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SI QUERIS.PENINSULAR AMENA
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
LIBRARY
1837
ARTES
SCIENTIA
VERITAS
OF THE
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VIEWS
IN
CENTRAL
ABYSSINI A.
VIEWS IN
CENTRAL
ABYSSINI A.
WITH
PORTRAITS OF THE NATIVES OF THE GALLA TRIBES,
TAKEN IN PEN AND INK UNDER CIRCUMSTANCES OF PECULIAR DIFFICULTY,
BY T. E., A GERMAN TRAVELLER, BELIEVED AT PRESENT TO BE ONE OF THE CAPTIVES THERE.
WITH DESCRIPTIONS BY SOPHIE F. F. VEITCH.
LONDON:
JOHN CAMDEN HOTTEN, 74 AND 75, PICCADILLY.
1868.
(All rights reserved.)
DEDICATED
BY
PERMISSION
TO
HER
MOST GRACIOUS
M A JESTY
THE QUEEN.
316685
PREFACE.
These interesting views of the highlands of Abyssinia are from sketches made, in the years
1853-54, by a German artist, and subsequently sent as a present to the Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem
by Mr. Waldmeyer, one of his lay missionaries in Abyssinia, and now, unfortunately, a captive there.
With the one exception of the sketch of the church at Axum, the landscape subjects are all scenes
among the Semien Mountains.
The orthography of the names, with the additional difficulty of their translation from German,
rendered in some instances almost illegible by the discoloration of the leaves of the sketchbook, into
English, would have presented a most serious difficulty but for the valuable assistance rendered to me,
in the kindest possible manner, by John Naake, Esq., of the British Museum, which assistance has
rendered
my
task comparatively easy.
The orthography has been accommodated throughout, as nearly as possible, to that of the
War Office map.
No. 1.—PART OF DEVRESKI: DEBRA TABOR IN THE DISTANCE.
The wild beauty of such a scene as this is hardly, perhaps, to be appreciated without the aid
of colour, to convey a just idea of distance. It is taken from a height of 9,300 feet above the level of
the sea, looking over some of the rocky mountains of the Semien range. The view is bounded in the
extreme distance by the outline of Debra Tabor.
The little plain below, with its inclosures and groups of huts, gives a very correct idea of the
abodes of the Abyssinian peasantry.
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(1) PART OF DEVRESKI, DEBRA TABOR IN THE DISTANCE.
No. 2.-VIEW OF TANNEMORA, LOOKING SOUTH.
In this sketch one of the peculiar features of the Abyssinian Mountains begins to be apparent,
in those flat plains, on the very summits of the hills, which have, in some instances, played no unim-
portant part in the stormy history of Abyssinia. Far bolder specimens of this formation will be seen
in subsequent sketches.
The flat mountain plain in the present view is at an elevation of 9,400 feet above the level of
the sea, and the huts planted on the very summit of these Alpine heights speak for the hardy physique
of the Abyssinian race, and well agree with a fact mentioned by the present Anglican Bishop in
Jerusalem, as noticed by him during his many years' residence in Abyssinia—that the natives would
frequently sleep in the open air when there was frost on the ground, with absolutely no further
covering than a piece of cotton cloth round their shoulders.
Beyond the farthest height the southern declivity of the Semien Mountains begins.
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(2) VIEW OF TANNEMORA.- LOOKING SOUTH.
No. 3.-PART OF THE ABARA, NEAR MAI TSALO.
1
Here another peculiarity of the Abyssinian Mountains, their extraordinary shapes, comes
prominently forward. This—far more than any remarkable height—renders them objects of such
extreme interest. The Jesuit historians have indeed left records of mountains compared to which the
Alps and Pyrenees are but molehills ; but this statement unfortunately places posterity in a dilemma,
forcing them either to doubt, most irreverently, the veracity of the learned fathers, or to believe that
these mountains have been in a state of chronic atrophy ever since.
The Abara is one of the high mountain ranges of Semien, and the name is also that of a river
in the district, one of the tributaries of the Tacazzy, the principal river of that part of Abyssinia.
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(3) PART OF THE ABARA, NEAR MAI TSALO.
No. 4: SABRA NEAR THE BELLEGAR-DEBRA TABOR IN THE
DISTANCE.
ANOTHER view, taken from rather further south than the first one, and from an elevation of
6,000 feet. The abrupt termination of gently undulating plains in abrupt precipices—a frequent
occurrence among the Semien Mountains—is skilfully portrayed in this sketch. These plains are
often intersected by deep ravines, the precipitous walls of which will suddenly open out, as in the
sketch, forming a sort of natural rampart to a fertile, well-watered valley. Through these ravines
the smaller rivers and streams find their way to the larger rivers. Many of them are nearly or
entirely dry in the summer months ; but a few hours of tropical rain transforms them into raging
torrents, carrying everything before them, and each contributing its mite to that grand problem of
so many centuries, the annual inundation of the Nile.
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(4) SABRA NEAR THE BELLE GAR, DEBRA TABOR IN THE DISTANCE.
1
No. 5.-BRANCH OF THE ABARA, NEAR THE TACAZZY.
An interesting combination of both the mountain and river scenery of the province of Semien.
These rivers are often beautiful, but, alas! treacherous. The larger ones abound in fish, but such
rivers as the Tacazzy are likewise less pleasantly inhabited by crocodiles, and very dangerous, except
just in the dry season, in consequence of the deep holes and whirlpools so common in them. Mr.
Mansfield Parkyns has given a sad account of such dangers, resulting in the loss of one of his party
while crossing the Tacazzy; and an amusing one of the treachery of one of the smaller streains
inviting the weary travellers, by its bank of smooth clean sand, to rest, only to find themselves, soon
after midnight, reposing, not peacefully, in six inches of water--the consequence of little more than a
heavy shower among the hills above.
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(5) BRANCH OF THE ABARA, NEAR THE TACAZZY.
No. 6.–VIEW NEAR SABRA, AT THE FOOT OF THE SEMIEN
MOUNTAINS, LOOKING WEST.
This sketch gives a faithful representation of the bold character of the Semien Mountains,
with their alternate rugged precipices, deep ravines, and broken slopes, and of the picturesque little
Abyssinian huts so freely scattered over the landscape. The scene is near the Bellegar, another
tributary of the Tacazzy, which forms itself the boundary between the provinces of Tigré and
Amhara,
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(6) VIEW NEAR SABRA, FOOT OF THE SEMIEN MOUNTAINS_LOOKING WEST.
No. 7.—ANOTHER SCENE NEAR SABRA, FOOT OF THE SEMIEN
MOUNTAINS-LOOKING SOUTH-WEST.
This is a bolder view, though by no means the boldest in this collection, of the flat plains on
the summits of the mountains, of which the Abyssinians have made such good use by turning them
into fortresses. Many of them can only be reached by the visitor being drawn up witii a rope by those
on the top. The problem as to how, under these circumstances, the first man got there, is one I do not
attempt to solve, but such is the fact. Debra Damo, in Tigré, one of these rock fortresses, is one of
the most famous, as having been the place to which, by a strange law of the Abyssinian Empire, the
heirs to the throne were banished, and where they were kept close prisoners until released either by
death or succession. A law which resulted in the subversion for three centuries of the Abyssinian
dynasty, by enabling the revolted Jews of the province of Semien to surprise and murder the whole
royal family at one fell swoop, save only the king, then an infant, who escaped to Shoa, and whose
descendants were afterwards restored to the throne.
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17) VIEW NEAR SABRA, FOOT OF THE SEMIEN MOUNTAINS_LOOKING SOUTH WEST.
No. 8.--NEAR SABRA-FOOT OF THE SEMIEN MOUNTAINS.
The effect of such a precipitous mountain range, rising so abruptly from a narrow valley, may
be better imagined than described. . Face to face with such a scene, one feels the impossibility of
conveying, even by the most graphic sketch, to those not in some measure acquainted with Eastern
scenery, a correct idea of its features, especially the marvellous effect of the intense clearness of the
atmosphere.
Of the peculiar trees in the foreground, a better illustration will be found on the succeeding
page.
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(8) VIEW NEAR SABRA, FOOT OF THE SEMIEN MOUNTAINS.
No. 9.-VIEW NEAR RAS AMBA-RAS DEJAM IN THE DISTANCE.
THIS
picturesque scene gives a very good view of the huts which are the common dwellings
of the Abyssinians. These are the little thatched huts of the peasantry, but the circular form is the
common shape of the Abyssinian dwellings. Those of the poorer class consist of one large room, but
the houses of the richer classes are often divided by an ingenious contrivance into several apartments.
The trees overshadowing the huts are among those which grow to the largest size in the
Abyssinian highlands.
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(9) VIEW NEAR RAS AMBA, RAS DEJAM IN THE DISTANCE.
No. 10.–PART OF MOUNT BUAHIT, NEAR RAS AMBA.
A CURIOUS scene, with its extraordinary trees looking like gigantic aloes. These plants are
very local in this part of the country; they only appear in two other sketches, both taken in the
immediate neighbourhood of the present one.
The cattle in the foreground, with the peculiar humps on their backs, are a breed likewise
peculiar to some parts of the country.
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(10) PART OF MOUNT BUAHIT, NEAR RAS AMBA.
No. 11.—THE CHURCH AT AXUM, TIGRÉ-SEEN FROM THE EAST.
Axum has, in some respects, a greater claim to interest than any other part of the country;
the ancient city, of which extensive ruins remain, having been the capital of the empire in its brighter
days. The modern town is comparatively unimportant, Adowa being now the principal town in Tigré.
The church stands in a picturesque situation, surrounded by fine trees and neatly-built huts. It is said
to be of Portuguese construction and to stand upon the site of a very ancient one, which was destroyed
by the ferocious Moorish chieftain, Mohammed Granhe, during the reign of David III., in the sixteenth
century.
The ancient church is said, by Abyssinian tradition, to have contained the Ark of the Covenant
and a copy of the Law, stolen, in a most undutiful manner, from King Solomon by his renowned son
Menilek, when he left Jerusalem to return to Abyssinia.
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(11) THE CHURCH AT AXUM; TIGRÈ, SEEN FROM THE EAST.
No. 12.- PART OF RAS DEJAM.
This is one of the highest of the Semien range, and the strange fantastic position of some of its
rocky peaks will bring to the mind of any one, who has read the magnificent work on Abyssinia,
published by the French Commission, the remark of M. Lefebvre, that, in some places, the position of
the mountains would almost lead the traveller to believe them to be the interrupted work of Titans,
unlike are they to any ordinary mountain formation.
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​(12) PART OF RAS DEJAM.
No. 13.-VIEW OF RAS DEJAM—NORTH-WEST SIDE.
This scene gives a remarkably good instance of the effect of some of those violent volcanic
convulsions, of which the Abyssinian mountains show so many traces, in the almost inaccessible islands
of rock left standing, some, as in the sketch, entirely isolated, others occupying the centre of deep
ravines, from the precipitous sides of which they are only separated by narrow gorges.
The enormous thistle in the foreground is, I believe, a specimen of the Echinops Longifolius ;
but a want of botanical knowledge prevents my speaking, on this point, with positive certainty.
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( (13) VIEW OF RAS DEJAM, NORTH WEST SIDE.
No. 14.-ANOTHER VIEW OF THE SAME.
This is simply a rather bolder view of the same side of the mountain as seen in the last
sketch. The effect of so splendid a mass of rock is greatly enhanced by its rising, as it does, so
abruptly from the valley.
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(14) SECOND VIEW OF RAS DEJAM, NORTH WEST SIDE.
No. 15:—A THIRD VIEW OF RAS DEJAM-NORTH-WEST SIDE.
This is only a rather more distant view of the abrupt termination of a part of this range, more
resembling the first sketch of the mountain.
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(15) THIRD VIEW OF RAS DEJAM, NORTH WEST.SIDE.
No. 16.-VIEW NEAR THE ABARA, NEIGHBOURHOOD OF MAI TSALO.
name.
This is another charming combination of rock and river scenery. To its innumerable tribu-
taries, such as the stream in the foreground of this sketch, the Tacazzy (Terrible) doubtless owes its
Bruce calculates that it receives nearly one-third of all the water of Abyssinia, and when all
these rippling streams, many quite dry in the summer, are transformed into foaming mountain torrents,
the Tacazzy doubtless becomes very terrible in its resistless progress to the Nile.
The strange shape of the isolated peak in this scene makes it doubly a subject of regret that
Abyssinia should be so little open to geological research.
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(16) VIEW NEAR THE ABARA, NEIGHBOURHOOD OF MAI TSALO.
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No. 17.--VIEW NEAR MAI TSALO.
The flat-topped mountain in this sketch presents a bolder instance than either of the former
ones, of the natural rock fortresses of Abyssinia. Among the most famous are the Amba Gideon
and the Amba Hay in the Semien Mountains, Debra Libanos in Shoa, and Mount Geshen, on the
confines of Amhara, and Begemder.
Debra Libanos is the seat of a famous monastery. Mount Geshen was the fortress chosen
after the massacre of Debra Damo as the scene of the imprisonment of the royal family, until they
shared the same fate there at the hands of a Mohammedan chief, after which this strange custom seems
to have been discontinued.
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(17) VIEW NEAR MAI TSALO.
No. 18.—THE TWO HIGHEST POINTS OF BUAHIT.
As the Buahit range is among the highest of the Semien Mountains, this sketch must be taken
from an immense elevation ; unfortunately, it is not named. These sweeping slopes of the mountains
have been the scenes of those innumerable bloody conflicts which have rendered the province of Semien
so famous in Abyssinian history.
One cause of this has been, this province having been, in time past, the scene of a strange
anomaly: a kingdom within a kingdom. When Christianity was introduced into Abyssinia, and
became the national faith, the Falashas--i.l., Jews—revolted, and establishing themselves among
the Semien Mountains, chose a sovereign for themselves, and not only preserved their own inde-
pendence for centuries, but actually, by the massacre at Damo, subverted the Abyssinian dynasty
for about three hundred years.
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(18) THE TWO HIGHEST POINTS OF BUAHIT.
No. 19.–CONTINUATION OF BUAHIT, TO THE LEFT.
ANOTHER name linked with the Semien Mountains is that of Mohammed Granhe, the renowned
Moorish chieftain, whose ravages in Abyssinia facilitated, in no small degree, the decay of the empire.
Some of his bloodiest battles with David III. and his unfortunate son Claudius were fought in these
mountains, and it was in their immediate neighbourhood that he was killed in battle by a Portuguese
soldier.
What an object of terror this African Goliath was, may be gathered from a legend related to
M. Rochet d’Hericourt in Shoa, that it required five hundred Portuguese warriors, mounted on as
many horses, and armed with as many muskets, to accomplish his destruction.
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(19) CONTINUATION OF BUAHIT, TO THE LEFT.
No. 20.-CONTINUATION OF BUAHIT, TO THE RIGHT.
—
A SPLENDID view of the sloping plateaux which intersect, in so picturesque a manner, the
more rugged mountains of the Semien range. How many different features of interest this one range
affords will be seen in some of the subsequent sketches.
The neighbourhood of Mount Buahit is the scene of one of the bloodiest battles between the
present King of Abyssinia and Ras Oubie, the former Governor of Tigré, and now father-in-law to the
king himself.
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(20) CONTINUATION OF BUAHIT, TO THE RIGHT.
No. 21.-END OF BUAHIT, TO THE RIGHT–PART OF RAS DEJAM
IN THE DISTANCE.
.
Here again the scene begins to show some of the abrupt changes in the character of the
landscape produced by the sudden breaking across the slopes of the mountains of straight ramparts of
rock, looking in the distance almost as if they were, in some measure at least, artificial.
All this part of the country being well watered, these slopes are frequently, at a lower
elevation, thickly wooded, or productive of abundant crops.
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(21) END OF BUAHIT, TO THE RIGHT, PART OF RAS DEJAM IN THE DISTANCE.
No. 22.-END OF BUAHIT, TO THE RIGHT—NORTH SIDE, FROM
THE VILLAGE OF SAUANA.
This sketch brings forward again the bolder side of the mountain, the north side, facing Sauana.
The scene itself almost loses interest in that of the name of the place from whence the view is taken.
Sauana is situated at the highest part of the Semien range, close to Beroch Waha, Abba Yared,
and the Silki range, and not very far from the famous Amba Hay, which was seized by the troops
of King Theodoros immediately after his last decisive battle with Ras Oubie, and where they found,
in addition to all the Ras's treasure, some cannon and a large quantity of muskets.
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(22) END OF BUAHIT, TO THE RIGHT, NORTH SIDE FROM THE VILLAGE OF SAUANA.
No. 23.-—-CONTINUATION OF BUAHIT, TO THE RIGHT—NEAR THE
VILLAGE OF SAUANA.
ANOTHER view of the north side of the Buahit range. It is unfortunate that this and the
three following sketches cannot be seen in one continuous line, so as to give a view at once of the
whole length of this magnificent wall of rock.
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(23) CONTINUATION OF BUAHIT, TO THE RIGHT, NEAR THE VILLAGE OF SAUANA.
No. 24.—CONTINUATION OF BUAHIT, TO THE RIGHT—NORTH SIDE.
The features of the mountain grow bolder in each sketch. In possession of such a country it
need be little matter of surprise that the Jews should have been able to maintain their independence
for so many centuries.
The foreground shows one small pool of one of the mountain streams.
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(24) CONTINUATION OF BUAHIT, TO THE RIGHT, NORTH SIDE.
No. 25.-CONTINUATION OF THE SAME.
The rampart seems more even and regular here than in the last sketch, and it is easy to
see how exactly, in such a range, the abrupt termination of the line would give the appearance of a
“gigantic ruined wall.”
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(25) CONTINUATION OF BUAHIT, TO THE RIGHT, NORTH SIDE.
No. 26.–CONTINUATION OF THE SAME.
This scene brings forward another view of one of the highest points of the Buahit range,
which, at its highest elevation, reaches a level of nearly 15,000 feet.
The picturesque break in the regular line of the mountain wall prepares the eye for the
extraordinary termination of this strangely varied mountain chain.
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(26) CONTINUATION OF BUAHIT, TO THE RIGHT, NORTH SIDE.
No. 27.-CONTINUATION AND END OF BUAHIT, TO THE RIGHT-
COLLA WOGERA IN THE DISTANCE.
These fantastic peaks must have formed part, at least, of the scene described by M. Lefebyre
as presenting its strange weird beauty before the eyes of a traveller standing on the heights of
Lamalmon—another of the chiefs of the Semien Mountains—and looking over the northern slopes of
the plateaux, and which he describes as presenting the appearance, when the fading daylight throws
a certain shade of indistinctness over the landscape, of a tempest-tossed sea.
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(27) CONTINUATION AND END OF BUAHIT, TO THE RIGHT, COLLA WOGERA IN THE DISTANCE.
No. 28.—A BRANCH OF SILKI-SOUTH-WEST SIDE.
SEEN FROM
NEAR ABENA.
THE scene of this sketch is considerably to the north-east of Buahit. The Silki range runs
north-east from Sauana to the Tacazzy. Abena is even, nearer than Sauana to the Amba Hay, but
lying to the north instead of the west. These curious basaltic columns standing close side by side are
another of the strange features of Abyssinian scenery.
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(28) A BRANCH OF SILKI, SOUTH WEST SIDE, SEEN FROM NEAR ABENA.
No. 29.-WEST SIDE OF CHINFARA, A SINGLE BRANCH OF
BEROCH WAHA.
THIS scene is rather further north than the last Mount Chinfara is one of the most extra-
ordinary, in shape at least, of the Semien Mountains. It consists of three peaks—the two seen in the
sketch, and a third, unfortunately not visible from the artist's point of view. Its height is not
mentioned, but the War Office map gives it as 10,840 feet.
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(29) WEST SIDE OF CHINFARA, A SINGLE BRANCH OF BEROCH WAHA.
No. 30.-HIGHEST POINT OF ABARA–SOUTH-WEST SIDE.
ABARA, or Abar, is still a little further north, and reaches an elevation of 11,500 feet. This is
the finest view in the whole collection of the inaccessible mountain summits of Abyssinia, and it is only
to be regretted that among them there is not a view of the famous Amba Gideon, or Jews' Rock, the
most celebrated of the Semien Mountains, lying much further south, about eight miles from the
Tacazzy. This Amba was the metropolis of the revolted Jews, and the residence of their sovereigns :
impregnable by assault, and impossible to reduce by siege, as its summit was an extensive plain,
affording abundant crops and pasture for animals, and was well supplied with water.
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(30) HIGHEST POINT OF ABARA, SOUTH WEST SIDE .
No. 31.–CONTINUATION OF ABARA, TO THE RIGHT.
Just such a spot, as this lofty summit of Abara, must have been the scene of a story told to
Mr. Mansfield Parkyns, and which may point a moral for all lovers of good cheer. It was held in
charge for a certain chief by some monks who, having accumulated treasure, were disinclined to
reinstate the rightful owner. Force was useless; the monks had only to draw up their rope and
laugh at those below. But the pious monks loved good cheer, so the chief persuaded them to let him
come up, with only one attendant, to visit them. Then it seemed that his people below had a fine fat
cow desirable for a banquet, and various other good things such as the holy fathers loved. So
up came one or two more attendants with the cow, and yet more with other good things, and while
the chief and the monks employed themselves in feasting, his attendants employed themselves in
drawing up their comrades. At last, when the feast was over, the worthy monks found they had paid
as dear for their short-lived pleasures as Esau, and had only the alternative offered them by their
guests of retiring unresistingly by the rope, or resistingly over the precipice without it.
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(31) CONTINUATION OF ABARA., TO THE RIGHT.
No. 32.—END OF ABARA TO THE RIGHT-WEST SIDE.
Last, but not least, among the claims of the Semien Mountains to peculiar interest may stand
the fact of their having been the scene of the coronation of the present king, after his last decisive
battle with Ras Oubie, when he assumed the name of Theodoros-a cherished name in the Abyssinian
annals, as that of an emperor whose short reign of three years, in the fifteenth century, is regarded as
the golden era of the Abyssinian Empire. There is said to have been a legend that he was to
return again to reign over the country, and restore Abyssinia to splendour and prosperity, so that
probably the assumption of this name by Theodoros II. was no mere accident.
This sketch completes the landscape subjects of the collection, the scenes of which may be
easily traced on the newest maps, although, the country being as yet, of course, imperfectly surveyed,
considerable discrepancies will be found in the different maps.
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(32) END OF ABARA,TO THE RIGHT, WEST SIDE.
No. 33.-ABYSSINIANS AT DEVRESKI-SEMIEN.
This sketch tells its own tale-evidently a lesson in the simple method of spinning common in
the East. The position of the figures, too, is thoroughly Eastern. How any human beings can remain,
as the Easterns will for hours, crouched on the ground in such a constrained position, without seeming
to suffer the least inconvenience, must ever be a profound mystery to Western limbs.
The arrangement of the hair is a common one in Abyssinia. The natives are remarkable for
the enormous quantity of hair they possess, and which, though jet black, is often straight and glossy.
It is plaited in these innumerable plaits, generally running from front to back, and freely anointed
with butter. As this operation is tedious, it is not apt to be repeated too often; and the state of a very
thick head of hair, after it has been undisturbed in plaits for, it may be, weeks, and freely supplied with
butter, may be better imagined than described. The butter has, however, in some respects, a beneficial
effect.
The curious implement in the corner is one of the primitive mortars in which wheat or other
grain is pounded, preparatory to being made into bread.
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(33) ABYSSINIANS. DEVRESKI. SEMIEN.
No. 34.–GALLA AND ABYSSINIANS.
The figure standing in the fureground is a Galla, in the long loose dress common among the
Abyssinian peasantry, reaching to the feet, and drawn in tight at the wrists. The figure kneeling
on one knee is an Abyssinian. The female figure in the distance is also an Abyssinian, occupied in
crushing corn, and, as is often the case among the peasantry in Abyssinia, somewhat scantily provided
with clothing.
श
يتو
ه .
ی ها
لیسم منت
انتياوطن
.
..
789,
(34) GALLA AND ABYSSINIANS.
No. 35.--A GALLA FROM LIMA.
These Gallas are one of the Abyssinian problems. They burst into the country in the
sixteenth century. Where they came from is uncertain, but they made good their position, and con-
tributed in no small degree to the ruin of the Abyssinian Empire, especially after the queen mother,
about the middle of the 18th century, for purposes of her own, brought about a marriage between the
king, her son, and a Galla, and thereby introduced Galla intrigues into the political complications of the
kingdom. The name “Galla” is said to signify, in their tongue, “invader, but the Mohammedans
have a curious legend that it was given them by Mohammed, when a messenger sent by him to their
chief to require them to profess the Mohammedan faith, returned, saying, “He says, no” (ga la).
“Then,” answered the prophet, “ let that name be henceforth the name of the whole race who have
refused to believe the revelations of the Angel Gabriel.”
There can be no greater mistake than to confound, as has been done, the Gallas with the
Moors. They are a completely different race.
ma
::
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W.
HISTA
si
A
~
sup
W
e.
Z. 1813.
(35) A GALLA FROM LIMA,
No. 36.—A YOUNG ABYSSINIAN–PROVINCE OF TIGRÉ.
This is an Abyssinian, not a Galla; but beyond the fact that his position is suggestive of an
attack of toothache, there is not much to be said about him personally. His position, however, gives an
admirable view of the “Shama,” the picturesque outer-dress universal in Abyssinia; the under-dress
consisting usually of a pair of cotton trousers, with a broad belt, many yards long, round the waist.
The Shama varies in texture according to the rank of the wearer.
The Abyssinians are about the middle height; in general splendidly proportioned, and often
extremely handsome, with nothing of the degraded physical type of the negro about them. They are
chiefly distinguished from other dark races by the widely varying tint of complexion observable
among them, even in members of the same family; one being almost black, while another will
be hardly darker than an Egyptian. This is probably the result of a great mixture of races, the
lighter shade being doubtless much increased by intermarriages between the Portuguese and the
Abyssinians in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
log
09
La
87
(36) A YOUNG ABYSSINIAN, PROVINGE OF TIGRE
No. 37.-A GALLA—PROVINCE OF SEMIEN.
This, again, is a Galla with the Shama, which is worn by women in a slightly different manner
from that in which it is arranged by men, thrown over the loose dress seen in the former sketches.
She is crouched, in the usual Eastern fashion, on the ground, and occupied with preparations for
making bread.
The rustic baskets on the ground are the sort generally used by the Abyssinians for containing
bread.
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(37) A GALLA, PROVINCE
OF SEMIEN.
No. 38.---ABYSSINIANS-PROVINCE OF SEMIEN.
The position of the principal figure in this sketch affords a good view of the shaven crown,
with its surrounding fringe of hair, now very common among the Abyssinians. Plaited hair, however,
is often worn by men as well as women, especially by those of the higher rank. It is with hair plaited
from front to back that the king is described by Mr. Dufton.
Formerly, young soldiers were not allowed to plait their hair until they had killed a man, when
the head was shaved, leaving only one tress, to which another was added for every fresh victim, until
the number reached five, after which they were allowed to tress the whole; but this custom has fallen
into disuse.
The principal figure here is occupied, like the more distant one in No. 34, in crushing corn.
:
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(38) ABYSSINTANS, PROVINCE OF SEMIEN.
No. 39.-A GALLA FROM LIMA.
On
This sketch, the last of the figure subjects, is certainly the most interesting of them all.
the portrait of this bright-eyed, intelligent-looking Galla, with her flowing drapery folded so closely
round her, more care has evidently been bestowed than on any other sketch-a fact accounted for by a
note at the foot of the sketch, in the artist's own hand, “ A Galla from Lima—now my wife.”
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##
(39) A GALIA FROM LIMA.
No. 40.--ANIMAL SEEN AT DEVRESKI, TANNEMORA-
NAME UNKNOWN.
To this sketch I simply append a translation of what the artist has himself written on the page
below it:
“On the 2nd of March, 1854, there appeared, at five in the morning, at Devreski, in the
district of Tannemora, situated in the highlands of Semien, Abyssinia, two of these night animals.
The inhabitants of Devreski attacked them with sticks, stones, and lances; yet, in spite of many
wounds inflicted upon the animals, they were unable to kill them. Through the noise of the chase my
attention was aroused, and I hastened from the house just in time, as the inhabitants had kindled
a large fire in order to throw the animals into it and thus destroy them. One of them they had
already cast into the flames, but, fortunately, the flames have only singed its hair; of this one, a female,
I have preserved the skeleton; of the other, a male, I have preserved the skin. The skulls of the
animals were broken, yet this wound did not extinguish life. I strangled the male."
SON
11113
1/1134
JUHUSU
A
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kunne
I!
(40) ANIMAL SEEN AT DEVRESKI, TAI NEMORA, NAME UNKNOWN.
THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
GRADUATE LIBRARY
DATE DUE
DEC 5 101
!
1
1
NOV 171974
INTERLIBRARY/ LOAN
í
DO NOT REMOVE
OR
MUTILATE CARD
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
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