[Footnote 36: These are the “Maria Theresa” dollars. “The Maria Theresa dollar is a facsimile of the coin of 1780. It is still issued by the Austrian Government, and circulates as a trade coin nearly all over Africa. Though roughly about the size of a five-shilling piece, it only exchanges for a little more than its intrinsic value, which was about 1_s._ 11_d._ when I left Africa.” (“Abyssinia,” by Herbert Vivian, 1901, p. 239.) Dufton wrote, with regard to Abyssinian marketing: “The Maria Theresa dollar is the only coin used in these transactions under the name of _bir_ (silver). This piece must be of a certain kind, however, containing the spots which form the queen’s tiara, and other marks clearly defined; for which reason it is called by the Arabs of the Soudan Abou Nukter, or father of spots.” (“A Journey through Abyssinia,” p. 61.) Mr. Vivian gives the following table of Abyssinian currency:— 4 cartridges = 1 salt 4 salts = 1 Maria Theresa dollar The “salt” is a bar of that mineral, which is ordinarily carried and used in lieu of coin. I found that its value was, roughly, sixpence, as Mr. Vivian says. At an earlier date its purchasing power seems to have been less. “Pieces of salt, called _tsho_, are the monetary medium throughout the greater part of Abyssinia. This salt is obtained from extensive mines in the country of the Danakil, where it is cut into small blocks, eight inches long by one inch and a half in breadth, each of which is of a variable market value of between twopence and threepence.” (“A Journey through Abyssinia,” pp. 61, 62.) Evidently there has been “appreciation of salt” in the land of the Negus since 1862, when Mr. Dufton visited it.] [Footnote 37: “A Journey through Abyssinia,” pp. 47, 48.] [Footnote 38: See p. 179.] [Footnote 39: Psalm lxxiii. 18.] [Footnote 40: Chieftain. As in the feudal times in Europe there is a chain of allegiance—often enough broken—between the king and the mass of his subjects. This Ras was the “Deputy’s” feudal chief.] [Footnote 41: Consul Plowden (1848-60), quoted in “Abyssinia and its people,” by J. C. Hotten, 1868, pp. 130, 135.] [Footnote 42: See map.] [Footnote 43: “Mittheilungen der Afrikanischen Gesellschaft in Deutschland,” vol. iii. p. 32.] [Footnote 44: “Abyssinia and its People,” by J. C. Hotten, 1868, p. 128.]