There would sometimes, while I was busy in my room in the rainy season, be four or five hundred people, who all at once would begin, some roaring and crying, as if they were in pain, others demanding justice, as if they were that moment suffering, or if in the instant to be put to death; and some groaning and sobbing as if just expiring; and this horrid symphony was so artfully performed that no ear could distinguish but that it proceeded from real distress. I was often so surprised as to send the soldiers at the door to bring in one of them, thinking him come from the country, to examine who had injured him; many a time he was a servant of my own, or some other equally known; or, if he was a stranger, upon asking him what misfortune had befallen him, he would answer very composedly, Nothing was the matter with him; that he had been sleeping all day with the horses; that hearing from the soldiers at the door I was retired to my apartment, he and his companions had come to cry and make a noise under my window, to do me _honour_ before the people, for fear I should be melancholy, by being too quiet when alone; and therefore hoped that I would order them drink, that they might continue with a little more spirit. The violent anger which this did often put me into did not fail to be punctually reported to the king, at which he would laugh heartily; and he himself was often hid not far off, for the sake of being a spectator of my heavy displeasure. These complaints, whether real or feigned, have always for their burden, _Rete O Jan boi_, which, repeated quick, very much resembles Prete Janni, the name that was given to this prince, of which we never yet knew the derivation; its signification is, “Do me justice, O my king!” Herodotus[31] tells us, that in Persia, the people, in great crowds and of both sexes, come roaring and crying to the doors of the palace; and Intaphernes is also said to come to the door of the king making great lamentations. I have mentioned a council of state held in Abyssinia in time of danger or difficulty, where the king sitting invisible, though present, gives his opinion by an officer called Kal-Hatzè. Upon his delivering the sentence from the king the whole assembly rise, and stand upon their feet; and this they must have done the whole time the council lasted had the king appeared there in person. According to the circumstances of the time, the king goes with the majority, or not; and if, upon a division, there is a majority against him, he often punishes the majority on the other side, by sending them to prison for voting against his sentiments; for tho’ it is understood, by calling of the meeting, that the majority is to determine as to the eligibility of the measure, the king, by his prerogative, supersedes any majority on the other side, and so far, I suppose, has been an encroachment upon the original constitution. This I understand was the same in Persia.