The female slaves are still more numerous; independent of the two hundred employed in supplying the King’s household with water, there are, at least, one hundred more, who assist in grinding flour, brewing, and making the “dillock,” or pepper-paste. There are, however, belonging to this class, a more interesting party of female slaves, who are kept in the strictest seclusion; for Sahale Selassee, a descendant of Solomon, continues, as regards his wives and concubines, the customs of his ancestor’s court. Two hundred of these young ladies are placed in charge of several eunuchs, and the establishment, in fact, corresponds in every respect with the hareem of an oriental monarch. It is not very easy to obtain information respecting the habits or occupations of these immured beauties; but the more elaborately-spun cotton thread, that is used for the finer descriptions of cloths, which are presented by the Negoos to his greatest favourites and governors, is all made by the members of this portion of the royal household.[3] The large and fine cloth, valued in Shoa at thirty dollars, sent by Sahale Selassee, as a present to our Queen, is woven of thread spun in the palace of Debra Berhan; and the monarch, sole visitor to the apartments occupied by these royal cotton-spinners, has no doubt frequently stimulated his favourite slaves to more careful efforts, as they produced the finely long-drawn thread, by dwelling upon the munificence and wealth of his Egyptian sister, our own well-beloved Sovereign.