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EXTRACT OF INSTRUCTIONS 
 
 ADDRESSED BY THE SECRETARY TO THE GOVERNMENT OF BOMBAY 
 TO CAPTAIN W. C. HARRIS. 
 
 Bombay Castle, 24th April, 1841. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 I am directed to inform you, that the Honorable, the Governor in Council 
 having formed a very high estimate of your talents and acquirements, and of the 
 spirit of enterprise and decision, united with prudence and discretion, exhibited in 
 your recently published Travels " through the territories of the chief Moselekatse 
 to the tropic of Capricorn," has been pleased to select you to conduct a Mission 
 which the British Government has resolved to send to Sahela Selassie, the King 
 of Shoa in Southern Abyssinia, whose capital, Ankober, is computed to be abou* 
 four hundred miles inland from the port of Tajiira on the African coast. 
 
 The Mission will be conveyed to Aden in -the Honorable Company's steam 
 frigate Auckland, now under orders to leave Bombay on the 27th instant ; and it 
 nas been arranged that one of the Honorable Company's vessels of war, at present 
 m the Red Sea, shall be in readiness to convey the Mission thence to Tajiira, at 
 which latter place it should immediately disembark, and commence its journey to 
 Ankober. 
 
 (Signed) J. P. Willoughby, 
 
 Secretary to Government, 
 To Captain W. C. Harris, 
 Corps of Engineers. 
 
 THE EMBASSY WAS THUS COMPOSED: 
 
 Captain W. C. Harris, Bombay Engineers. 
 
 Captain Douglas Graham, Bombay Army, Principal Assistant. 
 
 Assistant-Surgeon Rupert Kirk, Bombay Medical Service. 
 
 Dr. J. R. Roth, Natural Historian. 
 
 Lieutenant Sydney Horton, H. M. 49th Foot — as a Volunteer. 
 
 Lieutenant W. C. Barker, Indian Navy. 
 
 Assistant-Surgeon Impey, Bombay Medical Service. 
 
 Mr. Martin Bernatz, Artist. 
 
 Mr. Robert Scott, Surveyor and Draftsman. 
 
 Mr. J. Hatchatoor, British Agent at Tajiira. 
 
 Escort and Establishment : 
 
 Two sergeants and fifteen rank and file ; volunteers from H. M. 6th Foot, and 
 
 from the Bombay Artillery. 
 An Assistant Apothecary. 
 Carpenter. 
 Smith. 
 Two Tent Lascars. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 Written in the heart of Abyssinia, amid manifold interruptions and 
 disadvantages, the following pages will be found redolent of no midnight 
 oil. Their chief recommendation must be sought in the fact of their 
 embodying a detail of efforts zealously directed under the auspices of a 
 liberal government, toward the establishment of a more intimate connection 
 with a Christian people, who know even less of the world than the world 
 knows of them — toward the extension of the bounds of geographical and 
 scientific knowledge, the advancement of the best interests of commerce, 
 and the melioration of the lot of some of the less favored portions of the 
 human race. 
 
 An obvious necessity for the introduction of the foregoing extract from 
 his instructions, will exonerate the Author from an intention to appropriate 
 as his due the very gratifying encomium passed upon his previous exer- 
 tions in Southern Africa. As a public servant, the freedom of his pen has 
 now in some measure been curtailed ; but his official position and resources, 
 added to the able assistance placed at his command, have, on the other 
 hand, extended more than commensurate advantages. 
 
 To Captain Douglas Graham, his accomplished and early friend, and 
 principal assistant, he acknowledges himself most especially indebted, for 
 the aid of a head and of a pen, such as are not often to be found united. 
 
 The exertions of Assistant-Surgeon Kirk alleviated incalculable human 
 suffering ; and his perseverance, although long opposed by an unfavorable 
 climate, carried through a series of magnetic and astronomical observa- 
 tions of the highest importance to Abyssinian geography. 
 
 An indefatigable devotion to the cause of science, added to the experi- 
 ence gained during previous wanderings in Palestine, eminently adapted 
 the learned Dr. Roth to discharge the arduous functions of natural histo- 
 rian to the Mission ; and the splendid collection realized, together with 
 the researches embodied in the various appendices to these volumes, will 
 afford the fullest evidence of his industry and success. 
 
 2* 
 
vra INTRODUCTION. 
 
 To all who were associated with himself in view to the better attainment 
 of the objects contemplated, the Author here offers his warm acknowledg- 
 ments for the cheerfulness displayed under trials and privations. Of the 
 able assistance of some he was unavoidably deprived during an early 
 period of the service. The disappointment thus involved in his own person 
 has been fully equal to that experienced by themselves ; but they must 
 be sensible that their hardships have not been undergone in vain, and that 
 they too have accomplished their share in the undertaking so far as for- 
 tune permitted. 
 
 To the Reverend Dr. Krapf the thanks of Government have already 
 been conveyed, for the valuable cooperation derived from his extended 
 acquaintance with the languages of Abyssinia. But the Author gladly 
 avails himself of this opportunity publicly to record his personal sense of 
 obligation to the active and pious Missionary of the Church of England. 
 
 By np tribute of his own could the writer of these volumes extend the 
 well-deserved reputation of M'Queen's Geographical Survey. It will 
 nevertheless be satisfactory to one who takes rank among the foremost 
 benefactors of the oppressed " children of the sun," to receive the additional 
 testimony which is due to the undeviating accuracy of theories and con- 
 clusions founded upon years of patient and honest investigation ; and thi3 
 \he Author unhesitatingly records, in so far as the north-eastern portions 
 of Africa have come within the observation of the Embassy which he has 
 the honor to conduct. 
 
 Ankober, 1st January, 1843. 
 
 POSTSCRIPTUM. 
 
 The length of time that has unavoidably elapsed between the prepara- 
 tion and the appearance of these volumes, needs no apology. They must 
 not now be suffered to go forth without the expression of the Author's 
 gratitude for the assistance derived during their progress through the 
 press, from the talents and literary taste of his friend Major Franklin 
 Lushington, C. B. 
 
>T 
 
 THB 
 
 HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA,-^ 
 
 ETC. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 DEPARTURE OF THE BRITISH EMBASSY 
 FROM THE SHORES OF INDIA. 
 
 It was late on the afternoon of a sultry 
 day in April, which had been passed amid 
 active preparations, when a dark column of 
 smoke, streaming over the tall shipping in 
 the crowded harbor of Bombay, proclaimed 
 t necessity of a hurried adieu to a con- 
 .0 se of friends who still thronged the 
 ; and scarcely was the last wish for 
 bu' .ess expressed to the parties that had 
 arked, before the paddles performed 
 their firsi revolution, and the Honora- 
 ble East India Company's steam-frigate 
 "Auckland," bound upon her maiden voy- 
 age, shot through the still blue water. 
 
 A turbaned multitude of manifold relig- 
 ions had lined the pier and the ramparts 
 of the saluting-battery, to pay a parting 
 tribute of respect to their late governor, 
 Sir James Rivett Carnac, who, with his 
 lady and family, was now returning to his 
 native land. On board also were the offi- 
 cers and gentlemen composing an embassy 
 organized under instructions by the gov- 
 ernment of India. More than a fortnight 
 had been diligently passed in the equip- 
 ment of this mission ; but its objects, no 
 less than the destination of its innumera- 
 ble bales and boxes, still served as puzzles 
 to public curiosity; and many a sapient 
 
 conjecture on the subject was doubtless 
 launched after the bounding frigate as she 
 disappeared amid the haze of the closing 
 day. 
 
 Immortal Watt ! sordid is the man who 
 places his foot behind the Titanic engines 
 which owe their birth to thee, and who 
 would withhold, as an offering to the altar 
 of thy memory, a mite, according to his 
 worldly means, wherewith to erect a fab- 
 ric colossal as the power enthralled by thy 
 transcendent genius! Strange are the 
 revolutions undergone in affairs nautical 
 since the introduction of the marine steam- 
 engine upon the Indian seas. The creak- 
 ing of yards has given place to the cough- 
 ing and sobbing of machinery, as it heaves 
 in convulsive throes. Tacking and wear- 
 ing have become terms obsolete, and 
 through the clang of the fire-doors, and 
 the ceaseless stroke of paddle-wheels, the 
 voice of the pilot is rarely heard, save in 
 conjunction with " Stop her," or " Turn 
 a-head." 
 
 Marked by a broad ploughed wake, the 
 undeviating course pursued through the 
 trackless main was demonstrated midway 
 of the voyage by a tall pillar of smoke 
 from the funnel of the " Cleopatra," rising 
 against the clear hot horizon, like a genie 
 liberated from his sealed bottle, to pro- 
 claim the advent of the English mails. 
 The deep blue sea was glassy smooth, 
 
14 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 Each passing zephyr set from Araby's 
 shores ; but, heedless alike of wind and 
 opposing current, the good ship steadily 
 pursued her arrow-like flight — passed the 
 bold outline of Socotra. redolent of spicy 
 odors — and before sunset of the ninth day 
 was within sight of her destined haven, 
 one thousand six hundred and eighty miles 
 from the port she had left. 
 
 Cape Aden was the bold promontory in 
 view, and it had borrowed an aspect even 
 more sombre and dismal from a canopy of 
 heavy clouds which stole across the naked 
 and shattered peaks, to invest the castle- 
 capped mountain with a funereal shroud. 
 Crossed by horizontal ledges, and seamed 
 with gaps and fissures, Jebel Shemshan 
 rears its turreted crags nearly eighteen 
 hundred feet above the ocean, into which 
 dip numerous bare and rugged buttresses, 
 of width only sufficient to afford footing to 
 a cony, and each terminating in a bluff in- 
 accessible scarp. Sand and shingle strew 
 the cheerless valleys by which these spurs 
 are divided, and, save where a stunted 
 balsam, or a sallow clump of senna, has 
 struggled through the gaping fissure, hol- 
 low as well as hill is destitute of even the 
 semblance of vegetation. 
 
 " How hideously 
 Its shapes are heaped around, rude, bare, and high, 
 Ghastly, and scarred and riven ! Is this the scene 
 Where the old earthquake's demon taught her young 
 Ruin 1 Were these their toys ? — or did a sea 
 Of fire envelope once this dismal cape?" 
 
 Rounding the stern peninsula, within 
 stone's-cast of the frowning headlands, the 
 magnificent western bay developed its 
 broad expanse as the evening closed. 
 Here, with colliers and merchantmen, 
 were riding the vessels of war composing 
 the Red Sea squadron. Among the iso- 
 lated denizens of British Arabia, the un- 
 expected arrival of a steam-frigate created 
 no small sensation. Exiles on a barren 
 and dreary soil, which is precluded from 
 all intercourse with the fruitful, but bar- 
 barous interior, there is nothing to alle- 
 viate a positive imprisonment, save the 
 periodical flying visits of the packets that 
 pass and repass betwixt Suez and Bom- 
 bay. In the dead of night, the sudden 
 glare of a blue light in the offing is an- 
 swered by the illumination of the block- 
 ship, heretofore veiled behind a curtain of 
 darkness. The double thunder of artil- 
 lery next peals from her decks ; and as 
 the laboring of paddle-wheels, at first faint 
 and distant, and heard only at broken in- 
 tervals, comes booming more heavily over 
 the waters, the spectral lantern at the 
 mast-head is followed by a red glow under 
 
 the stern, as the witch, buffeting a cascade 
 of snowy spray, vibrates to every stroke 
 of the engine, and leaving a phosphoric 
 train to mark her even course, glides, 
 hissing and boiling, toward her anchorage. 
 Warped alongside the blockship, the din- 
 gy hull's lean over like affectionate sisters 
 that have been long parted ; and, flinging 
 their arms together, remain fast locked in 
 each other's embrace. 
 
 And who are these swart children of the 
 sun, that, like a May-day band of chimney- 
 sweeps, are springing with wild whoops 
 and yells over the bulwarks of the new 
 arrival } T is a gang of brawny Seedies, 
 enfranchised negroes from the coast of 
 Zanzibar, whose pleasure consists in the 
 transhipment of yonder mountain of coal, 
 lying heaped in tons upon the groaning 
 deck. To the dissonant tones of a rude 
 tambourine, thumped with the thigh-bone 
 of a calf, their labor has already com- 
 menced. Increasing the vehemence of 
 their savage dance, they heave the pon- 
 derous sacks like giants busied at pitch 
 and toss, and begrimed from head to foot, 
 roll at intervals upon the blackened planks, 
 to stanch the streaming perspiration. Thus 
 stamping and howling with increased fury, 
 while the harsh notes of the drum peal 
 louder and louder to the deafening vehe- 
 mence of the frantic musician, they pursue 
 their task, night as well as day, amid 
 clamor and fiendish vociferations, such as 
 might suggest the idea of furies engaged 
 in unearthly orgies. In the first burst of 
 their revelry, the spectator is happy to es- 
 cape from the suffocating atmosphere of 
 impalpable coal-dust: and rarely does it 
 happen, that for every hundred tons of fuel 
 received, fewer than one life is forfeited 
 by the actors in the wild scene described 
 — some doomed victim, swollen with copi- 
 ous draughts, and exhausted by the frenzy 
 of excitement, invariably casting himself 
 down, when his Herculean task is done, 
 to rally and rise up no more. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 DISEMBARKATION AT CAPE ADEN. 
 
 Quitting the boisterous deck of the 
 steamer, and pulling toward the shores of 
 Arabia, a cluster of barren rocks, which 
 might fitly be likened to heaps of fused coal 
 out of a glass furnace, present an appear- 
 ance very far from inviting or prepossess- 
 ing. They are little relieved by a few 
 straggling cadjan buildings, temporarily 
 
VOLCANIC PENINSULA—ADEN. 
 
 15 
 
 occupied by those whose avocations enable 
 Jiem, during the summer months, to fly 
 the intolerable heat of .the oven-like town. 
 But under the roof of Captain Stafford 
 Haines, who fills the honorable and re- 
 sponsible post of political agent, there 
 awaited the embassy, on its landing, a hos- 
 pitality of no ordinary stamp. It literally 
 knew no bounds, and could not fail to ob- 
 literate, at once, any unfavorable first im- 
 pression arising out of the desolate aspect 
 bestowed by Dame Nature upon " Steamer 
 Point." 
 
 A volunteer escort of European artille- 
 rymen was 'yet to be obtained from the 
 garrison of Aden ; horses, too, were to be 
 purchased, and sundry other indispensable 
 preparations made for the coming journey 
 into the interior of Africa. During a full- 
 week there seemed no termination to the 
 influx of bags containing dates, rice, and 
 juwarree, and scarcely a shorter period was 
 occupied in the selection from the govern- 
 ment treasury of many thousand star-dol- 
 lars of the reign of Maria Theresa, dis- 
 playing, each in its turn, all the multifarious 
 marks and tokens most esteemed by the 
 capricious savage. Neither was the bustle 
 one whit diminished by the remote position 
 of the town, which, unless through the 
 kindness of friends, is only to be attained 
 on the back of one of the many diminutive 
 donkeys stationed along the beach for the 
 convenience of the stranger. Encumbered 
 with a straw-stuffed pack-saddle far ex- 
 ceeding its own dimensions, the wretched 
 quadruped is zealously bastinadoed into a 
 painful amble by the heavy club of some 
 juvenile Israelite with flowing auburn 
 ringlets, whose chubby freckled cheeks, 
 influenced by the sultry sun no less than 
 by the incessant manual labor employed, 
 are wont to assume a strongly excited ap- 
 pearance ere the journey be at an end. 
 
 Along the entire coast of Southern Ara- 
 bia, there is not a more remarkable feature 
 than the lofty promontory of Aden, which 
 has been flung up from the bed of the 
 ocean, and in its formation is altogether 
 volcanic. The Arab historian* of the tenth 
 century, after speaking of the volcanoes 
 of Sicily and in the kingdom of the Maha 
 Raj, alludes to it as existing in the desert of 
 Barhut, adjacent to the province of Nasa- 
 fan and Hadramaut, in the country of 
 Shaher. " Its sound, like the rumbling of 
 thunder, might then be heard many miles, 
 and from its entrails vomited forth red-hot 
 stones with a flood of liquid fire." The 
 skeleton of the long-exhausted crater, 
 
 * Mosudi. 
 
 once, in all probability, a nearly perfect 
 circle, now exhibits a horse-shoe-shaped 
 crescent, hemmed in by splintered crags, 
 which, viewed from the turreted summit 
 of Jebel Shemshan especially, whence the 
 eye ranges over the entire peninsula, pre- 
 sents the wildest chaos of rock, ruin, and 
 desolation. 
 
 From the landing-place at Ras Marbut, 
 a tortuous track of five miles conducts past 
 the coal-depot and Seedie location, along 
 various curvatures of the arid coast, to the 
 cantonment and toWn of Aden. " Sublime- 
 in barrenness," the rugged and lofty cliffs 
 pile themselves upward in masses of the 
 most fantastic shape, now bare and bald, 
 shooting into perpendicular spires, and" 
 now leaning over the caravan of heavily- 
 laden camels, that toil along the path. 
 The sunshine of perpetual summer reigns 
 throughout the scene. Glittering sand- 
 hills slumber in breezy dimness around the 
 land-locked harbor ; and over the faint 
 peaks of Yemen's distant mountains, the 
 unclouded sky floats bright and blue. The 
 sparkling waters leap against the dark base 
 Of the naked islets ; but the wide, glassy 
 surface beyond, reposing like abroad lake, 
 is only ruffled by the circling eddy which 
 follows the sportive plash of the bottle- 
 nosed porpoise, or the pluming of a fleet 
 of silver-winged terns, riding quietly at 
 anchor on its tranquil bosom. As the road 
 retires from the beach, the honey-combed 
 cliffs assume the similitude of massive 
 walls and battlements, everywhere pierced 
 with loopholes and embrasures. A gradual 
 ascent leads through a craggy portal, brist- 
 ling with cannon, and guarded by the pa- 
 cing sentinel. One narrow rift in the solid 
 rock, to the foot of which the sun rarely 
 penetrates, forms an abrupt division in the 
 chain ; and beyond it the eye suddenly 
 embraces the basin-like valley, wherein 
 stands the decayed capital of Arabia Felix. 
 
 "Aden," saith old Ibn Batuta of Tan- 
 giers, "is situate upon the sea-shore — a 
 large city, without either seed, water, or 
 tree." Five hundred years have elapsed 
 since this graphic account was penned, 
 and the vegetation has in nowise improved. 
 An amphitheatre of dimensions sufficient 
 for the devil's punch-bowl, is formed by 
 two volcanic rangfis, once in connection, 
 but obviously rent asunder, heaved out- 
 ward, and canted in opposite directions 
 by some violent eruption, that has forced 
 an opening to the ocean. A sterility 
 which is not to be surpassed, invests the 
 scene with an aspect most repulsive and 
 forbidding. No tree varies the dreary pros- 
 pect, no shrub relieves the eye ; not even 
 
16 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 a flower lends its aid to enliven the wild 
 and gloomy hollow, the fittest refuge that 
 the imagination could picture for the law- 
 less and the desperate. Fortifications are 
 to be traced on every point either liable to 
 assault or eligible for defence : ruined cas- 
 tles and watch-towers, perched on the 
 highest elevations of the precipitous hills, 
 stand the now inaccessible guardians of 
 other days ; and even the limited view to 
 seaward, where the passing white sail of 
 a small coasting craft, or the catamaran of 
 the amphibious fisherman may occasion- 
 ally be seen, is partially screened by a .tri- 
 angular rock, which frowns like a great 
 spectre over the inner harbor. Seerah, 
 " the fortified black islet," is said to have 
 been the residence of Cain, "the first-born 
 of a woman," after the murder of his 
 brother Abel ; and, verily, it would be dif- 
 ficult to devise a more appropriate exile 
 for the banished fratricide. Hurled into 
 the sea by a convulsive shock, it is sur- 
 rounded by pumice and by currents of ob- 
 sidian, the products of volcanic emission, 
 strewed among vast undulating waves of 
 cavernous lava ; or mingled with black 
 masses of porous rock, which bear evi- 
 dence of fusion, and yield to the touch a 
 metallic sound. 
 
 Sterility has indeed claimed this dreary 
 region as her own ; and even in the more 
 productive portions of the peninsula, little 
 verdure is derived from the almost leaf- 
 less besham, the balsa??wdendron opobalsa- 
 mum, a dwarf shrub, which, according to 
 the Arab tradition, formed a part of the 
 present carried to King Solomon by the 
 Queen of Sheba, from the aromatic re- 
 gions of myrrh and frankincense. Where 
 incisions are made in its stem, the far- 
 famed balm of Mecca flows copiously; 
 but the volatile oil quickly evaporating, 
 leaves a tasteless, insipid gum. Nursed 
 by no periodical shower, and by no hidden 
 spring, the precious plant, scorched by a 
 withering blast, derives its only moisture 
 from the mists which envelope the moun- 
 tain-top, when all is sunshine below. 
 
 Among the most singular features of the 
 cape, is the supply of water, which is 
 found only in the valley of Aden, close 
 under the cliffs, and at the openings of the 
 fissures from the steppes above. Here, 
 piercing to a great depth through the solid 
 rock, are upward of one hundred wells ; 
 many dilapidated and choked up, but oth- 
 ers, yielding an abundant and unfailing 
 supply. Whence or in what manner they 
 
 are fed, it is extremely difficult to conjec- 
 ture. All near the beach are bad, and 
 more or less brackish ; some are sensibly 
 affected by the tides, and very saline; 
 while of those which afford sweet water, 
 one only is visibly acted upon by some 
 lower spring. It is excavated at the en- 
 trance of a dark gorge, rent by some vio- 
 lent convulsion in the rugged bosom of 
 Shemshan ; and the surface, which is in a 
 state of constant commotion, remains at the 
 same level, although daily drawn upon 
 from morning till night, for the supply of 
 thousands. 
 
 The almost total absence of the vegetable 
 kingdom considered, it is not surprising 
 that there should exist also a palpable defi- 
 ciency in the animal creation. In perhaps 
 no other quarter of the universe are the spar- 
 row and the crow such perfect strangers. 
 The pigeon, the fox, and the rat, divide the 
 sovereignty of the rocky cleft ; and the 
 serrated heights are held without a rival 
 by a garrison of monkeys. With these 
 long-tailed occupants of the tower-capped 
 pinnacles, are connected wondrous super- 
 stitions; and an Aden tradition, extant 
 throughout Southern Arabia,* would ex- 
 alt them into the remnant of the once 
 powerful tribe of Ad, " a people great, and 
 strong, and tall," who are believed to have 
 been metamorphosed into apes, in token of 
 the displeasure of Heaven, when Sheddad, 
 " the king of the world," illustrious in the 
 annals of the East, impiously sought, in de- 
 fiance of the prophet Hud, to create unto 
 himself a garden which should rival the 
 celestial paradise. The Bostan el Irera, 
 with its gorgeous palaces and shining 
 domes, the similitude whereof had never 
 been constructed on the regions of this 
 earth, is said to be yet standing in the sol- 
 itary deserts of Aden, although miracu- 
 lously concealed from mortal ken. Within 
 the silent walls of its lofty tow r ers, did Ab- 
 dallah ibn Aboo Kelaba pass his night of 
 wonder during the reign of Moawiyeh, 
 prince of the faithful ; and it is believed 
 by every good Moslem that this marvellous 
 fabric of human skill and impiety, which 
 finds a record in the sacred Koran, will 
 endure until the last day, an imperish- 
 able, but rarely revealed, monument of 
 Divine retribution. 
 
 * Lieutenant J. C Cruttenden, assistant to the polit- 
 ical agent at Aden, heard the same version repeated at 
 Saana, the capital of Yemen ; which far-famed city he 
 has been the rirst European to visit, since the days of 
 Niebuhr. 
 
ADEN BAZAAR— ISHMAELITES. 
 
 17 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 A STKOLL THROUGH THE INFANT METROP- 
 OLIS OF BRITISH ARABIA. 
 
 A uniform system of architecture per- 
 vades the houses of Aden, nearly all of 
 which would appear to have arisen out of 
 the ruins of former more extensive edi- 
 fices, now buried far below the surface of 
 the accumulated soil. Tiers of loose un- 
 dressed stone are interlaid, instead of mor- 
 tar, with horizontal bands of timber ; the 
 walls thus traversed being perforated with 
 pigeon-holes to serve as windows, and 
 surmounted by a low parapet concealing 
 the terraced roof. Many, occupied by the 
 more wealthy, have attained to a third 
 story ; but nearly all are destitute of or- 
 nament. This is now restricted to the de- 
 cayed palace of the sultans of Yemen, 
 where 
 
 " in proud state 
 Each robber chief upheld his armed halls, 
 Doing his evil will." 
 
 In the thick coating of cement with which 
 the shattered edifice is still partially in- 
 crusted, are the remains of various raised 
 devices ; and a profusion of open fretwork 
 in wood is still observable, interspersed 
 with latticed cornices, comprising choice 
 sentences from the Koran. 
 
 The shops of Parsee and Mohammadan 
 merchants already extend an assortment 
 of European commodities to the notice of 
 the visitor ; and in a bazaar, infested like 
 other fish-markets by a legion of cats, are 
 exposed sharks and a variety of the finny 
 tribe. Water from the sweetest well is 
 hawked about in dirty skins, instead of the 
 lemonade and sherbert of large oriental 
 towns ; and piles of fruit, drugs, dates, 
 molasses, and, other abominations, present 
 the same amount of flies, and no abate- 
 ment of the compound of villainous smells, 
 by which the booth of the shrewd and 
 avaricious Gentoo is so invariably distin- 
 guished. 
 
 In the suburbs, the frail cadjan wigwam 
 of the Arab and Somauli population, im- 
 part the undeviating aspect of the port- 
 able encampment of the nomade hordes. 
 The tattered goat-hair awning of the bare- 
 footed pilgrim to the shrine at El Medina 
 is here ; and low crazy cabins of matting 
 or yellow reeds are so slenderly covered 
 in with the leaves of the palm, as to form 
 but a scanty shelter against the intolerable 
 heat and dust occasioned by periodical 
 olasts of the fiery shimal. 
 
 Daring his dismal reign, the sun has 
 
 shone fiercely over the extinct crater of 
 Aden, and the relentless shower of dust 
 and pebbles has kept the inhabitants with- 
 in their rude dwellings. But as the de- 
 clining rays cast a lengthened shadow 
 across the narrow alleys, and the hot puffs, 
 abating in violence, are succeeded by a 
 suffocating calm, the hitherto torpid popu- 
 lation is to be seen abroad. That bronzed 
 and sun-burnt visage, surrounded by long 
 matted locks of raven hair, — that slender, 
 but wiry and active frame, — and that en- 
 ergetic gait and manner, proclaim the 
 untamable descendant of Ishmael. He 
 nimbly mounts the crupper of his now 
 unladen dromedary, and at a trot moves 
 down the bazaar on his way back to the 
 town of Lahedge. A checked kerchief 
 around his brows, and a kilt of dark blue 
 calico about his loins, comprise his slen- 
 der costume. His arms have been depos- 
 ited outside the Turkish wall, which 
 stretches its barrier across the isthmus 
 from sea to sea, where flying parties of 
 the Foudthli still infest the plain ; and as 
 he looks back, his meagre ferocious aspect, 
 flanked by that tangled web oi hair, stamps 
 him the roving tenant of the desert. 
 
 The Arab has changed neither his char- 
 acter nor his habits since the days of the 
 patriarchs, and he affords a standing evi- 
 dence of the truth of the scriptural pro- 
 phecy. He regards with disdain and with 
 indifference every other portion of man- 
 kind, for who can produce so ancient mon- 
 uments of liberty as he who, with little 
 intermission, has preserved it from the 
 very Deluge ? Is the land of his ances- 
 tors invaded ? A branch torn by the priest 
 from the venerated nebek,* having been 
 thrust into the fire, is quenched in hot 
 blood welling from the divided throat of a 
 ram, which has only the moment before 
 been slaughtered in the name of God the 
 one omnipotent. Dripping with the crim- 
 son tide, the emblem is solemnly delivered 
 to the nearest warrior, who hies him forth 
 with this his summons for the gathering of 
 the wild clans. Down from their rocky 
 fastnesses pour the old and the young, the 
 untried stripling, and the stern veteran 
 with a thousand scars. On, on speeds the 
 messenger with the alarum of coming 
 strife. Transferred from hand to hand, it 
 rests not in the grasp of any ; and in a 
 few brief hours, thousands of wild spirits, 
 calling upon Allah for victory, and thirst- 
 ing for the blood of the foe, have muster- 
 ed around the unfurled standard of their 
 prophet. 
 
 * A tree bearing a fruit like the Siberian crab. 
 
18 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA 
 
 Thus it was that the numerous hill-forts 
 and strongholds studding- the rich province 
 of Assyr, which borders on the Holy Land 
 of the Moslem, last poured forth their 
 hordes to meet the invader of her fair 
 plains, and the despoiler of her countless 
 flocks. Sixteen thousand warriors, com- 
 posing one of the most ancient as well as 
 bravest of the Arab tribes, cast aside spear 
 and falchion, and, armed only with the 
 deadly creese, stole during the night upon 
 the camp of the insatiate Egyptian, and 
 slaughtering the greater number, drove 
 Ibrahim Pacha, with the wreck of his ar- 
 my, to seek safety in precipitate flight to 
 Hode'ida. 
 
 In yonder fat and sensual money-chang- 
 er from the city of Surat, is presented the 
 very antipodes to the posterity of Hagar. 
 In drowsy indolence, see him emerge from 
 his treasures of ghee and groceries, among 
 which, scales in hand, he has been pa- 
 tiently squatted since earliest dawn at the 
 terrace of his booth, registering his gains 
 in the daily ledger. Not one spark of 
 animation is there. A dark slouching tur- 
 ban, and ample folds of snowy drapery, 
 envelope the sleek person of the crafty 
 Hindoo, and his lethargic motions render 
 it difficult to comprehend how he should 
 have contrived to exile himself from his 
 native soil, and in such a forbidding spot, 
 even in pursuit of his idol, Mammon. 
 
 Ajan and Berbera, famous for their early 
 connection with the Greek kings of Egypt, 
 have both contributed largely to the popu- 
 lation that now throngs the street. The 
 regular and finely-turned features of those 
 Somauli emigrants from the opposite coast 
 are at once selected from the group, al- 
 though some have disguised their hair un- 
 der a thick plaster of quicklime, and oth- 
 ers are rendered hideous by a wig of fiery 
 red curls ; while the dyed ringlets of a 
 third have faded to the complexion of a 
 housemaid's mop, and a fourth, forsooth, is 
 shaven because his locks have been pulled 
 in anger.* All present a curious contrast 
 to the jet black skin and woolly pate of the 
 Suhaili, who, in his turn, is destitute of 
 the thick, pouting lip, which adorns that 
 stalwart Nubian, swaggering like a great 
 bully by his side. At the door of those 
 cadjan cabins, which resemble higglers' 
 crates, not less in size than in form and 
 appearance, groups of withered Somauli 
 crones are diligently weaving mats, bask- 
 ets, and fans, of the pliant date-leaf; and 
 their laughing daughters, yon tall, slim, 
 
 * It is the practice of the Somauli to shave the head 
 when thus insulted, and to make a vow that the hair 
 shall not grow again until they have had their revenge. 
 
 and erect damsels with the earthen pitch* 
 ers above their plaited tresses, present, on 
 their way up from the well, some of the 
 comeliest specimens of the ebon race. 
 
 11 Honesty," saith the Arab proverb, " is 
 found only among poor fools." The Be- 
 douin has for ages been celebrated for his 
 ingenuity and daring, and the African off- 
 set is nothing behind the parent stock. A 
 Somauli thief is perhaps " the cunningest 
 knave in the universe." He has been 
 known to cut away a pile of tobacco so 
 as to leave to the merchant who reposed 
 thereon, nought but the effigy of his own 
 figure : and after entering through the roof 
 of a house, the burglar has taken his exit 
 through the door with chests of treasure, 
 from the top of which the sleeping proprie- 
 tor has been first hoisted, with his bed, by 
 a tackle lowered through the aperture, and 
 so left hanging until the morning ! 
 
 Muffled in a Spanish mantilla, see the - 
 spouse of the bigoted Islam taking the air 
 upon the crupper of a donkey, her fat face 
 so scrupulously concealed, that nothing of 
 it is visible save two sloe-black eyes, which 
 glitter through perforations in the white" 
 veil, and impart a similitude to the horned 
 owl. On the rude steps of the clustering 
 habitations that she has passed, surrounded 
 by rosy-cheeksd urchins, are seated nu- 
 merous dark-eyed and well-dressed Jew- 
 esses. Rachel, although discreet, and' 
 preserving the strictest decorum, is unveil- 
 ed. Were it possible to prevail upon her* 
 to have recourse to daily ablution, in lieu 
 of the hebdomadal immersion which cele- 
 brates her Sabbath eve, her complexion 
 would not be less fair than that of the na- 
 tive of Southern Europe ; and in the well- 
 chiselled features and aquiline profile of 
 the brunette, are preserved all those mark- 
 ed peculiarities which in every part of the 
 world distinguish the scattered daughters 
 of Israel. 
 
 The children of the tribe of Judah are 
 most completely identified with the soil' of 
 Aden, and may be regarded as the artisans 
 and manufacturing population. Victims, 
 heretofore, of the tyranny and intolerant 
 persecution which the infidel has ever to 
 expect at the hand of the true believer, 
 they toiled and accumulated, but feared 
 lest a display of the fruits of their labor 
 should excite the cupidity of a rapacious 
 master. Now their prospect has brighten- 
 ed, and the remnant of a mighty though 
 fallen and dispersed people, no longer ex- 
 ists here in poverty and oppression, insult- 
 ed and despised as they have always been 
 in every part of the Eastern world ; but in 
 uninterrupted security ply their industrious 
 
THE GIBRALTAR OF THE EAST. 
 
 19 
 
 occupation, and under British protection 
 fearlessly practice those rites which have 
 been religiously preserved from the time 
 that their priests bore aloft the ark of the 
 covenant. Stone slabs with Hebrew in- 
 scriptions mark the resting-place of the de- 
 parted ; schools witness the education of 
 the rising generation ; and men and wo- 
 men, arrayed in their holiday apparel, sit 
 apart in the synagogue, to listen, at each 
 return of their Sabbath, to the law which 
 had been read since " by way of the wil- 
 derness out of the Red Sea" their fathers 
 "went up harnessed out of the land of 
 Egypt." 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE GIBRALTAR OF THE EAST. 
 
 Aden, in its history and reverses, pre- 
 sents the type of many a mighty nation — 
 it flourished and has fallen. As it once 
 stood, it was the maritime bulwark of Ara- 
 bia Felix. So early as the reign of Con- 
 stantine the Great, it was celebrated for its 
 impregnable fortifications, its extended traf- 
 fic, and its attractive ports. Here the 
 camels of the Koreishites were laden with 
 a precious cargo of aromatics. Here com- 
 merce first dawned ; and little more than 
 two centuries and a half have rolled away 
 since the decayed city ranked among the 
 most opulent emporia of the East. Its de- 
 cline is only dated from the close of the 
 illustrious reign of Suleiman the Magni- 
 ficent ; but the spider has since " weaved 
 her web in the imperial palace, and the 
 owl has stood sentinel upon the watch- 
 tower." 
 
 In the eyes of the true believer, the cape 
 U hallowed by the tradition that it was 
 honored with the preaching in person of 
 that arch impostor, "the last of all the 
 prophets," who, with the sword in one hand 
 and the Koran in the other, became the 
 lawgiver of the Arabians, and the founder 
 of an empire which in less than a century 
 had spread itself from the Pyrenees to the 
 Indus. Three hundred and sixty mosques 
 once reared their proud heads, and eighty 
 thousand inhabitants poured into the field, 
 an army which accomplished the subjuga- 
 tion of El Yemen. This latter, famous 
 from all antiquity for the happiness of its 
 climate, its fertility and surpassing riches, 
 became an independent kingdom at the pe- 
 riod that Constantinople fell into the hands 
 of Mahomet the Second. Aden frequent- 
 ly cast off its allegiance ; and when the 
 
 Turks, by means of their fleet built at Su- 
 ez, rendered themselves masters of the 
 northern coast of the Red Sea, they found 
 the peninsula independent, under the Sul- 
 tan of Foudthli. Turkey and Portugal, 
 struggling for supremacy in the East, hotly 
 contested its possession ; but, being unable 
 longer to maintain their rivalry, it finally 
 reverted into the grasp of its ancient mas- 
 ters. 
 
 Great natural strength, improved by the 
 substantial fortifications which had been 
 carried by Sultan Selim completely round 
 the zone of hills that engirds the town, 
 now rendered it the fittest of all retreats for 
 the piratical hordes of the desert ; and the 
 lawless sons of Ishmael, scouring the ad- 
 jacent waters, loaded their stronghold with 
 booty. But after the loss of government, 
 Aden could not be expected to retain its 
 opulence. Its trade passed into the rival 
 port of Mocha, and grinding oppression 
 caused the removal of the wealthy. At 
 the period of the British occupation, ninety 
 dilapidated houses, giving shelter to six 
 hundred impoverished souls, were all that 
 remained to attest its ancient glories. The 
 town lay spread out in ruin and desolation, 
 and heaps of stone, mingled with bricks 
 and rubbish, sternly pointed to the grave 
 of the mosque and tall minaret 
 
 Few fragments now survive the general 
 decay, to record the high estate of the once 
 populous metropolis, or reveal the magni- 
 ficence it could formerly boast in works of 
 public utility. The chief buildings are be- 
 lieved to have been situated ten miles in- 
 land, and to have been swallowed up by 
 the ever rising, never ebbing, tide of the 
 desert. The red brick conduit of Abd ei 
 Wahab can still be traced from the Durab 
 el HoraVbi, whence it stretches to Bir Om- 
 heit, upward of eight miles, across a now 
 dilapidated bridge. Here are numerous 
 wells, which supplied the reservoirs ; but, 
 "like the baseless fabric of a vision," every 
 vestige of an edifice has vanished. 
 
 Among the most perfect and conspicu- 
 ous relics of the past are the laborious and 
 costly means adopted to insure, in so arid 
 and burning a climate, a plentiful supply 
 of water. In addition to the wells, three 
 hundred in number, the remains of basins 
 of great magnitude are found in various 
 directions ; and in the Valley of Tanks 
 are a succession of hanging cisterns, form- 
 ed by excavations in the limestone rock. 
 These are lined with flights of steps, and 
 supported by lofty buttresses of imperish- 
 able masonry, forming deep reservoirs of 
 semi-elliptical form, which still blockade 
 every channel in the mountain side, and 
 
20 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 once served to collect the precious drops 
 from heaven, when showers doubtless fell 
 more abundantly than at the present day. 
 
 In the extensive repositories for the dead, 
 too, may be found assurances of the former 
 population of Aden. Many of the count- 
 less tombs in the Turkish cemetery were 
 of white marble, and bore on jasper tab- 
 lets elaborately-sculptured inscriptions sur- 
 mounted by the cap and turban ; but the 
 greater number of these pillared monu- 
 ments have either disappeared or been 
 overthrown. Of the evidences of Moham- 
 madanism that once graced the city, nearly 
 all lie buried from sight beneath heaps of 
 accumulated rubbish and debris, the remo- 
 val of portions of which has disclosed many 
 curious coins of remote date. The mina- 
 ret of Menaleh. and a tottering octagon of 
 red brick, attached to the Jama el Musjid, 
 lone survivors of the wreck, still point to 
 the sky ; and of the few mosques that have 
 been spared by the destroying hand of time, 
 the principal is that of the tutelar saint of 
 the city, beneath the cupola of which, in- 
 vested with a pall of crimson silk, and in- 
 shrined in the odor of sanctity, repose the 
 venerated remains of Sheikh Hydroos. 
 
 An excellent zigzagged road, imperfect- 
 ly paved, and raised in parts to the height 
 of twenty feet, extends from the base to 
 the summit of Jebel Shemshan, and, with 
 some few of the disjointed watch-towers, 
 has defied the ravages of centuries. Three 
 enormous pieces of brass ordnance, pierced 
 
 formed them, excellent, capacious, and se- 
 cure. 
 
 Important commercial advantages can- 
 not fail to accrue from the occupation of 
 so secure an entrepot, which at any sea- 
 son of the year may be entered and quitted 
 with equal facility. The readiest access 
 is afforded to the rich provinces of Hadra" 
 maut and Yemen, famous for their coffee, 
 their frankincense, and the variety of their 
 gums, and abounding in honey and wax, 
 of a quality which may vie with the pro- 
 duce of the hives of the Mediterranean. 
 A lucrative market to the manufactures of 
 India and Great Britain is also extended 
 by the facilities attending communication 
 with the African coast, south of Bab el 
 Mandeb, where the high mountain ranges 
 bordering upon the shore are clothed with 
 trees producing myrrh, frankincense, and 
 precious gums, while the valleys in the 
 interior pour forth for export, sheep, ghee, 
 drugs, dry hides, gold dust, civet, ivory, 
 rhinoceros horns, peltries, and ostrich fea- 
 thers, besides coffee of the choicest, growth. 
 A wide field is open for mercantile specu- 
 lation, and it is not a little pleasant to con- 
 template the approaching improvement of 
 Christian Abyssinia, and the civilization of 
 portions of Africa even more benighted 
 and remote, through the medium of inter- 
 course with British Arabia. 
 
 Under the flag of old England, Aden has 
 enjoyed a degree of happiness and security 
 never previously experienced, even in the 
 
 for a sixty-eight pound shot, and covered i days of her greatest glory, when she ranked 
 with Turkish inscriptions, were the chief 
 symbols of the former strength of this east- 
 ern Gibraltar. These were transmitted to 
 England, when their capture, shortly after 
 the present accession, avenged an insult 
 offered to her flag, and wreathed the first 
 laurels around the brow of her youthful 
 Queen. 
 
 In general aspect the cape is not dis- 
 similar from the volcanic islands in the 
 
 among the foremost of commercial mart.-s 
 in the East, and when vessels from all the 
 known quarters of the globe thronged her 
 boasted roadstead. Emigrants from the 
 interior as well as from the exterior of 
 Hadramaut and Yemen, and from both 
 shores of the Red Sea, are daily crowding 
 within the walls to seek refuge from grind- 
 ing oppression, and to free themselves 
 from the galling burthen beneath which 
 
 Grecian Archipelago, and viewed from a i they have long groaned at the hand of in- 
 
 distance it appears separated altogether 
 from the mainland. The long dead flat of 
 sand by which it is connected with the 
 Arabian continent, rising on either beach 
 scarcely two feet above high water mark, 
 induces the belief that the promontory 
 must on its first production in early ages 
 have been insulated. According to the 
 evidence of the present generation the sea 
 is still receding, and the sand steadily ac- 
 cumulating; but the noble western bay 
 will not be affected for many centuries. 
 Though the glory of Aden may have fled, 
 and her commerce become totally annihi- 
 lated, her ports will long remain as nature 
 
 satiate native despots. The amazing in- 
 crease of population and the crowded state 
 of the bazaars form subject for high admi- 
 ration. In the short space of three yeafea 
 the census has been augmented to twenty 
 thousand souls ; substantial dwellings are 
 springing up in every direction, and at all 
 the adjacent ports, hundreds of native mer- 
 chants do but await the erection of per- 
 manent fortifications in earnest of intention 
 to remain, to flock under the guns with 
 their families and wealth. Emerging thus 
 rapidly from ruin and degradation, the tide 
 of lucrative commerce, both from Africa 
 and Arabia, may be confidently expected 
 
PASSAGE OF THE GULF. 
 
 21 
 
 o revert to its former channel. Blessed 
 by a mild but firm government, the decayed 
 mart, rescued from Arab tyranny and mis- 
 rule, will doubtless shortly attain a pinna- 
 cle far eclipsing even its ancient opulence 
 and renown; and Aden, as a free port, 
 while she pours wealth into a now impov- 
 erished land, must ere long become the 
 queen of the adjacent seas, and take rank 
 among the most useful dependencies of the 
 British crown. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 VOYAGE ACROSS THE GULF OF ARABIA. 
 
 Eight bells were " making it twelve 
 o'clock" on the 15th of May, when the 
 boatswain piped all hands on deck to 
 weigh the anchor, and within a few min- 
 utes the Honorable Company's brig-of-war 
 " Euphrates," having the embassy on 
 board, and commanded by one of its mem- 
 bers,* set her white sails, and, followed by 
 three large native crafts freighted with 
 horses and baggage, stood across the Ara- 
 bian Gulf. A favorable breeze pressed her 
 steadily through the yielding bosom of the 
 ocean. The salt spray flew under her gal- 
 lant bows ; and as the hospitable cadjan 
 roofs on Steamer Point, first in order, and 
 then the jagged pinnacles, forming the 
 spider skeleton of Aden, sank gradually 
 astern, each individual of the party des- 
 tined to traverse the unknown wilds of 
 Ethiopia, took the pilgrim's vow that the 
 razor should pass no more over his beard, 
 until his foot had again rested on civilized 
 shores — an event not unreasonably con- 
 jectured to be far distant for all, and for 
 some destined never to be realized. 
 
 The breeze increasing, the low sandy 
 promontory of Ras Bir on the African coast 
 became visible during the forenoon of the 
 following day ; and before evening, not- 
 withstanding a delay of some hours, caused 
 by an accident to the mainyard o* one of 
 the tenders, which obliged her to be taken 
 in tow, the brig was passing a group of 
 eight coral islands, elevated about thirty 
 feet above the level of the sea. The re- 
 mainder of the fleet having parted com- 
 pany during the night, were now perceived 
 standing directly for Mushahh, the nearest 
 of these islets, situated at the mouth of the 
 Gulf of Tajiira, and divided from the Da- 
 ttakil coast by a fathomless channel of 
 seven miles. An iron messenger dispatch- 
 ed to bring the convoy to, ricochetted over 
 
 * Lieutenant Barker, Indian Navy. 
 1* 
 
 the blue water, kicking up a column of 
 white spray at every bound ; and before 
 the smoke of the gun had cleared the bul- 
 warks, a bald pate protruded between the 
 rigging, was followed by the swarthy per- 
 son of Aboo Bekr, of the Somauli tribe 
 Aboo Salaam, and commonly styled Dara- 
 bili, or " the Liar." Nakhuda of a small 
 trading craft, which had been employed as 
 a pilot-boat during the recent trigonome- 
 trical survey of the coast, he was well 
 known to the officers of the " Euphrates," 
 and was ascertained to be at this moment 
 charged with dispatches to Aden, which, 
 whether important or otherwise, had been 
 during three days lying safely at anchor 
 off the island, to admit of enhanced profits 
 by the collection of a cargo of wood. 
 
 "Salaam aleikum!" exclaimed the old 
 Palinurus, as soon as his foot had touched 
 the deck ; " Hamdu lillah ! Praise be unto 
 God ! it is you, after all. When I saw 
 those two crazy tubs in your van, I believed 
 that it could not be my old ship, although 
 it loomed up so vastly like her ; but the 
 moment you took in your studding-sails to 
 let Aboo Bekr come alongside, I knew it 
 must be the Capitan Bashi. Kayf halut, 
 how fares it with your health ?" 
 
 The welcome visitor was forthwith ac- 
 commodated with a chair on the poop; 
 into which having squeezed himself with 
 difficulty, he drew up his knees to his 
 scanty beard, inserted a cigar into his 
 mouth as a quid, and, sipping tea like a 
 finished washerwoman, instituted a train 
 of inquiries relative to the position of af- 
 fairs in the British possessions across the 
 water. 
 
 " Tayyib, tayyib," he ejaculated, when 
 thoroughly satisfied that Cape Aden was 
 not again in the hands of the Arabs. 
 " Marhabba, it is well. All, too, is as it 
 should be at Tajiira. Misunderstandings 
 are adjusted, and the avaricious chieftains 
 have at last, the Lord be praised ! got all 
 the dirt out of their bellies. Their palms 
 have been judiciously tickled, and it only 
 now remains to be seen whether the old 
 sultan, who is fully as fond of money as 
 his neighbors, or his ancient rival, Mo- 
 hammed Ali, is to have the honor of for- 
 warding the English to King Saloo. My 
 boy has just returned from Habesh, and 
 shall escort you. Abroo has been twice 
 in Bombay, as you know, capitan. You 
 have only to tell me if he should misbe- 
 have, and I '11 trounce the young scamp 
 soundly." 
 
 Meanwhile, the bold mountain outline 
 of the land of promise, forming a worthy 
 barrier to the unexplored treasures of the 
 
22 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 vast continent of Africa, had been rapidly 
 emerging from obscurity, and the brown 
 forbidding bluff, styled Ras Dukhan, " the 
 smoking promontory," in height about five 
 or six hundred feet, was now on the star- 
 board quarter ; its abrupt summit, as usual, 
 surmounted by a coronet of fleecy clouds, 
 from which, if not from the thermal well 
 at its base, this cape has probably derived 
 its appellation. The brig was already 
 standing up the bay of Tajiira ; but dark- 
 ness overtaking her, it was resolved to lay 
 to until daybreak ; and a gun fired in inti- 
 mation of our approach, was presently an- 
 swered by a display of rockets and blue 
 lights from the Honorable Company's 
 schooner "Constance," riding at anchor 
 in the harbor. 
 
 The Arabs lay claim to the invention of 
 the compass ; and Aboo Bekr, who believed 
 himself in truth a second Anson, was pro- 
 vided with one, which must certainly have 
 been the first ever constructed. Age 
 having impaired the dilapidated needle, it 
 was forced off its pivot by a quantity of 
 pepper-corns, which are here considered 
 highly efficacious in the restoration of de- 
 cayed magnetic powers. From the native 
 navigators in the Indian Ocean, he had 
 borrowed a primitive nautical instrument 
 for determining the latitude ; nor was he 
 a little vain of his practical skill as an ob- 
 server. Through a perforation in the 
 centre of a plane of wood, in size and 
 shape like a playing card, was passed a 
 knotted whipcord ; and the distance from 
 each knot was so regulated, that the sub- 
 tended angle should equal the altitude of 
 the polar star at some frequented point on 
 the coast. The knot having been placed 
 between the teeth, and the lower margin 
 of the plane brought in optical contact 
 with the horizon, the position of Polaris 
 must be observed with reference to the 
 upper edge ; when, if it be above, the de- 
 sired haven is known to be to the south- 
 ward — if below, to the northward, and the 
 course is shaped accordingly. 
 
 " I '11 take you in this very night, Capi- 
 tan Bashi, if you so please," resumed the 
 pilot, whose packet had by this time es- 
 caped his recollection altogether. "Only 
 give me the order, and, praise be unto Al- 
 lah ! there is nothing that Aboo Bekr can- 
 not do. My head, as you see, is bald, and 
 I may perhaps be a little old-looking now ; 
 but wait until we get on shore, and my 
 new wig is bent : Inshallah ! I shall look 
 like a child of five years among the young- 
 est of them " 
 
 " Now, if we had but Long Ali of Zeyla 
 on board," continued the old man, whose 
 
 merry tongue knew no rest ; " if we had 
 only Two-fathom Ali here, you would not 
 make all these difficulties. When they 
 want to lay out an anchor, they have no- 
 thing else to do but to hand it over to Ali, 
 and he walks away with it into six or eight 
 feet without any ado. I went once upon 
 a time in the dark to grope for a berth on 
 board of his buggalow, and stumbling over 
 some one's toes, inquired to whose legs 
 they belonged : ' Ali's,' was the reply. 
 ' And whose knees are these ?' said I, after 
 walking half across the deck. 'Ali's.' 
 ' And this head in the scuppers, pray whose 
 is it ?' * Ali's, to be sure,' growled a sleepy 
 voice \ ' what do you want with it]' ' Sub- 
 han Allah, Ali again !' I exclaimed ; ' then 
 I must even look for stowage elsewhere.' " 
 
 Dawn of the 17th revealed the town of 
 Tajura, not a mile distant, on the verge of 
 a broad expanse of blue water, over which 
 a gossamer-like fleet of fishing catamarans 
 already plied their busy craft. The tales 
 of the dreary Tehama, of the suffocating 
 shimal, and of the desolate plains of the 
 blood-thirsty Ada'iel, were in that moment 
 forgotten. Pleasure sparkled in every 
 eye, and each heart bounded with exulta- 
 tion at the near prospect of fulfilling the 
 benevolent schemes in design, and of add- 
 ing one mite to the melioration of Afric's 
 swart sons. 
 
 Those who are conversant with Bur- 
 chell's admirable illustration of an en- 
 campment of Cape farmers, with their 
 gigantic wagons scattered about in pictu- 
 resque confusion, will best understand the 
 appearance of the group of primitive habi- 
 tations that now presented itself on the 
 sea-beach. Exceeding two hundred in 
 number, and rudely constructed of frames 
 of unhewn timber, arranged in a parabolic 
 arch, and covered in with date matting, 
 they resembled the white tilts of the 
 Dutch boors, and collectively sheltered 
 some twelve hundred inhabitants. The 
 bold gray mountains, like a drop-scene, 
 limited the landscape, and, rising tier 
 above tier, through coral limestone and 
 basaltic trap, to the majestic Jebel Goodah, 
 towering five thousand feet above the 
 ocean, were enveloped in dirty red clouds, 
 which imparted the aspect of a morning in 
 the depth of winter. Verdant clumps of 
 date and palm-trees embosomed the only 
 well of fresh water, around which numer- 
 ous Bedouin females were drawing their 
 daily supply of the precious fluid. These 
 relieved the humble terraced mosque of 
 whitewashed madrepore, whence the voice 
 of the muezzin summoned the true be- 
 liever to matin prayer ; and a belt of green 
 
PRECOCIOUS BOY— FAIR OF BERBERA. 
 
 23 
 
 •nakanni, a dwarf species of mimosa with 
 uniform umbrella tops, fringing the sandy 
 shore, completed a pleasant contrast to the 
 frowning blocks of barren black lava which 
 fortify the Gibraltar whereupon the eye 
 had rested. 
 
 As the ship sailed into the harbor, the 
 appearance of a large shark in her wake 
 caused the tongue of the pilot again to 
 "break adrift," "A certain friend of 
 mine," said he, " nakhuda of a craft al- 
 most as fast a sailer as my own, which is 
 acknowledged to be the best in these seas, 
 was, once upon a time, bound from this 
 port to Mocha, with camels on board. 
 When off Jabel Jan, the high table-land 
 betwixt the Bay of Tajura and the Red 
 Sea, one of the beasts dying, was hove 
 overboard. Up came a shark, ten times 
 •the size of that fellow, and swallowed the 
 carcass, leaving one of the hinder legs pro- 
 truding from his jaws ; and before he had 
 time to think where he was to find stow- 
 age for it, up came a second tremendous 
 monster; and bolted his messmate, camel, 
 leg, and all." 
 
 In return for this anecdote, the old man 
 was treated to the history of the two Kil- 
 kenny cats in the sawpit, which fought 
 until nothing remained of either but the 
 tail and a bit of the flue. " How could 
 that be ?" he retorted seriously, after 
 turning the business over in his mind. 
 " Now, Capitan Bashi, you are spinning 
 yarns, but, by Allah, the story I have told 
 you is as true as the holy Koran, and if 
 you do n't choose to believe me, there are 
 a dozen persons of unblemished veracity 
 now in Tajura, who are ready to vouch 
 •for its correctness." 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 CAST ANCHOR AT TAJURA ON THE AFRICAN 
 COAST. 
 
 A scraggy, misshapen lad, claimed by 
 Aboo Bekr as his own most dutiful neph- 
 ew, now paddled alongside in a frail skiff, 
 the devil dancing in his wicked eye ; and 
 having caught the end of a rope thrown 
 by the doting uncle, he was on board in 
 another instant. 
 
 During a former cruize of the "Eu- 
 phrates," this imp had contrived to pass 
 on the purser a basket of half-hatched 
 eggs, which he warranted "new-laid," 
 but with which he was subsequently 
 pelted over the gangway. On being 
 greeted as " Sahib el bayzah," " the mas- 
 
 ter of the eggs," and asked if he had not 
 brought a fresh supply for sale, grinning 
 archly, he dragged forward by the topknot 
 a dull, stupid, little wretch — his messmate 
 — whose heavy features formed the exact 
 reverse of his own impudent animation. 
 " Here," he exclaimed, " is the identical 
 young rascal of whom I told you I bought 
 them; he actually stole the whole from 
 under his mother's hen, and then assured 
 me that they were fresh." " Why do n't 
 you grow taller as well as sharper ?" in- 
 quired the party upon whom the preco- 
 cious child of the sea had imposed; " 'tis 
 now twelve months since you cheated me, 
 and you are as diminutive a dwarf as 
 ever." "How can any one thrive who is 
 starved ?" was the prompt reply; " were I 
 to eat as immoderately as you do, I doubt 
 not I should soon grow as corpulent." 
 
 But. the arrival of Ali Shermarki shortly 
 changed this desultory conversation to 
 weightier matters. This worthy old man, 
 sheikh of the Somauli tribe Aber Gerhajis, 
 possessing great influence and considera- 
 tion among the entire Danakil population 
 of the coast, had been invited from Zeyla, 
 his usual place of residence, to assist in the 
 extensive preparations making for the jour- 
 ney of the embassy ; and he now repre- 
 sented the requisite number of camels to 
 be on their way down from the mountains, 
 if the assurances of the owners, upon 
 whose word small reliance could be placed, 
 were to be implicitly believed. 
 
 Long faithfully attached to the British 
 government, the sheikh's first introduction 
 arose out of a catastrophe which occurred 
 many years ago — the loss of the merchant 
 brig " Mary Anne " at Berbera, a sea-port 
 on the Somauli coast, lying immediately 
 opposite to the peninsula of Aden. De- 
 serted from October till March, it becomes, 
 throughout the residue of the year, one 
 uninterrupted fair, frequented by ships from 
 the Arabian shores, by rapacious Banians 
 from India, and by caravans of wandering 
 savages from all parts of the interior — a 
 vast temporary city or encampment, pop- 
 ulated by not fewer than fifty thousand 
 souls, springing into existence as if by the 
 magic aid of Aladdin's lamp, and disap- 
 pearing so suddenly, that within a single 
 week, not one inhabitant is to be seen. 
 Yet another six months, and the purse- 
 proud merchant of Hurrur is again there, 
 with his drove of comely slaves newly ex- 
 ported from the highlands of Abyssinia. 
 There, too, is the wild pagan, displaying 
 coffee, peltries, and precious gums from 
 beyond Gurague ; and, punctual as ever, 
 see the kafilah from the distant gurriahs 
 
54 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 of Amin and Ogaden, a nomade band, la- 
 den with ivory and ostrich plumes, and 
 stained from head to foot, both in person 
 and in garment, by the impalpable red dust 
 traversed during the long march from the 
 southward. 
 
 Religious prejudices on the part of the 
 wily Hindoo precluding all traffic in live 
 stock, the Somauli shepherd retains in his 
 own hanfl the sale of his black-headed ! 
 flocks ; embarked with which in his frail • 
 bark of fifty tons, he stands boldly across 
 the gulf, at seasons when the Arab fears ! 
 even to creep along the coast of the Hejaz. j 
 All other trade, however, is engrossed by j 
 the subtle Banian, who divides the adduc- j 
 tor pollicis of the right thumb, in order to j 
 increase the span by which his wares are i 
 to be measured ; and he, during many \ 
 years, has enjoyed, silently and unobserv- 
 ed, the enormous profits accruing from the ! 
 riches annually poured out from the hidden 
 regions of Africa. No form of govern- [ 
 ment regulates the commerce ; and, in the 
 absence of imposts,, barter is conducted 
 solely through the medium of a native bro- 
 ker styled aban, who, receiving a regula- 
 ted per-centage upon purchases and sales, 
 is bound, at the risk of his own life, to 
 protect his constituent from injury or out- 
 rage. 
 
 A vessel standing toward the coast 
 proves a signal to all who gain their live- 
 lihood by this system, to swim off, and con- 
 test first arrival on board ; the winner of 
 the aquatic race, in accordance with an- 
 cient usage, being invariably received as 
 her aban. Thus it was that Ali Sher- 
 marki became agent to the u Mary Araie," 
 a small English merchantman from Mau- 
 ritius, whose captain, imprudently landing 
 with the greater portion of his crew, af- 
 forded to a party of knavish Somauli an 
 opportunity to cut the cable, when she 
 drifted on shore and was lost. Hoping by 
 his influence to prevail upon the plunder- 
 ers to desist, the aban, then a younger 
 man, exerted himself to gain the wreck, 
 but he was repulsed by a shower of spears, 
 and his boat was swamped. A savage rab- 
 ble next beleaguered his dwelling, and im- 
 periously demanded the persons of the of- 
 ficers and crew, in order to put them to 
 death ; but, true to his charge, Ali Sher- 
 marki stoutly resisted, and being severely 
 wounded, succeeded with his blood in se- 
 curing honorable terms, and preserving the 
 lives for which he had made himself re- 
 sponsible. His zealous integrity was duly 
 rewarded by the British government, and 
 a sword was presented in token of his gal- 
 lantry, the display of the brilliant setting 
 
 of which led to the narration of the fore- 
 going history. 
 
 The passage from Aden had been made 
 in forty-two hours. As the cable of the 
 " Euphrates " ran through the hawse-holes, 
 and the rest of the squadron fell into their 
 places betwixt herself and the shore, she 
 fired a salute of five guns ; and, after con- 
 siderable delay, a negro was peiceived tim- 
 idly advancing with a lighted brand from 
 among a knot of gray-bearded elders, seat- 
 ed in deep consultation beneath the scanty 
 foliage of an ancient date-tree. A super- 
 annuated 4 pr., honey-combed throughout 
 its calibre, and mounted upon a rickety 
 ship carriage, tottered on the beach — the 
 sole piece of ordnance possessed by Sultan 
 Mohammad ibn Mohammad, reputed ruler 
 of all the Danakil tribes. It was, after 
 much coaxing, persuaded to explode in re- 
 ply to the compliment paid, and for some 
 minutes afterward, wreaths of white smoke 
 continued to ascend from the chimney- 
 like vent, as though the venerable engine 
 had taken fire, and was being consumed 
 internally. 
 
 The commander of the " Euphrates," 
 whose naval functions were now tempora- 
 rily suspended, having long enjoyed the 
 honor of a personal acquaintance with the 
 potentate bearing the above pompous and 
 high-sounding title, repaired forthwith to 
 the palace," which consists of the stern 
 moiety of the ill-3tarred " Mary Anne," 
 tastily erected, keel uppermost, in the mid- 
 d'e of the town to serve as an attic story. 
 | Letters of introduction from the political 
 authorities at Aden, with many complimen- 
 tary speeches, duly delivered, permission to 
 land was solicited ; and although the for- 
 midable array of shipping, whose guns, not 
 two hundred yards distant, sullenly over- 
 looked the royal lodge, had given birth to 
 certain misgivings, the sultan finally over- 
 came his fears, and acquiesced in tne ar- 
 rangement. A spot of waste land, forming 
 a common near the mosque, was pointed 
 out as the site upon which to encamp, but 
 the favor was granted with this express 
 understanding, that the British embassy 
 should tarry in so enviable a situation, not 
 one moment longer than the exigencies of 
 the service imperatively demanded ; a sav- 
 ing clause in the stipulation to which all 
 parties heartily subscribed. 
 
 The bay in which the " Euphrates" now 
 rode, styled, from its wonted smoothness, 
 "Bahr el Banateen," "the sea of the two 
 nymphs," is a deep narrow estuary, bound- 
 ed by a bold coast, and extending, in a 
 south-westerly direction, about forty-five 
 miles, when the Eesah and Danakil shores 
 
RECEPTION OF THE EMBASSY. 
 
 suddenly converge so as to form a strait- 
 ened channel, which imparts the figure of 
 an hour-glass. Barely three-quarters of a 
 mile across, this passage is divided by a 
 barren rocky islet, styled " Bab," " the 
 door," as occupying the gateway to the in- 
 ner bay of Goobut el Kharab, *' the basin 
 of foulness." The vortices formed by the 
 strong tide setting through these confined 
 apertures, assume a most dangerous as- 
 pect ; and although the water in the bowl, 
 whereof the longer axis measures twelve, 
 and the shorter five miles, is so intensely 
 salt as to create a smarting of the skin 
 during immersion, mud adhering to the 
 lead at one hundred fathoms, is perfectly 
 sweet and fresh. Of four islets, two are 
 rocks ; Bood Ali, on the contrary, three 
 hundred feet in height, and perfectly inac- 
 cessible, being thickly incrusted with 
 earth and vegetable matter, while the sides 
 of its nearest neighbor, Hood Ali, are bare, 
 and present unequivocal traces of more re- 
 cent volcanic action than are to be found 
 in the surrounding debris. 
 
 Immediately outside the bay, on the 
 Danakil coast, there issues from the rock 
 below high water line, a spring which, at 
 the flood tide, is completely effaced ; but 
 during the ebb is so intensely hot, that a 
 crab is instantly destroyed and turned red 
 by immersion. At the western extremity 
 of Goobut el Kharab, a cove three hundred 
 yards in diameter, with sixteen fathoms 
 water, is inclosed by precipitous volcanic 
 cliffs, and the entrance barred by a narrow 
 coral reef, which, at low tide, lies high and 
 dry. In the waters of this recess is pre- 
 sented one of those strange phenomena 
 which are not to be satisfactorily explained. 
 Always ebbing, there is an underflow du- 
 ring even the flood tide ; and usually glassy 
 smooth, they become occasionally agitated 
 by sudden ebullition, boiling up in whirl- 
 pools, which pour impetuously over the 
 bar; whence the natives, persuaded that 
 there exists a subterranean passage con- 
 nected with the great Salt Lake, of which 
 the sparkling expanse is visible from an 
 intervening high belt of decomposing lava, 
 term the cove " Mirsa good Ali," " the 
 source of the sea." 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 EECEPTION OF THE EMBASSY BY THE SULTAN 
 OF THE SEA-PORT, AND RETURN VISIT TO 
 HIS HIGHNESS. 
 
 The first British camp with which the 
 sea-port of Tajura had been honored since 
 8 
 
 its foundation, raised its head on the after- 
 noon of the 18th of May ; when the em- 
 bassy, accompanied by the officers of both 
 ships-of-war in the harbor, landed under a 
 salute of seventeen guns from the " Eu- 
 phrates,"* and, in a spacious crimson 
 pavilion, erected as a hall of audience, 
 received a visit of ceremony from the sul- 
 tan and his principal chiefs. A more un- 
 princely object can scarcely be conceived 
 than was presented in imbecile, the attenu- 
 ated, and ghastly form of this most meagre 
 potentate, who, as he tottered into the mar- 
 quee, supported by a long witch-like wand, 
 tendered his hideous bony claws to each 
 of the party in succession, with all the re- 
 pulsive coldness that characterizes a Dan- 
 kali shake of the hand. An encourager of 
 the staple manufactures of his own coufi- 
 try, his decrepit frame was enveloped in a 
 coarse cotton mantle, which, with a blue 
 checked wrapper about his loins, and an 
 ample turban perched on the very apex of 
 his shaven crown, was admirably in keep- 
 ing with the harmony of dirt that pervaded 
 the attire of his privy council and attend- 
 ants. Projecting triangles of leather 
 graced the toes of his rude sandals ; a 
 huge quarto Koran, slung over his bent 
 shoulder, rested beneath the left arm, on 
 the hilt of a brass-mounted creese, which 
 was girded to the right side ; and his illus- 
 trious person was further defended against 
 evil influence by a zone and bandalier, 
 thickly studded with mystic amulets and 
 most potent charms, extracted from the 
 sacred book. Enfeebled by years, his 
 deeply-furrowed countenance, bearing an 
 ebony polish, was fringed by a straggling 
 white beard, and it needed not the science 
 of Lavater to detect, in the indifference of 
 his dull leaden eye, and the puckered cor- 
 ners of his toothless mouth, the lines of 
 cruelty, cunning, and sordid avarice. 
 
 His highness's haggard form was sup- 
 ported by the chief ministers of church 
 and state — Abdool Rahman Sowahil, the 
 judge, civil, criminal, and ecclesiastic, and 
 Hamed Bunaito, the pursy wazir, whose 
 bodily circumference was in strict uni- 
 son with the pomposity of his carriage. 
 One Saleh Shehem, too, occupied a promi- 
 nent seat in ths upper ranks — a wealthy 
 slave merchant, whose frightful deformities 
 have ennobled him with the title of " Ash- 
 rem," which being interpreted signifies, 
 " he of the hare-lip." This trio alone, of 
 all the unwashed retinue, showed turbaned 
 heads, every lesser satellite wearing either 
 a natural or artificial full-bottomed peruke, 
 graced with a yellow wooden skewer, 
 
 * Commanded by Lieutenant J. Young, I. N. 
 
26 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 something after the model of a salad fork, 
 stuck erect in hair well stiffened with a 
 goodly accumulation of sheep's-tail fat, the 
 rancid odor whereof was far from enhan- 
 cing the agremens of the interview. Izhak 
 and Hajji Kasim, two elders of the blood- 
 royal, with whom a much closer acquaint- 
 ance was in store, were perfectly bald, — 
 their patriarchal bearing and goodly pres- 
 ence affording no bad imitation of the 
 scriptural illustrations by the old masters 
 of the apostles St. Peter and St. Paul. 
 True to his word, the wag Aboo Bekr, as 
 full of pleasantries as ever, had donned a 
 preposterous tawny wig, quaintly manu- 
 factured of the fleece of a sheep ; and in 
 his smirking, facetious physiognomy was 
 found the principal relief to the scowling 
 satanic glances of the ill-favored rabble, 
 dripping with tallow, and redolent of abom- 
 inable smells, who crowded the tent to the 
 choking of every doorway. 
 
 It having heretofore been the invariable 
 maxim of the sultan to exact a visit from 
 the stranger before condescending to pay 
 one himself, the departure from established 
 rule in favor of the liege subjects of her 
 Britannic majesty could not fail to prove 
 eminently gratifying. Compliments of the 
 most fulsome nature were bandied about 
 with compound interest, as the coffee-cup 
 passed round to the more distinguished of 
 the Danakil guests. Promises of assist- 
 ance the most specious were lavished by 
 the authorities, in grateful acknowledg- 
 ment whereof, Cachemire shawls, and Delhi 
 embroidered scarfs of most exquisite work- 
 manship, were liberally distributed, and as 
 greedily tucked under the dirty cloth of the 
 avaricious recipients ; and although, in ac- 
 cordance with the unpolished custom of 
 the country, no sort of salutation was of- 
 fered when the conference broke up, the 
 filthy guests departed with a semblance of 
 good-humor, that had been observable in 
 none at their first entrance. 
 
 Widely different was the mood of the son 
 of Ali Abi, chief of the Rookhba, as he 
 rushed into the pavilion on the exit of his 
 rival, the hereditary sultan of the Danakil. 
 Lucifer, when gazing forth upon the newly 
 created paradise, and plotting the downfall 
 of the sinless inmates of the garden of 
 Eden, looked not half so fiend-like as Mo- 
 hammad Ali, while, trembling with jealousy 
 and rage, he demanded the reason of hav- 
 ing been so insultingly omitted in the dis- 
 tribution of valuables ? " Am I then a dog," 
 he continued, in the highest indignation, 
 ** and not worth the trouble of propitiating ? 
 whereas that old dotard yonder is to have 
 his empty skull bound with rich shawls 
 
 from India, and his powerless relatives de- 
 corated from head to foot. Inshallah, we 
 shall see anon whether the sultan of the 
 sea-beach, or the son of Ali Abi, keeps the 
 key of the road to Habesh." 
 
 Unlike the succession of every other 
 government in the universe, the nominal 
 sovereignty of the united tribes composing 
 the Ada'i'el of Danakil nation, whereof Ta- 
 jiira is the seat, is alternately vested in the 
 adali and the abli, a sultan drawn from 
 the one, being succeeded by his wazir, 
 who is invariably a member of the other, 
 while the individual to fill the post vacated 
 by the latter, is elected by suffrage from 
 the family of the sultan deceased. The 
 town is besides the rendezvous of the pet- 
 ty chiefs of all the surrounding clans, who, 
 to the number of eight or ten, claim an 
 equal voice in the senate, and with about 
 a hundred litigious followers each, make 
 it their head-quarters during the greater 
 portion of the year. Mohammad Ali is 
 the principal of these, and his powerful 
 tribe occupying a central position on the 
 road to Abyssinia, he asserts the right 
 to escort all parties proceeding thither — a 
 right which the sultan denies. The ne- 
 cessity of propitiating at one time, and 
 in the same place, two rival savages, pos- 
 sessing equally the means of annoyance, 
 while neither is sufficiently strong to afford 
 protection against the interference of the 
 other, rendered the negotiation one of con- 
 siderable difficulty and delicacy ; nor was 
 it without a vast expenditure of honied 
 words, that the ruffled temper of the mal- 
 content was finally soothed, and he was 
 persuaded to waive the assertion of his re- 
 cognized claim, until a more suitable op- 
 portunity. 
 
 All the tents having been erected, the 
 steeds landed and picketed in the rear, and 
 the heterogeneous mass of property which 
 strewed the sea-beach reduced to a some- 
 thing less chaotic state, a return visit to 
 his highness was paid in full uniform ; 
 and the cortege being swelled by the naval 
 officers, an exceedingly gay procession of 
 cocked hats, plumes, and gold lace, passed 
 along the strand to the palace, under a be- 
 fitting salute from the brig-of-war. The 
 lounging population were altogether lost in 
 amazement at the sight of such magnifi- 
 cence—old and young, of both sexes, 
 thronging the way-side, with features in- 
 dicative of unequivocal admiration at the 
 brilliancy of so unwonted a display. 
 
 The thunder of artillery, to which the 
 nervous old sultan does not conceal his 
 insuperable aversion, still shook the unpre- 
 tending couch whereon he quailed, as the 
 
CITY OF TAJURA. 
 
 27 
 
 orocession entered the fragile tenement of 
 stakes and matting which constituted the 
 divan ; and which, without possessing any 
 pretensions to exclude either sun or rain, 
 proved just sufficiently large to include the 
 entire party. A renewal of hand-shaking 
 in its coldest form, and a repetition of yes- 
 terday's compliments, and of yesterday's 
 promises made only to be broken, was fol- 
 lowed by a general sipping of coffee, pre- 
 pared, not in the royal kitchen, but in the 
 cuisine of the embassy ; and after being 
 scrutinized during ten minutes of suffocat- 
 ing heat by numerous female eyes glisten- 
 ing through an infinity of chinks and per- 
 forations in the envious matting, the party 
 returned, bearing as a costly token of his 
 highness's regard, a cloth similar to that 
 composing the royal mantle. 
 
 It did indeed, in this instance, form mat- 
 ter of heartfelt congratulation, that the re- 
 gal custom was dispensed with, of investing 
 the honored guest with a garment from the 
 imperial wardrobe ! As the cavalcade, duly 
 impressed with this sentiment, remounted 
 at the gate of the thorn inclosure which 
 fortifies the palace, the sultana vouchsafed 
 a glimpse of her bedizened person from the 
 stern cabin window of the " Mary Anne " 
 — the withered frame of the ancient bel- 
 damt;, embedded in spells, beads, amulets, 
 and grease, forcibly reminding the specta- 
 tor of the witch of Endor, and rendering her 
 in very truth, a right seemly partner for her 
 wrinkled lord. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 TAJURA, "THE CITY OF THE SLAVE MER- 
 CHANT." 
 
 In the heart of the peninsula of Arabia, 
 environed on every side by rocky moun- 
 tains, there stood, in the middle of the 
 sixth century, a celebrated pagan shrine, 
 that had been held in the most exalted 
 veneration, during fourteen hundred years. 
 The edifice was believed to cover the hal- 
 lowed remains of Ishmael, the father of 
 the wandering Bedouin, and it contained a 
 certain sacred black stone, whereon the 
 patriarch Jacob, saw the vision of the an- 
 gels ascending into heaven. On its site, 
 according to the Arab tradition, Adam 
 pitched his tent when expelled from the 
 garden of Eden, and there died Eve, the 
 partner of his fall, whose grave of green 
 sods is shown to the present day, upon the 
 barren shores of the Red Sea. 
 
 This shrine, of course, was none other 
 than the famous temple of the sun at Mec- 
 3* 
 
 ca, since so consecrated by the lawgiver 
 of the Mohammadans, as to form the focus 
 of attraction to every true believer. The 
 extraordinary veneration it received in 
 those early days, concentrating the tide of 
 commerce, rendered it the absorbing mart 
 of Eastern trade. Abyssinia at that pe- 
 riod held in occupation the adjacent prov- 
 inces of Arabia Felix ; and Abrahah, the 
 vicegerent of Yemen, conceiving the idea 
 of diverting the channel to his own advan- 
 tage, erected in the country of the Homer- 
 ites a splendid Christian church, which, 
 under the title of Keleisa, he endowed 
 with the privileges, immunities, and emol- 
 uments, that had pertained from all antiqui- 
 ty, to the shrine of Sabaen idolatry. 
 
 " If," says Gibbon, " a Christian power 
 had been maintained in Arabia, Mahomet 
 must have been crushed in his cradle, and 
 Abyssinia would have prevented a revolt 
 which has changed the civil and religious 
 aspect of the world." But alarmed at the 
 prospect of the desertion of their temple, 
 both by votaries and merchants, the Beni 
 Koreish, who held the keys of the black 
 stone in hereditary right, polluted the rival 
 fane at Saana, which had no equal, saving 
 the palace of the Hamyar kings, and was 
 calculated to insure the veneration of every 
 pilgrim. Out of this sacrilege and affront 
 arose the event celebrated in the Koran 
 as " the war of the elephant." Mounted 
 on a huge white elephant, Abrahah, sur- 
 named El Ashrem, placing himself at the 
 head of a vast army, proceeded to take re- 
 venge on the idolaters ; but, misled by in- 
 telligence artfully given by Aboo Taleb, 
 grandfather to the apostle of God, he de- 
 stroyed, instead of Kaaba, a temple of Osi- 
 ris at TaVef, and the first recorded appear- 
 ance of the smallpox, shortly afterward 
 annihilated the Christian forces. 
 
 The wars that distracted all Arabia, be- 
 tween the Greeks and Persians in the first 
 instance, and subsequently between Ma- 
 homet and the population in support of his 
 divine mission, had greatly impaired the 
 traffic carried on by general consent at the 
 temple of Mecca. A caravan scarcely 
 ever ventured forth by any road, that it 
 was not plundered by the opposing parti- 
 sans, and merchants as well as trade grad- 
 ually departed south of the Arabian Gulf, 
 to sea-ports which, in earlier times, had 
 been the emporia of commerce with the 
 East. Rahei'ta, Zeyla, Tajilra, and a num- 
 ber of other towns in the Indian Ocean 
 thus recovered their importance and their 
 lost prosperity. The conquest of the 
 Abyssinian territories in Arabia, drove 
 every Ethiopian to the African shores. 
 
28 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 Little districts now grew into great con- 
 sideration. Mara, Hadea, Aussa, and Adel, 
 among other petty states, assumed unto 
 themselves the title of kingdoms, and short- 
 ly acquired power and wealth eclipsing 
 many of the more ancient monarchies. 
 
 The miserable town of Tajiira, " the ci- 
 ty of the slave merchant," as it exists at 
 the present day, demands no further de- 
 scription. It was for two years in the 
 hands of the Turks, who occupied it after 
 the taking of Massowah, and converted 
 into a fort a venerable mosque, now in ru- 
 ins, on the sea- beach near the palace. But 
 no consistent chronicle, either of the cap- 
 ture or evacuation, is to be expected where 
 every man is notorious equally as a boast- 
 er and a liar, and making himself the indi- 
 vidual hero in every passage of arms, never 
 fails to extol his own clan as immeasura- 
 bly superior in valor to every other. The 
 melancholy 'aspect of the place is but too 
 well calculated to convey to the traveller 
 a foretaste of the sufferings inseparable 
 from a pilgrimage through any portion of 
 the country denominated Adel ; and each 
 barbarian of the entire population of Ta- 
 jiira will be found, on sad experience, a 
 type of the Dankali nation ! 
 
 Bigoted Mohammadans, punctual to the 
 call of the muezzin, praying three times 
 in excess of the exactions of the prophet, 
 often passing the entire night in the 
 mosque, or sitting in council at its thresh- 
 old; sedulously attentive to the outward 
 forms of their creed, though few have suf- 
 ficient energy to undertake a pilgrimage to 
 the Kaaba, and content, like other hypo- 
 crites, with a rigid observance of externals 
 — the Danakil rise from their devotions 
 well primed with Moslem intolerance, and 
 are perfectly ready to lie and cheat, as oc- 
 casion may offer. Unoccupied, and at a 
 loss for honest employment, idlers without 
 number sauntered about the pavilion at all 
 times and seasons, entering at pleasure, 
 and monopolizing chairs and tables with 
 the insolent independence which forms one 
 of their most prominent features. Sup- 
 ported by a long staff, the ruffians gazed 
 for hours together at the novel splendor of 
 the equipage; and invariably disfigured by 
 a large quid of tobacco adulterated with 
 ashes, squirted the redundant saliva over 
 the carpet, although squatted on the out- 
 side of the door, with ample space at com- 
 mand. But although thieves by profession 
 on a grand scale, they fortunately contriv- 
 ed to keep their hands from picking and 
 stealing ; and notwithstanding that the 
 tents were thus thronged from morning till 
 night, and the 6ea-beach for many weary 
 
 days was strewed with boxes and bales of 
 truly tempting exterior, nothing whatever 
 was abstracted. 
 
 The classic costume of the people of 
 this sea-port consists of a white cotton 
 robe, thrown carelessly over the shoulder, 
 in the manner of the old Roman toga ; a 
 blue checked kilt reaching to the knees, 
 simply buckled about the waist by a leath- 
 ern belt, which supports a most formida- 
 ble creese, and a pair of rude undressed 
 sandals to protect the feet of such as can 
 afford the luxury. The plain round buck- 
 ler and the broad-headed spear, without 
 which few ever cross their threshold, ren- 
 ders the naturally graceful and manly fig- 
 ure of almost every individual, a subject 
 for the artist's pencil ; but the population 
 are to a man filthy in the extreme, and the 
 accumulated dirt upon their persons and 
 apparel leaves a taint behind, that might 
 readily be traced without the intervention 
 of a bloodhound. Rancid mutton fat, an 
 inch thicks frosts a bushy wig of cauli- 
 flower growth, which harbors myriads of 
 vermin. Under the melting rays of a trop- 
 ical sun, the grease pours copiously over 
 the skin , and the use of water, except as 
 a beverage, being a thing absolutely un- 
 heard of, a Dankali pollutes the atmo- 
 sphere with effluvium, such as is only to 
 be encountered elsewhere in the purlieus 
 of a tallow-chandler's shop. 
 
 All are vain of scars, and desirous of 
 displaying them ; but little favor is shown 
 for other outward ornament ; and the mi- 
 serly disposition which pervades the breast 
 both of young and old, inducing an effort 
 toward the concealment of property pos- 
 sessed, a paltry silver ring in the ear, a 
 band of copper wire round the junction of 
 the spear blade with the shaft, or pewter 
 mountings to the creese, form the sum to- 
 tal of decoration on the arms and persons 
 even of the most extravagant. Fops in 
 numbers are to be seen at Tajura, who 
 have called in the aid of moist quicklime 
 toward the conversion of the naturally 
 jet black peruke to a most atrocious foxy 
 red — when judicious frizzing, and the in- 
 sertion of the wooden skewer, used for 
 scratching, completes the resemblacc to a 
 carriage mop. But this novel process of 
 dyeing, so contrary to that employed by 
 civilized beaux, is only in fashion among 
 the Somauli, who, in common with the 
 Danakil dandies, employ, in lieu of a 
 down pillow, a small wooden bolster, 
 shaped like a crutch, which receives the 
 neck, and during the hours of presumed 
 uncomfortable repose, preserves the peri- 
 wig from derangement. 
 
EDUCATION— BARTER OF WOMEN. 
 
 29 
 
 Massy amulets in leathern envelopes, or 
 entire Korans in quarto or octavo, are 
 borne on the unpurified person of almost 
 every individual; and the ancient Arab 
 remedy of swallowing the water in which 
 passages from the holy book have been 
 washed from the board or paper whereon 
 they are inscribed, is in universal repute, 
 as a sovereign medicine for every ailment 
 to which frail flesh is heir — the firm of 
 sultan, wazir and kazi, who alone pos- 
 sess the privilege of wearing turbans, 
 holding the monopoly, and driving a most 
 profitable trade by the preparation of this 
 simple, but potent specific. Large doses 
 of melted sheep's-tail-fat are, moreover, 
 swallowed on certain occasions ; and a 
 native Esculapius gave proof of the per- 
 fection to which the dentist's art has at- 
 tained at Tajiira, by dexterously detaching 
 a carious tooth from the stubborn jaws of 
 a submissive old woman, with the patent 
 machinery of a rusty nail as a punch, 
 struck with a heavy stone picked up on 
 the sea-beach, where the operation was 
 performed for the edification of the en- 
 campment. Applications were neverthe- 
 less frequent for European aid — a venera- 
 ble priest numbering threescore years and 
 ten, peremptorily demanding, in addition 
 to a philter, the instantaneous removal of 
 two obstinate cataracts, which had long 
 dimmed his sight, and upon which he had 
 vainly expended the teeth of half the 
 mules in Tajiira, roasted, and reduced to 
 an impalpable powder. 
 
 Education, to the extent of spelling the 
 Koran, is general, and all speak Arabic as 
 well as Dankali ; the lore of the most 
 learned being, however, restricted to a 
 smattering of the holy book, with a very 
 confused idea of numerals, and ability to 
 indite a scraggy Arabic letter, which when 
 completed with infinite labor, the writer is 
 often puzzled to decipher. To the immor- 
 tal honor of the sultan be it here recorded, 
 that although the oldest male inhabitant of 
 Tajiira, he is a solitary instance of non- 
 acquaintance with the alphabet. The 
 swarthy cheek of every urchin who dis- 
 tinguishes himself by diligence or quick- 
 ness, receives in token thereof, a dash of 
 white chalk, a black streak in like manner 
 disgracing the idle and stupid ; but the 
 pedagogue would appear to omit the resi- 
 due of this oriental custom — the stuffing i 
 the mouths of the well-behaved with su- 
 gar-candy, which would doubtless prove 
 a source of much greater enjoyment. 
 
 In the evening the ingenuous youth of 
 the town, each armed with a creese in case 
 of quarrel, convene in numbers on the 
 
 common, to play a game which combines 
 hockey and foot-ball; the residue of their 
 time being spent in angling, when the ju- 
 venile Walton stands up to the chin in the 
 salt sea, and employing his head as a sub- 
 stitute for the reel, spins out a dozen yards 
 of line in a truly fisherman-like manner. 
 Numbers spent the period of their relax- 
 ation from study in gaping with the adults 
 at the door of the pavilion, while the 
 magic effect of the magnet was exhibited, 
 or fire produced from the human mouth 
 by means of a promethean, here emphatic- 
 ally denominated " the devil." 
 
 The softer sex of Tajiira, while young, 
 possess a tolerable share of comeliness, 
 and a pleasing expression withal ; but they 
 are speedily past the meridian of beauty. 
 A close blue chemise, a plain leathern pet- 
 ticoat, or a cloth reaching to the ankles, 
 and a liberal coat of lard over extrava- 
 gantly braided ringlets, which are knotted 
 with white beads, form the toilet of maid, 
 wife, and widow. An occasional neck- 
 lace of colored beads falling over the sable 
 bosom, a pendant of brass or silver wire 
 of no ordinary dimensions in the ear, and 
 large ivory bracelets or anklets, proclaim 
 the besetting foible of the sex : but orna- 
 ments are by no means general. Moham- 
 madan jealousy tends to the seclusion of 
 the better order of females to a certain ex- 
 tent ; but a marriage in high life, when 
 the procession passed close to the encamp- 
 ment, afforded an opportunity not always 
 enjoyed, of beholding the beauty and 
 fashion of the place. The matrimonial 
 shackles are here easily loosed ; and the 
 greater portion of the population being 
 deeply engaged in the slave-trade with the 
 interior, have their rude houses filled with 
 temporary wives, who are from time to 
 time unceremoniously shipped for the Ara- 
 bian market, in order that the funds ac- 
 cruing from the sale of their persons may 
 be invested in new purchases. 
 
 Agriculture there is none. Every man 
 is a merchant, and waxes sufficiently rich 
 on his extensive slave exportations, to im- 
 port from other climes the produce he re- 
 quires. An extensive traffic is carried on 
 with Aussa and Abyssinia, in which near- 
 ly all are engaged at some period of the 
 year. Indian and Arabian manufactures, 
 pewter, zinc, copper and brass wire, beads, 
 and salt in large quantities, are at these 
 inland marts exchanged for slaves, grain, 
 ivory, and other produce of the interior — 
 salt and human beings forming, however, 
 the chief articles of barter. Virgin Mary 
 German crowns of Maria Theresa, 1780, 
 as integrals, and strips of raw hide for 
 
30 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 sandal soles, as fractionals, form the cur- 
 rency of the sea-port ; beads, buttons, 
 mirrors, trinkets, empty bottles, snuff, and 
 tobacco, being also received in exchange 
 for the necessaries of life. 
 
 Avarice is the ruling passion — the sa- 
 lient point in the character of the Dankali. 
 His whole soul is engrossed in amassing 
 wealth, while he is by nature indolent and 
 lazy, and would fain acquire riches with- 
 out treading the laborious up-hill path 
 toward their attainment. Miserly in dis- 
 position, there is not an individual of the 
 whole community, from the sultan down- 
 ward, who would not infinitely prefer the 
 present receipt of two pieces of silver, to 
 a promissory note for twenty at the ex- 
 piration of a week, upon the very best 
 security. " Trees attain not to their 
 growth in a single day," remarked Ali 
 Shermarki, after remonstrating with the 
 grasping ruler on his inordinate love of 
 lucre — " take the tree as your text, and 
 learn that property is only to be accumu- 
 lated by slow degrees." " True," retorted 
 the old miser; "but, sheikh, you must 
 have lost sight of the fact, that my leaves 
 are already withered, and that if I would 
 be rich, I have not a moment to lose." 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 FORETASTE OF DANAKIL KNAVERY. 
 
 A share of thirty thousand German 
 crowns, the annual profits accruing from 
 the sale of three thousand human beings 
 kidnapped in the interior, renders every 
 native of Tajura a man of competent in- 
 dependence. It is not, therefore, surpris- 
 ing that the usual rates of transport hire, 
 added to a knowledge of the exigencies of 
 the embassy, should have produced in this 
 avaricious, but indolence-loving race, no 
 particular desire to bestir themselves. All 
 are camel owners to a g'-eater or less ex- 
 tent ; but the presence of so many interest- 
 ed parties, tended not a little to increase 
 the difficulties inseparable from dealings 
 with so very list'ess and dilatory a set of 
 savages — it being of course requisite to 
 consult the advantage of all, to which, as 
 might be conjectured, all are most feel- 
 ingly alive. The ashes cf ancient feuds 
 were still smoking on the arrival of the 
 British ; and notwithstanding that it was 
 matter of notoriety that the amount dis- 
 bursed at the time of departure for Shoa, 
 would be diminished in the exact ratio 
 of the delay experienced — and although, 
 
 to judge from the surface, anairs looked 
 prosperous enough toward the speedy 
 completion of carriage, there was ever an 
 adverse under-current setting ; and the ap- 
 athy of the savage feeding upon listless 
 delays, the party were doomed for a weary 
 fortnight to endure the merciless heat of 
 the Tajura sun, whose tardy departure was 
 followed by a close muggy atmosphere, 
 only occasionally alleviated by the burst- 
 ing of a thunder-storm over the peak of 
 Jebel Goodah, and to be perpetually de- 
 ceived by the falsest promises, without 
 being able to discover where to lay the 
 blame. Bribes were lavished, increased 
 hire acceded to, and camels repeatedly 
 brought into the town ; but day a;ter day 
 found the dupes to Danakil knavery still 
 seated, like shipwrecked mariners, upon 
 the shore, gazing in helpless melancholy at 
 endless bales which strewed the strand, as if 
 washed up by the waves of the fickle ocean. 
 
 During this tedious detention, which, as 
 the sun shone fiercer and the close nights 
 grew hotter with the rapidly advancing sea- 
 son, waxed daily more irksome and insup- 
 portable, and even threatened to arrest the 
 journey altogether, the most conflicting ac- 
 counts were received from various inter- 
 ested parties, of the actual extent of the 
 sultan's jurisdiction, averred by himself to 
 have no limits nearer than the frontier of 
 Efat. His revenues were ascertained to be 
 restricted to two hundred head of oxen, 
 camels, sheep, and goats, paid annually by 
 the adjacent Danakil tribes, and it was 
 certain that he enjoyed circumscribed pre- 
 rogatives, based upon ancient usage ; but 
 aljiough nothing is done or undertaken, 
 without his concurrence duly obtained, he 
 possesses no discretion to punish disobedi- 
 ence of his will, and is precluded from act- 
 ing in the most trivial matter without the 
 consent, in full conclave, of the majority of 
 the chiefs. Possessing little or no power 
 over his nominal subjects, he is merely a 
 puppet, looked up to by the wild tribes as 
 the head of the principal family — infirmity 
 and utter imbecility of character rendering 
 his highness, at the same time, little bet- 
 ter than a laughing-stock. 
 
 Faithless and rapacious, his insatiable 
 avarice induced him to take every extor- 
 tionate advantage of the helpless party at 
 his mercy, while his tottering sway de- 
 barred him the power of reserving to him- 
 self the exclusive right of pillage. Private 
 as well as public kaldms were daily held 
 for hours at the sacred threshold of the 
 mosque, during which new schemes of vil- 
 lainy and plunder were devised ; and date 
 leaves were indolently plaited by a host of 
 
ARAB EXTORTION— ROYAL SALUTE. 
 
 31 
 
 apathetic legislators, as the propriety of 
 permitting the departure inland of the Chris- 
 tian Kafirs was fully discussed and deliber- 
 ated over with all the vicious bigotry of the 
 Moslem zealot. 
 
 In order to ascertain how far fraud and 
 impertinence might be carried with impu- 
 nity, a deputation of the artful elders be- 
 leagured the pavilion during the dead of 
 night, to complain, in no measured terms, 
 that certain of the followers, regardless of 
 orders, had been seen endeavoring, with 
 beads and trinkets, to betray the virtue of 
 females who drew water at the w r ell — a tale 
 which proved, on due inquiry instituted, to 
 be, like other Danakil asseverations, devoid 
 of the slightest truth or foundation. Not 
 even a paltry water-skin was to be pur- 
 chased from a schoolboy under the disburse- 
 ment of a silver fuloos, value four sterling 
 shillings ; and a courier, who had, at three 
 times the established charge, been furnish- 
 ed on the security of the high and mighty 
 sultan, to convey to Ankober a letter ad- 
 vising the King of Shoa of the advent of 
 the embassy, was, after being three entire 
 days and nights in possession of his ill-got- 
 ten wealth, discovered to be still snug with- 
 in his mat-house, in the bosom of his family. 
 
 The letter in question had fixed the day 
 of departure, and had been written in the 
 most public manner before the assembled 
 chiefs, in order, if possible, to counteract in 
 some measure the tissue of underplots hour- 
 ly developing, and to demonstrate to the 
 Danakil capacity, that, whether camels 
 were forthcoming or not, the journey would 
 positively be undertaken ; and the nefari- 
 ous detention of the document, after the 
 receipt of such exorbitant hire, being per- 
 fectly in keeping with the outrageously 
 unprincipled and underhand treatment ex- 
 perienced from the first moment of arrival, 
 the sultan was at last plainly informed that 
 further shuffling and falsehood would avail 
 him nothing ; since, if carriage were not 
 immediately furnished in accordance with 
 the plausible agreement concluded, the 
 heavy baggage would be reshipped for Cape 
 Aden, and the party would advance in de- 
 fiance of opposition, with ten camels that 
 had been brought by sea from Zeyla, by 
 the nephews of Sheikh Shermarki. Mo- 
 hammad Ali, too, was now heart and hand 
 in the cause, and his jealous rival, on re- 
 ceipt of this unpleasant intimation, began 
 plainly enough to perceive that his guests 
 were in right earnest, and that the golden 
 opportunity of filling his coffers was pass- 
 ing rapidly away. 
 
 The royal salute, fired alternately from 
 the decks of the brig and schooner, each 
 
 tricked out in all her colors, with gay sig- 
 nal flags in honor of the natal day of her 
 most gracious majesty the queen, envel- 
 oped the town during forty minutes in a 
 dense white smoke, accompanied by a most 
 unpleasant smell of gunpowder ; and du- 
 ring the entire day, the beach in front of 
 the British encampment wore the sem- 
 blance of a disturbed ant-hill. European 
 and native — master and servant — the latter 
 from every nation under the sun, Arab, 
 Persian, Nubian, Armenian, Egyptian, Sy- 
 rian, Greek, and Portuguese, — all in a state 
 of most active bustle, were selecting light 
 baggage for the approaching departure ; 
 while crowds of oily savages, squatted on 
 their hams, looked on in smiling apathy at 
 the heaps of valuable commodities that were 
 tossing about the sands. Twenty-one Brit- 
 ish officers subsequently sat down to din- 
 ner in the crimson pavilion, and the health 
 of Queen Victoria having been given with 
 nine times nine, another salute bursting 
 from the sides of the vessels of war, shook 
 the frail town to its foundations, and re- 
 echoed long and loud among the mountain- 
 glens — flights of rockets ascending at short 
 intervals to illumine the dark sky. 
 
 The deafening din of the thirty-two- 
 pound stern-chaser of the " Constance," 
 which pointed directly toward the royal 
 abode, proved too much for the nerves of 
 the timid sultan ; and no sooner had the 
 lights been extinguished, than his spectral 
 figure, which ever shunned the day, glided 
 into the tent unannounced, and ghostlike, 
 muttered the agreeable intelligence that 
 his highness, after consulting the horo- 
 scope, and ascertaining beyond all doubt 
 that the journey would prove propitious — 
 a fact not previously determined — had 
 come to the resolution, wise though late, 
 of supplying the desired carriage without 
 further delay, and deputing his own son as 
 a safeguard through the tribes — services 
 for which the apparition felt confident of 
 receiving a suitable reward. The voice 
 of the chieftains had become unanimous. 
 At the last of a long succession of meet- 
 ings convened for the purpose of taking 
 the affair into full consideration, Abdool 
 Rahman, the kazi, in his capacity of law- 
 giver, had risen from his seat in the assem- 
 bly, and ably demonstrated to his mat- 
 weaving audience, why all animosities and 
 heart-burnings must be sunk in the gene- 
 ral object of making money, and getting 
 rid as expeditiously as possible of a party 
 of Kafirs, whose guns, unshotted, threaten- 
 ed the destruction of the mosque of the 
 true believer and the to'al demolition of 
 Tajura. The Fatheh, being the first chap- 
 
82 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 ter of the holy Koran, was duly read, and 
 the Danakil conclave with one voice voci- 
 ferated a loud Ameen, even so let it be ! 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 LONG ADIEU TO THE UNPRINCIPLED SUL- 
 TAN. 
 
 From this eventful epoch, each sultry 
 diy did indeed bring a numerical acces- 
 sion to the beasts of burden collected in 
 the town ; but they were owned of many 
 and self-willed proprietors ; were, gene- 
 rally speaking, of the most feeble descrip- 
 tion, melancholy contrasts to the gigantic 
 and herculean dromedary of Egypt and 
 Arabia ; and no trifling delay was still in 
 store, through their arrival from distant 
 pastures bare-backed, which involved the 
 necessity of making up new furniture for 
 the march. The Dankali saddle is fortu- 
 nately a simple contrivance ; a mat com- 
 posed of plaited date-leaves thrown over 
 the hump, supporting four sticks lashed 
 together in couples, and kept clear of the 
 spinal process by means of two rollers as 
 pads, having been proved by centuries of 
 experience to be not more light than 
 efficient. Accoutrements completed, and 
 camels ready for the march, other provok- 
 ing excuses for delay were not wanting, 
 to fill, even to overflowing, the measure of 
 annoyance. The demise of a nephew of 
 the sultan — the protracted funeral obse- 
 quies of the deceased — and the almost 
 nightly abstraction of one or more hired 
 camels by the lurking Bedouin, all con- 
 tributed their mite. At length, however, 
 no further pretext could be devised, and 
 nine loads being actually in motion toward 
 Ambabo, the first halting-ground on the 
 road to the kingdom of Shoa, the schooner 
 " Constance," getting under weigh, stood 
 up the bay of Tajilra, and cast anchor off 
 the incipient camp, of which the position 
 was denoted by a tall cluster of palms. 
 
 Endless objections beingnow provoking- 
 ly raised to the shape, size, and weight of 
 the boxes to be transported, it next be- 
 came requisite to reduce the dimensions 
 of the greater number, in the progress of 
 which operation it w r as discovered that the 
 hurry of transhipment at Aden had result- 
 ed in the substitution of several dozens of 
 choice marasquino, for a similar number 
 of cases, of equal size, freighted with 
 round shot for the galloper guns. The 
 work in hand was one of no ordinary labor 
 and difficulty ; and, after all, its completion 
 
 proved insufficient to satisfy the parties. 
 One blockhead complained that his load 
 was heavier than his neighbor's, who had 
 wisely risen earlier in the morning to 
 make his selection ; another, that his case, 
 although confessedly light, was not of 
 convenient size ; one was too long, another 
 not long enough, a third too deep, and a 
 fourth too loosely packed. From earliest 
 dawn, until final close of day, on a sandy 
 beach, under a broiling sun, was this tor- 
 ment continued without intermission, until 
 the 30th of May, when, by dint of coaxing, 
 menacing, and bribing, every article had 
 been removed saving an unwieldy hand- 
 organ, at which every camel-owner had 
 shaken his wig in turn, and a few stand 
 of arms which had been removed from 
 wooden cases, and repacked in mats and 
 tarpaulins. A great hulking savage finally 
 proposed to carry these latter, upon condi- 
 tion of their being transversely divided 
 with a saw, to suit the backs of his wretch- 
 ed hip-galled camels. " You are a tall 
 man," quoth Aboo Bekr drolly, " suppose 
 we shorten you by the legs ?" " No, no !" 
 cried the barbarian ; " I 'm flesh and blood, 
 and shall be spoiled." " So will the con- 
 tents of these cases, you offspring of an 
 ass," retorted the old pilot, " if you divide 
 them." 
 
 The almost insurmountable difficulties 
 experienced in obtaining carriage, but now 
 happily overcome, had so far delayed the 
 advance of the embassy, as to oblige it to 
 cross the Tehama during the height of the 
 fieTy and unwholesome blast which, during 
 the months of June and July, sweeps over 
 that waterless tract from the southwest ; 
 and had moreover rendered it impossible 
 to reach Abyssinia before the setting in of 
 the annual heavy rains, when the river 
 Hawash becomes impassable for week* 
 together. Independently of the natural 
 apathy of the camel-owning population, 
 the fact of the season of all intercourse 
 with the interior, by kafilah, having al- 
 ready passed away, rendered every one 
 averse, under any consideration of gain, to 
 so hazardous a journey. Grain was to be 
 carried for the consumption of horses and 
 mules, during the passage of arid regions, 
 where, during the hot season, neither 
 vegetation nor water exists ; and the wells 
 and pools having notoriously failed in 
 every part of the road, during three con- 
 secutive seasons of unusual drought, it was 
 necessary to entertain a large proportion 
 of transport for a supply of water sufficient 
 to last both man and beast for two and 
 three days at a time ; while, neither gr?.- ; s 
 nor green food remaining near the eea- 
 
RAPACITY OF THE ARABS. 
 
 33 
 
 shore, the hundred and seventy camels 
 now forming the caravan, had been indi- 
 vidually assembled from various grazing 
 grounds, many miles distant in the interior. 
 
 A sufficient number of water-skins had 
 fortunately been purchased, at exorbitant 
 prices, to complete the equipment, together 
 ^ith mules for the conveyance of the Eu- 
 ropean escort and artillery ; and the greedy 
 sultan, besides receiving the lion's share 
 of the profits on all, had sold his own riding- 
 beast for three times its worth in solid 
 silver. But the forage brought over from 
 Aden, being long since consumed, the 
 whole were fed upon dates, and to the 
 latest moment, the greatest difficulty con- 
 tinued to exist in regard to followers. 
 The services of neither Dankali, Bedouin, 
 nor Somauli, were obtained at whatever 
 wages ; and the whole of the long train of 
 live stock was consequently to be attended 
 by a few worthless horsekeepers, enlisted 
 at Aden, aided by a very limited number 
 of volunteers from the shipping, whose in- 
 different characters gave ample promise 
 of their subsequent misdeeds. 
 
 On the departure of the last load, a 
 general begging commenced on a grand 
 scale, on the part of all who flattered 
 themselves that they had in the most re- 
 mote manner been so fortunate as to ren- 
 der assistance during the protracted so- 
 journ of the Kafirs. Many, whose claims 
 were far from being apparent, after con- 
 fessing themselves satisfied in propriis 
 personis, modestly urged demands on be- 
 half of their still more worthless neigh- 
 bors ; and in order to have any chance of 
 passing in safety to the mountains, with so 
 long a line of camels, it was only prudent 
 to propitiate each and all of this predatory 
 host of locusts, before entering upon their 
 lawless country. 
 
 With a feeling of pleasure akin to that 
 experienced by Gil Bias, when he escaped 
 from the robbers' cave, the party at length 
 bade adieu to Tajura. Of all the various 
 classes and denominations of men who in- 
 habit the terrestrial globe, the half-civilized 
 savages peopling this sea-port, are, per- 
 haps, the most thoroughly odious and de- 
 testable. They have ingeniously contrived 
 to lose every virtue wherewith the rude 
 tribes to which they pertain, may once 
 have been adorned ; and having acquired 
 nothing in exchange, save the vices of 
 their more refined neighbors, the scale of 
 abject degradation to which they are now 
 reduced, can hardly descend lower. Under 
 this sweeping and very just condemnation, 
 the impotent sultan, Mohammad ibn Mo- 
 hammad, stands preeminently in relief; 
 
 and the old miser's rapacity continuing un- 
 sated, up to the very latest moment, he 
 clutched his long staff betwixt his skinny 
 fingers, and hobbled forth from his den, 
 resolved to squeeze yet another hundred 
 dollars as a parting memento from his 
 British victims. The European escort 
 were in the act of mounting the mules al- 
 ready harnessed to the galloper gun, which 
 he had vainly persuaded himself could 
 never be transported from the coast, since 
 no camel-owner consented to take it, and 
 repeated attempts that he had witnessed to 
 yoke a pair of oxen to the limbers had 
 proved unsuccessful, even after their stub- 
 born noses were pierced. But mule har- 
 ness had been ably manufactured to meet 
 the exigency, and when his lustreless eyes 
 beheld the party in horse-artillery order, 
 firmly seated in their saddles, and moving 
 along the strand toward Ambabo — forget- 
 ting the vile errand upon which he had 
 come, he involuntarily exclaimed, " In the 
 name of Allah and the holy Prophet, whi- 
 ther are those fellows going ?" " Raheen el 
 Hdbesh" " to Abyssinia," was the laconic 
 reply that fell upon his astounded ears as 
 the whips cracked merrily in succession ; 
 and his highness was long after seen, 
 still leaning on his slender crutch, and 
 staring in idiotic vacancy after the depart- 
 ing cavalcade, as it disappeared under a 
 cloud of dust from before his leaden gaze. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 INIQUITOUS PROCEEDINGS AT AMBAEO, AND 
 UNDERSTANDING WITH THE RAS EL KA- 
 FILAH. 
 
 The tall masts of the schooner-of-war, 
 raking above the belt of dwarf-jungle that 
 skirts the tortuous coast, served as a bea- 
 con to the new camp, the distance of which 
 from the town of Tajura was less than four 
 mile*?. A narrow footpath wound along 
 the burning sands, across numerous water- 
 courses, from the impending mountain 
 range of trachyte and porphyry, whose 
 wooded base, thickly clothed with mimosa 
 and euphorbia antiquorum, harbored swine, 
 pigmy antelope, and guinea-fowl in abund- 
 ance. Many large trees, uprooted by the 
 wintry torrent, had been swept far out to 
 sea, where, in derision of the waves that 
 buffet their dilapidated, stag-horn looking 
 arms, they will long ride safely at anchor. 
 The pelican of the wilderness, sailed 
 through the tossing surf ; and files of Be- 
 douin damsels, in greasy leathern petti- 
 
34 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 coats, bending beneath a load of fuel from 
 the adjacent hamlets, traversed the sultry- 
 strand ; while a long train of wretched 
 children, with streaming elf-like locks, 
 who had been kidnapped in the unexplored 
 interior, wended their weary way with a 
 slave caravan, toward the sea-port, whence 
 they were to be sold into foreign bondage. 
 An avenue through the trees presently 
 revealed the white tent, occupying a se- 
 questered nook on the course of a moun- 
 tain-stream, near its junction with the shore. 
 Here horses and mules were doing their 
 utmost, by diligently cropping the scanty 
 tufts of sunburnt grass, to repair their re- 
 cent long abstinence from forage, while the 
 abbreviated tails of those which had been 
 improved by mutilation, formed the jest of 
 a group of grinning savages. Clumps of 
 lofty fan- palms, and date-trees loaded with 
 ripe orange-colored fruit, still screened 
 from view the village of Ambabo, the 
 straggling Gothic-roofed wigwams com- 
 posing which, have the same wagon-like 
 appearance as the huts of Tajura — a simi- 
 lar style of architecture, extending even 
 to the unostentatious mosque, alone dis- 
 tinguishable from the surrounding edifices, 
 by uncarved minarets of wood. 
 
 Greasy ragamuffins still intruding, here 
 continued their teazing persecutions, and 
 Mohammad Mohammad, the son, though 
 not the heir to the throne of the sultan, 
 having been specially appointed by his dis- 
 reputable sire to the important post of re- 
 porter and spy, unceremoniously occupied 
 one of the chairs, to the exclusion of the 
 lawful proprietor, during the entire day. 
 He however proved useful, in so far that 
 he was versed in the chronicle of Ambabo, 
 The nakhuda of one of his uncle's bug- 
 galows, having contrived a quarrel with a 
 member of the tribe Hassoba, one of the 
 manifold subdivisions of the Danakil, the 
 man threw the gauntlet of defiance by 
 cutting off the prow of the boat. Meeting 
 shortly afterward in deadly conflict, the in- 
 sulted mariner slew his antagonist on the 
 spot, and took refuge in the hills, until, 
 tired of long concealment, and believing 
 the affair to be consigned to oblivion, he 
 ventured to settle with his family at Am- 
 babo. and thus founded the present village ; 
 but after some years of repose, he was 
 discovered by the relatives of the slain ; 
 and, as usual in all blood feuds, ultimately 
 assassinated. Occupying a site proverb- 
 ially unhealthy, and scourged during the 
 rains by insupportable clouds of muske- 
 toes, the miserable hamlet is but thinly 
 peopled ; and the sheikh being on far from 
 amicable terms with the authorities of Ta- 
 
 jura, it is likely soon to be abandoned in 
 favor of some more eligible location. 
 
 A red savage, falsely representing him- 
 self to be one of the household of his 
 Christian majesty of Shoa, arrived during 
 the afternoon from Ank&ber, with letters 
 from Aden ; and having safely deposited 
 his packet on board the " Constance," was 
 readily induced to return whence he came, 
 with the embassy. Deeni ibn Hamed, 
 a liar of the first magnitude, but the only 
 Dankali who had voluntarily attached 
 himself to the fortunes of the party, con- 
 ceiving the arrival of this courier to afford 
 an opening for the exercise of his talents, 
 which ought on no account to be neglect- 
 ed, immediately proceeded to tax his lively 
 ingenuity in disclosing the contents of a 
 document, which he pretended had been 
 received from Sahela Selassie, by the old 
 ruffian, from whose clutches his audience 
 had just thankfully escaped ; and the mass 
 of gratuitous falsehoods, that he contrived 
 to string together with an unblushing 
 front, must be admitted to reflect ample 
 credit upon his fertile invention. 
 
 Lying appeared in fact to be the chosen 
 occupation of this youthful warrior, who, 
 however, unlike the mass of his compat- 
 riots, did possess some redeeming qualities, 
 though they were by no means so conspic- 
 uous as his scars. The insuperable aver- 
 sion to veracity which he evinced on every 
 occasion, renders it difficult to determine 
 what degree of credit may be attached to 
 the tragic tale, that he was pleased to con- 
 nect with a deep gash over the temple, 
 which distorted his vision ; and if not re- 
 ceived in a less honorable rencontre than 
 he pretended, affords another to the ten 
 thousand instances on record, of the sav- 
 age rancor with which blood feuds are 
 prosecuted. " My maternal uncle, and a 
 native of Zeyla," said Deeni, " becoming 
 embroiled, mutually unsheathed their cree- 
 ses in mortal strife, fought desperately, and 
 died. The brother of the latter sought my 
 life in revenge, as being the nearest of 
 kin ; but after receiving this slash upon 
 my forehead, and another on my arm, 
 which I shall also carry to my grave, I 
 closed, stabbed the Somauli villain to the 
 heart, with this good creese ; and, glory 
 be to God ! divided his windpipe with his 
 own sword." 
 
 Profiting by the amiable example of the 
 illustrious ruler of Tajura, the Sheikh of 
 Ambabo, a most notable extortioner, re- 
 solved to put his claim to a sum of ready 
 money beyond a shadow of doubt, placed a 
 strong Bedouin guard over the only well ; 
 and although he had every reason to be. 
 
IZHAK AND HIS CONFEDERATES. 
 
 35 
 
 satisfied with the success of his nefarious 
 schemes, he did not possess sufficient grati- 
 tude to prevent the commission of a rob- 
 bery during the night, which might have 
 proved more serious than it did. Solace 
 under all misfortunes and annoyances was, 
 however, found in the arrival of Mahom- 
 mad Ali on the 31st, with a welcome ac- 
 cession of camels for the carriage of water, 
 which rendered certain the prospect of de- 
 parture on the morrow, it having been dis- 
 tinctly promised by the sultan, in return 
 for a handsome pecuniary consideration, 
 that his brother Izhak, who had been unani- 
 mously appointed ras el kafilah, his son, 
 his nephew, and seven other persons of 
 undoubted influence on the road, should be 
 in readiness without fail, to escort the em- 
 bassy on the 1st of June, and that the re- 
 ward of their services should be paid, ad 
 valorem, upon safe arrival within the king- 
 dom of Shoa. 
 
 Three hours after midnight, the galloper 
 gun, fired within the limits of the British 
 camp as a summons to the drowsy camel- 
 drivers to be up and doing, was echoed, 
 according to previous agreement, by the 
 long stern-chaser of the " Constance " — a 
 signal to the "Euphrates," still anchored 
 off Tajura, to thunder a farewell salute as 
 the day dawned. The work of loading was 
 merrily commenced — the tent went down 
 — and camel after camel moved off toward 
 Dullool ; when, on the departure of the last 
 string, it was observed with dismay that 
 the ground was still strewed with baggage, 
 for which carriage had unquestionably been 
 paid and entertained, but for which none 
 was forthcoming. The greasy proprietors 
 were, after some search, discovered below 
 the bushes, engaged in the operation of 
 jerking mutton — a process sufficiently nau- 
 seous in itself to repel any close advance ; 
 but persuasion • and threats proved alike 
 unavailing. Some had already sent their 
 camels to graze at a distance ; others in- 
 solently expressed their intention of doing 
 so after the completion of their interesting 
 work, and by far the greater number would 
 vouchsafe no explanation whatever. At 
 length the provoking riddle was solved by 
 the arrival of a peremptory message from 
 the sultan, naming the price of the attend- 
 ance of his brother with the promised escort, 
 and modestly requesting that the amount 
 might forthwith be disbursed, or the bar- 
 gain must be considered null and void ! 
 
 In this awkward dilemma, one of the 
 party was immediately dispatched to create 
 a diversion among the Philistines, and to 
 remonstrate against so gross a breach of 
 good faith ; while the residue, awaiting his 
 
 tardy return, passed the sultry day beneath 
 the mock shelter afforded by a low date 
 bush, shifting position with the deceitful 
 shadow, which, before any further tidings 
 were received of the delinquent old sultan 
 and his ungovernable myrmidons, was cast 
 full on the eastern side. At length the 
 anxiously straining eye was relieved by the 
 appearance of the messenger on his way 
 back. After a world of trouble, he had 
 succeeded in hunting out some of the el- 
 ders, who, however, would only consent to 
 accompany him on the payment of every 
 stuiver of the demand made in the morning, 
 and, quietly possessed of the dollars, they 
 had thought proper to detain the escort. 
 
 Izhak, backed by Ibrahim Shehem, the 
 most renowned warrior in the next ten 
 tribes, sat as orator on the occasion. The 
 demeanor of the ras bordered closely on 
 the insolent. A heavy load of impudence 
 could be detected under his broad pudding- 
 face ; and his desire to be impertinent was 
 favored in no small degree by the presence 
 of heaps of valuable baggage lying at his 
 mercy upon the ground. The deputation 
 was received quite as coldly as their dis- 
 honest and most provoking behavior de- 
 manded ; a silence of several minutes af- 
 fording to each, leisure to pick out his curly 
 locks, and cool himself a little, the whole 
 having walked out in the broiling sun, and 
 become considerably excited withal. Dis- 
 tant inquiries were at length instituted 
 relative to the august health of the sultan 
 and the royal family, which were stiffly 
 responded to after the current Dankali 
 fashion, " Hamdu lillah," " thanks be unto 
 God!" 
 
 The conference then opened with a blus- 
 ter concerning the movement of the ka- 
 filah from Ambabo without the presence, 
 order, or consent of the ras, who, after 
 sneering at the attempt as a most unpre- 
 cedented proceeding, and indulging in a 
 very gratuitous tirade against Mahommad 
 Ali, whom he styled in derision "the sup- 
 plier of water," and was anxious to make 
 appear the only culprit on the occasion, 
 added, in conclusion, that his own being 
 " a house of mourning," he had given up 
 his intention of proceeding to Abyssinia, 
 and had finally resolved to wash his hands 
 of the business. 
 
 He was gravely answered that the cara- 
 van had started upon express orders given 
 in consequence of a distinct understanding 
 and pledge, purchased the preceding day 
 of the sultan himself. He was reminded 
 that every hire and remuneration for cam- 
 els, guides, and escort, exorbitant though 
 they were, had been paid in full at Tajura ; 
 
36 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 and was distinctly informed, that if the 
 terms of the agreement were not fully 
 complied with, ere the night fell, the pro- 
 perty of the British government would be 
 left on the ground, where it then lay, while 
 the embassy proceeded to Dullool, off 
 which place the " Constance " had already 
 anchored, reshipped all the baggage that 
 had been sent to the advance camp, and 
 set sail for Aden. 
 
 It was farther added, that as the conse- 
 quences of this step would rest upon the 
 head of those who had entered into an ex- 
 press engagement, upon receipt of what- 
 ever terms they had demanded as the price 
 of their services, it should be borne in 
 mind that further offensive and unprinci- 
 pled demonstrations might terminate in un- 
 pleasant results. 
 
 As the interpreter proceeded to unfold 
 this high-toned remonstrance, Izhak was 
 seen to fidget uneasily upon his hams, 
 while he sought to conceal his agitation 
 by tracing figures on the sand ; and, as the 
 last intimation fell upon his ear, seizing 
 his sandal, he relieved his excited feelings 
 by shovelling a pointed stick through the 
 very centre of the leather. But the swag- 
 gering air which he had assumed had now 
 entirely disappeared, and, after a hurried 
 whispering consultation with his confede- 
 rates, he declared thai he had been toiling 
 day and night in the service of the En- 
 glish ; that he was perfectly ready to per- 
 form everything required of him, and that, 
 notwithstanding the recent calamity with 
 which his family had been visited, and the 
 dangerous illness of his mother, he would 
 escort the embassy in person, with trust- 
 worthy colleagues ; that he would be res- 
 ponsible for all the property left at Amba- 
 bo, and only petition for two days' grace 
 to put his house in order before repairing 
 to Dullool. This point being tardily ac- 
 corded, he rose with Ali Shermarki, who 
 had ridden in as mediator during the heat 
 of the conference, and each offering his 
 hand, in earnest of the matter being finally 
 and amicably concluded in full accordance 
 with the original stipulation of the cove- 
 nant, set out on his return to Tajura. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 DULLOOL. THE RAS UNPLEASANTLY RE- 
 MINDED OF HIS PLEDGE. SAGALLO AND 
 
 WARELISSAN. 
 
 Izhak's absent camels, which had been 
 kept close at hand pending the issue of 
 
 this stormy debate, being now brought in 
 the ground was speedily cleared of the re- 
 maining baggage ; and satisfied with the 
 specious assurance of the ras el kafilah, 
 that he would on no account tarry beyond 
 nightfall of the following day, the party, 
 relieved from their anxiety, mounted after 
 five o'clock, and galloped seven miles along 
 the sea-beach to the camp at Dullool, — the 
 loose sand being so perforated and under- 
 mined in every part by the hermit crab, 
 as to render the sieve-like road truly 
 treacherous and unpleasant. 
 
 The grassy nook occupied by the tent 
 was situated at the abutment of a spur 
 from the wooded Jebel Goodah, evidently 
 of volcanic origin, which gradually dimin- 
 ishes in height, until it terminates, one 
 hundred yards from the shore, in a thick 
 jungle of tamarisk and acacia., the former 
 covered with salt crystals. Hornblende, 
 in blocks, was scattered along the beach, 
 and, wherever decomposed, it yielded fine 
 glittering black sand, so heated under the 
 noontide sun as to burn the naked foot. 
 The movable camp of a horde of roving 
 Bedouin shepherds, who, with very slender 
 habitations, possess no fixed abode, was 
 erected near the wells ; and a quarrel with 
 the followers, respecting the precious ele- 
 ment, having already led to the drawing of 
 creeses, silver was again in requisition to 
 allay the impending storm. 
 
 The heat on the 2nd of June was almost 
 insupportable ; but the sultry day proved 
 one of greater quiet than had fallen to the 
 lot of the embassy since its first landing. 
 Late in the evening, when the cool sea- 
 breeze had set in, Ali Shermarki rode into 
 camp, and delivered a letter which had 
 been slipped into his hand by the sultan, 
 appealing against the hardship of being 
 left without remuneration for his diiigent 
 services, praying that his old heart might 
 be made glad, and hoping that all might 
 meet again ere death should call them — a 
 wish responded to by no single individual 
 of the British party. 
 
 Neither Izhak nor any of his followers 
 made their appearance, notwithstanding 
 that the redemption of the solemn promise 
 passed was anxiously watched until mid- 
 night. At gun-fire the next morning, 
 however, the arrival of the whole being 
 reported, orders were issued to strike the 
 tent, a measure which was doggedly op- 
 posed by the ras el kafilah, whose brow 
 again darkened as he declared his resolu- 
 tion not to stir from Dullool until three of 
 his camels, which were said to have stray- 
 ed, should be recovered ; and deaf alike 
 to remonstrance or entreaty, he finally 
 
THE LAST WELL. 
 
 37 
 
 withdrew to a distance, taking his seat in 
 sullen mood beneath a tree. 
 
 The schooner had meanwhile fished her 
 anchor, and was now getting under weigh 
 for the purpose of standing up within 
 range of the next halting ground. The 
 mules were harnessed to the gun, and the 
 tent and baggage packed. Ali Shermarki 
 was deputed to acquaint Izhak with these 
 facts, and to intimate firmly, that unless 
 the order to load were given without an- 
 other moment's delay, minute guns would 
 be fired as a signal to bring up the brig 
 from Tajura, when the promise made yes- 
 terday by the English would be found 
 more binding than those of the Danakil 
 had hitherto proved. This menace had 
 the desired effect, and after three hours of 
 needless detention, the party commenced 
 its third hot march along the sea-beach, 
 whence the hills gradually recede. Be- 
 douin goat-herds occupied many wells of 
 fresh water, which were denoted by 
 clumps of date-trees entwined by flower- 
 ing convolvuli, whose matted tendrils fix 
 the movable sands of the shore ; and late 
 in the forenoon the camp was formed at 
 the pool of Sagallo, only three miles from 
 the former ground, but affording the last 
 supply of water to be obtained for thirty 
 more. 
 
 An extensive and beautiful prospect of 
 the western portion of the Bay of Tajura 
 had now opened, bound in on all sides by 
 a zone of precipitous mountains, in which 
 the gate leading into Goobut el Kharab 
 was distinctly marked by a low black 
 point, extending from the northern shore. 
 The schooner's services were volunteered 
 to admit of a nearer inspection of the 
 " basin of foulness ;" but no sooner had 
 she stood out to sea than signal-guns fired 
 from the camp announced the arrival of 
 another packet from Shoa. The courier 
 had been forty-four days on the journey, 
 and the tidings he brought respecting the 
 road, although highly satisfactory, added 
 yet another instance to the many, of the 
 vsmall reliance that can be placed on in- 
 formation derived from the Danakil, who, 
 even when disinterested, can rarely indeed 
 de induced to utter a word of truth. 
 
 The strong party feeling entertained 
 toward Mohammad Ali by the magnates 
 of Taj lira, now vented itself in divers 
 evil-minded and malicious hints, insinuating 
 the defection of the absentee, who had 
 been unavoidably detained by business, 
 some hours after the last of the sea-port 
 heroes had joined. *' Where, now, is your 
 friend Ali Mohammad ?" " Where is the 
 man who was to supply water on the 
 
 road ?" were the taunting interrogatories 
 from the mouths of many ; but come the 
 son of Ali Abi did, to the confusion of his 
 slanderers, long ere the sun had set, 
 bringing secret intelligence that he had 
 sent to engage an escort from his own 
 tribe ; and the whole party being now at 
 last assembled, it was resolved in full con- 
 clave, that as not a drop of water could 
 be procured for three stages in advance, 
 the entire of the next day should be de- 
 voted to filling up the skins ; which done, 
 the caravan should resume its march by 
 night — a manoeuvre that savored strong- 
 ly of a design to favor the clandestine re- 
 turn to Tajura of certain of the escort, 
 who had still domestic affairs to settle. 
 
 Thus far the conduct of the son of the 
 Rookhba chief had formed a notable con- 
 trast to the proceedings of his backbiters. 
 While Izhak and his stubborn partisans 
 had positively declined to move according 
 to their agreement, unless a further most 
 extravagant and unconscionable sum were 
 paid in advance for their anticipated ser- 
 vices, and had altogether assumed a bul- 
 lying tone, coupled with a most imperti- 
 nent and overbearing demeanor, this scion 
 of a savage house that holds in its hands 
 the avenues betwixt Shoa and Tajura, and 
 could at pleasure cut off communication 
 with the coast, had never applied for aught 
 save a trifling sum for the present mainte- 
 nance of his family ; and since the first 
 eclaircissement) had, to the best of his 
 ability, striven to render himself useful 
 and agreeable to the party about to pass 
 through his country. 
 
 A most unprofitable discussion, which 
 was prolonged until eleven the following 
 night, had for its object to persuade the 
 transmission of baggage in advance to the 
 Salt Lake, in consequence of the carried 
 supply of water being, after all, considered 
 insufficient for three days' consumption. 
 But the proposal was negatived upon pru- 
 dent grounds, the honesty of the inten- 
 tions by which it had been dictated, seem- 
 ing, at best, extremely questionable, and 
 no one feeling disposed to trust the faith- 
 less guides further than they could be 
 seen, with property of value. 
 
 Scarcely were the weary eyes of the 
 party closed in sleep, than the long 32- 
 pounder of the u Constance," proclaiming 
 the midnight hour, sounded to boot and 
 saddle. The Babel-like clamor of loading 
 was at length succeeded by a lull of 
 voices, and the rumbling of the galloper 
 wheels over the loose shingle, was alone 
 heard in the still calm of the night, above 
 the almost noiseless tread of the cushion- 
 
38 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 fooled camels, which formed an intermina- 
 ble line. The road, lit by the full moon, 
 shining brightly overhead, lay for the first 
 two or three miles along the beach, and 
 then, crossing numerous water-courses, 
 struck over the southern shoulder of Jebel 
 Goodah, the distance from whose lofty 
 peak each march had reduced. 
 
 Blocks and boulders varying in size 
 from an 18 pound shot, to that of Ossa 
 piled upon Pelion, aided by deep chasms, 
 gullies, and waterways, rendering the as- 
 cent one of equal toil and peril, cost the 
 life of a camel, which fell over a precipice 
 and dislocated the spine ; whereupon the 
 conscientious proprietor, disdaining to take 
 further heed of the load, abandoned it un- 
 scrupulously by the wayside. Galeylafco, 
 a singular and fearful chasm, which was 
 navigated in the first twilight, did not ex- 
 ceed sixty feet in width ; its gloomy, per- 
 pendicular walls of columnar lava, tower- 
 ing one hundred and fifty feet overhead, 
 and casting a deep deceitful shadow over 
 the broken channel, half a mile in extent. 
 Deeni, in his customary strain of amplifi- 
 cation, had represented this frightful pass 
 to be entered through a trap-door, in order 
 to clear which it was necessary for a load- 
 ed camel to forget its staid demeanor, and 
 bound from rock to rock like a mountain 
 kid. The devil and all his angels were 
 represented to hold midnight orgies in one 
 of tha most dismal of the many dark re- 
 cesses ; and the belief was fully confirm- 
 ed by the whooping of a colony of baboons, 
 disturbed by the wheels of the first piece 
 of ordnance that had ever attempted the 
 bumping passage. 
 
 Dawn disclosed the artillery mules in 
 such a wretched plight from their fatiguing 
 night's labor, that it was found necessary 
 to unlimber the gun, and place it with its 
 carriage on the back of an Eesah camel 
 of herculean strength, provided for the 
 contingency by the foresight of Mohammad 
 Ali ; and although little pleased during the 
 imposition of its novel burthen, the animal, 
 rising without difficulty, moved freely 
 along at a stately gait. The same unin- 
 teresting volcanic appearance character- 
 ized the entire country to the table-land 
 of Ware'issan, a distance of twelve miles. 
 Dreary and desolate, without a trace of 
 vegetation saving a few leafless acacias, 
 there was no object to relieve the gaze 
 over the whole forbidding expanse. In this 
 barren, unsightly spot, the radiation was 
 early felt from the masses of black cindry 
 rock, which could not be touched with im- 
 punity. The sand soil of the desert, re- 
 flecting the powerful beams of the sun, 
 
 lent a fearful intensity to the heat, while 
 on every side the dust rose in clouds that, 
 at one moment, veiled the caravan from 
 sight, and at the next left heads of camels 
 tossing in the inflamed atmosphere among 
 the bright spear-blades of the escort. But 
 on gaining the highest point, a redeeming 
 prospect was afforded in an unexpected 
 and most extensive bird's-eye view of the 
 estuary of Tajtlra, now visible in all its 
 shining glory, from this, its western boun- 
 dary. Stretching away for miles in placid 
 beauty, its figure was that of a gigantic 
 hour-glass ; and far below, on its glassy 
 bosom, were displayed the white sails of 
 the friendly little schooner, as, after safely 
 navigating the dangerous and much-dread- 
 ed portals of Scylla and Charybdis, never 
 previously braved by any craft larger than 
 a jolly boat, bellying to the breeze, she 
 beat gallantly up to the head of Goobut el 
 Kharab. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 GLOOMY PASSAGE OF RAH EESAH, THE DE- 
 SCENSUS AD INFEROS. 
 
 Although Warelissan proved nearly 
 seventeen hundred feet above the level of 
 the blue water, a suffocating south-west- 
 erly wind, which blew throughout the te- 
 dious day, rendered the heat more awfully 
 oppressive than at any preceding station. 
 The camp, unsheltered, occupied a naked 
 tract of table-land, some six miles in cir- 
 cumference, on the shoulder of Jebel Goo- 
 dah — its barren surface strewed with shi- 
 ning lava, and bleached animal bones ; 
 sickly acacias of most puny growth, spa- 
 ringly invested with sunburnt leaves, here 
 and there struggling through the fissures, 
 as if to prove the utter sterility of the soil ; 
 while total absence of water, and towering 
 whirlwinds of dust, sand, and pebbles, 
 raised by the furnace-like puffs that came 
 stealing over the desert landscape, com- 
 pleted the discomfiture both of man and 
 beast. 
 
 During the dead of night, when restless, 
 unrefreshing slumbers on the heated 
 ground had hushed the camp in all its 
 quarters, the elders, in great consternation, 
 brought a report that the Bedouin war- 
 hawks, who nestle in the lap of the adja- 
 cent wild mountains, were collecting in 
 the neighborhood, with the design of ma- 
 king a sudden swoop upon the kafilah, for 
 which reason the European escort must 
 be prepared for battle, and muskets be dis- 
 charged forthwith, to intimidate the lurk- 
 
PASSAGE OF RAH EESAH. 
 
 39 
 
 ing foe. They were informed, in reply, 
 that all slept upon their arms, and were in 
 readiness. But Mohammad Ali came 
 shortly afterward to announce, that mat- 
 ters had been amicably adjusted, with the 
 aid of a few ells of blue cloth ; and, under 
 the care of a double sentry, the party slept 
 on without further disturbance until two 
 in the morning, prior to which hour the 
 moon, now on her wane, had not attained 
 sufficient altitude to render advance prac- 
 ticable. 
 
 The aid of her pale beams was indispen- 
 sable, in consequence of the existence of 
 the yawning pass of Rah Eesah, not one 
 hundred yards distant from the encamp- 
 ment just abandoned, but till now unper- 
 ceived. It derives its appellation, as " the 
 road of the Eesahs," from the fact of this 
 being the path usually chosen by that hos- 
 tile portion of the Somauli nation, on the 
 occasions of their frequent forays into the 
 country of the Danakil, with whom, singu- 
 larly enough, an outward understanding 
 subsists. Its depths have proved the arena 
 of many a sanguinary contest, and are 
 said, after each down-pouring of the heav- 
 ens, to become totally impassable, until 
 again cleared of the huge blocks of stone, 
 the detritus from the scarped cliffs, which 
 so choke the bed of the chasm, as to im- 
 pede all progress. The labor of removing 
 these, secures certain immunities to the 
 wild pioneers, who levy a toll .upon every 
 passing caravan, and who in this instance 
 were propitiated, on application, by the di- 
 vision of a bale of blue cotton calico, a 
 manufacture here esteemed beyond all 
 price. 
 
 A deep zigzagged rent in the plateaux, 
 produced originally by some grand con- 
 vulsion of nature, and for ages the channel 
 of escape to the sea of the gathered waters 
 from Jebel Goodah, winds like a mytho- 
 logical dragon through the bowels of the 
 earth, upward of three miles to the south- 
 ward. Masses of basalt of a dark burnt 
 brown color, are piled perpendicularly on 
 either side, like the solid walls of the im- 
 pregnable fortresses reared by the Cyclops 
 of old ; and rising from a very narrow 
 channel, strewed with blocks of stone, and 
 huge fallen fragments of rock, tower over- 
 head to the height of five or six hundred 
 feet. One perilous path affords barely suf- 
 ficient width for a camel's tread, and with 
 a descensus of one foot and a half in every 
 three, leads twisting away into the gloomy 
 depths below, dedicated to the son of Chaos 
 and Darkness, and now plunged in total 
 obscurity. 
 
 It was a bright and cloudless night, and 
 
 the scenery, as viewed by the uncertain 
 moonlight, cast at intervals in the windings 
 of the road upon the glittering spear-blades 
 of the warriors, was wild and terrific. The 
 frowning basaltic cliffs, not three hundred 
 yards from summit to summit, flung au 
 impenetrable gloom over the greater por- 
 tion of the frightful chasm, until, as the 
 moon rose higher in the clear vault of 
 heaven, she shone full upon huge shadowy 
 masses, and gradually revealed the now dry 
 bed, which in the rainy season must often- 
 times become a brief but impetuous torrent. 
 
 No sound was heard save the voice of 
 the camel-driver, coaxing his stumbling 
 beasts to proceed by the most endearing 
 expressions. In parts where the passage 
 seemed completely choked, the stepping 
 from stone to stone, accomplished with in- 
 finite difficulty, was followed by a drop 
 leap, which must have shaken every bone. 
 The gun was twice shifted to the back of 
 a spare camel, provided for the purpose ; 
 and how the heavily laden, the fall of one 
 of which would have obstructed the way 
 to those that followed, kept their feet, is 
 indeed subject of profound astonishment. 
 All did come safely through, however, 
 notwithstanding the appearance of sundry 
 wild Bedouins, whose weapons and matted 
 locks gleamed in the moonbeam, as their 
 stealthy figures flitted in thin tracery from 
 crag to crag. A dozen resolute spirits 
 might have successfully opposed the united 
 party : but these hornets of the mountains, 
 offering no molestation, contented them- 
 selves with reconnoitering the van and rear- 
 guards from heights inaccessible through 
 their natural asperity, until the twilight 
 warned them to retire to their dens and 
 hiding places ; and, ere the sun shone 
 against the summits of the broken cliff-, 
 the straggling caravan had emerged in 
 safety from this dark descent to Eblis. 
 
 Goobut el Kharab, with the singular 
 sugar-loaf islet of Good Ali, shortly opened 
 to view for the last time, across black 
 sheets of lava, hardened in their course to 
 the sea, and already rotten near the water's 
 edge. Many years have not elapsed since 
 the Eesah made their latest foray + o the 
 north of the pass, which has since borne 
 their name ; and sweeping off immense 
 booty in cattle, halted on their return at 
 Eyroladaba, above the head of the bay. 
 Under cover of the pitchy darkness, five 
 hundred Danakil warriors, passing silently 
 through the gloomy defile, fell suddenly in 
 the dead of night upon the marauders, 
 when, in addition to the multitude slain by 
 the spear and creese, numbers in the panic 
 created by the surprise, leapt in their flight 
 
40 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 over the steep lava cliffs, and perished in 
 the deep waters of the briny basin. 
 
 The schooner, although riding safely at 
 anchor near the western extremity, was 
 altogether concealed by precipitous walls 
 that towered above her raking masts, 
 and kept the party in uncertainty of her 
 arrival. Crossing the lone va.'ley of Mar- 
 monso, a remnant of volcanic action, rent 
 and seamed with gaping fissures, the road 
 turned uver a large basaltic cone, which 
 had brought fearful devastation upon the 
 whole surrounding country, and here one 
 solitary gazelle browsed on stubble-like 
 vegetation scorched to a uniform brown. 
 Skirting the base of a barren range, cov- 
 ered with heaps of lava blocks, and its foot 
 ornamented with many artificial piles, 
 marking deeds of blood, the lofty conical 
 peak of Jebel Seearo rose presently to 
 sight, and not long afterward the far-famed 
 Lake Assal, surrounded by dancing mirage, 
 was seen sparkling at its base. 
 
 The first glimpse of the strange phe- 
 nomenon, although curious, was far from 
 pleasing. An elliptical basin, seven miles 
 in its transverse axis, half filled with smooth 
 water of the deepest cerulean blue, and 
 half with a solid sheet of glittering snow- | 
 white salt, the offspring of evaporation— j 
 girded on three sides by huge hot-looking j 
 mountains, which dip their bases into the 
 very bowl, and on the fourth by crude 
 half-formed rocks of lava, broken and di- 
 vided by the most unintelligible chasms, — 
 it presented the appearance of a spoiled, 
 or at least of a very unfinished piece of 
 work. Bereft alike of vegetation and of 
 animal life, the appearance of the wilder- 
 ness of land and stagnant water, over 
 which a gloomy silence prevailed, and 
 which seemed a temple for ages consecra- 
 ted to drought, desolation, and sterility, is 
 calculated to depress the spirit of every 
 beholder. No sound broke on the ear: 
 not a ripple played upon the water; the 
 molten surface of the lake, like burnished 
 steel, lay unruffled by a breeze ; the fierce 
 sky was without a cloud, and the angry 
 sun, like a ball of metal at a white heat, 
 rode triumphant in a full blaze of noontide 
 refulgence, which in sickening glare was 
 darted back on the straining vision of the 
 tainting wayfarer, by the hot sulphury 
 mountains that encircled the still, hollow, 
 basin. A white foam on the shelving 
 shore of the dense water, did contrive for 
 a brief moment to deceive the eye with an 
 appearance of motion and fluidity ; but the 
 spot, on more attentive observation, ever 
 remained unchanged — a crystallized efflo- 
 rescence. 
 
 As the tedious road wound on over ba- 
 salt, basaltic lava, and amygdaloid, the sun, 
 waxing momentarily more intensely pow- 
 erful, was reflected with destructive and 
 stifling fervor from slates of snow-white 
 sea-limestone borne on their tops. Still 
 elevated far above the level of the ocean, 
 a number of fossil-shells, of species now 
 extinct, were discovered ; a deep cleft by the 
 wayside, presenting the unequivocal ap- 
 pearance of the lower crater of a volcano, 
 situated on the high basaltic range above, 
 whence the lava stream had been disgorg- 
 ed through apertures burst in the rocks, 
 but which had re-closed after the violence 
 of the eruption had subsided. 
 
 Dafari, a wild broken chasm at some 
 distance from the road, usually contains 
 abundance of rain water in its rocky pool, 
 but having already been long drained to 
 the dregs, it offered no temptation to hah. 
 Another most severe and trying declivity 
 had therefore to be overcome, ere the long 
 and sultry march was at an end. It de- 
 scended by craggy precipices many hun- 
 dred feet below the level of the sea, to the 
 small, close, sandy plain of Mooya, on the 
 borders of the lake — a positive Jehannairu, 
 where the gallant captain of the " Con- 
 stance"* had already 4 been some hours 
 ensconced under the leafless branches of 
 one poor scrubby thorn, which afforded the 
 only screen against the stifling blast of the 
 sirocco, and the merciless rays of the re- 
 fulgent orb over-head. 
 
 Adyli, a deep mysterious cavern at the 
 farther extremity of the plain, is believed, 
 by the credulous, to be the shaft leading to 
 a subterranean gallery which extends to 
 the head of Ghoobut el Kharab. Deeni, 
 most expert and systematic of liars, even 
 went so far as to assert that he had seen 
 through it the waters of the bay, although 
 he admitted it to be the abode of " gins and 
 efreets," whose voices are heard through- 
 out the night, and who carry off the un- 
 wary traveller, to devour him without re- 
 morse. The latest instance on record was 
 of one Shehem, who was compelled by the 
 weariness of his camel, to fall behind the. 
 caravan, and, when sought by his comrades, 
 was nowhere to be found, notwithstanding 
 that his spear and shield had remained un- 
 touched. No tidings of the missing man 
 having been obtained to the present hour, 
 he is believed by his disconsolate friends 
 to have furnished a meal to the gins in 
 Adyli ; but it seems not improbable that 
 some better clue to his fate might be af- 
 forded by the Adriisi, an outcast clan of 
 
 * Lieutenant Wilmot Christopher, I. JN. 
 
INDOMITABLE THIRST. 
 
 41 
 
 the Debeni, acknowledging no chief, 
 though recognizing in some respects the 
 authority of the Sultan of Tajura, and who 
 wander over the country for evil, from Sa- 
 gallo to the Great Salt Lake. 
 
 Foul-mouthed vampires and ghouls were 
 alone wanting to complete the horrors of 
 this accursed spot, which, from its deso- 
 late position, might have been believed the 
 last stage of the habitable world. A close 
 mephitic stench, impeding respiration, 
 arose from the saline exhalations of the 
 stagnant lake. A frightful glare from the 
 white salt and limestone hillocks threatened 
 destruction to the vision ; and a sickening 
 heaviness in the loaded atmosphere, was 
 enhanced rather than alleviated by the 
 fiery breath of the parching north-wester- 
 ly wind, which blew without any intermis- 
 sion during the entire day. The air was 
 inflamed, the sky sparkled, and columns of 
 burning sand, which at intervals towered 
 high into the dazzling atmosphere, became 
 so illumined as to appear like tall pillars of 
 fire. Crowds of horses, mules, and fetid 
 camels, tormented to madness by the dire 
 persecutions of the poisonous gad-fly, flock- 
 ed recklessly with an instinctive dread of 
 the climate, to share the only bush ; and 
 obstinately disputing with their heels the 
 slender shelter it afforded, compelled seve- 
 ral of the party to seek refuge in noisome 
 caves formed along the foot of the range 
 by fallen masses of volcanic rock, which 
 had become heated to a temperature seven 
 times in excess of a potter's kiln^and fair- 
 ly baked up the marrow in the bones. 
 Verily ! it was " an evil place," that lake 
 of salt : it was " no place of seed, nor of 
 figs, nor yet of vines ; no, nor even of 
 pomegranates ; neither was there any wa- 
 ter to drink." 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 FEARFUL SUFFERINGS IN THE PANDEMONIUM 
 OF BAHR ASSAL. 
 
 In this unventilated and diabolical hol- 
 low, dreadful indeed were the sufferings 
 in store both for man and beast. Not a 
 drop of fresh water existed within many 
 miles ; and, notwithstanding that every hu- 
 man precaution had been taken to secure 
 a supply, by means of skins carried upon 
 camels, the very great extent of most im- 
 practicable country to be traversed, which 
 had unavoidably led to the detention of 
 nearly all, added to the difficulty of re- 
 straining a multitude maddened by the tor- 
 tures of burning thirst, rendered the pro- 
 
 4 
 
 vision quite insufficient; and during the 
 whole of this appalling day, with the mer- 
 cury in the thermometer standing at 126° 
 under the shade of cloaks and umbrellas — 
 in a suffocating Pandemonium, depressed 
 five hundred and seventy feet below the 
 ocean, where no zephyr fanned the fevered 
 skin, and where the glare arising from the 
 sea of white salt was most painful to the 
 eyes ; where the furnace-like vapor ex- 
 haled, almost choking respiration, created 
 an indomitable thirst, and not the smallest 
 shade or shelter existed, save such as was 
 afforded, in cruel mockery, by the stunted 
 boughs of the solitary leafless acacia, or, 
 worse still, by black blocks of heated lava, 
 it was only practicable, during twelve te- 
 dious hours, to supply to each of the par- 
 ty two quarts of the most mephitic brick- 
 dust-colored fluid, which the direst neces- 
 sity could alone have forced down the 
 parched throat, and which, after all, far 
 from alleviating thirst, served materially to 
 augment its insupportable horrors. 
 
 It is true that since leaving the shores 
 of India, the party had gradually been in 
 training toward a disregard of dirty water — 
 a circumstance of rather fortunate occur- 
 rence. On board a ship of any descrip- 
 tion the fluid is seldom very clean, or very 
 plentiful. At Cape Aden there was little 
 perceptible difference betwixt the sea wa- 
 ter, and the land water. At Tajura the 
 beverage obtainable was far from being 
 improved in quality by the taint of the new 
 skins in which it was transferred from the 
 only well ; and now, in the very heart of 
 the scorching Tehama, when a copious 
 draught of aqua pura seemed absolutely 
 indispensable every five minutes, to secure 
 further existence upon earth, the detesta^- 
 ble mixture that was at long intervals most 
 parsimoniously produced, was the very 
 acme of abomination. Fresh hides strip- 
 ped from the rank he-goat, besmeared in- 
 side as well as out with old tallow and 
 strong bark tan, filled from an impure well 
 at Sagallo, tossed, tumbled, and shaken 
 during two entire nights on a camel's back, 
 and brewed during the same number of in- 
 tervening days under a strong distilling 
 heat — poured out an amalgamation of pot- 
 tage of which the individual ingredients of 
 goat r s hair, rancid mutton fat, astringent 
 bark, and putrid water, were not to be dis- 
 tinguished. It might be smelt at the dis- 
 tance of twenty yards, yet all, native and 
 European, were struggling and quarrelling 
 for a taste of the recipe. The crest-fallen 
 mules, who had not moistened their crack- 
 ed lips during two entire days, crowding 
 around the bush, thrusting their hot nose^ 
 
42 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 into the faces of their masters, in reproach- 
 ful intimation of their desire to participate 
 in the filthy but tantalizing decoction ; and 
 deterred with difficulty from draining the 
 last dregs, they ran franticly with open 
 mouths to seek mitigation of their suffer- 
 ings at the deceptive waters of the briny 
 lake, which, like those of Goobut el Kha- 
 rab, were so intensely salt, as to create 
 smarting of the lips if tasted. 
 
 Slowly flapped the leaden wings of Time 
 on that dismal day. Each weary hour 
 brought a grievous accession, but no alle- 
 viation, to the fearful torments endured. 
 The stagnation of the atmosphere continued 
 undiminished ; the pangs of thirst increased, 
 but no water arrived ; and the sun's des- 
 potic dominion on the meridian, appeared 
 to know no termination. At four o'clock, 
 when the heat was nothing abated, distress- 
 ing intelligence was received that one of 
 the seamen, who during the preceding night 
 had accompanied the captain of the schoo- 
 ner-of-war from Goobut el Kharab, and had 
 unfortunately lost his way, could nowhere 
 oe found — the gunner, with six men, hav- 
 ing long painfully searched the country 
 side for their lost messmate, but to no pur- 
 pose. Abroo, the son of whom old Aboo 
 Bekr was justly proud, and who was indeed 
 the flower of his tribe, immediately volun- 
 teered to go in quest of the missing sailor, 
 and he subsequently returned with the 
 cheering intelligence that his efforts had 
 been crowned with success. Overwhelmed 
 by heat and thirst, the poor fellow, unable 
 to drag his exhausted limbs further, had 
 crept lor shelter into a fissure of the heated 
 lava, where he had soon sunk into a stale 
 of insensibility. Water, and the use of a 
 lancet, with which the young midshipman 
 who heroically accompanied the exploring 
 party had been provided, restored suspend- 
 ed animation sufficiently to admit of his 
 patient being conveyed on board the " Con- 
 stance" alive ; but, alas ! he never reached 
 Tajiira ; neither did one of the brave tars 
 who sought their lost comrade under the 
 fierce rays of the sun, nor indeed did any 
 of the adventurous expedition, escape with- 
 out feeling, in after severe illness, the un- 
 wholesome influence upon the human con- 
 stitution of that waste and howling wilder- 
 ness. 
 
 But the longest day must close at last, 
 and the great luminary had at length run 
 his fiery and tyrannical course. String af- 
 ter string of loaded camels, wearied with 
 the passage of the rugged defile of Rah 
 Eesah, were with infinite difficulty urged 
 down the last steep declivity, and at long 
 intervals, as the shadows lengthened, made 
 
 their tardy appearance upon the desert 
 plain ; those carrying water, tents, and the 
 greater portion of the provisions most re- 
 quired, being nevertheless still in the rear 
 when the implacable orb went down, shorn 
 of his last fierce ray. The drooping spirits 
 of all now rose with the prospect of speedy 
 departure from so fearful a spot. The 
 commander of the friendly schooner, which 
 had proved of such inestimable service, but 
 whose protecting guns were at length to 
 be withdrawn, shortly set out on his return 
 to the vessel with the last dispatches from 
 the embassy, after bidding its members a 
 final farewell •, and in order to obtain wa- 
 ter, any further deprivation of which must 
 have involved the dissolution of the whole 
 party, no less than to escape from the pes- 
 tilential exhalations of the desolate lake, 
 which, as well during the night as during 
 the day, yielded up a blast like that curling 
 from a smith's forge — withering to the hu- 
 man frame — it was resolved as an unavoid- 
 able alternative, to leave the baggage to its 
 fate, and to the tender mercies of guides 
 and camel-drivers, pushing forward as ex- 
 peditiously as possible to Goongoonteh, a 
 cleft in the mountains that bound the oppo- 
 site shore, wherein water was known to be 
 abundant. Pursuant to this determination, 
 the European escort, with the servants, fol- 
 lowers, horses, and mules, were held in 
 readiness to march so soon as the moon 
 should rise above the gloomy lava hills, suf- 
 ficiently to admit of the path being traced 
 which leads beyond the accursed precincts 
 Of a spot, fitly likened by the Danakil to 
 the infernal regions. 
 
 Dismal, deadly, and forbidding, but deep- 
 ly interesting in a geological point of view, 
 its overwhelming and paralyzing heat pre- 
 cluded all possibility of minute examina- 
 tion, and thus researches were of necessity 
 confined to the general character of tho 
 place. Latitude, longitude, and level were 
 however accurately determined,* and many 
 were the theories ventured, 1o account :or 
 so unusual a phenomenon. Obviously the 
 result of earthquake and volcanic eruption 
 — a chaos vomited into existence by 
 
 " Th' infuriate hill that shoots the pillar'd flame." 
 
 Dame Nature must indeed have been in a 
 most afflicting throe to have given birth to 
 a progeny so monstrous ; and there being 
 no locality to which the most vivid fancy 
 could assign aught that ever bore the name 
 of wealth or human population, little doubt 
 can exist that the sea must have been re- 
 pelled far from its former boundaries. The 
 oviform figure of the bowl, hemmed in on 
 
 * These will be found in the Appendix, No. I. 
 
DISMAL NIGHT MARCH. 
 
 43 
 
 three sides by volcanic mountains, and on 
 the fourth by sheets of lava, would at the 
 first glance indicate the site of an extensive 
 crater, whose cone having fallen into a sub- 
 terranean abyss, had given rise to the sin- 
 gular appearance witnessed. But it is a 
 far more probable hypothesis that the Bahr 
 Assal, now a dead sea, formed at some very 
 remote period a continuation of the Gulf of 
 Tajura, and was separated from Goobut el 
 Kharab by a stream of lava six miles in 
 breadth, subsequently upheaved by subter- 
 ranean action, and now forming a barrier, 
 which from its point of greatest elevation, 
 where the traces of many craters still ex- 
 ist, gradually slopes eastward toward the 
 deep waters of the bay, and westward into 
 the basin of the Salt Lake. While no 
 soundings are found in the estuary of Ta- 
 jura, Goobut el Kharab gives one hundred 
 and fifteen fathoms, or six hundred and 
 ninety feet ; and premising the depression 
 of the lake to have been formerly corres- 
 pondent therewith, one hundred and twenty 
 feet may be assumed as its present depth. 
 To this it has been reduced by the great 
 annual evaporation that must take place — 
 an evaporation decreasing every year as the 
 salt solution becomes more intensely con- 
 centrated, and evinced by the saline incrus- 
 tation on the surface no less than by a 
 horizontal efflorescence, in strata, at a con- 
 siderable height on the face of the circum- 
 jacent rocks. 
 
 In the lapse of years, should the present 
 order of things continue undisturbed from 
 below, the water will probably disappear 
 altogether, leaving a field of rock salt, 
 which, when covered in by the debris wash- 
 ed down from the adjacent mountains, will 
 form an extensive depot for the supply of 
 Danakil generations yet unborn ; and the 
 shocks of earthquakes being still occasion- 
 ally felt in the neighborhood, it seems not 
 improbable — to carry the speculation still 
 further — that Goobut el Kharab, divided 
 only by a narrow channel from the Bay of 
 Tajura, will, under subterranean influence, 
 be, in due process of time, converted into 
 a salt lake, in no material respect dissimi- 
 lar from the Bahr Assal — another worthy 
 type of the Valley of the Shadow of Death, 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 DISMAL NIGHT-MARCH ALONG- THE INHOS- 
 PITABLE SHORES OF THE GREAT SALT 
 LAKE. 
 
 Scarcely had the moon dipped her first 
 flickering beam into the unruffled surface 
 4* 
 
 of the oval lake, and lighted the bluff cliffs 
 for some hours previously shrouded in 
 obscurity, than a loud war-cry from the 
 adjacent heights echoed the assembly to 
 arms, and the shrill blast of the Adai'el 
 conch summoned all to the rescue. Aban- 
 doning his occupation, each stalwart war- 
 rior seized his spear and buckler, which 
 had been laid aside while he aided in the 
 task of reloading the camels for the ap- 
 proaching night-march, and with respond- 
 ent yells rushed fiercely toward the spot 
 whence the alarm proceeded. The Eu- 
 ropeans, springing from their broken slum- 
 bers on the parched sands, stood to their 
 arms. A long interval of silence and sus- 
 pense succeeded, which was at last re- 
 lieved by the return of Mohammad Ali, 
 one of whose beasts had unfortunately 
 slidden over a steep precipice, when the 
 water-skins, bursting incontinently, had 
 scattered the filthy but precious contents 
 over the thirsty soil — an irreparable catas- 
 trophe which had occasioned the call for 
 assistance, believed by all to indicate a 
 hostile gathering of the wild Bedouin clans. 
 Of two roads which lead to Goon- 
 goonteh from the shores of the dreary 
 Bahr Assal, one skirts the margin of the 
 lake by a route utterly destitute of fresh 
 water ; while the other, although some- 
 what more circuitous, conducts over high 
 lava banks stretching some distance inland 
 to Haliksitan, and past the small well of** 
 Hanlefanta, where the drained pitcher of 
 the fainting wayfarer may be refilled. On 
 finally quitting the bivouac under the scrag- 
 gy boughs of the dwarf acacia, where the 
 tedious and most trying day had been en- 
 dured — which each of the half-stifled party 
 did with an inward prayer that it might 
 never fall to his lot to seek their treache- 
 rous shelter more — a fierce dispute arose 
 among the leaders of the caravan as to 
 which path should be adopted. " What 
 matters it," urged the intolerant Moham- 
 madan from Shoa, who had accidentally 
 been found starving at Ambabo, and been 
 since daily fed by the embassy — "what 
 matters it if all these Christian dogs should 
 happen to expire of thirst? Lead the 
 Kafirs by the lower road, or, Allahu akbar, 
 God is most powerful, if the waters of the 
 well prove low, what is to become of the 
 mules of the Faithful !" 
 
 But the breast of the son of Ali Abi 
 fortunately warmed to a more humane and 
 charitable feeling than the stony heartof the 
 " red man." With his hand upon the hilt 
 of his creese, he swore upon the sacred 
 Koran to take the upper path, and stoutly 
 led the way, in defiance of all, after Izhak 
 
44 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 and the ruthless bigots in his train had ac- 
 tually entered upon a route, which the 
 event proved must have involved the de- 
 struction of all less inured than the savage 
 to the hardships of the waste wilderness. 
 
 ? T was midnight when the thirsty party 
 commenced the steep ascent of the ridge 
 of volcanic hills which frown above the 
 south-eastern boundary of the fiery lake. 
 The searching northeast wind had scarce- 
 ly diminished in its parching fierceness, 
 and in hot suffocating gusts swept fitfully 
 over the broad glittering expanse of water 
 and salt whereon the moon shone brightly 
 —each deadly puff succeeded by the still- 
 ness that foretells a tropical hurricane — 
 an absolute absence even of the smallest 
 ruffling of the close atmosphere. Around, 
 the prospect was wild, gloomy, and un- 
 earthly, beetling basaltic cones and jagged 
 slabs of shattered larva — the children of 
 some mighty trouble — forming scenery the 
 most shadowy and extravagant. A chaos 
 of ruined churches and cathedrals, eedgahs, 
 towers, monuments, and minarets, like the 
 ruins of a demolished world, appeared to 
 have been confusedly tossed together by 
 the same volcanic throes, that, when the 
 earth was in labor, had produced the phe- 
 nomenon below ; and they shot their di- 
 lapidated spires into the molten vault of 
 heaven, in a fantastic medley, which, under 
 so uncertain a light, bewildered and per- 
 plexed the heated brain. The path, wind- 
 ing along the crest of the ridge, over 
 sheets of broken lava, was rarely of more 
 than sufficient width to admit of progress 
 in single file; and the livelong hours, each 
 seeming itself a century, were spent in 
 scrambling up the face of steep rugged 
 precipices, where the moon gleamed upon 
 the bleaching skeleton of some camel that 
 had proved unequal to the task — thence 
 again to descend at the imminent peril of 
 life and limb, into yawning chasms and 
 dark abysses, the forbidding vestiges of 
 bygone volcanic agency. 
 
 The horrors of that dismal night set the 
 efforts of description at defiance. An un- 
 limited supply of water in prospect, at the 
 distance of only sixteen miles, had for the 
 brief moment buoyed up the drooping spi- 
 rit, which tenanted each way-worn frame ; 
 and when some exhausted mule was un- 
 able to totter further, his rider contrived 
 manfully to breast the steep hill on foot. 
 But owing to the long fasting and priva- 
 tion endured by all, the limbs of the weak- 
 er soon refused the task, and after the first 
 two miles, they dropped fast in the rear. 
 
 Fanned by the fiery blast of the mid- 
 night sirocco, the cry for water, uttered 
 
 feebly and with difficulty by numbers of 
 parched throats, now became incessant ; 
 and the supply of that precious element 
 brought for the whole party, falling short 
 of one gallon and a half, it was not long 
 to be answered. A tiny sip of diluted 
 vinegar for a moment assuaging the burn- 
 ing thirst which raged in the vitals, and 
 consumed some of the more down-hearted, 
 again raised their drooping souls ; but its 
 effects were transient, and after struggling 
 a few steps, overwhelmed, they sunk again, 
 with husky voice declaring their days to 
 be numbered, and their resolution to rise 
 up no more. Dogs incontinently expired 
 upon the road ; horses and mules that 
 once lay down, being unable from ex- 
 haustion to rally, were reluctantly aban- 
 doned to their fate ; while the lion-hearted 
 soldier, who had braved death at the can- 
 non's mouth, subdued and unmanned by 
 thirst, finally abandoning his resolution, 
 lay gasping by the wayside, and heedless 
 of the exhortation of his officers, hailed 
 approaching dissolution with delight, as 
 bringing the termination of tortures which 
 were not to be endured. 
 
 While many of the escort and follow- 
 ers were thus unavoidably left stretched 
 with open mouths along the road, in a state 
 of utter insensibility, and apparently yield- 
 ing up the ghost, others, pressing on to 
 arrive at water, became bewildered in the 
 intricate mazes of the wide wilderness, 
 and recovered it with the utmost difficul- 
 ty. As another day dawned, and the 
 round red sun again rose in wrath over 
 the Lake of Salt, toward the hateful 
 shores of which the tortuous path wes 
 fast tending, the courage of all who had 
 hitherto borne up against fatigue and anx- 
 iety began to flag. A dimness came be- 
 fore the drowsy eyes, giddiness seized the 
 brain, and the prospect ever held out by 
 the guides, of quenching thirst immediate- 
 ly in advance, seeming like the tantalizing 
 delusions of a dream, had well nigh lost 
 its magical effect ; when, as the spirits of 
 the most sanguine fainted within them, a 
 wild Bedouin was perceived, like a deliver- 
 ing angel from above, hurrying forward 
 with a large skin filled with muddy water. 
 This most well-timed supply, obtained by 
 Mohammad Ali from the small pool at 
 Hanlefanta, of which, with the promised 
 guard of his own tribe, by whom he had 
 been met, he had taken forcible possession 
 in defiance of the impotent threats of the 
 ruthless " red man," was sent to the rear. 
 It admitted of a sufficient quantity being 
 poured over the face and down the parch- 
 ed throat, to revive every prostrate and 
 
FIELD OF SALT— A BROOK. 
 
 45 
 
 perishing sufferer ; and at a late hour, 
 ghastly, haggard, and exhausted, like men 
 who had escaped from the jaws of death, 
 the whole had contrived to straggle in'o a 
 camp, which, but for the foresight and 
 firmness of the son of Ali Abi, few indi- 
 viduals indeed of the whole party would 
 have reached alive. 
 
 A low range of limestone hillocks, in- 
 terspersed with strange masses of coral, 
 and marked by a pillar like that of Lot, 
 incloses the well of Hanlefanta, where 
 each mule obtained a shield full of water. 
 From the glittering shores of the broad 
 lake, the road crosses the saline incrusta- 
 tion, which extends about two miles to the 
 opposite brink. Soiled and mossy near 
 the margin, the dull crystallized salt ap- 
 pears to rest upon an earthy bottom ; but 
 it soon becomes lustrous and of a purer 
 color, and floa*ing on the surface of the 
 dense water, like a rough coarse sheet of 
 ice, irregularly cracked, is crusted with a 
 white yielding efflorescence, resembling 
 snow which has been thawed and re frozen, 
 but still, as here, with a crisp sound, re- 
 ceives the impress of the foot. A well 
 trodden path extends through the prismat- 
 ic colors of the rainbow, by the longitudi- 
 nal axis of the ellipse, to the northeastern 
 extremity of the gigantic bowl, whence 
 the purest salt is obtainable in the vicinity 
 of several cold springs, said to cast up 
 large pebbles on their jet, through the ethe- 
 real blue water. 
 
 At some distance from the beach was a 
 caravan of Bedouin salt-diggers, busily 
 loading their camels for the mnrkets of 
 Aussi and Abyssinia, where it forms an 
 article of extensive traffic and barter. Two 
 other basins of a similar stamp, but inferi- 
 or extent, which exist at no great distance 
 to the northward, are styled " Ullool" and 
 " Dus." The first of these producing salt 
 of most exquisite lustre, is preferred by 
 the Muda'ito tribes, from whose capital 
 Aussa, it is not more remote than Doha, 
 as they term the Bahr Assal, the right to 
 frequent which is asserted as an exclusive 
 privilege by the Danakil, who for centu- 
 ries have actually held the monopoly un- 
 disputed. Transferred in bulk in long- 
 narrow mat bags, wrought of the date- 
 leaf, it is exchanged for slaves and grain, 
 and not only forms, as in other climes, one 
 of the chief necessaries of life, but pos- 
 sesses a specific value for the rock salt 
 of the north, which, cut into rectangular 
 blocks, passes as a circulating medium. 
 
 A second low belt of hills, gypsum and 
 anhydrite, succeeded by limestone over- 
 strewed with basaltic boulders, forms the 
 
 western bank of the molten sea, and 
 opens into a mountain ravine. Taking its 
 source at Allooli, the highest point of the 
 Gollo range, this torrent strives to disem- 
 bogue into the extremity of the lake, al- 
 though its waters seldom arrive so far, 
 save during the rainy season. The high 
 basaltic cliffs that hem in the pebbly chan- 
 nel, approximating in the upper course as 
 they increase rapidly in altitude, form a 
 I narrow waist, where the first running 
 I stream that had greeted the eye of the 
 'pilgrims since leaving the shores of Asia, 
 trickled onward, leaving bright limpid 
 ! pools, surrounded by brilliant sward. 
 
 Bowers, forever green, enlivened by the 
 melodious w r arbling of the feathered crea- 
 tion, and the serene and temperate air of 
 the verdant meadows of Elysium, were 
 absent from this blessed spot, but it was 
 entered with feelings allied for the mo- 
 ment to escape from the horrors of purga- 
 gatory to the gates of paradise ; and un- 
 der the shade cast by the overhanging 
 cliffs, which still warded off the ardent 
 rays of the ascending sun, it was with 
 thankful hearts that the exhausted party, 
 after the terrors of such a night, turned 
 their backs upon the deadly waters of the 
 stagnant lake, to quaff at the delicious 
 rivulet of Goongoonteh an unlimited quan- 
 tity of cool though brackish fluid. 
 
 Here terminated the dreary passage of 
 the dire Tehama — an iron-bound waste, 
 which, at this inauspicious season of the 
 year, opposes difficulties almost overwhelm- 
 ing in the path of the traveller. Setting 
 aside the total absence of water and forage 
 throughout a burning tract of fifty miles — 
 its manifold intricate mountain passes, 
 barely wide enough to admit the transit 
 of a loaded camel, the bitter animosity of 
 the wild bloodthirsty tribes by which they 
 are infested, and the uniform badness of 
 the road, if road it may be termed, every- 
 where beset with the huge jagged blocks 
 of lava, and intersected by perilous acclivi- 
 ties and descents — it is no exaggeration to 
 state, that the stifling sirocco which sweeps 
 across the unwholesome salt flat during 
 the hotter months of the year, could not 
 fail, within eight and forty hours, to destroy 
 the hardiest European adventurer. Some 
 idea of the temperature of this terrible re- 
 gion, may be derived from the fact of fifty 
 pounds of well-packed spermaceti candles 
 having, during the short journey from Ta- 
 jura, been so completely melted out of the 
 box as to be reduced to a mere bundle of 
 wicks. Even the Danakil, who from early 
 boyhood have been accustomed to traverse 
 the burning lava of the Tehama, never 
 
46 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 speak of it but in conjunction with the 
 devouring element, of whose properties it 
 partakes so liberally ; and when alluding 
 to the Lake of Salt, invariably designate 
 it " Fire." 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 AFFLICTING CATASTROPHE AT GOONGOONTEH. 
 
 Goongoonteh, a deep, gloomy, zig- 
 zagged fissure, of very straitened dimen- 
 sions, is hemmed in by craggy lava and 
 basaltic walls, intersected by dikes of por- 
 phyry, augitic greenstone and pistacite, 
 with decomposed sulphate of iron, all com- 
 bining to impart a strangely variegated ap- 
 pearance. Scattered and inclined in vari- 
 ous directions, although towering almost 
 perpendicularly, they terminate abruptly 
 in a rude pile of rocks and hills, through a 
 narrow aperture in which, the path to the 
 next halting-ground at Allooli, where the 
 torrent takes its source, strikes off at an 
 angle of 90°. 
 
 Huge prostrate blocks of porphyry and 
 basalt, which have been launched lrom the 
 impending scarps, and now reduce the 
 channel to this narrow passage, are in 
 places so heaped and jammed together by 
 some mighty agency, as to form spacious 
 and commodious caverns. In the rainy 
 season especially, these doubtless prove 
 of wonderful convenience to the wayfarer ; 
 and no tent arriving until late the following 
 day, the reassembled party were fain to 
 have recourse to them for shelter against 
 the fierce hot blast from the Salt Lake, 
 which, unremitting in its dire persecutions, 
 now blew directly up the ravine. But the 
 rocks soon became too hot to be touched 
 with impunity; and the oblique rays of the 
 sun, after he had passed the meridian, dart- 
 ing through every aperture, the caves were 
 shortly converted into positive ovens, in 
 which the heat, if possible, was even more 
 intolerable than ever. Unlike former sta- 
 tions, however, there was, in this close 
 unventilated chasm, a luxurious supply of 
 water to be obtained from the living rill 
 which murmured past the entrance ; and, 
 although raised to the temperature of a 
 thermal spring by the direct influence of 
 the solar rays, and withal somewhat 
 brackish to the taste, it was far from being 
 pronounced unpalatable. 
 
 Notwithstanding that the neighborhood 
 afforded neither the smallest particle of 
 forage nor of fuel, it became necessary, in 
 consequence of the non-arrival of one half 
 of the camels, no less than from the ex- 
 
 haustion of many of the party, to halt a 
 day in the hot, unhealthy gully ; and this 
 afforded to the treacherous creese of the 
 lurking Bedouin an opportunity of accom- 
 plishing that which had only been threat- 
 ened by drought and famine. The guides 
 objecting strongly to the occupation of the 
 caves after nightfall, on account of the 
 many marauding parties of Eesah and 
 Mudaito, by whom the wady is infested, 
 every one, as a measure of precaution, 
 slept in the open air among the baggage, 
 half a mile lower down the ravine, where 
 the caravan had halted. The dry, sandy 
 bed of the stream was here narrow, and 
 the cliffs, broken, for a short distance on 
 either side, into hillocks of large, distinct 
 boulders, again resumed their consistency 
 after an interval of one hundred yards, and 
 inclosed the camp in a deep gloom. 
 
 The straitened figure of the bivouac 
 rendered it impossible to make arrange- 
 ments with much regularity in view to 
 defence.. The horses were pickeited in 
 the centre of th-j ravine. The European 
 escort occupied a position betwixt them 
 and the northern side, and the scanty beds 
 of the officers of the party were spread 
 close to the southern bank. A strong 
 picket of the Danakil was placed a little 
 distance in advance ; and, in addition to 
 the numerous other native guards in vari- 
 ous quarters, the usual precaution was 
 observed of mounting a European sentry, 
 whose beat extended the length of the front 
 of the encampment. Old Izhak slept close 
 to the beds of the embassy, and, ev.dently 
 in a state of great trepidation, solaced him- 
 self until a late hour by recounting bloody 
 tales of murder and assassination, perpe- 
 trated, within his knowledge, by the moun- 
 tain Buddoos haunting the ravine of Goon- 
 goonteh, which, being the high road to the 
 Salt Lake, forms the resort of numerous 
 evil-disposed ruffians, who are ever on the 
 prowl to cut throats, and to do mischief. 
 
 The first night, although awfully oppres- 
 sive from the heat exhaled from the baked 
 ground, and the absence of even the small- 
 est zephyr, passed quietly enough ; and 
 after another grilling day, which seemed 
 to have no termination, spent within the 
 caverns, the same nocturnal arrangement 
 as before was observed with undiminished 
 precaution. An hour before midnight, a 
 sudden and violent sirocco scoured the 
 wady ; the shower of dust and pebbles 
 raised by its hot blast, being followed by a 
 few heavy drops of rain, still as the sleep 
 of death. The moon rose shortly after- 
 ward ; and about two o'clock a wild Irish 
 yell, which startled the whole party from 
 
MIDNIGHT ALARM— MURDER. 
 
 47 
 
 their fitful slumbers, was followed by a 
 rush of men, and a clatter of hoofs toward 
 the beds of the embassy. Every man 
 sprang instinctively on his feet, seized a 
 gun, of which two or three lay loaded be- 
 side each, and, standing on his pillow with 
 weapon cocked, prepared for the reception 
 of the unseen assailants. Fortunate was 
 it that no luckless savage, whether friend 
 or foe, followed in the disorderly retreat, 
 or consequences the most appalling must 
 inevitably have ensued ; but the white legs 
 of half-naked and unarmed artillerymen 
 having passed at speed, were followed only 
 by a crush of horses and mules that had 
 burst from their pickets. So complete 
 was the panic caused by a sudden start 
 from deep sleep to witness the realization 
 of the murderous tales of midnight assas- 
 sination which had been poured into their 
 ears, that the flying soldiery, who in the 
 battle-field had seen comrades fall thick 
 around them, and witnessed death in a 
 thousand terrific forms, were rallied with 
 difficulty. But a panic is of short dura- 
 tion, if officers perform their duty ; and the- 
 word " Halt !" acted like magic upon the 
 bewildered senses of the survivors, who, 
 falling in, formed line behind the rifles. 
 
 Hurrying to the spot which they had 
 occupied, a melancholy and distressing 
 sight presented itself. A sergeant and a 
 corporal lay weltering in the blood with 
 which their scanty beds were deeply 
 stained, and both were in the last agonies 
 of death. One had been struck with a 
 creese in the carotid artery immediately 
 below the ear, and the other stabbed 
 through the heart ; while, speechless be- 
 side their mangled bodies, was stretched a 
 Portuguese follower, with a frightful gash 
 across the abdomen, whence the intestines 
 were protruding. Aroused in all proba- 
 bility during this act of cold-blooded mur- 
 der, and attempting to give the alarm, he 
 had received a fatal slash as the dastards 
 retreated ; but almost instantaneous death 
 had followed each previous blow of the 
 creese, which, while the back of the sen- 
 tinel was turned, had been dealt with mor- 
 tal and unerring precision. 
 
 Two human figures being perceived at 
 the moment the alarm was first raised, 
 crossing the iower gorge of the ravine, 
 and absconding toward the hills which 
 bounded the further extremity of the 
 camp, were promptly pursued by Moham- 
 mad Ali and his band of followers, who 
 had seized spear and shield with the ut- 
 most alacrity; but although the moon 
 shone bright, and the stars twinkled in the 
 firmament, the broken and stony nature 
 
 of the ground, facilitated the escape of the 
 miscreants under the deep shadow cast by 
 the overhanging mountains, where objects 
 could not be distinguished. 
 
 This afflicting catastrophe gave birth, in 
 the breast of all, to a by no means unnat- 
 ural feeling of distrust toward the escort 
 engaged on the sea-coast, not only as to 
 their ability, but also as to their intention 
 to afford protection. The European party 
 had lain down in full and entire confidence, 
 only to be aroused by the perpetration of 
 this most diabolical and fiendish deed ; and 
 although those who had been so fortunate 
 as to escape, might, now that they had be- 
 come aware of the existing peril, defend 
 their own lives, yet such an alternative, 
 involving the abandonment of all the gov- 
 ernment property in charge, was far from 
 being enviable. Upon after investigation, 
 however, it appeared probable, as well 
 from the evil character borne by the 
 gloomy ravine, as from the numberless 
 murders known to be annually committed 
 under similar circumstances of wanton 
 atrocity, among the native kafilahs en route^ 
 that a party of the Eesah Somauli, in- 
 habitants of the opposite coast of Goobut 
 el Kharab, but who, to gratify an insatiate 
 thirst for human blood, are in the habit of 
 making frequent incursions into the coun- 
 tray of the Danakil, had seized the oppor- 
 tunity afforded by the absence of the 
 sentry, at the farther extremity of his 
 beat, to steal unperceived down the inum- 
 brated bank of the hollow T , and perpetrate 
 the dasjtardly and cold-blooded outrage. 
 
 No attempt to plunder appeared as an 
 excuse for the satanic crime, and the 
 only object doubtless was the acquisition 
 of that barbarous estimation and distinction 
 which is only to be arrived at through 
 deeds of assassination and blood. For 
 every victim, sleeping or waking, that falls 
 under the murderous knife of one of these 
 fiends in human form, he is entitled to dis- 
 play a white ostrich plume in the woolly 
 hair, to wear on the arm an additional 
 bracelet of copper, and to adorn the hilt of 
 his reeking creese with yet another stud 
 of silver or pewter — his reputation for 
 prowess and for bravery rising among his 
 clansmen in proportion to the atrocity of 
 the attendant circumstances. At per- 
 petual strife with the Danakil, although 
 the chiefs of the tribes are on outward 
 terms of friendship, and even of alliance, 
 no opportunity is lost of retaliating upon 
 the mountain Bedouin — every fresh hos- 
 tility creating a new blood feud, and each 
 life taken on either side, being revenged 
 two-fold, ad infinitum. 
 
48 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 Ere the day dawned, the mangled bodies 
 of the dead, now stiff and stark, were con- 
 signed by their sorrowing comrades to rude 
 but compact receptacles of boulder stones 
 — untimely tombs constructed by the na- 
 tive escort, who had voluntarily addressed 
 themselves to the task. And a short 
 prayer, suited to the melancholy occasion, 
 having been repeated as the mortal remains 
 of each gallant fellow, enveloped in a 
 blood-stained winding-sheet, were lowered 
 to their wild resting-place, three volleys 
 of musketry, paying the soldier's last tri- 
 bute, rang among the dark recesses of the 
 ravine, when the hurried obsequies were 
 concluded by scaling the entrance to the 
 cemeteries, in which, however, it is not 
 probable that the dastardly sons of Satan 
 — still doubtless watching with savage 
 satisfaction from some inaccessible cranny 
 — long suffered their victims to sleep. 
 
 In the grave-like calm of the night, 
 under the pale light of the wan moon, 
 which only partially illumined the funereal 
 crags that hemmed in the dreary chasm, 
 and rose in gloomy sadness over the vaults 
 of the departed, the scene was mournful 
 and impressive. Mohammad Ali, Izhak, 
 and Hajji Kasim, with all their retainers, 
 appeared deeply touched by the fatal oc- 
 currences that had so thinned the ranks of 
 a party for whose lives they had made 
 themselves responsible ; but they referred 
 the event to fate, and to the Almighty fiat, 
 adding that, although they were unable to 
 restore the dead to life, or undo that which 
 by the will of Heaven had been done, their 
 own eyes should never close in t-sep so 
 long as danger was to be apprehended 
 from the dreaded Eesah, whose only honor 
 and wealth consists in the number of foul 
 butcheries with which their consciences 
 are stained, and whom even savages con- 
 cur in representing as sanguinary and 
 ferocious monsters, " fearing neither God 
 nor devil." 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 THE STRICKEN FOLLOWER DIES. CAIRNS 
 OF THE MURDERED. ALLOOLI AND BEDI 
 KURROOF. 
 
 It had been intended to march at break 
 of day to Allooli, the source of Wady Goon- 
 goonteh; but the absence of several of the 
 camels, which had gone astray during the 
 nocturnal confusion, caused delay in this 
 den of iniquity until ten o'clock. The 
 altered deportment of the chiefs meanwhile 
 tended materially to banish from the mind 
 
 suspicion of treachery. Heretofore, witk 
 the single exception of Mohammad Ali, all 
 had been cold, unfriendly, or insulting ; 
 but from the moment of the late catastro- 
 phe, their manner was visibly changed, and 
 the anxiety evinced for the safety of the 
 survivors under their charge was unre- 
 mitting. They formed a circle round the 
 party whensoever seated, and not a single 
 white face was for a moment suffered to 
 wander beyond their sight unattended by a 
 clump of spears. 
 
 The wound of the unfortunate Portu- 
 guese had been pronounced mortal, and 
 his dissolution was hourly expected ; but 
 life still glimmering in the socket, he 
 lingered on with fearful groans, although 
 speechless, and too nearly insensible to be 
 aware of what had passed". Placed upon a 
 litter, arranged as comfortably as circum- 
 stances would permit, the attempt was 
 made to convey him to the next ground, 
 but the rough motion of the camel doubt- 
 less hastened the termination of his suffer- 
 ings ; and the wretched man breathing his 
 last ere he had journeyed many miles from 
 the scene of his misfortunes, was interred 
 under a date- tree by the road-side, in a 
 grave ready prepared for his reception. 
 
 The last rains having washed away an 
 artificial bank of stones, which had for- 
 merly facilitated the ascent of the difficult 
 and dangerous passage leading from Goon- 
 goonteh into the Wady Kelloo — as the up- 
 per course is denominated — a delay of two 
 hours was at first starting experienced in 
 the bed of the torrent, during which all 
 were on the alert. Two huge pointed 
 rocks, abutting on opposite angles of the 
 acute zig-zag, reduced it to a traversed 
 waist, so narrow, that room for the load to 
 pass was only afforded, when the long-leg- 
 ged dromedary swung its unwieldly car- 
 cass alternately from side to side — the 
 steepness of the acclivity, rendering it 
 very frequently necessary to perform this 
 inconvenient evolution upon the knees. 
 Many became jammed, and were unladen 
 before they could regain an erect position : 
 while others were, with infinite difficulty, 
 by the united efforts of a dozen drivers, 
 who manned the legs and tail, saved from 
 being launched with their burthens over 
 the steep side of the descent, which con- 
 sisted of a treacherous pile of loose rub- 
 bish. 
 
 To the surprise of every spectator, the 
 train passed through the defile without any 
 material accident ; and thence proceeded 
 to pick their steps among the rocks, pools, 
 and fissures, which abound in every moan- 
 tain torrent, whose course is short and pre- 
 
THE CAMP FORTIFIED. 
 
 49 
 
 eipitous. Flanked by perpendicular sheets 
 of basalt and porphyry, of unwholesome 
 oulphury appearance, beneath which many 
 deep pools of cool water had collected, the 
 tortuous road was at intervals enlivened 
 by clumps of the doom palm, environed by 
 patches of refreshing green turf — sights 
 from which the eye had long been estrang- 
 ed. Nine miles of gradual ascent, brought 
 the caravan safely to the encamping ground 
 at the head of the stream — a swamp, sur- 
 rounded by waving palms and verdant 
 rushes, occupying high table-land, and af- 
 fording abundance of green forage to the 
 famished cattle. Most fortunately the sky 
 had proved cloudy, or the march, performed 
 during the hottest hours of the day, would 
 indeed have been terrific. 
 
 Hence to Sagallo, the dismal country is 
 in the exclusive occupation of a wandering 
 race of the Danakil, who, notwithstanding 
 that the Sultan of Tajilra claims the sove- 
 reignty of the entire waste, only acknow- 
 ledge his impotent authority, during their 
 occasional sojourn among the huts of that 
 sea-port. The guides asserted, with many 
 imprecations, that from time immemorial, 
 few kafilahs had ever halted at Allooli, 
 without losing one or more of its mem- 
 bers by the Adrusi creeses, or by those of 
 the Eesah ; and on the bank opposite to the 
 shady clump of doom palms, under whose 
 canopy the residue of the day was passed, 
 numerous cairns, consisting of circular 
 piles of stone, similar to those left at Goon- 
 goonteh to commemorate the outrage of the 
 preceding night, stood memorials of the 
 dark deeds that had been perpetrated. 
 
 During about three years, the road from 
 Abyssinia to the sea-coast, was completely 
 closed by hordes of these ruffian outcasts, 
 who continued their murderous depreda- 
 tions on every passer-by, until Lohei'ta, the 
 akil of the Debeni, a young, daring, and 
 warlike chieftain, succeeding to the rule 
 on the demise of his father, routed the 
 banditti after a severe struggle, and re- 
 opened the route. The Wady-Kelloo is, 
 however, still permanently infested by par- 
 ties of wild Bedouins, who skulk about the 
 rocky passes : lie in wait for stragglers 
 from the caravan : assassinate all who fall 
 into their ruthless clutches: and, when 
 time permits, further gratify their savage 
 propensities, by mangling and mutilating 
 the corse. 
 
 " See how the cowardly scoundrels 
 marked me," exclaimed the fiery old war- 
 rior Ibrahim Shehem Abli, drawing aside 
 his checked kilt, and displaying sundry 
 frightful seams, which had doubtless been 
 the work of a sharp knife. " Behold these 
 
 tokens of Eesah steel upon my thigh ; I 
 received them in this wild wady ; but, by 
 Allah, I had a life for every one of them. 
 We have a blood feud now ; and it be- 
 hoves all who are not weary of the world, 
 to look well to their own throats." 
 
 Lurking bandits excepted, who prowl 
 about like the midnight wolf, the Axlaiel 
 tribes, although sufficiently barbarous and 
 quarrelsome by nature, are fortunately in 
 a great measure restrained from deeds of 
 ferocity, by the certain consequences of 
 spilling blood. None are anxious to in- 
 volve their family or tribe in a mortal feud, 
 nor would any warrior, incurring the al- 
 most inevitable consequences of a twofold 
 retribution, find support from his clansmen, 
 unless sufficient cause could be shown ; 
 and thus, even in the most lawless states 
 of society, are checks imposed by absolute 
 necessity, which prove almost as powerful 
 as the more civilized legal restraint, upon 
 the human passions. 
 
 Although Allooli was represented to be 
 even more perilous than Goongoonteh, it 
 possessed, in point of locality, immense 
 superiority ; and every advantage that 
 could be devised, was taken of its capabil- 
 ities for defence. The baggage formed in 
 a compact circle on an open, naked plain, 
 was surrounded by a line of camels, and 
 the mules and horses were placed in the 
 centre next to the beds of the party. 
 Guards and sentinels patrolled under an 
 officer of the watch; and at the solicitation 
 of the ras el kafilah, who was exceedingly 
 anxious to avoid the inconvenient conse- 
 quences of a blood feud, a musket was dis- 
 charged every hour at the relief of sentries, 
 in order to intimate to the evil-minded that 
 all within the breastwork were not asleep. 
 
 Notwithstanding the presence, in the 
 immediate neighborhood, for several days 
 previously, of a large band of Eesah, the 
 hot night passed without any alarm. The 
 non-arrival, until long after daybreak, of 
 the camels lost at Goongoonteh, added to 
 the length of the next march, obliging the 
 abandonment of the intention entertained, 
 to speed beyond the pale of this site of 
 assassination, the party halted on the lOth- 
 Allooli stands two hundred and twenty- 
 eight feet above the sea, and although in- 
 tensely hot, and its waters saline, it proved 
 a paradise when compared with every pre- 
 ceding station. Here animal life was once 
 more abundant. A horde of pastoral sava- 
 ges, who from time to time appeared on 
 the adjacent heights, were made acquaint- 
 ed with the effect of rifle bullets, by the 
 slaughter from the tent door of sundry- 
 gazels that visited the swamp; and the- 
 
50 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 venison, afforded a most seasonable acces- 
 sion to the empty larder, which was further 
 replenished from the trees overhead, whose 
 fan-like leaves gave shelter to a beautiful 
 variety of the wood pigeon. 
 
 Shortly after midnight the march was 
 resumed by the moon's light over a suc- 
 cession of small barren terraces, confined 
 by conical and rounded hills. In the lone 
 valley of Henraddee Dowar, which opens 
 into the wide level plain of Gurgiiddee, 
 there stood by the wayside a vast pile of 
 loose stones, half concealed among the tall 
 jaundice-looking flowers of the senna plant. 
 Toward this spot ensued a general race on 
 the part of escort and camel-drivers, who 
 each added a pebble while repeating the 
 Arabic auguration, Nauzu billdhi mhia 
 Shaytani r rajim" — Let us flee for refuge 
 to God from Satan the stoned." A tragic 
 legend was attached to the cairn, which, 
 from the dimensions attained, must have 
 dated from a remote epoch. A hoary old 
 man, accused in days long gone of inces- 
 tuous intercourse with his own daughter. 
 was arraigned before a tribunal of his as- 
 sembled tribe, and, being fully convicted, 
 was on this spot stoned to death, together 
 with his fair partner in guilt. Throughout 
 Syria and Palestine it is to this day the 
 practice of all who pass the mounds raised 
 over those who die in crime, and whose 
 memory it is intended to dishonor, thus to 
 contribute a stone, as well with a view to 
 perpetuate the monument, as to shield 
 themselves from evil by manifesting the 
 detestation entertained of the infamy com- 
 memorated. 
 
 Gurgiiddee, eight miles in length, and 
 Stretching on either hand to the far hori- 
 "zon, is bounded by steep mountain ranges, 
 whence an alluvial deposit washed down 
 by the rains, presented over the whole of 
 the level plain a surface of cracked and 
 hardened mud, like that of a recently-dried 
 morass. From the southern side, where 
 the clayey tract is thickly clothed with 
 stunted tamarisk and spartium, a road 
 strikes up the valley in a north-westerly 
 direction to the Mudaito town of Aussa, 
 distant some three days' journey for a car- 
 avan. As the day dawned, the steeple 
 necks of a troop of ostriches were perceiv- 
 ed nodding in the landscape, as the gigan- 
 tic birds kicked the dust behind their heavy 
 heels ; and a herd of graceful gazels were 
 seen scouring toward a belt of stony hil- 
 locks which skirted the dry pebbly bed of 
 a river, that expends its waters on the sun- 
 dried plain. Ascending this stream, in 
 which were a few stagnant pools of bitter 
 unpalatable water, a human figure was de- 
 
 tected skulking behind some thick green 
 tamarisks by which they were overshad- 
 owed. But on being perseveringly hunt- 
 ed down by Mohammad Ali and his wild 
 myrmidons, the prisoner proved to be a 
 Debeni in quest of truant camels — his 
 attempt at concealment having, according 
 to his own account, arisen from the ap- 
 pearance of so many mounted cavaliers, 
 whom he had mistaken for a foraging party 
 of the Eesah, and was naturally desirous 
 of eluding. 
 
 The caravan halted early at Bedi Kur- 
 roof, after a march of sixteen miles, and 
 the camp was formed on a stony eminence 
 of basalt and lava, affording neither tree 
 nor shade. A day of fierce heat succeeded. 
 There was no forage for the cattle ; the 
 water was of the most brackish descrip- 
 tion ; and the spot being of old infested by 
 Bedouins, the party passed a restless and 
 watchful night. 
 
 A legend of blood, too, was attached to 
 this wild bivouac, as to most others on the 
 road, and thus it was related. One of the 
 young men of a Danakil caravan returning 
 from Abyssinia, fatigued by the hot jour- 
 ney, lay down to rest his weary limbs be- 
 neath the shadow of a rock, near which 
 the tent of the embassy now stood. It was 
 yet broad daylight, but a band of lurking 
 Eesah presently pounced upon the way- 
 farer, like the eagle on its prey, and, ere 
 he could resume his weapons, had stabbed 
 him to the heart. The dying groans of 
 the murdered man being heard by his com- 
 rades, a number of warriors started in hot 
 pursuit of the flying assassins, and after a 
 severe chase, succeeded in capturing the 
 whole gang. Two were immediately spear- 
 ed to death upon the principle of two drops 
 of blood for one ; and the remaining mis- 
 creants, four in number, having been strip- 
 ped of their clothes and arms, were kicked 
 forth out of the place. 
 
 " The Eesah of these hills," continued 
 the narrator of this tale, as, by the light 
 of the blazing watch-fire, he fashioned a 
 rude wooden bolster for the preservation 
 of his greasy peruke during approaching 
 slumbers, " are perfect Shaytans. Outcasts 
 from their tribe, bands of ten or more here 
 wander up and down like wild beasts, cut- 
 ting the throats of all they meet, whether 
 infidels or true believers — not for the sake 
 of gain or plunder, but purely to gratify an 
 innate propensity to murder. The mon- 
 sters train for these blood forays upon raw 
 flesh and marrow, and, well anointed with 
 sheep's-tail fat, can travel day and night, 
 during the hottest season, without suffering 
 
FIRST HUMAN HABITATIONS. 
 
 51 
 
 from fatigue. Allahu akbar ! but they are 
 devils incarnate !" 
 
 " Who has seen the Eesah, who has 
 heard the Eesah ?" wildly challenged Mo- 
 hammad ibn Izhak, starting upon his feet, 
 and clashing his now finished bolster 
 against his buckler, as he concluded this 
 harangue. " Who has seen the Eesah, 
 who has heard the Eesah ?" shouted a doz- 
 en voices in various quarters of the extend- 
 ed camp. " Uncover your shields, uncov- 
 er your shields ! Count well their spears, 
 that not a man of them escape !" 
 
 " We have not seen them, we have not 
 heard them," responded the patroles on 
 duty. " No Eesah are here. Sleep on in 
 peace !" 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 TERRITORIES OF THE DANAKIL DEBENI. 
 SUGGADERA, MURRAH, DTJDDEE, AND GO- 
 BAAD. 
 
 Some hours before dawn on the 12th, 
 the kaiilah was again loaded and in motion 
 across a low belt of stony eminences which 
 gradually descend to the Kori Wady, a 
 long water-course, varying in width from 
 two to four hundred yards. Threading the 
 moist channel of this stream, where the 
 foot often absolutely left an impression on 
 the sand, and passing the watering pool of 
 Leile, the road ascended a deep valley to 
 the halting ground at Suggadera, in the 
 country of the Danakil Debeni. The en- 
 tire borders were flanked by dwarf palms 
 and drooping tamarisk, bounded by low 
 hills with cliffs of conglomerate and sand- 
 stone, which disclosed dikes of porphyry 
 at an acute angle. Flocks of goats, dili- 
 gently browsing on the fat pods which fall 
 at this season from the acacia, were tended 
 bv ancient Bedouin crones in greasy leath- 
 ern peticoats, who plaited mats of the split 
 date-leaf; while groups of men, women, 
 and children, lining the eminences at every 
 turn, watched the progress of the stranger 
 party 
 
 A pastoral race, and subsisting chiefly 
 upon the fermented juice of the palm, and 
 upon the milk derived from numerous 
 flocks of sheep and goats, or from a few 
 breeding camels, the Debeni, a division of 
 the Danakil, are during certain months of 
 the year engaged in the transportation of 
 salt from the deadly Bahr Assa to the 
 Mudaito town of Aussa, where it is bar- 
 tered for grain. Architecture affords no 
 term applicable to a structure of any kind 
 inferior to a hut or hovelt or it might with 
 
 propriety be applied to the base jumble of 
 rough stone and shavings of the date stalk, 
 tenanted by these nomade savages, who 
 are divided into clans, and have no fixed 
 habitations. Nevertheless there was some- 
 thing cheering in the aspect even of these 
 frail edifices, the first human tenement 
 which had greeted the eye since leaving 
 the sea-coast, now ninety miles distant. 
 Bare, desolate, and fiery, the entire inter- 
 vening tract, although infested by the 
 lurking robber and the midnight assassin, 
 may be pronounced in all its sultry parts, 
 utterly unfitted for the location of man. 
 
 Water of rather an improved description 
 was obtained at Suggadera, under basaltic 
 rock, stained green by carbonate of copper. 
 But not a particle of forage was to be had ; 
 and the heat, reflected from a pebbly hill, 
 beneath which the tent was erected, 
 brought the mercury in the thermometer 
 to 118°, during the greater portion of the 
 day ; and the evil appearance of the place, 
 surrounded by gloomy hills cast into the 
 deepest shadow, led to the maintenance of 
 ■a vigilant watch during the dark night. 
 
 Although disturbed at the early hour of 
 1 a. M.,and denied further repose save on 
 the bare ground, the loss of a camel, which 
 was not recovered until late, so far retarded 
 advance, that only four miles were achieved 
 on the 13th. The road continued to wind 
 with a gentle ascent along the bed of the 
 Wady Kori, the hills gradually diminish- 
 ing in apparent height until they merged 
 into the elevated plain of Murrah, which 
 exhibited pebbles of pink quartz, with a 
 few scanty tufts of sweet-scented grass, 
 yellow and withered. Here, at the dis- 
 tance of two miles from a puddle of dirty 
 rain-water, in defiance of the impotent 
 ras el kafilah, the camel drivers, who stu- 
 diously avoid trees and the vicinity of a 
 pool, resolved to halt, as being a place after 
 their own hearts. 
 
 In the dry water-course just left, the 
 chirruping of some solitary hermit bird, and 
 the bursting bud of a certain dwarf shrub 
 which clothed the borders, agreeably re- 
 minded the traveller of more favored 
 climes. But. most completely was the il- 
 lusion dispelled by the forbidding aspect of 
 the sultry plain of Murrah. Monotonous 
 fields strewn with black boulders, glaring 
 in the sun, distressed the gaze wheresoever 
 it was turned — each cindery mass seeming 
 as though it had been showered down du- 
 ring a violent irruption of some neighboring 
 volcano ; although, on nearer inspection, 
 it proved to be the time-worn fragment of 
 an extensive lava sheet. The bare stony 
 plain was decorated with numerous cairns, 
 
52 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 marking deeds of treachery and blood ; and 
 at the distance of twenty miles rose a lofty 
 range of hot table-land, behind which the 
 Abyssinian river Hawash is lost in the 
 great lake at Aussa. 
 
 The presence at the watering-place of a 
 host of wild Bedouins, whose appearance 
 was far from prepossessing, again induced 
 the cautious elders to anticipate an attack; 
 and the camp occupying a very unfavora- 
 ble position for warlike operations, no lit- 
 tle difficulty was experienced in making 
 defensive dispositions. A gloomy black 
 hill threw its impenetrable shadow imme- 
 diately in front ; and on the flank, a pile 
 of half-ruined sheepfolds, constructed of 
 blocks of lava, afforded extensive conceal- 
 ment. The night however passed away 
 without any aWm, and the intense heat of 
 the day giving place to a somewhat cooler 
 atmosphere, admt ed of sleep by turns in 
 some comfort — parties of the Danakil es- 
 cort contriving by chanting their wild war 
 chorus, to keep their heavy eyes longer 
 open than usual. 
 
 An hour after midnight the loading com- 
 menced, and the steep rocky hill having 
 been surmounted by a path strewed with 
 loose stones, a terrace of slow ascent, pre- 
 senting the same dreary appearance of 
 rocks and lava boulders, continued during 
 the residue of the moon's reign. At break 
 of day, however, the aspect of the country 
 began rapidly to improve. Gaining the 
 higher and more salubrious level of Gula- 
 jno, the bare sterile land, strewed w T ith 
 black blocks of lava which tore the feet 
 with their jagged edges, was fast giving 
 place to sandy plains covered with dry 
 yellow grass — a most welcome prospect 
 for the exhausted cattle. Heretofore, sav- 
 ing in the wadys, no tree had been seen 
 except small stunted leafless acacias, few 
 and far betwe?n, and scarcely deserving 
 of the name. Several small ravines were 
 now choked with continuous groves, and a 
 mountain stream termed Chekaito, which 
 rises in the country of the Eesah, and in 
 the rainy season disembogues into the lake 
 at Aussa, was thickly clothed on both sides 
 with green belts of tamarisk, wild caper, 
 and other wood, overhung with creeping 
 parasites, and affording food and shelter to 
 birds. The pensile nests of the long-tailed 
 loxia depended from the boughs ; and while 
 the stems, covered with drift to the height 
 of fifteen feet, gave evidence of a headlong 
 course during the rains, water, even at 
 this season, was here and there to be ob- 
 tained. 
 
 Heaps of louse stones thrown carelessly 
 together, mark in almost every direction 
 
 the spot where the victim lies who has 
 been cut off by some cold-blooded miscre- 
 ant — melancholy monuments connected 
 each with a tale of assassination. But on 
 the banks of the Chekaito many acres of 
 ground are covered with stones of memo- 
 rial, such as were raised over Absalom, 
 and over Achan the king of Ai, each sur- 
 rounded by a circular cordon which bears 
 the stamp of high antiquity, and has evi- 
 dently witnessed the passage of ages. 
 These sepulchres are said to cover the 
 bones of the heroes who fell in a battle 
 fought on the spot at the period that the 
 country was first wrested from the shep- 
 herds. "Hai," the designation of the spot 
 itself, is applied also to the entire sur- 
 rounding district, which is stated to have 
 been formerly peopled by the Gittertza, a 
 gigantic pastoral race, who, under the 
 chief Sango, were at enmity with all the 
 surrounding tribes, but are now extinct. 
 
 After five times crossing the serpentine 
 bed to the point of junction with the Sa- 
 gulli, where ostriches cropped the grass 
 around numerous deserted sheep-pens, the 
 caravan finally halted at Duddee, no great 
 distance from Ramudele. For days to- 
 gether the pilgrimage had led across 
 dreary and desolate wastes, and through 
 sterile ravines where no verdure relieved 
 the eye, no melody broke upon the ear, 
 and so few living creatures were to be 
 seen, that the unwonted appearance of a 
 solitary butterfly which had become be- 
 wildered in the desert, was duly hailed as 
 an event. The general character is that 
 of a stern wilderness, parched by the in- 
 tolerable heat of a vertical sun blazing in 
 fierce refulgence over the naked land- 
 scape, of which the chief varieties consist 
 in immense plains of dry cracked mud, or 
 in barren rocks towering toward an un- 
 clouded and burning sky. Tne otter ste- 
 rility of the soil is rather marked than al- 
 leviated by occasional sickly plants of 
 most puny growth, and by the scanty ver- 
 dure of the few valleys wherein water is 
 to be found, generally in a state of stag- 
 nation. But at Duddee, forage and fuel 
 were abundant. The water obtained by 
 digging in the channel of the stream was 
 no longer brackish. The heat, although 
 the thermometer rose to 110°, was infi- 
 nitely more endurable than it had hitherto 
 proved ; and the insatiable thirst by which 
 all had been incessantly tormented on the 
 lower ground, had well-nigh disappeared. 
 
 A march of twelve miles over a succes- 
 sion of grassy plains, untenanted by man 
 or beast, but presenting the first cone of 
 the termites that had been seen, brought 
 
LOHEITA IBN IBRAHIM. 
 
 53 
 
 the party on the 15th to the inclosed val- 
 ley of Gobaad, a thousand and fifty-seven 
 feet above the ocean. Voleanic ashes, 
 jasper, chalcedony, and quartz, strewed 
 the sandy route, low volcanic ridges, of 
 comparatively recent formation, intersect- 
 ing the landscape from west to east. The 
 encamping ground, among heaps of hard 
 gravel, near which water was good and 
 plentiful, had only two years previously 
 formed the scene of the discomfiture oi 
 the ras el kafilah and his party, who had 
 been plundered of all they possessed by 
 two hundred and fifty mounted Eesah. 
 The recollection of the disaster being 
 green in his memory, he had, before leav- 
 ing Duddee, donned his folio Koran, in the 
 place of a duodecimo edition which pre- 
 viously graced his shoulder. This was a 
 not-to-be-mistaken sign of " khouf fee*" 
 and with a terror-stricken face he now 
 came to intimate, that the presence of a 
 band of these lawless ruffians in the op- 
 posite hills, together with a gathering of 
 the Muda'ito at the neighboring pools of 
 Sabala and Dagateli, leaving no sort of 
 doubt upon his mind of a meditated attack 
 during the night, it behoved every man to 
 be more than usually on the alert. 
 
 The equanimity of the brother of the 
 Sultan of Tajilra was somewhat disturbed 
 at the assurance in reply to this exhorta- 
 tion, that the Danakil camel-owners were 
 the thieves most to be dreaded, their dirty 
 and dishonest fingers being unhesitatingly 
 thrust into the bags of rice and dates, 
 whensoever opportunity proved favorable ; 
 and that the hired escort, whose business 
 it was to prevent the mal-appropriation of 
 the property of the embassy, far from as- 
 sisting to keep watch, left the duty to be 
 performed by the Europeans, and invaria- 
 bly went to sleep on their posts. 
 
 " Not one of them shall close his eyes 
 to-night, at all events," grumbled the ras. 
 « : I shall myself superintend the business, 
 and see to the safety of the camp ; for, by 
 the life of the Prophet, this is an evil 
 spot !" 
 
 As the red sun went down, there was 
 certainly a considerable display of erect 
 spears ; but their number gradually dimin- 
 ished as the night closed in ; and when 
 the ten o'clock sentry was relieved, Izhak 
 was snoring aloud, according to his wont, 
 while each doughty warrior lay fast asleep, 
 with his greasy head upon his shield, and 
 his broad lance in the precise position that 
 it assumed, when it fell frorr die relaxed 
 grasp of the slumberer. 
 
 * i. e. There is danger to be apprehended. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 INTERVIEW WITH THE OGRE. 
 
 Lohei'ta ibn Ibrahim, makobunto, akil, 
 or chief of the Debeni and a section of 
 the Eesah, asserting supremacy over Go- 
 baad, as a portion of his princely domin- 
 ions, which extend from the Great Salt 
 Lake to Ramudele, a messenger had, im- 
 mediately upon the arrival of the caravan, 
 been dispatched to his encampment in the 
 neighborhood, to invite the hero to the 
 tent ; and the peaceful night passed, hav- 
 ing inspired the leader of the alarmist 
 party with new confidence, the non-arrival 
 of the expected visitor was made an ex- 
 cuse for halting the following day. 
 
 Attended by a numerous and disreputa- 
 ble retinue, dragging as a gift an obstinate 
 old he-goat, the potent eavage, whose ex- 
 ploit of clearing the high road of the 
 restless marauders, who long obstructed 
 the passage of kafilahs, has already been 
 noticed in terms of commendation, saun- 
 tered carelessly in during the early hours 
 of the forenoon. Not one w T hit better 
 clad than the ragged and greasy ruffians 
 in his train, he was yet distinguished by 
 weapons of a superior order — the shaft of 
 his spear, which resembled a weaver's 
 beam, being mounted below the broad glit- 
 tering blade with rings of brass and copper, 
 while the hilt and scabbard of a truly for- 
 midable creese were embellished in like 
 ostentatious fashion. The wearer's aris- 
 tocratic air, and look of wild determination, 
 were well in unison with the reputation 
 he had acquired as a warrior chief. Long 
 raven locks floated like engle's feathers 
 over a bony and stalwart frame. A pair 
 of large sinewy arms, terminated in fingers 
 tipped with nails akin to bird's claws, and 
 the general form and figure of the puissant 
 makobunto, brought forcibly to mind the 
 ogre in the nursery tale, who breakfasted 
 on nought save the flesh of tender inno- 
 cents, and was cut short in his career of 
 cannibalism by Jack the giant-killer. A 
 mighty man of valor, and presiding over a 
 numerous clan of fierce and savage war- 
 riors, he is feared and respected by all the 
 country round, and seemed to be right 
 vrdil aware of his consequence upon the 
 road. 
 
 For some reason of his own, which he 
 did not think proper to divulge, the audi- 
 ence was deferred until dusk, when the 
 warrior stalked consequentially into the 
 tent, and deposited himself between the 
 arms of a chair placed for his reception. 
 
54 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 with as much dignity and self-possession 
 as if he had never in his life been seated 
 upon the ground. Although his covering 
 was restricted to a very dirty cotton cloth, 
 he wrapped himself in the impenetrable 
 mantle of silence, and comprehending no 
 Arabic, gave ear to all the compliments 
 that were translated for his edification into 
 the Dankali tongue, with the most perfect 
 indifference and mental abstraction ; until, 
 having swallowed a sufficiency of hot 
 coffee, and stuffed his nostriJs with a be- 
 coming modicum of Regent's mixture, he 
 deigned to lay aside a portion of his re- 
 serve, and in slow, measured language, 
 vouchsafed a brief detail of the energetic 
 measures that had been adopted at his be- 
 lies", toward the recovery of certain horses 
 sent by his ally, the King of Shoa, to her 
 Britannic majesty, and which had, by 
 some unfortunate mischance, been stolen 
 in their transit through Gobaad ; adding, 
 that he would impart to the embassy the 
 boon of his protection, and in earnest 
 thereof, might probably condescend the 
 favor of his countenance a few stages in 
 advance. 
 
 Izhak with his compeers sat in gloomy 
 silence during the entire conference, evi- 
 dently annoyed at the good understanding 
 that subsisted betwixt his rival Mohammad 
 Ali, and the illustrious guest. The pres- 
 ents designed for the propitiation of the 
 ogre hiving been duly transferred, were 
 eagerly clutched, and hastily conveyed be- 
 neath his buckler, or below the ample 
 folds of his greasy garb, as being far too 
 choice for the prying eyes of attendants ; 
 and after sitting another half hour in taci- 
 turn dignity, the prince of savages rose 
 deliberately from his chair, and, loaded 
 with broadcloth and trinkets, walked away 
 as he had come, without condescending to 
 pay attention to, or say a parting syllable 
 to any one. 
 
 The extraordinary hour chosen for this 
 curious audience, had obviously been dic- 
 tated by a desire to conceal from the cov- 
 etous gaze of the wild spirits around him, 
 the tribute which he had reasonably cal- 
 culated upon receiving from the British 
 pilgrims, on the occasion of their transit 
 through his territories ; for, in truth, it 
 must be confessed that the social state of 
 these savages does not by any means be- 
 tray that primitive simplicity so lauded and 
 extolled by Rousseau. Rude barbarians 
 they are, saturated with Moslem intoler- 
 ance as with mutton fat; and although 
 they tend their flocks in the parched valley 
 after the most approved Arcadian fashion, 
 yet the persons of even the boldest chiefs 
 
 are not always secure : and however poets 
 may have embroidered the subject with 
 the flowers of their fancy, there is not to 
 be found one individual of the whole com- 
 munity, who would hesitate to cut a throat 
 for the sake of the last remaining button 
 on a waistcoat. 
 
 Betwixt savage and civilized existence 
 there yawns a wide gulf. The savage man 
 and the civilized man, although descended 
 from a common parent, can scarcely be 
 said to belong to the same stock of human- 
 ity, and he who has been pronounced the 
 only true man, the lordly lord of the wil- 
 derness, might here more appropriately be 
 designated a devil incarnaie. An inter- 
 esting trait in the children of nature was 
 witnessed on the occasion of the slaugh- 
 ter of the rank buck goat presented to the 
 embassy by Loheita ibn Ibrahim. No soon- 
 er had the razorlike creese been drawn 
 across the throat, with the concomitant 
 ejaculation, " Bismillahi rahmani raliim" 
 — " in the name of God, the compassion- 
 ate," the' merciful," — than a savage threw 
 himself upon the expiring animal ; and 
 having, vampire-like, quaffed as much of 
 the hot flowing blood as he could obtain, 
 besmeared his greasy features with the re- 
 sidue, and wiped them on the still quiver- 
 ing carcass. No tiger could have acted 
 in more ferocious guise, or displayed a 
 greater relish for the tide of life. 
 
 This had been a day of feasting and 
 carousal ; for both Izhak and the son of 
 the Rookhba chief had likewise received 
 sheep, and the slaughter of each had been 
 followed by a general tussle for the pos- 
 session of the caul. For the purpose of 
 larding the head, this is a prize infinitely 
 preferred even to the tail, which appendage 
 in the Adel sheep is so copiously furnish- 
 ed, that the animal is said to be capable of 
 subsisting an entire year upon the absorp- 
 tion of its own fat, without tasting water. 
 It was truly delightful to witness the pro- 
 cess of greasing the poll at the hands of 
 the Danakil barber. The fat having been 
 melted down in a wooden bowl, the opera- 
 tor, removing his quid, and placing it in a 
 secure position behind' the left ear, pro- 
 ceeded to suck up copious mouthfuls of the 
 liquid, which were then sputtered over the 
 frizzled wig of a comrade, who, with man- 
 tle drawn before his eyes to exclude stray 
 portions of tallow, remained squatted on 
 his haunches, the very picture of patience. 
 The bowl exhausted, the operator careful- 
 ly collecrs the suet that has creamed 
 around his chaps as to render him inartic- 
 ulate ; and having duly smeared the same 
 over the filthy garment of him to whom 
 
CHIEFS OF THE EESAH. 
 
 55 
 
 it in equity belongs, proceeds, with a skew- 
 er, to put the last finishing touch to his 
 work, which, as the lard congealed, has 
 gradually assumed the desired aspect of a 
 line full-blown cauliflower. 
 
 The Dankali who . has prevailed over 
 his foe, adorns his cranium with a perfect 
 frost of tallow, dons a leopard-skin decora- 
 ted with monkey tails three times in excess 
 of the highest bashaw in the Ottoman em- 
 pire, and tricks himself out with feathers 
 in all the variety of savage fancy, the lobe 
 of his ear being pierced for the reception 
 of pewter rings,. which denote the number 
 of his victories achieved. Many warriors 
 thus distinguished had strolled in during 
 the day ; for there had been an onslaught 
 upon the Eesah, who among other recent 
 atrocities, had, only the preceding week, 
 ripped up six pregnant Debeni females. 
 The same wearisome string of inquiries 
 on the part of each member of the kafilah, 
 were responded to in the same cold monot- 
 onous drawl, and then bandied back by the 
 new arrival — apathy and indifference per- 
 vading the features of both parties through- 
 out the endless mechanical repetitions of 
 " WogerriV and " Wogerri maaniV 
 
 To Gebaad, from the shores of Lake 
 Abhibbad, which is formed by the waters 
 drained from Abyssinia, it is said to be 
 one easy day's journey for the pedestrian. 
 Among other Muda'ito visitors from its 
 borders, there came one of the Galeyla, 
 an outcast from his clan, who bore among 
 his fellows the reputation of being a veri- 
 table cannibal. This villain became at 
 once the cynosure of every eye, and stood 
 confessed the vilest of the vile. A coil of 
 putrid entrails which encircled his neck, 
 had been distended with mutton fat into 
 the figure of monstrous sausages ; and the 
 shaggy mane of a filthy hyena, that he had 
 destroyed and devoured the preceding day, 
 being twined in a becoming wreath around 
 his dark brow, mingled wildly with his 
 dishevelled locks. Under the gaze of so 
 great a crowd, his calm repose was calcu- 
 lated to elicit the highest admiration ; and 
 fully sensible of his own merit, the man- 
 eater endured the scrutiny of the curious 
 populace with an air of conscious dignity, 
 which was scarcely disturbed when the 
 temerity of the more juvenile spectators 
 called imperatively for the interference of 
 his heavy mace. 
 
 It is difficult to comprehend the motives 
 which may have induced this worthy to 
 venture thus rashly among his bitterest 
 foes ; but the nature of the terms occasion- 
 ally subsisting between the Muda'ito and 
 
 the Danakil are not more singularly ano- 
 malous than those that bind the Danakil 
 and the Eesah, over a portion of which 
 latter Lohei'ta ibn Ibrahim exercises nomi- 
 nal supremacy. Making common cause, 
 and assisting each other against the Mu- 
 da'ito, international hostilities are never- 
 theless almost unceasing ; and mutual in- 
 terest, added to the aversion entertained to 
 the perpetuation of blood feuds, affords 
 perhaps the only substantial argument for 
 their temporary cessation. 
 
 Of three chieftains who take the title of 
 ougass, and whose authority is in some 
 sort acknowledged by the Eesah, the prin- 
 cipal is Ougass Robiley, who resides with 
 the Gidderboosi, south of Zeyla. Hoos- 
 sain ibn Fara, the next in order, is related 
 by marriage to the makobunto of the De- 
 beni, and asserts influence from the Reah- 
 moosa tribe of Somauli, bordering on Goo- 
 but el Kharab, to Kore Koragureet, within 
 thirty miles of Zeyla, where commences- 
 the country of the Hebrowal — thence south 
 to the limits of the Galla territory, and 
 northwest to Killulloo. Here it is bound- 
 ed by Errur, the residence of the old ske'ikh, 
 of the Woema, and by the independent Mo- 
 hammadan principality of Hurrur, whose 
 ameer annually confers upon each Eesah 
 chief a conical skull cap and turban, in re- 
 cognition of his alliance. 
 
 Not a cloud blotted, the sparkling vault 
 overhead, which now blazed out in a per- 
 fect galaxy of light, engirdled by the lumi- 
 nous zone in the milky way. Attention 
 was early directed to its beauties by the 
 showers of meteors that in rapid succession 
 shot through the innumerable host of hea- 
 ven, and temporarily eclipsed their brill- 
 iancy. The night was already somewhat 
 advanced when Lohe'ita sent to demand a 
 private audience upon two points of vital 
 importance; and Mohammad Ali being the 
 agent employed, no time was lost in ar- 
 ranging the desired interview. " My beard 
 is troublesome," whispered the ogre in a 
 most mysterious tone, after he had been 
 some minutes seated in silence ; " my tough 
 beard is not readily trimmed with a creese, 
 and a razor would therefore have been de- 
 sirable." A first-rate Savigny was imme- 
 diately placed within his grasp. "And, 
 secondly," he continued, trying the keen 
 edge upon the largest of his formidable 
 talons, " my sister, who is far advanced in 
 her pregnancy, has lately rejected food — 
 mutton, beef, everything in fact has been 
 offered, and equally loathed. Now I am 
 desirous of trying whether she might not 
 fancy a bag of dates." 
 
56 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 SHOWING HOW THE OGRE ACQUITTED HIM- 
 SELF AT GOOTABELLA. 
 
 Many and tragic were the tales narrated 
 of the prowess of the ogre when the hot 
 blood of youth boiled in his warrior veins. 
 The first feat of his early days, ascribed to 
 the year of the great comet, is still green 
 in every recollection ; and as it was re- 
 counted by Ibrahim Shehem, so was it 
 vouched for by those of the Danakil braves, 
 who during the recital crowded around the 
 watch-fire at Gobaad. 
 
 The gray- bearded elders had sat for 
 many nights in deep consultation, and the 
 chicken-hearted of the Debeni had ex- 
 hausted all the usual epithets upon the 
 countless number of the foe, and the con- 
 sequences of rash and fool-hardy adven- 
 ture, w T hen the youthful chief raised his 
 manly form in the circle, and his brawny 
 proportions seemed to dilate into colossal 
 stature in the dimness of the evening mist. 
 
 " Listen to my words," he exclaimed, 
 " for they are the sentiments of my heart. 
 Children of Lohe'ita, hearken to the voice 
 of your leader ! Has the spirit of the foul 
 hare entered into the breast of the war- 
 rior ? Is the shield no longer to clash, nor 
 the broad spear to glitter in the valley of 
 Gobaad ? Are the Debeni tamely to suf- 
 fer their wives and their daughters to be 
 carried into captivity, their flocks and their 
 herds to be swept off, their wells to be 
 taken possession of, and their very name 
 made the scorn and the laughing-stock of 
 the dastardly Mudaito, without one strug- 
 gle to prevent it ? Dust be upon my head 
 if the brave sons of the desert should thus 
 root themselves in a quiet spot, like the 
 withered and dying acacia, without a sin- 
 gle thorn to avenge an insult ! Rouse ye, 
 my children, for in the name of the most 
 holy Prophet I will even dare the danger 
 of the war ; and ignominy sully the fame 
 of him who shall suffer his chief to mingle 
 singly in the strife." 
 
 Reseating his sinewy form upon the 
 rock, Lohe'ita covered his face in the folds 
 of his garment, and in anxious silence 
 awaited the result of this appeal. But the 
 chord of feeling had been struck by a mas- 
 ter hand. A low murmur of voices was 
 quickly followed by the deep hum of ap- 
 probation accompanying the confused clat- 
 ter of the bucklers, and the elders, rising 
 simultaneously, proclaimed, "It is the voice 
 and the will of the Most High. Even so 
 let it be !" The erect spears sank with 
 one accord to the ground, and the stern 
 
 " Ameen" of the assembled tribe, rolled 
 ominously among the surrounding cliffs. 
 
 For some days after this harangue, the 
 Debeni maintained a peaceable demeanor ; 
 but it was now the still, treacherous calm 
 which precedes the hurricane. The Ga- 
 leyla Mudaito, who had already possessed 
 themselves of all the choicest grazing 
 grounds in the neighborhood, and com- 
 pletely closed the caravan route from Abys- 
 synia to the sea-coast, meanwhile contin- 
 ued their depredations with impunity ; one 
 subdivision of the tribe settling in the 
 small valley of Gootabella, where they 
 erected permanent habitations, and boast- 
 ed of their unmolested vicinity to the 
 graves of the ancestors of Lohe'ita. 
 
 The Galeyla subdivision of the great na 
 tion of Mudaito had rendered itself more 
 particularly obnoxious by its aggressions- 
 Many were the young men of Gobaad wh( 
 had fallen under their sharp knives. Scorn 
 ful taunts were ever rife upon the tips of 
 their insulting tongues ; and few indeed of 
 the huts in the valley had not at some pe« 
 riod sent forth the voice of wailing an4 
 lamentation for captive maids or for harrie* 
 flocks. But the day of dire retribution wa> 
 fast speeding on. The wane of the mooi 
 was the appointed signal of rendezvous U 
 the heretofore slothful tribe ; and as tba 
 darkness of the unlit night shrouded the 
 valley and the hill, all those members of 
 the clan whose spirit had not been utterly 
 quelled by the frequent disasters experi- 
 enced at the hand of the sanguinary inva- 
 der, mustered around their youthful chief. 
 
 Silently, like the descending wreath of 
 snow, the tiles of warriors poured in from 
 every quarter of his extensive though dis- 
 tracted domain. The nation had respond- 
 ed to the call of its leader ; and the wrinkled 
 brow, and the full oily cheek : the thin sin- 
 ewy shank of the veteran, and the grace- 
 ful form of the untried but aspiring strip- 
 ling, were soon mingled together. The 
 sun set upon a busy scene in the lone val- 
 ley of Gobaad. Two thousand savages, 
 enjoying the rude feast that had been 
 amply provided for their wants, w T ere en- 
 gaged in close- whispering consultation on 
 the coming strife ; and wrought to a pitch 
 of frenzy by the spirit-stirring words of 
 their warlike chief, no less than by the 
 exhortations of his wily emissaries, who, 
 ever and anon, mixed with the carousing 
 groups, to feed their panting passions 
 against the hereditary foe, each warrior 
 firmly clenched his teeth in dread deter- 
 mination, while he whetted his sharp wea- 
 pon to the keenest edge upon the nearest 
 stone. 
 
THE MASSACRE OF GOOTABELLA. 
 
 57 
 
 As the fire blazed brightly upon shield, 
 and spear, and stalwart frame, Loheita 
 moved forth in front of his inclosure, buck- 
 led for the fray. His active form was ful- 
 ly revealed by the fitful flame ; and a dark 
 smile played for the moment over his stern 
 visage, as his followers, rising with one ac- 
 cord, unsheathed their murderous creeses, 
 and, bursting into a loud murmur of ap- 
 plause, swore by the sacred volume that 
 the steel should "that night reek in the hot 
 blood of the accursed Mudai'to. 
 
 Placing himself at the head of his ani- 
 mated retainers, the chief now led the ad- 
 vancing van, and the tramp of the eager 
 savage fell light over the steep mountain 
 and the boundless plain. Deep darkness 
 was esteemed of small account by these 
 children of the desert, who, like the course 
 of the falling thunderbolt, held on their 
 progress in the true direction. Starting 
 as the dense phalanx advanced, the timid 
 gazel scoured in terror over the valley, 
 and the prowling lion yielded the path to 
 men who were now in a mood not less 
 desperate than his own. 
 
 The last rocky defile gained, a deep im- 
 penetrable gloom pervaded the scene. The 
 very stars were hid under a partial mist, 
 and nought gave token of the habitation 
 or the presence of man, save at intervals 
 the disturbed bleat of captive Debeni flocks. 
 " They were ours once," scornfully mut- 
 tered the chief betwixt his closed teeth, 
 "and, Wullah! if there be faith in the 
 sharp steel of a true believer, they shall 
 this night return to their pastures." 
 
 " All know the valley of Gootabella," 
 observed the narrator, "closely hemmed 
 in on three sides by towering cliffs, over 
 one perpendicular rock at the neck of 
 which, the river Chekaito, leaping, extends 
 its sandy bed throughout the entire centre, 
 so that ten resolute spirits might defend 
 the only outlet against countless legions. 
 None save the sons of asses would have 
 pitched their tents in that spot ; but the 
 Galeyla were overweeningly conceited and 
 vain of their exploits, and held in utter 
 contempt the dispossessed proprietors of 
 the soil, whom they had hitherto so easily 
 despoiled." 
 
 No timely note of alarm announced the 
 approach of danger ; and the noiseless step 
 of the foe gliding unheard round the devo- 
 ted hamlet, it was encompassed on every 
 side. Infuriate warriors in appalling si- 
 lence beleaguered the narrow aperture of 
 each matted wigwam. The recollection 
 of captive and murdered relatives, of burn- 
 ing huts and harried flocks, entered deep 
 into the stern soul of each grim assailant ; 
 
 and as the edge of the naked creese was 
 passed cautiously along the finger, a prayer 
 was breathed on high to the throne of the 
 Eternal Avenger. 
 
 The unsuspecting inmates of every abode 
 were hushed in deep repose. The spear 
 lay entangled in the folds of the scattered 
 garments, the shield had been cast idly in 
 the corner, and the warrior, surrounded by 
 his wives and little ones, was wrapped in 
 peaceful rest, such as he was wont to en- 
 joy when lulled by the gentle murmur of 
 the breaking waves of the Bahr el Shub, 
 in his own far distant land. 
 
 The suffocating fumes of smoke soon 
 stole upon the sense of the drowsy slum- 
 berers ; the crackling of flames aroused all 
 abruptly from their dreams of security, and 
 the lurid glare that enveloped the blazing 
 hamlet caused each affrighted inmate to 
 rush to the door, where the crooked steel, 
 driven by the hand of desperate revenge, 
 was sheathed in many a bare bosom. 
 
 Sudden, electric, and complete was the 
 surprise, and vain were the efforts of the 
 unarmed warrior. Loheita raged through 
 the scene like the demon of the angry el- 
 ement, and each follower ruthlessly strove 
 to emulate his example. A dozen spear- 
 blades transfixed the body of every fugitive. 
 Two thousand of the foe fell during the 
 murderous onslaught ; and in that fearful 
 night all ancient injuries were well washed 
 out in the warm blood of the Mudaito. 
 
 The pent-up wrath of the savage, like 
 the checked waters of an impetuous moun- 
 tain torrent, bursting all bounds, careered 
 along without restraint Mockery and 
 insult were bandied back to the frantic 
 screams of the women, as their tender 
 babes were barbarously pitched into the 
 hissing flame ; and the red sun rose above 
 the beetling crags to witness a frightful 
 scene of carnage and desolation. 
 
 Flocks and herds had burst from their 
 folds, and betaken themselves to the wil- 
 derness. Scorched and mangled bodies 
 thickly strewed the ground, or lay half 
 consumed among the smouldering embers 
 of the pile. The groans of the dying min- 
 gled with the bitter wailing of captive fe- 
 males bereft of husband and offspring ; and 
 the chief surrounded by his exulting host 
 sat in grim triumph beside the dense col- 
 umn of smoke, which with an eddying flame 
 ascended high into the vault of heaven from 
 the black and burning monument to De- 
 beni vengeance. 
 
 A deep fissure in the bowels of the hill, 
 had given refuge to a determined few who 
 had sought safety within its rocky sides : 
 but the keen eye was not long in discov- 
 
58 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 ering the dim track of the fugitives ; and 
 the insatiate chieftain, speeding upon the 
 trail, tore from the aperture the thorns and 
 overhanging shrubs, and dashed into the 
 cave with spear and buckler. The only 
 resistance made during the foray was in 
 this last stronghold ; and Loheita received 
 a deep wound on the breast, the scar of 
 which will be borne to his grave. Des- 
 peration nerved the limbs of the surviving 
 Galeyla, who, well knowing that no quar- 
 ter would be granted, sullenly fought on 
 with the few weapons they had snatched 
 up in their hurried flight ; but all died in 
 the unequal strife upon the spot where they 
 had taken their last stand. 
 
 Crowned with brilliant success., the re- 
 turn of the dauntless young chief from his 
 first expedition was swelled by troops of 
 captive maids and by the pillaged herds of 
 years. But the triumph had been achieved 
 with no trifling loss to his clan. The bod- 
 ies of thirteen braves, borne by their com- 
 rades upon* green branches of the palm, 
 closed the order of march, and the war- 
 chorus pealed wildly among the rocks as 
 the victorious host poured back through the 
 valley of Gobaad. 
 
 A burst of savage acclamation, which 
 2*ose shrill and high in the noontide heat 
 from the assembled population, was suc- 
 ceeded by a solemn pause as the dread ti- 
 dings were imparted to the relatives of the 
 fallen. A path was cleared through the 
 now hushed and silent phalanx, while muf- 
 fled females, beating their bare breasts, 
 passed toward the biers between the open 
 ranks. The boldest and the bravest had 
 been untimely cut ofT; and their widows, 
 throwing themselves upon the lifeless 
 bodies, indulged for a season in the most 
 piercing shrieks and extravagant grief. 
 But the deep loud chant of the elders, "It 
 is the decree of the Most High," drowned 
 the hysterical sobs of the bereaved ; and 
 the host again moved on in boisterous mirth 
 to indulge, after the successful foray, ac- 
 cording to the bent of their inclinations, 
 and prepare for a series of achievements, 
 which have since cleared the surrounding 
 plains. 
 
 To this day none but the boldest dare, 
 after nightfall, to enter the valley of skulls. 
 The moans of the Galeyla warriors, who 
 fell in the affray, are heard amid the fune- 
 real sighing of the wind ; the plaintive song 
 of the Bedouin maid still chronicles the 
 event ; and long will be remembered in the 
 red house of Mudaito the night of the mas- 
 sacre of Gootabella. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 SANKUL AND SUG GAGED AN. DAWATLAKA 
 AND AMADOO IN THE LIMITS OF THE 
 GALEYLA MUDAITO. 
 
 Ascending by an extremely bad road the 
 broken range to the southward, which 
 commands a fine prospect over the valley 
 of Gobaad, the kafilah reached Sankul on 
 the 17th. It forms the focus of several 
 small dales, converging from the table-land, 
 and shut in from all breeze by the sur- 
 rounding steep black cliffs of basalt, pass- 
 ing into hornblende. A small cave near 
 the encamping ground, was occupied by a 
 colony of industrious bees ; and at the 
 only well, flocks of the diminutive black- 
 faced Berbera sheep, were drinking from a 
 trough formed of ox-hide stretched be- 
 tween four stakes, to which the water was 
 transferred in gourds by greasy Bedouin 
 shepherdesses. The evening was passed 
 in perpetual wrangling with these matrons 
 during the operation of filling up the wa- 
 ter-skins ; and sad presage was afforded of 
 a coming day of drought, which the ex- 
 hausted and sinking cattle of the caravan 
 were hourly waxing less able to endure. 
 
 The next march led over the high table- 
 land of Hood Aii, a stony level thickly 
 studded with dry grass, and extending in 
 one monotonous plateau far as the eye 
 could reach. The fetid carrion-flower here 
 presented its globular purple blossoms 
 among the crevices, and a singular medi- 
 cinal plant, lab-lubba, was detected by the 
 keen eye of a savage, who had before 
 evinced a latent taste for botanical studies. 
 The usual encamping ground at Arabdera 
 was found to be preoccupied by a nomade 
 tribe of Bedouin goat-herds, who monopo- 
 lized the scanty water. Descending the 
 range, therefore, the bluff brow of which 
 commanded an extensive prospect over the 
 wide level valley of Dullool, the kafilah 
 halted at Suggagedan. This arid spot in 
 the strand- like waste was covered with 
 masses of lava, and with blocks of basalt 
 from the adjacent hills. It was parched 
 by a burning atmosphere, and afforded no 
 water whatever — calamities which resulted 
 in the abandonment of a horse and two of 
 the mules, that were no longer able to bear 
 up against thirst and fatigue ; while many 
 others now dragged their weary limbs with 
 difficulty, and seemed but too well disposed 
 to follow the example. 
 
 Dullool is one thousand two hundred 
 and twenty.eight feet above the level of the 
 sea — a perfect flat, covered with alluvial 
 
WILD ASSES— DECEPTIO VISUS. 
 
 59 
 
 deposit, and studded with extensive tracts 
 of eoarse, dry grass in tufts, among which, 
 as the almost interminable string of camels 
 crossed the following morning, both os- 
 triches and gazels were descried. It is 
 bounded by a bold mountain range ; and 
 the farther extremity of the plain, to- 
 ward the foot of Jebel Marie, is perfectly 
 bare, stretching away to the westward, in 
 one uninterrupted sheet of hard, compact 
 mud, which imparts the aspect of the Runn 
 of Cutch. A herd of wild asses, precisely 
 similar to those found on the Indian salt 
 desert, materially enhanced the resem- 
 blance ; and the sun, which had now at- 
 tained considerable altitude, casting his 
 rays in a full blaze over the naked plain, 
 called up the dancing mirage, that was 
 alone wanting to complete the picture. 
 
 On this level expanse, which terminates 
 in a cul-de-sac, shut in by high basaltic 
 walls, inaccessible either to man or beast, 
 the Adaiel affect to ride down the wild ass, 
 upon lean mules forsooth, and to rip up the 
 quarry with their creeses. There had 
 been much vainglorious talking upon this 
 head, but it ended, like every Dauakil 
 boast, in nothing. The hawk-eye of che 
 ogre detected an out-lying mare a*iong 
 the ravines at the foot of the range ; and 
 he dashed off the road with such lightning- 
 speed, that the animal narrowly escaped 
 being hemmed into a corner ; iut once on 
 the broad desert, and she tossed her arched 
 neck, kicked up her war*.on heels, and 
 laughed at the absurd efforts of her impo- 
 tent pursuers. 
 
 IiOose stones again itrewed the approach 
 to the Marie range, which is of trap form- 
 ation, of a slaty texture, stained with red 
 iron oxide, and' intersected by veins of iron 
 clay. A breach in the hills, here about a 
 thousand or twelve hundred feet high, form- 
 ed a steep sloping ridge of lava rocks, con- 
 taining quantities of carbonate of lime, dis- 
 posed in rhomboids and hexagonal sheets. 
 In this nook, surrounded by a thick jungle 
 of acacia, were sundry basins filled with 
 clear water, to which the solar rays had 
 not penetrated. They afforded most re- 
 freshing draughts ; and the skins having 
 been replenished, the encampment was 
 formed at Dawaylaka, a full mile beyond. 
 Marie is not a word of either Arabic or 
 Dankali derivation ; whence it seems not 
 improbable that this bold range of hills 
 may, in days of yore, have been named by 
 some wanderer from the West. 
 
 A fine fresh morning succeeded to a 
 
 very sultry night, passed upon the hard hot 
 
 stones ; and, at break of day, the cattle 
 
 having been taken to the pools, where, at 
 
 5* 
 
 so early an hour, they would drink but lit- 
 tle, the skins were again replenished, and 
 the caravan pursued its march to Oomer- 
 gooloof, which can boast of no water at 
 any season. Of two roads, the lower, but 
 more level, was adopted, in consequence 
 of the exhaustion of the beasts of burthen. 
 It led across a dry, desert plain of six 
 miles, over which thf delusion of mirage 
 was complete. Coding the valley, as far 
 as the eye could r^ach, to the foot of the 
 hills, which rise abruptly on all sides, it 
 imparted the appearance of an extensive 
 bay, shut in oy projecting headlands — a 
 still calm kke, so unmoved by the wind 
 that every cliff was most distinctly reflect- 
 ed on the mirror of its glassy bosom. 
 
 Approaching from a higher level, a rip- 
 ple pUyed upon the surface of the vision- 
 ary water ; and the vapor being too subtle 
 to screen irregularities of the ground, the 
 aqueous expanse soon became gradually 
 disunited, until it ultimately vanished alto- 
 gether. The scene, cool and pleasant while 
 it endured, formed a striking contrast to the 
 baked alluvial desert under foot, destitute 
 of even a vestige of vegetation, but over 
 which was wafted a zephyr as unlooked-for 
 as refreshing. Thrown in a particular way, 
 and on certain atoms, rays of light produce 
 illusions to the vision which are often em- 
 bodied after the likeness of objects most 
 deeply dwelling in the imagination. Thus 
 it was that the character of the headlands 
 of Dullool, square and perpendicular, to- 
 gether with an islet riding like a ship at 
 her cable in the centre of the molten basin, 
 aided the striking similarity of names in the 
 respective neighborhoods, to bring vividly 
 before the eyes of all, the apparition of the 
 bay of Goobut el Kharab. 
 
 Immediately opposite to Oomergooloof is 
 a projecting spur from Jebel Oobnoo, a lofty 
 range visible to the westward ; and this 
 divides the plain into two valleys, whereof 
 the southernmost is denominated Wada 
 Arfa. The Marie range here towers over- 
 head, steep and precipitous, to the height 
 of about nine hundred feet ; stupendous 
 masses of rock which have been detached 
 from the summit, and strew the entire base, 
 corroborating the assertion of the Danakil 
 that earthquakes are frequently felt in the 
 vicinity. Nomade tribes with their families 
 and flocks, having settled at the wells which 
 exist at a distance, had compelled the gen- 
 tler portion of the Libyan creation to resort 
 to regions more blest with water ; and not 
 even a desert-loving gazel was espied du- 
 ring the march of twelve miles. 
 
 Ibrahim Shehem Abli had long viewed 
 with the eye of bigoted disapproval, the at- 
 
60 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 tentions paid by one of the Mohammadan 
 followers to two canine companions of the 
 party, pets that had survived the passage 
 of the fiery Tehama, but whose feet had 
 become so lacerated by the hot lava boul- 
 ders as to incapacitate them from walking. 
 Quilp — for so the offending Moslem was 
 styled from his striking resemblance to that 
 notable character — was in the act of extri- 
 cating his wire-haire& charge from the 
 panniers wherein they travelled, when the 
 irascible little warrior *<*oproached, and, 
 drawing his trenchant blaa\ swore with a 
 dreadful anathema to exterminate him on 
 the spot. " Dog, and father of dogs," he 
 exclaimed, seizing the dismayed mortal by 
 the throat, " beware how thou agai* defilest 
 thy fingers with those accursed curs^ or by 
 the beard of the Prophet I will sever thy 
 gullet as one who has brought Soul dis- 
 credit upon the faith." Then relaxing his 
 grasp, and sheathing his creese with a hori- 
 zontal flourish, he threw himself into \he 
 attitude of a slaughtered victim, and closed 
 the significant lecture by mimicry of the 
 gurgle heard in a divided windpipe, whence 
 the tide of life is welling. 
 
 Several herds of cattle pertaining to the 
 Issehiraba Mudaito, grazed in the neigh- 
 borhood ; and these were said to derive 
 their supply of water from pools formed by 
 a cluster of hot sulphureous springs at the 
 farther extremity of the plain, which, with 
 a loud noise, rise bubbling from the earth 
 at a boiling temperature. Possessing mar- 
 vellous medicinal properties, they, are be- 
 lieved to be a panacea for every malady : 
 but the tribe not being on terms with the 
 Danakil, these thermal wells could not be 
 visited, neither could water be obtained 
 either for man or beast. A few Mudaito 
 females, with their children, strolled into 
 the camp to sell sheep, and stare at the 
 Feringees ; but the ras el kafilah would 
 scarcely permit them to be spoken to, and 
 was in a nervous fidget until they departed. 
 Avowing that these greasy dames had come 
 for no other purpose than to spy out the 
 nakedness of the land, and that the creeses 
 of their liege lords would prove trouble- 
 some during the night, he strictly inter- 
 dicted all wandering beyond camp limits, 
 and insisted upon the discharge of several 
 volleys of musketry in addition to the car- 
 tridge expended at guard-mounting, and at 
 every relief of sentries. 
 
 The sky having become gradually over- 
 cast toward evening, a deluge, equally to 
 be desired and dreaded, was deemed close 
 at hand ; but the threatening appearance 
 passed off with the hot blast of the shimal, 
 
 accompanied by a cloud of dust, and fol- 
 lowed by a close oppressive night. Skirting 
 the Marie range to a tract thickly strewed 
 with rounded masses of lava and basalt, the 
 detritus from the adjacent hill, the road now 
 wound over a volcanic ridge which divides 
 the valley of Dullool from that of Amadoo, 
 running exactly parallel to it. In this lat- 
 ter the caravan halted on the 21st, about a 
 mile from a large pool of rain-water, occu- 
 pying a rocky nook formed by huge blocks 
 of basalt. The stagnant green fluid was 
 far more palatable than it looked, although 
 troubled by a legion of horned cattle, asses, 
 goats, and sheep, the property of the Ga- 
 leyla Mudaito, who were encamped in great 
 force in the neighborhood, and looked what 
 they are said to be — most desperate villains. 
 Altogether it was a bustling scene. 
 Herdsmen shouted in every direction to 
 their kine, whose sinister glances and low- 
 ered heads proclaimed their dislike of the 
 white intruders ; flocks of Somauii sheep, 
 with incommodiously overgrown tails, 
 swam about like otters to cool their heated 
 fckins ; numbers of Bedouin damsels, after 
 laving their own greasy persons, replenish- 
 ed their dirty water-skins ; and one wrin- 
 kled tld hag, in direct breach of the Moslem 
 prejudge against " man's friend," was ab- 
 solutely detected in the act of cleansing 
 the rough « at of her own pet-dog. 
 
 This pastoral scene of savage life, where 
 the peaceful occupation of the shepherd 
 contrasted strap.gely with the presence of 
 spear and buckle.-, was about midday ex- 
 changed for the tent A crowd of listless, 
 tattooed savages, bearing very indifferent 
 characters for honesty, soon swaggered in 
 to see what they could ^>ick up, and pres- 
 ently waxed so passing insolent, that it 
 was deemed prudent to intimidate them by 
 a display of rifle-practice. Emboldened 
 by numbers, they had begun to question 
 old Izhak regarding his right to conduct 
 strangers through the country, without 
 the permission, first duly obtained, of the 
 " lords of the soil ;" but seeing the stones 
 fly about in splinters, at two hundred and 
 fifty yards, they were not long in decamp- 
 ing, and gave no further annoyance. The 
 Galeyla tribe of Mudaito, which still boasts 
 of the most expert and notorious thieves 
 in the country, is, as might be conjectured, 
 on no very amicable terms with the Dana- 
 kil ; and the very severe chastisement it 
 received at the hands of Loheita ibn Ibra- 
 him sufficiently accounted for the sudden 
 desertion of the unattended ogre, who 
 donned his seven-league boots, and strode 
 back to his castle from Dawaylaka, after 
 
THE ASSA HIMERA— AUSSA. 
 
 61 
 
 he had pledged himself to accompany the 
 party to the borders of the territory occu- 
 pied by Mohammad Ali's clan. 
 
 From Amadoo, Aussa was represented 
 to be only one day's journey for a swift 
 mule, and two for a caravan of laden ca- 
 mels, the road branching off across Wady 
 Arfa, and over the Jebel Oobnoo range, by 
 which the extensive valley is bounded. 
 At this point, moreover, had ceased the 
 pretended influence of Mohammad ibn 
 Mohammad, Sultan of Tajura, the utter 
 futility of propitiating whom had long been 
 sufficiently apparent. Although in the 
 eyes of the uninitiated it was no difficult 
 matter to invest this avaricious imbecile 
 with supreme authority over a fiery deso- 
 late tract, in most parts obviously unfitted 
 for human location, his own immediate re- 
 tainers did not now conceal that Mirsa 
 Dukhan, and the Gollo mountains near the 
 Salt Lake, bound even his nominal juris- 
 diction. He is, in fact, sultan of the sul- 
 try strand whereon his frail tenement is 
 erected ; for the few lawless wanderers 
 beyond, over whom he would assert su- 
 premacy, are universally thieves and mur- 
 derers, who disdain all fixed abode, 
 disclaim all mortal control, and acknow- 
 ledge their own unbridled inclinations as 
 their only master. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 RED HOUSE OF MUDAITO. CHRONICLE OF 
 THE CONQUEST OF AUSSA. 
 
 Distinguished like the houses of York 
 and Lancaster by their respective colors, 
 "the white house" of Debenik-Woema, 
 composed of various Adai'el clans, who, in 
 time of need, rally under one standard, is 
 banded against the Assa-himera, " the red 
 house" of the Mudaito, with the same bit- 
 ter feud and animosity which spread deso- 
 lation through the fair domains of England, 
 and poured out the best blood of her he- 
 roic sons. Well would it be for the cause 
 of humanity were these savage combatants 
 animated also with the same noble and 
 chivalrous feelings which, in days of yore, 
 reigned paramount in the breast of the 
 British knight, and met together in the 
 open field of honorable contest. But the 
 case is widely different indeed ; and under 
 whatever circumstances the hated and 
 hereditary foe may here be discovered, the 
 unarmed bosom of the lone, sleeping, or un- 
 suspecting wanderer, rarely fails to prove 
 a sheath for the murderous knife of the 
 assassin. 
 
 Aussa, formerly an important town, was, 
 less than a century ago, the capital and 
 principal seat of the united tribes of Mudai- 
 to, who extend thence to Ras Billool, and 
 are represented to be countless as the hairs 
 of a Danakil head. Regarded as the seat 
 of wisdom and learning, and governed in 
 the latter days of its strength, by Yoosuf 
 Ali ibn Ajdahis, a brave and martial sul- 
 tan, whose armory boasted of many match- 
 locks, and of several small pieces of cannon, 
 it long flourished in powerful independ- 
 ence — a bright spot of beauty in a waste 
 of barrenness. But the sun of its pros- 
 perity at length set ; and the predatory 
 hostilities long exercised toward the various 
 united tribes of Adai'el, leading to a general 
 invasion on the part of the Ado-himera, the 
 prince was slain, the stronghold of the 
 " red house" sacked, and its garrison put 
 to the sword : nor in these degenerate 
 days is this once important place more than 
 an extensive encampment, whereat is held 
 a perpetual fair, frequented by all the 
 tribes of Danakil, Eesah, Somauli, and 
 Mudaito. 
 
 The site of Aussa, a wide-stretching 
 valley, described to be from eight to ten 
 days' journey across for a caravan, is 
 hemmed in by lofty mountains, and fer- 
 tilized in all of its extended quarters by 
 the Lakes Guraaid, Abhibbab, Hilloo, and 
 Dugod — the first situated a little to the 
 eastward of the town, and the last by far the 
 largest of the four. These vast stagnant 
 basins in the plain receive the Abyssinian 
 waters of the Hawash and its tributaries, 
 in addition to the contributions of all the 
 streams from Jebel Oobnoo and other col- 
 lateral ranges — the abundance of fluid thus 
 lost upon volcanic formation, so enriching 
 the soil as to enable this district to produce 
 wheat, juwarree, barley, Indian corn, pep- 
 per, and tobacco, in quantities sufficient 
 tor the supply of the entire coast. 
 
 The Hawash may be conjectured to have 
 experienced interruption in its course to 
 the Bahr Assa.1 and Bay of Tajura, at the 
 same period that volcanic agency divided 
 the waters of the great Salt Lake from 
 Goobut el Kharab. Miles around the 
 wonted boundaries of each lagoon now 
 become annually inundated during the 
 spreading of the great freshes ; and as the 
 floods, carried off by absorption and evap- 
 oration, again recede, the soil is covered 
 with a fertilizing sediment — a fat alluvial 
 deposit, which, with little labor, yields an 
 ample return. Even the lazy and listless 
 Danakil, who neither sows nor reaps else- 
 where, is here induced to turn agricultu- 
 rist j but not a single acre is to be found 
 
62 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 under the plough, from the sea even to the 
 mountains of Abyssinia — a distance ex- 
 ceeding three hundred and fifty miles. 
 
 Pastoral as well as agricultural pursuits 
 engage the population of Aussa ; but while 
 the cultivating portion of the inhabitants 
 are permanent residents on the soil, the 
 shepherds are annually driven away by the 
 gad-fly, which attacks the flocks from the 
 setting-in of the rainy season until the ter- 
 mination of the fast of Ramzan, when the 
 waters have again subsided, and the herds- 
 man, descending from the mountains, re- 
 turns to his occupation in the valley. An 
 extensive commercial intercourse is, more- 
 over, carried on with Tajiira. Salt from 
 the Bahr Assal, blue calico, which is in 
 high demand for the caps universally worn 
 by the married Bedouin females, zinc, 
 pewter, and brass or copper wire, used 
 both for personal ornament, and for the 
 decoration of weapons, are bartered for the 
 produce of the luxuriant soil — some few 
 caravans crossing the Hawash, and pur- 
 suing their journey along the western bank 
 to Dowwe, on the frontier of the Wollo 
 Galia, in order to purchase slaves ; or stri- 
 king into the main road at Amadoo, and 
 so prosecuting their way to Shoa for a 
 similar purpose. 
 
 Mudai'to tribes occupy the entire plain 
 of Aussa, but they are now divided into 
 five distinct nations. The Assa-himera 
 are under the rule of Humferi, a descend- 
 ant of the ancient house of Ajdahis, who 
 preserves the empty title of sultan, and 
 resides at the decayed capital. Eastward 
 are the Isse-hiraba, governed by Das Ali, 
 an independent chief, and the Galeyla, un- 
 der Daamer Ibrahim ; south are the Dar, 
 who own allegiance to Akil Digger My- 
 argi ; and west are the ferocious Koorha, 
 under the sway of Yoosuf Aboo Bekr, who, 
 also with the title of akil, resides at Alta, 
 and wages war indiscriminately on both 
 Assa-himera and Debenik-Woema. 
 
 South-westward of the valley of Aussa, 
 are the independent Adai'el tribes Hurruk 
 Bodaito, over whom presides Gobuz Elin- 
 cha, a powerful chieftain, who has espoused 
 Leni, daughter of Birru Lubo, the prince 
 of Argobba, and through whose territories 
 lies the high caravan route to Dowwe, with 
 which the traffic is considerable. On the 
 north, the Mudaito are bounded by the dis- 
 tinct nation styled Hirto, under the rule 
 of Yingool Ali — Mohammadans, deriving 
 their origin from the Arab invaders of the 
 seventh century, and speaking a language 
 not very dissimilar from the Ada'iel, who 
 claim the same descent. 
 
 Aussa is still the abode of all the Ulee- 
 
 mas, Aukal, and learned doctors, for whom 
 the Mudaito have ever been renowned ; 
 but the present government is singularly 
 constituted. The aged Sultan Humferi, 
 son of Yoosuf Ali ibn Ajdahis, has retained 
 with his high-sounding title the mere shad- 
 ow of authority, which is in truth vested 
 in Mohammad Ali, the vicegerent of the 
 Debenik-Woema, appoinred by general 
 suffrage from Tajiira. Residing at Kulloo, 
 and ruling with an iron hand, he admits 
 of little interference ; and, in all cases 
 where disputes between the " red " and 
 " white " houses of the proprietors of the 
 soil and their invaders, terminate fatally to 
 the latter, takes two lives for one, accord- 
 ing to the immemorial observance in blood 
 feuds. 
 
 Ameer Sulaam, the wuzir of the Mu- 
 dai'to, is head of all the sages ; and he is 
 aided in the administration of justice by 
 Hurrur Hassan, Teeoh, and Berbera or 
 "Pepper" Ali, the latter so styled from 
 the volubility of his sarcastic tongue. 
 This triumvirate of venerable sheikhs, 
 whose wisdom and learning is reputed to 
 be kum el bahr, " profound as the sea," is 
 referred to on all occasions where knotty 
 points are at issue, whether among the 
 Ado-himera or Mudai'to ; and even the 
 Sultan of Tajiira was, on a late occasion, 
 held bound to abide by their arbitration, 
 relative to the projected marriage of his 
 son to a bride from another clan of the 
 " white house ;" a measure which was 
 resisted, and which he was desirous of en- 
 forcing. Yet a transit duty of fifty per 
 cent, is levied by Mohammad ibn Moham- 
 mad upon all exports made by the Mudaito, 
 whereas ten per cent, only is exacted from 
 the numerous Danakil tribes. 
 
 " A large Arab force from Zeyla," ob- 
 served Ibrahim Shehem Abli, who was well 
 versed in the chronicles of Aussa, " was 
 induced to join the Debenik-Woema in 
 their invasion of the predatory Mudai'to 
 hordes ; and overtures of capitulation hav- 
 ing been made by Yoosuf Ali ibn Ajdahis, 
 they were thrown off their guard. During 
 the night the Woema, who knew with 
 what villains they had to deal, bivouacked 
 upon the heights of Dugodlee and Hy Tun- 
 koma, where they rested safely enough. 
 But the blockheads of Arabs choosing to 
 sleep in the plain, the garrison took advan- 
 tage of their folly to make a goom; and so 
 cleverly was it managed, that, by Allah ! 
 they succeeded in drawing their creeses 
 across the throats of all save one." 
 
 Nothing intimidated by this reverse, and 
 joined by fresh allies from the coast, the 
 Woema were not long in renewing the 
 
THE PLAINS OF TAKOOSHA. 
 
 63 
 
 attack ; and the whole of the Adaiel tribes 
 who rally under the standard of " the white 
 house," making common cause, the Mu- 
 dai'to sustained a murderous defeat, when 
 their stronghold, which had maintained its 
 integrity unimpaired for so many centuries, 
 fell at last into the hands of their heredi- 
 tary foe. 
 
 A long term of years elapsed, but the 
 hearts of the scions of the 4i red house" 
 still rankled under this disaster ; and, bent 
 upon retaliation, the assembled clans, de- 
 signing to plunder the now-decayed sea- 
 port whence their Arab invaders had been 
 furnished, made a rapid inroad into the 
 country of the Eesah Somauli. Unpre- 
 pared, the tribe fled before the host in dis- 
 may, but presently recovering from the 
 panic created by the sudden burst of war, 
 rallied in great numbers, fell furiously 
 upon the foe, and left not one marauding 
 Mudai'to alive to tell the issue of the dis- 
 astrous day. The " great battle," as this 
 signal rout is still termed, was about three 
 years ago fought within sight of Zeyla, on 
 the plains of Takoosha, now white with 
 the skeletons of a tribe. 
 
 " Brave men are these Mudai'to," con- 
 tinued the old warrior, playing carelessly 
 with the hilt of his creese, which was sel- 
 dom suffered to repose quietly in his gir- 
 dle ; " but they are not to be compared 
 with us. Hamdu-lillahy ' Praise be unto 
 the Lord,' I slew their sheikh with my own 
 hand ; and here is the identical scratch 
 that I received in the scuffle. As for the 
 Eesah," he concluded, " with their childish 
 bows and arrows, they are sad cowards. 
 One Dankali spear is an over-match for 
 fifty of their best marksmen in a fair fight ; 
 and I have myself dealt single-handed with 
 six, although the villains came like thieves 
 in the dark." 
 
 Ibrahim Shehem was requested to re- 
 concile this character with the issue of the 
 great battle just recounted, wherein the 
 despised tribe had so signalized itself. 
 " That," quoth he of Tajiira, " was a das- 
 tardly surprise ; and Wullah, had 1 been 
 the invader with a handful of Danakil 
 spearmen, there would have been another 
 tale to tell." 
 
 Has Ali, late sheikh of the cultivating 
 portion of the Aussa population, some 
 years since made an attempt to restore the 
 exclusive rule to the Muda'ito, and to this 
 end headed a conspiracy sworn upon the 
 Koran to plough the field no more until 
 the head of the Woema vicegerent should 
 be exalted upon a pole at the city gate, 
 and his body have been cast out to the 
 nyenas. He was however waylaid and 
 
 assassinated by Ibrahim Shehem Abli, who 
 received a wound in the cheek. The 
 numerous scars which adorned the dimin- 
 utive person of this hero proclaimed him 
 to have made one in many an affray ; and, 
 if his own account might be believed, all 
 were honorably gained. Nevertheless the 
 singular aversion that he displayed to pass- 
 ing certain watering-places in broad day- 
 light, and his skulking port at Amadoo 
 more especially, had tended not a little to 
 confirm the disparaging anecdote mali- 
 ciously narrated by his compatriots, rela- 
 tive to the mode in which some of these 
 much-prized distinctions had been acquired. 
 
 The veteran Ali Arab had sat in gloomy 
 silence during the early part of the conver- 
 sation, but his light wicker cap started to 
 the apex of his bald crown as he rose in 
 wrath at the last vaunting words of the son 
 of the Debeni. " Heed not the empty 
 boast of that braggart," he exclaimed, with 
 boiling indignation, forgetting his wonted 
 taciturnity — "Brave as the lion's whelp 
 are the hardy children of Yemen, and but 
 for the cowardly desertion of their false 
 allies there would have been a different 
 issue to the fell night at Aussa. Do the 
 Woema to this hour not pay tribute to 
 Zeyla in acknowledgment of the assistance 
 rendered] The event was written in the 
 sealed volume of Fate. The decree of the 
 Almighty was fulfilled. But, lest you 
 should have believed the disparaging state- 
 ments of this vain-glorious scorner, I will 
 even recount the misfortunes of a cam- 
 paign fraught with sad disaster to my 
 kindred." 
 
 Uttering these words, he led the way to 
 his inclosure, reared of bales of the most 
 costly wares which had been committed to 
 his tried integrity ; and there, seated upon 
 the rich shawls of Cachemire, or upon the 
 choicest manufactures of the British loom, 
 the party, provided each with a tiny cup of 
 most potent coffee, gave ear in silence to 
 the old man's tale, which in the two en- 
 suing chapters shall be presented in the 
 form that would appear best calculated to 
 afford a picture of warfare in the Desert. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 ARAB MARCH OVER THE TEHAMA. 
 
 All was bustle and confusion in the 
 small sea-port town of Zeyla. Camels 
 were screaming as the well-filled sacks 
 were tied tightly upon the saddles. The 
 idle portion of the population had assem- 
 bled to admire the pride and pomp of war 
 
64 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 Women were running to and fro with more 
 than usual briskness, to deliver some for- 
 gotten package to a body of men who stood 
 under arms in the market-place ; and 
 crowds streamed to join the group through 
 the narrow bazaar, which had been lit up 
 for the occasion, whence arose a confused 
 hum of higgling and barter, as each last 
 want was supplied by the merciless Hin- 
 doo trader, on the credit of a successful 
 return from the foray. 
 
 A motley diversity prevailed in the age, 
 dress, arms, accoutrements, and bearing 
 of the assembled party ; but the turban and 
 the checked kilt, the frequency of the long, 
 ornamented matchlock, and the thousand 
 strange-fashioned leathern pouches and 
 pockets, dangling from every part of the 
 person, proclaimed the presence of a body 
 of warriors of the Faithful. And more 
 than sufficient for the sultry climate was 
 the cumbrous attire of the foreign merce- 
 naries. Every color of the rainbow had 
 been appropriated to their full varied vest- 
 ments. Red, and yellow, and green, sur- 
 mounted the dark, elf-like locks of the 
 soldiers of Yemen ; knives and long heavy 
 swords glittered in their rich shawl waist- 
 cloths ; and the national cloak of Arabia, 
 clasped across the tawny breast, floated 
 gayly over each stalwart frame. 
 
 Numerous mules stood ready saddled in 
 the busy square, and many were the long 
 provident bags and water-skins strapped 
 behind each high wooden cantle. The 
 band had not been engaged to act as cav- 
 alry, but Arab troops are somewhat self- 
 willed as to their tactics and style of move- 
 ment, and at no time relish interference in 
 any of those little private arrangements 
 which they can afford for their personal 
 comfort. 
 
 The gray eye and the grisly beard of the 
 veteran from Hejaz, and the fierce glance, 
 and the long raven hair of the inhabitant 
 of Medina, were exhibited together under 
 the light of a blazing fire ; and it might 
 have been observed that the strongest cur- 
 rent of female attention set toward the 
 spot where the youth were collected, ham- 
 mering the hard bullets down their rusty 
 matchlocks. 
 
 " God is great 1" ejaculated a gayly-be- 
 decked stripling, as he added an extra 
 pinch of powder, for good luck, to the hand- 
 ful already poured into his long culverin. 
 " Bring me a lion, that he may feel the 
 hands of the mighty, and Inshalldh ! if the 
 leader of the expedition be of my mind, we 
 shall not return empty-handed to have our 
 beards laughed at by these fat kafirs from 
 Hinde. Better were it to quaff at once the 
 
 waters of immortality. But alas ! Amru ! 
 the star was little on the ascendant when, 
 forsaking the pleasant terraces and the 
 cypress-waisted damsels of Mocha, thy 
 stupid head dreamt of receiving two piastres 
 a day from the treasury of the sheriffe, or 
 of being cooped up with infidels in a perfect 
 Jehdnnam upon earth." 
 
 This speech was received with consider- 
 able applause, for the re'is amru was well 
 liked by his comrades in arms. Jokes 
 passed freely among the youth, who were 
 all in high good-humor at being released 
 from the dull stupidity of a hot garrison; 
 and each talked gayly of his future deeds 
 of prowess, although as yet nothing had 
 transpired as to the nature or object of the 
 enterprise. 
 
 But the veterans were crowded together 
 in a mass, and their scowling downcast 
 looks betokened little satisfaction in the 
 coming march. A one-eyed ancient, who 
 had witnessed as many fights as the re- 
 maining.locks upon his wrinkled head, was 
 employed in grinding a notch from his long 
 sweeping sword, while he ever and anon 
 gave vent to his spleen and displeasure. 
 " No good can ever come of intercourse 
 with these unbelieving savages," growled 
 the old man to a fellow grumbler. " The 
 skulking sons of the Dtbeni have been in 
 close conference with the ameer for the 
 greater part of the day ; and the youth 
 Osman is not the leader to conduct a party 
 of the Faithful among the deserts and the 
 hills of this parched land. Blood will flow 
 from the veins of these hot-headed strip- 
 lings, crimson as the cloth which flaunts 
 above their head-gear. Ay, and the dream 
 of the last night can be now easily inter- 
 preted. Listen to me," he muttered in 
 lower accents : " I dreamt of the pleasant 
 lands of Saba, and saw the sparkling wa- 
 ters flowing over the bright green turf. 
 The tribe of my fathers had assembled to- 
 gether, an 1 the ' hail, welcome, may your 
 arrival be happy,' came soothingly to my 
 wearied ear ; but an impassable gulf yawn- 
 ed at my feet, and the cold touch of the 
 dread Azra'il startled me from my slum- 
 bers. Nevertheless if we be fated to per- 
 ish by the hand of the savage, it shall never 
 be said that old Kasim All was the man to 
 oppose his destiny." 
 
 In good sooth the authorities had been 
 sued for assistance by their friends the 
 I Woema ; and as immunities, and privi- 
 j leges, and certain per centage upon all 
 slave caravans, were the inducements art- 
 fully held out by the sagacious tribe, the 
 proffered alliance had been eagerly accept- 
 ed. The Woema deputation departed at 
 
ALI ARAB'S TALE. 
 
 65 
 
 sunset, after the ratification of the treaty ; 
 and a few of their scouts were alone left 
 to serve as guides through a country hith- 
 erto untraversed by any Arab inhabitant 
 of Zeyla. 
 
 Three-quarters of the entire garrison 
 were ordered for immediate duty. Gun- 
 powder, balls, and coffee, had been handed 
 out during the afternoon, together with a 
 promise of arrears of pay on return ; and 
 as the moon raised her broad disk above 
 the still expanse of the Indian Ocean, the 
 party remained grouped as above related, 
 awaiting in the market-place the arrival of 
 their leader. 
 
 The impatient Osman, accompanied by 
 the ameer and all the holy men of the town, 
 shortly relieved them from suspense. His 
 scarlet abba floated over his shoulders, and 
 the gold of his head-dress sparkled in the 
 beams of the pale orb, as he placed him- 
 self at the head of the party to receive the 
 " Salaam Aleikum " of his officers. 
 
 The young chief had lately arrived from 
 the opposite coast to take the military com- 
 mand, but his proud and reserved bearing 
 had gained neither the respect nor the good- 
 will of his inferiors. Stories were whis- 
 pered about that an evil star presided over 
 his destiny, and that the settled gloom on 
 his swarthy brow was caused by the con- 
 tinued tissue of ill-luck which had hitherto 
 blasted his every aspiration after fame. 
 
 His quick ear had caught the murmur- 
 ings of the discontented. " Dread not 
 events unknown," he exclaimed, as he cast 
 a withering glance over the group. " Be 
 not down-hearted, for the fountain of the 
 water of life is involved in obscurity. De- 
 file not the spring of hope with the dust of 
 despondency, for, praise be to God ! the 
 creator of the universe, if ye walk even 
 into the dens of the lion or the pard, they 
 will not tear 'you save on the destined 
 day." 
 
 Then raising his voice Osman shouted 
 aloud, " jSeero," move on in the name of 
 the Prophet. " May Allah be with you ! 
 May Allah watch over you !" solemnly 
 chanted the chief moola as he waved the 
 holy book in the air. The troops poured 
 through the gateway, and sweeping slowly, 
 like a thick cloud, along the face of the 
 plain, were soon lost in the darkness of the 
 desert. 
 
 There be always some ardent spirits to 
 raise the drooping mass ; and in the com- 
 mencement of a march, as in the beginning 
 of life, even the most downhearted feel a 
 spark of hope as to the happy result. But 
 after the first burst of enthusiasm was ex- 
 pended, and the troops were fairly launched 
 
 into the lone waste, the loose discourse and 
 the merry laugh gradually failed, and in sad 
 and gloomy silence they trod on for hours, 
 sinking in the deep hot sand, or stumbling 
 among the black blocks of lava which were 
 thickly strewed over this tract of fire. 
 
 The ominous bird of night flitted from 
 left to right and hooted mournfully from a 
 bare tree, as the gallant train swept past 
 the last watering-place in the Waddy of 
 Takoosha ; and many a " wullaV was pour- 
 ed forth, as the herds of antelope bounded 
 along the same evil and portentous track, 
 as if pursued by the exulting demon of 
 destruction. " Man proposes but God 
 disposes," muttered those whose secret 
 misgivings were heightened by these prog- 
 nostics : the heart of the bravest quailed 
 under the accumulation of unlucky omens, 
 and all felt for the moment, that they were 
 doomed men. 
 
 Little order prevailed along the motley 
 line. Mounted on his mule and wrapped 
 in his own dark thoughts, Osman led the 
 van, and a group of light-limbed Woema 
 who clustered round the chief, pointed out 
 the direction of march. No vestige was 
 there of a pathway, and the dark ravine 
 and the lone hill were passed in weary suc- 
 cession, as each camel, and mule, and man 
 on foot, struggled along during many hours 
 of the hot night. A few pools of standing 
 water left by a providential shower of rain 
 were at length selected as the first halting- 
 place, and, worn out and dispirited, the sons 
 of Yemen, piling their heavy fire-arms, sank 
 to sleep upon the bare ground. 
 
 The tract of country extending from the 
 coast to Ramudele is a bare and joyless 
 desert, where water is to be met with only 
 at long intervals, where little food is to be 
 procured either for man or beast, and where 
 the heat is like the breath of the glass fur- 
 nace. But Arabs are accustomed to the 
 arid regions of their own stony land, and 
 as they feed like famished wolves when 
 food is to be obtained, they can, like those 
 gaunt animals, endure the extremity of 
 fasting. The morning sun roused the party 
 to renovated strength ; and as the news 
 spread through the camp that the rich town 
 of Aussa was the object of the enterprise, 
 and that a large force of the W&ema had 
 assembled to cooperate in the attack, no 
 bounds were set upon the extravagant bra- 
 vadoes uttered. Amru, as he strutted along 
 with his turban placed jauntily upon his 
 head, declared that even the gardens of 
 Mocha and their rose-scented houris might 
 be improved by a man of taste, if provided 
 with the requisite means ; while the grum- 
 bling old Kasim and his compeers, cheering 
 
THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 up for the moment, commenced a calcula- 
 tion as to the probable gain to be derived 
 from sundry captives, with which on their 
 return they had resolved to fill the market. 
 
 But although a degree of hilarity had 
 been thus restored throughout the host, the 
 black cloud still hung over the brow of its 
 leader. No friendly footing was establish- 
 ed with his followers ; no word of encour- 
 agement proceeded from his lips. Orders 
 and arrangements were given in the cold, 
 calm tone of desperation, and a feeling of 
 coming evil shook each sturdy frame, as he 
 strode in moody silence to his accustomed 
 station in the line of march. 
 
 For seven weary days did they manfully 
 toil through the blank dreary desert, where 
 Nature had spread wide her plains of bar- 
 renness, and where the image of utter deso- 
 lation was but seldom disturbed by the 
 appearance either of man or of vegetation. 
 The heat of the day caused the lips to peel. 
 The poisonous wind dried the marrow in 
 the bone ; and at rare intervals indeed, some 
 tiny encampment of the wandering Bud- 
 doo alone cheered the site of the stagnant 
 pool. A few camels dotted the unbroken 
 expanse of the forbidding plain, and here 
 and there a withered acacia threw her 
 thorny limbs wildly into the hot atmo- 
 sphere. 
 
 The camp of the Woema was pitched 
 at Ramudele, and far on either hand as 
 the eye could compass, stretched along 
 Che low belt of bushes which mark the 
 course of the river Chekaito. A con- 
 fused mass of fragile mats, and animals, 
 and human beings, lay huddled together. 
 From the midst of the disorderly array 
 arose a thick forest of broad-headed spears ; 
 and as the men clustered in hundreds to 
 greet the arrival of their allies, the ferocity 
 •of their appearance elicited universal ap- 
 plause. The indomitable spirit of savage 
 independence shone in their dark lustrous 
 eyes ; and their lank, but well-moulded 
 "figures, were surmounted by the white 
 ostrich-feather drooping gracefully over 
 the matted hair, the token of bloody prow- 
 ess in the fight. 
 
 In barbarous profusion an ample enter- 
 tainment stood ready prepared. Large 
 messes of meat and dishes of melted ghee 
 were smoking in every quarter of the 
 camp ; and after the welcome had been 
 received from every hand, Osman retired 
 with the sheikhs of the tribe to their tem- 
 porary domicile, leaving the Arab host to 
 resign themselves to enjoyment, and to 
 rest after their long and weary march over 
 the frightful Tehama. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 MASSACRE OF THE FIVE HUNDRED. 
 
 Feasting and amusement wiled away 
 the hours until the appointed day, when the 
 necessary reinforcements having joined, 
 the entire force moved hurriedly off to- 
 ward the unsuspecting object of attack. 
 
 On the third morning of their march 
 the hills of Dugodlee were crossed, and 
 the smiling valley of Aussa was seen 
 peacefully stretched at the feet of the in- 
 vaders. Nothing could exceed the beauty 
 of this oasis in the desert, so strangely 
 expanded between two gigantic moun- 
 tains ; the crest of the one frowning black, 
 broken, and abrupt, while the other rises 
 in steep but gradual turfy acclivity to the 
 very summit, whence rich indeed was the 
 wide prospect displayed. 
 
 Green fields extended far as the eye 
 could see. Flocks quietly ranged among 
 the grassy nooks, and four lakes, unruffled 
 by a breeze, reflected back the Iris rays 
 of the morning sun upon the broken sides 
 of the wooded hills. Hemmed in by fan- 
 tastic ranges, the river Ha wash threaded 
 the upper portion of the long valley like 
 a cord of silver, and rushing into the broad 
 expanse of Lake Hilloo, at length found 
 rest for its troubled waters in the deep, 
 mysterious basin, from which no visible 
 stream adds its tribute to the blue ocean. 
 
 The city of Aussa was pleasantly sit- 
 uated on the upper extremity of the lake, 
 and its low, conical, thatched roofs were 
 half concealed among the towering ver- 
 dure of the shadowy trees. As the host 
 crowned the opposite hill, herds of beasts, 
 and crowds of human beings, streamed 
 from every side through the stout hedge 
 of thorns that encircled the wall, and the 
 voice of the muezzin rising faintly from 
 the distant mosque, summoned the inhab- 
 itants to prayer in this most unlooked-for 
 tribulation. 
 
 Confident of success, and exulting in 
 their own numbers, and in the potent fire- 
 arms of five hundred bearded allies, the 
 savage host rushed whooping down the 
 hill, their spears erect, and their souls 
 hungry for the prey. But no shout re- 
 sponded from the silent town of the Mu- 
 da'ito, and no weapon glittered in its 
 defence. Already had the Woema form- 
 ed in serried lines, and already were the 
 eyes and the shields of the warriors agi- 
 tated by those portentous revolutions 
 which are the prelude to the fatal rush, 
 when a portion of the thorn fence was 
 quietly drawn aside, and a band of aged 
 
THE CAMP SURPRISED. 
 
 67 
 
 men stepped upon the intermediate plain. 
 A green branch waved in their unarmed 
 hands, and their venerable white beards 
 flowed nearly to their girdles. The sages 
 of Aussa, whose wisdom was " as the 
 depths of the sea," and who engrossed all 
 the learning and holiness of the land, were 
 there congregated together. The preju- 
 dice of the savage was aroused, and the 
 presence of men acknowledged, to whom 
 every dispute among the tribes had hither- 
 to been referred, and whose decisions had 
 been always most implicitly received. 
 The cause of complaint, and the hope of 
 plunder, were for the moment almost for- 
 gotten, and every spear sank to the ground 
 as sheikhs and akils advanced to the front 
 to receive the message from the beleaguer- 
 ed city. 
 
 Assuming the posture of earnest en- 
 tready, the elders of the Mudaito were 
 not sparing of their oily words : " All 
 ancient differences should be fully adjust- 
 ed, and the Woema should depart to their 
 own tents, loaded with the richest produce 
 of Aussa as a free gift of its elders ; but 
 the great conference could not be held 
 until the morrow ; the chief, Yoosuf Ali, 
 Was absent, and a swift messenger could 
 scarcely reach him before nightfall. Would 
 the Woema meanwhile destroy the seat of 
 learning and of religion ? Would the 
 son brandish the gory spear where their 
 fathers were wont to fall prostrate in 
 prayer ? If camels had been stolen, the 
 thieves should be delivered over to punish- 
 ment, and every point of dispute should 
 be most satisfactorily arranged." 
 
 The chiefs of the Woema withdrew in 
 order to deliberate apart, and divers were 
 the opinions given in the ensuing discus- 
 sion. The fiery Arab urged an immediate 
 attack, now that the enemy were unpre- 
 pared and fully given into the hand of the 
 spoiler ; but the words of mercy at length 
 prevailed, and the terms having been ac- 
 ceded to, the wily elders, as they took their 
 departure, displayed features lighted with 
 a grim smile of inward satisfaction. 
 
 High raged the storm in the camp of the 
 invading chiefs. Expressions of contempt 
 were bandied back upon the term of cow- 
 ard, with which Osman had taunted the 
 Adaiel conclave. Swords and creeses were 
 drawn, and stout adherents were not want- 
 ing with spear and matchlock to support 
 their respective leaders. The veteran 
 sheikh nevertheless contrived to still the 
 troubled waters. Commanding his clan to 
 draw back, and be at rest, he succeeded in 
 convincing the Arab that lie was not to be 
 forgotten in the forthcoming division of the 
 
 spoil. Finally the parties separated in sul- 
 len mood — the Woema to ascend the hills 
 of Hy Tunkoma, where they had resolved 
 to rest among the rocky caverns, whereas 
 the fearless sons of Arabia remained upon 
 the open plain on which the angry dispute 
 had taken place. 
 
 Meanwhile the town was in a state of 
 hot fermentation. The few warriors who 
 were accidentally at home, inflamed by the 
 speeches of their respected elders, prepared 
 quietly for the most desperate resistance. 
 Swift-footed messengers stole out ever and 
 anon through cuts and passages in the 
 hedge, with orders to call to the rescue 
 every member of the tribe ; and the most 
 fearful denunciations were prepared for 
 any who should refuse aid in this the day 
 of national distress. Onward over hill and 
 dale sped the untiring scout. At his warn- 
 ing voice the shepherd left his flock, and 
 the hunter stayed his successful chase. 
 Sheikhs and akils seized spear and shield, 
 and with all disposable force obeyed the 
 hasty summons. Every encampment join- 
 ed its quota to the fast swelling host, now 
 streaming toward the valley of the deep 
 waters ; and long ere the moon raised her 
 pale disk above the hills, full communica- 
 tion had been held with the city, and every 
 arrangement was thoroughly matured for 
 the attack. 
 
 Blinded by the feint of abject submis- 
 sion, the doomed body of Arabs had en- 
 camped upon the open plain. Little order 
 or arrangement could be observed, and not 
 a symptom was there of military vigilance. 
 No watchful sentry paced his steady beat, 
 nor had any disposition been attempted for 
 safety or for defence. All had bivouacked 
 on the spot where they happened to be 
 standing, and after their appetites had been 
 sufficiently appeased, the lazy partisans 
 lay grouped together with their long pipes, 
 talking over the pleasant hopes of the 
 morrow, or uttering the scornful taunt on 
 the coward folly of their infatuated allies. 
 The song and the keen joke of their dis- 
 tant country occupied the first hours of the 
 evening, and then the greater portion sank 
 to rest upon the green sward. 
 
 But the slumbers of many were of a 
 disturbed and fitful nature ; and at midnight 
 old Kasim Ali, whose advice, though un- 
 graciously given, was generally attended 
 to, repaired to the light pall under which 
 reposed his leader. Osman was still awake, 
 and after listening to the words of the vet- 
 eran, who predicted coming evil, the first 
 orders were given. Guards having col- 
 lected under arms, matches were lit, and 
 some preparation attempted for defence. 
 
63 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 But the warning voice had come too late. 
 The Mudaito host, crouching warily upon 
 the ground, had glided like serpents along 
 the dark plain till they had gained the re- 
 quisite distance for the onset; and as if 
 starting from the very bowels of the earth, 
 a countless array showed suddenly a brist- 
 ling front, not one hundred yards from the 
 encampment. 
 
 Short was the time allowed to awaken 
 the drowsy soldiery. A hurried exclama- 
 tion from the chief to stand like men, and 
 a feeble cry from his followers in reply, 
 was succeeded by the rush of the savages. 
 Forward they came, carrying their broad 
 spears erect, while their black ferocious 
 eyes gleamed at the thoughts of blood, 
 like the fiery orbs of the basilisk. A vol- 
 ley from the matchlocks only checked their 
 progress for a moment ; and as the firing 
 ceased, there arose to heaven a wild un- 
 earthly yell, which was closely followed 
 by the fierce shouts of men in contention, 
 and by all the sounds of terror, confusion, 
 and despair. 
 
 No walls or inclosures were there in 
 that naked plain, or the sons of Ishmael, 
 who well understand their defence, might 
 have fought on more equal terms ; but 
 overwhelmed by masses of the reckless 
 foe, and hemmed in on every side by ten 
 times their own number, the struggle was 
 but the effort of individual desperation. 
 Dropping shots had continued for some 
 time in all quarters of the straggling en- 
 campment, and Mudaito spear still clashed 
 heavily upon Arab scimitar, when the war- 
 cry of the Woema rose pealing among the 
 cliffs. As the tramp of their footsteps was 
 heard descending to the plain, a short res- - 
 pile was allowed. The assailants with- 
 drew from the murderous onslaught, and 
 the fainting hearts of the survivors again 
 bounded with hopes of life. But transient 
 indeed were their expectations of succor 
 and assistance. The wary eye of the 
 W6ema had scanned, even in that uncer- 
 tain light, the overpowering masse? of the 
 foe that crowded the plain ; and suddenly 
 wheeling 1 round the shoulder of the hill, 
 they disappeared like a wreath of the 
 morning mist. 
 
 The Muda'ito meanwhile, like hungry 
 wolves, hemming in the devoted party, 
 awaited only the dawn of day to complete 
 its destruction. But the remnant of the 
 Arabs who had escaped now first found 
 leisure to close their ranks ; and, taking 
 up a position at the foot of the isolated 
 Jebel Gilrmah, they resolved to sell their 
 lives as dearly as possible. Osman, wound- 
 ed and bleeding, was still alive ; himself, 
 
 with Kasim Ali and about fifty men, being 
 all that survived of the gallant five hun- 
 dred who had marched from Zeyla. The 
 excruciating pangs of thirst were added to 
 the tortures of creese and spear-wound : 
 and in this, their last extremity, the sol- 
 emn prayer arose to the Prophet of the 
 Faithful, as of men whose hours were 
 numbered. 
 
 As the day broke, Kasim volunteered to 
 carry a message of capitulation to the sav- 
 age army ; and reposing full confidence in 
 the white cloth waving in the hand of the 
 veteran, each anxious eye was strained in 
 the direction of his footsteps. Received 
 in moody silence by the Mutia'i'to band, a 
 ferocious savage was about to drive a 
 spear-blade through his unflinching breast, 
 when the son of the sheikh bounded sud- 
 denly to his side, and warding off the de- 
 scending shaft, seized the hand of the old 
 man, kissed it with every reverence, and 
 addressed a few words to the tribe. In 
 days gone by the youth Boorhan had been 
 saved under the creese by the son of Ye- 
 men, and gratitude, rarely found in the sav- 
 age, now paid her outstanding debt. 
 
 The veteran's overtures of surrender 
 having been received, he turned again to- 
 ward his comrades, but a fearful sight fell 
 on his sickening gaze. Two large bodies 
 of the enemy had, in the interim, stolen 
 round the hill, and clustering upon the very 
 edge, were already swarming unseen to the 
 last attack. Vain were his frantic gestures 
 to direct the attention of his doomed com- 
 rades to the coming storm ; he was seized 
 and pinioned in the iron grasp of a multi- 
 tude, and the succeeding rush was as the 
 burst of the overcharged thunder-cioud. 
 
 And feeble was the defence made by 
 men weary, and thirsty, and unprepared. 
 With an appalling whoop, the triumphant 
 savages soon joined the ranks of their 
 sheikh, and not one turbaned head remain- 
 ed visible above the wide plain. All had 
 found a gory pillow in a far distant land. 
 Creese and matchlock, mingled together, 
 plentifully strewed the ground ; and clutch- 
 ed in the cold hand of each grim warrior, 
 lay the long Arab sword, dripping to the 
 hilt in the blood of the assailant. 
 
 The acacia still throws her scanty shade 
 over the bones that whiten on the scene of 
 I this conflict. Although of the same per- 
 suasion as the invaders, the men of Aussa 
 could neither forgive their most unprovok- 
 ed attack, nor consign to a quiet resting- 
 place the remains of the true believers. 
 The severe loss they too had sustained, 
 still keeps the wound festering, for well 
 indeed in that fatal night had been upheld 
 
GANG OF HORSE STEALERS. 
 
 6fr 
 
 the character of the sturdy children of Ye- 
 men. Taken by surprise and at every dis- 
 advantage, each had fought on fiercely to 
 the last ; and although broken matchlocks 
 and rent shields dangle in the mosques as 
 trophies of their defeat, many a Mudaito 
 mother long bewailed the loss of a beloved 
 son, and many a bereaved widow mourned 
 the absence of her liege lord, who return- 
 ed not from the valley of the deep waters 
 of Aussa. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 FIALTJ, A DEN OF THIEVES IN THE WOEMA 
 TERRITORIES. BARURUDDA AND KILLUL- 
 LOO. 
 
 After a march of three miles on the 
 22nd, over a stony table-land thickly strew- 
 ed with the never-ending basaltic boulders, 
 the caravan entered the territory of the 
 Danakil tribe Woema, under the uncle and 
 father of Mohammad Ali. A desolate hol- 
 low passed on the way, which appeared in 
 the rainy season to form an extensive pond, 
 was enlivened by four bee-hive-shaped 
 wigwams, placed, as usual, on the site 
 where large hot stones were most abun- 
 dant, and tenanted by goatherds, whose 
 numerous flocks were being driven forth 
 to graze by the Bedouin females. Their 
 supply of water is derived from a seques- 
 tered pool, occupying a deep, narrow, pre- 
 cipitous ravine, which abounds in the Hy- 
 rax, and boasts of a few trees not dissimilar 
 from the Casuarina. Bearing the eupho- 
 nous title of Korandiidda, this gully wound 
 at the foot of the high terrace selected 
 for the encampment — another right drea- 
 ry plain, covered with volcanic pebbles, 
 among which trie dry yellow grass peeped 
 out in scanty tufts. 
 
 No traveller through the bleak barren 
 country of the Ada'i'el, can fail to appreciate 
 the simile of " the shadow of a rock in a 
 weary land ;" for a tree is indeed a rare 
 phenomenon — and when a few leafless 
 branches do greet the eye, they are studi- 
 ously shunned, upon the same principle that 
 induces the savage to eschew the immedi- 
 ate vicinity of water. A few straggling 
 acacias occupied the valley of Fialoo, half 
 a mile to the southward, which is the usual 
 encamping ground, and here were large 
 herds of cattle, eccentrically marked and 
 brindled, and glorifying in superb horns 
 raking gracefully from the brow. A fat ox 
 was purchased without difficulty, together 
 with a supply of fresh milk, which, if not 
 
 improved by confinement in a gTeasy skin 
 bag, proved nevertheless an extraordinary 
 luxury. 
 
 One of the retainers of Mohammad Ali 
 was now dispatched to acquaint Ali Abi of 
 the arrival of the kafilah. It had all along 
 been promised that, after entering the ter- 
 ritories of the old sheikh, every danger was 
 to cease, but the goal now gained, the coun- 
 try proved to be a perfect nest of hornets. 
 The thieving propensities of the Galeyla 
 Mudaito having been lately exercised upon 
 the Woema, it had been resolved to inflict 
 summary chastisement, and ragamuffins 
 were collecting from all quarters, prepara- 
 tory to a " goom." From morning till night 
 the camp and tent were unceasingly 
 thronged with scowling knaves, among 
 whom were several of the Eesah — their 
 heads decorated with white ostrich plumes 
 in token of having recently slain an antag- 
 onist in single combat, or more probably 
 murdered some sleeping victim. 
 
 Toward evening a gang of the Abli, 
 whose chieftain is appropriately surnamed 
 Jeroaa, or " the thief," made a desperate 
 attempt to carry off the best horse, upon 
 which they had strongly set their affec- 
 tions ; but the rogues were fortunately ob- 
 served by the lynx-eyed Kakoo, henchman 
 to Mohammad Ali, just in time to admit of 
 the animal being recovered. The war-cry 
 caused all to fly to their arms ; blows were 
 exchanged without any blood being spilled, 
 although one of the Woema shields was per- 
 forated by a well-launched spear ; and the 
 ringleader of the horse-stealing gang, who 
 had thus narrowly escaped a mortal feud, 
 having been secured to a tree, was by his 
 own tribe severely castigated on the spot. 
 
 A dense cloud of dust rolling along from 
 the north-eastward, closed the day. Re- 
 volving within its own circumference, and 
 advancing on a spiral axis, it burst in full 
 force in the very centre of the camp. The 
 tent fell on the first outpouring of its wrath, 
 and the consistency being so dense as to 
 render it impossible to keep the eyes open, 
 the party were fain to take refuge beneath 
 tarpaulins, and stretched upon the ground 
 to listen with quick and difficult respiration, 
 until the whirlwind had expended its vio- 
 lence among chairs, tables, and bottles. A 
 few drops of rain ushered in the night which 
 was passed by a newly-entertained Bedouin 
 guard in carousing upon the choice dates 
 of the embassy, a bag of which had been 
 unceremoniously put in requisition by the 
 ras, " in order to keep the savages in good 
 humor," or, in other words, to save them 
 the trouble of stealing it ; and the musket 
 announcing relief of sentries were discon- 
 
70 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 tinued by request of the same authority, 
 lest the smell of gunpowder might have a 
 prejudicial effect upon the voracious appe- 
 tites of the savages. 
 
 Before dawn the chief of the nomade 
 tribe Hy Somauli arriving with a hungry 
 and dissatisfied retinue, a halt was pro- 
 claimed, to the end that they also might be 
 fed, pacified, and propitiated. The poten- 
 tate was duly introduced by Izhak as a most 
 particular friend, who had journeyed a long 
 way for the express purpose of making the 
 acquaintance of his English charge ; and 
 a deep sense of the honor conferred having 
 been expressed, it was ascertained that the 
 secondary object of the visit was to inquire 
 by whose authority so formidable a party of 
 foreigners were being smuggled through 
 the country, and how it happened that they 
 were suffered to build houses wheresoever 
 they thought proper ? — this last allusion 
 having reference to the tent, which had 
 again been pitched, and was very sapiently 
 conjectured to be a permanent edifice. 
 
 The " Kafir Feringees " therefore con- 
 tinued to be objects of undiminished curi- 
 osity during the whole also of this sultry 
 day ; a greasy disorderly rabble, which oc- 
 cupied the tent from an early hour, being 
 continually reinforced by parties weary of 
 the debate held immediately outside, which 
 lasted until the going down of the sun. 
 Each new visitor, after staring sufficiently 
 at the white faces, invariably exclaimed 
 "Nubeeo," "Holy Prophet!" a mark of 
 undisguised disapprobation, which was fur- 
 ther elicited by every occurrence that did 
 not exactly coincide with his nice ideas of 
 propriety, such as eating with a fork, keep- 
 ing the head cool under a hat instead of 
 under a pound of sheeps'-tail fat, or blow- 
 ing the nose with a handkerchief in lieu of 
 with the fingers. Paws were nevertheless 
 incessantly thrust in at every door, accom- 
 panied by reiterations of the Dankali verb 
 " to give," used in the imperative mood ; 
 the never-ending din of " Ba, Ba," being 
 uncoupled with any noun designative of the 
 commodity required — a proof that he who 
 demanded was a ready recipient for any 
 spare article that might be forthcoming. 
 
 A long and tedious palaver,in which voices 
 occasionally ran extremely high, at length 
 terminated in a general uprising of the sen- 
 ators. Izhak was seen curling his scanty 
 side-locks in token of victory. The chief 
 had become satisfied of the temporary na- 
 ture of the tenement inhabited by the 
 *' Christian dogs," after one or two of the 
 savages had thrust a spear-blade through 
 the canvas ; and the malcontents having 
 to a man been sufficiently crammed with 
 
 dates, coffee, and tobacco, finally took their 
 departure, chuckling at the success of the 
 foray, and having ingeniously contrived to 
 turn their time to account by stealing one 
 of the mules. 
 
 Many significant glances had been ex- 
 changed over portions of the baggage that 
 had unavoidably been exposed ; but a night 
 of redoubled vigilance was cut short by a 
 summons to relinquish sleep and bedding 
 at two in the morning, and a march of six- 
 teen miles over a vast alluvial flat, con- 
 ducted past the Bedouin station of Ulwiilli 
 to Barurudda, on the plain of Kellali. The 
 road led along the base of the low range 
 of Jebel Eesah, through abundance of 
 coarse grass, concealing lava pieces and 
 volcanic detritus, the prospect being bound- 
 ed by distant blue mountains, towering to 
 the peak of Kuffal Ali. A korhaan rose at 
 intervals, wild and noisy as his chattering 
 kindred in the south ; but few other signs 
 of animated nature enlivened the long, 
 sultry march. In the gray of the morning, 
 a solitary Bedouin horseman ambled past 
 with some message to the savages at Am- 
 adoo, and from him was obtained the dis- 
 agreeable intelligence, which subsequently 
 proved too true, that not a drop of water 
 existed over the whole wide plain within a 
 day's journey ; and that the station beyond 
 was thronged with tribes, collected with 
 their flocks and herds from all the country 
 round, at this, the only oasis. 
 
 After a hot, dusty day, the sky was again 
 overcast, and sufficient rain fell to render 
 every one wet and uncomfortable, without 
 filling the pools, or checking the dire per- 
 secutions of a host of cattle-ticks, which 
 covered every part of the ground. Absence 
 of water led to another midnight march ; 
 and the moon affording little light, the 
 road was for some time lost, though event- 
 ually recovered, by the sagacity of a fe- 
 male slave of Mohammad Ali's, when all 
 the lords of the creation were at fault. This 
 damsel, who always led the foremost string 
 of camels, was one of those frolicsome 
 productions of nature, which the wanton 
 dame pawns on the world in her most 
 laughing moods; and the appearance oi 
 her daughter could scarcely fail to elicit the 
 mirth of the most sedate beholder. A 
 small round bullet head, furnished with a 
 well-greased mop, and a pair of most brill- 
 iant eyes, formed the apex of a figure, 
 which, in all other respects, was that of 
 the concentrated Amazon, exhibiting a 
 system of globes, both before and behind, 
 agitated by a tremulous vibration, as the 
 short fat legs imparted progressive motion. 
 A blue kerchief, tied jauntily over the 
 
CONGREGATED TRIBES. 
 
 71 
 
 head — ponderous wooden ear-rings, fash- 
 ioned on the model of Chub's largest lock 
 — a necklace of white beads, and a greasy 
 leathern apron slung about the unwieldy 
 hips, without any remarkable regard to 
 decency — set off the corpulent charms of 
 the good-natured Hasseinee, the exhibition 
 of whose eccentricities in Europe, must 
 infallibly have insured a fortune to the 
 showman. 
 
 The road continued to skirt the low 
 Eesah range, for several miles,* to the ter- 
 mination of the plain, which becomes grad- 
 ually shut in by rounded hills, inclosing a 
 dell choked with low thorns, and tenanted 
 by the galla-fiela,} a strange species of an- 
 telope, having a long, raking neck, which 
 imparted the appearance of a lama in min- 
 iature. As the day broke, flocks and herds 
 were observed advancing from every quar- 
 ter toward a common focus ; and on gain- 
 ing the brow of the last hill overhanging 
 the halting-ground, a confused lowing of 
 beeves and bleating of sheep, arose from 
 the deep ravine below, while the mountain 
 sides were streaked with numberless white 
 lines of cattle and goats, descending to- 
 ward the water. 
 
 Arriving at the Wady Killulloo, a most 
 busy scene presented itself. Owing to the 
 general want of water elsewhere through- 
 out the country, vast numbers of flocks and 
 herds had assembled from far and wide ; 
 and they were tended by picturesque mem- 
 bers of all the principal tribes of Danakil, 
 composing the Debenik-Woema, as well 
 as from the Eesah, the Muda'i'to, and their 
 subordinate subdivisions. Dogs lay bask- 
 ing on the grassy bank beside their loung- 
 ing masters ; women, screaming to the 
 utmost of their shrill voices, filled up their 
 water-skins with an ink-black fluid, stirred 
 to the consistency of mire, and redolent of 
 pollution ; thousands of sheep, oxen, and 
 goats, assembled in dense masses in and 
 around the dark, deep, pools, were under- 
 going separation by their respective own- 
 ers, before being driven to pasture ; and, 
 with the long files that ascended and de- 
 scended the mountain-side in every direc- 
 tion, imparted the bustling appearance of 
 a great cattle fair. 
 
 The temporary mat huts of all these 
 nomade visitors who boasted of habitations, 
 were erected at a distance on the table- 
 land, to the southwestward of this import- 
 ant wady, which occupies a rugged rocky 
 
 * The reader who may not be thoroughly satisfied 
 with miles and furlongs, as embodied in this narrative, 
 js referred to the Appendix, where they will be found 
 detailed in a tabular form. 
 
 t »'• e. camel-goat. 
 
 chasm, opening upon the Kellali plain, and, 
 receiving the drainage of ail the southern 
 portion of the Oobnoo range, disembogues 
 during the rainy season into the lake at 
 Aussa. Even during this, the hottest por- 
 tion of the year, when the entire country 
 elsewhere is dry, its rocky pools, embedded 
 in soft limestone, tainted with sulphuretted 
 hydrogen, and abounding in rushes and 
 crocodiles, afford an inexhaustible supply, 
 without which the flocks and herds of the 
 entire arid districts by which it is sur- 
 rounded, could not exist. 
 
 To it the horses and mules of the em- 
 bassy were indebted for a new lease of life, 
 short though it proved to many. Two of 
 the former and ■ eleven of the latter, had 
 already been left to the hyenas, in addi- 
 tion to the animal feloniously abstracted 
 by the Hy Somauli, of the recovery of 
 which Mohammad Ali affected to be san- 
 guine. But although the pleasure of an- 
 other meeting with the robber chief, where- 
 upon he rested his delusive hopes, was 
 shortly realized, and brought with it a train 
 of concomitant inconvenience, no mule 
 was ever restored. Not one of these petty 
 Adaiel tribes are subject to that abject des- 
 potism which controls the turbulent spirits 
 of the more powerful African nations, and, 
 bad as absolute power must ever be ac- 
 knowledged, often tends to their ultimate 
 improvement. The influence of a chief- 
 tain is here little more than nominal. All 
 affairs are decided in council by a majority 
 of voices ; and, were it not for the fact, 
 that, save during the existence of a com- 
 mon danger, no component member of his 
 clan works for other than individual ad- 
 vantage, the wild and lawless community 
 over whom he affects to preside, might in 
 all respects be appropriately designated a 
 republic. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 OMINOUS DEBATES AND INTOLERABLE DE- 
 LAYS AT THE HALF-WAY STAGE. 
 
 The second knot in the string of the 
 tedious journey had been unloosed by ar- 
 rival at Killulloo, which is considered 
 exactly half way from the sea-coast to the 
 frontier of Abyssinia. But although the 
 worst portion of the road was now behind, 
 the embassy was destined to waste many 
 days of existence in this vile spot, amid 
 annoying debates and discussions, most 
 trying to the patience, which threatened to 
 terminate so unpleasantly, as well nigh to 
 result in the abandonment of the baggage, 
 
72 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 as affording the only prospect left of ever 
 reaching the destination. 
 
 From the very first moment of arrival, 
 Izhak, whose sole object ever appeared to 
 be to render himself disagreeable, devoted 
 his talents and energies to the establish- 
 ment of a misunderstanding, upon the fri- 
 volous grounds of Mohammad Ali having 
 been suffered to distribute a small quantity 
 of tobacco, in order to get rid of some un- 
 pleasant visitors. " Who gave that man 
 tobacco?" he captiously vociferated, boun- 
 cing into the tent as soon as it had been 
 pitched; "this is a piece of interference 
 with my prerogatives, as ras el kafilah, 
 which cannot be borne." And the expla- 
 nation afforded not proving at all to his 
 satisfaction, he roundly declared his deter- 
 mination of resenting the insult by throw- 
 ing up the charge, and returning with all 
 his paid retainers to Tajura. 
 
 Mohammad Ali being now in the heart 
 of his own country, and having rendered 
 himself extremely useful on the road, 
 while his venerable rival had been idle, 
 seemed resolved to assert his claim to a 
 share in the conduct of the caravan. Iz- 
 hak as unflinchingly maintained his reso- 
 lution, as brother to the Sultan of Tajura 
 — a point whereon he greatly piqued him- 
 self — to hold the reins exclusively in his 
 own hands, or to decamp with the camels ; 
 and the embassy, avowing themselves to 
 be merely travellers through the country, 
 desirous of conciliating all parties, and of 
 interfering with none, maintained the 
 strictest neutrality, and declined mixing 
 at all in the dispute. 
 
 It was already dusk when a visit was 
 received from the three principal persons 
 of the countless multitudes assembled. 
 These were Ibrahim ibn Hameido, akil 
 of the Hy Somauli, whose dominion ex- 
 tends from Ramudele to Suggagedan ; and 
 the uncle and father of Mahammad Ali — 
 to wit, Wayess ibn Hagaio, who divides 
 with his brother Hagaio Lad, the govern- 
 ment of the Dermela, the Woema, the 
 Rookhba, and the Midgan, collectively ex- 
 tending from Suggagedan to Waramilli — 
 and Hajji Ali Mohammad, a hoary patri- 
 arch of most venerable appearance, com- 
 monly styled Ali Abi. As tokens of good- 
 will they brought oxen, sheep, and bags 
 of sour milk ; but, owing to an obvious 
 disinclination on the part of Izhak and his 
 sulky colleagues to promote conversation, 
 the interview was extremely stiff; and 
 dates, coffee, and snuff having been duly 
 handed round, the illustrious visitors, sig- 
 nifying an intention of discussing certain 
 topics of importance which had yet to be 
 
 adjusted, abruptly departed after the pol- 
 ished fashion of the country, without going 
 through the ceremony of taking leave of 
 their entertainers. 
 
 A vast concourse of armed natives, 
 members of all the various tribes assem- 
 bled, had in the meantime convened imme- 
 diately on the outskirts of the camp, where 
 they continued during the whole night in 
 a violent altercation, which periodical sup- 
 plies of dates and tobacco proved quite in- 
 adequate to allay. The discussion was 
 shared by Izhak and by Mohammad Ali, 
 with their respective partisans and re- 
 tainers, and it continued during the whole 
 of the next day ; meanwhile the tent being 
 perpetually thronged with thieves and 
 idlers, who purloined whatever fell in their 
 way, and contrived frequent broils among 
 themselves, which led to the drawing of 
 creeses in the very centre of the encamp- 
 ment. 
 
 Throughout the whole of the ensuing 
 night, and part of the day following, the 
 wrangling among the tribes continued 
 with little abatement or intermission, the 
 litigants occasionally br:aking into small 
 parties, to hold private kaldms, and after 
 much mysterious whispering, again re- 
 suming their seats in the general assem- 
 bly. The question of precedence between 
 the elders, already adverted to, and the 
 propriety of suffering so large a party of 
 armed Franks to proceed into Abyssinia, 
 formed the principal subjects of discussion ; 
 and the prevailing opinion on the latter 
 question was, that all ought to be com- 
 pelled to return, if not to be put to death, 
 as unbelievers whose presence boded evil. 
 
 But the opportunity was also taken 
 of arbitrating old feuds and squabbles. 
 Elopements were investigated and ar- 
 ranged, and all disputes and quarrels of a 
 private nature fully dilated upon and di- 
 gested. Hundreds of ruffians thus sat 
 from the rising up of the sun to the going 
 down of the same, and throughout the live- 
 long night, formed in a wide circle ; the 
 chiefs and men of consequence in the 
 centre, and the venerable Ali Abi, with 
 thin floating snow-white locks, and highly 
 ornamented weapons, seated as president 
 of the council. During the lengthy dis- 
 cussion of such a case, every spear stood 
 erect in the hand of the warrior ; and on 
 the decision being promulgated, the bright 
 blades were lowered with one accord, a 
 portion of the Koran was repeated, and at 
 the termination of every verse, a general 
 hum succeeding, the concurrence of all 
 parties was chanted in a deep stern Ameen! 
 
 Killulloo being the great mart between 
 
THE CONCLAVE— SLAVE CARAVAN. 
 
 73 
 
 the Bedouin tribes and the passing cara- 
 vans, where the produce of their flocks is 
 bartered for blue calico and other imports 
 in demand, the news of the arrival of so 
 large a party caused an inpouring from 
 every quarter, and each day presented at 
 the rendezvous some new group of exact- 
 ing chiefs to be propitiated, with a fresh 
 train of thieving followers to be fed and 
 kept in good humor. Every greasy scoun- 
 drel possessed a vote in the congress, to- 
 gether with the inclination to render 
 himself obnoxious, and the ability to add 
 his humble mite toward the irksome de- 
 tention ; and it therefore became requi- 
 site to court popularity, and to canvass 
 public favor as sedulously as at a general 
 ejection for a seat in parliament. 
 
 Ever and anon, a great noise and clamor, 
 and the rushing, spear in hand, of all the 
 idlers to one point, proclaimed a gentle 
 passage of arms among the savages, of 
 which, nine times out of ten, a woman was 
 the subject — some gay Lothario having 
 been recognized among the crowd by an 
 injured husband. But no sooner had the 
 cold steel flashed from the scabbard, than 
 the bullies were secured by the bystanders, 
 and being perfectly aufait at the business, 
 they were easily restrained from doing 
 each other any grievous bodily harm. In 
 one scuffle indeed, a hot-headed fool who 
 had with singular want of discretion en- 
 gaged in a quarrel at too great a distance 
 from his companions, got his thick wig 
 somewhat unpleasantly shaved to the skull 
 a hand's breadth or more — a fortunate oc- 
 currence indeed, as it turned out, since 
 the sight of blood had the instantaneous 
 effect of closing the senatorial proceedings 
 of the great conclave, which had been all 
 night sitting in deliberation, so that its 
 members were yawning in a state of con- 
 siderable exhaustion and owlish stupefac- 
 tion. Tolo, the quarrelsome little warrior 
 who thus suddenly adjourned the sessions, 
 lost three of his front teeth by the hands 
 of the husband whom he had injured in 
 more ways than one — but he retained pos- 
 session of the inconstant lady, and pub- 
 licly pledged himself, that on his way back 
 from Habesh, he would take measures 
 which should set the matter at rest for 
 ever. 
 
 The arrival from Shoa of a slave caravan 
 in charge of the son of Abdool Rahman 
 Sowahil, kazi of Tajura, added still fur- 
 ther to the assembly in the persons of sev- 
 eral hundred unfortunate children of all 
 ages, who sought shelter from the fierce 
 rays of the sun beneath the scanty trees 
 which dotted the rugged basaltic valley of 
 
 Killulloo, or lay huddled together beneath 
 the hot shadow of an impending columnar 
 rock. Each carried a small gourd as a 
 water flagon, and, although generally in 
 good spirits, some idea of the sufferings in 
 store for these hapless beings could be 
 formed by those who had just achieved the 
 lower portion of the perilous and formida- 
 ble road. 
 
 " Have all my children arrived in safe- 
 ty ?" inquired a corpulent old slave mer- 
 chant who brought up the rear, tenderly 
 accosting his mistress elect, and chucking 
 her playfully under the chin, as she flew 
 to hold the bridle of his mule ; " are all 
 my children well ?" " Humdu-lillah" was 
 the reply of the coy damsel, a really beau- 
 tiful Christian from Gurague, with long 
 raven tresses, and a very pensive expres- 
 sion, who had been compelled to profess 
 Islamism. Honored with the caresses of 
 her fat and bigoted purchaser, the poor girl 
 had been made responsible for a drove con- 
 sisting of three-score little sister slaves, all 
 distinguished like herself by a tassel of 
 green beads in the braided hair, and who 
 were now about to be counted by their 
 "father." 
 
 The son of the kazi having brought let- 
 ters from Abyssinia, was shortly introduced 
 by Hajji Kasim, own cousin to Izhak, and 
 by far the most reasonable of the Tajura 
 party. Being in the course of conversa- 
 tion, quietly interrogated touching the 
 cause of the ras el kafilah's continued irri- 
 tation, he turned at once to his companion, 
 and solemnly adjured him by the beard of 
 ihe Prophet to answer conscientiously the 
 following questions. " A head is a head, 
 is it not, all the world over ?" " Of course," 
 responded the descendant of the chief jus- 
 tice, " there can be no disputing that fact" 
 11 A tail, too, is a tail, Or I am much mis- 
 taken," continued the logician, pursuing 
 his thesis, — and this axiom was also un- 
 hesitatingly admitted as beyond all contro- 
 versy. " Well, then," resumed Kasim, 
 whose intellects had been sharpened by a 
 pilgrimage to the shrine at Medina ; " no 
 kafilah can possess two heads ; and so 
 long as Ali Mohammad, who is in fact the 
 tail, continues these underhand attempts 
 to usurp the authority vested in the brother 
 of the Sultan of Tajura, our acknowledged 
 head, matters can never go on smoothly." 
 
 The old man was quietly reminded that 
 the raw tobacco, which had given rise to 
 so much heart-burning, bickering, and dis- 
 pute, was the sole property of the British 
 party, and that, with every deference to 
 Izhak's supreme authority, some control 
 might with propriety be conceded to the 
 
74 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 owners over their own wares ; but that as 
 to any interference in the quarrel for the 
 ras el kafilahship, the thing was clearly 
 impossible — the business having already 
 been fully discussed and arranged with due 
 Danakil patience, by the sultan, in some 
 twenty tedious conferences with the camel- 
 owners and chiefs of Tajura. Izhak, who 
 had been listening to this conversation with 
 a dark scowl upon his brow, now entered 
 as if by accident, twirling his scanty locks, 
 and beaming with smiles ; proof of his re- 
 storation to good humor being immediately 
 afforded in the extension of his right hand, 
 not to perform the usual ceremony of re- 
 conciliation, but in view to the palm being 
 filled with a sufficiency of Dr. Ruddiman's 
 Irish blackguard, to admit of indulgence in 
 his favorite recreation. 
 
 Hopes were now reasonably entertained 
 of an amicable adjustment, the real cause 
 of dispute having meanwhile been traced 
 to a jealousy respecting the reward which 
 it was conjectured the leader of the cara- 
 van would receive at the hands of his 
 majesty of Shoa. Mohammad Ali had 
 already been privately satisfied upon this 
 point; and Izhak, in order to strengthen 
 his own claim, falsely asserted himself to 
 have received by the kazi's son a letter 
 from Sahela Selassie, appointing the sul- 
 tan of Tajura to the charge of all his Eu- 
 ropean friends who might desire to visit 
 Southern Abyssinia. But the congress 
 still sat as usual. The dispute arranged 
 to-night was renewed at morning's dawn, 
 as though it had never formed the subject 
 of deliberation ; and at a period when the 
 near approach of rain in the higher regions, 
 and the consequent flooding of the Ha- 
 wash, rendered every hour one of the ut- 
 most importance, not the slightest prospect 
 of departure could be discovered, beyond 
 the oft-repeated assurance, as often fol- 
 lowed by disappointment- 1 —" Bad bokra In- 
 shallah" " If it please God, the day after 
 to-morrow." 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 PERSECUTIONS OF THE GATHERED CLANS. 
 PARTING INTERVIEW WITH THE AVARI- 
 CIOUS CHIEFTAINS. 
 
 Throughout this period of irksome de- 
 tention, the thermometer stood daily at 
 112°, and the temperature of the small 
 tent, already sufficiently oppressive, was 
 rendered doubly unbearable by the unceas- 
 ing obtrusions of the wild, dirty, unman- 
 nerly rabble who filled the ravine. Impe- 
 
 riously demanding, not suing for snuff, 
 beads, and tobacco, with paper whereon to 
 write charms and spells for defence against 
 evil spirits, swarms forced in their greasy 
 persons from the first dawn of day to the 
 mounting of the guard at night. Treating 
 the pale-faced proprietors with the most 
 marked insult and contumely, they spat 
 upon the beds, excluded both air and light, 
 and tainted the already close atmosphere 
 with every abominable smell. Not one of 
 the greasy crowd could be persuaded that 
 the " cloth house," as the tent was denom- 
 inated, had not been each day-reerected 
 solely for his individual use and accommo- 
 dation. Many attempted with their creeses 
 to curtail the much coveted blue calico 
 with which it was lined, and one lank ruf- 
 fian, who was detected leisurely searching 
 for a peg whereon to hang the skin and 
 entrails of a newly killed he-goat, wrought 
 himself into a positive fury on being civil- 
 ly apprised that he must look for shambles 
 elsewhere. 
 
 Neither on the part of those composing 
 the caravan was much privacy allowed 
 during the sultry day, when seclusion was 
 so highly desirable. Here, as throughout 
 the march, offensive camel-drivers obtruded 
 themselves without any regard either to 
 time or season ; occupying the chairs, com- 
 posing themselves to sleep in groups upon 
 the beds or on the table ; and, while they 
 picked their ears and teeth with the pens, 
 or employed the knives in the pleasing 
 operation of paring their filthy talons, 
 spitting without remorse wheresoever they 
 listed. Hating and despising a Frank with 
 all the zeal of the bigot, they yet insisted 
 upon shaking hands, on each intrusion, 
 with the most scrupulous attention to 
 Danakil etiquette, and with unhesitating 
 alacrity devoured the biscuits and swal- 
 lowed the coflee of the " Christian dogs." 
 
 The despotic arrangements enforced by 
 the ras el kafilah, although doubtless ma- 
 terially conducive to his own personal 
 convenience, and to that of his unaccom- 
 modating followers, were, moreover, far 
 from enhancing the comfort of the embas- 
 sy. Boxes and bales, after having been 
 unceremoniously dashed upon the ground, 
 in utter disregard of remonstrance or of 
 the fragile nature of the contents, had on 
 this occasion, as on the termination of each 
 march, been piled in a circle, each compo- 
 nent heap consisting of three sides of a 
 square, which, with the addition of a few 
 mats thrown over the top, formed a habita- 
 tion fully as commodious as a Dankali is 
 ever accustomed to. Any attempt to dis- 
 turb the economy of these tenements, by 
 
NIMRODS OF THE DESERT. 
 
 75 
 
 referring to the boxes employed in their 
 construction, being regarded as an act of 
 premeditated injury and insult, was stoutly 
 resisted ; and as no portion of the baggage 
 once removed to the tent, was ever received 
 again without a battle, the materials of 
 comfort or occupation were very rarely 
 obtainable. In the selection of his load 
 at Taj ura, every self-willed driver had 
 suited his individual inclination, and as no 
 persuasion could now induce him to de- 
 posit any portion in a spot where it might 
 be under surveillance, the provisions, 
 placed beyond the reach of their owners, 
 but accessible to every hungry knave, 
 were perpetually pilfered and purloined. 
 
 Universal somnolency on the part of the 
 hired guard, had rendered two European 
 sentries and an officer of the watch indis- 
 pensable throughout the journey ; and in 
 such a nest of robbers as Killulioo, the 
 precaution was more than ever requi- 
 site. In a fine climate, with a manly foe 
 in front, a night watch is far from being a 
 disagreeable duty. Here it was beyond all 
 things annoying. Pacing up and down 
 over the same retrodden ground, to keep 
 the heavy eyelids on the stretch, in order 
 to prevent the prowling Bedouin from pil- 
 fering a bag of dates, or to detect the lurk- 
 ing assassin, who in the dark creeps like a 
 wild beast to perpetrate his dastardly deed, 
 is but a scrry business ; and it was render- 
 ed more particularly hateful from the rank 
 offensive steam, which arose thick and hot 
 from the small circle in which the beds 
 were spread. Stifling exudations from the 
 fetid mouths of one hundred and seventy 
 camels that fed on the most disgusting 
 rubbish, filled the suffocating atmosphere, 
 which was impregnated with atoms still 
 more vile from the rancid sheep's-tail fat, 
 wherewith every Dankali is so liberally 
 besmeared. 
 
 Among the motley races congregated 
 at this crowded watering-place, were the 
 endless tribes of Adaiel, with broad-headed 
 spear and shield of high antiquity — the 
 coast of Somauli, armed with light lance 
 and diminutive wrinkled buckler, scarcely 
 larger than a biscuit — and his much dread- 
 ed Eesah brother, carrying a long stout 
 bow of the ancient form, with the double 
 bend, and a quiver of poisoned arrows slung 
 by a lion's tail. These latter were by far 
 the most conspicuous, as well as the most 
 agreeable figures. Their togas, although 
 not less filthy than those of their neigh- 
 bors, were thrown more gracefully over the 
 brawny shoulder ; their picturesque wea- 
 pons were borne with an ease that habit can 
 
 the white trophy floated over their raven 
 locks in token of bloody deeds, nearly all 
 boasted of laughing, intelligent, and far 
 from unpleasing countenances — a delight- 
 ful relief at all events from the scowling 
 downcast look of the exacting, perverse, and 
 impracticable Danakil. 
 
 The Woema, deeming unlawful the use 
 of the bow in their own persons, maintain 
 upward of one hundred Somauli archers, 
 originally prisoners of war, who, although 
 naturalized among their conquerors, retain 
 their own language, and never intermarry. 
 The hunting portion of the Eesah tribe, 
 who are designated " Bone," usually carry 
 a rude bamboo flute, the wild plaintive ca- 
 dence of which is believed to charm the 
 ostrich. Their hair, with the aid of suet, 
 is often dressed in the figure of the " pud- 
 ding" worn by children during their first 
 lessons in the art of walking ; and deeply 
 graven on the forehead of each are to be 
 seen the masonic square and compasses. 
 Universally skilled in woodcraft, the fe- 
 rocious subjects of ibn Fara may be styled 
 a nation of hunters, many being proprie- 
 tors of trained ostriches, which graze du- 
 ring the day with the flocks in the open 
 plain, and have their legs hobbled at night, 
 to preclude wandering. These gigantic 
 birds are employed with great success in 
 stalking wild animals, a trained donkey 
 being also in constant use — lashed below 
 the belly of which, the archer is carried 
 among the unsuspecting herd, when his 
 arrows, poisoned with the milk of the eu- 
 phorbia antiquorum, deal death on every 
 side. 
 
 It is to the skill of these wild Nimrods 
 that the Danakil are chiefly indebted for 
 their shields, which are manufactured of 
 the thick hide of the oryx, here styled the 
 baeza. Two bucklers of a foot or eighteen 
 inches in diameter, fetching each four tobes 
 of blue calico, value two dollars, are ob- 
 tained from the animal's fore hand; and 
 from the hind quarters are cut others of 
 smaller dimensions, such as are in use 
 among the pastoral Somauli. Ostrich fea- 
 thers are also principally obtained from the 
 Eesah : the unsullied plumes, when strip- 
 ped from the fleet-footed bird, being depos- 
 ited for the convenience of carriage, in 
 portions of the gullet cut to the proper 
 length. The process pursued by these 
 children of the desert in the preparation of 
 smaller fowls for the table, if not strictly 
 in accordance with the directions of Dr. 
 Kitchner, can, at all events, claim ingenu- 
 ity. From some superstitious motive, the 
 feet are chopped off with the creese, and 
 
 alone impart; and, notwithstanding that I the carcase, undivested of the entrails, hav- 
 6* 
 
76 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 ing been incased in wet clay, is thrust into 
 a hot fire ; on removal whence the feathers 
 are left adhering to the paste, and in culi- 
 nary phraseology, " the bird is done." 
 
 Crowds of Bedouin shepherdesses, and 
 females belonging to all the various nomade 
 tribes, were likewise assembled in the Kil- 
 lulloo ravine, and the cry of " wiirkul, 
 wiirkul!" "paper, paper !" was incessant 
 on the part of the softer sex, who, with a 
 licence unknown and a freedom unenjoyed 
 by the daughters of Eve in other Moham- 
 madan countries, were unremitting in their 
 attendance and flirtations, without exciting 
 the jealousy of their lords. From the lips 
 of these damsels, " Mahisse, Mahisstni!" 
 " JWanina tiniV " Good morrow !" "How 
 do you do ?" came not disagreeably ; and 
 trinkets such as they loved, being civilly 
 solicited, instead of imperiously demanded, 
 the applicants were rarely unsuccessful. 
 
 Among those who boasted of the most 
 feminine and attractive appearance, were 
 the fair partner and sister of Mohammad 
 Ali — their wedded and single state being 
 as usual distinguishable, from the coif of 
 blue calico which marks the wife, and by 
 the long, uncovered, plaited locks of the 
 maid. Assembling with many of the frail 
 sisterhood at the doors of the tent, where 
 numbers were usually lounging in careless 
 attitudes, they one day demanded that the 
 palm of beauty might be awarded. Un- 
 willing to throw the apple of discord, the 
 mirror was placed in their hands, that the 
 coquettes might judge for themselves ; and 
 after each in succession had started invol- 
 untarily at the sight of her own greasy 
 charms, and had defended the individual 
 features whereof she was mistress, to the 
 utmost of her eloquence and ability, the 
 verdict was finally found in favor of the 
 virgin daughter of the venerable old 
 sheikh. 
 
 Although the majority of the slaves im- 
 ported with the caravan from Abyssinia, 
 were of tender years, and many of them 
 extremely pretty, they did not excite that 
 interest which might have been anticipated. 
 Children accustomed to sorry fare and to 
 harsh treatment in their own country, they 
 had very readily adapted themselves to the 
 will of their new masters, whose obvious 
 interest it was to keep them £at and in good 
 spirits. With few exceptions, all were 
 merry and light-hearted. Recovered from 
 the fatigues of the long march, there was 
 nothing but dancing, singing, and romp- 
 ing ; and although many wore an air of 
 melancholy, which forms a national char- 
 acteristic, the little victims to a traffic so 
 opposed to every principle of humanity, 
 
 might rather have been conjectured to be 
 proceeding on a party of pleasure, than 
 bending their steps for ever from their na- 
 tive land. 
 
 A very limited number of Shankelas and 
 a few natives of Zingero excepted, the 
 whole consisted of Christians and heathens 
 from Gurague, whence are obtained the 
 " red Ethiopians " so much prized in Ara- 
 bia. Kidnapping has consequently been 
 there carried to an extent so frightful, as 
 to impart the name of the unhappy prov- 
 ince as a designation for slaves generally. 
 Nearly all of both sexes, however, had al- 
 ready become passive converts to the Mo- 
 hammadan faith, and under the encoura- 
 ging eye of the bigoted drivers, oaths by 
 the false prophet resounded through the 
 camp. Nine-tenths were females, varying 
 in age from six to thirteen years, and all 
 were clad alike in dirty cotton smocks of 
 Abyssinian manufacture, adorned in some 
 instances with cuffs of blue calico. Their 
 long, dark tresses, elaborately greased, 
 were plaited into thin cords, with tassels 
 at the extremity, and interwoven about 
 the head with a band of colored thread, to 
 which was suspended a distinguishing 
 cluster of cowry shells. Bead necklaces, 
 pewter ear-rings, bracelets, and anklets, 
 decorated the persons of the prettiest ; and 
 these ornaments, forming the stock in hand 
 of the trader, are invariably resumed on 
 each bargain effected, in order to be trans- 
 ferred to some victim hereafter to be pur- 
 chased. 
 
 Each 6lave was provided with a cruse 
 of water, and had walked the entire dis- 
 tance accomplished from the heart of Af- 
 rica, with an endurance that, in children 
 especially of such tender years, was truly 
 surprising. A very few only, who had be- 
 come weary or foot-sore, had been mount- 
 ed on mules or camels, or provided with 
 ox-hide sandals, which in some measure 
 protected their tender feet against tl>e 
 sharp lava boulders. The males, chiefly 
 boys, had been intrusted with the charge 
 of camels, and required no compulsion to 
 render themselves useful ; and of the fe- 
 males, some, who boasted personal charms, 
 occupied the position of temporary mis- 
 tresses. Four large handfuls of parched 
 grain, comprising a mixture of wheat, 
 maize, millet, and gram, formed the daily 
 food of each ; and under the charge of the 
 most intelligent, the respective droves slept 
 huddled together on mats spread upon the 
 ground. Some surly old drivers or wanton 
 youths there were, who appeared to prefer 
 the application of the wnip to the more 
 gentle persuasion of words ; but in the tri- 
 
 
A PROMISING ASSASSIN. 
 
 7* 
 
 fling punishment inflicted, there was no- 
 thing to remind the spectator of the horrors 
 of slavery as witnessed in the western 
 world. 
 
 Few caravans ever traverse the deadly 
 Adel plains without losing some slaves by 
 the sultriness of the climate, or by the 
 wanton spear of the adjacent hordes. 
 Three of the fat merchant's children had 
 been murdered shortly after leaving Abys- 
 sinia ; and at his instigation, a foray was 
 now concerting among the united warriors 
 of the two caravans, having for its object 
 the destruction of the neighboring Wur- 
 boro Galla, whose families were to be 
 swept into captivity. In this unprovoked 
 slave-hunt, the embassy were strongly 
 urged to take part ; but positively refusing 
 the aid of British muskets in furtherance 
 of any such object, the project was finally 
 abandoned, more especially when a huge, 
 brawny Shankela, the property of the ka- 
 zi's son, was one morning discovered to 
 have effected his escape during the night, 
 doubtless with the design of carrying to 
 the unsuspecting tribe a timely intimation 
 of the gathering storm. 
 
 Ominous kaldms, meanwhile, went on 
 as usual, and fresh reinforcements arrived 
 to take share therein. Villains of every 
 degree continued to slide in as if hung 
 upon wires, to stand cross-legged within 
 the door of the tent until their curiosity 
 was satisfied, and then to assume a seat 
 in the congress. Hajji Abdallah and Elmi, 
 the nephews of Ali Shermarki, listening 
 by turns, brought hourly reports of the 
 progress making toward final adjustment, 
 and " Bokra, Inshdllah!" — "To-morrow, 
 God willing !" — the now undeviating reply 
 to every interrogatory relative to departure, 
 had become a perfect by-word in every 
 mouth. At length, on the 28th, it was 
 pompously announced by the ras el ka.fi- 
 lah, that every point at issue had, bond 
 Jide, been satisfactorily arranged— that the 
 water-skins were to be filled in the even- 
 ing, before the flocks and herds should re- 
 turn from pasture to trouble the pools — 
 and that the journey was positively to be 
 resumed betimes on the morrow. 
 
 Upon this welcome assurance the three 
 potent chieftains already named were again 
 received, though with closed doors at their 
 own request, in order that each might be 
 invested with a turban and an honorary 
 mantle of scarlet broadcloth, as rewards 
 of their villainy. A most difficult point 
 of etiquette had now to be overcome. The 
 akil of the Hy Somauli, whose liege sub- 
 jects had abstracted the mule from Fialoo, 
 was the bosom friend and partisan of Izhak, 
 
 while the illustrious personages who eat 
 in regal dignity on either side were near 
 and dear relatives of Mohammad Ali ; 
 and the rivals respectively watching with 
 jealous eye every act that could be con- 
 strued into favor or partiality, would infal- 
 libly have fired at any preference shown 
 in the presentation of the enviable distinc- 
 tions from the British government. The 
 presents were therefore placed on a table 
 immediately opposite to the respective 
 parties, and thence simultaneously launch- 
 ed with the same arm into the laps of the 
 confronted recipients ; when each bundle, 
 even to the envelope, being found the ex- 
 act counterpart of the others, no grounds 
 for jealousy or heart-burning could be de- 
 vised. 
 
 Misfortune had, during this interim, 
 overtaken the " sahib el bayzah," the imp 
 whose acquaintance was formed in the 
 harbor of Tajura. Detected in the mis- 
 chievous dissemination of evil tales re- 
 specting his clansmen, and in circulating 
 others of an equally discreditable tenden- 
 cy, purely the fruit of his own fertile in- 
 vention, affecting the throng of Killulloo, 
 he had been taken to task by Abroo ibn 
 Aboo Bekr, upon whom he drew his 
 creese without further ado. The blood- 
 thirsty little savage, who had not number- 
 ed his fourteenth year, being seized, was 
 tied to a tree, and most severely chastised. 
 His passionate cries and shrieks under the 
 lash had reached the tent during the inter- 
 view now happily terminated, and no 
 sooner was he taken down than he came 
 blubbering to lodge his complaint. No 
 satisfactory reply being elicited, the preco- 
 cious youth unsheathed his knife, with 
 which he viciously went through the form 
 of disembowelling a prostrate foe. His 
 feelings thus relieved, he dried his eyes, 
 and, with a significant toss of the head, 
 remarked as he walked away, " 'T is of 
 no consequence, ' maphishj no importance 
 whatever ; but by the grace of God I shall 
 cut the throat of that cousin of mine, be- 
 fore I am many days older !' 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 RENEWAL OF DEBATES BY IBRAHIM SHE- 
 HEM ABLI, SURNAMED " THE DEVIL.'* 
 FINAL ESCAPE TO WARAMILLI. 
 
 Affairs nevertheless began now to as- 
 sume a more desperate appearance than 
 ever. The night of this day of good 
 
78 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 tidings setting in with a storm of dust, 
 followed by a heavy fall of rain, a party 
 of Bedouins scoured unperceived through 
 the camp, and in spite of every precaution 
 swept off many articles of trifling value. 
 Among the booty was a tub of sugar- 
 candy, which, on the hue and cry being 
 raised, the rogues were fain to abandon, 
 together with the bedding of one of the 
 escort. An incessant bombardment of 
 large stones was kept up during the whole 
 night from the thick underwood in the 
 vicinity, directed as well against the sen- 
 tries on duty, who paced the same weary 
 ground for the ten thousandth time, as 
 against the sleepers, one of whom, having 
 emerged for a moment from the tarpaulin 
 which the rain had rendered indispensable, 
 received a severe contusion. 
 
 Mohammad Ali, in a state of evident 
 alarm, came as soon as the shower had 
 abated, to say that there existed no pros- 
 pect of the march being resumed in ac- 
 cordance with the solemn promise of the 
 ras el kafilah; and that feeling longer 
 unable to answer for the lives of the party 
 among such a congregation of lawless 
 ruffians, he was desirous of conducting to 
 Shoa on horseback all who felt so disposed, 
 leaving the heavy baggage to be secured 
 by his father, as far as circumstances 
 would admit. Should matters unfortunately 
 reach the decided crisis which there seem- 
 ed every reason to apprehend, the son of 
 Ali Abi was clearly the staff whereon to 
 rely, his intercourse with Europeans hav- 
 ing rendered his manners more frank and 
 ingenuous than those of his selfish and 
 shuffling rivals ; but although kaldms and 
 altercations had again commenced, a 
 sense of duty for the present precluded 
 the adoption of his project. 
 
 Morning of the 29th dawned upon no 
 preparations for departure, and a fresh 
 source of detention was indeed found to 
 have arisen from a new claim for prece- 
 dence put in by Ibrahim Shehem, the liti- 
 gious member of the tribe of Abli, which 
 ranks in the Danakil nation next to that of 
 Adali, to which the brother of the reigning 
 sultan belongs. Another tedious day of 
 insult and debate ensued ; but the question 
 was at length disposed of by the congress, 
 who decided the fiery little warrior to hold 
 place second to Izhak in the conduct of the 
 kafilah, to the exclusion of Mohammad 
 Ali, through whose tribe the party were 
 now to pass. 
 
 Again it was announced with due form- 
 ality that all matters at issue were peace- 
 ably and satisfactorily arranged, and seve- 
 ral bales of blue calico, with quantities of 
 
 snufT, tobacco and dates, having been dis- 
 tributed among the weary disputants, they 
 were finally induced to disperse, each car- 
 rying his tobe folded in triangular form, and 
 stuck, as if in triumph of his plunder, like 
 a placard, at the end of a slit stick. Ibra- 
 him ibn Hameido, akil of the Hy Somaull, 
 left, at his departure, a clump of twenty 
 bold spearmen to escort the embassy to 
 the Hawash ; and after shaking hands with 
 each of the European party, to the bene- 
 diction " Fee amdn illah" bade the whole 
 " Tarik is suldma" God speed upon the 
 road. 
 
 Ibrahim Shehem Abli, appropriately sur- 
 named by his compatriots " Shaytan," or 
 " The Evil One," carried a great soul un- 
 der a very diminutive person ; and being 
 a perfect Roostum in his own estimation, 
 was one of those who honored the humble 
 tent of the embassy with a much larger 
 share of his presence than could have 
 been desired. No sooner was it pitched 
 than the. consequential little man strutted 
 in as if by previous invitation, and, with 
 an air that left no doubt as to the side on 
 which he considered the obligation to lay, 
 spread his mat in the least convenient po- 
 sition that could have been selected to the 
 lawful proprietors of the interior. By vir- 
 tue of a claim which it had heretofore been 
 difficult to understand, he considered him- 
 self entitled to the receipt of rations in ad- 
 dition to the handsome pecuniary remune- 
 ration extorted at Taj ura, and to keep him 
 out of mischief, he had daily obtained, in 
 common with the ras el kafilah, two large 
 handfuls of rice. 
 
 Elated by his recent advancement, he 
 this evening, after sleeping some hours on 
 the table, suddenly bounced upon his legs, 
 and assuming an attitude of mortal defi- 
 ance, which his contemptible presence ren- 
 dered truly diverting, exclaimed with the 
 most exaggerated want of courtesy, " You 
 Franks do n't know who I am, or you would 
 treat me with more respect. I am Ibrahim 
 Shehem Abli, who slew the chief of the 
 Muda'i'to in single combat, and" — placing 
 the hand of one of his audience in a frightful 
 chasm of the skull, which afforded ample 
 room for three fingers and a half — " here 
 is the wound I received on that occasion. 
 Do you conceive that I can always con- 
 sent to receive the paltry pittance of rice 
 with which I have hitherto been put off? 
 Double the quantity immediately, and see 
 that I have my proper share of dates and 
 coffee too, or by the head of the Prophet 
 we shall not long continue on our present 
 friendly terms." 
 
 An Arab of desperate fortunes, the an- 
 
THE MARCH RESUMED. 
 
 79 
 
 cestor of this pugnacious little hero, is 
 said to have concealed himself, clothed in 
 white robes, among the spreading branches 
 of a tree ; and his partisans having induced 
 the simple-minded villagers to repair to the 
 spot in the dusk of evening, the intruder, 
 on being discovered, was accosted defe- 
 rentially as a spirit. Revealing himself 
 under the character of a great Arabian 
 warrior, who had slain his thousands in 
 the battle, the man of valor was entreated 
 to descend, and become one of the tribe ; 
 but to this he would by no means consent 
 until a pledge had been passed to recog- 
 nize him as its chief, and assign as his 
 own the whole extent of country visible 
 from his elevated perch, which done, he 
 was pleased to alight, and became the 
 father of Braves. 'T is well for his pos- 
 terity that the experiment had not been 
 made in a later day, or the cotton robe 
 would have been stripped from the shoul- 
 der of the warrior, and a lifeless trunk 
 been left beneath the tree to mark the in- 
 terview. 
 
 Throughout the sojourn of the embassy 
 at Killulloo, Izhak had peremptorily insist- 
 ed upon the tent being struck at sunset, 
 lest the display of so much white and blue 
 cloth might excite the cupidity of the Be- 
 douins, and the preparations making to 
 carry this despotic order into effect, may 
 perhaps have been the means of ruffling 
 the never very placid temper of his now 
 second in command. The aversion of the 
 ras el kafilah to anything like a habita- 
 ble structure being well understood, the 
 unhoused party amused itself at his ex- 
 pense, by the erection of stone walls of 
 considerable extent, as a shelter during the 
 coming night of rain. " In the name of 
 Allah," he exclaimed, blustering up to the 
 spot, and kicking over a portion of the fa- 
 bric with the pointed toe of the very san- 
 dal that had suffered so severely during 
 the disagreeable debate at Ambabo, — " in 
 the name of Allah and his Prophet what is 
 the meaning of all this ? We shall have 
 our throats cut to a man if your people per- 
 sist in this folly : there will be no rain to- 
 night !" 
 
 But the rain did fall in torrents, notwith- 
 standing the assurance of the ras ; and al- 
 though the ravine was now comparatively 
 clear of ragamuffins, stones continued to 
 rattle at intervals against the awning erect- 
 ed for the shelter of the European sentries. 
 That portion of the party off duty, steamed, 
 after an hour's drenching, under thick 
 •heavy tarpaulins, while the fluid glided un- 
 heeded over the sleeping persons of the 
 paid escort, who were well greased and 
 
 oiled, like wild ducks prepared for a long 
 flight. 
 
 On the last day of the month, after near- 
 ly a week's tedious detention in an insalu- 
 brious and soul-depressing spot, surrounded 
 by black basaltic rocks, where little forage 
 could be obtained, where water, although 
 abundant, was extremely bad, and where 
 the persecutions of prying savages, from 
 whom there was no escape, were unceas- 
 ing, the embassy was again permitted to 
 resume its march. Every hour had seemed 
 an age, and " Galla gassetdi" the well- 
 known cry to load, had therefore never been 
 listened to with more heartfelt delight. 
 Until after the rear of the string of camels 
 left the ground, and Izhak was fairly seated 
 on his mule, it was scarcely possible to be- 
 lieve that some fresh cause of detention 
 would not be discovered ; but the debates 
 were at last over, and the litigants, weary 
 of raising new objections, suffered their 
 victims to advance in peace. 
 
 The road wound up the Killulloo Wady, 
 and thence over a barren rise strewed with 
 obsidian, and with stones, the common pest 
 of the country, to Waramilli. An interest- 
 ing sight was presented in the line of march 
 of a tribe proceeding in quest of water to 
 the northward — a long line of dromedaries, 
 horned cattle, oxen, sheep, and goats, in- 
 terspersed by women and children, scantily 
 clad in leathern petticoats, and laden with 
 the rude date matting of portable wigwams, 
 or the still ruder implements of household 
 gear. While the females thus bore heavy 
 burdens slung across their breasts or led 
 the files of camels, upon which rocked the 
 long, raking, ship-like ribs of the disman- 
 tled cabin, the lazy lords sauntered ungal- 
 lantly along, encumbered with naught save 
 the equipment of spear and buckler ; the 
 ferocious aspect of all giving ample presage 
 of the intentions entertained toward any 
 party less formidable than themselves. 
 
 Total absence of water on the route 
 usually pursued had determined the ras el 
 kafilah, after much discussion and delibe- 
 ration, to adopt the lower and shorter road, 
 which, in consequence of the frequent fo- 
 rays of the Galla, had been for some years 
 closed to caravans. But notwithstanding 
 that so much invaluable time had been lost 
 at Killulloo under such provoking circum- 
 stances, and that the march finally made 
 thence fell short of seven miles, he again 
 persisted in halting, thus affording to Hajji 
 Ali Mohammad and Wayess ibn Hagaio 
 an opportunity of rejoining with a party of 
 troublesome Bedouins. The renewed dis- 
 cussions, which did not fail to follow this 
 influx of savages, together with the artful 
 
80 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 assurances given of the danger to be appre- 
 hended on the road selected, had nearly 
 prevailed upon the unstable Izhak to take 
 the kafilah back to Killulloo, for the pur- 
 pose of proceeding by the upper road ; but 
 Ibrahim Shehem Abli, stepping forward in 
 his new capacity, drew his creese, and per- 
 forming sundry not-to-be-mistaken ges- 
 tures, swore vehemently upon the sacred 
 Koran to rip up the kelly of the very first 
 blockhead who should attempt a retrograde 
 step — his object doubtless being to thwart 
 the views of Mohammad Ali, whose tribe, 
 occupying the upper ground, would derive 
 advantage from the transit of the embassy 
 by that quarter. 
 
 Waramilli is the usual encamping ground 
 of a section of the Gibdosa Ada'iel, but their 
 place was fortunately empty. Completely 
 environed by low hills, it proved insuffera- 
 bly hot ; and no water was obtainable nearer 
 than Wady Killulloo, now distant more than 
 two miles from the bivouac ; but the party 
 were in some measure reconciled to deten- 
 tion in this spot by the arrival from Tajura 
 of a special messenger, bringing letters 
 which bore very recent dates. Neverthe- 
 less the Dankali to whose hands the packet 
 had first been consigned had nearly perished 
 from intense heat and want of water in his 
 attempt to pass the Salt Lake ; and being 
 compelled to relinquish his journey, had 
 returned to the sea-port nearer dead than 
 alive. 
 
 Petty thefts without end were committed 
 by the lawless rabble who had followed the 
 caravan and located themselves in the im- 
 mediate neighborhood. Ibrahim Shehem 
 Abli, totally regardless of the character due 
 to his exaltation, was detected in the very 
 act of drawing a cloth with his foot over a 
 pair of pistols, while he cleverly held the 
 proprietor in conversation. His design was 
 to obtain a reward for their restitution — a 
 trick in common practice by the camel-dri- 
 vers and hired escort ; and this was by no 
 means the first exhibition of his own kna- 
 very. But it was some consolation to per- 
 ceive that, although the Franks were of 
 course the principal sufferers, depredations 
 were not altogether restricted to their pro- 
 perty. Numerous shields and cloths were 
 abstracted from too confident Danakil ; the 
 ras el kafilah's sandals were purloined ; 
 and at the going down of the sun, a procla- 
 mation went forth through Ibrahim Bur- 
 hanto, the common camp-crier, that Wayess 
 ibn Haga'fo, akil of the Woema, having 
 lost his spear, all parties possessing know- 
 ledge of the nefarious transaction were re- 
 quired to give information of the same to 
 the proprietor, as they hoped to prosper ! 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 NAGA KOOMI. MEINHA-TOLLI. MADERA 
 DUBBA, AND SULTELLI. 
 
 Two windy nights, during which it blew 
 a perfect hurricane, were passed in una- 
 bated vigilance, owing to the number of 
 ruffians lurking about the broken ground, 
 the waters whereof tumble in the rainy 
 season into the rugged chasm of Killulloo. 
 At an early hour on the 2nd of July, a 
 voice went through the camp, summoning 
 the slothful camel-drivers to bestir them- 
 selves ; and the incessant growling of their 
 disturbed beasts, which arose in various 
 keys of dissatisfaction from every part of 
 the circle, followed by drowsy Danakil im- 
 precations, and by the merciless dismant- 
 ling of huts, to the destruction of bales 
 and boxes, presently announced that the 
 work of loading had duly commenced. 
 
 A march of fifteen miles over a country 
 more level than usual, though sufficiently 
 rough and stony withal, led through the 
 Doomi valley to Naga Koomi. An abutting 
 prong of land, under which the road wound, 
 was adorned with a cluster of bee-hive- 
 shaped huts styled Koriddra, and at its base 
 the balsamodendron myrrha grew abund- 
 antly, — the aromatic branches furnishing 
 every savage in the caravan with a new 
 tooth-brush, to be carried in the scabbard 
 of the creese. The encampment occu- 
 pied a wide, dreary plain, bounded by the 
 high mountain range of Jebel Feeoh ; and 
 although water was said to exist in the 
 neighborhood, it proved too distant to be 
 accessible. 
 
 The ras el kafilah, at whose hands the 
 Franks experienced about the same amount 
 of resp3ct and tolerance as a rich Jew in 
 the days of Coeur de Lion, here imperious- 
 ly demanded daily rations of rice and dates 
 for the band of spearmen left as an escort 
 by the akil of the Hy Somauli ; and on 
 being informed that this very unreasona- 
 ble request could not be complied with, in 
 consequence of the tedious delays on the 
 road having reduced the supplies so low 
 as to be barely sufficient to last to Abys- 
 sinia, his brow became suddenly overcast, 
 he relapsed into his wonted ill-humor, re- 
 jected a tendered sheep with indignation, 
 and flung out of the tent in a passion. 
 
 It rained heavily during the greater part 
 of the night, and an early summons to 
 rise found the party again drenched to the 
 skin. The inclement weather had not by 
 any means tended to restore Izhak to 
 smiles ; and his mats having proved quite 
 insufficient to preserve him from full par- 
 
WHISTLING FORBIDDEN. 
 
 81 
 
 ticipation in the pleasures of the noctur- 
 nal bath, the effect upon his temper was 
 but too manifest. " Do n 't whistle, do n 't 
 whistle !" he exclaimed with a sneer to 
 one of his charge, who was so amusing 
 himself within hearing; "what are you 
 whistling for? I have loaded the camels 
 under a prayer from the sacred Koran and 
 you are doing your best to break the spell, 
 and call up gins by your whistling. 'La 
 illah Wallah, wo Mohammad rasid illah ;' " 
 " there is no God but God, and Mohammad 
 is the Prophet of God." 
 
 ''■Fein tero J In the name of the three 
 kaliphs where are you going to ]" again 
 vociferated the testy old man, in a terrible 
 passion, to the same luckless individual, 
 who, with a loaded rifle in his hand, had 
 now left the road in pursuit of an antelope. 
 " ' Taal lienna ! ' ■ Come back, will you !' 
 Wullah! you r ll be getting your throat cut 
 presently by the Buddoos, and then I shall 
 be asked what has become of you. Can 't 
 you keep the road ? This ugly defile is 
 named 'the place of lions,' and one of 
 them will be eating you anon." 
 
 Another march of fifteen miles brought 
 the caravan to Meinha-tolli, where some 
 hollows had been filled by the recent heavy 
 fall of rain ; but large droves of horned 
 cattle having soiled in them, the muddy 
 water was so strongly tainted, as to be 
 barely drinkable under any disguise. The 
 country throughout bears signs of violent 
 volcanic eruption of later times, which 
 has covered one portion with lava, and an- 
 other with ashes and cinders. At the out- 
 set the road led over the usual basaltic 
 ground, strewed with fragments of obsid- 
 ian ; but after crossing Arnoot, a deep ra- 
 vine choked with refreshing green bushes, 
 in which the exhausted beasts obtained a 
 most welcome supply of muddy water, the 
 stony valleys gave place to sandy plains, 
 clothed with short yellow grass, and inter- 
 sected by low ranges of hills. 
 
 One wide level expanse termed Azoroo., 
 stretching at the foot of the peaked moun- 
 tain Aiulloo, was pointed out in the dis- 
 tance, as the scene of a signal victory 
 gained about six years since by the Woema 
 over their predatory foes, the Mudaito. 
 Ths bones of upward of three thousand 
 of the combatants which now whiten the 
 sands, have caused the desertion of the 
 best road by the superstitious Danakil. 
 With the escort were many warriors who 
 had taken part in this engagement, and 
 they described the conflict, which com- 
 menced in a night attack, to have raged, 
 spear to spear, and shield to shield, through- 
 out the entire of the following day, toward 
 
 the close of which the advantage was 
 gained, and the " red house" routed. 
 
 A sheep being sent for as usual in the 
 evening, from the flock belonging to the 
 embassy, the ras el kafilah stoutly assert- 
 ed that the whole had been transferred to 
 himself for consumption by the escort of 
 Hy Somauli, and although eventually com- 
 pelled to relinquish one, he did so with an 
 extremely bad grace. Thunder and light- 
 ning, with severe squalls and heavy rain, 
 again closed the day — and great confusion 
 and discomfort was occasioned by a sud- 
 den whirl of wind, followed by the fall 
 upon the party of the saturated tent, from 
 the wet folds of which escape was not 
 easily effected. A dreary night succeed- 
 ed. The watery moon shed but a dull and 
 flitting light over the drenched camp ; and 
 the pacing officer of the watch, after an 
 hour's exposure to the pitiless hurricane, 
 calling up his relief, threw himself with 
 aching bones upon the inundated bed. 
 
 " Did I not tell you what would be the 
 consequence of your abominable whist- 
 ling," grumbled old Izhak, the first thing 
 in the morning ; " old Ali Arab is too sick 
 to be moved, and one of my best camels 
 has strayed, Allah knows where." The 
 rope with which the legs of the lost animal 
 had been fettered, wa3 meanwhile rolled 
 betwixt his hands, and sundry cabalistic 
 words having been muttered while the 
 devil was dislodged by the process of spit- 
 ting upon the cord at the termination of 
 each spell, it was finally delivered over to 
 the Dankali about to be sent on the quest, 
 and he presently returned successful. 
 
 Ahmed Mohammad, the messenger who 
 had been dispatched from Taj^lra with an 
 Arabic letter for Sahela Selassie, request- 
 ing assistance on the road, returned during 
 this delay. He had passed the night in a 
 Bedouin encampment, the proximity of 
 which had been betrayed by the barking 
 of dogs at each discharge of the musket 
 when the sentinel was relieved. The cou- 
 rier brought advices to the embassy, and 
 native letters for Izhak and Mohammad 
 Ali. Owing to the jealousy of the frontier 
 officers of Efat, he had been subjected to 
 many days of needless detention, during 
 which the king had led a distant military 
 expedition ; and although compliments and 
 assurances of welcome were not wanting, 
 they were coupled with the unsatisfactory 
 intelligence that the party must trust en- 
 tirely to its own resources, as in the ab- 
 sence of his majesty, no assistance what- 
 ever could be rendered. 
 
 The rainy season having now fairly set 
 in, it was believed that the pools on the 
 
82 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 upper road would furnish a sufficient sup- 
 ply of water, and the course was accord- 
 ingly shaped toward it. Emerging" upon 
 the extensive plain of Merihan, bounded to 
 the westward by the lofty peaked range of 
 Feeoh, the route skirted the Bundoora 
 hills, thickly clothed with grass, and vary- 
 ing in height from six hundred to a thou- 
 sand feet. Wayess, the chief of the Woe- 
 ma, formerly held his head-quarters in this 
 neighborhood, at Hagai'o-dera-dubba ; but 
 the Eesah Somauli making frequent in- 
 roads, and at last sweeping offall the cattle 
 of the tribe, it was abandoned. The hill 
 ranges on both sides have sent lava streams 
 almost to the middle of the plain, but gene- 
 rally it is covered with a fine light-colored 
 soil, strewn with volcanic ashes and small 
 fragments of obsidian — the grass, improved 
 by the recent showers, having partially ac- 
 quired a greenish tint. A singular detach- 
 ed hill composed of fresh-water limestone, 
 contained a few impressions of small spiral 
 shells, while the surrounding rocks exhibit 
 the usual cellular basalt. 
 
 No one could conceive that the rugged 
 arid wastes whereon he trod, had ever in 
 themselves been either productive or popu- 
 lous. Saving the labors of the termites, 
 exhibited in endless mounds of vast dimen- 
 sions, no monument of industry redeems 
 the inhospitable landscape ; yet these mea- 
 sureless plains, no less than the barren 
 mountain ranges so lately traversed, did 
 formerly, as now they might, afford hordes 
 of hardy soldiers, that under a bold leader, 
 such as the mighty Graan, who in the six- 
 teenth century unfurled the banner of the 
 impostor, and at the head of a countless 
 army overran and nearly destroyed the 
 Ethiopic empire, were admirably adapted 
 to possess themselves of the more fertile 
 plains and provinces adjoining. What- 
 ever may have been the virtues and en- 
 dowments of these olden warriors, their 
 posterity, like the dwellings they inhabit, 
 are sufficiently rude and degenerate. 
 
 Wady Bundoora, clothed in a thicket of 
 verdant bushes, had been selected as the 
 halting ground, and its appearance prom- 
 ised a copious supply of water ; but every 
 pool proved dry, and the march was there- 
 fore continued to Madera dubba — a second 
 and similar ravine, which was confidently 
 expected to afford the desired element. 
 Disappointment was, however, again in 
 store, and the rain not having extended thus 
 far, the usual reservoirs were referred to in 
 vain. Worse than all, information was 
 here received that not a drop of water would 
 be found at the next station ; while, owing 
 to the wear and tear of skins, added to the 
 
 too confident anticipations indulged, bare 
 ly a sufficient supply for even one day ac- 
 companied the kafilah. 
 
 It had been determined under these un- 
 toward circumstances, to move on at mid- 
 night ; but after an insufferably hot day, 
 rain again interfered. Unfortunately, it 
 did not fall in sufficient quantities to be of 
 much utility ; a few pints caught in tar- 
 paulins, which, with all available utensils, 
 were placed for the reception of the pre- 
 cious fluid, proving very inadequate to the 
 wants of the thirsty party. At 3 a. m. the 
 caravan advanced down the valley, with 
 cool refreshing weather, and a fine moon 
 shining brightly overhead. From the sum- 
 mit of a tumulus of black lava, marking the 
 point where the undulations of the Bun- 
 doora hills trend toward the mountains of 
 the Ittoo Galla, an extensive view was ob- 
 tained with the dawning day, over a coun- 
 try bearing the most extraordinary vol- 
 canic character — huge craters on the one 
 hand towering to the clouds, while on the 
 other sank the wide valley of Kordeite, 
 through which lay the high road to the 
 desolate plains of Errur. 
 
 A few pools of muddy rain water by the 
 wayside were eagerly drained by the sink- 
 ing cattle, but a deep ravine, bordered with 
 green trees and bushes, was explored to no 
 purpose ; and after crossing the fine open 
 plain of Eyroluf, abounding in gazels and 
 swine, the road led round the base of a 
 remarkable cone, styled Jebel Helmund, 
 which had long been in view. Isolated, 
 and four hundred feet in height, with a 
 crater opening to the northeastward, which 
 would seem at no very remote period to 
 have discontinued its eruption, it is sur- 
 rounded by a broad belt of lava, some three 
 miles in diameter. This has formed to- 
 ward the plain a black scarped wall, rising 
 from fifteen to twenty feet, of which the 
 wooded crevices teemed with quail, par- 
 tridges, and guinea-fowl, and were said to 
 be so many great dens of lions. 
 
 The sultry forenoon was already far ad- 
 vanced, when the weary eye was refreshed 
 by a glimpse of the verdant plain of Sul- 
 telli, a perfectly level expanse, so ingeni- 
 ously overgrown with pale green vegeta- 
 tion, as to furnish an exact representation 
 of a wide lake covered with floating duck- 
 weed, around which numerous camels 
 were busily browsing on the rank herbage. 
 During the greater part of the year, this 
 plain presents one vast and delightful 
 sheet of water; but the fairy form of the 
 light-footed gazel was presently seen, 
 bounding over the delusive surface, and 
 although clothed throughout with the most 
 
PROVIDENTIAL RAIN— MOUNT ABIDA. 
 
 83 
 
 tantalizing verdure, it yet proved perfectly 
 dry. The camels were milch females, 
 capable of subsisting for days, and even 
 for weeks together, without drinking, 
 while their milk serves to quench the 
 thirst of their unwashed Bedouin attend- 
 ants. Beedur, the chief of a section of the 
 Debeni, who resides in this spot during 
 the rainy season, had long since decamped 
 with his clan to more distant pastures. 
 
 Every hollow in the rich black soil, 
 abounding with shells, was vainly explored ; 
 and after a seventeen-mile march, the 
 party, weary and thirsty, were fain to en- 
 camp on the opposite side, and giving up 
 the search as fruitless, to rest satisfied 
 with the nauseous contents of water-skins 
 filled at the putrid pools of Meinha-tolli — 
 a second, and if possible, a worse edition 
 of the impurities brewed at the Salt Lake. 
 Both among men and cattle the utmost 
 distress prevailed. A suffocating blast 
 blew incessantly ; heat the most intense 
 was reflected from the adjacent black 
 rocks ; and nearly all of the horses and 
 mules were so completely exhausted, that 
 there appeared no prospect of dragging 
 them other sixteen miles to the nearest 
 reservoir. 
 
 But toward midnight, the beneficent 
 floodgates of heaven were providentially 
 opened, and a violent storm bursting over 
 the camp, in less then half an hour filled 
 every ravine and hollow to overflowing, 
 and afforded a plentiful and truly season- 
 able, although transient supply. Tearing 
 up their pickets from the saturated soil, 
 the dying animals thrust into the turbid 
 stream that rolled through the encamp- 
 ment their hot noses, which, for two entire 
 days and nights had been strangers to 
 moisture, and filled their sunken flanks 
 almost to bursting. Cackling troops of 
 guinea-fowl flocked to the pools from the 
 adjacent heights. Embankments were 
 thrown up, and wells excavated ; and Eu- 
 ropean, Danakil,and camp-follower; Chris- 
 tian, Moslem, and Hindoo ; all drenched 
 to the skin, falling together upon their 
 knees, in the posture of thanksgiving, 
 sucked down the first copious draught of 
 palatable water that had been enjoyed 
 since leaving Fialoo. 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 FIELD OF EXTINCT VOLCANOES. OASIS OF 
 YOOR ERAlN MAROO. 
 
 Singular and interesting indeed is the 
 wild scenery in the vicinity of the treach- 
 
 erous oasis of Sultelli. A field of extinct 
 volcanic cones, vomited forth out of the 
 entrails of the earth, and encircled each 
 by a black belt of vitrified lava, environs it 
 on three sides ; and of these, Mount Abi- 
 da, three thousand feet, in height, whose 
 yawning cup, enveloped in clouds, stretches 
 some two and a half miles in diameter, 
 would seem to be the parent. Beyond, 
 the still loftier crater of Aiulloo, the ancient 
 landmark of the now decayed empire of 
 Ethiopia, is visible in dim perspective ; 
 and looming hazily in the extreme dis- 
 tance, the great blue Abyssinian range to- 
 ward which the steps of the toil-worn 
 wayfarers were directed — now for the first 
 time visible — arose in towering grandeur 
 to the skies. 
 
 Overwhelmed by violent subterranean 
 convulsion and commotion, which, rever- 
 sing the order of things, has again and 
 again altered the former appearance, the 
 face ot the country for miles around the 
 base of the larger volcanoes, presents one 
 sheet of lava. Activity would not appear 
 to have extended much beyond the imme- 
 diate neighborhood of each ; but there is 
 a connection between the whole cluster 
 visible in small lava streams and a vast 
 quantity of volcanic debris, converted into 
 humus, in the adjacent valleys. Yet it is 
 by no means apparent, that these alone 
 have contributed to form the present sur- 
 face, the southeastern side of the field ter- 
 minating in much older formation of wacke. 
 Neither would any one of the craters ap- 
 pear to have very lately poured out the 
 fiery stream. Ibrahim Shehem Abli in- 
 deed deposed with an oath to having seen 
 Father Abida in flames about twelve years 
 previously ; but, on further investigation, 
 there seemed reason to believe that the 
 conflagration he witnessed must have been 
 confined to the long grass with which 
 portions of the steep sides are clothed. 
 
 The well-timed deluge of rain which 
 fell during the night had been so eagerly 
 drunk by the thirsty desert, that when the 
 morning dawned, the only traces of the 
 storm were presented in numberless chan- 
 nels left by the torrent, with here and 
 there a muddy pool, around which the 
 guinea-fowl were still rallying in clamo- 
 rous troops. Every portion of the road 
 having been saturated, and rendered far 
 too heavy for the jaded camels, advance 
 was of necessity delayed until noon, by 
 which time they had become sufficiently 
 dry to admit of the resumption of the 
 journey. A bare alluvial plain, skirting 
 the base of the Koomi range, led to a few 
 acacia-trees of a larger growth than had 
 
84 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 heretofore been seen. They occupied a 
 hollow styled Ras Mittur, which is the 
 point of union of the two roads from Killul- 
 loo, and hence the caravan struck off 
 across a grassy plain, abounding in herds 
 of graceful mhorr. The course followed 
 the eastern border of the field of truncated 
 cones ; and in the fresh green hue of the 
 bushes, with which the cindery tract is 
 studded, was afforded abundant proof of 
 the fertility of its decomposed lava. 
 
 Passing a cluster of Bedouin huts, whose 
 inmates were watching their grazing herds 
 of milch camels, the road next threaded a 
 narrow belt of verdant jungle. This sud- 
 denly opened into the wide plain of Moolu, 
 studded in every direction with flocks of 
 sheep and goats, assembled from all parts 
 of the country round ; and in a deep hol- 
 low in the very centre lay the attraction — 
 the oasis of Yoor Era'in Maroo, a noble 
 sheet of water, surrounded by a belt of 
 hillocks, and measuring, during even this 
 season of drought, a full mile in diameter. 
 It was indeed a sight most refreshing to 
 the eye. Troops of water-fowl of various 
 plumage sailed over its glassy surface. 
 Birds chattered among the autumnal 
 branches of the numerous trees, whose 
 tall stems, half immersed, rose thickly in 
 the centre, and the cool waters of the ba- 
 sin afforded to the weary and travel-stained 
 pilgrims the first unlimited supply of pure 
 liquid that had been revelled in since bid- 
 ding ad:eu to the shores of India. 
 
 In so sultry a land, where, throughout 
 the desert and forbidding plain, Nature has 
 dispensed the first necessary of life with a 
 most niggard hand, those pools which have 
 not a constant supply of running water, 
 soon become adulterated by various de- 
 compositions of organic and inorganic 
 matter. Wacke cannot resist any long 
 exposure, and hence fluid in contact with 
 it imbibes oxide of iron and muriate of 
 soda ; while flocks and herds, corrupting 
 the element in a still more offensive man- 
 ner, not only impart a fetid taste and smell, 
 but stir up the deposited mud, which emits 
 a volume of sulphuretted hydrogen. Yoor 
 Era'in Maroo was free from all these im- 
 purities, and its reservoir affords a never- 
 failing supply ; but the surrounding coun- 
 try is said during the wet season to be ex- 
 tremely unhealthy, violent storms and in- 
 cessant rain compelling the shepherds to 
 abandon the plains and wadies, and retreat 
 with their flocks to the neighboring moun- 
 tains. 
 
 From Waramilli to Moolu, the country 
 is chiefly occupied by the sub-tribes of 
 Debeni, under the chiefs Beedur and Boo 
 
 Bekr Sumbhool, the latter of whom usually 
 resides at Hamoosa, and the former at 
 Doomi or Sultelli. Although not always 
 to be trusted, these wanderers appear un- 
 der a friendly garb ; but the lion-hearted 
 guides and escort, with Izhak at their head, 
 had, from the first moment of leaving Kil- 
 lulloo, been doing their utmost to impress 
 upon the minds of their audience the ex- 
 treme danger to be apprehended on this 
 portion of the road, from the various wild 
 hordes now adjacent, whom they painted 
 as perfect dare-devils. 
 
 " The Galla are pagans," quoth Ibrahim 
 Shehem Abli with a bigoted sneer, " and, 
 uncircumcised knaves that they are, never 
 heard either of Allah or the Holy Prophet ; 
 and as for the Muda'i'to, although nomi- 
 nally Moslems, they have little more re- 
 ligion than their infidel neighbors. But 
 wait until I get an opportunity," he added, 
 with a caper and a sardonic grin, as he 
 unsheathed his creese for the purpose of 
 going through the figwre of disembowel- 
 ment, " only wut until I find an opportu- 
 nity, and, Inshdllah, we shall square ac- 
 counts." 
 
 Many were the harrowing tales that 
 had been called to mind by the first loom 
 of the Abyssinian mountains, touching the 
 toil-worn traveller, who, having surmount- 
 ed all the perils and privations of the road, 
 and arrived within sight of the promised 
 land, had been cut off at the very last step 
 toward the goal. Perpetual strife is waged 
 betwixt the Galla and Muda'ito, and the 
 plain of Moolu forming a sort of neutral 
 ground between the countries inhabited by 
 the rival clans, it proves one continual 
 scene of foray and bloodshed. The heath- 
 en, watching like hawks from the tops of 
 trees ?nd eminences, pounce, whenever 
 opportunity offers, upon the flocks and 
 herds of the true believers : retaliation is 
 not slow to follow, and thus the feud is 
 well and incessantly sustained. 
 
 During the latter part of the march, the 
 ras el kafilah was nearly thrown into hys- 
 terics by the sudden desertion of one of 
 his charge, who, in defiance of the close 
 thraldom, which rendered all more like 
 prisoners than freemen, had made up his 
 mind to dine that night upon venison, and 
 had accordingly taken up arms against 
 the alluring herds of sleek and timid an- 
 telope that, with white discs on their crup- 
 pers, bounded in all directions before the 
 advancing string of camels. Repeated in- 
 terrogatories of " Fein toro ?" " whither 
 are you going?" were launched in a 
 commanding tone of voice after the truant, 
 without eliciting the smallest attention or 
 
THE HAUNCH OF VENISON. 
 
 85 
 
 reply. A shot was fired — a fat buck fell — 
 and the successful Nimrod, dismounting, 
 proceeded to secure the spoils ; an opera- 
 tion which brought from their occupation 
 in the adjacent pasture, two ancient Be- 
 douin crones, in wrinkles and leathern 
 aprons, to be spectators of the dissection. 
 
 Izhak was old and captious, and not see- 
 ing very clearly, the apparition was too 
 much for his shattered nerves. "Allah, 
 Allah!" he peevishly exclaimed, seizing 
 his broad-headed spear from the hand of 
 his henchman, and violently kicking the 
 flanks of his jaded mule toward the spot ; 
 " merciful Providence, what childish folly 
 is this ? Is the commander a babe, that 
 he thus trifles with the safety of the cara- 
 van ? I did fancy that he possessed some 
 sense, but this is positively the act of a 
 madman. Look at those Buddoos ; they 
 will cut his throat immediately, and then 
 we shall have a pretty blood feud, involv- 
 ing the lives of half-a-dozen Danakil." 
 
 Despite of all the twaddling old block- 
 head could do to prevent it, the haunch 
 was nevertheless brought in, and its ap- 
 pearance hailed with considerable delight. 
 But it might almost as well have been 
 abandoned to the vultures of the air, since 
 the Persian cook, who had taken alarm at 
 the menace extended to Quilp in the pros- 
 ecution of his kennel duties, peremptorily 
 refused to convert the venison into kabdbs, 
 upon the grounds that the knife of the 
 true believer had not passed across the 
 throat of the victim. 
 
 " Whose dog is Hajji Abdallah Kurma- 
 ni ?" he exclaimed, in tones that might 
 have been believed to issue from a dilapi- 
 dated bagpipe ; " whose dog is he, I re- 
 peat," throwing the haunch upon the 
 ground, " that he should be invited to deal 
 with any such abomination ? Allah and 
 his Prophet defend us, but the Hajji would 
 as soon think of polluting himself with the 
 touch of the unclean beast." 
 
 This spirited public declaration was by 
 the Moslem audience received with the 
 rapturous applause it claimed ; and the 
 worthy pilgrim, fairly carried away by the 
 over-boiling of his virtuous indignation, 
 was actually proceeding to wreak his last 
 vengeance upon the venison, when arbi- 
 trary measures where adopted, which re- 
 sulted in the imposition of twenty-four 
 hours' fast in excess of the many inflicted 
 by the apostle whose shrine he had visited 
 at the holy city. 
 
 Now the Hajji bore a striking personal 
 resemblance to Hudibras ; and like that 
 hero, regarded discretion as being the bet- 
 ter part of valor. Since the melancholy 
 
 disaster at Goongoonteh, he had encum- 
 bered himself with a musket and a modi- 
 cum of cartridges ; but even by his warm- 
 est admirers it must be confessed that there 
 had never in his demeanor been the slight- 
 est indication of a design to throw himself 
 away by rash exposure. Entertaining the 
 highest respect for himself, the prudent son 
 of Iran was rarely heard to speak of Hajj i 
 Abdallah, save in the respectful third per- 
 son singular. The words of Ibrahim She- 
 hem had sunk deep into his soul ; and 
 after the affair of the venison, it was not a 
 little diverting to hear him, in his wonted 
 croaking accents, apostrophize the folly 
 and infatuation which had prompted him 
 to brave the wilds of unexplored Africa. 
 
 " Hajji Abdallah was never taxed with 
 lack of common sense," he exclaimed, 
 musingly, in self-reproach. " Allah knows 
 there may be many greater blockheads in 
 this sublunary world, than his servant 
 Hajji. Is it not wonderful that the chief 
 cook to Khwajah Mohammad Rahim Khan 
 Shirazi, and master, too, of recipes for no 
 fewer than nine-and-thirty pildos, should 
 have proven himself such an ass, such a 
 son of a burnt father, as voluntarily to get 
 in the way of abuse, for refusing to kabdb 
 unhallowed meat, which died without the 
 knife or the Bismillah ; and, worse still, 
 in the way of having his own throat cut 
 every minute of each day and night, by 
 these blood-thirsty infidels ? • La houl wil- 
 lah koowut illdh billah all ul-azeem? ' there 
 is no power nor virtue save in God.' What 
 true believer, in the fair province of Kur- 
 man, would ever have suspected Hajji Ab- 
 dallah of bringing his beard to so vile a 
 market ?" 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 MENACE OF THE BAR MUDA1TO. MOOLU 
 ZUGHlR, AND BURDUDDA. 
 
 Boo Bekr Sumbhool and Datah Mo- 
 hammad, co-chiefs of that section of the 
 Debeni styled Sidi Habroo, shortly sneak- 
 ed into the camp at the head of an appro- 
 priate retinue of ruffians ; and having been 
 duly propitiated with tobacco and blue cal- 
 ico, deputed a son of the latter to represent 
 the tribe, as an earnest of the black mail 
 having been levied. Mohammad Ali pro- 
 posed under these circumstances to halt a 
 day, both in order to profit by the first op- 
 portunity enjoyed of purifying raiment ; 
 and, which was of still higher importance, 
 to refresh the way-worn beasts. But the ras 
 was in such dire alarm of the Bedouins and' 
 
86 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 Galla, that he had been with the utmost 
 difficulty prevailed upon to encamp near 
 the water; and no persuasion could now 
 elicit his consent to tarry. Columns of 
 smoke which arose high and dense from 
 the country in advance, did not tend to 
 diminish his apprehensions. A shadowy- 
 human figure stealing along the summit 
 of the gloomy cliffs which overhung the 
 camp, redoubled his mental perturbation ; 
 and anathemizing Moolu, as the most dan- 
 gerous nest of thieves and cut-throats along 
 the entire road, he would that minute have 
 resumed the march in the dead of night, 
 had not heavy rain compelled him to bite 
 his nails until a late hour the following 
 forenoon, by which time the camel furni- 
 ture had become dry. 
 
 But the event proved that there were on 
 this occasion some grounds for uneasiness. 
 During the process of loading, three mount- 
 ed Mudaito scouts, wild-looking beings, 
 rode into camp in a suspicious manner ; 
 and immediately after moving out of the 
 bed of the hollow, whence the road led 
 over an extensive plain, covered with low 
 shrubby undergrowth, the ras el kafilah, 
 who momentarily waxed more fidgety and 
 excited, called a general halt, and assumed 
 his shield and brass-mounted spear. 
 
 " Look well to your weapons," he ob- 
 served, with a truly commander-in-chief- 
 like delivery, * and let all the proprietors 
 of fire-arms lead the van with myself. 
 Two thousand of the Dar Mudaito are out 
 on a foray against the Galla of the neigh- 
 boring hills ; and I have received certain 
 intelligence that they purpose this day to 
 fall upon the caravan. May Allah protect 
 his servants in the coming strife !" 
 
 Suitable defensive preparations were 
 made without delay, and the camels form- 
 ed ten deep, to admit of the whole line 
 being enfiladed by rifle-balls ; while the 
 Danakil and Hy Somauli escort, with loins 
 girded for the fight, brought up the rear. 
 Scarcely had these arrangements been com- 
 pleted, when a band of fifty warriors were 
 descried advancing in a compact body over 
 the brow of an adjacent eminence. Car- 
 rying their round bucklers on the left arm, 
 and bristling their bright spears, they 
 pressed rapidly toward the front of the line, 
 " on hostile deeds intent." Out to meet 
 them sprang the fiery little champion 
 Ibrahim Shehem, who panted to flesh his 
 creese in the body of another Mudaito, 
 and twenty stout warriors, casting off" their 
 upper garments, to give freedom to their 
 limbs, were not far behind him. The car- 
 avan remained motionless to watch the 
 event; and the formidable line of rifles 
 
 fronted the foe, who no sooner perceived 
 the muzzles bearing directly on their pha- 
 lanx, than they lowered their spears to de- 
 mand a parley ; and described themselves 
 to be en route from Jebel Abida to join 
 their clansmen, who were gathering at the 
 waters of Maroo, preparatory to a "goom" 
 or onslaught, upon their hereditary ene- 
 mies, the Alia and Ittoo Galla. 
 
 The march was resumed immediately 
 upon this banditti passing quietly to the 
 rear, and Ibrahim Shehem Abli relapsed 
 into his wonted composure ; but the foot- 
 prints of several other parties being shortly 
 afterward discovered, the beaten track was 
 abandoned altogether, in order, if possible, 
 to avoid meeting the marauders in number, 
 when the plunder of so rich a caravan 
 would doubtless have been essayed. An 
 advance guard reconnoitered the country 
 round from the summits of trees and ter- 
 mite cones, which alone admitted of an 
 uninterrupted view over the thick verdant 
 bushes, that clothed the entire face of the 
 plain. These were interspersed with rich 
 yellow grass, swarming with antelope, 
 hares, bustard, and florikin ; while fine 
 cedar-like camel-thorns stretched their 
 long arms over troops of pintadoes, coveys 
 of partridges, and spur-fowl. Not a trig- 
 ger was suffered to be drawn, lest the re- 
 port should attract to the spot the much- 
 dreaded Mudaito ; but although hundreds 
 of warriors might have been ambushed in 
 the dense covert unperceived, it was safely 
 traversed without further hostile demon- 
 stration ; and the country becoming gradu- 
 ally more and more open, the view extend- 
 ed to the fine peaked range near Afrubba, 
 inhabited by the Ittoo Galla — war-hawks 
 of the mountains, who are distinguished 
 for their sanguinary ferocity. 
 
 A cloud of dust in the extreme distance 
 being believed to prognosticate a rush of 
 these wild horsemen, the caravan was 
 again halted ere it had proceeded far over 
 the open plain ; but the magnifying pow- 
 ers of a pocket-telescope converting the 
 objects of alarm into a troop of scudding 
 ostriches, Izhak's confidence once more 
 returned. The residue of the march lay 
 over cracked and blackened soil, from 
 which the vegetation had been burnt the 
 preceding day, the embers still smoulder- 
 ing in various directions, although the 
 columns of smoke had ceased to ascend. 
 
 Neither fuel nor water could be dis- 
 covered at the ground selected for the 
 bivouac, but a small supply of the latter 
 requisite was obtained on the way, from a 
 muddy brook trickling over the charred 
 surface of the soil, and filling the i^pidF" 
 
SHEIKH OTHMAN— WATERS OF MOOLU. 
 
 87 
 
 cracks and crevices on its progress toward 
 the lower ground. This strange pheno- 
 menon arose from the wady at Moolu 
 Zughir, near Afrubba, some miles to the 
 southward, having been filled to overflow- 
 ing by the recent heavy rain. Moolu 
 Tani, or " the other Moolu," afforded a 
 most alluring spot of bright green vege- 
 tation just sprouting from the rich soil 
 which here abounds, and among it the 
 cattle luxuriated until dark. Sundry in- 
 vocations were now performed with horrid 
 yells, to enable one of the savages to di- 
 vine the coming of rain ; but a night 
 passed in vigilance by sentinels posted on 
 ant-hills, which afforded an uninterrupted 
 view over the surrounding plain, gave 
 place to dawn without any molestation 
 from thunder-storm, Galla, orMuda'ito. 
 
 Betimes in the morning the march was 
 resumed across an alluvial plain, which a 
 few days later in the season would proba- 
 bly have presented a swamp impassable to 
 camels ; but no difficulties were now ex- 
 perienced, and the caravan passed merrily 
 on toward a conspicuous barn-shaped hill, 
 which had been visible for many miles. 
 At its base, among sundry other cairns, 
 stood a mound of loose stones, encircled 
 by a thorn fence, and almost concealed 
 under the forest of withered boughs that 
 decked every part. Beneath this grotto 
 reposed the sainted bones of Othman, the 
 celebrated Tukha'iel sheikh of days long 
 gone. * Amid prayers and ejaculations in 
 honor of the departed, according to the 
 custom still prevalent in the southern 
 parts of continental Europe, each warrior 
 of the Bedouin escort first in order, and 
 then the drivers as they passed, having 
 previously plucked from some adjacent 
 tree a branch of verdant misletoe, adorn- 
 ed the venerated pile ; and long ere the 
 arrival of the last camel, it had exchanged 
 its sober autumnal garb for the bright 
 green mantle of spring. 
 
 Picturesque clumps of magnificent ca- 
 mel-thorns of ancient growth here stud- 
 ded the face of the landscape, and, covered 
 with golden blossoms, perfumed the entire 
 atmosphere. The myrrh-tree flourished 
 on the hill-side, and the " garsee " was 
 first found under a load of fruit resembling 
 the " leechee." The bright crimson pulp 
 possesses an agreeable acidity, and the 
 kernel that it envelopes pleases the Dana- 
 kil in a mess of sheep's-tail fat. No wood 
 had hitherto been seen sufficiently dense 
 to invite the elephant ; but in this covert 
 the giant evidently existed ; and the oryx, 
 appropriately styled " Aboo el kurovn," 
 " the father of horns," ranged in consid- 
 
 erable numbers ; the half-devoured car- 
 case of one which had been slain the pre- 
 ceding night, attesting the presence also 
 of the " king of beasts." 
 
 The agility of the Adaiel in reclaiming 
 a refractory camel, although often wit- 
 nessed with admiration, had never been 
 more prominently exhibited than during 
 this march. One of the most skittish and 
 unmanageable animals of the whole hun- 
 dred and seventy, had very judiciously 
 been selected by Izhak for a large chest 
 containing medical stores, and the halter 
 was usually held by a gentle slave girl, 
 whom it was the delight of the sahib el 
 bayzah to cuff and maltreat. Taking a 
 sudden whim into its head, the restive 
 beast, after the performance of sundry pre- 
 liminary plunges to ascertain if the load 
 were firm, dashed off the road, galloped 
 over the feeble maid, and, smashing her 
 water-gourd into a thousand fragments, 
 roaring and bellowing, pursued its head- 
 long career across the stony plain. Phials 
 and bottles were undergoing a most de- 
 structive discipline, when a fleet-footed 
 savage, who was in hot pursuit, and had 
 already twice turned the fugitive, darting 
 across its orbit, abruptly terminated these 
 gratuitous and uncouth gambols by a sud- 
 den twitch of the nose-rope, which brought 
 owner, dromedary, and medicine-chest sim- 
 ultaneously to the earth, with a crash that 
 sounded ominously enough, although not 
 the slightest injury was sustained by either. 
 
 Meanwhile the caravan had reached 
 Burdudda, where a large pool of dirty rain- 
 water extended strong inducements to en- 
 camp, and again led to a violent altercation 
 between the authorities. Apprehensive of 
 misunderstandings with the Bedouin shep- 
 herds in the vicinity, Izhak had sapiently 
 resolved to proceed some miles farther to 
 a waterless station, while Mohammad 
 Ali, insisting that the kafilah should halt, 
 commenced the work of unloading. The 
 camels of either party were for some time 
 divided ; but the ras, after trying the strata- 
 gem of advance without shaking his rival's 
 resolution, finally yielded up the point 
 with a bad grace, and all set up their staff. 
 
 The outline of the highlands of Abys- 
 sinia, which had been first indistinctly 
 visible from Sultelli, now stood out in bold 
 relief; and to the southward the view was 
 bounded by the lofty hills of the Afrubba, 
 Parsa, and Azboti Galla, where coffee 
 grows wild in abundance. An interme- 
 diate extensive prospect is obtained over 
 the thickly- wooded Moolu plain, stretching 
 some thirty miles in the direction of Errur. 
 This latter is the residence of the old 
 
88 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 sheikh Hajji Ali Mohammad, and the 
 head-quarters of the Debeni, who take 
 hereditary share in the waters of the val- 
 ley with their brethren the Woema. It 
 forms, moreover, a place of resort for every 
 wandering vagabond in the surrounding 
 country who possesses a sheep, a goat, or 
 an ox, or has the ability and the inclina- 
 tion to assert his privilege of erecting a 
 temporary cabin ; and thus the recurrence 
 of each season of drought, compelling the 
 abandonment of less favored pastures, 
 pours in its migratory swarm to swell the 
 more permanent muster upon the sultry 
 plains of Errur, and to create the strife 
 inseparable from a gathering of these law- 
 less hordes. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 A TALE OF THE PLAINS OF ERRUR.* 
 
 Aylia was the comeliest of the dark- 
 eyed daughters of the desert. Sixteen 
 tropical summers had already ripened a 
 form modelled in that exquisite perfection 
 which Nature is wont to bestow upon her 
 wildest works, and the native symmetry of 
 the sylph-like maid was yet unblemished 
 by any of those barbarous improvements 
 wherein her nation delight. Her spark- 
 ling eye, fringed with long silken lashes, 
 in brilliancy eclipsed the pet gazel that 
 ever bounded by her side ; and the grace- 
 ful gambols of the sportive fawn would 
 seem to have been inspired by the fairy 
 footstep of its blooming mistress. Luxu- 
 riant hair fell in elf-like tresses over her 
 ebon shoulder. Teeth of ivory whiteness 
 were revealed by a radiant smile that ever 
 played over her animated features ; and 
 few indeed of her virgin charms were 
 veiled under the folds of the slender dra- 
 pery that belongs to the Bedouin shep- 
 herdess. 
 
 The maid tended her father's flocks in 
 the Vale of Errur, which forms a constant 
 scene of predatory incursion on the part of 
 the ruthless savages that hover round the 
 border. When least expected, the Galla 
 war-hawks of the adjacent mountains were 
 wont to stoop from their rocky fastnesses, 
 and to sweep away the riches of the 
 Woema. The treacherous Eesah, although 
 ready to extend the hand which should 
 have denoted friendship, was nothing loath 
 
 * The following narrative, recounted by one of the 
 Woema escort, although necessarily enlarged, is as 
 strictly literal as the embodiment of the subject would 
 admit ; and it will convey to the English reader a bet- 
 ter picture of life in the desert than could be painted in 
 a less connected form. 
 
 to the appropriation of other men's chat- 
 tels ; and throughout all the nomade Adel 
 hordes, whose tents were erected during 
 the more sultry months, the feud and the 
 desultory skirmish favored the inroads of 
 the foe. Among the surrounding clans, 
 even her own tribe was not notorious for 
 its honesty, and by frequent depredations 
 abroad, it invited the foray of reprisal. 
 Thus the brawl and the mortal encounter 
 would follow the stillness of indolent ex- 
 istence with a rapidity not less startling 
 than frequent, and none knew what the 
 next hour might bring forth. 
 
 But fear had no place in the breast of 
 the daughter of old Ali. Nursed in the 
 lap of strife, the Bedouin blood of her rov- 
 ing sire coursed through her young veins, 
 and she pursued her Arcadian occupation 
 beneath the spreading boughs of the vene- 
 rable acacia, chanting to her gazel the wild 
 ditty that revealed the thraldom of her 
 heart, or listening to the bleat of her black- 
 faced lambs from the Hejaz. Often had 
 the shrill war-whoop rung through the 
 wild valley, and the rush of the gathering 
 warriors who flew to answer the summons, 
 arrested her plaintive song, but only lately 
 had it caused her to spring to her feet with 
 a bosom throbbing audibly ; and now she 
 would sigh as she sank again upon the 
 smooth bank that formed her favorite seat, 
 for the swain for whom her soft eyes had 
 been strained across the flickering desert 
 was not among the number of those that 
 had swept past, and she knew not why, 
 nor whither he had gone. 
 
 Many were the ardent suitors who had 
 wooed the hand of the blooming Aylia, and 
 often-times had she been sought from her 
 avaricious father, who viewed the still ex- 
 panding attractions of his daughter as a 
 certain source of increase to his ill-gotten 
 and idolized wealth. None, however, had 
 yet been able to produce the price set upon 
 the damsel's charms, neither had any pos- 
 sessed an advocate in her eloquence. Her 
 heart had already been tacitly relinquished, 
 but her hand she knew to be in the gift of 
 her sire, and therefore not her own to be- 
 stow. 
 
 Ambeesa it was who had silently gained 
 this ascendency over the green affections 
 of the maid. The milch goats of Irripa, 
 his mother, were by her driven daily to 
 pasture, and his wigwam was within 
 spear's throw of her own. The twain had 
 known each other from earliest infancy, 
 for they came upon the world's stage in 
 the self-same hour. They had feasted and 
 they had played together as children ; and 
 now that their young hearts had become 
 
TALE OF THE PLAINS OF ERRUR. 
 
 89 
 
 entwined, it was his wont to accompany 
 the nymph into the vale, where they would 
 hold converse the livelong day. The vapid 
 language of the savage admits of but a 
 limited embodiment of the softer passions ; 
 but the simple courtship of the unculti- 
 vated was ably sustained. Aylia felt the 
 force of her charms when she saw the 
 warrior grasp the spear and the shield, 
 without which no Bedouin ever crosses 
 the threshold of his cabin — in order that 
 he might chase the fawn that she had 
 coveted ; or when he drew water from the 
 well in her gourd, to replenish again and 
 again the ox-hide that formed a drinking 
 trough for her thirsty flock. And Am- 
 beesa felt himself amply rewarded, when 
 the slender fingers of the blooming girl 
 decked his hair with the aromatic herbs 
 that she had plucked in the wild meadow, 
 or she counted over the ewes that they 
 were shortly to possess in common. 
 
 Ambeesa was ever in the foremost rank 
 when the spear was thrown over the shoul- 
 der of the brave ; and, successful in every 
 foray, he had won wealth as well as fame. 
 None appeared more frequently in the 
 many-tailed leopard spoils which form the 
 garb of victory ; and the white feather al- 
 ways floated above his raven locks. But 
 his father having been treacherously mur- 
 dered by the Eesah, a blood feud clung to 
 the old man's sole descendant; and it 
 formed to him a source of self-reproach, 
 that, although he had for years dogged the 
 footsteps of the assassin, the opportunity 
 had never yet occurred when he might 
 wash out the stajn ! A skulker among his 
 clansmen at a distant oasis, the cowardly 
 savage had profited of his deep cunning to 
 baffle the creese of the avenger ; and he 
 still vaunted his trophy of blood, without 
 any account of its acquisition having been 
 required. 
 
 But the day of reckoning and of retribu- 
 tion was now nigh at hand. The mother 
 of Ambeesa had counted out the dowry 
 demanded of any who should espouse 
 young Aylia, and had claimed the girl as 
 her daughter-in-law elect. At the sight 
 of the beeves, and the fat rams, and the 
 trinkets, and the trumpery cloth, the sole 
 remaining eye of the old sheikh glistened 
 with a lustre that it had not known for 
 years ; but his haughty soul could ill brook 
 the thought of his daughter being wedded 
 to one whose father's death thus rested 
 unavenged. "Get thee hence, young 
 man," he exclaimed sternly, shaking his 
 silvered locks, after a short inward conflict 
 with his avarice — "get thee hence, nor 
 show thy face again within my doors as a 
 
 suitor, until thou hast appeased the spirit 
 of thy murdered sire. The blood of him 
 to whom thou art indebted for thy exist- 
 ence, crieth aloud for vengeance ; and 
 Wullahi, until the grave of Hassan shall 
 have been soaked by thy hands, thou shalt 
 not talk to Ali of his daughter." 
 
 Ambeesa sought not his dark mistress, 
 but snatching the spear and buckler which 
 had been carefully deposited in a corner 
 of the cabin, stalked forth without uttering 
 a syllable. Passing his own hut in mental 
 abstraction, he took the road to the brook, 
 and throwing himself upon his face, drew 
 a deep draught to allay the fever that con- 
 sumed him. Then whetting his brass- 
 mounted creese to the keenest edge upon 
 a smooth stone, he muttered a dreadful 
 oath betwixt his clenched teeth, and strode 
 moodily across the sandy plain. 
 
 The great annual fair had already as- 
 sembled at the sea-port of Berbera, and 
 tribes from all parts of the country were 
 flocking thither with their motley wares. 
 The curious stalls of the fat Banians from 
 India were thronged from morning until 
 night with barbarians from the adjacent 
 districts, who brought peltries and drugs 
 to be exchanged ; and the clamor of hag- 
 gling and barter was hourly increased, by 
 the arrival of some new caravan of toil- 
 worn peddlers from th$ more remote depths 
 of the interior, each la,den with an acces- 
 sion of rich merchandise, to be converted 
 into baubles and blue calico, at a clear net 
 profit to the specious Hindoo of two hun- 
 dred per cent. Myrrh, ivory, and gum- 
 arabic ; civet, frankincense, and ostrich- 
 feathers, were piled in every corner of his 
 booth ; and the tearing of ells of Nile stuff* 
 and Surat cloth, and the counting out of 
 porcelain beads, was incessant so long as 
 the daylight lasted. Withered beldames, 
 with cracked penny-trumpet voices, were 
 meanwhile actively employed in the erec- 
 tion of new edifices ; and more and more 
 camels were ever pouring toward the scene 
 of primitive commerce, loaded with the 
 long elastic ribs, and the coarse date mat- 
 ting, which form the skeleton and shell of 
 the nomade's wigwam. 
 
 It was dusk when Ambeesa entered the 
 long centre street of this busy scene. He 
 had journeyed many days, alone and on 
 foot, and his mantle, and his arms, and his 
 lofty brow were alike deeply stained with 
 the disguising dust of the desert. A gang 
 of Bones, with a stalking ostrich, driving 
 before them sundry asses laden with the 
 spoils of the chase, arrived at the same 
 moment from the opposite direction. Rude 
 parchment-covered quivers, well stocked 
 
90 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 with poisoned shafts, hung negligently by 
 their side, suspended by the tufted tail of 
 a lion ; and with their classic bows over 
 their wiry shoulders, the gipsy votaries of 
 Diana advanced, swearing and blasphem- 
 ing, toward the Eesah quarter of the strag- 
 gling encampment. 
 
 The light which gleamed through the 
 black goat-hair awning of a Gurague slave- 
 merchant, fell upon the features of the wild 
 party as it passed ; and Ambeesa's heart 
 beat high with exultation when, decorated 
 with a dirty ostrich plume, he fancied he 
 could recognize the very foe of whom he 
 was in search. The archer was, in truth, 
 a most truculent-looking knave — one who, 
 if his visage did not strangely belie him, 
 might have been the perpetrator of any 
 given atrocity. The tail-fat of four Ber- 
 bera rams incrusted his head in a perfect 
 helmet of tallow ; and the putrid entrails 
 of the antelope he had last slain, were 
 slung in noisome coils about his neck, to 
 the pollution of the atmosphere he breathed. 
 His repulsive front displayed, through the 
 accumulated filth of forty years, a perfect 
 maze of mystic figures in tattooed relief, 
 on which were imbedded amulets stitched 
 in greasy leather ; and the distended lobes 
 of his enormous ears were so loaded with 
 pewter rings, that not another could have 
 been squeezed in. A gap, consequent 
 upon the loss of five front teeth in a recent 
 brawl, made room for a quid of no ordinary 
 dimensions. Two small, sunken, blear 
 eyes, which appeared to work upon a 
 swivel, squinted alternately, as the in- 
 flamed balls were revealed by turns ac- 
 cording to the employment of the wearer's 
 sinister vision ; and on his meagre, sunken 
 cheek yawned a seam five inches in length, 
 which precisely corresponded with a gash 
 known to have been inflicted by the youth's 
 father during a certain moonless night at 
 Errur, when a stab in the back had aroused 
 the veteran from a deep sleep to his mortal 
 struggle. 
 
 " Stay you here, Moosa," quoth one of 
 the bowmen, addressing this captivating 
 hero, as they stopped before the doorway 
 of an unfinished cabin at no great distance 
 beyond the rover's pall — " tarry you here, 
 and Inshdllah, we'll turn out these lazy 
 wenches to unload the asses." 
 
 The name had not been lost upon Am- 
 beesa, who, like all of his bigot creed, placed 
 the firmest reliance in fate. He had sworn 
 never to return until he should have given 
 the body of Moosa to the wild beasts, where 
 the vultures might pick out his eyes. The 
 object of his weary journey was by the in- 
 terference of destiny in his favor, already 
 
 within his clutches. He who murdered his 
 sire was assuredly alone with him in a dark 
 lane, and Aylia was without doubt his own ! 
 " Wogerri maani, wogerri maani, ivo- 
 gerri maani" repeated the Woeman cold- 
 ly, as he extended his open hand toward 
 the doomed victim in token of amity. 
 " Wogerri, wogerri, wogerri," carelessly 
 returned the savage thus accosted, at the 
 same time passing his greasy fingers me- 
 chanically over the palm presented. The 
 same triple salutation again reiterated, was 
 thrice returned ; and it gradually dwindled 
 away to an assenting " um hum," in itself 
 fully as frigid as the wearisome repetitions 
 of inquiry had been deeply treacherous. 
 
 Moosa stooped to shake the pebbles from 
 his dilapidated sandal. His bare back was 
 toward the Woema, for his garment had 
 fallen from his brawny shoulder. It was 
 enough. Muttering through his closed 
 teeth an inaudible invocation to Allah, Am- 
 beesa suddenly drew his creese, plunged 
 the razor-edged blade to the very hilt into 
 the yielding spine of his unsuspecting foe, 
 tore the vaunting white feather from his 
 greasy locks, spurned the prostrate carcase 
 with his foot, spat upon the unseemly fea- 
 tures, now distorted into the agonies of 
 death, and fled into the wilderness. 
 
 Months had elapsed, and the festive sea- 
 son had now returned at which the Be- 
 douins annually celebrate their w T eddings. 
 Many a dark-eyed damsel had been led by 
 her happy swain to the nuptial wigwam, 
 when a gayer procession than usual was to 
 be seen passing up the centre street of the 
 encampment at Gaiel. Eig"ht wrinkled ma- 
 trons led, brandishing swords and creeses 
 with truly Amazonian gestures, w T hile they 
 danced to a wild song in which all joined 
 chorus to the dissonant thumping of a ket- 
 tle-drum. The charms of the maiden bride 
 who followed, and had been long betrothed, 
 were screened from vulgar gaze beneath a 
 canopy of blue calico, borne by a party of 
 the village belles, splendid with porcelain 
 jewelry and grease — their arms, like these 
 of the sister graces, entwining each other's 
 waists ; while every idle blackguard that 
 could be mustered, swelled the nuptial train. 
 At intervals, the music of the tambourine 
 gave place to a shrill vocal solo, when the 
 nymphs pirouetted in a mazy circle ; and 
 the procession, after thus parading through 
 the hamlet, was preceded on its return by 
 a party of dirty urchins, bearing the dower 
 in ornamented baskets woven of the wiry 
 leaf of the palm. Massive ear-rings of brass 
 and copper were among the treasures, and 
 the much prized, though far from becoming 
 
THE BRIDE A WIDOW. 
 
 91 
 
 coif of blue calico which forms the badge 
 of the wedded wife, had not been forgotten. 
 
 Aylia was still the fairest of all the 
 daughters of her tribe, and Ambeesa ever 
 the foremost when the spear was thrown 
 over the shoulder of the warrior. Happi- 
 ness and content reigned in the rude hut. 
 No harsh word had ruffled the existence of 
 the young pair, and the stranger never 
 passed the door without the ready draught 
 of milk being proffered, or the kind word 
 exchanged. But in accordance with the 
 barbarous usage of the Adel Bedouin, the 
 wife was to remain an inmate of her father's 
 dwelling, until she should have become the 
 mother of three children. 
 
 'T was midday in the sultry summer 
 months, and the fiery sun poured his fiercest 
 rays from his meridian throne. No human 
 eye was able to endure the broad glare that 
 pervaded the vast sandy plain of Errur, 
 which at intervals was scoured by towering 
 whirlwinds, imparting the aspect of a man- 
 ufacturing town with its huge steam-en- 
 gines at work. All animate nature shrank 
 under the scorching heat, which had even 
 curled the few scanty tufts of withered 
 vegetation. The stillness of death per- 
 vaded a desolate scene over which floated 
 the treacherous mirage. Not a creature 
 moved, and no sound was heard save the 
 roar of the angry whirlwind tearing every- 
 thing before it, as it swept in reckless wrath 
 across the encampment, eliciting while it 
 raged among the frail mat tenements of the 
 location — unroofing some and filling others 
 with dust and pebbles — a curse from the 
 drowsy savage whose rest it had disturbed. 
 
 Suddenly a shrill cry arose in the dis- 
 tance, the well-known tocsin for the as- 
 sembly of the men-at-arms. Electrical in 
 its effect, every slumberer started to his 
 feet, and each ,hut, which had for hours 
 been silent as the tomb, poured forth its 
 warrior, armed and ready for the fight. 
 On the verge of the plain was descried a 
 band of the Alia Galla driving off a troop 
 of camels, and with the points of their 
 spears goading the awkward animals to a 
 grotesque gallop. Their remoteness, and 
 the unnatural speed to which they had been 
 urged, imparted, through the medium of 
 the mirage, the appearance of dismem- 
 bered animals flying in portions through 
 the deceptive atmosphere. Now a head 
 attached to a long neck was separated from 
 the body, and elevated many feet above its 
 proper place ; and now animated legs of 
 exaggerated length could alone be perceiv- 
 ed fast flitting over the sultry desert. Un- 
 attached tails danced in the quivering va- 
 por, and the entire distance was alive with 
 
 fragments of men and dromedaries, which 
 seemed to have been hurled through the 
 air by the bursting of an exploded mine. 
 
 Galla and Woema, pursuer and pursued, 
 scoured for some hours over the sandy 
 waste ; and it was near sunset when the 
 pagan marauders were overtaken on the 
 confines of their own territories. A sharp 
 conflict ensued ; and two on each side hav- 
 ing fallen, the booty was retaken, and the 
 unbelievers put to flight by the sons of the 
 Faithful. 
 
 From the door of her father's wigwam, 
 Aylia watched with inward misgivings the 
 return of the victors ; and as she saw the 
 bodies of the fallen borne upon the shoul- 
 ders of their comrades, her young heart 
 throbbed audibly ; for her newly-wedded 
 husband was one of those who had gone 
 forth. As her straining gaze fell upon the 
 still gory corse of him she loved, a flood 
 of hot tears dimmed her lustrous eyes, and 
 uttering a piercing shriek, she sank sense- 
 less at the threshold. Roused again to 
 life, the bereaved girl filled the hut with 
 her doleful cries. Death would indeed 
 have been almost preferable to the lot ac- 
 corded by her destiny. The property 
 brought at his marriage by the deceased, 
 was resumed by his grasping relatives, and 
 the late light-hearted wife, became once 
 again a slave under the roof of her avari- 
 cious parent, there to lead a life of drudg- 
 ery until another wealthy suitor should pay 
 the dower fixed upon her charms. But 
 the light elastic step was gone, by which 
 Aylia had erst been distinguished above all 
 the Woema maidens. The full black orbs 
 had lost their wonted lustre, and the radi- 
 ant smile no longer beamed over her faded 
 features. The orphan pledge of her first 
 love clung to a widowed breast, and the 
 heart that beat beneath was broken by the 
 untimely fate of the brave youth Ambeesa. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 THE ONE-EYED FAMILY. HAO, AND FIRST 
 GLIMPSE OF THE HAWASH. 
 
 The Arab chieftain of the Foudthli, of 
 whom flying parties still infest the deserta 
 of Aden, is renowned for the possession 
 of two thumbs upon the dexter hand — a 
 proud distinction by which his ancestors 
 have been recognized from time immemo- 
 rial. Sheikh Oomer Buttoo ibn Ali, akil 
 of the Tukha'i'el, who occupy the country 
 from the oasis of Yoor Erai'n Maroo to 
 Hao, a few miles eastward of the Hawash, 
 
92 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 f lories in the loss of a sinister eye ; and 
 e is reputed to have forfeited it by an 
 hereditary visitation, which through every 
 generation has disfigured his ancestors in 
 like manner ; — no single head of the illus- 
 trious line having been known to possess 
 two eyes ! This venerable Polyphemus 
 visited the camp after 'dark, attended by 
 his hopeful son and heir, who has already 
 qualified for the succession ; and after re- 
 ceiving each a piece of blue calico in the 
 clandestine manner which these savages 
 prefer to a more orthodox public presenta- 
 tion, they slunk away, well satisfied with 
 their booty. 
 
 A group of slatternly females belonging 
 to the Ittoo Galla had sauntered carelessly 
 into camp with ox-hides for sale, and to- 
 bacco, the produce of their own high hills ; 
 and their abrupt departure as the evening 
 shades drew on had led to suspicions ane, nt 
 the object of their visit. At the going 
 down of the sun therefore a caution w r as 
 promulgated by the ras, enjoining a vigi- 
 lant look out for Galla and wild beasts ; 
 and his earnestness might almost have led 
 to the anticipation of a rush of wild eques- 
 trians through the encampment, or a charge 
 of hungry lions from the adjacent gloomy 
 thicket, before the termination of the first 
 watch. But the cry of " wolf!" had been 
 too often dinned into every ear ; and al- 
 though both elders and escort had sworn 
 that this night at least should be one of 
 wakefulness, no surprise was elicited by 
 the disappearance of their bushy heads, 
 one after another, beneath the mats — an 
 example which was speedily followed by 
 all the Europeans off duty, as the rain be- 
 gan again to tumble in torrents, 
 
 " Et veterem in limo rante cecinere querelam." 
 
 The fear of attracting the " Buddoo," as 
 the much-dreaded marauders of every class 
 were gencrically designated, still invaria- 
 bly brought an order which there was no 
 gainsaying, to strike and pack the tent be- 
 fore sunset, however threatening the as- 
 pect of the weather. But the despotism 
 of the ras was light in comparison with the 
 tyranny exercised by his unaccommoda- 
 ting train. At whatever hour of the night 
 the arbitrary mandate to load might be pro- 
 mulgated, it was required that the bedding 
 of the whole party should forthwith be de- 
 livered at the quarters of the arrogant dri- 
 ver to whom it pertained, since he declin- 
 ed making his camel walk to the spot. 
 Moreover, the delay of a few minutes was 
 sufficient to condemn it to be left on the 
 ground, notwithstanding that preparations 
 have often occupied two hours, whieh might 
 
 as well have been devoted to rest ; and 
 this wanton curtailment of sleep was 
 doubly felt after the heavy nocturnal duty 
 that devolved upon all. 
 
 The route on the 9th led across the flat 
 of Halikdiggi Kabir, a continuation of the 
 Moolu plain, extending from the Azboti 
 and Ittoo ranges to the mountains Aiulloo 
 and Abida. Twelve miles in breadth, it 
 presents one monotonous alluvial level, 
 treeless, but thickly covered with grass, 
 interspersed with dwarf shrubs, and en- 
 livened by herds of the elegant w/iorr, 
 among which the secretary-bird occasion- 
 ally strutted in native dignity. Baezas 
 and zebras, too, were decried on the hills 
 which bound the flat ; and a luckless leop- 
 ard being detected in the act of stealing 
 across the expanse, the savage group pur- 
 sued like demons from every quarter, and 
 having presently hooted and hunted the 
 terrified animal into a bush, transfixed his 
 carcass incontinently with thirty spears. 
 
 The whole landscape was alive during 
 this animated scene which scarcely occu- 
 pied a minute ; and in due process of time 
 the panting warriors rejoined the caravan, 
 their necks, spears, and shields adorned 
 with strips of the victim's tail, while he 
 who by dint of superior wind and fleet- 
 ness had drawn the first blood, was by his 
 comrades publicly invested with the spot- 
 ted spoils that he had won. The appear- 
 ance of the party on their return, accom- 
 panied by a stray horseman who had for- 
 tuitously joined in the chase, gave birth in 
 the bosom of the ras to an apprehension 
 that the Ittoo Galla were descending upon 
 the caravan. The ranks were accordingly 
 closed, and the Europeans again took post 
 on the flank to be assailed, until a nearer 
 approach revealed in the savage band the 
 features of friends. 
 
 A descent of thirty feet over a narrow 
 tongue of land, led into the valley of Halik- 
 diggi Zughir, styled by the AdaVel the 
 Great Hawash — its breadth being about 
 two and a half mile?, and the bed a perfect 
 level, covered with fine grass, on which 
 grazed a troop of wild asses. Bounded 
 throughout the serpentine progress by par- 
 allel banks of corresponding height and 
 appearance, the hollow would seem to ex- 
 tend from the mountains of the Ittoo Galla 
 north to the Aiulloo volcano. It wears the 
 aspect of having been once the channel of 
 a considerable stream — that of the Ha- 
 wash perhaps, which river may not impro- 
 bably have been diverted into its present 
 course at the period when the extensive 
 volcanic tract around Mount Abida was in 
 a state of activity, and when subterranean 
 
THE MYRRH TREE— 3ATA MOHAMMAD. 
 
 93 
 
 influence must have caused extraordinary 
 revolutions in the entire aspect of the 
 country. 
 
 Here occurred the last specimen seen of 
 the kurbeta, the myrrh-bearing tree * of 
 which two varieties are found abundantly 
 over all the barren hill sides, from the 
 Doomi valley to the borders of the Hawash. 
 That producing the better description of 
 the gum resin, is a dwarf shrub, with deeply 
 serrated crisp leaves of a dull green ; where- 
 as the other, yielding a substance more 
 like balm than myrrh, attains a height of 
 ten feet, and has bright shining leaves. 
 From any bruise or incision inflicted, the 
 " hofali " flows copiously in the form of a 
 milkyjuice, possessing a perceptible acidity, 
 which either evaporates or becomes chem- 
 ically changed when the gum forms. Left 
 ungathered, it becomes hard with the loss 
 of the volatile oil, and thus crumbles away ; 
 but if the vrouad be cleared frequently, a 
 very large quantity may be collected du- 
 ring the seasons, which occur in January 
 when the buds appear after the first rain, 
 and again when the seeds are ripe, in 
 March. 
 
 Three ounces of the finest myrrh and 
 nne of dross, may thus be obtained during 
 the year, and the secreting vessels lying 
 immediately under the epidermis, a very 
 slight bend in a branch makes it flow freely. 
 The wandering shepherds either tear off 
 one of the lower limbs, or so bruise the 
 stem with a heavy stone as to retard the 
 growth of the tree ; but every new sprout is 
 spontaneously covered with gum, although 
 in a somewhat more fluid state. Repeated 
 injuries in the same spot lead to the forma- 
 tion of an ever-filling cavity, and 
 
 "The mirrhe sweete bleeding in the bitter wounde," 
 
 is transferred by each passer-by to the hol- 
 low boss of his shield, to be exchanged for 
 a handful of tobacco with the next slave- 
 dealer met on the caravan road. But the 
 Danakil are not altogether ignorant of the 
 virtues of the drug, and invariably recom- 
 mended it for those horses that were una- 
 ble to proceed from heat and exhaustion. 
 It has been seen that from Yoor Erain 
 Maroo, an accession to the escort was re- 
 ceived in the person of the hopeful son of 
 Datah Mohammad, co-chief of the Sidi 
 Habroo. This insatiable vagabond, a wor- 
 thy scion of his stock, had received from 
 the hand of Nature an aspect that could 
 only have belonged to a finished cut-throat. 
 Deeply scarred' with the small-pox, his 
 bloated half-shaven muzzle peered through 
 
 * Balsamodendron Myrrha.J 
 
 a tangled web of grease-clotted hair, like 
 a drowsy owl out of an ivy bush. He pre- 
 sented a truly striking picture of man in 
 the natural state. Although never without 
 a new quid in his mouth, and another half 
 masticated behind either ear, he passed 
 hours of each day in importuning for more 
 " timboo" of which he was the most pas- 
 sionate admirer ; and it was his undeviat- 
 ing rule never to pass a white face without 
 repeating in an authoritative tone the tri- 
 syllable " Irreboot" in token of his deter- 
 mination to add still farther to his stock in 
 hand of yarn-needles, which already out- 
 numbered the quills of the porcupine. 
 
 Firmly persuaded that every mule with 
 the party had been purchased for his espe- 
 cial riding, and equally convinced that his 
 presence was indispensable to the general 
 safety, he appropriated the very first that 
 came within his reach, changing it as often 
 as he thought proper, and never leaving it 
 without a galled back. If not a professor 
 of equitation, he was at all events devoted 
 to the science, and it was with a fiendish 
 scowl indeed, that while crossing Halik- 
 diggi Zughir, he received an order to dis- 
 mount from a steed which he had selected 
 out of the drove for the purpose of riding 
 down an oryx. " Tuwwaddee /" " attend," 
 he mumbled sulkily as he thrust away the 
 animal with the butt of his spear — " Tuw- 
 waddee ! I am a great man's son, and have 
 no intention of walking. If I am not to 
 have a horse, you may even settle as best 
 you can with my father's Bedouins." 
 
 Mules, horses, and camels, in considera- 
 ble numbers, were abandoned before the 
 termination of this tedious and sultry march 
 — fatigue, want of water, and a lack of 
 forage, having reduced all to such positive 
 skeletons that they walked with difficulty. 
 Ascending three successive terraces, each 
 of fifty feet elevation, the road finally wound 
 into the confined and waterless valley of 
 Hao, famous for the number of parties that 
 have at various times been surprised and 
 cut up by the neighboring Galla — 
 
 " For, with hot rapine fir'd, ensanguin'd man 
 Is here become the lion of the plain 
 And worse." 
 
 Not a month had elapsed since three 
 ill-starred individuals of a Tajura caravan, 
 impatient to satisfy burning thirst, hurry- 
 ing in advance of the main body, were cut 
 off by a band of Galla horsemen, who had 
 lain concealed behind the rocks immediate- 
 ly above the present encamping ground, 
 and who, after mutilating the bodies, bore 
 off their barbarous trophies in triumph. 
 The dale hard by had only two nights pre- 
 
94 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 viously to the arrival of the present party, 
 formed the scene of a skirmish between 
 the Ittoo and the inhabitants of the plain, 
 when the bodies of twenty of the former 
 and nine of the latter were left to the vul- 
 tures and hyenas. Every hill and valley 
 in this direction could, in fact, tell its in- 
 dividual tale of bloodshed and slaughter. 
 The wild barbarians keep a constant look 
 out to pounce upon any wanderers weak- 
 er than themselves, and few are the na- 
 tives to be seen who bear not on their per- 
 sons some indelible mark of hand to hand 
 combat. 
 
 Fatigued by the long march, the Dana- 
 kil were all fast asleep within their tem- 
 porary sheds, a few of the drivers excepted, 
 who tended their browsing camels among 
 the adjacent thorns. In an instant the 
 whole valley rang with the cry to assem- 
 ble at arms, and inconceivable was the 
 confusion that ensued. Many of the es- 
 cort, only half awake, in rushing forth over- 
 threw portions of their dens upon others 
 who were still inside. Warrior clashed 
 against warrior, shield against shield. The 
 rocky hill-side was presently a living mass 
 of half-clad savages, panting up the steep 
 acclivity, when a few Galla scouts, whose 
 sudden appearance on the plain had caused 
 the alarm, were perceived mounting their 
 steeds ; and, understanding themselves to 
 be the objects of these warlike preparations, 
 they precipitately sped their way. 
 
 From the summit of the height was ob- 
 tained an exhilarating prospect over the 
 dark lone valley of the long-looked-for Ha- 
 wash. The- -course of the shining river 
 was marked by a dense belt of trees and 
 verdure, which stretches toward the base 
 of the great mountain range, whereof the 
 cloud-capped cone that frowns over the 
 capital of Shoa forms the most conspicu- 
 ous feature. Although still far distant, 
 the ultimate destination of the embassy 
 seemed almost to have been gained ; and 
 none had an idea of the length of time 
 that must elapse ere his foot should press 
 the soil of Ankober. A day of intense heat 
 was as usual followed by a heavy fall of 
 rain, which, owing to the unaccommodating 
 arrangement again peremptorily exacted, 
 of striking the tent at sunset, thoroughly 
 drenched the whole party ; but before final- 
 ly drawing the mat over his sleepy head, 
 the ras el kafilah mounted a cone which 
 stood in the centre of the compact circle, 
 and proclaimed, in a loud voice to all, a 
 night of light sleep and watchfulness. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 PASSAGE OF THE HAW ASH. 
 
 Numerous were the apprehensions now 
 in agitation relative to the state of the 
 formidable river in advance, whose shallow 
 stream, so easily forded during the season 
 of drought, was not unreasonably conjec- 
 tured to be swollen by the recent rains. 
 Second of the rivers of Abyssinia, and ri- 
 sing in the very heart of Ethiopia, at an 
 elevation of eight thousand feet above the 
 sea, which it never reaches, the Hawash 
 is fed at long intervals by niggard tribu- 
 taries from the high bulwarks of Shoa and\ 
 Efat, and flows like a great artery through 
 the arid and inhospitable plains of the 
 Adaiel, green and wooded throughout its 
 long course, until finally absorbed in the | 
 lagoons at Aussa ; and the canopy of 
 fleecy clouds, which, as the day dawned, 
 hung thick and heavy over the lofty blue 
 peaks beyond, gave sad presage of the 
 deluge that was pouring between the ver- 
 dant banks from the higher regions of its 
 source. 
 
 Passing along the face of the murderous 
 hill, which is of wacke formation, the 
 road descended by several sloping terraces, 
 to the level valley through which the river 
 winds. At first thinly wooded, the soil 
 was covered with tall rank grass, which, 
 in consequence of the perpetual incursions 
 of the Galla, grew in all its native luxu- 
 riance, uncropped whether by flock or herd. 
 But as the path wound on, gum-bearing 
 acacias and other forest trees increased 
 both in size and number— the jungle and 
 undergrowth, teeming with guinea-fowl, 
 which rose clamorously at every step, 
 waxed thicker and thicker — groves of 
 waving tamarisk, ringing to the voice of the 
 bell-bird, flanked every open glade, where- 
 on lay traces of recent inundation : and 
 the noble trees which towered above them 
 from the banks of the Hawash, gave evi- 
 dence in their shattered branches of the 
 most ponderous of terrestrial mammalia. 
 
 Vegetation having here assumed a lux- 
 uriance known to none of the joyless and 
 unproductive regions hitherto traversed, it 
 is with some difficulty that the pilgrim, 
 anxious to behold the rare phenomenon of 
 a running stream, forces his way through 
 the dense thickets, which, until the foot 
 touches the very brink of the precipitous 
 bank, so completely screen the silent river 
 from view, that its very existence might 
 almost be questioned. But after a perse- 
 vering struggle, farther progress was at 
 length arrested by a deep volume of tux- 
 
THE HAW ASH— FLYING BRIDGE. 
 
 95 
 
 bid water, covered with drift-wood, which 
 rolled at the rate of some three miles an 
 hour, between steep clayey walls twenty- 
 five feet in height, bounding a mere break 
 through the mud and sand. The breadth 
 of the channel fell short of sixty yards, 
 and the flood was not yet at its maximum ; 
 but its depth and violence, added to the 
 broad belt of tamarisk and acacia, inter- 
 laced by large creepers and parasites, which 
 hems in both sides, promised to offer much 
 difficulty and delay in the coming passage. 
 Pensive willows that drooped mournfully 
 over the troubled current, were festooned 
 with recent drift, hanging many feet above 
 the level of the abrupt banks ; and this 
 appearance, no less than the rubbish scat- 
 tered over the borders, fully proved the 
 assertion of the natives that the water had 
 recently been out, to the overflowing of 
 the adjacent flat country for many miles. 
 
 The Ha wash, here upward of two thou- 
 sand two hundred feet above the ocean, 
 farms in this direction the nominal boun- 
 dary of the dominions of the King of 
 Shoa. Izhak was therefore strongly urg- 
 ed to dispatch a courier in advance, who 
 might apprise his majesty of the near ap- 
 proach of the British embassy. But from 
 some latent and sinister motive of his 
 own, the proposal was again negatived, ag 
 it had before frequently been, upon the 
 grounds of the dangers to be apprehended 
 on the road. These, according to his 
 showing, rendered it impossible for a sin- 
 gle messenger to venture on so rash an 
 undertaking, notwithstanding that Ahmed 
 Mohammad, the Dankali who had been 
 the bearer of the letter dispatched to Shoa 
 from Tanjiira, and who was still with the 
 caravan, had so recently passed twice in 
 Bafety over this identical route. 
 
 As a measure of precaution against in- 
 undation, the camp was formed upon the 
 summit of a small stony eminence, con- 
 siderably above high-water mark ; and 
 several armed Bedouins were presently 
 lounging and prying about the tent, to the 
 great annoyance and discomfiture of the 
 
 ras el kafilah. 
 
 ^hose fellows call them- 
 
 selves Debeni," he remarked, " and will 
 not commit murder wantonly ; but the 
 villains are thieves in grain, and will steal 
 whatsoever they can lay their hands upon. 
 They have no business here." 
 
 Many energetic remonstrances touching 
 the impropriety of the obtrusion, produced 
 not the smallest effect upon these obstinate 
 savages ; and finding that they continued 
 to laugh him to scorn, and to set his 
 boasted authority at defiance, the old man 
 finally requested that a musket might be 
 
 fired over their heads — a measure which 
 quickly brought about the desired decamp- 
 ment. The smell of gunpowder is intol- 
 erable to every Dankali. The bravest of 
 the brave slide off with a growl and a 
 sulky look, if a gun be but touched in 
 their presence ; and an unexpected dis- 
 charge, as on this occasion, when a knot* 
 has collected, causes every man to start 
 upon his feet, and, with a muttered curse, 
 to bring his spear to the rest. 
 
 The residue of the day was devoted by 
 the camel-drivers to the preparation of 
 rafts for the transport of the baggage, and 
 the working-party was still at the river, 
 when the Adai'el conch sounded to arms, 
 and the shrill war-whoop again summoned 
 all to the rescue. Great was the confu- 
 sion that ensued, and light-footed warriors 
 were to be seen scampering down every 
 avenue, armed with spear and shield ; but 
 the cry proved to have been raised in con- 
 sequence of a disaster that had befallen 
 one of the camels. Too lazy to loosen 
 the cord which fettered the fore-legs of 
 the animal, the stupid owner had driven 
 it, thus crippled, down the steep slippery 
 bank to the water's edge, when, as might 
 have been anticipated, it was swept away 
 by the strong current, without being able 
 to make one struggle for extrication. 
 
 At sundown the caravan was closely 
 packed within a stout thorn-fence, serving 
 as a partial protection against the wild 
 beasts and plunderers with which the 
 dense thicket is infested — its endless 
 depths being so entangled and interwoven 
 that no eye could penetrate the gloom. 
 The moonless night was passed in ex- 
 treme discomfort, owing to a deluge of 
 rain which commenced early, and fell in- 
 cessantly for many hours. Deafening 
 thunder pealed in startling claps overhead, 
 and broad sheets of fire, lighting up the 
 entire face of the landscape at short inter- 
 vals, for a moment only disclosed the sav- 
 age loneliness of the wild spot, which was 
 the next instant shrouded in pitchy dark- 
 ness. 
 
 With the dawning day, preparations 
 were made for crossing the river on ten 
 frail rafts which had already been launch- 
 ed — transverse layers of drift-wood rudely 
 lashed together, being rendered sufficiently 
 buoyant, by the addition of numerous in- 
 flated hides and water-skins, to support 
 two camel loads. The sharp creeses of 
 the Danakil had removed many of the 
 overtopping boughs, interlaced with creep- 
 ers, which impeded transit toward the 
 point selected for the passage, and in the 
 course of a few hours every portion of the 
 
96 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 baggage had been deposited at the water's 
 edge. 
 
 Casting off his garments, Mohammad 
 Ali, always the foremost in cases of diffi- 
 culty and danger, now seized the end of a 
 rope betwixt his teeth, and, plunging into 
 the river, swam with it to the opposite 
 bank, where it was belayed, upon the prin- 
 ciple of the flying bridge, to an overhang- 
 ing willow — a guy which connected it 
 with each raft serving to counteract the 
 violence of the stream, which, in spite of 
 the heavy rain, had fallen upward of a 
 foot during the night. Raiment was now 
 discarded by every Dankali, and the work 
 commenced in right earnest ; but difficult 
 and laborious indeed was the task before 
 them. The water trickled over their 
 greasy limbs until a late hour of the even- 
 ing, and the utmost exertions only suc- 
 ceeded in accomplishing the transfer of 
 the endless train to the western bank be- 
 fore nightfall, with the loss of three beasts 
 of burden drowned, and sundry firelocks 
 sunk to the bottom. 
 
 This latter disaster arose from the spon- 
 taneous going to pieces of one of the rude- 
 ly-lashed rafts, when one of the clumsy 
 followers became entangled in the wreck, 
 and but for the exertions of the son of Ali 
 Abi would inevitably have been lost. The 
 fair Hasseinee was among those who were 
 thus cast away in the middle of the deep 
 waters ; but hers was not the person to 
 sink, and floating like a Naiad on the sur- 
 face, with long raven locks streaming over 
 her fat shoulders, the nymph appeared to 
 be in her native element, and was soon 
 shaking her wet petticoat on the opposite 
 shore. 
 
 The baggage being of necessity divided, 
 and the whole of the native escort as well 
 as the camel-drivers employed in loading 
 and navigating the rafts, it was deemed 
 prudent, in addition to an ostentatious dis- 
 play of rifles on both sides, to make liberal 
 disbursements of blue calico, in order to 
 purchase the neutrality of the Bedouins, 
 who infest the borders of the river. On 
 the division of the party, some of the Adaiel 
 females being separated from their lords, a 
 characteristic trait of Ibrahim Shehem Abli 
 was elicited by the proposal for solution of 
 the old riddle of the three jealous husbands, 
 with their wives, who found on the banks 
 of a rapid stream which they were desirous 
 of crossing, a boat that would contain only 
 three persons, whereas each telt unwilling 
 to abandon his fair partner to the mercy of 
 the other. After puzzling for some time, 
 without being able to arrange the transit 
 in a satisfactory manner, "Murhabba!'' he 
 
 exclaimed ; " had I been one of the same 
 party, I should soon have settled the diffi- 
 culty by cutting the throats of the two jeal- 
 ous rascals, and taking all their women to 
 myself." 
 
 The stream of the Ha wash being ex- 
 ceedingly thick and troubled, from the dis- 
 tance it had rolled betwixt clayey banks, it 
 was with much satisfaction that a pond ot 
 wholesome water, styled Dubbtlli, was dis- 
 covered, divided from the river by a narrow 
 wooded neck of land, one hundred and fifty 
 yards across. Steep shelving walls strewed 
 with shells and the reliquiae of hippopotami, 
 environed this singular basin, which ap- 
 peared to be fathomless, and to measure a 
 mile and a half in circumference. Lofty 
 trees, in a wintry dress, cast their deep 
 shadow over the brink ; and while the 
 stems of many were partially immersed, the 
 leafless branches of some were loaded with 
 storks' nests, and the shattered limbs of 
 others presented tokens of the giant strength 
 of the elephant, no less than of the terrible 
 wrath of lightning and storm. 
 
 Corresponding tongues abutting from the 
 opposite banks, divide the expanse into two 
 equal bays. A group of wild Bedouins 
 watered their camels on the shore, and in 
 the centre Behemoth rolled his unwieldy 
 carcass to the surface amid floating croco- 
 diles — protruding his droll snout, which 
 glistened in slimy ugliness, to blow ever 
 and anon a snort that might be heard at the 
 distance of a mile. A two-ounce ball, duly 
 hardened with antimony, took effect in the 
 skull of one of the boldest with a crash that 
 was not to be mistaken ; but although the 
 monster went down, leaving a gallon of 
 blood to denote the disaster that had befal- 
 len him, he had temporarily disappeared j 
 and by the incredulous Daiiakil the assu- 
 rance was received with a sneering shake 
 of the head, that his carcass must infallibly 
 be found floating in the morning. 
 
 Much difficulty had been experienced in 
 bringing the horses and mules across the 
 river, and one obstinate donkey, but too 
 well aware of its inability to swim, having 
 pointedly refused to take the water, was 
 towed over by main strength at the end of 
 a rope. Inflated skins kept the animal 
 afloat ; but the stubborn head sinking be- 
 low the surface, the poor beast landed with 
 sides distended almost to bursting by too 
 copious draughts of muddy water. His 
 master, an aged washerman from Hindos- 
 tan, loving Neddy as the apple of his eye, 
 in the simplicity of his old heart, adopted 
 the prescription of some wag who had fa- 
 cetiously recommended suspension by the 
 heels, in order to try the ancient discipline 
 
THE DEAD HIPPOPOTAMUS. 
 
 97 
 
 of the Humane Society for the recovery of 
 drowned mortals. A fit of apoplexy was 
 the result, and the donkey expired under 
 the lancet. 
 
 Followed by the lamentations of the dis- 
 consolate owner, the carcass was dragged 
 some twenty yards beyond the limits of the 
 encamping ground ; and no sooner had the 
 dark night thrown a shroud over it, than 
 the foul scavengers of the forest assembled 
 in numbers round the prey, and regardless 
 of a blazing watch-fire that had been kin- 
 dled to avert the visits of the monarch of 
 the wilderness, commenced their revels 
 with the demoniacal laugh indicative of a 
 right happy mood. While the rain de- 
 scended in pitiless torrents, a continual 
 chuckle of the highest merriment, which 
 ran through all the various notes of a clear 
 throat, resounded afar amid the crunching 
 of bones and munching of flesh — a deeper 
 growl from some larger beast of prey, now 
 and then varying the infernal harmony, to 
 be followed by another ringing laugh as of 
 a whole legion of devils. Vivid flashes of 
 lightning played over the scene of this mid- 
 night carnival ; the violent snapping of 
 branches in the adjacent forest proclaimed 
 the nocturnal foray of the elephant and 
 hippopotamus ; the loud roar and the start- 
 ling snort were neither wanting to com- 
 plete the concert of the wild Hawash ; and 
 long ere the morning dawned, the place of 
 the carcass knew it not, every vestige, even 
 to the skull, having found a sepulchre in 
 the maw of "the laughing hyena." 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 WADY AZBOTI. ARRIVAL OF A SPY FROM 
 THE ABYSSINIAN MOUNTAINS. 
 
 " The robi is not dead," was the first 
 falsehood that greeted the ear when day- 
 light had returned. To have told the truth 
 on this occasion, must have redounded to 
 the personal advantage of the informant, 
 but he had nobly upheld the national char- 
 acter at the sacrifice of a handful of his 
 much-loved tobacco. Repairing to the 
 margin of the lake, the freckled pink sides 
 of a defunct hippopotamus were to be seen 
 high above the surface, as the distended 
 carcass floated like a monstrous buoy at 
 anchor. It had become entangled among 
 the tall tamarisks that rose through the 
 shallow water near the brink, but hawsers 
 were carried out with all diligence, and 
 with the aid of the rudder-like tail, the 
 colossus was towed to shore, and landed 
 
 among the mud, under the acclamations 
 of the assembled caravan. 
 
 " Where the carcass is, there shall the 
 eagles be gathered together." A formi- 
 dable band of " Bones" were already squat- 
 ted at a respectful distance, to watch the 
 progress of events, and no sooner had the 
 teeth been hewn out than they laid aside 
 their bows and quivers, and having stripped 
 the thick hide from off the ribs, attacked 
 the mountain of flesh with the vigor of a 
 South African horde. Donkeys and wo- 
 men were laden with incredible dispatch, 
 and staggering under huge flaps of meat, 
 the archers had soon left the scene of 
 operations. Two reservoirs, each lying 
 at the distance of a musket-shot, had 
 meanwhile been visited — the one a sul- 
 phuric basin of considerable extent, the 
 other a vast sheet of water, embosomed in 
 trees, dotted over with wood-clothed islets, 
 and teeming with hippopotami. But this 
 was neutral ground ; and the fears of the 
 Danakil conjuring into existence a host 
 of lurking foes, the period allowed for in- 
 vestigation was brief. 
 
 Bidding adieu with light hearts to the 
 muddy Hawash, the party resumed its 
 march so soon as the camel furniture had 
 become sufficiently dry ; and skirting- 
 the Dubbelli Lake, from the waters of 
 which Behemoth blew a parting salute, 
 passed the Bedouin hamlet of Muiku-kuyu 
 in the Dofah district, to a fourth pond 
 bearing the euphonous title of Ailabello. 
 Prettily situated in a secluded green hol- 
 low, and presenting about the same cir- 
 cumference as its neighbor, below which 
 it is considerably depressed, this pool re- 
 sembles a circular walled cistern, and is 
 obviously the basin of an old crater. Its 
 waters, alkaline, bitter, and strongly sul- 
 phureous, even to the smell, receive con- 
 stant accessions from a hot mineral well 
 at the brink, and possessing the singular 
 detergent property of bleaching the filthiest 
 cloth, many of the Dauakil were, for once, 
 to be seen in flaunting white togas. 
 Thence the road lay over a grassy plain, 
 covered with volcanic sand and ashes, and 
 shut in by cones of trivial altitude, forming 
 another field of extinct craters, many very 
 perfect, and each environed by its indi- 
 vidual zone ; — while the circumjacent 
 country, embracing a diameter of eight 
 miles, exhibited through the superincum- 
 bent soil, tracts of jet-black lava. 
 
 Apprehensions being entertained of the 
 non-existence of pools at the station suited 
 for the encampment, still some miles in 
 advance, a detour was made from the 
 main road to Le Ado, " the White Water** 
 
98 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 a very extensive lake, at. which the skins 
 were replenished and the thirst of the 
 animals slaked. A belt of high acacia 
 jungle embosomed this noble expanse, 
 which exceeded two miles in diameter, 
 the glassy surface in parts verdant with 
 sheets of the lotus in full flower, and liter- 
 ally covered with aquatic fowls. Geese, 
 mallard, whistling teal, herons, and flamin- 
 goes, with a new species of the parra, 
 were screaming in all directions, as they 
 winged their flight from the point invaded, 
 where a party of Bedouin shepherdesses 
 deposed to having seen a troop of elephants 
 bathing not half an hour before — the nu- 
 merous prints of their colossal feet re- 
 maining in testimony, sunk fresh and 
 heavy on the moist sands. 
 
 Prior to crossing the Ha wash, the only 
 sheep observed were the ovis aries lati- 
 caudala, or Hejaz lamb, with sable head 
 and neck, thick fatty tail, and fleece com- 
 posed of hair instead of wool. This species 
 had now, to the westward of the river, 
 given place to the larger Abyssinian breed, 
 with huge pendulous appendages of truly 
 preposterous size, encumbered with fat, 
 and vibrating to the animal's progress. 
 Parti-colored goats, armed with long 
 wrinkled horns, still diversified the flocks, 
 which were uniformly attended by small 
 dogs with fox-like heads, spotted yellow 
 and white, and evidently high in favor 
 with their dark mistresses. 
 
 Several of these females wore around 
 the neck large tinkling brazen bells, bor- 
 rowed from the collar of an Abyssinian 
 mule, and forming a very suitable accom- 
 paniment to the massive fabrications of 
 pewter and copper which loaded their ears. 
 Their long black tresses were braided into 
 an infinity of streamers, each resembling 
 the lash of a schoolboy's whip, and various 
 most ingenious tattooed devices scarred 
 their arms, temples, and bosoms. By the 
 beaux of the caravan, unqualified homage 
 was paid to certain coquettes, who carried 
 milk-jars curiously wrought of palm-leaves, 
 and studded with manifold cowrie shells. 
 To the backs of sundry weird harridans 
 were strapped skins containing sour curds, 
 which attracted flies in the tens of millions 
 usually seen around the molasses at a 
 Banian's stall. No attempt was made to 
 disturb those that clustered in their blear- 
 inflamed eyes ; and the swarms collected 
 about the wrinkled corners of the mouth, 
 •were only put to flight when the hand was 
 applied to second the wonted exclamation 
 •of surprise at the appearance of a white 
 face, " Nubbee Mohammadoo!" 
 
 Numerous wigwams peeped through the 
 
 extensive forest of aged camel-thorns, 
 which borders on Le Ado, and eventually 
 debouches upon a succession of barren 
 plains, covered with herds of antelope. 
 Two rough stone inclosures by the way- 
 side were surmounted by poles, from which 
 dangled the heads of as many lions, dilapi- 
 dated by time, although still enveloped in 
 the skin ; and said to have been speared 
 on this spot, many years before by the 
 Bedouins, who exalted these trophies in 
 commemoration of the deed. 
 
 Immediately beyond this point lay the 
 encamping ground at Wady Azboti, where 
 numerous shallow pools had been filled by 
 the recent rain, but where the ill-starred 
 cattle were compelled to content them- 
 selves with water only, not a vestige of 
 grass or green herb remaining in the 
 vicinity. It had, in fact, now become a 
 proverb, that these two essential materials 
 to existence could never be found in the 
 Adel wilderness in one and the same place. 
 Vast flights of locusts, which had assisted 
 to lay the country bare, still carrying deso- 
 lation in their progress, were shaping their 
 destructive course toward Abyssinia. They 
 quite darkened the air at the moment that 
 the caravan halted ; and a host of vora- 
 cious adjutants wheeled high above the 
 dense cloud, at one moment bursting with 
 meteor-like velocity through the serried 
 phalanx, and at the next stalking over the 
 field to fill their capacious maws with the 
 victims which their long scythe-fashioned 
 pinions had swept incontinently from the 
 sky. 
 
 The groves around Azboti afforded a 
 welcome supply of bustard, partridges, and 
 guinea-fowl, together with mhorr, and pig- 
 my antelope ; and on the return of the 
 heavily-loaded Nimrods to the tent, infinite 
 diversion was found in the horror depicted 
 on the physiognomy of the warlike leader 
 of the Hy Somauli band, whose old-fash- 
 ioned bob wig, quaint gait, and antiquated 
 comicalities, had justly invested him with 
 the sobriquet of " Doctor Syntax." The 
 professor of natural history was as usual 
 busily engaged in the preparation of cabi- 
 net specimens, when the old oddity advan- 
 ced to see what was going on ; and as the 
 bodies of beetles and locusts were subject- 
 ed to the process of toasting over the fire, 
 his droll features were distorted by lines, 
 which revealed plainly enough an inward 
 conviction entertained, that the operation 
 was none other than culinary, and that the 
 hideous insects were to be eaten. 
 
 But the war-whoop, without which few 
 days ever drew to a close, had aroused the 
 doctor from his cogitations ; and at the 
 
ADEL WAR-DANCE— TORNADO. 
 
 99 
 
 head of his men, he was presently in hot 
 pursuit of a band of ruffians, who had 
 cleverly contrived to drive off a camel per- 
 taining to the kafiiah. Returning with the 
 booty after a long chase, the exploit was 
 celebrated by the war-dance, which for an 
 hour kept the camp in a fierce uproar. 
 Formed in a circle, the excited warriors 
 crouched low to the ground, as they stamp- 
 ed vis-a-vis, and howled with the utmost 
 fury. Then rising with one accord, they 
 brandished their spears aloft, and vaulted 
 franticly in the air, through a maze of in- 
 tricate figures. Next arrayed in line, a 
 brave sprung ever and anon to the front, 
 and striding up and down with mincing 
 gait, went through some strange gesticu- 
 lations and contortions, as he recited the 
 prowess of the clan, and urged it to future 
 deeds of valor — the clash of spear and 
 shield responding at every pause, while the 
 wild chorus pealed along the ranks. Con- 
 fusion now ensued : the band was engaged 
 in a pantomimic conflict. Savage after 
 savage, rolling his eyeballs, sprang, pan- 
 ther-like, across the loins of his nearest 
 neighbor, ani" clinging fast with his heels, 
 tightly clasped his erect opponent with the 
 muscles of his legs. Creeses flashed 
 brightly in the air ; mock wounds were 
 inflicted, and the form of dividing the 
 windpipe having been duly gone through, 
 long and loud arose, with the renewed 
 dance, triumphant strains of " Awey bi- 
 rooah ! awey birooah /" " I have slain my 
 foe ! I have slain my foe !" 
 
 Toward the close of the day, which was 
 hot and muggy under the steam that arose 
 from the saturated soil, a Bedouin rode 
 consequentially into the camp ; and, after 
 making his observations, departed even as 
 he had come, without deigning an expla- 
 nation of any sort. Attention was particu- 
 larly attracted to this prying stranger, from 
 the circumstance of his gray steed being 
 branded on flank and wither with the 
 Ethiopian sign of the cross. Delivering 
 no message, although he was conjectured 
 to be a retainer of Wulasma Mohammad, 
 the abogaz or cusios of the frontier of 
 EfAt, whose post was now not distant more 
 than twenty miles, the mysterious de- 
 meanor of this spy did not fail to strength- 
 en a report, which had long been in circu- 
 lation among the mischievous Danakil, that 
 at the court of Shoa, the British were far 
 from being regarded in the light of wel- 
 come visitors ; and further, that an armed 
 f>arty was in readiness to oppose entrance 
 nto the kingdom — a rumor which, how- 
 ever improbable, was unfortunately further 
 supported by the extraordinary and unac- 
 
 countable fact of no sort of recognition 
 having, up to this period, been vouchsafed 
 by his most gracious majesty the king. 
 
 Rising tier above tier to the supremely 
 soaring peak of Mamrat, " the Mother of 
 Grace," with her doomed head ever can- 
 opied in clouds, the lofty mountains which 
 fortify the royal dominions, now shot like 
 giant castles from the sandy plain, the most 
 conspicuous features in the landscape. 
 Volcanic impediments, such as had beset 
 the heretofore weary path, had at length 
 finally ceased; but the glowing sulphur 
 hills of Sullala, reared their fantastic 
 spires on the verge of the monotonous ex- 
 panse ; and high among the more vene- 
 rable witnesses to the troubled lowlands, 
 the position of Ankober was discernible to 
 the naked eye, with the steep Chaka range 
 stretching beyond at still greater elevation. 
 The luxuriant verdure which clothed the 
 rugged sides of the nearer slopes, while 
 it contrasted strongly with the aridity of 
 the barren tracts at their base, indicated 
 the presence of the autumnal rains ; and 
 hereof further evidence was afforded in 
 the low grumbling of frequent thunder, 
 echoing like distant artillery among the 
 serrated summits, as the heavy black 
 clouds at intervals drew their smoky man- 
 tle across the scene, and veiled the mon- 
 sters from sight. 
 
 The departure of the silent spy was fol- 
 lowed bf the arrival of a most boisterous 
 visitor from the highlands. The hazy sun, 
 shorn of his bright beams, and looming a 
 dull fiery globe in the dense mist, had no 
 sooner disappeared in wrath, than a furious 
 whirlwind tory along the desert plain, and 
 during the gloomy twilight, the storm, 
 which had been cradled amid the mighty 
 mountains, descended in desolation, like 
 an angry giant from his keep. 
 
 Black masses of cloud, rolling impetu- 
 ously along the steep acclivities, settled at 
 length over the face of the waste, for a 
 time shrouding the very earth in its dark 
 dank embrace, only to render more striking 
 the contrast to the dazzling light which in 
 another moment had succeeded. Brilliant 
 corruscations blazed and scintillated in 
 every quarter of the fervid heavens, hiss- 
 ing and spluttering through the heavy fog, 
 or darting like fiery serpents along the sur- 
 face of the ground — at one instant awfully 
 revealing the towering peaks that frowned 
 far in the distance — at the next flashing in 
 a hot sulphury flame through the centre 
 of the encampment. 
 
 Meanwhile the deep roll of thunder con- 
 tinued without a moment's intermission, 
 the prolonged growl of each startling clap 
 
100 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 varying ever as it receded in a fitful change 
 of intonation ; while the wailing of the 
 blast, accompanied by the sharp rattle of 
 hail, and the impetuous descent of torrents 
 of rain, completed the horrors of a tempest 
 which, now at its height, careered madly 
 over the unbroken plain. The soil had 
 soon swallowed the deluge to overflowing. 
 Muddy rivulets poured through every quar- 
 ter of the flooded bivouac ; and the heavy 
 tarpaulins, which had afforded some tem- 
 porary shelter, proving of little further 
 avail, the shivering but still watchful party 
 were exposed during many dismal hours 
 that ensued to all the merciless fury of this 
 unaDpeasable hurricane. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 VALLEY OF KOKAl. HOSTILITIES OF WTJL- 
 ASMA MOHAMMAD. 
 
 A cool cloudy morning succeeding to 
 this dreary, boisterous and uncomfortable 
 night, the caravan was in motion before 
 eunrise across the uninteresting plain of 
 Azboti, in parts completely swamped, and 
 covered toward its borders with one in- 
 terminable sheet of the aloe and lilium, 
 growing beneath spreading acacias upon a 
 gravelly soil. Then commenced a belt of 
 hammocks, formed by prominences abut- 
 ting from the high land of Abyssinia — a 
 succession of hill and dale, thickly wooded 
 with a variety of timber, and still clothed 
 with an undergrowth of the wild aloe, 
 through which wary herds of baeza thread- 
 ed their way. The road soon entered the 
 pebbly bed of a mountain stream, running 
 easterly between precipitous basaltic cliffs 
 toward the Hawash ; but although such 
 torrents of rain had fallen the preceding 
 night, no water was discovered in the 
 wooded wady of Kokai, until reaching 
 Dathara, nearly thirteen miles from the 
 last encampment, where the party partook 
 of the first crystal brook that had occurred 
 during the entire weary journey from the 
 sea-coast. 
 
 Three thousand feet above the ocean, 
 with an invigorating breeze and a cloudy 
 sky, the climate of this principal pass into 
 Southern Abyssinia, was that of a fine 
 summer's day in England, rather than of 
 the middle of July between the tropics. 
 Here for the first time during the pilgrim- 
 age, the tent was erected under the shade 
 of a wide-spread ing tamarind , which, among 
 many other trees of noble growth, graced 
 the sequestered spot. Above the surround- 
 
 ing foliage the long white roofs of many 
 of the royal magazines were visible, perch- 
 ed high on the blue mountain side. In the 
 forked branches overhead were piled hay- 
 stack-looking nests of gigantic dimensions, 
 thatched with every attention to neatness 
 and comfort — the small aperture left by the 
 feathered architect turned in every instance 
 to the eastward, and carefully secured from 
 the weather ; and perched on every twig, 
 an assemblage of strange birds displayed 
 their gay glittering plumage, or filled the 
 cool air with melodious song. 
 
 But from the summit of an adjacent ba- 
 saltic knoll, which was ascended toward 
 the close of day, there burst upon the de- 
 lighted gaze a prospect more than ever 
 alluring of the Abyssinian Alps. Hill rose 
 above hill, clothed in the most luxuriant 
 and vigorous vegetation. Mountain tow- 
 ered over mountain in a smiling chaos of 
 disorder ; and the soaring peaks of the most 
 remote range threw their hoary heads, 
 sparkling with a white mantle of hail, far 
 into the cold azure sky. Villages and 
 ^hamlets embosomed in dark groves of ever- 
 greens were grouped in Arcadian repose. 
 Rich fields of every hue chequered the deep 
 lone valley ; and the sun, bidding a diur- 
 nal farewell to his much-loved plains of the 
 east, shot a last stream of golden light, va- 
 ried as the hues of the Iris, over the min- 
 gled beauties of wild woodland scenery, 
 and the labors of the Christian husbandman. 
 
 No delegate with greetings from the ne- 
 goos awaiting the British embassy, and the 
 frontier town of Farri, where caravans are 
 received by his majesty's officers, being 
 now only five miles distant, a letter was 
 prepared, of which Mohammad Ali volun- 
 teered to be the bearer. In signifying gra- 
 cious acquiescence to this arrangement, 
 the ras el kafilah gravely intimated that the 
 escort of Hy Somauli spearmen, furnished 
 at Killulloo by Ibrahim ibn Hame'i'do, de- 
 clined permitting the departure of the son 
 of Ali Abi, until they should have received 
 the sum at which they were pleased to es- 
 timate their services. Little reason exist- 
 ing to be satisfied with the vigilance of this 
 band of warriors, not one of the component 
 members whereof, Doctor Syntax inclusive, 
 had adopted the plan proposed by the poet 
 for lengthening the days of existence by 
 stealing a few hours from the night, com- 
 pliance to the full extent of the exorbitant 
 demand had previously been evaded. But 
 as Izhak, in whom the truth was not, now 
 falsely asserted and maintained that the 
 akil had taken his personal security for 
 the sum, and as it was obviously of the last 
 importance that arrival on the frontier 
 
THE ABOGAZ OF THE FRONTIER. 
 
 101 
 
 should be timely reported, the money was 
 reluctantly paid, and the courier set forth 
 on his journey. 
 
 Rain was again ushering in the early 
 hours of the night, when the unpleasant 
 intelligence arrived thata certain Wulasma 
 Mohammad was the delinquent, and that 
 he had contrived effectually to thwart the 
 intentions of his royal master. The king 
 had commanded that his British visitors 
 should be received on the western bank of 
 the Ha wash by an escort of honor. Under 
 the commander-in-chief of the body-guard, 
 three hundred matchlockmen had been for 
 this purpose detached from the troops on 
 service with his majesty, and had actually 
 reached Farri, whence the jealous Moslem 
 had dared to send them back upon the ri- 
 diculous pretext of being unable to obtain 
 any tidings of the expected Franks. 
 
 This important functionary, in addition 
 to his office of state-jailer, is the hereditary 
 abogaz of the Mohammadan population of 
 Argobba on the east of Shoa, and the na- 
 ture of his government exalts him in the 
 eyes of all to the importance of a king. 
 With the title of wulasma — a word of 
 uncertain derivation, known to Ludolf, the 
 great historian of Abyssinia, who styles the 
 dignitary " Pro rex of Efat" — he possesses 
 unbounded influence over the frontier, his 
 immediate duties being to preserve amica- 
 ble relations with the Adaiel occupying the 
 plain of the Ha. wash, and to protect kafi- 
 lahs and merchants arriving from the inde- 
 pendent principality of Hurrur, or from the 
 coast of Tajilra. His functions as keeper 
 of the state prison secure for him the re- 
 spect of all, Christians as well as Islams, 
 who have the fear of a dungeon before their 
 eyes ; and although numerous abogasoch 
 or wulasmoch, governors of small detach- 
 ed provinces, share his power, the name 
 and influence of all are dim under the light 
 that glares from his loop-holed residence at 
 Goncho. 
 
 It is the invariable policy of the haughty 
 abogaz to assume the great man to all 
 travellers, since it is generally understood 
 that through him alone foreigners can be 
 received and forwarded, or if necessary, 
 presented to the negoos. This arrange- 
 ment involves not only trouble, but con- 
 siderable expense ; his despotic majesty 
 claiming the prerogative of franking every 
 visitor through his territories, and a portion 
 of the attendant outlay falling upon the 
 functionary who may be honored with the 
 royal commands. 
 
 Openly opposed to European innovation, 
 Mohammad particularly disliked the advent 
 of the British embassy, and was obviously 
 
 doing his utmost to thwart the more liberal 
 views of the crown, by treating the stran- 
 gers with disrespect. The imperial order 
 that an escort of matchlockmen should for 
 the first time cross the hill frontier, and 
 proceed into the plain of the Hawash, to 
 do honor to the Christian guests, not only 
 rankled in his Moslem breast, but was cal- 
 culated to interfere with his resolution to 
 preserve inviolate the avenues to the sea- 
 coast. His intrigues had rendered abor- 
 tive all attempts to communicate with the 
 court ; and while the approach of the em- 
 bassy was not reported until its actual ar- 
 rival at Dathara, his noncompliance with 
 the order given had resulted most preju- 
 dicially, the Danakil guides being now 
 more than ever unwilling to persuade them- 
 selves that the party would be welcome. 
 
 Preparations were making the following 
 morning to continue the march to Farri, 
 when the burly functionary was seen pom- 
 pously approaching with measured step, 
 followed by a retinue of many hundred 
 armed followers, whose shaven heads rose 
 unturbaned above flowing white mantles. 
 Far from announcing himself in the cus- 
 tomary manner, he remained seated in por- 
 tentous dignity, beneath the shade of a 
 venerable tamarind by the road-side, until, 
 every camel having been loaded, the cara- 
 van was moving off the ground. A peremp- 
 tory message was received through one 
 of his myrmidons, to the effect, that he 
 stood strictly charged with the king's com- 
 mands to suffer not one of the party to ad- 
 vance until the next day, and that he was 
 prepared to enforce the interdiction. There 
 seemed little reason to doubt of this being 
 a premeditated falsehood, as it afterward 
 proved to be ; but the ras el kafilah having 
 heard the injunction repeated in presence 
 of the Wulasma Suleiman Moosa, abogaz 
 of Channoo, as coming direct from his ma- 
 jesty, timidly declined any infringement, 
 and again threw down the loads. 
 
 Condescending at length in moody sul- 
 lenness to approach with his host of re- 
 tainers, the triumphant potentate, armed 
 with the rosary, or chaplet of one hundred 
 beads, which denoted his intolerant faith, 
 squeezed his pursy figure into a chair, 
 and composed himself with much apparent 
 satisfaction at the success which had at- 
 tended his scheme of opposition. A de- 
 bauched, ill-favored, bloated specimen of 
 mortality, the lines of intemperance were 
 deeply graven on his truculent visage, 
 which was at once cunning, sinister, and 
 forbidding. But the party were not long 
 troubled with his obnoxious presence. 
 The reception he experienced, although 
 
102 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 civil, was distant and studiously formal, 
 and the sun, beating in a full blaze upon 
 his bald crown, rendered his position so 
 extremely untenable, that after stiffly mur- 
 muring replies to the customary inquiries 
 anent the health and well-being of his 
 august master, he rose unceremoniously, 
 and abruptly withdrew. 
 
 Throughout this brief and very unbend- 
 ing interview, a brawny retainer stood 
 behind the chair, denuded to the waist. 
 In his right hand he ostentatiously dis- 
 played the chief jailer's sword of state — 
 a short heavy blade upon the model of the 
 old Roman falchion, inclosed in a scab- 
 bard of massive silver ; and his left arm 
 supported a buckler of stiff bull's-hide, 
 elaborately emblazoned with crescents and 
 brass studs. The benevolent and prepos- 
 sessing aspect of the Wulasma Suleiman 
 Moosa, who occupied a second seat, offered 
 a striking contrast to the repulsive arro- 
 gance ot his scowling colleague. On his 
 right side, protruding upward with the 
 curve of a scorpion's tail, he v^bre a semi- 
 circular weapon, also denominated a 
 sword, though in fact more nearly allied to 
 a reaping-hook — a proud badge of office, 
 with a fluted tulip-shaped termination to 
 the silver scabbard, which, according to 
 the wont of the despot, had been confer- 
 red on the occasion of his first installation 
 in office, but which ludicrously interfered 
 with comfort in an arm-chair. 
 
 During the residue of the day, the con- 
 duct of the state-jailer was perfectly in 
 unison with his character and previous 
 hostile proceedings. He brought the white 
 visitors neither presents nor supplies, ac- 
 cording to the rules of Abyssinian hospi- 
 tality; and although made fully aware 
 that the camp was drained of provisions, 
 prevented purchases by the undue exer- 
 cise of his influence and authority. A 
 pelting rain during the night, from which 
 his sleek person was defended by naught 
 save the pervious branches of a tamarind, 
 had not tended to soften the asperities, or 
 to alleviate the sourness of his aspect, 
 when the day dawned ; and it was only 
 on finding the party prepared to advance 
 at the hazard of forcible opposition, that 
 he finally yielded the point, and betwixt 
 his closed teeth muttered his grumbling 
 consent to an arrangement which he felt 
 longer unable with prudence to oppose- 
 " The English are a great nation," whis- 
 pered the nephew of Ali Shermarki, as he 
 passed the haughty abogaz, " and you had 
 better take care to treat them civilly. 
 Wultahi ! one of their ships of war would 
 carry this kafilah over the water, and you 
 
 and all your host of followers into the 
 bargain." 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 DINOMALI. GREETINGS FROM THE NEG008 
 AT FARRI, ON THE FRONTIER OF HIS 
 DOMINIONS. 
 
 Gradually ascending through a hilly 
 and well-wooded country, still a positive 
 garden of the wild aloe, the road now 
 led through a succession of deep glades, 
 which opened in turn upon verdant moun- 
 tain scenery ; and at an early hour, after 
 the first signs of cultivation had been af- 
 forded in the truly grateful sight of ploughs 
 turning up the soil, the tents were erected 
 on the open plain of Dinomali. 
 
 At this, the frontier station of Argobba, 
 are levied the royal import duties of ten 
 per cent.; and a scene of noise, bustle, 
 and confusion did not fail to ensue, such 
 as is wont to attend the arrival of every 
 caravan. In his character of collector- 
 general of customs, the pompous wulas- 
 ma took seat below a tree in the centre, 
 while his myrmidons, beleaguering every 
 load the moment it was removed from the 
 camel, prevented all access on the part of 
 the owner, until scrutinizing search had 
 been instituted by the secretary for the 
 salt trade, and the imperial scribes had, 
 by a tedious process denominated writing, 
 completed an inventory of contents. From 
 time immemorial, it had been the law of 
 the realm to regard the despotic ruler as 
 the proprietor of every movable in the 
 land ; and it was not without many looks 
 of incredulity and amazement, that the 
 custom-house officers now received the 
 astounding intimation, that they would 
 touch the baggage of the British embassy 
 at their peril. 
 
 Thus for the first time thwarted in their 
 prerogative of forcing open boxes, and in- 
 specting the wares they contained, Debte- 
 ra Tekla Zion and his brother scribes were 
 tempted to attribute the opposition offered 
 to the truth of a vague report already cur- 
 rent, that a foreign king was being smug- 
 gled into Abyssinia for evil. And they 
 were still standing in mute astonishment, 
 with idle ink-horns dangling from their 
 hands, lost in conjecture of the probable 
 consequences involved by the unprecedent- 
 ed interference exercised, when a message 
 was received, expressive of the compli- 
 ments and best wishes of Sahela Selassie. 
 Still at a distance from Ankoker, his ma- 
 jesty had resolved, in order to hasten the 
 
ESCORT OF HONOR—FINAL ADVANCE. 
 
 103 
 
 Interview with his guests, to proceed at 
 once to the capital, whither the English 
 were invited to repair with all possible ex- 
 pedition. 
 
 The arrival of this unlooked-for saluta- 
 tion, which was coupled with an affirmative 
 answer to a request previously made, that 
 the presents in charge of the embassy 
 might neither be interfered with, nor sub- 
 jected to the usual custom-house scrutiny 
 when crossing the frontier, had the effect 
 of bringing to his senses the overbearing 
 wulasma; and, in accordance with the 
 king's instructions, oxen, sheep, bread, 
 beer, and hydromel were liberally supplied 
 without another moment's demur. But a 
 freslj source of delay and annoyance forth- 
 with arose on the part of the ras el kafilah, 
 whose latent object being to transfer the 
 charge of Danakil caravans from the hands 
 of the corpulent and now civil jailer, to 
 those of Wulasma Suleiman Moosa, made 
 the acceptance of supplies at the hand of 
 the former a pretext for throwing up his 
 functions and setting out to Ankober, ex- 
 claiming as he mounted his mule in a tow- 
 ering passion, for the avowed purpose of 
 laying his complaint at the footstool of the 
 throne, "Am not I the brother of the Sul- 
 tan of Tajura ?" 
 
 But the furious elder had not proceeded 
 far on his adventurous journey, ere his 
 ears were saluted by repeated discharges 
 of musketry, accompanied by martial mu- 
 sic, and a solemn vocal chorus. These 
 served to announce the advent of Ayto 
 Katama, commander-in-chief of the impe- 
 rial body-guard, with the escort of honor, 
 consisting of three hundred matchlockmen, 
 who were to have received the embassy on 
 the banks of the Hawash. The arrival of 
 this important personage, whose school- 
 boyish sallies ill became his years and high 
 military functions, was speedily followed 
 by the appearance of Ayto Wolda Hana, 
 governor of Ankober, and first nobleman 
 in the realm, also fraught with congratu- 
 lations. His presence had the effect of 
 recalling the irritated ras to a sense of duty ; 
 and no efficient carriage having been pro- 
 vided by the abogaz,it was finally arranged 
 after many difficulties, objections, and dis- 
 putes, that the baggage should be trans- 
 ported to Farri, other two miles in advance, 
 where Mohammadan porters could be ob- 
 tained in sufficient numbers to convey it to 
 its final destination — the mountains in ev- 
 ery part being deemed quite inaccessible 
 to the camel. 
 
 Although the distance from Farri did 
 not exceed a mile, the lateness of the hour 
 at which this accommodation was vouch- 
 
 safed, rendered it impossible to carry the 
 measure into effect until the following day. 
 The governor of Ankober meanwhile po- 
 litely insisted upon charging himself with 
 the baggage, his officious zeal extending 
 even to the effects of private individuals, 
 whereby much inconvenience was entailed. 
 But notwithstanding his garulous protest- 
 ations, and the presence of so large a body 
 of the royal troops, everything was finally 
 left unprotected ; and, before his negli- 
 gence was discovered, four of the remain- 
 ing mules had been stolen from the pickets 
 by the marauders who infest the neighbor- 
 hood. 
 
 Loaded for the thirty-fifth and last time 
 with the baggage of the British embassy, 
 the caravan, escorted by the detachment of 
 Ayto Katama, with flutes playing and 
 muskets echoing, and the heads of the 
 warriors decorated 'with white plumes, in 
 earnest of their bold exploits during the 
 late expedition, advanced on the afternoon 
 of the 16th of July, to Farri, the frontier 
 town of the kingdom of Efat. Clusters 
 of conical-roofed houses, covering the 
 sloping sides of twin hills which form a 
 gorge wherein the royal dues are deposit- 
 ed, here presented the first permanent hab- 
 itations that had greeted the eye since 
 leaving the sea-coast ; rude and ungainly, 
 but right welcome signs of transition from 
 depopulated wastes to the abodes of man. 
 
 As well from the steepness of the rug- 
 ged mountains of Abyssinia, which tow- 
 ered overhead, as from the pinching climate 
 of their wintry summits, the camel becomes 
 useless as a beast of burthen ; and none 
 being ever taken beyond the frontier, many 
 of the wulasma's retinue now gazed at 
 the ungainly quadrupeds for the first time. 
 The " ship of the desert" has been created 
 for the especial benefit of sultry, arid, and 
 waterless plains, such as those now cross- 
 ed, where no other domesticated animal 
 could long exist ; but where, even under 
 the most scorching radiation of heat, when 
 the skin peels from the parched lips of the 
 pilgrim, and the horizon beams as with the 
 fires of an hundred volcanoes, the soft 
 lustrous eye of the patient dromedary loses 
 not a jot of its wonted brilliancy. But 
 numbers had been dreadfully wrung during 
 the tedious march, those especially which 
 carried tent-poles and other unmanageable 
 burdens ; and among others, two of the 
 finest had sunk under the weight of the 
 galloper-gun. No sooner was the load 
 now removed, than a swarm of parasitic 
 birds, with brilliant golden eyes, here for 
 the first time seen, swarmed around the 
 galled part, and having dived into the gap- 
 
104 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 ing wounds, without causing perceptible 
 annoyance to the sufferer, became so en- 
 grossed in the removal of ticks and mag- 
 gots with their crimson bills, that several 
 were made prisoners with the hand. 
 
 Boxes and bales as they arrived were 
 deposited within a stone inclosure in the 
 centre of the area ; and the bloated wul- 
 asma, again seated in regal dignity beneath 
 an ancient acacia, which threw its slender 
 shade over the heterogeneous pile, placing 
 Ayto Wolda Hana upon his right hand, 
 with the aid of the royal scribes and their 
 inkhorns commenced an inventory de novo. 
 Vigorous attempts to force open the cases 
 were once more resisted, with complete 
 success. Earnest expostulations tried in 
 turn by the Moslem and the Christian, 
 were alike unheeded ; and amid noise, 
 clamor, and confusion, such as could ill be 
 described, the inquisitive functionaries 
 were fain, as before, to content themselves 
 with a list of packages in the gross. Rough 
 conjectural estimates of the number of 
 muskets contained in each matted roll, 
 were, however, clandestinely formed, by 
 dint of squeezing and pinching ; and these 
 too were committed to writing, as though 
 fears were entertained lest the king might 
 now, in his own dominions, be defrauded 
 of a portion of the investment transported 
 in safety thither from a distant land. 
 
 Hajji Mohammad, a respectable old slave- 
 dealer in the suite of the abogaz, had du- 
 ring this interim obligingly undertaken to 
 solve certain puzzling geographical ques- 
 tions proposed, and with a staff was me- 
 thodically tracing on the sand, for the 
 edification of his European audience, the 
 position of the Hawash in its upper course. 
 An insane old Hassoba, long resident at 
 Farri, whose head labored under the effect 
 of sundry wounds received in youth, had 
 unfortunately become violently excited by 
 too copious libations in honor of the safe 
 arrival of his clansmen. To the annoy- 
 ance of every one, he had been bawling 
 incessantly for many hours, and he pres- 
 ently staggered up to ascertain if he could 
 throw light upon the subject under dis- 
 cussion. 
 
 "What do you know about the Ha- 
 wash?" he exclaimed, in a violent passion, 
 as the name of the lone river fell upon his 
 ear — "Pray where did you learn about the 
 Hawash, or the Ittoo, or the Aroosi ?"— - 
 and suiting the action to the word, his 
 cudgel rattled heavily over the crown of 
 the unoffending pilgrim to the shrine of 
 the Prophet. Nettled at this unprovoked 
 assault, the venerable man retorted with 
 interest — blows pattered thick and fast, a 
 
 crowd collected, creeses were drawn, and 
 the friends of the respective parties felt 
 themselves bound to interfere. The bel- 
 ligerent Hajji was held to prevent his com- 
 mitting murder ; and the Adel geographer, 
 as he walked reluctantly away, under a 
 shower of stones, turning frequently to 
 breathe defiance to the object of his ire, 
 repeated with a sneer, " Here is the Ha- 
 wash indeed ; what the devil does that old 
 donkey know about the Hawash !" 
 
 Meanwhile arrived a special messenger, 
 bearing reiterated compliments from the 
 negoos, with a horse and a mule from the 
 royal stud, attired in the peculiar trappings 
 and colors which in Shoa pertain solely to 
 majesty. The bridles and breastplates 
 glittered with studs and bosses of polished 
 metal ; gay embroidery in colored worsted 
 covered the saddle-cloth of the mule, and a 
 collection of silver chains, jingles, and bells, 
 encircled her neck. At sight hereof, wo- 
 men and girls enveloped in blood-red shifts, 
 who had thronged to the busy scene to 
 stare at the white strangers, at once burst 
 into a loud scream of acclamation. A 
 group of hooded widows, occupying an 
 adjacent public asylum, thrust their fingers 
 into their ears, and joined in the clamor. 
 Escort and camel-drivers, now at their 
 journey's end, had placed no bounds to 
 their hilarity. A fat Ox, that had been 
 promised, was turned loose among the 
 spectators — pursued by fifty savages with 
 gleaming creeses — and ham-strung by a 
 dexterous blow, which threw it bellowing 
 to the earth in the height of its mad career. 
 The rival clans of lean curs, that are re- 
 spectively quartered on the dung-heaps of 
 the twin hills, and suffer no intrusions into 
 each other's domains, rushed to the neu- 
 tral ground, and forthwith commenced an 
 indiscriminate engagement over the gar- 
 bage ; and while Debtera Tekla Zion, still 
 counting and recounting, amended his long 
 list with untiring perseverance, crowds of 
 porters and lounging visitors added the 
 mite of their united voices to the din, tu- 
 mult, and intolerable uproar which contin- 
 ued until close of day. 
 
 Predatory incursions of the Galla upon 
 the Argobba frontier are frequent, and not 
 many weeks had passed away since six of 
 the king's liege subjects were murdered 
 within the precincts of the encamping 
 ground. In defiance of tempestuous weath- 
 er, two European soldiers and an officer 
 had been on guard without shelter during 
 every night of the long and tedious march, 
 and the sergeant of the escort had every 
 hour personally relieved the sentries : but 
 the exposed position of the baggage, added 
 
2- 
 
3 3 
 
 3 j 
 
THE TRIBE ADALI— DEBENIK WOEMA. 
 
 105 
 
 to the evil character borne by the spot, and 
 the experience already gained at Dinomali, 
 still precluded the discontinuance of watch 
 and ward, whereof all were heartily weary. 
 
 In the dead of night an alarm caused all 
 to spring from their couches on the hard 
 ground, and to stand prepared for the re- 
 ception of an unseen foe, whose approach 
 was announced by the blast of some hide- 
 ous warhorn. Halters had been broken, 
 and mules and horses were charging over 
 the tent ropes, nor was the real cause of 
 the confusion discovered for some minutes. 
 A thirsty dog, unacquainted with the arti- 
 fice resorted to by the fox that needed 
 water, had recklessly thrust his mangy 
 head so deep into an earthen jar, that he 
 was unable to withdraw it, and rushing he 
 knew not whither, was giving vent through 
 his strange proboscis to fearful hollow 
 groans, which might well have instilled 
 terror into the breast of the superstitious, 
 and did not fail to elicit ceaseless howls 
 from the canine occupants of the dunghill. 
 
 The delinquent was shot, and order be- 
 ing at length restored, those who were en- 
 titled to slumber again proceeded to avail 
 themselves of the privilege. After pacing 
 his beat some hours beyond the wonted 
 period of relief, the sentinel who mounted 
 at midnignt, hailed the officer on duty. 
 Receiving no reply to the challenge, he 
 approached the door of the tent, and there, 
 sad to relate, the first breach of discipline 
 was detected on the part of the guardian 
 of the camp, who, worn out by incessant 
 vigils, was on this, his last watch, lying 
 fast asleep upon his post, with a pistol in 
 each hand ! 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 
 A FARTING TRIBUTE OF GRATITUDE IN- 
 SCRIBED TO THE PEOPLE OF ADEL. 
 
 Tradition asserts that prior to the in- 
 vasion of Graan, " the mighty Adel mon- 
 arch," who overran and dismembered once 
 powerful Ethiopia, the eastern limit of the 
 empire was Jebel Aiiilloo, known to tb^ 
 Abyssinians as Mount Azulo. But. al- 
 though frequently invaded, no portion of 
 the wide plain of the Hawash has been 
 reconquered, whether by Sahels Selassie, 
 or by his ancestors. The relatives of cer- 
 tain of those in authority have been made 
 prisoners by trea.chery, and as hostages are 
 held in close durance by the king, but the 
 Doasted influence of the abogaz is princi- 
 pally supported by conciliation, and by the 
 annual presentation of cloths and sp 
 8 
 
 to the various chiefs and elders — a mea- 
 sure having for its object to preserve the 
 avenues to the sea-coast, and to the Bahr 
 Assal, whereon Shoa and Efat are almost 
 entirely dependent for foreign wares, and 
 for salt, which the country does not pro- 
 duce. 
 
 The powerful independent chieftain of 
 the principal section of Gibdosa, who oc- 
 cupy the detached hill of Rasa, across the 
 Robi river, northward of Dinomali, is one 
 of those in nominal alliance with the ne- 
 goos ; but his wild Moslems make con- 
 stant predatory inroads upon the frontier 
 of Argobba, slaying Christians and Mo- 
 hammadans of either sex, without com- 
 punction ; and the policy of his majesty 
 prohibiting retaliation, however aggravated 
 the outrage, Anbassa Ali, or " the Lion," 
 who like Esau of old is said to be covered 
 with hair from the crown of the head even 
 unto the sole of the foot, not unfrequently 
 makes hostile demonstrations in person, 
 which require all the wulasma's tact and 
 diplomatic cunning to avert. 
 
 From Hao, on the eastern side of the 
 Hawash, to Farri, the intervening tract, 
 under the nominal jurisdiction of Moham- 
 mad Abogaz, is in occupation of a mixed 
 nomade population, not remarkable for their 
 honesty, and composed from numerous 
 subdivisions of the Danakil, but principal- 
 ly from the Burhanto or Adali, under ibn 
 Hamed deen Hassan. This latter, which 
 takes Ada'iel in the plural, is the clan of 
 the reigning Sultan of Taj lira ; and being 
 in days of yore the most powerful and im- 
 portant tribe in the nation, its name has 
 been imparted to the entire country, now 
 corrupted into Adel. 
 
 In time of war with the adjacent Galla, 
 on the south, or when called upon to repel 
 the predatory mvasions of the Muda'i'to, 
 the tribes we?cward of the Hawash assem- 
 ble with tke Tukhaiel, the Debeni, the 
 Dermeia, the Rookhba, the Woema, and 
 the Hy Sornauli, the extent of whose re- 
 spective territories has already been de- 
 fbed. These, with the Abli or Dinserra, 
 under Mohammad Ali, surnamed Jeroaa, 
 or " the Thief,*' which is the tribe of Ha- 
 med Buna"i'to, present wuzir and heir-appa- 
 rent to the throne of Tajura — the Adaneito 
 and Nakur, under Shehem Mulakoe — the 
 Dondametta, the Duttagoora, and the Hus- 
 soba, led respectively by Ahmed Ka.mil, 
 Sheikh Deeni, and Deeni ibn Ibrahim — 
 collectively assume the title of Debenik- 
 Woema, k being the Dankali conjunction. 
 
 Adalo bin Hamed, who leads a section 
 of the Gibdosa encamped at Haode and 
 Dunne, occasionally unite? with the De- 
 
106 
 
 HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 benik-W&ema in the time of their need, 
 but he is held virtually independent. The 
 fourth and last section of the Debeni, under 
 the authority of Mahmoodi, has its tents 
 at the isolated volcanic mountain of Fan- 
 tali, southward of Dinomali, where reside 
 also the united Ada'iel clans Ulua'ito, Muf- 
 fa, and Eyrolasso, under the great "brave" 
 Lamdllifan. 
 
 These tribes occupy the whole extent 
 of country between Abyssinia and Mirsa 
 Rahei'ta, near the entrance to the Red 
 Sea, the head-quarters of Roofa Boorhan, 
 sheikh of a subdivision of the Duttagoora. 
 Thence they stretch along the coast to the 
 south-eastward, and from Goobut el Kha- 
 rab, between the parallels, bounded on the 
 south by the Eesah and other Somauli 
 tribes, and flanked on the north by the 
 Mudaito. 
 
 The Ada'iel or Danakil population, which, 
 including the Mudaito, extends as far as 
 Arkeeko, entitles itself Afer, and claims to 
 be descended from Arab invaders, who, in 
 the seventh century of the Christian era, 
 overran and colonized the low tract which 
 forms a zone between the Abyssinian Alps 
 and the coast of the Red Sea. To a cer- 
 tain extent, the northern tribes are subject 
 to the Nayib of Arkeeko, whose authority 
 is recognized in much the same proportion 
 as that of the feeble Suhan of Tajiira by 
 the southern clans ; but, although speaking 
 the same language, they can hardly be said 
 to constitute a nation, being so widelv dis- 
 
 ii 
 
 persed, that for many days together not a 
 trace of man is to be discovered over the 
 joyless deserts which form the lot of h;s 
 inheritance, scorched by an ardent sun, 
 and alive only with ; ' moving pillars of 
 sand." 
 
 From time immemorial, every individual 
 has been his own king. L\ch marauding 
 community is marked by a wild independ- 
 ence ; and the free spirit of tire whole is 
 to be traced in the rapine, discord, and 
 bloodshed, which universally pr&yail. 
 Theirs is "an iron sky, and a soil of bra^," 
 where the clouds drop little rain, and the 
 earth yields no vegetation. It is no ' : land 
 of rivers of waters," nor have the " lines 
 fallen in pleasant places." The desert 
 stretches far on every side, strewed with 
 black boulders of heated lava, and en\ el- 
 oped by a glowing atmosphere. In this 
 country of perfidy and vindictive ferocity, 
 the proprietors of the barren land murder 
 every stranger who shall intrude ; and the 
 common benefits of water are an object of 
 perpetual contest. Reprisal and revenge 
 form the guiding maxim of all. Monsters, 
 not men, their savage propensities are por- 
 
 trayed in a dark and baleful eye, and the 
 avenger of blood is closely dogging the 
 footsteps of one half the population. 
 
 As laziness is the chief source of Afri- 
 can misery at large, so is it with the Dan- 
 akil in particular. They possess that 
 " conceit in their misery," which induces 
 them to despise the labors of the cultivator; 
 and such is the characteristic want of wa- 
 ter, that, excepting at Aussa, agriculture 
 is unknown, even in its rudest form. A 
 pastoral, itinerant, and belligerent people, 
 divided into endless clans and ramifications, 
 under divers independent chieftains, their 
 mode of living entitles them to rank only 
 one step in civilization above the positive 
 savage, who depends for daily subsistence 
 upon the chase and upon the spontaneous 
 productions of nature. 
 
 Born to the spear, and bred in eternal 
 strife with his predatory neighbors, each 
 lawless member of the straggling commu- 
 nity inherits the untameable spirit of the 
 descendants of Ishmael ; and it is made 
 subservient to all the worst vices and pas- 
 sions inherent, in the semi-barbarian. In 
 his very attitude and bearing, there is that 
 which proclaims him, in his own opinion, 
 lord of the universe, entitled to enjoy, with 
 a thankless heart, all that he is capable of 
 enjoying. No favor claims his gratitude 
 — nothing demands a thought beyond the 
 present moment. Unlike the Arab Be- 
 douin, he is too indolent and improvident 
 during seasons of plenty, to convert the 
 produce of his flocks and herds into a store 
 against, the coming day of drought and 
 famine. Gorged to repletion, the residue 
 is suffered to go to waste : and so long as 
 his belly is full, his licentiousness gratified, 
 and he has leisure to lounge about in list- 
 less idleness, the measure of his happiness 
 is complete, and the sun may rise and set 
 without his troubling his head as to the 
 mode in which the day has been passed, 
 or how the next meal is to be provided. 
 
 Many of the Ada'iel are extensive own- 
 ers of camels, and deal largely in slaves — 
 a trade which yields three hundred per 
 cent., with the least possible risk or trouble 
 to the merchant : but when not upon the 
 journey periodically undertaken to acquire 
 the materials for this traffic, all lead a life 
 of indolence and gross sensuality — eating, 
 sleeping, and indulging in the baser pas- 
 sions, accord'mg to the bent of their vicious 
 inclinations. Their delight is to be dirty 
 and to be idle. They wear the same cloth, 
 without ablution, until it fairly drops from 
 the back ; and abhorring honest labor, 
 whether rgricultural or handicraft, pass 
 the day in drowsiness, or in the enjoyment 
 
TOILET AND COSTUME OF THE DANAKIL. 
 
 107 
 
 of a quiet seat before the hamlet, where I a comb, and is often fancifully carved and 
 the scandal of the community is retailed, provided with two or even three pronffs. 
 
 Basking in the sun, and arranging their 
 curly locks with the point of the skewer, 
 they here indulge in unlimited quantities 
 of snuff, and mumble large rolls of tobacco 
 and ashes, which are so thrust betwixt the 
 under lip and the white teeth, as to impart 
 the unseemly appearance of a growing 
 wen, and if temporarily removed, are inva- 
 riably deposited behind the left ear. No 
 race of men stink more offensively ; but 
 while polluting the atmosphere with rancid 
 tallow and putrid animal intestines, they 
 never condescend to approach a Christian 
 without holding their own noses ! 
 
 Among the Danakil are to be found some 
 of the most scowling, ill-favored, and hid- 
 eous-looking savages in the universe, but 
 the features of the majority have an Arab 
 cast, which supports the legend of their 
 origin ; and notwithstanding the influence 
 exerted upon the lineaments by passions 
 uncontrolled, the expression of many is 
 pleasing, and even occasionally intellec- 
 tual. All are muscular and active, but 
 singularly scraggy and loosely knit, and 
 to an easy, shuffling gait, is added a na- 
 tional addiction to standing cross-legged. 
 Young as well as old take infinite pains 
 to disfigure the person, and thus to render 
 
 The operation of greasing this wig with- 
 out the aid of the barber, is original. A 
 lump of raw fat, cut from the overgrown tail 
 of the Berbera sheep, having been some time 
 masticated and mumbled, is expelled into 
 the hands, betwixt the palms of which it 
 is reduced by rubbing to a suitable consist- 
 ency, and then transferred en masse to the 
 crown. Exposure to the fierce rays of a 
 tropical sun soon conveys the desired nour- 
 ishment to the roots of the hair. A num- 
 ber of jets and brilliants, which first adorn 
 the periwig, are presently fried into oily 
 shreds, and the liquid tallow, adulterated 
 with dirt, trickling in streams adown the 
 swarthy visage and over the neck, exhales 
 the most sickening of odors. All, howev- 
 er, cannot afford this luxury of the toilet, 
 nor is it every one who can resist the 
 temptation of swallowing the dainty mor- 
 sel when once consigned to the mouth ; 
 and hence is seen many a poll of sun-burnt 
 hair, in color and consistency, resembling 
 the housemaid's cobweb broom, which is 
 quaintly denominated " the pope's head." 
 The simple costume of the Bedouin con- 
 sists of a piece of checked cloth wrapped 
 loosely about the loins, descending to the 
 knee? so as to resemble a kilt or short pet- 
 
 it ferocious in appearance. Scars obtained I ti*oat ; while a cotton robe is thrown over 
 
 in brawls and conflicts, from stones and 
 cold steel, are esteemed the highest orna- 
 ments ; and the breast and stomach are 
 usually seamed with a mystic -naze of 
 rhombs and reticulated triano-Jcs, produced 
 by scarification with a sWp fragment of 
 obsidian, so as to resemble the plan of a 
 fortified town of dap* gone by. 
 
 The upper lip is denuded with the creese, 
 and the scanty beard suffered to flourish 
 in curls along the'cheek and over the chin ; 
 while the hair, coarse and long, saturated 
 with grease and mutton fat from infancy, 
 and exposed during life to the fiercest sun, 
 becomes crisped into a thick curly mop, 
 like a counsellor's wig, which is shaved 
 behind on a line between the ears, and con- 
 stitutes the first great pride of the proprie- 
 tor. The picking it out into a due spheri- 
 cal form, affords employment during his 
 ample leisure, and the contemplation of its 
 wild perfection, is the predominant object 
 when a mirror is placed within his grasp. 
 Baldness commences at an early age, and 
 many of the ancient dandies seek protec- 
 tion from the solar influence under sheep- 
 skin perukes of preposterous size, their 
 artificial curls, in common with those that 
 are natural, displaying an ornamented 
 wooden spike or bodkin, which serves as 
 8* 
 
 J the shoulder after the manner of the Roman 
 toga. Miserly in disposition, few outward 
 ornaments grace his person, save an occa- 
 sional necklace of fat, and a few armlets 
 and bracelets composed of certain potent 
 passages from the Koran, either stitched in 
 leather or enveloped in colored thread. A 
 thong adorned with a metal button, girds 
 to the right hip of old and young a creese 
 two feet in length, the wooden hilt of which 
 is decorated with a pewter stud, while the 
 scabbard is ornamented with an aromatic 
 sprig, employed as a tooth-brush, and mas- 
 ticated for hours together. 
 
 Three inches broad in the blade, and 
 possessing a truly murderous crook in the 
 centre, the creese is doubtless a most for- 
 midable weapon at close quarters. With 
 it the Danakil builds his house; with it he 
 slays the animal, and flays the carcass. It 
 is his sword in battle, his knife at the ta- 
 ble, his razor at the toilet, his hatchet, and 
 his nail-parer. A savage desirous of illus- 
 trating the most approved exercise, after 
 whetting the blade upon a stone, capers 
 about describing a series of flourishes and 
 cuts, both under and over the shield, stab- 
 bing and parrying to the right and to the 
 left, until at length comes the last grand 
 touch of disembowelment, when a ripping 
 
108 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 motion is accompanied by a bound into the 
 air, and a howl of perfect satisfaction, such 
 as might be conjectured to issue from the 
 jaws of the glutted vampire. 
 
 The spear, which is seldom out of the 
 hand of the Danakil, is some seven feet 
 in length, a shaft of tough close-grained 
 wood called " adepto," being heavily poised 
 with metal at the butt, and topped by a 
 blade from ten to fifteen inches long, by 
 three broad, reduced to as keen an edge 
 as constant scouring with sand and grease 
 can impart. Great aversion is entertained 
 to this weapon being stepped over, and its- 
 fall to the ground, independently of the 
 damage that might be sustained, is regard- 
 ed as an evil omen, and believed to destroy 
 its power over the flesh and blood of an ene- 
 my. The spear of a chief only is mount- 
 ed with bands of brass and copper wire, 
 but the points of all are graced alike with a 
 lump of sheep's-tail fat. Although some- 
 times employed as a missive, the pike ex- 
 ercise is more usually resorted to — the 
 warrior stealing onward in a crouching 
 position, and springing suddenly, with a 
 yell and a cat-like bound, to transfix the 
 body pf his foe. " None but a woman 
 would retain the spear in the hour of bat- 
 tle," quoth one of the braves — " the creese 
 is the hand to hand weapon !" 
 
 The shield, fashioned out of the fevlff 
 hide of the baeza, or of the wild buffalo, 
 is a perfect circle, of from one to two feet 
 in diameter, with the rim turned outward, 
 and the centre convexed, for the purpose 
 of checking the flight or launch of the 
 missive. A button or boss which forms 
 the apex, is usually adorned with some 
 proud trophy of the chase, in addition to 
 the red beard of a he-goat, undeviatingly 
 attached as a charm. A small bag, slung 
 in the interior of the buckler, contains the 
 portable wealth of the proprietor, and a 
 forked stick is annexed to the handstrap, 
 to'admit of suspension to a tree. Enga- 
 ged, the w T arrior keeps the shield in a con- 
 tinual revolving motion, in strict accord- 
 ance with the movement of his eyes, which 
 in fierce and violent frenzy are rolled in 
 the sockets during the continuance of the 
 conflict. 
 
 Cruel, blood-thirsty, and vindictive, the 
 Danakil do not possess that spirit of indi- 
 vidual enterprise or chivalry, or that reck- 
 less disregard of persona.1 danger which, 
 to certain races of men, imparts the stamp 
 of military habits ; but a season of scar- 
 city dooms every neighbor! ng tribe whose 
 pastures ai own, 
 
 to invasion, massacre, and pillage. A 
 fiendish .'signal for the gather- 
 
 ing of the clan ; and, obedient to the call, 
 each man at arms, grasping spear and 
 shield, abandons his wretched wigwam 
 with truly savage alacrity. His fierce and 
 untamed passions now riot uncontrolled, 
 and those who during the foray are guilty 
 of the greatest enormities, strut about on 
 return among their fellows bedecked with 
 ostrich plumes, and other badges of dis- 
 tinction, reciting each to some wild tune, 
 the. tale of his bloody exploits. 
 
 Morose, and possessing little perception 
 of the ridiculous, witticisms and hilarity in 
 conversation are restricted to the ribald 
 jest ; but brawls are frequent, and the bi- 
 vouac is often cheered by the wild chorus 
 selected from a choice collection breathing 
 in every line self-sufficiency and defiance 
 to the foe. Accompanied by savage ges- 
 tures and contortions — now menacing*", now 
 mincing, and now furious — these strains 
 are chanted during the livelong night with 
 clear and energetic throats, chiefly with the 
 design of intimidating; by the noisy clamor, 
 any hostile party that may be lurking in the 
 vicinity of the encampment, intent either 
 upon the requital of injuries done, or the 
 acquisition of fame by aggressions unpro- 
 voked. 
 
 Superstitious to the last degree, the itin- 
 erant Bedouin takes the field arrayed in a 
 panoply of amulets, designed as a defence 
 ao ainst witchcraft, and to be thrown toward 
 tn* enemy in the hour of battle. A verse 
 from the Koran, sewn up in leather, and 
 hung ab*ut the neck, secures him against 
 all incorporeal enemies. No whirlwind ever 
 sweeps across il ie path without being pur- 
 sued by a dozen sa^ges with drawn crees- 
 es, who stab into the centre of the dusty 
 column, in order to drive away the evil spi- 
 rit that is believed to be riding on the blast. 
 All have firm faith in the incarnation of the 
 devil, who is described as a monster with 
 perpendicular eyes, capable of rolling along 
 the ground with the rotatory motion of a 
 ball ; and Ibrahim Shehem Abli, a most 
 unblushing liar, and no less notable a ne- 
 cromancer than warrior, confidently assert- 
 ed his individual ability to raise seven hun- 
 dred of these demons for evil, during any 
 moonlight night of the entire year. 
 
 The mosque and the muezzin have no, 
 existence in the interior, where religion 
 gradually shades away ; and, unlike the 
 people of Tajfira, there is here little exter- 
 nal display of Islamism observable, save in 
 the bigoted detestation evinced toward those 
 of every other than the Mohammadan creed. 
 But . and 
 
 rosaries are 111 pre- 
 
 serve their knavish reputations unblem- 
 
FEMALE CONDITION AND COSTUME. 
 
 109 
 
 ished. The white feather, which in Europe 
 is the emblem of cowardice, is appropriately 
 placed in the head of these midnight assas- 
 sins, and the neighboring tribes have not 
 ill-portrayed the "national character in the 
 assertion, that " the tongues of the Adaiel 
 are long for the express purpose of lying, 
 that their arms are long but to admit of 
 their pilfering the property of others, and 
 that their legs are long in order that they 
 may run away like poltroons in the day of 
 danger and retribution." 
 
 CJdAFTEK XXXIX. 
 
 THE GENTLE ADAlEL, AND FAREWELL TO 
 THEM. 
 
 " Yet one kind kiss before we part, 
 Drop a tear, and bid adieu." 
 
 To be the wife of a true believer, in 
 whatever state of society, from the most 
 refined to the most barbarous, is to be 
 cursed in the fullest acceptation of the 
 word. But of the two extremes, many, if 
 the choice were given, would doubtless pre- 
 fer the drudgery that fails to the lot of the 
 partner of the untaught savage, with all the 
 manifold discomforts attending precarious 
 subsistence, to the immolation and seclu- 
 sion, which in civilized Mohammadan coun- 
 tries, is imposed upon the fairest of God's 
 works. Taking no part with her lord in 
 the concerns of this world — taught to ex- 
 pect no participation in the happiness of 
 that which is to come — she is a prisoner 
 kept to minister to the lusts of the flesh ; 
 and the higher the state of cultivation — the 
 more exalted the rank of the captive — so 
 much the more rigorous is the restraint 
 imposed. 
 
 In the European acceptation of the term, 
 small traces are here to be found of the 
 sentiment of love ; and jealousy, when it 
 does exist, would seldom appear to arise 
 from any regard for the object that has cre- 
 ated the feeling. The Dankali female has 
 contrived to retain her natural right of lib- 
 erty ; and so long as the wife performs the 
 labor required at her hands, she is at full 
 liberty to flirt unreproved, to the full extent 
 of her coquettish inclinations. Upon Bai- 
 leela devolves the task of leading the fore- 
 most camel, or carrying the heavy burthen 
 slung by a sharp rope which passes across 
 her breast. She fetches water and wood, 
 prepares the milk, and boils the meat. She 
 it is who weaves mats of the date-leaf for 
 the use of her listless and indolent lord ; 
 tends his flocks of sheep and goats, dis- 
 
 mantles and erects his wigwam when mi- 
 grations are undertaken to distant pools and 
 pastures ; and, seated at his feet, chases 
 away the flies which disturb his repose be- 
 neath the shade of the palm. Here, how- 
 ever, the needle is monopolized by the 
 male, and he is sometimes to be seen in- 
 dustriously stitching a new leathern petti- 
 coat for his hard-worked partner, who, 
 conscious of the fleeting- nature of her 
 charms, makes the utmost of her short 
 lease ; and in the nature of her occupation 
 finds ample opportunities for indulgence. 
 
 The features of the Bedouin damsel, al- 
 though degenerate, resemble those of the 
 Arabian mother, from whom she claims de- 
 scent ; and so close a similarity pervades 
 the community at large, that one mould 
 would appear to have been employed for 
 every individual composing it. Nature be- 
 ing suffered to model her daughters accord- 
 ing to her will, their figures during a brief 
 period are graceful ; but feminine symme- 
 try is soon destroyed by the constant pres- 
 sure of heavy loads against the chest, and 
 under the fiery heat of her native sands, 
 the nymph is presently transformed into 
 the decrepit hag, with bent back and wad- 
 dling gait. A short apron of bullock's hide, 
 with frilled edges, is tied above the hips 
 with a broad band, the sport of every wan- 
 ton whirlwind ; but from the waist upward 
 the person is unveiled. A coif of blue calico 
 covers the head of those who have entered 
 the conjugal state, while that of the virgin 
 is unattired ; but the hair of all is arranged 
 in an infinity of elaborate plaits falling to 
 the shoulders, and liberally greased. So 
 are also sundry narrow bands of raw hide, 
 which are usually tied above the ankles by 
 way of charms to strengthen the legs, and 
 which, contracting as they dry, sink deep 
 below the surface of the part compressed. 
 
 A petaled sprig, appearing to grow out 
 of the waistband, ascends on either side of 
 the spine, in tattooed relief, resembling tam- 
 bour work, and diverging .across the ribs, 
 finishes in fancy circles around the bosom 
 according to the taste of the designer. 
 This is a constant quantity, and the charms 
 of many a belle are further heightened by 
 scarification — an angle to break the even- 
 ness of the smooth forehead, or the arc of 
 a circle to improve the dimple on the cheek, 
 being favorite devices. From the ears of 
 all who can afford personal ornament, de- 
 pend two conical drops wrought of thick 
 brass wire, spirally coiled, resting on a 
 curved iron base, and separated by two 
 broad horizontal bands of pewter. When 
 the wearer is in activity, the flapping of 
 these cumbrous metallic appendages is 
 
110 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 ridiculous enough ; and the rattle may be 
 heard to a considerable distance, as they 
 come into violent collision with a necklace 
 composed of a medley of beads, bones, cow- 
 ry shells, jingles, and amulets, strung in 
 many rows upon a leathern collar embed- 
 ded in dirt and grease, and terminating in 
 a large rhomb of pewter. Bracelets and 
 anklets of the same metal are usual, and 
 the ornament of a squalling brat with in- 
 flamed weasel-like eyes, slung over the 
 back, is rarely wanting to complete the 
 figure — a jerk to the right or to the left 
 bringing it readily across the shoulder whpn 
 occasion demands . 
 
 The Bedouin wigwam — a rectangle of 
 eight feet in length by six broadj and five 
 high — is constructed of a succession of 
 branches in couples, curved before the 
 fire, and lashed in the form of a lip-arch. 
 A mat composed of date-leaves forms the 
 roof; and the whole fabric, wherein the 
 hand of no master-builder is visible, is thus 
 readily transferred from place to place. 
 
 " Omnia mea mecum fero" 
 
 should form the motto of the wandering 
 Dankali, whose only furniture consists of 
 a tressel hollowed at the top to serve as a 
 pillow — a luxury restricted to the male 
 sex. In the huts of the more wealthy, 
 wooden platters and ladles sometimes form 
 part of the household gear, together with 
 closely-woven mat-baskets to contain milk ; 
 .but this beverage is more usually consign- 
 ed to a bag of sheep or goat-skin — sun- 
 dried flesh, grease, grain, and water, being 
 lodged also in similar receptacles. 
 
 Milk forms the principal diet of this 
 Arcadian race ; and they deride the dwel- 
 lers in cities for eating birds or fowls, de- 
 claring that the flesh must have travelled 
 upon four legs during life, to be at all palata- 
 ble. An ancient camel, a buck-goat, or a 
 bull-calf, is occasionally slaughtered with a 
 hismillah, and the flesh not immediately con- 
 sumed, cut into long thin collops, and dried 
 in the sun, to be stuffed again into the skin 
 for future use. Meat is broiled among 
 the embers, upon closely-packed pebbles, 
 which prevents it coming into contact with 
 the ashes; and the master of the house, 
 taking his seat upon the ground beside 
 a lump of raw liver, places a wedge-shaped 
 stone under either heel, in order to impart 
 a slight inclination to the body, and thus 
 preserve the balance without personal ex- 
 ertion. Picking the bones one by one out 
 of the fire, he seizes alternate mouthfuls 
 of the grilled and the raw flesh between 
 the teeth, and with an upward motion of 
 the creese, divides them close to his nose. 
 
 It may be received as an axiom that no 
 Bedouin will speak the truth, although the 
 doing so might prove to his obvious advan- 
 tage. He is not only a liar by the force 
 of rooted habit and example, but also upon 
 principle, and his oaths are simple matters 
 of form. The name of God is invoked, 
 and the Koran taken to witness, in false- 
 hoods the most palpable ; and to have sworn 
 with the last solemnity, is far from being 
 regarded in the light of a binding obliga- 
 tion. A stone having been cast upon the 
 earth, fire is quenched in water, and the 
 adjuration repeated : " May this body be- 
 come petrified, and may Allah thus ex- 
 tinguish me, if I utter that which is not 
 true ! : ' 
 
 In conversation a portion of every sen- 
 tence is invariably taken up by the person 
 addressed — the last word being generally 
 considered sufficient, or even an abbrevi- 
 ation to the final syllable. The salutation 
 of the tribes, between whom little bond 
 exists. beyond identity of language, is a 
 cold forbidding touch of the ringers, fully 
 indicative of the unfriendly sentiments of 
 the heart. All prey upon each other, and 
 every individual, in whatever rank, is by 
 nature, as well as by habit and inclination, 
 an assassin. None will hesitate to mutilate 
 or barbarously put to death any member 
 of another clan whom he may find at advan- 
 tage, either sleeping or at a distance from 
 succor — the appetite for plunder, and thirst 
 for blood, inherent in the breast, being quite 
 sufficient to dictate every act of atrocity, 
 and to impel every dastardly outrage, that 
 a savage can devise or commit. 
 
 Dwelling in a scene of aridity, hostility, 
 and bloodshed, traversed by barren chains 
 bearing the impress of volcanic desolation, 
 and cursed with a soil rarely susceptible 
 of cultivation, but still more rarely culti- 
 vated, the hand of the roving Bedouin is 
 against every man, and every man's hand 
 is against him. The truth of the scriptural 
 prophecy respecting the untameable de- 
 sendants of Ishmael, here as elsewhere is 
 well maintained ; nor were the words of the 
 poet ever more truly exemplified than in the 
 hot weary wastes of the Adaiel : 
 
 " Nothing save rapine, indolence, and guile, 
 And woes on woes, a still revolving train, 
 Whose horrid circle has made human life 
 Than non-existence worse." 
 
 Arrogant, treacherous, and degraded bar- 
 barians, bound in the fetters of idleness and 
 superstition — dissemblers, whose every 
 word is a lie, and whose overbearing and 
 unaccommodating disposition grafted upon 
 bigoted intolerance, was displayed on every 
 occasion, to the personal discomfort of those 
 
DEPARTURE FROM FARRI. 
 
 Ill 
 
 by whom they were paid and entertained — 
 there was never throughout the long, tedi- 
 ous, and .trying journey, either on the part 
 of elders, escort, or camel-drivers, the 
 slightest wish or effort, either to honor or 
 oblige ; and it was only on occasions when 
 fire-arms, which they could not gainsay, 
 might prove of service to thoma©lw>s, that 
 the blubber-lip did not swell in scorn at 
 the Christian Kafirs, who were sneered at 
 even in conversation. And these, too, were 
 savages who scarcely knew the use of 
 bread, who rarely employed water for the 
 ablution of their filthy persons, and who 
 kept their heads and bodies floating in a 
 perpetual sea of sheep's-tail fat. On taking 
 leave of the tormenting fraternity, at this 
 the happy termination of a weary and peril- 
 ous pilgrimage, which had been performed 
 without once taking off the clothes, it may 
 safely be averred that no member of the 
 British embassy had ever passed so long 
 a period with so large a party, without de- 
 siring to make further acquaintance with 
 at least one individual : but the last touch 
 of the cold palm was for once received 
 with heartfelt satisfaction, and each bade 
 adieu to the whole community with an in- 
 ward hope that it might never fall to his 
 evil lot to see their scowling faces more. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 ASCENT OF THE ABYSSINIAN ALPS. 
 
 Having thus happily shaken the Adel 
 dust from off the feet, and taken affection- 
 ate leave of the greasy Danakil, it is not 
 a little pleasant to bid adieu also to their 
 scorching plains of unblest sterility. Eve- 
 ry change of the soil and climate of Afri- 
 ca is in extremes, and barrenness and 
 unbounded fertility border on each other, 
 with a suddenness whereof the denizens 
 of temperate climes can form no concep- 
 tion. As if by the touch of the magi- 
 cian's wand, the scene now passes in an 
 instant, from parched and arid wastes, to 
 the green and lovely highlands of Abys- 
 sinia, presenting one sheet of rich and 
 thriving cultivation. Each fertile knoll is 
 crowned with its peaceful hamlet — each 
 rural vale traversed by its crystal brook, 
 and teeming with herds and flocks. The 
 cool mountain zephyr is redolent of eglan- 
 tine and jasmine, and the soft green turf, 
 spangled with clover, daisies, and butter- 
 cups, yields at every step the aromatic fra- 
 grance of the mint and thyme. 
 
 The baggage having at length been con- 
 
 signed to the shoulders of six hundred 
 grumbling Moslem porters, assembled by 
 the royal fiat from the adjacent villages, 
 and who, now on the road, formed a Tine 
 which extended upward of a mile, the 
 embassy, on the morning of the 17th, 
 commenced the ascent of the Abyssinian 
 Alps. Hitherto, every officious attendant 
 functionary had exerted himself to the 
 utmost to promote delay, confusion, and 
 annoyance ; and each now exhorted the 
 respective members of the party to urge 
 their jaded beasts to increased speed, and 
 hasten onward over a rugged path which, 
 in the toil-worn condition of the majority, 
 was not to be ascended without consider- 
 able difficulty. The king was waxing 
 impatient to behold the delighting things 
 that had been imported, an account of 
 which, so far as the prying eyes of his 
 servants had been able to discern, had 
 been duly transmitted to the palace ; and 
 in order to celebrate the arrival of so 
 great an accession of wealth, his majesty's 
 flutes once more poured out their melody, 
 and his warriors again chanted their wild 
 notes among the hills, until far out of hear- 
 ing of the astonished population of Farri. 
 
 It was a cool and lovely morning, and a 
 fresh invigorating breeze played over the 
 mountain side, on which, though less than 
 ten degress removed from the equator, flour- 
 ished the vegetation of northern climes. 
 The rough and stony road wound on by a 
 steep ascent over hill and dale — now skirt- 
 ing the extreme verge of a precipitous 
 cliff — now dipping into the basin of some 
 verdant hollow, whence, after traversing 
 the pebbly course of a murmuring brook, 
 it suddenly emerged into a succession of 
 shady lanes, bounded by flowering hedge- 
 rows. 
 
 The w T ild rose, the fern, the lantana, 
 and the honeysuckle, smiled around a suc- 
 cession of highly cultivated terraces, into 
 which the entire range was broken by 
 banks supporting the soil ; and on every 
 eminence stood a cluster of conically- 
 thatched houses, environed by green 
 hedges, and partially embowered amid 
 dark trees. As the troop passed on, the 
 peasant abandoned his occupation in the 
 field, to gaze at the novel procession ; 
 while merry groups of hooded women, 
 decked in scarlet and crimson, summoned 
 by the renewal of martial strains, left their 
 avocations in the hut to welcome the king's 
 guests with a shrill zij-oleet, which rang 
 from every hamlet. The leather petticoat 
 of the wandering shepherdess was no 
 longer to be seen. Birds warbled among 
 the leafy groves, and throughout the rich 
 
112 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 landscape reigned an air of peace and 
 plenty, that could not fail to prove highly 
 delightful after the recent weary pilgrim- 
 age across the hot desert. 
 
 At various turns of the road the pros- 
 pect was rugged, wild, and beautiful. Ai- 
 gibbi, the first Christian village of Efat, 
 was soon revealed on the summit of a 
 height, where, within an inclosure of 
 thorns, repose the remains of a traveller, 
 who not long before had closed his eyes on 
 the threshold of the kingdom, a victim to 
 the pestilential sky of the lowlands. Three 
 principal ranges were next crossed in suc- 
 cession, severally intersected by rivulets 
 which are all tributary to the Hawash, 
 although the waters are for the most part 
 absorbed before they reach that stream. 
 Lastly, the view opened upon the wooded 
 site of Ankober, occupying a central posi- 
 tion in a horse-shoe crescent of moun- 
 tains, still high above, which inclose a 
 magnificent amphitheatre ten miles in 
 diameter. This is clothed throughout 
 with a splendidly varied and vigorous veg- 
 etation, and choked by minor abutments, 
 converging toward its gorge on the con- 
 fines of the Adel plains. 
 
 Here the journey was for the present to 
 terminate, and, thanks to Abyssinian jeal- 
 ousy and suspicion, many days were yet 
 to elapse ere the remaining height should 
 be climbed to the capital of Shoa, now 
 distant two hours' walk. Three thousand 
 feet above the level of the Farri stands 
 the market town of Alio Amba, upon the 
 crest of a scarped prong formed by the 
 confluence of two mountain streams. A 
 Mohamrnadan population, not exceeding 
 one thousand souls, the inmates of two 
 hundred and fifty straggling houses, is 
 chiefly composed of Adaiel, Argobba, and 
 merchants from Aussa and Hurrur ; and 
 among this motley community it had been 
 ordained that the embassy should halt 
 that night. 
 
 Ascending by a steep stony path to an 
 open spot, on which the weekly market is 
 held, the escort fired a desultory salute ; 
 and while crowds of both sexes flocked to 
 behold the white strangers, forming a 
 double line, they indulged in the perform- 
 ance of the war-dance. Relieved occa- 
 sionally by some of the younger braves, 
 who had earned distinctions during the 
 last campaign, a veteran capered before 
 the ranks with a drawn sword grasped be- 
 tween his teeth; and for the edification 
 of the bystanders, the notes of a martial 
 song were powerfully poured forth in cho- 
 rus from three hundred Christian throats. 
 
 The cone occupied by Alio Amba, is 
 
 only one of the thousand precipitous emi- 
 nences into which the entire mountain- 
 side is broken on its junction with the 
 plain. Swollen and foaming, the inter- 
 secting torrents appeared from the pinna- 
 cle like small threads of silver, twining 
 and gliding far below amid green bushes 
 and verdant fields, to the great outlet, 
 whence they escape to be soon lost on 
 the desert sand. Together with a bound- 
 less prospect over the inhospitable tract 
 beneath, countless villages now met the 
 eye upon the entire intervening mountain- 
 side, and wherever the slope permitted of 
 the plough being held, there cultivation 
 flourished. Wheat, barley, Indian-corn, 
 beans, peas, cotton, and oil-plant, throve 
 luxuriantly around every hamlet — the 
 regularly marked fields mounting in ter- 
 races to the height of three or four thou- 
 sand feet, and becoming in their bound- 
 aries gradually more and more indistinct, 
 until totally lost on the shadowy green 
 side of Mamrat, " The Mother of Grace." 
 
 This towering peak, still shrouded in 
 clouds when all was sunshine below, is 
 clothed with a dense forest of timber, and 
 at an elevation of some thirteen thousand 
 feet above the sea, affords secure shelter 
 to the treasures of the monarch, which 
 have been amassing since the reestablish- 
 ment of the kingdom, one hundred and 
 fifty years since. Loza forms the apex of 
 the opposite side of the crescent, and 
 perched on its wooded summit is a monas- 
 tery forming the tempory abode of Hailoo 
 Mulakoot, heir-apparent to the throne of 
 Shoa. But by far the most interesting 
 feature in the stern landscape is a conical 
 hill, conspicuous from its isolated position, 
 and rising amid dark groves of pine-like 
 juniper, from a lofty serrated ridge. Here- 
 on stands the stronghold of Goncho, the 
 residence of Wulasma Mohammad, con- 
 structed over the state dungeon keep, in 
 which, loaded with galling fetters, the 
 three younger brothers of a Christian king 
 — victims to a barbarous statute — have 
 found a living tomb since the present ac- 
 cession, a period of thirty years ! 
 
 After much needless detention in the 
 market-place, exposed to the impertinent 
 comments and rude gaze of the thronging 
 populace, Ayto Kalama Work, a tall raw- 
 boned man with a loose scambling gait and 
 a dead yellow eye, introduced himself as 
 governor of the town. He condescended 
 in person to conduct the British guests of 
 his royal master to a mansion, which had 
 once boasted of himself as a tenant, bu f 
 was now in the occupation of a fat old 
 Moslem dame, and her three daughters 
 
CHEERLESS LODGINGS. 
 
 113 
 
 whose respective appellatives being duly 
 translated, proved worthy the days of 
 Prince Cherry and Fairstar. Eve, Sweet- 
 limes, and Sunbeam, all clothed alike in 
 scarlet habiliments, vacated the premises 
 with the utmost alacrity, and many good- 
 humored smiles ; but owing to the length 
 and difficulty of the road, that portion of 
 the baggage most in request did not ar- 
 rive until midnight — when, through the 
 officious interference of Ayto Woida Hana, 
 whose garrulity had increased rather than 
 abated, a new inventory of effects in charge 
 of each principal of a village was to be 
 penned by the royal scribe, and thus neither 
 bedding nor food could be obtained. 
 
 The edifice so ostentatiously allotted for 
 the accommodation of the party by him of 
 the unpromising exterior, was of an ellip- 
 tical form, about thirty feet in length by 
 eighteen in breadth, and surrounded on 
 every side by those tall rank weeds that 
 delight to luxuriate in filth. Two un- 
 dressed stakes supported a tottering grass 
 thatch. Windows there were none. A 
 long narrow aperture did duty for a door, 
 and the walls, which met the roof at a 
 distance of ten feet from the ground, were 
 of the very w T orst description of wattle and 
 dab — the former an assemblage of rotten 
 reeds, and the latter decayed by time in a 
 sufficiency of places to admit the light in- 
 dispensable to a full development of the 
 dirt and misery within. 
 
 In the principal of two apartments, a 
 circular excavation in the floor surrounded 
 by a parapet of clay, served as a stove. 
 Heavy slabs of stone, embedded in high 
 mud pedestals, used for grinding grain, 
 engrossed one corner, and in another w r ere 
 piled heaps of old bullock hides in various 
 stages of decomposition. Very buggy- 
 looking bedsteads, equipped with a web of 
 narrow thongs in lieu of cotton tape, as- 
 sumed that air of discomfort w T hich a bro- 
 ken or ill-adapted leg is so prone to impart. 
 The narrow necks of divers earthen urn- 
 shaped vessels containing mead, beer, and 
 water, were stuffed with bunches of green 
 leaves. Larger mud receptacles were 
 filled with wheat, barley, and beans ; and 
 huge lumps of raw beef, with sundry bul- 
 locks' heads, which were promiscuously 
 strewed about, garnished the floor, the 
 beds, and the walls, in every direction. 
 
 The inner chamber boasted the presence 
 of mules and female slaves, who, if judg- 
 ment might be formed from the evil odors 
 exhaled, were revelling in the garbage of 
 the shambles. Constructed on the slope 
 of a hill, the floor of the ediiice throughout 
 was of the natural earth, and dipping at 
 
 least one foot below the level of the thresh- 
 old, had never known the presence of the 
 housemaid's besom. Equalling the filth- 
 iest Irish hovel in dirt and discomfort, the 
 cheerless abode could boast of no sleek 
 little pig, and of no pond covered with fat 
 ducks, both being alike held in abhorrence 
 
 by the Jew-Christians of Shoo- , and evon 
 
 the old hat was wanting, wherewith to 
 cram the gaps through which whistled the 
 keen cutting blast of Alpine climes. 
 
 Fatigue soon closed the weary eyes ; 
 but the change in the atmosphere, conse- 
 quent upon the great elevation attained, 
 presently interfered with repose upon the 
 damp bare floor. Rain then set in with 
 extreme violence. The water came tum- 
 bling through the manifold apertures in 
 the crazy walls and shattered roof, and 
 having speedily flooded the sloping court, 
 poured over the threshold to deluge the 
 floor with standing pools. Although the 
 smoke of sodden wood, unable to escape, 
 proved an inconvenience scarcely to be 
 borne, there was no dispensing with a 
 fire ; and troops of fleas and sanguinary 
 bugs, coursing over the body, by their 
 painful and poisonous attacks, might al- 
 most have caused a sigh for the execrated 
 plains of the Ada'i'el, which, with all their 
 discomforts of watch and ward, were at 
 least free from the curse of vermin. 
 
 But the lingering day dawned at last, 
 and with the tedious hours of a cold and 
 sleepless night the rain had also disap- 
 peared. As the rising sun shone against 
 the lofty and now cloudless peaks, prepara- 
 tions were made for continuing the journey 
 to Ankober, in accordance with the royal 
 invitation ; but Ayto Wolda Hana, whose 
 presence ever betokened evil, after wading 
 through the compliments of the morning, 
 proceeded w T ith unbending gravity to un- 
 fold the dismal tidings that the monarch 
 had altered his resolves. His majesty 
 would tarry yet some days longer at Debra 
 Berhan, and, in consequence, graciously 
 extended the option of visiting the court 
 there or resting at Alio Amba, pending his 
 indefinite arrival at the capital. 
 
 The difficulty, not to say the impossibility, 
 of transporting the mass of baggage to so 
 great a distance, in such weather, and with 
 very inadequate means at command, ren- 
 dered imperative the adoption of the latter 
 alternative. Ayto Wolda Hana and Ka- 
 tama, with the whole of the escort, mean- 
 while took their departure, to report orally 
 the important discoveries they had been 
 able to make relative to the nature of the 
 presents designed for the throne, together 
 with the particulars of the quarrel betwix* 
 
114 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 Izhak and Mohammad Ali, and the respec- 
 tive pretensions of the rivals to the honor 
 of having conducted the British visitors 
 into Abyssinia. 
 
 One of those mysterious boxes, the lad- 
 ing of which, unviolated by the scrutinizing 
 scribes, remained hermetically sealed to the 
 
 Uxqutaitivc g-oao of officious spies, had, be- 
 fore leaving Farri, been broken open with 
 the design of obtaining access to an indis- 
 pensable portion of the contents. To this 
 unfortunate necessity may possibly be as- 
 cribed the sudden and unlooked-for altera- 
 tion in the royal intentions. In lieu of 
 ingots of gold were revealed to the astound- 
 ed sight the leathern buckets, linch-stocks, 
 and tough ash staves pertaining- to the 
 galloper guns. Words of derision burst 
 from the mouth of every disappointed spec- 
 tator. ;t These," exclaimed fifty vain-glG- 
 rious lips at once, " be but a poor people. 
 What is their nation when compared with- 
 the Amhara ? for behold in this trash, spe- 
 cimens of the offerings brought from their 
 boasted land to the footstool of the might- 
 iest of monarchs !" 
 
 CHAPTER XLI 
 
 PROBATION AT ALIO AMEA. 
 
 Slowly passed the days of fog, and the 
 nights of dire discomfort, during the tedious 
 detention which followed this unfortunate 
 discovery. From the terrace commanding 
 a boundless view over the desolate regions 
 traversed, the overflowing channel of the 
 Hawash, and the lakes Le Ado and Ailabel- 
 lo could each morning be perceived spark- 
 ling with increased lustre, as their fast- 
 filling basins glittered like sheets of bur- 
 nished silver under the rays of the rising 
 sun. The industrious fleas continued their 
 nocturnal persecutions, as if never to be 
 sated with European blood ; and a constant 
 succession of clouds, which ascended the 
 valley, drawing a gray cold curtain before 
 the hoary head of Mamrat, proclaimed, 
 amid prolonged peals of thunder, the com- 
 mencement of the rainy season. 
 
 But each succeeding night and day 
 brought no nearer prospect of release, and 
 the change in the imperial resolves were 
 scarcely less frequent than those which 
 came over the towering face of the strong- 
 hold of his subterranean treasure. Re- 
 monstrances, penned with infinite labor and 
 difficulty, were responded by endearing 
 messages, garbled at the pleasure of those 
 to whom they were confided ; but the subtle 
 
 excuse for the further delay of the desired 
 audience was never wanting, and conjec- 
 ture became exhausted in devising the true 
 cause of the mortifying indifference dis- 
 played to the rich presents from " beyond 
 the great sea." 
 
 A desire on the part of the deepot to pre- 
 serve due respect in the eyes of his lieges, 
 and perhaps also to imbue the minds of his 
 foreign visitors with a befitting sense of 
 his importance, were the most probable 
 motives. Under the existing disappoint- 
 ment, it afforded some consolation to re- 
 member that embassies of old to Northern 
 Abyssinia had experienced similar treat- 
 ment, and to know that delegates to Shoa 
 from the courts of Gondar and Tigre are 
 never presented to the king until weeks 
 after their arrival — a custom originating 
 probably in the more kindly feeling of al- 
 lowing rest to the way-worn traveller, at 
 the close of a long and perilous journey, 
 but perpetuated for less worthy considera- 
 tions. • 
 
 At length there came a pressing invita- 
 tion to visit the monarch at Debra Berhan, 
 coupled with an assurance that the master 
 of the horse should be in attendance to 
 escort the party. But no master of the 
 horse was forthcoming at the time appoint- 
 ed, and the following day brought a pathetic 
 billet from the palace— a tiny parchment 
 scroll, enveloped in a sheet of wax, breath- 
 ing in its contents regret and disappoint- 
 ment. " Son of my house, my heart longed 
 to behold you, and I believed that you would 
 come. As you appeared not, I passed the 
 day in distress, fearing lest the waters 
 should have carried you away, or that the 
 mule had fallen on the road. I command- 
 ed Melkoo to w T ait and receive you, and to 
 conduct you to me ; but when I hoped to 
 see you arrive, you stayed out. The mule 
 returned ; and when I inquired whither you 
 were gone, they told me that you were left. 
 I have committed the fault, in that I gave 
 not orders that they should go down, and 
 bring you." 
 
 Meanwhile, the most vigorous attempts 
 were made, on the part both of the wul- 
 asma and of Ayto Wolda Hana, to exer- 
 cise exclusive control over the baggage 
 lodged at Alio Amba. Locks were placed 
 upon the latches, and guards appointed 
 over the doors of the houses wherein it 
 was deposited — fully as much care being 
 taken to preclude access on the part of 
 those by whom it had been brought, as if 
 his Christian majesty had already become 
 the bond- fide proprietor. Repeated orders 
 on the subject, obtained from the palace, 
 were uniformly disregarded by the over- 
 
HEREDITARY THIEF-CATCHER. 
 
 115 
 
 zealous functionaries, and it was only by 
 force of arms that the repositaries were 
 finally burst open, and that charge of the 
 contents could be resumed. 
 
 Neither were the persecutions of the 
 gaunt governor of the town among the 
 least of the evils to be endured, resulting 
 as they did in consequences the most in- 
 convenient. Specially appointed to enter- 
 tain and provide for the wants of the 
 guests, he supplied at the royal expense 
 provisions alike inferior in quality and de- 
 ficient in quantity, taking care at the same 
 time that the king's munificence should 
 be in no wise compromised by purchases, 
 for these he clandestinely dbmp-iH LIis 
 cv^juvi, uugm be traced to the same jeal- 
 ous feelings that pervaded the breast of his 
 colleagues in office. In the despotic king- 
 dom of Shoa, the sovereign can alone pur- 
 chase colored cloth or choice goods ; and 
 Ayto Kalama Work, who is entitled to a 
 certain percentage upon all imports, hav- 
 ing formed a tolerably shrewd estimate of 
 the contents of the bales and boxes, be- 
 lieved that these would effectually clog the 
 market, and that his dues would be no 
 longer forthcoming. Resolved to extend 
 the most unequivocal proofs of his discon- 
 tent, he was pleased to assign to the sur- 
 viving horses and mules of the foreigners 
 a tract destitute of pasturage — one mul- 
 berry-colored steed only being pampered, 
 because from size, color, and appearance, 
 it was assumed that he must be intended 
 for the king. The continued drenching 
 rain at night during the later marches, 
 with the intense heat and general absence 
 of water and forage throughout the whole 
 pilgrimage, had sadly reduced the original 
 number. Many more had dropped on the 
 ascent from Farri, and of those whose 
 strength had enabled them to climb the 
 more favored mountains of Abyssinia, the 
 tails of one half were now presented as 
 evidences of their fate. 
 
 Among the very few incidents that oc- 
 curred to break the monotony of the pro- 
 bationary sojourn, was the arrival of the 
 " lebashi," the hereditary thief-catcher of 
 the kingdom. For several hours the little 
 town was in a state of confusion and dis- 
 may. Burglary had been committed — di- 
 vers pieces of salt had been abstracted, and 
 the appearance of the police-officer was 
 not one whit more agreeable to the inno- 
 cent than to the guilty. 
 
 A ring having been formed in the mar- 
 ket-place by the crowded spectators, the 
 diviner introduced his accomplice, a stolid- 
 looking lad, who seated himself upon a 
 bullock's hide with an air of deep resigna- 
 
 tion. An intoxicating drug was, under 
 many incantations, extracted from a mys- 
 terious leathern scrip, and thrown into a 
 horn filled with new milk ; and this pota- 
 tion, aided by several hurried inhalations 
 of a certain narcotic, had the instantaneous 
 effect of rendering the recipient stupidly 
 frantic. Springing upon his feet, he dash- 
 ed, foaming at the mouth, among the rab- 
 ble, and without any respect to age or sex, 
 dealt vigorously about him, until at length 
 secured by a cord about the loins, when he 
 dragged his master round and round from 
 street to street, snuffling through the nose 
 like a bear in the dark recesses of every 
 
 lirmsp. anrl Ipaving- nnccrntuiizpd X\0 hole 
 
 or corner. 
 
 After scraping for a considerable time 
 with his nails under the foundation of a 
 hut, wherein he suspected the delinquent 
 to lurk, the imp entered, sprang upon the 
 back of the proprietor, and became totally 
 insensible. The man was forthwith ar- 
 raigned before a tribunal of justice, at 
 which Ayto Kalama Work presided ; and 
 although no evidence could be adduced, 
 and he swore repeatedly to his innocence 
 by the life of the king, he was sentenced 
 by the just judges to pay forty pieces of 
 salt. This fine was exactly double the 
 amount alleged to have been stolen, and 
 one fourth became the perquisite of the 
 lebashi. 
 
 The services of the hereditary thief- 
 catcher are in universal requisition. Should 
 the property lost consist of live instead of 
 dead stock, it not unfrequently happens 
 that the disciple remains torpid upon the 
 ground ; when all parties concerned feel 
 perfectly satisfied that the animal has either 
 strayed or been destroyed by wild beasts, 
 and the expenses attending the divination 
 must be paid by the owner. With the de- 
 sign of testing the skill of the magician, 
 the negoos once upon a time commanded 
 his confidential page to secrete certain ar- 
 ticles of wearing apparel pertaining to the 
 royal wardrobe, and after an investigation 
 of four days, the proper individual being 
 selected with becoming formality, the pro- 
 fessional reputation of "him who catches" 
 acquired a lustre which has since remained 
 untarnished. 
 
 Many a weary hour was passed in list- 
 ening to tales of real or counterfeit mala- 
 dies, which were daily recounted in the 
 hovel at Alio Amba. Witchcraft and the 
 influence of the evil eye have firm posses- 
 sion of the mind of every inhabitant, and 
 sufficiently diverting were the complaints 
 laid to their door by those who sought 
 amulets and talismans at the hand of the 
 
116 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 foreigners. A young Moslem damsel, 
 whose fickle swam had deserted her, could 
 never gaze on the moon that her heart 
 went not pit-a-pat, while the tears stream- 
 ed from her dark eyes ; and a hoary veteran 
 with one foot in the grave sought the res- 
 toration of rhetorical powers, which had 
 formed the boast of his youth, but which 
 had been destroyed by the pernicious gaze 
 of a rival. " Of yore," quoth he who in- 
 troduced the patient, " this was a powerful 
 orator ; and when he lifted up his voice in 
 the assembly, men marvelled as he spoke ; 
 hn± now. although his heart is still elo- 
 quent, his tongue is niggard of words." 
 
 Equally llU|Jt;le».3 \V <Xo tho oaoo of a,n \ii.l- 
 
 fortunate slave-dealer, who crawled in 
 search of relief to the abode of the king's 
 guests. A Galla of the Ittoo tribe had un- 
 dertaken the removal of severe rheuma- 
 tism, contracted on the road from Hurrur ; 
 to which end he administered a powerful 
 narcotic, which rendered the patient in- 
 sensible. Armed with a sharp creese, he 
 then proceeded to cut and slash in every 
 direction, from the crown of the head to 
 the sole of the foot ; and when the muti- 
 lated victim awoke to a sense of his mel- 
 ancholy condition, the ruthless operator 
 had disappeared. Scarred and seamed in 
 every part of his body, he now presented 
 the appearance of one who had been flayed 
 alive,- and the skin had so contracted over 
 the gaps whence the flesh had been scoop- 
 ed, that, unless with extreme difficulty, he 
 could neither eat, drink, nor speak. " My 
 life is burdensome," groaned the miserable 
 picture of human calamity ; " and it were 
 better that I should die. I have bathed in 
 the hot springs at Korari without deriving 
 the slightest relief. You white men know 
 everything : give me something to heal 
 me, for the love of Allah !" 
 
 CHAPTER XLII. 
 
 THE WEEKLY MARKET. 
 
 Surrounded by the myrmidons who 
 collect the royal dues, Ayto Kalama Work 
 was every Friday morning to be seen seat- 
 ed beneath the scanty shelter of ancient 
 acacia, which throws its withered arms 
 over the centre of the market-place. On 
 this day alone are purchases to be made ; 
 and the inhabitants of the adjacent villages 
 pouring from all quarters to lay in their 
 weekly supplies, a scene of unusual bus- 
 tle and confusion animates this otherwise 
 most quiet and uninteresting location. 
 
 Shortly after daybreak, wares of every 
 description are displayed under the canopy 
 of heaven, and crowds of both sexes flock- 
 ing to the stall of the vender, the din of 
 human voices is presently at its height. 
 Honey, cotton, grain, and other articles of 
 consumption, the produce of the estate of 
 the Amhara farmer, are exposed for sale or 
 barter. The Dankali merchant exhibits 
 his gay assortment of metals, colored 
 thread, and glass-ware. The wild Galla 
 squats beside the produce of his flocks, and 
 the Moslem trader from the interior dis- 
 plays ostrich feathers, or some other article 
 of curiosity from the distant tribe. Bales 
 of ootw oWh. and bags of coffee from 
 Cafra and Enarea, are strewea is ^.^^ 
 direction. Horses and mules in numbers 
 are shown off among the crowd to in- 
 crease the turmoil ; nor is even the wan- 
 dering Hebrew wanting to complete the 
 scene of traffic, haggling, and barter, which 
 continues, without intermission, until a 
 late hour in the afternoon, when the vil- 
 lage relapses again into its wonted six days 
 of quiet and repose. 
 
 Swathed and folded in dirty cotton cloth, 
 behold, in the cultivator of the soil, the 
 original of the Egyptian mummy. Greasy 
 and offensive in person and in habits, he 
 moves cringingly to pay his tax to the 
 governor of the fair, w T ho sits in conscious 
 dignity upon a stone ; and prostrating him- 
 self with shoulders bared among the mud, 
 the serf hands forth the measure of grain 
 from the leathern scrip, or scoops out the 
 prescribed meed of butter from the jar — 
 the vassal token of permission enjoyed to 
 earn his bread by the unceasing hand of 
 labor. No spark of intelligence illumines 
 his dull features ; not a trace of indepen- 
 dence can be discovered in his slouching 
 gait ; and the cumbrous robe with which 
 he is invested would indeed seem far bet- 
 ter adapted for a quiet resting-place in the 
 tomb, than for the bustling avocations of 
 stirring life. 
 
 Here swaggers a valiant gun-man of the 
 king's matchlock guard. The jealousy of 
 the monarch forbids the removal of the 
 primitive weapon from the royal presence, 
 but the white herkoom feather floats in all 
 the pride of blood over clotted tufts moist 
 with the beloved grease ; and the dark 
 scowl and the lowering brow betoken the 
 reckless cruelty which stains the charac- 
 ter of the band. But the man is a poor 
 slave, and his degraded state has entirely 
 destroyed the few traits of humanity which 
 might have smiled upon his nativity. 
 
 The surly Ada'iel brushes past in inso- 
 lent indifference, to examine the female 
 
THE WOMEN— A MAN IN AUTHORITY. 
 
 117 
 
 slaves in the wicker hut of the rover from 
 the south. His murderous creese insures 
 from the bystanders a high respect, which 
 frequent disasters in the low country has 
 riveted on the heart of the Amhara ; and 
 men turn in wonder to gaze upon the mor- 
 tal who entertaineth not a slavish adoration 
 for the great monarch of Shoa. 
 
 Squatted beside his foreign wares and 
 glittering beads, see the wily huckster of 
 Hurrur, with his turban and blue-checked 
 kilt. His dealings, it is true, are of no 
 very extensive amount ; and salt, not sil- 
 ver, is the medium of exchange ; but there 
 is still room for the exercise of his knav- 
 ery. The countenance both of buyer and 
 seller exhibits an anxious and business- 
 like expression ; and the same noise and 
 confusion prevails regarding an extra two- 
 pence-halfpenny, as if the transaction in- 
 volved a shower of golden guineas. 
 
 The Christian women flit through the 
 busy fair with eggs and poultry, and other 
 produce of the farm. Their ill-favored 
 features are not improved, either by the 
 eradication of the eyebrow, or by the bare 
 shaven crown dripping with rancid butter ; 
 and the dirty persons of all are invariably 
 shrouded in yet dirtier habiliments, from 
 the tall masculine damsel of sixteen sum- 
 mers, to the decrepit wrinkled hag, who in 
 cracked notes proclaims ever and anon, 
 " amole alliche Ur" " salt to sell for sil- 
 ver." 
 
 The free and stately mien of the oriental 
 female, and the light and graceful garment 
 of the east, are alike wanting. The heavy 
 load is tied upon the back of the pack- 
 horse, and the bent and broken figure of 
 the Amhara dame is debarred by the severe 
 law of the despot from the decoration of 
 finery or costly ornament. A huge bee- 
 hive-shaped wig, elaborately curled and 
 frosted, and massive pewter buttons thrust 
 through the lobe of the ear, constitute her 
 only pride ; and nature, alas ! has too often 
 withheld' even the smallest portion of those 
 feminine attractions, which in other climes 
 form the charm of her sex. 
 
 The inhabitants of Argobba or Efat, un- 
 der the control of the sinister eye of the 
 wulasma, are followers of the false proph- 
 et, and speak a distinct language. Little 
 difference, however, is observable in the 
 external appearance of the males from that 
 of the Amhara subject of the empire ; and 
 it is not until the removal of the muffling 
 cloth that the rosary of bright-spotted beads 
 is displayed in lieu of the dark-blue em- 
 blem of Christianity worn throughout 
 Ethiopi. vomeii. on the other hand, 
 
 are at once recognizable, no less by their 
 
 Arab gipsy features, than by their long 
 braided tresses streaming over the shoul- 
 der, the ample smock of red cloth, dyed 
 purple with accumulated lard, and the 
 nun-like hood of the same material, but- 
 toned close under the chin. 
 
 Fairer, more slender, and better favored 
 than their coarse Christian sisters of the 
 more Alpine regions, they are still scarcely 
 less greasy and unattractive. Loaded with 
 amulets and beads, their belief is proclaim- 
 ed by the oft-repeated exclamation, " Ham- 
 du-lillah /" " Praise be unto Allah !" — the 
 courteous interrogatories of every passer- 
 by, anent health, rest, and welfare, being 
 by the burly and masculine ladies of Shoa, 
 responded by the words " Egzia behere 
 maskin!''' " Thanks be unto God !" Un- 
 restricted by harem law, they fidget about 
 in every direction, their great sparkling 
 eyes peering through a mass of coal-black 
 hair, half concealed by the crimson cowl, 
 and the large shining necklace of amber 
 reaching nearly to the waist. But the 
 hideous sack chemise veils every feature 
 of figure and personal beauty, and the na- 
 ked hands and feet are alone exhibited, 
 boti rather misshapen from hard work and 
 undue exposure to the climate. 
 
 The crowd makes way for a great Chris- 
 tian governor, probably from some distant 
 province near the Nile. He is surrounded 
 by a boisterous host of armed attendants, 
 and, like them, paddles with unshod feet 
 through the stiff black mire. Tiae capa- 
 cious stomach, and the bright silver sword 
 with tulip scabbard, betoken high honor 
 and command. An ambling mule tricked 
 out in brass jingles and chains follows in 
 his path ; a long taper wand towers above 
 his shoulder; and his portly figure is com- 
 pletely shrouded in the folds of a cotton 
 robe, bedecked from end to end with broad 
 crimson stripes. The garment might be 
 improved by ablution ; but repose upon the 
 hide of a bullock is no aid to purity of ap- 
 parel, and it is white in comparison with 
 those of his unwashed retinue. 
 
 The arrangement of his hair has occu- 
 pied the entire morning, and the steam of 
 the fetid butter, which glistens among the 
 minute curls, pervades the entire atmo- 
 sphere. Muffled high above the chin, the 
 eyes and nose of the functionary are alone 
 submitted to the vulgar gaze, and as he 
 halts for a moment to wonder at the un- 
 wonted sight of the Gyptzi strangers, the 
 bloodshot eye betrays the midnight de- 
 bauch, and the wrinkles of his turned-up 
 nose, the scorn of the savage at the differ- 
 ence of costume and complexion. Ap- 
 proaching - the acacia his shoulders are tern- 
 
118 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 porarily bared to the pompous dignitary 
 presiding over the fair, who rising to re- 
 ceive him, returns the compliment, and 
 there ensues a tissue of inquiries unknown 
 even to the code of Chesterfield. 
 
 Cantering over the tiny plain — a scanty 
 level of an hundred yards—the wild Galla 
 enters the scene of confusion, his long 
 tresses streaming in the wind, and his gar- 
 ment blue with the grease of ages. A jar 
 of honey or a basket of butter, is lashed to 
 the crupper of his high-peaked saddle ; the 
 steed is lean and shaggy as the rider, and 
 the snort and the start from either proclaim 
 undefined terror and amazement at the 
 strange sights, and the rugged rocks and 
 precipices, unknown to the boundless mea- 
 dows of their own green land. 
 
 Dandies there are none, in aaght of out- 
 ward appearance, for the arrangement of 
 the hair is the only latitude allowed to the 
 invention of the would-be fop. The cotton 
 cloth in every degree of impurity, floats 
 over the swart shoulder both of noble and 
 of serf. Bare heads and naked feet are 
 the property of all. and the possession of 
 the spear and shield alone marks the cif- 
 ference of rank. The chief scorns to carry 
 a weapon except during the foray or the 
 fight, whereas his followers never leave 
 the threshold of their rude dwellings, with- 
 out the lance in their hand, and buckler on 
 their arm. 
 
 The terror and abhorrence in which the 
 low country and its attendant dangers are 
 held by the Abyssinian population, have 
 placed nearly the entire trade of Alio Araba 
 in the hands of the Danakil, who are treat- 
 ed by the monarch of Shoa with all defer- 
 ence and respect. Caravans arrive every 
 month during the fair season from Aussa 
 and Taj lira, and the traffic, considering the 
 manifold drawbacks, may be said to be 
 brisk and profitable. Numbers of foreign 
 merchants, those of Hurrur especially, 
 while disposing of their goods, hold their 
 temporary residence at the market town, 
 the climate of which, many degrees warmer 
 than the cold summit of the range which 
 towers two thousand feet above, proves far 
 more congenial to their taste and habits. 
 
 With the proceeds of foreign imported 
 merchandise, human beings kidnapped in 
 the interior countries of Africa are pur- 
 chased in the adjacent slave mart of Abd el 
 Russool. These wretched victims are then 
 taken through the Amhara province of Gid- 
 dem to the Wollo and Argobba frontiers, 
 some five days' journey to the north, and 
 resold at a profit of fifty per cent.,— the 
 sums realized being there invested in am- 
 oles, or blocks of black salt, the size of a 
 
 mower's w T hetstone. Obtained between 
 Agame and the country of the Dankali, 
 from a salt plain which not only supplies 
 all the Abyssinian markets, but many also 
 far in the interior of Africa, they pass as a 
 currency, and, being bought on the frontier 
 at the rate of twenty-five for a German 
 crown, are retailed in Alio Amba at a pro- 
 fitable exchange. A large investment of 
 slaves is finally purchased with the wealth 
 thus laboriously amassed, and the merchant 
 returns to his native country to traffic in 
 human flesh at the sea-ports of Zeyla and 
 Berbera, or on the opposite coast of Ara- 
 bia — anon to revisit Shoa with a fresh in- 
 voice of marketable wares. 
 
 Ever ravaged by war and violence, the 
 unexplored regions of the interior pour 
 forth a continual supply of ill-starred vic- 
 tims of all ages to feed the demand ; and 
 the hebdomadal parade in the market-place 
 under the ruthless Moslem monsters by 
 whom they are imported, is sufficiently 
 harrowing to those who are unaccustomed 
 to such revolting spectacles. Examined 
 like cattle by the purchaser, the sullen 
 Shankala fetches a price proportioned to 
 the muscular appearance of his giant 
 frame; and the child of tender years is 
 valued according to the promise of future 
 development. Even the shame-faced and 
 slenderly-clad maiden is subjected to every 
 indignity, while the price of her charms is 
 estimated according to the regularity of 
 her features, the symmetry of her budding 
 form, and the luxuriance of her braided 
 locks; and when the silver has rung in 
 confirmation of the bargain, the last tie is 
 dissolved which could hold in any restraint 
 the appetite of her savage possessor. 
 
 CHAPTER XLIII. 
 
 THE PRINCIPALITY OF HURRUR. 
 
 Not many weeks had elapsed since cer- 
 tain substantial merchants of Hurrur, after 
 visiting the shrine at Medina, and making 
 a long and profitable sojourn in Alio Amba, 
 had returned to their native land to enjoy 
 the honors of their religious pilgrimage. 
 Slaves, ivory, and precious gums had been 
 disposed of to great advantage in Arabia, 
 and the proceeds invested in beads, berilles, 
 and broadcloth, with which the enterpri- 
 sing traders landed at the maritime town 
 j of Taj lira. Proceeding thence to Efat, 
 they embarked their gains in slaves, mules, 
 I and cotton cloths ; and designing to pass 
 
PRINCIPALITY OF HURRUR. 
 
 119 
 
 the residue of their days in ease and afflu- 
 ence, set out byway of Hurrur for the 
 great annual fair at Berbera. 
 3 In advance of the time, however, these 
 luckless individuals had ventured to specu- 
 late to their envious countrymen upon the 
 advantage to be derived from foreign traffic 
 and the presence of the white man. The 
 incautious word had caught the ear of 
 Abdel Yonag, the wily chief of the Hur- 
 rurhi ; and letters were secretly dispatched 
 to his master the ameer, representing the 
 wealthy hajjis to be men of turbulent and 
 ambitious views, who had devised danger- 
 ous innovations, and were plotting, with 
 the Ada'iel, the monopoly of the commerce 
 in slaves. With hearts bounding at the 
 sight of their native minarets, and utterly 
 unconscious of the slander that had pre- 
 ceded them, the pilgrims entered the Isma- 
 deen gate of the city ; but ere return had 
 been welcomed by wife or child, they were 
 hurried by the soldiery to the presence of 
 the despot, and, without even the mockery 
 of a trial, were beaten to death with huge 
 maces of iron. 
 
 The independent principality of Hurrur 
 is a spot yet unvisited by any European, 
 and is remarkable for its isolated position 
 among the Pagan and Mohammadan Galla. 
 against whose continual inroads it has 
 hitherto contrived, with the aid of two 
 hundred matchlockmen and a few archers, 
 to maintain its integrity. The Alia, the 
 Nooli, the Geeri, the Tarsoo, the Babili, 
 the Bursoo, the Burteera, and the Gooti, 
 compass it on every side, and making sud- 
 den descents, sweep the ripe crops from 
 off the face of the smiling land ; but their 
 efforts against the town have uniformly 
 proved unsuccessful, and caravans con- 
 tinue, in spite of. hostilities, to carry on a 
 very considerable traffic through the Ittoo 
 and Aroosi tribes, with Shoa and the So- 
 mauli coast. 
 
 Originally founded and peopled by a 
 colony of the sons of Yemen, the town is 
 described to be situated in a pleasant and 
 well- watered valley, surrounded by hills, 
 and enjoying a cool and salubrious climate. 
 A wall of mud and stone, six miles in cir- 
 cumference, with five fortified gates, affords 
 security to the entire population, whose 
 houses, many of them two-storied, are j 
 constructed of stone, white- washed, and j 
 terraced. Mosques and minarets are con- 
 spicuous in every street. The matin voice 
 of the muezzin is regularly heard, and the | 
 Jama el Musjid is believed to be the abode 
 of guardian angels, who stretch the strong ] 
 pinion of protection over the heads of the 
 Faithful. "How could Hurrur have tri- 
 
 umphed thus long over the unbelievers," 
 inquire the devout citizens, " had Allah not 
 extended his right arm to succor the fol- 
 lowers of his Prophet?" 
 
 Aboo Bekr, the reigning ameer, has 
 wielded the sceptre during the last seven 
 years ; and, pursuing the barbarous custom 
 of Shoa, his brothers and family are per- 
 manent inmates of subterranean dungeons, 
 which, for better security, are constructed 
 immediately below the foundations of his 
 own palace. Although cruel and vindic- 
 tive, he is reputed a brave prince, leading 
 the foray in person, and taking the front 
 in the battle field ; but suspicion of the 
 stranger would seem to form the ruling 
 feature of his character, nor is this to be 
 wondered at, since bloodshed and aggres- 
 sion are known to have once marked the 
 'footstep of the intruder. 
 
 During the reign of Abd el Kurreem, 
 uncle to the present ameer, a large body 
 of Arabs from Mocha, instigated by a dis- 
 graced member of the blood-royal, who had 
 tied thither for safety, laid siege to the 
 town, and, assisted by guns of small cali- 
 bre, which are now mounted on the walls, 
 had nearly prevailed. Again the guardian 
 angels stretched their white wings over 
 the beleaguered city. The magazine blew 
 up and destroyed numbers of the enemy; 
 and their traitorous leader, who had in- 
 duced the attack by representing his- coun- 
 trymen to be infidels and apostates from 
 the true religion, falling into the hands of 
 the garrison, had his head exalted on a pole 
 in the market-place, after the brains had 
 been dashed out with an iron club. Death 
 is now the portion of every fool -hardy 
 wanderer from the shores of Araby, and 
 while the Galla is compelled to relinquish 
 his arms at the gate, every precaution is 
 taken to exclude from the land the for- 
 eigner, of whatever nation. 
 
 In the features of the Hurrurhi is to be 
 traced a strong resemblance to those of the 
 parent stock. The costume consists of a 
 checked kilt, a creese, and a cotton toga ; 
 the display of a turban being restricted to 
 the ameer, to the moolahs, and to those 
 who have performed the pilgrimage to the 
 shrine of the Prophet. Although distinct 
 in itself, the language bears a singular af- 
 finity to that of the Amhara, but Arabic 
 forms the written character. Barter is the 
 most usual system of commerce, but the 
 mahaluk, a small copper coin resembling 
 the dewdni of Jiddah, is current in the 
 realm. Twenty-two of these go to a nom- 
 inal coin styled ashraji % whereof forty are 
 equivalent to the German crown. It bears 
 on the reverse the name of the reigning 
 
120 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 Erince, and on the obverse the quotation 
 rom the Koran, "La illah, illilah" " there 
 is none other God but Allah." 
 
 Around Hurrur the soil is rich, and ex- 
 tensively cultivated, especially in coffee. 
 Two thousand bales of the finest quality 
 are annually exported into India and Arabia 
 by the ports of Zeyla and Berbera, which 
 are visited thrice during the year by large 
 caravans laden with ivory, ostrich feathers, 
 ghee, saffron, gums, and myrrh, which 
 latter is produced in great abundance. 
 Blue and white calico, Indian piece goods, 
 English prints, silks, and shawls, red cot- 
 ton yarn, silk thread, beads, frankincense, 
 copper wire, and zinc, are received in ex- 
 change, and a transit duty of one frazil of 
 the latter metal is levied by the ameer on 
 every slave passing through his dominions 
 from* the cold hills of his brother of Shoa, 
 where these commodities are bartered.* 
 
 Between Aboo Bekr and the Christian 
 monarch the most friendly intercourse sub- 
 sists. Letters continually pass and repass, 
 and scarcely a month elapses without the 
 arrival, of a caravan. The chief of the 
 Wurj, or merchants of Hurrur, standing 
 specially appointed by the ameer, possess- 
 es absolute power to punish all offences, 
 and adjust disputes amonghis own country- 
 men, who are not less fond of drawing the 
 creese than their Ada'iel brethren. Tullah, 
 an inferior description of beer, being brew- 
 ed and swallowed in alarming quantities, 
 brawls, and scuffles too frequently termi- 
 nate the debauch in blood. Should a Chris- 
 tian subject of Shoa be slain, the offence 
 is passed over in politic silence, but when 
 the reverse is the case, the worldly wealth 
 of the sinning Abyssinian is confiscated 
 by the crown, and i'lis person handed over 
 to the tender mercies of the Moslem sav- 
 ages. 
 
 The continual change of inhabitants, 
 the excessive cheapness of provisions, and 
 the prevalent custom of handfasting for 
 the visit, tend little to improve the moral- 
 itv of the market town. The chains of the 
 convenient alliances formed, are by no 
 means binding on either party, and the sum 
 of twopence-halfpenny is perfectly suffi- 
 cient to support during the week the trader 
 and his temporary mate. One hundred 
 pieces of salt are considered a large dow- 
 ry ; the nuptials are celebrated by feasting 
 and routing alone, and while the utmost 
 indifference prevails on the part of the 
 husband, he loosens the matrimonial knot 
 at pleasure, by carrying his partner before 
 
 * The 
 
 ed at 150 miles S.S.W.. a ;: ■:'. from . . 
 
 the kazi, and thrice repeating the words, 
 " Woman, I thee divorce." 
 
 One fourth of the entire population of 
 Alio Amba are Hurrurhi and Danakil. 
 Of the worthies who accompanied the em- 
 bassy from Tajura, the majority continued 
 to reside at Farri and Channoo for the con- 
 venience of foraging their camels ; but 
 flocking every Friday to the market, they 
 never failed to confer the pleasure of their 
 society for a few hours. Guba'iyo, the 
 deputy- governor of the town, had been 
 specially appointed to the service of the 
 foreigners, and while discharging his office 
 of spy with the most creditable diligence, 
 he exercised with strict impartiality his 
 functions as door-keeper, enforcing, great- 
 ly to the amazement of the independent 
 Adaiel, the Abyssinian usage, which pre- 
 cludes the invasion of visitors unless duly 
 introduced. The obnoxious red-man, whose 
 iniquities had well nigh cost the lives of 
 the whole party at the Great Salt Lake, 
 and who had now the impudence to seek 
 a reward for his services on the road, was 
 the first who came under the remorseless 
 lash of the despotic bully ; and it was a 
 not less cheering and delightful sight to 
 behold the warm-blooded little warrior, 
 Ibrahim Shehem Abli, flying like a foot- 
 ball down the steps leading from the court- 
 yard into the muddy-lane, before the pro- 
 pulsive impetus of a Christian toe, which 
 presently sent the tyrannical Izhak bound- 
 ing after his colleague, with many a se- 
 vere thwack from the wand of office, ring- 
 ing across his Moslem shoulders, as he 
 vainly proclaimed himself own brother to 
 the reigning Sultan of Tajura. 
 
 CHAPTER XLIV. 
 
 ESCAPE FROM THE MARKET-TOWN. 
 
 Abyssinian despots sully not their dig- 
 nity by condescending to divulge even the 
 smallest design to the most confidential of 
 their courtiers. In elegant Amharic phra- 
 seology, " the belly of the master is never 
 known;" and thus it occurred, that had 
 any possessed the inclination to predict the 
 probable period of detention, none could 
 boast the ability. A fortnight rolled tar- 
 dily away, and the burring curiosity of 
 the savage having meanwhile overcome the- 
 scruples dictated by state policy, it became 
 matter of public notoriety that the king had 
 taken up his residence at the adjacent 
 palace of Machai-wans, where preparations 
 wer Tess toward the long< 
 
 desireu audience. 
 
ROYAL MESSAGE— ADIEU TO ALIO AMBA. 
 
 121 
 
 The reappearance of the commander-in- 
 chief of the body-guard, with the escort of 
 honor, was the first welcome sign of ap- 
 proaching release from the vile market- 
 town of Alio Amba ; and the most illustri- 
 ous peer of the realm, attended by a junto 
 of scribes, and a host of reluctant porters, 
 was not far behind him. Penmanship being 
 so extremely tedious a process, it is not the 
 court etiquette to indite letters when a ver- 
 bal communication will answer the pur- 
 pose : and the visitors were accordingly 
 charged with abundant compliments, and 
 with an invitation to behold the royal per- 
 son on the ensuing Sabbath, which had 
 been pronounced by the astrologers, "a 
 day of good omens." " Tarry not by day, 
 neither stay ye by night, for the heart of 
 the father longeth to see his children. 
 Hasten, that he be not again disappoint- 
 ed." 
 
 But, unfortunately, the hour selected by 
 the skill of " those who read the stars," did 
 not find approval in the sight of the guests ; 
 and in order to gratify the royal impatience, 
 it was therefore proposed, that the inter- 
 view should take place one day earlier. 
 His majesty, however, labored under the 
 effects of cosso, a drug resorted to by all 
 who revel in raw diet ; and feeling yet un- 
 equal to appear in public, it was finally ar- 
 ranged that audience should be deferred 
 until the Monday following. A fresh in- 
 ventory of boxes was immediately com- 
 menced ; and. after much opposition, those 
 intended for presentation to the throne 
 were separated, and sent off to await ar- 
 rival at a hamlet distant two miles from 
 Machal-wans. 
 
 The next labor was to dismantle the 
 structure of bales and packages, which, du- 
 ring the detention at Alio Amba had been 
 piled, in view to .the economy of space, so 
 as to admit of some of the party occupying 
 the tier next the roof, while others had 
 slept in cabins formed below, or upon, or 
 underneath, the table. But no sooner had 
 the king's baggage departed, than the wu- 
 lasma came to announce that there we"-' 
 flo more porters, and that if anything jC "J 
 remained it must be left behind. A 10t her 
 battle followed, and a war of wor^ which 
 lasted a full hour and a half w *s a gain 
 crowned with victory. 
 
 Ayto Kalama Work, ^ho had been the 
 chief instigator of this opposition, is 
 charged wirfi manifold affairs. Independent 
 of his important duties at the seat of his 
 authority, where he is responsible for all 
 tribute in salt, in honey, and in specie, he 
 is intrusted with the treasures lodged in 
 Ankober, Aramba, Debra Berhan, and 
 9 
 
 Kondie, and is expected to be present on 
 all state occasions at the palace. To assist 
 in the discharge of these onerous and mul- 
 tifarious duties, he has many stewards and 
 subordinates, of whom the chief, who super- 
 intends the ghemdjia house, or royal ward- 
 robe, wherein the most costly manufactures 
 are deposited, had already proceeded in ad- 
 vance to spread the carpets in the great 
 reception-hall. He was accompanied by 
 Deftera Sena, the secretary, whose busi- 
 ness it is to receive and register all trans- 
 fers to the state revenues, and who had 
 been for the last fortnight almost incessant- 
 ly busied with his pen. 
 
 Liberated from irksome captivity, the 
 utmost difficulty was next experienced in 
 procuring mules — no steps to supply the 
 place of those destroyed having been taken 
 by the inimical functionaries, whose ex- 
 press duty it was. The few survivors of 
 the late numerous drove were mustered, 
 but only one proved in a condition to pro- 
 ceed, and it was not until a messenger had 
 actually set out with a complaint to the 
 king, that measures were taken to supply 
 the number required. A clamorous mob 
 now assembled in order to witness the diffi- 
 culties raised in the way of the foreigners ; 
 and it required the utmost exertion, on 
 the part of Gubaiyo, both with his long 
 stick and still longer tongue, to keep the 
 idle crowd at a respectful distance. 
 
 Mounted at length, the party turned their 
 backs toward the market-place, and entered 
 upon a circuitous path, winding, by abrupt 
 declivities and steep ascents, over three 
 mountain torrents, toward the village of 
 Sallal Hoola, at wh^h the night was to be 
 passed. Kind r^ tu re had everywhere 
 spread the ground witn her gifts in inex- 
 haustible pro^ si °n and variety, supplying 
 all the mq~' immediate wants of mankind, 
 yet enfo^ m g the doom of labor so wisely 
 impos^ u P on her lazy children. Rich 
 acrr o of corn by the wayside were inter- 
 g^rsed with quiet hamlets, and with lux- 
 uriant meadows abounding in trefoil, and a 
 vast variety of red and white clover. Crys- 
 tal brooks leaped in numerous cascades, 
 and hedgerows, gay with endless flowers, 
 the dogrose and the fragrant jasmine, im- 
 parted to the rural landscape an aspect 
 quite European. 
 
 Southern Abyssinia proper commences 
 with Efat, at the foot of the first range of 
 hills, which continue to increase both in 
 altitude and fertility to the summit of the 
 lofty barrier that stretches north and south 
 to form the brink of the elevated table-land 
 of Shoa. Violent storms of thunder and 
 lightning, which usher in the rainy season, 
 
122 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 are attracted to this region, as well by the 
 
 freat elevation of the mountain as by the 
 ighly ferruginous nature of the rocks. It 
 is a land of hill and valley, smiling under 
 the influence of the copious deluge ; and 
 so striking a contrast does it present to 
 the general character and climate of the 
 torrid zone, that at first sight the delighted 
 traveller might believe himself transported 
 by some fairy agency to his northern home. 
 Ayto Wolda Hana, although loquacious 
 enough, had been somewhat subdued by 
 the temperature of the low country, to 
 which, as well as to everything Mohamma- 
 dan, he evinced an insuperable disrelish ; 
 but once again within the influence of the 
 cold mountain breeze beyond the limits of 
 the wulasma's jurisdiction, and he was in 
 his glory. Two running footmen kept pace 
 with his gayly-caparisoned mule. Immedi- 
 ately behind him rode a confidential hench- 
 man, carrying the emblazoned shield and 
 decorated lances which denoted his posi- 
 tion in society ; and in the height of High- 
 land anarchy the tail of the M'Gregor was 
 seldom of longer dimensions than that of 
 the pompous governor of Ankober. 
 
 Suddenly leaving the party, the great 
 man was observed to dive into a village by 
 the road-side, whence in a few minutes he 
 returned, issuing a variety of orders in a 
 far from melodious tone of voice, which 
 evidently had reference to the mulberry 
 steed, already mentioned as having been 
 brought from Aden. The animal had not 
 been seen for many days, and every appli- 
 cation regarding ft had been so dexterously 
 evaded, that, although the tail had not been 
 brought in, it was believed to have gone 
 the way of all flesh. X) the surprise of 
 every one, the charger, pricing and neigh- 
 ing, was now led forth, in Uo best condi- 
 tion, by one of the king's gv) ms. So 
 thoroughly had the worthy functio^ rv been 
 impressed with the erroneous conation, 
 that it formed a part of the present deseed 
 for his royal master, that the fortunate be^t 
 had been turned into clover, and daily fec^ 
 .with the choicest barley; whereas all its 
 companions, although surrounded by plen- 
 ty, had been suffered to starve. 
 
 At Sallal Hoola, another hovel had been 
 provided by the royal bounty, smaller in 
 dimensions, more dark, dirty, and dismal, 
 and infinitely better garrisoned with vermin 
 than the abode wherein the last fortnight 
 had been passed. Environed by miry 
 swamps and stagnant pools, it presented an 
 appearance the most gloomy and wretched, 
 while the materials for comfort were, as 
 usual, denied by the officious functionaries, 
 
 who had taken care to deposit the baggage 
 most needed in quarters of the village 
 where, at so late an hour, free access was 
 impossible. The gloomy recesses of the 
 verandah were crowded with female slaves, 
 occupied in the various processes of pre- 
 paring bread, which the population had 
 been called upon to supply in large quan- 
 tities to the palace against the approaching 
 arrival of the foreigners. In one corner, 
 two old women who alternately plied their 
 pestles to a most monotonous ditty, were 
 pounding grain in a wooden mortar. In 
 another a group of buxom lasses were rock- 
 ing themselves to and fro over mills fash- 
 ioned like the high-heeled slipper of the 
 days of good Queen Bess, upon the inclined 
 surface of which they contrived, with, a 
 stone and great personal labor, to convert 
 the grain into a form something resembling 
 flour. It trickled in a scanty stream into 
 a vessel placed below the depressed plane 
 for its reception, and was presently wrought 
 into thick cakes, full a foot and a half in 
 diameter. These were merely shown to the 
 fire, and a crude substance was thus pro- 
 duced, which by a well-fed Indian elephant 
 would certainly have been rejected with a 
 severe admonition to his keeper. 
 
 In this dreary and soul-depressing spot, 
 destitute of beds and not overburdened with 
 food, were experienced the very opposite of 
 the delights of the Salt Lake — cold, damp, 
 and wet in perfection ; but the glad pros- 
 pect of an interview with his majesty on 
 the morrow buoyed up the spirits of all, and 
 misery was disregarded. Ayto Katama had 
 proceeded in advance to Machal-wans, to 
 seek at the royal hands permission to. fire 
 a salute of twenty- one guns on the British 
 embassy reaching the royal lodge, a point 
 previously urged, but without success. It 
 had already been brought to the king's no- 
 tice, that the foreigners partook of food 
 which had been prepared by Mohamma- 
 dans — a proceeding which in Shoa is reck- 
 oned equivalent to a renunciation of Chris- 
 tianity. Ideas the most extravagant were, 
 moreover, in circulation relative to the 
 P 0v ers of the ordnance imported, the mere 
 reporVpf which was believed sufficient to 
 set fire to the earth, to shiver rocks, and 
 dismantle mountain fastnesses. Men were 
 said to have arrived with " copper legs," 
 whose duty it Wvs to sorve those tremen- 
 dous and terrible engines •> and in alarm 
 for the safety of his palace, capital, and 
 treasures, the suspicious monarch still pe- 
 remptorily insisted upon withholding the 
 desired licence, until he should have beheld 
 the battery " with his own eyes," 
 
FIRST VIEW OF MACHAL-WANS. 
 
 123 
 
 CHAPTER XLV. 
 
 PRESENTATION AT COURT. 
 
 It rained incessantly with the greatest 
 violence throughout the entire night, and 
 until the morning broke, when a great vol- 
 ume of white scud, rising from the deep 
 valleys, and drifting like a scene-curtain 
 across the stern summit of the giant Mam- 
 rat — now frowning immediately overhead 
 — foretold the nature of the weather that 
 might be anticipated during the important 
 and long-looked-for day. The baggage 
 having, with considerable difficulty, been 
 collected from the various nooks and cor- 
 ners wherein the porters had deposited their 
 loads, and no prospect of a brighter sky be- 
 ing in store, the circumjacent morasses 
 were waded to the face of the hill which 
 obscured Machal-wans. Too steep and slip- 
 pery for mules, this was also ascended on 
 foot, with the aid of long staves ; and the 
 rain, which had been dropping gently for 
 some time, again setting in witff the most 
 malicious steadiness, as if resolved to mar 
 all attempt at display, the whole cavalcade 
 was presently drenched to the skin. 
 
 An hour's toil over very heavy ground 
 opened a sudden turn in the road, whence 
 the escort, resting their cumbrous match- 
 locks over the rocks, commenced an indis- 
 criminate fire — the reports of their heavily 
 loaded culverins, mingled with the answer- 
 ing note of welcome from the expectant 
 crowd below, echoing long and loud among 
 the broken glens. As the clouds of smoke 
 floated slowly away on the dense atmosphere 
 from the shoulder of the mountain, there 
 burst upon the sight a lovely view of the 
 stockaded palace at Machal-wans. Its co- 
 nical white roofs were embosomed in a fair 
 grove of juniper and cypress, which crested 
 a beautifully wooded tumulus rising at the 
 extreme verge of the valley from the very 
 hanks of a roaring torrent. A bright gref- 1 
 meadow, spangled with flowers, lay stitch- 
 ed at its foot : the rose, the eglantfie, and 
 the humble violet, grew around la all the 
 grace of native wildness, to xpt&d recollec- 
 tions of happier lands, whikthe great Abys- 
 sinian range, which *ven here towered 
 almost perpendicul'-iiy some two thousand 
 feet overhead, arvi whose peaks were veiled 
 in wreaths of vhite fog, formed a magnifi- 
 cent background to the picture. Isolated 
 farm-houses were profusely scattered over 
 the verdant landscape — rich fields glistened 
 in various stages of maturity — and the rills, 
 swollen by the recent storm, came thun- 
 dering over the mountain- side, in a succes- 
 sion of foaming cascades. 
 9* 
 
 Another hour's wading through deep 
 ploughed fields of beans and peas and stand- 
 ing corn, and across the rapid torrent brawl- 
 ing over a rocky bed, brought the draggled 
 party to two time-worn awnings of black 
 serge, which not five minutes before had 
 been pitched for its accommodation in a 
 swamp below the royal residence, and which 
 admitted the rain through an infinity of 
 apertures. This continued up to the last 
 moment, thick and heavy ; but the utmost 
 efforts of the deluge had proven insufficient 
 to cleanse the mud-stained garments ; and 
 now the tramp of six hundred porters, in 
 addition to the vast crowd which had as- 
 sembled to witness the long-looked-for ar- 
 rival of the British .embassy, soon convert- 
 ing the ground into a positive quagmire, 
 ankle-deep in black mud, seemed to render 
 utterly hopeless any attempt at the exhibi- 
 tion of broadcloth and gold lace on the ap- 
 proaching presentation at the court of Shoa. 
 The governors of Ank&bar and Alio Am- 
 ba, whose special affair it was to provide 
 food, and otherwise to render assistance 
 needed, left the visitors to pitch their own 
 tent while they lounged in the palls, and 
 contented themselves with urging the in- 
 stant gratification of the royal curiosity, 
 which was momentarily becoming more and 
 more intense. Persecution on the part of 
 the unruly and boisterous mob, to whom 
 every object was new, meanwhile waxed 
 greater and greater — thousands pressing 
 forward to gaze as at wild beasts, and all 
 contributing their mite to produce confu- 
 sion and discomfort, now at the climax. 
 Sally after sally was imde by the uproused 
 commander- in-chi©-'' of the body-guard, and 
 many were th<? long sticks broken to small 
 fragments ov' e r the backs and shoulders of 
 the°wild spectators, in the course of his 
 vigprdm applications. But it was to no 
 purpose. The ring was no sooner formed 
 clian broken, and the self-constituted clerk 
 of the course, becoming at length weary 
 of his occupation, he joined his idle col- 
 leagues in the tent, and left the multitude 
 to their own devices. 
 
 A remonstrance to the king, touching 
 the indignities to which the liege subjects 
 of Great Britain were thus exposed at the 
 hands of the Amhara rabble, on the very 
 outskirts of the palace, was followed by a 
 visit from Birroo, the favorite page, bear- 
 ing an apologetic message on the score of 
 ignorance ; and repeated messages through 
 this shrewd little confidant of royalty, who 
 possessed all the airs of a spoiled pet, elicit- 
 ed first permission to fire a single gun — 
 then five — and lastly, the desired salute. 
 With his assistance, moreover, the crowd 
 
124 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 was to a certain extent repelled, and the 
 spacious tent having finally been erected, 
 amid peals of savage wonder, the floor was 
 strewed with heather, and with branches 
 lopped from the myrtles and from various 
 aromatic shrubs that grew thickly around, 
 and preparations were at length commen- 
 ced for the interview, which, during the 
 continuance of the tumult and uproar, had 
 been by a succession of messages repeat- 
 edly and earnestly desired. 
 
 It was now noon, and the weather hav- 
 ing temporarily cleared, the British party, 
 radiant with plumes and gold embroidery, 
 succeeded, after much fruitless opposition, 
 in mounting their gayly caparisoned steeds, 
 and escorted by the governors, the com- 
 mander-in-chief of the body-guard, and by 
 a numerous and clamorous escort, proceed- 
 ed in full uniform toward the palace. Ma- 
 ny were the attempts made to enforce the 
 etiquette which denies ascent in equestri- 
 an order ; but as, on gaining the foot of the 
 eminence, the roar of artillery burst from 
 the centre of the encampment, and the 
 deep valley, fast filling with white smoke, 
 began to echo back the salute at the rate 
 of six discharges in a minute, no further 
 interference was attempted, and a univer- 
 sal shout arose of " Malijia Ungliz, mel- 
 com ! melcom .'" " Wonderful English, 
 well done ! well done !" 
 
 Noise, bustle, and confusion, which in 
 Abyssinia are reckoned highly honorable 
 to the guest, were again at their climax on 
 reaching the outer wicket, where the form 
 of obtaining the royal permission to pass, 
 was to be observed ere entrance could be 
 accorded by the state li^or-keepers. Fur- 
 ther detention was expe*ienced in the 
 court-yard, at the hands of sundry officers 
 of the privy chamber, whose vis^es were 
 but ill adapted to sustain the charatv> r f 
 high official importance, and whose as- 
 sumption of dignity proved singularly lu* 
 dicrous. At length came a message ex- 
 pressive of his majesty's unqualified sur- 
 prise and satisfaction at the extraordinary 
 celerity with which the guns were be- 
 ing served, and his desire to see the em- 
 bassy forthwith ; but attempting to ad- 
 vance, opposition was again interposed, 
 and it needed another message, and yet 
 another command, before admission could 
 be obtained to the royal presence— 
 
 The last peal of ordnance was rattling 
 in broken echoes along the mountain chain, 
 as the British embassy stepped at length 
 over the high threshold of the reception- 
 hall. Circular in form, and destitute of the 
 wonted Abyssinian pillar in the centre, the 
 massive and lofty clay walls of the cham- 
 
 ber glittered with a profusion of silver or- 
 naments, emblazoned shields, matchlocks, 
 and double-barrelled guns. Persian car- 
 pets and rugs of all sizes, colors, and pat- 
 terns, covered the floor ; and crowds of 
 alakas, governors, chiefs, and principal of- 
 ficers of the court, arrayed in their holiday 
 attire, stood around in a posture of respect, 
 uncovered to the girdle. Two wide alcoves 
 receded on either side, in one of which 
 blazed a cheerful wood fire, engrossed by 
 indolent cats, while in the other, on a flow- 
 ered satin ottoman, surrounded by wither- 
 ed eunuchs and juvenile pages of honor, 
 and supported by gay velvet cushions, re- 
 clined in Ethiopic state his most Christian 
 majesty Sahela Selassie. The deck aga- 
 fari, or state door-keeper, as master of the 
 ceremonies, stood with a rod of green rush- 
 es to preserve the exact distance of approach 
 to royalty, and as the British guests enter- 
 ed the hall and made their bows to the 
 throne, motioned them to be seated upon 
 chairs that had previously been sent in — 
 which done, it was commanded that all 
 might be covered. 
 
 The king was attired in a silken Arab 
 vest of green brocade, partially shrouded 
 under the ample folds of a white cotton 
 robe of Abyssinian manufacture, adorned 
 with sundry broad crimson stripes and 
 borders. Forty summers, whereof eight- 
 and-twenty had been passed under the un- 
 easy cares of the crown, had slightly 
 furrowed his dark brow, and somewhat 
 grizzled a full bushy head of hair, arranged 
 in elaborate curls, after the fashion of 
 George the First ; and although consider- 
 ably disfigured by the loss of the left eye, 
 the expression of his manly features, open, 
 pleasing, and commanding, did not in 
 their tout ensemble belie the character for 
 impartial justice which the despot has ob- 
 tained far and wide — even the Danakil 
 comparing him to " a fine balance of gold." 
 All those manifold salutations and in- 
 quiries which overwrought politeness here 
 enforu, Sj duly concluded, the letters with 
 which &e embassy had been charged — 
 enveloped i n flowered muslin and rich 
 gold kimkhao —were presented in a san- 
 dal-wood casket,^ minutely inlaid with 
 ivory ; and the comets having been read 
 and expounded, the costly presents from 
 the British government vere introduced 
 in succession, to be spread -^ut before the 
 glistening eyes of the court The rich 
 Brussels carpet which completely covered 
 the hall, together with Cachemiire shawls 
 and embroidered Delhi scarfs of resplen- 
 dent hues, attracted universal attention, 
 and some of the choicest specimens were 
 
 
THE PRESENTS DELIVERED. 
 
 125 
 
 from time to time handed to the alcove by 
 the chief of the eunuchs. On the intro- 
 duction of each new curiosity, the sur- 
 prise of the king became more and more 
 unfeigned. Bursts of merriment followed 
 the magic revolutions of a group of Chi- 
 nese dancing figures ; and when the Eu- 
 ropean escort in full uniform, with the 
 sergeant at their head, marched into the 
 centre of the hall — faced in front of the 
 throne, and performed the manual and 
 platoon exercises, amid jewelry glittering 
 on the rugs, gay shawls and silver cloths 
 which strewed the floor, ornamented 
 clocks chiming, and musical boxes play- 
 ing " God save the Queen," his majesty 
 appeared quite entranced, and declared 
 that he possessed no words to express his 
 gratitude. But many and bright were the 
 smiles that lighted up the royal features, 
 as three hundred muskets, with bayonets 
 fixed, were piled in front of the footstool. 
 A buzz of mingled wonder and applause, 
 which half drowned the music, arose 
 from the crowded courtiers ; and the mea- 
 sure of the warlike monarch's satisfaction 
 now filled to overflowing. " God will re- 
 ward you," he exclaimed, " for I cannot." 
 
 But astonishment and admiration knew 
 no bounds, as the populace next spread 
 over the face of the hills to witness the 
 artillery practice, which formed the sequel 
 to the presentation of these princely gifts. 
 A sheet was attached to the opposite face 
 of the ravine. The green valley again 
 rung to the unwonted roar of ordnance ; 
 and as the white cloth flew in shreds to 
 the wind, under a rapid discharge of round 
 shot, canister, and grape, amid the crumb- 
 ling of the rock, and the rush of the fall- 
 ing stones, the before despised sponge- 
 staves became a theme of eulogy to the 
 monarch as well as to the gaping peasant. 
 A shout rose long and loud over the peal- 
 ing echoes which rattled from hill to hill ; 
 and far along the serrated chain was pro- 
 claimed the arrival of foreign guests, and 
 the royal acquisition, through their means, 
 of potent engines of war. 
 
 Compliments from the throne, and per- 
 sonal congratulations from the principal 
 courtiers and officers of state, closed the 
 evening of this unwonted display ; and 
 the introduction, by the hands of the fa- 
 vorite page, of a huge pepper pie, the 
 produce of the royal kitchen, with a com- 
 mand that " the king's children might 
 feast," was accompanied by the unheard- 
 of honor of a visit from the dwarf father 
 confessor, who might without difficulty 
 have concealed his most diminutive per- 
 son beneath the ample pastry. Enveloped 
 
 in robes and turbans, and armed with sil- 
 ver cross and crosier, the deformed little 
 priest, whose entire long life has been 
 passed in doing good to his fellow-crea- 
 tures, seating his hideous and Punch-like 
 form in a chair placed for its reception, in. 
 squeaking accents delivered himself thus : 
 " Forty years have rolled away since 
 Asfa Woosen, on whose memory be peace, 
 grandsire to our beloved monarch, saw in 
 a dream that the red men were bringing 
 into his kingdom curious and beautiful 
 commodities, from countries beyond the 
 great sea. The astrologers, on being 
 commanded to give an interpretation 
 thereof, predicted with one accord that 
 foreigners from the land of Egypt would 
 come into Abyssinia during his majesty's 
 most illustrious reign, and that yet more 
 and wealthier would follow in that of his 
 son, who should sit next upon the throne. 
 Praise be unto God, that the dream and 
 its interpretation have now been fulfill- 
 ed ! Our eyes, though they be old, have 
 never beheld wonders until this day ; and 
 during the reign over Shoa of seven suc- 
 cessive kings, no such miracles as these 
 have been wrought in Ethiopia." 
 
 CHAPTER XLVI 
 
 THE CAPITAL OF THE KINGDOM OF SHOA. 
 
 His Christian majesty passed the greater 
 portion of the wet night succeeding the 
 presentation of the British embassy, in re- 
 vels amid the foreign riches so unexpect- 
 edly heaped upon him. Every novel article 
 was minutely examined with all the curi- 
 osity of the savage ; and the royal scribes, 
 having been duly assembled, elaborate in- 
 ventories were penned upon scrolls of 
 parchment, to be deposited for the edifica- 
 tion of posterity in the archives of the 
 kingdom. 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 curiosities, in- 
 cluding the Chinese dancing girls, were 
 carefully immured in the mouldy maga- 
 zines of Mamrat, Kondie, and Aramba, 
 with labels and tickets setting forth their 
 respective properties, and proclaiming to 
 future occupants of the throne of Shoa that 
 these wonders were added to the state trea- 
 sures by the red men called Gyptzis, who 
 came " from beyond " during the auspicious 
 reign of Sahela Selassie. 
 
 Ere day had dawned, the favorite page 
 
126 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 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 estimate 
 were formed from the drenched and mis- 
 erable aspect of the tent, the report made 
 to the palace must have been far from fa- 
 vorable. In the absence 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 re- 
 paired to court to witness the reception of 
 " the Christian dogs," had presented them- 
 selves 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 ren- 
 dered migatory the hospitality extended in 
 the form of bedclothes, to which each of 
 the party had contributed his mite. Drench- 
 ed 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 vol- 
 ume experience any better fate at the hand 
 of infidels ?" 
 
 Six hundred peasants, who had been 
 pressed on the service of the state from the 
 Mohammadan villages of Argobba, after 
 transporting the king's baggage from Alio 
 Amba to Machal-wans, had bivouacked 
 without food or shelter upon the bare satu- 
 rated ground, and were strewed over the 
 greensward 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 quarter of the 
 valley ; but they lifted up their sad voices 
 in vain, and reiterated entreaties for dis- 
 missal passing 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 with- 
 holds 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, and im- 
 petuously 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 pre- 
 vailed. 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 hun- 
 gry butchers remained seated on the quiv- 
 ering 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 scrap* 
 ed from the bone — was borne offin triumph. 
 Groups of feasting savages might now be 
 seen seated on the wet grass in every di- 
 rection, greedily munching and bolting the 
 raw repast, and pounds were with all held 
 of light account. Entrails and orTai 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 was completely at a loss to 
 comprehend the meaning of "the liberality 
 extended, advanced with a sleek and pam- 
 pered band of parasites. The assistance 
 of the unfeeling functionary had been crav- 
 ed in vain, and he now, after casting a con- 
 temptuous glance toward the sated serfs, 
 in honied words inquired with obvious sur- 
 prise, " whether the party had not rested 
 well, that they thus troubled their heads 
 unnecessarily about the worthless bonds- 
 men of the negoos V 
 
 Preparatory to setting out for Ankober, 
 the embassy had an audience of the king. 
 " My children," quoth his majesty, " all my 
 gun-people shall accompany you ; may you 
 enter in safety ! Whatsoever 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 accord- 
 ing to that which my country produces. 
 I cannot give you what I do not possess. 
 Be not afraid of me. Listen not to the 
 
THE METROPOLIS OF SHOA. 
 
 127 
 
 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 pre- 
 cincts of royalty. A green swampy mead- 
 ow led to the foot of the mountains, over 
 which numberless cascades foamed fu- 
 riously to the plain. Supported from the 
 base to the utmost summit by artificial ter- 
 races, and clothed with the most luxuriant 
 cultivation, 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 neighbors. 
 
 From Machal-wans to Ank&ber the dis- 
 tance does not exceed six miles ; but the 
 ascent is great -and immediate, and the re- 
 duction in temperature perceptible in every 
 step. Springs gushed out clear and spark- 
 ling, 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 some- 
 what 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 Adaiel, 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, scarred by the unsparing hand 
 of time, and many dried up by the wrath 
 of centuries, rearing toward 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 vigor 
 among the drooping and silvery tvoira, of 
 which the pensive branches were hoary 
 with ancient moss hanging in fanciful fes- 
 toons ; 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-civilized 
 Abyssinia, monastic establishments are in- 
 
 variably seated in spots the most romantic. 
 Deep in the recesses of Aferbeine stands 
 the church and monastery dedicated to 
 Tekla Haimanot, an ecclesiastic of extra- 
 ordinary abilities who flourished during the 
 thirteenth century, and rescuing the great- 
 er portion of the empire from the yoke 
 of usurpation, restored it to the hands of 
 Yekweno Amlak, the lineal descendant of 
 the ancient Ethiopic dynasty. Subsequent- 
 ly canonized 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 odor 
 and veneration. Thrice, during the year 
 is a festival held in celebration of his birth, 
 death, and ascension : and by the entire 
 Christian population he is regarded as the 
 patron saint of Abyssinia. 
 
 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 singular if not 
 imposing appearance. Clusters of thatched 
 houses of all sizes and shapes, resembling 
 barns and haystacks, with small green in- 
 closures 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 clifl^ and 
 others so involved in the bosom of a deep 
 fissure as scarcely to reveal the red earth- 
 en pot on the apex. Connected with each 
 other by narrow lanes and hedgerows, 
 these rude habitations, the residence of 
 from twelve to fifteen thousand inhabitants, 
 cover the entire mountain-side to the ex- 
 treme 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 palisades, 
 extending from the base to the summit, 
 and interspersed with barred stockades, 
 between which are profusely scattered the 
 abodes of household slaves, with breweries, 
 kitchens, cellars, storehouses, magazines, 
 and granaries. 
 
 Over those portions unengrossed by cul- 
 tivation, or by architecture, shrubs and 
 bushes and great beds of nettles assumed 
 the most luxuriant and lively 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 mo- 
 ment's notice upon the clustering habita- 
 
128 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 tions below; while in the distance, the 
 bronze cross of the church of " our Lady," 
 peeping 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 es- 
 cort, above whose streaming locks floated 
 bloody emblems that breathed aught save j 
 conformity to the mild tenets of the Chris- 
 tian religion. 
 
 Anko, who was queen over the Galla 
 tribe, by which this mountain was peopled 
 from the invasion of Graan until its recon- 
 quest by the crown of Shoa, has bequeath- 
 ed her name to the narrow winding path 
 which forms the " for" or gate to the sub- 
 urbs * Skirting the brink of a yawning 
 abyss, and scarcely wide enough for the 
 foot of a mule, it is not traversed without 
 a feeling of insecurity, and the labon of a 
 few hours would suffice to render all ap- 
 proach to the capital impracticable, unless 
 tc the mountain goat. Loud cheers from 
 the whole assembled population, female as 
 well as male, greeted the arrival of the 
 king's guest, 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 nlade through the dense crowd 
 that whitened the 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 visi- 
 tors, 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 rath- 
 ex resembled a den in Exeter 'Change, or 
 an aviary upon a magnified scale ; and the 
 open hide-lashed ribs, being innocent 
 throughout 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 occupation 
 of the uninviting interior. Oblong in form, 
 windowless, 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 
 saw, had involved the demolition of an en- 
 
 * Ankober is thus literally " the gate of Anko. 1 ' 
 
 tire tree, the edifice yet afforded an unusu- 
 ally favorable specimen of Shoan architec- 
 ture ; and to account for its desolate and 
 unfinished condition, it may be proper to 
 add, that the proprietor, who had been 
 honored with the fair hand of a princess 
 of the blood-royal, having a few weeks 
 previously been so unfortunate as to incur 
 the displeasure of his despotic father-in- 
 law, now* occupied apartments in the state 
 prison, while the management of his es- 
 tate was, ad interim, considerately under- 
 taken 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 
 little improved by the many recent inun- 
 dations to which it had been subjected. 
 Torrents of muddy water rushed impetu- 
 ously round the trench which environed 
 the sntire structure, and occasionally burst- 
 ing the banks of the dike, oozed copiously 
 between the palisades, to cover the soil 
 with artificial lakes ; while the small open 
 area beyond, into which it disembogued — 
 hemmed in on all sides by rank vegetation, 
 stinging nettles, and half-ruined but nois- 
 ily inhabited hovels — was, without any ex- 
 aggeration, eighteen inches deep in honest 
 mire. 
 
 The pilgrimage thus finally terminated, 
 the prospect, both within and without, was 
 still altogether far from encouraging ; but 
 the mercury in Fahrenheit's thermometer 
 standing at 58°, it became necessary to 
 adopt immediate measures toward the ex- 
 clusion 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 
 enliven the interior. Tent walls and tar- 
 paulins 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. 
 
THE RAINY SEASON— BANKS OF FOG. 
 
 129 
 
 CHAPTER XLVJI. 
 
 RESIDENCE IN ANKOBER. 
 
 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 
 rags dipped in unpurified bees' wax, form- 
 ing, like most other good things in the 
 empire, a royal monopoly, are doled out 
 by the purveyor-general to the favored few, 
 with a sparing and niggard hand ; while 
 the absence of glass or other transparent 
 substance, and the continued presence of 
 rain, sleet, and clouds, and fog thicker than 
 the steam of a wash-house, rendered it for 
 some time difficult to admit the scanty 
 light of heaven during its fitful visits 
 through the overcast atmosphere. 
 
 Wood, too, belongs exclusively to the 
 despot, and is far from being abundant in 
 the timberless realm ; but packing-cases 
 as they became empty, were furnished 
 with a sheet of oiled parchment, and these 
 admirable substitutes for glazed sashes, 
 were, in defiance of exhortations not to de- 
 face the king's walls, inserted therein, 
 from time to time. A chafing dish, raised 
 upon a high mud pedestal, at length cheer- 
 ed the long dreary evenings, but the wet 
 sodden fuel yielded a very feeble blaze, 
 and its dense smoke, choking the chimney- 
 less room, covered walls and roof with 
 soot ; — and lastly, tallow dips manufac- 
 tured of the fat tail of the Ethiopian sheep, 
 afforded sufficient light by which to retire 
 to bed, where fleas, revived by the un- 
 wonted warmth • of English blankets, de- 
 nied all rest. 
 
 The low moaning of the storm behind 
 Mamrat, and the distant growl of the thun- 
 der, 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 mad- 
 ly over Ankober. The rush of the fierce 
 wind, and the dazzling flight of the levin 
 bolt, madly strove for mastery in the race. 
 Crashing reverberations 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, while the very gates of 
 heaven seemed to open to the flooding of 
 the earth with a deluge of water, which 
 poured in sheets over the heights. Every 
 lane and footpath throughout the town be- 
 
 came 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. 
 Dawn next revealed a strange phenom- 
 The saturated earth, heated by the 
 
 enon. 
 
 rays of the rising sun, gave birth to an 
 impenetrable vapor, 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 be- 
 neath 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 hori- 
 zon. As the great bank of fog ascended, 
 all around became wet and clammy to the 
 touch ; and the mist, although sluggish 
 and slow to move, was of a nature so keen- 
 ly searching, that, in defiance of all muf- 
 fling, it seemed to penetrate to the very 
 bones of each shrinking mortal. 
 
 Together with those privations which 
 are common 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 
 salubrity of the climate to counterbalance 
 its manifold discomforts and disadvantages. 
 Although in the midst of abundance, the 
 utmost difficulty was experienced in ob- 
 taining the most common necessaries of 
 existence — bread, meat, and water ; and 
 notwithstanding that a sufficiency of wheat 
 to sustain life for an entire year may be 
 purchased for one German crown, yet 
 where the stranger is concerned, the grain 
 without 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 undertaken and performed by me- 
 nials. 
 
 In a kingdom where the inhabitants are 
 solely dependent upon the exertions of 
 slaves, the difficulties 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 pur- 
 chased at any individual place. Hence 
 much trouble and inconvenience arose 
 from the necessity of dispatching messen- 
 gers simultaneously to the various remote 
 bazaars ; and very great difficulty was ex- 
 perienced in preserving even the small 
 
130 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 number of live stock required for consump- 
 tion, in a country where all the surround- 
 ing meadows pertain alike to the crown, 
 and where hired labor is so difficult to be 
 procured. 
 
 While porters are not to be obtained 
 unless through a direct mandate from the 
 king, the unwillingness 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 per- 
 plexing matter to dispense with this spe- 
 cies of service. On the other hand, the 
 greatest difficulty is experienced in provi- 
 ding the means of maintenance for a per- 
 manent establishment of baggage horses 
 with their attendants, owing* to the exist- 
 ing necessity of distributing them in small 
 lots, among the limited private grazing 
 grounds in the vicinity, whence, when 
 wanted, they are not to be obtained with- 
 out infinite difficulty. 
 
 Every arrangement, however minute in 
 detail, or trivial in importance, here de- 
 mands a sacrifice of time and temper in a 
 tedious and lengthy conference, which, in 
 accordance with the custom of the coun- 
 try, must be carried on by the principal 
 persons engaged in the transaction. No- 
 thing whatever is to be purchased, nor can 
 anything, however trifling, be accorded 
 without the royal mandate, and when that 
 is at last obtained, the applicant would ap- 
 pear to be further than ever removed from 
 the realization 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 while his com- 
 mands are usually obeyed more to the let- 
 ter than in the spirit in which they have 
 been given, his public officers embrace 
 every opportunity of consulting the inte- 
 rests of the privy purse, to the stranger's 
 disadvantage. 
 
 In utter abhorrence of the country and 
 its inhabitants, the Moslem servants who 
 accompanied the embassy from India, all 
 took their departure, willing rather to brave 
 the dangers and difficulties of a long jour- 
 ney through the inhospitable deserts of the 
 Ada'iel, 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 difficult to find 
 domestics inferior to their Christian suc- 
 cessors, all equally mangy from their diet, 
 and glorying alike in vermin. The con- 
 sumption of brundo, or raw beef, and the 
 sleeping off a surfeit which, in its progress 
 
 toward stupor exhilarated 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 
 ninepence sterling, 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 intrust- 
 ed with a star-dollar to purchase sheep in 
 the adjacent market, 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 own advancement. A hue and cry 
 was raised on the discovery of the theft, 
 and it required some time to persuade the 
 magisterial authorities that the goatherd 
 had not been defrauded with the cogni- 
 zance of the bala-beit.* 
 
 An afero or janizary had been specially 
 appointed as a spy over the actions of the 
 foreigners, and he speedily rendered him- 
 self sufficiently obnoxious. Not satisfied 
 with prying into the contents 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 foun- 
 tain of Alexandria ; but how is her Chris- 
 tianity disfigured by folly and superstition ! 
 The intolerance of the bigoted clergy, who 
 rule with the iron hand of religious ascend- 
 ency, soon proclaimed the British worse 
 than pagans, for the non-observance of 
 absurd fasts and blasphemous doctrines ; 
 and the inhabitants, priest-ridden to a de- 
 gree, received their cue of behavior prin- 
 cipally from their most despotic tyrant, the 
 church. Unquies, the comus or bishop of 
 Shoa, was the most open and undisguised 
 in his hostilities. Beset by evil thoughts 
 at an early age, he imitated the example 
 set by Origines, the celebrated ecclesiastic, 
 who lived 3 in the third century ; and so 
 much is he respected by the monarch for 
 his austerities and religious devotion, that 
 his majesty invariably speaks of him as 
 
 * Master of the house. 
 
CATHEDRAL OF ST. MICHAEL. 
 
 131 
 
 the strong monk." To him was traced 
 a report that the embassy were to be sum- 
 marily expelled the country, in conse- 
 quence of the non-observance of the fasts 
 prescribed by the Ethiopic creed, and be- 
 cause a great lady, whose spies they were, 
 was on her way from the sea-eoast, 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 was 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 inso- 
 lent reply was returned, that since the 
 English were in the habit of drinking cof- 
 fee and smoking tobacco, both of which 
 Mohammadan abominations are interdict- 
 ed in Shoa, upon religious grounds, they 
 could not be admitted within the precincts 
 of the hallowed edifice, as it would be pol- 
 luted by the foot of a Gyptzi. 
 
 Divine service was nevertheless attend- 
 ed in the less inimical of the five churches 
 of the capital, and offerings were made ac- 
 cording to the wont of the country. The 
 cathedral of St. Michael, distinguished 
 above all compeers by a sort of Chinese 
 lantern on the apex, being invariably at- 
 tended by the monarch, came first in order ; 
 and after wading 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 Euro- 
 pean stepped upon a floor of muddy rushes. 
 The scowling eye of the bigoted and igno- 
 rant priest sparkled with a gleam of unre- 
 pressed satisfaction at the sight of a rich 
 altar cloth, glowing with 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 humil- 
 iating sight, rewarded admittance thus 
 gained to the circular interior of the sa- 
 cred building. Coarse walls, only partial- 
 ly white-washed, rose in sombre earth but 
 a few feet overhead, and the suspended 
 ostrich-egg — emblem of heathenish idola- 
 try — almost touched the head of the vis- 
 itors, as they were ushered in succession 
 to the seat of honor among the erudite. 
 In a broad verandah, strewed throughout 
 with 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 
 munificence of the strangers, pronounced 
 his solemn benediction. Then arose a 
 burst of praise the most agonizing and un- 
 earthly that ever resounded from dome 
 dedicated to Christian worship. No deep 
 mellow chant from the chorister — no soul- 
 inspiring roll of the organ, pealing with 
 the cadence of the anthem, lifted the heart 
 toward heaven. The Abyssinian cathedral 
 rang alone to the excruciating jar of most 
 unmitigated discord ; and amid howling 
 and screaming, each sightless orb was 
 rolled in its socket, and every mutilated 
 limb convulsed with disgusting vehemence. 
 A certain revenue is attached to the per- 
 formance of the duty ; and for one poor 
 measure of black barley bread, the hired 
 lungs w r ere 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 vocal- 
 ist, as his notes issued at discretion. 
 
 No liturgy followed the cessation of 
 these hideous screams. The service was 
 at an end ; and the aldka, beckoning the 
 visitors to follow, led the way round the 
 edifice. The walls were adorned with a 
 few shields, and with miserable daubs re- 
 presenting the Madonna, the Holy Trinity 
 in ccelo, 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 sculp- 
 tured monument raised to departed w r orth 
 or genius — no proud banner or trophy of 
 heroic deeds — and no marble tablet to mark 
 the quiet rest of the soldier, the statesman, 
 or the scholar. In the holy of holies, which 
 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 myste- 
 rious 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 cathe- 
 dral of St. Michael ! 
 
132 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 CHAPTER XLVIII. 
 
 INTERVIEWS WITH THE KING. 
 
 Meanwhile, during the tedious fast ob- 
 served by all classes in commemoration of 
 the Assumption of the Holy Virgin, the 
 king continued his residence at Machal- 
 wans. On such occasions, his majesty 
 seeks the retirement of a country-seat, and 
 subsists upon fish, eaten raw, with vegeta- 
 ble 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, be- 
 comes a fearful mark for lightning, by 
 which it is often struck ; while huge 
 masses of rock, loosened from the adjacent 
 heights, come thundering into the valley, 
 to the annihilation of every house that op- 
 poses 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 offi- 
 cers of the state, among whom the Abys- 
 sinian habit of begging is sufficiently rife. 
 
 " There be pleasing things in my coun- 
 try which are not in yours," was the usual 
 form of application, "and fine things in 
 your country which are not found in mine." 
 Well assured that no return would be ac- 
 cepted 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, amole in hand, they desired that 
 the wares brought for sale might forthwith 
 be exposed. Others tendered mamalachas, 
 or trifling offerings, which, if once accept- 
 ed, are considered to establish a claim to 
 ready acquiescence in demands the most 
 preposterous. Broken decanters were ex- 
 hibited 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 banquetting-hall," quoth 
 the modest applicant, "and therefore I re- 
 quire this cloth as a dress." 
 
 Nor were even the royal family idle du- 
 ring this interval. Belete-Shatchau, " su- 
 perior to all," a notable shrew lately divorced 
 by the governor of Mans, and daughter of 
 the queen by a former marriage — first in 
 order — and then Worka Ferri, " golden 
 fruit," another of the princesses royal — es- 
 
 tablished their respective claims to articles 
 of British manufacture, beads, chintz, and 
 tinsel, by the presentation of potent hydro- 
 mel in long-necked barilles, screened under 
 wicker cases. Their example was speed- 
 ily followed by the illustrious Queen Besa- 
 besh, " thou hast increased," who begged 
 to be informed what " delightful 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 without 
 submitting it forthwith to the negoos, who 
 either appropriates it with an "Egzia isto!" 
 " May the Lord reward thee !" or accords 
 permission to its retention ; and conceal- 
 ment is sure to be visited, on discovery, 
 with the severest punishment. Birroo, the 
 son of a defunct nobleman, and the espe- 
 cially favorite 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 commissions from the throne. 
 Dilapidated matchlocks and swivels were 
 to be re -stocked, musical boxes to be re- 
 paired, garments to be embroidered, or state 
 umbrellas to be renewed ; and every task 
 had fortunately been achieved to the entire 
 of the royal satisfaction. Before taking 
 leave the court favorite 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 
 disgraced, and thrown into durance, upon 
 being detected in the act of burying the 
 dollars and other presents that he had re- 
 ceived. 
 
 A portion of the confiscated wealth which 
 had led to this disaster being subsequently 
 returned to the donors by the royal com- 
 mand, strong intercession was instituted on 
 behalf of the youth, and pardon entreated 
 for the juvenile indiscretion to which his 
 friends had unwittingly contributed. " Bir- 
 roo has been degraded," replied his majes- 
 ty, "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 life 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 delinquent was, how- 
 ever, released upon a second representa- 
 tion, and restored to the possession of his 
 gun, which had been forfeited ; and although 
 
A ROYAL SWOON—DREAD OF POISON. 
 
 133 
 
 not reinstated in the royal confidence, 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 pur- 
 veyor-general, Wulasma Mohammad, and 
 ten or twelve other of the courtiers, were 
 in attendance ; but they were dismissed af- 
 ter the customary compliments had passed, 
 and his majesty, reclining as usual upon 
 the 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 trou- 
 ble me day and night. I have pains in the 
 neck. My teeth have grown long and be- 
 come loose from fever, and my body has 
 wasted away. Draw nigh while I recount 
 the particulars of my late illness. 
 
 " I was returning from the expedition 
 against the rebel Galla. I felt suddenly 
 unwell. My head grew giddy. The earth 
 turned round. It became blue under my 
 feet. I fell from my mule. I believed my- 
 self dead. I was no longer sensible. My 
 gun-men became afraid. They ran away 
 to a man. The enemy made a show of at- 
 tack. The army was in confusion. A 
 governor rebelled. He sought to place his 
 son upon the throne. The people dashed 
 cold water over me. I recovered my senses. 
 I was able to resume the command, and 
 order was restored." 
 
 Priest-ridden and superstitious to the last 
 degree, the monarch undertakes nothing 
 without first consulting the superiors of the 
 church, and is deterred from change of resi- 
 dence, or from projected military expedi- 
 tions, by their prophecies and pretended 
 dreams, which are of course modelled ac- 
 cording to the bribes that have been received 
 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, who were cut 
 up by the Galla during the passage of a 
 morass, and the second the severe indispo- 
 sition of which he still felt the effects. 
 
 The royal swoon, thus amusingly narra- 
 ted, had been followed by consignment to 
 captivity for life in the dungeons of Gon- 
 cho, of the traitor who had so prematurely 
 sought the elevation of his son, and who 
 was the proprietor of the residency. Med- 
 icines administered to the king are invaria- 
 bly tasted by the physician in the presence 
 of the patient, and on a phial of goulard 
 lotion being now sent to the palace for ex- 
 ternal 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 was 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 assassination, and never moving abroad 
 without weapons concealed under his gar- 
 ments, or unaccompanied by a numerous 
 and trustworthy escort, his majesty's fears 
 did not extend to his foreign guests, and du- 
 ring many subsequent visits to Machal- 
 wans, he hesitated not to trust the British of- 
 fiers about his person with loaded fire-arms, 
 when none of his attendants were present. 
 Many were the curious discussions held 
 at these confidential interviews. Portraits 
 were executed by the royal command — 
 architectural plans prepared — and hunting 
 expeditions and wars of extermination plot- 
 ted against colonies of baboons and mon- 
 keys, the only quadrupeds of which the 
 country can boast. Magazines were ex- 
 ploded 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 gunpowder can 
 destroy men. Sorrow were it that I should 
 have died and gone down to the grave be- 
 fore beholding and understanding so won- 
 derful an invention. It is truly the work 
 of a wise people, who employ strong med- 
 icines !" 
 
 CHAPTER XLIX. 
 
 SPECIAL SUMMONS TO MACHAL-WANS. 
 
 His majesty had more than once inti- 
 mated his intention of holding consultation 
 relative to his projected expedition on the 
 termination of winter, and early one morn- 
 ing 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 illuminating the lives of the 
 saints with white angels and sable devils 
 
THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 134 
 
 —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 visitors to follow into the au- 
 dience-hall. 
 
 « Gaiia," "master,'' he cautiously be- ] 
 C an '■ there is yet another subject upon 
 which 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 many islands which contain the trea- 
 sure of mv ancestors. There are jars fail- 
 ed with bracelets of solid gold. There are 
 forty drums made of elephant s ears, and 
 manv holy arks pertaining unto ancient 
 churches, besides seven hundred choice 
 Ethiopic volumes, some of which have un- 
 fortunately been defaced by the animals 
 called ashkoko* Elephants abound on the 
 borders. In the trees are found black leop- 
 ards of a most ferocious nature, multiply- 
 in* 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 go- 
 marij and with fish of brilliant colors, red, 
 yellow, green, and blue, such as have nev- 
 er before been seen. 
 
 "Moreover, there are specifics against 
 small-pox and other dreadful diseases. No 
 resistance is to be anticipated, for the in- 
 habitants, who are chiefly Christian monks, 
 have often invited me. I must no longer 
 delay to recover the lost wealth of my fore- 
 fathers, 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 
 will therefore become great, and will live 
 in the annals of this kingdom. 
 
 " From the summit of a lofty hill near 
 Aimellele,! have beheld through a telescope 
 the lake and its tall trees, but the elephants 
 came in numbers. I feared that my peo- 
 ple would be destroyed. I ran, and they 
 all ran with me. Now, what say you? 
 What is your advice in this matter ? Are 
 you able to build boats V' 
 
 Models of skin-punts, gun-rafts, and a 
 pontoon-train, upon the most approved de- 
 sign, were prepared and submitted, with 
 crews and ordnance complete, coupled with 
 advice to construct these at Ankober while 
 leisure served, and, never trusting to the 
 weakness or non-resistance of a foe, to 
 
 * Hymx Abyssitiicus. | Hippopotamus amphibious. 
 
 take the field with ample means at disposal 
 to meet every contingency. The king 
 exDressed himself above all things pleased 
 both with models and advice, which he de- 
 clared to come from wise and expert sol- 
 diers ; but he was still obviously undecided, 
 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 prepara- 
 tions must be made on the banks of the 
 Hawash, or on the borders of the Lake 
 Zooai, where timber grows abundantly. 
 i A man of rank, one of the frontier gov- 
 ! ernors, who resides near Aimellele, should 
 I be summoned as guide to the expedition, 
 I and might then be consulted." But the 
 presence of the great 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 of the day had vanished. 
 So passed the dreary winter 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 who reside 
 in Ankober, than to the narrow-mmded 
 governor of Alio Amba. These men had 
 [been in the wont of selling glass-ware, 
 cloths, and fire-arms to the king at a very 
 I considerable premium, and now did not fail 
 to repeat and to improve the absurdities 
 circulated by the mischievous Danakil, re- 
 garding the foreign intruders. The Gypzis 
 were pronounced eaters of serpents, mice, 
 and other reptiles, and had come with the 
 design of possessing themselves of the 
 country by the aid of magic and medicine. 
 Great umbrage was taken at the practice 
 of toasting 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, which was 
 consequently condemned as unfit for use 
 until purified by the blessing of the priest. 
 Predictions of the impending fate of Abys- 
 sinia were derived from the fact of the 
 foreigners employing instruments which 
 read the stars ; and the despot was repeat- 
 edly and earnestly warned to be upon his 
 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 whatever to the threat 
 of excommunication extended to him by 
 
MALICIOUS REPORTS— AYTO MELKOO. 
 
 135 
 
 the fanatic clergy of Aramba, who had de- 
 clared the ban of the church to be the just 
 punishment due for the admission into the 
 empire " of red heretics, who ought care- 
 fully to be shunned,, since they practiced 
 witchcraft, and by burningthe king's bread, 
 threatened to bring a famine upon the 
 land." 
 
 Taking their cue from the feelings of 
 the people, the Shoan sorcerers gave out 
 that Sahela Selassie was to be the last of 
 the Ethiopian dynasty, descended from the 
 house of Solomon, who should sit upon 
 the throne of his forefathers, and that a 
 foreign king would 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 
 weak-minded people. In some of the nor- 
 thern provinces it was confidently asserted 
 that the sultan of the Mohammadans had 
 already conquered Shoa, and that all the 
 surrounding Moslem potentates were about 
 to unite with him in a war of extermination 
 against the Christians ; while in others it 
 was believed that an alaka, or chief of 
 the Gypts from Grand Cairo, had contrived 
 to-smuggle himself into the capital, carry- 
 ing his sovereign in a box, and that after 
 consulting the heavenly bodies until a fa- 
 vorable horoscope was presented, he stamp- 
 e li nis foot upon the ground, which opened, 
 and ten thousand red soldiers, with beards 
 flown^ to their girdles, springing forth out 
 of the cJnsm, placed the aforesaid monarch 
 upon the ti«.o ne . « Now," said the magi- 
 cians, 'will X^eodorus arise, according to 
 the tradition that v., will come in the latter 
 days of Ethiopia, ana create a kingdom of 
 peace. to 
 
 Theodorus was one oi the emperors 
 who reigned during the fifcee^ cen turv 
 and was canonized. It is recoi4 ec j that 
 during the observance of his festive t he 
 queen-dowager had prepared a great entt*. 
 tainment, and the guests being all assem- 
 bled, the heavens rained down a shower 
 of fishes ready roasted. In the Ethiopic 
 liturgy, the miracle is thus commemorated : 
 " Peace be upon thee, kinsr 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 
 
 PT* n f^ er war ' famine > nor discord, is 
 to disturb the happiness of Abyssinia. 
 
 CHAPTER L. 
 
 TERMINATION OF WINTER. 
 
 In due process of time, spite of the de- 
 nunciations of the fanatic priesthood, the 
 silver and beef of the foreigners attracted 
 the denizens of the adjacent villages, and 
 a respectable retinue was acquired, such as 
 an Abyssinian deems indispensable on all 
 excursions abroad. A house better ade- 
 quate to the wants of the party had been 
 purchased, and the bargain duly concluded 
 according to the custom 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 the rain had begun to abate, that the 
 master of the horse was prevailed upon to 
 rent his newly-erected domicile. A fat ox 
 having been slaughtered to drive out the 
 devil, was handed over to the domestics, 
 and the tenants, wading through the blood 
 which flowed over the threshold, duly en- 
 tered upon the premises, and quaffing" with 
 the burly landlord several horns of old hy- 
 dromel for good luck, the Union Jack float- 
 ed over the new Residency. u Have you 
 a better house than this in your country ?" 
 he inquired : "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 workers in leather — is equery 
 in waiting, and conservator of pastures 
 and meadows pertaining to the crown. 
 He is moreover the greatest gourmand in 
 the kingdom ; and condescending to honor 
 the denounced Christians with his com- 
 pany at the house-warming, did ample jus- 
 tice to the novel viands that were placed 
 before him. He even submitted to the in- 
 novation of a silver fork, and politely par- 
 took of salad, notwithstanding his firm 
 conviction that the undressed vegetable 
 Would cause a return of ailments to which 
 he kad been a martyr in youth. The cir- 
 culation of water & r the ablution of fin- 
 gers caused no little diversion on the re- 
 moval of the cloth ; but the marasquino 
 which followed, was unhesitatingly pro- 
 nounced 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 polite- 
 ness," added the old man, when, in reply 
 to his abrupt intimation of intended depar- 
 
136 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 ture, he was wished a " safe entrance to 
 his house," in accordance with Abyssinian 
 etiquette — " You should have said 'stay.' " 
 " Such is not the fashion of the countries 
 across the water," was the reply : " every 
 man is permitted to withdraw 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 would at all events 
 have stopped with you until the moon rose. 
 Do you see ?" 
 
 The fast of the Assumption having 
 meanwhile terminated, the king announced 
 his intention of removing to Angollala, his 
 favorite place of residence ; 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 sa- 
 ving 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 
 rumors have doubtless reached your ears ; 
 but ye must not suppose that Sahela Se- 
 lassie believes one of them. Ye are my 
 friends, and I will deal with you accord- 
 ingly. I will that ye come shortly to De- 
 bra Berhan, and witness the great annual 
 review at the feast of Maskal. Ayto 
 Wolda Hana shall conduct you." 
 
 But the important functionary thus se- 
 lected, 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 replied, 
 " and have neither wife nor child. Gray 
 hairs have come out on me. I am the son 
 of sixty years. I want nothing in this 
 world but the favor of the king," To 
 judge from appearances, the pinnacle of 
 his loyal ambition had already been attain- 
 ed. Governor of Ank&ber, and president 
 of the mddi belt, or kitchen, wherein ar* - 
 prepared hydromel, pepper-soup, and s"ur 
 beer — comptroller of all the royal prv«ers, 
 and of the household slaves, who are the 
 hewers of wood and the carriers of water, 
 who grind, bake, express oil, and manufac- 
 ture candles — receiver-general into the im- 
 perial magazines of all tribute in cotton, 
 grain, thread, sheep, and poultry — and 
 charged with the superintendence, the 
 erection, and the repair, of all public build- 
 ings throughout the realm, as well as with 
 the arrangement of the interior economy 
 of the capital — Ayto Wolda Hana can 
 have little left to desire ; and so conscien- 
 tiously does he acquit himself of these 
 manifold onerous duties, that it is affirmed 
 
 his royal master could scarcely exist with- 
 out him. 
 
 A visible diminution in the male popu- 
 lation of Ankober, 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 se- 
 cret police and magisterial department, he 
 adjusts all private differences, watches 
 over the public safety, and besides minis- 
 tering daily to the wants of all consigned 
 to him, gives annually three great enter- 
 tainments at the expense of the crown. 
 He has been honored with the hand of 
 Woizoro Askuala Work, sister to the 
 queen-dowager, and the receipt of the 
 promised invitation to Debra Berhan, re- 
 quiring an intimation of intended depar- 
 ture, afforded an opportunity, which had 
 long been sought, of making the acquaint- 
 ance of this stately dame. Seated in the 
 utmost Abyssinian pomp, and surrounded 
 by a goodly train of slaves, pages, and 
 handmaidens, she received the visitors 
 with the greatest affability ; and in the 
 temporary absence of her lord, expressed 
 the highest gratification at the attention 
 paid, although unable to accept the pres- 
 ents 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 inq^ries res- 
 pecting one's health, and +^at of one's 
 wife, relatives, and child*^ n - Even two 
 old crones who are oh lousl y tottering on 
 the very brink of t^ grave, and who are 
 afflicted with e^ rv P ain and with every 
 sorrow entail D Y the fall of our first 
 parents, v* er me et in the street without 
 Indulg-^g m a string of good wishes which 
 arP .eiterated so long as their breath will 
 permit. " How are you ? How do ye do ? 
 How have you passed your time ? Are 
 you well ? Are you very well 1 Are you 
 quite well ? Are you perfectly well 1 
 Are you not well ? — are questions which 
 serve as the prelude to a thousand other 
 interrogatories ; and at each response the 
 Deity must be invoked as to the unadul- 
 terated happiness and perfect felicity that 
 has been unremittingly experienced since 
 the last meeting. 
 
 Should the encounter take place twen- 
 ty 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, 
 
THE DEVIL'S MILL— THE KEYS OF THE NILE. 
 
 137 
 
 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 gentleman 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 afflicting 
 tissue of polite inquiries from every indi- 
 vidual of whatever rank, who may think 
 proper to pass himself off as an acquaint- 
 ance. 
 
 'CHAPTER LI. 
 
 DEBRA BERHAN, THE HILL OF 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 doorway, and amusing 
 themselves by canvassing the property 
 packed. Should rain be falling, which is 
 too frequently the case, the rabble take 
 shelter inside the house, subject every ar- 
 ticle 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 Anko- 
 ber, that the embassy on a raw, cold, foggy 
 morning in September — the last of the 
 Ethiopic year — took the road to Debra Ber- 
 han. The sun was already high when the 
 sure-footed mules were mounted, and as 
 the retiring mist scudded over the face of 
 the mountains, many were the bold beau- 
 ties revealed. Cascades tumbled down 
 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 watermill con- 
 structed by an Albanian visitor ; but the 
 intolerant and ignorant priesthood pronoun- 
 cing the revolution of the wheel to be the 
 work of devils and genii, its use was in- 
 terdicted 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 
 10 
 
 perpendicularly, while every traverse is ac- 
 clivitous and stony. The first traveller 
 in all the vigor 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 dis- 
 coverer has been preserved in all its orig- 
 inal purity. The craggy rock remains as 
 in ancient days, and the narrow and slip- 
 pery channel must be still threaded with 
 the same risk as when the first bold foot 
 was planted on the serrated ridge ; while 
 the torrent of centuries has indented the 
 furrow yet deeper, and added the impedi- 
 ment of slimy residuum. 
 
 The range whereof the Chaka forms a 
 part, divides the streams that flow into the 
 Nile, from those which are tributary to 
 the Hawash ; and the ascent above Anko- 
 ber being not less than two thousand feet, 
 the difference in temperature on the sum- 
 mit was fully perceptible. Half an hour 
 was occupied in the scramble to a crum- 
 bling basaltic pillar styled " Koom dingai" 
 "the standing stone," which very aptly 
 transfers its name to this most indifferent 
 pass to the new capital of Shoa. Mamrat 
 still towered overhead full three or four 
 thousand feet, making its total height above 
 the level of the sea at least thirteen thou- 
 sand ; yet is snow a stranger to its cloud- 
 capped summit, and indeed to the language 
 of all Amhara, south of the cold mountains 
 of Simien. 
 
 It is from June to September, while the 
 sun is vertical in Ethiopia, that old father 
 Nil us carries plenty into " the land of mar- 
 vels" — and rolling on to its mouths in soli- 
 tary 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 Chris- 
 tian hands the inexhaustible riches of 
 Egypt. Hatze Tekla Haimanot the Great, 
 had therefore reason on his side, when in 
 the beginning of the twelfth century he 
 wrote under the style of " son of the king 
 of the church of ^Ethiop 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 instru- 
 ment of vengeance for overt acts of hos- 
 tility — the Almighty having given into his 
 hands, its fountains, its passage, and its 
 increase ; and thus intrusted him with 
 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 relinquish the cares of gov- 
 
138 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 ernment in order to retire to a cloister, he 
 divided his countless wealth with his feet 
 into two parts, the one designed as an of- 
 fering to the church, the other to be dis- 
 tributed in alms among the poor : and both 
 heaps, although mountain high, were, on 
 being weighed, found exactly equal. La- 
 libela, one of his successors, is believed to 
 have attempted the diversion to the Indian 
 Ocean and the Lake Zooai, of all those 
 principal tributaries to the Nile which take 
 their source in the highest table land. 
 The measure was in resentment for the 
 persecutions exercised toward the Chris- 
 tians in Egypt after the Saracen conquest, 
 and the monarch was only diverted from 
 his gigantic project by the earnest remon- 
 strance of the monks, who strongly urged 
 the impolicy of fertilizing the arid Moslem 
 countries that intervene betwixt the moun- 
 tains and the sea. 
 
 On the summit of the Chaka commences 
 an uninterrupted terrace, stretching hun- 
 dreds of miles to the southward, through 
 the fair territories of the Galla. Glimpses 
 of blue sky, of a brightness unseen for 
 months, now gave happy presage of com- 
 ing fine weather, and a cold bracing breeze 
 from the eastward announced the termina- 
 tion of the protracted season of rain. The 
 country had assumed the uninteresting 
 character inseparable from elevated downs 
 — rich swampy meadows, knee-deep in 
 mire, clothed with camomile, clover, and 
 trefoil, and covered with oxen, horses, and 
 sheep, being intersected by gentle undula- 
 tions of moor land, with occasional ovi- 
 form hills. Bare-banked rills, streaming 
 through the lower tracts, succeed each 
 other in quick succession, and drain the 
 table-land to the sources of the Bereza ; 
 while the great extent of ground under 
 cultivation, waving crops of wheat, beans, 
 and barley, with independent farm-houses 
 scattered over the face of the landscape, 
 proclaim a government which cannot be 
 of a very bad description, and regions long 
 exempt from the presence of inimical 
 power. 
 
 Across the Toro Mesk, the principal 
 streamlet that intersects the road, and the 
 sources of which are visible at a great dis- 
 tance to the northeast, is a rude pile of 
 stones bearing the dignified appellation of 
 "the King's Bridge." Johannes, the Ar- 
 menian architect, received the hand of a 
 high-born dame in reward of his skill, and 
 by none save the despotic foot is the bar- 
 red entrance ever passed. Two other 
 bridges, or rather drains, have since been 
 constructed upon the same primitive prin- 
 ciple over nameless but rapid rivulets, and 
 
 if not very durable, serve greatly to facili- 
 tate the royal progress at perids when the 
 country is inundated. 
 
 During the reign of the sire and grand- 
 sire of the present monarch, the entire 
 tract between Ankcber 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 recol- 
 lection of his prowess in arms, as evinced 
 to their fathers, numbers of whom fell 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 venerable boughs, the wit- 
 nesses of idolatrous rites, mark the ancient 
 site of villages now gone to decay. Flour- 
 ishing Christian hamlets have risen in their 
 stead ; yet the visible population is small, 
 and the long naked sweeping plains, silent 
 and lonesome, present a stern and melan- 
 choly appearance, which the absence of 
 groves and hedges and singing birds tends 
 materially to heighten* The vulture and 
 the eagle are alone seen wheeling above 
 the green cliffs, or a solitary buzzard soar- 
 ing in quest of his prey over the great 
 sheets of cultivation. Shepherds, wearing 
 high conical hempen caps, lay ensconced, 
 with their large shaggy dogs, under the 
 shelter of knolls and caves ; and in some 
 few of the fields, where last year's crops 
 were yet unhoused, or the land remained 
 untilled, the peasantry pursued their indus- 
 trious occupation. 
 
 At length the monotonous view opened 
 over a wide plateau sloping gently to the 
 west. The blue serrated peaks of Sallala 
 Moogher, beyond which flows the infant 
 Nile, loomed faintly in the distance, and 
 the intervening country, still destitute of 
 wood, was traversed by broad, broken, pre- 
 cipitous ravines. On a hill to the north- 
 ward is visible the extensive market-place 
 of Bool Worki, " the cave of gold," a great 
 mart for horses, mules, and woollen cloths, 
 which, with grain, asses, and horned cattle, 
 are brought every Saturday by the adja- 
 cent 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 interposed to save them 
 from the grasp of the avaricious. 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 
 
ARRIVAL AT DEBRA BERHAN. 
 
 139 
 
 trappings, and attended by a black cat, 
 wearing about its neck a bell of the same 
 costly metal — a sight quite sufficient to 
 deter intrusion on the part of the curious. 
 
 A cluster of white-roofed houses, strag- 
 gling beyond the walled palace and the 
 church of the Holy Trinity — long indis- 
 tinctly visible — now rose rapidly to view ; 
 and a small eminence having been as- 
 cended, 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, galloped oif to make his 
 report. The customary announcement 
 through an aliero, who has always access 
 to the palace, elicited a pair of monstrous 
 Galla rams, which were thrust into ob- 
 servation while the message which fol- 
 lows — one strictly in accordance with 
 Abyssinian etiquette — was delivered with 
 shoulders bare by him to whom it had 
 been confided : " Are you well 3 Are 
 you well 1 Are you well 1 Have you 
 been quite well since our last interview ] 
 Are you all well ? Have my children 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." 
 
 Woollen awnings wrought of goat's 
 hair, and resembling the black tents of 
 Kedar, had meanwhile been erected on 
 the greensward, and arrival therein was 
 instantly followed by bread in wicker 
 baskets, old hydromel in colored decanters, 
 and compliments in profusion from the 
 queen. Many of the courtiers paid visits 
 in the evening, too evidently fresh from 
 the royal banquet, which 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 swallowed during 
 the revel. Glimmering lights soon illu- 
 mined the straggling hamlet — dancing and 
 singing occupied both sexes of the inhab- 
 itants — and with almost as much pomp 
 and ceremony as in more civilized lands, 
 the departed year was consigned to its 
 last long resting-place in the relentless 
 tomb of Time. 
 
 CHAPTER LII. 
 
 THE ROYAL SLAVE DEPOT. 
 
 No royal residence can be conceived 
 more desolate and less princely than the 
 palace at Debra Berhan, " the Hill of Glo- 
 10* 
 
 ry." Crumbling walls of loose unce- 
 mented stone, patched in their various 
 breaches and dilapidations by splintered 
 palisades, surround a vast assemblage of 
 wattle and dab edifices, of various shapes 
 and dimensions, which are clumped to- 
 gether in separate court-yards, without 
 any regard to appearance. Six rude gate- 
 ways on the southern side conduct through 
 as many miry inclosures, lined with troops, 
 and crowded with herds, flocks, and appli- 
 cants for justice. A paddock, covered 
 with bright green turf, extends in front of 
 the chamber of audience. Hoary junipers 
 stretch their moss-grown branches fantas- 
 tically over the lawn, and at the farther 
 extremity of the inclosure rise the moul- 
 dering remains of the palace of Zara Ya- 
 coob. 
 
 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 re- 
 main of his abode, certainly exhibit an 
 order of architecture far superior to that 
 of the present degenerate day. It has 
 been composed of large blocks of hewn 
 though unsculptured stone ; but, in com- 
 mon with every other boasted edifice 
 erected in the height of Ethiopic splendor, 
 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. Among 
 others who underwent execution, were 
 two of his sons-in-law; and he finally 
 issued a proclamation, confiscating the 
 lands of all who should thenceforth neg- 
 lect to carry on the right arm an amulet 
 inscribed with the words, "I have re- 
 nounced the Devil and his works for 
 Christ Jesus our Lord." 
 
 Tradition asserts that " the Hill of Glo- 
 ry," now barren of trees, was in days of 
 yore thickly covered with forest, through 
 which ran a single path. In the begin- 
 ning of the fifteenth century the founder, 
 who was also styled Constantine, fled into 
 its depths before an invasion of the Ada'i- 
 el, and becoming bewildered in the intri- 
 cacies, hurried hither and thither, exclaim- 
 ing in his dilemma, " Ber eza, her eza ?" 
 " 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 adja- 
 cent swamps are to be seen the ancient 
 remains of decomposed timber, and a few 
 
140 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 venerable junipers still survive within the 
 palace inclosure ; but beyond these monu- 
 ments of antiquity the truth of the legend 
 rests solely on the name of the river Be- 
 reza, a tortuous stream winding round the 
 foot of the hill, and forming one of the 
 principal sources of the Blue Nile. 
 
 Tegulet, " the city of the wolves," the 
 capital of all 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 command- 
 ing promontory, round which flows the 
 river Salacha, it is environed by singular 
 bluffs ; and one natural fissure, visible from 
 a great distance, affords the only practica- 
 ble ascent to the impregnable fortress, upon 
 which the Galla, 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 superior also of the celebrated shrine of 
 Sena Markos, a saint of the days of Tekla 
 Haimanot. The monastery, named after 
 its founder, occupies a similar inaccessible 
 fastness, overlooking a part of the valley 
 of the Nile, 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 proverb, " From Etteghe is 
 the Echegue or Grand Prior of the 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 hun- 
 dred and fifty miles, involving so rapid a 
 declination to the westward, that nearly all 
 have cataracts in some part, and are con- 
 sequently destitute of finny inhabitants. 
 The entire environs of Tegulet are inter- 
 sected by the beds of rapid torrents, hav- 
 ing high precipitous banks, which afford 
 few accessible roads, whether to man or 
 beast — a fact to which this portion of Shoa 
 may be concluded to have owed its secu- 
 rity 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 
 communicate with the " great water." It 
 proved the grave of numerous Christian 
 warriors, who during the bloody contest 
 with the Adaiel plunged unexpectedly into 
 its dark bosom, and were heard of no more. 
 
 It was at the close of the fifteenth cen- 
 tury that Mafoodi, the bigoted king of Hur- 
 rur, unfurling the green banner of the 
 Prophet, commenced those devastating in- 
 roads upon the frontiers of Shoa, which 
 finally led to the dismemberment of the 
 Ethiopic empire, and proved the greatest 
 calamity that has befallen the country. 
 Under a vow that he would annually spend 
 the forty days of Lent among the Abys- 
 sinian infidels, he overran Efat and Fatigar 
 when the people, weakened by rigorous 
 fasting, were less capable of bearing arms 
 — burned churches and monasteries, slew 
 without mercy every male who fell in his 
 way, and driving off the women and chil- 
 dren, 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, 
 commander-in-chief of the royal body- 
 guard, who had been bought over by Ma- 
 foodi. • The eyeballs of the regicide were 
 seared with a rsd-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 de- 
 pots for the numerous royal slaves, the pos- 
 session of whom casts the foulest blot on 
 the character of the Christian monarch. 
 A strange clatter, and a Babel-like mix- 
 ture of tongues, greets the ear of the visi- 
 tor, 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. 
 
 The huge black Shankela, with blubbeT 
 lip and bloodshot eye, is resting for a mo- 
 ment against the broken wall, and stretch- 
 ing a brawny limb which might have sup- 
 ported the bully Hercules himself. Grin- 
 ning from ear to ear as his burly neighbor 
 sports some savage joke in licence unre- 
 strained, he seizes with a three-horse power 
 his bundle of split wood, which two Am- 
 hara could with difficulty raise, and poising 
 it like a feather upon his woolly head, 
 walks away in all the vigor of a young 
 giant 
 
 With his own approving eye the mon- 
 arch has selected this specimen from a lot of 
 powerful negroes captured beyond the Nile, 
 and fifteen silver crowns must not be light- 
 ly squandered, even by the great sovereign 
 of Southern Abyssinia. Rations are well 
 supplied to support the sinewy form, and 
 unless on a cold raw day, when the soak- 
 ing rain has penetrated every thread of his 
 
BONDSWOMEN— THE QUEEN'S HANDMAIDEN. 
 
 141 
 
 black blanket* and the shivering frame 
 brings vividly to mind the difference of cli- 
 mate, 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 inde- 
 pendence is still unsubdued in his fiery eye, 
 and the slender figure and the bent leg 
 proclaim the wild rider of the grassy plain. 
 Heavy and heartbroken, he plods along 
 under a burthen to which his strength is 
 quite inadequate; and the groan escapes 
 from his lips, as the bitter thoughts enter 
 iiis soul of the disgraceful lash of the task- 
 master that perhaps awaits his return, and 
 he remembers the lost wife and little ones 
 whom he has for ever left on the distant 
 savannas of the Hawash. 
 
 Issuing from the gateway under the au- 
 thority 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 little 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. Gar- 
 lands of the yellow buttercup deck the 
 plaited raven locks of each captive maid, 
 and a plaintive song is chanted in soft mel- 
 low notes to beguile the hours of toil. But 
 the lines of slavery have already found place 
 among their youthful features, which pos- 
 sess beauty unknown to those of their op- 
 pressors. The low chorus swelling mourn- 
 ful 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 recollection of 
 happier hours spent in their own sweet land 
 of spices. 
 
 Following close behind, comes a group 
 of favored dames of a certain age, from 
 whose minds time has effaced all remem- 
 brance of country and of kindred. Exalted 
 to the post of mistresses of the royal brew- 
 ery, and decked out like the first ladies of 
 the land, in flowing garments resplendent 
 with crimson stripes, they have little reason 
 to wish for a change of condition. Bars 
 and studs of solid silver load their perfo- 
 rated 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, glis- 
 ten under a sheen of butter, and their fat 
 cheeks, plastered with grease and red pig- 
 
 ment, are calculated to strike respect into 
 the heart of the most indifferent beholder. 
 The unceasing 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 strap- 
 ped over the breast with the thong of sla- 
 very ; and the attending eunuch, with his 
 long thin wand — an emblem of his own 
 withered person — proclaims the fact that 
 the ladies cannot roam at pleasure over the 
 verdant raead, but must restrict themselves 
 in the beaten path according to the cracked 
 voice of their driver. 
 
 Seated upon a gayly caparisoned mule, 
 amid the jingling of bells and brass orna- 
 ments, the general 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 sword 
 decorates his right side, and fifty robed fol- 
 lowers attend his every behest. But he too 
 is a slave, as was his father before him, and 
 as his son will be after him. All the bones 
 and sinews of his attendants are the pur- 
 chased property of the monarch, and it is 
 only by the imperial will 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 which delight the inhabit- 
 ant of Shoa. It is Wuletta Georgis, one of 
 her majesty's confidential slaves, and she 
 is revolving in her mind, how, in executing 
 her mistress's commission, she can contrive 
 to promote her own interests. Born and 
 bred in the palace, the Abigail is ordinarily 
 treated with kindness, unless the fracture 
 of a little decanter, or the unbidden attack 
 upon some savory dish, involve a little 
 wholesome correction. Unlike the philo- 
 sophical 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 occa- 
 sion, 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 individ- 
 uals, and her mistress will assuredly confis- 
 cate the profits ; but the tenure of property 
 during even one short half hour, possesses 
 charms irresistible, and the poor girl falls 
 
142 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 prostrate on the ground, as the silver is 
 dropped into her unwashed fingers. 
 
 A last group is struggling through the 
 gateway. The aged and the infirm, who 
 can still perform a light task, have just re- 
 ceived their daily dole from the royal store- 
 house at the niggard hand of the pampered 
 steward. The vigor of their youth has been 
 expended in the service of the despot, and 
 now in the evening of life, the original 
 scanty pittance 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 revo- 
 lution. Hunger and destitution are pain- 
 fully portrayed in the deep furrows of each 
 withered face, and the shrunken limb tot- 
 ters as the keen wind whistles cold through 
 the wet folds of the tattered goat-skin gir- 
 dle 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 sinews ground by indigence and toil, 
 during half a century of hopeless bondage. 
 
 ^CHAPTER LIII. 
 
 NEW YEAR'S DAY. 
 
 New Year's Day, which fell on the 10th 
 of September, was, according to the Abys- 
 sinian calendar, the eighteen hundred and 
 thirty-fourth since the nativity 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 of the 
 audience chamber, was enjoying the genial 
 warmth of the rising sun. The interior of 
 the hall was strewed 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 Galla queen of Moolofa- 
 lada. 
 
 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 of- 
 fered to his majesty according to the cus- 
 tomary form : " As the departed year of 
 St. Matthew has closed happily upon your 
 auspicious reign, so may the coming year 
 of St. Mark ! May God prolong your days 
 and continue the throne in the line 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 alike to understand 
 and to appreciate the equitable sway of the 
 father, whom Heaven has appointed to rule 
 over them !" 
 
 Elaborate models of a domed palace, 
 completely furnished, and an English sad- 
 dle and bridle, were next presented, and 
 received with every manifestation of de- 
 light, coupled with a prayer from the royal 
 lips, that " God might glorify the donors." 
 A long and minute scrutiny led to an in- 
 finity 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 inserted in 
 the stirrup ? " The sun in different coun- 
 tries shines with more or less brilliancy," 
 exclaimed his majesty, with truly royal 
 eloquence, as he concluded the examina- 
 tion — " the birds and the beasts are differ- 
 ent, 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, was seated, rosary in 
 hand, during this conversation ; and in his 
 weather-beaten countenance were display- 
 ed all the cunning lineaments of the petty 
 retailer in small wares, curiously con- 
 trasted with the sagacity of the extensive 
 dealer in politics, who had succeeded in 
 obtaining an accurate measure of the mon- 
 arch's foot. The knave, too, protested to 
 have seen the world, and gave out that 
 with his own gray eyes had he beheld the 
 glories of Britain's eastern possessions. 
 
 To support his widely circulated char- 
 acter for universal knowledge, the Moslem 
 miscreant now seized between his bony 
 fingers two pieces of superbly sprigged 
 muslin, fresh from the looms of Manches- 
 ter, which had been presented for Queen 
 Besabesh, and throwing them contemptu- 
 ously toward the corner of the throne, 
 muttered betwixt his lips the word " Bom- 
 bay." 
 
 " What's that — what do you say!" cried 
 the king, in his usual abrupt manner. 
 
 " May it please your majesty," returned 
 the turbaned traveller, to the amusement 
 of the servants of the illustrious presidency 
 assembled, " 't is the name of this cloth- 
 it is called Bombay." 
 
 But an opportunity presently occurred 
 of laughing at the beard of the irreverent 
 
THE TOURNAMENT— THE WOUNDED HERO. 
 
 143 
 
 peddler, nor was it suffered to pass un- 
 heeded. 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 ac- 
 knowledged, nemine contradicente, that the 
 artist had succeeded in producing a highly 
 creditable resemblance to a fish. " A fish," 
 quoth the man of Hurrur, " what is that]" 
 Even the monarch smiled, when the ex- 
 planation was rendered. " Fishes live in 
 the great sea between Abyssinia and Bom- 
 bay ; and he whose eyes have not suffered 
 under Oubie's searing irons, might behold 
 numbers of them every day of the voyage." 
 " Istigh-far-allah" " 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 of the 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 inclosure. 
 Two aftabgivs of crimson velvet, surmount- 
 ed by silver globes and crosses — his never- 
 failing attendants on all occasions of state 
 — were supported by sturdy slaves, and 
 twelve richly caparisoned steeds, repre- 
 senting the months of the year, were led 
 by the royal grooms. A numerous and 
 motley retinue of dismounted cavaliers fol- 
 lowed ; 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 " enkotatach" whence 
 the festival takes its appellation. 
 
 Unlike the rugged mountains of Anko- 
 ber, which can alone be traversed by the 
 sure-footed mule, the country around De- 
 bra Berhan is of a strictly equestrian na- 
 ture ; and the bright azure of the sky, 
 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 with a slender staff, 
 the king mounted his charger, and bound- 
 ing over the greensward, opened the sports 
 of the day. Groups of wild savages were 
 instantly to be seen scouring in every di- 
 rection, engaged in the gombeza, or joust ; 
 but his majesty, in flaunting striped robes, 
 shone conspicuous. Well mounted, a 
 fearless horseman, and admirably skilled 
 in the use of the spear, he had on no pre- 
 vious occasion been seen to so great ad- 
 vantage as during his participation in the 
 warlike exercises of the new year — now 
 pursuing, and now in turn pursued by the 
 warrior whom he had honored by selection 
 as his antagonist in the tilt. 
 
 " Guebroo is sick," quoth the monarch, 
 the moment the display was over ; " he 
 has received a severe wound in the head 
 during a skirmish with the rebel Galla, 
 and I am desirious 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 serpen- 
 tine Bereza, the road led through swampy 
 meadows, and over little cultivated knolls 
 destitute of either tree or shrub, toward 
 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, above churches 
 and" conical houses; and five distinct 
 knolls, forming an arc in the intermediate 
 and otherwise level landscape, were sev- 
 erally crowned by the abodes of favorite 
 courtiers — that on the extreme right, em- 
 bowered in luxuriant trees, pertaining to 
 Ayto Guebroo, governor of Mentshar. 
 
 Ascending the tumulus by a steep and 
 stony path, a muddy court-yard was thread- 
 ed to the abode of the great man. Sur- 
 rounded 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 " Fat i gar," having revolted, the warrior 
 had taken the field with his contingent, 
 and becoming opposed to a rebel in hand 
 to hand combat, had received the first 
 spear on his buckler, which was now os- 
 tentatiously displayed. The horse of his 
 adversary fell under a well-directed lance, 
 and the dismounted pagan sued for quar- 
 ters ; obtaining which he treacherously 
 launched his remaining shaft, which had 
 cleft the forehead, and passed through the 
 corner of the eye, although without de- 
 stroying 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 preparations for a 
 repast Piles of thin teff cakes loaded the 
 low wicker table — bowis of potent pepper- 
 porridge smoked at the place appointed for 
 each guest, and lumps of raw meat were 
 in profusion ; nor was it without infinite 
 surprise that the hospitable entertainers 
 and their domestics beheld the chops sub- 
 mitted in the first instance to the influence 
 of the hot embers. " Do all of your na- 
 tion thus burn their meat ?" inquired the 
 
144 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 lady after long and attentive observation : 
 «* I was told that such was the case, and 
 that you burned 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 was at a still greater loss to under- 
 stand by what means a subject had been 
 cured, while he himself remained in par- 
 tial blindness. Ayto Katama, who was 
 present at this observation, turning to 
 one of the party whispered, " Do not sup- 
 pose that tne negoos is blind of that eye : 
 may Sahela Selassie die, he sees bet- 
 ter with it than with the other !" Like 
 ^sop of old, who was once a bondsman, 
 the general of the body-guard still retained 
 the grovelling spirit of slavery, varnished 
 with the address of the artful courtier; 
 and had he flourished in the days of Solon 
 and Croesus, he would doubtless have sup- 
 ported the advice given to the Grecian phi- 
 losopher by the hunchback author of the 
 fables, " that we should either not come 
 near crowned heads at all, or speak, those 
 things only that will prove agreeable to 
 them." 
 
 CHAPTER LIV. 
 
 THE FALLS OF THE BEREZA. 
 
 Hunting expeditions filled up the lei- 
 sure 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 Berhan, 
 it was his majesty's wont to project stone 
 balls from his rifle at the hyenas basking 
 upon huge fragments of fallen rock, which 
 form caverns one thousand feet below, and 
 choke the bed of the pathless chasm. 
 Then the steps of the royal cavalcade 
 would be directed to the valley of the Be- 
 reza, where " Satan's horses," in the shape 
 of gigantic adjutants, were striding over 
 the plain on their long stilt-like legs, with 
 well-filled pouches dangling beneath their 
 bills. Here, seated upon the green turf, 
 the negoos awaited the report of his scouts. 
 While turning the corner of the numerous 
 abrupt eminences, his ears were ever sa- 
 luted by loud cries of u Abiet ! Abiet /" 
 from the mouth of many a petitioner, and 
 a very respectable body of plaintiff's and 
 defendants were always in attendance. 
 
 Judgment was calmly delivered, until 
 the arrival of some breathless horseman 
 with intelligence of the discovery of a col- 
 ony of baboons, would arrest the proceed- 
 
 ings of the sylvan court. " Sahela Selassie 
 ye moot?" inquired the sporting monarch 
 on one of these occasions, adjuring the in- 
 formant by his own illustrious life ; " are 
 they well surrounded ?" " May Sahela 
 Selassie die if they be not," responded the 
 slave, as he bowed his head to the dust; 
 " hundreds graze in yonder cornfield." 
 " Then by the death of Woosen Suggud 
 they shall be slain," was the rejoinder, as 
 his majesty galloped toward the spot, fol- 
 lowed by every rifle and fowling-piece of 
 which the imperial armory could boast 
 
 On the verge of the deep valley a count- 
 less pigfaced army was presently revealed, 
 laying waste the rising crop. Lusty vet- 
 erans, muffled in long flowing manes, strut- 
 ted consequentially among the ladies, and 
 others, squatted upon their hunkers, with 
 many a ghastly grin displayed their white 
 teeth while hunting down the vermin that 
 infested their rough shaggy coats. Cast- 
 ing aside his chequered robe, the king, 
 with all the ardor of a schoolboy, dashed 
 into the middle of the amazed group, and 
 under a running fire from himself and 
 courtiers, the field was presently strewed 
 with slain and wounded. Mangled wretches 
 were now to be seen dragging their muti- 
 lated limbs behind them in ineffectual ex- 
 ertions to reach the precipitous chasm of 
 the Bereza, whose white foaming waters 
 were thundering below, while the grima- 
 cing survivors, far out of danger, whooped 
 in echoes amid the bush-grown clefts, to 
 reassemble the discomfited forces. 
 
 Return from this brilliant victory was 
 celebrated by the war-chorus, until 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 hornbill, and 
 an abrupt unmeaning excrescence above 
 his huge jagged forceps, imparts a fancied 
 resemblance to the slaves ot 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 like those of the 
 turkey-cock ; and from the fact of its al- 
 ways constructing the door of its nest to 
 the eastward, the Abyssinians assert that 
 it will never build out of sight of a church. 
 
 The plumage throughout is, to appear- 
 ance, of a sooty black ; but the expansion 
 of the wings displays an assemblage of 
 snowy quills, which form the pride of the 
 warrior who 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 
 
" THE DEVIL'S SHEEP "—THE CATARACT. 
 
 143 
 
 high-peaked saddles, scoured after the de- 
 voted 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 pur- 
 suers, until beleagured on all sides, he was 
 finally speared by the chief smith and body 
 physician, who as an equestrian shone facile 
 princeps,znd whose skill rewarded the head 
 of each hero engaged, with the coveted 
 white plume, the Amharic emblem of death. 
 
 " My children have never seen the 
 * devil's sheep,'" gravely observed his ma- 
 jesty, as he ascended toward the palace, 
 preceded by strains of martial music. 
 " They live in holes in the rocks under the 
 great waterfall, and have long snouts : my 
 people are afraid. Take guns in the morn- 
 ing, and the pages will show you the road. 
 Now you may eat." 
 
 Heavy dew covered the long waving 
 grass, as the party, accompanied by the 
 promised escort, proceeded at an early 
 hour, to gratify the royal curiosity 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 ser- 
 pentine river, far hid from sight, winds 
 through a succession of verdant hills, to- 
 ward a precipitous valley, down which the 
 foaming torrent rushes over a descent of 
 eight rocky basins. Hemmed in by fantas- 
 tic pillars of basalt, composed of irregular 
 disjointed polygons, the dark craggy sur- 
 face, 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 frowning abyss ; while twelve 
 hundred feet below, the sparry walls sud- 
 denly contract ■ to the breadth of fifteen 
 yards, and the accumulated waters of the 
 cascades, discharging through the natural 
 floodgate, boil onward 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 
 puddenness 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 tall 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 colors of the Iris, 
 completed a picture of singular wildness 
 and magnificence. 
 
 How different, indeed, is the fate await- 
 ing the waters of one and the same shower 
 discharged over the high culminating ridge 
 of the Abyssinian Alps ! A rain-drop, fall- 
 ing on the eastern slope of the shed, wends 
 its short course by the nearest streamlet 
 toward the muddy Hawash ; and, if not ab- 
 sorbed by the thirsty plains of the Ada'iel, 
 adds its mite to the lagoon of Aussa — to 
 filter, perhaps, 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 Berez, and 
 taking the fearful leap over the dazzling 
 cataract of Debra Berhan, it hurries down 
 the Jumma on its impetuous 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 fertility of the land of 
 Egypt, 
 
 " Where, with annual pomp, 
 Rich king of floods ! o'erflows the swelling Nile." 
 
 CHAPTER LV. 
 
 THE ANNUAL REVIEW. 
 
 As the month rolled on, under a cold and 
 pleasant sky, governors of the adjacent dis- 
 tricts flocked with their quotas to Debra 
 Berhan, to be in readiness against the ap- 
 proaching anniversary of "Maskal." On 
 this festival, held in commemoration of the 
 discovery of the holy cross by St. Helena, 
 the rabble militia composing the Amhara 
 forces being marshalled in order of review, 
 the ?rassy slope in front of the palace be- 
 came daily more and more thickly dotted 
 with black booths and mules and neighing 
 steeds. Honors, appointments, and re- 
 wards 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 confis- 
 cated slaves, wooden tables, rickety bed- 
 steads, and other paltry prizes of royal seiz- 
 ure, crowded the bustling parade ; whild 
 groups of shivering camels, transferred by 
 writ of execution to an uncongenial clime. 
 
146 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 took up their miserable station on the bare 
 cold ground, which was in a few days to 
 receive their long scraggy bones. 
 
 On the eve of the anxiously expected 
 day of jubilee, the din of the nugareet, fol- 
 lowed by the repeated discharge of heavily- 
 loaded matchlocks, proclaimed the move- 
 ment of the household troops toward 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 light of the torch, in honor 
 of the stranger guests ; and while the lead- 
 ers solaced themselves with a cup of cur- 
 acoa, 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 
 among the affirmative whoops of their fol- 
 lowers, that next to the safety of the sacred 
 person of royalt}^, the valued lives of their 
 much-esteemed foreign friends should be 
 uppermost in the thoughts of the coming 
 vigil. 
 
 Most unkingly was the appearance pre- 
 sented 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 — and the 
 rods of the wearied door-keepers were bro- 
 ken to splinters in their laudable endea- 
 vors 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 som- 
 bre and dilapidated than was its wont. 
 
 The despot was for some hours to be 
 seen squatted in the porch of the banquet- 
 ing hall, surrounded by all the concomitant 
 litter of a forge, which, puffing away at the 
 foot of the alga, under the personal super- 
 vision 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 of the mighty monarch was at times 
 scarcely audible, amid the clatter of sur- 
 rounding courtiers, and the ringing of the 
 crow upon the anvil. 
 
 Twenty sallow eunuchs, acting each at 
 one and the same time as master of the 
 ceremonies, introduced to the royal notice 
 the crowds of lieges, who, arrayed in most 
 
 filthy garbs, came crushing together to the 
 front. Priests and monks, and petty gov- 
 ernors, women, slaves, and cultivators, bore 
 each some present to swell the imperial 
 stores. Honey, butter, and beads, sticks, 
 crutches, and censers, were alike received 
 with complimentary speeches, saving in 
 the instance of one burly knave, who pre- 
 sumed to come before the king with a poor 
 bundle of grass. Of him no notice what- 
 ever was taken. The very crowd seemed 
 ashamed of so scurvy an offering, and an 
 opening being spontaneously made, a few 
 kicks and shoves sent the ill-provided vas- 
 sal speedily out of sight, unrewarded by 
 the customary "God give thee more!" 
 from the lips of his puissant sovereign. 
 
 But the sun rose upon a different scene, 
 as the embassy, in full uniform, were ush- 
 ered 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 all the 
 principal churches, he reclined on a mov- 
 able throne, tricked out for the occasion 
 in velvet and satin. Rich kimlchabs, gay 
 silken vests, and a profusion of silver 
 swords and decorations for gallant con- 
 duct, sparkled on the persons of the cour- 
 tiers ; and the turmoil attending the early 
 hours of business had given place to the 
 unbending gravity of Abyssinian etiquette. 
 
 The artillery escort having, greatly to 
 the admiration of the bystanders, gone 
 through the manual and platoon exercises 
 with blank cartridge, three hundred Afe~ 
 roch, under the command of the purveyor- 
 general, entered the arena, elevating high 
 above their heads bundles of pealed wands, 
 bound together with wisps of rushes, and 
 bedecked with garlands of the yellow 
 cross-flower. The wild song of rejoicing 
 at the return of spring, and of the season 
 of blossoms, " when the fleas retire and 
 the flies appear," had been heard a con- 
 siderable time, waxing louder and louder, 
 as these lictors with their fasces approach- 
 ed the scene of exhibition. Shouting the 
 war-chorus, they now moved forward with 
 a mincing gait, and after the most abject 
 prostration to the earth, with a yell, hurl- 
 ing 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 
 spoils of wild beasts, then displayed them- 
 selves individually in the war-dance, gal- 
 loping or vaulting between the open ranks, 
 encouraging the men to fight, and demean 
 themselves as warriors in the day of bat- 
 
ROYAL MILITARY REVIEW. 
 
 147 
 
 tie— each ending his recitative by a ter- 
 rific howl, wherein he was unanimously 
 joined by the whole lictor band. 
 
 This exhibition terminated, the embassy, 
 on horseback, were marshalled to a gay 
 Turkish pavilion, which had been pur- 
 posely erected, below the royal inspection 
 tower. A small-roofed building, resem- 
 bling a sentry-box, or the judge's stand on 
 a country race-course, occupies a raised 
 platform immediately within the palace 
 inclosure. Gay cloth hangings enveloped 
 this cage, and carpets and rugs of all co- 
 lors covered the top of the rude wall for 
 some distance on either side. The ne- 
 goos was already seated when his British 
 guests cantered past, and taking off their 
 hats, received a condescending salutation. 
 The usual paraphernalia of silver-emboss- 
 ed velvet floated at the imperial feet. The 
 chiefs of the churches, and the civil offi- 
 cers of state — a gorgeous band — were ar- 
 ranged along the platform, while a motley 
 crowd of many thousand spectators stood 
 closely packed over the plain below. 
 
 Dense masses of cavalry were in readi- 
 ness, at the farther extremity of the pa- 
 rade, to perform the pageant of the day. 
 At the distance of one hundred yards 
 from the imperial stand, a stack of tall 
 leafless willow-staves towered over the 
 bright green turf which extended far and 
 wide in front. Around it were squatted 
 files of warriors, ensconsed under their 
 round shields, like the tortoise beneath his 
 shell — the charge of sundry huge culve- 
 rins, of inordinate dimensions, being di- 
 vided betwixt every three. The muzzle 
 resied over the shoulder of one, a second 
 worked 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 fusileers, three- 
 fourths of w r hom were on this occasion 
 equipped with the muskets that had recent- 
 ly been presented. Divided into four 
 bodies, consisting each of about one hun- 
 dred men, they moved slowly forward, shout- 
 ing the usual war-chorus, in imitation of 
 the voice of the lion, and were kept in 
 line by the vigorous application of the rat- 
 tan. Numerous bangles, the reward of 
 distinguished gallantry, glittered through- 
 out the band, and the fixed bayonets, here- 
 tofore unknown in Southern Abyssinia, 
 gleamed brightly in the sunshine. Gain- 
 ing the prescribed distance, the warriors 
 crouched on the ground, as if to receive 
 cavalry. A gray-headed but energetic 
 veteran sprang to the front— danced du- 
 ring 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 companies, 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 flowing 
 garment of flaring chintz, the gaudy hues 
 and absurd pattern of which the kaleide- 
 scope 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 un- 
 seemly capers and gestures, he brandished 
 his crooked blade in a fashion which 
 could alone have proved dangerous to him- 
 self. Suffering under the effects of an 
 inveterate sore throat, no soul-inspiring 
 words burst from his mute lips, and the 
 vaporing general, and his mazy unmilitary 
 motions, vividly portraying to the eye of 
 the spectator the strut of a crippled pea- 
 cock with tail unfurled before his admiring 
 harem, shed a broad light of caricature 
 over this opening scene of the pantomime 
 of savage warfare. 
 
 But tne king's master of the horse next 
 advanced, with his glittering squadron of 
 picked household cavalry — the flower of 
 the Christian lances. Ayto Melkoo was 
 arrayed in a parti-colored vest, surmounted 
 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 glittered with a profusion of silver 
 crosses and devices ; and he looked a 
 stately and martial warrior, curvetting at 
 the head of his tried troop of well-appoint- 
 ed lancers. 
 
 Forming line at the distance of half a 
 mile, and approaching the willow pile with 
 a musical accompaniment from a mounted 
 band of kettle-drums, the squadron halted, 
 and the leader, couching his lance, advan- 
 ced in front. While putting his well- 
 broken charger through all the evolutions 
 of Abyssinian manege, he vaunted his 
 prowess in arms, recited the prodigies of 
 valor performed in the service of his royal 
 master, and proclaimed his continued good 
 faith, and future bold intentions — his" fol- 
 lowers, at intervals, like the Romans of 
 old, responding their assent by the loud 
 
148 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 clatter of lance against shield. The har- 
 rangue concluded, his spears were dashed 
 upon the ground, and the chieftain, draw- 
 ing his broad two-edged falchion, brandish- 
 ed it in the air : " Tockatoo, Loola, Loola, 
 Gummoo, Sik, Oooooh" he vociferated, as 
 he dashed his heels into the flank of the 
 prancing steed. An instantaneous howl, 
 and independent discharge of culverins, 
 answered the signal ; and the wild troop 
 swept past at a gallop to the farther ex- 
 tremity of the parade. 
 
 At the royal command, a salute of 
 twenty-one guns was fired by the artillery 
 escort, from the brass three-pounder which 
 had been dragged by oxen below the wil- 
 low stack. Great was the admiration of 
 the wild Galla multitude, as they gazed on 
 the glittering appointments and embroid- 
 ered 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 can- 
 nonade opened upon ears that had never 
 before been saluted by the thunder of ord- 
 nance*, and a cloud of white smoke as- 
 cended high above the heads of those who 
 had hitherto beheld such volumes arise 
 only from burning hamlets, a buzz of ap- 
 plause pealed from end to end of the ex- 
 tended line. Each echoing report carried 
 to the hearts of the congregated savages, 
 a powerful argument for future loyalty, 
 and it needed little discrimination to un- 
 ravel the royal policy, which had dictated 
 so great an honor to his foreign visitors. 
 
 Thirteen governors, clothed in spoils 
 stripped from the lion and the leopard, with 
 other conspicuous trophies of the chase, 
 passed successively in order of review. 
 Decked in emblems of blood — rings, feath- 
 ers, bracelets, and gauntlets, with shining 
 coronets and chains of silver streaming 
 from their clotted hair — tokens all of in- 
 dividual prowess in hand to hand combat 
 with the king's foes — the leader of each 
 glittering cohort indulged in a long, ram- 
 bling harangue, ere shouting the signal for 
 the charge. Many there were who wore 
 the akoddma — a massive transverse beam 
 of silver, projecting across the brows, and 
 hung with a profusion of chains and pen- 
 dants, the reward for the slaughter of an 
 Adel, several of which respectable body, 
 including the ras el kafilah and his fiery 
 coadjutor, Ibrahim Shehem, were specta- 
 tors of the martial manoeuvres of the Am- 
 hara troops. 
 
 An interesting, though perhaps not a 
 
 very military sight, was witnessed as the 
 hours drew on. The famished governors, 
 judges, chiefs, nobles, courtiers, and dig- 
 nitaries of the church, who occupied 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 sev- 
 eral sides and flaps of raw beef, furnished 
 by the king's munificence, and ostenta- 
 tiously displayed by as many menials — nor, 
 under the well-directed and vigorous at- 
 tacks of the assembly, were the reeking 
 collops long in disappearing. 
 
 A few only of the detachments, whose 
 leaders were not gifted with eloquence, 
 charged past without a halt, from the 
 ground on which they had formed ; and it 
 is not improbable that these, having made 
 the circuit of the palace inclosure, now 
 swelled the pageant by appearing a second 
 time on the stage. Others, dismounting, 
 performed various evolutions on foot — an- 
 cient 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 greensward, now fast fading under the 
 tramp of hoofs. 
 
 Last of all came the tall, martial figure 
 of Abogaz Maretch, chief of all the trib- 
 utary 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 kettle-drums, 
 their arms and decorations flashing in the 
 sunbeam ; and their ample white robes 
 and long sable, braided hair streaming to 
 the breeze. At the shrill whoop of their 
 warlike leader, with the rushing sound of 
 a hurricane, the glittering cohort clattered 
 past the royal stand, and the moving forest 
 of lances disappeared under a cloud of 
 dust. 
 
 From eight to ten thousand cavalry were 
 present in the field, and the spectacle, 
 which lasted from nine in the morning un- 
 til five in the afternoon, was exceedingly 
 wild and impressive. Did the warriors, 
 who this day recounted their valorous 
 achievements before the monarch, possess 
 hearts of a measure with their good weap- 
 ons 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 unfortumtely is not the 
 case, and the speed of the stout hardy 
 steeds that they bestrode, is too frequently 
 exerted in the wrong direction. 
 
OF ROCKETS— ANGOLLALA. 
 
 149 
 
 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 acquaint- 
 ed, and the brass galloper which had ech- 
 oed so recently, although viewed with 
 wonderful respect, was still only the en- 
 gine on a colossal scale, to which they 
 were familiarized. But these were the 
 first rockets of which his majesty had 
 viewed the flight, and the impression they 
 produced upon his mind, as he gazed from 
 his watch-tower, 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 
 spectators. When the projectile started 
 with a loud roar from its bed, men, women, 
 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-like ex- 
 plosion from the vicinity, ascribed the phe- 
 nomenon 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 commands. 
 
 The ceremony of burning the stack of 
 willow staves on the parade, commenced 
 shortly after this exhibition, and, superin- 
 tended by his majesty in person, termina- 
 ted the proceedings of the busy day. 
 Shrouded from the rude gaze of the popu- 
 lace under the nocturnal veil, the ladies of 
 the royal harem danced and clapped their 
 hands together, as their white ghostlike 
 figures moved in circling procession around 
 the pile 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, dis- 
 played bright and fresh in the morning, 
 but now withered and faded, were with 
 savage shouts and yells cast simultaneous- 
 ly on the pyre, and a burst of lurid glare, 
 which revealed all that was passing, at 
 once proclaimed their ignition. Thousands 
 crowding round the fast-increasing blaze 
 added their tribute, and joined in the din 
 of voices. Black crosses to repel the devil 
 were described on the forehead with the 
 charred wood, in the struggle to obtain 
 which hard blows 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 imi- 
 tation hereof, wild songs and yells of tri- 
 umph from the inebriated Christians of 
 Shoa, now completed the turmoil and con- 
 fusion, and with the crackling red flames 
 that curled up the tall dry staves, ascended 
 high into the starry vault of heaven in 
 honor of Saint Helena. 
 
 CHAPTER LVI. 
 
 THE GALLA CAPITAL. 
 
 Angollala, on the Galla frontier, found- 
 ed ten years since by the reigning mon- 
 arch, is now the capital of the western 
 portion of Shoa, and during the greater 
 part of the year it forms his majesty's fa- 
 vorite place of residence. Thither he 
 proceeded on the morning following the 
 festivities of Maskal. Upward of three 
 thousand horsemen composed the cortege, 
 which was swelled every quarter of a 
 mile by large detachments of cavalry. 
 Led by their respective chiefs, each band 
 dismounted at a considerable distance on 
 the flank, and advancing on foot, with 
 shoulders bared, fell prostrate with one ac- 
 cord before the state umbrellas. The 
 negoos bestrode a richly caparisoned mule, 
 with swallow-tailed housings of crimson 
 and green, and massive silver collars ; and 
 he was closely followed by the corps of 
 shield-bearers, under the direction of the 
 master of the horse, who, by vigorous sal- 
 lies, 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. 
 
 From four to five hundred circular huts, 
 consisting of loose stone walls very rudely 
 thatched, cover the slopes of a group of 
 tabular hills that inclose 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 high palisades. A clum- 
 sy stone edifice of two stories, towering in 
 the form of a dovecot, occupies the centre. 
 It was erected by Demetrius, an Albanian 
 visitor, and is considerably superior in point 
 of architecture to all other domiciles in 
 the realm, although somewhat tottering in 
 appearance, and deserted from an appre- 
 
150 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 hension of earthquake, which holds strong 
 possession of the royal mind. " Earth- 
 quakes are bad things," was his majesty's 
 remark, " for they overthrow houses, and 
 demolish my people." 
 
 The rugged ascent up the steep hill-side 
 was thronged with spectators, male and 
 female, assembled to greet the arrival of 
 their sovereign, and to stare at the for- 
 eigners. Paupers and mendicants crowd- 
 ed the first inclosure ; and the approach 
 from the second gate through four court- 
 yards, to the king's quarters, was lined 
 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 brew- 
 eries were scattered in all directions ; and, 
 with the long banqueting-hall, the cham- 
 ber of audience, the apartments of the 
 women, and the solitary cells, formed a 
 curious, but far from imposing group of 
 buildings. 
 
 The despot, in high good humor, con- 
 ducted his guests over the unswept prem- 
 ises, 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 alcove, 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 ele- 
 phants and soldiers, and with representa- 
 tions 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 sum- 
 mit of Debra Maskal,* the southern emi- 
 nence. The weather was now intensely 
 cold, and a fire during the evening hours 
 could not be dispensed with. As the em- 
 bers died away, and the smoke cleared 
 from the interior of the flimsy pall, the 
 teeth chattered under the pinching exhala- 
 tion from the ground. Rifles became 
 rusty in a single night, from the heavy 
 white dew that saturated the cloth — 
 watches stopped beneath the pillow — and 
 heaps of blankets proved of small avail to 
 the cramped and shivering limbs, which 
 
 ♦The hill of the Cross. 
 
 told full well of the white hoar that was 
 incrusting the verdure of the adjacent 
 meadow. 
 
 In the filthy purlieus of the palace, and 
 close to the outer gate, stands a mound of 
 ashes and rubbish, mingled with the noi- 
 some lees that stream over the road from 
 the adjacent royal breweries. Packs of 
 half-wild dogs, the pest of Angollala, lux- 
 uriate hereon during the day, and at night 
 set forth on their reckless foray, dispelling 
 sleep when the moon rises by their fune- 
 real dirge, and destroying tents in their 
 pilfering invasions. Long before the dawn, 
 the shrill crowing of a thousand cocks first 
 starts the slumberer from his uneasy re- 
 pose. The wild whoop of the oppressed 
 Galla, who demands redress, then mingles 
 with the " Abiet! Abiet!" reiterated by the 
 more civilized 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 tan- 
 gled thicket, where the campanero tolls her 
 bell-like note from the branches of the 
 spreading tamarind, and the wild ape fills 
 up the interval with his deep voice of ex- 
 ultation, as he pounces upon the bitter ap- 
 ple of the wood. 
 
 Bands of mendicant monks next silently 
 take post on the crest of a crumbling wall 
 within spear's length of the slumberer's 
 pillow, and by a shrill recitative, followed 
 by a chiming chorus of independent voices, 
 dispel the morning dream, while they 
 scream with a pertinacity that bribery can 
 alone quell. Psalms and hymns never fail 
 to usher in the morn ; and when the as- 
 perity of cracked and aged throats is some- 
 what mellowed by distance, the chant of 
 Christian praise — now rambling wildly 
 through all the varied shakes and intona- 
 tions of a single voice — now swelling with 
 the choral unison of many — is not alto- 
 gether unpleasant. But greatly more me- 
 lodious 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 mount- 
 ing far and faint in the cool dewy air, and 
 again approaching in one rich quaver of 
 delicious harmony, as the feathered song- 
 ster alights fearlessly upon the awning. 
 
 To the cry of •* Abiet /" which now re- 
 sounded so unceasingly in the still air of 
 the morning, the Abyssinians attach the 
 opinion that, on the last day, Satan, pre- 
 senting himself before the gates of heaven, 
 will continue thus to vociferate until he 
 gains admission. On presenting himself 
 
CODE OF LAWS— CRIMINAL JURISPRUDENCE. 
 
 151 
 
 before the judgment-seat, it will be asked 
 "what he would have?" "The souls 
 which have been wrested from me by the 
 angels," is to be the reply ; but on his ac- 
 knowledging inability to specify the names 
 of those who 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 
 prominently forth in the character of a na- 
 tive of Southern Abyssinia. For hours 
 together the numerous applicants for re- 
 dress 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 understand- 
 ing between these servitors and the " Four 
 Chairs," the very judges against whose de- 
 cision 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 waist, the parties fearlessly 
 bring the subject of their complaint before 
 the throne. 
 
 Opportunities were therefore daily af- 
 forded of witnessing the dispensation of 
 justice in this singular and anomalous land, 
 where an Fthiopic translation 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 fallen from heaven during the reign 
 of Constantine the Great ; but its statutes, 
 although liberally quoted on all convenient 
 occasions, are not considered binding upon 
 the monarch, unless found in perfect uni- 
 son with his own despotic pleasure. Dis- 
 putes are first adjusted by the governors of 
 provinces, who, in the powers wherewith 
 they are invested, resemble the feudal ba- 
 rons of Europe in the Gothic ages, and of- 
 ten 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 daily 
 take their seat in the verandah of a build- 
 ing allotted in one of the palace courts, 
 where accuser and accused deliver their 
 conflicting statements in an equally ele- 
 vated tone of oratory, accompanied by much 
 theatrical gesture. The decision lies again 
 under appeal to the throne ; and whenever 
 the king sees fit to reverse it, the severest 
 
 * Wamber signifies a chair, and its plural is Wam- 
 beroch. 
 
 censure is invariably passed upon delin- 
 quent chairs. 
 
 The lives and the lands of every subject 
 of Shoa belong dejure to Sahela Selassie, 
 and of their persons and worldly substance 
 he is absolute master. Whether at the 
 demise of the king or of the subject, the 
 estates of the latter are again at the dispo- 
 sal of the crown, and without the occur- 
 rence of either contingency, the mere will 
 and pleasure of the despot is alone requisite 
 to their resumption. Violent use, however, 
 is seldom made of this arbitrary power, and 
 it is rarely resorted to, except in cases of 
 high treason or of offences against the state, 
 which, in place of capital punishment, are 
 visited by confiscation of property, and by 
 imprisonment for life, unless the offender 
 shall have taken timely sanctuary in the 
 monastery of Affal Woira, where his per- 
 son being held inviolate, even by the king, 
 the monks can often mediate with success. 
 Slavery, either limited to the offender, or 
 extended to his whole family, and continued 
 to-his descendants, during one, two, or even 
 seven generations, is a punishment from 
 which no class is held exempt, but exile is 
 usually substituted for offences committed 
 by the clergy, the banished ecclesiastic be- 
 ing then commanded to " stay not by day, 
 neither to tarry by night," if he would avoid 
 the penalty that awaits delay. 
 
 In accordance with the Mosaic dispensa- 
 tion, a life for a life is the punishment 
 awarded to the murderer ; but, if permitted 
 by the relatives of the deceased, the crimi- 
 nal is authorized by law to purchase his 
 pardon, and to beg through the land until 
 he shall have realized the stipulated ran- 
 som. But the escape of the criminal in- 
 volves forfeiture of property by all his rela- 
 tives who may be residing north of the river 
 Airara, and, unless he be produced, the at- 
 tachment 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 castigation either 
 with a whip or with a cudgel. If a Chris- 
 tian, he is then confided to the care of a 
 follower of the Prophet in some of the hot 
 unwholesome Mohammadan districts — if 
 an Islam, to that of a Christian — the party 
 on whom the culprit is thus quartered, be- 
 ing in either case held responsible to the 
 crown for his safe custody during his term 
 of hard labor. 
 
 In all the courts of judicature, interest 
 for money lent is recognized at the rate of 
 one amole per mensem upon each dollar. 
 
152 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 No note of hand is ever exchanged, but 
 the security of a substantial housekeeper 
 is requisite, who is termed " was." Debt- 
 ors 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 the retainers, is chained to the 
 defaulter, and the happy couple thus linked 
 wander through the country together, cry- 
 ing " By Mary ! By Mary !" until the re- 
 quisite sum shall have been contributed 
 for the sake of the holy Virgin. 
 
 At home and abroad, on excursions and 
 on military expeditions, the loud cry of 
 "Ahiet .'" salutes the royal ear from situa- 
 tions 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 re- 
 main content with the promise of a future 
 consideration of his claim, is sometimes 
 visited with the stick, but no available op- 
 portunity 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 
 while ambling over the fields and mead- 
 ows ; 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. 
 
 CHAPTER LVII. 
 
 CHASM OF THE CHACHA. 
 
 The king had oftentimes vaunted the 
 extraordinary natural fortification afforded 
 to Angullala by the river Chacha, which 
 for two days' journey to the northwestward 
 rolls through a deep precipitous valley, of- 
 fering 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 combined waters, taking the title of 
 Jumma, roll on into the Nile. Setting out 
 one morning at sunrise through the " sirk- 
 osh ber*," he sent a page to conduct his 
 guests to the junction of the tributary Fa- 
 cha, which tumbles its torrent over a per- 
 pendicular wall seven hundred feet in 
 height ; and here his majesty, surrounded 
 by a crowd of noisy applicants for justice, 
 already occupied his favorite seat on the 
 brink of the giddy chasm. 
 
 * i. e. The secret gate or wicket. 
 
 A cloud had overcast the despot's brow, 
 for " Boro Winkee," his favorite war-steed, 
 had that morning fallen down dead while 
 exercising in the meadow. Taken in bat- 
 tle from a potent Galla chieftain whose 
 name it inherited, the steed had long en- 
 joyed a stall within the royal bedchamber, 
 and strong fears indeed were entertained 
 for the effeminate little page Katama, who 
 had been the luckless jockey. But no pun- 
 ishment followed the catastrophe. The 
 boy was a court favorite, and Antonistye, 
 his father, by far the most renowned war- 
 rior 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 distinct 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 regard- 
 ing the yawning gulf, which extends a 
 full mile 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 like a silver cord, fed at in- 
 tervals by foaming cascades, which raise a 
 shower of white spray in their headlong 
 descent ; while frowning basaltic cliffs cast 
 a deep gloom over wild steppes and ter- 
 races, whose lone hamlets and cottages are 
 scarcely to be distinguished from the fallen 
 masses of rock. Vast colonies of pig-faced 
 baboons, the principal inhabitants, sally 
 forth morning and evening from their strong 
 city, to devastate the surrounding crops, in 
 defiance of incessant 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, perpen- 
 dicular scarps, where they sojourn below 
 dense masses of foliage, unthought of, and 
 unmolested. 
 
 Deep buried in the bosom of the stupen- 
 dous Chacha, and immediately below the 
 roaring cataract, 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 ordinary. The process of smelting and 
 refining pursued in Abyssinia, has been 
 common to almost every age and country 
 from the earliest antiquity. Broken into 
 small fragments and coarsely pulverized, 
 
 ♦Derived from the Aroh&ric word " abelta," "be 
 may eat up." 
 
VILLAGE OF CHERKOS— A BASE ASSASSIN. 
 
 153 
 
 the ore is mixed with a large proportion of 
 charcoal, and placed in a clay furnace re- 
 sembling the smith's hearth, but furnished 
 with a sloping cavity considerably depress- 
 ed below the level of the blast pipes. The 
 non-metallic particles, being brought to a 
 state of fusion by the constant action of 
 four pair of hand-worked bellows, the iron 
 with the scoriae sinks to the bottom. This 
 is again broken, and re-fused, when the 
 dross flowing off, the pure metal is dis- 
 charged in pigs, which, by a repetition of 
 heating and welding, are wrought into 
 bars ; but owing to the very rude and prim- 
 itive apparatus employed, the unceasing 
 toil of ten hours is indispensable to the re- 
 alization of two pounds' weight of very in- 
 ferior iron, which after all, in private works, 
 is liable to a heavy tax to the crown. 
 
 Embowered in a dark grove of junipers, 
 on the opposite brink of the Chaka n'^s 
 the silent village of Cherkos, rendered 
 famous a few years since, through the 
 massacre of one thousand of its Christian 
 inhabitants by Medoko * 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 fa ^ e highest 
 pinnacle of royal favor, he iecame elated 
 by the distinctions confined, and being 
 suspected of aiming * even greater do- 
 minion, was suddenl? curled into the deepest 
 disgrace, and be^ }t in the same moment 
 of property an-* power. Burning with re- 
 venge, the warrior crossed the border to 
 the subjugated, though disaffected Galla, 
 whom ne 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 cav- 
 alry, reinforced by a number of matchlock- 
 men, who had deserted their allegiance, 
 the rebel marched upon Angollala. But 
 he was frustrated in his designs by finding 
 the only assailable point fortified by staked 
 pits and ditches — the deep rugged channel 
 of the Chacha opposing, as he well knew, 
 an insurmountable barrier in every other 
 direction. Desertion soon spread among 
 the undisciplined rabble, and after several 
 skirmishes with the royal troops, the offen- 
 der sought an asylum at Zalla Dingai. 
 Through the powerful mediation of Zena- 
 ma Work, the queen-dowager, he was 
 suffered to throw himself at the feet of his 
 despotic master, and not only obtained 
 pardon, but from motives of policy was 
 eventually restored to all his former dig- 
 nities. 
 
 His Gaze!. 
 11 
 
 Medoko's second rebellion and tragic 
 death, embodied from the authentic details 
 of eye-witnesses, will form the subject of 
 the 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 subver- 
 sion of the empire, had at length been 
 quelled by the extinction of the fiery and 
 turbulent spirit that h?^ raised it, large 
 offerings were madp &y his majesty to all 
 the churches an* 1 monasteries throughout 
 the realm, i« return for their prayers ; and 
 solemn j* ocessions and thanksgivings were 
 a ttP*<ied by the exercise of every sort of 
 t^ork of charity and devotion. 
 
 Among the royal retinue this day seated 
 before 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 was Chara, the 
 son of the rebel, one of the only two mem- 
 bers of the disgraced family to whom Sa- 
 hela Selassie has become reconciled, and a 
 youth who is said to resemble his sire, not 
 less in appearance than in gallant bearing. 
 Prior to the breaking out of the insurrec- 
 tion, he had urged the arrest of his father ; 
 but no attention being paid in the proper 
 quarter, he subsequently enlisted under 
 his banner, and carried arms against the 
 crown until the fall of the traitor, when 
 from his previous well-timed, though dis- 
 regarded disclosure, he received full par- 
 don for the past. 
 
 Ayto Tunkaiye, a gigantic warrior, 
 greatly distinguished for his valor, who 
 enacted a prominent part in Medoko's ex- 
 ecution, was also of the cortege ; and be- 
 side him stood Hailoo, younger brother of 
 the rebel noble, who purchased restoration 
 to royal favor at the expense of a deed of 
 the blackest treachery. This he recounted 
 not only without a blush, but with extra- 
 ordinary satisfaction at his fancied hero- 
 ism. Apprehending a similar fate with 
 him whose 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 benefactor, while 
 seated unsuspectingly in the open field, he 
 sprang upon his horse, and casting the 
 head of his victim at the royal footstool in 
 token of his villainy, was rewarded by ad- 
 vancement to the government of Mesur 
 
154 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 Medur, a post of high honor, which he en- 
 joys to the present day, and which occupies 
 the frontier of the Galla dependencies. 
 
 CHAPTER LVIII. 
 
 MED&KO THE REBEL. 
 
 " Like whom to Shoan eyes. 
 None ere has risen, and none ere shall rise." 
 
 Renowned for his great strength and 
 dauntless heart, fcMuko was of a more 
 robust and brawny forirv than most of his 
 countrymen. There was ^ D old bearino- 
 in his erect carriage — his gait ^ as proud 5 , 
 and his speech haughty ; and not le^ d ex _ 
 terous in the management of his ste^ 
 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 favor among 
 all the dames of the land. An aquiline 
 nose stood prominent from his manly coun- 
 tenance, 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 shrill 
 note of female welcome burst from every 
 throat, as he curveted through the streets 
 upon his gallant charger 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 honors, and preferments had 
 been again liberally showered upon his 
 head, by the monarch who had so fre- 
 quently received the benefit of his assist- 
 ance, and had been more than once in- 
 debted for his life to the strong arm of the 
 chief. The memory of past crime seemed 
 to have been obliterated 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 frontier of the kingdom. 
 
 But there was no lack of enemies to the 
 imperious favorite ; and among the most 
 bitter of his opponents was one who, by the 
 lying tongue of insidious malice, materi- 
 ally contributed to achieve the downfall 
 and destruction of the bravest son of Shoa. 
 
 Well versed in all the petty arts of a 
 mean and sycophantish court, Father As- 
 rat had held during two successive reigns 
 the snug office of a confessor to the royal 
 family. Sleek from good liting, hij h od 
 
 fell without a wrinkle over his portly per- 
 son, and bowing in devetion before his 
 superiors, the words of flattery flowed in 
 profusion from his honied tongue. The 
 sins of the rich were easily forgiven, and 
 the substitute was immediately produced 
 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 pol- 
 ished crutch, which were displayed in os- 
 tention, as he daily brushed through the 
 court-yards of the palace. 
 
 ^ On many occasions, the audacity of Me- 
 duko had broken out into open mockery 
 of the priestly rapacity ; but although the 
 dark feelings of revenge rankled in the 
 ^reast of the burly monk, yet the scowling 
 look f hatred was alone "ventured in re- 
 turn to the jibes of the great governor and 
 hrst favorite of the despot. On one fatal 
 festival, however, when the fumes of the 
 old hydromel had gained a complete as- 
 cendency over the party, a bitter jest was 
 retor^d by the exasperated priest, a fierce 
 p 1 "!^ a enslied ' and the hol y person of 
 ^ ilk * was violentl v spurned against 
 the wall by tl« strong arm of the hot-blood- 
 ed chief. 
 
 A reconciliation^ been outwa rdly ef- 
 fected by mutual frienj s . but from that J d 
 the most wily insinuates were used to 
 poison the breast of the kin, The actions 
 of the past were vividly broug, t to recol . 
 lection, words that had never bee* s po ken 
 and expressions craftily distorted u serve ' 
 a vile purpose, were daily poured into the 
 royal ear ; and although the demeanor -yf 
 the monarch remained unchanged, suspi- 
 cion was gradually being instilled 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 
 until it suited the despot's caprice or policy 
 to open the door of their cage. " A daugh- 
 ter of the royal house will be led to the 
 nuptial altar on the morrow," is the sole 
 intimation afforded : and the happy bride- 
 groom is not aware of the honor to be con- 
 ferred, 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 Medoko 
 had contrived to behold the beauty of the 
 far-famed princess " Golden Fruit ;" and, 
 intoxicated by a long succession of pros- 
 perity, and stirred up by the deceitful priest 
 to believe that the king would refuse no 
 request preferred by a chief whose services 
 
MEDOKO THE REBEL. 
 
 155 
 
 were held in such high esteem, he rashly- 
 resolved upon demanding the only remain- 
 ing favor which the monarch had hitherto 
 withheld. 
 
 On a bright morning in May, before the 
 commencement of the monsoon, a distin- 
 guished cavalcade entered the outer gates 
 of the palace fortifications. 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 silver sword flashed from his right 
 side, the emblem of high authority 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, followed neigh- 
 ing at his side. A dense mass of wild, 
 fiery Galla, armed with the serrated lanc^ 
 and tough black buckler, closed the pro- 
 cession, which, amid the acclam o<;j:ons °f 
 the assembled mob, wound '-P the rocky 
 path of the palace-hill of «-nk&ber. 
 
 The great door wa" tnrown open at the 
 last flight of step<ya<nd Medoko advanced 
 to the audien^ of leave previous to his 
 departure *o the seat of his government. 
 The sma^l latticed gallery had been decked 
 out in his honor, and the crimson velvet 
 hangings of state depended in front, loaded 
 with massive silver ornaments. Rich car- 
 pets were spread below for the convenience 
 of the more favored nobles. The officers 
 of the household, uncovered to the waist, 
 stood in a double row in front; and the 
 monarch reclined upon his seat of honor at 
 the open Window, gayly clad in a green 
 silk vest bordered with gold, over which 
 the folds of the usual white robe of Abys- 
 sinia hung gracefully around his recum- 
 bent figure. 
 
 Advancing to the prescribed limit, Me- 
 doko, according to the custom of ages, 
 prostrated himself to the earth before the 
 descendant of Solomon, and then, raising 
 his haughty figure erect before the mon- 
 arch, he boldly preferred the request of his 
 heart. " Behold, I have brought a present 
 to the 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 bullocks, twenty slaves, 
 and two large bags of silver coin, were 
 ushered into the court-yard. The eye of 
 the avaricious king brightened with satis- 
 faction at the liberal gift of his vassal, and 
 the words were spoken more kindly than 
 usual — " What is the desire of the abo* 
 11* 
 
 gaz ?" But the answer of daring rashness 
 which followed fell like a thunderbolt upon 
 the court — " The hand of the Princess 
 Worka Ferri." 
 
 The rod of green rushes dropped from 
 the grasp of the astonished " introducer," 
 and chiefs and nobles half rose from their 
 seats, as the mysteries of royal seclusion 
 were thus boldly infringed before the mul- 
 titude. But although the monarch was 
 irritated to the last pitch by this unprece- 
 dented insolence, he restrained his feelings 
 under the usual cold calm smile. " We 
 will converse regarding this business at a 
 future period," he said, and tie audience 
 was closed with an invifc»**> n to the chief 
 to pass his last evenins m the private apart- 
 ments of the pai-oe— an honor conferred 
 only upon p Avored few. 
 
 "W> «nngs and advice were not wanting 
 fr^in many quarters, and recollection called 
 to mind many dark scenes which had been 
 transacted at the friendly board of the des- 
 pot, who was well known to be in a dan- 
 gerous mood when too many smiles lighted 
 up his countenance, and who preferred the 
 quiet capture of his enemy to forcible seiz- 
 ure 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 un- 
 der the guidance of a eunuch proceeded 
 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, mum- 
 bling 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 high- 
 est humor. The demeanor of the monarch 
 was kind and conciliating ; and among the 
 honors and favors which were that night 
 liberally 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 usu?* 
 quantity of strong liquor swallowed- "\ 
 at intervals the choristers chf»" ijte( j ., 
 
 Psalms of David. The everv ' no - passed in 
 great hilarity, and the co; ''» £ j h 
 rose to depart. 
 
 His heart bounding. hi h with future h 
 Medoko stoops low to pay the sa i utat f on 
 ot the nighty anf j was instantaneously pin- 
 ioned iro; m behind, while a rush from the 
 tront prevented every effort to lay hand 
 Wl'on his weapon. By his fierce struggles 
 ne once nearly regained an erect position. 
 
156 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 but numbers crowded through every pas- and strong gateways lead through well-de 
 
 sage, and he lay stretched on the floor se' 
 curely bound and hampered with many coils 
 of rope. 
 
 "Fetters and a dungeon for the slave !" 
 exclaimed 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 smile of satisfied revenge play- 
 ed over the bloated features of the mali- 
 cious monk, and it shot through the heart 
 of the fallen warrior. A deadly vow was 
 muttered bt*wi x t his clenched teeth ; and 
 as he lay foaming with rage, the words 
 were half audible tn* OU orh his suppressed 
 breathing, " Let him gv, ar d his 'cowled 
 head if he can : henceforth v» the Devil 
 with my allegiance !" 
 
 CHAPTER LIX. 
 
 ESCAPE FROM GONCHO. 
 
 Medoko had been hurried from the pres- 
 ence, and urged along the rough road 
 with as much rapidity as possible ; but 
 people are seldom so unfortunate as they 
 suppose themselves to be. His fate was 
 not as yet accomplished, and a slight di- 
 version had been already made in his fa- 
 vor. A faithful follower, alarmed at the 
 protracted stay of his chief, had silently 
 stationed himself at the secret outlet of the 
 palace, whence he witnessed the progress 
 of his beloved master. A devoted band, 
 hastily collected, followed close on the foot- 
 steps of the guard ; and as the prisoner 
 passed through the thick forest of Afer- 
 beine, the shrill note of the Galla hench- 
 man more than once fell on his attentive 
 ear, to convey welcome tidings that he was 
 not altogether deserted in this his hour of 
 distress. 
 
 - As the party climbed the rocky steep, 
 
 the moon was fast sinking behind the 
 
 ^at mountains, and her pale beams fell 
 
 ^j *er the isolated rock of Goncho, on 
 cold ov. - f of which ig percbed t j ie state 
 
 the summu ki dom / Risi a lone 
 
 PT T °tbP rrP,r % a serrated range, the 
 peak on thee est. ^ » t and 
 
 lower extremity ot ts , 
 
 riven by the hand of tin^ and numerous 
 Ravines clothed in brushwood dip deep mto 
 its furrowed bosom, while the ^rc > craggy 
 scarp is left towering high and b*acK .over 
 - . ^ aa A\ nf * vaIIpvs which on .either 
 
 far he- 
 
 's "'&" **"" . , 
 
 the wide-spreading valleys which on eithei 
 
 side wind their tortuous course 
 
 low. Sharp palisades guard the approach 
 
 fended court-yards to a cluster of edifices 
 which form the residence of the frontier 
 governor, and the entrance to the places 
 of confinement. 
 
 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 of 
 the prison. But the thoughts of a free foot 
 on the mountain-side and the signal ven- 
 geance that would follow, banished from 
 his stout heart the usual feelings of de- 
 spair ; and in ironical words he returned 
 the salutations of his brother abogaz, into 
 whose keeping he was about to be con- 
 signed. 
 
 Wulasma Mohammad was a fat imperi- 
 ous personage, of most sinister expression 
 of countenance, and much more to be fear- 
 ed than either loved or respected. The cool 
 Wealthy air of his mountain fortress, and a 
 quit* iif e f inactivity, had filled his veins 
 with 3, i^h fl ow f blood, and he spent the 
 greater pon~ n f the day over a jar of the 
 potent hydromti. His body had become 
 bloated, and his mVaj bewildered, by the 
 fumes of the liquor ; aid dividing his time 
 between dreaming and drinv m g. he left the 
 charge of his bolts and avocations to his 
 burly brother Jhalia, who, fortui^tely for 
 the prisoner, was now engaged on tht fron- 
 tier, quelling a disturbance which \iad 
 been induced by the stupidity of his supe- 
 rior. 
 
 The vulture eye of the abogaz bright- 
 ened up on the arrival of the illustrious 
 Medoko ; and being at the moment unable 
 to comprehend whether he came as a pris- 
 oner or as a guest, an order for entertain- 
 ment and wine rang through the apartment, 
 instead of chains and fetters for the male- 
 factor. Relieved from the ropes which had 
 hitherto confined his movements, the chief 
 was ushered with all ceremony into the 
 great hall of the court ; nor was it until 
 after reiterated requests on the part of the 
 guard, and a solemn adjuration by the life 
 of the king, that the blinking jailer, cheat- 
 ed out of his expected carouse, consented 
 to take some measures of precaution. 
 
 Built on the only sloping face of the 
 hill, the governor's nouses stretch entirely 
 across the outlet, from scarp to scarp, and 
 from his immediate bed-chamber two trap- 
 doors cover the passages to the inner re- 
 cesses of the prison. A staircase descends 
 from one into the vaults under ground, 
 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 
 
ESCAPE FROM THE DONJON ROCK. 
 
 157 
 
 erected upon the upper surface of the hill, 
 but surrounded by strong- palisades to the 
 very verge of the precipice. The scarp 
 was of considerable height, and had never 
 yet been attempted by those offenders 
 whose lighter crimes had enforced a resi- 
 dence in these more agreeable locations ; 
 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 outside, retired 
 grumbling to the crown officials, after 
 leaving an ample repast, with lights, for 
 the entertainment of his distinguished pris- 
 oner. 
 
 The wax taper was flaming and sinking 
 at intervals over the untouched food, as 
 one quarter of an hour was passed in at- 
 tentive 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 apart- 
 ment, where 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 favored his under- 
 taking, although little suited to the task 
 to be performed ; but palisade and paling 
 yielded to his strength and activity, and 
 after an anxious hour of exertion, he reach- 
 ed the dark precipice unnoticed and undis- 
 covered. 
 
 Nought broke the stillness of the scene 
 save the sound of the wind whistling over 
 the sharp crag's ; and as the daring fugi- 
 tive stood for a time in meditation before 
 venturing the awful leap, an owl, brushing 
 his cheek, soared away on noiseless pin- 
 ion ; the hoot which reechoed 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 recommend- 
 ing his soul to the holy Virgin, quitted hold 
 of the last tuft of grass which alone sus- 
 tained him over the yawning gulf. Down, 
 down dropped the chief, until his very 
 senses reeled again ; but his flowing cot- 
 ton robe materially assisted the miraculous 
 descent, by catching the sharp points and 
 restraining 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 un- 
 traversed except by the sticky foot of the 
 lizard. 
 
 The shrill note for assistance, well known 
 to 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 bat- 
 tle 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 coun- 
 try ; and away to the free plains of the 
 Galla the headlong course was preserved, 
 where Medoko was well assured of receiv- 
 ing every sympathy and protection. 
 
 CHAPTER LX. 
 
 INSURRECTION OF THE GALLA. 
 
 Tn the heart of the mountain range of 
 Garra Gorphoo 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 na- 
 ture delight to select. The deep valley is 
 thickly clothed with the most luxuriant cul- 
 tivation, and its giant sides rise in a gentle 
 slope, throwing out a succession of verdant 
 terraces teeming with the herbs and flow- 
 ers so well beloved by the pastoral tribe. 
 On one of these stood the village of Mun- 
 deeda, the residence of Goma, the great 
 chief of the Abidchu. A bright green sward 
 extended far in front, and the steep moun- 
 tain that rises behind afforded shelter from 
 the bleak blast of winter. A sparkling 
 brook, ever dashing in tiny cascades down 
 the craggy face, glides away in a quiet 
 course over the enamelled meadow, until 
 lost in the grove of dark junipers which 
 rest on the side of a grassy knoll, where 
 the sacrifice was performed in honor of the 
 deities, and where the listless heathen was 
 wont to dream away the hours of idleness. 
 
 The tenements, although low and rudely 
 
158 
 
 F ETHIOPIA. 
 
 Constructed of stakes and mud. were warm 
 and commodious ; 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 armory. Everything was in 
 a state of utter confusion and uproar. 
 Large droves of wild shaggy horses and 
 clusters of fiery savages were grouped on 
 the plain outside. The ringing shout of 
 the warrior mingled with the neigh of Ms 
 war steed, and the din and the clatter of 
 household avocations resounded from the 
 interior of every hut. To add to the bus- 
 tle, the Galla females were running from 
 house to house with their long raven tresses 
 streaming over their bare shoulders ; while 
 their short leather petticoats, with embroid- 
 ered flounces, displayed the well-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 gen- 
 eral gathering of the clans. Black eyes 
 peered wildly over the grinding-mill and 
 the cauldron ; and the merry laugh at the 
 novel appearance 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 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 revolt- 
 ed lieges. 
 
 Crowded around the cheerful blaze of a 
 fierce fire that was crackling in the centre 
 of the largest building, sat a score of per- 
 sons, who were beguiling the time until 
 the entertainment should be ready, by dis- 
 cussing the daring escape of Medoko, and 
 the success which would assuredly attend 
 the movement 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 accu- 
 mulated massive ivory rings upon the arm, 
 the ostrich foather floating over the mat- 
 ted locks white with a crust of mutton 
 suet, and the spoils of the lion and the 
 leopard dangling over the back, proclaimed 
 the presence of the chieftains of the land. 
 Their gaunt frames and supple limbs be- 
 tokened a life of activity and endurance, 
 and their restless eyes gleamed over the 
 fire with all the quick suspicion of the 
 savage. 
 
 The black bull hide formed the only 
 
 covering to the host of attendants thai 
 thronged behind their respective lords, and 
 a few Amhara robes flaunted in white and 
 crimson, amid the sombre vestments of the 
 Galla group. But Medoko and his sons, 
 towering in stature above all their com- 
 peers, appeared in the full costume of the 
 Christian warriors of Efat. 
 
 Decked in silver gauntlets and armlets, 
 with the graceful akodama hanging in glit- 
 tering 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 taw- 
 ny lion, which nearly reached the ground. 
 Fastended on one side around the sinewy 
 throat, it allowed 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 promised. Few were there 
 present who had not suffered either in per- 
 son or in property, from the midnight ap- 
 pearance of the Christian despot. Hered- 
 itary 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 Amhara host. 
 
 These Galla tribes dwell with their 
 horses in boundless prairies, engaged, 
 some in the cultivation of the fruitful soil, 
 and others in the pasturage of their nu- 
 merous flocks, but all are ever ready on 
 the moment to mount for the battle or the 
 foray. Baggage and hospital are unknow T n 
 to the wild array, and rations are found 
 when required among the plundered herds 
 of the enemy. A scrip of tobacco forms 
 the only luxury in camp. A greasy cloth 
 infolds 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 with- 
 out cover on the cold bare ground. 
 
 The wild hordes from the boundless 
 plains of the Hawash, under the gigantic 
 Wodage Girme, first poured in their war- 
 riors. The depths of the Moolo Falada 
 forests next swelled the numbers, and the 
 heights of Entotto and Sequala had com- 
 pleted 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 favorable result, and the prepa 
 
FEAST OF THE WARRIORS. 
 
 159 
 
 rations 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 abun- 
 dance 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, 
 while cakes of every description thickly 
 covered the surface. The chief took his 
 station at the top, and the guests were 
 squatted on their hams on either side. 
 Slave boys, on their kness, supported huge 
 .jars of sour beer, and the females, perched 
 upon adjoining bedsteads, were ready to 
 dole out the more potent liquor. 
 
 The steam of the bowls, containing a 
 decoction of fowls, red pepper, onions, and 
 grease, together with the more offensive 
 effluvia from fifty rancied heads and as 
 many unwashed persons, were endured 
 with the most stoical indifference ; and the 
 feeble light of a few tapers that gleamed 
 faintly through the smoke, was just suffi- 
 cient to reveal the rows of eager faces in 
 earnest preparation, and the gleam of the 
 sharp teeth whetting for the entertainment. 
 
 The hum of voices in low conversation 
 ceased on the moment, when the host, dip- 
 ping a fragment of bread into one of the 
 large bowls, dropped the savory morsel 
 into his elevated mouth. Every h.?^d 
 forthwith felt its way to the proven^? and 
 the loud smacking of satisfied iips succeed- 
 ed the suppressed chatter ot tongues. Ser- 
 vants, bending over the guests, amply sup- 
 plied 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. 
 
 The delicate raw meat was next intro- 
 duced, 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 gir- 
 . dies, 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 unceas- 
 ingly employed in serving out their con- 
 tents, and as the brain reeled under the 
 influence of strong old mead, the words 
 of contempt burst from every lip. " Who 
 is the King of Shoa, that he should tram- 
 ple upon men braver than himself? Here 
 is our protector and avenger. Medoko is 
 our leader, and he alone shall be our 
 king !" But the uproar, which for a time 
 rose wildly from the hut, gradually died 
 away as the horn was carried with un- 
 steady hand to the mouth. Warrior after 
 warrior stretched himself 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. 
 
 CHAPTER LXI. 
 
 MASSACRE OF THE CHRISTIANS AT CHERKOS. 
 
 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 hil- 
 lock crowned by the abode of the Chris- 
 tian farmer; while between each little 
 eminence rolls the lazy brook, winding 
 sluggishly over the flowery 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 upward 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 which 
 have been raised during the heaving throes 
 of its production ; but the wolf and the 
 hyena chiefly tenant the dark caves and 
 slippery fissures, while the vulture screams 
 her death note over the yawning gulf. Su- 
 perstition has wrapped the beetling cliff 
 and the gloomy ravine in her dark embrace, 
 for here the captive toils in the bowels of 
 the earth to procure the stubborn iron. 
 The clang of the dreaded smith disturbs 
 the stillness of day, and the chant of the 
 hymn rises solemnly in the morning mist 
 from the adjacent church of the Saviour, 
 which stands embosomed in a dark grove 
 of junipers. Far down in the bottom the 
 Chacha appears like the small murmuring 
 mill-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 
 
160 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 mountain torrents dash in wild spume over 
 the frowning scarp which for miles, in one 
 uninterrupted precipice, forms the impreg- 
 nable fortification of the land. 
 
 Near the commencement of this fantas- 
 tic shaft, and barely a gunshot from its 
 brink, stands Angollala, the rising capital 
 of the kingdom, and the great outpost of 
 defence to the upper pass into the Chris- 
 tian land. Three" small hills which rise 
 abruptly from the verdant plain, and in- 
 close a circular area, had been judiciously 
 selected as a site by the wary founder, but 
 the settlement was at this date in all the 
 disorder of infancy. Only a few hundred 
 hovels, composed of most flimsy materials, 
 had been hastily erected on the sloping 
 sides of two of the hillocks ; but the small- 
 est was distinguished by the more impo- 
 sing edifice dedicated as a church to the 
 Ark of the Holy Covenant, and its table 
 summit was crowned with an ample resi- 
 dence for the negoos. 
 
 A few trees raised their stunted heads 
 to the cold bleak wind above the thatch of 
 the various kitchens and storehouses, 
 which 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 plentifully in every direc- 
 tion by the hand of nature, formed a con- 
 siderable impediment to the rapid advance 
 of horsemen; and stoat heavy wooden pa- 
 lings, which descended in a double or treble 
 row far down the slope, completely screen- 
 ed the royal inmates against any sudden 
 surprise from the border foe. 
 
 A wide meadow stretches from the pal- 
 ace tumulus to the very brink of the abyss ; 
 and on the opposite height is situated the 
 lovely village of Cherkos, which, from its 
 beauty, had been formerly designated by 
 the Galla " The Queen of the Hill." 
 Sheltered by a magnificent grove of ever- 
 greens, the hamlet overlooked the pleas- 
 ant slope which extends to the verge of 
 the precipice, gayly diversified with rich 
 fields of cultivation and plots of green 
 pasture land. It had been captured from 
 the heathen by the last king of Shoa ; and 
 although colonized by favorite Christians 
 of the court, the revenues were bestowed 
 upon the church of the Saviour, which had 
 been erected immediately below the village 
 in the dark depths of the Chacha ravine, 
 and which was now under the direction 
 and guidance of Father Asrat. 
 
 The hazy sun had sunk beyond the dark 
 waters of the muddy Nile ; the rivulets 
 were trickling in discolored streams from 
 the surrounding hillocks to form a tempo- 
 
 rary lake in the inclosed amphitheatre, and 
 each reeking thatch sent up its quota to 
 the cloud of thick mist, which was fast 
 settling over the low hills of Angollala. 
 The meadow brooks were swollen to the 
 brim, and the long plains, brilliant with 
 verdure, presented a pleasing prospect to 
 the eye, although a most treacherous sur- 
 face to the incautious foot. The monsoon 
 was indeed raging in violence over the 
 land ; and according to custom, the mon- 
 arch, thinly attended by his household of- 
 ficers and establishment, alone occupied 
 the palace. All the governors and great 
 men had taken leave and departed to their 
 respective provinces, the capital was well 
 nigh deserted, and as night closed in, the 
 few remaining serf inhabitants were seek- 
 ing a dry corner in their frail huts to shiv- 
 er through the weary hours of darkness. 
 
 As the moan of the wind is heard pre- 
 ceding the coming storm, so the hum of a 
 confused multitude first struck upon the 
 practiced ear of the vigilant. The alarm 
 was quickly spread by the fierce baying of 
 the dogs. The chant of the singer sud- 
 denly ceased within the palace, and the 
 king followed by all the attendants rushed 
 to the southern palisado. Then came dis- 
 tinctly to every heart the dash of the horse 
 at speed, clattering over the opposite heights 
 above the Chacha, as the pagan host sur- 
 rounded the devoted hamlet of Cherkos. 
 The glare of light and the faint wreath of 
 smoke next succeeded, as the torch spread 
 frorn hut to hut. The wind blew cold and 
 gusty, -and the flames wheeling in fearful 
 eddies through the mist, revealed at inter- 
 vals the cliff and the crag, and the peace- 
 ful church reposing amid the dark grove of 
 junipers hitherto unpolluted by the foot of 
 the gentile. 
 
 The wild 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 illu- 
 mined 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 extremity 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 was in vain 
 strained to see what was passing. Dark- 
 ness rendered its efforts abortive. By de- 
 grees the flame expired, and one horrid 
 
THE BATTLE, AND ROUT OF THE REBELS. 
 
 161 
 
 shout of exultation from ten thousand wild 
 throats rose over hill and dale, in earnest 
 that the work of slaughter had been well 
 finished for that night, and that numbers 
 were not wanting for the morrow. 
 
 Hurry and confusion reigned throughout 
 the capital. The king was advised to avail 
 himself of the protection of darkness, and 
 retire to Ankober ; 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 dis- 
 tress," 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 inhabitants, who 
 came flocking up the hill. Every match- 
 lock was lowered from the walls of the 
 great hall, and distributed among 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 wield- 
 ed with vigor ; and as each tiny letter, or 
 token, or entreaty, was handed for approval, 
 the wild horseman 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 flew quick 
 through the land. The love and fear of 
 the king brought governor and vassal to 
 the rescue ; and as hatred of the rebel's 
 insolence even stimulated the dull spirits to 
 action, long ere the cock had first an- 
 nounced the advance of morning, nume- 
 rous bands from the immediate vicinity had 
 assembled on the meadow, a living barrier 
 between the beleaguered monarch and his 
 stern foe. 
 
 CHAPTER LXII. 
 
 BATTLE OF ANGOLLALA. 
 
 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 capital, 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 ot 
 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 op- 
 posite crags were studded with the mangled 
 bodies of their murdered compatriots. Men, 
 women, and children had been ruthlessly 
 sacrificed, and the thousand favored inhab- 
 itants of a pleasant abode now lay stark 
 and weltering among the rocks, where 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- 
 passable to the foot of man, and the wolf 
 and hyena lay undisturbed, gorged and 
 glutted after their reeking festival. 
 
 The sun shone brightly for the few days 
 following 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 su- 
 premacy, for both were equally hard-press- 
 ed for the means of subsistence. With 
 their usual reckless indifference to the fu- 
 ture, the Galla had wasted the country, 
 and rioted in the destruction. The sup- 
 plies brought to the royal camp were nearly 
 exhausted ; and the king also, galled by 
 the presence of the rebellious army within 
 sight of his capital, and having now suc- 
 ceeded 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 trans- 
 ported from Ankober 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 um- 
 brellas, surrounded by his chiefs, nobles, 
 and high priests, and preceded by kettle- 
 drums and wind instruments, issued from 
 the palace gateway, and with his band of 
 matchlockmen, took up a position about a 
 mile from the town. 
 
 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 hih • 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 separating 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. 
 
162 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 The battle commenced by repeated dis- 
 charges from the king's gunmen ; but the 
 distance was too great for execution, and 
 a shout of derision answered each impotent 
 volley. The gigantic Tunkaiye first press- 
 ed forward to the close encounter, and the 
 cavaliers of Shoa were not slow in follow- 
 ing his example, for many fought under the 
 eyes of their wives and children, all for the 
 honor of the king and the glory of true re- 
 ligion ; 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 the} r 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 cata- 
 ract, which thundered down within fifty 
 yards of the battle-field, was lost in the 
 hoarse yells which 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 
 with little opposition from the cotton robe ; 
 and, deprived of other weapons, Christian 
 and Galla, grappling 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, clinging tightly together 
 in the last embrace of death. 
 
 Medoko and his gallant sons were 
 everywhere in the thickest of the fight. 
 His shout, rising high over the storm, 
 animated the faint-hearted, and his pres- 
 ence roused to new life and exertion the 
 successful partisan. Many of the Amhara 
 bands were already reeling- from the re- 
 peated shock of the wild riders of the Ha- 
 wash, 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, prostrating themselves as +Ley 
 passed the royal umbrellas, descended 
 fresh into the arena. The fierce inhabit- 
 ants of Mans had sped to the rescue from 
 the hereditary estates, and their savage 
 ferocity and reckless bravery was well 
 known throughout the land. The rela- 
 tions and the household retainers of the 
 rebel attempted to breast the storm, but 
 they were scattered like autumnal leaves 
 before the angry blast ; and the chief ar- 
 rived to the succor only to behold the spot 
 
 j strewed with the bodies 01 numbers of his 
 stoutest partisans, and to witness his be- 
 I loved son, the youthful Hailoo, sink before 
 I his eyes, transfixed by a dozen spear- 
 blades. A panic seized the pagans ; and, 
 I dismayed and broken-hearted, the host fled 
 ! tumultuously in every direction. 
 
 In vain Medoko performed the most in- 
 credible acts of valor — his voice had now 
 lost its charm ; and, crippled by a spear 
 which had penetrated his shoulder — his 
 proud heart swelling with indignation — 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 below the western hori- 
 zon. Every Amhara spear was dripping 
 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 was orna- 
 mented with the cloth of the accursed 
 gentile, whose body he had left to the 
 fangs of the wild beast. 
 
 After galloping for some miles along 
 with the few chiefs who had escaped from 
 the fatal field, a short halt was allowed to 
 refresh the horses, and Medoko proclaimed 
 his intention of accompanying the party- 
 no farther. Asylum and assistance were 
 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 mon- 
 | arch of Shoa. Short was the moment al- 
 lowed for the explanation, for the pursuer 
 was hotly crossing the last range of hills, 
 and the band, after a hurried parting and a 
 hope for better days, mounted and pressed 
 forward. 
 
 Medoko and his surviving son Chara, 
 now commenced the more difficult under- 
 taking 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 anx- 
 iety 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 
 successfully breasted the rushing waters. 
 The king's watchmen had left their cold 
 posts, in order to take shelter from the cut- 
 ting blast, before the riders swept down the 
 rocky defile of the Chaka, toward the wood- 
 ed Sides of Mann at , and long ere the voice 
 
ASSASSINATION OF MEDOKO. 
 
 163 
 
 of the brotherhood had risen in the matin 
 chant, the rebels had been formally admit- 
 ted to sanctuary, and were safely reposing 
 in the sacred monastery of Affaf Woira. 
 
 CHAPTER LXII1. 
 
 TRAGIC END OF MEDOKO. 
 
 Breaking suddenly through the tangled 
 underwood which springs luxuriantly 
 among the dense forest, at the foot of the 
 great mountain range, an open glade is dis- 
 closed to view, with the tall juniper trees 
 rising unencumbered from the emerald turf. 
 The church of Affaf Woira and the tene- 
 ment of Abba Salama, its superior, stand 
 inclosed by a rough stone wall, and indi- 
 vidual huts are scattered in clusters over 
 a gentle eminence which rises on the steep 
 side of the river, where the indolent bro- 
 thers, 
 
 " Under the shade of melancholy boughs, 
 Lose and neglect the creeping hours of time." 
 
 An air of the most perfect repose usual- 
 ly pervades the scene. The inmates are 
 alike indifferent to the blast of winter and 
 to the cares of life. Majestic trees tower 
 high overhead, yielding undisturbed protec- 
 tion to the vulture and the white Ibis. The 
 " monk of the wood," the Gureza ape, there 
 displays his variegated coat, floating in 
 peace among the mossy branches ; and 
 while everv v -eath from beneath wafts up 
 the ^.xtimed air, the lazy monk of the 
 monastery during the entire day basks in 
 the sun amid the bright flowers 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 bam- 
 boo. 
 
 But bustle and confusion for once dis- 
 turbed this dreamy repose. The priests 
 had been engaged in noisy choir, and the 
 sacred drum had resounded since dawn of 
 day. At length the portals of the hallowed 
 edifice were thrown open, and the holy pro- 
 cession, under the thundering chorus of an 
 Abyssinian psalm, streamed over the bright 
 green sward. The gay umbrellas of the 
 church, rich in satin and silver, led the van, 
 and the corpulent superior in his white cot- 
 ton 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 followed, 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 an- 
 telope, with their 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 deaf- 
 ening chant. Dell and dingle rung again 
 as the psalm increased in violence, and the 
 cavalcade, threading the intricacies of the 
 wood, proceeded on its mission of mercy, 
 to implore pardon for the rebel who had 
 thrown himself on the protection of the 
 monastery. 
 
 The conference with 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 
 beginning to excite an unusual ferment in 
 many parts of the kingdom. An unwilling 
 pardon was at length extorted on the se- 
 curity of the petitioning band, and the tri- 
 umphant monks returned amid 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 favorite. The trip also 
 would appear to have been profitable to the 
 holy fathers, for it was currently reported 
 that one-half of the remaining wealth of 
 Medoko, 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 slip- 
 pery ladder of power ; and disgraced for a 
 time, the courtier, bending his neck to the 
 misfortune, dances attendance on his ca- 
 pricious master until fickle fortune again 
 smiles upon his fallen condition. Unless 
 enjoying the favor of the monarch and 
 basking in the sunshine of the court, 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 intellectual re- 
 sources. 
 
 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 favorite ; 
 and there were not wanting counsellors to 
 whisper deeds of blood into his ear. Be- 
 sides the father confessor, the haughty 
 
164 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA 
 
 chief had many other enemies, who were 
 chafed at the sight of the numerous band 
 of well-equipped followers, that Medoko 
 still entertained upon his ample means. 
 Many also had lost relations during the 
 rebellion ; and misfortune had not abated 
 one atom of the imperious demeanor which 
 ever characterized the chief. 
 
 The feast of Maskal was now approach- 
 ing ; and it being rumored that honors and 
 government were to be again bestowed 
 upon " the murderer of the Amhara," as 
 the rebel was denominated among the con- 
 spiring band, measures were taken to coun- 
 teract the royal intention, if such had been 
 really entertained. The most odious cal- 
 umnies were industriously circulated ; 
 fresh accusations of disloyalty were daily 
 carried to the palace ; and the monarch, 
 hourly assailed on every side, at length 
 resolved to test the feelings of his vassal, 
 by the offer of an inferior post in the un- 
 healthy country of Giddem. 
 
 For the last time, the gallant chief at 
 the head of his followers, swept up the 
 palace hill of Angollala ; and leaving, ac- 
 cording 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 inclo- 
 sure, and alone and unattended entered the 
 inner wicket. 
 
 On the several faces of the inner square 
 are the entrances to the principal buildings 
 of the palace. The great hall of enter- 
 tainment on one side, faces the king's sta- 
 bles on the other ; and the artificer's work- 
 shops stand opposite the balcony of justice ; 
 but all are connected by stone walls and 
 stout palisades, through which private 
 wickets 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 line one corner 
 for the convenience of the great. 
 
 Medoko had hardly taken his solitary 
 seat, when wreathed in smiles the father 
 confessor approached his victim, and whis- 
 pering into his ear the intentions of the 
 king, strongly advised him to reject the 
 proposal with scorn; and presently the 
 four conspiring chiefs advanced from the 
 interior, bearing the royal preferment to 
 the country which was so thoroughly de- 
 tested, and which had been hitherto offered 
 only to men of low degree. 
 
 The royal presentation, although receiv- 
 ed with the impatient curl of the lip, and 
 an indignant breathing from the distended 
 nostril, was declined in courteous terms — 
 " The slave of the king desires 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 pre- 
 vious discourse and forebodings of the 
 monk ; for a black bullock had been dis- 
 covered 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 remain- 
 ed fixed and still ; but a withering glance 
 from his solitary eye shot over the band, 
 as he dismissed them from his presence 
 with the cutting remark, " That they 
 were all traitors alike, and lazy cravens 
 to boot." 
 
 The hint was sufficient to Guffa Woo- 
 sen, the deck 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 
 equally unprincipled as himself, they pro- 
 ceeded together into the outer court-yard. 
 Approaching by degrees, the band sur- 
 rounded the bed of the chief, who was lull- 
 ed into fatal security by a message that 
 the king was about to appear to receive in 
 person the refusal of office in Giddem ; 
 and while bandying a joke about the frail 
 tenure of the dungeons of Goncho, five 
 long-bladed knives were suddenly sheathed 
 to the hilt in his brawny back. 
 
 Undaunted to the death, Medoko reared 
 himself with difficulty frou Ms couch, and 
 his good sword flashed instantaneously 
 from the scabbard. He had been unwarily 
 caught in the toils ; but, like the wounded 
 lion, he stood fiercely to bay, and some of 
 the hunters paid dearly for their treache- 
 rous sport. In the hour of battle his sword 
 seldom required a second blow, and as the 
 trenchant blade now fiercely descended in- 
 to the neck of the chief conspirator, the 
 head of Guffa Woosen for a moment 
 drooped upon his shoulder, and in the next 
 his lifeless trunk fell heavily to the ground. 
 Again the ruddy steel gleamed overhead, 
 but the energy was fast fleeting from the 
 stout sinew, and Selunko, although marked 
 for life with 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 the walls and 
 houses ; and from these ~Wated places of 
 security, savage yells proclaimed the per- 
 petration of the dastardly deed. The king 
 seized a double-barrelled gun from the 
 wall, lest the mighty warrior should at- 
 tempt to storm the harem; and a high 
 
THE MIGHTY FALLEN. 
 
 165 
 
 
 tribute was paid to the single arm which 
 had thus cleared the court. 
 
 Desperately wounded, the chief now 
 staggered across the yard, fainting and 
 falling more than once ere he reached the 
 gateway. No doorkeeper remained to dis- 
 pute the egress, and as yet none dared to 
 cross the path of the stricken brave. One 
 little inclosure alone separated him from 
 his devoted followers, but his strength was 
 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 cautiously advancing with 
 the chosen of the Amhara chivalry, he be- 
 held 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 indistinct- 
 ly murmured amid the gurgling of the flow- 
 ing blood ; for the long knives of the assas- 
 sins had penetrated into a brave heart, and 
 the victory over the king's enemy had been 
 already achieved. 
 
 Crowds now rushed \.o the spot, and the 
 limbs were hacked to pieces by the mis- 
 erable poltroons amid 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 now 
 bears the bite without power to brush away 
 the gnat ?" and another, after succeeding 
 with difficulty in hewing through the iron 
 muscles of the stout arm, declared, with a 
 laugh, that " the skin of an elephant was 
 composed of less tough material." 
 
 Deprived of their weapons, and of the 
 countenance of the mighty fallen, Medoko's 
 son and followers surrendered 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 expend- 
 ed on the remains of mortality which were 
 strewed in every direction. All human 
 resemblance had already been entirely ef- 
 faced, 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 pepetrators of the outrage. The stern 
 warrior is never mentioned within the pre- 
 cincts of the palace, and rich offerings are 
 continually made to all the churches in the 
 land, to dissipate the unpleasant dreams 
 which too frequently haunt the royal couch. 
 
 But although the name is now used among 
 the Amhara only to still the unruly child, 
 the gallant Medoko is the darling theme of 
 the roving Galla. The heathen female 
 still draws the long tress across her flash- 
 ing 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 who had led the 
 wild host with success, to spoil the domin- 
 ions of the Christian despot. 
 
 CHAPTER LXIV. 
 
 THE GALLA BORDERS. PCOCLAMATION OF 
 WAR. 
 
 Shortly after the departure of the em- 
 bassy from Ankober, a robbery was com- 
 mitted in the residency ; and the delin- 
 quents having been duly traced out by the 
 lebashi, were sent in chains to Angollala, 
 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 em- 
 ployed with his pen ; and the greater por- 
 tion 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 visit- 
 ed me from a far country," was the mes- 
 sage wherewith he was charged, "and 
 while 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 angry with 
 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 cor . 
 sisted chiefly of beads, were sovereigRd of 
 William the Fourth and of Queen Victo- 
 ria; and suspicions arising in the royal 
 mind that these were not of gold, as as- 
 serted by the owner, his majesty proposed 
 testing the metal by the ordeal of fire. A 
 coin of the former reign was accordingly 
 thrust into the forge, and having then been 
 immersed in water, was broken with a 
 
166 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 chisel by the conclave of smiths. " Call 
 you this English gold?"' exclaimed the 
 negoos ; " here then is a piece of Abys- 
 sinian gold for you," — and throwing upon 
 the ground the brass foil of a sword scab- 
 bard, he laughed immoderately. A four- 
 penny 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 like the warrior king 
 of the Amhara. 
 
 A quarrel of long standing between Ay to 
 Melkoo and the commander-in-chief of the 
 gunmen, who ranked among the foremost 
 of the court sycophants, had been this day 
 brought for adjustment before the royal 
 tribunal. The award being found in fa- 
 vor of the appellant, the master of the 
 horse, although a great favorite, was hand- 
 cuffed, 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 shall car- 
 ry a mamalacha to the ' commander,' and 
 he will pay the amount for me." 
 
 This boast had given occasion to mali- 
 cious insinuations on the part of his ene- 
 mies, and after dark there came a confiden- 
 tial message from the palace, to the effect 
 that Ayto Melkoo was suspected of con- 
 cealing certain "pleasing things" under- 
 stood to have been received from the for- 
 eigners. But this imputation, which, if 
 confirmed, must have involved disgrace 
 and confiscation of property, proved, fortu- 
 nately for the accused, to have no founda- 
 tion. 
 
 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 favorite, a na- 
 tive of Ambasel in the province of Lasta, 
 was for many years the favorite mistress 
 of Hatze Yasoo, then emperor of Gondar, 
 on whose demise she became an inmate of 
 the seraglio of Asfa Woosen. Ayto Wa- 
 Ji, the distinguished Galla governor of An- 
 goJala, being thrown into prison by the 
 latter monarch, contrived during his incar- 
 ceration to solace himself with the pres- 
 ence of the lady, and the master of the 
 horse was the result of the intrigue. No 
 
 * The sareti is a sprig of wild asparagus worn in Shoa 
 as a token of victory, as will be seen presently. 
 
 disgrace whatever attaching to his illegiti- 
 mate origin, he was regarded in the light 
 of a member of the royal family ; and, 
 brought up in the palace, he has succeed- 
 ed during three several reigns in maintain- 
 ing a position at court, which might now 
 have been sacrificed by the clandestine pos- 
 session of a dozen ells of English broad- 
 cloth. The amende was, nevertheless, 
 made to him in the course of a few days, 
 by the addition of another village to his 
 landed possessions at Doba. 
 
 Such paltry proofs of espionage were in- 
 variably followed 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, composed 
 himself to sleep in a corner after the due 
 delivery of his message. 
 
 Saturday, being the Jewish Sabbath, 
 brings rest from all labor, and is invariably 
 devoted by his majesty to excursions abroad. 
 Starting on horseback at a» early hour, a 
 gallop of several miles led across the Cha- 
 cha, and over the border of the Galla de- 
 pendencies, to an extensive, but narrow 
 sheet of water, where an otter had lately 
 been seen. " It has hands, and nails, and 
 finders 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 kill 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. 
 Drawing up with his retinue, and resting 
 his weapon over the shoulder of an atten- 
 dant to insure steady aim, the king kept up 
 a murderous fire with ball, shot, and slugs, 
 during a full half hour. The weather was 
 passing cold, and ever and anon his majes- 
 ty blew his nose betwixt his thumb and 
 fore-finger, and wiped them on the mantle 
 of the governor of Bulga, who eagerly 
 proffered it for acceptance. A serious dim- 
 inution in the numerical strength of the 
 feathered fools resulted in no attempt to 
 take wing, or even to shift position. In- 
 credible though it may appear, the living 
 still paddled among the floating carcasses 
 of their slaughtered comrades, as if no- 
 thing had happened, until the destroyer 
 
ROYAL SPORTING— DEBRA LIBANOS. 
 
 167 
 
 weary of persecuting the " unclean birds," 
 which were not even taken out of the wa- 
 ter, remounted and crossed the country at 
 speed to a wide meadow, traversed by the 
 serpentine Chacha. 
 
 Bald coots were here playing at hide-and- 
 seek, while red-headed grebes dived and 
 warily reappeared for an instant, as the 
 noisy cavalcade advanced. The spoonbill, 
 and the leather-necked ibis of Egyptian 
 veneration, displayed their white plumage 
 along the sedge-grown borders. The he- 
 ron, the snakebird, and the redshank, waded 
 through the shallow drifts ; and geese, wid- 
 geon, teal, and mallard, rose whirring in 
 the air at every step. But amid all this in- 
 viting variety, the snowy egret was the ob- 
 ject 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 
 furda" This is a gigantic slate-colored 
 crane, with eccentric red wattles, and sev- 
 eral pairs, that were marching over the 
 mead, had previously elicited most notable 
 displays of gunmanship on the part of the 
 royal favorites. 
 
 Abogaz Maretch, with his feudal train 
 of Abidchu, joined the corltge as it pass- 
 ed 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 valleys clothed with a ver- 
 dant carpet of grass, clover, and trefoil, 
 which, from their redundant luxuriance, al- 
 most impede progress. Every little inter- 
 secting eminence is completely covered 
 with flourishing fields of barley and wheat, 
 and crowned with villages fortified with 
 strong stockades ; and one ancient woira 
 excepted, whose venerable boughs formed 
 in days gone by a trysting-place to the 
 hostile pagans, not a single bush or tree 
 was visible during the long ride. 
 
 An extensive barrier of loose stones has- 
 tily thrown up during the rebellion of Me- 
 doko, fortifies the southeastern environs 
 of Angullala ; and although confessedly 
 inferior to the wall of China, it is calcu- 
 lated to offer temporary opposition to horse- 
 men who are no Nimrods. Returning 
 according to undeviating wont by another 
 road than that by which he had set out, his 
 majesty passed through a palisaded wicket 
 in this breastwork, which is dignified with 
 the title of " the King's Gate," and forms 
 the scene of the few public executions that 
 take place. Chiefs, governors, and visitors 
 are accorded the privilege of squeezing 
 
 through with the crowned head, but fol- 
 lowers and people of low degree are com- 
 pelled by the stick of the doorkeeper, to 
 adopt a circuitous route over a belt of stony 
 hills adjoining, which form a continuation 
 of the defences. 
 
 The ascent to the palace was accom- 
 plished under the wild choral chant which 
 invariably announces return from the ex- 
 cursion 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 Debra Libanos,* chief seat of 
 learning in Shoa, and the renow T ned scene 
 of the miracles of Tekla Haimanot, its 
 founder. Hard pressed by his enemies, the 
 patron and lawgiver of Ethiopia is said to 
 have leapt through the trunk of a venera- 
 ble tree, a seam in which yet vouches for 
 the truth of the legend that it spontaneous- 
 ly 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, who 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 neighboring tor- 
 rent, 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 which he blessed, retains to 
 this day the property of cleansing the leper, 
 and healing the patient, however diseased, 
 who shall immerse on either of the three 
 days annually devoted to the commemora- 
 tion of his birth, death, and ascension. Fa- 
 mous as the most holy of shrines through- 
 out Southern Abyssinia, men of every rank, 
 from the monarch to the meanest peasant, 
 if unable to repair thither in person, dele- 
 gate their substitute with offerings accord- 
 ing 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 pilgrim quaffs the 
 waters of the mineral well, describes upon 
 his forehead the sacred emblem of Chris- 
 tianity, and after kissing at the adjacent 
 church of St. Mary, a cross which is as- 
 serted 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 
 
 * Mount Lebanon, 
 
168 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 maladies, and all who meet the returning 
 pilgrim, fall 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 announced the presence of the her- 
 ald, and crowds collected to listen to the 
 royal edict. Standing upon the hill-side 
 beneath the shadow of a solitary stunted 
 tree, which, had it a tongue, could unfold 
 many a tale of wo and oppression, he thus 
 proclaimed 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, whoso faileth to 
 present himself at Yeolo as a good and loyal 
 subject, mounted, armed, and carrying pro- 
 visions for twenty-one days, shall be held 
 as a traitor, and shall forfeit his property 
 during seven years." 
 
 CHAPTER LXV. 
 
 A LECTURE ON PHYSIC. 
 
 The mercy, and the medical skill of the 
 foreigners, had already produced their ef- 
 fect in a nation possessing neither of the 
 two. Woizoro Indanch Yellum, 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 Ze- 
 nama Work* the Quecn-dowager, respect- 
 ing the pardon of the delinquent slave ;" 
 but they were accompanied by an admoni- 
 tion that the British guests of her son would 
 do well not to squander the entire of their 
 pleasing things among 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 prophe- 
 cies respecting the red men have indeed 
 fully come to pass." 
 
 The fame, too, of the operation performed 
 with such singular success upon the gov- 
 ernor of Mentshar had spread far and wide, 
 and applications for medical aid became 
 daily more numerous — the patient, in lieu 
 of tendering a fee, invariably insisting, 
 when cured, upon the receipt of some re- 
 ward. Priests, renowned for the sanctity 
 of their lives, applied 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 
 
 * ». e. Rain of gold. 
 
 not disdain assistance, and many a hapless 
 victim to Galla barbarity sought a cure for 
 his irreparable misfortunes. 
 
 An exceedingly ill-favored fellow, stri- 
 ding 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 who, 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, 
 with the splinters protruding horribly. 
 Amputation was proposed as the only re- 
 source, 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, all will declare 
 that the ' proprietor of the medicines ' killed 
 him — and furthermore, 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 black- 
 smith. Should venesection be required, a 
 stick placed in the patient's mouth is tight- 
 ened 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 suction, is also extremely 
 fashionable ; and actual cautery, 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 re- 
 broken 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 splinters coming away are 
 successfully supplied by portions of the 
 skull of a newly-slain sheep or goat ! 
 
 But amulets and enchantments are by 
 all classes held far more efficacious than 
 the drugs of the Abyssinian " possessor of 
 remedies,"* which, of a truth, must be ac- 
 knowledged 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 invariably ascribed to the influ- 
 ence of demons or sorcerers, and the pa- 
 tient is either declared to be possessed of 
 a devil, or to labor under the disastrous 
 consequences of inumbration by the shad- 
 
 * Bala medanit, " the master of the medecines," is 
 the term applied to every physician. 
 
MEDICAL TREATMENT— THE EVIL EYE. 
 
 169 
 
 
 ow of an enemy. Shreds of blue paper 
 are held to be preservatives against head- 
 ache, and the seeds of certain herbs are 
 worn as charms against hydrophobia and 
 disasters on a journey ; but of these, some 
 must be plucked with the left hand, and 
 others with a finger upon which there is 
 a silver ring, and all under a fortunate 
 horoscope, or they can avail nothing. 
 
 Small-pox frequently devastates the land, 
 and a free boy of pure blood is then select- 
 ed from among the number of the infected, 
 and carefully secluded until the pustules 
 are ripe. Many hundred persons assem- 
 ble, and a layman, chosen for the rectitude 
 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. 
 While invalids of all classes daily flocked 
 to the camp of the Europeans for medical 
 assistance, applications were not wanting 
 from the palace in proof of the reputation 
 acquired. One of the princesses royal,' 
 who had been lodged with the illustrious 
 visitor from Achun-Kurra, in the crimson 
 pavilion presented by the British Govern- 
 ment, found herself in need of advice ; and 
 on being visited, lay concealed beneath the 
 basket pedestal of a wicker dining-table, 
 whence her sprained foot was thrust forth 
 for inspection. Divers respectable duen- 
 nas of the royal kitchen, who had been se- 
 verely scalded by the bursting of a pottage 
 cauldron, were also treated with success, 
 when they had been given over by the boay 
 physician, at whose merciless hfi^ds the 
 sobbing patients had been petered over, 
 with honey and soot ; and * mutton bone 
 was extracted from tb^ throat of a page, 
 where it had been frmiy wedged for three 
 days. But the -ure which elicited the 
 most unqualMed and universal amaze- 
 ment, was? that of a favorite baalomaal,* 
 
 who, lpioring under a fit of apoplexy, 
 which had deprived him of animation, was 
 suddenly revived by venesection, after fu- 
 migation with ashkoko goomunj had been 
 tried without the smallest avail, and prepa- 
 rations were already commencing for his 
 interment. 
 
 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 dose be- 
 ing administered to patients laboring under 
 complaints for the removal of which they 
 
 * Officer of the royal household, t Hyrax's cabbage. 
 12 
 
 were respectively adapted. Two or more 
 invalids, who objected to be seen, were 
 certain to arrive at the palace every four- 
 and- twenty hours ; and no subterfuge was 
 left untried, by which to augment the al- 
 ready ample stock of pills on hand. " You 
 will take care not to give the whole of the 
 remedies to my people, or there will be 
 none left for myself, should I fall sick," 
 was an almost daily 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 again prepared, 
 directions were given to apply it constant- 
 ly to a boy who had been found laboring 
 under ophthalmia, in order to ascertain 
 whether he died or survived. 
 
 The most particular inquiries were insti- 
 tuted relative to the mode of counteracting 
 the influence of the evil-eye, and much 
 disappointment expressed at the unavoida- 
 ble intimation that the dispensary of the 
 foreigners contained neither " the horn of 
 a serpent," which is believed to afford an 
 invaluable antidote against witchcraft, no 
 preservative against wounds in the battle- 
 field, nor any nostrum for "those who go 
 mad from looking at a black dog." " We 
 princes also fear the sVnall-pox," said his 
 majesty, " and therefore never tarry long 
 in the same place. Nagasi, my illustri- 
 ous ancestor, suffered martyrdom from 
 this scourge. Have you no medicine to 
 drive it from myself?" 
 
 Vaccine lymph there was in abundance, 
 but neither Christian, Moslem, nor Pagan 
 had yet consented to make trial of its vir- 
 tues. Glasses hermetically sealed, be- 
 twixt which the perishable fluid had been 
 deposited, were exhibited, and its use 
 expounded. "No, no!" quoth the king, 
 as he delivered the acquisition to his mas- 
 ter of the horse, with a strict injunction to 
 have it carefully stitched in leather — 
 " this is lalakli medanit, very potent medi- 
 cine indeed ; and henceforth I must wear 
 it as a talisman against the evil that beset 
 my forefathers." 
 
 " You must now give me the medicine 
 which draws the vicious waters from the 
 leg," resumed his majesty, " and which is 
 better than the earth from Mount Lebanon ; 
 — the medicine which disarms venomous 
 snakes, and that which turns the gray 
 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 colors, which so 
 sharpens the intellects; as to enable him 
 who swallows enough of it, to acquire 
 every sort of knowledge without the 
 
170 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 slightest trouble. Furthermore, you will 
 be careful to give my people none of this" 
 
 CHAPTER LXVI. 
 
 THE CAMPAIGN. 
 
 In common with all other African po- 
 tentates, Sahela Selassie never engages 
 in war, induced either by public principles, 
 by national glory, or, least of all, by love 
 of his people. While the fear of rebellion 
 and disturbance at home deters him from 
 
 Zooai in Gurague, distant from Angollala 
 one hundred and fifty miles ; and this cir- 
 cumstance fully explained the before in- 
 comprehensible indifference displayed by 
 the negoos to the suggested preparations 
 to facilitate the advance of his troops. 
 Keeping the secret of his real intentions 
 fast locked in his own despotic breast, it is 
 the invariable practice of his majesty to 
 i publish a manifesto of the approaching 
 ! campaign, calculated to mislead his ene- 
 mies ; and he not unfrequently carries the 
 I deception so far, as to make three or four 
 | marches in a direction quite opposite to 
 that in which he had inwardly resolved to 
 attempting on a grand scale to resume the | strike the blow> None have the sliffhtest 
 
 lost possessions of his ancesters, to wield idea in vvhat quart er the thunderbolt is to 
 
 the sceptre as they did, three hundred 
 miles south of his present limits, and to 
 reunite the scattered remnants of Chris- 
 tian population who once acknowledged 
 their supremacy — revenge, the almost in- 
 variable success attending his arms, and 
 the insatiable love of plunder inherent in 
 the breast of every savage, impel him 
 thrice a year to gather his undisciplined 
 militia, in order to undertake sudden and 
 sweeping inroads, either for the purpose 
 of chastising insurrection among the sub- 
 jugated usurpers of portions of the ancient 
 empire of Ethiopia, or of asserting his un- 
 stable authority over some neighboring 
 tribe that may heretofore have succeeded 
 in maintaining its independence. 
 
 The wilds of Abyssinia sua not to be ex- 
 plored by the solitary traveller, and the 
 opportunity now offered, was therefore 
 gladly embraced of acquiring important in 
 
 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 who has fallen under the 
 royal displeasure. 
 
 Beyond the removal of muskets and 
 matchlocks from their pegs, to be oiled and 
 exposed to the sun before the porch of the 
 I great audience hall, few signs of prepara- 
 ! tion were observable for the approaching 
 foray. Angollala was indeed somewhat 
 (more populous than usual, and beggars 
 I more numerous and importunate. Greasy 
 iGalla chieftains, too, were in attendance 
 ! with propitiatory offerings and outstanding 
 i arrears of tribute, and the interior of the 
 palace presented a scene of increased bus- 
 tle and confusion. His majesty was to be 
 seen absorbed in the inspection of venera- 
 ble pots, pans, and pipkins, which would 
 «ave been esteemed invaluable contribu- 
 
 formation relative to the mode of Amhara j tion&+o ^ Britigh museum Tail silk 
 warfare, while visiting regions hitherto tmse] , aid satin were in equal requisition 
 unknown. Superstition, policy, and fear, toward the a acorat ion of the imperial per- 
 alike influenced the wily monarch in his ; son?and the fat Uagter of the ^ as £ gt _ 
 expressed desire to be accompanied by his | ed by the * lite of &p household warr iors, 
 British guests. The presence o : the I sat co bbling old leathei w ith laudable assi- 
 stranger being considered to shed a bless- 1 duity for the edification oS a whole host of 
 ing over the army, is invariably enforced eunuchs. But in the arsenal there was no 
 by royal mandate, which extends indis- 
 
 criminately to all residing within the 
 kingdom ; and while his majesty, distrust- 
 ing 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 pro- 
 vided rations for no more than twenty 
 days, it was cle.arly impossible that ope- 
 rations should be directed against Lake 
 
 busy note of preparation such as is wont 
 to precede European warfare ; no crowd- 
 ing of light ordnance and heavy batteries : 
 no commissariat, wagon train, or sick car- 
 riage, 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 compli- 
 cated and expensive equipment, and the 
 munitions of the siege, were alike wanting ; 
 and although a few detachments were bi- 
 vouacked on the adjacent meadow, and the 
 black pall of a governor was here and there 
 to be seen, it was still difficult even to con- 
 
THE MARCH— THE GATHERING. 
 
 171 
 
 jecture whence the army of the despot was 
 to spring. 
 
 Abject slaves to superstition, the Amhara 
 never fail to consult the omens before set- 
 ting out on a military expedition. Priests 
 and monks are referred to by the monarch, 
 and the accidental fall of the targe from a 
 saddle bow, the alighting of a hooded crow 
 in the path of a warrior, or the appearance 
 of a white falcon with the tail toward him, 
 are believed to augur unfavorably to suc- 
 cess ; while the flight of a pair of ravens 
 in any direction, or the descent of a falcon 
 with her head toward the army, are on the 
 other hand esteemed certain prognostica- 
 tions of victory. For a full week prior to 
 the opening of the projected campaign, the 
 nocturnal howling of dogs had boded its 
 inauspicious termination. One cur bayed 
 at the moon as she rose ; a 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 com- 
 ing evil. 
 
 Queen Besabesh was to await the issue 
 of the foray at Angollala, and the command 
 of the town meanwhile devolved upon the 
 eunuch Wolda Manam, with a garrison 
 sufficient to deter visits on the part of the 
 Galla, who have more than once attempted 
 to burn the palace during such incursions 
 into their territories. On the morning of 
 the day appointed, a flourish of trumpets 
 from the royal band proclaimed the exit of 
 the negoos from the palace, and shortly af- 
 ter sunrise, the imperial crimson velvet 
 umbrellas issued through the gateway at 
 the head of a numerous procession. Cross- 
 ing the green meadow, his majesty, re- 
 splendent in cloth of gold, took the road to 
 the south by the wicket in the Galla wall, 
 on which a strong advance picquet had al- 
 ready taken post. Every house in Angol- 
 lala swelled the passing' cavalcade ; and 
 each valley and hamlet in the environs 
 marshalling its quota of mounted warriors, 
 the nucleus of the incipient army, before 
 advancing many miles, had become thick 
 and dense. Abogaz Maretch with the Abid- 
 chu legion, streamed from the stockaded 
 hill of Wona-badera, and a band of veterans 
 occupying the summit of an adjacpnt rock 
 meanwhile chanted the prowess of the 
 royal warrior, who halted a few seconds in 
 acknowledgment of the flattering eulogium. 
 
 Little or no arrangement is attempted 
 during the first march, which invariably 
 terminates at or near Yeolo, in order to af- 
 ford time to stragglers to rejoin, or to admit 
 of the return of those who may from any 
 circumstance prove incapable of toil, or un- 
 prepared for the campaign. Immediately 
 12* 
 
 in advance of the army, screened beneath 
 a canopy of scarlet broadcloth, 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, throwing into shade those of the 
 Palladium of Troy, are believed to insure 
 victory to the Christian 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 don- 
 keys, with trumpets and wind instruments. 
 Numerous governors, judges, monks, priests 
 and singers followed, and behind them rode 
 a curious accompaniment to a martial ex- 
 pedition. Forty dames and damsels, pro- 
 fessing the culinary art, with elaborately 
 crisped bee-hive wigs, greased faces be- 
 daubed with ocrhe, 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 with long white wands. 
 Beyond, far as the eye could penetrate the 
 canopy of dust which hung over the hori- 
 zon, every hill and valley swarmed with 
 masses 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 women carrying 
 pitchers of beer and hydromel at their 
 backs, and lads with gliitering sheaves of 
 spears upon their shoulders, leading gayly- 
 caparisoned war-stseds — all mixed and 
 crowded together in the most picturesque 
 disorder and confusion. 
 
 After cros?mg the Chacha, the country 
 is no lons er sa, fe f° r a single traveller; 
 and owing to the determined hostility of 
 the various wild Galla tribes by wthich it 
 is inhabited, small Amhara detachments 
 vould find difficulty in passing — the inhu- 
 man practice of mutilation being resorted 
 to on all possible opportunities. The road 
 lay through an amphitheatre of low broken 
 hills, rising amid rich meadows and fields, 
 and clothed in parts with juniper or camel 
 thorn, through dark groves of which peep- 
 ed numerous tiny Galla hamlets — the dis- 
 tant landscape being bounded by the great 
 blue mountain ranges of Bulga, Garra Gor- 
 phoo, and Sallala Moogher, collectively 
 forming a crescent, but towering inde- 
 pendently in isolated grandeur. 
 
 At the termination of the fifteenth mile, 
 the ladies and their eunuchs, having hov- 
 ered about for some time in uncertainty, 
 
172 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 finally settled down, like a flight of flamin- 
 goes, in a pretty secluded valley, through 
 which winds the deep muddy Baroga. 
 Their halt, and the selection made of a spot 
 for the royal kitchen, proclaimed the en- 
 camping ground under a naturally scarped 
 table hill styled Gimbee Bayello, which im- 
 parts its name to the spot. A fierce scramble 
 for places ensued, and the several detach- 
 ments bivouacking sub divo around the 
 dingy palls 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, which 
 could not have measured less than five 
 miles in diameter, was occupied by the 
 royal suite of tents, consisting of a gay 
 parti-colored marquee of Turkish manu- 
 facture, surrounded by twelve ample awn- 
 ings of black serge, over which floated five 
 crimson pennons, surmounted respectively 
 by silver globes. Until these had been 
 erected, and duly inclosed by an outer 
 screen of cotton cloths, the negoos, accord- 
 ing to his wont, ascending an adjacent em- 
 inence, 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 toward his accommodation. 
 
 Horses abound in the kingdom of Shoa, 
 as well as throughout the adjacent cham- 
 pagne country of the Galla ; but save du- 
 ring 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 rugged frontier. The note 
 of war, however, had so Materially increas- 
 ed the value of the steed, foat even the few 
 horses required had been obtained with 
 difficulty. Every old, unsound, said vicious 
 Rozinante in the realm was spaciously 
 presented, and in turn rejected, wherv Abo- 
 gaz Maretch at length advertised his su.id. 
 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 Aus- 
 trian convention dollars were forwarded in 
 lieu 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 re- 
 ply, " because you have sent it ; but in fu- 
 ture when I sell 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 ca- 
 price of the despotic sovereign, and where 
 
 the inferiors of the court, entertaining one 
 and all the most thorough contempt 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 but the scanti- 
 est bedding, while the general commissa- 
 riat was restricted to a small bag of flour 
 with the jerked flesh of two oxen that had 
 been provided on the occasion from the 
 royal herds. But orders for the supply of 
 porters, who were not to be hired, had only 
 been issued at the very last moment, when 
 the purveyor-general, with his customary 
 liberality, reducing the kingly grant by one 
 half, those finally furnished — three in num- 
 ber — proved barely sufficient for the car- 
 riage 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 with sharp leathern 
 thongs upon the galled backs of feeble old 
 pack-horses, purchased on emergency at 
 the adjacent market of Bool Worki. 
 
 When contrasted with disciplined forces, 
 the camp equipage of the rabble Amhara 
 was small and portable indeed. A com- 
 missariat is unknown, every soldier and 
 follower transporting his own provisions, 
 w r hich are limited to parched grain or sun- 
 dried flesh ; and as, owing to the rapidity 
 of the march, and the usual absence of op- 
 position, the campaign is rarely protracted 
 beyond a fortnight, the system has been 
 found to answer. Governors and leaders 
 alone occupy tents, while every component 
 member of their respective quotas, in defi- 
 ance 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 was the sight presented as night 
 closed over the first encampment of the 
 cVivalry of Shoa. Rockets were to be fired 
 by \he royal command, to instil terror into 
 the breasts of the Galla hordes ; and the 
 peak which rose near the head-quarters had 
 been selected as the most centrical site for 
 the display. Ascending from below, the 
 hum of the mighty host arose in the still 
 clear atmosphere, and the gleam of the 
 bright embers which ran through the depths 
 of the valley, and danced over the inter- 
 vening heights, until lost in the far distance, 
 presented the appearance of a city of an- 
 cient days, whereof the great arteries being 
 
« FIRE RAINERS "—THE CAMP. 
 
 173 
 
 alone lit up during the nocturnal hours, full 
 scope was allowed to the imagination to 
 populate at pleasure the intervening gloom. 
 
 The appearance at Angollala of the mus- 
 kets presented to his majesty by the British 
 government had already caused no incon- 
 siderable consternation, it being the gen- 
 erally received belief that the bayonet, hith- 
 erto a stranger in the land, formed a great 
 receptacle for poisonous spells. The roar 
 of each flight of " fire rainers " now pro- 
 duced a panic from end to end of the scat- 
 tered camp. A buzz and a clamor 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 hor- 
 ses and mules, bursting from their pickets, 
 scoured away in terror, pursued by hench- 
 man and by warrior, their figures, flitting 
 in dim perspective before glimmering bale- 
 fires, countless as the stars that spangled 
 the firmament above, seemed shades called 
 into existence by some magic agency, and 
 doubtless proved to the gazing monarch, 
 that the political object in contemplation 
 had been well and fully accomplished. 
 
 Habitual suspicion on the part of the 
 despot inducing him to apprehend deser- 
 tion 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 sat down to a repast in 
 the pavilion, 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, who had been deco- 
 rated by his English friends ; " you gave 
 me scarlet broadcloth, and behold I have 
 reserved the gift for the present occasion. 
 This garment will 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 valor, 
 takes like an ass to his heels, and is spear- 
 ed without the slightest danger." 
 
 CHAPTER LXVII. 
 
 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 arous- 
 ed to victory by the shrill crowing of a 
 cock, which is invariably carried with the 
 army, in one of the wicker baskets, form- 
 ing 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 strict- 
 ness during the continuance of a military 
 expedition. Throu ghout the hours of dark- 
 ness the loud chorus arose from the pavil- 
 ion without a moment's intermission, the 
 vocal labors around the holy ark ceasing 
 only with the approach of dawn, as an- 
 nounced 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 thousand cavalry, 
 made an excursion to a knoll at some dis- 
 tance from the encampment, whence on a 
 range stretching to the south-eastward, the 
 hill of Dalofa was conspicuous. Hereon 
 his majesty has recently erected a palace, 
 which he rarely visits except for the pur- 
 pose of controlling by his presence 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 like a 
 map at his feet, the mind of the contempla- 
 tive monarch, occasionally 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 favorite dancing girl meanwhile at- 
 tuning 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 carolled 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 ; 
 "Pis 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 damsel has so little to do, that 
 she does not that little better." 
 
 Si What fault have you to find with her 
 
174 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 performance ?" growled 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 ? 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 swelled meanwhile 
 to about fifteen thousand fighting men, 
 was in motion over a country especially 
 favorable to advance. Some military pre- 
 cautions were 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 umbrel- 
 las advanced over the level greensward, 
 at the rate of three miles an hour. The 
 king, with a few favorite 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 miles and miles to 
 the rear, came pouring over the hills, and 
 down the valleys, like a swollen river 
 bursting its banks, and overflowing the 
 entire country. 
 
 The military system of Shoa being en- 
 tirely feudal, each governor of the realm 
 is required to furnish his contingent of 
 militia in proportion to his landed tenure — 
 his peasantry being at all times ready 
 for the foray, and expected to purvey 
 horse, arms, and provisions, without pay- 
 ment from the state. Four hundred fusi- 
 leers, bondsmen of the king, alone receive 
 pay — eight pieces of salt, value one shil- 
 ling and eight-pence, being disbursed an- 
 nually to each, in addition to the food and 
 raiment granted to every royal slave. 
 Little discipline 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 posses- 
 sions. 
 
 Of three grand divisions, the centre, 
 commanded by his majesty in person, 
 consisted of the luguamioch, under Ayto 
 Melkoo, master of the horse ; the gasaa 
 shakri, or shield-bearers, and the detach- 
 ment of the collector of newly-levied tri- 
 bute. Immediately on the left flank were 
 the fusileers of Ayto Katama, commander- 
 in-chief of the body-guard, behind whom 
 came the ivotzbietoch, or females of the 
 royal kitchen; — then the legion of Ayto 
 Guebroo, governor of Mentshar, and, last- 
 ly, the detachments of Shoa-Meda, of Morat, 
 and Morab'ietie. 
 
 The van, consisting of skirmishers, is 
 invariably led by the great governor of the 
 subjugated Galla, under the title of worari. 
 With Abogaz Maretch, who now filled 
 this important post, were the tried gover- 
 nors of Bulga, Kembibit, Gola, and Ootu- 
 ba, whose respective detachments are 
 Christians, and who are all drawn from 
 the neighborhood, where intercourse with 
 the Galla is most frequent. The third di- 
 vision, or rear-guard, is commanded by the 
 general styled wobo, who is arbitrarily 
 chosen from the seats of seven govern- 
 ments in the north, viz : Giddem, Geshe, 
 Antzochia, Mans. Kaa, Gabriel, and Efrata 
 — the same individual being never selected 
 on two consecutive expeditions. 
 
 By the continual exercise of his staf£ 
 the master of the horse, assisted by the 
 shield-bearers, contrived to preserve the 
 proper distance between the van of the 
 army and the royal person, but confusion 
 reigned elsewhere. Warriors . were hud- 
 dled together without order or arrange- 
 ment, and every trooper selecting his own 
 position in the detachment to which he 
 belonged, diverted himself by devising the 
 death of the numerous hares that scam- 
 pered 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 pas- 
 tures 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 in- 
 tervals, in order to present tribute either 
 in horses or kine — the whole greasy band 
 dismounting at a respectful distance on 
 the flank, hurrying before the despot's 
 path, and with bosoms bared, prostrating 
 themselves simultaneously upon the earth. 
 Little respect, however, was paid to stand- 
 ing crops — field after field of ripening corn 
 being trampled level with the ground, in 
 spite of the remonstrance of the disconso- 
 late 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 southwest, 
 and conjecture was on the rack as to the 
 scene of active operations, and the ultimate 
 destination of the army. But the secret 
 still 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 con- 
 tinued to beguile the tedious march with 
 their rambling stanzas, and to pour out 
 
THE ENEMY'S COUNTRY RAVAGED. 
 
 175 
 
 shrill strains of melody like the notes of 
 the wild bird. The rough-riders galloped 
 before the van of the host, to exhibit the 
 paces of steeds received in tribute ; and 
 his majesty, alighting 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 mo- 
 notonous than the country passed over. 
 Wide grassy undulations, interspersed 
 with extensive cultivation, rose unrelieved 
 by a single tree or other redeeming fea- 
 ture, save the many European flowers that 
 wantoned beneath the joyous sunshine on 
 the far-stretching prairie. The Karinza, 
 the Fincha, the Chatti, and the Rufa 
 rivers, all tributary to the Nile, were 
 crossed in succession. Deep, narrow, 
 muddy channels intersecting verdant mea- 
 dows, these presented the general charac- 
 ter of all Galla streams, cutting silently 
 through the rich dark soil, and leaving 
 swampy quagmires on the waving downs. 
 At long intervals, the negoos, dismount- 
 ing to change mules, proceeded some dis- 
 tance on foot — an example followed by all. 
 On the first of these occasions, his ma- 
 jesty went through the comedy of thrusting 
 his feet into slippers, selected from a bag 
 carried by a slave, and containing nume- 
 rous pairs manufactured of various colored 
 morocco. Many were tried in succession, 
 but the royal heels being invariably chafed 
 and blistered, the experiment was finally 
 abandoned in despair ; and sacrificing dig- 
 nity 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 environ- 
 ed by hills, the order was given to encamp, 
 destroy, and plunder. Instantly ensued 
 a rush from all quarters at full gallop. 
 Flourishing fields of wheat, barley, and 
 beans, the produce of the toil of a rebel- 
 lious tribe, were ravaged and overrun 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. 
 
 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 calling ; but 
 some arbitrary change having been direct- 
 ed by his majesty, who occupied his usua! 
 elevated position, the camp was thrown into 
 
 confusion. Quarrels and scuffles might 
 now be witnessed in every quarter. Those 
 who had taken possession of a luxuriant 
 pasture or the vicinage of water, stoutly 
 defended the treasure against invading 
 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 sur- 
 prise was adopted, toward the security of 
 the camp. 
 
 But no advantage was taken of the Am- 
 hara neglect; and another and similar 
 forced march over a country equally de- 
 void of interest with the tract already 
 crossed, led to the long, narrow valley of 
 Karabarek, at the foot of the Garra Gor- 
 phoo 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 Galla had been seen 
 crowning the heights that skirt the line of 
 march, and near the peaked hill of Wyfun 
 they were assembled in numbers ; but 
 none ventured within half a mile of the 
 host, twenty thousand in number, all thirst- 
 ing 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 with the speed of a 
 galloping horse ; but the wretched inhab- 
 itants, aware of the approach of the spoil- 
 er, had abandoned their dwellings before 
 the fell storm burst over them ; and one 
 aged man only had yet fallen into the mer- 
 ciless clutches of the invaders. 
 
 This prize had stained the hand of a fol- 
 lower of Ayto Gadel, governor of Chercha, 
 a functionary far from being notorious for 
 courageous bearing. On the occasion of 
 Medoko's last advance, his was the man- 
 sion first beleagured by the insurgents, but 
 he fled in dismay, Jcaving his fair partner 
 to defend the premises. Joining, after the 
 first day's march, he had put the most di- 
 verting - questions relative to the English, 
 with whose appearance he was greatly 
 perplexed. 
 
 " Are these people pagans ?" inquired 
 the hero, with owlish features, but toe 
 strongly indicative of his vacant mind. 
 
 « No." 
 
 " Are thev Islams ?" 
 
 "No." 
 
176 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 " Then what are they ?" 
 
 " 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 know ? Have they cattle ?" 
 
 " Abundance." 
 
 " And sheep and goats ?" 
 
 " Certainly." 
 
 " And their negoos, does he carry deba- 
 boch,f and make great zumaclias,\ with 
 warriors like these ?" turning his oyster 
 eyes, lighted with something like martial 
 fire, toward the countless rabble in the 
 rear. But the party thus interrogated could 
 keep his temper no longer ; and as the lit- 
 tle hunch-backed father confessor rode 
 iauntily up with a dirty page perched on 
 the crupper of his mule, to volunteer a 
 lesson in the noble art of equitation, he 
 galloped off, exclaiming with a sneer : 
 
 " Like these, forsooth ! One of her Bri- 
 tannic majesty's regiments would in a sin- 
 gle hour sweep from off the face of the 
 earth, the whole undisciplined mob that 
 swells the impotent train of the boasted 
 descendant of King Solomon." 
 
 CHAPTER LXVII. 
 
 THE FORAY. 
 
 Thus far the greatest irregularity and 
 confusion had prevailed among the Am- 
 hara, alike during the march and the en- 
 campment. A council of war was daily 
 convened, when each leader made his re- 
 port and received verbal instructions for 
 his guidance ; but no order of any sort was 
 promulgated until the moment before it 
 was to be carried into effect, and all de- 
 pended rather upon the whim and caprice 
 of the monarch than upon the exigencies 
 of the service. The first intimation of 
 intended march v/as conveyed by the roy- 
 al drums sounding suddenly to saddle a 
 quarter of an hour before advance, which, 
 as the state pavilion went down, was an- 
 nounced 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 confi- 
 dence, strong surmises were entertained 
 
 * Mateb, i. e. Mark or token. The blue silk cord 
 worn around the neck by the Christian of Shoa. 
 t i. e. Umbrellas of state. % Military expeditions. 
 
 that a foray from Karabarek was to be the 
 order of the following day ; and about two 
 hours after midnight the sudden and un- 
 usual cessation of the psalm-singing, fol- 
 lowed by the heavy tramp 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 dis- 
 turbed hive of bees, continued until dawn. 
 No sooner was it light, than his majesty 
 rode silently forth from his inclqsure with- 
 out beat of the nugareet, and thousands 
 instantly flocked toward the royal person. 
 
 The state umbrellas, furled, were in- 
 cased in white bags, and the usual cum- 
 brous Abyssinian robe, which effectually 
 impedes all 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 wild beasts, the lion, the pan- 
 ther, and the ocelot, alone hung over the 
 brawny shoulder of the warrior ; and, with 
 exception of about two hundred musque- 
 teers with bayonets fixed, every individual 
 was equipped with spear, sword, and buck- 
 ler, 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 lan- 
 ces bristling, and shields thumping in every 
 direction, threatened instant destruction to 
 each component member of the dense mass, 
 which, crowded and locked fast together,, 
 streamed at a rapid trot after the king with- 
 out the slightest order or regularity, save 
 such as was preserved by the exertions of 
 the shield-bearers, who rode immediately 
 behind. The occasional passage of plough- 
 ed land, producing a suffocating cloud of 
 dust, served still more to increase the con- 
 fusion, which had reached its climax when 
 a rivulet intersected the line of march. 
 Steep perpendicular banks and treacherous 
 channels opposing the extended front of 
 the legion, and checking advance, a sim- 
 ultaneous exertion was made to gain the 
 only practicable fords, which were in an 
 instant filled to choking. The fiercest 
 struggle for extrication ensued. Numbers 
 floundering in the soft mud, or borne out 
 of their saddles by the pressure of the 
 crowd, were trampled under foot, while 
 those who bestrode the stoutest steeds, 
 clearing the way before them by sheer 
 strength, forced their weaker neighbors to 
 incline to the right and to the left like frail 
 reeda 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 
 
THE GALLA PLAINS— THE ATTACK. 
 
 177 
 
 over the crisp grass toward 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 followed the clat- 
 tering hoofs of neighing war-rsteeds. Du- 
 ring the first hour's advance up the valley, 
 reports were continually being brought in, 
 and messenger after messenger galloping 
 off in every direction ; and as the foot of 
 the mountain was gained, Ayto Berkie, 
 with a large detachment of the men of 
 Bulga, leaving the main body, moved upon 
 the left, while the king struck up the steep 
 face of the range in the centre of an ex- 
 tended line 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 twelve or fifteen in breadth, the 
 mountains of Garra Gorphoo, covered 
 throughout with one sheet of rich cultiva- 
 tion, form the water-shed between the Nile 
 and the Hawash. The various rivulets 
 that on either side wind down toward the 
 parent streams, intersect it into hundreds 
 of verdant valleys, on the swelling slopes 
 of which the white-roofed houses of se- 
 cluded Galla hamlets peep forth among 
 dark green groves of juniper and acacia, 
 that add beauty to the fair prospect. Re- 
 freshed by the cool breeze, these tropical 
 highlands are inhabited by the Serite tribe, 
 who, long in a state of open rebellion, had 
 rendered themselves doubly obnoxious to 
 the despot's vengeance by attacking a de- 
 tachment of Amhara the preceding year, 
 of whom, while entangled in a morass near 
 the foot of the range, eight hundred men 
 were slain. The day of retribution had at 
 length arrived. The object of the expedi- 
 tion, hitherto so carefully concealed, was 
 now fully developed ; and the military dis- 
 positions for sweeping destruction appeared 
 to be right skilfully made. 
 
 Hurrying onward with ominous rapidity, 
 destroying all who fell in their path, and 
 with their weapons goading forward the 
 herds of sleek cattle which teemed in every 
 valley, the wild host now poured like an 
 overwhelming torrent down the flowery 
 slopes of inumbrated hollows — now breast- 
 ed the steep sunny acclivity like flames 
 driver! before the wind — and now wound 
 in Indian file along the edges of cliffs af- 
 fording scanty footing for a wild-cat, where 
 the loose soil, crumbling at every step, left 
 the naked precipitous rock as the only 
 available passage. Far and wide the crops 
 were laid prostrate as if beaten down un- 
 
 der the violence of the hurricane ; and be- 
 fore ten o'clock the highest pinnacle 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 Entot- 
 to, 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, re- 
 flected back the rays of the morning sun 
 across sheets of luxuriant cultivation, ex- 
 tending for miles, nearly ready for the 
 sickle. Far beyond, the long wooded line 
 of the Hawash, rolling its troubled waters 
 toward the plain of the Ada'iel, loomed in- 
 distinctly through the haze ; and in the 
 extreme distance, the lofty 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 divis- 
 ions, covering many miles of country, and 
 linked by detachments in every direction, 
 pressed on toward the inviting goal — their 
 hearts burning with the implacable hatred 
 of hostile barbarians, and panting to con- 
 summate their bloody revenge. Taken en- 
 tirely 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 children carolled blithely over their 
 ordinary household avocations ; and the 
 ascending sun shone bright on smiling val- 
 leys, which, long before his going down, 
 were left tenanted only by the wolf and the 
 vulture. 
 
 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, he 
 turned toward the expectant army, and pro- 
 nounced the ominous words which were 
 the well-known signal for carrying fire and 
 
178 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 sword through the land — " May the God 
 who is the God of my forefathers, strength- 
 en and absolve !" Rolling on like the 
 waves of the mighty ocean, down poured 
 the Amhara host among the rich glades 
 and rural hamlets, at the heels of the fly- 
 ing 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 still 
 marked by the red flames that burst forth 
 in turn from the thatched roofs of each in- 
 vaded village ; and the havoc committed 
 many miles to the right by the division of 
 Abogaz Maretch, who was advancing par- 
 allel to the main body, and had been re- 
 inforced by the detachment under Ayto 
 Shishigo, became equally manifest in nu- 
 merous columns of white smoke, towering 
 upward to the azure firmament in rapid 
 succession. 
 
 The embassy followed 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 in- 
 ward satisfaction, while 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 fray 
 of the blast of the sirocco. A rapid detour 
 thence to the westward, in an hour dis- 
 closed 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, surrounded 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 spoliation, and the troops, ani- 
 mated by the presence of the monarch, now 
 performed their bloody work with a sharp 
 and unsparing knife — firing village after 
 village 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 fast- 
 ness of Entotto, which reared its protect- 
 ing 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 house was sacked and consigned to 
 the flames. Each grim Amhara warrior 
 vied with his comrade in the work of retri- 
 butive destruction among, the execrated 
 Galla. Whole groups and families were 
 surrounded and speared within the walled 
 court-yards, which were strewed with the 
 bodies of the slain. Wretches who betook 
 themselves to the open plain were pursued 
 and hunted down like wild beasts ; and 
 children 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 pitilessly shot among the branches. 
 In the course of two hours the division left 
 the desolated valley laden with spoil, and 
 carrying with them numbers of wailing 
 females and mutilated orphan children, 
 together with the barbarous trophies that 
 had been stripped from the mangled bodies 
 of their murdered victims. 
 
 The hoarse scream of the vulture, as 
 she wheeled in funereal circles over this ap- 
 palling scene of carnage and devastation, 
 mingled with 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 re- 
 sounding to the fiendish shouts and war- 
 whoops of the excited warriors, and to the 
 unpitied groans of their helpless captives. 
 And as the exulting barbarians, followed 
 by the curses of the homeless fugitives in 
 Entotto, crossed the last range, gloomy 
 columns of smoke rising thick and dense 
 to the darkened heavens, for miles in every 
 direction, proclaimed that this recently so 
 flourishing and beautiful location had in a 
 few brief hours been utterly ruined, pil- 
 laged, and despoiled, as far as the means of 
 ruthless and savage man could effect its 
 destruction. 
 
 The royal division crossed the deep vale 
 of Finfinni by a most dangerous and diffi- 
 cult defile, leading over the bed of the 
 principal torrent, which winds through an 
 extensive belt of dark juniper forest, of 
 truly magnificent growth. Lofty pinelike 
 tree's, hoary with the moss of centuries, 
 towered above banks that rose some "hun- 
 dred feet almost perpendicularly, and were 
 clothed throughout with tangled under- 
 growth. A huge fragment of porphyry, 
 nearly choking the straitened descent, af- 
 forded barely sufficient room for the pas- 
 sage of a single horseman, while a sue- 
 
THE BOOTY— NOCTURNAL BIVOUAC. 
 
 179 
 
 cession of slippery rocks and treacherous 
 pools filled up the channel to the opposite 
 baiiA, steep, abrupt, and wooded. 
 
 Loud shouts drowned the pleasing mur- 
 mur of a splashing waterfall ; and so great 
 was the confusion caused by the crush of 
 men, horses, and mules, mingled with 
 frightened droves of oxen and sheep, all 
 struggling tumultously toward the only 
 outlet, 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 with 
 ease have kept at bay the whole rabble ar- 
 my 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 smallest check, and 
 being escorted only by a few fusileers of 
 the body-guard, carrying each two rounds 
 of ammunition, was necessarily much ex- 
 posed ; but confident in the terror with 
 which his meteor-like descent would in- 
 spire his unwary foes, no dispositions were 
 made for the security of his person, in the 
 event of resistance or surprise. 
 
 Emerging from the forest which extend- 
 ed two miles beyond the Finfinni defile, 
 the scattered forces began to rendezvous 
 around the state umbrellas, now unfurled, 
 to which they were directed by the inces- 
 sant beating of kettle-drums. While the 
 work of destruction still continued to rage 
 on all sides, herd after herd of lowing 
 beeves came pouring toward 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 un- 
 sheathed, and even the boyish arms of some 
 of the most effeminate of the royal pages 
 had proved victorious over a defenceless 
 victim. The slaughter had been immense. 
 Every desolated court-yard was crowded 
 with the bodies of the slain — childhood 
 and decrepit age had fared alike ; and the 
 murderers, unconscious of the disgrace 
 attaching to unmanly deeds, unblushingly 
 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 frightful- 
 ly wild with excitement, although his de- 
 meanor throughout the long day of horrors 
 had been cool and self-possessed from the 
 experience acquired during eighty-four 
 similar foravs. 
 
 After a brief halt, the march was resum- 
 ed 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 woolly heads 
 of successful cavaliers, became more and 
 more numerous as the eventful day drew 
 on to its close. The sun at length dis- 
 appeared behind the western mountains, 
 toward 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 finally halted in the Ekka val- 
 ley, 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 sev- 
 eral thousand head of cattle, tired to death 
 with the distance they had been driven 
 from their wonted pastures, were, with 
 infinite difficulty, collected in a hollow, 
 girdled on three sides by a deep ravine. It 
 was closed on the fourth by a steep accliv- 
 ity, on the summit of which the king, sur- 
 rounded by his chieftains, took up his 
 position for the night. His majesty, al- 
 though fasting throughout the day, sent 
 his only loaf to be eaten by " his children ;" 
 and looking forth upon the fruits of his 
 masterly foray, seemed, in the contempla- 
 tion of the amassed herds, to be insensi- 
 ble alike to the cold wintry blast, and to 
 the long calls of hunger. 
 
 A wilder scene can scarcely be im- 
 agined that that presented by the nocturnal 
 bivouac of the locust-like army of the Am- 
 hara, flushed by its recent success. Loud 
 whoops and yells, arising from every quar- 
 ter of the wide valley, 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 un- 
 feeling possessor. Groups of grim war- 
 riors, their hands imbrued in the innocent 
 blood of infancy, and their stern features 
 lighted by the fitful flame, chuckling over 
 the barbarous spoils they had won, vaunted 
 their inhuman 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 the whole distant landscape, 
 red from the lurid glare reflected by scores 
 of crackling hamlets, completed a picture 
 
180 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 worthy the pencil of the artist who delights 
 in the delineation of brutal revelry. No 
 sentry paced the environs of the straggling 
 encampment — no watchword challenged 
 the tramp of the man-at-arms. The deep 
 hum of thousands gradually 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, his British 
 guests slept at broken intervals upon the 
 bare ground, amid the gorged and weary 
 warriors, the saddle of each serving for a 
 pillow — 
 
 " The earth his bed, his canopy the sky." 
 
 CHAPTER LXIX. 
 
 THE ROYAL ACHIEVEMENT. 
 
 Welcome to all was the first gray light 
 that illumined the eastern sky, and summon- 
 ed the warrior from his uneasy slumbers. 
 So uncomfortably had the night been pass- 
 ed, that it was in truth rest to rise. The 
 despot was among the first to abandon his 
 cold couch ; and a bulletin of success hav- 
 ing been penned by the royal hand, for the 
 information of Queen Besabesh, the main 
 body of the division, convoying the inter- 
 minable droves of cattle, was in motion 
 across the Ekka valley. Escorted by five 
 thousand cavalry, his majesty then pro- 
 ceeded to a knoll at some distance within 
 the scene of yesterday's carnage, upon the 
 summit of which he tarried, while 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 mountain breeze played freshly down 
 each opening glade. The ascending sun- 
 beam danced over the steep rugged sides 
 and ruined stone edifices of the fastness 
 of Entotto, anciently the proud seat of 
 Ethiopic splendor, and still believed to 
 conceal much of the wealth lost to the 
 empire at the period of Graan's invasion, 
 when Nebla Dengel was driven into Tigre. 
 The great volcanic cone of Sequala, rival- 
 ling the lowland Aiulloo, again towered in 
 the distance, its once fiery crater converted 
 by the revolutions of ages into an exten- 
 sive lagoon, on the banks of which stands 
 the celebrated shrine of Guebra Manfas 
 Kedoos, a saint renowned for the destruc- 
 
 tion by his prayers of five hundred genies. 
 On the other hand frowned the dark wood- 
 ed slave mart of Roque, in the Yerrur hill, 
 where millions 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 pillage and conflagration, in con- 
 sequence 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 
 encounter no impediment; and over the 
 intervening tract numerous tributaries to 
 the Casam, absorbed eventually in the 
 parched plain of the Adai'el, conveyed the 
 eastern drainage of Garra Gorphoo through 
 the ravaged valley of Germama. 
 
 Over this wide expanse not a living in- 
 habitant was 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 
 screamed the death-note. The embers of 
 deserted villages 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 howl- 
 ing dogs wandered up and down in fruit- 
 less quest of their lost masters. A single 
 day had reduced to a waste wilderness the 
 entire rich and flourishing vale of Germa- 
 ma, including the dark forests of Finfinni, 
 which, for years, had slept in peace ; and 
 their late numerous and unsuspecting popu- 
 lation, had in a few hours been swept from 
 off" the face of the earth by the devastating 
 irruption of the barbarian Amhara hordes. 
 
 The mutilated remains of the fallen chief 
 having, after much search, been recovered 
 from the ashes of a still smoking village,, 
 were shrouded with a white cloth, and 
 borne upon a bier from the scene of deso- 
 lation. Glutted with booty, the despot now 
 left his locusts to pursue their own course 
 up the Ekka valley, where flames and 
 plunder again marked the straggling return 
 toward the mountains 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 miles and miles, the road was lined 
 with dusty and wayworn warriors laden 
 with spoil: flocks and herds, donkeys, 
 mules, and horses, honey-combs, poultry, 
 household utensils and farming gear, with 
 
APPALLING RETRIBUTION— ROYAL PROWESS. 
 
 181 
 
 captive women and children, indiscrimi- 
 nately mingled with the men-at-arms. 
 While some of these latter, wounded and 
 mutilated, were lashed upon the backs of 
 their palfreys, others, dismounted, were 
 dragging behind them their lame and ex- 
 hausted steeds ; sheep and goats, unable, 
 through fatigue, to proceed, being cut 
 limb from limb while still alive, and the 
 bleeding trunks left quivering in the path 
 by the wanton butchers. 
 
 Reentering the mountains, over which 
 the sun, now low in the horizon, had cast 
 the long dark shadows of evening, the 
 camp was sought in vain ; but the rear 
 division, with tents and baggage, was at 
 length descried pouring down the opposite 
 height under a vast canopy of dust to the 
 encamping ground at Boora Roofa. A 
 long march the preceding 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 in- 
 road, made numerous female captives, and, 
 with the loss of the sumpter horses laden 
 with horns of hydromel, acquired consider- 
 able booty ; information casually 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 
 lir. During its more recent progress this 
 division had carried fire and sword through 
 5he country of the Sertie Galla, where it 
 yet remained unplundered ; and, as the day 
 igain closed, the vault of heaven was re- 
 tllumined by volumes of lurid smoke from 
 the surrounding hamlets. 
 
 Such is the appalling retribution with 
 which Sahela Selassie is wont to visit those 
 rebel tribes who withhold the moderate 
 tribute that has been imposetkppon them. 
 The relinquishment to the crown of three 
 or four hundred of the many thousand head 
 of cattle captured during this and the pre- 
 ceding day, would, with some twenty or 
 thirty horses, have averted this severe chas- 
 tisement, 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 Galla governors, over whose proceed- 
 ings he can exercise very inadequate con- 
 trol ; 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 Galla depend- 
 encies, to strengthen them by those mili- 
 tary arrangements for which the country 
 is so peculiarly adapted, and to place a bet- 
 ter limit upon the exactions of frontier gov- 
 
 ernors, what bloodshed and misery might 
 not be averted ! 
 
 The army halted at Boora Roofa to ena- 
 ble straggling detachments to rejoin ; and 
 small parties went out in various direc- 
 tions to complete the work of demolition 
 among the deserted hamlets of the Sertie 
 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 in- 
 mates, around many of whose bodies gaunt 
 vultures already held their carnival. 
 
 Early during the forenoon, horsemen 
 rode in to the royal pavilion with important 
 intelligence that Ayto Hierat, a favorite 
 governor, had, at the distance of a few 
 miles, surprised and surrounded a Galla in 
 a tree, among the branches of which the 
 caitifFawaited the arrival of the king. Im- 
 patient to wreathe his brow with new lau- 
 rels, 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 thousand cavalry. 
 
 Receiving a long shot through the thigh 
 at the royal hands, while imperfectly en- 
 sconced among the foliage, the victim, 
 abandoning all hope of escape, 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 ei- 
 ther sex, are, in Amhara warfare, account- 
 ed one and the same thing ; and although, 
 where adult males are concerned, the more 
 merciful alternative is rarely adopted, the 
 despot, whose dreams often conjure up his 
 past deeds of blood in judgment against 
 him, has become more lenient than of yore. 
 Yet the valuable presents which the de- 
 struction of a helpless foe entitles him 
 from every governor in the realm, the in- 
 creased respect acquired in the eyes of his 
 subjects and warriors, and the additional 
 lustre shed over his already chivalrous re- 
 putation by each new murder, however 
 foul, induce hirn still to seek occasions 
 such as this to imbrue his hands in gore. 
 
 Messenger after messenger now gal- 
 loped into camp at full speed, with the 
 joyful tidings of success; each new an- 
 nouncement eliciting yet louder and louder 
 songs and shouts from the wotzbeitoch, eu- 
 nuchs, and parasites at the royal quarters. 
 In another hour the cavalcade returned in 
 
182 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 triumph, the wounded captive riding on a 
 mule behind the exulting monarch, who, 
 by virtue of his bold exploit, wore in the 
 hair a large green branch of wild aspara- 
 gus, while 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, proclaimed the signal prowess 
 of his Christian majesty. Priests and wo- 
 men flocked to receive him with a clamor 
 of acclamation, and he alighted amid the 
 most stunning uproar. 
 
 Through the master of the horse a mes- 
 sage was presently received, to the effect 
 that the attendance of every member of the 
 embassy had been looked for ; the Galla 
 having been entrapped purposely that his 
 destruction might be accomplished by the 
 hand of the British visitors, in view to the 
 exaltation of the national name. "Why 
 tarried ye in the tent ? I desired that my 
 children might kill the heathen in the tree ; 
 but. when they came not, I myself perform- 
 ed the deed." 
 
 The puissant monarch was informed in 
 reply, " that, independently of its being the 
 Sabbath, and none of the party possessing 
 the smallest inclination to destroy a de- 
 fenceless human being under any circum- 
 stances, no public body was authorized by 
 the law of nations to draw a sword offen- 
 sively in any country not in open hostility 
 with its own. That an elephant was es- 
 teemed 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, du- 
 ring 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. Ess^jtial assistance had been 
 afforded by the embassy to the sick and 
 wounded ; among 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 example of 
 other foreigners, who were represented to 
 have shot Galla out of trees, was contrast- 
 ed somewhat unfavorably to British cour- 
 age ; and a private of the artillery escort 
 was roundly taxed with cowardice for per- 
 mitting the escape of an unarmed 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 Ambara horsemen, but 
 
 escaped unscathed on foot into the forest, 
 under a shower of their Christian lances. 
 
 In all 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 unceasing labor 
 of the cultivator is forsaken for the shield 
 and spear. But in Abyssinia, where the 
 principal booty is monopolized by the mon- 
 arch, the case is widely different, since, 
 although military expeditions are of fre- 
 quent occurrence, the sword of the plun- 
 derer is as often turned again into the 
 ploughshare — while the despoiled hus- 
 bandman, again tilling his devastated lands, 
 and occupying the brief intervals of peace 
 and repose in agricultural and pastoral 
 pursuits, the fair provinces of the Galla, 
 flowing with milk and honey, are speedily 
 reclothed in one sheet of luxuriant culti- 
 vation. 
 
 The Abyssinians have been represented 
 as a bold, martial, and chivalrous race ; but 
 in Shoa, the " soldiers of the Cross " are 
 impelled by none of that knightly valor 
 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 mass- 
 es of undisciplined cavalry, the only oppo- 
 sition 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 morasses or intri- 
 cate defiles. The appearance of a foe in- 
 variably areves the signal for increased 
 disorder, wn. who are so disposed sallying 
 forth to the assault, when those who harbor 
 animosity against a comrade, not unfre- 
 quently avail themselves of the opportu- 
 nity to assassinate him in the mtlie. 
 
 Cruelties emanating from the hereditary 
 detestation of the heathen, which, with the 
 barbarous spoils earned during the foray, 
 is handed down as an heir-loom from gene- 
 ration to generation, are unfortunately- 
 countenanced by the monarch, who has 
 too often destroyed a defenceless fugitive 
 with his own hand, and personally set the 
 disgraceful example of mutilation ; while 
 the bigotry and superstition of the savage 
 Amhara induces him to regard every pa- 
 gan in the light of a dog, as doth the fan- 
 atic Moslem the Christian. The revolting 
 barbarities practiced in the hour of victory, 
 which from time immemorial have had ex- 
 
REVOLTING BARBARITIES— INSIGNIA OF VALOR. 
 
 183 
 
 istence'in Ethiopia, and unfortunately also 
 over the: greater portion of unhappy Africa 
 to which discovery has yet extended, are 
 perpetuated by the commission of similar 
 enormities on the part of the Galla usurp- 
 ers of the fairest portions of the land, who 
 butcher children and old men without dis- 
 tinction, mutilate all who fall into their 
 hands, and enslave females upon every 
 opportunity. 
 
 The stimulus afforded by individual in- 
 terest 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 Chris- 
 tian 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 gaunt- 
 let, or a bracelet, gained at the expense of 
 acts the most dastardly, raises him accord- 
 ingly 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 dic- 
 tated by the desire to obtain the insignia 
 of valor, and of these, instances of very 
 recent occurrence are matter of notoriety. 
 An Amhara of rank, unable to obtain 
 among the enemies of the state the much 
 coveted trophy, in cold blood mutilated the 
 unsuspecting husband of his own sister, 
 whom he found at disadvantage ; but not 
 long afterward, to his amazement, the un- 
 happy man, whom he left for dead, pre- 
 sented himself like a shade from another 
 world, and, falling at the footstool of the 
 throne, cried aloud for justice. To the 
 honor of his majesty be it recorded, that 
 the ruffian was publicly executed at An- 
 gollala, and that similar retribution pursued 
 a second fiend in human form, who, under 
 like circumstances, had proceeded to muti- 
 late his henchman. "Master," said the 
 defenceless menial, imploringly, "I have 
 served you faithfully for seven years — how 
 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 prevail- 
 ing barbarity, by superseding desultory, 
 hand-to-hand combat, and keeping every 
 soldier in such comparative ignorance of 
 
 * Injra bullal, eater of bread, a common term of 
 abuse for the idle 
 
 the number that fall to his individual prow- 
 ess, 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 successfully have debarred access to 
 the interior, and should have checked the 
 advance of Christianity and civilization, 
 which, as in happier lands, must bring 
 with them the means of providing for re- 
 dundant population, and could not fail to 
 ameliorate the horrors attendant upon the 
 existing system of Abyssinian warfare. 
 
 CHAPTER LXX. 
 
 LIBERATION OF THE PRISONERS OF WAR. 
 
 During the more than usually success- 
 ful, 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 ex- 
 tensive and most interesting tract of coun- 
 try hitherto undescribed — not to be explor- 
 ed by the adventurous but single traveller, 
 and only to be visited under the peculiar 
 advantages afforded to the British embassy 
 by the despotic negoos. It formed a source 
 of extreme disappointment, that this ac- 
 quaintance should not have extended to 
 the lake Zooai, as anticipated from the 
 manifesto originally promulgated at Mach- 
 al-wans ; but Ayto Berri, many years quar- 
 ter-master-general of the royal troops, who, 
 in his quondam capacity of Mohammadan 
 rover, had often visited that famous ex- 
 panse of water, strongly discountenanced 
 the contemplated measure of molesting the 
 inoffensive inhabitants of its five islands — 
 mixed Christians and pagans living in pro- 
 found peace with each other, and with eve- 
 ry surrounding neighbor. To his advice 
 may in some measure be ascribed the al- 
 teration in the king's intentions : but the 
 argument which had more weight with his 
 majesty than the harmless attributes of the 
 population, was based on the dense and 
 difficult character of the extensive forests, 
 swarming with Galla and with wild beasts, 
 through which the army must pass, after 
 crossing the pillaged valley of Germama. 
 
 The Christian camp at Boora Roofa was 
 crowded with disconsolate groups of hea- 
 then captives, many with infants at their 
 backs, and nearly all 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 
 
184 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 active and reverend missionary, 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 pre- 
 ceding day by consenting to liberate the 
 whole. Ere the nugareets sounded the re- 
 turn of the troops, a proclamation went 
 forth commanding the immediate release 
 of every prisoner of war ; and as the dis- 
 satisfied army turned its back upon the 
 valley, long files of widowed dames and 
 fatherless girls were to be seen hurrying 
 in freedom across the hill toward their des- 
 olate hearths, overjoyed at the sudden and 
 unexpected restoration of their lost liberty 
 through the white man's intercession — 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 this world. 
 
 This signal victory over savage ferocity 
 was followed by a long march to the river 
 Alelta, a tributary to the Nile, and form- 
 ing near the encampment lake Sertie, a 
 full mile in diameter, bounded by low hills 
 of trachyte and porphyry. A web of deep 
 miry ravines, shut in by high crumbling 
 banks, presented a wet and slippery foot- 
 ing, and many were the disasters that be- 
 fell 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 absence of 
 all order and decorum. 
 
 Each moment rendered the treacherous 
 passage more and more impracticable, and 
 it was not difficult 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 cau- 
 tion. Before the king had passed with the 
 main body of the victorious troops escort- 
 ing immense plunder, the Sertie Galla, 
 taking advantage of superior knowledge 
 of the locality, completely cut off the van 
 of the army, consisting of the Mentshar 
 and Bulga detachments. They had be- 
 come entangled in the mazy labyrinth, and 
 were massacred to a man ere assistance 
 could be rendered by the matchlockmen 
 
 of the body-guard, who did not reach the 
 ground until the enemy were in full re- 
 treat. 
 
 His majesty's object in now revisiting 
 the scene of this catastrophe was suffi- 
 ciently obvious. No sooner had the impe- 
 rial cavalcade halted among the bleached 
 skeletons of the fallen warriors, than cham- 
 pions, whose steeds were distinguished by 
 greasy garments stripped from the bodies 
 of Galla victims, caricoled proudly in front 
 of the state umbrellas, brandishing their 
 bright weapons aloft, exhibiting the spoils 
 that had been won during the recent bloody 
 foray ; and after a detail of their individual 
 exploits, shouting defiance to the humbled 
 Sertie. The wild triumphal exhibition 
 concluding after half an hour, a band of 
 music advanced, and continued to play un- 
 til the pavilion had been prepared for the 
 royal reception. 
 
 Early the ensuing morning, the king 
 sent confidentially to inquire if none of his 
 guests could divine whether the day were 
 propitious to the advance of the army — a 
 point upon which he felt somewhat dubi- 
 ous. The confession of lamentable want 
 of skill in augury was succeeded by a 
 march of sixteen miles to Ellulee Jidda, 
 over a monotonous landscape of swelling 
 downs and shallow valleys, intersected by 
 streamlets that had scooped deep channels 
 in the loose black soil. The stately relict 
 of a deceased Galla chieftain rode through 
 the ranks with her tribute in horses and 
 kine, and experienced a most gallant re- 
 ception at the hands of the monarch. She 
 might have sat for the portrait of La Belle 
 Sauvage, but the grease wherein the per- 
 son of the handsome dame was embedded 
 tended, unfortunately, to destroy the ro- 
 mance inseparable from her Amazonian 
 appearance and feudal condition. 
 
 'Various triumphant detachments also 
 met the royal cortege en route, the chiefs 
 and victorious warriors careering in suc- 
 cession before the van of the army, with 
 barbarous tokens of blood dangling from 
 the right arm, and green sprigs of aspara- 
 gus waving above their dishevelled and 
 newly greased locks. Prisoners were seat- 
 ed behind the cruppers of some of the more 
 merciful, and the flank of each gray steed 
 was dyed with clotted human gore. A 
 short rambling recitative, expressive of 
 loyalty and devotion in the field, was fol- 
 lowed by savage yells and whoops twice 
 or thrice reechoed by their marshalled 
 band of followers, when they vaulted light- 
 ly from the saddle, prostrated themselves 
 on the ground, and galloped off, each in 
 his turn, to make way for some new squad- 
 
AMHARA WAR CHORUS— THE TRIUMPH. 
 
 185 
 
 Ton, whose war-chorus came pealing over 
 the hills. 
 
 " Tlie combat's past, the fight is won, 
 Then triumph o'er the prostrate foe ; 
 The heathen blood has freely run, 
 Raise high the chant, Woko, Woko. 
 
 " Let hill and dale return the note, 
 Woko, Woko, ayah Woko ; 
 Loud ring from everv Christian throat 
 The shout of death, Woko, Woko." 
 
 While the army was encamping, the le- 
 gion of Ayto Shishigo, rejoining the royal 
 division with three thousand head of oxen, 
 in like manner reported success and detail- 
 ed exploits to the king, who, as usual, oc- 
 cupied the summit of an adjacent eminence. 
 Tribute was still in a course of dilig-ent 
 collection, and greasy Galla chieftains, with 
 hair plaited after the model of the lotus 
 flower, were flocking with their dues from 
 all directions. One refractory village only 
 of the Jidda tribe, withholding its impost 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 direc- 
 tion, it was strongly fortified, affording fuel 
 for the royal kitchen, and subsequently a 
 scramble to one half of the army. 
 
 CHAPTER LXXI. 
 
 THE TRIUMPH. 
 
 A long march across the Sana Robi, 
 next brought the troops to Bel at in the 
 neighborhood of Yeolo. His majesty, seat- 
 ed upon his cushioned alga, halted fre- 
 quently in the wide undulating meadows, 
 to witness warlike rehearsals on a still 
 more splendid scale ; on the termination of 
 which, many of the quotas having received 
 their dismissal, dispersed to their respec- 
 tive 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 
 victorious troops, reduced by one-third, 
 marched upon Angollala, driving exulting- 
 ly before them upward of thirty thousand 
 head of prize cattle, the entire of which 
 were, par excellence, the property of the 
 lung. Arrived within sight of the capital, 
 strains of martial music burst from the cen- 
 tre division, when every throat throughout 
 the vast army joined in one deafening cho- 
 rus. Half a mile to the south of the Galla 
 wall a tent had been erected, to which his 
 13 
 
 majesty retiring for a few minutes, arrayed 
 his person preparatory to the triumphal en- 
 try ; and the various leaders at the head 
 of their respective squadrons meanwhile 
 took up the position allotted in the coming 
 pageant. 
 
 As the state umbrellas, preceded by the 
 ark of St. Michael, passed through the An- 
 kober gate of the defences, the assembled 
 chiefs and warriors who had most distin- 
 guished 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, resplendent with trappings 
 and brass ornaments, and fancifully capar- 
 isoned in gay cloths and chintz housings, 
 bounded and pranced gallantly under this 
 chosen band of proud cavaliers, who with 
 lances couched, and party-colored robes 
 flaunting in the wind, slowly curvetted over 
 the verdant carpet of turf, in a dazzling and 
 mazy labyrinth of reticulated circles. Their 
 glossy black hair streaming with feathers 
 and green branches in token of recent tri- 
 umph, and their variously emblazoned 
 shields, crowded with silver ornaments and 
 devices, glancing brightly in the sunbeams, 
 they rent the air with shrill whoops and 
 yells, responded at frequent intervals by 
 loud shouts of welcome which pealed from 
 the palace and from all parts of the town i 
 while the dense phalanx of warriors in the 
 rear — their forest of lances partially ob- 
 scured under a thick canopy of dust — press- 
 ing tumultuously forward, and howling 
 the wildest war-songs from ten thousand 
 throats, completed one of the most brilliant 
 and savage exhibitions that can be con- 
 ceived. 
 
 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 In- 
 dian manufacture. On his right shoulder 
 he wore three chains of gold as symbols of 
 the Holy Trinity, and the fresh-plucked 
 bough of asparagus, which denoted his re- 
 cent exploit, rose from the centre of an 
 embossed coronet of silver which encircled 
 his regal brow. His dappled war-steed, 
 bedizened with chequered housipgs of blue 
 and yellow, was led prancing behind him, 
 and immediately in advance bounded the 
 champion on a coal-black charger, bearing 
 the imperial shield of massive, silver, with 
 the sacred emblem of Christianity in high 
 relief, while 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 
 
186 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 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 victori- 
 ous monarch with a blessing, and under a 
 volley of musketry his majesty proceeded 
 to ascend. The outer court was crowded 
 with female slaves, beggars, and menials, 
 who on the first appearance of thf> umbrel- 
 las within the gate, greeted the royal re- 
 turn with the shrillest clamor, and ca^r. 
 themselves prostrate in the dust. Fusi- 
 leers and matchlockmen of the imperial 
 body-guard lined the second palisaded in- 
 closure, and under a.feu-de-joie, their lead- 
 er, performing the war-dance before the 
 holy ark, led the procession to the last in- 
 closure, 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 in- 
 ner 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, while 
 under the most frightful contortions and 
 gesticulations, they cursed and screamed 
 defiance to the enemies of the state. Six- 
 ty concubines, 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 shrill 
 melody, regulated by the drum, now dwin- 
 dling into recitative, now bursting forth into 
 a deafening chorus. Around this strange 
 group, the dismounted cavaliers formed fif- 
 teen deep, and filling the entire court, poised 
 each his trophy of blood aloft upon the glit- 
 tering point of his lance, and as the whole 
 danced, and whooped, and howled like wild 
 beasts, warrior after warrior, springing with 
 a fiendish yell 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 des- 
 pot. 
 
 " Behold ia me the king's great warrior," 
 now resounded from every quarter. "lit 
 was who slew his enemy in the open field, 
 or speared him in ihe open hut. May vic- 
 tory ever attend hi& 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, 
 announced 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, vertically 
 elevated against a stone, was revealed at 
 the farther 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. 
 
 Rumors of the destruction of the entire 
 Christian host had flown to Ang&llala, in 
 consequence of the negoos having, for the 
 first time in his life, passed the night apart 
 from his baggage ; and the grief and con- 
 sternation which prevailed during six days, 
 had only been dispelled by the unexpected 
 and triumphant return of the victorious 
 army. Evil omens, had, indeed, resounded 
 through the departing camp, but destiny 
 had been satisfied with a youthful scion 
 of the royal stock ■ and, although the weap- 
 ons of a lost descendant of the house of 
 Solomon adorned the rude walls of the pa- 
 gan Galla, still fire and sword had ravaged 
 their fair country • and the rich booty with 
 which the adjacent meadows were profuse- 
 ly dotted, proclaimed a harvest which, du- 
 ring thirty years and eighty-four successive 
 expeditions, had not been eclipsed in the 
 annals of Amhara bloodshed and rapine. 
 
 CHAPTER LXXII. 
 
 NUPTIALS IN HIGH LIFE. 
 
 Ayto Hi'erat's crime brought its own 
 punishment. Three days after the return 
 of the expedition to Angollala, he was hon- 
 ored 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 nup- 
 tials, the British embassy received an early 
 summons to the palace, in order to witness 
 the ceremony. The throne was tricked 
 out with unusual gayety for the occasion, 
 and the king, seated in the highest possible 
 spirits, was still in the hands of the barber, 
 who, having curled the last lock, was ad- 
 justing the green sareti. The court-yard 
 was already crowded with spectators, and 
 a numerous train of female slaves, who had 
 entered by a side-door, were arranging 
 themselves in front. The quaint, locse 
 chemises of blue and red, with broad white 
 borders, which formed the attire of all, im- 
 parted a most grotesque appearance, and 
 
 * Anglice, " Superior to all." 
 
A ROYAL WEDDING— RETALIATION. 
 
 187 
 
 each carried on her woolly head a large 
 wicker basket, veiled under bead draperies 
 arranged in every variety of fanciful van- 
 dyke. These antique figures and their 
 burdens constituted the dower of the bride, 
 whose wedding garments had been sup- 
 plied by the embassy, and who presently 
 entered, riding upon a white rpule, gayly 
 tricked out in forked housings, chains, and 
 brass bells. The Princes? Worka Ferri,* 
 her sister, followed upon a second, similarly 
 caparisoned ; and botfi ladies were distin- 
 guished by large afiabgirs of crimson silk, 
 as well as by a co^l of silver network which 
 covered the hair, and terminated in a tiara 
 of pendants and globules falling 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 at- 
 tendants clad in pea-green vests. A dance 
 and vocal chorus was continued during a 
 quarter of an hour, to the dissonant thun- 
 der of the war drum ; and, as the umbrel- 
 las filed slowly across the court through 
 the opposite wicket, the happy bridegroom 
 approached the throne, and did homage to 
 the sovereign who had thus rewarded his 
 services by alliance. The presence of the 
 priest is so far from being held indispen- 
 sable, that a wedded pair forms a rare 
 phenomenon in Abyssinia. No marriage 
 rites whatever solemnized this union, and 
 the shrew, in full procession, proceeded 
 straightway to spend the honeymoon at 
 the abode of her third husband, who, fol- 
 lowing at a respectful distance, exhibited 
 in his features small anticipation of con- 
 jugal felicity. , 
 
 Descending through the great gate, a 
 train of dirty cook boys led the van, bear- 
 ing on their heads pots, pans, and culinary 
 utensils. One hundred female slaves fol- 
 lowed, carrying baskets of bread, vessels 
 of hydromel, bedding, wearing apparel, 
 and other baggage required on the journey. 
 Next came the band of flutes, in full play, 
 and, immediately behind, the amiable bride 
 herself, most aptly styled " superior to all." 
 Two maids of honor, bearing decorated 
 barilles of choice wines from the royal 
 cellars, rode on either side of their mis- 
 tress. Numerous mounted Amazons — 
 musty-looking Ethiopic figures in blue and 
 white smocks, and party-colored bead hel- 
 nets, kept the inquisitive crowd at a dis- 
 
 e. Golden Fruit. 
 
 13* 
 
 tance with their long white wands ; while 
 an escort of three hundred chosen spear- 
 men, flanked by nobles, eunuchs, and pages, 
 on horseback, brought up the rear, amid 
 the thumping of nugareets from the hill 
 top, and the shrill acclamations of the en- 
 tire female population of the town, which 
 rung from every eminence in honor of the 
 nuptials of Princess Belete Shatchau. 
 
 " My Galla subjects revolted," exclaim- 
 ed the despot tauntingly, as soon as the 
 wedding was over — " My Galla tributaries 
 revolted : I have played them one trick, 
 and I will 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 toward the prisoners 
 of war, who had on this occasion been re- 
 leased 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, re- 
 plied, " I am aware that it is bad, but in 
 all countries we must conform to the cus- 
 toms that prevail. The Galla destroy the 
 Amhara without discrimination, and we 
 do but retaliate. You must all accompany 
 me on my next campaign in January. I 
 shall build a fortified house at Karabarek, 
 and you must there tarry with me. When- 
 ever you are present I will release the 
 captives." 
 
 During the absence of the army at Gar- 
 ra Gorphoo, one of the Mohammadan in- 
 habitants of Argbbba had been waylaid 
 and wantonly murdered by the Adai'el, 
 who are in constant feud with the frontier 
 population of Bfat. The relations and 
 clansmen of the deceased surprised the 
 visage to which the assassins belonged, 
 and, in revenge, slew sixteen souls. Wul- 
 asma Mohammad succeeded, after much 
 difficulty, in apparently pacifying the low- 
 land 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, pro- 
 ceeding from the town of Channoo to draw 
 water in the wady, were barbarously butch- 
 ered at the well. 
 
 This tragedy being followed by an ap- 
 plication for troops to chastise the delin- 
 
188 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 quents, now induced the remark, that " if 
 the Ada'iel could see one fourth of the 
 Amhara host, they would cease to trouble 
 the frontier." 
 
 " No," replied his majesty, "it will not 
 do. My grandfather tried his arms with 
 the people below, but he was surprised, 
 and lost four thousand men and six thou- 
 sand oxen in the bed of a dry ravine. The 
 water of the klvalla* is putrid, and the air 
 hot and unwholesome. Noxious vapors 
 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 ave- 
 nue ; and when the Christians enter the 
 thicket, breaking short their lances, they 
 rush in and fight at close quarters. No 
 one can stand against them. Our muskets 
 avail nothing, by reason of the trees and 
 bushes. Furthermore, the Ada'iel 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 becomes 
 insane and dies." 
 
 The presents which custom enforces 
 after a victory, were now placed at the 
 foot of the throne, according to the eti- 
 quette of the court. " My children," re- 
 sumed 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 ob- 
 jects of your residence in my kingdom. I 
 have seen your character, and know that 
 you will slay elephants, and buffaloes, and 
 wild beasts. You must not go away, but 
 accompany me on many more expeditions. 
 You have now seen much people. You 
 must go with me to Gur4gue, where you 
 will 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 Ada'iel and the 
 people of Geshef alone contend with me. 
 In Geshe they have large shields, and fight 
 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." 
 
 * i. e. Lowvallies. 
 t A province on the northern frontier of Shoa. 
 
 CHAPTER LXXIII. 
 
 CHRONICLE OF THE INVASION OF MOHAMMAD 
 GRAAN. 
 
 The allegiance claimed from the Ada'iel 
 by the emperors of Ethiopia, is known to 
 have becorae evasive at a very early period. 
 Centuries age, gold was returned for gold, 
 apparel for apparel ; and the intractable 
 Moslems were studiously kept in good 
 humor whensoever fr^y thought proper to 
 visit the court of Abyssinia. Their reve- 
 nues arose chiefly from the supply of 
 camels for the transport of merchandise to 
 various parts of Africa, and from the im- 
 portation of fossil salt, which then, as now, 
 passed instead of silver currency, and for 
 which they purchased slaves, together with 
 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 
 vanquished, since it must interfere equally 
 with the commerce by which both were 
 enriched. Nevertheless, 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 length drew upon themselves a war of 
 extermination. 
 
 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 rebellious vassals having, among- 
 many other derogatory expressions, taunt- 
 ed 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 
 of the ocean, and swept off to the highlands 
 a prodigious amount of cattle. Every spe- 
 cies of enormity appears to have been prac- 
 ticed in retaliation by the Amhara, who 
 were commanded to " leave nothing alive 
 that drew 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 
 of the campaign, the dauntless young king 
 of Wypoo had been slain, together with 
 Saleh, the king of Mara, who boasted de- 
 scent 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 now of 
 
EMBASSY TO GOA— THE WARRIOR MONK. 
 
 189 
 
 Mohammaclans, 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 annually on a pilgrimage to 
 Jerusalem, whither, with 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, all com- 
 munication across the desert, whether for 
 commercial or religious purposes, was 
 closed to the Christians. After the con- 
 quest of Egypt and Arabia by Selim I., 
 caravans were invariably attacked, the old 
 were 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 honored with the 
 correspondence of the great founder of the 
 Saracen empire. Many Arabian mer- 
 chants, flying about the same period from 
 the violence and injustice of the Turkish 
 tyrants, had sought an asylum in the oppo- 
 site African states, whereupon the Otto- 
 mans 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 nar- 
 row straits of Bab el Mandeb, but threat- 
 ened the conquest both of Adel and Abys- 
 sinia. 
 
 Betwixt these countries there subsisted 
 peace from the death of Amda Zion to the 
 middle of the fifteenth century. Toward 
 the close of the reign of Zara Yacoob, 
 who founded Debra Berhan, the flame of 
 discord was again fanned by a certain 
 queen of Zeyla, who is said to have as- 
 pired to the hand of the emperor ; but the 
 Christian arms were still in the ascendant. 
 Baeda Mariam', the next occupant of the 
 throne, passed his life in a constant strug- 
 gle to assert supremacy over the low coun- 
 try ; and, on his death-bed, he caused him- 
 self to be so turned that his face might be 
 toward the sandy deserts of the Adai'el, to 
 whose subjugation his whole energies had 
 for ten years been devoted. 
 
 Mafoodi's inroads, it has been seen, com- 
 menced 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. Albu- 
 querque was at that period viceroy of India, 
 and to him the queen-dowager sent to im- 
 plore assistance for troubled Abyssinia. 
 Arriving at Goa, the embassador announc- 
 
 ed 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 friendship to her brother 
 Emanuel, by the empress over Ethiopia ;" 
 and this overture was in due time followed 
 by the arrival at Massowah of an embassy 
 from the king of Portugal. 
 
 Father Alvarez has recorded the unfa- 
 vorable 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, hav- 
 ing adopted the title of Wanag Suggud, 
 signifying, "■ feared among the lions," he 
 had taken the field in person against Ma- 
 foodi, who, backed by the rebellious king 
 of Adel, still continued his wasting inroads 
 on the Christian frontier. At the opening 
 of. the campaign, this fanatic, who had re- 
 solved either to conquer or to die a martyr 
 to his religion, threw down 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 valor, who had 
 assumed the monastic cap during the pre- 
 ceding 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 threw it at the feet of his royal 
 master, and exclaimed, " Behold, sire, the 
 Goliath of the Infidels !" The green stand- 
 ard of the Prophet and of the faith was 
 taken, twelve thousand of the Islams were 
 slain, and the youthful emperor, in defi- 
 ance, 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. Maid- 
 ens pressed forward to strew flowers in his 
 path, and matrons, celebrating his achieve- 
 ments with songs, placed garlands on his 
 head, and held out their babes to gaze at 
 the warrior as he passed. 
 
 It was shortly after the departure of the 
 Portuguese embassy that Graan, " the 
 Left-handed" — then king of Adel — made 
 his first appearance on the 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 Abyssinian prisoners to Mecca, and in 
 return was furnished with a large body of 
 Janizaries, at the head of whom he burst 
 into Efat and Fatigar, drove off the popu- 
 lation, and laid waste the country with fire. 
 In 1528 he took possession of Shoa, over- 
 
190 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 ran Amhara, burnt all the churches, and 
 swept off immense booty. In his next 
 campaign the invader wintered in Bege- 
 meder, and the following year hunted the 
 emperor like a wild beast through Tigre to 
 the borders of Sennaar, gave battle to the 
 royal troops on the banks of the Nile, with 
 his own hand slew the monk Gabriel, who 
 had vanquished Mafoodi in single combat, 
 cut the army to pieces, practiced every 
 species of atrocity, and set fire to half the 
 churches in Abyssinia. 
 
 Famine and plague now raged, and car- 
 ried off those whom the sword had spared. 
 The princes of the* blood were all de- 
 stroyed, Axum was burnt, and the mon- 
 arch himself, after being compelled to take 
 refuge in the wilderness, was finally slain. 
 With him died also the boasted splendor of 
 the Abyssinian court, for he was the last 
 monarch of Ethiopia who displayed the 
 magnificence of a " king of kings." 
 
 Mark, the aged archbishop, had, on his 
 death-bed, appointed as his successor John 
 Berm,udez, a Portuguese who had been 
 detained in the country, and at the request 
 of Claudius, who succeeded to the throne, 
 he now proceeded to Europe to obtain as- 
 sistance. Don Christopher de Gama, with 
 five hundred soldiers, obtained possession 
 of Massowah, 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 per- 
 son. Artillery and muskets were for the 
 first time opposed in Abyssinia, and the 
 Portuguese leader being wounded, took 
 refuge in a cave. Deaf to persuasion, he 
 refused to seek safety in flight ; and a 
 Turkish lady of extraordinary beauty, 
 whom he had made prisoner, and who had 
 affected conversion to Christianity, shortly 
 betrayed him to the enemy. He was car- 
 ried before Graan, who with his left hand 
 cut off his head, and sent it to Constanti- 
 nople, his body being mutilated, and sent 
 in portions to Arabia. 
 
 But the Portuguese were far from being 
 disheartened 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 Christopher, having stolen unper- 
 ceived along the dry channel of a ravine, 
 shot Graan •through the body. He fell 
 from his horse some distance in advance 
 of the troops, and the soldier, cutting off 
 one of the infidel's ears, put it into his 
 pocket. This success was followed by the 
 
 total rout of the Mohammadans ; and an 
 Abyssinian officer of rank finding the body 
 of the redoubted chief, took possession of 
 his mutilated head, which 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 
 well to be quite certain "that he would 
 suffer no one to cut off his ear that pos- 
 sessed 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 ai my 
 and court into consternation — every igno- 
 rant monk who practiced divination decla- 
 ring the phenomenon to portend another 
 invasion from the lowlanders. But in spite 
 of this prophecy an interchange of prison- 
 ers took place. Del Wumbarea, the widow 
 of Graan, had thrown herself into the wilds 
 of Atbara, and her son Ali Jeraad, who was 
 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, who was 
 deeply enamored of Del Wumbarea, had 
 proved the means of her escape from the 
 fatal field whereon her husband 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 engaged in rebuilding the cele- 
 brated church of Debrawork,* which had 
 been burnt by the infidels. Claudius, who 
 had almost by a miracle rescued Abys- 
 sinia from the Mohammadans, marched in- 
 stantly to accept the challenge. Many 
 prophecies were current among the sol- 
 diery that the campaign was to prove un- 
 fortunate, and the hot-headed monarch to 
 lose his life ; but he laughed at these 
 monkish predictions, avowing death in the 
 midst of an army of unbelievers to be in- 
 finitely preferable to the longest and most 
 prosperous reign. 
 
 The rival armies were on the very point 
 of engaging, in the year 1559, when the 
 high-priest of Debra Libanos rushed be- 
 fore the emperor, to declare a vision, in 
 which the angel Gabriel had warned him 
 not to suffer the king of the church of 
 Ethiopia, to expose himself in a needless 
 
 i. e. " Mountain of gold." 
 
A DROVE OF SLAVES— ROYAL BEDCHAMBER. 
 
 191 
 
 fight. Thus discouraged, the cowardly 
 Abyssinians instantly fled, leaving Clau- 
 dius supported only by a handful of Por- 
 tuguese soldiers, who were soon slain 
 around his person, and he immediately after- 
 ward fell, covered with wounds. His head 
 was cut off, and laid by Noor at the feet of 
 Del Wumbarea, who, in observance of her 
 pledge, became his wife ; and with truly 
 savage ferocity commanded the trophy to 
 be suspended by the hair to the branches 
 of a tree before her door, in order that her 
 eyes might continually be gladdened by 
 the sight. It hung in this position during 
 three years, ere it was purchased by an 
 Armenian merchant, in order that it might 
 be interred in the holy sepulchre of St. 
 Claudius at Antioch ; and the name of the 
 hero who had been victorious in every ac- 
 tion save that in which he died, has since 
 been enrolled in the voluminous catalogue 
 of Abyssinian saints, where it now occu- 
 pies a conspicuous place as the destroyer of 
 Mohammad, surnamed ' ; the Left-handed." 
 
 CHAPTER LXXIV. 
 
 PROCEEDINGS AT ANGOLLALA. 
 
 Certain Abyssinian potentates of old 
 are recorded by their biographers, to have 
 bestowed in religious charity all worldly 
 substance, saving the crown upon their 
 heads. Such will never be recorded of 
 Sahela Selassie, whose endowments, al- 
 though 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 sacri- 
 fice. The countless droves of sturdy beeves 
 which now ranged over the royal meadows, 
 were daily inspected with evident signs of 
 satisfaction ; but while the sWkocf- ut P1 . c 
 distributed over the various pasture lands, 
 the leanest kine were dispatched to the sev- 
 eral churches .and monasteries, as offerings 
 after the successful campaign. 
 
 At this season of rejoicing and festivity, 
 the host of maimed, diseased, emaciated, 
 and loathsome objects, that habitually in- 
 fest the outer court, or crawl in quest of 
 alms around the precincts of the palace, 
 had increased to a surprising extent in or- 
 der to share the royal bounty. Swarms of 
 itinerant paupers, who bivouacked under 
 the old Galla wall, sang psalms and hymns 
 in the streets during the entire night ; and 
 long before dawn, the clamor commenced 
 around the tents of a throng of mendicants 
 
 resembling the inmates of a lazar house, 
 who with insolent importunity reiterated 
 their adjurations for relief by Georgis, 
 Miriam, Michael, and every other saint in 
 the Abyssinian calendar. Many petty pil- 
 ferings were of course committed by this 
 ragged congregation ; and a deputation of 
 the inhabitants of Angolalla soon present- 
 ed a petition to the throne, praying for the 
 dismissal of the vagrants, who had become 
 an intolerable 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 wonted inmates of the palisaded in- 
 closure were no longer there ; but their 
 place was occupied by a • drove of even 
 more wretched beings just imported with a 
 caravan from Gurague. Upward of six 
 hundred slaves, of every age, from child- 
 hood 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 to- 
 gether under the eye of the rover for in- 
 spection by the officers of the crown, pre- 
 paratory 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. 
 
 Immediately on arrival within the court- 
 yard of the palace, the British strangers 
 were conducted by the king to the royal 
 bed-chamber — a gloomy apartment, lighted 
 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 
 favorite war-steeds, whose mangers were 
 in close proximity to the well-screened 
 couch. Cleanliness did not characterize 
 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 was present. A 
 rickety alga in one corner, a few hassocks 
 covered with black leather, an Ethiopic 
 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 which 
 protected the slumbers of the suspicious 
 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 or- 
 der to prove that old Cognac was not more 
 potent than the ardent spirits manufactured 
 in the royal distillery, which is so liberally 
 
192 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 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 treasures, 
 and hoarded with the other foreign curi- 
 osities in the magazine at Aramba. A 
 label of vellum having accordingly been 
 attached, the donors were requested to 
 write thereon in fair Amharic characters 
 " a statement of the contents, accompanied 
 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 por- 
 trait of a certain contemptible little subject 
 of his own, with a passing red nose, lying 
 prostrate on his face beneath the following 
 written caution : — " Fire water — recom- 
 mended in small quantities ; maximum 
 dose one half wantcha* Let him who 
 shall exceed this measure beware of the 
 fate of Berik." This allusion, made for 
 the benefit of posterity, needed no interpre- 
 tation ; for it was already matter of scandal 
 that the subject of the caricature, who was 
 employed under the purveyor-general, and 
 never omitted to repair to the fireside of 
 the Gyptzis at their hour of dinner, in or- 
 der to obtain a share of his own bad " hon- 
 ey-water," had recently quaffed, for some 
 imaginary ailment, a dose of eau-de-vie, 
 which so bewildered his never very brill- 
 iant ideas, that he was discovered the fol- 
 lowing morning, by his wife, lying at the 
 foot of a steep precipice, with a face dis- 
 figured 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 in the verandah of an 
 adjacent building pertaining to the harem, 
 Hailoo Mulakoot, the elder of the twu, 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 inex- 
 plicable mystery, which had brought about 
 an acquaintance with precincts forbidden, 
 was presently unravelled by the introduc- 
 tion of the younger brother, who, with eyes 
 veiled, was led in by a withered eunuch, 
 in order that he might receive medical as- 
 sistance. 
 
 Saifa Selassie " the sword of the Trini- 
 ty," is an extremely aristocratic and fine- 
 looking youth, about twelve years of age, 
 possessing the noble features of his sire, 
 
 * The horn drinking-cup used in Abyssinia. 
 
 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 dearer to me than life itself," exclaimed 
 the king, withdrawing the bandage, and 
 caressing the boy with the utmost fond- 
 ness — "Give him the medicine that re- 
 moves ophthalmia, or he, too, will be blind 
 like his father." 
 
 His majesty was assured that no alarm 
 need be entertained ; and that, although 
 the cause was to be regretted, the day 
 which had brought the honor of an inter- 
 view with the young prince could not but 
 be deemed one of the highest good fortune. 
 Much affected by this intimation, he laid 
 his hand upon the arm of the party speak- 
 ing, and replied, " We do not yet know 
 each other as we ought, but we shall daily 
 become better and better acquainted. 
 
 " Whence comes this masked V resumed 
 the inquisitive monarch, raising a Catholic 
 cross devoutly to his lips, as the royal 
 scion was reconducted by the withered at- 
 tendant toward the apartments of the queen 
 ' — "to what nation does it belong?" "It 
 is the emblem of those who, in their at- 
 tempts to propagate the Romish religion 
 in Ethiopia, 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 unbeliever." 
 
 The votaries of St. Giles had, mean- 
 while, been ushered through a private 
 wicket, and in the adjacent inclosure a 
 crowd of horrible and revolting objects 
 ioimed ttfc inuot miserable of spectacles. 
 The palsied, the lepiuua, tho scrofulous, 
 and those in the most inveterate stages of 
 dropsy and elephantiasis, were mingled 
 with mutilated wretches who had been be- 
 reft of hands, feet, eyes, and tongue, by 
 the sanguinary tyrants of Northern Abys- 
 sinia, and who bore with them the severed 
 portions, in order that their bodies might 
 be perfect at the day of resurrection. The 
 old, the halt and the lame, the deaf, the 
 noseless, and the dumb, the living dead in 
 every shape and form, were still streaming 
 through the narrow door ; limbless trunks 
 were borne onward upon the spectres of 
 asses and horses, and the blind, in long 
 Indian file, rolling their ghastly eyeballs, 
 
THE BEGGARS' FEAST— THE EXECUTION. 
 
 193 
 
 and touching each the shoulder of his 
 sightless neighbor, groped their way to- 
 ward the hum of voices, to add new hor- 
 rors to the appalling picture. 
 
 An annual muster-roll being kept as a 
 check, all who were ascertained to have 
 been participators in the distribution of the 
 preceding year were unceremoniously eject- 
 ed by the myrmidons of the purveyor-gen- 
 eral, who has the interests of the state 
 revenues warmly at heart. The mendi- 
 cants were next classed in squads accord- 
 ing to their diseases, and the dwarf father 
 confessor, by no means the least frightful 
 object in the assembly, proceeded, in capa- 
 city of king's almoner, to dipense the royal 
 bounty with a judicious hand. Sheep, 
 clothes, and money, were distributed ac- 
 cording to the apparent necessities of the 
 wretched recipients, while 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 pal- 
 ace gate, all ate their fill, and dispersed. 
 
 Next to the merciful disposition of Sa- 
 hela Selassie, in which his character offers 
 its brightest theme for panegyric, his mu- 
 nificence to the indigent may be ranked 
 among his most prominent virtues. While 
 the needy never retire empty handed from 
 his door, no criminal ever suffers under the 
 barbarous mutilation, so many distressing 
 monuments of which had this day shared 
 his liberality. Blood flowing from the veins 
 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 un- 
 known which in the northern states con- 
 demns the culprit to the wrenching off of 
 hands and feet, whereof the teguments have 
 previously been severed with a razor at the 
 wrist and ankle. But widely opposed are 
 the views of humanity entertained in dif- 
 ferent climes ; and the scene which await- 
 ed return from the banquet, although in 
 strict accordance with retributive justice, 
 was in appalling contrast with the more 
 merciful fiat of civilized jurisprudence. «« 
 
 A warrior had been convicted upon un- 
 deniable evidence of the foul murder of his 
 comrade in arms, with whom he had lived 
 for years on terms of the closest intimacy. 
 During the recent campaign, he had gone 
 with hia companion into the wood, and ta- 
 king advantage of the opportunity afforded 
 by hostilities with the Galla, had felled the 
 unsuspecting man to the earth with a blow 
 of his sword. Fame, such as is only to be 
 acquired by the slaughter of the foe, prompt- 
 
 ed the dastardly outrage ; and the treach- 
 erous assassin who had imbrued his hands 
 in the blood of his dearest friend, now 
 placed the green trophy of valor trium- 
 phantly on his guilty head. " Where is 
 thy brother ?" was the question that await- 
 ed his return to the camp ; but, like Cain 
 of old, he denied all knowledge of what 
 had befallen the absentee ; and it was not 
 until the mutilated body had been discov- 
 ered, that suspicion fell heavily upon him- 
 self. 
 
 Mourning relatives threw themselves in 
 sackcloth at the imperial footstool, and 
 cried aloud for the blood of the prisoner. 
 Arraigned before the monarch, the inves- 
 tigation had been patiently conducted du- 
 ring 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 
 malefactor, was sinking fast toward 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, while his young wife adorned his locks 
 with the newly plucked branch of aspara- 
 gus, 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 
 with the stoicism of the savage to meet 
 his well -merited doom, and an infuriated 
 mob followed, to heap taunt and ignominy 
 upon his numbered moments. 
 
 Impatient of delay, the friends of the de- 
 ceased were about to immolate their victim 
 en 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 
 concourse of spectators, burning for the 
 consummation of the last sentence of the 
 law. Scarcely had the unresisting crimi- 
 nal 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. While 
 still reeling, a dozen sharp blades were 
 sheathed ii his heart, and a hundred trans- 
 fixed the prostrate body. Swords flashed 
 from the crooked scabbard — the quivering 
 corse was mutilated in an instant, and on 
 the next the exulting executioners took 
 their way from the gore-stained ground, 
 
194 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 howling with truly savage satisfaction the 
 Christian chorus of death ! 
 
 Mother, sisters, and wives, now flocked 
 around the lifeles clay, rending the air with 
 their piercing shrieks. " Alas ! the brave 
 have fallen, the spirit of the bold has fled." 
 " Wo unto us, we have lost the son of our 
 declining years " — " our brother 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 lamentations 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 in- 
 closed them under a cairn of stones by the 
 highway side, where many a grass- grown 
 mound marks the fate of the cowardly as- 
 sassin, who has destroyed his brother in 
 the wood, and whose memory is coupled 
 with dishonor. 
 
 CHAPTER LXXV. 
 
 TRIUMPHAL ENTRY TO THE CAPITAL. 
 
 " Rectjler pour mieux sauter" is a max- 
 im 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 suc- 
 cess of a second sweeping foray directed 
 against the Ekka and Finnnni Galla. A 
 Mohammadan merchant residing at Roque, 
 the market town and great slave-mart of 
 Yerrur, was suspected of having with his 
 own hand slain the son of Ayto Besueh- 
 nech, 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 Ayto Berkie, 
 Chilo, and Dogmo, the government of which 
 latter chief had previously been extended 
 in acknowledgment of his recent services, 
 made a forced march through Bulga, and 
 although foiled in their principal object by 
 the precipitate flight of the rover "vhose life 
 they sought, the whole of hif family and 
 followers were massacred, his effects plun- 
 dered, and his house burnt to the ground. 
 
 The survivors of the Ekka and Finnnni 
 tribes, believing the fatal storm to be ex- 
 pended, had already returned with the resi- 
 
 due of their flocks and herds, and were 
 actively engaged in restoring their dilapi- 
 dated habitations, when the Amhara hordes 
 again burst over their fair valley, slew six 
 hundred souls, and captured all the remain- 
 ing cattle, thus completing the chastise- 
 ment of these devoted clans, who, notwith- 
 standing the generous restoration of their 
 enslaved families, had failed to make sub- 
 mission — and redeeming the royal pledge 
 " to play the rebels another trick." 
 
 The king had not honored Ankober with 
 his presence since the arrival in Shoa of 
 the British embassy, but his majesty now 
 announced his intention of entering the 
 capital in triumph. Thinly attended, and 
 unscreened by the state umbrellas, he is- 
 sued at sunrise on horseback through the 
 sirkosh 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 
 gallop, he never drew bridle until arrested 
 by the Bereza, many parties under gover- 
 nors of the adjacent districts joining the 
 royal cortege from various quarters, and 
 swelling the retinue to two thousand eques- 
 trians, who continued at a furious pace to 
 clatter over the stony ground. 
 
 Mosabiet, a village standing on a penin 
 sula formed by the junction of the Toro 
 Mesk water with the Bereza, imparts its 
 name to this, the most direct road from 
 Angoilala to Ankober. The river forded, 
 the king mounted his mule, and diverging 
 to the right, passed through a valley stud- 
 ded with hamlets, the inhabitants of which, 
 male and female, came forth with many 
 prostrations to the earth, while the women 
 raised their voices together in the usual 
 ringing heltltee. 
 
 On all occasions of rejoicing and cere- 
 mony, whether 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- 
 mor of welcome, moving the tongue with 
 more than ordinary volubility against the 
 palate, and producing a continuous succes- 
 sion of tremulous notes, which are more 
 agreeable to the listener than to the per- 
 former. One watchful dame on the out- 
 skirts perceives the approach of the caval- 
 cade, and forthwith gives out her wild 
 screech of warning. In a moment, the 
 mountain side is covered with every female 
 within hearing- ; the Hil ! HI ! HI ! pro- 
 gresses fast and furious as they bend nearly 
 double, to assist in upraising the yelling 
 chorus ; tears stream from their eyes in the 
 
GRAAN'S STONE "—THE KING IN HIS ROBES. 
 
 195 
 
 violence of the exertion, and far and near 
 the hills resounded with the gathered vol- 
 ume of their shrill throats. 
 
 The king halted for a moment at a pile 
 of stones by the way-side, covered with 
 rags, feathers, and flowers, to which every 
 devout Christian adds his tribute while sa- 
 luting 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 adora- 
 tion bestowed by the triumphant warriors. 
 A little beyond, a large black cross on the 
 summit of the tumulus, directs attention to 
 the residence of Ayto Berri, quarter-mas- 
 ter-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, ob- 
 served when proceeding to the capital after 
 a successful foray. 
 
 Arsiamba water, styled at its point of 
 intersection with the route usually pur- 
 sued, Ya Wurjoch Materia, the " resting- 
 place of merchants/' is a singular cataract, 
 rolling over columnar basalt, of which the 
 ribbed cliffs on either side are thronged by 
 bees. J5ut hy far die most interesting ob- 
 ject is a white pillar of stone, overgrown 
 with nettles, standing 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 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, al- 
 though 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 yielding up the ghost. The 
 supernatural achievements of this conquer- 
 or 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 
 entertained of the Turks in Northern Eu- 
 rope, and which it has been seen, extends 
 , even to the warlike monarch. 
 
 Abundantly cultivated, and rich in gra- 
 zing land, the tract passed over is through- 
 out so destitute of trees and even bushes, 
 lhat the inhabitants employ no other fuel 
 
 than dried manure. Arrived at the sum- 
 mit of the Chaka mountain, where strag- 
 gling cossos break the monotony of the 
 landscape, many hundred females, assem- 
 bled from the numerous villages in the vi- 
 cinity, lining the surrounding heights, 
 again kept up one continued cry. It was 
 drowned at intervals by discharges of 
 musketry, which echoed among the broken 
 glens as the despot descended ; and, pre- 
 ceded by a war-dance wherein all the 
 warriors joined, he finally took up his quar- 
 ters for the night in a house separated by 
 a deep inumbrated valley from the capital. 
 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 ar- 
 raying 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 imperial 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 Angollala, careered in 
 intersecting circles. The king bestrode a 
 richly caparisoned mule, and wore a green 
 scarf mantle of Delhi embroidery. A gol- 
 
 fjpri oolletr- orioirolcd Into licok, a/ii<J a- map - 
 
 sive silver akodama extended on either 
 side a considerable distance beyond the 
 temples. The ends of the beam were 
 hung with a profusion of silver chains a 
 yard in length, while 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 crim- 
 son 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 as- 
 sembled priests and monks of Ankober, as 
 well as of the neighboring churches and 
 monasteries, were drawn up to receive 
 their sovereign. The holy arks were each 
 screened under the canopy of a large em- 
 broidered umbrella ; and that of St. Mi- 
 chael, the senior, which had accompanied 
 the army into the field, was carried beneath 
 an afiabgir of solid embossed silver, deco- 
 rated with chain pendants and fretwork. 
 Psalms having been chanted by the tur- 
 baned body, who danced vehemently to 
 their own chorus, the alaka of the cathe- 
 
 
196 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 dral advancing, laid his hands on the head 
 of the victorious monarch, and gave his 
 blessing, when the procession moved slow- 
 ly forward toward the foot of the hill. 
 
 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 proc- 
 lamation, through the herald, having com- 
 manded the presence of all the inhabitants 
 of the capital and of the villages adjacent, 
 every roof, bank, and cliff, was covered 
 with females, who, as the king passed on, 
 kept up an unceasing clamor. Becoming 
 momentarily louder and louder, it had in- 
 creased to a deafening din as he approach- 
 ed the gate of the outer inclosure, where 
 a dense mass of curled heads extended 
 across the entire open area in front of the 
 palisades, every wall, railing, eminence, 
 and house-top, within the scope of vision, 
 being thickly crowded with tiers of wo- 
 men and girls. 
 
 Arms were presented as the state um- 
 brellas 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 clamor, 
 the music, and the echo of musketry, Con- 
 tinued timing tlic tc;ulv^u.o aotcnt ot' fTio 
 
 steep and difficult path, which, broken in- 
 to steps, winds betwixt lofty palisades, 
 through nine gateways and lodges, to the 
 inner inclosure. 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 cir- 
 cle around, again screamed and clapped 
 their stained hands in deafening concert. 
 A dancing girl, flanked by two wild braves, 
 whirled in front of the throne, and in a se- 
 ries of eugolistic rhymes composed by her- 
 self, chanted a rehearsal of the recent he- 
 roic deeds of the puissant monarch, " who, 
 although invariably triumphant over his 
 heathen foes, had never decorated his roy- 
 al brow with a branch much greener than 
 that by which it was now surmounted." 
 Each time she turned toward the crowd, a 
 shrill clamor of united voices rang forth 
 the chorus to her verse. The skin-clad 
 warriors leaped and howled ; — akodamas, 
 coronets, and silver swords, glistened in 
 the morning sun ; and, as the chiefs, gov- 
 ernors, and nobles, formed in a semicircle 
 
 on either side of the latticed balcony, 
 stamped and clapped their hands in savage 
 triumph — the populace, crowding the car- 
 peted yard, and lining every wall, capered, 
 yelled, and shouted with the wildest enthu- 
 siasm. A general war-dance followed the 
 cessation of the shrill notes of the song- 
 stress, and the pageant concluded with a 
 royal salute, fired by the artillery detach- 
 ment over the British flag, which in honor 
 of his majesty's arrival floated far below 
 in the centre of the capital of Shoa. 
 
 CHAPTER LXXVI. 
 
 THE PALACE AT ANKOBER. 
 
 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 daily labors of three thou- 
 sand slaves. In one quarter are to be seen 
 groups of busy females, engaged in the 
 manufacture of beer and hydromel. Flat 
 cakes of teff and wheat are preparing by 
 the hundred under the next roof, and from 
 the, dark recesses of a building ar^co the 
 plaintive amy or ihuse wiw grind the corn 
 by the sweat of their brow. Here caldrons 
 of red pepper soup yield up their potent 
 steam ; and in the adjacent compartment, 
 long twisted strips of old cotton rag are 
 being dipped into a sea of molten bees' 
 wax. Throughout the female establish- 
 ment 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 and curriers are achieving all man- 
 ner of amulets and devices — the offspring 
 of a savage brain. Blacksmiths are bang- 
 ing away at the anvil, under the eaves of 
 the banqueting-hall. Turbaned priests, 
 seated in the porch, are armed with a par- 
 ty-colored cow's tail, with which they indo- 
 lently drive the flies from musty volumes 
 detailing the miracles of the saints, which 
 are elevated on a rack before their ancient 
 eyes. In one shed notaries are diligently 
 committing to parchment elaborate inven- 
 tories of tribute received. Sacred books 
 are being bound in a second. In a crowd- 
 ed corner painters are perpetrating on the 
 illuminated page, atrocious daubs of our 
 first father carrying spear and buckler in 
 
INFLUX OF POPULATION— SUPERSTITION. 
 
 197 
 
 the garden of Eden ; and in the long shad- 
 ow 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 on the very first discharge. 
 
 Governors and nobles, with shields and 
 silver swords, are seated as above. Clam- 
 orous paupers, itinerant monks, and ap- 
 plicants for justice, fill the lower courts. 
 The open arada before the great gate is 
 choked with idlers, gossips, and immova- 
 ble beggars, having seared eyeballs, and 
 mutilated lims, who, from the rising up to 
 the going down of the sun, maintain one 
 incessant howl of importunity. Oxen and 
 asses, goats and sheep, have established 
 their head-quarters in every filthy avenue. 
 Newly-picked bones and bullocks'-skulls 
 strew the rugged descent ; and on the last 
 terrace, surrounded by stagnant mire, be- 
 hold Ayto Wolda Hana himself, seated in 
 magisterial dignity, arranging the affairs 
 of the nation. Hundreds tremble at his 
 uncompromising nod, and appellant and re- 
 spondent, 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 exercised over the actions of 
 every foreigner, and the strictest police 
 established, to insure the safety of the 
 almost deserted capital. Every avtnue is 
 vigilantly guarded, and no stranger oer- 
 mitted to enter the town without permis- 
 sion of the viceroy. Children only are 
 suffered to leave the houses after dark ; 
 and watchmen, patrolling in all directions, 
 apprehend every adult who may be found 
 abroad during the night. 
 
 But Ankober was now thronged to over- 
 flowing. Brawls 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 follies, 
 antics, and grimaces. Day and night the 
 invocations of a host of mendicants arose 
 from every lane and alley, and importunity 
 on the part of the wealthy had attained the 
 point beyond which it was scarcely possi- 
 ble to advance. Each ruffian who had de- 
 stroyed an infant, considered that he pos- 
 sessed an undeniable right to be " deco- 
 rated from head to foot, and completely or- 
 
 namented." Villains, streaming with ran- 
 cid butter, entered the residency, and de- 
 sired that the " Gyptzis's bead shop might 
 be opened, as they had brought salt to pur- 
 chase a necklace ;" and the king's three 
 fiddlers, who had each slain a foe during 
 the foray, appearing with 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 pos- 
 session of one of these weapons ; 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 " pleasing things." 
 
 With the design of aiding the fast- 
 swelling collection of natural history, re- 
 wards had been offered to all who chose to 
 contribute, and the king's pages were kept 
 supplied with ammunition for the destruc- 
 tion of birds ; but the unconquerable love 
 of sticking a feather in the hair almost in- 
 variably spoiled the specimen. A bat, firm- 
 ly wedged between the prongs of a split 
 cane, was one day brought by a boy, who 
 extended the prize at arm's length : " I've 
 caught him at last," he exclaimed with ex- 
 ultation — " It is the devil who had got into 
 the monastery of Aferbeine ; I've caught 
 the rascal ; win abat ?" " who is his fa- 
 ther ?" 
 
 After this strong invective, which is in- 
 discriminately applied also, as occasion de- 
 mands, to man, beast, and every inanimate 
 thing, the youth was not a little surprised 
 to perceive the party who had been accost- 
 ed quietly extricate the much dreaded ani- 
 mal 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 pro- 
 ceeding. " Erag, erag" they exclaimed 
 with one accord, placing their hands be- 
 fore their mouths, as they ran horror- 
 stricken from the spot — " O wai Gypt" 
 " Alas, Egyptians ! " far be such things 
 from us !" 
 
 On the festival of Michael the archan- 
 gel, whose church immediately adjoins the 
 palace, the monarch received the holy sa- 
 cramer.t in the middle of the night, and 
 returned thanks for his victory, a chair hav- 
 ing previously been obtained from the resi- 
 dency, to obviate the fatigue stated by the 
 message to have resulted from former ori- " 
 sons. The holy ark, which had brought 
 success to his arms, was again placed un- 
 der the silver canopy, and thrice carried in 
 solemn procession around the sacred edi- 
 
198 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 fice, under a salute of musketry and ord- 
 nance. Large offerings were as usual 
 made to it, alms distributed among the 
 poor, a new cloth given to each of the 
 king's slaves, and a feast prepared for 
 every inhabitant of Ankober. Rejoicings, 
 which had continued throughout the city 
 since the triumphal entry, were this day 
 renewed with increased energy, even girls 
 and young children whooping 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 sud- 
 denly inumbrated the moon, and as the 
 black shadow was perceived stealing rap- 
 idly onward, 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 cho- 
 rus was heard no more. Believing the 
 orb to be dead, and that her demise prog- 
 nosticated war, pestilence, and famine, the 
 entire town and suburbs became a scene 
 of panic, tumult, and uproar, while women 
 and men, priests and laity, collecting to- 
 gether 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 wrath 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 construc- 
 tion. During the whole period of the 
 moon's obscuration, the wailing continued 
 without intermission ; and when the planet 
 emerging, sailed again through the firma- 
 ment in all her wonted brilliancy, a uni- 
 versal shout of joy burst from the lips of 
 the savages, in the firm belief that the 
 prayers and sobs of the multitude had pre- 
 vailed, 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 public calamity; and br the 
 raining down of fire from above. His ma- 
 jesty had been previously apprised of the 
 precise hour and minute at which the ob- 
 scuration was to commence and terminate ; 
 and his incredulity in the first instance, 
 was followed by equally unfeigned surprise 
 at the powers of divination displayed. 
 " Eclipses are bad omens," said the king, 
 when their causes had been explained. 
 " Was Subagadis not slain on the appear- 
 ance of one ; and did another not bring 
 
 defeat to Ras Ali ?" 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 at- 
 tention was temporarily diverted from the 
 study of medicine to the contemplation of 
 the celestial bodies. 
 
 In Shoa, the silver sword is the emblem 
 of rank and authority ; and is girded on 
 the loins of none but those who enjoy an 
 exalted place in the sovereign's favor. 
 The forfeiture of government and the loss 
 of the cumbrous badge go hand in hand ; 
 and many are the weary hours of attend- 
 ance indispensable toward the restoration 
 of either. On no foreigner, who had yet 
 visited the Christian land, had this mark 
 of distinction been conferred ; but the des- 
 pot 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 ma- 
 jesty, as he presented these tokens of favor 
 and confidence — "you are my children; 
 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." 
 
 CHAPTER LXXVII. 
 
 THE TOREST OF MAMRAT. 
 
 Excursions abroad, continued as usual 
 to occupy the royal leisure ; and even 
 when rats and horned owls formed the ig- 
 nominious quarry, the king's Gyptzis were 
 invariably summoned. But the dark for- 
 ests which clothe the foot of Mamrat prov- 
 ed the favorite scene of these rambles ; 
 and thither the steps of the monarch were 
 usually directed. Large colonies of the 
 gureza, which inhabit the noblest trees, 
 extended an irresistible attraction ; and, 
 although from their retired habits, no less 
 than from their appearance, these inoffen- 
 sive apes are regarded in the light of 
 monks, their holy character did not exempt 
 them from frequent and severe punishment. 
 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 sa- 
 ble body, betrayed the place of conceal- 
 ment ; and numbers being soon prostrate 
 upon the ground, the survivors, amazed a* 
 the murderous intrusion, were to be seen 
 
THE ROYAL COFFERS— MOUNT MAMRAT. 
 
 190 
 
 swinging from bough to bough, like a 
 slack-rope dancer ; and leaping from tree 
 to tree, as they sought more secure quar- 
 ters in the, to man, inaccessible sides of 
 the hail-capped depository of the royal 
 treasures, which towered high overhead. 
 
 Occupying manifold caves and subter- 
 ranean crannies, in this most elevated 
 pinnacle within the range of vision, the 
 idolized riches of Sahela Selassie are cov- 
 ered 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 
 revealed 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, while the fleecy vapor, 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" tow- 
 ered even to the skies, and so remained 
 until the ftvst 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, 
 dispatched his chieftains in all directions 
 to slay, burn, and plunder. Upon their 
 return, laden with rich booty, obtained 
 without having encountered a single Am- 
 hara, the disappointed ameer exclaimed, 
 in his religious zeal," 'T is the mountain 
 Mamrat that hides tae dastardly infidels. 
 May Allah, the only one God, who rules 
 over the universe, grant that it be over- 
 thrown, and my foes revealed !" Scarcely 
 had the pious prayer escaped his lips, than 
 the pile, convulsed by an earthquake to its 
 very basis, reeled to and fro like a drunken 
 man, and sank to its present level. 
 
 " The country of the Ada'iel," adds the 
 same veracious authority, " through which 
 the ameer led the followers of the true 
 prophet, was in those days a trackless des- 
 ert, totally 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 living water, 
 which has continued to flow until the pres- 
 ent time." During the struggle that fol- 
 lowed the arrival of the Moslem invaders 
 within the border, the Christians are said 
 to have been in danger of perishing from 
 
 lack of provisions, until the inhabitants of 
 Argobba, who are styled Shooggur, from 
 the name of their ancestor, supplied 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 Zey- 
 la, was slain on the terrace betwixt Mam- 
 rat and Alio Amba, and his body mutilated, 
 and left to the wild beasts ; whereupon 
 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 galling 
 yoke of vassalage to unbelievers. 
 
 Far hid in the rugged bosom of the 
 " Mother of Grace," on the face of a pre- 
 cipitous rock which rears its gray scarp 
 sternly above the sombre foliage, is a spa- 
 cious cell, often visited by the king. Du- 
 ring one-half of the fourteenth century, it 
 formed the abode of an anchorite, renown- 
 ed far and wide for the austerity of his life, 
 who invariably slept upon a bed of sharp 
 thorns, and whose food was restricted to 
 roots and wild honey. Hatze Amda Zion 
 was then engaged in his disastrous war 
 with Adel ; and the ascetic, seizing his 
 white staff, abandoned his rigorous solitude 
 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 dispirited soldiery, he exhorted them 
 to be of good heart, and not to let the stand- 
 ard 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, were hung without trial 
 upon tall trees, and their heads being trans- 
 mitted to the king of Adel, proved the fore- 
 runners of a bloody defeat, which he shortly 
 afterward sustained. 
 
 To the latest occupant of the cave of 
 Mamrat is attached the legend embodied 
 in the ensuing chapters. It is fully illus- 
 trative of the grovelling superstition that 
 enthrals the Amhara, of which none ever 
 allude to the dread sorcerer Thavanan, 
 without an invocation to the Deity. He 
 was an exiled noble of Northern Abyssinia, 
 high in the favor of As fa Woosen, fifth 
 monarch of Shoa, who took forcible posses- 
 sion 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 
 
200 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 worshipper of the eighty-eight invisible 
 spirits, termed Saroch, believed to be the 
 emissaries of evil of Wiirobal 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 pestilence 
 are about to visit the land. Having pur- 
 chased supernatural powers at the price of 
 his hope of salvation, Thavanan tormented 
 the king by day and night — spirited away 
 his seraglio, 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 lie 
 interred in the cell beneath a pile of rough 
 stones, which during a long period of mor- 
 tification served him for a couch, while 
 roots and wild fruits formed his only fare. 
 Angels are said to have ministered unto 
 him ; his voice was the voice of an oracle ; 
 and none recognizing 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. 
 
 CHAPTER LXXVIII. 
 
 THE NECROMANCER, A LEGEND OF SHOA. 
 
 In the lone recesses of a rocky cave re- 
 clined the youth Thavanan, lost in gloomy 
 meditation. The lines of cares and study 
 were indelibly stamped upon his elevated 
 forehead ; and although the bent brow and 
 the quivering lip betokened a stern mental 
 conflict, still 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 be- 
 neath ; and the blue silk cord which en- 
 circled his neck, the badge of Christianity, 
 nearly burst in twain as the swollen sinews 
 started from the throat, in this his hour of 
 agony. 
 
 A fearful storm raged without. Thun- 
 der rolled in continued peals, crumbling in 
 pieces the sparry roof over-head, and the 
 hot lightning illumined ever nook and cor- 
 ner of the retreat, while the waters of the 
 broad lake, now raised in wrath, came dash- 
 ing and foaming through the narrow en- 
 trance with all the violence of a winter sea. 
 But the war of the elements was unheeded 
 
 by the sufferer, and ever and anon, starting 
 from his recumbent position, he paced the 
 uneven floor of the slippery cavern, striking 
 his breast in agitated desperation, and 
 fiercely shaking his hand on high. 
 
 "Years have rolled away since that with- 
 ering moment," he exclaimed, " but the 
 wound is yet green in the mind, and the 
 feeling is still fresh as when writhing under 
 the searing iron of the tyrant. The star 
 medaboot proclaims the hour of the requi- 
 site sacrifice. I acknowledge thy power, 
 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 
 white collar twined its mystic threads 
 around the throat. The animal had been 
 a favorite of former days while browsing 
 on the green meadows of Shoa, and know- 
 ing the voice of its master, it quietly fol- 
 lowed his footsteps into the centre of the 
 grotto. 
 
 The bright eyes were turned upwara in 
 confiding innocence as it licked the hand 
 which had so often fed and caressed it ; 
 but all pity and compassion wen; effaced 
 in one fiery feeling of revenge. The words 
 of the dread spell to the spirit of the deep 
 were poured forth on the rcidnight blast ; 
 the sharp knife gleamed for a moment in 
 the feeble light of the waning torch, and 
 during the next was plunged into the heart 
 of the unresisting victim. 
 
 Shrieks filled the csvern, and unearthly 
 echoes were flung back from every side of 
 the broken vault, white the life-stream gur- 
 gled on to mingle w*th 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 honor of the ge- 
 nius and his satellites. 
 
 A sulphur-colored fowl was next sub- 
 jected to the necessary preparations for 
 the sacrifice. One eye was deliberately 
 scooped out amid blasphemy and execra- 
 tion, 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 dese- 
 
 * 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 ap- 
 pended. 
 

 — 
 
 1 
 
 N 
 
 «1 
 
 
 >>, 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 
 c»3 
 
 e3 
 
 •^ 
 
THE MAGIC LAKE— THE HALLS OF SORCERY. 
 
 201 
 
 crated thread ; and having raised the flick- 
 ering embers with sweet woods and subtle 
 essences, Thavanan crushed the head of 
 the fowl under his heel until the brains 
 flowed, and then dashed the body deep 
 among the pile. 
 
 The flame shot aloft in one fierce spire 
 of light, blazing like the arrow of the in- 
 fernal host, and, again satiate with the pun- 
 gent 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 which had succeeded to the hur- 
 ricane, revelling heretofore in fierceness 
 during the performance of the rite. But 
 his courage was firm as the foundations 
 t)f Mamrat ; and it was well for him that 
 his heart quailed not during that hour of 
 perilous endurance. 
 
 Yells and shrieks burst through the cav- 
 ern. 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 des- 
 peration had steeled his nerves ; and after 
 a period of intense misery, which appeared 
 without limit to the sufferer, the melan- 
 choly sound of a drum came faintly boom- 
 ing over the face of the waters — the wel- 
 come 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 contin- 
 uous reverberations. Unearthly voices, 
 ceasing to torment, faded altogether away ; 
 and the renegade, casting one look on the 
 ashes of things holy and once prized, step- 
 ped forth from the mouth of the cavern. 
 
 Wild and fearful was the scene which 
 met his gaze. The moon had for a mo- 
 ment emerged from behind a dense canopy, 
 settled dark and thick around the eastern 
 horizon. Huge masses of pale cloud over- 
 head, assumin'g the likeness of armed 
 hosts, careered in fierce pursuit along the 
 midnight vault of heaven ; and from every 
 quarter the roar of thunder, with the burst- 
 ing of the levin bolt, proclaimed to the as- 
 tounded beholder that spirits of another 
 world were engaged in awful contention. 
 
 Unruffled by the breeze, the great lake 
 spread a sheet of molten silver at his feet ; 
 while every cliff* and crag, revealed boldly 
 to view, was fearfully 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 praver 
 14 
 
 to the spirit he had invoked, Thavanan 
 plunged headlong into the cold deep wa- 
 ters, 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. 
 
 All was dark, dismal, and lonely. A 
 thick fog covered the water, and the earth, 
 and the sky, while the voice of his better 
 angel alone came moaning through the 
 mist, bewailing 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 unavail- 
 ing 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 billow. 
 
 But the sound of the spell had swept 
 along the blast, and the savor of the sacri- 
 fice 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 be- 
 neath the waves was succeeded by the 
 utter silence of Solitude. 
 
 The soft tinkling sound of harps first 
 stole upon the slumbers of the neophyte. 
 Bright, happy visions flitted over his awa- 
 kening senses, and the sweet melody of 
 voices ushered him again into existence. 
 Starting from his trance, the bewildered 
 Thavanan found ample scope for the indul- 
 gence of his wonder and astonishment. 
 Far as the eye could scan, innumerable 
 arcades stretched in endless vistas on 
 every side, with alternating domes of the 
 purest pearl. Pillars of variously-colored 
 amber and crystal rose to sustain the 
 glowing fabric, and cloths, such as empe- 
 rors alone can boast, strewed the floo^ in 
 unbounded profusion. 
 
 In the centre of each gallery ^°°d &n 
 altar of virgin silver, from whic ; * a never- 
 failing arrow of flame diffuse* m mellow 
 light over the glittering pile's of the hall, 
 tints varied as the hue? o f the rainbow. 
 Around their more searching sister, jets 
 of sweet-scented v*ter, playing high in 
 the air, scattered <^e most exquisite odor ; 
 and dancing ov the apex of each fountain, 
 a sparkling°-merald, the ransom of a mon- 
 arch, geccly regulated the rush of the pris- 
 matic stream, in token that the elements 
 were here held under control x 
 
302 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 Superb paintings, illuminated in trans- 
 parency, 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 fell pleas- 
 ingly 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 pe- 
 destals, towered in all the sternness of brass 
 above the glories of this rich and varied 
 scene. Reared over the iron drum of mis- 
 fortune, 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 sepa- 
 rate niche in the spacious apartment, and 
 favored votaries were deeply engaged in 
 scanning subtle essences, or preparing po- 
 tent spells. The hum of confused voices 
 arose sweet through the fragrant atmo- 
 sphere, while at intervals strange emblems 
 and tokens were delivered 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 wanting to complete the 
 scene ; for love was unknown in this re- 
 treat dedicated to the dread spirit of the 
 lake. 
 
 - In the immediate vicinity of the wonder- 
 ing mortal, an elevated throne stood the 
 most conspicuous object. Spiral steps of 
 molten gold led to the shrine of power. 
 Previous stones, sparkling in rich wreaths 
 of enamel, hung a brilliant balustrade in 
 front — and forming the seat of high honor 
 and place, a white ivory shell, filled with 
 silken tresses, rested amid the shining 
 leaves of the ever-flowering lotus. The 
 sevsnake rose in glittering green folds to 
 rective in his soft embrace the recumbent 
 occupvnt ; and ministering spirits of strange 
 form, beting harp and censer, were ranged 
 in silence vj-ound. 
 
 Thunderii*j peals of music, and a sud- 
 den prostration, proclaimed the presence 
 of the genius of ^e place ; and, amid the 
 clash of the lute a*<j timbrel, a cloud of 
 incense floating high over head disclosed 
 a diminutive dwarf crooning on the shi- 
 ning shell. His aspect was *iild and bene- 
 ficent, and a flowing white beard entirely 
 covered his minute person ; but th? essence 
 of ethereal intelligence shot from hie pier- 
 
 cing 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 was wafted 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." 
 
 Borne forward by an irresistible impulse, 
 Thavanan found himself among the kneel- 
 ing crowd in front of the throne, and a soft 
 still voice proceeded from the high place : 
 " Mortal, what wouldst thou with us ? An- 
 swer without fear." " Revenge," replied 
 the petitioner, " revenge for injury unpro- 
 voked — a house rifled and burnt, a fair sis- 
 ter 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 child of clay take the oath of 
 allegiance, and he 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 of the proselyte, and Tha- 
 vanan 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 hor- 
 rible 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 sym- 
 bol of Christianity, abjured all the high 
 hopes of heaven. Revenge upon earth fill- 
 ed 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 distinctly repeated. 
 
 CHAPTER LXXIX. 
 
 THAVANAN THE TORMENTOR. 
 
 Weeks and months had passed away 
 since the disappearance of the gay Tha- 
 vanan, once the favorite of the potent mon- 
 arch of Shoa. Fallen in a single day from 
 his high estate, and deprived of an eye be- 
 fore 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 command, but not one at- 
 tended him in the hour of adversity ; and 
 shunned as a thing accursed by the brutal 
 mob, he wended his way in moody silence 
 
THE PALACE HAUNTED— THE EXILE. 
 
 203 
 
 to hie 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 flour- 
 ishing abode, and a solitary goat, bleating 
 amid the ruins, was all that remained of 
 his once numerous possessions. 
 
 A neighbor told the tale. The king's 
 aferoch had been busy since early morn, 
 and everything had been swept away with 
 the besom of destruction. The flocks and 
 the herds of the disgraced noble were now 
 in the royal pastures, and his family and 
 relatives, his serfs and drudges, in the 
 household of the despotic monarch. Stun- 
 ned by the fatal intelligence, Thavanan, 
 follewed only by the goat, withdrew unno- 
 ticed from the scene of desolation, and his 
 name was for a time forgotten in the land. 
 Toward the close of the year strange re- 
 ports were circulated from the palace. 
 Unseen hands abstracted the choicest vi- 
 ands — the clearest hydromel was drained 
 ere it reached the expectant lip — and a 
 thousand vagaries were played in the great 
 hall 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 in- 
 variably dropped in ; and once, to the hor- 
 ror 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 des- 
 pot like the merry tones of his exiled favo- 
 rite. 
 
 Priests were called in to the rescue — 
 holy books were read, and consecrated 
 water profusely sprinkled over the walls, 
 but all without the slightest effect. Doors 
 were closed and double-locked, and guards 
 were planted over every aperture, yet still 
 the pest continued without any abatement. 
 The palace was in a state of terror and 
 confusion, and the life of the king became 
 weary and burdensome. 
 
 Awful voices now sounded at night 
 through the lone apartments, and appari- 
 tions haunted the imperial slumbers. The 
 band of nocturnal singers was trebled, but 
 the stout lungs of thirty hale priests who 
 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. 
 14* 
 
 Tossing on his couch, the restless mon- 
 arch 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 with- 
 out intermission ; and on the high festival 
 of Easter, harassed and exhausted, the ne- 
 goos took his customary seat in the great 
 hall of his ancestors. The groaning table 
 was once again well filled. 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 was no joy in the de- 
 pressed 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 practiced 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 mad- 
 ness by the exercise of unseen agency, he 
 had become the point toward which every 
 eye was directed, when another figure sud- 
 denly appeared at the table, resting one 
 hand in a curiously wrought earthen vase, 
 and extending the other high, in defiance 
 toward the throne. 
 
 "The lost Thavanan!" shouted the 
 crowd: "he has pawned his soul to the 
 fiend" — and swords flashed from the scab- 
 bard 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 
 will ourselves deal with the ingrate. Death 
 — but a lingering death — shall be the por- 
 tion of him who trifles with the pleasure 
 of kings !" 
 
 It was indeed Thavanan who confound- 
 ed the frown of majesty ; but how changed 
 from the mild and handsome favorite 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 solitary eye gleamed 
 with more than mortal expression, and 
 bright with the cabalistic figures of magic 
 lore, a golden fillet screened the mutilated 
 orb. Retaining his disdainful position, he 
 cast first a withering- glance over the 
 crowd, and then addressed the prince in 
 the words of scorn : 
 
 " False monarch, repent in time, for the 
 abject worm will turn upon its destroyer. 
 Proud descendant of the race of Solomon, 
 the wit of thy illustrious ancestor is dull in 
 
 mm 
 
204 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 comparison with the wisdom of the mean- 
 est disciple of Warobal. I defy thy myr- 
 midons and thyself." 
 
 And cleaving through the air as he ut- 
 tered these words, Thavanan instantane- 
 ously disappeared from before the gaze of 
 the astounded and crest-fallen court. 
 
 The waters 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, which strewed the board, 
 remained the sole memento of the unwel- 
 come obtrusion. Again the hearts of the 
 vassals fell within them; and while a 
 gloomy silence pervaded the hall, the tri- 
 umphant song of the tormentor came ring- 
 ing among the notes of wild 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 him ; and resolving upon an act of 
 tardy justice, freedom was restored to the 
 degraded and enslaved family, and confis- 
 cated lands returned threefold to the im- 
 poverished race. But the door of the royal 
 harem was closed on the fair daughter of 
 the house of Thavanan, and the wail of 
 the captive maid still cried aloud for re- 
 dress. 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 mil- 
 itary expedition, 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 hill and dale, and the Amhara host, 
 in all its savage magnificence, had mus- 
 tered on the highest mountains of Anko. 
 But the evil omens and portentous signs 
 were witnessed continually. Dogs howl- 
 ed 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 mon- 
 arch to these portents of coming evil ; and 
 on the eve of the intended march the halls 
 of the palace were crowded with all the 
 chivalry of Efat. Boisterous mirth pre- 
 sided at the banquet ; but as the last horn 
 of old hydromel was drained to the down- 
 fall of the Gall a, there arose a fearful cry 
 from the interior inclosure, and bands of 
 
 eunuchs, with horror depicted upon their 
 withered countenances, burst into the 
 chamber from every direction. Falling 
 prostrate at the footstool of the throne, 
 they proclaimed the disaster which had de- 
 scended like a thunderbolt on the heretofore 
 unsullied honor of the nation. " He has 
 left the old and the ugly," sobbed the trem- 
 bling 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 in- 
 mates to gaze at the wondrous spectacle. 
 High over the upreared peak of the moun- 
 tain 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 fair- 
 est daughters were revealed to the unhal- 
 lowed view 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 car- 
 ried 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. 
 
 Dishonored in the eyes of his subjects, 
 and smarting under the loss of objects 
 which still held a place in his heart, the 
 despot stamped and raged in uncontrolla- 
 ble fury. The beat of the nugareet and 
 the voice of the herald forthwith proclaim- 
 ed the abandonment of the projected expe- 
 dition ; and, plunged in the deepest mor- 
 tification, Asfa Woosen retired to brood in 
 solitude 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 valley of the Ai- 
 rara, 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 hea- 
 ther of the adjacent mountain side. 
 
 Again were the parchment faces of the 
 wrinkled eunuchs radiant in sallow r lustre. 
 Three hundred mules were incontinently 
 dispatched for the conveyance of the truant 
 flock to their fold ; and at midnight the 
 muffled damsels, streaming under a full 
 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 
 
THE MAGIC SCROLL— THE CURSE. 
 
 205 
 
 of the number, neither could any clue be 
 obtained to her fate or condition. A small 
 scroll had indeed been discovered on the 
 turf, sealed and bearing the address of the 
 ruler of Shoa — a gigantic glow-worm, at- 
 tached by a single yellow hair to the en- 
 velope, having shone clear in the gloom 
 of night, and particularly attracted atten- 
 tion to that which it was conjectured 
 might contain the desired information. 
 
 The curiosity of the king finally over- 
 came the cautious scruples of the priest- 
 hood, who advised the immediate destruc- 
 tion of the missive. As the wax crumbled 
 between his fingers, . a roar of thunder 
 shook the palace to its foundations, while 
 a stream of black dust, pouring from the 
 parchment to the table, gradually assumed 
 the semblance of* a withering pillar 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 odor im- 
 pregnated the apartment, and the crackling 
 sound of the devouring element was fol- 
 lowed by the presence of the dread tor- 
 mentor. 
 
 "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 en- 
 tertain 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 the. 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 shall bear upon his dis- 
 figured countenance the searing mark of 
 his ancestor's cruelty. My face thou shalt 
 see no more — Spirit of the flame, perform 
 thy task. A bright flash shot from the 
 centre of the dark threatening column, and 
 curled toward the face of the king — a 
 sickening sulphuric fume filling the pres- 
 ence chamber, and the necromancer van- 
 ished in the thick smoke. 
 
 Plunged for hours in a death-like stupor, 
 Asfa Woosen was only aroused from his 
 lethargy to bewail the loss of the left eye, 
 which had been scorched in the socket by 
 the contact of the fierce flame. The ca- 
 lamity greatly softened and influenced the 
 actions of his after life ; and torture and 
 mutilation, becoming daily more rare, grew 
 gradually 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 Mantek, 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 known 
 to fail in obtaining the object of desire, 
 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 whip, 
 lacerating the naked person, was often 
 heard amid piteous prayers for deliverance 
 from the evil one. 
 
 On a sweet morning of May, when the 
 roses and jasmines 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 peasants 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 an- 
 swer 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 necro- 
 mancer Thavanan, who had thus, by the 
 continued penance of half a century, ex- 
 piated his fierce act of apostacy. 
 
 CHAPTER LXXX. 
 
 THE REIGN OF SUPERSTITION. 
 
 Not a monk is there in any of the lone 
 monasteries of Shoa ; not a hermit of the 
 many in her cold mountains ; not a dwart 
 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, foretell com- 
 ing events, and vend charms, offensive and 
 defensive. Talismans, written in mystic 
 characters, are mixed with the seeds and 
 leaves of potent witch plants, gathered by 
 
306 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 the hand of the forest recluse. These af- 
 ford 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 armor, 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 imagin- 
 ation, a glimmering idea of the invisible 
 and Supreme Power, seeks out some tan- 
 gible object of veneration, and some osten- 
 sible source of protection. Thus the Abys- 
 sinian, whose vague religious ideas afford 
 him but small consolation in the hour of 
 tribulation ; and but little reliance of secu- 
 rity or deliverance in the day of danger 
 and distress, reposes implicit faith in the 
 doctrine of amulets, which present a sub- 
 stance stamped with a mystic and super- 
 natural character, and one capable of be- 
 ing attached individually 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 worked zone, stud- 
 ded with minute leathern pockets, contain- 
 ing sacred spells, enveloped in double and 
 treble wrappers, encircles the waist of 
 every man, woman, and child, throughout 
 the Christian dominions of Sahela Selas- 
 sie, 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 oc- 
 cupy houses after dark, whence the Ara- 
 hara 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 effi- 
 cacious, and is frequently resorted to. The 
 bullock, which is designed as the type of 
 the invalid, after being driven round his 
 couch amid singing and clamor, is slaugh- 
 tered outside the threshold ; or an egg is 
 turned thrice toward the head of the pa- 
 tient, 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 surprising sanctity, greatly 
 superior both to St. George and St. Michael, 
 whence his claim to one day out of seven, 
 while other saints enjoy their festival only 
 once during the month. 
 
 No Amhara will venture to destroy a 
 serpent save on Saturday or Sunday, when 
 
 the sight of one of these reptiles is deemed 
 a favorable 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 prac- 
 tice notwithstanding its strict penal inter- 
 diction 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 perform the 
 ceremony in a house newly swept. A gin- 
 ger-colored hen, a red she-coat, or a male 
 Adel goat with a white collar, is sacrificed ; 
 and the blood of the victim, having been 
 mixed with grease and butter, is secretly 
 placed during the night in a narrow 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 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 dis- 
 ease* the honor of true religion was speed- 
 ily 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 completely round some devoted 
 tenement ; and the extremities having been 
 connected by means of an iron link well 
 imbued in blood, the walls and door-posts 
 are freely sprinkled and bedaubed with 
 gore. Day dawns upon the incantation, 
 which is believed to be the work of the 
 devil himself; and among all the assem- 
 bled 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 
 spell, and thus deliver the inmates from its 
 withering influence. Since the king's ar- 
 rival in the -capital, the appearance of the 
 bloody finger on the wall had thrown the 
 inhabitants into the deepest consternation ; 
 and to the astonishment of every bystander, 
 a missionaiy of the Church of England tore 
 away the charm without any evil conse- 
 quences following his rashness. That very 
 night, however, the defeated necromancer 
 planned an attack to rob the clergyman's 
 premises, and it was only defeated by the 
 extra vigilance preserved in consequence 
 of the exposure of the impostor. 
 
 The drum of the water kelpy is heard by 
 the credulous native in the echo of every 
 roaring cataract, and the wretch drowning 
 in the swollen torrent, is believed to be 
 dragged under the overwhelming wave as 
 the highly coveted food of the malicious 
 
THE ENCHANTED GARDEN— THE BOUDAK. 
 
 20T 
 
 spirit of the deep. Divers plants and herbs 
 possoss properties and qualities the most 
 baneful ; and a bunch of the Fegain grass, 
 if skilfully cast upon the person of an ob- 
 noxious 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 unbidden and invisible guests, such as 
 Thavanan the Tormentor, enter the ban- 
 queting hall, to rob the festive board of its 
 choicest viands. 
 
 Hid from mortal gaze, and realizing upon 
 earth all the delights 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 descriptions of 
 this rare scene of blissful enjoyment. " Its 
 sleep-inviting groves and grassy lawns be- 
 tween, are situated on the overflowing 
 Nile ; and there, released from the loose 
 shackles of wedlock, beautiful females 
 abound. Potent liquors pour on in never- 
 drying streams, and the earth yields her 
 spontaneous fruits without care or labor. 
 But shrouded in magic mist, these Elysian 
 fields open their portals only to those mor- 
 tals of commanding form and handsome 
 features, on whom the glance of favor has 
 been cast by the bewitching inmates of the 
 enchanted garden. Human endeavor is 
 ineffectual to unriddle the mystery in which 
 it is enveloped ; and the dread art of the 
 sorcerer and his most potent talismans, 
 prove alike 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 considerable 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 mon- 
 arch'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 feeling, and forms a gratifying con- 
 trast to the majority of his countrymen. 
 The chiefs and nobles often select their 
 secretaries and household priests with refe- 
 rence 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 ore, as 
 much by the deformity of his appearance 
 as by the brilliancy of his understanding. 
 By the credulous Abyssinian, the black- 
 smith and the worker in iron is held to be 
 endowed with 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 among 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 be- 
 ing retained through life, and occasionally 
 seen, the fabulous stories in circulation 
 are strengthened in the eyes of the unin- 
 itiated. 
 
 Sickness and misfortune are usually 
 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 suspi- 
 cion has gradually settled into conviction, 
 the most implacable hatred is conceived, 
 and ever afterward cherished toward the 
 delinquent ; and although concealed under 
 that garb of indifference, which the savage 
 can so successfully assume, yet the oppor- 
 tunity of revenge is never suffered to pass 
 unheeded in after-life. Hailoo, the father 
 of Oubie, the late Nero-like dedjasmach 
 of Tigre, added much to his previous no- 
 toriety by the extermination of all the bou- 
 daks who fell within his murderous reach. 
 Superstition exulted in reeking hecatombs 
 of human victims ; and the love and vene- 
 ration of his subjects knew no bounds, on 
 his last summary act of collecting togeth- 
 er and roasting to death thirteen hundred 
 of these miserable 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 portion of Holy Writ, is supposed suffi- 
 cient to neutralize the labors of the Vulcan. 
 No metal can be welded within sight of 
 the cross ; and should any scrap of the 
 Bible be worn on the person of the by- 
 standers, the desired figure can never be 
 imparted. Shortly after the return of the 
 embassy, a bar of iron was to be transform- 
 ed into a tire for the wheel of a gun-car- 
 riage ; and the small draft of air created 
 by a pair of primitive native bellows prov- 
 ing of no avail, the smiths declared aloud, 
 that the phenomenon arose from some holy 
 charms. Badges and emblems, spells and 
 amulets, were cast aside by all ; but the 
 labor was renewed without any better ef- 
 fect, and the artizans stood aghast. A 
 
 — — — 
 
 * The Blacksmith. 
 
208 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 pair of British forge-bellows were now pro- 
 duced, and the assembly were requested to 
 don their paper armor, 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 completed, 
 to the dismay of the Ayssinian magicians, 
 who came privately to request that no fur- 
 ther public exhibition of the sort might 
 thenceforth be made, lest their name and 
 their glory should be extinguished through- 
 out the land. 
 
 CHAPTER LXXXI. 
 
 EXCURSION ALONG THE NORTH-WESTERN 
 FRONTIER OF EFAT. 
 
 Reflections elicited among the chival- 
 rous 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 tarnish- 
 ed lustre of the foreign name. The de- 
 struction of an adult elephant, which is 
 reckoned equivalent to that of forty Gal- 
 la, is an achievement that had not been 
 accomplished within the memory of the 
 present age, although mentioned in tra- 
 ditions connected with the exploits of the 
 most renowned Ethiopic warriors. Per- 
 mission was accordingly solicited to visit 
 the distant wilderness of Giddem, on the 
 northern frontier of Efat, in the dense for- 
 ests of which the giant of the mammalia 
 was reported to reside — a pretext which 
 further afforded plausible grounds for ex- 
 ploring a portion of the country reputed to 
 be among the most fertile and productive 
 in Abyssinnia. 
 
 The king opened his eyes wider than 
 usual at this unprecedented application. 
 " My children," he returned deliberately, 
 " how can this be ? Elephants are not to 
 be slain with rifle-balls. They will demol- 
 ish you ; and what answer am I then to 
 give ? The gun is the medicine for the 
 Galla in the tree, but it has no effect upon 
 the zihoon."* 
 
 Finding his guests resolved, however, 
 his majesty's most gracious permission was 
 finally accorded to depart forthwith, and 
 orders were issued to a royal messenger, 
 who was appointed to accompany the for- 
 lorn hope, commanding the governors of 
 provinces through which the route lay, to 
 
 * Elephant. 
 
 afford every assistance in their power to 
 " the strong strangers of the negoos." 
 But all assertions relative to the possibility 
 of destroying the monarch of the forest, 
 were still received with an incredulous 
 shake of the head ; and while not the 
 smallest expectations were 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 were 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 exten- 
 sive panorama was enjoyed from the hea- 
 ther-grown heights. Mamrat reared her 
 stupendous head perpendicularly from the 
 dark-wooded bosom of the valley, and 
 seemed half buried in the clouds. The 
 palisaded-buildings of the palace covering 
 the slope of its isolated hill, rose in pride 
 over the numberless circular houses of the 
 straggling eastern metropolis. Clumps of 
 the sombre juniper and spreading cossos, 
 hung with red garlands 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 Ada'iel, spread out below, like a 
 great chart, and embracing a prospect of 
 many hundred square miles. Full in the 
 centre soared the stern crater of Abida — 
 the beacon which in days long gone mark- 
 ed the dominions of the proud 'emperors of 
 Ethiopia, when, according to the tradition- 
 ary couplet, " their sceptre swayed from 
 Azulo to the Bashilo, and from Errur to 
 Gondar." 
 
 The porters at the royal lodge were on 
 the alert, and adjurations by the king's life 
 were not wanting to deter advance to the 
 Airara. "Bu negoos" "Bu Sdhela Selas- 
 sie amlac" were talismanic words, ener- 
 getically vociferated, and a heavy staff was 
 thumped across the path in proof of its be- 
 ing sternly closed to plebeian transit. But 
 where is the Abyssinian who is proof 
 against bribery and corruption? Beads 
 will force a passage when the mandate of 
 the throne is received with incredulity;, 
 and the dollars of Maria Theresa, if pos- 
 sessing the 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 throughout, with boulders, so sup- 
 ported at intervals by transverse beams, as 
 to form a succession of clumsy steps, cu 
 
HAMLET OF ASOPHEE— AN ENTERTAINMENT. 
 
 209 
 
 rious 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 singular 
 name of " Mout bai nore legne." 
 
 " Oh, that there were no death for me !" 
 is the interpretation thereof; but judging 
 from the appearance of the lord of the ma- 
 nor, who numbers some three-score years, 
 he is not likely long to find his wish real- 
 ized. Engaged in earnest conversation 
 with the old man was Ayto Guebroo, who, 
 in consequence of inability to check the 
 repeated rebellions of the Loomi, by whom 
 he so recently was wounded, had now been 
 deprived of his government, and of his sil- 
 ver sword, and was on his way to the pres- 
 ence of the despot in deep disgrace. 
 
 The Abyssinian verdure is singularly 
 evanescent, a month without a shower be- 
 ing 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 
 vegetation, the hills and valleys again teem 
 with abundance. November was fast 
 drawing to a close, and the aspect of the 
 country generally was brown and withered. 
 Every choicer meadow was covered with 
 the sleek beeves swept off from Finfinni, 
 and its sloping sides were yellow with the 
 royal crops now under the sickle, while 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 hills 
 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 wild animals ; a 
 few plovers and larks, with some of the 
 more common species of the order Roden- 
 tia, being the only objects of natural his- 
 tory 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 of Koo- 
 romania. 
 
 Under flimsy cotton awnings, the night 
 proved intensely cold ; and at an early hour 
 the ensuing morning, as the journey was 
 resumed over a swelling country thickly 
 dotted with Christian hamlets, the more 
 sheltered pools by the road-side were cov- 
 ered with a thin coating of ice, the first 
 witnessed since arrival in Abyssinia. At 
 the village of Amarague, hospitable enter- 
 tainment had been prepared by Ayto Ega- 
 200, which name, being interpreted, signi- 
 
 fied, "May they buy." This notable 
 warrior had, prior to the late foray, intro- 
 duced himself, somewhat a-propos of his 
 title, by an ingenious but abortive attempt 
 to sell an unsound horse. Dismounting 
 on the right side from the identical straw- 
 colored steed, he now placed himself, 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 par- 
 take 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 complimentary inqui- 
 ries, the heavy door was barred to exclude 
 the evil eye. Raw collops having been 
 steadily rejected, bones, singed in a some- 
 what cannibal-like fashion, were rapidly 
 circulated by the attentive host. " Take 
 the eye," he repeated, coaxingly, to each 
 in turn, presenting at the same time, be- 
 twixt 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 with a grinding- stone handed by a 
 slave girl, and extending the splintered 
 fragments to be sucked. Overflowing 
 bumpers of sour beer having been filled 
 in a gloomy corner at a huge earthen jar, 
 each horn was tasted by the cup-bearer 
 from the hollow of his palm, in demonstra- 
 tion of the absence of poison. The sur- 
 plus repast, fluid as well as solid, quickly 
 disappeared under the united efforts of the 
 retinue ; and a bead necklace having, 
 meanwhile, been hung about the neck of 
 the lady's hopeful 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 dis- 
 bursed to silence a host of importunate 
 menials. 
 
 Ayto Egazoo rode forth, in accordance 
 with etiquette, " to see the party off.' y 
 From the court-yard of his snug but dirty 
 domicile, Tegulet, and the blue hills of 
 Argobba and of the Wollo Galla, bounded 
 the measureless prospect. Regaining the 
 road, the Tekroos-Bado, Moosh, and Good- 
 awurud rivers, all remote sources of the 
 blue Nile, were crossed in succession. 
 On the banks of the latter stands the mon- 
 astery 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 
 
210 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 of a potent chieftain, who, with Merkurri, 
 Amadich, and Logo, held the country after 
 Graan's desolating visit, until expelled by 
 Asfa Woosen ; and a considerable portion 
 of the revenues are now applied to the 
 maintenance of the monastery of Medak, 
 whose superior, the Alaka Amda Zion, has 
 charge of the heir presumptive. 
 
 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 idleness be- 
 neath the dark funereal junipers in which 
 the retreat is deeply embosomed, were for 
 once aroused from listless apathy by the 
 passing cavalcade of white strangers. The 
 land swarms with friars, monks, and an- 
 chorites, who are habited in yellow dresses, 
 as the badge of poverty, or in the prepared 
 skin of the antelope. Usually licentious 
 in their manners, they roam through the 
 country a perfect pest and plague to so- 
 ciety. Men become monks at any period 
 of life. Those who are afflicted with griev- 
 ous sickness vow that in event of recovery 
 they will abandon the world, and transfer 
 all their movables 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 monastery at all, but with their wives 
 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 all former scores with the ease and ra- 
 pidity of the most indulgent court of insol- 
 vency. 
 
 The skin of the agazin is usually adopt- 
 ed as the garb of humiliation ; and this 
 emblem, together with the unwashed per- 
 son, is intended to commemorate the le- 
 gend of their great founder, Eustathius, 
 who boasted of having performed no ablu- 
 tion during a long term of existence, and 
 who miraculously crossed the river Jor- 
 dan, floating securely upon his greasy cloak. 
 The prophet Samuel is also sometimes re- 
 ferred 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 believed to 
 form the great rendezvous of evil spirits ; 
 
 *The Abyssinian phrase for turning monk. 
 
 and in one called Nugareet-fer, at the foot 
 of the hills, the drum of the water kelpy is 
 frequently heard, to the no small terror of 
 the superstitious auditors. Shortly after 
 crossing the stony bed of the Daimadamash, 
 a road branches off to Angollala and Debra 
 Berhan, past the monastery of Maskalie 
 Ghedam, 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 attach- 
 ed to this spot, " were one day seated upon 
 a rock that formerly occupied the summit 
 of the hill. They were telling lies, and 
 busied in contriving tricks by which to 
 circumvent their neighbors. Suddenly the 
 mass gave way, and all who sat thereon, 
 being precipitated into the deep torrent 
 that rolls beneath to join the river Mofa, 
 were crushed to atoms for their evil doings." 
 
 After fording the Goor river, and as- 
 cending a high ridge, the queen's white 
 palace forms a striking object in the land- 
 scape ; 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 moun- 
 tains stretching toward the Nile. Advan- 
 cing, the heather-grown range suddenly 
 terminates in an abrupt descent, and full 
 three thousand feet below, rugged Efat is 
 seen, blending into the blue plains of the 
 Adai'el, where towers the great beacon 
 iVzulo, with the wide crater of Abida, hazy 
 and hot, far beyond it in the east. Afrub- 
 ba, and the high hills of the Ittoo Galla, 
 rose in faint perspective, and a perfect 
 chaos of rude disjointed mountains lay piled 
 toward Ankober. 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 redeeming feature was 
 the church dedicated to " our Lady," re- 
 posing quietly amid the rich foliage of the 
 " cosso," and other large-leafed forest- 
 trees. In all other parts the face of the 
 country now resembled the sides of the 
 great Indian Ghauts — masses of light- 
 brown, chequered with pale yellow; but 
 stubble or standing corn in every accessi- 
 ble nook and corner usurped the place o£ 
 
TURMABER PASS— HOSPITABLE HOST. 
 
 211 
 
 wastes of grass, with which nature so 
 prodigally clothes the mountain scenery of 
 the East. Numerous parties, consisting 
 of twenty or thirty peasants, carrying on 
 their heads bales of coarse cotton cloth as 
 tribute to the king, were passed at inter- 
 vals — 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 
 Ha wash, is richly cultivated and abund- 
 antly irrigated — a fresh stream, on its 
 course to the former river, intersecting the 
 western side of the range, and forming a 
 deep valley 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 
 miles to the top of the Turmaber pass, 
 neither village nor cultivated field 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 Aram- 
 ba, 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 frontier of Shoa, from Bulga to Wor- 
 ra 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 
 Teliinko, past Debra Sena, a small emi- 
 nence completely covered as with an in- 
 verted bowl, by a dense, cabbage-shaped 
 clump of junipers, concealing St. George's 
 church — a most celebrated shrine for the 
 performance of vows and orisons, which is 
 visited from great distances. Hence the 
 route winds to the bottom of a deep wooded 
 dell, rich in botanical specimens, where 
 the clear stream of the Teliinko 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 was proclaimed by the king's 
 guide at the house of Ayto Abaiyo Gurwa, 
 the governor of the district, whose hospi- 
 tality proved unbounded. For a full hour 
 he continued shouting and scolding, order- 
 ing and countermanding ; and while he 
 expressed the greatest mortification at the 
 non- appropriation of two fat oxen, in addi- 
 tion to liberal supplies of sheep, bread, 
 mead, and beer, he was with difficulty pre- 
 vailed upon to accept 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, and I will tell 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 intro- 
 duce 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 bow- 
 ing the one to the other, fell back into their 
 respective places. 
 
 Ankober is the capital of the eastern di- 
 vision of the kingdom of Shoa, in which are 
 comprised the provinces of Basso, Dabdabo, 
 Karaba, Kawt, Mans, Giddem, Ab&mesa, 
 Mahhfood, and Dokaket. The last-named 
 especially forms the scene of constant in- 
 roads from the savage Adaiel, whose coun- 
 try lies little more than a cannon shot 
 below ; the Amhara, who on the Farri 
 boundary are severely punished by the po- 
 litic monarch for destroying one of them, 
 even in retribution, flocking hither to en- 
 title themselves to wear the decoration of 
 the " akodama," the non plus ultra of their 
 ambition. And such is the bitter hatred 
 subsisting between the two nations so 
 closely bordering upon each other, that but 
 for the lofty hills and cold climate of An- 
 kober, the Moslems, who are the far bra- 
 ver race, would doubtless have paid its 
 Christian population a hostile visit long ere 
 now. On the adjacent northern frontier, 
 the intricate labyrinth of broken ravines, 
 over which the eye had ranged in the morn- 
 ing, forms the strongest natural barrier 
 against the Wollo Galla, whose incursions 
 are nevertheless frequent ; while the Tu- 
 lema, 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. 
 
 CHAPTER LXXXII. 
 
 THE SHREW OF MAHHFOOD. 
 
 Bidding adieu to the hospitable host, the 
 journey was continued along the eastern 
 side of the Turmaber range, through a 
 country considerably altered in appearance, 
 and improved in point of beauty. There 
 was a warmth of appearance about the nu- 
 merous hamlets quite in unison with the 
 increased temperature of this lower tract. 
 
212 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 Gayer flowers bloomed by the way-side ; 
 more brilliant birds fluttered among- the re- 
 cesses of .the thick corinda hedges, through 
 which peeped the eglantine, the honey, 
 suckle, and the blackberry ; and the entire 
 prospect, although exceedingly broken, and 
 traversed throughout by ravines and gul- 
 lies, was covered with the most luxuriant 
 grass in every spot where the hand of the 
 Icultivator had not been busy. The slope 
 of each hill and abrupt eminence was wood- 
 ed with junipers and other fantastic ever- 
 greens. The cultivation was rich and 
 flourishing ; fields of yellow safflower glow- 
 ed in golden tints ; and teff. growing in the 
 depths of the valleys, resembled greatly the 
 waving rice-fields of Asia. 
 
 Dame Twotit, one of the king's choris- 
 ters, who accompanied the army to Garra 
 Gorphoo, and was now making a profes- 
 sional tour of the provinces, joined the par- 
 ty en route, carrying a small wicker para- 
 sol ; and as she ambled along upon her 
 mule, with the butter pouring in streams 
 over her shoulders through the influence 
 of the solar rays, the good lady was pleased 
 to chant extemporaneous couplets in honor 
 of the war about to be waged against the 
 beasts of the forest. " The Gyptzis will 
 slay the elephant, whereof all the warriors 
 of Amhara are afraid " — while it formed 
 the burden of the song, conveyed an opin- 
 ion diametrically opposed to that entertain- 
 ed by the public ; and the followers, inspired 
 by the words of a woman, took up the sen- 
 timent, and made the valleys reecho 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 proved insurmountable, this dis- 
 trict has never been conquered either by 
 the Galla or Mohammadans. The resi- 
 dence of the governor, who has been hon- 
 ored with the hand of Woizoro Birkenich, 
 daughter of Queen Besabesh, by her for- 
 mer marriage, stands on the apex of the 
 loftiest of the many isolated hills ; and in 
 accordance with the precaution invariably 
 taken to prevent surprise on these disturb- 
 ed frontiers, it is surrounded by a formida- 
 ble fence. The camp was formed at the 
 foot ; and the thermometer having stood in 
 the morning at 32° on the summit of Do- 
 kaket, the difference in temperature was 
 considerably felt during the afternoon, 
 when the mercury mounted to 90° under 
 the flimsy palls which formed the only 
 screen. 
 
 Standing specially recommended to Ayto 
 
 Gadeloo, whose acquaintance had been 
 formed during the late foray, a visit of ce- 
 remony was paid in the cool of the even- 
 ing, 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 " Em- 
 abiet," who, like the rest of the princesses 
 royal, displayed unequivocal signs of being 
 sole and undisputed mistress of the estab- 
 lishment. 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, hen- 
 pecked husband, for years accustomed to 
 the iron rule of the shrew — and so com- 
 plete 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 preliminary ques- 
 tions touching the number of wives pos- 
 sessed by each of the party, and appeared 
 highly to approve of the matrimonial code 
 that limited the number to one. But 
 throughout the dingy mansion there was 
 a miserable assumption of regal dignity, 
 which considerably retarded conversation, 
 by imparting to the whole Geremony an air 
 of unbending stiffness. The host, who was 
 either unable or unwilling to answer any 
 interrogatories respecting his own country, 
 edified himself when he did speak, by sub- 
 jecting his fancied Egyptian guests to a 
 lucid catechism ; and like the Arab Be- 
 douin who formed his estimate of the pov- 
 erty 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 tul- 
 lah* in your country ?" he inquired, while 
 his fair partner feasted her eyes upon the 
 " pleasing things " presented, in none of 
 which it was evident the lord of the crea- 
 tion was destined to participate — " Oh, you 
 have all these; well, and have you oxen 
 and sheep, and horses and mules V " How, 
 no mules V he shouted in derision, while 
 the slaves tittered and hid their black fa- 
 ces, and their mistress laughed outright — 
 "Why, what a miserable country yours 
 must be !" 
 
 Shortly after daybreak the road was re- 
 sumed through very thriving crops, and by 
 
 *Anglice, " maize, bread, and beer." 
 
THE "GOWEZZA"— VILLAGE OF MEDINA. 
 
 213 
 
 a steep descent, to the valley of the Robi, 
 where the eye was greeted by a perfect 
 scene of Eastern cultivation— juwarree, 
 fifteen feet high, teff, chilies, onions, oil, 
 and cotton, in many parts artificially irri- 
 gated, flourishing with the utmost luxuri- 
 ance on a rich black soil, under a climate 
 resembling that of the more favored spots 
 in Western India. The scenery of this 
 richly- wooded and well-watered valley was 
 not a little enhanced by the beauty of the 
 surrounding mountains, of which the nu- 
 merous peaks were tufted with trees, and 
 crowned by populous hamlets, while the 
 redundance of vegetation, and the growth 
 and quality of the cotton, with a soil adapt- 
 ed for the production of sugar, coffee, and 
 rice, proclaimed the locality to possess the 
 very highest natural advantages as an emi- 
 grating settlement. 
 
 In the broad shallow channel of the 
 Robi, upward of two hundred yards across, 
 which pours into the Hawash between a 
 belt of verdant acacias two sparkling 
 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 bullets, and are even em- 
 ployed 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 bat- 
 tle array, as a measure of precaution 
 against the " Gowezza," a banditti which 
 have long infested this frontier district. 
 The nucleus, composed of Christian out- 
 casts who 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 hun- 
 dred Christian, Mohammadan, and Galla 
 vagabonds, who, forming themselves into 
 a lawless band, and renouncing all forms 
 of religion, took up their permanent abode 
 in the greenwood, where, favored 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 ele- 
 phant, the plain was crossed without any 
 demonstrations on the part of the Robin 
 Hoods ; and leaving the high peaks of 
 Chureecha and Sangota on the right with 
 Mungut and Sallaish on the left, the road 
 ascended the Gozi mountain by a narrow 
 pass, leading under a peak whereon stands 
 a house belonging to Wulasma Moham- 
 
 mad. Abomesa, forming the termination 
 of the range toward the Adai'el frontier, 
 limits his power in this direction, his rights 
 as abogaz extending westward to Bulga. 
 The district of Gozi is entirely peopled by 
 Mohammadans styled Arablet, whose pro- 
 genitors 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 the point of the sword — the le- 
 gend assigning to the first of these war- 
 riors as his capital the populous village of 
 Medina, which is conspicuous on a cone 
 among the mountains shortly after enter- 
 ing the valley 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 declivity 
 at speed, kicking and plunging furiously, 
 and was not recovered until the novel load 
 . had been dashed into a million fragments. 
 From the foot of the pass the road led 
 across an extensive flat styled " the wil- 
 derness of Giddem," which forms the neu- 
 tral ground betwixt the Amhara and the 
 Ada'iel. But less than four years have 
 elapsed since the great chief of the Gibdosa, 
 at the head of his whole clan, made a sud- 
 den inroad, and swept off all the cattle in 
 the district. The Christians pursuing the 
 invaders, slew great numbers in an engage- 
 ment fought near Rasa, and recovered a 
 portion of the spoil ; but on their march 
 back, they were in turn overtaken by An- 
 bassa Ali, who destroyed upward of one 
 thousand. 
 
 The valley of Giddem is watered by 
 four fine rivers, which were crossed in 
 succession — the Sower, " mystery," the 
 Ashmak, " 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 mountains, join the Hawash not far 
 from Mount Azulo. The Gasha Bakin- 
 dee, whereof the banks are precipitous 
 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 
 travellers through the wilderness. To 
 the eastward of the valley, therefore, the 
 hand of the cultivator has been stayed, and 
 the forest, standing in large gloomy green 
 patches, choked with reeds and wild canes, 
 is tenanted by troops of guinea-fowl, by 
 
214 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 the boar, the lion, and the elephant ; but to 
 the westward, 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 sur- 
 rounding hills, proving especially favor- 
 able to the labors of the agriculturists. 
 Traces of the huge tenants of the adja- 
 cent shades so worthy of their bulk, were 
 however visible among the crops, and the 
 dread entertained of their visits was well 
 evinced, by numerous elevated platforms 
 constructed upon the highest trees that 
 bordered the rich plantations of cotton and 
 red pepper. 
 
 On the sedge-grown banks of the Sow- 
 er, beneath the spreading branches of a 
 venerable tamarind, sat Ayto Abaiyo, with 
 a numerous retinue, reposing, during the 
 noontide heat, on his way to assume the 
 district of Mungust, to the south-south- 
 west, the late governor having been sum- 
 marily removed on charges of oppression. 
 In the principal town, Mosabiet, is held 
 one of the chief markets in the kingdom, 
 the high road to Manchettee, the Wollo, 
 and the Yedjow Galla passing through it. 
 The numerous mounted retinue of the 
 haughty functionary had conjured up mis- 
 givings in the mind of the guide, who, 
 since leaving Mahhfood, had never ceased 
 allusions to the ' : Gowezza ;" nor was it 
 without much persuasion and remonstrance 
 that he was finally induced to cross the 
 river with the well-armed party, and to 
 hail from a respectful distance the suspi- 
 cious band of his own countrymen. 
 
 Leaving the valley of Giddem, seven 
 miles in extreme length, the route led over 
 a very broken and stony rise, into a third 
 vale, also richly cultivated, whence com- 
 menced the ascent of the Kokfari range. 
 Halting for the night at the village of 
 Zumbo, pleasantly situated on a pretty 
 green terrace, on the mountain-side, be- 
 tween Manya and Dai Mariam, the king's 
 messenger was dispatched in advance to 
 apprise Ayto Tsanna, the governor, of the 
 arrival of the strangers within his jurisdic- 
 tion. Supplies poured in from all direc- 
 tions ; 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 smell 
 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 thou- 
 sands massacred — a fresh army streamed 
 upon the track of the annihilated troops ;,' 
 and so unremitting 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. 
 
 CHAPTER LXXXIII. 
 
 HOSPITALITY AT KOKFARI- 
 
 " May the guests of the negoos come 
 quickly ! — all is prepared for their recep- 
 tion," was the message received early the 
 ensuing morning from the old governor, to 
 whom the party stood specially consigned 
 by the king ; and who was, moreover, an 
 acquaintance made in the late expedition, 
 where he had appeared in capacity ol 
 ' ; 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, occupy- 
 ing the summit of a sleep hill, and well- 
 fortified with palisades and wicker-work. 
 A deep grove of tall trees on the opposite 
 eminence concealed the monastery of Ka- 
 saiyat, famous as the depository of the 
 chronicles of Saint Eustathius, and be- 
 yond, a wild tract of forest land, inter- 
 sected by serpentine rivers, stretched away 
 to the blue hills of Efrata and Worra 
 Kaloo. 
 
 Approaching the residence of Ayto 
 Tsanna, a salute was fired in his honor 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 accommoda- 
 tion of the visitors. Nothing could sur- 
 pass the munificence of the reception — 
 bread, honey, butter, hydromel, beer, poul- 
 try, and eggs, being lavished in princely 
 abundance, while oxen and sheep without 
 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 dis- 
 lodge evil spirits, the repast was spread ; 
 and during the greater portion of the after- 
 noon, the liberal and intelligent host con- 
 tinued to witness the drill of the escort, 
 performed at his special request ; and to 
 converse with evident satisfaction on the 
 manufactures of Europe, specimens of 
 some of which had been most unwillingly 
 accepted. 
 
ELEPHANT LEGEND— BIRD OF ILL OMEN. 
 
 215 
 
 Messengers were in the meantime dis- 
 patched to five subordinate governors, with 
 orders to assemble their quotas on the mor- 
 row for the purpose of hunting. The 
 looltoola resounded through the neighbor- 
 ing districts to summon young and old ; 
 and in imitation of the royal proclamations, 
 the mandate 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 during 
 seven years." The son of the host, a 
 tall, handsome youth, wearing gay neck- 
 laces of beads and a streaming white feath- 
 er, in token of achievements performed 
 during the recent foray, had been specially 
 charged with the entertainment of the fol- 
 lowers ; and the strength of the potent old 
 hydrome), 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 addi- 
 tional gumbo that was drained ; and loud 
 and boisterous were the praises from every 
 mouth of the good cheer of the chieftain's 
 hall. 
 
 Among the visitors who flocked to be- 
 hold the white strangers, was a cowled 
 monk from the adjacent monastery, who 
 proved deeply versed in traditionary lore. 
 It was diverting to listen to the arguments 
 adduced by the holy father against the pro- 
 jected hostilities, and one anecdote con- 
 siderably staggered the faith reposed by 
 the governor in their success. " In an- 
 cient days," quoth the recluse, " one of the 
 most powerful monarchs of Ethiopia, whose 
 name I have forgotten, made war against 
 the elephants with his whole army. Tiie 
 king of the elephants being sore pressed, 
 took unto himself a mouse to wife, and 
 herein he displayed his wisdom and saga- 
 city. The mice espoused the quarrel of 
 their noble kin — entered the imperial store- 
 houses 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." 
 
 The Amhara possess a most indifferent 
 idea of woodcraft, and never venture to 
 attack a wild beast unless on horseback, in 
 bodies consisting of several hundred war- 
 riors armed with every available weapon, 
 when, according to the approved system of 
 Abyssinian bullying, the animal is some- 
 times worried to death. But these quests 
 are frequently undertaken without success, 
 and they seldom terminate without many 
 fetal accidents. The brave who hurls the 
 first successful spear is entitled to the hon- 
 orary reward from the king, and to a tri- 
 umph in the capital, which is attended with 
 
 ceremonies and rejoicings similar to those 
 that celebrate the return of the murderous 
 foray against the heathen Galla. Owing 
 to the excess of cultivation on the high- 
 lands, Shoa generally presents a peculiar 
 deficiency 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 stu- 
 diously shunned ; and hyenas, although oc- 
 casionally destroyed, are in many parts of 
 the country suffered to multiply to an alarm- 
 ing extent, from the existing superstition 
 that Jewish sorcerers descend from the 
 mountains during the night, and transform 
 themselves into the likeness of these ani- 
 mals, whence there could be no good result 
 in their destruction. 
 
 Neither journey nor hunting expedition 
 is ever undertaken without the receipt from 
 on high of the desired omens of approba- 
 tion ; and should these be wanting, the 
 Amhara will retrace his steps on any pre- 
 text, 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 favorably 
 to success in any undertaking. A fox bark- 
 ing on the left hand destroys all hope of a 
 happy result, but on the right hand a pros- 
 perous issue may with confidence be anti- 
 cipated. The appearance of a white buz- 
 zard prognosticates good or evil according 
 to the position of the tail, and chief of all 
 the numerous birds of ill omen is the 
 " Goorameila."* Death or the most dire 
 disaster, is certain to follow his portentous 
 croak ; and there is no inhabitant through- 
 out the realm who has not some tale to re- 
 cord in confirmation of the fatal character 
 of this ominous shriek. 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 favorable. Under the personal guid- 
 ance of the host, whose hospitality increas- 
 ed rather than abated, the party repaired, 
 on the afternoon of the second day's fes- 
 tivities, to Manya — a village occupying the 
 high promontory of table-land immediate- 
 ly opposite to the former encampment at 
 Zumbo. It overlooked the wide extent of 
 wilderness which was to form the scene 
 of operations on the morrow, but among 
 which it was deemed unsafe to sojourn, as 
 well on account of the wild beasts, as of 
 the constant hostile inroads of the Galla 
 
 * Lanhis humeralis. Lath. 
 
 ■ 
 
216 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 and Adaiel. The route wound by a grad- 
 ual descent over the Kokfari mountain, so 
 named from the numerous red-legged par- 
 tridges, the size of a guinea-fowl, with 
 which the coverts swarm — thick copses of 
 brushwood and heather, interlaced with 
 dog-roses, eglantine, and bramble, afford- 
 ing the most alluring shelter in the vicinity 
 of abundant grain and water. 
 
 Beneath the moss-grown branches of a 
 silvery " woira," which leaned its venera- 
 ble form over the hill-side fronting the 
 church dedicated to Emanuel, stood a min- 
 iature imitation of the sacred edifice, erect- 
 ed according to wont upon a pile of stones. 
 Bread, grain, rags, and feathers, were in- 
 dustriously neaped upon this idol by every 
 passer by, and the kiss imprinted with fer- 
 vent devotion upon the rough stem of the 
 tree around which the old governor, dis- 
 mounting from his mule, fastened a strip of 
 cloth as a votive offering. On reaching 
 the destination, which by certain of the fol- 
 lowers who had sacrificed too liberally to 
 the jolly god was accomplished with no 
 ordinary difficulty, several muskets and 
 matchlocks were discharged from the verge 
 of the cliff 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 preceding 
 day, were already assembled on the con- 
 fines of the hunting ground. 
 
 From the Rasa hills, the residence of 
 the formidable Anbassa Ali, whose do- 
 mains bound the wilderness of Giddem, 
 Mount Azulo did not appear to be more 
 than one day's journey ; and the Hawash, 
 which is said to flow round its base, could 
 be distinctly 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 domin- 
 ions of Shoa, is renowned as the most 
 sacred seat of monkery. Continually 
 emitting volumes of dark smoke, its only 
 inhabitants are Christian friars, who, de- 
 spising the world and its vanities, retire 
 thither unmolested by Galla, or Moham- 
 madan, to spend their days in blissful peace 
 and seclusion. Universally 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 re- 
 treat, and the tale assigns to the holy fath- 
 ers 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 weary wayfarer than 
 the high enjoyment of Elysian feasts. 
 
 CHAPTER LXXXIV. 
 
 THE WILDEKNESS OF GIDDEM. 
 
 Before daylight of the following morn- 
 ing, Ay to Tsanna gave the word to sad- 
 dle, and the tedious descent of the south- 
 eastern face of the steep Manya hill hav- 
 ing been accomplished on foot, the bor- 
 der of the wilderness was gained as the 
 sun rose, and post taken on a small emi- 
 nence 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 fiat, lay spread 
 at the foot, intersected throughout its ex- 
 treme breadth by the four streams already 
 named, whose banks, clothed with dense 
 jungle, and topped by gigantic reeds and 
 lofty forest trees, harbored antelopes and 
 a great variety of birds of the most brilliant 
 plumage. These individual wildernesses, 
 in many points uniting, formed a continu- 
 ous belt of dark foliage, and in others re- 
 ceding as the miry swamps became nig- 
 gard of the requisite moisture, afforded 
 limited vistas to the eye, although still ac- 
 cessible with difficulty either to man or 
 horse. 
 
 A speedy summons arrived from the gov- 
 ernor, who, with a large party of retainers, 
 and two matchlockmen forming his body- 
 guard, w T as 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 quar- 
 ry in existence. After a protracted and tu- 
 multuous consultation, the hunt was com- 
 menced according to the Abyssinian me- 
 thod — equestrians and pedestrians without 
 number, shouting and hallooing to each 
 other, as they threaded the paths trampled 
 by the huge quadrupeds through a tangled 
 swamp of canes, so locked and interlaced 
 that no human eye could penetrate one 
 foot on either side, while crowds of Galla 
 horsemen galloped on either flank to com- 
 plete the impossibility of success. 
 
 This turmoil continued under a burning 
 sun until past two o'clock, when, having 
 reached the extremity of the waste which 
 divides the country of the Gibdosa Ada'iel, 
 the appearance of several horsemen hov- 
 ering in the distance induced the governor 
 
CHEVY CHASE— « YELLOW HORSE.' 
 
 217 
 
 to decamp with precipitation to the centre 
 of the wilderness, without having seen 
 aught 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 Gille and 
 Soopa, who had been called out under 
 Jieir respective chiefs, Abbo and Boroo,* 
 ;ame pouring in from all directions— a wild 
 and savage race, whom the Christians de- 
 clared to be the most insubordinate wretch- 
 es 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 alarm- 
 ed 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 dis- 
 charged for the purpose of intimidation, 
 while he ordered his immediate attendants 
 to raise the shrill war-cry to collect his 
 scattered retainers. The Moslems mean- 
 while contented themselves with gazing at 
 the unwonted appearance of the white 
 strangers, and clumps of Christian spears 
 soon restored the chief to his self-posses- 
 sion, and relieved the forebodings of his 
 dismayed followers, whose extraordinary 
 politeness to the auxiliaries was beyond 
 all things diverting ; the most tender inqui- 
 ries relative to health and well-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 ele- 
 phant, at whose calf he had ventured to 
 hurl his spear, Ayto Tsanna took the op- 
 portunity of freeing himself of his unplea- 
 sant Galla vassals, by directing them to 
 hem the skirts of the forest, while he re- 
 quested his foreign allies " to enter the 
 thicket, and destroy the enraged beast, 
 whom no one else would approach." Al- 
 though well convinced of the impossibility 
 of accomplishing this absurd request, a de- 
 sire to efface former evil imputations in- 
 duced a ready compliance, and a body of 
 Amhara spearmen were selected to point 
 out to the party the scene of the alleged 
 accident. 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 a prayer for divine 
 assistance, coupled with abuse and defi- 
 ance to the much-dreaded object of their 
 quest. 
 
 The story of the catastrophe proved on 
 
 * Boroo signifies " my yellow horse." 
 
 15 
 
 investigation to be utterly false, the man 
 having been merely lacerated by a splinter 
 in a fall from a tree, instead of killed out- 
 right by an elephant, as averred by his 
 comrades. A search of two miles through 
 the shady recesses of a magnificent forest, 
 where some of the venerable trees meas- 
 ured upward of forty feet in circumference, 
 and where the lemon grew wild in the ut- 
 most 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 delivered to the ef- 
 fect that the elephants were surrounded at 
 the farther extremity of the waste, and un- 
 less immediately attacked would effect their 
 escape. Rejoining him, however, with all 
 expedition, it was ascertained that want of 
 method had again frustrated every design, 
 and that the clamor of the unruly multi- 
 tude had rendered futile this last chance 
 of retrieving the fortunes of the day. 
 
 Evening was 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 hun- 
 dred horsemen. But before finally leaving 
 the ground, the Galla chieftains and their 
 wild host were assembled ; and the gover- 
 nor, taking his seat in the midst, in a set 
 speech 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 mor- 
 row, 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 them- 
 selves to spare no exertions, and to appear 
 early the following day with double the 
 number of their respective tribes ; which 
 assurance given, the opportunity was em- 
 braced 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 favor 
 of his countrymen. His portly figure be- 
 tokened high command and perfect self- 
 possession. The lines of his dark face had 
 settled down into features expressive of 
 the mos~ f imperturbable coolness, and his 
 whole appearance was that of the haughty 
 savage chieftain. Standing erect before 
 his feudal superior, his attitude and de- 
 meanor were strikingly bold and dignified. 
 His mantle, surmounted by a shaggy black 
 skin, fell gracefully over his brawny shoul- 
 ders; and his words flowed on, pleasing 
 
218 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 and mellifluous, in a smooth stream of na- 
 tive eloquence, which the soft language of 
 the Galla admitted of his modulating into 
 a masterly succession of measured rhymes. 
 The interpreter sat opposite, with eyes riv- 
 etted on the orator, and sentence after sen- 
 tence was rendered into Amharac with an 
 ease and plastic volubility which appeared 
 lathertheeffect of apieceof highly-wrought 
 machinery, conveying to the governor 
 through every marked intonation a close 
 verbal interpretation, without disturbing 
 for a moment the graceful flow of the im- 
 passioned harangue. But Ay to Tsanna 
 having already decided the question, and 
 mentally resolved not to listen to the ap- 
 peal, gladly availed himself of the uprising 
 of his British guests, to mount his own 
 horse, and thus abruptly to terminate the 
 unpleasant discussion. 
 
 CHAPTER LXXXV. 
 
 DOWNFALL OF THE ELEPHANT. 
 
 Ere the sun had risen the ensuing morn- 
 ing, 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 commencing the 
 labors of the day, suitable gifts were pre- 
 sented. The swamps on the southern side 
 of the waste having been drawn unsuc- 
 cessfully, columns of dust which arose from 
 the opposite quarter high above the trees, 
 were pronounced to indicate the tramp of 
 a troop of elephants ; and thither the hun- 
 ters 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, as- 
 cended the tallest trees, while those who 
 again induced the party to precede them 
 through the ocean of tangled flags, where 
 to kill or even to see a wild beast was per- 
 fectly out of the question, used their ut- 
 most endeavors, 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 occtvpy, the hunt 
 was continued for some hours with those 
 of the Amhara who possessed sufficient 
 courage to enter the haunts. The svm was 
 oppressively hot, and side-arms, which were 
 insisted upon as a measure of precaution 
 against the treachery of the allies who had 
 teen summoned to assist, proved peculiarly 
 cumbersome and distressing ; but swamp 
 after swamp was beaten unsuccessfully, 
 
 and forest after forest traversed, without 
 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 below 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 
 
 village kine, but that the Europeans " 
 
 Here his harangue was cut short by the 
 appearance of a Galla scout, who galloped 
 furiously up, exclaiming, "They drink, 
 they drink, in the Jow-icaha l n The coun- 
 cil 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 the ani- 
 mals 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 bub- 
 bling from below ; and from the summit of 
 a tree,- the broad backs of a herd being 
 presently identified at some distance, by 
 the measured flapping of their huge ears, 
 it was resolved that the native allies should 
 tarry where they were, while 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 responsible for the accident which 
 the rash measure was certain to entail, 
 the arrangement was finally carried. A 
 stealthy advance up the wind, under cover 
 of the copse-wood, soon revealed a small 
 open area which had been trampled com- 
 pletely bare, and in its centre, beneath the 
 scanty shade of a venerable camel thorn, 
 which had been well polished by continual 
 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 cer- 
 tainty more sure, a two-ounce ball, planted 
 in the only small fatal spot presented by 
 the huge target, laid low the mighty pa- 
 triarch of the herd, whose fall made the 
 
"THE TUSKER "—TRIUMPHAL HONORS. 
 
 219 
 
 earth to tremble. One of the survivors, 
 rushing toward the ambush, received a 
 volley of hard bullets in her broad fore- 
 head, which turned the attack, and brought 
 her also to the ground, after a flight with 
 her companions of fifty yards. She, how- 
 ever, rose after some minutes, and escaped 
 into the thick forest to die, attention being 
 meanwhile entirely engrossed by the tus- 
 ker, the nobler quarry, who, although pros- 
 trate on his side like a fallen tower, mani- 
 
 f ed in his dying- moments, by sundry 
 portentous noises and uncouth struggles, 
 an inclination to resume an erect position. 
 His destruction was speedily completed; 
 but it was still impossible to leave the spot, 
 from a conviction that the braggart Am- 
 hara rabble would not fail to claim the 
 honor 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 sur- 
 mise which was fully confirmed by the ap- 
 propriation 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 con- 
 tinent 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 effect anticipated. Those who, 
 wfeen 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 finally mustering courage to do so, in 
 the frenzy of excitement, launched their 
 spears and discharged their matchlocks, to 
 the imminent peril of the bystanders and 
 of each other. On the first intimation of 
 the animals having, after two days' diligent 
 search, been actually discovered, three 
 fourths of the whole party had incontinent- 
 ly 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 ri- 
 fles ; and even the warrior who 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 
 15* 
 
 the scattered forces gradually rallied round 
 it, chief after chief offered his hand in con- 
 gratulation of the, in his eyes, daring ex- 
 ploit ; ^expressing his wonder and amaze- 
 ment, that a small rifle-ball had been able 
 to accomplish the annihilation of the bulk 
 and life of seventy seasons, and extolling 
 the prowess of the king's European visitors 
 in the encounter with so formidable a mon- 
 ster, whose colossal strength could have 
 carried him trampling through a whole 
 array of their own host, dealing death and 
 destruction wheresoever his will impelled 
 him. While 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 super- 
 natural beings, and complimented the doers 
 as the " bravest of the brave," under the 
 titles of " Figa" and " Gobez ;" declaring 
 that " the mould whereof 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 domin- 
 ions of Sahela Selassie would know no 
 limit." 
 
 Boroo, the brave chief of the Soopa, who 
 had with extreme difficulty been restrained 
 from following the forlorn hope at the head 
 of his gathered retainers, and thus alarm- 
 ing 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 himself antici- 
 pated 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 
 vengeance which any accident to the par- 
 ty would infallibly 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 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 return to the encampment on the hill- 
 top, the same honors were paid which are 
 exacted by the despot on his triumphal 
 entry after a successful expedition against 
 the heathen. Horsemen 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- 
 
220 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 side, and as the hunting-party crowned the 
 steep, raised their shrill voices in the thrill- 
 ing note of praise and welcome. The tents 
 were entered amid the deafening chorus 
 of a war-song. Bullocks were instantly- 
 slaughtered for the entire of the followers. 
 Double the daily liberal supplies of every 
 description were poured in. Sprigs of 
 green asparagus were presented, by the 
 sons of the delighted governor, to orna- 
 ment the hair in earnest of victory. Dame 
 Twotit composed a new extemporaneous 
 sonnet upon the occasion, which she re- 
 hearsed during half the night ; and until 
 the cock crew, every quarter of the village 
 of Manya resounded with wild dancing, 
 martial music, and war songs, in celebra- 
 tion of an achievement, now for the first 
 time witnessed by the Christian population 
 of Shoa. 
 
 CHAPTER LXXXVI. 
 
 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 Gille and Soopa, who have become con- 
 verts to Islamism — the-Allala river inter- 
 secting the country of the former, of which 
 the principal village is Esgieye, and the 
 Negeso that of the latter, whose chief re- 
 sides at Allaiyo. Farther to the north, 
 where a continuation of the wild tract of 
 forest land is visible, the Ada'fe threads 
 the district inhabited by that portion of the 
 Wollo w 7 ho own allegiance to Shoa under 
 the government of Efrata, and by the Doo- 
 googra Galla, who were also dependent, 
 but have long been in a state of open re- 
 bellion. Large quantities of excellent 
 coffee are cultivated in Manchettee and 
 Efrata, and with the salt " amoles," which 
 it has been seen are imported from Tigre 
 by the Wollo and Worra Kaloo, are brought 
 to Shoa by the Moslem merchants. In 
 Giddem itself, however, coffee is not culti- 
 vated, owing to the prejudice entertained 
 respecting its use by the Christian popula- 
 tion generally. 
 
 Westward of Giddem, and interposed 
 betwixt it and Morabietie, is the province 
 of Mans, largest of all the component dis- 
 tricts of Shoa, but subdivided into Lalo, 
 Mama, and Ghera, each of which forms a 
 distinct government. Abiye, third king 
 
 of Efat, defeated and subjugated Gole, 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 posses- 
 sion, and she is much beloved by the peo- 
 ple, although, as regards their allegiance 
 to the crown, they still retain a large share 
 of their ancient independence. Haughty, 
 brave, obstinate, and quarrelsome, they 
 openly avow to have little knowledge of 
 Sahela Selassie — never swear by his 
 name, as is the usage of his majesty's 
 more dutiful and loyal subjects — often de- 
 pose the governors whom he appoints to 
 rule over them — and refuse to take part in 
 the annual raids over the southern border, 
 upon the grounds that they have quite suf- 
 ficient occupation in the adjustment of in- 
 testine 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 rebellion of Medoko, the 
 king in his distress sent an urgent mes- 
 sage to the people of Mans, saying, " My 
 brothers, my relations, hasten to 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 relies entirely upon the tact displayed 
 by his mother, avowing her northern sub- 
 jects to be his own flesh and blood, upon 
 whom he could not impose a heavy taxa- 
 tion. The only tribute paid, therefore, is 
 in sekdat, a black woollen cloth woven of 
 the raven fleece of the native sheep of the 
 country, and invariably employed in. the 
 manufacture of the royal tents. 
 
 This fabric also furnishes a costume in- 
 dispensable 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 abun- 
 dant crops, but perfectly destitute of tim- 
 ber. Salt is the only circulating medium ; 
 and a man's wealth is estimated by the 
 number of his ploughshares, which are care- 
 fully buried until wanted. The swarthy 
 complexion of the inhabitants, and their 
 black, weed-like habiliments, distinguish 
 them among all the other subjects of Shoa 
 — wearers of the white cotton robe — than 
 whom they are even more superstitious, 
 bigoted, and ignorant ; the few erudite 
 among them being nevertheless esteemed 
 right cunning sorcerers, and, as such, 
 dreaded wheresoever they wander. 
 
 Mans has already been introduced as a 
 
SIEGE OF ARIKKEE— WOLLO INROADS. 
 
 221 
 
 province famous for the lake Alobar, the re- 
 puted residence of the king of the Genies, 
 through which the river Shai flows to join 
 the Nile. Of yore, when the spot now in- 
 undated 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 labor ; but no 
 sooner had the Virgin touched it than it 
 was miraculously converted into meal. 
 The inhospitable master now refused the 
 pittance claimed ; nor would the " Four 
 Chairs," before whom the complaint was 
 carried, give redress, until a poor shepherd 
 had become mediator. As a mark of the 
 displeasure of Heaven, the scene of his 
 offence against the mother of Christ was 
 forthwith converted into a lake, which 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 wheaten cakes composed of the whitest 
 flour, have been supplied by general con- 
 tribution to the shepherds on the festival 
 of Debra Tabor, and on the anniversary of 
 "our blessed Lady." 
 
 Immediately north of Giddem, and in- 
 terposed betwixt the frontiers of Shoa and 
 Argobba, is the district of Dibbie, under 
 Abba Munsoor, a Wollo Galla of conse- 
 quence, formerly governor of Wofagabel, 
 in the territories of Birroo Lubo, and no- 
 torious for his personal valor. 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 Wollo 
 border, where he steadily rejected the terms 
 that were offered for his capitulation. A 
 strong force of spearmen, supported by a 
 thousand musketeers and matchlockmen, 
 was at length sent to reduce the insur- 
 gents ; 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 disor- 
 der. The entire scarp of the precipitous 
 hill had been lined with beams and rafters 
 balancing huge masses of rock ; and the 
 leathern thongs by which they were lashed 
 being simultaneously cut away by the gar- 
 rison, destruction was carried along the 
 whole extent of the crowded ravine. After 
 this signal victory, Abba Munsoor aban- 
 doned his citadel, and tendering faith to 
 
 Sahela Selassie, was placed on the frontier 
 of his former liege, where his valor and 
 trusty services have gained him the high- 
 est place in the royal favor. 
 
 The dread entertained by the Christians 
 of the independent Moslem denizens of the 
 low country, has been ably portrayed by 
 the personal confessions of their monarch. 
 The destruction of a single individual of 
 the hostile tribes, by the most treacherous 
 means, is esteemed a feat of the greatest 
 valor, and one that entitles the hero to the 
 highest distinctions. His majesty's recent 
 allusions to his highland neighbors, the 
 men of Geshe, " who 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 gov- 
 ernors, by Abogaz Gobassie, a brave chief- 
 tain in the service of Birroo Lubo, who, 
 with a large detachment, had attacked and 
 routed the Amhara with great slaughter. 
 This disastrous news had been followed 
 by the arrival of Ayto Kalassie from Kaa, 
 on the west of Antzochia, with intelligence 
 that being unable any longer to stem the 
 inroads of the Wollo, he had been com- 
 pelled 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 con- 
 sternation in the kingdom of Shoa ; and it 
 being apprehended that the Mohammadans 
 would follow up their success in the direc- 
 tion of Giddem, all the Wollo gunmen in 
 the royal service were discharged, and 
 Christians and converted Galla slaves en- 
 listed 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 cavalry would leave 
 them to dispute the field alone with their 
 brave foes, they proceeded on the service 
 with the greatest possible reluctance, al- 
 though placed under the immediate com- 
 mand of Chara, the son of Medoko, who 
 is scarcely less renowned for valor than 
 was his rebel father. 
 
 Birroo Lubo, the prince of Argobba,* 
 is descended from Lubo the son of Wat- 
 sooba, who 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 gov- 
 ernor of Gof, whereupon he diligently oc- 
 cupied himself in the extension of his 
 dominions, dividing his residence between 
 
 * This term is applied by the Adaiel to the whole of 
 the border country in which cotton is cultivated. 
 
THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 222 
 
 the town and Ain Amba. His elder son, i 
 Ali Birroo, met an untimely death in one I 
 of the many border struggles .with the 
 troops of Sahela Selassie ; and the only 
 surviving brother, Amade, who is to suc- 
 ceed his now aged father, has already ob- 
 tained a great reputation for personal valor 
 in the field. The intercourse with the 
 Ada'iel, whose caravans come from Aussa 
 to Dowwe, on the frontier, is notoriously 
 more frequent and secure than between 
 Taj lira and Shoa ; and, with a view 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 favorite war-steed, 
 " Abba Daghet," " the Father of Height." 
 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 mar- 
 riage, 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 possess- 
 ed 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 to 
 Birroo'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 
 Abyssinia ; but they are fortunately divided 
 throughout by the same feuds and private 
 animosities which sever the southern Pa- 
 gans. 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 superstitions of the latter, below whom 
 they are in many respects debased by Mo- 
 hammadan bigotry— thus affording a mel- 
 ancholy proof of what the whole Galla 
 nation must become, should it ever unfor- 
 tunately happen that Abyssinia terminated 
 
 * The Cyprus tree. 
 
 her intestine struggles by falling under tihe 
 grasp of a Moslem ruler. Intercourse with 
 the northern states has imparted to the 
 Wollo a higher degree of cultivation than 
 is possessed by their countrymen in the 
 south; and passing nearly the whole of 
 their time in the repetition of prayers, a 
 proverb and general belief prevails, 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 march to invade 
 Efat. The vernacular language of all this 
 border, is Galla, adulterated with Amharic 
 and with the Arabic of the Koran ; which 
 two latter may be expected in the course 
 of a few generations entirely to obliterate 
 the aboriginal tongue. 
 
 Ali Marie, the independent Mohamma- 
 dan prince of Tehooladeree, wherein is 
 the lake Haik. has long been in firm alli- 
 ance with the king of Shoa, and twice ably 
 assisted him against the Wollo, an impor- 
 tant piece of service, for which his majesty 
 remunerated him handsomely. It is now 
 two vears since he was defeated by Birroo 
 Lubo. and driven to seek refuge at the 
 Christian court, until, having mustered 
 sufficient reinforcements, he contrived, af- 
 ter several severely-contested battles, to 
 reinstate himself in his government ; and 
 it is said of the warrior, that, on the occa- 
 sion of this struggle for empire, " he slew 
 so many of the foe with his own hand, that 
 the clotted gore could not be effaced from 
 his spear blade." 
 
 Again deposed by Birroo, he was now a 
 fugitive in Mofa. a strong fortress to the 
 west of lake Haik. The victor, whose pre- 
 text for the war was Ali Marie's refusal 
 to acknowledge allegiance to Ras Ah, has 
 thus, bv the subjugation of Tehooladeree 
 Galla. "obtained possession of the entire 
 line of road from the frontiers of Shoa to 
 Tigre, and has, moreover, deprived his en- 
 emy the neo-oos of his stanchest and most 
 powerful alfy. It is not a little singular, 
 that Sahela Selassie, who is on outward 
 terms of friendship with Ras Ah, should 
 have been suffered to afford an asylum to 
 Ali Marie, without being called to account. 
 On the occasion in question, the haughty 
 but humbled fugitive bared his shoulders 
 to the Christian monarch, according to the 
 Abyssinian mode of evincing respect, re- 
 marking, as he did so, " that he gave this 
 token of deference for the first time during 
 
 his life." . 
 
 The Tiilema Galla are the last to be 
 mentioned on the northern frontier of Shoa, 
 
FABULOUS MONSTERS— AN IMPOSTOR. 
 
 228 
 
 and at their hands the most serious disas- 
 ters and reverses have uniformly been ex- 
 perienced. A former emperor of Ethiopia 
 is said to have married a female slave, by 
 whom he had three children, Metcha, Ka- 
 raiyo, snd Tulema. These youths were 
 charred with the royal herds, and being in 
 the wilderness, and" brave young men, they 
 soon drew around them a number of dis- 
 contented vagabonds who embraced their 
 Sragnage and manners, which were those 
 of their mother, who had been brought 
 from the very centre of Africa. Concert- 
 ing an attack upon the southern provinces 
 oAhe empire beyond the Hawash, they 
 defeated the imperial army on the banks of 
 the river Gala in Guraghie, which runs 
 south toward Zingero ; but of numerous 
 clans and houses into which the rebels be- 
 came subsequertly divided, the twelve 
 tribes of Metck, the Karaiyo, and the 
 Tulema have aloie retained their aborigi- 
 nal appellation. 
 
 Attempting to'nvade the territoy of the 
 Abidchu and Ghenn, the Tulema were de- 
 feated and driven t> the northwest, where 
 they established thenselves on the bleakest 
 and most lofty highlnds, and to the pres- 
 ent day have mainlined their independ- 
 ence. One portion hve become converts 
 to the Mohammadan iith, but the occu- 
 pants of the mountain )era adhere to hea- 
 thenism. Woosen Sugud succeeded in 
 subjugating some few t these tribes ; but 
 on the accession of Saela Selassie, they 
 cast off the yoke, and eing joined by a 
 member of the blood-royaof Shoa, became 
 formidable enemies. Foe after force has 
 been sent against Kalal the capital, on 
 the borders of Morabeitie.nd always with 
 the same result. BirrooJukiza, and his 
 successor the brave Abl Damto, have 
 invariably repulsed the 'bldiers of the 
 cross," with fearful slauger, and many 
 governors have been hewnn twain from 
 the crown of the head to e sole of the 
 foot. In the mind of the suystitious Am- 
 hara, fear has gradually gin birth to a 
 belief of the existence in tht> cold moun- 
 tains of a race of fabulous -ings called 
 Arita, to whom their reverseare attribu- 
 ted. The lower portion of t body is de- 
 scribed to be that of an ass o black dog, 
 while the head and shoulders.ssume the 
 human form, and with the g, costume, 
 and language of mankind, colete a dis- 
 guise which enables the mons»s to roam 
 undetected over the border stricts of 
 Shoa, in prosecution of their bdy career 
 of cannibalism. 
 
 CHAPTER LXXXVII. 
 
 THERMAL WELLS AT FEELAMBA. 
 
 The day following the victory over the 
 monarch of the forest, was passed in the 
 laborious operation of hewing out the pon- 
 derous 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 inferiority of the tools at com- 
 mand, and the existing necessity of cut- 
 ting completely through the head to the 
 root of the lower tusk, which was half-bu- 
 ried in the soil with the violence of the fall, 
 the trophies were not borne off until the 
 sun had set. The wounded man had mean- 
 while been conveyed to the camp for sur- 
 gical aid. The edges of the laceration in 
 his thigh had been by an amateur practi- 
 tioner 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 confinement to 
 his bed. 
 
 An Armenian, acting in capacity of dra- 
 goman to the embassy, had been the Ms- 
 culapius — a man who, without the smallest 
 pretensions, gratuitously set up also to be 
 a first-rate Nimrod ; and the merriment 
 made throughout this day at his expense 
 had covered him with confusion. When 
 setting out from Ankober with a borrowed 
 musket, he had rubbed his hands and feign- 
 ed the highest spirits at the prospect of 
 resuming his " old sport," for he had slain 
 elephants by the dozen in Northern Abys- 
 sinia ; and their tails, he contended, " like 
 the tails of all elephants, were not tufted 
 at the extremity as asserted by his master, 
 but covered with long hair after the fashion 
 of the horse !" A mouse wandering from 
 an adjacent granary at Dokaket, and un- 
 wisely scampering over his bed, fell a sac- 
 rifice to the well-aimed staff of the hero, 
 who by virtue of this brilliant 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 assistance at the 
 rumored approach of the animal for whose 
 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 thd 
 
224 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 beast retreated, and the people declared that 
 it would die." 
 
 This curious confession on the part of 
 the impostor, whose statements had here- 
 tofore been credited, led to further disclo- 
 sures. 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 enraptured to the spot, and was some- 
 what disagreeably surprised to find a Chris- 
 tian 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 alterna- 
 tive of flight. 
 
 In Shoa he set up as a physician, and 
 practiced medicine, until so many patients 
 died under his hands that the king was 
 compelled to issue an interdiction. It form- 
 ed the veteran's boast, that although well 
 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 witnessed 
 strange sights, which are but too well cor- 
 roborated. He had seen the monster Ou- 
 bie, when his conscience was stained by 
 fewer 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 the use of them ; and he had seen 
 Has Subagadis, under whom he had a petty 
 government in Tigre, executed by the hands 
 of a pagan Galla, who undertook the task 
 for some bread and a barille of hydromel, 
 after numerous Amhara had refused to be- 
 come 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, whose parting request was that 
 he might be favorably mentioned to his 
 royal master. This was unhesitatingly 
 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 deter- 
 mined to visit, on the return route to An- 
 kober. Descending by an extremely steep 
 footpath to a deep dell below the Aito hill, 
 the road wound above a mile along the 
 sunken channel of the narrow river, through 
 which meandered a rippling brook of crys- 
 
 tal water, agitated at intervals by miniature 
 cascades, and shaded throughout its tortu- 
 ous course by trees and flowering creepers 
 of luxuriant beauty. In an angle formed 
 by a sudden bend are the hot weils, 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 
 life. 
 
 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 ha^e 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 
 whereof he is the tutelar saint, and which 
 is still one of the most reiowned in Ethio- 
 pia. It is recorded of Aragawi that he 
 raised the dead, and oused the blind to 
 see ; and among the n^nifold notable mir- 
 acles ascribed to him, he not least remark- 
 able is the conversion*) Christianity of the 
 devil himself, whomhe persuaded to take 
 the monastic cap fo'forty years .' 
 
 Selassie, the H<y Trinity, is another 
 open pool or basinsituated close to Ara- 
 gawi, and like it riing in bubbles from the 
 sandy bank and be of the stream. In both 
 the temperature s>od at 118° of Fahren- 
 heit. Mariam, th blessed Virgin, at 115° 
 issues from a ere, provided with a rude 
 door, and partitked by a bar of wood into 
 two cells for ne and old diseases, and in 
 these patients vre in the act of immer- 
 sion. Abbo, ati20°, percolates from the 
 centre of a stp bank of soft red sand- 
 stone, coveringasaltic wacke, through an 
 artificial spoutiserted for the convenience 
 of drinking thvaters. Numbers of dread- 
 fully diseased retches, the lame, the halt, 
 and the blindvho were here assembled, 
 with victims ho had suffered under the 
 Galla knife, rmed a horrible spectacle, 
 which calledvidly to mind the scriptural 
 account of t pool of Bethesda. 
 
 The sup^itendence of the numerous 
 patients wnhus flock hither to undergo 
 the discipli/of the baths, is limited to the 
 collection «one piece of salt, value two- 
 pence halfiny sterling, for the use of the 
 wells, whj are believed to possess the 
 highest saive virtues in a great variety 
 of disordej The waters possess a slight 
 taste and ell of hydrothion gas ; but the 
 fact that y may be drunk hot from the 
 
 mm* 
 
 '**■ 
 
THE " EM ABIET"— FORTRESS OF ARAMBA. 
 
 225 
 
 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 color, 
 temperature, or taste. 
 
 Many rare and beautiful birds were here 
 obtained, among others, the adagoota, a 
 superb black-crested falcon, which had been 
 first seen in the wilderness of Giddem. 
 Following 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 sur- 
 mounted to the village of Telim Amba. It 
 is situated on a height, divided by a deep 
 valley from the opposite residence of the 
 governor of Mahhfood, whose lady present- 
 ly 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 message delivered by the Abigail : 
 " they were prepared for you, but you have 
 taken another road." 
 
 On the banks of the Robi, Ay to Abaiyo 
 had again been met, superintending ope- 
 rations at one of the royal threshing-floors, 
 where all the inhabitants of the district 
 were assembled. Self-interested motives 
 had induced him very uncivilly to oppose a 
 day's hunting on that river, upon the al- 
 leged score of existing hostilities with An- 
 bassa Ali. In order to free himself from 
 the unwelcome visitors, he clandestinely 
 instructed the guide to lead the most direct 
 route, and hence arose the offence com- 
 mitted against the " Emabiet"* 
 
 CHAPTER LXXXVIII. 
 
 RETURN TO ANKOBER. 
 
 An extremely steep and infamous road, 
 intersected by numerous mountain torrents, 
 conducted the following day to Aramba. 
 After crossing the district of Arraba Amba, 
 which pays tribute to the crown in agates, 
 whereof numbers of the form adapted for 
 gun-flints are picked up on the face of the 
 soil, the path wound above three miles 
 
 * i. e. "The mother of the house" — a title of honor 
 employed in speaking of the queen, the princesses royal, 
 the mistress of a family, and the holy Virgin, who is 
 usually styled " Our Lady." 
 
 along the channel of the Shonkorghie, 
 " Sugar-sides," which takes its source in 
 the Turmaber range, and during the rains 
 becomes quite impassable. Here the black- 
 berry and the corinda still 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 tall trees, among which the green and 
 crimson " zoreet" displayed its gorgeous 
 plumage, stood the picturesque church and 
 monastery of " Our Lady." 
 
 Aramba was taken from the Areeo Galla 
 by Abiye, third monarch of Shoa ; and now 
 containing a large portion of the treasures 
 amassed by Sahela Selassie and his an- 
 cestors, is garrisoned by a strong detach- 
 ment of gunmen, and intrusted to the cus- 
 tody of a governor, and of a shalaka, or 
 captain of a thousand. No stranger is 
 permitted to enter the village 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, possessing great natural strength. 
 Here, in a succession of long barn-like 
 buildings, are consigned to mould and cob- 
 webs, and jealously guarded, every civil- 
 ized invention received by the despot, which 
 could in any way tend to the advancement 
 or improvement 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 
 shrill voice of the partridge, it is studded 
 with cottages, above the white roofs of 
 which the wreaths of curling 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, while on the other, far beyond the re- 
 markable 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 per- 
 spective of the Adel desert. 
 
 Every civility was experienced at the 
 hands of the governor and shalaka; the 
 latter of whom 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 continual feast, 
 
226 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 was most severely put to the test. The 
 kind's orders, which, in consequence of the 
 excessive cheapness of all the necessaries 
 of life, entail small burden upon the host, 
 threw open the doors at every stage, and 
 afforded the most lavish commissariat ; and 
 although the donors were in most instances 
 precluded from receiving at the hands of 
 his majesty's guests, money m remunera- 
 tion vet presents of tenfold value in their 
 estimation, while they served to remove all 
 sense of obligation incurred, amply reim- 
 bursed the traveller's tax imposed on his 
 subjects by the despotic negoos. 
 
 But different indeed would be the recep- 
 tion afforded to the man who should ven- 
 ture to wander through the country with- 
 out 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 bv which to obtain possession . oi 
 any curious article exposed to his admiring 
 gaze, without imparting aught of value m 
 return ; and in Shoa a show of force is fre- 
 quently requisite to extort that for which 
 the most liberal payment has previously 
 been tendered. Coupled with the desire to 
 obtain property, there ever exists an innate 
 disinclination 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 rich- 
 est imaginable presents. 
 
 The last march lay over the mountain 
 mass, of which Mamrat forms the core. 
 The ascent in many parts is extremely 
 tedious, and deep dells, intersecting the 
 road, are traversed each by a clear stream- 
 let, leaping from rock to rock in its down- 
 ward course to vales far concealed from 
 view. A singular bird's-eye view of pon- 
 cho, the state prison, was obtained from 
 the terrace on which, environed by dark 
 iuniper trees, stands the church of Kidana 
 Meherat, " the Covenant of Mercy. This 
 very common title owes itself to an opinion 
 entertained by the Abyssinian fathers, that 
 God appeared to the Virgin Mary m para- 
 dise, and formed a covenant with her tor 
 the redemption of mankind. 
 
 The voice of 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 life. In boyhood a playfel- 
 low 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 the merchants of 
 Hurrur, forfeited the government of Alio 
 Amba, the most lucrative in the realm, he 
 was immediately invested with another. 
 Year after year, too, honors and wealth 
 had been heaped upon him from the throne, 
 in gratitude for which he willed to his 
 liberal master the entire of his accumu- 
 lated property, without making any pro- 
 vision for his own children, who, in the or- 
 dinary 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 ren- 
 dered singularly beautiful by the admix- 
 ture of vernal and autumnal tints produced 
 at this season, especially by the great 
 proportion of towering evergreens. The 
 shadowy and sombre juniper, fashioned 
 like the tall cedars of Lebanon, and the 
 fresh and lively " 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 brill- 
 iant birds, darted through the cool reces- 
 ses • the bell voice of the campanero tolled 
 with monotonous regularity, and many a 
 clear and sparkling rivulet bounded in 
 splashing cascades over its broken channel. 
 Deep-seated in this secluded retirement, 
 and shut out from the rest of the world by 
 the leafy screen, lies the monastery of 
 Mantek, said to have been founded a thou- 
 sand years. It is inhabited solely by 1 a- 
 beebaL-men strongly suspected of being 
 Jews in disguise— cunning workers m 
 iron, wood, and clay, who are regarded as 
 sorcerers, and shunned accordingly by all 
 save the king, to whom ^ev are endeared. 
 The austerities practiced by this frater- 
 nitv "in order to obtain righteousness be- 
 fore 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 which has been prepared 
 by woman's hands, and excommunication 
 for twenty years is the penalty attached to 
 the infringement of the vow. No fire » 
 kindled either on Saturday or on the Sab- 
 bath • the strictest fast is observed through- 
 out the residue of the week ; many sit up 
 to their necks in water for days together, 
 at appointed periods all lash their naked 
 bodies with rods of sharp thorns; and 
 while every brother sleeps m a sitting pos- 
 
FATHER STEPHANOS-'RECEPTION AT THE CAPITAL. 
 
 227 
 
 ture upon a hard clay bench, with his loins 
 girt about by a tough cord, the Alalia, their 
 superior, does penance continually in a 
 massive iron chain. 
 
 A tree, which points to the monastery 
 of Aferbeine, was adorned by the followers 
 as they passed with the variegated feathers 
 of the zoreet, and with fragments detached 
 from their soiled cotlon garments. 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 was 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. Le- 
 viathan he believed to be a monstrous ser- 
 pent carrying the world on its back. None 
 possessed firmer faith in the winged cha- 
 riot of Ethiopia, in which the celestial ark 
 of the covenant is recorded to have been 
 brought from the Holy Temple ; and he 
 further labored under the happy delusion, 
 that a fire kindled above his secluded con- 
 vent, must, par excellence, be fully as con- 
 spicuous 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 Ankober, to inquire 
 how his white friends " from beyond the 
 world of waters had entered and passed 
 their time?" A rover in Gurague, who 
 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 Haimanot, the ecclesiastic, and 
 during the reign of King Naod, was 
 brought to embrace Christianity, and be- 
 came Elchegue, or superior of all the 
 monasteries. A proselyte to the religion 
 of Ethiopia, Osman had renounced the 
 false prophet, and put away every Moham- 
 madan 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 malprac- 
 tices of one whose geographical informa- 
 tion, united with great abilities as a spy, 
 had exalted him to the highest place in 
 the royal favor. 
 
 A frequent visitor at the residency, the 
 garrulous monk had opposed strenuous ar- 
 guments 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 forests unless provided with a num- 
 ber of young goats, to whose bleat the 
 colossus entertains an unconquerable an- 
 tipathy. " Take my kid with you," he ad- 
 vised : " 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 invaria- 
 bly shook his head ; and even now that the 
 chorus of victory was ringing in his ears, 
 and the tail of the fallen actually in his 
 hand, he continued at intervals to ejacu- 
 late, with upturned eyes, " No ; I like it 
 not." — " By Mary ! it doth not please me." 
 In the environs of the capital a vast con- 
 course of people had assembled to welcome 
 the safe return of the heroes from the hunt- 
 ing-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 com- 
 mendation evinced at the successful issue 
 of an expedition so universally ridiculed at 
 its departure. Women and girls shouted 
 in the market-place. Visits of congrat- 
 ulation were forthwith paid by every 
 friend and well-wisher, while the few who 
 had spread disparaging reports, and who 
 still continued to dislike 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. Among 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, with 
 a retinue of more than three thousand 
 spearmen and many fusileers, and who 
 had during that enjoyed very superior op- 
 portunities to the Gyptzis, without however 
 being able to achieve the object of his high- 
 est ambition — the death of an elephant. 
 
 CHAPTER LXXXIX. 
 
 HONORARY DISTINCTIONS. 
 
 The court had removed meanwhile to 
 Angollala ; but a paternal letter from the 
 royal pen awaited the return of the embas- 
 sy to the capital. " " Are my children well ? 
 — have they entered in safety ? I have 
 heard with joy of your success. Horse- 
 men were dispatched, and they brought 
 the glad tidings that you had killed. Has- 
 ten 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 invi- 
 
228 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 tation, and a guard of honor met the party 
 on the road. Together with sheep and 
 oxen from the king, and barilles of hydro- 
 mel from the queen, visits of congratula- 
 tion were received from all the principal 
 courtiers present. Among others, came 
 Ayto Egazoo, whose hospitality had been 
 extended on the way to Giddem ; and Ay- 
 to Zowdoo,* formerly governor of the im- 
 portant province of Geshe on the northern 
 frontier, who was dismissed for bravely 
 fighting against the Worro Kaloo, on the 
 occasion when the son of Birroo Lubo fell — 
 an event which, although highly gratifying 
 to his majesty, policy had induced him to 
 visit with severity, by the imprisonment 
 and disgrace of all the principal Amhara 
 engaged. Both of these visitors had, with 
 sorrowful hearts, taken leave of the for- 
 eigners ; and they now repeated the inward 
 conviction entertained, that the animals 
 against which the rash war was to be wa- 
 ged would have " consumed the assailants" 
 — a persuasion which had led them to che- 
 rish not the smallest hope of seeing any 
 one of them again. But greater than all 
 was the delight of the chief smith, when 
 he gave his assurance, after a careful ad- 
 measurement, that the circumference of 
 the ivory trophies then lying in the tent for 
 presentation to his royal master, yielded 
 two 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 
 while ascending the hill through the vari- 
 ous courtyards, they chanted the war cho- 
 rus 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-haii were decorated with 
 numerous trophies, hanging above the 
 scrolls of parchment, closely written with 
 blessings from the priesthood. But the 
 whole court was in deep mourning, in con- 
 sequence of the demise of Ayto Baimoot, 
 the chief eunuch, who was nurse to the 
 king in infancy, and had been through af- 
 ter-life his principal adviser. Heads were 
 close shaven, and temples scarified ; and 
 those immediately 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 delighted 
 when my children are happy. I feared 
 that the elephants would destroy you ; but 
 you have achieved a triumph which none 
 
 * i. e. My crown. 
 
 other have accomplished during the reign 
 of Sahela Selassie." 
 
 While the king listened with great in- 
 terest and seeming astonishment to the de- 
 tail 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 per- 
 sonal 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 Galla, when, being 
 firmly convinced that the army would be 
 destroyed, he had deemed it prudent to re- 
 treat with all expedition. " I ran," he re- 
 peated several times with emphasis — " I 
 ran, and every one of my followers did the 
 same. You evidently understand the mode 
 of dealing with these monsters ; but if ten 
 thousand of my people ventured to oppose 
 a troop, the elephants would consume them 
 all." 
 
 After this candid avowal on the part of 
 the despot, 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 as- 
 surance was received, of his majesty hav- 
 ing, 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 dan- 
 gerous beast. What answer should I give 
 if my children were demolished by buffa- 
 loes in the kingdom of Shoa ? They con- 
 sume 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, annihi- 
 late all who approach their lair. As soon 
 as they have killed a horse, we close round 
 them in vast numbers, 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 mon- 
 arch to place his own exploit in a superior 
 point of view, the subject was changed by 
 an assurance of the uniform kindness 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 ejacu- 
 lation from the royal lips : " Did I not 
 command him ? Is not Birkenich my 
 daughter ?" 
 
 Certain rewards and immunities are in 
 
THE INVESTITURE— REBELLION OF THE LOOMI. 
 
 229 
 
 Shoa attached to the destruction of ene- 
 mies of the state, and of formidable wild 
 beasts, which 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 hall, accordingly pro- 
 ceeded, by the royal command, to invest 
 the victors with the decorations due to the 
 downfall of an elephant. 
 
 " You have each slain forty Galla," re- 
 peated the king, and are henceforth entitled 
 to wear upon the riglit arm this bitowa, or 
 silver gauntlet, surmounted 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 expiration of that 
 period replaced by the herkoom feather. 
 And as the guests thus honored took their 
 way down through the court-yards of the 
 palace, a band of warriors again preceded, 
 discharging their muskets at intervals, 
 while they°chanted the Amhara war cho- 
 rus, and danced the death triumph. 
 
 The rebellion of the Loomi, which had 
 now with infinite difficulty been quelled, 
 affords an excellent commentary upon the 
 nature of Sahela Selassie's Galla tenures. 
 A portion of this tribe had failed to pay 
 their tribute to the now disgraced governor 
 of Mentshar, who was wounded in the at- 
 tempt to levy it, and the royal forces took 
 the field against them. Botha, who pre- 
 sided over a portion of the Yerrur district, 
 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 pardon. 
 No sooner, however, had he left the camp, 
 than he went over to the Galla on the plain 
 of the Ha wash, and aided the Loomi in a 
 projected attack upon the Amhara. Upon 
 this defection, Shambo, his elder brother, 
 became apprehensive of consequences ; 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 Argob- 
 ba. He therefore determined to renounce 
 his alle fiance, but deferred the execution 
 of his design until after joining Ayto 
 Shishigo, who commanded the troops act- 
 
 ing against the Loomi ; and it being then 
 proposed to burn a village on the summit 
 of an adjacent hill belonging to the tribe of 
 Botha, 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 al- 
 ready in flames, but the work of destruc- 
 tion was now discontinued ; and the royal 
 forces retreating in disorder, were again 
 attacked by the rebel brothers, and defeat- 
 ed with great loss within 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 sad- 
 dled, to the end that he might take the 
 field in person. But a wily monk, believing 
 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. 
 
 Ha wash Oosha,* who governs the sub- 
 j'igated sections of the Aroosi, Soddo, Li- 
 ban, and Jille tribes, having meanwhile 
 joined the insurgents, the whole Galla bor- 
 der 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 sub- 
 jection to the crown, an important portion 
 of the plain of the Hawash. He soon re- 
 pented him of the part he had taken in the 
 present insurrection; and the usual dis- 
 sensions arising among the rebels, a depu- 
 tation, assured of personal safety, fell 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 aggra- 
 vation attending the revolt, the delegates 
 were commanded 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 pillage and deso- 
 lation. 
 
 Two successful inroads followed close 
 upon this threat, and ample vengeance was 
 taken. The wealth of the pagans v/as 
 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 Botha trembled at the fate 
 that awaited them. The powerful inter- 
 cession of the church was sought with 
 bribes, and obtained. A hooded monk 
 
 * i. e. "The dog of the Hawash." 
 
230 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 from the cloisters of Affaf Woira, stood 
 before the throne with a peace offering 
 from those who supplicated pardon, and 
 clemency was graciously extended. 
 
 As the embassy entered the palace court 
 at the royal invitation, the traitors were 
 perceived prostrate upon their faces, heap- 
 ing dust upon their heads in token of ab- 
 ject humiliation. The fear of the heavy 
 fetters of G6ncho was before their eyes ; 
 and the half-inebriated state jailer 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, which the caitiffs had treach- 
 erously swept from those whose cause they 
 so lately espoused, were accepted as the 
 price of pardon ; and with an eloquent har- 
 angue from the throne, setting forth the 
 duties of a liege subject, Shambo and Bo- 
 tha were dismissed in peace. 
 
 CHAPTER XC. 
 
 CONCLUSION OF A TREATY OF COMMERCE. 
 
 Angollala 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 moun- 
 tains, occasionally disturbed the serenity 
 of the afternoon with a squall of hail. 
 Snipe abounded among the serpentine 
 streams which intersected the environs of 
 the palace-hill ; and the hero who possess- 
 ed 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 
 troublesome idlers still infested the tent ; 
 and the approaches were choked by nume- 
 rous bands of Yedjow Galla, who were 
 begging their way to the country of Ded- 
 jasmach Faris. Day and night their mo- 
 notonous voices arose from every quarter 
 of the town, and Christian adjurations by 
 " Miriam " and " Kedoos Michael," were 
 often nearly drowned by 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," with his adoptedxbrother, ap- 
 
 peared to hold the lease of the tent in per- 
 petuity ; and in return for amber necklaces 
 and gay chintz vestments, hourly volun- 
 teered some promise, simply, it would 
 seem, that they might afterward enjoy the 
 pleasure of forfeiting a gratuitous oath. 
 If solemn asseverations by highly respect- 
 | able saints and martyrs were to be received 
 I with credit, messengers were almost daily 
 ! dispatched, and on fleet horses too, for the 
 ! purpose of bringing from the Galla de- 
 pendencies on the Nile, among other trea- 
 sures, the spoils of the gdssela, a black 
 leopard, elsewmere not procurable, and 
 " worn only by the governors of provinces." 
 But by some unaccountable fatality, not 
 one of these fleet couriers ever found his 
 way back to the English camp at Angol- 
 lala; and the cry meanwhile continued, 
 without 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 insa- 
 tiable character, and scarcely more addict- 
 ed to veracity. Gadeloo, " the hen-pecked," 
 was punctual in his attendance, by order 
 of the emabiet of Mahhfood, who had al- 
 ways a new want to be supplied. " 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, escort- 
 ed by Ayto Dedjen, " Doors," his shadow 
 and boon companion, and grand-nephew to 
 the monarch himself. But the attachment 
 subsisting between these inseparable allies 
 was one day suddenly dissolved over a de- 
 canter of unusually potent hydromel ; and 
 a sabre-cut on the head of either, demon- 
 strated, alas ! the fleeting and unstable 
 nature of all sublunary friendship. 
 
 As each evening closed, the nobility were 
 to be seen streaming from the royal ban- 
 quet, supported upon their ambling mules 
 by a host of armed and not very sober re- 
 tainers. A tribe of ragged pages bringing 
 messages from the palace, accidentally en- 
 tered at the same time to report the sub«J 
 stance of the conversation, although manyl 
 of the illustrious visitors were absolutely- 
 inarticulate. Lances were hurled at a tar- 
 get 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, all who anticipated any d'fficulty 
 in reaching their own abodes, staggered 
 into the tent of the Gyptzis to laugh at the 
 mad pranks of Daghie,the obsequious court 
 
 mmm 
 
THE COURT BUFFOON—" THE LONG GUNMAN." 
 
 231 
 
 buffoon, and the flower of Abyssinian min- 
 strelsy. 
 
 Decked by the favor of the monarch in 
 a shining silver sword, the Merry Andrew, 
 fiddle in hand, came scraping and chanting 
 his way homeward, 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, grima- 
 ces, and inquiries, he proceeded to elicit 
 from the instrument, imitations of the hu- 
 man voice under various intonations of joy, 
 surprise, and sorrow ; and the host of re- 
 tainers, crowding round the doors with 
 shoulders bared, next shouted their appro- 
 val to some travestie of the wild Adel slo- 
 gan, or joined their voices in full chorus to 
 swell the Amhara death triumph, or this 
 the pibroch of the Nile : 
 
 " The sword is burning for the fight, 
 And gleams like rays of silver light ; 
 Let thoughts of fear enthral the slave — 
 Rouse to the strife, ye Gojam brave. 
 
 " Clustering they come, the Turkish rout 
 Ring back on high the Amhara shout ; 
 For honor, home, or glorious grave — 
 Rouse to the strife, ye Gojam brave. 
 
 " The sword of Corfu 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. 
 
 " 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 at- 
 tendance, on the part of their royal master 
 or mistress, with some rubbish from the 
 palace, which was carefully removed from 
 its red and yellow basket of Gurague grass, 
 divested of all its numerous wrappers, and 
 confidentially exhibited with an inquiry, 
 sotto voce, " whether more of the same de- 
 scription was not to be obtained ?" The 
 outcry raised for detonating caps was weari- 
 some 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 apprehensive of bankruptcy, 
 in event of a quarrel with the Ada'iel, " be- 
 cause his own people knew not the road 
 beyond the world of waters." Thus it 
 happened that Kidana Wold, the long gun- 
 man, who had charge of the royal armory, 
 received private instructions to look in at 
 the residency at least twice a week, with 
 a inamalacha for fifty or a hundred tezabs, 
 J nd regularly once a month to aver that 
 he had been so unfortunate as to drop from 
 
 his girdle another box of his majesty's pa- 
 tent anti-corrosives — a loss which, unless 
 timely repaired, must inevitably 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 help me immediately, I shall be 
 sent to Goncho." Treble. strong canister 
 gunpowder was also high in demand, its 
 superiority over the manufacture of Shoa 
 being admitted even by the maker. But 
 the sulphur monopoly remained as hereto- 
 fore 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 commodity, which 
 was required for the cure of applicants 
 having the beggar's disease ; and spies re- 
 porting the peculation, the delinquent was 
 condemned to perpetual labor in the hot 
 valleys of Giddem. 
 
 This convict was accompanied in his 
 exile by a shrewd lad, who had been de- 
 tected at the Bool Worki market in giving 
 circulation to two counterfeit 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, naturally 
 enough, seemed vastly mortified at the un- 
 toward consequences of his labor. " 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-mills 
 presented by the British Government had 
 been erected within the palace walls, and 
 slaves were turning the wheels with un- 
 ceasing diligence. " Demetrius the Ar- 
 menian made a machine to grind corn," 
 exclaimed his majesty in a transport of 
 delight, as the flour streamed upon the 
 floor ; " and although it cost my people a 
 year of hard labor to construct, it was use- 
 less when finished, because the priests de- 
 clared it to be the devil's work, and cursed 
 the bread. But may Sahela Selassie die ! 
 These engines are the invention of clever 
 heads. Now I will build a bridge over the 
 Bereza and you shall give me your ad- 
 vice." 
 
 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 
 
232 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 horoscope. Twelve waterways were traced 
 with stones under his skilful superinten- 
 dence on a site selected after infinite dis- 
 cussion ; and in five minutes a train of 
 slaves from the establishment at Debra 
 Berhan, were heaping together piles of 
 loose boulders to serve as piers. Splinters 
 of wood connected the roadway, and in 
 three days the structure was complete, its 
 appearance giving promise of what actual- 
 ly 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 catas- 
 trophe were received with an incredulous 
 shake of the head ; and the advice that or- 
 ders should be issued to the governors on 
 the Nile to keep a vigilant look out for the 
 upper timber on their voyage down to 
 Egypt, was followed by a good-humored 
 laugh and a playful tap on the shoulder of 
 the audacious foreigner, who, to the horror 
 and amazement 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 de- 
 void of understanding. There is not one 
 that will consent to labor, no, not one ; 
 and if through your means they should be 
 compelled to perform the task, they would 
 weep, and invoke curses on the name of 
 the Gyptzis. Your corn mills are approved, 
 because they save the women trouble, but 
 by the shades of my ancestors ! — a bridge 
 
 " Here all sense of the decorum due 
 
 to the sceptre was forgotten for the mo- 
 ment, and the monarch whistled aloud. 
 
 And the king was right. Weaving ex- 
 cepted, which in so cold a climate is an 
 art indispensable to existence, the people 
 of Shoa can hardly be said to practice 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 qmoles proportioned to 
 the size of the cloth required. A common 
 bow is used to spread the wool ; and the 
 spinning jenny being unknown, the thread 
 is twisted by means of the ancient spin- 
 dle, to which motion is imparted Sy a rapid 
 pressure betwixt the left palm and the de- 
 nuded thigh, while the right hand is sim- 
 ultaneously carried upward for the purpose 
 of " roving." Time is here held of no 
 account ; and female labor having supplied 
 the want of machinery in these prelimina- 
 ry operations, the twist is transferred to 
 a rude locomotive loom, and a warm dura- 
 
 ble mantle is produced with the aid only 
 of a simple shuttle. 
 
 British commerce has not only forced 
 its way, but created markets and custom- 
 ers in many a wilder and more inaccessi- 
 ble portion of the globe than Christian 
 Abyssinia, and its operation promises to 
 open the only means of improvement and 
 civilization. Even in the absence of wa- 
 ter carriage, the experience of many years 
 has proved that the living ship of the de- 
 sert is a machine of transport adequate to 
 the most important traffic ; and, if once 
 established, that traffic would, in a few 
 years, doubtless bind both people and ru- 
 ler in the strongest chains of personal in- 
 terest. 
 
 A commercial convention betwixt Great 
 Britain and Shoa was a subject that had 
 been frequently adverted to ; and his ma- 
 jesty had shaken his head when first as- 
 sured that five hundred pair of hands, ef- 
 ficiently employed at the loom, would bring 
 into his country more permanent wealth 
 than ten thousand warriors bearing spear 
 and shield. But he had gradually begun 
 to comprehend how commerce, equitably 
 conducted, might prove a truer source of 
 wealth than forays into the territories of 
 the heathen. This conviction resulted in 
 the expression of his desire, that certain 
 articles agreed upon might be drawn up on 
 parchment, and presented for signature, 
 which had accordingly been done ; and 
 the day fixed for the return of the embassy 
 to Ankober was appointed for the public 
 ratification of the document by the annex- 
 ure thereto of the royal hand and seal. 
 
 Nobles and captains thronged the court- 
 yard of the palace at Angollala, and the 
 king reclined on the throne in the attic 
 chamber. A highly illuminated 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 
 formally presented, and the sixteen arti- 
 cles of the convention in Amharic and 
 English, read, commented upon, and fully 
 approved. They involved the sacrifice of 
 arbitrary appropriation by the crown of the 
 property of foreigners dying in the coun- 
 try, the abrogation of the despotic in- 1 
 terdiction, which had from time immemo- 
 rial precluded the purchase or display of 
 costly goods by the subject, and the re- 
 moval of penal restrictions upon voluntary 
 movement within and beyond the kingdom, 
 which formed a modification of the obso- 
 lete national maxim, " never to permit the 
 stranger who had once entered, to depart 
 from Abyssinia." All of those evils had 
 
TREATY SIGNED— THE QUEEN OF SHEBA. 
 
 233 
 
 heretofore been in full force ; but his ma- 
 jesty unhesitatingly declared his determi- 
 nation to annul them for the good of his 
 people. 
 
 Tekla Mariam, the royal notary, kneel- 
 ing, held the upper part of the unrolled 
 scroll upon the state cushion, and the 
 king taking the proffered pen, inscribed 
 after the words " Done and concluded at 
 Angollala, 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 Galla." 
 The imperial signet, a cross encircled by 
 the word " Jesus," was then attached by 
 the scribe in presence of the church, the 
 dech agafari, the governor of Morat, and 
 three other functionaries who were sum- 
 moned into the alcove for the purpose. 
 
 " You have loaded me with costly pres- 
 ents," exclaimed the monarch as he re- 
 turned the deed : " the raiment that I wear, 
 the throne whereon I sit, the various ca- 
 riosities in my storehouses, and the mus- 
 kets which hang around the great hall, 
 are all from your country. What have I 
 to give in return for such wealth ? My 
 kingdom is as nothing." 
 
 CHAPTER XCI. 
 
 • THE HOUSE OF SOLOMON. 
 
 Ethiopia is the classical appellation for 
 Abyssinia, or Habesh, the most ancient as 
 well as the greatest monarchy in Africa. 
 It is by the latter title that the inhabitants 
 themselves, and all their circumjacent 
 neighbors, still distinguish the highlands 
 included between Nubia and the sources 
 of the blue Nile ; and the limits of the 
 Christian empire, g^-erned by the sove- 
 reigns of Axum, formerly extended over 
 wide tracts of country, now peopled by 
 heathen and stranger nations. 
 . The early history of Habesh is lost in 
 the fogs of fable. In the Chronicles styled 
 Kebra za Negest, " the glory of the kings," 
 a romance which pretends to be a faithful 
 repository of the past, Ittopia is modestly 
 stated to have divided with Romia the do- 
 minion of the world, received in direct in- 
 heritance from Adam. " Their rulers were 
 both descended from Shem, who was nom- 
 inated the lineal descendant of Noah, 
 whence all the globe north of Jerusalem 
 belonged unto the former, and all south to 
 the latter !" 
 
 This record is believed to have been dis- 
 covered in the church of St. Sophia : and 
 16 
 
 it claims for the present royal family de- 
 scent from the Queen of Sheba, whose 
 visit to King Solomon is stated to have 
 placed the sceptre in the hands of the tribe 
 of Judah, with whom it has remained un- 
 til the present day ; and from the peasant 
 to the despot this'iegend is firmly believed 
 by every native of Abyssinia. 
 
 " The Queen of Ethiopia," saith the 
 Chronicle, " whose name was Maqueda, 
 had heard from the merchant Tamerin of 
 the wisdom and glory of King Solomon ; and 
 resolving to visit him in his own country, 
 she proceeded to the land of Israel with 
 all the rich presents that her empire could 
 afford." 
 
 After a season the royal lady returned ; 
 and her sou Menilek, the result of her visit 
 to the greatest potentate of the age, was 
 born, and in due time transmitted to his 
 august sire. The young prince was duly 
 instructed in all the mysteries of Jewish 
 law and science, and being anointed king 
 under the name of David, he was returned 
 to his native land, escorted by a large suite 
 of the nobles of Israel, and a band of her 
 most learned elders under the direction 
 of Ascarias, the son of Zadok the high 
 priest. 
 
 The gates of the temple of Jerusalem 
 were left unguarded ; and the doors mir- 
 aculously opened in order that the holy 
 ark of Zion, and the tables of the law, 
 might without difficulty be stolen and car- 
 ried away. The journey was prosperously 
 performed, and the queen-mother, on re- 
 signing the reins of authority to her son, 
 at her death, about nine hundred and sev- 
 enty years before the birth of Christ, caus- 
 ed a solemn obligation to be sworn by all, 
 that henceforward no female should hold 
 sway in the land ; and that those princes 
 of the blood royal upon whom the crown 
 did not devolve, should, until the succes- 
 sion opened to them, or during the natural 
 term of existence, be kept close prisoners 
 on a lofty mountain ; a cruel and despotic 
 enactment, which, through a long succes- 
 sion of ages, was jealously observed. 
 
 The Emperor of Ethiopia early adopted 
 the title of negoos, or negash ; and the 
 coast of the Indian ocean toward Sofala, 
 was held by his deputy with the style of 
 Bahr Negash, " the king of the sea," — a 
 vicegerent with the same title, governing 
 Yemen, which from the earliest time down 
 to the Mohammadan conquest of Arabia, 
 belonged to Abyssinia. The family of 
 Menilek ibn Hakim are stated in the Ke- 
 bra za Negest, to have worn the crown in 
 uninterrupted felicity until the year of our 
 Lord 960, when an event occurred which 
 
 ■■ 
 
234 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 nearly obliterated that dynasty, and first 
 spread anarchy, violence, and oppression, 
 throughout the once-happy realm. 
 
 Christianity became the national religion 
 of Abyssinia in the beginning of the fourth 
 century. The Falashas, descendants of 
 the Jews, who are believed to have accom- 
 panied Menilek from Jerusalem, had mean- 
 while waxed extremely powerful, and re- 
 fusing to abandon the faith of their fore- 
 fathers, they now declared independence. 
 Electing a sovereign of their own creed, 
 they took possession of the almost impreg- 
 nable mountain fastnesses of Simien, where 
 their numbers were augmented by con- 
 tinual accessions from the Jews, who were 
 expelled from Palestine and from Arabia. 
 Under the constant titles of Gideon and 
 Judith, a succession of kings and queens 
 held a limited sway until, in the middle of 
 the tenth century, the Princess Esther, 
 styled, by the Amhara, Issat, which signi- 
 fies " fire," a woman of extraordinary beauty 
 and talent, conceived the design of sub- 
 verting the religion, and with it the exist- 
 ing order of succession in the empire. A 
 fatal epidemic had swept off the emperor, 
 and spread desolation through court and 
 capital. Del Naad, who had been nomi- 
 nated to the crown, was of tender years : 
 and Esther, deeming no opportunity more 
 favorable, surprised the rock Damo, on 
 which, by virtue of the existing statute, 
 the other scions of the royal house were 
 confined, and having massacred the whole, 
 five hundred in number, proclaimed herself 
 the queen over Abyssinia. 
 
 The sole surviving prince of his race was 
 hurried by the Amhara nobility into the dis- 
 tant and loyal province of Shoa ; and the 
 reins of government passed into the hands 
 of a Christian family of Lasta, styled Ze- 
 gue, with whom they remained until the 
 thirteenth century. During the adminis- 
 tration of Naakweto Laab, the last of this 
 dynasty, Tekla Haimanot the monk, a na- 
 tive of Abyssinia, was created aboon.* He 
 had previously founded in Shoa the celebra- 
 ted monastery of Debra Libanos, and was 
 a man celebrated alike for the purity of his 
 life, the soundness of his understanding, 
 and his devotion to his- country. Obtain- 
 ing extraordinary influence over the mind 
 of the king, he prevailed upon him, for con- 
 science-sake, to resign a crown which could 
 never be purified from the stain of usurpa- 
 tion. The banished line of Solomon, con- 
 tent with the dominion of Shoa, had made 
 no effort toward the recovery of their an- 
 cient boundaries ; but by a treaty now con- 
 
 * This is the title of the primate of Ethiopia. 
 
 eluded, Yekweno Amlak was restored to 
 the throne of his ancestors; Naakweto 
 Laab retaining only Lasta in perpetual in- 
 dependence, with the golden stool, the sil- 
 ver kettle-drums, and other insignia of 
 royalty, while one third of the realm was 
 permanently ceded to the primate for the 
 maintenance of his ecclesiastical dignity, 
 and for the support of the clergy, convents, 
 and churches. This was styled the " Era 
 of Partition ;" and it formed a stipulation 
 that the functions of archbishop should in 
 future be vested in none save a Copt, or- 
 dained from Cairo by the chair of St. Mark. 
 
 CHAPTER XCII. 
 
 THE LINEAGE OF SHOA. 
 
 Thus affairs continued until the six- 
 teenth century, when the invasion of Mo- 
 hamirvau Graan led to the total dismember- 
 ment ol the Ethiopic empire ; and Shoa, 
 among -otr>er of the richest provinces, was 
 overrun and colonized by the Galla hordes. 
 Nebla Dengel, the emperor of Gondar, fell 
 by the hand of the Moslem conqueror. Fa- 
 ris, the son of Dilbonach, by a daughter of 
 the house of Solomon, held a ras-ship 
 under the crown, in the strong hold of Dair. 
 and from his son Sumbellete sprang Na- 
 gasi, the first monarch of Efat. who was 
 born at Amad Washa, the capital of Agam- 
 cha, and a century and a half ago held his 
 capital in Mans. Prior to the conquest of 
 that province, which was followed by the 
 gradual subjugation of Shoa and its pres-. 
 ent dependencies, this prince occupied a 
 lofty fortress in the Yedjow country, where 
 some of his descendants still remain. From 
 it are visible the high and impregnable 
 mounts Ambasel and«£reshama ; the latter 
 of which fastnesses, in the more remote pe- 
 riods of Ethiopic splendor, had served as a 
 place of confinement for the younger broth- 
 ers of the reigning emperor ; while the , 
 former is in the hands of an independent 
 ruler, whose ancestress becoming the mis- 
 tress of the Christian governor, the father 
 of the Delilah contrived, during the cele- 
 bration of her nuptials, to surprise the gar- 
 rison, and put every man to the sword. 
 
 Nagasi repaired in due time to Gondar, 
 to be formally invested by the emperor; 
 but after receivingatthe royal hands twelve 
 " nugareets," he died suddenly. To one 
 of his four sons he bequeathed on his death- 
 bed a shield, to a second a spear, to a third 
 a ring, and to Sabastiye, his favorite child, 
 a war-steed which he had always ridden to 
 
 . 
 
SHADOW EMPEROR OF GONDAR. 
 
 235 
 
 combat. The youths were summoned to 
 court in order that they might receive their 
 legacies ; and on opening an amulet at- 
 tached to the horse's neck, it was found to 
 contain the will and testament of the de- 
 ceased, nominating Sebastiye the succes- 
 sor to his possessions. 
 
 This prince reigned twenty-five years, 
 and was succeeded by Abiye, his eldest son, 
 who after fifteen years was gathered to his 
 fathers at Aramba, which he had wrested 
 from the Areeo Galla. Emmaha Yasoos, 
 who succeeded next, and reigned thirty- 
 two years, introduced several matchlocks 
 from Gondar, conquered Ankober, and re- 
 moved his capital thither from Dokaket. 
 At the period of his accession, the sorcer- 
 ers predicted that if one Arkaradis should 
 be appointed minister, the empire would 
 be doubled. Search was accordingly made 
 throughout the realm, but# mendicant was 
 the sole individual of that name who could 
 be found. He was duly inducted into of- 
 fice ; and his first step was to revive among 
 the circumjacent Galla an ancient prophe- 
 cy, that when fires should be seen on the 
 summits of the three loftiest peaks of the 
 great barrier range, their possessions wouW 
 be overrun by the Christians. After rite 
 lapse of a few months, Arkaradis caused 
 beacon-fires to be kindled during tb^ night 
 on the crests of Kondie, Ank^oer, and 
 Mamrat ; upon beholding whbfi many of 
 the heathen fled, and, without a blow being 
 struck, sundry districts were appended to 
 Shoa. 
 
 Asfa Woosen, gran&ire to'the reigning 
 monarch, succeeded to his father Emmaha 
 Yasoos, and reigned thirty-three and a half 
 years. Of forty-eight male children he was 
 the bravest. He was a great Nimrod, and 
 an unparalleled warrior, slaying three hun- 
 dred Pao»ns with his own spear from the 
 back of his favorite war-steed Amadoo. 
 Among many other despotic laws enacted 
 during his reign, was one prohibiting the 
 manufacture of hydromel by the subject. 
 Three great rebellions threatened the sta- 
 bility of his empire, which had now shaken 
 off all allegiance to Gondar, but each in 
 turn was quelled by his personal valor. 
 The last insurrection was headed by Woo- 
 sen Suggud, the heir-apparent. In a pitch- 
 ed battle the youth was wounded by the 
 hand of his father, taken prisoner, and im- 
 mured during the term of the monarch's 
 life. During the last fifteen years of his 
 reign, Asfa Woosen was totally blind. It 
 is fully believed that the sight of one eye 
 was destroyed by Thavanan, as already 
 narrated in the legend of " the tormentor," 
 and that one of the royal concubines, whom 
 16* 
 
 the sorcerer had spirited away, destroyed 
 the other shortly afterward, by means of 
 a powerful spell imparted by her paramour. 
 Since the commencement of the present 
 century the custom of consigning to a dun- 
 geon the brothers and kindred of the reign- 
 ing monarch has grown into desuetude in 
 Northern Abyssinia. The princes of the 
 blocd royal now wander over the country 
 unmolested and unheeded, attaching them- 
 selves to any chief who may be w-tfiing to 
 extend countenance and support, and hold- 
 ing themselves at his disposal in the event 
 of his gaining ascendencj over his rivals, 
 and requiring a titular emperor to perform 
 the indispensable ceremony of nominating 
 a ras. But the farm is still retained, of 
 placing the crown upon the brows of a 
 descendant of tie ancient line of Solomon, 
 who is contend to be a mere puppet in the 
 hands of thr temporary minister ; and en- 
 joying a stipend of three hundred dollars 
 per ann*m, and the paltry revenues accru- 
 ing fWm the tolls of the hebdomadal mar- 
 ket Ai the capital, he remains a prisoner 
 u/on parole in his palace at Gondar. 
 
 CHAPTER XCIII. 
 
 THE MONARCH AND THE COURT. 
 
 Sahela Selassie, " the clemency of the 
 Trinity," seventh king of Shoa whose sur- 
 name is Menilek, was twelve years of age 
 when the assassination of Woosen Suggud 
 called him from a monastery to the throne, 
 and placed in his hands the reins of despotic 
 government over a wild Christian nation. 
 His sire had enjoyed a brief, but exceed- 
 ingly active reign of four and a half years, 
 during which he extended his empire far 
 beyond the limits bequeathe^ to him by 
 Asfa Woosen — made conquests in the south 
 to the mountains of Gar** Gorphoo, and in 
 the west to the Nile. The most despotic 
 measures marked Ais transient but iron 
 rule ; and had be survived, the expecta- 
 tions formed o^him would in all probability 
 have been realized, and he would have be- 
 come monarch of all Abyssinia. But the 
 nation groaned under his oppression ; and 
 after v series of the harshest acts, induced 
 by visits in disguise, like those of Haroun 
 A?faschid the great caliph of Bagdad, to 
 me houses of his subjects, and to places 
 of public resort, a Shankela slave, whom 
 he had provoked by ill usage, turned upon 
 his royal master, and having slain him with 
 a sword, set fire to the pilace at Kondie, 
 which was burned to the ground ; and the 
 
236 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 wealth amassed in many earthen jars, melt- 
 ed, according to the tradition, into a liquid 
 stream of mingled silver and gold, which 
 flowed over the mountain side. 
 
 In Shoa as in other savage countries the 
 tidings of the dissolution of the monarch, 
 unless timely concealed, spread like light- 
 ning to the farthest extremities of the king- 
 dom, and become a signal for rapine, anar- 
 chy, and murder, which rage unrestrained 
 during the continuance of the interregnum. 
 Every individual throughout the realm 
 deems himself at full liberty to act accord- 
 ing to the bent cf his own vicious inclina- 
 tions — to perpetrate every atrocity, and to 
 indulge in the gratis cation of every re- 
 vengeful and licentious passion, without 
 fear of retribution or of punishment ; and 
 it being perfectly understood that there 
 exists neither law nor rult until the new 
 sovereign shall have been proclaimed, the I 
 kingless land for a season rum rivers of 
 blood. Fearful was the tragedj that fol- ! 
 lowed the assassination of Woosen b-iggud. I 
 The royal family residing at Ankobei". and i 
 the heir-apparent at a still greater distance 
 from Kondie. there ensued a scene of anai- | 
 chy and confusion which it would be diffi- ; 
 cult to describe, and at DebraLibanos alone 
 there fell no fewer than eight hundred vic- 
 tims to private animosity, of whose murder 
 no account was ever taken. 
 
 The eyes of the monarch being closed 
 in death, the minister styled dech aga- 
 fari, "the introducer through the door," 
 proceeds to the inauguration of the suc- 
 cessor, who, unless some other arrange- 
 ment shall have been willed, is usually the 
 heir-apparent. Presented to the senators 
 and to the inmates of the palace, the herald 
 proclaims aloud, " We have reason to 
 mourn, and also to rejoice ; for our old 
 father is dead, but we have found a new 
 one." The accession thus declared, the 
 king is invested with the robes of state, 
 and taking seat upon the throne, the public 
 officers first in order, and then the people, 
 offer homage, and bovy before his footstool. 
 General mourning is invariably observed 
 during the seven days wMch follow the 
 promulgation of the national calamity. 
 Men, women, and children evince their 
 grief by tearing the hair, scarifying the 
 temples with the nails, and casting them- 
 selves sobbing and screaming upoi>. the 
 ground — the good qualities of the deceased 
 being extolled the while. But the chief 
 mourners on the melancholy occasion, are 
 those princes of the blood-royal who are 
 affected by the barbarous practice handed 
 down from the earliest periods of Abyssin- 
 ian history ; for in the kingdom of Shoa, 
 
 revolutionary projects against the crown 
 have invariably been anticipated, by con- 
 signing the uncles and brothers of the sove- 
 reign to a subterranean dungeon, where 
 they pass the remainder of their days in 
 the elaborate carving of harps and orna- 
 ments of ivory. 
 
 Widely different from that of the aspiring 
 Rasselas is the lot of these pining members 
 of the dynasty of Shoa. No happy valley 
 is theirs, whom a barbarous policy has from 
 time immemorial condemned thus to linger 
 in hopeless imprisonment during the rem- 
 nant of their sublunary pilgrimage, unless 
 the demise of the despot without issue 
 should, peradventure, call some one of the 
 captives from the dank vault to the throne. 
 Food, with the scanty materials for amuse- 
 ment and occupation, are indeed allowed, 
 together with permission to breathe the air 
 of heaven, after the sun has set, upon their 
 own green hills. But no domestic tie links 
 them to the society from which they are 
 immured — no sympathy of wife or child 
 can ever, by a word of kindness, alleviate 
 their lonely condition. The bonds of re- 
 lationship have been rudely snapped asun- 
 der, and the very name of brother is the 
 stern curse of those whose only crime is 
 then affinity to the monarch. 
 
 Sev^n princes of the blood-royal were 
 inmates if the vaults of Goncho on the ar- 
 rival of the British embassy in Shoa. The 
 legitimate iss>ue male of the reigning sove- 
 reign has fortunately been limited to two ; 
 but it was not ttie less melancholy to re- 
 flect, that one or other of these interesting 
 youths must, in all human probability, drag 
 out the noon and evening of his days with- 
 in the walls of that dismal dungeon, where 
 so many have sunk into the grave unre- 
 corded and unpitied. The crown, although 
 hereditary in the house of Solomon, is 
 elective by will at each decease, and the 
 eldest born can assert no exclusive title 
 to succession by right of primogeniture. 
 Bashakh Woorud, " go down if you like," 
 is an ominous title enough to distinguish 
 the heir-apparent to the throne. Better 
 known by his Christian appellation of Hai- 
 loo Mulakoot, and now in his sixteenth 
 year, he has by his royal sire been permit- 
 ted to accompany the army into the field, 
 when he slew some of the Galla with his 
 own hand ; but entertaining a predilection 
 for the church, he is educating in the mon- 
 astery of Loza ; while his brother, Seifa 
 Selassie, "the sword of the Trinity," who 
 is three or four years younger, is the fa- 
 vorite of his father, and may be regarded 
 as the heir-presumptive. 
 
 In accordance with the custom of the 
 
QUEEN BESABESH— THE ROYAL HAREM. 
 
 237 
 
 land, this prince is also secluded in a mon- 
 astery at Medak, under the Alaka Amda 
 Zion. In addition to a eunuch and a 
 nurse, each of the royal scions is attended 
 by guardians, whose office it is to prevent 
 his playing- truant or creating disturbances 
 in the kingdom. They are trained to 
 equestrian and warlike exercises, and to 
 the use of the shield and spear ; and are 
 made to attend divine service, to fast, to 
 repeat their prayers, and to peruse the 
 psalms at night. Their course of educa- 
 tion differs little from that of other Abys- 
 sinian youths, than whom they are even 
 more under monkish influence. The study 
 of the Gebata Hawariat, or " table of the 
 apostles," which comprises the seven epis- 
 tles of Peter, John, James, and Jude, and 
 the acquisition of the Psalter by heart, is 
 followed by the perusal of the Revelations, 
 the epistles of St. Paul, and the gospels — 
 the histories of the Holy Virgin, of Saints 
 George and Michael, Saint Tekla Haima- 
 not, and others, completing the course. 
 Few of the priesthood understand the art 
 of writing, and all regard the exercise of 
 the pen as shameful and derogatory. The 
 royal princes, therefore, stand little chance 
 of instruction in this branch of education, 
 and their acquaintance with the Abyssinian 
 code of jurisprudence must depend also 
 upon the erudition of their preceptors. The 
 strictest discipline is enforced ; disobedi- 
 ence is punished by bonds and corporal 
 chastisement, which latter the king causes 
 to be inflicted in his presence ; and fully 
 imbued with the conviction, that to " spare 
 the rod is to spoil the child," his majesty 
 occasionally corrects the delinquent with 
 his own hands. 
 
 Queen Besabesh — " thou hast multi- 
 plied " — the mother of the young princes, 
 and also of four princesses, is the daughter 
 of the last independent, ruler of Morabeitie. 
 She was relict of Tekla Georgis, a com- 
 moner of Shoa ; and although not perma- 
 nently resident in the palace, is much be- 
 loved by Sahela Selassie. Five hundred 
 concubines complete the royal harem, of 
 whom seven reside under the palace roof, 
 thirteen in the immediate outskirts, and 
 the residue in various parts of the empire. 
 By these ladies, the king has a numerous 
 progeny ; the males, who are not obnox- 
 ious to imprisonment on a new accession, 
 being created governors of provinces, while 
 the illegitimate daughters are bestowed in 
 marriage upon whomsoever his despotic 
 majesty may think proper to select among 
 the nobles and magnates of the land. 
 
 The ceremony of taking into the royal 
 harem a concubine of rank, which meas- 
 
 ure is usually connected with some polit- 
 ical object, consists in an interchange of 
 presents between the monarch and the pa- 
 rents of the damsel. Chamie, the Galla 
 queen of Moolo Falada, near the Nile, pre- 
 sented with her daughter, who occupies a 
 niche in the harem, a dower consisting of 
 two hundred milch cows, one hundred 
 teams of oxen with ploughs, a number of 
 horses, and many slaves of both sexes, 
 gdssela skins, and other choice peltries, 
 and five hundred vessels of virgin honey, 
 with twelve cats to watch over and protect 
 them from the inroads of the mice. Mo- 
 hammadans and Pagans are compelled, 
 after the formation of the royal alliance, 
 to embrace the Christianity of Ethiopia ; 
 but that fidelity is far from being a conse- 
 quence of the conversion has been evinced 
 in numerous disgraceful instances, the not 
 least notorious of which involves the repu- 
 tation and the health of one who long enjoy- 
 ed a most exalted place in the king's affec- 
 tions — a sister of Wulasma Mohammad. 
 
 Throughout intra-tropical Africa the 
 nugareet, or kettle-drum, forms the em- 
 blem of power, as does the sceptre in 
 other realms. Appointments, edicts, and 
 proclamations*, roll with its notes to the 
 ears of the attentive nation of Shoa. It 
 accompanies all forays and campaigns, is 
 the symbol of investiture, and even the 
 Church is controlled by its echoes rever- 
 berating from the palace hill. The trum- 
 pet is also a concomitant on state occa- 
 sions, when two large crimson debaboch, or 
 aftabgirs, screen the royal person. The 
 attire of Sahela Selassie, although usual- 
 ly plain and unassuming, is, on certain 
 pageants, more imposing, and is then as- 
 sisted by all the gold and tinsel that the 
 wardrobe can boast. The precious metal, 
 for which he entertains a vast affection, 
 forming his exclusive prerogative, is dis- 
 played in massive bracelets and rings, and 
 in the embroidery with which the tight vest 
 of green silk is profusely loaded, although 
 partially hidden beneath the enveloping 
 robe of Abyssinia. His majesty's crown 
 is an elegantly embossed tiara, with nu- 
 merous chains hanging in gorgeous clus- 
 ters around the brow, and surmounted by 
 the imperial plume of white egret feathers. 
 But save on the Saturday in Passion 
 week, during a solemn assembly held in 
 the palace court, which is then -decked 
 out with carpets, and velvets, and gay- 
 cloths, when the priests rehearse the mili- 
 tary achievements of the monarch, and 
 the gathered population respond with the 
 loud hum of approbation — on the great an- 
 nual review at the feast of Maskal, and the 
 
 
298 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 triumphal return from the foray against 
 the heathen Galla — there is little pomp or 
 pageant to be witnessed at the present 
 day. Badges and honorary distinctions, 
 however, still continue to be conferred up- 
 on the brave in war. The high-sounding 
 titles of household officers are yet scru- 
 pulously retained ; and these, with the 
 embossed shield, the silver sword, the 
 gauntlet, the bracelet, the armlet, and the 
 glittering akodama, attest the presence at 
 the court of Shoa of the last remnant of 
 the ancient, but faded, grandeur of the 
 proud emperors of Ethiopia. 
 
 CHAPTER XCIV. 
 
 THE REIGNING DESPOT. 
 
 A more singular contrast of good ana 
 evil was perhaps never presented than in 
 the person and administration of the Chris- 
 tian despot. Avarice, suspicion, caprice, 
 duplicity, and superstition, appear to form 
 the basis of his chequered character, and 
 his every act exhibits a portion of mean- 
 ness and selfishness, linked with a desire 
 to appear munificent. Yet are these radi- 
 cally bad ingredients tempereH and con- 
 cealed by many amiable and excellent qual- 
 ities. His virtues are many as they are 
 conspicuous : his faults entail harm chiefly 
 upon himself; and the appropriation of the 
 greater portion of his hours might be held 
 up as a worthy pattern for imitation. 
 
 During the entire forenoon of every day 
 in the week, the Sabbath and Saturday ex- 
 cepted, which latter, as a remnant of Jew- 
 ish religion, is universally reverenced, is 
 he engaged in public affairs — in trying ap- 
 peals, and in deciding suits which are 
 Drought from all quarters of his dominions. 
 Notwithstanding the impediments offered 
 by a weak constitution, and by many bod- 
 ily infirmities prematurely brought on by 
 excess, he leads a life of constant activity, 
 and, both as respects his public and his 
 private avocations, stands greatly distin- 
 guished above other Abyssinian rulers, 
 who too justly incur the reproach of idle- 
 ness and perpetual debauchery. 
 
 After the religious performance of his 
 matin devotions, the king inspects his sta- 
 bles and workshops, bestows charity upon 
 the assembled poor, dispatches couriers, 
 and accords private audiences of impor- 
 tance. Then reclining in state upon the 
 throne, he listens for hours to all appeals 
 brought against the decision of his judges, 
 and adjusts in public the tangled disDUtes 
 
 and controversies of his subjects. Here 
 access is easy. Sahela Selassie listens to 
 all, foreigners or natives, men and women, 
 rich and poor. Every one possesses the 
 right to appear before him, and boldly to 
 explain the nature of his case ; and al- 
 though the established usage of the land 
 compels the subject to prostrate himself, 
 and to pay rather adoration than respect, 
 yet may he urge his complaint without the 
 least hesitation or timidity. Judgment is 
 always prompt, and generally correct ; nor 
 will the observer be less struck with the 
 calmness and placidity that mark the royal 
 demeanor in the midst of the most boister- 
 ous discussions, than at the method and 
 perspicuity with which such manifold af- 
 fairs are disposed of ; and while thus re- 
 ceiving the most favorable impression of 
 his majesty's capacity for the transaction 
 of business, might even draw a parallel be- 
 tween his demeanor and that of many more 
 civilized monarchs, which would be flatter- 
 ing to the semi-barbarous ruler of Shoa. 
 
 At three o'clock the king proceeds to 
 dine alone, and no sooner is the royal ap- 
 petite appeased than the doors are thrown 
 open, and the long table in the great ban- 
 queting-hall is crowded with the most dis- 
 tinguished warriors and guests. Harpers 
 and fiddlers perform during the entire en- 
 tertainment, and singers lift up their voices 
 in praise of the munificence and liberality 
 of their sovereign, who, during all this 
 scene of confusion and turmoil, still con- 
 tinues to peruse letters or to issue instruc- 
 tions, until the board has been thrice re- 
 plenished and as often cleared, and until 
 all of a certain rank have freely partaken 
 of his hospitality. At five he retires with 
 a few of those who enjoy the largest share 
 of intimacy, to the private apartments. 
 Prayers and potent liquors fill up the even- 
 ing hours, and the company depart, leaving 
 the favorite page who is made the bearer 
 of the royal commands. 
 
 Midnight calls his majesty from his 
 couch to the perusal of psalms and sacred 
 writings. A band of sturdy priests in the 
 antechamber continue during the livelong 
 night to chant a noisy chorus of hymns to 
 preserve his slumbers from the influence 
 of evil spirits or apparitions, and daylight 
 brings a repetition of the busy scene, 
 which is only diversified by exercise on 
 horseback, when business and the fickle 
 sky will permit. Making excursions with 
 from four to five hundred mounted follow- 
 ers, it is then his wont to sit for hours on 
 the splashy banks of some sequestered 
 brook, listening to the soft murmur of the 
 waters, conversing familiarly with those 
 
 w 
 
 mmmm 
 
INFLUENCE OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 239 
 
 about him, witnessing the exercise of his 
 stud, and devoting every leisure moment 
 to the numerous petitioners who crowd 
 with complaints around the royal person. 
 
 Dreading the fate of his father, the mon- 
 arch never stirs from his threshold unpro- 
 vided with a pistol concealed under his 
 girdle along with his favorite amulet, in 
 which he reposes implicit faith and reliance. 
 His couch is nightly surrounded by tried 
 and trusty warriors, endeared to his person 
 by munificence displayed to no other class 
 of his subjects, while the gates of the 
 palace are barred after the going down of 
 the sun, and stoutly guarded during the 
 continuance of the nocturnal hours. 
 
 The principal officers of the royal house- 
 hold, and those most confided in by the 
 suspicious monarch, are the eunuchs. 
 Ayto Baimoot, their late chief, was spe- 
 cially charged with the royal harem in all 
 its branches, as well as with the establish- 
 ment of slaves. Long faithfully attached 
 to his indulgent master, he was, while he 
 lived, the king's only intimate counsellor, 
 and was never separated from his person. 
 
 Next in order is the herald, or dech 
 agafari, who, in addition to the important 
 duties already detailed, is the channel 
 through whom all new appointments by 
 the crown and all royal edicts and procla- 
 mations are published to the nation. Armed 
 with a rod of green rushes, he ushers into 
 the presence-chamber all officials, stran- 
 gers, and visitors, introducing at the ap- 
 pointed time those who have complaints 
 or representations to lay at the footstool 
 of the throne. He is the alaka of all who 
 have any boon to crave, and is in charge 
 of the host of pages and younger sons of 
 the nobility who attend upon the king — is 
 in general master of the ceremonies on oc- 
 casions of state or pageant, and introduces 
 guests who may be invited to the banquet. 
 
 The keys of the royal library are in the 
 custody of the chief of the church, the 
 Alaka Wolda Georgis, a layman and a 
 soldier, who was elevated to the exalted 
 post he occupies in direct violation of the 
 established usage of the country. The 
 office of chief smith and alaka of all the 
 tabiban, " wise people," or handicraftsmen, 
 throughout the realm, and of body physi- 
 cian, are concentrated in the person of 
 Ayto Habti, who must freely partake of all 
 drugs that are to be administered to the 
 king, and, with the commander-in-chief 
 of the body-guard, the master of the horse, 
 and the dwarf father-confessor, be in con- 
 stant attendance upon his majesty. 
 
 As well from religious as from worldly 
 motives, Sahela Selassie entertains a vast 
 
 number of pensioners, who receive dirgo, 
 or daily rations, in various proportions — 
 some being limited to dry bread, while 
 others extend to mead, the greatest luxury 
 which the country can afford. The dis- 
 tribution of this maintenance comes exclu- 
 sively within the province of the purveyor- 
 general, the food being prepared in the 
 royal kitchen by the numerous slaves, 
 who, shame to the Christian monarch, 
 compose the entire household establish- 
 ment. All foreigners and visitors receive 
 it, and, in addition to about one thousand 
 of this class, there are many besides who 
 possess the privilege of always dining at 
 the royal table. 
 
 Making munificent donations to churches 
 and monasteries, the king stands in high 
 odor with the fanatic clergy, and thus en- 
 joys the advantage of their influence over 
 the priest-ridden population, whom he rules 
 principally through the church ; and, never 
 undertaking any project without consult- 
 ing some of its members, is in turn much 
 swayed by their exhortations, prophecies, 
 dreams, and visions. Strongly attached to 
 the Christianity of Ethiopia, which abounds 
 in Jewish prejudices, he is still far from 
 being intolerant. According to the best of 
 his uncultivated ideas he encourages let- 
 ters, and spends considerable sums of 
 money in collecting ancient manuscripts. 
 Possessing natural talents and shrewdness, 
 which have been improved by the rudi- 
 ments of education, he rules his hereditary 
 empire with the greatest tact and advan- 
 tage ; and might, had his energies been 
 properly directed, have shone one of the 
 greatest potentates that ever wielded the 
 sceptre in the now disorganized empire. 
 
 Were the active life of Sahela Selassie 
 guided by superior principles — could he be 
 brought to despise petty things, and to sink 
 the details of unimportant affairs in matters 
 of the greatest moment — how wealthy and 
 powerful a monarch might he not still be- 
 come ! He would have time at command 
 to plan truly royal projects ; and, possessed 
 as he is of means the most ample, would 
 find leisure to carry through his designs. 
 Ambitious, ever making new conquests, 
 and, like other rulers of Abyssinia, enter- 
 taining no disinclination to be predominant, 
 his mind is yet filled with trifles, and not 
 sufficiently expanded to mature a plan of 
 operations upon an extended scale. Pre- 
 cluded by want of liberal education, or of 
 intercourse with civilized nations, from 
 calculating events, or looking deep into the 
 page of futurity, he lives in fact for little 
 beyond the present day. Ever busying 
 himself with follies and devising paltry 
 
240 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 schemes of aggrandizement, he neglects 
 matters of vital importance to the stability 
 of his dominion. Old in constitution, 
 though not in years — enfeebled by excess, 
 as well in mind as in body — uncivilized — 
 called early to the throne, and ruling du- 
 ring a long succession of years according 
 to one unvarying system — the dictates of 
 his own caprice — he requires some violent 
 impulse, some imminent and apparent peril 
 to arouse him from the torpor of security, 
 to stimulate his latent energies to greater 
 exertion, and to induce him temporarily to 
 sacrifice a portion of his idolized gold, in 
 order to reap a harvest five hundred fold. 
 
 From the merciful hand of this unique 
 specimen of absolute authority, the sceptre 
 falls lightly upon the head of the offender. 
 " I have before mine eyes the fear of God, : ' 
 is his frequent exclamation when passing 
 the extreme sentence of the law. Guilty of 
 none of the cruelties or enormities which 
 stain most of the other rulers of Abyssinia 
 — accessible, not easily offended, even tem- 
 pered, patient in his investigations, mild 
 and usually just in his despotism — he is 
 universally adored in his own dominions, 
 rather through love than through fear. 
 The oath by the life of the king is the only 
 binding obligation in the land ; and wise 
 and warlike in his expeditions, he is feared 
 and respected by all the adjacent tribes. 
 Conducting himself with that easy freedom 
 which generally distinguishes conscious 
 superiority, his demeanor is dignified and 
 commanding; and the appearance of the 
 half-civilized Christian savage, who sways 
 the destinies of millions in the heart of 
 heathen Africa would proclaim his high 
 descent even in the courts of Europe. 
 
 CHAPTER XCV. 
 
 THE GOVERNMENT AND THE ROYAL HOUSE- 
 HOLD. 
 
 The hereditary provinces, at this day 
 subject to the negoos of Shoa, are com- 
 prised in a rectangular domain of one hun- 
 dred and fifty by ninety miles, which area 
 is traversed by five systems of mountains, 
 whereof the culminating point divides the 
 basin of the Nile from that of the Hawash. 
 The Christian population of Shoa and Efat 
 are estimated at one million of souls, and 
 that of the Mohammadan and Pagan popu- 
 lation of the numerous dependencies at a 
 million and a half. Independent of the 
 tribute in kind, the royal revenues are said 
 to amount to about eighty or ninety thou- 
 
 sand German crowns, accruing chiefly 
 from import duties on slaves, foreign mer- 
 chandise, and salt. The annual expenses 
 of the state not exceeding ten thousand 
 dollars, it is probable that his Christian 
 majesty, during his long reign of nearly 
 thirty years, must have amassed consid- 
 erable treasure, which, whatever may be 
 the amount, is carefully deposited under 
 ground, and not lightly estimated by its 
 possessor. 
 
 Nearly in the centre of the kingdom pre- 
 sides Zenama Work, "the golden rain," 
 relict of Woosen Suggud, and mother of 
 the reigning monarch. The seat of her 
 government, it has already been said, is at 
 Zalla Dingai, " the rolling stone ;" and she 
 rules over nearly the whole of the north- 
 west, or in fact over almost one half of the 
 realm — appropriating in reversion to the 
 crown the entire revenues of her dependent 
 territories, and appointing her own gov- 
 ernors with the royal approval. Judge in 
 her own dominions, her decisions nev 
 ertheless lie under appeal to the throne ; 
 and even as queen-dowager, she is debar- 
 red participation in certain privileges which 
 form the exclusive prerogatives of her son, 
 over whose mind she exerts an influence 
 compared by the people of Shoa to that 
 which they believe the holy Virgin to ex* 
 ercise over the Redeemer. 
 
 Long tired of the world and of its van- 
 ities, the venerable lady has made numer- 
 ous applications for permission to retire to 
 a convent, and assume the veil, the royal 
 entreaties to the contrary having alone de- 
 layed the execution of the design. Many 
 years barren, she sought the benediction 
 of the wandering " Wato," and her nuptial 
 couch being shortly crowned by the birth 
 of Prince Menilek, the happy event was 
 ascribed to necromantic intervention. Thus 
 the tribe of the soothsayer is to this day 
 left in peaceful occupation of its mountains 
 on the bank of the wooded Hawash, while 
 the destroying hand of the Amhara presses 
 in wrath upon the head of the surrounding 
 heathen. 
 
 Four hundred governors, styled shoo- 
 mant, are appointed under the crown of 
 Shoa, and these with fifty abagasoch, or 
 guardians of the frontier, literally "fathers 
 of war," corresponding with the margraves 
 of Germany in olden times, conduct the 
 affairs of the kingdom and its dependen- 
 cies. Some few of the appointments are 
 hereditary ; but the majority are purchased 
 by the highest bidder, and the tenure is at 
 best extremely precarious. A governor on 
 his appointment is invested with a silver 
 sword as a badge of office, and is bound to 
 
GOVERNORS OF PROVINCES. 
 
 241 
 
 appear with his contingent of militia, when- 
 soever summoned for military service. His 
 grants are regulated by the amount of his 
 levy ; and as he rises in the royal estima- 
 tion, so he receives badges also for subor- 
 dinates who may have distinguished them- 
 selves by their zeal, activity, or valor. 
 
 No courtier or great man can, after a 
 long absence, approach the throne empty- 
 handed. Thousands of stern warriors bend 
 down with profound and slavish abasement 
 before the fellow-mortal who presides over 
 their sublunary destinies ; and even the 
 nobles of the land twice prostrate them- 
 selves, and kiss the dust in a manner the 
 most abject and humiliating. All public 
 officers make oblations from time to time 
 in kind ; and the king is besides in the 
 habit of requiring arbitrarily from those in 
 charge of districts, tribute in honey, clari- 
 fied butter, cloth, or whatever else he may 
 happen to require. Weak, and at the same 
 time cunning — suspicious of every one, 
 and placing not the smallest confidence in 
 any of his functionaries — he sometimes 
 precipitates them from affluence into a 
 dungeon, when they believe themselves in 
 the enjoyment of the largest share of favor. 
 Resolved to disgrace a nobleman, Sahela 
 Selassie either sends for, or visits the 
 doomed personage, treats him with marked 
 kindness and condescension, in view to 
 dispel alarm ; and embracing a favorable 
 moment when no resistance can be offered, 
 gives the flat to those in attendance to se- 
 cure their prisoner. 
 
 If not retained by fees and oblations, 
 governments are constantly forfeited and 
 resold. Frequent changes are also made 
 with the design of counteracting collusion 
 and rebellion. Although the power of the 
 negoos is omnipotent, it is subdivided 
 among all who execute his orders, and lit- 
 tle despots arise in all the numerous gov- 
 ernors of provinces — each actuated by the 
 same desire of being the executor of his 
 own supreme will. Still they bear a heavy 
 responsibility ; and the slightest error in 
 judgment, or, even in the absence of all 
 delinquency, the mere whim of the mon- 
 arch, may involve them in destruction 
 when least anticipated. Accountable for 
 every event, whether probable or improb- 
 able, assiduity ;n the management of af- 
 fairs does not always avail. Talents and 
 bravery are sometimes displayed in vain, 
 and the caprice of the despot may hurl the 
 possessor of both from his high estate to 
 the deepest ruin and disgrace. 
 
 Armed with the delegated authority of 
 the despot, each governor, enacting the 
 autocrat in his own domains, fashions his 
 
 habits and privileges after those of his 
 royal master. His fields are cultivated in 
 the same manner ; and he possesses the 
 advantage of being able to extort from the 
 inhabitants, for a very inadequate compen- 
 sation in grain, many days of extra labor 
 in each of the great agricultural opera- 
 tions. A fluctuating tribute, regulated by 
 his will and caprice, is exacted from all 
 land-holders, in kind, to meet the demands 
 of his majesty, who, in addition to an in- 
 auguration fee of from four to six hundred 
 dollars, is, unless voluntary offerings be 
 frequently made, ever sending requisitions 
 for live stock and farm produce. This 
 system falls heavily upon all classes. A 
 governor trusting to his own resources is 
 speedily impoverished ; while he who taxes 
 too roughly is certain to be stripped of au- 
 thority and property, on representation 
 made to the throne. 
 
 But the Abyssinian is never loth to 
 climb up again whence he has fallen ; and 
 the humbled grandee, although impover- 
 ished and shunned by the servile crowd, 
 strives again to ingratiate himself with the 
 sovereign — frequently succeeds by long 
 and patient attendance, and once more 
 girded with the silver sword of authority, 
 he attains that perilous and giddy pinna- 
 cle, where the weapon of destruction 
 hangs over his head, suspended only by 
 a single hair. 
 
 The essence of despotism pervading the 
 land to its very core, the negoos is the true 
 God of its adoration. All the best portions 
 of the soil pertain to his majesty, and the 
 life as well as the property of every subject 
 is at his sole and absolute disposal. Every 
 act is. performed with some view to pro- 
 mote his pleasure, and the subject waits on 
 his sovereign will, for favor, preferment, 
 and place. All appointments are at the 
 king's disposal — all rewards and distinc- 
 tions come from the king's hand. In years 
 of famine food itself is alone to be obtained 
 from the royal granaries ; and it is not 
 therefore surprising that those over whom 
 one so- absolute presides should be mean, 
 servile, and cringing, and that they should, 
 in their aspirations after power and place, 
 mould every action of their life according 
 to the despot's will. 
 
 Concealment of any acquisition, how- 
 soever small and valueless, is invariably 
 visited with loss of office and confiscation 
 of property. Gold forms the exclusive privi- 
 1 ege of royalty. Personal ornaments and col- 
 ored raiment have been hitherto restricted 
 by the severest sumptuary laws, and none 
 except the highest chiefs and warriors of 
 the land were ever honored by an exemp- 
 
242 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 tion from the rule. None, however, of these 
 harsh prohibitions, which have existence 
 under no other government in Abyssinia, 
 owe their origin to the present reign, and 
 all have been enforced during so many 
 generations, that they are now little irk- 
 some to the people. 
 
 Shoa has hitherto stood exempt from the 
 unceasing endeavors to acquire ascendency 
 on the part of all the various chieftains 
 who divide the sceptre in the north — allied 
 to-day in bonds of the closest amity, the 
 next arrayed in the most bitter animosity. 
 Engaged in perpetual strife, the march of 
 any one prince beyond the border of his 
 own territories proves the signal to the 
 nearest of his neighbors to carry fire and 
 sword into the very heart of his undefend- 
 ed domain ; but although torn by civil war 
 from one extremity to the other, the bond 
 of the ancient Ethiopic empire is still not 
 entirely dissolved ; and notwithstanding 
 that the " king of kings " has dwindled in- 
 to the mere spectre of imperial dignity — is 
 deposed and restored to the throne at the 
 caprice of every predominant ruler — bis 
 name at least is deemed essential to ren- 
 der valid the title of ras, and through the 
 latter, the government of all the dependent 
 provinces of Abyssinia. 
 
 But herein the king of Shoa forms an 
 exception ; and fortunate it is for his maj- 
 esty as well as for his dominions, that the 
 surrounding Galla tribes, united with natu- 
 ral defences, should have so completely 
 shut him out from participation in the in- 
 testine disturbances which have ravaged 
 and laid waste every other province of this 
 beautiful and once prosperous land. Al- 
 though he propitiates the leader of every 
 party, and pursues a conciliatory policy, it 
 would be in his power to mediate with a 
 high hand for the advantage of all ; yet is 
 it curious to observe with what tenacity 
 the Abyssinians adhere to preconceived 
 opinions. The kingdom of Shoa, which 
 was formerly a portion of the empire, still 
 continues in general estimation to form an 
 integral part thereof; and Sahela Selassie 
 is therefore, but in name only, regarded as 
 a vassal of the puppet emperor of Gondar, 
 notwithstanding that he is, de facto, an in- 
 dependent monarch. 
 
 CHAPTER XCVI. 
 
 GALLA DEPENDENCIES IN THE SOUTH. 
 
 During the reign of Asfa Woosen, 
 grandsire to Sahela Selassie, the independ- 
 ent states of Shoa and Efat were of very 
 
 inconsiderable extent. Morat, Morabeitie, 
 Giddem, Bulga, and other districts now 
 appended, were at that period distinct gov- 
 ernments, as is now the case in Gurague, 
 where there are more rulers than provinces. 
 It is not therefore surprising, that amid the 
 perpetual quarrels of the Christian princes, 
 the surrounding Galla should have been 
 left in undisturbed possession of the lands 
 which they had wrested from Southern 
 Abyssinia. But no sooner had Asfa Woo- 
 sen subdued King Zeddoo, the son of Jesai- 
 as, the son of Abisag, the son of Masamer, 
 usurper of Morabeitie and Morat, with 
 whom sank also those of inferior preten- 
 sions, than he began with his united forces 
 to make inroads upon the Galla tribes. 
 The unsettled state of the newly-conquer- 
 ed provinces, precluded extensive opera- 
 tions ; and the task of reducing the Pagans 
 to obedience was thus principally bequeath- 
 ed to Woosen Suggud, whose strong arm 
 not only kept in submission the territories 
 conquered by his father, but added greatly 
 to the western limits of Shoa by the acqui- 
 sition of -Moogher on the Nile, and by the 
 conquest of the Abidchu, Woberi, and Gil- 
 Ian, so far south as the mountains of Garra 
 Gorphoo. 
 
 Conceiving that a youth who had scarce- 
 ly numbered twelve years would be unable 
 to hold them in subjection, the tributary 
 Galla revolted immediately upon the acces- 
 sion of Sahela Selassie. But subsequent 
 events proved that they were mistaken in 
 the estimate formed of the monarch's mili- 
 tary capacity. He vanquished King Hai- 
 loo, who still asserted his dignity in Morat. 
 Having amassed fire-arms from Gondar and 
 Tigre, as well as from the sea-coast of Ta- 
 jura, he was enabled to quell many succes- 
 sive insurrections, and for a number of 
 years was fortunate in the fidelity of the 
 lion-hearted Medoko, who was even more 
 feared than himself by the surrounding 
 Gentiles. He caused all the Galla of the 
 province of Shoa-Meda to be circumcised 
 and baptized ; and having commanded them 
 to wear about their necks the " mateb" or 
 cord of blue silk, to fast, and to eat neither 
 with Mohammad ans nor Pagans, nor to 
 touch meat that has not been killed in the 
 name of the Trinity, they have thenceforth 
 been denominated Christians. 
 
 Throughout his long reign, it has been 
 the king's favorite project to reunite the 
 scattered remnants of Christian population 
 which still mark the extent of the domin- 
 ions of his forefathers. The countries to 
 the south and southwest have therefore 
 always received the largest share of his 
 majesty's attention, and in those directions 
 
ANNUAL FORAYS— BLOOD FEUDS. 
 
 243 
 
 he has attacked and subdued in succession 
 all the tribes on this side of the Hawash. 
 The Metta, Metcha, Moolo Falada, Becho- 
 Woreb, Becho-Foogook, and Charsa-Da- 
 gha, are all appended to Shoa. Moreover, 
 the royal arms have crossed the Hawash, 
 and to a certain extent accomplished the 
 reduction of the Soddo, of the frontiers of 
 Gurague, of the Karaiyo, Loomi, Jille, and 
 other remote clans. In the north little 
 progress has been made, and many reverses 
 have deterred further attempts upon the 
 wild mountaineers ; but in the northeast 
 the Selmi, the Aboti, and several other 
 tribes previously independent, have been 
 reduced to feudal submission, and by judi- 
 cious management are made to secure the 
 frontier from invasion. 
 
 But although Sahela Selassie has thus 
 widely extended the limits of his empire, 
 he has adopted no efficient measures to 
 consolidate his conquests. As a contrast 
 between the former and the existing ad- 
 ministration, it is said of the southern Gal- 
 la, " where all was once strength, there is- 
 now nothing save weakness. Of yore tri- 
 bute was paid by all, whereas at the present j 
 day the possession of the dependencies does 
 but entail expense." Three annual expe- 
 ditions made throughout a period of thirty 
 years, for the purpose of collecting the 
 revenues of the crown, have hitherto proved 
 ineffectual to the preservation of perma- 
 nent tranquillity among the tribes subju- 
 gated by his ancestors ; and the Sertie 
 lake, with other morasses, remain monu- 
 ments of the dire disasters which sometimes 
 attend his usually successful arms. He 
 neither erects fortifications, nor does he 
 establish outposts ; and the government 
 being continued in heathen hands, the trib- 
 utary tribes rebel during each rainy sea- 
 son, only to be resubdued as soon as it is 
 over — the insurgents often tendering their 
 renewed allegiance the instant they per- 
 ceive the crimson umbrellas of state, but 
 more frequently delaying until the locust- 
 like army of the Amhara has swept their 
 fair fields, and like the devastating stream 
 from the volcano, has left a smoking desert 
 in its train. 
 
 Chastised by two or three successful 
 forays, the, chiefs and elders of the rebel- 
 lious and ruined clan, finding the futility 
 of further opposition to the yoke, come in 
 with the tribute exacted, and make feudal 
 submission, whereupon they are suffered to 
 ransom their wives and daughters w T ho 
 have been enslaved. It cannot fail to ap- 
 pear extraordinary, that those who are un- 
 prepared for resistance should occupy their 
 beleaguered abodes one minute after they 
 
 have become aware of the presence of their 
 ruthless and implacable foes ; but in almost 
 every instance they are in blood feud with 
 all the surrounding tribes of their own na- 
 tion, at whose merciless hands they would 
 experience even worse treatment than at 
 those of the Amhara. Neither, during 
 persecution, could they hope to find an asy- 
 lum among tributary neighbors, with whom 
 they might perchance be on amicable 
 terms, since their reception would inevita- 
 bly entail on those who harbored the fugi- 
 tives the last vengeance of the despot, 
 Thus the choice is left between precarious 
 flight to the mountain fastnesses, in the 
 very teeth of the enemy, and the alterna- 
 tive of lurking in the vicinity of the invaded 
 hamlet, upon the slender chance of eluding 
 the keen scent of the bloodhounds. 
 
 The governor, or, in fact, the king of all 
 the Galla now dependent on Shoa, is Abo- 
 gaz Maretch, who resides at Wona-badera, 
 south of Angollala. At first a bitter ene- 
 my of Sahela Selassie, this haughty war- 
 rior chief, renowned for his bravery, was 
 finally gained over by bribes, and by prom- 
 ises of distinction and advancement, which 
 have actually been fulfilled. Partly by 
 force, and partly by soft words and judi- 
 cious intermarriages with chiefs of the va- 
 rious tribes, he contrives to keep in some 
 sort of order the wild spirits over whom he 
 presides ; but he is taxed with want of 
 proper severity, and although still high in 
 favor, has more than once been suspected 
 of divulging the royal projects. 
 
 Abba Mooalle, the governor of Moogher 
 and of the surrounding Galla in the west, 
 was also formerly very inimical to Shoa ; 
 but being won over to the royal interests 
 by the espousal of his sister, by preferment 
 to extensive power, and by the hand of one 
 of the despotic princesses, he was four 
 years since converted to Christianity, when 
 the king became his sponsor. The valu- 
 ble presents which he is enabled to make to 
 the throne, owing to his proximity to the 
 high caravan-road from the interior, pre- 
 serve him a distinguished place in the esti- 
 mation of the negoos, than whom he is 
 little inferior in point of state. At constant 
 war with the Galla occupying the country 
 to the westward, between Sullala Moogher 
 and Gojam, he hastily assembles his troops 
 twice or thrice during the year, and making 
 eagle-like descents across the Nile at the 
 head of ten thousand cavalry, rarely fails 
 to recruit the royal herds with a rich har- 
 vest in cattle. 
 
 Dogmo, who resides in the mountain of 
 Yerrur, was educated in the palace ; and 
 his undeviating attachment to the crown 
 
 Ma 
 
244 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 has been rewarded with the hand of one 
 of the king's illegitimate daughters. Botha, 
 Shambo, and Dogmo, are the sons of Bun- 
 nie, whose father, Borri, governed the en- 
 tire tract styled Ghera Meder, " the coun- 
 try on the left," which includes all the 
 Galla tribes bordering on both sides of the 
 Hawash in the south of Shoa. Bunnie 
 was, in consequence of some transgression, 
 imprisoned in Aramba ; and Botora, ano- 
 ther potent Galla chieftain, appointed in his 
 stead. But this impolitic transfer of power 
 creating inveterate hatred between the two 
 families, each strove to destroy the other. 
 Bunnie was in consequence liberated, and 
 restored to his government ; but resting 
 incautiously under a tree on his return, 
 not long afterward, from a successful ex- 
 pedition against the Aroosi, whom he had 
 defeated, he was suddenly surrounded by 
 the enemy, and slain, together with four 
 chiefs, his confederates, and nearly the 
 whole of his followers. His sons were 
 then severally invested with governments ; 
 and Boku, the son of Botora, was at his 
 father's demise intrusted with the preser- 
 vation of the avenues to the lake Zooai, 
 long an object of the royal ambition. 
 
 Among the most powerful Galla chief- 
 tains who own allegiance to Shoa, is Jhara, 
 the son of Chamme, soi-disanl queen of 
 Moolo Falada, who, since the demise of her 
 husband, has governed that and other prov- 
 inces adjacent. Sahela Selassie, who it 
 •will be seen relies more upon political mar- 
 riages than upon the force of arms, sent 
 matrimonial overtures to this lady, and re- 
 ceived for answer the haughty message, 
 " that if he would spread the entire road 
 from Angollala with rich carpets, she might 
 perhaps listen to the proposal, but upon no 
 other conditions !" The Christian lances 
 poured over the land to avenge this insult 
 offered to the monarch of Shoa, and the in- 
 vaded tribe laid down their arms ; but Go- 
 banah. foster-brother to Jhara, and a migh- 
 ty man of renown, finding that his majesty 
 proposed burning their hamlets without re- 
 servation, rose to oppose the measure. At 
 this critical moment an Amhara trumpeter 
 raised his trombone to his lips. The Galla, 
 believing the instrument to be none other 
 than a musket, fled in consternation, and 
 their doughty chieftain surrendered him- 
 self a prisoner at discretion. 
 
 Upon learning to whom he had relin- 
 quished his liberty, Gobanah, broken-heart- 
 ed, abandoned himself to despair, and re- 
 fused all sustenance for many days. The 
 hand of the fair daughter of the queen was 
 eventually the price of his ransom ; and on 
 the celebration of the nuptials, the king, 
 
 who, with reference to his conquest of 
 Moolo Falada, might have exclaimed, with 
 the Roman dictator, " Veni vidi, vici" con- 
 ferred upon Jhara the government of all 
 the subjugated Galla as far as the sources 
 of the Hawash, and to the Nile in the west. 
 Warlike, daring, and ambitious, exercising 
 his important functions almost beyond the 
 ken of his sovereign, and possessing, from 
 his proximity to Gojam and Damot, the 
 means of creating himself the leader of a 
 vast horde, there can be little, doubt, al- 
 though he has hitherto evinced strong at- 
 tachment to the crown, that, imitating the 
 example of all Pagan chieftains who have 
 gone before him, he will one day profit by 
 his opportunities to take up arms against 
 Shoa, and may thus be destined to enact a 
 most conspicuous part in the history of 
 the Galla nation. 
 
 CHAPTER XCVII. 
 
 THE GALLA NATION. 
 
 Abyssinia had long maintained her glo- 
 ry unsullied under an ancient line of em- 
 perors, when, in the sixteenth century of 
 the Christian era, the ambitious and for- 
 midable Graan, at the head of a whole na- 
 tion of Moslem barbarians, burst over the 
 frontier, and dashed into atoms the struc- 
 ture of two thousand five hundred years. 
 Defended by hireling swords, which in a 
 series of sanguinary conflicts wrested the 
 victorious wreath from the brow of the in- 
 vader, and since, supported rather by the 
 memory of departed greatness than by ac- 
 tual strength, small portions of the once 
 vast empire have struggled on, the shadow 
 only of imperial dignity. But the glory 
 had departed from the house of Ethiop, her 
 power had been prostrated before the migh- 
 ty conqueror and his wild band ; and the 
 Galla hordes, pouring flagrante bello into 
 the richest provinces, from southern Cen- 
 tral Africa, reerected heathen shrines du- 
 ring the reign of anarchy, and rose and 
 flourished on her ruins. 
 
 The history of these African Tartars is, 
 however, veiled in the deepest obscurity. 
 Under the title of Oroma, they trace their 
 origin to three sisters, daughters of Jeru- 
 salem, to whom are applied traditions sim- 
 ilar to the scriptural chronicle of the de- 
 scendants of Lot. In their own language, 
 the word "Galla" signifies ingressi; and 
 of themselves they affirm that Wollaboo, 
 their father, came from beyond Bargamo, 
 " the great water ;" and that his children 
 
PAGAN INVADERS— SAVAGE PROPENSITIES. 
 
 245 
 
 were nine — Aroosi, Karaiyo, Jille, Abidchu, 
 Gillan, Woberi, Metta, Gumbidchu, and 
 Becho-Fugook — from whose loins have 
 sprung the innumerable clans or houses 
 which now people the greater portion of 
 intra-tropical Africa. . But by the Moslem 
 bigots, who form the chief curse of Ethio- 
 pia, it is said that the term by which the 
 nation is recognized was applied to the 
 lima Oroma, or seed of Oroma, by the 
 prophet himself, who, on sending to sum- 
 mon Wollaboo to become a proselyte to the 
 true faith, received a direct refusal. " Gal 
 La," " he said No/' reported the unsuccess- 
 ful messenger on his return. " Let this 
 then be the denomination of the infidels 
 in future," exclaimed the arch impostor, 
 " since they will not receive the celestial 
 revelations made through the angel Ga- 
 briel." 
 
 But whatever may be the origin of the 
 heathen invaders, it is certain that, as a 
 martial people, they have greatly degen- 
 erated from their ancestors. United under 
 one head, they overran the fairest provin- 
 ces of Ethiopia ; and had they remained 
 united, they might, with equal ease, have 
 • completed the conquest of the greater por- 
 tion of the African continent. Relaxing, 
 however, in their common cause against 
 the Christians, the tribes soon began to 
 contest among each other for the posses- 
 sion of the newly acquired territory. In- 
 testine feuds and dissensions neutralized 
 their giant power ; and the weakness and 
 disorganization by which the majority are 
 now characterized, is to be ascribed to the 
 fact of there being no king in Israel. 
 
 Roving in his native pastures, where his 
 manners are unadulterated by the semi- 
 civilization of Abyssinia, the equestrian 
 Galla is an object worthy the pencil of 
 Carle Vernet or Pinelli. Tall and athletic, 
 his manly figure is enveloped in a toga, 
 such as graced the sons of ancient Rome, 
 and his savage, wild, and fiery features, 
 are rendered still more ferocious by thick 
 bushy hair arranged either in large lotus- 
 leaved compartments, or streaming over 
 the shoulders in long raven plaits. Grease 
 and filth however form his delight ; and he 
 sparkles under a liberal coat of the much- 
 loved butter, which is unsparingly applied 
 when proceeding to the perpetration of the 
 most dastardly and inhuman deeds. Ac- 
 coutred with spear, sword, and buckler, and 
 wedded to the rude saddle, whereof he 
 would seem to form a part, the Pagan 
 scours fearlessly over the grassy savannas 
 which he has usurped from the Christian, 
 and is engaged in perpetual desultory strife 
 with all his border neighbors. 
 
 Possessing the finest breed of horses in 
 Ethiopia, and wealthy both in flocks and 
 herds, which roam over boundless meadows 
 smiling with clover, trefoil, and buttercups, 
 this pastoral people devote their time gen- 
 erally to agricultural pursuits, and herein 
 they are aided by a delightful climate, and 
 by a luxuriant, well-watered soil. While 
 the women tend the sheep and oxen in the 
 field, and manage the industrious hive, the 
 men plough, sow, and reap, presenting in 
 this respect a striking contrast to their in- 
 dolent lowland neighbors, the Ada'i'el, whom 
 they rival in barbarous ferocity, in treach- 
 ery, and in savage propensities. Rich and 
 verdant valleys, the glory of the mountains,, 
 and the pride of the proprietors, by the 
 sweat of whose brow they have been cloth- 
 ed with the most luxuriant crops, annually 
 flourish, but too frequently to be swept from 
 off the land by the sudden burst of war. 
 Often is the cup of hope dashed from the 
 lips when the enjoyment of the contents 
 is deemed most certain, and the mangled 
 corse of the husbandman is left on the bor- 
 ders of the very field of which he was gar- 
 nering in the ripe corn. 
 
 Nor are the female portion of the Galla 
 population less eminent in the equestrian 
 art than their warlike lords, whose steeds 
 it is their business to tend and saddle for 
 the foray. Distinguished for their beauty 
 among the dark daughters of Africa, their 
 fine figures are slenderly attired in a short 
 leathern petticoat, embroidered with a 
 flounce of white cowry shells, and clasped 
 around the waist by a zone of colored 
 beads. A flowing cotton robe completes 
 the toilet of the wealthy ; and the time of 
 all is equally devoted to the braiding an 
 infinity of minute tresses, falling over the 
 shoulders after the manner of the ancient 
 Egyptians. But their garments and their 
 persons are unsparingly anointed with lard 
 and butter ; and the romance which might 
 otherwise attach to their native charms, 
 cannot fail to be dispelled on near approach. 
 
 The conically thatched cabins of the 
 Galla are grouped in rural clusters, and 
 uniformly surrounded by a stone wall as a 
 precaution against surprise. The hamlet 
 is often concealed amid the dark green 
 groves of towering, cedar-like juniper, of 
 which sombre forests grace the deep bro- 
 ken ravine ; and through each rocky chan- 
 nel tumbles the foaming cascade, to me- 
 ander over the luxuriant pasture, redolent 
 of aromatic herbs. Bees form a portion 
 of the wealth of every family, and the 
 flower-clothed meads, fostered by an Italian 
 sky, are covered with them. The same 
 whimsical customs which have been gene- 
 
246 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 rally practiced since the days of Virgil, 
 are here extant. The same confused 
 clamor is raised to induce the swarm to 
 alight ; and the cylindrical hive having i 
 been rubbed inside with the leaves of odor- 
 iferous herbs to entice the wild insects to 
 remain, it is suspended under the eaves of j 
 the hut, and twice during the year robbed 
 of the honey. 
 
 To the performance of the religious rites 
 of the pagan, a tree is indispensable, his 
 devotions and his sacrifices being invaria- 
 bly performed under the shadow of its 
 boughs. On the interment of a priest, a 
 sycamore or a coffee-tree, is planted over 
 the grave, and held sacred for ever ; while 
 on the banks of the Ha wash stands the 
 venerable Woda Nuwee* to which the 
 tribes flock from far and wide to make 
 vows and propitiatory offerings, and to 
 recount their exploits in war. Paying 
 adoration onlv to stocks and stones, and 
 bending the knee to none but idols and 
 serpenfs, they here lavish votive oblations 
 of butter and honey to secure the favor 
 of the deity— hang upcm the spreading 
 branches the revolting trophies taken from 
 their enemies; and performing incanta- 
 tions to Sar, the prince of the demons, 
 bind around their necks the entrails of the 
 slaughtered victim which has yielded aus- 
 picious omens. 
 
 Two great annual sacrifices are made 
 to the deities Ogli and Ateti, the former 
 between June and July, the latter in the 
 beginning of September. A number of 
 goats having been slain, the lubah, or 
 priest, wearing a tuft of long hair on his 
 crown, proceeds with a bell in his hand, 
 and his brows encircled by a fillet of cop- 
 per, to divine from the fat, caul, and en- 
 trails, whether or not success will attend 
 the warriors in battle. This point deter- 
 mined, the assembled multitude, howling 
 and screaming like demons, continue to 
 surfeit themselves with raw meat, to swal- 
 low beer, and to inhale smoke to intoxica- 
 tion, until midnight — invoking Wak, the 
 Supreme Being, to grant numerous pro- 
 geny, lengthened years, and abundant 
 crops, as well as to cause their spears to 
 prevail over those of their foes ; and when 
 sacrificing to Ateti, the goddess of fecun- 
 dity, exclaiming frequently, "Lady, we 
 commit ourselves unto thee; stay thou 
 with us always." 
 
 The kalicha is the Galla wizard, conju- 
 rer, and physician. With the putrefying 
 intestines of a goat hung about his neck, 
 
 * Ficus sycamorus, the wild fig. It is called worjca, 
 " the golden," by the Amhara, and attains a vast size. 
 
 and armed with a bell and a copper whip, 
 his skill in the expulsion of the devil is 
 rarely known to fail. A serpent is propi- 
 tiated, and the patient rubbed with butter, 
 fumigated with potent herbs, and exorcised 
 with°frantic howls, a few strokes of the 
 lash being administered until the cure is 
 perfected. No Amhara will slay either a 
 lubah or a kalicha under any circumstances, 
 from a superstitious dread of bis dying 
 curse ; and Galla sorceresses are frequent- 
 ly called in by the Christians of Shoa, to 
 transfer sickness, or to rid the house of 
 evil spirits, by cabalistic incantations, per- 
 formed with" the blood of ginger-colored 
 hens, and red he-goats. 
 
 But among the Galla sorcerers and sooth- 
 sayers, the Wato, already mentioned as in- 
 habiting the mountain Dalacha, toward the 
 sources of the Hawash, are the most uni- 
 versally celebrated. Neither pagan nor 
 Christian will molest this tribe, from the 
 same superstitious apprehension of their 
 malediction, and still more from a desire 
 to obtain their blessing ; while he who re- • 
 ceives the protection of a Wato, may travel 
 with perfect security over every part of the 
 country inhabited by the Galla. Subsist- 
 ing entirely by the chase, they wander from 
 lake to lake and from river to river, de- 
 stroying the hippopotamus, upon the flesh 
 of which animal they chiefly live— whereas 
 no other heathen will touch it. Feared 
 and respected, and claiming to themselves 
 to be the original stock of the Oromo na- 
 tion, they deem all other clans unclean 
 from having mixed with Mohammadans 
 and Christians ; and refusing on this ac- 
 count to intermarry, remain to this day a 
 separate and distinet people. 
 
 All barbarians are orators ; and the eu- 
 phonous language of the Galla, which 
 unfortunately can boast of no written char- 
 acter, is admirably adapted to embellish 
 their eloquent and impressive delivery. 
 Cradled in the unexplored heights of Ethio- 
 pia, many of the customs of these fierce 
 illiterate idolators are closely and remark- 
 ably allied to those of the more civilized 
 nations of antiquity. Seeking presages, 
 like the Romans and Etrurians, in the 
 flight of birds, and in the entrails of slaugh- 
 tered sacrifices— wearing the hair braided 
 like the ancient Egyptians, and, like them, 
 sleeping with the head supported by a 
 wooden crutch— wedding the relict of a 
 deceased brother, according to the Mosaic 
 law, and bowing the knee to the old serpent, 
 whom they regard as the father of all man- 
 kind — an acquaintance with these wild 
 invaders suggests to the speculations of 
 curiosity novel proofs of their origin when 
 
KINGDOM OF ENAREA— COFFEE AND CIVET. 
 
 247 
 
 referred to a common parent ; nor are these 
 a little enhanced by the existence of a 
 prophecy, that their hordes are one day 
 to quit the highlands of their usurpation, 
 and march to the east and to the north, 
 • ; that they may conquer the inheritance of 
 their Jewish ancestors." 
 
 CHAPTER XCVIII. 
 
 UNEXPLORED COUNTRIES TO THE SOUTH. 
 
 Divided into endless houses, the ma- 
 jority of the southern Oromo tribes, who 
 boast independence of Shoa, are governed 
 by hereditary chieftains ; and it is only 
 where the Moslem slave-dealer has suc- 
 cessfully commenced the work of conver- 
 sion to the creed promulgated by the pro- 
 phet, that this wild heathen race have 
 been brought to bow the neck to the yoke 
 of kings. Of this Enarea affords a most 
 striking example, for there one half of the 
 * entire population have abandoned idolatry, 
 while despotism has taken root and flour- 
 ishes under a line of Mohammadan rulers. 
 
 Surrounded on all sides by lofty moun- 
 tains, this kingdom embraces an extensive 
 plateau of table land, which forms the sep- 
 aration of the waters to the north and 
 south, and must be among the most eleva- 
 ted regions of Africa. Menchilla, stretch- 
 ing from east to northwest, is the principal 
 range, and a spur to the southwest is 
 described as joining the so called moun- 
 tains of the moon. Saka, the capital, con- 
 tains from ten to twelve thousand inhabit- 
 ants, mixed Pagans and Mohammadans, 
 who inhabit houses of a circular form, 
 somewhat better constructed than those of 
 the Amhara. 
 
 Sae^d was the son of Ascari, a Moham- 
 madan, and his sister Elikkee wedding a 
 Galla, bore a son Teso, who was brought 
 up in heathenism, and conquered Enarea. 
 His son B5k(i also died a Pagan ; but 
 Bofo, " the serjj<?nt," who succeeded on 
 the death of his father, was converted to 
 the Islam faith by Mootar, his uncle, the 
 nephew of Elikkee. Abba Bokibo, the 
 present and fourth monarch, is represented 
 to be just and merciful, but his ancestors 
 were monstrous and relentless tyrants, 
 who " caused rivers of blood to flow, and 
 slew the people like cows." Arrayed in 
 a black mantle of goat's hair, his majesty 
 dispenses justice in the market-place, sit- 
 ting on the trunk of a tree with a bullock's 
 hide spread beneath his feet. Saka con- 
 tains upward of one thousand moolahs; 
 
 but in the absence of mosques, prayers 
 are held at the tomb of Bofo, the first con- 
 vert to the faith. Twice during each year 
 great military expeditions are undertaken, 
 which rarely extend beyond eight or ten 
 days. Every soldier carries a small sup- 
 ply of bread, and trusts for further subsist- 
 ence to pillage and plunder. Many bloody 
 battles are annually fought with the sur- 
 rounding tribes, and wide tracts of country 
 thus annexed to the royal possessions. 
 
 The x\gallo, Yelloo, Betcho, Sudecha, 
 Chora, and Nono, are all subject to the 
 suppera, or king, of Enarea, whose sway 
 extends to the Soddo, Metta, and Maleema 
 Galla, about the sources of the Ha wash, 
 which rises in Adda-Berga. Limmoo, 
 whereof the capital is Sobitcha, is a prov- 
 ince annexed of old to Enarea ; and Abba 
 Bokibo, desirous of subjugating Gooderoo, 
 and the countries to the north as far as 
 the Nile, sent to propose an alliance with 
 Dedjasmach Goshoo, the ruler of Gojam. 
 " You sell slaves," was the reply of the 
 Christian potentate, " and are a Moham- 
 madan to boot. It cannot be." One hun- 
 dred horns of civet and fifty female slaves 
 which had been sent by the suppera, were 
 nevertheless accepted, and thirty match- 
 locks, with persons versed in the use of 
 fire-arms, were forwarded in return. 
 
 Little sickness of any sort prevails, and 
 mendicants, the pest of Abyssinia, are said 
 to be unknown in the land. The wild vine 
 flourishes, and bears abundance of grapes. 
 The " gosso" tree, which attains a vast 
 height, is covered during the season with 
 delicious berries, and is ascended by means 
 of the tendrils of the vine bound around 
 the stem. Coffee grows wild in every 
 wood, to the height of eight and ten feet, 
 and bends under the load of fruit. A large 
 skinful is purchased for two-pence half- 
 penny sterling, and the decoction, prepared 
 as in Europe, is invariably presented to the 
 stranger, as is an infusion of the "chaat," 
 a coarse species of the tea-plant, which 
 there flourishes spontaneously, but is cul- 
 tivated in Shoa. 
 
 The civet cat is a native of Enarea, and 
 being caught in gins, is kept in the house 
 and fed on meat and boiled maize. The 
 cages are daily placed before the fire pre- 
 paratory to the operation of removing the 
 secretion, which is performed with a wood- 
 en spoon. A lump about the size of a 
 small filbert is yielded at each baking, and 
 it forms a considerable article of export. 
 Myrrh an 3 frankincense are also produced 
 in great quantities, and are employed in 
 religious ceremonies, burnt sacrifices of 
 incense being made to the guardian genius. 
 
 I 
 
248 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 Notwithstanding the conversion to Mo- 
 hammadanism of so large a portion of the 
 population, sacrifices are still made to 
 " Wak" on the festival of Hedar Michael, 
 which, together with the Sabbath, is strict- 
 ly observed by all the Galla tribes. The 
 Woda tree is at Betcho ; no woman is suf- 
 fered to come near it ; and under its sacred 
 shade all priests are ordained — even the 
 followers of the prophet placing blood 
 upon it as a superstitious oblation. Thou- 
 sands upon thousands of the heathen hav- 
 ing assembled, the liibah sprinkles over 
 the crowd first beer, then an amalgamation 
 of unroasted coffee and butter, and, lastly, 
 flour and butter mixed in a separate mess. 
 A white bull is then slaughtered, and its 
 blood scattered abroad to complete the 
 ceremonies, which are followed by eating, 
 drinking, and drunkenness. 
 
 Zingero, which is visible from the high 
 land of Enarea, was, until within the last 
 two years, at constant war with the Galla 
 states. Jimma and Limmoo uniting, then 
 overran the country ; and having dethroned 
 Amno Zermud, the occupant of the throne, 
 annexed the ancient kingdom to the do- 
 minions of Abba Bokibo. It is bounded 
 on the south by a great river called the 
 Gochob. Anger, the capital, is situated on 
 the summit of a very high mountain ; and 
 the whole country, which sinks to a much 
 lower level, is rich and fertile. 
 
 In days of yore, fourteen kingdoms are 
 said to have been tributary to the sovereign 
 of Zingero. The succession to the throne 
 was determined from among the nobles, 
 who, at the demise of the monarch, were 
 wont to assemble in an open field, when he 
 over whose head a bee or a vulture first 
 chanced to fly was elected by the unani- 
 mous voice of the people. Although no 
 portion of the population professes the 
 Christianity of Ethiopia, and none of its 
 fasts are observed, the rite of circumcision 
 is universal, and the Sabbath is respected, 
 together with the Abyssinian festivals of 
 Kidana Meherat, and St. Michael. 
 
 Prior to the conquest of Zingero, no 
 male slave was ever sold, a practice which 
 is said to have originated in the conduct of 
 one of the daughters of the land. A cer- 
 tain king of old commanded a man of rank 
 to slaughter his wife, her flesh having been 
 prescribed by the sorcerers as the only 
 cure for a malady wherewith his majesty 
 was grievously afflicted. Returning to his 
 house for the purpose of executing the 
 royal mandate, the noble found his fair 
 partner sleeping, and her beauty so dis- 
 armed him, that his hand refused to perpe- 
 trate the murderous deed. Hereat the 
 
 despot waxing wroth, directed the lady to 
 slay her husband, which she did without 
 any remorse or hesitation, and thus brought 
 odium upon the whole sex, who have since 
 been considered fit only to become slaves 
 and drudges. 
 
 Immediately upon the birth of a male 
 child the mammcc are amputated, from a 
 belief that no warrior can possibly be brave 
 who possesses them, and that they should 
 belong only to women. This fact is fully 
 corroborated in the person of the few pris- 
 oners of war who reach the kingdom of 
 Shoa. Since the overthrow of the ancient 
 dynasty, the country has been ravaged for 
 slaves by all the surrounding states, but 
 few will deign to survive the loss of lib- 
 erty ; and suicide is so frequent in captivi- 
 ty, that the males are hardly considered 
 worth the trouble of exporting. 
 
 Human sacrifices have ever been, and 
 still are, frightfully common in Zingero. 
 When exporting slaves from that country, 
 the merchant invariably throws the hand- 
 somest female captive into the lake Umo, 
 in form of a tribute or propitiatory offering 
 to the genius of the water. It is the duty 
 of a large portion of the population to bring 
 their first-born as a sacrifice to the deity, 
 a custom which tradition assigns to the 
 advice of the sorcerers. In days of yore it 
 is said that the seasons became jumbled. 
 There was neither summer nor winter, and 
 the fruits of the earth came not to maturity. 
 Having assembled the magicians, the king 
 commanded them to show how this state 
 of things might best be rectified, and the 
 rebellious seasons be reduced to order. The 
 wise men counselled the cutting down of 
 a certain great pillar of iron which stood 
 before the gate of the capital, and the stock 
 whereof remains to the present time. This 
 had the effect desired ; but in order to pre- 
 vent a relapse into the former chaos of 
 confusion, the magi directed that the pillar, 
 as well as the footstool of the throne, might 
 be annually bathed in human blood ; in 
 obedience to which a tribute was levied 
 upon the first-born, who are immolated 
 upon the spot. 
 
 Of the independent Galla tribes lying 
 immediately contiguous to Enarea, Goma, i 
 under Abba Rek>, is the principal. This 
 king is also a convert to Mohammadanism ; 
 and the life of his father having been sav- 
 ed by a vulture, which, according to the 
 legend, plucked out the eyes of a host of 
 Gentiles by whom the royal person was 
 assailed, he retains a domesticated bird, 
 which, with a tinkling bell around its neck, 
 invariably accompanies the army on all 
 predatory expeditions. At the termination 
 
CATARACTS OF DUMBARO— CAFFA. 
 
 249 
 
 of the first march Abba Rebo with his own 
 royal hands slays a white bull, and if the 
 wild vultures of the air join the trained 
 bird in the repast, the omens are esteemed 
 to be fortunate. 
 
 The Mohammadan Galla tribes, those 
 on the border especially, are uniformly the 
 most savage and barbarous. The Alaba 
 are dire monsters, and more dreaded than 
 the wild beasts, whom they far exceed in 
 ferocity. The cruelties practiced by the 
 chief of the Goma are almost incredible. 
 Offenders are deprived of hands, nose, and 
 ears ; and their eyes having been seared 
 with a hot iron, the mutilated victims are 
 paraded through the market-place for the 
 edification of the populace. The sight of 
 all prisoners taken in war is similarly de- 
 stroyed ; and a stone having been tied about 
 the neck, they are thrown by hundreds in- 
 to a river formerly styled Daama, but now 
 denominated the Chuba, from a belief that 
 its waters are composed solely of human 
 blood. It rises in Utter Gudder, where 
 is a tributary tribe called Mergo, subsist- 
 ing entirely upon the chase of the elephant 
 and wild buffalo. In Goma, the Moslem 
 faith is universal. Every man is a war- 
 rior ; and retaining a number of Shankela 
 slaves to cultivate the ground, remains idle 
 himself, unless when engaged in war, or in 
 the chase. 
 
 The Boono are a republican tribe of 
 Pagans, bordering on Enarea, and who, 
 acknowledging no king, are governed by 
 a council of the elders. Inhabiting lofty 
 mountains to which there is only one ac- 
 cessible road, strongly fortified by nature 
 and by art, none venture to invade this 
 commonwealth, while the Boono make 
 war with impunity upon all the surround- 
 ing clans ; and, from their signal prowess 
 in the field, are said to be propitiated even 
 by the king of Enarea. 
 
 Jimma and JVIancho are independent 
 Galla tribes under Saana, surnames? Abba 
 Juffar, from the title of his war-horse, 
 which in Ethiopia is usually p^sumed by 
 the chieftain. From Saka. a southerly 
 course through these provinces leads, by 
 fifteen or twenty easy stages, directly to 
 the Gochob, above the cataracts ol Dum- 
 baro, the neighborhood of which is infest- 
 ed by banditti, who lie in ambush to kid- 
 nap the unwary. The river is crossed by 
 means of rafts belonging to the queen of 
 Caffa. They are capable each of contain- 
 ing from thirty to forty persons, and are 
 formed of the trunks of large trees lashed 
 together with strips of raw hide, and sur- 
 rounded by high gunwales of the same 
 construction— the helm being a moveable 
 17 
 
 spar, unaided by oars or other propelling 
 power. 
 
 Caffa is the mountainous peninsula form- 
 ed by the junction of the Omo with the 
 Gochob. It is an independent country of 
 mixed Pagans and Christians, over whom 
 presides Balee, the relict of King Hulla- 
 loo. She is represented to be a young 
 woman of extraordinary energy and abili- 
 ty, very hospitable to the rovers who visit 
 her with blue calico, beads, and trinkets, 
 in return for which she gives cloth and oth- 
 er produce of the country. On the demise 
 of her husband she assembled all the gov- 
 ernors of the different provinces, and hav- 
 ing caused them to be put in irons, pro- 
 claimed herself queen. Her only son Go- 
 marra, " the hippopotamus," still a youth, 
 leads the army into the field ; but she often 
 proceeds with the troops in person, and in- 
 variably plans the expedition. Whenso- 
 ever she moves abroad, her subjects are 
 bound to spread the way with their rai- 
 ment ; and as well during the administra- 
 tion of justice from behind a screen with 
 a small aperture, as during the public ban- 
 quet, drums, fiddles, and flutes play inces- 
 santly. 
 
 Nyhur, Moyey, Ziggahan, Boora, and 
 Alera, are the principal towns of Caffa; 
 and the entire rugged and mountainous 
 country is covered with thi^k forests, 
 which also clothe the banks of the Gochob, 
 affording shelter to the elephant, the buffa- 
 lo, the rhinoceros, and other wild beasts, 
 in extraordinary numbers. The river is 
 said to take its source in the distant prov- 
 inces of Bedes Yedee and Goma, and be- 
 low the cataracts abounds in hippopotami, 
 which are much hunted by the natives. 
 Dumb^ro, Wurretta, and Tufftee, as also 
 the Golda negroes, who go perfectly naked, 
 ars tributary to Balee, and pay chiefly in 
 gold obtained from the hot valleys. The 
 inhabitants of Caffa reverence Friday and 
 Sunday, as do the Galla, and like them cel- 
 ebrate the festival of St. Michael by a 
 great feast ; but their language which is 
 common to Gobo, Tufftee, and Dumbaro, 
 is quite distinct from that spoken by the 
 Galla nation. 
 
 A considerable trade exists with Enarea 
 in slaves and cotton cloths, which latter is 
 to be purchased for a piece of salt value 
 two pence halfpenny sterling. Coffee is 
 produced in immense quantities, of the 
 finest quality, and tradition points to this 
 country as the first residence of the plant. 
 It was spread by the civet cat over the 
 mountains of the Ittoo and Aroosi Galla, 
 where it has flourished for ages in wild 
 profusion, and is thence said to have been 
 
250 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 transported five hundred years ago by an 
 enterprising trader from the opposite coast 
 of Arabia. 
 
 I Beyond the extensive wilderness which 
 bounds Caffa on the south, are the Doko, 
 a pigmy and perfectly wild race, not ex- 
 ceeding four feet in height, of a dark olive 
 complexion, and in habits even more closely 
 approximated to " the beasts that perish " 
 than the bushmen of Southern Africa. 
 They have neither idols, nor temples, nor 
 sacred trees ; but possess a glimmering 
 idea of a Supreme Being, to whom in mis- 
 fortune — such as any of their relatives 
 being slain by the kidnapper — they pray 
 standing on their heads, with their feet 
 resting against a tree : " Yere, if indeed 
 thou art, why dost thou suffer us to be 
 killed ? We are only eating ants, and ask 
 neither food nor raiment. Thou hast rais- 
 ed us up. Why dost thou cast us down ?" 
 
 Many natives of Caffa and Enarea, who 
 have visited these pigmies in their native 
 wilds, for evil, describe the road from the 
 former kingdom to pass through forests 
 and mountains, for the most part uninhab- 
 ited, and swarming with wild beasts, ele- 
 phants and buffaloes especially. From 
 Bonga, distant about fifty or sixty miles, it 
 is ten days' journey to Tufrlee, the Orao 
 river being crossed midway by a rude 
 wooden bridge, sixty yards in breadth. 
 Seven easy sUges beyond Tufftee is Koo- 
 loo, whence the Doko country may be 
 reached in one day. The climate is warm 
 and the seasons extremely wet, the rains 
 commencing in May, ana continuing with- 
 out the slightest intermission until Feb- 
 ruary. 
 
 The country inhabited by the Doko is 
 clothed with a dense forest of bamboo, in 
 the depths of which the people construct 
 their rude wigwams of bent canes and 
 grass. They have no king, no laws, no 
 arts, no arms ; possess neither flocks nor 
 herds ; are not hunters, do not cultivate the 
 soil, but subsist entirely upon fruits, roots, 
 mice, serpents, reptiles, ants, and honey — 
 both of which latter they lick like the bear 
 from off their arms and hands. They be- 
 guile serpents by whistling, and having 
 torn them piecemeal with their long nails, 
 devour them raw ; but although the forests 
 abound with elephants, buffaloes, lions, and 
 leopards, they have no means of destroying 
 or entrapping them. A large tree called 
 Loko is found, among many other species, 
 attaining an extraordinary height, the roots 
 of which, when scraped, are red, and serve 
 for food. The yebo and meytee are the 
 principal fruits ; and to obtain these, women 
 as well as men ascend the trees like mon- 
 
 keys, and in their quarrels and scrambles 
 not unfrequently throw each other down 
 from the branches. 
 
 Both sexes go perfectly naked, and have 
 thick pouting lips, diminutive eyes, and 
 flat noses. The hair is not woolly, and in 
 the females reaches to the shoulders. The 
 men have no beard. The nails, never pared, 
 grow both on the hands and feet like eagle's 
 talons, and are employed in digging for 
 ants. The people are ignorant of the use 
 of fire. They perforate the ears in infancy 
 with a pointed bamboo, so as to leave no- 
 thing save the external cartilage, but they 
 neither tattoo nor pierce the nose ; and the 
 only ornament worn is a necklace com- 
 posed of the spinal process of a serpent. 
 
 Prolific, and breeding like wild beasts, 
 the redundant population forms the wealth 
 of the dealer in human flesh. Great an- 
 nual slave hunts are undertaken from Dum- 
 baro, Caffa, and Kooloo ; and the dense 
 forests of bamboo, the creaking of which is 
 represented to be loud and incessant, often 
 prove the scene of fierce and bloody strug- 
 gles between rival tribes. Wide tracts 
 having been encircled, the band of rovers, 
 converging, impel the denizens to the cen- 
 tre. Holding a gay cloth before their per- 
 sons, they dance and sing in a peculiar 
 manner ; and the defenceless pigmies, 
 aware from sad experience that all who at- 
 tempt to escape will be ruthlessly hunted 
 down, and perhaps slain, tamely approach, 
 and suffer themselves to be blindfolded. 
 
 One hundred merchants can thus kid- 
 nap a thousand Dokos ; and although long 
 prone to their old habits of digging for ants, 
 and searching for mice, serpents, or lizards, 
 the captives rarely attempt to escape. 
 Their docility and usefulness, added to very 
 limited wants, rendering them in high de- 
 mand, none are ever sold out of the coun- 
 tries bordering on the Gochob, and none 
 therefore find their way to Shoa. 
 
 Tht foregoing particulars have been 
 embofled from the concurrent testimony 
 of numerous individuals of various tribes, 
 ages, and religions, who have either visit- 
 ed or were natives of the countries referred 
 to, and who, after attaining to manhood, 
 had been borne away in slavery. Together 
 with their own langMage they retained a 
 perfect recollection oi the land of their 
 birth, and of all that had befallen them 
 since the loss of liberty — a loss by many 
 dated from a very recent period, and which 
 had resulted either from the lawless vio- 
 lence of the freebooter, or from the unre- 
 strained cupidity of mercenary relatives. 
 
 Agreeing in every respect with the type 
 of Herodotus, the Doko are unquestionably 
 
INDIAN OCEAN— KINGDOM OF KOOCHA. 
 
 251 
 
 the pigmies of the ancients, who describe 
 them as found only in tropical Africa ; and 
 it is a curious fact, and one well worthy of 
 observation, that the people of Caffa repre- 
 sent their forefather Boogazee to have is- 
 sued from a cave in a forest — a tradition 
 which cannot fail to call to mind the Trog- 
 lodytes, who are also mentioned by the 
 father of history as being inhabitants of 
 this portion of the African continent. 
 
 CHAPTER XCIX. 
 
 THE RIVETt GOCHOB. 
 
 An inspection of the map will show on 
 the eastern coast an extensive hiatus, 
 which from the scanty reports that have 
 been gleaned is most certainly studded with 
 high mountains, and drained by numerous 
 and powerful rivers ; but no details have 
 hitherto been obtained that justified the 
 laying down of either with any geograph- 
 ical accuracy. The first accounts of the 
 existence in central Africa of a great river 
 were brought to Etearchus, king of the 
 Oasis of Ammon, by certain youths of the 
 Nassamonians, who, as related by Herodo- 
 tus, " had been deputed to explore her sol- 
 itudes. After a journey of many days they 
 were seized and carried into captivity by 
 some men of dwarfish stature, who con- 
 ducted them over marshy grounds, to a 
 city in which all the inhabitants were of 
 the same diminutive appearance, and of a 
 black color. This city was washed by a 
 great river, now ascertained to be the Ni- 
 ger, which flowed from west to east, and 
 abounded in crocodiles." 
 
 The early Arabian geographers speci- 
 fically mention large rivers descending from 
 the high mountain land to the southward 
 of the blue river, and flowing to the Indian 
 ocean ; and it is a curious fact, that they 
 designate one of these " the River of Pig- 
 mies." The Portuguese were the next 
 who spoke of this stream, upward of two 
 centuries ago ; and from the highlands of 
 Abyssinia a clue to its origin and course 
 has now been obtained, which will serve 
 in a great measure to supply the existing 
 deficiencies, and to cover the wide space 
 of terra incognita in Eastern Africa north 
 of the equator. The Gochob is described 
 to rise in the great central ridge which is 
 known to divide the waters that discharge 
 themselves east into the Indian Ocean, 
 from those that flow west into the Bahr el 
 Abiad, and more southerly into the Atlan- 
 tic. Spreading into a lake, and bearing on 
 osom a noble body of water, it is joined 
 17* 
 
 fifteen days' journey south of Enarea by 
 the Omo, a large tributary which rises be- 
 yond Tufftee in Susa Maketch — a fountain 
 or jet of water playing the height of a spear 
 shaft. Half a day's journey below the point 
 of junction, the united volume rolls over a 
 stupendous cataract called Dumba.ro, the 
 roar of which can be heard many miles, 
 whence pursuing its course to the south- 
 east, it forms the southern limit of Zingero, 
 and finally disembogues into the sea. 
 
 There seems every reason to believe that 
 the Gochob must be identical with the Kib- 
 bee of the best extant maps, described to be 
 a very large river coming from the north- 
 west, and entering the sea near the town 
 of Juba, immediately under the equator. 
 If not the Kibbee, it must be the Quili- 
 mancy, which disembogues by several es- 
 tuaries between Patta and Malinda, four 
 degrees farther to the south ; but the ac- 
 counts of the latter, so far as it is known 
 in its lower course, authorize the adoption 
 of the first hypothesis. 
 
 The general course of the Nile to the 
 north, and of the Kibbee to the south, are 
 said to have been well known to the Egyp- 
 tians three thousand years ago. The sa- 
 cristan of the temple of Minerva in Thebes 
 told Herodotus that half the waters of the 
 father of rivers ran to the north, and the 
 other half to the south, and that they were 
 produced by the tropical rains. The cur- 
 rents experienced in five degrees north of 
 the equator, in the vicinity of the coast, 
 confirm the opinion of a great river rolling 
 a vast volume of water into the eastern 
 ocean. At their height during the preva- 
 lence of the monsoon in August and Sep- 
 tember, they are known to sweep a vessel 
 along at the rate of one hundred and twenty 
 miles a day, frequently exposing the inex- 
 perienced navigator to the chance of ship- 
 wreck on Socotra, whereas before and 
 after the tropical rains the current is 
 scarcely perceptible. Were this caused 
 by the monsoon, it would prevail equally 
 over these latitudes during the influence 
 of the southwesterly winds ; but the fact 
 remains, that it is felt only off the coast in 
 about five degrees north latitude, at the 
 period alone when the river must be Swol- 
 len with the volume of water gathered from 
 the highest mountain land in the interior. 
 
 Beyond Zingero, and considerably lower 
 down the great river, is the kingdom of 
 Koocha, which is described to be hot, and 
 subject to annual rains of two months' du- 
 ration. It extends on both sides, with a 
 numerous population inhabiting many large 
 towns, of which Laade, Seylo, Umpho, 
 Jella, Gulta, Aara, and Wunjo, all on the 
 
252 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 northern bank, are the principal. The 
 houses are conical, and constructed of mud 
 and bamboos, which there grow abundantly. 
 All the nation are Galla, with features 
 strictly those of the Negro, and their king 
 is Bosha, the son of Laade, surnamed from 
 the title of his war steed, Abba Wabotoo, 
 M I am he who seizes." 
 
 In addition to the two umbrellas of state, 
 the one composed of blue, and the other of 
 crimson, his majesty is distinguished by a 
 shield covered with massive gold, and by 
 many ornaments of the same precious 
 metal on his person. The costume of all 
 classes consists of party-colored raiment — 
 red, blue, and white, being mingled togeth- 
 er in profusion. Large pewter ear-rings 
 are worn by the males ; and by the females, 
 whose hair is braided in long ringlets, sil- 
 ver amulets, anklets, and bracelets. Both 
 sexes are great equestrians. The saddles 
 are covered with red imported leather, and 
 the horses and mules are large and abun- 
 dant. Cultivation in every description of 
 tropical grain is universal ; honey abounds 
 in every quarter, and beer and hydromel 
 are manufactured by all. 
 
 Spices, odoriferous woods, and aromatic 
 herbs, tea, coffee, oranges, nutmeg, and 
 ginger, are exceedingly plentiful. Pre- 
 cious stones are also found, and bartered 
 to the white men, who, wearing shoes, 
 trowsers, and hats, and having yellow hair, 
 come with their merchandise in rowing- 
 boats thirty days from the sea. They 
 bring blue calico, chintz, pepper, tobacco, 
 copper, cutlery, and " fire water," and re- 
 ceive in exchange slaves, ivory, spices, 
 and gold, which latter is brought in large 
 quantities from Douro. 
 
 Slaves being in great demand, and their 
 acquisition extremely lucrative, Bosha is 
 at perpetual war with all the surrounding 
 tribes, save during the annual rains. The 
 Dannagem, and the Danna-Oorkeshool 
 Galla, are attacked every year, as are also 
 the Malee Galla, a people armed with bows 
 and arrows, who dig pits, throw up bam- 
 boo stockades, and place pointed stakes in 
 the ground to annoy the cavalry of Koocha, 
 whose horses being kept in the house all 
 the year round, and abundantly fed, are 
 very superior. Murderers are punished 
 according as they have dealt with their 
 victim — one or two or more spear wounds 
 or blows with the sword being inflicted by 
 the nearest relative of the deceased — but 
 all thieves, delinquents, and poor people, 
 are sold to the white traders, and immense 
 numbers of slaves of both sexes are brought 
 down by the Douro Galla, in rafts with high 
 gunwales, containing six or eight persons. 
 
 The great river, which in this kingdom 
 is supplied by two large tributaries — the 
 Toreech, rising in the countiy of the Ga- 
 ma Gobo, and the Teeto, coming from the 
 Ara Galla — is the medium of all trade. It 
 is very broad, and save during the rainy 
 season has little perceptible motion. The 
 volume of water is always large, and 
 comes from a great distance inland. Hip- 
 popotami and elephants abound ; and the 
 gimjah, or tree tiger, which infests the 
 borders, is greatly feared for its ferocity, 
 and prized for the beauty of its skin. Na- 
 tive crafts reach the sea in fifteen days, 
 and ivory, slaves, coffee, and a variety of 
 other merchandise, are constantly brought 
 on rafts by the tribes higher up ; but the 
 white people never go beyond Koocha, 
 neither do the interior tribes pass down to 
 the sea. 
 
 The Gochob, of which the discovery 
 promises important accessions in a geo- 
 graphical as well as in a commercial point 
 of view, may be conjectured the " Barga- 
 mo," or great water, from beyond which 
 the Galla describe their hordes to have 
 poured, when they invaded Abyssinia, after 
 being driven from the vast unexplored in- 
 terior by the centrifugal force yet unex- 
 plained. Like the barbarous nations who 
 were made the weapons of Divine chas- 
 tisement upon the corrupted empire of 
 Rome, they also brought darkness and ig- 
 norance in their train, but were unable to 
 eradicate the true religion. Throughout 
 the regions included between the Nile, the 
 Hawash, and the Gochob, which may pro- 
 perly be termed Galla, none but their own 
 tongue is spoken ; whereas to the south 
 of the last-named river, the intruding 
 population have lost their language, and 
 become gradually incorporated with the 
 aboriginal possessors of the soil. What- 
 ever may be the true magnitude of the 
 river, it is clearly navigated to a consider- 
 able extent by a white people, who reap a 
 lucrative harvest while draining the coun- 
 try of its population, by a traffic which 
 must reflect the blackest disgrace upon 
 the name of any civilized people, and is 
 here not rendered the less infamous by 
 the fact, that many of their purchases are 
 Christians ! 
 
 CHAPTER C. 
 
 EXISTING CHRISTIAN REMNANTS. 
 
 On both sides of the river Gochob, there 
 exists in various quarters, isolated com- 
 munities professing the Christianity of Ethi- 
 
LAKE ZOOAI-KINGDOM OF SUSA. 
 
 253 
 
 opia, who for a long period of years have 
 successfully held their position among the 
 mountain fastnesses in the very heart of 
 the now Pagan and Mohammadan country. 
 One of the most remarkable of these seats 
 is in the lake Zooai,* where in the church 
 of Emanuel are deposited the holy arks, 
 umbrellas, drums, gold and silver chairs, 
 and other furniture belonging to all the sa- 
 cred edifices of Southern Abyssinia ; which, 
 with numerous manuscripts no longer ex- 
 tant, were here deposited by Nebla Den- 
 gel at the period of Graan ? s invasion. 
 
 Five rivers empty themselves into this 
 lake. It is described to be a noble sheet 
 of water teeming with hippopotami, which 
 frequently destroy the frail bamboo rafts 
 employed in maintaining communication 
 "between the shore and the Five Islands-! 
 These are covered with lofty trees, and 
 contain upward of three thousand Chris- 
 tian houses, constructed of lime and stone. 
 In religion the population are said by the 
 clergy of Shoa to have sadly degenerated ; 
 but although destitute of priests, the 
 churches are preserved inviolate, and 
 monks and monasteries abound. 
 
 In Gurague, the population are almost 
 exclusively Christian. Twelve isolated 
 churches, previously unheard of, were dis- 
 covered a few years since, on the conquest 
 of Yeya by Sahela Selassie ; and between 
 Garro and Metcha, where the forest com- 
 mences in the south of Shoa, is a small 
 tract peopled by Christians, who reside en- 
 tirely in caves among the mountains, as a 
 measure of security against the heathen, 
 by whom they are compassed in on every 
 side. 
 
 Eight days' journey from Aimellele on 
 the frontier of Gurague, is Cambat, a 
 small mountainous province, lying due east 
 of Zingero. With the exception of a few 
 Mohammadan rovers, this independent 
 state is inhabited solely by Christians, who 
 have fifteen churches, and numerous mon- 
 asteries, but, like the people of Zooai, are 
 without priests. The capital, Karempza, 
 is constructed on the summit of a lofty hill 
 of the same name, and Degoyey, the king, 
 who is extremely advanced in years, is 
 represented as a just and upright ruler, 
 very hospitable to strangers, and a great 
 warrior. But between Aimellele, which 
 is a dependency of Sahela Selassie, and 
 Cambat, the road passes through the Adeea 
 and Alaba Galla, the latter governed by a 
 
 * Called Laki in the Galla language, and in that of 
 Sturagufe, Chilldloo. 
 
 t Tudduchu, Debra Tehoon, Debra Seena, Guragi, 
 %nd Amshoot. 
 
 queen, whose notorious treachery renders 
 the passage unsafe. 
 
 Wollamo is another Christian province 
 under an independent sovereign, lying be- 
 low Cambat, to the southeastward of Zin- 
 gero, and at constant war with both these 
 states. The country is extremely moun- 
 tainous, and the inhabitants, who are pur- 
 chased for twenty pieces of salt, and fre- 
 quently brought by the slave-dealers to 
 Shoa, are of a fair complexion, and speak a 
 distinct language. Wofana is the capital, 
 and the province is watered by a consider- 
 able river termed the Ooma — the surround- 
 ing tribes being the Koolloo, Woradda, 
 Assoo, and Jimma. Eight days' journey be- 
 yond Zingero is the country of Mager, the 
 king of which, by name Degaie, is repre- 
 sented to be a very powerful monarch. 
 Korchassie, which is famous for the great 
 river Wabi, is peopled by Christians, as is 
 Sidama also, and both are surrounded on 
 all sides by the heathen. 
 
 But of all the isolated remnants of the 
 ancient Ethiopic empire to the south of 
 Abyssinia, Susa would appear to be the 
 most important and the most powerful. 
 This kingdom is situated beyond Caffa, and 
 extends to the head of the Gitche, which 
 rises in Chara-Nara, and is one of the 
 principal sources of the Gochob-. The 
 rains are violent during three months of 
 the year, and the climate is excessively 
 cold, the elevation being much greater 
 than that of Shoa, while beyond are moun- 
 tains which " seem to touch the skies, and 
 are covered with perpetual snow." 
 
 Sugga Surroo was king over Susa. He 
 was a Pagan ; but wore a " mateb," as 
 many of the heathen tribes are wont to do. 
 Hoti and Beddoo were his sons ; and on 
 his death-bed he bequeathed the sceptre to 
 the former, who, after a reign of ten years 
 marked by the most galling tyranny, was 
 deposed by the people, and Beddoo eleva- . 
 ted to the throne. Turning his attention 
 to Christianity, which had greatly degen- 
 erated, he revived the custom of bathing 
 the holy cross on Christmas-day, in the 
 river Gitche, where all the surrounding 
 Galla tribes perform the same ceremony 
 without knowing why. 
 
 Hoti was exiled in Goma ; and having 
 contrived to raise three hundred cavalry, 
 he set out to recover his throne ; but was 
 pursued and slain by Abba Rebo. Beddoo 
 is brother to Balee, the queen of Caffa ; 
 and it is now six yer.rs since he gave his 
 daughter Shash in marriage to the king of 
 Enarea, through whose country a constant 
 traffic has since been carried on with 
 Northern Abyssinia — ^numbers of muskets 
 
 ^ 
 
254 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 and matchlocks being annually imported, 
 and exchanged for civet, ivory, gold-dust, 
 horses, and slaves. 
 
 The road being thus opened, the priests 
 proceeded to Gondar to the patriarch of the 
 Abyssinian church, who blew the breath 
 of the Holy Ghost into a leathern bag, 
 which was safely conveyed back to Susa, 
 and hung up in the cathedral. Ecclesi- 
 astics in great numbers have been since 
 ordained by the process of opening this 
 bag, and causing a puff to pass across his 
 face. They are distinguished by antique 
 robes and silver mitres, and the churches 
 and religious observances would appear to 
 be similar in every respect to those of 
 Shoa. 
 
 The king of Susa is described as a tall, 
 fair, and very handsome man of five-and- 
 thirty, without beard or mustaches, and 
 wearing the hair in the bushy wig-like 
 form of the Amhara. He carries state 
 umbrellas of yellow silk, surmounted by 
 golden globes, wears a sword with a mas- 
 sive golden scabbard, and bears a shield 
 decorated with radii and crosses of the 
 pure metal. The government is not des- 
 potic. No subject can be put to death un- 
 less condemned by the judges. Property 
 is free ; and there is no restriction upon 
 dress save in the article of gold, to wear 
 which is the exclusive privilege of royalty. 
 
 Bonga is the principal town and capital 
 of Susa ; and there the king principally 
 resides, in a stone house of two stories. 
 His queen is Meytee, but he has besides 
 " concubines as numerous as the hairs of 
 the head." The banqueting hall is a long 
 building similar to those of Sahela Selas- 
 sie, and it is the scene of similar revels. 
 His majesty presides daily at the feast, but 
 is concealed from the gaze of his carous- 
 ing subjects by an intervening curtain, 
 while the dech agafari, styled " Gubbur- 
 chu," acts as the master of ceremonies. 
 Public audience is daily given, when the 
 decisions of the judges are confirmed or 
 annulled from a raised throne of solid gold 
 concealed by velvet draperies. 
 
 Susa is a kingdom of much greater ex- 
 tent than Shoa, but in manners and cus- 
 toms nearly similar. The monarch is ap- 
 proached with shoulders iared, and three 
 prostrations to the earth. On the festival 
 of Maskal an annual review takes place at 
 Booretta. Oxen are then slain for the 
 soldiery, and each warrior receives a jar 
 of beer from the royal cellars. The herald 
 then proclaims the approaching expedition 
 to the sound of the nugareet. The foray 
 resembles that of the Amhara rabble — the 
 same lack of discipline on the march — the 
 
 same band of flutes and kettledrums — the 
 same female culinary establishment. The 
 warriors are similarly armed, and adopt the 
 green sprig of asparagus in token of deeds 
 of blood ; and the only existing difference 
 would appear to be, that the booty captured 
 in war is not monopolized by the crown. 
 
 Tribute is paid to Beddoo by the chiefs 
 of many surrounding countries, and prin- 
 cipally by Shankelas with tattooed breasts. 
 He annually extends his dominions by mur- 
 derous inroads, directed chiefly against the 
 Sooroo, a tribe of naked negroes inhabiting 
 the wild valleys of Sasa. The Gumroo, a 
 wild people clothed in hides, and rich in 
 flocks and herds, are also frequently in- 
 vaded, and hundreds swept into captivity. 
 The chief mountain ranges of Susa are 
 Decha, Gobo, and Saadee ; and the princi- 
 pal rivers are the Gitche, Cheso, and Adiyo. 
 Large slave caravans pass through the 
 realm at all seasons from the most remote 
 parts of the interior, the Mohammadan ro- 
 vers being frequently absent from one to 
 two years. 
 
 The costume of the male portion of the 
 population consists of a robe of striped red 
 and blue cotton in alternate bands, with 
 tight trowsers and a loose kilt of the same 
 colors and material. The hair is worn en 
 " goferi" as in Shoa, unless after the 
 slaughter of a foe, when it is braided in 
 long tresses like the ancient Egyptians. 
 Copper and ivory bracelets decorate the 
 successful warrior ; and a ring of silver is 
 worn in the ear by those who have slain 
 the giant among mammalia. 
 
 The females are described as being fairer 
 and more comely than their frail sisters of 
 Shoa. They wear red and blue striped 
 trowsers, reaching mid-leg, with a loose 
 shift and a robe, also party-colored, the for- 
 mer inclosed by a zone of beads. The 
 hair is dressed, like that of the Amhara, in 
 the shape of a bee-hive, with minute row* 
 of elaborate curls ; but the odor of rancid 
 butter with which these are clotted is some- 
 what alleviated by the liberal application 
 of oil of cloves. 
 
 Marriage is celebrated without the In- 
 tervention of the priesthood, and polygamy 
 is universally exercised at the discretion 
 of the man according to his worldly sub- 
 stance. The contracting parties simply 
 pledge fidelity, and in event of subsequent 
 separation, the lady carries off her portion. 
 Every house possesses its slaves ; but those 
 -both of king and subject are permitted to 
 work for themselves one day out of the 
 seven. All occupation is interdicted on 
 the Sabbath, as well as on the festivals of 
 
RAW FLESH DIET— PUNISHMENT OF THEFT. 
 
 255 
 
 Gabriel, Michael, and Georgis, which are 
 the only saints' days observed in Susa. 
 
 The language spoken is quite distinct 
 from that of the Galla, from the Amharic, 
 and from the ancient Geez or Ethiopic. 
 It possesses a written character. The 
 houses are constructed upon a circular 
 plan of wattle and thatch. All classes are 
 warriors, well mounted, and frequently en- 
 gaged in the chase — large packs of dogs 
 being kept for the purpose of hunting the 
 rhinoceros, buffalo, elephant, lion, leopard, 
 giraffe, zebra, and ostrich, which with many 
 other animals new to natural history are 
 said to abound. Bridles are manufactured 
 of the skin of the hippopotamus, with which 
 the rivers teem, and numbers of them are 
 slain by the wandering Wato. 
 
 Raw flesh, eaten with pepper, butter, 
 and wheaten bread, forms the principal diet. 
 Edible fruits are abundant. Citrons, nut- 
 megs, ginger, coffee, and. tea, grow wild 
 over the whole country. The two latter 
 are taken by the Christians of Susa, as is 
 also snuff; but tobacco is not inhaled. 
 The grape vine is indigenous and exten- 
 sively cultivated ; and the Outoo, the Gond- 
 weiyo, and the Goddo, are described as aro- 
 matic trees, of which the flowers, possess- 
 ing the richest perfume, are dried, pulver- 
 ized, and amalgamated with civet — the cats 
 producing which are kept in every house, 
 fed on raw beef, and placed before the fire, 
 as in Enarea. 
 
 Among the manifold superstitions of the 
 people of Susa, a new knife, before being 
 used for cutting meat, must be blown upon 
 by the priest. Witchcraft has a firm hold 
 upon every mind ; and many a luckless 
 worker in iron is with his whole family 
 condemned to be burnt alive in his house, 
 as an atonement for evil deeds. Theft is 
 punished by sewing up the culprit in a 
 green hide, when he is suspended by the 
 heels in the market-place, with the stolen 
 property about his neck, until the contrac- 
 tion of the drying skin at length puts a 
 period to his sufferings — a refinement this 
 upon the cruelty of the Emperor Maximin. 
 
 Making due allowance for the supersti- 
 tion and geographical ignorance of the va- 
 rious natives from whom the foregoing par- 
 ticulars have been collected, the fullest 
 credit may be accorded — minute cross- 
 examinations of individuals who could have 
 held no previous communication with each 
 other having corroborated every point. It 
 is important to know thatthe Gochob, in its 
 upper course, is occupied by so powerful a 
 Christian people, whose sovereign exer- 
 cises over the destinies of the surrounding 
 Gentiles an influence which, if properly di- 
 
 rected, could be made to check the rapid 
 spread of Islamism, instead of fostering the 
 traffic in human beings. The extensive 
 wilderness beyond Susa may be concluded 
 to form the barrier between the unfruitful 
 land of Nigritia and the fair provinces oc- 
 cupying the most elevated regions of Afri- 
 ca. Seneca relates that two centurions, 
 who were sent by Nero Caesar to explore 
 the head of the Nile were recommended by 
 the king of Ethiopia to the nearest kings 
 beyond ; and that after a long journey they 
 came " even unto the further countries, to 
 immense morasses, the end of which nei- 
 ther the natives themselves did know, nor 
 anybody else may hope to find." 
 
 CHAPTER CI. 
 
 THE CONVERSION OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 In the year 330 after the birth of our 
 Saviour, Meropius, a merchant of Tyre, 
 having undertaken a commercial voyage 
 to India, landed on the coast of Ethiopia, 
 where he was murdered by the barbarians, 
 and his two sons, Frumentius and Edesius, 
 both devout men, being made prisoners, 
 were carried as slaves before the emperor. 
 The abilities, the information, and the 
 peaceable demeanor of the brothers, soon 
 gained not only their release, but high office 
 in the court ; and living in the full confi- 
 dence of the monarch until his decease, 
 and subsequently under the protection of 
 the queen-mother, the good will of the en- 
 tire nation quickly succeeded. The work 
 of conversion was commenced, and pro- 
 ceeding with wonderful rapidity and suc- 
 cess, a thriving branch was shortly added 
 to the great Eastern church. 
 
 Bearing the happy tidings, Frumentius 
 appeared in Alexandria, and was received 
 with open arms by the patriarch Athana- 
 sius. Loaded with honors, and consecra- 
 ted the first bishop of Ethiopia, a relation 
 was thus happily commenced with Egypt, 
 which has remained firm and friendly to 
 the present day, and throughout fifteen 
 centuries has bestowed upon a Coptish 
 priest the high office of patriarch aboon* 
 of the Ethiopic church. 
 
 On his return to the country of his hopes*, 
 Frumentius found that the spark of life 
 had spread rapidly throughout the gloomy- 
 darkness of the land. Baptism was insti- 
 tuted, deacons and presbyters appointed, 
 churches erected, and a firm foundation 
 
 laid whereon to establish the Christian re- 
 
 _^_^___— — — » 
 
 * i. e. " Our Father." 
 
256 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 ligion in Abyssinia. Frumentius was de- 
 servedly honored with a favored niche in 
 the annals of her church history, and, un- 
 der the title of " Salama," formed the sub- 
 ject of high praise to all the sacred poets 
 
 of Ethiopia. 
 
 ^^ 
 
 " Hail him with the voice of joy, sing praises to Salama, 
 The door of pity and of mercy and of pleasant grace ; 
 Salute those blessed hands bearing the pure torch of 
 
 the Gospel, 
 For the splendor of Christ's church has enlightened 
 
 our darkness." 
 
 During the succeeding century, priests 
 and apostles, men of wonderful sanctity, 
 flocked into the empire from all parts of 
 the East, and miracles the most stupendous 
 are related in the legends of those days. 
 Mountains were removed, and the storms 
 of the angry ocean stilled by the mere ap- 
 plication of the staff. The adder and the 
 basilisk glided harmless underfoot, and 
 rivers stayed their roaring torrent, that the 
 sandal of the holy man should remain un- 
 stained by the flood. Aragawi raised the 
 dead — the fingers of Likanos flamed like 
 tapers of fire — Samuel rode upon his lion ; 
 and thus the kingdom of Arvve, the old ser- 
 pent of Ethiop, was utterly overthrown. 
 
 The Abyssinians now rose to the scale 
 of subtle casuists and disputants. Ab- 
 struse doctrines were propounded, and 
 speculative theories largely indulged in ; 
 and the generation passed away ere the 
 knotty points had been satisfactorily de- 
 termined, how long Adam remained in 
 Paradise before his fall ? and whether in 
 his present state he held dominion over 
 the angels ? 
 
 In the year 481, the celebrated council 
 of Chalcedon lighted up the torch of mis- 
 understanding regarding the two nations 
 of Christ. The Eastern church split and 
 separated in mortal feud, and the Saracen 
 pounced upon Egypt, rent and wasted by 
 discord and distraction. The Abyssinians, 
 denouncing the council a meeting of fools, 
 concurred in the opinion of the Alexan- 
 drian patriarch. The faith of the Mono- 
 physite was declared to be the one only 
 true and orthodox, and the banished Dios- 
 corus received all the honors of a martyr. 
 
 " The kings of the earth divided the unity of God and 
 
 man. 
 Sing praises to the martyr who laughed their religion 
 
 to scorn. 
 He was treated with indignity, they plucked out his 
 
 flowing beard, 
 Yea, and tore the teeth from his venerable face , 
 But in heaven a halo of honor shall encircle Diosco- 
 
 rus." 
 
 But during the ensuing oppressions and 
 enactions of the Moslem, the successors of 
 St. Mark could barely retain his own exist- 
 ence in Egypt ; and Ethiopia, his remote 
 
 charge, now nearly isolated from the remain- 
 der of the world, rested for the next ten cen- 
 turies a sealed book to European history, 
 preserving her independence from all for- 
 eign yoke, and guarding in safety the flame 
 of that faith, which she had inherited from 
 her fathers. 
 
 The reign of the ascetics succeeded to 
 that of disputation, and men lacerated their 
 bodies, and lived in holes and caves of the 
 earth like wild beasts. Tekla Haimanot 
 and Eustathius were the great founders of 
 monkery in the land. An angel announced 
 the birth of one, and the other floated over 
 the sea, borne in safety amid the folds of 
 his leathern garment. Miracles still con- 
 tinued to be occasionally performed. Sanc- 
 tity was further enhanced by mortification 
 of the flesh, and austerity of life was highly 
 praised and followed by the admiring mob. 
 The original discipline of the anchorite 
 was severe in the extreme. He was to be 
 continually girt about the loins with heavy 
 chains, or to remain for days immersed in 
 the cold mountain stream — to recline upon 
 the bare earth, and to subsist upon a scanty 
 vegetable diet. 
 
 Monasteries were at length founded, and 
 fields and revenues set apart for the con- 
 venience of their inmates ; and although a 
 visiting superior was appointed to check 
 corruption and punish innovation or trans- 
 gression, the asperities of the monastic life 
 gradually softened down. The Etchegue* 
 preferred the comforts of a settled abode to 
 wearisome tours and visitations. Fur- 
 ther immunities were granted to all loving 
 a life of ease and spiritual license ; and the 
 commonwealth had to deplore the loss of 
 a large portion of her subjects w r ho neither 
 contributed tax, nor assisted in military 
 service. > 
 
 Thus converted at the very dawn of 
 Christianity, Ethiopia spread her new reli- 
 gion deep into the recesses of heathen 
 Africa. Extending her wide empire on 
 every side, the praise of the Redeemer soon 
 arose from the wildest valleys and the most 
 secluded mountains. From the great river 
 Gochob to the frontiers of Nubia, the crutch 
 and the cowl pervaded the land. Churches 
 were erected in every convenient spot ; , 
 and the blue badge of nominal Christianity 
 encircled the necks of an ignorant multi- 
 tude. The usual wars and rebellions arose, 
 and schisms and sects fill up the archives 
 of ten centuries with all the uninteresting 
 precision of more civilized countries. But 
 still the church flourished ; the patriarch 
 was regularly received from Alexandria, 
 
 * Grand prior of all the monasteries in Ethiopia. 
 
SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 257. 
 
 and a long list of ninety-five aboons flows 
 quietly through the dull pages of Abyssin- 
 ian record, from the time of Frumentius 
 the First, until the days of the venerable 
 Simeon, who, while gallantly defending the 
 faith of his fathers, was barbarously mur- 
 dered by the European partisans of the 
 Italian Jesuit. 
 
 The rise of the Mohammadan power in 
 Arabia, and the rapid spread of Islamism, 
 first circumscribed the limits of the empire, 
 and begirt it round with foes. But although 
 the nation was now called upon to repel 
 the fierce assaults both of the heathen and 
 of the fanatic followers of the false pro- 
 phet, the measure of her oppression Was 
 not filled until the cup had been deeply 
 drained of the converting zeal of European 
 priesthood. The usual horrors attendant 
 upon religious war was then painfully un- 
 dergone, and the blood of her children was 
 unsparingly poured out. Nearest and dear- 
 est relatives rallied under opposite stand- 
 ards ; and the same cry of destruction ran 
 from either host, " The glory of the true 
 faith." 
 
 The zeal of the Jesuit has seldom been 
 displayed in more glowing colors, or in 
 more decided defeat, than in the attempts 
 so perseveringly made to draw within the 
 meshes of the net the remote church of 
 Ethiopia. And although the means em- 
 ployed are to be justly condemned, still that 
 ardor must be the theme of the high praise 
 of all, which impelled old men and young 
 to dare the difficulties and the dangers of 
 a rude uncivilized land, with exposure to 
 the prejudices of a people as bigoted as 
 themselves in the cause of their religion. 
 
 But the wily system of establishing rival 
 orders and monasteries of mortification — 
 of snapping asunder domestic ties, and of 
 collecting together bands of discontented 
 enthusiasts — well served the interests of 
 the Catholic faith ; and there were always 
 to be found obedient servants to bear in- 
 structions to the farthest corners of the 
 earth ; men who relinquished few comforts 
 or enjoyments on quitting their austere 
 cells, who were prepared at all hazards, 
 and in all manners, to carry into execution 
 the will of their superiors, and who gloried 
 in the alternative of erecting an eternal 
 fabric in honor of their order, or of obtain- 
 ing the resplendent crown of martyrdom. 
 
 The custom of ages had however struck 
 too deeply into the heart of the Abyssinian. 
 The power of the officiating clergy was 
 paramount in the land. All the passions 
 and the prejudices of the multitude were 
 too firmly enlisted in the cause of ancient 
 belief; and degraded as was the Christian- 
 
 ity of the country, its forms and tenets 
 were not more absurd, and not less perti- 
 naciously supported, than those Romish 
 innovations which were so fiercely, though 
 so ineffectually, attempted. 
 
 The soft wily speech and the thunder of 
 excommunication were alike disregarded. 
 Treachery and force were both tried and 
 found equally unavailing. Blood flowed 
 for a season like the swollen torrent, and 
 the sound of wailing was heard from the 
 palace to the peasant's hut ; but the storm 
 expended itself, and finally passed away ; 
 and after the struggle of a century, the 
 discomfited monks relinquished their at- 
 tempts upon the church of the Monophy- 
 site, without leaving behind one solitary 
 convert to their faith, and bearing along 
 with them the loud maledictions of a much 
 injured nation. 
 
 CHAPTER CII. 
 
 ' EFFORTS OF THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 During the darkness of the middle ages, 
 the church of Abyssinia had fallen into 
 complete oblivion ; but about the com- 
 mencement of the sixteenth century ru- 
 mors were whispered abroad of a Christian 
 monarch and a Christian nation establish 
 ed in the centre of Africa ; and the happy 
 news was first brought to the court of Por- 
 tugal that a Christian church still existed, 
 which had for ages successfully resisted, 
 among the lofty mountains of Abyssinia, 
 the fierce attacks of the sanguinary Sara- 
 cen. 
 
 In the year 1499, Pedro Covilham suc- 
 ceeded in reaching Shoa, where he was 
 received with that favor which novelty 
 usually secures ; and although the stran- 
 ger was prevented by the ancient laws of 
 the kingdom from leaving the land, the 
 quest had been successfully performed. 
 The first link was reestablished of a chain 
 which had been broken for ages — and 
 shortly afterward the glorious Prester John 
 and his Christian court were fully dis- 
 closed, to abate the intense anxiety that 
 reigned in the heart of every inhabitant of 
 the West. 
 
 In due process of time an Abyssinian 
 embassador made his appearance in Por- 
 tugal. Unbounded delight was experienced 
 by King Emanuel and his court, and every 
 honor was lavished upon Matthew the 
 merchant of Shoa. All believed that the 
 Abyssinians were devout Catholics, and 
 
358 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 that a vast empire, estimated at four times 
 its actual extent, was about to fall under 
 the dominion of the Roman church. A 
 mission on a great scale was fitted out — 
 the journey was safely accomplished — and 
 excited fancy rioted for a time in the des- 
 scription of palaces and fountains which 
 never existed, and pomp, riches, and re- 
 gal power, utterly unknown in the land. 
 
 Missions continued from either court 
 during the succeeding forty years. An 
 alliance was formed. Men learned in the 
 arts and sciences were dispatched to set- 
 tle in Abyssinia. Zaga Zaba arrived in 
 Lisbon, invested with full powers to satis- 
 fy the interests of both countries, tempo- 
 ral as well as spiritual. But the difference 
 of faith was now for the first time under- 
 stood. The bitter enmity of the Roman 
 creed stood prominently to view ; and the 
 envoy, after studying the details of the 
 Catholic doctrine, and refusing to sub- 
 scribe a similar contract on behalf of his 
 church, was unscrupulously put to a vio- 
 lent death in a Portuguese prison. 
 
 The first flattering ideas regarding the 
 religion of the country being thus found 
 erroneous, the delusion respecting the ex- 
 tent and power of the mighty empire was 
 next to fall to the ground. The Gal la 
 were now streaming in hordes from the 
 interior, and Graan, the Mohammadan in- 
 vader carrying fire and sword with his ar- 
 my throughout the country. The dying 
 Coptish patriarch of Abyssinia was pre- 
 vailed upon to nominate as his successor 
 John Bermudez, a resident Portuguese ; 
 and the Romish priest, hurried by the king, 
 proceeded to seek immediate military as- 
 sistance from the courts of Rome and 
 Lisbon. 
 
 Schemes of ambition flitted over the 
 minds of the first conquerors of India, and 
 an alliance with Ethiopia seemed highly 
 desirable as a handle for further acquisition 
 in the east. But dilatory measures delay- 
 ed the arrival of the Portuguese fleet un- 
 til the suing monarch had been gathered 
 to his fathers ; and it has already been 
 seen that Christopher, the son of the fa- 
 mous Vasco de Gama, anchored in the 
 harbor of Massowah at a time when the 
 new Emperor Claudius was sorely pressed 
 to sustain himself upon the throne of his 
 ancestors. The opportunity was not neg- 
 lected by the archbishop to reduce the 
 heretic church to the fold of the Roman 
 see ; and a series of attempts were com- 
 menced, equally to be deplored from the 
 mischief which they created, and the un- 
 worthy means that were employed during 
 the struggle. 
 
 The signal service rendered by the Por- 
 tuguese troops during the ensuing wars, 
 the total rout of the Galla and the Moslem, 
 with the slaughter of their invading leader 
 in battle, placed Bermudez in a position to 
 demand high terms from the reinstated 
 monarch. The conversion of the empe- 
 ror to the Roman Catholic faith and the 
 possession of one-third of the kingdom, 
 were imperiously proposed, and scornfully 
 rejected. Excommunication was threat- 
 ened by the proud prelate of the west and 
 utterly disregarded by King Claudius, who 
 retorted, that the pope himself was a her- 
 etic. Open hostilities broke out ; and al- 
 though the superior discipline of the Eu- 
 ropeans for a time gave them the advantage, 
 they were at. length separated by a wily 
 stratagem, and hurried to different. quarters 
 of the kingdom ; and Bermudez being 
 seized, was conveyed in honorable exile 
 to the rugged mountains of Efat. 
 
 Although much blood and considerable 
 treasure had been thus fruitlessly expend- 
 ed, the conversion of Ethiopia was far from 
 being forgotten in Europe ; and the spark 
 of hope was further kept alive by an Abys- 
 sinian priest, who asserted, on his arrival 
 in Rome, that the failure of Bermudez had 
 entirely arisen from his own absurd and 
 brutal conduct, and f hat the utmost defer- 
 ence would be paid to men of sense and 
 capacity. Ignatius Loyola volunteered to 
 repair in person to reunite the Ethiopic 
 and Roman Catholic churches ; but his 
 talents being required for more important 
 objects, the pope refused the desired per- 
 mission to the great founder of the society 
 of Jesus, and thirteen missionaries from 
 the new order were chosen instead. Nu- 
 nez Baretto was elevated to the dignity of 
 patriarch, and Andre Oviedo appointed pro- 
 visional successor. 
 
 At that period the navigation of the Red 
 Sea was rendered dangerous by numerous 
 Saracen fleets ; and the patriarch, deeming 
 it inexpedient to hazard his own valuable 
 person in the perils of the voyage, reposed 
 quietly at Goa, while a deputation headed 
 by Gonsalvez Rodrigues, a priest of sec- 
 ondary rank, was dispatched in advance, 
 to ascertain the capabilities of the route, 
 and the sentiments of the reigning mon- 
 arch. 
 
 The Emperor Claudius little relished the 
 arrival of these monks, and Rodrigues en- 
 tirely failed in every attempt at conviction 
 on the points at issue — that the pope, as 
 representative of Christ upon earth, was 
 the true head of all Christians, and that 
 there was no salvation out of the pale of 
 the Catholic church. Dismissed with the 
 
ANDRE OVIEDO— PUBLIC CONTROVERSY. 
 
 259 
 
 reply that the people of Ethiopia would 
 not lightly abandon the faith of their fore- 
 fathers, the monk retired to work upon the 
 mind of the monarch by the brilliancy of 
 his controversial writing; but a lengthy 
 treatise on the true faith produced no hap- 
 py result, and the envoy, disgusted with 
 his reception, returned shortly afterward 
 to Goa. 
 
 The spiritual conclave was plunged into 
 consternation by the untoward intelligence ; 
 and after much mature deliberation, it was 
 resolved, that the dignity of the patriarch, 
 and of the great king of Portugal, could 
 not be exposed to the consequences attend- 
 ing the ill favor of the emperor of Abys- 
 sinia ; and that therefore the prelate should 
 still remain the guest of the bishop of Ni- 
 cea, while the daring and restless Oviedo, 
 with a small train of attendants, attempted 
 the business. 
 
 Arriving in safety,the Jesuit experienced 
 a most friendly reception from the Emperor 
 Claudius ; and although the letters of rec- 
 ommendation from the pope were received 
 with mistrust and impatience, the habitual 
 mildness of the monarch restrained him 
 from any overt act of oppression. Deceived 
 by this calm behavior, the bishop, during 
 a second audience, was sufficiently fool- 
 hardy to represent, in the most insolent 
 language, the enormous errors under which 
 the emperor labored, and to demand impe- 
 ratively whether or not he intended to sub- 
 mit himself to the authority of the succes- 
 sor of St. Peter, and thus remove the heavy 
 obligation under which his empire already 
 groaned. King Claudius replied that he 
 was well inclined toward the Portuguese 
 nation — that he would grant lands and set- 
 tlements in his country — that permission 
 would not be withheld to the private exer- 
 cise of the religion of the West ; but that 
 as the Abyssinian church had been for ages 
 united to the charge of the patriarch of 
 Alexandria, a subject of such serious alter- 
 ation must be canvassed before a full as- 
 sembly of divines. 
 
 Indignant at what he termed Ethiopian 
 perfidy, but still buoyed up with the faint 
 hope of realizing his object, Oviedo changed 
 his mode of attack, and addressed a labored 
 remonstrance to the monarch, written in 
 the hypocritical tone of false friendship, 
 earnestly entreating him to recall to his 
 remembrance the assistance rendered by 
 Europeans to his afflicted country, and the 
 many promises made by his sire in the day 
 of his urgent distress ; imploring him at 
 the same time to preserve a stern vigilance 
 upon the evil influence of the empress and 
 of the ministers of state : " for in matters 
 
 of faith, the love of kindred must give way 
 to the love of Christ ; and in similar situa- 
 tions, the nearest relation often proves the 
 bitterest enemy to the salvation of the soul." 
 
 This insidious reasoning was, however, 
 vainly expended upon the intelligent Clau- 
 dius, and served but to turn his heart far- 
 ther from the Roman and his cause. The 
 offer of a public controversy on points of 
 disputed faith being shortly afterward ac- 
 cepted, the emperor entered the lists in 
 presence of the assembled court, and by 
 his clear knowledge of the Holy Scriptures; 
 utterly defeated the subtilties of the Italian 
 priest ; and thus, notwithstanding the con- 
 viction of the Portuguese missionary that, 
 by supernatural aid, he had triumphantly 
 refuted all the arguments urged by his il- 
 lustrious antagonist, it was fully decreed 
 by the Abyssinian conference, that neither 
 king nor people owed any obligation or 
 obedience whatsoever to the church of 
 Rome. 
 
 Still Oviedo was far from being reduced 
 (to silence. Treatise after treatise was 
 published on the controversy, to confound 
 the minds of the Ethiopians. The errors 
 of the Alexandrian faith w T ere fiercely at- 
 tacked in every form and fashion ; and the 
 superior beauties of the Catholic religion 
 fully expounded. But no advantage re- 
 sulted. Rejoinders and confutations fol- 
 lowed fast from the insulted clergy ; and 
 the bishop, furious at the thoughts of his 
 futile exertions to gain a footing in the 
 country — entertaining no hope of making 
 one single convert, whether among prince 
 or people — resolved upon a last effort in 
 the struggle. On the fifth of February, 
 1559, he issued his spiritual ban over the 
 land, proclaiming that the entire nation of 
 Abyssinia, high and low, learned and igno- 
 rant, having refused to obey the church of 
 Rome — practicing the unholy rite of cir- 
 cumcision — scrupling to eat the flesh of 
 the hog and the hare — and indulging in 
 many other flagrant enormities — were de- 
 livered over to the judgment of the spirit- 
 ual court, to be punished in person and 
 goods, in public and in private, by every 
 means the faithful could devise. 
 
 But the folly of issuing this curious re- 
 script without any means of enforcement 
 was fully appreciated ; and the tyrranical 
 conduct of the bishop did but serve to 
 strengthen the emperor in the bonds of his 
 own faith, finding, as was observed by an 
 historian of the times, " that popery and 
 its wiles were the more dangerous and re- 
 prehensible, as the veil was withdrawn 
 from before the spirit of her tenets." 
 
 There is every reason to believe that the 
 
260 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA, 
 
 succeeding invasion of the Ada'i'el was pro- 
 cured through the treacherous design of 
 the Jesuits, but the event again proved dis- 
 astrous to their cause. Although the re- 
 venge of the baffled bishop was allayed in 
 a torrent of blood, yet the death of the 
 mild, moderate, and liberal Claudius, who 
 perished on the battle-field, shed a baneful 
 influence on their ensuing efforts ; and the 
 sceptre devolved into the hands of his bro- 
 ther Adam, a haughty and vindictive prince, 
 who is depicted in Portuguese records as 
 " cruel and hard of heart, and utterly in- 
 sensible to the beauteous mysteries of the 
 Catholic faith." 
 
 Swearing vengeance against the Latins, 
 to whose treason he attributed the murder 
 of his brother, and the ruin of his country, 
 the new monarch seized all the estates 
 which had been granted to the Portuguese 
 for rendered service, and threatened the 
 bishop and his colleagues with instantane- 
 ous death if they presumed to propagate 
 the errors of the Romish church ; and on 
 a humble remonstrance being attempted, in 
 the violence of his wrath, he rushed upon 
 the missionary with a drawn sword, vow- 
 ing to immolate him on the spot. " The 
 weapon, however," say the holy fathers, 
 " dropped miraculously from his impious 
 hand," and for a season the last extremity 
 of vengeance was exchanged for a system 
 of vile, durance. 
 
 Portuguese troops in the mean time ar- 
 rived from Goa, and the bahr negash, " the 
 lord of the sea-coast," bought over by the 
 gold of India, and stirred up by the wily 
 emissaries of the viceroy, assembled his 
 forces in rebellion. Marching with his 
 European allies to the capital, he defeated 
 and slew the emperor in a pitched battle, 
 and rescued the Jesuit missionaries from 
 their unpleasant captivity. 
 
 Warned by former difficulty and distress, 
 the worthy fathers now assumed a more 
 modest and humble demeanor, and were al- 
 lowed to settle again in their old haunt of 
 Maiguagua, where they remained for a 
 time unmolested by the new emperor Ma- 
 lek Sashed, who inherited all the horror of 
 his father to the Catholic creed, although 
 tempered by the mildness of his uncle 
 Claudius. But the jealous monks had not 
 yet relinquished their hope of advancement, 
 and bending to the pressure of the times, the 
 deep plot was veiled under the garb of pas- 
 sive obedience. The most pressing solici- 
 tations were dispatched to Goa for assist- 
 ance ; and the dauntless Oviedo pledged 
 himself with six hundred stanch Europe- 
 ans to convert, not only the empire of 
 Abyssinia, but all the countries adjacent. 
 
 The scheme, however, did not suit the 
 politics of the day ; and in 1560, the bishop 
 received an order from the head of his so- 
 ciety to repair forthwith to his more prom- 
 ising charge in Japan. Loth to abandon 
 all his favorite projects of ambition in the 
 country, and utterly reckless of truth, he 
 addressed the most specious letters to the 
 pope, holding out a certain prospect of 
 prostrating the church of Ethiopia before 
 the apostolic throne, while to his immedi- 
 ate superior he dilated upon the richness 
 of the land, and the mines of pure gold 
 which he falsely asserted to exist in every 
 province of the kingdom. But his artful 
 motives were thoroughly pierced by the 
 more wily successor of St. Peter; and 
 vessels soon after arrived on the coast of 
 Africa, to convey the reluctant fathers to 
 the monastery of St. Xavier, in Goa. 
 
 CHAPTER CIII. 
 
 THE RELIGIOUS WAR. 
 
 Miserable indeed appeared the chance 
 of conversion ; and after a fierce struggle 
 of thirty years, there remained not one 
 priest of the Romish faith to administer 
 the sacraments to the numerous European 
 settlers and descendants in the country. 
 Even the Jesuits themselves lost heart for 
 the time ; but the zeal of Philip the Sec- 
 ond stirred the dying embers, and fresh 
 candidates for strife, honor, and martyr- 
 dom, were soon in the field. 
 
 Peter Pero Pays and Antonio de Mont- 
 zerado, disguised as Armenian merchants, 
 first attempted the perilous undertaking ; 
 but being wrecked upon the Arabian coast, 
 they were recognized as Christian minis- 
 ters, and languished during seven years 
 in a Moslem dungeon. 
 
 Goa next poured forth her priests to the 
 ineffectual contest. In seeking the prom- 
 ised land, Abraham de Georgis was dis- 
 covered in Turkish garb on the island of 
 Massowah, and the governor swore by the 
 holy prophet that, since the kafir had 
 donned the attire of the true believer, he 
 should also adopt the tenets of the true 
 faith, or die the death of a dog. But the 
 Jesuit clung to his creed, and suffered ac- 
 cordingly ; and, shortly afterward, Jean 
 Baptiste being detected in assumed cos- 
 tume, by the Turks of Comera, he also 
 shared the same fate as his immediate 
 predecessor, in the thorny path of martyr- 
 dom. 
 
 Thus even the road itself seemed *> 
 
PETER PAYS— THE REBELLION. 
 
 261 
 
 close, and all intercourse was denied with 
 a country wherein the presence of Euro- 
 peans was neither desired nor permitted ; 
 and which would have been suffered to re- 
 main unmolested, had not ideas been in- 
 flamed by the exaggerated accounts of its 
 wealth that still pervaded the imagination 
 of all classes throughout the western 
 world. 
 
 Don Alexis de Menezez, the zealous 
 Archbishop of Goa, who had already with 
 fire and sword propagated Christianity 
 throughout Malabar, now entered the lists, 
 and his sagacious and discerning mind 
 selected the vicar of St. Anne as a fit 
 tool for the execution of his project. Mel- 
 chior Sylva, a converted Brahmin, might 
 from his color and language, pass through 
 the Turkish wicket. His zeal was great 
 as that of his superior, and the valuable 
 presents whereof he was made the bearer, 
 might prove a bait sufficiently tempting to 
 lure the simple Abyssinian into a fresh 
 connection. 
 
 The intelligence of his safe arrival, and 
 of the gracious reception of the presents, 
 again roused the ardent spirit of the order 
 of Jesus ; and Peter Pays was quickly 
 ransomed from the Arabs, and dispatched 
 with a full train of priests to Ethiopia, 
 where he arrived in September of the 
 year 1603. 
 
 Superior in every respect to his prede- 
 cessors, this missionary, instead of attempt- 
 ing to carry his measures by force and 
 overbearing insolence, sought the softer 
 path of insinuation ; and while his exten- 
 sive knowledge and plausible address 
 proved strong recommendations in his fa- 
 vor, many circumstances also conspired to 
 forward his views. The country was in a 
 most unsettled state, and the assistance of 
 a few Portuguese troops could turn the 
 scale of war. The condition of the church 
 was low and miserable. Eighty years of 
 incessant strife and distraction had crush- 
 ed the very name of learning and literature. 
 Few persons were to be found who could 
 read, write, or dispute. Ignorant and un- 
 worthy men filled every sacred office ; and 
 the ancient stout defenders of the Alex- 
 andrian faith had been swept away on the 
 battle-field. 
 
 Amid wars, and rumors of wars, Peter 
 quietly settled with his followers at Mai- 
 guagua. Schools were opened, and the 
 wonder ran through the land that youths 
 of tender age could refute the most learn- 
 ed sages of the wilderness of Walkayet. 
 The curiosity of Za Dengel, the tempo- 
 rary occupant of the throne, was excited, 
 
 and Peter and his erudite pupils was sum- 
 moned to the court. 
 
 Prompted by the hope of obtaining as- 
 sistance from Portugal, this weak prince, 
 under an oath of secrecy, immediately em- 
 braced the religion of his guest. But his 
 time was fully occupied in the more world- 
 ly object of strengthening himself upon a 
 throne to which he had been elevated by 
 his evil genius ; and the falling away from 
 the faith of his forefathers being at length 
 whispered abroad, a rebellion was the con- 
 sequence. 
 
 The approaching storm having been 
 perceived by the monk, he withdrew from 
 court before the burst of a revolution, 
 which for some time crushed his every 
 hope of success. The emperor was slain. 
 New aspirants strove for the ascendency ; 
 and war reigned for a season throughout 
 the entire land. 
 
 Confident in the near approach of Por- 
 tuguese troops, which had been requested 
 when Sylva carried to India the tidings of 
 the first conversion, Peter now resolved 
 upon the bold game of espousing the 
 weaker party, and thus gaining a firmer 
 hold in event of success. The expected 
 reinforcements did not, however, arrive in 
 time ; and the defeat and death of his pro- 
 tege was followed by the advancement of 
 the pretender Susneus to the throne of the 
 empire. 
 
 Notwithstanding his appearance as a de- 
 clared partisan in the opposing ranks, 
 Peter's abilities as an architect now created 
 a fresh diversion in his favor. The novel 
 idea of a two-storied edifice engrossed the 
 thoughts of the reigning king ; and men 
 flocked from the remotest parts of the 
 country to gaze upon a fabric of stone, 
 which was considered to be one of the 
 wonders of the world. A missionary pos- 
 sessing the varied abilities and acquire- 
 ments of Pays could not be long in gain- 
 ing ascendency over a rude and illiterate 
 monarch ; and by address and perseve- 
 rance he had soon effected that which the 
 threats and violence of his predecessors 
 had vainly attempted during a long course 
 of years. 
 
 Ras Cella Christos, brother to the em- 
 peror, was the first fruit of the harvest. 
 Partaking of the holy supper with the Lat- 
 ins, he publicly embraced their religion, 
 and many chiefs and nobles followed his 
 illustrious example. Crowded assemblies 
 were held, in which the eloquence of the 
 Jesuits entirely bore down the feeble ef- 
 forts of the ignorant and uncultivated na- 
 tives. The holiness of life which was 
 strictly preserved among the neophytes 
 
262 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 and proselytes of the Catholics, added to 
 the impression entertained of their wisdom, 
 and the introduction of useful arts, raised 
 the glory of the fathers still higher in the 
 land ; and the prospect of the aid of disci- 
 plined soldiers from the west overturned 
 the last remaining scruple in the mind of 
 the monarch. 
 
 An edict was published interdicting all 
 persons from holding office who were not 
 well inclined toward the Latin religion ; 
 and severe punishments were threatened 
 for the promulgation of ancient doctrines. 
 Assistance was solicited from Rome and 
 Lisbon ; and the work of European perse- 
 cution favorably commenced, by scourging 
 with whips all those stubborn monks who 
 refused to forego their ancient belief. 
 
 Abba Simeon, the aboon, repaired to the 
 court to remonstrate with the emperor on 
 the scandalous interference with his pre- 
 rogatives in convening meetings and au- 
 thorizing debates upon ecclesiastical mat- 
 ters ; but his pride was timely soothed by 
 the royal assurance that all had been un- 
 dertaken for the benefit of true religion, 
 and that the subject should be fully dis- 
 cussed in his own presence. Again the 
 subtilties and dialectic of the missionaries 
 prevailed ; and the total defeat of the aboon 
 and his clergy was followed by a second 
 more severe ordinance, awarding the pen- 
 alty of death to all who should henceforth 
 deny the two natures of Christ. 
 
 Wonderful was the sensation created by 
 this severe edict, so diametrically at vari- 
 ance with the mild spirit of religion, and 
 with all the ancient usages of the land. 
 Aware of the fe lings of the strong party 
 at court, as well as of the entire body of 
 the people, the aboon placarded on the 
 doors of the chapels an excommunication 
 of all who should accept the religion of the 
 Franks ; and the monarch, irritated by this 
 resistance, published a manifesto, "That 
 his subjects should forthwith embrace the 
 Catholic faith." 
 
 This served as the signal trumpet for 
 the fight. All classes armed themselves 
 in defence of their religion ; and iElius, 
 the king's son-in-law, placed himself at the 
 head of the malcontents in Tigre. 
 
 Not yet thoroughly prepared for the 
 struggle, the emperor found it convenient 
 for a time to temporize, and requested one 
 further debate, which was to prove final 
 between the disputants. The mild aboon 
 listened to the proposal, and accompanied 
 by a large train of monks appeared in the 
 Toyal camp, while the Jesuit and his col- 
 leagues advanced into the arena from the 
 opposite side. The controversy was re- 
 
 newed, and raged fiercely for six days ; 
 but disputes in religion are seldom adjusted 
 by the reasoning of the doctors, and the 
 parties withdrew mutually incensed against 
 each other. 
 
 One further effort was made to restore 
 the disturbed harmony. The Empress 
 Hamilmala, and many of the courtiers, 
 with tears implored the king to desist from 
 his undertaking ; and the patriarch and 
 the clergy, throwing themselves prostrate 
 on the earth, embraced his knees, and en- 
 treated him to turn a deaf ear to the poison- 
 ous insinuations of the deceitful Jesuits, 
 and graciously to allow his subjects to re- 
 main faithful to the religion of their fore- 
 fathers. But the heart of the monarch 
 remained closed to the prayer. The aboon 
 quitted the court, plunged into the deepest 
 distress, and a bloody war ensued which 
 shook the empire to its foundation. 
 
 When iElius fully understood the last 
 resolution taken by his father-in-law, to 
 defend the Catholics and their religion, he 
 publicly appealed to the people of Tigre, 
 and proclaimed that all who were disposed 
 to embrace the Jesuitical faith might re- 
 pair to the deluded emperor, while those 
 who held to the ancient belief should forth- 
 with gather under his standard. Finding 
 himself shortly afterward at the head of a 
 large army, he marched toward the royal 
 camp, resolved to establish the received 
 doctrine of the land, or to perish in the 
 attempt. 
 
 Abba Simeon, who had attained the 
 venerable age of one hundred years, joined 
 the army of the defenders of the Alexan- 
 drian faith ; and in giving them his patri- 
 archal blessing, assured the soldiery that 
 all who should fall in the combat died the 
 death of the martyr, and would receive the 
 reward in heaven. The desired effect 
 was produced, and the hearts of the entire 
 force burned with one eager zeal to meet 
 the accursed enemies of their religion. 
 
 On the appearance of the inflamed force 
 a reconciliation was attempted, and the 
 daughter of the emperor was made the 
 bearer of terms to her rebel lord. Her 
 tears and entreaties were, however, totally 
 disregarded. The impetuous youth pre-i 
 pared for instant attack ; and the princess! 
 had barely time to regain her father's tent, 
 when hostilities were commenced. 
 
 The soldiers of the viceroy rushed furi- 
 ously upon the royal encampment, and 
 ^Elius succeeded in forcing his way, at the 
 head of a small body of troops, to the veqjfl 
 pavilion of his father-in-law. But he was 
 here struck from his horse by a stone, and 
 stabbed upon the ground. A panic seized 
 
FALL OF JOANEL— THE DEVOTED MONKS. 
 
 263 
 
 the army of the fallen leader, and the rab- 
 ble, casting away their arms, fled in all 
 directions. 
 
 The aged aboon found himself alone 
 and deserted, in the same spot which he 
 had occupied during the attack. His years 
 and high clerical bearing disarmed the vio- 
 lence of the Abyssinian soldiery; but a 
 Portuguese partisan at length threw him- 
 self upon the patriarch, and, regardless of 
 his white and venerable hairs, transfixed 
 him with a spear. A frightful massacre 
 ensued ; and the heads of the principal 
 leaders of the unsuccessful rebellion were 
 exposed on the gates of the capital, as a 
 bloody warning to the seditious. 
 
 CHAPTER CIV. 
 
 TEMPORARY SUBMISSION TO THE POPE OF 
 ROME. 
 
 Strengthened by this signal victory, 
 other points of the Alexandrian creed were 
 attacked in succession ; and the time of 
 the Jesuits was fully occupied in the trans- 
 lation into Ethiopic of sundry dogmatical 
 treatises on subjects of disputed faith. But 
 the barbarism of the language was despi- 
 sed by most — the Latin interpolation ab- 
 horred as magic by all — and a furious paper 
 controversy raged for a time ; until the 
 Abyssinians becoming scurrilous, the wrath 
 of the monarch was again roused, and lie 
 issued a severe edict, w T herein the people 
 were forbidden from celebrating the Jew- 
 ish Sabbath, which from time immemorial 
 had hitherto been sacred. 
 
 The inhabitants of Begemeder flew to 
 arms ; and people from all parts of the 
 country, groaning under the yoke of for- 
 eign oppression, poured in to join the stand- 
 ard of rebellion which Joanel had reared 
 on the plains of his government. A horde 
 of Galla, delighting in the confusion, offer- 
 ed their assistance, and the most haughty 
 conditions were speedily conveyed to court 
 from a large assembly in arms. 
 
 Again the most earnest entreaties were 
 employed to induce the emperor to com- 
 promise ; but influenced by the words of 
 the Jesuits, he called together his principal 
 chieftains, monks, and learned men, and in 
 their presence solemnly declared that he 
 would defend the Catholic religion to the 
 last drop of his blood ; adding, that it was 
 the first duty of his subjects to obey their 
 legitimate monarch. Energetic measures 
 were forthwith agreed upon, and, at the 
 head of a large array, the king proceeded 
 
 in person to the war. Joanel, finding him- 
 self too weak to contend in the plains, 
 withdrew to the inaccessible mountains, 
 where a blockade by the royal troops soon 
 caused a scarcity of provisions. His forces 
 gradually deserted ; and he himself escap- 
 ing to the Galla, was pursued, betrayed, 
 and put to death. 
 
 This reverse sustained by the defenders 
 of the old cause did not, however, intimi- 
 date the inhabitants of Damot, a province 
 situated on the banks of the Nile ; for 
 scarcely had the emperor reached his capi- 
 tal, when the population rose en masse with 
 the determination of dethroning a monarch 
 who so basely truckled to a foreign yoke, 
 and of driving from the land the authors of 
 its distraction. An army of fourteen thou- 
 sand warriors was speedily organized ; and 
 monks and hermits, burning with zeal in 
 the cause, emerged from the cave and from 
 the wilderness to join the fast-swelling 
 ranks. 
 
 Ras Cella Christos marched against the 
 rebels, but desertion considerably thinned 
 his troops ; and he confronted the enemy 
 with barely one half the numerical strength 
 of their formidable array. Governor of the 
 province, and greatly beloved by the peo- 
 ple, a proposal was tendered to him, that if 
 he would only lend his assistance in burn- 
 ing the monkish books and hanging the 
 worthy fathers themselves upon tall trees, 
 he might be seated upon the imperial throne 
 of his ancestors. But the general, despi- 
 sing the offer, and resting confident in the 
 firelocks of the Portuguese, rushed to the 
 attack. The combat raged fiercely for a 
 time. Four hundred monks, devoting them- 
 selves to death, carried destruction through 
 the royal host ; but the tide of victory set 
 at length in his favor, and after a fearful 
 carnage on either side, he found himself 
 master of the field. 
 
 Great rejoicings at court followed the 
 news of this success. Peter declared that 
 Heaven, by the extermination of his ene- 
 mies, had given the desired sign that the 
 Roman Catholic should be the religion of 
 the land ; and the emperor, who, partly from 
 fear of his subjects, and partly from dislike 
 to relinquish his supernumerary wives and 
 concubines, had not as yet publicly pro- 
 fessed the Latin religion, now openly em- 
 braced the faith, and confessed his sins to 
 the triumphant Jesuit. 
 
 A letter containing the royal sentiments 
 was published for the benefit of the nation : 
 " The king henceforth obeys the pope of 
 Rome, the successor of Peter, chief of the 
 apostles, who could neither err in doctrine 
 nor in conduct ; and all subjects are Jiereby 
 
264 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 advised to adopt the same creed." And the 
 missionary, who now reasonably imagined 
 that the work was satisfactorily concluded, 
 wrote to the courts of Rome and Lisbon, 
 requesting that a patriarch and twenty ec- 
 clesiastics might be immediately sent to 
 the vineyard ; adding, that " although the 
 harvest was plentiful, the laborers were 
 but few." 
 
 These happy and unlooked-for tidings 
 were received by Philip the Fourth of 
 Spain. Mutio Vitelesi, the general of the 
 Jesuits, offered to proceed in person, but 
 the pope refused permission, as had been 
 the case with his predecessor Loyala ; and 
 Alphonzo Mendez, a learned doctor of the 
 society of Jesus, was inaugurated at Lis- 
 bon with all the customary solemnities. 
 
 After suffering much difficulty and delay 
 in his passage, the Portuguese patriarch at 
 length arrived on the Danakil coast with 
 a large train of priests, servants, masons, 
 and musicians. The same greediness and 
 cupidity were experienced among the sav- 
 age Adaiel that the traveller finds at the 
 present day — baseness and avarice having 
 stamped their character for generations ; 
 but the troubles of a weary march were 
 soon forgotten in the cordial reception 
 which awaited the party at the royal camp ; 
 and the day was finally fixed when the 
 homage of the king and of the country 
 should be rendered to the pope of Rome. 
 
 On the 1 1th of February, 1626, the court 
 and the nobles of the land were assembled 
 in the open air. Two rich thrones were 
 occupied by the monarch and his distin- 
 guished guest, and a surrounding multi- 
 tude gazed upon the imposing ceremony 
 in silence. " The hour is come,'' exclaim- 
 ed Mendez, " when the king shall satisfy 
 the debt of his ancestors, and submit him- 
 self and his people to the only true head 
 of the church." A copy of the gospel was 
 produced, and the monarch falling upon his 
 knees, took the oath of homage. " We, 
 king of the kings of Ethiopia, believe and 
 confess that the pope of Rome is the true 
 successor of the Apostle St. Peter, and 
 that he holds the same power, dignity, and 
 dominion, over the whole Christian church. 
 Therefore we promise, offer, and swear 
 sincere obedience to the holy father Urban, 
 by God's grace pope and our lord, and throw 
 humbly at his feet our person and our king- 
 dom." 
 
 As the emperor rose from his position, 
 Ras Cella Christos, suddenly drawing his 
 sword, shouted aloud, " What is now done 
 is done for ever ; and whoso in future dis- 
 claims the act, shall taste the sharp edge 
 of this trusty weapon. I do homage only 
 
 to true Catholic kings." The monks, cler- 
 gy, and noblemen followed the example 
 of their superiors ; and the assembly was 
 closed by a public edict, proclaimed through 
 the royal herald, that all Abyssinians should, 
 under pain of death, forthwith embrace the 
 Roman religion. 
 
 Palaces and revenues were set apart for 
 the ministers of the new faith ; semina- 
 ries for youth were established throughout 
 the country, and baptism and ordination 
 went on in peace. The success of the 
 Jesuits increased rapidly, and many thou- 
 sand souls were enrolled, who had been 
 converted from the delusions of the Alex- 
 andrian creed. The trial of two years 
 failed, however, to convince the nation of 
 the benefits of the true religion ; and the 
 emperor and the patriarchs could not de- 
 ceive themselves in the fact that the cause 
 advanced rather in appearance than in re- 
 ality. Missionaries who entered the na- 
 tive churches were found murdered in 
 their beds ; the most disparaging stories 
 were everywhere circulated regarding the 
 holy fathers, and more particularly on the 
 representation of scriptural performances 
 at the Paschal feast, when demons being 
 introduced by the Romans upon the stage, 
 the spectators rushed simultaneously from 
 the theatre, exclaiming, " Alas ! they have 
 brought with them devils from the infernal 
 regions," and the tale spread like wildfire 
 through the land. 
 
 Nothing daunted by the unfortunate fate 
 of iElius and Joanel, Tekla Georgis, anoth- 
 er son-in-law of the emperor, with a large 
 body of the discontented, rose to defend 
 the religion of their forefathers. Burning 
 the crosses and rosaries, together with a 
 Jesuit priest who fell into their hands, the 
 party rapidly increased, and the emperor 
 was compelled to march an army to quell 
 the insurrection. The rebels were com- 
 pletely routed by Rexabus the viceroy of 
 Tigre, and all who fell into his hands, men, 
 women, and children, were barbarously 
 massacred. Georgis and his sister Adera 
 concealed themselves in a cave, during 
 three days, but were at length discovered 
 and brought before the irritated emperor. . 
 Condemned by the advice of the Jesuits to .. 
 be burned to death as a heretic, Georgis was 
 allowed by the monarch publicly to solicit 
 the patriarch to be admitted into the Roman 
 church ; but it being afterward considered 
 politic to imagine that his intentions w#re in- 
 sincere, the unfortunate prince was hung 
 in front of the palace in presence of the 
 whole court ; and his devoted sister, fif- 
 teen days afterward suffered the same fate 
 upon the same tree, notwithstanding that 
 
MOUNTAINEERS OF BEGEMEDER. 
 
 265 
 
 the most strenuous efforts were made to 
 save her life by the queen and by all classes 
 of society. 
 
 To increase the dread effects of his tyr- 
 anny, the emperor now issued a manifesto, 
 that even as he had punished with death 
 the obstinacy of his own son-in-law, so 
 would he of a surety not spare any who in 
 future committed a like transgression. The 
 remarks of the worthy missionary Antoine, 
 regarding this execution, will show the 
 spirit which animated the fathers in the 
 course of this persecution, so novel in the 
 annals of Abyssinia, and so contrary to the 
 mildness of the Christian faith. " He 
 who reads with attention the history of 
 Ethiopia, will observe that at no previous 
 period was such ardent zeal displayed for 
 the honor of religion, and a direct miracle, 
 indeed, must have induced the emperor to 
 hang his own son-in-law in the blessed 
 cause." 
 
 Dazzled by the success that had hitherto 
 attended their measures, the patriarch and 
 his colleagues now plunged headlong into 
 proceedings which eventually proved dis- 
 astrous to their cause. Excommunications 
 were lightly launched in civil disputes, and 
 the souls of the royal counsellors of the 
 state were committed to the devil for da- 
 ring to question the authority of the foreign 
 priest. Conspiracies were hatched against 
 the imperial person ; and the body of a distin- 
 guished nonconforming ecclesiastic, which 
 had been interred within the Walls of the 
 church, was exhumed by the orders of the 
 Portuguese prelate, and thrown to the wild 
 beasts — an action which raised the indig- 
 nation, of the Ethiopians to the highest pitch 
 against a set of men " who had ever the 
 words of religion in the mouth, but who, 
 after persecuting the living, denied even 
 to the dead that repose which neither Pa- 
 gan nor Mohammadan ever disturbed." 
 
 The detestation of the fathers and their 
 religion daily waxed stronger in the hearts 
 of all. Their great patron, Ras Cella 
 Christos, was deprived of power and pro- 
 perty for seditious attempts ; and the bold 
 mountaineers of Begemeder at length seiz- 
 ed their long spears to uphold the faith oi 
 their ancestors. The viceroy was driven 
 from the province, and Melaxus, » youth 
 of royal blood, appointed defender of the 
 ancient religion, and leader of the armed 
 host of peasants who flocked to his stand- 
 ard from all parts of the country, but espe- 
 cially from Lasta, the seat of the bravest 
 warriors of the land. 
 
 To quell this insurrection, the emperor 
 assembled in Gojam an army of twenty-five 
 thousand men, and attacked the insurgents 
 18 
 
 among their strongholds. His troops were, 
 however, repulsed at all points, with the 
 loss of many officers and men, and he was 
 reluctantly obliged to retreat to the plains. 
 Deputies followed from the victorious camp, 
 to supplicate him to take pity upon his sub- 
 jects, and to dismiss those evil-minded 
 strangers who had so long oppressed Abys- 
 sinia. The royal army was in no heart or 
 condition to renew hostilities. Rumors 
 went through the land, that angels sent 
 from heaven had proclaimed the restoration 
 of the ancient religion ; and in the general 
 excitement the king perceived that his own 
 authority would be fatally compromised un- 
 less some concessions were made. 
 
 The patriarch was nevertheless inflexi- 
 ble ; and letters were at the same time re- 
 ceived from Rome, instigating the emperor 
 to combat stoutly with his rebellious sub- 
 jects, and extending to Ethiopia the gen- 
 eral absolution of the great year of Jubilee. 
 But the unhappy inhabitants laughed the 
 offer of this indulgence to scorn, and were 
 utterly unable to comprehend by what au- 
 thority the pope held in his possession the 
 keys of the kingdom of heaven. 
 
 CHAPTER CV. 
 
 EXPULSION OF THE JESUITS FROM ETHIOPIA. 
 
 The civil war continued, meanwhile, to 
 rage with great expenditure of life, and 
 with alternate success on either side. En- 
 ticed into the plain, the enemy were gen- 
 erally worsted by the royal troops; but 
 among the recesses oi their native rocks 
 the mountaineers had always the advan- 
 tage. No sign of intended submission could 
 be observed ; And the monarch, becoming 
 suspicious of the Jesuits, who were erecting 
 forts and strongholds under the guise of 
 church^ and residences, lent a favorable 
 ear Xo the entreaties of his subjects. 
 
 A second remonstrance was penned, 
 wherein he forcibly set forth to the Portu- 
 guese bishop "that the Roman religion had 
 not been introduced into the country by the 
 miracles or the preaching of the fathers, 
 but by royal edict and ordinance, in oppo- 
 sition to the wish of the entire population ; 
 and that the prelate must devise some 
 milder measures for the furtherance of the 
 true faith." 
 
 Foreseeing a heavy storm in abeyance in 
 case of refusal, Mendez reluctantly com- 
 plied with the proposal of a modified church 
 code, under the restriction that no public 
 manifesto should announce the change, 
 
266 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 which must be gradually and silently in- 
 troduced. The ancient liturgy and the an- 
 cient holydays were thus restored, and the 
 celebration of the Jewish Sabbath once 
 again permitted. 
 
 But the concession was insufficient, and 
 came too late to pacify the turbulent moun- 
 taineers of Lasta, who had been altogether 
 victorious during the war. They would 
 listen to no modification of their first de- 
 mand ; but imperatively insisted upon the 
 complete reestablishment of their ancient 
 ecclesiastical institution, together with the 
 expulsion of the foreigners from the land. 
 
 The liberty and the customs of high- 
 landers are seldom invaded with success ; 
 and a religion detested by the common 
 people cannot, without much difficulty, be 
 introduced by the prince. Weary of so 
 many rebellions, and murders, and excom- 
 munications, the king, in his advanced age, 
 began to view with an unfavorable eye the 
 firebrand authors of these disturbances. 
 Suspecting his brother and the patriarch of 
 seditious views — offended by the contuma- 
 cy of his subjects, and the increasing di- 
 minution of his own authority — disgusted 
 with the present state of affairs, and appre- 
 hensive of future events — he now serious- 
 ly bethought him of restoring the church 
 to its original footing. But the rebellion 
 must, in the first instance, be quelled ; and 
 having with this view concluded an alli- 
 ance with the Galla, he marched toward 
 Lasta. 
 
 Twenty thousand peasants, confident of 
 victoiy, descending from their mountains, 
 rushed into the plain to meet the royal 
 force. The two armies for a time re- 
 mained in sight, in that still calmness 
 which precedes the earthquake. At length 
 the Galla cavalry dashing at speed on the 
 crowded masses of the enemy, threw them 
 into complete confusion — a fierce combat 
 lasted until the going down of die sun — 
 and the field of battle was left covered with 
 eight thousand bodies of the insurgent. 
 
 Throwing themselves prostrate before 
 the triumphant monarch on this scene of 
 carnage, the vanquished peasants expressed 
 their grief in the following lively terms : 
 "Who are these men," they asked with 
 groans, " who you now behold bathed in 
 blood ? Are they Moslem, or Pagan, or 
 even the enemies of the kingdom? No, 
 they are Christians — they are all thy sub- 
 jects, knit together by the most tender 
 bonds of blood, friendship, and affection. 
 Tl ose warriors who now lie lifeless at thy 
 feet, would, under a better government, 
 have proved the bulwarks of thy throne, 
 and the terror of those very men by whose 
 
 hands they have fallen. The pagans even 
 blush at thy cruelty, and call thee renegade 
 for having abandoned the religion of thy 
 fathers. Cease, O emperor ! in mercy 
 cease to prolong a struggle which must 
 end in the downfal of the throne, and the 
 ruin of all religion in the land I" 
 
 The empress also mingled her tears 
 with the groans of the wounded petitioners, 
 and adjured the king for the love of God, 
 and in the name of future generations, to 
 take pity upon his subjects, and desist from 
 preparing a sepulchre for himself and for 
 his family. " What have you gained by 
 this battle ?" she exclaimed, " You have 
 introduced into the kingdom hordes of pa- 
 gan Galla, who detest yourself equally with 
 your religion ; but futile will be your at- 
 tempt to establish in Ethiopia a form of 
 worship which is unknown to the greater 
 part of your people, and to the remainder 
 is known only to be resisted to the last 
 drop of their blood." 
 
 These representations sunk deep into 
 the heart of the emperor ; and instead of 
 proceeding in triumph to his capital, he 
 retired to a secluded spot to give vent to 
 his feelings, and bewail the loss he had 
 created. The Galla troops were dismiss- 
 ed ; and having collected all the principal 
 monks and clergy, he announced his reso- 
 lution of allowing the nation to return to 
 the faith of their forefathers. 
 
 Immediately on this intelligence, the 
 patriarch hurried with all the Jesuit fathers 
 to soothe the ruffled mood of the monarch. 
 " I had fondly imagined," exclaimed Men- 
 dez, " that we were the victors, but behold 
 we are the vanquished; and the rebels, 
 routed and put to flight, have obtained all 
 that they desire. Call to mind how many 
 fields thou hast won with the assistance of 
 God and the Portuguese, and remember 
 that thou didst embrace the true faith of 
 thine own free will. We have been sent 
 unto thy charge by the pope of Rome, and 
 by the king of Portugal. Beware of irri- 
 tating great potentates to just indignation. 
 They be indeed far off, but God is nigh at 
 hand; and thy apostacy will defile thy 
 name and that of thy nation, and will leave 
 an everlasting tarnish upon the Lion of the 
 tribe of Judah which now glitters in the 
 standard of Ethiopia." On the conclusion 
 of this harangue, all threw themselves at 
 his feet, and entreated an immediate order 
 to execution, rather than a confirmation 
 from his lips of the rash resolution that he 
 had taken. 
 
 Retaining a too lively recollection of the 
 streams of blood that had been poured out 
 upon the plains of Lasta, the emperor 
 
THE ANCIENT RELIGION RESTORED. 
 
 287 
 
 quietly allowed the Jesuits to arise, and, 
 unmoved by their earnest prayers and en- 
 treaties, replied shortly, "that his adhe- 
 rence to the Catholic faith had already 
 Caused the slaughter of a great portion of 
 his subjects, and that he would have no 
 further dealings whatever with their doc- 
 trines." 
 
 The film fell from before the eyes of the 
 discomfited monks. The friends of the 
 Alexandrian faith . rallying roun d the throne, 
 united their utmost efforts to strengthen 
 the emperor in his resolves ; and the ru- 
 mor spread abroad that on the fast of St. 
 John the Baptist the ancient religion was 
 to be reestablished throughout the land. 
 Thousands assembled in the capital on 
 that day to assist in the ceremony ; and, al- 
 though temporarily disappointed, the event 
 clearly proved that this act of justice could 
 no longer be safely delayed. 
 
 Every art and stratagem was still resort- 
 ed to by the patriarch to put off the evil 
 day ; but the emperor, roused at length by 
 the harsh and uncompromising character 
 of the Jesuit, fiercely exclaimed, " Has, 
 then, the sceptre departed from mine hand 
 for ever ?" — and the royal trumpets sud- 
 denly sounded through the streets of Gon- 
 dar, as the herald announced the following 
 proclamation to the empire : 
 
 " Listen and hear ! We formerly re- 
 commended to you the adoption of the 
 Roman Catholic creed, on the firm convic- 
 tion that it was the only true one ; but 
 numbers of our subjects having sacrificed 
 their lives for the religion of their ances- 
 tors, we henceforth accord its free exercise 
 unto all. Let the priests resume posses- 
 sion of their churches, and worship the 
 God of their forefathers. Farewell, and 
 rejoice." 
 
 It is impossible to describe the rapture 
 with which this welcome edict was re- 
 ceived. The praises of the emperor re- 
 sounded from every quarter. The rosaries 
 and the chaplets of the Jesuits were tossed 
 out of doors, and burned in a heap. Men 
 and women danced for joy in the streets, 
 and the song of liberation burst from the 
 lips of the disenthralled multitude. 
 
 " The flock of Ethiopia has escaped from the hyenas 
 
 of the West. 
 The doctrine of St. Mark is the column of our church. 
 Let all rejoice and sing hallelujahs, 
 For the sun of our deliverance has lighted up the land." 
 
 Thus perished the hopes of a mission, 
 which, for craft and cruelty, has been sel- 
 dom equalled in the annals of time. While 
 Rome must indeed have been prompted by 
 no ordinary motive to persevere so perti- 
 naciously in a work of conversion, through 
 18* 
 
 all the horrors of banishment and martyr- 
 dom, the unworthy means resorted to by 
 the dauntless but unsuccessful agents em- 
 ployed in the enterprise have left an indel- 
 ible stain upon the page of her history. 
 
 CHAPTER CVI. 
 
 THE CHURCH, SECOND GREAT POWER IN 
 SHOA. 
 
 Christianity is the national religion, 
 over the more elevated portions of Abys- 
 sinia ; but the wild Galla has overrun her 
 fairest provinces, and located himself in 
 her most pleasant places — the bigoted 
 Moslem crowds thick upon the skirts of 
 her distracted empire, and the tenets that 
 she professes are base, foolish, and degra- 
 ding. Engrafted on the superstitions of 
 the Jew, the Mohammadan, and the Pagan 
 — promulgated by rude and ignorant men 
 — and received by a people emerging only 
 into the first stage of civilization — the light 
 of religion must have been feeble, even in 
 the beginning ; but as it was imparted, so 
 it still remains. Sects and parties have 
 arisen, and province has been banded 
 against province in all the fiery wrath of 
 the zealot ; but, lost in the maze of subtle 
 controversy, these internal wars have raged 
 for generations without disturbing the orig- 
 inal doctrine ; and the same errors of the 
 church prevail to this day throughout the 
 land, as when first propounded in the be- 
 ginning of the fourth century. 
 
 The aboon, or archbishop, is the spiritual 
 chief of Ethiopia. Consecrated by the pa- 
 triarch of Alexandria, and possessing with 
 rich revenues the intelligence of other 
 lands, the primate is universally feared and 
 respected throughout the empire, and all 
 religious differences and dissensions must 
 be carried for the final decision of his holi- 
 ness. Princes and rulers pay implicit de- 
 ference to his high behest, and, seated on 
 the ground before his episcopal throne, 
 receive with the utmost respect his every 
 wish and advice. Feuds* and quarrels be- 
 twixt state and state are satisfactorily ar- 
 ranged in his presence ; and war, tyranny, 
 and violence are controlled by his all-com- 
 manding voice of mildness and benevo- 
 lence. But while his influence is thus 
 potent, the extent of his diocese is also 
 great ; and many local difficulties opposing 
 the pastoral visit to the extremities of his 
 see, the kingdom of Shoa has for ages 
 been deprived of the advantages accruing 
 from the residence of an archbishop. 
 
 
268 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 In the hand of the aboon is vested the 
 exclusive power of consecration. Bishops, 
 priests, and deacons can from him alone 
 receive holy office. He only it is who 
 grants absolution for heavy offences against 
 either God or man ; and the ark of a church, 
 whether newly constructed or polluted by 
 the unhallowed touch of a Mohammadan, 
 must be purified by his hands with the holy 
 merom, before being entitled to that high 
 adoration which it thenceforward receives. 
 
 The second place in spiritual dignity is 
 filled by the etchegue, the grand prior of 
 the monks of Debra Libanos. Seated on 
 the throne of Tekla Haimanot, one of the 
 first founders of the orders of Seclusion, 
 he engrosses the management of all the 
 various monastic establishments through- 
 out the land, and in his hands remains the 
 charge of the existing literature and edu- 
 cation. Deeply versed in the subtilties of 
 theology, his opinion is held of the highest 
 import in the never-ceasing disputes upon 
 the uninteresting subjects of false faith 
 which occupy the mind of the Abyssinian 
 divine ; but his authority extends only to 
 the simple admittance into the monkish 
 order, and to granting absolution for the 
 minor offences of evil thought, and pre- 
 scribed fast neglected. 
 
 The comus, or bishop, who ranks next 
 above the priest, is without diocese or even 
 authority over the inferior members of the 
 church ; and his peculiar function is to 
 bless and purify the sacred ark, should it 
 accidentally receive the impure touch of 
 deacon or layman ; to repeat the prayer of 
 admission, and sign the cross on the skull- 
 cap of the candidate for monastic seclu- 
 sion ; and to afford absolution for trivial 
 offences against the conscience. 
 
 Twelve thousand clerical drones, 
 
 " Fruges consumere nati," 
 
 fatten in idleness on the labor of the work- 
 ing classes ; and the kiss imprinted on the 
 hand of one of these licentious shepherds 
 being believed to purify the body from all 
 sin, they are treated with the highest re- 
 spect and veneration, are fed and caressed 
 both by high and low, and invariably ad- 
 dressed as " father." 
 
 Upon payment each of a few pieces of 
 salt, many hundred candidates receive the 
 breath of the Holy Ghost from the aboon 
 in a single day ; but every Abyssinian be- 
 l ing ignorant of his own age, it is essential 
 to the reception of priestly orders that the 
 beard should have appeared. Deacons are 
 chosen from among boys and children, be- 
 cause on reaching maturity the life of the 
 adult is not always distinguished by that 
 
 spotless purity which is held indispensable. 
 The juvenile novices are present during 
 divine service in the capacity of servitors, 
 and they complete the requisite number 
 at the administration of the holy commu- 
 nion. 
 
 The father confessor is bound to the 
 strictest secrecy ; and it is believed that 
 on this point a dread oath is taken before 
 ordination, when all the mysteries of re- 
 ligion are expounded by the aboon, and 
 especially those which have reference to 
 the preparation of bread for the holy sup- 
 per. In a small house styled Bethlehem, 
 which rises immediately behind every 
 church, the mysterious ceremony is per- 
 formed. The deacon can alone bake the 
 cake ; and the most vigilant guard is inva- 
 riably preserved against the approach or 
 intrusion of females or other improper visi- 
 tors during the hour of solemn preparation. 
 Certain revenues and estates are set 
 apart for the support of each clerical 
 establishment; and to insure the proper 
 distribution, an alaka, or chief, is selected 
 by the monarch from either class of so- 
 ciety. While a successful foray is inva- 
 riably followed by donations from the 
 throne, the safe return from a journey is 
 acknowledged by an offering on the part 
 of all private individuals ; and the shade 
 of the venerable juniper-trees, which adorn 
 the church-yard on the summit of the 
 greenest knolls, is ever crowded with 
 groups of sleek, hooded priests, who bask 
 in the enjoyment of idle indulgence. 
 
 There are perhaps more churches in 
 Abyssinia than in any other part of the 
 Christian world ; and he who has erected 
 one believes that he has atoned for every 
 sin. But even the best are very misera- 
 ble edifices of wattle plastered with mud, 
 only to be distinguished from the surround- 
 ing hovels by a thin coating of whitewash, 
 which is dashed over the outside to point 
 with the finger of pride to the peculiar 
 privilege of the two great powers in the 
 land. Circular in form, with a door to 
 each quarter of the compass, and a conical 
 thatch, the apex is surmounted by a brazen 
 cross, which is usually adorned with os- 
 trich eggs ; and the same depraved and 
 heathenish taste pervades the decorations 
 of the interior. Sculpture is strictly for- 
 bidden ; but the walls are bedaubed with 
 paintings of the partron saint of the church, 
 the blessed Virgin, and a truly incongru- 
 ous assemblage of cherubim and fallen, 
 angels, with the evil one himself enveloped 
 in hell flames. Timbrels and crutches 
 depend in picturesque confusion from the 
 bare rafters of the roof ; no ceiling protects 
 
 
THE HOLY TABOT— DIVINE SERVICE. 
 
 269 
 
 alone, 
 pagan, 
 forced 
 are in 
 
 the head from the descent of the lizard and 
 the spider; and the tout ensemble of the 
 slovenly Abyssinian church presents the 
 strangest imaginable picture of cobweb 
 finery. 
 
 The Jewish temple consisted of three 
 distinct divisions — the fore-court, the holy, 
 and the holy of holies. To the first lay- 
 men were admitted, to the second only the 
 priest, and to the third the high priest 
 All entrance was denied to the 
 a custom which is rigorously en- 
 in Abyssinia ; and her churches 
 ike manner divided into three parts. 
 
 Eight feet in breadth, the first compart- 
 ment stretches, after the fashion of a cor- 
 ridor, entirely around the building. It is 
 styled Kene Mdhelet,a,nd, strewed through- 
 out with green rushes, forms the scene of 
 morning worship. To the right of the en- 
 trance is the seat of honor for priests and 
 erudite scribes; and beyond this court, 
 save on certain occasions, the bare foot of 
 the unlearned layman cannot pass. 
 
 Makdas is the second compartment. 
 This is the sanctuary in which the priests 
 officiate, and a corner is set apart for lay- 
 men during the administration of the holy 
 supper, while a cloth screens the myste- 
 ries of the interior. Here also hang, ar- 
 ranged around the walls, the bones of 
 many deceased worthies, which have been 
 carefully gathered from the newly opened 
 sepulchre, and are deposited by the hand 
 of the priest in cotton bags. By the near- 
 est relative, the first opportunity is em- 
 braced of transporting these mouldering 
 emblems of mortality to the sacred resting- 
 place of Debra Libanos, where the living 
 and the dead are alike blessed with a rich 
 treasure of righteousness, since the re- 
 mains of Tekla Haimanot, the patron saint 
 of Abyssinia, still shed a bright halo over 
 the scene of his miracles upon earth. 
 
 To Kedis Kcdisen, the holy of holies, 
 none but the alaka is admitted. Behind 
 its veil the sacrament is consecrated, the 
 communion vessels are deposited, and the 
 tremendous mysteries of the tabot, or ark 
 of the covenant, are shrouded from the 
 eyes of the uninitiated. The gold of the 
 foreigner has penetrated the secret of the 
 contents of this box, which are nothing 
 more than a scroll of parchment, on which 
 is inscribed the name of the patron saint 
 of the church ; but the priest, who dared 
 to open his lips on the subject to one of 
 his own countrymen, would incur the 
 heavy penalties due to the sacrilege. 
 
 The most ridiculous exploits are record- 
 ed of Menilek the son of Solomon and the 
 queen of Sheba, who crowned along course 
 
 of iniquity by plundering the temple of 
 Jerusalem. The true ark of Zion is be- 
 lieved still to exist in the church at Axum ; 
 but prayers, vows, and oblations, are equal- 
 ly made to the handicraft of any vain ec- 
 clesiastic, which may be held up to the 
 admiring multitude as having been secreted 
 in a cave during the inroad of the con- 
 quering Graan, and since revealed by a 
 miraculous dream from Heaven. 
 
 In the presence of the mysterious cask- 
 et consists the only sanctity of the church. 
 Heretics alone doubt of its inherent vir- 
 tues ; and every individual who professes 
 Christianity, must during life make his 
 vows and oblations to the one he has se- 
 lected, in order that after death he may 
 enjoy the privilege of interment under its 
 sacred influence. Young and old, rich 
 and poor, prostrate themselves to the 
 ground as the idol is carried in procession 
 through the streets under the great um- 
 brellas ; and when replaced in his case in 
 the holy of holies, the air is rent by the 
 attendant priests with shouts of " The 
 .temple of the eternal God !" 
 
 All the disqualifications of the Levitical 
 law oppose entrance to the sacred edifice, 
 and both the threshold and the door-posts 
 must be kissed in passing. Like the Jews, 
 the Abyssinians invariably commence the 
 service with the trisagion, " Holy, holy, 
 holy is God, the Lord of Sabaoth." The 
 sweet singer of Israel danced before the 
 Lord, and a caricature imitation remains, 
 the chief point of Abyssinian worship. 
 Capering and beating the ground with 
 their feet, the priests stretch out their 
 crutches toward each other with frantic 
 gesticulations, while the clash of the tim- 
 brel, the sound of the drum, and the howl- 
 ing of harsh voices, complete a most 
 strange form of devotion. The lessons are 
 taken partly from the Scriptures, partly 
 from the miracles of the holy Virgin and 
 of Tekla Haimanot, the life of saint George, 
 and other foolish and fabulous works ; but 
 all are in the ancient Ethiopic tongue, 
 which to the congregation is a dead letter ; 
 and the sole edification of a visit to the 
 church is therefore comprised in the kiss 
 that has been imprinted on the portal. 
 
 In order to obtain the desired and envia- 
 ble position of eating the bread of com- 
 parative idleness, a sacrifice is indispen- 
 sable. The priest is restricted to the 
 possession of a single wife ; and on her 
 demise or infidelity, no second marriage 
 is authorized. A small portion of lore 
 must, moreover, be imbibed — the Psalms 
 of David must be carefully conned — and 
 the mysteries of Abyssinian song and 
 
370 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 dance be fully penetrated, before the sacred 
 office can be attained. The lessons of 
 early youth are, however, speedily forgot- 
 ten, and the constant repetition of the 
 same words removes the necessity of re- 
 taining the character. Few in after years 
 can read — still fewer respect the vow of 
 chastity — and the employment of the morn- 
 ing hours of the Sabbath, and of the holy- 
 days, in dancing and shouting within the 
 walls of the church, entitle the performer 
 to all the immunities and comforts per- 
 taining unto holy orders. 
 
 In every clerical conclave the king pos- 
 sesses the supreme voice of authority ; and 
 the despotic monarch may in Shoa be 
 justly regarded as the head of his own 
 church. .Loss of office is the great pun- 
 ishment inflicted by the spiritual court, 
 which is composed of the assembled mem- 
 bers of the individual church, and degra- 
 dation is followed by the expulsion of the 
 offending brother from the community. 
 But the great hall of justice is not unfre- 
 quently graced with the presence of the 
 refractory priest ; and fetters in the dun- 
 geon, or banishment from the realm, main- 
 tain a wholesome fear of the royal power 
 of investigation in matters ecclesiastical. 
 The monk is admitted to the order of 
 his choice by any officiating priest. A 
 prayer is repeated, the skull-cap blessed 
 with the sign of the cross, and the cere- 
 mony is complete. But a more imposing 
 rite attends the oath of celibacy before the 
 aboon. The clergy assemble in numbers, 
 and fires are lighted around the person of 
 the candidate. His loins are bound about 
 with the leathern girdle of saint John, and 
 the prayer and the requiem for the dead 
 rise pealing from the circle. The Glaswa 
 — a narrow strip of black cloth adorned 
 with colored crosses — is then placed on 
 the shaven crown, and shrouded from view 
 by the enveloping shawl ; and the arch- 
 bishop, clad in his robes of state, having 
 repeated the concluding prayer and bless- 
 ing, signs with his own hand the emblem 
 of faith over the various parts of the body. 
 Education was in former days to be ob- 
 tained alone from the inmate of the mo- 
 nastic abode ; and a life of scanty food, aus- 
 terity, and severe fasting, was embraced 
 only by the more enthusiastic. But the 
 skin-cloak, and the dirty head-dress, now 
 envelope the listless monk, who, satisfied 
 with a dreamy and indolent existence, 
 basks during the day on the grassy banks 
 of the sparkling rivulet, and prefers a bare 
 sufficiency of coarse fare from the hand of 
 royal charity, to the sweeter morsel earned 
 by the sweat of the brow. 
 
 Priest-ridden and bigoted to the last de- 
 gree, the chains of bondage are firmly riv- 
 eted around the neck of the infatuated 
 Abyssinian. The most ridiculous doctrines 
 must be believed, and the most severe 
 fasts and penances must be endured, ac- 
 cording to the pleasure and the fiat of the 
 church. Uncharitable and uncompromis- 
 ing, her anger often blazes forth into the 
 furious blast of excommunication ; and for 
 offences the most trivial, the souls of men 
 are consigned to eternal perdition. 
 
 Fasts, penances, and excommunication, 
 form, in fact, the chief props of the clerical 
 power; but the repentant sinner can al- 
 ways purchase a substitute to undergo the 
 two former, and the ban of the church is 
 readily averted by a timely offering. Spi- 
 ritual offences are indeed of rare occur- 
 rence ; for murder and sacrilege alone give 
 umbrage to the easy conscience of the na- 
 tive of Shoa ; and all other crimes written 
 in the book of Christian commandment 
 have been well nigh effaced from the sur- 
 face of his tablet. Abstinence and the 
 disbursement of suitable largesses to the 
 priest and mendicant, are of themselves 
 quite sufficient to insure the requisite abso- 
 lution for every sin committed in the flesh. 
 
 The death-bed and the funeral feast are 
 attended with much advantage to the tem- 
 poral interests of the church. The choi- 
 cest food is unsparingly dealt out, and the 
 bereaved widow is glad to leave the man- 
 agement of her affairs to the assiduous 
 father confessor, who is entertained in the 
 house of all who can afford the expense. 
 The dying man bestows a portion of his 
 estate in this world for the bright hopes 
 which absolution extends in that which is 
 to come ; and the holy sacrament is even 
 administered after the soul has quitted the 
 tenement of clay, in order that the super- 
 stition of grateful relatives may grant a 
 rich reward for the blessing of the priest, 
 and for his undeniable assurance of ex- 
 emption from punishment hereafter. 
 
 But the Abyssinian possesses no idea of 
 the more salutary doctrine of Christianity. 
 Polluted faith is here reflected in the mir- 
 ror of depraved manners, and long severe 
 fastings constitute the essence of his de- 
 generate religion. The idol worship of 
 saints has made rapid progress in the land ; 
 and the ignorance of the clergy is only to 
 be equalled by the impurity of the lay 
 classes. Their belief in Christianity, if 
 that term can be applied, is strange, child- 
 ish, and inconsistent ; and bigoted to the 
 faith of their ancestors, they abhor and 
 despise all who refuse acquiescence in this 
 their absurd confession : 
 
THE CHRISTIAN BELIEF. 
 
 271 
 
 " That the Alexandrian faith is the only 
 true belief. 
 
 " That faith, together with baptism, is 
 sufficient for justification ; but that God 
 demands alms and fasting, as amends for 
 sin committed prior to the performance of 
 the baptismal rite. 
 
 " That unchristened children are not 
 saved. 
 
 " That the baptism of v/ater is the true 
 regeneration. 
 
 " That invocation ought to be made to 
 the saints, because sinning mortals are 
 unworthy to appear in the presence of God, 
 and because if the saints be well loved, 
 they will listen to all prayer. 
 
 " That all sins are ibrgiven from the 
 moment that the kiss of the pilgrim is im- 
 printed on the stones of Jerusalem ; and 
 that kissing the hand of a priest purifies 
 the body from all sin. 
 
 " That sins must be confessed to the 
 priest — saints invoked — and full faith re- 
 posed in charms and amulets, more espe- 
 cially if written in an unknown tongue. 
 
 " That prayers for the dead are neces- 
 sary, and absolution indispensable ; but 
 that the souls of the departed do not im- 
 mediately enter upon a state of happiness, 
 the period being in exact accordance with 
 the alms and prayers that are expended 
 upon earth." 
 
 All ideas regarding salvation are thus 
 vague and indefinite ; and vain, foolish 
 doctrines have taken entire possession of 
 the shallow thoughts of the Christian of 
 Ethiopia. Born amid falsehood and deceit, 
 cradled in bloodshed, and nursed in the 
 arms of idleness and debauchery, the na- 
 tional character is truly painted in the con- 
 fession of one of her degenerate sons : — 
 " Whensoever we behold the pleasing 
 ware, we desire to steal it; and we are 
 never in the company of a man whom we 
 dislike, that we do not wish to kill him on 
 the spot." 
 
 The uphill task of the missionary is 
 therefore hard ; and the wonder is that so 
 much has been accomplished — not that the 
 harvest is scanty. The example of a holy 
 life cannot fail to produce a beneficial ef- 
 fect, and the preacher of the gospel is ac- 
 knowledged to possess every quality that 
 is good, mild, and just ; but disliked as a 
 stranger of envied accomplishment, des- 
 pised as an alien to the land, and hated by 
 the jealous priesthood, the words of truth 
 fall unheeded from lips the most eloquent, 
 and the best-directed endeavors prove of 
 small avail. Perfectly satisfied with his 
 own creed, the Abyssinian finds it easier 
 to kiss the holy book than to peruse its 
 
 contents ; and to trust to the fast and the 
 priestly absolution than to mould his con- 
 duct according to the gospel ; and it is not 
 until commerce, with the arts of civilized 
 society, shall have been introduced, that 
 the barrier can be overcome, or one step 
 be gained toward the restoration to the un- 
 happy country of the true word of God. 
 The bigotry of ages is confirmed by the 
 self-pride and the excessive ignorance of 
 the present race ; and on the rising or on 
 the unborn generation must rest the sole 
 hope for a moral resurrection. 
 
 CHAPTER CVII. 
 
 ABYSSINIAN RITES AND PRACTICES WHICH 
 WOULD APPEAR TO HAVE BEEN BORROW- 
 ED FROM THE HEBREWS. 
 
 The claim to the appellation of Hdbeshi, 
 " a mixed and mingling people, is most 
 aptly exemplified in this strange medley 
 of religion, to which the Jew, the Moslem, 
 and the Pagan, has each contributed. A 
 mixture from different nations, as stigma- 
 tized by the original term, the Abyssini- 
 ans have garbled the faith of their an- 
 cestors ; and there is assuredly no Chris- 
 tian community in the whole world, which 
 has jumbled together truth and falsehood 
 with such utter inconsistency as the vain 
 church of Ethiopia. 
 
 Many circumstances have conspired to 
 render the nation more peculiarly suscepti- 
 ible of Hebrew influence. The first Chris- 
 tian missionary found the people idolaters, 
 and worshippers of the great serpent Arwe ; 
 but the ancestors of those Jews who to the 
 present day exist in the country, unques- 
 tionably arrived long before the nation had 
 embraced the Christian religion, and in 
 their attempts to obtain a moral influence 
 over their pagan hosts were far from being 
 inactive in their adopted home. Thus the 
 early Christian church, that of Egypt 
 especially, by which many Hebrew cus- 
 toms had been embraced, was the more 
 readily received when introduced into a 
 nation among whom similar doctrines and 
 practices were already in use. 
 
 Boasting a direct descent from the house 
 of Solomon, and flattering themselves in the 
 name of the wisest man of antiquity, the 
 emperors of Abyssinia preserve the high- 
 sounding title of " King of Israel," and the 
 national standard displays for their motto 
 — " The Lion of the tribe of Judah hath 
 prevailed." The tradition of Queen Ma- 
 queda has been ascribed to the invention of 
 those fugitive Jews, who, after the destruc- 
 
272 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 tion of Jerusalem by the Emperor Titus, 
 emigrated into the northern states by way 
 of the Red Sea — who disseminated it with 
 the design of obtaining the desired permis- 
 sion to settle in the country, and whose de- 
 scendants are the Falashes still extant 
 among the mountains of Simien and Las- 
 ta. But whatever may be thought by oth- 
 ers of the legend of descent, the firm na- 
 tional belief in the origin traced will in a 
 great measure account for the general in- 
 clination and consent to receive Hebrew 
 rites and practices as they were from time 
 to time presented. Jews as well as Chris- 
 tians believe the forty-fifth psalm to be a 
 prophecy of the queen's visit to Jerusalem, 
 whither she was attended by a daughter 
 of Hiram the king of Tyre — the latter por- 
 tion being a prediction of the birth of Me- 
 nilek, who was to be king over a nation of 
 Gentiles. 
 
 Whatever the true date of their arrival, 
 it is certain that the Hebrews have exer- 
 cised a much greater influence upon the 
 affairs of Abyssinia than in any other since 
 the days of their dispersion ; and although 
 their religion was abjured by the nation on 
 the promulgation of the Gospel, the chil- 
 dren of Israel, moulding a portion of their 
 worship on the formulae of the Christian 
 faith, and esteemed as sorcerers and cun- 
 ning artists in the land, found a safe asylum 
 among the mountains, and exist to the pres- 
 ent day, here, as elsewhere, a separate and 
 peculiar nation. 
 
 With the destruction of the race of Sol- 
 omon the Jewish party for a time obtained 
 the preponderance. Again, on the resto- 
 ration of the reigning dynasty, they were 
 hunted among the mountains as a race ac- 
 cursed, and the feeling reigned paramount 
 to sweep the wanderers from the face of 
 the land. But the custom of ages had im- 
 pressed the Hebrew practices too deeply 
 to be removed. They were, in fact, re- 
 garded in the light of orthodox Christian 
 doctrines ; and as might have been expect- 
 ed from a bigoted and superstitious peo- 
 ple, the severest persecutions were enfor- 
 ced against the members of another creed, 
 without the nation observing in how far 
 they were themselves tainted with those 
 very principles which in others they con- 
 sidered so justifiable to oppress. 
 
 The Abyssinian Christian will neither 
 eat with the Jew, nor with the Galla, nor 
 with the Mohammadan, lest he should 
 thereby participate in the delusions of his 
 creed ; and the church and the churchyard 
 are sternly closed against all who commit 
 this deadly sin. The same restrictions 
 which prohibited the Jews from partaking 
 
 of the flesh of certain animals, pronounced 
 unclean by the Mosaic law, also heavily 
 binds the stubborn neck of the Ethiopian. 
 The act which is deemed disgraceful in the 
 eyes of men, is regarded as a moral trans- 
 gression, and is visited, as was the case in 
 the Mosaic institution, by the stern repri- 
 mand of the priest. The penance of se- 
 vere fasting, or of uneasy repose upon the 
 bare ground, is enforced by the father-con- 
 fessor to efface the taint of the interdicted 
 animal ; and prayers must be repeated, and 
 holy water plentifully besprinkled over the 
 defiled person of that sinning individual 
 who shall have dared to touch the meat of 
 the hare, or the swine, or the aquatic fowl. 
 
 " The children of Israel did not eat of 
 the sinew which shrank, which is upon the 
 hollow of the thigh." This is in the Am- 
 haric language termed Shoolada. and it is 
 prohibited and held unlawful to be eaten in 
 Shoa, more especially to the members of 
 the royal blood. Considered as highly un- 
 clean, it ranks with the carrion carcass ; 
 and the universal belief prevails, that the 
 touch of the unholy morsel would infalli- 
 bly be followed by the loss of the offending 
 teeth, as a direct reproof ttf the just indig- 
 nation of Heaven. 
 
 The Jewish Sabbath is strictly observed 
 throughout, the kingdom. The ox and the 
 ass are at rest. Agricultural pursuits are 
 suspended. Household avocations must be 
 laid aside, and the spirit of idleness reigns 
 throughout the day. 
 
 Abolished by order of the great council 
 of Laodicea, the Oriental churches were, 
 after the observance of centuries, freed from 
 this burden ; and men gladly availed them- 
 selves of the ecclesiastical license to work 
 on the Saturday. Here, however, the an- 
 cient usage agreed too well with the lazi- 
 ness of a people systematically trained to 
 indolence ; and when, a few years ago, one 
 daring spirit presumed, in advance of the 
 age, to burst the fetters of superstition, his 
 majesty the king of Shoa, stimulated by the 
 advice of besotted monks, delegated his 
 wardens throughout the land, and issued 
 a proclamation, that whoso disturbed the 
 original dreamy stillness of the Jewish Sab- 
 bath should forfeit his property to the royal 
 treasury, and be consigned to the state dun- 
 geon. 
 
 Ludolf, the celebrated Strabo of Ethio- 
 pia, most accurately remarks, that " there 
 is no nation upon earth which fasts so 
 strictly as the Abyssinians ; and that they 
 would rather commit a great crime than 
 touch food on the day of abstinence.' 1 
 They not only boast with the Pharisee, " I 
 fast twice a week," but pride themselves 
 
ANNUAL ATONEMENT— INFERIOR DEITIES. 
 
 273 
 
 also upon their mortification of the flesh 
 during half the year, while the haughty 
 and self-sufficient monk vaunts his meagre 
 diet as the only means of expiation from 
 sin and evil desire. 
 
 The Abyssinians, in common with other 
 Christian communities who rigidly observe 
 the fasts of Wednesday and Friday, ad- 
 vance as an argument that the Jews seized 
 our Saviour on the first of those days, and 
 on the second carried into execution their 
 design of crucifixion ; but as this account 
 differs from the evidence of the Gospel, 
 which shows that the arrest took place 
 ^upon the Thursday, the observance is most 
 probably an imitation of the weekly fasts in 
 existence among the Jews. 
 
 The fast of the forty days before Easter 
 is observed with much greater rigor than 
 any other in Abyssinia ; and the reckless 
 individual who shall neglect the great 
 " Toma Hodadi " cannot possess one sen- 
 timent of true religion in his heart. To 
 the abstinence of this season especially are 
 attached peculiar virtues which completely 
 nullify the effect of every sin that may be 
 committed throughout the residue of the 
 year. 
 
 According to the Jewish practice, all cu- 
 linary utensils must be thoroughly cleansed 
 and polished, to the end that no particle of 
 meat or prohibited food may remain to pol- 
 lute the pious intention. Journeys and 
 travel are strictly interdicted ; and from 
 the Thursday until Easter morn, no morsel 
 should enter the lip, and the parched throat 
 ought to remain without moisture. 
 
 During the fast of the holy Virgin, chil- 
 dren of tender years are not even exempted 
 from the penance of sixteen days ; and du- 
 ring the many and weary weeks of absti- 
 nence which roll slowly throughout the 
 entire year, the Abyssinian priest would 
 grant no dispensation to the famished mor- 
 tal, " were he even to receive an immediate 
 mandate from Heaven." 
 
 Sahela Selassie arose some years ago a 
 mighty zealot in the cause ; and perceiving 
 that a custom was beginning to decline, 
 proclaimed through the royal herald, pains 
 and penalties sufficiently severe to insure 
 the future strict observance of the fast. 
 The commands of the defender of the faith 
 were, however, in one instance, transgress- 
 ed by a soldier, during a military expedi- 
 tion, but his excuse of fatigue under a heavy 
 load of the king's camp equipage was ad- 
 mitted ; and although on similar occasions 
 a certain license is extended, still the mon- 
 arch keeps a strict watch over the main- 
 tenance of church discipline. 
 
 On the annual day of atonement, the 
 
 Jews were obliged to confess their sins be- 
 fore a priest. In like manner the Abyssi- 
 nians are commanded from time to time to 
 perform the ceremony, during the great 
 fast of Ffodada more particularly, and on 
 Good Friday, the day of the Jewish expi- 
 ation. And as the slave, in token of his 
 freedom and dismissal, received the blow 
 from the Roman praetor, so the penitent 
 on absolution receives a stroke over the 
 shoulders from the branch of the Woira 
 tree, as a sign of his deliverance from sin 
 and Satan. 
 
 Like the pagans of ancient and modern 
 times, who placed between the most high 
 God and themselves an inferior deity, the 
 Abyssinians observe this species of idola- 
 try, although the names of their tutelar 
 spirits have been changed. Saint Michael 
 and the holy Virgin are here venerated as 
 in no other country in the world — the for- 
 mer as the martial leader of all the choirs 
 of angels — the latter as chief of all saints, 
 and queen of heaven and of earth ; and 
 both are considered as the great interces- 
 sors for mankind. 
 
 The detrimental influence of this super- 
 stition is fully exemplified in the conduct 
 of the nation. The mediator is ever em- 
 ployed when individual courage fails in 
 impudent assurance or insatiable beggary. 
 Time is uselessly wasted in importunity, 
 which all believe must in the end prove 
 successful ; and the practice of invocation 
 and intercession thus exerts the most bane- 
 ful tendency even upon the daily dealings 
 of life. 
 
 Like the Jews of old, the Abyssinians 
 weep and lament on all occasions of death, 
 and the shriek ascends to the sky, as if the 
 soul could be again recalled from the world 
 of spirits. The Israelites employed hired 
 mourners ; but here the friends and rela- 
 tives of the departed assemble for the same 
 purpose, and the absence of any from the 
 scene is ascribed to want of love and affec- 
 tion. As with the Jews, the most inferior 
 garments are employed as the weeds of 
 wo ; and the skin torn from the temples, 
 and scarified on the cheeks and breast, pro- 
 claims the last extremity of grief. 
 
 In later days, the extravagance of mourn- 
 ing has been somewhat moderated, through 
 the agency of a priest of the church of St. 
 George, who stood boldly forward to arrest 
 a practice equally at variance with the 
 sacred books of the country, and with the 
 spirit of the New Testament. Excommu- 
 nication was thundered upon all who should 
 thenceforth indulge publicly in the luxury 
 of wo ; and the people trembled under the 
 ban of the church. The death of a great 
 
274 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 governor soon confirmed the restriction. 
 Loved and esteemed by all classes, the 
 prohibition was severely felt. The com- 
 plaint was referred to the throne ; and as 
 the deceased was a man of rank, and a 
 royal favorite withal, the clergy were com- 
 manded to grant absolution in this one in- 
 stance. But Zeddoo, the stout-hearted 
 priest, arose, and declared that he had no 
 respect for persons, and that the words of 
 truth must be defended to the death. The 
 silence of the monarch enforced the eccle- 
 siastical fiat ; and to this day the drum is 
 mute at the funeral wake, and the custom- 
 ary praise of the deceased is heard no more 
 in the public resorts of the capital. 
 
 The Talmud asserts that those who died 
 piously remained in a state of active know- 
 ledge of all the occurrences of this world. 
 Philo, the learned Jew of Alexandria, in- 
 forms us, that the souls of the patriarchs 
 pray incessantly for the Jewish nation, and 
 the erudite rabbins believed that angels are 
 the governors of all sublunary things, and 
 that each man and every country has a 
 guardian angel for protection and direction. 
 The Abyssinians carry this belief even 
 further — they confidently anticipate the in- 
 tercession and assistance of saints and 
 angels in all spiritual and secular concerns, 
 and invoke and adore them in even a higher 
 degree than the Creator. All their churches 
 are dedicated to one in particular, and the 
 holy " tabot" is regarded as the visible rep- 
 resentative of the celestial patron. The 
 ark of St. Michael accompanies all military 
 expeditions, to insure success against the 
 gentiles ; and that of Tekla Haimanot 
 stands the palladium of the north, to pre- 
 serve the empire from the attacks of the 
 Mohammadan prince of Argobba. 
 
 All the absurd ideas of the Jewish rab- 
 bins regarding the dead have been received 
 and embraced by the fathers of Abyssinia. 
 They maintain with the Romanists too, 
 that the soul of the departed does not im- 
 mediately enter into the kingdom of joy, 
 but is conducted to a habitation situated 
 in an invisible spot between the heaven 
 and the earth, where it remains until the 
 resurrection, in a state of happiness or tor- 
 ment, according to the alms and prayers 
 bestowed by surviving relatives and friends. 
 Niches in the same spot are also occupied 
 by the saints ; and the inconsistency of 
 their faith fully appears in the belief that 
 the intercession of the Almighty is abso- 
 lutely necessary of these very saints, who 
 themselves require mortal mediation to be 
 absolved from their spiritual imperfections, 
 and to be suffered to rest in peace until 
 £he coming of Christ. 
 
 But the self-interest of the avaricious 
 priest is wrapped up in the preservation of 
 this doctrine. The clergy enjoy the price 
 of death-bed confession ; and a corner of 
 the church-yard is sternly denied to all 
 who die without the due performance of 
 the rite, or whose relations refuse the fee 
 and the funeral feast. The payment of 
 .eight pieces of salt, however, wafts the soul 
 of a poor man to a place of rest, and the 
 tescar, or banquet for the dead, places him 
 in a degree of happiness according to the 
 costliness of the entertainment. The price 
 of eternal bliss is necessarily higher to the 
 rich ; but German crowns procure the at- 
 tendance of venal priests, who absolve and 
 pray continually day and night, and the 
 reeking brundo is frequently devoured in 
 commemoration of the event. Royalty is 
 taxed at a still more costly rate, and the 
 anniversaries of the deaths of the six kings 
 of Shoa are held with great ceremony in 
 the capital. Once during every twelve 
 months, before the commencement of a 
 splendid feast, their souls are fully absolved 
 from all sin : and the munificence of their 
 illustrious descendant is still further dis- 
 played in the long line of beeves which 
 afterward wends its way to the threshold 
 of every church in Ankober. 
 
 CHAPTER CVIII. 
 
 THE PEOPLE. 
 
 ^Ethiops, one of the twelve descendants 
 of Cush, the son of Ham, said to have been 
 begotten and buried at Axum, is regarded 
 by the Abyssinians as their great progeni- 
 tor. Shortly after the flood, the grandson 
 of Noah is believed to have advanced from 
 the low country, then under the dominion 
 of the sea and the marsh, until, after cross- 
 ing a tract little fitted for the occupation 
 of the shepherd, he ascended the high- 
 lands of Ethiopia, which afforded an invit- 
 ing habitation to the parent stock from 
 which has emanated the different shoots of. 
 African population. 
 
 Like most other Abyssinian legendsJ 
 this version is somewhat at variance with' 
 received history, which assigns to Arabia 
 the original seat of the Cushites. The 
 strange medley of color and feature ob- 
 servable at the present day, does not, how- 
 ever, overturn the theory of origin. The 
 habits of the people, and the peculiarly 
 varied climate of their country, together 
 with the usual result of mingling inter- 
 course with the fairer and more beautiful 
 
ORIGIN OF THE AMHARA— NATIONAL COSTUME. 
 
 275 
 
 among the various hordes of slaves which 
 have for age6 streamed through the land 
 from the ravaged interior, are in themselves 
 sufficient to account for the diversity. 
 
 The connection with Arabia, commen- 
 cing at a period the most remote, is known 
 to have existed for many centuries. Ar- 
 mies from both nations respectively visited 
 each other in wrath — merchants recipro- 
 cally sustained the intercourse — later still, 
 the family of the false prophet found an 
 asylum among the mountains of a country, 
 which, as a Christian state that was not 
 overwhelmed by the resistless flood of 
 Islamism, stands alone in the history of 
 Eastern nations ; and to the present day 
 many peculiarities in the language, the 
 laws, and the customs of both, continue to 
 mark a common origin. Existing usages 
 would also tend to confirm what was af- 
 firmed in the days of Diodorus, that Egypt 
 was originally colonized from Ethiopia, the 
 very soil being brought down from the 
 highlands by the floods of the Nile. 
 
 Caucasian features predominate among 
 the Amhara; but the complexion passes 
 through every shade, from an olive brown 
 to the jet black of the negro. An approxi- 
 mation to the thick lip and flattened nose 
 is not unfrequently to be seen ; but the 
 length and silkiness of the hair invariably 
 marks the wide difference that exists be- 
 tween the two races. The men are tall, 
 robust, and well formed ; and the women, 
 although symmetrically made, are scarcely 
 less masculine. They are sometimes beau- 
 tiful, but, as a rule, the reverse ; and their 
 attempts are indeed ingenious to render 
 hideous the broad unmeaning expanse of 
 countenance bestowed upon them by na- 
 ture. 
 
 All savages esteem certain deformities 
 to be perfection, and strive, by augmenting 
 the wildness of, their aspect, to enhance 
 the beauty of their persons. Having first 
 eradicated the eyebrow, the Amhara dam- 
 sel paints a deep narrow curved line in 
 their room with a strong permanent blue 
 dye ; thus imparting a look of vacancy and 
 foolishness, which in the high-born dame 
 is heightened by plastering the cheeks to 
 the very eyes with a pigment of red ochre 
 and fat. If not close shaven, and encircled 
 by a narrow greasy fillet of rag, the head 
 is adorned with many minute rows of 
 elaborate curls, which diverge from a com- 
 mon centre, and are besmeared with stale 
 butter until the wig has assumed the ap- 
 pearance of an ordinary English beehive. 
 
 The costume consists of a wide sack 
 chemise with baggy sleeves, confined 
 round the waist by a narrow girdle, and sur- 
 
 mounted by a long winding sheet thrown 
 over the head, and descending to the heels 
 — very coarse and strong, and, like Ruth's 
 veil, fully capable of containing six meas- 
 ures of wheat. Large black wooden studs 
 in the lobe of the ear are on high days and 
 holvdays replaced by masses of silver or 
 pewter, resembling a pile of hand-grenades, 
 or the teething rattles employed in nurse- 
 ries. Bracelets and anklets of the same 
 metals, which, from their clumsiness, are 
 aptly denominated " fetters," are worn by 
 those who can afford such extravagance. 
 Blue and gold-colored beads are ingenious- 
 ly wrought into a necklace by the wealth- 
 ier, who never appear without a bandalier 
 of potent amulets terminating in a huge 
 red bell-rope tassel ; and the lady of rank 
 completes her toilet by dying her hands 
 and feet red with the bulb called ensolesa, 
 securely plugging up the nostrils with 
 lemonpeel or some aromatic herb, so that 
 the end of the bouquet may dangle before 
 the mouth. 
 
 From the king to the peasant, the cos- 
 tume of the men consists of a large loose 
 web of coarse cotton cloth, enveloping the 
 entire person in graceful folds, but well 
 nigh incapacitating the wearer from exer- 
 tion. Frequently disarranged, and falling 
 ever and anon upon the ground, the trou- 
 blesome garment must be constantly tuck- 
 ed up and folded anew about the shoulders, 
 from which it is removed in deference to 
 every passing superior. A cotton w r aist- 
 cloth of many yards in length is swathed 
 about the loins, and a pair of very wide 
 loose trowsers, termed senaphil, hang bare- 
 ly to the knee. 
 
 The sword, the spear, and the buckler, 
 are the national weapons ; and the first is 
 girded to the loins of every male subject 
 in the kingdom, be his profession what it 
 may. Barely two feet in length, and highly 
 crescent-shaped, it rather resembles a 
 sickle than an implement of war. It 
 serves equally at the banquet and in the 
 field ; but being firmly lashed to the right 
 side protrudes most incommodiously be- 
 hind, and is not to be detached from the 
 scabbard unless by much grunting and 
 personal exertion. 
 
 " With the unfkshion'd fur 
 Rough-clad, devoid of every finer art, 
 And elegance of life," 
 
 the serf still appears in the raw fleece of 
 the sheep, which he shifts according to the 
 vicissitudes of the weather. During the 
 journey or the foray a cloak, composed of 
 the prepared skin of the lion, the leopard, 
 or the ocelot, is thrown over the shoulders 
 of the better classes. Neither shoes nor 
 
276 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 sandals are ever employed. The despot 
 and the wandering mendicant are alike 
 barefooted ; and, unless by the clergy or 
 the inmate of the monastery, no covering 
 is worn on the head. A wooden skewer, 
 displaying either a feather or a sprig of 
 wild asparagus, is stuck in the hair of two- 
 thirds of the nation, and the arm of every 
 man of any note is encumbered with an 
 infinity of copper rings forming a gauntlet, 
 or with ponderous ivory armlets, or with a 
 mass of silver which might serve as a 
 shackle to a wild colt. 
 
 In the absence of a razor, the men scru- 
 pulously denude their cheeks and chin 
 with a pair of very indifferent scissors — a 
 mode of proceeding which serves greatly 
 to enhance the dirty appearance of their 
 unwashed faces. Water, not less than 
 coffee and tobacco, being studiously avoid- 
 ed, as savoring too strongly of abhorred 
 Islamism, the Christian contents himself 
 with rubbing his eyes in the morning with 
 the dry corner of his discolored robe ; but 
 the greatest attention is paid to the man- 
 agement of the hair, with which nature 
 has so liberally supplied him, and many 
 hours are daily expended in arranging the 
 mop into various and quaint devices. At 
 one time worn hanging in long clustering 
 ringlets over the cheeks and neck — at an- 
 other, frizzed into round matted protuber- 
 ances ; to-day, fancifully tricked and trim- 
 med into small rows of minute curls like a 
 counsellor's peruke ; and to-morrow, boldly 
 divided into four large lotus-leaved com- 
 partments — it is invariably reeking under 
 a liberal coat of rancid butter, which taints 
 the atmosphere with the most nauseous 
 and abominable effluvium. 
 
 During the period of mourning, which 
 extends to one year, black or yellow gar- 
 ments, or the ordinary apparel steeped in 
 mire, must be worn as weeds ; and on the 
 demise of a relative or friend, both sexes 
 scarify the cheeks by tearing from below 
 each temple a circular piece of skin about 
 the size of a sixpence ; to accomplish 
 which, the nail of the little finger is pur- 
 posely suffered to grow like an eagle's 
 talon. An ecclesiastical remonstrance to 
 the throne, representing this practice to be 
 in direct violation of the written law, " Ye 
 shall not make any cuttings in your flesh 
 for the dead," long since obtained the pro- 
 mulgation of a royal edict directing its 
 discontinuance ; but it is still universally 
 practiced; and throughout the kingdom 
 there is scarcely an individual to be seen, 
 whether male or female, who has not at 
 some period of life beon thus horribly dis- 
 figured. 
 
 The mateb, a small encircling cord of 
 deep blue silk, chosen in reference to the 
 smiling sky above, is the badge of debased 
 Christianity throughout the land; and 
 those who accidentally appear in public 
 without it are severely censured by their 
 pastors. Like other Eastern nations, the 
 Amhara have no family name. They soon 
 ripen and grow old. Girls become mothers 
 at the early age of twelve, and are decayed 
 before the summer of life has well com- 
 menced. 
 
 It has been conjectured by Pliny, that 
 the Orientals received their first hints in 
 architecture from the swallow ; and that, 
 in imitation of the abode of the feathered 
 instructor, their primeval essays were 
 made in clay. Whence the Abyssinians 
 obtained their ideas on the subject it were 
 difficult to tell ; but it is certain that they 
 have made little progress, whether in ex- 
 ecution or in design. Their houses, con- 
 structed as in the earliest days, are still a 
 mere framework of stakes, sparingly be- 
 daubed with a rude coating of mud. Here 
 thieves can readily break through and 
 steal ; and of such a flimsy nature are the 
 materials employed, that the morning sun 
 often rises a witness to the truth of the 
 scriptural metaphor, " He built his house 
 upon the sand, and it was swept away by 
 the rising flood." 
 
 The windows, when any windows there 
 be, are mere perforations in the wall, fur- 
 nished with shutters, but unprovided with 
 any transparent substance ; and thus, if 
 the clumsy door is closed against the 
 searching fog, or the cutting wintry blast, 
 all possibility of admitting light is pre- 
 cluded. The thermometer rarely rising 
 above 65°, indicates the necessity for arti- 
 ficial heat ; but, excepting through the 
 crevices in the door, and the apertures of 
 the cracked walls, there exists no exit for 
 the smoke of the sunken wood fire, which 
 thus fills the solitary apartment, blackens 
 the low roof, and occasions frequent at- 
 tacks of ophthalmia. Throughout, the 
 most slovenly appearance pervades the 
 dreary interior. Furniture is limited to a 
 small wicker table, a bullock's hide, and a 
 rickety bedstead abounding in vermin ; 
 and while the universal objection to the 
 use of water, whether as regards the per- 
 son or the apparel of the inmates, enhan- 
 ces the gloomy vista of cobweb desolation, 
 dirt and filth choke up the surrounding 
 inclosure. 
 
 The absence of drains or sewers com- 
 pels the population of the towns and vil- 
 lages to live like swine in the filth of their 
 own styes, inhaling all the odors of de- 
 
 mtm 
 
RAVAGES OF EPIDEMIC— DOMESTIC LIFE. 
 
 277 
 
 composing matter and stagnant water. 
 The comfort of space is never consulted — 
 stables and outhouses are far beyond the 
 notions of the proprietor ; and in the ab- 
 sence of all tidiness or comfort in the ar- 
 rangement of the yards, the unseemly 
 dunghill, which in other countries is car- 
 ried away to improve the soil, is here 
 suffered to accumulate and rot before the 
 entrance. Poisoning the atmosphere with 
 its baneful exhalations, it is periodically 
 swept away by the descending torrents to 
 feed the rank weeds which fatten in the 
 mire ; but no attempt is to be seen at the 
 small trim garden, or neat rustic porch, 
 even in the lone farm-steadings which are 
 scattered throughout the county. All 
 alike present a dreary look of desertion. 
 The poultry, and the mules, and the farm- 
 stock, and the inhabitants, all reside under 
 the same roof. Bare walls and slovenly 
 thatch rise from a straggling wattle stock- 
 ade, which environs the premises to pre- 
 serve the inmates from the nocturnal at- 
 tacks of the prowling hyena, and to impart 
 the fullest idea of confinement and misery. 
 Few trees break the monotony of the 
 scene. No busy hum of glad labor is to 
 be heard — no bustle or noise among the 
 elders — no merry game or amusement 
 among the children ; and thus to the Eu- 
 ropean visitor the whole appears strange, 
 savage, and unnatural. 
 
 With the doors allowing free ingress to 
 every injurious current, with roofs admit- 
 ting the tropical rain, and sunken floors 
 covered with unwholesome damp, it is 
 only surprising that many more of the 
 people of Shoa are not martyrs to disease. 
 It is now nine years since an epidemic 
 called ougdret made its first appearance 
 at the capital, and, as might have been an- 
 ticipated, spread with fearful virulence in 
 the foul city. The drum of misfortune 
 was heard by the credulous pealing over 
 the land ; and although a black bull was 
 led through the streets, followed by the 
 inhabitants carrying stones upon their 
 heads in token of repentance, and the sac- 
 rifice of atonement was duly performed, 
 one half of the whole population was 
 swept away. The monarch sought se- 
 clusion in the remote palace at Machal- 
 wans, and would see no one until the 
 plague was stayed ; and the survivors of 
 his subjects fled for a season from a hill 
 which was declared by the priesthood to 
 have been blasted by a curse from Heaven. 
 
 CHAPTER CIX. 
 
 SOCIAL AND MORAL CONDITION. 
 
 In Shoa a girl is reckoned according to 
 the value of her property ; and the heiress 
 to a house, a field, and a bedstead, is cer- 
 tain to add a husband to her list before 
 many summers have shone over her head. 
 Marriage is generally concluded by the 
 parties declaring, before witnesses, " upon 
 the life of the king," that they intend to 
 live happily together, and the property of 
 each being produced, is carefully apprized. 
 A mule or an ass, a dollar, a shield, and a 
 sheaf of spears on the one side, are noted 
 against the lady's stock of wheat, cotton, 
 and household gear ; and the bargain being 
 struck, the effects become joint for the 
 time, until some domestic difference re- 
 sults in either taking up their own, and 
 departing to seek a new mate. 
 
 Matrimony is, however, occasionally 
 solemnized by the church, in a manner 
 somewhat similar to the observance of 
 more civilized lands ; the contracting par- 
 ties swearing to take each other for life, 
 in wealth or in poverty, in sickness or in 
 health, and afterward ratifying the cere- 
 mony by partaking of the holy sacrament, 
 and by an oath on the despot's life. But 
 this fast binding is not relished by the in- 
 habitants of Shoa, and it is of very rare 
 occurrence. Favorite slaves and concu- 
 bines are respected as much as wedded 
 wives. No distinction is made between 
 legitimate and illegitimate children ; and, 
 to the extent of his means, every subject 
 follows the example set by the monarch, 
 who, it has been seen, entertains upon 
 his establishment, in addition to his lawful 
 spouse, no fewer than five hundred concu- 
 bines. 
 
 The king resides only a few weeks at 
 either of his many palaces ; and whenever 
 he proceeds to another, is accompanied by 
 all his chief officers, courtiers, and domes- 
 tics. At each new station a new female 
 establishment is invariably entertained. 
 All conjugal affection is lost sight of, and 
 each woman is in turn cast aside in neg- 
 lect. Few married couple ever live long 
 together without violating their vow ; and 
 the dereliction being held of small account, 
 a beating is the only punishment inflicted 
 upon the weaker party. The jewel chas- 
 tity is here in no repute ; and the utmost 
 extent of reparation to be recovered in a 
 court of justice for the most aggravated 
 case of seduction is but fivepence sterling ! 
 
 Morality is thus at the very lowest ebb ; 
 for there is neither custom nor inducement 
 
278 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 to be chaste, and beads, more precious than 
 fine gold, bear down every barrier of re- 
 straint. Honesty and modesty both yield 
 to the force of temptation, and pride is sel- 
 dom offended at living in a state of indo- 
 lent dependence upon others. The soft 
 savage requires but little inducement to 
 follow the bent of her passions according 
 to the dictates of unenlightened nature ; 
 and neither scruples of conscience nor the 
 rules of the loose society form any obstacle 
 whatever to their entire gratification. 
 
 The bulk of the nation is agricultural ; 
 but on pain of forfeiting eight pieces of 
 salt, value twenty pence sterling, every 
 Christain subject of Shoa is compelled, 
 whenever summoned, to follow his imme- 
 diate governor to the field. A small bribe 
 in cloth or honey will sometimes obtain 
 leave of absence, but the peasant is usually 
 ready and anxious for the foray ; present- 
 ing as it does the chance of capturing a 
 slave, or a flock of sheep, of obtaining 
 honor in the eyes of the despot, and of 
 gratifying his inherent thirst for heathen 
 blood. 
 
 The principal men of the country who 
 may not be intrusted with government, 
 spend their time in basking in the sun, 
 holding idle gossip with their neighbors, 
 lounging about the purlieus of the court, 
 or gambling at gebbela or shuntridge,* the 
 management of the house being left to the 
 women, and the direction of the farm to 
 the servants and slaves. Visits are cus- 
 tomarily paid early in the morning ; and 
 it is reckoned disreputable to enter a stran- 
 ger's house after the hour of meals, be- 
 cause the etiquette of the country enforcing 
 the presentation of refreshment, the un- 
 seasonable call is ascribed to a desire to 
 obtain it. 
 
 Whether in the cabinet or in the field, 
 a great man is constantly surrounded by a 
 numerous band of sycophants, and never 
 for a moment suffered to be by himself. 
 The custom of the country enjoins the 
 practice — the cheapness of provisions fa- 
 vors the support of a large retinue — and 
 in the lack of manufactories, the popula- 
 tion is able to supply an unlimited number 
 of idlers, who are willing to pick up a 
 livelihood by any means that chance may 
 present. But to the stranger the nuisance 
 is a crying one. No privacy is to be en- 
 joyed, for no retirement is ever permitted. 
 A dozen naked savages are perpetually by 
 
 * Oebbeta is a game something allied to backgam- 
 mon, but played with sixty-four balls stored in twenty 
 cavities on the board. 
 
 Skuntridge is, with few deviations, the Arab game 
 of chess. 
 
 his side, restrained by no very correct 
 ideas of order or decorum. Each intru- 
 der seizes the first object that comes 
 within his reach, and attacks ears, teeth, 
 and nose with the most reckless indiffer- 
 ence to appearance. The confused hum 
 and half-suppressed chatter are far from 
 affording assistance during the hours of 
 mental employment ; and at the season of 
 meals, or during the presence of illustrious 
 visitors, the whole establishment, denuded 
 to the girdle, crowd into the apartment to 
 satisfy insatiate curiosity, under pretext 
 of doing honor to their lord and master. 
 
 On the first introduction of a stranger, 
 an individual is selected from the estab- 
 lishment, and appointed the baldoraba, or 
 " introducer." He is designed to illustrate 
 the agency of the holy Virgin and of the 
 saints, between the Redeemer and the sin- 
 ning mortal. To him and to him alone 
 can a visitor look for admittance into the 
 house ; and unless he be present, the mon- 
 arch and the great man are alike invisible. 
 Court-yards may be thronged with attend- 
 ants, and the doors may seem invitingly 
 accessible, but the open sesame is wanting, 
 and the repulsed visitor returns to his 
 home disgusted with the insolence re- 
 ceived. Time, however, gradually softens 
 down the rigidity of the most inconvenient 
 practice, which is at first so pertinaciously 
 observed. Suspicion of evil design gives 
 way on matured acquaintance ; and after 
 a certain probation, there is not much more 
 difficulty experienced in gaining admittance 
 to an Abyssinian hut, than to the lordly 
 halls of the English nobleman. 
 
 Respect is paid by prostration to the 
 earth in a manner the most degrading and 
 humiliating — by bowing the face among 
 the very dust — by removing the robe in 
 order to expose the body — and on entering 
 the house, by kissing the nearest inanimate 
 object. Every subject, of whatever rank, 
 when admitted to the royal presence, 
 throws himself flat before the footstool, 
 and three times brings his forehead in con- 
 tact with the ground. All stand with 
 shoulders bare to the girdle before his 
 majesty, as do servants in that of the 
 master or superior ; but to equals the cor- 
 ner of the cloth is removed only for a 
 time. Anything delivered to a domestic 
 must be received with both hands in a 
 'ringing attitude ; and should a present 
 bo made, the nearest object, generally the 
 t\. eshold of the door, is invariably saluted 
 wu ; i the lips. 
 
 A.uong the chiefs and those of rank, 
 presents are frequently interchanged, ai 
 the utmost display is attempted on their 
 
RAW BEEF-STEAKS— HYDROMEL. 
 
 279 
 
 delivery. To this end the articles are sub- 
 divided into a multiplicity of minute por- 
 tions, placed in baskets covered with red 
 cloth, and consigned to a long train of 
 bearers. Each component part of the gift 
 must next be exposed to the view of the 
 recipient. Wild bulls and unruly he-goats, 
 half as large as a donkey, are forcibly 
 dragged into the sitting apartment, to the 
 imminent danger and frequent pollution of 
 all around. Cocks and hens, unseemly 
 joints of raw beef, loaves of half-baked 
 dough, pots of rancid butter, sticky jars of 
 honey, or leaky barilles of hydromel, sacks 
 of barley, bundles of forage, and coarse 
 evergrown cabbages, must be in turn nar- 
 rowly scrutinized and personally approved ; 
 and any deviation from this established 
 rule is certain to be visited with the most 
 dire displeasure. 
 
 Meals are taken twice during the day — 
 at noon and after sunset. The doors are 
 first scrupulously barred to exclude the 
 evil eye, and afire is invariably lighted be- 
 fore the Amhara will venture to appease 
 his hunger — a superstition existing that 
 without this precaution devils would enter 
 in the dark, and there would be no bless- 
 ing on the meat. Men and women sit 
 down together, and most affectionately pick 
 out from the common dish the choicest bits, 
 which, at arm's length, they thrust into 
 each other's mouth, wiping their fingers on 
 the pancakes which serve as platters, and 
 are afterward devoured by the domestics. 
 The appearance of the large owlish black 
 face bending over the low wicker table, to 
 receive into the gaping jaws the proffered 
 morsel of raw beef, which, from its dimen- 
 sions, requires considerable strength of fin- 
 ger to force into the aperture, is sufficiently 
 ludicrous, and brings to mind the nest of 
 sparrows in the garden hedge expanding 
 their toad-like throats to the wanton whis- 
 tle of the truant -school-boy. Mastication 
 is accompanied by a loud smacking of the 
 lips — an indispensable sign of good breed- 
 ing, which is said to be neglected by none 
 but mendicants, " who eat as if they were 
 ashamed of it ;" and sneezing, which is fre- 
 quent during the operation, is accompanied 
 by an invocation to the Holy Trinity, when 
 every bystander is expected to exclaim, 
 Maroo ! " God bless you !" 
 
 Raw flesh forms the great aliment of 
 life ; and a sovereign contempt is enter- 
 tained toward all who have recourse to a 
 culinary process. The bull is thrown down 
 at the very door of the eating-house — the 
 head having been turned to the eastward, 
 is with the crooked sword nearly severed 
 from the body under an invocation to the 
 
 Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost — and 
 no sooner is the breath out of the carcass, 
 than the raw and quivering flesh is handed 
 to the banquet. It is not fair to brand a 
 nation with a foul stigma, resting on a soli- 
 tary fact ; but he who, like the writer, has 
 witnessed during the return of the foray 
 the wanton mutilation of a sheep, whose 
 limbs were in succession severed from the 
 carcass while the animal was still living, 
 can readily believe all that is related by 
 the great traveller Bruce of all the cruelties 
 practiced in Northern Abyssinia. 
 
 Sour bread, made from teff, barley, and 
 wheat, is eaten with a stimulating pottage 
 of onions, red pepper, and salt. Daboo, the 
 most superior description of bread manu- 
 factured, is restricted to the wealthier 
 classes ; but there are numerous other 
 methods employed in the preparation of 
 grain, descending through all the grades 
 of hebest, anbabtro, anabroot, defo, amasa^ 
 debenia, demookta, and kitta ; the first four 
 being composed of wheaten flour, and the 
 remainder of teff, gram, juwarree, barley, 
 and peas. 
 
 Mead formed the beverage of the north- 
 ern nations, and was celebrated in song by 
 all their bards. It was the nectar they 
 expected to quaff in heaven from the skulls 
 of their enemies, and upon earth it was 
 liberally patronized. In Shoa the despot 
 alone retains the right of preparing the 
 much-prized luxury, which, under the title 
 of tedj, is esteemed far too choice for the 
 lip of the plebeian. Unless brewed with 
 the greatest care, it possesses a sweet 
 mawkish flavor, particularly disagreeable 
 to the palate of the foreigner; but its pow- 
 ers of intoxication, which do not appear to 
 be attended with the after-feelings insepa- 
 rable from the use of other potent liquors, 
 extend an irresistible attraction to the Am- 
 hara of rank, who will never, if the means 
 of inebriation be placed within his reach, 
 proceed sober to bed. 
 
 The branches of the gesho planf are 
 dried, pulverized, and boiled with water, 
 until a strong bitter decoction is produced, 
 which is poured off and left to cool. Honey 
 and water being added, fermentation takes 
 place on the third day. Chilies and pep- 
 per are next thrown in, and the mixture is 
 consigned to an earthen vessel, closely 
 sealed with mud and cow dung. The 
 streng f h increases with the age ; and the 
 monarch's cellars are well stored with jars 
 filled thirty years ago, during the reign of 
 his sire, which, lit-le inferior in potency to 
 old Cognac, furnishes the material for the 
 nightly orgies in the palace. 
 
 The lullah, or beer of the country, also 
 
380 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 possesses intoxicating properties, and, swal- 
 lowed to the requisite extent, produces the 
 consummation desired. Barley or juwar- 
 ree, having been buried until the grain be- 
 gins to sprout, is bruised, and added to the 
 bitter decoction of the gesho. Fermenta- 
 tion ensues on the fourth day, when the 
 liquor is closed in an earthen vessel, and, 
 according to the temperature of the hut, 
 becomes ready for use in ten or fifteen 
 more. The capacity of the Abyssinian for 
 this sour beverage, which in aspect resem- 
 bles soap and water, is truly amazing. In 
 every house gallons are each evening con- 
 sumed, and serious rioting, if not bloodshed, 
 is too often the result of the festivity. 
 
 Rising with the liquor quaffed, the fierce 
 passions gradually gain the entire ascend- 
 ency, and guests seldom return to their 
 homes without witnessing the broil and the 
 scuffle, the flashing of swords and the deal- 
 ing of deep cuts and wounds among the 
 drunken combatants. Jf but a small por- 
 tion of the grease which is so plentifully 
 besmeared over the Christian persons of the 
 Amhara were employed in the fabrication 
 of candles, the long idle evenings might be 
 passed in a more pleasant and profitable 
 manner than in the swilling of beer like 
 hogs, and the consequent brawling conten- 
 tions which at present stigmatize their noc- 
 turnal meetings. 
 
 On ordinary occasions, however, when 
 not engaged in a debauch, the Abyssinian 
 retires to his bed as soon as the shades of 
 night close in. A bullock's hide is stretch- 
 ed upon the mud floor, on which, for mu- 
 tual warmth, all the inferior members of the 
 family lie huddled together in puris natu- 
 ralibus. The clothing of the day forming 
 the covering at night, is equitably distribu- 
 ted over the whole party ; and should the 
 master of the house require sustenance du- 
 ring the nocturnal hours, a collop of raw 
 flesh and a horn of ale are presented by 
 a male or female attendant, who starts 
 without apparel from the group of sleep- 
 ers, exclaiming Abiel! "My lord!" to the 
 well-known summons from the famished 
 gaita. 
 
 Coffee, although flourishing wild in many 
 parts of the kingdom, is at all times strictly 
 forbidden on pain of exclusion from the 
 church ; and the priesthood have extended 
 the same penal interdiction to smoking, 
 " because the Apostle saith, that which 
 cometh out of the mouth of a man defileth 
 him." One half the year, too, which is 
 reserved for utter idleness, is sternly mark- 
 ed by an exclusion of all meat diet, under 
 the fearful penalty of excommunication. 
 Eggs and butter are then especially forbid- 
 
 den, as also milk, which is styled "the 
 cow's son." Nothing whatever is tasted 
 between sunrise and sunset ; and even at 
 the appointed time a scanty mess of boiled 
 wheat, dried peas, or the leaves of the kail- 
 cabbage, with a little vegetable oil, is alone 
 permitted to those who are unable to obtain 
 fish, of which none are found in any of the 
 upland rivers. 
 
 Beside Wednesdays and Fridays through- 
 out the twelve months, which are observed 
 as holydays, the fast of the Apostles con- 
 tinues eighteen days, that of the holy Vir- 
 gin sixteen, Christmas seven, Nineveh four, 
 and Lent fifty-six. During all of these, 
 laboring men are strictly prohibited from 
 every employment, and, as they desire their 
 souls to be saved, are compelled to live like 
 anchorites, to the serious diminution of 
 their bodily strength. This is encouraged 
 and promoted by the king ; yet there is no 
 system so baneful as that of devoting so 
 many precious days to idleness and vice, 
 and none forming a more fatal obstacle to 
 the amelioration of the people. Where 
 such a waste of time as this is sanctioned by 
 religion, how deeply laid must be the found- 
 ation of mental ignorance ! Six months 
 out of the twelve devoted to listless idle- 
 ness is indeed an immense source of evil, 
 and God, who has placed men here for use- 
 ful and worthy exertion, is not likely to 
 reward them for their sloth. But through- 
 out Abyssinia the evil is in full force. In 
 arts, in industry, and in social as well as 
 in moral existence, her sons are shrouded 
 under a dense cloud of ignorance. Want 
 of education denies them the relaxation of 
 intellectual employment — little amusement 
 varies the dull routine of a life awed by the 
 church, by the king, and by the nobles ; and 
 an unprofitable existence having been pass- 
 ed in this world, the spirit passes away 
 without any very distinct idea being enter- 
 tained of what is to happen in the next. 
 
 CHAPTER CX. 
 
 LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE. 
 
 Geez, the ancient Ethiopic, was the ver- 
 nacular language of the shepherds. Until 
 the fourteenth century of the Christian era 
 it remained that of the Abyssinian empire, 
 and in it are embodied all the annals of her 
 religion. After the downfall of the Ze- 
 guean dynasty, and the restoration of the 
 banished descendants of Solomon, Amharic 
 became the court language, to the com- 
 plete exclusion of the Geez. It prevails in 
 Shoa, as well as in all the provinces in- 
 
THE AMHARIC TONGUE— THE SCRIBE. 
 
 281 
 
 eluded between the Taccaze and the blue 
 Nile, and is thus spoken by the greater por- 
 tion of the population of Abyssinia. 
 
 The province from which the language 
 has derived its appellation is at the present 
 day in occupation of the Yedjow, and other 
 Mohammadan Galla tribes, who speak a 
 distinct dialect ; but the fact of " Amhara " 
 being a term held synonymous with " Chris- 
 tian," would prove that it must formerly 
 have exerted preeminent influence in the 
 empire. 
 
 Of Semitic origin, and acknowledging 
 the Ethiopic as its parent, the Amharic 
 displays much mutual interchange with the 
 surrounding African languages — those, es- 
 pecially, which are spoken by the Danakil, 
 the Somauli, the Galla, the people of Ar- 
 gobba, and those of Hurrur and of Gurague. 
 The cognate dialect peculiar to Tigre has 
 received much less adulteration from other 
 tongues, and consequently preserves a 
 closer similitude to the Ethiopic ; and this 
 circumstance may be traced to the greater 
 intercourse maintained with a variety of 
 foreign nations by the versatile and unsta- 
 ble population in the south. 
 
 Amharic excepted, none of the many lan- 
 guages extant in Abyssinia have assumed 
 a written form. The Ethiopic characters, 
 twenty-six in number, are the Coptic 
 adaptation of the Greek alphabet, model- 
 led upon the plan of the Arabic, deranged 
 from their former order, and rendered rude 
 and uncouth by the fingers of barbarous 
 scribes. Each individual consonant, be- 
 ing subjected to variations of figure corres- 
 pondent with the number of vowels, pro- 
 duces a prolific kaleidescope mixture, 
 which might have been deemed sufficient. 
 Bat the ingenious phonologist who applied 
 these to the Amharic tongue has superadd- 
 ed seven foreign letters, each undergoing 
 seven transformations by the annexure of as 
 many vowel points ; and these, with the ad- 
 dition of a suitable modicum of diphthongs, 
 complete a total of two hundred and fifty- 
 one characters, of the separate denomina- 
 tion of any of which, notwithstanding that 
 most have possessed names from all an- 
 tiquity, it may not, perhaps, be considered 
 extraordinary that the most erudite in the 
 land should profess entire ignorance. 
 
 When the Egyptian monarch interdict- 
 ed the employment of the papyrus, parch- 
 ment was invented. The Jews very early 
 availed themselves of the charta pergame- 
 na, whereupon to write their scriptures. 
 The roll is still used in their synagogues ; 
 and being introduced into Abyssinia on 
 the Hebrew emigration, it continues the 
 only material used by the scribe. His ink 
 19 
 
 is a mucilage of gum-arabic mixed with 
 lampblack. It acquires the consistency of 
 that used in printing, and retains its in- 
 tense color for ages. The pen is the reed 
 used in the East, but without any nib, and 
 the inkstand is the sharp end of a cow's 
 horn, which is stuck into the ground as 
 the writer squats to his task. 
 
 But it must be confessed that the Abys- 
 sinian scribe does not hold the pen of a 
 ready writer ; and the dilatory manage- 
 ment of his awkward implement is attend- 
 ed with gestures and attitudes the most 
 ludicrous. Under many convulsive twitch- 
 es of the elbow, the tiny style is carried 
 first to the mouth, and the end having been 
 seized between the teeth, is masticated in 
 a sort of mental frenzy. Throughout the 
 duration of this necessary preliminary, the 
 narrow strip of dirty vellum is held at 
 arm's length, and viewed askance on every 
 side with looks of utter horror and dismay ; 
 and when at last the stick descends to dig 
 its furrow upon the surface, no terrified 
 schoolboy, with the birch of the pedagogue 
 hanging over his devoted head, ever took 
 .such pains in painting the most elaborate 
 pot-hook, as does the Abyssinian professor 
 of the art of writing, in daubing his strange 
 hieroglyphics upon the scroll. 
 
 As with the Chinaman, each individual 
 character must on completion be scruti- 
 nized from every point of view, before pro- 
 ceeding to the next. Every word must 
 be read aloud by the delighted artist, spelt 
 and respelt, and read again ; and the greasy 
 skin must be many times inverted in order 
 that the happy effect may be thoroughly 
 studied. During each interval of approv- 
 al, the destructive convulsions of the jaw 
 are continued to the complete demolition 
 of the pencil, and long before the termina- 
 tion of the opening sentence, European pa- 
 tience has become exhausted at the scene 
 of awkward stupidity, and the gross waste 
 of valuable time which it involves. 
 
 Seventeen years have been employed in 
 transcribing a single manuscript, and an 
 ordinary page is the utmost that can be 
 produced by one entire day's steady appli- 
 cation. A book is composed of separate 
 leaves inclosed between wooden boards, 
 usually furnished with the fragment of a 
 broken looking-glass for the toilet of the 
 proprietor, and carefully enveloped in a 
 leathern case. The contents being of 
 a sacred nature, and generally embodied 
 in an unknown tongue, they are looked 
 upon with the eye of superstitious creduli- 
 ty, and more especially venerated if embel- 
 lished with colored daubs and an illumina- 
 ted title-page. 
 
282 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 The pictorial art is still far behind the 
 middle ages of Europe ; and the appear- 
 ance of the limner arranging his design 
 ■with a stick of charcoal, or filling in the 
 gaudy partitions with the chewed point of 
 a reed dabbled in the yolk of an egg, 
 which is placed on end before him, proves 
 sufficiently diverting. The conceits of 
 some of the most celebrated masters also 
 afford a fund of amusement. Christ still- 
 ing the tempest is a subject fraught with 
 the deepest perplexity to those who have 
 never seen either a maritime vessel or the 
 "great water," and fire-arms are placed 
 somewhat before their invention in the 
 hands of the heroes of antiquity. Our 
 common father in the enjoyment of para- 
 dise is at the present day invariably depict- 
 ed with an emblazoned buckler, a sprig of 
 asparagus, and a silver sword ; and his 
 erring partner appears with a bushy bee- 
 hive wig most elaborately buttered, with 
 silver earrings resembling piles of cannon- 
 shot. But although doubts exist as to 
 complexion of the first parents of man- 
 kind, the fact is not a little complimentary 
 to the heretic Franks, that the fairest skin 
 is given to saints, angels, and the " dead 
 kings of memory," whereas black or blue 
 are the colors invariably employed in de- 
 picting his satanic majesty. 
 
 One hundred and ten volumes* comprize 
 the literature at this day extant in Abys- 
 sinia; but tradition records the titles of 
 other works, which it has already been said 
 were deposited for security in the islands 
 of the lake Zooai, at the period of the Mo- 
 hammadan inroads. Of the accumulated 
 lore of ages, four manuscripts only are 
 written in the language at present spoken 
 and understood ; and, with exception of the 
 Holy Scriptures, the whole is little more 
 than a tissue of absurd church controversy 
 and lying monkish legend. 
 
 Four monstrous folios, styled Senkesar, 
 which are to be found in every church, 
 briefly record the miracles and lives of the 
 countless saints and eminent persons who 
 receive adoration in Abyssinia ; and on the 
 day ordered by the calendar for the service 
 of each, his biography is read for the edifi- 
 cation of all those of the congregation who 
 comprehend the Ethiopic tongue. A host 
 of pious worthies thus preside over every 
 day of the entire year ; and fables of the 
 most preposterous kind, detailed with scru- 
 pulous minuteness, are vouched for upon 
 unexceptionable authority. 
 
 Idle legends form the delight of the peo- 
 ple of Shoa. The Ethiopic saint is nothing 
 
 * Vide Appendix, 
 
 inferior to his western brethren. He per- 
 forms yet more marvellous miracles, leads 
 a still more ascetic life, and suffers even 
 more dreadful martyrdom ; whence he is 
 proportionably adored in the native land of 
 credulity, superstition, and religious zeal. 
 Between apocryphal and canonical books 
 no distinction is made. Bell and the Drag- 
 on is read with as much devotion as the 
 Acts of the Apostles, and it might be ad- 
 ded, with equal edification too ; and St. 
 George vanquishing his green dragon is an 
 object of nearly as great veneration as any 
 of the heroes in the Old Testament. 
 
 But the store of literature being thus 
 bound up in a dead letter, few excepting 
 the priests and defteras can decipher them, 
 and many of these learned men are often 
 more indebted to the memory of their early 
 youth than to the well-thumbed page in 
 their hand. The ignorance of the nation 
 is indeed truly deplorable ; for those chil- 
 dren only receive the rudiments of an ed- 
 ucation who are designed for the service 
 of the church; and the course of study 
 adopted being little calculated to expand 
 the mind of the neophyte, a peculiar de- 
 ficiency is presented in intellectual fea- 
 tures. The five churches of Ankober have 
 each their small quota of scholars, but the 
 aggregate does not amount to eighty, out 
 «f a population of from twelve to fifteen 
 thousand ! 
 
 Abyssinia, as she now is, presents the 
 most singular compound of vanity, meek- 
 ness, and ferocity — of devotion, supersti- 
 tion, and ignorance. But, compared with 
 other nations of Africa, she unquestionably 
 holds a high station. She is superior in 
 arts and in agriculture, in laws, religion, 
 and social condition, to all the benighted 
 children of the sun. The small portion of 
 good which does exist may justly be as- 
 cribed to the remains of the wreck of 
 Christianity, which, although stranded on 
 a rocky shore, and buffeted by the storms 
 of ages, is not yet wholly overwhelmed ; 
 and from the present degradation of a peo- 
 ple avowing its tenets, may be inferred the 
 lesson of the total inefficacy of its forms 
 and profession if unsupported by enough of 
 mental culture to enable its spirit and its 
 truths to take root in the heart, and bear 
 fruit in the character of the barbarian. 
 There is, perhaps, no portion of the whole 
 continent to which European civilization 
 might be applied with better ultimate re- 
 sults ; and although now dwindled into an 
 ordinary kingdom, Habesh, under proper 
 government and proper influence, might 
 promote the amelioration of all the sur- 
 rounding people, while she resumed her 
 
THE THREE NATURES OF CHRIST. 
 
 283 
 
 original position, as the first of African 
 monarchies. 
 
 CHAPTER CXI. 
 
 THEOLOGICAL CONTROVERSIES. 
 
 Ever since the arrival of the British 
 embassy in Shoa, the king's attention had 
 been occupied with controversies, which, 
 during a period of sixty years, have per- 
 plexed the Abyssinian divines. The voice 
 of the herald and the beat of the kettle- 
 drum were now gradually resolving the 
 church into a form, by the establishment 
 of opinions diametrically opposed to the 
 historical facts and clear evidence of the 
 Gospel ; and the summary deposition of 
 refractory spiritual chiefs, and the- arbitrary 
 confiscation of their worldly substance, 
 having led to the successful introduction 
 of many unsound doctrines, which his des- 
 potic majesty conceives to be most condu- 
 cive to salvation, he bids fair in due pro- 
 cess of time to promulgate a most curious 
 creed of his own. 
 
 At the expense of a bloody civil war, 
 Gondar, with Gojam, Damot, and all the 
 southwestern provinces of Amhara, has 
 long maintained the three births of Christ 
 — Christ proceeding from the Father from 
 all eternity, styled li the eternal birth ;" his 
 incarnation, as being born of the holy Vir- 
 gin, termed his " second or temporal birth ;" 
 and his reception of the Holy Ghost in the 
 womb, denominated his "third birth." The 
 Tigre ecclesiastics, on the other hand, 
 whose side is invariably espoused by the 
 primate of Ethiopia, deny the third birth, 
 upon the grounds that the reception of the 
 Holy Ghost cannot be so styled — the opin- 
 ions of both parties being at variance with 
 the belief of the Occidental churches, 
 which, on the evidence of the Gospel, be- 
 lieve that our blessed Saviour received the 
 Holy Ghost at his baptism in his thirtieth 
 year, immediately prior to the commence- 
 ment of his preaching. 
 
 Further, the Gondar sectarians assert 
 that Christ received the Holy Ghost by 
 the Father, while those of Tigre affirm 
 that, being God himself, he gave the Holy 
 Ghost unto himself. This creed has ob- 
 tained for the latter faction the opprobrious 
 epithet of Kara Hdimanol, the knife of 
 faith, in allusion to their having lopped off 
 an acknowledged scriptural truth. 
 
 Asfa Woosen, grandsire to Sahela Se- 
 lassie, being assured by his father confes- 
 sor, a native of Gondar, that in event of 
 his embracing- the doctrine of the three 
 19* 
 
 births, the district of Morabeitie, already 
 conquered by Emmaha Yasoos,but not at 
 that period completely annexed to Efat, 
 should be permanently secured to hin., 
 through the spiritual influence of the church 
 adopted it without hesitation. Until within 
 the last few years the belief was limited to 
 the monarchs of Shoa ; but the hospitality 
 of the reigning sovereign attracting to his 
 dominions numerous visitors from the 
 north and west of Abyssinia, the latent 
 flame was quickly fanned ; and the dis- 
 pute reaching a great height, was at length 
 brought before the despot, who put an end 
 to it by issuing a royal proclamation, un- 
 der the solitary tree at Angollala, " That 
 he who should henceforth deny the three 
 births of Christ, should forfeit his property 
 and be banished the realm." 
 
 Aroe, a eunuch from Gondar, shortly 
 disseminated another curious doctrine, 
 which asserts that the human soul posses- 
 ses knowledge, fasts, and worships in the 
 womb, and immediately on separation from 
 the body renders an account on high. On 
 the recent nomination of the Alaka Wol- 
 da Georgis to be head of the church, and 
 of Kidaana Wold to be the alaka of Deb- 
 ra Libanos, three monks set out to Gondar 
 for the purpose of denouncing them, as 
 being opposed to this creed. Ras Ali, er- 
 roneously concluding that they denied the 
 three births, sent to Sahela Selassie to in- 
 quire how it happened that he had seceded 
 from the faith of his forefathers, by the 
 appointment of the two individuals in 
 question. Hereat the negoos waxing 
 wroth, exclaimed, " Am I then the vassal 
 of Ras Ali, that he thus interrogates me ?" 
 But reflection showed him the propriety of 
 avoiding a dispute which must have invol- 
 ved serious consequences, and with his 
 usual temporizing policy he sent a reply 
 declaratory " that he had not abjured the 
 belief of his ancestors." 
 
 The monks of Debra Libanos having 
 thus failed in their attempt to remove the 
 newly appointed alakas, next sought to 
 accomplish their purpose by the establish- 
 ment of their creed throughout the king- 
 dom, and gaining numerous proselytes, 
 the dispute? had soon reached the climax. 
 After fruitless efforts to satisfy the inte- 
 rests of all concerned, his majesty sought 
 to escape participation in the quarrel, by 
 referring the parties to Gondar ; but Ze- 
 nama Work, the queen-dowager, well as- 
 sured that Ras Ali and the monks would 
 decide against the sect whose doctrines 
 she espouses, denied a passage through 
 Zalla Dingai, and thus compelled the 
 whole to returni to* Anfcober. 
 
284 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 As had been anticipated, this step re- 
 sulted in the complete triumph of the 
 Gondar eunuch, and the consequent, dis- 
 missal with disgrace of the Alaka Wolda 
 Georgis, chief of the church of Shoa, the 
 alakas of St. Michael, St. George, Afer- 
 beine, Kondie, Aramba, Debra Berhan, and 
 Angollala ; of the king's confessor ; of 
 Wolda Haimanot, styled Bala Wajnbar,* 
 the great alaka of Mans, chief of thirty- 
 eight churches, who possessed the privi- 
 lege of sitting in the royal presence on an 
 iron chair ; and of numerous other priests, 
 whose property was confiscated by the 
 crown, and who received sentence of ban- 
 ishment from the kingdom. 
 
 On the herald proclaiming, under the 
 palace gate at the capital, that the belief of 
 the knowledge of the human soul in the 
 womb should henceforth be received by 
 all classes, under similar pains and penal- 
 ties, public thanksgivings were offered in 
 the various churches ; and the priests, 
 forming triumphant processions through 
 every street of the town, chanted psalms 
 amid the shrill acclamations of women, 
 and the din of the sacred drums. The 
 defeated party, on the other hand, com- 
 plained loudly that they had been dismiss- 
 ed without an impartial hearing ; the mon- 
 arch having simply observed that the fact 
 of their not proceeding to Gondar, as com- 
 manded to do, sufficiently proved their 
 error. This they disclaimed, and after re- 
 questing to be convinced upon the Scrip- 
 tures, added, " Will the king adjudge the 
 faith as he adjudges movables and lands'?" 
 But the despot cut the matter short in 
 these words : — " Enough, you are dis- 
 missed ; and since you will not receive the 
 faith of my forefathers, by their names, 
 and by the holy Trinity, I swear, that you 
 may beg your bread through the land rath- 
 er than that one of your creed should be 
 received again into the bosom of the 
 church." 
 
 The success of the Debra Libanos sec- 
 tarians was speedily followed by discus- 
 sions relative to the equal adoration due 
 to the holy Virgin ' and her son, while the 
 despotic and ill-advised proceedings of his 
 majesty raised a storm throughout the en- 
 tire realm. The ban of excommunication 
 was instantly resorted to — the curse of 
 the church was pronounced upon the tri- 
 umphant party — the priests who passed it, 
 after having been seized and compelled to 
 accord absolution, were expelled the king- 
 dom — and a brave and courageous leader 
 seemed alone wanting to induce those who 
 
 * L e, " The master of the chair." 
 
 had been defeated to raise the standard of 
 revolt once more in a religious war. 
 
 CHAPTER CXI I. 
 
 CHRISTMAS FESTIVITIES. 
 
 Abyssinia had for fifteen years been left 
 without an archbishop, when Abba Salama, 
 the primate nominated by the hundred and 
 ninth occupant of the chair of St. Mark, 
 arrived at Gondar to enter upon the func- 
 tions of his sacred office. Thus raised at 
 the early age of twenty-two years to the 
 episcopal throne of Ethiopia, and vested 
 with despotic powers, it is not a little for- 
 tunate for the country that he should be 
 possessed of abilities of a very superior 
 order, arid that his mind should have been 
 expanded by a liberal education at Cairo 
 under a pious and learned missionary of 
 the church of England.* 
 
 One of the first steps of the new aboon 
 was to depute a confidential servitor to 
 Shoa, as the bearer of a letter of compli- 
 ments to the British embassy. War had 
 for some months past been raging on the 
 western frontier betwixt Goshoo, the ruler 
 of Gojam,and his son Birroo,who had risen 
 in open rebellion ; and the messenger 
 brought a confirmation of the long-rumored 
 defeat of the former, and of the forces of 
 Ras Ali, which had been sent to his assist- 
 ance. The return of killed and wounded 
 is, in this country, never suffered to fall 
 short of the reality, and on the present oc- 
 casion it had certainly not lost by the dis- 
 tance it had travelled. 
 
 " It was a little before nightfall," said 
 the turbaned priest, " that the rival armies, 
 countless as the blades of grass that wave 
 on the bosom of the meadow, came in sight 
 of each other at Ungatta, on the banks of 
 the Suggara. Before the morning dawned, 
 Birroo, who occupied the upper ground, 
 moving down to the attack, secured the 
 fords of the river. The action presently 
 opened with a heavy fire of musketry and 
 matchlocks, which did great execution. 
 Five thousand warriors were slain — two 
 thousand five hundred stand of arms were 
 captured — Liban, who commanded, was, 
 with several of his principal chiefs, taken 
 prisoner — and Goshoo was compelled to 
 seek the inviolable sanctuary afforded by 
 the monastery of Dima Georgis. Five 
 governors were hewn alive down the mid- 
 dle ; and the cunqueror, after standing up 
 to his neck in water for three days, as an 
 
 * The iter. Dr. Leider. 
 
BILLETS FROM THE QUEEN— HAJJI MIRZA. 
 
 285 
 
 atonement for the slaughter he had com- 
 mitted among a Christian people, sent to 
 Ras Ali a horse curtailed of mane, tail, and 
 ears, with a pair of new trowsers greatly- 
 soiled, and a haughty message to the effect 
 that these were but types of the fate that 
 yet awaited his liege lord !" 
 
 The month of January had now come 
 round ; and the arrival of Queen Besabesh, 
 who invariably precedes the movements of 
 the court by one day, proclaimed the ad- 
 vent of the negoos to celebrate at the capi- 
 tal the festivities of the Abyssinian Christ- 
 mas. Her majesty had become extremely 
 indisposed from the long journey, and was 
 desirous of receiving medical aid ; but it 
 being contrary to the court etiquette that 
 the royal consort should be seen by any 
 male, an interview could not be accorded. 
 Seated in a small closed tent, the hand of 
 the illustrious patient was passed outside 
 through a tiny aperture ; and, although 
 eunuchs further embarrassed conversation, 
 a condescending voice inquired, in reply to 
 acknowledgments made at parting for ci- 
 vilities received, " If I did not befriend the 
 foreigners, pray who is there else to do so ?" 
 
 Entertaining so bigoted an aversion to 
 every Mohammadan custom, it cannot fail 
 to appear singular that the licentious court 
 of Shoa should have preserved one of the 
 most objectionable — the seclusion of fe- 
 males. Yet such is the extreme jealousy 
 on this point that, although from the first 
 arrival of the embassy the queen had ex- 
 pressed herself in the most friendly terms, 
 and almost daily sent through her maids 
 of honor trifling presents of mead or bread, 
 coupled with complimentary inquiries, and 
 expressions of deep regret at the existing 
 inability to receive a visit, an introduction, 
 under any circumstances, was quite im- 
 practicable. 
 
 From day to day, however, the most cu- 
 rious applications were still preferred for 
 beads, trinkets, cloth, and perfumery, and 
 the utmost disappointment was evinced at 
 no demand being made in return. " I pos- 
 sess honey and I possess butter, and have 
 fowls and eggs in abundance," was the 
 undeviating message. " Why do not my 
 children ask for what they want ? All I 
 have is theirs, for all that they have is 
 mine !" 
 
 Even when residing at a distance, com- 
 missions were continually received through 
 laconic notes on scrolls of parchment vary- 
 ing in breadth from one inch to three, bear- 
 ing neither signature nor superscription, 
 and tightly rolled up in the end of an Abys- 
 sinian candle. Their contents revealed 
 some newly conceived fancy, such as might 
 
 have been expected from a queen that eats 
 raw beef. " The brass in your country is 
 like gold," formed the sum and substance 
 of one epistle, " and you might therefore 
 order the bracelets to be made of the pat- 
 tern sent by the hands of JDinkenich ;"* 
 and again, " May this letter come to the 
 hands of the English commander. Are you 
 well ? are you quite well "J That the soap 
 may not end quick, you will send it in large 
 quantities, saith Besabesh." 
 
 Not long after her majesty's arrival, an 
 unfortunate child, recently purchased from 
 a Gurague slave caravan, was sent to the 
 residency, with a request that Hubsheeri 
 might be exchanged for some clear salad 
 oil which had met with especial approval 
 "for medicine for the face ;" and great sur- 
 prise was elicited by the information that 
 such a course of proceeding would involve 
 disgrace and criminality, inasmuch as the 
 unchristian-like traffic in human beings is 
 held in abhorrence beyond the great water. 
 But in this matter the emabiet was not sin- 
 gular. Certain of the courtiers, who con- 
 sidered themselves under obligations, had 
 previously tendered " strong Shankela 
 slaves" as a Christmas gift, and all had 
 been equally at a loss to comprehend the 
 motive for refusal. 
 
 Among the followers brought from India 
 was a native of Caubool, who acted in ca- 
 pacity of tailor, and his proficiency in the 
 needle involved a most unreasonable tax 
 upon his services. Day after day for weeks 
 and months had he been in attendance at 
 the palace ; and when at length, under the 
 royal eye, he had completed a sumptuous 
 bumoos,f on the elaborate embroidery of 
 which half the treasures in the gemjdia 
 house were recklessly lavished, the king, 
 in the plenitude of his munificence, sent 
 by the hands of Ayto Melkoo a shabby cot- 
 ton cloth, value three shillings and six- 
 pence, with a half starved goat, and a 
 message that " it was Christmas, and the 
 tailor might eat." 
 
 Hajji Mirza was furious. " Take back 
 these gifts to your shah," he growled in- 
 dignantly ; " I want none of them. By the 
 beard of the Prophet, I'm the son of a Pa- 
 than ; and praise be to Allah, the meanest 
 overseer of a village in Affghanistan is 
 possessed of far greater liberality than Sa- 
 hela Selassie." 
 
 This tirade had fortunately been deliver- 
 ed in a tongue not familiar to the ears of 
 the king's master of the horse, who was 
 meanwhile diligently occupied with the 
 
 * i. e. "She is beautiful" — One of her majesty':; 
 abigails. 
 
 t Cloak. 
 
 
286 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 Pathan's needle and scissors. Having 
 taken the bag out of his hands, and ex- 
 tracted a scrap of red cloth, he had care- 
 fully fashioned a minute cross, which with 
 elbows squared he was now proceeding to 
 stitch over a hole in the lower part of his 
 striped cotton robe. 
 
 " Why do you do that ?" inquired the 
 tailor, peevishly, in broken Amharic, not 
 relishing the interference in his depart- 
 ment, and anxious also to exhibit his own 
 talents. "Let me darn it for you, and 
 then there will be no blemish." 
 
 " No," replied the party addressed, with 
 great gravity, declining the proffered as- 
 sistance. " Do n't you know that the hole 
 has been burnt, and therefore that it must 
 be repaired with another color ?" 
 
 The Gyptzis' cuisinier had also been in 
 frequent demand ; but although he was a 
 bond fide Christian, and wore a " mateb" 
 too, the king could never persuade himself 
 to partake of any of the viands prepared 
 by the Portuguese from Goa. Loaf sugar 
 being employed in the manufacture of a 
 Christmas cake, as his majesty sat watch- 
 ing operations, the inquiry followed, as a 
 matter of course, " How they made it 
 white 1 Was the ox whose blood was 
 employed killed in the name of the holy 
 Trinity?" "Certainly not." "Then it 
 might remain," was the abrupt rejoinder. 
 " It doth not please me." 
 
 The Abyssinians, assigning to the world 
 an existence of 7334 years, refer the birth 
 of Christ to the five thousand five hun- 
 dreth after the creation. Thus eight years 
 have been lost in the computation of time, 
 and their Anno Domini 1834, corresponded 
 with the Christian era 1842.* On Christ- 
 mas eve the usual contest took place on 
 the king's meadow, between the royal 
 household and the dependents of the pur- 
 veyor-general and the dech agafari. A 
 cloth ball having been struck with a mall, 
 a struggle for possession follows, and the 
 party by which it is thrice caught in suc- 
 cession being declared victorious, enjoys 
 the privilege of abusing the vanquished, 
 monarch only excepted, during the ensuing 
 two days of festivity ; the first of which is 
 celebrated by the male, the second by the 
 female portion of the population. Every 
 tongue is unloosed ; and the foulest slan- 
 der may be heaped upon the illustrious, as 
 well as' upon the holiest personages in the 
 land. 
 
 His majesty's partisans gained the day, 
 and the embassy were summoned to the 
 palace to witness their Christmas exhibi- 
 
 * Christmas day fell on the 5th of January. 
 
 tion. Filling the court-yard, they danced 
 and recited before the throne couplets de- 
 famatory of all the principal functionaries 
 present, not omitting the lord bishop, who 
 appeared to consider himself infinitely 
 complimented by the vices whereof he 
 stood accused. Bodily imperfections were 
 not overlooked ; asses and dromedaries 
 afforded frequent comparisons ; and the fat 
 of the corpulent state jailer, who sat a 
 witness to the festivities, was declared 
 sufficient to light the entire capital during 
 the approaching public entertainment, to 
 be given at the expense of the defeated 
 chiefs, which in riot and debauchery closed 
 the disgraceful Saturnalia. 
 
 CHAPTER CXIII. 
 
 FEAST OF THE EPIFHANY. 
 
 But by far the greatest holyday of the 
 Abyssinian year is held on the Epiphany, 
 styled Temkat,* when the baptism of our 
 Lord, by John in the river Jordan, is com- 
 memorated with extraordinary pomp. He 
 who neglects to undergo the annual puri- 
 fication enjoined on this day by the Ethio- 
 pic church, is considered to carry with 
 him the burden of every sin committed 
 during the preceding twelve months ; and 
 to be surely visited by sickness and mis- 
 fortune ; whereas those who perfom the 
 rite are believed to have emerged thor- 
 oughly cleared and regenerated. 
 
 On the evening preceding this festival, 
 the priests of all the churches in Ankober 
 and the environs, carrying the holy tabots 
 under gaudy canopies, assembled in the 
 open space, termed Arada, immediately in 
 front of the palace. Here, according to 
 custom, they were received by the gov- 
 ernor of the town, who, after falling pros- 
 trate on his face before the arks, escorted 
 the procession to the river Airara — the 
 clergy dancing and singing, while the fe- 
 male portion of the inhabitants lined the 
 hill-side, to indulge in the shrillest exulta- 
 tion. A tent for each church had been 
 erected on the bank ; and after the com- 
 pletion of a temporary dam across the 
 stream, the night was spent in chanting 
 appropriate hymns and psalms. 
 
 Long before dawn, the pent up waters 
 having been blessed by the officiating 
 priest, the entire population, the young, 
 the old, the wealthy, and the indigent, 
 gathered from many miles round, casting 
 
 * i. e. Baptism. 
 
THE HOLY SUPPER— LUSTRATION. 
 
 28T 
 
 ofTlheir habiliments, flocked promiscuously 
 into the pool — even babes who were unable 
 to totter being thrown in by their naked 
 mothers. Not the slightest modesty was 
 evinced by either sex, all mingling together 
 in a state of perfect nudity under the light 
 of innumerable torches and flambeaux, 
 which shed the broad glare of day over the 
 disgraceful scene, the actors wherein af- 
 fected to receive from above blindness to 
 each other's shame. 
 
 Having partaken of the holy supper, the 
 multitude proceeded to devour a pile of 
 loaves, and to drain accumulated pitchers 
 of beer, supplied by the neigboring gover- 
 nors. Here too the most indecent excesses 
 were committed. Declaring themselves to 
 have swallowed a specific against intoxica- 
 tion, the clergy indulge to any extent they 
 please, and each priest, vying with his 
 brother in the quantities he shall quaff, 
 avers that if " the whole of the Lord's 
 bread and the Lord's wine " be not con- 
 sumed on the spot, a famine will arise 
 throughout the land ! 
 
 Festivities terminated, the officiating 
 dignitaries, robed and mitred, preceded the 
 holy arks and canopies in grand procession 
 to the capital, singing hallelujahs. Holding 
 in their left hand cymbals in imitation of 
 David, and in the right the ecclesiastical 
 staff, wherewith various absurd gesticula- 
 tions are described, they danced and sang 
 for some time in front of the palace gate. 
 As usual, the performance displayed the 
 most uncouth attitudes, and the least grace- 
 ful figures. The beard and the crutch, 
 and the aged face, and the sacred calling, 
 were but ill in unison with the mounte- 
 bank capers undertaken ; and the actors 
 rather resembled masks at the carnival 
 than holy functionaries of the church. 
 
 " The foxes have holes, and the birds of 
 the air have nests," is a passage of Scrip- 
 ture which the clergy of Shoa interpret to 
 their own advantage. " Who are the 
 foxes," they invariably inquire, " but the 
 kings and the governors of the land, who 
 seek only after worldly vanities ? and who 
 the birds but the priests and bishops, who 
 in hymns and hallelujahs thus fly upward, 
 and build their nests in heaven ?" 
 
 The clergy are distinguished from the 
 laity by a beard, and by a monstrous white 
 turban, impeding free motion of the head. 
 This encumbrance is designed to com- 
 memorate the event of Moses covering his 
 face on his descent from the Mount, when 
 he had received the tables of the law. 
 Their sacred persons are usually shrouded 
 in a black woollen cloak, studded with em- 
 blems of the faith, and furnished with a 
 
 peaked hood. The sacerdotal vest was 
 first embroidered by command of Hatz6 
 David, the father of St. Theodorus, to com- 
 memorate the arrival from Jerusalem of a 
 fragment of the true cross on which Christ 
 died ; and officiating priests are expected 
 to appear in one of these, composed either 
 of scarlet cloth, or an aggregate of party- 
 colored drapery. 
 
 A silver or brazen cross and a slender 
 crutch are the never-failing companions of 
 the priest; and on all occasions of cere- 
 mony, such as the present, the mitre, the 
 censer, and the great umbrellas are con- 
 spicuous objects. Long rods furnished 
 with streaming pennants, manufactured of 
 the light pith of the juwarree in alternating 
 bands of red and white, were carried by 
 the host of dirty boys who swelled the pro- 
 cession ; and after the labors of the day 
 were over, these emblems of regeneration 
 were hung up in the churches as votive 
 offerings. Dispersing after the exhibition* 
 under a salvo of musketry to their respec- 
 tive churches, individuals, who from any 
 unavoidable circumstance had been pre- 
 cluded from participating in the general 
 immersion, were there baptized, males and 
 females being alike divested of every por- 
 tion of apparel, and plunged into a large 
 reservoir prepared for their reception. 
 
 Four years had elapsed since Sahela 
 Selassie underwent this lustration, wherein 
 he was wont annually to participate, but 
 from which he is now held exempt in con- 
 sideration of the height of his power. Al- 
 though in a state of perfect nudity, a cloth 
 was held around him during the ceremony 
 — a privilege to which neither virgins nor fe- 
 males of the highest rank are ever admitted. 
 
 Pots and pans that have been defiled by 
 the unclean touch of a Mohammadan, are 
 on this day purified by immersion in the 
 water that has been blessed by the priest. 
 Among many other superstitions there ex- 
 ists a firm belief, that all mules and horses 
 that are not led forth to exercise on the 
 festival of Temkat will die during the en- 
 suing year. It is considered to be " a day 
 of great splendor ;" and on pain of excom- 
 munication, every good Christian is bound 
 to appear clad in his best habiliments, and 
 in all the trinkets he can muster, that he 
 may prostrate himself before the ark which 
 he has adopted. 
 
 If enforced with rigor, excommunication 
 is in fact a capital punishment, for it is 
 interdictio aqua el igni. No one can speak 
 to, or eat, or drink with the proscribed 
 person, nor even enter his house. The 
 offender can neither buy nor sell, nor visit. 
 He cannot recover debts. He may be mur- 
 
288 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 dered at pleasure by any ruffian who will 
 take the trouble to cut his throat, and 
 when dead his body cannot be buried. 
 
 The bell, book, and candle are to be 
 hired by any disappointed enemy, and the 
 hooded priest may be purchased to perform 
 the ceremony ; but the undertaking in some 
 cases is not without its attendant danger. 
 The cells of the state prison frequently in- 
 close the rash fanatic who wantonly inter- 
 feres with the royal salvation. Scanty fare 
 and close confinement eventually insure 
 absolution, and the martyr to religious in- 
 tolerance is summarily banished from the 
 realm. Another powerful antidote is found 
 in the argumentum baculinum, which when 
 persuasively applied to the shoulders of 
 arrogant church pride, by the sturdy sinews 
 of Europe especially, possesses a wonderful 
 efficacy in allaying the storm. 
 
 A century has not elapsed since excom- 
 munication was performed upon one of the 
 fair sons of the North. The turbaned 
 bearer of the bell, book, and candle, was 
 quietly introduced into the domicile, and 
 his countenance fell as he perceived the 
 object of his visit armed with a formidable 
 cudgel. " My father must have been mis- 
 taken," was the exordium that greeted his 
 astounded ear, as the staff descended with 
 an equally startling salutation — " My father 
 never could have proposed the excommu- 
 nication of his dear friend." Again the 
 weapon pattered upon the priestly back ; 
 and during full five minutes an able run- 
 ning commentary was supported by fre- 
 quent playful taps over the head, to quicken 
 the clerical understanding. This powerful 
 appeal concluded, the crest-fallen function- 
 ary willingly withdrew his ban, and bestow- 
 ing entire absolution, slunk back to his 
 cell, mentally resolved to interfere no more 
 with the incomprehensible European, who 
 neither displayed terror at the curse of the 
 church, nor entertained respect for the sa- 
 cred persons of her ministers. 
 
 Unquies, the Bishop of Shoa, had long 
 meditated the adoption of extreme meas- 
 ures toward the British escort, whom he 
 declared no better than Mohammadans, 
 since it was notorious that they did not 
 kneel when the holy ark passed, and had 
 no hesitation in partaking of flesh slaught- 
 ered by an infidel, instead of in the name 
 of the holy Trinity. No one, however, 
 could be found sufficiently bold to under- 
 take the customary process where the Irish 
 soldier was concerned ; and the king's 
 "strong monk " had been fain at length to 
 content himself with the clandestine pro- 
 mulgation of his spiritual denunciation for 
 the many heresies committed. 
 
 The honorary distinctions conferred by 
 the monarch for the destruction of the ele- 
 phant first produced a good effect, which 
 was still increased by the presentation of 
 the silver shield that distinguishes the high- 
 est functionaries in the land ; and although 
 the opinions of the clergy generally were 
 still far from favorable, there was a certain 
 influential priest who invariably found it 
 convenient to pass the long dreary even- 
 ings over the residency fire. The pious 
 father evinced no disinclination to partici- 
 pate in the good things of this world ; and 
 while sipping his strong drink, it was his 
 delight to speculate upon scriptural grounds 
 whether the skin of Eve was really white 
 or black, and to prove that locusts could 
 never have been tasted by John the Bap- 
 tist, because they formed the food of the 
 unclean Mohammadan. 
 
 Edifying topics such as these were doubt- 
 less handled with greater eloquence than 
 either abstinence, or the mortification of the 
 flesh. Proceeding on his annual visit to 
 Debra Libanos, the principal resort of those 
 who prey upon the credulity of the public, 
 the devout father at length stood voluntarily 
 forward as the advocate of the Gyptzis ; 
 and so eloquently did he explain away the 
 non-observance of fasts and other imputed 
 heresies, that a wax taper whereof he had 
 been made the bearer was actually lighted 
 in the sanctuary of Saint Tekla Haimanot, 
 and an immediate revulsion thereby created 
 in the ecclesiastical sentiments entertained 
 throughout the entire realm. 
 
 CHAPTER CXIV. 
 
 EXCURSION TO BERHUT, ON THE SOUTH- 
 EASTERN FRONTIER OF SHOA. 
 
 It was an object of great geographical 
 importance, that the flying survey of the 
 kingdom of Shoa should be completed by 
 a visit to the country forming the boundary 
 to the southeast, famous for its numerous 
 volcanoes, recently in full activity, and 
 hitherto untrodden in any part by European 
 foot. A pretext presented itself in the ex- 
 istence of the wild buffalo in the lower dis- 
 tricts ; but it was necessary, in the first 
 instance, to overcome the royal scruples, 
 which would have precluded participation 
 in the chase of that animal. This end was 
 at length attained ; and the despot being 
 made to comprehend that his children ran 
 less risk of being demolished than he had 
 formerly chosen to believe, vouchsafed the 
 desired permission. The requisite instruc- 
 tions were issued to men in authority to 
 
THE MESSENGER— THE RIVER AIRARA. 
 
 289 
 
 promote the views of those " whom the king 
 delightcth to honor ;" and, preceded by 
 Queen Besabesh, his majesty then set out 
 on his annual visit to Mesur Meder. 
 
 " There is one point," observed his ma- 
 jesty, when the embassy took leave, " on 
 which I wanted to consult you. The lo- 
 custs are destroying the crops, and the 
 priests have been unable by their prayers 
 to arrest their progress. Have you no 
 medicine to drive them away ?" 
 
 Ayto Wolda Hana, under whose imme- 
 diate orders are all the second-class gov- 
 ernors in the realm, had received com- 
 mands to summon to Ankober the Misley- 
 ni,* or vice governor, of Berhut and of the 
 plains lying between the Casam and the 
 Ha wash — a tract inhabited partly by the 
 Adaiel, whose nominal fealty is preserved 
 through the influence of Wulasma Mo- 
 hammad, and partly by the Karaiyo Galla, 
 over whom the negoos asserts more sub- 
 stantial jurisdiction. But many days elap- 
 sed without any efficient arrangements be- 
 ing made ; and Deftera Seena, chief of 
 the king's scriveners, having after twelve 
 hours of close application, contrived to com- 
 plete a written representation to the throne, 
 a courier was dispatched with it on horse- 
 back to the royal camp. No Abyssinian 
 will ever think of declaring himself the 
 bearer of an express, unless pointedly 
 questioned on that head, nor will he then 
 relinquish possession until distinctly order- 
 ed so to do. On the return of the special 
 messenger, who had been three days ab- 
 sent on the service confided to him, a di- 
 rect application for the answer was follow- 
 ed by none of the usual fumbling among 
 the folds of the girdle for the tiny scroll in 
 its wax envelope ; and the caitiff was final- 
 ly fain to confess that on being summoned 
 to the presence of his sovereign at Mesur 
 Meder, and commanded to deliver up the 
 document wherewith he had been charged, 
 he for the first time recollected that it had 
 been inadvertently left behind at Ankober ! 
 
 But a peasant, who fortunately chanced 
 upon the missing parchment by the road- 
 side, had carried it, in accordance with the 
 immutable law of the realm, straightway 
 to the king, who, immediately upon be- 
 coming aware of the contents, and long 
 before Deftera Seena had completed a du- 
 plicate copy, and without any further refe- 
 rence on the subject, deputed Mamrie Sa- 
 lomon, now chief of the eunuchs, to see his 
 royal will carried into instant effect. A 
 number of tribute-bearers from Berhut 
 were fortunately on the point of returning 
 
 * Lit. " Like myself." 
 
 to their district ; and the baggage having 
 been delivered over for transportation, the 
 party quitted the capital on a cold morning 
 toward the close of March. 
 
 Immediately beyond the church dedica- 
 ted to Aboo, one of the most celebrated of 
 Abyssinian saints, the path struck off to 
 the southward along the course of the 
 Airara, which from the diminutive mill- 
 stream of the Chaka soon assumes a more 
 brawling demeanor ; and receiving numer- 
 ous tributaries from the mountains on 
 either side, proceeds onward through a 
 deep precipitous channel in the trap rock, 
 which wears the appearance of having been, 
 artificially fashioned by the chisel of the 
 stone-cutter. The valley traversed is ex- 
 tremely varied in width, extending in some 
 parts from six to seven miles, while in oth- 
 ers it is reduced to a mere ravine by the 
 converging spurs of the two great ranges 
 which limit its meanderings. Through- 
 out, the scenery is tame, the cliffs being 
 flat and naked, and the vegetation, in its 
 russet garb, restricted to a small scrubby 
 species of dwarf acacia, interspersed with 
 the euphorbia styled kolqual — the charcoal 
 obtained from which is preferred in the 
 manufacture of gunpowder. But where- 
 soever the plough could be held, there the 
 hand of industry had been busy, and for the 
 first eight miles there was little remaining 
 of waste or uncultivated soil. 
 
 In these parts the rains descend with 
 extreme violence ; and having, in the first 
 instance, scooped up and carried away all 
 the rotten debris, each succeeding deluge 
 has added its mining activity and perseve- 
 rance, until the entire mountain range for 
 miles, presents the singular appearance of 
 an endless succession of perfectly isolated 
 cones, the apices of many being crowned 
 by villages, or by the dwellings of great 
 men, while the sloping sides are smoothed 
 and levelled with the utmost nicety. The 
 valley is thickly peopled, flourishing ham- 
 lets peeping out in every direction ; but, 
 as in other parts of the country, the best 
 of the land, whether arable or pasture, per- 
 tains to the crown — Bukerfine, one of the 
 richest farms in the district, having been 
 conferred upon Mist Malifia, a royal con- 
 cubine, by whom the king has a favorite 
 daughter. 
 
 High over the valleys, and perched 
 among the few remaining groves on the 
 very summit of the range, stand the seats 
 of the second great power of the state. 
 Churches and monasteries dotting the cool 
 shady peaks, are far elevated in all the 
 pride of place above the residences of the 
 common herd — their localities no doubt 
 
290 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 tending to rivet the chain which encircles 
 
 the neck of the infatuated Abyssinian. 
 Priestly intimations issuing from a temple 
 often shrouded from human ken under im- 
 penetrable fog, are received with increased 
 attention, and the thunder of excommu- 
 nication commands utter abasement and 
 prostration of spirit when fulminated from 
 the grand scene of elementary strife, and 
 falling upon the ear of the awe-stricken 
 serf amid the prolonged echoes of the con- 
 firming artillery of heaven. The reve- 
 nues of many of the villages passed, are 
 appropriated to the cathedral of St. Michael 
 in Ankober. 
 
 A few hours' journey had substituted 
 the heat of a tropical climate for the cool 
 alpine breezes of the mountains ; and the 
 momentarily increasing temperature was 
 sufficiently convincing of the rapid decli- 
 nation of the route, even had it not led 
 along the banks of the Airara, which, hav- 
 ing been crossed and recrossed a dozen 
 times, was now tumbling down through a 
 succession of foaming cascades, with a 
 sound most refreshing to the ear. Emerg- 
 ing at length from its walls of columnar 
 basalt, it is joined by the Kubanoo. bearing 
 a large body of water from the west, it ex- 
 pands into a broad channel, and is employ- 
 ed in irrigating the extensive cotton plan- 
 tations which everywhere abound on its 
 borders. The stream is diverted by a sim- 
 ple pile of pebbles ; but the elevated aque- 
 ducts, somewhat ingeniously termed mus- 
 selal icaha "the water-ladder," are con- 
 structed with infinite care, and passing 
 frequently along narrow ledges, are widen- 
 ed by means of wooden tressels supporting 
 a trough of brushwood and shingle. A 
 sufficient supply is thus raised to nurture 
 the magnificent cotton plants, the stems 
 of many of which measuring seven, eight, 
 and nine inches in girth, support a crop 
 that, arriving at maturity, keeps ample 
 pace with these gigantic proportions. 
 
 Shortly after the accession of Sahela Se- 
 lassie, his majesty marched to the Kubanoo, 
 for the purpose of holding a conference 
 with the Ada'iel ; and his armory being in 
 those days by no means so well furnished 
 as it now is, the array of old matchlocks 
 was regarded by the Moslems with the ut- 
 most contempt and derision. A rush was 
 made during the night upon the royal camp 
 — many of the Christians were slain — and 
 while the remnant, with their youthful sove- 
 reign, fled in dismay to the stronghold of 
 the capital, the treacherous assailants re- 
 turned undisturbed in triumph to their des- 
 ert plains. 
 
 Kittel Yellish, the village at which it 
 
 was proposed to halt, had been represented 
 by the guides to be situated within a very 
 moderate march of Ankober ; but the Abys- 
 sinians possess not a better idea of the 
 measure of distance than of the value of 
 time ; and, after eight hours passed in the 
 saddle, refuge was taken about sunset in 
 the Moslem hamlet of Manyo, a cluster of 
 huts crowning the summit of a cone, and 
 overlooking a wild uncultivated tract, in- 
 tersected by a labyrinth of tremendous 
 ravines, arched over by the thorny branches 
 of the acacia, and other vegetation of a 
 strictly tropical aspect. Swine, agazin, 
 and some of the smaller species of antelope, 
 here abound to such an extent, that the 
 peasants attempt no crop but cotton, ex- 
 changing the raw wool for what they need 
 of other produce. The village was strong- 
 ly fortified in all directions against the in- 
 roads of the leopard and hyena, by palisades 
 inclosing a stiff thorn fence ; and there be- 
 ing no room even for the smallest tent, the 
 night was passed in a shed rudely thatched 
 with the leaves of the papyrus, which would 
 not have been tenable for five minutes in the 
 alpine regions quitted in the morning. 
 
 CHAPTER CXV. 
 
 THE ROYAL GRANARY AT DUMMAKOO 
 
 Considerable difficulty was experien- 
 ced in satisfying the exorbitant demands of 
 the virago who owned this comfortless 
 hovel, and whose reception of the king's 
 guests, as representative of her absent hus- 
 band, to whose charge the hamlet had been 
 confided, was neither hospitable nor flat- 
 tering. For a full hour after the arrival 
 of the party, this wrinkled beldame, stand- 
 ing in the dark porch of her adjacent house, 
 had exerted her cracked voice in a tissue 
 of shrill comments levelled against the im- 
 propriety of entering private demesnes un- 
 announced ; and the first crowing of the 
 cock invited a renewal of her far from me- 
 lodious clamor, which was only silenced by 
 the jingle of silver crowns. 
 
 The road now descended to the Umptoo, 
 which takes its source in the lofty moun- 
 tain Assagud, and thence winds through 
 numerous rapid currents down the broad 
 stony bed. Cotton in its most perfect state 
 of cultivation clothed all the level terraces. 
 The papyrus, here as in Egypt designated 
 plieela, fringed the banks of the stream in 
 close thick patches ; the honey-sucker, ar- 
 rayed in green and gold, flashed in the 
 morning sun, as it darted among the flow- 
 
 
SULPHUR MINES— BERHUT. 
 
 291 
 
 ering" acacias ; birds of Tare plumage filled 
 the tangled brushwood ; and the fantastic 
 forms of the circumjacent mountains en- 
 hanced the beauty of the wild scene. But 
 every man's hand was armed for strife. 
 The peasant carried spear and shield, and 
 wore the sword girded to his loins ; and 
 the site of his habitation had been carefully 
 selected with a long look out on all sides 
 as a precaution against attack and inva- 
 sion. 
 
 Leaving the bed of the river, which 
 measured some eighty yards across, the 
 path ascended a ridge running east and 
 west, and deriving its appellation from the 
 conspicuous peaks of Golultee and Demsee. 
 To the eastward, through a wide gap in the 
 mountains, could be seen a long reach of 
 the Airara, now expanded into a noble river, 
 by the junction of the Umptoo, and glitter- 
 ing under its numberless channels, which 
 bear in the rains a vast volume of water to 
 the Casam, to be poured eventually into the 
 Hawash. From the summit of the pass in 
 the direction of Ankober, a strange view 
 extended for a distance of thirty or forty 
 miles — a broken abyss of hill tops seeming 
 as though the waves of the troubled ocean 
 had been suddenly petrified in their pro- 
 gress — Mamrat, the monster billow, tow- 
 ering above all in the far horizon, as the 
 last barrier arrested in full career. 
 
 The belt of rugged hills of limestone 
 slate through which the course lay, is an 
 almost uninhabited waste of neutral ground, 
 forming the boundary betwixt the Christian 
 and Moslem subjects of Shoa. A few goats 
 alone found a sufficiency of food among the 
 scanty leaves of the now withered acacias; 
 and the human denizens of the soil were 
 wild as their rocky mountains. Fleeing 
 at the approach of the white men, they 
 took up a secure position on the very sum- 
 mit of the loftiest peaks, and looked down 
 with evident mistrust upon the cavalcade, 
 which was sufficiently well armed, and 
 formidable in point of number, to instil 
 terror into the bosom of all conscious of the 
 wrath of princes, and of lawful tribute rash- 
 ly withheld. The termination of this sul- 
 try range forms an abutment upon the coun- 
 try of the Ada'iel, whence is derived all the 
 sulphur employed in the manufacture of 
 gunpowder in the royal arsenals ; and spe- 
 cimens which were picked up by the way 
 would lead to the inference that the vein 
 continued even beyond the point of crossing. 
 
 Like that of the Umptoo, the bed of the 
 Korie, another tributary of the Casam to 
 which the road next descended, is bordered 
 with luxuriant cotton cultivation, and in 
 many parts overgrown with tangled papy- 
 
 rus. Shut in by a deep valley, it threads 
 the mountainous district of Dingai-terri, 
 and many wild bananas were seen luxuri- 
 ating on its moist banks. The dusty path 
 led on through a jungle composed chiefly 
 of a bastard description of Balm of Gilead., 
 which being crushed under the foot, scent- 
 ed the whole atmosphere. Near the Mos- 
 lem cemetery, below Kittel Yellish, the 
 civility of the governor of the district was 
 displayed in the purveyance, on skins be- 
 neath the trees, of every article considered 
 necessary for Christian sustenance during 
 this most holy season of Lent — bread, beer, 
 and water proving truly acceptable to the 
 Abyssinian followers, already much dis- 
 tressed by the intense heat of a nearly 
 vertical sun, to which they were so little 
 inured. A wild roguish-looking Moslem 
 dervish, decked in a rosary of large brown 
 berries, and carrying a staff of truly por- 
 tentous dimensions, here introduced him- 
 self as an acquaintance made many months 
 previously at Dathara, upon which grounds 
 he considered himself entitled to share in 
 the repast. Leading a roving and an idle 
 life, and armed with scrip and water-flagon, 
 he had for years subsisted upon the alms 
 of the superstitious followers of the Proph- 
 et ; and if judgment might be formed from 
 his sleek exterior, they had not been nig- 
 gard of their contributions. 
 
 Lofty, gray, weather-worn precipices, 
 down which the mountain torrents had left 
 visible traces of their headlong course, 
 now rose over deep semi-circular basins 
 by the way-side, a formation of limestone 
 cut into ruts being .occasionally visible be- 
 neath a thick stratum of basalt. In the 
 bed of the Meynso, cool sheltered caves 
 and a bubbling brook afforded inviting shel- 
 ter to the weary porters, and a more level 
 tract was then gained, over which a gallop 
 of five miles led to Dummakoo, one of the 
 royal granaries, where, by his majesty's 
 commands, the head-quarters were to be 
 establi&hed. 
 
 This village, constructed on a knoll three 
 thousand feet below the level of Ankober, 
 is situated in a fine, open, undulating 
 country, well populated, and intersected 
 by numerous milk-bush hedges. Richly 
 cultivated, and scoured by a cool breeze, 
 it afforded a most agreeable contrast to the 
 barren sultry hills through which the 
 course had lain. The cloud-enveloped 
 dome of the great beacon Mamrat still 
 towered obscurely in the hazy distance. 
 In the intervening space, abounding with 
 coal, lay the lofty range of Bulga and 
 Mentshar, rising to the extinguisher-like 
 cone of Megasus, and at its foot sank the 
 
 
292 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 valley of the Casam, which was to form 
 the scene of coming operations. 
 
 One of the king's numerous magazines 
 for grain and farm produce extends its long 
 barn-like front in the centre of the hamlet, 
 every house of which is screened by a tall 
 green hedge ; and that the safety of the 
 royal stores has been alone consulted in 
 the selection of the site, is sufficiently 
 proved by the fact of the inhabitants being 
 compelled to drive their cattle many miles 
 on either side for their daily draught of 
 water, while the long-tressed Mohamma- 
 dan damsels are fain to trudge with a 
 heavy jar at their back to a remote pool, 
 carefully fenced and barricadoed. 
 
 All agricultural operations of the fertile 
 environs of Berhut, comprising one of his 
 majesty's best grain farms, are annually 
 performed by the surrounding population 
 en masse. Several heavy showers which 
 had recently fallen having fully prepared 
 the ground for the reception of the seed, 
 a vast concourse of rustics had collected 
 from the entire district — the inhabitants of 
 each hamlet bringing their own oxen and 
 implements of husbandry : so that in the 
 course of a very few hours many hundred 
 acres, already ploughed, were sown and 
 harrowed by their united efforts, the praises 
 of the despot being loudly sung throughout 
 the continuance of the tributary labor, 
 which is similarly exacted in all parts of 
 the kingdom. 
 
 On the crop arriving at maturity, a sheaf 
 is cut and presented in token of joy to the 
 governor of the district. The reaping and 
 threshing again call for the assembly of 
 the agricultural population ; and the har- 
 vest-home having been celebrated with 
 suitable festivity, the accessions to the 
 royal granaries are duly registered by 
 scribes delegated on the part of the crown. 
 Upon a rising ground, about a mile from 
 Dummakoo, is held the monthly market of 
 the district. Tradition asserts, that one 
 of the inhabitants of a neighboring hamlet 
 saw in a dream that the Imam Abdool 
 Kadur, appearing upon this hill, picked 
 up a stone, and in a loud voice proclaimed 
 that the spot belonged henceforth to him- 
 self ; and no sooner had the pious disciple 
 of the Prophet declared his vision, than 
 the site was adopted by the unanimous 
 voice of the assembled multitude for the 
 celebration of the bazaar, which, in the 
 lapse of a few generations, has become 
 one of considerable importance. 
 
 Almost immediately upon arrival a visit 
 was received from Habti Mariam,* the 
 
 * i. e. The property of the Virgin. 
 
 vice-governor, whose residence is at Wur- 
 doo, the principal village of the Berhut 
 district. He explained that his non-ap- 
 pearance to escort the party from Ankober 
 had arisen from severe opthalmia, con- 
 tracted during a recent visit to the hot low 
 country. Some very potent amulets had 
 been now attached to various parts of his 
 body in order to remove the disorder ; and 
 the good man was moreover provided with 
 a large raw onion, with which he rubbed 
 his eyes alternately during the interview. 
 
 It has already been mentioned that the 
 influence of Wulasma Mohammad extends 
 along the whole of the Moslem districts of 
 the eastern frontier ; and it had now been 
 advantageously exerted in the dispatch of 
 a body of his immediate retainers, com- 
 manded first to announce to the Adaiel on 
 the border, the intention entertained of 
 visiting their country, and afterward to 
 escort the party thither. In order to coun- 
 teract any offensive demonstration to which 
 this unusual excursion might give rise, 
 Habti Mariam had issued orders to assem- 
 ble his levy, in accordance with strict in- 
 junctions received from his royal master, 
 to secure the safety of his " European 
 children," upon penalty of loss of liberty 
 and government. The greatest difficulty 
 was, however, experienced in persuading 
 his followers to undertake the much-dread- 
 ed journey to the lower regions, as well 
 from their unanimous detestation of the 
 intense heat, as their innate dread of the 
 lawless population ; and he was finally 
 compelled to put them to the blush by a dec- 
 laration of his resolve to perform the king's 
 behest at all risks in his own person ; 
 when a handful of the boldest setting the 
 example, the lists were speedily filled to 
 the number of two hundred and fifty, which 
 force had been considered by the negoos 
 as sufficient for the excursion. 
 
 CHAPTER CXVI. 
 
 ADEN ON THE CASAM RIVER, THE TERRI- 
 TORY OF THE ADEL SUB-TRIBE GAREEM- 
 RA DAMOOSA. 
 
 A canopy of thick clouds clinging to 
 the high hills of Ankober, had indicated 
 that the rain still continued to deluge the 
 more elevated regions ; but on the wide 
 undulating plains of Berhut, the thermom- 
 eter in the tents stood at 105° ; and al- 
 though the sky was occasionally overcast 
 in the morning, the sun shone with due 
 iropical fervor up to the day fixed for de- 
 
 ii 
 
THE DODOTI PASS— A CONFERENCE. 
 
 293 
 
 parture to the low country. It was still 
 dark when the cavalcade filed past the 
 church of St. George, which, ornamented 
 with a triangle of ostrich eggs as a spire, 
 stands at the extremity of the village ; and 
 as every Abyssinian lip in succession sa- 
 luted with a pious kiss the rough bark of 
 the kolqual trees, by which it was fenced 
 round, many a vow was made in propitia- 
 tion of safe return from the dangerous 
 expedition. 
 
 Dawn of day found the party at the ter- 
 mination of the tract of table land claimed 
 by the crown ; and the sun, as he rose be- 
 hind the lofty peak of Assibote, lighted the 
 descent by the Dodoti pass, a winding path 
 overhanging the valleys, which still lay in 
 darkness. Commanding a boundless pros- 
 pect over the burning plains below, it leads 
 by a very judiciously selected line, with a 
 gradual descent of eighteen hundred feet, 
 over mountain ridges rapidly diminishing 
 in height to the foot of the Abyssinian 
 range, where, watered by the Casam, 
 stretches the Adel district of Aden. Brown, 
 barren, and sparingly wooded, the entire 
 intervening space is broken by deep hol- 
 lows and ravines ; and beyond, wild, deso- 
 late, and hot, and surrounded by extensive 
 white desert tracts, rise the isolated craters 
 of Saboo and Fantali. 
 
 Although waterless, the entire moun- 
 tain-side is well peopled by Mohammadan 
 subjects of Shoa, whose progenitors, ar- 
 riving from the country of the sun, with 
 the great invader Graan, selected this as 
 the location most congenial to their habits, 
 and with it bequeathed to their descend- 
 ants, all the ancestral aversion to a cold 
 climate. A stronger and more athletic 
 race than the Amhara, the dark-eyed fe- 
 males nevertheless present features far 
 more feminine and agreeable than their 
 coarse highland sisters ; and withal are far 
 more becomingly attired. The hot dusty 
 hamlets and scattered farm houses, which 
 crown many of the peaks, are surrounded 
 by extensive cultivation. The square 
 domiciles, constructed of loose stones with 
 mud terraces, afford sufficient accommo- 
 dation, both for owner and cattle ; and the 
 rich stores of grain, proclaim a life of in- 
 dustry and abundance. 
 
 The retinne of the governor increased 
 rapidly with his advance. Every hamlet 
 now poured forth its quota; and before 
 reaching the Fotah river, he mustered full 
 four hundred retainers, a rude feudal host 
 of horse and foot. For some miles the 
 road wound along the dry channel of the 
 mountain torrent, the banks rising on either 
 side steep and perpendicular, so as to form 
 
 a deep chasm, partially obstructed by huge 
 masses that had been precipitated from 
 above. Here and there a solitary Karaiyo 
 hamlet met the eye — the flocks and herds 
 assembled in the neighborhood of the only 
 well, around which the greasy maidens, in 
 rude leathern petticoats, fearlessly drew 
 water, proclaiming a district dependent 
 upon Shoa. Debouching at length upon 
 the plain of the Casam, the still increased 
 temperature was at once perceptible ; and 
 the feeble breeze stirring could not be felt 
 through the mass of acacias and wild aloe 
 which in full blossom covered the entire 
 face of the country. 
 
 Habti Mariam here confided his curly 
 locks to the hands of an attendant barber, 
 and his example was followed by a weather- 
 beaten old warrior, covered with silver de- 
 corations for valor, who had lost an eye by 
 the spear of the Galla, but had just joined 
 the party, looking with the other as if he 
 intended to take an active part in the chase. 
 An hour through the low jungle revealed 
 the river at a point where the width is from 
 seventy to eighty yards, a strong stream of 
 turbid water running through a rocky chan- 
 nel, in parts overgrown with groves of 
 tamarisk. Skirting the northern bank a 
 considerable distance over hot loose boul- 
 ders and hard volcanic terraces, a promi- 
 nent height was next gained, whence the 
 view extended over the lowest valley 
 threaded by the well wooded Casam, the 
 whole reach of which was covered with 
 great herds of horned cattle. 
 
 Here the cavalcade halted, and was pre- 
 sently joined, from a group of Adel wig- 
 wams, by Godana, one of the braves of the 
 Gareemra Damoosa, carrying a broad-head- 
 ed spear, and wearing his lank hair twisted 
 into thin cords. A long and animated 
 conference ensued, through the medium of 
 an interpreter ; in the course of which it 
 was set forth, on the part of the puissant 
 warrior, that the appearance of so large a 
 body of the Amhara had led his tribe to 
 apprehend hostilities ; that their flocks and 
 herds were grazing in the vale below, 
 peaceably tended by their young men and 
 maidens ; and that as the unwonted descent 
 of such a host of Christians could not fail 
 to create great alarm, he was desirous, be- 
 fore authorizing further advance, to be more 
 distinctly apprised of the nature and object 
 of the visit. It was explained by the gov- 
 ernor, " that the sole intention was to hunt 
 buffaloes — that the white men were the 
 special guests of the king ; and having al- 
 ready slain elephants at Giddem, his maj- 
 esty sought to honor his friends the Ada'fel, 
 by the performance of equally extraordinary 
 
294 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 feats in their country— concluding with the 
 assurance that the fear of the Ittoo Galla 
 havino- alone dictated the presence of so 
 many = followers, both Godana and his peo- 
 ple might rest satisfied that the visit was 
 in good faith, and perfectly pacific." 
 
 The cattle having first been driven to a | 
 distance, the Christian chivalry were final- I 
 ly, after much demur, permitted to descend 
 into the bed of the Casam, and there to en- 
 joy the shelter afforded by groves of spread- 
 ing tamarinds which grace its shady banks, 
 the elders of the tribe being meanwhile 
 summoned to debate the subject more fully. 
 Parties of the Adel population of the ad- 
 joining district of Desse now sauntered up 
 by threes and fours, and tall, gaunt, mea- 
 gre savages they were— their loins girded 
 by a scant and filthy rag, but each equipped 
 with a serviceable creese, a battered shield, 
 and a spear decked with some trophy of 
 the chase. The scowling downcast eye, 
 habituallv half closed against the glare of 
 their parched plains— the dissatisfaction so 
 legibly written on every face — the sun- 
 burnt bushy wag — the pinched features — 
 the loose scambling gait — the air of inso- 
 lent independence — and not least, the rank 
 disagreeable odor— all combined to pro- 
 claim them members of the great family 
 peopling this sultry desert for hundreds of 
 miles, and differing but slightly in manners 
 or in appearance throughout the entire ot 
 the wide extended tract. 
 
 In the course of another fierce palaver, 
 it was intimated that many expected to die 
 before the affair should be terminated ; but 
 the promise of handsome remuneration to 
 survivors, in case of casualty, worked suc- 
 cessfully upon Adel cupidity. After de- 
 vouring a supply of bread that had been 
 provided for the European party, and to 
 those who till not the ground, forms an un- 
 heard of luxury, they unanimously express- 
 ed their resolution of acceding to the royal 
 wishes, and of leading the way to their 
 choicest preserves. Greatly to the horror 
 of Moslem antipathy, the river had mean- 
 while been dragged of many of its finny 
 inhabitants by the Amhara, who are per- 
 mitted to eat fish ad libitum, although pro- 
 hibited from touching either flesh or fowl 
 during the severe penance enjoined 
 throughout the tedious fast of Lent. 
 
 Under the guidance of a party selected 
 by the tribe, the route was now continued 
 along the bank of the river; and after 
 passing a wild volcanic fosse, which winds 
 for miles between high walls of black lava 
 to the very foot of the Fantali crater, a halt 
 was called upon a spot lower down the 
 Casam, where grass was abundant. The 
 
 bivouac was among huge loose boulders ; 
 and between the bold headlands which 
 bound the stream numerous glimpses were 
 obtained of its distant course, as it wound 
 calmly over the deep rocky bed. Fantali 
 was now nqt more than six miles distant 
 to the south. Although the existence of 
 thermal springs was confirmed, the volcano 
 was unanimously represented to have emit- 
 ted no smoke within the memory of the 
 present generation. The hill was pictured 
 as a fiery furnace, and a desert waste, as 
 the habitation of gins and demons— the 
 communication having, however, from time 
 immemorial been entirely cut off by the 
 Ittoo and Aroosi Galla, who continually 
 prowl over the intervening plain. Not- 
 withstanding the smallness of the European 
 band, and the fatigue entailed by the sultry 
 march, former experience of Adel treach- 
 ery, added to the habitual apathy, indiffer- 
 ence, and timidity of every Amhara escort, 
 enforced the necessity of precaution in so 
 wild a spot ; and throughout the night a 
 disciplined vigilance was accordingly main- 
 tained by a revival of the long-neglected 
 rules of " watch and. ward." 
 
 CHAPTER CXVII. 
 
 TRIUMPH OVER THE FOREST BULL. 
 
 At break of day the hunters were in the 
 saddle ; and the lava blocks which bounded 
 the camp having been passed, a level tract 
 was suddenly revealed, composed of hard 
 clay, and destitute of a stone in any direc- 
 tion. Wide-spreading camel-thorn acacias 
 in full blossom, with their rich perfume, 
 loaded the morning air even to satiety, and 
 in long lines and clumps separated the 
 outskirts into a succession of delightful 
 glades of the most inviting aspect, which 
 promised to teem with wild beasts of every 
 variety. Five of the principal Adai'el at- 
 tended in equestrian order, their slender 
 waists begirt with the scantiest and dirtiest 
 fragment of cloth, and their heads stream- 
 in o- with grease — a chosen band of mount- 
 ed* Moslems, from the retinue of Habti 
 Mariam, being decked out in the flaunting 
 spoils of lions and leopards which had 
 fallen to their prowess. This motley group 
 of wild riders set off at a furious pace 
 across the flat, some scouring after every j 
 insignificant animal that was descried, 
 while others, truer wood-craftsmen, dili- 
 gently scanned the ground over which 
 they galloped. 
 
 Last night's traces of the wanton strengtn 
 of the giant monarch of the forest were vis- 
 
 I 
 
THE HUNTING TRAIL— THE DEATH. 
 
 295 
 
 ible among the noble trees. Huge branch- 
 es, twisted from the stem, lay scattered in 
 various quarters, and the fresh foot-marks 
 of the devastators were presently discov- 
 ered. Several ineffectual attempts had 
 been made to decrease the number of the 
 rabble train, and the disturbance created 
 had the effect, like the tail of the rattle- 
 snake, of warning all of the approach of 
 enemies. Myriads of clamoring guinea- 
 fowl, whirring above the grove in every 
 direction, spread the alarm far and wide ; 
 and the quarry, driven deeper and deeper 
 into the dark recesses, finally took shelter 
 in a sea. of tangled bulrushes, which skirted 
 the borders of numerous rivulets of run- 
 ning water that pour their muddy tribute 
 into the Casam. 
 
 During several hours thus fruitlessly 
 passed, the strenuous and unanimous ex- 
 ertions of the retinue were most unremit- 
 ting to prevent success ; but a limited 
 party on foot, with three of the governor's 
 braves, were at length induced to lead the 
 way into the covert. Here the cast of a 
 few hundred yards revealed the tracks of 
 a buffalo, and the trail was carried through 
 thick groves of wild tamarisk, whose shady 
 boughs, meeting overhead, formed natural 
 bowers and arcades. The tumult had 
 now ceased. While stealing in Indian 
 file through vast fields of tall flags, and 
 carefully avoiding every projecting twig, 
 the fresh traces of the quarry frequently 
 demonstrated that he was close at hand, 
 and at length a measured splashing of wa- 
 ter in the broad channel below gave notice 
 of his actual presence. 
 
 The leading Adel cast a keen glance 
 through the intervening screen of blue 
 tamarisk, and, turning, pointed to both his 
 eyes. From the brink of the river bank a 
 noble buffalo was perceived rolling from 
 side to side, as it waded indolently across 
 the stream, which reached above the girth, 
 ever and anon whisking its tasselled tail 
 to dislodge a host of persecuting flies. Its 
 intention evidently was to land immediate- 
 ly below the ambush taken ; and as less 
 than fifty yards intervened, each step ad- 
 vanced rendered the target more unfavor- 
 able. A two-ounce ball in the point of the 
 shoulder, though it tumbled the unwieldy 
 animal on its haunches, did not sufficiently 
 paralyze its giant strength to bring it fairly 
 down ; and before another rifle could be ob- 
 tained, it had burst from the eddying water, 
 and plunged into the adjacent thicket. 
 
 No trace of blood rewarded the strictest 
 scrutiny ; and, after a few minutes' delib- 
 eration, the attendants pronounced the 
 crimal unscathed; but finding the party 
 
 positive as to the spot in which the bullet 
 had taken effect, and firmly resolved not 
 to abandon the quest, several able casts 
 were made among the tall flags that wayed 
 over the rivulet. Fifteen minutes passed 
 on without a whisper ; then a low whistle 
 from the thicket proclaimed the success of 
 Koorbo the Adel. He had recovered the 
 wounded beast, recumbent in the darkest 
 recesses of the tamarisk grove, its red eyes 
 gleaming through the gloom, saliva stream- 
 ing in bell-ropes from the mouth, and the 
 breathing hard and husky. A faint charge 
 succeeded ; but its strength was on the 
 wane, and as it stumbled across a prostrate 
 bough, its demolition was completed. 
 
 Singular pleasure could not but attend 
 the conquest of this noble beast, standing 
 nineteen hands at the wither. In spite of 
 every existing disadvantage, the avowed 
 object of the toilsome journey to the hot 
 plains of the Adaiel had now been accom- 
 plished, to the delight and the amazement 
 of all ; whereas, to have returned to the 
 king without a trophy, after his majesty's 
 sage remarks upon the subject of buffalo- 
 hunting, would, in the eyes of every one, 
 have proved a blot on the escutcheon of 
 the hitherto triumphant Gyptzis. 
 
 No sooner had the unwieldy monster 
 fallen in its last struggles than Adam, the 
 chief of the braves, having severed the 
 windpipe with true Mohammadan skill. 
 advanced at the head of his band, and 
 falling prostrate on the ground, returned 
 thanks at the feet of the victor. Shields 
 full of water to allay thirst were next 
 brought from the river. Every creese 
 was drawn, and the solid hide, after being 
 removed with all expedition, was, for the 
 convenience of carriage, divided into six 
 portions suited for bucklers. Often re- 
 peated blows from a heavy stone detached 
 the great crescent horns from the beetling 
 brow ; and these, with the ears, hoofs, and 
 tufted tail, were borne off as trophies to be 
 laid at the royal footstool. Elated at the 
 conquest in a few minutes of a formidable 
 and much-dreaded beast, whose destruction 
 by these rude people — a feat sometimes 
 occupying many days — is esteemed equiv- 
 alent to the slaughter of eight Pagans in 
 battle, the excited savages were presently 
 retracing their steps through the intrica- 
 cies of the wilderness. Flourishing the 
 spoils aloft in earnest of victory, they al- 
 ternately whistled and chanted their wild- 
 est war-dirge, and the deep chorus raised 
 at intervals made the recesses of the grove 
 to ring again. 
 
 Awaiting the return with some anxiety, 
 Ayto Habti Mariana, surrounded by his ar- 
 
 *% • 
 
296 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 ray of warriors, was seated beneath the 
 spreading arms of a venerable acacia, which 
 leaned in hoary pride over the bank of the 
 bubbling Casam. Godana, the Adel brave, 
 galloping wildly into the ring, vaulted from 
 his rude saddle, and casting a sixth of the 
 hide contemptuously upon the ground, de- 
 clared the quest to be achieved ! During 
 the performance of the war-dance, by which 
 his gaunt and sinewy frame was long vio- 
 lently convulsed, he sprang from side to 
 side, quivering his spear with the most 
 ferocious gestures, and chuckling in imi- 
 tation of the gloating mirth of famished 
 vultures that revel over their prey. His 
 exhibition concluded, the other doughty 
 heroes who had been present at the death, 
 each in his turn, flung his trophy disdain- 
 fully upon the earth ; and the whole, with 
 shouts, and yells, and war-whoops, accom- 
 panied by all manner of savage antics, then 
 triumphed over the spoils of the slain. 
 
 Greatly to the disappointment and sur- 
 prise of the king's guests, the governor 
 now intimated the necessity of returning 
 forthwith to the high country. The pro- 
 lific covert teeming with game of every 
 description, a respite of only one day was 
 earnestly and repeatedly solicited, but in 
 vain. The Amhara, who had embarked 
 in the rash enterprise with the utmost re- 
 luctance, oppressed by the direct influence 
 of the solar rays, and most anxious to ter- 
 minate their sojourn on a perilous border, 
 heretofore untrodden by Christian foot, 
 with unanimous voice declared their pro- 
 visions at an end ; while the Ada'iel, who 
 still mistrusted the motive of the visit, 
 and, now that the avowed object had been 
 accomplished, would hear of no further 
 tarry on their frontier, urged as an argu- 
 ment for instant departure, that the Ittoo, 
 " having heard the reports of the rifles, 
 would not fail to be down in strength du- 
 ring the night." 
 
 Desultory hostilities are continually 
 waged between these wild borderers, whose 
 broils and feuds are endless ; and not six 
 months had passed away since five hun- 
 dred Pagans, bursting over the frontier, 
 had plundered the Moslem vallies. But 
 the tocsin, resounding from village to vil- 
 lage, was promptly responded to by the 
 gathered population, who pursued the 
 marauders on their return flushed with 
 success — recovered all the booty wherewith 
 they were laden — and left the stark bodies 
 of one hundred and twenty unbelievers 
 a prey to the vultures of the air. Although 
 a brave soldier, Habti Mariam was evi- 
 dently unwilling to incur the responsibili- 
 ty, " You came," he repeated, "to hunt 
 
 
 buffaloes ; and by God's aid you have suc- 
 ceeded. My control extends not to these 
 disturbed districts ; and if blows should 
 be struck, what account shall I render un- 
 to the king my lord ?■" 
 
 Further remonstrance being obviously 
 useless, the AdaVel were assembled, and 
 complimentary speeches having been de- 
 livered laudatory of their assistance, an 
 Abyssinian cloth and a handful of German 
 crowns were placed among them for di- 
 vision. Godana, on the part of his avari- 
 cious tribe, made an oration in reply ; and 
 waxing more and more animated as he 
 drew toward the conclusion of the ha- 
 rangue, ended by praying in a loud voice, 
 "that Allah might conduct the princely 
 visitors in safety to their homes, and cause 
 their spear-blades to prevail over every 
 foe ! — that the eyes of their adversaries 
 might be blinded in battle — that plenty 
 might crown their harvests, and blood, as 
 now, ever bedew their hunting trail !" 
 And during the pause that followed the 
 interpretation of each of these benedic- 
 tions, the governor, with his assembled 
 host, ejaculated " Amen !" 
 
 The Casam again recrossed, and the as- 
 cent of the hills commenced, the sudden 
 appearance of a colony of pigfaced baboons 
 crowning the bank of the volcanic cleft, 
 gave birth for some minutes to an appre- 
 hension, among the Amhara, that the 
 much-dreaded Ittoo were already hovering 
 on the flank. But certain playful bounds 
 on the part of the suspected objects soon 
 dispelled the illusion ; and the setting sun 
 saw the party safely encamped on a height 
 overlooking a bend of the river. Its wide 
 basin presented the remnants of volcanic 
 action in a group of thermal springs which 
 issue from the sod-grown channel at a 
 temperature of 150° Fahrenheit, and flow 
 steaming on beneath a grove of odorifer- 
 ous fan-palms. Celebrated for their san- 
 ative properties, the baths were speedily 
 thronged by all who labored under any 
 real or imaginary ailment ; and notwith- 
 standing that they shrunk from the ex- 
 treme heat, which threatened to scald a 
 European finger, the immersion was per- 
 severingly continued by a succession of 
 patients so long as the daylight lasted. 
 
 CHAPTER CXVIII. 
 
 RETURN TO DUMMAKOO. 
 
 In the absence of a standing army, it is 
 truly astonishing by what magic spell the 
 
 
 m— ti 
 
A 
 
\' R 
 
 EUESTS OK T1IF. CATHKDRAL OF ST. MICHAKL 
 
 CHRISTIAN VVAimiOR&QF BHOA. 
 
EQUITATION— THE ABYSSINIAN HORSE. 
 
 297 
 
 inhabitants of these remote portions of 
 his majesty's dominions are bound to his 
 rule. Owing to the difficulties insepara- 
 ble from the introduction of an armed 
 force for their chastisement, and the very 
 inaccessible nature of their fastnesses, no 
 situation could be more favorable to revolt 
 and to rebellion. But it is strikingly ob- 
 vious, that the wily policy of reticulated 
 governments will prove sufficient for the 
 accomplishment of the end, so long as the 
 fear of the Galla is strong in the breast both 
 of Christian and Mohammadan, and so long 
 as the name of Sahela Selassie shall con- 
 tinue to act as a potent talisman upon all 
 the savage, turbulent, and refractory spir- 
 its who people his disunited empire. 
 
 During the early portion of the night, 
 the shrill crowing, as of a hundred cocks, 
 might have induced the belief that the 
 wild camp stood in the neighborhood of 
 Ankober, where chanticleer taxes his 
 throat almost incessantly ; but the sound 
 to which the wild hills now rung was as- 
 certained to proceed from the Amhara 
 pickets. With a view to compensate in 
 some measure for the brief sojourn con- 
 ceded in the low country, the hunters were 
 hurried off the moment the morning star 
 appeared, in order to beleaguer a field of 
 reeds occupying the bed of the Casam. It 
 was said by the governor to terminate in 
 a cul de sac, and to be one great den of 
 lions, no fewer than eight having fallen 
 under the spears of the Adaiel in an at- 
 tack made some years previously. The 
 path traversed the deep broken bed of the 
 river, the lofty castellated walls of which 
 rising sternly in the moonlight, were gar- 
 risoned by a legion of baboons, and before 
 dawn, the forces halted on a sheet of bare 
 rock, over which a small stream of water 
 fell by a time-worn channel into a deep 
 dark basin ; — many hundred acres of tall 
 waving flags, interspersed by shady trees, 
 stretching away over the long reach 
 beyond. 
 
 But the capabilities of the place proved 
 to have been greatly exaggerated ; and, 
 although certainly harboring a vast num- 
 ber of the felince, it was far too extensive 
 and too tangled — too impervious to man, 
 and too unassailable by fire — to admit even 
 of a chance of success. An agazin and an 
 oryx, of which numbers fled in all direc- 
 tions, were hunted down and mobbed by 
 the host of retainers, aided by their dogs. 
 A feeble attempt was then made to dislodge 
 the inmates of the wide covert, by a gene- 
 ral screaming and clattering of shields on 
 the outskirts ; and this notable display of 
 venerie being concluded without any good 
 20 
 
 result, the cavalcade wended its way home- 
 ward. 
 
 Mounting on the left side, with the as- 
 sistance of his spear, the Amhara when in 
 the saddle does not by any means ride well. 
 Frequent falls are precluded by the high 
 bulwarks of wood and leather which fortify 
 his position ; but his seat is awkward and 
 ungainly ; and although a horse is carried 
 at speed over bad ground, few cavaliers can 
 be said to possess the noble science of equi- 
 tation. While violently kicking with the 
 naked shanks, and retaining the stirrup in 
 the grasp of the great toe, they tug vio- 
 lently at the cruel and barbarous bit ; and 
 the blood is to be seen streaming from the 
 mouth, as the tortured animal tosses its 
 head in agony. 
 
 The bridle is especially powerful and 
 severe, long cheeks being attached to an 
 indented bit, while a solid iron ring em- 
 braces the lower jaw, and acts like a tight- 
 ened curb, to the effectual restraint of the 
 most violent temper. The saddle is of 
 Tartar form, and consists of two light 
 splinters, leaving a clear space for the 
 spine, and connecting a high wooden pom- 
 mel for the suspension of the shield to a 
 cantel equally high. Firmly sewn together 
 with wet thongs, the tree is padded, cov- 
 ered with a loose skin, and furnished with 
 stirrup rings, just sufficiently capacious to 
 embrace the first toe of the shoeless eques- 
 trian. 
 
 The Abyssinian horse would in England 
 be considered under-sized, and deficient in 
 make and bone ; but the breed is hardy, 
 enduring, and sure-footed, and, from the 
 low price demanded, might with advantage 
 be exported to some of the eastern colonies. 
 Colts reared among the Galla are deserv- 
 edly held superior, the reckless character 
 of the wild pagan rider impelling them over 
 the most difficult ground, and thus impart- 
 ing a degree of boldness and confidence 
 which is rarely to be found in the Amhara 
 steeds. In Shoathe absence of roads mili- 
 tates against the use of wheeled carriages ; 
 and established custom forbidding the em- 
 ployment of the team in agriculture, the 
 gelding is reserved exclusively for the sad- 
 dle, while mares and stallions are very 
 rarely ridden. The art of shoeing is un- 
 known, and no attention is paid to the care 
 of the hoof, which, being extremely hard, 
 for a time bids defiance to the stony ground ; 
 but many nevertheless were already be- 
 ginning to suffer from the want of a farrier. 
 
 The horse is by all considered a very 
 inferior animal to the mule, whose soft 
 agreeable pace accords much better with 
 the general indolent habits of the Abyssin-^ 
 
298 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 ian, and whose patience and surety of foot 
 among the steep rocky mountains are suf- 
 ficiently appreciated. The prices given 
 are consequently larger, and the care taken 
 of the latter is proportionably greater. 
 While the steed, scantily supplied with old 
 straw, runs in the pasture during every 
 season of the year, the mule, on the failure 
 of the herbage, is pampered on barley and 
 on the best of teff fodder, and, sheltered 
 from the cold bleak wind, remains a con- 
 stant inmate of the master's dwelling, on 
 terms of close intimacy with the family. 
 
 Twenty-five or thirty miles within the 
 day are rarely exceeded — the high hills to 
 be ascended, and the deep rugged valleys 
 to be traversed, rendering a longer stage 
 almost impracticable. The usual pace of 
 the sure-footed mule is three miles during 
 the hour, but when the road is level the 
 amble is increased to five, and the pedes- 
 trians of the party still continue to retain 
 their place. A saddled steed is led in the 
 train ; and, excepting in the hereditary do- 
 minions of Shoa, the traveller is fain to 
 keep a good look out for the roving Galla, 
 and to do battle on the moment, if occasion 
 requires. 
 
 On again reaching the gorge of the F6- 
 tah river, the governor, surrounded by the 
 most puissant of his chivalry, and preceded 
 by a band of bold spearmen, each decorated 
 with some flaunting trophy of the chase, 
 advanced with a measured war-dance, and 
 a martial chorus, which made the deep 
 cleft reecho. These triumphant strains 
 were continued with little intermission du- 
 ring the whole of the steep ascent, and in 
 spite of the intense heat of the sun, which 
 shot forth with greater fervor than ever, 
 were swelled occasionally by his own voice. 
 Dense clouds of dust and sand, such as 
 might be raised by a charge of ten thou- 
 sand cavalry, whirled up toward the sultry 
 sky from the scene of recent exploits ; and 
 the Amhara, already fanned by the cooler 
 breeze of the highlands, looked down upon 
 the execrated plain with joy at their deliv- 
 erance from its burning atmosphere. From 
 each hamlet along the route the inhabitants 
 sallied forth with shrill acclamations, to 
 greet the return of the adventurous party: 
 the entire female popula'ion of Dummakoo, 
 receiving the white strangers near the 
 church dedicated to the tutelar saint of 
 England, led the way with kettle-drums 
 and shouts of welcome : and for many 
 hours after arrival within the dark walls of 
 the king's granary, every quarter of the 
 village resounded with choral music. 
 
 A visit of congratula ion was immediate- 
 ly paid by a dim, nut. ve gentleman, who 
 
 boasted descent in a direct line from the 
 celebrated Graan, and whose more imme- 
 diate ancestors possessed the vicegerency 
 of the greater part of the country just vis- 
 ited. Ali Qui occupied a farm in the vicin- 
 ity of Dummakoo, and he was accompanied 
 by his tall, fair, dark-eyed daughter, clothed 
 in crimson, and loaded with amulets and 
 amber necklaces. .Possessing the Abys- 
 sinian accomplishment of begging in the 
 very highest perfection, the worthy Mos- 
 lem presented a jar of milk, and requested 
 the loan of five hundred dollars to pay for 
 his estate ; while the coquettish damsel 
 brought a loaf of bread, and exerted her 
 powers of eloquence to bring about an ap- 
 plication to the throne for the restoration 
 of her parent to his hereditary dignities. 
 She was known by the eccentric appella- 
 tion of Khumsa Kirch, or " fifty crowms " 
 — a title bestowed in commemoration of a 
 fine to that amount levied on the day of her 
 nativity upon Ali Qui, as a punishment for 
 the escape of a state prisoner consigned to 
 his custody. 
 
 The easy and ingenious mode of extor- 
 tion by mamalacha, exists in full force 
 throughout the land, and all are equally 
 amenable both to its abuses and to its pri- 
 vileges. Bringing any article within his 
 means, no matter what, the begging peti- 
 tioner hands it over to his superior as a 
 memento for anything that he has the as- 
 surance to demand. Servants offer a stick 
 or a bundle of grass, and ask for swords, 
 clothes, and money ; w r hile chiefs and the 
 highest officers of state, present to the 
 throne a pot of butter or a cloth, and seek 
 to receive in return a horse, or a mule, or 
 an embroidered garment. If the mamalacha 
 be received, the case is hopeless ; and in- 
 deed the custom of the country requires 
 that the extortioner should be never met 
 with a negative. Thus, on the occasion 
 of loss by fire or other casualty, the sufferer 
 makes the round of his acquaintance, who 
 each contribute a mite to the subscription ; 
 and wonderful license being given to im- 
 posture, the individual upon whom fortune 
 has laid a heavy hand, soon waxes more 
 wealthy than before. 
 
 No petitioner ever enters the presence 
 of his superior unless furnished with dn 
 offering according to his worldly means, as 
 a bribe to propitiate favor and good-will. 
 Cattle and honey, cloth, wood, and even 
 stones, are presented ; and this system is 
 invariably observed in all quarrels and dis- 
 sensions, where either party desires recon- 
 ciliation. Without the intervention of a 
 mediator, this cannot be effected. A third 
 individual is therefore sought, who will un- 
 
PERTINACIOUS BEGGARS—WOIZORO ASAGASH. 
 
 299 
 
 dertake the arrangement, and to his hands 
 the affair is consigned. The king himself 
 often accepts the office, and of course is 
 very rarely unsuccessful. Inferiors come 
 into the presence of their official master 
 with large stones upon their heads ; and, 
 prostrating themselves upon the earth, seek 
 forgiveness of their offences, which at the 
 intercession of the all-powerful mediator, 
 is seldom withheld. The oath by his ma- 
 jesty's life is the most potent in use. If 
 adjured by the death of Sahela Selassie, 
 non-compliance can be visited by punish- 
 ment ; and the wilful breach of the solemn 
 obligation renders the perjured party liable 
 to penalties the most severe. 
 
 From the highest to the lowest, all class- 
 es are most pertinacious beggars. What- 
 soever is seen is surely demanded — guns, 
 knives, scissors, beads, cloth, mirrors, and 
 dollars. The love of acquiring property 
 stifles every sense of shame ; and no com- 
 punction is felt in asking for the cloak from 
 off the back, or in carrying it away during 
 a pitiless storm. The Amhara even take 
 a pride in this national failing, and boast 
 that the child before coming into the world 
 will stretch forth its hand to receive a gift ; 
 while tradition extols as highly praisewor- 
 thy and deserving of imitation the conduct 
 of a certain great Abyssinian chief, who on 
 his death-bed desired that his body might 
 be interred in the track of a caravan, in 
 order that, if possible, his spirit might be 
 in the way of receiving a dole from the 
 passing merchant ! 
 
 CHAPTER CXIX. 
 
 THE KARAIYO GALLA. CRATERS OF SABOO 
 AND FANTALI. 
 
 As each evening closed, the most mag- 
 nificent stormy effect now appeared over 
 the high range of Bulga. Dark clouds, 
 occasionally pierced by a bright ray of the 
 sinking sun, drove in dense volumes 
 across this mountain wall; and as they 
 rolled on toward the lofty cone of Mega- 
 sus, they revealed in their track the pre- 
 cipitous and rugged nature of bluffs which 
 had heretofore presented an unbroken sur- 
 face. Rain not unfrequently fell during 
 the night, and penetrating the flimsy cot- 
 ton awnings, as if they had been cullen- 
 ders, rendered an umbrella necessary to- 
 ward the protection of the damp pillow. 
 
 Resolved to view the mys'erious Fantali 
 from the country of the Karaiyo Galla, 
 whence might be determined the importaut 
 20* 
 
 question of its activity or quiescence, an 
 excursion was next planned to the lake 
 Muttahara, whose glassy bosom, surround- 
 ed by great belts of yellow grass, and 
 stretching along the western base of the 
 volcano, had been regarded with intense 
 curiosity, as it sparkled under the beams 
 of the setting sun. Absence of water on 
 the road, rendered it imperative that the 
 party should be limited ; and the insuper- 
 able aversion displayed by every follower 
 to a second expedition to the low country, 
 therefore, caused little disappointment. 
 Many had already suffered severely from 
 inflammation of the eyes ; and greater dif- 
 ficulty could hardly have been experienced 
 in obtaining volunteers for the most des- 
 perate forlorn hope ever undertaken — the 
 Aroosi beyond the Hawash, a tribe distin- 
 guished for surpassing ferocity, being de- 
 clared the bitter, blood-thirsty enemy of 
 every Christian and Mohammadan. 
 
 The governor had already proceeded in 
 advance, to collect his vassals ; and on the 
 morning fixed for departure a heavy white 
 fog, such as is wont to envelope the capital 
 of Shoa during three-quarters of the year, 
 veiled the entire face of nature. The first 
 five miles led across the richly cultivated 
 terrace of Berhut, amid numerous hamlets 
 which gradually became visible as the 
 mist ascended. Aingodiye, on the top of 
 the pass, together with the entire district 
 of that denomination, pertains to the lady 
 asagash, who, decked in her holyday cos- 
 tume, and shining under a sheen of butter, 
 politely sallied forth, with her train of 
 household slaves and handmaidens, to greet 
 the passing strangers. 
 
 This portly dame, whose appearance is 
 truly indicative of her wealth, was the fa- 
 vorite concubine of the famous Medoko at 
 the period of his assassination ; and having 
 been suffered by the despot to retain the 
 extensive domains conferred upon her par- 
 amour during the days of his glory, a thrifty 
 disposition has swelled her hoard of corn, 
 oil, and beeves, beyond all bounds. In her 
 retinue came a disconsolate couple chained 
 together by the wrists — thieves no doubt — 
 and said to be man and wife, whom the 
 woizoro facetiously declared it had been 
 found requisite to link by bonds stronger 
 than those of wedlock, in order to counter- 
 act a decided disinclination to the society 
 of the husband, evinced by the inconstant 
 spousa i;i three several elopemeuts. 
 
 Descending by a steep pass through the 
 district of Gooroon za — a perfect wilder- 
 ness of rugged mountains — the road cross- 
 ed the river of that name near its junction 
 with the Casam, and shortly afterward the 
 
300 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 Casam itself, from which all the villages 
 for many miles round derive their supply 
 of water. Taking its source in the ele- 
 vated plains of Germama, this tributary of 
 the Hawash escapes through the moun- 
 tains by a deep defile, worn in the lapse of 
 ages by the autumnal torrents, betwixt 
 Mentshar and Bulga. Thence it winds on 
 beneath shadowy bluffs of rock rising per- 
 pendicularly to a terrace — a system of 
 ridges jutting out from the high table land, 
 and dipping on both sides into the stream. 
 Of these, the principal is the frowning 
 promontory of Gougou, which, like a nat- 
 ural fortress, abruptly terminates the 
 Tudla Mariam plateau, extending to An- 
 gollala in one uninterrupted terrace, cele- 
 brated for the capsicums and fine cotton 
 wool raised by its Christian population. 
 
 From the bed of the Casam the road 
 wound up the Choba ravine, through a 
 fissure formed near the point of junction 
 by two gigantic blocks of granite, which 
 rise perpendicularly to a towering height 
 on either side, and hem in the rugged de- 
 file to a straightened pass of just sufficient 
 width to permit the transit of a mule. 
 The stupendous pass wore the appearance 
 of having been hurled in remote ages from 
 the summit of the impending cliff, the 
 force of the concussion rending it in twain, 
 and forming the key to a road, which by a 
 handful of resolute men might be defended 
 against the mightiest host. An ascent of 
 one thousand feet over the Woleecha 
 mountain, by a narrow path worn in the 
 columnar trap, led to another elevated pla- 
 teau, where, after the arrival of the gov- 
 ernor, the staff was set up for the night at 
 the Moslem village of Seeagur, eleven 
 miles from Dummakoo. 
 
 The threshing-floor whereon the tent 
 was erected, standing upon one of the 
 many tongues of table-land that intersect 
 the district of Wolagur, looked down a 
 long valley, bounded on the opposite side 
 by the similarly perpendicular wall of Boor- 
 kikee, upon the verge of which, surround- 
 ed by a milk-bush hedge, rose the secluded 
 church of St. George, the last Christian 
 edifice of Mentshar. The sudden termi- 
 nation of the terrace, which abruptly drops 
 into the country of the Galla, commanded 
 an extensive prospect over the wilderness 
 of Taboo, bounded by the distant blue hills 
 of the Gamoo and Aroosi. Rising among 
 the Sama Galla, and overflowing the level 
 land in the season of its height, the Taboo, 
 like most of the secondary streams in this 
 district, is dissipated by the fiery heat of 
 the plains, and expends itself before reach- 
 ing the Hawash. 
 
 Double the number of retainers, both 
 horse and foot, who actually appeared on 
 the morrow, had been summoned ; but 
 many preferred paying the fine incurred 
 by absence, to accompanying their liege 
 lord into jungles hitherto little trodden by 
 the Christian. A respectable retinue was, 
 however, in attendance ; and the party set 
 out at an early hour for the lake Muttahara. 
 A rugged winding descent, due south, led 
 to the foot of the Wolagur range, whence 
 an extensive grassy tract stretches away 
 to Fantali, beautifully wooded, dotted over 
 with flocks and herds, and disclosing in 
 every direction the bee-hive cabins of the 
 Karaiyo, a tribe equally rich in cattle and 
 in pasture land. 
 
 It is now fifteen years since an Amhara 
 expedition, under the dech agafari, over- 
 ran this then independent district from the 
 highlands of Mentshar. The inhabitants, 
 flying for shelter to their thick hook-thorn 
 coverts, sustained little loss in killed ; but 
 the whole of their wealth was swept away, 
 and thirty thousand fat beeves were pre- 
 sented to the monarch on the plains of 
 Angollola, as an earnest of successful fo- 
 ray. Since that period the Karaiyo have 
 been nominally dependent on Shoa. paying 
 an annual tribute of twenty oxen, and the 
 left tooth of every elephant entrapped or 
 found dead — a mild taxation with which 
 they are sufficiently content to abstain 
 from revolt, although the hold over them 
 is too slight to admit of further impost — 
 the principal advantage derived from their 
 submission being the interposition of a bar- 
 rier against the inroads upon the Amhara 
 frontier of the savage Aroosi. 
 
 The Karaiyo territory, extending about 
 forty miles in length by thirty in breadth, 
 consists of a succession of open unculti- 
 vated plains, covered with luxuriant shade, 
 and intersected by low ranges of hills, 
 rising in all the exuberance of turfy 
 grass, dotted with spreading trees — alto- 
 gether a highly enviable site for a small 
 nomade tribe, although much scourged by 
 the neighboring Aroosi, and presenting the 
 very theatre for a hasty inroad. Portions 
 of the district often suffer much from 
 drought ; but a most opportune fall of rain 
 the preceding night had completely deluged 
 the country, and poured into every pool 
 along the route a plentiful supply of mud- 
 dy water. 
 
 Taking an easterly direction toward Fan- 
 tali, numerous well-peopled hamlets were 
 passed, occupying all the secluded nooks, 
 and as wealthy in flocks and herds as if 
 the Amhara besom had never swept the 
 land. From constant exposure to the heat 
 
RECENT VOLCANOES— LAKE MUTTAHARA. 
 
 301 
 
 and glare, and the habit of closing 1 the eye- 
 lid to increase the power of vision, the 
 swarthy features of even the youngest of 
 the blinking inhabitants were deeply fur- 
 rowed with premature wrinkles, which, 
 with a turn-up nose, rendered those who 
 had numbered many seasons, truly hid- 
 eous. 
 
 In an easterly direction the course was 
 bounded by the great isolated crater of Sa- 
 boo, yawning in the very centre of a well- 
 populated plain, and said to have been in 
 full activity in the time of Sahela Selas- 
 sie's grandsire, who reigned only thirty 
 years ago ; an assertion which was fully 
 borne out by the recent appearance of the 
 lava streams. The long-horned oryx, with 
 great herds of antelope, grazed around eve- 
 ry pool — the latter little disturbed by the 
 presence of those who tended the flocks 
 of sheep and goats, and whose groups of 
 circular wigwams peeped forth in every 
 sequestered corner. 
 
 An ancient crone of surpassing ugliness, 
 attired in a leathern petticoat flounced with 
 cowry shells, was busily engaged by the 
 wayside in transferring muddy water to her 
 scrip, and looking up, was perfectly horri- 
 fied at the appearance of a white face on 
 the opposite border of the puddle. For 
 a few seconds her old teeth chattered 
 audibly, and then, satisfied that there was 
 no deception, she called loudly upon the 
 goddess Ateti, threw herself back upon 
 the ground, and became a prey to abject 
 despair. 
 
 Resuming a southerly course from the 
 foot of the crater, the path led at right an- 
 gles over a tract strangely rent, and riven, 
 and jumbled together — high perpendicular 
 walls of lava separating deep broken abyss- 
 es, the form of each dark-heaving billow 
 being distinct in the rolling tide amid the 
 brilliant belts of verdure by which it was 
 streaked. Inkoftoo, the principal Karaiyo 
 kraal in the district of Kadecha Dima, rose 
 suddenly to sight, when there were still 
 many hours of daylight. Standing beside 
 an extensive pool, screened on all sides by 
 luxuriant trees, it was strongly fortified by 
 stiff thorn branches against the inroads of 
 the lion ; formidable troops of which, roam- 
 ing almost unmolested, commit great havoc 
 among the cattle, and had only the night 
 before carried off a youth belonging to the 
 village. 
 
 It wanted still some miles of the spot in 
 which Habti Mariam had resolved to en- 
 camp, near the borders of the Muttahara 
 lake, whose placid surface, not less than 
 two miles across, extended almost to the 
 base of the Fantali. The chief of Inkof- 
 
 too had seen a rhinoceros in the morning 
 among the dense thicket of hook-thorns 
 covering the declivity of a hill on the way ; 
 but although one of the governor's braves, 
 elevating his sheep-skin mantle upon the 
 point of his lance, charged the assembled 
 multitude in the king's name to abstain 
 from clamor, and from interference with 
 the arrangements made for beating up the 
 quarters of the " ouraris" the clattering 
 hoofs of the advancing cavalcade presently 
 put the animal to flight toward the Ha wash. 
 It were difficult to determine whether 
 the fear of the Aroosi or of wild beasts 
 now predominated in the minds of the Am- 
 hara escort. In spite of a heavy fall of 
 rain, large watch-fires were kindled in va- 
 rious parts of the lone bivouac, and not a 
 single eye was closed until the day had 
 fairly dawned. 
 
 CHAPTER CXX. 
 
 THE AROOSI GALLA. GREAT CRATER OF WIN- 
 ZEGOOR. VOLCANIC WELLS. WILDERNESS 
 OF TABOO. 
 
 Extensive morasses, environing the 
 sedge-grown borders of the Muttahara wa- 
 ter, proved it to be far below its wonted 
 boundaries, and precluded all access to 
 Fantali, even had the timidity of the guides 
 been sufficiently overcome to induce them 
 to acquiesce in a visit ; but the non-exist- 
 ence of any active volcano for more than 
 thirty years was confirmed by all. The 
 Kobederntoo and the Gobakoobee districts 
 form the limit of his majesty's Karaiyo pos- 
 sessions within a few miles of the Hawash, 
 and thither the cavalcade proceeded in the 
 morning. Arriving near the mountain Sa- 
 deka, one of the outposts of the Aroosi, 
 whence the wooded line of the river could 
 be traced for miles through the naked plains, 
 bearings were obtained to the conical peak 
 of Serie, and other conspicuous landmarks. 
 But the appearance of a small party of arm- 
 ed savages in the distance, soon induced 
 precipitate retreat on the part of the escort, 
 who by no means relished the delay. A 
 band of treacherous barbarians had only a 
 few weeks previously made a descent upon 
 the Karaiyo cattle, and after putting all 
 the herdsmen to the spear, were hurrying 
 off with the booty, when they were pursued 
 in force, and put to flight with the loss of 
 twelve of their number. Another preda- 
 tory visit was. daily anticipated ; and the 
 caution was in every mouth, " If two war- 
 riors be perceived upon the same horse, 
 
302 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 ask no questions, but shoot them without 
 mercy." , 
 
 Sahela Selassie has never yet attempted 
 an expedition in person against these war- 
 hawks, nestled in the lap of the mountains, 
 who fight stark naked, and are besmeared 
 with lard from head to foot. Merciless, 
 and of predatory habits, they are represent- 
 ed as extremely powerful in battle, and are 
 the terror of every surrounding tribe — two 
 warriors usually bestriding the same steed, 
 and aiding each other with barbed lances 
 jagged like the teeth of a saw, and with 
 bucklers manufactured in relief, to imitate 
 the shell of the tortoise. Subsisting en- 
 tirely by plunder, the cultivation of their 
 high cold hills is but little attended to ; 
 salt, which forms the principal article of 
 barter with Gurague, and other inland bor- 
 dering countries, being obtainable in un- 
 limited quantities from the lake Laghi, two 
 days' journey from Serie, one of the prin- 
 cipal market towns. Noora Hoossain is 
 the capital of the Aroosi Galla, who are all 
 followers of the prophet ; and the principal 
 towns of their adjacent neighbors the Ittoo, 
 a race of mixed Mohammadans and Pagans, 
 are Chercha and Metokoma. 
 
 The rhinoceros was said to abound in 
 the Karaiyo neighborhood ; but Habti Ma- 
 riam would consent to no further sojourn 
 on this dangerous border with so limited an 
 escort, and at noon retraced his steps to the 
 village of Inkoftoo. Here all the braves 
 and principal men of the tribe were gath- 
 ered to recount for the royal edification, by 
 retail, their recent exploits with the preda- 
 tory Aroosi, as well as the particulars at- 
 tending the slaughter of an elephant calf 
 that had fallen under their united lances a 
 few weeks previously. A single spear 
 wound in a tender part having stupefied the 
 beast, hundreds of warriors rushed in and 
 overwhelmed it. Every participator in this 
 notable achievement, which is one of ex- 
 tremely rare occurrence, now wore his gar- 
 ments saturated with gore and fat, and dis- 
 played on his person some distinguishing 
 ornament or feather; while the doughty 
 hero who claimed first blood, strutted about 
 under a perfect load of sable and green 
 plumes, brass chains, and massive ivory 
 armlets, precisely similar to those worn by 
 the ancient Egyptians. Not quite satisfied 
 as to the object of the visit, the Karaiyo had 
 collected the whole of their great droves 
 of cattle in the precincts of the hamlet. 
 Among them were many splendid sanga, 
 with wide-spreading horns upward of six 
 feet in length ; under which preposterous 
 attire they moved as majestically as the stag 
 " proud of his twelve tynes." 
 
 A heavy storm of dust obscured the en- 
 tire face of the landscape in the direction 
 of Saboo ; arriving near to which, a path 
 struck off to the westward to the encamping 
 ground on the side of the Kozi mountain, 
 above a snug Karaiyo hamlet, whence pro- 
 visions were obtained. The Amhara fol- 
 lowers, although still restricted by the fast 
 of Hodadi, from participation in animal food, 
 were fain to incase their naked and blister- 
 ed feet in portions of the hide of an ox 
 slaughtered for the entertainment of the 
 more fortunate Mohammadans ; the fields 
 of lava lately traversed, like the " iron 
 stones" celebrated in the travels of the 
 Jesuit fathers of old, being " like the dross 
 that cometh from the furnace, and so sharp 
 pointed withal, that they spoiled a pair of 
 new shoes in a day." 
 
 The next object was to visit the far-famed 
 volcanic well of Boorchutta, on the frontier 
 of Mentshar, bordering on the wilderness 
 of Taboo, which was to limit the wander- 
 ings of the party. Shortly after gaining 
 the summit of the Kozi mountain, the road 
 wound along the very brink of the gaping 
 crater of Winzegoor, from whose monstrous 
 chasm the entire adjacent country has been 
 recently overflowed. Extending two miles 
 in length by one and a half in breadth, it is 
 environed by perpendicular walls towering 
 from six to eight hundred feet, two gorges 
 to the east and southeast having afforded 
 an outlet to the boiling deluge. The area 
 of the whole basin affords occasional 
 glimpses of jet black through belts of the 
 most brilliant verdure ; and two bare trun- 
 cated cones, thrown up during an eruption 
 some thirty years previously, having poured 
 a serpentine stream high over the sur- 
 rounding jungles, remain dark and cindery 
 as on the day when they were vomited by 
 the pillared flame from the bowels of the 
 great abyss. 
 
 Three miles beyond Winzegoor, the cav- 
 alcade was halted preparatory to the pass- 
 age of a dangerous defile, said to teem with 
 the execrated Aroosi hordes, and to form 
 their favorite ambuscade. A council of war 
 was held. The troops being formed into a 
 dense body, a wobo was appointed to pre- 
 vent straggling, and to command the rear- 
 guard. Scouts proceeded in advance to 
 reconnoitre, and the strictest silence hav- 
 ing been enjoined, the order was for once 
 obeyed. Dismounted men and grazing 
 horses descried on the impending heights 
 of Boobisa, soon caused dire alarm ; and 
 consternation reached the climax when, on 
 gaining the gorge of the hills overlooking 
 the wilderness of Taboo, the scouts ran in 
 breathless with intelligence that a large 
 
BOORCHUTTA WATER— BLOODY ARENA. 
 
 303 
 
 body of cava]ry occupied a rising ground 
 not two miles from the van. The jingling 
 bells around the necks of the mules having 
 been muffled, the party, drawn up in battle 
 array, advanced with the utmost caution, 
 until the gleaming of the white garments 
 and cross-emblazoned shields of the fancied 
 foes proved them to be none other than the 
 Meritshar detachment of horse under Ayto 
 Nigdoo, who had been expressly called out 
 to reinforce the Amhara in event of the 
 Aroosi being abroad on a foray. 
 
 Having joined the allies, who had in 
 their turn been equally disconcerted at the 
 appearance of the forces of Habti Mariam, 
 the party proceeded to cross the valley of 
 Jiggra Mulkinia, " the place where the 
 guinea fowls feed." This fine level plain, 
 hemmed in by high hills, presented a per- 
 fect garden of wild flowers blossoming 
 amid a most luxuriant second crop of grass, 
 the result of a late conflagration. Many 
 hundreds of the white-rumped mhorr brow- 
 sed on it undisturbed, and the pintado and 
 the partridge seemed to be without end. 
 A belt of dog-rose bushes, camel-thorns, 
 and a highly aromatic undergrowth which 
 bordered the base of the range styled Juj- 
 mba Kulla, harbored a small herd of ele- 
 phants, and they were soon perceived lux- 
 uriating among the young juicy reeds. 
 But the retinue contrived as usual to put 
 the whole to flight ; and under a furious 
 thunder-storm, which in ten minutes cov- 
 ered the whole plain with pools of water, 
 the cavalcade, drenched to the skin, ar- 
 rived at a late hour on the skirts of the 
 Boorchutta water, where the night was to 
 be passed. 
 
 This singular well, which wears the 
 semblance of the crater of a gigantic mine, 
 is situated in the bosom of the almost per- 
 pendicular mountain of Jujjuba Kulla. 
 One narrow path, of barely sufficient width 
 for the bulk of an elephant, leads to the 
 water's edge, through the termination of a 
 deep narrow gully with inaccessible banks. 
 Enormous blocks and boulders of coal- 
 black rock, which choke this channel for 
 the last hundred yards, seem to have been 
 canted out of the bowels of the earth by 
 subterranean convulsion, and form a sort 
 of revetment to the front of the circular 
 pool, which measures sixty feet in diam- 
 eter, and gave "no bottom." Behind, a 
 gray broken wall rises perpendicularly 
 from the basin to the height of two hun- 
 dred feet, crossed by vermilion bands of 
 lava, honeycombed with a thousand cavi- 
 ties and fissures, and overgrown in parts 
 with the most brilliant vegetation. The 
 still, brimstone-colored waters were glassy 
 
 smooth, and not a breath stirred within the 
 deep suffocating crater, where the fall of a 
 pin produced an echo like that of a whis- 
 pering gallery. Black martins wheeled 
 over the surface — pigeons cooed amid the 
 clefts and crannies — and hairy baboons 
 grimaced and chattered on the impending 
 cliffs, from which trailed ten thousand 
 fantastic roots, laid bare by the torrent that 
 pours into the well during the rains from 
 the ravine above — at some very remote 
 period evidently a continuation of the chan- 
 nel below, but severed from <it by violent 
 volcanic agency. 
 
 There being no other water for many 
 miles around this reservoir, it forms the 
 resort of all the numerous wild animals in 
 the neighborhood ; and the narrow passage 
 bore ample testimony to the nocturnal 
 visits of the elephant and rhinoceros. The 
 inhabitants of all the adjacent hamlets de- 
 rive their supply hence, also by night — the 
 Aroosi frequently lying in ambush to cut 
 off parties who venture down during the 
 day. Boorchutta is, in fact, the arena of 
 constant bloody conflicts ; and not a month 
 had elapsed since the ruthless barbarians 
 slaughtered thirty-three Moslems whom 
 they caught at the water, three of their 
 own number only falling in the skirmish. 
 Bowers of green boughs were constructed 
 for the accommodation of the two govern- 
 ors ; and the whole of the retainers, stand- 
 ing to their arms with loins girt, danced 
 and sang throughout the night around 
 blazing watch-fires — great masses of light 
 which were thrown into the shadowy 
 abyss, and over the glittering spear-blades 
 of the warriors, imparting the wildest ef- 
 fect to the scene of sanguinary deeds. 
 
 The night passed without any alarm, 
 whether from assassin or wild beast ; and 
 in order to complete the tour of the eastern 
 frontier, an excursion was made at early 
 dawn through the wilderness of Taboo to 
 the Bosut hills ; the flowery meadows, 
 shady groves, and rich uncultivated valleys 
 which intervene, being tenanted by the 
 Gamoo Galla, a pastoral tribe, beyond 
 whom are the rebel Loomi. On terms of 
 friendship with Sahela Selassie, and even 
 acknowledging a sort of nominal allegiance 
 to Shoa, it was not anticipated that the 
 appearance of the Amhara would have 
 caused alarm ; but believing the party of 
 five hundred horse and foot to denote an 
 irruption of the Aroosi, the cattle were 
 driven off with all expedition to the sum- 
 mits of the fastnesses, and' every village be- 
 ing vacated in an instant, their inhabitants 
 were to be seen clustering on the inacces- 
 sible heights in momentary expectation of 
 
304 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 attack. Nothing could exceed the luxu- 
 riance of the shady forests of Taboo, which 
 bore evidences throughout of the presence 
 of the giants among mammalia, and abound- 
 ed in the piebald oryx, the agazin, the 
 hartebeest, and the rnhorr — clamorous 
 troops of guinea-fowl, which covered every 
 open glade, completing the contrast to the 
 silent regions of Shoa, so utterly destitute 
 of animal life. 
 
 In accordance with the impatient en- 
 treaties of the governor, the party set out 
 on its return early in the afternoon, and 
 before sunset arrived at the village of 
 Adelada, occupying the summit of a steep 
 saddle-backed hill, and under the control 
 of Ayto Nigdoo. Near it is the well of 
 Wulawula, which, although smaller, is not 
 very dissimilar from that of Boorchutta, a 
 sleepy, funnel-shaped hollow, owing its 
 existence to igneous agency. Crossing 
 the Koorkuru, the Gubraiyo Sagur, and 
 the Cosso rivulets, which are severally 
 dissipated in the plain of the Karaiyo, the 
 ascent to Wolagur was regained, and the 
 embassy returned the following day to 
 JDummakoo, laden with numerous valuable 
 accessions to natural history, and in pos- 
 session of every information to be acquired 
 relative to this interesting but unsettled 
 border. 
 
 Of all the natural boundaries that are 
 able to separate effectually contiguous 
 countries of the main land, such a line 
 both of old and new witnesses to the tur- 
 bulent power of the subterranean element 
 as had now been traced along the entire 
 eastern frontier of Shoa, may safely be 
 pronounced that best adapted to bring for- 
 cibly to the minds of the divided nations, 
 that limits are placed by the Almighty to 
 the aspirations of aggrandizement. The 
 Abyssinian Caucasus rises like a bulwark 
 out of the ocean-like expanse of the Adel 
 plain — and an ascent of a few hours will 
 depress the mercury in the thermometer 
 more than sixty degrees. Partaking of the 
 very extremes in the physical constitution 
 both of soil and atmosphere, the regions 
 above require a race distinct from those 
 below, and they are distinct as though di- 
 vided by a broad intervening sea. Am- 
 bition sometimes leads either the one or 
 the other beyond the limit set, but a short 
 and direful experience of the forbidden 
 ground never fails to prove the untenable 
 nature of the conquest. The uncompro- 
 mising traveller, and the rover who deals 
 in his fellow-men, alone thread their soli- 
 itary journey through the neutral district. 
 Its treacherous surface is clothed here with 
 exuberant vegetation, yielding but to the 
 
 bulk of the elephant, the buffalo, and the 
 rhinoceros— there it exhibits iron-bound 
 lava, which younger days saw vomited 
 forth out of the yawning cleft to over- 
 whelm the circumjacent land ; and while 
 some of the latter now collect within the 
 recesses of their dark chasms the fluids of 
 the atmosphere to refresh the giant ten- 
 ants of the wilderness, others pour* from 
 their fervid bosoms salutary fountains to 
 alleviate the sufferings of the human race. 
 But the memory of the living generation 
 records that revolutions have not ceased. 
 Existing craters still resume at long in- 
 tervals their old work of devastation ; and 
 violent earthquakes now and then shake 
 the country to the very base of the adaman- 
 tine rampart which has been reared by the 
 arm of Omnipotence in the heart of heath- 
 en Africa, around the alpine abode of one 
 million Christians. 
 
 CHAPTER CXXI. 
 
 THE KINGDOM OF SHOA. 
 
 Although not at the present day that 
 terrestrial paradise pictured by Jesuitical 
 fancy, and although the majestic fabrics, 
 the pillars of porphyry, and the Corinthian 
 domes of early writers now exist only in 
 the tradition, Ethiopia yet retains the fresh 
 vegetation of a northern soil, the vivifying 
 ardor of a tropical sun, and the cloudless 
 azure of a southern sky. Palaces and 
 fanes, gardens and gushing fountains, have 
 long since departed with Prester John and 
 his ancient glories ; but there still remains 
 a fertile country possessing vast capabili- 
 ties, a salubrious and delightful climate, 
 and a race of beings whose existence un- 
 der absolute and complete despotism, pre- 
 sents a striking contrast to that of the idle 
 and improvident Ada'i'el, whose pride and 
 whose boast it is to be the free citizens of 
 independent tribes. 
 
 Whatever Abyssinia may once have 
 been, it is not to be expected that she 
 should, under a great lapse of time, again 
 take place among those countries which 
 are peculiarly happy, opulent, or abundant. 
 All her prevailing customs and practices 
 are utterly at variance with existing laws 
 for the creation, consumption, and distri- 
 bution of wealth. A heavy taxation is 
 levied on the produce of the field. Mo- 
 nastic and clerical establishments are fos- 
 tered to the ruin of the people. The venal 
 judges are paid by fees on the suits which 
 they decide ; and popular superstition and 
 
FERTILITY OF THE SOIL— EQUABLE CLIMATE. 
 
 305 
 
 imposture possess the royal sanction for 
 abuse. Nothing of aught that might be 
 useful is ever taken into consideration. 
 Here are no roads or bridges to facilitate 
 traffic — no schools for the instruction of 
 the rising generation. The improvements 
 of life, although somewhat advanced, have 
 stopped at the satisfying point 
 
 " of barren, bare necessity. 
 
 and fear and prejudice unite to deter the 
 inhabitants from visiting foreign climes, 
 whereby to enlighten their ignorant minds 
 by modern inventions, or to improve their 
 benighted country by a transfer of discov- 
 eries in science. 
 
 But although thus destitute of comfort 
 even in their highest enjoyments, the peo- 
 ple are yet considerably emerged from that 
 state of society which is denominated bar- 
 barian. Far elevated above the hunting 
 or nomade savage, by the ability to domes- 
 ticate and bring under subjection the in- 
 ferior creation, they practice a species of 
 agriculture which the fertility of the soil 
 has heretofore blessed with an abundant 
 return. Throughout the kingdom the eye 
 is greeted by extensive cultivation ; and 
 the art of husbandry in Shoa has far eclip- 
 sed tne advances made by any nation 
 hitherto visited on the western coast. 
 
 Under certain despotic conditions, pri- 
 vate property in the land is everywhere 
 sanctioned and established. There are 
 few forests or wastes, excepting those 
 impracticable for pasture or cultivation. 
 Farm-steadings and dwelling-houses re- 
 pose secure from predatory bands or hos- 
 tile neighbors, to embellish the aspect of 
 the landscape ; and although thickly in- 
 habited, the country is unburdened by any 
 over population. 
 
 Possessed of a fertile soil and of favora- 
 ble seasons, a sufficient abundance is pro- 
 duced for the mere maintenance of life 
 without its luxuries. The processes of 
 preparing the ground are somewhat com- 
 plex. The plough is in use to the exclu- 
 sion of the African hoe, and considerable 
 industry is evinced in collecting and dis- 
 tributing the waters for artificial irrigation. 
 The science of husbandry is nevertheless 
 little understood ; the implements of cul- 
 ture are few, and all of the rudest construc- 
 tion ; the various modes of assisting nature 
 are entirely unknown ; due advantage is 
 not taken of the capabilities of the coun- 
 try ; and unless some civilized power in- 
 terferes for good, a great length of time 
 must necessarily elapse before the habits 
 and prejudices of the uncultivated nation 
 can be overcome for its own advantage. 
 
 Situated in the middle of the torrid zone, 
 and composed of groups and ranges of 
 lofty mountains overlooking wide plains 
 and deep valleys, equally under the influ- 
 ence of the tropical rains, the climate at 
 different elevations is one of the most va- 
 ried description. The high table land, 
 which is clothed with moderate vegetation, 
 destitute of wood, and freely ventilated, is 
 at all times cool and healthy, and often ex- 
 tremely cold. Here there is no winter. 
 
 " such as when birds die 
 In the deep forest, and the fishes lie 
 Stiffened in the translucent ice ;" 
 
 neither does the sun blaze in malignant 
 light on the head of the cultivator, nor do 
 burning blasts unseasonably wither the 
 crops. The coolness of the mountain 
 breeze is pleasant and refreshing, and the 
 timely cessation of the rain allows a health- 
 ful rest to vegetation, while its periodical 
 return soon produces the wonted display 
 of young shoots and budding flowers. 
 
 The low wooded valleys, on the other 
 •hand, are close, unwholesome, and insuf- 
 ferably hot. During the cold season the 
 thermometer on the summit of the range 
 stands at about 30°, a thin coating of ice 
 covers the pools, and the country is white 
 under a mantle of hoar frost. Below, the 
 quicksilver mounts to 90°, and the total 
 absence of breeze renders the heat still 
 more oppressive. At the termination of 
 the rains, fever, with all her attendant 
 horrors, spreads her pestilential wings 
 over the most beautiful locations ; and 
 during the month of September even the 
 wild birds for a time forsake the poisoned 
 atmosphere, to seek the more congenial 
 breezes of the upper regions. 
 
 The amazing fertility of the vales is be- 
 yond all -conception. Every species of 
 crop attains the most gigantic proportions. 
 The rich soil and the nurturing shelter, the 
 abundant supply of water, and the ardent 
 rays of the sun, all combine to crown the 
 hopes of the husbandman ; and these situ- 
 ations would have stood prominent as per- 
 fect in the creation, had nature blessed 
 them with a climate corresponding in char- 
 acter to their lovely appearance. But like 
 the apples of the asphaltus, the inviting 
 beauty of the exterior forms but a gos- 
 samer covering to the seeds of death 
 which lurk within. 
 
 Ascending, the vegetation on the moun- 
 tain-side is somewhat inferior in luxuri- 
 ance — a fact that may be accounted for by 
 the angle at which the sun's rays meet the 
 ground, their power of imparting heat vary- 
 ing in proportion thereto. As the eastern 
 
306 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 face of the range rises almost perpendicu- 
 larly, it can only during half the day re- 
 ceive the rays at all ; and for many hours 
 in the warmest part of the afternoon, the 
 surface is entirely obscured in shadow. 
 
 On the elevated plateaux, a succession 
 of gentle undulations of pasture and arable 
 land, intersected by green meadows, and 
 bare-banked rivulets, rise in endless con- 
 tinuation to the view, undisturbed by a 
 solitary tree. Villages and farm houses 
 proclaim a country which has long enjoyed 
 the blessings of peace. The craggy 
 mountains rise in magnificent ranges from 
 the centre, divided each, by a thousand 
 chasms, in whose depths run clear gush- 
 , ing rills. Tangled bushes and evergreen 
 shrubs diversity the cliffs, many of which 
 are covered with magnificent woods. In 
 every nook and " cdigne of 'vantage " are 
 to be seen and scented the myrtle, the 
 eglantine, and the jasmine. The inter- 
 vening slopes, which form the most de- 
 sirable sites of residence, are clothed in 
 luxuriant crops, and in herbage fed by the 
 oozing streams from above ; and at the 
 foot of the range repose the rich and 
 smiling valleys, hid in all the luxuriance 
 of tropical foliage, from the gigantic syca- 
 more, beloved of the heathen Galla, and 
 measuring upward of forty feet in circum- 
 ference, to the light and elegant acacia, 
 which distils the much-prized gum. 
 
 On the table-land the best soil is found 
 on the sheltered hill-side, of a rich brown 
 color, and along the river bank where 
 there is a loamy alluvial deposit. Black 
 earth is occasionally met with on the 
 mountains, where it may probably have 
 originated in the decomposition of those 
 forests to which tradition gfives existence 
 in ancient days, but of which no other 
 vestige now remains. In the valleys, those 
 which form the governments of Giddem 
 and Geshe especially, the richest black 
 soil prevails throughout ; and blessed with 
 an abundant supply of rain, and with a 
 mild genial climate, they present one un- 
 broken scene of the most luxuriant culti- 
 vation of all the crops known in Abys- 
 sinia, while the soil on the surrounding 
 mountain -side, light, loose, and gravelly, 
 is well adapted for the growth of coffee 
 and tea. 
 
 Abyssinia is happy in a most copious 
 supply of water, the gates of heaven being 
 opened twice during the year to the flood- 
 ing of every river and streamlet, and to the 
 complete soaking of the earth. The " rain 
 of bounty " commences in February, and 
 lasts for thirty days, and the " rain of cov- 
 enant " setting in before the termination of 
 
 June, pours down with extreme violence 
 throughout July, August, and September 
 — at which period is produced that never- 
 failing increase of the Nile to which Egypt 
 is also indebted for her fertility. Immedi- 
 ately after these down-pourings, nature, * 
 who had remained bound up in the preced- 
 ing drought, bursts forth into a thousand N 
 interesting forms. Pastures and meadows 
 are clothed in cheering green ; the hills 
 and dales are adorned with myriads of 
 beautiful and sweet-scented flowers, and 
 the sides of the mountain ranges become 
 one sheet of the most luxuriant cultivation. 
 Long after the supp] of water has been 
 drained from the skies, a heavy dew falls 
 during the night ; and under its vivifying 
 influence the plants continue to shoot forth 
 with amazing luxuriance, refreshed alike 
 by the pure coolness of the morning breeze, 
 and strengthened by the strong heat of the 
 mid-day sun. By the provident husband- 
 man two crops are every year garnered in 
 from the fat land, without its being impov- 
 erished ; and while the ripe corn is being 
 reaped in one field, the seed is but just de- 
 posited in the next adjacent. The cattle 
 are employed in ploughing up the fertile 
 soil of one estate, while in the next the 
 muzzled ox is trampling out its recently 
 yielded treasures ; and. all the various op- 
 erations of husbandry, from the breaking 
 up of the ground to the final winnowing of 
 the corn, may be simultaneously witnessed 
 on one and the same farm. 
 
 ••Hie ver assiduum, atque alienis mensibus aestas. 
 Bis gravida? pecudes, bis pomis utilis arbor." 
 
 Forty-three species of grain and other 
 useful products are already cultivated in 
 Abyssinia. Besides supplying the imme- 
 diate wants of the working classes, and 
 those of a herd of clerical drones who de- 
 vour the fruits of their honest labor, there 
 is still a considerable surplus, which is bar- 
 tered to the lazy Ada'iel for the produce of 
 his salt lake — a field that without plough- 
 ing or sowing yields up her inestimable 
 crop. But if only a small portion of Euro- 
 pean knowledge were to be instilled into 
 the mind of the Christian cultivator, the 
 kingdom of Shoa, possessed of such un- 
 bounded natural advantages, might be rap- 
 idly raised from its present primitive con- 
 dition, and made one inexhaustible granary 
 for all the best fruits of the earth. 
 
 Natura beatis 
 Omnibus esse dedit, si quis cognoverit uti." 
 
PASSION WEEK— EASTER EVEN. 
 
 307 
 
 CHAPTER CXXII. 
 
 TERMINATION OF THE FAST OF LENT. 
 
 Immediately upon the return of the 
 British embassy from the eastern frontier, 
 the king sent through his confidential page 
 a message congratulatory on the recent 
 success against the much-dreaded buffalo, 
 and desired to receive a visit early the en- 
 suing morning. In accordance with the 
 etiquette invariably observed after a long 
 absence, " pleasing things " were laid on 
 the royal footstool, together with the tro- 
 phies of the chase, and his majesty listened 
 with great interest to a detail of adventures 
 among his Adel subjects. On returning 
 thanks for the injunctions issued to the 
 governor of Berhut and his subordinates, 
 and extolling the liberality which had dic- 
 tated permission to visit a portion of the 
 realm hitherto unviewed by Europeans, the 
 most friendly assurances were repeated, 
 that " he could not suffer his children to 
 depart until they should have viewed the 
 entire of his dominions." 
 
 His majesty meanwhile remained seated 
 on a hassock before the fire, under circum- 
 stances of relaxation from state rarely wit- 
 nessed within the palace walls. Akodd- 
 Tnas, or silver coronets, with chain pendants, 
 of the model worn by himself on occasions 
 of triumph, and conferred as the last honor 
 upon those who distinguish themselves in 
 war or in the chase, were shortly produced, 
 and with massive silver bracelets, delivered 
 with a complimentary speech upon the is- 
 sue of the expedition : " You have slain 
 elephants and buffaloes, and are powerful 
 in arms against the wild beasts of which 
 my people are afraid," concluded the des- 
 pot. " You have overwhelmed' me with 
 rifles and other delightful inventions from 
 the countries beyond the great sea, and 
 must receive at my hands those things 
 which my kingdom produces, in order that 
 they may be worn on all proper occasions. 
 You are my brothers." 
 
 Striped cotton robes of Abyssinian manu- 
 facture followed ; and three horses with 
 plated silver bridles were subsequently pre- 
 sented, which, although like other royal 
 gifts in Shoa, of ridiculously inferior quali- 
 ty, were valuable as tokens of favor that 
 are lavished upon those alone who enjoy 
 the most exalted place in his majesty's 
 estimation. They did not fail to produce 
 the desired effect upon popular opinion ; 
 and sycophants who had before taxed the 
 Gyptzis with an intention to seize the 
 throne — to extinguish the race of Solomon, 
 and to bring a curse upon the land by the 
 atrocious process of burning the royal 
 
 bread — now found it convenient to alter 
 their sentiments, and to confer upon the 
 foreign guests the ennobling, but not very 
 enviable, appellation of " the king's bro- 
 thers." 
 
 The tedious fast of Hodadi, which for 
 forty days had been observed in commem- 
 oration of Lent by every individual of the 
 population whose age exceeded thirteen 
 years, was now to terminate. During three 
 days the priests had neither eaten bread 
 nor drunk water, but had remained in the 
 churches singing and praying incessantly 
 both day and night until Easter even, when 
 the embassy were invited to the palace 
 to witness their celebration of the royal 
 victories, held according to immemorial 
 custom during Passion Week. Sahela 
 Selassie was clad in the plainest of gar- 
 ments ; and although much enfeebled and 
 emaciated by rigorous mortification, and 
 especially by total abstinence from food and 
 water, observed in accordance with the 
 practice of the primitive church, since the 
 preceding Good Friday, he appeared in high 
 spirits at the prospect of speedy release 
 from the irksome penance imposed. 
 
 On this joyful occasion offerings are in- 
 variably made to the throne ; and every 
 individual of the crowd present, whether 
 great or small, advancing in turn, contri- 
 buted a mite according to his means — the 
 wealthier bringing cotton cloths, and the 
 more indigent, logs of wood, earthen jars, 
 or stones of a description fitted for build- 
 ing. Bands of warriors next entered the 
 carpeted court-yard, howling the war-cho- 
 rus ; and after the lapse of a few seconds, 
 the gigantic Tunkaiye, who had earned 
 laurels and been severely wounded during 
 a recent foray against the Gentiles, dashed 
 into the arena on horseback. Richly at- 
 tired, bedizened with feathers, sarelis, and 
 silver decorations, and escorted by a troop 
 of fifty mounted retainers, he galloped up 
 and down recounting his valorous exploits, 
 and, pointing to the scars earned in the 
 service of his royal master, shouted defi- 
 ance to the enemies of the state. 
 
 Eighty turbaned priests in solemn pro- 
 cession next entered the court, clad in sa- 
 cerdotal vestments. Led by the great em- 
 broidered umbrellas of the church dedicated 
 to St. George, they filed slowly into the 
 space vacated by the warriors, the holy 
 ark being supported by antique Egyptian 
 figures, robed in long musty-looking ha- 
 biliments of checkered hues, crowned 
 with heavy mitres, and bearing in their 
 hands rods of green rushes, bronze bells, 
 crosses, and censers of burning incense, 
 with an image of the madonna and a cru- 
 
308 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 cifix ; for although hating the papist with 
 all their hearts the Abyssinians neverthe- 
 less cherish many of the superstitions and 
 buffooneries of the church of Rome. 
 
 Having formed a semicircle before the 
 throne, the priests, although much ex- 
 hausted by their long abstinence, contin- 
 ued during half an hour to dance and 
 chant the words of the Apostle Paul in his 
 Epistle to the Romans, " Christ was de- 
 livered for our offences, and was raised 
 again for our justification." A portion of 
 the Dominical orison followed. Their 
 united harsh voices were accompanied by 
 the music of tambourines and kettle- 
 drums, thumped with excessive violence, 
 and by the jingle of the tsnasin, the Abys- 
 sinian timbrel. This is the sisirum, an 
 instrument supposed to be included under 
 the Hebrew term tzitzelem, and being com- 
 posed of a frame and movable bars of so- 
 norous metal, it produces sounds which 
 can best be compared to the rattle of the 
 poker upon the tongs. 
 
 Seven long years are passed in the ac- 
 quisition of the accomplishments display- 
 ed, which owe their invention to Saint 
 Gareed, an aboon under the Emperor 
 Guebra Maskal,* and the reputed inventor 
 of church music in all its various branch- 
 es. The constant practice of many hours 
 during each day might not unreasonably 
 be expected to lead to greater perfection 
 than is displayed. From four in the morn- 
 ing until nine, in every church in the 
 kingdom, a similar clatter and noise is 
 maintained, for the honor of the Christ- 
 ian religion, not only on the Sabbath, 
 but on all the numerous holydays and fes- 
 tivals throughout the twelve months. 
 Howling and screaming are the most ap- 
 propriate terms by which to express the 
 hoarse muster of cracked and ill-modula- 
 ted voices ; and the band of stout priests 
 who by their song nightly preserve the 
 royal person from the influence of evil 
 demons, must be acknowledged to have 
 selected a right cunning stratagem to de- 
 ter the approach of those spirits at least, 
 that are gifted with any musical taste. 
 
 The rehearsal of the praises and mar- 
 tial achievements of the reigning sove- 
 reign occupied another half hour, during 
 which the dancing was even more bois- 
 terous than ever. Taking their seats be- 
 fore the throne, the priests of St. George, 
 fairly worn out by their exertions, at length 
 made way for those of " our Lady," who, 
 after the enaction of similar absurdities, 
 were followed in succession by those of 
 
 * i. e. " Servant of the Cross. 
 
 Medhanalem, Aferbeine, and St. Michael, 
 the latter distinguished by the massive 
 embossed silver umbrella. As the united 
 body rent the air with renewed encomiums 
 on the royal prowess in arms, delivered to 
 them line by line by one of the alakas, 
 his majesty put a series of interrogatories 
 to his guests, as to whether similar cere- 
 monies were performed before the sove- 
 reigns of Egypt during the holy institution 
 of Lent ? — whether the Coptic priesthood 
 there were not less elegantly habited than 
 the Abyssinian dignitaries present ! — and 
 whether the Ethiopic fasts were observed 
 in St. Thomas's town" or in any other 
 part of the Christian world ? At the com- 
 mencement of Kenona, the three last days 
 of Lent, he had sent a message to the 
 effect that " the people would eat nothing 
 for forty hours, but that, knowing the 
 Gyptzis did not keep strong fast, he had 
 commanded the purveyor-general to send 
 the usual daily supplies of bread and hy- 
 dromel to the residency." 
 
 The edifying conversation was however 
 suddenly interrupted by the cessation of 
 the priestly voices. Rising and standing 
 on the throne, the monarch now received 
 in succession, at the hands of the dwarf 
 father-confessor, the carved croziers of 
 brass or silver, belonging to the numerous 
 functionaries of the five churches, many 
 hundreds in number ; and with exemplary 
 devoutness he raised all in turn to his lips. 
 With each sacred symbol of the season, was 
 handed a rod of green rushes, and every 
 person present followed the royal example, 
 by wreathing a fillet about his brows, to be 
 worn during the residue of the day. Lar- 
 gesses, with new silver crosses, were then 
 presented to the several alakas, who were 
 invested with striped cotton robes, and 
 charged with alms for distribution to the 
 poor. 
 
 During this tedious process, whereof 
 the king seemed no less heartily weary 
 than were his guests, Tekla Mariam, the 
 state scrivener, had been carefully ex- 
 tracting from an endles succession of en- 
 velopes and dirty cotton bags and wrap- 
 pers, something which he appeared equally 
 desirous to conceal and to disclose. Draw- 
 ing one of the party mysteriously into a 
 dark corner, he partially revealed a rudely 
 carved block of wood, presenting nothing 
 very remarkable jn its appearance, but 
 evidently much prized by the possessor. 
 " You will have perceived," whispered the 
 learned man in a scarcelv audible voice— 
 
 * India is known to the Abvssinians as the land of 
 St. Thomas. 
 
EASTER MORNING— HIGH FESTIVAL. 
 
 309 
 
 u you will doubtless have perceived that 
 this is a fac-simile of the table of the law 
 delivered to Moses on the Mount. It re- 
 quires nothing but the Ten Command- 
 ments ; and with these I have no question 
 that you will be able to furnish me with 
 a copy in the unknown tongue." 
 
 Oxen, assembled for consumption in the 
 city on the termination of the great fast, 
 completely choked the road down from the 
 palace. Of five hundred head brought to- 
 gether with this munificent design, there 
 was not one that appeared to possess an- 
 other hour of natural existence, all being 
 alike meagre, diseased, and so horribly 
 emaciated as to recall vividly to mind the 
 aged pensioners of a Hindoo cattle asylum 
 in the East. Many had actually died since 
 their arrival within the inclosure, and it 
 appeared wonderful whence so many sick- 
 objects had been collected. Yet the libe- 
 rality of the monarch was vaunted and 
 extolled by all who were to share it ; and 
 it was unanimously declared that the fault 
 rested solely with the public officers who 
 had been intrusted with the royal com- 
 mands. 
 
 His majesty, who during Passion Week 
 had been very regular in his vigils and 
 attendance at divine service, passed the 
 greater part of the night in St. Michael's 
 church, and on the first crowing of the 
 cock on Easter morning broke his long 
 fast. The feasting now became general. 
 The five hundred oxen having been slaugh- 
 tered, were devoured raw in the various 
 quarters of the city, the streets whereof 
 ran red with blood ; and, whether in eating 
 or in drinking, every inhabitant appeared 
 exerting himself to the utmost to make up 
 as expeditiously as possible for the weary 
 restraint that had been imposed on his ap- 
 petite. Numbers were soon to be seen 
 ranging the streets in brutal intoxication ; 
 while the court buffoon, at the head of a 
 party of drunken fiddlers, made his way to 
 the dwelling of every principal person, and 
 recited his praises in a series of extempo- 
 raneous couplets. 
 
 According to immemorial custom, two 
 state prisoners were liberated from Goncho 
 on the occasion of these festivities — the 
 royal clemency not, however, extending to 
 any of the hapless and unoffending mem- 
 bers of the blood royal, who have shared 
 the dungeon from infancy. During one 
 week a public table is kept by the viceroy, 
 to which all the town's people of every 
 grade resorting, drunken brawls and bro- 
 ken heads are diurnal occurrences. Oxen, 
 bread, and mead were liberally supplied, 
 by the royal command, to the long train 
 
 of worthless menials at the residency ; and 
 in such high good humor were the priest- 
 hood, that, forgetting all their former mal- 
 edictions and denunciations, they were 
 pleased to ascribe a recent heavy fall of 
 rain, which had proved highly beneficial 
 to the husbandman, solely to the agency 
 of " the king's strong strangers." 
 
 CHAPTER CXXIII. 
 
 FESTIVITIES OF EASTER. 
 
 Easter-day, instead of being celebrated 
 on the Sunday following the first full moon 
 after the vernal equinox, is in Abyssinia 
 kept one lunation later. On its recurrence, 
 the embassy received a special invitation 
 to the annual public banquet held in the 
 palace ; and ascending the hill in full uni- 
 form, were preceded by the capering leader 
 of the royal band. " Let me sing — I will 
 sing," he exclaimed, as the attendants 
 would have restrained his antics ; " why 
 should not the father of song dance before 
 the fathers of gold ?" Tents had been 
 erected in the court-yard, and a separate 
 repast provided for the foreign guests. 
 Countless crowds, decked out in their gay- 
 est apparel, filled every avenue and inclo- 
 sure ; and long files of slaves, with jars, 
 baskets, and trenchers, hurrying to and 
 fro from the kitchens and magazines, pro- 
 claimed the extensive nature of the prepa- 
 rations making for the regal entertainment. 
 
 At eight o'clock the doors of the great 
 hall were thrown open, and a burst of wild 
 music from the royal band ushered in the 
 company to a spacious barn-like apartment, 
 the dingy aspect of which formed a striking 
 contrast to the galaxy of light that illu- 
 mines regal hospitality in Europe. Hold- 
 ing high festival to the entire adult popu- 
 lation of the metropolis, who for six weeks 
 past had subsisted on cow-kail and stinging 
 nettles, the king reclined in state within a 
 raised alcove, furnished with the wonted 
 velvet cushions and tapestries, and loaded 
 with silver ornaments — the abridgement 
 of ancient Ethiopic magnificence. Priests, 
 nobles, warriors, baalomaals, and pages 
 stood around the throne, which was flank- 
 ed by a long line of attendants, bearing 
 straight silver falchions of antique Roman 
 model, belonging to the different churches. 
 Bull-hides carpeted the floor ; and the lofty 
 walls of the chamber, although destitute 
 of architectural decoration, were hung 
 throughout with a profusion of richly em- 
 blazoned shields, from each of which de- 
 
THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 pended a velvet scarf or cloak, of every 
 hue and color in the rainbow. 
 
 A low horse-shoe table of wicker-work, 
 supported upon basket-pedestals, extended 
 the entire length of the hall. Thin un- 
 leavened cakes of sour teff, heaped one 
 upon the other, served as platters. Moun- 
 tains of vvheaten bread, piled in close con- 
 tiguity, and strewed with fragments of 
 stewed fowls, towered two and three feet 
 above the surface of the groaning board. 
 Bowls containing a decoction of red pep- 
 per, onions, and grease, were flanked by 
 long-necked decanters of old mead ; and 
 at short intervals stood groups of slaves, 
 carrying baskets crammed with reeking 
 collops of raw flesh, just severed from the 
 newly-slain carcass. 
 
 Taking their seats in treble rows upon 
 the ground, the crowded guests were each 
 provided with his own knife, fashioned like 
 a reaping-hook, and serving him equally 
 in the battle-field and at the banquet. Four 
 hundred voracious appetites, whetted by 
 forty days of irksome abstinence, were con- 
 stantly ministered to by fresh arrivals of 
 quivering flesh from the court-yard, w r here 
 oxen in quick succession were being thrown 
 down and slaughtered in the name of the 
 Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Ba- 
 rilles and capacious horns filled with hy- 
 dromel of intoxicating age, were rapidly 
 drained and replenished under the eye of 
 the monarch ; and strings of eunuchs with 
 the females pertaining to the royal kitchen, 
 clad in gala dresses and striped cotton robes, 
 passed and repassed continually with inter- 
 minable supplies of bread to rebuild the de- 
 molished fabric on the uprising of each sa- 
 tiated group. 
 
 Again the great doors were thrown open, 
 and another set entered, amid the increas- 
 ing din. Harpers and fiddlers played, dan- 
 ced, and sang with untiring perseverance ; 
 and ever and anon one of the king's female 
 choristers lilted up her shrill voice with the 
 most extravagant panegyric on the hospi- 
 tality and munificence of her royal master, 
 or bust forth into unqualified eulogy on the 
 liberality of his British guests. 
 
 " In stature like the lance he bears, 
 His godlike mien the prince declares; 
 And fam'd for virtue through the land 
 All bow to Saloo's just command. 
 
 "The sabre feels the royal grasp, 
 And Pagans writhe in death's cold clasp; 
 The Galla taste the captive fare, 
 And dread the vengeance which they dare." 
 
 "Our warriors tremble at the sight of the mighty ele- 
 phant, but he sinks prostrate beneath the guns of the 
 white men — Weiho, weilio, 
 
 They are a brave nation. 
 
 " We have been loaded with strange gifts, for the 
 white men hold in their hands the keys of health and 
 wealth — Weiho, 
 
 They are a great nation. 
 
 "Then hail to the friends who came o'er the wide 
 water, 
 Strangers and guests from a far distant land ; 
 And welcome to Shoa, the fortune which brought 
 her 
 The lords of the daring and generous hand." 
 
 The royal band, which occupied the 
 space vacant in the centre between the 
 tables, is composed of many wind instru- 
 ments of various lengths and sizes — the 
 embilla having a perforation to which the 
 lips are applied as in the flute, while the 
 maldkat is fashioned after the form of a 
 trombone. No performer possesses above 
 one pipe, nor, like the Russian, is he mas- 
 ter of more than one note. Tune there is 
 none — each playing according to the dic- 
 tates of his own taste, un guided by any 
 musical scale. After the hoarse and terri- 
 ble blast of the trumps, the symphony falls 
 soft upon the ear, like the wild cadence of 
 a Pan's pipe blown over by the wind ; and 
 it was on this occasion curiously contrast- 
 ed with the deep thunder of the kubbero, 
 which pealed without intermission from the 
 secret apartments of the queen. 
 
 The harp, styled bugana, is a truly strange 
 fabrication of wood, leather, and sheep's 
 entrails. It presents the appearance of an 
 old portmanteau which has been built upon 
 by children with the rudest materials, in 
 imitation of the lyre of the days of Jubal. 
 Possessing five strings, and used only as 
 an accompaniment to the voice, the mono- 
 tonous notes produced are in strict unison 
 with the appearance of the instrument; 
 and even in the halls of Menilek, where 
 the chords are struck by a master finger, 
 they shed " no soul of music," and might 
 be mute with advantage. 
 
 What then is to be said to the Abys- 
 sinian fiddle, whose squeaking voice presi- 
 ded at this festive board ? Alas ! the in- 
 harmonious sounds elicited by the grating 
 contact of the bow might lead to the con- 
 clusion that the unhappy spirit of music 
 was confined in the interior, and uttered 
 harsh screams and moans as fresh tortures 
 were inflicted on her agonized sinews ! A 
 gourd, or a hollow square of wood, is cov- 
 vered with a skin of parchment as a sound- 
 ing-board, and furnished with a rude neck 
 and a single string. Years of practice 
 have imparted to Dag hie, the court buffoon, 
 an extraordinary degree of excellence ; but 
 even he is not Paganini ; and every ama- 
 teur performer in the realm, considering 
 himself at perfect liberty to scrape through- 
 out the day with soul-harrowing perse- 
 
WOOSEN SUGGUD'S PALACE— CAVE OF WOTI. 
 
 311 
 
 verance, unlucky, indeed, must be pro- 
 nounced the site of that residence which is 
 adjacent to the proprietor of a masanko. 
 
 As Easter day drew on to its close, the 
 riotous mirth of uncontrolled festivity wax- 
 ed louder within the palace walls, while 
 quarrels and drunken brawls prevailed 
 throughout the city. The carousal con- 
 tinued until dark, by which time the bones 
 of three hundred and fifty steers had been 
 picked — countless measures of wheat had 
 been consumed — and so many hogsheads 
 of potent old hydromel had been drained 
 to the dregs, that saving the royal and mu- 
 nificent host, scarcely'one sober individual, 
 whether noble or plebeian, was anywhere 
 to be seen. It is indeed a fortunate cir- 
 cumstance for the foreigner that the nation, 
 with its present crude instruments, is not 
 infected with a musical mania. Melody 
 has hardly recovered from the throes of a 
 most protracted labor ; and her deformed 
 bantling having not yet acquired sufficient 
 strength to exert his lungs as a public nui- 
 sance, the silence of night is rarely disturb- 
 ed by sleep-dispelling minstrelsy such as 
 closed the festivities of the Abyssinian Eas- 
 ter. 
 
 CHAPTER CXXIV. 
 
 saint george's day. 
 
 At Kondie, in the church dedicated to 
 the patron saint of England, lie interred 
 the remains of Woosen Suggud, and thith- 
 er, according to wont, the despot proceeded 
 on Saint George's day.* The sepulchre 
 of the departed monarch is screened from 
 gaze amid a sombre grove of evergreen 
 juniper, assuming the shapes, some of the 
 cedar, others of the cypress and the yew : 
 
 " Dark trees still sad when others' grief is fled, 
 The only constant mourners o'er the dead." 
 
 Kings alone are honored with a coffin. 
 Manufactured of sweet wood, and perforat- 
 ed with many apertures, it is placed on 
 stone trestles amid clouds of frankincense, 
 and after a season removed into the mau- 
 soleum ; the walls of which are usually 
 bedaubed with designs intended to com- 
 memorate the expldts in the hunting field, 
 the military actions, and the heroic achieve- 
 ments of the royal occupant. His majes- 
 ty's orisons at the shrine of his father be- 
 ing concluded, he turned his s'eps to the 
 palace, now fast falling to decay, which 
 formed the scene of the assassina ion of the 
 despotic tyrant. Surrounded by the former 
 
 * 3rd of May. 
 
 capital of Shoa, it occupies the bleak sum- 
 mit of one of the loftiest mountains in the 
 range, and commands a magnificent pros- 
 pect over the greater portion of Efat. 
 Mamrat, now diminished from thirteen to 
 one thousand feet, no longer loomed a gi- 
 ant; and through the clouds which flitted 
 across its bosom lay revealed the only path 
 by which the royal treasures are accessi- 
 ble. Stupendous acclivities, frowning with 
 black fragments of rock, form the barrier 
 from the low country, expanded like a 
 chart below ; and the white peak of Woti, 
 rising from dark dense forests of timber, 
 and terminating in a basaltic column, now 
 formed the most conspicuous feature in the 
 rugged landscape. 
 
 " You observe those forests," inquired 
 his majesty, pointing after a iong silence 
 to the gloomy masses of foliage which 
 stretched away toward the long white 
 storehouses of Aramba : " they conceal a 
 cavern into which no creature can enter 
 and live. The man who should venture 
 one step beyond the entrance would be 
 seen no more. If a dog goes in, or a bird, 
 or even a serpent, it will surely die. There 
 is no bottom to that cave, and none, can 
 say whither it leads. Formerly people 
 went to cut w T ood in the neighborhood. A 
 man lost his way and was unheard of for 
 months. His friends believed him dead. 
 They mourned for him, and scratched their 
 temples, and he was forgotten. Suddenly 
 he reappeared, reduced to a skeleton, and 
 looking like a ghost. They brought him 
 to me to know what should be done with 
 him. He had lived like the gureza upon 
 wild berries, and when I asked him what 
 he had seen, he replied that he had seen 
 the devil. Woti is a bad place, and the 
 forests tike fire, and all my subjects fear 
 to go thither." 
 
 A catastrophe of this nature had recent- 
 ly taken place ; and a quantity of fuel 
 stored for the royal kitchen having been 
 destroyed, it was the king's present object 
 to ascertain the extent of damage sustained. 
 Ayto Wolda Hana exerted his cracked 
 voice in loud complaints of others, and so 
 ,thaf. himself escaped the much-dreaded 
 censure, the old man evidently cired not 
 much who suffered. Herein he was so far 
 successful, that the sub-governor of the 
 district was fined in the amount of one 
 hundred dollars, about ten times the value 
 of property destroyed, and every male in- 
 habitant of the neighborhood received sen- 
 tence of imprisonment. 
 
 The cold summit of Kondie is clothed 
 with heather and with the jibera, a lofty 
 species of lobelia, which attains the height 
 
812 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 of fifteen or twenty feet. This, too, is be- 
 lieved to have a prejudicial effect upon the 
 passer by, and often to cause death. Re- 
 turning, the royal cortege waged active 
 war against every plant by the way-side — 
 and his majesty sustained an active part in 
 hostilities designed to counteract the evil 
 influence. Bands of warriors charging on 
 horseback delivered their spears simulta- 
 neously, and the doomed tree, if not cut 
 over, was at least transfixed by a score of 
 shafts. Excelling in skill, the jnonarch 
 betted heavily upon every throw, and rare- 
 ly did he lose. At forty yards the lance 
 left his hand with unerring precision, and 
 perforating the soft pulpy stem immedi- 
 ately below the bushy head, often passed 
 quite through, to fall on the other side. 
 
 " Where is the commander ?" exclaimed 
 his majesty in merry mood ; " where did 
 he learn to throw a spear ? Now, Gaita," 
 he continued, " I will give you a mule if 
 you hit that tree, and if you do not, by the 
 death of Woosen Suggud you shall forfeit 
 your best rifle." The first lance passed 
 through the stem, and the second threw its 
 crown upon the ground. The ruler of 
 Shoa was obviously satisfied ; but while 
 the mule completely escaped his treache- 
 rous recollection, the " best rifle," alas ! 
 had been already doomed to change hands 
 — and it remained but a brief period in 
 those of the lawful proprietor. 
 
 Hunting down the partridge with dogs 
 occupied the residue of the day. Parties 
 stationed themselves at intervals along the 
 heather-grown slopes of the hills, where 
 the bird abounds, and by dint of unceasing 
 persecution kept the victim selected so 
 perpetually on the wing, that after three 
 or four long flights it was unable to rise 
 again. Many were thus killed with sticks, 
 or taken alive ; but wherever his majesty 
 was forthcoming, a long double-barrelled 
 fowling piece was rested over the shoulder 
 of an attendant to insure steady aim — and 
 the wearied quarry, believing itself safe in 
 a bush, was suddenly blown to atoms by a 
 coup de fusil. 
 
 Northern Abyssinia was now in a more 
 disturbed state than ever ; and numerous 
 youths, who had attempted to proceed to 
 Gondar for the purpose of being ordained, 
 had been compelled to abandon the journey, 
 and return to Ankober. They brought ti- 
 dings of an engagement between Ras Ali 
 and Dedjasmach* Oubie, which had been 
 
 * Dedjasmach, often contracted to Dedjach, signifies 
 "the warrior of the door," and is the title of govern- 
 ors under the puppet emperor of Ethiopia. As in the 
 Ottoman empire the pacha is distinguished by the num- 
 ber of his tails, so is the dedjasmach by the number of his 
 
 fought at Salem Okko, in the vicinity of 
 Debra Tabor. The ras being personally 
 opposed to his rebel vassal was believed to 
 have fallen early in the day. His rumor- 
 ed death proving the signal for disorder 
 and retreat, the camp was left in posses- 
 sion of the enemy, who consigned it to the 
 flames, under the conviction that victory 
 was theirs. But the leader had merely 
 fled ; and as the evening closed, his parti- 
 sans, recovering from their panic, rallied, 
 and fell with irresistible fury on the victors, 
 who were little prepared for further hos- 
 tilities; and the execrated tyrant Oubie, 
 who carries with him the curses of his op- 
 pressed subjects, was, with his two sons, 
 made prisoner. 
 
 Abba Salama, the aboon, who is equally 
 respected by all parties, was in the camp of 
 the vanquished, but the holy man found an 
 honorable asylum. The spiritual despot- 
 ism exercised by the primate from the first 
 moment of his arrival in Abyssinia, calls 
 vividly to mind the period when the man- 
 dates of the pope were as implicitly obey- 
 ed, and his ghostly influence similarly 
 dreaded by the potentates of Europe ; and 
 independently of his spiritual power, which 
 exalts him greatly above the most potent 
 rulers of the land, his holiness is far from 
 being contemptible as a temporal prince. 
 The hundred and eighth successor to St. 
 Mark the Evangelist, reclining in his hum- 
 ble divan within the Coptic quarters at 
 Cairo, surrounded by the dignity of coffee 
 and pipes, would ill recognize his juvenile 
 delegate at Gondar, where both these lux- 
 uries are held in abomination, could he 
 behold him in the enjoyment of revenues 
 many times in excess of his own — ordain- 
 ing a thousand priests in a single day — 
 and receiving the homage of all the proud 
 actors engaged in the troubled drama of 
 Abyssinian politics. 
 
 War had not visited Shoa ; but the peace 
 of many a family was yet to be disturbed 
 by an arbitrary proceeding on the part of 
 the crown. As the period of the king's 
 departure from the capital drew nigh, ma- 
 ny of the royal slaves who had voluntari- 
 ly sold their liberty during the great famine 
 of St. Luke,* casting themselves at the 
 footstool of the throne, implored the resto- 
 ration of freedom in consideration of many 
 long years of servitude. Enraged at what 
 he termed the ingratitude of those whom 
 
 kettle-drums. He is entitled to one for each province 
 under his control, and loses no opportunity of finding 
 his account in the troubled waters by asserting inde- 
 pendence. 
 
 * Each year is in Abyssinia dedicated to one of the 
 four Evangelists, according to the order of the Gospels 
 
TYRANNICAL EDICT— SLAVE-TRADE IN SHOA. 
 
 313 
 
 he had fed when they must otherwise 
 have starved, his majesty, laboring under 
 a strange infatuation, bade them " begone," 
 and, in utter defiance of all the existing 
 laws of the realm, that day promulgated 
 an edict, through the royal herald, that 
 from henceforth the progeny of all his nu- 
 merous slaves, whether the offspring of 
 free fathers or of free mothers, should be 
 accounted his sole property, and should 
 forthwith render themselves to be enrolled 
 by his drivers, and have their daily task 
 allotted. 
 
 The capital was in . a state of wild con- 
 fusion and consternation. Weeping and 
 wailing resounded in every hut, and no 
 Abyssinian possessed sufficient courage to 
 oppose the dictates of the angry despot. 
 The presence of the British embassy now 
 proved of that salutary and commanding 
 influence which humanity and civilization 
 must ever exert over barbarity and savage 
 ignorance. Deeming the opportunity im- 
 perative, and considering the chance of 
 success to be well worth the risk of a mis- 
 understanding with the court, his majesty 
 was earnestly entreated to reflect, "that 
 the name of Sahela Selassie, hitherto so 
 beloved of all, would lcse a portion of its 
 lustre and brightness ; that all men are 
 mortal ; that kings do not reign for ever ; 
 and that the groans of his unhappy sub- 
 jects, the props of his power and kingdom, 
 who had heretofore lived in the enjoyment 
 of the liberty to which they were born, but 
 were now pining heart-broken in the thral- 
 dom of slavery, would add little to the com- 
 fort of the close of his illustrious life." 
 
 This petition on the part of his Euro- 
 pean children, backed by the remonstrance 
 which accompanied it, was attended with 
 the most satisfactory results. The king, 
 who had still the fear of God before his 
 eyes, avowed, " that the act had proceeded 
 in a hurried moment of wrath, and that 
 his guests had made him thoroughly sen- 
 sible of its injustice and cruelty." The 
 offensive proclamation was on the instant 
 annulled ; and four thousand seven hun- 
 dred unfortunate victims to its promulga- 
 tion, released from the house of bondage 
 and from the degrading shackles of slave- 
 ry, after they had renounced all hope of 
 redemption, returned to their homes and to 
 their families, blessing as they went, the 
 name of " the white men." 
 
 21 
 
 CHAPTER CXXV. 
 
 SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE-TRADE IN SHOA. 
 
 On reverting to the. remotest period 
 since which slavery has been prevalent 
 among the human race, it will be evident 
 that war has formed the principal cause 
 which first gave rise to the monstrous 
 crime of selling our fellow-creatures like 
 cattle in the market. One nation having 
 taken from another a greater number of 
 captives than could be exchanged on equal 
 terms, it is easy to comprehend how the 
 victors, finding the maintenance of their 
 prisoners expensive and inconvenient, first 
 compelled them to labor for daily bread, 
 and subsequently for the support of others. 
 Emerged from the limited wants of savage 
 life, man next saw' productions of art 
 which he eagerly coveted ; and lacking 
 those habits of steady industry by which 
 to earn them for himself, he compelled all 
 whom superior strength or other advan- 
 tages enabled him to bring under subjec- 
 tion, to labor in supplying him with lux- 
 uries. 
 
 In Africa especially, where from time 
 immemorial human passions have been 
 unbridled, and man imitates the ferocity of 
 the beasts of prey, war has, throughout 
 every age, proved the most prevailing 
 source of slavery. The great national 
 contests betwixt state and state, which 
 daily tear her entrails, afford a never-dry- 
 ing spring of misery and bondage to her 
 unhappy children. Proceeding from causes 
 not very dissimilar to those which produce 
 wars among the civilized nations of the 
 globe, the invariable result is that all who 
 are not slain on the battle-field, or massa- 
 cred in the.sacking of towns and villages, 
 become for life the bondsmen of the vic- 
 tors — the weak and unsuccessful warrior, 
 who sues for mercy beneath the uplifted 
 spear of his opponent, renouncing at the 
 same time his claim to liberty, and pur- 
 chasing existence at the expense of freedom. 
 
 War, then, the favorite pursuit of Afric's 
 savage sons, is unquestionably tAe most 
 general, as well as the most proline source 
 of her slavery ; and the desolation which 
 follows in its train not unfr-^quently gives 
 birth to famine*, during the prevalence of 
 which, as in the preset instance, the free- 
 man too often becomes a voluntary slave, 
 in order to avoid ine greater calamity of 
 inevitable starvation. By the philosophic 
 and reflecting- mind death would doubtless 
 be esteemed the lighter evil of the two ; 
 but the untutored savage, fainting with 
 hunger, thinks, with Esau of old, "Behold 
 
314 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 I am at the point to die— what profit shall 
 this birthright do to me 1" 
 
 Crime, necessity arising from distress, 
 insolvency, the inhumanity of a harsh 
 creditor, a spirit of retaliation in petty dis- 
 putes, and the sordid love of gain, for 
 which parents will even sell their own 
 children, severally assist in feeding the de- 
 mand for slaves— the law of every African 
 state, either tolerating or directly sanction- 
 ing the evil ; and wherever the Moham- 
 madan faith prevails, frequent predatory 
 incursions, characterized by the most atro- 
 cious violence, are made into the territories 
 of all neighboring infidels, who, in that 
 eager spirit of proselytism which burns so 
 fiercely in the breast of every adherent of 
 the Prophet, are systematically hunted 
 down and entrapped as a religious duty. 
 
 Slaves in Africa, are thus in proportion 
 to the freemen of about three to one ; but 
 although the number of individuals redu- 
 ced to a state of bondage by the operation 
 of the above causes, and the destruction 
 created, both as regards life and property, 
 is immense, the whole combined are but 
 as a single grain of dust in the balance, 
 
 when compared with the slavery, the desti 
 tution, and the desolation, that is daily en- 
 tailed by the unceasing bloody struggles be- 
 twixt state and state. Towns and villages 
 are then obliterated from the face of the 
 earth ; and thousands upon thousands of 
 the population, of whatever age or sex, 
 are hurried into hopeless captivity. 
 
 In a country reft into ten thousand petty 
 governments, the majority of which are 
 independent and jealous one of the other ; 
 where every freeman, inured to arms from 
 the first hour that he is capable of bearing 
 them, pants for an opportunity of display- 
 ing his valor in the field, and passes his 
 life in a series of military achievements ; 
 where the folly and mad ambition of the 
 ruWs, prompted by an ardor to revenge 
 some real or fancied insult ; the cherished 
 recollection of hereditary feuds ; the out- 
 raged feelings of domestic and paternal 
 attachment ; the love of plunder, inherent 
 in every savage breast, and the bigoted 
 zeal of religious enthusiasts, all conspire 
 to afford ho«fly pretexts for war — the 
 sword of desoW.ion is never suffered to 
 rust within the scabbard. The fact of one 
 nation being stronger or more potent than 
 another is even sufficient ; and while hos- 
 tilities, originating frequently in the most 
 frivolous provocations, are prosecuted with 
 relentless and sanguinary fury, robbery on 
 a great and national scale, forming one of the 
 chief features of African character, is al- 
 most universally prevalent. Here it is 
 
 perpetrated by no concealed or proscribed 
 ruffian, an outcast from social life, who 
 shrinks from the gaze of man, or the broad 
 blaze of day ; neither is it limited to those 
 poorer tribes who possess the temptation 
 of rich caravans skirting their borders in 
 progress to distant lands. Each needy 
 soldier seeks with his sword to redress the 
 unequal distribution made by the hand of 
 fortune. Princes, kings, and the most dis- 
 tinguished warrior chieftains, consider it a 
 glory to place themselves . at the head of 
 an expedition undertaken solely for pur- 
 poses of plunder ; and the crime of steal- 
 ing human beings, in order to sell them 
 into foreign markets, which, with all its 
 attendant circumstances of cruelty and 
 horror, is so widely practiced throughout 
 the benighted continent, is one in which 
 the greatest of sovereigns do not hesitate 
 to participate. 
 
 The following narrative by a native of 
 the village of Siippa, in Enarea, detailing 
 the history of his capture and subsequent 
 vicissitudes, may be taken as a fair speci- 
 men of the usual circumstances attending 
 the transfer of the kidnapped victim from 
 one merciless dealer to another, in his pro- 
 gress to Abyssinia through the interior 
 provinces which form the focus of slavery 
 in the northeast. 
 
 "When twenty years of age, being en- 
 gaged in tending the flocks of Betta, my 
 father, an armed band of the Ooma Galla, 
 with whom my tribe had long been in en- 
 mity, swept suddenly down, and took my- 
 self with six other youths prisoners, killing 
 four more who resisted. Having been kept 
 bound hand and foot during five days, I was 
 sold to the Toome Galla, one of the near- 
 est tribes, for thirty amoles (about six shil- 
 lings and threepence sterling.) The bar- 
 gain was concluded in the Toome market- 
 place, which is called Sundaffo, where, in 
 consequence of the dearness of salt, two 
 male slaves are commonly bought for one 
 dollar; and after nightfall the Mohammadan 
 rover, by whom I had been purchased, came 
 and took me away. 
 
 " Having been kept bound in his house 
 another week, I was taken two days' jour- 
 ney with a large slave caravan, and sold 
 privately to the Nono Galla for a few ell3 
 of blue calico. My companions in cap- 
 tivity were assorted according to their age 
 and size, and walked in double file, the 
 stout and able-bodied only, whereof I was 
 one, having their hands tied behind them. 
 In Meegra, the market-place of the Nono, 
 I was, after six weeks' confinement, sold 
 I by public auction to the Agumcho Galla 
 I for forty pieces of salt (value eight shillings 
 
SLAVE MARTS— REVENUES TO THE CROWN. 
 
 315 
 
 and four pence.) Thence I was taken to 
 the market-place which is beyond Sequala, 
 on the plain of the Hawash, and sold for 
 seventy pieces of salt to the Soddo Galla, 
 and immediately afterward to Roque, the 
 great slave mart in the Yerrur district, 
 where I was sold for one hundred amoles" 
 being \L sterling. 
 
 "From Roque I was driven to Alio 
 Amba, in Shoa, where a Mohammadan 
 subject of Sahela Selassie purchased me 
 in the market of Abdel Russool for twelve 
 dollars ; but after three months, my mas- 
 ter falling into disgrace, the whole of his 
 property was confiscated, and I became the 
 slave of the negoos, which I still am, al- 
 though permitted to reside with my family, 
 and only called upon to plough, reap, and 
 carry wood. Exclusive of halts, the jour- 
 ney from my native village occupied fifteen 
 days. I was tolerably fed, and not mal- 
 treated. All the merchants through whose 
 hands I passed were Mohammadans ; and 
 until within a few stages of Alio Amba I 
 was invariably bound at night, and thus 
 found no opportunity to escape. Prior to 
 my own enslavement I had been extensive- 
 ly engaged as a kidnapper, and in this ca- 
 pacity had made party in three great slave 
 hunts into the country of the Doko negroes 
 beyond Caffa ; in the course of which four 
 thousand individuals of both sexes were 
 secured." 
 
 From Enarea and Gurague, the two slave 
 marts principally frequented by the dealers 
 in human flesh who trade through the Abys- 
 sinian states, the traffic is conducted to the 
 sea- coast via Sennaar, Argobba, Aussa, and 
 Hurrur — importations into Shoa passing 
 through the kingdom by two great high- 
 ways from the interior. The first is by 
 Ankober to the market-place of Abdel Rus- 
 sool, where purchases are eagerly made by 
 the caravan traders from Hurrur, Zeyla, 
 .ind Tajiira ; the other by Debra Libanos to 
 r he market of Antzochia adjoining Asselleli, 
 the frontier town on the north, whence they 
 pass through Upper Abyssinia to Masso- 
 wah and Raheita, supplying also the Aussa 
 caravans, which come to Dowwe, on the 
 frontier of Worra Kaloo. 
 
 In addition to a tax of one in every ten, 
 Sahela Selassie possesses the right of pre- 
 emption of all slaves that pass through his 
 dominions, his governors selecting and sub- 
 mitting for the royal approval those which 
 appear best worthy of consideration, when 
 a price placed by the holder on the head 
 of each is modified by his majesty at pleas- 
 ure. A transit duty of four pieces of salt 
 is further levied upon every individual, 
 male or female, of whatever age, exposed 
 21* 
 
 for sale or barter ; and the number annu- 
 ally exported by the roads above named 
 being estimated at from fifteen to twenty 
 thousand, the revenue derived from the 
 traffic in his fellow-men by the Christian 
 monarch may be averaged at eight hundred 
 pounds. 
 
 It is calculated, upon good data, that his 
 majesty's household slaves, male and fe- 
 male, exceed eight thousand. Of the lat- 
 ter, three hundred are concubines of the 
 royal harem ; and of the former, fifty are 
 eunuchs. The residue of both sexes are 
 employed in a variety of servile offices, and 
 they each receive a portion of barley suffi- 
 cient to compose two small loaves. Be- 
 yond this they must provide their own 
 maintenance : many whose business it is 
 to fetch fuel from the royal forests, being, 
 however, suffered to dispose of whatever 
 wood they can carry away in addition to 
 the load imposed ; while the whole, after 
 the due performance of their allotted task, 
 are permitted, according to their respective 
 functions, to hire themselves to private in- 
 dividuals. 
 
 Slavery is hereditary, not only on the 
 side of the mother, but also on that of the 
 father ; and if a free woman weds a slave, 
 her progeny becomes the property of the 
 owner of her husband. But the bondsmen 
 of the king, it has been seen, form an ex- 
 ception to this rule, their offspring being 
 free if born of a free woman — a privilege 
 which may be traced to the circumstance 
 of the royal slaves having a stated duty to 
 perform, for which a certain daily allow- 
 ance of food is granted ; whereas the whole 
 time and labor of the slave of the com- 
 moner are at the exclusive disposal of the 
 master, who supports the wife also. Mar- 
 riage between free persons and the slaves 
 of his majesty are thus by no means unfre- 
 quent ; the bondsman, after the perform- 
 ance of his allotted task, enjoying liberty 
 to return daily to his family, and to appro- 
 priate the residue of his time. 
 
 A child born in slavery receives subsist- 
 ence, in a limited proportion, from the mo- 
 ment of coming into the world, the liabili- 
 ties of bondage being incurred from the 
 cradle. As a check on those who reside 
 with a free mother in various parts of the 
 kingdom, an annual census of the whole is 
 taken by the royal scribes, when those who 
 are ascertained to have acquired a compe- 
 tent age are summoned to their task at one 
 of the royal establishments ; and it too 
 often happens that, when incapacitated by 
 infirmity from further labor, the daily dole 
 is discontinued through the parsimony of 
 the servants of the crown. 
 
316 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 Caravans, consisting of from one hun- 
 dred to three thousand individuals of all 
 ages, pass through Shoa during the greater 
 portion of the year. Three- fourths are 
 young boys and girls, many of them quite 
 children, whose tender age precludes a 
 sense of their condition. Even adults are 
 unfettered, and the majority are in good 
 spirits, all being well fed and taken care 
 'of, although many of both sexes arrive in a 
 state of perfect nudity. Surrounded by the 
 rovers on horseback, they are driven pro- 
 miscuously along the roads, males and fe- 
 males being separated at the termination 
 of each march, and made to sit in detached 
 groups comprising from ten to fifteen souls, 
 who are deterred from wandering by the 
 exhibition of the whip ; but this is rarely 
 used except for the chastisement of the 
 unruly, who may seek to effect their escape. 
 
 In the eyes of every African, the value 
 of a slave increases in the ratio of his dis- 
 tance from the land of his nativity, the 
 chance of his absconding being reduced in 
 the same proportion. The usual prices in the 
 Shoan market are from ten to twenty Ger- 
 man crowns ; but females possessing supe- 
 rior personal attractions often fetch from fifty 
 to eighty, which outlay is returned three- 
 fold in Arabia. The profits accruing from 
 the trade are thus obviously large ; and 
 notwithstanding the murders which are 
 annually perpetrated by freebooters on the 
 road to the sea-coast, the mortality can 
 scarcely be said to exceed that under the 
 ordinary circumstances of African life. 
 
 The hebdomadal sale of human flesh 
 which takes place in the public market at 
 Abdel Russool, the disgusting parade of 
 victims, and the subsequent sensuality of 
 the savage purchasers, are sufficient to 
 draw forth every sentiment of indignation, 
 and to elicit every feeling of sympathy ; 
 but it must be confessed that slavery in 
 this portion of Africa, dreadful though it 
 be, and accompanied by its share of suffer- 
 ing, bears little analogy to, and is absolutely 
 light, when contrasted with the appaling 
 horrors, the destitution, and the misery in- 
 volved by the European trade. Excepting 
 as regards the powers pertaining to it, it is 
 in fact little more than servitude. The 
 newly captured become soon reconciled to 
 their lot and condition, their previous do- 
 mestic life having too often been one of 
 actual bondage, although not nominally so. 
 And even in the sultry plains of the Adaiel, 
 few individuals of the long droves that are 
 daily to be seen on their weary inarch to 
 the coast with Danakil caravans, afford in- 
 dications of being tortured with regret at 
 the loss of their freedom, and of their na- 
 
 tive land, or with recollections of the ver- 
 dant plains whence avarice and cruelty 
 have torn them. 
 
 From the governor to the humblest pea- 
 sant, every house in Shoa possesses slaves 
 of both sexes, in proportion to the wealth 
 of the proprietor ; and in so far as an opin- 
 ion may be formed upon appearances, their 
 condition, with occasional, but rare excep- 
 tions, is one of comfort and ease. Mild in 
 its character, their bondage is tinctured 
 with none of the horrors of West Indian 
 slavery. The servitude imposed is calcu- 
 lated to create neither suffering nor ex- 
 haustion. There is no merciless task- 
 master to goad the victim to excessive 
 exertion — no " white man's scorn " to be 
 endured ; and, although severed from home, 
 from country, and from all the scenes with 
 which his childhood had been familiar, his 
 lot is not unfrequently improved. Natu- 
 ralized in the house of his master, he is 
 invariably treated with lenity — usually with 
 indulgence — often with favor ; and under 
 a despotic sovereign, to whom servile in- 
 struments are uniformly the most agreea- 
 ble, the caprices of fortune may prefer the 
 exile to posts of confidence and emolument, 
 and may even exalt him to the highest 
 dignities. 
 
 CHAPTER CXXVI. 
 
 INTRODUCTION OF SLAVERY INTO ABYSSINIA, 
 
 Although the history of Northeastern 
 Africa, like that of the country generally, 
 is very imperfectly recorded, it is certain 
 that Carthage, Egypt, and Ethiopia, early 
 acquired and long maintained a prevailing 
 influence therein. The Carthaginians pos- 
 sessed themselves of nearly the whole of 
 the northern portion, while the Egyptians 
 and Ethiopians occupied the east to the 
 very centre. The extension of these great 
 empires tended considerably to limit the 
 trade in human flesh, inasmuch as slavery 
 with fellow-subjects was prohibited in each, 
 while intercourse with independent states 
 was diminished by perpetual quarrels ; and 
 the world being in feud in every quarter 
 needed not to be supplied with slaves from 
 Africa. 
 
 But this aspect of affairs was materially 
 altered so soon as these three empires, 
 losing their power, became subdivided into 
 sundry governments, the diffusion of Chris- 
 tianity and civilization in Europe and Asia 
 meanwhile restricting the slave trade to 
 the African continent. Although not gene- 
 rally representing the character which their 
 
MOHAMMADAN ROVERS— ORIGIN OF SLAVERY. 
 
 317 
 
 name implies, the Christians of the Occi- 
 dent and Orient had at least given up the 
 system among themselves ; and by the 
 former especially it was very little practiced 
 until after the discovery of America, when 
 it was revived and encouraged by the Span- 
 iards ; and the negro being considered bet- 
 ter fitted for hard labor than the aborigines 
 of the New World, Africa began to be re- 
 garded as the slave-mart for the whole 
 universe. About the same period Ethiopia 
 was first subjected to numberless hordes of 
 Pagan Galla, migrating from the south ; 
 and not long afterward Graan, the fanatic 
 Mohammadan enemy, commenced the over- 
 throw of this then powerful empire, which 
 was speedily dismembered, and has never 
 since been able to regain its former limits. 
 
 The heathen invaders soon relaxing in 
 their united efforts against the Christians, 
 those Galla tribes which had settled on 
 Abyssinian ground began to contest among 
 themselves for the supremacy over the 
 newly-acquired territory, and to enslave 
 each other. The Mohammadans, who had 
 meanwhile gained a footing in the disturbed 
 country, being slave-dealers by profession 
 as well as from religious motives, greedily 
 availed themselves of the opportunity af- 
 forded by these intestine divisions to trade 
 in pagan prisoners, females especially, who 
 possess the recommendation of superior 
 personal attractions to the generality of 
 "Afric's dark daughters " — and thus the 
 traffic spread rapidly around Abyssinia. 
 
 Partly from fear of their enemies, and 
 partly from being less interested in slavery 
 than the Moslems, the Christians no longer 
 ventured beyond the frontiers of the coun- 
 try they retained — the avenues to the sea- 
 coast, and those through the Galla tribes 
 in the interior, which, prior to the barba- 
 rian inroad, must have been frequented, 
 falling, together with the whole commerce, 
 into the hands of the bigoted disciples of 
 the Prophet. Limited in the first instance 
 to certain portions of Ethiopia, they devo- 
 ted their lives to the purchase and sale of 
 human flesh, wherewith they connected 
 the propagation of their faith. During 
 their devastating progress through the 
 countries beyond Caffa and Susa, the Galla 
 had in all probability dismembered many 
 powerful empires, and sown the seeds of 
 discord and dissension, of which the fruits 
 are now witnessed in the outpouring of in- 
 numerable victims of manifold tribes and 
 nations to Caffa, and doubtless also beyond 
 that kingdom, to the coast of Zanzibar. 
 
 The origin of the slave-trade in these 
 quarters may thus be referred to the com- 
 mencement of hostilities therein, and to the 
 
 presence of Mohammadans, by whom it 
 was fostered and encouraged. Grain and 
 cattle excepted, the wild and greedy Galla 
 possessed not a single commodity to barter 
 for the alluring foreign wares exhibited by 
 the rover, but his captured foe presented 
 the ready means of supplying whatsoever 
 he coveted. The empire of Abyssinia be- 
 ing dismembered and enfeebled by the tide 
 of invasion, its rulers, far from seeking to 
 crush the hostilities that prevailed among 
 the Gentiles, naturally rejoiced to see in- 
 testine feuds raging throughout a nation, 
 which, if united, could have swept away 
 the small remnant of Ethiopic power, once 
 so predominant. 
 
 The Christians, moreover, had become 
 so corrupted by evil example, that, in lieu 
 of opposing a barrier to the advance of 
 slavery, they shortly adopted and encour- 
 aged the debasing traffic. Those provinces 
 especially which were separated from the 
 principal seat of government, not only af- 
 forded a market to numbers of pagan pris- 
 oners, but extended to the dealers in slaves 
 a safe road by which thousands were an- 
 nually exported to Arabia ; and Shoa, Efat, 
 Gurague, and Cambat, the southernmost 
 provinces of Abyssinia, having more espe- 
 cially suffered at the hands of the Galla 
 hordes, it is not difficult to understand how, 
 in a confused political and ecclesiastical 
 state of things, the detestation entertained 
 toward their heathen persecutors prompted 
 the population to purchase as drudges those 
 of their enemies who had been captured in 
 war. 
 
 When the rulers of Shoa began to ex- 
 tend their dominions, and to subdue the 
 nearer tribes of Galla invaders, Christian- 
 ity was propagated by the sword ; but the 
 Mohammadan traders, far from being 
 checked or arrested in their dealings, were 
 only induced to extend their traffic to more 
 remote regions of Northeastern Africa. 
 Instead of purchasing slaves at Ankober, 
 as had been their wont when that capital 
 was still in Pagan hands, they were com- 
 pelled, after its recapture, to seek their 
 victims in Gurague, and beyond. Those 
 provinces of Abyssinia wherein the seat 
 of government was established after the 
 demolition of Ethiopic empire, preserved 
 more or less of their ancient customs, 
 which sanctioned the enslavement of a 
 captured enemy for the term of seven 
 years, according to the Mosaic law, which 
 is followed in so many other respects ; and 
 the practice is to the present day retained 
 in Gojam and Tigre — the inhabitants of 
 these states neither buying nor selling 
 slaves, but consigning to a few years of 
 
318 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 bondage all prisoners from the wild tribes 
 of Shankela taken in war. 
 
 The enslavement of this heathen people, 
 who are often barbarously hunted down 
 for sport, is defended upon the grounds 
 that so fierce, swarthy, and bestial a race, 
 existing in the rudest possible form of sav- 
 age state, must be the accursed of man- 
 kind, and entirely beyond the pale of nat- 
 ural rights — a view of the case supported 
 by the fanatic priesthood, who, in the spirit 
 of bigotry, deem it a highly meritorious 
 work to force upon a Gentile the light of 
 the Gospel. In Shoa this argument is 
 employed in favor of slavery. But the 
 Christians of Western and Northern Abys- 
 sinia condemn the practice of their brethren 
 in the south and east ; and Tekla Georgis, 
 the late emperor of Gondar, having cate- 
 chised a number of Shoan ecclesiastics as 
 to the reason of their countenancing slave- 
 ry and slave polygamy, reprobated both 
 proceedings in the severest terms. 
 
 The separation of Shoa from the impe- 
 rial sway of Northern Abyssinia, and the 
 fact that it, as well as other Christian ter- 
 ritories, was especially involved in the 
 misfortunes entailed upon the country by 
 the Galla invasion, were, as may be sup- 
 posed, far from improving the morals of 
 the people. The first rulers of Shoa, as- 
 piring to ascendancy over all the minor 
 independent principalities, were fain to 
 tolerate a variety of abuses which had 
 crept into the Abyssinian church during 
 the reign of anarchy, barbarism, and con- 
 fusion ; and, however well they might have 
 felt inwardly disposed to work the reforma- 
 tion of their subjects, they durst not, in the 
 infancy of their power, attempt the sup- 
 pression of a custom to which the entire 
 population of the subjugated districts were 
 so strongly wedded. Moreover, they had 
 begun to follow the example of the Gondar 
 dynasty in respect to the hospitable enter- 
 tainment by the crown of all foreigners 
 and strangers ; to which end a large estab- 
 lishment being indispensable for the prep- 
 aration of the daily maintenance styled 
 "dirgo," they considered that the manual 
 labor could better be performed by slaves 
 selected from among the thousands that 
 annually passed through their dominions, 
 than by their own free subjects. 
 
 The meanness and parsimony which 
 form part and parcel of the national char- 
 acter also doubtless favored this introduc- 
 tion of slavery as a domestic institution. 
 The sovereign was above all things de- 
 sirous of acquiring a reputation for munifi- 
 cence without actually impairing the state 
 revenues, and he felt anxious at the same 
 
 time to pave the road to popularity by re- 
 lieving his subjects of that drudgery which 
 would have led to an aversion toward visi- 
 tors, highly inimical to the royal interests. 
 All despotic rulers are prone to greater 
 confidence in the slave than in the free- 
 man ; and Abyssinian sophistry probably 
 led the first kings of Shoa to argue that, 
 the end justifying the means, hospitality 
 extended toward strangers and pilgrims in 
 the land would vindicate in the sight of 
 Heaven, the infliction of bitter bondage 
 upon those who at that period, even more 
 than at the present day, were execrated 
 and abhorred. 
 
 Unceasing wars, wherein the feudal sub- 
 jects of Shoa were personally engaged, 
 affording brief intervals of leisure for agri- 
 cultural pursuits, they were not slow in 
 imitating the example set by their mon- 
 arch, as well in household slavery as in 
 slave polygamy. Both king and people 
 believing that the wretch exported from 
 Africa. was destined to Christian countries 
 beyond the seas, where the truth of the 
 Gospel would be imparted to him ; and 
 hence arose the existing law, which per- 
 mits the slaveholder in Shoa, although 
 prohibited under the severest penalties from 
 dealing in the flesh and blood of his fellow- 
 creatures as a trade, to resell Mohamma- 
 dan or Pagan purchases, who obstinately 
 refuse to embrace the religion of Ethiopia. 
 
 Slavery among the Galla tribes is cra- 
 dled and nursed in the unceasing intestine 
 feuds of that savage and disorganized peo- 
 ple ; but the circumstances attending its 
 existence in Gurague, although resting 
 upon the same basis, are somewhat differ- 
 ent in character. Since the period that 
 the heathen inroads first cut off that Chris- 
 tian country from the ancient Ethiopic 
 empire, and foes begirt it on all sides like 
 wild beasts prowling for their prey, it has 
 been thrown into a position of peculiar 
 misfortune, and would gladly seek repose 
 by placing itself again under the protection 
 of its legitimate sovereign. For this boon 
 it has often applied to Sahela Selassie ; 
 but from motives of prudence he has not 
 chosen to extend either his visits or his 
 authority beyond the frontier village of 
 Aimellele. 
 
 Occupying about one and a half degree 
 of longitude, by one degree of latitude, 
 and swarming with population, Gurague 
 is at this moment in a state similar to Pal- 
 estine of old, whereof the Scripture saith, 
 " There was no king in Israel, and every 
 man did that which was right in his own 
 eyes." In the absence of a supreme head, 
 each village or community elects its own 
 
GURAGi XIPALITIES. 
 
 319 
 
 temporary governor, who is perpetually 
 removed by the cabals and caprice of the 
 people. While the Galla make constant 
 predatory inroads from without, anarchy 
 reigns within. A multitude of private 
 feuds and animosities toss the turbulent 
 population to and fro like the waves of the 
 troubled ocean ; and there being no rock 
 of refuge — neither king nor laws — it is not 
 surprising that every man should stretch 
 forth his hand to kidnap his neighbor. 
 Among the southern portions especially, 
 in the domicile or in the open street, the 
 stronger seizes upon the weaker as his 
 bondsman, and disposes of his body to the 
 greedy Mohammadan dealers, who hover 
 round like a host of hungry vultures, and 
 are ever at hand with their glittering gew- 
 gaws — the innate love of which induces 
 brother to sell sister, and the parent to car- 
 ry her own offspring to the market. 
 
 Annually pouring out many thousands 
 of her sons and daughters in every direc- 
 tion, this wretched Christian province, a 
 prey to lawless violence, and the theatre 
 of every monstrous and detestable crime, 
 cries aloud for the extension of philan- 
 thropic measures toward the abolition of 
 the traffic which forms the source of her 
 overwhelming miseries. Gurague is the 
 very hotbed of slavery in Eastern Africa, 
 north of the equator ; and it claims the 
 earnest attention of all who are interested 
 in the suppression of the evil. None of the 
 surrounding countries would seem to be 
 unvitiated by the baneful influence of the 
 slave trade ; and all are sunk in the lowest 
 and most grovelling superstition. Susa, 
 Korchassie, Wollamo, Cambat, with every 
 other isolated principality once appended 
 to the ancient empire, although still pro- 
 fessing the mild tenets of the Christian 
 faith, take an active part in the capture 
 and sale of their fellow-savages. Villages 
 are fired, and the inhabitants seized as they 
 fly in terror from the flames that envelope 
 their wigwams ; and the aged and the 
 infirm are butchered, because unfit for 
 drudgery. The newborn babe is torn from 
 its parent in the hour of its birth to be ruth- 
 lessly immolated at the shrine of the idol ; 
 and the shores of Lake Urao are white 
 with the bleaching bones of hapless female 
 victims, who have been selected from the 
 drove for their superior charms, and have 
 been launched into its depths by the su- 
 perstitious Moslem slave-driver, to propi- 
 tiate the genius of the water ! 
 
 CHAPTER CXXVII. 
 
 OPERATION OF LEGITIMATE COMMERCE UPON 
 THE SLAVE TRADE IN NORTHEASTERN 
 AFRICA. 
 
 A review of the nature and actual ex- 
 tent of slavery in Christian Abyssinia, 
 where the exile is sold and purchased — of 
 the circumstances attending his loss of 
 liberty in the countries whence he is stolen 
 and exported — and of the various causes 
 and passions that conspire to favor the 
 continuance of the internal commerce in 
 human flesh — leads naturally to the con- 
 sideration of a subject which has long 
 formed the theme of splendid parliamentary 
 orations by the most eloquent British sena- 
 tors, and of masterly discussions by highly 
 gifted private philanthropists, who have de- 
 voted their energies to the restitution of the 
 lost rights of man, and to the organization 
 of means by which, under God's blessing, 
 to dry up the baneful springs that for so 
 many ages have filled to overflowing the 
 capacious fountain of African misery. 
 
 Bondage has been shown to arise in wars 
 and intestine feuds, and to be nurtured by 
 evil passions, by avarice, and by worldly in- 
 terest. The excitement and delight of the 
 foray, the surprise, and the captivity which 
 follows, are by all tribes in Africa regarded 
 as the highest themes of their glory. The 
 gratification of power, sensuality, and re- 
 venge, are difficult of eradication ; and the 
 easy though infamous acquisition of pro- 
 perty does not readily yield to the usual 
 correctives of worldly disorders. The in- 
 terests, also, by which the diabolical and 
 debasing traffic is supported are not those 
 of a few individuals. It is interwoven with 
 the government, the commerce, the wants, 
 and the revenues of many nations. The 
 tribe that mourns to-day the loss of its 
 young men and maidens, is ready on the 
 morrow with heart and hand to carry on 
 among others the work of captivity ; and 
 the victor of one hour may be vanquished 
 the next. The kings and rulers of the land 
 profit by the transit of slave caravans 
 through their dominions — the countries all 
 derive gain from the inhuman barter — the 
 intermediate clans have each their share 
 in the traffic — the merchant on the sea- 
 coast drives a most profitable trade — and 
 the lazy Arab to whom the wretched be- 
 ings are finally consigned, has existed too 
 long in a state of utter indolence and in- 
 activity, willingly to assist himself in any 
 of the ordinary laborious avocations of life. 
 
 Commerce being a school for the im- 
 provement of nations, it may safely be an- 
 
320 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 ticipated that the important treaty conclud- 
 ed by Great Britain with the king of Shoa 
 will tend to the temporal and intellectual 
 advancement of the now ignorant and de- 
 graded natives of the northeastern interior, 
 in proportion to the extent of their inter- 
 course with enlightened Europeans. The 
 supply of foreign manufactures, which the 
 African deems indispensable, has always 
 been, and still is, exclusively in the hands 
 of Mohammadan merchants, declared slave 
 dealers, who will receive human beings 
 only in exchange for their wares. A strong 
 inducement to the discontinuance of the 
 traffic will therefore be removed by the 
 visits of men whose tacit example, without 
 any declamation against slavery, cannot 
 fail to have a beneficial influence upon un- 
 tutored races, who have hitherto been 
 taught and compelled to believe that their 
 wants cannot be supplied unless through 
 the medium of the barter of their fellow- 
 creatures. The restoration of tranquillity 
 to the provinces, which can alone be effect- 
 ed by a legal trade, must have the import- 
 ant result of putting an end to the expor- 
 tation of slaves, which is here liable not 
 only to the same objections as on the west- 
 ern coast, but to the still greater evil, that 
 the victims carried away are chiefly Chris- 
 tians, who inevitably lose in Arabia not 
 only their liberty but also their religion. 
 
 The Mohammadan dealer being solely 
 dependent for his supply of European 
 manufactures on the brokers located in 
 various parts of the coast — keen, artful, and 
 rapacious Banians — he must speedily be 
 driven from the market by the British mer- 
 chant, who will at the same time create 
 numberless new wants, to satisfy which the 
 native will be goaded to industrious habits. 
 The majority both of people and rulers will 
 soon be enabled to comprehend the advan- 
 tage to accrue from the cessation of a trade 
 which swallows up the flower of the popu- 
 lation ; and will open their eyes to the fact, 
 that temporal wealth, far from being dimin- 
 ished, as they now believe, by the opera- 
 tion of such a measure, would in reality be 
 much augmented. They will at the same 
 time perceive that the regular supply of 
 European trinkets, so inestimable in their 
 eyes, depends in a principal measure upon 
 the tranquillity of the country ; and since 
 slaves are no longer in demand as an arti- 
 cle of barter, they will generally be better 
 disposed to permit and to bring about that 
 state of peace and quietude which is so 
 essential to mercantile pursuits. 
 
 An entrance to countries now only ac- 
 cessible by means of commerce, and at the 
 pace of a merchant caravan, will thus be 
 
 afforded, and a friendly understanding be 
 established, which may be expected to pave 
 the way to the introduction of more effect- 
 ual measures toward decreasing the supply 
 of slaves in the quarters whence they are 
 derived. European commerce conveying 
 the strongest tacit argument against the 
 traffic in human flesh, must favor the speedy 
 formation of advantageous treaties with 
 many native chiefs for its entire suppres- 
 sion within their dominions — treaties which 
 could not be proposed without prejudice so 
 long as the slave trade, deeply rooted, con- 
 tinues so intimately connected with the 
 habits, pursuits, and interests of the whole 
 population. Time is of course requisite to 
 bring about the consummation desired to 
 mercantile enterprise. The avarice of 
 some of the more ignorant and degraded 
 potentates may long induce them to retain 
 the emoluments arising from the sale of 
 their subjects, notwithstanding the more 
 than equivalent revenues extended by le- 
 gitimate transit duties ; but as establish- 
 ments which are now fostered, and fattened 
 on the hotbed of slavery become gradually 
 extinguished, the nefarious traffic cannot 
 fail, in equal proportion, to disappear before 
 the golden wand of commerce. 
 
 In all those interior countries to the 
 south, whence victims are principally 
 drawn through the medium of aggression 
 and invasion, the mass of the miserable 
 population would hail the advent of Euro- 
 pean intervention, toward the preservation 
 of their liberty. The Christian would find 
 repose beneath the treaty concluded by the 
 white man, and the wild Galla would cease 
 to have an interest in the continual hostili- 
 ties, the forays, and the slave hunts, which 
 now supply the market with human beings. 
 
 It might reasonably be conjectured that 
 if it be practicable to conclude an anti- 
 slavery treaty with any African ruler, it 
 must be especially so with one professing 
 the tenets of the Christian faith, and who 
 may thus be supposed capable of receiving 
 moral arguments — with a despot whose 
 every will is law, who is guided chiefly by 
 avarice and by self-interost, and who is 
 fully aware that the importation of slaves 
 has a prejudicial tendency, by the introduc- 
 tion among his subjects of heathenish cere- 
 monies. Sahela Selassie is already fully 
 sensible of the possibility of dispensing with 
 slavery as a domestic institution, by the 
 adoption of European machinery, and of the 
 practice of other Abyssinian states, where 
 money is dispensed to the visitor in lieu 
 of dirgo, or daily maintenance. His super- 
 stitions may be worked upon with the best 
 effect by the fear of entailing the curses 
 
MOHAMMADAN MONOPOLIES. 
 
 321 
 
 and imprecations of many thousand en- 
 slaved fellow-creatures who annually pass 
 through his dominions ; and his eyes have 
 been opened to the fact that the whole of 
 these wretched beings become converts to 
 Mohammadanism — a faith upon which eve- 
 ry Abyssinian looks down with abhorrence. 
 The same voice that at European interces- 
 sion commanded the release of many hun- 
 dred Galla prisoners of war could at once 
 order the abrogation of domestic slavery 
 within the kingdom ; but its abolition be- 
 fore the establishment of British commerce 
 shall have rendered his majesty independ- 
 ent of the slave-dealing Ada'iel would be 
 delusive. It would do harm instead of 
 doing good ; and while it led to little actual 
 reduction of human misery, it would arouse 
 the worst passions of the entire surround- 
 ing Mohammadan population. For Shoa 
 is at this moment solely dependent upon 
 the Danakil trader, not only for every de- 
 scription of foreign merchandise, but also 
 for salt, which, besides being one of the 
 necessaries of life, here constitutes the 
 chief circulating medium of the realm ; 
 and the first inducement to the importation 
 of this indispensable commodity, is found 
 in the great profits derived from the traffic 
 in slaves purchased at Abdel Russool. 
 
 In Shoa, too, every Christian subject is 
 more or less interested in the continuance 
 of slave importations ; and notwithstanding 
 that the trammels of the despot, who re- 
 ceives unbounded homage, render each in 
 fact a bondsman, he is in no danger of be- 
 ing kidnapped and driven into slavery. No 
 one would dare to disobey the royal fiat ; 
 but, involving as it must great personal 
 hardship to all, it could not fail to be at- 
 tended with universal loss of popularity to 
 the monarch. No such difficulty would 
 attend the formation of a treaty of suppres- 
 sion in the northern provinces of Christian 
 Abyssinia, where slavery in the true ac- 
 ceptation of the term has no existence, ex- 
 cepting in so far as it is carried on by the 
 Moslem traders, of whom both ruler and 
 people are comparatively independent. 
 Thus in Gondar and Tigre, where domes- 
 tic slavery is neither practiced nor advo- 
 cated by prince or subject, the external 
 traffic might readily be crushed, and with 
 the greatest advantage, through the friend- 
 ly sentiments entertained by the present 
 patriarch. 
 
 The spiritual influence exerted by Abba 
 Salama over the mind of all classes, high 
 as well as low — the spell by which he holds 
 his supreme power — is acknowledged by 
 every province, however remote, which 
 constitutes a remnant of the ancient Ethi- 
 
 opic empire. Access to hitherto sealed 
 portions of the interior, by which the ob- 
 jects of humanity would not less be for- 
 warded than those of commerce, science, 
 and geography, can thus readily be obtain- 
 ed through his assistance. They offer gold 
 in return for the blessings of Christianity 
 and civilization, and are believed to be ac- 
 cessible also from the coast of the Indian 
 ocean. But it ought not to be forgotten in 
 England that, independently of other con- 
 siderations, the surest hope of working any 
 favorable change in the present degraded 
 state of the Abyssinian church, or of sub- 
 stantially promoting the views of philan- 
 thropy in Ethiopia Proper, must be consid- 
 ered to rest solely upon the good feeling, 
 the potent influence, and the professed as- 
 sistance of his holiness the aboon, and that 
 one better disposed is not likely ever to fill 
 the episcopal throne at Gondar. 
 
 CHAPTER CXXVIII. 
 
 COMMERCE WITH THE EASTERN COAST OF 
 AFRICA. 
 
 The highlands included betwixt Abys- 
 sinia and the equator are unquestionably 
 among the most interesting in Africa, 
 whether viewed with reference to their cli- 
 mate, their soil, their productions, or their 
 population. When the Ethiopic empire 
 extended its sway over the greater part of 
 the eastern horn, they doubtless supplied 
 myrrh and frankincense to the civilized 
 portions of the globe, together with the 
 " sweet cane," mentioned by the prophets 
 Isaiah and Jeremiah, as being brought 
 " from a far country." The slave caravan 
 still affords a limited outlet to their rich 
 produce ; but the people, ignorant and nat- 
 urally indolent, are without protection, and 
 they possess no stimulus to industry. Vice 
 alone flourishes among them, and their fair 
 country forms the very hot-bed of the slave 
 trade. Hence arise wars and predatory 
 violence, and hence the injustice and op- 
 pression which sweep the fields with des- 
 olation — bind in fetters the sturdy chil- 
 dren of the soil, and cover the population 
 with every sorrow, " with lamentation, and 
 mourning, and wo." 
 
 It has already been remarked that in 
 early times, as early probably as the days 
 of Moses, the authority of Egypt extended 
 deep into the recesses of Africa, and there 
 is reason to believe, at later dates, far into 
 those countries to the southward of Abys- 
 sinia which are accessible from the shores 
 
322 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 of the Indian Ocean. The eastern coast, 
 from beyond the Straits of Bab el Mandeb, 
 in all probability as far south as Sofala, the 
 Ophir of Solomon, was well known to the 
 enterprising merchants of Tyre, and to the 
 sovereigns of Judea, from the days of the 
 wise son of David downward. In still la- 
 ter periods, the conquering Arabs, when 
 they had become followers of the false 
 prophet, extended their sway over all this 
 coast as far as the twenty-fifth degree of 
 south latitude. The remains of their pow- 
 er, of their comparative civilization, and 
 of their religion, are found throughout to 
 the present day ; and notwithstanding that 
 their rule had greatly declined when the 
 Portuguese discovered these parts four hun- 
 dred years ago, it was still strong and ex- 
 tensive, and constant commercial inter- 
 course was maintained with India. 
 
 No portion of the African continent has, 
 however, excited less modern interest than 
 the eastern coast; and this singular fact 
 must, in a principal measure, be attributed 
 to the extreme jealousy with which the 
 Portuguese have guarded its approach, and 
 withheld the limited information gained 
 since the days of Vasco de Gama. " The 
 treasure and the blood of the metropolis 
 have been wasted in wars with the native 
 powers, and the relations of commerce on 
 every occasion postponed for those of con- 
 quest and dominion."* The illiberal spirit 
 of the government, the monstrous cruelty 
 of the traffic, and the nature of the system 
 pursued, both civil and ecclesiastic, have 
 had the natural effect of degrading those 
 maritime tribes placed in immediate juxta- 
 position with the white settlers, and of 
 effectually repelling the more spirited 
 and industrious inhabitants of the high- 
 lands, whose prudence and independence 
 have baffled attempted inroads. Many a 
 fair seat of peace and plenty, vitiated by 
 the operation of the slave trade, has been 
 converted into a theatre of war and blood- 
 shed ; and the once brilliant establishments 
 reared by the lords of India and Guinea, 
 now scarcely capable of resisting the at- 
 tacks of undisciplined barbarians, here, as 
 elsewhere, exhibit but the wreck and shad- 
 ow of their former vice-regal splendor. 
 
 Although free to all nations, the eastern 
 coast, from Sofala to Cape Guardufoi, has in 
 later years been little frequented by any, 
 save the enterprising American, whose 
 star-spangled banner is to be seen waving 
 to the breeze in parts where others would 
 not deign to traffic ; and who, being thus 
 the pioneer to new countries, reaps the 
 
 * Lord Brougham's Colonial Policy. 
 
 lucrative harvest which they are almost 
 sure to afford. English ships from India 
 have occasionally visited the southern ports 
 for cargoes of ivory and ambergris, but the 
 trade being yet in its infancy, admitted of 
 little routine ; and in the absence of any 
 rival, the imam of Muscat is, with his 
 daily-increasing territories, fast establish- 
 ing a lucrative monopoly, from Mombas 
 and Zanzibar. 
 
 In most of the interior countries lying 
 opposite to this coast to the south of Shoa, 
 the people unite with an inordinate passion 
 for trinkets and finery a degree of wealth 
 which must favor an extensive sale of Eu- 
 ropean commodities. In Enarea, CafFa, 
 Gourague, Koocha, and Susa, especially, 
 glass-ware, false jewelry, beads, cutlery, 
 blue calico, long cloth, chintz, and other 
 linen manufactures, are in universal de- 
 mand. That their wants are neither few 
 nor trifling may be satisfactorily ascertain- 
 ed from the fact that the sum of 96,0001., 
 the produce of the slave trade from the 
 ports of Berbera, Zeyla, Tajtira, and Mas- 
 sowah, is only one item of the total amount 
 annually invested in various foreign goods 
 and manufactures, which are readily dis- 
 posed of even at the present price of the 
 monopolist ; who being generally a trader 
 of very limited capital, may be concluded 
 to drive an extremely hard bargain for his 
 luxurious wares. 
 
 It would be idle to speculate upon the 
 hidden treasures that may be in store for 
 that adventurous spirit who shall success- 
 fully perform the quest into these coy re- 
 gions — for time and enterprise can alone 
 reveal them. But it is notorious that gold 
 and gold dust, ivory, civet, and ostrich 
 feathers, peltries, spices,* wax, and pre- 
 cious gums, form a part of the lading of 
 every slave caravan, notwithstanding that 
 a tedious transport over a long and circuit- 
 ous route presents many serious difficulties ; 
 and that the overreaching disposition of the 
 Indian Banian and of the Arab merchant, 
 who principally divide the spoils on the 
 coast of Abyssinia, offer a very far from 
 adequate reimbursement for the toil and la- 
 bor of transportation. 
 
 No quarter of the globe abounds to a 
 greater extent in vegetable and mineral 
 productions than tropical Africa ; and in 
 the populous, fertile, and salubrious por- 
 tions lying immediately north of the equa- 
 tor, the very highest capabilities are pre- 
 sented for the employment of capital, and 
 
 * Ginger is exported in great quantities from Gurt • 
 gu6 ; and among other indigenous spices, the kur dritna, 
 which combines the flavor of the carraway with that or 
 the cardamom. 
 
EXPORTS— TEA PLANT— MERCANTILE INTERESTS. 
 
 323 
 
 the development of British industry. Coal 
 has already been found, though at too great 
 a distance inland to render it of any ser- 
 vice without water communication; but 
 the fossil doubtless exists in positions the 
 most favorable for the supply of the steam- 
 ers employed in the navigation of the Red 
 Sea. Cotton of a quality unrivalled in the 
 whole world, is everywhere a weed, and 
 might be cultivated to any requisite extent. 
 The coffee which is sold in Arabia as the 
 produce of Mocha is chiefly of wild Afri- 
 can growth ; and that species of the tea- 
 plant* which is used by the lower orders of 
 the Chinese flourishes so widely and with so 
 little care, that the climate to which it is indi- 
 genous would doubtless be found well adapt- 
 ed for the higher-flavored and more delicate 
 species so prized for foreign exportation. 
 
 Every trade must be important to Great 
 Britain which will absorb manufactured 
 goods and furnish raw material in return. 
 Mercantile interests on the eastern coast 
 might therefore quickly be advanced by 
 teaching the natives to have artificial 
 wants, and then instructing them in what 
 manner those wants may be supplied 
 through the cultivated productions of the 
 soil. The present is the moment at which 
 to essay this ; and so promising a field for 
 enterprise and speculation ought no longer 
 to be neglected or overlooked. The po- 
 sition of the more cultivated tribes inland, 
 the love of finery displayed by all, the cli- 
 mate, the productions, the capabilities, the 
 
 * Oiaat is a shrub very extensively cultivated both in 
 Shoa and in the countries adjacent. It is in general use 
 among the inhabitants as a substitute for tea, which in 
 all its properties and qualities, it closely resembles. The 
 plant is said to have been brought originally from the 
 -western mountains, of which the elevation being from 
 five to eight thousand feet, agrees with that of the Chi- 
 nese tea districts, while the average temperature does 
 not exceed 60° Fahrenheit. In a light gravelly soil it 
 attains the height of .twelve feet ; and the leaves being 
 plucked during the dry season, and well dried in the 
 sun, fetch from one penny to two pence the pound. 
 They are either chewed, or boiled in milk, or infused in 
 water ; and by the addition of honey a pleasant beve- 
 rage is produced, which, being bitter and stimulative, 
 dispels sleep if used to excess. 
 
 The virtues of the chaat are equally to be appreciated 
 with those of the yerba mate, recently introduced into 
 England from Brazil and Paraguay. It is already 
 known under the appellation of " Celastrus edulis," and 
 belongs to Pentrandia Monogynia Linne, and to the 
 natural family of Celastrinea), or to that sub-family of 
 the Rhamneaj, which have in the flower the stamens 
 alternating with the petals. The family of Rhamneae, 
 namely, the genus Rhamnus itself, supplies to the poor- 
 er classes in China a substitute for tea, and is known 
 under the name of Rhamnus Theezaus L. 
 
 The chaat may thus be characterized :— 
 
 Frutex inermis ; foliis oppositis, petiolatis, oblongis, 
 serratodentatis, glabris. Calyx minimus, persistens. Pe- 
 tala 5. Stamina 5-petalis alternantia. Fructus super- 
 us, oblonge baccatus, 5-locularis, polyspermus, vel abor 
 tive monospermus. Inflorescentia axillaris, cymosa : 
 cymi dichotome stipulati. 
 
 The plant supplying the Paraguay tea is a species of 
 Ilex, and belongs to the same family of Celastrineae, 
 gub-order Aquifoliaceae. 
 
 presumed navigable access to the interior, 
 the contiguity to British Indian posses- 
 sions, and the proximity of some of the 
 t finest harbors in the world, all combine 
 inducements to the merchant, who, at the 
 hands even of the rudest nation, may be 
 certain of a cordial welcome. 
 
 If, at a very moderate calculation, a sum 
 falling little short of £l00,000*terling can 
 be annually invested in European goods 
 to supply the wants of some few of the 
 poorer tribes adjacent to Abyssinia ; and 
 if the tedious and perilous land journey 
 can be thus braved with profit to the native 
 peddler, what important results might not 
 be anticipated from well-directed efforts, 
 by such navigable access as would appear 
 to be promised by the river Gochob ? The 
 throwing into the very heart of the coun- 
 try now pillaged for slaves a cheap and 
 ample supply of the goods most coveted, 
 must have the effect of excluding the Mo- 
 hammadan rover who has so long preyed 
 upon the sinews of the people ; and this 
 foundation judiciously built upon by the 
 encouragement of cultivation in cotton and 
 other indigenous produce, could not fail to 
 rear upon the timid barter of a rude peo- 
 ple the superstructure of a vast commerce. 
 
 At a period when the attention of the 
 majority of the civilized world, and of eve- 
 ry well-wisher to the more sequestered 
 members of the great family of mankind 
 is so energetically directed toward the re- 
 moval of the impenetrable veil that hangs 
 before the interior, and fosters in its dark 
 folds the most flagrant existing sin against 
 nature and humanity, it could not fail to 
 prove eminently honorable to those who, 
 by a well-directed enterprise, should suc- 
 cessfully overcome the obstacles hitherto 
 presented by the distance, the climate, and 
 the barbarity of the continent of Africa. 
 But lasting fame, and the admiration of 
 after ages, are not the only rewards ex- 
 tended by the project. A rich mercantile 
 harvest is assuredly in store for those who 
 shall unlock the portals of the Eastern 
 coast, and shall spread navigation upon 
 waters that have heretofore been barren. 
 
 CHAPTER CXXIX. 
 
 NAVIGATION OF THE RIVER GOCHOB. 
 
 To accomplish the freedom of Africa, 
 were it practicable to do so, before her 
 sons shall have become qualified to use 
 their liberty for the advantage of society, 
 would be to confer, not a boon, but a curse. 
 To put down the foreign slave trade, with- 
 
324 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 out first devising honest occupation for a 
 dense, idle, and mischievous population, 
 would seal the death-warrant of every 
 captive who, under the present system, is 
 preserved as saleable booty. Hence it 
 must be admitted, without a dissenting 
 voice, that to inculcate industry and to ex- 
 tend cultivation by voluntary labor, are in- 
 dispensable* stepping-stones toward the 
 ultimate amelioration of a people who do 
 not at present possess the elements for ex- 
 tended commerce. To create these would 
 be to change the destinies of the negro, 
 by including him within the league of the 
 rights of man ; and habits of industry 
 must rapidly raise him from savage igno- 
 rance to that state of improvement which 
 is essential to fit him for the privileges of 
 a freeman. 
 
 Although peopled by one hundred and 
 fifty millions of souls, the present exports 
 of Africa do not equal in value those of 
 Cuba, with only twelve hundred thousand 
 inhabitants. This limited commerce and 
 the nature of the commercial system have 
 long been, and still are, among the chief 
 causes of her misery and thraldom. Few, 
 if any, of the commodities bartered with 
 other nations are the production of capital, 
 labor, or industry ; and in the minds of the 
 whole population, the ideas of prosperity 
 and of a slave trade are therefore insepa- 
 rable. But if all that is coveted could be 
 placed within honest reach in exchange 
 for the produce of the soil, the hands 
 which should cultivate it will never after- 
 ward be sold. 
 
 " Legitimate commerce," writes Sir 
 Fowell Buxton, " would put down the 
 slave trade, by demonstrating the superior 
 value of man as a laborer on the soil, to 
 man as an object of merchandise. If con- 
 ducted on wise and equitable principles, it 
 might be the precursor, or rather the at- 
 tendant, of civilization, peace, and Chris- 
 tianity to the unenlightened, warlike, and 
 heathen tribes, who now so fearfully prey 
 upon each other to support the slave 
 markets of the New World ; and a com- 
 mercial system upon just, liberal, and com- 
 prehensive principles, which guarded the 
 native on the one hand, and secured pro- 
 tection to the honest trader on the other, 
 would therefore confer the richest bless- 
 ings on a country so long desolated and 
 degraded by its intercourse with the basest 
 and most iniquitous portion of mankind." 
 
 The average cost of a seasoned slave 
 in Cuba is 1201. sterling ; but it has been 
 seen that in Enarea and other parts of the 
 interior he may be purchased for ten 
 pieces of salt, equivalent to two shillings 
 
 and a penny — for a pair of Birmingham 
 scissors, or even for a few ells of blue 
 calico. Hence it is only fair to infer that 
 the hire of the freemen would be in the 
 same ratio ; and if so, it must be sufficient- 
 ly obvious that this cheap labor, applied to 
 a soil not less productive than that of the 
 most favored countries in the world, must 
 enable Africa to raise tropical produce that 
 will beat in every market to which it may 
 be introduced. 
 
 Able advocates of the cause of human- 
 ity have upon these grounds clearly dem- 
 onstrated that, in order to suppress com- 
 pletely the foreign traffic in human flesh, 
 it is only necessary to raise, in any more 
 commanding and accessible point, which 
 affords the readiest outlet, sugar, coffee, 
 and cotton, and to throw these yearly 
 into the market of the world, already ful- 
 ly supplied by expensive slave labor. The 
 creation of this cheap additional produce 
 would so depress the price current in ev- 
 ery other quarter, that the external slave 
 trade would no longer be profitable, and it 
 would therefore cease to exist. 
 
 The baneful climate of Africa is the ob- 
 stacle which has hitherto opposed the in- 
 troduction of agriculture, by precluding 
 the permanent residence of those born 
 under a happier sky; and the chief object 
 in seeking geographical information has 
 been to discover some point whence the 
 object may be accomplished with safety. 
 That point is presented in the north-east- 
 ern coast, where, from no great distance 
 inland to an unknown extent, the sponta- 
 neous gifts of nature are transcendently 
 abundant — the people are prepared by 
 misfortune to welcome civilized assistance 
 — the soil is fertile and productive, and 
 the climate, alpine and salubrious, is high- 
 ly congenial to the European constitution. 
 
 All these countries are believed to be 
 accessible from the Juba, more commonly 
 called the Govind, which is said to rise in 
 Abyssinia, and to be navigable in boats 
 for three months from its mouth. Its em- 
 bouchure is in the territories of the friend- 
 ly sheikhs of Brava, seven in number, the 
 hereditary representatives of seven Arab 
 brothers, who were first induced to settle 
 on that part of the coast by the lucrative 
 trade in grain, gold, ambergris, ivory, rhi- 
 noceros' horns, and hippopotamus' teeth. 
 They were formerly under the protection 
 of Portugal ; but even the remembrance 
 of that state of things has nearly passed 
 away from the present generation. From 
 Mombas, which is the most northern pos- 
 session of Syyud Syyud, the imam of 
 Muscat, the coast as far as the equator is 
 
ROADS IN THE TORRID ZONE. 
 
 325 
 
 in occupation of the Sohilis, a quiet and 
 intelligent race of Moorish origin, and 
 thence to Zeyla, which is now in the 
 hands of Sheikh Ali Shermarki, the en- 
 tire population is Somauli. The climate 
 even so far south as M'ombas is notorious- 
 ly good ; and the government affords a not 
 less striking contrast to that of the west- 
 ern coast, where the regions in corres- 
 ponding latitudes are subject to bloody 
 despotism, such as is submitted to by none 
 but the direst savages. 
 
 Measures at once profitable, simple, and 
 effective, might therefore be adopted by 
 the purchase or rent of land on this river, 
 which is conjectured to be the Gochob, and 
 would seem to promise easy access to the 
 very hotbed of slavery. It has been well 
 remarked by Mr. M'Queen, in his Geo- 
 graphical' Survey, that " rivers are the 
 roads in the torrid zone ;" and should the 
 stream now under consideration fortunate- 
 ly prove fitted for navigation, the introduc- 
 tion through its means of the essential 
 requisites to the happiness and the eman- 
 cipation of the now oppressed continent, 
 could not fail to confer the most inestima- 
 ble advantages. 
 
 The power of Abyssinia, once so ex- 
 tended in this quarter, was known even to 
 the Delta of the Niger. It was from the 
 sovereigns of Benin that the Portuguese 
 first heard of the glories of " Prester John ;" 
 and as it is quite certain that a communi- 
 cation did formerly exist, " by a journey of 
 twenty moons," through the countries in 
 the upper course of the Egyptian Nile, 
 there seems no reason to doubt that it 
 might not be readily renewed. Of the 
 salubrity of the regions in which all these 
 streams take their source, no question can 
 be entertained. Ptolemy Euergetes, when 
 sovereign of Egypt, penetrated to the most 
 southern provinces of Ethiopia, which he 
 conquered ; and he has described his pas- 
 sage to have been effected, in some parts, 
 over mountains deeply covered with snow. 
 
 Those portions of the continent which 
 are blessed with the finest climate, and 
 with the largest share of natural gifts, and 
 which teem with a population long ravaged 
 by the inroads of the kidnapper, must be 
 of all others the most capable of bringing 
 to maturity, the seeds which can alone 
 form the elements of future prosperity. 
 And what nation is better qualified to con- 
 fer such inestimable gifts, or more likely 
 to profit by them, when judiciously bestow- 
 ed, than Great Britain ? The most civil- 
 ized nations are those which possess the 
 deepest interest in the spread of civiliza- 
 tion, and none more than herself are deeply 
 
 interested in the speedy suppression of the 
 traffic in human beings. 
 
 No beneficial change can ever be an- 
 ticipated so long as the population of the 
 interior remain cut off" from all communi- 
 cation with enlightened nations — so long 
 as they are visited only by the mercenary 
 rover, and are hemmed in by fanatic pow- 
 ers, whose object, whose policy, and whose 
 business it is to encourage so monstrous a 
 practice. The Mohammadans are not only 
 traders for the sake of slaves almost exclu- 
 sively, but they are, as respects the greater 
 portion of interior Africa, jealous, reckless, 
 commercial rivals. It is not, therefore, 
 surprising that they should exert all the 
 influence which they possess from the 
 combination of avarice, ignorance, preju- 
 dice, and religion, to exclude foreign influ- 
 ence ; and without roads, or any efficient 
 means for the conveyance of heavy mer- 
 chandise, it is not to be expected that the ig- 
 norant despot of the interior will ever think 
 of making his slaves or his subjects culti- 
 vate produce of great bulk and laborious 
 carriage, in order to procure in exchange 
 articles which he requires, while with very 
 trifling labor and still more trifling expense, 
 they can be driven even to the most remote 
 market, and there sold or exchanged. 
 
 But few people are more desirous or 
 more capable of trading than the natives 
 of Africa ; and the facility with which fac- 
 tories might be formed is sufficiently proved 
 by the reception heretofore experienced in 
 various parts of the continent. Abundance 
 of land now unoccupied could be purchased 
 or rented at a mere nominal rate, in posi- 
 tions where the permanent residence of the 
 white man would be hailed with universal 
 joy, as contributing to the repose of tribes 
 long harassed and persecuted. The serf 
 would seek honest employment in the field, 
 and the chiefs of slave-dealing states, glad- 
 ly entering into any arrangement for the 
 introduction of wealth and finery, would, 
 after the establishment of agriculture, no 
 longer find their interest in the flood of 
 human victims, which is now annually 
 poured through the highlands of Abyssinia. 
 
 To descant, therefore, upon the import- 
 ance of such a communication as the Go- 
 chob may prove to the countries in which 
 it is situated, or with which it promises an 
 easy access, would be a work of superero- 
 gation. Much has been written, and great 
 praise most justly bestowed, upon the 
 policy which has seen, in many a barba- 
 rous location, the future marts of a bound- 
 less and lucrative commerce — the centres 
 whence its attendant blessings, knowledge, 
 civilization, and wealth, would radiate 
 
326 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 among- savage hordes. Here are no des- 
 erts, but nations already prepared for im- 
 provement, and countries gifted by nature 
 with a congenial climate and with a bound- 
 less extent of virgin soil, where the indigo 
 and the tea-plant flourish spontaneously, 
 and where the growth of the sugar-cane 
 and of every other tropical production may 
 be caried to an unlimited extent — regions 
 producing grain in vast superabundance, 
 and rich in valuable staples — cotton, coffee, 
 spices, ivory, gold-dust, peltries, and drugs 
 — all, in fact, that is requisite to impart 
 value and activity to exchange. But al- 
 though thus surrounded by natural wealth, 
 and placed within reach of affluence and 
 happiness, the denizens of these favored 
 regions imperatively require the fostering 
 care of British protection, to become either 
 prosperous, contented, or free. 
 
 CHAPTER CXXX. 
 
 THE SECOND WINTER IN SHOA. 
 
 During another dreary season of rain, 
 and of mist, and of heavy fog, which had 
 now set in, the lance and the shield of the 
 Christian had been suspended in the dark 
 windowless hall, and the war-steed ranged 
 loose over the swampy meadow. For three 
 long months which were passed at Anko- 
 ber in the preparation of these volumes, 
 swollen and rapid torrents had brawled 
 through the manifold rocky chasms that 
 divide the village-crested pinnacles of Shoa 
 — chiding as they rolled along the barriers 
 that thus presumed to circumscribe their 
 fury. Every hollow footpath had been con- 
 verted into a muddy stream, and each deep 
 valley, embosomed among the rugged 
 mountains, had become a morass impassa- 
 ble to the equestrian. Within the memory 
 of the oldest inhabitant, the floods had never 
 continued longer nor with greater violence. 
 Morning after morning the heavy white 
 clouds still clung above the saturated me- 
 tropolis ; and the torrents, ever tumbling 
 into the plain over the mountain-side, 
 caused the swollen Hawash to exceed its 
 serpentine banks, until the lowlands for 
 many miles on either side were covered 
 with a broad sheet of inundation. 
 
 Meanwhile few events occurred to break 
 the diurnal monotony. Extensive pecula- 
 tions of the public revenues on the part of 
 the tyrannical governor of Alio Amba, had 
 led, first, to his. imprisonment in the madi 
 beii, under the watchful eye of Wolda Hana, 
 and. eventually to his being stripped of pro- 
 
 perty, and turned forth upon the wide world 
 a beggar. Abdel Yonag, the Hurrur con- 
 sul, who possessed in eminent perfection 
 the arts of fawning and flattery, had during 
 the interregnum turned his subtilty to good 
 account in the promotion of an insatiable 
 taste for power and intrigue. He was for- 
 mally nominated to the vacant post ; and 
 toward the close of July, when the whole 
 of the Ada'i'el and Hurrur ruffians, then 
 resident in the market-town, obtained their 
 annual audience of the king, the wily old 
 slave-dealer, duly girded with the silver 
 badge of office and authority, occupied the 
 disgraced governor's seat at the footstool 
 of the throne. 
 
 Armed with creese, and spear, and shield, 
 the kilted band whirled howling into the 
 court-yard, performing their savage war- 
 dance. The precincts of the palace rang 
 to their wild yells ; and the vivid panto- 
 mime of throat-cutting and disembow T el- 
 ment was enacted to the life, in all its 
 pleasing varieties. " Moot ! moot ! moot .'" 
 shouted each prevailing warrior of note, 
 shaking his sun-blanched locks, and omin- 
 ously quivering his heavy lance, as he 
 sprang in turn to the front, for the approval 
 of the Christian monarch. " Is he dead ? 
 Is he dead ?" ' : Burdhoo ! Burdhoo ! 
 you've slain him ! you've slain him !" re- 
 turned the turbaned peddler, facetiously 
 clapping his hands on behalf of his royal 
 patron — " Burdhoo ! Burdhoo .'" and ere 
 the hero of this gratifying applause had 
 retired, another and another brave had 
 commenced his vaunting exhibition in front 
 of the sable ranks, or was in the act of rip- 
 ping up the foe who in mock conflict had 
 sprung like a tiger across his adversary's 
 loins, to grasp him as in a vice betwixt the 
 muscles of his thighs. The court-buffoon 
 was meanwhile diligently plying his occu- 
 pation, by capering through the ranks with 
 his unsheathed reaping-hook, and chatter- 
 ing in ludicrous imitation of the Moslem 
 barbarians — his successful mimicry elicit- 
 ing shouts of applause, notwithstanding 
 that the reality, as enacted in the hot val- 
 leys below, had, on more occasions than 
 one, been calculated to leave no very agree- 
 able recollections in the mind of the Am- 
 hara audience. 
 
 At the motion of the herald, the assem- 
 bled warriors now squatted their meagre, 
 wiry forms before the raised alcove, each 
 resting upon his spear-staff, and peering 
 over his shield, according to the undevia- 
 ting custom of the Bedouin savage. "Are 
 you all well ? Are you well ? Are you 
 quite well ?" repeated the dragoman who 
 interpreted his majesty's salutations, "Are 
 
STATE DIPLOMACY— FESTIVAL OF FELSATA 
 
 327 
 
 your wives and all your children happy, 
 and are your houses prosperous ? Have 
 your flocks and your herds multiplied, and 
 are your fields and your pastures covered 
 with plenty ?" "Humdu lillah ! Humdu 
 lillah .'" " Praise be unto God !" was the 
 unvarying reply. " How are you, and how 
 have you been ? We are the friends of 
 Woosen Suggud, your father, who ruled 
 before you, and we will always deal with 
 you as our fathers dealt with your fathers 
 who are now dead. We are near neigh- 
 bors. May Allah keep our people and their 
 children's children at peace the one with 
 the other !" Cloths were now presented 
 to the principal men, and oxen having been 
 apportioned to their retainers, each rose in 
 turn, and patted the extended hand of the 
 monarch with his open palm ; one atrocious 
 old ruffian who concluded the ceremony 
 raising himself in his sandals, and grasp- 
 ing the royal fingers so firmly that he had 
 nearly succeeded in plucking him from his 
 elevated throne. 
 
 His majesty, although obviously little 
 pleased at the rough practical joke, took it 
 in good part, no doubt inwardly congratu- 
 lating himself upon the happy termination 
 of the wild levee. It had been fully illus- 
 trative of the tact and diplomatic sagacity 
 employed in the maintenance of ascend- 
 ency over the more intractable portion of 
 his nominal subjects, and in the cultivation 
 of amicable political relations with the 
 neighboring states. Wulasma Mohammad, 
 as his chief agent, sat in regal dignity on 
 this important occasion, and his dragoman, 
 a native of Argobba, was the medium of 
 communication. The throat of this man 
 exhibited from ear to ear a conspicuous 
 seam, pointed out by the bystanders as the 
 work of his own hands. Great, indeed, 
 must have been the desperation which at 
 the present day could impel such an at- 
 tempt at self-destruction on the frontiers 
 of Shoa. One mile beyond, in any direc- 
 tion, would of a surety supply numbers of 
 volunteers for the task, from among those 
 whose throat- cutting proficiency had so 
 creditably been displayed during the recent 
 pantomime ! 
 
 Early in the month of August, the festi- 
 val of Felsata brought a repetition of the 
 customary skirmishes between the town's 
 people and the slave establishment of the 
 king. For the edification of a numerous 
 concourse of spectators, the miry lane lead- 
 ing to the church of " Our Lady " was at- 
 tacked and defended with heavy clubs shod 
 with rings of iron ; and after a severe con- 
 flict, the servile invaders were finally driven 
 from the field, with blood streaming from nu- 
 
 merous broken heads, which were brought 
 to the residency to be repaired. During 
 the fortnight's fast that ensued in celebra- 
 tion of the Assumption, the rough diver- 
 sion was. frequently repeated, and absti- 
 nence from food appeared to have soured 
 the temper of the entire population. On 
 the succeeding festival of the Transfigu- 
 ration, styled "Debra Tabor," the capital 
 was illuminated. While boys, carrying 
 flambeaux, ran singing through the streets, 
 every dwelling displayed such a light as 
 its inmates could afford — none, however, 
 of the old cotton rags besmeared with im- 
 pure bees' wax, shining very luminously 
 through the thick drizzling vapor that 
 wrapped the cold hill in its clammy em- 
 brace. 
 
 One of the principal of the royal store- 
 houses at Channoo, on the frontier, was at 
 this period struck by lightning, and totally 
 burnt to the ground. The king as usual 
 was keeping the fast at Machalwans, and 
 thither, according to custom, every noble 
 and governor in the land flocked to offer 
 condolence. Many were the long faces on 
 the road, for the greatest consternation per- 
 vaded all classes ; and the fat Wulasma in 
 particular, on his way to break the dismal 
 tidings to his despotic master, having the 
 consequences of the late conflagration at 
 Woti still fresh in his recollection, was 
 observed to be in a state of extreme men- 
 tal perturbation and anxiety. 
 
 "Alas !" exclaimed the king, when his 
 British guests contributed their mite of 
 consolation — "Alas! that magazine was 
 built by my ancestor Emmaha Yasoos. It 
 measured six hundred cubits in length, and 
 ninety spans in breadth, and it was piled 
 with salt to the very roof. There is no 
 salt in my country. I feared a rupture 
 with the Adai'el who bring it from below, 
 and I therefore stored up large quantities 
 that my people might, never want. Now 
 the lightning has taken all ; but who can 
 repine ? — for it was the will of God." 
 
 CHAPTER CXXXI. 
 
 THE GOTHIC HALL. 
 
 The models and plans of palaces that 
 had been from time to time prepared, had 
 imparted to the king a new architectural 
 impulse ; and after much deliberation with 
 himself, he had finally come to the reso- 
 lution of expending the timber requisite 
 toward the erection of a chaste Gothic edi- 
 fice. In the selection of his design his 
 
328 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 majesty displayed unlooked for taste ; for 
 although as a penman his talents rank im- 
 measurably in advance of the most accom- 
 plished of his scriveners, his skill as an 
 artist has proved very circumscribed. It 
 was nearly exhausted in the delineation of a 
 nondescript bird, perched upon a tree-top, 
 and did with difficulty extend to the one- 
 legged fowler, gun-in-hand, who was con- 
 jectured to be planning its destruction. 
 Likenesses of the court favorites were fre- 
 quently executed at the royal desire, and 
 invariably acknowledged with much mer- 
 riment ; but, although repeatedly urged, no 
 persuasion could induce the despot to sit 
 for his own portrait, from a firm belief in 
 the old superstition, that whosoever should 
 possess it, could afterward deal with him 
 as he listed. 
 
 " You are writing a book," he remarked 
 on one occasion, with a significant glance 
 — " I know this, because I never inquire 
 what you are doing that they do not tell 
 me you are using a pen, or gazing at the 
 heavens. This is a good thing, and it 
 pleases me. You will speak favorably of 
 myself ; but you shall not insert my por- 
 trait, as you have done that of the king of 
 Zingero." 
 
 The Abyssinians have from time imme- 
 morial expended an entire tree in the re- 
 duction to suitable dimensions of every 
 beam or plank employed in their primitive 
 habitations ; and it is not therefore surpris- 
 ing that his majesty should have been equal- 
 ly delighted and astonished at the economy 
 of time, labor, and material attending the 
 use of the cross-cut saw. From age to age, 
 and generation to generation, the Ethiopian 
 plods on like his forefathers, without even 
 a desire for improvement. Ignoranoe and 
 indolence confine him to a narrow circle 
 of observation from which he is afraid to 
 move. Strong prejudices are arrayed 
 against the introduction of novelties, and 
 eternal reference is made to ancestral cus- 
 tom. But in a country where the absence 
 of forest is so remarkable and inconvenient, 
 the advantages extended by this novel im- 
 plement of handicraft was altogether unde- 
 niable. " You English are indeed a strange 
 people," quoth the monarch, after the first 
 plank had been fashioned by the European 
 escort. " I do not understand your stories 
 of the road in your country that is dug be- 
 low the waters of a river, nor of the car- 
 riages that gallop without horses ; but you 
 are a strong people, and employ wonderful 
 inventions." 
 
 Meanwhile the platform required for the 
 new building advanced slowly to comple- 
 tion. The crowd of applicants for justice 
 
 who daily convened before the tribunal of 
 "the four chairs" were pressed into the 
 service; and when his majesty returned 
 from an excursion in the meadow, the en- 
 tire cortege might be seen carrying each a 
 stone before his saddle in imitation of the 
 royal example. Early one morning ar- 
 rived a message from the impatient despot 
 to announce that the day being auspicious, 
 he was desirous of seeing one post at least 
 erected without delay. Greatly to his sat- 
 isfaction the door frames were simultane- 
 ously raised ; and it being ascertained that 
 the sub-conservator of forests had neglect- 
 ed to make the requisite supplies of timber, 
 the delinquent was, with his wife and fam- 
 ily, sentenced to vacate his habitation forth- 
 with, and to bivouac sub divo during twenty 
 days upon the Angollala meadow — a pun- 
 ishment not unfrequently inflicted for venial 
 derelictions of duty, and attended during 
 the more inclement seasons with no ordi- 
 nary inconvenience. 
 
 But the endless succession of holydays, 
 during which no work can be performed, 
 interfered in a much greater degree with 
 the completion of the rising structure — it 
 being superstitiously imagined that any 
 portion of a work erected on the festival 
 of a saint, with the aid of edged tools, will 
 infallibly entail a curse from above. No 
 little delay arose also from the whims and 
 caprices of his majesty, who could never 
 satisfy himself that the doors and windows 
 occupied the proper places — his ideas on 
 this subject wandering perpetually to the 
 ruins of a certain palace on the banks of 
 the Nile, which he had visited while hunt 
 ing the wild bufialo. " It is overgrown 
 with trees and bushes," was the lucid de- 
 scription given, " and it has two hundred 
 windows, and four hundred pillars of stone, 
 and none can tell whence it came." 
 
 At length the Gothic hall was complete. 
 It had been amusing in the interim to 
 watch the progress making immediately 
 below the palace by an unfortunate gun- 
 man of the body-guard, who, whensoever 
 the vigilant eye of the church permitted, 
 would add to the frail wall of his circular 
 dwelling a few layers of loose stone, which 
 with his own single labor he had collected 
 in the meadow. But each morning's dawn 
 revealed to his sorrowing eyes some mon- 
 strous breach in the unstable fabric, which, 
 like Penelope's web, was never nearer to 
 completion. The novel style of architec- 
 ture introduced by the Gyptzis, so immeas- 
 urably superior in elegance, stability, and 
 comfort, to anything before witnessed in 
 Shoa, and combining all these recommen- 
 dations with so limited an expenditure of 
 
HARNESSED ELEPHANT— ROYAL AMBITION. 
 
 329 
 
 material, afforded an undeniable contrast to 
 the adjacent tottering pile upon vaults 
 whereon three years of labor had been vain- 
 ly expended. Beyond the rude fabrics of 
 the neighboring states, where the more 
 common manufactures have attained a 
 somewhat higher cultivation, the palace of 
 the king can boast of no embellishment 
 saving the tawdry trappings which deco- 
 rate the throne— gaudy tapestries of crim- 
 son velvet loaded with massive silver orna- 
 ments, but ill in keeping with the clumsy 
 mud walls to which they are appended, and 
 serving to render the latter still more in- 
 congruous by so striking a contrast. But 
 the new apartments were furnished after 
 the model of an English cottage orne, and 
 with their couches, ottomans, carpets, 
 chairs, tables, and curtains, had assumed 
 an aspect heretofore unknown in Abys- 
 sinia. " I shall turn it into a chapel," quoth 
 his majesty, accosting Abba Raguel, and 
 patting the little dwarf familiarly upon the 
 back—" What say you to that plan, my 
 father ?" 
 
 As a last finishing touch, were suspend- 
 ed in the centre hall a series of large col- 
 ored engravings, which the cathedral of 
 Saint Michael might well have envied, for 
 they represented the chase of the tiger in 
 all its varied phases. The domestication 
 of the elephant, and its employment in 
 war, or in the pageant, had ever proved a 
 stumbling-block to the king, who all his 
 life had been content to reside in a house 
 boasting neither windows nor chimneys ; 
 and who reigned not in the days when 
 " the Negus, arrayed in the barbaric pomp 
 of gold chains, collars, and bracelets, and 
 surrounded by his nobles and musicians, 
 gave audience to the embassador of Jus- 
 tinian seated in the open field upon a lofty 
 chariot, drawn by four elephants superbly 
 caparisoned."* The grotesque appearance 
 of the " hugest of beasts" in his hunting 
 harness, struck the chord of a new idea. " I 
 will have a number caught on the Robi," 
 he exclaimed, " that you may tame them, 
 and that I too may ride upon an elephant 
 before I die." A favorite governor from a 
 remote frontier province was standing 
 meanwhile with his finger to his mouth, 
 gazing in mute amazement at the wonders 
 before him. " This place is not suited for 
 the occupation of man," he at length ex- 
 claimed, in a reverie of surprise, as the 
 monarch ceased : " this is a palace design- 
 ed only for the residence of the Deity, 
 and of Sahela Selassie." 
 
 * Gibbon. 
 
 22 
 
 CHAPTER CXXXII. 
 
 THE " PRO REX OF EFAT" IN TRIBULATION. 
 
 • Although finding small reason to be 
 flattered with the first reception experien- 
 ced in the kingdom of Shoa, at the hands 
 of a Christian ruler who had sought alli- 
 ance with Great Britain, it was neverthe- 
 less matter of notoriety that no previous 
 visitor had, under any circumstances, been 
 treated with one hundreth part of the same 
 courtesy and condescension, or had expe- 
 rienced such unequivocal marks of confi- 
 dence and favor. Formed on the most 
 liberal scale, and supplied with all that can 
 make such a country splendid and impo- 
 sing, the embassy had, from the very first, 
 been admitted to terms of perfect equality 
 with the haughty despot. No veil had 
 been thrown over the deep-rooted enmity 
 of the bigoted and powerful priesthood, 
 who, to serve their own sinister purposes, 
 cunningly contrived to construe the costly 
 gifts of the British Government into trib- 
 ute to the illustrious descendant of the 
 house of Solomon ; but the assertion car- 
 ried its own refutation. In a weak moment 
 Comus Unquies, " the king's strong monk," 
 so far forgot the dignity due to his station, 
 as to barter his bishop's staff to the heretic 
 Gyptzis for a pair of Birmingham scissors ! 
 European medicines had rescued three 
 thousand patients from the jaws of death ; 
 and improved intercourse with the mon- 
 arch finally dispelled the jealousy created 
 in a suspicious breast by the treasonable 
 designs imputed to the foreign visitors, 
 who were found to have brought no usur- 
 per in a box ; and to entertain designs 
 neither upon the sceptre nor upon the 
 church of Ethiopia. 
 
 The opposition of inimical functionaries 
 dressed in fleeting authority had involved 
 the necessity of enduring, without any 
 display of vexation, numberless persecu- 
 tions, trifling perhaps in themselves, but 
 amounting in the aggregate to more than 
 martyrdom. Few of the commands issued 
 were obeyed so much in the spirit as to 
 the letter. Eshee,* although doubtless sig- 
 nifying assent, did not always bring com- 
 pliance with even the most trifling appli- 
 cation for assistance. The king was too 
 polished to say " No," when he had in- 
 wardly resolved to do nothing ; and an 
 uneducated despot, who has never known 
 any law but his own absolute will, and 
 who lives for himself alone ; who consid- 
 ers and claims as his property everything 
 
 * i. e. « Yes." 
 
330 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 in the country over which he wields the 
 arbitrary sceptre ; and whose only idea of 
 wealth, power, and happiness, is centered 
 in individual existence, can so ill under- 
 stand the wants of others, that his majes- 
 ty's offences toward his guests might rather 
 be termed sins of omission than of com- 
 mission. 
 
 Covetous, and eager for novelties, Sa- 
 hela Selassie never fails to wish for every- 
 thing that comes under his observation ; 
 but, like a child with a new toy, soon weary 
 of looking at the bauble, though still vain 
 of its possession, he casts it aside to be 
 hoarded in the mouldy vaults of some dis- 
 tant magazine. The savage is the same 
 under every possible form, and in every 
 grade and position — the one stealing wnat 
 he covets, while another, seeking plausible 
 pretexts, obtains possession through low- 
 cunning and stratagem. Among such a 
 nation of beggars as the people of Southern 
 Abyssinia, it was not always easy to satisfy 
 the rapacity of fastidious extortioners. All 
 wanted pleasant things — many demanded 
 dollars to defray the cost of slaves that 
 they had purchased, but for whom they 
 could not pay ; and for months after the 
 arrival of the embassy, requisitions for pri- 
 vate property were unceasing on the part 
 also of the monarch. 
 
 Neither compulsory measures nor direct 
 applications were ever employed ; but the 
 means resorted to were not the less certain 
 of success. With that duplicity and want 
 of candor which ever marks uncivilized 
 man, he was wont to send underhand com- 
 munications, or ineaniy to depute his emis- 
 saries to reveal his desires and his inten- 
 tions, in a manner which in so despotic a 
 land could leave no doubt of authenticity ; i 
 and an offer of the article coveted being 
 forthwith made, his majesty hesitated not, 
 in the presence of his agents, to deny all 
 cognizance of the transaction, or to swear 
 by the saints that he never sought the prop- 
 erty tendered for his acceptance. Persua- 
 sion would not induce him to receive it at 
 once, and thus to terminate the matter ; 
 but no sooner had it been removed from his 
 sight, than his creatures were again at 
 work with even greater ac'ivity than be- 
 fore ; and rude taunts of breach of prom- 
 ise, with not-to-be-mistaken hints' veiled 
 under the cloak of friendship, were certain 
 to instigate a second and a third offer, which 
 invariably elicited an avowal of the disin- 
 clination entertained to " receive the prop- 
 erty of his children," but uniformly ended 
 in his accepting it " as a free gift from the 
 heart," acknowledged in all gratitude by 
 the benediction — " God restore it to thee, 
 
 my son ! May the Lord glorify and reward 
 thee !" 
 
 Chief of all the sycophants who bask in 
 the favor of the monarch, may be ranked 
 Wulasma Mohammad, who in finesse, 
 plausibility, and all the specious devices 
 that are employed to cover total want of 
 sincerity, can find no equal in the kingdom 
 of Shoa. Lavish in professions of friend- 
 ship, he never suffered an opportunity of 
 gratifying his inwardly-cherished animos- 
 ity to escape him. Presents were frequent- 
 ly exchanged — the sugar-cane and the 
 bunch of green gram, which are the sym- 
 bols of hearts knit together in the bonds 
 of unity, arrived with the same regularity 
 as the week, coupled of course with a de- 
 scription of some " pleasing thing" that 
 was not to be found in Goncho. The lemon, 
 denoting by its aromatic fragrance the beau- 
 ties of permanent amity, was ever sure to 
 follow the receipt of the desired article, as 
 the article was sure to be sent. Profes- 
 sions daily grew more profuse, and com- 
 plimentary inquiries, which constitute the 
 very essence of friendship, waxed more and 
 more frequent ; but although the regard 
 entertained " amounted to even heaven and 
 earth," and although every aid and assist- 
 ance was volunteered, no packet of letters 
 ever arrived to the address of the Gyptzis, 
 neither did any courier ever depart for the 
 sea-coast, without being subjected to a te- 
 dious detention on the frontier at the hands 
 of the despotic state jailer. 
 
 On the first of these occasions, the king, 
 before sending the packet to the residency, 
 had taken the trouble of breaking the seal 
 of every individual cover with his own royal 
 fingers ; and a protest having been entered 
 against a procedure so utterly foreign to 
 European ideas of propriety, his majesty 
 inquired, with well-feigned simplicity, "Of 
 what use should my children's letters be 
 to me, who understand not their language ?" 
 Remonstrances w r ere in like manner made 
 to the abogaz, touching his interference in 
 such matters ; but as the crafty old fox 
 screened himself behind total ignorance 
 of the value attached to written documents, 
 and volunteered better behavior, the sub- 
 ject was set at rest. 
 
 But although letters were now thorough- 
 ly understood to be held in higher estima- 
 tion even than fine gold from Gurague,the 
 evil, far from being abated, became greater 
 and greater, until at last it was no longer 
 to be borne. Promises made, were made 
 only to be broken ; and a serious complaint 
 was at last, carried to the throne at Angol- 
 lala, representing that another packet had 
 been secreted during an entire fortnight ia 
 
THE EX- WULASMA— ABYSSINIAN CHARACTER. 
 
 331 
 
 the fortified vaults of Goncho. After stout- 
 ly denying all knowledge of it, until con- 
 victed by incontrovertible evidence, and 
 then declaring it to be deposited, for safety- 
 sake, in the custody of his brother Jhalia, 
 who was absent on the frontier, he was 
 commanded to set out forthwith upon the 
 quest, and to return at his peril empty- 
 handed. " Our friendship has ceased for 
 ever," muttered the burly caitiff betwixt 
 his closed teeth as he descended the lad- 
 der — " for through your means the king 
 hath become wroth with his servant." 
 " Let his friendship go into the sea," quoth 
 his majesty, who had overheard this ap- 
 palling announcement — " Is not he an ac- 
 cursed Islam ? Look only to me. Have I 
 not always told you that my people are bad ? 
 Ye have travelled far into a strange land, 
 and are to Sahela Selassie even as his own 
 children. Ye have no relative but me." 
 
 The escape of the rebel Medoko had 
 formerly led to the suspension of the 
 abogaz from rank and office for a period 
 of two years, during which he danced at- 
 tendance upon the monarch with shoulders 
 bared, as is the wont of the disgraced 
 noble. His troubles had now returned. 
 " My ancestors owed a debt of gratitude 
 to Mohammad's father," continued his 
 majesty after a pause, " and I would fain 
 overlook his faults ; but this insolence is 
 no longer to be borne. I have removed 
 the drunkard from office, confiscated his 
 goods and chattels, and by the death of 
 Woosen Suggud, I swear, that unless you 
 intercede, there can be no hope of his 
 restoration to favor." 
 
 Down came the ex-wulasma in a furious 
 passion, boiling with old hydromel, and 
 flushed with his rapid ride : " How should 
 I know that you wanted these vile letters ?" 
 he exclaimed, throwing the packet scorn- 
 fully upon the ground — " I have done no- 
 thing. What offence have I committed, 
 that I am thus to suffer through your 
 means ? There is a proverb, that the dog 
 of the house is faithful to its master, but 
 that he who coraeth from beyond is worse 
 than a hyena." 
 
 But a week had wrought a wonderful 
 change in the sentiments of the humbled 
 functionary, whose beeves were indeed 
 grazing in the royal pastures, and his jars 
 of old mead reposing in the royal cellars. 
 He at whose sullen nod the subjects of 
 Efat quailed, and whose presence was as 
 an incubus to the state-prisoners in Gon- 
 cho, had been, at the representation of a 
 foreigner, stripped of wealth. and power, 
 and, in accordance with the usage of the 
 country, was now fain to wait durino- a 
 22* 
 
 succession of days upon those whom he 
 had injured. Seating himself at the door 
 of the tent in sackcloth and ashes, he sent 
 in two friends, who came, according to 
 the custom of the country, to serve as me- 
 diators. " Behold, I am reduced to the 
 condition of a beggar," was his abject mes- 
 sage, " and have no support but in your 
 intercession. My children are deprived 
 of their bread, and they starve through the 
 faults of their father." 
 
 The commander-in-chief of the body 
 guard was spokesman on behalf of the 
 caitiff. He brought, as a mamalacha, a 
 huge Sanga horn, filled to the brim with 
 the liquor that he loved, and his eloquence 
 was in truth quite irresistible. "Half the 
 people of Habesh," quoth old Katama in 
 his husky voice, "have ears like a hill, 
 and they cannot hear — the residue are 
 liars. Furthermore, one half are thieves 
 and drunkards, and the remainder are 
 cowards." There was no refuting the 
 brave general's argument. A solemn oath 
 was therefore administered upon the Koran, 
 by which the suppliant, who, in his own 
 person, united nearly all the attributes em- 
 braced in this able classification, pledged 
 himself never again to interfere with mes- 
 sengers bearing letters to or from the low 
 country. His pardon was finally obtained; 
 and he was once more invested with the 
 silver sword of office : nor is it easy to de- 
 termine whether the disgrace or the resto- 
 ration of the fat frontier functionary cre- 
 ated the greater sensation throughout the 
 realm. 
 
 " What can you expect from that be- 
 sotted old man ?" inquired Ay to Melkoo, 
 who had been a silent spectator of all that 
 passed, and who hated both the abogaz and 
 his mediator with equal intensity. " Did 
 you never hear that the king was once 
 displeased with me, and that I passed a 
 few months beneath the grates at Goncho 
 — and furthermore, that when the order 
 came to set me at large, the state jailer 
 was drunk, and never thought again of 
 his prisoner for a full fortnight ? Tfye in- 
 fidel may swear as long as he pleases, and 
 take his sacred book to witness ; but how 
 can you suppose that he will ever be able 
 to think of these letters of yours ?" 
 
 CHAPTER CXXXIII. 
 
 THE BEREAVEMENT. 
 
 A calamity shortly afterward over- 
 took the master of the horse, whose spouse 
 
332 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 — a gift from the monarch to his faithful 
 subject — was seized with alarming influen- 
 za, and became an object of universal at- 
 tention. The first intimation of the dis- 
 order being serious was received from 
 himself, when he came one morning to 
 perform the interesting operation of shaving 
 with a notched razor that he invariably 
 patronized, and also to demand how it oc- 
 curred that inquiries were not more fre- 
 quently made. The not dispatching cou- 
 riers daily to ascertain how each of your 
 friends fare and have rested is perhaps the 
 greatest offence that can be committed 
 against Abyssinian etiquette. " Send to 
 me," is a caution invariably given ; and 
 such being an indispensable constituent 
 when people are believed to be well, what 
 must not be exacted when it is supposed 
 that they are invalids ? If hourly inquiries 
 be not instituted at full length, the best 
 friends are sure to become the worst ; and 
 in every case the amount of real solicitude 
 felt, is estimated by the frequency of "ami- 
 cable correspondence." 
 
 "The patient's uvula has been cleverly 
 plucked out with a silken thread," ob- 
 served the visitor exultingly, when his 
 toilet was happily completed : " the thorax 
 has been well scarified, and furthermore, 
 we are giving ya medur oomboi. This 
 medicine is infallible ; but remember," he 
 added, lowering his voice, and looking 
 suspiciously round to see that no eaves- 
 dropper profitted by the wisdom that he 
 was about to impart in confidence — "re- 
 member that it must be gathered by a 
 finger on which there is a silver ring, or 
 it possesses no virtue whatever." 
 
 The good lady did not, however, long 
 stand in need either of treatment or in- 
 quiry. She closed her bright eyes short- 
 ly after swallowing the infallible nostrum, 
 administered by her quack husband in a 
 jorum of oatmeal gruel, stirred with honey 
 and rancid butter to such a consistency that 
 the spoon would stand — and death left her 
 barely time for confession and absolution. 
 
 Every priest in the neighborhood was 
 instantly called in to the rescue ; and the 
 enchifchif* and mateb having been im- 
 mersed in water, and restored to the body, 
 the sacrament was administered ; and under 
 the blazing light of the torch prayers were 
 chanted for the soul of the deceased until 
 the morning dawned. 
 
 Then commenced the frantic shrieks of 
 the female crowd that flocked to the house 
 of mourning. Cloths were torn in shreds 
 from the bosom, and the skin plucked 
 ■ 
 
 * i. e. Belt of charms and amulets. 
 
 from the temples, while the low moaning 
 dirge was at frequent intervals interrupted 
 by the hysterical sob of some new arrival, 
 who came to add her voice to the dismal 
 coronach, and to excite renewed bursts of 
 lamentation. 
 
 Preceded by the gay orange umbrellas 
 of the church of the " Covenant of Mercy," 
 the funeral procession wound up the pal- 
 ace-hill. A pail of printed Surat chintz, 
 supported by six bearers, was waved alter- 
 nately with a fanning motion, while a nu- 
 merous train of mourners followed, with 
 loud wails, all having their hands clasped 
 behind the neck in token of the triumph 
 obtained by Death over Sin. The corpse 
 was laid in the sacred edifice, surrounded 
 by twelve lighted tapers betokening purity 
 of life ; and when these were nearly con- 
 sumed, they were lowered with the bier 
 | into the sepulchre. The head was laid to 
 ; the west, in order that on the morn of 
 j resurrection the face might be toward the 
 rising sun. A quantity of frankincense 
 { was deposited in the grave ; and a copy of 
 I the book styled Lefufa Zedik, " The Sup- 
 : plication of Righteousness," having been 
 | placed on the body, the mortal clay was 
 I returned whence it came, " ashes to ashes. 
 | and dust to dust." 
 
 Ecclesiastics alone possess the privilege 
 ' of a last resting-place within the walls of 
 j the church, or on the eastern side four 
 paces from the porch. The aristocracy 
 occupy the north, and warriors, women, 
 ; and children the south and west. All who 
 i die without confession or absolution are 
 either interred by the highway-side or in 
 some unconsecrated ground. Governors, 
 men of rank, and all wealthy commoners 
 who have not during life worked in wood, 
 iron, or precious metals, are covered in the 
 sepulchre with the green branches of the 
 juniper ; but smiths and artificers being 
 regarded as sorcerers, every care is taken 
 to keep them under ground when once de- 
 posited, to which end great stones are 
 heaped over the body, and the earth is 
 well trampled and secured. 
 
 Funeral obsequies concluded, the dirge 
 of mourning, as usual, gave place to the 
 notes of the violin, for harpers and fiddlers 
 usually attend to the last resting-place the 
 mortal remains of the great, and exert 
 their utmost endeavors to raise the spirits 
 of the return party by the liveliest airs. 
 At the funeral feast which followed, oxen 
 and sheep were freely slaughtered, and 
 charity was liberally distributed, in order 
 that requiems might be chanted during 
 forty consecutive days for the soul of the 
 departed. 
 
THE GREAT ANNUAL FORAY— METTA GALLA. 
 
 333 
 
 It has been shown that the Abyssinian 
 Christian, while execrating* Mohammadan- 
 ism, and forswearing- every Moslem abom- 
 ination, can take unto his bosom four wives 
 and more, and that the solemnization of 
 matrimony is almost the only occasion on 
 which the priest is not called in. Such 
 had ever been the case in the house of the 
 master of the horse, who was nevertheless 
 inconsolable under his present bereave- 
 ment. Certain malicious whispers had 
 flown abroad to the effect that applications 
 of the cudgel were sometimes resorted to 
 by the epicure in support of his marital au- 
 thority ; but whether true or without foun- 
 dation, these scandalous tales were known 
 to have been circulated by Dinkoo, a mis- 
 chief-making brat with the falsest of 
 tongues, and the offspring of one whose 
 divorce, from incompatibility of temper, 
 had left the deceased undisputed mistress 
 of the premises, whereas of " Etagainya" 
 on the contrary, the neighbors were wont 
 to say that which her name implied, 
 "Where shall you find her equal ?" 
 
 At the appointed season, the customary 
 visit of condolence was not omitted, con- 
 siderable difficulty being nevertheless ex- 
 perienced in shaking off the attentions of 
 the court buffoon, who, with his wonted 
 politeness, exerted somewhat mal-a-propos 
 to so melancholy an occasion, did insist 
 upon the exercise of his ingenuity in the 
 comic drama. The widower, enveloped 
 in a black woollen mantle, was seated in 
 a gloomy corner, the very personification 
 of mourning — his temples deeply scarified 
 with his little finger nail, as were those 
 also of the wrinkled old woman who wept 
 beside him. In an opposite corner, equally 
 the victim of grief, and supported by the 
 family priest with cross, crutch, and cowl, 
 sat Marietta, a fat daughter of the former 
 unfortunate union, who, like her mother, 
 had been wedded and divorced, and having 
 taken shelter again under her father's roof, 
 was now sobbing aloud. 
 
 " God hath taken her," said one of the 
 guests, breaking silence after the conclu- 
 sion of the customary salutations. 
 
 " Alas !" sobbed the bereaved, " that it 
 had pleased heaven to spare her until after 
 you had left Abyssinia, that I alone might 
 have found cause of affliction. Who could 
 prepare shiro, wotz, and dilli like Eta- 
 gainya ? When was the house ever des- 
 titute of quanta or of qualima ?* and who 
 ever asked for tulldh or for tudji, that she 
 
 * Shiro, a sauce composed of peas or lentils boiled 
 with grease and spices. Wotz, another, consisting of 
 grease and red pepper. Dilli, a third abominable con- 
 diment. Quanta, sun-dried flesh. Qualima, sausages 
 
 did not reply, " Malto," There is abund- 
 ance ? Where shall \ / find her equal ? 
 But there could have been no ring on the 
 linger that gathered the medanit /" 
 
 CHAPTER CXXXIV. 
 
 THE GREAT ANNUAL FORAY. 
 
 Another Abyssinian year had been 
 borne upon the stream of time, to join the 
 years that are beyond the flood ; and again 
 the return of spring had been celebrated 
 by the green fillet of e?ikotatach, by the 
 tournament in the bright meadows of De- 
 bra Berhan ; and by the plaintive ditty of 
 the king's guragues, who, with the yellow 
 garlands of the cross-flower wreathed 
 among their raven tresses, once more 
 chanted away their three days of privileg- 
 ed days of inebriety. As September drew 
 toward a close, it had been confidently 
 predicted that the rain would terminate 
 according to its " covenant ;" but it still 
 poured on with unabated violence ; and 
 the review of Maskal was achieved under 
 a pitiless deluge, which exerted its best 
 endeavors both to mar the pageant, and to 
 extinguish the evening bonfire raised in 
 honor of St. Helena. 
 
 But the beat of the nugareet, and the 
 voice of the herald beneath the solitary 
 tree at Angollala, proclaimed the great an- 
 nual foray as heretofore ; and the plain be- 
 low the palace-hill was soon dotted with 
 the black woollen tents of the leaders of 
 cohorts. There were the governors of 
 Bulga and of Mentshar, and of Morat and 
 Morabeitie, and Efrata and Antzochia, and 
 of Mahhfood and of Shoa Meda, with all 
 their subordinates, each surrounded by his 
 own retainers ; and the rear division of 
 this feudal host was placed under the com- 
 mand of Besuenech, now governor of Gid- 
 dem, the father of the king's grand nephew, 
 who fell the preceding year upon the fair 
 plains of Germama. 
 
 Led on to victory by the holy ark of St. 
 Michael, the great crimson umbrellas 
 streamed again through the barrier wall at 
 the head of the Christian chivalry. Twenty 
 thousand troopers pursued the route of the 
 Sertie Lake to the Metta Galla, occupying 
 the plains immediately contiguous to the 
 valley of Finfinni, and who were now the 
 victims marked out for spoliation. The 
 despot had so invariably passed this tribe 
 without offering any molestation, that the 
 heathen were little prepared for the thun- 
 
334 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 der-bolt that was about to fall ; and of 
 • which the first intimation was afforded in 
 the simultaneous investiture of the entire 
 tract. Overwhelmed by the torrent of des- 
 olation which had so suddenly burst in, 
 four thousand five hundred Gentiles of all 
 ages were butchered by the soldiers of 
 Christ ; and of these, the greater number 
 were shot from the trees that they had as- 
 cended in the vain hope of eluding observ- 
 ation. Three hapless individuals were 
 thus barbarously destroyed by the hands 
 of Sahela Selassie, who for the first time 
 led his troops to the summit of the moun- 
 tain Entotto — the ancient capital of Ethi- 
 opia — and, taking formal possession, ap- 
 pointed the arch-rebel Shambo to the gov- 
 ernment, under the title of " Shoorn of all 
 Gurague." 
 
 Forty-three thousand head of cattle were 
 on this occasion swept away to replenish 
 the royal pastures ; and the rich prize had 
 been obtained with the loss of only nine of 
 the king's liege subjects. Of the heroes 
 who fell, one was torn by a lion in the 
 deep juniper forest ; and another basely as- 
 sassinated by his comrade in arms, whose 
 disfigured corse was subsequently left in 
 retribution to the hyenas ; while a third, a 
 priest of extraordinary piety, and the father 
 of the young page Besabeh, was transfixed 
 by the spear of a Pagan, who sat conceal- 
 ed amid the branches of a tree, beneath 
 which the holy man rode in a rash attempt 
 to secure a fugitive. The king's master 
 of the horse wore the vaunting green 
 sareti, for having achieved the capture of a 
 child scarce five years of age, whom he 
 had cut over the leg, and otherwise cruelly 
 mutilated. Hundreds of murderous tro- 
 phies were again piled in a heap before 
 the monarch ; and upward of one thousand 
 captives, chiefly women and young girls, 
 swelled the barbaric pomp of triumphal en- 
 try to Angollala, when men and horses 
 glittered in brass and scarlet. All were, 
 however, immediately liberated without 
 ransom, upon remonstrance made to the 
 throne. " I listen to your words," said his 
 majesty, as he again issued the fiat of re- 
 lease, " that the name of Sahela Selassie 
 be not broken." 
 
 Such is a sad picture of the atrocities 
 perpetrated by the undisciplined armies of 
 Ethiopia, when disputing the abstruse mys- 
 teries of Abyssinian divinity, or seeking, 
 in the relentless fury of religious hate, to 
 exterminate a heathen and stranger nation 
 by a series of crusades undertaken as an 
 acceptable vindication of the sacred sym- 
 bol of Christianity. 
 
 "Her badge of mercy blazons half their shields; 
 Sword hilts are fashion'd as memorials of it: 
 The sign of man's forgiveness leads to battle ! 
 While every tyrant hangs its ensign out, 
 In scorn of justice, from his battlements ; 
 Mail'd prelates march before it to the field — 
 Priest fights with priest, and both sides under it ! 
 This sign and pledge of mercy !" 
 
 The Abyssinians have fully adopted that 
 spirit of merciless destruction which im- 
 pelled the Israelites to destroy their ene- 
 mies from the faith of the earth. Consid- 
 ering themselves the lineal descendants of 
 those heroes of ancient history who were 
 arranged against the enemies of the Lord, 
 they are actuated by the same motives and 
 feelings which led the bands of Judah to 
 the massacre. The foe is a pagan, who 
 does not fast, nor kiss the church, nor wear 
 a mateb. All feelings of humanity are 
 thrown to the winds ; and a high reward 
 in heaven is believed to await the king and 
 the blood-thirsty soldier for the burning of 
 the hamlet, the capture of the property, 
 and the murder of the accursed Gentile. 
 The words of absolution from the mouth 
 of the father confessor usher in the ruth- 
 less slaughter ; and the name of the Most 
 High is wantonly employed to consecrate 
 the ensuing scenes of savage atrocity. 
 
 That the minds of the people should not 
 be more disturbed and alienated from agri- 
 cultural pursuits, by the continued military 
 expeditions they are thus called upon to 
 make, cannot fail to appear extraordinary. 
 Probably the selfishness of the despot, in 
 his appropriation of the lion's share of the 
 spoil, has exerted a salutary influence in 
 checking innate restlessness ; and the sub- 
 ject has been instructed in a rough school, 
 that there is more profit to be derived from 
 holding the plough than from wielding the 
 sword : for it is certainly the fact, that when 
 the foray is over, the war-horse is turned 
 loose in the meadow, and the partisan wil- 
 lingly returns to his peaceful avocations in 
 the field. But three campaigns bring an- 
 nually a repetition of the most atrocious 
 and monstrous barbarity, so revolting in 
 itself, as to disgrace any terming themselves 
 a people ; and none who have witnessed 
 the unhallowed proceedings of the Amhara 
 warrior can fail to offer up a fervent prayer, 
 that the time may be hastened, when na- 
 tions shall be knit together in the bonds of 
 love, and when true Christianity shall reign 
 paramount in every heart. 
 
 December had now commenced, but a 
 dense gloomy mist still enveloped the hill 
 of Anko, and torrents of rain continued to 
 deluge the country, at a season when the 
 smiling sun had been wont to shine over 
 the land. The fair face of heaven was ut- 
 
 '* 
 
THE EARTHQUAKE— SWEEPING DESOLATION. 
 
 335 
 
 terly obscured. The ripe crops lay rotting 
 upon the ground : the hopes of the culti- 
 vator were wrecked by the mildew and the 
 fog ; and as the inhabitants waded with 
 difficulty through the deep mire which filled 
 every street and lane of the capital, the 
 exchange of mournful salutations was fol- 
 lowed by a foreboding shake of the head at 
 the daily increasing price of provisions. 
 The season emulated the rigor of an arctic 
 region ; and the firewood, wet and soaked 
 with the continued rain, hissing and sput- 
 tering upon the hearth, refused to impart 
 one atom of genial heat. On the bleak 
 summit of the Abyssinian alps everything 
 was cold and clammy to the touch ; and a 
 dull gusty wind, creeping up the damp sides 
 of the hill, entered at each crevice in the 
 mud wall, and rendered the situation of the 
 inmates of the frail houses even more mis- 
 erable than usual. 
 
 As the evening of an eventful night* 
 closed in, which was to witness the destruc- 
 tion of a portion of the capital, not a single 
 breath of wind disturbed the thick fog 
 which still brooded over the mountain. A 
 sensible difference was perceptible in the 
 atmosphere, but the rain again commenced 
 to descend in a perfect deluge, and for 
 hours pelted like the discharge of the burst- 
 ing water-spout. Toward morning a vio- 
 lent thunder-storm careered along the crest 
 of the range, and for some minutes the 
 entire scene was fearfully illuminated by 
 the dazzling fire of heaven ; and every rock 
 and cranny reechoed from the succeeding 
 crash of the hurtling thunder. Deep dark- 
 ness again settled over the mountain. 
 Then the earth groaned and trembled to 
 its very centre : the hill reeled and tottered 
 like a drunken man ; and a heavy rum- 
 bling noise, like the passage of artillery 
 wheels, was followed by the shrill cry of 
 mortal despair. 
 
 The earth, saturated with moisture, had 
 slidden like an avalanche from the steep 
 rugged slopes, and huge rocks, heaved from 
 their cradles, pursued a sweeping course 
 into the glens below. Houses and cottages 
 were engulfed and buried in the dark de- 
 bris, or shattered to fragments by the mon- 
 strous masses bounding on their course 
 with terrific rapidity. Trees were uptorn 
 from their resting-place of ages ; and day- 
 light presented to the eyes of the affrighted 
 inhabitants a strange scene of ruin. 
 
 Perched upon the apex of the conical 
 peak, the palace had, on the preceding 
 evening, frowned over the capital in all the 
 security of its numerous encircling pali- 
 
 * December the 6th. 
 
 sades ; but now, shorn of their bristling 
 protection, those buildings that had not 
 been overthrown stood naked and exposed. 
 Twenty open breaches, as though heavy 
 batteries had been playing for a fortnight 
 on the devoted hill, swept up to the very 
 porch of the banqueting-hall ; and palings 
 and palisadoes, hurled from their deep foun- 
 dations, lay broken and mingled together, 
 strewed over the entire face of the emi- 
 nence. The roads along the scarp were 
 completely obliterated. Tall green shrubs 
 reclined with their roots reversed among 
 the wreck ; and not one vestige of the fra- 
 gile tenements could be discovered in the 
 bare earthy tracts which disfigured the 
 mountain-side, and marked the disastrous 
 course of the treacherous slip. 
 
 The more vigilant inmates had, with the 
 loss of all their little property, found barely 
 time to rush from the interior, and, hud- 
 dled together in shivering groups totally 
 denuded of clothing, had passed the rem- 
 nant of the night in all the pangs of cold 
 and terror ; while in the market-place lay 
 -extended the stark discolored bodies of nu- 
 merous victims that had been already ex- 
 tricated from the slimy ruins, and were 
 placed in the Arada for recognition by sur- 
 viving relatives, if any there were. The 
 shrieks of the mourners added to the dis- 
 tress of the scene. The hymn of entreaty 
 rose high in the mist from every church 
 throughout the town ; and bands of priests, 
 carrying the holy cross, marched in solemn 
 procession through the miry streets, beat- 
 ing their breasts and calling aloud upon 
 Saint Michael the archangel, and upon 
 Mary the mother of the Messiah, to inter- 
 cede for them in this the day of their afflic- 
 tion. 
 
 Sweeping desolation had spread for miles 
 along the great range : houses with their 
 inmates and household gear had been hur- 
 ried away, and scattered in fragments over 
 the mountain-side ; and the voice of wail- 
 ing from the green hill-top and from the 
 sheltered nook, announced the many vic- 
 tims that were thus immaturely buried in 
 the dark bosom of the earth. The destruc- 
 tion varied considerably according to sit- 
 uation and locality. Some villages were 
 entirely smothered under the descending 
 tons of heavy wet soil, and the inhabitants 
 of others grieved only for their cattle, their 
 crops, and their farm-steading; but the loss 
 of life and property was altogether im- 
 mense ; and although the tremulous shock 
 had been before frequently experienced, a 
 similar to the present calamity had not be- 
 fallen the country within the memory of 
 man. 
 
336 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 For many nights afterward, as the thick 
 mist still continued to enwrap the mountain 
 in its dark shroud, and the sloppy rain 
 plashed heavily over the denuded rocks, 
 the air at the close of each dull evening 
 was filled with the plaintive sounds of hymn 
 and prayer. The deep voice of the priest- 
 hood pealed incessantly from the churches ; 
 and groups of bewildered females, collected 
 in every corner of the streets, bowed them- 
 selves to the ground, while calling in 
 strangely wild cadence upon the Virgin, 
 who is the Mediator, and upon all the saints 
 and guardian angels, to preserve the be- 
 lievers in Christ from impending ruin — for 
 the wise men who deal in sorcery had pro- 
 claimed that the present throe was only the 
 harbinger of the wrath of Heaven, which 
 would one day sweep the high mountain 
 of Anko with all her inhabitants utterly 
 from the face of the earth. 
 
 CHAPTER CXXXV. 
 
 LIBERATION OF THE PRINCES OF THE BLOOD 
 ROYAL OF SHOA. 
 
 Humanity to his own subjects must be 
 considered a distinguishing feature in the 
 character of the reigning despot ; and al- 
 though his manifold good qualities are sul- 
 lied by the part he sustains in the odious 
 traffic in his fellow-men — a moral plague 
 which has by its baleful influence contam- 
 inated the entire continent, whereof Shoa 
 forms not the six hundredth part — he had, 
 on more occasions than one, evinced an 
 unlooked-for readiness to open his eyes to 
 his errors. Possessed of faults insepara- 
 ble from the absolute semi-barbarian, he 
 had, nevertheless, been found mild, just, 
 clement, and almost patriarchal in his gov- 
 ernment — he is a monarch whom experi- 
 ence has proved worthy to reign over a 
 better people, and to be possessed of an 
 understanding and of latent virtues requir- 
 ing nought save cultivation to place him 
 in a moral and intellectual point of view, 
 immeasurably in advance of other African 
 potentates. 
 
 In the mind of this powerful Christian 
 autocrat, wielding the sceptre in the heart 
 of heathen Africa, and exercising a wide 
 influence over the destinies of surround- 
 ing millions, had already been aroused a 
 sense of the wickedness and degradation 
 attaching in civilized lands to barter in the 
 flesh and blood of the sons of Adam. He 
 then it was who, of all others, might be 
 exhorted with the best prospect of success, 
 
 to break through the barbarous precaution- 
 ary policy under which those members of 
 the royal house who possess a contingent 
 claim to the crown, and in other Chris- 
 tian realms would hold the highest offices 
 and honors within its gift, had, through 
 every generation since the days of the son 
 of David, been doomed to chains in a living 
 grave. And from the fortunate fact of the 
 issue male of the present reign being 
 to two, might be derived the pleasant hope, 
 that if a statute so jealously guarded during 
 nearly three thousand years, could now 
 for once be infringed, it would not in all 
 probability be revived on the monarch's 
 demise. 
 
 Entertaining the liveliest fears of death, 
 his manifold superstitions were ever the 
 most easily awakened during sickness, 
 when the actions of his past life crowded 
 up in judgment before him. It was on 
 these occasions that, in order to quiet his 
 conscience, he made the most liberal vo- 
 tive offerings to the church and to the mo- 
 nastery, and that he gained the greatest 
 victories over his deep-rooted avarice ; and 
 it was on these occasions, therefore, that 
 the chord of his latent good feeling might 
 obviously be touched with the happiest re- 
 sult to the cause of humanity. 
 
 That singular blending of debauchery 
 and devotion which marks the royal vigils 
 has seriously impaired a constitution natu- 
 rally good. During a long succession of 
 years the Psalms of David and the strong- 
 est cholera mixture have equally shared 
 the midnight hours of the king ; and al- 
 though scarcely past the meridian of life, 
 he is subject to sudden spasmodic attacks 
 of an alarming character. In one of these 
 his restoration had been despaired of both 
 by the priests and his physicians ; and the 
 voice of wailing and lamentation already 
 filled the precincts of the palace. 
 
 Scarcely was it light ere there came a 
 page with an urgent summons to the pres- 
 ence. Pale and emaciated, with fevered 
 lip and bloodshot eye, the despot reclined 
 upon a couch in a dark corner of the closed 
 veranda, his head enveloped in a swathe of 
 white cloth, and his trembling arms sup- 
 ported by bolsters and cushions. Abba 
 Raguel, the dwarf father confessor, with 
 eyes swollen from watching, was rocking 
 to and fro, while he drowsily scanned an 
 illuminated Ethiopic volume, containing 
 the lives of the martyrs ; and in deep con- 
 sultation with the sick monarch was a fa- 
 vorite monk, habited like an Arab Bedouin 
 in a black goat's-hair cameline and a yel- 
 low cowl, but displaying the sacred cross 
 in his right hand. The loud voice of the 
 
SUCCESSFUL APPEAL— FOREIGN ASCENDENCY. 
 
 337 
 
 priesthood arose in boisterous song from 
 the adjacent apartment : strings of red 
 worsted had been tied round the monarch's 
 thumbs and great toes ; and the threshold 
 of the outer chamber was bedewed with 
 the still moist blood of a black bullock, 
 which, when the taper of life was flicker- 
 ing in the socket, had been thrice led round 
 the royal couch, and, with its head turned 
 toward the East, was then slaughtered at 
 the door, in the name of the Father, the 
 Son, and the Holy Ghost. 
 
 " My children," said his majesty in a 
 sepulchral voice, as he extended his burn- 
 ing hand toward his European visitors — 
 " behold, I am sore stricken. Last night 
 they believed me dead, and the voice of 
 mourning had arisen within the palace 
 walls, but God hath spared me until now. 
 Tell me the medicine for this disease." 
 
 An attempt was made to follow the eti- 
 quette of the Abyssinian court, by tasting 
 the draught prescribed ; but the king, 
 again extending his parched hand, protest- 
 ed against this necessity. "What need 
 is there now of this ?" he exclaimed re- 
 proachfully : " do not I know that you 
 would administer to Sahela Selassie noth- 
 ing that could do him mischief? My peo- 
 ple are bad ; and if God had not mercy on 
 me to restore me, they would deal evil with 
 you — and to strip you of your property 
 would even take away your lives." 
 
 The king had oftentimes been compli- 
 mented upon the mildness and equity of 
 his rule, and on the readiness with which 
 he gave ear to intercession on behalf of 
 the slave. The implicit confidence which 
 had supplanted all fear and suspicion in the 
 breast of his majesty, now favored a still 
 stronger appeal to his humanity, to his 
 magnanimity, and to his piety. He was 
 urged to take into favorable consideration 
 the abject condition of his royal brothers 
 — victims to a tyrannical and unnatural 
 statute, the legacy of a barbarous age, 
 which for centuries had resulted in such 
 incalculable misery and mischief. He was 
 reminded that it belongs unto those who 
 wield the sceptre to triumph over preju- 
 dices ; and that by the liberation of many 
 innocent captives, of whom, though pos- 
 sessing the strongest claim that blood can 
 give, he had perhaps scarcely even thought 
 during his long and prosperous reign, he 
 would perform an act alike acceptable to 
 Heaven, and calculated to secure to him- 
 self on earth an imperishable name. 
 
 " And I will release them," returned the 
 monarch, after a moment's debate within 
 himself. " By the holy Eucharist I swear, 
 and by the church of the Holy Trinity in 
 
 Koora Gadel, that if Sahela Selassie arise 
 from this bed of sickness, all of whom you 
 speak shall be restored to the enjoyment 
 of liberty." 
 
 The sun was shining brighter than usual, 
 through a cloudless azure sky, when the 
 British embassy received a welcome sum- 
 mons to witness the redemption of this 
 solemn pledge. The balcony of Justice 
 was tricked out in its gala suit; and 
 priests, governors, sycophants, and court- 
 iers, crowded the yard, as the despot, re- 
 stored to health, in the highest spirits and 
 good humor, took his accustomed seat 
 upon the velvet cushions. The mandate 
 had gone forth for the liberation of his 
 brothers and his blood relatives, and it had 
 been published abroad, that the royal kith 
 and kindred were to pass the residue of 
 their days free and unfettered near the 
 person of the king, instead of in the dark 
 cells of Goncho. 
 
 There were not wanting certain sapient 
 sages who gravely shook the head of dis- 
 approval at this fresh proof of foreign in- 
 fluence and ascendency, and who could in 
 nowise comprehend how the venerable 
 custom of ages could be thus suddenly 
 violated. The introduction of great guns, 
 and muskets, and rockets, had not been 
 objected to, although, as a matter of course, 
 the spear of their forefathers was esteemed 
 an infinitely superior weapon. Musical 
 clocks and boxes had been listened to and 
 despised, as vastly inferior to the jingling 
 notes of their own vile instruments ; and 
 the Gothic cottage, with its painted trel- 
 lises, its pictures, and its gay curtains, al- 
 though pronounced entirely unsuited to 
 Abyssinian habits, had been partially for- 
 given on the grounds of its beauty. But 
 this last innovation was beyond all under- 
 standing; and many a stupid pate was 
 racked in fruitless endeavors to extract 
 consolation in so momentous a difficulty. 
 The more liberal party were loud in their 
 praises of the king and of his generous in- 
 tentions ; and the royal gaze was with the 
 rest strained wistfully toward the wicket, 
 where he should behold once again the 
 child of his mother, whom he had not seen 
 since his accession, and should make the 
 first acquaintance with his uncles, the bro- 
 thers of his warrior sire, who had been incar- 
 cerated ere he himself had seen the light. 
 
 Stern traces had been left by the con- 
 straint of one third of a century upon the 
 seven unfortunate descendants of a royal 
 race, who were shortly ushered into the 
 court by the state jailer. Leaning heavi- 
 ly on each other's shoulders, and linked 
 together by chains bright and shining with 
 
338 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 the friction of \ears, the captives shuffled 
 onward with cramped and minute steps, 
 rather as malefactors proceeding to the 
 gallows-tree, than as innocent and abused 
 princes, regaining the natural rights of 
 man. Tottering to the foot of the throne, 
 they fell as they had been instructed by 
 their burly conductor, prostrate on their 
 faces before their more fortunate but des- 
 potic relative, whom they had known here- 
 tofore only by a name used in connection 
 with their own misfortunes, and whose 
 voice was yet a stranger to their ears. 
 
 Rising with difficulty at the bidding of 
 the monarch, they remained standing in 
 front of the balcony, gazing in stupid won- 
 der at the novelties of the scene, with eyes 
 unaccustomed to meet the broad glare of 
 day. At first they were fixed upon the 
 author of their weary captivity, and upon 
 the white men by his side who had been 
 the instruments of the termination — but 
 the dull, leaden gaze soon wandered in 
 search of other objects ; and the approach 
 of freedom appeared to be received with 
 the utmost apathy and indifference. Im- 
 mured since earliest infancy, they were 
 totally insensible to the blessings of liberty. 
 Their feelings and their habits had become 
 those of the fetter and of the dark dungeon. 
 The iron had rusted into their very souls ; 
 and, while they with difficulty maintained 
 an erect position, pain and withering des- 
 pondency were indelibly marked in every 
 line of their vacant and care-furrowed fea- 
 tures. 
 
 In the damp vaults of Goncho, where 
 heavy manacles on the wrists had been 
 linked to the ankles of the prisoners by a 
 chain so short as to admit only of a bent 
 and stooping posture, the weary hours of 
 
 the princes had for thirty long years been 
 passed in the fabrication of harps and 
 combs ; and of these relics of monotonous 
 existence, elaborately carved in wood and 
 ivory, a large offering was now timidly pre- 
 sented to the king. The first glimpse of 
 his wretched relatives had already dissi- 
 pated a slight shade of mistrust which had 
 hitherto clouded the royal brow. Nothing 
 that might endanger the security of his 
 reign could be traced in the crippled frames 
 and blighted faculties of the seven misera- 
 ble objects that cowered before him ; and, 
 after directing their chains to be unriveted, 
 he announced to all that they were free, and 
 to pass the residue of their existence near 
 his own person. Again the joke and the 
 merry laugh passed quickly in the balcony 
 — the court fool resumed his wonted avo- 
 cations ; and, as the monarch himself struck 
 the chords of the gaily-ornamented harp 
 presented by his bloated brother Amnon, 
 the buffoon burst into a high and deserved 
 panegyric upon the royal mercy and gene- 
 rosity. 
 
 '■' My children," exclaimed his majesty, 
 turning toward his foreign guests, after the 
 completion of this tardy act of justice to 
 those whose only crime was their consan- 
 guinity to himself — an act to which he had 
 been prompted less by superstition than by 
 a desire to rescue his own offspring from a 
 dungeon, and to secure a high place in the 
 opinion of the civilized world — " My child- 
 ren, you will write all that you have now 
 seen to your country, and will say to the 
 British queen that, although far behind the 
 nations of the white men, from whom Ethi- 
 opia first received her religion, there yet 
 remains a spark of Christian love in the 
 breast of the king of Shoa. 
 
 THE END. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 NO. I. 
 
 ROUTE FROM TAJURA TO ANKOBER. 
 
 Names of Stations. 
 
 Distance. 
 
 Supply of 
 Water. 
 
 Elevation above 
 
 tlio T .Atrial r»f* tltA 
 
 Latitude and Longitude. 
 
 
 Miles. 
 
 Furlongs. 
 
 L11C UCVC1 \jx UlC 
 
 Sea. 
 
 
 Tajura - 
 
 - - 
 
 - - 
 
 Well. 
 
 ■ 
 
 5 Lat. 11° 46' 35" N. 
 1 Long. 43° 0' 20" E. 
 
 Ambibo - 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 Do. 
 
 
 
 Dullool - 
 
 7 
 
 . 
 
 Do. 
 
 
 
 Sagallo - 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 Do. 
 
 - 
 
 Lat. 11° 40' 15" N. 
 
 Wareliss&n 
 
 14 
 
 . 
 
 None. 
 
 1697 
 
 
 Bahr Assal 
 
 16 
 
 - " - 
 
 Do. 
 
 Below 570 
 
 5 Lat. 11° 37' 30" N. 
 \ Long. 42° 33' 6" E. 
 
 Goongoonteh 
 
 16 
 
 m 
 
 Stream. 
 
 
 
 Allooli - 
 
 9 
 
 . 
 
 Pool. 
 
 228 
 
 
 Bedikurroof 
 
 16 
 
 - 
 
 Do. 
 
 
 
 Suggad^ra 
 
 8 
 
 - 
 
 Do. 
 
 . 
 
 Lat. 11° 19' 3" N. 
 
 Murrah 
 
 4 
 
 m 
 
 Well. 
 
 . 
 
 Lat. 11° 17' 3" N. 
 
 Duddee 
 
 15 
 
 . 
 
 Pool. 
 
 
 
 Gobaad - * - 
 
 12 
 
 _ 
 
 River. 
 
 1057 i 
 
 Lat. 11° 0' 54" N. 
 
 Sunkul 
 
 4 
 
 m 
 
 Pool. 
 
 
 
 Suggagddan 
 
 7 
 
 m 
 
 None. 
 
 - 
 
 Lat. 10° 53' 0" N. 
 
 Daw&ylaka 
 
 9 
 
 4 
 
 Pool.* 
 
 1228 
 
 
 Oomergooloof - 
 
 8 
 
 4 
 
 None. 
 
 
 
 Am&doo - 
 
 7 
 
 4 
 
 Pool. 
 
 
 
 Fialoo 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 Do. 
 
 1605 
 
 
 Bartirudda 
 
 15 
 
 . 
 
 None. 
 
 
 
 Killulloo - 
 
 12 
 
 . 
 
 Pool. 
 
 1542 
 
 Lat. 10° 34' 33" N. 
 
 Waramilli 
 
 7 
 
 . 
 
 Do. 
 
 1752 
 
 
 Naga-koomi 
 
 15 
 
 _ 
 
 None. 
 
 
 
 Meinha-tolli 
 
 15 
 
 . 
 
 Pool. 
 
 
 
 MadeYa-dubba - 
 
 15 
 
 4 
 
 None. 
 
 
 
 Sultelli - 
 
 17 
 
 _ 
 
 Do. 
 
 
 
 Maroo 
 
 13 
 
 _ 
 
 Lake. 
 
 
 
 Moolu-Zughir - 
 
 13 
 
 . 
 
 None. 
 
 
 
 Burdtidda 
 
 9 
 
 _ 
 
 Pool. 
 
 
 
 Hao 
 
 15 
 
 . 
 
 None. 
 
 . 
 
 Lat. 9° 39' 13" N. 
 
 H&wash River. 
 
 11 
 
 . 
 
 River. 
 
 2223 
 
 
 Azboti 
 
 12 
 
 4 
 
 Pool. 
 
 
 
 Dathara - 
 
 12 
 
 4 
 
 Stream. 
 
 2944 
 
 
 Dinomali - 
 
 5 
 
 . 
 
 Do. 
 
 
 
 Farri 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 Do. 
 
 
 
 Alio Amba 
 
 13 
 
 _ 
 
 Do. 
 
 5271 
 
 
 Ankdber - 
 Total distance - 
 
 5 
 
 - - 
 
 Do. 
 
 8200 
 
 5 Lat. 9° 34' 45" N. 
 1 Long. 39° 54' 0" E. 
 
 370 
 
 
 By the passage of the polar star over the meridian, the magnetic variation at Ank<5ber was 
 observed, with the aid of a well-regulated chronometer, to be 7° westerly. 
 
 The longitude was determined both by a series of lunars, and by the eclipses of Jupiter's 
 satellites, the mean of upward of 150 observations having been taken. 
 
NO. II. 
 
 REMARKS ON THE NATTTBtAL HISTORY OF THAT 
 PORTION OF THE ADEL COUNTRY SITUATED 
 ALONG THE ROUTE FROM THE SEA-COAST TO 
 THE FRONTIER OF EFAT. 
 
 From Tajura to Killulloo. 
 The advanced state of the season was un- 
 favorable for observations in the department of 
 natural history. Both animal and vegetable 
 life were apparently in a state of torpor ; the 
 trees and shrubs were in general leafless ; and 
 no annual plant whatever was to be seen, even 
 in the immediate vicinity of the watering- 
 places. The few insects that were not in a 
 state of chrysolis, seemed drowsily to procras- 
 tinate their existence until food for the new 
 generation should be prepared by nature. Am- 
 phibia, Saurii, and Ophidii, which are gene- 
 rally not so dependent on a supply of water, 
 existed in small numbers in their lurking-places, 
 while birds and larger animals must at this 
 season have migrated to more favored coun- 
 tries. 
 
 Basaltic and trachytic hills, either isolated or 
 in chains, rise at a distance of about half a mile 
 from the sea-shore, which is winding and shelv- 
 ing. The hills are in general rounded, and 
 marked by broad veins of similar composition, 
 but containing more perfectly crystallized fel- 
 spar, quartz, and zeolith. They have not the 
 sharp peak, but are broken and cliffy, and have 
 apparently been upheaved at different periods. 
 On leaving the shore, a most striking speci- 
 men of columnar basalt presented itself in the 
 ravine of Galeylafeo, which, for nearly half a 
 mile, runs through the heart of a huge moun- 
 tain. In width it is about 200 yards, and the 
 perpendicular pillars are 200 feet in height. It 
 is evident that water could not have been the 
 sole agent in producing such a huge cleft, al- 
 though at present the ravine presents the ap- 
 pearance of a regular watercourse. The 
 surrounding hills consist of the same rock, but 
 covered with loose boulders, which are much 
 stained with oxide of iron. 
 
 Among the confusion of volcanic masses on 
 the plain of Warelissan, excepting in some rare 
 cases, when the true lava stream could be traced 
 to its source, it was difficult to determine the 
 exact site of the craters from whence they had 
 been ejected. The hill which separates Bahr 
 Assal from the sea, with its singular tops of 
 
 limestone, slate, and creta, deserves a more 
 minute examination than could be given at this 
 season of withering heat. The western side is 
 the most interesting, as being more open and 
 disclosed ; there is, however, as in all forma- 
 tions in the vicinity of volcanic countries, no 
 uniform inclination of the layers. The range 
 bordering the eastern shore of the lake is basalt 
 and basaltic wacke ; on the western, it is partly 
 gypsum and limestone, but resting on basalt 
 
 The great salt lake is a deep extensive basin, 
 separated by an immense lava stream from the 
 remainder of the bay, the head of which it once 
 formed. Resembling the Dead Sea in the de- 
 pression of its level, in the density and chemical 
 constitution of the fluid, and in the loneliness, 
 sterility, and desolation of its borders, it yet 
 differs from it materially in the ways by which 
 volcanie action has produced the strange phe- 
 nomenon of the existence of shores so conside- 
 rably below the level of the ocean. In the 
 Dead Sea, the lake of Tiberias, and the valleys 
 of the Jordan between them, it has apparently 
 been a distortion and crushing of immense 
 masses which have subsided into subterranean 
 caverns. In the B&hr Assal it has been pro- 
 duced by the erection of a new bank, serving 
 as a dam or barrier across the head of a long 
 narrow bay, by which a considerable body of 
 sea- water was separated from the former com- 
 mon receptacle. As high as the level of the 
 Arabian Gulf are to be found, in the basin of 
 Bahr Assal, the salts and earthy (magnesian) 
 precipitates of the salt-water, which in the 
 course of time was reduced to its proper level 
 by evaporation, the yearly supply of rain-water 
 being but as a drop to the ocean. Huge heaps 
 of lava, having been apparently in strife with 
 the opposite element, are erected on the banks 
 over wacke, or in other cases over a finely- 
 grained soft marl. The latter, when clear of 
 lava, presents a thin layer of gypsum, with 
 numerous shells of Melania, Limnaeus, Physa, 
 Planorbis, Cyclostoma, Unio, and C yeas, some 
 of which are at present to be found in the dis- 
 tant fresh-water pools and rivulets. 
 
 The shallow water on the borders of the lake 
 presents natural salt-pans, and a crust of fine 
 salt, two inches thick and tolerably clean, covers 
 nearly the whole of the surface. The supply 
 would seem to be inexhaustible ; for when cut 
 out with a spaddle, a new crust is soon fur- 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 343 
 
 nished from the waters beneath. Being visited 
 by almost every tribe of the Adaiel and So- 
 mauli, and unhappily situated on the borders 
 of the most lawless and savage of them, this re- 
 markable spot is almost forbidden ground for the 
 observer, not to speak of the obstacles thrown 
 in the way by the destructive temperature and 
 the general absence of the necessaries of life. 
 
 In the ravine of Goongoonteh, and during 
 the continuation of the journey as far as Kil- 
 lulloo, slight variations of trap formation were 
 met with. The wacke is of a fine grain, and 
 its constituents are indistinctly mingled ; it is 
 traversed by empty holes and bubbles, and oc- 
 casionally by druses of zeolith. Coarse quartz, 
 sandstone, and conglomerates are sometimes 
 found toward the surface. The country must 
 have frequently been agitated by violent earth- 
 quakes, detaching huge masses of rocks from 
 the hills ; and, bereft^ alike of vegetation and 
 animal life, it presents altogether a most mo- 
 notonous appearance. 
 
 The lower classes of animals, of ephemeral 
 existence, are found on every living or vegeta- 
 ting body. 
 
 Of Coleoptera were observed : two species 
 of Pimelia (longipes,) one of Cetonia.of Copris 
 (Isidis,) of Erodius (gibbus,) several Staphylini 
 and one Gyrinus. 
 
 Of Orthoptera : Locusts, Blattidae, Mantidae, 
 Truxalidae. 
 
 Of Hymenoptera : several bees, especially 
 at Killulloo, one of which, marked with light 
 brown segments on the abdomen, and bearing 
 a long sting, was exceedingly annoying. 
 
 Of Piezata : many different ants. 
 
 Of Diptera and Hemiptera : several species. 
 
 Of Lepidoptera : two species of Papilio and 
 several of moths ; and it was a matter of great 
 wonder whence these butterflies obtained food 
 in a country where even one flower could not 
 be discovered. 
 
 Of Myriapoda : one lulus, and several Sco- 
 lopendra. 
 
 Arachnida were in great numbers: My- 
 gale, Epeira, Lycosa, and one small Androc- 
 tenus. 
 
 Of Crustacea : near the sea-shore a Pagurus 
 existed in astonishing numbers, and in the 
 sweet waters a Daphnis. 
 
 Vertebrates were still scarcer ; and the 
 
 Reptilia had their representatives in the 
 three orders Saurii, Ophidii, and Batrachii. A 
 small lizard, very agile, existed under stones ; 
 also serpents, Vipera and Coluber, and in moist 
 places Bufo and Rana. 
 
 Among the Birds — 
 
 Of Rapaces : Percnopterus and Falco are 
 numerous. 
 
 Of Gallinacea : Numida meleagris, and 
 various partridges. 
 
 Of Cursorii : Struthio-camelus and Otis. 
 
 Of CiconidcB : Ciconia Marabu. 
 
 Of Cantores : Corvus, Loxia, Sylvia, Vidua. 
 
 Of Mammalia, three species of Antelope, 
 one of Hyrax, one of Equus (Onager,) one of 
 
 Sus (Phacochserus ;) and fresh holes in the sand 
 indicated the presence of animals most proba- 
 bly of the order Rodentia. 
 
 The sheep of the country are the Hejaz lamb 
 (Ovis arieslaticaudata ;) white body and black 
 head and neck, covered with hair, and having 
 thick, short, fat tails ; male without horns. 
 The goats and cattle are generally small in 
 stature, of all colors, and surmounted with very 
 large horns. The shepherd dogs are small, 
 and spotted with yellow and white ; they have 
 long pointed sculls like the fox. 
 
 With regard to the flora of this part of the 
 country, the small quantity found in flower, be- 
 longs, with few exceptions, to the family of the 
 Leguminosa, among which the order of Mimo- 
 sea is the most extensive both in species and 
 specimens ; they are however all stunted and 
 shrubby, and seldom attain any size. Still the 
 only fuel and shade found during the journey, was 
 supplied by this tribe. There exist also seve- 
 ral Capparidt(R ; Cadaba, Scdada, Capparis. 
 Cadaba rotundifolia is the most common. 
 
 The Asclepiade<2 are represented in the Sta. 
 pelia pulvinata, which however was seldom 
 found in blossom, and in the Pergularia tomen- 
 tosa, with stately flowers and capsules. 
 
 The Malvacea existed in Ruitzia and Abu- 
 tilon ; and the other families found by the 
 wayside, Moringeee, Rutaceae, Tamariscineac, 
 Chenopodeae, Amaranthaceae, Cruciferae, pre- 
 sented only solitary specimens. 
 
 Of the Euphorbiacece there were but three ; 
 and of the Palm tribe there only appeared to 
 be two species, the Phoenix dactylifera and Hy. 
 phaene cucifera, both of which gradually dis- 
 appeared as the soil improved. 
 
 Nature has scattered the necessaries of ex- 
 istence with a niggard hand over these desert 
 plains, and the supply of water is indeed scanty. 
 In such a hot climate those pools which are not 
 fed by running streams, soon become adulte- 
 rated by the decomposition of organic and in- 
 organic matter. The wacke cannot resist any 
 long exposure, and thence the water imbibes 
 oxide of iron and muriate of soda, discovered 
 in the pools of Goongoonteh, Allooli, and Bedi 
 Kuroof; and again the numerous flocks and 
 cattle of the caravans which are driven into 
 the pools taint and corrupt the liquid in a still 
 more offensive manner. The fetid smell and 
 taste of the waters of Duwaylaka, Amadoo, 
 Fialoo, and Killulloo, is indeed so oppressive, 
 as to be subdued only by a considerable quan- 
 tity of spirit ; and moreover the deposited mud, 
 when stirred up, emits a volume of sulphuretted 
 hydrogen. During the wet season, all the lower 
 parts of the country are said to be exceedingly 
 unhealthy, violent storms and incessant rain in 
 the plains and wadies forcing the inhabitants 
 to retreat to the mountains. 
 
 From Killulloo to the foot of the Abyssinian 
 Mountains. 
 
 The desert of the Adaiel, spreading from the 
 sea to the foot of the Shoan Alps, is not alto- 
 
344 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 gether a plain, as it has been most likely in 
 remote ages, numerous wadies, with banks 
 more or less high, now intersecting the greater 
 part of it. These banks rise in some instances 
 to hills of firm rock, generally wacke. They 
 however consist of but lightly cemented con- 
 glomerates, or loose boulders. Toward the 
 middle, as the ground rises, distinct volcanoes 
 make their appearance, sometimes scattered 
 and solitary, with indistinct cones and craters, 
 completely covered with volcanic cinders, and 
 sending off sheets of lava in all directions ; or 
 in whole clusters, with cones and craters com- 
 plete, connected with each other, and environed 
 by belts of their products. The extensive plain 
 of Eyroluf is a solid level of a dark, black, un- 
 decayed lava. 
 
 The tract of land between Killulloo and 
 Dathara especially has been visited and over- 
 whelmed by the action from below, which, 
 having reversed the original disposition, has 
 covered the surface with the effects of its vio- 
 lence. There is little to be seen of the under 
 parts, although here and there some of the later 
 formation, the residuum of the calcareous wa- 
 ters, has spread like a thin coat over the low 
 grounds ; but violent commotions have again 
 and again altered and destroyed the first ap- 
 pearance, and it is now difficult to determine 
 the centre pool from whence the fiery stream 
 issued. In the absence of a main volcano and 
 a main volcanic range, it may be concluded 
 that, similar to some violent eruptions in South 
 America, large mountains have been thrown 
 up in the midst of former extensive plains, the 
 fluid and half-fluid matter having burst forth 
 wherever they were nearest to the surface. 
 
 Small extinct volcanoes were found on the 
 plains of Sultelli and Eyroluf. The road passes 
 close to the isolated cone of one of these, called 
 Jebel Helmund. The walls are straight and 
 black, covered with several smaller cones of 
 ashes ; the hill itself is about four hundred feet 
 in height ; the crater is on the eastern side, a 
 little below the top ; and the sides, which are 
 steep and sloping, are clothed With shrubs to- 
 ward the base. 
 
 On the road to Maroo stands a similar vol- 
 cano ; but the influence of these craters does 
 not seem to have extended far beyond the im- 
 mediate neighborhood, although there is a con- 
 nection between the whole cluster on the plain 
 of Mittur, which may be seen in the small lava 
 streams and debris of volcanic product on the 
 adjoining plains of Sultelli and Eyroluf. It is 
 not, however, apparent that they alone have 
 formed the present state of the surface, as the 
 south-eastern side of the plains is terminated 
 by a much older formation of wacke. 
 
 Between Meinha-tolli and Madera-dubba, 
 obsidian, pumice, clinkstone, and fresh-water 
 limestone containing shells of Melania, were 
 strewed about. Excellent soil is found in all 
 these situations, the low grounds being over- 
 flowed at some seasons, and, as in all volcanic 
 countries, producing much vegetation. The 
 
 extensive plains of Moolu and Burdudda are 
 thickly covered with grass, and intersected by 
 small brooks and pools, terminating toward the 
 Hawash in very broken, hilly ground, and the 
 large plain on the eastern bank of the river 
 bears every sign of being annually deluged. 
 
 The country of the Adaiel is throughout very 
 sparingly watered. During spring and autumn 
 the hills collect sufficient rain-water for nume- 
 rous rivulets, which after a course of scarcely 
 one mile are absorbed by the sands, and dry 
 up altogether by the end of the rains, while 
 the deep hollows and clefts in the firmer rock 
 preserve small quantities for the dry months 
 of the year. The Hawash itself, althpugh re- 
 ceiving all the rivers of Efat, and of the east- 
 ern declivity of the Shoan mountains, does not 
 reach the sea. The banks, thickly overgrown, 
 are about thirty feet in height, and very abrupt. 
 Its fall is scarcely perceptible, yet the rush of 
 the water is very considerable. 
 
 On the western bank, volcanic hills and 
 sheets of water again appear, the latter being 
 situated lower than the bed of the stream. 
 One of these, impregnated with alkali, is evi- 
 dently an old crater filled up, and supplied by 
 a hot mineral spring. The water is much es- 
 teemed for washing clothes ; it possesses a 
 hydrothionic smell and a bitter taste, resem- 
 bling that of the salt of magnesia ; but the bor- 
 ders are verdant, and a species of Cyperus 
 grows luxuriantly in the water. 
 
 This portion of the country, though still spa- 
 ringly supplied with the means of subsistence, 
 is more favorable for specimens of zoology than 
 the burning tract between Tajura and Killulloo. 
 
 Of Beetles the family Coprophaga had many 
 representatives : Scarabaeus, Copris, Ateuchus, 
 Onitis, Aphodius, Trox ; Melolontha ; four spe- 
 cies of Cetonia (on the Aloe ;) one Silpha, 
 Hister, Abax, Graphipterus, Anthia, Staphyli- 
 nus, Elater, Cantharis, Erodius, Moluris, Pime- 
 lia, Mylabris, Chrysomela. 
 
 Of Orthoptera, large flights of Gryllus mi- 
 gratorius were observed near Azboti. Acry- 
 dium and Gryllotalpa very common throughout. 
 Also many Neuroptera, and termite cones stud- 
 ding the face of the country. 
 
 Of Acephala only one, Unio, was found 
 near the Hawash. 
 
 A few frogs were seen in the waters, but no 
 fish; and although lizards abounded on the 
 land, there were no serpents. One large-sized 
 tortoise was picked up. 
 
 Birds of all descriptions inhabit the plains 
 and enliven the scanty woods ; the ostrich, Oris 
 arabs, the partridge, ducks, adjutant, Chara- 
 drius.spinosus, Psittacus, Lamprornis, Tanagra 
 erythrorhyncha, Pyrrhocorax. Of beasts, the 
 giant in creation, the elephant, and his rival in 
 hugeness, the hippopotamus, abound in the plain 
 of the Hawash ; and rapacious animals, the 
 lion, the leopard, and the hyaena, prowling 
 about the camp during the night, render indis- 
 pensable the protection of a stout thorn fence, 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 345 
 
 Of the order Rodentia the porcupine is com- 
 mon ; also a variety of rats. 
 
 Of Ruminantia : a few antelopes. 
 
 Of Fissungula : Hyrax. 
 
 Of Setigera : Phacocha?rus abyssinicus ; and 
 
 Of Lemurcs : Galago. 
 
 The flora, so dependent upon the nature of 
 the ground, offers little variety throughout this 
 tract, although a few new plants were found in 
 the favored plain of Sultelli. Four Co7npositce 
 (one Santolina,) three Leguminosa (one Cas- 
 sia, resembling Senna,) one Euphorbia (rotun- 
 difolia,) one Solatium, one Cucurbitacea (O- 
 cumis africanus,) one Crucifcra (Farp-itia 
 linearis,) three Malvacea. (Hibiscus urens, Al- 
 thaea spec.,) one Tiliacea- (Grewia sjvc.,) one 
 Cistinea (Helianthemum spec.,) one Acan- 
 thacea (Acanthus carduifolius,) four Gramincce, 
 one Cyperacea. 
 
 There were, however, no large timber-trees, 
 though edible berries of a sub-acid taste were 
 
 supplied from a Helianthemum and a Grewia. 
 Between Waiamilli and Naga Koomi the 
 shrubs of the Balsaiaodendron myrrha were 
 first discovered, am these continued as far as 
 the Hawash. Grass too is met with on the 
 wide plains. Large camel-thorn acacias, and 
 a strange tree of the family Capparidea, at in- 
 tervals interrupt the uniform desert waste ; but 
 even the luxuriant vegetation which prevails 
 on the banks of the Hawash contains little be- 
 sides the Tamarix africana. 
 
 A high jungle of Acacia extends near the 
 plain of Azboti, supplying an abundance of 
 sweet gum arabic, and the last stage to Datha- 
 ra is encumbered with the Aloe soccotrina. 
 There are also many line forest-trees in the 
 valley of Kokai, among which the Tamarindus 
 indica stands conspicuous : but no cultivation 
 whatsoever is to be seen during the entire pro- 
 gress of upward of three hundred miles from 
 the sea-coast to the green hills of Abyssinia. 
 
 NO. III. 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF THE FRANKINCENSE-TREE, AS 
 FOUND NEAR CAPE GUARDUFOI, ON THE SO- 
 MAULI COAST, BY CAPTAIN G. B. KEMPTHORNE, 
 INDIAN NAVY, COMMANDING THE HON. COM- 
 PANY'S SLOOP-OF-WAR " ^LIVE." ' 
 
 At Bunder Cassim, about one hundred miles 
 to the eastward of Berbera, the mountains 
 come close down to the coast. There is a pass 
 and road over them, and a few hours' walking 
 will, it is said, lead to a fine climate, and to a 
 beautifully fertile country, abounding in the 
 elephant, the rhinoceros, and the lion, and 
 thickly populated by pastoral tribes. Several 
 rivers take their sources in the high land, and, 
 flowing to the southward and eastward, fall 
 into the Indian Ocean, 4° or 5° north of the 
 equator. 
 
 The chief town of the Miggertheyn Somauli 
 JB at Bunder Maiyah, which lies twenty miles 
 S. W. of Ras Feeluk. The range is here 
 about 5000 feet in altitude, and three miles 
 from the shore. Ascending 1000 feet, a wide 
 plain presents itself, bounded on every side by 
 precipitous mountains studded with the frank- 
 incense and gum acacia-trees, but looking bare 
 and naked from the total absence of underwood. 
 
 The frankincense assumes the most singular 
 aspect, from the fact of its invariably growing 
 from the bare and smooth sides of the white 
 23 
 
 marble rocks of which these hills are composed, 
 without any soil whatever to nourish it. Many 
 of the trees have even attached themselves to 
 the huge masses that have rolled down into the 
 valley, and now lie scattered over the stony 
 surface. From the base of the trunk, and 
 about treble its diameter, a very round thick 
 substance is protruded, of a nature between 
 bark and wood. This adheres most firmly to 
 the stone, and at a distance resembles a mix- 
 ture of mortar and lime. From the centre of 
 the mas3 the stem, having first taken a bend or 
 curve outward of several inches, rises straight 
 up to a height of forty feet. It throws from 
 the top short branches covered with a very 
 bright green foliage, the leaves being narrow 
 and rounded at the end, five or six inches in 
 length by one broad, crimped like the frill of a 
 shirt ; or rather bearing a stronger resemblance 
 to that beautiful species of sea-weed found 
 along the coast of England, and styled by urch- 
 ins " the old gentleman's ruffles." 
 
 From a foot to eighteen inches is the usual 
 girth of the stem, and it tapers gradually away 
 to the summit. The bark is perfectly smooth, 
 and consists of four distinct layers. The outer- 
 most of all is very thin, and similar to that of 
 the beech. The two next are of a singularly 
 fine texture, resembling oiled letter-paper, per- 
 j fectly transparent, and of a beautiful amber 
 
346 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 color. It is used by the Somaulis to write 
 upon. The inner bark of all is about an inch 
 thick, of a dull-reddish hue, tough, and not un- 
 like leather, but yielding a strong aromatic 
 perfume. The wood is white and soft, and 
 might be applied to many useful purposes. By 
 making a deep incision into the inner rind, the 
 gum exudes profusely, of the color and consis- 
 tency of milk, but hardening into a mass by 
 exposure to the atmosphere. 
 
 The whole mountain range from Bundei 
 Maryah to Cape Guardufoi is composed of lime- 
 stone and marble, and near the latter place 
 especially the marble is so white and pure that 
 it approaches to alabaster. Pink and grayish 
 black are also common colors, and in parts it 
 might be mistaken for sandstone, until chipped 
 off with the hammer. On the plain visited the 
 frankincense is nowhere to be found resting 
 upon the ground, or upon any- sort of soil, and 
 
 the purer the marble to which it adheres the 
 finer the growth of the tree. It would seem 
 that this singular production of the vegetable 
 world derives its sole nourishment from carbo- 
 nate of lime. The young trees produce the 
 best and most valuable gum, the older merely 
 yielding a clear glutinous fluid resembling co- 
 pal varnish, and exhaling a strong resinous 
 odor. 
 
 During the southwest monsoon the pastoral 
 tribes in the neighborhood of Ras Feeluk col- 
 let large quantities of frankincense, which 
 they barter to the Banians, of whom a few re- 
 side -At the villages along the Abyssinian coast. 
 Boats from Maculla, and from other ports on 
 the opposite Arabian shore, also come across 
 during the fine season and carry away the 
 gums that have been accumulated, and which 
 are exchanged for a coarse kind of cotton cloth 
 worn by the Somanli. 
 
 NO. IV. 
 
 ABSTRACT OF A THERMOMETRICAL REGISTER KEPT AT ANKOBER, THE 
 CAPITAL OF SHOA, DURING THE YEARS 184i, 1842. 
 
 Months. 
 
 Means. 
 
 Extremes. 
 
 >> 
 '3 
 
 £Q 
 S 
 
 9 
 
 n 
 
 
 
 Winds. 
 
 w 
 I 
 
 «i . 
 
 E ° 
 
 C <3 
 
 a 
 
 s 
 
 > 
 
 ■a o 
 
 S3 
 
 T3 
 
 C 
 o 
 S3 
 
 E 
 
 i 
 
 M 
 
 a 
 
 IS 
 a 
 
 a 
 © 
 
 £ 
 
 a 
 S 
 '.E 
 
 S 
 
 c 
 
 a 
 
 Difference o* Mean 
 
 Temperature of 
 
 successive Months. 
 
 go 
 S-r 
 
 5 
 
 16 
 
 03 
 > 
 
 "5.2 
 
 £ 
 
 V 
 
 8 
 
 — 
 e . 
 
 1.1 
 il 
 
 V CS 
 
 24 
 
 ~ 2 
 
 * 3 
 
 65 
 
 2 £ 
 41 
 
 Direction. 
 
 Force. 
 
 January, 1842 
 
 52 
 
 127 
 
 583 
 
 45-6 
 
 0:2 
 
 1 E. & E> S. E. 
 
 Light. 
 
 February - 
 
 546 
 
 105 
 
 598 
 
 49-3 
 
 2-6 
 
 18 
 
 4 
 
 20 
 
 66 
 
 46 
 
 7. 
 
 E., S. E., E. S. E. 
 
 Light 
 
 March - - 
 
 572 
 
 115 
 
 629 
 
 515 
 
 2-6 
 
 16 
 
 6 
 
 23 
 
 69 
 
 4b 
 
 4 
 
 E. 
 
 Light. 
 
 April - - 
 
 552 
 
 7-7 
 
 59 
 
 513 
 
 2-0 
 
 11 
 
 2 
 
 16 
 
 62 
 
 46 
 
 14 
 
 E. 
 
 Strong. 
 
 May - 
 
 59-7 
 
 93 
 
 643 
 
 551 
 
 4-5 
 
 13 
 
 5 
 
 16 
 
 67 
 
 51 
 
 ■ 4 
 
 E. 
 
 Occy. Strong. 
 
 June 
 
 621 
 
 7-9 
 
 662 
 
 58 
 
 2-4 
 
 17 
 
 5 
 
 17 
 
 69 
 
 52 
 
 8 
 
 E. 
 
 Occy. Strong. 
 
 July 
 
 58-1 
 
 91 
 
 627 
 
 536 
 
 40 
 
 13 
 
 6 
 
 18 
 
 69 
 
 51 
 
 28 
 
 Variable. 
 
 Moderate. 
 
 August, 184J 
 
 55 8 
 
 97 
 
 607 
 
 50 
 
 23 
 
 13 
 
 7 
 
 16 
 
 63 
 
 47 
 
 26 
 
 Variable. 
 
 Moderate. 
 
 September 
 
 553 
 
 92 
 
 60 
 
 50-6 
 
 0-5 
 
 14 
 
 5 
 
 17 
 
 63 
 
 46 
 
 13 
 
 N. & E. 
 
 Strong. 
 
 October 
 
 521 
 
 105 
 
 576 
 
 46-hJ 
 
 32 
 
 13 
 
 5 
 
 18 
 
 62 
 
 44 
 
 4 
 
 N. N. E., E. 
 
 Strong. 
 
 November 
 
 519 
 
 11 6 
 
 577 
 
 46-1 
 
 0-2 
 
 16 
 
 6 
 
 17 
 
 60 
 
 43 
 
 4 
 
 N. N. E., E. 
 
 Strong. 
 
 December 
 
 51-8 
 
 136 
 
 586 
 
 45 
 
 0-1 
 
 19 
 
 10 
 
 20 
 
 61 
 
 41 
 
 
 
 E. 
 
 Light. 
 
 Annual Means 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 . and Extremes. 
 
 55-5 
 
 10-3 
 
 607 
 
 50-2 
 
 205 
 
 19 
 
 2 
 
 24 
 
 69 
 
 41 
 
 112 
 
 
 i 
 
 Remarks. — These observations were made with horizontal, self-registering thermometers, 
 sheltered from the rays of the sun, but freely exposed to the external air. 
 
 The greatest difference between the mean temperature of the coldest month (December) and 
 the hottest, (June) was only 10° ; while the greatest range during the whole year, between the 
 extreme minimum, 41°, and maximum, 69°, amounted: only to 28° s ; the mean- annual tem- 
 perature having been 55 £ in latitude 9 a 35' north. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 347 
 
 NO. V 
 
 REMARKS ON THE GEOLOGY, BOTANY, AND ZOOL- 
 OGY OF THE HIGHLANDS OF SOUTHERN ABYS- 
 SINIA. 
 
 GEOLOGY. 
 
 When the portion of Northeastern 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 ail the different volcanic formations discerni- 
 ble. 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 rod sandstone. 'Die principal 
 Shoan range, and the high westerly plateau 
 toward the valley of the Nile, present solely 
 secondary formations, but the porphyry again 
 emerges on the southerly borders in the ranges 
 of Garra Gorphoo and Bulga ; while the left 
 bank of the Hawash valley is distinctly of primi- 
 tive crystalline formation. 
 
 The overlying, rocks, which seem to have 
 been poured from the centre of this tract, con- 
 sist of masses of traciiyte and columnar basalt, 
 of pyramids of yvacke, 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 
 scoriae, 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 sandstone, embedding vast 
 quantities of coal, and presenting a true strati- 
 fication. It consists of minute but quite per- 
 fect hexagon dodecaeders of quartz in a white 
 cement, is very soft, and cleaves sometimes in 
 regular squares. Its depth was not observed 
 to be very great, nor did the overlying forma- 
 23* 
 
 tions, a marl and conglomerates, seem to form 
 obstacles to the miner. 
 
 The Shoan mountains, of alpine height, ex- 
 hibit a structure of basalt, wacke, and trachyte ; 
 the latter, in all its varieties, surrounds a nu- 
 cleus of basalt, basaltic wacke, and dolerite. 
 The conglomerates and tuffos at their feet, and 
 partly on their terraces and tops, are of tra- 
 chytic nature, and sometimes pierced through 
 by small dikes of basalt. Veins of ochre and 
 clay, holes filled with scoria;, with intrusions 
 of larger or smaller fragments of various rocks 
 and minerals, and a kind of stratification, are 
 the principal features of this trachytic form- 
 ation. 
 
 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 ; coe- 
 val to it, or a little later, the tuffos and con- 
 glomerates were deposited, which prove the 
 importance of augite in their formation by nu- 
 merous crystals of pyroxen embedded in them. 
 Subsequently new basaltic eruptions either rais- 
 ed 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 Ankd- 
 ber presents no vestige of olivin, nor does it 
 influence the magnetic needle ; but a distinc- 
 tion between basalt and green stone in their 
 finer-grained varieties is difficult ; and to de- 
 termine 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 horn- 
 blende than of augite and feldspar. Scoria- 
 cious varieties are found on the outsides of the 
 later protruded massrs. 
 
 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 po- 
 rous, 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 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 bill ranges, the greater 
 
348 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 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 i 
 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 I 
 by the only two passes to the high western pla- } 
 teau. Ravines and chasms of a depth which j 
 admits the sun but for few hours, tell of the ca- 
 tastrophe which resulted in their formation. | 
 Inaccessible steep cliffs and dismal precipices j 
 everywhere 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 build- 
 ings within reach ; but the soil, when saturated 
 with humidity, becomes so heavy and compact 
 as to be not easily washed away. The im- 
 petuosity 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 de- 
 struction. 
 
 Not less important are the changes going on 
 in the high range, since the time of their form- 
 ation. Ice is of so uncommon occurrence, that 
 we can scarcely attribute to it any considerable 
 cooperation ; but the action of water is mate- 
 rially assisted by occasional earthquakes. Grad- 
 ual decomposition and decay has produced on 
 the base, and produces still, conglomerates of 
 various thickness and extent. The high pla- 
 teau enjoys a thick coat of fertile black soil. 
 Lakes, pools, morasses, and swamps, are fre- 
 quent ; the rivers of little fall have muddy and 
 miry beds, which on that account become un- 
 fordable during the rains. 
 
 A few hot mineral wells are known and 
 made use of in Efat and Giddem. Precious 
 metals and 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. Inclosed 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 ex- 
 
 ,'tinct volcanoes of Mentshar, is derived the 
 ! small supply of native sulphur required : the 
 I pits are described as exceedingly copious. 
 I Coal-beds appear to extend along the whole 
 of the eastern frontier of Shoa ; but the com- 
 bustible nature of the fossil is scarely known 
 in the country. Copper, tin, zinc, and salt, 
 are all imported into Shoa ; the Adai'el posses- 
 sing the last commodity in abundance. The 
 Shoan clay proves a very indifferent material 
 for the manufacture of earthen- ware. Excel- 
 lent 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 natural and 
 physical boundaries. From the luxuriant vege- 
 tation, or the parched-up desert of a tropical 
 clime, we suddenly ascend to regions where 
 the blessings of fertility are more equably dif- 
 fused, and which serve as granaries to the in- 
 habitants of the lowlands. 
 
 From the general nature of the rocks, it is 
 obvious that the soil consists chiefly of decom- 
 posed feldspar, which requires abundance of 
 water. Dews, rains, and springs, however, so 
 moisten the mountain side, that artificial irri- 
 gation need be resorted to but on few localities. 
 Along the foot of the hills, rude channels, dug 
 out of the sandy or gravelly soil, conduct 
 abundance 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 cryptogamic 
 plants of cellular construction are in different 
 zones nearly the same. Under similar circum- 
 stances, the same lichen covers the face of the 
 rock in Europe as in the continents of the tor- 
 rid zone, the same mould lines decaying mat- 
 ter, and the same fungus cleaves to bark and 
 root. But compared with the other orders of 
 plants, the cellulars are most defective in num- 
 bers throughout Abyssinia, the peculiarities of 
 the climate being very unfavorable to their de- 
 velopment. 
 
 Every kind of parasitic plant is looked upon 
 with a suspicious eye in Abyssinia ; and those 
 of the vascular orders furnish to the conjuring 
 practitioner his principal remedies. But the 
 mushrooms, (Demastafi ,) 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 ; Parmelice and other 
 lichens cover rocks, or depend fantastically 
 from the withered branches of gigantic trees. 
 Mosses, however, are very scarce, and only of 
 fourlunds. 
 
 The vascular acotyledonic plants, the ferns, 
 might likewise be expected in greater variety 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 349 
 
 among the Abyssinian weeds than is actually 
 the case. The deep recesses of the few re- 
 maining forests harbor some kinds which very 
 closely resemble European forms, and belong 
 to the genera Aspidium, Folypodium, Asple- 
 nium, Adiantum, Scolopendrium, Ophioglos- 
 sum, and Fteris. No tree is among them, 
 nor are the Abyssinians aware of the useful 
 'properties of the tribe. ■ Adianthum Capillus 
 Veneris is called in Amharic "Sera boson" 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 nu- 
 merous and important. The great elevation 
 of the Abyssinian plains is so favorable for the 
 cultivation of all Cerealia of the temperate zone, 
 that they may rival the very best agricultural 
 districts of Northern Europe, while the low 
 country along the foot of the mountains pro- 
 duces 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 sea- 
 son, 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 juwarre, 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 introduction 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 whieh are, 
 a (Sengada) with red spreading spike, b ( Wo- 
 gari) with yellow, compact, pendent spike. 
 The young stalks contain a great deal of sac- 
 charine, 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 Ada- 
 lel ; but a small quantity comes to the Shoan 
 marts for inferior kinds of beer, unleavened 
 
 bread, and the food of mules. In Shoa itself, 
 Mashila cannot be raised on account of the 
 low temperature. 
 
 Saccharum omcinarum, the sugar-cane, 
 {Shonlcar,) is also planted to a small extent in 
 the low country. The art of making sugar 
 being unknown, it is only chewed ; and al- 
 though considered 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 pro- 
 duced 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 farina- 
 ceous food. 
 
 Poa Abyssinica, (Teff.) This millet-like 
 seed is a favorite 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 Man- 
 ya Teff, is grown only upon the king's fields, 
 and can never be purchased by the subject. 
 The straw of the 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 visitor. Sixteen kinds of barley 
 {Geps,) are raised on the hill-tops and on the 
 high plateau of the Galla country, where nei- 
 ther juwarree nor wheat will thrive. Its great- 
 est consumption is in brewing, but mules and 
 horses are also fed on it, and the finer sorts are 
 eaten, {Mariam Sahr, Litch Alkuso, Sada- 
 rash.) Barya Settat, i. e. " the slave's por- 
 tion," as might be imagined, is not of first-rate 
 quality. 
 
 Secale cereale {Damash, Sanaf Kolo,) finds 
 a limited consumption, mixed with other flour 
 in bread. 
 
 Triticum aestivum, hibernum, etc. 'Sendi.) 
 Shoa can boast of twenty-four varieties of 
 wheat. Many of these were originally culti- 
 vated by the Galla, and subsequently intro- 
 duced. The other provinces of Abyssinia have 
 also furnished various kinds ; but the most es- 
 teemed 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. 
 
 A vena spec. {Gherama,) is a small kind of 
 oats sown on the poorest fields, in order that 
 favorite mules and horses may crop it while yet 
 green. In times of scarcity, the poor are com- 
 pelled to resort to it. 
 
 Bambusa arundinacea {Shemal.) The bam- 
 boo is not indigenous in any part of the coun- 
 try, 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 
 
350 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 pasture : Lolium temulentum (Enkerdad,) 
 much dreaded as poison ; Chloris spec. (Ager- 
 ma;) Andropogon distaehyum, (Gasha ;) An- 
 thistiria spec. (Sambalet;) Sporobolus spec. 
 ( Ya teff sahr,) the seeds eaten as those of the 
 teff; Poa brizoides (Ya Kiri 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 colors. None but the 
 edible kinds of Allium are cultivated in Abys- 
 sinia, ornamental gardens being quite unknown 
 throughout the country. Some grow in swam, 
 py meadows, especially those with bulbs more 
 properly ranking as lilies : others with peren- i 
 nial 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 ; an- 
 goon and gola, or more commonly angola, an 
 egg.) These tubers are eaten in times of fam- 
 ine. One Ixia, a very beautiful kind, of the 
 morasses around Angollala, springs up imme- 
 diately after the termination of the rains. Hae- 
 manthus coccineus, Amaryllis clavata, Gloriosa I 
 spec, are rare plants of Efat ; Bulbocodium 
 sped, is a very transient form observable a few 
 days after the " rains of Bounty." Onions and 
 garlic (Neitch Shongort) are favorite vegeta- 
 bles ; various kinds of Aloe ( Ya jib shongort) 
 adorn the wastes of Efat, and furnish good 
 fibres for making ropes. Asparagus retrofrac- 
 tus (Sareti,) and Asparagus ethiopicus (Kas- 
 tanitcha,) 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 suc- 
 cessful 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 one Smilax (Ashkila) affords 
 the stick in common use as a tooth-brush. 
 
 That equally beautiful and important order, 
 the OrchidetB, might be supposed to find its 
 natural ground in Abyssinia, where both at- 
 mosphere and soil are so favorable ; 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 Or ch idea of the 
 forests, moreover, are few in number ; Epiden- 
 drum capense, cleaving to the bark of the wild 
 olive-tree, is the only representative of that in- 
 teresting group, the Ejiidendreai. Of the plan- 
 tain tribe three species have been introduced 
 from the south, but apparently with little ad- 
 vantage ; viz. Mooz, Musa paradisiaca, a coarse 
 kind of plantain, which is reared on some few 
 spots in Efat for the royal table, and two spe- 
 cies 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 temperature. 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 ; while 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 
 to those of the latter, and are only used tu 
 bake bread upon. Their proper home is Gura- 
 gue, 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 chil- 
 dren 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 towering above the inclosures of 
 the lofty villages imparl an aspect not properly 
 belonging to the landscape, and strangely con- 
 trasting with many alpine associates. 
 
 The Palms of the continents of the eastern 
 world are, with very few exceptions, inhabi- 
 tants of the sea-borders, and do not thrive at 
 any considerable elevation or even distance in- 
 land. The coast of the Adai'el is therefore the 
 only locality where three species of this tribe, 
 viz. Phcenix dactylifera, Hyphaene 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 monocotyledonic plants is not sufficient to 
 determine the systematic place due to the Abys 
 sinian vegetation in general. The Dicotyle- 
 dones, comprising two thirds of all the plants, 
 will necessarily help to show, that although in- 
 cluded 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 of a 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 wdiere, in fact, a tem-| 
 perate and a torrid clinic exchange their pro-l 
 ducts as it were upon neutral ground. 
 
 The Chlamydoblasta number but very few 
 species in Abyssinia. One Nymph'aas only, on 
 the lakes of Shoa, and one Aristolochia (brac- 
 teata) of the Adaiel country, could be discov- 
 ered. This latter, called Gerbaad, is a secret 
 remedy with the Dan&kil against poisoned 
 wounds, and in fact they are prone to attribute 
 mysterious qualities to the most of their weeds. 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 351 
 
 Pepper is not found either in a wild or cultiva- 
 ted state, although nothing would oppose the 
 introduction of that favorite condiment, which 
 at present, under the appellation of Gunda Ber- 
 beri (Gunda, an ant ; Berberi, hot spice) is im- 
 ported 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 begin- 
 ning with the Coniferae, the fir (cedar,) which 
 graces the Alps of Northern Abyssinia, is re- 
 placed in Shoa by a gigantic juniper, Junipe- 
 rus excelsa (Det.) This noble tree of the woods 
 as well as of the churchyards attains in its life 
 of one century a height of upward of one hun- 
 dred and sixty leet, with four to five in diam- 
 eter at the base. Growing nearly in the shape 
 of a cypress, it thrown 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 construction of huts 
 and churches ; and it forms, besides, the com- 
 mon fuel. Neither is any use made of the re- 
 sin or berries ; but twigs lopped off" the melan- 
 choly trees that overshadow the cemetery, are 
 often strewn upon the corpse before the grave 
 is rilled 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-tre^, 
 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 at- 
 tached 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 ves- 
 tige. Requiring no small space for expansion, 
 it stands commonly on the outskirts of the for- 
 ests, or quite alone, but its shade is extremely 
 dense and unfavorable to other vegetation. 
 The fruit, of the size of a pigeon's egg, brown 
 and insipid, might be eaten by people in dis- 
 tress. In the low country the Sycamore Fig- 
 tree makes its appearance ; it is called Wot- 
 ka, 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 plant- 
 ed over the tombs of notable persons, conju- 
 rors, or heroes, offerings are brought to it, 
 and hung upon the branches at certain festi- 
 tivals, when the neighboring tribes feast togeth- 
 
 er upon that holy and neutral ground. The 
 Worka stands always near running water, tow- 
 ering far over the jungle, although the undivi- 
 ded stem is scarcely ten feet high. The leaf 
 has a yellow tomentum below : and the fruit 
 forms a favorite food for monkeys and of vari- 
 ous birds, but is not touched by man. 
 
 The Kuaraf, Gunnera spec, another plant 
 of the same family, of Artocarpeee, is an im- 
 portant vegetable during the strict fast of Lent. 
 It grows in swamps and rivulets, and is an an- 
 nual 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 everywhere, to a height of five feet. 
 
 Of the many Polygonea, a few must be 
 noticed on account of their frequent occurrence 
 and of their use. Polygonum tomentosum (Ba 
 Wahalay, i. e. " upon the water,") and Polyg- 
 onum serratum, cover the margins of morasses 
 and lakes. Polygonum frutescens (Umboatoo) 
 is the most common hedge-shrub. Rumex ari- 
 folius (Makmako,) frequent in swampy mea- 
 dows, yields, in its fleshy root, a reddish dye 
 for coloring butter. The root of another spe- 
 cies 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 Adei country several 
 Boerhaaviae. Introduced into Shoa is a kind 
 of willow (AJieia,) 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 wosfi,) and Plantago aegyptiaca 
 (Burrh,) both common weeds in Shoa ; Plum- 
 bago 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 Ang6llala ; Carthamus tincto- 
 rius (Suf,) extensively cultivated in Efat for 
 the oil of the seeds and for the dye yielded by 
 the flowers ; Carduncellus spec. (Dorakus,) 
 a decoction of the dried flower heads is ad- 
 ministered 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. Pteroraa 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 Radiatae contain only 
 one of importance, vv:. the Polymnia abyssin- 
 ica (Nug,) which is the chief oil plant. Suf 
 and Nug oil mixed is called Kabanug, and 
 
352 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 only used for burning, since it possesses strong 
 purging qualities. The family of the Composite 
 furnishes altogether but a small number of 
 useful plants in proportion to its extensiveness. 
 The Campanulacea are low annual insig- 
 nificant weeds, one Lobelia excepted, viz. the 
 Rhynchopetalum montanurri or libera. 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 
 upward of fifteen feet in height, and five inch- 
 es 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 as- 
 pect of a European Flora, which is conveyed 
 by the Veronica Beccabunga and Anagallis of 
 the meadow rivulets. Scrophularia frutescens 
 {JDjodjo,) 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 Moringa, 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 Labiatte, so replete with 
 etheric 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 shett, i. e. 
 " lime-smell,") which are used in the fomenta- 
 tion of boils ; Leonotis spec. (Ras Kimr,) as 
 anthelminthicum by a decoction of the dried 
 leaves, mixed with a little oil. Several Cgnvol- 
 vulacece and Boraginea pass disregarded. Of 
 the former, Convolvulus pes caprae binds the 
 sand of the sea-beach ; of the latter, a few 
 specimens of Cordia abyssinica ( Wanzey) grow 
 in Efat. 
 
 Capsicum frutescens (Geich Berber i, i. e. 
 "1 - ed pepper,'') the most important of hot spices 
 in warm climes, and Nicotiana Tabacum 
 (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 import- 
 ed from the Ittoo Galla. Solanum margina- 
 tum ( Umboi.) a shrub, the seeds of which are 
 strewed on the surface of ponds to stupefy the 
 fish, which are nevertheless still eatable, and 
 Atropa arborea, (Amoraroo,) the red juice of 
 whose berry is used by the Amhara women 
 to stain their palms and nails, are common 
 hedge-shrubs in Shoa. Of the narcotic qual- 
 ities of the Datura Stramonium (Atafaris,) 
 the Abyssinian sorcerer is well aware. The 
 thief-detector 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 potatoe nor any other 
 edible kind of Solanum has yet been intro- 
 duced into Shoa. 
 
 The families of Coniortcr., Rubiacece, Ligus- 
 trince, 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, furnishes 
 good charcoal for gunpowder. Kannahia land- 
 flora, with particularly sweet-smelling flow- 
 ers, lines the borders at the rivulets in Eiat ; 
 Carissa spec. (Agame) has edible berries, and 
 flourishes both in Efat and Shoa. MeUnea 
 verticillata (Adguar) is a jungle tree of tan 
 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 pluck- 
 ed out by the Christian population, who con- 
 sider the use of the berry to be as foreign to 
 salvation as the doctrine 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, how- 
 ever, 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 don- 
 key's load is sold for the twentieth part of a 
 dollar. Two kinds of jessamine grace with 
 their fragrant flowers the 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 
 timber ; 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 color, as well as medical and 
 nutritious qualities, we find several important 
 families altogether wanting in the Flora of 
 ! Abyssinia. The Pomaceae and Amygdales 
 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 Tricoccae, Rhoca- 
 dese, Amarantinae ; but the Leguminosae form 
 by far the largest family of polypetalous phan- 
 erogames. 
 
 Of Umbelliferce 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 
 
 (Bumbelan,) and Anethum fceniculum, the 
 
 well-known European spices, are cultivated. 
 
 Berberis tinctoria of the forest yields a good 
 
 yellow dye for mourning apparel. Clypea 
 
 i spec. (Engotshid,) is a creeper with pellate 
 
 I leaves, upon which small cakes are baked. 
 
 Ranunculus trilobus (Goodie,) is a troublesome 
 
 weed on the meadows. Nigella sativa (As- 
 
 mud,) is occasionally cultivated as a spice. 
 
 | Several species of Polygala flourish unnoticed. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 353 
 
 Some Balsimiena grow in shady places ; one 
 of them Impatiens grandis (Girshid,) has a 
 tuberous root, with the juice of which women 
 paint their palms and faces red. Thlaspi 
 bursa pastoris (Fa bug elat, i. e. "sheep's 
 tail,") the cosmopolitan weed, follows agricul- 
 ture also in Abyssinia. Sinapis nigra (Sana- 
 fitch,) grows wild, and is sometimes resorted 
 to as an additional ingredient of the pepper- 
 sauce called wotz. Brassica spec. (Goomun,) 
 a cultivated coarse kind of cow-cabbage, pe- 
 rennial, and five feet high, is eaten as a vege- 
 table after much boiling ; the seeds are also 
 used for oil. Of the numerous Capparidece, 
 Cadaba indica, is particularly important in the 
 Adel desert, being for many scores of miles 
 the only shrub which affords shelter from the 
 noontide sun. Two species of Capparis make 
 impenetrable hedges in Efat. Cucumis afri- 
 canus ( Ya ?nedur oomboi,) is an annual plant, 
 of sandy and desert places ; the seeds are a 
 favorite medicine m 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 Menede?n, 
 have edible berries. 
 
 Viola montana, a violet without smell, grows 
 in the forests of Shoa. Tamaricin<B occur in 
 the desert, from the sea-shore as far as to the 
 Hd.wash ; the presence of the principal kind, 
 called Sagan, is to the Dankali herdsman a 
 sure indication of water near the surface. 
 The genus Hypericum has only showy plants. 
 The Chenepodece, chiefly weeds, contain one 
 species (called Amedmadoo,) which is used for 
 polishing metal. Achyranthes spec. (Tali- 
 neh) is a styptic medicine. Phytolacca abys- 
 sinica (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 
 dianthoides (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 administered as refriger- 
 ants in inflammatory fevers. Ephilobium vil- 
 losum ( 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 introduced from Arabia. Several 
 species of Grewia bear edible fruits in the des- 
 ert, where their acidity is very grateful. 
 
 To the various kinds of Byttneriacece and 
 Malvacece no particular interest is attached, 
 except to the cotton (Del) 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 usitatissimum (Tulbah) is culti- 
 vated merely for the seeds, of which oil is 
 made : flax-dressing not being understood. 
 Vitis vinifera ( Woin Saf,) planted as a curi- 
 osity 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 gunpowder ; with the corro- 
 sive 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. Ricinus 
 africanus (Gulo) affords in its seeds a famous 
 medicine for cattle, and is frequent in Efat. 
 Rhamnus spec. (Gesho) is a tonic, and a de- 
 coction 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 extensively in Caffa and other countries 
 of the interior. In Efat the fresh leaves are 
 both chewed and used as an astringent medi- 
 cine, or taken in order to dispel sleep ; a de- 
 coction in water or milk being also drunk as a 
 beverage, which tastes bitter enough. Hage- 
 nia abyssinica (Cosso) affords, in a cold infu- 
 sion of the dried flowers and capsules, the 
 famous drasticum purgans and anthelminthi- 
 cum of the Abyssinians. The tre« is one of 
 the most picturesque in appearance. Balsamo- 
 dendron Myrrha (Kurbeta) grows on the bor- 
 ders of Efat, in the jungle of the Hawash, and 
 in the Adel desert. The resinous gum, called 
 Hofali, is collected for exportation. Balsamo- 
 dendron 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 pin- 
 natus (Injori) yields the best of all wild -grow- 
 ing fruits in Abyssinia — a true blackberry of 
 the forests. Rosa abyssinica (Kaga,) a tree- 
 like dog-rose, bears an edible hip. The Bray- 
 era 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 extensively culti- 
 vated 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 
 
354 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 arietinum (<SAtm!>raft,)Pi8Hm sativum (Attur,) 
 Phaseolus spec. (Adunguori,) are produced in 
 Efat and other warm provinces of the king- 
 dom. Many species of Indigofera, wild and 
 unheeded, grow in the desert and on the bor- 
 ders of cultivation. Pterolobium lacerans 
 (Kantuffa) is an impenetrable hedge-shrub 
 abounding in Efdt : the bark gives a red dye 
 for leather. Tamarindus indica attains a ma- 
 jestic size in the jungles of Efat, but is quite 
 negiected ; as are also various kinds of Senna 
 (Senamaki.) Dichrostachys cinerea, Acacia 
 eburnea, Acacia planifrons, and other Camel- 
 thorn trees, called Gcrar, are of the utmost im- 
 portance to the wilderness and desert ; in the 
 latter, the umbrella-like tops collect man and 
 beast beneath their scanty shade during the 
 hottest 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 im- 
 portance to the cultivator, farmer, or physician ; 
 but no doubt double the number could be added 
 by any people more enterprising and inquisitive 
 than the inhabitants 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 ne- 
 cessary of the kitchen. The physician's lore 
 is kept a profound mystery, and there is not 
 much lost by its limited diffusion, since the 
 whole is a motley collection of very questiona- 
 ble experience and most degrading superstition. 
 
 ZOOLOGY. 
 
 Of the lowest order of animals, the Radiates, 
 nearly the same may be said that was remarked 
 above respecting the lowest order of plants ; 
 namely, that their species are in a less degree 
 bound to certain limits of geographical distribu- 
 tion than those in which the respective types 
 hasten in more marked characters to the high- 
 est possible perfection. None of the numerous 
 tribe of Radiatce are, in their proper home, 
 directly exposed to the external air and its 
 changes. They live in a medium, which gen- 
 erally preserves a mean temperature, with ex- 
 tremes not prohibiting the possibility of animal 
 existence, and their ephemeral life is little lia- 
 ble to be cut short by any sudden change to 
 either extreme. Thus we find that the waters 
 and animal humors 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. 
 
 Tnteetinal worms ( Wosfat) prove one of the 
 chief plagues of the Abyssinians. Not only 
 ascarides, but also tape and thread worms 
 (Taenia and Filaria,) are to be constantly con- 
 tended with. The frequency of this disposition 
 ttmet have its source in the usual diet, consist- 
 
 ing of unleavened dough-like bread and raw 
 meat, which the accompanying pepper-sauce 
 is not sufficient to correct. Once in every , 
 month the Cosso and other powerful purgatives 
 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 appar- 
 ent than in the above-named order of the Ra- 
 diates. Being bound by the strongest ties to 
 the limits of those beings which are assigned 
 to them as food and home, their species pre- 
 sent distinctly marked characters of geograph- 
 ical distribution throughout the world. 
 
 In Shoa and Efat there appears with the in- 
 crease of vegetation a larger number of insects, 
 but the most noxious of them remain only du- 
 ring the height of the season. This is most 
 perceptible in the migrations of locusts and 
 caterpillars, which, by a few cold rains, are in- 
 duced to descend into the open wildernesses 
 and deserts. Such a sudden relief horn count- 
 less hosts of the locust, called Anbasa, is inva- 
 riably ascribed by the superstitious farmer to 
 the special interposition and agency of his 
 guardian saint, at whose shrine in the hour of 
 need, offerings and vows are liberally made. 
 Various grasshoppers (Sada,) mantidae (Feen- 
 ta,) and cockroaches, do considerable damage 
 during the hot season. A large black ant 
 (Goonda,) which bites ferociously when in con- 
 tact with the human body, constructs no water- 
 tight habitation, but intrudes at the beginning 
 of the rains into the huts, from which it is ex- 
 pelled with the utmost difficulty. The Egyp- 
 tian 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 important article of consumption, 
 both in its natural form and when converted 
 into mead. 
 
 Although so cold, the country is not free from 
 the annoyances of flies (Sembi,) and musquitos 
 (TevanQ.) White ants (Mest) are not so nu- 
 merous 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 sel- 
 dom attacked by any wood vermin. Various 
 most beautiful butterflies, phalaenes, and moths, 
 while in the caterpillar 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 com- 
 prised under the general appellation of Den- 
 sissa. Among the former, the Coprophaga, 
 many Egyptian species may be met with, as 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 355 
 
 Copris Isidis, Ateuchus sacer, and others ; 
 among the latter, chiefly Cetoniss, arc found 
 species nearly allied to or identical with some 
 of Sencgambia. One notable Inca, the male 
 of which is armed with a powerful head ex- 
 crescence, lives principally on the sap of wound- 
 ed trees ; Lycus appendiculatusfrequentschiefly 
 the flowers of Umbelliferae ; many Curculionides 
 inhabit the plants of the family Compositae. but 
 CoccineltaD are the most numerous. Species 
 of Lylta 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 nox- 
 ious, though the former never attack aught 
 their prey, and the sting of the latter is 
 little dangerous. Total disregard of cleanliness 
 is punished with a frightful increase of bodily 
 vermin, as fleas (Kuiritska,) lice (Kemal,) bugs 
 (Tochan.) and acarus scabici {EJcak.) 
 
 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 perceptible. Neither 
 serve the larger kinds as food. 
 
 The known fresh-water Fish are insignifi- 
 cant in quality and quantity, and only serve to 
 feed the numerous crocodiles which infest the 
 main stream of the Hawash. Its various tri- 
 butaries, when they first escape from the moun- 
 tains, cany 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 superstition. Serpents (Ebab) are not nu- 
 x merous, 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 of the backbone of that accursed ani- 
 mal. 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 Egyp- 
 tian Gecko (Enkakela,) the chameleon (Eist,) 
 the Seineus officinalis, and other numerous 
 lizards, which make themselves most useful by 
 the removal of so man)' annoying insects, are 
 unrelentingly doomed to destruction, while the 
 erocodiles (Azo) roam unmolested on the aban- 
 doned 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 favorite with the Abyssinians. A tail fea: 
 fastened in the hair of a daring warrior, i 
 token of late achievements in the battle-n 
 Two other kinds, called Wans Sorit, i.e. Sons, 
 of the river side, and Alicia, i. e. donkey, from 
 the asinine tunes, are much inferior in beauty, 
 though not in size. One, Coliphimus concolor, 
 is of a dull grayish green ; the other, C. fascia- 
 j tus, 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, Donkoro, is also used figuratively of per- 
 sons talking nonsense. 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, while the female is gray- 
 ish-brown and yellow. Gentropus Jardini, a 
 beautiful kind of cuckoo, lives solitary on the 
 fig-trees in Efat : several species of woodpeck- 
 ers, which do not seem to differ from the South 
 African kinds, are found on acacias and tam- 
 arinds. 
 
 Among the Ambulatores many migrate du- 
 ring 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 dam- 
 age on the plantations of Teff and Juwarree, 
 while their services in destroying numberless 
 vermin are most conspicuous. Bird-catching 
 for food or for amusement is not a sport with 
 the Ainhara, but, on the other hand, there is 
 no privilege in favor of the songsters — a study 
 and imitation of the tunes of which might great- 
 ly improve the execrable attempts of music, 
 vocal and instrumental, vented by the unskil- 
 ful Abyssinian performer. 
 
 Two gaudy kinds of Alcedo play on the 
 rivulets — Merops Bulockii and nubicus. These 
 truly African species of the fly-catcher are in 
 the lower, Upupa epos, the common hoopoe, in 
 the upper country. Certhia tacazze and chaly- 
 bea, 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 lame of gadflies out of the galled 
 backs of camels, oxen, and 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 
 
356 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 given origin to the story of the wonderful 
 groves, where all the fruits are birds inclosed 
 in a shell. Lamprotornis auratus, and some 
 other kinds of thrushes, consume, during their 
 short stay in Shoa of two months, immense 
 numbers of insects. Among the Sylviadae are 
 some eminent songsters, especially Sylvia pam- 
 melaina, and also species of Motacilla and 
 Saxicola, while 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 hu- 
 meralis (Gurameile) is one of those fatal birds, 
 the sudden appearance of which before an army 
 at its outset, forebodes ill-success, and all man- 
 ner of misfortune to single persons if the tail be 
 directed toward them. To the other kinds of 
 shrikes no such unhappy celebrity is attached, 
 although they seem not less litigious, and anx- 
 ious to draw off by their noise the attention of 
 a wayfarer from the vicinity of their nests. 
 Alauda alpestris comes from the west, and re- 
 turns 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 capen- 
 sis (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 pro- 
 tuberance 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 color of the plumage is deep brownish- 
 black, except a broad bar of white feathers 
 across the sinciput, and sometimes a narrow 
 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. 
 
 Swallows are never failing, but the species 
 vary in their visits. Hirundo capensis and rus- 
 tica 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 Horn- 
 bill. 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 war- 
 rior. Buceros nasutus, and another species, 
 which differs slightly in color and size, eat small 
 lizards and chameleons. Buceros erythrorhyn- 
 
 chus (Sholak,) the most frequent of them, rids 
 the plantations of many noxious insects. 
 
 The tribe of Raptor es (Amor a) is uncom- 
 monly numerous, and on the whole very useful 
 in Abyssinia. Those that feed on living ani- 
 mals seldom stoop at even a stray fowl, while 
 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 con- 
 siderable distances from their hunting districts, 
 and commonly on inaccessible precipices. 
 
 Strix bubo, the only, but very common owl 
 of the upper country, and one Otus of the low 
 plain, are treated as birds of ill omen. From 
 the entrails of the former the necromancer pre- 
 pares a potent charm. The eagle, Aquila nse- 
 via (Nas'r,) comes seldom near the villages, 
 nor is he forward in his depredations. Falco 
 biarmicus fights his superiors in size, and de- 
 prives them forcibly of their prey ; it has got 
 hence the appellation, Ya Amora Alaka, i. e. 
 chief of the birds of prey. Morphnus occipita- 
 lis (Adagoota,) a beautiful crested falcon, lives 
 in the lower country of Giddem, and is partic- 
 ulary inert. Several species of Astur and Ac- 
 cipiter (Bazi,) feed on small songsters and mice. 
 Ternis, spec. (Goodie,) removes innumerable 
 quantities of locusts ; and Milvus parasiticus 
 (Tshelvit,) cleans streets and premises in com- 
 pany 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 (Yellos) 
 smell their food many miles off, and gather 
 round it in great numbers. The periodically 
 returning wars and the extensive stock of cat- 
 tle 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 considered fit for Christian food ; yet 
 the common fowl (Doroo,) the only domesticat- 
 ed kind, kept almost in every compound, is 
 very much neglected, and not being of a supe- 
 rior 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 fall 
 sick, he invariably looks back upon that tres- 
 pass 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 of the corn-fields. Dogs are taught to 
 catch them without injury ; and before being 
 eaten, the bird is kept for some days, to obvi- 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 357 
 
 ate 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 provinces. Wani, Ergeb, and Kum- 
 roo, 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 gray ; the 
 head gray, with a black zone across the sin- 
 ciput. Another is all gray* except a white zone 
 on the upper neck, and a collar of darker ar- 
 row-headed feathers ; a third also gray, but 
 with a white head, and brown edges on the 
 wing feathers. Ergeb has a peculiarly inflated 
 beak ; head and neck gray, 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. 
 
 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 small bustard ( Wato) is vari- 
 ously colored ; it lives on the borders of the 
 desert. Charadrius spinosus is a rare visitor 
 of the lakes near the Havash. Tachydromus 
 isabellinus is an inhabitant of the plains of 
 Efat ; and Himantopus atropterus of the mo- 
 rasses near Ang6llala. 
 
 Abundance of water makes the provinces of 
 Shoa a favorite place of resort to many species 
 of Grallaiores. Among the herons are re- 
 markable Ardea ephippiorhyncha, and another 
 called Alaka fattah, having particularly long 
 wing feathers of a darker color than the re- 
 mainder of the body, which is above gray, be- 
 low white. The former lives in the valley of 
 the Abai, the latter about Ang6llala ; but mi- 
 grates also to the west. Smaller k»nds, as 
 Garzetta, Nycticorax, arrive from the north in 
 February, 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 flamin- 
 go, sometimes extend their migrations as far 
 as Shoa. 
 
 Geese and ducks swarm unmolested over 
 the lakes of the western provinces ; a few de- 
 scend also to the plain. Chenalopex segyp- 
 tiacus builds its nest upon high trees on the 
 river side in Efat. Another rare species car- 
 ries on the frontal basis a thinly feathered flexi- 
 ble bunch. All the birds of this class are 
 strangely inapprehensive of danger when moult- 
 ing or hatching. Daring their stay in Shoa 
 they are occupied with both of these processes, 
 but the rigorous proscriptions regarding food, 
 usually afford them protection. 
 
 01 Mammalia, the Rodentia seem to have 
 
 no great extension through the cultivated pro- 
 vinces 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- man- 
 aged farms. Lepis 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 criminali- 
 ty, not less than myophagy itself. Hystrix 
 cristata (Short) lives only in abandoned ter- 
 mite-cones in the 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 agricultural pursuits. 
 The common sheep (Bug) of Shoa is small, 
 with coarse black wool ; the Adai'el 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 Amhara 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 the chiefs and men 
 of renown throughout the country. The cured 
 skin (Dabbalo) of the common sheep is an in- 
 dispensable 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 
 colors, in fact, quite identical with the Euro- 
 pean kind. The Add 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 indispensable to 
 communication and commerce, and as a beast 
 of burthen 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 patronized by the Abyssinians, but despised 
 by their more war-like neighbors, the Galla, 
 vith whom the horse is a favorite. A wdd 
 donkey, ( Ya meida 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 drink - 
 ing-cups are manufactured. 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 untamed, inhabits the forests 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 and jtmglcs of Bttlga arrd M entshar 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 (Agaziu,) 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 
 t;ave rise to the story of the unicorn ; more- 
 over, 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 
 root of the mountains. 
 
 Hyrax abyssinieus (Ashkoko.) a harmless in- 
 habitant of nooks and corners of the rocks, is 
 common to Shoa as well as to the hills of the 
 Adel. Bruce's Rhinoceros ( Worsisa.) combin- 
 ing 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. Phascochoerus afrieanus (Erya,) the 
 African hog, infests the woods of the warmer 
 districts, and is a horrible-looking brute. Hip- 
 popotamus amphibius (Gomari) hides its colos- 
 sal 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 afri- 
 canus (Zihoon) is dispersed in many small 
 families, and destroys the plantations of sugar- 
 cane and Juwarree along the foot of the moun- 
 tains. Not the slightest attempt is made to. 
 put a stop to Ins ravages, the paltry weapons 
 in use heing of no avail, while severe loss of 
 life follows the footsteps of the enraged animal. 
 A small trade in ivory is notwithstanding car- 
 ried on with the coast in the tusks found acci- 
 dentally. 
 
 Lutra inunguis {Devil's sheep,) rarely sur- 
 prised on the banks of the river Bereza, fur- 
 nishes in its body divers secret medicines to the 
 initiated. Viverra Civetta (Angeso) is wild; 
 but frequently kept in cages in the Galla coun- 
 tries to the southwest of Shoa. The Civet 
 (Dering,) taken out of the bag by means of a 
 small spoon, and collected in cow-horns, is one 
 of the precious articles which the slave caravans 
 proceeding from the interior through Shoa to 
 the coast, barter for their daily food. One 
 Ichneumon (MootsheltsheUa) robs the poultry- 
 yard. The lion (Anhassa,) and the leopard 
 (Nabr,) are well known throughout Abyssinia. 
 The former seldom pays a visit to the hills, 
 hunting nightly along the banks of the rivers, 
 and lurking during the day in his jungle re- 
 treats ; the latter is more common, 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 re- 
 treating beast under a deafening yell. The 
 spoils are an indispensable part of a chief's; 
 dress, and objects of importation from the west.; 
 the most prized, however, is the skin of the 
 black leopard (Gasela,) living in and. beyond 
 Guvague. 
 
 The domestic cat is a rarity in Shoa ; only 
 great men place them as guardians in then- 
 storehouses. The clog (Oosha,) generally a. 
 half-wild companion of the farmer and inmate 
 ox 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 -he tenth 
 part of the quickly-multiplying race possess 
 owners ; but their iitility as scavengers proves 
 their safeguard. Canis Anthus ( Dabela,) a 
 wolf- like dog and an offensive thief, frequent 
 in Efat, is caught in pitfalls ; its liver has so 
 mysterious virtue. The jackal (Kabbaro,) and 
 Hyasna crocuta (Gib.) make nightly inroads 
 into villages 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. Cynocephalus Hamadryas (Zivxiro.) 
 the male, with the mane of a lion and a pow- 
 erful frame, is very mischievous and even dan- 
 gerous ; it congregates in caves and fissures of 
 the rocks. Colobus (Guresa,) the prettiest of 
 all monkeys, and one duly patronized by the 
 Abyssiuians on account of its retired habits, is 
 always on the top of the highest trees, com- 
 monly on the Worra, which bears its food. 
 
 Filfil, an animal that throws up mole-hills, 
 baffles all attempts to catch it. Pteropus ffigyp- 
 tiacus and Nycteris thebaica (Lclii off, i. e. 
 night-bird,) are harmless but suspected inhab- 
 itants 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-tiend ; and 
 he still figuratively personates every evil pas- 
 sion of the human heart by some savage, treach- 
 erous, or subtle animal of the inferior creation. 
 
 The highlands of Abyssinia can, however, 
 offer but a small number of wild animals, and 
 even of these very few are exclusively 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. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 35P 
 
 NO. VI 
 
 ON THE COTTON AND COFFEE TREE OF SOUTHERN 
 ABYSSINIA. 
 
 Tradition assigns to the countries of Enarea 
 andCaffa the indigenous residence of the coffee- 
 plant. In Shoa Proper the cultivation and con- 
 sumption are strictly interdicted, as savoring 
 too strongly of the abhorred Mohammadan ; 
 but the plant in proper situations grows strong 
 and healthy, and in all the bordering districts 
 subject to Sahela Selassie, where the restric- 
 tion is not enforced, there the plantations are 
 numerous and thriving. 
 
 Planted before the rains, the seed soon ap- 
 pears 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 
 of the sheep are plentifully supplied, and the 
 crop, which from 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 decompo- 
 sition 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 trans- 
 plantation. 
 
 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 
 gullaboo, 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 suffi- 
 ciently dry to admit of its removal, which, by 
 continual free ventilation out of doors, is usu- 
 ally the case in one month. The seeds intend- 
 ed 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 cJwat. 
 
 For the better security of his own monopoly at 
 the ports of Zeyla and Berbera, the Emir of Hur- 
 rur opposes the importation of coffee into his own 
 
 dominions, both from Shoa and from the coun- 
 try of the Galla. The plant is extensively and 
 successfully cultivated ; but the price given in 
 Hurrur is high in comparison with that paid 
 in Abyssinia ; and the average demanded on 
 the coast by the merchants of the former prin- 
 cipality, 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 territory the 
 caravan mu3t 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 perseverance. 
 In Caifa and Enarea, coffee grows wild like a 
 weed over the rich surface of the country. 
 The beverage is in universal use among the 
 inhabitants ; the price paid is almost nominal ; 
 and the convenience of water carriage is alone 
 wanting toward the transportation of the pro- 
 duct 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 situations, the natural climate would 
 appear to exist in those sheltered spots which 
 in atmosphere much resemble the more favored 
 parts of Western India. The Efat shrub va. 
 ries according to the locality and supply of wa- 
 ter, from three feet in height to upward of 
 seven, and usually assuming the form of a pyr- 
 amid, 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, im- 
 parting a strong external resemblance to the 
 Bourbon cotton. Eight an*d nine inches in cir- 
 cumference 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 par- 
 
360 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 ticularly fine wool during the very first, award 
 to the species a most deserving preeminence.* 
 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, t The wool is considered superior, and 
 the cloth produced is softer and more elastic, 
 but the existence enjoyed by the exotic is lim- 
 ited to three years. Both are planted indis- 
 
 *Gossypium Efatense. Seeds completely covered 
 with a close down. Cotton white ; capsules 3-celled. 
 3-valved : flowers small, with a red fundus ; leaves 3 
 to 5-lobed ; lobes acuminated. 
 
 t Gossypium Gondarense. Seeds sprinkled with 
 short hairs. Cotton white ; capsules 3-celled, 3-valv- 
 ed ; flowers large, yellow ; leaves 3 to 5-lobed ; lobes 
 commonly obtuse. 
 
 criminately in the same field, although when 
 gathered the crops are preserved unmixed ; 
 and after the fifth year the Efat shrub is cut 
 over close to the ground, which is then plough- 
 ed up, and sown with wheat or other grain, 
 when, on the removal of the harvest, 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 
 favorable 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 extrane- 
 ous matter. One full bearing bush produces, 
 twice during the twelve months between four 
 and five pounds of raw stuff 
 
 NO. VII. 
 
 CATALOGUE OF EXTANT MSS. IN THE ETHIOPIC 
 AND AMHARIC TONGUES. 
 
 1. The Old Testament. 
 
 2. The four Gospels with readings, and all the 
 other books of the New Testament. 
 
 3. Chrysostomos. Biography of St. Chrysos- 
 tom, and his exposition of the Epistle to the 
 Hebrews. 
 
 4. Kerillos. A dogmatical work by St. Cyr- 
 illus of Alexandria. 
 
 5. Genset. A book used in funeral solemni- 
 ties, ascribed to Athanasius, and stated to 
 have been discovered by Helena at the dig- 
 ging out of the Holy Cross. 
 
 6. Fatka Negest. The judgments of the 
 kings, or code of laws, said to have fallen 
 from heaven in the time of Constantine the 
 Great. 
 
 7. Aclementos. 
 
 8. Retna Haimanot. The orthodox faith. 
 
 9. Sena Aihud. History of the Jews, in con- 
 nection with the history of other ancient na- 
 tions. 
 
 10. Mazafa Filasfa. Extract from ancient 
 philosophy. 
 
 11. Henoch. The prophecies of Enoch. 
 
 12. Gadela Michael. History of St. Michael. 
 
 13. Gadela Tekla Haimanot. Life of Tekla 
 Haimanot, the Patron saint of Abyssinia. 
 
 14. Gadela Sena Markos. Life of another 
 saint. 
 
 15. Gadela Guebra Manfas Kecoos. Life 
 and conflicts of Guebra Manfas Kedoos, one 
 of the greatest of Abyssinian saints. 
 
 16. Gadela Lalibela. Life of the emperor 
 Lalibela. 
 
 17. Masgaba Haimanot. A dogmatical work. 
 
 18. Synodos. Canons of the church, attribu- 
 ted to the Apostles. 
 
 19. Antiakos. Colloquy between Athanasius 
 and a nobleman called Antiakos. 
 
 20. Mazafa Myster. The principles of sev- 
 eral heretics of old. 
 
 21. Mazafa Aoro. 
 
 22. Mazafa Timkal. Used in christening. 
 
 23. Mazafa Actil. Used in blessing a mar- 
 riage. 
 
 24. Mazafa Keder. Used for instructing 
 renegades. 
 
 25. Guebra Haimanot. Read during Passion 
 Week. 
 
 26. Bartos. 
 
 27. Dionasios. 
 
 28. Sena Febrak (Amharic.) History ot the 
 Creation: containing certain fabulous tradi- 
 tions concerning the Creation and the Ante- 
 diluvian world, said to have been commu- 
 nicated to Moses on Mount Sinai, but not 
 recorded in the Book of Genesis. 
 
 29. Tamera Miriam. Miracles of the Holy 
 Virgin, wrought during her sojourn in Abys- 
 sinia, where she is said to have tarried three 
 years and six months with the infant Jesus, 
 before her return to Palestine. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 861 
 
 30. Nagara Miriam. Words of the Holy 
 Virgin. 
 
 31. Gadela Hawaryat. Lives of the Apostles. 
 
 32. Ardeet. Words said to have been spoken 
 by Christ before his ascension. 
 
 33. Kedasie. Liturgy of the Abyssinian 
 Church. 
 
 34. Wuddassie Miriam. Praise of the Holy 
 Virgin. 
 
 35. Organon. A liturgy containing praise to 
 the Virgin Mary. 
 
 36. Gadela Samatal. Lives of the martyrs. 
 
 37. Abooshaker. Abyssinian almanac. 
 
 38. Gadela Adam. History of Adam. 
 
 39. Kedan. 
 
 40. Egziabher Neges. 
 
 41. Auda Negest. Book for prognostication, 
 forbidden in Shoa. 
 
 42. Gadela Medhanalcm. Life of the Saviour. 
 
 43. Amida Myster (Amharic.) The pillar 
 mysteries, viz. Trinity, Incarnation, Bap- 
 tism, Lord's Supper, and Resurrection. 
 
 44. Temhert. Extracts. 
 
 45. Kufalik. Mysteries revealed to Moses on 
 Mount Sinai, not written in the Pentateuch. 
 
 46. Mazafa Graan {Amharic.) History of 
 the invader Graan. 
 
 47. Serata beita Chrestian. Institutions of 
 the Christian Church. 
 
 48. Mewaset. Hymns for mournful occasions. 
 
 49. Toma Degwa. Hymns sung during fast 
 time. 
 
 50. Degwa. Book of anthems, in which all 
 the pieces of the Liturgy that are chanted 
 are set to music by St. Yareed, a native of 
 Simien, who lived thirteen centuries ago, 
 and is believed to live still. 
 
 51. Lefafa Zedik. Prayers and spells against 
 evil spirits and diseases, a book much es- 
 teemed, and buried along with the corpse. 
 
 52. Ekabari. Book of prayers. 
 
 53. Zalota Musa. Prayers of Moses against 
 the influence of evil spirits. 
 
 54. Melka Michael. Prayers to St. Michael. 
 
 55. Melka Yasoos. Prayers to Jesus and the 
 Holy Virgin. 
 
 56. Gadela Aragawi. Life of an Abyssinian 
 saint. 
 
 57. Gadela Kyros. Life of an Abyssinian 
 saint. 
 
 58. Gadela Tohani. Life of an Abyssinian 
 saint. 
 
 59. Kolat of the 318 Fathers. 
 
 60. Maala Saalat. Prayers and hymns for 
 different hours of the day. 
 
 61. Kuddassie Amlac. Praise of God. 
 
 62. Mazafa Tomar. A letter which Christ is 
 said to have written. 
 
 63. Turguamie Fidel (Amharic.) 
 
 64. Melka Gabriel. Prayers to St. Gabriel. 
 
 24 
 
 65. Swasewe. Book of scales, the Amharic 
 
 Grammar. 
 66 Germama. Prayers to frighten evil spirits- 
 
 67. Matshafa Fooes Manfasawi. Spiritual 
 medicine. 
 
 68. Dersana Sanbat. Life of a saint. 
 
 69. Fekaric Yasoos. Christ's prophecy of 
 the consummation of the world. 
 
 70. Mazafa Shekeneat. 
 
 71. Tekla Zion. 
 
 72. Haimanot Abao. Doctrines of the Abys- 
 sinian church, comprising extracts from the 
 Holy Scriptures, from synods, councils, and 
 writings of the Fathers. 
 
 73. Gadela Antonios. Life of the Monk Antony. 
 
 74. Zelota Musadod. Prayers against evii 
 spirits. 
 
 75. Dersana Gabriel. History of St. Gabriel. 
 
 76. Gadela Georgis. Life of St. George. 
 
 77. Gelota Monakosat. Prayers of the monks. 
 
 78. Felekisus. Book on monastic subjects. 
 
 79. Manshak. Book of monkery. 
 
 80. Aragawi Manfasawi. Book of monkery. 
 
 81. Dersana Mahajawi. Life of the Life 
 Giver. 
 
 82. Gadela Sannel. Life of Sarin. 
 
 83. Sena Aban. 
 
 84. Kebra Negest. Glory of the kings. The 
 book of Axum. 
 
 85. Gera Moie. 
 
 86. Epiphanios. 
 
 87. Aximanos. 
 
 88. Buni. 
 
 89. Mazafa Berhanet. 
 
 90. Saweros. 
 
 91. Dedaskalea. Didaskalia. 
 
 92. Tamera Yasoos. Miracles of our LordC 
 
 93. Ankoritos. 
 
 94. Mazafa Tshai. 
 
 95. Feliksing. 
 
 96. Mister a Sarnai. 
 
 97- Georgis Wolda Amid. 
 
 98. Dersana Miriam. History of St. Mary. 
 
 99. Lik Evangel. 
 
 100. Fareteh. 
 
 101. Gadela Yob. Life of Job. 
 
 102. Thomas Koprianos. 
 
 103. Gadela Kedoosau. Lives of saints. 
 
 104. Gadela Arzemaro. 
 
 105. Raia Miriam. Dream of the Holy Virgin. 
 
 106. Gadela Abib. 
 
 107. Gadela Nakod Wolab 
 men. 
 
 108. Gadela Guebra Christos. Life and con- 
 flicts of Guebra Christos, son of the Emperor 
 Theodosius. 
 
 109. Tebaba Tabiban. The wisdom of the 
 wise, a prayer to God recording in poetry 
 the History of the Old and New Testament. 
 
 110. Synkesar. Collectio Vitarum Sanctorum 
 
 Lives of holy 
 
363 
 
 NO. VIII 
 
 0mke0ar, or 0gna#aria* 
 
 THE CALENDAR 
 
 OF THE 
 
 kthtopic christian church. 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 365 
 
 ABYSSINIAN EPOCHS, AND ECCLESIASTICAL COMPUTATION. 
 
 From the Creation of the World until the Council of Nicaea, years are to be counted - 5815 
 
 From the Birth of Our Lord to the Council of Nicsea (325) 317 
 
 The Council of Constantinople was held in the year of the World ... - 5873 
 From the Council of Nicaea to that of Constantinople, are years - - - 56 
 
 From the Birth of Our Lord to the Council of Constantinople (381) - 373 
 
 The Council of Ephesus was held in the year of the World ..... 5923 
 From the Birth of Our Lord to the Council of Ephesus ------ 423 
 
 From the Council of Nicaea to that of Ephesus - 106 
 
 From the Council of Constantinople to that of Ephesus ------ 50 
 
 The Fourth Council of Chalcedon was held in the year of the World - 5944 
 
 after that of Ephesus, years - - - - - -21 
 
 after that of Constantinople ----- 71 
 
 after that of Nicaea 127 
 
 after the Birth of Christ ------ 444 
 
 From Alexander to the Birth of Christ -'- - - - - - - -319 
 
 to the Council of Nicaea -------- 636 
 
 From the Creation of the World to Alexander - -- - - - - - 5181 
 
 From the Birth of Christ to the era of the Martyrs -----. 276 
 
 From the era of the Martyrs to the Council of Nicaea -.--.. 41 
 
 to the Council of Constantinople ----- 97 
 
 to the Council of Ephesus ------- 147 
 
 to the Council of Chalcedon ------ 168 
 
 From the Creation of the World to the era of the Martyrs - 5776 
 
 Erom the Martyrs to the Kaliphs -- 338 
 
 From the Birth of Christ to the Kaliphs --------- 614 
 
 From the Creation of the World to the Kaliphs - - - - - - -6114 
 
 From Alexander to the Kaliphs --- 933 
 
 From the Kaliphs to the twenty-ninth year of the reign of Sahela Selassie, Negoos of 
 Shoa, son of Woosen Suggud ---------- 1220 
 
 From the era of the Martyrs to the twenty-ninth year of the reign of Sahela Selassie 1558 
 From the Birth of Christ to the twenty-ninth year of the reign of Sahela Selassie - 1834 
 
 From the Creation of the World to the twenty-ninth year of the reign of Sahela Selassie 7332 
 
 Praise be unto God, the Giver of Understanding ! Amen ' 
 
 Note. — The following calendar, translated from the Latin of Ludolf, has been considerably 
 enlarged by a comparison at Ankober with a complete copy of the " Senkesar.*' The lives of 
 the Saints, or the detail of miracles written against each day, are publicly read in the churches 
 <z£ the service beginning at the cock's first crowing. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 007 
 
 MASKARRAM— SEPTEMBER. 
 
 FIRST MONTH OF THE ABYSSINIAN YEAR. 
 
 Julian. 
 
 Ethiop. 
 
 Fasts and Festivals. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 Aug. 
 29. 
 
 Sept. 
 
 30. 
 
 31. 
 
 Sept. 
 1. 
 
 2. 
 
 3. 
 
 in. 
 
 IV. 
 
 VI. 
 
 4. 
 
 vn. 
 
 Itfeto Year's IBag. 
 i&elfus, or ifttltus. 
 
 St. Jotm tfje 2Saj)tfst. 
 
 Bartholomew. 
 
 Sob. 
 
 Raguel, the angel. 
 Abba Malki. 
 
 Dasias, Martyr of Tayda. 
 John, the Priest. 
 
 Manna, a martyr. 
 
 Brecutton of St. Jofm tfje artist 
 
 Abba Moses, the Hermit. 
 Abba Anbasa. 
 
 Synod of Alexandria. 
 
 ikaftarfus, $atrfarcfc of ^lerantirfa. 
 
 Simeon, the Devout. 
 Tekla, the Theologian. 
 Sophia, with her two daughters, Barnaba 
 and Axosia. 
 
 St. Mamas, the Martyr. 
 
 Theodotus, with his wife Theophana. 
 
 Esafai) tfte $roj)fjet 
 
 Abnodius. 
 
 Besintia, the Martyr. 
 
 Jacob, the Monk. 
 
 Antimus, the Bishop. 
 
 Orontes, Raurawa, Saulas, and Sawa, the 
 
 Martyrs. 
 Basilides. 
 Severianus. 
 Agaton, Ammon, Amonius, Petrus, and 
 
 Johannes, the Martyrs, with their mother 
 
 Raflka. 
 Elizabeth, daughter of Sophy. 
 Mary, her sister. 
 
 ©toscorus, $atrlarc& of glerartirrfa. 
 
 Styled Amedalem, or Auda-amed 
 
 He was also called Abilius, and 
 was the third patriarch of Al- 
 exandria after St. Mark. 
 
 On this day his execution is sol- 
 emnized in the Greek and 
 Roman church ; but in the 
 Ethiopian and Coptic, his name 
 only, his death being transfer- 
 red to the day following. 
 
 He was put iuto a bag and cast 
 into the sea. 
 
 One of the principal men of Clys- 
 mae. 
 
 Who is also called the Faster, 
 for he abstained from meat 
 and wine. 
 
 i. e., the Lion, because he rode 
 upon a lion. 
 
 The sixty-fourth patriarch. 
 
 Sophia is called by the poet — 
 " Precious stone of the city of 
 Rome." 
 
 Of Nicomedia ; he suffered mar- 
 tyrdom under Maximinian. 
 
 Of Rome. 
 
 He was the five-and-twentieth 
 patriarch, and not acknow- 
 ledging the Council ofChalce- 
 don, was declared a schismatic, 
 wherefore he is held by the 
 Abyssinians to be a saint. 
 
363 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Maskdrram — September. 
 
 Julian. 
 
 Ethiop. 
 
 Fasts and* Festivals. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 Sept. 
 
 Sept. 
 
 
 
 5. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Dimadius, a Martyr. 
 
 i&oses, t&e $ronf)et. 
 
 /^acfrartas, t|)e Attest, son of 3Sara= 
 
 etnas. 
 Another Zacharias and Joseph. 
 
 
 6. 
 
 IX. 
 
 Abba Bissora, Bishop of Massilia, with his 
 companions, Bisacar, Fanabicus, and 
 Theodorus. 
 
 • 
 
 
 
 ittfc&ael. 
 
 The archangel, who, according 
 to the Greeks at Colossae, in i 
 Phrygia, smote with a rod, and { 
 removed a rock, which the 
 heretics had thrown into the 
 river to divert its course. 
 
 
 
 Cyrianus, Bishop. 
 
 
 
 
 Iassai, the King. 
 
 
 7. 
 
 X. 
 
 aSfrtirtrag of <£ur ftaton ifcarn. 
 
 
 
 
 Judith. 
 
 Who killed Holofernes. 
 
 
 
 Matrona. 
 
 
 
 
 Athanasia. 
 
 
 
 
 jRfnfl BabfO of Htfjtonfa. 
 
 Who instituted the feast of the 
 cross in Abyssinia. 
 
 
 
 Datarca. 
 
 
 
 
 Likeness of the Holy Virgin, painted by 
 
 
 
 
 Lukas. 
 
 
 8. 
 
 XI. 
 
 Panephysis. 
 
 Cornelius. 
 
 The blessed Theodora. 
 
 Basilides. 
 
 The three sons of Asnae. 
 
 The name of a female martyr ; 
 and also of a town in the 
 neighborhood of Alexandria. 
 
 9. 
 
 XII. 
 
 ^fctcijael, tlje 0rcfianael. 
 
 The two hundred Bishops congregated at 
 
 Ephesus. 
 Aflachus and his companions. 
 
 The twelfth of each month is 
 dedicated to St. Michael. 
 
 10. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 Basilius, Bishop of Cesarea. 
 Isaac Badasaeus. 
 
 
 11. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 Abba Agathon. 
 Degana, the Priest. 
 
 
 12. 
 
 XV. 
 
 Peter, the Hermit. 
 Martyrdom of Stephen. 
 
 / 
 
 13. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 HTuftcatfon of tjje (EfmrcJ) tn $*rusa* 
 
 That is, her restoration by Con- 
 
 
 
 Ion. 
 
 stantine and Helena. 
 
 
 
 Tobias. 
 
 
 
 
 Abba Agaton. 
 
 
 14. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 Theognosta, the Roman. 
 
 Or rather the Greek ; she preach, 
 ed the gospel in India. 
 
 
 
 Bionflstus, ^attfatch of ^leranima. 
 
 The fourteenth patriarch of Al- 
 exandria, under the Emperor 
 Decius. 
 
 
 
 Eudoxius, the Presbyter. 
 jfrast of t|)e (Slorfous Cross. 
 
 
 15. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 Jacob, the Ascetic. 
 Mercurius. 
 Nicetas, the Martyr. 
 Thomas. 
 
 Helena, i&otjet of tjie Emperor <£on= 
 stantfne. 
 
 
 
 
 Eustathius. 
 
 Brought a dead child back into life, 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 Maskdrram — September. 
 
 369 
 
 Julian. 
 
 Sept. 
 15. 
 16. 
 
 17. 
 
 18. 
 
 Ethiop. 
 
 19. 
 
 20. 
 
 Sept. 
 xvin. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 xx. 
 
 XXI. 
 
 21. 
 22. 
 
 23. 
 
 24. 
 25. 
 
 26. 
 
 27. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 XXIV. 
 XXV. 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 XXVII. 
 XXVIII. 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 XXX. 
 
 Fasts and Festivals. 
 
 Anoreus. 
 Quiricus. 
 
 gKreoorfus, tbe ^atrtarcb of ^rmetifa. 
 gttijanasfus, tbe $atrtarcb of gllejiaiis* 
 tirfa. 
 
 Jfcatrflama, tbe boln Ufrjjtn anH martgj:. 
 ifcatg, tbe 2£ol» VixQin. 
 
 Justina. 
 
 Tiberius, the Disciple. 
 
 Qfyz tbree buriUretf antr efjjbteen 330$= 
 ops. 
 
 Matthew, the Ascetic. 
 
 Cotolas, the brother of Axuus. 
 
 Julius Akfahasi. 
 
 Junius, his brother. 
 
 Theodorus, his son. 
 
 Aristus. 
 
 Salama, i. e. jFrumentftw. . 
 
 Eunobius. 
 Andreas, his son. 
 Tekla, the holy martyr. 
 Eustathius, with his wife and sons. 
 
 Gregorius, and his companion Quadratus. 
 Sonas, tbe $ropbet. 
 
 Kephas and Saulus. 
 Barbara and Juliana. 
 Obolius, son of Justus. 
 
 Conception of ifobn in tbe toomb of 2Blf= 
 jabetb. 
 
 Eustathius. 
 
 Thekla. 
 
 Abadiras and his sister Iraja, martyrs. 
 
 ^btabam, Xsaac, atrtr Sacob. 
 
 Susanna, the Chaste. 
 
 Enkua Mariam. 
 
 Stephen, his son. 
 
 Btrtb of Cbrfst. 
 
 Removal of the body of John, the Pure 
 
 (Evangelist.) 
 Arsima and her mother Agatha, with the 
 
 Virgins. 
 Abba Salusi. 
 Sacob antf #obn. 
 Absadius and Aaron. 
 Athanasius. 
 Gregorius. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 There are many ot this name ; 
 it is probably the second, or 
 the twenty-seventh. 
 
 The memory of the Holy Virgin 
 is celebrated on the 21st of 
 each month of the year. 
 
 One of the seventy-two disciples 
 
 of Christ. 
 In the First Council of Nicaea. 
 
 Who converted Ethiopia to Chris- 
 tianity. 
 
 A woman. 
 
 The wife was called Theopiste, 
 
 and the sons, Agapius and 
 
 Theopistus. 
 
 The same as above, xxiii. 
 
 Abadirus instead of Obed-Edom. 
 These Patriarchs have this day 
 
 in each month of the Ethiopic 
 
 calendar. 
 
 i. e. the Gem of Mary. 
 Celebrated twelve times a year. 
 
 The Apostles, sons of Zebedee. 
 
 End of the Abyssinian month Maskdrram. 
 
370 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 TEKEMT— OCTOBER. 
 
 SECOND MONTH. 
 
 Julian. 
 
 Ethiop. 
 
 Fasts and Festivals. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 Sept. 
 
 Oct. 
 
 
 
 28. 
 
 I. 
 
 Anastasia, a martyr of Rome. 
 Susanna, the Virgin. 
 
 
 
 
 Jttattfja, sfster of Ha?a*iu» arrti ifcarg. 
 
 
 29. 
 
 II. 
 
 Severus, Bishop of Antiochia. 
 
 
 30. 
 
 III. 
 
 Theodora, daughter of Arcadius, the King. 
 
 
 Oct. 
 
 
 Simeon. 
 
 The fifty-first Patriarch. 
 
 1. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Ananias, who baptized St. Paul. 
 
 Bacus. 
 
 Papa and Mamma. 
 
 He is called an Apostle, and is 
 said to have been made Bish- 
 op of Damascus. 
 
 
 
 ^brefja arrti ^tjuejja. 
 
 These two brothers were the first 
 Christian Emperors of Ethio- 
 pia, converted to Christianity 
 by St. Frumentius. 
 
 
 
 Guebra-Christos. 
 
 i. e. servant of Christ. 
 
 2. 
 
 V. 
 
 Cyriacus and his mother Hanna. 
 Admonius. 
 
 
 3. 
 
 VI. 
 
 Monisms, tlje ^reopaju'te. 
 
 Usifos and Urianos. 
 
 Antonius and Rawak, martyrs. 
 
 
 
 
 3Pautaleou. 
 
 One of the nine Ethiopic saints. 
 
 
 
 Hermolaus, the Presbyter. 
 
 - 
 
 
 
 Hermacletus and Anamaeus. 
 
 The brothers of the former. 
 
 
 
 $aulus, patriate!) of @onstanttnoj)le. 
 
 
 
 
 Batzalota Michael. 
 
 
 
 
 Hanna, mother of Samuel. 
 
 
 4. 
 
 VII. 
 
 Cyprianus. 
 
 Justina. 
 
 Abba Baula, the Just. 
 
 Menas and Hasina. 
 
 
 5. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Horus and Agatho, children of Susanna. 
 Metras. 
 
 
 6. 
 
 IX. 
 
 Stomas, jostle of Xrrtna. 
 
 Athanasius, Patriarch of Antiochia. 
 Stephanus, son of Basilides. 
 SLiuerfus, 33atriarcl) of 2&ome. 
 Emperor David, of Ethiopia. 
 
 « 
 
 7. 
 
 X. 
 
 Sergius. 
 
 Vide Hedar, xix. 
 
 8. 
 
 XI. 
 
 Jacob, Patriarch of Antiochia. 
 
 
 
 
 Humemus, ^atrfarcft of &lejrantma. 
 
 He was the seventh. 
 
 9. 
 
 XII. 
 
 itttrijael, tlje ^rdjaujjel. 
 
 iWatttjcu), tlje lEuaiiflelfst anK jostle. 
 
 
 
 
 ©emetrfus, 39atrfarcft of gUejrarrtma. 
 
 He was the twelfth. 
 
 10. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 Ptolemachus and his Brothers, the Martyrs. 
 Paulus and Zacharias, Ascetics. 
 
 
 11. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 3P!)flty, tlje jostle. 
 Moses, the Monk. 
 
 Of Caesarea. 
 
 
 
 Guebra-Christos. 
 
 Vide Tekemt, iv. 
 
 
 
 Jtttcijael, called gfrafiatot. 
 
 i. e. Senex, cne of the nine Abys- 
 sinian saints. 
 
 12. 
 
 XV. 
 
 Azkirus and Cyriacus. 
 
 Silas. 
 
 Bifamon of Nicomedia. 
 
 
 13. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 Abba Agathus, Patriarch of Alexandria. 
 
 The thirty-ninth. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 Tekemt — October. 
 
 371 
 
 Julian. Ethiop. 
 
 Oct. 
 13. 
 
 14. 
 
 15. 
 16. 
 
 17. 
 
 18. 
 
 19. 
 20. 
 
 21. 
 
 22. 
 
 23. 
 
 24. 
 25. 
 
 26. 
 
 27. 
 
 Oct. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 XVIII. 
 XIX. 
 
 XX. 
 XXI. 
 
 XXII. 
 XXIII. 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 XXV. 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 XXVIII 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 XXX. 
 
 Fasts and Festivals. 
 
 Macrobius. 
 
 Petrus. 
 
 miostovus, $attfatcf) of &le?attfjrta. 
 
 Filjas, Bishop of Tamois. 
 
 Birth of Hanna. 
 
 Steplmmis, t|)e iFfrst l&attsr. 
 
 ©tjcopfjtlus, $atrfatci) of &le*:ano"rfa. 
 
 Romanus, the Martyr. 
 
 Johannes and Kedwa maza. 
 
 Jemrah, a martyr. 
 
 Bartholomew, the Martyr. 
 
 The thirteen Bishops. 
 
 Simeon. 
 
 Hifja, tfie $top!)et 
 
 J£ar£, t&e 2£ol2 UivQin. 
 
 Matthias. 
 
 Joel, tfje }$ropt)et 
 
 Lazarus. 
 
 2Lucas, tfce IBuatijjeltst 
 
 #osepf), patriate!) of ^lepautotta. 
 
 Dionysius, the Bishop. 
 
 Hilario. 
 
 Paulus and his companion. 
 
 The Holy Zaina, a martyr. 
 
 Tzabala Mariam. 
 
 Aba Abib, the Monk. 
 
 Julius. 
 
 Timonas. 
 
 Huras, the Martyr. 
 
 Abba Macarius, the Martyr, Bishop of Kau. 
 
 gforatjam, Esaac, atrtr Sacoo, 
 
 Abba Jemata. 
 Marcianus and Mercurius. 
 
 asivtt) of mjxiat 
 
 Demetrius, the Martyr. 
 Sektar. 
 
 2Bmperor fisaac. 
 Abraham, the Poor. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 Of Ethiopia. 
 End of the Abyssinian Month, Tekemt. 
 
 Vide Maskarram, vii. 
 
 Mother of Samuel. 
 
 The three-and-twentieth. 
 
 On the spot where his blood was 
 spilt, there grew up a fine vine. 
 
 At Antiochia 
 
 Redeemed from prison by the 
 Holy Virgin. 
 
 He was the fifty-second. 
 
 Kau was a town on the Upper 
 
 Nile. 
 
 They were disciples of Paulus, 
 Patriarch of Constantinople. 
 
 HEDAR— NOVEMBER. 
 
 THIRD MONTH. 
 
 Julian. 
 
 Ethiop. 
 
 Fasts and Festivals. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 Oct. 
 28. 
 
 29. 
 
 Nov. 
 i. 
 ii. 
 
 Maximus. Victor, Philip 
 .Sanftfua, patriate!) of gle^atrtma. 
 39etrus, ^atciatcjj of ^lepantirCa. 
 Naak weto-Laab . 
 
 The sixty-third. 
 
 The twenty-seventh. 
 
 The last Emperor of Ethiopia, of 
 
 the family of Zague. He did 
 
 not die. 
 
372 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Heddr — November. 
 
 
 Julian. 
 
 Ethiop. 
 
 Fasts and Festivals. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 Oct. 
 
 Nov. 
 
 
 
 30. 
 
 III. 
 
 ?$abafcfcufc, tt>c $roj)&et 
 
 
 
 
 Cyriacus. 
 
 Whose dead body remained long 
 uncorrupted. 
 
 
 
 Athanasius and Iraeus, martyrs. 
 
 
 31. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Jacob and Johannes, Bishops of Persia. 
 Thomas, companion of Zacharias, Bishops 
 
 of Damascus. 
 Epimachus and Acirianus. 
 
 
 
 
 Johannes and Abaidus, disciples to the 
 
 • 
 
 Nov. 
 
 
 latter. 
 
 
 1. 
 
 v. 
 
 Timotheus, martyr. 
 
 Longinus. 
 
 Removal of the body of Mar-Theodor. 
 
 
 2. 
 
 VI. 
 
 jFlffltrt of <tf>xlst from J&eijsa to 3&os* 
 
 
 
 
 ftuama. 
 
 Places in Egypt. 
 
 
 
 Josa, daughter of Joseph of Arimathaea. 
 
 
 
 
 Felix, Archbishop of Rome. 
 
 
 3. 
 
 VII. 
 
 Georgius, one of the first martyrs. 
 Abba Rehru. 
 
 Of Alexandria. 
 
 
 
 Menas, Bishop of Tamoi. 
 
 In Egypt. 
 
 
 
 Mercurius and Johannes. 
 
 
 
 
 Zenobius and Zenobia. 
 
 Martyrs under Dioclesian. 
 
 4. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Abba Kefri. 
 
 
 
 
 The Four Cherubim. 
 
 That is the Four Beasts. Apo- 
 calyps., iv. 6. 
 
 
 
 Egzie Kebra. 
 
 
 
 
 Johannes, showing to Constantinus the 
 
 
 
 
 Cross. 
 
 
 
 
 Amen, an angel. 
 
 
 
 
 Constantms, seeCnjj tjje Cross. 
 
 With the significant words, " With 
 that ensign thou wilt be victo- 
 rious." 
 
 5. 
 
 IX . 
 
 Ksaac tfte #ust, ^atrfarci) of ^leran- 
 
 tirta. 
 2TJ)e ccerbm Jfatfters, assembled at Wt= 
 
 caea. 
 
 The forty-first. 
 
 6. 
 
 X. 
 
 The Virgins, killed by Julian. 
 
 
 
 
 Meeting of Priests for the settling of the 
 
 Under Demetrius, Patriarch of 
 
 
 
 Epacts. 
 
 Alexandria. 
 
 
 
 Guebra Mariam. 
 
 
 7. 
 
 XI. 
 
 j^ana, ©fratrtrmotfter of €ftrfst 
 
 Her husband was Joachim Cleo- 
 phas. 
 
 
 
 Archelaus and Elisa. 
 
 
 
 Menas and his mother Urania. 
 
 
 8. 
 
 XII. 
 
 i&fcijael, t|je ^rcfianfleL 
 
 
 
 
 ^tnlotfieus, ISatrfarcfc of &Ietantorfa. 
 
 The sixty-third. 
 
 
 
 Adamas. 
 
 
 
 
 Seraphim and Cherubim. 
 
 
 9. 
 
 xm. 
 
 Ascanafrus. 
 
 Timotheus, Bishop of Esnae. 
 
 Cured a paralytic person. 
 
 
 
 ^acfiarfas, $atrfarc|) of ^lerantrrfa. 
 
 The sixty-fourth ; he was be- 
 
 
 
 Johannes, the Priest. 
 
 smeared with blood and cast 
 before lions, but remained un- 
 touched. 
 
 
 
 Martianus, Bishop of Thracia. 
 
 He was driven from his see by 
 the Arians, and, after a long 
 journey, raised a dead body to 
 life. 
 
 Who baptized a king of Persia. 
 
 10. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 Daniel, the Monk. 
 
 
 
 The Maccabeans. 
 
 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 Hedd r — November. 
 
 373 
 
 Julian. 
 
 Ethiop. 
 
 Fasts and llstivals. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 Nov. 
 
 Nov. 
 
 
 
 11. 
 
 XV. 
 
 Menas, a martyr. 
 
 
 
 
 Abba Menas, Patriarch of Alexandria. 
 
 The sixty-first. 
 
 
 
 Dedication of the church of Pachomius. 
 
 
 
 
 Victor. 
 
 
 
 
 Seoftat 
 
 Beginning of the Fast before 
 Christmas, called Hodadi. 
 
 
 
 Jatia, a female martyr. 
 
 
 12. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 Stooreus, Itftis, auto fits comjjartfon. 
 
 
 
 
 Daniel, the Antistes. 
 
 " Who put on angels' clotning," 
 i. e. became a monk. 
 
 
 
 Aulacetus. 
 
 
 
 
 Cerius, called John the Piteous. 
 
 At the time of Heraclius, forty- 
 first Patriarch of Alexandria. 
 
 
 
 Cistus, a martyr. 
 
 
 
 
 Dedication of the church of Abunafer, in 
 
 Abunafer, called Onuphrius in 
 
 
 
 Egypt- 
 
 Greek, was a hermit. His 
 church was above Memphis. 
 
 13. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 Abraham and his wife. 
 
 Harica and Kedoosa Amlac, their sons. 
 
 The hundred Anchorites in the desert of 
 
 Watzif. 
 Abba Sinodius. 
 
 
 
 
 JJoftannes iftfjrssostoiuu*. 
 
 The day of the removal of his re- 
 mains to Constantinople. 
 
 14. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 Jona and Atrasessa. 
 »lfp, the Apostle. 
 Eleutherus and Enthia. 
 Athanasius. 
 
 Female martyrs. 
 
 15. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 Theophilus, and his wife Patritia, and their 
 son Damalius. 
 
 
 
 
 Dedication of the church of Sergius. 
 
 His dead body sent forth an 
 agreeable odor. 
 
 
 
 iSart&olometo, tfje jostle. 
 
 
 16. 
 
 XX. 
 
 ^naiifas, $atrfarcfi of gClepatrtrtfa. 
 
 Theodorus, the martyr. 
 
 The second, successor of St. 
 Mark. 
 
 17. 
 
 XXI. 
 
 i&ars, tfje ^olg Vix&in. 
 €Kregottus £Jmumaturrjuff. 
 
 
 
 
 Cosmus, Metropolite. 
 
 Uncertain, whether the fifty- 
 fourth Patriarch of Alexandria 
 or not. It is said, that the 
 image of Mary shed tears 
 when it beheld his excruci- 
 ating tortures. 
 
 
 
 Johannes of Sijut. 
 
 
 18. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 Alphaeus, Romanus, and Zachaeus, of As- 
 munaja, with their companions. 
 
 The children of Theodata. 
 
 The two hundred and ninety-two brothers 
 and forty-nine sisters of Cosmus. 
 
 
 19. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 ©oaotaa. 
 
 Who fed the prophets in the cave 
 at the time .of King Ahab. 
 1 Chron. xviii. 13. 
 
 
 
 Cornelius. 
 
 One of the seventy-two disciples. 
 
 20. 
 
 XXTV. 
 
 Seraphim. 
 
 
 
 
 The twenty-eight Elders. 
 
 Apocalyps. iv. 4. 
 
 
 
 Azkirus and Cyriacus. 
 
 
 21. 
 
 XXV. 
 
 Mercurius, the Roman. 
 
 
 22. 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 £fte i&attsrs of !tf egra. 
 Selarianus, with his sister Tatusbaya. 
 
 340 under their leader Aretas. 
 
 . 
 
 
 ^toflorfus, 3Sf»|)op of Ngssa. 
 
 
374 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 Heddr — November. 
 
 Julian. 
 
 Ethiop. 
 
 Fasts and Festivals. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 Nov. 
 
 Nov. 
 
 
 
 22. 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 Jesus-Moa. 
 
 i. e. Jesus has overcome : a man's 
 name. 
 
 23. 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 Jacob, the martyr. 
 
 Philemon, the Apostle. 
 Tekla Hawaryat. 
 Guebra- Johannes . 
 Timotheus, and his wife Mora. 
 Sarabamon, Bishop of Nagos. 
 
 Was cut midways asunder, but 
 prayed still as half a body. 
 
 24. 
 
 XX VIII. 
 
 gflbba 3Lffcanus. 
 
 gflbrafjam, fisaac, anU Jfacoo. 
 
 One of the nine Abyssinian saints. 
 
 25. 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 mvft) of <£f)rfst i 
 
 
 
 
 Petrus, Patriarch of Alexandria. 
 
 The twenty-ninth. He kept the 
 people of Mermoken from he- 
 resy. 
 
 
 
 Clemens, disciple of Petros. 
 
 
 
 
 Guebra- Maskal. 
 
 i. e. Servant of the Cross, Em- 
 peror of Ethiopia. 
 
 26. 
 
 XXX. 
 
 Acacius, successor of Anatolius, Bishop of 
 
 Constantinople. 
 Guebra-Maskal, Emperor of Ethiopia.- 
 Gregorius. 
 
 
 
 Here endetk the month Hedar. 
 
 TAHSAS— DECEMBER. 
 
 FOURTH MONTH. 
 
 Julian. 
 
 Ethiop. 
 
 Fasts and Festivals. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 Nov. 
 
 Dec. 
 
 
 
 27. 
 
 i. 
 
 Asnadius, Patriarch of Alexandria. 
 
 IBlfas, tlje $rop!)et 
 Petrus, Bishop of Gaza. 
 
 The seventy-seventh. 
 
 
 
 Jfoiwnnes, $atrfarcj) of ^PU^antrrta. 
 
 The fortieth ; he built the church 
 of St. Mark in Alexandria. 
 
 
 
 Auctianus. 
 
 
 28. 
 
 n. 
 
 Sadrach, Mesach, and Abednego. 
 
 
 
 
 Abba Hor, with thirty-two martyrs. 
 
 Hor brought a dead child to life 
 again, of whose death he stood 
 accused. 
 
 29. 
 
 in. 
 
 J&atg entering t£e fcemple. 
 
 Phanuel, Archbishop. 
 
 
 30. 
 
 IV. 
 
 ahxtoreas, t|je jostle. 
 
 
 Dec. 
 
 
 
 
 1. 
 
 v. 
 
 Ttfabum, the $ropl>et 
 
 Eleutherus, a martyr. 
 
 Eugenia, daughter of King Philip. 
 
 
 
 
 Arsima. 
 
 Vide Maskarram, xxix. 
 
 
 
 Johannes. 
 
 Called " Ghostly Father." 
 
 
 
 Theodorus. 
 
 
 
 
 Victor, a bishop. 
 
 
 2. 
 
 VT. 
 
 Transfer of the body of Arsima. 
 Anatolius, a presbyter and martyr. 
 
 
 ' 
 
 
 abratmin, ^atrfaref) of SUeyantafa. 
 
 The Sixty-second. 
 
 
 
 Simeon. 
 
 Otherwise called " Afa Mariam. 
 
 
 
 Eliabus. 
 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 375 
 
 Tahsas — December. 
 
 Julian 
 
 ' Ethiop. 
 
 Fasts and Festivals. 
 
 Bern arks. 
 
 Dec. 
 
 Dec. 
 
 
 
 3. 
 
 VII. 
 
 Matthaeus, the Poor. 
 
 
 
 
 Daniel, the Monk. 
 
 
 
 
 Eulogius. 
 
 
 
 
 Diontyras. 
 
 
 4. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Johannes of Damascus. 
 Esi, and his sister Tekla. 
 
 
 
 
 3£eraclas, ^airfare!) of gtejrantfrfa. 
 
 The thirteenth. 
 
 
 
 Barbara. 
 
 
 
 
 Anba, i. e. Abba Marina. 
 
 Was discovered after death to 
 have been a woman. 
 
 5. 
 
 IX. 
 
 Saba, a martyr. 
 
 Was thrown into a hot oven. 
 
 6. 
 
 X. 
 
 SEfieoptmnfus, a patriate!) of &l*j:an= 
 tirfa. 
 
 Severas, a lather of Antioch. 
 Nfcolaus, Msftop of i&jra. 
 Thalassius and Eleazar. 
 Advent of the body of Severus. 
 Sursita of Constantinople. 
 
 The sixtieth. 
 
 7. 
 
 XI. 
 
 iBacijomtus anH 3Bartt)olomaeus, 38tsto= 
 ops. 
 
 Theodorus. 
 
 i 
 
 8. 
 
 XII. 
 
 i&fcfiad, tfie ^rctansel. 
 
 Anicetus and Photinus, martyrs. ■ 
 
 Hydra of Syene. 
 
 Sixty Bishops against Benatus at Rome. 
 
 
 
 
 Abba Samuel, of Waldubba. 
 
 
 9. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 25tapf)ael, tlje &rc|)ano;el. 
 
 Macarius. 
 Barsufius. 
 Abracius. 
 
 
 
 
 Mizael, a deacon. 
 
 Anchorite of the Convent Kel- 
 mon. 
 
 10. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 Mermena. 
 
 
 
 
 Simeon Behor and Menas. 
 
 
 
 
 Abba, Guebra-Christos, Patriarch of Alex- 
 
 The sixty-seventh. 
 
 
 
 andria. 
 
 
 
 
 Ammonius. 
 
 
 
 
 Nasahita, a royal daughter. 
 
 
 
 
 Arianus, a presbyter. 
 
 
 
 
 Arshaledes, his brother. 
 
 ' 
 
 11. 
 
 XV. 
 
 Gregorius, Bishop of Armenia. 
 
 
 
 
 Ultras, tfie Stglfte. 
 
 Every seventh day he ate a little 
 bread, the six other days he 
 fasted. 
 
 
 
 Abba Jemsah. 
 
 
 
 
 Eustathius. 
 
 
 12. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 Conception of St i&atj. 
 
 
 
 
 Ananias and Cazius. 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 Abba Herwag, a martyr. 
 
 
 
 
 Gideon, Leader of the Israelites. 
 
 | 
 
 13. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 Transfer of the body of Lucas, the Stylite. 
 
 , 
 
 14. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 Heraclas, the Martyr. 
 Philemon, the Hermit. 
 mtus, Msctple of St $aul 
 
 Many of that name. 
 
 
 
 Salama, i. e. jFrumentfus. 
 
 Apostle of the Ethiopians. 
 
 15. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 Gabriel, tfie gtrcftanael. 
 
 
 
 
 Johannes, the Priest. 
 
 Vide Hedar xiii. 
 
 16. 
 
 XX. 
 
 ^aauaf, the $ropfjet 
 
 
 17. 
 
 XXI. 
 
 ifcari), ttje ^olj VlxQin. 
 
 Barnabas of Cyprus. 
 
 
 • 18. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 Decisius, of Rome. 
 
 
376 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Tahsds — December. 
 
 Julian. 
 
 Ethiop. 
 
 Fasts and Festivals. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 Dec. 
 
 Dec. 
 
 
 
 18. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 Anastasius, Patriarch of Alexandria. 
 Archelaus, Bishop. 
 
 The seventeenth. 
 
 19. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 30abm, Htfmj of Ksrael. 
 
 Abba Timotheus. 
 Isaac. 
 
 * 
 
 
 
 Samuel, and his sons Simeon and Gabriel. 
 
 Made fire fall from heaven. 
 
 20. 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 Mbba. $)aulf. 
 Jeremias, the Prophet. 
 Obolius. 
 Xanatfus, a martgr. 
 
 Fulgosius. 
 
 
 
 
 Seftla l^afmanot. 
 
 Who introduced monastic life in 
 Ethiopia. 
 
 
 
 Esther, Queen of Persia. 
 
 
 21. 
 
 XXV. 
 
 Maccabasi, the martyrs. 
 
 
 
 
 Johannes Cama. 
 
 His fingers and nails seemed 
 burning like candles during 
 prayer. 
 
 
 
 Abba Darudi. 
 
 
 22. 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 Anastasia, a martyr. 
 Juliana. 
 
 
 23. 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 Abba Abashadi, a "martyr-bishop. 
 Abba Hellanikus, Bishop of Egypt. 
 Abba Bege. 
 Philip, a monk. 
 
 
 24. 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 Jffeast of @?ena. 
 
 &brafoam, fisaac, atiK JJacob. 
 
 Paulus, a martyr. 
 
 That is, Christmas-eve. 
 
 25. 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 3Sfrtf) of our SLortr JJesus &§xi*t 
 ffibe Hfnfls of .Saba. 
 
 In 1843, the birth of our Saviour 
 fell on the 5th of January. 
 
 
 
 The martyrs of Achmim. 
 
 A town in Thebais. 
 
 
 
 Korilas and Abba Gize. 
 
 
 
 
 Acarius. 
 
 
 26. 
 
 XXX. 
 
 2Ebe finnocent €ftfHiren. 
 Johannes, the Master. 
 Johannes, the Woman-hater. 
 Zacharias, a hermit. 
 
 
 
 Here endeth the month Tahi 
 
 ids. 
 
 TEIU-JANUARY. 
 
 FIFTH MONTH. 
 
 ■ 
 
 Julian. 
 
 Ethiop. 
 
 Fasts and Festivals. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 Dec. 
 
 Jan. 
 
 
 
 27. 
 
 i. 
 
 Stepbanus, tbe jfftst martgr. 
 Dioscorus and JEsculapius, the companions. 
 Leontius, a martyr. 
 
 
 
 
 Marcarius, the Patriarch of Alexandria. 
 
 There were two of this name : 
 the sixty-ninth is here meant. 
 
 28. 
 
 ii. 
 
 Abel, brother to Cain. 
 
 
 
 
 Sabela. 
 
 A woman renowned for inter- 
 preting dreams. 
 
 
 
 Hellanicus. 
 
 
APPENDIX. 
 Ter — January. 
 
 377 
 
 Julian. 
 
 Ethiop. 
 
 Dec. 
 
 28. 
 
 29. 
 
 30. 
 31. 
 
 Jan. 
 1. 
 
 2. 
 
 3. 
 
 7, 
 
 10. 
 11. 
 
 Jan. 
 
 n. 
 
 in. 
 
 IV. 
 
 v. 
 
 VI. 
 
 vn. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 IX. 
 
 x. 
 
 XI. 
 
 XII. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 Fasts and Festivals. 
 
 2Fbeonas, $atrfarcb of atferarrtma. 
 
 Abba Sinoda, or Sinodius. 
 
 Ksafaf), tbe $roj)bet. 
 
 2Tfic innocent (ftintoren. 
 
 &bba Sitbauus. 
 
 Adhanius and Astea, his companions. 
 
 Ammonius. 
 
 Jofm, tbe Apostle. 
 
 Ausgenius, a martyr. 
 
 Matthew, Patriarch of Alexandria. 
 Ausia. 
 
 2Sastlfus. 
 Abba Moses. 
 
 Marcianus, Patriarch of Alexandria. 
 <£trcumcfsion of €:trfst. 
 Peter of Sola. 
 2Egpbrem, tbe <S»rfan. 
 Adranicus, Patriarch of Alexandria. 
 Benjamin, ^atrfarci) of gtterantma. 
 Dedication of the Church of St. Macarius. 
 j-ftalacbfas, tfte lironftet. 
 Abraham. 
 Fast, called Bahed. 
 Synod of Alexandria. 
 38aj) tf sm of <ftbrfst. 
 Justus and Guedebus. 
 Anatolius. 
 
 Johannes, the Elder, Patriarch of Alexan- 
 dria. 
 
 Nuptials of <2fcana in ©fatflee. 
 Jttfrijael, tl;e ^rcbanrjel. 
 
 Theodorus of the East. 
 •Leontius and Benikarus. 
 Third feast of Epiphany. 
 STfie Seben Sleepers. 
 
 Nacaro. 
 
 Mehraela, a martyr. 
 
 Abhor, her brother. 
 
 Emraisa. 
 
 Maximus. 
 
 Arshaledes. 
 
 Cyriacus and his mother. 
 
 Abdias, follower of Elias. 
 
 Cyriacus. 
 
 Gregorius, Bishop of Sophorea. 
 
 Daniel, the Woman-hater. 
 
 Ijaluta, mother of Cyriacus, 
 Philotheus, a martyr. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 The sixteenth, called " Column 
 of the Church." 
 
 Also on the vi. of Maskarram. 
 
 14,440 in number. 
 
 Brought water out of a rock. 
 
 Also on the xiv. of Tahsas. 
 
 He interpreted the sign, which 
 Constantine the Great saw in 
 the Heavens, and was be- 
 headed in the 110th year of 
 his age. 
 
 The eighty-eighth. 
 
 The eighth. 
 
 The thirty-seventh. 
 The thirty-eighth. 
 
 On the eve of Epiphany. 
 The Epiphany. 
 
 The seventy-fourth ; gave so 
 many alms, that of 20,000 
 denars not one single obol was 
 left to himself. 
 
 The former also on the i. of Ter. 
 
 Called Arsaladis, Duomidos, Au- 
 gameos, Demetrius, Burotos, 
 Stephanos, and Cyriacus. 
 
 Also on the xiv. of Tahsas. 
 Also on the xxm. of Hedar. 
 
 Vowed never to look at a wo- 
 man, as did Johannes, whose 
 festival is observed on the xxx. 
 of Tahsas. 
 
378 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Ter — January. 
 
 Julian. 
 
 Jan. 
 11. 
 
 12. 
 13. 
 
 14. 
 
 15. 
 
 16. 
 
 17. 
 
 18. 
 
 19. 
 
 20. 
 
 21. 
 
 22. 
 
 23. 
 24. 
 
 25. 
 
 Ethiop. 
 
 Jan. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 XVII. 
 XVIII. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 XX. 
 
 XXI. 
 
 XXII. 
 XXIII. 
 
 XXIV. 
 XXV. 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 xxvir. 
 xxvin. 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 Fasts and Festivals. 
 
 XXX. 
 
 Palladius. 
 
 Johannes, liatrtarcf) of glerantiria. 
 
 Dumatheus, brother of Maximus. 
 
 Jacob of Nisibe. 
 
 St. George. / 
 
 The Behuraeans, with their mother Nera. 
 
 Jafkerana-Egzia. 
 
 Dedication of the Church of the Martyrs at 
 
 Esnae. 
 Prochorus, a bishop. 
 Abcluzius. 
 
 Behnu, a holy martyress. 
 Abba Nabjud. 
 
 33eati) of our 3Latrg i&arg. 
 Hilaria, the hermit. 
 Gregorius. 
 
 $mmta&, tf)e $ropi)et. 
 Paulus and Silas, martyrs. 
 Johannes. 
 Caustus. 
 Antonius. 
 Timotheus. 
 
 CijeoTiosTus, t|)e ISmpztox. 
 
 Georgius and Mercora. 
 
 Abshadius, the Presbyter. 
 
 Bifaof Sofia. 
 
 Petrus. 
 
 Sebastian. 
 
 Ascelas, a martyr. 
 
 The forty-nine old hermits. 
 
 Joseph, the Almsgiver.* 
 
 Abba Bifamon. 
 
 Serapio. 
 
 Transfer of the body of Timotheus. 
 
 3Enotfj. 
 
 Suriel, Archangel. 
 
 &brai)am, Ksaac, anti $acoo. 
 
 Abba Acanhi, with his eight companions. 
 
 His eight hundred companions. 
 
 Joseph. 
 
 Clemens, a bishop and martyr. 
 
 aSCrtf} of ©ur 3Loro\ 
 
 Xena. 
 
 Stephanus. 
 
 Cyriacus. 
 
 The monks of the Convent Zaga-Meek\d. 
 
 Gabra-Nazrawi. 
 
 genets, 33atrtarcJ) of &lerantma. 
 
 Chrestus. 
 
 Mary and Martha, the Virgins. 
 
 Tekla and Abjd. 
 
 Irene. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 Seems to be the fortieth, who 
 died on that day, having pre- 
 dicted so of himself. 
 
 i. e. " Friend of God." 
 
 A town in Egypt. 
 Of Nicomedia. 
 
 Founder of monastic life. 
 Disciple of St. Paul, and Bishop 
 of Ephesus. 
 
 To Constantinople. 
 
 In Gojam. 
 
 Was saved out of a fiery oven. 
 
 In the country of the Agows. 
 The forty-seventh. 
 
 Here endeth the month Ter. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 379 
 
 YEKATIT— FEBRUARY 
 
 SIXTH MONTH. 
 
 Julian. 
 
 Ethiop. 
 
 Fasts and Festivals. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 Jan. 
 26. 
 
 27. 
 
 28. 
 
 29. 
 
 30. 
 
 Feb. 
 
 in. 
 
 IV. 
 
 31. 
 
 Feb. 
 1. 
 
 4. 
 
 VI. 
 
 VII. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 XI. 
 XII. 
 
 xm. 
 
 The Fathers of the (Ecumenic Council of 
 Constantinople. 
 
 Dedication of the Church of Peter, Patri- 
 arch of Alexandria. 
 
 Thomas. 
 
 Paulius, the Hermit, of Alexandria. 
 
 Longinus. 
 
 Jacob, a monk. 
 
 Zeno, the Thaumaturgos. 
 
 Transfer of the body of Ephrem, the Syrian. 
 
 JFast of €fjrfst 
 
 Agabus, apostle. 
 
 Zacharias, 
 
 01jrfnpfnus, $atrtarcf) of ^lerantrcfa. 
 
 Bessoi, called Peter. 
 
 Nobus. 
 
 S^fpnolgtus. 
 
 Transfer of the bones of the 49 martyrs. 
 Abba Ebloi. 
 Abba Eblo. 
 Amnion and Esia. 
 
 2Ti)e oofcg of ^tppolgtus, recoberefc from 
 
 tt>e sea. 
 Abukir and Johannes. 
 Amogi and Athanasia. 
 Maria 
 
 Alexander, Metropolite of Alexandria. 
 2Tf)eoaorus, $atrfarcj) of ^letanfcrfa. 
 
 (ftfjnst enters t&e temple. 
 
 Simeon, tf>e ^roptjet 
 
 ?^anna, tfje $roj)fjetess. 
 
 Eiias. 
 
 Three female hermits. 
 
 Transfer of the body of Joseph. 
 
 Death of Barsuma. 
 
 Paulus, with Esi and Thekla. 
 
 Saeobus, tt)e jostle antr J&artjr. 
 
 St. Just. 
 
 ISjra. 
 
 Felo, a bishop of Persia. 
 
 Belatianus, Bishop of Rome. 
 
 Leoninus Eulogius. 
 
 Abba Betra, disciple of Sylvan. 
 
 ittfctrael, tjje &rcfjano,el. 
 
 Gallius, a deacon. 
 
 Sergius, the Ascetic. 
 
 Srmotfjeus, $atrtarcfj of Stlerattiirta. 
 
 Victor. 
 
 150 bishops. 
 
 Also on the vn. of Ter. 
 Beginning of Quadragesima. 
 
 The tenth. 
 
 Bishop of Rome. Sentenced to 
 be drowned ; he did not sink 
 in spite of a heavy stone fas- 
 tened to his feet. 
 
 Two different persons. 
 
 Who bathed Christ's feet. 
 
 The thirty-third. 
 
 The forty-fifth. Anniversary of 
 
 his death. 
 Or Mary's purification. 
 
 The thirty-second. 
 
380 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Yekdtit — February. 
 
 Julian. 
 
 Ethiop. 
 
 Feb. 
 7. 
 
 10. 
 
 11. 
 12. 
 
 13. 
 
 14. 
 15. 
 
 16. 
 17. 
 
 18. 
 
 19. 
 
 20. 
 21. 
 
 22. 
 
 23. 
 
 24. 
 
 Feb. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 XV. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 XVII. 
 XVIII. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 XX. 
 
 Fasts and Festivals. 
 
 XXII. 
 XXIII. 
 XXIV. 
 
 XXV. 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 XXX. 
 
 Eusebius. 
 
 Jacobus. 
 
 Ct^rfllus, ^atrtarc!) of Stterarrtma. 
 
 Severus, Patriarch of Antiochia. 
 
 Johannes. 
 
 Zacharias. 
 
 Bebnuda. 
 
 Inauguration of the Church of the Forty 
 
 Warriors. 
 J»arr>, tt)c ?9oIi> VixQin. 
 Hluabeti), .fEotljet of St. Jofin. 
 Death of Moses, the Legislator. 
 Menas, Bishop of Achmim. 
 Abba Abraham. 
 
 Melanius, Patriarch of Alexandria. 
 Transfer of the body of Martianus. 
 $ettus, patriarch of SUeranttrta. 
 
 Basilius, Theodosius, and Timotheus. 
 
 Philemon. 
 
 #larr> tije 2£olw l T irfitn. 
 
 Gfatmcl, liatriavcft of SUctattima. 
 
 Zacharius, Theodosius, and Timotheus. 
 ©ncsfmu's, IBfsrijplc of $aul. 
 
 Maruna, a bishop. 
 
 Eusebius, son of Basilides, a martyr. 
 
 Matthias and Timotheus. 
 
 Agapetus, bishop. 
 
 Ausanius. 
 
 Philemon and 
 
 2Lucia, tlje Virgin. 
 j Konas, a deacon. 
 
 Menas and Elmadius 
 j Abu Phanas. 
 j Antonius Raweh. 
 ; ?£oseas t|)c $ropf>et. 
 1 Sadok, a martyr. 
 
 Anastasius. 
 
 Eustathius of Antioch. 
 
 afotafjam, Xsaac, an* Jacob. 
 
 Theodorus, the Roman. 
 
 Birti) of ertirist. 
 
 Polycarpus ? the Priest. 
 
 The head of John Crysostom recovered. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 Being threatened to be burnt, he 
 was taken to heaven by Uriel 
 the archangel, and remained 
 there for fourteen years. 
 
 He resuscitated a dead child. 
 
 The twenty-fourth. 
 
 From Athens to Antiochia. 
 
 The twenty-first, successor of 
 Athanasius. This is the anni- 
 versary of his death. 
 
 The fifty-eighth 
 his death. 
 
 anniversary of 
 
 Was slain, with 2008 others, by 
 a King of Persia. 
 
 Bishop of Smyrna. 
 
 Here endeth the month Yekatit. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 381 
 
 MAGABIT— MARCH. 
 
 SEVENTH MONTH. 
 
 Julian. 
 
 Ethiop. 
 
 Fasts and Festivals. 
 
 i 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 Feb. 
 
 March. 
 
 
 
 25 
 
 i. 
 
 Barkisus, Bishop of Jerusalem. 
 Mercurius, Bishop, and his companion 
 
 Alexander. 
 Methusalem. 
 Macareus, Bishop. 
 
 
 26. 
 
 ii. 
 
 Gregorius of Roha. 
 
 
 27. 
 
 in. 
 
 €osmus, patriate!) of Slerantma. 
 
 Abba Berfonius. 
 
 The forty-fourth. 
 
 28. 
 
 IV. 
 
 The bishops assembled on account of the 
 
 Paschal. 
 Sophoreus. 
 Hanulius of Terha. 
 
 Probably the Council of Nicaea. 
 
 March. 
 
 
 CSasma, ^airfare!) of &lerant»rta. 
 
 The fifty-eighth. 
 
 1. 
 
 V. 
 
 Sarabamon, a martyr. 
 
 Eudoxia. 
 
 Abba Germanos. 
 
 Also on the xxvni. of Hed&r. 
 
 
 
 @ruebra=J&anfas Itettoos. 
 
 One of the principal Ethiopian 
 Saints. 
 
 2. 
 
 VI. 
 
 Dioscorus, a martyr. 
 EJjeotiosfus, tfic ISmpzxQX. 
 Raphael, the Archangel. 
 Antanes and Arkaradis. 
 
 
 3. 
 
 VII. 
 
 Apollonius. 
 Philemon. 
 
 
 
 
 Theodotus, a martyr. 
 
 Beaten by the people of Athens. 
 
 4. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 J&attfifas, tbe Apostle. 
 
 Arianus. 
 
 
 
 
 Jnltanus, IBatriardj of SUerantoria. 
 
 The eleventh. 
 
 
 
 Sfie i&eben Sleepers. 
 
 
 5. 
 
 IX. 
 
 Andrianus. 
 Eusebius and Arma. 
 Cuetenus. 
 
 
 6. 
 
 X. 
 
 Enoentton of tbe J^olj Cross. 
 
 First in Jerusalem, then in Persia. 
 
 
 
 Abba Alef. 
 
 One of the nine Abyssinian Saints. 
 
 7. 
 
 XI. 
 
 Basilius, a bishop of Hermon. 
 
 Also on the xin. of Maskarram, 
 and in. of Ter. 
 
 
 
 Theodicianus. 
 
 Of Alexandria. 
 
 8. 
 
 XII. 
 
 Jf&fcfiael, tt)e &rri)anfiel. 
 
 
 
 
 ©emetrius, 3PatrtarrJ of &lerantma. 
 
 The twelfth, also on the xn. of 
 
 
 
 Melagius, a martyr. 
 
 Tekemt. 
 
 
 
 Sosepl) son of #acob. 
 
 
 9. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 Hfonatfieus, ^atrtatci) of ^lerantirfa. 
 
 The forty-fourth. 
 
 
 
 Forty Martyrs. 
 
 Of Sebaste. 
 
 
 
 Markaras, the Elder, and Macarius his 
 
 Of Alexandria. 
 
 
 
 brother. 
 
 
 10. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 Thomas. 
 
 Cyrillus Johannes. 
 
 Senodius. 
 
 Eugenius, Eugander, and Abilandius. 
 
 Abba Batli. 
 
 
 11. 
 
 xv. 
 
 Sara. 
 
 Helias, a martyr of the town Annas. 
 
 Siphoneus. 
 
 Selaphicus, and his bride Stratonica. 
 
 1 
 
 12. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 ittfcfiael, tbe $atrfarcfc. 
 
 The forty-sixth. 
 
382 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Magabit — March. 
 
 Julian. 
 
 Ethiop. 
 
 Fasts and Festivals. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 March. 
 13. 
 
 14. 
 15. 
 
 16. 
 
 17. 
 
 18. 
 
 19. 
 20. 
 21. 
 22. 
 
 23. 
 
 24. 
 
 25. 
 
 26. 
 
 March 
 
 XVII. 
 
 XVIII. 
 XIX. 
 
 xx. 
 
 XXI. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 XXIII. 
 XXIV. 
 XXV. 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 XXVIII, 
 
 XXIX. 
 XXX. 
 
 Theocritus. 
 
 SLa;arus, JhrientJ of Christ. 
 
 Georgius, Thalassius, and 
 
 Josephus, the Bishop. 
 
 ^flboa (Sat t ma. 
 
 Isodorus, a martyr of Ferma. 
 
 Aristobulus, friend of St. Paul. 
 
 Alexander and Agapius, of Gaza. 
 
 Nemelius and Denasius. 
 
 Askanafer, with his wife Marita, and his 
 
 children Arcadius and Johannes. 
 Romelius and Thalassius. 
 Stratonica. 
 ifcichael, patriarch of gUerantrria. 
 
 Aakaranus. 
 
 6197 Martyrs. 
 
 Resuscitation of Lazarus. 
 
 i&arp, the 29clr> Virgin. 
 
 Lamech. 
 
 Theodorus and Timotheus, martyrs. 
 
 Christ's Sfabent tn Jerusalem. 
 
 C^tillus, 33fshou of Jerusalem. 
 
 Baniel, the prophet 
 
 Macarius, patriarch of ^leranoria. 
 
 Onesiphorus. 
 
 Farius, the Holy. 
 
 Eupraxia. 
 
 Amata-Hanna, and Amata-Wahed. 
 
 .Sufferfujjs of Christ 
 
 Stephanus, the martyr. 
 
 Macarius, chief of the convent in Shihat. 
 
 The Martyrs of Eshla. 
 
 Abraham, £saac, anti Jacob. 
 
 Constantfne, the Hmperor. 
 
 Helena. 
 
 Conception of Christ. 
 
 jFcast of the Resurrection. 
 
 (Gabriel, the ^rchancjel. 
 
 Simeon, the Nasiraean. 
 
 Jacob, a martyr. 
 
 Johannes. 
 
 Here endeth the month Magabit. 
 
 One of the nine Abyssinian saints 
 
 The fifty-seventh. Anniversary 
 of his death. 
 
 Palm Sunday. 
 
 The fifty. ninth. 
 
 Amat, signifies " a servant. 
 
 MIAZIAH— APRIL. 
 
 EIGHTH MONTH. 
 
 Julian. 
 
 Ethiop. 
 
 Fasts and Festivals. Remarks. j 
 
 March. 
 27. 
 
 April, 
 i. 
 
 &aron, the 3£fflh priest 
 
 Silvanus. 
 
 Macarius, and his sons. 
 
 28. 
 
 n. 
 
 Simeon. 
 
 29. 
 
 m. 
 
 Christophorus. 1 
 Johannes, Bishop of Jerusalem. i 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 Miaziah — April. 
 
 363 
 
 1 Julian. 
 
 Ethiop. 
 
 Fasts and Festivals. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 March. 
 
 April. 
 
 
 
 29. 
 
 in. 
 
 M.rrcaeus and Fekurus. 
 
 
 
 
 iUfclmd, }9atrtardj of .SUcpantrria. 
 
 The seventy-first. 
 
 
 
 Semrata Zion. 
 
 i. e. u Beloved of Zion." 
 
 30. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Victor, Dacius, and Ermo. 
 
 
 | 31. 
 
 v. 
 
 H?cfctd, tfie ^ropfiet 
 
 
 April. 
 
 
 Dioscorus, the Silent. 
 
 
 1. 
 
 VI. 
 
 Sfaani and Hue. 
 
 
 
 
 Hntrancc of ®firfst into ti)e jFeasttnp, 
 
 Eight days from Paschal. 
 
 
 
 Ctjamucr; 
 
 
 
 
 ittari) of Ha»j)t, to^ont Zosimus in- 
 
 
 
 
 ter/reo*. 
 
 
 
 
 Xoafi. 
 
 
 2. 
 
 VII. 
 
 Soadnm, aranotatijer of (ftfctfst. 
 Agabus, Theodorus, and Macrobius, sons 
 of Moses. 
 
 
 3. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Abba Timotheus. 
 
 Agapis, Ariana, and Asnonia, virgins. 
 
 Leba-aragut. 
 
 The 150 martyrs in Persia. 
 
 
 4. 
 
 IX. 
 
 Sbanttftts, ^atrfarct) of glevanoria. 
 
 Zosimus. 
 
 The fifty-fifth. 
 
 5. 
 
 X. 
 
 Isaac, the Ascetic. 
 
 
 
 
 ffifabrtd, }3atnardj of gileparrtirfa. 
 
 The seventieth. 
 
 6. 
 
 XI. 
 
 Theodora,, the Munificent. 
 Johannes, Bishop of Gaza. 
 
 
 7. 
 
 XII. 
 
 Gajus and Esdras. 
 *&fd)ad, tijc Strdjangd. 
 3Uevarrtier, liatrtard) of stlejcantrvfa. 
 Antonius, a bishop, and Lukas. 
 
 
 8. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 Jaso and Josephus. 
 
 The deaconess Dionysia and Gelvas, mar- 
 tyrs. 
 
 Disciples of Melius. 
 
 9. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 iSlapmus, ^atrfarcft of stlejrauTrria. 
 
 Abib. 
 
 The fifteenth ; died on this day. 
 
 10. 
 
 XV. 
 
 $ofin, tfie iSapttst. 
 
 Mcolaus, 33fsl)ojp of if^ora. 
 
 Alexandra, martyr. 
 
 Dedication of the Church of Nicolaus. 
 
 
 
 
 Agabus. 
 
 Vide Acts, xxi. 2. 
 
 11. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 Antippas, disciple of John. 
 
 
 12. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 Jacob, tbe Apostle. 
 Zara Mariam. 
 Melchizedek. 
 
 
 13. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 iFcast of jtlacab. 
 
 Eusebius, servant of Susneus. 
 
 Peter, a martyr, along with Abba Besoi. 
 
 Between Paschal and Pentecoste. 
 
 14. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 Simeon, Bishop of Armenia, 
 
 
 15. 
 
 XX. 
 
 Bebnuda, a martyr of Tentyra. 
 Cyrillus, with his wife and children. 
 
 The palm-tree on which he was 
 hung, bore fruit the very same 
 hour. 
 
 16. 
 
 XXI. 
 
 ittati), tfje f^oto VixQin. 
 
 Abratacus. 
 
 
 
 
 Isaac. 
 
 Of Horin. 
 
 17. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 aUepantrer, $atrfardj of ^le^antjna. 
 
 The nineteenth. 
 
 
 
 Marcus, the Rich, Patriarch of Alexandria. 
 
 The forty-ninth. He redeemed 
 captives at an expense of thirty 
 thousand gold denars. 
 
 
 
 Michael, Patriarch of Alexandria. 
 
 The fifty-third. 
 
 18. 
 
 XXTTI. 
 
 Georgis, the martyr. 
 Korus. 
 
 
384 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 Miaziah — April. 
 
 Julian. 
 
 Ethiop. 
 
 Fasts and Festivals. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 April. 
 
 April. 
 
 
 
 18. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 Tzanas. 
 
 
 19. 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 Samtfus, ^atrfatci) of gtfejrantiria. 
 
 See the ix. day of Miaziah. 
 
 20. 
 
 XXV. 
 
 Sarah, a martyr, with her two children. 
 
 
 
 
 Bebnudas and Theodorus. 
 
 
 21. 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 Susneus, a martyr. 
 Jonas of -Nineveh. 
 
 
 22. 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 Aboon Victor, a martyr. 
 
 Abba Noda, Zosimus, and Stephana. 
 
 Martha, mother of Victor. 
 
 
 23. 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 gbtaijatu, Xsaac, anH Jacob. 
 
 
 
 
 Pistaurus, an ascetic. 
 
 Of Maksur. After he was be- 
 headed his body was seen to 
 walk about at Heraclea. 
 
 
 
 Melius, a martyr. 
 
 
 24. 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 3Strtft of €:jmst. 
 Aristus, Bishop of Beyroot. 
 Abba Acius, Bishop of Jerusalem. 
 
 
 25. 
 
 XXX. 
 
 Marcus, son of Mary. 
 
 The Evangelist. 
 
 '. 
 
 Here endeth the month Miaziah. 
 
 GENBOT— MAY. 
 
 NINTH MONTH. 
 
 Julian. 
 
 Ethiop. 
 
 Fasts and Festivals. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 April. 
 
 May. 
 
 
 
 26. 
 
 I. 
 
 "Matfbftg of t|)e Vtrafn i&arg. 
 Bartholomew, a motropolite. 
 
 
 27. 
 
 II. 
 
 Job, ttie patient. 
 
 Abba Esi. 
 
 
 
 
 Theodorus. 
 
 Disciple and follower of Pacho- 
 mius. 
 
 28. 
 
 ill. 
 
 Abba Bessoi. 
 Jason, a martyr. 
 
 
 29. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Jofjanncs, $atrfarct) of ^lepantrrfa. 
 
 Zosimus and Nudas, servants of Victor. 
 
 The fortieth. Held also on the 
 i. of Tahsas. 
 
 30. 
 
 v. 
 
 Jeremfas, tfoe ^ropfiet. 
 
 
 May. 
 
 
 
 
 1. 
 
 VI. 
 
 Isaac of Tafra. 
 
 Abba Macarius. 
 
 Abba Ammon. 
 
 Pelagia, with four children of Esnae. 
 
 Abba Bebnuda. 
 
 Salome, an ascetic. 
 
 Red-hot nails were driven into 
 his head. 
 
 
 
 Dionysius. 
 
 Senodius, the Anchorite. 
 
 
 2. 
 
 VII. 
 
 gtttmnasfus, $atrlatcfj of ^lepatrturfa. 
 
 The twentieth. 
 
 
 
 John, the Liberal. 
 
 In order to give clothes to the 
 poor, he took off his own. 
 
 3. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Ascension of (Eijrist. 
 
 Abba Daniel. 
 
 John, the Eleemosynary. 
 
 Maximus. 
 
 
 
 
 Dionysius, with his wife and children. 
 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 Genbot — May. 
 
 385 
 
 Julian. 
 
 Ethiop. 
 
 Fasts and Festivals. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 May. 
 
 May. 
 
 
 
 4. 
 
 IX. 
 
 Helena, ftntofna; tDe dtvoxts. 
 
 
 5. 
 
 X. 
 
 Anania, Azaria, Mizael. 
 Abraham, a martyr. 
 
 Sadrach, Mesech, Abednego. 
 
 
 
 Joim, 39atriarcfi of ^leranorfa. 
 
 There are many of than tame. 
 
 
 
 Abba Michael. 
 
 
 
 
 357 martyrs. 
 
 
 6. 
 
 XI. 
 
 Paphnutius, Bishop of Damascus. 
 Euphemia. 
 
 Sosthenes and Jektras. 
 Jared. 
 
 Tawacelia, with her son Abolius, and his 
 companion Justus. 
 
 
 7. 
 
 XII. 
 
 Apparition of the Cross in Golgotha, 
 ittfclmel, tfje ^rcijanflel. 
 
 Isicus. 
 
 Jared, father of Enoch. 
 
 Menas, a deacon. 
 
 Stephanus. 
 
 Transfer of the bones of Tekla-Haimanot. 
 
 
 8. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 Arsenius, of Rome, who educated the two 
 princes. 
 
 
 9. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 Symmachus. 
 
 Belamon. 
 
 gtfbua $acf)omtus. 
 
 
 10. 
 
 XV. 
 
 Four hundred warriors with Menas the 
 Deacon. 
 
 
 
 
 Netoaja=<3:im8tos. 
 
 i. e. " Property of Christ ;" an 
 emperor of Ethiopia. 
 
 
 
 Nathanael, a martyr. 
 
 
 11. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 Jesu Sirach, the Ecclesiastes. 
 Transfer of the body of St. John, the 
 Apostle. 
 
 
 12. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 Epiphanius, an Antistes in Cyprus. 
 
 
 
 • 
 
 Lucianus. 
 
 A converted Jew. Gave his 
 own garment to a naked man, 
 and received for it another 
 one from heaven. 
 
 13. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 descent of tlje 2&QI5 @fi)ost. 
 Abba Garga, with Abraham. 
 Isidorus, son of Belandius. 
 
 
 14. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 Senodius. 
 
 Isaac, a monk and presbyter. 
 
 80,107 martyrs with Isodorus. 
 
 Joseph. 
 
 
 15. 
 
 XX. 
 
 <£aleb or ©lesoaas. 
 Ammonius of Tona. 
 Sedeza, disciple of Ammonius 
 Behor, follower of the same. 
 Abba Derma, an anchorite. 
 
 A king of Ethiopia. 
 
 16. 
 
 XXI. 
 
 f8ar£, t|)e ^olj Virgin. 
 
 
 
 
 Aaron. 
 
 When he was sick, he made 
 roasted pigeons to fly into his 
 mouth. 
 
 
 
 Abba Mardalaeus. 
 
 
 
 
 &mos, t&e tyvopW. 
 
 
 17. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 Andronikus. 
 Jacob Saragawi. 
 
 
 18. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 Julianus. 
 
 
 
 
 Julius and his mother. 
 
 ■ 
 
 19. 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 Christ enters Hsgpt. 
 
 
386 
 
 ENDIX. 
 Genhot — May. 
 
 Julian. 
 
 Ethiop. 
 
 Fasts and Festivals. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 May. 
 
 May. 
 
 
 
 19. 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 5ffl£a6afcufc, tfje $ropfiet. 
 
 Salome, companion of the Virgin Mary. 
 
 
 20. 
 
 XXV. 
 
 Abba Herodas. 
 
 Acolvtus, with 240 martyrs. 
 
 
 21. 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 Stomas, tf)e Apostle. 
 
 Arsinoe, a martyr. 
 
 
 22. 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 John, Patriarch of Alexandria. 
 
 The thirtieth. 
 
 
 
 Lazarus, Bishop of Cyprus. 
 
 His second death. 
 
 23. 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 Amata Christos. 
 Aerilos, with 135 martyrs. 
 ^ftrafiam, Ksaac, anfc #acob. 
 Abba Mercurius. 
 
 Transfer of the body of Epiphanius to Cy- 
 prus. 
 
 
 24. 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 Natfbft» of <ftfmst 
 
 
 
 
 Abba Simeon, of Antiochia. 
 
 t 
 
 25. 
 
 XXX. 
 
 Michael, Patriarch of Alexandria. 
 Korus. 
 
 The sixty-eighth. 
 
 
 Arwa, a woman. 
 
 
 
 Here endetk the month Genhot. 
 
 SANNE— JUNE. 
 
 TENTH MONTH. 
 
 Julian. 
 
 Ethiop. 
 
 Fasts and Festivals. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 May. 
 
 June. 
 
 
 
 26. 
 
 i. 
 
 Bifamon, a martyr. 
 
 Leontius, a martyr, in the time of the 
 
 Saracens. 
 Joseph, son of Zawl. 
 
 Also on the xxvn. of Ter. 
 
 27. 
 
 II. 
 
 Apparition of the bodies of John the Bap- 
 tist and Elijah. 
 
 
 28. 
 
 in. 
 
 Martha. 
 Koreon. 
 Hilarius, bishop and martyr 
 
 
 29. 
 
 IV. 
 
 John, the Ornament of Heraclea. 
 Sanusius and Mary, of Belkim. 
 
 
 
 
 Ammon and Sophy 1 
 Acronius and Demonasia, > 
 
 Martyrs under Diocletianus, burnt 
 in a church. 
 
 
 
 Ammonius and Menas. j 
 
 30. 
 
 v. 
 
 Abba Ebsoi. 
 
 
 
 
 Abba Jacob. 
 
 
 ' 
 
 
 Marcus, the Submersed. 
 
 Bifamon. 
 
 Mercurius. 
 
 Fek. 
 
 Ablak. 
 
 
 
 
 Isaac. 
 
 
 31. 
 
 VI. 
 
 Theodoras, a monk. 
 
 
 June. 
 
 
 The four princes of Esnae. 
 
 
 1. 
 
 VII. 
 
 Ashiron, a martyr, and five warriors. 
 Opening of the Church of Mary. 
 
 
 2. 
 
 vm. 
 
 WetihKtlovL of ttft Glutei) of ifftatg. 
 
 Teemada and her sons. 
 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 Sanne — June. 
 
 387 
 
 J Julian. 
 
 Ethiop. 
 
 Fasts and Festivals. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 June. 
 
 June. 
 
 
 
 2. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 2000 martyrs. 
 
 Annenius and his mother. 
 
 
 3. 
 
 IX. 
 
 Samuel, t1)c $roj)fiet 
 
 
 
 
 Lucianus. 
 
 Vide Genbot, xvii. 
 
 4. 
 
 X. 
 
 Sophia and her daughters. 
 
 Dibamona, Bistamona, and Warsenopha. 
 
 
 5. 
 
 XI. 
 
 Claudius, a martyr. 
 
 Dedication of the Church of Jesus in Alex- 
 andria. 
 
 With eighty-eight companions. 
 
 6. 
 
 XII. 
 
 .Prtcftael, tije ^rcijangel. 
 
 Euphemia. 
 
 
 
 
 Justus, Patriarch of Alexandria. 
 
 The seventh ; baptized by St. 
 Mark. 
 
 
 
 (fturtllus, ^atuarci) of 3tfej:ano"ria. 
 
 The sixty-fourth. 
 
 
 
 Bazalota Michael. 
 
 
 
 
 Haltuela, Hmperor of 25t|)tonia. 
 
 When yet an infant, a swarm of 
 bees alighted upon him with- 
 out doing him any injury 
 
 7. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 <£aotfel, t1)e ^trijangel. 
 
 John, Bishop of Jerusalem. 
 
 
 8. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 Ptolcmaeus and Philippus. 
 John and Acra. 
 
 
 9. 
 
 XV. 
 
 Church of Menas in Marjdt. 
 
 Menas brought a dead swine 
 again to life. 
 
 10. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 .^inuiafer anti Ins Treatt). 
 
 Zaasoos with Yekweno-Amlac 
 
 Alias Onuphrius. 
 
 11. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 Abba Batatzun. 
 Abba Palaemon. 
 
 Ate only a few cabbage -leaves, 
 by which diet his body be- 
 came as light as air. 
 
 
 
 Abba Garima. 
 
 One of the nine Abyssinian saints. 
 
 12. 
 
 xvm. 
 
 Bfmanfos, $atrtarcfi of &lej:arrtma. 
 
 He has many days. 
 
 13. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 An ub Bissoi. 
 
 Id est, " pure gold," a martyr of 
 Heliopolis in Egypt. 
 
 
 
 Tesfa Michael. 
 
 i. e. " hope of Michael." 
 
 
 
 George and his wife Basjela. 
 
 
 
 
 Arnobius and Petrus. 
 
 
 
 
 Ashirion and Argenis, and Belhjus, mar- 
 
 
 
 
 tyrs. 
 
 
 14. 
 
 XX. 
 
 Elijat), tije ^roafjet. 
 
 
 15. 
 
 XXI. 
 
 ifttarp, tic SSlesscU Virgin. 
 
 Dedication of her church. 
 Timothy, a martyr. 
 
 
 
 
 Thomas. 
 
 He brought to life again a wo- 
 man, who had been drowned 
 in a vessel of hydromel. 
 
 
 
 Matthew. 
 
 
 
 
 Cedrianus (Cedrenus,) Patriarch of Alex- 
 
 The fourth. 
 
 
 
 andria. 
 
 
 16. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 The sons of Teudada, companions of Cos- 
 
 mus the Martyr. 
 Paulus, the Hermit. 
 
 
 17. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 Solomon, t|je 2&fng. 
 
 Abba Nob. 
 
 
 18. 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 Abba Moses, the Black. 
 His seven brothers. 
 
 Formerly a notorious robber. 
 
 19. 
 
 XXV. 
 
 Peter and Paul. 
 Judas, a martyr. 
 
 
 
 
 Abba Petrus, a doctor, Patriarch of Alex- 
 
 The thirty-fourth. 
 
 
 
 andria. 
 
 
 
 
 Beginning of W&inttv, . 
 
 
388 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Sanne — June. 
 
 J Julian. 
 
 Ethiop. 
 
 Fasts and Festivals. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 June. 
 
 June. 
 
 
 
 
 19. 
 
 XXV. 
 
 Pilatus and his wife Procla. 
 Dedication of the Church of Gabriel. 
 Sosfiua, sou of Nun. 
 
 
 
 20. 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 Thomas, a martyr, with companions. 
 Dedication of the Church of Timothy in 
 
 Benhur. 
 Ananias, a martyr. 
 
 Vide Hedar, xxvii. 
 
 
 21. 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 &brafiam, Esaac, anti $acob. 
 
 
 
 22. 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 EfieotJosfus, ^atrfatcft of gUejrantrria. 
 
 Either the thirty-third or 
 seventy -ninth. 
 
 the 
 
 23. 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 Katibtts of €:f)rtst. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Marcus, King of Rome. 
 
 Theodorus, son of Leo, King of Ethiopia. 
 
 Palladius, Cotylas, Adramas, and com- 
 panions. 
 
 Besoi, the warrior, with his brother Nor, 
 and mother Didara. 
 
 
 
 24. 
 
 XXX. 
 
 Natfbfts of $ofm tbe JSajpttst. 
 
 Abba Geranus. 
 
 
 
 
 Here endeth the month Sanne. 
 
 
 HAMLE— JULY. 
 
 ELEVENTH MONTH 
 
 Julian. 
 
 Ethiop. 
 
 Fasts and Festivals. 
 
 1 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 June. 
 
 July. 
 
 
 
 25. 
 
 i. 
 
 Calacus, Patriarch of Rome. 
 
 
 
 
 Cephronia, a martyr. 
 
 Also called Febronia. 
 
 
 
 Benjamin and Bejoc. 
 
 
 26. 
 
 ii. 
 
 Tadda?us. 
 
 Was strangled because he re- 
 proved a rich man for his pride. 
 
 27. 
 
 in. 
 
 Mary, a recluse. 
 Seraphim and Cherubim. 
 (EprtUus, presftntiG at ttje ©ounctl of 
 SEpfjesus, agatrtst Nestortus. 
 
 Christianus. 
 
 
 28. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Sopbomas, (%ep|)anfas,) t|)e ^ropijet 
 
 Johannes and Abukir. 
 
 
 29. 
 
 V. 
 
 $eter anti Siaul, tbe jostles. 
 
 Caustus. 
 
 Acrosia. 
 
 The wives of Agrippa. 
 
 Deucris. 
 
 Sakuel. 
 
 Marcellus. 
 
 
 
 
 The seventy disciples. 
 
 
 
 
 The fathers of the monastery Assa. 
 
 
 
 
 Maskal-Kebra, a woman. 
 
 
 30. 
 
 VI. 
 
 Sutuel (». e. IBjra.) 
 Almenas, called Paulus. 
 Theodosia, a martyr. 
 
 
 July. 
 
 
 Saturnina, a female ascetic. 
 
 
 1. 
 
 VII. 
 
 Abba Synoda. 
 Magabis. 
 
 
 
 
 Sflnatfu*. 
 
 Bishop of Rome. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 Hamlt — July. 
 
 389 
 
 Julian. 
 
 Ethiop. 
 
 1 
 
 Fasts and Festivals. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 July. 
 
 July. 
 
 
 
 1. 
 
 VII. 
 
 Georgius, a priest. 
 
 
 2. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Abba Bessoi, the hermit. 
 
 Cyrus. 
 
 Aburom and his brother 
 
 Atom and Arianus. 
 
 Misael. 
 
 Belana, a presbyter. 
 
 Beimas. 
 
 Phaulius of Tama. 
 
 There have been many of that 
 name. 
 
 3. 
 
 IX. 
 
 ClauTuan, patriarch of Sllerantrrta. 
 
 The ninth. 
 
 4. 
 
 X. 
 
 ^fattiatiael of €anaa. 
 Theoras and Theodoras. 
 Golianus. 
 
 
 5. 
 
 XI. 
 
 Johannes and Simeon, martyrs. 
 
 This John extracted a serpent 
 out of the womb of a princess. 
 
 
 
 €Jabrtel, $atrfarcf) of ^tlerantrrta. 
 
 Many of that name ; the seventy- 
 eighth. 
 
 
 
 Esaias, a presbyter. 
 
 
 6. 
 
 XII. 
 
 itttcfjael, tfje ^rcfiansel. 
 Abba Hor, a martyr. 
 
 
 7. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 Abba Basenda, a bishop. 
 
 Ammon, a martyr. 
 
 Dedication of the Church of Bessoi. 
 
 
 8. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 Prochorus. 
 
 Isaac. 
 
 $eter anfc $aul. 
 
 
 9. 
 
 XV. 
 
 Mbbn Hpljrem, of iSgrta. 
 
 
 10. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 #ofjn, possessor of tje @JolTren ©esta* 
 merit. 
 
 
 
 
 Sertza-Hawaryat. 
 
 i. e. " germ of the Apostles." 
 
 11. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 Euphemia. 
 
 
 
 
 Andreas, a monk in the monastery of Le- 
 
 Of Debra-Libanos in Shoa ; he 
 
 
 
 banon. 
 
 slew Mafoodi, King of Hurrur. 
 
 
 
 Jonas, the Prophet. 
 
 
 12. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 #acob, brother of <£ur Horn. 
 
 Athanataeus, Bishop of Clysme. 
 
 
 13. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 Batalanus, a martyr. } 
 Cyriacus, a martyr. . \ 
 
 Of Esnse. 
 
 
 
 The martyrs of Latonopolis. 
 
 , 
 
 
 
 Abel, of the fraternity of Tekla-Haimanot. 
 
 
 14. 
 
 XX. 
 
 fEntrg or $urtffcatfon of patina, 
 Theodoras, leader of an army. 
 Guebra-Yasoos. 
 Tekla. 
 
 Hanna, mother of Mary. 
 
 15. 
 
 XXI. 
 
 fttarr, tfie ?^ol£ IHrgm. 
 SJriel, an ardmnjjel. 
 Susneus. 
 
 Batzalota- Michael. 
 Au-Christos. 
 
 
 16. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 Macarius. 
 Therapio. 
 
 
 17. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 Longinus. 
 Marina. 
 
 
 18. 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 Nobus. 
 
 
 
 
 Simeon, $atrfarcf) of &lej:an&rta. 
 
 The forty-second ; was poisoned. 
 
 
 
 Tekla-Adonai. 
 
 Abbot of Debra Libanos. 
 
 19. 
 
 XXV. 
 
 Mariam Kebra. 
 
 
 
 
 Za-Yasoos. 
 
 i. e. " follower of Jesus. 
 
 
 
 Abba Carazun. 
 
 
 
 
 Eutropius. 
 
 
 / 
 
390 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Hamlt — July. 
 
 Julian. 
 
 July. 
 
 19. 
 
 20. 
 
 21. 
 
 22. 
 
 23. 
 
 24. 
 
 Ethiop. 
 
 July. 
 
 XXV. 
 
 Fasts and Festivals. 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 XXX. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 1 
 
 Twenty-five thousand martyrs in the town 
 
 Atribe. 
 Thekla, an apostolic woman. 
 Dedication of the Church of Merkur in 
 
 Egypt. 
 Antoninus, ~\ 
 Epimachus,l M 
 Isaac, 
 
 Hilaria, J 
 
 Tekla and Amogia, martyrs. 
 Dimadius. 
 
 Joseph husbarrti of i&atg. 
 
 Timothy, Patriarch of Alexandria. 
 Salama. 
 
 Samuel. 
 
 Ammonius and Theophila. 
 
 Bifamon. 
 
 Simeon, $atrfatcb of gUerarrtrtfa. 
 
 2E?ekfcl, the $roptjet 
 
 gttraiwm, Esaac, anti Jacob. 
 
 Maskal-Guebra, a woman. 
 
 Adronikus and Athanasia. 
 
 Philippus, the companion of Tekla-Hai- 
 
 manot. 
 Kattbftg of Cbrtst. 
 Transfer of the body of Taddseus, the 
 
 Apostle. 
 Warsenopha. 
 
 Mercurius and Ephrem, brothers. 
 Dedication of the Church of Suriel. 
 Paulus. 
 
 Andreas and Matthias. 
 Timotheus, Patriarch of Alexandria. 
 
 A martyr killed with arrows, in 
 Bana, a town of the Thebais. 
 
 Restored a blind and paralytic 
 man. 
 
 The twenty-second. 
 
 i. e. Frumentius, the Apostle of 
 
 Ethiopia. 
 Rode upon a lion. 
 
 The fifty-first. 
 
 Vide Sann6,x. 
 
 Many of that name. 
 
 Here endetk the month HamU. 
 
 NAHASSE— AUGUST. 
 
 TWELFTH MONTH. 
 
 Julian. 
 
 Ethiop. 
 
 Fasts and Festivals. 
 
 July. 
 
 Aug. 
 
 
 25. 
 
 I. 
 
 Jfosejib of Erfmatbaea* 
 
 Nicodemus. 
 
 Obolius, a martyr. 
 
 Truth, Hope, and Charity, three virgins. 
 
 26. 
 
 II. 
 
 Athanasia. 
 Eupraxia. 
 
 27. 
 
 III. 
 
 Ssoalvn, 4Biueen. 
 
 Simeon, the Stylite. 
 
 28. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Mercurius, an ascetic. 
 38e?efctab (J&fsftfa*.) 
 Abba Matthaeus, a hermit. 
 
 29. 
 
 V. 
 
 David and his brothers in the land Singar. 
 Abraham, an ascetic. 
 Tekla-Michael, a sacred bard. 
 Philip. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 (Pistis, Elpis, Agape.) 
 
 King of Jerusalem. 
 Cured a leprose woman. 
 Singar was a town in Egypt 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 Nahasse — August. 
 
 391 
 
 Julian. 
 
 July. 
 29. 
 
 30. 
 
 31. 
 
 7. 
 
 9. 
 10. 
 
 11. 
 12. 
 
 13. 
 14. 
 
 15. 
 16. 
 
 17. 
 
 Ethiop. 
 
 Aug. 
 V. 
 
 VI. 
 
 vir. 
 
 Aug. 
 1. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 2. 
 3. 
 
 IX. 
 X. 
 
 4. 
 
 XI. 
 
 5. 
 
 XII. 
 
 6. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 XV, 
 
 XVI. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 XVIII. 
 XIX. 
 
 XX. 
 XXI. 
 
 XXII. 
 XXIII. 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 Fasts and Festivals. 
 
 Johannes, a military prefect. 
 
 Julia, composition of Eupraxia. 
 
 Tekla-Yasoos. 
 
 Abba Witza, disciple of Sinoda. 
 
 Justa. 
 
 Maria Magdalena. 
 
 Dedication of the Church of Herodas. 
 
 Conception of Mary. 
 
 Aaron, brother of Moses. 
 
 3Peter, tfie Apostle. 
 
 Timothy, Patriarch of Alexandria, 
 
 Ehud, the Judge. 
 
 Birth of Joseph. 
 
 Eleazar and Machabaea, and their seven 
 
 children. 
 Oh of Setnuf. 
 Mctra. 
 
 Abba Bicabus. 
 Christophorus. 
 Moses, Bishop of Aussim. 
 Ptolemaeus, a martyr of Upper Memphis. 
 Jtlfrtmei, tfie ^rcfoansel. 
 
 Constantine's reign. 
 
 ^Transfiguration of $esns on Mount 
 
 2Taoor. 
 Benjamin. 
 Abba Gallio. 
 Basilicus. 
 Damiates. 
 
 Simeon and Johannes. 
 ©resswp, of ti)e bofcg of t|»e ?9oIg VltQin. 
 
 Christina. 
 
 3Laurentfus. 
 
 Marina. 
 
 ascension of tfoe botrp of tfoe ^ob IHrfifn. 
 
 Transfer of the bones of Georgius" 
 
 Gegar. ruler of Syria 
 
 Entheus. 
 
 Aerates. 
 
 Jacob, a martyr, with his companions Jo 
 
 hannes and Abraham. 
 Aragawi. 
 
 aieranfier, |9atrfarcfi of ^ieranoria. 
 Justinus. 
 Phinehas. 
 
 Transfer of the body of Macarius. 
 Jacob, a bishop of Ethiopia. 
 
 £foe Seben Sleepers. 
 J&ari>, ttie 2^oIj VixQin. 
 
 Irene, a martyr. 
 
 ittfefta, tfie $ropftet. 
 
 The thirty thousand martyrs. 
 
 Darnianus, a martyr of Antiochia. 
 
 Abraham's daughter. 
 
 ^oraftam. 
 
 Ksaac, son of &brafiam. 
 
 Thomas, a martyr. 
 
 erefcla^afmanot 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 Could not be burned to death. 
 
 Herodas was not touched by lions 
 
 and panthers. 
 Viz., by her mother Hanna. 
 
 The twenty-seventh. 
 
 Vide 2 Maccab. vii. 3. 
 Setnuf, a town, in Egypt. 
 
 Commonly called Assumption. 
 
 Vide xxn. of Miaziah. 
 
 Having returned after a stay of six 
 years in Egypt, he found still 
 the fire on his hearth burning. 
 
 They have many days. 
 
 Slain by the followers of Arius. 
 
 •'. e. " Flower of the Creed." 
 
392 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Nahasst — August. 
 
 Julian. 
 
 Ethiop. 
 
 Fasts and Festivals. 
 
 i 
 Remarks. 
 
 Aug. 
 
 Aug. 
 
 
 
 18. 
 
 XXV. 
 
 Bessarion. 
 Jacob. 
 
 Adrian and Anatolia. 
 
 Crossed a river without getting wet. 
 
 19. 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 Sara and Moses. 
 Tekla-Salam, and Agabus. 
 Sarat), Storafjam's totfe. 
 
 
 20. 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 Baaminus and his sister Eudoxia. 
 Samuel, tfie 3.9roaf)et. 
 
 
 21. 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 gftraSam, fisaac, atrti Jacob. 
 
 Abba Bersaba. 
 
 
 22. 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 jtfatfbtti) of (ftfirfst 
 
 Athanasius. 
 
 Gersimus and Theodotus, ascetics. 
 
 Irenaeus, a bishop. 
 
 Transfer of the body of John the Younger. 
 
 Salama, translator of tf)e 2£olu 38oofts. 
 
 • 
 
 23. 
 
 XXX. 
 
 Moses, Bishop of Ferme. 
 Andrew. 
 
 
 
 Here endcth the twelfth Abyssinian month Nahasse. 
 
 PAGMEN, 
 
 THAT IS, DAYS INTERPOLATED BETWEEN AUGUST AND SEPTEMEER (NAHASSE AND MAS- 
 KARRAM,) THE TWELFTH AND THE FIRST ABYSSINIAN MONTHS, TO MAKE UP THE 
 SOLAR YEAR. 
 
 f 
 
 Julian. 
 Aug. 
 
 Ethiop. 
 
 Fasts and Festivals. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 Pagm. 
 
 
 
 24. 
 
 i. 
 
 Wetukis. 
 
 Eusebius and Pachomius. 
 fincarceratfon of Jofm tfce aSajitfst. 
 Abba Bessoi. 
 
 
 25. 
 
 ii. 
 
 STttus, tjfscfule of $aul 
 
 
 26. 
 
 in. 
 
 Hapfcael, tije ^rcftauflel. 
 
 
 
 
 Serapio. 
 
 Sold himself, and distributed the 
 proceeds among the proselytes. 
 
 
 
 Melchi-zedek, King of Salem. 
 
 
 
 
 ^ara=Yacooo. 
 
 Name of an emperor celebrated 
 for his wisdom, and also of a 
 preacher of the gospel. 
 
 27. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Amda Mariam. 
 
 
 
 
 Seven brothers, living in one cave. 
 
 See Ter. xiii. 
 
 
 
 3Ltbcrfus, $attfarcfi of &ome. 
 
 Was the thirty-seventh pope. 
 
 28. 
 
 v. 
 
 Jacob, Bishop of Egypt. 
 
 Barsuma. 
 
 &mos, tfie $touftet. 
 
 Abba Magder. 
 
 
 
 VI. 
 
 
 Pertains only on Leap-year, being 
 the year of St. John. 
 
 
 
 Here endeth the Ethiopian yet 
 
 ir. 
 
 $ratse be unto tbe 2Lottf for eoer antr etoet. ^men. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 
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