There is an officer named Kal Hatzé who stands always upon steps at the side of the lattice-window, where there is a hole covered in the inside with a curtain of green taffeta; behind this curtain the king sits, and through this hole he sends what he has to say to the Board, who rise and receive the messenger standing: he had not interfered till now, when the officer said, addressing himself to Abba Salama, "The king requires of you to answer directly why you persuaded the Abuna to excommunicate him? the Abuna is a slave of the Turks, and has no king; you are born under a monarchy, why did you, who are his inferior in office, take upon you to advise him at all? or why, after having presumed to advise him, did you advise him wrong, and abuse his ignorance in these matters?" This question, which was a home one, made him lose all his temper; he cursed the Abuna, called him Mahometan, Pagan, Frank, and Infidel; and was going on in this wild manner, when Tecla Haimanout[5], the eldest of the judges, got up, and addressing himself to the Ras, It is no part of my duty to hear all this railing, he has not so much as offered one fact material to his exculpation. The king's secretary sent up to the window the substance of his defence, the criminal was carried at some distance to the other end of the room, and the judges deliberated whilst the king was reading. Very few words were said among the rest; the Ras was all the time speaking to other people: after he had ended this, he called upon the youngest judge to give his opinion, and he gave it, 'He is guilty, and should die;' the same said all the officers, and after them the judges, and the same said Kasmati Tesfos after them. When it came to Ras Michael to give his vote, he affected moderation; he said that he was accused for being his enemy and accomplice; in either case, it is not fair that he should judge him. No superior officer being present, the last voice remained with the king, who sent Kal Hatzé to the Board with his sentence; 'He is guilty and _shall_ die _the death_.--The hangman _shall_ hang him upon a tree _to-day_.' The unfortunate Acab Saat was immediately hurried away by the guards to the place of execution, which is a large tree before the king's gate; where uttering, to the very last moment, curses against the king, the Ras, and the Abuna, he suffered the death he very richly deserved, being hanged in the very vestments in which he used to sit before the king, without one ornament of his civil or sacerdotal pre-eminence having been taken from him before the execution. In going to the tree he said he had 400 cows, which he bequeathed to some priests to say prayers for his soul; but the Ras ordered them to be brought to Gondar, and distributed among his soldiers.