There is no sort of general education in Abyssinia. Men of attainments are found in the upper classes, and some of the higher officials are capable linguists. But as regards the bulk of the nation learning has advanced little since the days of Harris. “The stores of literature being bound up in a dead letter (the Geez language), few excepting the priests and _defterers_ can decipher them, and many of these learned men are often more indebted to the memory of their early youth than to the well-thumbed page in their hand. The ignorance of the nation is, indeed, truly deplorable; for those children only receive the rudiments of an education who are designed for the service of the Church; and, the course of study adopted being little calculated to expand the mind of the neophyte, a peculiar deficiency is presented in intellectual features.”[218] Plowden remarked of the priests that they “teach but one book to the children of the laity, ‘The Psalms of David;’ and without forbidding other learning, discourage it, confining it as much as possible to the clergy and the scribes.”[219] Allusion has already been made to the classes held by the priests in the precincts of the churches.[220] Such instruction as is obtainable is given, of course, to all pupils under clerical supervision. There are no secular schools, and at the present time, as Mr. Vivian remarked, “no one in Abyssinia ever does get any education beyond learning to read and write, and quote passages from the Gospels.”[221] Those whose acquirements exceed this standard are not indebted for them to native teachers. The habits of the young girls, among the generality of the people, do not foster any strict notions of morality. Parkyns wrote: “The boys are turned out wild to look after the sheep and cattle, and the girls, from early childhood, are sent to fetch water from the well or brook, first in a gourd, and afterwards in a jar proportioned to their strength. If the well be far from the village, the girls usually form parties to go thither and amuse themselves on the road by singing sentimental or love songs; while, during their halt at the well for an hour or so, they engage in romps of all kinds, in which parties of the other sex frequently join. This early licence lays the foundation for worse, when at a later period they are sent to the woods to collect fuel.”[222]