Note 27 — Chapter V · A RECONNAISSANCE OF THE ABYSSINIAN BORDER, 1892

We saw also several graves of women. In this country they do not give women the heaps of stones surrounded by enclosures which mark the graves of men. They merely bury the women in the earth, heaping thorns on top to prevent prowling hyænas from rooting up the grave; and in the middle of the thorns they set up an upright stake with the top of a broken hán hung over it; this serves as a scarecrow to keep off wild animals.

Our men, whenever we passed a grave, piously said a prayer and plucked a tuft of grass to throw over it.