The manners of the Abyssinians , under a slight semblance of civilisation derived from Arabia and Egypt , present indications of the deepest barbarism . Indeed , their domestic life is marked by habits more gross and revolting than any that have been witnessed among the most savage tribes . Some , indeed , are such , that the bare report of them shook the credit of one of our most eminent travelers , who had not , however , been the first to report them , and whose testimony has since been fully confirmed . 

The luxury of the brinde feast is that which has particularly excited the astonishment of travelers . Slices of warm flesh cut from the ox standing at the door , are brought in , with the blood streaming and the fibres quivering , and are eagerly swallowed as the choicest delicacy . According to Mr. Bruce , the animal is yet alive while the slices are cut from him , and is heard bellowing with the pain ; but Mr. Salt asserts that he has been just that instant killed : probably there may be some variation of practice . This strange food is as strangely administered . The chief is seated between two ladies , who wrap up the delicious morsels in teff cake , and thrust into his open mouth the utmost quantity which it is capable of receiving ; “ just , ” says an old traveler , as if they were stuffing a goose for a feast . " The ladies are then at liberty to satisfy their own appetite , and when these refined members of the company have supplied themselves , the servants succeed , and clear the table . The grossest indecencies are said by Mr. Bruce to be acted at these feasts ; an assertion which Mr. Salt does not fully confirm , though he admits that the conversation is marked by the least possible reserve . 

The shulada , a similarly savage custom , is practiced by the drivers of cattle . When they feel hungry on the road , they stop the animal , cut out a slice from him , close up the wound , and , having satisfied their hunger , drive him on . A general ferocity and promptitude in shedding blood , seems to characterize the Abyssinian nation ; and is , doubtless , stimulated by the frequency of civil and of foreign wars . The principal officers scruple not to execute in person the sentence of death , which the king , or whoever he may be whom they obey , has passed against any individual ; and they perform this horrid task with the most perfect coolness and indifference . While Mr. Bruce resided at Gondar , during a period of commotion , he could not stir out without seeing the victims of civil strife left unburied in the streets , to be devoured by the dogs and hyenas .

The manners of the Abyssinians are not less distinguished by licentiousness than by cruelty . Intoxication is very prevalent , produced partly by hydromel , but chiefly by bouza , a drink well known also in Egypt and Nubia , and mostly produced here from the fragments of teff cakes brought from table . Marriage is scarcely considered by Mr. Bruce as existing at all ; so great is the ease with which the contract may be formed and dissolved . The lover consults only the parents of the bride , and , having obtained their consent , seizes and carries her home on his shoulders . A brinde feast concludes the ceremony . Sometimes it is rendered a little more formal ; the parties going , two or three weeks after their union , to church , and taking the sacrament together . A lady was met at Gondar , in company with six persons who had been successively her husbands .