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YALE
UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

THE

HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA
DESCRIBED,
DURING EIGHTEEN MONTHS' RESIDENCE
^ 2Mttsl) CBmbassg
AT
THE CHRISTIAN COURT OF SHOA.

Si forte Deus annueret votis nostris, ut arnica Christians hujus nationis
commercia cum nostratibus instituerentur. Ludolfi, Comment, ad Hist. JEthiop.

London :
Printed by A. Spottis woode,
New- Street- Square.

}\h.M

QJ
THE

HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA.

MAJOR ¥. CORNWALLIS HARRIS,
*¦*
OF THE HON. E. I. COMPANY'S ENGINEERS ;
AUTHOR OP "WILD SPORTS IN SOUTHERN AFRICA," "PORTRAITS OF
AFRICAN GAME ANIMALS," ETC.

IN THREE VOLUMES.
VOL. II.

LONDON:
LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS,
PATERNOSTER-ROW. 1844.

CONTENTS

THE SECOND VOLUME.

CHAPTER I.
Page
The Capital of the Kingdom of Shoa - - 1
CHAP. II.
Residence in Ankober - - 13
CHAP. HI.
Interviews with the King - 24
CHAP. IV.
Special Summons to Machal-wans •• 31
CHAP. V.
Termination of winter - - - 37
CHAP. VI.
Debra Berhan, " the Hill of Glory " - 43
CHAP. VII.
The Royal Slave Depot - -51

Vill CONTENTS.
CHAP. VIII. Page
New Year's Day 61
CHAP. IX.
The Falls of the Bereza - 68
CHAP. X.
The Annual Review 74
CHAP. XI.
The Galla Capital 88
CHAP. XII.
Chasm of the Chacha - 98
CHAP. XHI.
Medoko the Rebel - 105
CHAP. XIV.
Escape from Goncho 113
CHAP. XV.
Insurrection of the Galla 119
CHAP. XVI.
Massacre of the Christians at Cherkos - 126
CHAP. XVII.
Battle of Angollala 132
CHAP. XVIII.
Tragic End of Medoko joo

CONTENTS. IX
CHAP. XIX. Page
The Galla Borders. — Proclamation of War - - 147
CHAP. XX.
A Lecture on Physic - - - - - 156
CHAP. XXL
The Campaign - - - - 163
CHAP. XXH.
The Enemy's Country - - - 175
CHAP. XXHL
The Foray .... 185
CHAP. XXIV.
The Royal Achievement - 199
CHAP. XXV.
Liberation of the Prisoners of war - 212
CHAP. XXVI.
The Triumph - 218
CHAP. XXVII.
Nuptials in High life - - 224
CHAP. XXVIII.
Chronicle of the invasion of Mohammad Graan 231

CHAP. XXIX.
Proceedings at Angollala
VOL. II. a

- 241

X CONTENTS.
CHAP. XXX.
Page
Triumphal Entry to the Capital - 252
CHAP. XXXI.
The Palace at Ankober - - 261
CHAP. XXXII.
The Forest of Mamrat - - 269
CHAP. XXXLH.
The Necromancer, a Legend of Shoa ... 275
CHAP, xxxrv.
Thavanan the Tormentor - - 284
CHAP. XXXV.
The Reign of Superstition ... 295
CHAP. XXXVI.
Excursion along the North-western Frontier of Efat - 303
CHAP. XXXVH.
The Shrew of Mahhfood - 317
CHAP. XXXVHI.
Hospitality at Kokfari - . 327
CHAP. XXXIX.
The Wilderness of Giddem - - 334 i i
CHAP. XL.
Downfall of the Elephant _ oaq y y

CONTENTS. XI
CHAP. XLI. Page
The Northern Galla, from Argobba to the Tulema 347
CHAP. XLII.
Thermal Wells at Feelamba - 359
CHAP. XLni.
Return to Ankober - 366
CHAP. XLIV.
Honorary Distinctions - 375
CHAP. XLV.
Conclusion of a Treaty of Commerce 383

APPENDIX.
No. 1. — Abstract of a Thermometrical Register kept at
Ankober, the Capital of Shoa, during the Years 1841,
1842 ... 397
No. 2. — Remarks on the Geology, Botany, and Zoology
of the Highlands of Southern Abyssinia 398
No. 3. — On the Cotton and Coffee Tree of Southern
Abyssinia - 427

THE

HIGHLANDS OF ^ETHIOPIA,
ETC.

CHAPTER I.
THE CAPITAL OP THE KINGDOM OF SHOA.
His Christian Majesty passed the greater portion of
the wet night succeeding the presentation of the
British Embassy, in revels amid the foreign riches
so unexpectedly heaped upon him. Every novel
article was minutely examined with all the curiosity
ofthe savage; and the royal scribes, having been
duly assembled, elaborate inventories were penned
upon scrolls of parchment, to be deposited for the
edification of posterity in the archives of the king
dom. The fire-arms and the warlike munitions
were transferred forthwith to the grand arsenal ;
the rich manufactures of the loom were added to
the shelves of the palace wardrobes ; and the curi
osities, including the Chinese dancing girls, were
carefully immured in the mouldy magazines of
Mamrat, Kondie, and Aramba, with labels and
tickets setting forth their respective properties, and
VOL. II. B

2 THE CAKES OF THE CROWN.
proclaiming to future occupants of the throne of
Shoa that these wonders were added to the state
treasures by the red men called Gyptzis, who came
" from beyond" during the auspicious reign of
Sahela Selassie.
Ere day had dawned, the favourite page was
deputed to inquire how the interval of rest had
been passed by the king's guests, and whether all
had slumbered happily. Etiquette demanded that
the reply should be in the affirmative, but if an esti
mate were formed from the drenched and miserable
aspect of the tent, the report made to the palace
must have been far from favourable. In the ab
sence of the cap, which had been lost upon the
road, the fly of the marquee was hastily lashed with
cords to the pole, and becoming saturated during
the pelting storm which ushered in the dark hours,
it had presently slidden down, and formed a funnel,
which completely put an end to sleep.
Hajji Kasim and Izhak, who, with some of their
bigoted Moslem retainers, had repaired to court to
witness the reception of " the Christian dogs," had
presented themselves at nightfall, wet, shivering,
and famished, to implore an asylum, which, together
with food, had been denied by the officers of the
royal household. Upon the principle of good for
evil, the hunger of the applicants was at once
appeased ; but the untoward fall of the canvas
fabric had rendered nugatory the hospitality
extended in the form of bedclothes, to which

FEAST. 3
each of the party had contributed his mite.
Drenched to the skin, the true believers, spite of
their covering of lard, were fairly swamped where
they lay, and the Ras el Kafilah's pet Koran having
been trampled under foot in the confusion attendant
upon re-pitching, he angrily left the tent in the
morning by one door, at the moment that the
spoiled page entered by the other, grumbling as he
went, " Allah ! how could the sacred volume ex
perience any better fate at the hand of infidels ?"
Six hundred peasants, who had been pressed on
the service of the state from the Mohammadan
viUages of Arg6bba, after transporting the king's
baggage from Alio Amba to Machal-wans, had
bivouacked without food or shelter upon the bare
saturated ground, and were strewed over the green
sward like the slain on a battle-field. As the day
dawned, their loud cries of " Abiet, abiet," " Master,
master," arose to the palace gates from every quar
ter of the valley ; but they lifted up their sad voices
in vain, and reiterated entreaties for dismissal pass
ing unheeded, a number of oxen, sufficient to allay
the cravings of hunger, were with great difficulty
purchased by the Embassy, delivered over for
slaughter, and slain and eaten raw upon the spot.
The sceptic in Europe who still withholds his
credence from Bruce's account of an Abyssinian
brind feast, would have been edified by the sight
now presented on the royal meadow. Crowds
swarmed around each sturdy victim to the knife,
b 2

4 THE PURVEYOR-GENERAL.
and impetuously rushing in with a simultaneous
yell, seized horns, and legs, and tail. A violent
struggle to escape followed the assault. Each
vigorous bound shook off and scattered a portion of
the assailants, but the stronger and more athletic
retained still their grasp, and resolutely grappling
and wrestling with the prize, finally prevailed.
With a loud groan of despair the bull was thrown
kicking to the earth. Twenty crooked knives flashed
at once from the scabbard — a tide of crimson gore
proclaimed the work of death, and the hungry
butchers remained seated on the quivering carcass,
until the last bubbling jet had welled from the
widely- severed and yawning throat.
Rapidly from that moment advanced the work of
demolition. The hide was opened in fifty places,
and collop after collop of warm flesh and muscle —
sliced and scooped from the bone — was borne off
in triumph. Groups of feasting savages might now
be seen seated on the wet grass in every direction,
greedily munching and bolting the raw repast, and
pounds were with all held of light account. Entrails
and offal did not escape. In a quarter of an hour
nought remained of the carcass save hoofs and
horns, and the disappointed vultures of the air
assembling round the scene of slaughter with the
village curs, found little indeed to satisfy their
hunger. During this general carousal of the grateful
host, the smooth-spoken purveyor-general, who

THE ROAD TO THE METROPOLIS. 5
was completely at a loss to comprehend the meaning
of the liberality extended, advanced with a sleek
and pampered band of parasites. The assistance of
the unfeeling functionary had been craved in vain,
and he now, after casting a contemptuous glance
towards the sated serfs, in honied words inquired
with obvious surprise, " whether the party had not
rested well that they thus troubled their heads
unnecessarily about the worthless bondsmen of
the Negoos?"
Preparatory to setting out for Ank6ber the
Embassy had an audience of the king. " My chil
dren," quoth His Majesty, " all my gun-people shall
accompany you ; may you enter in safety ! What
soever your hearts think and wish, that send word
unto me. Saving myself ye have no relative in
this distant land. Ye have travelled far on my
affairs. I will give you what I can according to
that which my country produces. I cannot give
you what I do not possess. Be not afraid of me.
Listen not to the evil insinuations of my people,
for they are bad. Look only unto Sahela Selassie.
May his father die, he will accomplish whatsoever
ye desire!"
The sun shone bright amid the fleecy white
clouds of an azure sky, as the party left the wet
encampment in the valley, and under an escort
of fusileers took the way to the capital without
that regret which is usually felt on quitting the
precincts of royalty. A green swampy meadow led
b 3

6 CONTRAST TO THE DESERT.
to the foot of the mountains, over which numberless
cascades foamed furiously to the plain. Supported
from the base to the utmost summit by artificial
terraces, and clothed with the most luxuriant cul
tivation, there were parts over which it seemed
hardly possible that the plough should have passed
at so great an angle. But wheat and barley delight
in a dry stony soil, and with a fair proportion of
the " former and the latter rain," will here yield
abundant return to those who by their industry
strive to emulate the prosperity of more happily
located neighbours.
From Machal-wans to Ank6ber the distance does
not exceed six miles ; but the ascent is great and
immediate, and the reduction in temperature per
ceptible at every step. Springs gushed out clear
and sparkling on either side of the rugged path.
Many beautiful plants, the pride of the greenhouse
of exotics, luxuriated in the moist atmosphere. At
intervals farm- steadings varied the scene ; and
although the rich sheets of cultivation in the more
immediate vicinity of the capital had somewhat
abstracted from the bloom of native verdure, still
the prospect was delightful, and the change more
than ever striking from the hot deserts of the
Ada'iel, which now at a yet greater depression,
stretched away in fading tints to the extreme
point of vision.
The latter portion of the road lay through a
forest of venerable trees. Cedar-like junipers,

MONASTERY OE AEERBEINE. 7
scarred by the unsparing hand of time, and many
dried up by the wrath of centuries, rearing towards
the cold sky their tall withered barkless trunks
and skeleton arms, rocked to every breeze. Younger
scions of the stock, clothed in a sombre cypress
garb, flourished in vigour among the drooping and
silvery woira, of which the pensive branches were
hoary with ancient moss hanging in fanciful
festoons ; and saving when the zephyr sighed
through the foliage, or a bird whistled from the
topmost branch, silence reigned throughout the
sylvan scene.
Whether in Europe or in half-civilised Abyssinia,
monastic establishments are invariably seated in
spots the most romantic. Deep in the recesses of
Aferbeine stands the church and monastery dedi
cated to Tekla Haimanot, an ecclesiastic of extraor
dinary abilities who flourished during the thirteenth
century, and rescuing the greater portion of the
empire from the yoke of usurpation, restored it to
the hands of Yekweno Amlak, the lineal descendant
of the ancient iEthiopic dynasty. Subsequently
canonised for his successful exertions in the cause
both of Church and State, the monk, whose history
is obscured with numberless superstitious traditions,
is to the present day held in the highest odour and
veneration. Thrice during the year is a festival
held in celebration of his birth, death, and ascen
sion, and by the entire Christian population he is
regarded as the patron saint of Abyssinia.
b 4

8 PALACE OE THE NEGOOS.
Instantly on emerging from the forest, the
metropolis of Shoa, spreading far and wide over a
verdant mountain, shaped like Afric's appropriate
emblem, the fabled sphynx, presented a most singu
lar if not imposing appearance. Clusters of thatched
houses of all sizes and shapes, resembling barns and
haystacks, with small green enclosures and splinter
palings, rising one above the other in very irregular
tiers, adapt themselves to all the inequalities of the
rugged surface; some being perched high on the
abrupt verge of a cliff, and others so involved in the
bosom of a deep fissure as scarcely to reveal the
red earthen pot on the apex. Connected with each
other by narrow lanes and hedge-rows, these rude
habitations, the residence of from twelve to fifteen
thousand inhabitants, cover the entire mountain
side to the extreme pinnacle — a lofty spire-like cone,
detaching itself by a narrow isthmus to form the
sphynx's head. Hereon stands the palace of the
Negoos, a most ungainly-looking edifice with staring
gable ends and numerous rows of clay chimney
pots, well fortified by spiral lines of wooden pali
sades, extending from the base to the summit, and
interspersed Avith barred stockades, between which
are profusely scattered the abodes of household
slaves, with breAveries, kitchens, cellars, storehouses,
magazines, and granaries.
Over those portions unengrossed by cultivation or
by architecture, shrubs and bushes and great beds
of nettles assumed the most luxuriant and lively

CHURCH IN THE WILDERNESS. 9
appearance. Huge fallen masses of rock strewed
the lower valleys, and others, frowning at an acute
angle upon the impending steeps, seemed ready to
be launched at a moment's notice upon the cluster
ing habitations below; whilst in the distance, the
bronze cross of the church of " our Lady," peep
ing above the dark foliage of the yew-like juniper,
touched the string of strange sensations, surrounded
as the spectators were by wild objects and by a
wilder escort, above whose streaming locks floated
bloody emblems that breathed aught save confor
mity to the mild tenets of the Christian religion.
Anko, who was queen over the Galla tribe, by
Avhich this mountain was peopled from the invasion
of Graan until its reconquest by the crown of Shoa,
has bequeathed her name to the narrow winding
path which forms the " ber " or gate to the suburbs.*
Skirting the brink of a yawning abyss, and scarcely
wide enough for the foot of a mule, it is not tra
versed without a feeling of insecurity, and the
labour of a few hours would suffice to render all
approach to the capital impracticable, unless to the
mountain goat. Loud cheers from the whole as
sembled population, female as well as male, greeted
the arrival of the king's guests, the thunder of
whose guns in the adjacent valley had given birth
to a feeling of respect in the breast of all ; nor was
it without considerable difficulty that way was
made through the dense crowd that whitened the
* Ankober is thus literally " the gate of Anko."

10 ABYSSINIAN ARCHITECTURE.
entire hill-side, and lined every valley. A newly
erected building fronting the palace had been
set apart by His Majesty for the occupation of his
visiters, and it was now completely thronged by
porters, and beleaguered by clamorous spectators.
Wistful looks were exchanged as the party
entered this barn-like and dreary abode, which for
months, if not for years, was to form their asylum.
A decent new thatch, and a neat basket-work
ceiling, did indeed form a roof to the structure, but
further, the crude and unfinished shell whereon
they rested, could hardly claim the denomination of
" a house." It rather resembled a den in Exeter
'Change, or an aviary upon a magnified scale ; and
the open hide-lashed ribs, being innocent through
out of dab or plaster to choke the interstices, wind,
rain, and mountain fog considered themselves to be
equally His Majesty's guests, entitled to the occu
pation of the uninviting interior. Oblong in form,
Avindowless, chimneyless, and provided at either
end with a lofty but narrow door, rudely fashioned
of massive planks and beams, each of which, in the
absence of a saAV, had involved the demolition of
an entire tree, the edifice yet afforded an unusually
favourable specimen of Shoan architecture ; and to
account for its desolate and unfinished condition, it
may be proper to add, that the proprietor, who had
been honoured with the fair hand of a princess of
the blood royal, having a few Aveeks previously
been so unfortunate as to incur the displeasure of

THE UNION JACK. 1 1
his despotic father-in-law, now occupied apartments
in the state prison, whilst the management of his
estate was, ad interim, considerately undertaken by
the crown, without even the preliminary of a
fieri facias.
Inner walls divided the centre room from two
narrow verandahs, intended for the reception of
mules, horses, and household lumber. The floor
was precisely as nature made it, depressed rather
than raised, and Httle improved by the many
recent inundations to which it had been subjected.
Torrents of muddy water rushed impetuously
round the trench which environed the entire struc
ture, and occasionally bursting the banks of the
dyke, oozed copiously between the palisades, to
cover the soil with artificial lakes ; whilst the small
open area beyond, into which it disembogued —
hemmed in on all sides by rank vegetation, stinging
nettles, and half-ruined but noisily inhabited hovels
— was, without any exaggeration, eighteen inches
deep in honest mire.
The pilgrimage thus finally terminated, the pro
spect, both within and without, Avas still altogether
far from encouraging ; but the mercury in Fahren
heit's thermometer standing at 58°, it became ne
cessary to adopt immediate measures towards the
exclusion of the cold driving mist and the whistling
wind, which the absence of a fire rendered far from
agreeable. The union flag of old England, stretched
across the hall, lent the aid of its ample folds to

12 UNIQUE QUARTERS.
enliven the interior. Tent walls and tarpaulins
composed tolerably comfortable, though straitened,
cabins in the verandah closets. Gun-cases, placed
on end, and connected by the lid of a chest, formed
a highly enviable table, and with a puncheon as a
washing-stand, and two swinging shelves overhead,
completed the furniture of each apartment. Boxes
and bales, as they continued to arrive, were piled
around the inner walls, and soon towering to the
ceiling, the appearance of a booth at a country fair,
on a rainy day, ere the wares have been exposed for
sale, was gradually imparted to this highly unique
residency in the capital of Shoa.

13

CHAP. II.
RESIDENCE IN ANK6BEK.
But darkness now reigned within the cheerless
abode, no less during the stormy nights than
throughout the livelong day. Candles that will
burn for more than ten minutes together, or afford
light sufficient either to read or write, are luxuries
which have no existence in so primitive and be
nighted a land ; and strips of old cotton rag dipped
in unpurified bees' wax, forming, hke most other
good things in the empire, a royal monopoly, are
doled out by the purveyor-general to the favoured
few, with but a sparing and niggard hand ; whilst
the absence of glass or other transparent substance,
and the continued presence of rain, sleet, clouds,
and fog thicker than the steam of a wash-house, ren
dered it for some time difficult to admit the scanty
light of heaven during its fitful visits through the
overcast atmosphere.
Wood, too, belongs exclusiA^ely to the despot, and
is far from being abundant in the timberless realm ;
but packing-cases as they became empty, were fur
nished with a sheet of oiled parchment, and these
admirable substitutes for glazed sashes, were, in

14 THE RAINY SEASON.
defiance of exhortations not to deface the king's
walls, inserted therein from time to time. A
chafing desk, raised upon a high mud pedestal, at
length cheered the long dreary evenings, but the
wet sodden fuel yielded a very feeble blaze, and its
dense smoke, choking the chimneyless room, co
vered walls and roof with soot ; — and lastly, tallow
dips manufactured of the fat tail of the iEthiopian
sheep, afforded sufficient light by which to retire to
bed, where fleas, revived by the unAvonted warmth
of English blankets, denied all rest.
The low moaning of the storm behind Mamrat,
and the distant growl of the thunder, ushered in
the darker hours. There was a sound as of the
surf breaking over a rocky shore, and at the next
instant the hurricane was at its height, careering
madly over Ankober. The rush of the fierce wind,
and the dazzling flight of the levin bolt, madly
strove for mastery in the race. Crashing reverber
ations of thunder rattled among the serrated cliffs
like a feu de joie of great guns : the prolonged
roll of one deafening clap confounded with the
burst of its successor, whilst the very gates of
heaven seemed to open to tlie flooding of the earth
with a deluge of water, Avhich poured in sheets over
the heights. Every lane and footpath throughout
the town became a sluice ankle deep in running
water, and ever and anon, so long- as the night
lasted, might be heard the distant boom, like the
signal-gun of a vessel in distress.

BANKS OE EOG. 15
Dawn next revealed a strange phenomenon. The
saturated earth, heated by the rays of the rising
sun, gave birth to an impenetrable vapour, which
like a vast sheet of snow, lay extended in a solid
mass full fifty miles across. The spectator rode
upon a sea of billowy clouds which rolled beneath
his foot, lashing with their spray the dark islands
formed by the peaks of the higher mountains ; and
beyond, in the hot Adel plain might be seen the
Hawash, like a thread of burnished silver, winding
and gleaming through the distance until melted
into the limits of the sensible horizon. As the great
bank of fog ascended, all around became wet and
clammy to the touch ; and the mist, although slug
gish and slow to move, was of a nature so keenly
searching, that in defiance of all muffling, it seemed
to penetrate to the very bones of each shrinking
mortal. Together with those privations which are com
mon to a residence among all savage nations, there
are many which Abyssinia claims exclusively as
her own ; nor, if viewed only as a place of abode,
does the country possess aught save the salu
brity of the climate to counterbalance its mani
fold discomforts and disadvantages. Although in
the midst of abundance, the utmost difficulty Avas
experienced in obtaining the most common neces
saries of existence — bread, meat, andAvater; and
notwithstanding that a sufficiency of wheat to sus
tain life for an entire year may be purchased for

16 DESPOTIC MONOPOLIES.
one German crown, yet where the stranger is con
cerned, the grain without the assistance of the
monarch, can scarcely be converted into the staff of
life — the process entailing all the petty worry and
annoyance which in other lands are solely under
taken and performed by menials.
In a kingdom where the inhabitants are solely
dependent upon the exertions of slaves, the diffi
culties are increased ten-fold to those who are
obliged to employ hired domestics. The markets
are at a great distance from the capital, and held at
lengthy intervals between ; nor are they at any
time so well supplied as to admit of the requisite
weekly stock being purchased at any individual
place. Hence much trouble and inconvenience arose
from the necessity of despatching messengers simul
taneously to the various remote bazaars ; and very
great difficulty was experienced in preserving even
the small number of live stock required for con
sumption in a country where all the surrounding
meadows pertain alike to the crown, and where
hired labour is so difficult to be procured.
Whilst porters are not to be obtained unless
through a direct mandate from the king, the un-
Avillingness of mule owners to hire their cattle at
the existing low rate, the displeasure and heart
burning of the authorities if a larger bribe were
offered, the badness of the roads, and the steepness
of the hills, all combine to render it a perplexing
matter to dispense with this species of service.

TRIALS OF TEMPEE. 17
On the other hand the greatest difficulty is ex
perienced in providing the means of maintenance
for a permanent establishment of baggage horses
with their attendants, owing to the existing neces
sity of distributing them in small lots among the
limited private grazing grounds in the vicinity,
whence, when wanted, they are not to be obtained
without infinite difficulty.
Every arrangement, however minute in detail,
or trivial in importance, here demands a sacrifice
of time and temper in a tedious and lengthy con
ference, which, in accordance with the custom of the
country, must be carried on by the principal persons
engaged in the transaction. Nothing Avhatever is to
be purchased, nor can any thing, however trifling,
be accorded without the royal mandate, and when
that is at last obtained, the applicant would appear
to be further than ever removed from the realiza"
tion of his object. " It is done," is the mode of
signifying that a request is granted, and the despot
believes that to will is to accomplish ; but whilst
his commands are usually obeyed more to the
letter than in the spirit in which they have been
given, his pubhc officers embrace every opportu
nity of consulting the interests of the privy purse,
to the stranger's disadvantage.
In utter abhorrence of the country and its in
habitants, the Moslem servants who accompanied
the Embassy from India, all took their departure,
willing rather to brave the dangers and difficulties
VOL. n. c

18 ABYSSINIAN DOMESTICS.
of a long journey through the inho'spitable deserts
of the Adaiel, than to prolong a hateful sojourn in
Abyssinia. One half of the number were murdered
on the way down, and the places of all long remained
empty. In any part of the world it would be diffi
cult to find domestics inferior to their Christian
successors, all equally mangy from their diet, and
glorying alike in vermin. The consumption of
brundo, or raAv beef, and the sleeping off a
surfeit which, in its progress towards stupor ex
hilarated them to positive intoxication, formed the
sum total of their services ; yet every idle noisy
vagabond who was in the receipt of four pieces of
salt per mensem, with the promise of a new cloth
annually, value three shillings and nine-pence ster
ling, held himself entitled to a permanent place
before the drawing-room fire.
All stipulated for one day out of the thirty on
which to drink cosso, and during the other twenty-
nine, few ever stirred without grumbling. Honesty
is not prominent among the Abyssinian virtues, and
the lack of it sometimes redounded to the discredit
of the master. A youth who was entrusted with a
star-dollar to purchase sheep in the adjacent mar
ket, ingeniously contrived to smuggle into the flock
two for which he had not paid, being convinced
that such an economical arrangement must prove
highly agreeable to his employers, and thus lead to
his oavii advancement. A hue and cry was raised
on the discovery of the theft, and it required some

THE KING'S "AEERO." 19
time to persuade the magisterial authorities that
the goat-herd had not been defrauded with the
cognizance of the bala-beit*
An afero or janizary had been specially ap
pointed as a spy over the actions of the foreigners,
and he speedily rendered himself sufficiently ob
noxious. Not satisfied with prying mto the con
tents of boxes for the information of the purveyor-
general, his immediate superior, he reported to the
throne every the most minute circumstance that
occurred, and was the originator of such serious
mischief, that he was shortly turned out of the
house in disgrace, with an order never to show his
face again.
^Ethiopia derived her faith from the fountain of
Alexandria ; but how is her Christianity disfigured
by folly and superstition ! The intolerance of the
bigoted clergy, who rule Avith the iron hand of
rehgious ascendancy, soon proclaimed the British
worse than pagans, for the non-observance of
absurd fasts and blasphemous doctrines ; and the
inhabitants, priest-ridden to a degree, received their
cue of behaviour principally from their most de
spotic tyrant, the Church. Unquies, the Comus or
Bishop of Shoa, was the most open and undisguised
in his hostihties. Beset by evil thoughts at an early
age, he imitated the example set by Origines, the
celebrated ecclesiastic, who hved in the third cen
tury ; and so much is he respected by the monarch
* Master of the house.
c 2

20

MOHAMMAD AN ABOMINATIONS.

for his austerities and rehgious devotion, that His
Majesty invariably speaks of him as " the strong
monk." To him was traced a report that the
Embassy were to be summarily expelled the country,
in consequence of the non-observance of the fasts
prescribed by the JEthiopic creed, and because a
Great Ladyr Avhose spies they Avere, was on her
way from the sea-coast, with a large military force,
to overturn the true religion, put the king to death,
and assume possession of all Abyssinia.
On the festival of the Holy Virgin, the cemetery
Avas thrown open wherein rest the remains of Asfa
Woosen, grandsire to Sahela Selassie. It is a
building adjoining the church of St. Mary ; and a
message was sent soliciting the Lord Bishop's per
mission to visit the mausoleum. An insolent reply
Avas returned, that since the English were in the
habit of drinking coffee and smoking tobacco, both
of Avhich Mohammadan abominations are interdicted
in Shoa upon religious grounds, they could not be
admitted within the precincts of the halloAved
edifice, as it Avould be polluted by the foot of a
Gyptzi. Divine service was nevertheless attended in the
less inimical of the five churches of the capital, and
offerings Avere made according to the wont of the
country. The cathedral of St. Michael, distin
guished above all compeers by a sort of Chinese
lantern on the apex, being invariably attended by
the monarch, came first in order ; and after wading

CATHEDRAL OF ST. MICHAEL. 21
through the miry kennels that form the avenues of
access, the slipper was unlaced in accordance with
Jewish prejudice, and the foot of the heretic Eu
ropean stepped upon a floor of muddy rushes.
The scowling eye of the bigoted and ignorant
priest sparkled with a gleam of unrepressed satis
faction at the sight of a rich altar cloth, glow
ing Arith silk and gold, which had been unfolded
to his gaze ; and a smile of delight played around
the corners of his mouth, as the hard dollars rung
in his avaricious palm.
A strange, though degrading and humiliating
sight, rewarded admittance thus gained to the
circular interior of the sacred building. Coarse
walls, only partially white-washed, rose in sombre
earth but a few feet overhead, and the suspended
ostrich-egg — emblem of heathenish idolatry —
almost touched the head of the visiters as they
were ushered in succession to the seat of honour
among the erudite. In a broad verandah, strewed
throughout Avith dirty wet rushes, were crowded
the blind, the halt, and the lame — an unwashed
herd of sacred drones, muffled in the skin of the
agazin; and this group of turbaned monks and
hireling beggars formed the only congregation
present. The high priest, having proclaimed the muni
ficence of the strangers, pronounced his solemn
benediction. Then arose a burst of praise the most
agonising and unearthly that ever resounded from
c 3

22 CHURCH MUSIC.
dome dedicated to Christian worship. No deep mel-
Ioav chant from the chorister — no soul-inspiring
roll of the organ, peahng with the cadence of the
anthem, lifted the heart towards heaven. The Abys
sinian cathedral rang alone to the excruciating jar
of most unmitigated discord ; and amid howling and
screaming, each sightless orb was rolled in the
socket, and every mutilated limb convulsed with dis
gusting vehemence. A certain revenue is attached
to the performance of the duty ; and for one poor
measure of black barley bread, the hired lungs
were taxed to the extremity ; but not the slightest
attempt could be detected at music or modulation,
and the dissonant chink of the timbrel was ably
seconded by the cracked voice of the mercenary
vocalist, as his notes issued at discretion.
No liturgy followed the cessation of these hideous
screams. The service was at an end, and the
Alaka, beckoning the visitors to follow, led the way
round the edifice. The walls were adorned with a
feAv shields, and with miserable daubs representing
the Madonna, the Holy Trinity in cosh, the Father
of Evil enveloped in flames, St. Peter and St. Paul,
St. George and his green dragon, St. Demetrius van
quishing the lion, St. Tekla Haimanot, St. Balaam
and his ass, the Patron Saint, and every other saint
in the Abyssinian calendar. But they boasted of no
sculptured monument raised to departed worth or
genius — no proud banner or trophy of heroic deeds
— and no marble tablet to mark the quiet rest of

THE HOLY OE HOLIES. 23
the soldier, the statesman, or the scholar. In the
holy of holies, Avhich may be penetrated by none
save the high priest, is deposited the sacred tabot,
or ark of the faith, 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 Aiken, which had been presented to His
Majesty. 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 boasted cathedral of St. Michael !

c 4

24

CHAP. III.
INTERVIEWS WITH THE KING.
Meanwhile, during the tedious fast observed by
all classes in commemoration of the Assumption
of the Holy Virgin, the king continued his resi
dence at Machal-wans. On such occasions, His
Majesty seeks the retirement of a country seat,
and subsists upon fish, eaten raw, with vegetable
oil and pepper. He is moreover averse to occupy
the palace at Ankober in the rainy season, when
the elevated position of the isolated peak whereon
it stands, becomes a fearful mark for lightning,
by which it is often struck ; whilst huge masses
of rock, loosened from the adjacent heights, come
thundering into the valley, to the annihilation
of every house that opposes their headlong course.
The greater part of the court, however, continued
to reside at the capital, and many were the demands
made for presents by public officers of the state,
amongst whom the Abyssinian habit of begging is
sufficiently rife.
" There be pleasing things in my country Avhich
are not in yours," was the usual form of application,
" and fine things in your country which are not

EXCUSES FOR BEGGING. 25
found in mine." Well assured that no return
would be accepted for what they coveted, many had
recourse to a species of refinement in the art of
begging — the offer of block salt to wit — and,
arnole in hand, they desired that the wares brought
for sale might forthwith be exposed. Others ten
dered mamalachas, or trifling offerings, Avhich, if
once accepted, are considered to estabhsh a claim to
ready acquiescence in demands the most prepos
terous. Broken decanters were exhibited four times
over by the domestics of the royal household, who,
with tears in their eyes, entreated the price of the
vessel as the only means of saving them from condign
punishment. A shield was never defaced, nor a
mule lost, that the delinquent did not refer himself
to the Residency for the amount of fine imposed,
and one of the imperial footmen finally sought to
place beyond all question his right to appropriate
the very cloth upon the table. " I am the waiter
in the great banqueting-hall," quoth the modest
applicant, " and therefore I require this cloth as a
dress." Nor were even the royal family idle during this
interval. Belete-Shatchau, " superior to all," a
notable shrew lately divorced by the governor of
Mans, and daughter of the queen by a former mar
riage — first in order — and then Worka Ferri,
" golden fruit," another of the princesses royal —
established their respective claims to articles of
British manufacture, beads, chintz, and tinsel, by

26 THE "baldoraba."
the presentation of potent hydromel in long-necked
barilles, screened under wicker cases. Their ex
ample was speedily followed by the illustrious Queen
Besabesh, " thou hast increased," who begged to
be informed what " delighting things" had been
brought for her acceptance. But the report of this
fact being immediately conveyed to the despotic ears,
His Majesty lost not a moment in hinting " that
it were desirable that all presents intended for the
palace, should pass through his own hands."
It is not permitted to any subject of the realm to
receive the smallest gift AAithout submitting it forth
with to the Negoos, who either appropriates it with
an " Egzia isto!" " May the Lord reward thee !" or
accords permission to its retention ; and concealment
is sure to be visited, on discovery, with the severest
punishment. Birroo, the son of a defunct nobleman,
and the especially favourite page of the king, had
been appointed baldoraba, or " introducer " to the
Embassy, and in this dignified capacity had occasion
to pay almost daily visits with messages or commis
sions from the throne. Dilapidated matchlocks and
swivels were to be restocked, musical boxes to be
repaired, garments to be embroidered, or state um
brellas to be renewed ; and every task had fortu
nately been achieved to the entire of the royal
satisfaction. Before taking leave the court favourite
never failed to beg for something, and, being a pet
with all, he never asked in vain ; but it shortly
became matter of public notoriety that he had been

A FAVOURITE IN DISGRACE. 27
disgraced, and thrown into durance, upon being
detected in the act of burying the dollars and
other presents that he had received.
A portion of the confiscated wealth which had
led to this disaster being subsequently returned to
the donors by the royal command, strong interces
sion was instituted on behalf of the youth, and
pardon entreated for the juvenile indiscretion to
which his friends had unwittingly contributed.
" Birroo has been degraded," rephed His Majesty,
" but you must not be concerned thereat ; for not
only did he conceal from me all that you had
given him, but, on being detected, swore falsely
upon my own hfe that he had received much less
than proved to be the case. I have dismissed him
for ever from my presence, but his punishment is
light when compared with the enormity of his
transgression." The dehnquent was, hoAvever, re
leased upon a second representation, and restored to
the possession of his gun, which had been forfeited ;
and although not reinstated in the royal confi
dence, he was subsequently appointed one of the
adrdsh addree, or " keepers of the great room."
The first visit to Machal-wans was paid on the
occasion of the king's indisposition. The high
priest, the chief eunuch, the purveyor-general,
Wulasma Mohammad, and ten or twelve other of
the courtiers, were in attendance ; but they were
dismissed after the customary compliments had
passed, and His Majesty, reclining as usual upon the

28

A ROYAL SWOON.

throne, thus proceeded to detail the long catalogue
of his ailments.
" You may listen. I am not now so hale as in
my younger days. Mine eyes trouble me day and
night. I have pains in the neck. My teeth have
grown long and become loose from fever, and my
body has wasted away. Draw nigh whilst I recount
the particulars of my late illness.
" I was returning from the expedition against
the rebel Galla. I felt suddenly unwell. My
head greAV giddy. The earth turned round. It
became blue under my feet. I fell from my
mule. I believed myself dead. I was no longer
sensible. My gun-men became afraid. They ran
away to a man. The enemy made a shoAV of attack.
The army was in confusion. A governor rebeUed.
He sought to place his son upon the throne. The
people dashed cold water over me. I recovered
my senses. I Avas able to resume the command,
and order was restored."
Priest-ridden and superstitious to the last degree,
the monarch undertakes nothing Avithout first con
sulting the superiors of the Church, and is deterred
from change of residence, or from projected military
expeditions, by their prophecies and pretended
dreams, which are of course modelled according to
the bribes that have been receiA'ed from parties
interested. On two occasions only is he said to
have acted in opposition to the ecclesiastical counsel.
The first cost him eight hundred warriors, Avho

DREAD OF POISON. 29
were cut up by the Galla during the passage of a
morass, and the second the severe indisposition
of which he still felt the effects.
The royal swoon, thus amusingly narrated, had
been followed by the consignment to captivity for
life in the dungeons of G6ncho, of the traitor who
had so prematurely sought the elevation of his son,
and who was the proprietor of the Residency.
Medicines administered to the king are invariably
tasted by the physician in the presence of the
patient, and on a phial of goulard lotion being now
sent to the palace for external application to the
despot's neck, it was returned in consequence of
its being labelled " Poison." Of this he entertains
the most undisguised dread, and it Avas not possible
to overcome his apprehensions that a drop might
find its way into his mouth during the hours of
repose, and so cut short his reign.
But although living in perpetual alarm of assas
sination, and never moving abroad Avithout weapons
concealed under his garments, or unaccompanied
by a numerous and trustworthy escort, His Ma
jesty's fears did not extend to his foreign guests,
and during many subsequent visits to Machal-wans,
he hesitated not to trust the British officers about
his person Avith loaded fire-arms, Avhen none of his
attendants were present. Many were the curious dis
cussions held at these confidential interviews. Por
traits were executed by the royal command — archi
tectural plans prepared— and hunting expeditions

30 INTRODUCTION OF NOVELTIES.
and wars of extermination plotted against colonies
of baboons and monkeys, the only quadrupeds of
which the country can boast. Magazines were
exploded by means of detonating shells — seven-
barrelled pistols and stick-guns for the first time
introduced at court — and a liege subject of the
realm was nearly shot dead by the royal hand,
when clumsily making trial of an air cane, from
which a wax bullet had previously been fired
through the wicker table.
" My son," quoth the king, " I am old, and
have but few years more to live. I have seen many
strange things from your country, but none that
surpass this engine, which without the aid of gun
powder can destroy men. Sorrow were it that I
should have died and gone down to the grave
before beholding and understanding so wonderful
an invention. It is truly the work of a wise people
who employ strong medicines ! "

31

CHAP. IV.
SPECIAL SUMMONS TO MACHAL-AVANS.
His Majesty had more than once intimated his
intention of holding consultation relative to his
projected expedition on the termination of Avinter,
and early one morning an express courier arrived
to desire the immediate attendance of his British
guests. Blacksmiths and workers in silver were
as usual plying their craft in the verandah, under
the royal eye — artists were daubing red and
yellow paint over the pages of the Psalter, or illu-
minating the lives of the saints with white angels
and sable devils — saddles and warlike furniture
were in course of repair — spears were being bur
nished — gun-locks cleaned — and silver gauntlets
manufactured ; but the artificers were all summarily
dismissed, and the king, rising from his seat in
the portico, beckoned his visiters to follow into the
audience hall.
" Gaita" " master," he cautiously began, " there
is yet another subject upon Avhich I am desirous of
taking counsel, and wherein I need your assistance.
It is my intention shortly to undertake an expe
dition to the great lake in Gurague. In it be

32 THE LAKE ZOOAI.
many islands which contain the treasure of my
ancestors. There are jars filled with bracelets of
solid gold. There are forty drums made of ele
phant's ears, and many holy arks pertaining unto
ancient churches, besides seven hundred choice
iEthiopic volumes, some of which have unfor
tunately been defaced by the animals called ash-
koko* Elephants abound on the borders. In
the trees are found black leopards of a most fe
rocious nature, multiplying always among the
branches, and never descending upon the earth;
and the waters of the lake, which are smooth as
glass, and without bottom, teem with monstrous
gomarif, and Avith fish of brilliant colours, red,
yellow, green, and blue, such as have never before
been seen.
" Moreover there are specifics against small-pox
and other dreadful diseases. No resistance is to
be anticipated, for the inhabitants, who are chiefly
Christian monks, have often invited me. I must
no longer delay to recover the lost wealth of my
forefathers, and it is fitting that you, with the
British officers who have come hither from a far
country, should accompany me and construct boats.
Hereof my people are ignorant, and your name as
well as mine Avill therefore become great, and will
live in the annals of this kingdom .
" From the summit of a lofty hill near Aimeilele,
* Hyrax Abyssinicus.
t Hippopotamus amphibius.

CASTLES IN THE AIR. 33
I have beheld through a telescope the lake and its
tall trees, but the elephants came in numbers.
I feared that my people would be destroyed.
I ran, and they all ran Avith me. Now, what say
you ? What is your advice in this matter ? Are
you able to build boats ?"
Models of skin punts, gun rafts, and a pontoon
train, upon the most approved design, Avere pre
pared and submitted, with creAvs and ordnance
complete, coupled Avith adAice to construct these at
Ankober Avhilst leisure served, and, never trusting
to the weakness or non-resistance of a foe, to take
the field with ample means at disposal to meet
every contingency. The King expressed himself
above all things pleased both Avith models and
advice, Avhich he declared to come from Avise and
expert soldiers ; but he Avas still obviously unde
cided, and the fear of the wild beast and the lone
forest at length kicked the vibrating beam. The
castle visions of glory mounted far out of reach,
and the fickle ambition of the savage evaporated
in a bluster of high-sounding phrase —
" My people will weep at the carriage of such
ponderous engines." " The preparations must be
made on the banks of the HaAvash, or on the
borders of the Lake Zooai, where timber groAvs
abundantly. A man of rank, one of the frontier
governors, who resides near Aimellele, should be
summoned as guide to the expedition, and might
then be consulted." But the presence of the great
VOL. II. d

34 MALICIOUS REPORTS.
functionary was ever wanting — no further wish
escaped the lips of the vacillating monarch — and,
engrossed with the passing whim of the moment,
the chivalrous project ofthe day had vanished.
So passed the dreary Avinter on. The arrival in
the kingdom of Shoa of the many valuable presents
brought by the Embassy, had not proven more
agreeable to the traders from Gondar and Tigre
Avho reside in Ank6ber, than to the narrow-minded
governor of Alio Amba. These men had been in
the Avont of selling glass-ware, cloths, and fire-arms
to the King at a very considerable premium, and
now did not fail to repeat and to improve the
absurdities circulated by the mischievous Danakil
regarding the foreign intruders. The Gypzis were
pronounced eaters of serpents, mice, and other rep
tiles, and had come Avith the design of possessing
themselves of the country by the aid of magic and
medicine. Great umbrage Avas taken at the practice of toast
ing the wretched half-baked dough received, under the
denomination of bread, from the royal stores ; and a
soldier who carried a metallic pitcher to the stream,
was roundly taxed with having used charms to poison
the water, AvhichAvas consequently condemned as unfit
for use until purified by the blessing of the priest.
Predictions ofthe impending fate of Abyssinia Avere
derived from the fact of the foreigners employing
instruments Avhich read the stars ; and the despot
Avas repeatedly and earnestly warned to be upon his

" THE RED HERETICS.

guard. But His Majesty cut short these insinuations
by threatening to extract the tongues of three or
four of the maligners, and paid no attention what
ever to the threat of excommunication extended to
him by the fanatic clergy of Aramba, Avho had
declared the ban of the Church to be the just
punishment clue for the admission into the empire
" of red heretics, who ought carefully to be shunned,
since they practised witchcraft, and by burning the
King's bread threatened to bring a famine upon the
land." Taking their cue from the feehngs of the people,
the Shoan sorcerers gave out that Sahela Selassie
was to be the last of the ^Ethiopian dynasty, de
scended from the house of Solomon, who should
sit upon the throne of his forefathers, and that a
foreign king Avould come by way of Alio Amba to
usurp the dominion. It is amusing to trace the
progress of these crafty insinuations among an
ignorant and Aveak-minded people. In some of the
northern provinces it was confidently asserted that
the Sultan of the Mohammadans had already con
quered Shoa, and that all the surrounding Moslem
potentates were about to unite Avith him in a war
of extermination against the Christians ; whilst in
others it Avas believed that an Alaka, or chief of
the Gypts from Grand Cairo, had contrived to
smuggle himself into the capital, carrying his
sovereign in a box, and that after consulting the
heavenly bodies until a favourable horoscope was
d 2

36 SAINT THEODORUS.
presented, he stamped his foot upon the ground,
Avhich opened, and ten thousand red soldiers, with
beards flowing to their girdles, springing forth out
of the chasm, placed the aforesaid monarch upon
the throne. " Now," said the magicians, " will
Theodoras arise according to the tradition that he
will come in the latter days of ^Ethiopia, and create
a kingdom of Peace."
Theodorus was one of the emperors who reigned
during the fifteenth century and was canonised.
It is recorded that during the observance of his
festival the queen-dowager had prepared a great
entertainment, and the guests being all assembled,
the heavens rained doAvn a shower of fishes ready
roasted. In the iEthiopic liturgy, the miracle is
thus commemorated. "Peace be upon thee, King
of the Agaazi nation, Theodorus, Son of the Lion ;
thy memory shall this day be celebrated with the
slaughter of oxen and sheep, with which alone Zion
Mogass, thy mother, kept it not, for the clouds
also dropped fishes." It is confidently believed that
the saint will rise again from the dead, and reign
a thousand years, during which period neither war,
famine, nor discord, is to disturb the happiness of
Abyssinia.

37

CHAP. V.

TERMINATION OF AVINTER.

In due process of time, spite of the denunciations
of the fanatic priesthood, the silver and beef of the
foreigners attracted the denizens of the adjacent
viUages, and a respectable retinue was acquired
such as an Abyssinian deems indispensable on all
excursions abroad. A house better adequate to
the wants of the party had been purchased, and
the bargain duly concluded according to the cus
tom of the country by an oath on the life of the
despot ; but this was shortly annulled through the
officious interference of the governor of the town,
and it was not until the eleventh hour, when rain
had begun to abate, that the Master of the Horse
was prevailed upon to rent his newly-erected domi
cile. A fat ox having been slaughtered to drive out
the DevU, Avas handed over to the domestics, and
the tenants, wading through the blood which flowed
over the threshold, duly entered upon the pre
mises, and quaffing with the burly landlord several
horns of old hydromel for good luck, the Union
Jack floated over the new Residency. " Have you

38 THE HOUSE-WARMING.
a better house than this in your country?" he in
quired : "I suspect not."
Ayto Melkoo, the Baldaras, or King's Master of
the Horse, has under his charge the royal stud,
saddles, and accoutrements, as also the Avorkers in
leather — is equerry in waiting, and conservator of
pastures and meadoAvs pertaining to the croAvn.
He is moreover the greatest gourmand in the king
dom, and condescending to honour the denounced
Christians with his company at the house-warm
ing, did ample justice to the novel viands that were
placed before him. He even submitted to the in
novation of a silver fork, and politely partook of a
salad, notAvithstanding his firm conviction that the
undressed vegetable would cause a return of ail
ments to which he had been a martyr in youth.
The circulation of water for the ablution of fingers
caused no little diversion on the removal of the
cloth; but the marasquino which followed was
unhesitatingly pronounced to be a nectar fit for
princes alone. "Were but the Negoos aware with
what good things the board of you English is
spread," he exclaimed, smacking his lips after the
last glass, " His Majesty would come and dine with
you as often as you chose to invite him."
" But let me give you a lesson in politeness,"
added the old man, when, in reply to his abrupt
intimation of intended departure, he was Avished a
" safe entrance to his house," in accordance Avith
Abyssinian etiquette — " You should have said

FAST OF THE ASSUMPTION. 39
' stay.'" "Such is not the fashion ofthe countries
across the water," Avas the reply : " every man is
permitted to Avithdraw as he lists, and be happy in
his own way." " Ay, ay," returned the guest ;
" but then if you had pressed me to tarry, I Avould
at all events have stopped Avith you until the moon
rose. Do you see ?"
The fast of the Assumption having meanAvhile
terminated, the King announced his intention of
removing to Ang611ala, his favourite place of resi
dence ; and thither, in defiance of excessively heavy
rain, he set out on the day appointed by the house
hold priests. " My children," said His Majesty at
parting, " ye have travelled far on my account,
and have no kinsman saving myself. My people
are bad people, and I am sorry thereat. They
bring me daily all manner of reports regarding
yourselves and your evil intentions. The rumours
have doubtless reached your ears, but ye must not
suppose that Sahela Selassie believes one of them.
Ye are my friends, and I will deal Avith you accord
ingly. I Avill that ye come shortly to Debra Ber
han and witness the great annual review at the
feast of Maskal. Ayto Wolda Hana shall conduct
you." But the important functionary thus selected was
of all others arrayed in the most open hostility,
and, unlike the majority of his avaricious colleagues,
his enmity had been proof against overtures and
advances. "I am a lone man," he invariably re-
d 4

40 THE VICEROY.
plied, " and have neither wife nor child. Grey
hairs have come out on me. I am the son of sixty
years. I want nothing in this world but the favour
of the King." To judge from appearances, the
pinnacle of his loyal ambition had already been
attained. Governor of Ankober, and president of
the mddi beit, or kitchen, wherein are prepared
hydromel, pepper soup, and sour beer — comptroller
of all the royal porters and of the household slaves,
who are the hewers of AVood and the carriers of
water, Avho grind, bake, express oil, and manufac
ture candles — receiver-general into the imperial ma
gazines of aU tribute in cotton, grain, thread, sheep,
and poultry — and charged with the superintendence,
the erection, and the repair of all public buildings
throughout the realm, as well as with the arrange
ment ofthe interior economy of the capital — Ayto
Wolda Hana can have little left to desire ; and so
conscientiously does he acquit himself of these
manifold onerous duties, that it is affirmed his
royal master could scarcely exist without him.
A visible diminution in the male population of
Ank6ber follows the departure of the monarch to
either of his more distant places of residence.
During his absence the administration of affairs
devolves chiefly upon Ayto Kidana Wold, who may
be termed the viceroy. In charge of the secret
police and magisterial department, he adjusts all
private differences, Avatches over the public safety,
and besides ministering daily to the wants of all

WOIZORO ASKUALA WORK. 41
consigned to him, gives annually three great enter
tainments at the expense of the croAvn. He has
been honoured with the hand of Woizoro Askuala
Work, sister to the queen-dowager, and the receipt
of the promised invitation to Debra Berhan,
requiring an intimation of intended departure,
afforded an opportunity Avhich had long been sought
of making the acquaintance of this stately dame.
Seated in the utmost of Abyssinian pomp, and
surrounded by a goodly train of slaves, pages, and
handmaidens, she received the visiters Avith the
greatest affability, and in the temporary absence
of her lord, expressed the highest gratification at
the attention paid, although unable to accept the
presents offered, from an apprehension of the royal
displeasure. But conversation during a morning call is here
little more than a string of the most earnest and
pathetic inquiries respecting one's own health, and
that of one's wife, relatives, and children. Even tAvo
old crones who are obviously tottering on the very
brink of the grave, and who are afflicted with every
pain and with every sorrow entailed by the fall of
our first parents, never meet in the street Avithout
indulging in a string of good wishes which are
reiterated so long as their breath will permit.
" How are you? How do ye do? Hoav have you
passed your time? Are you well? Are you very
well ? Are you quite well ? Are you perfectly
well? Are you not Avell ? — are questions which

42 STREET GREETINGS.
serve as the prelude to a thousand other interroga
tories; and at each response the Deity must be
invoked as to the unadulterated happiness and per
fect felicity that has been unremittingly experienced
since the last meeting.
Should the encounter take place twenty or even
a hundred times during one and the same day, a
repetition of the ceremony is enforced, and for each
progressive stage of morning, noon, evening, and
night, there exists a distinct set of phrases, which,
from the never-ending repetition, are grating and
wearisome. Passengers stand in the lane, denude
their shoulders, and roar out salutations intended
for the inmates of huts some hundred yards from
the hedge. The slumberer is started from sleep by
the dinning "How do ye do?" from some gentle
man passing ere the day has dawned to his country
residence ; and from morning until even-tide, the
ears are assailed by a most harassing and afflict
ing tissue of polite inquiries from every individual
of whatever rank, who may think proper to pass
himself off as an acquaintance.

43

CHAP. VI.
DEBRA BERHAN, THE HILL OP GLORY.
In Shoa the preliminaries of a journey are replete
with noise, inconvenience, and confusion. Friends
come to " see you off," an indispensable piece of
etiquette, and the lounging townspeople, who have
at no time much business of their own, flock to
assist the traveller by filling the court yard, choking
the door-way, and amusing themselves by can
vassing the property packed. Should rain be falling,
which is too frequently the case, the rabble take
shelter inside the house, subject every article within
their reach to the pollution of greasy paws, leave
the carpet an inch thick in mire, and, unless by
dint of shoving and elbowing, debar all egress to
the lawful proprietor.
It was in the midst of attentions such as these
on the part of the idlers of Ank6ber, that the
Embassy on a raw, cold, foggy morning in Sep
tember — the last of the iEthiopic year — took the
road to Debra Berhan. The sun was already high
Avhen the surefooted mules were mounted, and as
the retiring mist scudded over the face of the
mountains, many were the bold beauties revealed.

44

THE DEVIL S MILL.

Cascades tumbled doAvn the stupendous range on
the one hand, amid snug houses and tufted knolls,
and on the other, at the foot of perpendicular crags
thundered the river Airara. On its bank stands
the only piece of machinery in the kingdom — a
rude watermiU constructed by an Albanian visiter;
but the intolerant and ignorant priesthood pro
nouncing the revolution of the wheel to be the
work of devils and genii, its use Avas interdicted
after three days, and it has since remained silent.
Beyond the ford of the foaming torrent the road
becomes extremely rough, steep, and difficult,
in many parts rising almost perpendicularly, whilst
every traverse is acclivitous and stony. The first
traveller in all the vigour of pristine strength, has
been unable to breast the mountain side outright ;
and, untouched by the hand of the pioneer, the
zigzag route of the discoverer has been preserved
in all its original purity. The craggy rock remains
as in ancient days, and the narrow and slippery
channel must be stiU threaded with the same risk
as when the first bold foot Avas planted on the
serrated ridge ; whilst the torrent of centuries has
indented the furroAV yet deeper, and added the
impediment of slimy residuum.
The range Avhereof the Chaka forms a part
divides the streams that flow into the Nile, from
those Avhich are tributary to the Ha wash ; and the
ascent above Ank6ber being not less than two
thousand feet, the difference in temperature on the

THE KEYS OF THE NILE. 45
summit was fully perceptible. Half an hour was
occupied in the scramble to a crumbling basaltic
pillar styled " Koom dingai," " the standing stone,"
which ATery aptly transfers its name to this most
indifferent pass to the new capital of Shoa. Mamrat
stiU towered overhead fuU three or four thousand
feet, making its total height above the level of the
sea at least thirteen thousand; yet is snow a
stranger to its cloud-capped summit, and indeed
to the language of aU Amhara, south of the cold
mountains of Simien.
It is from June to September, while the sun is
vertical in ^Ethiopia, that old Father NUus carries
plenty into " the land of marvels" — and rolling
on to its mouths in sohtary grandeur, without
receiving a single tributary in its long course of
thirteen hundred and fifty nautical miles below the
junction of the Tacazze, it may fairly be stated that
Abyssinia holds in her Christian hands the inexhaust
ible riches of Egypt. Hatze Tekla Haimanot the
Great, had therefore reason on his side Avhen in the
beginning of the twelfth century he wrote under
the style of " Son of the King of the Church of
iEthiop to the Pacha and the Lords Commanders
of the Militia at Grand Cairo, desiring attention to
the fact that in himself for the time being was
vested power to render the Nile an instrument of
vengeance for overt acts of hostility — the Almighty
having given into his hands, its fountains, its pas-

46 THE EMPEROR LALIBELA.
sage, and its increase, and thus entrusted him Avith
power to make the river work good or evil."
Among the numberless fictions recorded of this
emperor, it is said that when he was about to relin
quish the cares of government in order to retire to
a cloister, he divided his countless wealth with his
feet into two parts, the one designed as an offering
to the Church, the other to be distributed in alms
among the poor : and both heaps, although moun
tain high, were, on being Aveighed, found exactly
equal. Lalibela, one of his successors, is believed
to have attempted the diversion to the Indian
Ocean and to the Lake Zooai, of aU those principal
tributaries to the Nile which take their source in
the highest table land. The measure was in re
sentment for the persecutions exercised towards
the Christians in Egypt after the Saracen conquest,
and the monarch was only diverted from his gi
gantic project by the earnest remonstrance of the
monks, who strongly urged the impohcy of ferti
lizing the arid Moslem countries that intervene
betwixt the mountains and the sea.
On the summit of the Chaka commences an unin
terrupted terrace, stretching hundreds of miles to
the southward, through the fair territories of the
Galla. Glimpses of blue sky, of a brightness un
seen for months, iioav gave happy presage of coming
fine Aveather, and a cold bracing breeze from the
eastAvard announced the termination of the pro
tracted season of rain. The country had assumed

THE KING'S BRIDGE. 47
the uninteresting character inseparable from ele
vated downs — rich swampy meadoAvs, knee-deep in
mire, clothed Avith camomile, clover, and trefoil, and
covered with oxen, horses, and sheep, being inter
sected by gentle undulations of moor land, with
occasional oviform hUls. Bare-banked riUs, stream
ing through the lower tracts, succeed each other in
quick succession, and drain the table-land to the
sources of the Bereza; whilst the great extent of
ground under cultivation, waving crops of Avheat,
beans, and barley, with independent farm-houses
scattered over the face of the landscape, proclaim a
government which cannot be of a very bad de
scription, and regions long exempt from the pre
sence of inimical power.
Across the Toro Mesk, the principal streamlet
that intersects the road, and the sources of which
are visible at a great distance to the north-east, is a
rude pUe of stones bearing the dignified appellation
of " the King's Bridge." Johannes, the Armenian
architect, received the hand of a high-born dame in
reward of his skiU, and by none save the despotic
foot is the barred entrance ever passed. Tavo
other bridges, or rather drains, have since been
constructed upon the same primitive principle over
nameless but rapid rivulets, and if not very du
rable, serve greatly to facilitate the royal progress
at periods Avhen the country is inundated.
During the reign of the sire and grandsire of the
present monarch, the entire tract betAveen Ankober

48 VESTIGES OF THE HEATHEN.
and Debra Berhan was in the hands of the heathen
Galla; and Tenna Kaloo, the last daring chieftain
who disputed its possession, has left in the minds of
the present generation the recoUection of his prow
ess in arms, as eAinced to their fathers, numbers of
whom feU in the strife. Not a tree, nor even a shrub
higher than the Abyssinian thistle, is to be seen,
save here and there a solitary " cosso," whose vene
rable boughs, the witnesses of idolatrous rites,
mark the ancient site of villages now gone to decay.
Flourishing Christian hamlets haA~e risen in their
stead ; yet the Aisible population is small, and the
long naked sweeping plains, silent and lonesome,
present a stern and melancholy appearance, Avhich
the absence of groves and hedges and singing birds
tends materiaUy to heighten. The A'ulture and the
eagle are alone seen AA'heeling aboATe the green
cliffs, or a solitary buzzard soaring in quest of his
prey over the great sheets of cultivation. Shep
herds, wearing high conical hempen caps, lay en
sconced, with their large shaggy dogs, under the
shelter of knolls and caves ; and in some feAV of the
fields, Avhere last year's crops Avere yet unhoused,
or the land remained untilled, the peasantry pur
sued their industrious occupation.
At length the monotonous Aiew opened over a
Avide plateau sloping gently to the west. The blue
serrated peaks of Sallala Moogher, beyond Avhich
flows the infant Nile, loomed faintly in the dis
tance, and the intervening country, stiU destitute of

49
wood, Avas traversed by broad, broken, precipitous
ravines. On a hill to the northward is visible the
extensiAre market-place of Bool Worki, "the cave
of gold," a great mart for horses, mules, and
AvooUen cloths, which, with grain, asses, and horned
cattle, are brought every Saturday by the adjacent
Galla tribes, and, when sold, pay a heavy duty to
the crown. To account for the name of the place,
there is a tradition extant, that in days of yore,
many holy arks with vast quantities of the purest
gold were deposited by the emperors of ^Ethiopia in
a certain deep cave having a bottomless lake inter
posed to save them from the grasp of the avari
cious. Its waters form the abode of a legion of
evil spirits, whose Alaka gratuitously exhibited
himself one market-day, mounted upon an ambling
mule loaded with massive golden trappings, and
attended by a black cat wearing about its neck a
bell of the same costly metal — a sight quite suffi
cient to deter intrusion on the part of the curious.
A cluster of white-roofed houses, straggling
beyond the walled palace and the church of the
Holy Trinity — long indistinctly visible — now rose
rapidly to view ; and a smaU eminence having been
ascended, the goal was presently attained. As the
party passed the royal lodge, a page mounted on
one of the king's horses rode forth to reconnoitre,
and, taking a hasty glance, gallopped off to make
his report. The customary announcement through
an Afero, Avho has always access to the palace,
VOL. II. l

50 THE OLD YEAR.
elicited a pair of monstrous Galla rams, which were
thrust into observation while the message which
folloAvs — one strictly in accordance with Abys
sinian etiquette — was dehvered Avith shoulders
bare by him to whom it had been confided : —
"Are you well? Are you well ? Are you weU ?
Have you been quite well since our last interview?
Are you all well ? Have my chUdren had a good
journey? Have they entered in safety? My love
amounts to heaven and earth ; therefore the King
said, they might eat these sheep."
WooUen awnings wrought of goat's hair, and
resembling the black tents of Kedar, had mean-
Avhile been erected on the green-sward, and arrival
therein was instantly followed by bread in wicker
baskets, old hydromel in coloured decanters, and
compliments in profusion from the queen. Many
of the courtiers paid visits in the evening, too
evidently fresh from the royal banquet, Avhich is
daily spread in the great hall, and from which few
ever rise in a state of sobriety — their amount of
friendship professed, and the modicum of flattery
bestowed, being in the exact ratio of the potations
SAval lowed during the revel. Glimmering lights
soon illumined the stragghng hamlet — dancing and
singing occupied both sexes of the inhabitants —
and Avith almost as much pomp and ceremony as
in more civilised lands, the departed year was con
signed to its last long resting-place in the relentless
tomb of Time.

51

CHAP. VII.
THE ROYAL SLAVE DEPOT.
No royal residence can be conceived more desolate
and less princely than the palace at Debra Berhan,
" the HiU of Glory." Crumbling Avails of loose
uncemented stone, patched in their various breaches
and dilapidations by sphntered palisades, surround
a vast assemblage of wattle and dab edifices, of
various shapes and dimensions, which are clumped
together in separate court-yards, without any
regard to appearance. Six rude gateAvays on the
southern side conduct through as many miry en
closures, lined with troops, and crowded with
herds, flocks, and applicants for justice. A paddock,
covered with bright green turf, extends in front of
the chamber of audience. Hoary junipers stretch
their moss-grown branches fantastically over the
lawn, and at the further extremity of the enclosure
rise the mouldering remains of the palace of Zara
Yacoob. This monarch, who was the founder of Debra
Berhan, is reputed to have been endowed with the
wisdom of Solomon, his great ancestor ; and the
vestiges that remain of his abode, certainly exhibit an
e 2

52 HATZE ZARA YACOOB.
order of architecture far superior to that of the pre
sent degenerate day. It has been composed of large
blocks of hewn though unsculptured stone ; but, in
common with every other boasted edifice erected in
the height of iEthiopic splendour, it perished during
the reign of Nebla Dengel, by the hand of the
destroyer Graan. Hatze Zara Yacoob first attached
capital punishment to the continuance of idolatry.
He instituted an inquisition, and persecuted with
death all who paid adoration to the cow and
serpent. Amongst others who underwent execution
Avere two of his own sons-in-law ; and he finaUy
issued a proclamation, confiscating the lands of all
who should thenceforth neglect to carry on the
right arm an amulet inscribed with the words,
" I have renounced the DevU and his works for
Christ Jesus our Lord."
Tradition asserts that " the Hill of Glory," now
barren of trees, was in days of yore thickly covered
with forest, through which ran a single path. In
the beginning of the fifteenth century the founder,
Avho Avas also styled Constantine, fled into its depths
before an invasion of the Adaiel, and becoming
bewildered in the intricacies, hurried hither and
thither, exclaiming in his dilemma, " Ber eza, ber
ezaf" "Where is the road?" Suddenly there shone
forth over the eminence a great halo of light from
heaven, which served him as a beacon by which to
escape out of the labyrinth. In some of the ad
jacent swamps are to be seen the ancient remains of

53
decomposed timber, and a few venerable junipers
still survive Avithin the palace enclosure ; but
beyond these monuments of antiquity the truth of
the legend rests solely on the name of the river
Bereza, a tortuous stream winding round the foot
of the hUl, and forming one of the principal sources
of the Blue Nile.
Tegulet, " the city of the wolves," the capital of
aU Abyssinia in her brighter days, and a spot
untrodden by European foot since the visit of
Father Alvarez, forms a conspicuous feature in the
view presented from the village. Occupying a
commanding promontory, round which flows the
river Salacha, it is environed by singular bluffs ;
and one natural fissure, visible from a great dis
tance, affords the only practicable ascent to the
impregnable fortress, upon which the GaUa, in the
meridian of their power, were unable to make the
slightest impression during reiterated attempts to
carry it by storm. The Alaka of Tegulet is su
perior also of the celebrated shrine of Sena Markos,
a saint of the days of Tekla Haimanot. The mo
nastery, named after its founder, occupies a simUar
inaccessible fastness, overlooking a part of the
valley of the NUe, and the whole of the north and
west of Shoa, as far as the chain of lofty mountains
which here form the bulwark of the Christian
kingdom. The view from the village of Etteghe, near
Tegulet, is so extensive that it has given rise to a
e 3

54 "the devouring depths."
proverb, " From Etteghe is the Echegue or Grand
Prior ofthe Monks to be seen at Gondar." Forty-
four rivulets, corresponding in number with the
churches of that city, are said to pay tribute
through this district to the Adabai, which sends its
waters down the Jumma to the Nile; their short
course of little more than one hundred and fifty
miles, involving so rapid a declination to the west-
Avard, that nearly aU have cataracts in some part,
and are consequently destitute of finny inhabitants.
The entire environs of Tegulet are intersected by
the beds of rapid torrents, having high precipitous
banks, which afford few accessible roads, whether
to mail or beast — a fact to which this portion of
Shoa may be concluded to have owed its security
during the inpourings of heathen and Mohammadan
hordes. Tegulet- wat, "the devouring depths," a
fathomless abyss yawning on the banks of one of
these streams, and described as the habitation of
demons, is believed by the superstitious to com
municate with the " great water." It proved the
grave of numerous Christian warriors, who during
the bloody contest with the Adaiel plunged un
expectedly into its dark bosom, and were heard of
no more.
It was at the close of the fifteenth century that
Mafoodi, the bigoted king of Hurrur, unfurling the
green banner of the Prophet, commenced those de
vastating inroads upon the frontiers of Shoa, which
finally led to the dismemberment of the iEthiopic

INROADS OF MAFOODI. 55
empire, and proved the greatest calamity that has
ever befallen the country. Under a voav that he
would annuaUy spend the forty days of Lent among
the Abyssinian infidels, he overran Efat and
Fatigar Avhen the people, weakened by rigorous
fasting, Avere less capable of bearing arms — burned
churches and monasteries, slew Avithout mercy
every male who fell in his way, and driving off
the Avomen and children, sold some into foreign
slavery, and presented others to the Sheriffe of
Mecca. Alexander, the then reigning emperor,
was assassinated at Tegulet by Za Selassie, com
mander-in-chief of the royal body-guard, who had
been bought over by Mafoodi. The eyeballs of
the regicide were seared with a red hot iron; his
hands and feet were chopped off, and he was stoned
to death amid the curses and execrations of the
populace, after he had been paraded on an ass
in this mutilated condition throughout Shoa and
Amhara. Debra Berhan is one of the principal depots
for the numerous royal slaves, the possession of
Avhom casts the foulest blot on the character
of the Christian monarch. A strange clatter,
and a Babel-like mixture of tongues, greets the ear
of the visiter, and the features of many races, and
of many nations, are distinctly visible among the
crowd that throngs the gate, although all are
alike enveloped in the disguising costume of
Abyssinia. e 4

56

THE pagan drudge.

The huge black Shankela, with blubber lip and
bloodshot eye, is resting for a moment against the
broken wall, and stretching a brawny limb which
might have supported the bully Hercules himself.
Grinning from ear to ear as his burly neighbour
sports some savage joke in Ucence unrestrained, he
seizes with a three-horse power his bundle of split
wood, which two Amhara could Avith difficulty
raise, and poising it hke a feather upon his woolly
head, walks away in all the vigour of a young
giant. With his own approving eye the monarch has
selected this specimen from a lot of powerful
negroes captured beyond the Nile, and fifteen
silver crowns must not be lightly squandered even
by the great sovereign of Southern Abyssinia-
Rations are well supplied to support the sinewy
form, and unless on a cold raAV day, when the soaking
rain has penetrated every thread of his black
blanket, and the shivering frame brings vividly to
mind the difference of climate, the enslaved pagan
in his present condition, as hewer in the royal
forests, enjoys himself fully as well as if ranging in
savage liberty over his own free country of the sun.
Not so the scowling Galla who follows in his rear.
The spirit of roving independence is still unsubdued
in his fiery eye, and the slender figure and the
bent leg proclaim the wild rider ofthe grassy plain.
Heavy and heartbroken, he plods along under a
burthen to Avhich his strength is quite inadequate ;

CHRISTIAN BONDSWOMEN. 57
and the groan escapes from his lips as the bitter
thoughts enter his soul of the disgraceful lash of
the task-master that perhaps awaits his return, and
he remembers the lost wife and little ones Avhom he
has for ever left on the distant savannahs of the
Hawash. Issuing from the gateway under the authority
of a bloated eunuch, a numerous flock of brown
damsels take their way to the river. Heavy earthen
jars are slung over their slender backs, and the
light forms of the unfortunates are Uttle concealed
by their torn and scanty attire. These are newly
purchased Christians from the last Gurague caravan,
and the language of the Amhara is still strange to
their ear. Garlands of the yeUow buttercup deck
the plaited raven locks of each captive maid, and a
plaintive song is chanted in soft meUow notes to
beguile the hours of toil. But the lines of slavery
have already found place among their youthful
features, which possess beauty unknown to those
of their oppressors. The low chorus swelling
mournful and piteous from the band, has recalled
thoughts of home and liberty to the joyless breast,
and the sad tear is brushed from the long dark eye
lash at the recoUection of happier hours spent in
their own sweet land of spices.
Following close behind comes a group of favoured
dames of a certain age, from whose minds time has
effaced all remembrance of country and of kindred.
Exalted to the post of mistresses of the royal

58 GENERAL OP THE GUN-MEN.
brewery, and decked out like the first ladies of the
land, in flowing garments resplendent with crimson
stripes, they have Uttle reason to wish for a change
of condition. Bars and studs of solid silver load
their perforated ears, and ponderous pewter bangles
encircle each wrist and ankle. Their wigs, arranged
according to the most becoming fashion in minute
rows of tiny curls, glisten under a sheen of butter,
and their fat cheeks, plastered with grease and red
pigment, are calculated to strike respect into the
heart of the most indifferent beholder. The un
ceasing clack and clatter tell the tale of the wonted
freedom of female tongue, but the small jar with
the green branch protruding from the narrow neck,
is strapped over the breast with the thong of slavery ;
and the attending eunuch, with his long thin wand
— an emblem of his own withered person — pro
claims the fact that the ladies cannot roam at
pleasure over the verdant mead, but must restrict
themselves in the beaten path according to the
cracked voice of their driver.
Seated upon a gaily caparisoned mule, amidst
the jingling of bells and brass ornaments, the gene
ral of the gun-men proceeds in state across the green
parade. He is attired in the richest garments that
the land can produce. A glaring cloth of red silk
is wound about his brow, a silver SAvord decorates
his right side, and fifty robed followers attend his
every behest. But he too is a slave, as was his
father before him, and as his son will be after him.

THE QUEENS HANDMAIDEN. 59
AU the bones and sinews of his attendants are the
purchased property of the monarch, and it is only
by the imperial wUl and pleasure, which may be
changed to-morrow, that he is now ambling in
chintz and satin to dine at the royal board, instead
of holding place in the foremost group, with a black
blanket over his shoulder, and a load of wood upon
his head for fuel in the royal kitchen.
Here comes a demure damsel from the harem
disfigured by all the foul garments and native filth
Avhich dehght the inhabitant of Shoa. It is Wu-
letta Georgis, one of Her Majesty's confidential
slaves, and she is revolving in her mind, how, in
executing her mistress's commission, she can con
trive to promote her own interests. Born and bred
in the palace, the Abigail is ordinarily treated with
kindness, unless the fracture of a brittle decanter,
or the unbidden attack upon some savoury dish,
involve a little wholesome correction. Unlike the
philosophical maid in Rasselas, who had broken
the porcelain cup, she needs pecuniary aid, and
thus is her request sobbed out: " Only one dollar
to replace the queen's looking-glass, and may God
reward you ! " But the sob is evidently assumed
for the occasion, and a sly glance may be detected
in the corner of her cunning eye, to observe the
effect of her false appeal. The full price of the
fractured mirror has already been received from
three several individuals, and her mistress will
assuredly confiscate the profits ; but the tenure of

60

THE AGED NEGRO.

property during even one short half hour, possesses
charms irresistible, and the poor girl falls prostrate
on the ground as the silver is dropped into her
unwashed fingers.
A last group is stragghng through the gateway.
The aged and the infirm, who can stUl perform a
light task, have just received their daily dole from
the royal storehouse at the niggard hand of the
pampered steward. The vigour of their youth
has been expended in the service of the despot, and
now in the evening of hfe the original scanty pit
tance is yet further reduced. A wistful glance is
cast upon the handful of raw barley, which must
content them until the sun has performed another
weary revolution. Hunger and destitution are
painfuUy portrayed in the deep furrows of each
withered face, and the shrunken limb totters as the
keen wind Avhistles cold through the wet folds of
the tattered goat-skin girdle which reaches barely
to the knee. No fostering hand awaits their return
to the cheerless hut, to minister in kindness to the
necessities of age, and the last closing scene will
drop a welcome curtain of repose over sineivs
ground by indigence and toil during half a cen
tury of hopeless bondage.

61

CHAP. VIII.
NEW TEAR'S DAY.
New Year's Day, which fell on the 10th of Sep
tember, Avas, according to the Abyssinian calendar,
the eighteen hundred and thirty-fourth since the
natiAity of Christ, and it was celebrated with much
rejoicing and festivity. Betimes in the morning
came a summons to the presence of the Negoos,
who, seated in the portico ofthe audience chamber,
was enjoying the genial warmth of the rising sun.
The interior of the hall was strewed throughout
with newly-plucked rushes, and under a large iron
chafing dish, with a cheerful wood fire, basked a
whole host of sleek cats in couples — a portion of
the dower received with the fair daughter of the
GaUa Queen of Moolofalada.
The King was particularly affable, and in the
highest spirits. His hand having been extended
to each in turn, with the usual inquiries relative to
" safe entrance," the congratulations of the season
were offered to His Majesty according to the cus
tomary form : "As the departed year of St. Mat
thew has closed happily upon your auspicious reign,
so also may the coining year of St. Mark ! May

62 COMPLIMENTS OF THE SEASON.
God prolong your days and continue the throne in
the hne of your ancestors unto your children's
children, to the end of time ! May He extend the
boundaries of your dominions, and cause your
spear to prevail over the lance of the enemy ! May
He endow you with wisdom to judge your subjects
aright, and move your heart unto clemency; and
may He cause high and low ahke to understand
and to appreciate the equitable sway of the Father,
Avhom Heaven has appointed to rule over them!"
Elaborate models of a domed palace completely
furnished, and an English saddle and bridle, Avere
next presented, and received with every manifest
ation of delight, coupled with a prayer from the
royal lips that " God might glorify the donors."
A long and minute scrutiny led to an infinity of
questions, not easily answered, as to how the shield
was to be slung to the pommel, and why the entire
foot, instead of the great toe only, should be in
serted in the stirrup? " The sun in different coun
tries shines with more or less brUUancy," exclaimed
His Majesty, with truly royal eloquence, as he con
cluded the examination — " the birds and the beasts
are different, and so are the plants. I am fond of
new inventions, if it be only to look at them, and
although they should prove on trial to be inferior
to old ones."
Abd el Yonag, the chief of the Hurrur slave
merchants, Avas seated, rosary in hand, during
this conversation, and in his Aveather-beaten coun-

THE HURRUR SLAVE DEALER. 63
tenance were displayed all the cunning lineaments
of the petty retailer in small wares, curiously con
trasted with the sagacity of the extensive dealer in
pohtics, Avho had succeeded in obtaining an accu
rate measure of the monarch's foot. The knave
too protested to have seen the world, and gave out
that Avith his own grey eyes had he beheld the
glories of Britain's eastern possessions.
To support his widely circulated character for
universal knowledge, the Moslem miscreant now
seized between his bony fingers two pieces of
superbly sprigged mushn, fresh from the looms of
Manchester, which had been presented for Queen
Besabesh, and throwing them contemptuously to
wards the corner of the throne, muttered betwixt
his lips the word " Bombay."
" What's that, what do you say?" cried the King,
in his usual abrupt manner.
" May it please your Majesty," returned the tur-
baned traveUer, to the amusement of the servants
of the Ulustrious presidency assembled, " 'tis the
name of this cloth — it is called Bombay."
But an opportunity presently occurred of laugh
ing at the beard of the irreverent pedlar, nor was
it suffered to pass unheeded. The despot exhibited
a silver sword scabbard, which had been curiously
enamelled to represent one of the scaly inhabitants
of the deep, and it was acknowledged nemine contra-
dicente that the artist had succeeded in producing a
highly creditable resemblance to a fish. " A fish,"

64 FESTIVAL OF ENKOTATACH.
quoth the man of Hurrur, " what is that ?" Even the
monarch smiled Avhen the explanation was rendered.
" Fishes live in the great sea between Abyssinia
and Bombay, and he whose eyes have not suffered
under Oubie's searing irons, might behold numbers
every day of the voyage." " Istighfar-attah,"
" Heaven defend me," growled the discomfited
Wurj, as he slunk into a corner — "'Tis passing
strange that Abd el Yonag should have never seen
the wild beast ofthe water."
Attended by the dwarf father confessor, and
holding deep consultation with several of the
household priests, the King presently led the way
through the secret door on the north-eastern side
of the palace enclosure. Two aftabgirs of crimson
velvet, surmounted by sih^er globes and crosses —
his never-failing attendants on all occasions of state
— were supported by sturdy slaves, and twelve
richly caparisoned steeds, representing the months
of the year, were led by the royal grooms. A
numerous and motley retinue of dismounted ca
valiers followed, and on reaching the meadow, the
brows both of monarch and subject were bound by
the monks with green fillets of a wiry grass, styled
" enkotdtach," whence the festival takes its appel
lation. Unhke the rugged mountains of Ankober, which
can alone be traversed by the sure-footed mule, the
country around Debra Berhan is of a strictly
equestrian nature ; and the bright azure of the sky,

THE TOURNAMENT. 65
mottled by fleecy clouds, the fresh verdure of the
soft turf, and the elasticity of the pure air, all lent
their aid to the coming tournament. Armed Avith
a slender staff, the king mounted his charger, and
bounding over the green- sward, opened the sports
of the day. Groups of wild savages were instantly
to be seen scouring in every direction, engaged in
the gombeza, or joust, but His Majesty in flaunting
striped robes shone conspicuous. WeU mounted, a
fearless horseman, and admirably skilled in the use
of the spear, he had on no previous occasion been
seen to so great advantage as during his par
ticipation in the Avarlike exercises of the new year
— now pursuing, and now in turn pursued by the
Avarrior whom he had honoured by selection as his
antagonist in the tilt.
" Guebroo is sick," quoth the monarch, the mo
ment the display was over ; " he has received a
severe wound in the head during a skirmish with
the rebel GaUa, and I am desirous that you should
now visit him, taking with you the medicine for
putrid sores ! "
Ayto Berkie, the governor of Bulga, volunteered
his escort to Daliiti, the abode of his invalid
brother. Crossing the serpentine Bereza, the road
led through SAvampy meadows, and over little cul
tivated knolls destitute of either tree or shrub,
towards Angollala, which, after a gallop of seven
miles, opened in the distance. On the summit of a
tabular eminence rose the king's two-storied palace,
VOL. II. F

66 GOVERNOR OF MENTSHAR.
above churches and conical houses ; and five distinct
knoUs, forming an arc in the intermediate and
otherwise leArel landscape, were severally crowned
by the abodes of favourite courtiers — that on the
extreme right, embowered in luxuriant trees, per
taining to Ayto Guebroo, governor of Mentshar.
Ascending the tumulus by a steep and stony
path, a muddy court-yard was threaded to the
abode of the great man. Surrounded by mournful
attendants he reclined on an alga before a fierce
fire, his right eye screened by a shade of blue
calico, and his well-greased partner sobbing vio
lently at his feet. The Gille and Loomi Galla,
bordering on the ancient province of " Fatigar,"
having revolted, the warrior had taken the field
Avith his contingent, and becoming opposed to a
rebel in hand to hand combat, had received the
first spear on his buckler, which was now ostenta
tiously displayed. The horse of his adversary feU
under a well-directed lance, and the dismounted
pagan sued for quarter ; obtaining which he treach
erously launched his remaining shaft, which had
cleft the forehead, and passed through the corner
of the eye, although without destroying the vision.
The patient having pledged himself to submit to
the prescribed treatment, which few in Abyssinia
will do, an operation was successfully performed.
Drying her tears, the hostess had meanwhile
slaughtered a ram, and made extensive prepara
tions for a repast. Piles of thin teff cakes' loaded

A FINISHED COURTIER. 67
the low wicker table — bowls of potent pepper por
ridge smoked at the place appointed for each guest,
and lumps of raw meat were in profusion ; nor Avas
it without infinite surprise that the hospitable en
tertainers and their domestics beheld the chops
submitted in the first instance to the influence of
the hot embers. " Do all of your nation thus burn
their meat?" inquired the lady after long and
attentive observation : "I was told that such was
the case, and that you burnt the king's bread too,
but could never have believed it."
Some difficulty was experienced by the king in
comprehending how an eye could be restored by
the use of the knife, but His Majesty Avas at a still
greater loss to understand by what means a subject
had been cured, whilst himself remained in partial
blindness. Ayto Katama, Avho was present at this
observation, turning to one of tbe party Avhispered,
" Do not suppose that the Negoos is blind of that
eye : may Sahela Selassie die, he sees better Avith it
than with the other ! " Like iEsop of old, who was
once a bondsman, the general of the body-guard
still retained the grovelling spirit of slavery, var
nished with the address of the artful courtier ; and
had he flourished in the days of Solon and Croesus,
he would doubtless have supported the advice
given to the Grecian philosopher by the hunchback
author of the Fables, " that Ave should either not
come near crowned heads at all, or speak those
things only that wUl prove agreeable to them."
f 2

68

CHAP. IX.
THE FALLS OF THE BEREZA.
Hunting expeditions filled up the leisure hours of
the busy monarch. Seated on the verge of the
deep ravine by which the now deserted fastness of
Tegulet is insulated from the plain of Debra Ber
han, it was His Majesty's wont to project stone
balls from his rifle at the hyaenas basking upon
huge fragments of faUen rock, Avhich form caverns
one thousand feet below, and choke the bed of the
pathless chasm. Then the steps of the royal caval
cade would be directed to the valley of the Bereza,
where " Satan's horses," in the shape of gigantic
adjutants were striding over the plain on their
long stilt-like legs, with weU-filled pouches dang-
Ung beneath their bills. Here, seated upon the
green turf, the Negoos awaited the report of his
scouts. Whilst turning the corner of the numerous
abrupt eminences, his ears were ever saluted by
loud cries of " Abiet! Abiet!" from the mouth of
many a petitioner, and a very respectable body of
plaintiffs and defendants were always in attendance.
Judgment was calmly delivered until the arrival
of some breathless horseman with intelligence of

ARMY OF APES. 69
the discovery of a colony of baboons, would arrest
the proceedings of the sylvan court. " Sahela
Selassie ye moot ? " inquired the sporting monarch
on one of these occasions, adjuring the informant
by his oavti illustrious life ; " are they weU sur
rounded?" " May Sahela Selassie die if they be
not," responded the slave, as he bowed his head to
the dust ; " hundreds graze in yonder corn-field."
" Then by the death of Woosen Suggud they shall
be slain," was the rejoinder, as His Majesty gal
lopped towards the spot, followed by every rifle and
fowling-piece of which the imperial armoury could
boast. On the verge of the deep valley a countless pig-
faced army was presently revealed, laying waste the
rising crop. Lusty veterans muffled in long flowing
manes strutted consequentially among the ladies,
and others squatted upon their hunkers, with many
a ghastly grin displayed their Avhite teeth Avhilst
hunting down the vermin that infested their rough
shaggy coats. Casting aside his chequered robe,
the king, with all the ardour of a schoolboy,
dashed into the middle of the amazed group, and
under a running fire from himself and courtiers, the
field Avas presently strewed Avith slain and Avounded.
Mangled wretches Avere now to be seen dragging
their mutilated limbs behind them in ineffectual
exertions to reach the precipitous chasm of the
Bereza, whose white foaming waters were thun
dering below, Avhilst the grimacing survivors, far
f 3

70
out of danger, whooped in echoes amid the bush-
grown clefts, to reassemble the discomfited forces.
Return from this brilliant Adctory was celebrated
by the war-chorus, untU the appearance of a herkoom
waddling over the ploughed land, again proved the
signal for general pursuit. This gigantic and de
formed bird is of the genus HornbiU, and an
abrupt unmeaning excrescence above his huge
jagged forceps, imparts a fancied resemblance
to the slaves of the king, who carry water-jars
upon their heads, which has dignified him with the
title of " Abba Gumbo," "the Father of the Pitcher."
It has blue wattles, which, when the bird is worried,
become inflamed hke those of the turkey-cock ; and
from the fact of its always constructing the door of
its nest to the eastward, the Abyssinians assert that
it Avill never build out of sight of a Church.
The plumage throughout is to appearance of a
sooty black ; but the expansion of the wings dis
plays an assemblage of snowy quUls which form
the pride of the warrior Avho has slain his enemy
in battle. Mules were abandoned with one accord;
and under the encouraging gaze of the despot, the
courtiers, springing into their high-peaked saddles,
scoured after the devoted quarry. Weary with its
long flight, the heavy bird alighted a dozen times,
but no rest was ever allowed. Again he was
turned, and again he distanced his pursuers, until
beleaguered on all sides, he was finally speared by
the chief smith and body physician, who as an

" THE DEVIL S SHEEP." 71
equestrian shone facile princeps, and whose skill
rewarded the head of each hero engaged with the
coveted white plume, the Amharic emblem of
death. " My chUdren have never seen the " Devil's
sheep," gravely observed His Majesty, as he as
cended towards the palace preceded by strains
of martial music. " They live in holes in the
rocks under the great waterfaU, and have long
snouts : my people are afraid. Take guns in the
morning, and the pages shall show you the road.
Now you may eat."
HeaA^y dew covered the long waving grass as the
party, accompanied by the promised escort, pro
ceeded at an early hour to gratify the royal cu
riosity by the destruction of the dreaded monster.
It proved on realization to be an inoffensive badger ;
and although the sport did not afford very much
diversion, the cataract amply repaid the ride
across the meadow. Leaving the terrace of table
land, the serpentine river, far hid from sight,
Avinds through a succession of verdant hiUs towards
a precipitous valley, down which the foaming tor
rent rushes over a descent of eight rocky basins.
Hemmed in by fantastic pillars of basalt, composed
of irregular disjointed polygons, the dark craggy
surface, laid bare by the violence of ages, is at
strange variance with the bright emerald turf which
creeps luxuriantly to the very verge of the frown
ing abyss; whilst twelve hundred feet below, the
f 4

72 THE CATARACT.
sparry waUs suddenly contract to the breadth of
fifteen yards, and the accumulated waters of the
cascades, discharging through the natural flood
gate, boil onwards in their wild career.
A perpendicular crag towering above the royal
iron mines, rears its crumbling head from the very
bottom of the vale to the level of the upper stream,
as if to mark the suddenness of the descent. The
entire face of the verdant hills which repose above
the roaring cataract, were covered with balmy
thyme and other aromatic herbs, which, steaming
under the influence of the morning sun, yielded up
their fragrance at every step ; and new and lovely
flowers, sparkling under the dew-drop, carpeted
the slope. From the very brink of the dizzy
torrent lofty junipers raised their taU stems, and
flung their mossy arms to a vast height, though
still appearing but as small twigs ; and the white
cloud of mist and spume and spray, which arose
from the gloomy chasm, reflecting the prismatic
colours of the Iris, completed a picture of singular
Avildness and magnificence.
How different, indeed, is the fate awaiting the
waters of one and the same shower discharged over
the high culminating ridge of the Abyssinian Alps?
A rain-drop, falling on the eastern slope of the
shed, wends its short course by the nearest stream
let towards tlie muddy Hawash ; and, if not ab
sorbed by the thirsty plains of the Adaiel, adds its
mite to the lagoon of Aussa — to filter, perhaps,

THE AMBITIOUS CLOUD. 73
through some subterranean channel into the Indian
Ocean. But far distant is the pilgrimage that
awaits the more ambitious cloud that sinks on the
western side. Joining the Bereza, and taking the
fearful leap over the dazzUng cataract of Debra
Berhan, it hurries down the Jumma on its im
petuous course to the Bahr el Azreek — rolls through
the golden sands of Damot — and, after visiting
Meroe and Thebes, and all the stately pyramids,
either adds its humble tribute to the still waves
of the blue Mediterranean, or is sacrificed to the
fertUity of the land of Egypt,
" Where with annual pomp,
Rich king of floods! o'erflows the swelling Nile."

74

CHAP. X.

THE ANNUAL REVIEW.

As the month rolled on, under a cold and pleasant
sky, governors of the adjacent districts flocked with
their quotas to Debra Berhan, to be in readiness
against the approaching anniversary of " Maskal."
On this festival, held in commemoration of the dis
covery of the Holy Cross by St. Helena, the rabble
militia composing the Amhara forces being mar
shalled in order of review, the grassy slope in front
of the palace became daily more and more thickly
dotted with black booths and mules and neighing
steeds. Honours, appointments, and rewards are
now conferred upon the brave and the deserving;
and this being also the season of retribution, the
forfeited property and the household chattels of
delinquent officers added to the fair-like confusion.
Herds of cattle, and long files of confiscated slaves,
wooden tables, rickety bedsteads, and other paltry
prizes of royal seizure, crowded the bustling pa
rade ; Avhilst groups of shivering camels, transferred
by Avrit of execution to an uncongenial clime, took
up their miserable station pn the bare cold ground,

GUARD MOUNTING. 75
which was in a few days to receive their long
scraggy bones.
On the eve of the anxiously expected day of
jubUee, the din of the nugareet, followed by the
repeated discharge of heavily-loaded matchlocks,
proclaimed the movement of the household troops
towards the palace portals, to guard the imperial
person, according to custom immemorial, from any
sudden outbreak of the wild host encamped in the
environs. Halting in front of the tents of the
Embassy, the war-dance was performed by the
Ught of the torch, in honour of the stranger guests ;
and whilst the leaders solaced themselves with a
cup of curacoa, their curvetting chargers, ridden
by confidential henchmen, bore gallantly among
the dense mass; and the bright metal stars and
studs of the appointments gleamed amid the dark
ranks of the savage warriors, as they howled to a
thundering war chorus the Amhara war song of
death. Bidding good night, the chiefs declared
amongst the affirmative whoops of their followers,
that next to the safety of the sacred person of
royalty, the valued lives of their much-esteemed
foreign friends should be uppermost in the thoughts
of the coming vigil.
Most unkingly was the appearance presented by
the palace at break of day, and most unprincely
the confusion of the court. Dirt and filth reigned
paramount in every purlieu of the royal residence
— mire to the ankle obstructed every gateway —

76 OFFERINGS TO THE THRONE.
and the rods of the wearied door-keepers were
broken to splinters in their laudable endeavours to
check the rush of the eager and greasy mob. The
very houses seemed more gloomy than usual, and
the time-worn mud plaster of the ancient walls
more sombre and dUapidated than was its wont.
The despot was for some hours to be seen
squatted in the porch of the banqueting hall,
surrounded by all the concomitant litter of a for^e,
which, puffing away at the foot of the alga, under
the personal supervision of the chief smith, blew a
cloud of dust and ashes into the royal nostrils.
Decorum seemed to be laid aside for the day.
Chattering and noise resounded in every quarter.
Restraint was removed from the tongues of all, and
the uplifted voice ofthe mighty monarch was at times
scarcely audible, amid the clatter of surrounding
courtiers, and the ringing of the crow upon the
anvil. Twenty saUow eunuchs, acting each at one and
the same time as master of the ceremonies, intro
duced to the royal notice the croAvds of heges, who,
arrayed in most filthy garbs, came crushing together
to the front. Priests, and monks, and petty go
vernors, women, slaves, and cultivators, bore each
some present to sweU the imperial stores. Honey,
butter, and beads, sticks, crutches, and censers,
were ahke received with complimentary speeches,
saAing in the instance of one burly knave, who
presumed to come before the king with a poor

A GALA DAY. 77
bundle of grass. Of him no notice whatever was
taken. The very crowd seemed ashamed of so
scurvy an offering, and an opening being spon
taneously made, a few kicks and shoves sent the
iU-provided vassal speedily out of sight, unrewarded
by the customary " God give thee more!" from the
hps of his puissant sovereign.
But the sun rose upon a different scene, as the
Embassy, in fuU uniform, were ushered through
the grassy lawn to make their bows to His Majesty.
Surrounded by all the grandees of the court, in
their holiday attire, the generals of the cavalry and
body-guard, the household officers, and the alakas
and high priests of aU the principal churches, he
rechned on a moveable throne, tricked out for the
occasion in velvet and satin. Rich kimkhabs, gay
silken vests, and a profusion of silver swords and
decorations for gallant conduct, sparkled on the
persons of the courtiers ; and the turmoU attending
the early hours of business had given place to the
unbending gravity of Abyssinian etiquette.
The artillery escort having, greatly to the ad
miration of the bystanders, gone through the
manual and platoon exercises with blank cartridge,
three hundred Aferoch, under the command of the
purveyor- general, entered the arena, elevating
high above their heads bundles of peeled wands,
bound together with wisps of rushes, and bedecked
with garlands of the yellow cross-flower. The
wUd song of rejoicing at the return of spring, and

78 CORPS OF ROYAL AFEROCH.
of the season of blossoms, "when the fleas retire
and the flies appear," had been heard a consider
able time, waxing louder and louder, as these lictors
with their fasces approached the scene of exhi
bition. Shouting the war-chorus, they noAv moved
forward with a mincing gait, and after the most
abject prostration to the earth, with a yell, hurling
their rods in a heap before the palace steps, the
whole crouched in a semicircle. Their leader and
his stewards, some on horseback, others on foot,
clothed in the spoUs of wild beasts, then displayed
themselves individually in the war-dance, gallop-
ping or vaulting between the open ranks, encou
raging the men to fight, and demean themselves as
O O o I
Avarriors in the day of battle — each ending his
recitative by a terrific howl, wherein he was
unanimously joined by the whole lictor band.
This exhibition terminated, the Embassy, on
horseback, were marshalled to a gay Turkish
pavUion, which had been purposely erected, below
the royal inspection tower. A small-roofed build
ing, resembling a sentry box, or the judge's stand
on a country race-course, occupies a raised platform
immediately within the palace enclosure. Gay
cloth hangings enveloped this cage, and carpets
and rugs of all colours covered the top of the rude
Avail for some distance on either side. The Negoos
was already seated when his British guests can
tered past, and taking off their hats, received a
condescending salutation. The usual paraphernalia

THE WILLOW STACK. 79
of sUver-embossed velvet floated at the imperial
feet. The chiefs of the churches, and the civU
officers of state — a gorgeous band — were arranged
along the platform, whilst a motley crowd of many
thousand spectators stood closely packed over the
plain below.
Dense masses of cavalry were in readiness at the
further extremity of the parade, to perform the
pageant of the day. At the distance of one
hundred yards from the imperial stand, a stack of
taU leafless avUIow staves towered over the bright
green turf which extended far and wide in front.
Around it were squatted files of warriors, ensconced
under their round shields like the tortoise beneath
his shell — the charge of sundry huge culverins, of
inordinate dimensions, being divided betwixt every
three. The muzzle rested over the shoulder of
one, a second Avorked the butt, and a third was
prepared, with blazing brand, to fire on the signal
given. The review commenced by the advance of Ayto
Katama's body-guard, consisting entirely of fu-
sUeers, three fourths of whom were on this occa
sion equipped with the muskets that had been
recently presented. Divided into four bodies,
consisting each of about one hundred men, they
moved sloAvly forward, shouting the usual Avar-
chorus, in imitation of the voice of the hon, and
were kept in line by the vigorous application of
the rattan. Numerous bangles, the reward of

80

THE KINGS BODY-GUARD.

distinguished gaUantry, glittered throughout the
band, and the fixed bayonets, heretofore unknown
in Southern Abyssinia, gleamed brightly in the
sunshine. Gaining the prescribed distance, the
warriors crouched on the ground as if to receive
cavalry. A grey-headed but energetic veteran
sprang to the front — danced during some time in
a variety of uncouth capers — and uttering a howl
such as might be conjectured to issue from the
lungs of the demon in the wolf's glen, discharged
his piece. The signal was followed by a running
fire along the entire line, when the remaining com
panies, advancing in succession in the same order,
performed the same evolutions, and all marched
off dancing and singing to the outer ring.
The commander-in-chief of this doughty band
had meanwhile formed a conspicuous, although
rather a ludicrous figure in the performance.
Adorned with a floAving garment of flaring chintz,
the gaudy hues and absurd pattern of which the
kaleidescope itself must have found difficulty in
devising, Ayto Katama, a bondsman from his
youth, exhibited his bloated figure in front of the
phalanx of slaves, his head enveloped in a crimson
harlequin cap. Tripping and mincing in the most
unseemly capers and gestures, he brandished his
crooked blade in a fashion which could alone have
provred dangerous to himself. Suffering under the
effects of an inveterate chronic sore throat, no
soul-inspiring words burst from his mute hps, and

THE HOUSEHOLD CAVALRY. 81
the vapouring general, and his mazy unmilitary
motions, vividly portraying to the eye of the spec
tator the strut of a crippled peacock with tail un
furled before his admiring harem, shed a broad light
of caricature over this opening scene of the panto
mime of savage warfare.
But the King's Master ofthe Horse next advanced
with his glittering squadron of picked household
cavalry — the floAver of the Christian lances. Ayto
Melkoo was arrayed in a parti-coloured vest, sur
mounted by a crimson Arab fleece, handsomely
studded with silver jets. A gilt embossed gauntlet
encircled his right arm from the wrist to the elbow.
His targe and horse-trapping guttered with a pro
fusion of silver crosses and devices, and he looked a
stately and martial warrior curvetting at the head
of his tried troop of well-appointed lancers.
Forming hne at the distance of half a mile, and
approaching the willow pile Avith a musical accom
paniment from a mounted band of kettle-drums,
the squadron halted, and the leader, couching his
lance, advanced in front. Whilst putting his Avell-
broken charger through all the evolutions of Abys
sinian manege, he vaunted his prowess in arms,
recited the prodigies of valour performed in the
service of his royal master, and proclaimed his
continued good faith, and future bold intentions —
his followers at intervals, like the Romans of old,
responding their assent by the loud clatter of lance
against shield. The harangue concluded, his spears
VOL. II. G

82 A ROYAL SALUTE.
were dashed upon the ground, and the chieftain,
drawing his broad two-edged falchion, brandished
it in the air : " Tockatoo, Loola, Loola, Qummoo,
Sik, Oooooh," he vociferated, as he dashed his heels
into the flank of the prancing steed. An instan
taneous howl, and independent discharge of cul
verins, ansAvered the signal, and the wild troop
swept past at a gallop to the further extremity of
the parade.
At the royal command, a salute of tAventy-one
guns Avas then fired by the artillery escort from
the brass three-pounder which had been dragged
by oxen below the willow stack. Great was the
admiration of the wild Galla multitude as they
gazed on the ghttering appointments and em
broidered housings of the British guests of His
Majesty now assembled on horseback in front of
the watch-tower ; and sufficiently diverting were
the remarks passed on the fluttering plumes of
white and red feathers — their own emblems of
bloody though not chivalrous deeds. And when
the cannonade opened upon ears that had never
before been saluted by the thunder of ordnance,
and a cloud of white smoke ascended high above
the heads of those who had hitherto beheld such
volumes arise only from burning hamlets, a buzz
of applause pealed from end to end of the extended
line. Each echoing report carried to the hearts of
the congregated savages, a powerful argument for
future loyalty, and it needed little discrimination

RAW BEEF LUNCHEON. 83
to unravel the royal poUcy Avhich had dictated so
great an honour to his foreign visiters.
Thirteen governors clothed in spoils stripped
from the lion and the leopard, Avith other con
spicuous trophies of the chase, passed successively
in order of revieAV. Decked in emblems of blood —
rings, feathers, bracelets, and gauntlets, with shining
coronets and chains of silver streaming from their
clotted hair — tokens aU of individual prowess in
hand to hand combat with the king's foes — the
leader of each glittering cohort indulged in a long-
rambling harangue, ere shouting the signal for the
charge. Many there were Avho Avore the akoddma
— a massive transverse beam of silver projecting
across the broAvs, and hung with a profusion of
chains and pendants, the reward for the slaughter
of an Adel, several of which respectable body, in
cluding the Ras el Kafilah and his fiery coadjutor,
Ibrahim Shehem, were spectators of the martial
manceuwes of the Amhara troops.
An interesting, though perhaps not a very mili
tary sight was Avitnessed as the hours drew on.
The famished governors, judges, chiefs, nobles,
courtiers, and dignitaries of the church, Avho occu
pied the elevated platform on either side of the
royal box, unable longer to resist the calls of
hunger, were suddenly to be perceived in the act
of employing their crooked swords in reducing the
dimensions of several sides and flaps of raw beef,
furnished by the king's munificence, and ostenta-
G 2

84 THE ABIDCHU GALLA.
tiously displayed by as many menials — nor, under
the well-directed and vigorous attacks of the as
sembly, were the reeking collops long in disap
pearing. A feAv only of the detachments, whose leaders
were not gifted with eloquence, charged past with
out a halt from the ground on which they had
formed ; and it is not improbable that these, having
made the circuit of the palace enclosure, now
swelled the pageant by appearing a second time on
the stage. Others, dismounting, performed various
evolutions on foot — ancient heroes with gleaming
falchions of truly portentous dimensions capering
and striding before the line, until on a signal made
by the culverins, they vaulted again into the saddles,
and dashed onward over the green-sward, now fast
fading under the tramp of hoofs.
Last of all came the tall martial figure of Abo-
gaz Maretch, chief of all the tributary Galla in the
South, at the head of his Abidchu legion, who
closed the display of barbarian tactics. Three
thousand in number, the sea of wild horsemen
moved in advance to the music of the kettle-drums,
tlieir arms and decorations flashing in the sun
beam, and their ample white robes and long sable
braided hair streaming to the breeze. At the shrill
whoop of tlieir warlike leader, with the rushing
sound of a hurricane, the glittering cohort clat
tered past the royal stand, and the moving forest
of lances disappeared under a cloud of dust.

FLIGHT OF ROCKETS. 85
From eight to ten thousand cavalry were present
in the field, and the spectacle, which lasted from
nine in the morning until five in the afternoon,
Avas exceedingly Avild and impressive. Did the
warriors who this day recounted their valorous
achievements before the monarch possess hearts of
a measure with their good weapons and strong
seats, they could not fail to prove the means of
extensive power and conquest under the control of
an aspiring chief; but such unfortunately is not
the case, and the speed of the stout hardy steeds
that they bestrode, is too frequently exerted in the
wrong direction.
As soon as it became dark, rockets which had
been brought by the Embassy were to be discharged
from the tents by the king's express desire. With
fire-arms the Abyssinians were previously ac
quainted, and the brass galloper Avhich had echoed
so recently, although vieAved with wonderful
respect, was stUl only the engine on a colossal
scale, to which they were familiarised. But these
were the first rockets of which His Majesty had
viewed the flight, and the impression they pro
duced upon his mind, as he gazed from his Avatch-
toAver,. was scarcely less than that worked upon his
assembled subjects. Night had thrown her sable
mantle around, and the novel principle of ascent,
with the grandeur of the brilliant rush into the
skies, afforded matter of amazement to all spec
tators. When the projectile started with a loud

86 EVENING BONFIRE.
roar from its bed, men, Avomen, and children, fell
flat upon their faces. Horses and mules broke
loose from their tethers, and the warrior who had
any heart remaining, shouted aloud. The Galla
tribes who witnessed the meteor-Uke explosion from
the vicinity ascribed the phenomenon to the use of
potent medicines, and declared that since the Gyptzis
could at pleasure produce comets in the sky, and
rain fire from heaven, there was nought for them
left, save abject submission to the king's com
mands. The ceremony of burning the stack of wiUow
staves on the parade commenced shortly after this
exhibition, and, superintended by His Majesty in
person, terminated the proceedings of the busy
day. Shrouded from the rude gaze of the populace
under the nocturnal veil, the ladies of the royal
harem danced and clapped their hands together, as
their Avhite ghostlike figures moved in circling pro
cession around the pUe so shortly to be committed
to the flames. Then followed a rush of torch-bearers
from various quarters, mingled with the corps of
Aferoch, and all reeling under the effects of strong
old hydromel. Three hundred flower-decked fasces,
displayed bright and fresh in the morning, but now
withered and faded, were with savage shouts and
yells cast simultaneously on the pyre, and a burst
of lurid glare, Avhich revealed all that was passing,
at once proclaimed tlieir ignition. Thousands
crowding round the fast-increasing blaze added

FESTIVAL OF THE CROSS. 87
their tribute, and joined in the din of voices. Black
crosses to repel the DevU were described on the
forehead with the charred wood, in the struggle to
obtain which hard Uoavs were dealt lustily about,
and many of the competitors were even forced into
the pile. The legend asserts that on the discovery
of the Holy Cross by the mother of Constantine
the Great, she caused beacon fires to be lighted on
all the high hills of Palestine, upon beholding
which a general shout of joy was raised by the
people of Constantinople. In imitation hereof, wild
songs and yells of triumph from the inebriated
Christians of Shoa, now completed the turmoil and
confusion, and with the crackling red flames that
curled up the tall dry staves, ascended high into
the starry vault of heaven in honour of Saint
Helena.

G 4

88

CHAP. XI.

THE GALLA CAPITAL.

Ang6llala, on the GaUa frontier, founded ten
years since by the reigning monarch, is now the
capital of the western portion of Shoa, and during
the greater part of the year it forms His Majesty's
favourite place of residence. Thither he proceeded
on the morning following the festivities of Maskal.
Upwards of three thousand horsemen composed the
cortege, Avhich Avas swelled every quarter of a mile
by large detachments of cavalry. Led by their
respective chiefs, each band dismounted at a con
siderable distance on the flank, and advancing on
foot with shoulders bared, feU prostrate with one
accord before the state umbreUas. The Negoos
bestrode a richly caparisoned mule, Avith SAvaUow-
tailed housings of crimson and green, and massive
silver collars ; and he was closely foUoAved by the
corps of shield-bearers under the direction of the
Master of the Horse, who, by vigorous sallies, and
the judicious exercise of a long stick, kept the
crowd from encroaching upon the royal person,
during the eight mile ride over the level plain.

TOWN of ang6llala. 89
From four to five hundred circular huts, con
sisting of loose stone waUs very rudely thatched,
cover the slopes of a group of tabular hiUs that
enclose an extensive quadrangle. On the summit
of the largest eminence, near the church of Kidana
Meherat, stands the palace, defended by six rows of
stout bigh paUsades. A clumsy stone edifice of two
stories, towering in the form of a dovecot, occu
pies the centre. It was erected by Demetrius, an
Albanian visiter, and is considerably superior in
joint of architecture to aU other domiciles in the
realm, although somewhat tottering in appearance,
and deserted from an apprehension of earthquake,
which holds strong possession of the royal mind.
" Earthquakes are bad things," was His Majesty's
remark, "for they overthrow houses, and demolish
my people."
The rugged ascent up the steep hill-side Avas
thronged with spectators, male and female, as
sembled to greet the arrival of their sovereign, and
to stare at the foreigners. Paupers and mendi
cants crowded the first enclosure ; and the approach
from the second gate through four court-yards, to
the King's quarters, was fined with matchlockmen
and fusileers, who, as the Embassy passed between
the ranks, made a laughable attempt to present
arms in imitation of the artillery escort at the
review. Kitchens, magazines, and breweries were
scattered in all directions ; and, with the long ban
queting-hall, the chamber of audience, the apart-

90 INTERIOR OF THE PALACE.
ments of the women, and the solitary cells, formed a
curious, but far from imposing group of buildings.
The despot, in high good humour, conducted his
guests over the unswept premises, and up a rude
ladder to the attic story, which commands a pleasant
prospect over wide grassy meadows, intersected by
serpentine streamlets, and covered with the royal
herds. Upon a floor strewed with newly cut grass,
blazed the wood fire in the iron stove, with the
never-failing cats luxuriating under its influence.
A dirty couch graced the alcovTe, and a few guns
and fowling-pieces the rudely white-washed walls,
but otherwise the dreary chamber was unfurnished.
" I have brought you here," quoth His Majesty,
" that you may understand what I want. These
rooms require to be ornamented ; and I wish your
artist to cover them with elephants and soldiers,
and with representations of all the buildings and
strange things in your country, which my eyes have
not seen. At present my children may go."
Awnings had been pitched on the summit of
Debra Maskal*, the southern eminence. The
weather was now intensely cold, and a fire during
the evening hours could not be dispensed with.
As the embers died away, and the smoke cleared
from the interior of the flimsy pall, the teeth
chattered under the pinching exhalation from the
ground. Rifles became rusty in a single night
from the heavy white dew that saturated the cloth —
* The Hill of the Cross.

FROSTY NIGHTS. 91
watches stopped beneath the piUow — and heaps of
blankets proved of small avail to the cramped and
shivering limbs, which told full weU of the white
hoar that was encrusting the verdure of the adja
cent meadow.
In the filthy purlieus of the palace, and close to
the outer gate, stands a mound of ashes and rub
bish, mingled with the noisome lees that stream
over the road from the adjacent royal breweries.
Packs of half-wild dogs, the pest of Ang611ala,
luxuriate hereon during the day, and at night set
forth on their reckless foray, dispelhng sleep when
the moon rises by their funereal dirge, and destroy
ing tents in their pilfering invasions. Long before
the dawn, the shriU crowing of a thousand cocks
first starts the slumberer from his uneasy repose.
The wild whoop of the oppressed Galla, who de
mands redress, then mingles with the "Abiet!
Abiet ! " reiterated by the more civilised Amhara
from every hill-top ; and the memory of those who
have ever witnessed the breaking of the glorious
day amid nature's luxuriant forests of the East, is
forcibly carried back to the tangled thicket, where
the campanero tolls her bell-like note from the
branches of the spreading tamarind, and the Avild
ape fiUs up the interval with his deep voice of
exultation, as he pounces upon the bitter apple of
the wood.
Bands of mendicant monks next silently take
post on the crest of a crumbling wall within spear's

92 MENDICANT MONKS.
length of the slumberer's pillow, and by a shriU
recitative, foUowed by a chiming chorus of inde
pendent voices, dispel the morning dream, whilst
they scream with a pertinacity that bribery can
alone quell. Psalms and hymns never fail to usher
in the morn ; and when the asperity of cracked and
aged throats is somewhat meUowed by distance,
the chant of Christian praise — now rambling
wildly through all the varied shakes and intona
tions of a single voice — now sweUing with the
choral unison of many — is not altogether un
pleasant. But greatly. more melodious would it
fall upon the mortal ear, if a lesson in music were
taken from the warbling larks, which rise fluttering
in hundreds from the steaming meadows, to lift
their matin song — at intervals mounting far and
faint in the cool dewy air, and again approaching
in one rich quaver of delicious harmony, as the
feathered songster alights fearlessly upon the
aAvning. To the cry of " Abiet!" AA'hich now resounded
so unceasingly in the still air of the morning, the
Abyssinians attach the opinion that, on the last
day, Satan, presenting himself before the gates of
heaven, will continue thus to vociferate until he
gains admission. On presenting himself before the
judgment-seat, it wiU be asked " Avhat he Avould
have ? " " The souls which have been wrested
from me by the angels," is to be the reply; but on
his acknowledging inability to specify the names of

CODE OF LAAVS. 93
those Avho have robbed him, the Father of Evil will
be commanded to begone, and never to show his
face again.
Importunity is an attribute which stands promi
nently forth in the character of a native of Southern
Abyssinia. For hours together the numerous ap
plicants for redress continue thus to call upon the
master from every eminence around the palace,
until at length the door-keepers appearing, beckon
the petitioners to draw nigh. Well aware, however,
of the existing understanding between these ser
vitors and the "Four Chairs," the very judges
against whose decision they would appeal, they give
no heed to the summons, but thrusting their fingers
into their ears, do but lift up their voices the
louder, until the king commands one of his pages
to cause the whole to assemble in the court-yard,
where, with shoulders bared to the Avaist, the par
ties fearlessly bring the subject of their complaint
before the throne.
Opportunities Avere therefore daily afforded of
witnessing the dispensation of justice in this singu
lar and anomalous land, where an iEthiopic trans
lation of the Code of Justinian, adapted to the
customs of the country, forms the basis of legal
decisions. The Fetha Negest, or " Judgment of the
Kings," as this volume is entitled, is said to have
faUen from heaAren during the reign of Constantine
the Great ; but its statutes, although liberally
quoted on all convenient occasions, are not con-

94
sidered binding upon the monarch, unless found
in perfect unison Avith his own despotic pleasure.
Disputes are first adjusted by the governors of
provinces, who, in the powers Avherewith they are
invested, resemble the feudal barons of Europe in
the Gothic ages, and often perpetrate the grossest
injustice. But the injured party can always seek
redress in the court of the Four Wamberoch *, who,
being literally " the bench," are the judges civil
and criminal. These dignitaries daUy take their
seat in the verandah of a building aUotted in one of
the palace courts, Avhere accuser and accused de
livered their conflicting statements in an equally
elevated tone of oratory, accompanied by much
theatrical gesture. The decision Ues again under
appeal to the throne ; and whenever the king sees
fit to reverse it, the severest censure is invariably
passed upon delinquent chairs.
The lives and the lands of every subject of Shoa
belong de jure to Sahela Selassie, and of their per
sons and worldly substance he is absolute master.
Whether at the demise of the king or of the sub
ject, the estates of the latter are again at the dis
posal of the crown, and without the occurrence of
either contingency, the mere AviU and pleasure of
the despot is alone requisite to their resumption.
Violent use, hoAvever, is seldom made of this arbi
trary power, and it is rarely resorted to except in
cases of high treason or of offences against the
* Wamber signifies a chair, and its plural is Wamberoch.

CRIMINAL JURISPRUDENCE. 95
state, which, in place of capital punishment, are
visited by confiscation of property, and by im
prisonment for life, unless the offender shaU have
taken timely sanctuary in the monastery of Affaf
Woira, where his person being held inviolate, even
by the king, the monks can often mediate with
success. Slavery, either limited to the offender, or
extended to his Avhole family, and continued to his
descendants, during one, two, or even seven gene
rations, is a punishment from which no class is
held exempt, but exile is usually substituted for
offences committed by the clergy, the banished
ecclesiastic being then commanded to " stay not by
day, neither to tarry by night," if he Avould avoid
the penalty that aAvaits delay.
In accordance with the Mosaic dispensation, a
life for a life is the punishment awarded to the
murderer ; but, if permitted by the relatives of
the deceased, the criminal is authorised by law to
purchase his pardon, and to beg through the land
until he shall have realised the stipulated ransom.
But the escape of the criminal involves forfeiture
of property by all his relatives who may be re
siding north of the river Airara, and, unless he be
produced, the attachment continues in full force
during three generations. Robbery is usually in
vestigated through the Lebashi, or " thief-taker,"
who is indispensable to Abyssinian jurisprudence,
and the unhappy wretch whom his imp selects, if
unable to pay the fine adjudged, is visited by cas-

96
tigation either with a whip or with a cudgel. If a
Christian, he is then confided to the care of a fol
lower of the Prophet in some of the hot unwhole
some Mohammadan districts — ifan Islam, to that of
a Christian — the party on whom the culprit is thus
quartered, being in either case held responsible to
the croAvn for his safe custody during his term of
hard labour.
In all the courts of judicature, interest for money
lent is recognised at the rate of one arnole per
mensem upon each dollar. No note of hand is
ever exchanged, but the security of a substantial
housekeeper is requisite, who is termed " was."
Debtors are manacled, and suffered to roam
through the country on this security in order to beg
the amount due among the charitably disposed, and
it is a fact that in the absence of a " was," either
the creditor or one of his retainers, is chained to
the defaulter, and the happy couple thus linked
wander through the country together, crying " By
Mary ! By Mary !" until the requisite sum shaU have
been contributed for the sake of the Holy Virgin.
At home and abroad, on excursions and on mili
tary expeditions, the loud cry of " Abiet!" salutes
the royal ear from situations the most strange and
unexpected, and, although the land is despotic,
appeals are almost always promptly attended to,
The more importunate suitor, who will not remain
content with the promise of a future consideration
of his claim, is sometimes visited with the stick,

PETITIONS OF THE SUBJECT. 97
but no available opportunity is neglected of listening
to these endless petitioners. The halting-stone
and the green turf are frequently transferred into
seats of justice. Judgment is given whilst ambling
over the fields and meadows ; and during five days
of every week, many hours are devoted to the
unravelment of knotty points of controversy, or to
the adjustment of the tangled disputes and quarrels
of the liege subjects of Shoa.

VOL. n. H

98

CHAP. XII.
CHASM OF THE CHACHA.
The King had oftentimes vaunted the extraordi
nary natural fortification afforded to Ang6Uala
by the river Chacha, which for two days' journey
to the north-westward roUs through a deep preci
pitous valley, offering a barrier impassable to
human foot, and being then joined by the Bereza
and by numerous other streams, skirts the cele
brated sanctuary of Sena Markos, whence the com
bined waters, taking the title of Jumma, roU on
into the Nile. Setting out one morning at sunrise
through the " sirkosh ber*," he sent a page to con
duct his guests to the junction of the tributary
Fach a, which tumbles its torrent over a perpendi
cular wall seven hundred feet in height ; and here
His Majesty, surrounded by a crowd of noisy
applicants for justice, already occupied his favourite
seat on the brink of the giddy chasm.
A cloud had overcast the despot's brow, for " Boro
Winkee," his favourite war-steed, had that morn
ing fallen down dead AvhUst exercising in the

'o

i. e. The secret gate or wicket.

THE " GALLA DITCH." 99
meadow. Taken in battle from a potent Galla
chieftain whose name it inherited, the steed had
long enjoyed a staU within the royal bedchamber,
and strong fears indeed were entertained for the
effeminate Uttle page Katama, who had been the
luckless jockey. But no punishment foUowed the
catastrophe. The boy was a court favourite, and
Antonistye, his father, by far the most renowned
warrior in Shoa, was mayor of the corporation of
king's herdsmen, who take the field in independent
bodies, and under the title of Abelam* form a dis
tinct class mingling with no other portion of the
population. " What think you of my Galla ditch ?" inquired
the monarch. " Have you any such in your
country?" There could be but one opinion regarding the
yawning gulf, which extends a full mUe in breadth,
and has been rent by some violent convulsion in
the bowels of the earth. Fifteen hundred feet
below the otherwise uninterrupted plain, the
mingled waters flow on hke a silver cord, fed at in-
tervals by foaming cascades, which raise a shower
of white spray in their headlong descent ; whilst
frowning basaltic cliffs cast a deep gloom over wild
steppes and terraces, whose lone hamlets and cot
tages are scarcely to be distinguished from the
fallen masses of rock. Vast colonies of pig-faced
* Derived from the Amharic word " abella," " he may eat
up."
H 2

100 ROYAL IRON- WORKS.
baboons, the principal inhabitants, sally forth
morning and evening from their strong city, to
devastate the surrounding crops, in defiance of in
cessant war waged against them by the peasantry,
armed with sticks and stones ; but outcasts and
criminals, too, find a safe asylum among the almost
inaccessible crannies of the abrupt, perpendicular
scarps, where they sojourn below dense masses of
foliage, unthought of, and unmolested.
Deep buried in the bosom of the stupendous
Chacha, and immediately below the roaring cata
ract, stands the little hamlet of Gureyo, the seat of
the royal iron-works, and thither, after the sylvan
court had closed, the King descended, leaning on
the arm of the chief smith, great master of the
Tabiban, or mechanics, and royal physician in or
dinary. The process of smelting and refining pur
sued in Abyssinia has been common to almost
every age and country from the earliest antiquity.
Broken into small fragments and coarsely pul
verised, the ore is mixed with a large proportion
of charcoal, and placed in a clay furnace resem
bling the smith's hearth, but furnished with a
sloping cavity considerably depressed below the
level of the blast pipes. The non-metallic par
ticles being brought to a state of fusion by the
constant action of four pair of hand- worked
belloAvs, the iron Avith the scoriae sinks to the
bottom. This is again broken, and re-fused, when
the dross flowing off, the pure metal is discharged

VILLAGE OF CHERKOS. 101
in pigs, which, by a repetition of heating and
welding, are wrought into bars ; but OAving to the
very rude and primitive apparatus employed, the
unceasing toil of ten hours is indispensable to the
realization of two pounds' weight of very inferior
iron, which after all, in private works, is Uable to a
heavy tax to the crown.
Embowered in a dark grove of junipers on the
opposite brink of the Chacha rises the silent vil
lage of Cherkos, rendered famous a few years
since through the massacre of one thousand of its
Christian inhabitants by Med6ko*, a celebrated
rebel. His proceedings occupy one of the most
conspicuous pages in the chronicles of Shoa.
Exalted by rare military talents and undaunted
intrepidity to the highest pinnacle of royal favour,
he became elated by the distinctions conferred, and
being suspected of aiming at even greater dominion,
Avas suddenly hurled into the deepest disgrace, and
bereft in the same moment of property and power.
Burning Avith revenge, the warrior crossed the bor
der to the subjugated, though disaffected Galla,
whom he had so lately held in check, and who now
with open arms received him as their leader in
revolt. At the head of a vast horde of wild cavalry, rein
forced by a number of matchlockmen, who had
deserted their aUegiance, the rebel marched upon
AngoUala. But he was frustrated in his designs by
* His Gazel.
H 3

102 ROYAL MEDIATION.
finding the only assailable point fortified by staked
pits and ditches — the deep rugged channel of the
Chacha opposing, as he well knew, an insurmount
able barrier in every other direction. Desertion
soon spread among the undisciplined rabble, and
after several skirmishes with the royal troops, the
offender * sought an asylum at ZaUa Dingai.
Through the powerful mediation of Zenama Work,
the Queen-dowager, he was suffered to throw him
self at the feet of his despotic master, and not only
obtained pardon, but- from motives of policy was
eventually restored to all his former dignities.
Medoko' s second rebellion and tragic death, em
bodied from the authentic details of eye-witnesses,
will form the subject ofthe six succeeding chapters.
They are designed to throw upon the character of
the monarch, and upon the customs of his court, a
light which could scarcely have been admitted
through any other lattice. The standard of revolt
long waved over the heathen frontier, and when
the storm which for months threatened the sub
version of the empire had at length been quelled
by the extinction of the fiery and turbulent spirit
that had raised it, large offerings were made by
His Majesty to all the churches and monasteries
throughout the realm, in return for their prayers;
and solemn processions and thanksgivings were
attended by the exercise of every sort of work of
charity and devotion.
Among the royal retinue this day seated before

A BASE ASSASSIN. 103
the village of Cherkos, was a young man of haughty
and daring exterior, whose flowing black mantle
covered a breast that must have been often agitated
by strange emotions. It Avas Chara, the son ofthe
rebel, one of the only two members ofthe disgraced
family to whom Sahela Selassie has become recon
ciled, and a youth who is said to resemble his sire,
not less in appearance than in gaUant bearing.
Prior to the breaking out of the insurrection he had
urged the arrest of his father; but no attention being
paid in the proper quarter, he subsequently en
listed under his banner, and carried arms against the
crown until the fall of the traitor, when from his
previous Avell-timed, though disregarded disclosure,
he received full pardon for the past.
Ayto Tunkaiye, a gigantic warrior, greatly dis
tinguished for his valour, who enacted a prominent
part in Medoko's execution, was also of the cor
tege ; and beside him stood Hailoo, younger brother
of the rebel noble, Avho purchased restoration to
royal favour at the expense of a deed of the
blackest treachery. This he recounted not only
without a blush, but with extraordinary satisfac
tion at his fancied heroism. Apprehending a simi
lar fate with him Avhose cause he had espoused, he
fled across the border, and found a safe asylum
with Wodage Girmee, a powerful Galla chieftain,
long in open revolt, and one of the bitterest enemies
of the monarch. Basely assassinating his bene
factor, whilst seated unsuspectingly in the open
H 4

104 VILLANY REWARDED.
field, he sprang upon his horse, and casting the
head of his victim at the royal footstool in token of
his viUany, was rewarded by advancement to the
government of Mesur Medur, a post of high honour,
which he enjoys to the present day, and which
occupies the frontier of the Galla dependencies.

105

CHAP. XIII.
MED6KO THE REBEL.
" Like whom to Shoan eyes,
None ere has risen and none ere shall rise."
Renoavnbd for his great strength and dauntless
heart, Med6ko was of a more robust and brawny
form than most of his countrymen. There was a bold
bearing in his erect carriage — his gait was proud,
and his speech haughty; and not less dexterous
in the management of his steed, than powerful in
wielding his weapons, he stood proclaimed the
most valiant, although the most insolent, of the
Amhara. His handsome features and gallant deeds
had gained for him the palm of favour among
aU the dames of the land. An aquiline nose stood
prominent from his manly countenance, and a
bright eye sparkled clear and daring under a
bushy brow. The fairest daughters of Shoa loved
to look upon the warrior, and rejoiced to add their
beauty to his harem, or to experience the gifts
of his bountiful hand ; and the shriU note of female
welcome burst from every throat, as he curveted
through the streets upon his gallant charger

106 RESTORATION TO FAVOUR.
shining in brass and steel, or careered at speed
over the plain, with his white and crimson robe
streaming behind his athletic frame.
Riches and honours and preferments had been
again liberally showered upon his head by the
monarch who had so frequently received the be
nefit of his assistance, and had been more than
once indebted for his Ufe to the strong arm of
the chief. The memory of past crime seemed to
have been obhterated and forgotten.
" Had he not err'd, his glory had been less ;"
and he was now raised to the high post of governor
of all the Galla, and Abogaz of the southern fron
tier of the kingdom.
But there was no lack of enemies to the impe
rious favourite ; and among the most bitter of his
opponents was one who, by the lying tongue of
insidious malice, materiaUy contributed to achieve
the downfal and destruction of the bravest son of
Shoa. WeU versed in all the petty arts of a mean and
sycophantish court, Father Asrat had held during
two successive reigns the snug office of a confessor
to the royal family. Sleek from good living, his
hood fell without a Avrinkle over his portly person,
and bowing in devotion before his superiors, the
Avorcls of flattery flowed in profusion from his
honied tongue. The sins of the rich were easily
forgiven, and the substitute was immediately pro-

FATHER ASRAT. 107
duced for the slight penance decreed by his lip ;
and the effects of his indulgence might be clearly
observed in the fine muslin which ever encircled
his shaven head — in the glossy condition of his
pampered mule — and in the gay ivory handles of
his polished crutch, which were displayed in osten
tation as he daily brushed through the court-yards
of the palace.
On many occasions the audacity of Med6ko had
broken out into open mockery of the priestly rapa
city; but although the dark feehngs of revenge
rankled in the breast of the burly monk, yet the
scowUng look of hatred Avas alone ventured in re
turn to the jibes of the great governor and first
favourite of the despot. On one fatal festival, how
ever, when the fumes of the old hydromel had
gained a complete ascendency over the party, a bitter
jest was retorted by the exasperated priest, a fierce
Avrangle ensued, and the holy person of Father
Asrat was violently spurned against the Avail by
the strong arm ofthe hot-blooded chief.
A reconciliation had been outwardly effected by
mutual friends, but from that day the most Avily
insinuations were used to poison the breast of the
King. The actions of the past Avere vividly brought
to recollection, words that had never been spoken,
and expressions craftily distorted to serve a vUe
purpose, were daily poured into the ro}?al ear; and
although the demeanour of the monarch remained
unchanged, suspicion was gradually being instiUed

108 PRINCESS "GOLDEN FRUIT."
into his mind, and the cloud required but a slight
pressure to discharge its contents.
According to the custom of the country the royal
princesses lived in total seclusion untU it suited
the despot's caprice or pohcy to open the door of
their cage. " A daughter of the royal house will
be led to the nuptial altar on the morrow," is the
sole intimation afforded ; and the happy bridegroom
is not aware of the honour to be conferred, until
the hand of "the introducer" leads him from the
group which encircles the throne, to the immediate
performance of the rite. But the stout-hearted
Med6ko had contrived to behold the beauty of the
far-famed princess " Golden Fruit," and intoxicated
by a long succession of prosperity, and stirred up
by the deceitful priest to believe that the King
would refuse no request preferred by a chief whose
services were held in such high esteem, he rashly
resolved upon demanding the only remaining favour
Avhich the monarch had hitherto Avithheld.
On a bright morning in May before the com
mencement of the monsoon, a distinguished caval
cade entered the outer gates of the palace fortifi
cations. The stately person of the leader was
enveloped in a flowing robe bedizened with many
crimson stripes, and a long white feather streamed
high over his raven hair. A gauntlet and bracelet of
silver decorated his sinewy arm, the token of many
a hard conflict; and the massive sUver sword flashed
from his right side, the emblem of high autho-

THE AUDIENCE. 109
rity and place. The bearer of his silver shield
preserved a respectful space for the chief, and the
dark war-steed, glittering in chains and studs of
polished metal, foUowed neighing at his side. A
dense mass of wild fiery Galla, armed with the
serrated lance and tough black buckler, closed the
procession, which amidst the acclamations of the
assembled mob, wound up the rocky path of the
palace hill of Ank6ber.
The great door was thrown open at the last
flight of steps, and Med6ko advanced to the audi
ence of leave previous to his departure to the seat
of his government. The smaU latticed gallery had
been decked out in his honour, and the crhnson
velvet hangings of state depended in front, loaded
with massive silver ornaments. Rich carpets were
spread below for the convenience of the more
favoured nobles. The officers of the household
uncovered to the waist stood in a double toav in
front ; and the monarch reclined upon his seat of
honour at the open window, gaily clad in a green
silk vest bordered with gold, over which the folds
of the usual white robe of Abyssinia hung gracefuUy
around his recumbent figure.
Advancing to the prescribed Umit, Med6ko, ac
cording to the custom of ages, prostrated himself
to the earth before the descendant of Solomon, and
then, raising his haughty figure erect before the
monarch, he boldly preferred the request of his
heart. " Behold, I have brought a present to the

HO A RASH REQUEST.
King, that he may hear me in love, and dismiss his
servant well pleased from his presence."
Ten war steeds fully equipped, together with
five hundred buUocks, twenty slaves, and two large
bags of silver coin, were ushered into the court
yard. The eye of the avaricious king brightened
with satisfaction at the liberal gift of his vassal,
and the words were spoken more kindly than
usual — " What is the desire ofthe Abogaz ?" But
the answer of daring rashness which followed fell
like a thunderbolt upon the court — "The hand
ofthe Princess Worka Ferri."
The rod of green rushes dropped from the grasp
ofthe astonished "introducer," and chiefs and nobles
half rose from their seats, as the mysteries of royal
seclusion were thus boldly infringed before the
multitude. But although the monarch was irritated
to the last pitch by this unprecedented insolence,
he restrained his feelings under the usual cold calm
smile. " We will converse regarding this business
at a future period," he said, and the audience was
closed with an invitation to the chief to pass his last
evening in the private apartments of the palace —
an honour conferred only upon a favoured few.
Warnings and advice were not Avanting from
many quarters, and recollection called to mind
many dark scenes which had been transacted at the
friendly board of the despot, who was Avell known
to be in a dangerous mood Avhen too many smiles
lighted up his countenance, and avIio preferred the

AN EVENING IN THE PALACE. Ill
quiet capture of his enemy to forcible seizure in
¦the open day. But the rash Medoko, confident in
his own ascendency through service rendered,
discarded every thought of evil. With a stout
heart he entered the gloomy hall at the appointed
hour, and under the guidance of an eunuch pro
ceeded along the rough dark passages of the in
terior. On gaining the inner apartment he found Father
Asrat and his assistant kneeling in the corner
before their low desks, mumbling the lessons of
the evening from the miracles of the Holy Virgin
— divers flasks of potent spirits being as usual
ranged on the wicker table for the entertainment
of the select company. All were in the highest
humour. The demeanour of the monarch was kind
and concihating; and amongst the honours and
favours which were that night hberaUy bestowed,
the priest received the high office of chief of the
church of the Saviour in the romantic village of
Cherkos. The usual topics were discussed — the
usual quantity of strong liquor swaUoAved — and at
intervals the choristers chanted the Psalms of
David. The evening passed in great hilarity, and
the company at length rose to depart.
His heart bounding high with future hope,
Med6ko stooped low to pay the salutation of the
night, and Avas instantaneously pinioned from be
hind, whilst a rush from the front prevented
every effort to lay hand upon his weapon. By his

112 THE ARREST.
fierce struggles he once nearly regained an erect
position, but numbers crowded through every pas
sage, and he lay stretched on the floor securely
bound and hampered with many coils of rope.
"Fetters and a dungeon for the slave! "ex
claimed the monarch as he quitted the scene of
betrayed hospitality, and guards entered to obey
the royal mandate. But ere the captive could be
borne to his doom, a heavy foot pressed upon his
prostrate neck. The smUe of satisfied revenge
played over the bloated features of the malicious
monk, and it shot through the heart of the fallen
warrior. A deadly vow was muttered betwixt his
clenched teeth ; and as he lay foaming with rage,
the words were half audible through his suppressed
breathing, " Let him guard his cowled head if he
can : henceforth to the Devil with my allegiance ! "

113

CHAP. XIV.
ESCAPE FROM GONCHO.
Med6ko had been hurried from the presence,
and urged along the rough road with as much
rapidity as possible ; but people are seldom so un
fortunate as they suppose themselves to be. His
fate Avas not as yet accomplished, and a slight
diversion had been already made in his favour. A
faithful foUoAver, alarmed at the protracted stay of
his chief, had silently stationed himself at the secret
outlet of the palace, Avhence he witnessed the pro
gress of his beloved master. A devoted band, hastily
coUected, folloAved close on the footsteps of the
guard ; and as the prisoner passed through the thick
forest of Aferbeine, the shrill note of the Galla
henchman more than once fell on his attentive ear,
to convey the Avelcome tidings that he Avas not
altogether deserted in this his hour of distress.
As the party climbed the rocky steep, the moon
Avas fast sinking behind the great mountains, and
her pale beams fell cold over the isolated rock of
Goncho, on the summit of which is perched the
state prison of the kingdom. Rising a lone peak
on the crest of a serrated range, the lower extremity
VOL. II. I

114 THE BESOTTED GAOLER.
of the hill is rent and riven by the hand of time,
and numerous ravines clothed in brushwood dip
deep into its furrowed bosom, whilst the bare
craggy scarp is left towering high and black over
the Avide-spreading valleys Avhich on either side
wind their tortuous course far below. Sharp
palisades guard the approach, and strong gateways
lead through well-defended court-yards to a cluster
of edifices which form the residence of the frontier
governor, and the entrance to the places of con
finement. Vanquished by fate, yet refusing to yield, a
spasm of painful emotion covered with cold dew
the brow of the haughty chief, as his step passed
the rocky threshold ofthe prison. But the thoughts
of a free foot on the mountain-side, and the signal
vengeance that would follow, banished from his
stout heart the usual feelings of despair, and in
ironical words he returned the salutations of his
brother Abogaz, into whose keeping he was about
to be consigned.
'Wulasma Mohammad was a fat imperious per
sonage, of most sinister expression of countenance,
and much more feared than either loved or re
spected. The cool healthy air of his mountain
fortress, and a quiet life of inactivity, had filled his
veins Avith a rich flow of blood, and he spent the
greater portion of the day over a jar of potent
hydromel. His body had become bloated and his
mind bewildered by the fumes of the liquor; and

THE DUNGEON KEEP. 115
dividing his time between dreaming and drinking,
he left the charge of his bolts and avocations to
his burly brother Jhalia, who, fortunately for the
prisoner, was now engaged on the frontier, quelling
a disturbance which had been induced by the
stupidity of his superior.
The vulture eye of the Abogaz brightened up on
the arrival of the Ulustrious Medoko ; and being at
the moment unable to comprehend whether he
came as a prisoner or as a guest, an order for enter
tainment and wine rung through the apartment,
instead of chains and fetters for the malefactor.
Relieved from the ropes which had hitherto con
fined his movements, the chief was ushered with all
ceremony into the great hall of the court ; nor was
it untU after reiterated requests on the part of the
guard, and a solemn adjuration by the Ufe of the
King, that the blinking gaoler, cheated out of his
expected carouse, consented to take some measures
of precaution.
Built on the only sloping face of the hill, the
governor's houses stretch entirely across the outlet
from scarp to scarp, and from his immediate bed
chamber two trap-doors cover the passages to the
inner recesses of the prison. A staircase descends
from one into the vaults underground, where
immured in chains are the state criminals, and
the younger branches of the royal family ; and a
passage leads through the other to a series of small
apartments erected upon the upper surface of the
i 2

116 A DARING CONCEPTION.
hill, but surrounded by strong palisades to the very
verge of the precipice. The scarp was of con
siderable height, and had never yet been attempted
by those offenders whose lighter crimes had en
forced a residence in these more agreeable loca
tions ; and the besotted Wulasma being in no mood
to reflect on the strength and daring of his present
charge, merely conducted him to one of these
places of security, and barring the door on the out
side, retired grumbling to the crown officials, after
leaving an ample repast, with lights, for the enter
tainment of his distinguished prisoner.
The wax taper was flaming and sinking at inter
vals over the untouched food, as one quarter of
an hour was passed in attentive musing ; but the
peculiarities of the prisoner's situation were too
striking not to be immediately taken advantage of,
and he accordingly braced up his spirits for the
enterprise. Having contrived with his host's knife
to remove the thongs and sticks which composed
the walls of his flimsy dungeon, he crept into
an outward apartment, Avhere the stars could be
perceived twinkling brightly through an aperture.
To wrench the iron bars from the window was the
work of a moment ; and leaping from a considerable
height, Medoko stood unshackled in the cool air of
heaven. There remained still many hours of the
night, and the darkness favoured his undertaking,
although little suited to the task to be performed ;
but palisade and paling yielded to his strength and

FAVOURABLE OMEN. 117
activity, and after an anxious hour of exertion,
he reached the dark precipice unnoticed and un
discovered. Nought broke the stillness of the scene save the
sound of the wind whistling over the sharp crags ;
and as the daring fugitive stood for a time in me
ditation before venturing the awful leap, an owl,
brushing his cheek, soared away on noiseless pinion ;
the hoot which re-echoed from below seeming as
the voice of a spirit calling to follow without
fear. Quickly recovering his confidence at the
omen, and nerving himself for the perilous task,
he slid down the face of the precipice, and recom
mending his soul to the Holy Virgin, quitted hold
of the last tuft of grass which alone sustained him
over the yawning gulf. Down, down dropped the
chief, until his very senses reeled again; but his
flowing cotton robe materially assisted the miracu
lous descent, by catching the sharp points and re
straining for a moment the rapidity of his flight.
The strength of his long brawny arms served him
well in this hour of need, as clutching the rocks
he retained his hold for a second, in order to gain
breath for the next dread plunge into the gloomy
abyss. Then bounding again like the falling stone,
he pursued his avalanche-like flight, till at length,
bruised and bleeding, he reached the bottom of the
rocky scarp, hitherto untraversed except by the
sticky foot of the lizard.
The shrill note for assistance, well known to
i 3

118 FLIGHT OVER THE BORDER.
every Galla ear, was speedily answered by his
watchful followers. Crowding round their beloved
chief, they quickly bound up his wounds, and
after a short rest the party recovered the beaten
track. Placed once again on his own good steed,
he raised his form in the stirrups, and shouted
his battle cry of defiance. Each bridle was laid
loose upon the mane, and the wild riders plunged
at speed down the flinty ravine, now partially
illumined by the flash of the matchlocks from
the alarmed garrison. A brave spirit is not to
be subdued by exile, for every soil forms his
home and his country; and away to the free plains
of the Galla the headlong course was preserved,
where Med6ko was well assured of receiving every
sympathy and protection.

119

CHAP. XV.
INSURRECTION OF THE GALLA.
In the heart of the mountain range of Garra Gor-
phoo stood a large Galla hamlet — for it has been
since visited in wrath by the monarch — situated
in one of those sweet locations which the children
of nature delight to select. The deep valley is
thickly clothed with the most luxuriant cultivation,
and its giant sides rise in a gentle slope, throwing
out a succession of verdant terraces teeming with
the herbs and flowers so well beloved by the pas
toral tribe. On one of these stood the village of
Mundeeda, the residence of Goma, the great chief
of the Abidchu. A bright green sward extended
far in front, and the steep mountain that rises
behind afforded shelter from the bleak blast of
Avinter. A sparkling brook, ever dashing in tiny
cascades doAvn the craggy face, glides away in a
quiet course over the enamelled meadow, until
lost in the grove of dark junipers Avhich rest on
the side of a grassy knoU, where the sacrifice was
performed in honour of the deities, and Avhere the
listless heathen was wont to dream away the hours
of idleness. i 4

120

HAMLET OF MUNDEEDA.

The tenements, although low and rudely con
structed of stakes and mud, were warm and com
modious ; and the numerous posts which rose from
the clay floor to support the thatch, served as a
resting-place for shields and spears and swords,
which had imparted to the interior the semblance
of an extensive armoury. Every thing was in
a state of utter confusion and uproar. Large
droves of wild shaggy horses and clusters of fiery
savages Avere grouped on the plain outside. The
ringing shout of the warrior mingled with the
neigh of his war steed, and the din and the
clatter of household avocations resounded from
the interior of every hut. To add to the bustle
the Galla females were running from house to
house Avith their long raven tresses streaming over
their bare shoulders ; whilst their short leather
petticoats, with embroidered flounces, displayed the
Avell-shaped limbs and the graceful form, for which
the tribe are so justly famed.
In every nook large earthen jars, and wicker
baskets filled with grain, were stored in readiness
to supply the demands for food, as each tribe
poured in to the general gathering of the clans.
Black eyes peered wildly over the grinding-mill and
the cauldron ; and the merry laugh at the novel ap
pearance of the motley throng, with the suppressed
scream of delight from the timid maiden, arose
frequently from the dark corners of the hovels.
Preparations were making for hospitality on the

TAG AN CHIEFTAINS. 121
most extensive scale. A successful foray had that
very morning returned laden with spoil, and the
King of the Amhara had for once amply supplied
the table of his revolted heges.
Crowded around the cheerful blaze of a fierce
fire that was crackling in the centre of the largest
building, sat a score of persons, who were beguiling
the time until the entertainment should be ready,
by discussing the daring escape of Medoko, and the
success which would assuredly attend the moAre-
ment of the morrow. The dress of the greater
number of these men was the usual cotton cloth,
black and soiled with the grease of years ; but the
accumulated massive ivory rings upon the arm, the
ostrich feather floating over the matted locks white
with a crust of mutton suet, and the spoils of the
lion and the leopard dangling over the back, pro
claimed the presence of the chieftains of the land.
Their gaunt frames and supple limbs betokened a
life of activity and endurance, and their restless
eyes gleamed over the fire with all the quick sus
picion of the savage.
The black bull hide formed the only covering to
the host of attendants that thronged behind their
respective lords, and a few Amhara robes flaunted
in white and crimson, amidst the sombre vest
ments of the GaUa group. But Medoko and his
sons, toAvering in stature above all their compeers,
appeared in the full costume of the Christian
Avarriors of Efat.

122

GALLA HORDES.

Decked in silver gauntlets and armlets, with the
graceful akodama hanging in glittering clusters
over their manly brows, the master spirits of the
scene were easily to be distinguished. The usual
robe of peace had been well replaced by the skin
of the tawny lion, which nearly reached the
ground. Fastened on one side around the sinewy
throat, it aUoAved full freedom to the right arm,
and only partially concealed the rich silk vest
fitting lightly over the form, and the loose kilt-like
trowsers which hung barely to the knee.
The kindling fuel of insurrection had indeed
been well fanned — ancient wrongs were fully
brought to mind, and vengeance was liberally pro
mised. Few were there present who had not suf
fered either in person or in property, from the
midnight appearance of the Christian despot.
Hereditary feud and quarrel had therefore been
laid aside on the soul-inspiring words of the chief,
and the weapons been eagerly seized in a common
cause, at the thoughts of the devastation which
had ever marked the bloody track of the Am
hara host.
These GaUa tribes dwell Avith their horses in
boundless prairies, engaged, some in the cultiva
tion of the fruitful soU, and others in the pasturage
of their numerous flocks, but all are ever ready on
the moment to mount for the battle or the foray.
Baggage and hospital are unknown to the wild
array, and rations are found Avhen required among

SACRIFICE TO THE DEITY. 123
the plundered herds of the enemy. A scrip of tobacco
forms the only luxury in camp. A greasy cloth
enfolds by day and night the body of each stalwart
savage. Lance and sword and shield complete
his equipment ; and the hardy host, leader and
partisan, sleep without cover on the cold bare
ground. The wild hordes from the boundless plains of
the Hawash, under the gigantic Wodage Girme,
first poured in tlieir warriors. The depths of the
Moolo Falada forests next swelled the numbers, and
the heights of Entotto and Sequala had completed
the rebel force, eager for spoil and for revenge,
which was ready to cover the land with desolation
on the morrow.
The sacrifice to the Great Spirit had been that
afternoon performed by the priest with every
favourable result, and the preparations for the feast
of departure were now completed. Bullocks and
sheep were slaughtered by the score on the green
meadow, and beside each carcass an abundance of
bread and beer were deposited for the impatient
guests, who immediately grouped around the food,
and with keen knives commenced the attack. A long
wicker table had been placed in the centre of the
largest apartment, and deep earthen vessels, filled
with thick pepper soup, were ranged in double line
down the middle, whilst cakes of every description
thickly covered the surface. The chief took his
station at the top, and the guests were squatted

124

THE CAROUSE.

on their hams on either side. Slave boys, on their
knees, supported huge jars of sour beer, and the
females, perched -upon adjoining bedsteads, were
ready to dole out the more potent hquor.
The steam of the bowls, containing a decoction
of fowls, red pepper, onions, and grease, together
Avith the more offensive effluvia from fifty rancid
heads and as many unwashed persons, Avere en
dured Avith the most stoical indifference ; and the
feeble light of a feAV tapers that gleamed faintly
through the smoke was just sufficient to reveal
the rows of eager faces in earnest preparation, and
the gleam of the sharp teeth whetting for the enter
tainment. The hum of voices in low conversation ceased on
the moment, when the host, dipping a fragment of
bread into one of the large bowls, dropped the
savoury morsel into his elevated mouth. Every
hand forthwith felt its way to the provender, and
the loud smacking of satisfied lips succeeded the
suppressed chatter of tongues. Servants, bending
over the guests, amply supplied their wants, by
tearing the bread with their hands, and after a dip
and a plunge into the greasy porridge, consigning
the dripping morsel to the first empty fingers that
were protruded. No fork or spoon graced the
festive board. No conversation now enlivened the
scene. All sat like silent wolves engaged in a
plentiful repast, considering that one thing at a
time was sufficient for all men.

DEFIANCE TO THE DESPOT. 125
The delicate raw meat was next introduced,
and the dismembered limbs of sheep and oxen
were placed as a dessert upon the groaning board.
The servants threw themselves upon the flesh,
and, drawing their long crooked knives from their
girdles, cut and hacked the bloody joints into small
squares, which were received from the fingers, and
bolted with the greatest satisfaction, until nature
cried enough. Then commenced the deep carouse.
Horn after horn was drained. The presiding
deities over the liquor jars were unceasingly em
ployed in serving out their contents, and as the
brain reeled under the influence of strong old mead,
the Avords of contempt burst from every lip. " Who
is the King of Shoa, that he should trample upon
men braver than himself ? Here is our protector
and avenger. Med6ko is our leader, and he alone
shall be our king ! " But the uproar, which for a
time rose wildly from the hut, gradually died aAvay
as the horn was carried with unsteady hand to
the mouth. Warrior after warrior stretched him
self to sleep beside the cleanly picked relics of his
reeking feast ; and chief after chief, staggering a
few paces from the table, rolled his head among the
folds of his greasy cloth, and resigned himself to a
heavy slumber.

126

CHAP. XVI.
MASSACRE OF THE CHRISTIANS AT CHEKKOS.
The verdant meadows of the Shoan district of
Daggee are strangely broken and intersected by
low chains of barren rock, with here and there an
isolated hillock crowned by the abode of the Chris
tian farmer ; whilst between each little eminence
rolls the lazy brook winding sluggishly over the
floAvery plain, as if reserving its energies for the
thundering leap into the great chasm of the Chacha.
Broken, craggy, and desolate, this mighty abyss
sinks upwards of a thousand feet abruptly from the
plain. Its giant sides are in parts slightly fringed
with delicate moss or sweet-scented thyme. A few
small huts dot the scanty terraces Avhich have been
raised during the heaving throes of its production;
but the Avolf and the hyama chiefly tenant the dark
caves and slippery fissures, whilst the vulture
screams her death note over the yawning gulf.
Superstition has wrapped the beetling cliff and
the gloomy ravine in her dark embrace, for here
the captive toils in the boAvels of the earth to
procure the stubborn iron. The clang of the
dreaded smith disturbs the stillness of day, and

THE INFANT CAPITAL. 127
the chant of the hymn rises solemnly in the morn
ing mist from the adjacent church of the Saviour,
which stands embosomed in a dark grove of juni
pers. Far down in the bottom the Chacha appears
like the smaU murmuring miU-stream, although
the accumulated waters of a broad plateau are
there rolling in mad fury, to yield their tribute to
the mighty Nile ; and at frequent intervals the
mountain torrents dash in wUd spume over the
frowning scarp which for miles, in one uninter
rupted precipice, forms the impregnable fortification
of the land.
Near the commencement of this fantastic shaft,
and barely a gunshot from its brink, stands Angol-
lala, the rising capital of the kingdom, and the
great outpost of defence to the upper pass into
the Christian land. Three smaU hills which rise
abruptly from the verdant plain, and enclose a
circular area, had been judiciously selected as a site
by the wary founder, but the settlement Avas at
this date in aU the disorder of infancy. Only a
few hundred hovels, composed of most flimsy mate
rials, had been hastily erected on the sloping sides
of tAVo of the hiUocks ; but the smallest was distin
guished by the more imposing edifice dedicated as
a church to the Ark of the Holy Covenant, and its
table summit was crowned with an ample residence
for the Negoos.
A few trees raised their stunted heads to the
cold bleak Avind above the thatch of the various

128 " THE QUEEN OF THE HILL."
kitchens and storehouses, Avhich were crowded thick
over the crest, and a deep belt of the flowering
umbdr threw a zone of fragrant lilac blossoms around
the royal buildings. Stones and rocks, strewed plen
tifully in every direction by the hand of nature,
formed a considerable impediment to the rapid ad
vance of horsemen ; and stout heavy wooden palings,
which descended in a double or treble row far doAvn
the slope, completely screened the royal inmates
against any sudden surprise from the border foe.
A wide meadow stretches from the palace tu
mulus to the very brink of the abyss ; and on the
opposite height is situated the lovely Aillage of
Cherkos, which from its beauty had been formerly
designated by the Galla " The Queen of the Hill."
Sheltered by a magnificent grove of evergreens,
the hamlet overlooked the pleasant slope which ex
tends to the verge of the precipice, gaUy diversified
with rich fields of cultiAration and plots of green
pasture land. It had been captured from the
heathen by the last king of Shoa; and although
colonised by faA-ourite Christians of the court, the
revenues Avere bestowed upon the church of the
Saviour, which had been erected immediately be-
Ioav the village in the dark depths of the Chacha
ravine, and which Avas iioav under the direction and
guidance of Father Asrat.
The hazy sun had sunk beyond the dark waters
of the muddy Nile ; the rivulets Avere trickling
in discoloured streams from the surrounding

THE ALARM. 129
hillocks to form a temporary lake in the enclosed
amphitheatre, and each reeking thatch sent up its
quota to the cloud of thick mist, Avhich was fast
settling over the low hills of Ang611ala. The meadow
brooks were swollen to the brim, and the long
plains, briUiant Avith verdure, presented a pleasing
prospect to the eye, although a most treacherous
surface to the incautious foot. The monsoon Avas
indeed raging in violence over the land ; and ac
cording to custom, the monarch, thinly attended
by his household officers and establishment, alone
occupied the palace. All the governors and great
men had taken leave and departed to their respec
tive provinces, the capital was well nigh deserted,
and as night closed in, the few remaining serf in
habitants were seeking a dry corner in their frail
huts to shiver through the weary hours of darkness.
As the moan of the wind is heard preceding the
coming storm, so the hum of a confused multitude
first struck upon the practised ear of the vigilant.
The alarm was quickly spread by the fierce baying
of the dogs. The chant of the singer suddenly
ceased within the palace, and the King folloAved
by aU his attendants rushed to the southern
palisado. Then came distinctly to every heart the
clash of the horse at speed, clattering OArer the
opposite heights above the Chacha, as the pagan
host surrounded the devoted hamlet of Cherkos.
The glare of light and the faint wreath of smoke
next succeeded, as the torch spread from hut to hut.
VOL. II. K

130 THE WORK FINISHED.
The wind blew cold and gusty, and the flames
wheeling in fearful eddies through the mist, revealed
at intervals the cliff and the crag, and the peaceful
church reposing amid the dark grove of junipers
hitherto unpolluted by the foot of the gentile.
The Avild shout of triumph, mingling with the
shrill shriek of despair, now rolled in fitful notes
across the intervening plain. The whole firmament
was at length illumined by one fierce blaze of
light, and the conflagration was witnessed in terror
by the assembled inmates of the palace ; for the
sacred precincts of the church itself had been now
invaded, and a group of priests in their last ex
tremity could be distinctly seen, surrounded by a
mass of the savage foe. But the next eddy of
mist from the boiling cauldron between, shrouded
the scene from sight. The priest Asrat shud
dered at the thoughts of his narrow escape, for
he had only that morning quitted the sacred
shelter. But the eyeball Avas in vain strained
to see what Avas passing. Darkness rendered its
efforts abortive. By degrees the flame expired,
and one horrid shout of exultation from ten
thousand AvUd throats rose over hill and dale, in
earnest that the work of slaughter had been well
finished for that night, and that numbers Avere not
wanting for the morrow.
Hurry and confusion reigned throughout the
capital. The King Avas advised to avail himself of
the protection of darkness, and retire to Ankober ;

PRESSING CALL FOR AID. 131
but his evening dream had been pleasant, and he
was buoyed up by the words of the strong monk.
" Shall I leave my children in the day of their
distress," he exclaimed, " and the seat of my
fathers to be polluted by the accursed touch of the
rebel ? No ; death is preferable to such disgrace."
The royal gates opened to receive the terrified in
habitants, who came flocking up the hUl. Every
matchlock was lowered from the walls of the great
hall, and distributed amongst the young and able-
bodied. Doors were barred and barricaded, and
sufficient means of defence for a time seemed to
have miraculously sprung from the untenanted
location. The pens of the scribes were now wielded with
vigour; and as each tiny letter, or token, or en
treaty, was handed for approval, the wild horse
man mounted on the moment, and his long
hair streamed in the night breeze, as, floundering
through the muddy outlet, he dashed at speed over
the eastern plain.
The pressing call for aid fleAV quick through the
land. The love and fear of the King brought go
vernor and vassal to the rescue ; and as hatred of
the rebel's insolence even stimulated the duU spirits
to action, long ere the cock had first announced the
advance of morning, numerous bands from the
immediate vicinity had assembled on the meadow,
a Uving barrier betAveen the beleaguered monarch
and his stern foe. k 2

132

CHAP. XVII.
BATTLE OF ANG6LLALA.
The day dawned, but there remained nothing of
the late beautiful village of Cherkos. Death and
desolation had spread to the very gates of the capi
tal, and the rocky ridge was covered with a dark
mass of the Galla host. But the plains were too
miry to support the weight of man and horse ; and
after an ineffectual attempt from one or two small
parties, the cloud of war, with the bright lances
flashing from its dark bosom, settled again upon the
scene of slaughter.
Frightful indeed was the sight which met the
gaze of the Amhara, as they took their position in
front of the plundered village on the frowning
scarp of the ravine. The opposite crags were
studded Avith the mangled bodies of their murdered
compatriots. Men, women, and children had been
ruthlessly sacrificed, and the thousand favoured
inhabitants of a pleasant abode now lay stark and
Aveltering among the rocks, whei'e the strength of
the fierce pagan had hurled them. The heaving
of an arm here and there evinced that the spark of
life still remained in some ; but the chasm was im-

WANT OF PROVISIONS. 133
passable to the foot of man, and the wolf and
hyama lay undisturbed, gorged and glutted after
their reeking festival.
The sun shone brightly for the few days fol
lowing the appearance of the heathen host, and
the surface of the muddy meadow had recovered
its wonted consistency. Both parties were anxious
for the combat which was to decide the question of
supremacy, for both were equally hard-pressed for
the means of subsistence. With their usual reckless
indifference to the future, the GaUa had wasted
the country, and rioted in the destruction. The
supplies brought to the royal camp were nearly
exhausted ; and the King also, galled by the pre
sence of the rebellious array within sight of his
capital, and having noAv succeeded in assembling a
much superior force, resolved upon giving battle on
the morrow.
Prayers and psalms had been recited the livelong
night — vows were made at every shrine in the
kingdom — and the ark of the cathedral of St.
Michael had been transported from Ank6ber under
a canopy of red cloth, to shed its holy influence
over the Christian army. At an early hour the
King, under the shade of the velvet umbrellas, sur
rounded by his chiefs, nobles, and high priests,
and preceded by kettle-drums and wind instru
ments, issued from the palace gateAvay, and with
his band of matchlockmen took up a position about
a mile from the town.
k 3

134 THE ENGAGEMENT.
During the night detachments had been steadily
moving from every direction to this fixed point.
Column after column streamed through the valley,
or rolled down the sloping hill; and as the day
dawned, the warriors of Amhara formed a deep
line of horse and foot on either side of the monarch,
one narrow plain and the river Chacha alone separ
ating them from the enemy. Nor were the Galla
in any way slow to take their station, bristling in a
dark front along the opposite ridge, where the tall
figure of the rebel was distinctly to be observed
marshalling his wild forces for the coming fray.
The battle commenced by repeated discharges
from the King's gunmen ; but the distance was too
great for execution, and a shout of derision an
swered each impotent volley. The gigantic Tun-
kaiye first pressed forward to the close encounter,
and the cavaliers of Shoa Avere not slow in following
his example, for many fought under the eyes of
their Avives and chUdren, all for the honour of the
King and the glory of true religion ; and the number
of their lances fearfully exceeded those in the
opposing ranks.
Impetuous in the assault, the pagan host came
down like the rushing blast, and the stones flew
far under the clatter of their hoofs. But they
were fiercely met by the long-bladed spears of
the Amhara, and every inch of ground was for
once stoutly contested. The roar of the foaming
cataract, which thundered down Avithin fifty yards

THE MEN OF MANS. 135
of the battle-field, was lost in the hoarse yeUs Avhich
rung through the air. The rocky bed proved for
a time the scene of slaughter, and the turbid
waters receiving numbers of dying and wounded
wretches, hurried them to eternity. At length
each individual singling out his foe, the contest
assumed the confused appearance of a chance
medley. The long lance met Avith little opposition
from the cotton robe ; and, deprived of other
weapons, Christian and GaUa, grappUng stoutly
together, fought with sword and knife, and in the
fury of the moment, and in the excitement of the
struggle, many rolled over the frowning scarp, cling
ing tightly together in the last embrace of death.
Med6ko and his gaUant sons were everywhere
in the thickest of the fight. His shout, rising high
over the storm, animated the faint-hearted, and his
presence roused to new life and exertion the suc
cessful partisan. Many of the Amhara bands were
already reeling from the repeated shock of the wild
riders of the Hawash, when, suddenly, in the very
heat of the action, a large body of warriors, clothed
in black mantles and armed with long heavy
spears, rushed down the hill on foot, and, pro
strating themselves as they passed the royal um
brellas, descended fresh into the arena. The fierce
inhabitants of Mans had sped to the rescue from the
hereditary estates, and their savage ferocity and
reckless bravery was weU known throughout the
land. The relations and the household retainers
k 4

136 THE REBELS ROUTED.
of the rebel attempted to breast the storm, but
they were scattered like autumnal leaves before the
angry blast ; and the chief arrived to the suc
cour only to behold the spot strewed with the
bodies of numbers of his stoutest partizans, and to
witness his beloved son, the youthful Hailoo,
sink before his eyes, transfixed by a dozen spear
blades. A panic seized the pagans ; and, dismayed
and broken-hearted, the host fled tumultuously
in every direction.
In vain Med6ko performed the most incredible
acts of valour — his voice had now lost its charm ;
and, crippled by a spear which had penetrated his
shoulder — his proud heart sweUing Avith indig
nation — he at length perceived that the fortune
of the day was not to be retrieved. Cutting his
way single-handed through the squadrons of the
enemy, he also gave the loose rein to his horse and
scoured over the hills.
The sun had reached the meridian when the hot
pursuit commenced, and the arm of vengeance was
not stayed until long after his sinking beloAV the
western horizon. Every Amhara spear was drip
ping in blood to the haft. The stain of gore was
on every cheek, and as the weary warrior returned
from the massacre, the chest of his jaded war-steed
Avas ornamented with the cloth of the accursed
gentile, Avhose body he had left to the fangs of
the Avild beast.
After gallopping for some miles along with the

MONASTERY OF AFFAF WOIRA. 137
few chiefs who had escaped from the fatal field, a
short halt Avas allowed to refresh the horses, and
Medoko proclaimed his intention of accompanying
the party no further. Asylum and assistance Avere
in vain offered ; the stout heart of the rebel had
been quelled in the late heavy loss he had sustained,
and for a time at least he bowed to the power of
the monarch of Shoa. Short was the moment
allowed for the explanation, for the pursuer was
hotly crossing the last range of hiUs, and the band,
after a hurried parting and a hope for better days,
mounted and pressed forward.
Med6ko and his surviving son Chara, now com
menced the more difficult undertaking of threading
their path back again among the advancing Amhara ;
but the perfect knowledge of the localities enabled
them to take advantage of every hill and hollow.
After many weary hours of anxiety they passed
the capital undiscovered, and urging their horses
to speed took the road to Ankober. The Bereza
was roaring from bank to brae, but the gallant
steeds successfuUy breasted the rushing waters.
The King's watchmen had left their cold posts, in
order to take shelter from the cutting blast, before
the riders swept down the rocky defile of the Chaka,
towards the wooded sides of Mamrat; and long
ere the voice of the brotherhood had risen in the
matin chant, the rebels had been formally admitted
to sanctuary, and were safely reposing in the sacred
monastery of Affaf Woira.

138

CHAP. XVIII.

TRAGIC END OF MEDOKO.

Breaking suddenly through the tangled under
wood which springs luxuriantly among the dense
forest, at the foot of the great mountain range, an
open glade is disclosed to view, with the tall juniper
trees rising unincumbered from the emerald turf.
The church of Affaf Woira and the tenement of
Abba Salama, its superior, stand enclosed by a rough
stone Avail, and individual huts are scattered in
clusters over a gentle eminence which rises on the
steep side of the river, where the indolent brothers,
" Under the shade of melancholy boughs,
Lose and neglect the creeping hours of time."
An air of the most perfect repose usually per
vades the scene. The inmates are ahke indifferent
to the blast of winter and to the cares of life. Ma
jestic trees tower high overhead, yielding undis
turbed protection to the vulture and the white Ibis.
The " monk of the wood," the Gur^za ape, there
displays his variegated coat floating in peace amongst
the mossy branches; and Avhilst every breath from
beneath wafts up the perfumed air, the lazy monk

MONASTIC INTERCESSION. 139
of the monastery during the entire day basks in the
sun amidst the bright floAvers of nature's growth,
gazing in apathy on the sparkling stream which
steals through the forest, half hid in a fringe of
the willow and the bamboo.
But bustle and confusion for once disturbed this
dreamy repose. The priests had been engaged in
noisy choir, and the sacred drum bad resounded
since dawn of day. At length the portals of the
haUowed edifice were thrown open, and the holy pro
cession, under the thundering chorus of an Abys
sinian psalm, streamed over the bright greensward.
The gay umbrellas of the church, rich in satin and
silver, led the van, and the corpulent superior in his
white cotton robes followed the insignia, bestriding a
sleek mule decked in metal chains and tinkling bells.
At his side marched the bearers of the straight
falchions, sheathed in scabbards of polished silver.
A band of priests folloAved, with their heads swathed
in folds of white cloth, and their persons wrapped
in black woollen cloaks, profusely studded with
blood-red crosses and other emblems of Christianity ;
and closing the procession strode two hundred
stout dirty monks, clothed in the skin of the wild
antelope, with tlieir shaven heads enveloped in dark
greasy cloths, each carrying in his hand a small
iron cross, and each joining the tribute of his lusty
throat to the deafening chant. Dell and dingle
rung again as the psalm increased in violence, and
the cavalcade, threading the intricacies of the wood,

140 INFLUENCE OF THE CHURCH.
proceeded on its mission of mercy, to implore pardon
for the rebel who had thrown himself on the pro
tection of the monastery.
The conference Avith the monarch was long and
stormy. The royal vengeance was far from being
appeased, but feelings of revenge were restrained
by his fear of the Church, and more particularly
so at the present juncture, when religious disputes
regarding the two natures of Christ were begin
ning to excite an unusual ferment in many parts
of the kingdom. An unwilling pardon was at
length extorted on the security of the petitioning
band, and the triumphant monks returned amidst
the joyful acclamations of the female inhabitants
of Shoa, whose shrill voices are raised on every
possible occasion, and whose feelings were in the
present instance enlisted in the behalf of their old
favourite. The trip also would appear to haATe been
profitable to the holy fathers, for it was currently
reported that one half of the remaining wealth of
Med6ko, was the stipulated price to be paid for the
monastic intercession.
The nature of Abyssinian feelings, and the custom
of the land, alike impel the humbled grandee to
tempt again the shppery ladder of power; and dis
graced for a time, the courtier, bending his neck to
the misfortune, dances attendance on his capricious
master until fickle fortune again smiles upon his
fallen condition. Unless enjoying the favour of the
monarch and basking in the sunshine of the court,

WILY CALUMNIES. 141
he is held of no account whatever ; and the quiet
retirement of country life is alike despised and
detested by a race, who are not only ignorant of its
pleasures, but who possess neither amusements nor
inteUectual resources.
The property and estates of Medoko had not
been confiscated, and months rolled quietly along
as day after day he took his station among the
courtiers in waiting ; but the eye of the monarch
was turned in cold indifference upon his former fa
vourite, and there were not wanting counsellors to
whisper deeds of blood into his ear. Besides the
father confessor, the haughty chief had many other
enemies Avho were chafed at the sight of the nu
merous band of weU-equipped followers that Med6ko
still entertained upon his ample means. Many also
had lost relations during the rebellion, and misfor
tune had not abated one atom of the imperious
demeanour which ever characterised the chief.
The feast of Maskal was now approaching, and it
being rumoured that honours and government Avere
to be again bestoAved upon " the murderer of the
Amhara," as the rebel Avas denominated among the
conspiring band, measures were taken to counteract
the royal intention, if such had really been enter
tained. The most odious calumnies Avere industri
ously circulated ; fresh accusations of disloyalty
Avere daily carried to the palace; and the mo
narch, hourly assailed on every side, at length re
solved to test the feelings of his vassal, by the offer

142 THE FATHER CONFESSOR.
of an inferior post in the unhealthy country of
Gidclem. For the last thne the gaUant chief at the head
of his followers swept up ¦ the palace hUl of Angol-
lala, and leaving according to the etiquette his
son Chara, together with his retainers, in the
middle court-yard, where shields and spears must
be deposited, Medoko crossed the enclosure, and
alone and unattended entered the inner wicket.
On the several faces of the inner square are the
entrances to the principal buUdings of the palace.
The great hall of entertainment on one side faces
the King's stables on the other, and the artificer's
workshops stand opposite the balcony of justice ;
but all are connected by stone AvaUs and stout
palisades, through which private Avickets lead to
the interior apartments. His Majesty had not yet
taken his seat in public, but the usual throng of
people were lounging about the yard, or seated on
the rough bedsteads which hue one corner for the
convenience of the great.
Med6ko had hardly taken his solitary seat, when
Avreathed in smiles the father confessor approached
his victim, and whispering into his ear the inten
tions of the King, strongly advised him to reject
the proposal Avith scorn ; and presently the four
conspiring chiefs advanced from the interior bear
ing the royal preferment to the country which was
so thoroughly detested, and which had been hitherto
offered only to men of low degree.

SUPERSTITION AROUSED. 143
The royal presentation, although received with
the impatient curl of the lip, and an indignant
breathing from the distended nostrU, was declined
in courteous terms — "The slave of the King de
sires only to be near the person of his master."
But far different was the insolent answer carried
back to the monarch, whose superstitious feelings
were further irritated by the previous discourse
and forebodings of the monk ; for a black buUock
had been discovered lying dead at the threshold
of the gateway, portending that on that day an
untimely fate awaited some one within the royal
precincts. For a time no word escaped the moody lip of the
monarch. His features remained fixed and still;
but a withering glance from his sohtary eye shot
over the band as he dismissed them from his pre
sence with the cutting remark, " That they were
all traitors alike, and lazy cravens to boot."
The hint was sufficient to Guffa Woosen, the
Dech Agafari, a man who stickled at no atrocity
to gratify his master and to serve his own ends.
After a hurried and mysterious consultation with
six others equaUy unprincipled as himself, they
proceeded together into the outer court-yard. Ap
proaching by degrees, the band surrounded the bed
of the chief, who was lulled into fatal security by a
message that the King was about to appear to re
ceive in person the refusal of office in Giddem, and
Avhilst bandying a joke about the frail tenure of

144 THE LION AT BAY.
the dungeons of G6ncho, five long-bladed knives
were suddenly sheathed to the hilt in his brawny
back. Undaunted to the death, Med6ko reared himself
with difficulty from his couch, and his good sword
flashed instantaneously from the scabbard. He had
been unwarily caught in the toils ; but, like the
Avounded lion, he stood fiercely to bay, and some of
the hunters paid dearly for their treacherous sport.
In the hour of battle his sword seldom required
a second bloAV, and as the trenchant blade now
fiercely descended into the neck of the chief con
spirator, the head of Guffa Woosen for a moment
drooped upon the shoulder, and in the next his
Ufeless trunk fell heavily to the ground. Again
the ruddy steel gleamed overhead, but the energy
was fast fleeting from the stout sinew, and Se-
liinko, although marked for life Avith a desperate
slash over the face, succeeded with the remnant of
his cowardly ruffians in basely escaping from the
scene. A general rush and scramble now ensued
for the tops of walls and houses; and from these
elevated places of security, savage yells proclaimed
the perpetration of the dastardly deed. The King
seized a double-barrelled gun from the Avail, lest
the mighty warrior should attempt to storm the
harem ; and a high tribute was paid to the single
arm which had thus cleared the court.
Desperately Avounded, the chief noAv staggered
across the yard, fainting and falling more than once

THE LAST STRUGGLE. 145
ere he reached the gateway. No doorkeeper re
mained to dispute the egress, and as yet none
dared to cross the path of the stricken brave.
One little enclosure alone separated him from his
devoted followers, but his strength Avas fast sinking
with the welling blood, and after swaying for a
time from side to side, utterly exhausted he fell,
with a groan, upon his knee in the last pangs of
death. Tunkaiye, the great bulwark of the throne, was
the first who recovered from the panic, and cau
tiously advancing with the chosen of the Amhara
chivalry, he beheld through the wicket the situation
of the chief. Rushing through the door, he dealt
a blow from behind on the neck of the recumbent
figure, and the stalwart frame sunk to rise no more.
One faint struggle of the right arm was alone to
be distinguished, and one word was indistinctly
murmured amidst the gurgling of the flowing blood ;
for the long knives of the assassins had penetrated
into a brave heart, and the victory over the King's
enemy had been already achieved.
Crowds now rushed to the spot, and the limbs
were hacked to pieces by the miserable poltroons
amidst the coarsest ribaldry and mirth. One wretch,
as he thrust his crooked knife into the late brilliant
eye, exclaimed, " How is it that my father noAv
bears the bite Avithout power to brush aAvay the
gnat?" and another, after succeeding with difficulty
in hewing through the iron muscles of the stout
VOL. II. L

146 THE MIGHTY FALLEN.
arm, declared, with a laugh, that " the skin of an
elephant was composed of less tough material."
Deprived of their weapons, and ofthe countenance
ofthe mighty fallen, Medoko's son and followers sur
rendered on the first summons ; and a dog, carrying
off his father's arm, brushed past young Chara as
he entered the murderous court-yard. Stones and
sticks were still being expended on the remains of
mortality which were streAved in every direction.
All human resemblance had already been entirely
effaced, and a deep pool of blood remained to mark
the dire tragedy.
To this hour the stain is settled upon the spot;
and it is daily before the eyes of the perpetrators
of the outrage. The stern warrior is never men
tioned within the precincts of the palace, and rich
offerings are continually made to aU the churches
in the land, to dissipate the unpleasant dreams
Avhich too frequently haunt the royal couch. But
although the name is now used amongst the Am
hara only to still the unruly chUd, the gallant
Med6ko is the darling theme of the roving Galla.
The heathen female still draws the long tress across
her flashing eye at the recollection of his fate ; and
the chief yet thinks with respect of the brave spirit,
who could quell the feud and the intestine quarrel,
and avIio had led the Avild host with success, to
spoil the dominions of the Christian despot.

147

CHAP. XIX.
THE GALLA BORDERS. — PROCLAMATION OF WAR.
Shortly after the departure of the Embassy from
Ank6ber, a robbery was committed in the Resi
dency ; and the dehnquents having been duly traced
out by the Lebashi, were sent in chains to Ang61-
lala, and incarcerated in one of the palace court
yards. The principal party proved to be a slave of
the King, aided and abetted by a deftera, who had
been for some time employed with his pen ; and the
greater portion of the stolen property was shortly
returned by the hands of the chief smith, who
succeeded the disgraced page in the office of
baldoraba. " Strangers have visited me from a far
country," was the message wherewith he Avas
charged, " and whilst residing under my protection
have been plundered by my subjects. My name
has become tarnished. I have beaten the culprits
with sticks, and shall cut off the ears of the slave
Wooseni, and sell him to the merchants of Hurrur."
Intercession, backed by presents, was successfully
made with the King and Queen, in behalf of the
offender, a lad of ten years of age, and he was
liberated after severe castigation. " God must be
l 2

148 ENGLISH GOLD.
angry vvith me," sobbed the juvenile thief, who had
once before been detected beneath a bed with a pair
of scissors in his possession — " God must be angry
with me, for I have only twice attempted to rob,
and on both occasions have I been punished."
Among the articles stolen, which consisted chiefly
of beads, were sovereigns of William the Fourth
and of Queen Victoria, and suspicions arising in the
royal mind that these were not of gold, as asserted
by the owner, His Majesty proposed testing the
metal by the ordeal of fire. A coin of the former
reign Avas accordingly thrust into the forge, and
having then been immersed in water, was broken
Avith a chisel by the conclave of smiths. " Call
you this EngUsh gold?" exclaimed the Negoos;
" here then is a piece of Abyssinian gold for you,"
— and throwing upon the ground the brass foil of
a SAvord scabbard, he laughed immoderately. A
fourpenny piece was then exhibited, as a somewhat
more portable and commodious medium of exchange
than blocks of salt, and the figure on the obverse
immediately elicited the inquiry whether the queens
of England went forth with their armies to battle,
since Britannia was equipped with spear and shield,
and was about to set a sareti* in her crown hke
the warrior king of the Amhara.
A quarrel of long standing between Ayto Melkoo
and the commander-in-chief of the gun -men, who
* The sareti is a sprig of wild asparagus worn in Shoa as a
token of victory, as will be seen presently.

the despot's smiles. 149
ranked among the foremost of the court sycophants,
had been this day brought for adjustment before
the royal tribunal. The award being found in
favour of the appellant, the Master of the Horse,
although a great favourite, was handcuffed, and
imprisoned in the brewery, but after a few hours'
durance he was set at large, and his punishment
commuted to a fine of seven hundred and fifty
pieces of salt. " It is of no consequence," he re
marked somewhat unwisely, " I shaU carry a ma-
malacha to the ' commander,' and he will pay the
amount for me."
This boast had given occasion to malicious in
sinuations on the part of his enemies, and after
dark there came a confidential message from the
palace to the effect that Ayto Melkoo was suspected
of conceaUng certain "pleasing things" understood
to have been received from the foreigners. But this
imputation, which, if confirmed, must have involved
disgrace and confiscation of property, proved, for
tunately for the accused, to have no foundation.
A better instance could scarcely have been
adduced to illustrate the fleeting and precarious
nature of the despot's smiles. The mother of the
tottering favourite, a native of Ambasel in the
province of Lasta, was for many years the favourite
mistress of Hatze Yasoo, then Emperor of Gondar,
on whose demise she became an inmate of the
seragho of Asfa Woosen. Ayto Wadi, the distin
guished Galla governor of Ang611ala, being thrown
l 3

150 THE JEWISH SABBATH.
into prison by the latter monarch, contrived during
his incarceration to solace himself Avith the pre
sence of the lady, and the Master of the Horse
was the result of the intrigue. No disgrace what
ever attaching to his illegitimate origin, he was
regarded in the light of a member of the royal
family; and, brought up in the palace, has succeeded
during three several reigns in maintaining a po
sition at court, which might now have been sacri
ficed by the clandestine possession of a dozen eUs of
English broad-cloth. The amende was, neverthe
less, made to him in the course of a few days by
the addition of another viUage to his landed pos
sessions at Doba.
Such paltry proofs of espionage were invariably fol
lowed by some especial token of the royal good- will,
ushered in by a goat or a jar of honey, as a peace-
offering. In this instance, after the despot had
been fully satisfied of the groundless nature of his
surmises, an invitation was tendered to accompany
him the next day on a shooting excursion, and a
Galla ram, the size of a well-grown calf, was thrust
into the tent by a dirty page, who, as usual, com
posed himself to sleep in a corner after the due
dehvery of his message.
Saturday, being the Jewish Sabbath, brings rest
from all labour, and is invariably devoted by His
Majesty to excursions abroad. Starting on horse
back at an early hour, a gaUop of several miles led
across the Chacha, and over the border of the

UNCLEAN FOWLS. 151
Galla dependencies, to an extensive, but narrow
sheet of water, where an otter had lately been seen.
" It has hands, and nails, and fingers like a man,"
observed the monarch gravely, " and a head like a
black dog, and a skin like velvet ; and it builds its
house at the bottom of the river, and plucks grass,
and washes it in the water; and all my people
thought it was the devil, and would kiU them with
strong medicine. Now is this animal found in your
country, and how do they call its name?"
But the appearance of numerous ducks and geese
soon diverted the royal attention. DraAving up
with his retinue, and resting his Aveapon over the
shoulder of an attendant to insure steady aim, the
King kept up a murderous fire with ball, shot, and
slugs, during a fuU half hour. The weather was
passing cold, and ever and anon His Majesty bleAV
his nose betwixt his thumb and fore-finger, and
wiped them on the mantle of the governor of Bulga,
avIio eagerly proffered it for acceptance. A serious
diminution in the numerical strength of the fea
thered fools resulted in no attempt to take Aving or
even to shift position. Incredible though it may
appear, the living still paddled among the floating
carcasses of their slaughtered comrades, as if nothing-
had happened, until the destroyer, weary of perse
cuting the " unclean birds," which were not even
taken out of the water, remounted and crossed the
country at speed to a Avide meadow, traversed by
the serpentine Chacha.

152 A STRAY SHOT.
Bald coots Avere here playing at hide-and-seek,
whilst red-headed grebes dived and warily re
appeared for an instant, as the noisy cavalcade
advanced. The spoonbUl, and the leather-necked
ibis of Egyptian veneration, displayed their white
plumage along the sedge-grown borders. The
heron, the snakebird, and the redshank, waded
through the shallow drifts ; and geese, widgeon,
teal, and mallard, rose whirring in the air at every
step. But amidst all this inviting variety, the
snowy egret was the object of the King's ambition;
and although, after many unsuccessful attempts, he
failed in adorning his head with her unsullied
plumes, he retired perfectly satisfied with his skill
as a rifleman, after a long stray shot had perforated
the eye of an " alata fur da." This is a gigantic
slate-coloured crane, with eccentric red wattles, and
several pairs that Avere marching over the mead
had previously elicited most notable displays of
gunmanship on the part of the royal favourites.
Abogaz Maretch, with his feudal tram of Abid-
chu, joined the cortege as it passed Wona-badera,
his seat of government. The treeless expanse
passed over — a type of the entire Galla territory
north of Moolo-Falada, where forest land commences
— consists of wide vaUeys clothed with a verdant
carpet of grass, clover, and trefoU, which, from their
redundant luxuriance, almost impede progress.
Every little intersecting eminence is completely
covered with flourishing fields of barley and wheat,

THE king's gate. 153
and crowned with viUages fortified with strong
stockades ; and one ancient woira excepted, whose
venerable boughs formed in days gone by a tryst-
ing-place to the hostile pagans, not a single bush
or tree was visible during the long ride.
An extensive barrier of loose stones hastily thrown
up during the rebelhon of Med6ko, fortifies the
south-eastern environs of AngoUala ; and although
confessedly inferior to the waU of China, it is calcu
lated to offer temporary opposition to horsemen
who are no Nimrods. Returning accorchng to un
deviating wont by another road than that by which
he had set out, His Majesty passed through a
palisaded wicket in this breastwork, which is dig
nified with the title of " the King's Gate," and
forms the scene of the few public executions that
take place. Chiefs, governors, and visiters are
accorded the privilege of squeezing through with
the crowned head, but foUowers and people of low
degree are compelled by the stick of the doorkeeper
to adopt a circuitous route over a belt of stony
hiUs adjoining, which form a continuation of the
defences. The ascent to the palace was accomplished under
the wild choral chant which invariably announces
return from the excursion abroad. The road was
lined with pilgrims clothed in yellow garments,
and having each a cross of blue clay upon his
forehead. They had been to perform their vows,
or redeem their pledges left, at the sanctuary of

154 PILGRIMS FROM DEBRA LIBANOS.
Debra Libanos*, chief seat of learning in Shoa
and the renowned scene of the miracles of Telda
Haimanot, its founder. Hard pressed by his ene
mies, the patron and lawgiver of ^Ethiopia is said
to have leapt through the trunk of a venerable
tree, a seam in which yet vouches for the truth of
the legend that it spontaneously clave asunder at
his holy bidding, but. closed to foil the sacrilegious
assailants who sought his life. Being athirst, he
prayed unto God, whereupon the archangel Michael,
avIio was his mediator, caused a fountain to rise at
his feet, supplied by the stream of the river Jordan.
A cross which he carried in his hand had been
swept away during the passage of a neighbouring
torrent, but no sooner did he curse the waters, than
they were dried up, and have never since flowed
above the channel !
The remains of the saint still cast a halo over
the spot in which they lie interred, and the pool
Avhich he blessed, retains to this day the property
of cleansing the leper, and healing the patient,
however diseased, Avho shall immerse on either of
the three days annually devoted to the commemo
ration of his birth, death, and ascension. Famous
as the most holy of shrines throughout Southern
Abyssinia, men of every rank, from the monarch
to the meanest peasant, if unable to repair thither
in person, delegate their substitute with offerings
* Mount Lebanon.

A ROYAL EDICT. 155
according to their wealth. Having on his way
bathed in the " Segga Wadiim," or " river of flesh
and blood" — a tributary to the Nile formed by the
confluence of the Sana Robi and the Sana Boka —
the pUgrim quaffs the waters of the mineral weU,
describes upon his forehead the sacred emblem of
Christianity, and after kissing at the adjacent
church of St. Mary, a cross which is asserted by
the priesthood to have fallen from heaven, he is
secure against sickness and witchcraft. The very
earth from Debra Libanos is carried away as an
antidote to maladies, and aU who meet the return
ing pUgrim, faU prostrate upon the ground, and
kiss the dust from off his feet.
No sooner had His Majesty entered the palace
gate than the sound of the imperial drum an
nounced the presence of the herald, and crowds
collected to listen to the royal edict. Standing
upon the hill-side beneath the shadow of a sohtary
stunted tree, which, had it a tongue, could unfold
many a tale of woe and oppression, he thus pro
claimed in a loud voice to the multitude assembled,
" Hear, oh, hear ! Thus saith the King. Behold
we have foes, and would trample upon their necks.
Prepare ye every one for war. On the approaching
festival of Abba Kinos, Avhoso faileth to present him
self at Yeolo as a good and loyal subject, mounted,
armed, and carrying provisions for twenty-one days,
shall be held as a traitor, and shall forfeit his pro
perty during seven years."

156

CHAP. XX.
A LECTURE ON PHYSIC.
The mercy, and the medical skiU of the foreigners,
had already produced their effect in a nation pos
sessing neither of the two. Woizoro Indanch Yel-
lum, aunt to His Majesty, being shortly on a visit
to the court from Achun-Kurra, was made the
bearer of compliments on the part of ZenamaWork*
the Queen-dowager, " respecting the pardon of the
delinquent slave ; " but they were accompanied by
an admonition that the British guests of her son
would do well not to squander the entire of their
pleasing things amongst those who knew not how
to appreciate them. " We have seen wondrous
things in the time of Sahela Selassie," concluded
this message from "the golden shower," — "and
the prophecies respecting the red men have indeed
fuUy come to pass."
The fame, too, of the operation performed with
such singular success upon the governor of Mentshar
had spread far and wide, and applications for medical
aid became daily more numerous — the patient, in
* i. e. Rain of gold.

PRACTICE OF SURGERY. 157
lieu of tendering a fee, invariably insisting, when
cured, upon the receipt of some reward. Priests,
renowned for the sanctity of their lives, apphed in
the same breath for a white head-dress, and for a
remedy against disorders superinduced " by eating
the flesh of partridges." Even nuns did not disdain
assistance, and many a hapless victim to GaUa
barbarity sought a cure for his irreparable mis
fortunes. An exceedingly ill-favoured fellow, striding into
the tent, exhibited a node upon the forehead, which
he desired might be instantly removed. " The knife,
the knife," he exclaimed; " off with it; my face is
spoiled, and has become like that of a cow." A
ruffian Avho in a domestic brawl had contrived to
break the arm of his wife, entreated that it might
be "mended;" and a wretched youth whose leg
had been fractured twelve months previously, was
brought in a state of appalling emaciation, Avith
the splinters protruding horribly. Amputation was
proposed as the only resource, but the Master of
the Horse was loud in his opposition. " Take my
advice," he remonstrated, " and leave this business
alone. If the boy dies, aU will declare that the
' proprietor ofthe medicines' killed him — and fur
thermore, should he survive, it will be said the
Almighty cured him."
In Shoa, the practice of surgery directs the
removal of a carious tooth with the hammer, punch,
and pincers of the blacksmith. Should venesec-

158 THE BODY PHYSICIAN.
tion be required, a stick placed in the patient's
mouth is tightened by means of a thong passed
round the neck, and the distended veins of the
forehead are then opened with a razor. Cupping,
performed by means of a horn exhausted by suc
tion, is also extremely fashionable, and actual cau
tery, which is believed to strengthen the muscles of
the spear arm, is applied by means either of a pile
of lighted cotton, or a stick heated by rapid friction.
Fractured bones that have united badly are said
to be violently rebroken to admit of their being
properly set; and upon the authority of Ayto
Habti, the chief physician in ordinary, it may also
be stated, that spUnters coming aAvay are success
fully supplied by portions of the skull of a newly-
slain sheep or goat !
But amulets and enchantments are by aU classes
held far more efficacious than the drugs of the
Abyssinian " possessor of remedies*," which of a
truth must be acknowledged to form but a feeble
materia medica. Insanity, epilepsy, delirium, hys
teria, St. Vitis's dance, and in fact every obstinate
disorder for which no specific is known, is inva
riably ascribed to the influence of demons or sor
cerers, and the patient is either declared to be
possessed of a devil, or to labour under the dis
astrous consequences of inumbration by the shadow
of an enemy. Shreds of blue paper are held to be
* Bala medanit, " the master of the medicines," is the term
applied to every physician.

INOCULATION. 159
preservatives against headach, and the seeds of
certain herbs are worn as charms against hydro
phobia and disasters on a journey; but of these,
some must be plucked with the left hand, and
others with a finger on which there is a silver ring,
and aU under a fortunate horoscope, or they can
avail nothing.
SmaU-pox frequently devastates the land, and a
free boy of pure blood is then selected from among
the number of the infected, and carefuUy secluded
untU the pustules are ripe. Many hundred per
sons assemble, and a layman, chosen for the recti
tude of his life, having mixed the lymph with
honey, proceeds to inoculate with a razor. Death
is often the consequence of the clumsy operation,
of the origin of which no tradition exists ; neither
has any charm been yet discovered to avert the
scourge. WhUst invalids of aU classes daily flocked to the
camp of the Europeans for medical assistance, ap
plications were not wanting from the palace in
proof of the reputation acquired. One of the prin
cesses royal who had been lodged with the illus
trious visiter from Achun-Kurra, in the crimson
pavilion presented by the British Government,
found herself in need of advice; and on being
visited, lay concealed beneath the basket pedestal
of a wicker dining -table, Avhence her sprained foot
was thrust forth for inspection. Divers respectable
duennas of the royal kitchen, who had been severely

160

STUDY OF MEDICINE.

scalded by the bursting of a pottage cauldron, were
also treated with success when they had been given
over by the body physician, at whose merciless
hands the sobbing patients had been plastered over
with honey and soot ; and a mutton bone was ex
tracted from the throat of a page, where it had been
firmly wedged for three days. But the cure which
elicited the most unqualified and universal amaze
ment was that of a favourite Baalomaal*, who, la
bouring under a fit of apoplexy, which had deprived
him of animation, was suddenly revived by vene
section, after fumigation with ashkoko goomun\
had been tried without the smallest avail, and
preparations were already commencing for his inter
ment. Medicine, in fact, now engrossed the entire of the
royal attention. Phials and drugs without number
were sent to the tent, with a request that they
might be so labelled as to admit of the proper close
being administered to patients labouring under
complaints for the removal of which they were
respectively adapted. Two or more invalids, who
objected to be seen, were certain to arrive at the
palace within every four and twenty hours ; and no
subterfuge that ingenuity could devise was left
untried, by which to augment the already ample
stock of pills on hand. " You wiU take care not

* Officer of the royal household.
t Hyrax's cabbage.

THE EVIL EYE. 161
to give the whole of the remedies to my people, or
there will be none left for myself, should I faU
sick," Avas an almost daUy message from the selfish
despot. But prescriptions designed for his own use
were invariably tried first upon a subject; and the
much-dreaded goulard-wash having been once more
prepared, directions were given to apply it con
stantly to a boy who had been found labouring
under ophthalmia, in order to ascertain whether he
died or survived.
The most particular inquiries were instituted
relative to the mode of counteracting the influence
of the evU eye, and much disappointment ex
pressed at the unavoidable intimation that the dis
pensary of the foreigners contained neither " the
horn of a serpent," Avhich is believed to afford an
invaluable antidote against witchcraft, no preserva
tive against Avounds in the battle-field, nor any
nostrum for " those who go mad from looking at a
black dog." " We princes also fear the small
pox," said His Majesty, " and therefore never tarry
long in the same place. Nagasi, my Ulustrious an
cestor, 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 con
sented to make trial of its virtues. Glasses her
metically sealed, betwixt which the perishable fluid
had been deposited, were exhibited, and its use
expounded. "No, no!" quoth the King, as he
VOL. II. M

162 CHARM AGAINST SMALL-POX.
delivered the acquisition to his master of the horse,
with a strict injunction to have it carefuUy 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 fore
fathers." " You must now give me the medicine which
draws the vicious waters from the leg," resumed His
Majesty, " and which is better than the 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 intellects, as to
enable him Avho 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"

163

CHAR XXI.
THE CAMPAIGN.
In common with all other African potentates,
Sahela Selassie never engages in war, induced
either by pubhc prmciples, by national glory, or,
least of aU, by love of his people. Whilst the
fear of rebellion and disturbance at home deters
him from attempting on a grand scale to resume
the lost possessions of his ancestors, to wield the
sceptre as they did, three hundred miles south of
his present Umits, and to re-unite the scattered
remnants of Christian population who once ac
knowledged their supremacy — revenge, the almost
invariable success attending his arms, and the in
satiable love of plunder inherent in the breast of
every savage, impel him thrice a year to gather his
undisciplined miUtia, in order to undertake sudden
and sweeping inroads, either for the purpose of
chastising insurrection among the subjugated usur
pers of portions of the ancient empire of iEthiopia,
or of asserting his unstable authority over some
neighbouring tribe that may heretofore have suc
ceeded in maintaining its independence.
The wilds of Abyssinia are not to be explored
m 2

164 RATIONS FOR THE ARMY.
by the solitary traveller, and the opportunity now
offered was therefore gladly embraced of acquiring
important information relative to the mode of
Amhara Avarfare, whilst visiting regions hitherto
unknown. Superstition, policy, and fear, alike in
fluenced the wily monarch in his expressed desire to
be accompanied by his British guests. The presence
of the stranger being considered to shed a blessing
over the army, is invariably enforced by royal man
date, Avhich extends indiscriminately to all residing
within the kingdom; and whilst His Majesty, dis
trusting the sojourn in his undefended capital of so
large a body of foreigners, sought the augmentation
of his consequence in the eyes both of enemies and
subjects, the cause of humanity promised to be pro
moted by the check which the presence of the
European invariably enforces upon the excited
savage during the revolting and sanguinary scenes
of exulting victory.
From the fact of the army having provided rations
for no more than twenty days, it was clearly impos
sible that operations should be directed against Lake
Zooai in Gurague, distant from Ang611ala one
hundred and fifty miles; and this circumstance
fully explained the before incomprehensible indif
ference displayed by the Negoos to the suggested
preparations to facihtate the advance of his troops.
Keeping the secret of his real intentions fast locked
in his own despotic breast, it is the invariable prac
tice of His Majesty to publish a manifesto of the

MARTIAL PREPARATIONS. 165
approaching campaign, calculated to mislead his
enemies ; and he not unfrequently carries the de
ception so far, as to make three or four marches in
a direction quite opposite to that in Avhich he had
inwardly resolved to strike the blow. None have
the slightest idea in what quarter the thunderbolt
is to fall, and as the fatal season draws nigh when
the state revenues are to be levied, anxiously must
throb the conscious bosom of the vassal Avho has
fallen under the royal displeasure.
Beyond the removal of muskets and matchlocks
from their pegs, to be oUed and exposed to the sun
before the porch of the great audience hall, few
signs of preparation were observable for the ap
proaching foray. Ang6Uala was indeed somewhat
more populous than usual, and beggars more
numerous and importunate. Greasy Galla chief
tains, too, were in attendance with propitiatory
offerings and outstanding arrears of tribute, and
the interior of the palace presented a scene of in
creased bustle and confusion. His Majesty was to
be seen absorbed in the inspection of venerable pots,
pans, and pipkins, which Avould have been esteemed
invaluable contributions to the British Museum.
TaUors, silks, tinsel, and satin Avere in equal requi
sition towards the decoration of the imperial person,
and the fat Master of the Horse, assisted by the elite
of the household warriors, sat cobbling old leather
with laudable assiduity for the edification of a
wdiole host of eunuchs. But in the arsenal there
m 3

166 PRESAGES OF EVIL.
was no busy note of preparation such as is Avont to
precede European warfare ; no crowding of light
ordnance and heavy batteries ; no commissariat,
waggon train, or sick carriage, and no interminable
files of camels loading for the approaching march.
" The steed,
The mustering squadron, and the clattering car,''
had no place on the parade : the complicated and
expensive equipment, and the munitions ofthe siege,
were alike wanting; and although a few detachments
were bivouacked on the adjacent meadow, and the
black pall of a governor was here and there to be
seen, it was stUl difficult even to conjecture whence
the army of the despot was to spring.
Abject slaves to superstition, the Amhara never
fail to consult the omens before setting out on a
military expedition. Priests and monks are referred
to by the monarch, and the accidental fall of the
targe from a saddle boAV, the alighting of a hooded
crow in the path of a Avarrior, or the appearance of
a Avhite falcon AAith the tail towards him, are be
lieved to augur unfavourably to success ; whilst the
flight of a pair of ravens in any direction, or the
descent of a falcon with her head towards the army,
are on the other hand esteemed certain prognosti
cations of victory. For a full week prior to the
opening of the projected campaign, the nocturnal
howling of dogs had boded its inauspicious termina
tion. One cur bayed at the moon as she rose ; a

GARRISON OF ANGOLLALA. 167
second and a third took up the vile note, and a
doleful concert of hundreds gave birth in the mind
of the Christian soldier to presage of coming evil.
Queen Besabesh was to aAvait the issue ofthe foray
at Ang611ala, and the command of the town mean-
whUe devolved upon the eunuch Wolda Mariam,
with a garrison sufficient to deter visits on the part
ofthe Galla, who have more than once attempted
to burn the palace during such incursions into
their territories. On the morning of the day ap
pointed, a flourish of trumpets from the royal band
proclaimed the exit of the Negoos from the palace,
and shortly after sunrise the imperial crimson velvet
umbreUas issued through the outer gateway at the
head of a numerous procession. Crossing the green
meadow, His Majesty, resplendent in cloth of gold,
took the road to the south by the wicket in the
GaUa wall, on which a strong advance picquet had
already taken post. Every house in Ang6Uala
sweUed the passing cavalcade ; and each vaUey and
hamlet in the environs marshalling its quota of
mounted warriors, the nucleus ofthe incipient army,
before advancing many miles, had become thick and
dense. Abogaz Maretch with the Abidchu legion
streamed from the stockaded hUl of Wona-badera,
and a band of veterans occupying the summit of an
adjacent rock meanwhile chanted the prowess ofthe
royal warrior, who halted a few seconds in acknoAv-
ledgment of the flattering eulogium.
Little order or arrangement is attempted during
m 4

168 THE FIRST MARCH.
the first march, which invariably terminates at or
near Yeolo, in order to afford time to stragglers to
rejoin, or to admit of the return of those who may
from any circumstance prove incapable of toil, or
unprepared for the campaign. Immediately in ad
vance of the army, screened beneath a canopy of
scarlet broad- cloth, were borne on an ambling mule
the Holy Scriptures and the ark of the cathedral of
St. Michael, the miraculous virtues of which sacred
emblem, throAving into shade those of the Palladium
of Troy, are believed to ensure victory to the Chris
tian host. Supported by the crimson debaboch, the
King rode next upon a richly-caparisoned mule, a
small space around the royal person being kept
clear by the corps of shield-bearers, who were
flanked on the right by fusileers and matchlockmen
of the body-guard, and on the left by the band of
kettle-drums on donkeys, with trumpets and wind
instruments. Numerous governors, judges, monks,
priests, and singers followed, and behind them rode
a curious accompaniment to a martial expedition.
Forty dames and damsels, professing the cuhnary
art, with elaborately-crisped bee-hive wigs, greased
faces bedaubed with ochre, and arched blue eye-
brows, were muffled in crimson-striped robes of
cotton — a demure assemblage rigorously guarded
on all sides by austere eunuchs armed Avith long
Avhite wands. Beyond, far as the eye could pene
trate the canopy of dust which hung over the
horizon, every hill and valley SAvarmed Avith masses

THE ROYAL KITCHEN. 169
of equestrians and pedestrians, warriors, henchmen,
and camp-followers, sumpter horses, asses, and
mules, laden with tents, horns of old mead, and
bags of provisions — throngs of Avomen carrying
pitchers of beer and hydromel at their backs, and
lads Avith glittering sheaves of spears upon their
shoulders, leading gaily-caparisoned war-steeds —
all mixed and crowded together in the most pic
turesque disorder and confusion.
After crossing the Chacha, the country is no
longer safe for a single traveUer ; and owing to the
determined hostility of the various wild GaUa tribes
by which it is inhabited, small Amhara detachments
would even find difficulty in passing — the inhuman
practice of mutilation being resorted to on aU pos
sible opportunities. The road lay through an
amphitheatre of low broken hiUs, rising amid rich
meadows and fields, and clothed in parts with
juniper or camel thorn, through dark groves of
Avhich peeped numerous tiny Galla hamlets — the
distant landscape being bounded by the great blue
mountain ranges of Bulga, Garra Gorphoo, and
Sallala Moogher, collectively forming a crescent,
but towering independently in isolated grandeur.
At the termination of the fifteenth mile, the
ladies and their eunuchs, having hovered about for
some time in uncertainty, finally settled down, like
a flight of flamingoes, in a pretty secluded valley,
through which winds the deep muddy Bar6ga.
Their halt, and the selection made of a spot for the

170 THE KING'S QUARTERS.
royal kitchen, proclaimed the encamping ground
under a naturally scarped table hill styled Gimbee
Bayello, which imparts its name to the spot. A
fierce scramble for places ensued, and the several
detachments bivouacking sub divo around the dingy
paUs of their respective leaders, which arose on the
next minute, soon spread far and wide over every
dell and meadow.
The centre of the straggling camp, Avhich could
not have measured less than five miles in diameter,
was occupied by the royal suite of tents, consisting
of a gay parti-coloured marquee of Turkish manu
facture, surrounded by twelve ample awnings of
black serge, over which floated five crimson pen
nons, surmounted respectively by sUver globes.
Until these had been erected, and duly enclosed by
an outer screen of cotton cloths, the Negoos, accord
ing to his wont, ascending an adjacent eminence,
with all the principal chieftains, and an escort of
several hundred picked warriors, remained seated
on a cushioned alga ; and under the crimson canopy
of the state umbrellas, watched the progress making
towards his accommodation.
Horses abound in the ldngdom of Shoa, as weU as
throughout the adjacent champagne country ofthe
Galla ; but save during the foray, they are rarely
mounted by the indolent Amhara, the sure-footed
mule being better adapted to his taste, and to the
rugged hills that compose the greater portion of the
frontier. The note of war, hoAVever, had so mate-

CAMP EQUIPAGE. 171
rially increased the value of the steed, that even the
few horses required had been obtained with diffi
culty. Every old, unsound, and vicious Rozinante
in the realm was speciously presented, and in turn
rejected, when Abogaz Maretch at length advertised
his stud. Two hundred pieces of salt were the
price fixed upon the first purchase; and as this
small change was not procurable within thirty
miles, and moreover would have formed the load of
two jackasses, ten Austrian convention dollars were
forwarded in Ueu thereof, each valued at ten
amoles, and exhibiting all the requisite jewels in
the star and coronet of Maria Theresa. " I have
kept your silver," was the chief's reply, "because
you have sent it ; but in future when I seU you a
horse, I shall expect you to pay me in salt."
In a country where even the hire of a porter is
dependent upon the arbitrary caprice of the despotic
sovereign, and where the inferiors of the court,
entertaining one and all the most thorough con
tempt for truth, are lavish of promises without the
smallest intention of performing them, no little
difficulty had also been experienced in obtaining
transport at so busy a season. The preparations
of the British party were therefore of an extremely
limited nature, no member carrying aught save the
scantiest bedding, whilst the general commissariat
was restricted to a smaU bag of flour with the
jerked flesh of two oxen that had been provided on
the occasion from the royal herds. But orders for

172 THE COMMISSARIAT.
the supply of porters, Avho Avere not to be hired,
had only been issued at the very last moment, when
the purveyor-general, Avith his customary liberality,
reducing the kingly grant by one half, those finally
furnished — three in number — proved barely suffi
cient for the carriage of rocket staves, medical
stores, and surgical instruments required for the
state service ; the flimsy cotton awnings and
scanty baggage of both officers and escort being
reluctantly transported by a few hired domestics,
or lashed Avith sharp leathern thongs upon the
galled backs of feeble old pack-horses, purchased on
emergency at the adjacent market of Bool World.
When contrasted with disciplined forces, the
camp equipage of the rabble Amhara was small and
portable indeed. A commissariat is unknown, every
soldier and follower transporting his own provisions,
which are limited to parched grain or sun-dried
flesh; and as, OAving to the rapidity of the march,
and the usual absence of opposition, the campaign
is rarely protracted beyond a fortnight, the system
has been found to answer. Governors and leaders
alone occupy tents, Avhilst every component member
of their respective quotas, in defiance of cold and
rain, bivouacks upon the bare ground, with his head
upon the shield, and no screen betwixt himself and
the vault of heaven, save the clothes carried upon
his back.
Strange Avas the sight presented as night closed
over the first encampment of the chivalry of Shoa.

" FIRE RAINERS." 173
Rockets were to be fired by the royal command, to
instU terror into the breasts of the Galla hordes ;
and the peak Avhich rose near the head-quarters
had been selected as the most centrical site for the
display. Ascending from beloAV the hum of the
mighty host arose in the stUl clear atmosphere, and
the gleam of the bright embers which ran through
the depths of the vaUey, and danced over the inter
vening heights, until lost in the far distance, pre
sented the appearance of a city of ancient days,
whereof the great arteries being alone lit up during
the nocturnal hours, fuU scope was allowed to the
imagination to populate at pleasure the intervening
gloom. The appearance at AngoUala of the muskets
presented to His Majesty by the British Govern
ment had already caused no inconsiderable con
sternation, it being the generally received belief
that the bayonet, hitherto a stranger in the land,
formed a great receptacle for poisonous spells. The
roar of each flight of " fire rainers " now produced
a panic from end to end of the scattered camp. A
buzz and a clamour of voices followed each luminous
ascent, to burst forth into a loud peal of wonder
when the brilliant shower of meteors fell after the
explosion. Confusion ensued ; and as horses and
mules, bursting from their pickets, scoured away
in terror, pursued by henchman and by warrior,
their figures, flitting in dim perspective before
glimmering bale-fires, countless as the stars that

174 THE ROYAL PAVILION.
spangled the firmament above, seemed shades caUed
into existence by some magic agency, and doubtless
proved to the gazing monarch that the political
object in contemplation had been well and fuUy
accomplished. Habitual suspicion on the part of the despot
inducing him to apprehend desertion to the enemy,
the arms of the fusileers of the body-guard were
piled, according to long-established usage, in one of
the royal tents and strongly guarded. The chiefs
and nobles then sate doAvn to a repast in the pavi
lion, where hydromel and beer and raw flesh were
in regal profusion. As the horn circulated briskly,
and the spirits of the guests mounted in proportion,
it was curious to listen to the vaunts of coming
prowess that arose from the board. No limit was
placed upon the victims who were to be gathered
to their fathers, and loyalty and devotion knew no
bounds. " You are the adorners," stammered one,
as the party broke up, Avho had been decorated by
his Enghsh friends; "you gave me scarlet broad
cloth, and behold I have reserved the gift for the
present occasion. This garment wiU bring me
signal success, for the pagan who espies a crimson
cloak over the shoulder of the Amhara, believing
him to be a warrior of distinguished valour, takes
like an ass to his heels, and is speared without the
slightest danger."

175

CHAP. XXII.

THE ENEMY S COUNTRY.

Rome is said to have subdued the world under the
direction of a hen and chickens, but the legions of
Shoa and Efat are aroused to victory by the shrUl
crowing of a cock, which is invariably carried with
the army, in one of the wicker baskets, forming the
pedestal of the banqueting table. One hundred
and fifty-six choristers, termed asmaroch, are
entertained at the expense of the crown, upon
extensive grants of land, to chant psalms and
hymns each livelong night of the entire year.
Twelve are brought on duty every month, and
their vigils, which are invariably kept standing,
are observed with more than usual strictness during
the continuance of a military expedition. Through
out the hours of darkness the loud chorus arose
from the pavilion without a moment's intermission,
the vocal labours around the holy ark ceasing only
with the approach of dawn, as announced by the
merry notes of chanticleer.
Many detachments being still in the rear, a halt
was directed with a view to admit of their joining
the head quarters, and the King, escorted by two

176 THE CAMP AT YEOLO.
thousand cavalry, made an excursion to a knoll at
some distance from the encampment, whence on a
range stretching to the south-eastward, the hill of
Dal6fa Avas conspicuous. Hereon His Majesty has
recently erected a palace, which he rarely visits
except for the purpose of controlhng by his pre
sence the disaffected and turbulent Galla, whose
continual outbreaks render it a far from agreeable
place of residence. Gazing for hours over the
extensive tract of rich meadow land which lay
stretched hke a map at his feet, the mind of the
contemplative monarch, occasionaUy directed to
the administration of justice, appeared to be chiefly
engrossed with the coming chapter of events, and
to be abstractedly scanning the direction in which
to pounce upon the surrounding foe.
The favourite dancing girl meanwhUe attuning
her shrill throat to song laudatory of her own vocal
powers, and of her happy state of independence, in
wild though far from pleasing notes caroUed ever
and anon as the spirit of the nightingale entered
into her soul.
" Care have I none, no flock to keep,
Nor corn to grind, nor field to reap ;
'Tis mine alone through the livelong day
To charm the King with my roundelay,
" Task have I none, no toil to share,
Nor wood to fetch, nor load to bear ;
'Tis mine alone but to dance and sing,
And drink to the health of my lord the King."
" Pity is it," remarked one of the party, " since

THE ARK OF THE COVENANT. 177
the damsel has so little to do, that she does not that
httle better."
" What fault have you to find with her perform
ance?" groAvled the chief smith from beneath the
ample folds of his lion skin cloak, enveloped in
which he had composed himself to rest under the
shadow of an adjacent bush ; — " what fault have
you to find with the King's asmari f" She sings
according to the fashion of her own country, and
that is surely sufficient."
Early the ensuing morning the royal drums beat
to saddle, and in half an hour the army, which had
sweUed meanwhile to about fifteen thousand fight
ing men, Avas in motion over a country especiaUy
favourable to advance. Some military precautions
Avere now observed, large brigades of horse serving
as flanking parties, and the heights to the right
and left being crowned with patrols, as the state
umbreUas advanced over the level green sward, at
the rate of three miles an hour. The King, with a
few favourite chiefs, preceded by Ayto Berri, the
quarter-master-general, and by the corps of guides
escorting the holy ark and Book of the law, led
the host, which, extending for mUes and miles to
the rear, came pouring over the hills, and down
the vaUeys, like a swoUen river bursting its banks,
and overflowing the entire country.
The military system of Shoa being entirely
feudal, each governor of the realm is required to
furnish his contingent of militia in proportion to
VOL. II. N

178

FEUDAL SYSTEM.

his landed tenure— his peasantry being at aU times
ready for the foray, and expected to purvey horse,
arms, and provisions, without payment from the
state. Four hundred fusUeers, bondsmen of the
King, alone receive pay — eight pieces of salt,
value one shilling and eight-pence, being disbursed
annually to each, in addition to the food and rai
ment granted to every royal slave. Little dis
cipline exists in the army thus composed, but
considerable tact is evinced in its organization and
distribution — small confidence being reposed in
that portion which is not drawn from ancient pos
sessions. Of three grand divisions, the centre, commanded
by His Majesty in person, consisted of the Lu-
guamioch, under Ayto Melkoo, master of the horse ;
the Gasha Shakri, or shield-bearers, and the
detachment of the collector of newly-levied tribute.
Immediately on the left flank were the fusileers of
Ayto Katama, commander-in-chief of the body
guard, behind whom came the Wotzbietoch, or
females of the royal kitchen ; — then the legion of
Ayto Guebroo, governor of Mentshar, and, lastly,
the detachments of Shoa-Meda, of Morat, and Mo-
rabietie. The van, consisting of skirmishers, is invariably
led by the great governor of the subjugated Galla,
under the title of Worari. With Abogaz Maretch,
avIio hoav filled this important post, were the tried
governors of Bulga, Kembibit, Gola, and Ootuba,

THE THREE DIVISIONS. 179
whose respective detachments are Christians, and
who are all drawn from the neighbourhood, where
intercourse with the GaUa is most frequent. The
third division, or rear-guard, is commanded by the
general styled Wobo, who is arbitrarUy chosen
from the seats of seven governments in the north,
viz. Giddem, Geshe, Antzochia, Mans, Kaa, Ga
briel, and Efrata — the same individual being
never selected on two consecutive expeditions.
By the continual exercise of his staff, the Master
of the Horse, assisted by the shield-bearers, con
trived to preserve the proper distance between the
van of the army and the royal person, but con
fusion reigned elsewhere. Warriors were huddled
together without order or arrangement, and every
trooper selecting his own position in the detach
ment to Avhich he belonged, diverted himself by
devising the death of the numerous hares that
scampered through the army, and, strange to say,
often threaded the maze of hoofs in safety.
During the early part of the march, herds of cattle
grazing quietly in the pastures around various
hamlets, proclaimed a subjugated tribe ; and clans
of tributary Galla, each led by its respective chief
in some fantastic costume formerly received at the
royal hands, met His Majesty at intervals, in order
to present tribute either in horses or kine — the
whole greasy band dismounting at a respectful dis
tance on the flank, hurrying before the despot's
path, and with bosoms bared, prostrating them-
n 2

180 " THE BELLY OF THE MASTER."
selves simultaneously upon the earth. Little re
spect, however, was paid to standing crops — field
after field of ripening corn being trampled level
with the ground, in spite of the remonstrance of
the disconsolate husbandmen, who, with heavy
stones upon their heads, threw themselves at the
feet of the King with loud and reiterated appeals.
The course was generally south-west, and conjec
ture was on the rack as to the scene of active oper
ations and the ultimate destination of the army.
But the secret stiU remaining with its royal leader,
any new speculation on the subject did but elicit
the old remark, " The belly of the master is not
known." Choristers continued to beguile the
tedious march with their rambling stanzas, and to
pour out shriU strains of melody Uke the notes of
the wild bird. The rough riders gallopped before the
van of the host to exhibit the paces of steeds re
ceived in tribute ; and His Majesty, aUghting ever and
anon from his mule, reposed for a few minutes upon
the cushioned alga which was carried in his train.
Nothing could be more tame and monotonous
than the country passed over. Wide grassy undu
lations, interspersed with extensive cultivation,
rose unrelieved by a single tree or other redeeming
feature, save the many European flowers that wan
toned beneath the joyous sunshine on the far-
stretching prairie. The Karinza, the Fincha, the
Chatti, and the Rufa rivers, aU tributary to the
Nile, Avere crossed in succession. Deep, narrow,

A REBEL TRIBE. 181
muddy channels intersecting verdant meadows,
these presented the general character of all
GaUa streams, cutting sUently through the rich
dark soU, and leaving swampy quagmires on the
waving downs. At long intervals the Negoos, dis
mounting to change mules, proceeded some dis
tance on foot — an example foUowed by all. On the
first of these occasions His Majesty went through
the comedy of thrusting his feet into slippers, se
lected from a bag carried by a slave, and contain
ing numerous pairs manufactured of various co
loured morocco. Many were tried in succession,
but the royal heels being invariably chafed and
blistered, the experiment was finally abandoned in
despair; and sacrificing dignity to comfort, the
despot, like his liege subjects, advanced unshod.
For several hours not a horned head had been
visible around the deserted hamlets; and late in
the afternoon, when the van of the flagging army
arrived in the extensive plain of Abai Deggar,
completely environed by hiUs, the order was given
to encamp, destroy, and plunder. Instantly ensued
a rush from aU quarters at fuU gaUop. Flourishing
fields of wheat, barley, and beans, the produce of
the toil of a rebeUious tribe, were ravaged and over
run by the locust hordes ; and in the course of half
an hour, the soil being stripped of every acre of
cultivation, there commenced a general scramble for
the rafters and ribs of houses, whereof the skeletons
were presently consigned to the flames.
n 3

182 HOSTIXITIES COMMENCED.
The women of the royal kitchen had, as before,
been the first to select a centrical and advantageous
spot on which to pursue the important avocations
of their caUing ; but some arbitrary change having
been directed by His Majesty, who occupied his
usual elevated position, the camp was thrown into
confusion. Quarrels and scuffles might now be wit
nessed in every quarter. Those who had taken pos
session of a luxuriant pasture or the vicinage of
water, stoutly defended the treasure against in
vading comrades, and recourse being had to
weapons, sword cuts and broken heads were quite
in fashion. Although now in an enemy's country,
neither picket, vidette, nor sentry was mounted,
and not the slightest precaution against nocturnal
surprise was adopted towards the security of the
camp. But no advantage was taken of the Amhara
neglect, and another and similar forced march over
a country equally devoid of interest with the tract
already crossed, led to the long narrow valley of
Karabarek, at the foot of the Garra Gorphoo
mountains. The bright spear-blade glittered through
the cloud of stifling dust that marked the course of
myriads over ploughed land. Green fields and
smiling meadows quickly lost their bloom under
the tramp of the steed ; for no cultivation was now
spared, and ruin and desolation were the order of
the day. Straggling parties of the Sertie GaUa had
been seen crowning the heights that skirt the line

APPROACH OF THE SPOILER. 183
of march, and near the peaked hiU of Wyfun they
were assembled in numbers ; but none ventured
within half a mile of the host, twenty thousand in
number, aU thirsting alike for the blood of their
enemies. Far and wide the country was laid
waste, and every vestige of human habitation de
stroyed under the torch, the flames racing among
the riper barley Avith the speed of a gaUopping
horse ; but the wretched inhabitants, aware of the
approach of the spoUer, had abandoned their
dwelhngs before the feU storm burst over them, and
one aged man only had yet fallen into the merciless
clutches of the invaders.
This prize had stained the hand of a foUower of
Ayto Gadel, governor of Chercha, a functionary far
from being notorious for courageous bearing. On
the occasion of Med6ko's last advance, his was the
mansion first beleaguered by the insurgents, but he
fled in dismay, leaving his fair partner to defend
the premises. Joining after the first day's march,
he had put the most diverting questions relative
to the English, with whose appearance he was
greatly perplexed.
" Are these people pagans?" inquired the hero
with owlish features, but too strongly indicative of
his vacant mind.
" No."
" Are they Islams?"
" No."
" Then what are they?" n 4

184 AN INQUISITIVE WARRIOR.
" Christians."
" Christians ! Impossible. They observe no fast,
and wear no mateb as a badge of their religion.* Is
there any grass in their country?"
"Why not?"
" How did I knoAV? Have they cattle ?"
" Abundance."
" And sheep and goats?"
" Certainly."
" And their Negoos, does he carry debaboch j
and make great zumachas J with warriors hke
these?" — turning his oyster eyes, lighted with
something like martial fire, towards the countless
rabble in the rear. But the party thus interrogated
could keep his temper no longer ; and as the little
hunch-backed father confessor rode jauntily up
with a dirty page perched on the crupper of his
mule, to volunteer a lesson in the noble art of
equitation, he gaUopped off, exclahnmg with a
sneer —
" Like these, forsooth ! One of Her Britannic
Majesty's regiments would in a single hour sweep
from off the face of the earth the whole undisci
plined mob that sweUs the impotent tram of the
boasted descendant of King Solomon."
* Mateb, i.e. Mark or token. The blue silk cord worn
around the neck by the Christians of Shoa.
f i.e. Umbrellas of state. J Military expeditions.

185

CHAP. XXIII.

THE FORAY.

Thus far the greatest irregularity and confusion
had prevailed among the Amhara troops, alike
during the march and the encampment. A council
of war Avas daily convened, when each leader made
his report and received verbal instructions for his
guidance ; but no order of any sort was promul
gated until the moment before it was to be carried
into effect, and aU depended rather upon the whim
and caprice of the monarch than upon the exi
gencies of the service. The first intimation of in
tended march was conveyed by the royal drums
sounding suddenly to saddle a quarter of an hour
before advance, which, as the state pavilion went
down, was announced by a flourish of horns.
But notwithstanding that the strictest silence
had been observed on the subject by the Negoos,
as well as by all who might have been unavoidably
admitted to confidence, strong surmises were enter
tained that a foray from Karabarek was to be the
order of the following day ; and about two hours
after midnight the sudden and unusual cessation of
the psalm singing, followed by the heavy tramp

186 ORDER OF ADVANCE.
past the tents of Ayto Shishigo's detachment of
Shoa-Meda horse, confirming the opinion, the hum
of the surrounding body, like that of a disturbed
hive of bees, continued until dawn. No sooner was
it light than His Majesty rode silently forth from
his enclosure without beat ofthe nugareet, and thou
sands instantly flocked toAvards the royal person.
The state umbreUas, furled, were encased in white
bags, and the usual cumbrous Abyssinian robe,
which effectually impedes aU rapid movement, was
on this occasion cast aside. Short wide trowsers
of various hues hung loosely to the knee. A thick
white cloth girded up the loins. The skins of Avild
beasts, the Uon, the panther, and the ocelot, alone
hung over the brawny shoulder of the warrior;
and, with exception of about two hundred mus-
queteers with bayonets fixed, every mdividual was
equipped with spear, sword, and buckler, his
mounted henchman leading behind him a spare
charger. At first starting the crush and confusion was
truly terrific. Horses and mules rearing, kicking,
and plunging, with lances bristling, and shields
thumping in every direction, threatened instant de
struction to each component member of the dense
mass, which, croAvded and locked fast together,
streamed at a rapid trot after the King without the
slightest order or regularity, save such as was pre
served by the exertions of the shield-bearers who
rode immediately behind. The occasional passage

THE RABBLE HOST. 187
of ploughed land, producing a suffocating cloud of
dust, served stiU more to increase the confusion,
which had reached its chmax when a rivulet inter
sected the line of march. Steep perpendicular
banks and treacherous channels opposing the ex
tended front of the legion, and checking advance, a
simultaneous exertion was made to gain the only
practicable fords, which were in an instant fiUed to
choking. The fiercest struggle for extrication en
sued. Numbers floundering in the soft mud, or
borne out of their saddles by the pressure of the
crowd, were trampled under foot, whUst those Avho
bestrode the stoutest steeds, clearing the way be
fore them by sheer strength, forced their weaker
neighbours to incUne to the right and to the left hke
frail reeds before the rush of the mountain deer.
The morning was bitterly cold. The hoar frost
lay thick and white upon the meadows ; and as the
rabble host trampled over the crisp grass towards
the high range of Garra Gorphoo, which at the
distance of a few miles rose to the height of twelve
or fifteen hundred feet, the breath arose heavy
from the nostril of man and beast, like a cloud of
smoke, mixing with the dark columns of dust which
foUowed the clattering hoofs of neighing war-steeds.
During the first hour's advance up the valley, re
ports were continuaUy being brought in, and mes
senger after messenger gallopping off in every
direction ; and as the foot of the mountain was
gained, Ayto Berkie, Avith a large detachment of

188

MOUNTAINS OF GARRA GORPHOO.

the men of Bulga, leaving the main body, moved
upon the left, Avhilst the King struck up the steep
face of the range in the centre of an extended fine
of men, who scoured every hill and hollow, and beat
every nook and corner at a rapid pace.
Stretching thirty miles in length by about tAvelve
or fifteen in breadth, the mountains of Garra Gor
phoo, covered throughout with one sheet of rich
cultivation form the water-shed between the Nile
and the Hawash. The various rivulets that on either
side wind down towards the parent streams, inter
sect it into hundreds of verdant vaUeys, on the
swelling slopes of Avhich the Avhite-roofed houses of
secluded Galla hamlets peep forth among dark
green groves of juniper and acacia, that add beauty
to the fair prospect. Refreshed by the cool breeze,
these tropical highlands are inhabited by the Sertie
tribe, who, long in a state of open rebelhon, had
rendered themselves doubly obnoxious to the des
pot's vengeance by attacking a detachment of Am
hara the preceding year, of whom, whilst entangled
in a morass near the foot of the range, eight hun
dred men were slain. The day of retribution had
at length arrived. The object of the expedition,
hitherto so carefuUy concealed, was now fuUy de
veloped ; and the military dispositions for SAveeping
destruction appeared to be right skilfuUy made.
Hurrying onward with ominous rapidity, de
stroying aU who fell in their path, and Avith their
weapons goading forward the herds of sleek cattle

the galla plains. 189
which teemed in every vaUey, the Avild host now
poured like an overwhelming torrent down the
flowery slopes of inumbrated hoUows — now breasted
the steep sunny acclivity like flames driven before
the Avind — and now wound in Indian file along the
edges of cliffs affording scanty footing for a wild
cat, where the loose soil, crumbUng at every step,
left the naked precipitous rock as the only available
passage. Far and wide the crops were laid pros
trate as if beaten doAvn under the violence of the
hurricane ; and before ten o'clock the highest pin
nacle of the green range having been crowned, a
wide prospect burst upon the gaze.
A succession of richly-cultivated plains dotted
over with clusters of conical white houses, in
parts surrounded by clumps of towering junipers,
stretched away from the foot, the very picture
of peace and plenty. Embosomed between the
isolated peaks of Yerrur, Sequala, and the far-
famed Entotto, lay the wide plain of Germama,
thickly peopled by the Ekka and Finfinni Galla,
upon whose doomed heads the thunderbolt was
next to fall ; and full in its centre two placid silver
lakes, like great mirrors, reflected back the rays of
the morning sun across sheets of luxuriant cultiva
tion, extending for miles, nearly ready for the
sickle. Far beyond, the long wooded hne of the
Hawash, roUing its troubled waters towards the
plain of the Adaiel, loomed indistinctly through
the haze; and in the extreme distance, the lofty

190

alluring prospect.

blue range of the Aroosi and Ittoo Galla, skirting
the mysterious regions of Gurague, bounded the
almost interminable prospect.
The morning mist, loaded with dust raised by
the tramp of the Amhara steeds over acres of
ploughed land, hung heavy on the heather-grown
slopes, and partially screening the approach of the
locust army, conspired to enhance its success.
Twenty thousand brawny warriors, in three di
visions, covering many miles of country, and hnked
by detachments in every direction, pressed on to
wards the inviting goal — their hearts burning
with the implacable hatred of hostile barbarians,
and panting to consummate their bloody revenge.
Taken entirely by surprise, their devoted victims
lay helplessly before them, indulging in fatal dreams
of happiness and security, alas ! too speedily to be
dispelled. Hundreds of cattle grazed in tempting
herds over the flowery meads. Unconscious of
danger, the unarmed husbandman pursued his
peaceful occupation in the field ; his wife and chil
dren caroUed bUthely over their ordinary house
hold avocations ; and the ascending sun shone
bright on smiling vaUeys, which, long before his
going down, were left tenanted only by the wolf
and the vodture.
Preceded by the holy ark of St. Michael, veiled
under its scarlet canopy, the King still led the van,
closely attended by the father confessor, and by a
band of priests, with whom having briefly conferred,

ABSOLUTION. 191
he turned towards the expectant army, and pro
nounced the ominous words which were the weU-
known signal for carrying fire and sword through
the land — " May the God who is the God of my
forefathers, strengthen and absolve ! " Rolling on
hke the waves of the mighty ocean, down poured
the Amhara host among the rich glades and rural
hamlets, at the heels of the flying inhabitants —
trampling under foot the fields of ripening corn, in
parts half reaped, and sweeping before them the
vast herds of cattle which grazed untended in
every direction. When far beyond the range of
vision, their destructive progress was stiU marked
by the red flames that burst forth in turn from the
thatched roofs of each invaded viUage; and the
havoc committed many miles to the right by the diAi-
sion of Abogaz Maretch, who was advancing paraUel
to the main body, and had been reinforced by the
detachment under Ayto Shishigo, became equaUy
manifest in numerous columns of white smoke,
towering upwards to the azure firmament in rapid
succession. The Embassy foUowed close in the train of the
Negoos, who halted for a few minutes on the eastern
face of the range; and the eye of the despot
gleamed bright with inward satisfaction, whilst
watching through a telescope the progress of the
flanking detachments, as they poured impetuously
down the steep side of the mountain, and swept
across the level plain with the fury of the blast of

192

VALE OF FINFINNI.

the Sirocco. A rapid detour thence to the west-
Avard in an hour disclosed the beautifully secluded
valley of Finfinni, which, in addition to the artificial
advantage of high cultivation, and snug hamlets,
boasted a large share of natural beauty. Meadows
of the richest green turf, sparkling clear rivulets
leaping down in sequestered cascades, with shady
groves of the most magnificent juniper lining the
slopes, and waving their moss-grown branches
above cheerful groups of circular wigwams, sur
rounded by implements of agriculture, proclaimed
a district which had long escaped the hand of
wrath. This had been selected as the spot for the
royal plunder and spohation, and the troops, ani
mated by the presence of the monarch, now per
formed their bloody Avork with a sharp and un
sparing knife — firing vUlage after viUage until the
air was dark with their smoke mingled with the
dust raised by the impetuous rush of man and
horse. The luckless inhabitants, taken quite by surprise,
had barely time to abandon their property, and fly for
their lives to the fastness of Entotto, which reared
its protecting form at the distance of a few miles.
The spear of the warrior searched every bush for
the hunted foe. Women and girls were torn from
their hiding to be hurried into hopeless captivity.
Old men and young were indiscriminately slain and
mutilated among the fields and groves ; flocks and
herds were driven off in triumph, and house after

 I

RUTHLESS MASSACRE. 193
house was sacked and consigned to the flames. Each
grim Amhara warrior vied with his comrade in the
work of retributive destruction amongst the exe
crated GaUa. Whole groups and families were
surrounded and speared within the waUed court
yards, which were strewed with the bodies of the
slain. Wretches who betook themselves to the
open plain were pursued and hunted down Uke
wild beasts ; and chUdren of three and four years
of age, who had been placed in the trees with the
hope that they might escape observation, were
included in the inexorable massacre, and pitUessly
shot among the branches. In the course of two
hours the division left the desolated vaUey laden
Avith spoil, and carrying Avith them numbers of
wailing females and mutilated orphan chUdren,
together with the barbarous trophies that had been
stripped from the mangled boches of their murdered
victims. The hoarse scream of the vulture as she wheeled
in funereal circles over this appaUing scene of car
nage and devastation, mingled Avith the crackling
of falling roofs and rafters from the consuming
houses, alone disturbed the grave-like silence of
the dreary and devoted spot, so lately resounding
to the fiendish shouts and war Avhoops of the ex
cited warriors, and to the unpitied groans of their
helpless captives. And as the exulting barbarians,
foUowed by the curses of the homeless fugitives in
Entotto, crossed the last range, gloomy columns
VOL. II. o

194

THE ROYAL DIVISION.

of smoke rising thick and dense to the darkened
heavens, for mUes in every direction, proclaimed
that this recently so flourishing and beautiful loca
tion had in a few brief hours been utterly ruined,
piUaged, and despoUed, as far as the means of
ruthless and savage man could effect its destruc
tion. The royal division crossed the deep vale of Fin-
finni by a most dangerous and difiicult defile, lead
ing over the bed of the principal torrent, which
Avinds through an extensive belt of dark jumper
forest, of truly magnificent growth. Lofty pine
like trees, hoary with the moss of centuries, towered
above banks that rose some hundred feet almost
perpendicularly, and were clothed throughout
with tangled undergrowth. A huge fragment of
porphyry, nearly choking the straitened descent,
afforded barely sufficient room for the passage of
a single horseman, whilst a succession of slippery
rocks and treacherous pools filled up the channel
to the opposite bank, steep, abrupt, and wooded.
Loud shouts drowned the pleasing murmur of a
splashing waterfaU ; and so great was the confusion
caused by the crush of men, horses, and mules,
mingled with frightened droves of oxen and sheep,
aU struggling tumultuously towards the only out
let, that many accidents occurred. Horses and
riders were forced over the precipice — others were
trampled under foot by the overwhelming rush
from behind, and a handful of resolute men might

THE STATE UMBRELLAS. 195
with ease have kept at bay the whole rabble army
of the invader. But the Abyssinian system of
warfare consists in surprise, murder, and butchery,
not in battle or fair conflict. The King continued
to advance rapidly without the smaUest check, and
being escorted only by a few fusileers of the body
guard, carrying each two rounds of ammunition,
was necessarily much exposed; but confident in
the terror with which his meteor-hke descent would
inspire his unwary foes, no dispositions were made
for the security of his person, in the event of resist
ance or surprise.
Emerging from the forest which extended two
mUes beyond the Finfinni defile, the scattered
forces began to rendezvous around the state um
brellas, now unfurled, to which they were directed
by the incessant beating of kettle-drums. Whilst
the work of destruction stUl continued to rage on
aU sides, herd after herd of lowing beeves came
pouring towards the royal standard, and each
new foraging party brought with it fresh groups
of captive women and girls, and the barbarous
tokens of their prowess. Some of the more brag
gart warriors affecting inability to return their
blood-stained blades to the scabbard, pompously
carried them in the hand unsheathed, and even the
boyish arms of some of the most effeminate of the
royal pages had proved victorious over a defence
less victim. The slaughter had been immense.
Every desolated court-yard was crowded with the
o 2

196 THE EKKA VALLEY.
bodies of the slain — childhood and decrepit age
had fared alike ; and the murderers, unconscious
of the disgrace attaching to unmanly deeds, un-
blushingly heralded their shame, and, detailing
their deeds of cruelty, basked in the smiles of their
savage and approving monarch, whose only eye
became at times frightfully AvUd with excitement,
although his demeanour throughout the long day
of horrors had been cool and self-possessed from
the experience acquired during eighty-four similar
forays. After a brief halt, the march was resumed
through the country of the Ekka Galla, which was
clean swept with the besom of destruction ; and the
distinguishing green sprig of asparagus in the
wooUy heads of successful cavaliers became more
and more numerous as the eventful day drew on to
its close. The sun at length disappeared behind
the western mountains, towards which the course
of the army was directed ; and night, casting her
sable mantle over the dismal scene, stayed the arm
of the warrior. During fourteen hours passed in
the saddle, above fifty miles of country had been
passed over ; and the weary forces finaUy halted in
the Ekka vaUey, without possessing the smallest
idea of the position of the rear division, with the
tents and baggage, to the leader of which no clue
had been afforded as to the royal intentions.
Horses and mules were now turned loose among
the standing beans, and several thousand head of

THE BOOTY. 197
cattle, tired to death with the distance they had
been driven from their wonted pastures, were, with
infinite difficulty, coUected in a hoUow, girdled on
three sides by a deep ravine. It was closed on the
fourth by a steep acclivity, on the summit of which
the King, surrounded by his chieftains, took up his
position for the night. His Majesty, although fast
ing throughout the day, sent his only loaf to be
eaten by " his chUdren ; " and looking forth upon
the fruits of his masterly foray, seemed, in the con
templation of the amassed herds, to be insensible
alike to the cold wintry blast, and to the long calls
of hunger.
A wilder scene can scarcely be imagined than
that presented by the nocturnal bivouac of the
locust-Uke army of the Amhara, flushed by its
recent success. Loud whoops and yeUs, arising
from every quarter of the wide vaUey, mingled
with the incessant lowing of kine, the bleating of
sheep, the shrill neighing of the war-steed, and the
occasional wailing of some captive maid, subjected
to the brutality of her unfeeling possessor. Groups
of grim warriors, their hands embrued in the inno
cent blood of infancy, and their stern features
lighted by the fitful flame, chuckling over the
barbarous spoils they had won, vaunted their inhu
man exploits, as they feasted greedily on raw and
reeking carcasses. Spears and bucklers gleamed
brightly around hundreds of bale-fires, composed of
rafters stripped from the surrounding houses; and
o 3

198 NOCTURNAL BIVOUAC.
the Avhole distant landscape, red from the lurid
glare reflected by scores of crackling hamlets, com
pleted a picture worthy the pencU of the artist who
delights in the delineation of brutal revelry. No
sentry paced the environs of the straggling encamp
ment — no watchword chaUenged the tramp of the
man-at-arms. The deep hum of thousands gra-
duaUy waned and died away, and each composed
himself to slumber on the spot where his carousal
had been held. A pall constructed with spears
supporting a cotton robe screened the person of the
Negoos ; and so long as the biting cold would permit,
Ins British guests slept at broken intervals upon the
bare ground, amid the gorged and weary warriors,
the saddle of each serving for a piUow —
" The earth his bed, his canopy the sky."

199

CHAP. XXIV.
THE ROYAL ACHIEVEMENT.
Welcome to aU was the first grey Ught that
illumined the eastern sky, and summoned the war
rior from his uneasy slumbers. So uncomfortably
had the night been passed, that it was in truth rest
to rise. The despot was among the first to abandon
his cold couch ; and a buUetin of success having
been penned by the royal hand, for the information
of Queen Besabesh, the main body of the division,
convoying the interminable droves of cattle, was in
motion across the Ekka vaUey. Escorted by five
thousand cavalry, His Majesty then proceeded to a
knoU at some distance within the scene of yesterday's
carnage, upon the summit of which he tarried,
whUst parties went out in search of the body of his
grand-nephew, the youthful son of Ayto Besueh-
nech, who, with several others of the Christian
host, had fallen in the running conflict.
It was a cool and lovely morning, and the moun
tain breeze played freshly down each opening glade.
The ascending sunbeam danced over the steep
rugged sides and ruined stone edifices of the fast
ness of Entotto, anciently the proud seat of iEthiopic
o 4

200 MOUNT ENTOTTO.
splendour, and stiU beUeved to conceal much of the
wealth lost to the empire at the period of Graan's
invasion, when Nebla Dengel was driven mto
Tigre. The great volcanic cone of Sequala, rival
ling the lowland AiiiUoo, again towered in the
distance, its once fiery crater converted by the
reA^olutions of ages into an extensive lagoon, on the
banks of which stands the celebrated shrine of
Guebra Manfas Kedoos, a saint renowned for the
destruction by his prayers of five hundred genies.
On the one hand frowned the dark wooded slave
mart of Roque, in the Yerrur hill, where miUions
of Christians have been bought and sold ; and on
the other rose the mountain Dalacha, sacred to the
Wato sorcerers, whose tempting demesnes have
escaped piUage and conflagration, in consequence of
their blessing having been followed by the birth of
Sahela Selassie. Far in the distance a low belt of
vegetation screened the sleepy Hawash, whose idle
waters throughout the long tortuous course en
counter no impediment; and over the intervening
tract numerous tributaries to the Casam, absorbed
eventually in the parched plain of the Adaiel, con
veyed the eastern drainage of Garra Gorphoo
through the ravaged vaUey of Germama.
Over this wide expanse not a liAing inhabitant
Avas now to be seen. In every direction the blood
stained ground was strewed with the slaughtered
foe, around whose mutilated corses groups of
surfeited vultures flapped their foul wings, and

SCENE OF DESOLATION. 201
screamed the death note. The embers of deserted
viUages smouldered over the scorched and blackened
plain. Ripe crops, which the morning before had
gladdened the heart of the cultivator — now no more
— were level with the ground. Flocks of sheep,
untended by the shepherd, strayed over the lone
meadow ; and bands of howhng dogs wandered up
and down in fruitless quest of their lost masters.
A single day had reduced to a waste wilderness the
entire rich and flourishing vale of Germama, in
cluding the dark forests of Finfinni, which, for
years, had slept in peace ; and their late numerous
and unsuspecting population had in a few hours
been swept from off the face of the earth by the
devastating irruption of the barbarian Amhara
hordes. The mutUated remains of the fallen chief having,
after much search, been recovered from the ashes
of a stiU smoking vUlage, were shrouded with a
white cloth, and borne upon a bier from the scene
of desolation. Glutted with booty, the despot now
left his locusts to pursue their own course up the
Ekka vaUey, where flames and plunder again
marked the stragghng return towards the moun
tains of Garra Gorphoo. Each hamlet was ravaged
in succession ; and cats, the sole remaining tenants
of the deserted huts, were dislodged by the torch of
the Wobo.
For mUes and mUes the road was lined with
dusty and wayworn warriors laden with spoil :

202

THE REAR DIVISION.

flocks and herds, donkeys, mules, and horses, honey
combs, poultry, household utensUs and farming
gear, with captive women and chUdren, indiscrimi
nately mingled with the men-at-arms. Whilst some
of these latter, wounded and mutUated, were lashed
upon the backs of their palfreys, others, dismounted,
were dragging behind them their lame and ex
hausted steed's ; sheep and goats, unable through
fatigue to proceed, being cut limb from limb Avhilst
still aUve, and the bleeding trunks left quivering in
the path by the wanton butchers.
Re-entering the mountains, over which the sun,
now low in the horizon, had cast the long dark
shadows of evening, the camp was sought hi vain ;
but the rear division, with tents and baggage, was
at length descried pouring doAvn the opposite height
under a vast canopy of dust to the encamping
ground at Boora Roofa. A long marcii the pre
ceding day had brought it to Sululta near to
Moolo Falada, where it met and destroyed those who
had fled from the immediate scene of the King's
inroad, made numerous female captives, and, with
the loss of the sumpter horses laden with horns of
hydromel, acquired considerable booty ; information
casuaUy received of the main division having thence
led it back through the mountains to the present
halting ground, after all had made up their minds
to another cold bivouac in the open air. During its
more recent progress this division had carried fire
and sword through the country of the Sertie Galla,

APPALLING RETRIBUTION. 203
where it yet remained unplundered; and, as the day
again closed, the vault of heaven was re-iUumined
by volumes of lurid smoke from the surrounding
hamlets. Such is the appalUng retribution with which
Sahela Selassie is wont to visit those rebel tribes
who withhold the moderate tribute that has been
imposed upon them. The relinquishment to the
crown of three or four hundred of the many thou
sand head of cattle captured during this and the
preceding day, would, with some twenty or thirty
horses, have averted this severe chastisement, the
fearful consequence of taxes refused. The revolt of
tribes inhabiting remote portions of His Majesty's
dominions arises too frequently from the oppression
of GaUa governors, over whose proceedings he can
exercise very inadequate control ; but it is caused
in a principal degree by the absence of outpost or
fortification to hold his wild subjects in check.
Could he be prevailed upon to abandon his present
weak mode of securing the GaUa dependencies, to
strengthen them by those military arrangements
for which the country is so peculiarly adapted, and
to place a better limit upon the exactions of frontier
governors, what bloodshed and misery might not
be averted !
The army halted at Boora Roofa to enable strag
gling detachments to rejoin; and smaU parties went
out in various directions to complete the work of
demolition among the deserted hanUets of the Sertie

204

A GALLA BELEAGUERED.

tribe, some of which, embosomed deep among the
mountain glens, had hitherto escaped attention:
hives of ungathered honey, heaps of unwinnowed
corn, and the half-flayed carcass abandoned within
the filthy, habitation, bearing ample testimony to
the precipitate flight of the hunted inmates, around
many of whose bodies gaunt vultures already held
their carnival.
Early during the forenoon, horsemen rode in to
the royal pavilion Avith important intelligence that
Ayto Hierat, a favourite governor, had, at the dis
tance of a few miles, surprised and surrounded a
GaUa in a tree, among the branches of which the
caitiff awaited the arrival of the King. Impatient
to wreathe his brow with new laurels, the monarch
lost not a moment in sallying forth to destroy the
unfortunate wretch, taking a most formidable array
of single and double-barrelled guns and rifles of
every calibre, together with an escort of five thou
sand cavalry.
Receiving a long shot through the thigh at the
royal hands, whilst imperfectly ensconced among
the fohage, the victim, abandoning aU hope of es
cape, wisely cast away his weapons, and cried
loudly for quarter; being admitted to which, he
kissed the feet of His Majesty, and thus escaped
mutilation on the spot. To take the life of a Galla,
and to secure a prisoner of either sex, are, in Am
hara warfare, accounted one and the same thing;
and although, where adult males are concerned, the

PROWESS OF THE MONARCH. 205
more merciful alternative is rarely adopted, the
despot, whose dreams often conjure up his past
deeds of blood in judgment against him, has be
come more lenient than of yore. Yet the valuable
presents to which the destruction of a helpless foe
entitles him from every governor in the realm, the
increased respect acqiured in the eyes of his sub
jects and warriors, and the additional lustre shed
over his already chivalrous reputation by each new
murder, however foul, induce him stUl to seek oc
casions such as this to embrue his hands in gore.
Messenger after messenger now gaUopped into
camp at fuU speed, with the joyful tidings of suc
cess, each new announcement ehciting yet louder
and louder songs and shouts from the wotzbeitoch,
eunuchs, and parasites at the royal quarters. In
another hour the cavalcade returned in triumph,
the wounded captive riding on a mule behind the
exulting monarch, who, by virtue of his bold ex
ploit, wore in the hair a large green branch of wild
asparagus, whUst the greasy garment of his bleed
ing prisoner graced the proud neck of his war-
steed. Repeated vollies of musketry, with the
blasts of horns, and the din of kettle-drums, pro
claimed the signal prowess of His Christian Ma
jesty. Priests and Avomen flocked to receive him
with a clamour of acclamation, and he alighted amid
the most stunning uproar.
Through the Master of the Horse a message was
presently received to the effect that the attend-

206 THE HEATHEN IN THE TREE.
ance of every member of the Embassy had been
looked for, the Galla having been entrapped pur
posely that his destruction might be accomphshed
by the hand of the British visiters, in view to the
exaltation of the national name. " Why tarried
ye in the tent ? I desired that my chUdren might
kiU the heathen in the tree ; but, when they came
not, I myself performed the deed."
The puissant monarch was informed in reply,
" that, independently of its being the Sabbath, and
none of the party possessing the smaUest inclina
tion to destroy a defenceless human being under
any circumstances, no public body was authorised
by the law of nations to draw a sword offensively
in any country not in open hostility with its own.
That an elephant was esteemed equivalent to forty
armed Galla, and a wild buffalo to five ; and of these
much-dreaded animals his guests were ready to
destroy any number that he might think proper to
permit." Great was the triumph and the quaffing of
mead, and the feasting on raw beef, during the
residue of the day and the early hours of the
night, for lo! the king of kings in single combat
had prevailed over his Galla foe. Essential assist
ance had been afforded by the Embassy to the sick
and wounded ; amongst the latter, to a brother of
the Queen ; yet many reproaches were now abroad,
in that its members had eaten the royal bread, and
destroyed none of the enemies of the state. The

" SOLDIERS OF THE CROSS." 207
example of other foreigners, who were represented
to have shot Galla out of trees, was contrasted
somewhat unfavourably to British courage ; and a
private of the artUlery escort was roundly taxed
with cowardice for permitting the escape of an un
armed peasant, who lay concealed in a bush by the
way-side, and could have offered no resistance. The
defenceless wretch was subsequently pursued by
thirty Amhara horsemen, but escaped unscathed on
foot into the forest, under a shower of their Chris
tian lances.
In aU countries where a martial spirit is fostered
by continual forays, and where the exertions of a
single day are sufficient to maintain the successful
marauder for six months to come, the daily un
ceasing labour of the cultivator is forsaken for the
shield and spear. But in Abyssinia, where the
principal booty is monopolised by the monarch, the
case is Avidely different, since, although mUitary
expeditions are of frequent occurrence, the sword
of the plunderer is as often turned again into the
ploughshare — whilst the despoUed husbandman,
again tilUng his devastated lands, and occupying
the brief intervals of peace and repose in agricul
tural and pastoral pursuits, the fair provinces of
the Galla, floAving Avith milk and honey, are speedily
reclothed in one sheet of luxuriant cultivation.
The Abyssinians have been represented as a bold,
martial, and chivalrous race — but in Shoa the
" soldiers of the Cross" are impeUed by none of that

208 REVOLTING BARBARITIES.
knightly valour which warmed the breast of the
crusader of old. The white feather, that emblem
of cowardice in other lands, forms the boast of
their murderous exploits among infants of tender
years ; and the system of the noble art of war
would seem to consist in the merciless destruction
of the enemy by sudden inroad and surprise.
Harrying the invaded country with overwhelming
masses of undisciphned cavalry, the only opposition
to be encountered is an occasional skirmish during
the night with an outlying detachment, or by day
during the passage of a weak body through mo
rasses or intricate defiles. The appearance of a foe
invariably proves the signal for increased disorder,
aU who are so disposed saUying forth to the
assault, when those who harbour animosity against
a comrade not unfrequently avail themselves of the
opportunity to assassinate him in the melee.
Cruelties emanating from the hereditary detest
ation of the heathen, which with the barbarous
spoils earned during the foray, is handed doivn as
an heir-loom from generation to generation, are
unfortunately countenanced by the monarch, who
has too often destroyed a defenceless fugitive with
his own hand, and personaUy set the disgraceful ex
ample of mutilation ; whilst the bigotry and super
stition of the savage Amhara induces him to regard
every pagan in the light of a dog, as doth the
fanatic Moslem the Christian. The revolting bar
barities practised in the hour of victory which from

INSIGNIA OF VALOUR. 209
time immemorial have had existence in ^Ethiopia,
and unfortunately also over the greater portion of
unhappy Africa to which discovery has yet ex
tended, are perpetuated by the commission of
simUar enormities on the part of the Galla usurpers
of the fairest portions of the land, who butcher
children and old men without distinction, mutilate
aU who faU into their hands, and enslave females
upon every opportunity.
The stimulus afforded by individual interest in
the slaughter committed during the foray stands at
present in the place of discipline, since without one
or the other no army could be brought into the
field. Triumph attends the return of the Christian
warrior from battle in proportion to the number of
lives he bears upon his arm, and for each enemy
slain he is entitled to some conspicuous personal
badge, which forms his greatest pride. A ring, a
gauntlet, or a bracelet, gained at the expense of
acts the most dastardly, raises him accordingly in
the estimation of relatives and companions in arms,
and signal success almost invariably paves the way
to royal preferment.
Monstrous and appalling crimes are dictated by
the desire to obtain the insignia of valour, and of
these, instances of very recent occurrence are
matter of notoriety. An Amhara of rank, unable
to obtain amongst the enemies of the state the
much coveted trophy, in cold blood mutilated the
VOL. II. p

210

THIRST AFTER FAME.

unsuspecting husband of his own sister, whom he
found at disadvantage ; but not long afterwards, to
his amazement, the unhappy man, whom he had
left for dead, presented himself Uke a shade from
another world, and falling at the footstool of the
throne cried aloud for justice. To the honour of
His Majesty be it recorded, that the ruffian was
publicly executed at Ang6Uala, and that similar
retribution pursued a second fiend in human form,
who under like circumstances had proceeded to
mutilate his henchman. " Master," said the de
fenceless menial imploringly, " I have served you
faithfuUy for seven years, hoAv can you treat me
thus?" " Thou wilt serve me better this day than
thou hast ever done before," replied the brute, as
he completed the black deed — " Wouldst thou
have me to return home in disgrace, thou eater of
bread ? " *
Discipline alone can check the prevaUing bar
barity, by superseding desultory hand to hand
combat, and keeping every soldier in such compa
rative ignorance of the number that faU to his indi
vidual prowess, as to preclude the vaunting of
exploits. To those who have been eye-witnesses of
the foray, it must afford matter for deep regret
that feud and contest should hitherto so effectually
have debarred access to the interior, and should
* Injra bullal, eater of bread, a common term of abuse for the
idle.

EFFECTS OF DISCIPLINE. 211
have checked the advance of Christianity and civil
ization, which, as in happier lands, must bring Avith
them the means of providing for redundant popu
lation, and could not fail to ameliorate the horrors
attendant upon the existing system of Abyssinian
warfare.

p 2

212

CHAP. XXV.
LIBERATION OF THE PRISONERS OF WAE.
During the more than usuaUy successful, though
harrowing and bloody campaign of the Amhara
host, an opportunity was afforded of laying down,
as scientifically as very limited time would permit,
an extensive and most interesting tract of country
hitherto undescribed — not to be explored by the
adventurous but single traveller, and only to be
Aisited under the peculiar advantages afforded to
the British Embassy by the despotic Negoos. It
formed a source of extreme disappointment that
this acquaintance should not have extended to the
Lake Zooai, as antieipated from the manifesto ori
ginally" promulgated at Machal-wans ; but Ayto
Beni, many years quarter-master general of the
royal troops, who, in his quondam capacity of Mo-
hammadan rover, had often visited that famous
expanse of water, strongly discountenanced the con
templated measure of molesting the inoffensive
inhabitants of its five islands — mixed Christians
and pagans living in profound peace with each
other, and Avith every surrounding neighbour. To
his advice may in some measure be ascribed the

A ROYAL PROCLAMATION. 213
alteration in the King's intentions ; but the argu
ment which had probably more weight with His
Majesty than the harmless attributes of the popu
lation, was based on the dense and difficult cha
racter of the extensive forests, swarming with Galla
and with wild beasts, through which the army
must pass, after crossing the pillaged vaUey of
Germama. The Christian camp at Boora Roofa was crowded
with disconsolate groups of heathen captives, many
with infants at their backs, and nearly aU in a state
of nudity, with long raven tresses streaming wildly
over their shoulders. Hopeless slavery was theirs,
but influenced by the earnest remonstrance of the
Embassy, aided by the active and reverend mis
sionary, Dr. Krapf, whom philanthropic feelings
had enabled to endure the uncongenial atmosphere
of ignorance and unbelief — whom the purest and
most praiseworthy motives had induced to obey
the royal summons to the field, and who, from his
long experience, knew when to touch the latent
spark of mercy, the King wiped out the foul stain
of the preceding day by consenting to liberate the
whole. Ere the nugareets sounded the return of
the troops, a proclamation went forth commanding
the immediate release of every prisoner of war;
and as the dissatisfied army turned its back upon
the valley, long files of widowed dames and father
less girls were to be seen hurrying in freedom
across the hills towards their desolate hearths,
p 3

214

THE SERTIE LAKE.

overjoyed at the sudden and unexpected restoration
of their lost liberty through the white man's inter
cession—the ruthless soldiery, disappointed at the
loss of their booty, having previously stripped the
last covering from all, and sent them forth naked
as they came into the world.
This signal victory over savage ferocity was fol
lowed by a long march to the river Alelta, a tribu
tary to the Nile, and forming near the encampment
Lake Sertie, a fuU mile in diameter, bounded by
low hills of trachyte and j)orphyry. A web of deep
miry ravines, shut in by high crumbling banks,
presented a wet and slippery footing, and many
were the disasters that befeU the demure dames of
the royal kitchen. Wicker parasols might be seen
floating down the current as the luckless proprietor
struggled in the black slimy mud among mules and
war steeds, or emerged in truly pitiable condition
to be censured by their austere guardians, who,
horror-stricken, had witnessed from above the ab
sence of all order and decorum.
Each moment rendered the treacherous passage
more and more impracticable, and it was not diffi
cult to understand how, in the month of June the
preceding year, the spot should have proved the
grave of eight hundred of the Amhara cavalry. At
that season the country, flooded for many miles
around, becomes one great quagmire which is not
to be crossed without extreme caution. Before the
King had passed Avith the main body of the victo-

TOKENS OF BLOOD. 215
rious troops escortmg immense plunder, the Sertie
Galla, taking advantage of superior knowledge of
the locaUty, completely cut off the van of the army,
consisting of the Mentshar and Bulga detachments.
They had become entangled in the mazy labyrinth,
and were massacred to a man ere assistance could
be rendered by the matchlock-men of the body
guard, who did not reach the ground until the
enemy were in fuU retreat.
His Majesty's object in now revisiting the scene
of this catastrophe was sufficiently obvious. No
sooner had the imperial cavalcade halted among
the bleached skeletons of the fallen warriors, than
champions, whose steeds were distinguished by
greasy garments stripped from the bodies of GaUa
victims, caricoled proudly in front of the state
umbreUas, brandishing their bright weapons aloft,
exhibiting the spoils that had been won during the
recent bloody foray ; and after a detail of their in
dividual exploits, shouting defiance to the humbled
Sertie. The Avild triumphal exhibition concluding
after half an hour, a band of music advanced, and
continued to play until the pavUion had been pre
pared for the royal reception.
Early the ensuing morning the King sent con-
fidentiaUy to inquire if none of his guests could
divine whether the day were propitious to the ad
vance of the army — a point upon which he felt
somewhat dubious. The confession of lamentable
want of skill in augury was succeeded by a march
p 4

216 REHEARSAL OF EXPLOITS.
of sixteen miles to EUulee Jidda over a monotonous
landscape of swelling downs and shaUow valleys,
intersected by streamlets that had scooped deep
channels in the loose black soil. The stately relict
of a deceased GaUa chieftain rode through the
ranks with her tribute in horses and kine, and ex
perienced a most gallant reception at the hands of
the monarch. She might have sate for the portrait
of La Belle Sauvage, but the grease wherein the
person of the handsome dame was embedded tended
unfortunately to destroy the romance inseparable
from her Amazonian appearance and feudal con
dition. Various triumphant detachments also met the
royal cortege en route, the chiefs and victorious
Avarriors careering in succession before the van of
the army with barbarous tokens of blood dangling
from the right arm, and green sprigs of asparagus
AvaAing above their dishevelled and newly greased
locks. Prisoners were seated behind the cruppers
of some of the more merciful, and the flank of each
grey steed was dyed with clotted human gore. A
short rambling recitative, expressive of loyalty and
devotion in the field, was followed by savage yells
and whoops twice or thrice re-echoed by their mar
shalled band of followers, when they vaulted lightly
from the saddle, prostrated themselves on the
ground, and gallopped off, each in his turn, to
make way for some new squadron, whose war
chorus came pealing over the hills.

AMHARA WAR CHORUS. 217
" The combat's past, the fight is won,
Then triumph o'er the prostrate foe ;
The heathen blood has freely run,
Raise high the chaunt, Woko, Woko.
" Let hill and dale return the note,
Woko, "Woko, ayah Woko ;
Loud ring from every Christian throat
The shout of death, Woko, Woko."
Whilst the army was encamping, the legion of
Ayto Shishigo, rejoining the royal division with
three thousand head of oxen, in like manner re
ported success and detailed exploits to the King, who,
as usual, occupied the summit of an adjacent emi
nence. Tribute was stUl in a course of diligent col
lection, and greasy Galla chieftains, with hair plaited
after the model of the lotus flower, were flocking
with their clues from all directions. One refractory
village only of the Jidda tribe, withholding its im
post of a single horse, paid the penalty of its folly.
The inhabitants fled, but their deserted houses were
sacked and consigned to the flames, the stakes and
palisades by which, in common with every hamlet
in this direction, it was strongly fortified, affording
fuel for the royal kitchen, and subsequently a
scramble to one half of the army.

218

CHAP. XXVI.

THE TRIUMPH.

A long march across the Sana Robi next brought
the troops to Belat in the neighbourhood of Yeolo.
His Majesty, seated upon his cushioned alga,
halted frequently in the wide undulating meadows
to witness warlike rehearsals on a still more splen
did scale ; on the termination of Avhich, many of
the quotas having received their dismissal, dispersed
to their respective districts, although not until
after one Amhara soldier had been treacherously
murdered by a rival comrade, and another had been
desperately wounded in a trifling dispute which
resulted in an appeal to arms.
Before sunrise the ensuing morning the victo
rious troops, reduced by one third, marched upon
Ang611ala, driving exultingly before them upwards
of thirty thousand head of prize cattle, the entire of
which were, par excellence, the property ofthe King.
Arrived within sight of the capital, strains of martial
music burst from the centre division, when every
throat throughout the vast army joined in one
deafening chorus. Half a mile to the south of the
Galla wall a tent had been erected, to Avhich His

IMPOSING PAGEANT. 219
Majesty retiring for a few minutes, arrayed his
person preparatory to the triumphal entry ; and the
various leaders at the head of their respective
squadrons meanwhUe took up the position allotted
in the coming pageant.
As the state umbrellas, preceded by the ark of
St. Michael, passed through the Ank6ber gate of
the defences, the assembled chiefs and warriors
Avho had most distinguished themselves during the
successful foray, arrayed in the glittering badges of
former achievements in arms, careered a dense body
in advance. One hundred gore-stained steeds, re-
plendent with trappings and brass ornaments, and
fancifuUy caparisoned in gay cloths and chintz
housings, bounded and pranced gallantly under
this chosen band of proud cavaliers, who with
lances couched, and party-coloured robes flaunting
in the wind, slowly curvetted over the verdant
carpet of turf, in a dazzUng and mazy labyrinth of
reticulated circles. Their glossy black hair stream
ing with feathers and green branches in token of
recent triumph, and their variously emblazoned
shields, crowded with silver ornaments and devices,
glancing brightly in the sunbeams, they rent the
air with shrill whoops and yeUs, responded at fre
quent intervals by loud shouts of welcome which
pealed from the palace and from all parts of the
town ; whilst the dense phalanx of warriors in the
rear — their forest of lances partially obscured
under a thick canopy of dust — pressing tumultu-

220 DEPUTATION OF PRIESTS.
ously forward, and howling the wildest war-songs
from ten thousand throats, completed one of the
most brilhant and savage exhibitions that can be
conceived. The King was enrobed in the ample spoils of a
noble lion, richly ornamented, and half concealing
beneath their tawny folds an embroidered green
mantle of Indian manufacture. On his right shoul
der he wore three chains of gold as symbols of the
Holy Trinity, and the fresh-plucked bough of aspa
ragus, which denoted his recent exploit, rose from
the centre of an embossed coronet of silver which
encircled his regal brow. His dappled war-steed,
bedizened with chequered housings of blue and
yellow, was led prancing beside him, and imrne-
diately in advance bounded the champion on a coal-
black charger, bearing the imperial shield of mas
sive silver, with the sacred emblem of Christianity
in high relief, whilst his long plaited raven locks
floated wildly behind over the spotted hide of a
panther, by which his broad shoulders were graced.
Abogaz Maretch and Ayto Berkie rode on either
side of the crimson debaboch, and a marshalled line
of shield-bearers, under the Master of the Horse,
preserved a clear space around the royal person
until the cavalcade had gained the stockaded knoll
upon the summit of which the palace is erected.
Here a deputation of priests clad in snow-white
garments received the victorious monarch Avith a
blessing, and under a volley of musketry His

THE GREAT KETTLE-DRUM. 221
Majesty proceeded to ascend. The outer court was
crowded with female slaves, beggars, and menials,
who on .the first appearance of the umbrellas within
the gate, greeted the royal return with the shrUlest
clamour, and cast themselves prostrate in the dust.
Fusileers and matchlock-men of the imperial body
guard Uned the second palisaded enclosure, and
under a feu-de-joie, their leader, performing the
war-dance before the holy ark, led the procession
to the last enclosure, where the King being met by
the eunuchs of the royal household entered the
palace by a private door, and surrounded by pages
and attendants presently took seat in a high latticed
balcony fronting the inner quadrangle.
Full in the centre stood a gigantic drum, whereat
twelve weird old hags thumped unceasingly with
crossed hands, keeping time energetically with their
feet, whilst under the most frightful contortions
and gesticulations, they cursed and screamed de
fiance to the enemies of the state. Sixty concu
bines, their faces besmeared with red ochre and
grease, and their frizzled locks white under a coat
of lard, sang and danced with increasing vehemence
— their shriU melody, regulated by the drum, now
dwindling into recitative, now bursting forth into
a deafening chorus. Around this strange group,
the dismounted cavaliers formed fifteen deep, and
filling the entire court, poised each his trophy of
blood aloft upon the gUttering point of his lance,
and as the whole danced, and whooped, and howled

222 TRAGEDY OF "THE ROYAL ROBBER."
like wild beasts, warrior after warrior, springing
with a fiendish yeU into the centre of the ring, cast
his prize contemptuously upon the ground, and
kissing the dust, did abject homage at the feet of
the triumphant despot.
" Behold in me the King's great wanior," now
resounded from every quarter. "I it was who
slew his enemy in the open field, or speared him in
the burning hut. May victory ever attend his
armies in the battle. May Sahela Selassie reign
for ever ! " A general shout and clashing of shields,
with the sudden cessation of the wild music, an
nounced the close of this savage pageant. The
curtain dropped before the monarch, and, as the
actors dispersed rapidly to the right and to the
left, the discharge of an old dismounted iron gun,
which, verticaUy elevated against a stone, was
revealed at the further extremity of the court, an
nounced to the public that the tragedy of "the
Royal Robber " had been performed with the most
brilliant success, and would be repeated again
during the season.
Rumours of the destruction of the entire Chris
tian host had flown to Ang6Uala in consequence
of the Negoos having, for the first time in his life,
passed the night apart from his baggage ; and the
grief and consternation which prevaUed during six
days, had only been dispeUed by the unexpected
and triumphant return of the victorious army.
Evil omens had, indeed, resounded through the

THE EIGHTY-FIFTH PERFORMANCE. 223
departing camp, but destiny had been satisfied Avith
a youthful scion of the royal stock ; and, although
the weapons of a lost descendant of the house of
Solomon adorned the rude waUs of the pagan
GaUa, stUl fire and sword had ravaged their fair
country ; and the rich booty with which the ad
jacent meadows were profusely dotted, proclaimed
a harvest which, during thirty years and eighty
four successive expeditions, had not been eclipsed
in the annals of Amhara bloodshed and rapine.

224

CHAP. XXVII.

NUPTIALS IN HIGH LIFE.

Ayto Hierat's crime brought its own punishment.
Three days after the return of the expedition to
Ang611ala, he was honoured with the hand of
Woizoro Belete Shatchau,* a shrew possessing the
most diabolical of tempers, whom two husbands
had already divorced, although a princess of the
blood royal.
On the morning appointed for the nuptials, the
British Embassy received an early summons to the
palace, in order to witness the ceremony. The
throne was tricked out with unusual gaiety for the
occasion, and the King, seated in the highest pos
sible spirits, was still in the hands of the barber,
who, having curled the last lock, was adjusting the
green sareti. The court-yard was already crowded
Avith spectators, and a numerous train of female
slaves, Avho had entered by a side door, were
arranging themselves in front. The quaint, loose
chemises of blue and red, Avith broad white borders,
Avhich formed the attire of aU, imparted a most
* Anglice, " Superior to all."

ayto hierat's reward. 225
grotesque appearance, and each carried on her
woolly head a large wicker basket, veiled under
bead draperies arranged in every variety of fanciful
Vandyke. These antique figures and their bur
dens constituted the dower of the bride, whose
Avedding garments had been supplied by the Em
bassy, and who presently entered, riding upon a
white mule, gaily tricked out in forked housings,
chains, and brass bells. The Princess Worka
Ferri*, her sister, foUowed upon a second, simUarly
caparisoned ; and both ladies were distinguished by
large aftabgirs of crimson silk, as well as by a cowl
of silver network which covered the hair, and ter
minated in a tiara of pendants and globules faUing
over the forehead. A crimson- striped robe formed
the costume of each, and their naturally plain faces
were rendered hideous by a coat of red ochre with
blue-stained arches in the place of eyebrows, which
it is the fashion of Shoa to pluck out.
Next in order came the royal band of music,
with numerous mounted female attendants clad in
pea-green vests. A dance and vocal chorus was
continued during a quarter of an hour, to the dis
sonant thunder of the war drum ; and, as the um
brellas filed slowly across the court through the
opposite wicket, the happy bridegroom approached
the throne, and did homage to the sovereign avIio
had thus rewarded his services by aUiance. The
presence of the priest is so far from being held
* i. e. Golden Fruit.
VOL. II. Q

226 PRINCESS BELETE SHATCHAU.
indispensable, that a wedded pair forms a rare
phenomenon in Abyssinia. No marriage rites
whatever solemnised this union, and the shrew, in
fuU procession, proceeded straightway to spend the
honeymoon at the abode of her third husband, Avho,
foUowing at a respectful distance, exhibited in his
features small anticipation of conjugal felicity.
Descending through the great gate, a train of
dirty cook boys led the van, bearing on their heads
pots, pans, and culinary utensils. One hundred
female slaves folloAved, carrying baskets of bread,
A-essels of hydromel, bedding, wearing apparel, and
other baggage required on the journey. Next
came the band of flutes, in full play, and, imme
diately behind, the amiable bride herself, most
aptly styled " superior to all." Two maids of
honour, bearing decorated bariU^s of choice Avine
from the royal cellars, rode on either side of their
mistress. Numerous mounted Amazons — musty-
looking JEtkiopic figures in blue and white smocks,
and party-coloured bead helmets, kept the in
quisitive crowd at a distance with their long white
wands ; whilst an escort of three hundred chosen
spearmen, flanked by nobles, eunuchs, and pages,
on horseback, brought up the rear, amid the thump
ing of nugareets from the hill top, and the shrill
acclamations of the entire female population of the
town, which rung from every eminence in honour
of the nuptials of Princess Belete Shatchau.
" My Galla subjects revolted," exclaimed the

SPIRIT OF RETALIATION. 227
despot tauntingly, as soon as the wedding was over
— " My GaUa tributaries revolted : I have played
them one trick, and I wiU shortly play them
another." The customary congratulations after a victory
were offered in the words, " God has aided your
arms." " Yes," replied the monarch ; "the God of
my fathers has assisted me — I have slain four
thousand six hundred of mine enemies, and have
captured thirty-seven thousand and forty-two head
of cattle."
When complimenting the King on the clemency
extended towards the prisoners of war, Avho had on
this occasion been released for the first time during
his reign, the opportunity was not lost of comment
ing upon the destruction of innocent and helpless
children, as being a most inhuman practice, and
one quite unworthy of the Christian warrior. The
despot smiled, as if half ashamed ; and looking
down, replied, " I am aware that it is bad, but in
all countries we must conform to the customs that
prevail. The Galla destroy the Amhara without
discrimination, and we do but retaliate. You must
all accompany me on my next campaign in Janu
ary. I shaU build a fortified house at Karabarek,
and you must there tarry with me. Whenever
you are present I will release the captives."
During the absence of the army at Garra Gor
phoo, one of the Mohammadan inhabitants of
Arg6bba had been waylaid and wantonly murdered
Q 2

228 HOSTILITIES ON THE BORDER.
by the Adaiel, who are in constant feud with the
frontier population of Efat. The relations and
clansmen of the deceased surprized the viUage to
which the assassins belonged, and, in revenge, slew
sixteen souls. Wulasma Mohammad succeeded,
after much difficulty, in apparently pacifying the
lowland tribe, who had in their turn sworn upon
the Koran to take bloody vengeance ; but no
sooner had he returned from the border than
thirteen Moslem females, proceeding from the torn
of Channoo to draw water in the wady, were
barbarously butchered at the well.
This tragedy being foUowed by an application
for troops to chastise the delinquents, now induced
the remark, that " if the Adaiel could see one
fourth of the Amhara host, they would cease to
trouble the frontier."
" No," replied His Majesty, " it Avill not do. My
grandfather tried his arms with the people below,
but he was surprized, and lost four thousand men
and six thousand oxen in the bed of a dry ravine.
The water of the kwalla* is putrid, and the
air hot and unwholesome. Noxious vapours arise
during the night, and the people die from fever.
We fear their sultry climate and their dense forests,
and their mode of warfare. They leave open only
one avenue ; and when the Christians enter the
thicket, breaking short their lances, they rush in
and fight at close quarters. No one can stand
* i. e. Low valleys.

"STRONG MEDICINES." 229
against them. Our muskets avaU nothing, by
reason of the trees and bushes. Furthermore, the
Adaiel are subtle in strong medicines. They poison
the wells with drugs, and corrupt the water with
magic spells and enchantments. It is their wont
to mix together the flesh of a black dog, a cat, and
a certain forest bird. This they strew craftily
about the ground, and whoso eateth thereof be
comes instantly insane and dies."
The presents Avhich custom enforces after a
victory were now placed at the foot of the throne,
according to the etiquette of the court. " My
chUdren," resumed the King, " I am your father. I
am rich. You have already given me too much,
and I desire not your property. I wish only for
your love, and for that of your nation. I am fully
aware of the objects of your residence in my
kingdom. I have seen your character, and know
that you will slay elephants, and buffalos, and wild
beasts. You must not go away, but accompany
me on many more expeditions. Y^ou have now
seen much people. You must go with me to
Gurague, where you avUI behold other tribes, and a
far more extensive country. I shall build a wall.
My father subdued all the population of Shoa, and
I fear no enemy to the south, in Gurague, Enarea,
or Zingero. None can stand before me. The
Adaiel and the people of Geshe* alone contend with
me. In Geshe they have large shields, and fight
* A province on the northern frontier of Shoa.
Q 3

230 OBSTINATE WARRIORS.
hand to hand. The country of the Adel is difficult
of access, and unfortunate for the Amhara. It is
an old dependency of the empire of my ancestors,
but the men are brave, and stand firm in battle.
They will not run away."

J J

231

CHAP. XXVIII.
CHRONICLE OF THE INVASION OF MOHAMMAD GRAAN,
The allegiance claimed from the Adaiel by the
emperors of ^Ethiopia is known to have become
evasive at a very early period. Centuries ago gold
was returned for gold, apparel for apparel ; and the
intractable Moslems were studiously kept in good
humour whensoever they thought proper to visit
the court of Abyssinia. Their revenues arose
chiefly from the supply of camels for the transport
of merchandize to various parts of Africa, and from
the importation of fossil salt, which then, as now,
passed instead of silver currency, and for which
they purchased slaves, together Avith the rich
staples of the interior. Thus the interests of Adel
and of Abyssinia have always been so intimately
linked, that the declaration of war was certain to
prove disastrous alike to the victor and to the van
quished, since it must interfere equally with the
commerce by which both were enriched. Never
theless, upon all suitable opportunities, the fanatic
lowlanders, urged by religious hate, plundered the
Christian churches, massacred the priests, and put
the monks and friars to torture, until they at
Q 4

232 PILGRIMAGES TO JERUSALEM.
length drew upon themselves a war of extermin
ation. The Abyssinian chroniclers state that Amda
Zion, who died at Tegulet about the middle of the
fourteenth century, first made a retributive inroad,
in consequence of his rebelhous vassals having,
amongst many other derogatory expressions, taunted
him as " a eunuch, fit only to take care of women."
But the Emperor was never beaten. He overran
and laid waste the plains from the mountains to the
borders ofthe ocean, and swept off to the highlands
a prodigious amount of cattle. Every species of
enormity appears to have been practised in retali
ation by the Amhara, who were commanded to
"leave nothing alive that dreAV the breath of life."
This behest was obeyed with all the rage and
cruelty that revenge and a difference of religion
could inspire ; and before the termination ofthe cam
paign the dauntless young King of Wypoo had been
slain, together Avith Saleh, the King of Mara, who
boasted descent in a direct line from the Apostle.
Constant commercial intercourse had long been
maintained between Cairo and Abyssinia, both
across the desert and by way of the Red Sea.
Great caravans, composed formerly of Pagans, but
noAv of Mohammadans, passed in without molest
ation, and dispersed Indian manufactures through
the heart of Africa. Friars, priests, nuns, and
pious laymen, in vast numbers, also set out an
nually on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, whither, with

OPPOSITION OF THE SARACENS. 233
drums beating before the holy cross, they proceeded
by the route of Suakem, making long halts for the
performance of divine service. But with the power
of the Mamelukes, aU communication across the
desert, whether for commercial or rehgious pur
poses, was closed to the Christians. After the
conquest of Egypt and Arabia by Selim I. caravans
were invariably attacked, the old Avere butchered,
and the young swept into slavery ; for the Emperor
of the Ottomans, fully imbued with the merciless
bigotry of his creed, held it a sacred duty to
convert by the sword the subjects of a monarch
whose ancestor had been honoured with the cor
respondence of the great founder of the Saracen
empire. Many Arabian merchants, flying about
the same period from the violence and injustice of
the Turkish tyrants, had sought an asylum in the
opposite African states, Avhereupon the Ottomans
took possession, from Aden, of the sea-port of Zeyla,
and not only laid the Indian trade under heavy
contributions, by means of their galleys cruising in
the narrow straits of Bab el Mandeb, but threat
ened the conquest both of Adel and Abyssinia.
Betwixt th">se countries there subsisted peace
from the death <. f Amda Zion to the middle of fhe
fifteenth century. Towards the close of the reign
of Zara Yacoob, Avho founded Debra Berhan, the
flame of discord was again fanned by a certain queen
of Zeyla, who is said to have aspired to the hand of
the Emperor ; but the Christian arms were stUl in

234

EMBASSY TO GOA.

the ascendant. Basda Mariam, the next occupant
of the throne, passed his hfe in a constant struggle
to assert supremacy over the low country; and, on
his death-bed, he caused himself to be so turned
that his face might be towards the sandy deserts
of the Adaiel, to whose subjugation his whole ener
gies had for ten years been devoted.
Mafoodi's inroads, it has been seen, commenced
during the reign of Alexander. They continued,
with increasing horrors, throughout that of his
successor Naod. Nebla Dengel being only eleven
years of age when called to the throne, Helena, his
mother, ruled during his minority. Albuquerque
was at that period viceroy of India, and to him the
queen-dowager sent to implore assistance for trou
bled Abyssinia. Arriving at Goa, the ambassador
announced himself to be the bearer of " a fragment
of wood belonging to the true Cross on which Christ
died, which relic had been sent, as a token of friend
ship to her brother Emanuel, by the Empress over
^Ethiopia;" and this overture was in due time fol
lowed by the arrival at Massowah of an embassy
from the King of Portugal.
Father Alvarez has recorded the unfavourable
reception experienced in Shoa at the hands of the
young emperor, who could never be brought to
recognize his mother's proceedings, which had led
to this influx of foreigners. At the age of sixteen,
having adopted the title of Wanag Suggud, sig
nifying " feared among the lions," he had taken the

 I

"THE GOLIATH OF THE INFIDELS." 235
field in person against Mafoodi, Avho, backed by the
rebeUious King of Adel, stUl continued his wasting
inroads on the Christian frontier. At the opening
of the campaign, this fanatic, who had resolved
either to conquer or to die a martyr to his religion,
threw the gauntlet of defiance to the Christian
chivalry, and it was instantly accepted. The infidel
was slain in single combat by the monk Gabriel, a
soldier of tried valour, who had assumed the monastic
cap during the preceding reign in consequence
of having been deprived of the tip of his tongue
for treasonable freedom of speech. Cutting off the
head of this vanquished antagonist, he now threAv
it at the feet of his royal master, and exclaimed,
" Behold, sire, the Goliath of the Infidels!" The
green standard of the Prophet and of the faith was
taken, tAvelve thousand of the Islams were slain,
and the youthful emperor, in defiance, struck his
lance through the door of the King of Adel. The
monk who had thus delivered Abyssinia from her
worst scourge, was welcomed with the applause of
the whole nation. His path was spread with green
branches of the myrtle. Maidens pressed forward
to strew flowers in his path, and matrons cele
brating his achievements with songs, placed gar
lands on his head, and held out their babes to gaze
at the warrior as he passed.
It was shortly after the departure of the Portu
guese embassy that Graan, "the Left-handed "—then
King of Adel — made his first appearance on the

236 INROADS OF "THE LEFT-HANDED."
^Ethiopian stage, where he was long the principal
actor. In league with the Turkish Bashaw on the
coast of Arabia, this mighty warrior sent his Abys
sinian prisoners to Mecca, and in return was fur
nished with a large body of Janizaries, at the head
of whom he burst into Efat and Fatigar, drove off
the population, and laid waste the country with
fire. In 1528 he took possession of Shoa, overran
Amhara, burnt all the churches, and swept off im
mense booty. In his next campaign the invader
wintered in Begeineder, and the following year
hunted the Emperor Uke a wild beast through
Tigre to the borders of Sennaar, gave battle to the
royal troops on the banks of the NUe, with his own
hand sleAV the monk Gabriel, Avho had vanquished
Mafoodi in single combat, cut the army to pieces,
practised every species of atrocity, and set fire to
half the churches in Abyssinia.
Famine and plague now raged, and carried off
those whom the sword had spared. The princes
of the blood were all destroyed, Axum Avas burnt,
and the monarch himself, after being compelled to
take refuge in the wilderness, was finaUy slain.
With him died also the boasted splendour of the
Abyssinian court, for he was the last monarch of
^Ethiopia Avho displayed the magnificence of a
" king of kings."
Mark, the aged Archbishop, had, on his death-bed,
appointed as his successor John Bermudez, a Por
tuguese who had been detained in the country,

DON CHRISTOPHER DE GAMA. 237
and at the request of Claudius, who succeeded to
the throne, he now proceeded to Europe to obtain
assistance. Don Christopher de Gama, with five
hundred soldiers, obtained possession of MassoAvah,
slew the governor, and sent his head to Gondar,
where, as an early pledge of future victory, it was
received with raptures by the Queen. The general
was shortly confronted by Graan in person. Artil
lery and muskets were for the first time opposed
in Abyssinia, and the Portuguese leader being
wounded, took refuge in a cave. Deaf to persua
sion, he refused to seek safety in flight ; and a
Turkish lady of extraordinary beauty whom he
had made prisoner, and who had affected conver
sion to Christianity, shortly betrayed him to the
enemy. He was carried before Graan, who with
his left hand cut off his head, and sent it to Con
stantinople, his body being mutilated, and sent in
portions to Arabia.
But the Portuguese were far from being disheart
ened by this grievous misfortune, and the armies
were shortly in a position again to try their strength.
Before the engagement had well commenced, Peter
Lyon, a marksman of low stature, but passing
valiant withal, who had been valet to Don Chris
topher, having stolen unperceived along the dry
channel of a ravine, shot Graan through the body.
He feU from his horse some distance in advance of
the troops, and the soldier, cutting off one ofthe in
fidel's ears, put it into his pocket. This success was

238 THE infidel's ear.
foUowed by the total route of the Mohammadans ;
and an Abyssinian officer of rank finding the body
of the redoubted chief, took possession of his
mutUated head, Avhich he laid at the feet of the
Emperor in proof of his claim to the merit of
the achievement. Having witnessed in silence the
impudence of his rival, the valet produced the
trophy from his pocket, with the observation that
His Majesty doubtless knew Graan sufficiently Avell
to be quite certain " that he would suffer no one
to cut off his ear that possessed not the power to
take his head also."
Delivered from his enemy, Claudius now sought
to repair the ravages which had been committed in
his country. A total eclipse of the sun shortly threw
both army and court into consternation — every
ignorant monk who practised divination declaring
the phenomenon to portend another invasion from
the lowlanders. But in spite of this prophecy an
interchange of prisoners took place. Del Wum-
barea, the widow of Graan, had thrown herself into
the wilds of Atbara, and her son Ali Jeraad, who
Avas made prisoner after his father fell, being now
set at liberty, Prince Menas, only brother to the
Emperor, was released from his captivity in the
sultry deserts of Adel, whither he had been carried
during the reign of Nebla Dengel.
Noor, the Ameer of Hurrur, Avho was deeply en
amoured of Del Wumbarea, had proved the means
of her escape from the fatal field whereon her hus-

AMEER NOOR'S GUERDON. 239
band died. The heroine now pledged her hand in
marriage to the hero who should lay the head of
Claudius at her feet ; and Noor instantly sent a
message of defiance to the Emperor, who was en
gaged in rebuilding the celebrated church of Debra-
work*, which had been burnt by the infidels. Clau
dius, who had almost by a miracle rescued Abyssinia
from the Mohammadans, marched instantly to ac
cept the challenge. Many prophecies were current
amongst the soldiery that the campaign Avas to prove
unfortunate, and the hot-headed monarch to lose
his life; but he laughed at these monkish pre
dictions, avowing death in the midst of an army of
unbelievers to be infinitely preferable to the longest
and most prosperous reign.
The rival armies were on the very point of en
gaging, in the year 1559, when the high priest of
Debra Libanos rushed before the emperor to declare
a vision, in which the angel Gabriel had warned
him not to suffer the king of the church of iEthi-
opia to expose himself in a needless fight. Thus
discouraged, the cowardly Abyssinians instantly
fled, leaving Claudius supported only by a handful
of Portuguese soldiers, Avho were soon slain around
his person, and he immediately afterwards fell,
covered with wounds. His head Avas cut off, and
laid by Noor at the feet of Del Wumbarea, Avho, in
observance of her pledge, became his wife, and with
truly savage ferocity commanded the trophy to be
* i. e. " Mountain of gold."

240 THE HEAD OF CLAUDIUS.
suspended by the hair to the branches of a tree
before her door, in order that her eyes might con-
tinuaUy be gladdened by the sight. It hung in
this position during three years, ere it was pur
chased by an Armenian merchant, in order that it
might be interred in the holy sepulchre of St. Clau
dius at Antioch ; and the name of the hero who
had been victorious in every action save that in
which he died, has since been enroUed in the volu
minous catalogue of Abyssinian saints, Avhere it
now occupies a conspicuous place as the destroyer
of Mohammad, surnamed " the Left-handed."

iii

241

CHAP. XXIX.
PROCEEDINGS AT ANGOLLALA.
Certain Abyssinian potentates of old are recorded
by their biographers to have bestowed in religious
charity aU worldly substance saving the crown upon
their heads. Such wiU never be recorded of Sahela
Selassie, whose endowments, although frequent, are
invariably regulated by prudence. Reluctance to
part with property possessed, stigmatizes his every
act of munificence, and thriftiness even adulterates
the incense of his votive sacrifice. The countless
droves of sturdy beeves which now ranged over
the royal meadows Avere daily inspected with evident
signs of satisfaction, but whilst the sleekest were
distributed over the various pasture lands, the
leanest kine were despatched to the several churches
and monasteries, as offerings after the successful
campaign. At this season of rejoicing and festivity, the host-
of maimed, diseased, emaciated, and loathsome ob
jects, that habituaUy infest the outer court, or
crawl in quest of alms around the precincts of the
palace, had increased to a surprising extent in order
to share the royal bounty. Swarms of itinerant
VOL. II. R

242

A DROVE OF SLAArES.

paupers, who bivouacked under the old Galla Avail,
sang psalms and hymns in the streets during the
entire night; and long before dawn the clamour
commenced around the tents of a throng of men
dicants resembhng the inmates of a lazar house,
who with insolent importunity reiterated their
adjurations for relief by Georgis, Miriam, Mi
chael, and every other saint in the Abyssinian
calendar. Many petty pilferings Avere of course
committed by this ragged congregation; and a
deputation of the inhabitants of Ang61alla soon
presented a petition to the throne, praying for the
dismissal of the vagrants, who had become an in
tolerable public nuisance.
On the festival of Tekla Haimanot the Embassy
received an invitation to witness the distribution of
the royal alms, which was to be followed by a
beggars' feast. The Avonted inmates of the pali
saded enclosure were no longer there, .but their
place was occupied by a drove of even more
wretched beings just imported with a caravan from
Gurague. UpAvards of six hundred slaves, of every
age from childhood to maturity, and most of them
in a state of perfect nudity, who had been snatched
by the hand of avarice from the fair land of their
birth, were huddled together under the eye of the
rover for inspection by the officers of the crown,
preparatory to being driven to market; and the
forlorn and destitute appearance both of old and
young, stamped them objects but too well fitted for
participation in the charity of a Christian monarch.

THE ROYAL BEDCHAMBER. 243
Immediately on arrival within the court-yard of
the palace, the British strangers were conducted by
the king to the royal bedchamber — a gloomy apart
ment, hghted chiefly by the blaze of an iron chafing-
dish, and shared not only by a Moolo Falada cat,
with a large family of kittens, but by three favourite
war-steeds, whose mangers were in close proximity
to the weU-screened couch. CleanUness did not cha
racterise the warm curtains ; and although cotton
cloth had been pasted round the mud walls for the
better exclusion of the wind, an air of peculiar
discomfort Avas present. A rickety alga in one
corner, a feAV hassocks covered with black leather,
an iEthiopic version of the Psalms of David, and a
carpet consisting of withered rushes, were the only
furniture ; and the dismal aspect of the room was
further heightened by the massive doors and treble
palisades Avhich protected the slumbers of the suspi
cious despot.
In one corner stood an unopened bottle, to
which the King pointed, and laughed heartily.
¦It had been obtained from the Gyptzis by the
Master of the Horse, in order to prove that old
Cognac was not more potent than the ardent spirits
manufactured in the royal distiUery, which is so
liberally seasoned with Cayenne pepper as to re
semble the strongest " cholera mixture." Finding
the cork sealed, His Majesty had resolved after much
deliberation that this new acquisition should be
enrolled by the scrivener in the catalogue of his
r 2

244

THE YOUNG PRINCES.

treasures, and hoarded with the other foreign curi
osities in the magazine at Aramba. A label of
veUum having accordingly been attached, the donors
were requested to write thereon in fair Amharic
characters "a statement of the contents, accom
panied by copious directions for their use, and dis
tinct instructions relative to the proper dose."
This had been done, and His Majesty's mirth
arose from a not-to-be-mistaken portrait of a certain
contemptible little subject of his own, with a pass
ing red nose, lying prostrate on his face beneath
the folloAving written caution: — " Fire water — re
commended in smaU quantities; maximum dose
one half wantcha.* Let him who shaU exceed
this measure beware of the fate of Berik." This
allusion, made for the benefit of posterity, needed
no interpretation ; for it was already matter of
scandal that the subject of the caricature, who Avas
employed under the purveyor-general, and never
omitted to repair to the fireside .of the Gyptzis at
their hour of dinner, in order to obtain a share of
his own bad " honey-water," had recently quaffed,
for some imaginary ailment, a dose of eau-de-vie,
which so bewUdered his never very brilliant ideas,
that he was discovered the following morning, by
his wife, lying at the foot of a steep precipice, with
a face disfigured for life.
The young princes of the blood royal had
arrived in the course of the morning, for the
purpose of being invested with governments; and
* The horn drinking-cup used in Abyssinia.

SAIFA SELASSIE. 245
in the verandah of an adjacent building pertain
ing to the harem, Hailoo Mulakoot, the elder of
the two, had been pointed out by an attendant
as the guests entered. He disappeared instantly
upon perceiving that he was observed, and was
no more seen ; but the before inexplicable mystery,
which had brought about an acquaintance with
precincts forbidden, was presently unravelled by
the introduction of the younger brother, who, with
eyes veiled, was led in by a withered eunuch, in
order that he might receive medical assistance.
Saifa Selassie "the sword ofthe Trinity," is an
extremely aristocratic and fine-looking youth, about
twelve years of age, possessing the noble features of
his sire, with the advantage of a very fair instead of a
swarthy complexion. Beneath a red chintz vest of
Arabian manufacture he wore a striped cotton robe,
which fell in graceful folds from the girdle, and from
the crown of the head a tassel of minutely-braided
locks streamed to the middle of his back. " This
is the light of mine eyes, and clearer to me than
hfe itself," exclaimed the King, Avithdrawing the
bandage, and caressing the boy with the utmost
fondness — "Give him the medicine that removes
ophthalmia, or he, too, Avill be blind like his
father." His Majesty was assured that no alarm need be
entertained ; and that, although the cause Avas to
be regretted, the day which had brought the honour
of an interview with the young prince could not

246 THE BEGGARS' FEAST.
but be deemed one of the highest good fortune.
Much affected by this intimation, he laid his hand
upon the arm of the party speaking, and replied,
" We do not yet know each other as we ought,
but we shall daily become better and better ac
quainted. " Whence comes this maskal f " resumed the in
quisitive monarch, raising a Catholic cross devoutly
to his lips, as the royal scion was reconducted by
the withered attendant towards the apartments of
the Queen — "to what nation does it belong?"
" It is the emblem of those who in their attempts
to propagate the Romish rehgion in iEthiopia,
caused rivers of blood to flow," was the reply.
" No matter," exclaimed His Majesty, in rebuke to
the Mohammadan dragoman who would fain have
assisted in the restoration of the paper envelope —
" How dost thou dare to profane the holy cross ?
These are Christians, and may touch it, but thou
art an unbehever."
The votaries of St. Giles had, meanwhile, been
ushered through a private wicket, and in the adja
cent enclosure a croAvd of horrible and revolting
objects formed the most miserable of spectacles.
The palsied, the leprous, the scrofulous, and those
in the most inveterate stages of dropsy and ele
phantiasis, were mingled with mutilated Avretches
who had been bereft of hands, feet, eyes, and
tongue, by the sanguinary tyrants of Northern
Abyssinia, and who bore with them the severed

THE KING S ALMONER. 247
portions, in order that their bodies might be per
fect at the Day of Resurrection. The old, the halt
and the lame, the deaf, the noseless, and the dumb,
the Uving dead in every shape and form, were
stUl streaming through the narrow door ; Umbless
trunks were borne onwards upon the spectres of
asses and horses, and the blind, in long Indian
file, rolling their ghastly eyebaUs, and touching
each the shoulder of his sightless neighbour, groped
their way towards the hum of voices, to add new
horrors to the appalling picture.
An annual muster-roU being kept as a check,
aU who were ascertained to have been partici
pators in the distribution of the preceding year
were unceremoniously ejected by the myrmidons
of the purveyor-general, Avho has the interests of
the state revenues warmly at heart. The men
dicants were next classed in squads according to
their diseases, and the dwarf father confessor, by
no means the least frightful object in the assembly,
proceeded, in capacity of King's almoner, to dis
pense the royal bounty with a judicious hand.
Sheep, clothes, and money, were distributed accord
ing to the apparent necessities of the wretched
recipients, AvhUst each donation made was carefully
registered by the scribes in attendance ; and half-
baked bread, raw beef, and sour beer, in quantities
sufficient to satisfy every monk and beggar in the
realm, having been heaped outside the palace gate,
all ate their fiU, and dispersed.
r 4

248 A MURDERER DETECTED.
Next to the merciful disposition of Sahela
Selassie, in Avhich his character offers its brightest
theme for panegyric, his munificence to the indigent
may be ranked among his most prominent virtues.
Whilst the needy never retire empty handed from
his door, no criminal ever suffers under the bar
barous mutilation, so many distressing monuments
of Avhich had this day shared his liberality. Blood
flowing from the A'eins of a subject finds no pleasure
in the eyes of the ruler of Shoa. Under his sway
the use of the searing iron has become a thing
obsolete, and the sickening sentence is unknoAvn
Avhich in the northern states condemns the culprit
to the wrenching off of hands and feet, whereof the
teguments have previously been severed Avith a
razor at the Avrist and ankle. But widely opposed
are the views of humanity entertained in different
climes ; and the scene which awaited return from the
banquet, although in strict accordance with retribu
tive justice, was in appalling contrast with the more
merciful fiat of civilized jurisprudence.
A Avarrior had been convicted upon undeniable
evidence of the foul murder of his comrade in arms,
Avith Avhom he had lived for years on terms of the
closest intimacy. During the recent campaign, he
had gone with this companion into the wood, and
taking advantage of the opportunity afforded by
hostilities Avith the Galla, had felled the unsus
pecting man to the earth with a blow of his sword.
Fame, such as is only to be acquired by the

SENTENCE OF DEATH. 249
slaughter of the foe, prompted the dastardly out
rage ; and the treacherous assassin who had embrued
his hands in the blood of his dearest friend, now
placed the green trophy of valour triumphantly on
his guilty head. " Where is thy brother?" was
the question that aAvaited his return to the camp,
but, hke Cain of old, he denied all knowledge of
what had befaUen the absentee ; and it was not
until the mutilated body had been discovered, that
suspicion fell heavily upon hhnself.
Mourning relatives threw themselves in sack
cloth at the imperial footstool, and cried aloud for
the blood of the prisoner. Arraigned before the
monarch, the investigation had been patiently con
ducted during the beggars' feast, and the " Fetha
Negest," having been duly consulted, the sentence
proceeded from the royal lips — " Take him hence,
and deal with him as you will."
The last sun that was to shine upon the male
factor, was sinking fast towards the western horizon,
when with hands bound behind his back, he was
hurried from the presence for instant execution.
Its rising rays had seen him seated at the door of
the hut, whilst his young wife adorned his locks with
the newly plucked branch of asparagus, that was
the record of his infamy, but the meridian beam
had witnessed his arrest. The relatives of the
murdered, and a band of the King's headsmen, all
armed with shield and broad-headed spear, now
formed a close phalanx round him as he proceeded

250 THE EXECUTION.
with the stoicism of the savage to meet his well-
merited doom, and an infuriated mob foUowed,
to heap taunt and ignominy upon his numbered
moments. Impatient of delay, the friends of the deceased
were about to immolate their victim on the meadow
close to the encampment of the Embassy; but
adjured by the life of the monarch, they urged the
culprit over the rocky mound adjoining the Galla
wall which was already crowded with a vast con
course of spectators, burning for the consummation
of the last sentence of the law. Scarcely had the
unresisting criminal passed the summit, than an
eager hand stripped the garment from his shoulder,
and twenty bright spears being poised at the
moment, he turned his head to the one side, to
receive a deep stab on the other. Whilst still
reeling, a dozen sharp blades were sheathed in his
heart, and a hundred transfixed the prostrate body.
SAvords flashed from the crooked scabbard — the
quivering corse Avas mutilated in an instant,
and on the next the exulting executioners took
their Avay from the gore-stained ground, howling
with truly savage satisfaction the Christian chorus
of death !
Mother, sisters, and wives, now flocked around
the lifeless clay, rending the air with their piercing
shrieks  " Alas ! the brave have fallen, the spirit
of the bold has fled." " Woe unto us, we have
lost the son of our declining years" — " our brother

LAMENTATION FOR THE DEAD. 251
and our husband is gone for ever ! " Bared breasts
were beaten and scarified, and temples were torn
with the nails until the evening closed, and it was
dark when the mourners ceased their shrill lament
ation for the dead. But the turbaned priest was
not there ; no absolution had been given, nor had
the last sacrament been partaken ; and the unhal
lowed remains of the murderer would have found
a tomb in the maw of the hyena and the vulture,
had not a charitable hand enclosed them under a
cairn of stones by the highway side, where many a
grass-grown mound marks the fate of the cowardly
assassin, who has destroyed his brother in the
wood, and whose memory is coupled with dis
honour.

252

CHAP. XXX.
TRIUMPHAL ENTRY TO THE CAPITAL.
" Reculer pour mieu.v sauter," is a maxim strictly
in accordance with His Majesty's notions of strategy.
Twenty days had elapsed since the return of the
expedition, when the arrival before the palace of six
thousand head of cattle proclaimed the success of a
second sweeping foray directed against the Ekka
and Finfinni Galla. A Mohammadan merchant
residing at Roque, the market town and great
slave-mart of Yerrur, was suspected of liaving with
his own hand slain the son of Ayto Besuehnech,
grand nephew to the King — this youth having
pressed on far in advance of his comrades in hot
pursuit of the retreating pagans. To avenge his
untimely death, a detachment consisting of five
thousand horse, under the command of Aytos Ber
kie, Chilo, and Dogmo, the government of which
latter chief had previously been extended in ac-
knoAvledgment of his recent services, made a forced
march through Bulga, and although foiled in their
principal object by the precipitate flight of the
rover whose life they sought, the whole of his

THE PLEDGE REDEEMED. 253
family and foUoAvers were massacred, his effects
plundered, and his house burnt to the ground.
The survivors of the Ekka and Finfinni tribes,
believing the fatal storm to be expended, had al
ready returned with the residue of their flocks and
herds, and Avere actively engaged in restoring their
dilapidated habitations, when the Amhara hordes
again burst over their fair vaUey, slew six hundred
souls, and captured aU the remaining cattle, thus
completing the chastisement of these devoted clans,
who, notAvithstanding the generous restoration of
their enslaved families, had failed to make submis
sion — and redeeming the royal pledge "to play
the rebels another trick."
The King had not honoured Ank6ber with his
presence since the arrival in Shoa of the British
Embassy, but His Majesty now announced his in
tention of entering the capital in triumph. Thinly
attended, and unscreened by the state umbrellas,
he issued at sunrise on horseback through the sir-
kosh ber, the only addition to his wonted costume
being a plume of nine feathers stripped from the
Rasa or egret, and worn in the hair in token of his
recent prowess at Boora Roofa. Putting his horse
into a gaUop, he never drew bridle until arrested
by the Bereza, many parties under governors of
the adjacent districts joining the royal cortege from
various quarters, and swelling the retinue to two
thousand equestrians, who continued at a furious
pace to clatter over the stony ground.

254 CLAMOUR BY THE WAY.
Mosabiet, a viUage standing on a peninsula
formed by the junction of the Toro Mesk water
with the Bereza, imparts its name to this, the most
direct road from Ang61alla to Ankober. The river
forded, the King mounted his mule, and diverging
to the right, passed through a valley studded with
hamlets, the inhabitants of which, male and female,
came forth with many prostrations to the earth,
Avhilst the women raised their voices together in
the usual ringing heleltee.
On aU occasions of rejoicing and ceremony, whe
ther on the successful return of the monarch or of
the warrior, or on the sight of a passing procession,
the ladies of Abyssinia, with their characteristic
love of noise, thus burst forth into a thrilling cla
mour of Avelcome, moving the tongue Avith more
than ordinary volubility against the palate, and
producing a continuous succession of tremulous
notes, Avhich are more agreeable to the Ustener than
to the performer. One watchful dame on the out
skirts perceives the approach of the cavalcade, and
forthwith gives out her wild screech of warning.
In a moment the mountain side is covered with
every female within hearing ; the HiUlil! Ul! pro
gresses fast and furious as they bend nearly double to
assist in upraising the yelling chorus ; tears stream
from their eyes in the violence of the exertion, and
far and near the hills resound with the gathered
volume of their shrill throats.
The King halted for a moment at a pile of stones

ARSIAMBA WATER. 255
by the Avay-side, covered Avith rags, feathers, and
flowers, to whieh every dev^out Christian adds his
tribute whilst saluting it with his lips. It points
to the white-roofed church of Michael the Arch
angel, peeping through a dark clump of junipers at
some distance from the road, and many were the
fervent kisses of adoration bestowed by the tri
umphant warriors. A Uttle beyond, a large black
cross on the summit of a tumulus, directs attention
to the residence of Ayto Berri, quarter-master-
general of the Amhara forces. Here His Majesty
again diverged, in order to lead the cavalcade
through the most thickly populated tract ; and
resting for half an hour in the Ungua-mesk, one of
the many royal meadows, now black with the Galla
herds, turned suddenly off to the Motatit road,
according to invariable custom, observed when pro
ceeding to the capital after a successful foray.
Arsiamba Avater, styled at its point of intersec
tion with the route usually pursued, Ya Wurjoch
Maderia, the " resting-place of merchants," is a sin
gular cataract, rolling over columnar basalt, of which
the ribbed cliffs on either side are thronged by
bees. But by far the most interesting object is a
white pillar of stone, overgrown with nettles, stand
ing at the foot of the hills which bound the Ungua-
mesk. " Graan' s stone," as this column is designated,
is famous from an existing tradition that the Moslem
invader once tied his war-horse thereto. The most
preposterous legends are to this day believed with

256 " geaan's stone."
reference to the personal prowess of the hero, his
gigantic stature, and the colossal size of his steed.
Graan is said to have wielded a brand twenty feet
in length ; and, although it is matter of notoriety
that he was shot in the manner already narrated
by a Portuguese soldier, he is represented to have
received four thousand musket bullets before yield
ing up the ghost. The supernatural achievements
of this conqueror are handed down in an extant
Amharic volume; and his inroads gave birth in
the mind of the people of Shoa to a supersti
tious dread of the Adaiel, such as was long en
tertained of the Turks in Northern Europe, and
which it has been seen, extends even to the warlike
monarch. Abundantly cultivated, and rich in grazing land,
the tract passed over is throughout so destitute of
trees and even of bushes that the inhabitants em
ploy no other fuel than dried manure. Arrived at
the summit of the Chaka mountain, Avhere strag
gling cossos break the monotony of the landscape,
many hundred females, assembled from the nume
rous villages in the vicinity, lining the surrounding
heights, again kept up one continued cry. It was
drowned at intervals by discharges of musketry,
Avhich echoed among the broken glens as the despot
descended ; and, preceded by a war-dance wherein
all the warriors joined, he finally took up his
quarters for the night in a house separated by a
deep inumbrated valley from the capital.

THE KING IN HIS ROBES. 257
Early the ensuing morning the Embassy, in full
uniform, rode out to the Chaffa meadow at the foot
of the palace, to meet and welcome His Majesty,
who, after arraying himself within a marquee
erected for his accommodation, shortly appeared
through a gorge in a low range of hills, which was
crowned on either side by matchlockmen of the im
perial body-guard. These kept up an incessant
fire as the royal cortege advanced over the grassy
plain, preceded by a band of mounted warriors,
who, as on the occasion of the triumphant entry to
Ang611ala, careered in intersecting circles. The
King bestrode a richly caparisoned mule, and Avore
a green scarf mantle of Delhi embroidery. A golden
collar encircled his neck, and a massive silver ako
dama extended on either side a considerable distance
beyond the temples. The ends of the beam were
hung with a profusion of sUver chains a yard in
length, whilst a row of spangled pendants across
the brow half obscured the eyes, and imparted a
peculiarly savage aspect, which was enhanced by a
large branch of wild asparagus floating above the
curly locks, and by a white and crimson robe drawn
across the lower portion of the face.
As the cavalcade advanced, the Embassy having
first saluted the royal personage, took a place among
the chiefs. The braves continued to caricole until
reaching the extremity of the meadow, where the
assembled priests and monks of Ankober, as well as
ofthe neighbouring churches and monasteries, were
VOL. II. s

258 BLESSING OF THE CHURCH.
draAvn up to receive their sovereign. The holy
arks were each screened under the canopy of a
large embroidered umbrella ; and that of St. Michael,
the senior, which had accompanied the army into
the field, was carried beneath an aftabgir of solid
embossed sUver, decorated with chain pendants and
fretwork. Psalms haAing been chanted by the
turbaned body, who danced vehemently to their
own chorus, the alaka of the cathedral advancing,
laid his hands on the head of the victorious
monarch, and gave his blessing, Avhen the procession
moved slowly forward towards the foot of the hiU.
The warriors, preceded by the royal band of
kettle-drums and wind instruments, took the lead
up the long steep and narrow path, which winds
along the verge of a precipitous ascent to the
palace, perched on the very pinnacle of the cone.
A proclamation, through the herald, having com
manded the presence of all the inhabitants of the
capital and of the viUages adjacent, every roof,
bank, and cliff, was covered with females, who, as
the King passed on, kept up an unceasing clamour.
Becoming momentarily louder and louder, it had
increased to a deafenhig din as he approached the
gate of the outer enclosure, where a dense mass of
curled heads extended across the entire open area
in front of the pahsades, every waU, railing, emi
nence, and house-top, within the scope of vision,
being thickly crowded with tiers of women and
girls.

CELEBRATION OF VICTORY. 259
Arms were presented as the state umbrellas
passed the British escort, drawn up before the
lower defences ; and within the stockade stood the
high priests of the five churches, robed and mitred.
The clamour, the music, and the echo of musketry,
continued during the tedious ascent of the steep
and difficult path, which, broken into steps, winds
betwixt lofty pahsades, through nine gateways and
lodges, to the inner enclosure. Here His Majesty
took his seat in a raised alcove, the throne, and the
usual trappings of royalty, being on this occasion
new throughout, and more than wonted cleanliness
pervading every quarter of the palace.
Once more the large drum in the middle of the
court gave forth its deep notes. Three hundred
concubines, seated in a circle around, again screamed
and clapped their stained hands in deafening con
cert. A dancing girl, flanked by two wild braves,
whirled in front of the throne, and in a series of
eulogistic rhymes composed by herself, chanted a
rehearsal of the recent heroic deeds of the puissant
monarch, " who, although invariably triumphant
over his heathen foes, had never decorated his royal
brow with a branch greener than that by which it
was now surmounted." Each time she turned to
wards the crowd, a shrill clamour of united voices
rang forth the chorus to her verse. The skin-clad
warriors leapt and howled; — akodamas, coronets,
and sUver swords, glistened in the morning sun;
and, as the chiefs, governors, and nobles, formed in
s 2

260 AMHARA WAR DANCE.
a semicircle on either side of the latticed balcony,
stamped and clapped their hands in savage triumph
— the populace, crowding the carpeted yard, and
lining every waU, capered, yeUed, and shouted with
the wildest enthusiasm. A general war dance
foUowed the cessation of the shrill notes of the
songstress, and the pageant concluded with a royal
salute, fired by the artiUery detachment over the
British flag, which in honour of His Majesty's
arrival floated far below in the centre of the capital
of Shoa.

261

CHAP. XXXI.
THE PALACE AT ANK6BER.
From the apex of the palace eminence, which towers
three hundred feet above the surrounding terrace,
down to the very base, the entire slope is studded
with thatched magazines and out-houses ; and
these, shame to the Christian monarch, form the
scene of the daUy labours of three thousand slaves.
In one quarter are to be seen groups of busy fe
males, engaged in the manufacture of beer and
hydromel. Flat cakes of teff and wheat are pre
paring by the hundred under the next roof, and
from the dark recesses of the buUding arises the
plaintive ditty of those who grind the corn by the
sweat of their brow. Here caldrons of red pepper
soup yield up their potent steam ; and in the ad
jacent compartment, long twisted strips of old
cotton rag are being dipped into a sea of molten
bees' wax. Throughout the female estabUshment
the bloated and cross-grained eunuch presides ; and
his unsparing rod instructs his loquacious and
giggling charge that they are not there to gaze at
the passing stranger.
In the sunny verandah of the wardrobe, tailors
s 3

262 DIVISION OF LABOUR.
and curriers are achieving all manner of curious
amulets and devices — the offspring of a savage
brain. Blacksmiths are banging away at the anvil
under the eaves of the banqueting hall. Turbaned
priests, seated in the porch, are armed with a party-
coloured cow's taU, and with it they indolently drive
the flies from musty volumes detaihng the miracles
of the saints, which are elevated on a rack before
their ancient eyes. In one shed notaries are di
ligently committing to i)archment elaborate in
ventories of tribute received. Sacred books are being
bound in a second. In a crowded corner painters
are perpetrating on the iUuminated page atrocious
daubs of our first father carrying spear and buckler
in the Garden of Eden; and in the long shadow
thrown by the slaughter-house, whence a stream of
blood is ever flowing across the road, carpenters are
destroying bad wood in a clumsy attempt to fashion
a gun stock with a farrier's rasp, for the reception
of an old honeycombed barrel which promises to
burst upon the very first discharge.
Governors and nobles, with shields and sUver
swords, are seated above. Clamorous paupers, itine
rant monks, and applicants for justice, fill the lower
courts. The open Arada before the great gate is
choked with idlers, gossips, and immoveable beggars,
having seared eyebaUs, and mutilated limbs, who,
from the rising up to the going doAvn of the
sun, maintain one incessant howl of importunity.
Oxen and asses, goats and sheep, have established

INFLUX OF POPULATION. 263
their head-quarters in every filthy avenue. Newly-
picked bones and bullocks' skulls strew the rugged
descent ; and on the last terrace, surrounded by stag
nant mire, behold Ayto Wolda Hana himself, seated
in magisterial dignity, arranging the affairs of the
nation. Hundreds tremble at his uncompromising
nod; and appeUant and respondent, accuser and
accused, alike bared to the girdle, bend in cringing
submission, as in a cracked and querulous voice the
despotic legislator delivers his arbitrary fiat.
During the absence of the Negoos on military
expeditions, the most inquisitorial espionage is ex
ercised over the actions of every foreigner, and the
strictest police established, to insure the safety of
the almost deserted capital. Every avenue is vigi
lantly guarded, and no stranger permitted to enter
the town without permission of the viceroy.
Children only are suffered to leave the houses after
dark; and watchmen, patroUing in all directions,
apprehend every adult who may be found abroad
during the night.
But Ankober was now thronged to overflowing.
BraAvls disturbed the streets, and, during the early
hours of each evening, drunken parties were to be
seen streaming home from the royal banquet,
shouting the war chorus, and not unfrequently
preceded by one of the court buffoons, engaged in
the performance of the most absurd foUies, antics,
and grimaces. Day and night the invocations of a
host of mendicants arose from every lane and alley,
s 4

264 " PLEASING THINGS."
and importunity on the part of the wealthy had
attained the point beyond which it was scarcely
possible to advance. Each ruffian who had de
stroyed an infant considered that he possessed
an undeniable right to be " decorated from head
to foot, and completely ornamented." Villains,
streaming Avith rancid butter, entered the Resi
dency, and desired that the " Gyptzis's bead shop
might be opened, as they had brought salt to
purchase a necklace;" and the King's three fid
dlers, Avho had each slain a foe during the foray,
appearing Avith the vaunting green sareti, attuned
their voices and their squeaking instruments to the
detail of their prowess, and claimed the merited
reward. " The gun is the medicine for the cow
ardly Pagan who ascends a tree" was the maxim of
many who aspired to the possession of one of these
Aveapons ; and for hours together men stood before
the door with cocks and hens and loaves of bread,
to establish their right to the possession of "pleas
ing things."
With the design of aiding the fast-sweUing
collection of natural history, rewards had been
offered to all who chose to contribute, and the
King's pages Avere kept supplied Avith ammunition
for the destruction of birds ; but the unconquerable
love of sticking a feather in the hair almost inva
riably spoiled the specimen. A bat, firmly wedged
betAveen the prongs of a split cane, was one day
brought by a boy, who extended the prize at arm's

FESTIVAL OF SAINT MICHAEL. 265
length: "I've caught him at last," he exclaimed
with exultation—" It is the Devil who had got into
the monastery of Aferbeine ; I've caught the rascal ;
min abatf" " who is his father ? "
After this strong invective, which is indiscrimi
nately applied also, as occasion demands, to man,
beast, and every inanimate thing, the youth was not
a little surprised to perceive the party who had been
accosted quietly extricate the much dreaded animal
with his fingers. A party of females, who carried
pitchers of water at their backs, had halted in the
road, and looking over the hedge, were silent
spectators of the proceeding. " Erag, erag," they
exclaimed with one accord, placing their hands
before their mouths as they ran horror-stricken
from the spot — " 0 wai Gypt" " Alas, Egyptians !
" far be such things from us ! "
On the festival of Michael the Archangel, whose
church immediately adjoins the palace, the monarch
received the holy sacrament in the middle of
the night, and returned thanks for his victory, a
chair having previously been obtained from the
Residency to obviate the fatigue stated by the
message to have resulted from former orisons.
The holy ark, which had brought success to his
arms, was again placed under the silver canopy,
and thrice carried in solemn procession around the
sacred edifice, under a salute of musketry and
ordnance. Large offerings were as usual made to
it, alms distributed among the poor, a new cloth

266 ECLIPSE OF THE MOON.
given to each of the King's slaves, and a feast
prepared for every inhabitant of Ank6ber. Re
joicings, which had continued throughout the city
since the triumphal entry, were this clay renewed
with increased energy, even girls and young
children Avhooping war songs in celebration of the
safe return of the warriors from battle.
But the voice of lamentation succeeded to the
strains of joy. An eclipse had suddenly inum-
brated the moon, and as the black shadow was
perceived stealing rapidly onwards, and casting a
mysterious gloom over the face of nature, late so
bright, the exulting Christians were seized with
the direst consternation. The sound of the drum
was hushed, and the wild chorus was heard no
more. Believing the orb to be dead, and that her
demise prognosticated war, pestilence, and famine,
the entire town and suburbs became a scene of
panic, tumult, and uproar, whilst Avomen and men,
priests and laity, collecting together in the streets
and in the churches, cried aloud upon the " Saviour
of the world to take pity on them — to screen
them from the Avrath of God — and to cover them
with a veil of mercy for the sake of Mary, the
mother of our Lord."
The pagan Galla, of whom there are many in
Ankober, lifting up their voices, joined in the
general petition, and, from not comprehending the
Amharic tongue, placed upon it the most absurd
construction. During the whole period of the

STUDY OF ASTRONOMY. 267
moon's obscuration, the waUing continued without
intermission ; and when the planet emerging, sailed
again through the firmament in all her wonted
brilliancy, a universal shout of joy burst from the
Hps of the savages, in the firm belief that the
prayers and sobs of the multitude had prevailed,
and had awakened her from the sleep of death.
Neglect of the precaution is said on a former
occasion to have been followed by the greatest
pubhc calamity, and by the raining down of fire
from above. His Majesty had been previously
apprized of the precise hour and minute at which
the obscuration was to commence and terminate,
and his incredulity in the first instance was fol
lowed by equally unfeigned surprise at the powers
of divination displayed. " Eclipses are bad omens,"
said the King, when their causes had been ex
plained. " Was Subagadis not slain on the ap
pearance of one, and did another not bring defeat
to Ras AU ? " The chief smith was, nevertheless,
instructed to make himself thoroughly acquainted
with the use of logarithmic tables, and of " the
instruments that read the heavens ; " and the
royal attention was temporarily diverted from the
study of medicine to the contemplation of the
celestial bodies.
In Shoa, the silver SAVord is the emblem of rank
and authority, and is girded on the loins of none
but those who enjoy an exalted place in the sove
reign's favour. The forfeiture of government and

268 THE SILVER SWORD.
the loss of the cumbrous badge go hand in hand,
and many are the weary hours of attendance indis
pensable towards the restoration of either. On no
foreigner who had yet visited the Christian land
had this mark of distinction been conferred, but
the despot now suddenly resolved that the fluted
tulip scabbard should adorn his English guests.
" You bring the stars upon earth, and foretell
coming events," said His Majesty, as he presented
these tokens of favour and confidence — " you are
my chUdren; you possess strong medicine. You
must wear these swords in assurance of my per
manent love, that your name may be great in the
eyes of all my people."

269

CHAP. XXXII.

THE FOREST OF MAMRAT.

Excursions abroad continued as usual to occupy the
royal leisure ; and even when rats and horned owls
formed the ignominious quarry, the King's Gyptzis
were invariably summoned. But the dark forests
which clothe the foot of Mamrat proved the favourite
scene of these rambles, and thither the steps of the
monarch were usuaUy directed. Large colonies of
the gureza, which inhabit the noblest trees, ex
tended an irresistible attraction; and, although
from their retired habits no less than from their
appearance, these inoffensive apes are regarded in
the hght of monks, their holy character did not
exempt them from frequent and seA^ere punish
ment. A shower of iron and stone balls tumbled
one after the other from his perch on the topmost
branches of some venerable moss-grown woira,
where, notwithstanding many cunning artifices,
the white cowl and the long snowy cloak upon the
otherwise sable body, betrayed the place of conceab
ment; and numbers being soon prostrate upon the
ground, the survivors, amazed at the murderous
intrusion, were to be seen swinging from bough to

270 THE ROYAL COFFERS.
bough like a slack-rope dancer, and leaping from
tree to tree as they sought more secure quarters in
the, to man, inaccessible sides of the hail-capped
depository of the royal treasures, which towered
high overhead.
Occupying manifold caves and subterranean
crannies in this the most elevated pinnacle within
the range of vision, the idolized riches of Sahela
Selassie are covered with massive iron plates,
barred, and secured by large heaps of stone. A
strong guard of matchlockmen occupies the only
practicable ascent to this cold castle in the clouds;
and the keys of its well-crammed coffers, which are
never opened unless for the purpose of being still
further stuffed, are strictly confided to Ayto Habti,
the master Cyclops of the realm. Standing re
vealed at the extremity of a forest vista, the huge
wooded cone presents a grand and imposing object,
the avenues of tall trees that form a leafy canopy
above the path, screening the recesses of its dark
defiles, whilst the fleecy vapour, stealing across the
hoary summit, disclose glimpses of the many
smiling hamlets which crest the Abyssinian Alps.
A Mohammadan legend asserts that in time of
yore, " the Mother of Grace " towered even to the
skies, and so remained untU the first invasion of
Graan. Ameer Noor, his brother, the ruler of
Hurrur in its golden days, having formed his camp
upon a rising ground above Alio Amba, despatched
his chieftains in all directions to slay, burn, and

"THE MOTHER OF GRACE." 271
plunder. Upon their return, laden with rich booty
obtained without having encountered a single Am
hara, the disappointed Ameer exclaimed, in his re
ligious zeal, '"Tis the mountain Mamrat that hides
the dastardly infidels. May AUah, the only one
God, who rules over the universe, grant that it be
overthrown, and my foes revealed ! " Scarcely
had the pious prayer escaped his lips, than the pUe,
convulsed by an earthquake to its very basis, reeled
to and fro Uke a drunken man, and sank to its
present level.
" The country of the Adaiel," adds the same
veracious authority, " through which the Ameer led
the foUowers of the true Prophet, was in those days
a trackless desert, totaUy destitute of springs ; but
on his stamping his foot upon the thirsty soil at the
termination of each day's march, there gushed forth
a fountain of Uving water, which has continued to
flow untU the present time." During the struggle
that foUowed the arrival of the Moslem invaders
within the border, the Christians are said to have
been in danger of perishing from lack of provisions,
untU the inhabitants of Arg6bba, who are styled
Shooggur, from the name of their ancestor, supphed
the army by rolling over the mountain side skins
filled with grain. In a battle fought shortly after
the arrival of this seasonable supply, Ali Muggan,
the governor of Zeyla, was slain on the terrace
betwixt Mamrat and Aho Amba, and his body mu
tilated, and left to the wild beasts ; whereupon

272 REFLATIONS OF ST. JOHN.
Noor, his brother, cursing the race who, professing
the faith of Islam, had been the agents of so dire a
calamity, doomed their necks to be chafed for ever
by the gaUing yoke of vassalage to unbeUevers,
Far hid in the rugged bosom of the " Mother of
Grace," on the face of a precipitous rock which rears
its grey scarp sternly above the sombre foliage, is a
spacious cell, often visited by the King. During
one half of the fourteenth century, it formed the
abode of an anchorite, renowned far and wide for
the austerity of his life, Avho invariably slept upon
a bed of sharp) thorns, and whose food was restricted
to roots and wild honey. Hatze Amda Zion Avas
then engaged in his disastrous war with Adel ; and
the ascetic, seizing his white staff, abandoned his
rigorous sohtude for the first time, and, fired by
religious zeal, rushed into the presence of the Em
peror, who was encamped on the banks of the
Hawash. Displaying the holy cross to the dis
pirited soldiery, he exhorted them to be of good
heart, and not to let the standard of Christ droop
before the profane ensign of the infidels ; for that it
was written in the book of the Revelations of St.
John, that Islamism was that year to be crushed
and trodden under foot throughout the world. At
his bidding three merchants of Hurrur, who, under
the guise of suttlers, performed the office of spies,
Avere hung without trial upon taU trees, and their
heads being transmitted to the King of Adel, proved
the forerunners of a bloody defeat, Avhich he shortly
aftenvards sustained.

the hermit's cave. 273
To the latest occupant of the cave of Mamrat is
attached the legend embodied in the ensuing chap
ters. It is fuUy Ulustrative of the groveUing su
perstition that enthrals the Amhara, of whom none
ever aUude to the dread sorcerer Thavanan, with
out an invocation to the Deity. He was an exUed
noble of Northern Abyssinia, high in the favour
of Asfa Woosen, fifth monarch of Shoa, who took
forcible possession of his sister, and after degrading
the courtier for opposing this despotic measure,
sentenced him to the loss of an eye, which was put
out with a hot iron. Resolved to have his revenge,
the outcast became a worshipper of the eighty-eight
invisible spirits, termed Saroch, beUeved to be the
emissaries for evil of Warobal Mama, the King of
the Genies, whose court is held at the bottom of
Lake Alobar, in Mans, whence his drum is heard
pealing over the water whenever war, famine, or
pestUence are about to visit the land. Having pur
chased supernatural powers at the price of his hope
of salvation, Thavanan tormented the King day and
night — spirited away his seragho, and, having thus
recovered his sister, deprived her oppressor of sight
by means of magic spells. Taking the name of
Abba Zowald, he then became a stern ascetic ; and
his bones are now watched day and night by his
only disciple, himself in the vale of years, who
emulates the piety of the departed father. They
he interred in the ceU beneath a pUe of rough
stones, which during a long period of mortification
VOL. II. T

274 ABBA ZOWALD.
served him for a couch, whilst roots and Avild fruits
formed his only fare. Angels are said to have
ministered unto him ; his voice was the voice of an
oracle ; and none recognising the sorcerer in a holy
Christian anchorite, who had despised the world
and its vanities during a period of fifty years, he
lived universally regarded in Abyssinia as a second
Peter.

275

CHAP. XXXIII.
THE NECROMANCER, A LEGEND OF SHOA.
In the lone recesses of a rocky cave reclined the
youth Thavanan, lost in gloomy meditation. The
lines of care and study were indelibly staniped
upon his elevated forehead ; and although the bent-
brow and the quivering Up betokened a stern men
tal conflict, stUl courage and high daring shone
bright through the shroud of revenge which had
settled over his dark features. The white robe of
Abyssinia lay uneasy on the shoulder as his frame
heaved in torture beneath; and the blue silk cord
which encircled his neck, the badge of Christianity,
nearly burst in twain as the swoUen sinews started
from the throat, in this his hour of agony.
A fearful storm raged without. Thunder roUed
in continued peals, crumbling in pieces the sparry
roof over-head, and the hot lightning Ulumined
every nook and corner of the retreat, whilst the
waters of the broad lake, now raised in wrath,
came dashing and foaming through the narrow
entrance with aU the violence of a winter sea. But
the war of the elements was unheeded by the suf
ferer, and ever and anon, starting from his recum-
t 2

276 THE UNHOLY SACRIFICE.
bent position, he paced the uneven floor of the
slippery cavern, striking his breast in agitated des
peration, and fiercely shaking his hand on high.
" Years have roUed away since that withering
moment," he exclaimed, "but the wound is yet
green in the mind, and the feeling is still fresh as
Avhen Avrithing under the searing iron of the tyrant.
The star Medaboot proclaims the hour of the re
quisite sacrifice. I acknowledge thy poAver, great
Genius of the Water. Warobal Mama, I call for
thy aid."
Stripping the robe from his person, and tearing
the bandage from his mutilated and sightless eye,
he roused a sleeping goat from the corner of the
cave. A garland of yellow flowers was wreathed
in fantastic folds among the long sharp horns, and
a Avhite collar twined its mystic threads around the
throat. The animal had been a favourite of former
days whilst browsing on the green meadows of
Shoa, and knowing the voice of its master, it quietly
followed his footsteps into the centre of the grotto.
The bright eyes were turned upwards in con
fiding innocence as it licked the hand which had
so often fed and caressed it ; but aU pity and com
passion were effaced in one fiery feeling of revenge.
The words of the dread speU to the spirit of the
deep were poured forth on the midnight blast ; the
sharp knife gleamed for a moment in the feeble
Ught of the Availing torch, and during the next was
plunged into the heart of the unresisting victim.

RENUNCIATION OF FAITH. 277
Shrieks filled the cavern, and unearthly echoes
were flung back from every side of the broken
vault, whUst the hfe-stream gurgled on to mingle
with the mad waters of the lake ; and as the last
faint groan was rendered from the expiring animal,
the badge and symbol of Christianity * received the
trickling drops of the crimson tide which had flowed
to the honour of the genius and his satellites.
A sulphur-coloured fowl was next subjected to
the necessary preparations for the sacrifice. One
eye was dehberately scooped out amidst blasphemy
and execration, and the bright blue cord which had
hitherto graced the neck of the Christian, now gory
with unhallowed blood, was bound in a mysterious
knot on this the second victim to the powers of
darkness. The holy cross was suspended to the
desecrated thread ; and having raised the flickering
embers with sweet woods and subtle essences, Tha
vanan crushed the head of the foAvl under his heel
untU the brains flowed, and then dashed the body
deep among the pile.
The flame shot aloft in one fierce spire of light,
blazing Uke the arrow of the infernal host, and,
again satiate with the pungent offering, sank amid
a stifling cloud of fetid smoke. Casting himself
upon the rocky floor in an attitude of prostration,
the youth listened in awe to the moans of the wind
* The cord of blue silk styled " mateb,'' which in Abyssinia
is worn around the neck of the Christian to denote his faith, has
usually a small silver cross appended.
T 3

278 THE HOUR OF TRIAL.
which had succeeded to the hurricane, revelling-
heretofore in fierceness during the performance of
the rite. But his courage Avas firm as the foun
dations of Mamrat ; and it Avas well for hhn that his
heart quailed not during that hour of perilous en
durance. Yells and shrieks burst through the cavern. Foul
spirits mowed and chattered in his ear, and the
cold rushing of pinions flapping lazily through the
air wetted him with slimy spray. But revenge
and desperation had steeled his nerves ; and after a
period of intense misery, which appeared without
limit to the sufferer, the melancholy sound of a
drum came faintly booming over the face of the
waters — the welcome token that the hour of trial
was past, and that the sacrifice had been accepted.
Waxing louder and louder, the pealing of the
music shook the rocks with its continuous rever
berations. Unearthly voices, ceasing to torment,
faded altogether away ; and the renegade, casting
one look on the ashes of things holy and once
prized, stepped forth from the mouth of the cavern.
Wild and fearful was the scene Avhich met his
gaze. The moon had for a moment emerged from
behind a dense canopy, settled dark and thick
around the eastern horizon. Huge masses of pale
cloud over-head, assuming the likeness of armed
hosts, careered in fierce pursuit along the midnight
vault of heaven ; and from every quarter the roar
of thunder, Avith the bursting of the levin bolt,

THE MAGIC LAKE. 279
proclaimed to the astounded beholder that spirits
of another world were engaged in awful con
tention. Unruffled by the breeze, the great lake spread a
sheet of molten sUver at his feet. ; whUst every chff
and crag, revealed boldly to view, was fearfuUy lit
up by the reflected glare of an unearthly lurid
flame, which at short intervals spouted in jets from
the centre of the expanse, amid streams of wild
melancholy music and the clash of the magic drum.
Roused to daring deeds in this moment of frantic
excitement, with one short prayer to the spirit he
had invoked, Thavanan plunged headlong into 'the
cold deep waters, which gurgled and bubbled over
his descending form ; but baffled in his design to
reach the glittering white sand — now the only
haven of his hope — he rose once more to the
surface. AM was dark, dismal, and lonely. A thick fog
covered the water, and the earth, and the sky,
whilst the voice of his better angel alone came
moaning through the mist, bewaUing the lost soul
of a son of Adam. Again and again he struggled
to reach the glowing bed of the lake, but mortal
strength and energy were unavaihng to pierce the
fathomless abyss. The clear searching element
rushed unresisted into his mouth and ears — the
faintness of death spread over his exhausted limbs
— and his senseless form, tossed to and fro, became
the sport of the heaving bUlow.
t 4

280 THE HALLS OF SORCERY.
But the sound of the spell had swept along the
blast, and the savour of the sacrifice had penetrated
into the halls of magic. A long sinewy arm raised
the body high over the water. The drum again
pealed through the boundless space ; the bright fire
threw one last triumphant stream aloft above the
surface, and a heavy plunge beneath the waves was
succeeded by the utter silence of Solitude.
Sjf ?fr *f? *)£ "W
The soft tinkling sound of harps first stole upon
the slumbers of the neophyte. Bright, happy
visions flitted over his awakening senses, and the
sweet melody of voices ushered him again into
existence. Starting from his trance, the bewUdered
Thavanan found ample scope for the indulgence of
his wonder and astonishment. Far as the eye
could scan, innumerable arcades stretched in end
less vistas on every side, with alternating domes of
the purest pearl. Pillars of variously coloured
amber and crystal rose to sustain the glowing
fabric, and cloths, such as emperors alone can boast,
strewed the floors in unbounded profusion.
In the centre of each gallery stood an altar of
virgin silver, from which a never-failing arrow of
flame diffused in meUoAv light over the ghttering
pillars of the hall, tints varied as the hues of the
rainboAv. Around their more searching sister, jets
of sweet-scented water, playing high in the air,
scattered the most exquisite odour ; and dancing
on the apex of each fountain, a sparkling emerald,

FAMINE, WAR, AND PESTILENCE. 281
the ransom of a monarch, gently regulated the rush
of the prismatic stream, in token that the elements
were here held under control.
Superb paintings, illuminated in transparency,
shed a dreamy languor over the scene, and music
lent her exhaustless charms to captivate the sense.
Sweet strains of triumph, ringing in full chorus
among the lofty domes, died gently away into the
softness of repose ; and at times the low murmur of
the waves feU pleasingly upon the ear, as the lake
poured forth her springs in homage to the master
spirit, and imprinted the kiss of obedience on the
magic abode of Warobal Mama.
Colossal statues of Famine, War, and Pestilence,
frowning upon their lofty pedestals, towered in aU
the sternness of brass above the glories of this rich
and varied scene. Reared over the iron drum of
misfortune, the knotted mace was grasped in each
giant arm, and the awful peal struck before the
coming calamity was well known to the dismayed
inhabitants of the upper regions of earth.
Arts and sciences had each their separate niche
in the spacious apartment, and favoured votaries
were deeply engaged in scanning subtle essences, or
preparing potent speUs. The hum of confused
voices arose SAveet through the fragrant atmosphere,
whilst at intervals strange emblems and tokens
were dehvered by the elders to the attending pupils,
who each sprang aloft upon gaudy pinions to execute
the behest of his superior. But the smiling face
of fair woman was Avanting to complete the scene;

282 THE KING OF THE GENIES.
for love Avas unknown in this retreat dedicated to
the dread spirit of the lake.
In the immediate Aicinity of the wondering
mortal, an elevated throne stood the most con
spicuous object. Spiral steps of molten gold led
to the shrine of poAver. Precious stones, sparkling
in rich wreaths of enamel, hung a brilUant balus
trade in front — and forming the seat of high
honour and place, a white ivory shell, filled Avith
silken tresses, rested amid the shining leaves of
the ever-flowering lotus. The sea-snake rose in
glittering green folds to receive in his soft embrace
the recumbent occupant ; and ministering spirits of
strange form, bearing harp and censer, were ranged
in silence around.
Thundering peals of music, and a sudden pros
tration, proclaimed the presence of the genius of
the place ; and, amid the clash of lute and timbrel,
a cloud of incense floating high over head disclosed
a diminutive dwarf crouching on the shining shell.
His aspect was mild and beneficent, and a flowing
Avhite beard entirely covered his minute person ;
but the essence of ethereal intelligence shot from
his piercing black eye, and a pale fire played among
his long yellow locks. Again the harps rung out
the silver notes of welcome, and a vocal chorus Avas
Avafted to the delighted ear of the intruder : —
" Ask for riches, ask for wealth,
For kingdom, strength, or iron sway,
Paramount in lady's bower,
Revenge, for wrong, or length of day."

OATH OF APOSTASY. 283
Borne forward by an irresistible impulse, Tha
vanan found himself among the kneeling crowd in
front of the throne, and a soft still voice proceeded
from the high place : — " Mortal, what Avouldst thou
with us ? Answer without fear." " Revenge,"
replied the petitioner, " revenge for injury unpro
voked — a house rifled and burnt, a fair sister
carried to the lawless harem, and the eyeball
blasted for ever, of one who had heretofore looked
upon the great monarch of Shoa as a perfect Deity
upon earth."
" Let the chUd of clay take the oath of allegiance,
and be instructed to obtain his wish," responded
the being in whose tiny form was concentrated such
power and grandeur ; and as the words proceeded
from his lips, the floor shook and suddenly sank
under the foot ofthe proselyte, and Thavanan stood
with an attending spirit in the centre of a gloomy
grotto. A blood-red cross, which flashed and flamed in
the darkness, revealed sights horrible to behold,
and conjured before the imagination thoughts upon
which it was then madness to dwell. But daring to
the last, the apostate, in presence of the symbol of
Christianity, abjured all the high hopes of Heaven.
Revenge upon earth filled his soul for the moment ;
and although the touch of that blessed sign struck
through his young heart like the sharp stab of the
searing iron, the fearful oath was firmly and dis
tinctly repeated.

284

CHAP. XXXIV.
THAVANAN THE TORMENTOR.
Weeks and months had passed away since the
disappearance of the gay Thavanan, once the fa
vourite of the potent monarch of Shoa. Fallen in
a single day from his high estate, and deprived of
an eye before the scoffing multitude, the innocent
victim to intrigue had departed alone and on foot
through the gateway of the palace. A thousand
cavaliers had that morning obeyed his least com
mand, but not one attended him in the hour of
adversity ; and shunned as a thing accursed by the
brutal mob, he wended his way in moody sUence to
his home in the green meadow of the Chaka. But
the myrmidons of tyranny had outstripped his
heavy footstep. Ashes alone proclaimed the site
of his late flourishing abode, and a solitary goat,
bleating amid the ruins, was all that remained of
his once numerous possessions.
A neighbour told the tale. The King's aferoch
had been busy since early morn, and every thing
had been swept away with the besoin of destruction.
The flocks and the herds of the disgraced noble
were now in the royal pastures, and his family and

THE PALACE HAUNTED. 285
relatives, his serfs and drudges, in the household
of the despotic monarch. Stunned by the fatal
intelligence, Thavanan, foUowed only by the goat,
-withdrew unnoticed from the scene of desolation,
and his very name was for a time forgotten in the
land. Towards the close of the year strange reports
were circulated from the palace. Unseen hands
abstracted the choicest viands — the clearest hy
dromel was drained ere it reached the expectant
lip — and a thousand vagaries were played in the
great haU of entertainment. The replenished horn
was dashed untasted to the ground, and the delicate
tit-bit transferred from the gaping mouth to the
rushes which strewed the floor. The monarch
himself was by no means exempt from the foul
plague, and his palate was daily cheated of accus
tomed dainties. Before the arrival of the destined
morsel the coarsest fare was invariably dropped in ;
and once, to the horror of the assembled courtiers,
a bloody tail was inserted as the royal jaws opened
to essay a dish prepared in the seraglio — a loud
laugh ringing meanwhile among the rafters of the
banqueting-room, which struck upon the ear of the
discomfited despot hke the merry tones of his
exiled favourite.
Priests were called in to the rescue — holy
books were read, and consecrated water profusely
sprinkled over the waUs, but all without the slight
est effect. Doors were closed and double-locked,

286 MIDNIGHT APPARITION.
and guards were planted over every aperture, yet
stiU the pest continued without any abatement.
The palace was in a state of terror and confusion,
and the Ufe of the King became weary and burden
some. Awful voices now sounded at night through the
lone apartments, and apparitions haunted the im
perial slumbers. The band of nocturnal singers
was trebled, but the stout lungs of thirty hale
priests avIio surrounded the royal bed-chamber, and
elevated their voices in psalm to a more frantic key
than had ever before been heard in Shoa, failed to
intimidate the goblin. Tossing on his couch, the
restless monarch sunk weary to sleep, only to be
jaded by spectres and evil dreams, in which the
mutilated Thavanan invariably appeared as the
chief tormentor.
For months the nuisance continued without
intermission ; and on the high festival of Easter,
harassed and exhausted, the Negoos took his cus
tomary seat in the great haU of his ancestors. The
groaning table was once again well fiUed. The
holy feast had induced chiefs and nobles in some
degree to overcome the fears which had latterly
estranged them entirely from the banquet; but
there Avas no joy in the depressed eye, no mirth or
hilarity on the tongue of the guest, and a low
whisper hardly disturbed the silence which reigned
among the dismayed assembly.
The usual infernal sallies were on this day

THE EXILED FAVOURITE.

287

practised exclusively at the royal board, before
which the uneasy monarch, occupying a high
alcove, and surrounded by pages and men at arms,
reclined in his wonted grandeur. Fretted almost
to madness by the exercise of unseen agency, he
had become the point towards which every eye was
directed, when another figure suddenly appeared
at the table, resting one hand in a curiously wrought
earthen vase, and extending the other high, in de
fiance towards the throne.
" The lost Thavanan!" shouted the crowd : " he
has pawned his soul to the fiend" — and swords
flashed from the scabbard as men's hearts beat
with courage at the sight of danger in a tangible
form. But high over the storm rose the voice of
the despot : — " Back, minions, back ! we wiU our
selves deal with the ingrate. Death — but a finger
ing death — shaU be the portion of him who trifles
with the pleasure of kings ! "
It was indeed Thavanan who confounded the
frown of majesty ; but how changed from the mild
and handsome favourite of former days! White
as the feather of the Rasa, his dishevelled hair
floated in silky tresses over the bent shoulder, and
stern revenge was graven in the deep furrows of his
pallid cheek. His soUtary eye gleamed with more
than mortal expression, and bright with the caba
listic figures of magic lore, a golden fillet screened
the mutilated orb. Retaining his disdainful posi
tion, he cast first a withering glance over the crowd,

288 THE DISCIPLE OF WAR0BAL.
and then addressed the prince in the words of
scorn : —
" False monarch, repent in time, for the abject
worm wiU turn upon its destroyer. Proud de
scendant of the race of Solomon, the wit of thy
Ulustrious ancestor is dull in comparison with the
wisdom of the meanest disciple of Warobal. I defy
thy myrmidons and thyself."
And cleaving through the air as he uttered these
Avords, Thavanan instantaneously disappeared from
before the gaze of the astounded and crest-fallen
court. The Avaters of the mystic vase hissed and bubbled
for a moment. A dark cloud of stifling steam shot
aloft, and a thick crust of red ashes, Avhich strewed
the board, remained the sole memento of the un-
Avelcome obtrusion. Again the hearts of the vassals
fell Avithin them. ; and whilst a gloomy silence per
vaded the hall, the triumphant song of the tormentor
came ringing among the notes of wUd music.
" Far down in the depths of the azure blue,
Away from the mists of the cold dull sky,
Concealed from detested mortal view,
Thavanan lives in liberty."
The heart of the tyrant quailed before the dread
powers which were in array against hhn ; and re
solving upon an act of tardy justice, freedom was
restored to the degraded and enslaved family, and
confiscated lands returned threefold to the im
poverished race. But the door of the royal harem

PORTENTOUS SIGNS. 289
was closed on the fair daughter of the house of
Thavanan, and the waU of the captive maid stUl
cried aloud for redress. Persecution, nevertheless,
ceased for a time; and men breathed more freely as
their hopes gained ground that the spirit of the
Avenger was appeased.
On the proclamation of the annual military ex
pedition, the chiefs and nobles of the land thronged
once more to the capital. Swarming around the
black tents of their warrior leaders, multitudes
were spread over hiU and dale, and the Amhara
host, in all its savage magnificence, had mustered
on the highest mountains of Anko. But evil
omens and portentous signs were witnessed con
tinually. Dogs howled unceasingly during the
livelong night. Throughout the hours of day, the
shrike croaked from every bush ; and the merlin,
turning her back on the passing cavalier, arranged
her sober plumage on the stone, without bestowing,
in earnest of victory and success, one glimpse of
her snow-white breast.
No heed was given by the stern monarch to these
portents of coming evil; and on the eve of the
intended march the haUs of the palace were crowded
with all the chivalry of Efat. Boisterous mirth
presided at the banquet; but as the last horn of
old hydromel was drained to the downfall of the
Galla, there arose a fearful cry from the interior
enclosure, and bands of eunuchs, with horror de-
VOL. II. u

290 THE HAREM RIFLED.
picted upon their withered countenances, burst into
the chamber from every direction. FaUing prostrate
at the footstool of the throne, they proclaimed the
disaster which had descended like a thunderbolt on
the heretofore unsullied honour of the nation. " He
has left the old and the ugly," sobbed the trembling
guardians ; " but alas for the fair and beautiful
ones of the harem, they are all gone on the wings
of the evening wind ! "
King and nobles rushed into the court-yard, and
every hut which crowned the pinnacle of the capital
poured forth its inmates to gaze at the wondrous
spectacle. High over the upreared peak of the
mountain soared a rich rosy cloud, lit by the last
glorious rays of the setting sun, and charged with
a freight more prized than the fine gold of Kordofan.
Amhara' s fairest daughters Avere revealed to the
unhallowed vieAV of the gaping multitude, and no
envious vest shrouded their amazing charms. All
had been caught up) by the whirlwind in the simple
dress of ordinary avocation ; and as their light
laughing voices came tinkling from above, they
carried the bitter truth to the exasperated monarch,
that the captives enjoyed their present thraldom as
a happy release from the bolt of the harem gate,
and the rod of the testy old eunuch.
Dishonoured in the eyes of his subjects, and
smarting under the loss of objects Avhich stUl held
a place in his heart, the despot stamped and raged
in uncontrollable fury. The beat of the nugareet

f e f

THE MAGIC SCROLL. 291
and the voice of the herald forthwith proclaimed
the abandonment of the projected expedition ; and,
plunged in the deepest mortification, Asfa Woosen
retired to brood in soUtude over his unprecedented
misfortune. Morn witnessed the dispersion to their respective
quarters of governors and their levies ; and before
the shades of evening had closed over the deep
vaUey of the Airara, a breathless courier galloped
through the palace-gates with the unlooked-for
but welcome tidings, that the ladies of the royal
harem had been discovered reposing unattended
among the high fern and heather of the adjacent
mountain side.
Again were the parchment faces of the wrinkled
eunuchs radiant in saUow lustre. Three hundred
mules were incontinently despatched for the con
veyance of the truant flock to their fold ; and at
midnight the muffled damsels, streaming under a
fuU guard up the steep hill, were consigned, amid
the cracked exultations of attendants, to their
wonted cages in the palace.
But the fair sister of Thavanan was not of the
number, neither could any clue be obtained to her
fate or condition. A small scroU had indeed
been discovered on the turf, sealed and bearing the
address of the ruler of Shoa — a gigantic glow
worm, attached by a single yeUow hair to the en
velope, having shone clear in the gloom of night,
and particularly attracted attention to that which
u 2

292 THE CURSE.
it was conjectured might contain the desired in
formation. The curiosity of the King finally overcame the
cautious scruples of the priesthood, who advised
the immediate destruction of the missive. As the
wax crumbled between his fingers, a roar of thun
der shook the palace to its foundations, whilst a
stream of black dust, pouring from the parchment
to the table, gradually assumed the semblance of a
AAithering piUar of sand agitated by the fierce whirl
of the storm. Careering in mazy circles around
the board, it towered at length high in front of
the royal person. A pungent odour impregnated
the apartment, and the crackling sound of the
devouring element was foUowed by the presence of
the dread tormentor.
" I have come once again, monarch of the hard
heart, to repay the debt which is still due, and
blasted like the much-injured Thavanan, thy soul
may henceforward entertain some feeling of pity
for thy fellow-men. Listen to thy doom. No
mercy was shown unto me, and none shall be ex
tended to thee. Thy son, after a short reign of
terror, shall fall by the hand of a slave, and die
cursing the author of his existence ; and thy son's
son shaU bear upon his disfigured countenance the
searing mark of his ancestor's cruelty. My face
thou shalt see no more — Spirit of the flame, per
form thy task. A bright flash shot from the centre
of the dark threatening column, and curled towards

THE HOLY RECLUSE. 293
the face of the King — a sickening sulphuric fume
filling the presence chamber, and the necromancer
vanished in the thick smoke.
Plunged for hours in a death-like stupor, Asfa
Woosen was only aroused from his lethargy to
bewaU the loss of the left eye, which had been
scorched in the socket by the contact of the fierce
flame. The calamity greatly softened and in
fluenced the actions of his after life ; and torture
and mutilation, becoming daily more rare, grew
graduaUy out of custom in the kingdom of Shoa.
During the reign of his grandson, the one-eyed
Sahela Selassie, there dwelt in a mossy cavern,
among the recesses of the forest of Mant^k, a
hermit of renowned sanctity. Father Peter was
universally feared and beloved. None knew from
whence he derived food or nourishment, for alms
were never requested. The skin of the agazin
formed his humble garb, and a rude leathern girdle
encircled his loins. His charms and amulets were
never knoAvn to fail in obtaining the object of de
sire, and his language was not that of other men.
Crowds daily gathered round his cave in the rock
to receive on their knees the benediction of the
recluse ; but no one had ever entered the cell, and
few cared to pass it after nightfall. Moans and cries
of agony then mingled with the midnight blast ; and
the sharp sound of the Avhip lacerating the naked
person was often heard amid piteous prayers for
deliverance from the evil one.
u 3

294 father peter's grotto.
On a sweet morning of May, when the roses and
jessamine were scenting the dewy air, the wild
flowers springing in fanciful enamel over the face
of the green meadow, and birds warbled pleasantly
among the rich foliage of the deep forest, the pea
sants came as usual to listen to the words of other
days, and to receive the blessing of the austere
anchorite. But the accustomed seat was vacant,
and no answer being returned to the raised voice of
inquiry, the boldest entered the retreat. Curiously
emblazoned scrolls and relics were strewed among
the nooks and mouldy recesses of the damp grotto ;
the body of the venerable hermit was stretched in
peaceful slumber upon a bed of sharp stones ; and
the tale soon spread through the land that the holy
Father Peter — now no more — was indeed the dread
necromancer Thavanan, who had thus, by the con
tinued penance of half a century, expiated his
fierce act of apostasy.

295

CHAP. XXXV.
THE REIGN OF SUPERSTITION.
Not a monk is there in any of the lone monas
teries of Shoa, not a hermit of the many in her
cold mountains, not a dwarf nor a decrepit priest
who has renounced the society of his fellow-men,
that does not enjoy the reputation of being fully
competent to blast the harvest at pleasure, to
poison the fountain, and to render the able-bodied
incapable — that does not look deep into the page of
futurity, foreteU coming events, and vend charms
offensive and defensive. TaUsmans written in mys
tic characters are mixed with the seeds and leaves
of potent witch plants, gathered by the hand of the
forest recluse. These afford a feeling of security
which is not to be extracted from the pages of the
Gospel ; nor does any one ever venture to mount
his mule without being first ensconced in paper
armour, as a preservative against the spear of the
bandit, or the sharp knife of the heathen.
Savage man, obtaining only through the medium
of his own wishes and imagination a glimmering
u 4

296 SACRIFICE FOR THE SICK.
idea of the invisible and supreme Power, seeks out
some tangible object of veneration, and some osten
sible source of protection. Thus the Abyssinian,
whose vague religious ideas afford him but small
consolation in the hour of tribulation, and but
little reliance of security or deliverance in the day
of danger and distress, reposes implicit faith in
the doctrine of amulets, Avhich present a substance
stamped with a mystic and supernatural character,
and one capable of being attached individuaUy to
himself. The arms and neck are therefore clothed
in a perfect panoply of charms against the in
fluence of every misfortune and disease, whether
experienced or anticipated ; and the tulsim, which
is a Avorked zone studded Avith minute leathern
pockets, containing sacred spells enveloped in
double and treble wrappers, encircles the waist of
every man, woman, and child throughout the
Christian dominions of Sahela Selassie, who himself
reposes firm faith in their efficacy.
The influence of the evil eye exercises a strong
control over the minds of high and low. Bad
spirits are believed to roam about the earth and
the waters, and to occupy houses after dark, whence
the Amhara never ventures to throw fluid on the
ground lest the dignity of some unseen elf should
be violated. The Beza, or sacrifice for the sick, is
considered lawful and efficacious, and is frequently
resorted to. The bullock, which is designed as the
type of the invalid, after being driven round his

WORSHIP OF SAR. 297
couch amid singing and clamour, is slaughtered
outside the threshold ; or an egg is turned thrice
towards the head of the patient, and then broken
beside him. St. Michael is by many of the more
ignorant supposed to be the Almighty. The Virgin
Mary is considered the creatrix of the world, and
Sunday is understood to have been a saint of sur
passing sanctity, greatly superior both to St. George
and to St. Michael, whence his claim to one day
out of the seven, whilst other saints enjoy their
festival only once during the month.
No Amhara wiU venture to destroy a serpent
save on Saturday or Sunday, when the sight of one
of these reptiles is deemed a favourable omen. In
common with the heathen Galla the Christians of
Shoa make annual votive sacrifices in June to Sar,
the evil spirit — continuing the idolatrous practice
notwithstanding its strict penal interdiction by
royal proclamation. Three men and a woman, who
understand how to deal with the Evil One, having
assembled at the place appointed, proceed to per
form the ceremony in a house newly swept. A
ginger-coloured hen, a red she-goat, or a male Adel
goat with a white coUar, is sacrificed; and the blood
of the victim, having been mixed with grease and
butter, is secretly placed during the night in a nar
row alley, when all who step therein are supposed
to receive the malady of the invalid, who is thus
restored to perfect health. During a visit some
years ago to Motatit, the King perceived evidences

298 THE BLOODY FINGER.
of this pagan ceremony in the streets ; and tracing
the rite to a wealthy individual who had caused it
to be performed in order to free himself of disease,
the honour of true religion was speedily vindicated
by the transfer to the royal coffers of all the worldly
substance of the delinquent.
Under cover of the night, a thread of cotton
yarn is often stretched by the hired sorcerer com-
pletely round some devoted tenement ; and the ex
tremities having been connected by means of an
iron link well imbued in blood, the Avails and door
posts are freely sprinkled and bedaubed with gore.
Day dawns upon the incantation, which is beUeved
to be the work of the Devil himself; and among aU
the assembled multitude, who consider that some
heavy calamity, if not instant death, would follow
the act, there is not to be found one individual
sufficiently bold to remove the speU, and thus de
Uver the inmates from its withering influence.
Since the King's arrival in the capital, the appear
ance of the bloody finger on the wall had thrown
the inhabitants into the deepest consternation ; and
to the astonishment of every by-stander a mis
sionary of the Church of England tore away the
charm without any evil consequences foUowing his
rashness. That very night, however, the defeated
necromancer planned an attack to rob the clergy
man's premises, and it was only defeated by the
extra vigilance preserved in consequence of the
exposure of the impostor.

THE WATER KELPY. 299
The drum of the water kelpy is heard by the
credulous native in the echo of every roaring cata
ract, and the wretch drowning in the swoUen tor
rent is beheved to be dragged under the over
whelming wave as the highly coveted food of the
malicious spirit of the deep. Divers plants and
herbs possess properties and qualities the most
baneful ; and a bunch of the Fegain grass, if skil
fully cast upon the person of an obnoxious enemy,
produces dire disease and speedy death. Sorcerers
and necromancers attaining the respectable age of
four and five hundred years exist in numbers in
many parts of the land, flitting through the air,
and riding upon the wings of the wind ; and un
bidden and invisible guests, such as Thavanan the
Tormentor, enter the banqueting hall, to rob the
festive board of its choicest viands.
Hid from mortal gaze, and realizing upon earth
all the dehghts of paradise, the magic village of
Dooka Stephanos forms the never-failing topic of
all wonder-loving souls, and the poetic fancy of
Abyssinia has been fairly exhausted in descrip
tions of this rare scene of blissful enjoyment. " Its
sleep-inviting groves and grassy lawns between, are
situated on the overflowing Nile; and there, re
leased from the loose shackles of wedlock, beau
tiful females abound. Potent liquors pour on in
never-drying streams, and the earth yields her
spontaneous fruits without care or labour. But
shrouded in magic mist, these Elysian fields open

300 THE ENCHANTED GARDEN.
their portals only to those mortals of command
ing form and handsome features, on whom the
glance of favour has been cast by the bewitching
inmates of the enchanted garden. Human en
deavour is ineffectual to unriddle the mystery in
which it is enveloped ; and the dread art of the
sorcerer and his most potent talismans prove ahke
unavailing to loosen the spell for the advantage
of those on whom Dame Nature has bestowed a
crooked figure, or even an ill-starred visage."
In accordance with the customs of the dark
ages, dwarfs are nevertheless treated with consider
able respect, and regarded with the utmost fear.
Many of the most learned and praiseworthy in the
land are to be found among those who have been
created during nature's freaks. The monarch's
father confessor, a perfect Asmodeus in appearance,
is of extremely diminutive stature, and fashioned
after a truly hideous model ; but he is possessed of
singular good feehng, and forms a gratifying con
trast to the majority of his countrymen. The
chiefs and nobles often select their secretaries and
household priests with reference to their bodily
imperfections ; and the most erudite sage in the
capital, whose charms and talismans are esteemed
all-powerful, and who knoweth every plant from
the " cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop that springeth
out of the wall," sustains his character for wisdom
and for lore, as much by the deformity of his ap
pearance as by the brilliancy of his understanding.

THE WORKER IN IRON. 301
By the credulous Abyssinian, the blacksmith
and the worker in iron is held to be endowed Avith
supernatural powers, and to be able to transform
himself at pleasure into the likeness of a wolf or a
hyena. It is a common practice amongst this class
of handicrafts to fasten a metal collar about the
neck of the whelps of those animals, and turn them
loose ; when the badge being retained through life,
and occasionally seen, the fabulous stories in cir
culation are strengthened in the eyes of the un
initiated. Sickness and misfortune are usuaUy ascribed to
the influence of the evil eye of the Boudak.* Long
consultations are held to discover from whose
sinister glance the calamity has emanated; and
when suspicion has gradually settled into conviction,
the most implacable hatred is conceived, and ever
afterwards cherished towards the delinquent; and
although concealed under that garb of indifference,
which the savage can so successfully assume, yet
the opportunity of revenge is never suffered to
pass unheeded in after-life. Hailoo, the father of
0ubi£, the late Nero-like Dedjasmach of Tigre,
added much to his previous notoriety by the
extermination of all the Boudaks who fell within
his murderous reach. Superstition exulted in
reeking hecatombs of human victims ; and the love
and veneration of his subjects knew no bounds on
his last summary act of collecting together and
* The blacksmith.

302 EMBLEMS OF CHRISTIANITY.
roastina: to death thirteen hundred of these miser-
able artificers, who were suspected to possess, and
to have exerted with success, the influence of " the
evil eye."
The presence of any Christian emblem, or por
tion of Holy Writ, is supposed sufficient to neu
tralize the labours of the Vulcan. No metal can
be welded within sight of the cross ; and should
any scrap of the Bible be Avorn on the person of
the by-standers, the desired figure can never be
imparted. Shortly after the return of the Em
bassy, a bar of iron was to be transformed into a
tire for the wheel of a gun carriage ; and the small
draft of air created by a pair of primitive native
bellows proving of none avaU, the smiths declared
aloud that the phenomenon arose from some holy
charm. Badges and emblems, spells and amulets,
Avere cast aside by aU ; but the labour was renewed
Avithout any better effect, and the artizans stood
aghast. A pair of British forge bellows were now
produced, and the assembly were requested to don
their paper armour, and to stand round the anvil.
The potent blast poured from the nozzle, and under
the brawny arm of the European, the sparks flew
far and wide. In five minutes the work was com
pleted, to the dismay of the Abyssinian magicians,
who came privately to request that no further
public exhibition of the sort might thenceforth be
made, lest their name and their glory should be
extinguished throughout the land.

303

CHAP. XXXVI.
EXCURSION ALONG THE NORTH-WESTERN FRONTIER
OF EFAT.
Reflections elicited among the chivalrous people
of Shoa by the refusal of the British Embassy to
slaughter defenceless pagans during the murderous
expedition to Entotto rendered it imperative that
some decided step should be taken by which to
wipe out the stain, and restore the tarnished lustre
of the foreign name. The destruction of an adult
elephant, which is reckoned equivalent to that of
forty Galla, is an achievement that had not been
accomplished within the memory of the present
age, although mentioned in traditions connected
with the exploits of the most renowned iEthiopic
warriors. Permission Avas accordingly solicited to
visit the distant wilderness of Giddem, on the
northern frontier of Efat, in the dense forests of
which the giant of the mammalia was reported to
reside — a pretext which further afforded plausible
grounds for exploring a portion of the country re
puted to be amongst the most fertile and pro
ductive in Abyssinia.
The King opened his eyes wider than usual at

304 the forlorn hope.
this unprecedented application. " My children,"
he returned deliberately, " how can this be ? Ele
phants are not to be slain Avith rifle balls. They
will demolish you ; and what answer am I then to
give ? The gun is the medicine for the GaUa in the
tree, but it has no effect upon the zihoon."*
Finding his guests resolved, however, His
Majesty's most gracious permission was finaUy
accorded to depart forthwith, and orders were
issued to a royal messenger who was appointed to
accompany the forlorn hope, commanding the go
vernors of provinces through which the route lay
to afford every assistance in their power to " the
strong strangers of the Negoos." But all assertions
relative to the possibility of destroying the mo
narch of the forest were still received with an in
credulous shake of the head ; and whilst not the
smallest expectations Avere entertained at court of
the success of the Gyptzis, the greatest ridicule
attended the publicity of an undertaking, which by
all classes at the capital was considered certain to
prove alike foolhardy, dangerous, and futile.
Instructions had been issued that the King's
guests Avere to be conducted by the royal road
over the Gorabela mountain, a singular mark of
condescension partaken but by few in the realm.
A most extensiATe panorama was enjoyed from the
heath er-groAvn heights. Mamrat reared her stupen
dous head perpendicularly from the dark-wooded
* Elephant.

the gorabela mountain. 305
bosom of the vaUey, and seemed half buried in the
clouds. The palisaded-buildings of the palace co
vering the slope of its isolated hill rose in pride
over the numberless circular houses of the strag
gling eastern metropolis. Clumps of the sombre
jumper and spreading cossos hung with red gar
lands of mast, formed vistas on every side. On the
one hand the lofty blue range of Bulga faded into
the azure sky, and on the other the eye ranged
uncontrolled over the boundless plains of the savage
Adaiel, spread out below like a great chart, and
embracing a prospect of many hundred square
miles. FuU in the centre soared the stern crater
of Abida — the beacon which in days long gone
marked the dominions of the proud emperors of
^Ethiopia, when, according to the traditionary
couplet, " their sceptre swayed from Azulo to the
BashUo, and from Errur to Gondar."
The porters at the royal lodge were on the alert,
and adjurations by the King's life Avere not wanting
to deter advance to the Airara. " Bu Negoos,"
" Bu Sahela Selassie amlac" were talismanic words
energeticaUy vociferated, and a heavy staff was
thumped across the path in proof of its being
sternly closed to plebeian transit. But where is the
Abyssinian who is proof against bribery and cor
ruption ? Beads will force a passage when the man
date of the throne is received with incredulity, and
the dollars of Maria Theresa, if possessing the
VOL. II. x

306 the king's road.
requisite marks, will insure participation even in
a crown monopoly.
An exceedingly steep path conducts to the
summit of the Chaka ; but it is here paved through
out Avith boulders, so supported at intervals by
transverse beams, as to form a succession of clumsy
steps, curious as constituting the only made road
in the kingdom of Shoa. The heather ceases with
the Gorabela mountain; and from the summit of
the now bare range the route strikes off near the
residence of a petty governor, who bears the sin
gular name of " Mout bai nore legne."
" Oh, that there were no death for me ! " is the
interpretation thereof; but judging from the ap
pearance of the lord of the manor, who numbers
some three-score years, he is not likely long to find
his wish realized. Engaged in earnest conversation
with the old man was Ayto Guebroo, who, in con
sequence of inability to check the repeated rebel
lions of the Loomi, by whom he so recently was
wounded, had now been deprived of his govern
ment, and of his silver sword, and was on his way
to the presence of the despot in deep disgrace.
The Abyssinian verdure is singularly evanescent,
a month Avithout a shower being sufficient to dry
up the rich herbage, and to darken the hue of the
foliage; but the " rain of Bounty," which usually
falls in February, giving a fresh impulse to vegeta
tion, the hills and ATalleys again teem with abun
dance. November was fast drawing to a close,

HAMLET OF ASOPHEE. 307
and the aspect of the country generally was brown
and withered. Every choicer meadow Avas covered
with the sleek beeves swept off from Finfinni, and
its sloping sides were yellow with the royal crops now
under the sickle, whilst in the numerous threshing-
floors muzzled oxen were already treading out the
grain. The route led across Molatit and the Toro Mesk,
through dales and over hiUs abutting upon the face
of the bluff frontier boundary of Shoa, in which are
the sources of many of the more distant tributaries
to the blue Nile. Never was there a tract more
destitute of birds or wUd animals, a few plovers
and larks, with some of the more common species
of the order Rodentia, being the only objects of
natural history discovered during a march of twelve
miles, which led to the halting ground in the centre
of the little village of Asophee, opposite to the
frowning mountain Kooromania.
Under flimsy cotton awnings, the night proved
intensely cold ; and at an early hour the ensuing
morning, as the journey was resumed over a swel
ling country thickly dotted with Christian hamlets,
the more sheltered pools by the road- side were
covered with a thin coating of ice, the first wit
nessed since arrival in Abyssinia. At the vil
lage of Amarague, hospitable entertainment had
been prepared by Ayto Egazoo, which name being
interpreted, signifieth, " May they buy." This nota
ble warrior had, prior to the late foray, introduced
x 2

308 ENTERTAINMENT BY THE WAY.
himself, somewhat a-propos of his title, by an in
genious but abortive attempt to sell an unsound
horse. Dismounting' on the right side from the
identical straAv-coloured steed, he now placed him
self with shoulders bared, in the middle of the
road, and by the life of the King adjured the
party to enter his abode, in order to partake of a
sheep that had been expressly slaughtered.
Wulleta Selassie, his comely partner, daughter to
Shishigo, the governor of Shoa-meda, had kindled in
the dark hall the fiercest of fires, and immediately
on the termination of comphnientary inquiries, an
ox-hide being spread, the heavy door was barred
to exclude the evil eye. Raw collops having been
steachly rejected, bones, singed in a somewhat can
nibal-like fashion, were rapidly circulated by the
attentive host. " Take the eye," he repeated,
coaxingly, to each in turn, presenting at the same
time betwixt his finger and thumb the extracted
orb of the deceased mutton — "do, the eye is
the daintiest part. No — well you must eat this
marrow," crushing the uncooked shank Avith a
grinding-stone handed by a slaATe girl, and extend
ing the splintered fragments to be sucked. Over-
floAving bumpers of sour beer having been filled
in a gloomy corner at a huge earthern jar, each
horn Avas tasted by the cup-bearer from the
hollow of his palm, in demonstration of the absence
of poison. The surplus repast, fluid as well as
solid, quickly disappeared under the united efforts

MONASTERY OF ST. GEORGE.

309

of the retinue; and a bead necklace having mean-
whUe been hung about the neck of the lady's hope
ful son and heir, the tortured guests finally effected
their escape from the oven-like apartment with the
aid of divers promises made to both master and
mistress, and sundry pieces of silver disbursed to
silence a host of importunate menials.
Ayto Egazoo rode forth, in accordance with eti
quette, " to see the party off." From the court
yard of his snug but dirty domicile, Tegulet, and
the blue hUls of Argobba and of the Wollo Galla,
bounded the measureless prospect. Regaining the
road, the Tekroos-Bado, Moosh, and Goodawurud
rivers, aU remote sources of the blue Nile, were
crossed in succession. On the banks of the latter
stands the monastery of St. George, famous as
having been left unmolested when the district
was in the hands of the Galla, many of whom are
even said to have been converted to Christianity.
Goodawurud was the title of a potent chieftain,
who, with Merkurri, Amadich, and Logo, held the
country after Graan' s desolating visit, until ex
pelled by Asfa Woosen ; and a considerable portion
of the revenues are now apphed to the mainte
nance of the monastery of Medak, whose superior,
the Alaka Amda Zion, has charge of the heir pre
sumptive. Nothing could exceed the beauty of the position
selected by the cowled fraternity of St. George ;
large bands of whom, lounging away their hours of
x 3

310 "angel's clothing."
idleness beneath the dark funereal junipers in
which the retreat is deeply embosomed, Avere for
once aroused from listless apathy by the passmg
cavalcade of white strangers. The land swarms
with friars, monks, and anchorites, who are habited
in yelloAv dresses, as the badge of poverty, or in
the prepared skin of the antelope. Usually licen
tious in their manners, they roam through the
country a perfect pest and plague to society. Men
become monks at any period of hfe. Those who are
afflicted with orievous sickness vow that in event of
recovery they will abandon the world, and transfer
aU their moveables to the church. The rich often
deliver over their property to their children, who
are bound to support them until death. The poor
subsist upon the bounty of the King and of the com
munity ; and many never enter the cells of the mo
nastery at all, but with their Avives reside at ease in
their own homes, having assumed the counterfeit
piety of the order solely for the sake of defrauding
their creditors — since, however deeply involved, the
" putting on angel's clothing* " clears off aU former
scores with the ease and rapidity of the most in
dulgent court of insolvency.
The skin of the Agazin is usually adopted as
the garb of humiliation ; and this emblem, together
with the unwashed person, is intended to comme
morate the legend of their great founder Eustathius,
* The Abyssinian phrase for turning monk.

"the rolling stone." 311

who boasted of having performed no ablution during
a long term of existence, and who miraculously
crossed the river Jordan, floating securely upon his
greasy cloak. The prophet Samuel is also some
times referred to as affording another notable ex
ample of the advantage extended by the mantle of
hide, in the asserted fact of his having sailed seven
days across a great sea, borne in safety, with his
disciples, upon the leathern robes which in those
ancient days formed the only attire.
Throughout Shoa, lakes are beheved to form
the great rendezvous of evil spirits ; and in one
caUed Nugareet-fer, at the foot of the hiUs, the
drum of the water kelpy is frequently heard, to
the no smaU terror of the superstitious auditors.
Shortly after crossing the stony bed of the Daima-
damash, a road branches off to Angollala and
Debra Berhan, past the monastery of Maskalie Ghe-
dam, a title . signifying "My cross is a convent."
Beyond the Dewasha, a second strikes northward to
Gondar, past the seat of government of Zenama
Work, the Queen-dowager, which occupies a beauti
fully rounded tumulus styled Zalla Dingai, " The
rolling stone."
"Bad people," saith the tradition attached to
this spot, " were one day seated upon a rock that
formerly occupied the summit of the hill. They
were telhng hes, and busied in contriving tricks
by which to circumvent their neighbours. Sud
denly the mass gave way, and all who sate thereon,
x 4

312 PALACE OF THE QUEEN-DOWAGER.
being precipitated into the deep torrent that rolls
beneath to join the river Mofa, Avere crushed to
atoms for their evil doings."
After fording the Goor river, and ascending a
high ridge, the Queen's Avhite palace forms a striking
object in the landscape ; and beyond it is a square
eminence, where, under the eye of the erudite
Alaka Woldab, the reigning monarch passed his
earlier years, until the assassination of his sire
opened to him the accession. The extensive view
obtained includes Geshe and Efrata, with the Great
Saka mountains stretching towards the Nile. Ad
vancing, the heather-grown range suddenly termi
nates in an abrupt descent, and full three thousand
feet below, rugged Efat is seen, blending into the
blue plains of the Adaiel, where towers the great
beacon Azulo, with the wide crater of Abida, hazy
and hot, far beyond it in the east. Afrubba,
and the high hills of the Ittoo GaUa, rose in
faint perspective, and a perfect chaos of rude dis
jointed mountains lay piled towards Ank6ber,
seeming as though they had been gathered from
many countries, and pitched together by giant
handfuls, to fill up the deep intervening chasm.
Hitherto the road had been rough and stony —
the eminences steep and bare ; and after passing
the sombre groves of St. George, the only redeem
ing feature Avas the church dedicated to " our Lady,"
reposing quietly amid the rich fohage of the
" cosso," and other large-leafed forest trees. In all

TTJRMABER PASS. 313
other parts the face of the country now resembled
the sides of the great Indian Ghauts — masses of
Hght brown, chequered with pale yellow; but
stubble or standing corn in every accessible nook
and corner usurped the place of wastes of grass,
with which nature so prodigaUy clothes the moun
tain scenery of the East. Numerous parties, con
sisting of twenty or thirty peasants, carrying on
their heads bales of coarse cotton cloth as tribute to
the King, were passed at intervals — the sword by
the side and the spear in the hand, indicating that
the frontier along which they journeyed was in a
far from settled state.
This tract of high moorland, which forms the
water-shed between the Nile and the Hawash, is
richly cultivated and abundantly irrigated — a fresh
stream, on its course to the former river, intersect
ing the western side of the range, and forming a
deep vaUey every second or third mile. After
leaving the Goor, however, the face of the country,
becoming more sterile, is covered with heather, and
for the last few mUes to the top of the Turmaber
pass, neither vUlage nor cultivation is to be seen.
During the descent, which passes through a gap
between precipitous trap rocks, and is steeper and
even worse than that of the Chaka, the bleak and
lofty peaks of Aramba, Gaifaiyetto, Woti, Mamrat,
Kondie, and Wofasha, are severally revealed to
view; these forming a continuation of the great
range of mountains threading the whole eastern

314 ANCIENT CAPITAL OF SHOA.
frontier of Shoa, from Bulga to Worra Kaloo, and
extending thence- through Ambasel, Yedjow, and
Lasta, to Simien, the highest point of Abyssinia.
From the foot of the range the road leads across
the Telunko, past Debra Sena, a smaU eminence
completely covered as with an inverted bowl, by a
dense, cabbage-shaped clump of junipers, concealing
St. George's Church — a most celebrated shrine for
the performance of voavs and orisons, Avhich is
visited from great distances. Hence the route
Avinds to the bottom of a deep wooded dell, rich in
botanical specimens, Avliere the clear stream of the
Telunko is again crossed, to the face of a steep)
acclivity leading to Dokaket, the ancient capital
of Emmaha Yasoos, third monarch of Shoa.
The sun was dipping below the opposite range
as a halt Avas proclaimed by the King's guide a,t the
house of Ayto Abaiyo Gurwa, the goA'ernor of
the distiict, whose hospitality proved unbounded.
For a full hour he continued shouting and scold
ing, ordering and countermanding ; and whilst he
expressed the greatest mortification at the non-
appropriation of two fat oxen, in addition to liberal
suppdies of sheep), bread, mead, and beer, he was
with difficulty prevailed upon to accepit a present
prepared in acknowledgment ; a piece of self-denial
rarely experienced at the hands of a native of
Southern Abyssinia.
" But," he added, " henceforth you may know
me as your friend ; therefore send to me frequently,

INROADS OF THE ADAIEL.

315

and I wiU teU you when I have any concern.
Wolda Mariam, my henchman, who is here, is in
my confidence. Furthermore, he will visit you on
my part. Appoint now a baldoroba, who may in
troduce him, that access be not impeded." The
party nominated as the medium of communication
stepped to the front, and the twain, baring their
shoulders, and bowing the one to the other, fell
back into their respective places.
Ank6ber is the capital of the eastern division of
the kingdom of Shoa, in which are comprized the
provinces of Basso, Dabdabo, Karaba, Kawt, Mans,
Giddem, Ab6mesa, Mahhfood, and Dokaket. The
last-named especiaUy forms the scene of constant
inroads from the savage Adaiel, whose country
lies little more than a cannon shot below ; the
Amhara, who on the Farri boundary are severely
punished by the politic monarch for destroying
one of them, even in retribution, flocking hither
to entitle themselves to wear the decoration of
the " akodama," the non plus ultra of their am
bition. And such is the bitter hatred subsist
ing between the two nations so closely border
ing upon each other, that but for the lofty bills
and cold climate of Ank6ber, the Moslems, who
are the far braver race, would doubtless have paid
its Christian population a hostile visit long ere
now. On the adjacent northern frontier, the in
tricate labyrinth of broken ravines, over which the
eye had ranged in the morning, forms the strongest

316 BORDERS OF EFAT.
natural barrier against the Wollo Galla,, whose
incursions are nevertheless frequent ; whUst the
Tulema, residing in the Saka range, entertain as
decided a disinclination to descend from their
own bleak hills, as do the Amhara to visit the hot
valleys and forests of the Adaiel, which stretch
beyond the borders of Efat.

317

CHAP. XXXVII.

THE SHREW OF MAHHFOOD.

Bidding adieu to the hospitable host, the journey
was continued along the eastern side of the Tur-
maber range, through a country considerably
altered in appearance, and improved in point of
beauty. There was a warmth of appearance about
the numerous hamlets quite in unison with the
increased temperature of this lower tract. Gaier
flowers bloomed by the way-side; more brilliant
birds fluttered among the recesses of the thick
corinda hedges, through which peeped the eglan
tine, the honeysuckle, and the blackberry ; and the
entire prospect, although exceedingly broken, and
traversed throughout by ravines and gulhes, was
covered Avith the most luxuriant grass in every
spot Avhere the hand of the cultivator had not been
busy. The slope of each hill and abrupt eminence
was wooded with junipers and other fantastic ever
greens. The cultivation was rich and flourishing ;
fields of yellow safflower glowed in golden tints;
and teff, growing in the depths of the valleys, re
sembled greatly the Avaving rice-fields of Asia.

318 THE king's "asmari."
Dame Twotit, one of the King's choristers, avIio
accompanied the army to Garra Gorphoo, and was
now making a professional tour of the provinces,
joined the party en route, carrying a small wicker
parasol ; and as she ambled along upon her mule,
with the butter pouring in streams over her shoul
ders through the influence of the solar rays, the
good lady was pleased to chant extemporaneous
couplets in honour of the war about to be waged
against the beasts of the forest. " The Gyptzis
will slay the elephant, whereof all the Avarriors of
Amhara are afraid" — whilst it formed the burden
of the song, conveyed an opinion diametrically op>
posed to that entertained by the pmblic; and the
followers, inspired by the words of a woman, took
up the sentiment, and made the valleys re-echo to
their martial chorus, which attracted to the road
side the inhabitants of every hamlet in the vicinity.
Mahhfood, a village hemmed in by high kolqual
hedges, formed the termination of the march. Its
natural fortifications having uniformly p)roved in
surmountable, this district has never been conquered
either by the Galla or Mohammadans. The residence
of the governor, avIio has been honoured Avith the
hand of Woizoro Birkenich, daughter of Queen Be-
sabesh, by her former marriage, stands on the apex
of the loftiest of the many isolated hills ; and in
accordance with the precaution invariably taken to
prevent surprize on these disturbed frontiers, it is
surrounded by a formidable fence. The camp was

DOMESTIC DESPOTISM. 319
formed at the foot; and the thermometer having
stood in the morning at 32° on the summit of
Dokaket, the difference in temperature was consi
derably felt during the afternoon, when the mer
cury mounted to 90° under the flimsy palls which
formed the only screen.
Standing specially recommended to Ayto Ga-
deloo, whose acquaintance had been formed during
the late foray, a visit of ceremony was paid in the
cool of the evening, when the party were received
and entertained according to the perfection of
Abyssinian etiquette. The whole of the dirty
domestics and household slaves were mustered on
the occasion to witness the presentation of gifts
brought for the " Emabiet," Avho, like the rest of
the princesses royal, displayed unequivocal signs of
being sole and undisputed mistress of the establish
ment. Fat, fair, and forty, she was seated in a
gloomy recess upon an " alga," and partially
screened from view by the intervention of a lusty
handmaiden. The good man, who occupied a corner
of the throne, presented in his owlish features the
very personification of a well-trained, henpecked
husband, for years accustomed to the iron rule of
the shrew — and so complete was her ladyship's
monopoly, that he could be said to boast of little
beyond the empty title of governor of Mahhfood.
The lady put a few prehminary questions touching
the number of wives possessed by each of the party,
and appeared highly to approve of the matrimonial

320 GADELOO THE HEN-PECKED.
code that limited the number to one. But through
out the dingy mansion there was a miserable
assumption of regal dignity which considerably
retarded conversation, by imparting to the whole
ceremony an air of unbending stiffness. The host,
who was either unable or unwiUing to answer any
interrogatories respecting his own country, edified
himself when he did speak, by subjecting his fancied
Egyptian guests to a lucid catechism ; and like
the Arab Bedouin who formed his estimate of the
poverty of Europe by the fact of its producing
neither dates nor camels, Ayto Gadeloo conceived
a passing indifferent idea of Great Britain from the
discovery that it boasted no mules.
" Have you mashela and daboo and tullah* in
your country?" he inquired, whilst his fair partner
feasted her eyes upon the " pleasing things" pre
sented, in none of which it was evident the lord of
the creation was destined to participate — " Oh, you
have all these, weU, and have you oxen and sheep,
and horses and mules?" — " How, no mules?" he
shouted in derision, while the slaves tittered and
hid their black faces, and their mistress laughed
outright — " Why what a miserable country yours
must be ! "
Shortly after daybreak the road was resumed
through very thriving crops, and by a steep descent,
to the valley of the Robi, where the eye was
greeted by a perfect scene of Eastern cultivation —
* Anglice, " maize, bread, and beer.''

THE RIVER ROBI. 321
juwarree, fifteen feet high, teff, chilies, onions, oil,
and cotton, in many parts artificially irrigated,
flourishing with the utmost luxuriance on a rich
black soil, under a climate resembling that of the
more favoured spots in Western India. The scenery
of this richly- wooded and weU-watered valley was
not a httle enhanced by the beauty of the sur
rounding mountains, of which the numerous peaks
were tufted with trees, and crowned by populous
hamlets, whilst the redundance of vegetation, and
the growth and quality of the cotton, with a soil
adapted for the production of sugar, coffee, and
rice, proclaimed the locaUty to possess the very
highest natural advantages as an emigrating settle
ment. In the broad shaUow channel of the Robi, up
wards of two hundred yards across, which pours
into the Hawash between a belt of verdant acacias
two sparkhng streams of the clearest water, are
found an inexhaustible supply of round pebbles of
every size, which being assorted, are used by the
Amhara fusileers in lieu of the usual iron buUets,
and are even employed as slugs and shot. They
probably owe their spherical form to the constant
action of the fluid, and form a large item in the
tribute paid by this district, wherein alone they
are obtained. Crossing the river, the road entered
a thick jungle, through which the party proceeded
in battle array as a measure of precaution against
the " Gowezza," a banditti which have long infested
VOL. II. Y

322 this frontier district. The nucleus, composed of
Christian outcasts Avho have absconded from fear of
their creditors, or of church censure, was swelled
during the great famine in the year of St. Luke, by
from five to six hundred Christian, Mohammadan,
and Galla vagabonds, who forming themselves into
a laAvless band, and renouncing all forms of religion,
took up their permanent abode in the greenwood,
where, favoured by the nature of the ground, they
plundered and kidnapped with impunity.
To the notes of an Abyssinian war chorus, which
still proclaimed the hostile designs conceived against
the lordly elephant, the plain Avas crossed without
any demonstrations on the part the Robin
Hoods ; and leaving the high peaks > Chureecha
and Sang6ta on the right with Mu1- °;ut - ad SaUaish
on the left, the road ascended J jrozi mountain
by a narrow pass, leading unr ^ a peak whereon
stands a house belonging to Wulasma Mohammad.
Abomesa, forming the termination of the range
towards the Adaiel frontier, limits his poAver in
this direction, his rights as Abogaz extending
westward to Bulga. The district of Gozi is entirely
peopled by Mohammadans styled Arablet, whose
progenitors are said by tradition to have been left
there prior to the reign of Nagasi, first king of Shoa.
Hoossain, Wahabit, and Abdool Kurreem, generals
probably detached from the victorious army of
Graan, are represented to have come from Mecca,
and to have assumed possession of the country at

VILLAGE OF MEDINA. 323
the point of the sword — the legend assigning to
the first of these warriors as his capital the
populous vUlage of Medina, which is conspicuous
on a cone among the mountains shortly after
entering the vaUey of the Robi.
Descending the Gozi range, a ridiculous scene
was enacted by a mule laden with numerous brace
of guinea-fowl, which had inspired the beast with
such ungovernable terror, that he rushed down the
dechvity at speed, kicking and plunging furiously,
and was not recovered until the novel load had
been dashed into a mUUon fragments. From the
foot of the pass the road led across an extensive
flat styled " the wUderness of Giddem," which
forms the neutral ground betwixt the Amhara and
the Adaiel. But less than four years have elapsed
since the great chief of the Gibd6sa, at the head of
his whole clan, made a sudden inroad, and swept off
aU the cattle in the district. The Christians pur
suing the invaders, slew great numbers in an
engagement fought near Rasa, and recovered a
portion of the spoil ; but on their march back, they
were in turn overtaken by Anbassa Ah, who de
stroyed upwards of one thousand.
The valley of Giddem is watered by four fine
rivers, which were crossed in succession — the
Sower, "mystery," theAshmak, "man who deals in
sorcery," the Gasha Bakindee, " shield on my arm,"
and the Jow-waha, "stupid water" — the whole of
which, uniting after their escape from the moun-
y 2

324 "the shield on my arm."
tains, join the Hawash not far from Mount Azulo.
The Gasha Bakindee, whereof the banks are preci
pitous and thickly wooded, is represented to have
formed the scene of numberless murders on the
part of the Wollo Galla, who are here in the
constant habit of way-laying traveUers through the
wilderness. To the eastward of the valley, therefore,
the hand of the cultiA'ator has been stayed, and the
forest, standing in large gloomy green patches,
choked with reeds and Avild canes, is tenanted by
troops of guinea-fowl, by the boar, the lion, and
the elephant; but to the westAvard, on either side
of the road, the cultivation is magnificent — the
soil, the climate, and the abundant supply of water,
with the shelter afforded by the surrounding hiUs,
proving especially favourable to the labours of the
agriculturist. Traces of the huge tenants of the
adjacent shades so worthy of their bulk, were
however visible among the crops, and the dread
entertained of their visits Avas well evinced by
numerous elevated platforms constructed upon the
highest trees that bordered the rich plantations of
cotton and red p>epper.
On the sedge-grown banks of the SoAver, beneath
the spreading branches of a venerable tamarind,
sat Ayto Abaiyo, with a numerous retinue, reposing,
during the noontide heat, on his Avay to assume the
district of Mungust, to the south-south-west, the
late governor liaving been summarily removed on
charges of oppression. In the principal town,

hamlet of zumbo. 325
Mosabiet, is held one of the chief markets in the
kingdom, the high road to Manchettee, the Wollo,
and the Yedjow GaUa passing through it. The nu
merous mounted retinue of the haughty functionary
had conjured up misgivings in the mind of the
guide, who, since leaving Mahhfood, had never
ceased allusions to the "Gowezza;" nor Avas it
without much persuasion and remonstrance that he
was finaUy induced to cross the river with the well-
armed party, and to hail from a respectful distance
the suspicious band of his own countrymen.
Leavmg the valley of Giddem, seven mUes in
extreme length, the route led over a very broken
and stony rise, into a third vale, also richly culti
vated, whence commenced the ascent of the Kokfari
range. Halting for the night at the viUage of
Zumbo, pleasantly situated on a pretty green ter
race on the mountain side between Manya and Dai
Mariam, the King's messenger was despatched in
advance to apprize Ayto Tsanna, the governor, of
the arrival of the strangers within his jurisdiction.
Supphes poured in from all directions ; but although
now far beyond the reach of the much- dreaded
freebooters, it was not destined that the hours
should be passed in peace. Attracted by the smeU
of honey, a legion of huge black ants burst into the
tent; and invading every bed, caused one slumberer
after the other to start in madness to his feet. In
vain a light was obtained, and thousands upon
thousands massacred — a fresh army streamed upon

326 INVASION OF ANTS.
the track of the annihilated troops ; and so un
remitting were their persecutions, that it was
ultimately found necessary to strike the camp,
and remove to a remote stubble field, where,
although fairly beaten from the field, pursuit on
the part of the assailants was fortunately baffled,
and their proximity speedily forgotten.

327

CHAP. XXXVIII.

HOSPITALITY AT KOKFARI.

" May the guests of the Negoos come quickly ! — all
is prepared for their reception," was the message
received early the ensuing morning from the old
governor, to whom the party stood speciaUy con
signed by the King, and who was, moreover, an
acquaintance made in the late expedition, where he
had appeared in capacity of "wobo," or general
commanding the rear guard. A winding ascent
up the almost perpendicular mountain side, and a
gradual rise round the shoulder of the range, in two
hours revealed his residence, occupying the summit
of a steep hUl, and well fortified with palisades and
wicker-work. A deep grove of taU trees on the
opposite eminence concealed the monastery of Ka-
saiyat, famous as the depository of the chronicles of
Saint Eustathius, and beyond, a wild tract of forest
land, intersected by serpentine rivers, stretched
away to the blue hills of Efrata and Worra Kaloo.
Approaching the residence of Ayto Tsanna, a
y 4

328 THE ASSEMBLY.
salute was fired in his honour by the escort ; and
being forthwith ushered into his presence, the
kind-hearted and hospitable veteran was found
seated in the inner porch of his spacious house,
where skins had been spread for the accommodation
of the visiters. Nothing could surpass the muni
ficence of the reception — bread, honey, butter,
hydromel, beer, poultry, and eggs, being lavished
in princely abundance, whilst oxen and sheep with
out number were slaughtered for the use of the
followers ; and corn and grass supplied to the
numerous train of horses and mules. A spacious
domicile was provided, in which, after a fire had
been lighted to dislodge evil spirits, the repast
was spread ; and during the greater portion of the
afternoon the liberal and inteUigent host continued
to Avitness the drill of the artiUery escort, performed
at his special request, and to converse with evident
satisfaction on the manufactures of Europe, speci
mens of some of which had been most unwiUingly
accepted. Messengers were in the mean time despatched to
five subordinate governors, with orders to assemble
their quotas on the morrow for the purpose of hunt
ing. The tooltoola resounded through the neigh
bouring districts to summon young and old ; and
in imitation of the royal proclamations, the man
date went forth by the herald, " that all who should
fail to repair to the wilderness on the day appointed
would be held to have forfeited their property

WAR WITH THE ELEPHANTS. 329
during seven years." The son of the host, a tall
handsome youth, Avearing gay necklaces of beads
and a streaming white feather in token of achieve
ments performed during the recent foray, had been
specially charged with the entertainment of the
followers ; and the strength of the potent old hy
dromel, no less than the liberality with which it
had been dispensed, were but too evident upon the
majority ere the night fell. Loquacity increased
with each additional gumbo that was drained, and
loud and boisterous were the praises from every
mouth of the good cheer of the chieftain's hall.
Amongst the visiters who flocked to behold the
white strangers, was a cowled monk from the adja
cent monastery, who proved deeply versed in tra
ditionary lore. It was diverting to listen to the
arguments adduced by the holy father against the
projected hostilities, and one anecdote considerably
staggered the faith reposed by the governor in their
success. " In ancient days," quoth the recluse, " one
of the most powerful monarchs of iEthiopia, whose
name I have forgotten, made war against the ele
phants with his whole army. The king of the ele
phants being sore pressed, took unto himself a mouse
to wife, and herein he displayed his wisdom and
sagacity. The mice espoused the quarrel of their
noble kin — entered the imperial storehouses in a
countless body — devoured all the shields, harness,
accoutrements, and leather, in a single night, and thus
utterly defeated the project of the king of kings."

330 JEWISH SORCERERS.
The Amhara possess a most indifferent idea of
woodcraft, and never venture to attack a wUd
beast unless on horseback, in bodies consisting of
several hundred warriors armed Avith every avail
able weapon, when, according to the approved sys
tem of Abyssinian bullying, the animal is sometimes
worried to death. But these quests are frequently
undertaken without success, and they seldom termi
nate without many fatal accidents. The brave who
hurls the first successful spear is entitled to the
honorary reward from the King, and to a triumph
in the capital, which is attended with ceremonies
and rejoicings simUar to those that celebrate the
return of the murderous foray against the heathen
GaUa. Owing to the excess of cultivation on the
highlands, Shoa generaUy presents a peculiar defi
ciency of objects worthy of the chase. Baboons and
monkeys, it has been seen, are royal game. Badgers
are believed to be the " Devil's flock," and therefore
studiously shunned ; and hyenas, although occa
sionally destroyed, are in many parts of the country
suffered to multiply to an alarming extent, from the
existing superstition that Jewish sorcerers descend
from the mountains during the night, and trans
form themselves into the likeness of these animals,
whence there could be no good result in their de
struction. Neither journey nor hunting expedition is ever
undertaken Avithout the receipt from on High of
the desired omens of approbation ; and should these

THE BIRD OF ILL OMEN. 331
be wanting, the Amhara wUl retrace his steps on
any pretext, and patiently await, the welcome sign.
The sight of the unclean hare is sufficient to shake
the stoutest nerves. An antelope bounding across
the path augurs favourably to success in any under
taking. A fox barking on the left hand destroys
aU hope of a happy result, but on the right hand a
prosperous issue may with confidence be antici
pated. The appearance of a white buzzard prog
nosticates good or evil according to the position
of the taU, and chief of all the numerous birds
ofUl omen is the " GoorameUa."* Death or the
most dire disaster, is certain to follow his por
tentous croak ; and there is no inhabitant through
out the realm who has not some tale to record in
confirmation of the fatal character of this ominous
shrike. That fool-hardy wight who giveth no heed
to the warning note of coming misfortune has
never yet been known to escape. He is either
balked in the object of his journey, pillaged, mal
treated, or murdered !
The omens must in this instance have proved fa
vourable. Under the personal guidance of the host,
whose hospitality increased rather than abated, the
party repaired, on the afternoon of the second day's
festivities, to Manya — a vUlage occupying the high
promontory of table-land immediately opposite to
the former encampment at Zumbo. It overlooked
* Lanius humeralis. Lath.

332 CHURCH OF EMANUEL.
the wide extent of wilderness which was to form
the scene of operations on the morrow, but among
Avhich it was deemed unsafe to sojourn, as weU on
account of the wild beasts, as of the constant hos
tile inroads of the Galla and Adaiel. The route
wound by a gradual descent over the Kokfari
mountain, so named from the numerous red-legged
partridges, the size of a guinea-fowl, with Avhich
the coverts sAvarm — thick copses of brushwood
and heather, interlaced with dog-roses, eglantine,
and bramble, affording the most aUuring shelter in
the vicinity of abundant grain and water.
Beneath the moss-grown branches of a silvery
" Avoira," which leaned its venerable form oA'er the
hiU-side fronting the church dedicated to Emanuel,
stood a miniature imitation of the sacred edifice,
erected according to Avont upon a pile of stones.
Bread, grain, rags, and feathers, were industriously
heaped upon this idol by every p>asser by, and the
kiss imprinted Avith fervent devotion upon the rough
stem of the tree around which the old governor,
dismounting from his mule, fastened a strip of
cloth as a votive offering. On reaching the des
tination, which by certain of the followers who had
sacrificed too liberally to the jolly god was accom
plished with no ordinary difficulty, several muskets
and matchlocks were discharged from the verge of
the cfiff to give notice of the arrival of the party to
the Gille and Soopa, tributary clans, occupying the
low country, who, in obedience to the summons of

THE MONKS OF MOUNT AZULO. 333
the preceding day, were already assembled on the
confines of the hunting ground.
From the Rasa hills, the residence of the for
midable Anbassa Ah, whose domains bound the Avil-
derness of Giddem, Mount Azulo did not appear to
be more than one day's journey; and the HaAvash,
which is said to flow round its base, could be dis
tinctly traced in its intervening course through
the hot Adel plains, by the dark line of trees that
fringe the banks. The mountain, although far
beyond the dominions of Shoa, is renoAvned as the
most sacred seat of monkery. Continually emitting
volumes of dark smoke, its only inhabitants are
Christian friars, Avho, despising the world and its
vanities, retire thither unmolested by Galla, or
Mohammadan, to spend their days in blissful peace
and seclusion. UniversaUy looked upon and feared
as sorcerers, they are believed to live on the most
social terms with the lions and wild goats which
share the retreat, and the tale assigns to the holy
fathers an exclusive subsistence upon fruits, and
herbs, and roots, which, together with a pair of
wings, are freely furnished them from Heaven ; but
it is singular that none who have yet returned from
the pilgrimage should have brought back their
feathered appendages, — and that the lank figure
and the sunken eye should have betokened rather
the toil of the Aveary wayfarer than the high enjoy
ment of Elysian feasts.

334

CHAP. XXXIX.
THE AVILDERNESS OF GIDDEM.
Before daylight of the following morning, Ayto
Tsanna gave the word to saddle, and the tedious
descent of the south-eastern face of the steep Manya
hill having been accomplished on foot, the border
of the Avilderness was gained as the sun rose, and
post taken on a small eminence to await the report
of the scouts who were out in every direction
among the tangled grass. The valley, environed
by mountains, and extending eight or ten miles in
one uninterrupted flat, lay spread at the foot, inter
sected throughout its extreme breadth by the four
streams already named, whose banks, clothed with
dense jungle, and topped by gigantic reeds and
lofty forest trees, harboured antelop>e and a great
variety of birds of the most brilliant plumage.
These individual wildernesses, in many points
uniting, formed a continuous belt of dark foliage,
and in others receding as the miry swamps became
niggard of the requisite moisture, afforded limited
vistas to the eye, although still accessible with
difficulty either to man or horse.
A speedy summons arrived from the governor,

THE TRIBUTARY GALLA. 335
who, with a large party of retainers, and two
matchlockmen forming his body-guard, was seated
on the banks of Jow-waha. An elephant had been
descried at the distance of some miles, and an uproar
had in consequence commenced, sufficient to alarm
the most fearless and sedate quarry in existence.
After a protracted and tumultuous consultation, the
hunt was commenced according to the Abyssinian
method — equestrians and pedestrians without num
ber shouting and haUooing to each other as they
threaded the paths trampled by the huge quadru
peds through a tangled swamp of canes, so locked
and interlaced that no human eye could penetrate
one foot on either side, whilst crowds of GaUa
horsemen gaUoped on either flank, to complete
the impossibility of success.
This turmoU continued under a burning sun
until past two o'clock, when, having reached the
extremity of the waste which divides the country
of the Gibd6sa Adaiel, the appearance of several
horsemen hovering in the distance induced the
governor to decamp AAith precipitation to the centre
of the wUderness, without having seen ought save a
few recent tracks imprinted on the burnt grass, and
a charred log of wood which was long maintained
to be an elephant. Here the tributary GiUe and
Soopa, who had been called out under their respec
tive chiefs, Abbo and Boroo*, came pouring in from
all directions — a wUd and savage race, whom the
* Boroo signifies "my yellow horse."

336 CHEVY CHASE.
Christians declared to be the most hardened, cruel,
and insubordinate wretches in the whole world,
who would take a life for the possession of the
veriest trifle. More than trebling the numerical
strength of the Amhara, their appearance so
alarmed the veteran " Wobo," that he forthwith
placed himself under the protection of his guests ;
and apprehending a termination to the day similar
to the issue of Chevy Chase, requested that rifles
might be discharged for the purpose of intimidation,
whilst he ordered his immediate attendants to raise
the shrill war-cry to coUect his scattered retainers.
The Moslems meanwhile contented themselves with
gazing at the unwonted appearance of the white
strangers, and clumps of Christian spears soon re
stored the chief to his self-possession, and relieved
the forebodings of his dismayed followers, whose
extraordinary politeness to the auxiliaries was be
yond aU things diverting ; the most tender inquiries
relative to health and weU-being only eliciting a
scowling glance, accompanied by a surly dogged
reply. It being in the interim reported that a man had
been destroyed by a female elephant, at Avhose calf
he had ventured to hurl his spear, Ayto Tsanna
took the opportunity of freeing himself of his un
pleasant Galla vassals, by directing them to hem
the skirts of the forest, Avhilst he requested his
foreign alhes " to enter the thicket, and destroy the
enraged beast, whom no one else would approach."

THE LANGUAGE OF WOODCRAFT. 337
Although well convinced of the impossibility of
accomplishing this absurd request, a desire to efface
former evil imputations induced a ready compliance,
and a body of Amhara spearmen were selected to
point out to the party the scene of the alleged acci
dent. Crouching in a compact group at intervals
of every few hundred yards as they advanced, they
lowered their shields, bristled their spears, and in
"the language of the chase," offered up a prayer
for Divine assistance, coupled with abuse and de
fiance to the much-dreaded object of their quest.
The story of the catastrophe proved on investi
gation to be utterly false, the man having been merely
lacerated by a splinter in a fall from a tree, instead
of killed outright by an elephant, as averred by his
comrades. A search of two miles through the shady
recesses of a magnificent forest, Avhere some of the
venerable trees measured upwards of forty feet in
circumference, and where the lemon grew wild in
the utmost luxuriance and profusion, led again to
the open plain, without aught being seen but a few
of that rare species of ape styled the "monk of
the wood." Here a message from the governor was
dehvered to the effect that the elephants were sur
rounded at the further extremity of the waste, and
unless immediately attacked would effect their escape.
Rejoining him, however, with all expedition, it Avas
ascertained that want of method had again frustrated
every design, and that the clamour of the unruly
VOL. II. z

338 THE ROYAL BEHEST.
multitude had rendered futile this last chance of
retrieving the fortunes of the day.
Evening Avas now fast closing around, and many
miles were to be retraced to the camp, across bogs
and quagmires, rendered almost impassable by the
tramp of six hundred horsemen. But before finally
leaving the ground, the Galla chieftains and their
wild host Avere assembled ; and the governor, taking
his seat in the midst, in a set spieech informed them
that their lord the King had sent them " a strong
stranger " as a guest. That their country of
Giddem had been chosen in preference to Bulga,
Mentshar, or the banks of the Robi, and that
elephants must be found on the morrow, or shame
would be the portion of all in the eyes of their royal
master. Bowing their heads, in token of implicit
obedience to the high behest, the chiefs pledged
themselves to spare no exertions, and to appear
early the following day with double the number of
tlieir respective tribes ; which assurance given, the
opportunity was embraced of urging an old dispute
relative to the loss of certain Galla steeds, stated by
Boroo, surnamed Amba Bukazia, to have been
stolen by the Amhara borderers.
" Yellow Horse " rose to speak in favour of his
countrymen. His portly figure betokened high
command and perfect self-possession. The lines of
his dark face had settled down into features ex
pressive of the most imperturbable coolness, and
his whole appearance Avas that of the haughty

YELLOAV HORSE'S HARANGUE. 339
savage chieftain. Standing erect before his feudal
superior, his attitude and demeanour were strik
ingly bold and dignified. His mantle, surmounted
by a shaggy black skin, fell gracefully over his
brawny shoulders ; and his words flowed on, pleas
ing and mellifluous, in a smooth stream of native
eloquence, which the soft language of the GaUa
admitted of his modulating into a masterly suc
cession of measured rhymes. The interpreter sat
opposite, Avith eyes rivetted on the orator, and
sentence after sentence was rendered into Amharic
with an ease and plastic volubihty which appeared
rather the effect of a piece of highly -wrought ma
chinery, conveying to the governor through every
marked intonation a close verbal interpretation, with
out disturbing for a moment the graceful flow of the
impassioned harangue. But Ayto Tsanna having
already decided the question, and mentally resolved
not to hsten to the appeal, gladly avaUed himself
of the uprising of his British guests, to mount his
own horse, and thus abruptly to terminate the un
pleasant discussion.

z 2

340

CHAP. XL.
DOAVNFALL OF THE ELEPHANT.
Ere the sun had risen the ensuing morning, the
party were again in the wilderness, where nearly
double the number of Galla had been assembled by
the chiefs Boroo and Abbo, to whom, before com
mencing the labours of the day, suitable gifts were
presented. The SAvamps on the southern side of
the waste having been drawn unsuccessfully, co
lumns of dust Avhich arose from the opiposite quarter
high above the trees were pronounced to indicate
the tramp of a troop of elephants ; and thither the
hunters hurried. But the performance of the
beaters was even inferior to that of the preceding
day. Half the number, panic-stricken, and visibly
shaking with fear, ascended the taUest trees, whilst
those who again induced the party to precede them
through the ocean of tangled flags, where to kUl or
even to see a Avild beast was perfectly out of the
question, used their utmost endeavours, by talking
and shouting, to enhance the impossibility.
Resolved to prove that the Gyptzis would not
place others in a position which they scrupled
themselves to occupy, the hunt was continued for

THE COUNCIL DISSOLVED. 341
some hours with those of the Amhara who pos
sessed sufficient courage to enter the haunts. The
sun was oppressively hot, and side arms, Avhich
were insisted upon as a measure of precaution
against the treachery of the allies who had been
summoned to assist, proved peculiarly cumbersome
and distressing ; but swamp after swamp was beaten
unsuccessfully, and forest after forest traversed
Avithout one glimpse being obtained of the quarry
desired. At length, about two in the afternoon, came a
summons to the presence of the governor, who,
being much fatigued, was seated beloAV a spreading
tree, and about to propose a return to the tents.
In a long studied speech he set forth " that his fol
lowers had done their utmost also for that day, and
had driven the elephants, which were countless as
the forest leaves, from place to place, as though they
had been viUage kine, but that the Europeans  "
Here his harangue was cut short by the appear
ance of a Galla scout, who galloped furiously up,
exclaiming, " They drink, they drink, in the Jow-
waha ! " The council instantly dissolved. Inspired
by a new ray of hope, the hunters leaped again into
the saddle, and, carrying their rifles across their
shoulders, made at full speed for the river.
A gallop of three miles through a dense covert,
consisting of strong elastic wands, interlaced with
prickly weeds and coarse spear grass, left the crowd
far in the rear; and, arriving at the spot where
z 3

342 A HERD DISCOVERED.
the animals had been viewed, " Yellow Horse, '
with half a score of his wild riders, was alone
present. The deep holes left by the feet of the
monstrous animals in the wet sand at the water's
edge were still bubbling from below ; and from the
summit of a tree, the broad backs of a herd being
presently identified at some distance, by the mea
sured flapping of their huge ears, it was resolved
that the native alhes should tarry Avhere they were,
whilst two of the party proceeded quietly to the
attack on foot, before the governor, with his noisy
retinue, should arrive from the rear.
After much opposition on the part of old Boroo,
who vowed that the despot would hold him re
sponsible for the accident which the rash measure
was certain to entail, the arrangement Avas finaUy
carried. A stealthy advance up the wind, under
cover of the copse wood, soon revealed a small open
area which had been trampled completely bare, and
in its centre, beneath the scanty shade of a venerable
camel thorn, Avhich had been Avell polished by con
tinual rubbing, stood a gigantic bull, surrounded by
four of his seraglio.
British credit was now completely at stake.
Creeping, therefore, to the extreme verge of the
covert, in order to render certainty more sure,
a two-ounce ball, planted in the only small fatal
spot presented by the huge target, laid low the
mighty patriarch of the herd, Avhose fall made the
earth to tremble. One of the survivors, rushing

343
towards the ambush, received a volley of hard
bullets in her broad forehead, Avhich turned the
attack, and brought her also to the ground, after a
flight with her companions of fifty yards. She,
however, rose after some minutes, and escaped into
the thick forest to die, attention being meanwhile
entirely engrossed by the tusker, the nobler quarry,
Avho, although prostrate on his side like a fallen
tower, manifested in his dying moments, by sundry
portentous noises and uncouth struggles, an in
clination to resume an erect position. His de
struction was speedily completed. ; but it was still
impossible to leave the spot, from a conviction that
the braggart Amhdra rabble would not fail to claim
the honour and the credit of having slain the prize
with their powerless spears, should any perchance
find the carcass during the absence of the lawful
proprietors — a surmise which was fully confirmed
by the appropriation of the tail as a trophy, by the
very first man who made his appearance.
The death of this lordly monster, to which so little
importance would have been attached in those parts
of the African continent where the event is one of
diurnal occurrence, created in the mind of every
beholder a sensation of astonishment and admiration
hardly to be described. The fame of the exploit,
carried by express couriers, spread from corner to
corner of the empire ; and although far from univer
sally credited, it produced even more than the good
z 4

344effect anticipated. Those who, when the storming
party first entered the covert, had sought safety in
trees, could with difficulty be prevailed upon to
descend, in order to approach the mountain of flesh
from which life was said to have departed; and
finaUy mustering courage to do so, in the frenzy of
excitement, launched their spears and discharged
their matchlocks, to the imminent peril of the by
standers and of each other. On the first intimation
of the animals having, after tAVO days' diligent
search, been actually discovered, three fourths of
the whole party had incontinently disappeared.
The Galla horsemen, who had previously boasted
the destruction of elephants with their spears, did
not venture to approach for a full hour after their
ears had been saluted by the reports of the rifles ;
and even the warrior Avho vaunted himself the
" hereditary chieftain of all the Braves of the
Amhara nation," long clung pertinaciously to his
secure seat among the topmost branches.
As the fact of the downfall of the noble beast
became more widely credited, and the scattered
forces gradually rallied round it, chief after chief
offered his hand in congratulation of the, in his
eyes, daring exploit, expressing his wonder and
amazement that a small rifle-ball had been able to
accomplish the annihilation of the bulk and life of
seventy seasons, and extolling the proAvess of the
King's European visiters in the encounter with so
formidable a monster, whose colossal strength

THE king's guests. 345
could have carried him trampling through a whole
array of their oavti host, dealing death and de
struction wheresoever his wiU impelled him. Whilst
dancing and howling around the carcass, amid the
crimson torrent which deluged the ground, they
affirmed the deed to be the work of genies, and of
supernatural beings, and complimented the doers
as the " bravest of the brave," under the titles of
" Figa" and " Gobez ;" declaring that " the mould
Avhereof the Gyptzis were fashioned must be of a
rare quality, and that if all the subjects of Shoa
were but composed of the same material, the do
minions of Sahela Selassie would know no limit."
Boroo, the brave chief of the Soopa, who had
with extreme difficulty been restrained from fol
lowing the forlorn hope at the head of his gathered
retainers, and thus alarming the quarry by the
noise and confusion of many hundred horsemen,
was more particularly earnest and vehement in his
protestations and congratulations on the victory
achieved — having hhnself anticipated none but the
most fatal results from what he termed so rash an
attack upon the hitherto unsubdued monarch of
the wilderness, and trembled for the royal ven
geance Avhich any accident to the party would in
fallibly have drawn upon his devoted head. " The
world was made for you alone," concluded the old
warrior in a perfect ecstasy of delight, " and no
one else has any business in it."
The trunk and ear of the beast so much dreaded

346 TRIUMPHAL HONOURS.
throughout the district having been hewn from
the carcass, upon the iron folds of which neither the
swords nor the lances of the assembled Galla and
Amhara could make the smallest impression, were
finally borne off in triumph ; and during the re
turn to the encampment on the hill-top, the
same honours were paid which are exacted by
the despot on his triumphal entry after a suc
cessful expedition against the heathen. Horse
men galloped in every direction, shouting the
prowess of the Gyptzis, and announcing that
" those who had gone forth to slay the mighty
elephant had successfully performed the quest."
Groups of women and girls lined the hill-side,
and as the hunting-party crowned the steep, raised
their shrill voices in the thrilling note of praise
and Avelcome. The tents were entered amid the
deafening chorus of a Avar song. BuUocks were
instantly slaughtered for the entire of the fol
lowers. Double the daily liberal supplies of every
description were poured in. Sprigs of green aspa
ragus were presented by the sons of the delighted
governor, to ornament the hair in earnest of
victory. Dame Twotit composed a new extem
poraneous sonnet upon the occasion, Avhich she
rehearsed during half the night ; and until the
cock crew, every quarter of the village of Manya
resounded with wild dancing, martial music, and
Avar songs, in celebration of an achievement, now
for the first time witnessed by the Christian popu
lation of Shoa.

347

CHAP. XLI.
THE NORTHERN GALLA, FROM ARGOBBA TO THE
TULEMA.
Giddem was conquered by Asfa Woosen, grandsire
to Sahela Selassie, from Latta, the ruler of the
first Mohammadan settlers. A succession of deep
valleys, stretching eastward to the very confines of
the Adaiel, are occupied by the tributary Galla
tribes of GUle and Soopa, who have become con
verts to Islamism — the Allala river intersecting
the country of the former, of Avhich the principal
viUage is Esgieye, and the Negeso that of the
latter, whose chief resides at AUaiyo. Further to
the north, where a continuation of the wild tract of
forest land is visible, the Adaie threads the district
inhabited by that portion of the Wollo who own
allegiance to Shoa under the government of Efrata,
and by the Doogoogra Galla, who were also depen
dent, but have long been in a state of open rebellion.
Large quantities of excellent coffee are cultivated
in Manchettee and Efrata, and with the salt pieces
or " amoles," which it has been seen are imported
from Tigre by the Wollo and Worra Kdloo, are
brought to Shoa by the Moslem merchants. In
Giddem itself, however, coffee is not cultivated,

348 THE PEOPLE OF MANS.
owing to the prejudice entertained respecting its use
by the Christian population generally.
Westward of Giddem, and interposed betwixt it
and Morabietie, is the province of Mans, largest of
all the component districts of Shoa, but subdivided
into Lalo, Mama, and Ghera, each of which forms
a distinct government. Abiye, third king of Efat,
defeated and subjugated Gold, the then independent
ruler, whose daughter Wolensa, was the mother of
Zenama Work, the Queen-dowager. This lady,
therefore, looks upon Mans as her hereditary pos
session, and she is much beloved by the people,
although, as regards their allegiance to the crown,
they still retain a large share of their ancient inde
pendence. Haughty, brave, obstinate, and quarrel
some, they openly avow to have little knoAvledge of
Sahela Selassie — never swear by his name, as is the
usage of His Majesty's more dutiful and loyal sub
jects — often depose the governors whom he ap
points to rule over them — and refuse to take part
in the annual raids over the southern border, upon
the grounds that they have quite sufficient occu
pation in the adjustment of intestine feuds and
boundary disputes. These latter are points not
always satisfactorily adjusted in Europe — nor is it
extraordinary that they should be attended with
some difficulty in Africa.
During the rebeUion of Medoko, the King in his
distress sent an urgent message to the people of
Mans, saying " My brothers, my relations, hasten to

LAKE AL0BAR. 349
help me ! " and pouring in at the summons, the
wild hordes arrived in time to decide the issue of
the dubious day. But so well aware is the despot
of his precarious footing, that he reUes entirely upon
the tact displayed by his mother, avowing her
northern subjects to be his own flesh and blood,
upon whom he could not impose a heavy taxation.
The only tribute paid, therefore, is in sekdat, a
black woollen cloth woven ofthe raven fleece of the
native sheep of the country, and invariably em
ployed in the manufacture of the royal tents.
This fabric also furnishes a costume indispensable
in so rigorous a climate, where the bleak unsheltered
hills, swept by a cutting easterly wind, rank among
the coldest portions of Abyssinia. The soil is chiefly
a fat black earth, producing abundant crops, but
perfectly destitute of timber. Salt is the only
circulating medium, and a man's wealth is esti
mated by the number of his ploughshares, Avhich
are carefuUy buried until wanted. The swarthy
complexion of the inhabitants, and their black
weed-like habiliments, distinguish them amongst all
the other subjects of Shoa — wearers of the white
cotton robe — than whom they are even more super
stitious, bigoted, and ignorant; the few erudite
amongst them being nevertheless esteemed right
cunning sorcerers, and as such, dreaded wheresover
they wander.
Mans has already been introduced as a province
famous for the lake Alobar, the reputed residence of

350 MIRACLE OF THE HOLY VIRGIN.
the King of the Genies, through which the river
Shai flows to join the Nile. Of yore, when the spot
now inundated was terra firma, the Virgin Mary is
said to have appeared in the house of the wealthiest
cultivator residing in the many flourishing villages
that then existed, and to have addressed herself to
the mistress, saying, " I am hungry, and have
nothing to eat. Give me corn, and I will grind for
wages." A vast heap of grain was pointed out,
sufficient for a week's labour, but no sooner had the
Virgin touched it than it was miraculously con
verted into meal. The inhospitable master now re
fused the pittance claimed; nor would the "Four
Chairs," before whom the complaint Avas carried, give
redress, until a poor shepherd had become mediator.
As a mark of the displeasure of Heaven, the scene
of this offence against the mother of Christ was
forthwith converted into a lake, Avhich has since
formed the abode of the lord of all the gins and
evil spirits in the land; and from that period large
quantities of dabo, or Avheaten cakes composed of
the whitest flour, have been supplied by general
contribution to the shepherds on the festival of
Debra Tabor, and on the anniversary of "our
blessed Lady."
Immediately north of Giddem, and interposed
betwixt the frontiers of Shoa and Argobba, is the
district of Dibbie, under Abba Munsoor, a Wollo
Galla of consequence, formerly governor of Wofa-
gabel, in the territories of Birroo Lubo, and notorious

SIEGE OF ARIKKEE. 351
for his personal valour. Having with a chosen
band of followers rebelled some years since against
the Prince of Argobba, he fortified himself at
Arikkee, a high table-topped mountain on the WoUo
border, where he steadily rejected the terms that
Avere offered for his capitulation. A strong force of
spearmen, supported by a thousand musketeers and
matchlockmen, was at length sent to reduce the
insurgents ; but no sooner had the besiegers opened
fire from a deep defile that environs the strong
hold, than five hundred of their number were laid
dead by a storm of stones from above ; the residue,
as usual on such occasions, retreating in the utmost
disorder. The entire scarp of the precipitous hill
had been lined Avith beams and rafters balancing
huge masses of rock ; and the leathern thongs by
which they were lashed being simultaneously cut
away by the garrison, destruction was carried along
the whole extent of the crowded ravine. After this
signal victory, Abba Munsoor abandoned his citadel,
and tendering faith to Sahela Selassie, was placed
on the frontier of his former liege, where his valour
and trusty services have gained him the highest
place in the royal favour.
The dread entertained by the Christians of the
independent Moslem denizens of the low country
has been ably portrayed by the personal confes
sions of their monarch. The destruction of a
single individual of the hostile tribes, by the most
treacherous means, is esteemed a feat of the great-

352 INROADS OF THE WOLLO.
est valour, and one that entitles the hero to the
highest distinctions. His Majesty's recent allusions
to his highland neighbours, the men of Geshe,
" Avho carry broad shields, and fight hand to
hand," had reference to the receipt of tidings of
the defeat of Ayto Amito, one of his principal
frontier governors, by Abogaz Gobassie, a brave
chieftain in the service of Birroo Lubo, who with
a large detachment had attacked and routed the
Amhara Avith great slaughter. This disastrous
news had been followed by the arrival of Ayto
Kalassie from Kaa, on the west of Antzochia, with
intelUgence that being unable any longer to stem
the inroads of the Wollo, he had been compelled to
take flight, leaving the enemy in possession of a fine
district across the river Wonchit, pertaining to the
principality of Zenama Work.
These events caused considerable consternation
in the kingdom of Shoa ; and it being apprehended
that the Mohammadans would follow up their
success in the direction of Giddem, all the Wollo
gunmen in the royal service were discharged, and
Christians and converted Galla slaves enlisted in
their room. A large detachment of the body guard
was then ordered to the north for the defence of
the frontier ; but under the conviction that, as on all
former occasions, the Amhara caA^alry would leave
them to dispute the field alone with their brave
foes, they proceeded on the service with the greatest
possible reluctance, although placed under the im-

THE PRINCE OF ARGOBBA. OO.)
mediate command of Chara, the son of Med6ko,
who is scarcely less renowned for valour than was
his rebel father.
Birroo Lubo, the Prince of Argobba*, is descended
from Lubo the son of Watsooba, avIio is said to
have been a weaver, and who espoused the daughter
of Endries, governor of Gof. Amade, the last
ruler of Worra Himano, educated Birroo, the fruit of
this union, and created him governor of Gof, where
upon he dUigently occupied himself in the extension
of his dominions, dividing his residence betAveen
that town and Ain Amba. His elder son, Ali
Birroo, met an untimely death in one of the many
border struggles with the troop>s of Sahela Selassie ;
and the only surviving brother, Amade, who is to
succeed his now aged father, has already obtained
a great reputation for personal valour in the field.
The intercourse with the Adaiel, whose caravans
come from Aussa to Dowwe, on the frontier, is
notoriously more frequent and secure than between
Tajura and Shoa ; and, with a vieAv still further to
facilitate the communication, the Prince, who is
extremely advanced in years, has given one of his
daughters in marriage to the chieftain of the
united tribes Hurruk Bodaito.
The next most influential personage on this
frontier is Adara Bille, surnamed, from the title of
his favourite war-steed, "Abba Daghet, " "the
* This term is applied by the Adaiel to the whole of the bor
der country in which cotton is cultivated.
VOL. II. A A

354 "THE FATHER OF HEIGHT."
Father of Fleight." This chieftain resides at Gatira*,
in the district of Changiet, and presides over the
Wollo tribe Gora. As a bribe to secure protection
to messengers proceeding to the northern states, he
has received a number of villages from Sahela
Selassie. Birroo Lubo has conferred his daughter
in marriage, with territory in his own dominions,
and affords military aid in time of need as a
check upon the western Galla ; and Imam Liban,
of the powerful Worra tribe, has likewise made
considerable grants of land with a similar object.
Thus possessed of extensive power, and courted on
all sides, the treacherous chief avails himself of his
position to shift the cloak according to the wind;
and, although wedded toBirroo's daughter, has never
yet assisted that ruler in his hostilities against
Shoa. Although not nominally tributary to Gondar,
both Birroo and Adara Bille afford military aid
whenever called upon, and the Wollo soldiery form
the stoutest bulwark of the decayed empire. Were
all these fanatic tribes of one accord, they could
not fail to endanger the safety of Christian Abys
sinia ; but they are fortunately divided throughout
by the same feuds and private animosities which
sever the southern Pagans. Hating Christian and
heathen with all the dire inveteracy enjoined by
their creed, and slaying both without mercy on
every opportunity, the Wollo preserve all the
* The Cypress tree.

THE WOLLO GALLA. 355
superstitions of the latter, below whom they are in
many respects debased by Mohammadan bigotry —
thus affording a melancholy proof of what the
whole GaUa nation must become, should it ever
unfortunately happen that Abyssinia terminated
her intestine struggles by falling under the grasp
of a Moslem ruler. Intercourse Avith the northern
states has imparted to the Wollo a higher degree
of cultivation than is possessed by their country
men in the south ; and, passing nearly the whole of
their time in the repetition of prayers, a proverb
and general belief prevaUs, that their country can
never be conquered by those who are not followers of
the Prophet — a superstition embraced even by the
Christians of Shoa, in consequence of Ras Ali being
last year defeated by the Wollo cavalry at Korkora,
on his inarch to invade Efat. The vernacular lan
guage of all this border, is Galla, adulterated with
Amharic and with the Arabic of the Koran ; Avhich
two latter may be expected in the course of a few
generations entirely to obhterate the aboriginal
tongue. Ali Marie, the independent Mohammadan prince
of Tehooladeree, Avherein is the lake Haik, has
long been in firm alhance with the King of Shoa,
and twice ably assisted him against the Wollo, an
important piece of service, for which His Majesty
remunerated him handsomely. It is now tAvo
years since he was defeated by Birroo Lubo, and
driven to seek refuge at the Christian court, until,
A a 2

356 THE TEHOOLADEREE GALLA.
having mustered sufficient reinforcements, he con
trived, after several severely-contested battles, to
reinstate himself in his government ; and it is said
of the warrior, that, on the occasion of this struggle
for empire, " he slew so many of the foe with his
OAvn hand, that the clotted gore could not be
effaced from his spear blade."
Again deposed by Birroo, he was now a fugi
tive in Mofa, a strong fortress to the west of lake
Haik. The victor, whose pretext for the war
was Ali Marie's refusal to acknowledge allegiance
to Ras Ali, bas thus, hy the subjugation of the
Tehooladeree Galla, obtained possession of the
entire line of road from the frontiers of Shoa to
Tig-re, and has, moreover, deprived his enemy the
Negoos of his stanchest and most powerful ally.
It is not a httle singular, that Sahela Selassie, who
is on outward terms of friendship with Ras Ali,
should have been suffered to afford an asylum to
Ali Marie, Avithout being called to account. On
the occasion in question, the haughty but humbled
fugitive bared his shoulders to the Christian mo
narch, according to the Abyssinian mode of evinc
ing respect, remarking, as he did so, " that he
gave this token of deference for the first time
during his life."
The Tulema Galla are the last to be mentioned
on the northern frontier of Shoa, and at their
hands the most serious disasters and reverses have
uniformly been experienced. A former emperor of

THE TULEMA GALLA. 357
^Ethiopia is said to have married a female slave, by
whom he had three children, Metcha, Karaiyo, and
Tulema. These youths were charged with the
royal herds, and being in the Avilderness, and
brave young men, they soon drew around them a
number of discontented vagabonds Avho embraced
their language and manners, which were those of
their mother, who had been brought from the very
centre of Africa. Concerting an attack upon the
southern provinces of the empire beyond the
Hawash, they defeated the imperial army on the
banks of the river Gala in Guraghie, Avhich runs
south towards Zingero ; but of numerous clans
and houses into which the rebels became subse
quently divided, the twelve tribes of Metcha, the
Karaiyo, and the Tulema have alone retained their
aboriginal appeUation.
Attempting to invade the territory of the Abid-
chu and Ghelan, the Tulema were defeated and
driven to the north-west, where they established
themselves on the bleakest and most lofty high
lands, and to the present day have maintained their
independence. One portion have become converts
to the Mohammadan faith, but the occupants of the
mountain Dera adhere to heathenism. Woosen
Suggud succeeded in subjugating some few of these
tribes; but on the accession of Sahela Selassie, they
cast offthe yoke, and being joined by a member of
the blood-royal of Shoa, became formidable enemies.
Force after force has been sent against Kalala, the
a a 3

358 FABULOUS MONSTERS.
capital, on the borders of Morabeitie, and always
with the same result. Birroo-Bukiza, and his suc
cessor the brave Abba Damto, have invariably
repulsed the " soldiers of the cross," with fearful
slaughter, and many governors have been hewn
in twain from the crown of the head to the
sole of the foot. In the mind of the superstitious
Amhara, fear has graduaUy given birth to a belief
of the existence in these cold mountains of a race
of fabulous beings caUed Arita, to whom their
reverses are attributed. The lower portion of the
body is described to be that of an ass or a black
dog, whilst the head and shoulders assume the
human form, and with the gait, costume, and
language of mankind, complete a disguise which
enables the monsters to roam undetected over the
border districts of Shoa, in prosecution of their
bloody career of cannibalism.

359

CHAP. XLII.
THERMAL WELLS AT FEELAMBA.
The day foUowing the victory over the monarch of
the forest was passed in the laborious operation of
hewing out the ponderous tusks, each of which
formed the load of a donkey, and was valued at one
hundred German crowns. A strong force was in
attendance to keep the peace ; and owing to the in
feriority of the tools at command, and the existing
necessity of cutting completely through the head
to the root of the lower tusk, which was half-buried
in the soil with the violence of the fall, the trophies
were not borne off until the sun had set. The
wounded man had meanwhile been conveyed to the
camp for surgical aid. The edges of the laceration
in his thigh had been by an amateur practitioner
neatly brought together with acacia thorns fastened
by threads of wiry grass ; and a handful of silver
easily reconciled the patient to a few weeks of con
finement to his bed.
An Armenian, acting in capacity of dragoman
to the Embassy, had been the iEsculapius — a man
who, Avithout the smallest pretensions, gratuitously
set up also to be a first-rate Nimrod ; and the mer-
a a 4

360 AN IMPOSTOR.
riment made throughout this day at his expense
had covered hhn with confusion. When setting out
from Ankober with a borrowed musket, he had
rubbed his hands and feigned the highest spirits at
the prospect of resuming his "old sport," for he had
slain elephants by the dozen in Northern Abyssinia;
and their tails, he contended, " Uke the tails of aU
elephants, Avere not tufted at the extremity as
asserted by his master, but covered with long hair
after the fashion of the horse ! " A mouse Avandering
from an adjacent granary at Dokaket, and unwisely
scampering over his bed, fell a sacrifice to the well-
aimed staff of the hero, who by virtue of this bril
hant exploit stuck a white feather in his hair, and
whooped the war-song during half the ensuing
march. Nevertheless, in the course of the first day's
unsuccessful hunting, he had been seen to retreat
into a cavity of the earth in a manner far from
creditable to his nerves ; he had been heard to
exert his voice in earnest supplications for assist
ance at the rumoured approach of the animal for
Avhose life he had previously affected to thirst ; and
when at last actually confronted with the defunct
monster, he was fain to confess that he only once
beheld a live elephant " from the summit of a very
high tree, when he discharged his matchlock as the
beast retreated, and the people declared that it
would die."
This curious confession on the part of the impos-

THE TYRANT 0UBIE. 361
tor, whose statements had heretofore been credited,
led to further disclosures. He had been addicted
to shooting at hyenas by night in the suburbs of
Adowa ; and having once been so fortunate as to
overturn the object at which he fired, he flew enrap
tured to the spot, and Avas somewhat disagreeably
surprised to find a Christian man weltering in blood,
which flowed from a perforation through the heart.
For this untoward murder he was sentenced to pay
two hundred pieces of salt, by Oubie the usurper,
who, however fond of putting his own subjects to
death, permitted no one else to do so with impunity ;
and, unable to raise the amount of the fine among
his numerous friends, he adopted the alternative of
flight. In Shoa he set up as a physician, and practised
medicine, untU so many patients died under his
hands that the King was comp>eUed to issue an in
terdiction. It formed the veteran's boast, that
although weU stricken in years, he could still bolt
ten pounds of raw beef at one and the same sitting,
whereas if subjected to a culinary process, three
were more than he could contrive with comfort.
Notwithstanding all his exaggerations, he had wit
nessed strange sights, which are but too well cor
roborated. He had seen the monster Oubi£, when
his conscience was stained by feAver foul crimes
than it now is, put out the eyes of his elder brother,
who, as the searing-iron hissed over the unflinching
orbs, thanked God that he had so long been spared

362 DEPARTURE FROM GIDDEM.
the use of them ; and he had seen Ras Subagadis,
under whom he held a petty government in Tigre\
executed by the hands of a pagan Galla, who under
took the task for some bread and a barille of hydro
mel, after numerous Amhara had refused to become
headsman to so humane a prince.
Every object in visiting Giddem having been
fully and satisfactorily accomplished, the party
bade adieu to the hospitable old governor, Avhose
parting request was that he might be favourably
mentioned to his royal master. This was unhesi
tatingly promised ; and Ayto Elbeshar was deputed
to lead the way to the celebrated thermal springs
of Feelamba, situated within his government, and
which it had been determined to visit on the
return route to Ank6ber. Descending by an ex
tremely steep footpath to a deep dell below the
Aito hill, the road wound above a mUe along the
sunken channel of the narrow river, through which
meandered a rippling brook of crystal water,
agitated at intervals by miniature cascades, and
shaded throughout its tortuous course by trees and
flowering creepers of luxuriant beauty. In an
angle formed by a sudden bend are the hot weUs,
five in number, rising at some distance from each
other — the remnants of old volcanic action, which
have long entirely disappeared in other parts of
their theatre, but have left behind them, in this
secluded and highly picturesque spot, a salubrious
fountain of Ufe.

SAINT ARAGAWI. 363
Aragawi, the most celebrated of these springs,
derives its name from one of the nine missionaries
of the Greek church, who, at the close of the fifth
century, completed the conversion of Abyssinia
during the reign of Alameda. He is styled also
Za Michael ; and is said to have been conveyed on
the tail of a huge serpent to the summit of the
lofty and then inaccessible rock on Debra Damo,
where he founded a convent, Avhereof he is the
tutelar saint, and which is still one of the most
renowned in iEthiopia. It is recorded of Aragawi
that he raised the dead, and caused the blind to
see; and among the manifold notable miracles
ascribed to him, the not least remarkable is the
conversion to Christianity of the Devil himself,
whom he persuaded to take the monastic cap for
forty years !
Selassie, the Holy Trinity, is another open pool
or basin situated close to Aragawi, and Uke it rising
in bubbles from the sandy bank and bed of the
stream. In both the temperature stood at 118° of
Fahrenheit. Mariam, the blessed Virgin, at 115°,
issues from a cave, provided with a rude door, and
partitioned by a bar of wood into two ceUs for new
and old diseases, and in these patients Avere in
the act of immersion. Abbo, at 120°, percolates
from the centre of a steep bank of soft red sand
stone, covering basaltic wacke, through an artificial
spout inserted for the convenience of drinking the
waters. Numbers of dreadfuUy diseased Avretches,

364 THE POOL OF BETHESDA.
the lame, the halt, and the blind, who were here
assembled, Avith victims Avho had suffered under the
Galla knife, formed a horrible spectacle, which
called vividly to mind the scriptural account of the
pool of Bethesda.
The superintendence of the numerous patients
who thus flock hither to undergo the discipline of
the baths, is limited to the collection of one piece
of salt, value two-pence halfpenny sterUng, for the
use of the wells, Avhich are believed to possess the
highest sanative virtues in a great variety of dis
orders. The waters possess a shght taste and smell
of hydrothion gas; but the fact that they may be
drunk hot from the spring without creating nausea,
leads to the conclusion that there is a considerable
quantity of herthin (zoogene) dissolved in them.
There is no precipitate whatever; and not five
yards from their origin they mingle with a strong
current of pure cold mountain water, to which no
perceptible alteration is imparted, whether in co
lour, temperature, or taste.
Many rare and beautiful birds were here ob
tained, amongst others, the Adagoota, a superb
black-crested falcon, Avhich had been first seen in
the wilderness of Giddem. FoUowing the course
of the Feelamba to its junction with the Jow-waha,
whereof it forms the principal source, the main
road was gained at no great distance from the
ford, and the steep Gozi range again surmounted
to the village of Telim Amba. It is situated on

MESSAGE FROM THE " EMABIET." 365
a height divided by a deep valley from the opposite
residence of the governor of Mahhfood, whose lady
presently sent, through a slave girl, the expression
of her regret, that " the King's guests" should have
chosen to halt at so great a distance ; and although
it exceeded four miles, she finally insisted upon
sending a huge pepper pie, and other ready-cooked
provisions. " You might eat these," was the mes
sage delivered by the Abigail : " they were pre
pared for you, but you have taken another road."
On the banks of the Robi, Ayto Abaiyo had
again been met, superintending operations at one
of the royal threshing-floors, where all the inha
bitants of the district were assembled. Self-in
terested motives had induced him very uncivilly
to oppose a day's hunting on that river, upon the
alleged score of existing hostilities with Anbassa
Ali. In order to free himself from the unwelcome
visiters, he clandestinely instructed the guide to
lead the most direct route, and hence arose the
offence committed against the " Emabiet."*
* i. e. " The mother of the house " — a title of honour employed
in speaking of the Queen, the princesses royal, the mistress of a family,
and the holy Virgin, who is usually styled " Our Lady."

S66

CHAP. XLIII.

RETURN TO ANKOBER.

An extremely steep and infamous road, intersected
by numerous mountain torrents, conducted the
following day to Aramba. After crossing the dis
trict of Arraba Amba, which pays tribute to the
crown in agates, Avhereof numbers of the form
adapted for gun-flints are picked up on the face
of the soil, the path wound above three mUes along
the channel of the Shonkorghie, " Sugar-sides,"
Avhich takes its source in the Turmaber range, and
during the rains becomes quite impassable. Here
the blackberry and the corinda stUl abounded, both
in full fruit. The scenery was especially beautiful;
and in a romantic glen on the river bank, partially
secluded by a grove of taU trees, among which the
green and crimson " zoreet" displayed its gorgeous
plumage, stood the picturesque church and monas
tery of " Our Lady."
Aramba was taken from the Areeo GaUa by
Abiye, third monarch of Shoa ; and now containing
a large portion of the treasures amassed by Sahela
Selassie and his ancestors, is garrisoned by a strong
detachment of gunmen, and entrusted to the cus
tody of a governor, and of a, Shalaka, or captain of

STRONGHOLD OF ARAMBA. 367
a thousand. No stranger is permitted to enter the
viUage without first giving the personal security of
one of the inhabitants ; and access is not under any
circumstances allowed to the strong hold, which
occupies the apex of a serrated rocky ridge, pos
sessing great natural strength. Here, in a succes
sion of long barn-Uke buildings, are consigned to
mould and cobwebs, and jealously guarded, every
civilized invention received by the despiot, which
could in any way tend to the advancement or im
provement of his people.
The camp was formed on a small level terrace,
of which the precipitous brink overlooked a deep
dark valley containing the sources of the Aramba
water, each flowing through a narrow rocky ravine.
Extensively cultivated, and echoing to the shriU
voice of the partridge, it is studded with cottages,
above the white roofs of which the Avreaths of
curhng smoke rose in agreeable relief against the
sombre side of the wood-clothed mountain that
bounded the prospect. Woti, towering amid dense
forests of timber, and appearing to bear on its
venerable summit the crumbling ruins of a giant
castle, shut in the view on one side, whilst on the
other, far beyond the remarkable pyramid of
Koka, which might be believed the work of
Egyptian hands, could be traced the jungly banks
of the Awadee, gradually fading into the blue
aerial perspective of the Adel desert.
Every civility Avas experienced at the hands of

368 THE traveller's tax.
the governor and Shalaka ; the latter of Avhom
insisted on mounting guard over the tents in a
small temporary bower erected as a defence against
the nocturnal cold. Supplies of every description
were made in regal profusion ; and the voracity of
the Abyssinian followers, to whom the excursion
had proved one continued feast, Avas most severely
pmt to the test. The King's orders, Avhich, in con
sequence of the excessive cheapness of aU the
necessaries of life, entail small burden upon the
host, threw open the doors at every stage, and
afforded the most lavish commissariat ; and al
though the donors Avere in most instances pre
cluded from receiving at the hands of His Majesty's
guests, money in remuneration, yet presents of ten
fold value in their estimation, whUst they served to
remove all sense of obligation incurred, amply re
imbursed the traveller's tax imposed on his subjects
by the despotic Negoos.
But different indeed would be the reception
afforded to the man who should venture to wander
through the country Avithout the royal assistance.
A well-stocked purse, or a well-filled portmanteau,
would not invariably produce a salutary effect,
since the savage has always some plan in abeyance
by Avhich to obtain possession of any curious article
exposed to his admiring gaze, Avithout imparting
ought of value in return ; and in Shoa a shoAV of
force is frequently requisite to extort that for
which the most liberal payment has previously

" THE COVENANT OF MERCY. " 369
been tendered. Coupled with the desire to obtain
property, there ever exists an innate disinclin
ation to part with the most trifling commodity,
and even among the higher classes, a stick or a
spear is sometimes peremptorily refused to parties
who have previously loaded the ingrate with the
richest imaginable presents.
The last march lay over the mountain mass of
Avhich Mamrat forms the core. The ascent in
many parts is extremely tedious, and deep dells, in
tersecting the road, are traversed each by a clear
streamlet, leaping from rock to rock in its down-
ward course to Arales far concealed from view. A
singular bird's eye view of Goncho, the state pri
son, was obtained from the terrace on which, en
vironed by dark juniper trees, stands the church
of Kidana Meherat, " the Covenant of Mercy." This
very common title owes itself to an opinion enter
tained by the Abyssinian fathers, that God appeared
to the Virgin Mary in Paradise, and formed a co
venant with her for the redemption of mankind.
The voice pf the mourners was soon after heard
at the house of Ayto Manor, late governor of
the district, who, to the great concern of the
King, had recently departed this Ufe. In boy
hood a playfellow of Sahela Selassie, the young
prince had sworn that, on his accession to the
throne, he would not forget him, and throughout
his long reign, he had proved true to his word.
Although the deceased had, by his disputes with
VOL. II. B B

370 A ROYAL FAVOURITE.
the merchants of Hurrur, forfeited the government
of Aho Amba, the most lucrative in the realm, he
was immediately invested with another. Year
after year, too, honours and wealth had been
heaped upon him from the throne, in gratitude
for which he wiUed to his liberal master the entire
of his accumulated property, without making any
provision for his own children, who, in the ordinary
course of things, are permitted to reside twelve
months on the father's estate before it reverts to
the crown.
A great portion of the latter part of the road lay
through the mighty forests of Mamrat, of which
the scenery was rendered singularly beautiful by
the admixture of vernal and autumnal tints pro
duced at this season, especially by the great pro
portion of towering evergreens. The shadowy and
sombre juniper, fashioned like the tall cedars of
Lebanon, and the fresh and Uvely " sigba,"
" So massy, vast, yet green in her old age,"
wave stage above stage from the gloomy depths of
the valley, to the very pinnacle of the mountain,
amid the moss-grown forms of the silver-haired
woira. The imperial purple lory, with myriads
of brilliant birds, darted through the cool recesses ;
the bell voice of the campanero toUed with mono
tonous regularity, and many a clear and sparkling
rivulet bounded in splashing cascades over its
broken channel.

MONASTERY OF MANTEK. 371
Deep-seated in this secluded retirement, and
shut out from the rest of the world by the leafy
screen, Ues the monastery of Mantek, said to have
been founded a thousand years. It is inhabited
solely by Tabeeban — men strongly suspected of
being Jews in disguise — cunning workers in
iron, wood, and clay, who are regarded as sor
cerers, and shunned accordingly by aU save the
King, to whom they are endeared. The austerities
practised by this fraternity, " in order to obtain
righteousness before God," are perhaps as severe
as any recorded in monkish annals. An oath is
taken, under a curse, never to look at a female,
nor to hear her voice, nor to eat a morsel of
bread Avhich has been prepared by woman's hands,
and excommunication for twenty years is the
penalty attached to the infringement of the vow.
No fire is kindled either on Saturday or on the
Sabbath ; the strictest fast is observed throughout
the residue of the week ; many sit up to their
necks in water for days together: at appointed
periods all lash their naked bodies Avith rods of
sharp thorns ; and whUst every brother sleeps in a
sitting posture upon a hard clay bench, with his
loins girt about by a tough cord, the Alaka, their
superior, does penance continually in a massive
iron chain.
A tree, which pwints to the monastery of Afer-
beine, was adorned by tbe followers as they passed
with the variegated feathers of the zoreet, and with
BB 2

372 FATHER STEPHANOS.
fragments detached from their soiled cotton gar
ments. The portals of this convent are guarded
by a blind dwarf, two feet four inches in stature,
who never moves from his post save on men's
shoulders. Among the unwashed tenants of the
cloister, there Avas one who did not disdain to
stroll forth, that he might greet the triumphant
Gyptzis. Father Stephanos was perhaps the least
bigoted of his profession, but he possessed his full
share of ignorance and superstition. Leviathan he
believed to be a monstrous serpent carrying the
world on its back. None possessed firmer faith in
the winged chariot of ^Ethiopia, in which the
celestial ark of the covenant is recorded to have
been brought from the Holy Temple ; and he
further laboured under the happy delusion, that a
fi^e kindled above his secluded convent, must, par
excellence, be fully as conspicuous at Jerusalem as
the beacons in Palestine by which St. Helena
announced at Constantinople her discovery of
the Cross !
Old Osman, too, with the aid of his ivory-
headed crutch, limped forth from his cell in the
outskirts of Ank6ber, to inquire how his white
friends " from beyond the world of waters had
entered and passed their time ?" — A rover in
Gurague, Avho had dealt largely in human flesh,
and seen much of the unexplored interior, he
finally followed the example of Habakkuk, the
Arabian merchant, who, in the days of Tekla

A CONVERT FROM MOHAMMAD ANISM. 373
Haimanot the ecclesiastic, and during the reign of
King Naod, was brought to embrace Christianity,
and became Etchegue, or Superior of all the monas
teries. A proselyte to the rehgion of ^Ethiopia,
Osman had renounced the false prophet, and put
away every Mohammadan abomination, coffee only
excepted. Without the sober berry, he averred
life to be a very burden ; and the clergy were fain
to close their eyes upon the malpractices of one
whose geographical information, united with great
abUities as a spy, had exalted him to the highest
place in the royal favour.
A frequent visiter at the residency, the garrulous
monk had opposed strenuous arguments to the
projected war against the elephants, herds of which
he represented to be so numerous around the lake
Zooai, that caravans are afraid to traverse the dense
forest unless provided with a number of young
goats, to whose bleat the colossus entertains an
unconquerable antipathy. " Take my kid with
you," he advised : " on no account omit this, or
the monsters will assuredly trample you." He had
been reminded that " the battle is not always to
the strong," but he invariably shook his head ; and
even now that the chorus of victory vvas ringing in
his ears, and the tail of the fallen actuaUy in his
hand, he continued at intervals to ejaculate, with
upturned eyes, " No ; I Uke it not." — " By Mary!
it doth not please me."
In the environs of the capital a vast concourse
bb 3

374 RECEPTION AT THE CAPITAL.
of p>eople had assembled to welcome the safe return
of the heroes from the hunting-field ; and as the
ivory trophies of the chase were borne through the
crowd upon the shoulders of six men, great were
the demonstrations of astonishment and commen
dation evinced at the successful issue of an expe
dition so universally ridiculed at its departure.
Women and girls shouted in the market-place.
Visits of congratulation were forthwith paid by
every friend and wellwisher, whilst the few who
had spread disparaging reports, and avIio stiU con
tinued to dishke the presence of the British in
Abyssinia, evinced by their silence the envy and
jealousy to which the unprecedented exploit had
given birth in their breasts. Amongst those who
felt more particularly annoyed and chagrined,
was Sertie Wold, the Purveyor General, who had
not long before hunted the wilderness of Giddem
for two successive months, Avith a retinue of more
than three thousand spearmen and many fusUeers,
and who had during that p>eriod enjoyed very supe
rior opportunities to the Gyptzis, without however
being able to achieve the object of his highest am
bition — the death of an elephant.

375

CHAP. XLIV.

HONORARY DISTINCTIONS.

The court had meanwhile removed to Ang611ala;
but a paternal letter from the royal pen awaited
the return of the Embassy to the capital. " Are
my children well? — have they entered in safety?
I have heard with joy of your success. Horsemen
were despatched, and they brought the glad tidings
that you had kUled. Hasten hither, that I may
confer upon you the reward due unto those who
have slain forty Galla in the battle."
No time was lost in accepting this invitation, and
a guard of honour met the party on the road.
Together with sheep and oxen from the King, and
bariUes of hydromel from the Queen, visits of con
gratulation were received from all the principal
courtiers present. Amongst others, came Ayto
Egazoo, whose hospitality had been extended on
the way to Giddem ; and Ayto Zowdoo*, formerly
governor of the important province of Geshe on the
northern frontier, who was dismissed for bravely
fighting against the Worra Kaloo, on the occasion
when the son of Birroo Lubo fell — an event which,
although highly gratifying to His Majesty, policy
* i. e. My crown.
B B 4

376 AUDIENCE OF THE KING.
had induced him to visit with severity, by the
imprisonment and disgrace of aU the principal Am
hara engaged. Both of these visiters had, Avith
sorrowful hearts, taken leave of the foreigners ; and
they now repeated the inward conviction enter
tained that the animals against which rash war was
to be waged would have "consumed the assailants"
— a persuasion which had led them to cherish not
the smallest hope of seeing- any one of them again.
But greater than aU was the delight of the chief
smith, when he gave his assurance, after a careful
admeasurement, that the circumference of the ivory
trophies then lying in the tent for presentation to
his royal master, yielded too full spans in excess of
any tusk in the royal magazines.
A band of fusileers were at dawn the ensuing
morning directed to escort the triumphant Gyptzis
to the presence; and whilst ascending the hill
through the various courtyards, they chanted the
war chorus of death before the spoils of the van
quished elephant borne in advance. A successful
expedition against the Loomi Galla having recently
returned, the walls of the reception-hall were de
corated with numerous trophies hanging above
scrolls of parchment closely Avritten with blessings
from the priesthood. But the whole court was in
deep mourning, in consequence of the demise of
Ayto Baimoot, the chief eunuch, who was nurse
to the King in infancy, and had been through
after-life his principal adviser. Heads were close

A PRUDENT RETREAT. ol I
shaven, and temples scarified; and those imme
diately about the royal person were clothed in
sackcloth and ashes.
" Your joy is my joy," exclaimed His Majesty, so
soon as the usual salutations had been concluded,
" and I am dehghted when my chUdren are happy.
I feared that the elephants would destroy you ; but
you have achieved a triumph which none other
have accomphshed during the reign of Sahela
Selassie." WhUst the King listened with great interest and
seeming astonishment to the detaU of proceedings,
and to the assurance that the monarch of the forest
might always be vanquished by a single bullet, if
properly directed, the ivory was laid at the royal
footstool. A long confession of the personal dread
entertained of the elephant by His Majesty was
followed by an anecdote formerly touched upon at
Machal-wans, of his own discomfiture, and that of
his entire host, by a herd encountered during a
foray against the Metcha GaUa, Avhen, being firmly
convinced that the army would be destroyed, he
had deemed it prudent to retreat with all expedi
tion. " I ran," he repeated several times Avith
emphasis — "I ran, and every one of my foUowers
did the same. You eAidently understand the mode
of dealing with these monsters ; but if ten thousand
of my people ventured to opp)ose a troop, the ele
phants would consume them all."
After this candid avowal on the part of the

378 PATERNAL ADVICE.
desp>ot, courtesy led to the intimation that a strong
desire had been entertained to bring from Giddem
the spoils also of a wild buffalo, but that Ayto
Tsanna's assurance was received, of his Majesty
having, during an expedition made some years
previously, fairly exterminated the species.
" Oonut now," " that is true," he replied, " and
you must not attempt to kill the ' Gosh,' for it is a
most ferocious and dangerous beast. What answer
should I give if my children were demolished by
buffaloes in the kingdom of Shoa? They consume
men and horses. When I slew a buffalo in Giddem,
there were ten men and ten horses destroyed. They
reside in the thickets where they cannot be seen ;
and putting their heads to the ground, annihUate
all who approach their lair. As soon as they have
killed a horse, we close round them in vast num
bers, and overwhelm them with spears and guns ;
but you are few, and cannot attempt this."
As this paternal remonstrance might be traced
to a desire on the part of the monarch to place his
own exploit in a superior p>oint of view, the subject
was changed by an assurance of the uniform kind
ness and hospitality experienced on the road, at the
hands of Ayto Tsanna, and at those of the Emabiet
in Mahhfood more especially ; and each pause was
followed by an ejaculation from the royal lips:
" Did I not command him? Is not Birkenich my
daughter?" Certain rewards and immunities are in Shoa

THE GAUNTLET AND BRACELET. 379
attached to the destruction of enemies of the state,
and of formidable wild beasts, Avhich are regulated
according to a fixed scale, and never withheld.
These His Majesty now signified his intention of
conferring ; and one of the ministers of the crown
entering the haU, accordingly proceeded, by the
royal command, to invest the victors with the
decorations due to the downfall of an elephant.
" You have each slain forty GaUa," repeated the
King, and are henceforth entitled to wear upon the
right arm this bitowa, or silver gauntlet, sur
mounted by this choofa, or silver bracelet ; and on
the left shoulder the spoils of a he lion, in token of
your prowess, that it may be manifest unto all
men." His Majesty then with his own hand presented
newly -plucked sprigs of wild asparagus, to be worn
in the hair during forty days, and be at the expira
tion of that period replaced by the herkoom feather.
And as the guests thus honoured took their way
down through the courtyards of the palace, a band
of warriors again preceded, discharging their mus
kets at intervals, whUst they chanted the Amhara
war chorus, and danced the death triumph.
The rebelhon of the Loomi, which had now with
infinite difficulty been queUed, affords an excellent
commentary upon the nature of Sahela Selassie's
GaUa tenures. A portion of this tribe had failed to
pay their tribute to the now disgraced governor of
Mentshar, who was wounded in the attempt to levy

380 INSURRECTION OF THE LOOMI.
it, and tlie royal forces took the field against them.
B6tha, Avho presided over a portion ofthe Yerrur dis
trict, was also a defaulter, though not in open revolt ;
but at the entreaty of his brother Dogmo, a faithful
vassal of the King, he came in with his arrears as
the army drew nigh ; and, having been mildly
reproached for the delay, was dismissed with par
don. No sooner, however, had he left the camp,
than he went over to the Galla on the plain of the
Hawash, and aided the Loomi in a projected attack
upon the Amhara. Upon this defection, Shambo,
his elder brother, became apprehensive of conse
quences ; for he conceived it by no means improbable
that he might be held responsible for an offence in
which he had no participation, as in the case of
Siimmad Negoos, late governor of Geshe, who is to
this day a state prisoner in consequence of his
brother Negooso going over to the ruler of Ar-
gobba. He therefore determined to renounce his
allegiance, but deferred the execution of his design
until after joining Ayto Shishigo, who commanded
the troops acting against the Loomi ; and it being
then proposed to burn a viUage on the summit of
an adjacent hill belonging to the tribe of B6tha,
he immediately took part with the enemy, and,
heading an onset in person, slew a vast number
of the Christians.
One half of the Loomi hamlets were already in
flames, but the Avork of destruction Avas now dis
continued ; and the royal forces retreating in dis-

" THE DOG OF THE HAWASH." 381
order, were again attacked by the rebel brothers,
and defeated with great loss Avithin sight of the
camp at Cholie. Perceiving his warriors flying
in all directions, the King seized spear and
shield, and commanded his steed to be saddled, to
the end that he might take the field in person.
But a wily monk, beUeving that His Majesty felt
no real anxiety to place himself in a position of
such imminent peril, threatened excommunication
if he stirred, and thus the day was irretrievably lost.
Hawash Oosha*, who governs the subjugated sec
tions of the Aroosi, Soddo, Liban, and Jille tribes,
having meanwhile joined the insurgents, the whole
Galla border was in arms. This powerful chieftain,
who was for many years the open enemy of the
despot, had been finally gained over to the royal
interest by large presents, and by the espousal of
his daughter; since Which period he has held, in
nominal subjection to the crown, an important
portion of the plain of the Flawash. He soon
repented him of the part he had taken in the pre
sent insurrection ; and the usual dissensions arising
among the rebels, a deputation, assured of personal
safety, feU on the ground before the footstool of
the throne with overtures of future fealty. But
the country was rich in flocks and herds ; and
under the peculiar circumstances of aggravation
attending the revolt, the delegates were commanded
i. e. " The dog of the Hawash."

382 THE ARCH REBEL SHAMB0.
to arise, and to return whence they came, with an
assurance to the contrite rebel that his fair plains
were shortly to be the scene of pUlage and desolation.
Two successful inroads foUowed close up>on this
threat, and ample vengeance was taken. The
wealth of the Pagans was transferred to the royal
meadows. Women wrung their hands in captivity,
and a black and burning monument attested the
lava-like course of the chastising hordes. The
season of retribution again drew nigh, and Shambo
and B6tha trembled at the fate that awaited them.
The powerful intercession of the church was sought
with bribes, and obtained. A hooded monk from
the cloisters of Affaf Woira stood before the throne
with a peace offering from those A\rho supiplicated
pardon, and clemency was graciously extended.
As the Embassy entered the palace court at the
royal invitation, the traitors were perceived pros
trate on their faces, heaping dust upon their heads
in token of abject humiliation. The fear of the heavy
fetters of G6ncho was before their eyes ; and the half
inebriated state gaoler scowled at them like a basilisk
from the ladder of the balcony. But for once he was
cheated of his prey. Five hundred head of choice
black cattle, Avhich the caitiffs had treacherously
swept from those whose cause they so lately es
poused, were accepted as the price of pardon ; and
with an eloquent harangue from the throne setting
forth the duties of a liege subject, Shambo and
Botha were dismissed in peace.

383

CHAP. XLV.
CONCLUSION OF A TREATY OF COMMERCE.
Ang6llala continued bitterly cold throughout the
month of December ; and fires, although not quite
indispensable, were always found pleasant enough.
A dry cutting wind from the eastward blew
throughout the day ; but the clouds, which often
gathered over the surrounding mountains, occasion
ally disturbed the serenity of the afternoon with a
squall of hail. Snipe abounded among the serpentine
streams which intersected the environs ofthe p)alace-
hill ; and the hero who possessed courage to cast off
the blankets before the sun rose, invariably saw the
hoar frost lying white over the faded meadows.
Dogs continued to howl in packs, and mendicants
to importune as of yore. Dirty pages and trouble
some idlers stiU infested the tent ; and the ap
proaches were choked by numerous bands of Yedjow
Galla, who were begging their way to the country
of Dedjasmach Faris. Day and night their mo
notonous voices arose from every quarter of the
town, and Christian adjurations by " Miriam" and
" Kedoos Michael " Avere often nearly drowned by

384 " THE GREAT BEGGAR IN THE WEST."
the choral hymn uplifted to Allah and the false
prophet. A new invoice of beads, cutlery, trinkets, ghemdjia,
and other " pleasing things," had been received from
the coast ; and visits were therefore unusually rife
on the part of all who loved to be decorated. Abba
Mooallee, surnamed " the Great Beggar in the West,"
Avith his adopted brother, appeared to hold the lease
of the tent in perpetuity ; and in return for amber
necklaces and gay chintz Arestments, hourly volun
teered some promise, simply, it would seem, that
they might afterwards enjoy the pleasure of forfeit
ing a gratuitous oath. If solemn asseverations by
highly respectable saints and martyrs were to be re
ceived with credit, messengers were almost daily
despatched, and on fleet horses too, for the purpose
of bringing from the Galla dependencies on the
Nile, amongst other treasures, the spoils of the
gdssela, a black leopard, elsewhere not procurable,
and " worn only by the governors of provinces."
But by some unaccountable fatality, not one of these
fleet couriers ever found his Avay back to the
English camp at Ang611ala ; and the cry mean-
Avhile continued, Avithout intermission, — " Show me
pleasing things ; give me delighting things ; adorn
me from head to foot."
Nor were there wanting other standing dishes of
an equally rapacious and insatiable character, and
scarcely more addicted to veracity. Gadeloo, " the
hen-pecked," was punctual in his attendance, by

VISITERS OF RANK. 385
order of the Emabiet of Mahhfood, Avho had always
a new want to be suppUed. " May they buy," with
an unsound steed for sale at an unconscionable
price, brought daily an urgent request of some
sort from his spouse. Neither did any morning
pass without a protracted visit from Shunkoor,
" Sugar," own brother to the Queen, escorted by
Ayto Dedjen, " Doors," his shadow and boon com
panion, and grand nephew to the monarch him
self. But the attachment subsisting between these
inseparable allies was one day suddenly dissolved
over a decanter of unusuaUy potent hydromel, and
a sabre-cut on the head of either, demonstrated,
alas ! the fleeting and unstable nature of all sublu
nary friendship.
As each evening closed, the nobility were to be
seen streaming from the royal banquet, supported
upon their ambling mules by a host of armed and
not very sober retainers. A tribe of ragged pages
bringing messages from the palace, accidentally
entered at the same time to report the substance of
the conversation, although many of the iUustrious
visiters were absolutely inarticulate. Lances were
hurled at a target to the imminent peril of all
spectators ; and the neck of the vanquished having
been duly trampled under foot, according to the
ancient Oriental form of military triumph, aU who
anticipated any difficulty in reaching their own
abodes, staggered into the tent of the Gyptzis to
laugh at the mad pranks of Daghie, the obsequious
VOL. II. c c

386 THE COURT BUFFOON.
court buffoon, and the flower of Abyssinian min
strelsy. Decked by the favour of the monarch in a
shining silver sword, the Merry Andrew, fiddle in
hand, came scraping and chanting his way home
ward, with eyes sufficiently inflamed to indicate
where he had been dining. Kissing the earth as
he took his seat in the tent, amid many antics,
grimaces, and inquiries, he proceeded to elicit from
the instrument, imitations of the human voice
under various intonations of joy, surprize, and
sorrow ; and the host of retainers, crowding round
the doors with shoulders bared, next shouted their
approval to some travestie of the wild Adel slogan,
or joined their voices in full chorus to sweU the
Amhara death triumph, or this the pibroch of the
NUe :— " The sword is burning for the fight,
And gleams like rays of living light ;
Let thoughts of fear inthral the slave —
Rouse to the strife, ye Gojarn brave.
" Clustering they come, the Turkish rout
Ring back on high the Amhara shout ;
For honour, home, or glorious grave —
Rouse to the strife, ye Gojam brave.
" The sword of Confu leads the war,
And dastard spirits quail afar ;
None here to pity, none to save —
Rouse to the strife, ye Gojam brave.
" Our swords in tint shall soon outvie
Yon scabbard of the crimson dye.
And overhead shall ruddy wave —
Rouse to the strife, ye Gojam brave.

" THE LONG GUNMAN." 387
" Red as their belts their blood shall flow,
Deep as the hue of sunset glow ;
Mercy to none who mercy crave —
Rouse to the strife, ye Gojam brave."
Pages and abigails were hourly in attendance, on
the part of their royal master or mistress, with some
rubbish from the palace, which was carefully re
moved from its red and yeUoAV basket of Gurague
grass, divested of aU its numerous wrappers, and
confidentially exhibited with an inquiry, sotto voce,
" whether more of the same description was not to
be obtained ? " The outcry raised for detonating
caps was wearisome and incessant ; for although it
was notorious that the royal magazines boasted
a hoard sufficient to answer the utmost demand of
at least three generations, the King was ever appre
hensive of bankruptcy, in event of a quarrel with
the Adaiel, " because his own people knew not the
road beyond the world of waters." Thus it hap
pened that Kidana Wold, the long gunman, who
had charge of the royal armoury, received private in
structions to look in at the Residency at least twice
a week, with a mamalacha for fifty or a hundred
tezabs, and regularly once a month to aver that he
had been so unfortunate as to drop from his girdle
another box of His Majesty's patent anti- corrosives
— a loss which, unless timely repaired, must in
evitably result in the forfeiture of liberty. " The
Gaita has discovered my carelessness," he would add,
with tears in his eyes, " and, by Mary ! if you don't
c c 2

388 COUNTERFEIT DOLLARS.
help me immediately, I shall be sent to G6ncho."
Treble strong canister gunpowder was also in high
demand, its superiority over the manufacture of
Shoa being admitted even by the maker. But the
sulphur monopoly remained as heretofore most
jealously guarded. The ill-starred individual who
had charge of the mines on the frontier, in an evil
hour accepted silver for a lump of the purified com
modity, which was required for the cure of applicants
having the beggar's disease ; and spies reporting
the peculation, the delinquent wras condemned to
perpetual labour in the hot vaUeys of Giddem.
This convict was accompanied in his exUe by a
shreAvd lad, who had been detected at the Bool
Worki market in giving circulation to two counter
feit dollars. Weeks of incessant toil had enabled
him to produce, out of a crude lump of pewter,
very creditable imitations of the coinage of Maria
Theresa. Every spot and letter had been most
closely represented with a punch and file, and the
ingenious artist, naturaUy enough, seemed vastly
mortified at the untoward consequences of his
labour. " Tell me," inquired the King, as the
culprit was being removed, "how is that machine
made which in your country pours out the silver
crowns like a shower of rain?"
Architecture now occupied a full share of the
royal brain. The hand corn-miUs presented by the
British Government had been erected within the
palace walls, and slaves were turning the wheels

BRIDGE OVER THE BEREZA. 389
with unceasing dihgence. " Demetrius the Armenian
made a machine to grind corn," exclaimed His Ma
jesty in a transport of dehght, as the flour streamed
upon the floor ; " and although it cost my people a
year of hard labour to construct, it was useless
when finished, because the priests declared it to be
the DeAil's work, and cursed the bread. But may
Sahela Selassie die ! These engines are the invention
of clever heads. Now I wUl build a bridge over
the Bereza, and you shaU give me your advice."
Early the ensuing morning the chief smith was
accordingly in attendance with hammer and tongs ;
and " when the sun said hot," the pious monarch,
having first paid his orisons in the church of the
Trinity, proceeded, with all suitable cunning, to
plan the projected edifice beneath a fortunate
horoscope. Twelve waterways were traced with
stones under his skUful superintendence on a site
selected after infinite discussion ; and in five minutes
a train of slaves from the estabUshment at Debra
Berhan were heaping together pUes of loose boul
ders to serve as piers. Splinters of wood connected
the roadway, and in three days the structure was
complete, its appearance giving promise of what
actually happened — demolition within as many
short hours, on the very first violent fresh to which
the river is subject during the annual rains.
But predictions of the impending catastrophe
were received with an incredulous shake of the
head ; and the advice that orders should be issued
c c 3

390 COTTON WEAVING.
to the Governors on the Nile to keep a Aigilant
look out for the upper timbers on their voyage
down to Egypt, was foUowed by a good-humoured
laugh and a playful tap on the shoulder of the
audacious foreigner, who, to the horror and amaze
ment of the obsequious courtiers, had thus ventured
to speak his mind to the despot. In vain was it
proposed to construct a bridge upon arches which
might defy the impetuosity of the torrent. " All
my subjects are asses," retorted His Majesty : " they
are idle and lazy, and devoid of understanding.
There is not one that wiU consent to labour, no,
not one ; and if through your means they should be
compeUed to perform the task, they would weep,
and invoke curses on the name of the Gyptzis.
Your corn miUs are approved, because they save
the women trouble, but by the shades of my an
cestors ! — a bridge  " Here all sense of the
decorum due to the sceptre was forgotten for the
moment, and the monarch whistled aloud.
And the King was right. Weaving excepted,
which in so cold a climate is an art indispensable to
existence, the people of Shoa can hardly be said to
practise any manufacture. The raw cotton, which
is as cheap as it is excellent and abundant, is by
him who would be clad, handed over with a number
of amoles proportioned to the size of the cloth re
quired. A common bow is used to spread the
wool ; and the spinning jenny being unknown, the
thread is twisted by means of the ancient spindle,

BRITISH COMMERCE. 391
to which motion is imparted by a rapid pressure
betwixt the left palm and the denuded thigh, whilst
the right hand is simultaneously carried upwards
for the purpose of " roving." Time is here held of
no account ; and female labour having suppUed the
want of machinery in these preliminary operations,
the twist is transferred to a rude locomotive loom,
and a warm durable mantle is produced with the
aid only of a simple shuttle.
British commerce has not only forced its way,
but created markets and customers in many a wUder
and more inaccessible portion of the globe than
Christian Abyssinia, and its operation promises to
open the only means of improvement and civiliza
tion. Even in the absence of water carriage, the
experience of many years has proved that the Uving
ship of the desert is a machine of transport adequate
to the most important traffic; and, if once esta
bhshed, that traffic would in a few years doubtless
bind both people and ruler in the strongest chains
of personal interest.
A commercial convention betwixt Great Britain
and Shoa was a subject that had been frequently
adverted to ; and His Majesty had shaken his head
when first assured that five hundred pair of hands
efficiently employed at the loom would bring into his
country more permanent wealth than ten thousand
warriors bearing spear and shield. But he had gra
duaUy begun to comprehend how commerce, equi
tably conducted, might prove a truer source of
c c 4

392 DESPOTIC INTERDICTIONS ABROGATED.
wealth than forays into the territories of the hea
then. This conviction resulted in the expression of
his desire that certain articles agreed upon might
be drawn up on parchment, and presented for sig
nature, which had accordingly been done ; and the
day fixed for the return of the embassy to Ank6ber
was appointed for the public ratification of the
document by the annexure thereto of the royal
hand and seal.
Nobles and captains thronged the court-yard of
the palace at Ang6Uala, and the King reclined on
the throne in the attic chamber. A highly illu
minated sheet, surmounted on the one side by the
Holy Trinity — the device invariably employed as
the arms of Shoa — and on the other by the Royal
Achievement of England, was formaUy presented,
and the sixteen articles ofthe convention in Amharic
and English, read, commented upon, and fully ap
proved. They involved the sacrifice of arbitrary
appropriation by the crown of the property of
foreigners dying in the country, the abrogation of
the despotic interdiction which had from time
immemorial precluded the purchase or display of
costly goods by the subject, and the removal of
p>enal restrictions upon voluntary movement within
and beyond the kingdom, Avhich formed a modifica
tion of the obsolete national maxim, " never to per
mit the stranger who had once entered, to depart
from Abyssinia." AU of these evils had heretofore
been in full force; but His Majesty unhesitatingly

TREATY SIGNED. 393
declared his determination to annul them for the
good of his people.
Tekla Mariam, the royal notary, kneeling, held
the upper part of the unrolled scroU upon the state
cushion, and the King taking the proffered pen,
inscribed after the words " Done and concluded at
Ang6Uala, the Galla capital of Shoa, in token
whereof we have hereunto set our hand and seal, —
Sahela Selassie, who is the Negoos of Shoa, Efat,
and the GaUa." The imperial signet, a cross en
circled by the word " Jesus," was then attached by
the scribe in presence of the chief of the church,
the Dech Agafari, the Governor of Morat, and three
other functionaries who were summoned into the
alcove for the purpose.
" You have loaded me with costly presents,"
exclaimed the monarch as he returned the deed :
" the raiment that I wear, the throne whereon I
sit, the various curiosities in my storehouses, and
the muskets which hang around the great haU, are
aU from your country. What have I to give in
return for such wealth ? My kingdom is as
nothing."

APPENDIX.

397

Appendix, No. I.

ABSTRACT OF A THERMOMETRICAX REGISTER KEPT AT ANKOBER,
THE CAPITAL OF SHOA, DUKING THE YEARS 1841, 1842.

wuary,1842'ebruary[arch - -
Jprillay
une - .
uly -
August, 1841
[September
October
fiovemberDecember

'Annual Means
UndExtremes

Means.

55-5 10-3 60-7 50-2 2-05

Extremes.

19

-.O •=" .2

65 141
66 46
69 46
62 146
67 51
69 52
69 I 51
63 ! 47
63J46

,'7.|

41

E. & E.S.E.
E..S.E., E.S.E.
E.
E. E.E.
Variable. Variable.
N. & E.
N.N.E., E.
N.N.E., E.
E.

Light.Light.Light.
Strong.
Occy. Strong.
Occy. Strong.
Moderate. Moderate. Strong. Strong. Strong. Light.

[Remarks  These observations were made with horizontal, self-registering thermometers,
Weltered from the rays of the sun, but freely exposed to the external air.
I The greatest difference between the mean temperature of the coldest month (December) and
fa hottest (June) was only 10°; whilst the greatest range during the whole year between the
ptreme minimum, 41°, and maximum, 69°, amounted only to 28° ; the mean annual tempera-
behaving been 55i in latitude 9° 35' north.

398 APPENDIX.

No. II.
REMARKS ON THE GEOLOGY, BOTANY, AND ZOOLOGY OF THE
HIGHLANDS OF SOUTHERN ABYSSINIA.

GEOLOGY.
When the portion of North-eastern Africa that is to form
the province of inquiry received its present configuration, the
fountains of the deep may be supposed to have opened at once
upon a surface, of which the prior quality and condition has
become so shut out from human observation, that analogies,
drawn from other countries under similar circumstances, must
supply this deficiency.
Porphyry forms the almost immediate basis of all the diffe
rent volcanic formations discernible. From the pinnacle of
Jebel Goodah, on the Gulf of Arabia, it may be traced, though
indistinctly, in the minor outrunners of the Abyssinian Alps,
to the province of Efat, where it passes under red sandstone.
The principal Shoan range, and the high westerly plateau
towards the valley of the Nile, present solely secondary form
ations, but the porphyry again emerges on the southerly borders
in the ranges of Garra Gorphoo and Bulga ; whilst the left bank
of the Hawash valley is distinctly of primitive crystalline form
ation. The overlying rocks, which seem to have been poured from
the centre of this tract, consist of masses of trachyte and co
lumnar basalt, of pyramids of wacke, and beds of lava and
tufwacke, with strata of conglomerates and sandstones. The
former of these, the trachyte and basalt, belong to the lofty
mountains of Abyssinia ; whereas wacke, lava, tuffo, and sco
riae, cover the surface, and form the hills of the desert below ;
and many districts present volcanoes which, not half a century
ago, were in violent activity.
The hills of Mentshar, Efat, and Giddem, are detached ranges,
nearly parallel to the Shoan alps, and forming as it were their
base. Disclosing in some few spots the nature of their interior,
it appears that immediately over the porphyry lies a red sand-

APPENDIX. 399
stone, embedding vast quantities of coal, and presenting a true
stratification. It consists of minute but quite perfect hexagon
dodecaeders of quartz in a white cement, is very soft, and
cleaves sometimes in regular squares. Its depth was not ob
served to be very great, nor did the overlying formations, a
marl and conglomerates, seem to form obstacles to the miner.
The Shoan mountains, of alpine height, exhibit a structure of
basalt, wacke, and trachyte ; the latter, in all its varieties, sur
rounds a nucleus of basalt, basaltic wacke, and dolerite. The
conglomerates and tuffos at their feet, and partly on their ter
races and tops, are of trachytic nature, and sometimes pierced
through by small dikes of basalt. Veins of ochre and clay,
holes filled with scoriae, with intrusions of larger or smaller
fragments of various rocks and minerals, and a kind of stra
tification, are the principal features of this trachytic formation.
When the action began, craters or clefts were formed in the
then existing crust of trap-rocks. The lava of olden times, the
trachyte, was thrown out and settled above the former ; coeval
to it, or a little later, the tuffos and conglomerates were depo
sited, which prove the importance of augite in their formation
by numerous crystals of pyroxen embedded in them. Sub
sequently new basaltic eruptions either raised these deposits to
their present height, or pierced them through in dikes in their
original sites, both cases occurring on the same locality.
The basalt composing the hills about Ankober presents no
vestige of olivin, nor does it influence the magnetic needle ; but
a distinction between basalt and green stone in their finer-grained
varieties is difficult; and to determine in words the affinity
which they bear to each other in the present instance, the rock
might be styled basaltic greenstone. Columns, pentagonal or
heptagonal, crown the tops of hills, and seem rather a composition
of hornblende than of augite and feldspar. Scoriacious varieties
are found on the outsides of the later protruded masses.
The trachyte is generally a compact mass of grey feldstein,
which contains crystals of glassy feldspar, irregularly embedded,
and in different quantities. Some varieties are porous, some
full of small holes, others black from grains of obsidian ; and
a few, especially near the dikes, incline to phonolith.
To the westward the ridge terminates in a high plateau, the

400 APPENDIX.
western Galla provinces of the kingdom. Scarcely lower than
the main tract of its eastern precipice, this vast plain is crossed
in various directions by hill ranges, the greater part of which
do not rise to any considerable height. Here true basalt is
disclosed in all the grandeur of its columnar clevage, but no
other species of rock. Deep and narrow ravines carry off the
superabundant waters, and pits of tolerable ironstone afford a
supply of metal for the manufacture of weapons.
The chief bearing of the mountain chains in Shoa is north
and south, with spurs to the west and east. The towering height
to which they rise, in a nearly uninterrupted ascent, may be
calculated to be from eight to nine thousand feet above the
level of the sea, and their single pinnacles far exceed that limit.
They are most abrupt, and difficult of access, excepting by
the only two passes to the high western plateau. Ravines and
chasms of a depth which admits the sun but for few hours, tell
of the catastrophe which resulted in their formation. Inacces
sible steep cliffs and dismal precipices every where line the
tiresome footpath of the lonely muleteer.
The hills of Efat present more rounded forms ; the slopes,
not bare of soil, allow a footing for cultivation ; and their tops,
in the shape of platforms, afford the most eligible positions for
the abode of the Abyssinian farmer. During the rainy season,
all the many rivers which at other times carry only sufficient
water for the purposes of the cultivator, not only fill their
deeply excavated beds, but overflowing and inundating all the
lower parts of the hills, would sweep off any of the fragile
Abyssinian buildings within reach ; but the soil, when saturated
with humidity, becomes so heavy and compact as to be not
easily washed away. The impetuosity of the mountain torrent
undermines the fast-decomposing rock, and frequently brings
down large boulders and loose stones, which, dashing against
the sides of the ravine, are in no small degree instrumental
to its destruction.
Not less important are the changes going on in the high
range, since the time of their formation. Ice is of so un
common occurrence, that we can scarcely attribute to it any
considerable co-operation ; but the action of water is materially
assisted by occasional earthquakes. Gradual decomposition

APPENDIX. 401
and decay has produced on the base, and produces still, con
glomerates of various thickness and extent. The high pla
teau enjoys a thick coat of fertile black soil. Lakes, pools,
morasses, and swamps, are frequent ; the rivers of little fall
have muddy and miry beds, which on that account become
unfordable during the rains.
A few hot mineral wells are known and made use of in Efat
and Giddem. Precious metals aud precious stones have not yet
been discovered ; but of useful mineral products, iron, sulphur,
and coal, are the principal. Iron ores are the riches of the high
plateau, the oxy-hydrate being the best of them. Enclosed in
the basalt, it comes to view only in the ravines, whence it is
scraped out. From the western borders of the Adel country,
and from the extinct volcanoes of Mentshar, is derived the
small supply of native sulphur required : the pits are described
as exceedingly copious. Coal-beds appear to extend along the
whole of the eastern frontier of Shoa ; but the combustible
nature of the fossil is scarcely known in the country. Copper,
tin, zinc, and salt, are all imported into Shoa; the Adaiel
possessing the last commodity in abundance. The Shoan clay
proves a very indifferent material for the manufacture of earthen
ware. Excellent quarries could be worked, but the primitive
fashion of the dwellings is independent of the use of stone.

BOTANY.
The provinces that compose the kingdom of Shoa enjoy not
only political but also natural and physical boundaries. From
the luxuriant vegetation, or the parched-up desert of a tropical
clime, we suddenly ascend to regions where the blessings of
fertility are more equably diffused, and which serve as gra
naries to the inhabitants of the lowlands.
From the general nature of the rocks it is obvious that the
soil consists chiefly of decomposed feldspar, which requires
abundance of water. Dews, rains, and springs, however, so
moisten the mountain side, that artificial irrigation need be re
sorted to but on few localities. Along the foot of the hills rude
channels dug out of the sandy or gravelly soil conduct abun-
VOL. II. D D

402 APPENDIX.
dance of water to plantations at a distance from the river side ;
and in these lower regions, periodical inundations supply the
want of rain.
It is an established fact, that the cryptogamic plants of cel
lular construction are in different zones nearly the same.
Under similar circumstances the same lichen covers the face
of the rock in Europe as in the continents of the torrid zone,
the same mould lines decaying matter, and the same fungus
cleaves to bark and root. But compared with the other orders
of plants, the cellulars are most defective in numbers through
out Abyssinia, the peculiarities of the climate being very un
favourable to their development.
Every kind of parasitic plant is looked upon with a sus
picious eye in Abyssinia; and those of the vascular orders
furnish to the conjuring practitioner his principal remedies.
But the mushrooms (Iiemastafi), the fungi and puff-balls ( Ya
arrogie siet phis), are believed to pollute the finger that touches
them, and to be downright poison. Mould, of course, thrives
exuberantly on every substance in so moist a climate as that
of Shoa. The blight is but too well known ; the Boletus
igniarius grows abundantly in the forests ; Parmelia and
other lichens cover rocks, or depend fantastically from the
withered branches of gigantic trees. Mosses, however, are very
scarce, and only of four kinds.
The vascular acotyledonic plants, the ferns, might likewise
be expected in greater variety among the Abyssinian weeds
than is actually the case. The deep recesses of the few
remaining forests harbour some kinds which very closely re
semble European forms, and belong to the genera Aspidium,
Polypodium, Asplenium, Adiantum, Scolopendrium, Ophioglos-
sum, and Pteris. No tree is among them, nor are the Abys-
sinians aware of the useful properties of the tribe. Adiantlmm
Capillus Veneris is called in Amharic " Sera besoo," i. e. much
work — finely wrought.
Of the four orders into which the tribe of monocotyledonic
plants is naturally subdivided, viz. the Grasses, the Lilies, the
Orchides, and the Palms, the first undoubtedly deserves our
principal attention, for it is by far the most numerous and
important. The great elevation of the Abyssinian plains is so

APPENDIX. 403
favourable for the cultivation of all Cerealia of the temperate
zone, that they may rival the very best agricultural districts
of Northern Europe, whilst the low country along the foot
of the mountains produces some kinds of tropical grain, and
would fully answer for the cultivation of rice, which at present
is unknown in the country.
The Abyssinian husbandman takes great trouble in improving
the cultivated sorts of grain by changing the seed-corn at every
season, and sometimes by sowing promiscuously different sorts
to produce new varieties. Hence the astonishing number of
distinguishable kinds of grain cultivated in a small compass of
ground under certain established appellations, and brought into
use for very different purposes. Within a circumference of five
miles around Ankober are found, of juwarree, 28 varieties ; of
wheat, 24; of barley, 16 ; of rye, 2 ; of teff, 4 ; of oats, 2; of
maize, 2. Various kinds of bread and cakes are prepared from
some of these ; malt for beer is chosen from others ; and the
inferior kinds are given to slaves and cattle.
The existing meadow-grasses answer so well, that an intro
duction of new species, or a regular culture, is not attempted.
In times of great famine the seeds of some of these grasses
come into use as food. In the swamps and humid meadows,
and in many rivulets, species of Cyperus and Scirpus are very
frequent, some of which attain immense height, being used for
thatching, or in the manufacture of baskets, mats, &c. Papyrus
also grows in the low countries of Efat.
The following species of grasses and grain are cultivated :
Lorghum vulgare (Mashila), the Juwarree of India, and Durrha
of Arabia, in many varieties, the principal of which are, A (Sen-
gadd) with red spreading spike, b ( Wogari) with yellow, com
pact pendent spike. The young stalks contain a great deal of
saccharine, and are chewed : they attain, in good situations, the
enormous height of eighteen feet. The produce of Efat and
Giddem in this grain is chiefly exported to the countries of the
Adaiel; but a small quantity comes to the Shoan marts for in
ferior kinds of beer, unleavened bread, and the food of mules.
In Shoa itself Mashila cannot be raised on account of the low-
temperature. Saccharum officinarum, the sugar cane (Shonkar), is also
DD 2

404 APPENDIX.
planted to a small extent in the low country. The art of making
sugar being unknown, it is only chewed ; and although regarded
a great luxury, and sent in token of friendship by the great, no
particular care is bestowed upon improving its growth.
Eleusine Tocussa (Dagusa), a minute grain in quaternaire
crosswise disposed spikes, is produced on a low grass extensively
cultivated in Northern Abyssinia ; and the Emperor of Gondar
is said to be forced by etiquette to eat cakes of it to the exclusion
of other farinaceous food.
Poa Abyssinica {Teff). This millet-like seed is a favourite
with all Abyssinians, although the bread made of it is extremely
unwholesome and insipid. Four varieties are found, two of a
brown and two of a white kind. The latter has the preference ;
and the finest, called Manya Teff, is grown only upon the
King's fields, and can never be purchased by the subject. The
straw ofthe Teff is, regarded the best stable-fodder.
Zea Maize (Mar Mashila), i. e. Honey-sweet Mashila, is
principally eaten when fresh and milky. A little roasted it
is a most acceptable offering to the visiter. Sixteen kinds
of barley (Geps) are raised on the hill-tops and on the
high plateau of the Galla country, where neither juwarree
nor wheat will thrive. Its greatest consumption is in brew
ing, but mules and horses are also fed on it, and the finer
sorts are eaten (Maria m Sahr, Litch Alkuso, Sandarash).
Barya Settat, i. e. " the slave's portion," as might be imagined,
is not of first-rate quality.
Secale cereale (Damash, Sanaf Kolo,) finds a limited con
sumption, mixed with other flour in bread.
Triticum asstivum, hibernum, etc. (Sendi.) Shoa can boast
of twenty-four varieties of wheat. Many of these were origin
ally cultivated by the Galla, and subsequently introduced. The
other provinces of Abyssinia have also furnished various kinds ;
but the most esteemed, are indigenous, viz. Y'aboon ehel, Ya
beri mangada, Ya gosh gumbar, i.e. "Aboon's grain;" "bullock's
molar tooth ;" " buffaloes' forehead." Wheat is frequently eaten
unground, in a mixture of parched grain, called Kolo, which is
the only store carried by the Amhara warrior into the field.
Avena spec. (Gherama) is a small kind of oats sown on the
poorest fields, in order that favourite mules and horses may crop

APPENDIX. 405
it while"yet green. In times of scarcity the poor are compelled
to resort to it.
Bambusa arundinacea (Shemal). The bamboo is not indige
nous in any part of the country, but groves are planted on the
King's grounds, in order to supply poles for the royal tents.
The following are the grasses found in every pasture: —
Lolium temulentum (Enkerdad), much dreaded as poison ;
Chloris spec. (Agerma) ; Andropogon distachyum, (Gasha);
Anthistiria spec. (Sambalet) ; Sporobolus spec. {Ya teff sahr),
the seeds eaten as those of the teff; Poa brizoides (Ya.
Eiri sahr) ; Kiri is a species of finch, which eats the small
seeds; Setaria spec. (Ya oosha Sendado.)
The next order, that of the Lilies, is not so numerous as
might be expected of Africa, but when a species does appear,
it covers vast tracts with its lovely colours. None but the edible
kinds of Allium are cultivated in Abyssinia, ornamental gardens
being quite unknown throughout the country. Some grow
in swampy meadows, especially those with bulbs more properly
ranking as lilies : others with perennial stem are found on
dry waste places, such as the Asparagus and the Aloe. The
whole year round the meads are graced by the lovely blossoms
of two Commelineae, viz. Commelina africana, and Tradescantia
spec. Both having small oval tubers, they are called Off angoon
and Off gola, i.e. "bird's egg" (off, a bird; angoon and gola,
or more commonly angola, an egg|s» These tubers are eaten in
times of famine. One Ixia, a very beautiful kind, of the mo
rasses around Angollala, springs up immediately after the ter
mination ofthe rains. Haemanthus coccineus, Amaryllis clavata,
Gloriosa spec, are rare plants of Efat ; Bulbocodium spec, is
a very transient form observable a few days after the " rains of
Bounty." Onions and garlic (Neitch Shongort) are favourite
vegetables; various kinds of Aloe (Yajib shongort) adorn the
wastes of Efat, and furnish good fibres for making ropes.
Asparagus retro fractus (Sareti), and Asparagus aethiopicus
(Kastanitcha), are. fructiferous and climbing shrubs: a green
twig of the first stuck in the hair of the sinciput is a token
of exultation after a successful encounter with an enemy or
wild beast; the wood of the second is of peculiar hardness,
and splitting well serves the Amhara scribe as a pen. Lastly
D D 3

406 APPENDIX.
one Smilax (Ashkila) affords the stick in common use as a
tooth-brush. That equally beautiful and important order, the Orchidea,
might be supposed to find its natural ground in Abyssinia, where
both atmosphere and soil are so favourable ; but ginger is still
imported from Gurague : arrow-root and salep are unknown, and
not a single kind of the respective genera is an inhabitant either
of Shoa or Efat. The real Orchidece of the forests, moreover,
are few in number ; Epidendrum capense, cleaving to the bark
ofthe wild olive-tree, is the only representative of that interesting
group, the Epidendrea. Of the plantain tribe three species
have been introduced from the south, but apparently with little
advantage ; viz. Mooz, Musa paradisiaca, a coarse kind of plan
tain, which is reared on some few spots in Efat for the royal
table, and two species of Urania called Ensete and Koba. These
are planted in Shoa, for the sake of their leaves ; they seldom
advance to flower and fruit, in consequence of the low temper
ature. The only visible difference between them is, that in the
Koba the middle rib of the leaf is on the underside red, as also
the stem; whilst in the Ensete both are light green. Either of
these trees, when suffered to grow, attains a height of twelve feet
in the stem, exceeding by far that of the Mooz ; the leaves are
equal in size to those of the latter, and are only used to bake bread
upon. Their proper home is Gurague, the famous seat of so
many botanical riches. Seed-capsules of the Koba brought
from that country contain four or five angular nuts full of a
mealy substance like the finest arrow-root, which is boiled and
given to children to make them grow ; the base of the fruit is
filled with a delicious pulp like that of the plantain. In Gurague
the young shoots of the Ensete form a principal part of the
diet, but they are despised by the Amhara, who are not at all
addicted to vegetables. The fibres are used in the manufacture
of ropes and mats, which form an important article of trade with
Shoa. Ensete and Koba are hardier than the Mooz ; and tower
ing above the enclosures of the lofty villages impart an aspect
not properly belonging to the landscape, and strangely contrast
ing with many alpine associates.
The Palms of the continents of the eastern world are, with
very few exceptions, inhabitants of the sea-borders, and do not

APPENDIX. 407
thrive at any considerable elevation or even distance inland.
The coast of the Adaiel is therefore the only locality where
three species of this tribe, viz. Phoenix dactylifera, Hyphrene
cucifera, and Borassus flabelliformis, appear; but so scantily,
that the date must be imported from Arabia. Baskets and
mats are manufactured of the leaves of all, and some toddy
is prepared of the Borassus especially.
The preceding enumeration of acotyledonic and monoco-
tyledonic plants is not sufficient to determine the systematic
place due to the Abyssinian vegetation in general. The Dicoty-
ledones, comprising two thirds of all the plants, will necessarily
help to show, that although included within the tropics, the
Flora of Shoa, and of some of the Galla provinces to the west, is,
on the whole, subalpine. The avenues of approach to them
from the eastward, evince in their scanty dress the influence ofa
tropical sun; and between these two extremes, a happy and
most fertile province intervenes, where, by the side of the hardy
grain, cotton and coffee may be raised — -where a tea-plant and
many species of indigo grow wild — and where, in fact, a tem
perate and a torrid clime exchange their products as it were upon
neutral ground.
The Chlamydoblasta. number but very few species in Abys
sinia. One Nymphaaa only, on the lakes of Shoa, and one
Aristolochia (bracteata) of the Adaiel country, could be dis
covered. This latter, called Gerbaad, is a secret remedy with
the Danakil against poisoned wounds, and in fact they are prone
to attribute mysterious qualities to the most of their weeds.
Pepper is not found either in a wild or cultivated state, although
nothing would oppose the introduction of that favourite condi
ment, which at present, under the appellation of Gunda Berberi
(Gunda, an ant; Berberi, hot spice) is imported from Arabia
and India.
Of apetalous Gymnoblasts, some important species are to
be recorded, since they form the chief pride of the forests.
And justly beginning with the Conifer®, the fir (cedar), which
graces the Alps of Northern Abyssinia, is replaced in Shoa
by a gigantic juniper, Juniperus excelsa (Bet). This noble
tree of the woods as well as of the churchyards attains in its
life of one century a height of upwards of one hundred and
D D 4

408 APPENDIX.
sixty feet, with four to five in diameter at the base. Growing
nearly in the shape of a cypress, it throws off continually the
lower branches, which shoot out almost at a right angle from
the stem, so that two thirds of the same are void of green ; the
top is always a pyramid, and generally scanty. The wood is
very inferior, but splitting readily it supplies, in the absence of
proper carpenter's tools, the chief timber used in the construc
tion of huts and churches ; and it forms, besides, the common
fuel. Neither is any use made of the resin or berries ;
but twigs lopped off the melancholy trees that overshadow the
cemetery, are often strewn upon the corpse before the grave is
filled up. A yew tree, Taxus elongata, Sigba, also of the Shoan
forests, keeps within more moderate dimensions ; sixty feet in
height, and five in circumference, is the utmost. The tough
wood, like that of the wild olive-tree, furnishes the timber for
works of art which are to last some time. To tarry beneath its
shade, or to inhale the smoke of burning yew wood, is regarded
as particularly noxious.
The low temperature reigning in the Alps of Abyssinia does
not prohibit the growth of a species of fig, which contrasts
strangely enough with the tall juniper. The Shoala, a kind of
Banyan tree, with large, oval, acute, serrated, and subcordate
leaves, and racemes of fruits attached only to the stem and
principal branches, measures frequently seven feet in diameter,
with a height of forty feet, at an age of two-score years.
Its roots are partly above ground ; but of secondary, or
branch-roots, there is no vestige. Requiring no small space for
expansion, it stands commonly on the outskirts of the forests,
or quite alone, but its shade is extremely dense and unfavourable
to other vegetation. The fruit, of the size of a pigeon's egg, brown
and insipid, might be eaten by people in distress. In the low
country the Sycamore Fig-tree makes its appearance ; it is called
Worka, i. e. " the Golden," by the Amhara, and Woda by the
Galla ; and has, with those of the latter nation, who are still in
the bonds of idolatry, a sacred signification. Being planted over
the tombs of notable persons, conjurers, or heroes, offerings are
brought to it, and hung up on the branches at certain festivals,
when the neighbouring tribes feast together upon that holy
and neutral ground. The Worka stands always near running

APPENDIX. 409
water, towering far over the jungle, although the undivided
stem is scarcely ten feet high. The leaf has a yellow tomen-
tum below ; and the fruit forms a favourite food of monkeys
and of various birds, but is not touched by man.
The Kuaraf, Gunnera spec, another plant of the same family,
of Artocarpea, is an important vegetable during the strict fast of
Lent. It grows in swamps and rivulets, and is an annual low
plant from a perennial root with large radical leaves and a
leafless stalk, bearing the minute flowers on a bunchy raceme.
The petioles, ribs of leaves, and stalks are eaten fresh when
stripped of the epidermis ; and their taste is similar to that of
the sorrel. The common stinging nettle (Sama) is by boiling
also prepared into an indifferent food during the quadragesimal
low diet. The troublesome weed grows every where, to a height
of five feet.
Of the many Polygonece, a few must be noticed on account of
their frequent occurrence and of their use. Polygonum tomen-
tosum (Ba Waha lay, i. e. " upon the water,") and Polygonum
serratum, cover the margins of morasses and lakes. Polygonum
frutescens ( Umboatoo) is the most common hedge-shrub.
Rumex arifolius (Makmdko), frequent in swampy meadows,
yields, in its fleshy root, a reddish dye for colouring butter. The
root of another species of Rumex, called Tutt, is believed to be
a nostrum for barbarous and criminal purposes ; but, happily,
it is quite innocent. Instead of these species, which all belong
to the Flora of Shoa, there appear in the Adel country se
veral Boerhaaviae. Introduced into Shoa is a kind of willow
(Aheia), much employed in the manufacture of saddles.
The monopetalous Gymnoblasts, being a class next to the
highest and most important, contain a large number of plants,
of which the following are pointed out : Plantago capensis
( Ya gura wosji), and Plantago aagyptiaca (Burrh), both
common weeds in Shoa ; Plumbago capensis, with large white
corolla, in Efat, and Scabiosa decurrens (Adai), with snowy
heads, in Shoa, are highly ornamental ; Echinops horridus,
growing to the height of ten feet about Angollala; Carthamus
tinctorius (Suf), extensively cultivated in Efat for the oil of the
seeds and for the dye yielded by the flowers ; Carduncellus spec.
(Dorakus), — a decoction ofthe dried flower heads is administered

410

APPENDIX.

in ague. Several twining species of Mikania adorn the forests
of Shoa ; two fructiferous Cacaliae, full of a balsamic sap, and one
Klenia, exhibit the brightest scarlet in the jungles of Efat. Pte-
ronia spinosa and Helichrysum vestitum are hardy shrubs found
on the slopes. Species of Gnaphalium and Bidens are annoying
weeds in the cotton fields. The numerous kinds of Radiatee
contain only one of importance, viz. the Polymnia abyssinica
(Nug), which is the chief oil plant. Suf and Nug oil mixed is
called Kabanug, and only used for burning, since it possesses
strong purging qualities. The family of the Composites fur
nishes altogether but a small number of useful plants in pro
portion to its extensiveness.
The Campa?iulacece are low annual insignificant weeds, one Lo
belia excepted, viz. the Rhynchopetalum montanum, or Jibera.
This strange perennial plant, with the aspect of a palm-tree,
grows chiefly in moist ravines among the high mountains, and is
especially frequent about Ankober. The stem attains upwards
of fifteen feet in height, and five inches in diameter. The
top carries a crown of large leaves ; and the spike is one foot
and a half long. When the seeds are ripe, the plant dies
suddenly. One Erica (Asta), five feet in height, assists
likewise to dispel the aspect of a European Flora, which is
conveyed by the Veronica Beccabunga and Anagallis of the
meadow rivulets. Scrophularia frutescens (Djodjo), with a
strong smell of camphor, is used as a febrifuge and charm ;
two kinds of Orobanche are also among the conjurer's infal
lible medicines. Acanthus carduifolius is the choicest camel-
fodder in the desert. Rare specimens of Hyperanthera Mo-
ringa, the same as in Arabia, stand near the pools of the low
country : a gum, becoming instantly red in the air, flows freely
out of any bruise, but is applied to no use. Mint, thyme, and
other plants of the family Labiata, so replete with aetheric oils,
do not enjoy the reputation due to them. Of the many kinds
only three have names and adhibition, viz. Origanum spec.
(Kassi), and Ziziphora spec. (Lomi shelt, i. e. " lime-smell "),
which are used in the fomentation of boils ; Leonotis spec. (Ras
Kimr), as anthelminthicum by a decoction of the dried leaves,
mixed with a little oil. Several Convolvulaceai and Boraginem
pass disregarded. Of the former, Convolvulus pes caprae binds

APPENDIX. 411
the sand of the sea-beach ; of the latter, a few specimens of
Cordia abyssinica ( Wanzey) grow in Efat.
Capsicum frutescens (Geich Berberi, i.e. "red pepper"), the
most important of hot spices in warm climes, and Nicotiana Ta-
bacum (Tombako), also an indispensable commodity to many of
the Moslem population, are objects of diligent cultivation in the
lower country ; yet the only tolerable tobacco must be imported
from the Ittoo Galla. Solanum marginatum ( Umboi), a shrub,
the seeds of which are strewed on the surface of ponds to stupify
the fish, which are nevertheless still eatable, and Atropa arborea
(Amoraroo), the red juice of whose berry is used by the Am
hara women to stain their palms and nails, are common hedge-
shrubs in Shoa. Of the narcotic qualities of the Datura Stra
monium (Atafaris) the Abyssinian sorcerer is well aware. The
thief-detecter makes a youth smoke the dried leaves of it in
order to cause stupefaction, and thus promote the semblance
of powers of divination. Neither the potato nor any other
edible kind of Solanum has yet been introduced into Shoa.
The families of Contorttz, Rubiacece, Ligustrince, have many
representatives in the low country. Stapelia pulvinata and
Calotropis gigantea are the most prominent : the former has a
fleshy, quadrangular, and four-winged stem of two feet height,
and when in flower is scarcely approachable ; the latter fur
nishes good charcoal for gunpowder. Kannahia laniflora, with
particularly sweet-smelling flowers, lines the borders of the
rivulets in Efat ; Carissa spec. (Againe) has edible berries,
and flourishes both in Efat and Shoa. Melanea verticillata (Ad-
guar) is a jungle tree often feet height, with purging berries.
Psychotria spec. (Doda Gula), is a shrub found in Shoa ; Coffea
arabica (Boon) grows wild in many of the warmer provinces, but
is diligently plucked out by the Christian population, who con
sider the use of the berry to be as foreign to salvation as the doc
trine of the false prophet. Where his followers abide in greater
numbers, or uncontrolled, as in Giddem and in the countries of
the Ittoo and Aroosi Galla, the coffee-tree grows unmolested, no
care, however, being taken of it ; but its proper home seems to lie
far to the west and south, in the kingdoms of Caffa and Enarea,
where a donkey's load is sold for the twentieth part of a dollar.
Two kinds of jessamine grace with their fragrant flowers the

412

APPENDIX.

hedges and groves. Olea spec. ( Woira) is, with the juniper
and yew, the principal forest tree of Shoa; sixty to eighty feet
in height and four in diameter are its common dimensions.
The wood of the wild olive-tree affords excellent fuel and tim
ber ; but no use is made of the fruit, which attains the size of
a large pea.
¦ Among the polypetalous Gymnoblasts, in which vegetation
has attained the highest degree of perfection with respect to
variety of shape and colour, as well as medical and nutritious
qualities, we find several important families altogether wanting
in the Flora of Abyssinia. The Pomaceae and Amygdaleae are
absent, and the existing scarcity of fruit-trees, whether wild or
cultivated, is indeed most apparent. Others of more limited
utility are very numerous, as the Tricoccaa, Rhocadeae, Ama-
rantina? ; but the Leguminosae form by far the largest family
of polypetalous phanerogames.
Of Umbellifera there exists in the low country one Ferula,
a small tree of unknown properties. In Shoa there are several
Caucalis (Karambashu), growing on pasture grounds, and
poisonous to cattle. Coriandrum sativum (Dumbelan), and
Anethum fceniculum, tbe well-known European spices, are
cultivated. Berberis tinctoria of the forests yields a good
yellow dye for mourning apparel. Clypea spec. (Engotshid),
is a creeper with pellate leaves, upon which small cakes are
baked. Ranunculus trilobus (Goodie) is a troublesome weed
on the meadows. Nigella sativa (Asmud) is occasionally
cultivated as a spice. Several species of Polygala flourish
unnoticed. Some Balsaminece grow in shady places ; one of
them, Impatiens grandis ( Girshid), has a tuberous root, with
the juice of which the women paint their palms and faces
red. Thlaspi bursa pastoris ( Ya bug elat, i. e. " sheep's tail "),
the cosmopolitan weed, follows agriculture also in Abyssinia.
Sinapis nigra (Sanafitch) grows wild, and is sometimes re
sorted to as an additional ingredient of the pepper sauce
called wote. Brassica spec. (Goomun), a cultivated coarse kind
of cow-cabbage, perennial, and five feet high, is eaten as a
vegetable after much boiling ; the seeds are also used for oil.
Of the numerous Capparideoe, Cadaba indica is particularly
important in the Adel desert, being for many scores of miles

APPENDIX. 413
the only shrub which affords shelter from the noontide sun.
Two species of Capparis make impenetrable hedges in Efat.
Cucumis africanus ( Ya medur oomboi) is an annual plant, of
sandy and desert places ; the seeds are a favourite medicine in
Shoa, and also with the Galla. Cucumis Colocynthis, is frequent
in the valleys adjoining the Bahr Assal, but is not collected
either for home use or for exportation. Cucurbita lagenaria
(Kel), grows wild, and is cultivated in Efat for water-bottles.
Cucurbita Pepo, a common coarse pumpkin in Shoa serves as a
vegetable. Bryonia scabrella ( Ya Amora M'sa) is a much-
dreaded poison. Two species of Flacourtia, Koshim and Me-
nedem, have edible berries.
Viola montana, a violet without smell grows in the forests
of Shoa. Tamaricina occur in the desert, from the sea
shore as far as to the Hawash ; the presence of the principal
kind, called Sagan, is to the Dankali herdsman a sure in
dication of water near the surface. The genus Hypericum
has only showy plants. The Chenepodem, chiefly weeds, con
tain one species (called Arnedmadoo), which is used for polish
ing metal. Achyranthes spec. (Talineh) is a styptic medicine.
Phytolacca abyssinica (Endott) is a common shrub in Shoa and
Efat ; a cold infusion of the dried and pounded berry possesses
wonderful cleansing qualities, and is used instead of soap. Silene
dianthoi'des (Siakul), is a pretty flower found on the high
mountains. Calanchoe verea (Endehahoola) is a very common
succulent plant, the leaves of which are dried and smoked like
tobacco in phthisical affections, or the juice of them adminis
tered as refrigerants in inflammatory fevers. Epilobium villosum
( Ya lahm tchau, i.e. " cow's salt") is regarded as an excellent and
wholesome fodder for horned cattle, if given occasionally. Punica
granatum (Rooma), sometimes cultivated in Efat, was intro
duced from Arabia. Several species of Grewia bear edible
fruits in the desert, where their acidity is very grateful.
To the various kinds of Byttneriacece and Malvacea no parti
cular interest is attached, except to the cotton (Bet) Gossypium
nigrum, which is cultivated in two varieties, the finer and smaller
species growing in the shade of the taller and more hardy. Both
are regarded as indigenous to Abyssinia. Grain and cotton cloth
form the principal staple commodities of Shoa. Linum usita-

414 APPENDIX.
tissimum ( Tulbah) is cultivated merely for the seeds, of which
oil is made : flax-dressing not being understood. Vitis vinifera
( Woin Saf), planted as a curiosity in the King's gardens, bears
plentifully, and would doubtless answer well upon volcanic
soil. Several species of Cissus interlace the jungles of Efat;
one, especially, is a constant companion of the Camel-thorn
Acacia in the desert.
Euphorbia abyssinica (Kolqual), a singular sconce-like
milk bush of the Abyssinian groves, gives charcoal for gun
powder ; with the corrosive sap it is frequently attempted to
stop ulcers of a phagedenic nature. The inspissated juice of two
other species of Euphorbia, Birgut and Anderfa, serves as a
drastic purgative. The ostrich-hunting Somauli poisons his
arrows with the milk of Euphorbia antiquorum, which does
not make the meat injurious. Ricinusafricanus (Gu/o) affords
in its seeds a famous medicine for cattle, and is frequent in
Efat. Rhamnus spec. (Gesho) is atonic, and a decoction of
the leaves of this cultivated shrub is used in the manufacture of
hydromel and beer instead of hops. Celastrus spec. (Chaat)
is a species of the tea planted and used in Efat, but more ex
tensively in Caffa and other countries of the interior. In Efat
the fresh leaves are both chewed and used as an astringent
medicine, or taken in order to dispel sleep ; a decoction in
water or milk being also drunk as a beverage, which tastes
bitter enough. Hagenia abyssinica (Cosso) affords, in a
cold infusion of the dried flowers and capsules, the famous
drasticum purgans and anthelminthicum of the Abyssinians.
The tree is one of the most picturesque in appearance. Balsa-
modendron Myrrha (Kurbeta) grows on the borders of Efat, in
the jungle of the Hawash, and in the Adel desert. The resinous
gum, called Hqfali, is collected for exportation. Balsamoden-
dron Opobalsamum (Besham) is commonly found with the
former, and grows even at Cape Aden. Citrus medica (Lomi)
flourishes wild in the jungles of Giddem, and is cultivated in
Efat : Citrus aurantium (Bahr Lomi), lately introduced from
Arabia, and Citrus decumana var. (Trunco), with apple-like
solid pulp, are both found in the royal orchards. Rubus
pinnatus (Injori) yields the best of all wild-growing fruits in
Abyssinia — a true blackberry of the forests. Rosa abyssinica

APPENDIX. 415
(Kaga), a tree-like dog-rose, bears an edible hip. The Brayera
abyssinica, which serves in Tigre instead of Cosso, is not known
in the southern provinces.
Trifolium saxatile cespitosum (Nagad) is sown on the best
meadows for green fodder. Vicia faba (Bakkela) is most exten
sively cultivated in Shoa and in the Galla countries to the west ;
the beans are eaten either fresh and green during the season, or,
when dry, made up into soups. Ervum lens (Missur), Cicer
arietinum (Shimbrali), Pisum sativum (Attur), Phaseolus spec.
(Adunguari), are produced in Efat and other warm provinces
ofthe kingdom. Many species of Indigofera, wild and unheeded,
grow in the desert and on the borders of cultivation. Pterolobium
lacerans (Kantuffa) is an impenetrable hedge-shrub abounding
in Efat : the bark gives a red dye for leather. Tamarindus indica
attains a majestic size in the jungles of Efat, but is quite neg
lected ; as are also various kinds of Senna (Senamaki). Dichros-
tachys cinerea, Acacia eburnea, Acacia planifrons, and other
Camel-thorn trees, called Gerar, are of the utmost importance
to the wilderness and desert ; in the latter, the umbrella-like tops
collect man and beast beneath their scanty shade during the hot
test hours of the day. Some yield superior gum arabic ; the
twigs serve as food for the camel, and the pods for goats and
sheep. The foregoing list of Abyssinian plants comprehends nearly
all those which are of importance to the cultivator, farmer,
or physician ; but no doubt double the number could be added
by any people more enterprising and inquisitive than the inha
bitants of Shoa. All kind of vegetation not directly useful
and beneficial is regarded as a weed, and receives no special
appellation ; and few of the population know the names of any
plant that is not a daily necessary of the kitchen. The phy
sician's lore is kept a profound mystery, and there is not much
lost by its limited diffusion, since the whole is a motley col
lection of very questionable experience and most degrading
superstition.
ZOOLOGY.
Of the lowest order of animals, the Radiata, nearly the same
may be said that was remarked above respecting the lowest order

416 APPENDIX.
of plants ; namely, that their species are in a less degree bound to
certain limits of geographical distribution than those in which the
respective types hasten in more marked characters to the highest
possible perfection. None of the numerous tribe of Radiatce
nre, in their proper home, directly exposed to the external air
and its changes. They live in a medium, which generally pre
serves a mean temperature, with extremes not prohibiting the
possibility of animal existence, and their ephemeral life is little
liable to be cut short by any sudden change to either extreme.
Thus we find that the waters and animal humours produce in
different climes, similar beings, in which either the deficiency
in bulk is made up by countless multitudes of individuals, or
the deficiency in number by high reproductive powers.
Intestinal worms( Wosfat) prove one of the chief plagues ofthe
Abyssinians. Not only ascarides, but also tape and thread worms
(Taania and Filaria), are to be constantly contended with. The
frequency of this disposition must have its source in the usual
diet, consisting of unleavened dough-like bread and raw meat,
which the accompanying pepper-sauce is not sufficient to cor
rect. Once in every month the Cosso and other powerful pur
gatives are resorted to, and bring momentary relief; but the
guinea-worm, living in the fleshy parts of the limbs, must be
endured until it shall have perforated the skin.
The influence exercised upon the nature of the Articulated
Animals or Insects by the quality of the other visible organized
beings, both plants and animals, is much more apparent than in
the above-named order of the Radiatce. Being bound by the
strongest ties to the limits of those beings which are assigned to
them as food and home, their species present distinctly marked
characters of geographical distribution throughout the world.
In Shoa and Efat there appears with the increase of vege
tation a larger number of insects, but the most noxious of
them remain only during the height of the season. This
is most perceptible in the migrations of locusts and caterpillars,
which, by a few cold rains, are induced to descend into the
open wildernesses and deserts. Such a sudden relief from
countless hosts of the locust, called Anbasa, is invariably as
cribed by the superstitious farmer to the special interposition
and agency of his guardian saint, at whose shrine in the hour of

APPENDIX. 417
heed, offerings and vows are liberally made. Various grass
hoppers (Sada^),ma.ntidss(Feenta), and cockroaches, do consider
able damage during the hot season. A large black ant ( Goonda),
which bites ferociously when in contact with the human body,
constructs no water-tight habitation, but intrudes at the begin
ning of the rains into the huts, from which it is expelled with
the utmost difficulty. The Egyptian honey-bee (Neb), either
kept in the farm-yards within baskets, or existing wild in the
woods, finds abundance of odoriferous flowers. Honey is an im
portant article of consumption, both in its natural form and
when converted into mead.
Although so cold, the country is not free from the annoy
ances of flies (Sembi), and musquitoes (Tenang). White ants
(Mest) are not so numerous and destructive in the upper as
in the lower country. Small colonies of them live and build
their chambers beneath loose stones, but they never come into
the houses, and, in fact, the juniper timber of the fragile
edifices is seldom attacked by any wood vermin. Various most
beautiful butterflies, phalsenes, and moths, while in the cater
pillar state ( Tel), despoil trees and plants that are of no value to
the Abyssinian ; but his plantations of cotton and cabbage rarely
suffer. Neither the silkworm nor the mulberry tree are found
in the country.
Numerous varieties of beetles, of those families especially which
remove animal matter and soil, with others of more cleanly habits,
are comprised under the general appellation of Densissa. Among
the former, the Coprophaga, many Egyptian species may be met
with, as Copris Isidis, Ateuchus sacer, and others ; among the
atter, chiefly Cetoniae, are found species nearly allied to or iden
tical with some of Senegambia. One notable Inca, the male of
which is armed with a powerful head excrescence, lives princi
pally on the sap of wounded trees ; Lycus appendiculatus fre
quents chiefly the flowers of Umbelliferae ; many Curculionides
inhabit the plants of the family Compositee, but Coccinellae are
the most numerous. Species of Lytta abound, but no use is
made of them, the Shoans having no real medicine prepared from
the animal kingdom. Spiders (Sherarit), and scorpions (Kind),
are studiously avoided, or destroyed, as particularly impure and
noxious, though the former never attack aught save their prey,
VOL. II. E E

418 APPENDIX.
and the sting of the latter is little dangerous. Total disregard
of cleanliness is punished with a frightful increase of bodily
vermin, as fleas (Kunitsha), lice (Kemal), bugs ( Tochan), and
acarus scabici (Ekak).
The large number of water birds upon the lakes and morasses
of Shoa effectually restrain an increase of Snails and Shells ;
some species of Bulimus (Kendautchi), minute Helices, Pupa, and
Limax, are so few, that the damage done by them is not per
ceptible. Neither serve the larger kinds as food.
The known fresh-water Fish are insignificant in quality and
quantity, and only serve to feed the numerous crocodiles which
infest the main stream of the Hawash. Its various tributaries,
when they first escape from the mountains, carry small species of
Salmo and Perca (Asa), which are in great request during
Lent; but the manner of taking them is primitive and imperfect.
All the Amphibia are objects of apprehension and supersti
tion. Serpents (Ebab) are not numerous, and are chiefly of
small kinds, not venomous, but the awe in which they are held
is quite ridiculous. Tribes in the far west, described as being
the meanest of men and scarcely above the beasts, are charged
by the Abyssinians with the heinous custom of eating snakes,
and ornamenting their persons with necklaces ofthe backbone of
that accursed animal. Two kinds of tortoises ( Yeli) are found in
the low country, Testudo graeca and indica ; the latter attains
an enormous size in the deep impenetrable jungles of Mentshar.
The dread entertained of the Saurii comprises all kinds, the
harmless and the formidable. The Egyptian Gecko (Enkakela),
the chameleon (Eist), the Seineus officinalis, and other numerous
lizards, which make themselves most useful by the removal of
so many annoying insects, are unrelentingly doomed to de
struction, whilst the crocodiles (Azo) roam unmolested on the
abandoned shores of the larger rivers and lakes.
The Feathered Tribe exist in great variety of species, which
may in some degree be due to the preponderance of migratory
birds. The Scansores, however, are principally stationary, their
food seldom failing throughout the year. The noblest of them
is a parrot-like Coliphimus (Sorit) of the Shoan forests. Lovely
shades of green and many tints of the brightest red, a stately
crest, and a long rounded tail, make it a favourite with the Abys
sinians. A tail feather fastened in the hair of a daring warrior, is

APPENDIX. 419
a token of late achievements in the battle-field. Two other
kinds, called Wans Sorit, i. e. Sorit of the river side, and Aheia,
i. e. donkey, from the asinine tunes, are much inferior in beaut}',
though not in size. One, Coliphimus coucolor, is ofa dull greyish
green ; the other, C. fasciatus, black and white, with white zones
across the tail ; the beak of the female is green; both live in Efat
upon different grains and wild figs. Two small kinds of parrot
inhabit the fig and tamarind trees of the lower country : their
name, Donhoro, is also used figuratively of persons talking non
sense. One corresponds almost with Psittacus Taranta. In the
other, which is a little larger, the sexes are distinguished by
the gay plumage of the male, which is green above and red
below, whilst the female is greyish brown and yellow. Cen-
tropus Jardini, a beautiful kind of cuckoo, lives solitary on
the fig-trees in Efat: several species of woodpeckers, which
do not seem to differ from the South African kinds, are found
on acacias and tamarinds.
Among the Ambulatores many migrate during winter time
from the mountains to the eastern plain ; others arrive during
summer from the North, most likely from Sennaar and Egypt
They rarely do any considerable damage on the plantations of
Teff and Juwarree, whilst their services in destroying numberless
vermin are most conspicuous. Bird-catching for food or for
amusement is not a sport with the Amhara, but, on the other
hand, there is no privilege in favour of the songsters — a study
and imitation of the tunes of which might greatly improve the
execrable attempts of music, vocal and instrumental, vented
by the unskilful Abyssinian performer.
Two gaudy kinds of Aleedo play on the rivulets — Merops
Bulockii and nubicus. These truly African species of the fly
catcher are in the lower, Upupa epops, the common hoopoe, in
the upper country. Certhia tacazze and chalybea, with two other
equally beautiful kinds of the humming-bird, proceed with the
seasons to their flower-gardens, when the return of rain here, and
of warmth there, elicits the most fragrant blossoms, and covers
the shrubs of the mountain side or the jungle trees with soft
honey -insects. One of these humming-birds suspends its bag
like nest, ingeniously woven of raw cotton, by a string of the
same material, to reeds or cotton plants. Buphaga africana picks
the larvae of gadflies out of the galled backs of camels, oxen, and
E E 2

420 APPENDIX.
mules, in spite of the struggles of the tortured animal. Jeterus
larvatus, and other species of stares, weave their nests of grass,
and line them inside with the woolly flowers of an Achyranthes.
These nests are suspended in great numbers to the lower branches
of solitary trees, and may have given origin to the story of the
wonderful groves, where all the fruits are birds enclosed in a
shell. Lamprotornis auratus, and some other kinds of thrushes,
consume, during their short stay in Shoa of two months, im
mense numbers of insects. Among the Sylviadae are some emi
nent songsters, especially Sylvia pammelaina, and also species of
Motacilla and Saxicola, whilst one Muscipeta, the male of which
has two tail feathers three times as long as the whole body, is
quite silent. The head and neck of this remarkable bird are
steel blue, the other parts of the plumage rusty brown, except
the two elongated middle feathers of the tail, which are snowy
white with black quills, and a brown plot at the extremity : they
are used as an ornament for royalty. Lanius humeralis (Gu-
rameile) is one of those fatal birds, the sudden appearance of
which before an army at its outset, forebodes ill-success, and all
manner of misfortune to single persons if the tail be directed
towards them. To the other kinds of shrikes no such unhappy
celebrity is attached, although they seem not less litigious, and
anxious to draw off by their noise the attention of a wayfarer
from the vicinity of their nests. Alauda alpestris comes from
the West, and returns again after two months, April and May.
The most numerous kinds of finches, Ploccus, Pyrgita, Linaria,
&c, are all comprised under the appellation Off, i.e. small bird:
they seem generally to have fixed quarters. Colius capensis
(Rasa) is solely in Efat, in company with the Wans sorit.
Ravens and crows are of three kinds, but one of them (Kura)
is particularly remarkable on account of its beak, which is much
higher than the crown, carrying a considerable protuberance on
the top, the nostrils being situated in an excavation, which runs
forward in a broad furrow ; the bill is very massive, twice as
high as it is broad, and terminating in a small hook; the
colour of the plumage is deep brownish black, except a broad
bar of white feathers across the sinciput, and sometimes a nar
row white line down the back of the neck. Its voice and mode
of living and walking is just like that of our crows, but it does
not suffer the approach of other species.

APPENDIX. 421
Swallows are never failing, but the species vary in their visits.
Hirundo capensis and rustica appear to avoid each other, not
being seen together in the same localities. Cypselus apus and
Caprimulgus species are rarely met with. Coracias afra and
abyssinica live only in the lower country, also the various kinds
of HornbiU. Herkoom, Buceros abyssinicus, by far the largest,
is mischievous to the Juwarree fields ; but the damage done is
compensated by his great liking for field-mice also. The
Herkoom runs swiftly, and rises seldom into the air : the white
wing feathers are much esteemed as an ornament of the hair by
the triumphant warrior. Buceros nasutus, and another species,
which differs slightly in colour and size, eat small lizards and
chameleons. Buceros erythrorhynchus (Sholak), the most fre
quent of them, rids the plantations of many noxious insects.
The tribe of Raptores (Amora) is uncommonly numerous, and on
the whole very useful in Abyssinia. Those that feed on living
animals seldom stoop even at a stray fowl, whilst all their other
prey is quite indifferent to the farmer, and the carrion birds
remove quickly whatever the indolent grazier has dragged out
side his door. Finding plenty of food, they have no need to
wander widely or periodically ; yet the large species have their
nests at considerable distances from their hunting districts, and
commonly on inaccessible precipices.
Strix bubo, the only but very common owl of the up-
country, and one Otus of the low plain, are treated as birds of
ill omen. From the entrails of the former the necromancer
prepares a potent charm. The eagle, Aquila naevia (Nas'r),
comes seldom near the villages, nor is he forward in his depre
dations. Falco biarmicus fights his superiors in size, and
deprives them forcibly of their prey ; it has got hence the ap
pellation, Ya Amora Alaka, i. e. chief of the birds of prey.
Morphnus occipitalis (Adagoota), a beautiful crested falcon, lives
in the lower country of Giddem, and is particularly inert.
Several species of Astur and Accipiter (Bazi), feed on small
songsters and mice. Ternis, spec. ( Goodie), removes innumerable
quantities of locusts; and Milvus parasiticus (Tshelvit) cleans
streets and premises in company with the crows. Gypaetos
barbatus ( Cheffie), extremely frequent in Shoa, draws near to
butchers, and waits patiently for his share— the paunch and
other rejected parts of the victim. Vultur arrianus and fulvus
E E 3

422

APPENDIX.

( Yelks) smell their food many miles off, and gather round it
in great numbers. The periodically returning wars and the
extensive stock of cattle kept throughout the habitable parts,
feed with never-failing supplies of carrion horrible gangs of
hyenas, jackals, dogs, and vultures. Cathartes percnopterus and
Neophron niger are less frequent, and always solitary.
The tribe of Rasores contains the few birds that are con
sidered fit for Christian food ; yet the common fowl (Boroo),
the only domesticated kind, kept almost in every compound,
is very much neglected, and not being of a superior breed,
remains small and lean. All other meat is eaten raw by the
Abyssinians, but fowls, either tame or wild, must be cooked.
The wild ones, pintado, partridge, quail, and grouse, are not
prohibited, but still suspected as unwholesome food ; and
if even long after an indulgence of such meat the gourmand
falls sick, he invariably looks back upon that trespass as the
cause of his indisposition. Numida cristata ( Chickra), in bevies
of many hundreds, range throughout the lower country. A
very large kind of partridge (Kok) is found, not in coveys but in
pairs, running swiftly through furrows ofthe corn-fields. Dogs
are taught to catch them without injury; and before being eaten,
the bird is kept for some days, to obviate the bad effects of any
unclean food which it may possibly have taken. This partridge
attains the size of the pintado. Another kind, living on the
high plateau, and also hunted down with dogs, resembles more
that of middle Europe. Pterocles arenarius, and other species
of grouse, occur in the deserts.
Pigeons are frequent both in Shoa and in the eastern pro
vinces. Want, Ergeb, and Kumroo, are appellations of different
kinds, all too wild to tempt the Abyssinian to any exertion to
catch or domesticate them. Wani is the largest, above
brown, below slaty grey ; the head grey, with a black zone
across the sinciput. Another is all grey, except a white zone on
the upper neck, and a collar of darker arrow-headed feathers ;
a third also grey, but with a white head, and brown edges on
the wing feathers. Ergeb has a peculiarly inflated beak ; head
and neck grey, shoulders and back olive green, breast and
belly citron yellow, wing and tail feathers whitish edged and
tipped. Kumroo is the turtle-dove, one kind of which has
elongated tail feathers.

APPENDIX. 423
Otis arabs, the largest bustard, which is as swift as the
ostrich, destroys a great number of locusts and scorpions, and is
therefore never eaten. Another smaller bustard ( Wato) is
variously coloured ; it lives on the borders of the desert.
Charadrius spinosus is a rare visiter of the lakes near the
Hawash. Tachydromus isabellinus is an inhabitant of the
plains of Efat ; and Himantopus atropterus of the morasses
near Angollala.
Abundance of water makes the provinces of Shoa a favourite
place of resort to many species of Grallatores. Among the
herons are remarkable Ardea ephippiorhyncha, and another called
Alakafattah, having particularly long wing feathers of a darker
colour than the remainder of the body, which is above grey,
below white. The former lives in the valley of the Abai, the
latter about Angollala, but migrates also to the West. Smaller
kinds, as Garzetta, Nycticorax, arrive from the North in Febru
ary, but commonly pass on still more southward, whence they
return in May. Ibis religiosa stays for some months on the
lakes of the upper country ; Numenius, spec. ( Gaga), about
Ankober. The common snipe, some kinds of pewits, the spoon
bill, and the flamingo, sometimes extend their migrations as far
as Shoa.
Geese and ducks swarm unmolested over the lakes of the
western provinces; a few descend also to the plain. Chenalo-
pex aegyptiacus builds its nest upon high trees on the river side
in Efat. Another rare species carries on the frontal basis a
thinly feathered flexible bunch. All the birds of this class are
strangely inapprehensive of danger when moulting or hatching.
During their stay in Shoa they are occupied with both of these
processes, but the rigorous proscriptions regarding food, usually
afford them protection.
Of Mammalia, the Rodentia seem to have no great extension
through the cultivated provinces of Shoa. One small house rat
(Eid), and a field mouse, Otomys albicaudatus, are very obnoxious
indeed to the grain, but snares and traps keep them easily down
on well-managed farms. Lepus capensis (Dindjel) frequents
more the plains both of the low and of the up country, and
does little damage. To eat of its flesh would be considered
downright criminality, not less than myophagy itself. Hystrix
cristata (Shart) lives only in abandoned termite-cones in the
E E 4

424 APPENDIX.
desert. A very rare large squirrel is found upon tamarind
trees. Cattle-breeding is, on the whole, in a more advanced state
among the Galla than among the Amhara, who prefer agricul
tural pursuits. The common sheep (Bug) of Shoa is small, with
coarse black wool ; the Adaiel have the Hejaz lamb, short
haired, with fat tail; the Galla, a most superior tall fleecy kind,
also with fat tail, and without horns. With the latter the Am
hara cross their breed. The Galla of Northern Abyssinia rear a
peculiar kind with immensely long hair, commonly white; its
fleece, dyed black and then called Lophisa, is a dress much
prized by chiefs and men of renown throughout the country. The
cured skin (Babbalo) ofthe common sheep is an indispensable
part of the male dress. From the wool a kind of camlet cloth
is woven. Goats (Fial) thrive better in the mountains ; they
are tall, horned, with short matted hair of many colours, in fact,
quite identical with the European kind. The Adel have no
breed of their own, but drive down annually from the Shoan
marts vast herds into their savannas.
The Abyssinian horse (Feras) is small, and held in little
repute. The donkey (Aheia), of a sturdy and strong race, is indis
pensable to communication and commerce, and as a beast of bur
then suffers less than the camel from long privation. The mule
(Bagalo), higher priced than the mare itself, is eminently useful
in the hills, being more sure-footed and better-winded than the
horse ; it is, however, much better cared for. The she-mules
are larger and stouter, but the males are the most enduring.
The breed from the horse-mare and donkey-stallion is pa
tronized by the Abyssinians, but despised by their more war
like neighbours, the Galla, with whom the horse is a favourite.
A wild donkey, ( Ya meidct aheia, neither Zebra nor Quagga, )
a little larger than the common ass, herds in the prairies of the
Adaiel country, and is timid, cautious, and swift of foot.
Bullocks (Beri or Ferita) are similar to the Zebu, but the
hump is smaller. Some Galla tribes possess a peculiar breed
(Sanga), the horns of which attain an enormous size, and serve
for bottles ; from the smaller horns drinking-cups are manu
factured. The calves are not used for food. No work except
dragging the plough and thrashing is required of the ox.
The wild buffalo (Gosh), Bubalus Pegasus, fierce and as yet

APPENDIX. 425
untamed, inhabits the forests and jungles of Bulga and Mentshar
all along the river Hawash ; its chase is considered one of the
most dangerous pursuits of the hunter, several human lives being
frequently expended on the conquest of one beast. Strepsiceros
capensis (Agazin), and Oryx capensis (Sala), are hunted on the
borders of the desert. In the latter species, accident sometimes
causes the loss of one horn, a fact which probably gave rise to
the story ofthe unicorn; moreover, the parallel horns are placed
so near each other, that when the animal is seen en profile from
a distance, it might well appear single-horned. Gazella Mhorr
wanders in large herds through the desert ; Antilope Saltiana
(Medaqua), abounds from the sea-coast to the foot of the
mountains. Hyrax abyssinicus (Ashhoho), a harmless inhabitant of nooks
and corners of the rocks, is common to Shoa as well as to the
hills of the Adel. Bruce's Rhinoceros ( Worsisa), combining
the more striking characters of the Asiatic and African species,
that is, the two horns of the latter and the plaits and folds of
the former, deserves a closer investigation ; it lives in the deep
jungles of Mentshar, on the banks of the Hawash. Phasco-
choerus africanus (Erya), the African hog, infests the woods of
the warmer districts, and is a horrible-looking brute. Hip
popotamus amphibius (Gomari) hides its colossal frame during
the day in the floods of the Hawash, the Jumma, and other
large rivers and lakes. The Wato, a certain caste among the
Galla, subsist upon its flesh ; and the thick skin is cut into
shields or whips. Elephas africanus (Zihoon) is dispersed in
many small families, and destroys the plantations of sugar-cane
and Juwarree along the foot of the mountains. Not the slightest
attempt is made to put a stop to his ravages, the paltry weapons
in use being of no avail, whilst severe loss of life follows the
footsteps of the enraged animal. A small trade in ivory is not
withstanding carried on with the coast in the tusks found acci
dentally. Lutra inunguis (Devil's sheep), rarely surprised on the banks
of the river Bereza, furnishes in its body divers secret medi
cines to the initiated. Viverra Civetta (Angeso) is wild ; but
frequently kept in cages in the Galla countries to the south
west of Shoa. The Civet (Dering), taken out of the bag by
means of a small spoon, and collected in cow-horns, is one of

426 APPENDIX.
the precious articles which the slave caravans proceeding from
the interior through Shoa to the coast, barter for their daily
food. One Ichneumon (Mootsheltshella) robs the poultry-yard.
The lion (Anbassa), and the leopard (Nabr), are well known
throughout Abyssinia. The former seldom pays a visit to the
hills, hunting nightly along the banks of rivers, and lurking
during the day in his jungle retreats ; the latter is more com
mon, and shuns less the presence of man. Both are run down
on foot by bodies of men, armed solely with lances, which they
shower over the slowly retreating beast under a deafening yell.
The spoils are an indispensable part of a chief's dress, and ob
jects of importation from the West ; the most prized, however, is
the skin of the black leopard (Gasela), living in and beyond
Gurague. The domestic cat is a rarity in Shoa ; only great men place
them as guardians in their storehouses. The dog ( Oosha), gene
rally a half-wild companion of the farmer and inmate of his
premises, becomes attached and useful when allowed to share
the master's protection. It is taught to keep the herds in order,
to catch birds, to defend property, to give warning on the
approach of wild beasts. Not the tenth part of the quickly-
multiplying race possess owners ; but their utility as scaven
gers proves their safeguard. Canis Anthus (Dahela), a wolf
like dog and an offensive thief, frequent in Efat, is caught in
pitfalls ; its liver has some mysterious virtue. The jackal (Kab-
baro), and Hyasna crocuta ( Gib), make nightly inroads into vil
lages and towns ; they fight the dogs, and for want of other prey
drag off some of these. On the borders of the low country, the
night camps must be fenced round with thorns, as a protection
against their inroads.
Cercocebus griseo-viridis (Tota) lives upon wild figs, Cyno-
cephalus Hamadryas (Zingiro), the male, with the mane ofa lion
and a powerful frame, is very mischievous and even dangerous ;
it congregates in caves and fissures of the rocks. Colobus (Gu-
resa), the prettiest of all monkeys, and one duly patronized by
the Abyssinians on account of its retired habits, is always on
the top of the highest trees, commonly on the Woira, which
bears its food.
Filfil, an animal that throws up mole-hills, baffles all attempts
to catch it. Pteropus asgyptiacus and Nycteris thebaica (Lelit

APPENDIX. 427
off, i.e. night-bird), are harmless but suspected inhabitants of
ruined buildings. An obscure idea of a former supremacy of man
over the beasts of the field causes the Abyssinian Christian to
view, in a literal sense, those legends which his pious ancestors
have recorded of the singular dealings of holy men with the
arch-fiend; and he still figuratively personates every evil passion
of the human heart by some savage, treacherous, or subtle
animal ofthe inferior creation.
The highlands of Abyssinia can, however, offer but a small
number of wild animals, and even of these very few are exclu
sively her own. The cultivation of the greater portion of
the land, the absence of extensive forests, jungles, morasses,
caverns, and other places of retreat, added to the great
diversity of the clime from that of the adjacent countries, which
at once excludes the migratory tribes, are the causes of the
fortunate contrast presented to the lowlands of the Adaiel,
where the dominion of man has yet been very imperfectly
established.

No. III.
ON THE COTTON AND COFFEE TREE OF SOUTHERN ABYSSINIA.
Tradition assigns to the countries of Enarea and Caffa the
indigenous residence of the coffee plant. In Shoa Proper the
cultivation and consumption are strictly interdicted, as savour
ing too strongly of the abhorred Mohammedan ; but the plant
in proper situations grows strong and healthy, and in all the
bordering districts subject to Sahela Selassie, where the re
striction is not enforced, there the plantations are numerous
and thriving.
Planted before the rains, the seed soon appears above the
ground, and when six months old the offspring is transferred to
take the place of some worn-out tree. Water and the manure
ofthe sheep are plentifully supplied, and the crop, which from

428 APPENDIX.
a full bearing adult is generally from thirty to forty pounds, is
gathered in March and April. Averaging from eight to ten
feet in height, with dark shining foliage, and branches loaded
with fruit, it grows luxuriantly in the valleys in any sheltered
situation, delighting especially in the soil produced by a decom
position of trap rock, which has been washed down from the
adjacent heights ; and although taking six years to arrive at
maturity, it yields a slight return on the second season of its
transplantation. The berries are in the first instance of a dark green hue,
which before pulling is suffered to turn red, a white milky-
looking pulp called gidlaboo meanwhile filling up the space
between the cuticle and the seed. Having been shaken and
gathered from the branches, the crop is spread in the sun
until the pulp becomes sufficiently dry to admit of its removal,
which, by continual free ventilation out of doors, is usually the
case in one month. The seeds intended for the plantation are
not divested of the husk, but sown by the handful in a small
plot, which is carefully manured and watered; and the gullaboo,
sold separately from the bean, is employed as a beverage with
the decoction of the choat.
For the better security of his own monopoly at the ports of
Zeyla and Berbera, the Emir of Hurrur opposes the import
ation of coffee into his own dominions, both from Shoa and
from the country of the Galla. The plant is extensively and
successfully cultivated ; but the price given at Hurrur is high
in comparison with that paid in Abyssinia ; and the average
demanded on the coast by the merchants of the former princi
pality, varying from five pence to seven pence a pound, would
seem to be in unison with that customary at Massowah in the
Red Sea.
The difficulties attending the tedious road to the coast ; the
lazy indifferent character of the Danakil camel owners, who,
regardless of the value of time, spend months upon the journey ;
and the fitful caprice evinced by the various chieftains
through whose territories the caravan must pass — all form
great obstacles to the conveyance of the cheaper produce from
Abyssinia, although they might doubtless be overcome within a
reasonable period by the well-directed efforts of British perse-

APPENDIX. 429
verance. In Caffa and Enarea, coffee grows wild like a weed
over the rich surface of the country. The beverage is in uni
versal use among the inhabitants ; the price paid is almost
nominal ; and the convenience of water carriage is alone want
ing towards the transportation of the product in unlimited
quantities to every portion of the globe.
Cotton of two kinds grows in the sequestered nooks of the
eastern face of the mountains of Shoa, and in the valleys at the
extreme foot of the range ; but from the superior luxuriance of
the plant, and the amount of crop produced in the lower situ
ations, the natural climate would appear to exist in those shel
tered spots which in atmosphere much resemble the more
favoured parts of Western India. The Efat shrub varies
according to the locality and supply of water, from three feet
in height to upwards of seven, and usually assuming the form
of a pyramid, extends its lower branches to a width equal
to the stature — the size of the leaves, and the soft and yielding
nature of the stem, imparting a strong external resemblance to
the Bourbon cotton. Eight and nine inches in circumference
are not unfrequently attained ; and the advantages of a very
productive crop twice in each year, the existence of the plant
during five seasons, and the heavy return of the particularly fine
wool during the very first, award to the species a most de
serving pre-eminence. *
The indigenous plant of Efat is not, however, so much
esteemed as that from Gondar, which instead of rising tall and
straight from the ground, assumes a spreading dwarfy appear
ance.-]- The wool is considered superior, and the cloth produced
is softer and more elastic, but the existence enjoyed by the
exotic is limited to three years. Both are planted indiscriminately
in the same field, although when gathered the crops are pre
served unmixed ; and after the fifth year the Efat shrub is cut
over close to the ground, which is then ploughed up, and sown
with wheat or other grain, when, on the removal of the harvest
* Gossypium Efatense. Seeds completely covered with a close down.
Cotton white; capsules 3-celled, 3-valved; flowers small, with a red fundus;
leaves ?, to 5-lobed; lobes acuminated.
+ Gossypium Gondarense. Seeds sprinkled with short hairs. Cotton
white; capsules 3-celled, 3-valved; flowers large, yellow; leaves 3 to 5-lobed;
lobes commonly obtuse.

430 APPENDIX.
the young cotton shoots are well above the ground, and will
yield during two further seasons.
The seed having been placed for some time in wood ashes, is
well rubbed with red earth before planting; and wherever the
locality is favourable to irrigation, water is not spared. The
pod, when ripe, is cut with a knife, the husk removed, and the
wool deposited in a bag, with the utmost care to exclude extra
neous matter. One full bearing bush produces twice during
the twelve months between four and five pounds of raw stuff.

END OF THE SECOND VOLUME.

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