, (of provinces, we presume,) clothed in
the skins of lions and leopards and covered with silver chains, cuirasses,
and gauntlets, emblems of their gallantry in the field, next passed before
the king, each at the head of his troop, and each making a harangue.
Abyssinia must be a very oratorical country. Last of all, came the tall,
martial figure of Abegoz Moreteh, chief of the tributary Galla of the
south, at the head of his legion, three thousand in number: this "sea of
wild horsemen" moved in advance, to the sound of kettle-drums, their arms
and decorations flashing in the sun, and their ample white robes and long
sable hair streaming in the breeze. At the war-hoop of their leader, "with
the rush of a hurricane the moving forest of lances disappeared under a
cloud of dust." From _eight to ten thousand_ cavalry were in the field;
and the spectacle, which lasted from nine in the morning until five in the
afternoon, was "exceedingly wild and impressive." But the most impressive
display of all was to be supplied by the British. With fire-arms the
people were acquainted already. The "brass galloper," though viewed with
"wonderful respect," was still o