nued, and it gained
such ground in the course of ages that even Christianity was unable to
suppress it; up to the present time, the _brinde_, or piece of beef cut
from the living animal and eaten raw, is considered a delicacy by the
Abyssinians.

The isolation of the Ethiopians had rather increased than lowered their
reputation among other nations. Their transitory appearance on the
battle-fields of Asia had left a deep impression on the memories of
their opponents. The tenacity they had displayed during their conflict
with Assyria had effaced the remembrance of their defeat. Popular fancy
delighted to extol the wisdom of Sabaco,* and exalted Taharqa to the
first rank among the conquerors of the old world; now that Kush once
more came within the range of vision, it was invested with a share of
all these virtues, and the inquiries Cambyses made concerning it were
calculated to make him believe that he was about to enter on a struggle
with a nation of demigods rather than of men. He was informed that they
were taller, more beautiful, and more vigorous than all other mortals,
that their age was prolonged to one hundred and twenty years and more,
and that they possessed a marvellous fountain whose waters imparted
perpetual youth to then-bodies. There existed near their capital a
meadow, perpetually furnishing an inexhaustible supply of food and
drink; whoever would might partake of this "Table of the Sun," and eat
to his fill.**

* The eulogy bestowed on him by Herodotus shows the esteem
in which he was held even in the Saite period; later on he
seems to have become two persons, and so to have given birth
to the good Ethiopian king Aktisanes.

** Pausanias treats it as a traveller's tale. Heeren thought
that he saw in Herodotus' account a reference to intercourse
by signs, so frequent in Africa. The "Table of the Sun"
would thus have been a kind of market, whither the natives
would come for their provisions, using exchange to procure
them. I am inclined rather to believe the story to be a
recollection, partly of the actual custom of placing meats,
which the first comer might take, on the tombs in the
necropolis, partly of the mythical "Meadow of Offerings"
mentioned in the funerary texts, to which the souls of the
dead and the gods alike had access. This divine region would
have transferred to our earth by some folk-tale, like the
judg