ABSTRACT
The ancient kingdom of Kafa in south-west Ethiopia was overthrown by the Ethiopians in 1897, and a radical change was thereby brought about in its organization and customs. Never easy of access to foreigners, it was however visited by Antonio Cecchi, who published his account of it in 1885. A few years after the Ethiopian Conquest it was visited, in 1905, by Friedrich Bieber, who visited it again in 1909, and published a detailed account in 1920-23.1 In 1928 Enrico Cerulli recorded in the country what he could collect about its former state, and published his account in 1932. We thus possess material from which a reasonably accurate picture can be drawn. The three books referred to contain nearly all the material that is of any value; for although the Bibliography runs to 48 entries, most of what was written before Bieber (except Cecchi’s account) is superseded by his book ; Cerulli supplies the later material. (Of the total number of entries in the Bibliography, 20 relate to Cecchi, Bieber, and Cerulli.) These three have therefore been heavily drawn upon, and I here acknowledge my debt to them. So far as I know, there exists no work in English dealing with the Kafa in any sort of detail.
