Biochemistry 8Th Edition Campbell Solutions Manual Full Chapter PDF

Biochemistry 8th Edition Campbell
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Chapter 10
Biosynthesis of Nucleic Acids: Replication
SUMMARY
Section 10.1
 Before cells divide, they must synthesize a new copy of DNA. This process is
called replication.
 When DNA is used as a template to synthesize RNA, the process is called
transcription, and is the subject of the next chapter.
 The RNA sequence of messenger RNA is used to direct the synthesis of proteins
in a process called translation.
Section 10.2
 When a molecule of DNA is replicated, each of the two strands is used as a
template to create a complementary strand. When a cell divides into two, each of
the two cells has one of the original template strands and one of the new strands.
This process is called semiconservative replication.
 When DNA molecules are replicated, the strands are separated at origins of
replications. Synthesis occurs in both directions from the origin along replication
forks.
Section 10.3
 To achieve 5’  3’ synthesis of DNA on two strands that are antiparallel, DNA
Polymerase synthesizes one strand continuously and the other discontinuously.
 The strand synthesized continuously is called the leading strand and the one
synthesized discontinuously is called the lagging strand.
 The pieces of DNA formed discontinuously are called Okazaki fragments and
they are later joined together by DNA Ligase.
 The reaction of DNA synthesis involves the nucleophilic attack of the 3’-hydroxyl
of one nucleotide on the -phosphate of the incoming nucleoside triphosphate.
 There are at least 5 DNA polymerases in E. coli, called Pol I through Pol V. Pol III
is the principal enzyme responsible for synthesis of new DNA, and it is a multiple
subunit enzyme.
 DNA Polymerases I and II are involved in proofreading and repair processes.
 All DNA synthesis requires an RNA primer.
Section 10.4
 DNA replication is carried out by a multiprotein complex called the replisome.
Besides the DNA polymerases themselves, many other proteins are involved in
replication. DNA gyrase induces negative supercoils in the DNA to compensate
for the positive supercoils that would form due to strand separation, and helicase
induces strand separation. Single-stranded binding proteins protect the single
stranded regions from nucleases.
 Primase primes the synthesis of the lagging strand by the formation of primers,
and DNA ligase links pieces of newly formed DNA together.
 The primer and the proteins at the replication fork are called the primosome
1
2 Chapter 10
Section 10.5
 Bases would be paired incorrectly during DNA synthesis about once for every
104 to 105 base pairs unless there were a mechanism to increase fidelity.
 Due to proofreading and repair, the number of incorrect bases is reduced to one
in 109 to 1010.
 Proofreading is the process where DNA Polymerase I removes incorrectly paired
bases immediately after they are added to the growing chain.
 There are a variety of repair mechanisms that remove incorrect bases and
nucleotides and replace them with the correct ones.
Section 10.6
 DNA recombination is a natural process in which genetic information is
rearranged to form new associations.
 If the recombination involves a reaction between homologous sequences, then
the process is called homologous recombination. When very different nucleotide
sequences recombine, it is nonhomologous recombination.
 Recombination does not occur randomly around a chromosome. There are some
areas of a chromosome, called hot spots, that are much more likely to show
recombination.
 Recombination occurs by the breakage and reunion of DNA strands so that
physical exchange of DNA parts takes place. The mechanism was deduced in
1964 by Robin Holliday and is referred to as the Holliday Model
Section 10.7
 Replication in eukaryotes follows the same general outline as replication in
prokaryotes, with the most important difference being the presence of histone
proteins complexed to eukaryotic DNA.
 Different proteins are used, and the system is more complex than it is in
prokaryotes. Replication is controlled so that it occurs only once during a cell-
division cycle, during the S phase.
 There are at least 19 different DNA polymerases in eukaryotes, of which five
have been studied extensively -- , , , , and . Polymerase  is the principal
synthesizer of DNA and is the equivalent of Pol III in prokaryotes.
LECTURE NOTES
Most students will have seen much of the material in this chapter in earlier
courses, particularly in beginning biology courses, but they are unlikely to have gone
into any of the molecular details. The most difficult aspect of DNA replication for
students to understand is frequently the distinct details of what is going on at the leading
versus lagging strands. This is exacerbated by inherent difficulties in picturing things in
three dimensions. Simple models using twisted strings are often helpful. The material on
DNA replication may be expected to take between one and two lectures. The additional
material on DNA repair will likely require most of a lecture period.
Biosynthesis of Nucleic Acids: Replication 3
LECTURE OUTLINE
I. Flow of genetic information
A. Replication
B. Transcription
C. Translation
II. DNA replication
A. General considerations
1. Separation of strands
2. Directionality (5' —>3') of synthesis
3. Guarding against errors
B. Semiconservative replication
C. Bidirectional replication
III. DNA polymerase
A. Discontinuous synthesis of lagging strand
B. DNA polymerases from E. coli
1. Pol III core structure
2. Necessity of a primer
3. Proofreading functions
IV. Proteins required for replication
A. Unwinding of the double helix
1. DNA gyrase
2. helicase
3. SSB
B. Primase reaction
C. Synthesis and linking of new DNA strands
V. Proofreading and repair
A. Mutations as errors in replication
B. Nick translation
C. Common mutagens
D. Mismatch repair
E. Methylation as a way to distinguish strands
F. Base excision repair
G. Nucleotide-excision repair
H. Non-homologous DNA end-joining
VI. Recombination
A. Homologous vs nonhomologous
B. Location of crossing over
C. Holliday model
D. Proteins involved in recombination
VII. Eukaryotic DNA replication
A. Replicons
B. Cell cycle control
C. Eukaryotic DNA polymerases
D. The eukaryotic replication fork
4 Chapter 10
ANSWERS TO PROBLEMS
10.1 The Flow of Genetic Information in the Cell
1. Replication is the production of new DNA from a DNA template. Transcription is
the production of RNA from a DNA template. Translation is the synthesis of
proteins directed by mRNA, which reflects the base sequence of DNA.
2. False. In retroviruses, the flow of information is RNA  DNA.
3. DNA represents the permanent copy of genetic information, whereas RNA is
transient. The cell could survive production of some mutant proteins, but not DNA
mutation.
10.2 Replication of DNA

4. The semiconservative replication of DNA means that a newly formed DNA
molecule has one new strand and one strand from the original DNA. The
experimental evidence for semiconservative replication comes from density-
gradient centrifugation (Figure 10.3). If replication were a conservative process,
the original DNA would have two heavy strands and all newly formed DNA would
have light strands.
5. A replication fork is the site of formation of new DNA. The two strands of the
original DNA separate, and a new strand is formed on each original strand.
6. An origin of replication consists of a bubble in the DNA. There are two places at
opposite ends where new polynucleotide chains are formed (Figure 10.4).
7. Separating the two strands of DNA requires unwinding the helix.
8. If the original Meselson–Stahl experiment had used longer pieces of DNA, the
results would not have been as clear-cut. Unless the bacteria were synchronized
as to their stage of development, the DNA could have represented several
generations at once.
9. Replication requires separating the strands of DNA. This cannot happen unless
the DNA is unwound.
10.3 DNA Polymerase

10. Most DNA-polymerase enzymes also have exonuclease activity.
11. DNA polymerase I is primarily a repair enzyme. DNA polymerase III is mainly
responsible for the synthesis of new DNA. See Table 10.1.
12. The processivity of a DNA polymerase is the number of nucleotides incorporated
before the enzyme dissociates from the template. The higher this number, the
more efficient the replication process.
13. The reactants are deoxyribonucleotide triphosphates. They provide not only the
moiety to be inserted (the deoxyribonucleotide) but also the energy to drive the
reaction (dNTP  inserted NMP + PPi, PPi  2Pi).
14. Hydrolysis of the pyrophosphate product prevents the reversal of the reaction by
removing a product.
15. One strand of newly formed DNA uses the 3′-to-5′ strand as a template. The
problem arises with the 5′-to-3′ strand. Nature deals with this issue by using short
stretches of this strand for a number of chunks of newly formed DNA. They are
then linked by DNA ligase (Figure 10.5).
16. The free 3′ end is needed as the site to which added nucleotides bond. A number
of antiviral drugs remove the 3′ end in some way.
17. The large negative ΔG° ensures that the back reaction of depolymerization does
not occur. Energy overkill is a common strategy when it is critically important that
the process does not go in the reverse direction.
18. Nucleophilic substitution is a common reaction mechanism, and the hydroxyl
group at the 3′ end of the growing DNA strand is an example of a frequently
encountered nucleophile.
19. Some enzymes have a recognition site that is not the same as the active site. In
the specific case of DNA polymerase III, the sliding clamp tethers the rest of the
enzyme to the template. This ensures a high degree of processivity.
10.4 Proteins Required for DNA Replication

20. All four deoxyribonucleoside triphosphates, template DNA, DNA polymerase, all
four ribonucleoside triphosphates, primase, helicase, single-strand binding
protein, DNA gyrase, DNA ligase.
21. DNA is synthesized from the 5′ end to the 3′ end, and the new strand is
antiparallel to the template strand. One of the strands is exposed from the 5′ end
to the 3′ end as a result of unwinding. Small stretches of new DNA are
synthesized, still in an antiparallel direction from the 5′ end to the 3′ end and are
linked by DNA ligase. See Figure 10.5.
22. DNA gyrase introduces a swivel point in advance of the replication fork. Primase
synthesizes the RNA primer. DNA ligase links small, newly formed strands to
produce longer ones.
23. In the replication process, the single-stranded portions of DNA are complexed to
specific proteins.
24. DNA ligase seals the nicks in newly formed DNA.
25. The primer in DNA replication is a short sequence of RNA to which the growing
DNA chain is bonded.
26. Specific enzymes exist to cut the DNA and give a supercoiled configuration at the
replication fork that allows replication to proceed.
27. Polymerase III does not insert a deoxyribonucleotide without checking to see that
the previous base is correct. It needs a previous base to check even if that base
is part of a ribonucleotide.
28. DNA polymerases have a very common structure that is often compared to a
right hand, with domains referred to as the fingers, palm, and thumb. The active
site where the polymerase reaction is catalyzed lies in the crevice within the palm
domain. The fingers domain acts in deoxynucleotide recognition and binding, and
the thumb is responsible for DNA binding.
29. Recently it was concluded that three Pol III enzymes are associated with the
replisome instead of two.
30. Fluorescent labeling
31. A clamp loader is necessary because the sliding clamp of DNA Polymerase is a
closed circle. It would not be able to get around the DNA without an enzyme to
open it up.
6 Chapter 10
10.5 Proofreading and Repair
32. When an incorrect nucleotide is introduced into a growing DNA chain as a result
of mismatched base pairing, DNA polymerase acts as a 3′-exonuclease,
removing the incorrect nucleotide. The same enzyme then incorporates the
correct nucleotide.
33. In E. coli, two different kinds of exonuclease activity are possible for DNA
polymerase I, which functions as a repair enzyme.
34. An exonuclease nicks the DNA near the site of the thymine dimers. Polymerase I
acts as a nuclease and excises the incorrect nucleotides, then acts as a
polymerase to incorporate the correct ones. DNA ligase seals the nick.
35. In DNA, cytosine spontaneously deaminates to uracil. The presence of the extra
methyl group is a clear indication that a thymine really belongs in that position,
not a cytosine that has been deaminated.
36. About 5000 books: 1010 characters/error × 1 book/(2 × 106 characters) = 5 × 103
books/error.
37. 1000 characters/second × 1 word/5 characters × 60 seconds/minute = 12,000
words/minute.
38. 1 second/1000 characters × 1010 characters/error × 107 seconds/error = 16.5
weeks/error nonstop.
39. Prokaryotes methylate their DNA soon after replication. This aids the process of
mismatch repair. The enzymes that carry out the process can recognize the
correct strand by its methyl groups. The newly formed strand, which contains the
incorrect base, does not have methyl groups.
40. DNA is constantly being damaged by environmental factors and by spontaneous
mutations. If these mistakes accumulate, deleterious amino acid changes or
deletions can arise. As a result, essential proteins, including those that control
cell division and programmed cell death, are inactive or overactive, eventually
leading to cancer.
41. Prokaryotes have a last-resort mechanism for dealing with drastic DNA damage.
This mechanism, called the SOS response, includes the crossing over of DNA.
Replication becomes highly error-prone, but it serves the need of the cell to
survive.
42. Non-homologous DNA End Joining (NHEJ) or recombination.
43. Ku70/80, DNA ligase IV, and several others.
44. It is error-prone as the repair proceeds without a template
45. It binds the broken ends of the DNA so replication can continue
10.6 Recombination
46. Recombination that involves a reaction between homologous sequences.
47. They used two different phages to infect bacteria. One of the phages had light
DNA and one had heavy DNA. Without recombination, the light DNA would
always package into light viral particles, and the heavy DNA would package into
heavy viral particles. This would lead to only two populations of phages after
infection. Their results showed, however, that there were intermediate
combinations that had DNA of different weights. This demonstrated that the
phage DNA was recombining.
48. Similar to the experiment described in 47 above, using heavy isotopes
demonstrated the semi-conservative nature of replication. Intermediate weight
products of replication demonstrated that progeny DNA contains one parental
strand and one new strand.
49. Recombination occurs by the breakage and reunion of DNA strands so that
physical exchange of DNA parts takes place. The mechanism was deduced in
1964 by Robin Holliday and is referred to as the Holliday Model.
10.7 Eukaryotic DNA Replication

50. Eukaryotes usually have several origins of replication, whereas prokaryotes have
only one.
51. The general features of DNA replication are similar in prokaryotes and
eukaryotes. The main differences are that eukaryotic DNA polymerases do not
have exonuclease activity. After synthesis, eukaryotic DNA is complexed with
proteins; prokaryotic DNA is not.
52. Histones are proteins complexed to eukaryotic DNA. Their synthesis must take
place at the same rate as DNA synthesis. The proteins and DNA must then
assemble in proper fashion.
53.
(a) Eukaryotic DNA replication must deal with histones; the linear DNA molecule in
eukaryotes is a much larger molecule and requires special treatment at the ends.
(b) Special polymerases are used in the organelles.
54. Eukaryotes have more DNA polymerases, which tend to be larger molecules.
Eukaryotic DNA polymerases tend not to have exonuclease activity. There are
more origins of replication in eukaryotes and shorter Okazaki fragments. See
Table 10.5.
55. Mechanisms exist to ensure that DNA synthesis takes place only once in the
eukaryotic cell cycle, during the S phase. Preparation for DNA synthesis can and
does take place in the G1 phase, but the timing of actual synthesis is strictly
controlled.
56. If the telomerase enzyme were inactivated, DNA synthesis would eventually stop.
This enzyme maintains the 3′ template end strand so that it does not undergo
degradation with each round of DNA synthesis. The degradation in turn arises
from the removal of the RNA primer with each round of DNA synthesis.
57. If histone synthesis took place faster than DNA synthesis, it would be highly
disadvantageous to invest the energy required for protein synthesis. The
histones would have no DNA with which to bind.
58. Replication licensing factors (RLFs) are proteins that bind to eukaryotic DNA.
They get their name from the fact that replication cannot proceed until they are
bound. Some of the RLF proteins have been found to be cytosolic. They have
access to the chromosome only when the nuclear membrane dissolves during
mitosis. Until they are bound, replication cannot occur. This property links
eukaryotic DNA replication and the cell cycle. Once RLFs have bound, the DNA
is then competent for replication.
59. It is faster in prokaryotes. The DNA is smaller, and the lack of
compartmentalization within the cell facilitates the process. DNA replication in
8 Chapter 10
eukaryotes is linked to the cell cycle, and prokaryotic cells proliferate more
quickly than those of eukaryotes.
60. In reverse transcriptase action, the single RNA strand serves as a template for
the synthesis of a single DNA strand. The DNA strand, in turn, serves as the
template for synthesis of the second strand of DNA.
61. Circular DNA does not have ends. This removes the necessity for maintaining
the 3′ template end on removal of the RNA primer. Telomeres and telomerase
are not needed with circular DNA.
62. The presence of a DNA polymerase that operates only in mitochondria is
consistent with the view that these organelles are derived from bacteria
incorporated by endosymbiosis. The bacteria were originally free-living
organisms earlier in evolutionary history.
63. The hypothesis that RNA was the original molecule of heredity, and was the first
molecule that took simple compounds and turned them into larger molecules with
a function.
64. Because finding that RNA can self-replicate leads credence to the RNA world
hypothesis and brings us a step closer to understanding how evolution began.
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generally entertain a great distrust of the opposite sex, and not one
in twenty would willingly contract the more binding marriage.”[234]
Mr. Vivian confirmed this observation. “Marriage is not popular
with the women,” he wrote, “in either of these countries” (Abyssinia
and Somaliland), “and they will only consent to it when physical force
is actually used.” He added, with regard to Abyssinia, “The
permanent marriage seems to be very rare, only priests and persons
of extraordinary piety indulging in it.”[235] It is to be hoped that these
worthies do not resort to violence in order to gratify their wish.
Plowden said of this form of wedlock, that “it is usual in old age only
to take the sacrament together in the church, thereby pledging
themselves to fidelity.”[236]
Doubtless this account of the Abyssinian usage is correct, for it
agrees with the observations made by Parkyns. “Church marriages,”
he wrote, “are rarely solemnized except between persons, who,
having first been civilly married, and having afterwards lived happily
together till the decline of life, begin to feel that they could not hope
to suit themselves better, and so determine to sanctify the marriage
by going to church and partaking of the Sacrament. The bond is then
considered indissoluble.”[237] Stern stated that the Negus is in the
same position as the clergy with regard to monogamy.[238]
“According to the canons of the Abyssinian Church, the King is
bound by the same marital laws as a priest; and, consequently, if his
wife dies, he dare not marry another. The bereaved predecessors of
Theodoros scrupulously evaded such a contingency by substituting
the regularly stored harem in the place of the one lawful wife.”[239]
Rassam made the following observations on the third form of
wedlock: “This last is little better than concubinage. The contracting
parties merely engage to cohabit during pleasure, and while so living
are regarded as husband and wife. The national Church recognizes
only the sacramental marriage as valid; but the laity, as a rule, set all
ecclesiastical law in such matters at defiance. Hence, a wealthy
Abyssinian Christian, who is debarred by the two higher degrees of
wedlock from having more than one wife, may nevertheless have as
many third-rate wives as he pleases, and cohabit with them
simultaneously. In the course of my inquiries into these matrimonial
customs, and the laws affecting inheritances among this peculiar
people, I applied to the Abouna to aid me in the research. His reply
was, ‘My son, you have asked me questions which I am unable to
answer. This only I can tell you; Abyssinian marriages, with few
exceptions, are so abominably revolting that the issue are all
bastards.’”[240]
From the opinions quoted it may be judged that the inclination
towards conjugal constancy is usually greater in the wife than in the
husband, but this is not invariably the case. Rassam tells the
following story of a couple at Magdala. “The husband was in such
dread of losing his partner, knowing that, as he had been united to
her by the secondary (civil) marriage only, she might leave him any
day, that her refusal to accompany him to the altar, there to partake
of the Lord’s Supper with him, in token of their more indissoluble
union, nearly drove him mad. The matter was eventually referred to
the Abouna, my intervention being also sought, and after
considerable trouble we overcame the obstinacy of the lady, and
induced her to be sacramentally joined to her lovesick lord.”[241] Of
course this may have been only an instance of an Ethiopian
woman’s mistrust of the male sex.
Lobo gave some curious details of the penalties that followed
upon infidelity when he was in the country. “They have here a
particular way of punishing adultery: A woman convicted of that
crime is condemned to forfeit all her fortune, is turned out of her
husband’s house in a mean dress, and is forbid ever to enter it
again. She has only a needle given her to get her living with.
Sometimes her head is shaved, except one lock of hair which is left
her, and even that depends on the will of her husband, who has it
likewise in his choice whether he will receive her again or not. If he
resolves never to admit her, they are both at liberty to marry whom
they will. There is another custom amongst them yet more
extraordinary, which is, that the wife is punished whenever the
husband proves false to the marriage-contract; this punishment
indeed extends no farther than a pecuniary mulct; and what seems
more equitable, the husband is obliged to pay a sum to his wife.
When the husband prosecutes his wife’s gallant, if he can produce
any proofs of a criminal conversation, he recovers, for damages,
forty cows, forty horses, and forty suits of clothes, and the same
number of other things. If the gallant be unable to pay him, he is
committed to prison, and continues there during the husband’s
pleasure; who, if he sets him at liberty before the whole fine is paid,
obliges him to take an oath that he is going to procure the rest, that
he may be able to make full satisfaction. Then the criminal orders
meat and drink to be brought out, they eat and drink together; he
asks a formal pardon, which is not granted at first; however, the
husband forgives first one part of the debt, and then another, till at
length the whole is remitted.”[242]
According to Mr. Wylde, Abyssinian girls have many attractions for
men. “They perfectly understand the utility of ‘feeding the beast’ with
a nice dinner to keep him good-tempered, and from what I have
seen of these young ladies, they do everything they possibly can to
make a man happy, and being good-tempered, jolly girls, they
seldom ‘nag,’ and no wonder the southern Italians have taken a
liking for them, and find themselves perfectly happy in their society.”
He admits that “their great drawback is their dirtiness;” but adds, “all
those that get the chance of being clean keep themselves very neat
and tidy.” However, “nearly all the lower-class Abyssinian women
use oil or fat for their heads; this they do to keep the small parasites
quiet, as they cannot get about when the head and hair are thickly
besmeared and saturated, and the oil or fat also serves for softening
the skin of the face and preventing it from chapping in the cold
weather, or blistering during the hot season of the year.”[243] Mr.
Vivian remarked of the Ethiopian woman, “though her features are
comely, she is not the sort of person one would care to choose as a
companion. For one thing, I do not suppose that she ever washes
herself in her life, the butter on her hair grows rancid and emits a
peculiarly pungent odour, which affronts the nostrils when you pass
her in the desert, and wherever she goes she carries with her a large
black cluster of flies congregated on her back.”[244] Probably she
would “find herself” under the influence of a cleaner civilization.
Conceptions of medicine among the Abyssinians have changed
for the better during recent years. Harris has given an account of
some of the singular notions and practices which prevailed in his
day. He took a supply of medical stores into the country, and he and
the doctor with the expedition (Assistant-Surgeon Kirk) acted as
physicians extraordinary to the King, with the following results:—
“The most particular inquiries were instituted relative to the mode
of counteracting the influence of the evil eye, and much
disappointment expressed at the unavoidable intimation that the
dispensary of the foreigners contained neither ‘the horn of a serpent,’
which is believed to afford an invaluable antidote against witchcraft;
no preservative against wounds in the battlefield, nor any nostrum
for ‘those who go mad from looking at a mad dog.’ ‘We princes also
fear the small-pox,’ said his Majesty, ‘and therefore never tarry long
in the same place. Nagási, my illustrious ancestor, suffered
martyrdom from this scourge. Have you no medicine to drive it from
myself?’
“Vaccine lymph there was in abundance, but neither Christian,
Moslem, nor Pagan had yet consented to make trial of its virtues.
Glasses hermetically sealed, betwixt which the perishable fluid had
been deposited, were exhibited, and its use expounded. ‘No, no!’
quoth the King, as he delivered the acquisition to his master of the
horse, with a strict injunction to have it carefully stitched in leather,
‘this is talakh medanit, very potent medicine indeed; and henceforth I
must wear it as a talisman against the evil that beset my forefathers.’
“‘You must now give me the medicine which draws the vicious
waters from the leg,’ resumed his Majesty, ‘and which is better than
earth from Mount Lebanon; the medicine which disarms venomous
snakes, and that which turns the grey hairs black; the medicine to
destroy the worm in the ear of the Queen which is ever burrowing
deeper; and, above all, the medicine of the seven colours, which so
sharpens the intellect as to enable him who swallows enough of it to
acquire every sort of knowledge without the slightest trouble.
Furthermore, you will be careful to give my people none of this.’”[245]
Plowden, writing of the defterers, said: “They are often more
learned than the priests, and equally take advantage of the general
ignorance. Their principal gain is by writing amulets and charms
against every disease, almost against death. . . . They also profess
medicine, and as they do not much analyze the effects of their drugs,
many an unfortunate falls a victim to some poisonous plant
administered as a love philtre. Most of them are hangers-on of the
different churches; they are generally cunning, debauched, and
mischief-makers.”[246]
Mr. Wylde, speaking of the Abyssinian clergy of the present time,
says, “They know that the days are gone by when every one came to
them for some charm or a little holy water to cure a complaint; the
very practical nineteenth-century doctor is to be found, and not only
the congregation has deserted to the modern school of medicine, but
the priest himself will trust in the new treatment in preference to
running the risk in getting cured by faith or unfiltered holy water.”[247]
A peculiar disease is found in Abyssinia, chiefly but not
exclusively among the women. Dufton describes a typical case: “I
had the satisfaction of seeing in Gaffat a case of bouda. This term is
given to a phenomenon of mental abstraction, which the natives
explain as ‘being possessed by the devil.’ The case I am about to
mention happened to a female in the service of one of the
Europeans. Her symptoms began in a kind of fainting fit, in which the
fingers were clenched in the palms of the hands, the eyes glazed,
the nostrils distended, and the whole body stiff and inflexible.
Afterwards she commenced a hideous laugh in imitation of the
hyena, and began running about on all fours; she was then seized by
the bystanders, and a bouda doctor having been called in, this
individual began questioning her as to the person who had
possessed her with this hyena devil. She said he was a man living in
Gooderoo, south of Abyssinia, and also told how long the spirit
would be in possession, and what was required to expel him. Great
care must be taken of persons thus afflicted, as cases of this kind
sometimes end in death. All their demands for dress, food, trifles of
any sort, must be strictly attended to. In the height of the frenzy they
will sometimes carry out the idea of their hyena identity to such an
extent as to attack any animal that may happen to be in the way.
One woman fancied she would like a little donkey-flesh; so to gratify
her strange taste she seized hold by her teeth to the hinder part of
one which happened to be near. Off went the astonished beast at a
pace that nothing in the form of persuasion will lead him to adopt for
the gratification of man. Off, too, clinging tight with her teeth to his
haunches, went the frenzied girl. Only force would induce her to
forego the tender morsel.
“They have several cures for this strange attack; but the never-
failing one is a mixture of some obscene filth, which is concealed in
some part of the house, whereupon the woman is said to go directly,
on all fours, to where it is and swallow it. This would seem incredible,
but thousands of corroborative facts, known to Abyssinian residents,
put it beyond a doubt.
“The power of possessing persons with the devil is attributed
mostly to Jewish blacksmiths; and women and children are terrified
when they meet, in a solitary place, a blacksmith who is a Jew.
These sorcerers are also said to be endued with the power of
changing the shape of the object of their incantations.”[248]
Stern has given some interesting particulars with regard to these
seizures. “During the rainy season, when the weather, like the mind,
is cheerless and dull, the boudas, as if in mockery of the universal
gloom, celebrate their saturnalia. In our small settlement, the
monotony of our existence was constantly diversified by a bouda
scene. Towards the close of August, when every shrub and tree
began to sprout and blossom, the disease degenerated into a
regular epidemic; and in the course of an evening two, three, and not
unfrequently every hut occupied by natives would ring with that
familiar household cry. A heavy thunderstorm, by some mysterious
process, seemed invariably to predispose the people to the bouda’s
torturing influence.
“I remember one day, about the end of August, we had a most
terrific tempest. . . . The noise and tumult of the striving elements
had scarcely subsided, when a servant of Mr. Mayer, a stout, robust,
and masculine woman, began to exhibit the bouda symptoms. She
had been complaining the whole noon of languor, faintness, and
utter incapacity for all physical exertion. About sunset her lethargy
increased, and she gradually sank into a state of apparent
unconsciousness. Her fellow-servants, who were familiar with the
cause of the complaint, at once pronounced her to be possessed. To
outwit the conjuror, I thought it advisable to try the effect of strong
liquid ammonia on the nerves of the Evil One. The place being dark,
faggots were ignited; and in their bright flickering light we beheld a
mass of dark figures squatted on the wet floor around a rigid,
motionless, and apparently dead woman. I instantly applied my
bottle to her nose; but although the potent smell made all near raise
a cry of terror, it produced no more effect on the passive and
insensible patient than if it had been water from the newly formed
rivulets.”
The landlord of the settlement, “an amateur exorcist, almost by
instinct, as if anticipating something wrong in that part of his domains
occupied by the Franks, made his appearance in the very nick of
time. This bloated and limping dotard, who had wasted his youth and
manhood in folly and vice, for which, in his old age, he sought to
atone by discarding one after the other of his former wives, and by
poring over the legends of saints and martyrs, no sooner hobbled
into the hut than the possessed woman, as if struck by a magnetic
wire, burst into loud fits of laughter and the paroxysms of a raving
maniac. Half a dozen stalwart fellows caught hold of her, but frenzy
imparted a vigour to her frame which even the united strength of
these athletes was barely sufficient to keep under control. She tried
to bite, kick, and tear every one within reach; and when she found
herself foiled in all those mischievous attempts, she convulsively
grasped the unpaved wet floor, and, in imitation of the hyena, gave
utterance to the most discordant sounds. Manacled and shackled
with leather thongs, she was now partly dragged and partly carried to
an open grassy spot; and there under the starry vault of heaven, and
in the presence of a considerable number of people, the conjurer, in
a businesslike manner, began his exorcising art. The poor sufferer,
as if conscious of the dreaded old man’s presence, struggled
frantically to escape his skill; but the latter, disregarding her
entreaties and lamentations, her fits of unnatural gaiety and bursts of
thrilling anguish, with one hand laid an amulet on her heaving
bosom, whilst, with the other, he made her smell a rag, in which the
root of a strong scented plant, a bone of a hyena, and some other
abominable unguents were bound up. The mad rage of the
possessed woman being instantaneously hushed by this operation,
the conjurer addressed himself to the bouda (evil spirit), and, in
language not fit for ears polite, requested him to give his name.” The
demon is always masculine, whatever may be the sex of the person
possessed. Question and answer followed, and finally the “conjurer”
formally exorcised the demon. “‘I command thee in the name of the
Blessed Trinity, the twelve apostles, and the three hundred and
eighteen bishops at the council of Nicaea, to leave this woman, and
never more to molest her.’
“The bouda did not feel disposed to obey the conjurer; but on
being threatened with a repast of glowing coals, which the majority
do not relish, he became docile, and in a sulky and ventriloquizing
tone of voice, promised to obey the request.
“Still anxious to delay his exit, he demanded something to eat;
and to my utter disgust, his taste was as coarse as the torments
inflicted on the young woman were ungallant. Filth and dirt of the
most revolting description, together with an admixture of water, were
the choice delicacies he selected for his supper. This strange fare,
which the most niggardly hospitality could not refuse, several
persons hastened to prepare, and when all was ready, and the
earthen dish had been hidden in the centre of a leafy shrub, the
conjurer said to the bouda, ‘As thy father did, so do thou.’ These
words had scarcely escaped the lips of the exorcist, when the
possessed person leaped up, and, crawling on all fours, sought the
dainty repast which she lapped with a sickening avidity and
greediness. She now laid hold of a stone, which three strong men
could scarcely lift, and raising it aloft in the air, whirled it madly round
her head for two seconds, and then fell senseless on the ground. In
half an hour she recovered, but was quite unconscious of what had
transpired.
“Three other women had similar attacks that same evening, and
that, too, without any premonitory symptoms. I tried to deceive one,
and instead of the disgusting concoction, put a wooden dish with
bread and water in her way; but on smelling it she shrank from its
contents, and rapidly crept on till the strong effluvia brought her to
the spot where the loathsome viands were concealed. . . .
“Next in importance to the bouda is the zar. This malady is
exclusively confined to unmarried women, and has this peculiar
feature, that during the violence of the paroxysm it prompts the
patient to imitate the sharp discordant growl of the leopard. I
recollect that the first time I saw a case of this description, it gave me
a shock which made my blood run cold. The sufferer was a
handsome, gay, and lively girl, a little above fifteen. In the morning
she was engaged as usual in her work, when a quarrel ensued
between her and other domestics. The fierce dispute, though of a
trifling character, roused the passions of the fiery Ethiopian to such a
pitch that it brought on an hysterical affection. The natives all cried,
‘She is possessed,’ and certainly her ghastly smile, nervous tremor,
wild stare, and unnatural howl, justified the notion. To expel the zar,
a conjurer, as in the bouda complaint, was formerly considered
indispensable; but by dint of perseverance the medical faculty of the
country, to their infinite satisfaction, have at length made the happy
discovery that a sound application of the whip is quite as potent an
antidote against this evil as the necromancer’s spell.”[249]
Parkyns said that he had seen “above a hundred” cases of bouda.
He alluded to the superstition with regard to blacksmiths. “In
Abyssinia their trade is hereditary, and considered as more or less
disgraceful, from the fact that blacksmiths are, with very rare
exceptions, believed to be all sorcerers, and are opprobriously called
bouda. . . .
“Few people will venture to molest or offend a blacksmith, fearing
the effects of his resentment. The greater part of the ‘possessed’ are
women; and the reason of their being attacked is often that they
have despised the proffered love of some bouda, or for other similar
cause.
“It is a custom in Abyssinia to conceal the real name by which a
person is baptized, and to call him only by a sort of nickname, which
his mother gives him on leaving the church. . . . The reason for the
concealment of the Christian name is that the bouda cannot act upon
a person whose real name he does not know. Should he, however,
have obtained the true name of his victim, he takes a particular kind
of straw, and muttering something over it, bends it into a circle, and
places it under a stone. The person thus doomed is taken ill at the
very moment of the bending of the straw; and should it by accident
snap under the operation, the result of the attack will be that the
patient dies.
“This malady and the Tigritiya are no doubt often purposely
counterfeited by servant-maids to evade their work, and by others to
excite pity, attract attention, and get themselves pulled about by the
men. . . .
“The first case which I ever saw, and which I consequently
watched very attentively and noted down, was that of a servant-
woman at Rohabaita. The first day she complained of general
languor, and of a stupid heavy feeling about the head. Towards
evening this seemed to increase, when she cried a little, but was
perfectly reasonable, and excused herself by saying that it was only
because she felt low and melancholy. An hour after this, however,
she burst out into hysterical laughter, and complained of violent pain
in the stomach and bowels. It was at this stage that the other
servants began to suspect that she was under the influence of the
bouda. In a short time she became quiet, and by degrees sank into a
state of lethargy, approaching to insensibility. Either from excellent
acting and great fortitude, or from real want of feeling, the various
experiments which we made on her seemed to have no more effect
than they would have had on a mesmeric somnambulist. We pinched
her repeatedly; but pinch as hard as we could, she never moved a
muscle of her face, nor did she otherwise express the least
sensation. I held a bottle of strong sal-volatile under her nose, and
stopped her mouth, and this having no effect, I steeped some rag in
it and placed it in her nostrils; but although I am sure that she had
never either seen, smelt, or heard of such a preparation as liquid
ammonia, it had no more effect on her than rosewater. She held her
thumbs tightly bent inside her hands, as if to prevent their being
seen. On my observing this to a bystander, he told me that the
thumbs were the bouda’s particular perquisite, and that he would
allow no person to take them. Consequently, several persons tried to
open her hand and get at them; but she resisted with what appeared
to me wonderful strength for a girl, and bit their fingers till in more
than one instance she drew blood. I, among others, made the
attempt, and though I got a bite or two for my pains, yet either the
devil had great respect for me as an Englishman and a good
Christian, or she had for me as her master, for the biting was all a
sham, and struck me as more like kissing than anything else,
compared with the fearful wounds she had inflicted on the rest of the
party.
“I had a string of amulets which I usually wore, having on it many
charms for various maladies; but I was perfectly aware that none for
the bouda was among them. Still, hoping thereby to expose the
cheat, I asserted that there was a very celebrated one, and laid the
whole string on her face, expecting that she would pretend to feel the
effects, and act accordingly; but to my surprise and disappointment,
she remained quite motionless. Several persons had been round the
village to look for some talisman, but only one was found. On its
being applied to her mouth, she for an instant sprang up, bit at it, and
tore it, but then laughed, and said it was weak, and would not vex
him. . . . I deluged her with bucketfuls of water, but could not even
elicit from her a start or a pant, an effect usually produced by water
suddenly dashed over a person. At night she could not sleep, but
became more restless, and spoke several times. She once
remarked, in her natural tone of voice, that she was not ill, nor
attacked by the bouda, but merely wished to return to Adoua. She
said this so naturally that I was completely taken off my guard, and
told her that of course she might go, but that she must wait till the
morrow. The other people smiled, and whispered me that it was only
a device of the bouda’s to get her into the forest, and there devour
her.
“Singular coincidences not unfrequently occur in such a way as to
encourage superstitious persons in their credulity; and, strange to
say, that very night, for the first and last time that I ever heard him
during my stay at Rohabaita, the hyena kept howling and laughing
close to the village. . . .
“At night I ordered the people to close the door of the hut, and lie
across it, some inside and some out. These precautions, however,
did not satisfy them; and they insisted on having the young woman
bound hand and foot, as the only means of preventing her escape.
She lay pretty still, merely moaning, and occasionally starting up
when the hyena called. I was lying on a couch, she and the other
people on the floor. Determined to see the issue of the affair, I
watched her narrowly, and when the guard dropped off to sleep, one
by one, I pretended to do so likewise. She also was perfectly still for
near an hour, and I fancied that she too had fallen asleep, when
suddenly, the hyena calling close by, she, to my astonishment, rose
without her bonds, which I had seen, as I imagined, securely
fastened. She then crept on all-fours towards the door, which she
succeeded in partly opening. I was just going to spring on her when
one of the heavily sleeping guards made a noise, which sounded
something like a grunt or a snore, and it appeared to me that she
stifled a laugh. This led me to believe more and more that she was
shamming; but I said nothing, and she returned of her own accord to
her place. Although she did not sleep during the whole night, yet she
remained still as long as the people were quiet, only moaning a little
whenever any one, by yawning or otherwise, showed signs of
waking. Next day she appeared a little better, and talked more
rationally, but still very wildly, and would neither eat nor drink. Once
we allowed her to leave the hut for a moment, on pretence of
necessity, and she went quietly enough; but on her return being
delayed longer than we considered right, parties were sent out in
quest of her, and after a long search she was discovered more than
a mile from the hut, and making for the thickest of the jungle.
“The second night was passed much as the former one; but the
following day we prevailed on her to take a little bread. On
swallowing a piece about the size of a nut she became very sick;
and a draught of water produced a similar result. A better night
seemed to do her good, for on the following day she managed to eat
a little, and by slow degrees recovered her health.
“Since this occurrence I have witnessed many hoaxes easy to
discover, but also many which I could never see through, although I
tried every method that my small stock of ingenuity could invent.
“I remember once a poor weakly girl on whom I had tried several
false charms, but without her moving. She was lying, apparently
senseless, in the inner court of a house at Adoua, and numbers of
persons were passing to and fro to see her, when, suddenly starting
up, she screamed and struggled with so much strength, that, on
seizing her by the legs and shoulders, I and three other powerful
men could scarcely keep her down. A man near me said, ‘I am sure
some one has with him a strong charm; if so, let him produce it.’ All
denied the fact; but just then a stranger entered from the outer court,
when she cried out, ‘Let me alone, and I will speak.’ This man was
an Amhara soldier, perfectly unknown to all of us, but who, hearing
one of our people inquire for charms in a house where he was
drinking, had volunteered to try one which he wore, and which he
declared to be very potent. On placing the amulet near her, she
yelled and screamed horribly. The owner (addressing her as a
woman) said, ‘Will you declare yourself if I take it away?’ She howled
still more at this insult, as she called it, and said, ‘I am no woman.’
The question was then repeated several times in the masculine, but
she invariably attempted to evade a direct answer, till, as if worn out,
she exclaimed, ‘I will tell all; only take it far from me!’ It was
accordingly removed to some distance from her, and she
immediately sank down as if exhausted.”
When the cure had made some progress, “the bouda, anxious to
delay his exit as long as possible, demanded food (as he always
does) before leaving her. A basin was fetched, in which was put a
quantity of any filth that could be found (of fowls, dogs, etc.), and
mixed up with a little water and some ashes. I took the basin myself,
and hid it where I was positive she could not see me place it, and
covered it up with some loose stones which were heaped in the
corner. The bouda was then told that his supper was prepared, and
the woman rose and crawled down the court on all fours, smelling
like a dog on either side, till, passing into the yard where the basin
was, she went straight up to it, and, grubbing it out from the place
where it was hidden, devoured its abominable contents with the
utmost greediness. The bouda was then supposed to leave her, and
she fell to the ground, as if fainting. From this state she recovered
her health in a few days.
“I had forgotten to mention that one of the principal symptoms is a
great longing for charcoal, of which the patient will eat any quantity
she can obtain. The first proof of the devil’s leaving her is her
allowing her thumbs to be taken hold of.”
On another occasion Parkyns, suspecting a hoax, concocted a
charm which was composed of two or three bits of dry bamboo roots
wrapped in a piece of paper, an old leaf or two, some pipe-ashes,
and a tuft of hair cut from the tail of his dog. Then “proceeding to the
place where the sufferer lay, I ordered a large-mouthed jar to be filled
with dry mules’ dung and lighted. When this had been done, and the
smoke began to rise in clouds, I put into it a small quantity of my
charm, with every appearance of caution and care, which done, we
seized the unfortunate victim, and with some difficulty forced her
head close to the jar’s mouth, and then rolled a quarry (shama)
round it and the jar, so as at once to keep her fast, and prevent the
escape of the smallest quantity of smoke. As may be imagined, in a
moment she began to cough violently, and at last, being almost
suffocated, cried out, ‘Let me off, for pity’s sake; I am not ill, but only
shamming.’ I solemnly asserted this to be only a device of the Evil
One to get away from the charm, and held on, till her cries for pity,
for the sake of the Virgin, of Oubi, etc., becoming more confused,
and her cough more violent, I feared lest she might suffer too much if
kept longer.
“That magic vessel was preserved in a conspicuous situation in
the hut where the women worked till I left the place; and I must say
that the attacks of bouda were less frequent after this occurrence
than before; though I still had occasional cases where the sunken
eye and vacant stare cheated me into tenderness of heart, and I
refrained from the use of my singular but most efficacious remedy.”
Parkyns has also given an account of a similar disorder called
tigritiya, which may be the same as the zar mentioned by Stern,
though from the description, it appears to be more serious. The
tigritiya, says Parkyns, is the near relation of the bouda, “but
generally a far more disagreeable and dangerous devil than he. His
dependents are supposed to be found in great numbers in Godjam,
which province, indeed, is celebrated for sorcerers of all kinds. The
first symptoms usually are the gradual wasting away of the attacked
person, without any cause being apparent either to herself or her
relatives. At last, however, after dieting, and the ordinary medicines
have been unsuccessfully tried, it becomes a matter of suspicion to
her friends, who determine, on ascertaining, whether or no she be
afflicted with this devil. The first thing to be observed is to feed her
daintily and dress her neatly. As her complaint and this treatment
advance, she becomes peevish and fretful, and is always longing for
something or other. Whatever she demands must be procured, else
she will become sulky, and, covering up her head, remain sometimes
for days without eating or speaking. Ornaments of all kinds require to
be borrowed for her, often at much trouble to her unfortunate
relations; for she is rarely satisfied unless she gets an assortment of
those worn by both sexes, even to the lion’s skin of a warrior; and
these are frequently almost impossible to procure. With some
persons it is necessary to have recourse to music before the real
cause of their complaint can be discovered. Drums and other
musical instruments are collected outside the chamber door, and the
musicians suddenly strike up all together, when the patient is not
expecting it. If her illness be of an ordinary kind, she will, of course,
beg of them to desist, but, if possessed, she will leap or fall from her
couch to the ground, and commence shrugging her shoulders and
swinging her head to and fro in time with the music; beginning with a
slight movement, but gradually increasing in pace as she appears to
become excited, till at last her motions are so violent that a spectator
is led to fear for the safety of her neck. It is truly wonderful to see a
sick person whom you have just beheld stretched on a bed, a weak,
emaciated bag of bones, apparently without strength to rise, keeping
up this very fatiguing motion with a velocity and power of endurance
that would be astonishing even in an ordinarily strong person. On the
music’s ceasing she rests, and then begins to speak, telling his
name (that is, the devil’s) and his family; and it is usually after this
that she demands the trinkets, specifying each article that she
requires, and making their production the condition of her dancing
again. She, as I before said, generally contrives to name objects that
are most difficult to obtain, such as the silver-ornamented velvet
worn only by great war-chiefs; and much sorrow and trouble does
this cause to her relations, for she will not be persuaded to show any
sign of animation if a single article she has named be not
forthcoming; and on her dancing and singing is supposed chiefly to
depend her chance of recovery.
“The mode of ejecting the Old Gentleman from his temporary
possession is something similar to what we have already described.
After the patient has been induced to dance pretty frequently, it is to
be hoped that the devil is put into a tolerably good humour, which
desideratum can only be obtained by making frequent and polite
inquiries when he will be pleased to have music, and by promptly
procuring everything he may demand, by the mouth of the
possessed, whether it be food or wearing apparel. The auspicious
moment arriving, the friends of the sufferer inquire of her when he
will be disposed to quit his present residence and go to his own
place. The first time this question is ventured upon, the spirit
generally replies that he is not yet satisfied with the entertainment he
has received at their hands, and seizes the opportunity of
demanding something more. After a time, however, if things go on
well, he fixes a day for taking his leave, usually the seventh after the
day on which he makes his announcement. The happy time having
arrived, a large party is assembled in some wild spot in the country,
and there must be feasting, dancing, and music, as before, but, if
possible, carried on with more than usual spirit. The patient joins in
with the rest; and the devil, when satisfied, announces his intention
to depart. This he signifies through the medium of his victim, who
takes off her finery; then, bowing her head, she kisses her hands in
token of farewell, and starts off, running at a pace which few men
could equal. She cannot, however, keep it up for more than from fifty
to a hundred yards, when she falls to the ground senseless. At this
moment the spirit is supposed to have left her; and lest he should
find himself worse off outside than in, and, changing his mind, return
to her, five or six active young men are prepared beforehand, and as
soon as she starts they follow her, and, coming up with her just as
she is falling, place themselves in threatening attitudes round her
body, one holding a drawn sword, another firing a charge of powder
out of a matchlock, and a third brandishing a lance. This is supposed
to intimidate the fiend, and prevent his return, should he be so
disposed.
“The woman, who but a moment before was outdoing all the party,
both in the dance and in running, now lies stretched on the ground
helpless and emaciated, as if after a long illness. She faintly calls for
water, which is given her; and when a little restored, she is asked her
name, which she answers correctly; and as a conclusive proof of her
freedom from the power of the Evil One, she is requested to repeat
the formerly so much dreaded words—‘B’ism Ab, ou Weld, ou
Menfus Kouddos’ (in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of
the Holy Ghost). A sheep or a fowl is killed, broiled on the embers,
and eaten with bread. The patient’s friends partake of this food when
the devil goes out of her. The bones and remains of the meat are
burned with fire, and the fragments of the bread buried in the ground.
These are so left for the devil, that if he should come back to the
place he may remain and feed, and not go on and bother the
woman. Thus is the cure complete, though it often takes a
considerable time to effect it.”
The characteristics of the disease have been mentioned fully
because they seem to have some bearing on certain Biblical
episodes.
Sometimes, in the case of bouda, recourse is had to a very simple
and direct method of cure. Parkyns wrote:—“Many instances have
been related to me, wherein the friends of the possessed, having
procured charms of sufficient power to force the spirit to declare his
name and residence, but not equal to turning him out, went at once
to the place indicated, and, seizing on the blacksmith, brought him
forcibly to their home, where, having fed him well, he was
commanded to quit his victim, and at the same time his life was
threatened, lances being pointed at his breast.”[250] It is not stated
whether this procedure is effective.
Mr. Wylde dismissed the demon lightly:—“The bouda, or evil spirit,
that attacks some of the young women, nearly always ugly virgins or
hysterical and plain-looking girls that men will never notice, is to my
mind the greatest fraud of all their superstitions. Every one has
written about it, and I am afraid that they have drawn a good deal on
their imagination, and the missionaries who have visited the country
have, perhaps, been quite as bigoted as the people they have tried
to describe. I believe that these peculiar fits which the women have,
when they do all sorts of filthy things, are nothing more than hysteria;
many women even in civilized countries are not responsible for their
actions when suffering from these complaints, and people who are
inclined to believe in the miraculous take for granted what the
ignorant peasantry say. I have seen several young women suffering
from the ‘bouda’ and a bucket of cold water that I have thrown over
them, and a good smacking from my servant, has soon sent the devil
away, and the only after effect has been that they have been sulky,
because they were not made much of.”[251]
Parkyns was not a missionary, and he was a shrewd and
levelheaded observer. His comments are to the point:—“To many of
my readers it will doubtless appear, and very naturally, that all these
symptoms are impostures resorted to by the pretended sufferers as
a means of procuring the borrowed finery, and enjoying the gaieties
and festivities which are considered as the means of curing the
disorder. This sounds very probable; and I cannot deny that such is
my own opinion, though there are still some points which have rather
puzzled me. First, as in the bouda, the extraordinary talent for acting
which they display, and then the fact that the imposture has not been
discovered and published centuries ago, but that it is still believed by
the very people among whom it has so long been and still daily
continues to be practised. How is it possible that a woman, who in
her youthful days may have been guilty of such a hoax, should suffer
herself to be imposed upon and led into so much trouble and
expense by her children afterwards? And yet this is of common
occurrence. From this last remark let it not be supposed that young
women are the only sufferers; men and women of all ages are liable,
though the young of the fair sex are perhaps the most frequently
possessed.
“One of my servants, who, by the great anxiety he showed in
watching and tending the patients, was evidently convinced of the
truth of their sufferings, had himself been attacked many years
before, and assured me that after his recovery he had not the
slightest recollection of anything that had taken place while the fit
was on him, but that his friends had told him all about it. How was it
possible that this man, supposing his own illness to have been
feigned, could be cheated by the same means?
“Lastly, the most puzzling thing of all is when a person acts
sickness to such perfection that Azrael himself is deceived, and,
mistaking the feigned malady for a real one, finishes it by seriously
taking away the life of the shammer.
“The following case will illustrate what I mean. I had a servant
named Bairou, a youth of about nineteen, who, from having been
several years in the service of Europeans, had acquired a few of
their notions; and, among others, had learnt to ridicule the
superstitions of his countrymen. He had a sister who had been ill for
several months, and no one knew what her complaint was. At his
request I went to visit her more than once, but was unable to do
anything for her. The fact is, my doctoring is on a very limited scale;
and, as even the most eminent physicians agree that the greatest
difficulty is to ascertain what is really the matter with the patient, I
stood very little chance with Bairou’s sister, who complained of
nothing, and showed no marked signs of ailing except in entire
prostration of strength, and a rapid falling off of flesh. She gradually
got worse, till one day her brother came to me and requested me to
lend him my ornaments, and also to beg some more from my friends
at the camp. I asked whether he was going to be ‘arkee’ to some
friend about to marry; but he answered with a melancholy smile that
he wanted them for his sister; as, having tried everything else, their
friends had proposed to see if she were possessed, and he, though
not believing in such nonsense, was willing to allow them to try the
experiment, lest, if anything happened to her, they should upbraid
him afterwards for having caused her death by his obstinacy and
incredulity.
“I, of course, quite approved of his determination, and easily
succeeded in obtaining the articles required of me. She was dressed
up in the borrowed finery as she lay on the couch; and at a signal the
musicians outside commenced playing. At the first notes her eyes
began to brighten, and, raising herself up for the first time during
many days, she swayed her body to and fro for a few moments, after
the manner of one possessed; but, becoming quickly exhausted, she
sank back, saying, with a faint smile, ‘It is too late now!’ She
repeated these words twice; they were the last I ever heard her utter.
Three hours after she was a corpse. Was this, too, a sham? Or what
may it be called? Possibly some freak of her disordered
imagination.”[252]
Stern had the tendency to moralize which prevailed at the time
when he wrote, but there can be little doubt that he offered a sound
opinion in the following passage:—“In bringing this demoniacal
subject to a close, I am forcibly reminded of the words, ‘Be sure your
sin will find you out.’ That there is something in these diseases and
in their mode of cure which transcends ordinary disorders no one
who has stood beside a frantic and agonized patient and wondered
at the sudden and more than dramatic transition from raving frenzy
to childlike docility can well deny; but without deciding whether it is
epilepsy, catalepsy, or hysteria, I am quite sure that fiends and spirits
have less to do with the matter than the irregular life and dissolute
course which so many pursue.”[253]
It would, indeed, be a matter for astonishment if marked nervous
affections did not occur in a country where, among the people of
both sexes, unwholesome diet and parasitical irritation so often
combine their results with those of sensual habits of body and mind
acquired early in life.
It has already been said that the Abyssinian soldier wears no
uniform, and is not easily distinguished by his appearance from the
civilian. But there is a distinct military class, with characteristics of its
own. “There is no harder worker,” said Mr. Wylde, “than the
Abyssinian peasant, and no more harmless and hospitable person
when left alone and properly treated[254]; and no more truculent,
worthless, conceited, lazy, and useless individual than the
Abyssinian soldier, who formerly did nothing but prey upon the
defenceless cultivator. Circumstances are now altering this, but
before the country settles down to modern civilization and makes
any great strides forward, a civil revolution must take place, which
may not be far distant.”[255] The same writer has pointed out that the
soldiery “were called into existence by Abyssinia being surrounded
by Mohammedan enemies, and little by little they increased and
multiplied till they got out of all proportion to the wants of a peaceful
country.” The king’s exchequer cannot provide pay for these men,
so, to keep them quiet, they are allowed to live by exaction. Mr.
Wylde’s strictures apply to the “lazy, loafing lot of mercenaries who
have never done anything in their lives except fighting and looting,
men without homes and without territory, ready to fight for those who
give the highest pay, and who do not value the lives of their fellow-
Christians at the price of a sheep or a jar of hydromel;” and he adds,
“I am writing only of the mercenary soldier whose father and
grandfather, perhaps, were the same, and not of the bulk of the
fighting force of the country, who are yeomen farmers and their
servants, or the peasants and their families.”[256]
The state of feeling between the peasantry and the soldiery might
have serious consequences if the Abyssinian monarch undertook an
important campaign outside his territory. “The great danger to an
unpopular king attempting such an expedition would be, in the
absence of the army, a rising of an oppressed peasantry, backed up
by some European Power, to put down the military party. The arming
of the peasantry and farmer class with modern weapons has not
altogether been a blessing to the present ruler, and may end not only
in his downfall, but in that of the barons as well.”[257]
The fighting value of the Abyssinian army is by no means a
quantité négligeable in the politics of Eastern Africa, and it would be
very easy to underrate it. Mr. Wylde, in his narrative of the battle of
Adoua, has given a very complete account of the numbers,
armament and temper of the Negus’s forces, and he does not agree
with the estimate formed by Mansfield Parkyns of their personal
valour.[258] He has also described the tactics which they customarily
adopt in attacking, and has made some interesting observations on
the employment of artillery, mounted infantry, and cavalry in the
country.”[259]
The limitations to the activity of the forces are chiefly determined
by commissariat difficulties. “The Abyssinian hordes are the same as
the locust, they live on what they can get from the surrounding
country; and when they have devoured everything, they have to
move on to another place where supplies are procurable. At the
outside an Abyssinian who is not one of the regular soldiers can
keep the field for a couple of months, and then he has to take one
transport animal with him, with a boy or girl, generally the latter, to
look after his riding animal and to cook his food. The regular troops
are the same; they have to bring supplies with them, which they get
from their leaders before they set out on the campaign; after these
are finished, unless fresh supplies come forward, they have to live
on the country.”[260]
Probably the most recently published paper dealing with the
Abyssinian army is the despatch, dated June 2, 1904, of Colonel
Rochfort, C.B., R.A., included in the official account of the operations
in Somaliland.[261] Colonel Rochfort accompanied the forces which
his Majesty Menelek II., on the invitation of the British Government,
sent in 1903, “to intercept the Mullah’s retreat, should he attempt to
escape to the south or west.” As might be imagined from the nature
of the document, it contains no descriptive account of the Abyssinian
Expedition, and very little critical comment upon it. But the following
particulars may serve to convey some idea of Abyssinian operations
in the field at the present time. The strength of the force first
employed was about five thousand men, nearly all of whom were
mounted on mules. It left Harrar for its destination (the Webi Shebeli,
near Hilowen) on February 18, 1903, under the command of Fituari
Gabri.
Surprise parties were sent out to visit all wells within reach to the
north, and “the Abyssinians carried out these raids with considerable
dash and some success, showing their mobility by the ease with
which they covered long distances, sometimes a hundred miles in
forty-eight hours; but as at this time they had no special
arrangements for carrying water, their scope was necessarily
restricted.
“During these operations the main body was attacked by a
considerable number of Dervishes. The attack was delivered in thick
bush on the arrival of the force in bivouac, and before the zareba
was formed; it was pushed home with resolution, but repulsed with
loss. The pursuit was carried out with vigour, and the Dervish
casualties were estimated at three hundred. The Abyssinians
returned their loss at thirty-one killed and wounded. The Abyssinians
were now living on the country, and exigencies of supply rendered it
necessary to move down stream to Mekunna. . . .
“On the morning of May 28 the Abyssinians left Hahi, and after a
series of forced marches surprised the Habr Suliman section of the
Bagheri tribe on the morning of May 31 at Jeyd, which is thirty miles
south of Bur. The Dervishes suffered heavy losses, and all their
camels and stock were captured. . . . This terminated the first phase
of the operations, and the force returned to Harrar.”
Later, the Negus consented to send another expedition, and
“expressed the wish for an increase in the number of medical officers
to accompany his force, and also suggested the issue of water-
bottles to his men. At the conclusion of the first phase of the
operations I had represented to the War Office that the absence of
any special arrangements for carrying water had seriously affected
the mobility of the Abyssinians; this want was now remedied by the
issue of one thousand twelve-gallon tanks; pumps and waterproof
sheets for improvising drinking-troughs were also supplied by his
Majesty’s Government.
“There is no organized system of supply in the Abyssinian army,
and hitherto arrangements made individually to carry one month’s
supply on a mule or donkey had been found sufficient to enable
expeditions to reach a district from which supplies could be drawn;
such a course did not meet the conditions under which the present
force was about to act, owing to the distance to be covered, the
necessity for carrying water, and the total absence of any grain,
either on the road or in the probable zone of operations. After some
unavoidable delay, arrangements were improvised for carrying two
months’ supply,[262] and his Highness Ras Makunnan,[263] who
personally interested himself in the despatch of the force,
subsequently supplemented this supply by sending three small
convoys as transport became available. The force commenced
concentration in the neighbourhood of Harrar on November 27,
1903. . . . The advanced party reached Wardair on January 12,
1904. . . . The resources of the country in the neighbourhood of the
River Fafan and the arrival of two more small convoys enabled the
force to keep the field until March 28, 1904, when the Abyssinian
commander (Fituari Gabri) was advised that the retreat of the Mullah
through the Sorl, pursued by the British columns, rendered the
presence of the Abyssinian expedition no longer necessary, and the
force marched for Harrar.”[264]
Those who wish to acquaint themselves with the home life of the
Abyssinian people should read the works of Mansfield Parkyns and
Mr. Augustus Wylde. The latter has given especially full details of the
surroundings and habits of the middle and lower classes of the
nation.
Mr. Wylde has chapters on “Shooting in Abyssinia” and “Outfit and
Rifles.” His book also contains an appendix on “Animals met with in
Abyssinia and on the Borders,” ranging in its scope from lions to
sand-martins. There are several passages dealing with sport and
natural history in Parkyns’s volume, and Mr. Vivian’s work contains
observations on the same subjects.
Stecker’s scientific notes have been frequently mentioned. His
brief but pithy treatise amply repays study. Harris’s “Highlands of
Ethiopia” has valuable appendices on the climate, geology, botany,
and zoology of the southern provinces (Vol. II).
Probably no country at the present time offers a better field for
research, sport, and exploration than Abyssinia.
FOOTNOTES:
[123]“The Highlands of Æthiopia,” by Major W. Cornwallis

Harris, of the H.E.I.C.’s Engineers, 1844, vol. iii. pp. 3, 4.
[124]“Wanderings among the Falashes,” p. 185.
[125]“Modern Abyssinia,” pp. 352, 353.
[126]Ib. p. 16.
[127]“The Highlands of Æthiopia,” vol. iii. pp. 84-86.
[128]“Modern Abyssinia,” p. 157.
[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.)
[130]See p. 240.
[131]“Wanderings among the Falashas,” pp. 307, 308.
[132]“Life in Abyssinia,” p. 321.
[133]“Wanderings among the Falashas,” p. 214 seq.
[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!”
[135]Dufton, “A Journey through Abyssinia,” p. 90.
[137]“Life in Abyssinia,” p. 297 seq.
[138]“Life in Abyssinia,” pp. 160, 161.
[139]Ib. p. 277.
[140]“Life of Bruce,” by Major Head, p. 266.
[141]“Abyssinia,” p. 276 seq.
[142]“The Highlands of Ethiopia,” vol. iii. p. 139.
[143]Ib. p. 138.
[144]Major Head, “Life of Bruce,” p. 265.
[145]Ib. p. 268.
[146]“Modern Abyssinia,” pp. 361, 362.
[147]The Alaka is the superior of a monastery or other head of
an ecclesiastical establishment.
[148]Major Harris, “The Highlands of Ethiopia,” vol. iii. pp. 134,
135.
[149]“Abyssinia,” p. 283.
[150]“British Mission to Abyssinia,” pp. 225, 226.
[151]“The British Mission to Abyssinia,” vol. i. p. 227. Cf. p. 107
of this book.
[152]“The Highlands of Ethiopia,” vol. iii. pp. 133, 134.
[153]“The British Mission to Abyssinia,” vol. i. p. 217.
[154]“The British Mission to Abyssinia,” vol. i. p. 217. Stern did
not observe this separation of the sexes.
[157]Cf. p. 224.
[159]This appendix of Major Harris’s book was evidently
prepared with care, and it is therefore surprising to find the saints,
whose deeds are commemorated on October 4, described as
“Papa and Mamma”! Presumably the explanation is that there
was humour among the compositors of the year 1844, and that
the compiler neglected his proof-reading.
[160]“Abyssinia,” pp. 280, 285.
[162]A province of Abyssinia.
[163]“Abyssinia Described,” by J. C. Hotten, p. 160.
[165]Parkyns, “Life in Abyssinia,” p. 294.
[166]“Wanderings among the Falashas,” p. 218.
[167]Harris, “The Highlands of Ethiopia,” vol. iii. p. 141.
[169]“A Journey through Abyssinia,” p. 91.
[171]“Abyssinia Described,” p. 164.
[173]“Abyssinia Described,” p. 159.
[176]Ib.
[179]Ib.
[180]This was the “Sultan Segued” who caused the still existing
bridge over the Blue Nile to be built. See p. 147.
[184]P. 136.
[185]“Narrative of the Portuguese Embassy to Abyssinia,”
1520-27, translated and edited by Lord Stanley of Alderley,
Hakluyt Society, 1881.
[186]“History of Ethiopia,” made English by J. P. Gent, 1684.
[187]The reader need hardly be reminded that the same
interdiction is in force elsewhere. It is the refusal of the
connubium that renders the British population in the East of
London and elsewhere unable to assimilate the large colonies of
Jews who have lately immigrated into this country, and in great
part causes the difficulties of the “Alien Question.” The subject
has been treated in Major Evans Gordon’s very interesting book,
“The Alien Immigrant” (1903).
[190]“Wanderings among the Falashas,” pp. 185, 186.
[192]Major Head’s “Biography,” p. 162.
[193]Major Head’s “Biography of Bruce,” pp. 162, 163.
[195]See “Wanderings among the Falashas,” chap. xiv. et seq.
[196]Hotten, p. 166.
[198]Greenberg and Co., 80, Chancery Lane, London.
[199]Hotten, pp. 167, 168.
[200]Dufton, “A Journey through Abyssinia,” p. 143.
[201]The ancient city of Axum is remarkable for the ruins and
other traces of an early and extinct civilization which it contains.
These have been the occasion of much speculation among
archæologists. An account of the obelisks and other remains was
given by Bruce; Mr. Wylde has made some interesting comments
on the subject in his chapter on Axum; many writers on Abyssinia
have referred to it at some length; and the late Mr. Theodore Bent
dealt with the antiquities of the place in “The Sacred City of the
Ethiopians” (Longmans, Green and Co., 1893).
[202]Augustus Wylde, “Modern Abyssinia,” pp. 18, 407.
[203]See p. 143.
[204]Hotten, p. 167.
[205]Plowden, quoted by Hotten, p. 166. Plowden’s description
applies to the fifties of the nineteenth century.
[206]“The British Mission to Abyssinia,” vol. i. p. 209.
[207]“According to Abyssinian tradition, the King of Tigre, soon
after his conversion to Christianity, crossed the Taccazze, and
invaded Simien and Amhara. Here he met a people who were
neither Pagans nor Christians, a marvel which aroused the
monarch’s curiosity, and he inquired what they believed; to which,
in a laconic style, they replied in their own dialect, Kam Ant, i.e.
‘as thou,’ from whence they obtained their present appellation.”
[210]“Highlands of Ethiopia,” vol. iii. p. 393.
[211]Hotten, p. 120.
[212]Ib. p. 186.
[214]“Wanderings among the Falashas,” chap. ix; Hotten, p.
121.
[215]See, e.g. “Life in Abyssinia,” p. 368.
[217]Hotten, p. 183 seq.
[219]Hotten, p. 158.
[220]See, e.g. p. 121.
[224]Parkyns, pp. 266, 267.
[225]“Modern Abyssinia,” p. 181 seq. “Life in Abyssinia,” p. 256
seq.
[226]“The British Mission to Abyssinia,” vol. ii. p. 219.
[227]In matters of detail this account applies, of course, to
Abyssinia in the first half of the nineteenth century.
[228]“The Highlands of Ethiopia,” vol. iii. pp. 166-168.
[229]Hotten, p. 137.
[232]Johnson’s translation.
[234]“The British Mission to Abyssinia,” vol. ii. pp. 215, 216.
[236]Hotten, p. 137.
[238]See p. 223.
[240]“The British Mission to Abyssinia,” vol. ii. pp. 219, 220.
[241]Ib. vol. ii. p. 216.
[242]Johnson’s translation.
[243]“Modern Abyssinia,” p. 245 seq.
[245]“The Highlands of Ethiopia,” vol. ii. p. 156 seq.
[246]Hotten, p. 166.
[247]“Modern Abyssinia,” 1901, p. 143.
[248]“A Journey through Abyssinia,” p. 167 seq.
[254]Compare Consul Plowden’s remarks quoted on p. 70 of
this book.

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10.2 Replication of DNA

10.3 DNA Polymerase

10.4 Proteins Required for DNA Replication

10.7 Eukaryotic DNA Replication

[123]“The Highlands of Æthiopia,” by Major W. Cornwallis

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