In consequence of invasions and civil warfare, the present social and political condi tion of A. is very unfavorable. The kingdom of Shea is in better circumstances than the other states. Though Christianity is still the professed religion of the majority of Abyssinians, it exists among them only in its lowest form, and is little more than ceremonial. Their church is national and independent, but the visible head, or Alma ("our father") is ordained by the Coptic patriarch of Alexandria. The doctrines of the Abyssinian coincide with those of the Coptic church, especially in the monophysite heresy; but several peculiar rites are observed, including circumcision of both sexes, and observance of the Mosaic laws respecting food, etc.; love-feasts, and adult baptism. The oldest Abyssinian churches are hewn out of rocks. The modern churches are mostly small, round, or conical buildings, thatched with straw, and surrounded by pillars of cedar. Statues and bas-reliefs are not tolerated in churches, but paintings are numerous. The state of manners and morals in A. is as low as might be looked for in a country so long a prey to anarchy and violence. Human life is lightly valued, the administration of justice is barbarously negligent and corrupt, and the marriage-bond is tied and loosed with extreme facility. The land generally yields at least two crops annually; but the
agriculture is miserable, and the condition of the lower classes proportionally wretched. Among fruits, the fig is the most plentiful. Wine is used only for the Eucharist; the common drink is bouza, a kind of sour beer, made from the fermentation of bread. The manufactures of A. arc rude, but sufficient, with a few exceptions, for the wants of the natives; cotton stuffs and leather goods are the staple articles. The foreign trade is carried on principally through Massowah; the chief exports being slaves, gold, butter, musk-horns, wax and ivory.
A. has recently become better known to us through the visits of missionaries, scien tific travelers, etc., and the British Expedition of 1867-8. See the travels and journals of Bruce, Lord Valentia, Salt, Ritter, Gobat, Isenberg and Krapf, Ruppell, Plowden, Markham, and Blandford; the report of the French scientific commission (1845); contributions of MM. d'Abbadie to Journ. Asiat., and of Beke and Kirk in foam of Roy. Geogr. Soc.; Record of the Expedition to A., by Major Holland and Captain Hozier. See TifEOUORE.