[Footnote 129: Mansfield Parkyns wrote: “The ordination of priests and deacons is, I believe, tolerably simple; for instance, I have been told that, on the arrival of the present Abouna from Egypt, the candidates, who are only required to be able to read a little, were collected in a mass near the place where he was. The bishop then went through some ceremony, and ended by pronouncing a blessing, and blowing in the direction of the assembled crowd, who were thus all ordained. Among these was a woman with her child in her arms, who had come thither from motives of curiosity. She, too, was of course ordained; but I don’t remember hearing that she ever officiated. If a priest be married previous to his ordination, he is allowed to remain so; but no one can marry after having entered the priesthood.” (“Life in Abyssinia,” p. 294.)] [Footnote 130: See p. 240.] [Footnote 131: “Wanderings among the Falashas,” pp. 307, 308.] [Footnote 132: “Life in Abyssinia,” p. 321.] [Footnote 133: “Wanderings among the Falashas,” p. 214 _seq._] [Footnote 134: “Wanderings among the Falashas,” pp. 201, 202. Major Harris inspected the Cathedral of St. Michael at Ankóber, and in his description of it wrote, “In the holy of holies is deposited the sacred _tabot_, consecrated at Gondar by the delegate of the Coptic patriarch; and around the veil that fell before this mysterious emblem there hung in triumph four sporting pictures from the pencil of Alken, which had been presented to the king. They represented the great Leicestershire steeple-chase, and Dick Christian, with his head in a ditch, occupied by far the most prominent niche in the Cathedral of St. Michael!”] [Footnote 135: Dufton, “A Journey through Abyssinia,” p. 90.] [Footnote 136: “Wanderings among the Falashas,” p. 233 _seq._] [Footnote 137: “Life in Abyssinia,” p. 297 _seq._] [Footnote 138: “Life in Abyssinia,” pp. 160, 161.] [Footnote 139: Ib. p. 277.] [Footnote 140: “Life of Bruce,” by Major Head, p. 266.] [Footnote 141: “Abyssinia,” p. 276 _seq._] [Footnote 142: “The Highlands of Ethiopia,” vol. iii. p. 139.] [Footnote 143: Ib. p. 138.] [Footnote 144: Major Head, “Life of Bruce,” p. 265.] [Footnote 145: Ib. p. 268.] [Footnote 146: “Modern Abyssinia,” pp. 361, 362.] [Footnote 147: The Alaka is the superior of a monastery or other head of an ecclesiastical establishment.] [Footnote 148: Major Harris, “The Highlands of Ethiopia,” vol. iii. pp. 134, 135.] [Footnote 149: “Abyssinia,” p. 283.] [Footnote 150: “British Mission to Abyssinia,” pp. 225, 226.] [Footnote 151: “The British Mission to Abyssinia,” vol. i. p. 227. Cf. p. 107 of this book.] [Footnote 152: “The Highlands of Ethiopia,” vol. iii. pp. 133, 134.] [Footnote 153: “The British Mission to Abyssinia,” vol. i. p. 217.] [Footnote 154: “The British Mission to Abyssinia,” vol. i. p. 217. Stern did not observe this separation of the sexes.] [Footnote 155: “Abyssinia,” p. 277.] [Footnote 156: “Abyssinia,” p. 288.]